Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government has pledged to silence any and every voice that is raised in dissent. Recent example of such silencing happened when Mumbai police denied permission to a group of citizens who wanted to gather in support of Yogesh Soman, a Mumbai University professor who was sent on compulsory leave.
Yogesh Soman, director of Mumbai university’s academy of theatre arts had posted a video criticising former Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his contemptuous remarks on Veer Savarkar. After this, student organizations like NSUI, AISF, Chhatra Bharati had demanded that action must be taken against Soman for this video. Succumbing to the pressure from these organisations and the Maha Vikas Aghadi govt, University administration sent Soman on compulsory leave and assured that an enquiry will be initiated against him.
This action left the right thinking citizens in shock and anger. Many came out in support of Soman on social media.
A meet was organised by Vivek Vichar Manch in Mumbai’s Dadar on 22 January to express solidarity with Soman. The organizers went to Shivani Park police station in Dadar to seek permission for this meet. The concerned police authorities rejected their application and denied permission for holding this meet. The police served the organisers with a notice u/s 149 of the CrPC and threatened to register complaints against organisers and participants if the meet is held after such denial.
Police letter denying permission (part 1)Police letter denying permission (part 2)
In the notice, among other reasons for denying permission the police cited one reason that the meet is scheduled to take place in front of Late Meenatai Thackeray statue and this statue is a matter of faith for karyakartas of Shiv Sena. There is a possibility that Shiv Sena karyakartas would thus oppose or disrupt the meet.
It is unfortunate that a professor is sent on compulsory leave only for the reason that he dared to speak against Rahul Gandhi. It is even more unfortunate that common citizens who wished to express their support to the professor using constitutional and peaceful methods were threatened by the police. Is the Maharashtra police under such political pressure that they are not letting upright common citizens to express dissent? Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is abusing power and using the police machinery against its own citizens. Killing democracy in their own state and accusing Modi govt for being fascist is the Shivsena way of politics. The night that is this Thackeray sarkar is dark and full of terrors for Maharashtra.
Motormouth Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut announced on Wednesday that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya to mark the completion of a hundred days in power.
Raut said that Uddhav Thackeray will seek the blessings of Shri Rama and has urged his alliance partners to come along.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya on the completion of 100 days in power, to seek the blessings of Lord Ram. We want that our alliance leaders should also come along. Rahul Gandhi also visits several temples. pic.twitter.com/AHwfDuwGoG
Raut’s appeal to his alliance partners appears to be a subtle dig at the Congress party who have been trampling over the Shiv Sena ever since the government was formed. Raut’s comment that Rahul Gandhi ‘visits several temples’ comes across as a thinly-veiled mockery of the former Congress President’s periodical Temple Run.
The Shiv Sena leader’s excitement was palpable on Twitter as well where he gave the slogan of ‘Chalo Ayodhya’. The slogan is closely associated with the attempts made by Hindutvavadis over the years to reclaim Ram Janmabhoomi.
The planned visit by Uddhav Thackeray is a not-so-subtle attempt by Shiv Sena to emphasize its Hindutva credentials. It comes only days after senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan had admitted that the Congress party had entered the alliance after approval from the Muslim community.
The Shiv Sena and the Congress party have also been at loggerheads over the legacy of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Only on Saturday, Sanjay Raut had advised the detractors of Veer Savarkar to spend two days at the Andaman Cellular Jail in an obvious dig at the Congress party and its former president Rahul Gandhi.
Not too long ago, Sanjay Raut had triggered a massive controversy when he revealed that former PM Indira Gandhi used to visit Karim Lala, one of the three most powerful underworld dons of Mumbai. Raut’s remark had sparked massive outrage from the Congress party following which he was forced to retract his statement.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University has issued a clarification amidst media reports claiming that a reply to an RTI punctured holes in the administration’s version of events with regards to what happened at the university campus in the first week of January. The JNU administration said that the reply to the RTI was related to the specific location as mentioned and all the information mentioned in the FIR and other complaints are in line with facts.
The RTI query had asked about vandalism at CCTV server room at North/Main gate of the JNU campus, but as there is no such server room at that place, the RTI had replied ‘None’ to the question about the vandalism at that server room. But this reply was taken out of context by media houses to claim that the RTI reply does not match with FIR filed in the case, and no server room was damaged at the JNU.
If we go by the RTI reply, we can see that the petitioner had asked about details of server room located at the North/Main gate of JNU campus, along with CCTV camera details. The RTI query had also asked whether any vandalism incident had taken place at the North/Main gate server room where CCTV cameras are installed, with details of the incidents. To the first question, JNU had replied that there is no server room at the North/Main gate, and they had replied none to the next question as this server room does not exist. As there is no server room at the location asked, which is the North/Main gate, it is natural that no vandalism took place there, as the vandalism had happened at the CIS data centre. Another reply to a question on connections at the server room also states that there is no server room at the North/Main gate.
The RTI reply does say that the CIS server room was dusrupted on two occasions, on 3rd and 4th January.
JNU clarifies on media reports on RTI filed over 3rd Jan incident at Comm&Info Services Data Centre premises.Reply of RTI was provided relating to the specific location and questions sought by the RTI applicant. All FIRs& other complaints filed with police are in-line with facts.
The statement issued by the JNU on Wednesday afternoon stated, “All FIRs and other complaints filed with police are in-line with the actual incidents that took place on January 3 and do not deviate from actual facts. The JNU administration reiterates that a group of masked students came to the CIS Data Centre premises on January 3, 2020 and forcibly evicted the technical staff, switched off the power supply, locked the premises and squatted in front of the main entrance to the CIS Data Centre without providing any access to the centre.”
JNU statement
As per the widely circulated reports, the reply to the RTI filed by Saurav Das, a member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), said the main server of JNU at the Centre for Information System (CIS) was shut down on January 3 and had gone down the next day “due to power supply disruption”. The response also said a total of 17 fiber optical cables were damaged on January 4 at 1 pm. ‘None’ of the biometric systems were broken or destroyed from December 30, 2019, to January 8, 2020, the RTI reply as per reports.
The reply appears consistent with previous statements made by authorities at the JNU. JNU registrar Pramod Kumar had issued a statement on the 3rd of January saying, “At around 1 pm on January 3, a group of students using masks on their faces forcibly entered the office of the Centre for Information System, switched off the power supply, forcibly evicted all the technical staff, and made the servers dysfunctional.”
Furthermore, with regards to the questions regarding CCTVs, the reply said that the server of CCTVs are located at the Data Center and not the CIS. It further stated that further details regarding CCTVs couldn’t be disclosed due to reasons of security.
The clarification issued by the JNU authorities points towards the same. It said, “As per the complaint filed by administration on January 3, 2020 about incident in CIS Data Centre, JNU has not claimed about the damage to servers on January 3. The RTI answers are correct and specific to the questions asked. The RTI response also clearly states that servers are located at CIS Data Centre, not in CIS office, which seems to be conspicuously ignored while highlighting the matter in the media.”
The clarification stated further, “Damage to the CIS Data Centre server room was caused on January 4 by a group of miscreants who broke open one of the door-windows of the premises and entered the server room. Once inside, they turned off the servers and severely damaged the fire optic cables, power supplies, broke the biometric systems inside the room. The miscreants then started sloganeering and intimidated the technical staff from entering the server room.”
The initial media report that spread the disinformation campaign was published by the Press Trust of India. Soon, it was picked up and reproduced by a plethora of news websites or individual reports were published based on inputs from the PTI. Consequently, it became fodder for political players acting in bad faith which used the report to target the JNU administration.
PTI report reproduced by India Today
The headline of the report published by FirstPost on the matter with inputs from the PTI was even more outlandish. It claimed that the RTI reply poked holes in the official version of events as laid down by the JNU administration in previous days.
Headline of the FirstPost report
The Congress party then chose to use one such report by News18 to claim that the JNU administration had lied to the Police and claimed that there was no vandalism at all in the JNU campus.
An RTI report has revealed that the JNU administration lied to
the police, the media & in their FIR.
There was no vandalism of the server room by JNU students on Jan 3 as claimed by JNU VC. https://t.co/ZPgWlkeVUL
It’s quite clear that the reply to the RTI spoke of a very specific location but it was twisted completely to portray something entirely different. In recent times, we have seen that RTI has become the favoured tactic of the Left to spread disinformation. Only yesterday, the Leftist crowd had claimed a grand moral victory after a reply to an RTI had revealed that the government had no information concerning the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’. The Left had touted this to be a great victory when the response by the Ministry of Home Affairs was painfully obvious given the fact that ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ is not an official government term.
Chief Justice Bobde has also, in the past, expressed apprehensions regarding the manner in which RTIs are used. He had expressed concern that people who have nothing to do with a particular issue demand information using the RTI. CJI Bobde also appeared annoyed with the fact that some people go around using the term ‘RTI activist’. The current campaign of disinformation against the JNU administration is a further cause of concern regarding the manner in which RTIs are used.
The Congress party on Wednesday released the list of its star campaigners who will be spearheading its poll campaign ahead of the Delhi Assembly Elections scheduled on February 8. The list includes the name of 40 leaders including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former PM Manmohan Singh.
After dropping him like a hot potato during Haryana election campaign last year, Congress has once again decided to get Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s friend Navjot Singh Sidhu back as one of their star campaigners to take on AAP’s Kejriwal’ in Delhi.
image via Twitter
Other names included: Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. The list also includes four film stars-turned-politicians, Raj Babbar, Shatrughan Sinha, Khushbu Sunder and Nagma. Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randeep Surjewala have been named too, besides Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Though Congress had scored a duck in the last Delhi Legislative Assembly elections held in the year 2015, it remains to be seen what difference Sidhu’s campaigning would bring to the party which released its third list of candidates for the February 8 Delhi assembly elections yesterday. It has announced names of 66 candidates for the election to the 70-member Delhi assembly and it is likely to leave four seats for its ally RJD.
The motormouth Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been maintaining a low profile since he quit the Punjab cabinet in July last year over sharp differences with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Sidhu had quit after his portfolio was downgraded.
Sidhu had not campaigned much in the run up to the general elections too. When asked by media, he had cited a throat problem.
Sidhu has, however, always been in news for his fixation for his “friend and angel” Imran Khan. He has often heaped uncritical admiration for the Pakistan PM while turning a blind to the terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
In December last year, Sidhu was widely condemned for showering exorbitant gratitude for the Pakistani Prime Minister, thanking him on the behalf of ’14 crore Sikhs’ for conceiving the Kartarpur corridor project. Speaking at the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan, Congress’ motormouth leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had even compared Imran Khan with Alexander The Great.
Navjot Singh Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan prior to this, to attend Imran Khan’s oath-taking ceremony, had also drawn criticism from several quarters, especially the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. He had slammed him for hugging the Pakistani Army Chief General Bajwa while on his visit to Pakistan. Sidhu was also excoriated for his meek acceptance to sit beside the puppet ‘president’ of PoK during the swearing-in ceremony.
Earlier in March last year, in his unbridled love for Pakistan Prime Minister, Sidhu credited Imran Khan for his ‘kind act’ to return Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, ignoring the fact that they had no other way. Sidhu had then penned an open letter lauding “noble gesture” of Pakistan PM Imran Khan without holding him accountable for his country’s perpetual support to terrorism.
In her overly simplistic tweet, she said that every angry, entitled man should be “blessed with a daughter” as it is the “best cure for c/overt misogyny”. There are multiple things wrong with this, like having an extremely simplistic view that having a ‘woman’ in a misogynist man’s life will cure him of the misogyny that has been ingrained in his mind because of decades of conditioning. However, more disturbing is the idea that she thinks women are rehabs whose job is to ‘cure’ broken men.
This is what one may call a Bollywood-inspired suggestion as if you have seen the kind of movies where there is a manic pixie dream girl whose sole purpose for those three hours is to rescue the hero from his depression or anger issues or just his wayward ways. Similarly, having a daughter(s) will automatically cure entitled men of misogyny. These entitled, misogynist men also came from women who gave them birth and clearly that hasn’t helped.
Chadha also blissfully forgets that more often than not, the women in the lives of such entitled, misogynist men, including those blessed daughters, are often on the receiving end of the abuse.
Men don’t need to have daughters in their lives to treat women properly. It is not a cause and effect relationship. The kind of tweet and mindset Chadha is propagating quite often is peddled whenever we read news about sexual harassment. How the victim was someone’s daughter, sister. How hard is it to see her as just another human. Just ‘someone’. And not abuse her? Men often mention how they are worried about such cases as ‘father of a daughter’. No, you need to be worried about sexual harassment cases despite being father of a daughter, not because you are one.
To sum it up, Richa, daughters aren’t sacrificial beings who need to be in lives of misogynist men to get them to mend their ways. As someone who likes to identify herself as ‘feminist’, one would assume she’d at least get that part right.
In a bizarre development, a man in Udaipur, Vinod Jain, who works as a media officer at the office of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, named his second son ‘Congress’, after the Indian National Congress political party.
Explaining the rationale behind naming his son as ‘Congress’, Vinod asserted that his entire family is associated with the Congress party and it was totally appropriate that he named his son after the political party that his family has deep ties with. He also stated that he would like his offspring to maintain his family tradition and continue to serve the Congress party.
Vinod also added that he is deeply inspired by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and would want his son to pursue political career when he comes of his age. “I am inspired by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and I would like my son to initiate his political career when he turns 18 and play an active role in the Congress party,” Jain said.
Vinod claimed that some of his family members had reservations about naming his son ‘Congress’ so he determinedly waited until they all came around it. Vinod’s son was born in July and it took months for Vinod to obtain his birth certificate issued by the state government reads his son’s name as ‘Congress Jain’.
Congress Jain, born in July 2019, is Vinod’s second child, born 18 years after his first girl child.
The readout released by the United States after a formal meeting between US President Donald Trump and Pakistani PM Imran Khan at Davos, Switzerland has no mention of Kashmir.
Khan met Trump in Davos on the sidelines of the world economic forum and discussed on issues ranging from Afghanistan, trade and border matters. Before his meeting with Khan, Trump had reportedly stated that he is closely watching the developments between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and reiterated his offer to act as a mediator between the two neighbours to resolve their longstanding dispute.
“What’s going on between Pakistan and India, if we can help, we certainly will be willing to. We have been watching it very closely and it’s an honour to be here with my friend,” Trump said.
It is notable here that Pakistan has been trying desperately to bring international intervention in its attempts to hold talks with India on Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the readout released by the United States mentions only “regional issues” among issues discussed between the two leaders, with the specific mention of Afghanistan where the United States has high stakes even as it works out a negotiation with Taliban. According to reports, Khan had requested Trump to play a role in ironing out the difference between India and Pakistan but it was not included in the official statement.
Trump had been circumspect with his response by limiting it with a qualifier-“If we can help” and taking into consideration India’s sensitivities with regards to third party intervention in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier in July last year, Trump had stirred a diplomatic debate when he had claimed that PM Modi had asked him to mediate between India and Pakistan. Trump’s assertions then elicited sharp reaction from New Delhi rejecting his claims and reaffirming that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the issue was strictly internal to India.
In September 2019, Trump yet again presented himself to be an expert “arbitrator” to resolve the dispute between India and Pakistan. Trump stated that he is “ready, willing and able” to intervene if both countries wanted it.
Fugitive economic offender Nirav Modi’s seized luxury assets and paintings will be auctioned within two months, Mumbai based Saffronart auctioneers revealed in a statement. Nirav Modi was arrested last year in London over allegations of the fraudulence worth $2 billion at state-run Punjab National Bank. Although he has denied the charges and continuously opposing his extradition from Britain to India.
The auction, sanctioned by court order, is part of efforts by the government to sell assets confiscated in criminal cases with the proceeds used to repay the debts to the banks. The Mumbai-based auctioneers Saffronart has been selected to host the sales on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate. While the first sale, a live auction, will be held on February 27 in Mumbai, the second will be an online sale on March 3-4.
Assets going under the hammer include 15 artworks by significant modern and contemporary Indian artists like a 1935 masterpiece by Amrita Sher-Gil which has never previously been auctioned and is estimated at ₹12-18 crore, a significant oil on canvas by M F Husain from his “Mahabharata” series, also estimated at ₹12-18 crore, a 1972 serene blue painting by V S Gaitonde estimated at ₹7-9 crore, and a vivid red depiction of Krishna by Manjit Bawa, estimated at ₹3-5 crores, among others.
MF Husain’s The Battle of Ganga and Jamuna is among the paintings to be auctioned
Important watches going on sale include Jaeger Lecoultre Men’s “Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2” Limited Edition wristwatch, and a Gerrard Perregaux Men’s “Opera One” wristwatch.
Of more than 80 branded handbags included in the auction, several are from the Birkin and Kelly lines by luxury retailer Hermès and two cars – a Porsche Panamera and a Rolls Royce Ghost, a Saffronart statement said.
“We are diligently working with the ED to assess and evaluate each item and put together the catalogue for both the sales, which includes a distinguished line-up of artworks by the likes of Amrita Sher-Gil, M F Husain and V S Gaitonde,” the statement issued by the auction house said. Selected items from the upcoming auctions will be exhibited at the Saffronart gallery in The Oberoi, New Delhi during the India Art Fair later this month.
Indian tax authorities raised about $8 million in an auction conducted last year by Saffronart of rare oil paintings that were seized from Modi by the Income Tax department. 13 cars out of 15 seized cars were also auctioned, while the remaining two cars are being auctioned this time.
After making the year 2019 an eventful year in space odyssey, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today gave us a glimpse of few of the major missions that it has in store for its 2020 bucket list.
Though the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, India’s first manned space mission is amongst its most prominent missions, the new year also heralds a new chapter for India’s Moon mission, as ISRO is all set to once again attempt to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface with its mission Chandrayaan-3.
Following the Chandrayaan-2 where a snag in the communication led to subsequent failure of soft landing attempt after a successful orbital insertion, India had announced plans for a third lunar mission.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru to showcase the range of missions that ISRO will be working on in the 2020 and beyond, ISRO Chairperson K Sivan officially announced on Wednesday that the launch of India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 may happen next year. He said that the work on Chandrayaan-3 has started and it is going at full speed.
Talking about the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, the ISRO chief informed that 4 astronauts, who are Indian Air Force test pilots, have been short-listed and they will go to Russia for training by this month-end. Sivan proudly said: In 1984, Rakesh Sharma flew in a Russian module, but this time the Indian astronauts will fly in an Indian module from India.
ISRO Chief K Sivan: The work on Chandrayaan-3 has started and it is going at full speed. https://t.co/aDjKT0tylC
Speaking at the Symposium on Human Spaceflight and Exploration here on Wednesday, the ISRO chief said that the first phase of payload selection for human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan has been completed. “The opportunity for microgravity experiments have been announced and the first phase of payload selection has been selected (for Gaganyaan),” said K Sivan.
Ahead of the launch of India’s maiden human spaceflight venture ‘Gaganyaan’ in December 2021, ISRO will undertake two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, ISRO chairman K Sivan said on Wednesday.
ISRO also shared the first glimpse of the humanoid that it hopes to send to space at the end of this year before finally sending humans in 2022.
Sam Dayal, an ISRO scientist revealed that half-humanoid ‘Vyommitra’ will be placed in the first unmanned mission under Gaganyaan to simulate most of the human body functions on an experimental basis. “It will try to simulate a human and report back to us. We are doing this as an experiment”, said Sam Dayal.
Bengaluru: ISRO’s half humanoid ‘Vyommitra’ to be placed in the first unmanned mission under #Gaganyaan to simulate most of the human body functions. Sam Dayal, ISRO scientist says, “It will try to simulate a human & report back to us. We are doing this as an experiment”. pic.twitter.com/tikJJLierO
Isro plans to send ‘Vyommitra’ to space later this year using its most powerful rocket – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII.
Meanwhile, ISRO’s most ambitious Gaganyaan mission aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capability to low earth orbit for a duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days. The mission is expected to cost Rs. 10,000 crore.
Pakistan is yet again facing a major food crisis as prices of wheat flour has shot up to as high as PKR 75 per kilogram at several retail stores in the country. According to reports, Pakistan is facing a severe shortage of wheat flour, especially in the North-West part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where an 85-kilo bag of wheat flour is selling at PKR 5,200 while a 20-kg bag is selling at PKR 1,100.
Reportedly, in Multan, people are forced to buy wheat flour for more than PKR 60 as there has been an artificial scarcity. The roti sellers (nanbais) in KP have gone on a strike after their negotiations with the government failed. In other cities of Punjab including Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala, the wheat is being sold at PKR 70 per kg.
According to Pakistan govt sources, a recent transporters strike is the main reason behing the crisis as the mills didn’t get wheat on time. While the millers say that there has been a massive increase in wheat consumption by at poultry or animal feed mills, causing the shortage.
The govt of Pakistan has decided to import 300,000 tonnes of wheat to ease the pressure on supply of the commodity.
In addition to that, a serious case of sugar shortage has also emerged in Pakistan amidst the wheat crisis. Sugar prices in Pakistan have shot up to as high as PKR 64 a kilo. Over the past week, the wholesale rate rose from PKR 64 to PKR 74 per kg and an acute shortage surfaced in the country.
The prices of bread are also now ranging more than PKR 12-15 apiece. The sellers have increased prices of Roti and Naan following wheat and gas price skyrocketed in the country, overburdening the middle and lower-middle classes due to unchecked rise.
It is learnt that Roti prices have jumped from Rs 5 to Rs 10 to Rs 15 and Naan prices from Rs 15 to Rs 25 in the market. The Tandoor owners said the government had increased gas tariff and they were unable to afford Roti and Naan at old rates.
Justifying the rates, Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid on Saturday gave a bizarre explanation for the recent wheat shortage and price hike in the country. “In December and November, people eat more bread than usual,” the minister said at a press conference. “It’s not a joke, a study backs my claims,” he replied when reporters burst into laughter after his peculiar explanation.
Last year in July, Pakistan had faced a similar food crisis in the country and the Prime Minister of the country Imran Khan had to chair a cabinet meeting to decide on the gas tariffs for tandoors and prices of roti and naan.
