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MoS Bhagirath Choudhary invites protesting farmers for talks, says government is open for dialogue

ANI
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MoS Bhagirath Choudhary invites protesting farmers for talks, says government is open for dialogue

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bhagirath Choudhary, on Friday invited protesting farmers for talks, stating that the government is open for holding dialogue with them.

“Doors are open for the farmers to come and have a dialogue regarding their issues. I am also their brother, and if they want to come, doors are open. If they want us to go there, we will go in between them to have a dialogue,” he said.

Earlier in the day, farmers marching towards Delhi under the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest were stopped at the Shambhu border. The farmers had announced their march to the national capital, Delhi, to push for their various demands.

“They (police) will not let us go (to Delhi). Farmer leaders have got injured; we will hold a meeting to decide the future strategy,” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said at the border.

Pandher had earlier said that they should be allowed to enter Delhi and hold talks with the Centre. He had also stressed that they should be given a place in the national capital to protest.

“We should be allowed to go towards Delhi peacefully or we should be talked to about our demands…The doors for talks are open from the farmers’ side. We have been saying that if the government wants to talk, then show us the letter of the central government or the CM office of Haryana or Punjab…We want the central government to accept our demands…They should give us a place to protest in Delhi…Internet services should be restored in Ambala,” he stated.

Earlier in the day, police officials stated that the farmers did not have permission to enter Haryana.

Drone footage showed police barricades where 101 farmers were stopped, and heavy police personnel were deployed. Police also used tear gas to disperse protesting farmers at the Haryana-Punjab Shambhu Border.

“The farmers do not have any permission to enter Haryana. The Ambala administration has imposed Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS),” a police officer at the border told ANI.

Meanwhile, in response to the protest, the Haryana government has ordered an internet shutdown in ten villages in Ambala from December 6 to 9 to curb misinformation.

The Bhartiya Kisan Parishad (BKP) and other farmer groups are demanding compensation and a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

‘Hindus demanding temple are ‘dictators-tyrants’, always against the law’: Retired SC judge cries foul over SC verdict on Ram Mandir

अर्पित त्रिपाठी
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‘Hindus demanding temple are ‘dictators-tyrants’, always against the law’: Retired SC judge cries foul over SC verdict on Ram Mandir

The Supreme Court in the year 2019 concluded the long-standing controversy revolving around Ayodhya’s Ram Janmahoomi by delivering a verdict in favour of truth. The Court stated that the said land belonged to the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Trust and that it had been the birthplace of Lord Ram for centuries. The court then also directed the Trust to build a temple on the land. The leftists and the so-called liberal section of the country later cried foul about the verdict for a long time claiming that the Supreme Court had allegedly delivered a biased judgment. 5 years after the verdict, the Ram temple today stands strong in Ayodhya attracting lakhs of Hindu devotees. But the criticism of the SC verdict delivered 5 years ago hasn’t stopped.

On Thursday, 6th December, former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Nariman criticized the 5 judge bench that delivered the Ayodhya verdict 5 years ago and said that the verdict was nothing but a ‘mockery of justice’ that violated the basic principle of secularism. Justice Nariman delivered the inaugural lecture of the Ahmadi Foundation, which was established in remembrance of Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi, the 26th Chief Justice of India (CJI). While delivering the lecture he said, “We find today, like hydra heads popping up all over the country, there is suit after suit filed all over the place. Now not only concerning mosques but also dargahs. All this can lead to communal tension and disharmony, contrary to what is envisaged in both our Constitution and the Places of Worship Act.”

Justice Nariman stated that the five-judge constitution bench that issued the ruling in 2019 further elaborated on the purpose of the Places of Worship Act. “This very Constitution Bench spends five pages on it and says that in secularism, which is a part of the Basic Structure, you cannot look backwards, you have to look forward… Every religious place of worship is frozen until 15th August 1947. Now, anybody who tries to change this, those suits will stand dismissed,” he added. 

Nariman meanwhile also remarked that the entire issue surrounding the Ram Janmabhoomi began in the year 1984. He termed the karseva movement led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as the ‘dictatorial’ and ‘tyrannical’ demand to construct the temple. Further elaborating on his professional interactions with cases emerging from the Babri structure demolition in 1992, Nariman stated that in that year, two FIRs were filed, one against the karsevaks and the other against the political figures who allegedly encouraged the activities.

“Until it came to me, in 2017, when I was sitting with Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, nothing had taken place in these two FIRs for 25 years,” he claimed.

Nariman also accused the Hindu community of consistently acting against the law in the Ram Temple case. However, the historical record shows otherwise. The Hindu side has always adhered to legal avenues, fighting its case from the time of British judges to the District Court, the High Court, and eventually the Supreme Court. The Hindus have sought the temple’s rightful place within the framework of the law, even when their deity was constantly being dismissed and disrespected as ‘imaginary.’

If Hindus had truly acted outside the law, the Babri Masjid would not have stood until December 6th, 1992, nor would the temple consecration have been planned 3 decades later. Further, Nariman is also believed to have expressed disappointment over why a ‘mosque’ was not rebuilt on the same site after the Babri demolition.

Nariman described the failure to construct a mosque as a ‘travesty of justice,’ suggesting it would have served as appropriate compensation against the demolition of the claimed mosque. Amid this Nariman happened to overlook the fact that the real compensation lay in the construction of the Ram Temple. He seemed concerned about compensating for the demolition of a structure but showed little regard for addressing the centuries of injustice faced by Hindus.

Nariman criticized the SC verdict, claiming that ‘secularism’ was disregarded during the deliverance of the judgment. By his implication, it seems that secularism would only have been upheld if Hindus had abandoned their claim and remained silent.

He meanwhile also expressed frustration over the fact that the Mosques and Dargahs which have been built by demolishing the Hindu temples were being sent notices. He termed such petitions ‘hydra heads’ and claimed that such petitions could lead to increased communal tensions in the society.

Nariman, while concluding the lecture then called for the strict implementation of the 1991 law, which prevents Hindus from approaching the courts to address the historical vandalism of their religious sites. He argued that tolerance and communal harmony can only be achieved by enforcing a stringent law.

Rohinton Nariman’s displeasure with the Ram Temple decision can also be traced back to statements made by his father, Fali S. Nariman, one of the country’s most prominent lawyers. Fali S. Nariman had earlier expressed discomfort with the idea of a Hindu monk becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Rohinton Nariman himself has made controversial remarks about the dignity of women in the Sanatan tradition, citing the Rigveda. It is crucial to wonder what the societal reaction would have been had he made a similar comment about women referring to texts from some other specific religion. That would have been a true test of tolerance then, isn’t it?

NGO launches Hinduphobia Tracker: Here’s what it is, how it works and how you can submit hate crimes against Hindus

OpIndia Staff
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NGO launches Hinduphobia Tracker: Here’s what it is, how it works and how you can submit hate crimes against Hindus

To document the incidents of hate crimes against Hindus in India and abroad, a Hinduphobia Tracker has been launched. The anti-Hindu hate tracker has been launched by an NGO named Gavishti Foundation, which is headed by Nupur J Sharma and Rahul Roushan – the editor-in-chief and CEO of OpIndia respectively.

The Hinduphobia Tracker’s stated goal is to document religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus, create awareness about the persecution of Hindus, release research papers and advocate for human rights for Hindus. The project aims to transparently and accurately record religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus, in order to effectively represent the ongoing persecution of Hindus, raise awareness and advocate against the prejudices against the community. 

The Hinduphobia Tracker has published a database of religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus, with an accompanying explanation for each case as to what makes the case a hate crime, driven by religious animosity. The tracker has divided these crimes into 8 primary categories.

  1. Hate Crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes
  2. Attack not resulting in death
  3. Attack on Hindu religious symbols
  4. Restriction/ban on Hindu practices
  5. Hate speech against Hindus
  6. Predatory Proselytisation
  7. Hindu Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women
  8. Attacks resulting in death

All categories have been meticulously defined using international conventions and standards and parameters set for how crimes would be evaluated under each category, to determine if the case is a religiously motivated hate crime.

Hinduphobia as a term has evolved over the years to encompass a wide range of negative emotions, attitudes and actions against Hindus based on their religious identity, which has also led to religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus. The Hinduphobia Tracker has released a working definition of the word Hinduphobia.

Hinduphobia is any action and/or speech, written or spoken (academic, institutional, political and/or random), violence and/or discriminatory action/attitude, which is born out of hatred, fear, prejudice, animosity, hostility and/or bias against Hindus (people following Sanatan Dharma and/or various sampradayas of Hindus and/or various Panths under the Dharmic fold), as individuals, groups of a class of people, the faith they profess (Hinduism), their cultures, traditions, forms and methods of worship, scriptures, tenets and civilizational values and beliefs.

Hinduphobia can be directed towards individuals and/or their property, toward the Hindu community as a whole, Hindu institutions, Hindu religious facilities (including temples and temporary religious structures), symbols of the Hindu faith, the native and civilizational land of Hindus conceived as a Hindu collectively owing to religious prejudice, animosity, hostility and hatred.

Hinduphobia includes any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative, discriminatory or violent language with reference to Hindus, Hinduism, elements of the religious identity of Hindus as individuals or as a religious, ethnic group, stemming from bias, prejudice and/or religious and/or cultural animosity leading to dehumanization, stigmatization, scapegoating, stereotyping, calls to violence and in many cases, violence.

Hate speech against Hindus often includes the denial and/or mocking of historical and/or ongoing persecution, subversion of scriptures, promotion of and/or call for direct/indirect violence, support for targeted and directed violence, calls for the eradication of sections of Hindus using ideological euphemisms, glorification of perpetrators of religiously targeted hate crimes against Hindus, dog-whistling against Hindus – individuals or groups of Hindus, doxxing based on religious identity and/or opinions, caricaturing groups and/or sects of Hindus to legitimize their stigmatization/dehumanization/large scare violence, mocking and/or denigrating symbols and/or representatives of faith, fake news targeted against Hindus with the aim to stigmatise Hindus, misrepresentation/fake news to paint Hindus as the perpetrators/aggressors based on bias and/or prejudice and more.

At release, the Hinduphobia Tracker database has recorded 1,314 religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus since 1st January 2023. The tracker is not an exhaustive list and they have also documented 191 ‘undecided cases’ (crimes which are suspected to be hate crimes but the religious motivation is not proven). Moreover, 589 cases have been tagged as pending review.

The database is a work in progress and aims to document as many religiously motivated hate crimes as possible, to make it an accurate representation of ground realities. 

The database is available for public scrutiny with a provision for people to raise disputes and also, submit hate crimes for the team to analyse and add to the hate crime database. Here is how the portal can be used to access the database, and also to submit hate crimes against Hindus for inclusion in the database.

The homepage of the website features a Hate Crime Map, where each crime recorded in the database has been marked on the place of the crime on an embedded Google Map. Hate crimes are indicated on the map by various symbols, based on the category of the crime. Each symbol is a clickable button, which opens a summary of that crime on the left side of the map. This includes a link to the details of that specific crime.

While the map is centred on India, it can be zoomed out and panned to view anti-Hindu hate crimes in other countries.

Scrolling down the homepage, basic statistics about the recorded hate crimes can be viewed, including visual representations of the data in the form of charts. Below that, the homepage has links to various important articles regarding the Hinduphobia tracker and the hate crime database.

The Hinduphobia database can accessed by clicking the ‘Hate Crime Database’ on the navigation bar on the top of the website. It displays the live number of crimes recorded under various categories, and a table listing every crime recorded in the database.

Users can select hate crimes for a particular category by selecting that category from the drop-down list. Anti-Hindu hate crimes can be searched by typing keywords in the search box given in the page, and crimes that took place during a specific period can be displayed by selecting from and to dates.

The table below displays the hate crimes based on the filter applied, and each row in the table can be clicked to view the details of the specific crime. The details open in a new tab in the browser, which displays the case summary, and an explanation on why it has been listed as a hate crime.

Each page has an option that allows users to either submit additional information related to the crime, or raise a dispute regarding the case. One can click the button titled ‘Submit Additional Information/Raise a dispute’ for this purpose, which opens a new page where the required information along with supporting documents can be submitted.

Each case has been assigned a specific case ID, displayed on the top of the page, and this Case ID needs to be submitted while submitting additional information or disputes.

The ‘Undecided Cases’ option on the top navigation bar opens a page similar to the Hate Crime Database, with the same options to view the recorded crimes, and submit additional information or dispute. These cases have not been listed as hate crimes because all the required information of the crime to be listed as a hate crime, for example the identity of the attackers, the motive of the attack, etc are not available yet.

Users can submit hate crimes not included in the database by using the ‘Report Hate Crime’ option on the top navigation bar. Clicking this option opens a form, where the details of the crime can be submitted, supporting documents can be uploaded and relevant categories for the crime can be selected.

Images, videos, or pdf files containing more information such as newspaper clippings, video clip of TV news report, FIR copy, etc can be uploaded as supporting evidence for the crime being reported. Users are required to provide their names and email IDs while submitting new anti-Hindu hate crimes. After such a case been submitted, the Hinduphobia Tracker team will review the case and add it to the database if it qualifies as a hate crime based on the stated parameters.

Currently, the tracker is documenting cases in or after January 2023. However, the database will be expanded soon.

Father of two, Mohammad Saheb, rapes a 12-year-old girl for a month: Kidnapped from Bihar and subjected to atrocities in Kolkata, Vizag, and Ranchi

OpIndia Staff
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Father of two, Mohammad Saheb, rapes a 12-year-old girl for a month: Kidnapped from Bihar and subjected to atrocities in Kolkata, Vizag, and Ranchi

In Bihar’s Nawada, a person named Mohammad Saheb allegedly raped a class fifth student. The accused used to live in the victim’s neighbourhood and is the father of two children.

According to an Aaj Tak report, Mohammad Saheb kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from the Bhadouni Raja Nagar neighbourhood in October of this year, then brought her to Calcutta, Vishakhapatnam, and Ranchi, where he raped her for one month.

To keep the victim unconscious during a month of perpetual rape and torture, Mohammed Saheb gave her intoxicants several times and finally on December 3, he abandoned the girl at Sadbhavna Chowk and fled.

The victim’s father has filed a complaint with the police and said that his 12-year-old daughter went to the ration shop late on the 27th of October. When she did not return for a long time, a thorough search was conducted, and the city police station was eventually notified.

After a month, the girl returned home on 3rd December, leaving everyone surprised by her condition. Upon questioning, it turned out that Mohammad Saheb, who lived in the vicinity, had raped her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the brutalities inflicted upon her by the accused.

Media reports say that the accused has not been arrested yet. Meanwhile, the victim’s family is pleading with the SP DM for justice.

Notably, in July this year, a case of rape of a three-year-old girl came to light in Nawada, Bihar. The incident took place in Nardiganj police station. Police investigation revealed that the accused had picked up the girl while she was sleeping at night and after that, he raped her and threw her in a blood-soaked state.

HDFC relationship manager accused of defrauding a customer of Rs 3 crores, Bombay HC pulls up police, sends notices to RBI and HDFC

OpIndia Staff
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HDFC relationship manager accused of defrauding a customer of Rs 3 crores, Bombay HC pulls up police, sends notices to RBI and HDFC

A bank is usually regarded as the safest place to store one’s money and assets. However, what if the bank employees betray your trust and steal your hard-earned funds? This is exactly what happened to 53-year-old Meenakshi Kapuria. Her relationship manager, 27-year-old Payal Kothari, breached her trust and broke her Rs 3 crore worth of fixed deposits. She then transferred the funds to fake accounts, before eventually siphoning the money into her own accounts. Furthermore, she did not receive any SMS or email notifications.

The alarming matter is related to the prominent HDFC Bank in Mumbai. The case serves as a stark reminder not to put full faith in anyone, even bank employees as Kothari had earned Kapuria’s trust and took blank signed cheques from her, assuring that the money would be invested in mutual funds, gold bonds, new fund offers, and other avenues that would yield higher returns than fixed deposits. One might wonder how this could be possible. In a display of her cunning, Kothari altered the victim’s mobile number and email address in the bank’s records, which is why she did not receive any alerts when the transactions were underway, based on authorities. The latter had lodged a police complaint in October and also approached Bombay High Court.

Fortunately, the culprit was arrested on the morning of 3rd December. The petitioner stated that, in addition to Kothari, other bank officials appeared to be involved in the embezzlement. Meanwhile, the court criticized the Mumbai Police for its handling of the investigation. It also issued notices to HDFC Bank, shortly after the arrest of the accused and to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), seeking their response to the woman’s petition at the next hearing. “Ultimately, people trust a particular bank, and a relationship manager takes a person for a ride. What faith will people have now in the banking system,” the furious bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan questioned.

On 2nd December, Kapuria’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddiquee, mentioned that the Versova police were pressuring his client to settle the matter with the offender. The judges then instructed Zonal DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Dikshit Gedam to be present at the subsequent hearing. The next day, Prosecutor Kranti Hiwrale stated that the police had frozen Kothari’s bank accounts, which contained a total of Rs 30,000. On the other hand, Justice Mohite-Dere questioned the intentions of the police, expressing concern over their suspicious actions in the case.

She asked, “Why does an arrest have to be made only when a complainant comes to the court? And you’re (police) asking parties to settle the matter?” Gedam stated that one more individual might be taken into custody soon. According to him, senior PI (Police Inspector) Gajanan Pawar has taken over the inquiry from PI Amol Dhole and will oversee it. He assured that a departmental investigation would be launched in response to a question regarding Dhole’s dereliction of duty.

“Every day, we are receiving such complaints against police officers from various police stations,” the court pointed out sternly. It refered to the case as “extremely serious” and after inquiring whether the police had conducted an inquiry with the bank, it added, “They can’t be allowed to go scot-free.” The judges expressed their displeasure over the sheer negligence displayed by the bank. Justice Mohite-Dere slammed, “Is there no accountability of any bank when money is siphoned off under their nose?”

Siddiquee referred to an RBI circular. The justices ordered that the RBI and the senior manager of HDFC Bank’s Lokhandwala branch or regional manager in charge of Mumbai be impleaded “considering the manner in which the petitioner was cheated.” They pronounced, “This can’t be tolerated. Today, this is one case that has come up. Let them know what is happening because there are a lot of senior citizens who have parked their money in fixed deposits for their security in old age.”

The matter has been posted for 13th December. The judges also noted that they would like to know how much was in Kapuria’s account both before and after the FIR (First Information Report) was filed on 30th October “because you did not act with promptness, whether the money was siphoned off after registration of FIR.”

Now, the elderly woman is left to fight a legal battle to recover her money, all due to the betrayal of her relationship manager and the recklessness of the bank she had trusted. Ironically, HDFC Bank’s tagline is “We understand your world.” Perhaps they should have focused more on understanding the intentions of their employees or better yet, chosen better employees.

Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak passed in Rajya Sabha replacing Aircraft Act, Aviation Minister K Naidu schools INDI Alliance for opposing the Hindi name

OpIndia Staff
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Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak passed in Rajya Sabha replacing Aircraft Act, Aviation Minister K Naidu schools INDI Alliance for opposing the Hindi name

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 6th December, passed the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak (BVV), 2024 replacing the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, 1934. The bill that was passed in the Lok Sabha in August this year looks forward to facilitating the ease of doing business in the aviation sector.

Amid this, the opposition parties led by the INDI Alliance opposed the bill claiming that the name of the bill had been changed from English to Hindi. Some of them also indicated that the Hindi name of the bill was complicated and that it violated the Constitutional rule.

However, responding to this, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu addressed the upper house and said that the name was changed to Hindi to showcase India’s heritage and culture and that there was no violation of the Constitutional rule.

“It will be difficult to pronounce the name of the bill in Hindi initially but one will get used to it. Many people seem to feel ashamed to pronounce this name but there’s nothing to feel ashamed of. The intention of the government to name the old bill in Hindi was just to showcase India’s culture,” he said.

“Under PM Modi, we want to break the cocoon of Colonisation and show the true colors of India. Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak is a mixture of all languages. I am a Telugu and I am proud of my language. Despite this, I support the Hindi name because Bharat is called Bharat in Telugu also. Further Varyu is also a Telegu word. So the name of the bill is half Telugu for me,” he added.

Further, he said that many often pronounce his name erroneously because they can’t pronounce ‘Kinjarapu’, but that does not mean he opts to change his original identity. “People get used to it,” he reiterated.

The Aircraft Act was implemented in India in the year 1934 after which it has been amended 21 times to date. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak now seeks to replace the Aircraft Act, of 1934 while still retaining most of the provisions of the Act. It sets up DGCA for overseeing safety and performing regulatory functions, BCAS for overseeing security, and AAIB for investigating accidents.  

Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak will regulate and control the design, manufacture, maintenance, possession, use, operation, sale, export and import of aircraft and incidental matters. This bill adds new offences and penalties for them.

The Act also regulates activities related to aircraft including manufacturing, possession, use, and trade. The Act was passed in the Upper House on 6th December 2024.

Farmers protest: Protesters gather at Shambhu border to march towards Delhi seeking implementation of 12 demand charter

OpIndia Staff
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Farmers protest: Protesters gather at Shambhu border to march towards Delhi seeking implementation of 12 demand charter

A large contingent of ‘farmers’ has gathered at the Shambhu border, from where they propose to march towards Delhi later on Friday (6th December). Drone visuals from the site showed large groups of farmers converging at the border.

At the Shambhu border, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said there would be a group of 100 farmers marching towards Delhi peacefully and have no intention of breaking the barricades present.

Speaking to ANI, Pandher said “The central and state governments had told the Supreme Court that they had a problem with farmers moving towards Delhi on tractors. A group of 100 farmers will move towards Delhi peacefully. We have no intention of breaking the barricades. We hope that the government allows us to move towards Delhi and protest peacefully. The doors for talk are open from the farmers’ side. We have been saying that if the government wants to talk, then they should show us the letter from the central government or the CM’s office of Haryana or Punjab.”

A protestor complained that the promises made to them were not fulfilled and questioned on why the government was stopping them at the borders. “We are here on a protest and will be going till Delhi.. the government can do anything they want. None of the promises made to us are being fulfilled.. we are Indians too, and most importantly farmers. Why are they stopping us at the borders. Why cant they let us protest peacefully..? The BJP government, the central government are not listening to us…,” questioned the protestor. Sukhwinder Kaur, another protestor said that the protest would continue and taking into consideration the request made by the Haryana government, they decided to carry the protest on foot.

“We took in the considerations of the Haryana government and decided to protest on foot. Despite that, they have been taking action against us and have stuck notices in Punjab. We have nothing except for our flags and our bags. When we reach Delhi, if we are asked to take permission from the government, we will do that. We will stick to our plan and we will see what the government will do with us,” Kaur said speaking to ANI.

Talking about the demands of the farmers, she stated that the main demand was that of the Minimum Support Price. (MSP) “We have 12 demands and our main demand is that of the MSP. The Punjab government said they would do it but even after waiting for one month, they didn’t and we protested against it. We are ready to talk to them but they have not asked us anything..We are not begging, we are just asking for something for what we do. Where are we at fault?” she added.

The protest, led by the Bhartiya Kisan Parishad (BKP), in collaboration with other farmer organisations, seeks compensation and benefits linked to agricultural reforms, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Meanwhile, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has accused the Uttar Pradesh police of trespassing into farmer leaders’ homes to detain them under the guise of ‘house arrest’ without regard for any provisions of the CrPC or the BNSS. The SKM demanded an apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A large security force has been posted on the Haryana side of the border. The Ambala district administration has issued an order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to prohibit any unlawful gathering of five or more people in the area. According to the deputy commissioner’s directive, all foot, automobile, and other processions are prohibited until further notice. Additionally, Ambala officials have ordered the closure of all government and private schools in the area.

Reacting to the farmers’ march, Haryana Minister Anil Vij said, “Have they taken the permission? How can they be allowed to go (to Delhi) without permission? If they get permission, they will be allowed…you are going there for a programme if you have to sit there, you need to get permission.”

Notably, bringing a law legalising MSP would involve a tremendous fiscal burden on the government exchequer, there would be a risk of undervaluation of crops with low yields, an increase in food inflation, market distortionary and economically unsustainable practices, and India would face opposition in the WTO as well as trade disputes with importing countries.

(With inputs from ANI)

Maoists kill of two former sarpanches in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, leave pamphlet on BJP leader’s body with the threat ‘leave BJP or get killed’

OpIndia Staff
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Maoists kill of two former sarpanches in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur, leave pamphlet on BJP leader’s body with the threat ‘leave BJP or get killed’

Maoists killed two former sarpanchs in the insurgency-affected district of Bijapur after kidnapping them. One of them was a BJP worker who was killed for sticking with the Bharatiya Janata Party in spite of threats to leave the party. Maoists also placed a leaflet on his body with a message to BJP workers, “Quit BJP or die.” On the morning of 5th December, the bodies of Sukhram Avalam and BJP leader Suklu Farsa were discovered at different places in the district. They were both kidnapped a day earlier. Farsa’s adolescent daughter posted a video in which she begged for his life, but all she received was his body with his neck cut.

Since February 2023, eleven BJP officials and three Congress workers have been killed in the Bastar division. Maoists have threatened BJP workers with death unless they leave the party. Police protection was granted to roughly forty-three BJP leaders and workers in March of this year. Farsa headed the BJP farmers’ wing Kisan Morcha in Bhairamgarh at the block level and served as the sarpanch of Aadwada-Biriyabhumi village from 2004 to 2009. Sukhram was the former sarpanch of Kaderh village.

On the night of 3rd December, Farsa was kidnapped from Aadwada while he was 7 kilometres away in Bhairamgarh, a Maoist hotspot, to attend a funeral. This area is around 400 km from Raipur and 50 km from the district headquarters of Bijapur. Three masked guys surrounded Farsa and his wife and pulled him into the wilderness. His daughter made a video plea for his release because the family wasn’t certain the kidnappers were Maoists. Sukhram was murdered in the Naimed area. The killings occur right before the state’s local body elections.

A Maoist pamphlet was found attached to Farsa’s clothes when his body was found in the Biriyabhoomi neighbourhood of Bhairamgarh. It declared that he was assassinated by the Bhairamgarh area’s Maoist committee because of his BJP affiliation. “He was warned two-three times by Maoists but he didn’t pay heed. The fourth time, PLGA punished him with death. We ask BJP workers to quit the party or else they will be given death punishment for sure. This is a warning,” it read.

According to sources, the Salwa Judum, a state-sponsored militia that is currently illegal and was primarily made up of tribal village youths, was founded during Farsa’s tenure as sarpanch. The Supreme Court ordered the disbandment of the militia in 2011, which had been established in 2005 for counterinsurgency operations. An official informed, “While Farsa had moved to Bhairamgarh in 2006, he frequently visited his village but never received threats.”

Sukhram, who had allegedly resided in Shantinagar in the Bijapur block, was apparently visiting the village for some farm-related work when his murder took place in the Gangaloor district of Bijapur. His corpse was located by the side of the road close to Kader village around 20 kilometers away. He was taken into the forest by two men who attacked him on his way back from the village market on 4th December, and he had been missing ever since. A Maoist pamphlet affixed to his clothing stated that Sukhram had been murdered by the Gangaloor area committee’s Naxals, similar to Farsa.

It mentioned, “Sukhram had signed papers for approval of setting up security camps in the region, that’s why he has been killed as a punishment. Any sarpanch who cheats the public, works for the police, will be given a death sentence by PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army).” Police filed a case and sent both bodies for autopsy. This year, Maoists have killed at least 25 civilians in Bijapur alone.

A policeman attributed the recent killings on the neighboring Indravati river’s dropping water levels. The official added, “As the river water level has gone down, Maoists from Abujhmad are crossing into Bhairamgarh. Otherwise, we had conducted several operations this year to push them back from Bijapur.” The two fatalities bring the total number of civilians killed by the Naxals in 2024 to over 60, the highest since 85 were slain in 2018.

Mumbai: Irani gang attack police with stones after they arrest chain snatcher, 3 severely injured

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai: Irani gang attack police with stones after they arrest chain snatcher, 3 severely injured

On Wednesday, 5th December evening, 3 police personnel of Mumbai Police identified as Assistant Police Inspector Yaswant Palwe from MIDC Police Station, Hanumant Pujari, and Sunil Lokhande were severely injured after a group of around 20 notorious Iranian gang members pelted stones at the Ambivli railway station area of Maharashtra’s Mumbai.

As per the reports, the incident is said to have happened when the Andheri East MIDC Police personnel arrived in the Iranian locality near the Ambivli railway station area to arrest a 20-year-old Iranian chain snatcher.

The snatcher had been accused in one of the cases after which the police launched an operation to search for the accused and nab him.

The police arrived in the area at around 9:30 pm in the Iranian Basti and arrested the accused before taking him to the Ambivli Railway Station area heading towards Mumbai for investigation.

As the police reached the railway station, a group of notorious Iranian members launched a deadly attack on the police, pelting stones at the officers.

The gang members collected the stones from the nearby railway track and attacked the officers injuring three very severely. The injured officers were shifted to the hospital for proper treatment and later discharged. The video of the incident is making rounds on social media in which the gang members can be seen picking up the stones from the track and throwing them at the police officers.

The police teams confirmed to the media that a team of 15 officers, including three inspectors, was examining a case lodged at the MIDC Police Station in the Irani area of Ambivli. They apprehended Onu Lala Irani and took him to the railway station, where an Iranian mob eventually assembled and allegedly attacked them.

The police said they arrested Onu Lala Irani, 20 following which several Iranians including women and minors gathered illegally near the railway station and caused a ruckus on the station grounds by pelting stones at the police personnel.

Following this, the accused, Onu Irani, escaped from police custody. The others meanwhile pelted stones further to damage the railway office. Notably, an FIR against the 20 Iranian persons has been filed under sections 109(1), 132, 121(1), 189(2), (3), (5), 262, 263, 352, 351(1), and 3(5) of the Bhartiya Nyan Sanhita and relevant sections of the Railway Act.

So far, the Mumbai police have detained four accused and have identified 5 minors in the case. “We have also filed an FIR against 15 to 20 people who allegedly unlawfully gathered at the railway premises and were pelting stones, causing the glasses of the booking office to break,” Pandhari Kande, Senior Police Inspector from Kalyan Railway said.

Meanwhile, Yashwant Palwe, Assistant Police Inspector at MIDC Police Station, stated that a chain-snatching case was filed on November 1st at the MIDC police station. Based on CCTV footage and technical intelligence, the police had identified the accused and traced his location to an Iranian locality. 

Past attacks by Irani gang

This is not the first incident when the police officers have been attacked by a mob in the Irani Basti area. 

Last year on August 27th, a police team from the DN Nagar Police Station in Mumbai was attacked by a mob from the Irani Basti area.

The Police team was attacked as it reached the Basti in the Ambivali region to arrest history-sheeter Firoz Fayyaz Khan who has 35 criminal cases registered against him.

The mob pelted stones at the team forcing it to call for the backup team who reached the spot immediately to arrest the accused.

in the year 2019, the police team was attacked, and pelted with stones and bottles when it reached the area to nab four wanted thieves. Jafar Ali Syed was then taken into custody.

Further, in April 2017, when police went into Irani Basti to apprehend a chain snatcher, a mob of 25 people attacked them and attempted to set one of them on fire by throwing kerosene at him.

Modi govt is empowering women, data shows massive increase in female labour force participation in 5 years: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Modi govt is empowering women, data shows massive increase in female labour force participation in 5 years: Details

In a major development, the female labour force participation rate (abbreviated as LFPR) has witnessed a drastic improvement in the past 5 years.

According to a report [pdf] published by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), rural female LFPR has increased from 24.6% to 41.5% between 2017-2018 and 2022-2023 at the national level.

This suggests an overall growth of 69% in a span of 5 years. States like Jharkhand, Bihar and Nagaland have witnessed tremendous growth.

Screengrab of the report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

Moreover, the urban female labour force participation rate has increased by 25% from 20.4% to 25.4% between 2017-2018 and 2022-2023 at the national level.

Gujarat has witnessed notable growth of 63% while Tamil Nadu has seen a marginal rise in urban female LFPR.

“The general trends show that female LFPR has increased in almost all states, with rural areas seeing larger gains than urban areas,” the report stated.

The report also found a significant rise in female LFPR among married women, especially in States like Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Rajasthan.

It must be mentioned that female LFPR is a key indicator of economic empowerment of women and economic inclusiveness.

Policies of Modi govt are empowering women

According to the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, the policies of the incumbent Modi govt have fuelled the remarkable improvement in female Labour participation rate, especially in rural areas.

“There have been numerous schemes of the Government, especially targeting rural women over the last ten years. These include Mudra loans, the “Drone Didi” scheme and SHGs mobilised under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana to name a few major initiatives for rural women,” the report stated.

“There are many other initiatives that have been aligned with the vision of women-led development across India,” it further added.

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