Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who started his reelection campaign for upcoming polls in Canada on September 11, wore a racist ‘brownface’ make up at a party in the private school he worked at as a teacher back in 2001. As reported by TIME, the picture was taken at an ‘Arabian Nights’ themed gala where Trudeau had worn brown makeup on his face, neck and hands and is also sporting a turban and robes.
Trudeau, the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was 29-years-old back then when the picture was clicked. It appeared in the 2000-2001 yearbook of the West Point Grey Academy where he was teaching.
Following the publication of the photograph, Trudeau has apologised for the same. “I shouldn’t have done that. I should have known better and I didn’t. I’m really sorry,” he said. He even added that back then he did not consider it racist but now he “knows better”.
Trudeau, however, by his own admission been quite “enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate.”
Reporter: “Do you want to tell Canadians about any other instances where you are concerned that you were racist?”
Trudeau: “I’ve always — and you’ll know this — been more enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate.” pic.twitter.com/zFrW363cBE
As per reports, Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party in Canada said that Trudeau’s behaviour was “troubling” and “insulting” while National Council of Canadian Muslims found his appearance with ‘brownface’ “disgraceful”.
Turns out this was not the first time he wore such racist makeup. When Trudeau was in high school had worn the brown make up to sing ‘Day-O’, a Jamaican folk song performed by African-American singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte. However, Trudeau “deeply regrets” he did it.
Canada is set to go to polls on 21st October and Trudeau is seeking reelection. Pollsters in Canada suggest it will be a close competition between Trudeau and his opponent Andrew Scheer.
The Union government on Wednesday banned e-cigarettes in India, citing health risk to youths and children. The cabinet approved an ordinance making the production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale, distribution or advertisements of e-cigarettes a cognizable offence.
16 states and 1 union territory had already banned e-cigarettes in the year 2018, following an advisory by the central government. They include Punjab, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Odisha and Nagaland.
E-cigarette or electronic cigarette is a small electronic device which is used as an alternative to traditional cigarette. They are the most common form of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). It is a handheld battery power vaporiser which produces an aerosol or vapour by heating a liquid, and that vapour is inhaled. This provides an experience similar to smoking cigarettes, but without burning tobacco.
An e-cigarette is made up of a mouthpiece, a cartridge where the e-liquid is stored, a heating element or atomiser, a microprocessor, a battery, and some may have a LED to simulate the burning of a cigarette. There are some mechanical cigarettes also which do not include any electronic and is activated by a mechanical switch. The atomiser heats and vaporises the liquid solution, a wicking material carries the vapour to the mouthpiece through which it is inhaled by the user. Some devices have a push button to take a puff, while others are automatic which have sensors to detect inhaling and activate the atomiser.
e-cigarettes in various shapes
The liquid used in e-cigarettes generally contain propylene glycol, glycerine, nicotine, flavourings, additives, and various amounts contaminants. E-cigarettes liquids are available in various flavours, and the various formulations of the liquid is are produced. According to a WHO report in 2014, almost 8,000 different flavours were available in the market.
Since its introduction in 2003, the e-cigarette market has expanded rapidly. They have become extremely popular among teens and youths, contributed by attractive advertisement, easy availability, variety in flavours, and the belief that they are safer than cigarettes. E-cigarettes were even promoted as a way to quit smoking.
e-cigarettes also come disguised as various objects like pen, flash drive, lipstick etc, making it easy for use by teens undetected
As most e-cigarette formulations contain nicotine, this had triggered concern that e-cigarettes will lead to nicotine addiction, and resulting in same health risks as cigarettes. Nicotine is highly addictive drug, and it is equally harmful whether it comes from burning tobacco or heating a liquid.
E-cigarette formulations also contain various kinds of additives and flavours, which pose additional health risks. Some formulations also have been found to contain known carcinogens and toxic chemicals. Dangerous metal particles also may get inhaled from the heating element and the body of the device itself. The devices contain toxic elements like nickel, chromium, cadmium etc, and their particles can get mixed with the aerosol inhaled by the ‘smoker’. E-cigarettes can also be used to inhale other narcotic substances, posing another risk.
Due to the potential health risks of e-cigarettes, many countries have regulated it, and some have banned it. Several countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Singapore, Uruguay etc have banned it. Japan, Australia, Canada and few others have highly restricted it. In many other countries, including UK and US, only adults can buy e-cigarettes. The EU limits e-cigarette advertisement, and has ordered reduction in level of nicotine and flavours used. In some US states, flavoured formulations have been banned, as it has been found that various flavours make them attractive for non-smokers, which in turn make them addicted to nicotine and convert them into smokers.
The notification issued by government says that while e-cigarettes are promoted as safer alternatives to cigarettes, they actually induce non-smokers, especially teens and youths, towards nicotine use, which leads to addiction and use of conventional tobacco products.
The health risks of e-cigarettes are no longer a matter of debate, and the decision to ban it can’t be questioned. But this raises another question, why ban it when the traditional cigarettes are still allowed? This was asked by many on social media after the decision of government of India was announced. Some people argued why ban it when it can be taxed heavily like cigarettes.
Why ban when you can tax (heavily)?
Banning #ecigarettes while keeping tobacco products is bizarre. Neither health nor fiscal grounds for this decision, so what’s the logic? https://t.co/XYl6i2R9hG
Some people also wondered if the cigarette manufacturers and the tobacco lobby, including tobacco farmers, are behind the decision. The share prices of cigarette manufacturers indeed went up today after the decision was announced.
Trade bodies, users term ordinance to ban e-cigarettes a draconian move – [Seems Tobacco lobby sponsored ban without any medical or scientific study] https://t.co/VUDF12J5GB
The decision to ban e-cigarettes will restart the debate on banning cigarettes, and indeed it seems puzzling why government banned e-cigarettes citing health effects while continuing to allow the sale of cigarettes.
Although it is true that government earns huge revenue from cigarettes due to high taxes on it, it is unlikely that they are not banned due to the taxes. The government also spends huge amount of money in medical treatments of diseases arising out of tobacco consumption, which probably sets off the tax earned on cigarettes. Tobacco inhaling leads to various diseases like heart ailment, cancer, stroke etc, and many people suffering from such conditions avail treatment at government run hospitals.
Currently, most e-cigarettes are imported in India, and the ban will not affect any manufacturing, although it will have an effect on the traders. While only importers and retailers will be affected, any ban on cigarettes will have much wider implication, as lakhs of people are involved in tobacco farming, and work in cigarette manufacturing units. Cigarettes also earn export revenue, which is not the case with e-cigarettes.
Although it has been alleged, it is unlikely that the Modi government came under the pressure of cigarette manufacturers to ban e-cigarette. The government has taken several steps which were not liked by corporates, so it is unlikely for the govt to blink in front of cigarette companies. But the cigarette companies are not the only ones associated with the larger tobacco industry, it also includes the tobacco farmers and the unorganised sector involved in the beedi industry. And this is where it becomes very difficult to take a decision when the livelihood of a large number of farmers and small scale industries are at stack.
In fact, just recently the Bhartiya Kisan Union had requested the government to ban e-cigarettes in the country. In a letter sent to agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Monday, the union had said that if e-cigarettes are allowed in India, it will have a devastating effect on the tobacco farmers in India. They have said that e-cigarette companies who are trying to open shops in India are from outside India and they do not procure tobacco in India.
They had said that the extraction of nicotine from tobacco is done outside India, using tobacco grown outside India. The raw material used in the production of e-cigarette formulation is tobacco dust, which is produced during the processing of chewing and beedi tobacco, no fresh tobacco is used to extract nicotine, BKU had said.
Another important factor behind many countries prioritising ban on e-cigarettes is that, globally the use of cigarettes is coming down among teens and youths, while e-cigarettes are extremely popular among them. Due to declining popularity combined with increasing anti-tobacco campaign and rising awareness about tobacco-related diseases, cigarette sale has declined in recent years, which is a trend seen in globally too. On the other hand, the sale of e-cigarette is steadily rising, and it is more popular among teens and youths.
On the argument of why not tax e-cigarettes at high rates also like cigarettes to discourage its use, it has been seen that high taxes do not hamper the sale of cigarettes. Taxes are raised regularly on cigarettes, but it has not resulted in a decrease in cigarette consumption. Therefore, it was unlikely that imposing high taxes would have discouraged the use of e-cigarettes.
Banning cigarettes will be a highly controversial decision, and will face massive protests from farmers and other stakeholders, and that is the reason perhaps why no government has not banned it yet. As no such opposition is expected from banning e-cigarettes, it was an easier decision to take. It was a good decision to ban e-cigarette before it became difficult to do it, before the industry developed any serious clout in the country. And this is not the case with only India, cigarettes are not completely banned in any country, while several have banned e-cigarettes.
The Minister of State Defence and Minister of Ayush, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy(AYUSH) was recently seen in videos singing religious hymns about Gods and himself getting into the water to immerse the Ganesha idol.
In the above video, the former Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare can be seen singing devotional hymns to Gods.
Naik has been a passionate Ganesha devotee as in a previous video uploaded on September 7, 2019, the MoS Defence and AYUSH jumps in the water to immerse the Ganesha idol in his Adpai village in Goa.
In this video, Shripad Naik is seen diving in the water while carrying along with him a Ganesh idol. He subsequently immerses the Ganesh idol and then swims back to the shore.
In November 2014, Shripad Naik was anointed as the Minister of State Defence and five years later in 2019 after the Modi government came back to power with an even greater majority, Naik was entrusted with the Ministry of AYUSH. Naik was first elected in the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 and since then has held his seat of North Goa winning in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2018 elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday (September 18) cleared the controversy fomented by the opposition over his remarks on the Hindi language. Slamming those indulging in language politics Shah said he has never asked for imposition of Hindi anywhere in the country but advocated its use as the second language after one’s mother tongue.
“I too come from a non-Hindi speaking state. I come from Gujarat where Gujarati is the language, not Hindi. One has to listen to my speech carefully. If someone wants to do politics, it is their choice,” Shah issued a clarification, as reported by ANI.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah: I never asked for imposing Hindi over other regional languages&had only requested for learning Hindi as the 2nd language after one’s mother tongue. I myself come from a non-Hindi state of Gujarat. If some people want to do politics, its their choice pic.twitter.com/JXS3VFTKUl
Amit Shah on the occasion of Hindi Diwas on Saturday appealed to the citizens to increase the use of Hindi. Speaking at a function to commemorate Hindi Diwas, Shah hailed the diversity of languages and dialects in the country that he stressed was the “strength of our nation”.
“But there is a need for our nation to have one language so that foreign languages don’t find a place. This is why our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as ‘Raj bhasha’ (official language)” Amit Shah said at the event to mark the day the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi written in Devanagari script as the central government’s official language.
His statement was, however, distorted and used to stir controversy. Immediately media was abuzz with reports that Amit Shah was seeking a common language for the country and had proposed Hindi’s name. This got the ball rolling and raised the hackles of political leaders in some non-Hindi speaking States, especially in South India.
This supposed proposal was criticised by South India’s actor turned politicians like Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth who claimed that a common language cannot be implemented in India.
However, Amit Shah in its efforts to end the confusion said at an event organised by a Hindi daily: “A child can perform, a child’s proper mental growth is possible only when the child studies in the mother tongue. Mother tongue does not mean Hindi. It is the language of a particular state, like Gujarati in my state. But there should be one language in the country, if someone wants to learn another language, it should be Hindi. I have just made a request. I have failed to understand what is wrong in that,” he said.
The Tamil Nadu police have nabbed a Muslim man from Maharashtra, who was in the guise of a Hindu ‘saint’ draped in saffron clothing, at Erwadi in Ramanathapuram district in the state.
The 27-year-old man was identified as M Abdul Wahab from Sangli district in Maharashtra. Wahab was found loitering around the Erwadi Dargah, which is famous for treating mentally ill people, disguised as a Hindu sadhu.
When he visited some rural areas on Tuesday, the local people caught him on suspicion that he might have come with some ulterior motive and handed him over to the police. The police detained him for interrogation.
Superintendent of Police, Omprakash Meena, confirmed that the man was in possession of his Aadhaar card, which had the details of his name and residential address. The Tamil Nadu police have got on touch with their counterparts in Maharashtra to verify Wahab’s details. SP Meena confirmed that the future course of action will only be decided once they obtain the verification report from the Maharashtra police.
Recently, the Coimbatore city police had arrested five Muslim youths for allegedly planning to kill Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) leader Arjun Sampath and Sakthi Sena leader Anbu Mari.
The city police had received a tip-off from Central intelligence agencies regarding the murder plan. The Coimbatore police have arrested five Muslim youth, out of which four Muslim youths have been already on the radar of the Central intelligence agencies.
Reportedly, four out of the five arrested are from Chennai and another person is resident of Coimbatore.
Moreover, last month Tamil Nadu was put on high alert following intel that members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba had infiltrated into the state. Reports had suggested six members of the terror outfit infiltrated into the state by sea from Sri Lanka and moved to different cities, including Coimbatore, according to the police.
Security had been stepped up at many places, including airports, railway stations, bus stands and places of worship across the state. An alert had been sounded, especially in coastal districts, to prevent any further possible intrusion.
Distinguished lawyer Harish Salve has held the Supreme Court of India the primary reason for the economic slowdown the country is currently experiencing. In an interview to a news website, Salve blamed the apex court for the slump in the economy stating that the slowdown was triggered by the court’s verdict in the 2G spectrum case in 2012.
Salve asserted that the top court’s order on 2G and coal allocation triggered foreign investors to exit from the Indian markets. The Supreme Court had in 2012 had invalidated the 122 spectrum licences granted to eight companies. Two years later, in 2014, the court also annulled all but four of the 218 coal block allocations from 1993 to 2011.
Salve contended that a blanket cancellation of allocation that happened in accordance with the rules set by the then government had a negative impact on the foreign investors who had to bear the brunt of the malfeasance of government authorities. “I can understand to hold people accountable for the wrong allocation but sweeping cancellation of licenses where foreigners are investing can have a catastrophic effect. When a foreigner invested, it was your rule mandating him/her to have an Indian partner,” Salve said.
Salve continued, “The foreigner investor had no inkling of how its Indian partner had secured the license. They had invested billions in the Indian market but the apex court, with one stroke of a pen, knocked all of them out. That’s when the slowdown in the economy started.”
Enunciating the disastrous effect of the court’s intervention had in the coal sector, Salve said that the blanket cancellation of coal allocations, without getting into the nitty-gritty of individual cases and assessing them on their merit has resulted in indefinite closing down of the coalfields. “Cancellation of coalfield meant that India had to import coal. The prices of Indonesian coal and other world coal reduced as the demand of import increased. The investment in the coal industry considerably declined. Lakhs of people lost their jobs. The economy was put under severe stress,” he said. Salve believes that the cancellation of coal block allocation had costed the country 1 per cent plus of GDP.
By confirming that waiving off farmers loans in Madhya Pradesh completely would not be possible, Digvijay Singh’s younger brother Lakshman Singh has perhaps conceded that Rahul Gandhi’s fraud promises of farm-loan waivers were nothing but a mere gimmick to con poor farmers to vote for Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Coming as a major embarrassment for the party, Lakshman Singh, who has been a five-time MP and two-time MLA, while interacting with the media in Bhopal said that complete loan waiver for farmers is not possible. He furthered that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has failed to assess the same because of which waiving off farmers loan this year seems impossible.
Notably ahead of assembly elections, the Congress party, and its former President Rahul Gandhi specifically, had repeatedly promised that farmer loan waivers will be granted to all farmers within 10 days of Congress coming to power. In fact, Rahul Gandhi has touted this as one of his achievements through the campaigning for 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Lakshman Singh, the Congress loyalist has now capitulated that it was a mistake on Rahul Gandhi’s part to promise a complete loan waiver within 10 days if voted to power.
Going by basic calculations, the Congress MLA said that waiving off loans amounting to Rs 45 thousand crores is quite a mammoth task and therefore accomplishing the same seems impossible.
This statement coming from a Congress MLA is not surprising since there are other loyalists who have in the past reiterated the same uncertainty. In the month of May this year, Chief Minister Kamal Nath had also conceded that Congress ex-president’s promise was nothing but a sham, considering he too accepted then that a complete loan waiver for farmers is not possible in 10 days because nobody has a magic wand.
In fact, there have been several incidents in the past that prove the failure of the Congress government to deliver on its much-touted promise. In February distressed farmers in Madhya Pradesh had threatened ‘mass suicide’ over fake loans in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress party with their misadventures and the politics of farm loan waivers seems to be in the middle of a severe crisis, as recently, yet another farmer in the state of Madhya Pradesh was reportedly deceived by the Kamal Nath led Congress government after just Rs.13 was set to be waived-off against a loan of Rs. 24,000.
Kamal Nath government’s inadequacy to keep up the big promises of loan-waivers made at the time of wooing people to garner votes before the state election has already taken three lives of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Along with these deaths, many farmers across the state who had taken the loan from banks before 31 st March 2018 and that of more than Rs 1 lakh, have reportedly got loan waiver benefit of mere Rs 25-30.
The Congress government in the Madhya Pradesh seems to have already lost their control as the state has been rocked with severe protests by the farmers along with severe law and order issues in the state. Within weeks of Congress coming to power in the state, there has been a series of murders of BJP and RSS workers in the state raising concerns about the issue of law and order in the state.
In fact, recently former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had accused the Congress of blatantly lying and deceiving the poor farmers of Madhya Pradesh calling the schemes promised by Congress is a major sham.
A shocking video has surfaced in which a Hijabi woman is seen launching a racist attack on an Indian co-passenger travelling in a crowded 195 bus from Romney Highway in Brentford, West London on Saturday.
The Muslim woman can be heard screaming: “You smell of curry you dumb b***h”- causing everyone on the bus to gasp. While the mother refrains the daughter from further persecuting the co-passenger, the daughter is heard screaming further: “No let me hit.”
Moreover, when the Indian passenger defended himself saying that the bus passengers agreed with him: “Oh everyone’s on my side”, the furious girl retorted back by yet another racist remark: “Ok bye b***h. Go back to your f*****g Southall slum.”
Notably, Southall in West London is famous among Indians and other tourists from South Asia, and is sometimes dubbed “Little India”, but it rarely, if ever, appears on lists of major tourist attractions in London. It houses more than 4000 Indians especially Sikhs.
The Muslim lady was heard shouting at the male passenger as he tried to calm the mother-daughter duo who got into an altercation with the bus driver. A fight erupted after the young girl’s mother had an argument with the bus driver in which she told the driver that the bus was overcrowded and that he was letting too many people on the vehicle.
This altercation annoyed the Indian male passenger as he felt that the duo was disrupting the bus journey by engaging in a fight with the driver. As the male co-passenger tried to discourage the young woman’s mother from arguing with the driver and let the bus move, the enraged girl in the hijab proceeded to launch the shocking rant at the man.
Social media users were disgusted by the scenes in the appalling video footage and condemned this unfortunate incident of racial discrimination.
Members of a Muslim family were allegedly injured in a mob attack at a railway station in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, triggering protests by the students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who dubbed the incident a “failed attempt at mob lynching” and “a deliberate attempt to foment communal violence”.
In what transpired, Afsana Begum’s family was travelling from Kannauj to Aligarh for her son Shafiq’s medical treatment when they were allegedly attacked by a mob of around 25 men while getting off the train. As the news spread, several students of Aligarh Muslim University gathered at the station, demanding the arrest of the unidentified attackers.
Giving the entire episode a communal colour, the AMU students, led by student union president Salman Imtiaz, organised a protest march on Monday demanding the arrest of those involved in the attack within 48 hours.
The former Students’ Union president has linked the incident to the Dharma Samaj Mahavidhyalya in Aligarh. He said that they are against this type of mindset and urged the Administrative Officer and SSP to take strict action against the culprits.
“Today this happened in Aligarh, but tomorrow such incidents will burn entire India. Some people in this country are walking in the footsteps of Hitler and they want to recreate the same atmosphere in India as it was in Germany under Hitler,” the former AMU Students’ Union president said.
“Panic is being spread through mob lynching, people are being killed over cows. No religion promotes these practices. I appeal to everyone, be it a Muslim or a non-Muslim, do not support such people,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to the victim family, about 20-25 people approached them and started beating them up as soon as they got off the train at the Aligarh railway station.
The victim family has alleged that the policemen stationed at the railway station stood there like mute spectators video graphing the entire incident on their mobile phones. They didn’t bother to save them even though they were being thrashed ruthlessly on the ground, claimed the members of the family who were assaulted.
After the mob left, police took the injured family to the JN Medical College in Aligarh, where they are undergoing treatment. Members of the family have reportedly received serious head injuries.
The GRP inspector at the Aligarh Railway Station said: “Some passengers were coming to Aligarh in Mau-Anand Vihar train. A dispute broke over getting off the train which led to violence. Two people have been injured and both are undergoing treatment in the hospital. A case will be registered after the statement of the family is recorded”.
Though AMU has termed the incident a case of communal violence, the Aligarh police have not confirmed any such angle yet. The Deputy SP has said that this is not a case of mob lynching.
The Supreme Court has asserted that the views aired by historians on the Babri Masjid in a note shared in 1991 titled, ironically enough, “Historians’ Report To The Indian Nation”, is a mere opinion and cannot be considered as fact. The said report claimed that Ram Janambhoomi was not the birthplace of Shri Rama and neither was the existing demolished to build the Babri Masjid.
The report was written in May 1991 by four Far-Left historians: R S Sharma, M Athar Ali, D N Jha, and Suraj Bhan. Rajeev Dhavan, arguing for the Sunni Waqf Board, presented the report in the Court as material in favour of Babri Masjid in the ongoing day-to-day hearings in the Ayodhya Dispute. However, the Bench was not impressed.
The Bench said, “At the best, this report can be taken as an opinion.” It added, “The report appears to be a counterblast to VHP campaigns and claims in 1991. Neither the views of VHP nor that of these four historians can be treated as evidence. We have to decide this case on the basis of evidence on record. The Allahabad HC had refused to rely on this report as evidence.”
The Bench went on to puncture holes in the report compiled by the ‘Eminent Historians’. It said, “These historians did not have the benefit of the archaeological evidence. Had this report really been prepared after studying the data collected through an archaeological excavation by ASI (about the possible existence of a temple below the mosque), it could have had some meaning to it. But these historians have not examined the ASI data. The methodology they have adopted appears to be perfunctory, as was termed by the High Court.”
Even as early as 1978, thirteen years before the said report was written, the ASI had found evidence of a Hindu Temple buried under the Babri. Dr K.K. Mohammed, former Regional Director (North) of the ASI who was part of the said team, blames Left historians for the dispute not being amicably resolved.
“The Babri issue would have been settled long ago if the Muslim intelligentsia had not fallen prey to the brainwashing by the Leftist historians. A set of historians including Romila Thapar, Bipin Chandra and S Gopal argued that there was no mention of the dismantling of the temple before the 19th century and Ayodhya is Bhudhist-Jain centre. They were supported by historians Irfan Habib, RS Sharma, DN Jha, Suraj Ben and Akthar Ali,” he told Firstpost.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) confirmed in 2003 after an excavation that structures under the Babri had “distinctive features associated with temples of north India”. This was the excavation that the Bench referred to in response to Dhavan’s arguments today. Dr Meenakshi Jain, PhD from Delhi University who specializes in cultural studies, explained the mounting body of archaeological and historical evidence of a Temple that was destroyed at the site in this talk for the Srijan Foundation.
