No hundreds in 9 World Cup games and now he is back to the scoring hundreds again. Virat Kohli has been in great touch in World Cup, scoring five fifties but was unable to convert them into hundreds. But today he has scored his 42nd ODI Hundred, just seven behind Tendulkar’s record of 49. He is also set to break many more records in the ongoing series.
Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, scored his 67th International hundred, considered to be the best Limited Over International batsman by many. Here are some of the records Virat made while batting against West Indies.
Virat Kohli’s 120 is now the highest ODI innings by any captain in the Caribbeans, beating Brian Lara’s 116 against Sri Lanka at Bridgetown in 2003.
Virat Kohli has now 11,406 runs in ODIs, among Indian batsman, he is only behind Tendulkar who has scored 18426 runs, he surpassed Ganguly (11,363) during the innings.
Virat Kohli has now scored 8 ODI hundreds against West Indies, the most by any batsman against West Indies in ODIs. The record for most ODI hundreds against a nation is held by Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 9 ODI hundreds against Australia. He also becomes the first batsman to score 8 or more ODI hundreds against three nations.
Virat Kohli has now 19,904 International runs in this decade (2010-2019). He needs 96 runs to become the first player to score 20,000 International runs in a single decade. He has also scored 66 International hundreds in the decade.
As a captain, Virat Kohli has scored 6th ODI hundred against West Indies. He surpasses Ricky Ponting’s record of most ODI hundreds against a nation as a captain (5).
Virat Kohli took 34 innings to score 2,000 ODI runs against West Indies, and he is the fastest to score 2,000 ODI runs against a team. Previous best – Rohit Sharma against Australia in 37 innings.
Virat Kohli surpassed Javed Miandad’s record of most runs against West Indies in ODIs. Miandad has scored 1,930 ODI runs against the Caribbeans.
Kohli has now scored the 20th ODI century as a captain, second-most after Ricky Ponting as he scored 22 as captain. Kohli scored 19 ODI hundreds under MS Dhoni which is a record of scoring most ODI hundreds under any captain.
Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the BJP abrogated Article 370 in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories because there is a Muslim majority in Kashmir. He added that had it been a Hindu majority state, the BJP would not have touched it.
He further accused the BJP of using ‘muscle power’ to revoke Article 370 and said that the international news agencies are covering it but not the Indian media. This is also the line used by various Congress leaders including former party president Rahul Gandhi’s close confidant Sam Pitroda who believed international media that Balakot air strikes were futile instead of Indian armed forces which said that terror camps were destroyed. He added that other states too have special provisions like Article 371, but only Kashmir was singled out because of ‘religious fanaticism’.
Chidambaram also accused the regional parties of supporting BJP government’s move out of ‘fear’. Amusingly, Congress party’s own leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia has supported the move. Another Congress leader and son of last Maharaja of erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir who had signed the Instrument of Accession acceding the state to India, Dr Karan Singh, too, welcomed the abrogation of Article 370.
Last Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcated the same into two union territories, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. While most of the country welcomed the move, a few Congress leaders were not too happy with the idea of Jammu and Kashmir being fully integrated into India without any terms and conditions and riders attached.
The ‘award’ was signed by one Hemant Kaushik, Chairman and CEO of USA TV News Channel and the award was given by one ‘International Brand Consulting Corporation, USA’. NDTV co-founder Prannoy Roy too congratulated his team for the ‘major award’ in a world suffering from ‘trust-deficit’.
Many many congratulations to the entire NDTV team – you make us so proud … this is a major award in a world suffering from trust-deficit. https://t.co/KvEJcqeBSX
LOL!…#HemantKaushik wala award??…jaraa congratulate karne se pehle uss bande ka TL toh scroll kiyaa karo .. Feels great to see you celebrating such good for nothing awards.. tchtchtch https://t.co/BKqfydQhu9
Looks like Prannoy Roy went scouting for a PR push and given his funding problems could not afford anything better than a seedy award. ? https://t.co/jmlHsvoanb
Considering we have hardly ever heard of Hemant Kaushik and his firm which NDTV is wearing like a badge of honour when their company is under a radar for alleged tax evasion, we looked it up a little.
Here is what we found.
Hemant Kaushik writes testimonial on LinkedIn for himself.
On the professional networking site LinkedIn, we saw Hemant Kaushik writes a testimonial for himself.
Spiderman pointing at Spiderman meme
In his own testimonial he refers to himself as a famous media celebrity and boasts that the government had provided him police security and a ‘VIP status with the blue light cars’. While it is not mentioned which country provided him police security and the ‘VIP status’, we are not quite sure what ‘blue light cards’ mean. (This is the man who has signed on the ‘major award’ NDTV is proud of receiving.)
He is a director in companies like ‘ONLINEMEDIA INDIA WORLD TV NEWS PRIVATE LIMITED’ (last balance sheet filed with MCA on 31st March, 2018), ‘BERKSHIRE MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED) (incorporated on 30th July 2018) and IBC INFOMEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (the one which actually gave away the award). This company was incorporated on 2nd February 2015.
Its website says that the company provides ‘brand acquisition, brand partnership, brand licensing and brand extension and brand and product protection’ services. On its page, it only has pictures of the awards they have given away to all the brands over last 4 years. Its sister company ‘Berkshire Media Private Company’ is also self-proclaimed ‘multinational brand consulting and market research firm’ which is in the business of giving away brand awards regularly.
In a short span, a lot of Indian brands have been given away best brand award either by IBC or by its sister firms. Essentially, one of the ways the IBC helps their client companies in ‘building brand value’ is giving away award, though which they could fuel their growth. The company on its website says, “While any winner of Business & Service Excellence is bound to benefit in terms of growth in business, it largely depends upon how you utilize this achievement. You would surely appreciate that the best of tools are a waste in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to use them. This will be true for those very few winners who do not put enough thought into effectively marketing this unique achievement of theirs and just wish that the achievement will work some sort of magic! Those having the right marketing acumen will be able to take immense advantage of being a winner of Business & Service Excellence and should be able to enhance their own market share and leave their competition miles behind without too much of an effort.”
Clearly, it is all up to NDTV on how they use the prestigious award they just received. For organising the events or ‘award shows’ the IBC/Berkshire media/other sister companies, seek sponsorship, and the winners get ‘certificate’ and ‘trophies’. These events are held in 5-star hotels, perhaps to lend credibility to events.
While doing a bit of digging, we came across this April 2015 article. Online publication ‘Afternoon Voice’ had reportedly received an email stating that they had been selected as “India’s No.1 Brands Award 2014”. The award ceremony was to be held in Hyatt Regency, Mumbai and the Editor was asked to pay Rs. 50,000 registration fee, which all winners have to pay. Afternoon Voice’s Vaidehi had reached out to Kaushik who in turn asked her to ask organisations to attend the award function, free of cost.
It gets more bizarre. Vaidehi states that she reached out to other awardees on the list on the website of ‘No. 1 Brand Award’ and no one had even heard of him. In fact, as per Vaidehi, many of these organisations accused Hemant Kaushik of using their logos without seeking permission.
We could not find any more details on Hemant Kaushik anywhere else except for the fact that he is perhaps just too fond of giving away awards to various brands. There does not seem to be any criteria for these awards, how are nominations done, who forms the jury. And who is Hemant Kaushik? There are also no covereage of the awards given on the mainstream media, even on business media.
NDTV just celebrated receiving award from a completely unknown organisation which exists only to give out awards to brands so that they can build credibility and show off they have received ‘best’ awards.
With dwindling viewership, desperate times have called for desperate measures.
The promos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and survival expert Bear Grylls wandering through the Jim Corbett Nationa Park has gone viral now.
In a first, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to be featured on the popular TV show Man vs Wild. In a tweet, Bear Grylls had announced that he will be hosting PM Narendra Modi in his popular show. According to Grylls, inviting PM Modi to the show was an initiative to create awareness about animal conservation & environmental change.
“People across 180 countries will get to see the unknown side of PM Narendra Modi as he ventures into Indian wilderness to create awareness about animal conservation & environmental change,” tweeted Grylls.
This special episode, which has been shot in the Jim Corbett National Park, will be a frank and freewheeling journey, which puts focus on wildlife conservation and highlighting issues related to environmental change. The Modi-Grylls pair can also be seen in a raft and cross a jungle river together.
In the latest four-minute teaser video released by Discovery channel, adventurer Grylls can be seen training PM Modi how to make a spear that he can use to protect himself in case they encounter a tiger in the woods.
Speaking about the show, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “For years, I have lived among nature, in the mountains and the forests. These years have a lasting impact on my life. So when I was asked about a special programme focussing on life beyond politics and that too in the midst of nature I was both intrigued and inclined to take part in it. For me, this show presents a great opportunity to showcase to the world India’s rich environmental heritage and stress on the importance of environment conservation and living in harmony with nature. It was a great experience spending time in the jungle once again, this time with Bear, who is blessed with indefatigable energy and quest to experience nature at its purest.”
“I have had a huge privilege of taking President Obama on a trip to Alaska a few years ago what was similar with Obama and PM Modi was that they were there for the same purpose- for driving this message of ‘we have to protect the environment’,” said Grylls.
“For me it was really heartening to see such powerful men like Barack Obama and Narendra Modi stand up and say together that we’ve got to do this, we have the power to do this. Especially India, it is now almost the largest country in the world, the biggest democracy on the planet and such a strong spirit always in India, where people want to do the right thing,” said Bear Grylls speaking to ANI.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to be featured in such a daring act. In 2015, US President Barack Obama had featured in ‘Man vs Wild’ to become the first head of the state to feature in an adventurous TV show. The show highlighted the importance of tackling climate change as both Obama and Grylls had trekked through a remote swath of Alaska in a special reality show called ‘Running Wild With Bear Grylls’.
Bear Grylls is a former British SAS serviceman, survivor expert and the host of survivor series ‘Man vs Wild’. Through the show, host Bear Grylls teaches the audience how to survive when stranded alone inside deep forests, deserts and other isolated locations, and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring to fight the natural odds that one may face.
The special episode of “Man vs Wild” will be broadcast on August 12 at 9 pm and will be showcased in 180 countries around the world. In India, ‘Man vs Wild’ featuring Bear Grylls and Prime Minister Modi will premiere simultaneously on 12 Discovery channels in five languages – English, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on August 12 at 9 pm.
The sexual assault case filed against veteran actor Alok Nath ten months ago by a former colleague, writer-producer Vinita Nanda, might now be closed by the police due to ‘lack of evidence’. The allegations were made during the #metoo movement that erupted in India last year.
An officer at Oshiwara Police Station was quoted by Mid-Day as saying, “We have recorded a detailed statement of the victim. Two witnesses were called to the police station a number of times but they haven’t yet recorded their statements.”
After various film and media personalities, including stand up comics, had been outed by women on the accusation of sexual harassment last year, veteran film actor Alok Nath had also been accused of sexual assault by Vinta Nanda who wrote the popular 1990s’ TV show, Tara.
In a Facebook post in October 2018, without naming Alok Nath, Nanda had narrated the incident from the 90s when she was working on the show. She had given ample hints in her post and later confirmed to IANS that she was indeed talking about Alok Nath.
After sharing her experience of harassment on the social media site, she had also filed a case against Alok Nath at the Oshiwara police station. An FIR was registered against the actor by the Oshiwara Police and the charges were filed under section 376 of IPC (rape).
The veteran actor was booked for alleged rape a month later. Now the police station has said that since there is not enough evidence against the accused the police are unable to file a chargesheet against the same because of which the police is contemplating to close the case.
On the news of the case’s closure, Nanda’s lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said, “Let the police do whatever they are planning, we will take it forward accordingly.”
The details of the witnesses were provided to the police by the survivor when she narrated the incident last year. In his defence, Alok Nath had on October 15, 2018, filed a defamation case against writer-producer Vinta Nanda, who had accused him of raping her almost two decades ago. The actor has sought a written apology from Vinta Nanda and ₹ 1 (Rupee one) as compensation.
Alok Nath’s wife had also submitted before Andheri Magistrate court allegating defamation by Vinta Nanda. According to Ashu, Vinta was holding grudges against Alok Nath because she thought her serial was shut down because of him, claimed Alok Nath’s wife.
Viewing all facts, the Mumbai sessions court had in January 2019, also observed that Vinta Nanda may have falsely implicated Alok Nath in a rape case for her own benefit and had announced an anticipatory bail for the veteran actor.
Freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was once associated with the ultra-left wing propaganda site ‘The Wire’ and arrested by the Uttar Pradesh government for posting derogatory tweets about Gods, Goddesses and inflammatory posts on UP CM Yogi Adityanath has once again crossed all lines of decency. Going by his fixation, Kanojia took to Twitter to compare Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat with British General Reginald Dyer, infamous for Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
SS of Tweet posted by Prashan Kanojia deleted later
By Tweeting an image of General Bipin Rawat beside General Dyer, captioning it as Kashmir and Jallianwala respectively, Kanojia not only attempted to insinuate that General Rawat’s role in Kashmir is similar to that of Dyer, who had ordered the massacre in Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, when hundreds of civilians were killed including women and children, but also once again exhibited his mediocre mindset.
The Tweet was, however, pulled down by the journalist, who again took to Twitter to notify this. But somehow the explanation he gave for deleting the tweet, which was in bad taste, especially for a highly decorated Army chief, could not be exactly categorised as an apology.
SS of the post written by Kanojia after he deleted his previous Tweet
General Rawat, is a highly decorated officer, has a ten-year experience in high altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations. He has been awarded for gallantry and distinguished service with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal, Sena Medal, and Vishisht Seva Medal.
Navdeep Singh, a former military reservist and High Court lawyer called the tweet as “Cheap, loathsome, abhorrent, shameful”.
In June, Kanojia was arrested by UP police and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him at Hazratganj police station, under IPC section 500 and 66 IT Act, in which it was alleged that the accused made “objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image”.
He had recently, taken a jibe at Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia for daring to go against the party stand to root for India on Article 370. In his Tweet, the media troll who once equated Dalits to animals trolled Scindia and called his family a ‘British stooge’.
The Zomato delivery boys in Howrah, West Bengal, have been on an indefinite strike since Monday, protesting that the food being delivered by them is hurting their religious sentiments.
West Bengal: Zomato food delivery executives in Howrah are on an indefinite strike protesting against delivering beef and pork, say, “The company is not listening to our demands & forcing us to deliver beef & pork against our will. We have been on strike for a week now.” pic.twitter.com/tPVLIQc2SZ
Delivery boys belonging to both Hindu as well as the Muslim community have refused to deliver beef or pork during the festive celebrations of Bakrid or Eid al-Adha to be celebrated this week on Monday.
They have put forward two of their demands. One is a pay hike and the other that the company must stop playing with the religious sentiment of their employees.
The employees have reportedly, informed their higher authorities but there is no response from them until now.
Mousin Akhtar, a Zomato food delivery staff said, “Recently some Muslim restaurants have been added to the online food delivery app. But we have some Hindu delivery boys who are denying to delivery beef. And it’s been heard that in few days we have to deliver pork, which we refuse to deliver. We are also facing payout issues and have the least medical facilities. All these are hampering the fraternal bond between us as we have to deliver food which is not permitted by our religion. Our religious sentiment is being hurt. The company knows everything, but in spite of helping us they are using false allegations against us.”
Another delivery boy said that their profession could not come in the way of their religion.
A Zomato food delivery staff in Howrah reportedly said that as a Hindu he has no issues working with Muslim colleagues. However, new restaurants Zomato has tied up with which ‘repel them’. “If any of us deny delivering any particular food then this would fall under denial dispute which would be followed up by the manager. The Muslims are equally feeling hurt with this decision as we Hindus are. The company is hurting our religious sentiment. We want this to be stopped immediately. Hence from Monday, we have stopped our service,” he said.
West Bengal minister and a TMC MLA from Howrah, Rajib Banerjee came out in support of the delivery staff on this issue. Assuring to conduct a probe in Rajib said, “I too feel that the organization performing such act should think about their action once again. They should not force any sect to go against the rules of their religion. This is very wrong. We had no idea about such actions. Since we have been approached, we shall surely take action against such deeds.”
The online food tech company, Zomato has recently been in news for the wrong reasons. Zomato had recently found itself in the centre of a huge controversy after its PR stunt on July 31 backfired miserably. In reply to one of its customers who demanded his order be cancelled as the delivery boy was a Muslim, Zomato quoted the tweet and said, “Food doesn’t have a religion.”
Raged by the hypocrisy, people had slammed Zomato for the stark contrast in the manner in which it deals with the grievances of different religious communities. Customers pointed out how Zomato customer care which had offered a moral science lecture to the Hindu customer, was seen prostrated before one community for Halal meat.
The mysterious behaviour of Twitter which is often found censoring social media users for disagreeing to left-wing and ultra left-wing ideology has yet again come to the fore. A day after noted Kashmiri Pandit activist Rohit Kachroo exposed NDTV for trying to stage a debate showing that Kashmiri Pandits are unhappy with abrogation of Article 370.
@koshurrohit’s Twitter account suspended
On Friday, Rohit Kachroo(@KoshurRohit), an activist and National Coordinator for India 4 Kashmir, had exposed NDTV and its news anchor, Sreenivasan Jain, after they had attempted to pull off a staged interview with one of controversial Kashmiri Pandits, Upendra Kaul to push a narrative that Kashmiri Pandit community is unhappy about the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kachroo, who is an exiled Kashmiri Pandit and an activist, had hit back with details pertaining to the NDTV show. In a tweet, Rohit confirmed the fact that Upendra Kaul, who was referred to as a representative of Kashmiri by Sreenivasan Jain, neither represents the voice of Kashmiri Pandits nor anybody knows him.
Further, Rohit Kachroo also reveals that NDTV had initially invited one of the representatives of the activist group to be part of the show, but later cancelled his appearance on the show after sending a cab to his place. These claims by Rohit raise serious questions on whether the show was staged to show that the Kashmiri Pandits are unhappy as compared to rest of India which is celebrating the historic event of the scrapping of Article 370.
Within a day after Rohit Kachroo exposed NDTV, his account went missing from Twitter. This further raises doubts about the impartiality of micro-blogging site Twitter, which has a history of censoring and suspending Right-wing and nationalist accounts for simply exposing left-wing and ultra-left anti-India users.
The curious case of Twitter suspending accounts is not limited to common users. Earlier, several prominent right-wing accounts were shadow-banned by Twitter. Fact-checking accounts and other social media users who disagree with the left-wing accounts have faced bans and scrutiny from Twitter. Recently, tweets from scientist Anand Ranganathan, a free speech warrior and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri were withheld by the Twitter ‘in response to a legal demand’.
Another prominent Twitter Historian True Indology was also locked out of the Twitter after he had exposed NDTV’s false narrative by stating that Muslim majority Jammu & Kashmir never had a Hindu Chief Minister.
Designated global terrorist Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar who had been in the hiding amidst rumours of his death, has reportedly released a new message to his followers. As reported by news agency ANI, think tank Aurora Intel has said that in the message, Masood Azhar said that Modi government has admitted humiliation and defeat by revoking Article 370. “One chapter of Ghazwa-e-Hind and of Jihad Kashmir has been complete. Alhumdulillah the the Mujahideen of Kashmir got victory in Kashmir,” he reportedly said in a message circulated on Telegram.
While the authenticity of the message cannot be confirmed, it is shocking how Azhar’s message echoes that of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan who had also warned of another Pulwama type attack following the abrogation of Article 370. “Incidents like Pulwama are bound to hapen again,” he had threatened. Foretelling a terror attack, Khan had said, “I can already foretell this will happen. They will attempt to pin the blame on us again. They may strike us again, and we will strike back.”
Meanwhile Azhar has said in the purported message that “And the mujahideen … with their stormy attacks … have approached near to their destination. Due to the fear, the ant grew wings and the jackal is on its way to the city. The Modi government has admitted his humiliation and defeat by revoking the special status of Kashmir .. and he has threw an ax on his foot…”
He further said that “Now the next chapter begins. .. Vast, sublime and victorious .. it just needs some air, Kashmiris need to get out [of their homes]… Then the enemy will beg for peace and negotiation. Modi, the pet bully of the rich polytheists, thinks that if the special status of Kashmir is over, Hindu capitalists like “Ambani” & “Mittal” and “Jindal” will buy whole Kashmir…and then they will earn money through tourism and forbidden acts, while Kashmiri Muslims will lose their existence….Modi !! This is a dream..that will never be fulfilled..look a little towards your West..red can be seen, the red… Allah-u-Akbar! Wasalam.. Servant .. Allah is the Messenger of Allah [Islamic Shahada]'”
Following his being declared as a global terrorist by the UN, he was being kept underground by Pakistan, whereby he was not allowed to give speeches in mosques or release audio tapes.
The report further states that the ISI is believed to have given a go-ahead to Jaish-e-Mohammad to carry out targeted attacks in India. Trained cadres has already started moving towards the LoC. Masood Azhar’s elder brother, Imran Azhar has also reportedly moved to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Jaish-e-Mohammad sleeper cells are also believed to have been activated.
The members of the Muslim Women Foundation in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh have been preparing special Rakhi’s to be sent to PM Narendra Modi on the occasion of Rakha Bandha which will be celebrated this year on August 15.
Owing to their freedom from the evil practice of triple talaq thanks to the Prime Minister, these Muslim women have sent hand-made ‘rakhis’ with Modi’s image on them to the PM, who is also the MP from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.
Nazima Ansari, one of the MWF members said, “The Muslim women from our foundation living in Banaras (also known as Varanasi) had first sent a rakhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji in 2013. Since then, this ritual has been continuing”.
She said that the women at the MWF consider PM Modi as an elder brother and a father-like figure. “We consider Narendra Modi-ji as an elder brother and father-like figure. Hence, like every year, we are sending him a rakhi this year too with a hope that he would continue to protect us and help us at the time of need,” furthered Nazima.
Elated by the steps taken by the Modi government to transform the lives of the Muslim women, another woman named Huma Bano of Rampura said: “It was only because of Modi that triple talaq is criminalized. He is like an elder brother of all the Muslim women in the country. We have made rakhis for our brother.”
Modi government not only established gender equality but also helped in restoring honour and dignity to the Muslim women by getting the contentious triple talaq bill, which will now carry 3-year jail term, passed in the parliament in spite of the resistance faced by the opposition parties.
Moreover, to honour the government which dared to bring a revolution in the lives of the Muslim women, a jewellery shop in Gujarat’s Surat is selling gold rakhis with faces of PM Modi, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani engraved on them.
A jewellery shop in Surat selling gold rakhi with Modi’s face engraved on it
“By tying this Narendra Modi rakhi I would bless my brother to do something great like PM Modi,” one customer told news agency ANI.
Last year on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, on August 23, PM Narendra Modi had gifted one lakh houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna through video-conference linking beneficiaries spread across 24 districts of Gujarat.
“With the festival of Raksha Bandhan approaching there can be no better and bigger gift than the gift of houses in their own names for my mothers and sisters across the state…,” the Prime Minister had told the beneficiaries who were huddled in different locations as part of the event described as ‘e-Grihapravesh’ last year.
