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Rahul Gandhi joins Pakistan in spreading fake news concocted by Indian media about Haryana CM ML Khattar

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi joins Pakistan in spreading fake news concocted by Indian media about Haryana CM ML Khattar

Rahul Gandhi is a habitual liar. After multiple instances of blatantly lying and then claiming those lies were told during the ‘heat of campaigning’, the Congress president with a complicated party presidentship status has lied again today.

Using a Scroll.com article to take cheap potshots against the BJP and its leaders, Rahul Gandhi has today stated that ‘years of RSS training does this to the minds of weak and pathetic men’. Rahul’s tweet had just one issue, it was based on a lie.


Earlier today, several media outlets had published a news report about Haryana CM  ML Khattar saying that he has claimed people can now bring girls from Kashmir for marriage. However, Khattar’s remarks were to highlight the improved sex ratio of Haryana and not the way some crass jokes about Kashmiri girls made by some people that are being highlighted by a section of ‘secular liberals’ in India.

Khattar’s statement had been twisted out of context by media and was presented as if the Haryana CM has made a crass remark about Kashmiri girls now being available for marriage to men in his state.

Despite it being clear that Khattar’s statement is being twisted out of context. Congress president Rahul Gandhi saw it fit to make one of his usual cheap comments about the RSS.

Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi’s statement found many takers. Because Rahul Gandhi’s words were exactly the kind of words Pakistan has been using in its propaganda against India.

Pakistan’s army spokesperson Asif Gafoor picked up Rahul Gandhi’s line of argument too. So did many other radical Islamists who have been keen on peddling an anti-India narrative over the Kashmir issue.

Twitter user Mrityunjay Joshi highlighted the similarities in the thought process of Pakistanis and that of Rahul Gandhi.


In addition, Hamid Mir, a radical Pakistani journalist known for his anti-India propaganda, has shared the same Scroll.com story over Khattar’s statement twisted out of context.


Going even a step further, Mir implied that Article 370 was removed so powerful Indian men can have forced marriages with Kashmiri girls.

Yesterday, NDTV had found endorsement from Pakistan after Imran Khan’s political party had shared NDTV’s video to further their agenda. However, NDTV did issue an untruthful clarification over it. Will Rahul Gandhi do the same, or like his previous lies, will just claim ‘heat of dilemma over Congress presidentship’ over his lie, is yet to be seen.

Congress conundrum: Notwithstanding Rahul’s resignation, CWC workers unanimously want him to continue as party president

OpIndia Staff
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Congress conundrum: Notwithstanding Rahul’s resignation, CWC workers unanimously want him to continue as party president

The top decision-making body of Congress -Congress Working Committee (CWC) was convened today to discuss the probables for the post of Congress President after Rahul Gandhi tendered his resignation. However, while claiming that Rahul’s resignation is still under process, spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that all CWC workers unanimously wanted Rahul Gandhi to continue as party President.


The meeting was attended by party’s top brass, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and other senior members. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi left early stating that they don’t want to be part of the consultation process and hence they are leaving early.


Congress is in throes of leadership crisis as senior Congress leaders met at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi to home in on a suitable candidate for the position of party president in the wake of Rahul’s continued insistence of not withdrawing his resignation back.

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary claimed that CWC will meet again at 8:30 PM today and by 9 PM name of new party chief will be made public.


Congress is yet to decide on the party president, though senior leaders Ahmed Patel, AK Antony and KC Venugopal have discussed with Sonia Gandhi names of probables, one of whom could be made the interim president of the party.

Amidst raging floods in Maharashtra, ABP Majha and opposition join hands to spread misinformation on Fadnavis govt

OpIndia Staff
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Amidst raging floods in Maharashtra, ABP Majha and opposition join hands to spread misinformation on Fadnavis govt

Amidst ravaging floods in Maharashtra, opposition leaders and some news outlets such as ABP MajhMarathimarathi news channel under the ABP group have indulged in a smear campaign against the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government for altering a norm laid out by the previous Congress-NCP government that allowed only people from those areas that have been under water for more than 7 days to be eligible for financial and food aid.

Realising the acute sensitivity of the issue, the BJP government in Maharashtra has issued a Government Resolution (GR) on August 8 had altered the previous government’s laid norm for being eligible for financial aid by reducing the number of days from 7 to 2. Now, those affected by floods for 2 days will get governmental aid as against the Congress-NCP government’s condition of being submerged in water for 7 days to avail government’s assistance. The government has also increased the compensation provided to the flood-affected victims.


However, several media outlets in connivance with opposition exploited this unfortunate tragedy to further their nefarious agenda. ABP Majha yesterday put out a misleading tweet alleging that the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government is making a mockery of flood-inundated victims by stipulating a condition of being flooded for two days to be eligible for procuring food aid and financial assistance.


Before long, several detractors and opposition leaders lapped up the discourse and started lambasting the government for being ‘insensitive’ towards the victims of the devastating floods. Posts carrying incomplete and misleading information about the GR adopted by the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government’s decision were widely shared on Whatsapp, effectively showing the government in the bad light.

A decision which was taken to alleviate the sufferings of the flood victims was being twisted out of proportion to engender public outrage against the government and harness it to further one’s diabolical narrative. The previous government’s condition of having been flooded for 7 days to receive compensation was amended by the BJP government by bringing the days down to 2. However, this nugget of information was deliberately erased from the narrative.

Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar, and one of the remaining NCP stalwarts too joined the bandwagon to exploit the situation and slam the government for its alleged insouciance of the flood victims.


Another NCP leader Dr. Jitendra Awhad too posted a video fuelling the smear campaign against the Fadnavis government. He stated that the government is mocking the hardships of people for having them suffer for two days before providing them with food and financial aid.


Many Twitter users highlighted the inherent irony in the claims made by the NCP leaders and busted their propaganda. They pointed out that the BJP government has been considerate of the flood victims by bringing down the number of days for receiving compensation and also by increasing the compensation package.


However, with the view to tarnish the BJP government, such important facts were glossed over by the NCP politicians as well as by the media outlets outraging over the government’s decision.

The Jammu and Kashmir move is within the frameworks of India’s constitution: Russia backs India

OpIndia Staff
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The Jammu and Kashmir move is within the frameworks of India’s constitution: Russia backs India

Days after India made a significant move bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir and stripping the article 370 that gave the former state a special status, Russia has come up in support of India’s decision.

As per reports, in response to questions from the media, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs has stated that they hope India and Pakistan will not allow the aggravation of the situation after New Delhi’s decision over the change in the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir while also stating their affirmation that the decisions over J and K are within India’s constitutional framework.


Russia has stated, “We proceed from fact that the changes associated with the change in the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its division into two Union Territories are carried out within the framework of the constitution of the Republic of India.”

They have also added that Russia is a consistent supporter of the normalisation between the relationship between India and Pakistan.

While asserting clearly that nay decision regarding Jammu and Kashmir is India’s internal issue, Russia has also made it clear that they believe any differences between India and Pakistan are only a bilateral matter.

The Russian statement also said, “We hope that the differences between India and Pakistan will be resolved by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis in accordance with the provisions of the Shimla Agreement in 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999.”

Russia’s statement is a significant addition to the responses by several global powers after India’s decision regarding Jammu and Kashmir. So far many nations, like the UAE and Sri Lanka have issued statements that the decision regarding J and K is India’s internal matter, sending indirect messages to Pakistan to stay out of it. The Maldives had also affirmed that it is India’s internal issue.

India has sent out a stern message to global powers that any decision regarding the governance of Jammu and Kashmir and its reorganisation is India’s internal matter and no one should try to meddle.

Pakistan’s move to call for help has been failing badly as most countries so far have either taken India’s side or have given out measured, diplomatic responses calling for peace. Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, two OIC nations have also maintained diplomatic stand over it and cited UNSC resolution to call for a bilateral solution over any differences between the nations.

Pakistan’s hopes of whining at the UN were also dashed as UNSC president Joana Wroneka had commented yesterday that any differences between India and Pakistan are a bilateral issue.

Fact-check: Haryana CM ML Khattar did not say ‘we can now bring Kashmiri girls for marriage’

OpIndia Staff
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Fact-check: Haryana CM ML Khattar did not say ‘we can now bring Kashmiri girls for marriage’

Various media outlets have reported the fake news that Chief Minister of Haryana, ML Khattar, was talking about bringing Kashmiri girls to Haryana for marriage. The Hindu reported it, so did News18. Scroll relied on The Hindu for its own report.

However, even in the reports, it’s clear that Khattar never said these words. In fact, he was talking about Haryana’s improved sex ratio. His words that have been quoted make it evident that he was only telling people that others were saying such things, not that he himself wanted to bring Kashmiri women for marriage. However, the headlines fail to reflect that.

For instance, The Hindu reported Khattar’s comments thus: “Our Minister O.P. Dhankar used to say that he will have to bring daughters-in-law from Bihar. People nowadays have started saying the route to Kashmir is cleared and now we will bring girls from Kashmir.” However, the report’s headline twists Khattar’s comments to paint him in bad light.

News18 made precisely the same error as The Hindu. Khattar’s words that were quoted in the report give one impression while the headline paints a completely different picture. “Our minister OP Dhankar used to say that he will have to bring daughters-in-law from Bihar. People nowadays have started saying the route to Kashmir has cleared and now we will bring girls from Kashmir,” Khattar was quoted as saying. Notice the headline which is completely in contrast.

India Today, too, has run an entire segment reporting that ML Khattar said ‘we can now bring Kashmiri girls for marriage’, with self-righteous indignation without bothering to care about facts.


Even ANI has twisted Khattar’s statement. While their report quotes Khattar accurately, their headline paints a completely different picture.

In reality, Khattar was speaking about the schemes his government has implemented to improve Haryana’s skewed sex ratio. He also spoke of the bad reputation his state had due. When he did bring up the comments people were making about Kashmiri women, he said, “Keeping jokes aside, fixing the sex ratio will instill a stability in society.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbKO5aWQTg]

Thus, it’s quite clear that it’s not Khattar who is saying that Kashmiri women can now be brought for marriage. He is saying that other people were making these comments and it’s evident that he is focused on improving Haryana’s sex ratio even further and treats these remarks as a joke.

Since the mainstream media is not renowned for high intellect, it can be explained further by means of an example. For instance, if OpIndia reports, “The mainstream media is considered the propaganda wing of anti-BJP political parties by most people,” it means the average citizen considers the mainstream media to be so, not that OpIndia is leveling the accusation.

Assembly Elections are slated to occur in Haryana later this year. It appears the mainstream media has well and truly begun its election campaign, much before any political party has entered the fray.

Shekhar Gupta and The Print sell their soul, blame Yediyurappa for a Kumaraswamy era scandal that names Congress leaders

OpIndia Staff
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Shekhar Gupta and The Print sell their soul, blame Yediyurappa for a Kumaraswamy era scandal that names Congress leaders

Most people had imagined that the Media industry had already fallen as far as they possibly could deep into the abyss of irresponsibility, paid news, propaganda and just blatant lies. However, Shekhar Gupta, the chief of Editors Guild and his ‘news’ portal The Print come as a stench of the rotting soul when they manage to stoop further at every given opportunity. Now, Shekhar Gupta and The Print have managed to blame the Yediyurappa government that was recently sworn in Karnataka for a 6-month-old scandal that broke during the tenure of JDS’ Kumaraswamy and names Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel.

Bengaluru Commissioner Bhaskar Rao is now under the scanner for using power brokers close to the Congress party to get himself a job. The Print has now published the full transcript of the tapes that detail the conversations between Bhaskar Rao and JDS and Congress leaders.

In the entire transcript of the tape, nowhere does the name of BS Yediyurappa or the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) appear. However, that did not stop Shekhar Gupta and The Print from dragging Yediyurappa’s name through the mud.


While Tweeting a line from the transcript that said ‘Ahmed Patel said I will make him commissioner, Revanna will support’, Shekhar Gupta, the head of The Print and chief of Editors Guild, goes on to peddle lies and allege that this is the first scandal that has hit the newly sworn-in Yediyurappa government.

The line tweeted by Shekhar Gupta himself mentions senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel who is close to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and Revanna, who is the brother of former Karnataka Chief Minister from JDS, HD Kumaraswamy.

The Print story itself starts off by spreading lies and telling its readers that this scandal has turned the heat up on the BJP government in Karnataka.

The story reads:

“Here is the full transcript of the clips, which have also turned up the heat on the new B.S. Yediyurappa-headed BJP government in Karnataka”. 

The Print article

The tapes were recorded six months ago, according to The Print, while the Congress-JDS alliance was still ruling Karnataka. As a summary, The Print says that in these tapes the Commissioner is speaking to a broker named Faraz and the purpose of the conversation was to get appointed. The broker Faraz was purportedly close to Congress. The Print story itself says that Rao was trying to get the appointment through a ‘Congress pull’. He was trying to get picked for the job through Congress because the then Chief Minister Kumaraswamy favoured Alok Verma.

After this summary, The Print magically decides to assert that this entire scandal that involves Congress and JDS and happened 6 months ago while their government was in power is somehow putting the Yediyurappa-headed BJP government in Karnataka on the spot.

What The Print hoped to accomplish was rather simple. People often read the first few sentences of the article or even trust ‘veterans’ like Shekhar Gupta when they tweet an excerpt, even if they peddle lies. By tweeting that this had put the Yediyurappa government in a tight spot, Shekhar Gupta hoped that people would just assume that somewhere buried in that transcript, the BJP government is mentioned and are to eventually be blamed for the entire scandal.

Shekhar Gupta and The Print have often pawned their soul for propaganda and blatant lies. Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint has a history of scaremongering and spreads fake news to target Narendra Modi government. Addition to that, Shekhar Gupta and his team have also attempted to script their own history by pushing fairytales as facts.

Pakistani Twitter users get a brainwave, they want Imran Khan to ‘shut down Indian Airspace’

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistani Twitter users get a brainwave, they want Imran Khan to ‘shut down Indian Airspace’

Pakistan is rightly called a parody nation. The only thing it produces in large quantities apart from terrorists desperately eager to blow themselves up is humour. Pure, unadulterated humour that they produce so unwittingly that they don’t even realise the world is laughing on their faces.

Pakistan’s PM starts loves to be a taxi driver. After being squeezed dry of their own resources by China, they try to repay China’s loan by selling donkeys. From news anchors screaming nuclear attack over tomatoes to pretty faces cutely declaring they thought Apple Inc was a fruit, Pakistani humour just has no match.

Latest in the offering is a die-hard Pakistani giving strategic advice to Imran Khan. Pakistani Twitter users have been asking Imran Khan to teach Modi a lesson by ‘shutting down Indian Airspace’


Asad Ullah has come up with a brilliant idea claiming that after Pakistan closed down its airspace following the Balakot airstrikes, India had suffered a financial loss of Rs 491 crores. He then suggested his government to do it again, by ‘shutting down Indian airspace’. He even ran a hashtag: #ShutDownIndianAirSpace.

What is more interesting that Pakistanis actually trended this hashtag, thinking they can make India suffer and they can close ‘Indian airspace’.

Ullah’s hashtag saw wide reactions on Twitter.


Interestingly, some less enlightened Pakistanis did try to point out that Pakistan can close its own airspace, not India’s airspace. But the true patriotic Pakistanis shut them down, proclaiming that ‘When Modi’s planes fly over Pakistan, it becomes Indian airspace only.’


Terminology apart, even if one assumes that our Jihadi neighbours actually meant closing their own airspace and just used the wrong term for it, Pakistani’s wishing that Indian economy will suffer if they close their airspace is a thought that is disturbingly suicidal in nature.

After the Balakot airstrikes, when Pakistan shut down its airspace for months, Indian airliners did suffer losses, but those losses were a fraction of what Pakistan had lost.

Following the airstrikes on Jaish-e-Muhammad training camp in Balakot conducted by the IAF on February 26 after the Pulwama attack, Pakistan had fully closed its airspace indefinitely. The closure of Pakistani airspace has affected almost 400 flights a day. This has cost over Rs 700 crore in loss to Pakistan until June end, which is reeling under an unprecedented economic crisis.

However, India’s losses were pegged at over Rs 400 crore. India, being a robust economy is more than capable of withstanding this loss, but Pakistan, being a smaller and much more fragile economy, the loss for them was much more severe. While the Indian economy can withstand the loss easily, airspace closure creates more significant problems for Pakistan whose economy is already in shambles.

Exclusive: Railway officials clear the air on Vande Bharat Express and the alleged ‘derailment of production’

Nupur J Sharma
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Exclusive: Railway officials clear the air on Vande Bharat Express and the alleged ‘derailment of production’

On August 5th 2019, Times of India published a report that alleged that the production of Train 18, or Vande Bharat Express has stopped. The report made largely two assertions. One, that there is a feud between the electrical and mechanical departments which played out over the procurement of industry-changing propulsion system that was acquired from a Hyderabad company. The report says that dominated by mechanical engineers, the procurement system did not ensure a ‘level playing field’ and there were questions raised at every step after the first rake was commissioned in 2018.

The second issue mentioned is that the vigilance wing of the Railway Board is investigating the procurement procedure and all existing tenders have been cancelled. In the rest of the article, Times of India essentially praises the propulsion system that was procured by Railways from the Hyderabad based company saying that it was the best in class, was an engineering marvel and that it was Rs. 10 crores cheaper than industry standards.

Indian Railways showed a glimpse of its futuristic vision by introducing Vande Bharat Express, the semi-high speed train. It has been running on full occupancy since its launch, creating punctuality records and providing the passengers with much better travel experience by its modern design and state-of-the-art amenities.

In May 2019, this marvel of Indian Railways successfully completed its one lakh kilometre run time without missing a single trip. It is speculated that this train has also attracted passengers who earlier avoided travelling by trains.

However, allegations of the production being stopped, an internal feud and the questions regarding the procurement process have dampened this success by India.

OpIndia reached out to senior railway officials to get clarity on what the truth of the matter was. The railway officials said that the Hyderabad based company that had supplied the propulsion system was given the go-ahead to supply to the company directly without any tendering against the existing contract of supply of propulsion equipment for the suburban train, thereby bypassing the norms of competition that ensure the highest level of transparency and quality. In subsequent tenders of ICF for procurement of propulsion equipment, it has been observed that undue favours have apparently been given through tailor-made eligibility criteria to suit Hyderabad firm and to systematically keep other eligible players including one navratna public sector company out of fray deliberately so as to ensure that the said company gets unhindered business without following due process of tendering and without any improvement in product design.

Prime Minister Modi’s vision has been to ensure transparency within the system and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal echoes that sentiment. The subsequent tender has been cancelled because Railways wanted to ensure that all companies who have the capability to supply the propulsion system get the chance to bid for the tender.

Railways officials further said that after the first train was inaugurated in February, the railways have got significant feedback on how to improve the specifications and ensure better quality production under Make in India.

“As soon as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is ready with the specification, the tendering process will be initiated at ICF without any delay, providing level playing field to all prospective bidders. The procurement will be done in a manner to maintain transparency and integrity in decision making at all levels with compliance to `Make in India’ policy of Government of India as envisioned by our Hon’ble Prime Minister”, said the official.

The official further said, “Vande Bharat type trains have been developed successfully for the first time on Indian Railways however, system employed in Vande Bharat train had been procured against a contract of suburban trains, therefore there are problems interalia related to its safety and energy efficiency besides non conformities to governing technical specification of RDSO, which needs to be improved in subsequent versions of train. This Hyderabad firm is trying to supply this design in semi high-speed train like Vande Bharat train, which is suited for suburban trains. Such infirmities in the propulsion system had also been pointed out by a high-level committee of Additional Members of the Ministry of Railways. Further, improvement in product design in the subsequent version has always been the endeavour of Railway Production Units and RDSO. RDSO is currently working in this direction by making necessary improvements in technical specification”.

Speaking to OpIndia, the official also confirmed that the vigilance wing of Railway Board has indeed initiated an inquiry against the officials who confirmed the order to the Hyderabad firm without accepting tenders from other bidders to ensure competition, fairness and transparency.

The official said, “It has been the foundation of the Modi government and especially Railways headed by Minister Piyush Goyal to ensure transparency and fairness in the procurement system. The officials who breached the process and granted the tender to the Hyderabad based company without accepting bids from others will be taken to task. As soon as the process is over and RDSO comes up with revised specifications, the tendering process will resume”.

Officials said that the fearmongering regarding the production of Vande Bharat Express train being stopped are rumours. It is expected that the regular production of this train will be started at ICF during 2020-21.

While railway officials have maintained that the tender was cancelled because certain officials granted the contract to the Hyderabad based company without inviting other bidders, one certainly wonders why the Times of India has written a one-sided article while heaping praise on the propulsion system supplied by the Hyderabad based company.

The railway officials rubbished all claims of an internal feud between electrical and mechanical departments.

In fact, the Times of India doesn’t just stop at that. It goes on to subtly imply that it is the Railways Chairman, VK Yadav who runs a ‘powerful lobby’ since he is an electrical engineer and Piyush Goyal wants to achieve the electrification of railways. Times of India almost makes it sound as if there is a nexus that is headed by the Chairman who was appointed in December 2018.

VK Yadav has had a long and illustrious career. He has held several important executive and managerial positions in Indian Railways, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Union Ministry of Industry, Indian Railway Construction Company Limited, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. He has also served as the Divisional Railway Manager, Lucknow Division, North Eastern Railway; Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Operation), Delhi Division, Northern Railway; Group General Manager (Electrical), Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited. He also held assignments as Programme Manager, Technology Diffusion and Support Programme and as Project Director, International Centre for Advancement of Manufacturing Technology at United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and as Director, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Industry, Government of India.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Vande Bharat Express has been the target of misinformation. Earlier in July, The Hindu had also alleged irregularities that were then rubbished by railway officials.

Barkha Dutt gets endorsement from Pakistan yet again: Addl IGP in Pakistan uses her statement to allege human right violation in Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Barkha Dutt gets endorsement from Pakistan yet again: Addl IGP in Pakistan uses her statement to allege human right violation in Kashmir

Pakistan’s favourite Indian journalist Barkha Dutt has found praise yet again from our enemy nation. This time, an Additional IGP in Pakistan has endorsed her statement to peddle Pakistan’s agenda of claiming human rights violations in Kashmir.

Barkha had commented over a person’s tweet which said that he has not been able to speak to his family for five days due to the blockage of phone communications in the valley. Barkha had stated that the ‘information blockade’ is not humane.


Jamil Ahmed, whose Twitter bio says he is the additional IG of police of Sukkur region in Pakistan and ‘ex-chief of CIA’ in Karachi, endorsed Barkha’s tweet and used it as a confirmation of Pakistan’s propaganda over the Kashmir issue.

Ahmed claimed that he hopes ‘educated, moderate and secular’ elements in India will listen to Barkha and raise their voices against the human rights violations in ‘Indian held Kashmir’. He also stated that it is time for the civilised world to play a proactive role in this ‘grave human crisis’.

Via Twitter

Ignoring the stark irony of a Pakistani police officer speaking about human rights and ‘civilised world’, the tendency of Pakistani terrorists and their masters finding Barkha’s statements a suitable material for their propaganda peddling is something that has been strangely consistent.

Earlier, Zaid Hamid, another Islamic extremist who dreams about ‘Ghazwa e Hind’ had also used Barkha’s tweets to peddle Pakistan’s agenda.

Barkha’s fan following in Pakistan includes terrorist Hafiz Saeed and other prominent voices there whose narratives against India matches perfectly with what Barkha says. From fanning separatist voices to making terrorists into heroes, Barkha, for years, has been doing exactly what Pakistan wants.

Yesterday, NDTV had found endorsement from Pakistan too. However, after facing severe flak on social media, NDTV had attempted to cover up their mistakes by claiming that Pakistan has quoted them out of context and ‘edited together different excerpts’ which was another lie.

Barkha too was quick to declare on Twitter that she denounces this endorsement from Pakistan and asked Ahmed to ‘stay out of India’s internal conversations’.


There are a number of media portals and so-called ‘liberal’ journalists who are trying to fan an anti-India narrative over the Kashmir issue. There are journalists continuously peddling claims that human rights are being violated after the stripping of Article 370. However, these ‘liberal’ voices never bothered to point out the gross human rights violations that were being practised as a part of state policy in Jammu and Kashmir till now in the name of Article 370 and 35A.

FCRA: Here are the welcome changes in the annual returns form for foreign-funded NGOs by the MHA that deserve praise

Guest Author
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FCRA: Here are the welcome changes in the annual returns form for foreign-funded NGOs by the MHA that deserve praise

Every FCRA-NGO has to submit an Annual Return to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), online before 31st December for its foreign fund receipts for the previous financial year. Until 2015, this format was called the FC6; later, with a few modifications, it was called the FC4 form. These annual returns are available online for anyone to read or download at the website of FCRA, year-wise, since 2006.

Very recently, MHA has revised the FC4 form which demands the FCRA-NGOs to provide a lot more information, not just about the ‘donations’ they received from abroad, but also how much of it they have deposited in Fixed Deposits, etc. Here, we summarize a few of the key features of this revised FC4 form.

We will do this through the means of an example. For this purpose, let us consider the FC4 return filed by the FCRA-NGO, ‘Reaching The Unreached (RTU)’, G. Kallupatti, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, for the year 2018-19 and whose FCRA registration number is: TN/075940008. [For the uninitiated, the word ‘Unreached’ means a group of people who have not heard the Gospel — the revelation of Jesus Christ].

Each FCRA-NGO was mandated (relaxed a few months ago by FCRA wing) to obtain a Unique ID from the Darpan portal of Niti Aayog. Many, out of the 24340 FCRA-NGOs currently having FCRA registration, have obtained the same. The Darpan ID is now part of the FC4 return. This means one can find more information about the NGO, its mandates, its Board of Trustees, etc., from the Darpan portal, in a relatively easier manner.

The date on which the NGO received the FCRA registration is also part of the revised FC4. In the case of Reaching The Unreached, it is 7th January 1985. An unwelcome revision is the removal of the name of the FCRA-NGO from the FC4 return. The MHA should consider including it again.

Under foreign fund receipts, a new subsection is ‘Other receipts from projects/activities’. In the case of RTU, it reports Rs. 82, 000 as its receipts from running a ‘Children’s Village’ (Authors’ Note: Running Orphanages is a standard work of several FCRA-NGOs, particularly ones which pursue Evangelism. For more knowledge on this matter, google 4/14 window).

One may wonder how this Rs. 82000 was obtained by RTU and why it is classified under ‘foreign contribution (FC)’. The reason is simple. The ‘Children’s Village’ was established by RTU in 2007-08 using foreign funds received via FCRA. All receipts accrued out of running facilities that were established with FCRA funds are classified as FC, per FCRA-2010.

RTU’s total FC in 2018-19 was Rs. 18.85 Crore, of which it received Rs. 6.04 Crore directly from abroad while Rs. 11.84 Crore was ‘brought forward’ into this year, as money lying unspent from its past receipts. These data were part of the FC4 format before its revision as well, so let us not spend too much time on these.

In the section on ‘donor-wise details of FC received’, the specific activity for which the ‘donation’ was received by the FCRA-NGO has been added. This feature used to be present in the older FC6 form, and it is a positive development that it has been revived in the revised FC4. However, in the erstwhile FC6, the NGO had to pick from a set of specific categories (which were quite obscure and unimaginative), while in the revised FC4, the NGO is asked to describe the activity by itself.

In the FC4 before revision, it was not mandatory to report ‘donations’ less than Rs. 20000. In the case of RTU, we notice several ‘donations’ which are below Rs. 20000. It is unclear if there has been a revision on this aspect or if RTU filed this information suo moto. (Authors’ note: Since the Bank account of the FCRA-NGO where the FC is received is part of core banking, and since Banks have to inform regularly the FC received in such accounts to MHA, the MHA would be aware, almost in real-time, every ‘donation’, however small, received by a FCRA-NGO. So, as far as MHA is concerned, it does not need the FC4 return of the NGO to learn of the donations. The return is more for the consumption of the public).

The next big change is in the section on ‘Details of utilization’. This section too has borrowed from the erstwhile FC6 format but is a lot more comprehensive than that. Here, the FCRA-NGO is asked to submit item-wise details of how much money was spent on which activity, where was it spent and other such details.

The biggest change is subsection c here, which presents details of the purchase of fresh movable and immovable assets. In the case of RTU, we learn that it had used FC to purchase movable assets such as DVD, Audio systems, Tractor, Water Tanker, School Bus, TV, Physio Equipment, Vehicles, and other such things. We also learn that it spent Rs. 38 lakh towards the construction of a new Boys hostel building.

In sub-section (d), the revised FC4 seeks information on recipients of FC from the FCRA-NGO to other FCRA-NGOs. (Authors’ Note: One of the idiosyncrasies of FCRA-2010 is what is called the second recipient. An FCRA-NGO receives FC from abroad and in turn distributes the same/part to other FCRA-NGOs. This is permitted). RTU has not used this feature, so it reports nothing here.

Furthermore, under Details of Unutilised FC, there is a new subsection where the FCRA-NGO is asked to provide complete details of Fixed Deposits it has. These include past fixed deposit amounts, ones newly made in the current year, any FD closed, etc. This is a very good source of information for ordinary people who wish to learn more about such NGOs.

A strange new sub-section asks for details of unutilized land and building (established with FC funds) for over two years. We cannot claim to know the purpose of this question, nor do we know of any FCRA-NGO which has provided non-null details for this sub-section.

A very significant change in the revised FC4 is that the name of the Chief Functionary of the FCRA-NGO whose digital signature uploaded in the return has to be filled in block letters. During the period 2015-2017, one had to minutely examine the signatures (which did not have the name), to figure out the person(s) running any FCRA-NGO and compare the same with the information provided (if any) on the Darpan portal for that NGO. Not any longer.

The FC4 itself carries the name of the Chief Functionary which is, by far, the best thing to have happened in the FCRA domain (even bigger than putting Compassion International on Prior Approval). For instance, RTU’s FC4 has been signed by J. Antony Paulsamy. Darpan lists RTU’s Secretary as Antony Paulsamy and Mary Ramasamy and G. Shanmugalatha as its Board Members. While data on Darpan is static, that on the FCRA will be dynamic (Authors’ Note: One has not seen it getting updated, even if functionaries change for instance, which is not surprising given that it is run by Niti Aayog, more as a vestige of its Planning Commission days). So, this makes the public better informed.

In summary, these revisions in the FC4 form are highly welcome. It will increase public limelight and hopefully, scrutiny of deviant FCRA-NGOs, since commoners will now be able to relate a publicly visible asset (say an orphanage or a school in one’s street or neighbourhood) with the FCRA-NGO readily. Thus, the FCRA Wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs must be applauded for these bold revisions.

(Note: The author has chosen to stay anonymous due to personal reasons)

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