Global food and beverage major PapsiCo has withdrawn the lawsuit that the company had filed against potato farmers in India alleging infringement of patent.
Reuters: Pepsi withdraws lawsuit against four Indian potato farmers accused of infringing its patent
Last month, PepsiCo had sued several potato farmers in India for cultivating a potato variety that is exclusively developed and grown for the company’s popular Lay’s potato chips. The company grows the FL-2027 variety of potato needed for its chips through contract farming, which is also known as FC5. Pepsi India had said that they had contracted with several hundred farmers to grow the special potato, but the particular farmers they were suing were not under the contract farmer agreement with the company.
Immediately after the news was published, it had become a PR disaster for the company, as it was seen as an example of a multinational company interfering in the rights of small farmers to grow a crop. Farmer organisations and activists had launched massive protests against the company. After that, the company had offered to drop the cases against the farmers, provided they join the contract farming program or grow some other variety of potato.
“After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers,” a PepsiCo spokesperson said today in Delhi.
Frito Lays, the subsidiary of PepsiCo, is the global leader in the potato chips market, and it enjoys a leadership position in India too.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi has written to the Election Commission seeking action against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan for distributing salaries among Imams in New Delhi. The CEO has held the distribution of salaries among Imams as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
TIMES NOW IMPACT: Delhi CEO moves EC against AAP over distribution of salaries to Imams. TIMES NOW’s Mohit with more details. pic.twitter.com/2XSgHuFbrZ
The Delhi CEO in its written letter to the Election Commission has reportedly asked for strict action to be taken against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. Khan was seen in the pictures handing out salary cheques to the Imams and their helpers. In its defense, the AAP has said that those cheques were scheduled to be distributed in January but due to the problems created by the government functionaries, the distribution got delayed.
CEO Delhi recommended action against AAP Leader for violation of Model Code of Conduct. pic.twitter.com/xa1iHtPPqb
— Chowkidar Vijender Gupta (@Gupta_vijender) May 2, 2019
Contending that no enhancement or financial grants can be made once the MCC has kicked in, the CEO Delhi in his letter acknowledges the violation committed by AAP leader Amanatullah Khan who is also the chairman of Delhi Waqf Board. The CEO also revealed that despite being aware of the violation of the MCC, the Delhi Waqf Board chairman Amanatullah Khan went ahead with the disbursement of honorarium to the Imams and Muezzins.
It is notable here that AAP had announced a significant salary hike for imams and mosque helpers in January. However, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan was seen distributing ‘salary cheques’ to Imams when the MCC was already in place.
Sinauli village in Uttar Pradesh has become an archaeological hotspot for excavations. In a first, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed two decorated ‘legged coffins’ during an excavation process in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh. Officials claim that this is the first of a kind discovery in the Indian subcontinent.
Baghpat: ASI has unearthed two decorated ‘legged’ coffins with skeletons during excavation in Sanauli. Dr. SK Manjul, Director,Institute of Archaeology says,”We’ve also unearthed chariot, helmet, shield, sword & dagger from grave.We started this excavation in January.” pic.twitter.com/ewiinveMbw
This excavation is a continuation of the work started in 2018, at Sanauli, this being carried out under the direction of SK Manjul, Director, Institute of Archaeology of ASI to understand the extension of the burial site and habitation area in context with earlier findings. The site’s proximity to Hastinapur, and its time period had raised the possibility that the site may be related to Mahabharat era.
According to SK Manjul, these artefacts do not belong to the Harappan or Indus Valley civilisation. He hints that there might have been a parallel civilisation then, which India is still unaware of. He also confirmed that pieces of burnt wood found near with the legged coffin boxes hint that the people dwelling then, gave a bath to the deceased before carrying out their last rituals.
Previously, the Archeological Survey of India had discovered the ‘First Ever’ physical evidence of chariots being used in a near 2000 BC period which was considered the bronze age. As per reports, the excavation that had turned up royal burial sites with sophisticated weaponry, ornaments, pottery and other materials suggested that a highly sophisticated ‘warrior class’ civilisation existed in that region.
Image of chariot wheels excavated in Sanauli last year
Meanwhile, sacred chambers along with furnaces, ‘legged coffins’ with skeletons were amongst the things discovered by the team of ASI personnel. It is being believed that all the artefacts discovered are more than 4000 years old.
“This is for the first time such discoveries were made in the Indian subcontinent, which is different from Harappan culture. It existed in upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab region. All these articles such as weapons, chariots, and shields have never been found in the sub-continent. The new findings give a new idea and dimension to Indian archaeology for understanding ancient literature and Vedic literature,” said Manjul.
The excavation, which restarted in January, is being done at two different locations. “In the first area, two burial pits and a sacred chamber of burnt brick were discovered along with burial goods. One wooden ‘legged coffin’ decorated with steatite inlays having extended skeleton of a female was excavated. This burial pit contains evidence of decomposed bow, bone points, armlet of semiprecious stones, gold bead and pottery systematically arranged towards north and eastern sides of the coffin,” said an ASI statement.
In one of the burials, the ASI recovered copper mirror, hairpin, channel, beads, painted vanity and pottery with a female skeleton.
Two big pots are placed under the coffin which could have contained food and other organic remains associated with rituals,” said an official.
At the second location, the ASI unearthed remains of four furnaces with three associated working levels. “The furnaces yielded slags, potsherds, and few charred bones. Stone weights, anvils, animal figurines, etc are a part of the antiquities recovered from this area. The overall ceramic assemblage has late Harappan characters,” said the ASI furthering that “The nature of burial pottery, coffins, antiquities suggest a complex of late Harappan period. Sanauli is important in not only giving new evidence of copper decorated chariots and coffins, shields in the subcontinent first time but also in the understanding of the cultural scenario of the upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab.”
Meanwhile, the excavation process is still underway, the experts state that these findings suggest that the civilisation was theologically advanced and also culturally, aesthetically sophisticated.
Usually it is said that one should not take politicians seriously. Especially at the time of elections when they are speaking at an election rally. But Narendra Modi has been an exception, like in most of the things associated with politics. He has been largely truthful to the words he has spoken.
So one should at least analyse when he says (42 mins onwards) “Ye to bas shuruat hai. Aage aage dekhiye hota kya hai (This is just the beginning. Wait for future to see what else happens)” while speaking on Masood Azhar, JeM chief, being designated as World Terrorist by UNSC today.
I also would not have given it much of a thought if not for some of the big developments that have taken place in last few days.
In the last few days, there was a big terrorist attack in Sri Lanka causing over 300 deaths for which ISIS has taken responsibility, China has removed Bangladesh-Myanmar-India-China Economic corridor (BMICER) from the umbrella of its ambitious Belt-Road-Initiative (BRI), and now China has removed its technical hold in UNSC over Masood Azhar. All these are big developments specially when seen in the context of the larger world politics of the time points towards the winds of the change.
It is known for sometime how China is facing ethnic conflict in its Xinjiang province and how it is handling them. But whatever be the criticism of the ways in which China is handling the issue, one thing is clear – the ISIS ideology and Islamist terror have reached to the doorstep of China and is making it very nervous. Doing a lip-service with the other world leaders at world forums and having to deal with the problem in its own backyard are two different things altogether and is bound to change the way you look at certain things.
Earlier, China used to see the terrorist attacks happening in India from the prism of conflict between India and Pakistan. Attacks in the western world were too far to matter to them. And Middle East and Africa were conflict regions where everyday violence is the new normal. But the recent attacks in Myanmar, Bangladesh and now in Sri Lanka are enough to send stress signals to someone as transactional as China in its approach towards other nations.
What is even more alarming is the fact that the recent attacks occurred in Sri Lanka where there is not much hatred or grievances against the Muslim minority. On top of that, the ISIS claimed responsibility by saying that this is the answer to Christchurch Killings.
Just understand the gravity of the situation here. A single attacker who may or may not have been motivated by any specific ideology, definitely not a part of any big organization such as ISIS or Al Qaeda or Taliban or many others, goes out and kills innocent Muslims in an otherwise peaceful country of New Zealand. All world leaders condemned the attacks and the citizens all over the world expressed their solidarity with the victims. But ISIS plans and executes a dastardly attack on innocent Christians in a part of the world which is far away from the original place of shootings. This deadly force which is threatening the world order transcends the national boundaries and this time the fire was too close to China for it to ignore.
BRI would not mean anything if this force operates with impunity in the very neighborhood from where the highways would pass keeping the entire trade route as hostage. China has invested way too much money in this for it to let it go to waste. It has lost many of its citizens as well while working in this hostile region. China finally seems to be coming to terms with these realities with its wisdom accentuated by the battle in its own backyard.
Also the news of how the polls are faring in India must have reached to China where it is looking more and more likely that Narendra Modi would return to power with even a bigger majority than before. That means China would have to work with him for at least another five years, long enough to make or break its plans on BRI.
India and China have exponentially increased their collaboration and talks since last year after the mammoth one-on-one talks between the two heads of the states. This was after the beginning of the trade war between China and USA which seems to be cooling down in last few months. I would not be surprised if India had a role to play to get the two parties on the table for talks and suspending this bitter war which was not helping anyone. If that is the case, the trust between China and India must be at an all time high, which is becoming evident because of these recent developments.
Excluding the BMICER from BRI umbrella is a big signal from China to India and the world. China seems to be signalling the acceptance of India as the leader of South East Asia through this move. This is a massive change in China’s foreign policy which usually does not change easily for anyone. Removing the technical hold on Masood Azhar signals that China has lost the confidence in a turbulent Pakistan and is no longer ready to place all its bets on a failed state.
So given this current state of world politics, what did Narendra Modi meant when he said “Ye to bas shuruat hai (This is just the beginning)”? Who knows! But something certainly seems to be brewing in the high corridors of the most powerful. Can Pakistan army and ISI finally fall in line when chided by their Chinese masters? Is there a plan to address Indian concerns related to territorial integrity on BRI with the road passing from POK? Is there a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem on the horizon? Can Pakistan, which sponsors bulk of the terror around the world, be cut to its size?
Again, Who knows. Only one thing is for sure, if Narendra Modi gets a clear majority again in 2019, the world will not be the same in 2024.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today conducted raids at the office of Popular Front of India (PFI) in Palakarai, Tiruchirappalli in connection to the murder of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) member Ramalingam in the month of February 6, 2019.
Tamil Nadu: Visuals of National Investigation Agency (NIA) raid at the office of Popular Front of India in Palakarai, Tiruchirappalli. NIA is conducting investigation in PMK member Ramalingam murder case. (He was murdered in Thanjavur district on Feb 6) pic.twitter.com/wvNURSTaWO
42-year old Ramalingam was found brutally murdered with his hands chopped off by a group of people belonging to the minority community for opposing religious conversions. He has been protesting against the religious conversion of Hindus which possibly irked some radical religious outfit.
The police had arrested five people including a member of the Islamic radical organisation PFI in relation to the murder earlier. The arrestees were identified as S Nijam Ali, Sarbudeen, Rizwan, Mohamed Azarudeen and Mohamed Raiyaz. Eleven accused have been arrested so far out of which eight are from the PFI.
PFI which is active in the States like Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar. It was banned by the Jharkhand government in February this year under section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act for allegedly indulging in anti-national activities in the State and having links with terror groups like the ISIS. The government had also urged the other States to take similar action. It was alleged by BJP leader Vinay Singh that the organisation was also involved in PM Modi’s assassination plot.
The organisation was also actively involved in Hadiya’s case. It had claimed to have spent Rs 1 crore in pursuing the case in Supreme Court.
Popular Twitter account True Indology who was suspended by Twitter recently has shared on Facebook that he has not created any alternate or backup account on Twitter and every other account created on his name is fake.
In his post, he further said that those fake accounts are created by those who conspired to get his account suspended in the first place. He added that he is trying all he could to get his account reinstated.
Comment on True Indology’s Facebook page
A Twitter account ‘TrueIndology_’ was created today at 12 pm with the bio which read ‘Trueindology hindi version’ and had garnered as many as 2422 followers at the time of publishing this report.
Fake Twitter account claiming to be True Indology
In his pinned tweet the imposter has said that he is here to tell the truth, but now he will tweet only in Hindi. However, as True Indology clarified, it is a fake account.
True Indology is a popular Twitter account and is very meticulous with facts, and often corrects wrong and false claims made about history mostly by left liberals. This has rubbed a few people the wrong way who have tried to get his account suspended by what seems like an abuse of power.
This is not the first time the popular Twitter account was suspended by Twitter for relentless attack by those who are inconvenienced by his fact checks. His account is regularly attacked with mass reporting by an organised gang of left-liberals, which causes the account to be suspended or locked. The fact that Twitter has a self-confessed left-leaning bias, contributes to fast suspension of right-wing accounts by the social media site.
In January this year, True Indology’s Twitter was locked after the account had exposed a false narrative circulated by NDTV. Before this, the account was suspended several times, to be restored later after reviewing the decision.
In an interesting turn of events, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has made a U-turn on her ‘vote-cutting party’ remarks about the Congress’ role in Uttar Pradesh. She, going back on her previous statement, put forth that all the Congress candidates were strong and contesting to make the BJP lose.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secy for UP (East) in Raebareli: Ideology of Congress & BJP is poles apart. We’ll always fight them, they are our main adversary in politics. We’ve made sure not to benefit BJP in any way. We’re fighting strongly, our candidates are strong. pic.twitter.com/JXlvQWyXx8
The other day, while talking to the media Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had given away a ‘carefully guarded secret’ this election season. She seems to have invariably admitted that the Congress and BSP, SP alliance has a tacit understanding on the ground that the political sparring is a mere ploy to fool the voters.
Priyanka Gandhi, talking to media said that BJP will suffer a ‘huge setback’ in Uttar Pradesh and that they will lose badly. She had said that in those seats where Congress is strong, Congress will win, and in others where Congress is weak, the candidates have been selected to ensure that they ‘cut votes’ of BJP.
This statement had fetched Priyanka a considerable amount of flak from Union Minister, Smriti Irani and also from the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. While Smriti Irani, had called the ‘vote-cutter’ comment of the AICC General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh East a clear acceptance of defeat, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav had called it an excuse since the “people are not with them” (Congress).
“I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses,” Akhilesh Yadav had said.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had stated that Priyanka’s ‘vote-cutting’ remarks are an admission that the Congress has now been reduced to a fringe party.
However, this development does not surprise the people, who even know little about the Gandhi family’s predisposition to backtrack and lie blatantly when at bay. The entitled prince himself has a quirk for such spasmodic U-turns. Be it from several flip flops during his Rafale rants trying to berate Modi Government or his U-turn on Mahatma Gandhi’s killers, Rahul has made almost enough U-turns to challenge AAP chief Kejriwal already.
And now Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on whom the Congress had placed its bet in the hope to consolidate votes in UP, has shown a similar tendency by backtracking from her statements.
Not just this, Priyanka Gandhi has also been going around making several other bloopers which, amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, might just make thing more difficult for her brother, the out-on-bail Rahul Gandhi, who himself is dealing with a lot lately.
The entitled prince was forced to apologise by the Supreme Court for attributing the ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ slogan to the SC over its order on Rafale.
Priyanka’s statements and activities seem to be bringing Congress embarrassment and flak from other parties quite often now. Recently, a video surfaced on Social Media where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who chickened out of battling PM Modi in Varanasi, was seen watching in amusement as little kids, coached by Congress workers, were abusing Prime Minister Modi.
Priyanka’s earlier statements to the media over fighting election from Varanasi was also criticised by the lost loyal Congress-supporting journalists hinting that she should not have made the statements if she were not sure of contesting from the seat. Many senior leaders and ecosystem players were seen making excuses on behalf of Priyanka that she has other responsibilities.
After the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council included the name of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar in the list of global terrorists, the Congress has found itself in an awkward situation. Previously, several attempts to get Azhar blacklisted had failed due to opposition from China, the friend of Pakistan. And the Congress party had attacked that Modi government getting Azhar listed despite PM Modi trying to maintain a good relationship with the Chinese government.
When eventually the dreaded terror leader was blacklisted by UNSC following relentless efforts by India, France, USA, UK and other nations, the Congress party hesitated to appreciate the Indian government for the success. Instead, the party is saying that the Modi government should not take credit for the decision taken by the UNSC committee.
But while asking BJP not to take credit, the Congress party ended up taking credit for something in which they had no role. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla today said that Congress government had got Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hafiz Saeed declared as terrorist by the UN.
Although the UPA-I government may have a role in the case of Hafiz Saeed as he was listed in the year 2008, Congress government can’t have a role in the listing of Jaish. Rajiv Shukla said that forget a single terrorist, we had got an entire terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad declared a terrorist organisation.
But the fact is JeM was listed by UNSC sanctions committee on 17 October 2001, when Congress was not in power. At that time, NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power in India, and the last Congress government to rule India was P V Narasimha Rao government, which lasted till 1996. The note on listing JeM by the UNSC mentions the attacks on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Indian Parliament in 2001, and just a few months later the organisation was declared as a global terror organisation by the UN.
Therefore, it is impossible that any Congress government any role in getting JeM blacklisted by the UN, as it was done during a BJP government, and several years after a government had ruled India.
Rajiv Shukla also took credit for the bounty of $10 million declared on Hafiz Saeed by the USA. Although the bounty was declared in 2008, when UPA-I was in power in India, there is no evidence to suggest that India played any role in the bounty announced by the USA. The USA regularly takes such decisions against terror leaders and organisations, and it was also part of such actions.
It is ironical that while Congress does not want the Indian government to take credit for a decision done by the UN, an organisation of nations where India is also a member, but they themselves are taking credit for a decision taken by a sovereign nation, that to the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the world.
The Supreme Court today rejected the petition filed by an obsessive Ishrat Jahan apologist and who had signed mercy petition for Yakub Memon, Harsh Mander, seeking recusal of the Chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi from hearing a case related to the condition of detention camps and deportation of illegal immigrants from Assam. Refusing to recuse the CJI from hearing the Assam detention case, the court instead struck off Harsh Mander’s name from the petitioner’s place and appointed Prashant Bhushan as Amicus Curiae.
The Court dismisses Harsh Mander’s application seeking CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s recusal from the Bench.
Mander’s name as party in the case is struck off. The Court appoints Advocate Prashant Bhushan as the Amicus Curiae in the case
Harsh Mander, in his recusal petition, filed through his advocated Prashant Bhushan had contended that the comments and the oral observations made by CJI has raised serious apprehension in his mind that the CJI may be biased towards the repatriation of the illegal immigrants/foreigners and is using the petition to ensure that the State of Assam commits mass deportation of alleged foreigners. Mander also submitted that he is no longer using the legal services of Prashant Bhushan in this case.
Mander argued in the court that the recent tensions in the state of Assam were due to the oral remarks passed by the CJI during hearing the petition. To this CJI Gogoi responded saying that the oral observations and the comments made in the court are expressions of opinions which aide the judges to reach a rational conclusion. Mander said, “I still have anxieties about the subconscious bias.” Slamming Mander, CJI Gogoi said that he should go by the written orders and not by oral observations and comments made by the judges during the hearing.
Defending the comments and oral observations made by the judges, Justice Sanjiv Khanna asserted that observations and remarks were made to ascertain the steps taken for the deportation of the foreigners. Justice Khanna stated that the court is open to change until an order is passed, the observations and comments are made to seek answers to the questions.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was representing the government said that the government opposes the recusal petition filed by Mander. He termed the petition as scandalous and called it not a recusal but a contemptuous petition.
When asked by CJI Gogoi, how did he find the observations despite not being in the court during the hearing, Mander replied that he read them on the Social Media websites. CJI said, “You see something on Social Media and based on that you are asking CJI to recuse himself?” Dismissing the petition and removing Mander’s name from the petitioner’s place, the court passed the judgement saying that it wouldn’t allow anyone to disrupt the institution.
Like many among his colleagues from the Congress party, Devashish Jarariya appears to have undergone a change of heart with regard to Hinduism as elections came. From 2016, when he claimed Hindu philosophy was against his very dignity and that no one in his family worshipped Hindu deities, the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha from Bhind had come to worship in a Hindu temple ahead of the polls.
Popular Twitter user Ankur Singh called pointed out the sudden change in beliefs.
— Chowkidar Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) May 2, 2019
Jarariya’s personal journey towards Hinduism reflects the Congress party’s own journey towards Hindu philosophy. From its efforts towards inventing Hindu Terror to promising Gaushalas in its manifesto, the Congress party indeed has come a long way.
Party President Rahul Gandhi, too, who had once claimed Hindu Terror was a greater threat than Islamic Terrorism proclaimed himself a Shiv Bhakt and spent a good deal of time doing the rounds of Temples. It only shows fear of defeat in elections and public mood makes politicians embrace what they most detest.
Incidentally, Jarariya is the same person who had insinuated that the Pulwama attack was an inside job by Prime Minister Modi. Old habits do die hard and the Congress, for all its newfound Deshbhakti, rewarded him with a Lok Sabha ticket. He has, in the past, also tried to incite people on the basis of caste over a Swachh Bharat campaign ad.
The most dubious, however, was when Jarariya was going around pretending to be a member of the BSP and even appeared as its spokesperson in TV debates. He even ran a fake BSP Youth website. BSP supremo Mayawati had to come out and specifically clarify that he was not one of theirs.
