Home Blog Page 643

Supreme Court says woman can’t demand alimony to match ex-husband’s current wealth, grants ₹12 crore to woman who demanded ₹500 crore after living together for 4 months

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Supreme Court says woman can’t demand alimony to match ex-husband’s current wealth, grants ₹12 crore to woman who demanded ₹500 crore after living together for 4 months

Amid the rising debate over astronomical alimony demands in divorce cases and misuse of domestic violence laws, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that a divorced wife can’t demand permanent alimony just to maintain equal wealth status with the ex-husband. The apex court expressed dissatisfaction with the rising tendency to demand alimony as an “equalisation of wealth with the other party” in matrimonial cases.

A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice NK Singh stated that while the wife is entitled to maintenance to the same standard of life she was accustomed to with her husband as far as possible, this can’t be permanent. The court said that the ex-husband can’t be expected to provide maintenance as per his current status forever.

The bench noted that if the husband’s financial situation improves after the divorce, the ex-wife can’t seek an increase in alimony to match her ex-husband’s lifestyle. The court also wondered if the man’s income goes down for some reason, whether his ex-wife will accept a cut on her alimony.

The court issued the verdict while deciding on the issue of permanent alimony after divorce. In this case, the woman claimed that her ex-husband currently has assets worth ₹5000 crore in the USA, and he had given ₹500 crore as alimony to his first wife after divorce, which was half of his wealth at that time, along with a house in the USA. The petitioner woman, the man’s second wife, demanded that her alimony should match her ex-husband’s current wealth as well as his first wife’s alimony.

Essentially, the woman demanded ₹500 crore and a house in the USA as alimony, just like the man’s wife was given. However, the man refused the demand saying that his second marriage lasted only few months and therefore the alimony couldn’t be equal to his first wife. Notably, the woman stayed with the man, who is a US citizen, for just 3-4 months before separating.

Livelaw quoted the bench as saying, “We have serious reservations with the tendency of parties seeking maintenance or alimony as an equalisation of wealth wit the other party. It is often seen that parties in their application for maintenance or alimony highlight the assets, status and income of their spouse, and then ask for an amount that can equal their wealth to that of the spouse.”

The bench observed that women demand only a raise in alimony if the wealth of their ex-husband increases, but do not seek a reduction if ex-husbands become poorer after the divorce. The court said, “such demands are conspicuously absent in cases where the wealth of the spouse has decreased since the time of separation. There cannot be two different approaches to seeking and granting maintenance or alimony, depending on the status and income of the spouse.”

The court further stated, “The law of maintenance is aimed at empowering the destitute and achieving social justice and dignity of the individual. The husband is under a legal obligation to sufficiently provide for his wife. As per settled law, the wife is entitled to be maintained as far as possible in a manner that is similar to what she was accustomed to in her matrimonial home while the parties were together.”

Saying that the man is not liable to increase alimony if his wealth increases after the separation, the court said, “Once the parties have separated, it cannot be expected of the husband to maintain her as per his present status all his life. If the husband has moved ahead and is, fortunately, doing better in life post his separation, then to ask him to always maintain the status of the wife as per his own changing status would be putting a burden on his own personal progress.”

The court expressed surprise that apart from demanding alimony according to her ex-husband’s current wealth, the petitioner was also seeking equalisation with his first wife.

The court finally approved a permanent alimony amount of ₹12 crore. While the Family Court in Pune had awarded ₹10 crore in alimony, the Supreme Court added ₹2 crores to enable the woman to buy a house.

The court said that while deciding alimony, the husband’s income can’t be the only factor. The wife’s reasonable needs and other factors also have to be considered. The judgement said, “The Court has to not just consider the income of the respondent-husband here, but also bear in mind other factors such as the income of the petitioner-wife, her reasonable needs, her residential rights, and other similar factors. Thus, her entitlement to maintenance has to be decided based on the factors applicable to her and not depend on what the respondent had paid to his ex-wife or solely on his income.” 

The Ambedkar riddle: Where he fits into the Hindutva movement

Rahul Roushan
-
0
The Ambedkar riddle: Where he fits into the Hindutva movement

A barely 10-second clip of Home Miniter Amit Shah was circulated a couple of days ago, falsely claiming that he insulted BR Ambedkar – the hottest currency in political markets for a while now – and the nation has since been debating who loves Ambedkar more.

At least in political circles, the debate is framed differently – who hates Ambedkar more? BJP has history on its side as Congress, before independence and also post-independence under Nehru was no admirer of Ambedkar. They were rivals, almost enemies, and there are enough statements by Ambedkar himself against the Congress party which prove it. There are statements by Nehru too, such as his letters to Edwina, where he has expressed his utter contempt for Ambedkar.

Congress, on the other hand, is using the shortened clip of Shah to prove how BJP hates Ambedkar. The saga did not start there, however, but with Rahul Gandhi wrongly quoting Veer Savarkar on the Indian constitution and flashing Manusmriti in the parliament. With the benefit of hindsight, the BJP should have gone on the offensive and perhaps they would not need to be defensive over Ambedkar today. We will come to that later.

Rahul Gandhi basically has been trying this age-old leftist trope of Manusmriti vs Constitution for years now, which is essentially to keep the caste pot boiling. His non-stop “kaun jaat ho” performance in the run-up to the 2024 elections reaped him some benefits, so he knows that it works. Ambedkar and the Constitution are just tools that Congress is using to further its cause.

Historically, it is clear as water that Congress (from inception till the 1990s) had no affinity at all for Ambedkar. If one counts negative statements by Ambedkar on various entities, individuals, and ideas – and he had plenty to offer – the statements against Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress party will hopelessly outnumber his statements against the RSS. In fact, one is hard-pressed to find any statement by Ambedkar which directly attacks the RSS.

Ambedkar vs RSS or Ambedkar vs Hindutva is all extrapolation of statements made by Ambedkar against the Hindu religion itself (the way he understood it) and Hindu politics (of that era). And that’s why Rahul Gandhi flashed Manusmriti in the parliament – he could not have quoted Ambedkar to directly attack the BJP, RSS or even Hindutva. It was the same extrapolation, helpfully aided with lots of manipulation and lies about Savarkar.

Now Congress has this gift of being equivocal without being questioned over its hypocrisy. Rahul Gandhi can position himself as a Shiv Bhakt as well as an Ambedkarite, and no one in his ecosystem will question him. BJP doesn’t enjoy the same luxury. Here, people question how they can be Ambedkarite and also say Jai Shri Ram.

The party, as well as the Sangh, essentially ignores such questions on an organizational level. That is, politically, an understandable thing to do. First, why should the party get entangled in such debates when their rivals get a free pass? And second, maybe there is no answer at an organizational level – a political party is not exactly a think-tank. Beyond the institutional level, it is time for supporters and sympathisers to discuss and make up their minds on an ideological level. Even when it comes to Sangh, individual Swayamsevaks or officer-holders discuss (and I have discussed with a few) but they won’t issue statements on behalf of the Sangh.

This article is an attempt to join the debate, on the riddle of Ambedkar and his position in the Hindutva movement, on a very basic level, because the subject matter otherwise deserves a full book. 

Ambedkar and Hindu religion

First things first, and I’m not going to be politically correct here – Ambedkar was not a Hindu leader. He was very clear, especially towards the end of his life, that he was not a Hindu. In fact, via the 22 vows he created and took when he changed his religion, he made it more than apparent that not only did he not want to be identified as Hindu, but he went on to create an identity that was primarily “against Hinduism” rather than Buddhist or anything else – after all, the vows included things like no pind daan, no faith in Lord Ram or Krishna, renouncing Hinduism in full as ‘harmful to society’ etc.

Even before this Deeksha into Buddhism where he took and administered these 22 vows, Ambedkar almost invariably used the term Hindus (or “Hindoos” as it was spelt during the British era) to refer to an outgroup rather than an ingroup. Therefore, one can’t even argue that he stopped identifying himself as a Hindu only towards the end part of his life when he might have been too livid and frustrated with his attempts at some sort of unity or harmony coming to nought.

This mere fact itself could be argued to be a deal breaker where he can not be a part of the Hindutva movement altogether. And that’s precisely what many argue, but they clearly are not ‘too many’ even on a platform like X, where actually the “Right Wing” is represented far more fairly than any other platform. I ran a poll, and Ambedkar was winning handsomely by the time this article went up. I can very safely conclude that the voters were overwhelmingly “RW”.

One can dismiss this voting as unscientific or voters as not knowing the “truth” about Ambedkar, but both would be uncharitable, especially the latter. Unlike the leftists, at least on the Hindu side, there should be an attempt to understand conflicting viewpoints.

I’ve tried to have conversations and expose myself to arguments by people who think Ambedkar, despite these 22 vows and other statements, can indeed be considered an important part of the Hindutva movement, and I’ll be trying to summarize those. Please note, that these are not necessarily endorsements of those arguments, but I’m just putting them out as there should be a debate and churning.

‘Ambedkar was a reformer’

Hindutva, not as defined by JNU jholachhaps or champagne intellectuals, but as defined by Savarkar and practised by Sangh, is indeed a liberal reformist movement around Hinduism. Savarkar, in his many writings, has talked about the seven shackles of Hindu society and he decries many practices that were hitherto either sanctioned by shastras or by mainstream interpretation of shastras.

These included untouchability, temple entry of all castes, prohibition on inter-caste marriage or inter-dining between castes, prohibition of rites sanctioned by the Vedas to certain castes, and many more allied issues. Patit Pavan Mandir in Ratnagiri of Maharashtra is a living testament to his efforts and beliefs, which can be and were argued to be going against “traditional” Hinduism.

Savarkar didn’t burn any of the shastras which were supposed to sanction these practices that he termed as shackles for the society and actively opposed. Nonetheless, he clearly went against the Shastras as per the existing wisdom and practices of that time. And that’s what reformers do. They would end up offending the traditionalists as they are trying to change things.

The argument from this lot usually says that Ambedkar’s attacks on Hinduism and opposition to shastras, such as Manusmriti, should be taken in the same spirit i.e. they were meant to advance the Hindu society. They are willing to forgive – even though no one is asking for forgiveness – the acerbic words of Ambedkar because they reflect his life agonies as a “scheduled caste” person.

There is also an important difference between the attitudes of Ambedkar and Veer Savarkar. Savarkar’s reformation was driven by the aim of finding unification of Hindus in the face of increasing external threats – including the formation of a secular state. When he spoke about transcending one’s micro identity like caste, he was more focused on what Hindus need to do to find their unified identity in a secular state rather than an inherent animosity towards Hindu Dharma and what it stood for, unlike Ambedkar.

So how does that make Ambedkar a ‘Hindu’ reformer when he hardly considered himself one? Usually, this is answered with a broad-based definition of who is Hindu and what is Hinduism, with that ubiquitous reference to the Supreme Court terming it a ‘way of life’ thrown in.

There are also some isolated statements by Ambedkar that are used to argue that he wasn’t entirely against every Hindu Dharmashastra. For example, in Annihilation of Caste, which arguably is one of the most stringent attacks on traditional Hinduism by Ambedkar, he says, “I am told that for such religious principles as will be in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity, it may not be necessary for you to borrow from foreign sources and that you could draw for such principles on the Upanishads.”

Further, some have argued that many other ‘reformists’ from the same era were not too kind on traditional shastras or even non-Vedic gods, such as folks from Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj. If they can be considered part of the larger Hindu fold, why not consider Ambedkar too? Forget Arya Samajis, even Jains for example may not believe in many of the Hindu gods and some of them have not-so-charitable views on Hindu gods, but don’t the two communities live as brethren?

Not too convincing, but the context of the colonial era and various ‘reform movements’ at that time should be taken into account I believe. “Decoloniality” was not known to them (obviously, the entire world was living in a colonial era) and understanding that especially in terms of the Indian or Hindu context is a very recent phenomenon. Lots of fire and fury would be generated, and I’d skip that currently as we already have enough fire and fury going on.

‘Ambedkar criticised Islam’

The second most offered argument in favour of Ambedkar’s role in the Hindutva movement is his comments on Islam and the Muslim community, especially around the creation of Pakistan or the Malabar genocide of Hindus. He didn’t mince words and didn’t try to sugarcoat things, which usually leftists or secularists do when it comes to Islam.

That part is undeniable. Yes, Ambedkar did say nice things about Islam too, and on some occasions even supported ‘untouchables’ converting to that religion, but he indeed took a principled stand when it came to describing the Malabar massacre of Hindus by Moplah Muslims (which secularists pass off as peasant revolution against the British) or about Islamic separatist mindset when it came to the creation of Pakistan.

But he wasn’t the only one either. Men like Sri Aurobindo and even Ravindranath Tagore too have taken a critical view of Islam and talk about Islamic separatist mindsets. And then obviously you have people Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel. However, the argument is that it would be difficult for the leftists and Islamists to defend when Ambedkar is quoted verbatim.

While you may not be entirely impressed with this sole reason alone, it is not an invalid one either. On a lighter note, you do need citations that don’t get banned on Wikipedia. If Wikipedia bans Ambedkar, there will be far more outrage than if it bans Sita Ram Goel.

‘At least he didn’t convert to Islam or Christianity and chose an Indic religion’

“What the consequences of conversion will be to the country as a whole is well worth bearing in mind. Conversion to Islam or Christianity will denationalise the Depressed Classes. If they go to Islam the number of Muslims will be doubled and the danger of Muslim domination also becomes real. If they go to Christianity, the numerical strength of Christians becomes five to six crores. It will help to strengthen the hold of the British on this country.”

The above are words of Ambedkar, and they fully tie into the civilisational concept of a nationhood. One will not be at all wrong to say that these are actually even more ‘Hindutva’ than what Savarkar wrote in the book ‘Essentials of Hindutva’. Savarkar was, for the sake of argument, even willing to admit Muslims into the civilisational framework if they were willing to consider India as their holy land instead of Mecca.

In the same paragraph cited above, Ambedkar actually says that Sikhism is the best choice for mass conversion, but he finally accepted Buddhism. Actually not, he almost invented a new religion with those 22 vows. But still, whatever he ended up creating, can that be called an Indic faith/panth? Many believe so, giving examples of ‘reformers’ of that time who also created new movements.

Also, his conversion to other religions is seen as some kind of ‘left with no choice’ move, about which I’m not fully convinced. Ambedkar had talked about mass conversions out of Hinduism many times in his lifetime.

‘Ignore his bitter words, he was just angry due to injustice’

There is no doubt that caste conflicts have been a bane of our society and certain castes indeed got unfair, even inhuman treatment from the rest of the society. I’m not at all comfortable with dismissing everything as ‘atrocity literature’ even though it’s a fact that exaggerated accounts exist. More than exaggeration, it’s the manipulated narratives that exist.

I too come from a supposed ‘high caste’ and I have seen the feudal mindset of some people. I’ve seen reverse casteism too, and that’s why I can’t pick just one side here. One thing I’ve seen and am sure of is that the feudal mindset of my folks was not due to some Manusmriti. I indeed never found it in my home or village. In fact, many of them were not even religious. I’ve written about it in my book and I’ll just advertise that here.

But on a serious note, yes, people can indeed say bitter things out of bitter experiences. That is true in general and one can look forward to having a fresh start. Was that the only reason Ambedkar said so? Not quite. He was a lawyer, a politician, and an activist. He had many reasons to.

‘He is the biggest Dalit icon; you can’t ignore and alienate your own people’

Finally, the realpolitik explanation lands. I’ve heard many Sangh and BJP folks say that it would be a grave mistake to assume that every person with Ambedkar’s DP on social media or a photo at his home will be a rabid Ambedkarite whose sole aim in life is to finish off Hinduism, and especially Brahmins.

Before this one is immediately laughed off and rejected as a white lie, I think people do need to factor in that a large part of the masses indeed don’t indulge in any critical analysis of ideologies before adopting something in vogue. Most just adopt political slogans.

For example, today a Samajwadi Party supporter would be all incensed over ‘insult to Babasaheb’ just because SP is in INDI Alliance and Akhilesh Yadav is working in tandem with Rahul Gandhi. But back in the 1990s, SP folks had damaged many Ambedkar statues in parks and villages in Uttar Pradesh, because they saw those statues as BSP trying to assert authority. That’s how politics is senseless and fickle in this country.

“Ambedkar has been sold off to them as their messiah by people who controlled the narrative, and now we can’t do much about it. It will not be wise to immediately start attacking Ambedkar and alienate them and push them further into the leftist or Islamist side. We have to ignore certain things and work steadily to make our point.”

Now that would have made perfect sense if an alternative plan was there. At least I can’t see any.

But the moot point is what that ‘alternative plan’ has to be. Sangh seems to be pretty comfortable accepting Ambedkar as it is, and so is BJP, and frankly, you can’t accuse them of any backstabbing as that’s how they always were.

Sangh accepted Ambedkar and Phule into their scheme of things more than 30 years ago. I’d suggest reading this book (available online for free here) titled “Manu Sangh and I” written by Ramesh Patange in 1996, a Padma Shri recipient and senior RSS ideologue. The book essentially argues that RSS does not believe in Manusmriti, even though it may not burn it.

This is exactly why the BJP could not have the upper hand when Rahul Gandhi was spreading lies about Savarkar. The Manusmriti in his hand made the party develop cold feet basically, as they don’t want to ‘support’ that text because in their minds they are reformists too.

From the outside, RSS and BJP seem to be clear in their mind that Ambedkar and Hindutva can go hand in hand, and they have been like this for literally over 30 years now. Primarily because in their worldview, both Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra are pretty liberal ideas that can accommodate all.

Defining Hinduism and Hindutva in the most liberal fashion ever might appear very self-congratulatory and self-important, but I don’t think that’s how ideologies work. One can argue to include Periyar next, and I don’t even want to guess the names thereafter. A line has to be drawn, and if that line is drawn after Ambedkar i.e. after including it, I’m fine with it, but at least the line should be clearly defined and be visible.

The risks of unanswered questions

As I had said earlier, Sangh or the BJP are not going to answer any questions on an organisational level and they are not even obliged to. But the broader RW and Hindu community has to have a discussion.

The biggest risk currently is not how Ambedkar is being raised to the status of God, he was raised to that status way back, but the virtual introduction of blasphemy around him. Even if the manipulated video of Amit Shah is seen without any context, the charge against him is essentially that he refused to recognise Ambedkar as God, chanting whose name can result in attaining heaven.

Pretty ironic that a man whose administered vows included refusal to recognise some Hindu gods should have the right to be identified as a God by everyone.

Also, gods can fight each other, be jealous of each other, and even conspire against each other, but if he is insisting on being worshipped by everyone – that is definitely not Hindu or Hindutva, that’s pretty Abrahamic. I have no idea how that can be defended.

Despite all this, I don’t favour lock, stock, and barrel rejection of Ambedkar from the Hindutva fold, for the reasons I put above (as put forward by those who insist on admitting him into the fold) are not entirely invalid. However, that can not come at the cost of a free exchange of thoughts, which is what is being threatened right now.

Russia fourth-largest economy globally after China, US, India: Vladimir Putin

ANI
-
0
Russia fourth-largest economy globally after China, US, India: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday highlighted the central role of the economy in determining a nation’s stability, standard of living, and defense capability, emphasizing Russia’s resilience despite external challenges.

While speaking at the programme “Year in Review with Vladimir Putin,” hosted by Channel One, the Russian president underscored that international institutions now rank the country as the largest economy in Europe by purchasing power parity and the fourth largest globally, following China, the United States, and India, surpassing Germany and Japan.

Addressing the reporters, Putin said, “International financial and economic institutions have placed Russia first in Europe in terms of economic volume, purchasing power parity, and fourth in the world. Ahead are China, the United States, and India. We overtook Germany last year and have overtaken Japan this year.”

He further said, “Everything is measured by the economy. Traditionally, we start with the economy… Everything is on the economy, this is the foundation of foundations. The standard of living of citizens is on this, stability is on this, defence capability is on this – everything is on the economy. The overall economic situation in Russia is normal and stable. We are developing, despite everything, despite any external threats and attempts to influence us.”

Speaking on the country’s economic performance, Putin noted that Russia’s growth rate of 3.6 per cent last year is expected to reach 3.9 per cent or 4 per cent in 2024, amounting to an approximate 8 per cent increase over two years.

“Last year, as you know, our economic growth was 3.6 per cent, this year it will be 3.9 per cent, and may be even 4 per cent. We will have to see, because the end-of-year results are calculated practically in the first quarter of the next year, 2025 in this case, and maybe it will be four. This means that over two years, economic growth was about 8 per cent, because, as experts say, I was exchanging opinions this morning, tenths, hundredths of a percent are a virtual thing…”

Putin on Thursday also challenged Western claims about the Oreshnik missile’s vulnerability, suggesting a direct test to assess its effectiveness against advanced air and missile defence systems in Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

When questioned about the West referring to the “Oreshnik” as a modified version of an old Soviet weapon and claiming that the missile could be intercepted by air defence systems even during its launch phase, Putin responded, “This is a modern, very new weapon. Everything that is done in any sphere of activity is based on some previous developments, on previous achievements, and then people take a step forward. The same thing with Oreshnik… This is a new weapon. I repeat: this is a medium- and shorter-range weapon.”

He further said, “Let them (West) identify some target for destruction, say, in Kyiv, concentrate all their air defence and missile defence forces there, and we will strike there with the Oreshnik, and see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment. Is the other side ready? In any case, we do not rule it out. I mean that all their missile defence and air defence systems are still in operation.

Putin expressed his confidence in Russian military advancements and expressed interest in the outcome for both Russia and the United States following a “technological duel.”

He added, “It will be interesting for us. What I told you is what engineers, scientists, and military specialists tell me. At the level of political leadership in the States, they also tell me something. Let’s conduct such an experiment, such a technological duel and see what happens. It’s interesting. I think it will be useful for both us and the American side.”

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

India-Pakistan matches hosted by either country to be held at neutral venues- ICC’s first major decision after Jay Shah became chairman

ANI
-
0
India-Pakistan matches hosted by either country to be held at neutral venues- ICC’s first major decision after Jay Shah became chairman

In the first major decision under the chairmanship of Jay Shah, the International Cricket Council (ICC) finally put an end to the Champions Trophy 2025 hosting rights issue, deciding that the upcoming event will be played in Pakistan along with another neutral venue.

Also, the hybrid model has been decided for all ICC events in the 2024-27 cycle which will be held in India or Pakistan.

“The ICC Board has today approved that matches between India and Pakistan played at ICC Events during the current rights cycle from 2024 to 2027 (which are to be hosted in India or Pakistan) will be played at a neutral venue proposed by the tournament host. This will apply to the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (Pakistan), ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (India and Sri Lanka),” a statement said.

In addition, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia has also been awarded hosting rights for one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.

The match schedule for the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 will be confirmed in the coming days.

Cricket Australia is set to host one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.

The schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be confirmed soon, with Pakistan aiming to defend the title they won in 2017, beating India in the final.

The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.

Due to strained political relations between the two nations, India has not toured Pakistan since 2008, when they participated in the Asia Cup. The two arch-rivals last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 in India, comprising white-ball matches. After that, India and Pakistan have primarily faced each other in ICC tournaments and Asia Cups.

Shah, a former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, started his tenure as ICC chief on December 1. He brings extensive experience in cricket administration, having started his journey in 2009 with the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA). During his tenure, he oversaw the development of the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

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

Same hate that Nazis had for jews, being normalised against Brahmins by DEI programs: What a research shows and how dangerous the anti-Brahmin narrative is

Shraddha Pandey
-
0
Same hate that Nazis had for jews, being normalised against Brahmins by DEI programs: What a research shows and how dangerous the anti-Brahmin narrative is

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or simply DEI has become a mainstay in the West with major companies and institutions inducting DEI programs and policies in a bid to build a supposedly more inclusive, equitable and tolerant environment for diverse communities. However, instead of fostering inclusivity, and curbing biases and prejudices, DEI programs are creating antithetical impacts and furthering bias and prejudices against specific caste groups like Brahmins.

A recent study published by Rutgers University and the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) titled INSTRUCTING ANIMOSITY: HOW DEI PEDAGOGY PRODUCES THE HOSTILE ATTRIBUTION BIAS, revealed some DEI programs are spreading negative stereotypes and animosity against certain religious, racial and caste groups like the Brahmins while evoking unwarranted sympathy for the Muslim community.

While evaluating the impact of caste sensitivity training, the research used caste sensitivity training materials from the anti-Brahmin Caste activism group Equality Labs as the experimental condition or intervention text, designed to evaluate the effects of DEI rhetoric. The researchers also used neutral academic sources as control text (neutral text). There were two respondent groups that received intervention and control text respectively.

After both the respondent groups read the assigned texts, they were given a neutral scenario with no explicit caste indicators to measure their perceptions of caste-based bias. The study found that exposure to the Equality Labs intervention led to significantly higher perceptions of microaggressions, perceived harm, and assumptions of bias during the interview process (increases of 32.5%, 15.6%, and 11%, respectively) compared to the control condition.

Further assessment found that participants who read the Equality Labs text showed more willingness—19%— to punish the administrator in the fictional scenario provided to them and about 47% of them perceived Hindus as “racist” compared to the participants who read the neutral text. This indicates that DEI content instead of eliminating, is actually creating prejudices against Hindus, particularly the so-called “upper-caste” Hindus like Brahmins, who are already at the receiving end of hate campaigns of the anti-Hindu elements.

Similarly, when the participants who read the DEI-inspired material looked at modified past statements from German despot Adolf Hitler and his autobiography Mein Kampf that replaced the word “Jew” with “Brahmin,” they were more likely to agree that Brahmins were ‘parasites’ (+35.4%), ‘viruses’ (+33.8%), and ‘the devil personified’ (+27.1%).”

Are DEI programs meant for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or to Divide, Endanger and Instigate?

The Rutgers-NCRI research findings indicate that contrary to the supposed purpose of DEI programs, the hatred Nazis had for Jews is being normalised by some DEI programs against Brahmins. The Jewish holocaust in Nazi Germany did not happen overnight, it was a culmination of the gradual but virulent spread of propaganda and hostile sentiments against Jews. While the Jewish people have over the centuries been subjected to expulsions, segregation, and violence in various parts of the world, after the defeat of Germany in World War I and the economic depression of 1929, hatred against Jews intensified to an unprecedented extent. From speeches, and pamphlets to the 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripping Jews of citizenship rights to anti-Jew violence, segregation, and eventual condemnation of Jews to concentration and death camps where they were gassed to death, the hatred against Jews was systematically propagated and this hatred magnified over time and resulted in the Jewish Holocaust. It must be remembered that dehumanising rhetoric always precedes genocides.

While the Islamo-leftist cabal would dismiss the argument that Brahmins face an existential threat and a threat of potential genocide, even those in the Hindu Dharmic fold would find this apprehension as exaggerated. However, much like Jews, Brahmins too have seen their fair share of misery and persecution. One notable example was the anti-Brahmin riots in Maharashtra in 1948, which followed MK Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse, a Chitpavan Brahmin. During this time, Gandhi supporters and Congress leaders attacked Brahmins, resulting in genocidal violence and persecution. The rioters killed numerous Brahmins and destroyed their houses and properties.

The killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1980s at the hands of Islamists serves as a grim reminder and a cautionary tale that anti-Brahmin violence in an independent India was very much possible, it happened and may happen again if the propagation of hatred against Brahmins continues to go unchecked and rather celebrated as advocacy of ‘social justice’.

The Brahmin-hating ‘activists’ and organisations are using all means at hand from cinema, media, politics, to even DEI programs to instil and normalise the idea of hating Brahmins despite there being no requisite of doing so. As the Rutgers-NCRI research findings revealed, even the hateful rhetoric of Jewish genocidaire Adolf Hitler seems justified when presented in the context of Brahmins, it can be understood that the anti-Brahmin elements are infiltrating the minds of neutral people and instilling the same extent of hatred against Brahmins as Hitler and Nazis harboured for Jews.

Even in contemporary times, calls for violence against Brahmins are casually given by anti-Brahmin elements without having to face any stringent legal consequences whatsoever. In fact, Brahmin bashing, negative caricaturing and demonisation are accepted as signifiers of progressiveness, liberalism, and equalitarian mindset in the Brahmin-hating left-liberal ecosystem.

In July last year, Mukesh Machkar – editor of Marathi Cartoon Weekly Marmik expressed his blatant hatred for Brahmins saying that he would contribute money to those who pack the women with Brahmin surnames Bhide, Gadgil, and Nadkarni in a sack and send them to Manipur. He also added that he would sponsor a half-litre of petrol if anyone wished to do “something else” with them.  A case was registered against Machkar back then. OpIndia reported how the contributions of Brahmin social reformers and thinkers like Lok Hitwadi Gopal Hari Deshmukh in Maharashtra solely because of their Brahmin identity. Hating and mocking Veer Savarkar has been mainstreamed by the opposition parties like Congress.

In Tamil Nadu, Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of a sitting Chief Minister and a cabinet minister himself equated Sanatan Dharma to dengue or malaria and called for its eradication. Another leader of his party A Raja said that “Sanatan Dharma should be compared to diseases with social stigma like HIV and leprosy.” Forget apologising, these ‘leaders’ have only doubled down on their hatred for Sanatan Dharma implying that it fosters caste discrimination with Brahmins being the superior-most caste by default.

Anti-Brahmin sentiments preached by ‘social reformers’ such as Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in the early twentieth century contributed significantly to the prevalence and normalisation of Brahmin hatred. In the name of fighting the caste system, Periyayr’s campaign entailed instigating violence against Brahmins. From the time of Periyar to the present, occurrences of cutting the poonool or Janeu (sacred thread) worn by Brahmins to insult and mock them have been widespread. Periyar’s Brahmin hatred was so blatant that he reportedly used to tell his followers that if they ever encountered a Brahmin and a snake on the road, they should kill the Brahmin first.

DEI programs relying on biased sources like Equality Labs simplify complex caste dynamics into binary oppressor-oppressed narratives, which may potentially lead to the scapegoating of  Brahmins, without acknowledging the intra-caste diversity and the nuanced history of caste interactions. OpIndia has earlier reported about Equality Labs founder Thenmozhi Soundararajan spreading hate against Brahmins and Hindu religious practices like Yoga.

While the supposed caste discrimination against so-called ‘lower castes’ is still used as an excuse to villainise modern-day Brahmins, the Aryan Invasion Theory which positions Brahmins as “foreign invaders” who somehow subjugated the indigenous (Moolnivasi) people of India, has been widely weaponised by anti-Brahmin activists to spread hatred against Brahmins and even give calls for their ouster from the nation. Back in December 2022, “Brahmin-Baniya, we are coming for you”, “We will avenge”, “Brahmins Leave the campus”, “Brahmins leave India” and other anti-Brahmin slogans were spray-painted on the walls of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University allegedly by communists.

DEI programs that rely on biased sources, such as Equality Labs, simplify complex caste dynamics into binary oppressor-oppressed narratives, potentially leading to Brahmin scapegoating. Once the people are convinced that Brahmins deserve all the hate in the world, there is a widened scope of reverse discrimination and the creation of a scenario wherein the ‘oppressors’ can never be ‘oppressed’ thus, no matter what all atrocities are inflicted and discrimination and hatred they face, Brahmins will be the ‘oppressors’. And, any act of violence and discrimination against them will be justified in the name of social justice and other high-sounding terms. While the propagation of anti-Brahmin sentiments has been quite common in the country with the usual suspects even mocking the food preferences of Brahmins, it gets further mainstreamed with added ammunition from Western DEI politics.

A genocide begins with dehumanisation when a community is otherised or projected as evil by nature, parasitic and unworthy of rights. As far as Brahmins are concerned, the accumulated load of historical violence, cultural toxicity and prevalent narratives of oppression would be a heady trigger for such acts. When people are repeatedly exposed to rhetoric that vilifies any caste group, Brahmins in this case, as oppressors or parasites (in the form of imaginative, historical misinterpretations or misuse of DEI rhetoric), the groundwork is laid for more violent forms of persecution. The massacre of Kashmiri pandits and its trivialisation by the Islamic terror apologists masquerading as ‘secular’ politicians, journalists and intellectuals demonstrates how the horrors endured by Brahmins were reduced to minor incidents and their plight dismissed as ‘unimportant’.

Conclusion

The normalisation of anti-Brahmin sentiment, through both historical narratives and modern DEI frameworks, is alarming and needs to be done away with. This is no needless fear-mongering, history has shown us how easily the spread of systematic hatred in a subtle or blatant form can escalate into violence against a community. Whether it was the riots in 1948, the divisive activism of Periyar, or the modern mockery and vilification of Brahmins, all these factors contribute to a sinister narrative. Coupled with the surging animosity some DEI narratives foster, as the Rutgers-NCRI study highlights, this could act as a precursor to something far more dangerous—perhaps even genocide of Brahmins.

Gujarat: Fake documents used to seize govt land, temple road blocked by wall, Dwarka police arrest Hanif, Abbas, Ghaffar

મેઘલસિંહ પરમાર
-
0
Gujarat: Fake documents used to seize govt land, temple road blocked by wall, Dwarka police arrest Hanif, Abbas, Ghaffar

Some members of the Muslim community illegally seized government land in front of a Hindu temple and built a wall, blocking the way to the religious place in Khambhalia of Dwarka. The authorities registered an FIR (First Information Report) against the aggressors and arrested them. Moreover, they removed the encroachment using a bulldozer and cleared the way to the temple.

The matter pertained to Santoshi Mata Temple in the Dwarka Gate area of Khambhalia. Hirenpuri Goswami, who is the head priest of the temple, filed a complaint against five people at the local police station. He mentioned that they had unlawfully occupied the government property located in the northern direction of the temple by preparing fraudulent documents. Furthermore, they barricaded the road with the intention of preventing the devotees from visiting the temple.

The way to the temple was closed. (Source: OpIndia Gujarati)

The police filed a case against five people under sections 420, 120B, 465, 467, 468, 471, and 474 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) in response to the complaint. Gulmamad Suleman Khafi, Hanif Suleman Khafi, Gaffar Suleman Khafi, Abbas Umar Khira and Khatija Kasaam Khafi were identified as the accused. Abbas, Hanif and Gaffar have been taken into custody while the other two have passed away. On 17th December, the police and local administration ran a bulldozer and cleared the government land to make way for the temple.

Situation before police action. (Source: OpIndia Gujarati)

Inspector Bhupendra Singh Saravaiya of Khambhalia police station told OpIndia that around the year 2019, the perpetrators forcibly grabbed the government land using false paperwork. The path to and from the temple was later obstructed by a wall that was built there. This land belonged to the government and now the construction has been taken down following a complaint. Home Minister of Gujarat Harsh Sanghvi also informed about the development on social media.

How was the land grabbed by preparing fake documents?

An investigation by OpIndia revealed that the land had been owned by the government for years, but the offenders conspired to prepare bogus documents, which showed Maharaja Jamsaheb of Nawanagar registered the land in the name of a man named Dhanji Dalwadi which was sold to a person named Kasam Khafi in 1959. Afterwards, further names were added on the basis of inheritance in relation to the forged papers. Later in the year 2021, the land was again bought by an individual named Hussain Bhokal.

According to the records of the Jamnagar Archives Office, the 1919 documents of the then Maharaja of Jamnagar showed ownership of the land in the name of Bhatia Damodar Kalyan. Dalwadi Dhanjibhai’s name was nowhere in the article number 665. Then in 1959 a document was produced alleging that Dhanjibhai had sold this land to Kasam Merubhai Khafi. However, the complainant highlighted that the lawyer mentioned as a witness at page no 4 of the document does not exist and the same page disclosed that document has been registered in sub-registrar office, but when checked, no such document was found.

However, Kasam Khafi’s heirs applied in 1998 to list their names as heirs based on the same fraudulent document. However, the City Survey Superintendent ruled that the land was government property. Kasam’s descendants filed a motion against this in the Deputy Collector’s Court in 2005 after which the Deputy Collector once more directed the City Survey Superintendent to take action according to the rules.

The Superintendent later investigated and upheld the earlier decision that it was indeed government land. Afterward, Hanif conspired with the Municipal Survey Officer, reopened the matter, and registered Kasam Khafi’s name in the latter’s order rather than submitting an application to the District Collector. The accused then sold the land to a man by the name of Hussain Bhokal in 2021 as the final sale deed was concluded.

Satisfied with the action, the way to the temple has been opened after years: Priest

Hiren Goswami, the temple priest, discussed the case with OpIndia as well. He mentioned that the accused had built a wall with the intention of blocking the way to the temple. As a result, the temple’s path was closed for years. He added that it was difficult for an elderly person to even get there let alone a vehicle. “When we asked the encroachers, we were told that they have the documents. However, it was found that the documents were forged and the persons mentioned in them were non-existent after probe. We then approached the District Police Chief. When he investigated himself, the whole truth came out. Administration has now opened the road,” he expressed. He declared that he was satisfied with the action as now the temple road is open as well as thanked the police.

Fed up with Islamist harassment, widow in Lakhimpur Kheri puts house on sale, says receiving constant threats: Details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Fed up with Islamist harassment, widow in Lakhimpur Kheri puts house on sale, says receiving constant threats: Details

On Wednesday, 18th December, a widow in Basaha Mafi village, located in the Phoolbehad police station area of Lakhimpur Kheri, put up a poster to sell her house. Reportedly, the woman was fed up of harassment from members of the Muslim community. “Muslimo se pareshan hokar ghar chodna chahte hai. Makan bikau hai (Fed up of Muslim harassment, we intend to sell this house),” the poster read.

The woman said that her elder daughter, who has been a target of love jihad, is struggling to get justice and in the meantime, she is now receiving threats that her younger daughter might also be targeted in a similar incident.

The woman revealed that her younger daughter had once faced an obscene incident after which a complaint was registered against the perpetrators under the POCSO act. “However, no action has been taken against the accused persons who continue to roam freely in the village and continue to threaten us,” she claimed.

Notably, the police said that it had arrested 3 persons in the case.

As per the reports, the woman says that she is unable to step outside her home due to fear, as the accused belongs to the Muslim community and is a history-sheeter. “Despite repeated visits to the police station and the Superintendent of Police’s office, no substantial action has been taken against the accused,” the woman said accusing the police of inaction, leaving her vulnerable to mental and physical harassment by powerful Islamist individuals.

The woman explained that her village has a dominant Muslim population and that hers is the only family who is Hindu. Following her husband’s death, she and her daughters started facing increasing harassment at the hands of Muslims. The woman, while talking about the incident to the media, accused Imran, the grandson of former village head Bhure, and his associates, of regularly harassing her daughters. She also said that Imran had abducted her elder daughter twice before, prompting her to file missing person reports.

As per the lady, on October 4th, 2024, her daughters were alone at home. During this time, Imran and another youth named Irshad broke into her house, created chaos, stole Rs 35,000 in cash and jewelry, and kidnapped her elder daughter. They are also believed to have sexually assaulted her younger daughter. “While the police have registered a case, no concrete steps have yet been taken against the perpetrators,” the woman said.

Taking cognizance of the event, Kheri police commented on the matter and said that 3 persons in the case had been arrested. The police also said that an FIR in the case under relevant sections of the law has been filed.

The woman continues to express anger over the incident, stating that despite repeated assurances from law enforcement agencies, she is constantly receiving threats that her younger daughter might also get kidnapped. Feeling helpless and unsafe, the woman now has decided to sell her house.

SC’s interim order restraining surveys of mosques sends a chilling message, empowers violent mobs and places ‘harmony’ over fundamental rights

OpIndia Staff
-
0
SC’s interim order restraining surveys of mosques sends a chilling message, empowers violent mobs and places ‘harmony’ over fundamental rights

The Supreme Court’s interim order of December 12 in the Places of Worship Act case, restraining all courts nationwide from entertaining fresh suits or passing orders to survey mosques to determine whether temple structures lie beneath them, raises profound legal and constitutional concerns. While ostensibly aimed at maintaining peace and public order, the sweeping nature of this directive and the reasoning employed by the three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justices P V Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan leave much to be desired.

The bench’s blanket stay applies to all pending and future suits concerning the Places of Worship Act, 1991, until the Supreme Court finally decides the constitutional validity of this contentious legislation. This effectively halts litigation initiated by Hindu groups seeking the reclamation of religious sites, many of which they claim were altered or destroyed during historical periods. However, the legal adventurism evident in this interim order sets a precarious precedent, signalling that the rule of law can be subordinated to political and societal pressures.

Places of Worship Act: Legal adventurism setting a precarious precedent

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s pointed query as to how a civil suit between two parties can be stayed at the behest of a third party remained unanswered even as the bench proceeded to issue a blanket restraint. Courts traditionally act on established legal principles, yet this order seems to derive its legitimacy from statements made across the Bar rather than from an informed appreciation of the facts or a coherent legal framework.

Notably, the bench did not have precise data on how many suits concerning disputed structures are currently pending in courts across the country, yet it proceeded to issue a sweeping stay.

The reasoning behind the interim order stems from the bench’s interpretation of two points — First, that one of the petitions before the Court seeks enforcement of the Places of Worship Act; and second, that one of the issues under judicial scrutiny is whether suits to reclaim religious sites are barred under the Act.

Both these arguments, however, suffer from significant infirmities.

The arguments SC relied on and its shortcomings: Denial of judicial review to Hindus

The Court invoked the 2019 Ayodhya verdict to justify its intervention with both CJI Khanna and Justice Viswanathan referring to the 5-judge Constitution bench ruling which had certain observations on the Places of Worship Act. However, questions remain whether such observations by the Ayodhya bench, being obiter dicta (statements made in passing without binding legal authority) could have been relied upon to impose a nationwide stay on all suits. The Ayodhya bench never adjudicated upon the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship Act, making its comments on the Act tangential at best.

A key criticism of the 1991 Act is its purported denial of judicial review—a fundamental constitutional right. Petitioners challenging the Act argue that it bars individuals from seeking judicial remedies for alleged historical wrongs, effectively stifling their fundamental right to approach courts.

The 1980 landmark judgment in Minerva Mills Ltd Vs Union of India declared judicial review to be an integral part of the Constitution’s basic structure. The Court held: “The power of judicial review is an integral part of our constitutional system, and without it, there will be no government of laws, and the rule of law would become a teasing illusion.”

Yet, by issuing a blanket stay on pending suits, the Supreme Court appears to have inadvertently endorsed the very denial of judicial review that petitioners have challenged as unconstitutional. Instead of taking a prima facie view on the Act’s unconstitutionality or holding its hand until a detailed examination, the Court chose to freeze legal proceedings altogether.

‘Harmony’ over Judicial process and fundamental rights

The Supreme Court’s approach in this matter suggests that its primary objective is to maintain peace and harmony. CJI Khanna’s remarks in the Sambhal case, where he stayed a trial court order allowing the survey of a disputed mosque site, reflect this sentiment. He emphasised the need to maintain public order, making trial court proceedings subject to higher judicial oversight.

While the intent to prevent communal violence is laudable, the method employed raises concerns. Temporary peace achieved by suppressing grievances is unlikely to foster long-term harmony. True peace necessitates addressing the root causes of discontent through lawful, constitutional mechanisms. By sidelining the legitimate grievances of one group, the Court risks emboldening those who use threats of violence as leverage.

The Places of Worship Act was enacted by the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government under immense political pressure. The legislation attempted to freeze the religious character of all places of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, barring litigation on disputes except for the Ayodhya site. Critics argue that this was a political compromise aimed at buying peace by stifling historical grievances through legislative fiat.

But if the design behind the Act was to try and freeze the religious character of places of worship as on August 15, 1947, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising the then CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices Surya Kant and P S Narasimha, while hearing petitions against the survey of the mosque in the Gyanvapi complex ordered by a Varanasi court, said in May 2022 that “ascertainment of the religious character of a place is not barred by… the Act”. This did not sit well with certain sections and instantly made the former CJI a thorn in their flesh.

The Supreme Court’s December 12 interim order has lent judicial imprimatur to a controversial piece of legislation without first addressing its constitutionality. It paradoxically echoes the criticism that the Act itself seeks to suppress dissenting voices through legal means and may leave a chilling effect on the exercise of people’s legitimate rights.

The troubling message: Violence can shape judicial outcomes

The interim order also sends a troubling message: that violence, or the apprehension thereof, can shape judicial outcomes. The intervention applications filed by parties opposing the surveys of religious sites cited the loss of lives in Sambhal as a consequence of inaction under the Act. If anything, this amounted to an implicit threat—that failure to enforce the Act could lead to unrest. The Court not questioning such assertions may be interpreted as tacitly legitimizing mob veto.

The violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, where a court-appointed committee was attacked, underscores this concern. Instead of asking why a court order was met with violence, the judiciary appears to have acquiesced to the notion that peace is best maintained by suppressing legal claims rather than upholding the rule of law.

The Court’s interim order has emboldened a certain section of the political and “intellectual” ecosystem, which has celebrated the decision while simultaneously targeting those who earlier interpreted the Act differently. Former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who took a nuanced view of the Act during the Gyanvapi hearing, has faced unwarranted criticism, reflecting an environment where judicial independence is under constant scrutiny not only from the government but also from pressure groups.

As former CJI Chandrachud aptly noted, judicial independence extends not just to freedom from government influence but also from the influence of interest groups and societal pressures. The Court’s actions in this instance, underline the need to drive this message home again and again given that justice should not only be done but also seen to be done.

The Supreme Court’s interim stay on proceedings related to the Places of Worship Act raises critical questions about judicial overreach, constitutional rights, and the balance between maintaining peace and delivering justice. While the Court’s intent to preserve communal harmony is understandable, its approach risks undermining the very principles of the rule of law and judicial independence that it is tasked with upholding.

By prioritising temporary calm over a deeper resolution of historical grievances, the judiciary has set a precedent that may the judiciary has set a precedent that may have far-reaching implications for the future of constitutional governance and societal reconciliation in India.

Fake online romance scam busted in Nigeria: 792 arrested for cheating European, Americans of money in the name of digital love affair

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Fake online romance scam busted in Nigeria: 792 arrested for cheating European, Americans of money in the name of digital love affair

Last week a new scam came to the fore in Nigeria, Africa where the fraudsters trapped people in ‘online love affairs’ and then forced them to hand over cash for fake investments. As per the initial reports, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that it arrested a total of 792 suspects during a surprise raid at a luxurious office on Victoria Island in Lagos. The EFCC also stated that the seven-storey office in Lagos was used as a hub for scam operations.

The scam was busted by EFCC last week on 10th December after the agency was tipped off by an outside source. Following this around 792 persons including 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, 2 Kharzartans, 1 Pakistani, and 1 Indonesian were detained by the authorities.

“Nigeria’s anti-graft agency stated that the syndicate’s headquarters was used to train Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams, even stealing the identities of those accomplices, to commit more fraud and criminal activities. As typical with most romance scams, the bad actors would lure victims with offers of romantic interest, and once hooked, the criminals would press their victims to hand over cash for fake cryptocurrency investments or other non-existent projects,” EFCC Executive Chairman Ola Olukoyedea said while explaining the matter.

Meanwhile, EFCC spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said that the luxury office housed a call center mostly targeting victims from America and Europe.

Reports suggest that the arrested suspects used social media and other messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram to target the victims. These were specially trained to impersonate foreign females in romance scams.

“Young Nigerians, first tested for computer and typing skills, would be given desktop computers and mobile devices and then taken through a two-week induction on how to impersonate foreign females in romance scam chats,” an EFCC spokesman revealed. He added that the entire office that was raided on 10th December was well equipped with high-end technological machines and computers. Also, the authorities recovered around 500 SIM cards from the 5th floor.

These suspects would notably use fake profiles to target the victims. Sometimes they would be assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially from Germany and Italy. “The victims, once romantically engaged with the perpetrators, would then be steered towards making phantom business and investment transactions through a fake cryptocurrency platform called Yooto-dot-com. For those that showed interest, activation fees for an account on the platform start from $35 USD,” the EFCC spokesperson said.

The suspects then would defraud the victims duping them for huge amounts. The arrested individuals were further rewarded by cash. It is believed that even these Nigerians had no idea as to what primary transactions had been taking place.

“There is a big misconception that Nigerians are behind the tons of fraud emanating from the country. Foreigners are taking advantage of our nation’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises. But, as this operation has shown, there will be no hiding places for criminals in Nigeria,” EFCC chairman Olukoyede said.

The chairman meanwhile stated that the agency would work with the foregoing partners to determine the extent of the scam and know more about the perpetrators. The authorities are also probing to uncover if any syndicate was collaborating with any other organized international fraud cells.

Setting the Record Straight: Read how Deep State-funded Reporters’ Collective’s allegation that Modi govt “rigged” India’s poverty index is flawed and baseless

Raju Das
-
0
Setting the Record Straight: Read how Deep State-funded Reporters’ Collective’s allegation that Modi govt “rigged” India’s poverty index is flawed and baseless

Reporters’ Collective, an American Deep State-funded group of journalists, published a report on 18th December alleging that the Narendra Modi government has rigged a “Homemade Poverty Index” to show a dramatic decrease in poverty in India. It claims that the government’s report of pulling 25 crore people out of poverty in 10 years is false because the govt of India added two important parameters to the global index.

The report claims that because international agencies that publish global rankings can’t be bullied, the Modi govt invented its own index, and rigged the results to show good results. It claims, “the government had rigged the results of its poverty index long before even the framework for the new poverty index was finalised. The index on poverty was pre-ordained to show poverty is reducing because of government interventions.”

The report further claims that because India ranks far below in global poverty rankings, the govt report is false based on rigged numbers. But shockingly, the report provides no evidence at all about this claim of rigged data and just makes several vague claims. Further, it claims that the data is rigged because the Indian index uses more parameters than the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.

Notably, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index was developed by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). And, the Reporters’ Collective report itself mentions that the NITI Ayog, which created India’s own Multidimensional Poverty Index, partnered with OPHI and UNDP to develop the index. Therefore, the creators of the global index agree with the addition of extra parameters for the Indian index. But still, Reporters’ Collective calls it rigged data.

The report says that as the govt added the indicator “maternal health” to the Health parameter, the weightage for existing parameters “nutrition” and “child mortality” went down. Further, the report claims that addition of a new indicator “standard of living”, which includes the availability of a bank account in a household, the weightages of other parameters are reduced.

The report further claims that because of the addition of the ‘bank account’ parameter under the Standard of Living dimension, the poverty index showed remarkable improvement, and calls it an “absurdity”. According to Reporters’ Collective, the share of the population having bank accounts going down from 58% to 3.69% does not mean anything, and it has nothing to do with the decrease in poverty level.

However, the Reporters’ Collective’s critique of India’s National MPI suffers from several methodological and conceptual misunderstandings. Their allegations of manipulation and cherry-picking fail to account for the rationale behind the government’s approach, and their dismissal of new parameters demonstrates a lack of understanding of poverty’s multidimensional nature.

Indicators and Parameters in India’s Multidimensional Poverty Index

Maternal Health Inclusion

The article criticizes the inclusion of maternal health as a factor in the National MPI, arguing that it skews the results to artificially reduce poverty levels. However, this criticism is completely baseless for several reasons.

Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon, and maternal health is directly tied to poverty as it reflects access to healthcare, economic stability, and education. Earlier the Health Indicator had nutrition and child mortality, and the addition of maternal health is a logical addition. A mother’s health has cascading effects on a household’s well-being, from birth outcomes to the productivity of family members.

Just because adding this parameter may show an improvement in the index does not mean it is rigged. Rigged data means made-up data not obtained from the field, if the indicator included real data for maternal health, it can’t be called rigged data.

Just because the global index does not include this parameter does not mean it is wrong to use it. Actually, ignoring such a crucial aspect would render any poverty index of a developing country like India incomplete.

Notably, while the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index does not include maternal health as a parameter, there are other global programs that put importance on it. For example, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), endorsed globally, place maternal health at the heart of poverty alleviation efforts. It acknowledges that pregnancy and childbirth pose particular risks for women, and has set targets to reduce maternal mortality rate.

Global bodies like WHO, UNICEF, UNDP etc have special programs for improving maternal health, showing how significant this parameter is. The Indian government is therefore aligning with international best practices rather than deviating from them. Programs like Janani Suraksha Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana have significantly improved maternal health outcomes. Therefore, the inclusion of maternal health in the MPI reflects real progress and is a valid metric to gauge poverty reduction.

Financial Inclusion as an Indicator

The article mocks the inclusion of financial inclusion like access to bank accounts in the National MPI, alleging that it artificially inflates poverty reduction figures. It seeks to claim that the availability of banking services has nothing to do with the poverty index, and the Modi govt included this in the index just because govt was able to include crores of people into the formal financial sector. This claim is fundamentally flawed.

Financial inclusion is globally recognized as a game-changer in poverty alleviation. Bank accounts empower individuals by providing access to savings, credit, and government welfare schemes directly, reducing leakages and middlemen corruption. In the Indian context, the bank accounts meant that beneficiaries received benefits of govt programs like subsidies and grants directly, eliminating large-scale leaks that happened earlier.

Over the past decade, India has leveraged technological innovations and policy initiatives to tackle poverty on a massive scale. Three cornerstone initiatives—Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), and Aadhaar—have created a transformative ecosystem, ensuring financial inclusion, reducing leakages, and empowering the most vulnerable.

DBT through PMJDY accounts enabled by Aadhaar revolutionized welfare schemes by directly transferring benefits into beneficiaries’ bank accounts. This has been a game changer in India’s fight against poverty. This shift eliminated intermediaries, reduced corruption, and ensured that subsidies for fertilizers, LPG, pensions, and scholarships reached the intended recipients.

Since the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, over 480 million bank accounts have been opened, with millions accessing direct benefit transfers (DBTs). These accounts have tangible impacts on poverty reduction, as they ensure households receive subsidies and support without systemic inefficiencies. These initiatives have not only empowered millions but also set the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Indicators and parameters in the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

Global Indices Overlook Local Realities

The Reporters’ Collective complains that global indices do not include financial inclusion as a parameter, and therefore Modi govt rigged India’s MPI by including it. But the fact is, this parameter is significant for a developing economy like India. The National MPI’s focus on this aspect reflects its commitment to addressing localized challenges rather than conforming to one-size-fits-all global templates.

Other parameters in the Standard of Living dimension like Housing, Assets, Electricity etc are directly related to the availability of banking services, therefore it is an important parameter.

The article by Reporters’ Collective grudges India’s departure from global indices, implying that such indices are inherently superior. This assumption is wrong. Global MPIs often rely on outdated or insufficiently granular data, leading to skewed representations of poverty in countries like India. For instance, they may depend on limited household surveys, often conducted with methodologies that do not capture regional nuances.

Many global indices are produced by organizations with ideological biases, which can influence the selection of indicators and their weightages. We have seen how democracy indices produced by far-left organisations rate India far below in the table, showing how skewed some global rankings are. India’s National MPI counters this by focusing on pragmatic, data-driven measures that reflect the government’s goals and socio-economic realities.

Baseless Allegations of Weightage Manipulation

The report criticises the National MPI for adjusting indicator weightages, claiming this led to the devaluation of other important factors, and therefore it is rigged data. This is a completely baseless allegation.

Assigning different weights to indicators is a standard practice in index design. It is natural that when a new parameter is added, the weightages of existing parameters will be accordingly adjusted. The National MPI includes indicators like maternal health and financial inclusion because they represent critical barriers to poverty reduction in India.

With the inclusion of new parameters, the National MPI captures the impact of the Modi government’s several flagship programs. These initiatives directly tackle deprivation in ways that global MPIs do not measure effectively.

Global Index shows a reduction in poverty in India

The Reporters Collection mentions that India ranked 53 among 105 countries in the 2018 Global Index but does not mention the number from the latest 2024 report, and more importantly, it does not mention the overall improvement in the country’s actual index.

As per the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report on India, the country’s MPI went down from 0.122 in 2015-16 to 0.069 in 2019-2021, which is a remarkable reduction in 5 years. This means that while India’s index was very bad before the Modi govt came to power, the index has gone down significantly.

India’s global MPI trend

The article claims that poverty levels in India may have remained stagnant or even worsened, but it offers no evidence to substantiate this claim. The Global MPI, taken as sacrosanct by the report, says that India’s poverty index came down from 0.122 in 2015-16 to 0.069 in 2019-2021, which shows a reduction of 0.016 points each year. If we take this reduction, the estimated index for 2024 would be around 0.035.

However, the report refrains from mentioning any such achievements.

Overlooking Transparency in National MPI

The article implies that the National MPI lacks credibility, ignoring the transparency of its methodology. The National MPI is based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), one of the most comprehensive and reliable datasets in India. In contrast, global MPIs often use limited and patchy data from developing countries. The reliability of data collected from conflict-hit countries in Africa and the Middle East is often questionable.

The methodology and calculations for the National MPI have been published, allowing independent researchers to scrutinize and validate the findings. This openness contradicts any allegation of manipulation.

Therefore, the Reporters’ Collective’s article is rife with unsubstantiated claims and ideological biases. Its dismissal of India’s National MPI as “rigged” is not only baseless but also ignores the substantive progress made in addressing multidimensional poverty. By tailoring the MPI to reflect India’s unique challenges, the government has taken a pragmatic approach to measuring and combating poverty, ensuring targeted and effective interventions. The Reporters’ Collective has offered little more than conjecture and ideological grievance, failing to present any credible evidence or alternative solutions.

India’s efforts to reduce poverty are real and measurable, and the National MPI reflects the strides the country has made in creating a more inclusive and equitable society.

Reporters’ Collective and Deep State

The report is consistent with ongoing global efforts by far-left organisations to show India in a poor light, and therefore it is important to look at the organisations behind Reporters’ Collective. A look at the list of donors of its parent organisation shows that it is backed by usual suspects behind the ongoing anti-India campaign.

Reporters’ Collective is run by the National Foundation for India, an FCRA-registered NGO. A perusal of its donor list shows that the National Foundation for India is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation of George Soros, the Omidyar Network, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. All these organisations are part of the American Deep State network and have funded numerous anti-India campaigns and initiatives.

National Foundation for India’s donor list from its annual report

Therefore, the Reporters’ Collective article is nothing but a part of the ongoing anti-India campaign by the American Deep State. It comes after recent reports by the US-funded OCCRP targeting India and Indian business houses.

1...642643644...7,658Page 643 of 7,658