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Success stories of “Make In India” campaign – Part 2

Ullas
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Success stories of “Make In India” campaign – Part 2

Last week, we had published early success stories in electronics, automobiles, defense, railways and aviation, under the aegis of “Make in India” campaign. This week, we continue analyzing other sectors that have shown promise under this program. At the cost of repeating ourselves, we need to understand that these are early stages of the program. Decisions are still being made and investments have just started trickling in. Final outcomes regarding job creation, quantum of exports, trade deficit, etc will be known only two-three years down the road.

 

Food Processing

Modi government has announced setting up of 42 new mega food parks in the next 4 years. These food parks will provide incentives for small businesses to set up their facilities under various schemes. One of the premier objectives is to increase the quantum of food processing from 10% (2010) to 25% by 2025. The Reserve Bank of India has also identified food processing as a priority industry and has set aside a corpus of Rs 2000cr, where entrepreneurs can get their projects financed at an attractive rate (lower than the market rates).

Unlike the sectors discussed earlier, the success of food processing is hugely dependent on the participation and contribution of small scale entrepreneurs. The MNCs will continue their focus and some like Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi has thrown her weight behind the campaign, by committing to increase capacities. From another perspective, the food processing is an “old” industry, in terms of foreign interest in the Indian market. Many players like Unilever, Pepsico, Coca Cola and dare I mention, Nestle, have been active in India, since time immemorial. The Bangladeshi food and beverages processing company, the PRAN Group, has set up a plant in Tripura at a targeted investment of Rs 200cr. Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) also joined the bandwagon, by setting up a food processing park in Khurda in Odisha.

 

Energy and Power

It is interesting to note that, for the “Make in India” program to succeed, uninterrupted, quality power is the necessary condition. At the same time, the government needs to ensure that this sector needs to source its products from domestic manufacturers. Power Minister Piyush Goyal has also stated that his ministry his working towards making India the largest producer of renewable energy by 2030. By focusing on renewable energy, the minister is also targeting to reduce the overall carbon emission, where the power sector contributes approx. 38% of all emissions.

Alstom T&D India will manufacture two substations, including the components, completely in India, for the first time. These substations will be located in Betul in Madhya Pradesh and Navsari in Gujarat. Essel Group has formed a joint venture with JA Solar, leading Chinese solar energy producer, to manufacture solar cell and module company in India. Azure Power India, an independent power producer, has announced the commissioning of its largest (100 MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant under India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) policy in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Equipments for 60MW were made in India. Bajaj Group also recently commissioned 660 MW thermal power plant at Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. To complement the Central government’s target of 175GW by 2022, Odisha government has also planned for 3GW of renewable energy capacity. At the same time, Maharasthra government also approved generating 14.4GW of renewable energy from the current installed capacity of 6.7GW.

 

Mining

In the light of successful auctions of coal mines, we can expect auctions for various other mining facilities iron ore, bauxite, etc. The fact that sector is under government’s control makes it easier to implement the “Make in India” program.

Karnataka Iron Ore Corporation Limited (KIOCL) is offering its pellet plant and blast furnace units to overseas companies under the ‘Make in India’ program, by using it as a tolling plant, wherein KIOCL will convert imported ore or concentrate into pellets and supply back to the customers. National Aluminium Company (NALCO) has approved significant capacity expansion plan to set up a one million tonne alumina refinery at Damanjodi, Koraput, Odisha at a proposed investment of Rs 5,540cr. NALCO sees increase in demand due to the “Make in India” program, due to which it has decided to ramp up production, despite surplus imports from China.

 

Media and Entertainment

Media

This is a sector where considerable ground work is needed before investments start pouring in. Firstly, infrastructure like optical fibers, internet access,  etc need to be provided for the sector to operate new age media. At the same time, the government must look to liberalize some sectors that are under its control. We have been hearing news in this direction. Early this year, the government approved 18 new FM radio channels for the north-eastern states and 15 new FM channels for Jammu & Kashmir. Not only does this help in inclusion of these areas with rest of India, but creates new opportunities in the region. In addition, government has indicated that it will allow FM stations to broadcast news, albeit under certain conditions. As for foreign investment in the “news” media, there are no indications whatsoever about the government allowing editorial control to foreign owners. With the advent of internet and social media, the government must shed this inhibition. This will allow India to benchmark with the best in the world.

Entertainment

Government has held discussions with the USIBC (US-India Business Council) to explore opportunities in making India the film-shooting destination. The government has indicated that it will set up a ‘Film Facilitation Unit’ to promote the concept of ‘single-window clearance’. Representatives from The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, Viacom 18 and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) have expressed interest in this regard. With the objective to create a $100bn Media and Entertainment Industry in India by 2020, significant measures need to be taken to prevent piracy – which is a big concern.

The Monkey and the Cats – A fable Revisited for Social Media and Media

Guest Author
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The Monkey and the Cats – A fable Revisited for Social Media and Media

Let us revisit the old-school fable with a few twists to keep in touch with modern times. Also let us get to know what happened after the monkey ate both the pieces of cake. Here goes the new story:

Once upon a time, in jungle land, lived two cats Katty and Kitty. At the wedding of two zebras, Katty saw a piece of cake and joyfully meowed. It went towards the cake, but Kitty was closer and she jumped on the cake first. This led to a cat-fight. “I saw the cake first.” “But, I jumped on it first.” “No, but I saw it first.” The quarrel was disturbing the mood of the peaceful wedding and the animals were unhappy. They thought of taking the two cats to the wise tortoise. But, the tortoise was hibernating in its shell and didn’t wish to see anyone. The number of people approaching the tortoise daily were one too many for him, and he didn’t have the capacity to handle a cat-fight!

The entire wedding party was fed up of the two cats. Seeing this, a monkey decided to solve this problem. He asked the cats to stop fighting and to divide the cake equally. He divided the cake between them. But then he said, “Katty’s piece looks greater than Kitty’s.” Kitty started meowing wildly in anger, so he decide to eat a small piece off Katty’s cake. Then he said, “Now Kitty’s cake has grown bigger”, and thus took a bite off hers. This went on and finally he ate the entire piece of cake, while the cats went back home disappointed. Seeing this heroic act of the monkey, the entire wedding party applauded him. The monkey realized this was a great profession – where he got all the cake and all the applause.

So, the monkey went about solving similar problems of the jungle land. Although the real authority to decide on these matters was the wise tortoise, but he was too slow and people liked the speedy monkey. Seeing this monkey, many other monkeys were also inspired and started taking up this profession of dispensing speedy justice. The monkeys had become the heroes of the jungle.

But, the monkeys were a greedy breed. The cake was all that mattered to most of them. Knowing this, a group of jackals invited the monkeys to a feast. The jackals were a bunch of powerful folk in this jungle. Some of them were wealthy and owned most of the jungle food, while others were very popular as the innocent people of the jungle found them very kind and friendly. The jackals had won the confidence of the jungle-folk by taking up emotional causes like human encroachment, and by always opposing the rules of the lion – the ruler of the jungle.

But, in reality, the kindness and the care for the people was just a façade. The jackals were an extremely cunning and shrewd lot. What they were really seeking was no good of the jungle folk, but power for themselves. They wanted to be greater than the lion himself! So, they decided to get the monkeys to do their dirty job. They told the monkeys, “Dear monkey brethren, you guys are doing a fantastic job in the jungle. Also, we can see that you are relishing the cake of both the fighting animals! But now, instead of eating the cake of both animals, why don’t you eat the cake of only one of them?” “But we won’t get enough cake then!” lamented the monkeys. “Don’t worry about that. Leave it to us. For every piece of cake you don’t get to eat, we will give you five pieces of cake.” “Five pieces!” the monkeys screeched in excitement. “But there is only one condition! We will decide whose cake you should eat, and whose you should not”. The monkeys agreed!

From now on, every time two creatures fought, the monkey would favour one of them and eat up the cake of the other, just like the jackals ordered. Some creatures were favoured again and again, while others were always at a loss. Those who were friends with the lion were generally always the losers! The jackals gave the monkeys a lot of cake and other jungle luxuries in return for their service. Meanwhile, they gained power in the jungle as their supporters and their ideas were getting increasingly popular.

While everything appeared to be going well for everyone, relationships in the jungle actually started worsening. Among the creatures, two groups were formed. Those whose cake was being eaten, and those whose cake the monkeys were protecting. The group whose cake was being eaten started believing that the other group of creatures had started taking away all their cake unfairly and started despising this group. The group which the monkeys were favouring started believing that the cake they deserved would have been snatched away by the other creatures if the monkeys were not protecting them. They started loathing the other set of creatures. Poison was sowed between these two groups of creatures.  The monkeys who were supposed to resolve issues of the jungle, were in fact, dividing the jungle. Hate and venom were spreading all around.

While most animals were busy in strengthening their own group and hating the other group, two wise elephants from either side realized that there was a problem. To solve this problem, they came up with an idea! They got the entire jungle together near the common river and loudly trumpeted, “There was so much love in our jungle. But, we have now started hating each other. Friends have turned enemies, and creatures are constantly fighting. Isn’t it so?” The entire jungle-folk agreed that there was a genuine problem.

This is because the monkeys are not doing enough study before making their decisions, and are passing biased judgements. But, in place of hating the monkeys, we have started hating each other! This is exactly what they want! Let us not give in to this hate. Let us take ownership of our own issues.” They decided to install an ‘Issue Box’ in the middle of the jungle. Every day when an issue would break out, creatures would write what they had seen and witnessed and put it in the box. Creatures would write their own opinions. Every evening, the jungle would gather and read out the facts and opinions given out by everyone, and the creatures could examine the evidence and decide for themselves.

The power of the monkeys started declining. Many times, the issues raised in the Issue Box were against the monkeys themselves! These issues were about how the monkeys were not giving fair justice to everyone. The famous monkeys, who had become heroes, were being exposed and were becoming villains. The monkeys knew they had no official authority over the jungle-folk, and their power was because they were seen by people as fair and trustworthy! But now, this power was waning. Some creatures had heard of their deal with the jackals and were exposing it in front of the entire jungle. The credibility of the monkeys was going downhill.

The tortoise was the only one who had the official right to decide on these issues. But while the tortoise moved in its own sweet pace, the monkeys had become the only way for people to decide right from wrong. But after the Issue box, the creatures had become empowered to learn and decide for themselves leaving the monkey with only two options – either brainwash people as per the jackals’ agenda, or accept they were not fair and start getting fair in their dealings with the jungle-folk. The jungle-folk were still willing to accept the monkeys if they acknowledged their mistakes. Will the monkeys change their behaviour in times of the Issue Box?

Will the mainstream media get any fairer in the times of social media? Will they realize that their charades will get exposed and the only option they have is to research before spreading news and to become truly objective? Or will they risk all their credibility to push the agenda of their masters? Only time will tell the entire story. But one thing is for certain – people won’t get fooled any longer!

Moral of the story: When you quarrel, someone else gains. But when you realize your own power, you can show that someone else its rightful place!

– by @shreyansmehta

Gajendra Chauhan not the best man for FTII, but some “concerns” are hypocritical?

OpIndia Staff
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Gajendra Chauhan not the best man for FTII, but some “concerns” are hypocritical?

Ever since Gajendra Chauhan, who played the role of Yudhishtir in Mahabharata, the TV series, has been appointed as the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India, people in the creative sphere have been crying foul about this decision. Matters reached a crescendo when around 150 students of FTII went on a flash strike to protest this appointment. But are these protests stemming from valid concerns?

Firstly, it must be said, Gajendra Chauhan, besides being an actor, is a member of the BJP. But is being associated with the BJP his lone accomplishment? He is known best for his role as Yudhistir in the epic TV series. After that he has been seen in many small roles for a long time. He is also a member of the Cine and Television Association (CINTAA) and rose to be the President of this association. So he is not completely unqualified one would say. Yet, when compared to his predecessors, he fails to be counted as a accomplished Film or TV personality.

Chauhan, would be occupying the chair which was earlier held by cinema stalwarts like Saeed Mirza, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal and Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy. Compared to the cinematic achievements of these people, Chauhan does fall behind. But there is something else that sets him apart from these names.

FTII’s last chairman, was Saeed Mirza, who besides being a renowned film-maker, was also a signatory of the Anti-Modi appeal from Bollywood, just before Lok Sabha elections last year. Former chairmen like Girish Karnad & Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy even went to the extent of forming a group called “Samakaleena Vichara Vedike” with the sole intention of opposing Modi and extending full support to the Congress in Lok Sabha elections. For an organization which has always been in the clutches of Anti-Modi, Pro-Congress artistes, to adjust to being under a BJP man can indeed be hard.

Secondly, owing to this constant tutelage offered by Left of Centre artistes, FTII has earned a reputation of being filled with Communist minded students. This can easily be verified by looking at the affiliations of some of the striking students. We even found some students who subscribed to the caste-hatred views of APSC from IIT Madras. So it isnt hard to imagine, why a BJP member actor, is being opposed by Communist students, from an organization traditionally headed by Congress supporters.

This angle was made amply clear by Mukesh Bhatt who  had a problem with this “extending of political largesse”, but one wonders if he had similar apprehensions when past Governments repeatedly “extended political largesses”. For example, the earlier Censor Board Chief, Leela Samson, was Priyanka Gandhi’s dance teacher, was accused of financial impropriety and had little exposure to films. While, hate for BJP may be at-least a semi-valid argument, some creative people had a problem with Chauhan’s looks also:


Perhaps, the most damning and valid criticism of this decision, came from film-maker Vivek Agnihotri, who revealed that the Governing Council, of which Chauhan is chairperson, has members who themselves surpass Chauhan in merit. Vidya Balan, Jahnu Barua, Pallavi Joshi, Raju Hirani, Santosh Sivan are all artistes with much vaster experience than Chauhan. This leads to an undesirable situation where a TV actor, is overseeing a board consisting of multiple National Award winners.

Chauhan on his part, says he has 3 decades of experience in this field, and needs to be given a fair chance. The principle of natural justice, would demand that Gajendra Chauhan be allowed to take charge, and prove his credentials. It is a fact that he is a political appointee, but as highlighted earlier, most past chairmen of FTII also had very clear-cut political leanings to the ruling side. But the fact that he maybe heading a group which is far superior to him, is indeed a bitter pill to swallow. Maybe the Centre should consider appointing a more qualified person in the place, especially since many such people are available in the Right Wing itself. 

The low-down on which of Tomar’s degrees are fake

Gaurav
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The low-down on which of Tomar’s degrees are fake

Ex Law Minister of AAP in Delhi, Jitender Singh Tomar has been in the eye of a storm for some time now. It has been alleged that his educational degrees are fake and hence he is in fact not a lawyer, which he claims to be. The confusion in this case arises from the fact that there are multiple degrees, names of multiple educational institutions, and it is not a clear-cut case of all his degrees being fake. Hence we would like to clarify the current situation, based on data available as of now.

Firstly, let us see what Tomar claimed to be his qualification. In both his affidavits, in 2013 and in 2015, he claims to have a LLB degree from Tilkamanjhi Bhagalpur University, from the year 1999. He does not mention his graduation degree, Bachelor in Science from the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University in Faizabad and one of its affiliated institutes, the KS Saket Postgraduate College in Ayodhya, probably because the LLB supersedes the BSc degree.

Tomar’s problems first began in April 2015 when the Avadh University and Ayodhya college, in reply to an RTI declared that Tomar had a fake BSc degree and they did not issue any such degree. This was corroborated by the police in their investigation last week. When they took Tomar to his college in Ayodhya, he could not identify his college building, the classrooms, examination department, canteen or the administrative office. Thus it was crystal clear that Tomar had faked his BSc degree.

In fact, a case was filed on Tomar by a lawyer, based on this itself. In April 2015 when the RTI reply said his BSc degree was fake, a lawyer filed a case based on this, saying since this degree was fake, his LLB degree was also null and void, and hence he was fraudulently practicing as a lawyer. Based on this information, even the Bar Council had suspended Tomar’s license in May 2015.

Coming to verification of his LLB degree, Tomar claimed to have got it from a law college called Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Studies College (BSILSC) Munger, affiliated to the Tilak Manjhi Bhagalpur University (TMBU) in Bihar. And this is where the confusion starts.

First we see what the TMB University has to say. TMBU, in an affidavit in court, had said that “As per records, the provisional certificate with serial number 3687 was issued on July 29, 1999 to Sanjay Kumar Chaudhary for BA (honours) in political science. The certificate in Jitender Tomar’s name is a fabricated document and does not exist in the university’s records“. This was before Tomar’s arrest.

On June 12, when Tomar was taken to above TMBU for questioning, he was greeted with rotten eggs and ink by the varsity students, for maligning their college’s name. As per this Hindustan Times report, the police scrutinized various documents at the University to check the veracity of Tomar’s degree. The report however does not make clear what the finding were. But TMBU’s stand in the court continues to be that the LLB degree is fake.

Next, Tomar was taken to his college, BSILS in Munger. Interestingly, the BSILS College filed an affidavit before the Delhi High court claiming that Tomar had been a bonafide LLB student though he had completed his LLB in four years and not three years. The Hindustan Times report mentioned above, says that here Tomar said that he would come to college only to appear for exams, and the dates were informed to him by the brother of a lawyer friend. The police checked the documents here too, and as per the HT report, failed to locate Tomar’s admission form at BSILS.

The next twist comes from a PTI news report, which was published in many news portals. PTI claims, it has confirmed via sources that Officials present during the questioning of Tomar, said on condition of anonymity that college registers revealed that the former minister had enrolled in BSILS under roll number 10136 in 1994-95 session. He appeared for the law exam in 1998-99 and got his degree.

So the college from where Tomar answered the exam says he passed the LLB exam, but the University which should be issuing the degree says no such degree was issued and the degree shown by Tomar is fake. This discrepancy can perhaps be explained by the fact that in its report to the court, the University, had said that BSILS college had lost its affiliation with the University since 1990.

What further complicates matters is that, as per this news report, AAP itself has given up on Tomar. The report says AAP has withdrawn legal support to Tomar, after it found out that the photocopy of the RTI document which Tomar showed AAP supremo Kejriwal, to prove his degree, also turned out to be fake.

To summarize:

1. Tomar’s BSc degree was declared fake by both his alleged college, and University in a court affidavit. This was corroborated by police verification.

2. Based on this fake degree, Tomar allegedly took admission in one BSILS college, which was supposed to be under TMB University.

3. BSILS college in its court affidavit claims the degree is genuine and that Tomar was a student. A Hindustan Times report says, on investigation it was found that Tomar’s admission form was unavailable and Tomar claims to have visited the college only for exams. A PTI report claims that Tomar did enroll in the college, and passed their exam in 1998-99

4. The TMB University, which is said to be affiliated to BSILS college claimed in its Affidavit that the degree was fake. There is no information about the police findings here. TMBU also claims BSILS college lost affiliation in 1990 itself, which may explain the discrepancy between college and university records.

5. AAP also seems to be convinced that Tomar has no case, and says the RTI which Tomar showed them was fake.

Conclusion: At this stage, based on information available, its pretty sure Tomar’s BSc degree is fake. The college says the LLB degree is genuine, but University says it is fake. Also, it is important to note that since the BSc degree is fake, and Tomar got admission to LLB course based on this BSc degree, the LLB degree should also stand void. Also, this may point out to a larger scam where such unaffiliated colleges like BSILS enroll students, conduct exams, and issue fake degrees. So all in all, it doesn’t look good for Tomar.

(Thanks to inputs from  and )

Foul mouthed Twitter user files FIR against loud mouthed slanderer

OpIndia Staff
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Foul mouthed Twitter user files FIR against loud mouthed slanderer

Online abuse on microblogging site Twitter saw an interesting development when Swati Chaturvedi, a Twitter user with handle @bainjal decided to file an FIR against an anonymous Twitter user with handle @lutyensinsider.

The anonymous user had tweeted some derogatory and salacious stuff against Swati on more than one occasion, against which she decided to act.

Although @lutyensinsider claimed to be a working journalist leaking “inside” gossips about media, and many of his tweets were indeed such, his tweets about Swati were defamatory.

Lutyens Insider
An old screengrab of the Twitter account calling itself “Lutyens Insider”

The handle claimed that Swati used to stalk Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for physical relationship.

This earned @lutyensinsider an FIR for stalking, defamation, and outraging the modesty of a woman.

Within hours of FIR being filed, the user deleted all his tweets and changed his username, which led to many celebrity journalists praising Swati for teaching a lesson to a troll.

Swati, who is reported to have been a journalist before she took to Twitter to express her opinions viciously, also wrote an article about online harassment and abusive language that is often witnessed on Twitter.

While her complaint about harassment is valid and her decision to counter a slanderous tweet is courageous, her grouse with abusive language is hypocritical.

Swati has been a serial offender when it comes to using abusive language, many times against women without provocation.

Following are some indicative tweets that show contribution of Swati towards foul mouthed discourse on Twitter and why she should desist from taking moral high ground on that count:

Abusing a woman without provocation:


Calling another woman journalist economist a “troll vahini”:


While being a “troll vahini” herself by ganging up with other anonymous abusive trolls:


Her choice of words while coming up with an opinion:


More colourful choice of words:


Swati abusing a senior journalist and author:


And finally, abusing OpIndia.com:


We want to reiterate that the fact that Swati is a foul mouthed Twitter user doesn’t justify any defamatory comments against her, and filing an FIR was her legal right. The fact that @lutyensinsider deleted tweets also hints that the tweets were indeed false and defamatory.

But it is hilarious and hypocritical when Swati talks about abusive language on Twitter. Maybe in future she will justify the halo that some journalists are putting around her for her FIR. She has kicked out a slanderous account, and hopefully she will kick out foul vocabulary that she liberally uses.

If we ignore the vicious and abusive language that Swati has often used, she indeed has taken a courageous step and many women should do the same. This should especially encourage “Right-Wing” women, who are often subjected to abuse and slander on Twitter; and tragically, attack on them is often cheered by the same group that is currently applauding Swati.

For example, A leading magazine called BJP supporting women as “hate hags” and then the same journalists didn’t object to the language or implied slander. Recently Union Minister Smriti Irani too was subjected to salacious and defamatory comments in a public TV show. A few more such FIRs could help in curbing abusive behaviour.

Firstpost publishes a totally fraud article yet again, this time about AAP’s fraud minister

Editorial Desk
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Firstpost publishes a totally fraud article yet again, this time about AAP’s fraud minister

Of late, Firstpost has earned a reputation of “first post, then think”.

And they have been proving it right again and again. Except for a few authors who get published there, most writers at Firstpost are busy writing clickbait articles devoid of any factual data or information.

Among that pack is a certain Sandipan Sharma. He has acquired the distinction of churning one article after another without caring for facts or logic – well, to be honest, that is the kind of journalism that pays in India.

We had earlier written about how he created an entire article about Baba Ramdev based on a fake website, and then on Twitter, we had pointed out how he falsely went on to claim that a book was banned (the latter one was corrected by Firstpost editors, to their credit).

These are not the only two incidents, the writer has a history. In such a scenario, one would expect that Firstpost editors will double check every article of this serial offender sends for publishing. But it seems they too believe in “first post, then think”.

The latest article by Sharma is a meandering rant about law catching up with Jitendra Tomar, the Congress-turned-AAP-leader who is now in police custody for forging his educational degrees.

First he compares Salman Khan’s hit-and-run case with Tomar’s forgery case. Slow clap for that only.

Maybe he read somewhere that one should use keywords like “Salman”, “Shahrukh”, “Sex”, etc. so that the article gets hits. If that was the case, it is okay and logical. But if not, Mr. Sharma, it is worse than comparing apples and oranges. You have compared apples with auto-rickshaws.

But still, his grouse is that Salman was not sent to jail while Tomar was. Take some memory enhancing pills Mr. Sharma. Salman too was sent to jail by the court, but he got bail within hours. Tomar couldn’t get bail, so he is in jail.

Yes, that might sound bizarre (and our judicial system is not that perfect) but we will trust a court’s intelligence more than the alleged intelligence of a Firstpost-writer-who-hates-facts.

Anyway, to prove that he has some intelligence, Sharma finally tries to make an ‘apples with apples’ comparison. This times he brings in, no surprises here, Smriti Irani.

But bad luck Mr. Sharma, though you could come out of the apples with auto-rickshaw comparison, you are again comparing apples with oranges.

First, Smriti Irani is not accused of forgery, but of furnishing information in two different election affidavits that don’t match. Yes, that’s not a “done thing” and Election Commission of India should take her, and other politicians such as Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who have similar mismatches in their affidavits, to task.

Secondly, and this is one issue that every AAP apologist is trying to hide, is that Jitendra Tomar has not been arrested or even booked for providing false information in the affidavit – something that Smriti Irani, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and many others are accused of – but Tomar is guilty of practicing law on forged documents.

Remember, he was a lawyer before he became the Law Minister in Delhi government headed by Kejriwal. The case against Tomar is in capacity of a practicing lawyer forging documents, not a politician providing false information on affidavits.

Is that so tough to understand? Perhaps yes, if you are a journalist, and that too with Firstpost, and definitely if your name is Sandipan Sharma.

There is a case against Tomar in Bar Council of Delhi and the courts have ordered the council to look into the case. Representative of the council made this point clear in many news debates last night itself, but Sharma had to write something, so he went on and wrote without caring for facts.

Picture this. If Smriti Irani had taken a job of lecturer in some college based on educational degrees she claims to possess but doesn’t have, her case would have been similar to that to Jitendra Tomar.

Currently, Smriti Irani’s case is similar to those of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi (and even Varun Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee – read this article), while Tomar’s case is that of forgery and cheating (he fooled people into believing that he was a bonafide lawyer by faking degrees). Both the cases can’t be compared, unless you just want to score political points.

In absence of these sets of information, what Firstpost article is essentially doing is misleading the readers about facts of the case against Jitendra Tomar, and/or scoring a political point on behalf of AAP. Do editors of Firstpost think that either of these two is acceptable practice for a journalist?

OpIndia.com will leave that on Firstpost editors to decide. There are people associated with that website whom we genuinely respect. And an unsolicited advice to them – first think, then post, before it’s too late.

The precise and covert operation of Indian Army has made all of us proud

Ullas
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The precise and covert operation of Indian Army has made all of us proud

Indian army, along with the support from the Air Force, carried out a daring siege on terrorists, who had killed 18 of our soldiers on June 4, 2015. Though there are various reports on number of casualties on the terrorists side, it is heartening that all of our forces are back safe. Initial reports in operations such as these are always sketchy. Clearer picture of the number of casualties on the enemy side and the details of the operation will come out over the next few days.

Here is the summary of the information that we have so far:

The operation was carried out during the early hours of June 9, 2015. Reports on the number of terrorists killed range from 15 to as high as over 100. Indian Army’s Special Forces comprising of 21 Para Special Forces, along with the Indian Air Force (with their Mi17 helicopters) carried out the operation. The terrorists were neutralized in two locations – one near the Nagaland border and another near the Manipur border. The decision was taken at the highest level by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national security team, comprising of Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhaag. Ajit Doval was stationed in Manipur during the duration of the operation. Chief Suhaag had cancelled a trip to UK to command the operation. The entire operation was monitored live by the Prime Ministers Office.

The Indian army, in an unprecedented initiative, put out a press release about the operation. This can be found here:

Zahtdyk1

The Indian government deployed MoS Information and Broadcasting Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on various Primetime shows on June 9 to explain the operation to countrymen. Here are the key takeaways from his various interviews and the press release:

The press release said the operation was carried out “along the Indo Myanmar border”, where as Col Rathore has deliberately been not forthcoming about this. He has fluctuated between “along the border” to “inside the Myanmar territory” – though not in explicit terms. He said to the extent that – “India will go after the perpetrators to any length – at a time and place of India’s choice”. This can be interpreted as this operation was carried out in Myanmar territory.

This is a smart ploy by the government to avoid nuisance from the Human Rights activists. If the operation was in the “Indian side of the border”, then there will noise from these activists about the merit in killing these terrorists and why not “just nab them”. On the other hand, as the scene of action was in “Myanmar side of the border”, these activists will have nothing to shout about. At best, they can make their complaints to the Myanmar government. This entire argument brings about the question, whether the Indian defense forces waited for these terrorists to enter the Myanmar territory and then decimate them. After all, Indian government had an agreement to enter Myanmar side.

This has been a refreshing change in the way India has responded to attacks by terrorists. However, this needs to be put into perspective. As Nitin Gokhale, a noted defense expert cautioned, it would be foolhardy to expect similar strikes on our Western border. The enemy is different, the enemy is supported by the ISI and the enemy has access to a nuclear  capable country. Hence, it is prudent to hold your horses than to expect similar operation to nab Dawood Ibrahim.

News agency, ANI released this blurred image of our heroes. Never inappropriate to pay homage to the faceless heroes who laid their lives and to the ones who avenged the killings in Manipur.

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Death of a journalist, and silence of the celeb journalists

Rahul Roushan
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Death of a journalist, and silence of the celeb journalists

A journalist Jagendra Singh was burnt alive in Uttar Pradesh allegedly because he posted some news reports about illegal mining and land grabbing by a local Samajwadi Party leader Ram Murti Verma, who also happens to be a minister in Akhilesh Yadav cabinet.

The murderous attack on Jagendra happened more than a week back on 1st June, but it came to national light only yesterday. That too, because some people on Twitter decided to play up the news report about his murder, which was otherwise not given a prominent place on the homepages of leading news portals, or on the front page of national newspapers, or a few minutes of high pitch debate on national TV channels.

In such a scenario, the question arises – why was this apathy shown towards a person of their own fraternity by leading journalists?

Most people, especially those highlighting this on social media, argue that the reason is because the accused is not from BJP. Our celeb journalists see an attack on journalism only when the erring party is the BJP, else everyone knows how “they crawled when asked to bend” during the Emergency clamped by Congress.

While there is a truth to this political and ideological bias among celeb journalists, the primary reason is not just politics.

It is class.

Yes. The same “class” that a celeb journalist Rajdeep Sardesai talked about when physically assaulting an NRI in New York. “Paisa aa gaya per class nahi aaya”, he had said.

Poor journalists like Jagendra Singh are deemed to have neither paisa (money) nor class by Delhi based celeb journalists, so their death is just a footnote in the annals of Lutyens journalism.

They don’t have money because Indian media industry is hugely exploitative where big money is only for the big bosses. How will they get salaries in crores if they don’t hire interns for free or keep some ‘middle level’ editors slogging without similar pay raises?

And they don’t have class (in the eyes of celeb journalists) because they can’t speak accented English or have family ties with “influential people”.

The travesty is that celeb journalists get all the money and fame while it is the poor “classless” journalists like Jagendra Singh (who are either independent local journalists or reporters working for paltry salaries), who do the groundwork and indulge in real journalism, get penury and anonymity, and sometimes, death.

Gone are the days when journalists toiled in the fields or took risks themselves to unearth some scam or dig out some information that was kept away from the common masses. Now is the era where celeb journalists just pontificate and freeload over the work done by poor faceless reporters.

Even after the advent of RTI, hardly any of these celeb journalists used the tool to expose any wrongdoings or scam. We have a group of faceless people called “RTI activists” (some of who too are killed like Jagendra Singh was killed), and their work is “stolen” by our celeb journalists. Shouldn’t our media organizations have been the real RTI activists?

But why will they risk their lives and risk “relationships” with political honchos when there are Jagendras willing to do some real groundwork, whose work can always be freeloaded upon by the mainstream media?

Our established media and celebrity journalists know that their power and fame (and salaries) are dependent on these real hardworking people living in obscurity and penury; that is why they are scared of making heroes out of Jagendra.

And that is the reason for apathy. No need to make a hero out of Jagendra and accord him that “class” that is reserved only for the Lutyens journalists.

That is why their concern for Jagendra won’t go beyond a token tweet. There will not be a string of op-eds or any silent marches. There will not be a long lasting TV campaign seeking justice.

And yes, no celeb journalist will feel threatened due to this mafia-like-murder, because this is not as bad as some random tweet containing abusive words – the only risk the celeb journalists face in their profession. The real risks are faced by faceless and nameless and “classless” Jagendras.

Success stories of “Make In India” campaign – Part 1

Ullas
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Success stories of “Make In India” campaign – Part 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Make in India” campaign on September 25, 2014. With one million people to enter the job market each month, creating opportunities to such a vast talent pool is a humongous task. Jobs need to be created in both organized and unorganized sectors. The efforts in improving the unorganized sector outlook is a story for another day. Notwithstanding apprehensions by the opposition parties, the early signs look exciting for the future of India.

Let us look at some of the early success stories of the “Make in India” campaign. Of course, we need to be cognizant of the fact that many projects are in the early stages and it would take time to see the results. However, it would be interesting to know the sectors/industries/companies that have brought into this idea.

 

Electronics

Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones has announced plans for creating 10-12 facilities in India, which will include factories and data centers. Foxconn expects to sign the first contract by the end of 2015. That Foxconn chose India following various issues it faced in its Chinese facilities, bolsters the “Make in India” campaign. The advantages the arrival of a big company to the country can be manifold.

Foxconn’s arrival can trigger the arrival of companies along its supply chain and also help to multiply the indirect jobs created due to this. There have already been reports of Oppo mobiles starting its manufacturing plant by August this year. ZTE Corporation, another Chinese telecom major, has completed its recce to set up its manufacturing facility in India. With e-business on the rise, there are plenty of other players waiting on the wings to explore the large market. Another Chinese mobile handset maker Phicomm has also committed to invest $100mn in the next 3 years to market its products and at the same time, they are exploring to setting up a manufacturing facility here.

 

Automobiles

Mercedes Benz has brought into the “Make in India” program in two different areas. Firstly, in the luxury car segments, it has decided to manufacture more of its components in India – thus increasing the localization of its new model C220 CDI to 60%. Secondly, Mercedes Benz has also decided to manufacture its luxury buses in India, to be exported to Africa and South East Asian markets. The trials have already begun and full-fledged exports will start from early 2016.

Competition for low cost manufacturing cannot be underestimated. Following Mercedes’s lead, its German competitor BMW has also decided to increase its localization to 50%. BMW has already signed deals with approximately 20 companies who supply its components. Volvo is also now in the exploratory stage of exporting its range of buses to other markets. Renault, the french automobile major, has also improved localization of its KWID model to 98% – the KWID is expected to be launched later this year. The US behemoth, Ford, has also committed to invest Rs 4000 to Rs 5000cr for R&D, in its Chennai facility.

 

Defense

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of South Korea will work with Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vizag to build warships in India. Currently, the time duration from the point of order to delivery takes around 6 years. With this collaboration, this gap is expected to fall to 2.5 years. Though in very early stages of discussion, HHI has indicated that the objective is to outsource the manufacturing of small and medium size ships to India. The initial understanding was completed during PM Modi’s recent visit to South Korea.

Another South Korean major, Samsung, has also agreed to build LNG tankers with Kochi Shipyard. Another decision made recently was that Goa shipyard will construct 12 minesweepers for the Indian navy at a cost of 1 billion USD. Gurgaon based Sun Group, is in discussion with Russia, to manufacture 200 Kamov Ka 226 light helicopters in Punjab. The German and US defense ministers were in India recently to push sale of their products and there have been news reports that India will engage with them, only if there is a “Make in India” component in the deal. Reliance Infrastructure is in discussion with officials in Russia to explore opportunity to build nuclear submarines and stealth warships in India, along with other partners.

 

Railways

Recently, Indian Railways has invited bids by international suppliers for the procurement and manufacture of 15 train sets. Two train sets will be imported, where as the reminder will need to be manufactured in India – which will result in 40 coaches to be imported and 275 coaches will be manufactured in India. The whole project is estimated to be worth around Rs. 2,500cr. These train sets will be used on faster inter-city travel routes.

PM Modi during his recent visit to Berlin, visited the Berlin Central Train Station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof) to inspect the infrastructure and other facilities. Also Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, in his recent interviews has suggested that he will look to capitalize on various assets of railways like land, optical fibers, etc. If these ideas go per plan, there are many more job opportunities possible.

 

Aviation

There are two parts in this segment. Firstly, in military aviation, the recent deal with France on Rafale jets is well publicized. Whatever the politics of the deal is, the Indian government has been able to extract substantial investment in India in the future. Defense minister Manohar Parrikar has gone on record to say that 50% of the total deal value, approx. $4bn will be invested in India within the defense and aerospace sector. Secondly, in civil aviation, Airbus has also announced that it has joined the “Make in India” bandwagon. To this extent, Airbus has already announced restructuring of its organization in India and the new CEO has announced that Airbus exports will reach $2bn from India.  Pratt and Whitney, a US based firm, has also evinced interest in setting up its facilities in India. Like in the automobile sector, aviation also has the potential to create many upstream and downstream jobs along the supply chain.

Politisex: lewd attacks on political figures have become mainstream on the social media

Rahul Raj
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Politisex: lewd attacks on political figures have become mainstream on the social media

Amarinder Singh Raja (National President, Indian Youth Congress) had recently left very vulgar and sexist remarks about Smriti Irani on Twitter. The trend was soon picked by many other members of Congress. Indrani Mishra (National Secretary, Indian Youth Congress) went one more step ahead and added her filthy statements to worsen the scenario.

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After this event, Smriti Irani was also attacked by AAJ TAK journos who invited Smriti for a debate, but then shamelessly started triggering their malicious propaganda by trying to provoke and humiliate her by asking, “Modiji ne aapme aisa kya dekha ki aapko minister bana dia”. Smriti Irani not only blasted the anchor, but also showed him the mirror:


Sadly, it is disgraceful for the nation that such act, which should have been confronted, was supported by fanatics of AAP and Congress who started fueling the obscenity by trending #GappuKiRani

These sexist attacks on individuals are not new in the political arena of India. The latest attacks on Smriti Irani originate from our old misogynous tradition, but it also talks about political raunchiness prevalent in the Indian political spectrum.

One can find numerous examples of sexual slanderings used to deride political figures, here are some of the most commonly used political examples:

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

May 1946: Hindu ldr. Mohandas Gandhi (4R) walking w. (L-R) his secretaries Shushila Pai, Raj Kumari, his son Manilal, his secy. Pyarelal, his son's wife, his granddaughter Sita, his nephew's wife Abha, & two unident. men, on his daily walk around his colony. (Photo by Margaret Bourke-White/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Mahatma Gandhi is often criticized for his experiments with sex. He used to sleep naked with young women of his Ashram, including his own grand-niece [Manu Gandhi]. Apart from this, it is also claimed that he was bisexual and he left his wife in 1908 for a Jewish architect and bodybuilder, Hermann Kallenbach. Great Soul, a book written by former New York Times executive editor Joseph Lelyveld alleges:

Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach about ‘how completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance’

The book also claimed that Gandhi nicknamed himself “Upper House” and Kallenbach “Lower House”. Even if Gandhi has admitted that he was doing experiments to control his sexual feelings and resists the intercourse, he is till now besmirched by his critics for his sexual experiments.

Jawaharlal Nehru

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Nehru is often attacked for his relationships with Mridula Sarabhai, Padmaja Naidu, Shraddha Mata and Lady Edwina Mountbatten. It is widely rumored that Edwina had an affair with Nehru. The book India Remembered, written by Edwina Mountbatten’s daughter Pamela talks about the relationship of her Mother and Nehru. Edwina in her letters to Lord Mountbatten has written that her relationship with Nehru was mostly platonic. Mostly, but not always. In most of the personal attacks posted on the social media, Nehru is portrayed as a womanizer.  The character assassination of Nehru revolves around his relationships with different women.

Atal Behari Vajpayee

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Vajpayee is often criticized by his critics for his drinking habits. It was also widely claimed that he is a bachelor but not a Bramachari. Vajpayee moved into the marital home of his college love Rajkumari as the third head member of the family. Their unconventional relationship is often scrutinised and attacked by many rumours.

Apart from these cases, social media keeps denigrating individuals and organizations with snide sexual remarks. Indira Gandhi is attacked for her closeness with Dhirendra Brahmachari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi is frequently mentioned for a sex-tape, Digvijay Singh is maligned Amrita Rai, Kumar Vishwas was recently trending on twitter for his illicit affair with woman volunteer in Amethi, Narendra Modi is criticized for his “Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend?” remarks about Sunanda Pushkar.

Calling a spade for a spade may never solve the situation. But the other reality is – in the game of power and sex, these dust don’t seem to settle down soon.

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