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China destroys 30,000 world maps showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of India

OpIndia Staff
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China destroys 30,000 world maps showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of India

Customs authorities in Quindao, China, destroyed almost 30000 world maps last week for showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of India and Taiwan as an independent country,  reports said.

According to reports, “A total of 803 boxes of 28,908 maps were seized and destroyed, the largest amount to be disposed of in recent years.”

The crackdown came after the customs officials of Qingdao in China’s Shandong province seized 28,908 world maps kept in 800 boxes. The maps were taken to a secret location in Qingdao and shredded on the orders of the natural resources and planning bureau, the report said.

This is being considered the largest such exercise in recent years and was carried out to protect China’s “territorial integrity”, said the reports.

According to the Global Times report, the maps were produced by a company in East China’s Anhui Province and were on the way to being exported to an unspecified foreign country.

Ma Wei, from the Department of Geographical Information Management at the Ministry of Natural Resources, was quoted as saying, “If there are ‘problematic maps’ which harm national sovereignty and territorial integrity, especially foreign printed products or products destined for import or export, they will be intentionally used or speculated on by the international community.”

Global Times quoted Liu Wenzong, a professor from the Department of International Law of China Foreign Affairs University as saying, “If the wrong maps were circulated inside the country and abroad, it would have caused great harm to China’s territorial integrity in the long run.”

Beijing has claimed the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of China and has depicted it on its official maps as a part of south Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). It also considers Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as a breakaway province to be eventually unified.

The Indian government under PM Modi, however, has been pushing infrastructure development and outreach programmes in Arunachal Pradesh actively, ignoring China’s regular ‘warnings’.

In April 2017, Tibetian spiritual guru Dalai Lama had visited the state to attend an event in Arunachal Pradesh, to which China had taken a strong objection. India, however, has been conveying to China firmly that Arunachal Pradesh is and will remain an integral part of India.

During the Doklam standoff, where Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a tense staring down contest, India, with is a non-compromising stand, had made it clear that India under PM Modi will not be bullied by China.

The two countries have so far held 21 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute covering 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Digital India: How the Modi govt took massive strides in turning India into a digitally empowered economy

Dhairya Roy
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Digital India: How the Modi govt took massive strides in turning India into a digitally empowered economy

A push towards a Digitally empowered economy by PM Narendra Modi is giving rise to many products based on the 3 building blocks of Digital India. Initiatives such as National Optics Fibre Network project and Computer Emergency Response Team in Kerala and, e-Pragati in Andhra Pradesh have given a boost to the initiative. But to truly become a Digital leader in the World, the Digital India initiative requires the active support of the entire nation.

Introduction

The world has transformed from knowledge-centric to technology-centric. All information which any person can think of is available in a single click. It has become necessary for a good governing body to have a good communication platform to communicate with the stakeholders directly and efficiently. The most efficient way to communicate with the citizens of the World’s largest democracy with a population of 1.2 billion is only possible by communicating with everyone on a digital platform.

The Digital India drive is a dream project of the Indian Government to remodel India into a knowledgeable economy and digitally empowered society, with good governance for citizens by bringing synchronization and coordination in public accountability.

‘Digital India’ is a step by the Modi government to inspire and connect Indian Economy to such a knowledge savvy world to techno knowledge savvy world. The program was launched on 1st July 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make Government services available to people digitally and enjoy the benefit of the newest information and technological innovations.

The vision of Digital India

Digital India has 3 major aims:

  1. To create a digital infrastructure as a utility to every Indian citizen

This includes providing high-speed internet, mobile phone and bank account enabling participation in digital & financial space, shareable private space on a public cloud, and creating safe and secure cyberspace. The government is planning to provide high-speed internet connectivity to 2,50,000 gram panchayats, which will be a core utility for digital inclusion.

  1. Digital empowerment of citizens

This program aims to empower citizens through digital literacy and universal access to digital resources e.g. Mygov website for crowdsourcing ideas and will focus on finding ways to encourage people to opt for cashless financial transactions.

  1. Governance and services on demand

The initiative also aims at seamless integration across government departments/jurisdictions and ensuring availability of services in real time from online and mobile platforms. It will also result in real-time service delivery from an online platform.

Building blocks of Digital India

The following table emphasizes the importance of Infrastructure, Demand-based products and empowerment of citizens as the building blocks of Digital India. In order to move towards the goal of Digital India; high-speed internet, mobile banking, cloud storage infrastructure is required that will facilitate secure payments, ease of doing business, and real-time access to data. These steps are essential in enhancing digital literacy and motivating the public to adopt Digital and cloud-based platforms.

 

Nine Pillars of Digital India

The 3 building blocks of infrastructure, demand-based products and empowerment of public, form the foundation on which the 9 pillars of Digital India can be built upon. The 9 pillars are listed as below:

1. Broadband highways

The government with the vision of digital India has allocated 5 billion to build high-speed broadband highways connecting all the villages, government department, university etc. For faster implementation and growth of this project, the participation of private players is very important to cover all the geographical area of this country.

2. E-governance

The national e-governance plan has been formulated by the department of electronic and information technology, and department of administrative reforms and public grievances. This project works in both centralized and decentralized way. There are many different initiatives from central Government as well as state government under this project to ensure government services are available to citizen’s electronics.

3. E-Kranti

The government has allocated 5 billion for the e-Kranti project with an objective of providing electronic delivery of services to the citizens which include: e-health, e-education and technology for farmers, technology for planning, technology for security, technology for financial inclusion and technology for justice.

4. Universal Mobile Access

Government is specially preparing to connect unconnected areas and speedy use of technologies like network technologies like 3G, 4G and 5G etc. The general public will access the online government services with the help of handheld devices so that the nation will be well connected, efficient and more productive.

5. Public Internet access

Superior technologies that support cost containment, collaboration, and security, social connect and in-built intelligence that deliver remote access to any information or service available across the domain.

6. Information for all

Everything is connected through virtual networks for which fast workflow and no delays will be there due to waiting in queues. Websites and mobile apps will convey data and practical participation and even through social media at large.

7. Electronics manufacturing

The empowerment of manufacturing through the internet of things will enable intelligent workshops that demonstrate data-driven operational excellence and decentralised production control systems within and beyond the physical factory walls.

8. IT for jobs

The government is preparing to provide training and teaching skills to the youth for employment opportunities in the IT sector. BPO industries will be established for the fastest growing segment of the IT-enabled services industry which offers e-services 24/7 in every field and gives more jobs potentials.

9. Early Harvest programmes

This program will generate short timeline projects where every manual service is altered by e-service. E-services like educational books to e-books, public Wi-Fi, sports to access online game.

Projects and Products of Digital India

The three building block and nine pillars have contributed to many pilot projects and products for Digital India, such as:

  • A Digital locker system to minimize usage of physical documents and enable their e-sharing via registered repositories.
  • in as an online platform to engage citizens in governance through a “Discuss, Do and Disseminate” approach.
  • Swachh Bharat Mission Mobile app to achieve the goals set by this mission.
  • E-Sign framework to allow citizens to digitally sign documents online using Aadhaar.
  • E-Hospital system for important healthcare services such as online registration, fee payment, fixing doctors’ appointments, online diagnostics and checking blood availability online.
  • National Scholarship Portal for beneficiaries from submission of an application to verification, sanction and disbursal.
  • Digitize India Platform for large-scale digitization of records in the country to facilitate efficient delivery of services to the citizens.
  • Bharat Net programme as a high-speed digital highway to connect all 250,000-gram panchayats of the country — the world’s largest rural broadband project using optical fibre.
  • BSNL’s Next Generation Network to replace 30-year old telephone exchanges to manage all types of services like voice, data, multimedia and other types of communication services.
  • BSNL’s large scale deployment of wi-fi hotspots throughout the country.
  • ‘Broadband Highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India to address the connectivity issue while enabling and providing technologies to facilitate delivery of services to citizens.
  • Outsourcing Policy to create such centres in different north-eastern states and in smaller towns across the country.
  • National Centre for Flexible Electronics to promote research and innovation in the emerging area of flexible electronics.
  • Centre of Excellence on Internet on Things (IoT) as a joint initiative of the government agencies and private institutions such as Nasscom.
    • To make Post Offices multi-service centres.
    • To connect all schools with broadband and free wi-fi.

Impact of Digital India

A nationwide scheme such as Digital India has the potential to impact various sectors of society. Following are some key impacts where Digital India can provide a sustained benefit.

Impact on Technology

The Digital India project provides a huge opportunity to use the latest technology to redefine India the paradigms of the service industry. A digitally connected India can help in improving the social and economic condition of people living in a different geographical area.

Impact on the Economy

It can play a key role in macro-economic factors such as GDP growth, employment generation, labour productivity, growth in a number of businesses and revenue leakages for the government.

Impact on Social sector

Social sectors such as education, healthcare, and banking are unable to reach out to the citizens due to obstructions and limitations such as middleman, illiteracy, poverty, lack of funds, living locality and investments. Modern ICT makes it easier for people to obtain access to services and resources. The penetration of mobile devices may be highly useful as a complementary channel to public service delivery apart from the creation of entirely new services.

Impact on the Environment

The major changes in the technology space have not only brought changes to the economic system but are contributing to the environment changes. The next generation technologies are helping in lowering the carbon footprint by reducing fuel consumption, waste management, greener management, greener workplaces and thus leading to a greener ecosystem.

Impact on Agricultural Sector

The governance will shift from e-governance to m governance i.e. is mobile governance. Farmers can access all kind of information through their mobile phones as when required which will boost this sector also.

Impending Challenges

The Digital India initiative is the most ambitious project of the NDA Government. There are many challenges that could come in the way of successful completion of the project. These are as follows:-

·     High cost of implementation

The dream project Digital India requires new infrastructure for successful implementation which involves high cost as some are ongoing projects and some are yet to start.

·     Time overrun

Some projects will take more time to harvest and the delayed project may lead to delay in other dependent projects and meeting the budget limit will be difficult.

·     Poor private participation

Private participation in government projects in India is poor because of long and complex regulatory processes.

·     Lack of coordination among departments

In order to implement any new project, support and coordination from top to bottom is highly essential. It involves the participation of several departments and demanding commitment and efforts. Hence, strong leadership and timely support of all the involved entities will play a critical role.

·     Uniform and fast adoption of internet

Despite the lowest data tariffs in the world, adoption of the internet in India will be difficult due to illiteracy, affordability and availability of mobile devices.

Success stories of Digital India

Kerala – India’s first digital state

In February 2016, former President Pranab Mukherjee declared Kerala as the first digital state of India owing to its achievement of high e-literacy and mobile penetration. It was also the first state to complete the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)project, granting high-speed Internet access to all its gram panchayats. This achievement is significant especially in the area of rural development. Kerala has been setting benchmarks in terms of achievement of digitization targets.

Some of the marquee initiatives of Kerala are:

Aadhaar Enabled Citizen Services (AECS)by Kerala State IT Mission and the e-district project deliver all district-level services for citizens in a state-owned portal or through Common Service Centres (CSCs).

The Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organisation and Networking (ACTION)initiative has been developed to track high-priority projects, their status and areas needing the attention of senior authorities.

Computer Emergency Response Team-Kerala (CERT-K)is another important initiative which deals with cybersecurity threats and issues warnings to concerned departments as and when necessary. It works in coordination with the CERT-In application. The Kerala Spatial Data Infrastructure project has created a centralised infrastructure and a repository of geospatial data across the state.

Andhra Pradesh: Setting up centres of excellence

To meet all objectives of Digital India, the Andhra Pradesh government is working on the fibre grid initiative. Also, with the e-Pragatiinitiative, Andhra Pradesh has embarked on a journey to become the first to have a statewide enterprise architecture.

Gujarat: The working model of India’s first digital village

India’s first digital village, Akodara, is located in Gujarat. The Government of Gujarat partnered with ICICI Bank, which adopted the village and converted it into a working model for Digital India. From setting up bank accounts and going cashless to installing CCTV cameras, the village is a perfect example of what a digital village would look like.

Conclusion

The Digital India campaign has laid the foundation for substantial and powerful digital infrastructure. This campaign will not only provide internet connectivity to people but also create jobs, eServices, eGovernance, Digital identity, e-education and e-health while strengthening India’s position as a pioneer in IT solutions. More employment prospects for the youth will, in turn, boost the nation’s economy.

The success of a digital transformation of the nation rests on some of the aforementioned projects which are under various stages of implementation. These projects may require some transformational process reengineering, refinements and adjustment for successful implementation to achieve the desired objectives.

The Modi Government has taken into account the recommendation of the Council on Digital Government strategies as entrusted in the OECD 2013 at this stage of implementation of Digital India program. This program has fostered inter-ministerial co-operation and collaboration towards the outlined priorities to make this initiative, state of the art. A digitally empowered India has the potential to mend social and economic condition through the development of non-agricultural economic activities while also providing access to education, health and financial services. How far the strategy would yield results would largely depend on factors which are outside the realm of technologies and tools for digitization. These might be rooted in the organization maturity and commitment of the systems within the government but are heavily dependent on public support.

The success of this dream project lies not only in the hands of government but in the hands of citizens and other stakeholders of the nation. A big scale project such as Digital India which has a great potential to enhance the lives of every citizen is not without its share of challenges. Any great initiative needs full public support to succeed, and this initiative is no different. We as Indian citizens must work together to carve a niche for India in the knowledge economy. Let us join hands for the successful implementation of this project for the brighter and prosperous India.

Congress-friendly journalist tries to shield Dynasty, but Rahul Gandhi spoils the party by pulling a Rahul

Nirwa Mehta
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Congress-friendly journalist tries to shield Dynasty, but Rahul Gandhi spoils the party by pulling a Rahul

Congress-friendly journalist Pallavi Ghosh got owned by Congress President Rahul Gandhi when despite her attempts at salvage the Sam Pitroda’s pro-Pakistan fiasco, Rahul Gandhi went ahead and made him the head of Congress’ campaign monitoring committee.

As per reports, Pitroda will be leading a team of committee members including Congress leaders like Pawan Khera, Rohan Gupta, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Praveen Chakravarthi, Divya Spandana and Manish Chatrath. Pitroda is a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi and heads the Overseas Indian National Congress and will manage the campaign for Congress.

Recently, Pitroda was found questioning Balakot airstrikes carried out by Indian Air Force on the terror camps across the border in Pakistan. After he asked for proofs based on anti-India international media coverage of the airstrikes, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the people of India to question Congress on their pro-Pakistan stand.

Soon, Congress-friendly journalists had even revealed that Pitroda’s statements, which had done considerable damage to Congress already, had even made Congress President Rahul Gandhi ‘upset’.


Ghosh has earlier acted as Rahul Gandhi’s faithful emissary taking it upon herself to convey the messages from the party president to those who need to be told that the party president is upset. Lest anything the leaders say damage the party’s public image.


When CP Joshi did not pay heed to her sources, she went ahead and conveyed the message herself.


Pallavi Ghosh has time and again cited her ‘sources’ inside the Congress who convey it to her how Rahul Gandhi or now Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are feeling and thinking. Almost like she could read their minds. Except, sometimes, her sources feed her wrong information. Like the time her sources told her that Congress will focus on ‘jobs’ and ‘farmers’.


Except, Rahul Gandhi ended up giving out sops of free money, about 13% of the union budget.

It is not just Rahul Gandhi Pallavi likes to campaign for. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the new favourite. She likes to give live updates on what Priyanka is up to.


Soon…


Fandom is so much, that even when as a general secretary of the grand old party, when Priyanka addresses a rally, it is a surprise for her.


Perhaps the answer could be found in this tweet.


While journalists wear the cloak of neutrality, they have often gone out of their way to prop up the clown prince. The fourth estate has crumbled and how when the very media that is supposed to educate its readers starts covering up for a politician who lies blatantly, obfuscates, and can barely pronounce words that need the slightest roll of the tongue, like Visveswaraya. Rahul Gandhi is a reluctant politician and the media tries its best to convince people that he is not insufferable as he is. If only Rahul had let them do their job, the country would have perhaps never realised that Rahul can hardly be trusted with writing a condolence message without copying it from his mobile phone, let alone run the country all by his little self.

KXIP skipper R Ashwin’s wife and children targeted on social media after controversial run-out in IPL match

OpIndia Staff
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KXIP skipper R Ashwin’s wife and children targeted on social media after controversial run-out in IPL match

Debates have erupted across social media and in the cricketing world following Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to ‘Mankad’ Jos Butler during the Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals match on Monday.

Sadly it did not just end with an on-field banter but turned into an abusive affair as sexist abusive trolls resorted to targeting Ashwin’s wife Prithi and their daughters after the controversial ‘Mankading’ incident on the cricket field.

The incident began when Prithi Ashwin expressed her opinion on Twitter regarding the incident stating that they were rules and camera to judge the incident and asked trolls to stop spamming her on the timeline and said they should instead mention it on her husband Ashwin’s timeline.


Soon followed trolling and spamming against Prithi Ashwin after she mentioned what her husband did was within the limits of the rules of the game. Prithi, however soon realised that she is being constantly trolled, she mentioned how Instagram was much nicer than Twitter, but only to realise that Instagram was much far worse for her and her daughters as filthy abuses were instantly thrown at Ashwin’s family, especially at their young daughter.


Many abusive trolls began to attack and comment hatefully against Ashwin family on Instagram despite they had nothing to do with Ashwin’s ‘Mankading’ incident.


The cricketing incident that occurred during an IPL match has divided the social media, while some questioned Ashwin’s respect to the spirit of cricket while others defended him by saying he was well within the stated rules of the ICC and MCC to ‘Mankad’ out Jos Butler, who was disturbing the bowler’s rhythm throughout that over.

Meanwhile, Ashwin has defended himself and responded to the accusations by saying that the dismissal was “instinctive” and not a planned one.

“On my part, it was very instinctive and it was not planned or anything like that,” Ashwin said. It is there in the rules of the game. I don’t know where the understanding of the spirit of the game comes from because quite naturally if it’s there in the rules, it’s there. So probably the rules need to go back and be sorted,” said Ashwin.

Congress-AIUDF understanding in Assam out in open, AIUDF to contest only 3 seats to help Congress in other seats

OpIndia Staff
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Congress-AIUDF understanding in Assam out in open, AIUDF to contest only 3 seats to help Congress in other seats

All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal has decided to field candidates from only three seats out of total 14 seats in Assam, to help the Congress party in the other 11 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

As per reports, Ajmal has said that the party has said that it is ready to sacrifice its own prospects in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to keep Bhartiya Janta Party out of power by preventing ‘division of secular votes’.

The AIUDF was trying to forge an understanding with Congress party in the state so as to keep defeat BJP in elections. But the state Congress leadership was unwilling for a formal alliance with AIUDF, as it may dissuade Hindus in the state from voting for the party.

“We are eager to help if Congress really wants our help. We can sacrifice anything, even our electoral prospect, to stop the BJP”, Ajmal was quoted by reports. He had added that he is ready to forget comments made by former CM Tarun Gogoi against him in the past.

AIUDF will contest from only three seats: Dhubri, from where Badruddin Ajmal will seek re-election, Karimganj and Barpeta. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election the party had contested in 9 seats, which means this time they will help the Congress party in the other seats by not dividing anti-BJP votes.

BJP and its ally Assam Gana Parishad, which returned to NDA fold recently, slammed the “unholy nexus” between Congress and AIUDF.

“Earlier, AIUDF said it would field candidates in all constituencies where there is a substantial minority voter base. This sudden change of plans makes it clear AIUDF and Congress have entered an understanding,” Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Assam BJP President, was quoted by Times of India.

However, both AIUDF and Congress have denied claims of an understanding between two parties. Congress has labelled the AIUDF as weak, in the wake of its attempts to inch closer to Congress.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, AIUDF had won 3 seats out of 14 total and in 2016 Assembly elections it had managed to win 13 seats out of 126 seats.

AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal has been marred with various controversies in the past.

In December, last year, Ajmal had assaulted a journalist during an interaction with the press. He was talking to media in Assam, after felicitating the winning candidates of the party in the recently concluded Panchayat elections. During the interaction, Ajmal had suddenly got angry with a question asked by the journalist from ETV and had verbally abused him. He also had threatened to physically attack him, in front of other journalists and party workers.

Last year, Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat had cited the example of AIUDF, to explain the rapid influx of illegal Bangladeshi Muslims in North-east.

“I don’t think that you can change the population dynamics of this area. If it was five districts, 8 to 9 the inversion has taken place whichever be the government, there is a party called AIDUF. If you look at it, they have grown at a faster time frame than with the BJP grew over the years.” General Rawat had said. He had also compared the rise of AIUDF in Assam with that of Jan Sangh and had commented that former had risen at a very rapid speed in Assam.

“Finally, what will be the state of Assam, we have to take a call.” He had added.

Similarly, Assam’s state finance minister Himata Biswa Sarma had said that:

“By 2021 if the eight lakh population of Hindu Bengali from Bangladesh is taken out from Assam, the community’s population of Assam will reduce to a mere 51 or 52 per cent, which will pave the way for Badruddin Ajmal or Sirajudin Ajmal to become the CM of the state”.

Went to Pakistan 17 times in 18 years: Arrested ISI spy Mohammad Parvez reveals to police

OpIndia Staff
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Went to Pakistan 17 times in 18 years: Arrested ISI spy Mohammad Parvez reveals to police

The Rajasthan police have arrested Mohammad Parvez, a 42-year-old man from Delhi on Monday for allegedly spying for Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI, officials said.

“He was already in judicial custody since 2017 after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for anti-national activities, and was now taken into custody by the state police after he was brought in for interrogation on Monday,” said Additional Director General (Intelligence) Umesh Mishra.

The officer revealed that Mohammed Parvez allegedly honey-trapped Indian Army soldiers through fake identity to collect confidential and strategic information and passed those to the ISI, in exchange for financial support.

During interrogation, Pervez revealed that he was in contact with ISI handlers and had traveled to Pakistan “17 times in the last 18 years”.

Parvez allegedly managed to get mobile sim cards on photo and copy of identity documents of people by promising them quick visa formalities at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. Plotting with SIM card retailers, he got the numbers activated to share information with his handlers, the officer confirmed.

Mishra confirmed that Parvez was presented before a Jaipur court, which sent him to four-day police custody.

Last year, the Rajasthan Police had arrested one Army jawan on charges of espionage in Jaisalmer. After interrogations, it was revealed that he was honey-trapped and in touch with the Pakistani ISI operatives through social media.

A few months back, an Engineer at Brahmos facility in Nagpur, Nishant Agarwal, was arrested for alleged spying and passing on sensitive information to his ISI handlers. Even then Pakistani handlers had used social media accounts to honeytrap Agarwal.

In September last year, Uttar Pradesh ATS team had arrested a BSF Jawan, Achutanand Misra, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, who was ‘honey-trapped‘ by a woman claiming to be a journalist, into sharing information about India’s defence preparedness with ISI lackeys.

India and Pakistan have been on the brink of war after the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed the lives of 40 Indian soldiers.

BJP to launch Digital Raths with Wifi connection, WiFi password will be ‘Kejriwal failed to give free WiFi’

OpIndia Staff
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BJP to launch Digital Raths with Wifi connection, WiFi password will be ‘Kejriwal failed to give free WiFi’

Realising the importance of digital outreach ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to roll out ‘Digital Rath Yatras’ in Delhi to not only highlight the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also all the failures of Arvind Kejriwal government.

According to the reports, the Digital Rath, scheduled to be launched soon will travel across all the seventy assembly seats and seven Lok Sabha seats in the state, which will telecast videos related to the developmental works of the BJP. Interestingly, the chariots will also have an in-built WiFi hot spot and the password to access it is ‘Kejriwal failed to give free WiFi’.

“People can use this free-of-cost internet service to circulate information about PM Modi through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,” Neelkanth Bakshi, officer-in-charge, Delhi BJP — IT and Social Media Cell, told speaking to the media.

The party will also organise a ‘Twitter Chaupal’ for people who use the micro-blogging site to connect with Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, ask him questions and give feedback to Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari. Reportedly, Tiwari will also travel with the chariot and visit each Lok Sabha constituency to interact with the voters.

“At once, approximately 200 people will be able to use the WiFi. The Digital Rath will be on roads with effect from April 1,” added Baxi.

The Tashkent Files: Speaking to team OpIndia, Shashtri Ji’s family says they hope the film will answer some long hushed up questions

OpIndia Staff
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The Tashkent Files: Speaking to team OpIndia, Shashtri Ji’s family says they hope the film will answer some long hushed up questions

The trailer of the much-awaited movie, ‘The Tashkent Files’, by Vivek Agnihotri, which is based on the mysterious death of one of India’s greatest Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri was finally released on March 25.

At the launch event, team OpIndia got the opportunity to speak with the former PM’s son and grandson. While talking to Anupam Kumar Singh of OpIndia, Shastriji’s son Sunil Shastri, and grandson Sanjay Nath shared some of their special memories of one of India’s tallest leaders. They also made some startling revelations regarding the death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, one of the greatest mysteries of modern Indian political history.

Sunil Shastri, while answering questions during the press conference which followed the launch event of the movie, ‘The Tashkent Files’, first congratulated Vivek Agnihotri for his nerve to touch on a subject which has been hushed up for so many years and then likened PM Narendra Modi to his father. He reiterated that the way his father has made the country proud, Modi has been doing the same.

Notably, Sunil Shastri has pointed out the similarities between the work of PM Modi and his father in an interview last year. This time too, he maintained that PM Modi is raising the honour of India all over the world and is also devising comprehensive development schemes within India.

Recollecting an incident from the past which revealed Shahstriji’s quick-wit, Sunil Shastri recounted that in his earlier days as a Prime Minister, when Lal Bahadur Shastri was supposed to meet the then Pakistan President, Muhammad Ayub Khan, someone told him that how would he match-up to Ayub Khan’s imposing personality since he was shorter and slight in comparison to Ayub Khan who was well built and towering. To this Shastriji said that it was better this way since Pakistan will always lower its head in front of India while India will keep its head high while talking to Pakistan.

Speaking to Anupam Kumar Singh, an emotional Sunil Shastri said that he hopes that this movie would help unravel the mysteries behind his father’s death. Speaking about the killing of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s personal staff in two separate ‘accidents’, Sunil Shastri also made a few startling disclosures which would force one to think, ‘who are those who have been shielding the death of the former PM and why?’

Actress Pallavi Joshi, who has played a critical role in the film speaking to Anupam Kumar said that a son has the right to know how his father was killed and who all were behind one of the greatest mysteries of modern Indian political history.

OpIndia also got the opportunity to reach out to Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson, Sanjay Nath, during the launch event of the movie where he too shared his personal experiences and discussed the long hushed-up facts regarding the mysterious death of his grandfather.

Sanjay said that he always wanted the truth to come out, and was glad that Vivek Agnihotri, through his movie is divulging the facts.

He recollected how, in the past, Lal Bahadur Shastri’s close associate, Professor Tribhuvan Narayan Singh along with Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Raj Narayan, Doctor Kunjru, LK Advani had raised this issue in the Parliament to which the then cabinet ministers had lied blatantly and tried and hushed the matter.

He revealed that when Shastriji died he had access to no phones or bells as claimed by the then ministers. Nath stated that as opposed to the claims of three telephones and a buzzer being present in the former PM’s room in Tashkent, there was not even a bell.

He went on to speak about an interview of Shastriji’s wife, Lalita Shastri, published in a National newspaper called ‘Dharmayug’ in 1970. In the interview with Dharmayug, Lalita Shastri threw light on various important aspects which testifies that Shastrijis death was not an ordinary one.

The most important aspect that she revealed was the fact that when Shastriji’s mortal remains were brought back his family was not allowed to go near it.

However, Sanjay revealed that when after much perseverance they finally went closer, suddenly a man from behind came an applied ‘Chandan’ (sandalwood paste) on his face so as to cover the bruises and black marks on Lal Bahadur Shastri’s face.

This, he said, raised a pertinent question, who were the people behind this and what were they trying to shield?

Sanjay raised many other questions like why there was no inquiry commission set up to look into this matter? why an autopsy was not conducted on the former PM who died under mysterious circumstances? Sanjay hoped that these questions which remained answered till now will be brought to the fore again soon through Vivek Agnihotri’s undaunted efforts.

Lal Bahadur Shastri had died in Tashkent after he suffered from a massive heart attack, hours after signing a declaration with Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. His death has raised various questions, as it had occurred on foreign soil and remains a mystery till today.

The mysterious case had gained some traction last year as the Central Information Commission (CIC) stated that all ‘classified papers’ relating to the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death should be placed before the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to take a call on their declassification.

Meanwhile, set to hit the theatres on 12th April 2019, the movie, ‘The Tashkent Files’, puts the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri as the ‘biggest coverup’ of Independent India. The movie is also deeply embedded with political themes in the current era as Pankaj Tripathi says enigmatically, “A Prime Minister is poisoned, the Parliament is attacked, blasts occur at Mumbai but Ssshhh! Don’t say anything. Secularism!”

At another point, Vinay Pathak says, “Capturing Lutyens Delhi means capturing the entire country.” Towards the end of the trailer, a character can be heard saying, “This is the land of Truth and Ahimsa, this is the land of Gandhi and Nehru.” To which, an actor in the movie replies, “Why not Shastri Ji’s too?”

Read: Tashkent Files Movie Review

 

After failing to transform Delhi into London, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal now wants to ‘build 10 Singapores’ in Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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After failing to transform Delhi into London, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal now wants to ‘build 10 Singapores’ in Delhi

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who had once promised the voters of Delhi to transform Delhi into London is now all set to build infrastructure equivalent to “10 Singapore” in Delhi only if full statehood is granted and Centre spends some money on Delhi.

According to reports, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal while addressing a public rally at Patparganj in East Delhi said that he is ready to build infrastructure in Delhi equivalent to 10 Singapore put together in Delhi only if the Central government spend around Rs 40-50 crore on Delhi from the tax it collects from the Delhi residents.

“You take away Rs.1,50,000 crore from Delhi residents. Let’s consider that the rest of the country is poor too and money should be spent on other states as well. But at least spend Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore on Delhi. So many universities can be built, so many colleges can be built (with the money). We (AAP) will make 10 Singapore in Delhi,” said Kejriwal.

Arvind Kejriwal in the run-up to municipal polls in Delhi last year had promised to give the city’s civic management a makeover and make it London within just one year. However, Delhi under the rule of Kejriwal has deteriorated much as the AAP government has even failed to tackle the pollution crisis in the state.

Arvind Kejriwal has even failed to deliver promises that he had assured before coming to power in Delhi. He had made a variety of promises like bringing in a Jan Lokpal, providing free WIFI, installing 15 lakh CCTV cameras, taking action against Sheila Dikshit among others, but none of the above has been achieved by the Delhi CM Kejriwal.

It is also interesting that Arvind Kejriwal often claims that the union government has deliberately not provided any funds to Delhi while accusing the centre of interference in the affairs of the Delhi, it must be noted that the Delhi government has not even used the funds which has been allocated by its own budget.

Recently, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta had revealed that there was a “vast difference” between the government’s claims and proposals and its performance on the ground. Gupta accused the AAP government of failing to spend the allocated amount of Rs 22,000 crore. He further added that the Kejriwal government had spent only Rs.8,410 crore, which is a little over 38% of the total allocation. If the allegations of Gupta are found to be true, Kejriwal will be caught with wrongly accusing the centre of not providing sufficient funds, as his government has not even spent the funds which have been allocated in the state budget.

Similarly, An RTI query had revealed how Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government was sitting on the Rs. 787 crore collected as environment cess and used only Rs. 93 lakh, or 0.13% of the amount collected for the intended purposes. The cess which was collected by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation was remitted to the transport department to be used for environment preservation and strengthening public transport. However, Kejriwal government has not used this amount to fund any developmental works in the state.

Tejasvi Surya: A political star is born

Ullas
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Tejasvi Surya: A political star is born

“Chakra” is a significant meaning in Hindu tradition. The chakra in the Bharatiya Janata Party has been turning gradually over the last few days. We recently saw the quiet, dignified exit of the great Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi from electoral politics. At the same time, Bengaluru, in particular, saw the birth of a new political star.

It is fraught with risk to call someone a star in the beginning of a career. However, Tejasvi Surya has earned his stripes, as he was officially named as the BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. An ABVP karyakarta, BJP Youth Secretary, TV panellist, public speaker and active social media voice – Tejasvi could end up being the youngest member in the new Lok Sabha at only 28 years.

For the common man and cadre, his candidature had a surprise value. The more predictable name was of Tejaswini Anantkumar, wife of another BJP stalwart, late Anantkumar. In fact, the Karnataka state party had proposed only her name to the BJP CEC. Nobody could point a finger at her candidature as she had worked for a long time to earn her worth and was known and liked by most of the South Bengaluru voters. She has been an old ABVP karyakarta herself and has been actively involved in RSS and BJP activities. Her graceful tweet after Tejasvi’s nomination reinforces that she has the right bearings.

It seemed awkward when BJP refused to name her in the first and second list of candidates for Karnataka. Speculations started that BJP was shooting itself in the foot by not respecting one of their own. In spite of all this, it was assumed that she will be blessed. In the meantime, rumours started gaining ground that PM Modi himself will be contesting in Bengaluru South constituency.

All this came to a head when Tejasvi Surya’s name was announced in the early morning hours of 26th March 2019. Considering only electoral strategy, it must be said that the BJP top brass has helped Tejasvi to launch his career with a bang. Firstly, Bengaluru South is a  BJP fortress and he should be expected to win.

Secondly, by delaying the decision until the final day of nomination, BJP allowed Congress to play its cards first and then ensured a smooth launch for Tejasvi. This is because if his name was announced earlier, considering him to be a newbie, Congress could have fielded the more formidable Ramalinga Reddy in the seat. Thirdly, by floating Modi’s name for the seat, BJP ensured that opposition shouldn’t harbour any hopes from this seat even before the contest. Considering these points is a launch pad even star kids can dream of.

It is well known in the Karnataka BJP circles that Amit Shah values two voices from the local unit: B S Yeddyurappa and B L Santosh. The second name is not popular in the national circles, but he is one of Tejasvi’s mentors and it is rumoured that he pushed Tejasvi’s name. BJP also realises that the next generation leaders need not necessarily come from the rumble and tumble politics as in early days. As an example, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha was launched in 2014 under similar circumstances. BJP appreciated Tejasvi’s contribution in the social media circles and speaking circuit. This was considered to be a good enough preparation for him to take the leap.

As one of the erstwhile leading technology companies had coined the phrase “Many are blessed. Few are chosen.” In this case, Tejasvi is the chosen one from the technology city of India. The onus is now on him to prove that he is no flash in the pan and continue Anantkumar’s legacy.

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