Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Home Blog Page 6523

Top Lies spread by Indian Media in September 2015

Gaurav
-
0
Top Lies spread by Indian Media in September 2015

Big Lies:

1. 29 September 2015: The Hindu – PM got the GDP figure wrong

We had a separate story on this issue. The PM while in US had mentioned that India was now a economy with $8 trillion GDP. On PPP basis, which is the preferred method of comparing GDP figures internationally, this figure is the same as the figure issued by IMF in their “World Economic Outlook” report for 2015. The Hindu first showed the nominal GDP which is around $ 2 Trillion (in 2014). But they did not mention here that the corresponding value in PPP terms is $ 7.4 Trillion as per World Bank’s data. Then they claimed that the “latest” available data (from 2011) showed GDP on PPP basis at $ 5.7 Trillion. In doing so they ignored the above mentioned IMF projections for 2015 and also the World Bank report from 2014. Final argument used was that the $ 8 trillion figure was only “estimate” and not “data”, but fact is almost all economic data of such large scale is “estimated” because of size and complexity involved.

2. 10 September 2015: All Media – Meat Ban Narrative

Here media tried to portray a picture that BJP was now trying to impose its cultural agenda by announcing Meat bans during the Jain festival of Paryushan. An image was created that Maharashtra Government started it, and it was followed by other BJP states joining in. But a bit of research showed that such meat bans especially for Paryushan festival, existed in almost all states way before BJP came into power: In Maharashtra since 1964 (Congress rule), in Gujarat since 1960 (Congress rule) and in other states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, from  Congress rules too. Further in the specific case of Maharashtra, this meat ban was imposed by a few civic bodies and no fresh order went from the state Government. We had covered all the aspects of this massive hit-job here.

3. 20 September 2015: IndiaToday group – AAP govt bought onions at Rs 18/kg and sold to Delhiites at Rs 30/kg

We had a separate report on this where we had discussed threadbare how AAP was subjected to this hit-job. In what seems to be a gross misinterpretation of facts , India Today reported that AAP Govt bought onions at Rs 18/kg and sold to Delhiites at Rs 30/kg. This claim was made based on RTI replies. Firstly they did not release the so called RTI replies they saw. Secondly, from what was available in public domain from various sources, it was clear that in fact AAP had bought onions at Rs 32.86/Kg from SFAC and the Rs 18/kg was what SFAC had paid to buy the onions from Mandis.

4. 20 September 2015: India Today – Sonia Gandhi’s statement “Where was PM Modi when Congress was fighting Independence Struggle”

India Today live tweeted a Sonia Gandhi speech where they claimed she had said the above. This was obviously stupid since Modi was not even born at that time. Hence Sonia Gandhi was ridiculed for this. But as the video of the speech was uploaded it was clear that she had said the following and India Today had done a very bad paraphrasing job:

5. 21 September 2015: Factchecker.in – Contrary to Narendra Modi’s claim, Khadi Sales Have Not “Doubled”

A fine example of statistical jumla. In his Mann ki Baat address, Modi stated that last year, in October, he had appealed to people to buy more Khadi. He said that he is now happy to report that sales have doubled in the last one year. So, lets understand what Modi has said. He has said, ever since he made the appeal, sales have doubled, which would naturally mean sales have doubled from October 2014 to September 2015, which is the month of his latest Mann k baat. So to verify this claim, one would obviously need data of Khadi sales from October 2013 to September 2014 & October 2014 to September 2015. What factchecker rather cleverly did was instead of analysing this period, they picked up data financial year wise i.e. from April 2014 to March 2015! When one realises this, the entire premise of this “fact check” whatever be the result, falls flat. In fact, if one goes by data produced here, growth in khadi sales “rocketed to a 17.55% growth in sales from October 2014 to March 2015, which is an almost 3 fold increase when compared to the previous corresponding period“. Irrespective of whether this data is correct, factchecker.in has got the story completely wrong.

6 September 2015: India Today – “Govt considering covert ops to take down Dawood,” says Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

India Today, and interviewer Rahul Kanwal, claimed that Rathore told him that “Govt wasUntitled considering covert ops to take down Dawood”.  This became a big topic of outrage since a minister was openly admitting to covert ops. But no such statement was found when the interview was played. This becomes even more important because India Today had clearly put Rathore’s words in quotes, meaning he had to say the exact thing, bu he did not even come close. Here is a full transcript of the relevant portion. We are still awaiting Rahul Kanwal’s reply to show the exact place where Rathore said those exact words.

7. 1st September 2015: Indian Expresss – Dog hanged in Kerala to mark death anniversary of RSS functionary

A casual reading of the above line would suggest that RSS had hanged a dog to mark the death anniversary of its functionary. The phrase “to mark an ocassion” is usually used  in context of celebrating an event, hence the headline gives this impression. Many people believed it was indeed the RSS who did this. But facts are different. The dog (rather 3 dogs) were killed and hanged by “unknown people” on the death anniversary of an RSS leader. This functionary was killed allegedly by CPM goons, and the dogs were hanged at the exact spot where the functionary had been killed, exactly one year ago. We had reported that Social Media posts indicated that the killing of the dogs could also have been the handiwork of CPM goons. In such a case, the Indian Express headline was grossly misleading.

8. 17 September 2015: India Today – Majid & AR cannot make a movie that is inflammatory and would hurt sentiments of a particular community – Shabana Azmi. 

Call it constraints of 140 characters, extremely poor paraphrasing or deliberate spin. India Today made a complete hotch-potch of Shabana Azmis’ views  which led to a lot of misinterpretation and outrage. First, see what India Today reported her as saying, as per the screenshot attached. From her statement, it would seem to anyone that Azmi felt that such a film cannot be made if it hurts a community’s sentiments. For this alleged statement she was ridiculed by all and sundry. But when one saw the video in the tweet, one could see she said something totally different:

I have not watched the movie but I can only surmise that it is hardly likely that people of the integrity of A R Rahman and Majid Majidi would make a film that is inflammatory or would hurt the sentiments of a particular community.

Azmi had in fact said the believed they could never make a film which would be inflammatory. But India Today completely twisted her argument. This has become a habit for India Today, of twisting statements of celebrities, after Salim Khan’s last month  and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore as above.

9. 2nd September 2015: NDTV – Scholar MM Kalburgi’s Murder: No Sketches, No Questioning, Preoccupied Cops

Above story was written by Sreenivasan Jain and was published on 2nd September at 2.45pm and update at 3.04pm IST again. One of the claims made by Jain was that the cops had not released the sketches of the assailants.  As at 3.04pm, Jain & NDTV stuck to this claim. Within 2 hours Commissioner of Police Hubli-Dharwad tweeted sketches of the assailants. So was the police forced to act, that too so swiftly, because of Jain’s stellar journalism? Was the tweet by the commissioner the first instance of releasing the sketches? Or were they released offline before this? We do not know. But even upto 6.48 pm, NDTV continued to splash the same news on TV that sketches have not been released. From this it was clear that even assuming the sketches were actually released at 5pm, NDTV did no correct their reporting until almost 2 hours after the incident. Later, NDTV changed the entire report and deleted the part where they said sketches were not released.

10. 2 September 2015: Scroll.in – Marathas collected Zakat only from Muslims.

In a motivated post solely meant to whitewash Aurangzeb’s tyrannical legacy, a point was made that much like the Jizya tax which Aurangzeb levied solely on non-Muslims, the Marathas had a tax called Zakat which was meant only for Muslims. This claim was rebutted by multiple people on social media. Exhibit 1: an extract from the book “Administrative Systems of the Marathas” by Surendra Nath Sen” which clearly says Zakat was collected from all traders irrespective of religion and that it had lost its original meaning of “religious tax”. Exhibit 2: an extract from the book “Advanced Study in the History of Modern India” which again says something similar. Exhibit 3: A research paper titled “A Historical Study of The Economic Policy of Marathas: Trade and Tax” which reiterates above facts. Even the source of original article did not say that Zakat was collected only from Muslims.

11. 4 September 2015: The Hindustan Times (Ram Guha’s column) – No roads named after Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Ranjit Singh in New Delhi. 

India’s “pre-eminent historian” Ram Guha, wrote an entire piece based on why there are no roads named after the above historical figures in Delhi, and justified the same giving various reasons. Fact is there were three roads amed after these exact same luminaries in New Delhi all along. Eventually after many “alert readers” pointed this out, Hindutsan Tims corrected the story. Ram Guha also admitted his folly on twitter, but amusingly maintained that “his larger point remains”

12. 14th September 2015: Rediff.com- Arun Shourie slams Narendra Modi Government

In another example of digital illiteracy of Indian media, Rediff believed that an unverified twitter handle called “@ArunSFan” with barely 2286 followers, was the real handle of former Finance Minister Arun Shourie. This inspite of the fact that the handle clearly mentions in its bio that it is run by “Fans of Arun Shourie” and is a “Parody account”. This handle made some tweets critical of Modi and Rediff was prompt to pounce on them. Later they realised their gaffe.

 

Miscellaneous Lies:

 

1. 2 September 2015: Bloomberg – Nitin Gadkari: Will add 1.5 lakh km to national highways over the next 3 months

Another case of grossly poor reporting. Gadkari had said the Government will add 50000 km of National Highways by year-end, thus taking the total to 1.5 lakh km. But Bloomberg misreported it and said that 1.5 lakh kms would be added.

2. 4 September 2015: The Hindu – Greenpeace India’s registration cancelled

This erroneous report in The Hindu calimed “Five months after it suspended its licence to receive foreign donations, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cancelled the registration of Greenpeace India on Wednesday.” In the following paragraphs it elaborated that this was only a cancellation of FCRA license. This fact was well reported by media and also as per Greenpeace’s own statement too, it was clear that only the FCRA license was cancelled and not “Greenpeace India’s registration”

3. 10 September 2015: Multiple Media houses – Gurgaon police chief on “special” leave. 

There were multiple news reports like the above which said Gurgaon police chief was going/sent on “special” leave, which the department claimed was “routine”. The aim was to cast aspersions on the absence of the officer in light of the news of the heinous rape case involving a Saudi Diplomat which broke around 9th September. Objecting to such innuendo filled news items, Gurgaon Police department released the leave application and sacntion letters. The letters clearly showed that the leave was applied for on 3rd September, and also granted then, which was much before the rape case came into news. Eventually the officer cut his leave short and resumed investigations.

4. 11 September 2015 –  NDTV: Rakesh Maria investigated the 7/11 blasts. 

In a story which was later edited by NDTV, it was claimed that  Rakesh Maria had investigated the 7/11 blasts which rocked Mumbai. A lawyer who had worked on the case tweeted that this was incorrect after which NDTV changed the story.

5. 7th September 2015: The Hindu – IAS officer bypassed Home secretary and directly went to Home Minister.

In an article focussing on some other bureaucrat, The Hindu made a passing statement that another bureaucrat Anant Kumar Singh, bypassed the home secretary and took a file relating to a transfer, directly to the Home Minister. This charge was rebutted by Singh. He wrote a letter to The Hindu denying the allegations. He clearly mentioned that he scrupulously followed all procedures, never bypassed the Home Secretary and did not violate any such rule in his tenure. The Hindu carried this letter as a “Clarification from ex-Additional Secretary” in one of the inner pages and did not rebut any of his counter-claims

 

6. 15th September 2015: The Indian Express – Gen V K Singh’s statement at Vishwa Hindi Sammelan

This report appearing under “Delhi Confidential” which is essentially a gossip column claimed that a publisher close to Gen V K Singh could not secure a seat at the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan, because of the Sangh Parivar’s control over the invitee list. Immediately, the report continued to report that later V K Singh “angered Hindi writers by commenting that they attended such gatherings to drink and eat”. The first part, that a publisher friend of V K Singh couldn’t get through was refuted by the General on twitter. He said he had no “favourite publisher” and that the Sammelan was not for publishers. The indirect claim out forth by Indian Express that as a result of this, Singh had an outburst and the the outburst itself, that the writers had come only for only to drink and eat, also seem to be wrong. From this audio clip, it is clear that Singh had in fact said, some people may feel that earlier they would come eat, drink and go, but this time nothing of that sort has happened. So rather than a jibe at the authors present, as presented by Indian Express, it was a jibe at previous such conferences.

7. 17th September 2015: Multiple Media houses: Balloons and greetings: Twitter celebrates PM Modi’s birthday

Indian media declared their technological ineptness once again when they declared that Twitter celebrated Modi’s birthday. A casual reading of these reports would suggest that Twitter added colourful balloons to Modi’s Twitter profile, Only because he was India’s PM, because all the reports seemed to suggest this is some extra-ordinary thing happening on twitter. Fact is, Twitter has added this feature for all users. Anyone who enters their birthdate in twitter, would get this new feature on their birthday. But if media houses had highlighted that this a very routine twitter feature available to all and sundry, then  they would have one lest listicle.

8. 17 September 2015: Times of India – Military Secretary asked to go on leave till retirement after allegedly receiving bribe

This news was tweeted from the Times of India handle. The original tweet is now deleted but the text of the tweet was this:

“Military Secretary Lt Gen Rajiv Bhalla has been asked to go on leave till retirement for allegedly receiving bribe from senior officer in Kolkata.”

The Army’s public information twitter handle quickly clarified that the Military Secretary would be rejoining on 18th September and is not going on “leave till retirement” as reported by Times of India. It also called the Times of India tweet “false and malicious”. A good 5 hours after this tweet, Times of India apologised for their mistake. They claimed it was “based on an input from our correspondent” and that they “erred by not verifying it with the Army”.

9. 18 September 2015: Multiple media outlets – Enforcement Directorate reopens National Herald case  which was closed in August

Last month we had shown you how media had reported that the ED had “closed” the National Herald case, when fact was it was never “opened”. The ED had then only temporarily refused to file a new case under PMLA due to technical reasons, and all existing National Herald cases were going on as usual. This month media reported that ED had “reopened” the file, which was “closed” in August. Since the case was never closed, it definitely cannot be reopened.

10. 19 September 2015: Outlook – Factual errors in article stating Gujarat cadre bureaucrats dominate Central Government bureaucracy.

In a series of tweets, senior journalist Ashok Malik plugged multiple holes in this outlook story. First he refers to a list of bureaucrats which Outlook claims consists of “Bureaucrats who have shifted base from Gujarat after Modi became prime minister 15 months ago”. Malik says many of those mentioned in the lists were already in Delhi, even before Modi came to power. He even names some such bureaucrats. Next he goes to the part of the story which says Sanjeev Kumar Singla an Indian Foreign Service officer, was from the Gujarat Cadre. Here Malik points out that Foreign services officers do not have a state cadre, hence the story is again erroneous. Malik also contests the story’s claim that 44 out of the 51 officials empanelled as additional secretaries, belonging to the Gujarat cadre. He says the actual number is 4 and they are from the 1985 batch. He further says that 44 officers in an IAS batch cannot belong to one state.

11. 21 September 2015: Unknown media outlet –  Raveena Tandon’s mother dead

A leading newspaper from Mumbai, in its popular entertainment supplement, apparently reported that Raveena Tandon’s mother had died. The story was eventually deleted hence it cannot be traced but Raveena trashed this story on twitter. She however did not name the media house. Even as Raveena was clearing the air, a bollywood news portal carried a report on the same and specified that the fake news was titled ‘Raveena Tandon Bereaved’

12. 24 September 2015: Indian Express – India sends 7 amendments to Nepal’s constitution

This report claimed that India had communicated 7 amendments to Nepal’s contstituion, to Nepal, via “official channels”. The MEA responded saying clearly that:

The article is incorrect. GOI has not handed over any list of specific Constitutional amendments or changes to the Government of Nepal. Without being prescriptive on specific clauses, and as already stated earlier, we continue to urge that issues on which there are differences should be resolved through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence, and institutionalized in a manner that would enable broad-based ownership and acceptance.

Indian Express though stuck to their version claiming they had confirmed the same “from their sources”. Going by past claims of sources of Indian Express, one doesnt feel very confident about this story.

January 2015: 7 Lies

February 2015: 8 Lies

March 2015: 9 Lies

April 2015: 18 Lies

May 2015: 20 Lies

June 2015: 20 Lies

July 2015: 27 Lies

August 2015: 25 Lies

 

The Dadri death has killed a bit of hope in our minds too

Rahul Raj
-
0
The Dadri death has killed a bit of hope in our minds too

I was pained and discomforted when I read the news, but I was not shocked. I didn’t jump off from my bed after reading that a man was dragged to death just for some allegations related to consumption of beef. To say that a communal lynching, like what happened in Dadri, is a new phenomenon in India – something unseen or unheard by us before – would be quite stupid and untrue. Apart from a long usual sigh and an urge to read headlines and arguments, I didn’t have much to react. I am a part of the zombified social structure in which people have become immune to such slaughters. We do ‘feel bad’ when a member of the only surviving homo sapien is brutally devoid of life, but our feelings fade away with another juicier stories.

One big reason for my coldness can be attributed to the rat-race which I am living – a hysterical game-show in which reactions and involvements in social discourses give no space to emotions. I haste to react with the insecurity that some other human may consume the space and span of my social existence. I react when I am infuriated, but somewhere in my heart, I realize the fact that my anger will subside with my office routine, household chores or a newer story; probably without yielding or finding any solution.

One other reason which directly or indirectly shaped the numbness in me is the cynicism to see someone who can act as an agent of change after a long-awaited and ebbing optimism. I am a part of the political structure in which – year after year – people are cajoled to believe that the new political alignment in the Center, in states, in municipalities, in panchayats, in the muhallas, in universities, will revive the lethargy and greed of existing systems, and then it continues – year after year – without yielding even quarter of what was promised.

I read the barbaric murder story of Mohammad Akhlaq. He didn’t murder or rape any human. He was not a part of any mob which lynched someone in the past. He was not someone who was forcing girls into prostitution. He was not even a local gunda who threatened local innocent people. He was beaten to pulp – by bricks, by stones, by sticks and probably by a sewing machine too.

When the news surfaced out, people dashed to validate the news – which, given the current state of Indian media – was not a bad idea. Very soon, the whole narrative digressed to whether he was thrashed for consuming beef or not and finally we returned to the square one of all the religious, social, political and economic arguments – ‘Is this the first time that we are seeing this?’ ‘Which political party should be held responsible?’ ‘Did we raise our voices when someone of the other religion was killed?’

As expected, Samajwadi Party has blamed it as a planned event; Arvind Kejrwial, for whatever reason, was eager to meet the victim’s family; Asaduddin Owaisi has already linked it with bhakts of the Sangh Parivar, who according to him, are attempting to convert India into a Hindu nation. However, as a BJP supporter, what disappointed me the most is the inept silence, stupidities and inaction of BJP. Union cultural minister Mahesh Sharma says that the lynching of Mohamad Akhlaq was an accident, it should not be given a “communal colour”, and at the same time, former BJP MLA from Dadri, Nawab Singh Nagar brags 

If cow slaughter and its consumption is proven, they (the victim and his family) are definitely at fault. There is a ban on slaughter of cows and this concerns the faith of Hindus. It is obvious that such an incident will lead to anger among people and there will be communal tension. If this was the case, the family is in the wrong. If they have consumed beef, they are also responsible. This is a village of Thakurs and they express their sentiments in a very strong way. If they have done this, they should have kept in mind what the reaction would be

Like always, spokespersons of BJP are clueless; like always, fan-base of BJP is digging stories to prove that BJP leaders were misquoted; like always, social media is comparing events in BJP and Congress ruled states; like always, I have pacified my anger in my office routine and daily chores.

One could ask who is at fault. The State Government for alleged mishandling by the police. The Central Government because as usual it is supposed to be responsible for communal incidents. Opposition parties for stoking communal tensions.

But not everywhere can one point fingers at the world. A short-sighted regressive decision to ban Porn cannot be deflected onto others. For appointing incompetent people like Gajendra Singh too, and the following handling of the issue, which was a trivial topic, no-one can be blamed either.

I believed in a party which could act, instead of sending some baboons who blabber rhetorics and question others. I believed in a cause which promised a new India, a new outlook towards life. After seeing inappropriate actions in some places and inaction in the other, my faith is slowly receding in what I once believed.

P.S. I am also not shocked by such incidents because such things keep happening, as today we saw a father killed his 4 yr old daughter because she broke the code of his religion which was to cover her head.

Sorry Rahul Gandhi, the various claims about your whereabouts don’t add up

Guest Author
-
0
Sorry Rahul Gandhi, the various claims about your whereabouts don’t add up

For someone who is always thrust upon us by the media whenever he is at home, Rahul Gandhi becomes untraceable to the Indian media when he is abroad. Mind you this is the same media that managed to get Lalit Modi into their UK newsroom when he was wanted at least on paper by Indian officials. Oh let’s not forget how media also managed to get in touch with Dawood’s wife which even our Intelligence officials didn’t think of.

Unlike last time when Mr. Gandhi went AWOL for 56 or so days and media ran a circus on where he could be, relying on gossip, Social media photos, and basically whatever they heard through the grapevine, this time Rahul’s location was put to rest courtesy tweets from Rahul’s office and Milind Deora who was accompanying him. All news channels ran with tweets and that was the end of that.

Except that it was not. In fact we are not even sure what conference or seminar or private event was it that Rahul Gandhi attended.  Though we can confirm the photographs of Rahul Gandhi with Iceland president and David Miliband are real the verification of whether they all attended the conference is unclear.

But First onto the Conference attended by Rahul Gandhi

Congress had been insisting that Rahul Gandhi was going to Aspen ,Colorado  to attend “Weekend with Charlie Rose” conference. However this conference seems to shrouded in much mystery even to Aspen residents themselves. Two local Aspen News stories do mention a conference of the same name and it being a private event, but one of these reports borrows from an Indian report in Economic Times, which again talks reports the Congress’s official position here in India. An Indian American news organization however claims that their investigation reveals that the ‘Aspen Ideas Festival‘ which is the official name of the conference had long been over and chances of Rahul Gandhi attending any conference are slim.

Further adding to the mystery pot-boiler was the miscommunication or supposedly lack of communication between Congress workers in India and Overseas. According to Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) President Juned Qazi (INOC) President Juned Qazi “Yes it can be said that Rahul Gandhi didn’t attend any such programme, though he was in Aspen. Weekend with Charlie Rose conference is over & I have no information that Rahul attended it. His name also wasn’t mentioned in the speakers’ list”. This apparent miscommunication can also be corroborated with version given by one  George Abraham, chairman of a faction of the Indian National Overseas Congress, and based in New York, in an interview to The American Bazaar who said that he had “not been notified” of any visit by Rahul Gandhi to the United States.

From the tweets by Rahul Gandhi’s office and Milind Deora it seemed as if the conference was not the one with Charlie Rose but the “New Media & International Affairs Conference in CO, USA”. In fact Mr. Deora’s tweet carried pictures of Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Now since this conference was an international one and attended by the President of a country as well as former diplomat of another country there was bound to have been some news about this conference. But surprise surprise there is no mention of any conference even in any of the local newspapers despite it being an international one. In fact there are no such media conferences on time of tweet of Rahul Gandhi or on the day even accounting for time difference between India and US.

Even one related with media tech is only scheduled to take place on 30/9/2015 as part of an expo which begins only on noon of the day of Mr. Gandhi’s attended conference.

So it seems that Rahul Gandhi may have attended an unknown conference in an unknown place since whatever has been provided as proof doesn’t seem to add up.

But there are other variables that are out of place and these are the persons in the photograph with Rahul Gandhi at this “conference”

First is David Miliband. He was present at UN Sustainable Goals Summit 2015 held between 25-27 September 2015 in New York as the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee which runs relief operations in many countries. He spoke at UNICEF and  at UN Summit  in between 24 to 27 th and as per his own tweet he is to speak at the Social Good Summit which is held between 27-28 September in New York and he will also be testifying before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 29 September. Just to be clear, the Flight time between Aspen and New York is at least 6 hrs and between Denver and New York is at least 4 hrs. Both these places are in Colorado or CO. So factoring in the distance between New York and 2 places in Colorado and the fact that David Miliband’s schedule is packed with important summits and hearings it seems a bit strange that he had gone for a supposedly international conference without even tweeting about it.

Same is the case with  Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Last year when the President traveled to the US it was reported in an Icelandic news magazine about his attending various debates and conferences including one organized by Charlie Rose in Aspen.

Even other international conferences where the President attended had at least a website or some other media tool to announce the event. Yet somehow an “international” conference attended by President of a country , a diplomat of another country and by a former Minister and a Vice-President of a party of a 3rd country had no information that could be found to prove it had taken place.

The photographs are real but given that Miliband could not have been Colorado it may have been in New York. But since Iceland’s Prime Minister also spoke at the UN summit , it is highly unlikely that the Icelandic President would also be there for a conference in the same city in which case he would have been the one to speak at UN summit, but it cannot be ruled out. But if he was indeed in New York then Rahul Gandhi would have been spotted by  one of the many India media covering the summit. So Mr. Deora’s proof of Rahul Gandhi’s attendance at a Colorado conference during Mr. Gandhi’s trip to US doesn’t hold water.

So Rahul Gandhi may have attended an event that the Congress in India or in US are not sure of. What the conference was about also differs in tweets between Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Deora . Mr. Deora’s tweet raises more questions in particular about David Miliband having attended same conference. And we have a media that seems to have taken the 2 tweets as court judgement and doesn’t seem to pursue further. With no-one willing to dig deeper, the truth may never be crystal clear.

(The post originally appeared here)

-Venkat G

Untruths about Mahatma Gandhi floating on social media

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Untruths about Mahatma Gandhi floating on social media

Social Media has recently turned into something of a watchdog for Mainstream Media. But there are times when Social Media falls prey to hoaxes. One common genre of hoaxes is fake photos/quotes of Mahatma Gandhi. Today on his birth anniversary, we attempt to debunk some of these myths. You may have seen some earlier, and also may have known that these are fake, but chances are, you might see them again today:

Fake pics:

1. Mahatma Gandhi Dancing 

Obviously this is not Gandhi dancing with some foreigner woman,  but it actually is an Australian actor who was dressed up as Gandhi. UntitledTwo give-aways in this pic are:

A. The man’s rather muscular arm

B. The man’s footwear is quite unlike Gandhi’s

(Source of images: 1, 2)

2. Nathuram Godse assassinating Mahatma Gandhi

The chances of someone capturing this exact moment are almost zero but still a pictures which claims to be of that event is found floating around. In fact it is from the movie titled “Nine Hours to Rama” in which German actor Horst Buccholz played the role of Godse.

2

3. Mahatma Gandhi rubbing nose with a foreigner woman

Photoshopped picture. The real photo is of Gandhi talking to Nehru. 3

 

Fake quotes:

1. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”

Catchy, makes sense, but not said by Mahatma Gandhi apparently, although it is always attributed to him. There is no recorded instance of Gandhi saying this, but a close variant first appears in a 1918 US trade union address by Nicholas Klein

2. Interviewer: “What do you think of Western Civilization?” Gandhi: “I think it would be a good idea.”

Again there is almost no evidence of Gandhi saying this. The earliest appearance of this quote was  good 20 years after his death, and that too only in the form of 2nd hand information. It was mentioned in The Seattle Times newspaper that the exchange was mentioned in a television documentary on a major U.S. network. And after that it has been recirculated multiple times but there is no real conclusive evidence of Gandhi having said it.

In conclusion, do always keep this Abraham Lincoln quote in mind:

Fact-Check: The Hindu resorts to creative interpretations of GDP data just to prove Modi is wrong

Thought Gun
-
0
Fact-Check: The Hindu resorts to creative interpretations of GDP data just to prove Modi is wrong

The PM of India, Narendra Modi was on a diplomatic trip again and the media of India was on to its hack routine again. There was threadbare discussion on everything of little consequence in our media. When the PM was addressing the UN, building world opinion on poverty, terrorism etc, our media was criticising him for not meeting PM of Pakistan. When the PM was visiting technical and corporate giants, our media was counting the number of dresses he changed.

In the same vein, when our PM expressed his vision of making India a $20 Trillion economy, our media got busy trying to falsify him. The seeming intent of the opposition (Congress) and in toe, our media, was to write off PM Modi’s entire trip as a failure because he allegedly wrongly cited the size of Indian economy as “8 Trillion” in his townhall meet with Mark Zuckerberg. The charge from the media was led by The Hindu, commandeered by one Puja Mehra. Mehra was earlier involved in another incident where she misquoted Arun Jaitley, for which The Hindu had to later apologise.

Much of the article in The Hindu was based on Congress’ allegations. The Congress alleged that India’s GDP was close to 2.50 trillion and that it was $2.27 trillion when the UPA was evicted from power by the electorate. The Congress may not be wrong in this contention, save a little detail which exposes their gross ignorance or deliberate sophistry. India may indeed be a $2.5 trillion economy at “Nominal GDP” levels. aaa

However for international comparisons we convert the Nominal GDP to “GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)”. PPP expresses different currencies in a common denomination (International $) so that they can be compared. It has been a practise to express size of economies on PPP levels. Eg: This news from Oct  2014 reports China’s GDP crossing USA’s. While at Nominal levels, China’s GDP at $10.3 trillion is lesser than USA’s, at PPP levels it is $17.6 trillion and more than USA’s at 17.4 trillion

And where did Modi get this $ 8 trillion figure from? Not from any homegrown “Sanghi” economist but from the International Monetary Funds “World Economic Outlook” report. The report clearly state the figure $ 7,996.623 Billion which converts to $ 8 Trillion.

So Modi was right to mention the size of India’s GDP in PPP terms and Congress is either ignorant or malicious in raking this up as an issue. The bigger tragedy is that The Hindu did not bring this out in its article. Rather, it seemed to justify the erroneous allegations made by the Congress. If there were any doubts on The Hindu’s stand, they were cleared on Puja Mehra’s Twitter timeline.

When twitter users , brought out the PPP aspect and challenged Puja on her report, she came up with many retorts. The sense of them all was that “Modi is wrong about India’s 8 trillion GDP, and the outrage by Congress is justified”. It was rather bewildering because neither Puja, nor anyone from The Hindu objected to this claim when earlier this year in June itself, the President of India cited this number.


//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Of course no journalist turned “fact-checker” when the President tweeted this, because in India, only what Modi says should be subjected to all sorts of tests.

To refute PM’s number of $8 trillion, and the contention of tweeps that GDP at 2014 end was $7.4 trillion &
might well reach 8 trillion by year end, Puja repeatedly threw a World bank link that said India’s “nominal GDP” (also called Current dollar GDP)  was $2.067 trillion.

aaa

This was supposed to falsify the contention that India’s GDP PPP was $7.4 trillion in 2014. She also invented the argument of “data vs projection” whereby her figure of $2.067 trillion was “Data” and the $7.4 trillion figure was “projection”, hence false. Hence Modi is wrong. Hence anyone citing the $7.4 trillion figure is running a malicious campaign!

aaa

I drew a report from the World Bank site on whose data Puja was vouching. But it appears World Bank was also running a motivated campaign too!

Untitled

The data clearly shows:

  • GDP at Current US$ (or Nominal) is $2.067 trillion which Puja called “data”, hence correct.
  • GDP at PPP for 2014 is $7.4 trillion
  • Both are from the same “credible” source
  • Either both are correct, or both are wrong or maybe this is a World Bank conspiracy against Puja!

This issue gives us more insights. It is also an example of how journalists brazen out their own inadequacies, don’t show grace to accept mistakes but rather invents concepts, facts and frame convenient rules to reject all accountability for their mistakes.

In one of her diversions, she also invents a distinction between “projection” & “data” when Prof Vaidya reasons that there are no such distinctions.

aaa

For another diversion, Puja invents a role and meaning of ICP (International Comparison Program) for her convenience.

aaa

While the facts in the above tweet are correct, putting them in context of her arguments, one would come to the conclusions that:

  • PPP data comes only from ICP, or PPP data is not given recognition, if not from ICP
  • GDP PPP is not calculated during years intervening between two ICP surveys
  • Or GDP PPP calculated during intervening years is WRONG

All Incorrect!

ICP is an international program to “improve and standardize methods of calculation of PPP”. In no way does it mean that PPP not calculated through the ICP is wrong. Also, even if we take her view at face value that 2011 “data” is the “latest data”, in 2015, if someone has to state Indias’s GDP on PPP basis, does he use 2011 values and say that 4 year old values are applicable even for 2015? This is rank stupidity. Even if the 2015 estimates are not “data” as per Puja Mehra, they are far more closer to the reality as of today than data from 2011!

The onus now lies with The Hindu to repair the damage done. The right thing to do would be to bring down the article and offer an apology to the PM for concocting facts to his detriment. The Hindu would also do well to apologize to readers for misrepresenting facts and misguiding where it was expected to inform and educate. Any news media worth its salt would do it in keeping with journalistic ethics.

Demolishing the Aurangzeb Apologist Cabal

Guest Author
-
0
Demolishing the Aurangzeb Apologist Cabal

Recently, a number of “scholars” have been decrying the vilification of Aurangzeb. Audrey Truschke, a post-doc at Stanford, for example, gave an interview to The Hindu recently wherein she claimed that Aurangzeb wasn’t as bad as he is made out to be.

It is only the first time when selling your principles is hard. After that, the mind needs no convincing. After all, the world isn’t exactly full of people of integrity and character. Therefore, making a mockery of historical evidence and also the suffering of people not so long ago, hardly seems like a compromise.

Hear this story to get a glimpse of Aurangzeb’s cruelty to begin with.

When Aurangzeb captured Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji, along with Kavi Kalash, they were offered to embrace Islam. In return, the story says, they hurled abuse to the Emperor. Aurangzeb ordered cutting the tongues of both Sambhaji and Kavi. Following this, for days they were tortured by cutting their eyes, their limbs and eventually were put to death.” (Sources: Mughal Rule in India, Edwardes and Garret, p149, Ibid, Advanced study in the history of modern India, J L Mehta, p50, History of India, D. Sinclair, p97, Muntakhab-ul-Lubab, E & D, Vol 7,p.341)

Was this a political murder? Most definitely. But was there not a religious angle to it? One is hard pressed to say a no. But even more importantly, how do you asses a person’s character? Would Osama bin Laden not have a single virtue? It is the sum total of a man’s deeds that he is judged by after all. Even in case of Aurangzeb one can most certainly come up with stories that show him in great light. For example, Aurangzeb lived a simple pious and austere life. Before his death he had issued instructions that there shouldn’t be any extravagant celebration at his funeral and the expenses of his burial should be taken from his savings from his own earnings. Imagine a king of his stature saying this in 1707!! Aurangzeb had also given instructions that the sum of three hundred rupees that he had saved by making copies of the Koran, be distributed amongst the poor.  For this story, of course, I am not going to require references but but those interested can consult Mughal Rule in India, Edwardes and Garrett, p154 for example.

Yet, Aurangzeb, is perhaps the ruler that destroyed the Idea of India. From killing his brother Dara and serving his head to his imprisoned father, enumerating Aurangzeb’s crime would keep a researcher busy for decades. However, one person, Mr.Richard Eaton, perhaps the king of the “Aurangzeb apologist cabal”, as I call it, despite spending years researching Aurangzeb, seems to be either unable or unwilling to see the forest for the trees.If he’s unable then there’s a serious problem of analytical abilities. The chances are, however, that it’s the latter.

Let’s get into some details of Mr.Eaton’s “scholarship”. At a broad level, there are three major issues that emerge about Mr.Eaton’s commentary on this issue.

1. In making a case for Aurangzeb, Mr.Eaton’s argument has to be taken with a leap of faith as the logic behind the sequence of most events does not match with the interpretation. Since history is mostly about interpretation, this is crucial.

2. His translation of Aurangzeb’s crucial orders that establish his bigotry differ from other scholars. In diluting Aurangzeb’s bigotry his translation plays a key role and hence needs re-examination.

3. Omission of incidents that do not suit the grand narrative.

 Translation playing a crucial role –

Eaton says, in his Frontline essay, the following –

“Considerable misunderstanding has arisen from a passage in the Ma’athir-i `Alamgiri concerning an order on the status of Hindu temples that Aurangzeb issued in April 1669, just months before his destruction of the Banaras and Mathura temples. The passage has been construed to mean that the emperor ordered the destruction not only of the Vishvanath temple at Banaras and the Keshava Deva temple at Mathura, but of all temples in the empire.13 The passage reads as follows:

‘Orders respecting Islamic affairs were issued to the governors of all the provinces that the schools and places of worship of the irreligious be subject to demolition and that with the utmost urgency the manner of teaching and the public practices of the sects of these misbelievers be suppressed.14’

 The order did not state that schools or places of worship be demolished, but rather that they be subject to demolition, implying that local authorities were required to make investigations before taking action.“

 Devious isn’t it? “Subject to demolition” isn’t ordering demolition? Really? In fact, if there really was supposed to be an investigation about malpractices why only the irreligious? And in terms of how research is done, the burden of proof of there having been such investigations prior to demolitions is on Eaton! When he is the one making assertions that fall flat in the face of what the order seems to say and what happened thereafter, it’s his responsibility to demonstrate that there’s a reason to suspect that he has a point. So far, all the “evidence” that Eaton provides is in terms of the chronology of events and no explicit investigation records from Aurangzeb’s court.

It is even more important that Eaton provides ample evidence on this one because the famous chronicles on India’s history, Elliot and Dowson, in their volume 7 on page 184 note the following – pic - 1

“The ‘Director of Faith’ consequently issued orders to all governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels; and they were strictly enjoined to put an entire stop to the teaching and practicing of idolatrous forms of worship. “

Note that there isn’t a mention of “subject to demolition” here. While I don’t believe that there’s any qualitative difference between “subject to demolition” and “destroy” in this context, Eaton relies heavily in defending Aurangzeb’s motives using this phrase and hence he must provide a justification for both, the translation that mysteriously differs from others and also the “investigations about temples” that he mentioned thereafter.

A grand narrative being setup with a leap of logic.

Even granting Eaton all the slack on his lack of rigour, one is hard pressed to not find a religious motive in an order that says that practices and teaching of infidels be stopped. Note here too Eaton is changing the word “infidels” for “sects” which again comes out of nowhere. If there was indeed a purely political motive, or if the temples were indeed understood to be blessing a dynastic realm they were located in, what can justify Aurangzeb ordering an end to all the practices of the infidels? Even worse, sample this – pic - 2

“..richly jeweled idols taken from pagan temples were transferred to Agra, and there placed beneath the steps leading to the Nawab Begam Sahib’s mosque, in order that they might ever be pressed under foot by the true believers” (Elliot and Dowson, vol vii, p 185)

I just wonder for a moment if Eaton would see a non-religious motive if someone were to destroy a Mecca today and placed its pieces under the Churches of Vatican. Yet, for Eaton this act by Aurangzeb doesn’t merit attention.

In fact, Aurangzeb’s bigotry can be seen very early in his career. Sample this excerpt for example. (Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material, Volume 2, p 469)

pic - 3

Stories of two temple destructions that bear no evidence of a political angle that Eaton claims.

 Eaton has, in fact, nearly built his career on giving a political interpretation to temple destructions. That is, often destructions would be of temples under the control of Rajputs who were formerly loyal to the empire and then turned rebellious. Since it is impossible to get into the details of every temple destruction to establish that it was largely religious and not political, I will just give two examples. Let’s first start with the Vishwanath temple.

 To quote Mr.Eaton,

“It was also believed that Shivaji’s escape had been initially facilitated by Jai Singh, the great grandson of Raja Man Singh, who almost certainly built Banaras’ great Vishvanath temple. It was against this background that the emperor ordered the destruction of that temple in September, 1669 (no. 69).”

This is rather embarrassing! To see why, first understand that it wasn’t Jai Singh who was believed to have facilitated Shivaji’s escape. It was Jai Singh’s son Ram Singh. In fact, Jai Singh, upon hearing about the allegations about Ram Singh, said “May God give death to the man who cherishes the very thought of such an act of faithlessness”. (Shivaji – J.Sarkar, p 168-169). Considering this stark contrast between the father and the son, Eaton’s confusion between the two is alarming for his lack of rigor. Of course, for not-so-careful a reader this is entirely possible but Eaton doesn’t profess to be one.

But while Eaton can be forgiven for this minor mix-up, what he cannot evade is some effort to think logically before cobbling up random incidents to construct a story. To see why, this is how the timeline of Eaton’s version reads-

1. Shivaji escapes Agra on 17 August, 1666.

2. Aurangzeb learns about this and suspects Ram Singh’s complicity, for he had pledged their honor for Shivaji’s safety. Ram Singh is demoted in ranks immediately.

3. Ram Singh fell out of Aurangzeb’s favor around this time. Jai Singh dies in 1667. Ram Singh becomes the new king. He is then sent to Assam on December 27, 1667.

4. Aurangzeb orders provincial Muslim governors to demolish temples on April 9th, 1669, shortly after Jai Singh’s death.

5. The order is carried out and temple of Keshava Rai temple was “secularized” into a mosque. Temple of Vishwanath was also “secularized” into Gyanvapi mosque, in late 1669.

So, roughly three years after Shivaji escaped Agra, Ram Singh was made to pay for his lapse through temple destruction? If it sounds believable, then there’s a minor issue. Ram Singh’s coronation ceremony that took place in 1667, a year after Shivaji’s escape and two years before the demolition of VIshwanath temple, was attended by Aurangzeb in which Aurangzeb put tika on his forehead, the last instance when this was done.

So essentially, Aurangzeb first gives a minor punishment to Ram Singh. Then later reinstates him and honours him. And then, after two years, for his past misdeeds, razes temples in Ram Singh’s area. Bear in mind, he does not kill Ram Singh, his family or anyone. He does not demolish Ram Singh’s palace. He does not attack Ram Singh’s city. He goes to a different city that is broadly under Ram Singh’s area and, there too, destroys a temple! Even granting that analytical reasoning isn’t Eaton’s suit, if someone can make sense of this I am willing to pay for it.

And bear in mind that the rampage after his 1669 decree was most certainly not limited to temples in Ram Singh’s areas. So, to link a possible feud of every Rajput with Aurangzeb to rationalize a bulk of demolitions that took place following the decree is a figment of imagination. Or maybe, like Krishna, Aurangzeb was counting the number of sins of all the Rajputs and in 1669 all of them suddenly hit the upper bound.

The second story is about the destruction of the temple of Mathura. Eaton connects the incidents relating Rajput rebels prior to the destruction of the temple, and argues, therefore had a political undertone. The problem, however, is that Saqi Must`ad Khan, an annal of the events which occurred during Aurangzeb’s reign, does not record the political angle while talking about the destruction. See the image of the translation of it by Elliot and Dowson, vol vii, p 184.

pic - 4 A quick word on where Aurangzeb stood on religious tolerance compared to his contemporaries.

Moving on, let’s suppose, for a moment that the destructions indeed had political motives. How can we test this? A reasonable point would be to expect at least one of the following two to happen during the same era. (For history majors, at least one means both of them can happen too).

1. Aurangzeb destroying mosques under control of other Muslim kings that he fought against.

2. Other kings destroying their opponents’ places of worship.

For the latter, the most notable contemporary of Aurangzeb, much to the chagrin of JNU types, would be Shivaji. This is what Edwardes and Garrett note –pic - 5

“As to the private character and personal virtues of Shivaji the contemporary Muhammadan historian, Khafi Khan, though naturally inclined to paint him in unfavourable colours, makes the following comments: ‘But he [Shivaji] made it a rule that wherever his followers went plundering, they should do no harm to the mosques, the Book of God, or the women of any one. Whenever a copy of the sacred Koran came into his hands, he treated it with respect , and gave it to some of his Musulman followers’ “ (Elliot and Dowson, vol vii, p 260.)

This should pretty much sum up point #2, as to where Aurangzeb stood in religious tolerance in comparison with his contemporaries.

As for point 1, I would be surprised if there are people who think it worth their time to investigate this. Feel free to correct me on the number of Sunni mosques that Aurangzeb ordered destroyed.

While one could go at length talking about Aurangzeb’s bigotry, what’s terribly upsetting is that an article like this one has to be written. Eaton and his pupils seem to be under the impression that when people criticize Aurangzeb they are attacking Islam, and hence resort to his defense. If they showed a slightly more nuanced understanding of history, they will not have to defend the indefensible. Given what they have demonstrated so far however, logic, nuance and reasoning aren’t their strongest suites.

So for now, I suggest Mr.Eaton concentrate on writing chronicles about the political motives behind ISIS’ destructions of temples and churches in Syria. He should focus on getting the religion out of ISIS’ motives. As in a couple of hundred years, another Eaton will need to build his career out of a thesis on the “Tolerant practices of the Islamic State in Syria”. Truth, after all, should not come in the way of a “scholarly work”.

( The Author is a researcher in a related field and chooses to maintain anonymity.)

Attacking Modi’s mother shows the intellectual bankruptcy of Congress

Gaurav
-
0
Attacking Modi’s mother shows the intellectual bankruptcy of Congress

Prime Minister Modi is out of the country again. This time, he is on his second visit to the United States of America, with multiple goals in sight.

Modi became the first Indian PM in 30 years to to visit the US West Coast. He went there to connect with the Indian Diaspora and Tech giants like Google and Facebook to expand and propound his vision of Digital India.

He visited Tesla Motors to see if the innovations there could be used in rural India. He talked to Apple to convince them to manufacture in India. He had meetings with several Fortune 500 CEOs to again push for Make in India.

He had a townhall discussion with Mark Zuckerburg where he answered questions on Make In India’s efficacy, pace of reforms in India, his actions towards empowering women. He went to the Google campus where there was an announcement of high-speed wireless internet at 500 railway stations in India. He spoke at the UN where he asked for tough measures on terrorism.

All in all, there are many talking points about Modi’s visit to the USA. But discussion on most of these topics needs a basic understanding of the subject. And that needs some homework. What does not need any homework is picking up the weakest, most irrelevant topic, which happens to be a very personal issue, and mindlessly attacking it.

And thats what Congress did. Towards the end of the townhall, to a pointed question from Zuckerberg about Modi’s mother, the Modi’s voice cracked when he recalled his mother’s hardships when she washed utensils at neighbours’ homes to support her family.

And for some reason, the Congress, who are sworn sycophants of only one “mother”, decided to raise this extremely personal issue making some very crass comments.

Anand Sharma was the man chosen by Congress to execute this dirty job and he claimed that Modi lied about his mother’s hardships. Fact? Check this video from 2014, before the Lok Sabha elections, where Modi’s mother admits she had to do menial labour to raise her children. She says she stayed hungry to ensure her children never suffered.

And here we have the Congress mocking a mother’s sacrifice. Not only does it disrespect Modi’s mother and her sacrfice it also trivialises countless such mothers and their sacrifices for their children. And more importantly, is this the most important, burning issue which needs to be debated.

Anand Sharma was not done though. He went one step further and said:

”PM Modi did not even invite his mother to swearing-in ceremony. So instead of crying abroad he should be a responsible son”

Such is the intellectual bankruptcy that not only does he take a very cheap swipe, he has his facts utterly wrong. Back when Modi was about to be sworn in as PM, media had reported that his mother would not be able to make it because of her poor health. Mind you she is in her 90s and this uncouth Congress lackie found it apt to raise this issue at a press conference just to attack Modi.

Untitled

Then there were some commentators who lamented that if Modi loves his mother so much why doesn’t he bring her to Delhi, let her live in a palatial home etc. First of all, these are the exact low-lifes who would question such a move as “Modi brings relatives to enjoy on tax-payers money”. Secondly, any son would know the obvious risks in relocating a 95 year old mother. But maybe Modi should have considered such views before he thought about his mother’s well being?

Dear Congress, media and other assorted left liberals, there are plenty of good reasons to attack Modi’s thoughts, views and actions. Basic decency demands that we keep out his aged mother who has nothing to do with politics. But then this would be like pouring water over over-turned buckets, considering your stellar behaviour when attacking Modi for walking away from a forced child marriage, even when his “wife” has no complains about him.

American tycoons leading finance, technology and media give a ‘Rock Star’ treatment to Modi

OpIndia Staff
-
0
American tycoons leading finance, technology and media give a ‘Rock Star’ treatment to Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the US for his second visit after taking the charge in 2014. Unlike his previous visit which was primarily focused around building diplomatic relationships, this visit is predominantly business centric. The long anticipated visit to the West Coast, Silicon Valley, created huge buzz – days before his arrival in the Silicon Valley.

Before heading to the Silicon Valley, Modi met and addressed Fortune 500 CEOs, media firms and key financial sector players, in New York.


The CEOs expressed confidence in the investment climate of the Indian market, the Indian leadership, and appreciated the positive tone of discussions. Most of the business honchos communicated their concerns for doing business in India, and they acknowledged the fact that Modi listened to the constuctive criticism on speed of approvals, speed of decision making, transparency in the process, etc. The candid meeting ended on an optimistic note with a hope that the Indian leadership is heading in the correct direction.

As stated by James Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan Chase

Indian Govt has already undertaken massive reforms and key message was to continue doing what you are doing

The Prime Minister, as mentioned in the tweets of Vikas Swarup, assured them that reform in governance is the topmost priority for him. He also asserted India’s endeavour for simplified procedures, speedy decision making, transparency & accountability.

Modi will soon be heading to the Silicon Valley. In the Silicon Valley, Modi is scheduled to participate in the first India-US Startup Konnect – organised by Indian IT industry body Nasscom, TiE Silicon Valley, and IIM Ahmedabad’s CIIE India. Apart from interacting with start-ups from various sectors such as financial inclusion, agriculture, energy, biotechnology, and healthcare, Modi will be making exclusive visits to Tesla, Stanford, Google and Facebook. During his stay in the valley, he will be meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook, Elon Musk,  Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai of Google, John Chamber of Cisco, Paul Jacobs executive chairman of Qualcomm and Santanu Narayan of Adobe, and many other tech-giants.

The message of “Digital India” is loud and clear. Investors are expressing their confidence in the Indian market. It is high time that India starts taking strong steps to eradicate red tape, flaws in the laws and inefficiency in decision making.

Meat Bans in Maharashtra & rest of India, a fact check

Dhaval Patel
-
0
Meat Bans in Maharashtra & rest of India, a fact check

Ever since Devendra Fadnavis led BJP took over the reigns of the Maharashtra Government last year in October, we have been seeing news reports on so-called bans imposed by them i.e. AIB ban, Madrassa ban etc and other hit-jobs like VIP culture of Fadnavis, Fadnavis skipping meeting in USA for sightseeing etc

So in continuation of this trend, we were told by media that Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) had imposed a Meat-Ban for 8 days during the Jain festival of Paryushan. (FYI Mira Bhayander boasts of a Jain population of 2.5 lakhs out of a total population of 8.5 lakhs). This was followed by a similar ban in neighbouring Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) (Shiv Sena ruled) which looks after the whole of Mumbai and in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NCP-Congress ruled) where BJP has only 6 out of 111 seats.

As usual Media along with the “Adarsh Liberal” gang went into overdrive to portray that the newly elected Fascist BJP is imposing Vegetarianism on everyone and various debates on Prime-time followed discussing how “Idea of India” is in danger. There were a series of tweets by Bollywood celebs like Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Gul Panag, Arshad Warsi etc on how their CM is trying to be their dietician and they have to bear him for another 4 years. They completely ignored the fact that BMC is ruled by Shiv Sena and that the order was passed by BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta and not BJP. Of course there was no discussion on #Meatban imposed by NCP in Navi Mumbai.

So were these Meat-Bans a new phenomena emerging from rise of Fascist forces in India? Think again. Fact is Meat-Ban during Paryushan is a trend followed since 1964 when BMC first imposed it for 2 days, asking abattoirs to shut shop (Sale in hotels was permitted). This was followed by a resolution in 1994 by Congress which re-iterated that the ban will continue for 2 days. In 2004 the then Congress-NCP Government passed a new resolution that the Meat-ban will continue for existing 2 days and additionally “appealed” for a Meat ban on 9 more days!

Even in 2014, in Mira-Road, NCP Mayor Catleen Pereira proposed a Meat-ban during paryushan but no one batted an eyelid.  In 2008, even the Apex court of India upheld  the judgement that Meat-ban imposed by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is valid.

So although the people behind the meat-bans were not always related to the BJP and never related to the current BJP Government in Maharashtra, a deliberate attempt was made to tarnish the present regime. 1It was a timely slap delivered by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to Rajdeep Sardesai where he clearly specified that “Not a single new order went from the government to any local body”.

It is also important to note that, as explained by the BMC commissioner, during the so called Meat-ban, only abattoirs which slaughter mutton & beef were shut down on and sale of fish, other sea food and chicken was not banned. So this “Meat-Ban” was in fact only a “beef & mutton” ban, unlike what was showcased in media.

In another round of propaganda, Media showed that other BJP ruled states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh had now joined the Meat Ban bandwagon. In Gujarat meat ban was first enforced in 1960 by CM Jivraj Mehta (Congress) as per Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act (1949). In Rajasthan under Gehlot’s rule, ban lasted for 5 days which was reduced now by Vasundhara Raje to 3 days. In Madhya Pradesh meat bans exist on 17 days during the whole year, and have been carried out by successive Governments, both BJP and Congress alike.

There are various instances in the past when even regional parties enforced  Meat-Ban during Paryushan like Mayawati who in 2009, used an SC Order to enforce meat-ban in Uttar Pradesh for 9 days. MNS who is currently opposing Meat-ban also requested such a ban in 2013 during Ekadashi in Pune.

In sum total, this sudden cacophony over Meat ban is definitely politically motivated and has nothing to do with love for “freedom of choice”, as professed by Indian media or other “eminent citizens”. If they were so bothered about Government enforcing itself on the rights of people, such groups should have been screaming for so many years, not just when the persons in power are not to their liking. To put it in strictly non-vegetarian terms:  ‘char aane ki murgi, baara aane ka masala’.

#OnionScam in Delhi or a media hit job on AAP?

Gaurav
-
0
#OnionScam in Delhi or a media hit job on AAP?

India Today group broke a story today which promised to be the first instance of “corruption” under Delhi’s AAP led Government. In short, it claimed that the AAP Government “has procured onions at a much cheaper price of Rs 18 a kg and sold these to Delhiites at Rs 30 a kg,“.  This was based on some RTI replies accessed by India Today. We could not however find copies of these RTI replies anywhere in their reports. Also, a story  on  this topic on Aaj Tak, now seems to have gone missing or moved to a different place.

On the face of it, this seems to be a scam worth outrage, but as one delves deeper, like the layers of an onion, the layers of this “scam” come off to reveal something else.

First what India Today claims, it inferred from RTI replies:

“ the government had purchased 2,511 metric tonnes (25,11,000 kgs) of onions through SFAC at an average price of Rs 18.57 per kg, which also includes cess and other local expenses. “…”The government had also declared that Rs 32.86 per kg as the procurement cost and Rs 7 per kg as the amount of additional surcharge, transportation cost and other local expenses. The Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal then decided to subsidise the price by Rs 10 per kg and sold onions at Rs 30 per kg”

Now let us look at a document which has surfaced from other sources, which is a letter from Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) which is a central agency, to the State Government of Delhi. This letter shows a different picture. It shows that Delhi Government did buy 2511 MT of onions from SFAC. But the price shown by India Today is wrong. Rs 18.57/kg i.e. around Rs 18062.4 per MT (as per the document) is the cost to SFAC and not to Delhi Government. In fact, SFAC has bought the onions at that rate, added storage, handling, transportation and packaging charges and then sold the 2511 MT at Rs 32868.71 per MT to Delhi Government, which is round Rs 32.86 per Kg. This seems to be the final cost to Delhi Government, after accounting for wastage.

This is consistent with the explanation given by Delhi’s Food and Supplies Minister Asim Ahmed Khan, which was also carried in the original India Today story. This is further buttressed by a Press release from the central Government which says “SFAC has also procured 2511 MT of Onions for the Delhi Govt” and is “supplying Onions at Rs.30.50 per kg. to SAFAL“. Although the figures do not match exactly, it is pretty clear that SFAC’s selling price is around Rs 30 -Rs 32 per Kg. So India Today’s claims that Delhi Government bought onions at Rs 18 odd per Kg do not seem to hold ground.

Since most of the details which India Today claims in their report are also present in this SFAC letter, it is possible that this letter is the document obtained under RTI and India Today has just messed up in interpreting it.

India Today’s info-graphic on the #OnionScam

Next India Today claims that

“RTI documents also revealed that the government failed to supply adequate quantity of onions despite having a buffer stock of 5,000 metric tonnes.” … “According to RTI replies, the Kejriwal government began the sale of onions on August 10. However, it could only sell 575.32 metric tonnes of onions till September 2. This means that more than 4,400 metric tonnes of onions remained stashed in go-downs while Delhiites were reeling under surging prices of the vegetable.”

Of course we do not have access to these RTI documents which India Today has, but whatever documents are available show a different picture. The SFAC letter clearly shows that Delhi Govt had first asked SFAC to buy 5000 MTs of onions to “create a buffer stock for lean season“. SFAC in response bought 2511 MT. Later, Delhi Govt orally instructed SFAC to stop further procurement of balance 2489 MT. Hence SFAC sold this 2511 MT to Delhi Government. This again is corroborated by Press release of central government which says “SFAC has also procured 2511 MT of Onions for the Delhi Govt”.  So it is unclear how India Today arrived at the conclusion that Delhi Government had “a buffer stock of 5000 MT” and “4400 MT remained stashed in godowns“. The PIB press release does mention that NAFED has procured 5857 MT of onions, but are these only for Delhi? India Today needs to answer this.

In summary:

1. India Today claimed AAP Govt bought onions at Rs 18/kg. Fact is Rs 18/kg is SFAC’s cost and Delhi Govt’s cost is Rs 32.86/kg. Also, as per PIB press release, SFAC is selling onions at Rs 30.5/kg to SAFAL, so Rs 18/kg figure is completely wrong

2. India Today said AAP was sitting on 4400 MT of onions. With whatever documents are available, this seems unlikely. India Today should reveal the RTI documents which support this claim.

1...6,5226,5236,524...6,564Page 6,523 of 6,564

Contact: [email protected]

About us

News and opinion website that brings you reports and narrative from a perspective often ignored or suppressed by the mainstream media of India.

Follow us

© OpIndia.com