The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its reply to Robert Vadra’s anticipatory bail plea in Delhi’s Patiala House Court said that Vadra is not cooperating with the probe. The ED has asked for his custodial interrogation.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed its reply on Robert Vadra’s anticipatory bail plea in Delhi’s Patiala House Court. ED says they want Robert Vadra’s custodial interrogation as he is not cooperating in the probe. Argument to be held on 25th March. pic.twitter.com/LdK8NnJizj
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband and Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother in law Robert Vadra is being probed in a money laundering case. He had filed an anticipatory bail in the case linked to the 1.9 million GBP London based property.
Days after Prime Minister Modi and other BJP leaders and supporters prefixed ‘Chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles as part of ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar‘ campaign, Haryana Minister Anil Vij advised Congress supporters to add ‘Pappu’ to their names.
हमने अपने नाम के आगे #चौकीदार लिखा तुम्हे तकलीफ हो रही है । तुम भी अपने नाम के आगे #पप्पू लिख लो हम बिल्कुल भी एतराज नहीं करेंगे ।
— CHOWKIDAR ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) March 19, 2019
“Do you have a problem that we wrote #Chowkidar before our names? You can also write #Pappu before your name, we have no problem” Vij tweeted from his official Twitter account. The word ‘Pappu’, which colloquially means a foolish person, is used to mock Rahul Gandhi, who is rather famous for his gaffes and blunders during speeches.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly lying about the Rafale deal at all his rallies and mocking PM Modi by saying ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai‘, accusing him of corruption. To counter this propaganda, PM Modi had launched the #MainBhiChokidar campaign to remind everyone that their ‘Chowkidar’ (watchman) is standing firm and serving the nation. In the tweet launching his campaign, PM Modi had written that he is not alone. He said that everyone who is fighting corruption and other evils of society is a ‘Chowkidar’. He added that everyone working hard for India’s progress is a ‘Chowkidar’ and urged everyone to take the pledge of being a ‘Chowkidar’.
Following this several BJP minister and leaders, including PM, prefixed Chowkidar before their names on Twitter.
This is not the first time Haryana Minister Anil Vij has stirred up a storm. During West Bengal chaos when Kolkata police had forcefully detained eight CBI officials who had gone to question police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to obtain crucial information regarding the Saradha scam and state government had stopped many BJP leaders from landing in Bengal, Vij had compared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ‘Tadaka’, a princess-turned-demoness in the epic Ramayana saying she creates problems pertaining to every issue. He had even once compared Congress President Rahul Gandhi to deadly Nipah Virus.
As the crisis in Jet Airways worsened with more number of flights being cancelled, the civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has asked the secretary of the ministry to look into the matter and submit a report at the earliest. The minister said that the secretary is to hold an emergency meeting on the grounding of flights by Jet Airways, and Advance bookings, Cancellation, Refunds and Safety issues of the airlines. The secretary will also have to get a report on compliance issues from Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Directed Secretary, @MoCA_GoI to hold an emergency meeting on grounding of flights by Jet Airways, Advance bookings, Cancellation, Refunds and Safety issues, if any. Asked him to get a report on Jet compliance issues immediately from DGCA. @jayantsinha
— Chowkidar Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) March 19, 2019
Jet Airways is facing huge financial crisis, which has resulted in it being unable to pay rental for leased aircraft and interest on finances. Due to non-payment of lease rentals, leases have grounded dozens of aircraft operated by the airlines, resulting in the cancellation of flights. According to reports, total number of grounded aircraft has reached around 60, which is approximately half of the fleet size of 119 planes.
Other than non-payment to creditors, the airline is also facing trouble in paying salaries, and they have not paid salaries to their maintenance staff for three months. In a letter written to DGCA yesterday, Jet Aircraft Engineers Welfare Association said that 3 month’s salary is overdue to them, and also said that the flight safety is at risk. The letter said, “it has been arduous for us to meet our financial requirements, result of which have adversely affected the psychological condition of Aircraft Engineers at work and therefore the safety of public transport airplanes being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk.” The requested the government to step in ask the airline to pay the dues.
Etihad Airways, which owns 24% in Jet, was to infuse capital into the airlines to solves its financial crisis, but the talks are stalled over several disagreements. Etihad has not agreed to a debt resolution plan proposed by lenders of Jet Airways, led by State Bank of India. According to the proposal, the consortium of lenders, will convert its loans into shares and pump in an additional ₹1,000 crore to raise its stake to 29.5%. On the other hand, Etihad was also expected to infuse between ₹1,600 crore and ₹1,900 crore to raise its shareholding to 24.9%.
Another contentious issue is the perpetuity requirement included in the proposal. The proposal seeks to limit promoter shareholding 22%, but Naresh Goyal is asking it to be dropped. Etihad is also not agreeing to proposal to add two nominee directors from promoter group.
Jet Airways has already defaulted in paying loans and it has informed that it will default in making more payments which are due this month. The Airline has a debt of more than 8400 Rs crore, which continues to rise as interest gets added to that.
In such a scenario, maintenance and safety of the planes can be an issue and that’s why the ministry has stepped in. Despite flight cancellations, the airline has continued to offer discounts and accept advance bookings, which may be looked into by the ministry, and may ask the airline to stop them.
Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, addressed a press conference on Tuesday to list the achievements of his government upon the completion of two years in power. Expressing gratitude towards Prime Minister Modi and party President Amit Shah, he emphasized on improving the law and order situation in the state as his stand-out achievement.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvP9yt-8pu0]
While Yogi held the Congress party responsible for turning Uttar Pradesh into a ‘Bimaru’ state, he accused the SP and BSP of corruption and lawlessness and perpetuating the misery of farmers in the state during their regimes.
Targeting the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Yogi said that during the years of their rule, there was a rampant crime in the state. There was an endless series of corruption as well. He also said that farmers were left under no choice but either to flee or commit suicide under erstwhile regimes. “Gundaraj and Corruption were at their peak,” he said.
Yogi stated further, “In the 24 months of our government, the image of Uttar Pradesh that people had across the country, the taint of corruption and lawlessness that afflicted the state, we have succeeded in ridding the state of that.” People who had fled from places like Kairana due to the prevailing lawlessness after selling their properties at dismal prices have returned to their homes during the tenure of his government, he said.
The Chief Minister also said that as part of his government’s crackdown on criminals, about 8000 have been arrested in encounters with the Police, over 1000 have been injured, 73 have been killed, about 12000 criminals have surrendered before the police and sadly, in the process, over half a dozen law enforcement members lost their lives.
Earlier, in an interview to The Hindu to mark the completion of 2 years of his government, he justified the renaming of cities under his watch. He said, “If Bombay can become Mumbai, Bangalore can become Bengaluru, Madras can become Chennai, and Calcutta can become Kolkata, there is no reason why Allahabad should not become Prayagraj and Faizabad should not become Ayodhya. To re-establish our original identity, we have renamed these places. I am happy that people have welcomed this.”
When prodded that the names of other cities do not have religious connotations, Yogi replied, “That is not the case. Mumbai is from Mumba Devi Mandir. You are from Kerala. How did Trivandrum become Thiruvananthapuram? It is after Bhagwan Vishnu. We are only restoring our heritage.”
Why is Bishop Franco Mulakkal still a free man? Stupid question.
Why isn’t the E. coli scare in Bengaluru’s Indira Canteens a big national headline? Another stupid question.
In India, almost anything can be ‘secular’. Allegations of rape can be secular. Even disease causing dangerous microbes like E. coli can be secular. And how far is Indian secularism from being a disease causing agent anyway?
Indira Canteen food unsafe
The finding seems very credible, backed up by lab reports from Ramaiah Hospital in Bengaluru.
Sample food unsafe for human consumption
As published by Deccan Herald, the Ramaiah Hospital report clearly states that the food sample is *not safe* for human consumption.
This is happening in one of India’s biggest, most important metropolitan cities. Thousands of people could be consuming tainted food on a massive scale.
Imagine if this was unfolding in a BJP ruled state, especially Uttar Pradesh. But it is not, so observe how cosily and comfortably the liberal mainstream media has buried the news.
Say, where are all those liberals who say the ‘national mainstream’ cares only about the Hindi speaking belt and ignores the South? Where are the ‘Dravidistan’ social media warriors?
Here is a perfect situation for you to come out of your holes and prove your worth. Here is a case where the ‘national’ media is ignoring a dangerous health emergency in a southern city. Here is your chance to demand that the nation sit up and pay attention to the fate of Bengaluru.
Except they won’t speak up now. Because they only speak on issues that benefit the ‘Break India’ forces. Their love for ‘Dravidistan’ is limited to trending #GoBackModi on Twitter for absurd reasons. Or manufacturing excuses and lies to cover up the failure of Kerala’s CPM government to provide flood relief.
Because they are partisan hacks and literally nothing more.
Incidentally, Rahul ji was in Bengaluru yesterday. Did he speak on what is happening at the Indira canteens? I don’t think so.
Indira Canteen a scam?
There have been serious scam allegations surrounding the Indira canteens before. Allegations that the government, which pays Rs 32 per plate to contractors, is getting billed for 400 plates per day at each spot, while tokens given out might not be more than 120-150. I don’t know. I would not be surprised if there is a scam. Anyway, the media let the matter drop (again for obvious reasons).
But the sspectre of tainted food, possibly with E. coli in it, is a whole different matter altogether. Why won’t the national media descend on Bengaluru, pressurizing the state government to get the facts sorted out immediately?
This is truly a metaphor for ‘Indian secularism’. Anything goes… people are even expected to eat E. coli and be happy about it as long as it serves the cause of ‘Indian secularism’.
It’s not like the media does not care about issues surrounding food in Karnataka. The Hindu is hot on the trail of a very significant food related matter:
No-onion, no-garlic in food is a matter of concern, but E. coli?
Oh no! How will kids survive without onion and garlic?
The secular interest in this matter is very understandable. The contractor here is Akshaya Patra. Not surprisingly, this has attracted a horde of Hinduphobes who are determined to take this away from them.
Pray tell us who we should put in charge of feeding the kids instead? Please tell me it is not Bishop Franco Mulakkal that you have in mind.
No onion and garlic in school midday meals becomes an issue, but E. coli in Indira Canteen meals does not. The wonder that is Indian secularism.
For a while now, Hinduphobes have made a habit of referring to Hindus as “cow p*ss drinkers”. You’ve all seen the jokes on social media. Even after Pulwama, where the terrorist Adil Dar explicitly stated his motive of punishing the “cow p*ss drinkers”, the flood of Hinduphobic jokes did not stop. No liberal thought even for a moment that adopting the same xenophobic tropes as the terrorist was in poor taste.
In the wake of the mess at Indira Canteens, what if somebody started referring to Indian liberals as “E. coli eaters”?
Except, people should never do that. Because that wouldn’t be funny at all. And in very very poor taste. Not to mention ironic.
Because the liberals who deliberately look away from the E. coli scare at Indira canteens would never need to eat the cheap, subsidized food there. You know Lutyens has some sort of foreign food festival going on almost every week. That’s where they eat. They couldn’t care less about the quality of the food eaten by the urban poor in Bengaluru.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval today attended 80th Central Reserve Police Force anniversary in Gurugram today, and also delivered a speech to commemorate the sacrifices and selfless work done by force.
#WATCH National Security Advisor Ajit Doval speaks at the 80th CRPF Anniversary Parade in Gurugram, Haryana https://t.co/bUnZpdhxxy
“I am indebted to CRPF for granting me the opportunity to witness the parade here. The command, the leadership, and the participants of this parade all have done a great job.” Doval started his address. He said in 1949 CRPF merely had 2 battalions but now it has 242 battalions currently serving the country, in its different parts.
“CRPF is the only force in India which successfully serves the 32 lakh sq km area of the country,” Doval said. “Be it conducting of elections or maintaining law and order, CRPF provides service in every area” he added.
Doval said that 69 years ago Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel had granted CRPF its flag. He said, CRPF not only brought glory to the flag but also raised it to new heights so that every countryman can be proud of it.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the 80th CRPF Anniversary Parade in Gurugram: I want to pay tributes to the brave 40 CRPF jawans who sacrificed their lives in Pulwama for the country. The country hasn’t forgotten it & it will never forget it. #Haryanapic.twitter.com/5s4nEXj5U4
“We lost 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama attack. The nation has not forgotten the sacrifice and it will never forget it” Doval said. He added that the action, the path, the process and the time, is decided by our present leadership, which in itself is capable of doing it. He also added that be it terrorists or thier supporters, no will be spared.
“Whole nation stands with the families of martyrs,” Doval said paying respect to the families of martyrs.
The NSA then reminded of one of the first sacrifices that CRPF made on the day of 21st October 1969. On the day, at Hot Springs in Ladakh 10 jawans had lost their lives to Chinese aggression. The day is still marked as Police Commemoration Day, nationwide.
“I have been connected with uniform and national security for last 51 years, and I have served in police services like you for around 37 years,” Doval remarked at the event.
He said that CRPF has faced every threat that India faces, be it at the time of communal riots or insurgency in the forest of north-east. He also remarked that during meetings, when it is asked that which force should we should send to ground zero, he always answers that CRPF should be sent, citing its credibility. Doval added that such credibility is earned by hard work and takes a long time.
NSA, Ajit Doval at 80th CRPF Anniversary Parade in Gurugram: Whenever we have meetings & discuss which force to send?How many battalions should be sent where?We say, send CRPF, it’s a credible force,we can completely trust them. It takes years to achieve such credibility #Haryanapic.twitter.com/yd4ikdI0om
At the conclusion, Doval said that after the second world war 37 countries collapsed or lost sovereignty. “28 of these countries collapsed because of failure of internal security” He added. He added that CRPF is a force which strengthens internal security of the country and prevents it from weakening.
The Indian Rupee on Monday strengthened the most as compared to other major Asian currencies. It has hit an eight-and-a-half month high of 68.53 a dollar and has reached almost the same levels as that in the year 2012-13.
Rupee strengthens to 68.53 to the dollar, same level as in 2013…
As per a report in Business Standard, Ritesh Bhansali, vice-president, Mecklai Financial said, “Rupee is appreciating because of strong portfolio inflow in March. Globally, stock markets are rallying too, and there is a feeling that Modi is going to form the government again after the Pulwama incident. That indicates political stability.”
As on date in March, the portfolio flow in equity has been over $3 billion. In debt also, the flow has been of more than $800 million. In fact, the Reserve bank of India’s proposal to swap $5 billion with banks has also been viewed positively by the markets.
The Rupee gained 0.823 percent against the dollar in intra-day trade on Monday, the steepest gain in the region. Moreover, year-to-date, the rupee has gained a remarkable 1.8 percent.
The month of March has witnessed the most robust Rupee performance since 2nd January 2019. According to reports, it’s the Modi appeal and the prospect of him coming back to power for a second term in the coming general elections which has resulted in an upward trend in the foreign inflows into Indian stock markets.
However, one of the other reason why the Rupee is appreciating against the Dollar is that the RBI has minimised its intervention in the currency markets.
Moreover, because the election results have a direct impact on share market performances in India since the opinion polls have shown increased prospect of NDA coming back to power, the Stock market has also been seeing a continuous upsurge.
Historically, though the India Sensex Stock Market Index reached an all-time high of 38896.63 in August of 2018, March 2019 has seen a continuous upward trend.
Screenshot of the Sensex graph from The Economic Times, showing an upward trend in March 2019
It was earlier reported that as per the latest tracker poll conducted by Times Now and VMR, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity among the electorate jumped seven percent in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
Meanwhile, the surging popularity of Modi led NDA government could also be seen as three opinion polls, published on March 11th, rejecting all previous predictions of a hung parliament, envisioned a clear majority of the NDA in the upcoming general elections.
In a series of videos, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday put forward the reforms introduced by the Narendra Modi government as he highlighted several ‘game-changing decisions’ taken over the last five years.
Union Minister Jaitley hailed the introduction of Aadhar to transfer social benefits to the citizens of the country. “Today everybody has an Aadhar, That is his identity,” said Jaitley. He added that there were no leakages or middlemen in the process after the Modi government introduced Aadhar. Adding that the government was successful in saving resources through Aadhar, Jaitley said the resources are now being used to fund various developmental programmes.
“There are now pucca roads, houses, toilets, cooking gas connection, electricity all given at governmental expenditure today. The farmers today get crop insurance at a subsidised rate, irrigation facilities have increased,” said Jaitley. He further mentioned the lakhs of crore being spent on PM-KISAN scheme, MGNREGA. The minimum support price (MSP) for 22 commodities has been increased during the Modi government, added Arun Jaitley.
“The biggest gamechanger is the Ayushman Bharat, the health care scheme meant for the 50 crore poor people of India. 16 lakh poor people in the last five months have already availed benefit under this scheme,” added Jaitley.
Launching an attack on previous government, Union Finance Minister Jaitley said, in between 2009-2011, the banks indulged in reckless lending at the behest of the UPA government leading to favourites of the government getting the loans expanding NPAs from Rs 18 Lakh crore to Rs.55 Lakh crore in a span of three years.
“The UPA gave loans to undeserving projects, therefore people did not pay back their loans leading to banks going to sickness and rise in NPAs,” said Jaitley.
“The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code introduced by the Narendra Modi government led to defaulting management being thrown out of business, the companies were auctioned, new management came in which are now discharging the bank loans. We have already recovered Rs.3 Lakh crore of bank loans, which were NPAs earlier. We have created an Environment of honesty in the country and proved that India can be run in an honest manner,” added Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while highlighting the achievements of the Narendra Modi led NDA government.
Jaitley further mentions that in the history of the country, it was only for the first time that there was no increase in the tax rates, the Narendra Modi government rather decreased the tax in the last 5 years. “We have reduced the tax, particularly for the new middle class. Our strategy is the size of the middle class must expand, they must spend more on education, healthcare, housing rather than the government imposing an unfair tax,” added Jaitley.
In the last five years Modi government did not increase any tax rather reduced it & even then made the economic condition stronger. pic.twitter.com/IaBDsxi3Gq
He said that GST is being reduced on more than hundreds of commodities and the tax base has expanded despite lowering of tax rates. Tax collection has zoomed up, helping us to spend on infrastructure, especially on roads, railways, power, and ports.
An incident of violence by Congress workers has come to light in former Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Raebareli. According to reports, some Congress workers brutally beat up a Hindu Yuva Vahini member in full public view.
In a video by TV9 Bharatvarsh that was widely circulated on social media, Ashish Pathak, reportedly a Hindu Yuva Vahini member, is seen being rounded up and brutally beaten by a group of people in the middle of a road.
He is Ashish Pathak. When Congressmen chanted #ChowkidarChorHai , he objected. In return he was beaten black and blue by Cong goons in Rae Bareli, the Gandhi bastion. Specs of Pathak, a heart patient has been broken.
As per reports, on Sunday night near civil lines square in Raebareli, a group of Congress workers was waiting to welcome Priyanka Vadra. Some VHP and Hindu Yuva Vahini workers had allegedly raised slogans against Priyanka Vadra. A scuffle had ensued between the Congress workers and the gathered Hindu Yuva Vahini members.
Ashish Pathak told the media that he was standing at the nearby Chauraha where the Congress members were shouting the slogans of chowkidar chor hai in reference to PM Modi. When Pathak questioned the Congress leaders for chanting such slogans, they turned violent. They dragged Pathak, who has a heart condition, in the middle of the road and started beating him mercilessly with shoes. He was saved by some people who were present on the spot. Pathak has named two Congress leaders Himanshu Singh and District President V K Shukla but there were others involved whose names he did not know.
Pathak has lodged an FIR against the said Congress leaders. However, the president of the district Mahila Congress Shailja Singh has reportedly alleged that Pathak and some of his friends were passing indecent remarks against Priyanka Gandhi.
Congress is often seen preaching on tolerance and freedom of expression however, its party workers do not seem to agree with their own party’s preaching. Last year in the month of December, a Congress leader named Satyam Jain was involved in the brutal assault of a journalist in Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh who had reported negatively about Jain.
Another Congress leader Ashwin Joshi was seen calling for violence against BJP workers during the 2018 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. He said that he would beat up BJP workers who planned his defeat by deploying unfair means and practices. Another incident of hooliganism by Congress members was witnessed at a toll booth days after the party formed the government in Madhya Pradesh. A Congress leader named Ramesh Kashyap along with his supporters had assaulted the toll workers who asked the leader to pay toll tax.
A 17-year-old minor Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped by five men in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district. The accused had even reportedly filmed a video and threatened to make it public if the girl reported the matter to anyone. The five accused, Danish, Farid, Umama, Maj and Sabur were arrested by the police.
As per reports, the incident took place on February 21 in a village in Ratenpuri, Muzaffarnagar. The girl had gone to the forest at around 7 pm. There, the girl was allegedly gang-raped on gunpoint by the five accused and even filmed it. After the rape, they threatened the girl with dire consequences and death before escaping. The accused then reportedly shared the video clip which then went viral on social media.
On Sunday, March 17, after the video recording had gone viral, the girl and her family reached the police station to file a complaint. Her brother filed a complaint against the five accused, of which three, Umama, Farid and Sabur were arrested on Sunday night. The remaining two accused were also later arrested.
The Police has recovered a country-made pistol and cartridges. All five accused are now sent to jail.
