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Modi Sarkar Honeymoon period over, Sushma, Jaitley, Raje under scanner thanks to Lalit Modi

Gaurav
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Modi Sarkar Honeymoon period over, Sushma, Jaitley, Raje under scanner thanks to Lalit Modi

While development plank and strong anti-incumbency against a corrupt UPA Government, were 2 of the main reasons for Modi getting elected to the post of Prime Minister, the fact that Modi was an “outsider” to the world of Delhi politics was a USP which cannot be ignored. Modi claimed that he was part of the incestuous Lutyens group of babus, journalists, big influencer-crooks and politicians. He was just a “chaiwala”, who far from being part of this coterie, was ostracized by such groups for years through systematic campaigns in press and otherwise.

This image, was passed on to the Government he ran too, but now after Lalit-Gate, it has been shattered. While Modi himself has not been seen to be in such groups, his ministers are deeply in the mess. Sushma Swaraj was the first to get dragged into this imbroglio. While on many counts, her actions maybe justifiable and not illegal, the question of quid-pro-quo will always remain. In hindsight, it would have been better for her to recuse herself from Lalit Modi’s case, like Jaitley had recused himself from a similar conflict of interest decision. A resignation would maybe be too much to ask, but a rebuke from Modi was certainly expected. It has not come yet.

Sushma did not go down alone. She very slyly tried to rope in Arun Jaitley. At the height of the controversy, Sushma tweeted this:


This seemingly cryptic tweet probably hinted at the close relations Navika Kumar, Times Now anchor, has with Arun Jaitley. These relations were brought to fore by the Radia tapes, where Nira Radia repeatedly says, “Arun Jaitley is your friend na?”. Sushma might have tried to fire shots at Jaitley because it was then rumoured that Jaitley was behind the leaked Lalit Modi emails. Lalit Modi and Jaitley have never been friends, right from BCCI times. Jaitley and Sushma too had been on opposite factions within the BJP. So it was felt this leak was a two-pronged attack on Lalit Modi and Sushma Swaraj. This theory was furthered slyly fuelled by BJP MP Kirti Azad:


While two central ministers were in the soup, Lalit Modi made some startling revelations about Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje too. Again, there was no prima facie illegality. An unsigned and unfinished affidavit was bandied about, in which Raje allegedly promised help to Lalit, provided the help wouldn’t be made public. But then Lalit Modi spilt the beans in Rajdeep Sardesai’s interview, where he declared that he and Raje enjoyed close relations. Soon the story unraveled as it was seen that Raje’s Government had signed an MoU with the same Portuguese hospital in which Lalit Modi’s wife was operated, that too within 2 months of the operation. Lalit Modi too, had invested in Raje’s son’s company. While the illegality of all the above was not proven, one thing was certain. Arun Jaitley was very much part of the Lutyens media group, and possibly knew something about the wrongdoings in BCCI. Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje were friends of one time master-salesman- turned-“fugitive” Lalit Modi. These facts are more than enough to shatter the image that atleast some people in the  Modi Government are not insulated from the networks that exist in Delhi. While none of the above “crimes” are earth-shattering like a 2G scam or a Coalgate, they do take away the sheen and the protective layer which the Government enjoyed for its first year. So what should Modi do now? He has to put his foot down. Past mistakes cant be rectified, but in future, the conduct of his ministers has to be top class. If not for public consumption, atleast internally, all the people mentioned above, from Sushma to Jaitley to Kirti Azad need to be told to behave in appropriate manner henceforth. Raje on the other hand, in all probability will have to be investigated, considering the allegations on her are the most damning. If need, be heads should roll. As for Lalit Modi, the Government is in a real tough spot. Undoubtedly Lalit Modi has dirt on everybody across the political spectrum. He has already brought in Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar and even the current President Pranab Mukherjee. If the Government goes hard on him, he may very well expose more BJP leaders. The prime target will obviously be Arun Jaitley, who not only has a troubled relationship with Lalit Modi, but is also the de-facto political head of the Enforcement Directorate, which will go after Lalit Modi.  If on the the other hand, Lalit Modi is let loose, Media will continue with their tirade. The Government will be seen as protecting a criminal and it will become very hard for BJP to fight it out. Public perception will be lost and Bure Din will surely be seen in upcoming elections. It will be interesting to see how BJP and the Government, deal with this conundrum, as either ways, there will be collateral damage. 

Modi makes Yoga an international brand; reactions on #InternationalDayofYoga from across the globe

OpIndia Staff
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Modi makes Yoga an international brand; reactions on #InternationalDayofYoga from across the globe




 






When Rajdeep and Sagarika got trolled by alert Twitter users

OpIndia Staff
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When Rajdeep and Sagarika got trolled by alert Twitter users

Rajdeep Sardesai has suddenly become relevant on TV screens these days. And it’s not like the last time when he was caught assaulting people in New York. Rajdeep has become the go-to man, it seems, for the India Today group, to send out to get interviews from controversial individuals. It started with Rajdeep landing the “Global Exclusive” and eventually, the only interview of Lalit Modi. For this, Rajdeep had to be flown out to far-flung Montenegro on a very short notice.

Montenegro is over 5000 km (aerial distance) from India. A flight, booked on short notice, takes between 12-15 hours to reach there and costs Rs 70000 odd for an economy class round trip and a Rs 1.6 lac odd for a business class round trip. In the true spirit of journalism, Rajdeep travelled all this distance to get the interview of a man under investigation for economic offences, only because it involved some BJP leaders getting embarrassed. The distance is important, since as Twitter user @VibhaSays pointed out, Rajdeep had often used the “tyranny of distance” excuse, when he did not cover certain other stories, like death of kids in a school and other news stories in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which are very much in our own country.]


But it wasn’t over for Rajdeep. The said interview, which was promised to be aired at 9 pm, eventually reached our homes almost 90 minutes late. And even when it did, the end was chopped off. This led to multiple conspiracy theories that the interview could have been edited or snipped to make some Politicians look good.


Rajdeep did not take kindly to this and reprimanded his fellow journalists…


….Only to get it back, in kind


Next, Rajdeep, beaming with joy that he was the only one to get something from Lalit Modi, consulted his private “moral compass” and started pontificating on journalistic ethics. He was in all probability targetting Arnab Goswami, at whom he was taking potshots all week (and also getting it back from Arnab with equally sly comments of TV)


To which, he was reminded of his own “grapes are sour” moment by , when Rajdeep reacted to Time Magazine getting the prized interview of Narendra Modi, which Rajdeep failed to get, in spite of trying several times.


On a side note, Rajdeep’s first tweet could have also served as a slap on out-of-work journalist Nikhil Wagle’s face, who is famous for cribbing about interviews by other journalists:


Rajdeep wasn’t done with Swapan Dasgupta though. This time, the two were arguing on Rajdeep’s interview with L K Advani. And once again, Rajdeep got his just desserts:


 


 

To this, Rajdeep replied that:


To which Rajdeep was again pointed to his own tweet by @c_aashish, where he quoted none other than Rajdeep’s “hero” Ambedkar, and the quote itself was anti-hero-worship:


And as we come to changing heroes or villains, we have to mention Sagarika Ghose. Just like Rajdeep, Sagarika too paid her respects to the “respected Advaniji” as soon as Advani made, what seemed to be, an anti-Modi statement.


This was again, in stark contrast to Sagarika’s earlier stand, that demonized Advani:


The husband-wife duo of Sagarika and Rajdeep, need to be reminded that whatever be the alignment of their “moral compass” at any point in time, Twitter never sleeps and never forgets.

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

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

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

 

Food Processing

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

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

 

Energy and Power

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

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

 

Mining

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

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

 

Media and Entertainment

Media

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

Entertainment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– by @shreyansmehta

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To summarize:

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Thanks to inputs from  and )

Foul mouthed Twitter user files FIR against loud mouthed slanderer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Abusing a woman without provocation:


Calling another woman journalist economist a “troll vahini”:


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


Her choice of words while coming up with an opinion:


More colourful choice of words:


Swati abusing a senior journalist and author:


And finally, abusing OpIndia.com:


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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