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Sushma Swaraj helps another stranded Indian, responds with her usual wit in the process

OpIndia Staff
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Sushma Swaraj helps another stranded Indian, responds with her usual wit in the process

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is known for extending help to the needy on social media. She has aided a huge number of people who were suffering abroad and helped them get back to India.

On Monday, External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj yet again displayed her wit after she took to Twitter to address grievance of an Indian citizen who has been facing issues with Malaysian immigration authorities.

A social media user Gavy, who claimed to be from Punjab but currently staying in Malaysia had tweeted a post in broken-English to put forward his grievance regarding immigration issues he has been facing there. Gavy had tweeted that one of his friends was suffering from a mental condition and wanted to return to India. However, he claimed that Malaysian authorities are not allowing him to travel and forcing the patient to get his treatment in Malaysia. The social media had user tagged the EAM Sushma Swaraj, along with BBC.


Sushma Swaraj, upon received the message, assured the aggrieved person that the matter will be resolved as she has asked the Indian High Commissioner in Malaysia to help him.


As the aggrieved person had used a broken format of English, one of the users suggested him to use Hindi or Punjabi to put forwards his complaint.


However, Sushma Swaraj replied stating that it was not a problem for her as she has learnt to follow English of all accents and grammar since she became the country’s Foreign Minister.


This is not the first that EAM Sushma Swaraj has displayed her sagacity and wit while dealing with a tough situation. In the past, a Twitter user had sought Swaraj’s intervention in a refrigerator related problem. Interestingly, Sushma Swaraj not only read the tweet but even responded to it.

Similarly, in another incident, a Twitter user Karan Saini had tweeted to Sushma Swaraj saying he was stuck on mars and the food sent via Mangalyaan is running out. He asked when Mangalyaan-II would be sent. Sushma Swaraj had replied to this tongue-in-cheek tweet with some wit, saying “Even if you are stuck on the Mars, Indian Embassy there will help you.”

Swaraj is one of Modi government’s most prominent ministers on Twitter. She is praised regularly for her being prompt and helpful when people share issues of their friends or family stuck in difficult situations in foreign countries.

Imran Khan is a closet bigot, regularly makes derogatory comments on Hindus, says ex-wife Reham Khan

OpIndia Staff
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Imran Khan is a closet bigot, regularly makes derogatory comments on Hindus, says ex-wife Reham Khan

Last week, Punjab Province Information and Culture Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan in Pakistan was forced to resign for his anti-Hindu comments. In the aftermath of increased tension between India and Pakistan following India’s air strike on terror camps in Pakistan, the PTI leader had made derogatory comments against Hindus. After the video of his comment went viral on social media, it had attracted widespread criticism from within and outside Pakistan. Soon after that, he had resigned from his post as a minister in Punjab province.


This incident of Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan has prompted journalist and filmmaker Reham Khan, who was briefly married to Pakistan PM Imran Khan, to write about how Chohan’s comments were not isolated, but such anti-Hindu feelings run deep in the entire political leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. In an article titled Imran Khan, the closet bigot published by Firstpost, Reham writes she is very much familiar with the former minister, and she was not surprised when he made the controversial remarks for Hindus.

Reham Khan writes that her first ugly encounter with Chohan was on a talk show on Capital TV in 2014 where he was bullying fellow women panellists. As there was public outrage at his behaviour, and she had snubbed him firmly, the transcript of the show was sent to the party leadership. This episode had started a series of arguments between Imran Khan and Reham Khan before he proposed her for marriage. During her encounters with him, she had learnt that Imran Khan liked the TV appearances of Hassan Chohan where he regularly makes obnoxious comments. After Chohan appears in such TV shows, Imran Khan calls him to appreciate him, she writes.

Reham Khan writes that she first met Imran Khan in January 2013, when she had briefed him about the Nirbhaya gang-rape case on Delhi in 2012. The Cricketer turned politician had no idea about the case before Reham told him about it, even though the case had grabbed global headlines. After listening about the case, Imran Khan had blamed Bollywood for the case, saying that because Bollywood shows women in skimpy clothes,  masses get frustrated and commit such crimes.

Imran Khan, the liberal icon who famously flaunted his playboy image, had the same thoughts about women and rape like orthodox Mullahs, which came as a big surprise for Reham. She writes, “How could a man who had an Oxford degree, albeit in 3rd class, played most of his life in the West and partied hard with the media elite of the world say something like that?”

“How could he associate the length of a woman’s skirt with rape?”, she asks. She then writes this was just a glimpse of many contradictions in Imran Khan’s private life and public comments which she witnessed later in her life.

She informs that after six months of persistent wooing by Imran Khan, she married him in October 2014. Although they didn’t have any personal disagreements, she certainly didn’t approve his frequent racist jokes and clichés. Reham Khan says that Imran Khan routinely uses derogatory words for Hindus and Christians. She and her children were never used to such words being used in family, and Imran Khan derived great pleasure from torturing her once he learnt that she feels uncomfortable with his language, she writes.

Liberal icon Imran Khan’s thoughts about women and the world of entertainment are highly conservative. Reham’s youngest daughter wants to pursue a career in acting, but her stepfather frequently lectured her saying acting is not a respectable career. “His choice of words to describe Bollywood stars cannot be repeated”, Reham writes.

“So, I am not in the least bit surprised when I hear his ministers routinely make identical remarks in public about Hindus or film stars. The direct calls made to Imran to remove these racist, bigoted loudmouths make me smile”, she says, emphasising how his partymen reflect his views only.

Talking about hatred for each other in India and Pakistan, Reham says that the Kashmir issue gives politicians ample ammunition to drive up anti-Hindu agenda. She also thinks that bigotry and suspicion against Muslims seem to be deeply ingrained in India, depending on versions she heard from her friends in India. She also has been told by her Indian friends that Modi government hasn’t been the best advertisement for a secular, democratic India.

Reham Khan grew up in the jihad environment of Zia era, and children of her generation were encouraged via school textbooks and “old uncles like Imran” to hate everything Indian, she says. According to her, Imran Khan comes from such a family background where it is considered funny to be rude to others.

She also says that Imran Khan has the superiority complex of being a light-skinned Pathan. Like many people in Pakistan, Imran Khan also suffers from fairness-cream syndrome. He used to tell Reham, “I can spot you in a crowd because you glow like a light bulb because of your pale complexion against the ‘darkies’”, mocking the dark-skinned people.

Reham Khan writes that although sacking Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan for his anti-Hindu comments is important, it should not be forgotten that he is a typical product of Pakistani government schools, where children are taught a curriculum of hate and after that brainwashed by deep state’s narrative through media.

After ending her brief marriage with Imran Khan, Reham Khan has emerged as a very vocal critic of the Pakistani Prime Minister. In her memoir titled Reham Khan published last year, she described him as womaniser, drug addict, corrupt politician. She gave a detailed account of sexual behaviour of her husband in her book, saying he had gay partners. She had revealed that Imran Khan had sexual relations with many women leaders of the party. According to the book, Imran Khan had said that he had five other illegitimate children that he knew of, other than Tyrian White, his alleged daughter with Sita White, for which he is facing a disqualification case in Lahore High Court.

‘Khoon ka sauda ho gaya hai’, SP leader Azam Khan politicises Balakot air strikes

Aditi
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‘Khoon ka sauda ho gaya hai’, SP leader Azam Khan politicises Balakot air strikes

In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has accused BJP of using air strikes on Pakistan based terror camps for political gains. Khan said that this is happening for the first time that soldiers’ lives are being used to gain votes.


Khan attacked the BJP without clearly naming it. He said that the party is selling the borders, the blood and the uniforms of our soldiers to gain votes. Although Khan is expressing concerns about soldiers’ blood being used for political gains, earlier he had himself accused the Indian Army of raping women. He later said that his remarks were misinterpreted.

This is not the first time that Khan has made such controversial comments. Khan had made derogatory remarks against Baba Saheb Ambedkar saying that the statue (Khan referred to the statue of Ambedkar without naming it) is pointing its finger into a distance, as if saying that not only does it own the land on which it stands but also the land towards which it points. An FIR was registered against him for making such remarks.

In February this year, former SP Leader Jaya Prada had accused Azam Khan of harassing her and attempting an acid attack on her.

In an exclusive expose, India Today reports that Jaish-e-Mohammed is still raising funds in Pakistan despite crackdown

OpIndia Staff
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In an exclusive expose, India Today reports that Jaish-e-Mohammed is still raising funds in Pakistan despite crackdown

In an exclusive, India Today TV’s special investigation team exposed Pakistan’s deceit in response to the IAF Balakot airstrike which India carried out as a befitting reply to the ghastly Pulwama attack executed by Pakistan backed terror organisation JeM and also Pakistani false claims to crack down on Pakistan-based terrorist groups.

India Today’s undercover reporters caught residents of Balakot and police officials in PoK admitting on tape that the Indian strikes not just caused destructions of terror infrastructure and militants but also caused military casualties.

The investigative team also found that Jaish-e-Mohammed is continuing with its fundraising activities in various other areas in Pakistan, despite Islamabad’s claims of cracking down on terror groups post the Pulwama attack.

India Today TV has found that Jaish-e-Mohammed is still brazenly collecting funds from its foreign donors, through its weekly ‘al Qalam’, published from Peshawar by Talha Saif, the head of the terror group’s propaganda wing. The team narrowed done on an advertisement seeking funds on behalf of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

To further confirm, the investigative reporters called up the people named in the advertisement, posing as Dubai businessmen of Pakistani origin. Mohammad Riyaz, a fundraiser to whom the call was made, first asked the reporter to call on a different number belonging to some Abdulla Nadeem Sahab. After being contacted again Riyaz acknowledged on call that “Jaish does not have its own account. But I can give you my personal account number. If you deposit the money into it, I’ll hand it over to someone close here, Inshallah,” he said.

Recently, Pakistan had claimed that as a part of a massive crackdown on terrorists more than 120 people had been taken into administrative detention and at least 200 schools, seminaries and hospitals had been seized by the government this week as part of a campaign against banned Islamist organisations.

India which is quite familiar with Pakistan’s impulse to mislead and double-cross saw this as a cosmetic move.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar asserting that Pakistan’s claim to act against terrorism were confined to paper, said, “We are seeing the same script that has been played out earlier after the terrorist attacks on our Parliament in December 2001, the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008 and the attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.”

Pakistan has been on the denial mode and taken several U-turns, post the Pulwama attack. On international media, Pakistan first owned up harbouring Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar but a week later took a U-turn over the outfit’s presence on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had confirmed that “Azhar is in Pakistan and very unwell. He is unwell to the extent that he cannot leave his house.” Soon Pakistan’s military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, rebutted the claim by saying in another interview that “Jaish-e-Mohammad does not exist in Pakistan. It’s been proscribed by the United Nations as well as Pakistan.”

Pakistan trying to create a hogwash every time a massive attack is executed by its supported terror organisation has become its principle of behaviour and Pakistan has somehow started feeling that it can get away with such dirty gimmicks.

But this time India has stood up against its deceitful neighbour and is set to keep paying back Pakistan in its own coin until it genuinely stops breeding terrorism on its soil, which as off now seems unthinkable.

Maharashtra: Congress MLC makes abusive vulgar gesture against PM Modi while claiming not even an ant was killed in Balakot strike

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: Congress MLC makes abusive vulgar gesture against PM Modi while claiming not even an ant was killed in Balakot strike

Congress MLC Haribhau Rathod was heard making crass comments on PM Narendra Modi in vernacular Marathi while addressing a gathering in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra.


Alleging that not even an ant was killed in the air strikes in Balakot, Rathod asserted that these are all emotional gimmicks espoused by the BJP to once again get Modi in the power. “They claim 350 terrorists were killed but not even an ant has died in the air strikes. These are all psychological games played by the BJP to get Modi back in power. Modi! Modi! Shove Modi in your backside,” Rathod said in vernacular language Marathi while gesturing with his hand.

Rathod’s utterances also point towards the general feeling pervading throughout Congress. The feeling that Modi ought to be ridiculed by discrediting the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force. Earlier, senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh had questioned the veracity of the air strikes. Even Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath had called upon the government to release evidence proving the authenticity of the air strikes in Balakot.

However, this is not the first time that Congress ministers have resorted to using innuendos and hurled obscenities at Modi. From calling him a ‘Maut ka Saudagar’ to using such unseemly vulgar phrases against PM Modi, Congress has truly devolved from a National political party to a bunch of frustrated abusive ranters. Last year, a Congress MLA from Rajasthan had used filthy language against PM Modi. With Lok Sabha assembly polls 2019 just a month away, Congress appears to have shed the last vestiges of public civility in its desperation to depose Modi.

SC refuses to stay 10% quota for economically weaker section, to decide whether matter should be sent to constitution bench

OpIndia Staff
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SC refuses to stay 10% quota for economically weaker section, to decide whether matter should be sent to constitution bench

A Supreme Court bench hearing a petition challenging the 10% reservation for Economically Backward Section of the General category in jobs and admissions to educational institutions, refused to pass an order today regarding the question of the consideration of the matter by a Constitution Bench.

The three-judge Bench comprising of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, was hearing the petitions listed before it which included a string of petitions challenging the 103rd Constitution Amendment Act 2019 which provided an additional 10% reservation to people under Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) not covered under existing reservations, apart from the existing 50% reservation. Fixing March 28 as the next date of hearing in the matter, the bench said that it will decide the question whether the matter shall be referred to a Constitution Bench on the next hearing.

Senior Advocate Rajiv Dhavan appearing for Businessman and Congress supporter Tehseen Poonawalla submitted before the Court that his challenge to the petition is based on the premise that the amendment exceeds the 50% base limit for reservation upheld in previous two Constitution Bench judgements.

“It is now clear from two Constitution bench judgements that this 50% limit goes to the Basic Structure. At least our challenge is based on this premise…Certain connected issues also have been settled by M. Nagaraj in 2006 and in Jarnail Singh in 2018…” Senior Advocate Dhavan said.

The amendment has been challenged on the ground that it breaches the 50% cap on the reservation which was held by a nine-judge Bench in the Indira Sawhney case. Another ground of challenge is that Article 15 and 16 of the Constitution do not envisage reservation on the ground of economic backwardness and provide reservation only to socially and educationally backward classes of citizens.

The Apex court had earlier refused to put a stay on the decision of the Central government to provide 10% reservation to the economically backward class but had agreed to examine the validity of the law.

Masood Azhar ‘jee’, Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s affection for terrorists is shocking

OpIndia Staff
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Masood Azhar ‘jee’, Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s affection for terrorists is shocking

Congress President Rahul Gandhi while addressing booth workers’ meeting in Delhi showered immense respect and affection for the terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar.

At around 32:07 in the above speech, Congress President is heard saying, “Pulwama mein bomb phata? 40-45 humare CRPA… CRPF ke log shaheed hue. Kisne… Kisne bomb bus mein kisne bomb phaada (he probably meant phoda)? Bomb kisne phaada? Jaish-e-Mohammad. Masood Azhar. Yaad hoga? Ab yeh chhappan inch wale chhati wale aapko yaad hoga… Jab inki pichhli sarkar thi to aircraft mein Masood Azhar jee ke saath baith kar jo aaj National Security Advisor hai, Ajit Doval, Masood Azhar ko jaa kar Kandahar mein hawale kar ke aa gaye the. Pulwama mein agar bomb blast hua, zaroor Pakistan ke logon ne, Jaish-e-Mohammad ne karwaya. Magar Masood Azhar ko BJP ne jail se chhudwaya. Congress party ke do PM shaheed hue hai, hum kisike saamne nahin jhukte hai.”

That in Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan along with Jaish-e-Mohammad headed by Masood Azhar were involved. In the previous NDA government, the current NSA, Ajit Doval took Masood Azhar jee in a plane to Kandahar and let him go. Two Prime Ministers belonging to Congress party have been ‘martyred’, we do not bow down before anyone, said the Congress President.

Other than the fact that Rahul Gandhi has just shown immense respect for a terrorist, he is also factually incorrect on two instances in his 5-minute speech.

On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines IC 814 with 178 passengers and 11 crew members left Kathmandu for Delhi. It entered Indian airspace at 5.30 pm and was hijacked shortly after. The airline was hijacked by Harkat-ul-Mujahideen with the support and active assistance of ISI before flying to several locations before landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hostage crisis ended after seven days when India agreed to release three dreaded Islamic terrorists – Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Maulana Masood Azhar.

IC-814 was en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The hijackers directed the pilot Captain Devi Sharan to fly to Lahore initially. However, The captain flew to Amritsar citing insufficient fuel and persuaded the hijackers to allow him to land the plane at Amritsar. While the Crisis Management Group (CMG) headed by the Cabinet Secretary was still deliberating on how to deal with the situation, the IC-814 had already left Amritsar. Even though there was a 45-50 minute window to carry out an operation to end the hostage crisis, the government of the day did not prefer to take the risk, fearing the casualties. The reluctance from the government to go for an NSG operation also came from the fact that the opposition led by the Congress party, aided by its friendly media had put severe pressure to make sure that the Vajpayee government did not consider any military operation to release the hostages.

Years later, many senior government officials who were involved with the negotiating team, including NSA Ajit Doval had spoken about the negative role played by the media to put pressure on the release of hostages. The CMG had also kept the Prime minister Vajpayee in the dark for almost 90 minutes after the hijacking further limiting the options for the government.

IC 814 was eventually taken to Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan from Amritsar, after briefly touching down in Lahore and Dubai. After the IC-814 reached Kandahar, which incidentally was the base of the Taliban government, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. The hijackers had demanded the release of 35 terrorists from Indian prisons, including the dreaded terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar and had demanded $200mn in cash.

The Indian Government sent in a team of negotiators headed by Diplomat Vivek Katju, Ajit Doval, who was a high ranking Intelligence Bureau officer then, Nehchal Sandhu, and CD Sahay, along with few other representatives of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. On December 31, 1999, the crisis came to an end as India agreed to release three of the top militants including Masood Azhar, the founder of the terrorist outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad. During these negotiations, Doval was also effective in bringing down the number of terrorists to be released from 35 to just three.

According to some experts, Ajit Doval had opposed the release of Masood Azhar, as he knew the repercussions of releasing such a dreaded terrorist. However, Ajit Doval being a government official then had to fall in line with the decisions of the government. Reportedly, Ajit Doval had requested the government for more time to negotiate a deal without the release of Azhar to rescue the hostages.

It is rather shocking that Rahul Gandhi who aspires to lead the country in the future seems to have no idea concerning the tough negotiations that follow with terror groups during such national emergencies.

Further, he states that two Congress Prime Ministers were ‘martyred’ losely implying two Congress Prime Ministers were killed while they were serving. However, only his grandmother, Indira Gandhi was serving as a Prime Minister when she was assassinated. His father, Rajiv Gandhi was not assassinated when he was the Prime Minister on 21 May 1991. And unless he means Lal Bahadur Shastri’s mysterious death in Tashkent as a murder, it would be factually incorrect to say that two Congress prime ministers were killed while serving.

Moreover, Congress’ love for terrorists is nothing new. Earlier, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had also once referred to Osama Bin Laden as ‘Osama jee’ which he later tried to twist it as a sarcastic comment.

PM Narendra Modi’s historic decision to introduce ‘Ayushman Bharat’ benefits 10 crore families

Dr. Nandini Sharma
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PM Narendra Modi’s historic decision to introduce ‘Ayushman Bharat’ benefits 10 crore families

A baby girl Alia from Ranchi suffering from a critical heart disease, an 80-year-old lady from Panipat with a severely septic wound, a 59-year-old tea vendor from Aurangabad in Bihar diagnosed with oral cancer, a 60 year old tailor from Satara in Maharashtra admitted with chest pain and a youngster Devilal Nayak from Jharkhand with a broken hip – what do they all have in common? All of them have been treated free of cost (otherwise costing lakhs of rupees) at the best government or private hospitals under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), more commonly known as the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and in its recently anglicized avatar – Modicare.

Not just the five people mentioned above, but 13,37,267 people (as of 28th February 2019) have been the beneficiaries of this far-reaching healthcare reform. Through this one scheme, the Modi Government has single-handedly transformed the face of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare across the country. So much so that, the pioneering healthcare initiative of the Prime Minister has received significant praise from prominent international figures like Bill Gates and the Director General of the World Health Organization.

Being a doctor myself, I am an eyewitness to the immense challenges faced by people on the healthcare front on a daily basis. It was a matter of grave concern the healthcare sector continues to be characterized by high out-of-pocket expenditure, low financial protection and low health insurance coverage amongst both rural and urban population. According to government figures, 62.58% of our people pay for their own health and hospitalization expenses and are not covered through any form of health protection. In addition to using their income and savings, people borrow money or sell their assets to meet their healthcare needs.

The massive increase in healthcare costs over the last 15 years was completely ignored by successive UPA governments and has nearly crippled millions of households. The nation was thirsting for a concrete solution from the Modi Government to fulfil their fundamental Right to Health. As a Prime Minister of the poor, Shri Narendra Modi understood this pain and demonstrated how a government should fulfil the basic aspirations of people. To reduce the financial burden on poor and vulnerable groups arising out of catastrophic hospital visits and ensure their access to quality health services, the Modi Government conceived the momentous Ayushman Bharat scheme. It seeks to accelerate India’s progress towards achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC); and all the targets of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal – 3 (SDG3).

Through Ayushman Bharat, the Modi Government aims to provide financial protection (Swasthya Suraksha) to 10.74 crores poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers’ families (approx. 50 crore beneficiaries). The number of beneficiaries is almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and the US taken together. The pace of implementation by the Modi Government has been particularly impressive as nearly one-fifth of beneficiary families (2.05 crore) have already been given e-cards under the scheme, which offers a benefit cover of Rs. 5,00,000 per family per year. It covers medical and hospitalization expenses for almost all secondary care and most of the tertiary care procedures.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme as conceptualized by the Modi Government is so overarching that it has defined 1,350 medical packages covering surgery, medical and daycare treatments including medicines, diagnostics and transport. Furthermore, to ensure that nobody is left out (especially the girl child, women, children and elderly), there is no cap on family size and age in the Mission. Keeping in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India within the healthcare sector, the scheme is cashless & paperless at the 14,708 public hospitals and empanelled private hospitals. The number of hospitals is widely expected to touch over one lakh within the next few months. When fully implemented by 2022, it will become the world’s largest government-funded health protection mission.

Such a historic scheme of epic proportions by the Modi Government is bound to receive its share of criticisms. Some of the arguments against this programme has been that it concentrates heavily only on the financing aspect and not on healthcare. However, this is far from the truth. A vital part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme is that the Modi Government is setting up 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres (HWCs) and expanding the number of Jan Aushadhi stores across the country which can prove a real game changer to the manner in which people access public health.

While the entire country considers this transformational mission of the Modi Government as a lifeline, there continue to be some elements who have decided to play petty politics over the health of citizens. The Ayushman Bharat scheme in our state of Delhi has become the major casualty of the callous attitude of our Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. One of the key reasons for the Delhi Government to delay implementing the scheme is the shocking demand by the Chief Minister to rename it after his party as –Mukhya Mantri Aam Aadmi Swasthya Bima Yojana Ayushman Bharat’. The Centre is said to have written back to the state government six months ago saying it was critical that the name of the scheme starts with ‘Ayushman Bharat’ since it was a “national scheme with national character” and that the state government could have any suffix after ‘Ayushman Bharat’. The Delhi government has failed to act ever since.

This appalling situation was dealt with a statesman-like approach by the Prime Minister. The Centre has empanelled three prominent central government hospitals in Delhi – AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital – under Ayushman Bharat by entering into separate MoUs with them. To circumvent the lackadaisical and dramatic attitude of the Delhi government, the Centre has also empanelled 13 private hospitals in Delhi under the scheme by signing MoUs with them directly. It has held meetings with representatives from 45 leading private hospitals in Delhi including Apollo, Fortis and Max who are part of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), to motivate them to join the scheme as well. However, the Delhi Government hospitals continue to remain elusive.

When such serious and unconditional efforts are being made by the Modi Government to implement the world’s largest government-sponsored health protection mission, the question we need to really ask ourselves is – whether the ego of one person should be greater than the health of two crore citizens of Delhi?

Shivam Chaudhary’s ‘Why To Vote For Rahul Gandhi?’ gives an insight into the contribution of the Congress President

Shashank Bharadwaj
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Shivam Chaudhary’s ‘Why To Vote For Rahul Gandhi?’ gives an insight into the contribution of the Congress President

The virtue of Indian democracy is that every individual has been promised a right to express his views regardless of the way it is being manifested. Even though the Indian constitution gives you the freedom to express, write, speak, it is subjected to certain restrictions. The art of creative writing is a part of these liberal rights, also a much better-form of civilised dissent and criticism contrary to ‘Break India’ slogans.

When some of our liberals give credence to chanting anti-slogans and mainstreams it to be part freedom of speech, then why not a book which put forwards a criticism against Rahul Gandhi in an ‘out-of-the-box’ idea.

Shivam Chaudhary, author of the book “Why to vote for Rahul Gandhi?” carried out research on Congress President Rahul Gandhi to help his readers make an informed decision. The book, which has nothing but blank pages, has since then gone viral.

Yes, the book is filled with empty pages to show Rahul Gandhi’s contribution as an MP. And this book has already sold 2,700 copies.

Originally from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, Chaudhary works as an analyst in an MNC in Gurugram. He also runs an NGO named People’s Empowerment and Development Society in rural parts of western Uttar Pradesh which majorly works in varied fields like child education, rural sanitation, microfinance and environmental awareness. A regular contributor to various newspapers and magazines, he also teaches at various educational institutes.

When we asked the author Shivam Chaudhary on the rationale behind such a unique satire, he said, “After the 2014 general election, I came across a lot of work on Prime Minister Narendra Modi but there wasn’t much about Rahul Gandhi in public domain apart from few books praising him and his much-debated speeches. This secrecy was orchestrated by a certain section of media especially till 2011-12 to avoid any dent in his image. So, I did detailed research on Rahul Gandhi from 2004, as he was a Member of Parliament.

“To avoid any no-nonsense work on him, I went through his speeches, parliamentary records, his idea and vision for India. But to my surprise, I failed to find any credible work done by him on the ground.” Chaudhary says this as one of the reasons which prompted him to express his protest with such a book.

While analysing Rahul Gandhi’s track record at Parliament corresponding to former Gorakhpur MP and current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who belong to same age group and has similar political experience as Rahul Gandhi, Shivam Chaudhary explained that while Yogi Adityanath had participated in 57 debates, Rahul Gandhi had only participated in 13 debates in the 16th Lok Sabha.

“Rahul Gandhi has not asked any question in 5 years whereas Yogi Adityanath had asked 306 questions covering varied issues. While Yogi Adityanath was involved in introducing three private bills, Rahul Gandhi has moved zero private member bill. Here, we must keep in mind that Yogi Adityanath was a member MP only till Sep 2017 while Rahul Gandhi will be completing his entire tenure,” Shivam shared some interesting facts.

“In the last 44 elections which congress contested under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership directly or indirectly, the party has lost 33 of them which is a 25% success rate. If this was the record of any other politician of any other party, his political career would have been ended. Since he is a product of nepotism, he has survived. So, as a citizen, I find it my duty to put his correct records and narrative on different issues such as foreign policy, employment, reservation and value system of his family etc in front of everyone. Unfortunately, the book which came out of this research is blank like his work and leadership,” said Shivam.

In the day and age of social media, the book by Shivam was surprisingly an instant success, he says. “Because of its unique style of conveying the message to the audience, most of the readers have admitted that they have never come across such an innovative way of writing,” he said.

Speaking on the criticism the book received, Chaudhary said, “This is not a publicity stunt but a different style of criticism. When NDTV left their screen blank, it is their freedom of expression and way of criticising Government. I would say it is mine and is ‘silent writing of a writer’. It was my way of criticizing an elected representative of people.”

Chaudhary has also been questioned whether his book has political backing. “Number of readers after reading this book have asked me the very same question. The answer to all of them is no, I don’t have any political membership or links. I haven’t even given any missed call to any party. Although many politicians asked me to sponsor this book for mass publication, I rejected the offer because I don’t want this book to be a part of any party’s political campaign but a helping tool for voters to decide their vote in 2019 general election.”

The author Shivam Chaudhary belongs to Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Apart from being an analyst in an MNC in Gurugram, he also runs an NGO called  Shivam Chaudhary is also a regular contributor to various newspapers and magazines and delivers guest lectures in various educational institutions. He is currently working on two books, one on the history of Gandhi family, their contributions and blunders and the other would be a collection of stories of 10 greatest wars ever fought in the Indian subcontinent.

Opinion polls show increased prospect of NDA win in Lok Sabha elections, stock markets jump

OpIndia Staff
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Opinion polls show increased prospect of NDA win in Lok Sabha elections, stock markets jump

With the announcement of dates for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections yesterday, the poll season has officially begun. As the dates for polls near, BJP’s prospects seem to be improving in the polls, going by the opinion polls. In the opinion polls conducted in last couple of months, most polls had predicted a hung parliament, with NDA being the largest alliance but not crossing the majority mark. But three opinion polls published yesterday gives far better results for NDA compared to the previous opinion polls.

India TV-CNX opinion poll predicts 285 seats for NDA, with 238 seats for BJP, while the Congress-led UPA is projected to win 126 seats and other opposition parties may get 132 seats.

Two other opinion polls, ABP News- C Voter and Zee 24 Taas predicts 264 seats for NDA, while is falls marginally short of the majority mark 273. UPA and others are predicted to win 141 and 138 in the ABP News survey, and 165 and 114 seats in the Zee 24 survey. The C Voter survey also predicts that if there is no mahagathbandhan of opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, the NDA tally will go up to 307.

These predictions show an improvement in prospects of NDA over the surveys done earlier.

Opinion polls from October 2018 to March 2019

The prospect of NDA coming back to power cheered the share market as the markets have gone up significantly today. The NSE Nifty 50 went up by more than 132 points to reach the 11,168 mark, while the BSE Sensex reached 37,054 going up by 382 points. Both Sensex and Nifty reached their highest levels in the last six months, and as many as 26 stocks reached their 52-week high points.

Nifty 50, 11-March-2019
BSE Sensex, 11-March-2019

Election results have a direct impact on share market performances in India. Generally, when BJP does well, markets go up, while BJP’s poor performance has a negative impact on the markets. During the state assembly elections last year, when the exit polls had shown defeat of BJP in three key states, the markets fell sharply. On the trading session after the exit polls were out, Sensex had gone down by 714 points and Nifty had fallen by 214 points, both the indices losing around 2%. On the results day, the stock markets had recovered partially, which was attributed to the fact that margin of BJP’s loss in the election was very thin and the party did not lose its vote share.

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