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93% of rural households now have access to toilets, over 9 crore toilets built under Swachh Bharat Mission

OpIndia Staff
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93% of rural households now have access to toilets, over 9 crore toilets built under Swachh Bharat Mission

Under the NDA government’s flagship scheme the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (clean India mission), over 93 percent of rural households in India now have access to toilets out of which around 96.5 percent households have used the facility.

Last year, 77% of rural Indian households had toilets. So this is a significant jump. According to a government-commissioned survey, 95.4 percent of the villages had minimal litter and stagnant water.

The open defecation free (ODF) status of 90.7 percent villages which were declared by various districts and states was also reconfirmed by the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted by an independent verification agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

“The survey was conducted between November 2018 and February 2019 and covered 92,040 households in 6,136 villages across States and Union Territories of India,” the drinking water and sanitation ministry said.

The findings of the survey were presented on Tuesday to an expert working group developed for the oversight of NARSS, comprising representatives from organisations including the World Bank, UNICEF, Water Aid, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India Sanitation Coalition, Sulabh International, Knowledge Links, Niti Aayog, ministry of statistics and program implementation.


The Ministry’s own tracking system claims that 98.9 percent of households across the country have access to toilets, with only four states, namely, Goa, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal are falling short of 100 percent coverage. Ministry data shows that 5.54 lakh villages claim to be open defecation free or ODF. The new NARSS survey has found that 90.7% of these villages can be confirmed as ODF.

The government asserted that since its launch in October 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission has changed the behavior of hundreds of millions of people with respect to toilet access and usage. “500 million people have stopped defecating in the open since the SBM began, down from 550 million at the beginning of the programme to less than 50 million today,” the ministry confirmed, furthering that “Over nine crore toilets have been built across rural India under the Mission. Over 5.5 lakh villages and 615 districts have been declared ODF, along with 30 ODF States and Union Territories.”

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a flagship initiative of Modi led NDA government had been termed as the ‘biggest sanitation movement’ in the world by the World Bank. This initiative has received several acclamations from organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.

Giving full credit to PM Modi for spearheading the Swachh Bharat mission, the vice president of the World Bank South-East Asia region, Hartwig Schafer, said in October 2018, that it is not just a sanitation programme. “It is a growth mission.”

Similarly, referring to Prime Minister’s ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’ the UNICEF executive director, Henrietta Fore had in October last year said, “The prime minister invested political time and effort and what it meant was people began picking up that story. They want to do it for Mahatma Gandhi, for their country and they felt pride in it”.

The flagship cleanliness drive, launched by the prime minister in 2014, aims to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas.

PM Modi, in September last year, while launching ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ campaign had said the sanitation coverage in the country has increased from almost 40 percent to nearly 90 percent and asserted that the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ is playing a central role in creating a healthy India.

Pakistan’s FM uses Congress’ rants to discredit government of India and the Indian Army, yet again

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan’s FM uses Congress’ rants to discredit government of India and the Indian Army, yet again

The successful ‘non-military pre-emptive’ strikes at Jaish terror camps deep inside its territory has unnerved terror-state Pakistan, which has now resorted to false propaganda to wriggle out of international isolation. To substantiate its false narrative, Pakistan has now utilised India’s internal political situation aided by Congress party to discredit the airstrikes in an attempt to malign the Indian government.

BJP’s official twitter handle has shared a minute-long clip of clip of an interview of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mohammad Qureshi. In the video, it can be seen that Qureshi while speaking to one of the mainstream Pakistani media outlets, shared the concerns of the Congress party and used it as a premise to create a false narrative about India’s airstrikes deep inside Pakistan territory.


Qureshi cites Congress party’s reluctance to believe the Indian Armed Forces and Indian government regarding the successful airstrikes inside Pakistan. Congress Party had questioned the intent of the strikes and asked for proof of strikes along with the number of casualties in the airstrikes despite Indian Air Force had issued a statement regarding the success of the operation. Indian Air Force had said that they had successfully hit the targets what they had intended to hit.

“Pakistan is united despite any political differences and declared that we are united for the cause of Pakistan. This has helped in presenting a strong case. On the Indian side, we can see a lot of political differences. Despite showing solidarity after Pulwama attacks, there is no unity today (after air strikes),” said Qureshi.

Referring to Congress’s refusal to accept the authenticity of strikes, Qureshi said, Congress is now questioning the claims of the government. Congress is asking for the proofs of attacks on terrorist camps and the government does not have an answer, unlike Pakistan, said Qureshi.

Congress party’s politicking of the airstrikes has now been utilised by the hostile Pakistani establishment to propagate a new narrative pertaining to the authenticity of the strikes. Congress party headed by Rahul Gandhi knowingly or unknowingly has played it to the hands of terror state Pakistan in terms of perception war.

Pakistan has been presented yet another opportunity to spin a narrative where it can posture itself to claim that there were neither attacks inside Pakistan nor it has any role in creating and supporting Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in its soil. Pakistan, with the help of Congress party’s statements, is now hoping to validate its own stand over India’s air strikes against terrorism.

Recently, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had, in a series of tweets,  tried to downplay the Pulwama terror attack. Citing foreign media reports, he had attempted to create a doubt in people’s minds by questioning the authenticity of the terror attacks. Following the ghastly terror attack on the CRPF convoy which claimed the lives of 40 soldiers, A Goa Congress leader had asked for the proof of terror attack since the ‘body of the terrorist’ was not found. He had even gone on to say that the Pulwama attack was carried out by Prime Minister Modi.

Congress’ ‘achievement’ of being quoted and supported by Pakistan’s government to malign our own country was called out in social media.


It is also notable that earlier, the statements by the Congress-led opposition party meet were cited by Pakistani channels to further their agenda. Congress leader Kapil Sibal had yesterday attempted to peddle the ‘show proof’ narrative.

Congress aided abusive troll Sanjukta had also claimed that the Pulwama attack was an inside job. Congress President Rahul Gandhi himself was caught on camera dancing just hours after the Pulwama attack. Congress then deleted the video after it was pointed out.

Several other politicians and journalists too have been busy peddling the Pakistani version of claims and refusing to believe India’s claim of the successful air strikes on terror camps.

Madhya Pradesh: Congress minister backs Digvijaya Singh’s ‘accident’ remark on Pulwama terror attack

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Congress minister backs Digvijaya Singh’s ‘accident’ remark on Pulwama terror attack

Madhya Pradesh Minister and Congress leader Govind Singh Kushwah has come out to defend senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s insensitive remark on Pulwama terror attack.


Govind Singh Kushwah has said that we may criticise Digvijaya Singh for whatever he says, but eventually what he says turns out to be the truth. Earlier, during the #MeToo movement in India, Govind Singh had said that women often make such complaints (against sexual abuse and harassment) “for money”.

Yesterday, in a series of tweets, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had tried to downplay the Pulwama terror attack by calling it an ‘accident’. He had even cast aspersions on the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force and even tried to question the credibility of Indian Government.

Downplaying terror attacks or absolving the actual terrorists and pinning the blame on someone he doesn’t agree with politically is not something new for Singh. In 2010, months after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Digvijaya Singh, along with film maker Mahesh Bhatt and others had launched a book which claimed that the Mumbai terror attacks were an RSS conspiracy.

Rafale documents published by Hindu and used by Prashant Bhushan were stolen, considering action, govt tells SC

OpIndia Staff
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Rafale documents published by Hindu and used by Prashant Bhushan were stolen, considering action, govt tells SC

The hearing in the review petition seeking a probe in the Rafale deal started in Supreme Court today. Presenting his arguments, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that he is not seeking cancellation of the deal like other petitioners, but only seeking a probe. He alleged that there are several serious errors in documents provided by the government on which the court depended while passing the judgement rejecting the petitions in the deal earlier.

As proof for his argument, Prashant Bhushan wanted to present an eight-page note, but Attorney General KK Venugopal strongly objected to that. He said that the files were stolen from the defence ministry, and a probe is being done on the matter.

The Attorney General said that the presentation of the notes is a violation of the Official Secrets Act, and the government is going to take action against the newspapers that have published the defence ministry notes. K K Venugopal said that action should be taken against Prashant Bhushan also for using stolen classified documents.


The government counsel said that these documents involve the very security of the state, and they should not be made public. He said that today also The Hindu has published something, which is a contempt of the court. Today N Ram published a published a note from the Indian Negotiation Team of the Rafale deal to allege that NDA deal for Rafale is costlier than the abandoned UPA deal.

Levelling a very serious allegation, the Attorney General said that such news items are published a day before the hearing in court in an attempt to influence the hearing. He said that the newspaper is guilty under IPC for theft and under the Official Secretes Act for accessing and publishing confidential documents related to national security.

Therefore, the review petitions should be dismissed, he argued. The bench will continue hearing the case after lunch. The Attorney General also informed the court that he will apprise the bench about the action that the government is considering to take for the theft of documents at 2 PM today.

The Wire journalist and Congress leader spread fake Republic TV image deriding Army, Arnab says ‘Pak propagandists in India helping ISI’

OpIndia Staff
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The Wire journalist and Congress leader spread fake Republic TV image deriding Army, Arnab says ‘Pak propagandists in India helping ISI’

Congress Politician Salman Nizami shared an image on Twitter which showed Republic TV reporting that the 21 Sikh Regiment has refused to fight for India. On closer inspection, the image has turned out to be fake.

The image can be concluded to fake on the basis of the ticker at the bottom of it. It shows information regarding TRP from 17 May-17 May 2017.


Moreover, the position of the text and the rest of the screen do not align. Furthermore, the insignia of the Sikh Regiment is shown as a background, which is illegal and no channel would actually do it. OpIndia.com reached out to Republic TV as well and they have confirmed that it is fake.

The following is the original picture that was photoshopped.

Source: Newslaundry

The photoshopped image, which is seditious in nature, was shared by numerous other people and appears to have been retweeted by propagandist Rohini Singh of The Wire as well. She seems to have un-retweeted it.


Meanwhile, Pakistani Media has started reporting on the fake image believing it to be authentic.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxu-1zGmIe4]

OpIndia reached out to Republic TV and the channel confirmed that the image was photoshopped. Arnab Goswami said, “Pakistan has launched a propaganda campaign against Republic TV because we have exposed them completely. Pakistan propagandists in India are helping the ISI. The people of India should question these Pakistan propagandists and join hands with us to expose them”.

The image that was shared and is now being picked up by Pakistani media is clearly seditious in nature and is aimed at sowing discord within the Indian Armed Forces. It may even be a ploy by enemies of the nation to hurt our country. That a politician of the Congress party shared the fake image and journalists promoted it is extremely disconcerting.

It remains to be seen whether the Government takes any action against the people who have attempted to sow discord within the Indian Armed Forces.

Supreme Court reserves order on mediation for resolving the Ram Mandir dispute

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court reserves order on mediation for resolving the Ram Mandir dispute

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the matter of referring the Ram Janambhoomi dispute to a court-appointed and monitored mediation.


The Court further asserted that the involved parties will suggest the name of the mediators and that the order will be passed soon.

Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Muslim petitioners in the case, said that the Muslim petitioners “agreeable to mediation”. The Hindus, however, were opposed to the idea and remarked that mediation will be a failure.

“You are looking at the outcome even before mediation is attempted. This is also about heart and mind and healing of relations,” Justice SA Bobde had said reacting to the opposition from Hindu parties involved.

Earlier, Justice Bobde had said, “We have no control over what happened in the past, who invaded, who was the king, temple or mosque. We know about the present dispute. We are concerned only about resolving the dispute.”

He also remarked that while the process of mediation is on, reports should not assign motive to anyone involved.


Justice Chandrachud, too, expressed his concerns with mediation on the matter. “How do we bind millions of people by way of mediation? It won’t be that simple,” he said before adding “Desirability of resolution through peaceful talks is an ideal situation. But how do we go about it is the real question.”

Congress leader AK Antony says he ‘delayed Rafale deal in national interest’ even as Rahul Gandhi continues to blame Modi govt

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader AK Antony says he ‘delayed Rafale deal in national interest’ even as Rahul Gandhi continues to blame Modi govt

For many months now, Rahul Gandhi has gone to town blaming the Modi government and even the Prime Minister personally for some impropriety in the Rafale deal even as the Supreme Court gave the deal a clean chit. Rahul Gandhi has also claimed that PM Modi “diluted” the Rafale deal as Congress was close to signing a deal for 126 Rafales while the Modi government has decided to purchase only 36 Rafales. He fails to mention that Congress was nowhere close to signing the deal and in that deal, it had decided on purchasing only 18 Rafales in fly-away condition while the Modi government is buying 36 in fly-away condition. Now, Congress leader and former Defence Minister AK Antony has stated, contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s tall claims that Congress delayed the Rafale deal in “national interest”.

As reported by Times of India, AK Antony has said that the Rafale deal was delayed by him as the Defence Minister due to “national interest”, and PM Modi, has ignored ‘national interest” by signing the deal.

AK Antony then proceeded to blame the NDA government for the delay saying that after the CAG report was submitted, Modi proceeded to cancel the original deal and renegotiate for 36 Rafales. Here too AK Antony forgets that the Congress MMRCA deal was stuck in limbo and essentially, there was no deal when the Modi government took over. In fact, the Congress government in the original MMRCA deal was negotiated for 18 Rafales in fly-away condition while the Modi government has ordered 36 jets in fly-away condition.

The senior Congress leader also said letters from “then stalwarts of BJP, Subramanian Swamy and Yashwant Sinha,” to the defence ministry, complaining of irregularities in UPA regime selecting Rafale as L1 caused a last-minute delay in finalising the deal.

However, in the parliament, Arun Jaitley had also referred to this very argument that is being presented by senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister AK Antony.

Jaitley said that the UPA government gave acceptance of necessity (AON) for the Rafale jets. when UPA gave AON then in 2007 there was a tender invitation. He said that the government can acquire such jets in two ways. Either by tender or by the government to government agreement. After 6 bids came in, two were shortlisted. Eurofighter and Dassault. Then, during pricement, Rafale was chosen. He said that the Congress government sat on the decision for a long time. While the air force wanted the defence minister to buy the jets, the then defence minister’s colleagues were “pressuring him to not accept Rafale”. He said it was because of this pressure, that the defence minister had written in his file that the Dassault Rafale is fine, but the process by which they were considered L1, should be re-examined. He said that when he became the Defence Minister after the Modi government came to power, this was one of the first submissions made by the Indian Air Force.

Arun Jaitley had opened a pandora’s box in his Lok Sabha speech when he insinuated that the Rafale deal was delayed by Congress because of the Eurofighter.

Earlier, it was alleged that Eurofighter sales director had met senior leaders of two political parties in India to raise allegations of a scam in the Rafale deal. It is also rumoured that Rahul Gandhi had met the company officials when he was in Germany in August 2018. According to allegations, the narrative against the Rafale deal has been built up by experts in the US and Europe, based on inputs from Eurofighter.

It was revealed that Christian Michel, the middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scam who has named ‘Mrs Gandhi’, ‘Italian Lady’s son R’ and has links to Kamal Nath’s family, was lobbying for Eurofighter over Rafale. In fact, even Sanjay Bhandari, who is a close associate of Robert Vadra was angling for Dassault offset agreement, which he did not get.

With the entire controversy refusing to die down, perhaps it would serve Congress well to first come clean and answer mounting questions on the Eurofighter link, Sanjay Bhandari and the Christian Michel revelations.

‘If the opposition has doubts, next time they should be taken on the mission tied to the bottom of the fighter jet’: General VK Singh

OpIndia Staff
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‘If the opposition has doubts, next time they should be taken on the mission tied to the bottom of the fighter jet’: General VK Singh

General VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, and former Chief of Army Staff today took to Twitter to mock those who are asking for a figure of casualties of the air strikes carried out at Pakistan-based terror camps by Indian Air Force following the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama.


In his tweet, he said, it was 3:30 am. There were too many mosquitoes. So, I sprayed Hit (mosquito repellant). Now should I count how many mosquitoes died or sleep peacefully?

Read also: Balakot airstrikes: ‘If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target’, asserts Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa

When questioned what he meant by his tweet, Gen VK Singh reportedly said, “Bombs were exploded, buildings were hit. Will people not be killed after an explosion of a 1000 kg bomb? If killed, then you make an estimate of number of people killed. I don’t know who wants to count it. It’s unfortunate.”

Later, General VK Singh has also said that the next time India does an operation like this and if the opposition still has doubts, they should be tied to the bottom of the fighter jet and taken to the target area. Then, once they see that the bomb has been dropped, they should be left in that stop itself to count how many people were killed. Then they can come back.


Following the air strikes, even as Pakistan escalated the situation by attacking India’s military installations, there were few in India, including politicians like Mamata Banerjee and others who were casting aspersions on the air strikes and asking for the number of casualties.

Siddaramaiah says people with Kumkum Tika scare him, questions their work efficiency

OpIndia Staff
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Siddaramaiah says people with Kumkum Tika scare him, questions their work efficiency

Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has stoked another controversy. Addressing an inaugural event for a lake rejuvenation project in Badami, he was caught on video saying that people with a Kumkum tika on their forehead scare him. He also questioned their work ethics and efficiency.

As per a report in Times Now, Siddaramaiah said at the event, “I am afraid of any person who wears kumkum on their forehead. You are wearing that Kumkum, will you do the work properly. I am afraid of people who wear that Kumkum. You have to perform well and finish work on time. I don’t know, I have this fear of people who apply such long Tikas on their forehead.”

The inauguration event of the project in Badami reportedly had begun with a priest performing a Puja. Siddaramaiah had targeted one of the contractors present who was sporting a Tika on his forehead.

In the same event, he reportedly also ignored a request from a person who belonged to the ST by saying, “All STs have voted for the BJP. What have you done for us?” He then proceeded to walk away without hearing what he had to say.

Siddaramaiah has often been in controversy for all the wrong reasons. Not long ago, he was caught on camera pulling the Dupatta of a female party worker at an event. Though it was later clarified that he was trying to snatch the mic and her Dupatta got pulled along with it. His menacing and arrogant behavior towards the woman was widely criticised.

Afzal Guru’s son blasts media for painting him ‘proud Indian’, says his ‘propaganda’ was just to get a passport for studying abroad

OpIndia Staff
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Afzal Guru’s son blasts media for painting him ‘proud Indian’, says his ‘propaganda’ was just to get a passport for studying abroad

Terrorist Afzal Guru’s son, who aspires to be a doctor has blasted the Times of India report for trying to portray him as a proud Indian, because he is not. In a video clip which was shared on social media last evening, Afzal Guru’s son Ghalib is seen expressing his anger at a report he read in the morning which had not only misinterpreted and misrepresented his words but also wrote ‘strange things’ in the report.


In the above video, Ghalib is heard saying, “Yeh inka basic issue tha ki mere passport ke baare mein unhone bola tha ki byte nikalenge aapke passport ke baare mein lekin jab maine unka aaj subah article padha to usmein clearly different cheezein thi. Maine simply… mera propaganda ek hi tha ki agar mere paas Aadhaar card hai, toh why can’t I have a passport? Yehi mere liye propaganda tha. Unko maine is liye bola tha ki for example is saal mera NEET ka second try hai… agar nahin hota, toh Turkey mujhe scholarship deti hai isiliye maine unko bola tha ki mera passport hona chahiye. Lekin unhone clearly different likha hai iske baare mein. Unhone thodi ajeeb cheezein bhi likhi hai. Mix up kiya hai ki main Indian citizen proud hoon. Ek cheez mein bolna chahta hoon ki How can I be a proud Indian citizen. Unhone mere papa ko maara hai. They have done injustice with my whole family. They have done injustice with whole Kashmir. Toh main kaise proud kar sakta hoon India ka? Mera yehi propaganda tha ki jab mere paas Aadhaar card hai to passport kyun nahin ho saka.”

Ghalib was angry at the Times of India report which apparently put words in his ‘propaganda’ and painted him proud Indian citizen out of their own imagination when he is clearly not. In their report, journalists Aarti Singh Tikoo and Rohan Dua said that Afzal Guru’s son was proud to own Aadhaar card and wants Indian passport next, implying his inclination to get the passport was his assertion of the Indian identity.

Times of India report on Afzal Guru’s son, Ghalib, painting him as ‘proud Indian’

The article goes on to quote Ghalib to have said, “I will be a proud Indian citizen when I get  my passport.” However, if you listen to the new video, Ghalib is heard saying that the Indian State had killed his father and done injustice not only to his family but also to Kashmir. Hence, how can he be a proud Indian citizen?

Ghalib mentions that the only reason he wants a passport is that in case he does not clear the medical entrance exam NEET for the second consecutive year, he could study in Turkey which has offered him a scholarship. Hence, his only ‘propaganda’ (for giving byte to Times of India) was to get a passport which he has been applying for since 2013.

While it is possible that Ghalib may have changed his statement later, the fact remains that by playing up his statements, the Lutyen’s gang appears to be more interested in whitewashing Afzal Guru himself through his son.

Apparently, this is not the first time Times of India has tried to whitewash his views earlier too. Celebrity ‘journalist’ with questionable credibility Sagarika Ghose in 2016 had reported that the jeans-clad, Eminem fan, Ghalib wants to be a doctor by studying in AIIMS.

Sagarika on Afzal Guru’s son

Creating a romanticised version of Ghalib Guru, Sagarika was speaking to Ghalib soon after the Pathankot terror attack, which again was carried out by terrorists who wanted to avenge Ghalib’s father, Afzal’s death. She says that Ghalib has nothing to do with ‘Azaadi sentiment’ because he just wants to become a doctor, trying to portray that he was against the terror attacks being carried out in his father’s name.

However, in later part of the same article, when asked in as many words on what does he think about the Pathankot attack, he gives the politically correct answer by saying that no one should harm others, followed by a disclaimer that “if the Indian government has done something wrong then they will be punished.”

Ghalib Guru on Pathankot attacks

Clearly, Ghalib Guru believes not only that the Indian state and the Indian government have wronged his family and Kashmir, but that the Indian state should be “punished” too. And now he has expressed displeasure at being painted a proud Indian.

Afzal Guru, the terrorist convicted of the December 2001 Parliament attack was hanged on 9th February 2013. Afzal Guru has been an ‘inspiration’ of a sort for many terrorists who have taken to terrorism and joined various terror outfits. In fact, Adil Ahmed Dar, the suicide bomber who carried out the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama also belonged to the ‘Afzal Guru suicide squad’ arm of the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

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