Home Blog Page 6590

Foreign trips and MoUs signed: Read how 5 years of Modi trumps 10 years of Manmohan Singh

Dhairya Roy
-
0
Foreign trips and MoUs signed: Read how 5 years of Modi trumps 10 years of Manmohan Singh

Introduction

Foreign trips usually mean tourism, business or education but for a few, it means diplomacy, trade and international relations. These people occupy the highest chairs in their respective nations. Leaders often visit foreign countries and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no different. But sometimes, unfortunately, these foreign trips become a pointless political debate. Whether it was the PM Modi’s visit to the white house or a surprise visit to Pakistan, he was often blamed of ‘wasting the country’s resources for photo-ops’ or ‘publicity’. His critics don’t seem to fully understand or appreciate the strategic importance of these visits. These debates claim that Modi has taken more trips during his 5-year tenure than what Dr Manmohan Singh has taken in 10 years of his tenure.

In this article, we will do an impact assessment of foreign trips by our current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and evaluate their effectiveness for our country.

To study the effectiveness, apart from a number of trips, we need to look at other factors such as which PM has a higher count of signing MoUs, who had more impact on their visits and cost analysis of total trips. So we shall see both the reports presented and compare the statistics in conclusion.

Manmohan Singh Trips to Foreign Countries:

Mr Manmohan Singh served for two terms and made 200 trips to foreign nations. Many of these trips were either conferences or summits. The important ones are mentioned below. This includes an agreement with Ethiopia regarding tax policy and industrial development in Ethiopia.

Country: Ethiopia

Date: 23-25 May 2011

MoUs Signed:

  • Agreement between India and Ethiopia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income
  • MOU between National Small Industries Corporation, India and Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency, Ethiopia for mutual cooperation for the development of small industries in Ethiopia

Country: Myanmar

Date: 27-29 May 2012

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on India-Myanmar Border Area Development
  • MoU for Establishment of the Advance Centre for Agriculture Research and Education(ACARE), Yezin Agriculture University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
  • MoU on the Establishment of a Rice Bio Park (Paddy and Rural Prosperity) at

Department of Agriculture Research Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

  • MoU on Establishing Border Haats across the Border between India and Myanmar
  • MoU on the establishment of Joint Trade and Investment Forum
  • Agreement on Cooperation between the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) and Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies (MISIS)
  • MoU regarding a USD 500 million Credit Line between Export-Import Bank of India and Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank.
  • MoU between Calcutta University, Kolkata, and Dagon University, Yangon
  • MoU on cooperation between the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies (MISIS)

Country: Germany

Date: 10-12 April 2013

MoUs Signed:

  • JDI between HRD ministry and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany regarding promotion of German as a foreign language in India
  • Intergovernmental MoU between India & Germany on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education
  • JDI on Indo-German cooperation in the area of Civil Security Research
  • JDI Department of Agriculture & Cooperation of India and the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
  • JDI by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution of India and Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany on the Establishment of an Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure for Cooperation in Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Product Safety.
  • JDI between Germany and India on Indo-German Development Cooperation regarding the Establishment of Green Energy Corridors

Country: Thailand

Date: 29-31 May 2013

MoUs Signed:

  • Treaty Between The Republic of India and The Kingdom of Thailand on Extradition
  • MoU between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the Establishment of the India – Thailand Exchange Programme
  • MoU between Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency and Survey of India for cooperation in the field of Mapping and Geospatial Technology Applications
  • MoU between Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency and National Atlas and Thematic Organization for cooperation in the field of Mapping and Geospatial Technology Applications.
  • MoU between Financial Intelligence Unit, India and Anti Money Laundering Organization, Thailand on Cooperation in the exchange of Intelligence related to Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing
  • MoU between Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Thammasat University on the establishment of the ICCR Hindi Chair of Indian Studies (Hindi Language).

Country: Indonesia

Date: 11-12 October 2013

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia on Health Cooperation
  • MoU between the Central Vigilance Commission of the Republic of India and Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi of the Republic of Indonesia for International Cooperation on Combating Corruption
  • MoU between the Narcotics Control Board of the Republic of India and the National Narcotics Board of the Republic of Indonesia on Combating Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics, Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors
  • MoU between the National Disaster Management Authority of the Republic of India and the National Agency for Disaster Management of the Republic of Indonesia on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Management
  • MoU between Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, India and National Institute of Public Administration, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • MoU between Indian Council of World Affairs, India and the Indonesian Council of World Affairs, Indonesia

Country: China

Date: 22-24 October 2013

MoUs Signed:

  • Agreement on Border Defence Cooperation
  • MoU on Nalanda University
  • MoU to Strengthen Cooperation on Trans-Border Rivers
  • MoU on Cooperation in Road Transport and Highways
  • MoU on Power Equipment Service Centres in India
  • Agreement between Delhi-Beijing on the establishment of Sister City Relationship
  • Agreement between Bengaluru – Chengdu on Establishment of Sister City Relationship
  • Agreement between Kolkata – Kunming on Establishment of Sister City Relationship

Country: Myanmar

Date: 3-4 March 2014

MoUs Signed:

  • MoA on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat
  • MoA Among BIMSTEC Member Countries Concerning Establishment of a BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate
  • MoU on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission (BCIC) and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory (BCIO)

Manmohan Singh had managed to construct a solid framework within which foreign policy initiatives were pursued by his government. Some of the major steps taken during his tenure included the civil nuclear cooperation with US, India-ASEAN free trade, border talks with China and negotiations on Kashmir with the then President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The India-Japan relations had lost some of its momentum after Shinzo Abe was out of power.

Manmohan Singh was of the opinion that India’s economic rise and its regional and global profile would increase India’s standing within the international community. Manmohan Singh also stressed that the foreign policy should evolve from time to time in response to the changing realities of the world. He emphasized on India’s economic interests, its economic relations with the other Asian economies, other developing and developed economies to shape Indian Foreign Policy

One notable observation in the above table is that Manmohan Singh had signed multiple MoUs with Myanmar regarding Trade, Border security and agriculture. But this wasn’t effective to keep out Rohingya refugees and created a massive refugee crisis within Indian borders.

MoUs were signed with China for border security, trans-border rivers and development of sister relations of Indian cities with Chinese cities. These cities included Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. However, these cities continue to face the challenges of pollution, traffic congestion and encroachments irrespective of any pacts being associated with them.

If we analyze the visits of the former prime minister, he has travelled a lot but much of his overseas trips have failed to create any association with the foreign nations. Considering his reign of 10 years, his work could have tilted towards Asian Summits which deals with more important matters like climate control, peace treaties and global policies.

We can say that Manmohan Singh has failed to create an impact that India needed to convert with benefits from other nations. We are talking here about the most qualified prime minister across the World, who once changed the financial policies of our nation to provide us stability in distressed times.

Modi Wave

The onset of the Modi government saw a great appeal for overseas relationships. We will be including only the major ones below.

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2014

Country: Myanmar

Date: 11–13 Nov

MoUs Signed:

  • MOA on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat
  • MOA Among BIMSTEC Member Countries Concerning Establishment of a BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate
  • MoU on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission (BCIC) and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory (BCIO)

Country: Fiji

Date: 19 Nov

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Cooperation on the exchange of information on structure and content of training programs for diplomats
  • MoU on earmarking of land for the Diplomatic Missions in respective capitals.
  • MoU for extending a Line of Credit for establishing a Co-Generation Plant in Fiji

Country: Nepal

Date: 25 Nov

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Nepal Police Academy (NPA)
  • MoU on Tourism
  • MoU Traditional Medicines
  • MoU on Youth Exchange
  • LoC US$ 1 billion Agreement
  • Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA)
  • MoU on PDA for ARUN III
  • Twin City Agreement between Ayodhya-Janakpur
  • Twin City Agreement between Kathmandu-Varanasi
  • Twin City Agreement between Lumbini-Bodh Gaya

Few of the notable initiatives started included the establishment of a permanent secretariat, Centre for weather and climate and Cultural Industries Commission and Observatory with BIMSTEC. Memorandums of Association were signed for same at East Asia summit at Myanmar in Nov 2014. Additionally, few twin city agreements were signed with Nepal to provide aid and cooperation between Nepalese and Indian cities.

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2015

Country: Seychelles

Date: 10–11 March

MoUs Signed:

As part of “Indian Ocean outreach” program to strengthen maritime ties and enhance bilateral development and cooperation

Country: Mauritius

Date: 11–13 March

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU between India and Republic of Mauritius in the field of Ocean Economy
  • The protocol between the concerned Agricultural departments of two nations for the importation of fresh mango from India
  • MoU for the Improvement in Sea and Air Transportation Facilities at Agalega Island of Mauritius
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy

Country: China

Date: 14–16 May

MoUs Signed:

  • MOU to jointly setup Photovoltaic (PV) Industry Park in India.
  • Tripartite MoU in the renewable energy sector
  • MoU to set up a Solar Cell and module manufacturing facility
  • MoU to generate 5,000 MW of solar power in the next five years as well as manufacturing of solar modules.
  • Master plan MoU on 2000 acre Industrial Park in Kakinada SEZ for hi-end Chinese equipment manufacturers
  • MoU for project financing
  • MoU for the credit facility
  • MoU on the development of potential projects
  • MoU to jointly build “China-India Information Service Industry Corridor”
  • MoU for cooperation in IT Sector Partnership MoU

Country:   Mongolia

Date: 16–17 May

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy
  • MoU on Establishment of Cyber Security Training Centre
  • MoU on Establishment of India-Mongolia Joint Friendship School in Mongolia
  • MoU for Cooperation between the National Security Council of both the nations
  • MoU on Cooperation between the Ministry of External Affairs of both the nations
  • MoU between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of both the nations
  • MoU between the 2 countries on enhancing cooperation between the border guarding forces
  • MoU between the Tata Memorial Centre of India and the National Cancer Center of Mongolia for Gifting Bhabhatron-II Tele-therapy Unit along with a Radiotherapy Simulator
  • MoU between the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia

Country: South Korea

Date: 18–19 May

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU for Cooperation between the National Security Council Secretariat of the Republic of India and the Office of National Security of the Republic of Korea.
  • MoU between both the nations concerning Cooperation in the field of Electric Power Development and New Energy Industries.
  • MoU between both the nations on Cooperation in Youth Matters.
  • MoU between both the nations on Cooperation in the Fields of Maritime Transport and Logistics

Country: Turkmenistan

Date: 10–11 July

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on the supply of Chemical Products between ‘Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited’ and ‘Turkmenhimiya.’
  • MoU regarding the Foreign Service between both nations
  • MoU between both the Governments on Cooperation in Yoga and Traditional Medicine.
  • MoU between both the Governments on Cooperation in the field of Tourism.

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Date: 12 July

MoUs Signed:

  • Memorandum of Mutual Understanding and Cooperation in the field of Elections
  • MoU between the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on cooperation in the sphere of Standards.

Country: Singapore

Date: 23–25 November

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security.
  • MoU between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) in Civil Aviation
  • MoU between NITI Aayog and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) on Cooperation in the Field of Planning
  • MoU between the Narcotics Bureaus of both the nations to Combat Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substance and their Precursors
  • MoU between the between Planning Organizations of both the nations in the Field of Urban Planning and Governance

Country: Russia

Date: 23–25 November

MoUs Signed

  • MoU between the Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India and the Joint Stock company “Russian Railways” on technical cooperation in the railway sector
  • MoU between Solar Energy Corporation of India and Russian Energy Agency regarding construction of solar energy plants in the Republic of India
  • MoU for cooperation between HEC & CNIITMASH for development of Centre of Excellence for heavy engineering design at HEC
  • MoU for cooperation between HEC & CNIITMASH for upgradation and modernization of HEC’s manufacturing facilities
  • MoU Between Prasar Bharati and Digital Television Russia on Cooperation in the field of Broadcasting
  • MoU in the field of investment cooperation in the Russian Far East
  • MoU for Cooperation for geologic survey, exploration and production of hydrocarbons onshore and on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation
  • MoU for Cooperation for geologic survey, exploration and production of hydrocarbons onshore the Russian Federation between Rosneft oil company, Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

In 2015 Narendra Modi went on to explore new countries with which India didn’t establish a prior relationship. Modi went to Seychelles and started the Indian Ocean Outreach program to strengthen maritime ties and extended relationship with Mauritius for improvement in Sea Transportation facilities.

Later Narendra Modi visited China. The visit to China saw some crucial MoUs being signed which included association in setting up solar energy module manufacturing facility at India and manufacturing of hi-end Chinese device manufacturing. This was followed by a visit to adjoining countries that included Mongolia and South Korea. In Mongolia, the deals signed focused on the field of Medicine, Modern education and border security. The MoUs signed here geared strategic influence considering the location of Mongolia with bordering nations. To establish an association in the Far East, Narendra Modi struck up a deal with South Korea for Cooperation on national security and Electric power generation. To establish an association with Superpower Modi also signed MoU with Russia, on Technical Cooperation in the railway sector, and technology in oil extraction.

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2016

Country: Saudi Arabia

Date: 2–3 April

MoUs Signed:

MoU between Financial Intelligence Unit of both nations concerning Cooperation in the Exchange of Intelligence related to Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Related Crime

Country: Iran

Date: 22–23 May

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU between Foreign ministres on Policy Dialogue between Governments and Interaction between Think Tanks
  • MoU between Foreign Service Institute, MEA and the School of International Relations, Iran’s MoFA
  • MoU between Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Islamic Culture and Relations Organizations of the IR Iran
  • MoU between EXIM Bank and Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization [PMO] on current specific terms for the Chabahar Port project
  • MoU between ECGC [Export Credit Guarantee Corporation] Limited of India and the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI)
  • MoU between National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) and the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO)
  • MoU between IRCON and Construction, Development of Transport and Infrastructure Company (CDTIC) of Iran
  • MoU for cooperation between the National Archives of India and the National Library and Archives Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Country: Qatar

Date: 4–5 June

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters between both Governments
  • MoU concerning cooperation in the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering, terrorism-financing and related crimes
  • MoU for Cooperation in Skill Development and Recognition of Qualifications
  • MoU on cooperation in Tourism between both Governments
  • MOU between India & Qatar for Cooperation in the field of Health
  • The First Executive Programme for MoU in the field of Youth and Sports between both the governments

Country: Mozambique

Date: 7 July

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU between India and Mozambique on drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances
  • MoU between both governments in the field of Youth Affairs and Sports
  • Long-term agreement for the purchase of pulses from Mozambique.

Country: South Africa

Date: 8-9 July

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on ICT
  • MoU on Tourism
  • MoU on Grass Root Innovation (S&T)

Country: Tanzania

Date: 10 July

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of water resource management and development between the two countries
  • MoU on Visa waiver agreement for Diplomatic/Official passport holders between the two countries
  • MoU between both the Governments for Establishment of Vocational Training Centre at Zanzibar

Country: Kenya

Date: 11 July

MoUs Signed:

  • MoU on Defence Cooperation
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of standardization, expertise sharing and mutual trade between Bureau of Indian Standards and Bureau of Kenya Standards
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of National Housing Policy Development and Management

Country: Japan

Date: 11-12 November

MoUs Signed:

  • Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on the Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Program
  • MoC on Cooperation in Sports
  • MoU between ISRO and JAXA concerning Cooperation in the Field of Outer Space
  • MoU on Mutual Collaboration in Marine and Earth Science and Technology
  • MoC in the Field of Agriculture and Food Related Industry
  • MoU for Transport and Urban Development
  • MoU between concerned Field of Textiles

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2017

Country: Spain

Date: 30–31 May

MoUs Signed

  • MOU on Technical Cooperation in Civil Aviation
  • MOU on Cooperation in organ transplantation
  • MOU on Cooperation in Cyber Security
  • MOU on Cooperation in Renewable Energy
  • MOU between the Foreign Service Institute and Diplomatic Academy of Spain

Country: Russia

Date: 31 May–2 June

MoUs Signed

Memorandum of cooperation between ALROSA Joint Stock Company (Public Joint Stock Company) and the Council for the Promotion of the Export of Precious Stones and Jewellery of India

Country: Israel

Date: 4–6 July

MoUs Signed

  • MoU For setting up of India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F).
  • MoU on National Campaign for Water Conservation in India
  • MoU on State Water Utility Reform in India
  • MoU between the ISRO) and the Israel Space Agency (ISA)regarding cooperation in GEO-LEO Optical Link
  • MoU between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) regarding cooperation in Electric Propulsion for Small Satellites

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2018

Country: United Arab Emirates

Date: 10–11 Feb

MoUs Signed

  • MOU between Indian Consortium (OVL, BPRL & IOCL) and ADNOC
  • MoU between Ministry of Railways, India and Federal Transport Authority-Land & Maritime of UAE
  • MoU between Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)
  • MoU between Government of Jammu and Kashmir and DP World

Country: Oman

Date: 11–12 Feb

MoUs Signed

  • MoU on Academic and Scholarly cooperation sectors between Defence Institutes
  • MoU in the field of Tourism cooperation between India and Oman
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of health
  • MoU on Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
  • MoU on Cooperation between Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of External Affairs, India and Oman Diplomatic Institute.

Country: Indonesia

Date: 29 May

MoUs Signed

  • MOU between India and Indonesia on Scientific and Technological Cooperation
  • MOU between India and Indonesia on Technical Cooperation in the Railways sector
  • MOU between India and Indonesia on Health Cooperation
  • MoU between Indian and Indonesia on Pharmaceutical, Biological and Cosmetics Regulatory Functions
  • MOU on Policy dialogue between two Governments and Interaction between Think Tanks

Country: South Africa

Date: 25–27 July

MoUs Signed

  • MoU on Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Education.
  • MoU regarding the Setting up of the “Gandhi Mandela Centre of Specialization for Artisan Skills” in South Africa.
  • MoU on Cooperation in the Exploration and uses of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes.

MoUs signed by Narendra Modi in 2019

Country: Saudi Arabia

Date: 20 Feb

MoUs Signed

  • MoU on Investing in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of Tourism
  • MoU on Cooperation in the field of Housing
  • MoU on Cooperation of Broadcasting for the exchange of audio-visual programme
Countrywise comparison

In 2016 Narendra Modi covered the majority of Arab countries and the African continent. In Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Modi signed MoU concerned with Financial Intelligence between two nations in order to curb financial malpractices and reduce terrorism. While MoUs with Iran involved Development of Port infrastructure and Trade exports. The step was a crucial boost in promoting trade with Iran. During the same time, Modi signed MoUs between India and Mozambique for cooperation and mutual assistance with customs on the reduction of drug demand and narcotics drug prevention. MoUs were signed with Kenya regarding the strengthening of defence and mutual trade corporation. The year ended with a visit to Japan where Modi signed MoUs in areas like skill development, Sports, earth science and technology and outer space technology

In 2016, Modi signed some crucial MoUs with Spain and Russia. MoU with Spain included cooperation in civil aviation, organ transplantation, cybersecurity and foreign services. A crucial MoU with Russia was established for the promotion of export of precious stones and Jewelry from India.

In 2017 Narendra Modi created history by being the first ever Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. The MoUs signed at Israel included enlightened some essential relations between India and Israel. This included areas like Technical innovation. Research and Development, Water conservation reforms and space technology.

Lastly, In 2018, Modi started with a visit to UAE and Oman. The MoUs with these nations between Oil trade, railway trade, stock exchange policies and defence cooperation. In South Africa, Modi signed MoU regarding agricultural research. Another MoU was also signed to set up Gandhi Mandela Centre in Africa specializing in artisan skills.

Conclusion

We present a table below comparing the number of total trips and countries visited by Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. The table below gives region wise breakup of trips made by Manmohan Singh during his two terms and by Narendra Modi in during his present term.

Trips to countries

As we conclude, there are a few key points every Indian and every voter must be cognizant of:-

  1. Total number of trips made by Modi is 94 which is in fact even lower than the total trips made by Dr Singh in UPA-2’s regime
  2. In his tenure, Narendra Modi has ensured that he clubs the visit to nearby nations saving the country immense time and money. For instance, in 2015 Modi visited China between 14th-16thMay but also covered South Korea and Mongolia in the same week unlike others who made no such attempt
  3. In terms of signing international deals, Narendra Modi has delivered 322% more than Manmohan Singh (Narendra Modi- 129 MoUs and Manmohan Singh – 40 MoUs) at only 18% additional costs (Narendra Modi 42 Cr and 35.4 Cr).
  4. In his trips, Modi has covered 30% more nations further expanding and enriching India’s global presence and footprint
  5. The past 4 years have seen a drastic improvement in India’s bilateral ties with major nations such as the US, UK, Russia, Israel and Japan.
Countries visited by both the PMs

6. Apart from the numbers or the quantitative aspect (number of trips, countries visited etc.), Modi has achieved remarkable success at the qualitative aspects of the trips measured by our bilateral relations, international support, number of MoUs, trade ties etc.

  1. There are 10 countries including major economies such as Spain, Australia, Switzerland that have been visited after 10 years by an Indian Prime Minister
  2. It is for the first time that an Indian PM visited Israel- a country whose intellectual prowess, strategic importance and global influence, even the US takes note of. Modi’s visit to Israel yielded multifarious benefits including but not limited to collaboration in the startup ecosystem, defence ties, improved relations and cooperation.

(Note: We have tried to cover all the important MoUs signed by both the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Modi. We have not included the recent MoUs signed by Prime Minister Modi in his visit to South Korea. We have sourced our information from publicly available references. If we have missed an important MoU signed either by former PM Manmohan Singh or PM Modi, we would be obliged to incorporate the information in this article if brought to our notice.)

India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, highest in the last 16 months: EPFO data

OpIndia Staff
-
0
India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, highest in the last 16 months: EPFO data

With the Indian job generation steadily escalating under the present government’s initiatives, the latest EPFO payroll data has revealed that India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, reports Business Today.

This is also been recorded as the highest in the last sixteen months. Data revealed that between the month of September 2017 to December 2018, 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This meant that these many new jobs were created in the organised sector of the Indian economy.

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation manages social security funds of workers in the organized/semi-organized sector in India. It has more than 6 crore active members (with an at least one-month contribution during the year).

The EPFO, under the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI), releases employment-related statistics in using data on the number of beneficiaries enrolled under schemes like EPFO, ESIC and NPS. The data is provisional and subjected to periodic revision as updating of employees records is a continuous process and gets updated in subsequent months.

The central government under the governance of Narendra Modi seems to be walking the talk when it comes to creating more job opportunities in the country.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 August 2016, NDA government’s flagship employment scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), had crossed the magic numbers of one crore beneficiaries on 14 January 2019.

Under the PMRPY government encourages employers to hire more people and promote employment in the country.

Under the scheme, the government pays the entire employers’ contribution of twelve percent (towards both Employees’ Provident Fund and Employees’ Pension Scheme), for three years. These benefits are only applicable for new employees hired on or after 1 April 2016, registered with the EPFO and with salaries less than Rs 15,000 per month.

Goa DGP warns against Amazon Alexa, UC Browser, calls them biggest spies

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Goa DGP warns against Amazon Alexa, UC Browser, calls them biggest spies

Goa DGP Muktesh Chander while speaking at a seminar on cybersecurity on Thursday warned people against excessive use of Alexa and mobile apps. He said that these apps act as spies as they collect private information of people.

DGP Chander, who has also served as Centre Director of cyber division of National Technical Research Centre, said that Alexa listens to everything and passes it on to Amazon. “And what Alexa does. All the time it is listening. Everything. Every word you are saying, Alexa is listening and passing it on to Amazon. What can be a bigger spy than this?” he stressed.

DGP Chander also warned about the popular Pakistani music website songs.pk. He said that there is a reason why this website provides sound free of cost and that is because this site promotes UC web browser which is a “compromised Chinese-made browser”. “Sounds.pk… PK are Pakistani sites. Why are they giving sounds free of cost? All of a sudden if you are trying on mobile, one thing is bound to come up… UC browser.” He further said, “Because UC browser is… a Chinese browser. It is collecting all the information. So there is a hidden agenda”.

As Alexa works on voice command, it continuously remains in listening mode. Moreover, it has been found that the devices also record sounds it hears, and sends them to Amazon servers, without the knowledge of users. It has raised privacy concerns about the service.

Alexa is a virtual assistant developed by Amazon which is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts and providing other information like weather, traffic, sports and news. It can also work as home automation system.

Although the DGP warned about the Pakistani site promoting UC browser, most phones used in India already have this browser already installed. UC browser is the second most used browser in India, only after Chrome. This browser comes preloaded in most low-end smart and feature phones, as this Java-based browser works well on such phones. Till a few years ago, it was the most used browser in India for several years, until Google Chrome overtook it due to the proliferation of more powerful Android devices in the country. UC Browser is developed by Chinese mobile Internet company UCWeb, which is owned by the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

This is why Neena Gupta wants no one to wish Pritish Nandy even a Happy Birthday

OpIndia Staff
-
0
This is why Neena Gupta wants no one to wish Pritish Nandy even a Happy Birthday

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Pritish Nandy, who is actually born on 15th January, was being wished birthday wishes yesterday, on 21st February. Among others, media personality Raj Nayak took to Twitter to wish him as well.


However, actor Neena Gupta was not too happy to see the wishes.


Reacting to Nayak’s tweet, Gupta said how Nayak does not know of ‘horrible thing’ Pritish Nandy did to her. In the cryptic message, she added that she also has proof of that. And that if Nayak was her friend, he would not wish anything happy for Nandy.

Read also: #MeToo : Pritish Nandy’s son Kushan Nandy accused of harassment by actor Chitrangada Singh

Curious, we tried to find out what was it that Nandy did that has hurt Gupta so much that she does not wish anything happy for him.

We came across multiple tweets where it was accused that Nandy had ‘stolen’ the birth certificate of Neena Gupta’s daughter Masaba to publish in a report and ‘prove’ that Masaba was former West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards’ daughter.


We decided to dig a little deeper. In 1989, Neena Gupta gave birth to a girl. Newspapers were ‘aghast‘ since she had not told the world the name of the father. She kept her lips tightly sealed over who the father was, until Pritish Nandy hounded her and published a copy of Masaba’s birth certificate in The Illustrated Weekly of India, a magazine he edited.

At around 5:45 minutes mark in the above YouTube clip, Gupta speaks about a ‘journalist’, ‘editor of a big mazagine’, who went and stole the birth certificate from the registrar’s office. She says she called him (presumably Nandy) a ‘bas*ard’. Since he (Nandy) got Masaba’s birth certificate by sending his associate to steal it.

Turns out, Gupta’s aunt had submitted the documents at the registrar’s office, and the registrar asked her to come after a week to collect the certificate. A week later, when her aunt went to collect it, the registrar said that the certificate was already collected by Neena Gupta’s relative. Nandy had sent his associate to collect the certificate and he then went ahead and published it in his magazine.

Essentially, Nandy infringed Masaba Gupta’s privacy along with Neena Gupta’s and tried to shame Neena on a national and international platform for having a child as an unwed mother. In a society where a child born to an unwed mother is still stigmatized along with the mother, this is an extremely shallow and perverse thing one could do.

Ironically, Pritish Nandy regularly dishes out gyaan on privacy and laws related to privacy on Twitter.


Read also: Statue of all ironies: Pritish Nandy uses example of fake news to spread fake news

While writing this article, we actually discovered that Pritish’s birthday actually falls on 15th January and not on 21st February. Yesterday, he was replying to a 15th January wish by abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi when the avalanche of belated birthday wishes came through.


Perhaps it is time for Nandy to publish a copy of another birth certificate: his own.

It appears Pakistan is scared of India: Masood Azhar’s veiled threat to Imran Khan against any govt action

OpIndia Staff
-
0
It appears Pakistan is scared of India: Masood Azhar’s veiled threat to Imran Khan against any govt action

According to reports, Chief of UN-designated terrorist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad, Masood Azhar, has warned the Pakistani government against taking action against him due to pressure from the Indian government in the aftermath of the Pulwama Terror Attack.

He is reported to have said in his weekly address, ”Pakistan’s response to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s threats post-Pulwama was rather lukewarm and lackluster. It appears Pakistan is scared of India.”

Azhar stated further, “If the government of Pakistan remains strong, Modi will go further backward. But if our government comes under the pressure of Modi and accepts some of his demands, it can help him regain his position.”

In the video that is reported to be circulating widely in Kashmir, Azhar spoke about the “Hindu mindset” as well. “Some people are saying this attack will help Narendra Modi in his election campaign. This is not true. People who think so don’t understand India’s politics nor are they aware of the Hindu mindset. This has sent his popularity to the graveyard. He was making hullaballoo about the elimination of militant ranks by operation all-out. So how did this attack happen?”

Meanwhile, Pakistan has reinstated its ban on Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ul-Dawa (JuD) and its surrogate, the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), something which it does every once in a while as part of its posturing.


This time around, the posturing appears to be connected with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) discussion where it will try to avoid being blacklisted. It’s already in the FATF grey list which indicates countries under ‘high-risk and other monitored jurisdiction’.

PM Modi contributes the monetary award of ₹1.3 crore offered to him along with Seoul Peace Prize for Namami Gange initiative

OpIndia Staff
-
0
PM Modi contributes the monetary award of ₹1.3 crore offered to him along with Seoul Peace Prize for Namami Gange initiative

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he would contribute the monetary reward of the Seoul Peace prize that he was awarded yesterday, amounting to ₹1.3 crores, for the Namami Gange initiative. He made the announcement while addressing the media and dignitaries after receiving the Seoul Peace prize in South Korea.


Modi said that this award is a recognition of the philosophy that has given the message of ‘vasudhyo kutumbh kambh’ meaning ‘the entire world is one family’. This award is for people who have always put societal good over individual ambitions and I’m honoured that this award is conferred on me”, Modi said after accepting the 14th Seoul Peace Prize.

Addressing the media Modi dedicated the award to all his countrymen saying, “I believe that this award belongs not to me personally, but to the people of India. The success that India has achieved in the last 5 years is due to aspirations, inspiration & efforts of the people of India. On their behalf, I accept the Award and express my gratitude.”

“I dedicate this award to the 1.3 billion people of India for giving me the opportunity to serve them. I am honoured that this award is being conferred on me in the year that we celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,” furthered PM Narendra Modi.

Modi continued saying, “The Seoul Peace Prize was established to commemorate the success of the 24th Summer Olympics held in Seoul in 1988. India remembers the games since it ended on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. The games showcased the best of Korean culture, the warmth of Korean hospitality & success of the Korean economy.”

Modi stressed on the importance of the Olympic games as he said that the 1988 Olympics were a landmark as it was held when the world was going through many socio-economic changes.

He said that though the World has gone through several changes since 1988, as global poverty has been steadily falling, health care and education outcome has been improving yet several daunting global challenges remain. He spoke about the threat of climatic changes to humankind. Radicalisation and terrorism are the biggest threat globally and millions of people in the world still remain deprived of basic food, health care, power, sanitation and above all dignity of life.

He said that there is a lot more to be done still and India is doing her part. India is today the fastest growing economy in the world. This has only been possible due to the flagship initiatives taken, which includes Made in India, Digital India, Skill India and Clean India which have contributed considerably in India’s socio-economic growth, asserted Modi.

Due to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the sanitation coverage up from 38 per cent in 2014 to 98 per cent today. Modi went on to speak about all the initiatives which have contributed to the holistic development of India.

“India’s growth story is not only good for the people of India but also for the entire world. We live in an increasingly interconnected world. Our growth and prosperity will inevitably contribute to global growth and development”, said Modi asserting that “India, as a responsible member of the international community, has been in the forefront of our collective fight against climate change. Despite having a historically low carbon footprint, India has been playing an active role in the global fight against climate change”.

On International plain India has partnered with like-minded countries to launch the international solar alliance which aims to harness clean and unlimited solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, said the PM.

Modi said that we have extended our helping hand to countries in need and carried out operations in conflict zones rescuing not only Indians but many people of various nationalities and have been an active and considerate developing partners to other developing countries.

Modi proudly asserted that India has been the land of peace for ages. The people of India have practised the concept of harmonious coexistence for thousands of years. India is proud to be one of the most diverse nations in the world.

Modi said the like Korea India has also suffered from the pain of cross-border strike. Our endeavour for peaceful development has too often been derailed by cross-border terrorism.

Modi in strong words demanded that the time has come for all those who believe in humanity to join hands to completely eradicate terrorist network and their financial supply channels and their counter-terrorist ideologies and propaganda. Only by doing so Modi said hate can be replaced with harmony, destruction with development and transform the landscape of violence and vendetta into a postcard for peace.

The full speech can be watched below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq8KojkGVLo]

Prime Minister Modi has embarked on a two-day visit to South Korea, from 21st to 22nd February. In addition to several bilateral meetings, PM Modi was conferred with the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize.

PM Modi is the fourteenth recipient of the award. Past recipients include Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the eighth-secretary-general of the United Nations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and organizations like Doctors without Borders. 

In January this year, PM Modi was conferred with first ever Philip Kotler Presidential award for outstanding leadership. Last year, The United Nations had also awarded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emanuel Macron with 2018 ‘Champions of the Earth Awards’. PM Narendra Modi was lauded for his “unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.”

After India’s diplomatic win, Pakistan media changes the UNSC statement to suit its false narrative on Pulwama attack

OpIndia Staff
-
0
After India’s diplomatic win, Pakistan media changes the UNSC statement to suit its false narrative on Pulwama attack

After the UNSC issued a strong statement against the Pulwama terrorist attack and named JeM, thereby registering a major diplomatic win for India, media in Pakistan has resorted to obfuscation and twisting the statement to suit their fundamentalist narratives.

A report published by Geo TV had the headline, “UNSC condemns Pulwama attack, rebuffs India’s efforts to implicate Pakistan”.

Geo TV report

The report of Pakistan Media Geo TV slyly mentions Kashmir as ‘Indian administered Kashmir, while the UNSC statement had clearly mentioned ‘Jammu and Kashmir’, which was hailed by a major diplomatic win by experts in India.

In another attempt to perhaps please the fundamentalist elements in Pakistan, the Geo TV report does not mention the name of the Islamist terrorist organisation Jaish–Mohammad, which had claimed the responsibility for the attack.

The UNSC statement had clearly mentioned JeM by its name. The Geo TV report, went ahead to change the exact UNSC statement and mentioned ‘occupied Kashmir’ in their report, which is a blatant lie.

Geo TV report on UNSC statement

The full statement by the UNSC is as follows:

The statement issued by UNSC

It is evident by the blatant twisting and misrepresentation of facts by Geo TV that the Pakistan administration and media are busy ignoring the truth and keeping their public misinformed over the global perception of their own country.

The headline of the Geo TV report mentioned ‘Rebuffs India’s attempts to implicate Pakistan’. However, the UNSC statement actually contained no such mention, instead, the statement had mentioned that the UNSC urges all its member states to cooperate with India to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

It seems that even after another global humiliation, Pakistan is yet to learn its lessons and continues to keep appeasing fundamentalist elements that aid and propagate terror organisations on its own soil.

Congress deletes video where Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing shortly after the Pulwama attack

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress deletes video where Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing shortly after the Pulwama attack

The ghastly Pulwama terror attack left the entire nation in a state of mourning. Pakistan sponsored Jaish-e-Mohammad carried out a suicide attack against a convoy of Indian soldiers that ended up claiming the lives of 44 CRPF men. The nation had not even come to terms with the gravity of the situation when Congress and Rahul Gandhi started their politics.

Congress and Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and also conducted a press conference accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of clicking photographs and selfies in Jim Corbett while the nation mourned the martyrs. OpIndia had comprehensively fact-checked this lie.

The photographs of Modi’s visit to the Corbett National park was already published by media around 2 PM, which means the photos were actually taken before 2 PM. And as Modi spent only about half an hour in the forest area, this means he had already returned from his forest visit before verified information about the attack may have reached him. Therefore, the allegation that PM Modi was doing a photo shoot in the forest after the Pulwama attack is a lie, which adds to the never-ending list of lies being propagated by Rahul Gandhi.

After Rahul Gandhi spread lies and played politics over the martyrs of Pulwama terror attack, Congress ended up deleting a tweet that exposed not only Rahul Gandhi’s duplicity, but also how he was celebrating and dancing hours after the Pulwama terror attack.

At 4:45 PM, the official Twitter handle of Congress tweeted a video of Rahul Gandhi dancing and making merry after his political rally in Gujarat.

Tweet by Congress’ official Twitter account on 14th February 2019

Congress tweet read “An incredible amount of love and support showered on Congress President @RahulGandhi in Valsad, Gujarat after his rally”.

The operative word here being ‘AFTER’. Congress’ tweet concedes that Rahul Gandhi was dancing AFTER his political rally in Valsad concluded.

We research a little and tried to ascertain when Rahul Gandhi’s speech had started. From multiple sources, it would seem that Rahul Gandhi’s speech had started a few minutes after 3 PM.

According to Indian Express, the speech started at about 3:18 PM.

The start of Rahul Gandhi’s rally according to Indian Express Live Blog

ANI, at 3:14 PM had tweeted about a woman kissing Rahul Gandhi at his Valsad rally. This incident had taken place before Rahul Gandhi had started speaking at the rally and had just gotten seated at the stage.


Considering the Pulwama attack took place after 3:00 PM and according to Congress’ tweet, Rahul Gandhi danced at with the people after the political rally in Gujarat, it stands to reason that Rahul Gandhi was dancing and making merry hours after the Pulwama terrorist attack.

Therefore, clearly, while Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Modi based on lies, it would appear that Rahul Gandhi himself was making merry while an Islamic terrorist carried out a suicide attack against our jawans. The video, now deleted by the Congress Twitter handle, can be seen here:

This reminds one of the time when after the ghastly terror attack of 26/11 in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi was reportedly partying in his friends Delhi farmhouse.

Credit: India Today

After Congress’ lies against the Prime Minister were exposed, Congress proceeded to delete the tweet where Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing hours after the Pulwama terror attack.

‘Deleted tweet’ notification on Congress’ Tweet

This duplicity of Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi did not escape Netizens. Several political observers commented on Rahul Gandhi dancing after the terror attack.


It is rather shameful that Rahul Gandhi chose to attack and lie about Prime Minister Modi when he himself was dancing hours after 44 of our soldiers laid their lives down in the Pakistan sponsored Pulwama attack.

Terror targeted through social media sites? Censorship and propaganda reach a new level on Reddit India

richa
-
0
Terror targeted through social media sites? Censorship and propaganda reach a new level on Reddit India

Reddit Inc. is an American social media company and is among the top social media networks across the world. After Facebook and Twitter, Reddit has over the years attracted the most number of users and is around the 3rd to 5th most used social networking sites in terms of unique visitors, and enjoys significant userbase in India too. Reddit India, a forum within Reddit designed to discuss all topics related to India has always been a strange place. For a discussion board that was supposedly created to discuss India, one could often read straight up abuse of India and her culture. Much of the blame has been assigned to the moderators of r/India and in particular their track record of censorship.

As early Redditors would remember, Reddit India was mysteriously created the same person who created Reddit Pakistan – u/qgyh2. (Source: r/India in 2012, r/Pakistan in 2012 – The first name in the moderator list was the creator of the sub) However, this person mysteriously disappeared around 8 months back, only to be replaced by much more sinister set of moderators on r/India. And around 2 months back, Reddit had an investment of over $200 mn, from none other than the Chinese censorship major – Tencent. Things have not quite been the same, since then.

Recently a whole host of readers have taken to other forums to publicly complain about the anti-India and pro-Pakistan narratives being dished out on r/India.

One of the readers u/h0ysala had noticed a discussion where a map that was posted was incorrect with what was officially denoted as boundaries by India’s MEA. On letting other readers know that the boundaries were incorrect, u/h0ysala was simply banned with a message “We dont want Bhakts!”

u/h0ysala gets banned for posting the correct map!

In another post, a reader complains that the moderators of r/India have deleted all the content that exposed how anarchy was prevalent in West Bengal!

Just today, yet another reader u/HR12India got mercilessly attacked and banned by the moderators of r/India. Why? Because he had commented something that praised India on another sub! For which the moderators of r/India told them they have the right to not allow anyone who speaks in favour of India!

User banned by r/India

That was it. No warning, no discussion, speaking good things about India meant you were not welcome to post in r/India.

At this rate, one really wonders what is the purpose of r/India, and why it is called r/India if speaking about India’s success was not welcome there!

The purpose however is not that hard to see; for users who have been on reddit for some time only know too well how the moderators of r/India have suppressed pro-India content and instead have blatantly promoted pro-Pakistan content, anti-Hindu propaganda. Many have feared this sub is controlled by either Pakistan agents, or given Tencent’s control of Reddit, Chinese agents. Seeing the propaganda spread on r/India, both don’t seem far fetched.

For example, another user claims that Prime Minster of India Shri Narendra Modi was behind the cowardly Pulwama attacks were over 40 brave Indian Jawaans were martyred by Pakistan based terrorists. In a post titled “Say whatever you want. But I believe that Modi is behind all this“, he makes his wild allegations. This post was never removed or censored by the moderators. Instead it is still up, despite the fact that the person who posted this makes no logical arguments whatsoever, nor provides any facts to back up his claim.

One of the persons replying to this post, u/Daliya_La_ma says “Modi may or may not be behind it but Modi is the biggest beneficiary of this rise in tension and possible subsequent conflict.” Many have suspected this user of being a Pakistan sympathiser. He certainly fits the bill – his account was created only around a month back on14th Jan 2019, right around the time the Chinese company Tencent invested millions into reddit. 

Another user u/xinamongolic replies on the same post that “I have no doubt about it. It all looks organised.” On checking this user’s profile, his account was only created on 9th February 2019 and almost all of his posts are biased against India. Another comment of this same user “xinamongolic” says “Not politicians, but Terrorists and Goondas who spew hatred and create Riots and Murders, as in the BJP party. They are happy this cuz happened, that’s what they needed to boost in the polls.”

Surprisingly, this comment has around 20 upvotes, which indicates somehow 20 people like this comment.

Almost all of this user xinomongolic comments are filled with generic hate and very little substance. In another place he says “Why not? Is there a strict rule that BJP cannot go at any lengths to win elections? They Riot, Murders, use EVM machines, Hate speeches, polarisation and whatever shit you can imagine BJP are Masters in it.”

At this point, another reader u/PB49 replies to him that “You are out of touch with reality if you believe this shit lmao”, which again suspiciously downvoted.

This kind of polarised comments along with suspicious voting patterns leave many regular users of reddit bewildered.

In yet another blatant attempt at censorship, a recent post by u/kashmiriiprincess about the Freedom in the World 2019 report by Freedom House was censored within 15 minutes. The reason? The report showed that India had a better ranking than Pakistan (duh) and surprisingly, even Indian state of Kashmir had a higher ranking than the whole of Pakistan.

Thankfully, we managed to obtain a screenshot of the post:

Report censored within 15 minutes

Its extremely suspicious why the moderators of an Indian forum would remove a post that showcased India has better freedom ratings than Pakistan. Unless of course, the moderator’s priorities lies elsewhere.

Considering all the shady and dubious censorship and propaganda, we can see that at one end, we have people posting positive comments about India who seem to get censored and banned.

At other end, comments that have no basis or facts, seems to get promoted highly if they are against India. Baseless allegations are not removed. All of this, on a forum called r/India.

In fact, many users have brought this suspicious manipulation to the attention of the CEO of Reddit Inc, Steve Huffman.

Very recently, just 5 days back, one user brought to Steve’s attention in graphic detail all the moderation abuse, censorship and propaganda on r/India, including incidents of political bias and apprehensions of Pakistani or Chinese takeover over the moderator accounts. His post got over 100+ upvotes, thus symbolising a large portion of reddit users who agreed with what was said here. Steve’s response? He doesn’t even acknowledge the post!

On the same post, yet another user brought this to Steve’s attention, again to no avail. This was yet again not even acknowledged! Despite the fact that Steve had replied to several comments on the page, he choose to not even acknowledge the pertinent questions relating to moderation abuse on r/India, asked by 2 different users.

At this point, it would not be out of order to conclude that the Reddit CEO is both well aware complicit in this systematic abuse of moderation and publishing of select narratives on a sub that is designed to discuss all aspects of India. As to why this is happening, the truth remains elusive. Best guesses include both Pakistani or Chinese take over, in an attempt to manipulate Indian social media users with elections right around the corner.

Most readers of reddit and citizens of India would, at this point,  request the Indian authorities and law enforcement agencies to take a note of this systematic abuse on such a prominent social media network. Recently, Twitter was hauled in front of the Parliamentary Committee to answer charges of shadow banning selective content, while exhibiting a complete lack of transparency. A similar approach would be appreciated for Reddit Inc as well.

Simultaneously, agencies such as CBI, NIA and State Government cyber crime task forces could also take cognizance of the narratives being stitched together on this site that are patently anti-Indian in nature. In fact it would be pertinent to investigate the accounts posting constant hate and terrorism related content on reddit, to identify if they have any ties with known terror organisations. Over the past week, several anti-social comments have been left across social media by people harbouring terror thoughts against India, and state police across the country have been cracking down on these crimes under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 as well as Sections 120(B), 123, 504, 505 and 507 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

A solution to the reddit problem would help in bringing much needed transparency in one of the top social networks that Indians use today.

Disclaimer: This is the first part of several articles that expose a systematic link between moderators of r/India and anti-national agents and miscreants. The writer is a user of reddit, and was banned from r/India for stating that “India has better space program than several other countries”. The opaque moderation and false narratives being promoted on r/India are documented in detail on r/IndiaDiscussion. The writer suggests other subs such as r/IndiaNews and r/IndiaSpeaks which have much more transparent moderation structure including audit logs of moderator actions.

Legal Note: Reddit being a company registered in United States Of America notifies that it is not bound by laws of India. The writer strongly disagrees with this, as the Information Technology Act and Rules of India mandate every social media company operating in India to follow Indian laws. Reddit is also legally bound to reveal information of perpetrators of crime through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and the United States of America, and Letters Rogatory can be facilitated via the Central Agencies Section of the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Law and Justice of the Government of India. The moderators of r/India have also created a twitter account @RedditIndia which is bound by the laws of India and is required to facilitate disclosure of information sought by any Indian investigative agency.

Madhya Pradesh: Miffed by Kamal Nath govt’s attitude, over 25 Congress MLAs form group against their own government

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Madhya Pradesh: Miffed by Kamal Nath govt’s attitude, over 25 Congress MLAs form group against their own government

Difficult times lie ahead for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Kamal Nath, as almost 25 MLAs from his own party have formed a group to voice their displeasure in the ruling Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

The MLAs who have formed a club against Kamal Nath and his government are displeased because of the Congress government’s attitude and functioning.

According to reports, the MLAs are riffed mainly because they feel that the government have been transferring officers from their constituency without prior consultation or intimation. The high-headedness of Kamal Nath led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has managed to incite its own MLAs who have reportedly started lobbying against their own government.

The association formed by these riled MLAs mostly include MLAs who have won assembly elections for the first time. It also includes few members from the BSP who had agreed to support Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

Dr. Hiralal Alawa, the first time elected Congress minister from Manawar constituency in Malwa region, Madhya Pradesh, who is a part of the 25 member club lobbying against the government, also expressed his displeasure in the Madhya Pradesh’s Congress government.

According to a report in NDTV.com, the MLAs have also approached Kamal Nath with their issues, but they feel their problems have been ignored by the government.

Madhya Pradesh’ administration has not been a smooth sail for the Congress bigwig. Kamal Nath has landed himself in several controversies soon after he took charge of Madhya Pradesh. He created a massive political stir by proclaiming that a years-old tradition of reciting Vande Mataram at the state secretariat be abolished, but however, after facing strong protests by the BJP for the same, retracted the order. Soon after, he created another miff by declaring to cancel the pensions to those people who were detained during the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR).

He almost immediately managed to agitate farmers in Damoh district where they were forced to take the street to protest over unsold paddy. Several promises made to the farmers prior to the elections by the Congress government were seen disappearing in thin air forcing multiple farmers to commit suicide in the state due to the debt burden. In December, farmers were lathicharged even as severe mismanagement of urea rocked the state.

There are also allegations of a scam brewing in the state as it was recently reported that Rs 120 crores of non-existent farm loans were ‘waived off’ in Madhya Pradesh.

1...6,5896,5906,591...7,610Page 6,590 of 7,610