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Four IPS officers including Special Director Rakesh Asthana moved out of CBI

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Just a week before the high-level selection committee is scheduled to meet to select the next director of Central Bureau of Investigation, today the union government removed Special Director CBI Rakesh Asthana and three other officers from the agency. According to a notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) today, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the curtailment of tenure of the four IPS officers working in CBI in the rank of Special Director/Joint Director/DIG/SP with immediate effect. Apart from Asthana, other officials are Arun Kumar Sharma, Joint Director, Manish Kumar Sinha, DIG, and Jayant J. Naiknavare, SP/HoB.

With this, both the architects of the infamous CBI vs CBI are now out of CBI. Last week CBI director Alok Verma had resigned from the agency after the high-level committee had removed him from the post of CBI director and transferred as DG of Fire Services.

The DoPT notification moving four officers out of CBI

The IPS officers are not terminated from their jobs, only their tenure in CBI has been curtailed. Rakesh Asthana has been transferred to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, which looks after airport and flight security. The other three also may be posted in other positions in the central government, or may be returned to their parent cadres. Both Asthana and Sharma are from Gujarat cadre, while Sinha is from Andhra Pradesh cadre and Naiknavare is from Maharashtra cadre.

Rakesh Asthana is facing a probe by CBI following an FIR was lodged against him by the agency at the behest of Alok Verma. Last week, the Delhi High Court had rejected his petition to quash the FIR, and had ordered the CBI to complete the probe within 10 weeks. According to reports, the CVC had concluded in its report that Alok Verma had forged evidence against Asthana.

The selection committee comprising prime minister Narendra Modi, chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the leader of largest opposition party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will meet on January 24 to decide on the appointment of next CBI director. Till then, Additional Director Nageshwar Rao is working as the interim director of the agency, who was re-assigned to the role after Alok Verma was removed from the post of CBI director on January 10th.

Bill Gates praises India on completion of 100 days of Ayushmaan Bharat Yojana

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The Ayushman Bharat Scheme earned a major accolade when Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates congratulated the Indian government on completion of 100 days of Ayushmaan Bharat initiative. Bill Gates posted a congratulatory tweet in response to a tweet by Union Minister JP Nadda who claimed 685000 beneficiaries have availed the benefits from the scheme in the first 100 days.


Ayushman Bharat Yojana is Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme launched in 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission of MoHFW for a New India -2022. The scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically. The scheme intends to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families or over 50 crore people.

This is not the first time Bill Gates has lauded the Modi government for its initiatives. Gates has been a staunch supporter of Modi government’s policies. In the past, Gates had lauded PM Modi for envisioning and implementing the Swachh Bharat mission and for its commitment towards making India open-defecation free. The World Bank had also hailed it as the world’s largest sanitation programme.

Gates had rallied behind the Modi government in support of Aadhaar, the biometric ID system even as the opposition cornered the government on the privacy issue. Gates had then called the system exemplary without any privacy concerns and had exhorted other countries across the world to emulate it.

A few days back, Philip Kotler, the renowned marketing consultant and author, had echoed similar sentiments of praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the latter’s leadership qualities and his selfless service to India. Endorsing the Philip Kotler Presidential Award conferred upon Modi, Kotler said that the award is in recognition of Modi’s efforts to bring about remarkable economic, social and technological advances in India.

As the Ayushmaan Bharat Yojana is getting recognition from across the world, some Indian politicians are determined to disparage and scuttle it. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal pulled out of the Ayushmaan Bharat Yojana alleging that PM Modi is getting all the credit and State’s contribution is being neglected. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal undermined the healthcare scheme by calling it a PR exercise by the Modi government.

OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Thursday, 17th January, 2019

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Today’s news wrap up of the day.

1. Liberals celebrate Amit Shah getting swine flu

The Quint journalist, Stutee Mishra took to Twitter to ask whether “people die from Swine Flu”. The Tweet was later deleted. The Quint issued an “apology” and said that they would take appropriate action against the journalist.

Stutee was not the only one to be in a celebratory mood after Amit Shah had taken ill. NDTV, notorious for its fake news and hateful journalists was also the culprit. NDTV journalist cum troll, Sunetra Chowdhury had a few years ago in 2009 had expressed glee when Narendra Modi had been diagnosed with Swine Flu.

2. Journalist writes to CJI, asks to suspend senior advocate designations of P Chidambaram and his wife

Senior journalist J Gopikrishnan of The Pioneer has written to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asking for the suspension of the senior advocate designations of former UPA minister P Chidambaram and his wife Nalini Chidambaram in the Supreme Court, reported Bar and Bench.

J Gopikrishnan, in his two-page letter to the Chief Justice, has accused P Chidambaram of ‘clearly misusing the position’ despite being an accused of corruption and money laundering cases. In his letter, he says, Congress leader P Chidambaram appeared in cases before trial courts in his Senior Advocate attire while his lawyers, Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued for his bail, which is a “clear misuse of holding Senior Advocate Designation” by an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

3. NIA conducts raids in seven more locations in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab in ISIS-inspired module investigation

As part of the ongoing investigation in the ISIS-inspired terror module busted in December last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) today raided seven places in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

As per reports, Punjab has surfaced for the first time in the investigation as earlier the raids were conducted in Uttar Pradesh and in NCR region. On 12th January, the NIA had made a fresh arrest from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad and conducted raids in several UP towns like Hapur, Meerut and Ghaziabad. The agency had found that the founder of the module Mufti Mohammad Suhail alias Hazrath had travelled to Tral, Rajouri and Bandipora in Kashmir twice last year. According to the agency, Hazrath travelled to these places to seek arms training from a Pakistani trained Mujahideen (terrorist).

4. The Compulsive Contrarian and his Manufactured Logic: Arun Jaitley tears into Leftists and Congress

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took to Facebook today to write a scathing blog against Rahul Gandhi and Congress. He also tore into the Leftists who have tried their best to subvert democracy by weakening an elected government and skewed logic to create issues where none existed.

His blog, first published on Facebook, titled “The Compulsive Contrarian and his Manufactured Logic” is reproduced here.

5. Sexual exploitation of women, corruption and arrogance: AAP Punjab MLA levelled serious allegations on party leadership

AAP Punjab MLA form Jaitu constituency, Baldev Singh had yesterday resigned from the party’s primary membership. In his letter, as per reports, Baldev Singh has alleged that the party under Arvind Kejriwal has given up its basic ideology and principles. Singh also accused Kejriwal of being ‘dictatorial and arrogant’.

Baldev Singh has reportedly also alleged that during the Punjab elections, the Delhi AAP leaders had indulged in rampant ticket selling and sexual exploitation of women. Rebel AAP MLA and former Delhi minister Kapil Mishra has Tweeted about it.

6. Another farmer loan waiver scam? Rs 120 crore non-existent farm loans ‘waived off’ in Madhya Pradesh

The curious case of nonexistent farm loans being waived off in Madhya Pradesh has come to the fore. As the process of granting farm loan waivers is initiated, farmers, who had not even taken loans, started appearing in the list of debtors whose loans are being waived off by the government.

The farmers whose names have wrongfully appeared in the list of debtors have filed their grievances at the local branches of the District Co-operative Central Bank. Farmers have alleged that when there is no loan on their names, how can the government offer waiver?

7. 1300 Rohingyas flee to Bangladesh from India over fears of deportation to Myanmar

As per reports, 1300 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh from India since the start of the year. “Some 1,300 individuals from 300 families have arrived from India to Bangladesh until today,” said Nayana Bose, a spokesperson for the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG).

The ISCG includes UN agencies and various other organizations that claim to address humanitarian concerns. UNHCR spokesperson Firas Al-Khateeb said the UN refugee agency was “aware of the situation”.

As per reports, the exodus was sparked by fears of deportation to Myanmar. The NDA government in India has maintained that Rohingyas are a security threat to the nation and must be deported from where they came. 230 Rohingyas were arrested in 2018 by Indian authorities.

8. BJP asks the black sheep, Shatrughan Sinha to quit the party if he wants to

The actor turned politician, BJP rebel MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha Shatrughan Sinha, who is known to be acrimonious towards his own party, has been finally shown the red flag, with the party advising him to quit if so wants.

Sinha’s regular outbursts hit a nerve in Bihar, where Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister and senior party leader Sushil Modi has adviced Sinha to quit saying Sinha had “fallen into the bad company of Yashwant Sinha.”

Court gives bail to British national accused in killing of Hindu leaders as Police fail to complete investigation

Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi Johal, a suspect in the killings of Hindu leaders, has been granted bail by a Faridkot court in Punjab. Another suspect Taljit Singh has also been granted bail by the court. Both Jaggi and Taljit Singh were arrested in November 2017 after a case was filed against them in Bajakhana police station for alleged funding of Khalistani terrorist activities.

The bail was granted as the Punjab Police failed to complete its investigation into the charges against both the persons and submit its chargesheet within the stipulated period of 90 days.

Jaggi, who is a resident of Glasgow, Scotland, is a staunch Khalistani supporter as claimed by the police. The arrest of Jaggi had created a huge political uproar with political leaders from across the parties coming out in support of Jaggi. National Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh had accused Punjab police of harassing Jaggi. Aam Admi Party leader Bhagwant Maan had also extended support for Jaggi and had questioned the police investigation. Canadian ministers Amarjit Sohi and Harjeet Singh Sajjan had also accused the Punjab police of using third degree on Jaggi.

Surrounded by questions, Punjab police had assured that the investigation would be carried out as per the law. The police have claimed to have sufficient evidence against Jaggi. The British High Commissioner at Chandigarh had been monitoring the whole case and had not objected to the arrest of Jaggi.

BJP asks the black sheep Shatrughan Sinha to quit the party if he wants to

The actor turned politician, BJP rebel MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha Shatrughan Sinha, who is known to be acrimonious towards his own party, has been finally shown the red flag, with the party advising him to quit if so wants.

Sinha’s regular outbursts hit a nerve in Bihar, where Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister and senior party leader Sushil Modi has adviced Sinha to quit saying Sinha had “fallen into the bad company of Yashwant Sinha.”

In fact, in April last year, when Yashwant Sinha, who was also a recognised ‘rebel leader’ of the party proclaimed that he is taking ‘sanyaas’ from politics and quitting BJP, Twitterati had gone into a frenzy urging Shatrughan Sinha to follow the suit.

Meanwhile, Sushil Modi speaking at a programme organised by a TV channel on Tuesday said, “Shatrughan Sinha is also my icon but the manner in which he is targeting the BJP, he should quit. He is using all sorts of language against the party which made him the Cabinet minister, Rajya Sabha member for two terms and gave him two terms in the Lok Sabha.”

The BJP rebel leader, who has been attacking the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over various issues like rising fuel prices, demonetisation, the rafale issue etc and has been spotted meeting various opposition leaders in the past had recently, raised his own bars of paltriness, by criticising PM Modi on the appointment of Smriti Irani as the HRD minister. He said in reference to Smriti Irani, “Appointment of ministers is the exclusive privilege of the Prime Minister. But was it appropriate to directly hand over the responsibility of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to a television actress?”

In fact, in yet another defiant move, Sinha has been reported to have decided to attend the January 19 Opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.

Sinha, who had earlier visited ailing Lalu Prasad at his Patna residence, also called on him at RIIMS, Ranchi, where is undergoing treatment since December last. He also not long ago showered praises on Lalu’s son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, describing him as a “very mature leader”.

The MP has also not minced his words in praising Congress president Rahul Gandhi on many occasions. In fact, the actor had been trolled on Twitter last month, for expressing his admiration for the Congress supremo, Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier too the rebel leader was spotted sharing the stage with another BJP rebel leader Yashwant Sinha at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Noida. Kejriwal also said that Shatrughan Sinha is going to contest elections, but did not mention which constituency he will fight from and which party is offering him a ticket.

Similarly, Shatrughan Sinha had shared the stage with AAP leaders where BJP workers showed him black flags. The incident had sparked rumours that he may contest the upcoming 2019 general elections on AAP ticket.

However, everything said and done, by exhibiting his endearment for the PAAS leader Hardik Patel in the past, Sinha had forthrightly displayed his own shortcomings and further justified the decision taken by BJP.

Hardik Patel, amongst several other things, has been convicted for causing riots in Mehasana, found guilty of charges related to arson and creating a ruckus at the office of BJP MLA Rushikesh Patel, accused of large-scale violence in the state of Gujarat during the 2015 Patidar Andolan seeking reservations for Patidar community and has a sedition case also going on against him in an Ahmedabad court.

Related Update: Shatrughan Sinha’s VIP facility withdrawn from Patna Airport

Related Update: Shatrughan Sinha sacked from BJP

Congress MP from Karnataka mocks Amit Shah’s health, warns of graver disease if Karnataka govt is destabilised

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In an increasingly deteriorating political discourse, a Congress MP from Karnataka has warned Amit Shah of facing a more graver disease than swine flu (H1N1 flu) if Karnataka govt is destabilised. Amit Shah had yesterday taken to Social Media to inform his followers that he has been diagnosed with H1N1 flu.

Congress MP BK Hariprasad from Karnataka issued a rather controversial statement for the BJP president. According to media reports, Hariprasad asserted that Amit Shah is currently suffering from Swine Flu due to panic, and if he is eyeing Karnataka, he will be suffering from a disease far worse than this. The remark comes in the wake of the speculations of a few Congress MLAs turning rebel and switching over to the BJP camp.

“Amit Shah has got fever due to panic. He panicked as some MLAs (of the Congress) have come back. If he topples the Congress-JD(S) government, then he will have vomiting and loose motions. That is why he got swine fever,” Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP BK Hariprasad said at a party event. He also added that the BJP president is suffering from ‘suar ka zukam’, and he was cursed by the people of Karnataka. Hariprasad warned that if Amit Shah “continues to destabilise the Karnataka government, he will have to deal with even more serious diseases”.

BJP has demanded a public apology from the Congress party for the comments of its MP. BJP spokesperson said that mocking ill persons is not the culture of India. ‘Gaali’ politics has become the culture of Congress Party, he added.


Around late evening on 16th January 2019, the President of the BJP, Amit Shah took to Twitter to inform his followers that he got taken ill with swine flu. He said his treatment was underway and he would be fine soon. He thanked everyone for their love and best wishes. However, Shah’s illness evoked jubilance from trolls masquerading as journalists at The Quint, NDTV etc media houses.

Congress workers are today staging a protest rally in Bengaluru, against the alleged role of the BJP in trying to lure their legislators away. On this occasion, the Minister of State for DK Shivkumar has assured that the Congress-JDS coalition is safe in the state.

The southern state got into a political turmoil after 2 independent MLAs withdrew their support to the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka. A couple of days back, the issue picked up steam when the rumours of 4 Congress MLAs breaking away from the government appeared.

Amidst the crisis, CM HD Kumaraswamy has downplayed the issue at hand and has claimed that his government is stable and safe. The BJP, on the other hand, has claimed that the Congress-JDS combine is attempting to poach their MLAs in a desperate bid to save their collapsing government. HD Kumaraswamy had earlier bemoaned that he had to work like a clerk due to increasing interference of Congress party in the governance of Karnataka.

Man vandalises Hanuman murti and then offers namaz, says Allah asked him to do so

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A disturbing incident that took place in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, has disturbed the communal harmony in the area. A mentally unstable man broke the lock of a Hanuman temple in the area and desecrated the Hanuman murti placed inside the temple as reported by Patrika. The man later offered namaz and chanted religious slogans after vandalising the murti. The police have reportedly arrested the perpetrator.

As per the report, the man entered the Hanuman temple after breaking the lock. He then threw the Hanuman murti out of the temple and started offering namaz. When people saw him damage the Hanuman Murti, they caught hold of him and reportedly beat him up.

Upon being confronted, he said that Allah had asked him to do so in his dream. The people who confronted him tried to pacify him but to no avail.

When interrogated by the Police, the perpetrator repeated the same defence. He is reported to have told the police that it was Allah who had asked him to desecrate the Hanuman Murti.

The police have started the process of establishing a new murti in the temple. According to reports, two other men were also accompanying the perpetrator and people have been demanding their arrest as well. SP S Anand took cognisance of the matter and ordered an inquiry.

Watch: Nitin Gupta ‘Rivaldo’ on Rahul Gandhi and his Rafale questions

Comedian Nitin Gupta aka Rivaldo has exposed the hypocrisy and double standards adopted by Congress President Rahul Gandhi over Rafale deal. In an exclusive video made for OpIndia, he speaks about how the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi over Rafale deal are either illogical or pushing an idea that is dangerous for the country.

Watch the video on YouTube:

Follow Nitin on Twitter : https://twitter.com/Nitin_Rivaldo
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Supreme Court eases norms laid by Maharashtra Government for dance bars in the state

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Supreme Court has upheld Maharastra government’s Act regulating the working of dance bars or discotheques in the state but has diluted many sections it deemed were against privacy and fundamental rights of citizens. SC observed that no license has been granted to dance bar owners since 2005, due to ‘unreasonable’ norms laid by Maharastra government and said that there be should be regulations but not a total prohibition. SC was hearing pleas filed by various restaurants and hotels of the state, including that of Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

According to reports, SC has upheld various sections of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (Working therein) Act, 2016, which currently regulates dance bars and protects rights of its workers, in Mumbai and other cities. SC has upheld the definition of the word ‘obscene’ in Section 2 of the Act and has also upheld the section which requires bars only to operate between 6 pm to 11:30 pm. In addition to this, the section which proscribes and punishes bars for allowing obscene dance or exploitation of any working woman for any immoral purpose has also been upheld.

However, SC has squashed the section which mandated installation of CCTV in the bar, citing the violation of privacy of citizens. It also has struck down a section, which prohibited bars from operating in an area within 1 km radius of religious and educational institutions. It has also allowed visitors to give tips to dancers, however, it has upheld the section of Act which prohibits showering money on dancers. SC has ruled that there is no need for monthly salaries to dancers working in the bar. It has also ruled that there is no need for non-transparent barriers between dance floors and bars where alcohol is served.

Dance Bars were banned in the state in October 2005, which was struck down by Bombay High Court the following year. The decision of Court was reserved by the Supreme Court in 2013, following which ordinance was brought by the government, which was again deemed invalid by the court. Maharastra Government then had brought the 2016 Act, regulating operation of the bars.

1300 Rohingyas flee to Bangladesh from India over fears of deportation to Myanmar

As per reports, 1300 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh from India since the start of the year. “Some 1,300 individuals from 300 families have arrived from India to Bangladesh until today,” said Nayana Bose, a spokesperson for the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG).

The ISCG includes UN agencies and various other organizations that claim to address humanitarian concerns. UNHCR spokesperson Firas Al-Khateeb said the UN refugee agency was “aware of the situation”.

As per reports, the exodus was sparked by fears of deportation to Myanmar. The NDA government in India has maintained that Rohingyas are a security threat to the nation and must be deported from where they came. 230 Rohingyas were arrested in 2018 by Indian authorities.

In October last year, Seven Rohingya Muslims who were lodged in jail since 2012 for illegally entering India were sent to Myanmar border for deportation. The government has also decided to deport 23 more Rohingyas, who have been staying at various detention camps in Assam after they were caught staying illegally in the state.

The Indian government strongly maintains that Rohingyas pose a huge national security risk to the country. Human Rights groups with questionable integrity had criticised the move without acknowledging the complexity of national security risks that could be brought by allowing Rohingyas to stay in the country.

According to estimates, there are about 40,000 Rohingyas living illegally in Hyderabad, Jammu, Kanpur and outskirts of Delhi and are indulging in criminal activities, drug trafficking, executing terror activities teaming up with ISI sleeper cells. Shockingly, the names of nearly 190 Rohingya illegal immigrants residing in Telangana had appeared in the state voters’ lists.

The UNHCR’s stance has also been hypocritical on the matter. While it turns a blind eye to the fact that Saudi Arabia has been deporting Rohingyas as well, it expresses ‘disappointment’ and seeks clarification when India does exactly the same.