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Indian Express claims of Hindi being made mandatory till class 8 is fake news

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Express claims of Hindi being made mandatory till class 8 is fake news

The Indian Express today published a report claiming that the New Education Policy draft makes Hindi language compulsory till class 8.

Indian Express fake news
Indian Express claiming Hindi to be made mandatory

The report claims that to adhere strictly to a three-language formula with Hindi as a compulsory language till class 8 is one of the key recommendations in the draft report. At present Hindi is not mandatory in non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, West Bengal and Assam.

However, the source-based Indian Express report if far from it. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar took to Twitter to call out the fake report.


Describing the report as ‘mischievous and misleading’, Javadekar clarified that the Committee on New Education Policy in its draft report has not recommended making any language compulsory.

The Indian Express report was then cited by other news websites. Times Now website ran the news crediting Indian Express as the source and so did News18. However, News18 report did include Javadekar’s response busting Indian Express’ fake news.

This is not the first time Indian Express has indulged in spreading fake news. In May last year, the Indian Express had reported that kickbacks worth Rs. 17.5 crore were given to Indian officials in Ministry of Defence by a Ukrainian company. However, the Ministry of Defence had vehemently denied the report, calling it ‘misleading’.

Similarly, the Women’s and Child Development Ministry had slammed Indian Express in December 2017 for wrongly stating their stand on triple talaq. Indian Express has also been caught using misleading headline with Chinese propaganda during the Doklam standoff.

Trade Union strikes: Schoolchildren injured after leftist goons attack carpool in Kolkata

OpIndia Staff
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Trade Union strikes: Schoolchildren injured after leftist goons attack carpool in Kolkata

The CPIM had called a 48-hour bandh by trade unions across the country, While several incidents of harassment and delaying of public transport services have been reported across the country, there have been many incidents where the leftists have resorted to violence to intimidate and attack people.

In West Bengal, a car ferrying schoolchildren to a kindergarten in Amherst Street in Rajabazar area was viciously attacked by communists. As per reports, yesterday morning a carpool taking about 10 children to a school in Rajabazar area was attacked by the communist goons. The driver of the vehicle has told police that people ‘carrying CPIM flags’ stopped the vehicle and smashed its windshields with sticks and stones. Two of the children were injured in the attack. They were later taken to Kolkata Medical College and Hospital.

Reports have stated that the communist goons kept attacking the car despite locals in the vicinity trying to stop them telling there are children inside. The leftists had smashed the windows in the car and finally, after police arrived, the children were rescued following a scuffle with the protesters.

The Kolkata police have detained 24 persons in connection with the incident. In another such case of hooliganism in Howrah, a school bus was pelted with stones where a driver received injuries, Police had to intervene to rescue the schoolchildren in the buses. A country-made bomb was reportedly seized from the train tracks in the Sealdah-Bongaon line near Ashoknagar.

The TMC government had opposed the bandh call by the leftists and had called the strike a complete failure. Government services and public transport was largely unaffected in the state.

TMC leader Partha Chatterjee stated that though they are the staunch rivals of the BJP politically, they will not allow the bandh in West Bengal as the people have rejected the ‘shutdown culture’. In Karnataka too, it was reported that the second day of the bandh saw almost no effect and offices and transport services functioned normally.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had Tweeted yesterday calling the bandh as a ‘symbolic’ measure by the communist parties to stay relevant and not be wiped out from Indian politics.


As many as 10 left and Congress backed trade unions had supported the bandh and political parties like the RJD, SP, BJD had also lent support to the bandh call.

No decision on Alok Verma as Kharge seeks more time, rakes up the Rafale bogey again

OpIndia Staff
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No decision on Alok Verma as Kharge seeks more time, rakes up the Rafale bogey again

The three-member high-level committee formed to discuss the fate of CBI director Alok Verma, comprising of PM Narendra Modi, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice Gogoi, met on Wednesday evening but failed to make any decision as Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge sought time to know whether CBI Chief was working on the Rafale deal probe, among other details.

The high-powered committee will take a call on Alok Verma’s transfer within a week. CJI Gogoi has stayed away from the meeting as he authored the judgement and has appointed AK Sikri to his place in the selection committee.

According to the reports, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge demanded to know specific information on certain issues like Rafale probe and wanted to confirm whether Alok Verma was working on a case pertaining to the deal. Requesting to read the CVC report on Alok Verma, Kharge also sought to hear the CBI chief’s response to the CVC report.

Reportedly, Mallikarjun Kharge is also keen to know the response of Alok Verma regarding the circumstances that made the government send him on leave. Meanwhile, Kharge has sought time to study the Supreme Court judgement which reinstated Alok Verma as the chief of the CBI.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had reinstated Alok Verma as Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), setting aside the Centre’s decision to send him on leave before the end of his term in January. With only weeks left for Alok Verma’s retirement, the decision of the Supreme Court to take away his power to make decisions is a major setback to Verma and his supporters.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the Verma camp has been propagating lies regarding the recent CBI fiasco claiming that CBI Director Alok Verma was sent on leave by the Narendra Modi led government after it found Verma’s alleged plans to start an investigation into the Rafale deal.

However, the CBI can’t initiate such probes on its own. It can probe into such cases only when the central government or a competent court orders the agency to do so.

Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid to be charged soon in sedition case, says Delhi police

OpIndia Staff
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Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid to be charged soon in sedition case, says Delhi police

The Delhi Police Commissioner, Amulya Patnaik has revealed that JNU ‘students’ and ‘activists’ Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are going to be charged soon in the sedition case.

The Commissioner said that this case has taken longer to reach its conclusion because it was a complex case and the police also had to go to other states to take statements from several people.

This case pertains to 2016 when Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested on charges of sedition for organising an event that commemorated terrorist Afzal Guru. Afzal Guru was responsible for Pakistan sponsored the Parliament attack in 2001 which had shocked the nation.

Earlier in December 2018, it was reported that Delhi police were ready with the draft chargesheet and Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar had been named as prime accused.

Allegedly, slogans like ‘Afzal hum sharminda hai, tere kaatil zinda hai” (Afzal we are ashamed that your killers are still alive), and ‘Bandook se lenge Azadi’ (We will snatch freedom from India by the gun) was raised during the event in the JNU campus. Afzal Guru, who had attacked the Parliament was given the death sentence by Indian Courts.

After Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested in 2016, a political storm had erupted. The opposition had even accused the Delhi police of working at the behest of ruling BJP. Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party President, had travelled to JNU to support these ‘students’ and their ‘freedom of speech and expression’.

The prevalent narrative by several political parties opposing the BJP after this incident was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is stifling “dissent”. With a chargesheet now to be filed against these “activists” for sedition soon, one wonders if the Congress and opposition parties will take the same line of argument yet again.

Kanhiya Kumar is also reportedly going to contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections, on a CPM ticket from Begusarai of Bihar. Recently, an FIR was lodged against him by the hospital administration of Patna’s AIIMS following an altercation with junior doctors. He was also accused of being involved in a violent clash with the organisers of a Durga Puja committee in Begusarai.

The other accused, Umar Khalid is a son of a SIMI terrorist and had also openly condemned the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani in Kashmir and fanned anti-India sentiments.

Aside from asserting that the trio is going to be chargesheeted soon in the sedition case, Delhi Commissioner Amulya Patnaik also spoke about the Delhi Police’s track record in the past year.  Giving out figures of 2018, the Delhi Police in a presentation said that while heinous crime in Delhi declined by 11.72%, drugs peddling cases increased by 66.61% compared to last year. In heinous crime cases of dacoity decline by 36.11 %, murder was down 3.25%, attempt to murder was down by 16.26%, robbery declined by 20.15 %, riot declined by 54%, kidnapping for ransom dropped by 35.71%, and rape was down by 0.78%.

Delhi Police said that while rape cases have gone down, rape by known persons has increased with 43.47 % were committed by known persons and 22.86 % by unknown, 12.04% by relatives, 2.89% by employee and co-workers, and 16% by neighbours.

Among other crimes, snatching was down by 17.70 %, burglary declined by 59.05 %, and abduction cases went down by 18.61%. However, there was 6.01% rise in total IPC cases in 2018 (23,6476). In 2017 this was 22,3077 and 2016 it was 19,9107.

10% reservation for economically weaker sections to become a law after Rajya Sabha passes the bill

OpIndia Staff
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10% reservation for economically weaker sections to become a law after Rajya Sabha passes the bill

The Rajya Sabha today passed the124th Constitution amendment bill providing 10% reservation in jobs and higher education to economically backward sections from all communities. The Lok Sabha had already passed the bill on 8th January 2019, which means the amendment will be incorporated in the Constitution of India, and the reservation has now legislative sanction of the parliament. The bill will formally become a law after the President of India signs it.

Out of total 172 members present in the house, 165 MPs supported the bill, while the rest 7 voted against it. Before voting on the bill, the House voted against a motion to send the bill to select committee.

As Congress and most other opposition parties had voted for the bill in Lok Sabha yesterday, it was expected that the bill will be passed by the upper house also.

The 124th Constitution amendment bill was cleared by the union cabinet on 7th December, which seeks to extend to benefit of reservation to those people not covered under existing reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. The reservation will ne extended to all people from all communities and religions, including Muslims and Christians, not just “upper caste” as some media houses are reporting.

Other than the parties in ruling NDA, most opposition parties including Congress, SP supported the bill. Congress said that they had to support the bill as they had promised reservation for economically weaker sections in their election manifesto. Although most opposition parties voted for the bill, they questioned government’s intention in bringing the bill just one day ahead of the conclusion of the winter session of parliament, and not sending the bill for a joint committee or select committee. Several MPs participating in the debate on the bill wondered whether the bill will pass judicial scrutiny, as it exceeds the reservation ceiling of 50%. The Rajya Sabha session was extended by a day to ensure that the bill can be passed in the current session itself.

The bill amends the articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, making provision for reservation for educational institutes and jobs respectively. This reservation will be additional to the existing 50% reservation provided for people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes. The economical backward has been defined as anyone with an annual income below ₹8 lakhs, apart from clauses on landholding. The ₹8 lakh limit is at per with the existing limit for the creamy layer of OBCs.

The government has announced the seats in higher educational institutions will be increased by 10%, to ensure that meritorious students do not get harmed by this new reservation. The reservation in higher educational institutions will be extended to private institutions also, whether aided or unaided. But the minority educational institutions will be exempt from the reservation as per provisions of article 30 of the constitution.

NCW to send notice to Rahul Gandhi over his comments on defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman

OpIndia Staff
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NCW to send notice to Rahul Gandhi over his comments on defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has informed that it will be sending a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comments on defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.


While addressing a rally in Jaipur today, Rahul Gandhi had made a sexist comment saying that prime minister Narendra Modi is hiding behind a woman. He was referring to the defence minister’s speech in Lok Sabha on the Rafale, where she had demolished the baseless allegations of the Congress president one by one. Rahul Gandhi said that “the prime minister, who has 56-inch-chest, asked a woman to defend him.”

Reacting to the comment, Chairperson of NCW Rekha Sharma had asked what is Rahul Gandhi is implying with the misogynistic comment. She said, “does he think women are weak? The irony- calling an accomplished defence minister of the largest democracy a weak person”, in a tweet posted on Twitter.


After this, the NCW tweeted from its official handle that the commission will send a notice to Rahul Gandhi.

Today prime minister Narendra Modi also slammed the Congress president for his comments on the defence minister, saying that it is an insult for all women in India, not just a woman minister. Addressing a rally in Agra, he said that when a woman defence minister thrashed the oppositions’ allegations with facts, they got rattled and now they are insulting a woman.

Former AAP member H S Phoolka announces formation of Sikh Sevak Sangathan

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Former AAP member H S Phoolka announces formation of Sikh Sevak Sangathan

Former Aam Aadmi Party member and advocate H S Phoolka, who resigned from the primary membership of the party on January 3, has announced the formation of a new organisation named ‘Sikh Sevak Sangathan’. He said that he wants to depoliticise the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).


Phoolka had resigned from the Punjab Assembly in October last year citing the alleged failure of the State government in taking appropriate action in the Bargadi sacrilege incident and the following Behbal Kalan firing incident. CM Amarinder Singh had formed a Commission to examine the Behbal Kalan firing incident in which two villagers were killed in police firing during the protests led by Sikh organisations against an alleged desecration of Guru Granth Saheb in Bargadi in 2015. In the report of the Commission, the role of former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini have been questioned.

The advocate who is fighting the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots case had joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014. He had also contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Ludhiana seat on AAP ticket but had lost to Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu.

Addressing the media at the Chandigarh Press Club on Tuesday, Phoolka said that the newly formed group will be a non-political one and all the members of the group will be barred from contesting the SGPC elections.

PM Modi hits back on Rahul Gandhi’s sexist remark on Nirmala Sitharaman

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi hits back on Rahul Gandhi’s sexist remark on Nirmala Sitharaman

During a rally in Agra today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Rahul Gandhi for his sexist and misogynist comments about Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had demolished President Rahul Gandhi’s lies on Rafale deal in Lok Sabha. Since then, the Congress party and its president Rahul Gandhi have resorted to personal attacks on the minister.

While addressing a farmer’s rally in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi had again reiterated his Rafael rhetorics, but this time he also passed a misogynist comment about Nirmala Sitaraman. Rahul Gandhi said that the prime minister hides behind a woman, even when he claims he has a 56-inch chest.

“We demolished the Defence Minister’s speech. The prime minister, who has 56-inch-chest, asked a woman to defend him,” he said.

Just a few hours after Rahu Gandhi made this comment, PM Modi criticised Gandhi and his party leaders for disrespecting not only a women minister but also the Women Power of India.


“You must have seen a couple of days ago, how our defence minister demolished the arguments of opposition parties. This is the matter of women’s pride. She single-handedly is commanding the security apparatus of India. The opposition is rattled by her arguments”, PM Modi said in the rally. He also said that “when our defence minister, a woman, thrashed the opposition with facts and figures inside parliament, they got rattled and are now out to insult a woman, it is not just an insult to a woman minister, but all women of this country”. He also added that opposition has stooped so low, that now they are passing disparaging remarks about her.

“It’s a matter of great pride that for the first time, a woman is handling the security and defence of the country”, the prime minister added. He also declared that no matter what, the Defence Miniter will keep working the way she is.

On January 4, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a point-by-point rebuttal in the Lok Sabha countering the accusations of Congress on the issue of Rafale deal. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took a dig at the Congress saying that party should understand the difference between defence dealings and dealings in defence. She said that the NDA government deals in defence keeping national security as a top priority.

Modi also stepped up the counter-attack on Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale deal, asking whether the Rafale deal was not signed by the UPA government due to “Michel Mama”, referring to Christian Michel, the middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal who was recently extradited to India. The PM said that “Michel Mama” was lobbying for fighter plane of a different company, and now Congress is trying to scuttle the Rafale deal.

SC appoints former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar as new amicus curiae in Jagannath Temple case

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SC appoints former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar as new amicus curiae in Jagannath Temple case

The Supreme Court has appointed senior advocate and former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar as the new amicus curiae in the case relating to the administration of Jagannath Temple. A three-judge bench of Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, Justice Mukeshkumar Rasikbhai Shah and Justice Abdul Nazeer made the appointment. Senior Advocate Priya Hingorani was entrusted to assist the newly appointed amicus curiae in his work. The hearing of the case has been deferred till February 5.

Kumar’s appointment as amicus curiae comes after Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium who was acting as the amicus curiae in the case withdrew from the case in November last year. The case relates to a PIL filed by advocate Mrinalini Padhi on the temple reforms. The PIL brought to the notice of the court the alleged mismanagement by the temple Sevayats. The court had directed the temple administration to implement 12 proposals as part of disciplinary reforms.

Ranjit Kumar was appointed as the Solicitor General of India on June 7, 2014, succeeding Mohan Parasaran. Kumar, however, resigned from the post in October 2017 citing personal reasons and the intention to move to private practice in his resignation letter. Kumar has also represented the government in a number of important cases including the Sohrabuddin Case and the case relating to the use of pellet guns by the Army in Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer Shah Faesal, who called India ‘Rapistan’, resigns to join Politics

OpIndia Staff
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Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer Shah Faesal, who called India ‘Rapistan’, resigns to join Politics

Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer Shah Faesal on Wednesday tendered his resignation from the Indian Administrative Services and is speculated to join the National Conference. Faesal took to his Facebook and Twitter accounts to inform his followers about his decision to quit the administrative services and join the political fold.


Faesal had topped the Indian Civil Service examination in the year 2009, and he was allotted to the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, his home state. A doctor by education, Faesal topping the UPSC examinations had grabbed national headlines, because he comes from a terror hit remote area and his father was killed by terrorists.

Shah Faesal was the managing director of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) before he went to Harvard University in the United States for higher studies. He was on study leave and currently he is an Edward S Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He was supposed to join his department in June this year.

In his post, Faesal alleged that his decision to quit the services has been provoked by the “unabated” killings of Muslims in Kashmir and mainland India at the hands of “Hindutva” forces. Faesal contended that the absence of any political initiative to restore normalcy back to Kashmir valley had motivated him to leave the administrative services.

Faesal has also alluded that the democracy in the country is in danger as ‘subversive’ forces are presiding over the democratic institutions and are bent on altering their nature and functioning. He has also mentioned that he will be revealing about his future plans at a press conference this Friday.

Former Jammu and Kashmir CM  and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah welcomed Shah Faesal in his ‘fold’. Speculations are rife that Faesal had quit IAS to fulfil his political ambitions and is eyeing the Baramulla seat in Kashmir in the coming Lok Sabha elections.


It is noteworthy to mention that Shah Faesal has been a habitual offender and has often betrayed separatist tendencies. In the past, an inquiry was initiated against him when he equated India with ‘Rapistan’.  When the departmental inquiry was initiated, he played victim asking the regime to do away with such colonial methods. His tweets have frequently been severely critical of the BJP government at the centre. He also appeared to have a soft corner for Pakistani PM Imran Khan when he pinned the blame of hostilities between India and Pakistan to the Indian media.

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