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India’s flawed Palestine policy : Ramallah has never supported India on Kashmir issue

Nithesh S
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India’s flawed Palestine policy : Ramallah has never supported India on Kashmir issue

Today Narendra Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to land in Palestine. He is expected to announce Indian support for Palestine in the area of health and infrastructure. The PM is expected to announce setting up of a 100-bed super speciality hospital. As per reports, the visit will focus on humanitarian aspects rather than political aspects. The visit comes after India’s vote in favour of Palestine UNGA and a state visit by Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

India has supported Palestine consistently in the past

India has consistently supported the cause of Palestine in all forms. It has also assisted the country in monetary and development issues. The ministry of external affairs document (dated July 2016)  [pdf] on India- Palestine relations describes India- Palestine relations as follows :

India’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and its attitude to the Palestinian question was given voice during our freedom struggle by Mahatma Gandhi. Since then, empathy with the Palestinian cause and friendship with the people of Palestine have become an integral part of India’s foreign policy. India was the first Non-Arab State to recognize PLO as sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. India was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine in 1988. In 1996, India opened its Representative Office to the
Palestine Authority in Gaza, which later was shifted to Ramallah in 2003.

India has always played a proactive role in garnering support for the Palestinian cause in multilateral fora. India co-sponsored the draft resolution on “the right of Palestinians to self-determination” during the 53rd session of the UN General Assembly and voted in favour of it. India also voted in favour of UN General Assembly Resolution in October 2003 against the construction of the separation wall by Israel and supported subsequent resolutions of the UNGA in this regard. India voted in favour of accepting Palestine as a full member of UNESCO.

India has spent millions of dollars to assist Palestinian government so far. The document also speaks of monetary assistance given to Palestine by the Indian government:

India provided a budgetary assistance to a tune of US$ 30 million to Palestine in different stages. During the visit of President Abbas to India in the year 2008, India announced a grant of US$ 10 million as budgetary support and this was transferred to Palestine March 2009.

During the visit of President Abbas to India in February 2010, India announced a budgetary support of US$ 10 million and this was transferred in the month of March 2010. Again in 2012, during the visit of President Abbas India announced a grant of US$ 10 million budgetary support to Palestine. During the year 2015, India provided a total of $9 million as financial assistance to Palestine; $4 million was provided as project assistance towards the reconstruction of Gaza (on 12 January 2015), and $5million was provided as budgetary assistance (on 12 October 2015)

Palestine has not supported India on Kashmir dispute

Any normal Indian citizen would expect a reciprocal support by Palestine for India in the Kashmir dispute. However, that has not been announced by any Palestine leader in the past. Instead, a Palestine ambassador Walid Abu Ali had shared stage with Hafiz Saeed, a known India hater and a terrorist responsible for 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. An Indian tax payer has every right to ask the reason for spending money in Palestine if we don’t get anything in return.

The ‘rational’ excuse for supporting Palestine among secular-liberal brigade is to ensure that we get oil supplies and safeguard Indian workers in middle-east and west Asia. However, we know that those workers are integral part of their economies and the India is one of the largest markets for oil sales. Therefore, these excuses are invalid.

Palestine policy must not be run with a view on Muslim votes in India

On this occasion, Palestine recalled it ambassador and issued a statement thanking India for its support and called the ambassador’s action as “unintended mistake but not justified“. Compare this to Israel’s stand which has always supported India on Kashmir. India has also taken into account domestic Muslim electorate in shaping its Palestine policy.

While one is not surprised about UPA’s stand on Palestine, the failure of Modi government to rectify this anomaly is disappointing. The external affairs minister’s tweet after UNGA vote on December 21 is shocking. Badruddin Ajmal, president of AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) thanked for India’s vote in favor of Palestine, Sushma Swaraj quoted the tweet and said ‘Now you vote for us.’ Is NDA running foreign policy to garner votes at home ?


Foreign policy is run for furthering national interest . It is based on the principle of give and take. It is not about moral posturing or appeasing some section of electorate at home. India must stop its moral posturing on Palestine and allow the issue to be sorted bilaterally between Palestine and Israel.

Arun Jaitley : Tax collection net widens, 1.7 crore extra returns filed, Centre mops up Rs. 26,500 crore

OpIndia Staff
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Arun Jaitley : Tax collection net widens, 1.7 crore extra returns filed, Centre mops up Rs. 26,500 crore

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said that the tax net has widened and there has been an increase of 19.3% in tax collection between April-January as a result of the campaign against black money and implementation of GST. Speaking on GST collections, Jaitley said that with mass anti-evasion measures being undertaken, the collections with respect to GST are expected to go up.

He said, with help of a non-filer monitoring system, the government has been able to identify those who indulge in high-value transactions but don’t pay enough taxes. This has forced filing of extra 1.7 crore returns and helped the Centre earn an additional tax collection of Rs. 26,500 crore till December last year.

He said that the tax department has been identifying non-filers by tracking in-house information and tallying it with high-value transaction data received from external agencies along with the tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collected at source (TCS). He clarified that the tax net has been widened in terms of collecting data of various types of high-value transactions from banks and other financial institutions. He added that measures such as quoting PAN (Permanent Account Number) for transactions over Rs. 2 lakh, including on property, shares bonds, insurance and foreign travel, has yielded enormous data which has enabled the department to clamp down on tax evasion.

He further added that rule-based algorithms are used to identify non-filers of taxes and monitoring them. Text messages, as well as emails, were sent to target groups to file returns and a compliance management cell has also been set up to monitor and track responses. The government has launched ‘Project Insight’, to track social media for tracing the black money. The system is proposed to be more stringent to target individuals and seek voluntary compliance.

Mahesh Murthy who once got preachy about women’s issues, has been arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing a woman

OpIndia Staff
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Mahesh Murthy who once got preachy about women’s issues, has been arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing a woman

Mahesh Murthy, a venture capitalist has been arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing a woman on social media. He has been arrested under IPC section 354(D) (stalking) and section 67A of IT act by the police in Khar. A complaint, in this case, had been registered on December 30, 2017. NCW tweeted the news of his arrest.


Mr Murthy is an investor in a self-proclaimed media watch organisation called Newslaundry. We had reported about Newslaundry’s silence regarding this issue in the past

Interestingly, Newslaundry has never reported on Murthy’s alleged misconduct and hasn’t even carried his denials. The portal had infamously tried to defend even Tarun Tejpal by questioning the woman who had made the charges but has kept mum on allegations against Murthy. In case the portal carries any views in support of their investor, we will update this article in the spirit of fairness.

It is ironical that the Mr Murthy has also criticised BJP/RSS. He tried to educate his Twitter followers about the ‘anti-women’ stance of the BJP and RSS.

He has also commented on anti- Muslim stance of BJP by clubbing it with women’s place in the home.


Our man has not spared Salman Khan as well.


Mahesh Murthy feels that fast track courts will not solve problems, but men have to stop thinking of women as property.


He also mocked Rahul Gandhi for his ‘women empowerment’ stance. While most people mock Rahul Gandhi, after recent revelations, Murthy should be the last person to comment on these issues.


Mr Mahesh Murthy has also taken a very open pro-AAP and anti -BJP stance prior to the 2014 elections. His long post regarding the same is available at this link.

Mahesh Murthy has so many views on the behaviour of other individuals and political parties. However, he does not seem to be living up to the high standards he has set for others. On January 21, Mumbai Mirror reported that he said ‘I just sent a kiss emoji’. in defence against his behaviour. The report said :

“On 25 December 2016, the lady sent me Christmas greetings via WhatsApp and I replied with the lips emoticon. She found this message objectionable and started venting her anger on social networking sites. When I came to know about it, I apologised to her and she accepted it,” a Khar policeman quoted Murthy as saying.

We will have to wait and watch regarding as to how this case unfolds in the future.

Why is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar negotiating with a cleric who has supported ISIS in the past?

Nithesh S
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Why is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar negotiating with a cleric who has supported ISIS in the past?

Yesterday the AIMPLB cleric Salman Nadwi met Sri Sri Ravishankar and agreed that a Ram Temple must be built and a mosque should also be constructed in a ‘Muslim Abadi’. He also asked for a university for education of Muslims. Nadwi said that the there were provisions for moving the location of a mosque in Islamic law.

The video of his statement is below. He seems to have taken a conciliatory stance, but the devil is usually in the detail. We are not aware of the details of the scheme, not the final shape of this settlement. If the proposed university teaches extremist ideologies supported by Salman Nadwi, it will hurt Indian society in the long run.

It has also been found from past media reports that Salman Nadwi supported ISIS and its leader Bagdhadi in 2014. He was slammed by other Muslim organisations of India after which he offered a clarification. Thus, it appears that Sri Sri Ravishankar is dealing with a person with a dubious history.

Salman Nadwi’s letter asked Saudis to form an army of 5 Lakh Indian Muslims

On 19 Jul 2014 , a portal named New Age Islam reported on the cleric as below (emphasis added) :

New Age Islam is presenting below the full text of a charter of demands presented some time ago to the Saudi government by Maulana Salman Hussaini Nadvi, the first Indian Muslim to embrace the self-styled Khilafat of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It gives us an idea of how this member of al-Baghdadi Khilafat, also apparently still a holder of Indian nationality, looks at terrorism, sectarian war, the role of the Saudi government and Muslim Umma in general.

Let me just give you a rough and very brief idea of Nadvi’s worldview here. In this charter of demands, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadvi, he is asking Saudi Arabia to organise a Khilafat for the Muslim Umma, the global Muslim community, which would have a world Islamic Army in which he would contribute five lakh Muslim youth from India. He says there is no need for recruiting youth from among the messed up youth of the Gulf when you can find them right here. This army would stand behind Muslims wherever they are in trouble. He wishes that terrorists should not be called terrorists and thus antagonised. They are sincere Muslim youth fighting for a noble cause. There should be a confederation of Jihadi organisations active across the Islamic world midwifed by Ulema who should help them hold a dialogue among themselves so they come together and iron out their differences and emerge as one powerful global force.

Another report from Al – Arabiya has also confirmed the reports of his extremist views in 2017.

Indian Muslims sharply criticized the letter after which the cleric offered a ‘clarification’

After severe criticism from Indian Muslims and some clerics, Salman Nadwi was forced to offer a clarification. Maulana Daryabadi, a cleric of All India Ulema Council (an umbrella organisation of clerics) made the following comments about Nadwi’s letter to Saudi Arabia’s government on July 26, 2014.

If this is true, it’s unfortunate. Indian Muslims share the pain of their brothers elsewhere but it’s futile to see the crisis in Iraq and Syria from the Shia-Sunni prism. Some forces are bent on dividing the Muslims. Such letters will only widen the gulf between the two sects.

In response to the criticism within his community, Salman Nadwi offered a ‘clarification’ where he said that Bagdhadi had received his support in order to establish ‘peace’ and end Shia -Sunni differences. His clarification was published by the website Milli Gazette in March 2015. The clarification says (emphasis added) :

All Muslims are informed that the popular armed campaign that is going on against the cruel and tyrant rulers of Syria and Iraq and on the basis of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s movement Daaish’s success after liberating many areas of Syria, Iraq’s Mosul and other cities from the occupation of a cruel and oppressive criminal like Noori Maliki, I had made a demand to Al-Baghdadi in an open letter to fulfil his responsibility to establish an atmosphere of peace and justice, to declare amnesty in the conquered areas and bring an end to the Shia-Sunni differences. I had written this letter on 7 July against which some people started a campaign in order to preach and spread communalism. The [Lucknow] newspaper Aag in its headline on the first page had spewed venom of communalism, after which I had made statements in newspapers saying that it is the worst form of journalistic dishonesty to distort and misinterpret the call for peace, justice, Shia-Sunni brotherhood and hatching a conspiracy to harm peace.

This is a dubious clarification as the entire world knows that ISIS was never a ‘peace’ loving organisation. So the question remains as to why Sri Sri Ravishankar, a respected figure is negotiating with a Muslim cleric with extremist views? Is he ignorant about Salman Nadwi’s past? The Ram temple is a sacred venture that doesn’t need the stamp of approval from such figures. It is better to negotiate with someone who is more respectable or allow the Supreme court to deal with the matter.

Now Deoband clerics issue fatwa against Life Insurance, call it un-Islamic

OpIndia Staff
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Now Deoband clerics issue fatwa against Life Insurance, call it un-Islamic

The town of Deoband in Uttar Pradesh is again in the news for the wrong reasons after it has been reported that the Islamic clerics there have issued a fatwa against life and property insurance. This fatwa was prompted by a query made by a Ghaziabad-based man.

The clerics who issued the fatwa claim that, “Life and death are in the hands of Allah and no insurance company can guarantee a man’s longevity”. They further informed how the insurance companies invest the premium to earn interest on it, and such an income is forbidden in Islam.

As per a man named Maulana Najif Ahmad, who is a senior cleric and head of Darul Niswah, a Deoband madrasa, this fatwa has been issued under Islamic Shariat. The fatwa as per him gives clear directions that a Muslim must put his trust in Allah and not in any Insurance company.

This isn’t the only odd fatwa to come out of Deoband.

A few days ago a cleric associated with the Darul Uloom Deoband university issued a fatwa against women watching football games, as watching men playing with bare knees is forbidden for women.

Before this a fatwa was issued asking Muslim families to not marry men or women who work in banks. The logic provided for the same is that, money earned via interest is illegitimate in Islam.

In the past fatwas were issued against posting photos of self and family on social media websites like Facebook and WhatsApp. New Year Celebrations and designer burqas, too have met with the same treatment.

A fatwa was also issued against a 15 year old Muslim girl for dressing up as lord Krishna and reciting Gita. A Deoband Ulema had reportedly expressed his displeasure at the girl dressing up as Lord Krishna and termed it as anti-Islamic.

Apart from all this, one such Ulema had proclaimed that a group of Muslim women who performed Lord Ram’s Aarti on the eve of Diwali, ceased to be Muslims.

The curious case of fake-feminists becoming enablers or defenders of sexual crimes against women and men

Sanghamitra
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The curious case of fake-feminists becoming enablers or defenders of sexual crimes against women and men

Assemblywoman Christina Garcia, the head of the Legislative Women’s Caucus and a California Lawmaker has been charged with allegations of sexual misconduct. This comes as a surprise, as Ms Garcia was at the forefront of the #MeToo movement. The movement, which started as a social media hashtag had become viral in October 2017 as a social movement to help demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual harassment and misconduct, especially in the workspace.

Two men, one named Daniel Fierro and another who chose anonymity have come forward to allege Ms Garcia of groping their private parts and making sexual propositions. While it may come a shocking for some, it might not really be. Christina Garcia is not the first ‘feminist’ who was later discovered being guilty of the same offence they have been protesting against. In reality, many modern day feminists, social media preachers and social justice warriors have, in the past been found to be making or enabling the very offence they were supposed to be fighting against. Or one wonders if these ‘feminists’ think sexual advances and violence against men is justifiable.

In 2010, Goran Lindberg, a top Swedish police officer who was also a widely acclaimed feminist and seen as a progressive officer who preached about women’s rights and equality at the workspace, was arrested on charges of running a child prostitution racket. Lindberg’s victims were mostly under-age girls.

Another Swedish woman who was a proud supporter of MeToo movement was found concealing a refugee at her home knowing that he had been sexually abusing her own daughter. That too because she feared the police will deport the abuser if she reported the abuse.

The Swedish government claims to be the first ‘feminist’ government of the world, boasting equal rights to women at all levels. But here is a picture of their lawmakers visiting Iran:

 

Linda Sarsour, another ‘feminist’ who was the co-chair of the 2017 women’s March had this to say about Ayan Hirsi Ali, the crusader who speaks against barbaric practices like female genital mutilation:

When allegations against Harvey Weinstein for sexual harassment and misconduct came to the fore, it was many of Hollywood’s feminists who downplayed and also defended him, including Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey. Meryl Streep was also seen applauding for child rapist Roman Polanski.


Yogini Deshpande, in a brilliant article, has described in detail how the leftists and liberals (who are also always ‘feminists’) protect and even enable offences against women when the perpetrators belong to their Kabal. The silence and the defence mounted to prove Tarun Tejpal innocent, by self-proclaimed feminists, is one example that makes one’s skin crawl.

The fake-feminism bug has bitten India too. We are witnessing one hollow campaign after another which make little more than media headlines and twitter gossip. Be it the ‘decreasing’ tax on sanitary pads‘ rant or the more recent anti-Rani Padmaavati propaganda, leftist propaganda peddlers always seem to make non-issues their focus while spectacularly ignoring violent crimes and injustice many Indian women face each day. More recently, how BuzzFeed India and its feminist employee Rega Jha were shamelessly apologetic towards allegations against a poet of making sexual advances towards underaged girls.

Women worldwide have a thousand problems plaguing their lives. There are millions who do not get basic access to education and healthcare. Child marriage, sexual abuse, sex slavery, and many more. Sadly, modern day feminism has made feminism confined to wine glasses and lounge events. Instead of debating how to help the 200 million women forced into Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic countries, feminist today are busy hailing the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he thinks ‘peoplekind’ sounds cooler than ‘mankind’.

Fake feminists do nothing to address the real issues of real women. Their campaigns and propaganda are often limited to media events and sloganeering. They keep pontificating on non-issues while millions of real women suffer for basic rights. A well informed and aware young generation that can call out fakery and hypocrisy while working to solve problems is what the women around the world need.

Buzzfeed India called out for being apologetic about poet accused of making sexual advances towards underage girls

OpIndia Staff
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Buzzfeed India called out for being apologetic about poet accused of making sexual advances towards underage girls

Shamir Ruben a popular slam poet based in Mumbai has been accused of various girls of sexual misconduct which included making sexual advances towards minors. Ruben was also the creative head of Kommune, a Mumbai based art/live performance collective, which has in light of the allegations, suspended his role at the organisation.

One of the first victims to speak out against Ruben via a Facebook post alleged that he “initiated sexting” soon after they connected on a social media platform. She claims she was 16 at that time. She contends that she finally decided to call him out for his hypocrisy when he posted in support of the whole #MeToo campaign.

Following her post, several women responded to it by alleging that they were only 16-17 when Ruben engaged in creepy and predatory behaviour with them over text messages. They had initially come in contact with him via “ask.fm”, an anonymous Q&A website. One even alleged that he tried to forcibly kiss her when they met.

What shook them, even more, was that Ruben, they claim, was a vocal supporter of women’s rights.

These allegations against Ruben were widely covered by various media houses one of which was Buzzfeed, which listed out the allegations and transcripts shared by some of Ruben’s victims, which included carrying the Facebook post written by Ruben in the aftermath of his reactions.

In the subheading of the Buzzfeed report, the website wrote that “Reuben has been accused of making sexual advances toward minor girls. He has “apologised profusely for any discomfort felt” because of him”. The report ended with the comments that no victims have filed an FIR against him, which was written in a bold headline format:

While sharing the article on socials, Buzzfeed decided to add in the plug that Ruben had “apologised” for his conduct:


This struck some social media users as odd behaviour, who proceeded to accuse Buzzfeed of being apologetic regarding the matter:


Twitter users also decided to call out Buzzfeed India’s editor Rega Jha after she initially feigned ignorance about the matter:


She then proceeded to question as to which part of the article as apologetic and claimed that at a personal level she was disgusted by his behaviour. This is the response she got:


Ms Jha retorted by claiming that “most” of the article was critical towards Ruben, which didn’t impress people:


It is amply clear that Buzzfeed India might be standing by the tone of its article, with its editor herself defending it, and raises the question whether it has been the publication’s standard template when it comes to reporting such stories.

Congress MLA openly threatens BJP MLA during a discussion about political murders inside the legislative assembly

OpIndia Staff
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Congress MLA openly threatens BJP MLA during a discussion about political murders inside the legislative assembly

Karnataka has transformed into a state where political murders and threats have become a norm under the present Congress government led by Siddaramiah. Several important BJP leaders have been complaining of murder threats from Congress-backed goons. Independent Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekarm and his social media team have also been getting threats from goons who are allegedly supported by Siddaramaiah. The MP had filed a complaint with Ulsoor police station in Bangalore.

Recently, the BJP MP Prahalad Joshi had filed a complaint against unknown persons who were sending threatening letters to him. He said that he had been receiving threatening letters from unknown sources asking him not speak against Karnataka’s minister for mines and geology.

Rowdy attitude has now entered the legislative house

So far, threats against opposition party MLAs and partymen had not been directly tracked to any Congress MLA or minister. But now, the Congress minister for mines and geology, Vinay Kulkarni has threatened CT Ravi, a BJP legislator of murder inside the legislative house during a discussion about political murders in the state. The lawlessness that was so far restricted to the streets of Karnataka has now found its way to the Vidhan Sabha.

BJP Legislator CT Ravi had remarked: ‘In recent past BJP workers Kadiresh and Santosh were killed. Who will be next?” in his speech. To this Vinay Kulkarni shouted the name of the legislator.


Siddaramaiah has not asked for resignation of the minister so far

The government led by Siddaramaiah has no qualms about having tainted ministers in the cabinet. KJ George, who has been accused of being responsible for DYSP Ganapathy’s murder is still in the cabinet. The chief minister has not asked for the resignation of Vinay Kulkarni as well.


In the video quoted above, DYSP Ganapathi had said that if anything happened to him higher officials and the then Home minister KJ George should be held responsible. Similarly, Vinay Kulkarni, who has the gumption to threaten an opposition MLA inside the house is still a minister.

Another minister in the government, Krishna Byre Gowda has apologised for the Kulkarni’s threat as per reports. Vinay Kulkarni has not apologised or offered to resign so far.

 

These 9 achievements indicate that the Narendra Modi government has surpassed UPA by miles

K Bhattacharjee
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These 9 achievements indicate that the Narendra Modi government has surpassed UPA by miles

Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack against the Congress in the Lok Sabha yesterday and mentioned the various ways in which his government had either improved upon or completed or implemented a novel scheme for the benefit of the economically weaker sections of the country. We look at 9 issues through which the NDA government has definitively surpassed the UPA.

1. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

During the tenure of the Congress government, the rate of construction of National Highways was 11 km/day whereas the same for the Modi government has been 22km/day during the first 3 years of the Modi government. Moreover, around 80000 km of roads were constructed during UPA-2 whereas around 1,20,000 km of roads have been constructed under the Modi government until now.

Between 2011-14, optical fibres were provided to only 59 Panchayats, and since Narendra Modi took over, optical fibres have reached over 1 lakh Panchayats.

During the last 3 years of the previous government, only 12000 MW of renewable energy was produced and under this government, 22000 MW have been produced already.

The shipping industry has been revolutionized by the NDA government with millions of rupees of investment and a string of new ports. The industry is set to play a major role in the grand economic story of India.

2. THE BIDAR KALBURGI RAILWAY LINE

The Bidar Kalaburgi line was announced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and the foundation stone was laid in 2000. But even after 16 years, including 10 years of the UPA government, the project had not been completed.

During the UPA regime, only 37 km out of the 110 had been completed. It was only after Narendra Modi came to power that the remaining 73 km were laid and the line was finally inaugurated by the Prime Minister in October last year.

3. THE BARMER REFINERY

The Congress could claim that the foundation stone for the project was laid down by Sonia Gandhi. However, it was the only thing that had been done under the Congress according to the Prime Minister and the project saw no further development. The project was seen as a last-ditch effort by the Congress to win some votes in the looming Assembly elections but the BJP scored a thumping victory and the project got stalled as Vasundhara Raje believed it was a poor deal for the state.

Under the Modi government, Barmer is set to have India’s first Greenfield Bharat Stage VI refinery cum petrochemical project. And Rajasthan is expected to make a saving of Rs. 40000 crores as a result of the revised plan.

4. THE DHOLA-SADIYA BRIDGE

The feasibility study for the project was first conducted under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003. The project was then approved in 2009, 6 years after the feasibility study was started, and construction finally began in 2011. However, due to delays, the project which was set to be completed by 2015 was delayed to 2017. The longest bridge in India, named after Bhupen Hazarika, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on the 26th of May, 2017.

5. AVIATION POLICY

The UPA government had not deemed it necessary for the country to have its own aviation policy. It was Narendra Modi’s government in 2016 which cleared India’s first Civil Aviation Policy. Under the aviation policy, the 5/20 rule was no longer applicable and new airlines could open up for international routes without first having to complete 5 years of domestic service and operating at least 20 flights.

Moreover, the NDA government has given a big push to the creation of new airports in tier 2 and 3 cities and the restoration of abandoned airports. 450 flights are operational till now but the figure is expected to reach 900 by the end of the year.

6. BAMBOO: FINALLY, IT’S GRASS IN INDIA

Apart from increasing the MSPs of various agricultural products, the Narendra Modi led government has introduced various reforms in the sector. Until it came to power, the Bamboo was regarded as a ‘tree’ by the government of India and as a consequence, farmers could not cut and sell it.

The NDA government has reformed it and declared it a grass, as it is treated all across the world, and farmers can now engage in the selling of Bamboos.

7. GST

The Congress has perhaps raised the most hue and cry over the greatest economic reform in India post liberalization of the economy. Between its rants that it was initially its own idea and simultaneously screaming that it is a disastrous move by the Modi government, the Congress forgets that the GST that was proposed by the UPA was opposed by their own governments in states. And GST could not be passed because the Congress failed to create a consensus between states on the issue. Narendra Modi after extensive consultations and discussions with the states managed to reach a consensus on the subject and the GST finally came into force in 2017.

8. SCHEMES FOR THE POOR

The Narendra Modi government has launched various schemes targeted towards benefiting the poor and the lower middle class.

Under the Ujwala Yojana, over 2 crore families under the BPL have received free LPG connections. The main beneficiaries of this scheme are women who were keen on switching to LPG as soon as free connections were made available.

The Jan Dhan Yojana which was aimed at financial inclusion for the poor has over 30 crore beneficiaries.

Through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the Narendra Modi has aimed to build 2 crore homes by 2022. The scheme is directed to benefit low-income, middle-income and economically weaker sections of society.

9. ACTS

The NDA government has ratified, amended and implemented various Acts to further the interest of the nation and the marginalized sections of society.

The Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act (PBPT) amended the loopholes of the previous Benami Act and came into effect in November 2016. The amendments provide for the confiscation of Benami property and imprisonment and fine for the violators of the law.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill which was passed in Parliament in 2017 amended a 49-year-old law and declared that the descendants of those who have acquired the citizenship of Pakistan and China will no longer be able to inherit the property of their predecessors.

The Congress was reluctant to act on the matter because they feared it will hurt the sentiments of Indian Muslims. Apart from the 2 Acts, the government has also been trying to pass the Triple Talaq Bill which would liberate Muslim women from the heinous practice but has been unable to do so because of the opposition.

Paper balls, paper planes and balloons in UP Assembly: Samajwadi Party protests against encounters of dreaded criminals

OpIndia Staff
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Paper balls, paper planes and balloons in UP Assembly: Samajwadi Party protests against encounters of dreaded criminals

Yogi Adityanath has always spoken of the necessity of both Shastra and Shaastra and amidst rising clamour from the National Human Rights Commission, he reaffirmed his commitment towards Shastra in an event at Gorakhpur. Answering his critics on his policy of encounters, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said, “Suraksha ki guarantee har vyakti ko milni chahiye. Lekin jo log samaj ka mahaul bigadna chaahte hain, jinlogon ki bandook ki nok pe vishwas hai, unhe bandook ki hi bhasha mein jawab dena chahiye. Yeh main poori spashta ke saath prashaasan se kahoonga.” Previously, he had said, “criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters.”


The Uttar Pradesh Police has been conducting encounters against dreaded criminals at a remarkable frequency since the Mahant of Gorakhnath Math took over as the Chief Minister of the state. Thus far, over 1,100 encounters have been conducted and 38 criminals have been eliminated. Hundreds of others have been arrested.

Although the public has been supportive of the Chief Minister’s drive to root out lawlessness from the society, not every political organization was pleased with the actions of the police. A notice was sent to the UP government in November for the encounters by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). However, most displeased were the members of the Samajwadi party who protested in the Assembly holding placards with slogans such as “Nirdoshon ki farzi encounter band karo (stop fake encounters of innocents)” and “Kansganj ke sampradayik hinsa mein nirdosh logon pe zulm bandh karo (stop harassing innocents in Kansganj)”.

During their protest, the Opposition resorted to throwing paper planes, paper balls and balloons at Governor Ram Naik. Attacking the Opposition, Yogi Adityanath said, “This type of behaviour shatters the parliamentary tradition … Paper balls were thrown, balloons were flown. The use of foul language for the governor by the Samajwadi Party members in the presence of their leaders is indeed unparliamentary and a despicable act.” Also, the Chief Minister said the behaviour of the Samajwadi Party MLAs pointed towards the reason behind the anarchy in the state previously.

From his words and recent statements, it seems clear that Yogi Adityanath’s conviction towards restoring law and order in the state has not shattered despite stiff opposition from political parties as well as the NHRC. And it seems inevitable that the NHRC’s words will fall on deaf ears and its complaints will go unheeded.

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