In an interview with Rajat Sharma in Aap ki Adalat program on India TV, Kumar Vishwas lashed out on Arvind Kejriwal on his stand on surgical strikes carried out by Indian Army against Pakistan in September 2016.
In a video released by Kejriwal few days after the surgical strikes, Kejriwal had asked for video proof of the surgical strikes.
We fully support PM on surgical strikes. Urge him to similarly counter Pak’s dirty propaganda. Do watch this msghttps://t.co/jk1CvYmcan
Vishwas, in his interview, said that he was against posting such videos and termed it an “unwanted video”. He revealed that Kejriwal had intially asked Vishwas to speak on the surgical strikes matter, which he promptly refused since he was opposed to such a stand taken by Kejriwal.
He explained his logic, saying that he feared it could be picked up by Pakistan to bash India. He said that a lot of debate took place regarding posting such video questioning Indian Army and that it will be taken as front page news in Pakistan. He also said that he believed such a video would affect the self confidence of our army. But he claims that Kejriwal justified this by saying that Modi must be thrown out of power.
Vishwas also claims that he felt that the families of the soldiers who carried out the surgical strike, would be hurt by such politics being played out over the event, and the party would be affected negatively by this.
Many Twitter users reacted to this revelation, by saying how despite knowing this if Vishwas chose to stay with Kejriwal, he is also a complicit.
By staying with kejriwal even after that, he was as complicit. All of AAP are in it for personal benefit only.
The hour long interview of Vishwas not only throws light on Kejriwal’s political strategy, but also shows how he likes to be surrounded by yes-men. Vishwas said how Kejriwal used to compare himself with Jawaharlal Nehru and ask Vishwas to write poems on him, as poet Dinkar wrote on Nehru.
AAP founding members, who have recently been very vocal about their displeasure on Sushil Gupta’s Rajya Sabha nomination, came out in support of Vishwas and asked him not to fumble on the path of truth that he has chosen.
Kumar, आप कि अदालत देखने के बाद तुम्हारे बारे में मेरी सारी गलतफहमियां दूर हो गई हैं
अब जब सच और जूठ समज गए हो, तो सत्य का साथ मत छोडना
Only time will tell whether Vishwas’ grievances against Kejriwal are genuine or is he estranged because of losing out the Rajya Sabha nomination to Gupta. But this is indeed bringing out the real picture behind the farce that is Aam Aadmi Party.
In a bold claim, three Indian astrophysicists associated with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, have published a paper [PDF] which analyses possibly the oldest rock carving which records a supernova. This carving was incidentally discovered in the form of a rock carving in Kashmir’s Burzahama region.
Supernova is basically a massive explosion in a massive star which is on the verge of dying. Dubbed as the biggest explosion ever to be seen by the humans, it usually takes place in big stars, at-least about five times the size of our sun. This phenomenon occurs when the outward force of the gravity exerted on the star overpowers the opposing force of heat and pressure from the star’s core, which is generated via massive nuclear reactions. This imbalance occurs when the star is at the last stages of its life and doesn’t have enough fuel to generate enough heat and pressure:
A balanced star which turns into a supernova when Gravity > Heat + Pressure ( Image via NASA)
Usually a supernova results in the residual product of a dense core and a nebula. In case of very big stars these supernova turn into black holes, the densest objects in the universe, whose escape velocity is more than the speed of light.
This Superonova, as per the trio of Indian scientists named Hrishikesh Joglekar, M N Vahia and Aniket Sule might have been recorded on that rock carving which is believed to date back to a range of 6000 to 2000 BC:
Image via IGNCA
This image as per the paper published, depict two extremely bright celestial objects. These as per the logic provided, can’t both be the sun and the moon as both can’t be correspondingly as bright owing to the moon being in a partial phase with the sun, thereby making it less bright.
With reference to other European paintings of a similar era, the scientists argue, that it may not be a star or planet pair. Also, the hunting activity depicted in the painting might mean that the carving was made in a day-time setting when either stars or planets aren’t visible. Such bright celestial objects can’t be comets or halos, considering their circular nature and same horizontal shape.
The scientists thus conclude that the object depicted might be a supernova. On further investigation about ancient supernovas occurring during that period, the scientists have zeroed down to the possibly of it being the supernova HB9 which exploded at around 4500 BC.
Since a single rock painting might not be enough evidence to prove the findings, the the team of Astrophysicist Mayank Vahia is now hoping that more rock art emerges from the region which helps solidify the claim.
Never a dull day ever since Aam Aadmi Party came into existence. Recently, Aam Aadmi Party nominated 3 nominees for the Rajya Sabha, one of which is Sushil Gupta. Gupta’s nomination has raised quite a few eyebrows and like a true AAP leader, he is already in middle of a defamation suit. While AAP cofounders, who unceremoniously left the party few years back, implied money having changed hands for the particular Rajya Sabha nomination, the mystery around Gupta’s nomination continues to build.
Careful study of Gupta’s affidavit filed for nomination reveals, among other things, missing educational qualifications. When Gupta was Congress candidate for Moti Nagar constituency during 2013 Delhi Assembly Elections (against Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kuldeep Singh Channa), the affidavit he had filed showed his educational qualification as having an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) which he had earned in 2010 from one Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Deemed University in Sardarshahr, Rajasthan. He also claimed to have a Doctorate of Literature (Honorary) he had earned from one Gurukul Mahavidyalaya Jwalapur Haridwar in 2009.
However, in the affidavit he has filed as an AAP nominee to Rajya Sabha has these two degrees are mysteriously missing.
Gupta claims that he has removed the MBA and PhD degrees from his affidavit as his lawyer suggested to him that he only lists his educational qualifications which he has received from public institutions. ‘Private institutions can be susceptible to pressure from Centre’ he has reportedly claimed.
On an unrelated note, one is reminded of former Law Minister of Delhi from Aam Aadmi Party, Jitender Singh Tomar’s fake law and B.Sc. degrees.
On Saturday, it was reported that Syed Kirmani, who was wicket-keeper in the team that won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 for India, had pledged to donate his eyes at an event in Chennai. Kirmani was attending an eye donation awareness campaign at the Rajan Eye Care hospital, where he took the pledge.
“I am donating my eyes, you too donate your eyes,” Kirmani is reported to have said in Tamil, but hours later he said that he would be unable to hold on to his pledge due to his religious beliefs.
Kirmani said that he was an ‘emotional and sentimental’ person and was touched by the hospital’s initiative and pledged to donate his eyes at the spur of the moment, but he will not be able to actually donate his eyes as it could go against Islam.
“In Islam, we are not supposed to take out or donate the organs of a dead body,” the 68-year-old former cricketer has now said, explaining why he is unable to honour his pledge.
Kirmani is incidentally also a patron of blind cricket in the country. The Blind Cricket World Cup is scheduled to take place in Dubai later this month, and his association with the national team reportedly prompted him to join the cause of eye donation.
Hospital authorities have said that it was noble gesture on Kirmani’s part to attend the event, and they are okay if he now no longer wants to donate the eyes due to his religious beliefs.
Although Islam has various schools of thoughts, it appears that organ donation being against Islam is a widespread belief held by many. In August 2016, it was reported that as per the records of state cadavar organ transplantation authority in Telangana, there was not a single Muslim donor among more than a thousand records of organ or tissue donations between 2013-2016.
Pavan Varma–his snobbery must never be mistaken for gravitas, never homespun but unmistakably Western—writes in Times of India that “fringe” and “mainstream” is one and the same thing when it comes to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He gives instances to imply that BJP is promoting sectarian violence, artistic intolerance, rewriting history and imposing public morality.
At the outset, Varma must decide whether he is a “fringe” or “mainstream” of BJP. After all Janata Dal (United) is in power in Bihar because of BJP’s support and Varma is its national general secretary. If BJP is anathema to him, why lounge with them? And conversely, by tolerating a “fringe” like him, doesn’t “mainstream” (BJP) show itself to be different and plural? How is “fringe” and “mainstream” the same for BJP then?
A BJP MP from Maharashtra goes public in his criticism of Narendra Modi and paints the town red. Yet, this “fringe” is never pulled up by the “mainstream.” How would Varma describe this “fringe” and “mainstream” as the same?
Dr Subramaniam Swamy is a Rajya Sabha member because of thinly disguised support of the BJP. Yet, he loses no opportunity to lash out at arguably number two in the BJP government, Arun Jaitley. Why the “fringe” Swamy and the “mainstream” Jaitley aren’t the same in this instance?
In trying to impress his case, Varma treats the questioning on “Taj Mahal” as virtually blasphemy. If the spirit of questioning is met with the same “intolerance” that Varma exhibits then the world would still have been flat and earth still the centre of universe. He has objection to Islamic rule—around 800 years– being called a period of “extreme exploitation, insane barbarism, and unprecedented intolerance. “
Varma, a History student, probably hasn’t heard of Ibn Batuta who gives a contemporary account of 14th century Delhi, where decapitated and mutilated bodies were strewn at the door of the palace of Sultan, daily. Nor that Batuta was given scores of Hindu sex slave girls for his pleasure. Varma probably has also not heard of historian Will Durant who wrote in his Story of Civilization, “the Mohammedan conquest of India was probably the bloodiest story in history.” Or the more contemporary V.S. Naipaul who lamented that Hindu civilization was “mortally wounded” and “ancient Hindu India” was destroyed by these invasions.
Yet Varma wouldn’t allow us the blasphemy of questioning “Taj Mahal” or “Islamic rule.” He has a problem with “fringe” Dina Nath Batra on his conviction of ancient India and the “mainstream” Narendra Modi sharing the belief. While modern giants of quantum physics today acknowledge the contribution of Vedas; if a Fields Medal (mathematics Nobel) winner concedes that Sanskrit texts and ancient seventh century mathematician Brahmagupta helped his quest, Varma would like us to believe his bogus and compromised intellectualism and not these verified truth.
Varma would do well to examine the “fringe” and “mainstream” overlapping of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal or Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala. We await his verdict on “fringe” Jignesh Mewani and “mainstream” Rahul Gandhi on caste polarization. He can enlighten us with his views on “fringe” abuses of our elected Prime Minister by “mainstream” AAP, SP and BSP leaders.
Shekhar Gupta has taken upon himself to showcase the rampant caste and religion based discrimination by highlighting the caste and religion of the subjects. Especially when they are seasoned politicians who are convicted of corruption or upcoming politicians accused of inciting a mob to start a riot. A cursory glance through his timeline will show how he successfully camouflages the divisiveness under the garb of liberalism.
Wonderful @manasi87 piece on @gidla_sujatha acclaimed Dalit author, IIT-M researcher & NY subway driver: “feel liberated in US until I come in contact with fellow Indians” https://t.co/cDpetXWrnn
Among other achievements, according to Gupta, their subjects’ biggest achievement to be highlighted, is either their caste or their religion.
What @jigneshmevani80 win means to me as a fellow Gujarati Dalit, writes PhD scholar Tushar Chauhan, somewhere between Una & Vadgam the fire got diluted https://t.co/w5S2VmVxAO
Gupta also likes to specify religions of sports persons who have achieved great heights in their field, especially when it is a ‘particular community’.
My tribute to Tiger Pataudi on his birth anniv: how twice he put his hand up to lead a battered India against Windies: 1st at 21, then out of retirement, at 35 https://t.co/ANpGRz5gWT
Clearly, Tiger Pataudi was a ‘Muslim Star’ who was not afraid to use his name, especially when he also came from the lineage of rulers of former princely state Pataudi. That his father, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, was also a cricketer was not his personal identity either. And that he was a successful cricketer in his own league shouldn’t be the reason for him to carry his name on his sleeve. It has to be his religious identity that paramount.
But then how dare Bhakts, as anyone who questions such blatant liberalisation are called, question Gupta?
Why to bring religion card into it? A Player is a Player is a player. Tiger Pataudi remains one of the great INDIAN Captains.
How dare this fellow not care about the only thing Gupta cares about?
Dear Shekhar
We salute Tiger Pataudi for his performance, graceful conduct and mostly wonderful human being on and of the field. But why don’t understand why are you highlighting his Muslim credentials, which he himself and his ardent fans never ever cared about.
And why would this Twitter user compare Gupta to Rajdeep Sardesai, husband of patron saint of secularism Sagarika Ghose and numero uno journalist?
Sir, dont mind but sometimes you and @sardesairajdeep show off your passion for cricket too much and that just sounds awful. It’s sometimes bizarre and naked display of your knowledge about a certain topic.
What is wrong with the world? Is this how people will start questioning their narrative? Is this how the cookie will crumble? When will these attempts at questioning the liberal way of discrimination end?
Former television journalist and current AAP leader Ashutosh is often mocked for his spellings and grammatical mistakes while composing tweets in English (though he has made similar mistakes in some Hindi tweets too), but this has failed to save him in a court of law.
A Delhi court has observed that Ashutosh (and his advocate) does not even have a “slight discomfiture in English” while rejecting his application for re-recording senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s statement in Hindi, presumably because English is not easy to understand for Ashutosh.
Ashutosh had sought to re-record Jaitley’s statements in Hindi in the defamation case filed by the BJP leader against various AAP leaders who had called him guilty of corruption in the DDCA case. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also one of the accused.
While rejecting Ashutosh’s application for having Jaitley’s statement in Hindi, the court noted that the application was “an attempt to derail the proceedings of the case and waste precious time of the court”.
“The applicant (Ashutosh) is author of well-known book in English titled as ‘Anna: 13 Days That Awakened India’ and he can be seen giving interviews in English day in and day out on English News Channels and elsewhere,” the court said, rejecting the possibility that Ashutosh was weak in English.
The application to re-record Jaitley’s statement in Hindi itself was written in English, the court further noted. The court then dismissed the application and imposed a fine of 10,000 rupees on Ashutosh for wasting court’s precious time.
Ashutosh is supposed to deposit this amount with ‘Army Welfare Fund Battle Causalities’ on court’s directions.
This is not the first time when AAP leaders have found themselves in embarrassing positions in this case filed by Arun Jaitley. Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal was seen contradicting his own lawyer Ram Jethmalani, after which Jethmalani quit the case, calling Kejriwal a ‘liar’.
Another AAP leader named Raghav Chadha had tried to show himself innocent by claiming that he had not made any defamatory charges against Arun Jaitley but only re-tweeted some tweets by Kejriwal against Jaitley. Court had rejected his plea as being “devoid of any merit”.
Now Ashutosh has put himself in an embarrassing position by virtually claiming to be weak at English but being told by the court not to act over-smart.
On a lighter note, now that a court has given a “clean chit” to Ashutosh by saying that his English was good, will Twitter users stop trolling him for his mistakes in tweets? Or was it all a calculated move by Ashutosh to make spelling and grammatical mistakes in his tweets, so that later he could claim to be weak in English in a court of law? Only Trolls know the answer.
There have been concerted efforts in mainstream media to deny the existence, or even a possibility of the existence of the Saraswati river. The zeal to label Saraswati river as a mythical river has been on top of the agenda of leftists and Marxist historians of India.
The river Saraswati is called naditama (most sacred river in Sanskrit) in the Rig Veda. The Saraswati river is mentioned some fifty times in the hymns of the Rig Veda. It is closely related to the ancient Rig Vedic society and Hinduism. Calling it mythical, in their opinion, would considerably hit the credibility of Vedic texts which are still a part of Hindu faith.
On 5th January 2018, Scroll.in reported the formation of a permanent panel to study the mythical Saraswati river. The concluding paragraph of the article, as usual, casts aspersions on the existence of the river itself.
This has been the subject of a great deal of debate for decades. While some Hindu groups and historians believe the “lost river” once flowed through the region that is now Haryana, other historians say the Vedas themselves have not been validated, and therefore, the river only exists in myth.
Death of Rivers in Recent Past : An Example From Canada
Before going in to the answer given by ISRO to Parliament, we need to answer a simple question : can rivers be lost? Are there any recent examples of dead rivers? The answer is yes. In April 2017 a river named ‘Slims’ in Canada, disappeared due to a receding glacier. The report by The Guardian on the same incident gave a map of the change in direction. The phenomenon observed in this case is called river piracy or stream capture .
If rivers can disappear in 2017, why can’t the same phenomenon have occurred in the Vedic age ?
Answer to the Parliament Question on Saraswati River by ISRO
An unstarred question was asked by Harish Chaudhary in Lok Sabha about Saraswati River. Since ISRO functions directly under PMO, the answer was addressed to the Prime Minister. The answer to it is available on the ISRO website at this link. So, here is a in toto reproduction of the question asked and the answer given by ISRO (emphasis added) .
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
DEPARTMENT OF SPACE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3722
TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2013
MYTHICAL SARASWATI RIVER
3722. SHRI HARISH CHAUDHARY:
Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has made efforts to trace the origin of Saraswati river and has also constituted a committee for this purpose;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether satellite images are of any help in this regard;
(d) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY):
(a) Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has studied the palaeochannels in North West India and related them to the channels of River Saraswati. ISRO has not constituted any committee for this purpose.
(b) An integrated palaeochannel map of River Saraswati has been prepared from the origin in Himalayas to Rann of Kutchch. The origin of the mapped course of the River Saraswati palaeochannel in North West India was linked to Himalayan perennial source through Sutlej and Yamuna Rivers.
(c) Yes, Madam.
(d) The work on delineation of entire course of river ‘Saraswati’ in North West India was carried out using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data along with digital elevation model. Satellite images are multi spectral, multitemporal and have advantages of synoptic view, which are useful to detect palaeochannels. The palaeochannels are validated using historical maps, archaeological sites, hydro-geological and drilling data. It was observed that major Harappan sites of Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) lie along the River Saraswati.
This evidence suggests that the Harappan civilisation could have ended due to the death of Saraswati river. The people who lived in those cities might have moved eastwards to the Gangetic plains after the death of Saraswati river. None of the textbooks published by CBSE give information about this possibility. Recent excavations support this theory.
The same hypothesis has been well presented in Sanjeev Sanyal’s book “The Land of Seven Rivers“ with a map, that shows the possible course of the Saraswati River. He also comments that tectonic shifts may have played a role in the shift of the river’s course. The site Dholavira (Gujarat) is located in Rann of Kutch. Surely, no civilisation could have built a city and lived there if there was no water source nearby.
Let us stop calling Saraswati a ‘Mythical’ River
Source : The Land of Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal
Whenever the discussion of Saraswati River is carried out in pseudo – secular media, there is a strong attempt to brand it as a mythical river. The evidence supporting its existence, which comes from ISRO is often hidden under the carpet. Otherwise how can they peddle the lies of a mythicalSaraswati River?
There is nothing wrong in conducting more research on Saraswati River and its link to the Harappan and Vedic cultures. Awareness about the evidence available on the ancient river is the need of the hour. For starters, we can stop calling it a mythical river and start using the phrase ‘dead-river’ when talking about Saraswati. After all, Vedic Rishis were not foolish to include the name of a mythical river in their sacred hymns.
“J&K is facing narco- terrorism” said the DGP of J&K Police S P Vaid in an event in December. He went on to add that majority of drugs being smuggled into the state came from across the Line of Control (LoC) and seeked co-operation from families of drug addicts to root out the menace. While such comments are often made by people in power, little is done to address such issues. But this time, it was different.
On 30th Dec, the DGP released the scorecard of his forces which included arrest of 1213 Persons and 888 registered cases along with details of massive recovery of drugs from across the state.
We have launched a war against drugs and its peddlers across the state. A total of 1213 persons have been arrested in 888 cases registered against drug peddlers. pic.twitter.com/gb5LUImH9c
While entire country was debating drug menace in neighbouring state of Punjab, it was becoming a bigger threat than terrorism in J&K and wasn’t debated much in country. J&K Police escalated the war against drugs by organizing rallies, educational events and seminars to educate the youth & their families on issues related to drugs.
One of the Anti-Drug Rallies organised by J&K Police in State
Drug money is being used by Pakistan to further escalate its terror sponsorship in the state. Drugs get transported into the state via vehicles crossing the LOC for trade and other innovative techniques. Forces have increased their vigilance on vehicles coming from across the LOC. In July, a cross truck carrying narcotics hidden in Boxes was caught by police.
Since the new PDP-BJP govt took over, the war against drugs seems to have escalated and it has further gained momentum under the tenure of the new Police DGP – SP Vaid. CM Mehbooba Mufti suggested a multi-pronged strategy to eradicate drug menace in the state. She had suggested slapping of the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against chronic drug peddlers in the state.
The CM also chaired a meeting with J&K Police officers in September 2017, and suggested setting up of de-addiction centres which are much needed in the state for affected youth. Strict instructions were issued by the CM to constitute specialised teams in districts affected most by the drug menace and she directed the SPs to make periodic visits to far off areas to get the ground report. J&K police have already booked serious drug peddlers under PSA and DGP has assured strict action.
J&K Police, as a token of appreciation and motivation, has started rewarding its forces to motivate them to continue till the war till over.
For sustained pro-active #drive against drugs DGP @spvaid appreciates Rajouri Police & sanctions Rs 45,000 for good work. @listenshahid
The steps taken by the police force in conjunction with the BJP-PDP Government are worth applauding. Jammu and Kashmr is not an easy state to enforce the law in, and yet, the people in charge and making a sterling effort. Surprisingly, media coverage on this issue has not been much.
NDTV is truly the gift which keeps on giving. Social media users, were amused today, when NDTV put out the following report:
In today’s fast-paced life, most news consumers do not read beyond the headline, and NDTV’s headline and tweet seemed to indicate that a US astronaut who had smuggled a sandwich on a space mission, had died, and the headline tried to draw a direct connection between the smuggling of the sandwich incident, and the death of the astronaut.
But the story said something completely different: John Young, the astronaut who died, had smuggled the sandwich on board way back in 1965. The sandwich and his death in 2018 had no connection. The headline was plain misleading, and in fact an example of poor, click-bait journalism. Many social media users pointed this out to NDTV:
A perfect example of what a headline should not look like.
Soon, NDTV changed the headline, but the sandwich still hogged the limelight:
So is the “sandwich” the only thing worth remembering about John Young? Probably not. Young was a very accomplished astronaut: the only astronaut to fly in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs (and the first to command a shuttle flight); and the first to fly into space six times. NASA also said he once held the world record for total time spent in space.
Young and another astronaut, Gus Grissom , commanded the first space shuttle mission on the Gemini 3, in what some people called “the boldest test flight in history.” He also commanded Gemini 10, the first mission to rendezvous with two other spacecraft during a single flight. While in the navy, Young set world records for the fastest ascension from a standing start in an F-4 Phantom II jet. Surely, much better things to be remembered by than a smuggled sandwich.
The best (or worst) part in this entire saga is that this particular report had been published by NDTV from a syndicated feed, and besides the headline, the story was not edited by NDTV staff. Basically, NDTV had one job to do: Give it a decent headline, and they screwed up:
The original story by reuters, which was syndicate by NDTV, had a much more apt headline:
