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Suspicion of land conversion scam leads to probe into Akhilesh Yadav’s pet project

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Suspicion of land conversion scam leads to probe into Akhilesh Yadav’s pet project

Agra Lucknow expressway is a 302 KM, 6 lane expressway which was touted by Akhilesh Yadav as his dream project. The authorities had scrambled to complete the expressway before the elections but it ended up getting inaugurated before it was actually complete.

This expressway was supposed to be a ticket to electoral success for Akhilesh and his legacy to Uttar Pradesh. While the former didn’t work out, even the latter might be tarnished as a probe has been ordered for alleged land conversion scam involving the land which was acquired for this project.

According to a report, the expressway has come under the Yogi Government’s scanner after some farmland which was to be acquired for this project, was passed off as residential land to acquire higher compensation.

The matter pertains to a Bachela-Bacheli village near Firozabad where the land owners allegedly forged documents and in collusion with the officials had shown the plot as residential in the sale deed in July 2012 and then got it registered as residential in the land records in April 2014.

The government had issued notifications for acquiring the land in October and December 2013. This up-gradation of land ensured that the State government had to shell out an additional compensation of Rs 3.29 crores.

After complaints about discrepancies, the additional district magistrate (revenue)’s inquiry confirmed that these were indeed farming plots. This has resulted in the booking of 5 revenue officials and 22 villagers.

After this case has come to light, the Yogi government has directed 10 District Magistrates to probe all land deals done in the last 18 months in about 230 villages.

If this land conversion scam isn’t a one off case then probe can open a can of worms as about 3500 hectares of land has been purchased from 20,456 farmers for this project.

This isn’t the only controversy which has cropped up in relation with this expressway. During campaigning, Yogi had alleged that the expressway had resulted in a scam of billions. He had alleged that on one hand NHAI was spending about Rs 16-17 crores for a kilometer of highway construction, on the other hand the Akhilesh government had ended up spending Rs 31-32 crores per KM.

There are other projects of the Akhilesh government which are also under the scanner.

The Yogi government has ordered a probe in Akhilesh’s Gomti river front project for financial irregularities. It has been reported that initially a sum of Rs 656 crores was approved for the project which was revised to Rs 1153 crores. But even after such an escalation, 95% of the funds have been utilized but only 60% of the work could be completed.

It was also reported that the Rs 416-crore Janeshwar Mishra Park and the Rs 864-crore Jai Prakash Narayan International Convention Centre in Lucknow built during the Akhilesh regime, could also have cost only 1/4th of the total price. Certain inflated items for these two projects have emerged, like the national flag cost 1.38 crores, imported boats cost 16 lakh and grass cost 38 lakh.

FIR filed against AAP supporters who abused Shazia Ilmi on social media

OpIndia Staff
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FIR filed against AAP supporters who abused Shazia Ilmi on social media

Brave women aligned to Indian ethos and nationalistic thoughts have been systematically subjected to trolling and abuses on social media platforms by pseudo seculars.

Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani had faced such abuses when she assumed office of HRD Minister in May 2014. When Irani moved from HRD Ministry to Textile Ministry, she again became the target of sexist and crash attacks on social media.

In 2015, Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon was abused on Twitter for speaking against Aamir Khan’s intolerance remarks.  In 2016, writer Shefali Vaidya wrote how she had been abused on social media for airing her views on nationalism.  Vaidya had even received messages threatening that her daughter would be murdered and mutilated.

Similarly, Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin was subjected to several abuses on social media by Islamists and pseudo-seculars for speaking her heart out.

The latest right-wing victim of social media abuse is BJP leader Shazia Ilmi. Ahead of the MCD elections in Delhi, Ilmi was abused and trolled on Twitter and Facebook by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters.

Delhi police on 21 April filed a FIR against some members and supporters of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for hurling abuses and sexual innuendos at Shazia Ilmi following a complaint registered by the BJP leader at Delhi’s Mandir Marg police station on 18 April.

Ilmi was trolled following her video statement on Twitter on 17 April, where she had attacked the Arvind Kejriwal government over the involvement of sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar in a sex tape last year. Following a huge uproar, after the video surfaced on social media, Kejriwal had to remove Kumar from the party.



There are eight Twitter users, who belong to AAP and are its supporters, against whom the FIR has been filed. Naresh Kumar, a facebook user named in the FIR is reportedly the convener of AAP’s Uttar Pradesh unit. Another user named in the FIR, @aartic02 is followed by the many AAP office bearers, media persons and even the official social media account of Aam Aadmi Party. Meanwhile, Ilmi has tweeted:



The Delhi BJP spokesperson recently told a private television channel that she had left AAP because she felt harassed there. “Kumar Biswas wrote a nasty tweet the day I left AAP. This is the mentality of the party,” she said. Lutyens media allege that online abuses are stemming from right-wing social media users. But the facts say otherwise.

Sonam Kapoor ‘trolled’ on social media for embarrassing gaffe about our National Anthem

OpIndia Staff
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Sonam Kapoor ‘trolled’ on social media for embarrassing gaffe about our National Anthem

When some of us are listening to certain musical genres like Rap, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, the lyrics sometimes aren’t clear and we end up getting the lyrics wrong if and when we try humming that song.

According to a quote by Hindustan Times, this is what seems to have happened with Actress Sonam Kapoor but the lyrics which she apparently ended up getting wrong were not of any song but were of our National anthem.

The Hindustan Times has been running a #LetsTalkAboutTrolls campaign and Sonam Kapoor wrote an article about her experiences with so called trolls and one paragraph seems to have come back to haunt her:

Notice the line:

“Listen to the national anthem. Recall the line you heard as kids, ‘Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Issai…’

There was a slight problem for people to recollect that line as it isn’t there in the 1st place. This resulted in her getting ‘trolled’ by people:


Some even questioned HT’s editorial team for letting it pass:

Who’s the bigger dolt – A starlet who doesn’t know her National Anthem, or an editor who let this pass?#LetsTalkAboutTrolls indeed
😀 pic.twitter.com/u9jtZ6nzH8

— Harpreet (@CestMoiz) April 21, 2017


Incredibly the story did not end here, one user pointed out that the ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai’ words are indeed mentioned in the 2nd paragraph of, Jana Gana mana. This was retweeted by Sonam:


The user also claimed that Sonam learnt the complete composition:


Though it is certainly commendable if Sonam indeed learnt all the 5 stanzas of the poem by Rabindranath Tagore, her claim about this being a part of our National Anthem was still wrong. Our national anthem is just the 1st of stanza of the Jana Gana Mana song which was a translated version of Tagore’s Bengali hymn ”Bharot bhagyo bidhata“. Had Sonam written, “listen to Tagore’s peom” she would have been completely right and all the ‘trolling’ would have been misplaced.

Sonam tweeted her response to the whole controversy but didn’t acknowledge her gaffe:


 

This isn’t the only time celebs have got certain aspects of civics wrong. On Coffee with Karan when the question about who the President of India was asked, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhavan had shockingly answered, Prithviraj Chavan and Manmohan Singh respectively.

Now, Rs 51 crore bounty on Sonu Nigam’s head

OpIndia Staff
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Now, Rs 51 crore bounty on Sonu Nigam’s head

Sonu Nigam’s tweets have raised quite a furore by now. He started off by saying that religious places like mosques, temples and gurudwaras should shun the use of loudspeakers since it disturbs the whole neighbourhood. For this, Sonu Nigam was attacked and abused on social media.

In the real world, a Maulvi in West Bengal issued a fatwa and announced a prize of 10 lakh rupees for any person who shaves the head of Sonu Nigam. Sonu took the fatwa head-on and proceeded to himself shave his head. But, the Maulvi refused to pay up, citing that he had two more conditions: that someone put a garland of old torn shoes around his neck and tour him around the country.

While this matter was about to end, another serious incident occurred. Two youths in Madhya Pradesh were reportedly stabbed after they expressed solidarity with Sonu Nigam. Shivam Rai a resident of Ujjain had posted his support for Sonu on Facebook and also declared that henceforth he would only listen to his songs. This incensed some muslim youths from Begumgunj and a verbal spat ensured. He was also allegedly threatened over the phone by these youths named Mohammad Nagori and Faizan Khan and eventually stabbed, along with his friend.

Now, a Rs 51 lakh crore bounty has been announced by some Rizwan Malik, “president of Minority India”, from an obscure political organisation called National Future Party:

The graphic states that anyone who beheads Sonu Nigam will be given Rs 51 crores. The reason stated is that Sonu Nigam had called Azaan as Gundagardi. Sonu’s tweets and further clarifications though indicate that he had called the practice of religious noise pollution as gundagardi.

This may be a “fringe” political group, but such bounties do pose a threat to the singer’s life. It is high time that the police take cognisance of such issues.

(An earlier version of this story erroneously reported the bounty as Rs 51 lakhs)

Mulayam’s house: Unpaid electricity bills, heated swimming pools and a personal AC plant

OpIndia Staff
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Mulayam’s house: Unpaid electricity bills, heated swimming pools and a personal AC plant

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has unpaid electricity bills to the tune of Rs 4 lakh. This has come to light during an inspection conducted by a team of officials of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited.

The inspection at Mulayam’s sprawling residence in the Civil Lines area of Etawah came in the wake of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s emphasis on eliminating VIP culture from the state.

The delinquent residence is one of the biggest in the city with more than a dozen rooms. It has its own air-conditioning plant, several elevators and a temperature-controlled swimming pool.

According to an ANI report, the inspection revealed that the Samajwadi Party patriarch was using electricity eight times more than the stipulated limit of 5 KW a day.

“We are conducting a drive to stop power theft, check overloading and recover dues,” Ashutosh Varma, the officer leading the team that conducted the inspection was quoted as saying by a report. Yadav has been given a time period till the end of the month to pay up the dues.

In lieu of the additional power supply, officials have changed the configurations of Mulayam’s residence to 40 KW. That means he has to pay eight times more.

This is text-book case of how high and mighty were consuming electricity much beyond the permissible limit throwing the law out of the windows. There must be a long list of power defaulters from the previous regime. This is now a matter of throw investigation.

Mulayam’s unpaid power bill is a clear proof of power theft by those in power. Needless to mention that because of such irregularities, the common citizens have been systematically deprived of their rights. Once the investigation reaches a conclusion, it can only lay bare yet another electricity scam rocking the high and mighty of Uttar Pradesh.

After Yogi Adityanath regime took the reins, the Uttar Pradesh government is focusing on drawing up a road map for revamping the power sector in the state. Uttar Pradesh government has signed a power pact with Centre to ensure 24 hour electricity supply to district headquarters, 20 hours to tehsil headquarters and 18 hours power supply to all villages. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has promised 24 hour electricity to every house by October 2018.

“In a democracy, if someone is really a VIP or VVIP, it is the common man. Keeping this motto we have decided to ensure power to all in the state,” the Chief Minister had said while hoping that the people would display “high morality”.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal emphasised that the power sector in Uttar Pradesh be made efficient by eliminating power theft through strict monitoring. During the previous Samajwadi Party regime, Uttar Pradesh was reeling under severe power crisis. The state used to top the energy deficient states, clocking power shortage of 11.6 per cent against the all-India average of 2.3 per cent.

In the last Assembly elections, electricity was a major poll issue by the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the run up to the elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised 24/7 electricity and said that the political rivals would get electric shocks from UP poll results. BJP won Uttar Pradesh in a biggest mandate in nearly three decades.

When BJP and Congress united for a noble cause

OpIndia Staff
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When BJP and Congress united for a noble cause

Female foeticide and low sex ratio have always been a very serious issue which has plagued our country. As compared to other states it probably has impacted Haryana the most. Even though historically Haryana was a laggard, in recent years, under the tenure of CM Khattar, the figures have drastically improved.

Recently a report had emerged which claimed that after the Haryana government had cracked the whip on illegal sex determination centers, certain cities of Punjab had been made a safe haven where such activities are were carried out unabated.

It was also reported that whenever someone in Haryana wants to carry out illegal sex determination, they are directed to their Punjab counterparts were it can be conducted.

The health department team of the Haryana government in the past 2 years has reportedly conducted 22 raids in various districts of Punjab to find these centers.

The current CM, ML Khattar seems to have taken a hands on approach for the whole issue as officials claim that whenever some information is ascertained about illegal centers, it is shared with the CM’s office and permission for raids is granted.

The report claimed that a recent raid at a hospital had exposed how the authorities in Punjab had failed to act against these illegal centers.

So when this report emerged on Twitter, it was quoted by the Haryana CM who belongs to the BJP. He appealed to the newly elected Congress CM of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh to firmly deal with illegal sex centers in his state to ensure a bright future for women:


If this CM of neighbouring state was from AAP, one could have expected some abuses to PM Modi fot this problem. But Punjabis had luckily kept AAP away, hence Captain Amarinder Singh came into the picture.

People might have expected that as Captain belonged to the Congress, he might have disregarded the appeal. But instead, he thanked Khattar for bringing the serious matter to his notice and promised strict action against all such centers:


Amarinder Singh further tweeted that he had acted against these centers during his previous tenure and would make sure to wipe them out again:


This above instance might be the classic example of how leaders despite their political differences, decided to unite for a noble cause. This cooperation was also acknowledged by the MOS Social Justice and Empowerment who called it a great example of good governance:


Also it is ironic that the newly elected Congress CM has assured to act against the illegal centers which were clearly having a field day when the SAD-BJP government was in power.

Going by the efforts of the Haryana CM, it might be safe to assume that he might have even appealed to the previous goverment in Punjab for action but it seemed to have elicited no response. And now a Congress CM might finally help in ending the menace.

Home Minister warns against targeting Kashmiris in rest of India for acts of stone-pelters

OpIndia Staff
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Home Minister warns against targeting Kashmiris in rest of India for acts of stone-pelters

Kashmir is on boil with security forces and Pakistan backed stone-pelters clashing almost every day in the streets of the valley. Recently many videos went viral that showed how tensions are running high in the state. Among these, a video of CRPF jawans getting pushed around and insulted by Kashmiri youths went viral, causing much outrage among the public. Pictures of jawans bleeding and hurt badly in stone pelting also went viral, causing further anger against the stone-pelting Kashmiri youth.

While such videos and images show the other side (the mainstream media largely talks about the injuries to Kashmiri youths), it also gave opportunity to a few rather unknown groups to target Kashmiris in general. On Thursday, some media channels reported that a poster asking Kashmiri students to leave Uttar Pradesh was put up in Meerut:


The poster was put up by an unheard-of outfit called “Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena”, which asked for “boycott” of Kashmiris and warned them of unspecified consequences if they didn’t leave Uttar Pradesh. The poster was criticised by many on social media too, as it was seen as a crude attempt to seek publicity by exploiting a sensitive issue.

It appears that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has taken notice of this and is taking it seriously. He took to Twitter to not only warn against such antics but also to appeal people not to target Kashmiris. He informed that his ministry will soon issue advisory to states to take action against people who target common Kashmiris for the deeds of the stone-pelters:


Twitter users slam DNA for provocative clickbait story on Virat and Anushka

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter users slam DNA for provocative clickbait story on Virat and Anushka

Cricket and Bollywood are two spheres in India which have the biggest following. Naturally, when two stars from these two universes unite, it makes for very good news-bytes. Cricketer Virat Kohli and actress Anushka Sharma who are rumoured to be a couple, thus make for a very exciting topic for media.

Thanks to media’s constant intrusive coverage of their relationship, Kohli and Sharma have often found themselves fighting the media. Kohli had last year slammed a media outfit for getting too personal with their questions. Earlier this year Anushka trashed media reports of Kohli producing her movie Phillauri.

Today, another media outlet seemingly crossed the line. DNA, had this tweet and story:

The story said:

Virat Kohli’s Instagram profile picture is one with his lady love Bollywood actress, Anushka Sharma. But this time a photo has surfaced in social media which will not please Anushka for sure. Virat known for his timing of shots on the field, has now become victim of a badly-timed photo. In this photo he is seen gazing at IPL anchor Archana Vijaya’s ripped jeans. We wouldn’t want to be in Virat Kohi’s shoes when he explains this one to Anushka.

This time neither Kohli nor Sharma were needed as Twitter users came out to bat for the couple and hit DNA for a six. Many users called out this style of journalism by calling it “cheap” and they also pointed out that Virat Kohli was not “gazing at the anchor’s ripped jeans” but was reading the content off a card held by the anchor over her legs:


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Some even asked Virat Kohli to take action and “screw DNA” using legal means:


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Even former India captain, “Mr Cool” MS Dhoni has often rebuked media for their sensationalism. And the current Indian captain Kohli by no means can be called “Mr Cool”, so can we expect some fireworks soon? If yes, he may want to learn from his senior Virendra Sehwag.

Youths stabbed after supporting Sonu Nigam’s views about loudspeakers at religious places

OpIndia Staff
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Youths stabbed after supporting Sonu Nigam’s views about loudspeakers at religious places

Days after Sonu Nigam made his tweet complaining against the use of loudspeakers at religious places like mosques, gurudwaras and temples, two youths in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh were grievously injured after a fight ensued over a Facebook post which supported Sonu’s stance.

Reports claimed that Shivam Rai a resident of Ujjain had posted his support for Sonu on Facebook and also declared that henceforth he would only listen to his songs. This incensed some muslim youths from Begumgunj and a verbal spat ensured.

He was also allegedly threatened over the phone by these youths named Mohammad Nagori and Faizan Khan. Shivam then reportedly went to his friend’s birthday party and according to the police the youths too reached the party to attack Shivam and his friends with knives. After seeing them, Shivam fled the scene but two of his friends were gravely injured and were rushed to a nearby hospital.

The Hindustan Times also reported this story but the sequence of events was slightly different. The report quotes Shivam Rai as saying:

“Later, they asked me to meet them in Freeganj area. When I reached there with my friend, Ayush Shreewas, they attacked us with knives,”

A case has reportedly been registered against the attacking youths in the Madhavnagar police station for attempted murder under section Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

The controversy over Sonu’s tweet has been rising from the past few days. On Wednesday a Maulvi had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh for whoever shaved Sonu Nigam’s head. The maulvi though refused to pay Sonu Nigam after he voluntarily shaved his head as he (Maulvi) had made other demands which remained unfulfilled.

President of Delhi Mahila Congress resigns, says Rahul Gandhi is ‘mentally unfit to lead Congress’

Hemant Bijapurkar
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President of Delhi Mahila Congress resigns, says Rahul Gandhi is ‘mentally unfit to lead Congress’

Currently things seem to be going eventfully for the Congress in Delhi. On Tuesday former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and Delhi Youth Congress president Amit Malik decided to join the BJP.

Almost 48 hrs later the Congress seems to have ran into another controversy with Barkha Shukla Singh the President of the Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress resigning from her post and alleging that Rahul Gandhi is mentally unfit to lead the party.

In a press statement put out by her, Barkha elaborated on her decision but before that let’s focus at an event which appears to have led to her decision.


Recently we had reported how Rachna Sachdeva, who was the district President of Barkha’s organization had made a police complaint against Ajay Maken, Shobha Oza and one more individual accusing them of mental harassment and criminal intimidation. She had alleged that they had protested in front of Rahul Gandhi’s residence against Maken, who via his associates had allegedly demanded huge sums of money in exchange of tickets for the MCD elections. She  further claimed that after this, she  was threatened by the accused and also started getting threatening phone calls from random numbers.

Now Barkha Shukla in her statement claims that the Congress party has only used the issue of woman’s empowerment and security to get votes. She claims Maken misbehaved with her and a few office bearers and when they tried to bring this to Rahul Gandhi’s notice’s their plea fell on deaf ears. She also claimed that when many office bearers of Delhi Mahila Congress had assembled in front of Rahul Gandhi’s house to appraise him about Delhi Congress’s wrongdoing, they were simply asked to leave.

She claimed that such an attitude ensured that as many as 5 presidents and 75 block presidents of the organization have resigned. She also mentioned the harassment case which has been filed by Rachna Sachdeva.

She also claimed that when they complained about Ajay Maken’s abuse and threats, one member of Rahul’s office asked them to take up the matter with Ajay Maken himself.

She then asked as to why was Rahul Gandhi hiding and why was he scared of meeting his own party members. She also alleged that Rahul was only interested in meeting sycophants.

Taking things to the next step, she claimed that senior party leaders and herself were of the view that Rahul Gandhi is mentally unfit to lead the party.

In conclusion, she stated that she was resigning from her post but would continue to remain a party worker.

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