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A reply to Ravish Kumar’s open letter

Nutology
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A reply to Ravish Kumar’s open letter

Namaste Ravishji!

I would like to begin with an apology on behalf of whoever it was that abused your mother & sister. I don’t know who or what led that person to do so, but there is no excuse in the world that can justify this pathetic level of abuse. I only hope that person’s account was not “hacked” just as Rajdeep Sardesai, your colleague, claimed his account was “hacked“, when it was found that abusive messages, insulting mothers of “trolls” were sent from his account.

Now coming to your tirade about journalistic ethics and you questioning MJ Akbar’s ethics of joining Congress then coming back to journalism and then joining a party against which he had idealistic differences in the past. Your colleague at NDTV, Sonia Singh, did not leave and come back to journalism but instead continued to be a journalist, all the while being married to a Congress Minister. Another example could be of Nidhi Razdan and her alleged links with a Kashmiri politician. Or maybe we can talk about the founder of NDTV himself Prannoy Roy, who’s sister in law is from the Communist fold. Yes, two people can have two different political views, but the issue here is, unlike some other media houses like the Guardian, your NDTV makes no efforts to disclose these positions of conflict of interests to its viewers. No journalistic ethics are trampled here?

You further say that there are people who have Narendra Modi & RSS symbols as their profile pics and call you a “hustler”, “pimp” & “presstitute” and what not. You say that Retired Gen VK Singh coined the term “Presstitute”. So before moving further let’s first clarify that this term was first coined by Gerald Celente, an American trend Forecaster & a Publisher of the Trends Journal way back in 2011. This term is also used by alternate media to describe corporate backed Main Stream Media who claim to be unbiased but tailor their content based on their commercial or political inclinations.

Moving on to conscience, you ask Akbar to probe his conscience, but does your conscience not hurt when you work with the most corrupt journalist in the country who has time and again been pulled up for flouting journalistic ethics?? Yes I am talking about Barkha Dutt.

You say your mother was hurt and could not sleep when she read about you being abused. Well, then let me tell you this, my sister since her early days in school wanted to become a journalist, she had very clear goal and focus towards it. But somewhere along the way she was shocked by the ugly side of Journalism where some of the top journalists were seen diverting news (Cash for Votes), seen & heard acting as a “Pimp” for corporate Lobbyists (Radia Tapes) and then there was that unethical reporting of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. She was disappointed and lost interest in the field.

You talk about the past government of BJP when you were treated very well offered tea & sweets. I am sure even today if you happen to visit Smriti Irani’s office she will do the same, because it is called culture and manners. Also if you have MMJ’s example, I can cite Kanshi Ram’s example who had publicly slapped Ashutosh your former colleague. By the way he too has joined a political party and if someone is to neutrally analyse his last 2 months as editor before officially joining AAP, you will realize why your breed of journalists are called “Presstitutes” or “Preshya”.

There are so many websites today where one can know the facts of any particular story. There are sites like OpIndia.com where every day so many stories of misreporting and agenda driven news reporting are exposed. In fact you and your channel have often featured here.

It is easy to point fingers at others for their mistakes and write letters and op-eds about it. But it takes real guts to look within and talk about it. Unfortunately for us, such journalists who can look within critically and call a spade a spade are negligible to extent of almost extinct.

You are not angry because you are being called various names, you and your breed is angry because today a common man does not take any of the news put out by you people as gospel truth. Today a common man has alternate mediums to verify the news in circulation. The growth of social media has killed the monopoly of information for your breed. Now information flows freely and directly to the common man which hurts your breed.

What else can be the reason that even today 14 years later when your breed talks about 2002, there is scant mention of Godhra Train Burning. There have been numerous reports and even an enquiry commission report of Godhra Train Burning being a pre-planned act but never has anyone from your breed accepted it. Also accordingly, the courts have rightly convicted the accused in the 2002 riots and have also given Narendra Modi a clean chit in as many cases but you just cannot accept that and continue to label him and look him through the prism of 2002.

Dear Ravish, it is not hatred towards you as an individual but your breed of journalists that attracts such adverse remarks and abuses. I would like quote Abhishek Bachchan’s character from the Movie Paa, “Haath mein mike, Saamne camera, Upar satellite, Dekhne wale karodon log, to aa gayi power?” It was this unrestricted and absolute control on the flow of information has made the current breed of journalists lose their mental balance and resort to obnoxious and downright lies under the garb of reporting.

So Dear Ravish, please tell when will this breed of journalists will finally go extinct so that a new breed of journalists can grow which is honest, unbiased in its truest form and unapologetic when reporting facts.

I hope you will introspect with an open mind and come back to us, to every common man of India, promising that the current breed of unethical and sold out journalists will be weeded out and only unbiased and true reporting will be done. Till such time that you cannot promise this, please stop writing open letters.

Nakul Swamy

A true fan and follower of Zakir Naik writes to defend the Islamic preacher

Nitin Rivaldo
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A true fan and follower of Zakir Naik writes to defend the Islamic preacher

I am really pained at these organized attacks on Doctor Zakir Naik by some vested groups. Forget the vested interests – which are linked to the RSS – let me explain why Doctor Saa’b is not guilty of what he is being accused of.

First of all, 99.99 % people who follow Zakir Naik are peaceful, only 0.01% of those become Jihadis or terrorists. This is like blaming Dettol because it could not eradicate those 0.01% germs. Are you serious?

For god’s sake, even his channel is called PeaceTV, Which literally means PEACE!

zakir-naik
Zakir Naik

His teaching about Quranic verses and Islamic rules have clearly been misinterpreted and presented out of context. Yes, he can be seen and heard supporting Osama Bin Laden. He also tells you how to beat your wife properly, and why polygamy is okay.

SO WHAT?

Just listen to him more and you will find out that he also says that killing a man (except when killing him for reasons prescribed in the book) is like killing the entire humanity. He also condemns unnecessary terrorism. So if we can focus on 0.01% Jihadis, why can’t we just focus on the 0.01% of other things he said?

For me, there is no TV but PeaceTV and Zakir Naik is the final and the best TV anchor. His TV channel is the only true channel. And I believe that his statements are the immutable, unalterable words of wisdom. If you have problem with my beliefs, you need to see a Doctor as you are suffering from intolerance. And yes, Zakir Naik Saa’b is a Doctor.

Is it so tough to understand that Bangladeshi Jihadis, ISIS module in Hyderabad, and other upcoming terrorists have just misinterpreted his speeches? We can’t blame entire followers of PeaceTV for acts of a few. Such actions will only spread more PEACEOPHOBIA in our society.

Now for sake of argument, let me accept that charges you level against Doctor Saa’b are true. That Zakir Naik spreads hate against other cultures. So? You will ban him?! Isn’t that against multiculturalism? My culture is all about rejecting your culture. Why can’t you accept me as this?

Problem is your intolerance and bigotry. And solution is to watch more PeaceTV. But you are asking to ban PeaceTV!

And let’s stick to facts. Claiming that PeaceTV comes under I&B Ministry or Indian laws are blatantly communal. PeaceTV is above any man made laws of a man made country! And any action of Zakir Naik will damage the idea of TV.

#JeSuisZakirNaik

(Obviously, the article is satirical.)

“Every work is respectful, don’t think of anything as small” – Smriti Irani in her last interview as HRD Minister

Amritanshu Gupta
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“Every work is respectful, don’t think of anything as small” – Smriti Irani in her last interview as HRD Minister

Amritanshu Gupta has been a contributor at OpIndia.com. Along with this, he is Head(Special Projects and Campaigns) with Fever 104 FM. Recently he had a very candid interaction with Smriti Irani in one of her last interviews as HRD minister. He was kind enough to share some transcripts of the same with . The full interview will be aired in a series on Fever 104 FM called Radio Parliament. The entire interview and questions were framed by Amritanshu himself and OpIndia.com had no role in the same. Below is a part of the interview.

Amritanshu : Smriti ji, we have an idea of Modi ji as an administrator, a fair idea of him as a speaker, have seen glimpses of him as a son. But you have had an opportunity of working with him very closely, how is Modi ji, the Boss?

Smriti Irani : I think you realise a couple of things when you work with Modi ji. First, that he is a stickler for details. If you want to discuss any subject with him, then its very important that you are aware of the subject’s history and its pros and cons. He checks how well you think on your feet. Because he believes so much in the detailing of things, that’s why your level of study also increases.

I have a young family, and my children are quite young, so in the rush of life and administrative work you’re presented with a choice with how to balance your work and home. So even today, I still remember that once my son got extremely sick and collapsed. And I had made a very small phone call to someone at home, saying that I have to go for a meeting and then I found out that my son had become sick and that he had to go to the hospital. Then my boss called and asked, “Is your son okay, or no? Do you need any help?”. So I think when you work with a person, there’s a perception that Modi ji is very strict and a disciplined man. But, along with that, there is his humane side. Whoever he works with, he is so concerned about his colleagues when there’s a problem in their family, that he certainly tries to support them, which is not something that is not known about him. And if you talk to any of our colleagues, then at some point in their lives they too would have encountered this humane side of Modi ji, which does not appear in any headlines anywhere.

Amritanshu : This is really something very few people would know. Any more interesting incidents you remember ?

Smriti Irani : I remember when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister, and I heard this from a few officers, that when he went to  office, he used to find a man standing on the way every day. After seeing him two or three times, he invited this man to his house. He asked, “I see you standing every day. Who are you?” And the man replied, “See, I’m from Karnataka, and my wife is sick and admitted in a hospital in Ahmedabad, I don’t have the money for the bill, and the hospital employees said that if I somehow manage to find Narendra Modi, then you can be helped. That’s why I stand outside your house daily, that if I can talk to you I will be helped.” Modi ji then asked, “How much is the bill? I’ll pay for it.” And then he quietly paid the expenses for that poor family so that the woman could get relief and travel back to her state with her family. And then when he went to that state for an election rally, this gentleman had put posters all across the city saying, “Modi ji, do you remember you had helped me? I want to meet you.” These stories about him are rarely known.

I think that the way Narendra Bhai functions can today be seen in the nation. Look, has it ever happened in this country’s history that you got insurance at 1 Re per month. If you look at it from an economic point of view, the Security Insurance Plan, in itself is a game changer. You are providing social security and giving insurance to a person who otherwise cannot even dream of affording a premium. Modi ji is keeping in mind the affordability as well as the social security cover, and the fact that he’s keeping such a thing in his mind is great. There have been so many economists who have come and gone, but they only talked about how poor the country is but did not work on any scheme which could work towards growth of the poor.

Modi Ji is balancing and moving ahead. It is not a sin to be prosperous. The biggest determinant of prosperity is that you take everybody along and move. Even though you are financially sound, you should still have that humanity within you to take along the weaker section and that is what Modi ji is portraying through his policies.

Smriti Amritanshu

Amritanshu : You gave Rahul Gandhi a run for his money in Amethi. Do you think you are paying a price for this, considering the constant criticism and attacks you face?

Smriti Irani : Aur nahi to kya (laughter) Absolutely. This is natural. If you had gone there just like a clay doll, clicked a few photographs then maybe you wouldn’t have been targeted. Maybe, they would have poked a little fun, poor lady tried to contest from here and you would have gone away. But you fight with full passion and in just 20 days, reduce their vote bank considerably, then its natural that there will be such reactions from them and their supporters

Amritanshu : The most interesting attack you have faced from such supporters?

Smriti Irani : Once I was in Himachal and ten boys came with black flags and started shouting “Hai Hai Hai Hai“. So, I was a little intrigued and asked them to tell me why this Hai Hai . They replied, “Don’t know why, we just got a call from Delhi last night that if you see Smriti Irani, you must do Hai Hai”. So I felt sympathy towards them that they are standing in the heat and screaming Hai Hai and they don’t even know why they have to do this form of protest against me. All they know is that they got a call from Delhi, so you can’t hold it against them. They were youngsters so I told them, no problem guys, do Hai Hai and follow the orders from Delhi and report to them that Smritiji, poor lady was very worried and frightened so that at-least someone can pat your back.

Amritanshu : Any person, any politician you feel like doing a sting operation upon, you think  “Iska to daal me pukka kaala hai “

Smriti Irani : (Laughter) I know whom you are hinting at, but (laughs). I  just want to say that I have done my politics in a productive way and my only goal is to contribute productively for the country.

Amritanshu : Your life story is quite incredible. Would like to know a little about your initial struggles and how you went through those struggles.

Smriti Irani : All I want to say is that when I was born, my parents had two utensils, Rs.150 and a small room over a stable in Munirka(Delhi). Amritanshu, I have seen life from there. My father used to sell books on a footpath in Dhaula Kuan, and my mother who was educated but couldn’t find a job, used to take tuition and also made some Masala (spices) in the evening, so that she could sell it. So, I have actually seen two very hardworking people rise in life and that became my source of inspiration. I realised that whatever the circumstances, if you are determined and as long as you are willing to work hard, then nothing is impossible. When I look back, it was that upbringing to fight it out, to ensure that once you decide on something in life, work hard on achieving it till that goal is achieved. And in my own experience, I shared this with my father when I was 17 years old that whatever circumstances a person goes through, good or bad, only that person has to bear the consequences. So my belief is that the decision should be yours because ultimately you will pay the price or reap the fruits. And before doing anything, just remind yourself that how God is “The Choice is yours, but the Price is mine “

Amritanshu : I had a question from a mother of a student studying in class 5 in CBSE, his name is Aarnav, and she wanted me to convey  to you that her son is reading in his books that Mr. Rahul Gandhi is a charismatic, energetic and dynamic young leader. I seriously doubt whether whatever else he studies is true or false.

Smriti Irani : He is Aarnav, hope he doesn’t become Arnab reading such chapters. Without targeting any individual, I would say that our children should study that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was a charismatic leader, Lokmanya Tilak, Sardar Patel were charismatic, Bhagat Singh was charismatic. I was born on Shaheed Diwas ,so you wouldn’t find a bigger propagator of Bhagat Singh than me.

Amritanshu : You have had two successful careers at 40, how do you handle success

Smriti Irani : When you reach the pinnacle of success, two things can happen either you can be satisfied and have a sense of pride or even arrogance and think that you have arrived, or you have that zeal to do something new, something different. When you have the zeal to do something different and new, it propels you to grow further and when you rise ahead you don’t think your Saree is whiter than somebody elses, you only compete with yourself. For me the thing that has always been very useful in life is a desire to do something intensely. I remember around two-three years back I told my husband, “I have to do something. He said, you have done and achieved a lot and I said, No, No its not complete yet”. So if you want to explore life and if you want to do something new, it always pushes you to a new adventure, not necessarily a new height, because when you start a new adventure there is no guarantee whether you will be successful or not. But according to me that intense desire pulls you towards success, that desire to excel at a particular thing. If you wash utensils, wash it in such a shiny way that everyone says, he is the best guy at washing utensils. Whatever you do, with your views, don’t think of anything as being small, because once you think of a thing as small, you become biased as well as you have frustration, which will eat you up. Every work is respectful, don’t think of anything as small.

An audio excerpt:

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Cabinet reshuffle: How the media got it completely wrong

OpIndia Staff
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Cabinet reshuffle: How the media got it completely wrong

Indian media and its “sources” have now become part of folklore. Many times, media puts out stories which are source based and it is eventually revealed that the stories had no basis whatsoever. This situation has worsened ever since the NDA Government has come to power as access-journalism has been stopped. Leaks have reduced and media persons are not allowed to get insider information.

In such a situation, it is natural that media clutches on to whatever little, unconfirmed information it gets. The news reporting regarding the cabinet expansion and reshuffle is a prime example of this. For the longest time media had been speculating on when the next cabinet reshuffle would take place. But no one got the timing right:

Business Standard claimed that the reshuffle would be prior to the Bihar elections i.e. Before October 2015

The Sunday Guardian claimed that a reshuffle would take place shortly after the declaration of the Bihar Assembly election results i.e. After November 9 2015

NDTV claimed that a reshuffle would happen after the Winter session of Parliament gets over i.e after December 2015

Catch News claimed that a reshuffle would happen at the start of 2016 i.e. near 7th January 2016

Reuters claimed that the shake-up would take place after the annual budget i.e. after 29th February 2016

Indian Express pegged it to happen on the day the results of assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry would be announced, i.e. May 19th 2016

Later, Indian Express revised the date to June 30th

In short: CLUELESS. Media sprayed dates starting from pre-October 2015 till June 2016 but got none of them right.

Not only did they get the dates completely wrong, the speculations as to who would get which ministry, which ministers would dropped, or shifted or inducted were all haywire.

The Sunday Guardian claimed the following:

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan could be drafted in the Cabinet.

Rajnath Singh would move out of the Home portfolio and take the Defence Ministry. Shivraj Singh Chouhan or Raman Singh could come in his place in the Home Ministry.

Manohar Parrikar could be the new External Affairs Minister in place of Sushma Swaraj who could be either shifted to the Human Resources Development Ministry or the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Suresh Prabhu, the Railway Minister, may quit active politics and may be made a Governor.

Smriti Irani could be getting a plum assignment in the Cabinet, thereby relieving her of the HRD portfolio. If Sushma Swaraj gets HRD, she would be a candidate for Information and Broadcasting.

Catch News claimed that:

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti , Upendra Kushwaha, Ram Kripal Yadav and Giriraj Singh could be replaced.

Radha Mohan Singh, may be given charge of a new ministry.

Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptuallah, Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi might get new ministries to handle.

Reuters claimed:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may soon be moved out from the crucial ministry. Power and coal minister Piyush Goyal is likely to replace Jaitley who may be moved to the defence ministry.

This was followed up with rumours that since Parrikar’s Defence Ministry would go, he would return to Goa.

Zee News reported that a piece in Deccan Chronicle claimed:

Health Minister JP Nadda, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Minister of State in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh could be dropped and are expected to be drafted back to party work. Sources said Javadekar was being seen as too soft for the sensitive portfolio of environment minister.

Of course none of the above information from sources materialised.

In fact even after just a week before the actual reshuffle, media was still crystal ball-gazing as to who would get what.

On 30th June Indian Express claimed:

The PM could elevate Sanjeev Balyan, MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, as minister with independent charge. As per a report on CNN News 18, controversial Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath is likely to be inducted in the government.

Possible entrants are Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh and Mangaldoi (Assam) MP Raman Deka. BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who recently became Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, is also being considered.

Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla could be dropped from the government.

On 3oth June, the Financial Express with 2 separate posts, claimed that:

Yogi Adityanath, Sanjeev Balyan and Raghav Lakhanpal may bag a berth in the Cabinet.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rameshwar Teli, Bhagat Singh Koshyari may be inducted as ministers.

On 5th of July an IANS report said:

Ministers with independent charge likely to join the cabinet are Piyush Goyal (Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy), Dharmendra Pradhan (Petroleum and Natural Gas), Nirmala Sitharaman (Industries and Commerce) and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Minority Affairs).

The reports had other predictions which it got right (finally) but the above obviously did not materialise.

Over all, this episode which started in July last year with the first source-based report of a reshuffle, has shown how inept media reporting has become. Probably a tarot card reader would give better and more accurate predictions about the future. The media was so off the mark this time that even habitual liars like Barkha Dutt had to admit defeat:


Smriti Irani becomes target of sexist and crass attacks by media and on social media

OpIndia Staff
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Smriti Irani becomes target of sexist and crass attacks by media and on social media

The biggest name to be affected after the Cabinet reshuffle was Smriti Irani who was moved from the high profile HRD Ministry to prima-facie low-key Textile Ministry. Although on the face of it she might be the big loser, there could be some other factors which could result in her having the last laugh, as noted here. But for now, a section of people were seen celebrating her demotion. There maybe nothing wrong in celebrating the perceived downfall of an opponent or a person you dislike, but the standard of attacks was crass and coarse.

The first big indication of the treatment meted out by the media was of course the reporting. While Smriti Irani was “dropped”, Jayant Sinha was reported to have been “shifted”, the use of words indicating the message which was being conveyed:


The Telegraph who seems to have a problem with Smriti Irani for a long time, chose a very crass and sexist front page to mock Smriti Irani:

Many expressed their anger at this very poor below the belt attack:


Journalist Shekhar Gupta though chose to defend the sexist cartoon:

Sagarika Ghose even went on to mock a case of voyeurism filed by Irani against FabIndia when she had found that a camera in the store was directed towards the ladies changing room:


Yes, when you have a chance to attack a Right Wing politician, feminism goes for a toss and even a case of voyeurism becomes “targetting of FabIndia”. There was more unabated bile when columnist for Economic Times, Rajyasree was also panned online for her cheap sexist remarks.



She had earlier indulged in body shaming Smriti Irani when she had complained about the FabIndia voyeurism incident, so this latest outburst could be called expected:

Failed Bollywood starlet Bhairavi Goswami also jumped in, raking up the past of a person who moved up the ladder of society through hard work and not through skin-show like Goswmai herself:

When the path was shown by media houses, media personalities and celebs, how can trolls be far away. A hashtag #ByeByeSmriti was trending which was soon used by Congress social media team members to pass cheap comments:


Modi Government’s ministry expansion and re-shuffle: What to make of it

Gaurav
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Modi Government’s ministry expansion and re-shuffle: What to make of it

In the second expansion of the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted a total of 19 fresh faces. As noted here, the inclusion of new leaders as ministers seems to be part of a well thought out arithmetic.

Twelve new ministers come from the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. As far as geographical diversity is concerned, the 19 ministers come from more than 10 states: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Assam. UP also now boasts of having the highest number of ministers: 16. The average age of the new inductees is 57 years, which is fairly young going by general standards. Further all but 3 of them are graduates or post graduates.

The portfolio reshuffle also seems to follow one clear theme: Performers have been rewarded, with the PM continuing his faith in their work, letting them keep their portfolios. Be it Suresh Prabhu’s Railway Ministry or Nitin Gadkari’s Transport, or Piyush Goel’s Power Ministry or Manohar Parrikar’s Defence Ministry or Sushma Swaraj’s External Affairs: the broad consensus is that these ministries have done well. And hence these ministers have come out unscathed from the reshuffle.

Swaraj’s MEA has been bolstered by the formidable addition of MJ Akbar as another Minister of State, giving her more ammunition to work the global diplomacy machine. Akbar is an experienced Delhi hand and may focus on the middle east – subject of his books and journalism.

In fact many ministries like Finance, MEA, Health, Rural Development, Parliamentary Affairs now have 2 Minister of States. This could indicate that these are the ministries the Government wants to focus on and ensure that implementation of policies is done expeditiously. It can also be a message to the seniors that work needs to be done quickly. This would also provide a good training ground for the junior Ministers of State. With the experience in this term, if NDA gets re-elected in 2019, all these ministers would be considered experienced, and would be ready to handle tougher jobs. Hence one of the focus points could well be grooming talent for the future.

While some other ministries like Home Ministry and Finance Ministry haven’t really overshot expectations, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley being senior ministers have been given a long rope. Jaitley though has been relieved of the Information and Broadcasting ministry which has been picked up by Venkaiah Naidu.

Jayant Sinha moves out of Finance Ministry to Civil Aviation. This may seem to be a demotion of sorts, with Sinha possibly paying the price for his father’s indiscretion. But, it may as well be seen as a statement of intent to shape up the Civil Aviation ministry, which for most parts has done just about OK. A new Civil Aviation policy was also recently announced and maybe it was felt a person like Jayant Sinha could handle this better.

Sinha’s replacement in Finance Ministry is Arjun Meghwal, the weaver turned IAS officer. One wonders if he would fit into the shoes of Sinha, who seemed to be very well qualified to handle a portfolio like Finance.

The biggest winner out of the reshuffle is probably Prakash Javadekar. Not only did he get elevated to the rank of a Cabinet Minister, he seems to have been rewarded with the HRD ministry for cleaning up the Environment Ministry mess left by UPA. But will he be able to wade through the challenges the HRD ministry brings? Many Core Right-Wing demands such as scrapping of RTE are linked with this ministry and to manage this, one needs tactical foresight since many NGOs and the like will be in the fray. As MoEF minister he handled such challenges well so it remains to be seen whether he can replicate the success in the HRD ministry. The MoEF in turn now has been given to Anil Dave, who is known for his river conservation work.

Appointments like those of Dave and M J Akbar signal the intent to bring in specialisation into ministries. Both these ministers are well versed in these fields and have been given portfolios according to their domain knowledge and strengths.

Manoj Sinha also seems to have done well for himself. He retains his Minister of State post in Railways and further gets Ministry of Communications. Ideally he should have also got ancillary ministries like Electronics & Information Technology, much like Gadkari who got all the Transport sectors clubbed together for reasons of synergy.

On the face of it, the biggest loser seems to be Smriti Irani. She loses her high profile HRD Ministry job and has now only the low-glamour Textile Ministry on her plate. There have been a few who have been disappointed at the slow pace of the National Education Policy. Some others have been sceptical about the high pitched responses to the Rohith Vemula case or the JNU sloganeering matter. And hence some would see this move as a demotion. But, there could be more than meets the eye here:

Firstly, with the big UP elections coming, and Irani being one of the contenders to lead the party in UP, the party might have felt that it is now necessary to relieve her of the heavy HRD ministry so that she can devote more time to campaigning in UP.

Secondly, the Textile ministry, although a downgrade from HRD ministry, is not a complete non-starter. It has the potential to spin a web of jobs. The recently unveiled textile policy has set a very ambitious target of attracting investments of Rs 74,000 crore in textiles in three years. And if Irani can use this effectively in the state of UP, then this move can be a mini game-changer.

Thirdly, as far as HRD Ministry is concerned, the major mandate of the ministry was the New Education Policy. The entire groundwork has been done, and the draft is up. Now comes the time when it has to be accepted and passed. For this, would a Smriti Irani, who has been at the centre of multiple controversies, who often polarises opinion about her, be better? Or a more genial and friendly, less controversial Jawadekar be better suited?

The real loser could be Sadananda Gowda, who loses the Law ministry and moves to Statistics and Programme Implementation. In the earlier reshuffle, he had left the Railway Ministry and come to Law. From that portfolio to Statistics, it has been a real fall for this leader.

Another big omission is obviously the maverick Dr Subramanian Swamy. While many of Swamy’s online fans “Patriotic Tweeple” (PTs) might have hoped for a berth, all such hopes would have been dashed by PM Modi’s rebuke in his interview with Arnab.

One example of how the axe falls on motormouths is the removal of junior HRD minister Ram Shankar Katheria. He is no longer a minister and ostensibly for his loose tongue. It may be recalled that just last month Katheria had declared that saffronisation of education will surely be undertaken. This and the fact that low-key performers have been rewarded, may go out as a signal to all the rabble-rousers.

Some mediocre performing ministries which have avoided the axe seem to be Uma Bharati: Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Maneka Gandhi: Women and Child Development. This might be considering that both leaders, (Maneka through her son Varun) exert some pressures in poll-bound UP.

Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan (Petroleum and Natural Gas) could consider themselves unlucky for missing out either a promotion to bigger portfolios or even a cabinet rank, which was widely expected. Goyal though has been further been given the Mines portfolio.

With this latest rejig, the size of Ministry (including PM Modi) is now 78: 27 Cabinet ministers, 50 Ministers of State and 1 Prime Minister. Numerically, this is a departure from the “Minimum Government” maxim, if one considers this to be the parameter. But rather than pure numbers, one hopes this principle will be implemented in its true spirit by way of reducing Government control and red-tapism, rather than just by having a small cabinet.

Co-Authored by @bwoyblunder and @c_aashish

“Sting” videos reveal paid news racket of media: Rs 25 lacs pm for no negative stories

OpIndia Staff
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“Sting” videos reveal paid news racket of media: Rs 25 lacs pm for no negative stories

India has long been fighting the menace of paid news. Every now and then there are reports of how media news stories appear biased, fabricated or are outright lies. Sometimes it is also noticed that certain media houses avoid talking about certain issues. Very rarely is any monetary link is traced back to such incidents.

But yesterday, two shocking “sting” videos were released on social media, which claimed to show a clear nexus between a media house and corporates. The videos feature a man named “Advait” who is said to be the Assistant Manager of Sales of a Goan media house called “Herald“. Herald claims to be Goa’s oldest and largest circulated daily. The videos also show the presence of an unidentified person, who has presumably shot the videos, and who belongs to the Casino industry of Goa.

In the videos one can clearly see the Herald employee Advait, claiming that he has been sent by his General Manager, named “Michael” to tell the Casino representative that they have to cough up Rs 25 lacs per month as “ad support” to ensure that Herald stops publishing negative stories and further, helps push positive stories about Casinos.

The “sting” further reveals that the Casinos were already paying them Rs 6 lac per annum as “ad support” and now the demand has been jacked up to Rs 25 lacs per month. The Casino representative is seen supposedly speaking to another person from a different Casino discussing how each of them would have to pay Rs 25 lacs per month from now on. The video describes how already a negative article has been stopped by this Herald employee Advait.

In the video, one can also see the Casino representative ask Advait whether these instructions are flowing from a person called “Raul”. Further, Advait confirms that his boss Michael will completely stop a “Sujay” from writing anything negative, and that this has happened on many occasions in the past.

So who are these people: Michael, Raul and Sujay?

Raul Fernandes, Managing Director of Herald Publications presenting a copy of the anniversary paper to Fr Oscar Quadros.
Raul Fernandes, Managing Director of Herald

Is the Michael mentioned above, the same Michael Pereira who happens to be the General Manager of Herald? Is Raul the same Raul Fernandes who happens to be the Managing Director of Herald? Is Sujay, the same Sujay Gupta who is the Herald Group Editor?

In the videos, Advait reveals that such deals have been struck by his media house in the past as well and this was not something new. One cannot verify the authenticity of the videos but this claim by Advait can surely be fact-checked. Herald in fact was caught in a similar “paid news” storm a few years back. Even at that point a sting was carried out by  journalist posing as a politician, striking a deal with an Herald employee for paid news in view of the upcoming polls in Goa.

The real question is this:

Will these videos be investigated and if anyone is indeed guilty will they be brought to book? Will any national media house dare to break the code of Omerta to carry these videos as they do for any number of politicians? Or will this news die a slow death?

The videos can be seen here:

You have mail, Mr S A Aiyar. Subject: Brexit

Mayuresh Didolkar
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You have mail, Mr S A Aiyar. Subject: Brexit

Back in 2003, during my first full year as a manager, I was given the unpleasant task of getting rid of an employee who had been with my firm much longer than I had been. My boss told me it would be difficult for him to take that call, since the employee and my boss had a very close relationship; hence, I was to play the bad cop. While thinking about the best way to do this task, I wondered if giving him a bad appraisal would send out the message without me explicitly having to fire him. When I ran this idea by one of my bosses from an organization I had worked for before he told me it was a bad idea. He said (to paraphrase) “Employees view bosses as people with power, and they do not take it kindly when those in power rig the system so that the employee does not get a chance to respond. You think he is not suited to the job or that he is not performing well, then tell him directly.” I followed his advice and told the employee things were not working out, and to my relief he agreed. Over the years, while not fast friends, he and I have remained in touch.

While   reading S. A. Aiyar’s op-ed in The Times of India  I reflected how the writer would have survived  with a mentor like my boss from the anecdote above.  The entire op-ed is an exercise in intellectual dishonesty by a man, while intelligent, does not mind rigging the system to ensure the desired outcome.

Disclaimer: Like in my earlier piece in OpIndia.com I do not intend to discuss if the voters in the UK chose wisely or indeed if the idea of referendum was the correct one in the context of the enormity of the decision to be taken. Once again, I am choosing to only discuss the hypocrisy behind the effort to delegitimize the vote away after the results are out.

The gist of Mr. Aiyar’s writing is this:  Brexit is a disastrous outcome that would not have happened if the stupid voters had not been given the power to choose. If at all this had to be put to a referendum then a simple majority was too low a benchmark to ask for and the Government should have insisted on a 2/3rd or 3/5th majority opinion as  a benchmark for the referendum.

My objection to this piece is two-fold. First, Mr. Aiyar is complaining about the system after the game is over and the results are in. If he or his kind (we are drowning in op-eds about what a disaster Brexit is going to be) thought putting such an important decision to vote was foolhardy, then they should have done all within their power to dissuade people from participating in the process in first place. If one side had completely boycotted the voting, the legitimacy of the vote could have indeed been questioned. Right now, what Mr. Aiyar and his kind are indulging in is a bit of devious goalpost shifting.

Keeping this basic objection aside, there are flaws in the suggestions given in the op-ed about how such changes should be brought about. Mr. Aiyar mentions the multiple checks and balances in various democratic systems including in India before a major change in the Constitution can be brought about. We need to consider two interesting points here.

One, in today’s fractured polity, there is no doubt that sometimes representative democracy may end up giving voice only to a smaller portion of popular opinion than a referendum. In our own Lok Sabha, the NDA with about 31% votes garnered in the 2014 general elections control close to 61% of the seats in the lower house. If members in the Lok Sabha were to cast their vote on an important issue today, it can be argued (as indeed a lot of my friends from the left are fond of arguing) that it represents the opinion of only about a third of the country’s population.

Interestingly, Mr. Aiyar argues that “Representative democracy is a more indirect form of democracy than the holding of referendums, but despite many flaws is better overall. It is more resistant to ugly populism and false propaganda. A referendum to make India a Hindu state or impose Hindi everywhere may well pass, but should be resisted”. What he conveniently leaves out is because the representatives in the Indian parliament do not have to always do what their voters wish for, it allows minor communities with concentrated voting power to bully those representatives to serve their interests –the Uniform Civil Code discussion being an interesting case in the point. The only thing worse than ugly populism is the even uglier tyranny of minority opinion/votes.

More importantly, there are flip-sides to the very fact of having multiple checks and balances in themselves. In Steven Spielberg’s excellent biopic “Lincoln” , we saw how President Lincoln actually did not allow the American Civil War to end till the time he had the required votes to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude. Imagine this — a good man had to have the weight of needless deaths on his conscience because  the elaborate system of checks and balances did not allow him to move fast enough on an important issue.

The other alternative suggested by Mr. Aiyar is to have a referendum but to set the bar higher, preferably at 2/3rd majority for a change that is, in his words, “irreversible, or very difficult to reverse”.

We have all heard of the two travellers in an African jungle. When they were told a tiger is coming in their direction, one of them sat down and started wearing his running shoes. The other traveller, incredulous, asked his mate “you don’t expect to outrun a tiger now, do you?” to which the second traveller calmly replied, “I don’t have to outrun the tiger, I have to only outrun you.”

This is bit of a sleight-of- hand, a trick if you will. In any referendum where the status quo is one of the two alternatives, anything other than a simple majority is basically rigging the system in favour of the status quo. It is very easy to see how in a referendum requiring 2/3rd majority the two sides would need different percentage of votes to gain the desired outcome. For the “Leave” campaign, it would be at 65% whereas for the “Remain” campaign it would be just 35.1 %. They have to only outrun their mate and not the tiger.

Towards the end, Mr. Aiyar comes up with the usual intellectual argument against Brexit asserting that “Many issues are so complex that the common man cannot be expected to come up with a considered view”. Again, he conveniently leaves out that it would be naiveté in the extreme to assume that those who can be expected to come up with a considered view will not support a side that serves their interests. There was a lot of chatter on social media about how people disregarded expert opinion in favour of emotions in the Brexit vote. What nobody is willing to own is the fact that it is the expert’s integrity and not their domain knowledge that the common man does not trust anymore.

It is a result of many years of disappointment with the experts and their opinions. Calling those who disregard their opinion “bigots” or “stupid” will hardly solve the problem.

The apologists of Islamic terrorism, and their flawed arguments

Nitin Rivaldo
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The apologists of Islamic terrorism, and their flawed arguments

Every time a terror attack is carried out by Islamic groups, we see a flurry of commentators rushing to say “this has got nothing to do with religion”. Every time they take extra measures to explain why religion must not be blamed, and almost every time they are wrong.

Let’s see some of the recent smokescreens that were created by the apologists for Islamic terrorism:

Orlando nightclub shooting: it wasn’t hatred for gays. It was the because of easy availability of guns.

This argument totally ignores the fact that in 10 Muslim countries, there is a death penalty for Homosexuality. Guess it was the gun that wrote their constitutions too!  Maybe in Saudi Arabia they stone women who commit adultery because of easy availability of stones? And ISIS throws gays off buildings in Syria because there is gravity in Raqqa!

Charlie Hebdo massacre: Those cartoons were provocative! It was the ISIS. There are just 0.1% extremists among all Muslims!

This argument again ignores the fact that there is death penalty for blasphemy and insulting the Prophet in 10 Islamic countries. Either their constitutions have been written by ISIS or the moderates there aren’t moderate enough. Or even they have misinterpreted the book.

If you draw a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the state will kill you. In Non-Islamic Republics like France, ISIS will kill you.

Yet leaders of these Islamic republics condemn ISIS with platitudes like ‘Islam means peace’ and ‘Killing one man is like killing the whole humanity’. Difference is – Islamic republics kill within their boundaries, while the ISIS is more amorphous. ISIS does it across the globe. At best, they should be condemning ISIS for not respecting international borders.

Istanbul airport attack: victims were Muslims, so how can the terrorists be Muslims?

Are the women who are stoned to death for adultery not Muslims? Or are gays who are executed in Islamic republics not Muslims? There are punishments for Muslims too in Islamic countries. Imagine the argument. Pakistan is not Islamic republic because it punishes Muslims for blasphemy.

We must distinguish Muslim as an identity and Islam as a faith.

Javed Akhtar is a Muslim by identity, but not by faith. He is an atheist. In Saudi Arabia, he can be executed for calling himself an atheist. Would you then argue that how can Saudi Arabia execute a Muslim? Basically, actions inspired by faith prevail over the identity.

For ISIS, faith matters more than the identity. Shias and Sunnis are both Muslims, but differ in matter of faith. That’s what the whole conflict is about – about putting one brand of faith over the others. So when ISIS kills Muslims, it’s to declare supremacy of a faith, not of any identity.

In fact, ISIS often claims that their ranks have no such identity of nationality, race, language, colour, etc. – only the faith binds them.

Dhaka restaurant attack: <the arguments were changing as the apologists struggled to find the best one>

Gun control argument doesn’t work here in Dhaka as the terrorists used knives and machetes. Provocation or hurt sentiments work neither, as the guests at restaurant were not involved in any outrageous act (unless eating in the holy month of Ramadan was that act; but even the terrorists have not said that, so I hope the apologists won’t invent such arguments).

The apologists tried to use the argument they had used during Istanbul attack – terrorists have targeted a Muslim majority country, so it has got nothing to do with religion – but that argument soon fell flat when it turned out that the terrorists let go off the people who could recite verses of the Quran (same had happened during 26/11 also; Muslim Turkish couple was let go by the Jihadis. Same during a Hotel Siege by Boko Haram.)

But the apologists are creative; they came up with a new argument – what kind of Muslims kill during the holy month of Ramadan?

I don’t know! But in 624 AD, the first Holy War (Jihad) under the leadership of Prophet was waged on Non-Muslims of Mecca during the month of Ramadan. It’s celebrated as the Battle of Badr.

Direct Action Day, which led to widespread riots and killings across India before partition, was announced by Muslim League on August 16th, 1946; during Ramadan. In fact, Muslim League mentioned the Battle of Badr as inspiration.

Muslim League and Direct Action Day
The statement by Muslim League

Apart from these, there is a long list of battles and wars that were carried out by Islamic nations and Muslim groups in the month of Ramadan.

Therefore, violence and killings in the month of Ramadan is not really as “unislamic” as the apologists would like you to believe.

Now if you counter such arguments with facts and logic, the apologists would say that these would lead to spike in hate crimes against Muslims. Apart from explaining how “it has got nothing to do with religion” they must resist Islamophobia.

But dear apologists, attacks in Paris, Orlando, Brussels, Istanbul or Dhaka don’t lead to Islamophobia, intersection of ISIS beliefs with state laws in so called moderate Islamic countries do.

Heads of these republics condemn ISIS saying it doesn’t represent Islam, yet they share the same beliefs and give the same treatments to gays, apostates and blasphemers.

How can it be that when ISIS kills gays, blasphemers, apostates, or “kuffars”, it is perversion of Islam, but when Islamic republics like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritiana, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, Qatar, do it, it is moderate version of Islam?

How come the Extremists of ISIS and Moderates in Islamic countries reach the same “misinterpretations” of the book in matters regarding Blasphemy, Apostasy, Homosexuality, and some other aspects of the faith?

When 2.5 lakh Muslims out of about 24 lakh in Malda or 1 lakh in Muzaffarnagar march out asking for death to Kamlesh Tiwari, yes, it gives rise to Islamophobia. It’s terrifying because 2.5 lakh ‘normal people’ from one district are sharing the same beliefs with ISIS, with regards to punishment for blasphemy. That’s about 10% of total Muslims in that district.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPvnFDDQHk]

But if one of them joins ISIS tomorrow, and kills Kamlesh Tiwari, we will say that he got self-radicalised. That he is a lone wolf, a misguided youth. We will start asking questions about what radicalised him. Babri, Gaza, Iraq, 2002, and the list will go on.

We will forget the placard he carried during the procession that said, “Rasool e Gustakhi ki Sazaa, Sir tan se Juda!” (beheading is the punishment for insulting the prophet).

Islamic State is not a State. It’s an idea, shared by many more than we would like to admit due to fear of being politically incorrect. It’s the same idea that led to Partition of India. It’s the same idea that leads to terrorists attacks virtually every second day. And it has been this way for the past 1400 years and will remain so unless we shed the political correctness and discuss the problem with the idea.

“It has got nothing to do with religion” is a clever way to end the discussion, and unfortunately 99% of all the arguments after terror attacks are on similar lines.

Twitter suspends “parody” account which mocked an AAP-leaning media outlet

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter suspends “parody” account which mocked an AAP-leaning media outlet

Janta ka Reporter is a recent media outlet launched by journalist Rifat Jawaid, which primarily curates news reports. Ever since its inception it has been plagued with criticism that it is pro-AAP although it never openly declares the same.  The portal has featured on OpIndia.com too, for the blatant misreporting and lies peddled by it very often.

In the past few weeks a new site was launched called “Junta ka Reporter”, having a similar Twitter handle. It specialised in posting satirical news items which glorified AAP, taking a pot-shot at the original Janta ka Reporter. Satire news sites are not uncommon in India, with The Unreal Times and Faking News being the pioneers of this genre. However, today it was seen that the Twitter handle of the “parody” Junta ka Reporter was suspended. The team of the site put up the following Facebook note:

IMPORTANT AND FACTUAL (for a change) UPDATE:

The Twitter account associated with this website – @juntakareporter – has been suspended, presumably after the guys at “Janta Ka Reporter” website – the Aam Aadmi Party mouthpiece – complained to Twitter about impersonation.

First the facts – there was no attempt at impersonation; it was a clear parody account from day one.

The spellings of the name of the website as well as of the Twitter account were different, and the display picture (and the logo) of the Twitter account as well as of the website were distinctly different from those of “Janta Ka Reporter”. These are the basic rules Twitter asks parody accounts to stick to, to avoid impersonation.

But as the Poe’s Law says – without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, parodies of extremism are indistinguishable from sincere expressions of extremism – perhaps the guys at “Janta Ka Reporter” and some AAP supporters couldn’t distinguish the parody from the original and decided to report the “violation” to Twitter.

I can only blame their IQ (as “intolerance” is a word reserved for only one type of people), because there was clear indication in form of “Disclaimer” on the website that was present on every page in the footer. And you just needed to click “Contact Us” page to understand what the website was all about – yes, that’s where you should contact if you thought it was a case of impersonation.

Still they couldn’t distinguish the parody from the original. Why? Going back to Poe’s Law, this suspension only proves that the website “Janta Ka Reporter” is an expression of extremism.

And it’s true. You can’t find a “news” website that is more biased and shoddy than the original one. That’s why the parody one says that it is “neutral” and something “users can trust blindly”. This suspension proves that “Janta Ka Reporter” is extreme in its slavery towards Aam Aadmi Party and its founder Arvind Kejriwal, and thus Poe’s Law is applicable in this case.

In that sense, I welcome this suspension by Twitter.

However, to present my case, I’ve written to Twitter to explain the rationale behind their decision and unsuspend @juntakareporter as there was no explicit intent of impersonation.

I just hope the appeal is not reviewed by Indian employees of Twitter, who are known to be almost equally biased like the website @juntakareporter parodied.

Till then, connect with us on Facebook, while it lasts (I’m sure the same guys are trying to get this Facebook page suspended too).

Yours neutrally, Mofat Javed.

It appears that the handle might have been suspended because if was unclear whether it was a parody handle or whether it was trying to impersonate the original handle. However, Twitter users have come out in support of the handle:




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