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When Congress states opposed GST in 2013, and why BJP states are now ok with it

Gaurav
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When Congress states opposed GST in 2013, and why BJP states are now ok with it

Besides being filled with habitual liars, Indian MSM is also full of incompetent journalists. We had mentioned earlier how Indian TV Anchors are Jack of All Trades, how a journalist can be an expert on topic A and then on topic Z effortlessly. And this phenomenon has been highlighted in how Indian Media has responded to the new GST law which is being introduced.

The GST Act has not been even drafted as of now, only a bill to give powers to draft the bill is in the Rajya Sabha, yet you see various bogeys being raised by some journalists. We had already clarified on most of the technical issues of the proposed GST act here.

Now, to defend Congress’s stalling of this crucial bill, Indian MSM has started a new narrative: “But BJP states (including then Gujarat CM Modi) had opposed GST for many years during UPA rule, why this U Turn now? Wasn’t GST important then?”

Either half-knowledge or an intention to deliberately misguide the public can be behind this hilarious reasoning because the facts simply do not support this. So is there any truth in this claim that Modi and BJP had made a U Turn? Not really.

It is a fact that many states, including BJP ruled states had opposed the GST bill under UPA rule. But were only BJP states opposing GST? Lies. Even as late as December 2013, just 4 months before end of UPA’s 10 year rule, it was reported that the Congress-led ruling UDF government in Kerala has lent support to the Gujarat government’s apprehensions on GST. The Finance Minister of Kerala raised questions on numerous concepts under GST on which there was no consensus nor clarity. He was “openly critical of the Centre’s inability to give any “definite information” about the service tax currently received from each state or any projection about future revenues expected”

In October 2013 also, a report in The Hindu quoted the Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister (who also served as GST Empowered Committee Chairman) as saying this:

Most of the states…majority of the states have opposed bringing petroleum products and liquor in GST framework. They want to keep (the two items) out of GST,

Does the phrase “Most of the states” mean “only BJP states?”. Even when, at that point in time, Congress was ruling a considerable number of states, unlike now?

Again in July 2013 it was reported that 3 non-BJP states had opposed a provision in the GST Bill. Which were these 3 states? Non-BJP ruled Tamil Nadu. Non-BJP ruled Orissa. And Congress ruled Maharashtra! So if this GST bill was opposed only on political grounds, why did Congress’s own state Maharashtra oppose it then?

Even in May 2013, the then Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST Sushil Kumar Modi revealed that “Even Congress ruled states like Haryana and Maharashtra are opposed to it (GST) fearing loss of revenue,”

So it is clear that even in the last one year of UPA, at least 5 Non-BJP states had voiced their opposition to the UPA’s GST bill, and out of these, 3 states were Congress ruled states. So why is Indian MSM crying hoarse that only BJP had opposed GST? Isn’t it clear that BJP and non-BJP states i.e. most states in India were opposed to UPA’s GST bill?

Now that we know which states were opposed to UPA’s GST bill, it is important to know the reasons for opposition. We had reported on this in December 2014 itself, but since MSM is repeating a lie a thousand times, we may have to repeat the truth at least a few times. Till the last discussion of GST under UPA in November 2013, the states had some major demands:

1. Keeping Petroleum out of GST ambit
2. Keeping Alcohol out of GST ambit
3. Keeping Entry Tax out of GST ambit
4. Some sort of guarantee from Centre for potential revenue loss

The rationale behind these demands is quite understandable. GST wipes out most state-level indirect taxes, thus taking out one the major source of revenues for states. It is like a parent tells a child to stop earning from today, and instead promises him a sum of pocket-money. To have at least some financial independence in their hands, States asked for items like petroleum and alcohol (which have huge sales) to be kept out of GST, and also a guarantee from the Centre to offset their losses.

As explained by Congress Spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi in her tweet, Chidambaram the then Finance Minister never considered the states demands. He even openly rejected the 1% additional levy (which was mooted as a compensation to producer states). This obstinate stand of the UPA was the reason why although it had 10 years, it could never build consensus on GST.

How did the new NDA Government achieve consensus in less than 10 months, when UPA couldnt do it in 10 years? They agreed to the demands of the states. Out of the above 4 demands, 3 were accepted, and a bonus benefit was passed on to the state:

1. Petroleum was kept out of GST
2. Alcohol was kept out of GST
3. A proposal was sent to law ministry to work out a “Constitutional Guarantee” to compensate states
4. And the Bonus: The power to states of levying additional 1% tax levy, for maximum 2 years, to help augment state revenues

This is why BJP states, which were opposing the old GST bill, along with non-BJP states, are now agreeing to the NDA’s GST bill, because their concerns have been addressed. But Indian MSM who have become Congress spokespersons are desperate to spread the lie that this is change in stand is only politicking.

Wanted: a Smart Government

Gaurav
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Wanted: a Smart Government

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in an unenviable position. The people who voted him in expect him to make drastic and substantial changes to India’s trajectory and the people who did not vote him are waiting to pounce on every single morsel that falls during his tenure. By now, the honeymoon period for his Government is well and truly over, and the gloves are off. Patience is wearing thin, even among the people who voted for him.

There have been many positives in the term of this Government. Jan Dhan Yojana, an ambitious scheme which can revolutionise banking in India and also eliminate corruption in Government schemes, has kicked off. Coal Auctions have been conducted in a very transparent manner. FDI is increasing, thanks to push from Make In India. Arguably Independent India’s biggest tax reform, GST, has been put on the fast track. Considerable efforts have been put to develop India’s relations with other countries. All these are big measures and the Government has been smart and diligent in achieving these. But there are some areas where the Government has floundered. Although small, these issues have somehow become the defining characteristic as fas perception is concerned.

Choosing the right battles

It is said, one must choose one’s battles wisely. The Government sadly has chosen some battles which they should not have. Censor Board, FTII, War on Porn are all examples. In all three cases, there is definitely some Government action needed. Censor Board should move to becoming a Certification board, as its official name suggests. FTII is riddled with overstaying students, unending courses and general malaise. Child Porn and Revenge Porn are serious issues which need to be tackled. But are all of these burning issues? Censor Board and FTII can be revamped in a slow and steady manner. The matter of Porn is still in discussion at the Supreme Court level. Was there a need for the Government to go overboard on all three issues?

Knowing when and how to fight

Further the Government response to all these issues has been ranging from obstinate to plain stupid. The Censor Board members themselves objected to Nihalani’s moral policing. But he is still the chief. FTII students, Governing Council members and general people from Bollywood objected to Gajendra Chauhan. He is still there. The Supreme Court never asked the Government to ban porn of any kind. It only asked a response. What did we do? We banned it (and then tried to “unban” some part of it by passing the baton on to ISPs). Were these intelligent responses? No.

A UPA Government would have acted differently. If it needed to take over or revamp some institutions, it would do it slowly and quietly, by appointing an acceptable figure as the chief (unlike Chauhan), and carrying on their work systematically. On issues like Porn ban, UPA has already set the tone during its term. Ministers like Sachin Pilot had gone on record saying they would ban porn IF directed by the Supreme Court, thereby very smartly shifting the blame on the Supreme Court, whenever that happens. The current Government’s responses though have been far from ideal.

Controlling the narrative

What compounds the above problems is the Government’s non-existent control on the narrative. That media will go after you is a given. How you effectively counter the media is upto you. The Government has sorely failed here. While some of the above actions were indefensible, at least better attempts could have been made to salvage at least some part of the lost goodwill. Issues plaguing Censor Board and FTII could have been aggressively highlighted. In some places, a step back could have been taken, forcing the opposition to also slow down. None of this has happened.

Hurting the BJP’s newly found voter base

A new entrant and a substantial one, to BJP’s voter base was the young Indian. Educated, below 35 years of age, looking for jobs and online. This section of the electorate, voted for Modi for his positivity. What they get instead is encroachment of some the areas they like. No one like their favourite movies being tampered with. Neither does anyone like the idea that legal porn is being banned under the poorly given excuse of “Child Porn”. The media reporting and the non-existent Government defence only add fuel to this fire. For this crowd, Jan Dhan Yojana, Coal Auctions of even GST do not make any real difference. So they see the Government from the narrow prism of what affects them. And this will hurt BJP electorally.

Signs of Change

But all may not be lost. There are some signs slowly emerging that show the Government is ready to reconsider some of their decisions. The Government has effectively U-Turned on the Land Bill, in the hope that other bills like GST may get safe passage. There has been a rethinking on the Porn ban, although even this rethinking is not very “smart”. It is not a crime to go back on your decision owing to general sentiment or to cut losses. But sticking on to a stand which doesn’t really politically benefit you is stupidity. Doing good for the FTII for example is a move which will reap almost no political dividend, but the current stance is only reducing the goodwill.

The Government become “Smart” and must understand: where it needs to enter the battlefield, how it should fight, when it should retreat, and most importantly how the battle is reported in the media. Only then it can manage to be in the good books, at least perception wise, of its voters.

The Naga Peace Accord: what left wing extremists groups of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar can learn

Guest Author
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The Naga Peace Accord: what left wing extremists groups of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar can learn

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” We saw this happen when the Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi signed a peace accord with the Naga insurgent outfit, the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah)or NSCN-(IM). The Modi government deserves all of the praise for sealing this accord with the most notorious of insurgent groups in the North East region. The implication of this accord, if Nagas stick to their commitment, will be a game changer for the region. Given that most developmental projects in this region were hampered by insurgency, a peaceful North East in tandem with government’s Act East Policy will rapidly inch towards toward higher growth trajectory.

Initially, NSCN’s demand was far more than what is realistic. Demand was for a sovereign “Greater Nagalim” with all Naga inhabited areas of Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and even some area of Myanmar. NSCN’s way to achieve its demands was insurgency.

The Naga insurgency is not a recent phenomenon. It was born with India’s Independence. In fact under the leadership of Angami Zapu Phizo, the Naga National Council(NNC) declared Nagaland an independent state on August 14, 1947, the same day Pakistan was formed. The insurgent group grew in popularity among the Naga people. Subsequently, Phizo formed an army to fight for a sovereign Naga state.

To address the problem of growing insurgency in the North East, Indin Govt passed Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. Since then, hundreds have lost their lives in armed conflicts. After enacting AFSPA, the government always kept a door open for peace talks with insurgent NNC. Shillong Accord of 1975 was an outcome of such initiative by the Government of India. The NNC agreed leave the path of armed insurgency and accept the supremacy of the Indian Constitution. However a faction of NNC led by Thuingaleng Muivah, was not happy with the idea of giving up the demand for a sovereign Naga State. He along with Isak Chishi Swu and S S Khaplang formed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980. Internal conflict among the leaders of NSCN resulted in splitting of the outfit into (1) the NSCN-IM (Isak-Muivah), led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah (2) NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang. If we look at the last two decades, we can see NSCN-IM being associated with almost all major insurgency incidents in the region.

Apart from the Indian Government, the Nagas are also in conflict with other ethnic groups. Conflict with the Kukis for instance. The Kukis demand a Kuki majority district in Sadar Hills which is also inhabited by Nagas. Nagas claim that Kukis are later migrants to the Sadar Hills and hence it’s a part of “Greater Nagalim”. PM Modi while addressing at the event on August 3, 2015 said that the Naga problem “is a legacy of the British rule”. It indeed is. The British had settled Kukis in the Sadar Hills during mid-eighteenth century to counter the Nagas. The fire of hatred hasn’t died since then. There have been incidents of violent conflicts between the Kukis and the Nagas claiming many innocent lives.Naga Accord

The India Government had taken numerous steps to bring NSCN-IM to the table for a peace talk. Past Prime Ministers did their bit to restore peace to the North East region, but with little success. P V Narasimha Rao the then Prime Minister met Muivah in Paris in 1995. Three years later, PM AB Vajpayee met him in the same city. He left a lasting impression by acknowledging the unique history and culture of Naga people.

When Mr. Vajpayee visited Kohima in 2003, he was greeted with a warm welcome which none of the earlier PMs has received. He not only recognised their uniqueness but also praised their contribution to India. A shift in Government of India’s tone during NDA regime under Vajpayee won the hearts of the Naga people.

During that time, NSCN-IM gave up the demand for sovereign “Greater Nagalim”. Instead, in 2003, they settled for a special status within the constitution of India which will give them more socio-political space. Note that Nagaland already enjoys special status under Article 371-A, which ensures that “Acts of Parliament shall not apply to Nagaland unless so  decided by the Nagaland Legislature with regard to:- (i) religious or social practices of the Nagas; (ii) Naga Customary Law and procedure; (iii) administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga Customary Law; (iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources.”. NSCN-IM wanted enlargement of the scope and special status. The terms of recent Naga Peace Accord has not been relieved yet. However, if the government agrees to the above, then Nagaland would get more powers then even Jammu and Kashmir.

Apart from that, there were two other issues to be address – rehabilitation of the fighting cadre of Nagas and pending criminal case against it leaders. There was a proposal to rehabilitate Naga fighting cadre in the Indian army, paramilitary forces or state police. Dropping criminal cases against Naga leaders will not be a bad deal. It will be interesting to see if the Modi, the government has agreed to this.

On the national level, this whole episode will encourage various Left Wing Extremist groups of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar et. al.  to leave the path of violence and join the mainstream.

by Naitik

Nitish Kumar – Caught in the DNA web

Ullas
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Nitish Kumar – Caught in the DNA web

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarting the campaign in Muzzaffarpur for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, sparks were expected to fly. Campaigner Modi did not hold back his punches and launched a blistering offensive against Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar. In his political speech, he taunted Nitish Kumar’s “political DNA” of abandoning partners like George Fernandes, BJP and Jitan Ram Manjhi. Nitish Kumar has taken the bait, has extrapolated this to Bihar’s DNA and is now playing the “Bihari Asmita” card. By going this way, Nitish is employing the same tactics used by one CM Narendra Modi in Gujarat.

Here are the reasons why I believe Nitish will have a tough time defending the DNA barb:

  • It is common knowledge now that Nitish had gone begging to Sonia Gandhi to accept him as the CM candidate of the secular alliance. A man whose political emergence and survival was built on anti-Congress platform – going back to Congress for help is indeed an insult to the “JP Narayan DNA”
  • Nitish going back to seek support of his bete-noir and a convicted criminal Lalu Yadav to counter BJP’s emergence in Bihar is indeed due to some defect in Nitish’s “ethical DNA”
  • Ever since his election as CM of Bihar in 2005, Nitish has been seeking “special status” for Bihar. His current friend, Sonia Gandhi, did not grant him that wish. In spite of this snub, if one has to go begging to Congress, it is surely a chemical locha in Nitish’s “political DNA”. Nitish himself stated that UPA government’s decisions were a “betrayal with backward states like Bihar”. How will he justify it now?
  • Ignoring security apparatus during the last year’s election campaign, when Modi was in Patna – and multiple bombs exploded at Gandhi Maidan is another example of problem in Nitish’s “political DNA”. Politics can be very nauseating – but it was Nitish, who turned it into a bloodsport.
  • It is a norm to send a state’s tableau for the annual Republic Day parade. Nitish Kumar, who now claims to play-up his Bihari credentials, did not bother send a tableau for the Republic Day in 2014. This proves that Nitish’s claims are hollow and he does not put money where his mouth is. Another reason why Nitish is a bad ambassador of “Bihari DNA”.
  • If not sending a tableau was not enough, Nitish Kumar did not recommend any names for the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards from Bihar in 2014. Did he decide that Bihar does not have any achievers? Can anyone truly say that he represents the “Bihari DNA”?
  • When eight bombs went off at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya in 2013, Nitish Kumar had ignored intelligence inputs about the impending attack. His lack of interest in putting the security of the state on priority is a defect in his “administrative DNA”. In fact, in comedy of sorts, Lalu’s RJD had protested against Nitish for this lapse.
  • Nitish Kumar claims that law and order situation improved during his tenure as CM. There are some reports to support his claim. But, at the same time, naxals and the Indian Mujahideen gained ground in Bihar – and this was stated by the then Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Are these outfits now part of Nitish’s brigade? This is akin to applying band-aid to a wound and cutting a leg at the same time. Again, something seriously wrong with his “administrative DNA”.
  • During Kejriwal’s first tenure as CM of Delhi, he started a tamasha called “janta darbar“. Nitish was quick to claim HE was the first to start the idea in Bihar – just to mock the failure of Kejriwal to successfully carry out this event. Well, ever since May 2014, Nitish has not had a single darbar. Are his darbars only political results dependent? And now Nitish-Kejriwal combo will campaign on “good administration” platform with – Lalu Yadav. LOL.
  • When Nitish Kumar started his Adhikar Yatra in 2012 to request funds from the Center, it was hailed as a game changer by cronies. Alas, this yatra became a platform for people to vent their frustrations against the state government. Why would Biharis shout against you if you were governing well, Mr Kumar? People of Bihar had decided back then that your “governance DNA” was faulty.
  • When Ishrat Jahan was declared a terrorist, Nitish called her “Bihar’s daughter”. So much for muslim appeasement that Nitish began to own terrorists. This would never have happened if his “secular DNA” was not flawed. All this when Nitish himself flagged off LK Advani’s rath yatra in 2011.
  • In order to further boost his secular credentials, Nitish made an all expense paid trip in 2012 to Pakistan too. When India has been trying to get the World to declare Pakistan as a terrorist state, here was Nitish going to Pakistan for personal agenda. What did he achieve by this visit? ZILCH. NULL. CIPHER. One can go ahead and question his “Indian DNA” too.

Nitish Kumar will resort to the usual victimhood game now. He will try to shore up support of Biharis, lying to them that PM Modi has insulted all of Bihar. He will surely get media space, as these are the same people who had once extolled him as the next Prime Minister. Amidst all this, Nitish will soon forget the agenda he set out for his campaign – Bihar’s development. Modi has, for now, successfully diverted Nitish’s mind away from development and hurt his ego. It is for Nitish to prove whether he can do a fine balancing act or trip to failure. Modi may well be saying to himself DND (Do Not Disturb) for now – Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Indian Meteorological Department – What to make of them?

Ullas
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Indian Meteorological Department – What to make of them?

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which forecasts weather patterns in India, has for long been a liability to the government, as well as to the citizens. For many of us, who still remember the old monopoly days of Doordarshan, where the last five minutes of the daily news was devoted to weather – it was a practical joke that whatever the forecast was – we could be sure of opposite to happen. However, the recent performance of the IMD has been chequered to say the least.

First, let me give the credit where it is due. IMD correctly forecast the cyclone “hudhud” in October 2014, which helped the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha administrations to take adequate precautions. Likewise, IMD also correctly forecast cyclonic storm “nilofer” in the western coast of India, also in October 2014. Also, periodic warnings given to the fishermen community have saved countless lives over the years. Also, IMD has been successfully forecasting the weather patterns for the annual Amarnath Yatras.

However, the credibility of IMD takes a serious hit, when it comes to the forecast of monsoons. We don’t need to emphasize enough that monsoons are critical to India for agriculture and farming. Hence, it becomes even more critical that IMD is held accountable. Let us consider this year – states of Odisha and West Bengal are now suffering flood like situation; where as parts of Karnataka and Maharasthra face drought like situation. Has the IMD been able to predict any of this? If not, what is the whole purpose of having the department. Marathwada region has seen innumerable number of farmer suicides over the years. Has the IMD made any recommendation to the government about declaring this area not suitable for agriculture – so that farmers can look for other avenues for their livelihood? There is no point in farmers waiting for rains, when there is little or no chance of any – if recent history is any indicator. IMD needs a serious dose of professionalism to be held accountable for their work.

In addition, IMD’s performance in the last few years has not been a smooth sail either. As a snapshot, let us take a look at IMD’s monsoon predictions in 2014:

Region

For the Period

Forecast %

Actual Monsoon

Forecast made on

24th Apr 2014

9th June 2014

12th Aug 2014
All India June – September

95 ± 5

93± 4

87 ± 4

88
Northwest India June – September

85 ± 8

76 ± 8

79
Central India June – September

94 ± 8

89 ± 8

90
Northeast India June – September

99 ± 8

93 ± 8

88
Southern Peninsula June – September

93 ± 8

87 ± 8

93

 

We can draw these inferences from the above table:

  • The first forecast made in April 2014 was not met. Hence, farmers were failed by the IMD, in terms of any preparations they could make for the monsoon season
  • This forecast (made in April 2014) was only made at the national level – hence, it is of little use for farmers
  • The second forecast made in June 2014 has also not been very accurate, when you compare with the actual monsoon
  • The third forecast made in Aug 2014 has been fairly accurate only in Northwest and Central India. Whereas, it again missed accuracy in Northeast and South India.I accept that they are within the MoE, but even in the third month of monsoon if the IMD cannot make fairly accurate forecast, it is a sign of mediocrity.
  • Which brings me to the critical point – margin of error (MoE). A MoE of 8% is scandalous for any forecast. It is time for IMD to improve its technology or its statistical models to reduce the MoE. (the IMD uses a term “model error” instead of MoE)

This is an area where the government needs to invest more with the latest technologies and equipments. If not, at least the private players must be encouraged to get into this field to bring innovation. It is encouraging to see the emergence of skymetweather.com as another serious player. However, having a small sample of few years must not convince us that they are better than IMD.

IMD’s performance on weather monitoring and forecasts aside, its ability to detect early warnings of earthquakes is a big let-down. We can all agree that globally there has been little success in accurately predicting the earthquakes. However, based on reports, IMD is incapable of accurately measuring the “scale and characteristics of an earthquake” after the event. This is the reason why we heard vague statements by IMD officials after the recent Nepal earthquake about “multiple aftershocks possible” – without giving the scale or magnitude of these aftershocks.

This brings us to the point of organizational mess in IMD. IMD, as an organization, is part of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. At the same time, a department in IMD, the “Environmental Meteorology Unit” is part of Ministry of Environment and Forests. IMD also gives crucial support in giving meteorological information to the civil aviation sector. To facilitate this task, they need to work with Ministry of Civil Aviation. There is another department providing service of “positional astronomy”. If you are wondering what this is, do not worry, you have company. Among other tasks, this department publishes “Rashtriya Panchang” in 14 languages in India. Now, why any government needs to be involved in the business of publishing panchangs is beyond me. We can appreciate working in a matrix structure, reporting to various ministries – but in government institutions, this usually means more bureaucracy and more problems.

PS: The skeptic me also doesn’t rule out political interference in 2014. With impending elections, IMD may have forced to predict normal monsoon. But this will remain a wild guess, till we have solid evidence to back it up.

Source: Most of the information in this report is available on- www.imd.gov.in

Here are your three enemies who don’t want you to watch porn online

Editorial Desk
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Here are your three enemies who don’t want you to watch porn online

In the last 3 days, citizens of this country are facing issues accessing known websites hosting pornographic content. This obviously has led to a huge outrage as people see it as an attack on individual and private liberty. According to reports, the Department of Telecommunications has asked various ISPs to block 857 websites that host pornographic content.

This is a silly thing from a government that recently launched ‘Digital India’ mission. We are not saying Digital India means an India where porn is the first thing people watch on the net, but this sends out a signal that the Indian establishment doesn’t understand how internet works. People can still access porn through proxy servers or through torrent downloads. But officially, the government has blocked porn. And this makes the government look silly.

So what led to this silliness?

Looking at the chain of events that led to this “porn ban”, we can tell you that there are three major enemies of your porn:

The first enemy is: The Moral Police:

You might conjure up images of a man wearing a saffron robe and holding a trishul who just can’t tolerate you having fun. Everyone remembers them slapping people randomly on Valentine’s Day. But they are still to attack an engineering college hostel per se and break computers having the “stuff” at D:\Course Materials\Economics\Third Semester\Macro\Data\mfhm.mpeg

The effective moral police in this particular case are some activists and lawyers like Vijay Panjwani and Kamlesh Vaswani who have filed a PIL in the Supreme Court asking for ban on pornographic websites. In the petition filed in April 2013, they had referred to the December 2012 Delhi gangrape incident that was still fresh in the memories of most Indians. The petition linked crimes against women with watching pornography, claiming that the rapists had watched porn before committing the crime.

The petition also spoke about “revenge porn” and an affidavit by a woman whose estranged husband has posted videos of the couple’s sexual acts on various websites, was submitted.

We are not going into the merits of the arguments, but this PIL led the court to issue notices to the government on what they were doing to tackle this “menace”.

The government expressed helplessness in banning porn in August last year saying, “There are around four crore websites and when we block one, a new one comes along.” To circumvent this problem, the court asked the PIL filers, on behalf of the government, to submit a list of sites which needed to be banned. This is when the list of 857 sites was generated and submitted to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court also appears to have asked government to act tough when the government had expressed helplessness (assuming the August 29 2014 tweet by Mr. Panjwani’s to be factual). In July 2015, the Supreme Court gave the Government 4 weeks to act on this problem. This stance was taken even while the Chief Justice had said that an adult can’t be stopped from watching porn in his room.

The moral police seems to have confused everyone over the issue.

The second enemy is: The Clueless Government:

However, the moral police alone can’t take away your freedom if the government values it. In this case, the government has been found lacking the will and competence to deal with the issue.

The first notice by the Supreme Court to the Government of India on this issue, was issued during the Manmohan Singh government. The then IT Minister, Kapil Sibal, who was targeted a lot by netizens for his 66A fiasco, played it safe and didn’t goof up here. In essence, he played the waiting game.

Sibal would have recalled the outrage that had erupted after UPA government had banned the toon porn website savitabhabhi.com. He couldn’t have afforded another outrage amidst all the hate he was getting for the IT law. Perhaps this is one thing the Narendra Modi government should have also learnt. Although the government can’t ignore court orders, it can definitely play the “safe game”.

It did play safe in August last year when the government claimed that it was virtually impossible to block porn on the internet. The Chief Justice’s comment on private liberty was another reason why the government could have stuck to the position of impossibility of blocking porn.

However, for reasons known best to this government, they went ahead and gave ISPs a list of 857 websites to be blocked. What changed in the meantime?

While there is no official reaction or communication yet, which is again tragic given that this government claims to be online savvy, some BJP members have tried to argue that it is about “child pornography” only. If so, this is terribly incompetent block as most of those websites did not host child pornography. Child pornography is banned virtually everywhere, and even companies like Google actively take actions against any such incident. The government is just being silly here. This is not how you tackle child pornography.

The third enemy, and the most powerful one, is: The Archaic Laws:

Enough has been written on how badly drafted and conceived is the Information Technology Act, 2000. While the section 66A received enough attention of the citizens and the judiciary, that’s not the only thing that is wrong with it.

There is 69A, which is draconian and gives power to the government to block any website without giving them a right to hearing before the block is implemented. And there is section 67, which criminalizes “publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form”. Thanks to these two sections of the IT law, the government has all the rights to block any pornographic website without any court order.

We had pointed out problem with these sections in an article earlier published on OpIndia.com. This case should bring back the focus on IT law, because 66A was not the only problem with it.

However, the tragic part is, even without the IT law, your favorite porn website can be blocked in India. If you remember, 66A was argued to be in contradiction with “reasonable restrictions” imposed by the constitution. However, the section 67 of the IT act appears totally in accordance with the existing “offline” laws.

If the IT law is gone, Section 292 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) can be used to block websites. This section criminalizes distribution, public exhibition, and circulation of pornographic material. And a porn website does exactly that.

In fact, Section 292.2.d of the IPC criminalizes an act that “makes known by any means whatsoever” about a person distributing or circulating a pornographic material. If this action is to be interpreted in the virtual world, an act of saying “RedTube is a pornographic website” itself can attract punishment!

We should thank our stars that those who drafted the IT law did not make the above interpretation, else most of us would have been in jails.

In September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that one of his mission was to get rid of many archaic laws in this country. It is time to walk the talk.

Top Lies spread by Indian Media in July 2015

Gaurav
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Top Lies spread by Indian Media in July 2015

For the benefit of the readers, we will now start classifying Media lies as “Big lies” and “Miscellaenous Lies”. “Big Lies” would ordinarily include those lies which impacted public discourse to a large extent.

Big Lies:

1. 1 July 2015: All Media: VIP Culture: Air India flight delayed by Fadnavis aide

All of MSM went crazy after Devendra Fadnavis asking for his resignation, alleging that he threw a tantrum on his flight to New York, and delayed the flight because he wanted his aide, Pardeshi too on board. The truth was evident in the email sent by the duty manager:

“When chief minister was apprised about the situation, he said, he will fly with his entire delegation. However offloading all eight passengers and their baggage in two different containers and preparing new load sheet would have delayed the flight further. And while the offloading process was on Pardeshi’s valid passport reached boarding gate.”

The email did not say anything about Fadnavis asking to be deboarded or delaying the flight. Eventually co-passengers of Fadnavis used twitter to support him and lay out the facts. They said Fadnavis was busy quietly reading a file and did not ask to be deboarded even once. Later Fadnavis too tweeted the same and promised legal action.

2. 2 July 2015: All Media – Maharashtra govt to derecognize madrassa not teaching formal subjects

Entire MSM was spreading the news that Maharashtra Government had derecognized Madrassas and would not consider them as schools. This was being played up deliberately to give it a communal angle. The fact is, the Maharshtra Government had decided that ““A child, male or female, if found studying only in religious institute which does not take government grant and does not follow formal school syllabus, will be considered uneducated and out-of-school,” as announced by Dilip Kamble, Social Justice Minister. This meant that students studying in any religious institute, be it madrassa or vedic school, would be called out of school. The decision was for all schools not teaching subjects like maths and science, but only religious subjects. However MSM reported it as if only Madrassas were affected.

3. 2 July 2015: The New Indian Express – Huge Unpaid Electricity Bills of Top Politicians 

We had a detailed post on this. Following the furore of Kejriwal’s alleged high electricity bills, TNIE decided to use some half cooked facts to show Kejriwal in better light. Firstly, TNIE claimed that Narendra Modi’s bill was of Rs 21 lakhs, but did not provide a shred of evidence to back this claim. Further, they presented electricity bills of a range of politicians, from Jaitley, to Sachin Pilot, to Rahul Gandhi, and showed how their bills “ran into lakhs of rupees”. They put up screenshots of the bills, where the total bill amount was shown, but did not put the breakup of that amount. This is important because Most of these bills which ran into lakhs, were made up of arrears of several months. If the arrears are removed, then the bill amounts for the latest month ranged from Rs 7,788 in Uma Bharti’s case to a maximum of Rs 33,471 in Jaitley’s case, both of which are much lower or comparable to Kejriwal’s bill.

4. 7 July 2015 – PTI: PM Modi likely to host Iftar party in Srinagar

As the title suggests, PTI reported that PM Modi would host an Iftar party in Srinagar. No source was mentioned for this story. On the very next day, PTI itself had a report contradicting itself. Now they claimed that PM Modi has no plans to hold an Iftar Party as per “Highly-placed sources who refuted reports”. This was an amazing case where a fake “source based” story was run and then reversed by the same agency.

5. 7 July 2015: All Media – Linking every death to VYAPAM scam

Media was trying to link each and every unnatural death in Madhya Pradesh to the VYAPAM scam, as long as even a slight link to VYAPAM was proved. We had written separately on this here.  It is important to understand that VYAPAM runs ALL professional and Government admissions in MP via exams. Hence it is highly illogical to link everybody who got through VYAPAM, to the scam. Yet, when a trainee cop, who was like thousands of others recruited via VYAPAM, committed suicide, MSM quickly added this to VYAPAM death count. Eventually NDTV reporter Gargi Rawat and some news reports clarified that the cop was mentally stressed and her death was due to other “personal reasons”. In a similar case, the death of a constable was again linked to VYAPAM, and again, Rawat clarified that his death was due to other reasons. There were 2 more deaths in recent times which were highlighted by media as “VYAPAM deaths”, which were, as at the time of writing this, not conclusively linked to VYAPAM by doctors or police.

6. 14 July 2015 – Times of India: It will take 25 years for ‘achhe din’ promised by BJP to come, Amit Shah says

We had done a separate detailed post on this. After confirmation from multiple sources such as other news reports, and even cross verifying with the audio and video tapes of Amit Shah’s speech, it was clear that Times of India had invented this entire clickbait headline and Amit Shah had never said such a  thing. In fact Shah never once mentioned “acche din” in his speech. He had said that inflation, unemployment, poverty can be eliminated in 5 years, but for India to become Vishwaguru, BJP would have to win every election from Panchayat to Parliament in the next 25 years. Times of India had blatantly lied and was exposed after the recordings of the speech were out.

7. 14 July 2015 – All Media –  Holy Child Auxilium School vandalized

This was originally a lie from February 2015, and even though there was enough evidence at that point itself to say it was a lie, in July, the police found conclusive evidence and nailed the culprits. We have added a Times of India story link as an example. On 14 July, the cops caught a 19 year old boy in connection with this “vandalisation” which was in fact only a case of theft. The boy had previously stolen from his own school too. The cops caught him based on his fingerprints and the CCTV footage. There was no vandalisation nor any communal angle to this case.

8. 16 July 2015: OneIndia.com – AAP to appoint Kejriwal’s sister Swati Maliwal as DCW chief

This unsubstantiated news was running on social media, and OneIndia.com also made it into a news report. Fact is Swati Maliwal has no relations with Arvind Kejriwal. She is AAP leader’s Naveen Jaihind’s wife, but she is not Kejriwal’s relative. This was confirmed by Arvind Kejriwal himself via the following tweets:


9. 16 July 2015: NDTV – Sewage Polluted Godavari Awaits Kumbh Devotees nashik ndtv

After being severely embarassed on Social Media, NDTV changed the above article, but you can get a hint about the old article from the URL and this screenshot. The scale of lies can be imagined when the headline changes from that, to “River is safe, no Sewage”. First, NDTV used a pic of Haridwar Ghat, as seen in screenshot, and claimed it was a pic of Godavari. Secondly, NDTV claimed that the Nashik collector and an NGO had told them that the river was polluted. This was vehemently refuted by the Municipal Commissiner of Nashik Praveen Gedam, after he personally talked to both people. He also demanded that NDTV release the audio tapes of the conversation. Later, Sonia Singh from NDTV jumped in, and after much dilly-dallying accepted that they had reported the claim made by an NGO, as a fact, and apologised for this. And all of Praveen Gedam’s claims can easily be proven, by having a look at his tweets much prior to this story. He has regularly been uploading pictures of the cleanliness work going on. And this is the final proof, of how NDTV spun this story.

10. 17 July 2015: Economic Times –  Devendra Fadnavis skips meetings in New York to see Statue of Liberty with his family

In a post on the Economic Times, columnist Seema Sirohi claimed that she had learnt from sources that Devendra Fadnavis, who was on a work related trip to New York, “blew off a whole afternoon of meetings in New York to go and see the Statue of Liberty with his family”. She backed this up with a quote from an “exasperated organiser”:

“They don’t understand — you can’t do that after appointments are made. Not for sightseeing.”

This portion of her piece was circulated by many Adarsh Liberal journalists as a damaging proof of how Fadnavis is careless. After 3 days, the Public Relations department of Fadnavis, forced Economic Times to apologize for this lie. They showed that details of all the meetings attended by Fadnavis were evident from his social media account and  can also be verified from the Consul General of India. Economic Times, on their part, posted a small apology, but not before the damage was done.

11. 24 July 2015: NDTV – Malicious Editing of Baba Ramdev’s interview

We had written a separate post on this detailing all the places where NDTV via Sreenivasan Jain maliciously edited Ramdev’s interview and twisted his statements. Jain deliberately omitted the parts where Ramdev proves his credentials to help in the Unnat Bharat programme. Further, Jain showed Baba Ramdev’s reply to his question on the alleged scams of BJP, as the reply to Jain’s question on running of the Modi Government. Ramdev had expressed satisfaction of the running of the Modi Government but Jain deliberately deleted this answer and pasted the other answer here.

12. 24 July 2015: All Media – Impotency, love affairs behind farmer suicides: Radha Mohan Singh

This sensationalist news was spread by all media, thus showing Singh’s “insensitivity” to suicides by poor farmers. The truth is, that was a cut and spliced version of his statement, shown out of context. Singh was only reading out the statistics as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB):

“According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), causes of (farmer) suicides include family problems, illness, drugs… dowry, love affairs and impotency,”

Further he also said that financial burden could also be a reason for suicides. Similar replies were also given in the past, since all ministers were only reading out the statistical data.

13. 24 July 2015: DNA – Maharashtra government may go for complete liquor ban

DNA  claimed, after the beef ban, Maharashtra government was going to go ahead with a liquor ban. They claimed that Fadnavis had mentioned this in a reply in the Legislative council. They even had a quote of him saying the same:

“We will impose the (liquor) ban across the state after studying the results of the same currently imposed in three districts in the state.”

In reality, as the DNA report itself mentions, Fadnavis was speaking about banning illicit liquor. This was in reply to a specific question by a NCP MLC on illicit liquor. The accurate story was reported by two other media outlets, Mid-Day and Asian Age. Both the reports stated the same thing, that Fadnavis had said such a ban was impractical. Fadnavis said that implementing a liquor ban would put pressure on the police department.  His exact words, as per Asian Age, were:

“The police are already working under pressure and the ban will increase their load further. Therefore, it is not possible to ban liquor in the state.”

14. 28 July 2015: Factchecker.in and other sites which published this report: Power Ministry: Series Of False Claims, Marginal Improvements

We had written a separate post on this. Factchecker.in claimed that they had debunked various claims made by the Power Ministry, but a closer examination revealed that in most cases, goal-posts were shifted and in some cases basic facts were not verified. Business Standard was one of the sites which had published this. Once they were apprised of the numerous errors, they withdrew the article and published an apology. Factchecker.in though did not seem to back down. They gave further explanations to their post, which in fact made it even more clearer that in reality they had not disputed the Power Ministry claims, but had only added some more arguments to suit their bias. However, they did later modify the headline and dropped the “false claims” portion, thus in effect admitting that they had got it wrong.

15. 31 July 2015: The New Indian Express or Mid-day – Yakub Memon’s last words

This is a rare case where no-one can verify what the truth is. The New Indian Express claimed that ““I accept my guilt. May Allah forgive me” were Memon’s last words, and printed this on their front page in bold. However a far more detailed report on Mid-day claimed the exact opposite. They said Memon kept saying “Main begunah hoon (I am innocent). This is injustice” and at no stage accepted his guilt. Obviously one of them is wrong but there will never be a way to find out which one of them was wrong.

Miscellaneous Lies:

1. 9 July 2015: Indian Express – Decriminalization of Defamation Writ Petition filed by Rahul Gandhi

By cleverly laying around with words, Indian Express tried to show that Rahul Gandhi had filed a Writ Petition on de-decriminalization of defamation. The report said, “The court is hearing a clutch of petitions filed separately by political leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Subramanian Swamy and Arvind Kejriwal,”. With Rahul Gandhi’s name at the forefront, one would assume he is the leader of this cause, but in fact Subramanian Swamy was the first to file this writ petition, with others like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, impleading. This was clarified by Swamy via a tweet. 

2. 10 July 2015 –  Times of India: Confederate flag is a symbol of my heritage – Bobby Jindal

Times of India printed this as a quote of Bobby Jindal in all their editions. Actually Bobby Jindal never said such a thing. Times of India got this quote from a story on a site which publishes only fake news under satire.

3. 10 July 2015 –  Times of India: Delhi too hot? 56 IAS officers opt for states, just 4 come to Centre

Times of India ran this story saying that most IAS officers are unhappy with the Central Government over issues like amount of hard work required, and hence were moving back to their states. This spin was given inspite of incuding a quite from a top official that such movement may not indicated unwillingness to work with centre:

“It may have been to take up assignments at senior levels, including as chief secretary, in the state”

Finally the Twitter handle of the IAS Association tweeted back to Times Now handle claiming that the story was baseless and that they should check their facts.

Soon another IAS officer joined the chorus and claimed that they were having “fun” and the Times of India story was “dumb”.

4. 16 July 2015 –  NDTV – “Breaking and Exclusive” Sudhir Sharma mining baron financier of BJP in MP

The “Lies” portion here would be the touting of this story as a “Breaking and Exclusive” by NDTV and Barkha Dutt. Dutt, repeatedly tweeted that she had accessed some tax reports from 2013 which proved Sudhir Sharma, who was involved in VYAPAM, had financed BJP. And this, she claimed was a “Breaking & Exclusive” story. Fact is, this story was broken by Indian Express a whole year before Barkha even noticed it. Such unnecessary hyping of an old story served only to sensationalize a piece of evidence which was already public and in all probability, also examined by the probe team. 

5. 18 July 2015: Indian Express – Using File photo for a current tragedy of a collapsed building in Delhi.

on 18 July, according the screenshot attached above, Indian Express tweeted at 10.53pm, about a building which had collapsed in West Delhi, at around 9pm on the same day. In the tweet, they included a pic of collapsed builidng, but the pic was taken in broad daylight. This made it clear that they had used a stock image to portray a breaking incident, thereby misleading readers about the intensity of the incident. After being rebuked by journalist Shiv Aroor, the tweet was deleted. 

6. 18 July 2015: NewsX – Claiming a pic from a Pakistani rally is a pic from a protest in Kashmir.

We had tweeted about this here. NewsX tweeted a piece captioned “Protests emerge after Eid prayers in Kashmir” and attached a pic of hundreds of people protesting with many waving Pakistani flags. This picture was in fact from a protest in Pakistan. Using this pic, for a protest in Kashmir, gave readers the impression that a protest of that scale and intensity was happening in Kashmir, that too on Eid. This was highly misleading and stoking communal tension unnecessarily. The tweet was later deleted by NewsX

7. 20 July 2015: Outlook – Bibek Debroy slammed UNICEF’s millennium development goals

Outlook made the above claim, and then proceeded to attack the “Gujarat Model”, Debroy, and the Government over this stance. Outraged by this false news, Debroy tweeted out the facts. He firstly clarified that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are not of UNICEF. And secondly, he was talking about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are set to replace MDGs soon. 

8. 21 July 2015: PTI – Compulsory yoga for CBSE students

Similar news reports based on PTI reports can be found in almost all media outlets. From the reported headline, it appears as if each CBSE student would have to compulsorily do Yoga. The report further says: “Yoga has been made compulsory in CBSE curricula for Classes XI and XII while for students of other classes it should be held “at least” twice a week as part of their physical activity programme”. But In the article itself, the truth is mentioned, as a quote of AYUSH Minister Sripad Naik:

“…and that students of Classes XI-XII should participate in physical activity/ games/mass physical training/yoga for at least two periods per week (90-120 minutes/ week)”

From the above its clear that Yoga has been added to the physical activities and any of these activities must be done for at least 2 periods every week, and not only Yoga.

9. 28 July 2015: MailToday – Attributed a quote by a fake account to PM Narendra Modi 

UntitledIn their print edition, MailToday carried a “quote” of Narendra Modi, as saying: “No Sikh wants Terrorism, visit Punjab no one wants Khalistan, they want to get rid of “Corrupt” Badal Govt.” .  raised this issue on Twitter that the said quote was never said by Modi. It was then that managing editor of MailToday, Abhijit Majumder admitted that they had goofed up. As per the explanation given, they “mistakenly took the tweet from a fake account” and attributed it to Modi. Eventually MailToday tweeted an apology for the error 

10. 28 July 2015: Firstpost  / Indian Express– Attributing quotes of  Arnot Sheppard, Adolf Hitler and John F Kennedy to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

As pointed out by many on twitter, Firstpost wrongly attributed the quotes of the afore mentioned people to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Some examples are:

“If you want to leave footprints in the sands of time, don’t drag your feet”, originally said by Arnot Sheppard, attributed to Dr Kalam. 

“if you want to shine like sun first you have to burn like it”, a quote of Hitler.

“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents”, quote by John F Kennedy

Both the sites eventually removed the above quotes after being educated by readers.

11. 29 July 2015: Times of India – Pakistan is subservient to ISIS, India is a target of ISIS – KPS Gill

Times of India published an interview with former top cop KPS Gill, on the backdrop of Gurdaspur terror attacks. In the interview, Mr Gill was quoted as saying:

Untitled

On being asked by a twitter user Editor of India Today Shiv Aroor checked with Mr Gill and confirmed that Mr Gill had in fact referred to ISI and not ISIS and that the Times of India interview was misquoting him. 

12. 30 July 2015: Times of India – BJP welcomes SC verdict, says those opposed are ‘mentally challenged’

The false portion in this news piece is the “mentally challenged” portion. Times of India uses a sensational headline and claims BJP says those opposed to SC verdict are “mentally challenged”. In the body of the article though, statements of BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma. national spokesperson Nalin Kohli and of spokesman Sambit Patra are given in quotes. The words “mentally challenged” do not appear in any of the quoted statements of these three people. Yet Times of India has imagined that at least one of them has said it and hence manipulated the headline.

January 2015: 7 Lies

February 2015: 8 Lies

March 2015: 9 Lies

April 2015: 18 Lies

May 2015: 20 Lies

June 2015: 20 Lies

Dear media, don’t misreport, misrepresent and communalize Yakub Memon

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Dear media, don’t misreport, misrepresent and communalize Yakub Memon

Many things have been said in the last few days about the hanging of the 1993 Mumbai bombings convict Yakub Memon. Divisions in India’s society have been thrown out into the open and the last straw was when media reports published pictures showing thousands at Memon’s funeral. This was perhaps the first time in Free India’s history that a hanged convict was being given a tearful farewell by thousands, and ideologues have jumped to conclude hideous ideas about India and its society.

Crowd gathered to receive the dead body of Yakub Memon
Crowd gathered to receive the dead body of Yakub Memon

It’s important to know what the Yakub Memon debate truly is about. It all started when a leading media house published an article written by B Raman, the former counter-terrorism head of RAW who had overseen the operation to capture Memon. Raman, in his article, had explained why he thought Memon shouldn’t be hanged, pointing out that Memon had in fact mulled over surrendering to Indian authorities and on capture, had even asked his family members holed up in Pakistan to turn themselves in. Naturally, Raman’s article evoked much interest in the public. Many wondered if the man who nabbed Memon believed that the latter was innocent. Sections of the media, for one, did make it seem that way and many who turned up for Memon’s funeral on Thursday likely thought so too. Even educated citizens, regardless of religion, were misled by the representation of Raman’s views by sections of the media.

Some journalists went so far as to juxtapose the debate on the death penalty with the one on Yakub Memon. In the process, several people were ostracized for speaking in favor of abolishing the death penalty, regardless of whether they thought Yakub Memon was innocent or not. It seems strange that one can’t consider the fact that many of these commentators were simply calling for a debate on removing the death penalty from India’s law books, while simultaneously believing that India must be tough on terror.

What is most unfortunate about the misled debate on this issue is the communalization of it all. As it turns out, fundamentalists in both religious communities have misused the discourse to show that all Muslims were hurt by the hanging of Yakub Memon, or that Yakub Memon was innocent and wronged. Neither is true. The Indian Muslim community does not sympathize with terrorists (Muslims in Mumbai pointedly refused to bury the body of Ajmal Kasab in their graveyard), nor do they believe that they are under attack by the Hindu community, as is being insinuated by some fundamentalists.

Yes, thousands turned up for the funeral, but it is well possible that most of them were brainwashed by the misreporting and misrepresentation of facts into believing that Memon was wrongly hanged, even if he wasn’t entirely innocent. In fact, given the several misleading media reports that one has been reading over the last few days, such a conclusion doesn’t seem absurd at all. To generalize such pictures and in fact question the nationalistic character of India’s Muslims is preposterous.

Media houses inciting people to communalize the event
Media houses inciting people to communalize the event

As for Yakub Memon himself, he was found guilty by the judiciary after due process of law, and hanged. Memon was given a completely fair trial for over two decades. His mercy plea was heard by both the President and multiple benches of the Supreme Court multiple times. In fact, the Supreme Court opened its doors at 2 am for the first time in history in order to consider his plea for clemency one last time. To insinuate that Memon was wronged under the law is therefore ridiculous.

India has executed only 4 people in the last 15 years and the Supreme Court upholds less than 5% of death sentences that come to it on appeal (certainly, many Muslims have had their death sentences commuted too). The fact that the same system, after all due processes of law, decided after multiple considerations that Memon must be hanged clearly suggests that there was no illegality or arbitrariness.

As for Raman’s view on the case, the former RAW official never held that Memon was innocent. His version merely suggested that should India have dealt less harshly with Memon, the RAW might have succeeded in luring other terrorists from out of the ISI’s clutches (Raman noted that Memon was attempting to flee from the ISI). This might have been a strategic move, but strategy isn’t the domain of the judiciary; courts decide upon a case based on its merits and based on existing law.

A sensitive issue such as this needs to be dealt with responsibly by those of us in the media. Misreporting and misrepresentation causes much harm to society and provides ammunition for sinister elements looking to divide India for political gain. The Memon issue, in that sense, is a lesson to be learnt.

by Mohamed Zeeshan

Meet Gaurang Damani – a socially conscious Mumbaikar who initiated King’s Circle station cleaning

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Meet Gaurang Damani – a socially conscious Mumbaikar who initiated King’s Circle station cleaning

Ever since the “Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan” was initiated by the Prime Minister, there have been many initiatives at the local level, where people have been trying to make a difference – a positive one. In one of our previous stories, we had published an interview with Temsutula Imsong – who is working on cleaning the Prabhughat in Varanasi. In this post, we would like to introduce you to Gaurang Damani – an Electronics engineer from Mumbai. He is an active BJP member and has set up an NGO “Die Hard Indian” in 2000. Since then he has been involved in many cleaning up and renovation initiatives.

OpIndia.com got an opportunity to have a written interview with Gaurang to know about him and his activities.

1. Many of us have not heard about you or your work. Can you please introduce yourself?

I am 43 years old Mumbaikar, staying with parents and wife, Jayshree and 2 children Ria and Shlok. I am an Electronics Engineer from Mumbai University and was ranked 7th (1993). I have worked with Tata Unisys and UB group. However, I am self-employed since 1997. My work took me to USA in 1994, where I lived till my return in 2002.

2. Since when have you/your organization been involved in these activities?

I started diehardindian.com in Feb 2000 and returned to India in 2002, as I had the urge to contribute back to society. Our email monthly newsletter now goes out to over 7,000 local residents. diehardindian.com gets over 300,000 unique visitors every year – it functions to provide information to citizens on various government-related interactions, thus reducing the chances of corruption. I would like to believe that www.diehardindian.com is India’s first eGovernance website.

I have also shown interest in many civic activities. For instance, I was a co-organizer of rallies in support of Anna Hazare’s “India Against Corruption” movement in Matunga (1,500 and 400 attendance).

3. There are many issues that are troubling in Mumbai. What made you choose the King’s Circle railway station as your project for cleaning?

I have taken up several other civic issues in the past like the beautification of Maheshwari Udyan (with MMRDA, 2011), beautification of area under Sion circle flyover (with MSRDC, 2013), several tree plantation drives (with BMC) and so on. I have also won a PIL against BMC in the Bombay High court for shifting of 55 garbage trucks and its chowky from a residential area and got over 6000 pledges from local area school and college students (since 2010) that they will keep their surroundings clean and show respect for the environment clean.

I was also writing to and interacting with Central Railways for getting King’s Circle station cleaned (as it was very dirty). Mr George Eapen (Officer from CR) called me asking me to take the cleaning up task (instead of writing complaints). And hence I took it up as a challenge. Of course, the other factor was that the station was local and was part of my network.

4. You must have faced many challenges. Can you list some of them? What kept you moving during tough times?

At the station, the challenge or frustration was to see stuff like flower pots stolen, people tearing informational posters, people spitting on painted walls and so on. But one of our donors told me a very nice thing – that be mentally prepared for 10% damages and be physically prepared to re-do that part of the work. This advice has helped me in managing my frustrations to a large extent.

5. Have you seen change in behavior of Mumbaikars in the way they maintain cleanliness at King’s Circle station, after your project?

Yes, King’s Circle station is much cleaner now – I see a lot more people throwing garbage in the dustbins that we have provided. Fewer people urinate at the station premises (as we have painted a lot of the walls, which has also greatly reduced the instances of people spitting on the wall). One thing I did notice was that people spit on painted walls, but generally do not spit on walls which have some art on it.

Of course, we also do have a cleaning staff who sweeps everyday!

6. Did you approach any local politicians or corporate houses for help? How did they respond to your call?

For the King’s Circle station, luckily I did not have to approach any corporate house. Through the diehardindian.com network, we had over 550+ volunteers giving their time and a lot of donors contributing financially (mostly in kind). Only because of the donors and volunteers help, this project succeeded (they are all listed in this youtube video at the end).

Our local Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Shri Rahul Shewale ji, nominated me for the DRUCC (Divisional Railway User’s Consultative Committee) membership in June 2015. So that has helped me monitoring changes on a regular basis.

7. Did you face hurdles in getting approvals from the Railways? How did they help you?

Railways authorities have been of tremendous help, right from giving the permission to day-to-day coordination. For instance, for increasing the safety of commuters, we got 30 street lights installed/ started, out of which Railways installed 10 street lights and BEST provided for about 15 lights.

We also got good help from our local BMC ward office, for disposing a few trucks full of debris.

8. Now that the first step has been made, how do you plan to maintain the cleanliness of the station? 

We did not want this to be a one-off one-day cleanliness event. The station is already being maintained on a daily basis, since December 2014. We have permission to do this till December 2015.

9. There must be many interesting incidences during the cleaning project. Please share some of those with us?

When commuters saw school children painting walls or grills, they would stop and help. Some of our volunteers were just local commuters who saw the changes evolving and were motivated to join in.

10. What are your next projects?

Both  Central and Western Railways has requested for us to take up another station. So based on our volunteers availability, we may take up another nearby station.

11. How would you like other interested people to join your mission?

Please take up a project in your local area. You can start with a small project and complete it. That way you will get people more involved. Government officials will help you, if they see your good intentions, but you have to be very persistent.

Do not worry about the funding – there are many donors wanting to fund good honest problem-solvers.

Let us try our best to make our India – a Swachh Bharat!

OpIndia.com asked Gaurang to share some of the before/after photos for our readers. We have premission to have them here.

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PS: We first read about Gaurang’s work here

An open letter by a cop to those opposing death penalty to Yakub

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An open letter by a cop to those opposing death penalty to Yakub

Dear “Intelligentsia” of India,

I am not a TV panelist. I am not a “human rights” activist. I am not a lawyer. I am not a political commentator. I am not a best-selling author. I am not the son or  grandson of a famous man. I am an aam aadmi. More than an aam aadmi, I am an officer in the Indian Police force. And I am writing this letter to all of you, after seeing your robust defence of a terrorist.

Why I mention who I am is important because unlike all of you, I don’t sit in plush AC offices and write editorials seeking clemency for a murderer. Nor do I visit TV studios and shout myself hoarse. Instead I meet such killers every single day. But I don’t meet them for cocktail parties or at press conferences (like some of you do).

I meet them on the road, in the streets, with weapons in their arms and hate in their eyes. I have been in situations with them where they would not hesitate a single moment before pulling the trigger on me, but I have to consider all the ramifications like “human rights”, “due process” and “fake encounter” before I save my life and of the innocent people around me.

Given the above I believe I am in a far better position to comment on a mass murderer like Yakub Memon than any of you are.

To defend this criminal, multitudes of arguments have been put forth by what are now called “Adarsh Liberals” in our society. Luckily, almost no one has pleaded that he is innocent. The situation is such that Indians have to be grateful to our “Intelligentsia” for such small mercies.

But one common hypothesis put forward by many is that Yakub Memon surrendered to the Indian authorities, and then cooperated with the investigations. Plain lies. Late B Raman, one of India’s finest intelligence officers wrote this in his article:

He had come to Kathmandu secretly from Karachi to consult a relative and a lawyer on the advisability of some members of the Memon family, including himself, who felt uncomfortable with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, returning to India and surrendering to the Mumbai police. The relative and the lawyer advised him against surrender due to a fear that justice might not be done to them. They advised Yakub to go back to Karachi.

Before he could board the flight to Karachi, he was picked up by the Nepal police on suspicion, identified and rapidly moved to India.

This was yesterday confirmed on some news channels when they interviewed the Nepali police officer. He re-iterated that there was no deal and Yakub was fleeing to Karachi. Then why are our “Intelligentsia” hell bent on stating otherwise?

Let me put it another way: I know there is a rat in my house, and I place a laddoo in a trap. The rat gets caught and then pleads for mercy saying that he had come to “surrender” because I had offered him a “laddoo” (deal). Do I let him live?

The second common argument is “but we are against death penalty. It is barbaric”. My simple question is: Did it take the death sentence of a terrorist to wake up the bleeding heart activists? Couldn’t you demand a change in law for so many years? Why are you crying for this beast?

For the record even I am not decided on this issue. Just because we are from the police force doesn’t mean we do not value human life. But in the case of a terrorist, what choice do we have? Do we preserve him hoping he will reform? Can terrorists who come with guns in their hands and an unshakable belief that what they are doing (killing innocent people) is right, be ever reformed?

Forget reformation, keeping such a dastardly mind alive is a big security risk too. Every time he is shifted from jails we have to be our toes to see if any attempt will be made by his gang members to either kill him, so that he is silenced or rescue him, so that he can continue his activities. And there is always the risk that one fine day his friends will hold some innocent civilians hostage and demand his release, so that we can put our lives at risk all over again to re-capture him.

You want to abolish death penalty? Go ahead, but not for terrorists.

Some of our “intelligentsia” have been crying that “due processes of law” have not been followed in this case. It is a shame that a case which is going for 2 decades, which has been debated at multiple levels of the judiciary, even at the highest level, is still subjected to scrutiny by mis-informed, half-read, cretins sitting in AC cabins and reading op-eds. If you did have a problem with the process, why did you not raise your voice in 2013 when he was sentenced to death? Why now when his death is imminent? Are these delaying tactics? Where do your loyalties lie dear “Intelligentsia”? I sincerely hope all these people are tried for contempt of court.

And finally there are some utter lowlifes who have given this entire thing a political, communal and even casteist colour. How can one party whichever it may be, be held responsible for a Supreme Court verdict, which has taken 2 decades and during which time multiple political parties have fought in courts against Yakub Memon? Do you have even an iota of conscience and rationality left in you when you make such absurdly illogical statements to defend a terrorist?

In the aftermath of the Gurdaspur attacks, it has been reported that now India may be a target of the ISIS. In such situations Indians must unite and fight such a huge demon. But given how our “Intelligentsia” are hell bent in sowing seeds of discord among us, I fear we will be easy targets for such groups. While we keep shouting Hindu-Muslim, Brahmin-Dalit, BJP-Congress, I fear these terrorists will rip my poor country apart.

– A “thulla”

(The author’s identity has been withheld on request of the author)

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