Bihar Police have arrested a person named Saddam Qureshi operating the WhatsApp group called ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on grounds of anti-national activities and inciting religious hatred.
Police acted upon the information that a WhatsApp group called ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was spewing venom and spreading communal hatred through its anti-India posts in Bettiah, West Champaran district of Bihar. The police immediately swung into action and arrested its admin Saddam Qureshi, who was later sent to judicial custody after questioning.
Sriram Singh, the police officer from city police station registered a case under section 153A, 153B, and 298 against Qureshi, a resident of Najnin Chowk. As per the police, this WhatsApp group had conspired to break the unity and integrity of the country through unlawful activities.
A special team led by Betiya SP Jayantkant was formed to investigate the matter. The cyber cell of police was successful in nabbing the accused. Suspecting that Qureshi may have links with Pakistan, the police are investigating this matter from various angles.
In view of the unlawful activities being spread through social media, the police are closely monitoring WhatsApp groups across all districts of the state.
The Income Tax (IT) Department on Tuesday seized benami equity worth Rs 254 crore held by Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath. According to IT officials, the provisional order for seizing anonymous stocks in Puri’s name was issued under the Anonymous Property Transaction Act.
Sources:Delhi Benami Prohibition Unit of I-T Dept has provisionally attached Non-Cumulative Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS)/Equity Shares amounting to Rs 254 Cr related to Ratul Puri Group of companies.CCPS was received as FDI investment by Optima Infra Pvt Ltd pic.twitter.com/MGMABMKdko
As per IT sources, the investment of Rs 254 crores was generated by over-invoicing the imports of solar panels in the name of Hindustan Power Projects Pvt. Ltd (HEPCL), a shell company allegedly floated by Puri. HEPCL was operated by Rajeev Saxena in Dubai, who is an accused in the Augusta Westland (chopper) scandal and is currently under arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED). Puri, however, is under questioning by the law enforcement and economic intelligence agency.
Correction: As per sources, investment Rs 254Cr were generated through over-invoicing of imports of solar panel by another group company namely HEPCL facilitated through shell companies of a Dubai based operator who’s an accused in VVIPChopper scam(original tweet will be deleted) https://t.co/lKp8rKYW83
Earlier, the ED had, in a Delhi court on Monday said that Puri had received a certain amount in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam. It had opposed the interim bail petition filed by Puri before Special Judge Arvind Kumar. Yesterday, the court had stayed Puri’s arrest for a day.
ED today argued in the Delhi Court that nephew of Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Puri holds sway and is reportedly responsible for the murder of a witness.
प्रवर्तन निदेशालय (#ED) ने जुलाई 30 को #दिल्ली की एक अदालत को बताया कि #कमलनाथ के भतीजे रतुल पुरी काफी दबदबे वाले व्यक्ति हैं और कथित तौर पर एक गवाह की हत्या के लिए जिम्मेदार हैं।
HEPCL Chairman Puri secured interim bail in the case on July 27 and the court had put a stay on his arrest till July 29. Hearing on behalf of Puri, advocate AM Sanghvi had said that ED wants to arrest him because his maternal uncle is the state’s chief minister.
Earlier, Puri had fled the ED office when he was being questioned in connection with the Agusta Westland chopper scandal. According to reports, Puri escaped the agency’s office in Delhi on the pretext of using the washroom.
Newly appointed Karnataka Chief Minister (CM) BS Yediyurappa led BJP government in Karnataka has overturned previous JDS-Congress alliance government’s decision and ordered Kannada Culture Department not to celebrate Tipu Jayanti. Predictably, this decision has upset some of the Congress leaders.
Former CM Siddaramaiah, who considers Tipu Sultan as a builder of Karnataka, shared misleading images of present CM Yediyurappa and other senior BJP leaders in a bid to expose BJP’s ‘hypocrisy’.
Tweeting some unconnected and misleading images, Siddaramaiah claimed that BJP leaders like Yediyurappa had participated in Tippu Jayanti celebrations in the past but has now banned the celebrations to please the RSS.
ಬಿ.ಎಸ್.ಯಡಿಯೂರಪ್ಪನವರು ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕತ್ತಿ ಹಿಡಿದು ಟಿಪ್ಪು ವೇಷ ಹಾಕಿ ಕುಣಿದಾಡುತ್ತಾ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಜಯಂತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಈಗ ಸಂಘ ಪರಿವಾರವನ್ನು ಖುಷಿಪಡಿಸಲು ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಜಯಂತಿಯನ್ನು ರದ್ದು ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. pic.twitter.com/gePSjztY6s
In a hurry to target the CM, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah shared images related to events that are no way related to Tippu Jayanti celebrations.
In fact, a simple google reverse search reveals that none of the pictures relate to any celebration of Tippu Jayanti attended by the senior BJP leaders.
The first image shared by Siddaramaiah is actually a picture of an event organized by the erstwhile Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). The event was a Minority Convention organized in Bangalore on March 30, 2013. KJP was the party formed by Yediyurappa after he split from the BJP.
BS Yediyurappa attending minority convention during his KJP days in 2013
The second image in, which former Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar can be seen is from an Iftar party organized by BJP Minority Morcha state unit in Bangalore.
From the above pictures, it is clear the claims of Siddaramaiah regarding BJP celebrating Tippu Jayanti are false.
Perhaps, the Congress party seems to have forgotten that the practice of celebrating Tipu Jayanti was started in 2015 by Congress itself. From 2015 onwards, BJP had stayed away from such “celebrations”. Yediyurappa had even courted arrest to protest against Tipu Jayanti celebration in 2016.
This is not the first time that Congress party has shared the same images to attack BJP for its doublespeak on the issue of celebrating Tippu Jayanti. Even in 2017, Congress party had indulged in the same propaganda, which OpIndia had exposed.
The Triple Talaq Bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. With this, the Bill has sailed through the Rajya Sabha after failing to do so on an earlier occasion. The final count was 99 Ayes and 84 Noes. The Modi government has been determined to pass the Bill which is touted as a measure to improve the condition of Muslim women.
BREAKING: Triple Talaq Bill passed in Rajya Sabha. Triple Talaq now a criminal offence, after President’s assent. Carries 3-year jail term.
Earlier, a proposal to send the bill to a select committee was rejected by the Parliamentarians by a vote of 100-84. AIADMK and JD(U) abstained from voting on the matter.
Disposal of reference of amendment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 to the select committee has been rejected with 84 ‘Ayes’ and 100 ‘Noes’. https://t.co/yyrFT3SVRq
There was considerable opposition for the bill from all political parties. The Congress party went so far as to accuse the BJP of attempting to divide and bankrupt Muslims by making them pay for divorce proceedings. However, the historic Bill has finally been passed. Now, the Bill will be Law once Presidential assent is given.
In the aftermath of Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha going missing, OpIndia reached out to sources in the government to understand the investigations that he was facing. After Siddhartha went missing, a letter purportedly written by him had appeared where he has talked about “a lot of harassment in the form of attaching shares on two separate occasions” he and his company was facing from Income Tax officials.
He had asserted that first the Mindtree deal was blocked and then Coffee Day Enterprises shares were attached even though revised returns were filed. He had also written that he was facing tremendous pressure from private equity partners who were forcing him to buy back shares.
The entrepreneur also wrote that only he should be held accountable as he had withheld information, and others were totally unaware of the transactions, which were under the scanner the Income Tax department.
Although Siddhartha alleged that Income Tax department had attached his shares despite the submission of revised returns, which had started the allegations of “tax terrorism” against the I-T department, information received from government sources rebute those charges. Here are some details about the cases we have receobed from government sources.
Income Tax department says that VG Siddhartha had admitted to undisclosed income made by himself and CDE before Deputy Director of Income Tax (Investigation). DDIT had estimated undisclosed income of Rs 364.46 crore and Rs 118.02 crore in the case of Siddhartha and Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd respectively, and he had admitted to 362.11 crore and Rs 118.02 crore. But when they filed their revised returns, they didn’t mention those amounts. The I-T department also mentions that one group company Coffee Day Global Ltd didn’t pay its self-assessment tax of Rs 14.5 crore for the assessment year 2018-19. This company is also a regular defaulter of Advance Tax. Here the statement contradicts Siddhartha’s letter that he had disclosed everything in his revised return.
In January this year, major newspapers had reported that VG Siddhartha was planning to sell shares of Mindtree Ltd held by himself and his company. Based on this information, the department conducted verification and found that both Siddharth and CDE owned around 2.29 crore shares in Mindtree, which was valued at Rs 880 per share at that time. The result of this was that the likely amount of undisclosed income had gone up. It was estimated that Siddhartha’s tax liability along with interest and the maximum possible penalty was Rs 447.47 crore and for CDE it was Rs 188.69 crore.
The Income Tax department says that Siddhartha and CDE didn’t seek any permission for sale of the Mindtree shares, which is required when any proceedings are pending. Therefore, the department had provisionally attached the Mindtree shares held by Siddhartha and CDE. But they had requested revocation of attachment of the shares, since all the Mindtree shares held by them were already pledged against a loan of Rs 3000 crore, and offered alternate attachment of 46 lakh shares of Coffee Day Enterprises. The department had considered this request, and released the Mindtree shares with the condition that proceeds of the sale of the shares will be used only to repay the loan and the balance amount will be used to pay the tax liabilities. Accordingly, the balance amount of Rs 46 crore was paid towards the first instalment of estimated minimum alternate tax of around Rs 300 crore.
The department says that assessment for CED is completed for the assessment year 2011-12, while the same is yet to be completed for Siddhartha. It also says that the special audit report received in June this year is in his favour.
First things first, the author does not endorse the consumption of any psychedelic drug in any form. The author himself has never consumed such drugs at any point and believes such drugs can be dangerous if not consumed in a proper set or setting. They are certainly not for everyone.
Now that we are done with formalities, we can delve into the mystery of ‘The Spirit Molecule’ that purportedly transports people to another dimension. The chemical name of the molecule is N,N-dimethyltryptamine, commonly known as DMT. The molecule is derived by adding two N-methyl substituents to the structure of a tryptamine.
Source: The Spirit Molecule by Dr. Rick Strassman
The most intriguing thing about DMT is that fact that it is produced by our body endogenously, that is, the body produces it on its own. Interestingly, however, it is never produced in enough quantities to transport us to a psychedelic state under ordinary circumstances. Therefore, a person has to smoke it to experience a psychedelic state. During scientific experiments, it is injected intravenously.
No one yet knows why our body produces it. Scientists have been left dumbfounded by its widespread occurrence in nature. In the initial years of its discovery, it was all the rage in the psychiatric fraternity as scientists tried frantically to unlock its secrets. However, the substance was banned by the US government and regulated heavily following which research into its effects died out almost instantly. That DMT is produced in our body endogenously remains a great mystery to this day.
DMT caused a great divide within the scientific community as well. It became undeniable that the experience held deep spiritual meaning for the participants involved. Scientists were not sure how to interpret the phenomenon they were witnessing. Consequently, a division emerged within the scientific fraternity itself. There were some who found religion through it, others of a more rationalist disposition dismissed them entirely. It inevitably led to friction between the two camps.
Dr. Rick Strassman, who conducted research into DMT on human subjects in the 1990s, wrote in his book The Spirit Molecule that “at least some psychedelic researchers may have been quietly relieved that they no longer had to face many of the complex, contradictory, and confusing effects these drugs produced in their patients, themselves, and their colleagues.”
The DMT Experience
Subjective Experience
There is no appropriate way to describe the DMT experience without coming across as completely bewildering. People report seeing aliens and angels and Gods under the influence of DMT. It might have been easier to dismiss it all as mere hallucinations caused by a potent drug if it didn’t have a significant long term impact on individuals who consume it. Moreover, individuals claim that the experience is more ‘real’ than anything ‘real’ they have ever experienced under ordinary circumstances.
People across the world have reported experiencing the presence of external intelligence during the ‘trip’. They often offer them guidance or teach them lessons that they ought to have learned long ago. The intelligence often manifests itself as elves or imps or a Mother Goddess and occasionally as lions and other animals.
There are also individuals who believe they are transported into another dimension or another plane of existence after consuming the substance. There is no way to either reject these claims or embrace them entirely but people who have consumed the drug are nearly unanimous in their conclusions. There is also the underlying sentiment that they do not have adequate words to describe what they experience, essentially, that human language has not evolved enough to capture the essence of the experience.
Furthermore, there is a unifying feature of these subjective experiences. People report feeling a sense of timelessness, a phenomenon that’s termed ‘ego-death’ which means the ‘I’ ceases to exist and a deep sense of oneness with the entirety of existence.
“My body just didn’t seem relevant anymore,” said the participant of one research. “And I felt like I arrived in some consciousness soup which seemed like a different realm to the one I ordinarily inhabit – even in dreams. It just seemed like everything was rotating and swirling and spiralling. It didn’t seem like there were normal space-time proportions going on.” “I felt a sense that perhaps death isn’t the end – not that I’m religious,” she added.
Objective observations
Speaking strictly in terms of science, DMT when smoked produces intense visual and auditory ‘hallucinations’ in people. It is characterized by rapid moving kaleidoscopic images and bright colours. It also causes an increased heart rate, dilated pupils, rapid eye movements and so on.
Quoting verbatim from the introduction to a research, “Commonly described features of the DMT experience include a feeling of transcending one’s body and entering into an alternative ‘realm’, an acoustic perception of a high pitched ‘whining/whirring’ sound during the onset of the experience, perceiving and communicating with ‘presences’ or ‘entities’, plus reflections on death, dying and the after-life (Sai-Halász et al., 1958; Strassman, 2001; Gouzoulis-Mayfrank et al., 2005).”
Research conducted in recent times has also concluded that the DMT experience mirrors a near-death experience. “These findings are important, as they remind us that NDE[s] occur because of significant changes in the way the brain is working, not because of something beyond the brain,” lead study author Robin Carhart-Harris, head of the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London, said in a statement. “DMT is a remarkable tool that can enable us to study, and thus better understand, the psychology and biology of dying”.
There is only one problem with Carhart Harris’ statement. Of course, the DMT experience occurs due to changes to how the brain is working but that does not undermine the spiritual and mystical impact of it in any manner. To paraphrase a wise man, just because it’s happening in your brain doesn’t mean it’s not real.
It can very well be that the substance enables us to perceive states of existence that already surround us which we cannot under normal circumstances due to the limitations of our sensory receptors. Of course, we can’t say for sure that this is what exactly occurs. However, there’s no good reason to refuse to entertain even the possibility of it.
DMT’s close ties with Spirituality
Humans have long known the psychedelic effects of the substance and have used it in religious settings to experience the divine for a long long time. DMT is the stimulating substance in Ayahuasca, a brew prepared and consumed by Amazonian tribes for hundreds and thousands of years. They use it for spiritual purposes and Shamans administer it in religious settings.
People from around the world throng to these places to experience the Spirit of the Vine. Normally, DMT is not orally active due to the presence of Monoamine oxidase in our belly. In Ayahuasca, there is another ingredient that contains Monoamine oxidase inhibitors that enable the individual to experience a psychedelic state through oral consumption. After consuming Ayahuasca, numerous people have reported witnessing a Mother Goddess, a benevolent spirit that offers them insight into their own personality and parts of it they need to fix.
The DMT experience is widely considered as a mystical and spiritual experience. Even scientific research considers it to be so. According to research conducted by Dr. Roland Griffiths of John Hopkins University and others on “God Encounter experiences” occurring naturally and those induced by psychedelic substances such as LSD, psilocybin and DMT, a statistically significant section of the participants stopped identifying as an atheist and a monotheist.
There is also the growing speculation and almost a consensus among researchers in the field that it’s extremely likely that traditional spiritual practices such as Yoga can enable individuals to experience psychedelic states naturally without consuming it externally by virtue of endogenous DMT. It needs no elaboration that such practices are deeply rooted in religion.
Potential Medical Benefits
Research conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada (UBC) revealed that Ayahuasca may have medically beneficial properties for malaise such as substance abuse. They concluded that Ayahuasca assisted therapy “may be associated with reductions in substance use, particularly reductions in problematic cocaine use.”
It is consistent with the findings of research conducted into the effects of other psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and LSD. The researchers at the UBC state, “Our findings are also consistent with scientific evidence on the utility of psychedelic substances—such as LSD, mescaline and psilocybin—as therapeutic agents for treating addiction and catalysts for personal transformation.” The number of participants in the study was very small, thus, it requires further verification.
Researchers at the John Hopkins University have also discovered that use of the synthetic psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,-N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), a variant of the DMT which produces the same effects and is often referred to as DMT as well, appears to improve the mental health of individuals when used in a ceremonial setting. In a survey of 362 adults, approximately 80 percent of respondents reported improvements in anxiety and depression after use. These improvements were associated with the mystical experiences produced by the consumption of the substance.
Researchers found that people report having improved life satisfaction, purpose and meaning after the DMT experience. It adds to the growing body of evidence that such deeply spiritual and mystical experiences have healing effects, the researchers say.
Set and Setting
The DMT experience is profoundly impacted by ‘set and setting’. ‘Set’ refers to the mindset of the individual at the time of consumption and ‘setting’ refers to the external environment in which the substance is consumed. If the mindset of the person is negative, so to speak, or the setting is such that it makes the person feel anxious or stressed, it can lead to an extremely unpleasant experience, to put it mildly.
Bad trips are real. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance that people do not treat these casually. They are not party drugs to be consumed for fun. They are extremely powerful and are life-altering substances. Researchers have established that it is safe to consume it in a laboratory setting, however, even they cannot guarantee that participants will not experience a bad trip. If psychedelic drugs can lead people to heaven, it can also send them to hell.
The Unnao rape victim who is currently battling for her life after she met with a tragic road accident on Sunday had reportedly written a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, merely 15 days back.
In the letter dated July 12, 2019, she had cited threat and intimidation and had urged the CJI to take prompt action against those involved.
Alleging that some people had come to her house and threatened her and her family with dire consequences, the survivor had written, “Take action against those who are making threats. People came to my house and threatened to take back cases, otherwise, the whole family will be put in jail in fake cases”, the survivor wrote on July 12.
The victim alleged that on July 7, at around 9 am, accused Shashi Singh’s (the woman who was accused of luring the victim to the MLA Kuldeep Sengar’s place) son Navin, the MLA’ brother Manoj Singh, one Kunnu Mishra, and two unidentified persons went to her house and threatened them that the “the judge has been bought, Kuldip Singh’s and Shashi Singh’s bail has been confirmed” and that the victim’s family “will be made to rot in jail for malicious prosecution”.
The letter had further alleged that the intimidators had stated that an example has also been made in the victim’s uncle’s case. The victim’s uncle is in Raebereli jail presently over allegations of assault and other charges. They had allegedly asked her to ‘settle’ the case soon as there is still time.
The letter states that similar threats continued on July 8 too, with the rape survivor requesting the Supreme Court to take action against those threatening her.
The victim’s mother had also complained about the threats to Uttar Pradesh police on July 13. In a registered letter sent to Unnao police, the mother had written about two instances in which unidentified people threatened them. She wrote that she feared for her family. She had alleged that the minister, despite being in jail, was using his influence to harass her family.
On July 28, days after the letters were written, the car in which the woman, her family and a lawyer were travelling was hit by a speeding truck on the Lalganj-Raebareli highway on Sunday, killing two members while leaving her and the advocate critically injured.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh has stated that Unnao rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been suspended from the party and he would continue to remain suspended. An FIR has also been filed against him on the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.
The Uttar Pradesh government has sent a formal request to the government of India to transfer the Unnao rape victim’s road accident case to the CBI.
It has now been revealed that the truck which was involved in the accident on Sunday evening belongs to a Samajwadi Party leader, Nandkishor Pal aka Nandu Pal.
I recently came across a tweet of yours on social media where you were quote tweeting someone when they asked you a question about being selective in your outrage and you replied by saying “तभी तो कह रहे हैं क़ानून बना दो लिंचिंग के ख़िलाफ़। नाकोईमरेगा, नाकोईमारेगा।“ (That is why I am saying make a new anti-lynching law, no one will die and no one call kill).
So essentially what you are trying to say is that the reason people get lynched in India is that we do not have a specific anti-lynching law which specifically deals with this crime and the moment a law like this gets drafted we will solve the problem? So as per the current state of affairs are you claiming that people in India can basically lynch each other? So every other act of violence and murder is bad but hey if a bunch of people get together and go and kill someone via lynching him/her that is cool?
Sorry to break it you, Anurag, but lynching is not legal in India. And no the solution to random acts of violence committed by a group of violent thugs no matter what denomination they belong to will not be solved by another law. India does have a problem, I agree with you on that limited point. But what I disagree with you on is about the degree, nature, causes and solutions to the aforementioned problem.
India does not have a lynching issue. India has a law and order issue. So the first thing we need to start with is phrasing the problem in the right manner. Once we do that we get a far better and a more holistic view of India’s problems. India is one of the most under policed nations in the world. To quote directly from a recent article in the livemint “The sanctioned strength of the police across states was around 2.8 million in 2017 (the year with the latest available data) but only 1.9 million police officers were employed (a 30% vacancy rate). As a result, according to Mint’s calculations, there are only 144 police officers for every 100,000 citizens (the commonly used measure of police strength), making India’s police force one of the weakest in the world. India’s police-to-population ratio lags behind most countries and the United Nations-recommended ratio of 222.”
A cursory glance at the random spread of violence across India gives us a clear cut indication that the Northern states (Cow belt) have a disproportionately high level of incidences (West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh being in the same category). The immediate question that one should ask if they saw such a trend would be what is the police to population ratio in these states. And guess what Anurag, these states have some of the poorest numbers for the entire country. Once again as per this article “Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal’s police forces are all extremely understaffed with less than 100 police staff for 100,000 population.”
To add to the chaos as if this story is not depressing enough the overall spending by state governments on police in India has actually gone down from 4.4 % of the total budgeted expenditure (Between fiscal 2011 and 2015) to 4% over the last four years, according to PRS Legislative Research. But yes, we need a new lynching law and automatically all these crimes will stop isn’t it?
India has had a long and detailed history of different committees being formed under different governments that have recommended police reforms. Between 1977-1981 the National Police Commission presented 8 reports on police reforms, this was followed up by the Ribeiro Committee recommendations in 1998 and then we had the Padmanabhaiah Committee in 2000. Each committee dealt with a wide range of issues which included subjects like budgets to be allocated by states, modernisation of the police forces, and interference by the political class in the working of the police forces in general. Last year the Supreme Court instructed all the state governments to execute the directives issued by the court in 2006. But guess what, not even a single state government has done anything about it.
I went through your open letter which you had co-signed with 48 other ’eminent personalities’ in detail. In the entire letter, all I found to my disappointment was political posturing and basically a wrong diagnosis to a recurring problem in India. India did not become violent in 2014 Anurag, India has been a country with huge swaths of land where we have no sense of law and order since 1947. I thought as a creator of the movie Gangs of Wasseypur you of all the people would have actually recognised that.
I do not want to cast any aspersions on you. In fact, I appreciate the fact that you are concerned about the lives of innocent people. But, if you really want to solve this problem of law and order in India what you and the 48 other co-signatories of that letter should have demanded was the immediate implementation of police and judicial reforms in India. By the way, I also want to add that I was equally disappointed by the reply to your letter by the 62 celebrities. It seems as if they also are more interested in countering your arguments with emotions rather than substance.
I guess that is how we deal with things in our society. We are more interested in virtue signalling and faux emotionalism. I wonder how many amongst the 111 celebrities have actually read the 2018 Lokniti report on the status of policing in India. And if anyone of you has read it then it saddens me that in spite of reading the report none of you bothered to mention the words “police reforms” even once in your letters to the Prime Minister. It says a lot about where our priorities lie.
The aim of this letter is not to put anyone down. The aim of this letter is to request all the ’eminent citizens’ of India to start fighting about the things that matter to the average citizen. Yes, Anurag, every Indian life matters. But what also matters is that we diagnose a problem properly. Because if our diagnosis is incorrect, we will never solve a problem. I hope you do read all the links that have been provided in the above letter and convince all your 48 like-minded and 62 not so like-minded friends to write one more letter to the Prime Minister together and many more such letters to the Chief Ministers of different Indian states.
India desperately needs police reforms. And if you really care about these problems (which I assume you do) do the right thing. Understand the problem and then work towards the correct solutions. Otherwise, I would say none of you are really interested in making Indian lives better. These letters were just one of those politically motivated campaigns that we have seen many times before in our past.
Kushal Mehra
An Average Indian who just wants to live peacefully.
The plight of medical apathy in Kolkata’s government hospitals came to the fore when a 20-year-old youth was denied admission by two major medical hospitals, even at the risk of losing a leg.
The boy, identified as Krishna Acharya, first visited Sagar Dutt Medical College Hospital and was rejected from there. The factory worker then visited RG Kar medical college, where the hospital kept postponing his date of admission. Every time he approached the hospital he was left with a note, which read, ‘Regret, No bed’.
Note of RG Kar hospital regretting unavailability of bed
The plastic surgery department in RG Kar medical college first gave Krishna Acharya July 17 as the date for admission, which was postponed to July 18, and the latest date promised is August 7.
The youth had been desperately running around to get himself a hospital admission since he met with an accident on July 14. He fell from his cycle and a car passed over his right leg leaving his right foot in a terrible condition.
Despite his deteriorating conditions, Krishna Acharya has not been able to find himself a hospital bed and now he fears amputation. But the chief doctor at RG Kar’s plastic surgery department, Rupnarayan Bhattacharya, claims that Krishna’s injury is not serious, and other critical patients needed to be attended urgently. He said the injury does not even require hospitalisation, saying it can be treated at home with proper dressing.
When asked why Krishna was informed that bed is not available and why he was asked to apply for a bed later if he does not need to be admitted, the doctor said that it was a mistake done by junior doctors. But the same Dr. has said that Bhattacharya Krishna needs surgery, and he even prescribed him some tests for the surgery.
However, this is not the first incident throwing light on the government hospital’s apathy towards its patients. In yet another shocking case, on July 4, a woman patient was forced to share a stretcher with an unknown male patient while being wheeled to the X-Ray room at the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in Indore, the largest state-run hospital in Madhya Pradesh.
In a similar case, the staff at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (NSCB) Medical College in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, was caught on camera dragging a patient to the X-Ray room on a bedsheet.
In another shocking case, on June 22, a 72-year-old man who was declared dead by a doctor at Bina District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh was found to be still breathing when his body was being sent for a postmortem after spending a whole night in the mortuary.
Moreover, reports on the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur had also revealed the unpreparedness, callousness and the apathy of the government and the hospitals falling under them.
Yesterday, Social Media was taken by storm when British adventurer and survival expert Bear Grylls, known for his popular television show Man Vs Wild, announced through his Twitter account that he will host Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on his show. “People across 180 countries will get to see the unknown side of PM Narendra Modi as he ventures into Indian wilderness to create awareness about animal conservation & environmental change,” tweeted Grylls.
The announcement by Grylls and Discovery Channel had instantly become the top news in India as the social and mainstream media started discussing the PM’s appearance on the widely popular show. Numerous memes and jokes were also shared on social media over the PM’s appearance on the show with Bear Grylls.
In one such attempt, the popular online content creator ‘The Viral Fever,’ whose founder is mired in sexual molestation cases, attempted to mock PM Modi by posting a video edited out of the teaser released by Bear Grylls with ‘Gau Mutra’ jibes.
The caption of the video read Bear Grylls asking PM Modi if ‘Gau Mutra’ is better than his urine. This was a sly attempt by the portal to deride Hinduism where the cow is revered.
It is notable here that several Ayurvedic practices consider the cow urine to have healing properties and this aspect is often used by Hinduphobics to deride the believers of Hinduism and the sacredness of cow.
Soon after posting the video, a large number of TVF followers started objecting to the crass meme uploaded by TVF. Sensing a potential blowback, similar to that faced by AIB for its distasteful anti-Hindu memes, TVF quietly pulled down the obnoxious post. Earlier, the All India Bakchod(AIB), which was known for sharing anti-Hindu stuff on its social media pages, was disbanded following allegations of sexual harassment against their founders.
Was a big fan of TVF for their content, used like their satire and jokes on Modi and Yogi but now it seems that @TheViralFever has hired some saste meme makers from AIB. Such Gaumutra taunts was USP of AIB. would like to know if TVF also going to follow same path @TheQtiyapaGuypic.twitter.com/pY6pDAwFrd
It is also noteworthy to mention that the Pulwama terrorist who blew himself up killing 40 CRPF personnel earlier this year, had used similar Gau Mutra jibes while justifying his hatred for Hindus in the video released after the dastardly attack. In the video uploaded by Jaish-e-Muhammad, terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar was seen vowing to kill Gau Mutra drinkers. Islamic zealots and terrorists have often used the Gau Mutra jibes as an insult towards Hindus, to justify their acts of violence.
So, when social media entities with a considerable follower base such as TVF echo the same sentiments as terrorists do, they offer credence and legitimacy to the narrative of militants that Hindus are worthless beings who deserve to be mocked and attacked. Thus further emboldening them to continue spreading hate and violence. The attempts to use Gau Mutra as an insult is nothing less than blatant Hinduphobia.
