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Dear Devendra Fadnavis, we feel let down by inept handling of floods by your government

Keshav
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Dear Devendra Fadnavis, we feel let down by inept handling of floods by your government

Parts of Western Maharashtra, particularly Sangli and Kolhapur districts, are reeling under heavy floods for last 8 – 9 days, with water only starting subsiding since yesterday. With almost 80% of Sangli city, and about 50% of Kolhapur city submerged underwater as high as 15 feet, they virtually turned into Venice, with roads becoming rivers, the only difference was water was muddy and not as beautiful as Venice. All related consequences like snapping of electricity, unavailability of daily ration followed. Off course as you said, when it rains 700% of a month’s average, just in a week, there is little you can do, but what you could have done was to start timely response, and evacuation of people. Instead, you couldn’t gauge the seriousness of the issue, and remained busy in your ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’ ahead of state assembly elections scheduled in October.

Even when yatra was first stopped, the reason given was the death of Sushma Swaraj, rubbing further salt to the wounds of the affected. While it’s true that while all BJP functions were cancelled following her death, you could have at least said that yatra is being cancelled due to the flood situation. Only on the next day, you cancelled your yatra to review the flood situation. It further took you another day to visit Kolhapur and review the situation there. While it is true that, visiting places don’t help people much, but it reassures people that government is there firmly behind you, and also keep the administration on its toes to step up their efforts. You only visited Kolhapur and cancelled the visit to more affected Sangli which was just 75 kilometres away, apparently due to bad weather but was forced to visit after two days, when NCP chief Sharad Pawar decided to visit Sangli. While we talk about urban areas, rural areas of these districts also suffered badly and because the rural areas are more scattered, compared to urban agglomerations, it was even more difficult to run rescue operations there.

All road, rail and air links to Kolhapur were snapped due to heavy rainfall. Even NH – 4, which connects Mumbai and Bangalore via Kolhapur, and is a part of the golden quadrilateral, is still under 4 feet water, with water rising up to 6-8 feet at peak. Traffic is still to start on this highway, which has left truckers and others stranded.

Aerial photo showing National Highway 4 under water

It is reported that you took district collector and other officials to the task for failing in their duties, but people would ask questions to you as CM and not them. Your remark, “if needed, it would be declared national calamity”, further gave fodder to the opposition, which asked you, for what are you waiting to declare it as a national calamity, as these areas haven’t seen such unprecedented floods in the past. It also appears that state government hasn’t yet informed centre about devastating floods, nor national media has given much coverage to these floods, and therefore PM Narendra Modi or HM Amit Shah didn’t carry an aerial survey of affected parts, even though HM Amit Shah carried aerial survey of affected parts of Northern Karnataka, which is just a few kilometres away from Kolhapur, and reason of its flooding is excessive rains in Sangli and Kolhapur. Incidentally, Amit Shah happens to be the son-in-law of Kolhapur. Further, there was no coordination between Maharashtra and Karanataka governments, both led by the BJP, to release water from Almatti dam situated downstream on Krishna River in Karnataka, which further angered people more.

Remember the outrage created by the state government and people of Kerala last year, which forced the centre to act? While you can’t create an outrage because you are from the same party, what you could at least do was first cancel your yatra, and inform the centre through proper channels.

Photos of CM and local MLA on flood relief material

Then images of relief material carrying photos of you and your MLAs created further outrage and again gave fodder to the opposition. Girish Mahajan, one of your most powerful ministers, shot a video on the relief boat smiling which gave an impression that he was on flood tourism, however people won’t see his images of standing in neck-deep water and helping people, because their point has been scored.

These two districts are the most fertile area for Congress and NCP, and BJP couldn’t make much gains there even in 2014 at the peak of Modi wave. Only thereafter slowly BJP started making gains here, and enjoyed fair amount of success in 2019 Loksabha elections, hoping to further consolidate in upcoming assembly elections, chances of which now appears bleak, as the opposition is all set to fight elections on the single issue of devastating floods.

Dear CM sir, you handled all the unrest created by opposition be it farmers agitation or Maratha reservation agitation, very well in the past, but you failed to respond adequately and in a timely manner to this natural disaster at the fag end of your first term as CM. We still as BJP supporter pray to Mahalaxmi of Kolhapur to bless you with the second term as CM, as your record is quite satisfactory and blemish-free for last five years, except for this, but we would have appreciated that your firefighting here, should have been just like as we have seen in the past.

Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh bans offering namaz on the roads across the state

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh bans offering namaz on the roads across the state

After the successful implementation of a limited ban on offering Namaz on roads in some parts of the state like Meerut and Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh has decided to impose a complete ban on offering namaz on roads across the state.

Confirming the ban, Director-General of Police (DGP), OP Singh, on Tuesday said direction had been issued to all districts police chiefs and other authorities to ensure that no namaz was offered by blocking roads. “On special occasions, when a large crowd gathers for offering prayers on festivals, it could be allowed by the district administration, but this practice will not be allowed as a routine during every Friday prayer,” he said.

The DGP furthered that after attaining success in cities like Meerut and Aligarh, the district officials have been asked to hold meetings with clerics and mosque administrations of various districts to sensitize them on how namaz on roads interrupted smooth traffic flow and caused other problems.

He confirmed that the Aligarh district administration had apart from holding such meetings with clerics and mosque administrations, had also issued a detailed circular for not allowing namaz on roads and it was imposed successfully.

Singh furthered that other communities would also not be allowed to hold similar religious gatherings on roads if it interrupted the traffic flow or caused inconvenience to others.

The Uttar Pradesh administration for all this while has been quite stringent, forbidding all religious events including namaz, on roads in various parts of the state. On June 8, the UP police had foiled attempts of namazis who assembled outside Chowki Chouraha Masjid in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, to offer Friday namaz on the road. However, they were unsuccessful as the UP police determined to follow decree and stopped the mob from offering namaz on the road.

Last year the Madras High Court had ruled that public places cannot be encroached upon for the purpose of offering prayers. A bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice Krishnan Ramasamy had on July 18, 2018, observed that everyone is entitled by law to pray in a place of worship or their residence, but they cannot do so in a public space which will cause a nuisance to the general public.

Moreover, after this ruling, the Noida police had also in December 2018 issued an advisory notice to companies in sector 58, asking their administrations to dissuade their employees from visiting nearby parks for offering namaz.

The order issued by the Noida police to the companies cited the district magistrate’s order that ‘No religious activities’ including namaz can be offered in the authority parks. The police also added that namaz should be offered in Mosques and Idgahs.

IAF’s Wing Commander Abhinandan to be conferred with Vir Chakra on Independence Day

OpIndia Staff
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IAF’s Wing Commander Abhinandan to be conferred with Vir Chakra on Independence Day

Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be conferred with Vir Chakra this Independence Day.


The India Air Force had recommended the name of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman for Vir Chakra on April 21. Abhinandan became a national icon after he had shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet with his Mig-21 Bison on February 27, 2019, when India and Pakistan’s air forces had engaged in a dog fight after India had destroyed terrorist camps in Balakot.

The IAF had earlier featured the Wing Commander as the lead character in its recently launched flight battle simulator mobile game, named ‘Indian Air Force: A Cut Above’.

Vir Chakra is the third highest gallantry award in the military during times of war after the Param Vir Chakra and the Maha Vir Chakra. In the past, the Indian Air Force pilots who shot down enemy fighters were all given Vir Chakra medals.

Wing Commander Abhinandan, flying a vintage Russian-made Mig-21 Bison, was part of the Indian Air Force fighters that took on the PAF fighter jets on February 27 during a dogfight.

A day prior to this, the Indian Air Force had carried out successful ‘non-military pre-emptive strikes’ on Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp deep inside Pakistan to dismantle the terror apparatus that had inflicted the suicide attack in Pulwama killing more than 40 brave security personnel of CRPF.

Following the airstrikes, Pakistan had attempted to attack Indian military establishments before Indian airforce intercepted to thwart their attacks. With its strike package comprising of various aircraft, Indian airforce was successful in pushing back Pakistani jets and during the air fight, one MiG-21 Bison flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was hit after it had shot down a more lethal Pakistan’s F-16.

During the aerial engagement, Wing Commander Varthaman’s MiG-21 was hit and he had to eject safely across the Line of Control (LoC). Abhinandan was held captive in Pakistan for almost 60 hours before he was released on March 1, 2019, due to the tremendous international pressure exerted on the Pakistani government.

Abhinandan had not only managed to destroy sensitive documents before being captured in a hostile territory but had steadfastly refused to bow down to the harassment and had been resolute in his statement that he will not reveal any information to the Pakistanis.

WC Abhinandan’s sheer courage and determination to remain calm and resolute at the face of such adversity had earned him an iconic status overnight in India. His famous moustache had also become a rage instantly.

Besides Varthaman, Sapper Prakash Jadhav, who lost his life in an encounter with terrorists at Kulgam in November 2018, and CRPF personnel Harshpal Singh will be honoured with Kirti Chakra. 14 other personnel will get Shaurya Chakras.

Delhi: AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya sends Rs 1 crore defamation notice after resident complains of water crisis

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi: AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya sends Rs 1 crore defamation notice after resident complains of water crisis

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Dinesh Mohaniya has sent a defamation notice of Rs 1 crore to a resident of his constituency for posting a video on social media which showed water crisis problem in the locality and calling him corrupt.

According to the India Today report, Pradeep Maurya, who is a resident of Sangam Vihar, has been sent a defamation notice from the lawyer of AAP MLA Mohaniya seeking defamation of Rs 1 crore. The notice read that Maurya uploaded a video with malafide intention to damage Mohaniya’s image.

However, Pradeep has claimed that he is being targeted for exposing the ground reality of Sangam Vihar and acute water crisis faced by the people.

“Even I was a supporter of AAP, but when the problem of our area was not resolved in four years, I highlighted the issue by uploading a video on my YouTube channel. I live here on rent and hardly earn Rs 9,000 a month. But, I am not scared of him and will fight the case in court. He has also deleted my video. He must be having the power of administration but locals are with me,” said Pradeep.

Lawyers of Dinesh Mohaniya clarified that the lawmaker has a problem with the fake charges made against him in the video.

“He has been called ‘corrupt’ and alleged to be working in nexus with the mafia. These are fake charges and ruins the image of my client,” said MLA’s lawyer Anil Tomar.

Dinesh Mohaniya defended the notice claiming that Maurya had spread wrong information against him through the video. “I have never stopped anyone from filming in the area. I invite everyone to my constituency to come and check ground reality. It is people who will decide if work has been done in the area or not,” reportedly Mohaniya said while speaking to India Today.

Meanwhile, Mohaniya and another AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal also had a fight on Twitter on water crisis in Delhi. Jarwal accused Mohaniya of stalling the work on sewer work which has added to the water crisis.

He even asked Mohaniya to direct the Delhi Jal Board to carry out the work instead of doing just Facebook Live events.

With elections to Delhi state assembly round the corner, it seems like AAP MLAs have thought of an innovative way of campaigning which involves sending defamation notice to residents and sparring over taking responsibility.

Shekhar Gupta claims protests in Kashmir are Pakistan’s best hope, then asks govt to lift restrictions so protests can happen

Sanghamitra
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Shekhar Gupta claims protests in Kashmir are Pakistan’s best hope, then asks govt to lift restrictions so protests can happen

In recent days, we have scores of Indian politicians and Indian media persons indulge in fear-mongering and constantly predicting apocalypse in Kashmir so much that it is has begun to sound exactly like things Pakistan would say in its empty threats to India.

Many political leaders, especially from Congress, and now Mamata Banerjee too, have found endorsements from Pakistan. NDTV’s clips were used by Pakistan’s ruling party to peddle their agenda, many Indian ‘intellectuals’ and columnists are being hailed as ‘sympathisers’ of Pakistan in their media.

Amidst all these, there is another peculiar development. Shekhar Gupta of The Print, on August 7, had discussed in a video about how Pakistan would react after the Indian government’s decision regarding Jammu and Kashmir and Article 370.

In the video titled, “Gaming the Pakistani mind after its first responses to Indian moves in Kashmir”, Shekhar Gupta discusses Pakistan’s options available after India’s move. One by one, Gupta lists and with some retrospection, explains how those responses may not work in the present scenario, considering the government of India’s strong retaliatory action displayed post-Uri and post-Pulawama attacks. He also discusses that the larger public perception of Indians towards Pakistan’s age-old tactics of terror attacks and spreading fear have changed and Pakistan would only invite more anger.

Gupta also explains how Pakistan may not get international support over its stand on Jammu and Kashmir because its old tactic of pointing a gun to its own head has stopped terrifying India and the world.

As a last option for Pakistan, Gupta claims, that it can only pray that there are massive protests in Kashmir and the ground situation in Kashmir goes out of control. He explains further that Pakistan should now only hope and pray that there are large-scale protests in Kashmir, that people take to the streets and some security personnel lose their cool and fire.

Indian security forces firing on protestors to create a “Mini- Jalianwala” can be Pakistan’s best hope to further its interests in Kashmir and then exploiting the situation to get international attention over ‘Human Rights violation’, is what Gupta claims should be the only way for a Pakistani strategist right now.


“The best hope for Pakistan will now be a massive upsurge and subsequent allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir,” Gupta explains. He says that the onus is now on the Indian security forces to hold their nerve and ‘hold the fire’.

Very interestingly, days after claiming that protests in Kashmir are Pakistan’s best hope, Shekhar Gupta has published an article advocating protests in Kashmir and has asked that the government must lift restrictions to allow protests in Jammu and Kashmir.


The said article published in The Print and shared by Gupta himself, advocating the protests, claims that a monumental move like abrogating Article 370 and the ‘demotion’ the state into two UTs cannot go without ‘attracting violent political protests and when the ‘media blackout’ is lifted, we are bound to see more public agitation, from street protests to stone-pelting or worse.

Article in The Print

The article also urges the government to lift the communication blockade and ‘allow street protests and demonstrations to resume’

The print article

It is not clear why Gupta, who just days ago claimed that protests in Kashmir will be Pakistan’s best hope is now urging the government to lift restrictions and allow protests. Is he advocating the government to allow Pakistan a foothold, an excuse to have a say in the issue? If protests in Kashmir are going to be in Pakistan’s best interests, why then, Gupta’s portal is advocating for them?

It is not the first time that Gupta’s The Print has been found propagating contradictory and controversial stands. On several occasions, its starkly contradictory claims and monkey balancing acts have been widely discussed on social media too. But in this instance, it is beyond petty politics and narrow narrative peddling of state and national politics.

The Print has been a repeat offender in fake news peddling and has been caught many times fanning dubious narratives, even eulogising known anti-India fake news peddlers. But this goes beyond that.

The elections are over and right now we are looking at an enemy that has sworn to bleed us by a thousand cuts. The Jammu and Kashmir issue is a matter of India’s sovereignty and national security. By allowing Pakistan even an inch of space in our narrative and media discourse, we are facilitating the terrorism it has inflicted upon us for the last seven decades and jeopardising the extremely delicate security situation that has millions of Indian lives at stake, of civilians and security personnel alike.

London university bans beef from campus menu to cut carbon emissions

OpIndia Staff
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London university bans beef from campus menu to cut carbon emissions

A university in London has planned to pull down beef from its canteen menu to fight against the global climate crisis. Goldsmiths, a constituent college of University in London, will be scrapping all beef products from its campus menu, the institution’s new chief has announced, as it seeks to become carbon neutral by 2025.


The move takes effect from September 2019, which is the beginning of the new academic session and will affect all canteens, cafes and food outlets on the university’s campus.

In a statement the university’s warden, Frances Corner said: “Declaring a climate emergency cannot be empty words.” I truly believe we face a defining moment in global history and Goldsmiths now stands shoulder to shoulder with other organizations willing to call the alarm and take urgent action to cut carbon use.”

According to a report by the Committee on Climate Change in UK, lamb, beef and dairy products are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gases emitted by farms in Britain. In fact, in 2016, sheep and cattle alone were directly responsible for around 58 per cent of agricultural emissions in the UK.

Globally, beef is responsible for 41 per cent of livestock greenhouse gas emissions, and livestock accounts for 14.5 per cent of total global emission. In fact, according to one expert, eating less red meat, particularly beef, would be a better way for people to cut carbon emissions than giving up their cars.

The production of beef requires 28 times more land than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in 5 times more climate-warming emissions. As compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is far more extreme. It requires 160 times more land and produces 11 times more greenhouse gases.

Goldsmiths University’s warden also said, “The growing global call for organisations to take seriously their responsibilities for halting climate change is impossible to ignore,” adding, “Though I have only just arrived at Goldsmiths, it is immediately obvious that our staff and students care passionately about the future of our environment and that they are determined to help deliver the step change we need to cut our carbon footprint drastically and as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Goldsmith University is not the only university to alter its menu in its endeavour to cut its carbon footprint. Cambridge University’s canteen has also not served any beef or lamb since 2016. Instead, it has been “promoting the consumption of more vegetarian and vegan foods”.

Meanwhile, Ulster University, the University of East Anglia and a number of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge have introduced “meat-free Mondays”. Whereas, Westminster University has a “part-time carnivore loyalty card”, whereby students who have purchased four vegetarian meals in the canteen get a free vegetarian meal.

Dave Gorman, director of sustainability at Edinburgh University, said that currently 40 per cent of the menu options in campus cafes are vegetarian or vegan and they aim to increase this to 50 per cent in the coming days.

Watch this epic meltdown of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar after he gets triggered when reminded of his ‘chaiwala’ comment

OpIndia Staff
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Watch this epic meltdown of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar after he gets triggered when reminded of his ‘chaiwala’ comment

Never a dull moment with Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar around. While interacting with ETV Bharat on abrogation of Article 370 and the Kashmir situation, Aiyar lost his cool when the journalist reminded him of his ‘chaiwala’ comment on Prime Minister Modi prior to 2014 general elections where he had claimed that Modi will never become a PM and he could arrange it for him to sell tea at AICC meet if Modi so wished. While the full version uploaded by ETV Bharat has this portion edited out, the following clip has gone viral on social media.


During the interaction, the journalist tells Aiyar that he has also been controversial and reminds him of his tea-seller remark. “You might remember,” the journalist tells Aiyar. Aiyar cuts him off and says he does not remember any such thing. “Mujhe kuch yaad nahin hai, maaf kijiye, kyunki maine yeh kabhi nahin kaha,(I don’t remember because I have never said it” he said.

Around 2 minutes 40 seconds in the above video, Aiyar could be heard saying how he had challenged that Modi will never become the Prime Minister in the 21st century and if he wishes to sell tea at AICC meet, he would arrange for it.

Coming back to his meltdown, Aiyar was reminded by the journalist how he made that statement at Talkatora stadium in Delhi. Aiyar loses his cool and then explains how he actually meant to be helpful to the then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who was bound to lose to Rahul Gandhi in 2014.

The journalist tells Aiyar how it is a little demeaning to say something like that but Aiyar hits back by saying that that is what the journalist is thinking. Aiyar then reminds the journalist that he is there to speak on Article 370 abrogation and not his five year old comment.

“Your questions on Kashmir are over, so the interview is now over,” Aiyar said, making a gesture of getting up. Aiyar was upset that his 2014 comment which refuses to die down has been brought up time and again. He then tells the journalist to get back on Kashmir and then threatens to get up from the interview.

Aiyar was reminded that as a journalist he could ask him questions, especially in a democracy.

Here comes the best part. around 1 minute 50 seconds in the video, the journalist tells Aiyar that he respects him because he has been a great leader. Aiyar suddenly loses whatever cool he had left and starts making strange sounds and says ‘thank you’ by folded hands in a very dramatic voice. He even touches the journalist’s feet while continuing to talk in a strange voice and mannerisms.

Aiyar, however, has quite controversial views on the Kashmir situation. In an article written in Indian Express titled “Who are we to teach Kashmiris the virtues of democracy?”, Mani Shankar Aiyar has lamented over the Modi government’s decision to scrap special status to Kashmir. In doing so, Aiyar has brought up the reference of Palestine to bring equivalence to Kashmir issue.

Aiyar claims that Modi-Shah duo has learned their lessons from their mentor, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionists, including former Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Aiyar also added that PM Modi and Amit Shah have learnt to trample on the freedom, dignity and self-respect of the Kashmiris similar to Israel, who he claims had tried to get away with seven decades of merciless oppression of the Palestinians.

This is not the first time Aiyar has lost his cool on journalist, and in all likelihood it will not be the last. Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections results,

Mani Shankar Aiyar said to one of the journalists that he was getting ‘angry’ at his choice of questions. When the journalist dared to ask him, what he thinks would be the result on 23rd May, Aiyar shoved away the mic held to him and imperiously shouted “F*ck off” to the journalist. Aiyar’s cavalier disregard for civility in public life was evident when he was seen forcibly yanking the mike off the Republic TV journalist and shouting at the journalist to “f*ck off” in December 2017.

In 2017, Aiyar was expelled from Congress for his unruly behaviour and using a casteist slur to attack PM Modi. Many people at that time had speculated that his expulsion was because he might have upset Congress’ caste strategy with his ‘neech’ comment. However, it was just a smokescreen to placate the growing protest against Aiyar for his repulsive casteist remarks. The ouster was short-lived as he was again quietly reinstatedin the party by the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, emboldening him and giving an impression that one can get away unpunished with abusing and using casteist slurs against opponents.

A Muslim mob attacks Kanwar Yatris in Jaipur, sets buses on fire a week after Congress govt in state passes anti-mob lynching bill

OpIndia Staff
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A Muslim mob attacks Kanwar Yatris in Jaipur, sets buses on fire a week after Congress govt in state passes anti-mob lynching bill

In a shocking incident in Jaipur on Monday, a Muslim mob hurled stones and attacked a bus carrying Kanwariyas which was on its way to Haridwar. More than a dozen buses have been lit on fire injuring more than 30 Kanwars during the incident.

According to the reports, the incident occurred on the day of the Eid festival, when a Muslim mob got into an argument with Kanwars. At the night, as Kanwars began their journey towards Haridwar to continue their annual Kanwar Yatra, a large angry Muslim mob gathered near Idgah at Delhi Road and allegedly resorted to stone pelting on the bus and later torched the bus damaging more than 10 buses.

The mob violence on Kanwar Yatris come a week after the Congress government in Rajasthan passed a stringent anti-mob lynching bill in the assembly. Congress leader Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government had brought in the bill against mob lynching because it felt that the current provisions in the Indian Penal Code  and Criminal Procedure Code were not ‘adequate’ to deal with mob lynching incidents.

During this incident, hundreds of devotees were trapped in a nearby Hanuman temple. Police started evacuating the devotees to protect from the terror inflicted by the Muslim mob on the Hindus. Somehow, the people extracted the Hindu devotees from the temple and moved them into a safe place. Reportedly, due to the stone pelting of the Muslim mob, their vehicles were damaged.

The Muslim mob did not even spare the police as they threw stones at them injuring seven policemen. The police were quick to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd in the area.

Jaipur commissioner of police Anand Shrivastava confirmed that some people hurled stones on a bus carrying Kanwariyas on its way to Haridwar on Delhi Road at around 10 PM on Monday.  

Meanwhile, mobile internet services were suspended in some areas in Jaipur on Tuesday morning to prevent the spread of rumours after the attack on a bus carrying Kanwar yatris occurred.

Kanwariyas, the devotees of Shiva, begin their annual pilgrimage on foot to holy places of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch sacred waters of River Ganga and bring them to their local Shiva temples. Unfortunately, in recent times they seem to have become an easy target for the “liberal-secular” intelligentsia and Muslim community of the country.

High Level Committee recommends CSR expenditure to be made tax deductible, non-compliance to be made civil offence with no imprisonment

OpIndia Staff
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High Level Committee recommends CSR expenditure to be made tax deductible, non-compliance to be made civil offence with no imprisonment

After facing lots of criticism over strict punishment for non-compliance with CSR norms, there is some good news for the corporate sector, as a high-level committee has recommended that CSR expenditure should be made tax-deductible, and suggested that the non-compliance of CSR should be a civil offence attracting only penalty, not imprisonment.

The Report of the High-Level Committee on CSR was presented to the Finance and Corporate Affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman by Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Corporate Affairs. The committee has made several important recommendations in regard to the mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility.

The report recommends that CSR expenditure should be made tax-deductible from the income, and the mode of CSR implementation should be tax neutral. It suggests that implementing agencies should be treated as partners and not service providers, so that the issue of indirect tax applicable to them can be addressed.

The committee has also recommended that unspent balance on CSR should be allowed to carry forward for a period of 3 to 5 years. The report says that the unspent CSR amount should be transferred to a separate account designated for this purpose. The amount in this amount will have to be spent within three to five years, else it will be transferred to a fund specified by the central government.

In a very important recommendation, the committee has suggested that violation of CSR compliance should be made a civil offence and it should be shifted to a penalty regime. If accepted, it would remove the provision of jail sentencing for CSR compliance violation, which will only impose a financial penalty for the same. The committee recommends a penalty of 2-3 times of the default amount, adding that there should not be any imprisonment for defaulting on CSR compliance.

It has also recommended aligning schedule 7 of companies act, which deals with CSR activities, with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by adopting an SDG plus framework.

The scope of CSR activities has been suggested to expand with the inclusion of sports promotion, senior citizens’ welfare, welfare of differently-abled persons, disaster management and heritage protection. The committee has suggested balancing local area preferences with national priorities, the introduction of impact assessment studies for CSR obligation of ₹5 crore or more, and registration of implementation agencies on MCA portal.

The committee has recommended that the government should not treat CSR as a means to resource gap funding for government schemes. The committee also wants to emphasize on active CSR work by the corporate sector, and has recommended that passive CSR activities allowed under the law, such as contribution towards PM’s national relief fund or any such fund of central of state governments, should be discontinued. However, it suggests creating a specific fund to transfer unspent fund allocated by companies for CSR.

The report recommends that companies with CSR amount below ₹50 lakh should be exempted from forming a CSR committee. It has also recommended that the reporting on CSR should be strengthened, and it should be brought under the purview of statutory financial audit.

The High-Level Committee on CSR was constituted in October 2018 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Corporate Affairs) to review the existing CSR framework and make recommendations on strengthening the CSR ecosystem, including monitoring implementation and evaluation of outcomes.

As per the Companies Act, companies having a minimum net worth of ₹500 Crore, or minimum turnover of ₹1000 crore, or minimum net profit of ₹5 crore have to spend 2% of average net profit made in the last three years in CSR activities. The recently amended Companies Act has added the provision of jail term upto three years for non-compliance of CSR. This had attracted a huge uproar, and last week Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had assured that the penal provisions like jail term will not be implemented.

The full report of the committee can be accessed here [PDF].

Priyanka Gandhi’s aide Sandeep Singh manhandles ABP Ganga news reporter, threatens him with “Thok ke baja dunga”

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Gandhi’s aide Sandeep Singh manhandles ABP Ganga news reporter, threatens him with “Thok ke baja dunga”

In a shocking incident, a journalist was manhandled by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s close aide Sandeep Singh when he was asking Priyanka her views on abrogation of Article 370. ABP Ganga reporter Nitish Pandey was blatantly abused, threatened by Singh for doing his job: asking questions.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3lacYTCUxs?start=30]

When Priyanka denied speaking to the reporter over the issue after which Sandeep Singh started issuing threats to the reporter.

While issuing threat to Pandey, Singh menacingly said, “Suno Suno, Thok ke yahi baja dunga, marunga toh yehi gir jaoge(Listen, I will give you such a sound beating that you will collapse here).”

However, the journalist didn’t cow down from the threats issued by Sandeep and persisted with his questions to Priyanka Gandhi. The reporter was then manhandled by Singh as he continued to beseech Priyanka Gandhi to intervene and stop the hooliganism. “Right in front of you Priyanka ji, your workers are pushing away the cameras, roughing up journalists,” Pandey said.

However, as can be seen in the video, Priyanka showed no interest in rescuing the beleaguered journalist while he was being roughed up and threatened by Singh. Pandey made repeated entreaties to Priyanka to intervene but she turned a blind eye to his predicament.

On realising that his intimidation has been caught on camera which might put his political bosses in a fix, Singh tried to shift the blame on the journalist, accusing him of being a BJP paid stooge. “You have been paid by the BJP to do this,” Singh said to Pandey.

Sandeep Singh is a detractor turned Congress admirer. He had once shown black flags in a demonstration against erstwhile PM Dr Manmohan Singh and is now a political advisor to Rahul Gandhi and also writes his speeches. The former JNU student, Singh has also been travelling with Priyanka Gandhi ever since she was appointed as Congress general secretary in Uttar Pradesh. As JNU Students Union President, he was associated with AISA (All India Students Association), the students wing of the far-left Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). As per reports, he was also associated with Anna Hazare movement for Lokpal. Eventually he started writing speeches for Rahul Gandhi.

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