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Madhya Pradesh: After failed loan-waiver scheme, Rahul Gandhi makes a big u-turn on ‘unemployment allowance’

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: After failed loan-waiver scheme, Rahul Gandhi makes a big u-turn on ‘unemployment allowance’

After its misadventure with farm loan waiver, the Congress party has been once again exposed as the earlier promise of Congress party President Rahul Gandhi to provide ‘unemployment allowance’ to the youth of Madhya Pradesh has turned out to be yet another ‘dud’.

Prior to Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, the Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi had promised several sops for the voters of the state. In its party’s manifesto, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had announced that one young member of a family would get an unemployment allowance of Rs.10,000 for a period of three years. However, the promise of ‘unemployment allowance’ has also been turned out to be another ‘lie’ similar to Congress party’s loan waiver scheme.

The Congress government headed by Kamal Nath has taken a U-turn pertaining to fulfilling its obligation of providing unemployment allowance to the youth of the state. The Kamal Nath government has now decided to implement a ‘heavily-tailored’ job allowance scheme that will assure Rs 4,000 per month to unemployed youth for a period of 90 days contrary Rahul Gandhi’s promise of Rs.10,000 allowance for the period of three years.

The scheme which is supposed to be called ‘Vivekananda Yuva Shakti Mission’ promises to cover about 7 lakh unemployed urban youth in the initial stage. The new scheme will provide skill training for 10 days and then 90 days’ employment through urban bodies in the initial phase.

According to the initial promise made by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, unemployed youth from a family was supposed to get Rs.10,000 per month for a span of three years, which accounted for Rs.3,60,000. However, the new scheme ‘Vivekananda Yuva Shakti Mission’ promises only Rs.4,000 for only a three month period amounting to just Rs.12,000 for unemployed youth. The unemployment allowance is straight away decreased by a staggering 97 per cent on what it was earlier promised.

This is not the only dubious promise of the Kamal Nath, as Congress government’s promise to waive-off farms loans under Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana has turned out to be a debacle. The politics of dubious loan-waivers have not only taken the lives of the farmers but also created a stir amongst the poor farmers in the state.

Reportedly, a massive loan-waive scam has also been brewing in the state of Madhya Pradesh after reports emerged that various beneficiaries listed by the government eligible for farmer loan waiver did not even exist in reality. Many discrepancies and irregularities are already being unearthed in the loan waiver schemes. The farmers have now, threatened to commit ‘mass suicide’ after their names appeared on the state government’s loan waiver list even though they do not have any dues or have loans far smaller than the ones that are listed.

The government soon after assuming power in Madhya Pradesh had set in new conditions to waive-off farms loans contrary to its earlier promise of unconditional loan waiver. In addition to this, the Congress governments in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are facing severe outrage from the farmers within weeks of their government formation, as both governments in the respective states had created a crisis by mismanaging the supply of urea.

The Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi often claims that his party has waived off farm loans in many states including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Punjab. As evident from the massive suicides and alleged scams, it is clear that Congress party has been exposed yet again for failing to uphold its promises. After, its loan-waiver misadventure, Congress party has yet again failed to keep up the promise of providing ‘unemployment allowance’ to the youth as declared during the assembly polls.

AAP MLA Mohinder Goyal accused of raping a women multiple times, FIR filed

OpIndia Staff
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AAP MLA Mohinder Goyal accused of raping a women multiple times, FIR filed

An FIR has been registered against Mohinder Goyal, an Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Rithala after a woman alleged she was raped by him last year and was now being threatened by him, reported ANI.

According to the reports, a case has been registered against AAP MLA at Prashant Vihar police station on February 28 under IPC section 376-Punishment for rape, 506-Punishment for rape and IPC section 509-Outraging the modesty of a woman. “We have recorded her statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC. Further investigation is on,” said DCP (Rohini district) S D Mishra.

In her complaint, a woman in her 40s has claimed that she knew Goyal through her husband, who died in 2008. The police said that the victim has alleged that she had visited Goyal in connection with a pension issue in December last year. Reportedly, Goyal had asked her to come home and forced himself on her, said a senior police officer.

According to the complaint, the woman has alleged that she was once again raped by the MLA in his office a month after the above incident. The woman further has claimed that she did not approach the police station earlier as she did not want to complicate matters as Goyal had apologised after another local politician had intervened.

The victim has now claimed that she received a WhatsApp message last month from Goyal’s brother, who is also an accused, with several obscene messages and videos. She alleged that the accused tried to threaten her to not approach the police. She alleged that the accused has also threatened her of sharing purported videos of her if she goes to the police.

This is not the first time that an AAP MLA has been caught after involving in such sexual abuse scandals. In the past, Delhi Women and Child Minister and senior AAP leader Sandeep Kumar was caught in a sex scandal when an “objectionable” CD emerged. Reports also claimed that the woman who featured in the sex tape had lodged a complaint against Sandeep Kumar, accusing that he sexually exploited her on the pretext of getting her a ration card.

Jay Panda joins BJP: Here is what it means for the party in Odisha

Sambit Nayak
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Jay Panda joins BJP: Here is what it means for the party in Odisha

Will he? Will he not? The question gained momentum as Baijayant Panda, who was widely speculated to join BJP post his resignation from BJD and the post of MP in June last year, delayed his move. Jay Panda’s relationship with BJD was on a roller coaster since 2014. After 2016, the relationship nosedived and the spats became public. The hostility reached a point where Jay Panda was dismissed as party’s spokesperson following which, he resigned from the party and MP post in June 2018.

Post his resignation, he had been holding public rallies and meetings all over the state starting from Western Odisha, to Central and Coastal belt as well. He had meetings with other disgruntled BJD and BJP leaders as well. This started the speculation of the 4th front in Odisha which was to be non-aligned and will be presented as an alternative to BJD. There were other speculations of Panda contesting in Kendrapara as an independent with the active support of Congress, who won’t file any candidate in the constituency.

However, putting all such conspiracies to rest, Jay Panda joined BJP on 4th March, 9 months after his resignation. Panda was inducted into BJP at a function in New Delhi where Amit Shah, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram along with other senior party functionaries from BJP Odisha unit were present.

Jay Panda is seen as an erudite, well researched and well-spoken political leader from Odisha, who has the required access and influence in central politics. How much of this will help BJP’s fortune in Odisha remains to be seen. But let’s take a look at what Panda brings to the table for Odisha BJP.

First and foremost, post his resignation, he has been touring the state and is able to garner good crowd responses, especially in Kendrapara, Dhenkanal and Bargarh which also happens to be his maternal place. It is evident that he brings some public goodwill into the party. Only time will tell how much of this can be converted into votes. It’s to be noted here that 4 time BJD MP from Dhenkanal, Shri Tathagata Satapathy is retiring from active politics. Panda has some good base in there and actively touring the district since last few days. He can help capture the swing votes in Dhenkanal, a BJD bastion for 15 years.

It is also believed that Bhartuhari Mahatab will not get LS ticket from Cuttack this time. BJP candidate from Cuttack, Shri Samir Dey, is a spent force. Some quarters believe that Panda may pitch himself from Cuttack and put a candidate at Kendrapara who enjoys his active support. There is a likelihood of Bijoy Mahapatra returning to BJP after his resignation in Nov last year. He still is a popular leader in Kendrapara. With the active support of Panda, he may be just able to pull it off.

BJP has some tall leaders in Western and Central Odisha; Leaders like Suresh Pujari from Sambalpur, Jual Oram from Sundargarh, Dharmendra Pradhan from Debgarh, KV Singhdeo from Bolangir enjoy an immense reputation in their district as well as some neighbouring districts. Speculations are rife that BJP may field Dr Sambit Patra from Puri and Dr Lekhashree from Balasore. However, none of them is a known face with the general populace. With the induction of Panda, BJP just might be able to fit that missing piece in coastal Odisha. He is a well-known name in the coastal belt and he can certainly be the party’s face here.

Another major resource that Jay Panda brings with him is media patronage in the form of OTV which is owned by the Panda family and is managed by Jay Panda’s wife Jagi Mangat Panda. As per November, BARC data, OTV is the largest and most viewed Odia news channel. It attracts more than double the viewership of its closest competitors combined, which are owned by BJD RS members. BJD has officially boycotted OTV since June last year but it’s party’s loss to boycott the channel which is right there on the top among Odia entertainment and music channels.

BARC rating for Odia news media channels

Jay Panda’s family owns one of the largest business houses in Odisha. Panda’s induction will infuse money and other resources into party’s coffers in Odisha which BJD and Congress have no dearth of, courtesy 19 years of unbridled power and Niranjan Patnaik respectively.

However, it’s not all favourable with Panda’s entry into BJP. Naveen’s vindictiveness is well known. He doesn’t stop at anything less than total political obliteration of his bête noire. Naveen has sent multiple feelers that he is open to all options with BJP but Panda is non-negotiable. A theory that is doing rounds is, that the BJP central leadership stopped the induction of Panda so far because they wanted to keep the doors of reconciliation with BJD open if such a situation arises. However, taking Panda into BJP clearly antagonises Naveen. It may close all such doors of reconciliation whatsoever.

BJP is a cadre-based party and unless it is a Greenfield state where the party has no organisation, a newcomer will never be given the top job. Consider Himanta Biswa Sarma, the architect of BJP’s uprising in NE. He single-handedly architected party’s spectacular performance in NE in and outside Assam. Still, Sarbananda got the top job because, again, it’s a cadre-based party. With this in mind, it’s anybody’s guess what Panda will get irrespective of the election fortune he may be able to bring in. He must have factored this in before taking the leap. It will be interesting to watch the new innings Baijayant Panda’s political career.

Hindustan Unilever deletes Hinduphobic tweet on Kumbh Mela, reposts same video with alternate text

OpIndia Staff
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Hindustan Unilever deletes Hinduphobic tweet on Kumbh Mela, reposts same video with alternate text

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), the Indian arm of the British-Dutch conglomerate, in its latest ad aimed at encouraging children to take care of their elderly parents has reduced the Kumbh Mela to a place where ‘old parents are abandoned’.

In a tweet, which is now deleted, HUL reduced the Kumbh Mela to a place where old parents are abandoned.

Original tweet which reduced Kumbh Mela to a place where old parents get abandoned deleted

Following the outrage on the Hinduphobic text and video, HUL, in a damage control mode, deleted the original tweet, about 20 hours after it was shared, and posted a new tweet with same video. In a new tweet, the video is shared with an alternate text removing the reference that Kumbh Mela is a place where old parents get abandoned. However, towards the end, the preachy text still remains.


The highly successful Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj concluded on March 4 on Mahashivratri which saw over 24 crore devotees taking a dip at the holy confluence. However, as seen above, the HUL ad depicts it as a place where a visibly jittery son takes his ageing father to the Kumbh and taking advantage of the crowd lets go of his father’s hand, thereby abandoning him. However, as he is walking away, he sees a father trying to make sure his young son does not get lost. This wakes up his conscience and he goes back to fetch his father who had ordered a tea for the two of them because he was sure his son would return.

While the ad strikes all emotional chords, and while it is indeed a reality that in many families children abandon their ageing parents, to reduce the holy Kumbh to only a place where old parents get abandoned is unfair. A lot of Twitter users were visibly angry with this depiction.


People even pointed out that even keeping the anti-Hindu part out of the criticism, the ad is in bad taste.


While some used sarcasm to get their point across.


And of course, the reality that those who want to abandon their parents would do so anyway, there was no reason to drag the Kumbh Mela to get the point across.


Some users even called for legal action against the company.


HUL which owns dozens of consumer brands through which it is notorious for making preachy advertisements. While HUL has deleted the original Hinduphobic tweet, the text towards the end which patronises and reduces the Kumbh to a place where old parents are abandoned still remains.

After FM admitted to being in touch with Masood Azhar, Pak Army scrambles to undo ‘damage’, claims JeM doesn’t exist in Pak

OpIndia Staff
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After FM admitted to being in touch with Masood Azhar, Pak Army scrambles to undo ‘damage’, claims JeM doesn’t exist in Pak

Ever since India’s airstrike deep inside Pakistan territory in Balakot, the international pressure for Pakistan to crack down on terror emanating from its soil has gone up. Pakistan has always pretended that the civilian government and the military don’t officially know of terrorists on Pakistan soil, but the world knows that to be hogwash. Furthering that propaganda, Major General Asif Ghafoor of Pakistan Army claimed that terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad which claimed the responsibility of Pulwama terrorist attack does not exist in Pakistan.

Ghafoor made the claim during his appearance on CNN. Ghafoor also called India’s act of destroying the Jaish-e-Mohammad training camps located in Balakot in response to Pulwama terrorist attack as “Indian aggression”.

Interestingly, Ghafoor’s statement about Jaish-e-Mohammad not being in Pakistan comes only days after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had admitted that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was in Pakistan and was unwell to the extent that he could not move out of his house. In another statement given during an interview to BBC, Qureshi accidentally admitted that the Pakistani government is in touch with the Jaish-e-Mohammad leadership.

Ghafoor’s claims that not a single brick or a single dead body was found at the site of air strikes again contradicts the claims of Pakistan’s Rail Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Ahmed had acknowledged in Pakistan’s Parliament that the Indian Air Force had struck Masood Azhar’s madrassa in the air bombings in Balakot.

It would seem like the military is trying to ‘undo’ the truth that has invariably been admitted by the FM of Pakistan. With Qureshi accepting that the government and the Army by extension are in touch with Masood Azhar, Pakistan has essentially admitted to using JeM as a policy tool.

In fact, earlier former President of Pakistan Parvez Musharraf today admitted that Pakistan intelligence agencies, ISI, were hands in gloves with Jaish-e-Mohammad in carrying out bomb blasts in India.

Ever since the Pulwama terrorist attack and the following retaliatory action by India on Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in Balakot, instead of condemning the terrorist attack and cooperating with India, Pakistan has been lying profusely unsuccessfully trying to save its face before the international community.

UP: Yogi Adityanath administration pulls down ‘Urdu Gate’ built by Azam Khan in Rampur

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Yogi Adityanath administration pulls down ‘Urdu Gate’ built by Azam Khan in Rampur

The ‘Urdu Gate’, built in Rampur district by controversial Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan has been demolished by the administration. It is alleged that while in power, Khan had forcibly appropriated the government land and transferred it to his university in contravention to the set norms.

On Wednesday, the district administration and police team reached Azam Khan’s Mohammad Ali Jawahar University. A bulldozer was used to demolish the gate that was built on the Jauhar Ali University road. DM Anjaney Kumar Singh said that this gate was made by the CNDS from the legislative fund. No rules were followed in the construction of this gate. According to him, no permission was sought before building this gate.

DM further told that the road on which gate was built connects Rampur district with Uttarakhand. Jauhar University falls in the middle of this road. To avert the traffic congestion, the road was diverted by creating a gate in the middle of the road. As a result, the road was closed and the people plying on that road had to take a rather circuitous route to reach their destination. The diverted route went through the middle of a populated area, generating traffic issues in the region.

DM Anjaney Kumar also expressed his shock over the misuse of funds by a legislator and the complicity of government institutions such as CNDS in the rampant corruption. A committee was formed in this case, after which the gate was razed down and a letter was being written to the government to take action against the officers of the CNDS. He said that the government is also writing that the misuse of legislator funds should be recovered from these officials. About Ra 40 lakhs were spent on building the gate.

PM Modi personally donates Rs 21 lakh to Kumbh Safai Karamchari corpus

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi personally donates Rs 21 lakh to Kumbh Safai Karamchari corpus

Today Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to donate Rs 21 lakh to Kumbh Safai Karamchari corpus, with his own personal savings. The fund is meant for those sanitation workers who were tasked with keeping the event of Kumbh Mela at Prayraj, clean. The Kumbh Mela concluded on March 4.


On February 24th, PM Modi had himself visited Pryagraj to attend the Mela where he had attended Swachh Kumbh Swachh Aabhaar event, organized by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. During his visit, PM Modi had washed feet of some of the sanitation workers of Kumbh to pay respect. The gesture had received wide appreciation and was seen as an exceptional way to pay respect to workers.

In order to generate money for the Clean Ganga initiative, PM Modi in January had sent gifts and mementoes that he had received to auction. More than 1800 items, which included paintings, sculptures, shawls, pagris, jackets and traditional musical instruments from across the country, had gone under hammer. As CM of Gujarat too,  Modi had raised Rs around Rs 90 crore by auctioning all gifts he received as CM. This money was donated to the Kanya Kelavani Fund for the education of girls.

During PM Modi’s recent two-day South Korea visit, he was conferred with the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize for his efforts in changing lives of 1.25 billion people of India and promoting economic cooperation with other countries, in accordance with the ‘Modi Doctrine’ and the Act East Policy. PM Modi was presented with a plaque, award and an honorarium sum. PM Modi had decided to donate the Rs 1.3 crore, received with the award, to Namami Gange initiative.

Also, before PM Modi resigned as CM of Gujarat, he had donated the sum of Rs 21 lakh from personal saving for the education of daughters of Gujarat government staff.

Pakistan extends shut down of its airspace till March 7th

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan extends shut down of its airspace till March 7th

The Pakistani government has extended the shutdown of its airspace by another day until the 7th of March. Limited flights have been permitted in Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.


Pakistan, on the 5th of March, had announced that their airspace had fully reopened only to extend it to Tuesday, then again till Wednesday and now it has been announced that it has been extended till Thursday. Although things appear to have deescalated for now, Pakistan still remains wary as ceasefire violations continue at the Line of Control.

Pakistan had closed its airspace after tensions escalated with India in the wake of the Pulwama attack on February 14 by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The terror attack was followed by airstrikes on terror camps within Pakistani territory by the Indian Air Force.

According to flight tracking information observed on Flightradar24, all flights in and out of Pakistan was stopped and the airspace remained closed since then. Flights from carriers including Singapore Airlines, Finnair, British Airways, Aeroflot and Air India had to detour to avoid flying over Pakistan. Reportedly, about 800 flights a day use the India-Pakistan air corridor.

Here is why India should be happy to be out of America’s GSP list

Abhishek Banerjee
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Here is why India should be happy to be out of America’s GSP list

I’ll admit. I had never heard of GSP. So when I saw our media working itself into a sudden frenzy about America withdrawing our GSP privileges, I was a bit alarmed.

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What did Trump do now? Closely on the heels came the usual attacks on Modi’s diplomacy from assorted members of the opposition and the liberal elite.

I am pretty sure none of them took the time to google what GSP is, because I did. It took me to the website of US CBP (United States Customs and Border Protection).

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An American program, instituted in 1976, to promote “economic growth in the developing world.”  Let me translate that diplomatic language for you. It is a handout from the US government for the poorest countries of the world.

Let us find out who are these “developing countries” that are in this GSP list. Here is the list from March 2018, from the office of the United States Trade Representative. Seems that India and Turkey will no longer be in this list from now on.

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Iraq. Djibouti. Congo. Somalia. South Sudan. Yemen. Zimbabwe.

Now, I mean absolutely no disrespect to citizens of any country. But can I just say that this is not a list of countries in which I would like to see India’s name?

Even Bangladesh is not in the list.

Do you really want India to be in a list that seems to consist solely of the absolutely poorest African countries, a couple of basket case Latin American economies and some failed states from the Middle East?

No sign of China. No Japan, no Korea and no Europe.

Does it really suit India’s stature, a country that is a wannabe global power, nuclear armed and with a space program that stretches as far as Mars, to want to stay in this list?

It turns out that the withdrawal of GSP will raise import duties on Indian goods by $190 million.

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India’s total exports are measured in the hundreds of billions of $$$! An amount of $190 million is around 0.05% to 0.1% of our export figure.

Sure, international trade, like any kind of diplomacy, is amoral and one should fight (however shamelessly) for every last penny. So, of course, India would not volunteer out of something like this.

But there comes a point when it becomes impossible to convince the world that our condition is so bad that we need a trade benefit that is a lifeline for an economy such as that of Ethiopia or Sierra Leone. The world finds that impossible to believe.

Shouldn’t we be celebrating?

Again, no disrespect intended to citizens of any country, but I do wish all the countries in that list well and hope that soon they will find a way to develop their economies and grow out of that sad looking GSP list.

Yes, not being in the GSP list any more comes at a tiny cost that is peanuts compared to the size of our $2.7 trillion economy. But surely we have to be willing to pay an entry fee for the world power club. One of these fees is giving up certain small handouts that are given to the poorest countries in the world. We should be happy that India will no longer line up for these small benefits. Time to celebrate.

Pakistan continues ceasefire violation, targets Army posts and civilian areas with heavy artillery

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan continues ceasefire violation, targets Army posts and civilian areas with heavy artillery

Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s theatrics over his ‘peace’ initiative has been proven farcical after Pakistan continues to violate the ceasefire along the LoC. The Pakistan Army on Wednesday targeted dozens of forward posts and villages with artillery guns along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri and Poonch districts.

Reports state that the Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively and the exchange of heavy fire caused panic among the border residents.

The intense shelling and firing from across the border continued throughout the night in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district. In Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch it started in the wee hours of Wednesday, army officials have confirmed.

However, there was no report of any casualty on the Indian side, officials were quoted saying. In an official statement, the Army has stated that any further misadventures from Pakistan will be responded in a befitting manner with dire consequences.

Pakistan had resorted to cross-border firing at Nowshera and Sunderbani in Rajouri and Krishna Ghati in Poonch on Tuesday as well.

Prior to this, Pakistani troops had on Monday, violated ceasefire by targeting forward posts and villages along the Line of Control in Akhnoor sector in Jammu, breaking a two-day lull in cross-border skirmishes, officials said.

Pre-disposed by its impulse, Pakistan has violated ceasefire for over 60 times along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch in the past week, killing four civilians, including three members of a family and had left several injured.

Though the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2018 is almost double of what it was in 2017, the highest in a decade, there has been a recent spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistan after India’s preemptive air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26 following the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were brutally massacred.

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