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Arun Jaitley hints at the Eurofighter pandora’s box during his scathing speech countering Rahul Gandhi’s Rafale allegations

OpIndia Staff
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Arun Jaitley hints at the Eurofighter pandora’s box during his scathing speech countering Rahul Gandhi’s Rafale allegations

Participating in the debate on Rafale deal in Lok Sabha, finance minister Arun Jaitley presented a strong defence on behalf of the government, and demolished the various allegations that Congress party has been making about the deal. During his speech, Jaitley made a very interesting reference about Eurofighter, which had lost out to Rafale in the bid to supply the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) to India.

Speculating about why Congress party may be trying to scuttle the Rafale deal, Jaitley commented that the speciality about UPA decision making is that “if the aircraft being selected is not the one whose commerce you have dealt with then delay the transaction, make it impossible”. He was hinting that while the tendering process for the purchase of 126 fighter aircraft was going on, Congress party was already negotiating with one of the bidders. But all those backroom deals went haywire when Rafale emerged as the winner after extensive evaluation by experts, which included the Indian Air Force.


This should be noted that although Rafale was declared as the winner of the bid, the deal never proceeded from that point and the UPA government did not sign any deal with Dassault to purchase the Rafale aircraft, although IAF was in desperate need of fighter jets in view of depleting squadron numbers.

Arun Jaitley informed the Lok Sabha that after Rafale had won the deal, the then defence minister’s colleagues were “pressuring him to not accept Rafale”. He said it was because of this pressure, that A. K. Antony had written in his file that the Dassault Rafale is fine, but the process by which they were considered as lowest bidder should be re-examined. Jaitley said that this was informed by IAF after the Modi government came to power.

During the speech of Jaitley in Lok Sabha, some Congress MPs were seen flying paper planes in the house. When the speaker of the house Sumitra Mahajan scolded the MPs for doing so, Jaitley quipped that these paper planes are being thrown in memory of the Eurofighter deal, making an almost direct accusation that Congress was batting on behalf of the European consortium which makes the Eurofighter Typhoon jet.


Although this is the first time a probable Eurofighter link in the Rafale allegations was raised in the Parliament, it was being rumoured for some time. Earlier, it was alleged that Eurofighter sales director had met senior leaders of two political parties in India to raise allegations of a scam in the Rafale deal. It is also rumoured that Rahul Gandhi had met the company officials when he was in Germany in August 2018. According to allegations, the narrative against the Rafale deal has been built up by experts in the US and Europe, based on inputs from Eurofighter.

The mention of Eurofighter by the Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha indicates a change of gear by the NDA government. So far, the almost daily allegations by Congress party and activists against the Rafale deal was countered by the government sporadically. But in recent weeks, there is a marked increase in aggression against the Congress party. BJP stepped up its attacks on the AgustaWestland deal following the extradition of middleman Christian Michel to India, and Michel’s revelations about ‘Mrs Gandhi’, ‘Italian lady’s son R’ etc to the ED.

On the other hand, the noose is tightening around arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, a close associate of Robert Vadra. He has been hiding in UK since sensitive defence documents were recovered from his residence during an Income Tax raid. He had also tried to forge a tie-up with Dassault, but the French aviation company refused after his links with Vadra was known to them. Recently, several establishments and persons linked with Vadra and Bhandari were raided by ED, and a look-out notice was issued by the agency against one executive assistant of Robert Vadra.

Amit Shah slams the newly elected Congress govt in Madhya Pradesh for its order on ‘Vande Mataram’

OpIndia Staff
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Amit Shah slams the newly elected Congress govt in Madhya Pradesh for its order on ‘Vande Mataram’

In a Facebook post, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah, has slammed the newly elected Madhya Pradesh government led by CM Kamal Nath for the prohibition on the song ‘Vande Mataram’ in the Assembly.

Shah wrote, “The Congress party is turning the heart of India, Madhya Pradesh, into an epicentre of minority appeasement.” He said it was “shameful” and “unfortunate” that the newly elected Madhya Pradesh government had put restrictions on the National Song.

Writing on the significance of Vande Mataram, Shah wrote, “Vande Mataram is not only a song but a symbol of the Indian Independence Movement and a source for immense inspiration for every Indian. The anger of the entire nation is contained within Vande Mataram. By putting restrictions on Vande Mataram, the Congress has not only insulted the brave who sacrificed everything for the sake of Indian Independence with Vande Mataram on their lips but has also betrayed the trust of the people of Madhya Pradesh.”

Shah also demanded that Rahul Gandhi clarify his opinions on the matter. He stated, “I want to ask Congress President Rahul Gandhi if it was his decision to insult Vande Mataram. The Congress President ought to clarify his opinions in front of the citizens of India regarding the unfortunate decision of the Congress government.”

As we had reported earlier, the Congress government in the state of Madhya Pradesh led by Kamal Nath has rescinded a 13-year old tradition of singing Vande Mataram in Mantralaya on the 1st of every month.

Uttar Pradesh: Elderly man going around government offices to prove himself ‘alive’

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Elderly man going around government offices to prove himself ‘alive’

An elderly man hailing form Jounpur, Uttar Pradesh has been declared dead in government records, has been going around knocking doors of every government office, holding a placard which read, ‘saheb mein zinda hoon’, meaning ‘sir, I’m still alive’.

According to reports, a man named Sahtu, hailing from Bhusodi village in Shahganj Tehsil, Jounpur, Uttar Pradesh, has been denied of all government schemes, such as housing and toilet facilities since he has been pronounced dead in all government records since the last three years.

As per reports, Sahtu has been relentlessly trying in the past these years to prove himself alive and has been going office to office requesting concerned officials to rectify the government records, but according to him, his plea has not been heard by anyone.

And now in his desperation to get justice, he has been reported to be roaming around holding a placard which read that he is still alive.

The district magistrate has, however, assured to look into the matter and provide all possible assistance to the elderly man. He furthered that all the facilities which Sethu has been denied of, all this while, will be made available to him and the culprits responsible for this harassment would be punished soon.

Investigation reveals nuns in Catholic institutions in India facing ‘decades of abuse’ by priests who enjoy protection

OpIndia Staff
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Investigation reveals nuns in Catholic institutions in India facing ‘decades of abuse’ by priests who enjoy protection

The investigation by the Associated Press has made disturbing revelations about the precarious condition of nuns across India. The nuns have disclosed harrowing tales of sexual exploitations at the hands of those who they considered as the representatives of Jesus Christ.

Recounting their horrific ordeal, the nuns talked of how Catholic priests turned them into their object of desire, pushed them into their bedrooms and forced them to turn the professional relationships into sexual associations. The nuns also lamented how little the Catholic Hierarchy intervened to protect them from the monsters masquerading as the purveyors of Christianity in Catholic Churches in India.

The investigative report claims that many nuns have spoken of repeated rape the Catholic hierarchy ignoring the crimes.

The Associated Press had reported last year how the Vatican was aware of the sexual exploitations of nuns by bishops and Church priests in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.

The fresh investigation has now revealed the decades-long history of nuns stoically putting up with the sexual abuse from within the church. Nuns listed down in harrowing detail the pressure they endured from priests for providing carnal pleasures, nearly two dozen nuns, former nuns and priests, and others said they had direct knowledge of such incidents.

Much to their chagrin, the problem is swept under the rugs by a powerful culture of silence pervaded by the dominance of Church hierarchy. Many nuns have internalised abuse as a part of their daily life, insisting most sisters can at least tell of fending off a priest’s sexual advances. Some believe it is rare. The nuns fear a backlash from the powerful priests and very few of them reluctantly agree to speak about their agony.

Up until now, there was a haze around the exploitation due to the prevailing culture of silence. However, the issue was brought to the fore by an unyielding nun. When multiple complaints to church officials were passed up, the 44-year-old nun filed a police complaint against the bishop who presides over her religious order accusing him of raping her 13 times over two years. Before long, a group of her fellow nuns embarked on a two-week public protest in India’s Catholic heartland, demanding the bishop’s arrest.

It was in June last year that a nun from the Kuravilangad convent had accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Malankara Orthodox Church of raping her multiple times for years.

The unprecedented move by the nun drew severe criticism from various quarters. It virtually divided India’s Catholic community. The accuser and her supporters are now banished and treated as outcast inside the accuser’s convent in rural Kerala state. The other faction within the convent has alleged that the bishop is innocent and these accusations are part of the nefarious designs by the accuser to malign the church.

The report quotes the victim nun and her supporters in her defence say, “Some people are accusing us of working against the church, of being against the church. They say, ‘You are working on the instructions of Satan,’” said one supporter, Sister Josephine Villoonnickal. “But we need to tell the truth,” she added. “We want to serve the church till our age permits and die as sisters,” she said.

As per the AP report, some of the stories of sexual exploitation date back decades. One nun, barely out of her teens used to teach at a Catholic school in the early 1990s. Nuns usually go for a retreat before they renew their vows. The incident that happened with this nun is of one such retreat in New Delhi. A priest was there to lead the sisters in reflection during the retreat.

One day, the priest, in his 60s, came back in an inebriated state from a party in the neighbourhood. He called out this nun who was barely in her 20s with the pretext of discussing her spiritual life. As soon as she opened the room, the priest kissed and groped her. She mustered courage and slammed the door before anything worse happens to her. The nun registered her complaint but no official reprimand or action was initiated against the priest.

Almost all horrendous stories of sexual advances by bishops and priests have yielded no substantial action. In fact, the those standing up against this unholy behaviour exhibited by the priests are cornered, isolated and harassed by the Church authorities. They are forced into silence either by the power of Church authority or by the reason of ignominy.

Even in the case of Bishop Franco Mulakkal in Kerala,  Sister Anupama, who was spearheading the support for the victim was heckled. Catholic federation had then threatened that those nuns going against Bishop Franco will be thrown out. Father Augustine has also issued warnings of disciplinary actions by the Church for supporting the rape victim and going against Bishop Franco. Bishop Franco was arrested after over two months of the victim filing a police complaint and was also granted bail soon. Upon his return, he was welcomed by his diocese in a grand ceremony.

Quattrochi, National Herald, AgustaWestland, Eurofighter and Rafale: Arun Jaitley stuns Rahul Gandhi in Parliament

OpIndia Staff
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Quattrochi, National Herald, AgustaWestland, Eurofighter and Rafale: Arun Jaitley stuns Rahul Gandhi in Parliament

The Parliament saw a massive uproar today as Congress and Rahul Gandhi decided to, yet again, bring up the Rafale deal. The Rafale deal has got a clean chit from the Supreme Court, however, the Congress has not stopped its political mudslinging.

During the discussion in the parliament today, Rahul Gandhi attempted to play a tape that Congress has been touting as the ultimate proof of wrongdoing in the Rafale case. The purported tape had a recorded conversation between the Health Minister of Goa and a nameless journalist claiming that Parrikar, the CM of Goa had claimed during a cabinet meeting that he has the Rafale files stashed in “his bedroom”.

The tape was rubbished by Parrikar and Rane. They called it doctored and demanded a probe into the matter. However, Rahul Gandhi insisted that he would want to play this tape in parliament. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blocked this attempt and Rahul Gandhi had to back up since the tape was not authenticated. Interestingly, even as the speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, told Rahul that he could not reproduce a tape or its contents unless it was authenticated, Rahul brazenly continued reading the transcript. Ultimately, his attempts were thwarted.

After an uproar in the Parliament by the usual loud-mouths of Congress, Arun Jaitley started a scathing attack on the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi. He even took potshots at Sonia Gandhi and the legacy of Congress.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that when for the second time Congress wanted to raise the Rafale issue in the parliament, he thought they wanted to say something significant. He said after hearing the lead speaker of Congress (Rahul Gandhi), everyone is disappointed as is the country since every word out of Rahul Gandhi’s mouth was a contradiction of what the Supreme Court had observed. Jaitley said that usually, the Supreme Court is considered the last word unless a matter falls within the legislative purview, but Rahul Gandhi is contradicting every observation by the Court in this matter.

Branding Rahul Gandhi as someone who has a “natural dislike for the truth”, he said every word spoken by Rahul in the last 6 months on the matter of Rafale has been an utter falsehood. He said that Rahul Gandhi has a legacy. A legacy that manufactured a foreign bank account of VP Singh’s son that turned out to be false. A legacy that concocted a conversation between Rahul Gandhi and French President Macron which turned out to be false and was also contradicted by the French government. Jaitley said that Rahul Gandhi continues to repeat falsehoods even after proven so. Now, he said, that Rahul Gandhi is scared to get the tape authenticated because his party (Congress) has manufactured that tape.

The Finance Minister said that it is unfortunate that the Grand Old Party (Congress) which has previously been led by some legends is now reduced to a party led by a man who doesn’t understand what a combat aircraft is. He said that the simplified argument of Rahul Gandhi that a Rafale jet was priced at 500 crores during Congress and is now priced at 1600 crores is akin to Kindergarten maths.

During the ensuing uproar, Jaitley said that Congress should have the courage to listen to the truth and that he will not yield.

He continued his verbal assault by saying that Congress only understands the arithmetic of money and not that of National Security.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attempted to name Anil Ambai in the debate and the speaker had shot him doing saying that he can’t name people who are not members of the parliament. Rahul had continued then to refer to Anil Ambani as “AA”.

Following that lead, Jaitley said that since Rahul is using abbreviations, he should answer whether when he was young, he was playing on the lap of a “Mr Q” (referring to Quattrocchi of the Bofors scandal). He asked why there were letters that said “Q” had to be protected and thereafter, why was a bank account of “Q” discovered.

Training guns directly on the Gandhis, Jaitley said that in the National Herald scam, they converted a property meant for a trust into private property, Christian Michel had named Mrs Gandhi, Italian lady’s son R, and hence, it is clear that the Gandhi family understands only ‘Paisa”.

He said that he would have given the family the benefit of the doubt if it was only one case. But National Herald, Bofors and AgustaWestland are too many cases to ignore.

Jaitley said, “Rahul Gandhi in his earlier days was probably watching James Bond films. James Bond had said if it is done once, it is happenstance and it can happen. If done twice, it is coincidence and if done thrice it is a conspiracy and the conspirators of defence deals have the audacity to raise allegations against us”.

Arun Jaitley said that during Kargil, our army had only 155 mm guns. if that time we had rafale MMCA then we could have fired at the enemy from a distance of 200 km. This is why in 2001, the armed forces had said that they needed the Rafale and it was then that the government had agreed.

Jaitley said that the UPA government gave acceptance of necessity (AON). when UPA gave AON then in 2007 there was a tender invitation. He said that the government can acquire such jets in two ways. Either by tender or by the government to government agreement. After 6 bids came in, two were shortlisted. Eurofighter and Dassault. Then, during pricement, Rafale was chosen. He said that the Congress government sat on the decision for a long time. While the air force wanted the defence minister to buy the jets, the then defence minister’s colleagues were “pressuring him to not accept Rafale”. He said it was because of this pressure, that the defence minister had written in his file that the Dassault Rafale is fine, but the process by which they were considered L1, should be re-examined.

He said that when he became the Defence Minister after the Modi government came to power, this was one of the first submissions made by the Indian Air Force.

It was at this point that Congress started flying paper planes in the parliament, much to the disgust of the speaker of the house.

After the house was resumed, Arun Jaitley proceeded to answer the specific questions raised by Rahul Gandhi.

On the process of acquisition, Arun Jaitley said that in 2015 when PM Modi went to France and met Hollande, during the press statement it was mentioned that the Rafale jets would be bought per Inter-Governmental Agreement. It was also mentioned that better terms and conditions have been negotiated. After the entire process, the contract was signed and the SC too said the process was transparent.

On the pricing, the Finance Minister said that Rahul Gandhi doesn’t seem to understand basics. He said that the cost of the bare aircraft and that of a weaponised aircraft is different. He asserted that the cost of the bare aircraft is cheaper by 9% as compared to Congress negotiation and the cost of weaponised aircraft is 20% cheaper. He also said that the price escalation would only reduce with every additional jet purchased. On the question of price, he said that the Supreme Court went through the price details and was satisfied but perhaps, the political needs of the Congress were not.

Explaining the off-set details, Arun Jaitley also asserted that ridiculous numbers that Rahul Gandhi comes up with are a manufactured one since the entire offset itself is for Rs 29,000. He also said that Dassault was the one who said that they would like to purchase 3% – 4% of the offset obligation from the ‘specific industrialist’ (referring to Anil Ambani led Reliance). Ending his speech, on Joint Parliamentary Committee, Jaitley said that this is not a policy decision and the Court has also delivered its verdict, hence, there was no need for a JPC.

With this scathing response by Arun Jaitley, one wonders if Rahul Gandhi will finally drop the dangerous rhetoric on Rafale, though, we are not holding our breath over it.

Rahul Gandhi lies again in Parliament, this time about the Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi lies again in Parliament, this time about the Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft

Rahul Gandhi has spoken on the Floor of the Parliament today on the Rafale Deal. And as has become the norm, he has lied once again. The Congress President asserted that HAL had manufactured the Mirage 2000 aircraft for the Indian Air Force.


But the fact is, the Mirage 2000 was never built in India. Ironically enough, the Mirage 2000 was built by Dassault. In 1982, India had purchased 40 Mirage 2000 aircraft from the French government and had the option to buy 110 more. the French Defense Ministry had described the sale as ”the first step in a program of French-Indian industrial cooperation that will lead to the construction of this French-designed aircraft in India and underscores the determination of the two governments to develop their relations in all areas.”

In 1985, after the delivery of the first 7 aircraft, India became the first foreign nation to make use of the aircraft. In 2012, the IAF intended to buy two second-hand Mirage 2000 aircraft to make up for losses. Eventually, when the aircraft was used during the War in Kargil, they are said to have performed extremely well.

In 2017, it was reported that the upgrade of India’s Mirage 2000-H fleet could face a roadblock after the maintenance warranty from equipment manufacturers Dassault Aviation and Thales of France expired with disagreement between HAL and the IAF regarding who should pay the bills.

The Congress President has lied on several occasions regarding the Rafale deal and has even repeated the same lies on different occasions. Earlier in November, Rahul Gandhi had challenged Prime Minister Modi to a debate on Rafale. He had also falsely claimed that the government had removed the CBI Director Alok Verma to stop him from probing the Rafale deal. At one point, the Congress president had claimed in the Lok Sabha that the French president had told him personally that there was no secrecy pact between the two countries which prevented the government from discussing the terms and price of the Rafale jets.

The French government then issued a statement which essentially proved that Rahul Gandhi lied on the floor of the Parliament. They stated that the secrecy pact was signed in 2008 (during UPA regime, AK Antony being the defence minister), whose provisions also apply to the deal of 36 Rafale aircraft and their weapons which was signed on 23rd September 2016.

Rahul Gandhi had also alleged that Reliance will benefit by US$ 4 billion, approximately the entire offset amount. Later, he added US$ 16 billion for “Rafale lifecycle Contract” that Reliance was supposed to get. In reality, no such ‘lifecycle contract’ exists. And both the figures have no basis in fact.

UP government to impose a 0.5 percent ‘Gau Kalyan cess’ for the construction and maintenance of cow shelters

OpIndia Staff
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UP government to impose a 0.5 percent ‘Gau Kalyan cess’ for the construction and maintenance of cow shelters

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday cleared a policy clearing the way for implementing a cow welfare cess or “Gau Kalyan cess” in the state.

According to the reports, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet in a meeting today decided to impose a “Gau Kalyan Cess” to be levied on excise items and alcohol. The cess will be an additional levy to provide additional funds for the construction and maintenance of cow shelters across the state.


Besides this, a 0.5% cess will also be levied on public sector enterprises’ profits, construction agencies like UP State Construction and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, UP State Bridge Corporation Ltd, UPSIDC, and toll tax gathered by government agencies, for the purpose.

The state of Uttar Pradesh is also facing the problems of increasing stray cattle, as farmers in the last week had locked up stray cattle in police stations and schools in order to protest against the menace. The state government also started severe crackdown down illegal on slaughterhouses.

Reportedly, the government has also decided to increase the mandi cess from 1 per cent to 2 per cent to support the cow protection and welfare scheme. The 0.5% excise may impact the price of alcohol in the state but the department will hold a meeting to decide the items on which the cess will be levied. This will help state government earn additional Rs 34 crore as cow welfare cess.

Shrikant Sharma, the spokesperson of UP government, said that the government departments would contribute to the construction of shelters to accommodate at least 1000 stray cattle in each district. He further added that people leaving their livestock to be stray at public places and roads will be penalised and a penalty would be imposed on such elements.

The state animal husbandry department has given the responsibility of supervising the construction of cow shelters and will be funded by the MGNREGA and MP, MLA funds.

Saudi Arabia pulls down Netflix comedy show criticising its role in the Jamal Khashoggi murder

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia pulls down Netflix comedy show criticising its role in the Jamal Khashoggi murder

The media-service providing platform Netflix has been caught in on outrage after it pulled down an episode of a comedy show, critical of Saudi Arabia’s crown for his alleged role in journalist Jamal Khashoggi murder inside consulate in Turkey.

Three months ago, the world was rocked by the disappearance of Washington Post’s journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was living in a self-imposed exile in the USA. According to reports, he was assassinated by Saudi government officials, inside the Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi was a marked critic of the Saudi regime, for its human rights violations and for its role in the devasting civil war of Yemen. His assassination was seen as an assault on free speech. Initially, Saudi had denied allegation levied by Turkey of been complicit in the crime. But, subsequently, Saudi admitted that the journalist had been killed in fist-fight inside the consulate. Central Intelligence Agency of USA also backed Turkey’s allegations and contradicted Saudi’s claim that murder was spontaneous and not pre-meditated. CIA also added that crown prince himself was involved in the murder and privy of the events.

Standup comedian Hasan Minhaj, an American of Indian descent, was critical of the Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin-Salman in his show the Patriot Act. He mocked Saudi’s dispensation, of mass human rights abuses by its military campaigns in the Gulf region since 2015.

Hasan said that Saudi’s Mission in 2030, which is apparently aimed at diversifying Saudi’s oil-dependent economy,  is actually aimed at coercion, detention of people critical about the regime. He said that by 2030, Saudi would have executed around 2000 people. He also talked about Yemen which is caught in the middle of the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and its rival Iran. He said that devastation of Yemen started with the rise of Prince Salman, and cited reports which claimed that so-far Saudi coalition has launched 18,000 airstrikes on Yemen, aggravating the civil war.

“At one point they were saying he died in a fist fight, Jackie Chan-style. They went through so many explanations. The only one they didn’t say was that Khashoggi died in a free solo rock-climbing accident,” the comedian mocked Saudi Arabia’s confessions.
Netflix has cited Saudi’s law, that they are bound to comply with.
“We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and only removed this episode in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request — and to comply with local law,”  Netflix was quoted by media. Reports add that Saudi has used a cyber-crime law that states that producing, transmitting or storing material violation public order, religious value and privacy is a punishable offence in prison.
Hasan, in his removed episode, also accused the USA of turning a blind eye towards Saudi deeds. President Trump had contradicted his own state agency’s claim about Prince Salman’s involvement in the assassination, he said. He also urged them to sever all diplomatic ties with the Islamic country. He also added that media often gets distracted by the HR drama of Saudi, of diluting its laws and providing freedom to women of the country.
The removed episode is still available for streaming on Youtube and Netflix outside Saudi.

The move by Netflix has been widely condemned by Human Right group, for bowing down to Saudi and curbing free speech. This is not the first time that Saudi dispensation is condemned for censoring speech and taking action against them.

Reporters Without Borders has ranked the Islamic country on number 169th out of 180 for press freedom.

Kerala: While Communist government organizes Women’s Wall, women molested by communist ‘activists’ fear for their lives

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: While Communist government organizes Women’s Wall, women molested by communist ‘activists’ fear for their lives

A Christmas Carol singers’ group, which has women and children, were forced to take refuge in a Church after they were allegedly attacked by DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India) ‘activists’ on the 23rd of December in Pathamuttam near Kottayam in Kerala.

As per reports, men associated with the DYFI, allegedly went berserk and damaged equipment at the Church, destroyed the food, targeted four nearby houses and molested the women. While DYFI claims to be an independent youth organisation, many CPI(M) leaders including former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya were part of the DYFI.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the incident, including six DYFI ‘activists’. Those arrested were later granted bail. And now, the people are scared of further attacks and hence, continue to remain at the Church, fearing for their lives.

Johnson PC, committee secretary of the St Paul’s Anglican Church, where the victims had taken refuge, told TNM, “On December 23, a 45 member Carol team was visiting homes in the area. But when they reached one of the homes, a group of DYFI workers allegedly joined the team and started calling them ugly words without provocation. The DYFI workers began harassing the girls in the group, and it was alleged that girls of the Carol group were molested. When we questioned their actions, they attacked us and destroyed our instruments. Then we informed the police, and they reached the spot and directed us to stop carolling, and so we returned to the church.”

He continued, “Food was arranged for the carolling group members inside the church. When we reached the church and started to distribute the food to the kids, a fifty-member group of DYFI workers attacked my home. At that time, only my wife Lincy and our kid were at home. But they brutally attacked her. Then they allegedly entered the church, attacked the members and destroyed church property, and our food. As part of the attack, many members of the church were injured. One of our church members, Yamiya C Thankachen, was severally injured in the attack. Later, the police reached the spot and admitted the injured members to the hospital.”

The National Commission for Minorities directed the Kerala chief secretary and the Director General of Police to ensure the safety of the Christians and enable their return as they continued to be in the Church out of fear even after eight days.

In a bitter instance of irony, while the women after being molested by alleged DYFI ‘activists’ continued to fear for their lives, the Communist government in Kerala was busy organizing a ‘Women’s Wall‘ for ‘Gender Justice’ to facilitate the desecration of the Sabarimala Temple.

The Jacobite Syrian Church also extended its support to the Kerala government in its bid to desecrate Sabarimala. The Church was busy gathering 1 lakh women for the desecration of Sabarimala while certain Christian women claimed to be fearful of their lives due to DYFI ‘activists’.

Churches, in recent times, have had a very complicated relationship with women and children to put it mildly. Therefore, it isn’t really surprising that they prioritized the desecration of Sabarimala over the plight of the women who claim to have been attacked and molested by DYFI ‘activists’.

Scores of women in Burkhas were also observed in the gathering. Amusingly enough, such commitment towards gender justice is hardly observed when it comes to the matter of Triple Talaq. Then, it becomes a matter of interference in the Islamic faith.

It appears that the Communist government did succeed in its endeavours. The Police is reported to have aided two women to enter the Temple violating the age-old tradition of Sabarimala.

UPI saw the highest number of transactions worth Rs 1 trillion in December 2018, reports NPCI

OpIndia Staff
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UPI saw the highest number of transactions worth Rs 1 trillion in December 2018, reports NPCI

The Unified Payments interface (UPI), the digital payment ecosystem which enables people to digitally send and receive money using their phones and a virtual private address, has seen tremendous growth in 2018.

The digital interface had received a massive push from the government after the landmark decision of demonetization was rolled out in November 2016.

Digital transactions using the UPI platform has consistently risen since then, especially in the last year. According to the latest National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) report, December 2018, has witnessed a never before acceleration, achieving, around 620.17 million transactions worth Rs 1,02,594.82 crore. This is the highest number of transactions and amount recorded since the inception of UPI back in August 2016.

In August 2016, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the UPI as a mobile-only digital payment platform for the monetary transaction using a two-factor authentication process. Users can transfer money either by using the mobile number or the virtual payment address.

In August 2016, when it was first launched, UPI saw transactions worth Rs 3.1 crores, the amount has increased to Rs 1.02 lakh crore in December 2018. The UPI platform saw transactions worth Rs 56,670 crore during the calendar year 2017, and in August 2018 alone, the amount transacted was Rs 54,212.26 crore.

In fact, the transactions through this platform have been steadily rising month after month.

Last year in June we reported how the BHIM-UPI had hit a record of 1 crore transactions in a day. In September 2018, the monthly transactions through UPI had crossed 400 million for the first time. Further, it crossed the 500 million mark for the first time in November 2018, a 9% increase in transaction volume, compared with 482.36 million transactions worth Rs 74,978.27 crore in October. And now, December has seen an 18 per cent rise in the total volumes of transactions as compared to November 2018.

Of the total UPI transactions in November, 17.35 million amounting to Rs 7,981.82 crore took place through the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) platform.

UPI is a payment system launched by the NPCI, the umbrella organisation for all retail payments in the country, which facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on a mobile platform, without requiring any detail of the beneficiary’s bank account.

UPI happens to be a payment method which is unique to India.

Transactions through the UPI received a major stimulus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the BHIM app on December 30 2016. In fact, last year the BHIM app had gone international, after being launched by PM Modi in Singapore.

In the last year, the monthly UPI transaction volume has gone up by more than 2,000 per cent, according to NPCI data.

Till now, there have been more than 35.5 million downloads of the BHIM app on the Android platform and around 1.7 million on the iOS platform.

Interestingly, the number of banks going live on the UPI network has also increased steadily. From 21 banks in August 2016 to 68 in December 2017, until 2018, which saw as many as 129 banks going live on the UPI network.

Last year in order to make the platform more user-friendly NPCI introduced an upgraded version of UPI, the UPI 2.0. The new features, amongst other things, included an overdraft facility, enabling the customers to link their overdraft account to the UPI.

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