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Jharkhand government bans radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India for alleged links to ISIS

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand government bans radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India for alleged links to ISIS

The Jharkhand government on Tuesday banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) under Section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, for indulging in anti-national activities in the state and its alleged links with terror outfits like the ISIS, a notification issued by the state government read.

According to the government notification, the PFI is banned with immediate effect under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1908.

The state government has reimposed this ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI), months after the state’s High Court revoked the ban on the organization and berated the state government for not following due procedures and rules while banning them.

The Jharkhand government in its official order letter confirmed that this time around all the necessary procedures has been followed. It also mentioned the details concerning how the outfit was trying to disturb society and how their activities have become rampant. The PFI has links with other terrorist organizations and is trying to radicalize the people in the state through their ideology, which is inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), said the letter issued by the Jharkhand government.

The government citing four reasons and 13 cases to justify their decision. The state has even urged other states like Kerala and Karnataka, where the group is extremely active, to follow the suit.

As per the notification the PFI is active in states like Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.

Welcoming the move, BJP leader, Vinay Singh specified that the PFI which are specifically, largely active in four districts of Jharkhand, had been also involved in the PM’s assassination plot.

Last year, in February, Raghubar Das’ government had declared PFI as unlawful and banned the outfit. But a few months later, the Jharkhand HC revoked state government’s decision to ban the PFI. The court slammed the state government of not going ahead with the norms and revoked its February decision to ban the outfit.

The PFI which has been accused of supporting anti-national activities has been extremely rampant in states like Kerala and Karnataka. In December last year, two out of ten people from Kerala who had fled to join the ISIS were reportedly former members of the extremist Islamist organisation, Popular Front of India (PFI).

Moreover, in July 2018, the Kerala police had made a breakthrough in cracking the murder of the 20-year-old student leader, Abhimanyu, and arrested four top leaders of the controversial Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is the political front of Kerala-based ‘radical’ outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the Abhimanyu murder case.

Earlier, the same PFI was also accused of murdering an RSS worker in Bangalore. Similarly, last year NIA had also filed a charge sheet against PFI members for the murder of a Hindu Munnani member.

The NIA had submitted a report on the PFI to the Home Ministry, claiming that the group has been involved in terror acts, including running terror camps and making bombs, and it was a fit case to be declared banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Earlier, the former Vice President Hamid Ansari was also in the news for the wrong reasons after he attended a program organised by the violent Islamist organisation. The same outfit has also been accused of Hadiya’s ‘love-jihad’ cases in Kerala.

Interestingly, the Congress party has reportedly had an understanding with these radical Islamist parties in the past. During the Karnataka elections, the PFI and SDPI had withdrawn candidates to support Congress in the elections. Moreover, there were reports that soon after the Congress-JDs coalition government was formed in Karnataka, subsequently after taking the oath, the CM, Kumaraswamy had met with the leaders of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

As Congress looks to delay Rafale deal, Air Force left to scrounge for 1980s planes in Russian junkyard

Abhishek Banerjee
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As Congress looks to delay Rafale deal, Air Force left to scrounge for 1980s planes in Russian junkyard

We have learned to believe that India is on the cusp of becoming a superpower. Seeing this kind of headline hurts.

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Indian Air Force looks at purchasing 1980s fighter planes

Our fighter strength is so depleted that we are reduced to looking for discarded Russian planes from the 1980s that might be lying around. Yes, the valiant Indian Air Force is literally sifting through somebody else’s junkyard. Looking for something … anything to sustain itself.

If this does not make our heads hang down in shame, what will?

Meanwhile, the Indian opposition, backed by large sections of media, are carrying out a propaganda offensive to delay the Rafale acquisition. To delay it somehow, beyond the May 2019 elections. Their obvious hope is that if they get a chance to win power, they can scrap the Rafale deal and start the long process of giving the multi-billion dollar deal to someone else. To do it all again, possibly in the way the Congress has always done defence deals beginning with the jeep scam under Nehru.

Read also: Nehru, Corruption and the Prince on a Quixotic Adventure

They will stop at nothing. Sometimes, government defence-related documents are published in newspapers with parts of the same page cropped out to show a different picture. Sometimes “exposes” are made where potential deals with Airbus are passed off as deals with Dassault (the manufacturer of Rafale, a completely different company). Anything to throw the kitchen sink at Modi, publishing every possible lie and half-truth no matter how ludicrous, hoping that something sticks.

And our valiant Air Force continues to bleed. Think about the Air Force pilots who will have to fly these 40-year junk planes that we are purchasing from the Russian garbage dump in our desperation. Think about their families, their parents, their wives and husbands and their kids who are reading this newspaper headline. Their near and dear one will be flying a 40-year-old junk plane. Can you imagine how they feel?

It is not like the fear of dying in a decades-old junk plane is something new for our Air Force. A Mig-21 crashed in Jaisalmer only yesterday during a completely routine exercise. Thankfully, the pilot ejected safely.

But others have not been so lucky. Look at this report from Rajasthan Patrika shared by Twitter user Rishi Bagree.

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97 fighter planes crashed in 12 years.

Almost 97 planes lost to crashes in the last 12 years! That’s eight crashes per year. Like in all modern democracies, our military does not take political positions and is fully subject to civilian control. The least that they can expect from us is that we don’t send our best men and women out there in creaky old planes assembled quite literally from the junkyard.

It’s not too much to ask, is it?

A few days ago, quoting the fictional figure of Rs 30,000 crore “given” to some businessman, Rahul Gandhi said that these 30,000 crores could have been given to families of pilots when they die in plane crashes!

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Rahul Gandhi’s shameful remark saying that the amount of ‘Rafale scam’ can go to pilots who die in a plane crash

Elections will come. Elections will go. But the dignity of human life and the dignity of our nation should remain supreme.

Now close your eyes for a moment and picture the Indian Air Force sifting through a pile of 40-year-old junk lying in some garbage dump in Russia. Clearing the cobwebs, trying not to step on the rats. Looking for pieces to assemble planes. Then, our very best men and women in uniform will say goodbye to their families,  their parents, their wives and husbands, their kids and go out to fly in those planes. Can you feel yourself shudder?

Congress leader P Chidambaram gives veiled threat to the journalist asking him uncomfortable questions

Nirwa Mehta
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Congress leader P Chidambaram gives veiled threat to the journalist asking him uncomfortable questions

Congress seems to have a very unique relationship with the media. Back during Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency, many crawled when asked to bend. Today, when Congress is in the Opposition, fighting for survival, its leaders like P Chidambaram continue to remind the media houses like The Print that there is no reason, history could not repeat itself.

In an ‘exclusive’ interview to Shekhar Gupta’s The Print, former Union Minister P Chidambaram, who, along with his son Karti Chidambaram and his wife Nalini Chidambaram, are being investigated by various investigating agencies probing various corruption charges, gave a veiled threat to the various media houses giving relentless coverage to the corruption probe.


As seen in the above video, during the interview, The Print journalist Jyoti Malhotra begins to ask regarding the Aircel-Maxis case. “Mr Chidambaram, you, yourself and your son have been accused in…,” begins Malhotra before Chidambaram cuts her off and says, “This is completely irrelevant. Listen to me. This is completely irrelevant to the interview. You are breaching your faith, breaching your word and therefore I suggest you either wind up the interview or scrap the interview. If you think you will intimidate me by this then you are wrong.”

Malhotra, little taken aback by the sudden outburst of the senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, tried to explain how she was not trying to intimidate her. To that, Chidambaram said, “Of course you are, I do not allow the media to do a trial. Maybe in your rule book that the trial should be done by the media, please don a lawyer’s robe, please get appointed as a judge, come to Patiala court and we will argue.”

These 40 seconds have multiple layers to it. The Print did not run the interview live. Hence, this portion could have been edited out, but they chose to run it. Shekhar Gupta, the editor-in-chief of The Print also heads the Editors’ Guild of India, has not yet condemned a former minister trying to intimidate his employee who was just doing her job, unless she had overstepped her brief and asking uncomfortable questions to powerful people was not a part of her job. P Chidambaram himself had mentioned that Jo Malhotra had “breached her word”. One wonders if a “word” was given to Chidambaram that ‘uncomfortable’ questions would not be asked?

P Chidambaram chose a platform, The Print, which has not as aggressively covered Aircel-Maxis case as many other media houses have, to threaten the journalist.

ThePrint on Aircel deal

The CBI is probing alleged irregularities in grant of FIPB approval in Aircel-Maxis deal, while the ED is probing alleged money-laundering related to the deal. It is accused that Chidambaram misused his capacity as finance minister in the UPA government to illegally grant FIPB approvals to Malaysia based firm Maxis for buying Indian telecom company Aircel for ₹3,500 crore in 2006 and in exchange his son, Karti Chidambaram was given kickbacks. The CBI had obtained permission to prosecute Chidambaram in November 2018.

So, did P. Chidambaram use this platform to send out a message to those media houses who are covering the probe? As another senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal quite recently said that governments can come and go. Today they are in Opposition, tomorrow they may be in power. And that Congress is keeping an eye on the bureaucrats who are showing their loyalty towards the Prime Minister.

Considering even Congress President Rahul Gandhi has sent out a message that once Congress comes to power, all RSS-members working in government offices will be purged, is there more to P. Chidambaram’s threat than what meets the eye?

Congress member finds a WhatsApp message ‘offensive’, files police complaint

OpIndia Staff
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Congress member finds a WhatsApp message ‘offensive’, files police complaint

A Congress Party member, named Ravi Kant Swami, filed a complaint with the Panchkula Police in Haryana, alleging that a Whatsapp group, by the name of ‘Sanatan Hindu Dharam’ has been sending sordid messages and spreading hatred, reports The Indian Express.

Ravi Kant Swami who was accompanied by other party members filed the complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kamaldeep Goyal, accusing people of the group of using berating and hateful language against him and Congress party.

“Vulgar and lascivious language was used after I was added to a WhatsApp group, ’Sanatan Hindu Dharam’, which had 52 members, on February 10 by a BJP member,” he alleged.

In his talk with the Chandigarh Newsline, Swami said, “The members of the group were using vulgar and offensive language against esteemed Congress leaders like, Priyanka Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Pawan Bansal, Rahul Gandhi, Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu.”

“I have filed a complaint today before Deputy Commissioner of Police against the members of the aforesaid WhatsApp group,” he added.

Swami demanded strict action be taken against the accused persons in accordance with provisions of IT ACt (2000) and other relevant sections of the IPC.

Priyanka’s blank Twitter account with 1.5 lakh followers is the metaphor for the connection between The Family and India

Abhishek Banerjee
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Priyanka’s blank Twitter account with 1.5 lakh followers is the metaphor for the connection between The Family and India

This is the official Twitter handle of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

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Anybody who is tempted to go to her Twitter timeline is greeted with the stark message of “@priyankagandhi hasn’t Tweeted” in bold black lettering.

But the account is all set up, with the distinguished blue tick from Twitter. And we see in the corner: 1.5 lakh followers already.

This empty page with 1.5 lakh followers already is the perfect metaphor for our relationship with the Congress Dynasty.

What have we seen of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s political “career” so far? Launched from the high position of General Secretary of the Congress Party. Relentless coverage of the closed door and nameplate of her new office in the Congress Headquarters.

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And now her blank Twitter timeline with 1.5 lakh followers waiting. The digital version of standing outside her closed office door.

So far, Priyanka Gandhi has made a few guest appearances in past Congress campaigns, most of them completely forgettable. Just two moments come to mind: one time when she denigrated Smriti Irani as “Who?” when she was running against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in 2014. And again in 2014 when she dismissed the BJP as “jumping like rats”.

That someone with zero political experience should denigrate Smriti Irani, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP as “who” or compare the then main opposition BJP to rats… This stunning arrogance, where does it come from?

The answer is that this arrogance of one Dynasty is something that we have nurtured as a nation. We are all guilty. Starting from the Pidis who stood outside her closed office door, feverishly covering her surname plate. To even the right-wingers who followed her on Twitter just out of “curiosity”. To the person who is writing this article, i.e., I myself. Guilty as charged.

Guilty of paying too much attention to them.

The deity is nothing without the devotees.

Today I read this said about Priyanka Gandhi somewhere, on a popular news portal.

“It was obvious she has the capacity to connect with people, remembering names and faces, looking down at people thronging the truck…”

It barely matters which one. Nearly all of them have used expressions like this. At least one outlet described her qualities as superhuman. Literally.

The only thing more pathetic than this fawning, servile use of language is how little content the Dynasty leaves its devotees to go on. Leaving them starved of detail, trying to squeeze out new ways to praise her. Now she gets praise for looking down at faces of people as she passed by on a truck. Other Pidis have written reams about her resemblance to Indira Gandhi. That’s all they have to go on.

Even worse is the fact that in contemporary politics, there is often an effort to associate the word “arrogance” with Narendra Modi. The justifiable pride that a self-made man takes in his accomplishments is painted as “arrogance”. The astonishing arrogance of the Dynasty is let pass without notice.

This is really the concept of what “privilege” means. Without the backing of a birthright claim to rule India, elite classes see any form of self-expression by the masses as “arrogance”. When these same elites build up Priyanka Gandhi to assert her birthright, they are also telling the rest of us to stay in our place.

Why look upwards when she is up there on her high vehicle, willing to look downwards at us?

For a nation as great as India, this is a sad way to be. To throw away our collective sense of self-belief and use it to feed the arrogance of a decades-old ruling family. The fawning of the Pidis has been mocked by right-wingers. And it should be. But somewhere down the line, we are all getting drawn into the same game. We are all guilty.

Chandrababu Naidu spends whopping Rs 11 crore tax money to sponsor his 12-hour political protest in Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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Chandrababu Naidu spends whopping Rs 11 crore tax money to sponsor his 12-hour political protest in Delhi

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has spent Rs 11 crore from the state exchequer to fund his protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

Chandrababu Naidu had organised ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ (a day-long protest for justice) to attack the Modi government for its “failure” to give special status to Andhra Pradesh on Monday at the national capital.

According to the reports, the Andhra Pradesh government has allocated such exorbitant fund to Chandrababu Naidu to organise a political event at Delhi. The documents show that two trains were hired by the Andhra Pradesh government to transport protestors from Srikakulam and Anantapur to Delhi. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government in Andhra Pradesh spent Rs 1.2 crore from the state exchequer to hire two special trains with 20 compartments each.

 

Image Source: Twitter

 

“Government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to hire two special trains with 20 compartments each from South Central Railways, Secunderabad, i.e., starting one (1) train from Ananthapuramu and another from Srikakulam to reach New Delhi by 10.02.2019 to transport interested Political parties, organisations, NGOs associations, etc.. to participate in one day Deeksha (Protest) at New Delhi on 11.02.2019 to be led by the chief minister,” stated the government release.

Image Source: Twitter

Apart from hiring trains, the funds were also used to provide accommodation and food facilities to the general public and VIPs and nearly1,100 rooms were booked by the government for the same. The Budget Release Order (BRO) released by the Andhra Pradesh government refers to a provision of Rs 8 crore for ‘other state functions’ and only Rs 2 crore for ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’.

However, TDP has said that they have organised similar protests and meetings in 11 districts of the state. It said the meeting organised in New Delhi was similar to the ones organised elsewhere, and that it was not a “political function”.

During the protest, a huge controversy had erupted after derogatory posters which took a cheap slur at the humble origins of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared at the venue. At the protest site, TDP party workers had resorted to putting up posters which read “Jiske Haath Mein Chai ka Jhoota cup Dena Tha, Uske Haath Mein Janata Ne Desh De Diya”, which meant that ‘the person who should have been given a used teacup, has been given the country by the people”.

Female journalist, crew of Republic TV heckled at Aligarh Muslim University, camera and equipment broken

OpIndia Staff
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Female journalist, crew of Republic TV heckled at Aligarh Muslim University, camera and equipment broken

Today the students of the Aligarh Muslim University had alleged that the Republic TV crew which was present in their campus reportedly indulged in physical and verbal harassment. The students accused the Republic TV scribes of calling the institute as ‘University of Terrorists’.


The Wire journalist further insinuated that such behaviour has been commonplace by the Repuplic TV journalists with public figures and the forthwith condemnation by the BJP MP from Aligarh suggests a set-up. The Wire journalist here is implying that it was a deliberate attempt by the Republic TV crew to incite the students of the AMU by name-calling them.

However, in an elaborate thread, the Republic TV journalist who was present at the scene and victim of the ire of the AMU students outrightly dismissed the lies peddled by the Wire journalist and penned down her ordeal in excruciating detail. Nalini Sharma, working as a journalist at Republic TV, claimed in a series of tweets that the Wire journalist was concocting blatant lies and that she and her crew were, in fact, the victims of the unbridled aggression displayed by the violent elements in the AMU who were averse to Republic TV.


Nalini claimed that while she was reporting live on an issue totally unrelated to AMU, a security official of the AMU who identified himself as Azeem Akthar asked them to stop the reporting. Nalini ignored him as she was reporting live on air. After that, a group of students gathered around them and the Republic TV crew were pushed around and their equipment manhandled. They were immediately asked to leave the University because they were from ‘Republic TV’.


According to Nalini, this was just the beginning. The crowd began to grow and the heckling intensified as the Republic TV crew were waiting for their car to arrive. She further alleges that when they began to oppose the physical abuse, their cameras and equipment were snatched away from them and broken into pieces by the hoodlums of the AMU.

This was not the end, a human chain was formed by the students, exhorting others to not allow these ‘women’ to leave the campus “at any cost”. They were physically pushed when they tried to break the human chain. With great difficulty, Nalini along with her another female colleague and three male colleagues pushed through the human chain and managed to escape the University campus.


All this while, the police forces stationed outside the gates of the AMU behaved like a bystander witnessing the violent intimidation. When Nalini asked the police to recover their cameras which had footage of the hooliganism of the AMU students, the police said that they had no authority inside the campus and hence they cannot help it. They further informed her that such kind of unruly behaviour by AMU students is common. The hoodlums in the University had destroyed all the cameras, equipment and mobile phones that they had captured during the violent heckling and intimidation.

The journalists were abused, heckled, physically pushed around and subjected to the worst kind of intimidation just because they belonged to Republic TV. Instead of standing for their fellow colleagues’ Freedom of Speech and their safety, the Wire journalist spun a web of lies, legitimising the condemnable act by the AMU hoodlums and branding the victims as perpetrators and vice-versa.

A report on the incident by Republic Bharat can be seen here.

Naveen Patnaik says Modi government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha, facts say otherwise

Sambit Nayak
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Naveen Patnaik says Modi government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha, facts say otherwise

On 26th December 2018, on the 21st foundation day of Biju Janata Dal, party president and CM Shri Naveen Patnaik, while addressing a rally at Puri, came down heavily on the NDA government at centre led by PM Narendra Modi. Central to his attack was how the current dispensation at Delhi has completely neglected Odisha. One of the prominent narratives among his 9 point attack was that the central government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha. Since then, it had been repeated ad nauseam, without being backed by any data or specific questions.

So here is the data on Railways and Highways on what this government has done vis-a-vis previous governments to help our readers make an informed decision.

Railways

As of 2017, Odisha has 2572.16 KM of rail route at a density of 15.03 KM per thousand KM against a national average of 19 KM. Clearly, Odisha is lagging here and much needed to be done to connect the hinterlands and LWE affected areas. New, as well as capacity augmentation projects sanctioned in the late 90s and early 2000s, have been started after 2014 since the UPA government literally did nothing for Railways in Odisha except the introduction of some new trains. In fact, East Coast Railway, which is the major railway zone in Odisha headquartered at Bhubaneswar, became a separate zone, last time BJP was in power under Atal Behari Vajpayee. After that, Odisha suffered for 10 years before getting its due share in 2014 and onwards.

Line Doubling

One major call out in the doubling work is Cuttack-Barang section which lies on the Chennai-Howrah trunk route. It witnesses heavy to very heavy traffic. This section is 12 KMs with 1 major bridge and 1 minor bridge in between. The original project started in 2010 but no significant progress was made. This caused major delays as trains had to be stopped at Cuttack station as there was only 1 bridge over river Kathajori. Modi government expedited the process and got it completed in early 2015 after coming to power.

Electrification

It must be noted that the Angul-Sambalpur line’s electrification was sanctioned in 2003-04 but UPA did nothing in the following 10 years. NDA government has electrified 60 KMs out of 149 KMs in 4.5 years.

New Line Addition

In effect, in the 4.5 years between 2014-18, Odisha got 267 KMs of track doubled, 398 KMs of track electrified and 81 KMs of brand new railway track.

Here is a brief summary of UPA 2009-14 vs NDA 2014-19

(Note: The data is taken from ECoR system Map of 2008, 2014 and 2018)

Ongoing Projects

See the year of sanction of each project. The entire 81 KMs in Khurda Road-Balangir section is constructed in last 4.5 years under NDA with a pair of trains already running between Khurda Road – Rajasunakhala. Let’s mention some projects here, which carry special significance.

  • Paradeep-Haridaspur will go through Kendrapara district, which still doesn’t have a railway line.
  • Khurda Road-Balangir will go through Nayagarh and Boudh districts which don’t have railway line.
  • Talcher-Bimlagad will bring down the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar to 308 KMs from present 440 KMs
  • Angul-Sukinda will connect two massive mineral clusters i.e Coal from Talcher with Iron ore in Sukinda. This is being carried out by a JV between RVNL(Rail Vikash Nigam Ltd), IDCO (Industrial Development Corporation, Odisha), Jindal and Bhusan.

The budgetary fund allocation in this government has also touched record heights. In last year budget Odisha got a record ₹5,102 crores, which is around 5 times of what UPA govt allocated in their last budget.

Of course, the budgetary allocation includes other things among new lines, doubling, electrification, station modernisation, amenities improvement. Odisha has got at least 40+ new trains in last 5 years. Some marquee trains include Humsafar, Antyodaya, Duronto and Sampark Krantis along with other regular trains. Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda stations have got major facelifts.

National Highways

As per 2016 data, Odisha shares 4.6% of the total National Highways of India, which stands at 4,838 KMs out of 103,613 KMs. The density per 1000 sq KM is 31.1 KM against a national average of 31.5. The density per 1 Lakh population is 11.5 KMs which is better than the national average of 8.6 KMs.

With declaration of state roads as new NHs being done from time to time keeping in view the requirements of connectivity, priority and availability of funds, in his recent visit to Odisha, Union Minister for Highways, Nitin Gadkari announced that Odisha as of date has 9,426 KMs of National Highways, nearly double of what NDA government started with. Though, most of them are still single carriageways with 2 lanes.

Completed Projects

Among completed projects, total expenditure by the central government is ~₹6,000 crore. There are a slew of ongoing projects which are slated to finish by 2020.

Ongoing Projects

In most of the ongoing projects, land acquisition is almost complete. Forest clearance is pending only in certain sections but work is going on in full swing. The Chandikhol-Talcher via Duburi NH 53 carries special significance here as it will connect Coal belt (Talcher) – Iron Ore and Chromite (Duburi) – Steel Capital of India (Kalinga Nagar) – port (Paradeep) through a 4 lane road.

Sanctioned and Awarded

These projects have been sanctioned and awarded but work has not started yet due to various reasons like administrative/jurisdiction changes, 90% land acquisition not completed, forest clearance and so on. The Birmitrapur-Barkote section is politically significant as it was promised by PM Modi himself in his pre-election rally. This region has given the sole BJP MP from Odisha among 20 BJD MPs. The local BJP MLA recently resigned from BJP citing non-progress of work on this highway.

So, Odisha has got 294 KMs of 4 laned Highway in the last 5 years while work on other 642 KMs are ongoing which will be opened in next year. Another 368 KMs have been awarded and work may start soon. For a comparative study, Congress in its entire regime of 55 years got ~70 KM of 4 laned roads in Odisha. The NH 16 stretch in Odisha got 4 laned during Vajpayee’s ambitious Golden Quadrilateral scheme. Another 294 KMs got added during Modi’s regime. In fact, UPA itself in a 2013 affidavit admitted that, in the 6 years tenure between 1998-04, NDA government has constructed more roads than all other governments combined in the past 30 years.

This data excludes the 415 KM coastal highway of Odisha envisaged at ₹7,500 crore from Gopalpur to Digha under Bharatmala, 262 km long waterway at a cost of Rs 5000 crore, combining Mahanadi and Brahmani from Karimnagar to Dhamra and Paradip, 93 KMs of Ring Roads around major towns and various flyovers and bridges. The ministry claims that the total expenditure by the centre on regional connectivity in Odisha is pegged at 1 lakh crore.

While we don’t contest CM Shri Naveen Patnaik’s allegation that centre is not doing enough on highways and railways in Odisha, we will urge the Chief Minister to back his claim with data and be specific on what needs to be done which has not been done or not being done.

Another U-turn by Rahul Gandhi: Terms the same CAG report worthless which he desperately wanted to see

Jhankar Mohta
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Another U-turn by Rahul Gandhi: Terms the same CAG report worthless which he desperately wanted to see

The Congress supremo, Rahul Gandhi has been hitting on the BJP government for months over the Rafale deal. Clearly, in the present scenario, one is forced to believe that this is the only card in the hands of the Congress, which it’s President has been using over and over again, against the incumbent government.

Rahul Gandhi, who has been famous for citing different prices for Rafale jets ranging from a few hundred rupees apiece to thousands of crores, has taken to first ignore the SC’s verdict over the deal and now rubbishes the very report he and his party have been demanding to see.

The Gandhi scion forgets that it was he and his party leaders who had gone hammer and tongs demanding the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s report over Rafale pricing to be made available and now, when the CAG has tabled a report on the Rafale deal in the Parliament today, Rahul, conveniently forgetting his earlier statements, has openly rubbished the report calling it worthless.

In fact, the Congress, probably anticipating a clean chit to the government over the Rafale deal, had started resorting to such theatrics since yesterday, raising questions on the impartiality of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India himself.

A few months ago the Congress wanted the CAG to present his report as soon as possible. In September, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met the CAG on the Rafale deal and asked the auditor to prepare a report on alleged irregularities in it.

Again in October, the Congress urged the CAG to carry out a forensic audit of the Rafale fighter jet deal and bring all facts on record to enable Parliament to fix accountability for the alleged scam in the contract. The Congress had then, contrary to its present stand, called the CAG a constitutional body and said that it must audit the deal.

“It is expected that the CAG which has a Constitutional mandate and authority to scrutinize every document, in this case including original tender, understanding reached between Dassault and HAL and the arbitrary decision of the Prime Minister without any mandate from Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will undertake a forensic audit,” the memorandum said.

In fact, in December 2018, when the Supreme court ruled that there was no reason to doubt the process that the government followed to buy the Rafale jets, the Congress had made a major hue and cry, demanding to see the CAG report on the Rafale deal.

And now, once the CAG has done what actually the Congress has been demanding all this while, Rahul Gandhi takes a complete U-turn and disregards CAG and its audit report dubbing it as ‘Chowkidar Auditor General’ report.

Ankur Singh on Twitter identified this peculiarity of Rahul’s where he is seen going back on his words, leaving the Twitter users wondering whether the Congress President does this deliberately or whether he is genuinely suffering from some kind of intellective disorder.


Many users on Twitter commented over the conflicting stands displayed by Congress.


Moreover, what could be seen as another irony is that Rahul Gandhi castigated the country’s Prime Minister by citing a report published in The Indian Express to renew his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rafale deal. Rahul said that PM Modi acted as a middleman for Anil Ambani. He also sought criminal proceedings against PM Modi. However, he refuses to accept the audit report prepared by a constitutional body.

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi on Monday submitted the report on Rafale deal to President Ram Nath Kovind. The Modi government is likely to table the report in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a day before the first part of Budget Session culminates.

BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of being a defence lobbyist

OpIndia Staff
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BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of being a defence lobbyist

Firing fresh salvos at the Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the BJP today levelled a serious allegation of him being a ‘Defence Lobbyist’. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the source of documents cited by Rahul Gandhi in his press conference.


Earlier today, citing an internal email purportedly sent by Airbus officials, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that the PM Modi worked as a middleman for Anil Ambani. The allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi were predicated on a conjecture-filled report by the Indian Express claiming that the Reliance group head Anil Ambani met the French defence officials weeks before PM Modi’s meet. Rahul also dismissed the CAG report on the Rafale deal, calling it a ‘Chowkidar Auditor General report’.

The report in the Indian Express insinuated that Anil Ambani’s visit to the French Defence Minister on a short notice before the Prime Minister’s official visit exerted an influence on the outcome of the Rafale deal and that Anil Ambani was unduly benefitted by the deal.

Prasad contended how Rahul Gandhi was in possession of the internal emails of Airbus, which is itself facing an inquiry into the shady deals it got during the UPA regime and went on to claim that the Congress President is working as a defence lobbyist for competitor aircraft companies and trying to scuttle the Rafale deal, which is expected to immensely fortify the Indian Air Force.

Earlier too, several BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley had alleged that Rahul Gandhi was attacking the Rafale deal at the behest of Eurofighter, which was a contender in the MMRCA deal. There also allegations that Rahul Gandhi had met Eurofighter officials before he started his attack on the Rafale deal. Airbus is the majority shareholder of the consortium that manufactures the Eurofighter Typhoon jet.

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