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How ‘alternative facts’ were used by a ‘fact checker’ to show PM Modi in poor light

Subhash
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How ‘alternative facts’ were used by a ‘fact checker’ to show PM Modi in poor light

An article was published on Hindustan Times yesterday, which claimed to “fact check” the speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh on February 16.

The article was written by someone working at an organisation called IndiaSpend, which OpIndia.com had earlier found lacking in their “fact check” rigour, and it appears that this article was another example of that.

The most notable aspect about the article is that the author couldn’t find a single claim made by PM Modi that was completely wrong (except one, which was ‘alternative facts’ by the author himself, as we’d see it later in this article), yet the article went on to claim that the speech was full of “half-truths” and “tall claims”.

In essence, the only “tall claim” was that the article was presented as “fact check”, and the “half-truths” were some of the claims made in the article. For example:

On crimes against Dalits:

Modi says – even the article quotes this – “Hindustan mein sabse zyada daliton par atyachaar agar kahin hote hai, to us pradesh ka naam hai Uttar Pradesh”. This, the article claims, is “wrong”.

This sentence clearly indicates that, in terms of absolute magnitude, Uttar Pradesh sees the highest number of crimes against Dalits. The article however assumes that PM meant the crime rate against SCs i.e. crimes reported per 100000 SC population, which although a valid indicator, is not what Modi himself was using in his statement.

It’s like a person saying that “Sachin Tendulkar has made the maximum runs” and some “fact checker” shouts “wrong” because Sachin is not the number one in batting averages.

Nonetheless, using this crime-rate indicator, the article makes a point that many other states have a higher crime rate than Uttar Pradesh against SCs. However, it is one thing to say Gujarat has a higher crime rate against SCs than Uttar Pradesh, and yet another to conclude Uttar Pradesh is safer for Dalits than Gujarat. The latter – the article concludes that Uttar Pradesh is “better place” for SCs than Gujarat – becomes a heavily contestable claim which ignores other possible factors that feed into this data.

The “fact-checker” assumes it is as easy or difficult for an SC to report a case against a dominant caste in Uttar Pradesh as it is in Gujarat. In a region infamous for its heavily caste-ridden and politically connected security apparatus, for an SC to file a case against a dominant community may be an uphill task. In fact, Modi himself mentions in this very speech that IndiaSpend refers to, that it is difficult for a Dalit to register cases in police stations in Uttar Pradesh.

Remember that in Uttar Pradesh, outside the cities and sometimes even within, politically connected strongmen and bahubalis rule the roost and even the police are not immune to such influences. Recently, there was a case of even the Supreme Court having to intervene and order the Uttar Pradesh Government to register an FIR in a case of alleged gangrape of a minor against a minister in Akhilesh’s cabinet.

Deriving conclusions by looking purely at the crime rate from a numbers-only perspective without contextualising it with ground realities may be misleading.

Further, Gujarat had a crime rate of 29.2 in 2013, 27.7 in 2014 and 25.7 in 2015 while Uttar Pradesh had 17.1 in 2013, 19.5 in 2014 and 20.2 in 2015. The rate in Gujarat is dipping gradually while the situation in Uttar Pradesh is going in the opposite direction, and this is something the article itself concedes.

This constant rise in crime rate against Dalits makes Uttar Pradesh a “better place” than Gujarat where it’s going down? The crime rate against SCs jumps from 15 in 2012 to 20.2 in 2015 – an increase of about 35% – a pretty damning indictment of Akhilesh’s governance actually.

On crop insurance:

The fact-checker observes, as opposed to Modi’s claim, that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is not the first in covering natural calamity risks since the Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) is already present to cover weather-related vagaries.

However, there is one key difference between the two schemes. What is unprecedented is that the PMFBY actually covers extremely localized calamities which the RUA (Reference Unit Area) based approach of the WBCIS does not – a nuance which a fact check should have covered since it claims WBCIS already did all that PMFBY does.

PMFBY states “For Risks of Localized calamities and Post-Harvest losses on account of defined peril, the Unit of Insurance for loss assessment shall be the affected insured field of the individual farmer”. WBCIS adopts an RUA-based approach where claims are studied based on conditions in the RUA than in the specific field of the insured individual farmer.

In this sense the PMFBY, surely has an important first up its sleeve whose value-add may be subtle on paper but can turn out to be a life and death question for an individual farmer whose field saw adverse natural conditions affect his prospects which an RUA-based insurance scheme may not consider since it considers weather conditions of the overall RUA to evaluate such a claim.

Shobhaa De body shames a cop with medical disorder, who didn’t let the disorder affect his duties

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Shobhaa De body shames a cop with medical disorder, who didn’t let the disorder affect his duties

Columnist Shobhaa De seems to have perfected the art of making controversial and insensitive statements in order to get public attention. This was very famously in display during the Rio Olympics when she decided to take an obnoxious dig at the Indian athletes and got universally panned for it.

Earlier in 2014, she had tweeted a tasteless statement when BJP leader Gopinath Munde passed away. Even otherwise, she has a long list of making inane comments on the microblogging website.

And now she has done it again. On Tuesday, when Mumbai was voting for municipal polls, she tweeted this:



Essentially she tried to crack a “joke” that Mumbai policemen were overweight (heavy) and that they were good for nothing. Most people panned her, because they didn’t approve of the body-shaming, while some others pointed out that such pictures are hardly any original witty quip. Mumbai Police also “corrected” her:


Shobhaa De acknowledged the tweet, but still ended up giving gyaan to the policeman to consult a ‘dietitian’, suggesting that the cop had some overeating issues::


Now the the cop, whose picture was shared by Shobhaa De, has spoken up.

His name is Daulatram Jogawat, and he has clarified that his weight gain was not because of over-eating, but because of Insulin imbalance, which he was inflicted with after having a gall bladder operation in 1993. He even got a bit emotional and asked Shobhaa De if she wanted to pay for his treatment if she cared so much about his appearance.

Reports suggest that Daulatram hasn’t let his illness come in the way of duty. He was praised by his department for his work during the Ujjain Simhasta. He is currently posted in Neemuch Police lines.

Daulatram who has studied till Higher Senior Secondary(HSS), hails from Ratlam and belongs to an underprivileged section of the society. He was first inducted in the police force on 1st January 1979 when he was only 19. He was promoted as an inspector in February 2015.

Source: MP Police’s Graduation list of inspectors (PDF link)

This whole affair is another lesson over the fact that how in this age of social media, many especially those associated with the media, outrage without first verifying a story and when their falsehood gets called out, prefer to conveniently hush up the matter.

In another case of a cop getting similarly slandered, in 2015 many news channels reported an amateur footage of a drunk cop in Delhi Metro. Outrage ensued, the cop was abused and suspended the next day. It was later found that he wasn’t drunk but had suffered a stroke leading to him losing his balance. The humiliation of the cop also resulted in his wife suffering a heart attack and having to recuperate in the hospital. He was found not guilty and reinstated two months later.

Bangalore child molestation shocker: Media apathy even as number of victims increase

OpIndia Staff
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Bangalore child molestation shocker: Media apathy even as number of victims increase

A few days back a chamcha of a politician battled another chamcha of the same politician by finally installing a chamcha of a chamcha as a Chief Minister by holding adult elected MLAs as prisoners. This was disgusting charade was enough for the entire national media to head down south and give us a running commentary of what was ensuing.

Not far from Chennai, but still very far from the ivory towers of Lutyens Delhi, in Bengaluru, parents of toddlers are living a nightmare and the coverage given to this incident by national media is almost non-existent.

A 3 year old girl was crying and sobbing to her parents for the last month, saying she did not want to go to her posh private pre-school in Marathahalli, franchises of which are all over the country, including your town. Friday last week, she came home and complained about pain in her private parts. When her parents repeatedly asked her if she had hurt herself, she informed that Manju Bhaiya in her school put his finger in her private parts. Manju Bhaiya, is Manjunath, a non teaching staff working at this plush private school for eight years.

The parents immediately took the their child to school to go to the depth of the matter. In school, the child identified Manjunath, and recounted the incident five to six times in front of the principal and two other teachers.

If this did not shock you, there is more. The parents claim that when they asked the principal to take action against Manjunath, the principal, the parents alleged, blatantly refused to file an FIR. When finally the parents filed an FIR the principal pleaded with the parents to withdraw the FIR since Manjunath was working there for many years.

If this did not shock you, there is more. This one complaint has opened up a pandora’s box. Several parents have now come forward to reveal the horrors that their children have faced. Six more cases of child sexual abuse have been filed against Manjunath.

The mother of a two-and-a-half year boy said, “For nearly a month, he has been complaining of a pain in his bottom. We gave him deworming medicine…”

Another parent said that his child revealed to him that Manjunath had tried to assault her, and that she complained to a teacher. But the teacher allegedly dismissed the issue and only gave a ‘warning’ to Manjunath to not repeat such actions.

The parent of another 4-year-old said: “Sexual assault is not the first thing parents think of when children say they have belly-ache. After the incident came to light, I asked my child if Manju had done the same with them as well. The response was shocking. My child said that’s what I have been telling you – that my belly is aching. When I asked my child to describe what happened, that’s when I realised that it was sexual assault.”

As a culmination of all this, On Tuesday, concerned parents and child rights activists gathered outside the pre-school. The parents protested and revealed the above tales and more about the horrifying experiences their children had to face.

The parents met the city police chief, who then revealed that the school had not been complying with the safety regulations ordered by the police department following a series of alleged sexual assaults two years ago. The police also revealed that the playschool’s zonal head, Kingston D’souza, principal Veena and a senior official named Praveen were arrested. They have slapped with Section 188 of IPC and have also been booked under various sections of POCSO.

The director of the playschool, which has 160 students in nursery and kindergarten, saidthat the services of Manjunath had been terminated. The director also claimed that the school had conducted background verification of Manjunath and refuted allegations that the school did not cooperate with the parents.

While this case unravels, it is imperative that national media wakes up to this. If not 24×7 updates, it at least deserves a few prime time debates. Such exposure will ensure that nobody goes scot free in this case. Further, the issue of sexual abuse of children needs to be now discussed on dinner tables. Parents need to talk to their children and educate them about what kind of touching is right and wrong.

The ‘right wing’ faces the danger of becoming the mirror image of the ‘left wing’

Kushal Mehra
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The ‘right wing’ faces the danger of becoming the mirror image of the ‘left wing’

Social media has fundamentally changed the way we live our lives. There is not even a single day where we don’t get up in the morning and shout and scream digitally about something or the other. Outrage has become an integral part of lives. Where there is news, there is outrage.

Personally, I don’t think outraging is all that bad. I believe that it has shed light over a lot of important issues that plague our society. But while we go on outraging from one topic to the other do we ever sit back, relax, and observe whether our outrage is intellectually and morally consistent?

The so-called liberal establishment in India has woefully failed in this test, if you ask me. The left has gone so far off the trails that they can’t even see this anymore. The left will use some random incident that has happened and will blow it out of proportion via mental gymnastics and start comparing a particular set of people (usually the so-called Right Wing of India) to Hitler, Nazis, Fascists, etc. It is as if their minds are completely parasitised by some virus that makes them look at only a particular type of pain/suffering.

The left has created a hierarchy of victims, and whichever group that does not fit in that hierarchy can die a slow and poisonous death, and they could care less about them. We can look at one instance after the other where we have people who have been attacked physically and verbally for disagreeing with the left on issues without any condemnation from their side.

Take the case of Tarek Fatah, here is a man who claims to be a Marxist/Leftist himself. But that’s not sufficient for the leftists. He has to be a particular kind of leftist. He has to make sure that he toes the line of the left establishment on every single issue under the sun. Recently at the Urdu Festival Jashn-e-Rekhta held in the National Capital, Mr. Fatah was physically manhandled by a group of young men, who objected to his presence at the venue where the festival was being held.

One would think that something as atrocious like this incident would get a full-blown condemnation from the left. But what has happened is the complete opposite. There was one particular tweet by and NDTV journalist that sums up the parasitised mindset of the left:



Instead of condemnation and standing up for Mr Fatah’s right to express himself the leftists are accusing him of milking this controversy. Shame on such people. And then there is some Congress guy who is calling him an ISI agent and shouting as loud as he can in a TV studio trying to silence him. If Mr Fatah is an ISI agent, I have to admit that he is doing a pretty poor job because his statements don’t help the ISI in any way.

The leftist strategy is using false equivalences & extreme hyperbole. Yes, India has problems. And in that long list of problems the ones that are being raised by Tarek Fatah are critical. If the left claims to stand for freedom of expression and gender equality, why would they oppose a man like Tarek Fatah? Is it because he is fighting for the rights of Muslim men and women? Is this because he is trying to show a mirror to the Muslim society as a whole?

Any sensible person would condemn the acts of those goons at Jashn-e-Rekhta and support Tarek Fatah. But that is the problem with the left in India. Their moral fibre is so damaged, and their minds are so parasitised, that they are simply incapable of maintaining any moral and intellectual consistency.

There is no scope for nuanced views. Everything has to be black and white. I have never gotten a convincing answer to this question: Why can’t I dislike Islam and like Muslims at the same time?

Why is this question so hard for people to wrap their heads around? The moment you are follower of a minority religion in a land, the majority has to like the religion and the followers of that religion unconditionally. But, the minority religions followers can dislike the majority religion & like/dislike its followers. They have that privilege, but the other side doesn’t.

For the records, I have a problem with aspects of many things in all religions. But, this particular privilege that exists for minorities thanks to the left needs to be discussed openly. It has now become a tool to suppress legitimate discussion in our communities. By shouting Islamophobia, all discussion on Islamism is being dismissed. Is this fair? Is the left being morally and intellectually consistent?

This virus of moral and intellectual inconsistency is spreading like wildfire and slowly and steadily the so-called right wing of India is also getting entangled in its web.

I have spent almost six years on social media as an active user, and in the last three years, I see a trend where the right wing has also become extremely selective in its outrage. No, I’m not using the term “right wing” to refer to only those sets of people whom the mainstream media paints “right wing”, but those who were considered mostly right-libertarian.

Now it is almost as if there is a competition on who wins the world cup of inconsistency and selective outrage online. The answer to the left’s moral and intellectual inconsistency cannot be a carbon copy from the right wingers.

Take the latest case of an event being called off because of the protests by the ABVP at Delhi University’s Ramjas College. The reaction to the incident on the so-called Right Wing of India was not of unequivocal condemnation of the actions of the group of people who made sure the seminar got cancelled, but, it was of celebration and support for such behaviour.

You had reactions like “they deserved this” or “Anti-nationals don’t have to be given any platform”. This line of thinking is very dangerous. Now before someone starts getting “triggered”, I want to clarify that I do not support any ‘bharat tere tukde honge’ activism. In fact, I am firmly opposed to the JNU type leftists. But was censoring her the most efficient way of solving this problem?

Yes, what I am saying may not be very popular. But if in the process of trying to correct a malady, we become a mirror image of that how far we have succeeded? Is the solution to the left’s attempt at suppressing free speech making sure that there is real free speech in India or should the right wing in India also jump on the bandwagon of suppressing free speech? Are bad ideas going to be defeated by silencing them? Or are bad ideas going to be defeated by countering them with good ideas?

The most important thing to watch out for when online is not to entangle yourself in an ideological echo-chamber. This whole idea of “I am part of this so-called group of people, and I need to stand with them no matter what they say” is what leads to the demise of societies.

India’s greatest strength has been its ability to handle differences for centuries. Our ancestors had somehow managed to learn the art of listening to varying opinions without getting worked up. That is a very significant achievement.

The strength of the Indian Dharmic side was the ability to handle a difference of views because they were morally and intellectually consistent. I hope we don’t lose that trait in this online championship of Oppression Olympics and Victimology Poker.

ABVP tries to match intolerance of leftists, force college to withdraw invitation

OpIndia Staff
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ABVP tries to match intolerance of leftists, force college to withdraw invitation

ABVP, the student wing affiliated to the RSS, today protested and forced a college at Delhi University to withdraw invitation to a speaker, who has been accused of shouting anti-India slogans and organising an anti-India event earlier.

The incident happened at Ramjas College in Delhi University, which also saw protests by both ABVP and left-wing student organisations that that are known to be intolerant of dissent.

ABVP was protesting against invitation by the college to a JNU student named Umar Khalid, who has been accused of shouting slogans like “Bharat tere tukde honge” and “Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi” and organising the event at JNU where these slogans were shouted last year in February.

A case of sedition was filed against Khalid later, though he has not been convicted by any court yet. This fact is used by left-leaning apologists to claim that Khalid is innocent. However, Khalid himself has never tried to hide the fact that he has no special love or respect for India.

Last year in July, when Indian security forces killed terrorist Burhan Wani in Kashmir, Umar Khalid, who was out on bail at that time, praised Burhan openly in a Facebook post.

“I don’t care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting. These were the words of Che Guevara, but could have just been Burhan Wani’s too,” he had written, in an oblique support to violence and killings by terrorists in Kashmir.

While such words fall under “reasonable restrictions” that Indian constitution puts on speech (restricted speech subject to public order and incitement to violence), one can argue that it is not fair to assume that Umar would have said something similar at Ramjas College.

But it appears that ABVP had made up their mind and forced the college to cancel the invite. This is similar to what leftist student groups do. We had earlier seen how JNU was forced to cancel an invite to a speaker after leftist students protested. Now ABVP has been able to match that feat.

One can only say that free speech has become victim to competitive intolerance triggered by student politics.

Congress Mukt Odisha? Challenges ahead for BJP in the eastern state

umashankardas
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Congress Mukt Odisha? Challenges ahead for BJP in the eastern state

While the nation is keeping a close track on Uttar Pradesh elections, a remarkable turnaround story is developing eastward in Odisha. The political equations there appear to be going through a tectonic shift with BJP stunning everyone by their performance in the recently concluded panchayat polls.

Although the results have not been announced “officially” yet, the writing on the wall is clear. The main opposition party Congress has been virtually decimated while the ruling BJD (Biju Janta Dal) has been weakened, though it has retained its top position. However, what has surprised everyone is BJP’s performance.

In last elections, the saffron party held merely 36 seats out of 850 odd seats in these panchayat polls. This year, they are all set to win over 300 seats, finishing second to BJD that is expected to win around 440 seats, while Congress will be left with 60 odd seats.

Not only it hints at a Congress Mukt Odisha, but even the ruling BJD is concerned with this massive turnaround in BJP’s political fortunes. This is what Chief Minister and BJD boss Naveen Patnaik said earlier today:



So what does this mean for the electoral dynamics of Odisha and India as whole, particularly for the 2019 Lok Sabha election?

When we talk about the eastern states, it is well known that a “Modi wave” in 2014 contributed to 73 seats in Uttar Pradesh along with 32 seats in Bihar. It is unrealistic to expect a similar performance in 2019. Uttar Pradesh was virtually a magic, while Bihar has a very strong alliance against Modi now.

Therefore increasing the catchment area is a very important goal for BJP/NDA in run up to 2019. Question is, can Odisha contribute?

The dynamics of the state of Odisha are contributed from BBSR (Bhubaneswar). It is the bureaucratic capital of the state with enormous cultural heritage. The officialdom plays a strong role in maintaining BJD’s power. Of course, it is helped by the fact that the main opposition Congress has been on life-support since 2000, except for a brief period in 2009. That merits a separate article.

Now, current BJP performance states that it has picked up areas across the state by some clever campaigning in places like Mayurbhanj, Balangir and Kalahandi. But substantial part of the state is in the Mahanadi delta, and they hold disproportionate power.

If someone wins big in the coastal districts, he can surely hope to cross 15 seats in the state (Lok Sabha). In fact, other than 2009, Odisha has been known to give sweeping mandates from a long time, like 20-1 scenario.

But, some ground rules need to be followed.

It is a reality that Odisha is one of the poorer states. But, this is not palatable to the normal Odia. In fact, statistically, if one takes out the tribal districts, Odisha will actually be quite advanced culturally and educationally. Districts like Khurda (near BBSR) have 91% urban literacy while Jagatsinghpur has 86% rural literacy.

Hence, the conundrum for a politician is very messy. He can’t say, Odisha is poor. That hurts the ego of the soft-spoken Odia. He is also fiercely proud of his language. Making a mistake like typing Orissa or Oriya or Udiya is a recipe for disaster. This does not, however, mean that there is language chauvinism. You can easily get along in most urban areas of the state with English, Hindi or Oriya Odia. Essentially, the tone and tenor of communication becomes vital.

But attacking Naveen Patnaik for his Odia skills is a big No-No. It sounds like an easy target, might even get some gains, but state level sweeps will be elusive if that happens. Let us also not forget, Odisha has a history of politicians who come from a literary background; poets, authors etc. Their average performance was just too pathetic in the administration.

And of course, the Biju Patnaik legacy looms large. He is pretty much a superman. Lot of people feel that he did not get enough respect outside Odisha. So, in this cesspool of negativity, how does one win?

By a positive campaign. Odisha has a hidden fascination with industry. It pisses them off that everyone says something like “Odisha is poor with so many mineral resources”. What no one understands is, that, these mineral resources never gained Odisha much. This tweet might explain that somewhat.


What might help is a campaign that focuses on Odisha’s maritime past. The old memories of Sadhabas who used to travel to Bali, still exists in their festivals. Bali Jatra is a very popular festival. And the food is also quite awesome.

Also, there is a need to tap on to the diaspora of Odias. You will find them everywhere. A lot of entrepreneurs in Bangalore have Odia roots. It will help if a reach out happens to them.

And some deft political management is required. Odisha is intrinsically religious with Hinduism at the core of the heritage. But, religious polarization will not work. In fact, BJP suffered badly post the Kandhamal riots. The perception was that, they gave Odisha a bad name. That has changed now. But, the core of Odisha has always been sympathetic to BJP. If BJP can respect that, they can sweep the state.

The other issue to keep in mind is the Mahanadi water dispute. Naveen Patnaik has moved Supreme Court against Chhatisgarh government over sharing of water. Chhatisgarh has a BJP government, so things can become delicate and complex there for the party.

By and large, BJP has actually been quite good for Odisha. They have given significant budgets for the Railways in Odisha, but implementation is still a concern. Some focus will go a long way.

But Naveen Patnaik has been good for Odisha too after the disastrous Congress years. And people like Jairam Ramesh from Congress have not helped matters.

In essence, a positive campaign will go a long way. The state needs a vision. A vision which involves industry, culture and basic religiosity.

If they do that, and invite a few good leaders, they can get 20 seats. The Vidhan Sabha is more complex, but, Lok Sabha is possible.

Question is, will BJP in Odisha have the right vision and not make mistakes?

So is the Rs 1000 note being re-introduced or not?

OpIndia Staff
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So is the Rs 1000 note being re-introduced or not?

The phase of demonetisation between 9th November 2016 to 31st December 2016 is over. The economy has been fairly re-monetised as well and reports of cash shortage have almost disappeared. But there is one controversy which refuses to die down: What will happen to our dear old Rs 1000 note?

On 10th November 2016, just 2 days post the announcement, Secretary Economic Affairs Mr Shaktikanta Das had made a statement in a press conference that the Rs 1000 note would be re-introduced soon. He had said:

In the due course, in the next few months, the thousand rupee notes, will also be brought into the market, with a completely new design, new dimension, new design, new colour combination which will look distinctly different from the old ones.

This was soon followed by a statement from the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley himself where he ruled out any such plans in the immediate future. He had said on 17th November 2016:

As of now, there is no plan to reintroduce Rs 1,000 note

From both the statements, it was clear that new Rs 1000 note was not coming back at least for a few months.

However, what happens after a few months was not clear – while Mr. Das’ statement suggested the note will be back, Finance Minister’s statement didn’t give any such guarantee. Nor was it clear what constitutes these “few” months.

Finance Minister’s statement can also be interpreted that maybe there was a rethink within the Government over the efficacy of re-introducing a high denomination note, which might aide corruption. The Rs 2000 note is already being said to be on its way out sooner than later.

More recently, just yesterday, we saw a series of news reports claiming that the new Rs 1000 note was to be re-introduced soon, but the exact date was not known. Many such news reports quoted this news story in the Indian Express as the source. A similar story had been published by the Deccan Herald in January 2017 too.

To clarify on all of this, Mr Das took to Twitter today, and stated that there were no plans to introduce Rs 1000 notes:



This statement is almost identical to the Finance Minister’s statement in November 2016. We asked Mr Das to clarify as to why he had said in November 2016 that Rs 1000 notes would come back soon in a few months time, and are awaiting a response. Maybe he, like the Finance Minister, is ruling out a re-introduction only in the “immediate” future i.e. those “few” months have still not passed.

In the meantime, the jury is out on whether the media had cooked yet another “source” based story. Some of the reports even flashed a new design and claimed that the printing of the new Rs 1000 notes was already underway, which surely has turned out false after this tweet by Mr Das.

The truth behind ‘Fake fingers being used for orchestrating a voting fraud’ rumour

OpIndia Staff
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The truth behind ‘Fake fingers being used for orchestrating a voting fraud’ rumour

Unless you are living under a rock, by now you must have seen at least one image on social media that claims that fake fingers are being used to cheat the Election Commission and subvert the process of voting. Most of the forwards do not say where this is going on though.

One of the people who started this rumour is an abusive troll named Abhishek Mishra, who is reportedly close to Arvind Kejriwal (even followed by him on Twitter). He later deleted this tweet but still defended the possibility of such a device being used:

In the past, the troll has shared such fake news where a dead robber was shown to be an innocent citizen – a lie that spread further by Kejriwal. This time, apart from Mishra troll, similar images were being circulated by many on the social media. Many of them might have believed this to be true.

Things got really serious earlier today when even Former Chief Election Commissioner Dr S Y Quraishi shared similar unverified WhatsApp forwards:


A simple reverse image search on Google reveals the truth. The picture which is common in both Mishra’s tweet and Dr Quraishi’s tweet is in fact sourced from here:  “PROSTHETIC FINGERS HELP REFORM FORMER YAKUZA MEMBERS”

In Japan, a stunted small finger signifies membership in the yakuza, or Japanese mafia. In a ritual known as “yubitsume,” yakuza members are required to chop off their own digits to atone for serious offences. The left small finger is usually the first to go, though repeated offences call for further severing. As a result, those who get out, have a hard time finding work because of the stigma attached to those missing fingers.

This was pointed out by some social media users as well (who are incidentally facing hacking attempts on their accounts):


So a picture of fake fingers used in Japan by Japanese mafia, was circulated to show as if an election fraud was underway in India. As of now, there is no reported case of any such device being used in electoral fraud in India. Further, anybody familiar with the process of voting would know that just using a fake finger, will not enable a person to vote again. He needs to have a different identity proof, and the face must match on both the identity proofs and even on the electoral rolls. The possibility of having all these tools and successfully pulling off this stunt is remote.

But Mishra’s pointed claim that BJP has been using this tactic is patently false, which is probably why the abusive troll deleted his tweet. And since there is no evidence of any party using such tactics, such fake news should not be shared, especially by people who are trusted and respected by the masses.

Under pressure of religious & social groups, J&K govt imposes restrictions on weddings

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Under pressure of religious & social groups, J&K govt imposes restrictions on weddings

Just a couple of days back, Congress MP Ms Ranjeet Ranjan introduced a bill in the Parliament which sought to curtail the so called extravaganza in Indian weddings. The current BJP-PDP government now seems to have taken this a step further. They have imposed harsh austerity measures to be applied on weddings, engagements and social functions. The measures would come to effect from 1st April 2017.

In a order [pdf link] dated 20th Feb 2017, the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs J&K had declared that:

  1. There would be a complete ban on sending dry fruits/sweets with invitation cards
  2. Complete ban on loudspeakers/amplifiers/fire crackers which create sound beyond human capacity of hearing
  3. The Number of guests invited for marriage of daughter, son and engagement would be 500, 400 and 100 respectively
  4. The number of dishes would be restricted to 7 and two stalls for sweet or fruits
  5. There shouldn’t be any wastage of food(cooked or uncooked) and if there’s some surplus it should be given to deserving/old people
  6. Plastic should be disposed off properly

In a statement released by the government, it has justified that these restrictions are imposed for the following reasons:

  1. The department has received complaints against extravagant expenditures in public and private parties
  2. The generators, lights, crackers make a lot of noise, air, soil and water pollution
  3. Organizing these big gatherings cause the road to get blocked due to wrong parking of vehicles by visitors
  4. High pitch music causes a lot of trouble for old, sick people and students
  5. The extravagant arrangements ensure a use of high amount of essential commodities like meat, Aata, Rice, Vegetables which increases their cost and also creates a social divide and hampers the weaker section of the society.

The increasing interference of the state in private lives of its citizens is dangerous. In the times when people across India are aggressively debating about freedom of the citizens, such rules will set wrong precedents. By imposing such restrictions, Jammu and Kashmir — a state which remains controversial land for civil rights — will further aggravate the situation.

A government dictating what should one gift, how many stalls one should install, how much sweets one should serve is didactic and silly. Apart from that, it will also impact the local economy of Kashmir. Kashmiris involved in the business of dry fruits, sweets, saffron will be adversely impacted.

If the government wants to check food wastage or pollution it should support initiatives and campaign which can help people to imbibe healthy habits rather than by imposing government diktats. Various forms of pollution and traffic jams can also be tackled by systematic planning, well defined rules and steep fines. Such moral and frugal restrictions may help for short-term, but in longer course of time it will introduce corruption, fraudulence and police raj. People are already concerned that it will give another opportunity to police to take undue advantages from citizens.

As reported, the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Zulfikar Ali has stated that religious and social groups had been pressing for such curbs for a long time. This whole affair raises two serious questions:

  1. Is the BJP-PDP government government buckling under the pressure of religious and social groups in the state?
  2. Will such policies motivate other states to follow similar trend where the government will dictate lifestyle of people under the garb of social justice and equality?

Why Jio may not lose too many subscribers even after free period is over

OpIndia Staff
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Why Jio may not lose too many subscribers even after free period is over

The freebies are finally coming to an end. After 6 months of enjoying free Jio services (albeit with caps), Jio has finally announced that post 1st April 2017, users will have to pay up for services. Jio’s 100 million subscribers will now have to either go for the regular tariff plans or opt-in for a new “Jio Prime scheme”.

The regular Jio plans had been announced earlier, and Mukesh Ambani announced the Jio Prime scheme today. It will be open only for subscribers before 31 March 2017. They have to pay a one time fee of Rs 99 and then monthly Rs 303 for one year to enjoy services like:

1. 1GB daily FUP limit

2. The media and content benefits associated with the Jio apps suite

3. Calling will continue to be free

Although telecom companies maybe heaving a sigh of relief, it maybe premature to uncork the champagne. Even with Jio finally asking money for services, it may be hard for users to move away:

1. Habits have changed

There must be countless users who previously would sparingly use 3G/4G services due to the costs. The same people are now used to consuming 1 GB per day, since Jio offered it for free. No other rival company can still match Jio’s tariffs. Will these users who have been addicted for 6 months, suddenly be ready to go back to pre-Jio days of austerity?

2. The taste of 4G

There will be another set of users who were always on 3G or even 2G, avoiding 4G due to its costs. Although Jio’s 4G is not known to be the fastest, practically, it may be as fast or faster than 3G offered by many companies. And in many Tier II and Tier III cities, Jio could very well be as fast or faster than regular wired broadband. Can those users adopt to slower speeds now?

People queued up in numbers for Reliance Jio SIM when it was launched

3. Jio is finally the second sim

Over 56% of users surveyed in a recent poll indicated that they used Jio only as a second sim. Most of these users could be using Jio only for the data services. They may have reduced or removed their data packs on their primary sim to enjoy Jio’s data. Will they go back to their operator? Especially when Jio seems to be giving a better deal?

4. Jio TV and Jio Mags

Value Added Services which will be bundled in for free in Jio Prime, like Jio TV and Jio Mags couls still be a a big draw for users. Jio TV also includes Hotstar usage so one cannot rule out this added bonus tipping the scales in favour of Jio.

5. Jio is unreliable? Well so are others

Though subscribers have raised concerns against dip in quality provided by Jio, the problem remains same across the telecom spectrum. Subscribers are used to telecom problems like frequent call drops, poor signal, poor 3G speed, roaming  issues, etc. Telecom operators maintain silence when they are questioned for that. In such scenario, Jio wouldn’t face phasing out for poor services.

6. Free Unlimited Calls

Unlimited free calls is the lifeline of  Jio. Many subscribers in India will tolerate dip in quality as long as the voice calls are free. Even if other operators are jumping with same propositions, people would like to maintain same contact numbers.

Well, only time can tell how long will these subscribers stick to Reliance Jio, but going by the public sentiments on social media platforms, it seems that Reliance Jio is going to enjoy the market for some more time.

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