Monday, November 18, 2024
Home Blog Page 6900

Is Arvind Kejriwal’s PAN card “fake”?

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Is Arvind Kejriwal’s PAN card “fake”?

Yesterday we had written how AAP had used half-truths and whole lies to make baseless allegations to somehow show that copies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degrees released by Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley were fake. We had also shown how these allegations were ranging from the stupid to the deceitful. One such claim, made by Ashutosh and from the official AAP handle is this:


AAP claimed that since there was a discrepancy in the name of Mr Modi, i.e. the word “kumar” was present at some places and missing at some other places, the degree was fake.

We had shown in the yesterday’s article itself how ordinary social media users trashed this claim by citing their own examples where their names had been inconsistent over a plethora of documents over the years.

Now, a social media user has turned the debate on its head. He has produced screenshots of the PAN card details of Arvind Kejriwal and showed that while Kejriwal’s name at all places was just “Arvind Kejriwal”, his name in the PAN database was “Arvind Kumar Kejriwal”:


We verified the charge and found it to be correct. At all places, including the affidavit which Kejriwal has furnished for elections, his name is just “Arvind Kejriwal”:

Kejriwal's name on legal documents
Arvind Kejriwal’s name on legal documents

From the PAN details given by Kejriwal in the same affidavit, one can check his name as per PAN records with the Income Tax, and here, his middle name is mentioned as “Kumar”, which is not mentioned anywhere else!

PAN details
PAN details

So purely going by AAP’s own logic, either Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s PAN is “fake” or all his other documents are “fake” or he legally changed his name from Arvind Kumar Kejriwal to Arvind Kejriwal! Will the real Kejriwal Kumar please stand up?

Here are some desperate lies that AAP tried to peddle to prove Modi’s degree fake

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Here are some desperate lies that AAP tried to peddle to prove Modi’s degree fake

For the past few days, and “coincidentally” just as the Agusta Westland scandal was playing out, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was going all out to show and claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational degrees were fake. He made wild allegations, helped trend hashtags like #12thPassModi, questioned media for not covering his verbal diarrhoea.

The Aam Aadmi Party had alleged that a degree obtained by a namesake of him has been shown as as his own, which Arvind Kejriwal said amounted to outright “cheating”. Kejriwal told a press conference that he can assert with “full responsibility” that Delhi University’s records have no mention of “Narendra Damodardas Modi” and that one “Narendra Kumar Mahavir Prasad Modi” had taken admission in 1975.

Today finally BJP President Amit Shah  and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a joint press conference, to set the record straight and placed in public domain all the documents pertaining t Modi’s degrees, right from marksheets to graduation certificates.

Far from apologising or just letting this embarrassment pass, Aam Aadmi Party went on an aggressive with AAP leader Ashutosh claiming in a press conference that the degrees were fake. Various twisted claims were made which according to AAP and it supporters proved that degrees were fake.

The official handle of the party claimed that since mark-sheet has “Kumar” whereas Degree doesn’t have the same, the degree was fake:


People on social media scoffed at this hilarious claim by citing their own examples:



Different name on degrees
Variations of one’s name on different documents is not that uncommon

Next, some AAP supporters, who are often retweeted by Arvind Kejriwal tried to spread an untruth that the day on which Modi’s degree was issued was a Sunday. To show this, all they had to do was misread and misrepresent “thirtieth” as “thirteenth”


Further, AAP claimed that the marksheet showed the year 1977 but the graduation certificate showed the year 1978:


This too was untrue as revealed by a social media user. AAP cherry picked data from an earlier marksheet while ignoring the latest marksheet:


Further, a few users also noted that Graduation certificates are often given long past the exam date:


Another claim of AAP was that the degree and the marksheet had 2 different roll numbers:


Again, they picked up the wrong marksheet. The latest marksheet from 1978 had the same roll number as the degree:

qq
Roll No. in Marksheet tallies with the Degree

AAP even went on to analyse the marks in the final marksheet. Yes, in the above examples this marksheet was not available to AAP but suddenly they got it. They claimed that the total of marks was not correct:


Again, via deliberate misrepresentation, AAP tried to fool the people. The marks total was correct and AAP had conflated column headings with marks:


Even Congress IT cell joined in with AAP and made another hilarious claim, that why is the certificate titled “Members of the Court of Gujarat University”:


This too had a simple explanation. The Gujarat University Act specifically states that “The Court” is the executive body which shall confer degrees:


And the most hilarious claim came from yet another parody account of journalist late Vinod Mehta, which happens to be one of the most active supporters of AAP on Twitter. This is what this genius had to argue:


As per this genius, fonts were invented only after computers came into being! He was corrected by many about this fact that he had perhaps no idea about.

Not only that, anyone with normal eyesight and normal IQ will see that both the fonts are not the same. Just look at the way “M” has been written in both the images. They are different fonts. Unsurprisingly the blind supporters of AAP couldn’t see that.

Liberals dump Trupti Desai after she tried to enter Haji Ali

Rahul Raj
-
0
Liberals dump Trupti Desai after she tried to enter Haji Ali

Not more than a few weeks back, women’s rights activist Trupti Desai was grabbing hot seats at all prime-time news shows across channels to bash Hindu customs that differentiated between men and women at religious shrines. Those heated debates, which were moderated by “anxious” news anchors and boasted of participation from representatives of academia, religious organizations, media, political corridors and cinema, scrutinized every aspect of socio-religious structure of the Hindu society.

These debates, framed around the Manuwad and Brahmanical structure supposed to be prevalent in the modern Hindu society, drilled down to exclusive discussions on patriarchy and misogyny. Trupti Desai was countered by several arguments, which highlighted the cultural background for such disparities in certain sections of these religious sanctums. However, these arguments were vehemently trashed by many “intellectuals” on media and social media for lending an atrocious support to the patriarchal structure of Hindu society.

On April 1, the Bombay High Court, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation challenging women’s entry into the sanctum sanctorum of Maharashtra’s Shani Shingnapur temple, held that it was the fundamental right of women to enter places of worship and the government was duty-bound to protect it.

After scuffles and obstructions, Trupti Desai entered the inner section of Shani Temple that was prohibited for women for more than 400 years. Her entry in the Shani Temple was widely celebrated as the victory of equality – nationally as well as internationally.

Trupti Desai inside Shani Temple
The historic moment when Trupti became an icon

Excited with her victory, Trupti Desai soon announced that she will enter the inner section of Haji Ali – a widely visited mosque as well as a dargah (tomb) located in Mumbai – too, which is off limits for women. She would have certainly expected outrage and threats from the extremists, and she in fact received them too.

AIMIM leader Haji Rafat Husain was reported as saying that entering a graveyard is “haram” (forbidden) in Islam, and his party supporters will not let Desai enter the shrine’s sanctum sanctorum. He further added that he will smear the face of Ms Desai’s face with ink if she tried to enter the dargah’s sanctum sanctorum, even if he has to face arrest. Shiv Sena leader Haji Arafat Shaikh announced that Ms Desai would be hit with slippers if she tried to enter the Dargah.

Despite police and legal support, Trupti couldn’t enter into Haji Ali. She had to go away.

However, Trupti would not have imagined that her step, which was no different from what she did at Hindu temples, will become an inflection point for many supporters of women’s rights and equality, for many opponents of patriarchy and misogyny, for many proponents of progressive and liberal thoughts in India.

Congress Social Media team member, who runs DrunkVinodMehta handle on twitter not only challenged Trupti’s move, but framed her a communal agent funded by BJP. Not long before this, Congress speakers were cheering for Trupti on news channels and social media.



Shoaib Daniyal, who frequently writes acidic articles on casteism in Hinduism for left leaning blog Scroll defended the prohibition of women in Dargah of on the grounds of casteism and elitism in Islam.

Many spearheads who led the “right to pray” discussions during the Shani Temple row suddenly opined that it was a matter of Muslim practice, Hindus should not interfere with it. Suddenly they started seeing it as “us versus them” issue? Isn’t that a “communal” thought?

Not only this lack of support, Trupti received an official complaint filed by a Muslim activist. As reported by DNA, he was reported as saying, “Desai is deliberately and purposely disturbing the religious environment of our country. Her constant interference in our religious matters with a motive to bring about change is evoking anger amongst our community members.”

I was discussing with a friend who actively opposed the prohibition of women in temples. I was condemning the silence of left and left-liberals on the Trupti Desai issue. Unlike her aggressive take on mysogyny in Hindusim, she mildly defended it by saying that Muslim society is evolving and it will take time. Instead of unequivocally supporting Desai, she started comparing differences of prohibition of women in Temples and Dargahs.

When the discussion became intense, she painted me as a male who would never understand problems of women because I belong to the privileged section of a patriarchal structure. Before ending the discussion, her generalizations hopped a step more and she boasted how unlike right-wing thinkers, she was not killing or jailing me for the disagreements. Maybe I should have also thanked her for not cutting off my legs or killing me in cold blood as left-wingers do, but I decided not to stoop to that level.

This is not the first time when my political and social discussions with left-leaning intelligent and educated (that’s what I assume about them) individuals have shaped into “you right-wing privileged section of a male dominated society wouldn’t understand this”. Many of my attempts to talk about lack of equal treatment for the same crime in different societies are conveniently framed as bigotry.

What irks me more is that most of my friends with left-leaning ideologies would never acknowledge the reformations in the Sanatan Dharma. Compare to how we were treating women during independence to now, Hindu societies have visibly evolved a lot. But no, the credit goes to a “secular” society. Then why is that secular society not willing to back Trupti with the same enthusiasm when she tries to enter Haji Ali?

Nonetheless, no one is discussing Trupti Desai, misogyny, and patriarchy after the Haji Ali incident.

Vadra on Congress poster inspires this guy to come up with parody of ‘ambarsariya’ song

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Vadra on Congress poster inspires this guy to come up with parody of ‘ambarsariya’ song

Nobody is quite sure what inspired the Congress party to put controversial businessman Robert Vadra on its posters in a rally that was led by party president Sonia Gandhi to “save democracy”. Robert Vadra is the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi and is accused of reaping unfair benefits in land and business deals owing to his relationship status.

The party has been defending these charges against Vadra arguing that he was just a “private citizen” and not a member of the Congress party. But suddenly on Friday, they released a poster with Robert Vadra flanked by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

That is indeed an unprecedented move to put a private citizen along with the president and vice-president of the party. Usually that place is reserved for Priyanka Gandhi, wife of Robert Vadra, but daamaad was put in place of beti for some reason.

Congress poster with Robert Vadra
The mysterious and “inspiring” poster

While the inspiration behind the poster is unknown, this move has inspired an ode to Robert Vadra in shape of parody version of the ambarsariya song from the Hindi movie Fukrey.

The ode has been written and sung by Ashish Dhar, who describes himself as a “cat in a rat race, refugee in own country, and allergic to political correctness” on his Twitter profile. The song exhorts Robert Vadra to take charge of the Congress party and “save democracy” because he’s the only hope left for Congress.

“As the fascist Modi and his gang of communal thugs like Subramanian Swamy threaten to destroy the idea of India, its democratic fabric, its secular texture and its tolerant hue, the Congress party, with the exception of the first family, is busy discussing, among other things, Rajiv Shukla’s gas problems. There is only one man who can save the day for secular forces. This song is for him.” Ashish says, presenting his ode to Robert Vadra.

Hear it here:

Understanding Arun Shourie’s Modi Riddle

Aditya (reviewero)
-
0
Understanding Arun Shourie’s Modi Riddle

Former cabinet minister (in Vajpayee government) and well-known author Arun Shourie has been throwing punches at Narendra Modi for a while now, and the opposition and Modiphobes in Media have used him and his barbs with much glee.

And why not, as a former top journalist and one of the towering intellectuals the “right” has produced of late, his attacks on Modi carry more weight than the regular dog-chasing-car TV panelist variety. But what turned this right-wing poster boy into someone who regularly appears at convenient interviews to deride PM Modi?

If one digs out every major comment Shourie has made regarding Modi since 2009 to see the trajectory of his opinion of Modi, a pattern begins to reveal itself.

Here goes the timeline:

April 2009 – Arun Shourie wants Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate after L K Advani – Shourie was one of the first BJP leaders to publicly state he wants Modi as PM, even as BJP was campaigning for Advani.

March 2013 – “Narendra Modi only viable PM candidate: Arun Shourie” – He kept the same high opinion of Modi and in yet again announced his preference for Modi as PM candidate, a full 6 months before Modi was declared PM candidate.

August 2013 – “I hope Narendra Modi comes to power, I would certainly endorse him” – Shourie upped the ante on Modi’s candidature one month before BJP officially declared him as PM candidate. This was in an interview to Karan Thapar.

Remember that all this while the same set of “liberals” were going to the town telling Indians and foreigners alike that India would reach a ‘moral point of no return’ if Modi was voted to power. Doomsday was being predicted if Modi won, but Arun Shourie didn’t think any liberties or values will be at risk if Modi won.

May 24, 2014 – “Narendra Modi likely to have smaller cabinet than UPA-2: Arun Shourie”  Shourie’s name as FM is thrown around in media. Two days before swearing in Shourie was still opining on behalf on Modi fairly confidently.

May 26, 2014 – Modi’s swearing in. Shourie missing from cabinet as well as swearing in ceremony

June 2014 – “Expect major agri reforms from Modi govt: Arun Shourie” – Even after the apparent snub he received by not being rewarded with a ministerial berth, Shourie continued to remain positive and hopeful about the Government.

November 2014 – Cabinet expansion. Shourie’s name missing again.

December 2014 – “I don’t want to use harsh words but the  consensus seems to be that when all is said and done, more is said than done. – Arun Shourie”. Shourie, for the first time, turns slightly critical of Modi and the Government. Further, he hinted that he was looking for a bigger role:

Question to Shourie: What is your opinion on age limit for political appointments at the Centre?
Answer: I am past 72 or 73, but I felt this is the wrong criterion even when I was younger. Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi were young men. What did they do? The two biggest reformers in India, Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee, were older men. Look at a person’s capacity to contribute.

Question to Shourie: Would you accept a role in government if offered?
Answer: Nobody offers me, what to do? (Laughs.) Faiz Ahmad Faiz had said, ‘Kuch hum hi ko nahin ehsaan uthane ka dimaag, woh jab aate hain mail-ba-karam aate hain (I did not want to take on another obligation, whenever she came, she came determined to endow her favours on me)’

May 2015 – “Arun Shourie criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi for poor handling of the Indian economy” – Shourie launches a nuclear attack on Modi:

‘Modi behaves like a chief minister’ and ‘Economic policy directionless, social climate grave’. ‘Investments are just not coming’ he said even as Nomura later said FDI was rising, Foreign fund inflow hit a record high of 2.7 lakh crore and Markets had gained 20% since Modi swearing in.

October 2015 – “BJP leader Arun Shourie attacks Modi, calls him weakest PM ever”, “To run the country you need to take people along, Shourie tells PM Modi” – The attacks on Modi get shriller and shriller.

November 2015 – “Modi keeping silent only to win Bihar elections: Shourie” – Attacks from Shourie are now seen as a tool to help opposition against Modi, clearly siding with opposition.

May 2016 – ‘A one man govt run by a Machiavellian Narcissist, posing great danger to civil liberties & dissent’ – By now Arun Shourie has decided to stop pulling any punches. He has now become Karan Thapar’s favorite guest, popping in every six months, saying pretty much the same. May 2015, November 2015 and now again May 2016.

The time line of Shourie’s Modi riddle could perhaps reveal different things to different people. As far as I am concerned, I came out feeling that Shourie really believed he could contribute and deserved a bigger role, he kept his patience for long enough even as he was ignored one too many times and then eventually gave up.

Shourie was and probably still is a legend for many. I guess this only proves legends are human too and heroes are not infallible. An adaptation of the popular phrase from the Batman movie: You either retire from public life a hero (like Vajpayee), or be active long enough to see your self turn into a villain.

NDTV anchor points out incorrect tweets of Arvind Kejriwal

OpIndia Staff
-
0

It has been  bad week on social media for Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. He started the week by trying to troll Modi but instead got severely trolled himself. He had posted a picture of Modi sitting in an e-Rickshaw that carried ads of some brands, and had asked whether Modi was promoting brands like Reliance and Ola. Social Media users had then given him a taste of his own medicine.

Yesterday, Kejriwal got slammed by Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju for his “baseless” remarks on Twitter. Kejriwal had raised questions on the Independence of the judiciary, reacting to the news that the chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, KM Joseph, who was recently in the news for quashing President’s rule, had been transferred to the Andhra Pradesh high court in Hyderabad.

Katju then enquired with his sources and made it clear that there was nothing political about the transfer. He clarified that the transfer was done on recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, on a request by K M Joseph himself. The judge had apparently requested transfer due to health reasons. Katju then slammed Kejriwal and asked him to apologise, calling him immature.

Today Kejriwal was at it again. After having turned a query against himself, into an “RTI” against PM Modi and his educational degrees, Kejriwal demanded that media cover this story. While some say this has been done to distract attention from the fact that 21 MLAs of AAP are facing disqualification, the Delhi CM had set his eyes on two specific news channels:



It was amusing to see the Delhi CM attack those very media houses which public feel are soft towards Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal:



But this time it was not social media users who proved to be the thorn in Kejriwal’s flesh. NDTV’s senior anchor Sonia Singh stepped in to educate the Delhi CM about the facts:



While no one from ABP News has yet countered the Delhi CM’s claim, we found that at least on their website, ABP News did cover the allegations by Kejriwal twice in the past few days.

Justice Katju slams Kejriwal for baseless comments, asks him to apologise

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Justice Katju slams Kejriwal for baseless comments, asks him to apologise

Yesterday, news broke out that the chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, KM Joseph, who was recently in the news for quashing President’s rule, had been transferred to the Andhra Pradesh high court in Hyderabad. This news was spun by some as confirmation of the hold politicians hold over the judiciary. Senior lawyer and legal activist, Indira Jaisingh, who herself is under scrutiny for alleged FCRA violations, tweeted:



Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, did not waste time and within minutes endorsed here views with his trademark “This is shocking” remark:


Further, he too raised questions on the Independence of the judiciary:

This perhaps prompted Former Chairman, Press Council of India and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India Markandeya Katju, to enquire on his own as to the details of the transfer. He put his findings out on Facebook:

Katju's status
A Facebook post Justice Katju

Through the above post, Katju clarified that his sources had informed him that there was nothing “shocking” in the transfer and it was made only due to medical reasons. Through his subsequent comments, he also clarified that Justice Joseph had himself requested for the transfer and he also gave a clean chit to the CJI:

Clarification
Clarifications by Katju

Further, Katju also went on to slam Kejriwal saying that Kejriwal needs to develop maturity. He further said:

If Kejriwal had consulted me, I would have given him the full facts, but he did not. That is why I suggested that he be made Deputy Prime Minister, not Prime Minister, since presently he lacks maturity and experience, though he is personally honest. It seems that Kejriwal lacks good advisers, and many whom he has chosen seem to be chamchas ( sycophants ). He needs therefore to change many of his advisers. As Kabirdas said, ‘Nindak neerey raakhiye, aangan kuti chavaya ‘. Kejriwal needs nindaks too as his advisers, not just chamchas, if he intends to develop into a mature leader

Katju then even demanded that Kejriwal should apologise for his mistake:

Why does Kejriwal not apologize for his baseless comments about the transfer of Judges, and say he made a mistake. We are all human beings, and we all make mistakes. If he apologizes his image will go up, not down. If he does not, his image will be permanently shattered, and he will be branded as a man who for political mileage will hastily slander and attack anyone without any basis. I am saying this for his own good

He even came down in Indira Jaisingh who had in fact started this rumour and asked her too to apologise

Kirit Somaiyya opens up another link which leads from Agusta Westland to Rahul Gandhi

Ashutosh Muglikar
-
0
Kirit Somaiyya opens up another link which leads from Agusta Westland to Rahul Gandhi

The VVIP Chopper #AgustaWestland scam is getting murkier and extremely troublesome for Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Party. To make matters worse, Kirit Somaiyya, BJP MP shot off a letter to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation calling for an investigation into the alleged links between Agusta Westland, alleged middlemen of the deal, Emaar MGF and Rahul Gandhi

The Alleged Modus Operandi of the Scam:

Finmeccanica SpA, Italy is the holding Company of AgustaWestland Limited, UK which was contracted to supply the 12 VVIP Choppers by India. It has been established by the Italian Courts that “Software Exports” and “Engineering Consultancy” invoices were used as a decoy to transfer millions of dollars to India. This route was allegedly used by Finmeccanica (Agusta Westland’s parent) to transfer money to companies such as IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix.

These companies are among the six companies which are under the scanner of the Ministry of Defence:

MoD Note
MoD Note

So who are the people behind these companies?

IDS Infotech Ltd was partially owned by the brother of former Union minister in the UPA, Santosh Bagrodia. Three Bagrodia family members were directors of IDS Infotech. While Satish, younger brother of the former Union minister, and his son Manish were directors since 1989, another son Ashish became a director in 2005.

IDS Infotech sold off the AgustaWestland software development work to a company called Aeromatrix, based in Chandigarh.  The Annual Report of Aeromatrix, for the year ended 2010 shows that 83% of the shares were held by M/s Infotech Design System (IDS) Limited, Mauritius and the remaining 17% odd were owned by Gautam Khaitan. The 4 Directors of Aeromatrix were Guido Haschke, Valentino Gerosa, Gautam Khaitan and Arihant Jain. M/s Infotech Design System (IDS) Limited, Mauritius was owned by Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa

ROC records
ROC records

Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland deal, had built a complex maze of companies to route bribes to India. How exactly Guido Haschke withdrew money from Aeromatrix India and distributed it as kickbacks remains to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Who Is Guido Haschke?

Incidentally Guido Haschke and Gautam Khaitan, Directors of Aeromatrix Info Solutions Private Limited were appointed as Directors on the Board of Emaar MGF Land Limited in 2009. The details are given below:

Links with Emaar MGF
Links with Emaar MGF

As per the ROC records Haschke resigned from Emaar within 2 months of appointment but Gautam Khaitan continued to be a Director till about Jan 2012. Emaar MGF consistently  maintain that they have no relation whatsoever with Haschke or the AgustaWestland Scam. The records however show that the prime accused were Directors in their Group Company which calls for a thorough investigation at the very least.

The MGF Group was set up by V.P. Gupta. VP Gupta is the grandfather of Shravan Gupta and Kanishka Singh. Shravan Gupta was just last week questioned by ED in relation to this chopper scam and also for his links with Hashke. He was also questioned about “business links” with Rahul Gandhi’s aide Kanishka Singh

Kanishka Singh, is often described as a long-time close “aide” of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. MGF though has denied links with Kanishka Singh.

An investigation by NewsX has stated that Rahul Gandhi had financial transactions with Emaar MGF involving 2 shops in MGF mall when Guido Haschke was the Director of Emaar MGF.

This, the chain is complete and this is the exact link which BJP MP Kirit Somaiyya is referring to:

Alleged kickbacks paid via fake invoices by Finmeccanica to Indian companies such as IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix. These companies were controlled, via a complex maze of companies by Guido Haschke, alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland deal and also by Gautam Khaitan. Both Hashke and Khaitan were Directors in Emaar MGF, which was founded by Rahul Gandhi’s close aide’s grandfather. And to add to this, Rahul Gandhi is said to have been involved in financial dealings with Emaar MGF, involving 2 flats in Emaar MGF’s mall.

It is known that money was passed on to Indian companies owned by Hashke and company. We still have a long way before determining the money trail and nailing the accused but this link certainly needs to be investigated and from the looks of it, the agencies are already on to this.

Has Barkha Dutt finally thrown in the towel in her tussle with Arnab?

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Has Barkha Dutt finally thrown in the towel in her tussle with Arnab?

There was a time, when NDTV was the leader as far as English news channels are concerned. The educated class, living in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities would rely on NDTV as their primary source of information. The channel which was founded by Prannoy Roy, has given Indian televisions many star anchors and journalists.

Barkha Dutt, was one such star in NDTV’s armoury. After the departure of Rajdeep Sardesai and the semi-retirement of Roy, Dutt became the biggest star in the Universe of NDTV. She was synonymous with her two shows: We The People, which now runs on weekends and The Buck Stops Here, which was a daily debate show, slotted at the 9 PM time slot, until recently.

You may still find some oldies who still have the same respect for NDTV, but that number is declining fast. This is not based only on anecdotal evidence, but also hard data. The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC), puts out TV ratings in public, and for a long time now, NDTV has seen a huge downturn. The latest data put out by BARC shows a similar picture. Purely talking about private English news channels, NDTV comes a poor fourth:

Latest TV ratings for English News channels

Not only do the ratings show how NDTV has slipped, but they also reveal who has beaten them to a pulp. The number one channel is of course Times Now, which is synonymous with it’s chest beating, loud, aggressive anchor Arnab Goswami. And if one believes the figures Arnab and Times Now put out for the 9 pm slot in specific, one would think almost no one watched Barkha’s show in the same “super prime time” zone.

NDTV and Barkha Dutt have not mince words while expressing their dislike of Times Now. In May last year NDTV released a promo which caricatured Arnab and his style of journalism. Barkha Dutt has often tweeted slyly about Arnab and Times Now, attacking the style and tenor of the anchor:


In this war for TRPs with Times Now, it seems NDTV has finally waved the gwhite flag and ceded ground to Arnab. NDTV’s leading star Barkha now no longer goes head on with Times Now’s charismatic anchor, and has instead shifted her program “The Buck Stops Here” to the 8pm slot, a good 1 hour before Arnab comes anywhere near a TV screen:

With this shift, the popular debate show Left Right and Centre gets slotted at 9.30 pm now, again a bit away from the 9 pm slot, and Sonia Singh is left to face the battle royale at 9 pm with a plain vanilla news bulletin.

No reasons have been given for the reshuffle, but Sonia Singh has tried to make her point that it is only about placing news over debates and views”

The real reasons are open to speculation but one cannot deny the facts staring us at us: NDTV has lost out to Times Now by a lot, Times Now’s bread and butter show “The Newshour” with Arnab Goswami pummelled Barkha Dutt’s show at the same time, and that Dutt has no love lost for Arnab and his style.

Uttarakhand forest fires – real issues and steps going forward

Alok Bhatt
-
0
Uttarakhand forest fires – real issues and steps going forward

It has been almost 5 years since I’ve been tweeting about the annual forest fires in Uttarakhand and this year was no different. What has changed this year, however, is the interest of the Indian TV media in Uttarakhand forest fires.

With much amusement, I saw anchors one-after-the-other conduct panel discussions on it. So-called TV environmentalists — much used to milking ecological events — were happily parroting what is usually fed to them before any such discussion.

“89 days later, Politicians wake up” is how TimesNow first reported the Uttarakhand Forest fires wreaking havoc for past one week now. Some ill-informed anchors didn’t waste the opportunity offered by these fires and were quick to shift the blame on the Narendra Modi government for inaction; while almost all channels, accustomed to sensationalizing every event, didn’t disappoint this time either.

Saving the issue of irresponsible media reporting of Uttarakhand forest fires for later part, this is an effort to analyze the issue for putting it in proper perspective.

Forests of Uttarakhand

State of Uttarakhand, spread over an area of 53, 483 sq km, comprises of 13 districts and is divided into three zones namely, Himalayas, Shivaliks and Terai. State forms part of Western Himalayan Biogeography zone. Climate of the state, with the exception of plains, is mostly temperate.

As per the latest available Forest Survey of India report, 24,992 sq km of land mass (46.73% of total) is covered by forests and trees. Important to note here is that Uttarakhand — 1.627% of India’s total land mass — is home to 3.15% of total forest cover of the country. Of the total forest cover, 19,889 sq km of forest is a one single patch while there are approximately 11,354 patches of forests within 0.01 to 10 sq km category- corresponding number for 10-100 sq kms, 100-500 sq kms and 500-1000 sq km is 42, 6 and 1 respectively.

Type of Forests- Pine Vs Oak

Without going into the forest zones, let me now share the statistics around the forest type. As per Atlas Forest Type of India-2011 report, almost 7,445.97 sq km (30.07% of total) of forest cover of Uttarakhand comprises of various varieties of Himalayan Chir pine with majority being Pinus Roxburghii named after William Roxburgh, a British Botanist.

The insatiable demand for timber following expansion of Railway network was met by large scale felling of traditional forests of Uttarakhand. Presence of rivers that made transportation to plains easier was the single biggest factor that made Brits look at Uttarakhand and also parts of Kashmir (now Pakistan occupied territory) as the preferred source for timber.

Pahari Wilson, one of the iconic figures of post 1850s British India, made a killing out of Uttarakhand timber trade and became one of the richest persons of North India. Britishers resorted to large scale planting of Himalayan Chir pine- a tree known for its commercial value in chemical industries and also faster growth- both as a replacement as well as new forest. This policy – like many other policies of British India – continued even in post 1947 India. [Same policy was resorted to by Britishers in now PoK where Indus river was used as the carriage way for timber trade just like rivers of Uttarakhand]

Pine by its very nature, grows exponentially at the expense of other traditional varieties and has been the single biggest factor for the skewed forest growth of Uttarakhand. Currently, 8,289.88 Sq kms (33.48% of total) of state forest cover is Oak; but Pine is fast eating into its share. Noteworthy here is the nature of Pine, which unlike Oak, doesn’t add to the moisture content of the soil. On the contrary, it stops water from seeping into the ground and has been one of the biggest factors for drying up of traditional water sources in Uttarakhand. Pine needles, when dry, owing to its high calorific value, are the biggest reason for forest fires in Uttarakhand.

Migration and Forest Fire

Uttarakhand has a unique distinction of being the only state that is home to two districts- which have seen negative population growth rate in last decade. Pauri and Almora, incidentally worst affected by forest fires have registered negative population growth following large scale migration. Migration not only leads to thinning of population but also causes large scale indirect damage to fragile eco-systems like Himalayas. Needless to mention that human beings and ecology/environment have been complementing each other for several centuries now; something that is now under threat because of large scale migration out of villages of the region.

For example, traditional farming of Uttarakhand not only supported the agricultural needs of population but was one of the factors that helped against soil erosion, landslides and also forest fires. Farming in Uttarakhand was very scientific with fields in upper ridges being used to grow potatoes, peas etc while those near water streams used for growing crops requiring water. Near home fields were mostly used to grow veggies.

However, with the large scale migration, most of the fields in villages are now abandoned. Introduction of BPL cards has aggravated this problem further because those left in villages are not interested in farming anymore. With the collapse of agriculture in hills, abandoned fields have seen growth of wild shrubs, which always act as a fuel for the forest fires. Thinning of population also means that first line of defense against forest fires is all gone with majority of responsibility for dousing forest fires falling on the local administration alone. And least said the better about the capabilities of local administration in dealing with the issue of forest fires.

Forest Department and local’s relationship

Single biggest reason for mismanagement of forests across India has been the Forest department itself. “One size fits all” strategy adopted by forest departments isn’t helping the cause of forests and also of the communities dependent thereon. Current policy of keeping the locals out, in the name of conservation, is the most stupid decisions to date. The argument that India has been citing in front of developed nations on the issue of climate change debate is the same argument that villagers of Uttarakhand can give to people living in towns and metros of rest of India.

Responsibility to protect environment/ecology cannot be that of the villagers of Uttarakhand and other Himalayan states only. Denying them fruits of just development in the name of conservation is the biggest fraud that has been committed on hilly regions of India. What we need is a decentralized forest planning where locals are made the single biggest stake holder in the management of forests. As this is done, we shall see drastic reduction in forest fires.

Irresponsible Media

As mentioned above, media reporting of the Uttarakhand forest fires is not only irresponsible but largely ill-informed as well. Tourism, the cornerstone of Uttarakhand economy has seen tremendous downturn post 2013 floods. It was widely believed that 2016 will see the return of tourists to Uttarakhand in a big way. But irresponsible media coverage has now put a big question mark on that. As someone who has closely followed / tweeted the 2012 forest fires, I can say that 2012 forest fires were, if not more, equally bad as forest fires of 2016. Despite repeated requests for coverage, no one from media bothered to report 2012 forest fires.

What has changed in 2016 vis-à-vis 2012, however, were the measures adopted by Narendra Modi government. Never before have we seen usage of IAF choppers to douse the forest fires in hill states. NDRF and SDRF teams were rushed to the affected locations and this despite the fact that 2016 fire is in no way close to what region saw in 1995 or 2010 or 2012. Instead of lauding the efforts of the Central government, media was busy running false stories like one by TimesNow where it was quoted as saying that fires are raging since February 2016. This year’s historical data suggests that average recorded temperature in February 2016 was between 7.1 degrees to 12.3 degrees, a range that, by no stretch of imagination, can support forest fires.

Steps Going Forward

  • Government of India needs to remove the imbalances started by Britishers (for fulfilling their commercial needs) and should gradually move away from Pine in favor of local varieties of Oak & other shrubs. A start can be made by taking a policy decision to replant the areas lost by recent forest fires with varieties other than Himalayan Chir Pine.
  • Government of India can also start a new Forest Mission around promoting native varieties that aid in water management. Given the large scale fears around drying up of River Ganga, it is extremely important to recharge the streams and water resources in areas upstream Rishikesh and Nainital. Proposed Forest Mission should aim at removing the past imbalances and also strive to give larger say to locals in the forest management. A cluster based approach with 5-10-20 and 50 years planning is the key to save Himalayas from ecological damage currently underway.
  • Most important cog in the entire forest management wheel are the forest officers. Travelling from Kashmir to Arunachal will make you hear stories of legendary forest officers who contributed significantly towards the conservation and management of forests. Sadly, current lot largely a reflection of society is more interested in easier postings. Uttarakhand has officers like Rajiv Bharatri — who are single handedly carrying out amazing work; however, they are far and few. There is an urgent need to overhaul our Indian Forest Services so that they attract folks who are more interested in management of forests rather than being a career bureaucrat. Need is to hire laterally rather than via a cadre based system.
  • The development template for Hilly states needs to be implemented such that it is in sync with the demand of local geography. The “one size fits all” style development template is not helping hill states at all.
  • Last but not the least, migration from hill states needs to be stopped. And that cannot happen until fruits of just development reaches the last man standing in the remotest village of Mana on one side and Munsiyari region on other. Government of India owes it to us. And they cannot escape from their responsibility. More importantly we should not let Government of India escape that

– written by Alok Bhatt

The author is based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He’s the founder of the adventure tourism venture, Nature Connect Outdoors. Alok has a keen interest in politics and economic development.

1...6,8996,9006,901...6,965Page 6,900 of 6,965

Contact: [email protected]

About us

News and opinion website that brings you reports and narrative from a perspective often ignored or suppressed by the mainstream media of India.

Follow us

© OpIndia.com