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NDTV reports about salt price rumour with a headline that helps in spreading the rumour

Hemant Bijapurkar
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NDTV reports about salt price rumour with a headline that helps in spreading the rumour

Since yesterday rumours have been going around about a possible salt shortage in the country which triggered panic buying in many parts of the country.

There were also instances of people spreading the rumor on Twitter who later deleted their tweets.

This news was quickly denied by the Government but the rumors gained such a traction that our MOS Commerce and Industry Ms Nirmala Sitharaman herself had to step in to quash all the rumors.

Soon media houses also started appealing to the masses to stay calm and not panic over the rumors.

Though in what might be a classic case of living under a rock, this was reported by NDTV today morning.

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NDTV headline putting up a rumour as fact.

For an average NDTV reader, the headline suggests that salt has indeed crossed Rs. 300/Kg in Delhi owing to the salt shortage, and people need to brace themselves to pay 15-20 times what they normally would for a Kg of salt.

But when one looks at the content of the article, nowhere such a direct claim was made and there were only two quotes in the article which contained any reference to pricing. The quotes being:

The clarification came after rumors were rife that the price of salt has gone up to Rs. 250 per kg in Delhi/NCR and Rs. 400 per kg in Uttar Pradesh.

In some areas salt was said to be selling, if available, anywhere between Rs. 100-200 per kg.

So there was a direct assertion of the price of the commodity in the headline that implied a shortage, but all that changed to indirect speculation when it came to the content.

Should NDTV, being a big media house with a large reader base, not have cared to be responsible while drafting the headline? Many people could just read the headline and conclude that salt indeed was selling at 300 rupees, whereas in reality it was just a rumour.

This report comes in the light of the Mumbai Police’s tweet that promising strict action against whosoever was found spreading such rumours.

But obviously, if Mumbai Police acts against NDTV, it will be undeclared emergency.

Twitter wrongfully reports Jammu & Kashmir’s location again

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Twitter wrongfully reports Jammu & Kashmir’s location again

In February of this year Twitter was accused of getting Jammu & Kashmir’s location wrong with it showing Jammu in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir in China when the state got searched for. This was then followed by the government’s possible strict plan to punish wrongful depiction of the country’s borders with a fine of 100 cr and possible jail time.

The location controversy by Twitter surfaced again today when our regular columnist Ashutosh (@muglikar_) tweeted to Twitter India about the location in the tweet by journalist Anjana Om Kashyap being given as Jammu And Kashmir, People’s republic of China.

https://twitter.com/muglikar_/status/796570891333275648

The background of the tweet referred to Twitter India’s recent actions pertaining to suspending right wing accounts after they criticized the Aam Aadmi Party. Rather than carefully looking into the matter, the ‘Senior Director of Twitter Asia Pacific’ outright accused Ashutosh of photoshopping the post just to cause mischief.

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Baseless accusation by a Twitter India official

Ashutosh quickly responded to the allegations by presenting the source of the screenshot which incidentally was taken from an article we published yesterday.

https://twitter.com/muglikar_/status/796575267540074496

The response from ‘Senior Director Twitter Asia-Pacific’ was perplexing to say the least and he made no effort to apologize or assure uses that the issue would be looked into.

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Brazening out when pointed out to facts

Then a guy who goes by the name Village Idiot proceed the explain the issue in details. In it he explained what the ‘Senior Director Twitter Asia Pacific’ could have found out had he not been blinded by contempt towards Ashutosh. As Village Idiot explained, for any normal tweet the location stays okay but the issue crops up in case of embedded tweets. Or to put another way the normal tweet show one location, the embedded ones show another.

Furthermore, Twitter user Nagendra Srikanth explained all this in geeky details which attributed the anomaly to a bug but even he agreed that there’s more to the story than meets the eye and that they do have J&K in China according to J&K’s location code. The anomaly had nothing to do with the tweet but with that particular location that is Jammu and Kashmir. And the reason this issue is not surfacing on the regular tweets as Twitter tends to shorten location details for the same.

Both Ashutosh and Village Idiot then gave more examples of the anomaly which also included examples where Jammu Kashmir was seen as a part of Pakistan.

https://twitter.com/muglikar_/status/796591388775292929

https://twitter.com/ViIlageldiot/status/796585139891478528

After the ‘Senior Director Twitter Asia Pacific’ was called out and after repeated promptings from Ashutosh, the ‘Head of Public Policy Twitter India’ with surprising amount of courtesy asked about the issue and promised to take action.

As this piece was being written, the issue remains unresolved but the ‘Senior Director Twitter Asia Pacific’ did finally apologize and promise rectification:

img_20161111_202812
Good sense prevails finally

Unbridled growth of social media – the vengeance of the amateur

Venkat Parthasarathy
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Unbridled growth of social media – the vengeance of the amateur

Two historical events across the world’s two greatest democracies over 24 hours had a set of professionals – the journalists – making a mockery of the core principles of journalism – objective reporting. And they paid the price of being maligned and marginalised for their narrative.

First, the Government of India’s drive to flush out fake currency and to put an end to black money through demonetization is a brave step and needed utmost support from the media in its initial weeks of implementation.

However our learned journalists and their media houses in their enthusiasm to be one up on the other, nit-picked the Government’s initiative, scouted around for picking holes in the system, glorified the naysayers, created panic by only highlighting the woes of the common man – the few handful they got to interview in the couple of hours before going to press. They missed the larger picture – the vehement appeal by the Prime Minister to the media to ensure the process of change is percolated to every citizen.

Thus the new age media in the hands of the amateurs – the social media comprising of Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp among others – picked up the pieces of information and spread it rampantly. Forwards flew in millions as there was information of all kinds being shared including unverified versions of GPS chip enabled new currency notes.

Second, the elections to the oldest democracy in the World. USA voted for a new president amidst widespread and rampant allegations of sexual offence, racism, deceit and malafide intent on both the front running candidates. The media drove a narrative – one that just highlighted all that was wrong with the ‘outsider’, the candidate of the Grand Old Party – quite rightfully. But then, their objectivity ended there. Not much was revealed about the Secretary of State, the seasoned politician, a lawyer herself and the former First Lady who had more cobwebs in her closet – the unending email saga and her subjective stance on the global war on Terrorism or her unrealistic strategies to curb the rising unemployment.

Here again, a media narrative that was skewed was decimated by the power of the social media, the common man negated the ‘planted by professionals’ surveys, polls, swings that were all way off the mark till minutes before the hustings.

The evolution of the Internet and the expansion of information access has meant that checks for authenticity have been compromised.

In his book, The Cult of the Amateur, media commentator Andrew Keen writes: “In the digital world’s never-ending stream of unfiltered, user-generated content, things are indeed often not what they seem. Without editors, fact-checkers, administrators, or regulator to monitor what is being posted, we have no one to vouch for the reliability or credibility of the content we read…”

The growth of open source and the spread of Web 2.0 has ensured that ‘social media’ became truly social. But no matter how democratic Web 2.0 appears, its lawless landscape leaves users exposed to all kinds of manipulations and abuses and Social Media is not isolated from the malaise.

The Internet age has spawned the unbridled growth of the ‘hearsay’ writers masquerading as ‘journalists’ and ‘authors’ causing the spread of misinformation. Where information is knowledge, easy access to half-baked information is misinterpreted and false knowledge is passed off as ‘acceptable’. While it is understandable that vigilance can rein in vandals, can it curtail the large-scale recording of unprofessional content that is being bartered, sold and given away free in a Social media dominated sphere?

So who is to blame? Who else, but the arrogant, over-the-top, highly opinionated journalists and the agenda driven media houses who are subjective in their approach, unaccountable to truth and largely non committal in intent.

Media is much maligned for its leanings, either Right or Left, Conservative or Liberal – Where is the neutral in all this? Social Media is a giant that will only grow to usurp the professionalism, with even more jingoistic leanings, with a narrative which is much more subjective and bordering on frivolous too.

It is never too late for the Fourth Estate to make amends and be counted yet again as one of the important pillars of democracy, for information on the internet is free, but not sacrosanct.

How the so-called liberals and media attacked my personal life for my tweet

Shikha Bhattacharya
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How the so-called liberals and media attacked my personal life for my tweet

The day of Nov 2nd 2016, showed me the extent to which an entire segment of our society is working with a missionary zeal to ensure that the fabric of India is destroyed, beyond repair.

When I signed in to twitter, on the morning of 2nd Nov, I was greeted by tweets on my timeline, bashing the government for not delivering on its promised OROP implementation. I felt a compulsive urge to put forward my disgust at this agenda driven hate brigade, hell-bent on peddling lies, and that’s exactly what I did!

orop-tweet
My tweet for which I was attacked and mocked

Once my tweet spread like wild fire, the agenda brigade doubled up and got working overtime. Some nondescript profiles copied and pasted my tweet on their profile and steered a genuine statement into a joke.

People dug up my profile for tweets posted more than 2 years back, but completely ignored my tweets right below the original tweet, where I have given a lot of explanations. The filth generating brigade came up with tweets declaring that our PM gives my husband a 9 day Eid break in India, when my location shows that I live in Dubai.

Sick and deceitful minds declared that I was a polygamous woman sitting in Dubai, with a fake account created with the sole intent to promote BJP, feigning to be an Army officers wife. All this despite me being on Twitter for the last 10 years, with my original identity (not a pseudo profile).

I have more than 14K tweets, of which, hundreds are on my life and experiences in the Army, specially our posting in J&K. The hate brigade thought they would succeed in pulling me into the filth and have me wrestle with pigs. They are sadly mistaken, they have only hardened my resolve to slap facts into their faces, for now and in future.

The most amazing and unbelievable part was Indian Express and Firstpost, promptly picking up the duplicate tweets and declaring that my tweet on OROP had backfired. Dear IE and FP, where exactly did you take your logic lessons from? Also, what drives your tabloid journalism to stoop to such lows? The brazenness of these paid media houses has been exposed to the world so many times, yet they refuse to learn their lessons and continue their hate mongering.

Another despicable act was from some so-called “ex officers”, who shamelessly joined the hate brigade. The government that undid the gross injustice meted out to Armed forces for the last 40 years, is being maligned, for taking the initiative and implementing OROP.

Last month, my husband and I visited Pune, and he visited CDA (Controller of Defence Accounts) to update his details and get a complete clarity on the impact of OROP. We checked the pension account to see the arrears credited and the revised pension being credited into his account, and that was the basis of my claim. Anyone with a brain size bigger than a gold fish, can look up information on OROP and 7th Pay commission, which is on public domain.

OROP calculation table
OROP calculation table

The hate brigade can keep barking all they want, because dogs bark at things they don’t understand.

A rebuttal to the Triple Talaq article written by Mani Shankar Aiyar

Liberal Right
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A rebuttal to the Triple Talaq article written by Mani Shankar Aiyar

Recently, I came across an article by Mani Shankar Aiyar on the NDTV portal. The article was about triple talaq. This is my counter to that article.

The first paragraph tries to show the diversity in the Muslim society. He argues that for last many hundred years, different school of thoughts within the Muslim community have debated various social issues of muslims. One interesting statement from the first paragraph is “And while the four different schools of Sunni jurisprudence — Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali and Shafii — are agreed on the theological validity of triple talaq at one sitting, ever since the time of the thirteenth century Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), the Hanafi school has held that three talaqs at one sitting constitutes not three pronouncements but only one.” Does Hanafi school’s view make the triple talaq less archaic? Definitely not. The view may show the triple talaq less regressive but it certainly does not make it so.

In short, the first para is to show that Muslim social customs are subject to debate by muslims themselves. After that, the author suggests that because muslims have this mechanism and ability to introspect and make changes in their social customs, they don’t need ‘saffron brigade’ to assist them in realization of this change. The author’s hatred for the Prime Minister and ‘saffron brigade’ is so much that he cannot express his views on Muslim issues without bashing the PM and so called ‘saffron brigade’. The author is a classic example of a breed of pseudo-liberals who says that ‘Outside interference only has negative consequences on the internal debate’ only when ‘internal debate’ is subject to minority matters.

The author quotes a lady named Asma Zaheer of the All-India Muslim Personal Board (AIMPLB),“As citizens, Indians need to decide whether we want to follow the Constitution which gives us religious rights, or some vested saffron agenda.” Is giving equal rights to every women in the country regardless of their religion a ‘vested saffron agenda’? Please spare us madam. A woman becomes a hindrance in the process of giving women equal rights. What an irony ! Now the author brings in the political angle in the ongoing debate. When the Prime Minister of our nation talks about giving equal rights to women, is he politicising the matter? The author then writes about how the muslim population detest the Prime Minister by showing ‘Estimates are that some 77 per cent of Muslim voters have consistently voted against him in Gujarat, leave alone elsewhere.’ So, now let’s look at the results of 2014 general election. The author’s party, the GOP of India, Indian National Congress lost on 499 out of 543 seats. So, the majority of the country regardless of their religion has voted against your party. But does that mean the party should not speak up what is good for Indians? Of course not. In the same way, if the muslims have not voted for the Prime Minister of his party, as the author suggests, that should not stop him from saying what is good for them. Instead of the view that the PM is politicising the issue, it should be said that the PM is thinking of welfare even of those who have not voted for him.

The author then says,“ In any case, the courts are there.” But when he says this, he forgets that it was his own party and Prime Minister who have undermined the court ruling by enacting a law that has diluted a Supreme Court judgement in 1980s. I assume you know what I am talking about. So, it is not the BJP or so called Hindu extremists who have politicised this matter but your own party.

The author then argues that,“Proof positive of the validity of leaving Muslim law to the Muslim community is to be found in Muslim non-participation in the agonized debates that lasted for several decades since before Independence and into the first decade of freedom over the Hindu Code Bill (that was eventually enacted as five separate Acts)… As far as I have been able to discover, not one Muslim or any other non-Hindu MP intervened. Only Hindus spoke. Many were in favour; many were against.” And so, the author asserts that Hindus should not speak when there is a discussion on muslim matters. This can be countered on two accounts. First, just because muslims did not speak at the time of Hindu Code Bill discussion doesn’t mean they were not allowed to speak. They should have expressed their views. Second, there may be a reason why the muslims didn’t speak. They knew if they would express their views on other’s religion, then they are subject to scrutiny in the matters of their own religion by people from other religion.

In the end, I would like to conclude by saying: Yes, Muslims should debate themselves in order to give their fellow muslims equal rights. But others do have right to express their opinion in their matter. And in doing so, you don’t have to bash so called hindu extremists.

Social media and democracy

Jai prakash Ojha
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Social media and democracy

Media is regarded as the fourth estate of democracy; a free and independent media is the sine qua non of a healthy vibrant democracy. But with the proliferation of social media in the forms of Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Google plus, Instagram etc, a fifth estate of democracy is fast developing and believe me, it’s a lot more interactive, participative and democratic than the traditional media that we have known. Today, most of the top notch politicians are on social media, blogging and tweeting. During the recent Bihar Assembly Election campaign, Nitish mocked at PM Modi for running a Twitter Government. Most of the parties have a separate cyber cell today manned by technocrats to run their election campaigns on social media and obtain online feedback from the voters. Most of the government programmes/policies are on websites today to which anyone can have access. Now, let us come to the moot point of our discourse – how is social media impacting democracies? Is social media acting as a catalyst in the healthy growth of our democracy or has it introduced some undesirable elements into our democracy?

Conditions are ripe for the intersection of democracy and social media in our country. Post 1990, the increased pace of reforms has resulted in rapid urbanization and growth in middle class numbers. Today one out of every three Indians lives in town or city. By the end of 2030, it is expected that around 600 million Indians will be urban. The middle class has virtually exploded in numbers and from a mere 16 million in 1996, today it has reached 300 millions. Around 200 MPs are elected from urban areas. Talking about demography, according to 2011 census, more than 50 percent of the population is below the age of 25 years. As per the figures released by IAMAI & IMRB, by the end of December 2015, 402 million Indians had internet connections. The figures are likely to go further up due to smart phones that offer internet facilities. Introduction of ICT and internet and spread of optical fibre network has revolutionalized the field of information. Even the youths of the rural and fringe zones are not averse to taking up mobile internet telephony in a big way. For long, the middle classes were ignored by the political class because of their low numbers and limited role in electoral outcomes. The issues related to employment & education for youths was soft pedalled by leaders who were obsessed with caste & subsidy politics. All these are set for change. Social media has become a strong avenue for the middle class to present their opinions on several issues and engage with people from diverse fields. Social media has dispelled the notion of political passiveness of the middle class. Flash mobs have gained visibility as people can gather at one place just by a mere click of the mouse or the swipe of the screen. There is no requirement for traditional mobilization methods which takes time. It was the power of the social media in conjugation with the electronic media that catapulted Anna Hazare from a village patriarch to the modern day Gandhi. The Arab Spring or the Occupy Wall Street Movement gained momentum due to the networking developed between computer savvy youths sitting hundreds of miles apart from each other through the click of their mouse. The middle class protests in the Euro zone against the austerity measures of governments in Greece, Italy, and France etc also witnessed online mobilization. The 2014 Lok Sabha Elections was marked by innovative online campaigns and messages through social media. The AAP used social media to perfection to puncture the electoral hopes of their rivals in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections. The party had the maximum number of online engagements with the targeted constituencies.

Earlier traditional media both print and electronic used to be dominated by the elites; it was very difficult for a common man or the marginalized classes to bring forth their views in public domain. The news channels were obsessed with TRP and gave more focus on news that catered to the privileged and ignored issues related to the plight of common man. The advent of social media has democratized the field of information. There are no entry barriers. The recent dalit protests over Venumula case or the Una incident were driven largely by the dalit activists who were active on social media. The social media activism compelled the mainstream media to take note of the atrocities against dalits and include them in their coverage. Social media has empowered the hitherto downtrodden communities and enabled them to gain visibility in public discourse. This alternate media has provided a platform to them to make their side of history known, to present their own versions on culture and religion and a lot more. Just imagine how Mahisasur and Holika became part of animated debates in the House and on the streets in our 21st century democracy.

In his book ‘Digital Nation’, Katz avers that internet/social media has strengthened democracy in the following ways –
a) It has lowered the entry barriers to political participation.
b) It strengthens the political dialogue.
c) It creates a community that is informed and enlightened.
d) It creates voter participation.
e) It permits closer communication with the officials.
f) It spreads ideas & democracy worldwide.
g) It can’t be controlled by the government.

Internet and social media have increased the accountability of the public functionaries and made them more sensitive in their dealings with the public. You never know when a video clip of a police man demanding money or a leader indulging in unethical behaviour may be made and uploaded. Such acts have often gone viral and caused embarrassment for the ruling party. This has instilled a sense of fear in public servants/leaders that are now getting exposed a lot more. E – Governance has made the administration more transparent, responsive and quick. To get any information from the govt offices or enquire about public policies, people don’t have to visit offices to ask for any favour but they can access information by a mere click of the mouse. The number of intermediate levels has reduced, the need for paper work has been minimised and there has been a reduction in red tape. All these have reduced corruption to some extent as the most of the government welfare schemes have gone online. Earlier, one had to wait for 5 years to get feedback from the people about any public policy impact but now, the moment government comes up with a policy & puts it in public domain, feedback starts pouring in through social media. It provides an opportunity to the government to go for course correction when the aforesaid policy is not well received. Governance had been a major casualty in our democratic scheme of things but the proliferation of internet & social media has the potential to fill this loop hole. People have become more informed, demanding and aware; the platforms are already there to express their grievances and views, to connect with likeminded people and unite for a cause.

Social media is not an unmixed blessing. Various terrorist organizations recruit gullible youths, propagate their views and coordinate their attacks through social media & internet. There is the lurking danger of social media becoming the forum for spread of propaganda with the demagogues increasing their followers. At a time when the world is in the throes of fundamentalism and extremism, vituperative hate speeches & language used on social media is a cause of concern. Social divides can’t be ruled out. Cyber crime has assumed menacing proportions. These are the problems that are faced by India and other democratic countries; freedom of expression is misused for nefarious designs.

The social media has exposed the social faultlines within the nation which so far had been swept under the carpet. Marginalized classes are speaking out, the middle classes are speaking out, the youths are speaking out and all of a sudden, Amartaya Sen’s Argumentative Indian has become a reality. E – Governance has no doubt made our system more responsive, transparent and quick. There is better targeting and delivery in programmes. We may move towards an era of conducting referendums to solve vexed issues related to public welfare or political issues; people may participative directly in democratic process through initiation legislations i.e. people express their intent and representatives take up requisite policy. People will participate more in policy formulation by giving online feedback easily. Online voting would not be too cumbersome to manage. Direct democracy will overlap with representative democracy. There will be citizen empowerment. The citizen will have a say in decision making and will have more social, economic and political choices. Social media has the power to shake our democracy from deep slumber and make it more alive to the changing tunes of time.

Pakistan – A Suicidal Journey

contactparijat
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Pakistan – A Suicidal Journey

From the very inception of the concept of Pakistan, it has been on a path of destruction. The forefathers’ of Pakistan tried an experiment of creating a nation based on religion. This is not the fundamental requirement for creating a nation, but may be in some remote sense a driving factor. The one single statement the boomed over all the rest of logic was “Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, not just because of their different religious believes but different culture as well and last but not the least different civilizations”.

The very concept of “Different Culture” was the biggest deception that was propagated to the simple and ignorant Muslims of this subcontinent. This “Different Culture” the separatist leaders had created for the cause of partition! Was basically born, nurtured and flourished in the northern parts of Indian Subcontinent, predominately in the current state of Uttar Pradesh.  But the separatist leaders with their Tughluqui ideals (Muhammad bin Tughlaq – The Mad King) decided to move it to the western parts of the subcontinent which they wanted to call Pakistan. Such delusions are rarely seen among strong leaders because it’s a practical impossibility. But yet they did it anyway. This was the first step towards destruction for Pakistan. My personal guess! What they were keen about was the greed for political power which would have remained unfulfilled in an undivided India.

The second most important cause has gone unnoticed of quite a long time is “Different Civilizations”?  The civilization of this subcontinent predates history and as rightly said by Eenam Gambhir, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN “‘From the cradle of civilizations’ to the ‘Ivy League of terrorism'”.  Will certainly not discuss terrorism at this point but there is no doubt that the banks of the river Indus used to be the cradle of civilization. So today’s Pakistan was the cradle of human civilization. But the power hungry leaders of forthcoming Pakistan wanted to disown their own heritage, culture and civilization for the concept of Islam; which was also a part of that very civilization. Even a half educated moron knows the culture and civilization cannot be imported it is indigenous to the land. Hence Pakistan at an institutional level started to disown their greatest wealth for some fancy yet hegemonic culture. This they nourished and took care to create the Frankenstein the walks over their land today.

The time was 1946 and partition was at full swing this was the particular time bargaining for many things were of extraordinary priority but the disillusioned Islamic Pakistani Leadership had kept their brains somewhere else and were more interested in land area, Muslim population, Islamic Military and lastly the national assets! Whereas India was lobbying hard for the Princely States to join India. (though the offerings were much less to the Rulers in comparison to Pakistan). So at the end of the bargain Pakistan got the following

  • Land Area – 23%
  • Muslim Population – 20%
  • Islamic Military – 33%
  • National Assets – 17%

These were accepted by both the parties but of course with certain minor disagreements. The mindset of the Islamic Leaders was to take back India at their own will; as if it was going to be a cake walk. So they were more interested in the military and less with the assets which they needed to sustain the army.

Now with partition complete they had to understand the fundamental fact the East Pakistan (known as East Bengal till 1955) was far away! And the only thing that was holding together was Islam, that too by a thin thread. Not to mention the giant adversary and diversity of India standing in between them. Then what happened is a well known chapter of global history. But will surely add that India acted in self defense. Thus concludes the fourth suicidal step. Which they keep blaming India for some reason or the other; but actually The Frankenstein (33% military) was responsible but nobody expected them to confess and by that time  Frankenstein knew it was indispensable at the same time it had its new victims ready back home.

But maintaining such large military needs to be justified and their financial needs are to be met. So what was once part of the glorious Indian Military has just turned itself into mercenaries? Anybody who is ready to pay can hire this group of Military standard Mercenaries and to top that all this Military / Mercenaries / Army has a country at it’s’ disposal. But Military rule has placed the final nail in Pakistan’s coffin by dealing with the Chinese. For the Army’s own survival they needed the Chinese funds but they had no idea that it was a deal of servitude. The deal should be read here as CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor). In this China gains everything and Pakistan looses everything. It has been China’s long dream have it’s own warm water port and their only adversary was India. India knew this will decrease China’s production cost and slash transportation cost by 14.8%, also save the Chinese 4 days in transportation. Just a couple of years ago we had heard of the Gwadar Mega Oil City but unfortunately for the people Gwadar the latest budget has forgotten to even mention it. Reason? China never had any plan for the Oil City they just wanted the port.

Atop it all Gwadar is located in Balochistan which is a Pakistan occupied territory and facing tremendous opposition from the people of Balochistan. But thankfully for the Chinese the Pakistani Army are protecting the CPEC and the Chinese personnel working there at huge expense of the Pakistani tax payers’ money. Pakistan even had to take massive loans at abnormal interest rates and had also issued bonds in order to arrange the extra finance needed and dedicated just for CPEC. They have to start paying back the money by November 2017, just for the reader’s knowledge CPEC is not a one sided Chinese investment it’s also a loan. So China builds something that they need on Pakistani soil with no benefit for the people of Pakistan. So what would you call it partnership or a step towards colonial rule? The last time the British got into the subcontinent the strategy was similar in nature.

Now Pakistan is in dire situation of a spiraling debt crisis. China is waiting like a wolf for the situation to worsen when they can strike the bargain and so is the western world to turn Pakistan into a colony once again. So the big question is who is will get Pakistan out of this scenario. The naked truth is! No one. As far as India is concerned they have been planning for this situation for decades now. Pakistani experts state that there are ways out of this crisis but the fact is this is not a debt crisis this is a debt trap which has been planned eight decades ago. China will desperately try to protect it’s investment but the Pakistani civil turmoil will trap China as well. So ultimately who gains from this silver lining well laid conspiracy. Any common man will name the obvious name ‘India’.

But the actual beneficiaries are the people who were trapped under the name “Pakistan” which was the cause of much bigotry like

  • Destruction of culture
  • Tormenting people in different pretext
  • Tremendous human rights violation
  • Extermination of ethnic groups
  • Prosecution of minorities
  • Strangulating freedom of speech
  • Kashmir & many more

 

प्रोपगैंडा की आज़ादी

RaviPawar
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प्रोपगैंडा की आज़ादी

अच्छा लेख लिखने के लिये जरूरी है कि लेख का एक केन्द्रीय विषय हो और लेख की शुरुवात किसी ऐसे प्रसंग, उदाहरण या quotation (उद्धरण) से किया जाये कि पाठक की रूचि लेख में बानी रहे। जरूरी नहीं कि इस शुरुवाती प्रसंग, उदाहरण या quotation (उद्धरण) का प्रत्यक्ष या किसी प्रकार का सम्बंध लेख के केन्द्रीय विषय से हो। पर आपको अपने लेख में उन शुरुवाती प्रसंग, उदाहरण या quotation (उद्धरण) को ऐसे जोड़ना है कि पाठक को पता  चले कि आप ये जबरदस्ती कर रहे हैं।

ऐसे लेख लिखने और अपनी भाजपा-मोदी विरोधी कार्यक्रमों के लिये विख्यात हिन्दी समाचार चैनेल ndtv इंडिया के पत्रकार रवीश कुमार के लेखों के कायल तो उनके घोर आलोचक भी होंगे, ये जानते-मानते हुए भी कि उनके लेख विचारों और तथ्यों की कसौटी पर अक्सर फेल हो जाते हैं। अभी ndtv इंडिया पर भारत सरकार ने दूर-संचार नियमों के उलंघन करने के आरोप में सरकार के अंतर-मंत्रालयी समिति की अनुसंसा पर एक दिन का प्रसारण प्रतिबन्ध लगाया है। स्वाभाविक है कि ndtv और उसके तथाकथित पत्रकार, रवीश कुमार आदि इससे नाखुश हैं और उन्होंने अपनी नाखुशी अपने टीवी कार्यक्रमों और लेखों के माध्यम से जाहिर की है।

इसी क्रम में ndtv के ऑनलाइन पोर्टल khabar.ndtv.com पर 4 नवम्बर 2016 को रवीश कुमार का ब्लॉग-लेख– BMW कार दलितों को नहीं कुचलती है प्रधानमंत्री जी…लेख की शुरुवात हुई हाल ही में “रामनाथ गोयनका अवॉर्ड” कार्यक्रम में प्रधानमंत्री के भाषण के एक अंश से जिसमे उन्होंने कहा कि ” ‘यह चिन्ता का विषय है. देश की एकता को बढ़ाने वाली चीज़ों पर बल कैसे दें. मैं उदाहरण देता हूं. मैं गलत हूं तो यहां काफी लोग बैठे हैं. अभी तो नहीं करेंगे, महीने के बाद करेंगे. पहले एक्सिडेंट होता था तो खबर आती थी कि फलाने गांव में एक्सिडेंट हुआ, एक ट्रक और साइकिल वाला इंजर हुआ और एक्सपायर हो गया. धीरे धीरे बदलाव आया, बदलाव यह आया कि फलाने गांव में दिन में रैश ड्राइविंग के द्वारा शराब पीया हुआ ड्राइवर निर्दोष आदमी को कुचल दिया. धीरे धीरे रिपोर्टिंग बदली. बीएमडब्लू कार ने एक दलित को कुचल दिया. सर मुझे क्षमा करना, वो बीएमडब्ल्यू कार वाले को मालूम नहीं था कि वो दलित है जी लेकिन हम आग लगा देते हैं. एक्सिडेंट की रिपोर्टिंग होना चाहिए. होना चाहिए. हेडलाइन बनाने जैसा हो तो हेडलाइन बनना चाहिए.: http://khabar.ndtv.com/news/blogs/ravish-kumars-blog-on-pm-modis-speech-at-ramnath-goenka-awards-1621345

अब मेरे जैसा साधारण बुद्धि-क्षमता का कोई भी आदमी ये समझ सकता है कि प्रधानमंत्री का आशय ये था कि— मीडिया कई बार ख़बरों को अनावश्यक sensationalize कर देता है और जरूरी मुद्दों को नजरअंदाज कर दिया जाता है या दबा दिया जाता है।

लेकिन रवीश जी विद्वान हैं, intellectual हैं। इस लिए उन्होंने हमें बताया कि- प्रधानमंत्री नहीं चाहते कि दलितों के मुद्दे उठाये जायें। पर ऐसा करना जरूरी हैं और वो ऐसा कर के रहेंगे। उनका पूरा लेख (सिवाय आखिरी para के) इसी बिंदु के आस-पास घूमता रहा। लगभग 1500 सब्दों में उन्होंने गूगल से लेकर संविधान और क़ानून से लेकर सामाजिक व्यवस्था पर लेक्चर लिख दिया।

लेकिन आखिरी para में उन्होंने अपने मन की पीड़ा व्यक्त कर ही दी–नोटिस भेजने का दर्द छलक ही गया।

रवीश कुमार उस तथाकथित उदारवादी मीडिया का हिस्सा हैं जिसने संविधान से इतर खुद को लोकतंत्र का चौथा स्तम्भ घोषित कर दिया है और जो खुद के लिए असीमित/अनियंत्रित अभिव्यक्ति की आज़ादी चाहता है पर अपनी आलोचना सुनने को तैयार नहीं है। यही कारण है कि खुब (एकतरफा) लिखने-बोलने वाले उदारवादी सेक्युलर रवीश कुमार ने खुद को ट्विटर से एक साल पहले ही अलग कर लिया, क्योंकि वहाँ एकतरफा भाषणबाजी संभव नहीं था। तब रवीश कुमार ने कहा था कि ट्विटर पर इनटॉलेरेंस हो गया है और उनके आलोचक असल में सत्ताधारी पार्टी के पेड एजेंट हैं।

खैर, वर्तमान प्रसंग में- अभिव्यक्ति की आज़ादी न तो असीमित हो सकती है ना राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा, संविधान और क़ानून से ऊपर। इस लिये अगर ndtv इंडिया ने नियमों का उलंघन किया है तो ना सिर्फ उसे सूचना-प्रसारण मंत्रालय द्वारा अनुसंशित सजा का पालन करना चाहिये, बल्कि उसे देश से माफ़ी भी मांगनी चाहिये।

रवीश कुमार जैसे वरिष्ठ पत्रकार को बताने की जरूरत नहीं कि पत्रकारिता का मूल होता है निष्पक्षता और तटस्था। अगर पत्रकार खुद को किसी मुद्दे में बाँध ले या किसी विशेष विचारधारा अनुसरण करने लगे तो फिर वो एक्टिविस्ट बन जायेगा। एक्टिविस्ट बनने में कुछ गलत नहीं, बस खुल के सामने आ जाना जरूरी है ताकि दर्शक-पाठक भ्रमित न हो।

आज का दर्शक-पाठक जागरूक हो गया है रवीश जी। आप जिस रंग के चश्मे को लगा कर समाचार लिखते-दिखाते हैं, जरूरी नहीं कि वो उसी रंग के चश्मे से उसे पढ़े-देखे। वो अब पढ़ता-सुनता-देखता है और फिर सोचता है कि आपके बताये-दिखाये खबर में कितना सच है और कितना वैचारिक पक्षपात।

देश  का एक बड़ा वर्ग आज ये जानता-समझता है कि आप जैसे कई पत्रकारों-मीडिया के लाख कोशिश करने के बाद भी जनता ने इस सरकार को बहुमत दिया है। इस सरकार में पहले की तरह दलाली नहीं चलती। मंत्री तो क्या संत्री भी नहीं बनवा सकते। इस लिए ये सरकार पसंद नहीं। और इसी लिये बेवजह भी सरकार की आलोचना करनी ही है।

खैर, आपके लिये अच्छी खबर ये है कि ये सरकार “आपातकाल” नहीं लगाने वाली है। निडर होकर सरकार के खिलाफ प्रोपगैंडा करते रहिये। आप सब को “प्रोपगैंडा का पूरा अधिकार है”

बस एक बात का ध्यान रखियेगा– कानून के खिलाफ कुछ मत कीजियेगा। नहीं तो कानूनी कार्यवाई तो होगी जैसा आपके मित्र अरविन्द केजरीवाल ने कहा है— “ये भाजपा वाले किसी के नहीं है, अपने बाप के भी नहीं ”

P.S.  आपके लेख शैली से प्रेरित आपका भूतपूर्व पाठक-दर्शक “रवि पवार”

Kejriwal again gets support from Pakistan: This time for the allegedly supporting the Khalistani cause

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Kejriwal again gets support from Pakistan: This time for the allegedly supporting the Khalistani cause

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal who recently received high praise from Pakistan in the form of twitter trend #PakStandsWithKejriwal after he demanded proof of the government’s surgical strike, now again seems to be receiving praise and support across the border for his perceived Pro Khalistan stand. Many seem to be quoting his alleged letter to Iqbal Singh, expressing support for his fight for Sikh rights and Pro-Khalistan terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar. Back in 2014 Kejriwal had supported clemency for Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar the pro-Khalistan terrorist imprisoned in the 1993 Delhi blast case by writing a letter for the same to the President of India.

The tweeples from Pakistan now seem to be trending #KejriwalRisesForSikhRights. We managed to compile some tweets of the Pakistani users who were all praise for Kejriwal.

AAP putting Arvind Kejriwal and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in their campaign posters.
AAP putting Arvind Kejriwal and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in their campaign posters.

Guys, Grab your keyboards and start trending #KejriwalRisesForSikhRights as we salute Kejriwal Ji @rahulroushan pic.twitter.com/lmSJMcDFj3
— Farhan Khan Virk (@FarhanKVirk) November 28, 2016

#KejriwalRisesForSikhRights Thankyou Dehli CM Arwind for raising your voice for freedom Khalistan Leaders
Pakistan Salutes You 😎 pic.twitter.com/4fx9MyGxQf
— M. Hanzala Tayyab (@OfficialHanzala) November 28, 2016

#KejriwalRisesForSikhRights..Khalistan movement getting stronger day by day. .. pic.twitter.com/coUBLUSo6p
— Abida Munir (@abidamunir110) November 28, 2016

#KejriwalRisesForSikhRights Delhi CM is supporting plebiscite right of sikhs 🙂 pic.twitter.com/teS4bH4KbS
— Nomy Sahir (@Nomysahir) November 28, 2016

#KejriwalRisesForSikhRights it is good to know that Kejriwal wants freedom of all Sikh fighters 🙂 pic.twitter.com/xiLL70iCdl
— Nomy Sahir (@Nomysahir) November 28, 2016

Even though the fight for a separate country of Khalistan has almost died off in contemporary Punjab, support for the movement still continues in Pakistan and is also kept alive by some Sikh groups based in western countries. As recently as 2013 there was an assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Brar (the man who executed operation blue star) in the UK by pro-Khalistani Sikh gangs.

When it comes to Kejriwal and AAP, time and again they have been embroiled in allegations of being supportive to the Khalistani cause as reported by us about 2 years ago. It was also reported that Kejriwal and AAP seem to be almost wishing for votes in Punjab elections via the Khalistani cause. Apart from the reports, political parties and figures like, Congress Leader Amarinder Singh, Shiromani Akali dal and AAP’s own MP Dharamveer Gandhi have spoken about AAP receiving support from Pro-Khalistan radical Sikh groups. Again this February it was extensively reported about AAP blatently using Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in their campaign posters.

US Elections : Which Candidate is better for Indian Interest

Abhishek Jain
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US Elections : Which Candidate is better for Indian Interest

Come 9th November (IST) and the world will be holding its breath as US citizens vote for the most influential post in the world with far reaching effects, to choose who will be the 45th President of United States of America. Top 2 contenders at the moment are Donald Trump Presidential nominee for Republican Party and Hillary Clinton Presidential nominee for Democratic Party.  Both are neck to neck if one goes with the latest poll numbers as the difference in the lead is less than 4% among both candidates in the general poll numbers across US. Amongst many things which are at stake in this election it will also influence how the US-India relations emerge in the near future. From the available information we can gather an insight on what we might see if they are elected as presidents.

Many in media both in US and in India want to make sure Clinton wins as she has been part of the establishment which makes it easier for them to have the same status-quo and nothing changes from the current dispensation.  One must also not forget the revelations from Wikileaks on how DNC was rigged to make sure Clinton wins against Sanders. But here we are talking about how both these candidates may influence decisions with regards to India. So what do we know about Clinton’s dealings with India? Well so far it hasn’t been good for India if one looks at some sequence of events in this chronology  from the time Bill Clinton became the President in 1992 till now. Listing some of the recent decisions taken by Clinton viz-a-viz India.

2009 : Bill Clinton friend and former Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel is known to have anti-India returned as a senior adviser on Pakistan under then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

2009: Hillary Clinton backs talks with Taliban.(Effectively saying that there is a good Taliban and Bad Taliban)

2009-2012: Hillary Clinton carries on a get-Modi campaign against Narendra Modi.(Read here on how Obama reversed it post May 2014)

2013: Clinton Global Initiative partners with evangelical Christian group World Vision

2015: Huma Abedin, a key member of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign has close links with Jihadi’s which are funded by Saudi Arabia along with her mother were working radical Islamic  journal for 10 years.

2015: Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Christian missionary and India-baiter Tim Kaine admits Pakistan has connections to terror group LeT but praises Pakistan for fighting terrorists and advises India to have a better relationship with Pakistan

2016: Clinton Foundation donor linked to Pakistani arrested for corruption and harboring terrorists

Apart from this on many occasions Clinton has undermined India’s interests which has helped our enemies indirectly and made sure India suffered in long term. Over all she comes across as someone who is part of the establishment and wants to win this election at all costs. Also not to forget that she still thinks that Russia is the enemy number one for US and not the terrorism in the middle east, which of course will make it harder for India as we walk on the tight rope balancing our relationship with US and Russia as both of them are important global partners for India in the 21st century in various interest areas. Also recent Podesta leaks reveal that her campaign chief in 2015 also was sending funds to certain NGO’s and individuals which were involved in anti-India activities, including trying to block deals of Indian companies in other countries.

In short, Hilary Clinton has lied through her teeth about deleting 30,000 mails which became a major national security issue this election, rigged the party process to become the Presidential nominee and more importantly done huge amount of damage to India’s interest at Global level.

Donald Trump on the other hand is a completely new entity so far when it comes to politics. He has not served in any position of government so it is still bit unclear as to what his policy will be for South-East Asia if he wins the election but we have some interviews of his where he says that India is a partner of US and has all praises for the PM Narendra Modi, whose Visa also denied by the Obama Administration to US from 2008 on wards of which Hillary Clinton was also part of.

Trump has shown tough stand on illegal immigration and also on issuing visa to immigrant work force asking for more jobs for the American’s, this may be one of the factors which may not go down well for Indian work force which are looking to work in US on work Visa. But recently he is seen to be relenting and having a softer stand on this. But these flip-flops are not giving any confidence so far. Although to assure Indian Americans Trump recently held a rally to make his stand clear to the community.

Also if one goes by his statement on seeking India’s help with dealing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, its assuring that US under Trump will have a tougher stand when it comes to cross-border terrorism. Pakistan is already voicing it’s concern on the idea of Trump winning the election’s as it may dent US-Pakistan relations greatly calling is a ‘Nightmare‘ for them.  Many are skeptic that if he wins India will suffer economically but we are forgetting that China will suffer more which will indirectly help India boost its manufacturing capabilities.

Another important point is that Trump has clarity of thoughts when it comes to who is enemy of US and that it is the terrorism and not Russia. Even PM Modi has time and again emphasised this that all the countries need to come together to fight terrorism, also Trump doesn’t have hostile views with Russia which will go down well for India as far as foreign relations go. Trump has not done anything substantial to make us believe that he will be a better choice for Indian interest, people have argued about this in great length and here is another such argument about who will be better for India.

In the end we don’t know which candidate will win this election but whether its Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump it will be important as to how the NRI’s vote as both the candidates are trying to woo the 2.2 million strong Indian community in US. It will also decide how Indo-US elections move from here on as India aspires to become a world super power in terms of Economy and Military strength. India is a key player for US to check China so whoever wins will try to have good relations with India but how much of that will become reality only time will tell. People in India and outside better choose whom they are supporting more carefully after studying past history and what implications it holds for our future.

 

With Inputs from  A Gourav.

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