Tag: India

  • All you need to know about Indian farmers’ protests as world shames Modi govt

    With international celebrities, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, voicing concerns over the law and order situation in India as farmers continue to give the Narendra Modi-government a tough time while seeking fulfillment of their demands, ‘#FarmersProtest’ has become the top trend on Twitter even beyond Indian borders — in Pakistan.

    But what do the protesters, who have now been on roads for two months, really want?

    The ongoing demonstrations caught most attention when Indian law enforcement resorted to violence against the farmers who had converged on New Delhi on the country’s Republic Day.

    According to Associated Press (AP), farmers hailing from northern Punjab and Haryana states, the two biggest agricultural producers, are demanding the repeal of laws passed by the parliament in September that they say will favor large corporate farms, devastate the earnings of many farmers and leave those who hold small plots behind as big corporations win out.

    Modi has billed the laws as necessary to modernise Indian farming.

    In recent weeks, people who are not farmers have also joined in, and the protests gained momentum in November when the farmers tried to march into New Delhi but were stopped by police. Since then, they have promised to hunker down at the edge of the city until the laws are repealed.

    At the heart of these protests are Indian farmers’ fears that the government’s moves to introduce market reforms to the farming sector will leave them poorer — at a time when they are already frustrated over their declining clout as the government aims to turn India into a hub for global corporations.

    The new legislation is not clear on whether the government will continue to guarantee prices for certain essential crops — a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help India shore up its food reserves and prevent shortages.

    While the government has said it is willing to pledge the guaranteed prices will continue, the farmers are skeptical and want new legislation that says such prices are their legal right.

    Farmers also fear that the legislation signals the government is moving away from a system in which an overwhelming majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned marketplaces. They worry this will leave them at the mercy of corporations that will have no legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price anymore.

    The Modi government argues that this is designed to give farmers more choice in who to sell their produce to. It also says the legislation will benefit farmers by boosting production through private investment.

    The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months — but that has not satisfied farmers who want a full repeal.

    Clauses in the legislation also prevent farmers from taking contract disputes to courts, leaving them with no independent means of redress apart from government-appointed bureaucrats.

    These perceived threats to their income terrify India’s farmers, who are mostly smallholders as around 70% of them own less than 1 hectare of land.

  • Kangana Ranaut has a meltdown after Rihanna tweets about Indian farmers

    Just as expected, Kangana Ranaut had a meltdown after Rihanna extended her support for the ongoing farmers’ protest in India. Sharing an article which reported on the internet shut down in several districts of Haryana amid violent clashes between police and farmers over the weekend, the multi-Grammy award-winning singer said: “Why aren’t we talking about this?”

    Soon after Rihanna’s tweet, Kangana, who has been actively slamming those participating in the protests, reacted to the singer’s tweet calling her a “fool” and referring to the farmers as “terrorists”.

    “No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like the USA,” wrote an agitated Kangana.

    “Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies,” she added.

    https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1356640083546406913

    When Twitter user brought up an old tweet of Kangana’s in which she had said: “Alexa play Diamonds by Rihanna”, the actor lashed out saying: “I took over my account in August last year. Before that, it was a team fan page.”

    “Mujhe na pop music samajh aata hai, na hee main English gaane zyaada sunti hoon,” she added.

    Kangana then launched into a full blown attack against Rihanna, calling her a porn star and saying that there is nothing special about her.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has appreciated Rihanna’s gesture of support for the farmers.

    “You have earned the respect of every farmer of the world and particularly of Punjabis all around the world,” said Chaudhry in a tweet. “You have shown your heart is in the right place.”

    “Loads of respect,” he added.

    Farmer’s Protest

    Thousands of farmers have gathered at Delhi’s gateways to demand a repeal of the Centre’s three new farm laws. The protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana as well as Uttar Pradesh, are worried the new laws will eliminate the safety cushion of a Minimum Support Price and procurement system while rendering ineffective the mandi system that ensures earnings for various stakeholders in the farm sector.

  • Serial killer kills two more women after release on bail

    Serial killer kills two more women after release on bail

    Indian police have arrested a serial killer who allegedly murdered two more women after the court released him on bail.

    Hyderabad city police commissioner Anjani Kumar told the media that Maina Ramulu was involved in the murder of 18 women over the last 24 years and was arrested and convicted earlier in 16 cases of murder.

    Police said Ramulu became a psychopath at the age of 21 and started targetting married women after his wife eloped with her boyfriend.

    Hyderabad Police Task Force arrested 45-year-old Ramulu in the city in connection with the murder of two women in Ghatkesar and Siddipet towns in December 2020. According to police, Ramulu used to approach women in their 30s and intoxicate them by offering liquor and took them to isolated areas apparently to have sex.

    In many cases after killing women with stones or strangulating them, he would burn their faces by pouring alcohol to make identification difficult. He continued to commit the crimes even after serving an eight-year term in jail and coming out on bail.

    In the latest incident, he picked up one Venkatamma from a liquor vend in Yusufguda area of Hyderabad on December 30 and killed her at an isolated spot in Ghatkesar. The other victim, an unidentified woman in her 30s, was picked up from a vend to death at a village.

    After his first arrest in 2009, a local court sentenced Ramulu to life imprisonment on February 2011.

    During his sentence he was admitted to mental hospital for treatment. While he was in hospital he escaped with five other inmates on December 30, 2011.

    During the next two years, he committed five more murders on the borders of the city and was re-arrested by the police in May 2013. Later, he approached a high court for release and committed two more murders while on bail.

    “I suffered a lot because of what my wife did to me. I killed these women to see that others don’t suffer like me,” Maina Ramulu had told the police after his arrest.

  • Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    The Ministry of Defence has opposed a request seeking removal of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), saying he had been “interacting with hostile elements” including Indian intelligence agency RAW since 2008 and was likely to be involved in future publications against the interest of Pakistan, Dawn reported.

    The spymaster had landed in trouble after co-authoring a book, “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”, with Amarjit Singh Dulat, the former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in 2018.

    After the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence (MI) had written to the interior ministry to put Durrani’s name on the ECL and the same was done in May 2018. The former spymaster challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2019.

    In its para-wise comments submitted in response to Durrani’s petition in the IHC on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said the ex-ISI chief’s name was placed on the no-fly list for “his involvement in anti-state activities”. It said a perusal of the book The Spy Chronicles revealed that it contained “certain contents concerning [the] national security of Pakistan, being in contravention of the provisions of the Official Secrets Acts, 1923”.

    “It is further highlighted that there are [a] number of such publications on the way, supported by hostile elements which contain content to create misperception, confusions, question marks against the top leadership circles at country level and to target the common people,” reads the ministry’s response.

    It added that Durrani had been “affiliated/interacting with hostile elements especially Indian RAW since 2008”, saying although he had submitted an affidavit “committing to refrain from such activities” to the government, the same had still not been seen “in tangible terms”.

    According to the ministry’s reply, Rule 2(c) of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, 2010, authorised the federal government to prohibit a person from exiting Pakistan for a foreign destination if the said person is involved in “‘acts of terrorism or its conspiracy’, ‘heinous crimes’ and ‘threatening national security’”.

    Moreover, it said Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution clearly stated that the “freedom of movement and freedom of speech are subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by [the] law in the public interest and integrity, security or defence of Pakistan”.

    It said Durrani’s name could not be removed from ECL “at this stage” because inquiries being conducted against him were being finalised. It said the former ISI chief wanted to travel abroad with the intention of participating in international conferences, forums and talks which will have “serious national security implications as evident from the recently published book ‘Honour Among Spies’” — which was also authored by Durrani and published “through Indian publishers/RAW supported elements”, according to the defence ministry.

    “Moreover, the petitioner also appeared on social media on October 12 and 13, 2020, and expressed his views which of course cannot be well received by any patriotic citizen,” the ministry stated, continuing to defend the placement of Durrani’s name on ECL.

    The ex-ISI chief’s petition is expected to be taken up again by the IHC next month.

  • GDP growth in 2021: Pakistan likely at par with Nigeria at 1.5%; India at 11.5%, China at 8.1%

    GDP growth in 2021: Pakistan likely at par with Nigeria at 1.5%; India at 11.5%, China at 8.1%

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2021 but warned that there was still “extraordinary uncertainty” about the outlook.

    According to the latest World Economic Outlook forecast, the IMF projects global growth at 5.5%, which is higher than their previous forecast in October. Global growth will moderate to 4.2% growth in 2022, the IMF said.

    As per the forecast, Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the ongoing year will stand at 1.5% that it shares with Nigeria, while neighbouring India and China are likely to stand at staggering 11.5% and 8.1%, respectively.

    GDP is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.

    Malaysia’s growth is likely to stand at 7%, Turkey: 6%, Spain: 5.9%, France: 5.5%, the United States (US) 5.1%, Indonesia: 4.8%, the United Kingdom (UK): 4.5%, Mexico: 4.3%, Brazil: 3.6%, Canada: 3.6%, Germany: 3.5%, Japan: 3.1%, Russia: 3%, Italy: 3%, while the GDP growth of Saudi Arabia has been predicted to stand at 2.6%.

    The upgrade for this year reflects the positive effects from the start to vaccinations in some countries, additional fiscal support in the US and Japan, and at least a partial return to business and consumer normality as the health crisis wanes.

    “Much now depends on the outcome of this race between a mutating virus and vaccines to end the pandemic, and on the ability of policies to provide effective support until that happens,” said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath in a blog post accompanying the updated forecast.

    The global economy contracted by 3.5% in 2020, the worst peacetime contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the agency said.

    Close to 90 million people are expected to enter extreme poverty in 2020 and 2021, reversing the trends of the past two decades, the IMF said.

    Altogether, the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the global economy $22 trillion over 2020-2025 relative to pre-pandemic projected levels.

  • Republic Day: Thousands of protesting farmers converge on Indian capital in convoy of tractors

    In a high-profile protest against controversial agricultural reforms, tens of thousands of farmers drove a convoy of tractors festooned with brightly-coloured flags through the outskirts of India’s capital of New Delhi on the country’s Republic Day.

    Growers, angry at what they see as laws that help large, private buyers at the expense of producers, have been camped outside Delhi for almost two months.

    Thousands more, steering tractors bearing the flags of India and farm unions, had streamed in from neighbouring states for several days ahead of the rally, planned to coincide with celebrations of Republic Day.

    “Our word should travel around the world, that we are fighting for our living,” said Devinder Singh, a 36-year-old farmer from Punjab, seated on his tractor. “If we lose our farmland, how will we survive?” he asked.

    Some took to Twitter to dispel rumours of the Indian flag being removed from Delhi’s Red Fort.

    The protests have so far been peaceful, and farm leaders have urged rally participants to refrain from violence. 

    Authorities used trucks to barricade the main route to the site, where hundreds of police, some armed with assault rifles, tear gas, and a water cannon, stood guard.

    Although some protesters breached police barricades at Singh and Tikri, another site, early on Tuesday, there were no immediate reports of violence.

    https://twitter.com/swatijaihind/status/1353941486673379328?s=21

    Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers presents one of the biggest challenges to the authority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

    Nine rounds of talks between the government and the farmers’ unions have failed to end the protests, with farm leaders rejecting the government’s offer to delay the laws for 18 months, as they push for repeal.

    “The farm organisations have a very stronghold,” said Ambar Kumar Ghosh, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank.

    “They have the resources to mobilise support and to continue the protest for a long time. They have also been very successful in keeping the protest really focused.”

    Police have allowed farmers to rally along approved routes on the outskirts of Delhi. But the tractor march threatens to overshadow the annual Republic Day military parade in the centre of the capital on the anniversary of India’s 1950 adoption of its constitution.

    “They could have chosen any other day instead of January 26 but they have announced now,” Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told media on Monday. “Conducting the rally peacefully without any accident would be the concern for farmers as well as police administration.”

  • After ‘Tandav’, case filed against ‘Mirzapur’ for ‘damaging social harmony’

    After ‘Tandav’, case filed against ‘Mirzapur’ for ‘damaging social harmony’

    A case has been filed against the producers of Mirzapur, as well as Amazon Prime Video, for allegedly hurting “religious, social and regional sentiments” and “damaging social harmony”.

    As per the reports, the complainant, Arvind Chaturvedi, has alleged that the Amazon Prime Video show hurts religious, social, and regional sentiments and damages social harmony. Chaturvedi also claimed that the series has hurt religious beliefs and feelings by focusing on abusive and illicit relationships. It is pertinent to add here that Chaturvedi is a local journalist, who has also written a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The makers of the superhit web series have also been accused of spoiling the image of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

    An FIR has also been reportedly filed against Mirzapur producers Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, and Bhaumik Gondaliya. They have been charged under IPC sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC along with sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

    This is not the first time that the show has found itself embroiled in a controversy. Last year, a day after its release, Mirzapur’s MP Anupriya Patel had also demanded action against the show.

    In a tweet on October 24, 2020, MP Anupriya Patel had written that under the leadership of PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the city of Mirzapur has shown development and is “a centre of harmony”.

    The complaint against Mirzapur comes days after an FIR was lodged against the makers of Tandav. The recently-released show is facing backlash for its portrayal of Hindu Gods and it has been alleged that the show depicts them in a poor light. Several BJP leaders have called for a complete ban on the show.

    Tandav creator Ali Abbas Zafar on Tuesday announced that the cast and crew of the show has decided to implement changes in the series in order to pacify viewers who have been hurt because of the content.

    Zafar shared an official statement from the cast and crew of Tandav on Twitter and asserted that the team had no intentions to hurt or offend the sentiments of any caste, race, community, or religion.

    “We have the utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead,” read the statement.

    The team also thanked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guiding and supporting them in the matter.

    “We thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guidance and support in the matter. We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” it added.

    Earlier on Monday, the cast and crew of the political-drama had extended their apologies to the viewers for “unintentionally” hurting their sentiments.

  • #WesupportIqrar: Celebrities back Iqrarul Hassan after netizens demand apology for praising India

    #WesupportIqrar: Celebrities back Iqrarul Hassan after netizens demand apology for praising India

    Social media users are demanding an apology from television anchor Syed Iqrarul Hassan for praising India. The Sar-e-Aam host was replying to a tweet that stated that India is the ‘vaccine hub’ of the world.

    “India vs Pakistan,” Hassan had written in response to the tweet. “We are not even sure that we ordered the vaccine or not, banana to door ki baat (making it is another story).”

    “Muqabla kerna hai to taleem main kerain, science main kerain, khail main kerain, infrastructure main kerain, economy main kerain, technology main kerain … aur such ka samna kerain (If you want to compete, do it on the basis of education, science, sports, infrastructure, economy, technology … and face the truth).”

    Later, the television host also compared the public transport facilities of the two countries.

     Hassan then went on to highlight how even Pakistan’s currency is at a much lower value than other developing countries.

    Soon after these Tweets, Twitterati started calling him out and demanded an apology.

    https://twitter.com/yes_im_moonali/status/1350985716570972164?s=20

    Following the backlash, several celebrities, and social media users supported the anchor with the hashtag #WeSupportIqrar trending on social media. Shoaib Akhtar, Kamran Akmal, and Imran Ashraf were among those who came forward to defend the anchor.

    https://twitter.com/SyedGhayasAhma3/status/1351013489867948033?s=20

  • Pakistan Army ranked 10th strongest in world

    Pakistan Army ranked 10th strongest in world

    Pakistan has become the tenth most powerful country in the world in terms of military power, according to the Global Firepower index 2021.

    According to a report published by Global Firepower, Pakistan has surpassed Iran, Indonesia, Israel and Canada among others in terms of military power.

    The Global Firepower ranked the armies of 138 countries by taking into consideration a number of factors including the diversity of each country’s weapons, manpower, population, geography and state of development.

    The Global Firepower ranking utilises over 55 factors to determine a country’s PowerIndex score. The formula allows smaller, more technologically advanced countries to compete with larger, less developed ones.

    A perfect PwrIndex score is 0.0000, which is realistically unattainable. The closer countries are to that number, the more powerful their military is.

    In the list released for the year 2021, Pakistan has improved five places — 15th to 10th.

    While India has retained the fourth slot, Angola, Bulgaria and Syria have declined in the ranking.

    Among other prominent militaries that Pakistan has beaten are Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Australia.

  • VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    Media outlets from across the border, including India Today and NDTV, have apologised for airing a doctored video of Pakistani analyst and former diplomat Zafar Hilaly, wherein due to editing, he appeared to be supporting Indian claims of hundreds of casualties in the 2018 cross-border aggression by New Delhi.

    Several Indian television channels, newspapers and websites had carried the report by news agency ANI on Hilaly’s remarks that he made while speaking to a Pakistani media outlet over Indian claims of 300 terrorists dying in the Balakot airstrike on February 26, 2019.

    Besides ANI, India Today and NDTV, the story was reported by Republic, The Times of India, Moneycontrol, WION, Hindustan Times, NE Now, Odisha TV, Jagran, Swarajya, Lokmat, Oneindia, Deccan Herald, Business Today, Livemint, DNA, The Quint, News18 India, HW News, CNBC TV18 and ABP News among others.

    One of the reports said, “The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat, who regularly takes the Pakistan army side in TV debates, goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time.”

    Here’s how India Today reported the same:

    “India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead. Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military. We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike — a limited action — did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we’ll do only that much and won’t escalate,” ANI had quoted Hilaly as saying.

    But a fact-check by Alt News found that the comments were misreported. Hilaly also tweeted a video saying his statement was spliced and edited.

    In the debate posted on YouTube by HUM News as part of a programme called “Agenda Pakistan”, Hilaly had actually said, “What you did, India, was an act of war. By crossing the international boundary, India committed an act of war in which they intended to kill at least 300 people.”

    While the report has since been retracted by all outlets, here’s what India Today tweeted.

    BALAKOT AIRSTRIKE:

    The 2019 Balakot airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 27 when Indian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region of Kashmir, and dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in Pakistan.

    While India claimed having destroyed terror camps “established on the Pakistani side” with hundreds of terrorists dead, Pakistan had rebutted the claims and sent a group of both local and foreign journalists to the area to ascertain the facts by themselves.

    The episode had led to tensions running high between the two countries for months and embarrassment for India after Pakistan shot down one of its intruding fighter jets besides capturing an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot.

    What do you think of the yet another rather embarrassing moment for Indian media? Let The Current know in the comments…