Month: November 2020

Governor Shows Concern Over Arnab Goswami’s Safety

By LokMarg

Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari spoke to State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and conveyed to him his concern over the security and health of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, the Raj Bhavan stated on Monday.

The Governor also asked the Home Minister to allow Goswami’s family to meet and speak to him.

The Bombay High Court on Saturday reserved its order on a plea filed by Goswami challenging his arrest and seeking relief in connection with the 2018 abetment of suicide case.

Goswami and two others — Feroz Shaikh and Sarda — were on Wednesday sent to 14-day judicial custody by the Alibag district magistrate court in connection with Anvay Naik suicide case.

Earlier on Wednesday, Goswami was arrested in the death case of interior designer Anvay Naik, who allegedly died by suicide in Alibaug in May 2018. A suicide note purportedly written by Naik alleged that Goswami had not paid him his dues.

Goswami had alleged that he along with his mother-in-law, father-in-law, son, and wife have been physically assaulted. Mumbai Police entered Goswami’s residence and allegedly physically assaulted his family members and him.

The suicide case, in which a closure report was filed in 2019, was reopened after Naik’s wife Akshata approached a court. In September this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered a re-investigation into the case after a fresh complaint by Naik’s daughter. (ANI)

15 Farmers Go Missing After Clash With Police In Lahore

By LokMarg

Farmers protesting in Punjab last week demanding their rights have no clue about the whereabouts of their 15 colleagues who went missing after the police began baton charging their protest and arrested around 250 farmers on Multan Road, Dawn reported.

“In fact, the farmers, who were severely injured during the Wednesday mayhem – when police used the batons, water cannons and tear-gassed – were whisked away to unidentified places and are being treated before release. The farmers knew this (being kept at private police places) for the last three days and it has been confirmed by the Saturday returnees as well,” Malk Zulfiqar Awan, president of one wing of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), was quoted as saying.

He further said, “We will return to roads shortly. We are observing qul of the martyred leader Malik Ashfaq on Sunday (today). After that, we plan to call the meeting of the district presidents of the PKI and announce next round of protest. It is a fight for our rights and will be fought to the end.”

Condemning the police for resorting to baton charge on the protesters, Ch Muhammad Anwer, chairman of the PKI, said, “We were simply demonstrating for our rights. All those who came to negotiate on behalf of the government expressed sympathy to our cause and agreed to our demand being perfectly justified revision of wheat support price to Rs 2,000 per 40 kg.”

“We were demanding just a meeting either with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar or Prime Minister Imran Khan to persuade them on the rationality of our demand. We still have not been able to comprehend why police were unleashed and unleashed with such ferocity. Both Punjab and federal governments must remember that movements for rights cannot be controlled or killed with the police force. The PKI is going to convene meetings of all district presidents to chalk out next phase of protest,” he added.

Following the incident, farmers’ bodies in the province and civil society organisation have decided to support PKI in their protest.

“The government has killed a farmer but still it’s not listening to farmers. I have been to three districts today, attending farmers’ meeting and have seen a very high level of anger among them. The soon government take notice of all four issues – pricing of wheat, killing of a farmers’ leader, quick release of those still missing and factors behind police atrocity – the better it would be. Otherwise, the farmers may return to roads with more determination and anger,” said Farooq Tariq, general secretary of Kissan Rabita Committee. (ANI)

Narcotics Cell Raids Arjun Rampal’s Mumbai House

By LokMarg

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday conducted raids at residence and office premises of actor Arjun Rampal in Mumbai. The raids are still underway.

Earlier in the day, film producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s wife and four drug peddlers who were arrested by NCB in a drug-related case on Sunday were taken for their medical examination.

Meanwhile, Firoz Nadiadwala who was also summoned by the NCB, has just arrived at their office for interrogation. His wife and others have been produced before Court for remand.

On Sunday, NCB searched the house of film producer Nadiadwala and arrested his wife Shabana Saeed in connection with a drugs-recovery case.

The NCB said 10 gram of ganja was seized during the search, which was allegedly procured from another accused named Wahid Abdul Kadir Sheikh.

“A team of NCB officials intercepted one Shabana Saeed, wife of Firoz A Nadiadwala, from her home and searched her house in presence of two independent witnesses. This is a follow-up operation in connection with a case wherein a total of 717.1 gram of ganja, 74.1 gm charas and 95.1 gm MD (commercial quantity) were seized, along with Rs 3,58,610 cash, and four people were arrested,” said an official release issued by the NCB.

Sameer Wankhede, Zonal Director of the NCB, Mumbai, confirmed the arrest of Saeed.

“During the search, 10 gram of ganja, which was procured from accused Wahid Abdul Kadir Sheikh, was recovered. The said Shabana Saeed was issued a notice under Section 67 of the NDPS Act and after recording her statement, she was placed under arrest on November 8,” the release said. (ANI)

China’s Claims On Uyghurs Surveillance Belied Again

By LokMarg

While China continues to refute reports of ongoing atrocities on Uyghurs in Xinjiang region, another revelation has yet again confirmed Beijing using technology for surveillance on the ethnic minority community.

According to a report by IPVM, Dahua’s software, published on its website, was revealed to track Uyghurs, thus, confirming that Dahua had developed discriminatory software like its rival Hikvision, which promoted a Uyghur-detecting AI camera last year.

However, Dahua later deleted the source after IPVM tried to contact them and refused to comment on the issue.

Giving details about how the information spread out in the media, IPVM said, “The news first began spreading on Twitter after engineer Serge Bazanski (@q3k) posted lines of code from Dahua’s SDK showing “EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR”. Here, “NATION” is short for nationality in Chinese, the term being used by Beijing for the ethnic groups.

It further said, “After @q3k’s tweet, the news was widely shared on social media, including by Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong.”

On November 2, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist said in his tweet: “As #HK IT analysts found out, #Dahua, #China’s partially state-owned CCTV producer, includes special functions for detecting #Uyghurs w/ its products. Dahua reportedly helps #CCP to monitor Uyghurs & #Muslim minorities in #Xinjiang.”

IPVM further reported that over a dozen PRC police departments are deploying Uyghur analytics, which China’s top law enforcement agency even included in facial recognition guidelines.

“EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR” is a face attribute analytic that is widely deployed across Chinese police security camera networks to automatically determine whether a person is Uyghur (or not), IPVM said.

Despite receiving criticisms from around the world, China has continued to use facial recognition technology to keep an eye on the Uyghurs.

In 2019, the US government had imposed sanctions on Dahua and Hikvision over human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

According to an earlier report by The New York Times, Chinese companies offering such analytic include Megvil, SenseTime, Yitu, CloudWalk.

“The companies’ valuations soared in 2018 as China’s Ministry of Public Security, its top police agency, set aside billions of dollars under two government plans, called Skynet and Sharp Eyes, to computerize surveillance, policing and intelligence collection,” NYT reported.

About seven per cent of the Muslim population in Xinjiang has been incarcerated in an expanding network of “political re-education” camps, according to US officials and UN experts.

However, China regularly denies such mistreatment and said the camps provide vocational training.

People in the internment camps have said they are subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and denial of food and medicine, besides being prohibited from practising their religion or speaking their language. (ANI)

Erdogan Stifles Freedom Of Speech, Slaps Fine On Social Media

By LokMarg

By John Solomou

Turkey has imposed 1.1 million euro fines on digital media giants including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope and TikTok because they did not appoint official representatives in the country, as required by a new digital media law adopted this July.

In the past 17 years, Turkey’s authoritarian President Tayyip Erdogan managed to consolidate his control over the traditional media and this year turned his attention to the social media platforms, with a view to silencing any critical utterance about his policies.

The draconian new social media law envisages a fine of 10 million TL (1.1 million euro) to social media firms with more than one million users, for failing to open an office staffed by at least one representative responsible for investigations and legal proceedings before the deadline set.

Furthermore, the law compels social networks to remove content deemed to be offensive by Turkish authorities within 48 hours. Firms that fail to comply with the new provisions within 30 days will face an extra fine of 3.3 million euro, within another 30 days a ban on taking advertisements will take effect, and what is worse, within 3 months their bandwidth will be slashed by 50 or 90 percent by Turkish internet providers, which effectively means that their access to the internet will be blocked.

Governing the AKP party and Erdogan argue that the new law, which came into effect on 1st October, was needed to protect citizens from cybercrime and slander. Human rights groups and opposition parties see the new law as President Erdogan’s attempt to control the social media and silence his critics. According to Twitter, Turkey has submitted the highest number of requests to delete content and close accounts.

Apparently, Facebook has decided to clash with President Erdogan and refuses to establish a formal presence in Turkey, where it has about 51 million users. So far, Twitter and other large social media platforms have not given publicly an indication of their plans. Only the Russian social media platform VK conveyed the name of its representative to the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK). The new regulations may result in large internet platforms quitting the Turkish market.

Analysts, point out, however, that this will certainly anger the country’s large population of young people and may also harm Turkey’s AKP ruling party, which relies on social media to spread its political messages to youths.

Emma Sinclair-Webb, an expert on Turkey at the Human Rights Watch organization, says that many people living in Turkey use social media to access information that is not available in the traditional media — especially information that takes a critical view of the government. She says: “According to Germany’s Foreign Office, about 90% of Turkey’s media outlets are linked to the AKP (Erdogan’s party) through personal or financial contacts. The remaining newspapers and broadcasters have reportedly been starved of financing through tactics that include threatening customers who take out ads. Independent media outlets that used to be openly critical have begun to exercise more self-censorship. We strongly urge social media companies not to comply with the new law.”

It is a fact that about 90 percent of Turkish conventional media is now controlled by conglomerates close to the government. Regularly journalists are arrested on spurious terrorism charges. According to Amnesty International “Freedom in Turkey is under sustained and increasing attack. Since the failed coup attempt in 2016, academics, journalists and writers who criticize the government risk criminal investigation and prosecution, harassment and censorship.”

Reporters without Borders (RSF) said that the sale in March 2018 of Turkey’s largest media group, the Dogan Media Company, which included the daily Hurriyet and the CNN Turk, to pro-government Demiroren Holding was labelled the “death of media pluralism in Turkey.”

It is noted that according to Freedom House’s “2020 Freedom in the World Index”, Turkey continues to be classified as “Not Free”.

More than 120 journalists are still being held in Turkey’s jails, a global record, and the situation of the media in the country has not improved since the lifting of a two-year state of emergency last year, the International Press Institute, a global press watchdog, said.

OzgurOgret, Turkey Representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, points out that the Turkish government wants media “which totally parrot their agenda. The media are required in effect to report on the successes of the AKP governance, according to AKP itself. Of course that can hardly be the truth and the truth has been the enemy of authoritarian governments everywhere in history.”

Law professor and digital rights activist YamanAkdeniz wrote on Twitter that “a new and dark period in Turkey is starting. The aim is to silence. It is the intention of the government to clean its past from critical content, including news coverage of corruption allegations as well as all sorts of irregularities. Even without the new bill, Turkey blocked access to more than 400,000 websites by the end of 2019.”

Six years ago, when there were reports in the press and the social media that Erdogan was involved in a corruption scandal, the Turkish President had said: “We will not allow this nation to be devoured by YouTube, Facebook or whatever. We will take the necessary steps in the firmest way.” He kept his promise. (ANI)

Air Pollution In Delhi

Delhi Air Quality Continues To Be In ‘Severe’ Category

By LokMarg

Delhi residents faced heavy smog on Monday as the national capital continued to remain in the ‘severe’ air quality index category.

The Air Quality Index was at 472 in the ‘severe’ category at ITO. Air Quality Index (AQI) is at 484 in Anand Vihar, 470 in Mundka, 465 Okhla Phase 2 and 468 in Wazirpur, all in ‘severe category’, as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

With Diwali around the corner, the Delhi Government had already banned the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city to prevent further deterioration of air quality.

Air Quality between 0-50 is marked good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 is very poor and 401-500 is considered severe or hazardous. If experts are to be believed, people with breathing problems should prefer to work from home to avoid further deterioration of lungs.

A resident living near Okhla said, “Being an asthmatic patient, it is getting difficult for me to breathe in this city. The situation gets worse in the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, I prefer to work from home.” (ANI)

Kamala Achieved What She Wanted To, Says Aunt

By LokMarg

US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has achieved what she wanted to do, according to her maternal aunt Sarala Gopalan who lauded the Democrat for the poll victory.

“I am a doctor and I used to work in Chandigarh. Kamala has visited us a number times in Chandigarh and other places. We have always seen her (Kamala Harris) grow up as a good child. She was very good at whatever she did and she has achieved what she wanted to do,” she said.

Dr. Gopalan is the Chennai-based younger sister of Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan who was born in Chennai before she moved to the US for further studies. Shyamala was a leading cancer researcher and activist.

In her nomination acceptance speech earlier this year, Kamala Harris Harris had mentioned her aunts or chithis, as they are referred to in Tamil.

She added that the family is joyous about Kamala Harris scripting history by becoming the first woman and the first Vice-President-elect who is an Indian-American.

Kamala Harris’s maternal grandfather was born in Thulasenthirapuram, located about 320 km south of the city of Chennai. Shyamala was the daughter of PV Gopalan, a high-ranking civil servant.

The Democratic presidential candidate defeated President Donald Trump in a closely contested election and will be the 46th president of the United States.

In this, his third attempt at the White House, Biden, a four-decade Washington figure as a Senator and then a vice president, received more than 74 million votes, 4 million more than Trump, and more than any other presidential candidate. (ANI)

Republicans Split Over Conceding Electoral Defeat

By LokMarg

Republicans are split on the projected win by President-elect Joe Biden even as President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat, claiming widespread voter fraud.

Some GOP lawmakers were more accepting of Biden’s lead on Sunday, after he was projected the winner, while others leaned more into Trump’s narrative of voter fraud, championing legal challenges by his campaign, reported The Hill.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah is one of two Republican senators who congratulated the president-elect on his win on Saturday, although he said that Trump will ‘keep on fighting until the very end’.

“You’re not gonna change the nature of President Trump in these last days, apparently, of his presidency,” Romney said.

Moments after Biden was projected to be the winner of the US presidential elections, Trump refused to concede defeat, saying that the election was “far from over”, and promised legal challenges by his re-election campaign.

Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan said on Sunday that though any potential evidence of widespread voter fraud should be released, but he doesn’t believe anything will overturn the projected election results.

“There are legal processes if you think there are mistakes, but I don’t think we’re gonna see anything that’s gonna overturn this election,” The Hill quoted Hogan, who spoke to CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Senator Pat Toomey also said that the news outlets were ‘probably correct’ to declare the winner of the election but stated that there was a reason why the count was done.

Earlier, former President George W Bush also called Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to congratulate him on his election victory, while also congratulating Trump for a hard-fought election.

“They [the people] have spoken, and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government,” Bush said.

Trump’s campaign has filed several lawsuits to challenge the results in a few battleground states after the president spent months spreading unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots could open the election up to fraud, reported The Hill.

On the other hand, Senator Roy Blunt did not acknowledge Biden’s victory, instead noting that it was time for the President to present the facts, referring to allegations of voter fraud by the President.

“It’s time for the president’s lawyers to present the facts, and it’s time for those facts to speak for themselves,” Blunt told an American broadcast network.GOP South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem asserted that Biden’s win was the result of ‘illegal activities’.

Noem insisted that ‘computer glitches’ and reports of ‘dead people voting in Pennsylvania’ were examples of widespread fraud, reported New York Times.

“When you break the process on which we elect our leaders, you will break America forever,” she said.

“Every legal challenge should be heard,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader. “Then and only then will America decide who won the race.”

Likewise, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina urged Mr. Trump to refuse to concede and fight on.

“Do not accept the media’s declaration of Biden,” said Graham, on Fox News on Sunday morning. He called the election “contested” and urged: “Do not concede, Mr President. Fight hard.”

Meanwhile, several Republican leaders and lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence, have refrained from making comments on Biden’s win, which has left Trump to battle against the election results without the full vocal support of his party behind him.

Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, defeated Trump in a closely contested election and will be the 46th president of the United States. He is the oldest person elected President in the history of the US at the age of 78.

In his third attempt at the White House, Biden, a four-decade Washington figure as a Senator and then a vice president, received more than 74 million votes, 4 million more than Trump, and more than any other presidential candidate. (ANI)

Taapsee Shares Glimpse Of ‘Rashmi Rocket’

By LokMarg

All geared up to start the race in a track and field, actor Taapsee Pannu who is shooting for her upcoming sports-drama ‘Rashmi Rocket’, shared an intriguing glimpse from the film.

The ‘Thappad’ star posted a picture to Instagram in which she is seen standing amid a sprinter’s track as she is all pumped up to start the race.

In the snap, Pannu is captured tying her hair, while donning a blue sports tee and grey joggers as she stands ready to run on the track in front of her.

The ‘Pink’ actor captioned the capture as, “Let’s do this!#RashmiRocket. (along with a runner emoji)”

Celebrity followers including Bhumi Pednekar and more than 53,000 fans liked the post within 23 minutes of being posted.

Earlier in August, Taapsee announced that ‘Rashmi Rocket’ will hit the floors in November.

Beginning in the salt pans of Kutch, ‘Rashmi Rocket’ is known to be a story about a young girl from a village, blessed with a gift – ‘speed’. Due to her incredible speed, the village knows her as ‘rocket’. When she gets a chance to showcase her talent professionally, she excels but also realises that the race to the finish line is peppered with many hurdles, and what seems like an athletic contest turns into her personal battle for respect, honour, and even her identity.

Produced by Ronnie Screwvala along with Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya, the sports-drama is set to hit theatres in 2021. (ANI)

Melania Wants Trump To Concede Defeat In Elections

By LokMarg

US First Lady Melania Trump has joined other members of her husband Donald Trump’s inner circle asking him to accept his loss and concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden, informed a source familiar with the conversations.

The source said that although Melania has not publicly commented on the election, she has privately weighed in with her opinion, reported CNN.

“She has offered it, as she often does,” said the source.

Melania had earlier campaigned for her husband’s re-election campaign last month.Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and his senior adviser, had earlier approached the President about conceding the election, two sources told CNN.

The move came after Trump, in a statement, said that Biden is “rushing to falsely pose as the winner” and that the race is “far from over”.

Trump claimed that networks were helping the Democrat “falsely” pose as the winner and promised to fight the results in court, reported The Hill.

President-elect Joe Biden had defeated Trump in a closely contested election, securing his win by a victory in the state of Pennsylvania which took him past the electoral college threshold of 270 votes.

In this, his third attempt at the White House, Biden, a four-decade Washington figure as a Senator and then a vice president, received more than 74 million votes, 4 million more than Trump, and more than any other presidential candidate. (ANI)