Month: December 2020

Reliance Jio has written to the Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) seeking strict action against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for “unethical practices” and “unscrupulous violations” and to stop campaigns under which “false propaganda is being spread across the country to get some additional MNP port-ins” by “capitalising on the ongoing farmer protest in the northern parts of the country”.

In a letter to Secretary, TRAI, Reliance Jio said its letter was in furtherance of its letter of September 28, 2020 “highlighting the unethical and anti-competitive MNP (mobile number portability) campaign being run by Airtel and VIL to capitalise on the ongoing farmer protests in northern parts of the country”.

“We submit that despite the above submissions, these companies continue to remain directly/indirectly involved in supporting and furthering the insinuations and false and frivolous rumours of Reliance being an undue beneficiary of the farm laws, for unethical pecuniary benefits in the form of induced porting of RJIL customers,” the letter said.

It said that Airtel and VIL “remain unabated in pursuing this vicious and divisive campaign through its employees, agents and retailers”.

“They are inciting the public by making preposterous claims that migrating Jio mobile numbers to their networks would be an act of support to farmers’ protests,” said the letter written on December 10. The letter was accompanied by pictures of “misleading and inciteful campaign” across Punjab and other northern states.

“We reiterate that in order to reap meagre gains in port-in numbers, these service providers are intentionally defacing RJIL by depicting it as being against farmers and projecting themselves as farmer friendly, while at the same time intentionally fanning the anti- government protests. “

The letter said the campaign is not limited to northern states and “this false propaganda” is being spread across the country to get some additional MNP port-ins. The letter also contained “such campaigns in other states of the country like Maharashtra”.

It said the “these advertisements and behind-the-scenes unscrupulous defamation campaigns” were against the rules.

“You are once again requested to take strict action against these service providers for these unethical practices as well as unscrupulous violations and to issue necessary instructions to stop such campaigns with immediate effect and comply with regulatory framework in letter and spirit,” the letter said. (ANI)

Even as the winter season started getting intensified in the national capital, protestors continued with their agitation against the three farm laws at the Chilla border on Monday.

In the morning, a thick layer of smog surrounded parts of the national capital leading to decreased visibility.

Despite facing such adverse weather conditions, protestors seemed determined to protest against these farm laws.

Kuldeep Pandey, a protestor at the site, said, “Due to light rainfall early in the morning, the cold weather condition has intensified. We had tea and snacks in the morning. We are surviving in this cold weather only by the mercy of God.”

Another man said, “We do not have enough winter clothing. We are surviving only on God’s mercy. The government has not provided us any support.”

According to the India Meteorological Department, “Moderate to dense fog in isolated pockets over Delhi in the morning hours will be witnessed on 14th and 15th December. Dense to very dense fog in isolated pockets is very likely over north Uttar Pradesh during the next 5 days.”

An old man, said, “We are surviving here only by looking at the farmers’ determination against these black laws.”

Karan Yadav, a native of Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh who has come to protest, said, “We had tea and snacks. Only a few people have made arrangements by providing tents for nights. Otherwise, it is getting very difficult for us to keep ourselves warm.”

Farmers’ leaders have sit on a hunger strike from 8 am-5 pm at Tikri Border where the protest entered 17th day on Monday.

However, the government has held six rounds of talks with farmers’ organisations including the meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah offering changes to the laws and written assurances.

Farmers have been protesting at the borders of Delhi demanding the repeal of the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Ten organisations from various states such as Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Bihar and Haryana associated with All India Kisan Coordination Committee met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday to extend their support on three farm laws enacted by the government recently.

The committee submitted a memorandum to Tomar which said that some elements in the farmers’ agitation in some parts of the country, especially in Delhi, were trying to create misunderstanding among farmers about the farm laws.

“The three laws that have been passed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to liberate India’s agriculture system, we have come forward to support them. We know that some elements in the farmers’ agitation in some parts of the country, specially in Delhi, are trying to create misunderstanding in farmers. The dawn of freedom that is visible after our untiring efforts and long struggle, some elements are trying to create misunderstanding among farmers to turn it into dark night. To fulfil our responsibility towards crores of farmers of the country, we have come from different parts of the country to meet you,” the memorandum said.

“We have come here to show that farmers from different parts of the country are supporting these laws. We have been unhappy and also victims of the old mandi system. We do not want that the same system of exploitation is imposed on farmers under any condition,” it added.

The memorandum urged the government not to withdraw the three laws under the pressure of farmers’ agitation in some parts of the country.

“Because, if it happens, farmers from different parts of the country will be bound to come on the streets for their rights,” it said.

The memorandum also suggested the government to spread awareness about farm laws through campaigns.

It also urged the government to focus on introducing new-age technology in agriculture.

Agriculture Minister Tomar said after the meeting that members of All India Kisan Coordination Committee had come from Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar.

“They supported farm bills and gave us a letter on the same. They said that the Modi government has done this for the welfare of farmers and they welcome and support it,” he said.

Asked about a meeting with the leaders of protesting farmers, Tomar said the government has said it is ready for talks.

“We have said that we are ready for the talks. The government will definitely do it if their (farmer unions’) proposal comes…We want the discussions to be held clause by clause. They will give their opinion on our proposal, we will definitely hold further talks,” he said.

Farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws- Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Journalist Priya Ramani on Monday submitted before a Delhi court that speaking up on #MeToo is not a crime and such acts are of extreme courage that requires celebration and not defamation cases.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramani in the defamation case filed against her by former Union Minister MJ Akbar, told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey that she felt #MeToo gave a platform to women to unburden themselves.

“#MeToo came to India in 2018. It wasn’t a crime to speak up on the #MeToo platform. These are acts of extreme courage that require celebration. These are not the acts for which one should face defamation,” John said.

She also apprised the court that several people spoke up about past incidents and unburdened themselves. She again questioned Akbar’s reputation and said that many women spoke against former ministers.

Rebecca John said the case against her client Ramani was that she started it and thereafter people went crazy but her defence witness Ghazala Wahab herself said she tweeted on October 6, 2018, earlier than her client tweet.

She reiterated that Ramani spoke the truth in the public interest and good faith. As the hearing remained inconclusive, the court adjourned the matter for December 18.

MJ Akbar, the former Minister of State for External Affairs, had filed a defamation case against the journalist Priya Ramani for accusing him of sexual misconduct. Ramani was the first woman to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo campaign. The allegations levelled against him forced him to resign from the Union Cabinet on 17 October 2018. (ANI)

The Communist Party of China hasn’t made even little tweaks in its larger, nefarious agenda of systematically eliminating ethnic minority Uyghurs from its northwestern Xinjiang province, experts and Uyghur Muslims living in different parts of the world have said.

Various testimonies surfacing from non-Chinese world reveal that Beijing has in fact intensified its operations by putting more people in internment camps.

People who managed to escape the tyranny say all their family members who were left behind are now serving rigorous jail terms of 13 to 15 years.

Nursiman Abdureshid, an Uyghur Muslim who relocated herself to Turkey after she couldn’t find ways to attain higher education in China said that her family has been put behind bars for the simple reason that she managed to flee the country.

She hasn’t spoken to even one family member in over three years.”At that time I didn’t realise that they were taken to concentration camps but when I heard thousands of testimonies from people living abroad when they spoke about their families, I started to worry. But even today I don’t have any information. In 2018, I received a message from authorities that my family was arrested. I kept writing to Chinese officials and human rights organisations but didn’t get any kind of information. In June 2020, I got a phone call from the Chinese embassy in Turkey and they told me that my family was in prison,” said Nursiman while speaking at a virtual event organised by the Open Forum UK.

While Nursiman’s father and mother have been sentenced for 16 and 13 years respectively, her two brothers will also serve a combined rigorous jail term of two decades.

She says not just her but thousands of children are left alone with their entire families put in the internment camps. Another Uyghur Muslim, Rahime Mahmut, who has been living in UK for past two decades, said that it was the rapidly growing violent atmosphere in the region that made her flee the country.

She said that authorities were always keeping a check on her family and now her brothers have been put behind bars.

Rahime Mahmut, Project Director, World Uyghur Congress in the UK, said, “The disaster never stopped after the CCP occupied the region in 1949. They promised us autonomy in 1955 but it was never honoured. But the situation really worsened after the student movement. I have not been able to move to my country in the past two decades but at least I was speaking to my brothers and sisters. But one day, it was cut off. The last conversation I had with my brother was in January 2017. Every single story in the region is more horrible than the other. This is genocide. It has been taking place since 2017 and has been shielded from the international community”

Apart from sending Uyghurs to prisons, a systematic drive has been launched to control the birth rate in the region. Experts say it is an alternative way of ethnic cleansing.

“Birth control or forced abortions, which are aimed at preventing the population rise of an ethnic group are continuing and the evidence is there. It is also possible that the torture is directed in a way which is meant to destroy the Uyghur people in the region,” said Michael Polak, a member of the executive committee of the human rights lawyers association.

He said that under the genocide convention, the states can bring a case against a state (China) saying that the state is committing genocide and the international court of Justice gets to make that decision.

However, he added, “The countries are reticent because of Chinese economic clout. Islamic organisations have done very little. China is also putting up pressure on states around the world no to speak up about what is happening”.

The United States, he said, is the only country which has taken a few substantive actions against the Chinese. They have put restrictions on people involved or supporting the crime against the Uyghurs.

Experts say the USA could do it because it has bigger geopolitical clout than China. No other country has similar clout, therefore, doesn’t dare to stand to the blatant, inhumane atrocities committed by it. (ANI)

Kerala Catholic Reforms Movement (KCRM) members burnt the Catholic council calendar at different locations in Kerala on Sunday.

KCRM is protesting against the Thrissur arch diocese’s 2021 calendar that allegedly carries a photo of Bishop Franco Mulakkal who faces allegations of rape. As per reports, KCRM activists burnt copies of the March page that has his picture in Kollam, Kuruvilangad and Pala.

The Thrissur Diocese has been featuring Bishop Franco Mulakkal on its calendar for the last two years. Believers had expressed concerns earlier also. The repetition of the photo on the fresh calendar has led to the protest.

In June 2018, a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was the head of Latin Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar of raping her several times between 2014 and 2016. After several rounds of questioning, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kerala Police arrested the Bishop in September 2018. The SIT had filed the charge sheet against him last year. (ANI)

Gurnam Singh Chaduni, President, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Haryana) has said that the government is misleading everyone regarding the MSP.

“One thing the BJP is spreading that MSP will be given. Its ministers are repeatedly saying. The government is misleading everyone on MSP. Home Minister Amit Shah replied to us during 8th December meet that they can’t buy all 23 crops at MSP as its costs Rs 17 lakhs crores,” Gurnam Singh Chaduni said.

He added, “Centre will continue buying crops at the same amount, as they use to before, that’s what ‘buying at MSP’ means for them. But we can’t survive on that anymore. And Centre is not buying crops at MSP from all states.”

Gurnam Singh Chaduni was speaking from the Tikri border (Delhi-Haryana) border.

Farmers have been protesting on the outskirts of Delhi since late November 26 demanding the government to repeal the newly enacted farm laws. However, the government has held six rounds of talks with farmers’ organisations including the meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah offering changes to the laws and written assurances. (ANI)

Bollywood stars including Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha among many others on Monday remembered the late legendary actor Raj Kapoor on his 96th birth anniversary. By sharing a monochromatic photograph featuring Raj Kapoor, his wife Krishna and her father Randhir Kapoor, the ‘Tashan’ star penned a note remembering the iconic actor. She noted, “There will never be another… Happy birthday Dadaji.”

The ‘Raja Hindustani’ star and Kareena’s sister also shared an adorable childhood picture with her grandfather on Instagram and wrote, “So many learning’s from my Dadaji..remembering you on ur birthday.. #grandpalove #legend.”

Karisma’s cousin and daughter of late Rishi Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni shared a childhood picture with her other cousins sitting in the lap of their late grandfather. She noted alongside the throwback picture, “Miss you.”

Randhir Kapoor’s mother Neetu Kapoor shared a picture from her wedding on the occasion. It has Rishi and Raj Kapoor in the frame. “Remember n miss both of them !!!”

The ‘Naseeb’ actor – Shatrughan Sinha dug out priceless throwback picture with the ‘Shri 420’ star and marked the occasion of his birth anniversary.

He tweeted “Remembering with warmth & fondness the 1st & the best showman of Indian cinema, handsome, debonair, most talented actor, producer, director, late & great #RajKapoor on his birth anniversary. He has been my greatest motivator, role model as I grew up watching his brilliant craft.”

Expressing his love for the ‘Great Showman’, he added, “Though, we hardly have any similarities, watching him has been my greatest learning experience in showbiz. Main Raj Kapoor ka deewana tha, deewana hu, aur deewana rahunga. His penchant for music, grandeur on celluloid have been a visual treat. Thank you for the creative brilliance you have left us to treasure for a lifetime.”

Film actor, producer and director — Raj Kapoor — is widely regarded as the greatest showman in the history of Indian cinema and entertainment. Winner of several accolades the iconic Bollywood star has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1971 for his contributions to the arts. In 1987, the late actor was bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. (ANI)

Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand on Monday announced that he is launching an academy for budding chess stars, and he will personally monitor the progress of young chess stars in the country.

Taking to Twitter, Anand wrote: “I am very excited to announce the launch of WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA). Very happy to partner with WestBridge Capital in realising a long dream of mine to nurture talent in India.”

Anand also revealed that there will be a fellowship program that will aim to take the junior chess stars to the top ranks.

“I will personally be monitoring their progress both as a person and as a chess player. This will be a fellowship program that will aim to take our most talented junior chess prodigies to the top ranks,” said Anand in another tweet.

Anand is a five-time world chess champion. He also went on to become the undisputed world champion in 2007, and he successfully defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008, Veselin Topalov in 2010, and Boris Gelfand in 2012.

In 2013, he lost the title to challenger Magnus Carlsen, and then he lost a rematch to Carlsen in 2014 after winning the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

The 51-year-old was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991-92. In 2007, he was then awarded India’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the first sportsperson to receive the award. (ANI)