SpiceJet Operation Kaveri sudan

Spicejet Faces Ransomware Attack; Flights Impacted

Hundreds of SpiceJet airlines passengers were stranded at various airports due to a ransomware attack that impacted the morning flight departures on Wednesday.

Confirming the development, a spokesperson informed that a ransomware attack on Tuesday night had slowed down the departure of flights today morning.
“Certain SpiceJet systems faced an attempted ransomware attack last night that impacted and slowed down morning flight departures today. Our IT team has contained and rectified the situation and flights are operating normally now,” the SpiceJet tweeted after getting numerous queries over the delay in departure.

Meanwhile, as the passengers stuck at airports raised concerns over the delay the ground staff informed them that ‘the server was down’.

One of the passengers, Saurav Goyal tweeted, “Extremely poor customer service by flyspicejet. My flight to Srinagar SG 473 scheduled at 6.25 AM from Delhi today is still at the airport. The Staff has no clue and poor excuse is ‘server down’ so cannot take printouts. Passengers are suffering.” (ANI)

Amritsar Massacre – A Rebel’s Recount

A book written over a century back about Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh and two other massacres in British-ruled Punjab has lessons for the people and the rulers alike, of what has become of the Subcontinent today.

These lessons later; about the book first.  

Amritsar and Our Duty to India was the first expose in book form published within months of the events. It was accidentally discovered on the Internet and traced to the archives of an American university by Dr Mrinal Chatterjee, a writer and regional director at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Dhenkanal, Odisha.

The Cornell University bought it with “the income of the Sage Endowment, the Gift of Henry W. Sage.” The university says that “there is no known copyright restriction in the United States on reproduction of its text.”

The name of the book’s author may ring the bell among the old timers in India and Britain. Benjamin Guy Horniman, a Briton who became known as a “friend of India”, was editor of The Bombay Chronicle. The book carried photographs of the actual happenings at Jallianwala Bagh that he had managed to smuggle out.

Publishing reports and comments in his newspapers and in the British Labour Party’s mouthpiece the Daily Herald, Horniman successfully defied General Michael O’Dwyer who, as lieutenant governor, had imposed press censorship in the Punjab province.

Horniman called out General Reginald Dyer in whose presence hundreds of unarmed civilians, including women and children, were fired upon, calling it ‘Dyerarchy.’  The word gained currency in both India and Britain.

An angry British Indian government deported him to England. He was not allowed to return. Till in 1926, when he simply boarded a ship and landed in Madras.

Horniman’s objective was to inform world, in particular implore the British people, to question the justification given by Gen Reginald Dyer who had emerged a hero to many lawmakers. The British Parliament debated at length, but finally tilted in Dyer’s favour. The House of Lords, especially, ‘exonerated’ him.  

A century on, the book makes fascinating reading. Horniman calls the Amritsar massacre an ‘indelible blot on British rule in India’.

“It is impossible to believe that the people of England could ever be persuaded that a British General was justified in, or could be excused for, marching up to a great crowd of unarmed and wholly defenceless people and, without a word of warning or order to disperse, shooting them down until his ammunition was exhausted and then leaving them without medical aid.” he wrote.

ALSO READ: Jallianwala Bagh – Will An Apology A Century Late Help?

Quoting General Dyer’s defence, Horniman exposes the British hypocrisy: “He felt his orders had not been obeyed. Martial law — which did not then exist — had been flouted, and he considered it his duty to disperse the crowd by rapid fire.”

Horniman reminded the British people of their responsibility and duty. “The ‘Dyerarchy’ did not end with the Jallianwala massacre, the disgrace was brought to further depths” by what followed during the six weeks of administration of the martial law under Gen Dyer in Lahore and Kasur, but did not generate as much controversy and debate as Amritsar.

Public floggings and ‘crawling order’ were the rule of the day to be followed by arrests, bombing and firing at Gujranwala. “Floggings took place in public, and photographic records of these disgusting incidents are in existence, showing that the victims were stripped naked to the knees, tied to telegraph poles or triangles,” Horniman records.

Horniman’s power of the pen did not bend the British. But it fuelled India’s freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi who issued a statement condemning British Raj’s treatment of the editor. “Mr Horniman is a very brave and generous Englishman”, said Gandhi. “He has given us the mantra of liberty, he has fearlessly exposed wrong wherever he has seen it and has thus been an ornament to the race to which he belongs, and rendered it a great service. Every Indian knows his services to India.”

Horniman notes that in Punjab, the oppression reached such a pitch that nowhere else than in Punjab, “the Defence of India Act, with its host of liberty-destroying regulations” was applied with such great intensity.

He rejected the government-constituted Hunter Committee’s one-sided report and called for a fresh probe. “After the revelations of the Hunter Committee, Great Britain cannot, if she is to maintain her honour before the world, remain quiescent… she will have to see whether the intention to terrorise the people of the Punjab was deliberate and prearranged.”

“British honour and good faith are gravely imperilled in India to-day. If the general character of our officials, civil and military, who are entrusted with dangerous powers in such countries as India, were such that outbreaks of terrorism of the kind we have seen in the Punjab are liable to occur at any time, we should be compelled to frankly abandon our claim to be a justice and humanity-loving people. However ugly the facts we must investigate and face them,” wrote Horniman.

The British treating India, the ‘Cinderella of the Empire’, would incite problems in other colonies, he warned. He fought, not just for the Punjab, but also for the farmers and workers in Bombay, political activists in Bengal and supported Madras-based Dr Annie Beasant’s Home Rule League.

He performed multiple tasks – of a journalist/ commentator, a participant and as an advocate of Gandhi’s Satyagraha, who explained to the Britons what it meant. He had a persuasive pen, filled with ink that smelt freedom, but not vitriol.

That he was a Briton, not part of the British imperialist system placed him in a class apart, a thorn in the rulers’ eye.  It is difficult to find a parallel in independent India with his level of commitment to the cause, and readiness to suffer the consequences, including court cases and detention. For that matter, also commitment of the profit-making private media to genuine press freedom.  

Horniman denounced the Defence of India Act and the Press Act used as tools by the British. Many of these laws have been retained in countries that were once part of British-ruled India. They have been updated and amended and presumably, made more stringent.

Of them, the sedition law taken notice of by the Supreme Court, is currently being debated in India. Read what Horniman had to say of the law then, and decide whether its essence has changed, no matter its current contexts and formulations.  

He writes: “India is blessed with a law of sedition, which is as comprehensive and severe as one would have thought ingenuity could make it…. A seditious document is defined in the code as one which instigates, or is likely to instigate, the use of criminal force against the King, the Government, or a public servant or servants.

“Many historical works, reports of trials, or mere curiosities of literature might be brought within so vague a description and the innocent possessor of such, being unable to achieve the impossible and prove that he had no intention that they should be published or circulated, be penalised under the proposed section. They might even come into his possession as waste paper, and be used to wrap up tea or sugar with the most alarming results in the shape of a suggestion that he had discovered a peculiarly subtle and cunning way of spreading sedition,” he writes.

Horniman is one of the seven “rebels against the Raj” in historian Ramachandra Guha’s book. After essaying his life and work, Guha says of the present times: “When newspapers and television channels so routinely take the side of the state, when the government of the day resorts to internments without trial, the spreading of lies, and the promotion of sectarian bigotry, Indian journalists with a spine and a conscience can take inspiration from an editor who, as Gandhi himself put it, so “fearlessly exposed wrong wherever he has seen it”.

The writer can be reached at mahendraved07@gmail.com

‘Gr Noida Authority Must Wake Up to the Traffic Terror In City’

Abhishek Kumar, head of the Noida Extension Flat Owner’s Welfare Association (Nefowa), narrates the hardships of homebuyers in the locality to LokMarg

With over one lakh flats spread over 70 high-rise housing societies in the Greater Noida West, the road infrastructure is horribly inadequate in the locale. The narrow roads, unplanned traffic management and poor driving sense collectively lead to huge jams and loss of man-hours every day. On weekends, driving in this so-called posh locality becomes a traffic mayhem, no less.

Such is the case when the occupancy in these towering gated housing communities is 50 per cent. I dread to imagine the situation when there is near-full occupancy here in the near future; how burdened the current road infrastructure will then be!

The Greater Noida Authority, the state agency responsible for planning, developing and regulating the region, seems the least bothered about the grave situation on the horizon. If civic authorities do not wake up now, there will be anarchy on the Greater Noida roads in a couple of years from now.

I hold the authority responsible for they favoured greedy builders at the cost of accompanying infrastructure. I will give you a practical example: there are no service lanes in Gaur City One and Two, no parking areas; in case of Gaur City Two, there is not even a garden area. Is this the way for our town-planners to develop a modern township?

ALSO READ: ‘We, The Residents Of Pakistan Gully In Gr Noida’

The residents pay a heavy price for the authority’s apathy. The police are flooded with calls for help to unclog roads every day. But they can only help to an extent, they are themselves stressed with such a heavy volume of vehicular movement. Road users are also to blame. Wrong side driving is rampant, illegal parking is also a major issue and encroachments on these already narrow roads contribute to creating new bottlenecks.

Many builders of the housing societies have very narrow, single-lane entry-exit points. A single vehicle breakdown can lead to long queues of vehicles in less than ten minutes as the rush is heavy in peak hours. There have been cases when people get stuck outside their apartments for 40 minutes; if they could step out of their cars, they would reach home in five minutes. I plead: spare a thought for some medical emergency and an ambulance stuck in this choc-a-bloc!

The real reason for this daily disorder in several parts of Greater Noida is that the land is largely occupied by housing apartments or shopping malls; parking space, service lanes, breathing space etc. be damned. The town-planners only had real estate in mind, not public spaces such as educational institutions, medical facilities or green covers.

The area is developed only for the homebuyers who are now being left to fend for themselves. Go fight your own daily battle. The authority must take this issue seriously, as the homebuyers will not remain silent for long. Greater Noida residents have invested their lives’ savings to buy a comfortable living space, not spend their precious time on roadblocks.

As told to Deepti Sharma

Konaseema District Re-Naming: Andhra MLA’s House Set On Fire

A tense situation prevailed in Andhra Pradesh after locals staged a protest on Tuesday against renaming the Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district by blocking the main roads and setting MLA P Satish’s house on fire.

After locals started stone-pelting and tried to set the residence of a minister on fire, police personnel resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd in the district and bring the situation under control. The protestors also vandalised the vehicles.
It was informed that more than 20 policemen were injured in the incident and a school bus was also set on fire.

“The local people and all political parties demanded the Konaseema district be renamed as Ambedkar Konaseema district. In this context, the Ambedkar Konaseema district was recently renamed. Dr BR Ambedkar was a great genius, the founder of the Indian Constitution, the Bharat Ratna, and he was an inspiration to many. It is painful to oppose the naming of a district after such a great man,” Taneti Vanitha, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister told media persons.

The minister said people should understand that the district name was changed on the behest of people’s wishes, while some are still deliberately trying to create riots.

She further warned that the action will be taken against the conspirators who started the protest in the district.

“There must be action against those who are causing trouble to people. I urge the authorities to take legal action against the agitators and those behind them,” she added. (ANI)

Delhi Riots: No Complaint Of Actual Violence ties Umar Khalid, Says Lawyer

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday heard the arguments on the bail plea of Umar Khalid, an accused in the larger conspiracy of northeast Delhi riots. Senior Advocate appearing for him argued that this is a case based on statements that are procured and drive the case, adding that no complaint of actual violence tied to him.

The High Court will continue hearing the petition tomorrow.
A division bench comprising Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Tuesday heard the submissions of senior advocate Tridip Pais appearing for Umar Khalid. The bench is hearing the plea on a daily basis.

Senior Advocate Pais started his arguments with the query raised by the court yesterday “was any sense of fear in the aftermath of protests ?”

He submitted that the mere sense of fear is not sufficient and the sense of fear alone is not the object of the definition.

Pais during his arguments covered two incidents of December 13 and 16, 2019, he questioned the statement of witnesses and Whatsapp chats procured by the police.

During the arguments, Pais submitted that there were 751 FIRs related to violence. None of the complaints of actual violence tied to Umar Khalid. Still, he is bearing the brunt of custody for the last two years. Charges are not framed even after two years and witnesses exceed 700-800.

Pais submitted that the Sharjeel and Saiful Islam were not introduced to protestors as alleged by the prosecution on the basis of statements of some witnesses recorded in August 2020. He argued that not a single witness in the charge sheet corroborated that Khalid introduced Sharjeel and Saiful Islam to protestors and others on December 13, 2019.

Senior counsel Pais questioned the statement of a protected witness that says JCC was started by Umar Khalid.

He submitted that the group was started by Kumail Fatima. Even she didn’t say that Umar Khalid started the group.

He also submitted that chats in DPSG groups run in volume. Khalid shares only four messages. If he was the mastermind then why did he has to send messages to the group, Pais argued.

This is a case where a statement is made in order to implicate. It doesn’t have any relation to violence in Delhi, Pais argued. He added that the entire preface of this matter is to frame people under UAPA solely by messages.

He argued that his client was bearing the brunt of imprisonment for two years as you have the statement. It’s not the investigation but statements which are procured that drive this case.

Pais also argued that there is a hoard of people calling for a chakka jam on December 22. None of them is accused. He submitted that the charge sheet is the imagination of the writer.

He read the portion of the charge sheet which mentioned the allegation of meeting Meeran Haider, and Khalid Saifi at Shaheen Bagh and raising another protest site at Khureji.

He dismissed the allegations saying that there is no statement, no CDR. He said that material is being fabricated intentionally to create prejudice against me. You don’t have a witness. Still, you can say anything in the charge sheet because this is UAPA.

Delhi Police had booked Umar Khalid and other accused in the larger conspiracy under the section of stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He was arrested on September 13, 2020. His bail application was dismissed by the trial court. He has challenged the said order denying bail to him. (ANI)

Modi Gifts Gond Art To New Australian PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gifted his newly elected Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese a Gond Art painting during his meeting with him on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo, Japan.

The historical evolution of ‘Gond’, also known as Pardhan painting or ‘Jangarh kalam,’ comes from a community of around four million people spread all over central India, Gonds have a recorded history of 1400 years.
Gond paintings are one of the most admired tribal art forms. The word ‘Gond’ comes from the expression ‘Kond’ which means ‘green mountain’.

These paintings, created by dots and lines, have been a part of pictorial art on walls and floors of Gonds and it is done with the construction and re-construction of each and every house, with locally available natural colours and materials like charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder, etc.

Gond art is considered very similar to Aboriginal art of Australia. The Aborigines have their own stories like the Gonds do about creation.

These two art forms are divided by thousands of miles of physical distance between their creators but are closely united and connected in their sentimentality and emotional core which are the definitive features of any art form.

PM Modi congratulated Prime Minister Albanese on his election victory. Both leaders reviewed the multi-faceted cooperation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defence manufacturing, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, science and technology, agricultural research, sports and people-to-people ties.

Both Prime Ministers affirmed their desire to continue the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship.

PM Modi extended an invitation to the Australian Prime Minister to visit India at an early date.

The PM Modi also gifted a Wooden Handcarved box with Rogan Painting to the Japanese PM, and Sanjhi Art work to US president Joe Biden. (ANI)

Amarnath Yatra: DIG NKR Baramulla Reviews Security Arrangements

Ahead of the Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra 2022, Deputy Inspector General of Police North Kashmir Range (NKR) Baramulla Udayabhaskar Billa, along with SSP Bandipora Mohammad Zahid visited Transit Camp Shadipora Sumbal and took stock of security arrangements there.

On this occasion, CO 45 BN CRPF and senior officers of the Army, and Police were also present.

During the visit, detailed arrangements and security review of all locations, en route including Transit camp Shadipora were discussed.

Senior officers also reviewed traffic management for smooth passage of Yatra convoys and the availability of parking places.

Moreover, SSP Bandipora was briefed in detail about security arrangements put in place on the yatra route and Transit Camp Shadipora for smooth upcoming Yatra-2022.

Further, DIG NKR directed all the officers to maintain the highest level of alertness and ensure proper access control and all necessary facilities to Yatries.

The officers reiterated better coordination at all levels for a smooth and peaceful Amaranth Yatra.

Earlier on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha reviewed the preparations for Amarnath Yatra at a high-level meeting in Raj Bhawan.

The Lt Governor fixed June 15 as the timeline for completing all works pertaining to Amarnath Yatra. He further directed officials to regularly monitor specific works in Anantnag and Ganderbal.

Sinha directed that adequate field staff of the Departments like Jal Shakti and Power should remain available for providing continuous services during the Yatra.

Pertinently, the Amarnath Yatra will commence on June 30 this year from both Pahalgam and Baltal routes. (ANI)

3 Former PMs Of Japan Call On Modi In Tokyo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met three former Prime Ministers of Japan ahead of a bilateral meeting with the current PM Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Tuesday.

These meetings with Yoshihide Suga, Shinzo Abe, and Yoshiro Mori illustrate the huge goodwill and personal chemistry of PM Modi with the Japanese PMs.
Yoshiro Mori is the current Chairperson of the Japan-India Association (JIA) while Shinzo Abe will be taking over this role shortly.

The JIA, established in 1903, is one of the oldest friendship associations in Japan. PM Modi appreciated the significant contributions made by JIA under the leadership of Mori in promoting exchanges between India and Japan in political, economic and cultural fields.

He also conveyed his best wishes to Shinzo Abe on his new responsibilities and looked forward to the JIA continuing its important role.

The leaders also discussed the broad canvas of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership as well as the shared vision of India and Japan for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Discussions were also held on ways to further promote cultural and people-to-people ties.

During his meeting with Yoshihide Suga, PM Modi thanked him for strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

They recalled their previous interactions, including their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the first in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC in September 2021.

Earlier today, PM Modi participated in the second in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo, along with leaders of other Japan, the US and Australia.

During the summit, leaders reiterated their shared commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes. (ANI)

Gyanvapi Mosque: Varanasi Court To Hear Muslim Side’s Plea On May 26

The Varanasi district court, hearing the civil suit on the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Viswanath temple complex dispute. will hear the Muslim side’s plea under Order 7 Rule 11 regarding the rejection of suit on May 26, that is, Thursday.

“The court has made it clear that it will hear the case on Order 7 Rule 11 on May 26. As per the court’s order, a copy of the videography and photography will be made available. All the pending petitions will be heard on the same day,” Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav told media persons.
The district court on Monday completed the hearing of arguments in the case and reserved its order for today.

Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, representing the Hindu side, on Tuesday, said that the Muslim side wanted the case dismissed.

Speaking to ANI, he said, “Muslim side presented their arguments yesterday, they said that the matter doesn’t meet the parameters of the Places of Worship Act. They wanted the matter dismissed. But we too presented our arguments before the Court.”

The hearing began in Varanasi court after the Supreme Court said it would not interfere with the Gyanvapi mosque survey and transferred the case to the lower court while noting the “complexities and sensitivities involved in the matter” would require a “more senior and experienced hand”.

The bench said the District Judge should decide the maintainability of the civil suit in the case on priority as sought by Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Varanasi.

After the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi concluded, lawyers representing Hindu petitioners claimed that a Shivling was found in the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex.

The claim was disputed by the mosque committee members who said it was part of the water fountain in the wazoo khana. On May 16, the Varanasi court ordered the sealing of part of the mosque.

The Supreme Court ordered the Varanasi district magistrate to ensure the area where a shivling was purportedly found is protected without obstructing the Muslim community’s right to worship.

The Court had appointed an official and a team of lawyers to conduct an inspection at Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi in connection with a plea seeking access to a Hindu temple behind it.

A lawyer had also filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court seeking impleadment in the Gyanvapi mosque case stating that a mosque constructed on temple land cannot be a mosque.

The application was filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay who had earlier filed a petition challenging the Constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 (Act).

Five Hindu women have sought round-the-year access to pray at “a shrine behind the western wall of the mosque complex”. The site is currently made open for Hindu prayers once a year. (ANI)

Assam: CM Himanta Reviews Flood Situation

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the flood and landslide-hit Assam’s Dima Hasao district and reviewed the situation on Tuesday.

The chief minister visited the relief camps set up at Lower Haflong High School and Lower Haflong LP school in Assam’s Haflong and interacted with the inmates there.
He also took stock of the road at Lower Haflong which was totally destroyed due to landslides.

Earlier in the month, torrential rains washed away a portion of a road in the Haflong area in Assam’s Dima Hasao district.

Assam State Disaster Management Authority informed that landslides reported so far are from 12 villages in the Dima Hasao district. “Around 80 houses are severely affected, 3 people dead in Haflong area,” the official said.

Meanwhile, over 7.19 lakh people have been affected in 22 of the state’s 34 districts. (ANI)