Bhakts surrender unconditionally to ‘God-like Modi’ – Part II

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November 6, 2018

In part one we were discussing Modi worshippers, yes, they are prominently there but there is another side too, which is called selective bias. Haters will always be around no matter whosoever it is. There’s a tendency called ‘Cognitive Bias’ in which people look at the things or judge them from their perspective only rather than looking at the things as they are! It’s not that Modi has flopped as PM but there are remarkable developments worth noticing.

For example, bitter neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia have become close allies. And the rest are on Checkmate with sheer brute force. He has promoted Clean India and gave broom in the hands of every celebrity, rich and lavish people. Now cleanliness is not prerogative of only safai karmachari, sweepers or class four staff. He made it a point that each one of us including him is responsible for the cleanliness for this nation, which is really a wonderful stand as the head of the nation. Yoga, India’s gift to mankind has international acclaim today and a World Day dedicated to it. Because one man, PM Modi who emphasised the importance of India, its vast cultural heritage upon the entire world and now after decades of being looked down upon as a country of snake charmers, the world is looking up to India as a Super Nation.

Namami Gange, the project to clean Ganga might not have achieved assured success but something has begun to change. We, as Indians, have criminally ignored the stupendous importance of the waters of the Ganges. The waters of the Ganges by its virtues contain Bacteriophage, which is a virus that infects and kills bacteria and that is why the water was always pure. The reason why Gangajal is so important for every Indian ritual, but we chose to pollute it so badly that it has now become imperative to take drastic steps to ensure that the mighty river does not die. It takes a man of intelligence to take up the right project at the right time. How often do we come across a regular person who works 18 hours a day for his own family? He does it, for his country. You might say he is the PM, but has any previous PM done that? To a man who gave a slogan Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, is it fair that we do not assist him? We crib and complain but yet we expect Acche Din. To take it further, he has also emphasised the need for the association of nations to create a better place to live.

And before you list down your reasons to hate Modi, visit India on a broader scale. The progressive change in rural India can be credited to Narendra Modi too.

One needs to compare the progress of the country on all fronts combined to understand that the fruits that shall be reaped will collectively be gigantic.

To those who cry each day over trivial matters, they have not understood the intricacies of his work because he has taken all the measures together but then when there is an epidemic you need to make that clean sweep. Some good gets swept out too but the disease is definitely eradicated. Yes, few of the previous PMs have done their duties and some have taken few major steps but how many have been able to do it all?

Maybe these are the reasons, the Bhakts, most whom are highly educated, lose their cognisance and intuition when it comes to anything related to their supreme leader and their ulterior dream of establishing a theocratic state. Bhakts are who they are and part and parcel of this society. They not only love their leader but also silently love the serenity of their nation, they go wild and violent when the rights of Hindu’s are at stake because they firmly believe that the nation is for everyone but they, as one majority of the population should not be oppressed under appeasement. They should be given dignity as Hindu’s in Hindustan. They have faith in their religious leaders, whom they feel as custodian and guard of their fundamental rights as majority citizen of the nation. It’s kind of natural that when you ‘like’ a particular thing, your mind becomes biased towards that thing. You will give a number of reasons or I should say your opinions (subjective) as to why that particular thing is good. But when you ‘hate’ a particular thing your mind becomes biased. So basically, you form an opinion regarding that thing on the basis of whether you like it or not. Similarly, in this case, a lot of people just hate Modi because that’s what their opinions regarding him are.

While forming an opinion some people are extremely critical. They consider each and every negative thing and form an opinion on the basis of that. Some people are easy going, so they consider the positive things first and ignore the negative ones and form opinions. Some people form opinions just by listening to the opinions of other people.

Those who hate him will never acknowledge even the good things done by him due to the cognitive bias or should I say due to negative image they have formed about him in their minds and they just don’t want to change it. They just don’t want to believe that Modi is a good PM. On the other notes, people who love him will justify even his wrong deeds. They will defend and justify all his actions. They will not criticise him even if he has done something wrong as they have formed a positive opinion regarding him in their minds and it hurts them to go against it.

Hence, people should be open-minded and they should think rationally about everything by considering all the possible aspects to form an opinion. They should perceive the things as they are rather than looking at the things from their point of view. If Modi is doing something great we should appreciate and acknowledge his efforts. In the end, it’s all about opinions; it’s not good to have a prejudice regarding things, so make sure you form opinions rationally!

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Joblessness giving rise to online fake job traps

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Scams in India is not a new term to learn but the young aspirants are falling in this new age trap called ‘online jobs’. It is being noticed that several websites are filled with fake but alluring job advertisements where they ask for money and later, they go out of contact leaving the aspirants cheated. After receiving an immense number of complaints, the particular website’s customer care promises to take actions but in reality, the portal remains to be loaded with such job notices. Apart from that, even well known social networking platform’s groups or pages contain fake freelancing and work from home jobs offers.

Most of the time, it becomes difficult for the youth to analyse if the job one is applying for is true or fake as scammers are increasing rapidly with more and more fake opportunities to earn more money within less timeframe are appearing on such job search portals to lure them into the trick. However, in a majority of the cases, it is been observed that the main motive behind these scams is to extract hard-earned money from the candidates and disappear.

Abhinav Shukla, a bank employee recalled an instance stating, “I had heard of such frauds on these websites when one of my friends fell in the trap of one such employer there. While they he didn’t ask any money from her but she wrote content for that person for a month and later, was denied of payment. We failed to track the person and even the platform website tried to get away saying it was the employee’s responsibility to judge the reliability! Through your newspaper, I want to ask, why is it so? If they are running a website and providing a platform to post jobs, they should also be responsible for the same. Such private entities are hand in gloves with those cheaters!”

Another way to loot the candidate, not only youth but also those looking for part time jobs, is by asking for registration and to provide legal documents and personal information including their social security number, credit card information, and bank account information. The information is then used to access your bank account or your credit cards and to steal your identity. At times, they promise to pay a good amount of money and make the employee work but later disappear without any prior guidance.

Bano Bee, a retired employee of the government of Rajasthan expressed his experienced saying, “As per my experience, I can say that these online jobs look alluring but there are so many hidden things which they won’t tell you. When you complete the assignment and send the same, either you may not receive your payments or it may be less what you were promised or they will tell you that there are so many mistakes or the work was not up to the mark, etc. So only go for jobs which are assigned by reputed companies or only if you know the people.”

In today’s time, one must always stay one step ahead and be wise to choose before applying for the jobs in order to avoid from being a scapegoat to such online swindlers. Before providing any information, there must be a check on the company’s website to make sure that the company is secure by looking at its website. Tricksters have also become very crafty these days, which is making it even more difficult to find out whether it is a fake job or a legitimate one. They use the name of prominent organisations. Albeit, it is an open platform for everyone, hence, stringent measures need to be taken to refrain the applicants from such frauds.

Mahashweta Ghosh, a freelancer commented, “I agree that there might be people who got cheated from these websites, but why do expect everything around us to be genuine all the time? We should be careful with our every step and the job market is no exception. At the same time, can’t really blame our youth. Rise in unemployment in the country has made the job seeking youth impatient. These websites must be given strict notice to make their platform fraud-free while my suggestion to the young chaps is that please be smart enough and choose wisely.”

There are several platforms or consumer complaints forum in India to register grievances. Nonetheless, the responses towards the dissatisfaction are given for the namesake and later, no heed is paid to those whines of the beginners aiming to sow their seeds for the success.

Elgaar Parishad case: Activist Ferreira alleges assault by police

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Activist Arun Ferreira, who was arrested in August for alleged Maoist links along with others, on Tuesday told a court here that he was “hit” by the investigating officer.

In a submission made before additional sessions court judge R V Adone through his lawyer Sidharth Patil, Ferreira said he was “hit” on his face “eight to ten times” by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Shivaji Pawar on November 4 during interrogation.

The ACP is the investigating officer (IO) in the Elgar Parishad case. He was not available for comments.

Police had claimed that violence erupted in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune on January 1, a day after “provocative speeches” were made at the Elgaar Parishad conclave held in Pune city.

They had also alleged that Maoists supported the conclave.

Ferreira claimed that there was swelling on his right cheek due to the “attack”, and during the medical examination the next day, the medical officer at Sassoon General Hospital in Pune had recorded the same in the medical report.

His lawyer requested the court to preserve the report to avoid any “tampering”.

On Ferreira’s application seeking recording of his statement before the special court in this regard, the prosecution sought time till November 12 to file its response which was granted by the court.

In a simultaneous development, the court remanded Ferreira and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj to judicial custody till November 19, as sought by special public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar.

The prosecution said they were seeking the judicial custody of the trio “by reserving their right of police custody in future”.

The three accused were produced in the court, after their police custody expired Tuesday.

Ferreira and Gonsalves were taken into custody by Pune Police on October 26, after their bail pleas were rejected by a local court.

District and Sessions Judge (Special Judge) K D Vadane had rejected the bail applications of Ferreira and Gonsalves along with that of Bharadwaj, observing that the material collected by the police, on the face of it, showed their alleged links with Maoists.

The Pune Police had arrested Ferreira, Gonsalves, Bharadwaj and two others — Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Gautam Navlakha — in August this year in connection with its probe into violence in Koregaon Bhima.

The police had claimed to have seized emails exchanged between them and top Maoist leaders following which the accused were put under house arrest on Supreme Court’s orders.

However, Navlakha was later released by the Delhi High Court.

Bombay HC refuses urgent hearing of Pahlaj Nihalani’s plea against CBFC

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Bombay High Court’s vacation bench on Tuesday refused to urgently hear Pahlaj Nihalani’s plea against Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) suggestion of approximately 20 cuts in his upcoming production ‘Rangeela Raja.’

The former CBFC chairman will now mention his plea before the court again on November 12.

Nihalani has claimed that the cuts suggested for his film were completely illogical and meaningless. “There is no vulgarity, no double meaning dialogues. Still I’ve been asked to delete a massive number of dialogues and scenes,” he had told agencies.

The producer had also alleged that the censor body did not give a timely review to his upcoming production, while multi-starrer ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ was given preference by the film body as chairman Prasoon Joshi is friends with Aamir Khan.

“My film was reviewed 40 days after applying. I was going to release my film on November 8. Thugs of Hindostan had applied 20 days after me. However, Prasoon Joshi who is good friends with Aamir Khan so he gave preference to his movie before my film,” said Nihalani.

He had also stated that the CBFC did not follow the set guidelines for reviewing a film within 21 days of the makers approaching the board.

With ‘Rangeela Raja’, Nihalani is reuniting with Bollywood actor Govinda after 25 years. They have earlier worked together in films including ‘Ilzaam’, ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ and ‘Aankhen’.

Govinda’s comeback film, ‘Rangeela Raja’ also stars Shakti Kapoor, Digangana Suryavanshi, Mishika Chourasia, and Anupama Agnihotri. It is scheduled to hit the big screens on November 16.

As the censor board chairman, Nihalani had faced flak for objecting to the word ‘intercourse’ in the promo of Anushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ and also for refusing to clear the women-centric film ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’.

SBI fraud: 8 bank officials, Harshad Mehta’s brother acquitted

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

A Mumbai court has acquitted nine people, including Ashwin Mehta, brother of 1992 securities scam kingpin Harshad Mehta, in a case of duping the State Bank of India (SBI) to the tune of Rs 105 crore.

Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, who presides over the special court set up for cases related to the 1992 securities scam, said in her judgement last week that there was no hesitation in holding that that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Ashwin Mehta was a constituted attorney of Harshad Mehta and also one of the stock brokers in his brother’s firms.

Apart from Ashwin Mehta, those acquitted are Rama Sitharaman, officer in-charge of securities division of the SBI, and seven other officials — Bhushan Raut, C Ravi Kumar, S Suresh Babu, P Muralidharan, Ashok Agarwal, Janardhan Bandhopadhyay and Shyam Sundar Gupta.

According to the prosecution, the bank’s officials in collusion with the Mehta brothers entered into a conspiracy to cheat SBI Caps, the investment banking branch of the country’s largest lender, to the tune of Rs 105 crore in the sale and purchase transactions of securities from 1991 to 1992.

SBI Caps routed all 24 transactions via Harshad Mehta and allegedly suffered a loss, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the prosecuting agency in the case.

The case against prime accused Harshad Mehta was ‘abated’ after he died in 2001.

The CBI claimed the fund diversion could not have taken place without the knowledge of the accused bank officers.

The court, however, accepted the defence arguments that the funds were diverted from the main branch of the bank and hence, the case against the accused officers, who were in the securities division, could not be accepted.

“In light of the various gaps and missing links left open by the prosecution, may be on account of death of Harshad Mehta and the discharge of many accused in the case from time to time, the fact remains that the charge of conspiracy could not be proved,” the court said.

The court also noted that there was a major lacuna in the sanction given to prosecute the officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

60-yr-old woman killed in Thane

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

A 60-year-old woman was allegedly killed by unidentified persons here in Maharashtra, police said Tuesday.

The woman, identified as Rita Rony Rodrigues, was found lying dead with multiple stab wounds in her flat in the Mira Road area Monday evening, Thane rural police spokesperson Yuvraj Kalkutage said.

She lived alone and used to take tuitions in the house, he said.

The body was sent for postmortem and a case registered against the unidentified culprits under IPC section 302 (murder), he said, adding that a probe was on into the incident.

Cop mowed down by liquor mafia in Maharashtra

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

A police sub-inspector (SI) was crushed to death allegedly by liquor smugglers while he was on duty in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district Tuesday morning, police said.

Chhatrapati Chide, attached as SI to the Nagbhid police station in the neighbouring Chandrapur, and four other police personnel were conducting a routine check on vehicles against illegal transportation of liquor on the Gosikhurd canal road near Maushi-Chorgao village around 8 am.

On spotting a sport utility vehicle (SUV) heading towards Brahmapuri town, located about 110 kms from here, the policemen tried to stop it, an official at Nagbhid police station said.

While the police personnel were approaching the SUV, its driver took a reverse turn and allegedly crushed Chide under the vehicle’s rear wheels before speeding away, he said.

Chide was rushed to a hospital in Bramhapuri where he succumbed to his injuries, the official said.

Chandrapur’s Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Reddy said, “Our team was on a regular anti-liquor drive in the morning hours when the incident occurred.”

A search was on for the SUV and its driver, he added.

The Gosikhurd canal road was being used by the liquor mafia for illegal transportation of liquor to Chandrapur district where its sale and manufacture is banned, another police official said.

Apart from Chandrapur, Wardha, a place associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and Gadchiroli have also been declared ‘dry’ districts by the state government.

Devotees prevent woman at Sabarimala; police file cases

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Tension prevailed at the Lord Ayyappa temple on Tuesday as nearly 200 frenzied devotees tried to prevent a woman pilgrim, whom they suspected to be of menstrual age, from entering, prompting police to register cases against them.

Though there is hardly any rush of pilgrims during the annual “Sree Chitira Atta Thirunal”, the hill temple witnessed an unprecedented flow of devotees this time when it was opened for the two-day special puja Monday evening.

Clapping and chanting ‘Ayyappa saranam’, a huge crowd of devotees surrounded Lalitha Ravi (52), suspecting her to be of menstrual age, but police intervened and escorted her out.

The woman showed her Aadhaar card to them to prove that she did not belong to the “traditionally barred” age group of 10-50 years.

Police later escorted her to the shrine to offer prayers along with her other women relatives.

Hailing from Thrissur, Lalitha came to the hill temple with 19 relatives, including women, for her grandson’s ‘chorunnu’ (rice giving ceremony).

Police at sannidhanam said that a case has been registered against 200 “identifiable” persons in connection with the incident, based on her complaint.

Despite prohibitory orders, devotees and right-wing activists gathered in huge numbers at Sannidhanam, the shrine complex.

When the situation went out of control, senior RSS leader Valsan Thillankeri, who has been camping at the shrine complex since Monday, pacified the angry agitators and asked them to maintain calm and cautioned against alleged “unruly elements”, who could intrude to create trouble at the hill shrine.

He claimed he addressed the devotees to help the police.

Valsan also courted a controversy for allegedly violating the key tradition of the Sabarimala shrine by climbing the sacred 18 steps without carrying the customary ‘irumudikkettu’ (sacred offerings to Lord Ayyappa) on his head.

TV channels aired visuals of the Sangh leader standing on the golden steps, leading to the sanctum sanctorum.

However, he rejected the charges and said that he did carry the offerings while climbing the holy steps.

The Ayyappa temple opened Monday for the second time in three weeks for a two-day special puja amid unprecedented security over apprehension of protests by those opposing the Supreme Court order, allowing women of menstrual age there.

Hundreds of police personnel, including armed commandos, are keeping a tight vigil in the temple complex and nearby areas to prevent any untoward incident.

Faizabad district to be renamed as Ayodhya: UP CM

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Close on the heels of renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday announced that Faizabad district will henceforth be known as Ayodhya.

“Ayodhya is a symbol of our ‘aan, baan aur shaan’ (honour, pride, and prestige)” he said in the pilgrim town, about 120 km from state capital Lucknow.

“Nobody can do injustice to Ayodhya,” he said, adding that the holy city is identified by Lord Ram.

Adityanath was speaking on the occasion of “Deepotsav” on Diwali eve.

He also announced setting up of a medical college in the name of King Dashrath, father of Lord Ram, in the district.

Delhi’s air quality in ‘very poor’ category, to worsen after Diwali

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Afternoon Voice

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November 6, 2018

Delhi’s air quality was recorded as being in the ‘very poor’ category on Tuesday as winds continued to blow from regions where there is rampant stubble burning, authorities said, warning of a severe spike in pollution levels after Diwali even if “partial toxic crackers” are burnt compared with last year. Diwali is being celebrated in Delhi on Wednesday.

The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded as being 394 on Tuesday, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category, according to data by the Central Pollution Control Board.

On Monday, the AQI was recorded at the severe category of 434, the highest of the season, it said.

On Tuesday, the PM2.5 (particles in the air with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 micrometres) level was recorded at 243, while the PM10 (particles in the air with a diameter of fewer than 10 micrometres) was recorded at 372 in Delhi.

In Delhi NCR, the PM2.5 was recorded at 237 and PM10 was recorded at 366, the CPCB data said.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and between 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Twenty areas in Delhi recorded ‘severe’ air quality, while 13 areas recorded ‘very poor’ air quality.

Authorities attributed the continuous pollution to the change in wind direction, which is now blowing from the direction of stubble-burning areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Winds coming from north-westerly direction were bringing the influence of biomass-burning pollutants in Delhi-NCR, which may continue up to Wednesday morning, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology said.

Delhi’s air quality is expected to deteriorate to ‘severe plus emergency’ category after Diwali, the Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said.