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Self-Styled Film Critic Prashanth’s Hypocrisy Gets Exposed While Supporting DMK Govt’s Aadhar-EB Linking

By
The Commune
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Prashanth Rangasamy, a self-styled film critic and actor, was caught doing favorable propaganda for the DMK government’s scheme to link Aadhar with electricity connections, despite previously calling the same scheme as “imposing dictatorship” when it was being implemented by the Modi government.

The DMK government has instructed all those with an electricity connection in Tamil Nadu to link it with their Aadhar number, which many people interpret as an attempt to stop former Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s 100-unit free electricity scheme.

The ruling DMK government, which has previously opposed linking Aadhar with government schemes, has now asked electricity consumers to link their Aadhar with their EB connection. The same DMK government recently opposed linking voter ID to Aadhar to eliminate dual voters.

This hypocrisy of the DMK government in Aadhar linking has come under severe criticism from the people. As a result, the DMK government and its IT wing have been defending the government’s hypocrisy by citing the scheme’s importance. In one such attempt to hide the hypocrisy of DMK, a DMK supporter and social media influencer congratulated the DMK government on its achievement of linking one crore Aadhar cards to an EB connection.

A netizen named Vij Sriram pointed out that the same people who chastised the Modi government for linking Aadhar to government schemes now praise Stalin for the same scheme and that he thanked the DMK for coming to power so that these DMK sympathizers could be exposed.

After being exposed, the enraged YouTuber Prashanth demanded proof of where he undermined the Modi government’s scheme of linking Aadhar with government schemes.

Netizens users were quick to dig into Prashant’s previous tweets and posted a screenshot of his tweet opposing linking Aadhar with bank accounts, in which he stated that the Indian government was acting like a strict engineering college. He also referred to Modi as a dictator for carrying out the scheme.

Upon getting exposed, he tried to twist the context of his old tweet by saying that he opposed only the way it was implemented and not the scheme itself.

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TNMurasoli: DMK’s Unofficial Mouthpiece Tries To Prop Up Udhayanidhi’s Image, Ignores His Problematic Dynastic Privilege

By
The Commune
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The News Minute (TNM) which is popularly considered as the unofficial mouthpiece of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has published an article about actor-politician Udhayanidhi Stalin (son of MK Stalin and grandson of late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi), in an attempt to boost the image of the DMK’s crown prince.

The article titled as “Udhayanidhi becomes Cabinet Minister: What Stalin’s son has been doing so far” elaborates on his cinema and political career that he has crossed to become the Minister in his father’s government while conveniently ignoring his problematic past.

The article tries to paint a picture that Udhayanidhi Stalin’s elevation to become a Minister in his father’s cabinet was a natural progression owing to his own merit.

It exalts the cringeworthy incident of Udhayanidhi Stalin ‘AIIMS brick’ campaign ahead of 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections saying that the campaign “cemented Udhayanidhi Satlin’s win and his political career.”

However, the TNM article has ignored the instances when both the father-son duo had claimed that the latter wouldn’t enter politics let one become a minister.

In an interview with actress Sangeetha for Puthuyugam on 6 March 2014, Udhayanidhi had stated that he is not interested in politics and that it is not mandatory to enter politics if one is born into a political family. He also stated, “There are many people in the DMK who have worked hard for the party, and I believe they should be given prominent positions.”

On 6 August 2017, during the press meet for his mega-flop movie Pothuvaga En Manasu Thangam, Udhayanidhi stated that no one in his family or friends had asked him to enter politics and that he is not interested in doing so.

On 26 May 2011, Udhayanidhi stated that he will never enter politics in response to a fan who wished him good luck for his first film Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, and asked him to enter politics.

In another such instance on 23 July, 2011, he replied to a user named @robotag that he will not enter politics. These tweets and videos can be accessed in The Commune article here.

TNM portrays Udhayanidhi’s entry into and ‘success’ in the film industry as wholly innocuous.

It even subtly tries to elevate him to the levels of the late AIADMK founder-leader MG Ramachandran saying “While Udhayanidhi starred in romantic comedies where he played the carefree, boy next door, he began to take on more serious roles that revolved around social justice like Manithan, Nenjukku Needhi, and Kalaga Thalaivan.”

The TNM article also ignores how Udhayanidhi’s Red Giant Movies has completely taken over Tamil cinema and has emerged as a monopoly in the film production and distribution business.

Since the DMK took power in May 2021, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Films has distributed all major Tamil films. In several interviews, political commentator Savukku Shankar claimed that Udhayanithi’s involvement was the only reason why Gopuram Films Anbuchezhian forcibly sold Kamal Haasan starer Vikram to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant movies. He also stated that it was due to Udhayanidhi Stalin abusing his power as CM’s son that the film Maanadu was unable to be released for Diwali 2021 alongside Red Giant Movie’s Annathe starring Superstar Rajinikanth.

In the most recent instance of Udhayanidhi Stalin coercing theatre operators in Tamil Nadu, Vetti Pechu (Valai Pechu) Bismi claimed that Udhayanidhi has forced theatre operators who were planning to screen Vijay starer “Varisu” to screen his banner movie “Thunivu,” and that if they refuse, Udhayanidhi has refused to give them Avatar 2, another movie that Udhayanidhi is distributing.

Udhayanidhi And The Park Hotel Controversy:

‘Savukku’ Shankar in a recent interview revealed shocking information about Udhayanidhi Stalin. He claimed that in 2008, after a drunken brawl with “The Park” hotel staff, Udhayanidhi Stalin apparently pulled strings to demolish a portion of the hotel with the help of Ma Subramanian, the city’s mayor at the time.

Udhayanidhi Hummer Controversy:

Udhayanidhi Stalin surrendered his illegally imported Hummer Sports Utility Vehicle to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May 2013. The investigating agency wanted to seize the alleged ‘illegally’ imported vehicle. A Hummer car was imported in 2007 by Alex Joseph, a car importer based out of Hyderabad, who allegedly later sold it to Udhayanidhi. From 2007 to 2011, Joseph is alleged to have imported highly-priced cars from abroad to India evading Custom Duties and he counted the rich and powerful among his customers.

Udhayanidhi’s Political Track Record

Politicla analysts and observers have noted that the election of Udhayanidhi Stalin from the Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni itself was preset. Initially, BJP leader Khushbu Sundar was to contest from that constituency and had even commenced her campaigns there. However, she was later withdrawn and had to contest from Thousand Lights constituency. The Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni constituency given to a nondescript PMK leader, where the PMK has no significant presence thus paving way for a easy victory for Udhayanidhi.

After becoming MLA, when asked if he would like to be made minister, he had claimed that he wasn’t behind power and considered himself as a last-standing cadre of the DMK. He said that many seniors were in line ahead of him and he never wanted to become minister.

With TNM touting Udhayanidhi Stalin, a product of dynastic politics, who has now been coronated as the Minister in his father’s cabinet, as the future of DMK, it might rather consider renaming itself as TNMurasoli.

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An Open Letter To Union Finance Minister From An Income Tax Paying Citizen

By
Subash Ramasubramaniam
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Respected Madam,

I understand budget making for a diverse and mammoth country like India is a herculean task. It is a tightrope walk where in social justice has to be delivered while simultaneously taking care of the aspirations of the burgeoning middle class and the jobs-creating corporate.

It is that time of the year where you are having your ears to the ground taking inputs from across the spectrum which can help in the budget preparing process. As a common man and a finance professional, here are my humble suggestions on the personal taxation front to you to not only improve the budget process but also address long standing and repetitive demands.

1. Linking Of Income Tax Slabs Wth CPI 

The aspiring middle class places the demand for revising the tax slabs, basic exemption limit and the various exemption limits like 80 C and 80 D every other year. It would be worthwhile if you can consider linking these limits to the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) index and automatically revise it every year in line with CPI index. This would address the long-standing demand of the middle class who place the demand of hiking the limits every year. As inflation is an indirect tax on the poor and the middle class, linking the limits with CPI index will soothe the hearts and the soul of the middle class. It will also lend predictability and stability to the tax regime and help manage personal finances better for the middle class. And the basic exemption limit can be hiked to ₹8 lakhs in sync with EWS and OBC creamy layer cut-offs.

2. Rationalisation Of Income Tax Exemptions

This government’s nudge to migrate tax payers to the new tax regime hasn’t yielded fruit so far. The government can instead tweak old tax regime and rationalise it further. All exemptions like 80 C, 80 D, 80 E, housing loan exemption under Sec 24 and the numerous other exemptions under various other sections must be bundled together and an exemption limit of ₹6 lakhs can be provided to all tax payers under the old regime itself without any internal quota like limiting 80 C to ₹1.5 lakhs and 80 D to ₹25,000/₹50,000. Bundling all these popular exemption limits without any internal quota will provide the tax payers with greater flexibility, freedom to invest in equities and real estate or spend on school fees and take insurance as they wish to. Linking of exemption limits and tax slab with CPI together with this bundled exemption flexibility will be of great benefit to the middle class in planning their personal finances better.

Once this flexibility is provided, the government can even do away with Standard Deduction, 80 TTA, and allowances like LTA and HRA allowances which are always grey and provide an opportunity to evade or falsify records by tax payers.

3. Aligning Capital Gains Taxation Across All Asset Classes

Capital gains taxation varies across asset classes – both holding period and tax rate varies like for real estate, the holding period is two years to be considered as long term, for equity it is a year and for fixed income funds of mutual funds, it is three years. Similarly, the rate too differs across asset classes and so does the indexation benefit. Uniformity in duration, taxation and indexation benefit can be bought in across asset classes. A benign long-term rate of 10% and a short-term rate of 15% and a duration of 2 years can also be ushered in across asset classes to disincentivise evasion, increase collection and boost compliance better. Ushering in a benign tax slab for capital gains along with the doing away with the concept of indexation will go a long way in simplification of tax regime.

4. Clear Roadmap For Taxation

After rationalising the exemptions and the exemption limit, the Government of India must clearly specify that these taxation norms and limits will be in force for at least 20 years and that government will not retrospectively change them like the changes which were implemented few years back especially limiting the housing loan exemptions on the interest front to just ₹2 lakhs causing great difficulty to the middle class who took loans to buy a dream home hoping the exemptions will stay for 20 or 25 years. A clear roadmap on personal taxation is essential and such a roadmap will also improve the credibility of the government big.

5. Time-Bound Income Tax Return Processing And Despatch Of Refunds

Finance Ministry has to take special care and ensure all bugs are rectified on the income tax portal before 31 March 2023 and ensure the system is up and running as early as 1 April 2023 for filing of returns. That would be a record of sorts as the portal was never up and running on the very first day of a financial year for filing of returns. Similarly, a time bound processing of both the returns and refunds must be adopted and institutionalised.  Early bird incentives like faster processing of both returns and refunds must be given. Returns filed before 31 May of every year can be processed and refunds issued within a maximum of 15 days and for those filed after 31 May, the process must be completed in 30 days. Just like the government expect every citizen to pay taxes on time, an abiding citizen must be given the luxury of getting refunds within a stipulated period of time. The Finance Ministry  must give this commitment in the Budget and take the Government-Tax payer relationship to next level.

Thank you.

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Convicted Terrorist Perarivalan’s Guest Lecture At ACJ Cancelled

By
The Commune
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The National Law University (NLU) Delhi has announced that the 5th Annual Lecture in Criminal Law organized by its initiative Project 39 A has been cancelled.

A.G. Perarivalan, a terrorist convicted for assassinating former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was to deliver a guest lecture at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai on 17 December 2022.

The lecture of the convicted terrorist was titled “The denial of justice and a quest unfinished”.

The event was organized by Project 39 A, an initiative of National Law University Delhi, which also has a chapter at ACJ.

Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) based in Chennai, is considered as one of the top institutions in the country for media studies. It comes under the aegis of the Media Development Foundation headed by journalist Sashi Kumar. The Hindu’s N. Ram is also a founding trustee of the Media Development Foundation.

The platforming of a terrorist involved in the assassination of a former Indian Prime Minister by a premier media institution created a furore on social media. The issue was reported in The Commune on 9 December 2022.

Following the social media outrage, Project 39A of NLU Delhi announced that the lecture would be held online due to threats of violence and vandalism at the venue.

“We are committed to Perarivalan’s freedom to share his experience searching for justice through 31 years of imprisonment. In recognition of our responsibility towards the safety of those involved, the 5th Project 39A Annual Lecture will be held online (6PM: 17 December 2022).”

However, on 14 December 2022 the NLU Delhi has issued a circular stating that the 5th Annual Lecture in Criminal Law stands cancelled.

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India Sees 67% Increase In Medical Colleges Since 2014, MBBS Seats Up By 87% & PG Seats Up By 105%

By
The Commune
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According to the data submitted by the Union Ministry of Health And Family Welfare, India’s medical education infrastructure has seen a tremendous growth since 2014.

A total of 96,077 MBBS seats are available in the country out of which 51,712 in Government Medical Colleges and 44365 in Private Medical Colleges. There are 49,790 PG seats of National Medical Commission (NMC) available in the country, out of which 30,384 in Government Medical Colleges and 19,406 in Private Medical Colleges. There are also 12,648 Diplomate of National Board (DNB) / Fellowship of National Board (FNB) PG seats out of which 4185 in Government institutions and 8463 in Private institutions. In addition, 1621 PG seats are in College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS).

There is an increase of 67% in Medical Colleges from 387 before 2014 to 648 as of now. Further, there is an increase of 87% in MBBS seats from 51348 before 2014 to 96077 as of now and increase of 105% in PG seats from 31185 before 2014 to 64059 as of now.

The measures/steps taken by the Government to increase the opportunities for medical studies and expansion of medical education in the Country include: –

  1. Central Sector Scheme for establishment of new medical college by upgrading district/ referral hospital under which 94 new medical colleges are already functional out of 157 approved.
  2. Central Sector Scheme for strengthening/ upgradation of existing State Government/Central Government Medical Colleges to increase MBBS and PG seats.
  3. Central Sector Scheme for “Upgradation of Government Medical Colleges by construction of Super Specialty Blocks”. A total of 60 projects are complete out of 75 approved.
  4. Under the Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved. Undergraduate courses have started in 19 of these.
  5. Relaxation in the norms for setting up of Medical College in terms of requirement for faculty, staff, bed strength and other infrastructure.
  6. DNB qualification has been recognized for appointment as faculty to take care of shortage of faculty.
  7. Enhancement of age limit for appointment/ extension/ re-employment against posts of teachers/Dean/Principal/ Director in medical colleges upto 70 years.

As per information received from the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, the State in order to promote education in regional languages has taken a decision to impart medical education in Hindi as a pilot project.

(Published from PIB)

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DMK Min & Dravidian Stockist Journo Peddle Half-Truths About Centre’s Khelo India Scheme

By
The Commune
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DMK Minister Mano Thangaraj, in an attempt to peddle the usual DMK narrative of “North is flourishing, South is perishing”, was caught lying that the Central Government was treating the Tamil Nadu government unfairly and that they had allocated fewer funds to Tamil Nadu under the Khelo India scheme.

In a tweet on Monday (12 December 2022), the DMK Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Mano Thangaraj attached the data about the funds allocated to different states under the Khelo India scheme and said,” The Central Government has allocated ₹809.5 crores to states for sports development over a three-year period. Gujarat received ₹285 crores out of the total of ₹809.5 crores, while Tamil Nadu received only ₹4.32 crores. Isn’t this discrimination?”

This distorted data about the Kelo India scheme was circulated by the DMK IT wing and journalists supporting DMK.

One BR Aravindakashan of Sathiyam News, a Dravidian Stockist and a anti-Hindu bigot disguised as a journalist, tried to peddle the same half-truths shared by the DMK Minister. He added that the Central government is taking revenge on the Tamil people by allocating fewer funds to Tamil Nadu.

However, netizens were quick to point out the flaw in DMK Minister Mano Thangaraj’s argument, stating that the Khelo India scheme, to which the minister refers, is a demand-driven scheme, and that because the Tamil Nadu government did not demand money from the Central Government, Tamil Nadu received a smaller share of overall funds allotted.

According to the website’s description of the Khelo India scheme, “Khelo India Scheme is a demand-driven scheme under which projects are sanctioned regularly on the basis of proposals received from various State/UT Governments and other eligible entities from time to time. The timeline for the completion of sports infrastructure projects sanctioned under this scheme is two to three years. However, the responsibility of executing the projects rests with the grantees, who receive the financial assistance.”

It should be noted that BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai has previously criticized the DMK government in August 2022, for failing to use the Khelo India scheme to upgrade sports infrastructure in the state and for failing to secure adequate funding from the central government by not proposing sports-related schemes.

In a press release dated August 9, 2022, the Tamil Nadu BJP President said,”Under the Khelo India scheme, the central government provides funds to the state government based on the projects proposed by the state government. Other states, besides Tamil Nadu, are making good use of this scheme and improving the state’s sports infrastructure with financial assistance from the central government. However, the DMK government led by M.K.Stalin has failed to properly implement this program.”

This blatant misinformation pedddled by the DMK minister about the Khelo India scheme is seen as an attempt to conceal the DMK government’s failure to improve sports infrastructure in Tamil Nadu.

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Freedom Of Press Index By Reporters Without Borders Deserves To Be Junked To The Dustbin

By
The Commune
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Reporters Without Borders, a Paris based non-profit and non-governmental based organisation publishes the World Press Freedom Index report annually to evaluate the level of freedom that media gets in 180 countries. India was placed in 80th rank in its debut report in 2002, by then the rank gradually fell to 122 in 2010, 131 in 2012, 142 in 2021 and to 150 in 2022.

The report by Reporter Without Borders goes on to make blanket blatantly partisan political statements as follows:

“The prime example is undoubtedly the Reliance Industries group led by Mukesh Ambani, now a personal friend of Modi’s, who owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians.

It goes on to brand supporters of PM Modi and the Indian electorate who vote for him as “bhakts”.

“Indian journalists who are too critical of the government are subjected to all-out harassment and attack campaigns by Modi devotees known as bhakts.”, the reports says.

As usual, the usual suspects of the leftist media in India have resorted to satiating their political itch by  about making a huge hue and cry about India’s ranking in the index.

How Is the World Freedom of Press Index Calculated?

The index score is calculated based on two components, a qualitative analysis in which press freedom specialists like journalists, researchers, academics, correspondents, and human rights activists will be given an online questionnaire comprising 83 questions related to media freedom, media environment, self-censorship etc and a quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists, and these data will be compiled to arrive at a score.

An Erroneous Methodology

The criteria and methodology are raising serious concerns as they lack transparency. The Organisation has not made it public, the details of respondents, questionnaires, or weightage for each question. The sample size is very tiny and the composition of the sample size is unknown. The questions were answered by 18 Freedom of Expression NGOs, seems like the NGOs are funded by RWB. The correspondents select respondents, the basis and criteria for selection are unknown and opaque.

The questions posed is found irrelevant to the freedom of press, for example, “Is the news media able to achieve financial stability?”,“Are journalists threatened or influenced by corruption?”, Are journalists frequently convicted because of their work, whether for press offences or for common law crimes?”, “Are laws against terrorism, separatism and/or extremism used against journalists?” and so on. The answers to such questions can be highly biased and depend on the ideological mindset of respondents.

Even a legitimate legal process against any individual or media house is counted as an “abuse”, the RSF is basically attacking India’s sovereignty.

Essentially, the RSF seems to believe that no government should take action against journalists who indulge in illegalities or spread misinformation, and no individual can point this out.

Similarly, credible sources are not available for quantitative data on abuse and violence against journalists. The data was not authorised and published by Government agencies and no consultation was made with Government on authenticity.

That India has been ranked at 150 and apparently worse at press freedoms than Hong Kong, which is ranked at 148 says much about the credibility of RSF.

Not only India, many countries pointed out that the report lacked accountability and was opaque. As per NITI Aayog article, The SAB-UNESCO Chair of Media and Democracy at Rhodes University3 had stated “the Freedom of the Press Index (Freedom House) has a neo-liberal predisposition towards the state as predatory, always encroaching on media freedom and independence” – a similar conclusion may also be drawn regarding the WPFI.

The Press Council of India (PCI) had earlier rejected the India’s ranking and said that the report has lack of clarity which were perception-based, not data-driven.

Reporters Without Borders: A Problematic Entity

It’s clear that RSF’s indices, hilarious methodology and grading system do not reflect reality. Reporters Without Borders is supported by Open Society Foundations of George Soros, who had openly expressed his hatred towards nationalism and Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2020.

So, The Freedom of Press Index brought out by Reporters Without Border, an organization of questionable integrity is fit to be junked to the dustbin.

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Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence Seizes Ganja Oil And Crystal Meth Worth ₹160 Crores In Ramanathapuram, 2 Arrested

By
The Commune
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In Ramanathapuram district, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized a car containing crystal methamphetamine and ganja oil worth ₹160 crore and arrested two people who were attempting to smuggle the contraband from Chennai to Sri Lanka via Ramanathapuram district.

The DRI officials received information that drugs were being smuggled into Sri Lanka via the Maraikayarpatnam beach near Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district. Based on the inputs, a team of DRI officials from Madurai, Trichy, and Tuticorin have been conducting raids in the Ramanathapuram district for the past five days.

In this scenario, DRI officials conducting night rounds in Ramanathapuram district stopped and searched a car from Chennai that had driven suspiciously through the Pogalur toll gate near Chatrakudi last night. When the two people in the car were interrogated, they gave contradictory answers. It was later discovered that they were smuggling drugs to Sri Lanka when the car was searched.

Later, DRI officials notified local police, who arrived on the scene and arrested the two suspects. After taking both of them into custody and conducting an investigation, it was discovered that the drugs are worth up to ₹160 crores.

Following an investigation by local police, they were both taken to the Ramanathapuram customs office and interrogated until this evening. An investigation revealed that they were transporting 50 kg of cannabis oil and 38 kg of crystal methamphetamine, both of which are internationally known drugs. Customs officials estimate the international value to be ₹160 crore.

The two smugglers, identified as Leo Bhagyaraj (39), and Thanasekaran (32), both from Chennai, were brought before the Ramanathapuram Judicial Magistrate. They both confessed to the crime and told the court that they had smuggled the drug from Chennai by car and were on their way to deliver it to a resident of Maraikayar Pattinam, near Mandapam.

Smuggling continues unabated in Tamil Nadu despite the presence of numerous security agencies, including central and state intelligence agencies, the Indian Coast Guard, the Indian Navy, Customs, the Tamil Nadu Marine Police, and local police.

Crystal meth is the common name for crystal methamphetamine, a strong and highly addictive drug that affects the central nervous system. There is no legal use for it. It comes in clear crystal chunks or shiny blue-white rocks. Also called “ice” or “glass,” it’s a popular party drug. Usually, users smoke crystal meth with a small glass pipe, but they may also swallow it, snort it, or inject it into a vein. People say they have a quick rush of euphoria shortly after using it. But it’s dangerous. It can damage the body and cause severe psychological problems.

(With inputs from Hindu Tamil)

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Andhra: ‘Bible Mission Church’ Members Attack SC Man For Objecting To Encroachments

By
The Commune
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In a shocking incident, an employee of the Andhra Pradesh government was physically attacked when he raised questioned about the erection of an arch and Christian symbols by encroaching public road.

Venugopal is a person from the Scheduled Caste Mala community, and works as a junior assistant at the Mandal Revenue Office in Kadapa District.

According to the information filed in the FIR, Venugopal was on his way home when he observed some people constructing an arch on the eve of Christmas celebrations by encroaching on the public road.

A person named Prabhudas and a few members of the Bible Mission Church allegedly beat up Venugopal, for merely questioning the legality of an construction on a public road, causing inconvenience to the public. Prabhudas and his gang also reportedly hurled abuses at him.

The incident occurred on 27 November 2022 around noon, near the YSR Statue at Ashok Nagar (Main) in the Chinna Chowk area.

Venugopal’s injuries included a serious head injury, caused by sharp objects and brute force, which was strong enough to draw blood from his ear to the middle of his head.

https://twitter.com/lawinforce/status/1600808241893867522

 

Based a complaint by the victim, an FIR was filed at the local police station (Chinna Chowk station), a few hours later in the evening of the same day.

In Venugopal’s FIR, he mentions a few names-Prabhu Kumar, Sunil, Bandi Prasad (an ex corporator), Devadas, Vinod and “other members of the Bible Mission Church”. The local police, while filling out the FIR form, based on Venugopal’s complaint, don’t seem to have mentioned the complete names and addresses of the accused attackers.

Though the police have registered the FIR complaint against the attackers they have failed to invoke the much more serious offence of the “SC/ST Atrocities Act” against the perpetrators, in light of the fact that Venugopal belongs to the protected Scheduled Caste (SC) community.

The police have also alleged chosen to ignore the fact that the accused persons were trying to construct a completely illegal structure without obtaining permission of the government authorities.

In a suspicious twist to the case, the local police appear to have registered an FIR against the injured SC victim based on a counter complaint.

In light of this, the SC ST Rights Forum, a non-profit legal activisim organiation has written to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes- Government Of India, requesting the Commission to probe and investigate the actual circumstances of the case to arrive at the truth and to question the local law enforcement officials, for not including the relevant sections under IPC and sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in the victim’s FIR, considering the brutal physical attack on the SC citizen and government employee, resulting in a serious head injury and a possible attempt to murder him.

Speaking to The Commune, SC ST Right Forum said “It is clearly appearing that the concerned police first filed a case against the victim intentionally. This raises suspicions that the police are trying to weaken the case and deny the basic rights of the poor Scheduled Castes. This is a deprivation of his rights.”

“People are questioning the blatant minority-appeasement policy of the local police and politicians and opine that, had Venugopal’s attackers been Hindu, the FIR and subsequent case would have likely been registered against the stringest provisions of SC/ST Act. Furthermore, the victim was surprised and disappointed to discover that the timings of the registration of both the FIRs, makes it appear like the attackers were first wronged by the real victim (Venugopal), after which Venugopal had filed a counter complaint against his attackers, implying a false motive and weakening his authentic complaint and potential of the case.”, SC ST Right Forum added.

About Bible Mission Church

The Bible Mission Church is an organization in Gooty of Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh which claims to be the “largest” church of its kind in the world. It has been recognised as the world’s largest church by the World Book of Records (WBR, London). It was reportedly established in January,1938. Presently, the church has 114 branches spread across the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The group’s church in Gooty, sits on 61 acres of land with a sitting capacity of 60,000 people. It consists of facilities like a ‘prayer tower’, a Bible college, a large kitchen, accommodation facilities and water tanks, among other provisions. The Church claims to be working for the “social upliftment” of poor people. It is clear that the church and its mission, are prosperous and quite well funded but the Church denies receiving any foreign funds. The group claims to be conducting “charitable” activities without any foreign aid.

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VCK Erode Treasurer Arrested For Cheating And Fraud

By
The Commune
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The police arrested Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s Erode district treasurer for taking money from people promising them a house plot and then defrauding them for three months without giving them the house plot or returning their money.

Vijayabalan, who hails from Prabhu Nagar next to Perundurai in Erode District, is the district treasurer of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

Vijayabalan, the alleged VCK fraudster, collected up to Rs 54000 from 18 people in Mukasipidariyur, near Chennimalai in Erode district, promising them a house plot at a subsidised rate. It is said that the VCK functionary has collected money from the people for past three months.

In this scenario, the people who had paid the VCK fraudster Vijayabalan requested the house plot after a few months. However, he was not properly responding to those who had paid him.

Realizing they had been deceived, victim Tamil Selvi and her husband Gunasekaran went to Vijayabalan and demanded that he either return the money they had given him or give them the house plot.

VCK treasurer Vijayabalan, on the other hand, became enraged and attacked both the couple for demanding their money back. The couple was seriously wounded and was taken to Perundurai Government Medical College and Hospital, where they were treated for their injuries before being discharged.

After returning from hospital, Tamil Selvi and her husband Gunasekaran made a complaint to the Perundurai police, who later booked VCK fraudster Vijayabalan under four sections, including cheating, fraud, and threatening to kill. Following a preliminary investigation, police arrested and remanded the VCK treasurer.

(with inputs from Jaya News)

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