After the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in the erstwhile state and now Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the hoisting of the tricolour has been made mandatory in all government offices and buildings.
Since India’s independence in 1947, the hoisting of the tricolour on all government offices and buildings in Jammu and Kashmir was not allowed.
However, an order to the effect was issued by Piyush Singla, the Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag on March 26.
“…it is impressed upon all District/Sectoral Heads/Tehsil/Block level officers to ensure that National Flag is flown on all Government offices/buildings across the district within 15 days positively”, the circular noted.
Pursuant to Govt directions, DC Anantnag issued a circular for hoisting of National Flag on all govt buildings & offices in district. It has been impressed upon all district, sectoral, tehsil& block level officers to ensure compliance: District Information&Public Relations Centre pic.twitter.com/qxgDavzGfz
On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha too directed the district officers of the Union Territory (UT) to ensure that the national flag is hoisted on all government buildings and establishments under their jurisdiction. The decision was taken by the Lt Governor in a meeting with the Divisional Commissioners, District Magistrates, and Superintendents of Police of the UT.
The Divisional Commissioner office of Jammu asked all the Deputy Commissioners and Head of Departments (HoD) to implement the Lt Governor’s directive, regarding hoisting of National flag on all the government buildings, within the next 15 days.
The Deputy Commissioners and HoDs of Jammu Division have been asked to ensure strict compliance with the directions of the Lt Governor as per the provisions of Flag Code of India within 15 days.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that blocking a story about US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in the lead-up to the 2020 US Presidential election was a “total mistake”.
Dorsey made the remarks during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, which also included the CEOs of big tech and social media giants Facebook and Alphabet. Facebook too had moved to limit the story on its site.
The New York Post story had unearthed shocking emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop, showing that he had introduced his father then Vice President Joe Biden, to a Ukrainian energy executive at Burisma Holdings Ltd. — a move that led then US President Donald Trump’s campaign to accuse the company of “interfering” in the election.
The emails are only a part of the data recovered from a laptop that was reportedly dropped of at a repair shop in 2019. The laptop was later seized by the FBI. Among the data recovered are pictures of Hunter Biden and a video that appears to show him smoking crack while engaged in a sex act.
Twitter also locked The New York Post out of its account for more than two weeks over charges that the exposé used hacked information — a decision Dorsey chalked up to a “process error.”
Dorsey questioned on “anti-conservative bias” on Twitter
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise grilled Dorsey about concerns of an “anti-conservative bias” on Twitter.
“We made a total mistake with the New York Post, we corrected that within 24 hours,” Mr Dorsey said. “It was not to do with the content, it was to do with the hacked materials policy. We had an incorrect interpretation.”
“We don’t write policy according to any particular political leaning”, Dorsey added.
The Twitter CEO was also asked about the New York Post’s account being blocked and being unable to tweet.
“It was literally just a process error. This was not against them in any particular way,” Dorsey told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
When Scalise asked if anyone from the “censoring department” was held accountable for the mistake, Dorsey dodged the question. “We don’t have a censoring department”, Dorsey said.
He was then asked who made the decision to block the New York Post’s account.
“We didn’t block their account for two weeks, we required them to delete the tweet and then they could tweet it again,” Dorsey replied. “They didn’t take that action, so we corrected it for them.”
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This is Part 2 of a Special Report on the Kerala-based Christian evangelical organisation, Gospel For Asia, and the Believers Eastern Church. Part 1 can be read here.
A series of actions taken by various Indian law enforcement agencies and Indian tax authorities against Kerala-based Gospel for Asia have brought to light large-scale diversion of donor funds for acquisition of assets and investment in “for profit” activities. One of India’s largest evangelical organisations, Gospel For Asia (GFA) is headed by self-styled Bishop Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I Metropolitan, Believers Eastern Church.
The same organisation is facing a class action suit in Canada from aggrieved donors and has just settled another class action suit in USA from aggrieved donors whose intentions of helping the poor and needy in India were dashed to the ground by Gospel for Asia’s fund diversion.
2012- The Beginning of the Allegations against Gospel For Asia:
The allegations against Gospel for Asia started in 2012 when staff members and other insiders started questioning the flow of funds from donors to recipients for which the funds were raised. Staff working in Gospel for Asia in USA also started questioning restrictions on their personal beliefs, abrupt orders to go abroad and work in third-world mission stations and arbitrary removal from employment.
In January 2013, as articles, blogs and videos of diversion of donor funds and other acts of malfeasance by Gospel for Asia and Believers Church started making their appearance, GFA responded by filing a suit in the High Court at Delhi pleading for restraining Google, Facebook, BlogSpot and YouTube from publishing or sharing any defamatory content.
In 2014, staff who had earlier worked with Gospel for Asia wrote a 10 page letter expressing their anguish at the suffering they endure in their personal lives on account of GFA’s workplace practices. The letter, among several other issues, highlights divorces, domestic disputes and distorted spiritual life of ex-employees and their families. The five points covered in the letter are:
1. GFA leadership practices and teaches a false view of spiritual authority
2. GFA leadership prioritizes ministry over family, and teaches the same
3. GFA leaders lie or intentionally deceive people in order to “protect” the ministry
4. GFA practices unbiblical shunning
5. GFA prohibits or discourages staff involvement in bible studies, small groups and local churches
Dr John Dayal’s defence of Gospel for Asia-Believer’s Church:
On April 25, 2013, Dr. John Dayal posted a review in the comments-section of a website called Great Non Profits strongly defending Believers Church and Bishop K P Yohanan. He quoted vastly exaggerated figures of Kandhamal violence of 2007-08 and praised the relief work undertaken by Believers Church. Dr. Dayal mentioned prominently that he is a member of the National Integration Council, Government of India.
This is his review of the GFA and Believers Church:
“This is Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration council, Government of India, a former National President of the All India catholic Union and Secretary Gen of the All India Christian Council. Much of my current work is in the justice, relief and rehab processes in the Tribal and Dalit-dominated Kandhamal District of Orissa. India. Kandhamal saw much violence against the Christian community in 2007 and 2008 in which more than 100 Christians were killed, 6000 of their houses demolished in 400 villages, and 56,000 people rendered homeless. While the Catholic Church helped rebuild 4000 houses, Believers Church, headed by its Metropolitan Bishop K P Yohannan, came second, building 1,000 churches and assisting in relief and rehab of the victims. The remaining houses were built by other denominational churches. Considering that the government was not keen to help the Christian victims, this was fantastic work done by the church in rebuilding lives. God bless them.”
On the same website, another person who seems to be familiar with the activities of Believers Church posted a review on January 24, 2013 in reply to Dr. Dayal’s defence of GFA. The most noteworthy point in this review is this: “Church Buying” is a very profitable business in India and K P Yohannan leads the market.” The review indicates that Believers Church was doing a corporate-style takeover of churches using its vast resources. This again is a clear misuse of donor money which was never meant to be used to acquire smaller churches.
Round Tripping of Donations from USA to the Field, and Back to USA, But Wrongly termed as “Anonymous Donation”
One of the most serious charges levelled against GFA-Believers Church was that Believers Church India gave nearly $20 million to help build Gospel for Asia’s new office complex in USA.
In a 109-page report filed as part of a class action suit, filed in February 2017 (since settled for US $37 million), the following charges of wrong doing were levelled against Gospel for Asia:
“39. In 2010, GFA purchased land and began constructing a state-of-the-art, $45 million compound in Wills Point, Texas. GFA initially claimed, and presented as true through the financial documents of its auditing firm, that a $20 million anonymous donation was received for the development of the 350-acre plot of land on which the compound now sits, as the following excerpt shows:
40. In fact, the $20 million used to develop the land in Wills Point had come to GFA from GFA-India, on the direction of Believers Church. Specifically, that $20 million came from the cash reserves of GFA-India, which consisted of donations to GFA solicited under the promise of GFA’s 100% to-the-field guarantee and subject to the designations of donors. Thus, money donated from the United States designated for specific charitable purposes in “the Field” in fact was spent in the United States to
develop the Wills Point compound.
An “anonymous donation”
According to the Bland Garvey audit, nearly $19.8 million was given to GFA from the “anonymous donor” which we now know to be an entity of Believers’ Church. According to Carroll, the $19.8 million came from “a board under the Believers’ Church umbrella.”
Donor Funds Vanish Into Thin Air:
$128 million worth of funds sent by donors to Gospel For Asia over the past eight years cannot be accounted for. Jason Watkins, a former auditor with a Big 4 accounting firm, has constructed an image depicting the findings of his review of information regarding Gospel for Asia’s finances for the last eight years. More details are available here.
Missing funds
Diversion of Donor Funds for Other Activities:
As per the class action suit (since settled) mentioned earlier, huge sums of money went missing and never reached the “field” i.e., the donor intended beneficiaries. Gospel for Asia had sought donations for specific programmes like child support, income generation support – Bridge of Hope child sponsorship for US$35 or a pair of pigs for US$ 65 etc.
The lawsuit alleged that huge sums of money were diverted to non-donor intended activities like construction of “for profit” hospital, an engineering college, an office building and so on.
29. For example, in 2013 (the most recent year for which audited financial data is available), GFA worldwide collected around $115,000,000 in donations (more than $90 million from the U.S.), but spent only $14,644,642 on services and relief under GFA’s mission to support the poor and needy of India-directly contrary to donor designations and GFA’s promises
In another innovative fund-raising, GFA represents that a $345 donation will be applied toward the purchase of a camel to facilitate commerce and provide food and clothing. It quotes the role of camels as a source of livelihood in the desert areas of Rajasthan including ploughing of land and transportation of goods.
Defamation Suits to Brow Beat Opponents in India:
In October 2017, K.P. Yohannan filed a defamation suit against Church of South India (CSI) for defamation. This follows the Church of South India rejecting his consecration as a Bishop and treating him as a layman. Though based in Kerala, K P Yohannan was consecrated as a Bishop by two Bishops from Church of North India. The CSI has never recognized Believers’ Church which has been a source of conflict among Indian Christians. Believers’ Church has now accused the CSI of defamation.
Gospel For Asia Evicted from Evangelical Council For Financial Accountability (ECFA):
In early October 2015, Gospel for Asia’s membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) was terminated. GFA was a charter member and it was a rare move for the ECFA to terminate a charter membership. ECFA believes that GFA misled donors, mismanaged resources, has an ineffective board, and failed to live up to its promises as an ECFA member. It had been investigating GFA since June. All done and told, ECFA found that GFA violated five of the accountability group’s seven core standards. As a result, the ECFA board voted on October 2 to cut ties with GFA. The board said that its decision is final. “This ends Gospel for Asia’s 36-year-long status as an ECFA member,” the council said in a statement.
1. Use of field-generated funds to satisfy designated foreign contributions
2. Excessive cash balances held in partner field accounts
3. Delay in sending funds to the field
4.Use of funds restricted for the field for other purposes
5. Failure to report funds hand-carried by trip participants
6.Source of funds relating to for-profit field operations
7. Alleged missing funds according to Indian FC6 forms
A screenshot of a letter from ECFA to KP Yohannan terminating Gospel For Asia’s membership
More details on the alleged fund-diversions and other illegalities perpetrated by Gospel For Asia will be disclosed in the successive parts of the Special Report, which will be published in the coming days.
Acknowledgement: The author of this report acknowledges the efforts made by Warren Throckmorton, a blogger and professor at Grove City College (https://www.wthrockmorton.com/), who has meticulously documented, from 2015 onwards, all issues relating to GFA. Despite threats of legal action, he has exposed the misdeeds of Gospel For Asia and Believers Church.
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During a recent campaign by the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) in Coimbatore, the Kamal Haasan-led party had issued a press release in reply to Smriti Irani’s comments about having a healthy debate with BJP candidate Vanathi Srinivasan. The MNM press release had disparagingly called Srinivasan a “tukkada” politician.
Replying to those comments, Vanathi posted a video on social media, lashing out at MNM.
She said the following in the video: “I am from a small village near Coimbatore, and completed my education in a government school. I then took up a job as an advocate, and I too have a family. Keeping all that aside, I have dedicated my time and energy towards the service for the people of Coimbatore. You can go ahead and refer the annual reports and my social media handles for all that I have done in the last 5 years.”
She continued, “Despite all this, if you have called me a ‘tukkada’ politician, then people should realise the amount of respect that their party has towards women. If a woman who has come up from a humble background is being spoken ill like this, this shows the quality of politics that they are indulging in. Even your households might have women who would have struggled their way up to success. If this is the way I am being treated, imagine the state of the women in your family if they come to power. This is a question that MNM and Kamal Haasan have to answer.”
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Shobha Mazumdar, the 85-year-old mother of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Gopal Mazumdar, who became known as the daughter of Bengal has passed away.
The daughter of Bengal is no more. Tragic and shameful. Never forget, never forgive.
According to Gopal, the TMC workers hurled abuses at them and began to assault them. “They pushed my mother and she got badly injured. After attacking us, they left the house. I am a member of the local BJP mandal (BJP committee). They first assaulted us with bare hands and then hit on my head with the hood of a revolver. After that, I fell down on the ground. They kicked and assaulted me further,” Gopal said.
This attack happened in the Dum Dum city of the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal and was widely condemned by everyone. However, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC denied any role in this attack.
Shobha Mazumdar was pushed around and beaten up. Photographs of her bruised and swollen face were widely shared on social media and became the symbol of the acts of violence that are ever so common in West Bengal.
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As the election campaign for the Kerala state polls enters its last stage, a new and stunning revelation has come forth in the high-profile gold smuggling case. The key accused Swapna Suresh has told the Enforcement Directorate that the speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, P Sreeramakarishnan, called her to his flat with “dirty intentions”, reports the New Indian Express.
“He told me about the flat’s real ownership to convince me to feel safe as he used to call me there with some personal dirty intentions,” she is quoted as saying in the deposition. She said that when she did not agree, he refused to give the job he had offered her at Middle East College, Oman, in which he allegedly has an investment, the report states.
According to the document accessed by the New Indian Express, Swapna told the agency: “Sreeramakrishnan had called me to the flat in Marutham apartment and told me that it was his ‘hideout’. I went there along with Sarith (another accused in the gold smuggling case) to meet him. However, as I didn’t agree with his ‘personal interests’, the role offered to me in the Middle East college was also cancelled.”
This revelation comes at a time when the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government has been trying hard to push the central agencies probing the gold smuggling and related cases on the back foot using various means.
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In the last few weeks whenever there has been an excavation some interesting part of history have come forth.
During a sand extraction at Hale Belur in Sakleshpur taluk recently, an idol resembling the famous Channakeshava of Hoysala temple at Belur was found on the bank of river Hemavathi.
The idol is about 4.5 feet tall and as per Indian art historians, it belonged to the 12th century when Hoysalas ruled this area and built many magnificent temples.
Kumar H.C, the curator of the Archaeology Museum in Hassan, told the media, “Barring minor dents, the idol is in good condition. I will submit a report to the Director of Museums about the idol and seek his directions for preserving it.”
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N Thippeswamy, secretary of the campaign committee informed the public that people across the state of Karnataka have donated a total of ₹200 crore for the construction of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.
Thippeeswamy was speaking at the valedictory function of the campaign that was organized at the Rashtrothana Yoga Kendra at Bengaluru’s Sadashivanagar.
“The campaign which was held for 45 days throughout the country reached 12 crore houses. Funds of more than ₹2,500 crore were collected,” Thippeswamy said.
Earlier the Vishwa Hindu Parishad too had said in a statement that funds worth ₹ 2,500 crores were collected during the donation drive for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
“In Karnataka, activists of the campaign visited 29,724 villages. In 18,004 villages, all the houses were visited. In total 93.6 lakh houses were contacted for donation collection and an amount of ₹200 crore was collected,” Thippeswamy further said.
“The aim was to reach each and every village and house in Karnataka. So far 80% houses have been contacted. All over India, 12 crore houses were contacted in 5.5 lakh villages and urban areas. Everyone has responded generously to the cause, including the union territories inhabited by 100% Christian community”, he added.
“In the conventions that were held all over Karnataka, 1,250 swamijis took part. As many as 695 swamijis accompanied the activists of the campaign in various village and urban areas and collected funds for the construction of Ram Mandir. In total 2.56 lakh workers, including 27,071 women activists participated in the donation campaign,” Thippeswamy announced.
Speaking on the occasion, Pejawar Swamiji and member of Ayodhya Ram Mandir trust, Shri Vishwaprasanna Theertha said, “If building Ram Mandir is one part of the campaign, inculcating the ideals of Sri Rama by all citizens of India is another face of it. We thought that it is very difficult to collect funds for the construction of Ram Mandir. However, we were pleasantly surprised that we could collect more funds than expected within a short time.”
Ma Venkataramu, president of the campaign committee and Adrishya Kadasiddeshwara Swamiji of Kaneri Siddhagiri Math were also present at the event.
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Amid the ongoing polls in West Bengal, 56 bombs were recovered in Narendrapur police station limits in South 24 Parganas district last night.
An FIR was registered against one Tarun and other unknown persons for their involvement in the manufacturing, transportation and illegal use of bombs.
West Bengal | 56 bombs were recovered in Narendrapur police station area in South 24 Parganas district last night. An FIR was registered against one Tarun & unknown persons for involvement in the racket of manufacturing, transportation & illegal use of bombs: Election Commission
At least five of the bombs that were recovered last evening were disposed of in Kulti area of Asansol earlier today, according to ACP Omar Ali Mollah.
West Bengal: At least five bombs, that were recovered last evening, were disposed of in Kulti area of Asansol earlier today, said ACP Omar Ali Mollah pic.twitter.com/ZNnYoxwltJ
West Bengal registered a voter turnout of 79.79 per cent in the first phase of the polls on March 27. Incidents of poll-related violence were reported.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal state Assembly are being held in eight phases, starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
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With the election date nearing, political parties in Tamil Nadu are on shrill campaign mode with some of the them delivering their punch below the belt.
In that light, Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), has issued a press release in which it has derogated the BJP’s woman MLA candidate for Coimbatore South Vanathi Srinivasan.
Responding to Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani’s challenge who had called actor-politician Kamal Haasan for an open debate with Vanathi Sriniavasan while campaigning for her in Coimbatore, C.K. Kumaravel, the MNM’s general secretary — propaganda, issued a press release calling Vanathi Srinivasan a ‘tukkada’ (worthless / small time in Tamil) leader.
“We accept your challenge but first our leader Kamal Haasan would like to debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After that he would like to debate with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. After that he would like to debate with other Ministers. Lastly, he will debate with ‘tukkada’ leaders like Vanathi Srinivasan”, the MNM press release read adding that MNM’s student’s wing is enough for debating with the BJP leader.
Vanathi Srinivasan is the National Women’s Wing President of the BJP. She earlier served as the Vice President of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. During the 2016 Assembly Elections, she came third polling 33113 votes, when the BJP went all alone without alliance with any party.
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