The sixth Foreign Office Consultations between India and Austria took place on 18 March in a virtual format.
The consultations were led on the Indian side by Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary (Europe and COVID19), and on the Austrian side by Ambassador Gregor Koessler, Director General for Political Affairs in the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.
“India and Austria have warm and cordial relations which are based on shared values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and equality. Our bilateral relations are marked by strong linkages across institutions, academia, culture and people to people ties”, a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs stated.
“The talks covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including political, economic and commercial ties as well as cultural and academic linkages. Both sides also exchanged views on the COVID19 pandemic and post pandemic recovery including vaccines. Regional and global issues including developments in the Indo-Pacific, neighbourhood policy, terrorism and India-EU Relations, amongst others, were discussed. Deliberations also covered issues in multilateral fora such as United Nations reforms and India’s priorities during its term in the United Nations Security Council”, the press release added.
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In an embarrassing development for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Banendra Kumar Mushahary, the saffron party’s candidate from Assam’s Gauripur constituency, has claimed that beef is the “National Dish” of India.
“How can anyone try to ban beef? It is the National Dish of India,” he said while addressing an election meeting in a Muslim-dominated area.
Mushahary added that beef is an international dish and “educated Muslims in the rural areas of Assam should understand that no one can ban the sale of beef in Assam or anywhere in India.”
Notably, the BJP has always been campaigning for the protection of cattle and a beef ban across the country. Recently, a ban on cow slaughter was promulgated in BJP-ruled Karnataka. Mushahary’s statement greatly contradicts the party’s ideologies and principles.
Mushahary joined the BJP last year
Mushahary, a veteran politician, was first elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly in 1996 as an independent candidate from Gauripur constituency in Dhubri district. In 2011, he was elected as an Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate from Gauripur.
Later, he joined the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and was elected as an MLA for the third time.
He joined the BJP last year in December.
BJP workers demand apology
Meanwhile, BJP workers in the districts have expressed serious concern on Mushahary’s remarks and demanded that he tender an apology.
Members of Purbanchal Hindu Aikya Mancha filed an FIR at Dispur police station and demanded actions against the BJP candidate for violating the Model Code of Conduct which was enforced in February 26 in poll-bound Assam.
A copy of a complaint from the Purbanchal Hindu Aikya Mancha to the police regarding Mushahary’s statement
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Featured Image: Mugshot of Ahmad Al aliwi Alissa, who shot and killed ten people in Boulder, Colorado
Image Credits: CNN
Police in Boulder, Colorado identified Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa as the gunman who killed 10 people, including a police officer, inside a King Soopers grocery store.
As per mainstream media in the US, Alissa may have been suffering from mental illness due to being bullied in school for being a Muslim, according to his 34-year-old brother. He said that when Alissa was in high school, bullies made fun of his name and that may have contributed to him becoming “anti-social”.
Alissa, whose family emigrated from Syria in 2002, has been living in the Arvada area of Colorado since 2014. In 2018, Alissa was found guilty of third-degree assault and was sentenced to one-year probation and 48 hours of community service.
The police officer who died in this mass shooting has been identified as 51-year-old Eric Talley, who was the first to respond to the scene. Tally is father to seven children and has been part of the Boulder police department since 2010.
As of now, the police have not released any information on the motive behind the shooting. However, authorities have promised to investigate this incident thoroughly.
Mass shootings are quite common in the US and only last week there was a mass shooting in Atlanta.
However, when the media discovered that the shooter at Boulder was a Muslim, suddenly, every liberal media went quiet. Now a narrative is being built around the shooter having suffered from mental illness, bullying and Islamophobia.
Once it was ascertained that the shooter was a Muslim, Somali born Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, making light of the mass killing, tweeted, “The shooter’s race or ethnicity seems front and center when they aren’t white. Otherwise, it’s just a mentally ill young man having a bad day”. Omar, who is also involved in a controversy after allegations emerged that she had married her own brother in a marriage and immigration fraud scheme, had also made light of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The shooter's race or ethnicity seems front and center when they aren’t white.
Otherwise, it’s just a mentally ill young man having a bad day.
Narratives drive our responses to awful crimes committed against innocent people, pay attention to these responses and who is targeted.
US Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris, who has a reputation for getting herself embroiled in controversies, had in a tweet blamed a ‘white man’ for the terror attack. The tweet was later deleted.
Meena Harris’s tweet, which was later deleted
When the shooter turned out to be a Muslim, she deleted her earlier tweet and said that she had assumed that the attack was carried out by a ‘violent white male’.
Meena Harris clarifying on why she deleted her earlier tweet
Shooter was on FBI’s radar
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was born in Syria in 1999. His identity was previously known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as he was linked to another individual under investigation by the bureau, according to law enforcement officials.
Immediately after the shooting, the left-liberals attributed this another mass killing to white supremacists, but when it was confirmed that the killer was a Muslim immigrant, everyone became very quiet. Now the incident is being blamed on Islamophobia and gun control, with demands being made to ban automatic weapons.
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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the loss of lives due to a road accident in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, “The road accident in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh has caused great grief.I express my condolences to the relatives of the dead, as well as wish the injured well soon.”
He went on to issue ex-gratia for the victims of this accident. He has sanctioned ₹2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the unfortunate accident in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He has also approved ₹50,000 for those seriously injured.
The aforementioned accident happened after a bus collided with an auto-rickshaw head-on in Gwalior. Over 13 people died, and several were injured. Out if the deceased, about 11 were women.
City superintendent of police (CSP) Ravi Bhadoriya said nine women and the auto-rickshaw driver were killed on the spot. “In an overloaded auto-rickshaw, 13 people mainly women were going to cook food in a function when a speedy bus coming from Morena hit their vehicle,” Bhadoriya said.
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Mahalakshmi, a public school teacher and a basher of the BJP government on social media, has now taken to the next level of spreading fake news against the party.
She has posted on her Facebook page that the name of Tamil Nadu will be changed to ‘Dakshin Pradesh’, as mentioned in the BJP’s election manifesto. However, there was no such reference made in the manifesto.
The government school teacher has edited the picture containing the above information and posted it on Facebook with the intention of spreading false information. With elections nearing, the opposition parties like the DMK and its alliance’s supporters are working to spread fake news and misinform the public.
Mahalakshmi in her earlier Facebook posts had supported the LTTE and posted positive comments about them. Most of the her Facebook posts are about bashing the ruling BJP at the Centre and AIADMK in the State. She is now posting unverified fakes news against the ruling party on social media.
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In the run up to the elections, social media is being flooded with fake news by the opposition parties like the DMK in Tamil Nadu and TMC in West Bengal. In light of the same, a photo of BJP volunteers quarrelling with each other in 2016 in the Howrah area of West Bengal is currently going viral on social media.
The photo was accompanied by a caption that read, “A traditional coffee shop has been damaged. They are the enemies of West Bengal. If you vote for them, they will destroy Bengal.”
This viral photo was later found to have been published in the Times of India’s news report in April 2016. According to it, the BJP volunteers had clashed with each other. Further research into the news revealed that, in 2016, Firstpost published a news release. Two viral photos were found and credit was given to PTI.
As seen on PTI, “BJP volunteers clashed with each other on Sunday in the presence of Howrah legislator actress Rupa Ganguly,” a press release issued on April 3, 2016, said.
Also on a news channel, it was reported that BJP volunteers had entered a coffee house in March and tore down posters that asked citizens to not vote for the BJP. But, the photos that are currently being circulated of the conflict are old incidents, which are also being misrepresented for the current election.
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H. Raja, the BJP candidate who is contesting in Karaikudi assembly constituency has been in the headlines after Congress’ failed attempt to spread fake news about him. The part that is nothing short of shocking is that this news was posted on the official handle of the Congress party.
The tweet had mentioned the ‘supposed reply’ of H Raja to a question regarding the Gaja cyclone as to why the Prime Minister had not come to survey the losses caused by the cylone. The Congress’ handle had replied to this, saying that the BJP came to power irrespective of the vote of the people of Tamil Nadu. This was followed by a caption that said Vizhithezhu Thamizha, meaning wake up Tamizha, and asked people to vote for the Congress and DMK instead.
Commenting and resharing this on social media, many netizens claimed that this was photoshopped, and that the Congress was indulging in cheap politics. They went on to share photoshopped tweets of Congress members, and asked them if they could post this, since it was as fake as their post.
In a new development, the Centre has approved the vaccination of all citizens over the age of 45 against the coronavirus COVID-19, according to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The vaccination drive for those aged above 45 will begin April 1 onwards.
“It has been decided that from April 1, the (COVID-19) vaccine will open for everybody above 45 years of age. We request that all those eligible should immediately register and get vaccinated,” Javadekar said.
Currently, only senior citizens aged above 60 and those aged above 45 with comorbidities can receive the vaccine shots. This change in policy is as per the advice of scientists.
Javadekar said, “As per the advice by scientists and world scientist bodies, second dose can be administered between fourth and eighth week, particularly for Covishield”.
The assessment was made by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), the Centre said.
As per data that is available, 4.85 crore doses have been administered. More than 4 crore people have received a single dose, while about 80 lakh people have received their second doses.
“In February, the daily average (for vaccinations) was 3,77,000. This rose to 15,54,000 in March, a rise of more than four times. Last week this rose to more than 20 lakh and now it has moved beyond 32 lakhs daily,” Javadekar added.
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Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari addressed a virtual exhibition on Bamboo Technology, Products and Services through video conferencing on Tuesday. The exhibition was organised by the Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE).
In his address, Gadkari said that there is a need to increase demand for bamboo. He said that bamboo has potential to be used as an alternative to coal and can also be used in construction.
Gadkari said that the use of jute and coir mattresses is soon going to be made mandatory for all NHAI roads. He advocated varied use of traditional materials like jute, coir and bamboo by developing them further. He said that bamboo can also be used to make bio-CNG and charcoal and IITs can be roped in to conduct further research on this with help of special grants from Bamboo Mission.
Gadkari expressed hope that, with integrated efforts from all stakeholders, India’s bamboo industry will be worth twenty five to thirty thousand crore rupees. Technologically proven, cost effective and attractive product designing can establish and promote the use and demand of bamboo, which will encourage people to go for bamboo plantation, he said.
He assured the audience of all the assistance from the Ministry of MSME for any scheme related to promotion of bamboo. Gadkari added that there is a need for more research, more appropriate approach for product development and market support. He also said that he is trying to get 50 per cent subsidy from the Railways department for bamboo and bamboo sticks.
He exuded confidence that increasing the use and requirement of bamboo would lead to an increase in its plantation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to field Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retired) Subrata Saha as its candidate from the Rashbehari constituency for the upcoming West Bengal elections.
Lt Gen Saha is a man of great accomplishments and is known for establishing the Army Design bureau as part of the ‘Make in India’ vision of the Indian Army. He was also a member of the National Security Advisory Board, the Assam Regiment, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, GOC 15 Corps, Addl DGMO.
“I helped establish the Army Design bureau for Make in India for the Army on August 31, 2016”, ANI quoted Lt Gen Saha as saying.
He added, “I have served four decades in the Army and now is the time to serve people. Securing the lives of the people of the constituency from all criminal, violent and illegal activities happening would be a priority. We have a long march ahead.”
Over the past two years, 130 BJP workers have died in attacks allegedly carried out by Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters
Lt Gen Saha is the epitome is of scholar-soldier and his qualifications of BSc (JNU), Diploma – Management (IGNOU), MA – Strategic Studies (Army War College, Pennsylvania), MPhil – Defence & Mgmt Studies (Indore), MSc – Defence & Strategic Studies (Madras University), and PhD – Strategic Studies (Allahabad University) indicate as much.
West Bengal is one state that has not seen any economic development for decades.
Speaking to the press, BJP President JP Nadda said, “Over 130 workers have been killed, there is a jungle raj here by TMC goons, and Bengal wants to get rid of this. This is their nature. This is their style of working. Bengal now wants to re-establish the culture of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Rabindranath Tagore, and Syama Prasad Mukherjee.”
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