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Glacial breakoff triggers massive flash floods in Dhauliganga River in Uttarakhand, casualties feared

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The Commune
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The Dhauliganga River in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand saw a massive flashflood following the burst in the Nandadevi glacier of Garhwal Himalayas.

As per the reports by ANI, the incident was reported near Raini village in Tapovan area of the Chamoli district. The Rishganga power project has been damaged due to the breach with the river swelling and flooding downstream. Many houses and settlements located along the banks have been destroyed.  Casualties are feared in the incident as several people are said to be missing.

The National Disaster Response Force along with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are conducting rescue operations. Around 150 people are missing.

The District Magistrate has instructed officials to evacuate people living in villages on the bank of Dhauliganga river. People are also being evacuated from the areas near Alakananda river. As a precautionary measure, flow of Bhagirathi River has been stopped.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah along with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Shekhawat are overseeing the efforts.

Police arrest two Muslim youth for temple thefts and desecrating saffron flag

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The Commune
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temples Mangaluru police

The police on February 1 arrested two persons in connection with the serial thefts targeting Hindu temples in Konaje police station limits on the outskirts of Mangaluru city.

The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Suhail (19) and Nizamuddin (21). Both are residents of Talapady.

According to the press statement released by police commissioner Shashi Kumar, when the Konaje Police Station staff were examining the CCTV footage on January 26, 2021, in connection with a crime at Pilikoor Village Talapady, they noticed two persons moving in a suspicious manner. Subsequently, both of them were arrested and interrogated.

Upon interrogation, the accused confessed to the thefts and that they had broken open the hundis at Arasu Mundithaya Temple, Malar in 2020 and at another temple at Madur on the morning of January 15, 2021. They also confessed to the theft at Ayyappa Swamy Temple Seva Counter at Deralakatte.

The duo also confessed that they were responsible for soiling the saffron flag at Gopalakrishna Temple, Perande under Konaje police station limits.

The police have recovered one Deo Scooter, hundi boxes of the temples, one knife and spanner used for the offences, all worth an estimated ₹35000. The accused Mohammed Suhail has also been involved in other offences committed in Dakshina Kannada district including the Mangaluru City Police Commissionerate limits.

A case has been registered in the Konaje Police Station under sections 379, 454, 457 3898 and 295 of the IPC.

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YSRCP MP meets Union Minister, requests PMO to take action on rampant religious conversions in AP

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The Commune
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Kannumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, the Member of Parliament (MP) belonging to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP party met Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh on February 5, and submitted a representation letter, seeking action on rampant conversions to Christianity happening in Andhra Pradesh, misuse of benefits meant for Scheduled Caste by Christians and violations by foreign funded Christian NGOs.

In his letter, the Narsapuram MP noted that large-scale injustice is being meted out to Scheduled Castes citizens in the state due to large number of Christians claiming themselves to be members of Scheduled Caste community.

He stated that conversion from Hindu religion to Christianity has been taking place at a large scale for many years and that the state does not have any legislation to counter it adding that the majority of the conversions are happening with the Scheduled Caste population of the state.

Comparing data from Census 1971 and 2011, the MP drew attention to the anomaly arising out of the growth of total population of the state vis a vis the population of Christians and the number of Churches.

“While the population of the state of AP has gone up by 78.43% between 1971-2011, the population of Christians has moved in the opposite direction, declining by -54.13 %. Total number of Christians has gone down from 14.87 lakhs in 1971 to just 6.82 lakhs in 2011.”, the MP noted in his letter.

To make his case, the MP highlighted the situation in 5 districts of Andhra Pradesh – Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Kadapa, West Godavari and Kurnool where the total population of Scheduled Castes have gone up and the Christian population has gone down drastically.

Citing the case of Maddulaparva Village in Krishna District, he noted that it has led to a situation where there are zero Christians in a village but have 11 churches.

The MP stated that it is safe to assume that those practicing Christianity are claiming themselves to be Scheduled Caste to claim benefits like reservation in job, educational institutions, scholarships, etc.

The MP pointed out that the Scheduled Caste conversions to Christianity is enabled by huge inflow of foreign funds through the FCRA route to Christian organizations.

“The Christian evangelist lobby aided and abetted by their foreign counterparts have gone on a massive evangelisation and conversion spree in the state of Andhra Pradesh. A strong and well-knit organisation of Churches, religious workers in the shape of pastors, padres have gone on a massive church planting drive all over Andhra Pradesh. This well organised groups encourage converts to declare themselves as SC Hindus and corner all the benefits legitimately due to genuine Hindu SCs. Acting as a solid vote bank they are dictating terms to the elected representatives and to officials of the state administration.”, the MP noted in his letter.

The MP further added that large scale conversions are leading to social strife, law and order issues, even families being torn apart.

“Converts are refusing to cremate their departed elders, refusing to attend family ceremonies.”, the MP stated in his letter.

He said that proselytising evangelists are sowing the seeds of secessionist, separatist ideas in the minds of converts and are shifting the loyalties of the converts from nation to extra-territorial, extra-constitutional evangelical/ Christian religious heads located abroad.

The MP further brought the issue of child care centres and educational institutes run by Christian organizations coercing children to learn Bible and being converted without the knowledge/consent of their parents.

He also added that the donors and functionaries of these Christian organizations are tarnishing the image of India by making statements like the present government is trying to abolish Christianity and projecting the Prime Minister in bad light.

“These acts have seriously damaged the reputation of the nation in the eyes of the world. There is an urgent need to rein in these evangelist NGOs before they cause more serious and permanent damage the Indian nation and Indian society.”, the MP said in his letter.

The YSRCP MP seeking the urgent intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office has asked for the constitution of a fact-finding committee of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to study the rampant conversion of misuse of benefits meant for those belonging to Scheduled Caste.

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Navy official burned alive in Palghar after his abduction from Chennai

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The Commune
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Navy official Palghar

A seriously injured Navy official, with serious burns on his body, was found in Maharashtra’s Palghar on February 5. He later succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

The official, identified as 27-year-old Suraj Kumar Dubey, was a resident of Ranchi in Jharkhand. He was abducted from Chennai and brought to Maharashtra. The kidnappers burned him alive as he refused to pay them a ransom of ₹10 lakhs.

“A case has been registered against three unidentified persons and a probe has been initiated,” said Palghar SP Dattatray Shinde. Shinde added that Suraj Kumar Dubey succumbed to his injuries on Saturday after being shifted to a Mumbai hospital for further treatment.

“The navy officer refused to pay a ransom of ₹10 lakhs. The locals informed police, then brought him into the district civil hospital, later in Mumbai. He was abducted near the Chennai airport,” said Shinde.

Police say that Dubey’s car was hijacked by three men from Chennai airport on January 31. He was confined at an undisclosed location in Chennai for three days. Subsequently, he was brought to the forests in the Western Ghats of Vevji village in Talasari taluka near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border around 9 am on February 5.

After seeing a naked man in the forest around noon, the locals informed the Vevji police station under Gholwad police station. A case has been registered against the three unidentified kidnappers under Sections 302, 364, 392 and 34 at the Gholwad police station.

Palghar is also the site of the infamous and gruesome lynching of Sadhus by a mob of over two hundred people. The video of the lynching of the two men in saffron cloths was widely shared on the internet and shook the conscience of the entire nation. Three men were brutally attacked right in front of the police, who stood as mute spectators.

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India and the EU hold first ever “High Level Dialogue” on trade and investment

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The Commune
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India EU high level dialogue

The first ever High Level Dialogue (HLD) between India and the European Union (EU) was held on Friday, 5 February. The dialogue was co-chaired by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.

In the HLD, the Ministers emphasized the importance of global cooperation and solidarity in a post COVID-19 era and agreed for further deepening of bilateral trade and investment relations through a series of regular engagements.

The Ministers also agreed to meet within the next three months, with an objective for reaching consensus on a host of bilateral trade & investment cooperation issues, namely, a bilateral Regulatory Dialogue, an India-EU Multilateral Dialogue to explore further possibilities of cooperation, etc. In a significant step in taking India-EU relations forward, regular interactions for the re-initiation of bilateral trade and investment agreements were also discussed.

The Ministers concluded with confidence and commitment towards a renewed India-EU partnership in the commercial and economic spheres, reflecting the full potential of bilateral relations.

The EU and India had expressed commitment to establish this dialogue in the 15th India-EU Leader’s Summit in July 2020. A Ministerial level guidance towards bilateral trade and investment relations had also been decided upon in the summit.

Negotiations for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and India were launched in 2007. However, talks were suspended in 2013 due to “a gap in the level of ambition” between India and the EU.

Trade in goods between the EU and India was worth €80 billion in 2019, while trade in services between the EU and India increased rapidly from €22.3 billion in 2015 to €29.6 billion in 2018. The EU is India’s largest trading partner, with 11.1% of total Indian trade, on par with the USA and ahead of China (10.7%) [data from 2019].

The EU’s share in foreign investment inflows to India more than doubled from 8% to 18% in the last decade, making the EU the first foreign investor in India. Some 6,000 European companies are present in India.

(Published from PIB)

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“An internal matter”, UK reiterates its stance on farmers’ protests

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The Commune
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Nigel Adams farmers protests UK India
Pictured:  Nigel Adams, Minister of State for Asia

In the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ protests in India, the British government has said that agricultural reform is the Indian government’s domestic policy issue. Responding to a question in the British Parliament on Friday, Minister of State for Asia in the Foreign Office, Nigel Adams, said, “We are aware of concerns in India and here in the UK about how these reforms might affect farming communities”, stressing that, “Agricultural reform is a domestic policy issue for the Indian authorities to address.”

When asked about the UK government’s assessment of the riots by agitating farmers on 26 January, the British minister stated, “The right to gather lawfully and demonstrate a point of view is common to all democracies. Governments also have the power to enforce law and order if a protest crosses the line into illegality… handling of protests is an internal matter for the Indian authorities.”

The previous week saw several India-related questions being asked in Westminster, with the Boris Johnson-led government clearly reiterating its supportive stance towards the Indian administration.

On UK’s ties with the QUAD ― Australia, India, Japan and US ― Adams said, “No decisions have yet been made on the form UK engagement with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue could take.”

In reply to a question on Kashmir, Adams said, “The UK’s position remains that it is for India and Pakistan to identify a lasting political resolution to the situation, one that takes into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people.” He clarified that Kashmir was “raised” by UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab with his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar during the former’s India visit in December.

When a question was asked on Chinese aggression against India, Adams replied, “As neighbours, India and China have an important relationship with one another” and that London “welcome[s] discussions” while continuing to “support a peaceful resolution” between India and China on the border question.

More recently, tensions between the UK and China are on the rise, as China’s actions to assimilate Hong Kong into the Chinese political system has drawn sharp criticism from the UK. In what is seen as a violation of the “One country, two systems” principle and the erosion of Hong Kong’s political autonomy, the new national security law promulgated by China in the erstwhile British colony has forced the UK to open a special visa route for the island’s  residents to become UK citizens.

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Big moment for Atmanirbhar Bharat, 118 tanks developed by DRDO received orders

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The Commune
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An order for two regiments of the new indigenous Arjun 1A tank for the Indian Army is on the anvil. The two regiments, comprising 118 tanks, have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and incorporates 71 improvements from the original version.

They are expected to go through the usual route for clearance: The Defence Acquisition Council and the Cabinet Committee on Security. This deal is worth ₹8,956 crore, not just for the tanks but also, spares and servicing.

The Army already has two regiments of the earlier version of the Arjun. While the T-90, a Russian designed armoured vehicle, is the Army’s MBT or main battle tank, the Arjun is being considered suitable for use, particularly in the southern Rajasthan area, in the Thar Desert. Tank movement in the Punjab and northern Rajasthan is now more difficult because of urban settlements, canals and the increase in vegetation.

Anti-tank weapons

Five indigenous anti-tank weapons are in the final stages of development, top government sources said. They include the Nag anti-tank guided missile, its standalone version called SANT, the HELINA or the one delivered from helicopters. There will also be an MPATGM or the man-portable version as well as using the Arjun gun barrel.

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Hip hop artist Unkonfined deletes tweet supporting farmers protest, clarifies that he “fell victim to good intentions”

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The Commune
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Unkonfined

American Hip-Hop Artist Unkonfined (stylized as ʋиκσиғιиɛ∂) on Wednesday tweeted in support of the farmers’ protests going on in India. However, he soon deleted his tweet, and clarified in a video that he deleted the tweet as he does not know much about the issue.

Unkonfined, who currently has more than 3,86,000 followers on social media platform Twitter, had simply tweeted “Support the farmers. #FarmersProtest”

This then led to a huge backlash from his Indian fanbase who soon unfollowed him. Here is a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet:

In his video explaining why he sent the tweet and then later deleted it, Unkonfined said that several people had been messaging him and had asked him to tweet with the hashtag ‘#FarmersProtest’. He decided to do it as he has a lot of followers in India. He further said that the deletion has nothing to do with supporting or not supporting the farmer protests. He said that he deleted the tweet because he does not know enough about the matter. “I deleted it because I don’t know enough about it to talk about,” Unkonfined said in his video. He further went on to say, “It’s important to educate yourself before you say anything and I should not have put a tweet out there that I don’t know anything about.”

As reported earlier, some international celebrities like pop-star Rihanna, porn-star Mia Khalifa and radical climate activist Greta Thunberg have tweeted in support of the farmers’ protests against the Centre’s farm laws to build international pressure on India. Greta Thunberg had even posted a ‘toolkit’ allegedly prepared by the Poetic Justice Foundation to be used for this campaign, containing messages to be posted on social media, accounts of media houses, journalists and politicians to be followed etc. The celebrities had even tweeted the same messages contained in the toolkit from their Twitter handles.

Unkonfined further clarified on Twitter that he was not paid to tweet in support of the protests and nor was he part of a coordinated campaign. He admitted that he “simply fell victim to having good intentions”.

“I wanna be very clear here that I was in no way a part of a coordinated effort, was not presented a toolkit, and do not ever get paid to tweet. I simply fell victim to having good intentions but not knowing anything about the topic. It was wrong and I deleted it within minutes”, he tweeted.

https://twitter.com/unkonfined/status/1357546787687395330

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Church election atrocities: Each household to get mutton biryani once a month, two wheeler, silk sarees, and many other goodies

By
The Commune
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A never-seen-before election campaign is going on in Tirunelveli district for the Diocesan Elections. The voters there are being lured with lucrative promises that each household would be given a two-wheeler, silk sarees and dhotis and sewing machines. There have also been announcements including the offering of mutton biryani once a month.

The election to elect members to the General Assembly from the towns under the Tirunelveli Diocese of the South Indian Church is to be held on the 7th February. Out of the 115 towns in the Tirunelveli constituency, 140 members are to be elected for the diocese. The winning members in the Tirunelveli Diocese are usually elected as the Secretary, Secretary of the Education Status Committee, Treasurer amongst others. The council controls 500 churches, 120 DDTA schools, 10 colleges, an engineering college and a teacher training school.

The two parties that are contesting in this election are Vedanayagam’s party and DS Jayasingh’s party. Apart from them, two independent candidates for the Sivanthipatti assembly constituency in Konkanthanpaarai have made promises to impress voters in a way that will win them the diocese elections.

They have announced that they will provide a free Honda Activa vehicle to all the families in the Konkanthanpaarai if they win. It has also been announced that mutton biryani will be provided on the first Sunday of every month and all voters between the ages of 18 and 120 will be given two silk sarees free of cost for the festive days of Christmas and New Year. They had also promised to provide two silk dhotis and shirts to men and a free sewing machine for women to start self-employment.

This brings into question their source of income for granting the freebies, as well as the means of funding that they will be receiving in order to do so.

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Love Jihad: Muslim tutor threatens to murder girl’s brother if she doesn’t get converted to Islam and marry him

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The Commune
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Love Jihad Bihar

In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a 25-year-old tutor named Amaan has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and trying to force his 18-year-old student to convert and marry him, reports The Indian Express.

Members from the Hindu Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal demanded the police to rescue the kidnapped girl.

The incident occurred on Tuesday (02 February) in Meerut and after the tutor was arrested on Wednesday (03 February) night, the girl was sent to her family after the police had recorded her statement before a magistrate at a court in Meerut.

“Amaan was the woman’s tutor and they had developed a friendship. He had asked the woman to elope with him and marry him after converting to Islam,” police said.

“When she refused, Amaan threatened to kill her younger brother and under pressure, she left her parents’ place in Meerut on Tuesday (02 February) morning and went to Delhi with him,” said in-charge of the police station where the FIR was lodged.

When the daughter went missing the parents lodged a complaint identifying Amaan as the prime suspect and the police lodged the FIR under IPC Section 362 (kidnapping) and traced the victim to a place in the national capital.

“We brought her to Meerut and then arrested Amaan. We have also added the relevant section of the UP anti-conversion ordinance to the FIR after she recorded her statement before the magistrate and alleged that Amaan forced her to convert at a mosque in Delhi,” said the in-charge of the police station.

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