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DMK IT Wing office bearer arrested for sending pornographic material to 17 year old girl

By
The Commune
-

The police have arrested a DMK IT Wing office bearer belonging to Thirupatthur district for sending pornographic material to a 17 year old girl and circulating edited pictures of him along with the girl.

Ajith, son of Ponnusaamy hails from Mittalam village near Ambur. He works as a DMK IT Wing panchayat coordinator.

He was earlier arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for kidnapping a minor girl belonging to the same region and was released on bail a few days back.

After getting released, he had sent pornographic material to another 17-year-old girl and also circulated edited pictures of him with the girl.

Krishnamurthy, who had confronted Ajith on the matter, was given death threats by the latter. Krishnamurthy then filed a complaint at the police station against Ajith.

Following this, the Umarabad police arrested Ajith and charged him under the POCSO Act apart from slapping charges for issuing death threats. He was later produced in the Ambur Criminal Court and sent to Vellore jail.

Source: Asianet Tamil

United against terrorism: India and US join forces to fight against pan-Islamist terror groups like Al-Qaida, ISIS, LeT, JeM

By
Balaji Subramanian
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india us tariff threat

The governments of India and the United States have reached an agreement to take action against pan-Islamist terror groups al-Qaida and ISIS/Daesh and Kashmir-centric Pakistan sponsored jihadi terror groups, Lashkar e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizb-ul Mujahideen.

Both governments feel that Pakistan should take an “immediate, sustained and irreversible action and ensure its territory is not used for terrorist activities against India and the United States.”

The agreement also calls for the expeditious justice to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 Mumbai strike and the Pathankot airbase attack.

One of the important outcomes of this meeting between India and the US was the discussion of mutual legal and extradition assistance, bilateral law enforcement training and cooperation.

The 17th meeting between the India-US Counter-Terrorism Joint Working Group and the third session of the India-US Designations Dialogue was held in a virtual environment on September 9-10 and both democratic nations called for the end of terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms.

India was represented by Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs, and the American delegation was led by Nathan Sales, State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism.

The joint statement stated that both countries believe in counterterrorism cooperation and will continue close coordination on a comprehensive global strategic partnership that exists between the two countries.

The joint statement said, “The two sides underlined the urgent need for Pakistan to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks, and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot,”.

The US said it will extend the Indian government support to fight against terrorism and the threats posed by UN-sanctioned Islamic terrorist entities like al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul Mujahideen, a media statement said.

Both sides have decided to share information about their priorities and procedures for pursuing sanctions and designations against terrorist groups and individuals.

Both India and the US also held discussions on the challenges both nations face with regards to counter-terrorism, terror financing operations of terrorist organisations, the growing radicalisation and the use of internet to spread hate.

Defence Ministers of India and France discuss cooperation in Indian Ocean Region amid tension in Ladakh

By
Balaji Subramanian
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At the backdrop of the official induction of the 4.5 generation Rafale fighter jets by the Indian Air Force, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Florence Parly on Thursday (Sept 10) held an important discussion on further cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), were countries in this area are dealing with the aggressive Chinese military posturing.

During the meeting, Singh also talked about India’s four-month-long border dispute with China in eastern Ladakh which does not seem to ebb.

Both senior politicians also reviewed the present bilateral cooperation between India and France and exchanged views on contemporary regional and global security issues of mutual interest.

But the most important discussion was on the strategic India-France cooperation in the IOR, the sources said.

Ambala Air Force Station which is the first airbase to be constructed played host, marking the induction of five Rafale jets into the Indian Air Force.

Amid the growing crisis in Eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy has significantly expanded its deployment in the Indian Ocean Region. Many of its frontline warships and submarines have been on active deployment to send a message to Beijing that India will not be bullied.

China clearly knows it is vulnerable around the Malacca Strait which is critical for its supply chain.

The French defence minister also held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval focusing on ways to further boost bilateral defence, intelligence and security cooperation, officials said.

In her brief address at the ceremony, Parly said “The strategic partnership between France and India is based on common values and friendship forged over several decades. Since India’s independence, our two democracies have been cooperating very closely. France has always stood beside India in good and bad times,”.

While in Delhi, Parly visited the national war memorial and paid tributes to India’s fallen heroes.

The Tamil Nadu PM KISAN scam explained

By
The Commune
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What is the PM KISAN scheme?

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) is a Central Sector Scheme through which an income support of ₹6000 per year is given to small and marginal farmers in 3 equal instalments.

The PM KISAN scheme is a Central Sector Scheme i.e., the complete expenditure for the scheme is borne by the Government of India.

Who are eligible?

Small and marginal farmer family having a combined land holding or ownership upto 2 hectares are eligible for the scheme. The beneficiaries are identified by the respective State and Union Territory governments.

While a family may have four individual adults each of them owning a separate farm land, only one member will be eligible to get enrolled under the scheme.

Who are not eligible?

Farmer families with professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects, registered with professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices, income tax payers, present and retired employees of State or Central government, institutional landholders, farmer families with former or present constitutional post holders, retired pensioners with monthly pensions of ₹10,000 and above

What is the issue?

About 5 lakh ineligible people from Tamil Nadu have been enrolled under the scheme leading to the siphoning off of around ₹110 crore from the exchequer.

Many of these ineligible people were reportedly enrolled as beneficiaries during the lockdown period.

Chengalpet, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, Krishnagiri, Ranipet, Salem, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, and Villupuram, were the districts where most of these ineligible people were added from.

The scam was first detected when the District Collector of Cuddalore found more than 100 people who are not farmers receiving the PM KISAN aid. These people were not aware of them being added to the scheme. The alarm bells were sounded when the total beneficiaries saw a dramatic increase from 39 lakh to 45 lakh by August.

How did it happen?

The Centre had introduced an online provision for self-registration where prospective beneficiaries can register for the scheme by furnishing the necessary proofs. This provision was used by the scamsters comprising of few Agriculture Department officials and private computer centres.

The reason for the scam is said to be fulfilment of targets. It was reported that the officials had on-boarded temporary contractual staff to fill unsuspecting people as beneficiaries.

These department officials are said to be not tech-savvy and had to rely on data entry operators in the computer centres. The computer centres had used the Aadhar details of the people in the locality that was collected during earlier occasions. Soon, agents started showing up in villages collecting the Aadhar card details.

Every district has a unique password which is given to the joint director, deputy directors and assistant directors in the agriculture department which cannot be changed. Either the passwords must have been stolen or the officials must have colluded.

The officials supposedly shared the login id and password with these computer centres who added the new beneficiaries and received about ₹2000 as commission per beneficiary.

One of the agents from Salem reportedly added 160 people another one added while another one added 50. Salem, the native district of CM Palaniswami, alone had more than 10,000 fake entries.

As the field officers of the department were occupied with providing other immediate requirement of farmers, there was laxity in verification exercises.

The discrepancy in land data is also considered as one of the factor. According to the Agricultural Census 2015-16, there are 79.38 lakh farm holdings, regarded as farmers. However, the State Agriculture Department notes the total number of farmer-beneficiaries are at an estimated at 41 lakh.

What has been done so far?

Principal Secretary and Agricultural Production Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi had said that 80 contractual employees were dismissed and 34 officials of the department suspended. 18 people identified as brokers who are mostly internet café owners have been arrested.

A CB-CID probe has been launched into the matter owing to the magnitude of the fraud. While action has been taken against the government officials for dereliction of duty, Mr. Bedi has assured that if anyone was found to have connived with the brokers, criminal action would be initiated against them which would be known as the probe progresses.

The government has reportedly retrieved ₹32 crores of the ₹110 crores. District Collectors have issued orders to banks to freeze the accounts of the ineligible beneficiaries and create a conduit to recover the balance money when it gets deposited to their accounts.

Mr. Bedi has spoken to Chairman of SBI and other public sector banks to speed up the recovery process.

The politics

As the scam came to light senior leaders of BJP Tamil Nadu submitted a petition to the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu K Shanmugam. The BJP Tamil Nadu’s IT Wing president CTR Nirmal Kumar alleged that a scam of such magnitude would not have been possible without the involvement of top politicians.

While at present there are no prima facie involvement of top politicians in the scam, role of local politicians are not being ruled out.

The DMK President MK Stalin grabbed the opportunity to blame both the Centre and State alleging that both the governments were hand-in-glove.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami under whose watch the scam has surfaced though admitted about the irregularities, sought to blame the Centre’s self-registration process while staying silent on failure of state officials to verify the beneficiaries.

The CM has assured that the CB-CID probe would take its course and all perpetrators would be brought to books.

Madras HC orders notice to AR Rahman after IT dept alleges tax evasion

By
Balaji Subramanian
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The Income Tax department has alleged Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman of routing income of over ₹3 crore through the A R Rahman Foundation, a charitable trust managed by him, to evade tax.

In this regard, the Income Tax department has moved to the Madras High Court and a division bench of Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan ordered notice to the music composer.

T R Senthil, senior standing counsel for the Income Tax department said, Rahman received an income of ₹3.47 crore in the assessment year 2011-12 when an agreement was made with UK-based Libra Mobiles.

Rahman was commissioned to compose exclusive ringtones for the company and the term of the contract was for three years. However, Rahman had inserted a clause wherein the company was asked to pay his remuneration directly to the foundation managed by him, the department said.

“The income, which is taxable, must be received by Rahman. After due deduction of tax, it can be transferred to the trust. But the same cannot be routed through the trust as income to the charitable trust is exempted under the Income Tax Act,” the counsel said.

The IT department had moved to file an appeal in the Madras High Court after the proceeding initiated by it was set aside by the Income Tax tribunal.

Here is the joint statement issued by India and China on the on-going border tensions

By
The Commune
-

India’s External Affairs Minister met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday (Sept 10) evening in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings. Post the meeting, a joint statement was issued in which the two countries agreed on a 5 point agenda.

Here is the full text of the joint statement:

H.E. Dr S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India met H.E. Wang Yi, State Councillor and Foreign Minister of China on 10th September in Moscow on the side-lines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. Both Ministers had a frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations and agreed as follows:

1. The two Ministers agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.

2. The two Foreign Ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions.

3. The two Ministers agreed that both sides shall abide by all the existing agreements and protocol on China-India boundary affairs, maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters.

4. The two sides also agreed to continue to have dialogue and communication through the Special Representative mechanism on the India-China boundary question. They also agreed in this context that the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC), should also continue its meetings.

5. The Ministers agreed that as the situation eases, the two sides should expedite work to conclude new Confidence Building Measures to maintain and enhance peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

India won’t allow unilateral change in status quo on LAC, Jaishankar tells Wang Yi

By
Balaji Subramanian
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jaishankar wang yi india china

Just days after Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with his Chinese counterpart in Russia, S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday (Sept 10) evening in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings.

Just as Singh had told his counterpart that New Delhi will not permit any unilateral change in status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Jaishankar also reiterated the same stance at the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister. He said that the Indian Army troops had ‘scrupulously followed all agreements and protocols pertaining to the management of the border areas’

During the meeting, India expressed its strong concerns about the large troop and hardware deployment of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the border areas in Eastern Ladakh.

India said that such large troop presence is counterproductive and it was not in accordance with bilateral pacts of 1993 and 1996 on border issues.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar made it clear that an ‘urgent resolution of the current situation was in the interest of both the nations’.

A joint statement was issued calling for disengagement of troops and for the military commanders of two sides to work out the process.

Pawan Kalyan says attack on Hindu temples have increased under Jagan Mohan Reddy regime

By
The Commune
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Tollywood star and the head of Jana Sena party Pawan Kalyan, sat on a hunger strike under the “Dharma Parirakshana Dheeksha” (penance to protect Hindu Dharma) with thousands of his party cadres and members from the BJP to protest against the burning of Lakshmi Narasimha temple chariot in Andhra Pradesh.

Demanding stringent action against the perpetrators responsible of setting the chariot on fire, Pawan Kalyan took Dheeksha at his house in the morning.

He said that attack on Hindu temples has risen under the YSRCP Jagan Mohan Reddy government and demanded for a retired judge to be appointed to investigate the temple chariot burning. He added that he will approach the Centre and call for a CBI probe if the state government fails to take action.

Former BJP Andhra Pradesh President Kanna Lakshminarayana too joined Pawan Kalyan’s protest at his Guntur home. He also levelled allegations against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and said that similar incidents have happened in the past. “Had the government acted then, such incidents would not have occurred”, he said.

Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandra Babu Naidu too expressed dismay at the incident calling it a ‘heinous attack by anti-social elements’ and demanded a safety audit for properties belonging to Hindu temples.

The six decade old temple chariot belonging to the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, one of the revered Vaishnavite temple was gutted on Sunday.  The temple is located in the East Godavari district. Hindu activists protested against the government for not ensuring safety of the temples. Many of them were arrested and sent to judicial remand.

Following the widespread outrage, the State government has ordered a CBI probe in the Antarvedi Chariot burning incident. A letter has been sent by the state DGP to the Union Home Ministry seeking a CBI probe.

Pawan Kalyan welcomed the CBI probe and called for the expansion of CBI probe in other similar incidents like destruction of Pithapuram idols, burning of Kondabitragunta chariot.

Actress Harathi gives it back in style to “Hindi Theriyathu Poda” gang

By
The Commune
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While members of the DMK and its sympathizers in media and cinema go about wearing “Hindi Theiryathu Poda” t-shirts to oppose the supposed ‘Hindi opposition’, actress and television host Harathi known for her comic roles in Tamil movies voiced out her opinion on the matter saying that just like how Tamil is dear to people of Tamil Nadu so are other languages to other people. She said that it is wrong to denigrate other languages and added that those who want to learn can learn. She also took a jibe at her fellow artist colleagues that those flaunting the “Hindi Theriyathu Poda” t-shirts today would not hesitate to throw it away if a Hindi film chance comes their way.

Since this tweet, she had come under the attack from online trolls and DMK IT cell handles who had resorted to fat shaming her and passed misogynistic comments.

However, Harathi has been giving it to them back in style by going offensive on abusive tweets while giving a strong rebuttal subtly.

She even posted an edited picture of her in which she had written “Mujhe Hindi bhi aathi hai, Muttaal aakaama poda” (I know Hindi too, don’t fool people, get lost!)

However, all hell broke loose when she responded to a picture posted by a user in which she and her husband can be posing with DMK patriarch Karunanidhi. She said noted that she respected the leader and that is why studied Hindi in the ‘school run by Karunanidhi’s family’.

To those saying that people in Tamil Nadu can study Hindi privately by enrolling in Hindi Prachar Sabha or in any other private centre, she asked whether they will pay for it.

When another user had asked her whether learning Hindi had given her a chance in Bollywood films, she said that she has been doing Tamil translation of stories and dialogues, narrating scripts in Hindi to actresses coming from the north to work in South apart from dubbing for Hindi movies. “Nalla irukken!” (I am doing good!), she noted.

‘Rhea is a Bengalee Brahmin lady’ Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury gives Bengali vs Bihari, Brahmin vs Rajput twist to the case

By
The Commune
-

Congress leader and chief of the party’s West Bengal unit Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury came down heavy on the BJP saying that it is using Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case keeping in mind the Bihar elections.

“Departed star, Mr #SushanthSinghRajput was an Indian actor, BJP turned him into a Bihari actor, only to score electoral brownie points”, he tweeted.

His tweet comes in the light of Bihar unit of the BJP putting posters of Sushant Singh Rajput with the words, “Na bhoola hai, na bhoolne denge (We haven’t forgotten, nor will we let anyone forget)”.

He called the arrest of Rhea Chakraborty by the Narcotics Control Bureau as ludicrous saying that the central agency has done it ‘to please the political masters’.

He went on to say that “Rhea is a Bengalee Brahmin lady” and “justice for actor Sushant Rajput” should not be interpreted as “justice to Bihari” adding that Rhea’s father was entitled to demand justice for his kids.

This tweet of the Congress leaders has been called out by many netizens for the unwarranted labelling of linguistic and caste identities. Here are some the reaction to his tweets.

https://twitter.com/kaveri_m/status/1303928137047105536

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