'Of all the laughable – and they are laughable – charges levelled by the Indian government against Kannan Gopinathan, the most preposterous is the one that says he failed to apply in time for a prime ministerial award on innovation in public administration. “I think I’ll be the only officer in history who has been chargesheeted for not applying for an award,” he said this week.
'The Indian government wrote to 11 public sector undertakings asking them to verify their records to check if Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa had exercised “undue influence” during his tenure as special secretary in the Ministry of Power between 2009 and 2013, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday... Lavasa made headlines in May when he disagreed with the Election Commission’s decisions with regard to violations of the Model Code of Conduct during the Lok Sabha elections.
'According to information from non-government sources, those who have been detained include Dr Praful Vasava from Rajpipla, Rohit Prajapati from Vadodara, Krishankant from Surat, Shailesh Tadvi from Vagadiya village, Gikubhai Tadvi from Shira village, Nareshbhai Tadvi and Narendrabhai Tadvi from Kevadia village, and Ramkrishna Tadvi from Gora village.
'The Centre has appointed Girish Chandra Murmu and R.K. Mathur as the new lieutenant governors of the two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, that are slated to come into existence on October 31... Murmu, who belongs to Mayurbhanj, Odisha, was seen as a trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah during their stint in Gujarat. Murmu was the principal secretary in the chief minister’s office when Modi helmed the state government in Gujarat...
'On Sunday evening, the hashtag #मुस्लिमो_का_संपूर्ण_बहिष्कार (‘Total Boycott of Muslims’) started trending on Twitter, with a large number of right-wing accounts tweeting it en masse. The individuals using the hashtag advocated a range of discriminatory actions against Muslims. These ranged from boycotting the buying of goods and services to advocating a ban on places of religious teaching...
'On October 8, Amit Shah addressed a large gathering at Savargaon Ghat in Beed and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the dilution of Article 370. He said with the move, Modi had succeeded in integrating Jammu and Kashmir with India. The visual and aural symbolism at the rally was also all about Article 370. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader was welcomed with 370 cannon shots being fired in the air. At the same time, 370 flags were waved. While Marathwada is facing a severe drought, Shah chose not to speak about it.
'In what it claimed was an “exclusive story”, broadcast at around 3.30 pm on October 11, the Times Now channel claimed that Pakistani social media accounts were responsible for the hashtag #GoBackModi trending on Twitter ahead of the Prime Minister’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Chennai... Though many media reports claimed that Pakistani users were behind trending #GoBackModi in India, Twitter trends are region-specific. This means that for a topic to trend in India, users from India need to tweet on the issue.
'In its July 16, 2019 issue, Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mouthpiece, spat venom against the public sector in general and against BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) in particular. The magazine published an article, wherein it is stated that, “laziness, indifference and barren dullness are the well-known marks of the public sector”. By publishing such an article in the Organiser, the RSS has exposed its true colours vis-à-vis the public sector of the country.
'In response to an FIR being filed against 49 celebrities and prominent personalities for writing an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 180 cultural and literary personalities have condemned the charges and endorsed the original letter. Among those who have signed the letter are actor Naseeruddin Shah, writer Nayantara Sahgal, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, historian Romila Thapar, academic Anand Teltumbde, singer T.M. Krishna and artist Vivan Sundaram, according to a report by NewsClick.
