'Writer Madhu Kishwar, who is followed by over two million Twitter users, on Sunday, 1 December, shared a video stating that soon after Uddhav Thackeray took oath as Maharashtra’s chief minister, the state started witnessing ‘secular activities’. The claim shared along with the video further states that the video is from Kausa Masjid in Mumbra in Thane district where police officers can be seen distributing tasbeehs (collection of beads) after people offered Friday prayers...
'The Assam government, which had announced that all the households in the state have had a power connection since the end of March this year, said in parliament that two lakh households had not been electrified on that date...'
Electoral bonds are bearer bonds, introduced as a mechanism for individuals and companies to donate money to political parties in India in 2018 by the BJP government. They were introduced without consultation and ignoring objections of the Election Commission and the RBI. Electoral bonds worth Rs.
'A government committee set up in February examined computers and pen drives and interrogated officials in charge of printing documents in an effort to identify the source of a leaked report showing that unemployment figures had hit a four-decade high in the year after demonetisation. Details of the report were published in the Business Standard in January, after the government’s refusal to release the data prompted two senior officials of the National Statistical Commission to resign in protest the same month.
'The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ protests against the new hostel manual and fee hike have become a talking point across the country, drawing varied reactions from all sections of society. As students continue raising their demand for a complete rollback of the proposed hike, the University has become the new favourite target of the fake news factory. Famous radio jockey Raunac, who voices the on air character ‘Baua’, recently released a video endorsing multiple fake claims regarding JNU and its students.
'In the early hours of Saturday, when the people of Maharashtra were fast asleep, the country awoke to strife and unfreedom. News of the death of democracy – the tearing up of constitutional norms – was broken by the executioner-in-chief, Narendra Modi, through his preferred medium, Twitter. Curiously, the morning newspapers had all led with the headline that the Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray was going to be Maharashtra chief minister.
'Though the Ministry of Finance had thought about sharing details of the electoral bond scheme with political parties and seeking the public’s comments on it, the idea was dropped after a presentation before the prime minister on August 21, 2017... RTI activist Bharadwaj says it is apparent that during the meeting with the prime minister, the decision to not consult political parties and not circulate the draft scheme to all national and state parties with a 15-day window to seek their comments was taken.
'The February 2002 Sabarmati train fire, which killed 59 kar sevaks and triggered large-scale riots, was part of a "conspiracy" hatched by Congress's elected members from Godhra, according to a reference book on political history of Gujarat published by a state board... The book, titled ''Gujarat Ni Rajkiya Gatha'' (Political Saga of Gujarat) and published in December 2018, is edited by Bhavnaben Dave, a former BJP MP and current vice-chairperson of the board... "To destabilise a stable government, a conspiracy was hatched on February 27, 2002.
'At the start of this month we asked the following question: Can the Indian government confirm it did not use WhatsApp spyware on Indians? We weren’t the only ones. A group of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists that had been targeted by the spyware, known as Pegasus, wrote to the government two weeks ago asking the same question. The matter was also brought up in the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, despite an attempt to prevent a discussion by the Bharatiya Janata Party members. And Members of Parliament have put the question directly to the government...
'The controversy over electoral bonds has resurfaced, this time after a five-part investigative series by Nitin Sethi that was published in HuffPost India. The series alleged that the government lied, bent rules and repeatedly ignored objections raised by various stakeholders. To demand answers, the Congress protested at the Parliament’s Gandhi Statue on Friday/ The party’s MP’s have been demanding that the ruling BJP government — especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi — break the silence over the issue...
