Stop terror in name of Ram: Celebs to PM Modi

Agencies
July 24, 2019

New Delhi, Jul 24: Expressing concern at the number of "tragic events" unfolding in the country, a group of eminent citizens has said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that 'Jai Shri Ram' has become a "provocative war cry" with many lynchings taking place in its name.

The July 23 letter, which also stressed that there is "no democracy without dissent", has been written by 49 celebrities from various fields, including filmmakers Shyam Benegal and Aparna Sen as well as vocalist Shubha Mudgal, historian Ramchandra Guha and sociologist Ashis Nandy.

"We, as peace-loving and proud Indians, are deeply concerned about a number of tragic events that have been happening in recent times in our beloved country," the letter said.

"The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions," it continued.

The signatories said they regretted that "Jai Shri Ram" has been reduced to a "provocative war cry that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name".

It is shocking, they said, that so much violence should be perpetrated in the name of religion.

"These are not the Middle Ages! The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest executive of this country you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner," the open letter to the prime minister said,

Criticising the lynchings in Parliament is not enough, the civil society leaders said.

"What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators? We strongly feel that such offences should be declared non-bailable, and that exemplary punishment should be meted out swiftly and surely."

It also underscored the significance of dissent in a democracy.

"There is no democracy without dissent. People should not be branded anti-national or urban Naxal and incarcerated because of dissent against the government."

If someone criticises the ruling party, it does not imply they are against the nation, the letter said.

"No ruling party is synonymous with the country where it is in power. It is only one of the political parties of that country. Hence anti-government stands cannot be equated with anti-national sentiments. An open environment where dissent is not crushed only makes for a stronger nation," the letter read.

"We hope our suggestions will be taken in the spirit that they are meant - as Indians genuinely concerned with, and anxious about the fate of our nation," it concluded.

The signatories to the letter also include Bengali cinema thespian Soumitro Chatterjee, southern filmmaker-actor Revathy, director Mani Ratnam and social activist Binayak Sen.

Comments

Mr Frank
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jul 2019

When china in top of world with its products all around globe we as democratic , secular with free speech engaged in internal insecurity where development remains only a slogan every day we have to watch what happened next day.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

Jodhpur, Jun 5: A video has gone viral on social media showing what could be called Jodhpur's George Floyd moment with a twist, showing cops throwing a person on the ground and pressing his neck with their knees for roaming around without a mask.

However, unlike the unfortunate incident in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the cops in Jodhpur reportedly acted after the person, said to be mentally challenged, turned violent after being confronted by the police.

Dumb TV media is playing the initial part of this video as 'India's George Flyod moment'. Doesn't matter to them that the same video shows the man beating the cops back badly pic.twitter.com/vGSaON6oii

— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) June 5, 2020

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after being arrested by the police outside a shop in Minneapolis in the US on May 25. Footage showed a white officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes while he was pinned to the floor. He was pronounced dead later in the hospital, triggering widespread protests across the US.

However, in the Jodhpur incident, the man, identifed as Mukesh Kumar Prajapat, did not die but instead started fighting with the policemen.

Jodhpur police officers confirmed that the video was shot in the city on Thursday after the police wanted to issue a challan against the man for roaming on the streets without wearing a mask before he started manhandling the police.

The video shows a cop pressing his neck with his knee while two other cops held the young man's legs. A huge crowd gathered when the scuffle broke out.

Meanwhile, the SHO of Dev Nagar police station, Somkaran, said that the police were issuing a challan to Prajapat when he attacked them and tore their uniform. An FIR has been lodged against Prajapat on a complaint lodged by the Pratap Nagar police station. He will be produced in the court later in the day.

Prajapat is said to be mentally challenged and had damaged his father's eye earlier for which a case was registered against him, the poice said. Action is being initiated against Prajapat under the Epidemic Act, they added.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 12: Indicating that prolonged lockdown to contain coronavirus spread may lead to job cuts in the Indian IT industry, NASSCOM former president R Chandrashekhar has said that the work-from-home culture may become a positive development in the long run as it opens up newer avenues and save investments by IT firms.

The former bureaucrat also said startups which are surviving on funds infused by venture capitalists may face tougher situations if the present scenario deteriorates.

"The larger companies may not be actually cutting jobs for two reasons. One is that they do not want to lose their employees and they have money to pay. Many of them ( big companies), even if they do shed some jobs it might be at the most people who are on temporary or intern type and all. But they would not want regular and permanent employees to go. So as long as they have sufficient flexibility in their books, they would continue," said NASSCOM former president.

"But beyond a point that it goes on, for let us say, two months or three months, then even for them, they will feel the pressure. They may not just keep on providing subsidies to the employees. So the key question will be how long that goes on," Chandrasekhar said.

He also said the work-from-home systems being adopted by several firms across the globe, including India, may have a negative impact on the industry in the short-term, but in the long run it would change the work culture which hitherto was not experienced by many of the IT firms in India.

 On impact of the prolonged lockdown on startups, he said it would be a big challenge for the budding enterprises as the investments they get are based on their ideas and future revenues and the present situation under which peoples movement is curbed may shackle their progress.

 "Where will they (startups) get money to pay salaries to their employees. Venture capital investors would not pay the money or invest their money to pay salaries because they are not in the charity business."

If the employees are not paid and if they leave and it is difficult for the startup againto come up. So the whole investment plan goes for a toss, he said.

Former chairman of NASSCOM, B V R Mohan Reddy said a clear picture as to what is going to happen has not yet emerged as the situation with all respects is still evolving. Reddy said there will be a demand shrinkage for the IT industry as the entire world is under stress. "There is no economy in this world that is going to do well in this situation.

So, therefore, there will be a demand shrinkage, he said, indicating tougher times of the industry ahead.

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News Network
June 21,2020

New Delhi, June 21: India today recorded the highest single-day spike in infections so far with 15,413 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of positive cases in India touched 4.11 lakh on Sunday.

As per the Ministry of Health data, the total number of coronavirus cases stands at 4,10,461 cases which include 1,69,451 active cases, 2,27,756 recovered/migrated cases, and 13,254 deaths as per the Ministry of Health data.

With 1,28,205 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu with 56,845 and Delhi 56,746. 

Delhi reported its highest single-day increase of 3,630 new coronavirus cases. With this, the state’s tally rose to 56,746. The toll rose to 2,112 with 77 deaths. As many as 7,725 people recovered, taking the total recoveries to 31,294.

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