Of Cows, Men and Murder

May 7, 2017

The reprehensible acts by cow vigilantes seem to be going on unhindered. Some incidents have happened right in front of the police, who have turned a blind eye.

vigilantes

Despite the Centre issuing an advisory last year on the action to be taken by the state governments over such incidents, not much has changed on the ground. This has only emboldened self-styled cow protectors to have a free run.

A big concern is that most of the attacks have taken place in the BJP-ruled states, and as the saffron juggernaut rolls on election after election, the future could be unpredictable.

Uttar Pradesh

Noida, May 5, 2017

Two contact workers, assumed to be Muslims, thrashed for “cow smuggling”

Dadri, September 28, 2015 (The trigger)

* Mohd Akhlaq (52), son Danish dragged out of their house, beaten with bricks for storing and eating beef

* Akhlaq dies, Danish suffers severe injuries

* Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath bans cow slaughter after taking over in March

* Orders sealing of illegal slaughterhouses, triggering protests

Jammu & Kashmir

Udhampur, Oct 9, 2015

* Truck attacked with petrol bombs after rumours of it carrying dead cows

* Driver succumbs to injuries 10 days later

* Seven held for murder

Reasi, April 20, 2017

* Nomadic family with livestock intercepted

* Family, including nine-year-old girl, beaten with iron rods

* Four arrested and charged with attempt to murder

Cow slaughter or possession of its meat in J&K is criminal offence carrying jail term of not less than 10 years (now also in Gujarat)

Haryana

* Beef is banned, 10-year punishment for cow slaughter

* “Beef biryani policing” -- police squads check random eateries for selling beef

Faridabad, June 10, 2016

* Gau Rakshak Dal members stop beef transporters

* Force them to eat cow dung

Rajasthan

Alwar, April 1, 2017

* 50-year-old dairy farmer Pehlu Khan dies after vigilantes beat him up for transpoting cows; four others injured

* 7 arrested, but none who were named in FIR

* Vipin Yadav, an accused, was compared to Bhagat Singh by cow vigilante Sadhvi Kamal

Has a dedicated Cow Welfare Department, but 2,000 cows died in state-owned shelters due to negligence

Delhi

Kalkaji, April 22, 2017

* Three youths beaten up by around 25 men, said to be members of People for Animal, for transporting buffaloes

* Youth were en route to municipal slaughter house

* Cops arrested the youth first, attackers later

Kerala House, Oct 26, 2015

* Delhi Police raid Kerala House after complaints that beef was being served

* Hindu Sena claims it received a tip off

* The menu, it claims, has all items in English, except one which is in Malayalam

Gujarat

Una, July 11, 2016

* Four Dalit youths stripped, tied to an SUV and beaten up for skinning dead cow

* But CID report says cows were killed by lions

* Video of incident posted on social media with warning

Punjab

* Case filed on August 6, 2014, against Gau Raksha Dal after a video showing members brutally thrashing “cow smugglers”, went viral

*Dal chief Satish Kumar arrested from Vrindavan on Aug 22, 2016, after being booked on charges of sodomy, rioting and extortion

Telangana

* Struggle against Al kabir and Allanna mechanical slaughter houses of Medak district (earlier undivided AP) has been going on for long

* 'Gau Rakshaks' keep vigil on trucks that carry bovines and raid them

* Such raids result in communal tension, particularly during Bakrid

Andhra Pradesh

East Godavari, Aug 10, 2016

* Two Dalits who were skinning a dead cow were brutally beaten by locals

* Farmers who were searching for their missing cows mistook the duo as cow thieves, tied them to a tree and thrashed them

* 7 arrests were made in the case

Maharashtra

Senior BJP MLA Mangalprabhat Lodha seeks capital punishment for slaughtering cows and bulls

Jharkhand

Latehar, March 18, 2016

* Two Muslim men found hanging from a tree

* Mazlum Ansari (32) was a cattle trader; Imteyaz Khan (13) was the son of a cattle trader

Karnataka

Chikkamagalur, July 17, 2016

Seven Bajrang Dal members attack a Dalit family on suspicion of cattle theft and cow slaughter

Madhya Pradesh

Mandsaur, July 26, 2016

* Two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat slapped, kicked and abused by women members of Hindu Dal on suspicion that it was beef

* Police accused of making half-hearted attempts to intervene

Kerala

Surprisingly, for April 12 Malappuram Lok Sabha bypoll, BJP candidate N Sreeprakash promised “clean slaughterhouses for good beef”

Ernakulam, April 19, 2017

Eight RSS activists were arrested in connection with an attack on a house where a calf was slaughtered for Easter

Assam

Nangaon, May 1, 2017:

Two men lynched for “trying to steal cows” in a village, 130 km from Guwahati

Manipur

Imphal East, Nov 3, 2015

Headmaster of govt madrasa killed for “stealing cows” from his neighbouring village

What the Constitution says...

Article 48 (Directive Principles)

Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry: The state shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Govt advisory of August 9, 2016

* States are enjoined upon and expected to ensure that any person who takes law into his/her own hands is dealt with promptly, and punished as per law

* There should be no tolerance at all for such persons and full majesty of law must come to bear on them, without exception

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Agencies
March 7,2020

New Delhi, Mar 7: The Union government has issued a Global Invite for Expression of Interest for disinvestment in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) from prospective bidders with a minimum net worth of $10 billion as of Saturday.

The EoI submissions can be made till May 2, whereas investor queries will be entertained till April 4.

Another condition pertains to a maximum of four members are permitted in a consortium, and the lead member must hold 40 per cent in proportion. Other members of the consortium must have a minimum $1 billion net worth.

The EOI allows changes in the consortium within 45 days, though the lead member cannot be changed.

The GoI proposes to disinvest its entire shareholding in BPCL comprising 1,14,91,83,592 equity shares held through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which constitutes 52.98 per cent of BPCL's equity share capital, along with the transfer of management control to the strategic buyer (except BPCL's equity shareholding of 61.65 per cent in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and management control thereon).

The shareholding of BPCL in NRL will be transferred to a Central Public Sector Enterprise operating in the oil and gas sector under the Ministry and accordingly is not a part of the proposed transaction.

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News Network
March 18,2020

San Francisco, Mar 18: Facebook said a bug in its anti-spam system temporarily blocked the publication of links to news stories about the coronavirus. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Tuesday that the company was working on a fix for the problem.

Users complained that links to news stories about school closings and other information related to the virus outbreak were blocked by the company's automated system.

Later on Tuesday, Rosen tweeted that Facebook had restored all the incorrectly deleted posts, which also covered topics beyond the coronavirus.

Rosen said the problems were unrelated to any changes in Facebook's content-moderator workforce. The company reportedly sent its human moderators home this week because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to questions on the status of Facebook's content moderators, many of whom do not work directly for the company and are not always able to work from home.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Melbourne, Jul 24: Home-made cloth face masks may need a minimum of two layers, and preferably three, to prevent the dispersal of viral droplets associated with Covid-19, according to a study.

Researchers, including those from the University of New South Wales in Australia, noted that viral droplets are generated by those infected with the novel coronavirus when they cough, sneeze, or speak.

As face masks have been proven to protect healthy people from inhaling infectious droplets as well as reducing the spread from those who are already infected, several types of material have been suggested for these, but based on little or no evidence of how well they work, the scientists said.

In the current study, published in the journal Thorax, the researchers compared the effectiveness of single and double-layer cloth face coverings with a surgical face mask (Bao Thach) at reducing droplet spread.

They said the single layer covering was made from a folded piece of cotton T shirt and hair ties, and the double layer covering was made using the sew method described by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The scientists used a tailored LED lighting system and a high-speed camera to film the dispersal of airborne droplets produced by a healthy person with no respiratory infection, during speaking, coughing, and sneezing while wearing each type of mask.

Their analysis showed that the surgical face mask was the most effective at reducing airborne droplet dispersal, although even a single layer cloth face covering reduced the droplet spread from speaking.

But the study noted that a double layer covering was better than a single layer in reducing the droplet spread from coughing and sneezing.

According to the researchers, the effectiveness of cloth face masks is dependent on the number of layers of the covering, the type of material used, design, fit as well as the frequency of washing.

Based on their observations, they said a home made cloth mask with at least two layers is preferable to a single layer mask.

"Guidelines on home-made cloth masks should stipulate multiple layers," the scientists said, adding that there is a need for more research to inform safer cloth mask design.

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