Journalist Joshi Murder To Deter Free Press

The brutal murder of journalist Vikram Joshi, In Ghaziabad, part of NCR speaks voluminous for " poor law and order" in India's biggest state- Uttar Pradesh, currently governed by saffron party and its saffron chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Criminals in UP can shoot down anyone including police , can kidnap girls, harass and rape them at will.The corrupt and highly inefficient and politicized police is always hand-in-glove with criminals. And murder of journalist Joshi highlights the warped and in- efficacious working of UP police.

The only fault of the journalist was that he dared to protest against the harassing of his niece by criminals. They were harassing her for the last 2-3 years. According to the reports, a fight had started between the criminals and the Vikram’s family after the accused started harassing Joshi’s niece. A probe was initiated after the complaint filed by Vikram on 16th July on the fact that no action was taken on the previous complaint. Worst,the station-in-charge tried to twist the facts.

The first complaint was filed around one and a half years ago. The police never took any action against the miscreants. Vikram had filed the second complaint on 16th July. Despite this no action was taken.

As such, the criminals were goaded and they fired at him indiscriminately in presence of his two daughters. corrupt police is solely responsible for the murder of a journalist. And Yogi govt's silence over the murder has added salt to victim's family deep wounds. Vikram’s sister has made serious allegations against the local police station in charge alleging he was involved in the planning of his brother’s murder.

Journalists in India are highly prone not only to criminals' revenge but also to ruling class 'hate and renegadation'. Since 1992, 48 journalists in India have been killed and 34 were targeted for murder. Of the 34 murders, 32 were murdered with “complete impunity,” according to the CPJ database. In 23 years, only that of Midday’s Jyotirmoy Dey, has been prosecuted and the murderers sentenced, according to reports.

India, ranked 14th on the list with 18 murders of journalists, has been listed on the Index 11 times among worst press freedom countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria, who vilify journalist and even threaten them physical reprisal. It is listed 138th on its World Press Freedom Index in 2018,

Earlier in March when Kearla Media One was blocked by GOI Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.New York Times commented," Press freedom in India is under threat under Modi regime".

Earlier, In July 2018, ABP news channel had to off air its popular news program after it was threatened by IB minister to block the channel. In fact, it was blocked for sometime to pressurize it.

Later, the veteran news anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai wrote on July 14, 2018, "the proprietor-cum-editor-in-chief of the national news channel ABP, owned by the Ananda Bazaar Patrika Group, had a conversation with me along these lines:

Proprietor: “Can you refrain from mentioning the name of Prime Minister Modi [in your programme]? Mention the names of his ministers by all means; point out anything amiss in a government policy if you want to, even name the minister of the concerned ministry. Just don’t refer to Prime Minister Modi anywhere.”

I replied: But when Prime Minister Modi himself announces every government scheme, involves himself in the work of every ministry; and when every minister utters the name of Prime Minister Modi every time s/he mentions any scheme or government policy, how is it possible for us to not take Modi’s name?

To put it another way, what is the predicament due to which the proprietors of ABP News were being pressured to keep the name and image of the prime minister off the screen? In fact, for the last four years under the Modi government, the way everything revolved solely around Modi; and, in a country like India, the way news channels projected him to the exclusion of all others, what happened was that increasingly, the image of the prime minister and his speeches and utterances, as absorbed by viewers, became a sort of an addiction. Its impact was such that Prime Minister Modi became a necessity for the TRP ratings of news channels.

India’s free press has played a crucial role in protecting this country’s democracy since its independence from Britain in 1947. But Since Mr. Modi came to power in 2014, his government has tried to control the country’s news media, especially the airwaves, like no other prime minister in decades. Mr. Modi has shrewdly cultivated the media to build a cult of personality that portrays him as the nation’s selfless savior.

At the same time, senior government officials have been berating editors, cutting off advertising, ordering tax investigations — ostensibly to transform India from a tolerant, religiously diverse country into an assertively Hindu one.

The murder of journalist Joshi may not be a part of this game plan but it will certainly work as deterrent to free press.

(Chander Sharma)

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Congress Needs Sachin Pilot More

'Rats Flee a Sinking Ship' is an old adage. So its not surprising to see young zealots deserting Grand Old Party (Read Congress) one by one. First, it was Madhya Pradesh young turk, Jyotiraditya Scindia biding farewell to GOP. Now, its Rajasthan charioteer, Sachin Pilot removed as state Congress chief as well from Deputy Chief Minister post after he refused to budge from his rebellion.

"Congress has no place for capability", quipped Jyotiraditya Scindia, a former Congressman on sacking of Sachin Pilot from the post of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and president of the state party unit. "This is happening in all the states," said Scindia.

And he is absolutely right. Congress has never been comfortable with mass-based leaders. The one family owned party is full of parachute and rootless leaders. Only such leaders survive in this party. Anand Sharma is the classical example. I know this man since college days. In his early student days, he was in RSS run ABVP. Later, he shifted to NSUi and never looked back. Except for one assembly elections, which he lost to BJP in Shimla (urban) in early eighties, Anand Sharma never fought any elections. In fact, he has no base anywhere in any states tough he claims Himachal as his home turf. He has flourished in Congress by sheer courting Gandhis. In nutshell, Congress has always cut to the size, the mass based leader Be it Deyraj Urs, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.

Himachal Pradesh veteran leader and six-time Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh bears the testimony . He has always faced deep humiliation in the party and once told me, " I am treated like a peon at Congress headquarters".

Sachin has inherited two traits from his father: a burning ambition, and the spirit of rebellion against his own leader. Sachin has also leaned hard lessons from his father-in-law, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the tall J&K leader. He is married to Sara- the daughter of Farooq Abdullah and sister of Omar Abdullah.

His father, Rajeshwar Singh Bidhuri (Original name), a former IAF pilot was inducted into the Congress by Indira Gandhi on a whim. He was known as rebel without a pause in his later years.

Look at Sachin's father rebellion spirit. As a minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government, Rajesh Pilot riled the Prime Minister with his actions. As minister for internal security, he ordered the arrest of self-styled God man Chandraswami in spite of his close ties to the Congress leadership. He roamed around the Kashmir in an open jeep. In 1997, Rajesh Pilot contested the Congress president election against Sitaram Kesari. And again, when Sonia Gandhi decided to take over the reins of the party from Kesari, Rajesh Pilot had made up his mind to challenge her to the post of president but opted out under pressure from other leaders.

What the Rajesh Pilot failed to do because he died young in a road accident, his son is all set to finish the task of launching an open rebellion against the party, and a challenge to the Gandhis. The flame of ambition and rebellion was long back lit in Sachin, probably like Mahabharata's Abhimanyu

But, Pilot's family also owes much to the Gandhis. Without Gandhis' support the Pilot family could have been hardly in politics. It was due to Indira and Sanjay Gandhi that a pilot from Uttar Pradesh was para dropped into Rajasthan’s politics in 1980. The family was able to pursue a career in politics because of Gandhis.

For four decades, the Pilots benefited from their ties with the Gandhis. After Indira’s death, Rajiv Gandhi shifted him to Dausa, a Gurjar-dominated constituency in Rajasthan . After his death, Gandhis picked-up his wife Rama and inducted her into politics. Later the Congress leadership passed on father's legacy to his 26-year-old son with no experience in politics. As such, politics was presented on a golden platter with a silver spoon to the Pilots by three generations of the Gandhis three times over. So, rebelling against them is prima facie seen as an act of perfidy.

Yet, it is quite understandable why Sachin Pilot has openly rebelled against leadership. His rebellion is, primarily, against Ashok Gahlot, not against Gandhi. He charrioted the truncated Congress to victory in 2018 assembly elections. Congress was routed in Rajasthan assembly elections in 2014 under Ashok Gahlot leadership. Sachin Pilot was sent to Jaipur to rebuild the party. For four years, he toiled hard and rebuild the party into a big force so much that it was able to sink vast cadre-based saffron party. But, after Cong won the 2018 election, he was denied the top job and made to work as Ashok Gehlot’s deputy-the same man who was responsible for party crushing defeat in 2013. Congress lost all

25 Lok Sabha seats To BJP and its ally in May 2019 parliament elections.

On the face of it, Sachin Pilot looks like a rebel, bent on breaking the party to realize his chief ministerial ambition, in cahoots with the saffron party (BJP). But even senior Congress functionaries admit that it’s Gehlot who has “deliberately” triggered the crisis to “get rid of” his potential successor.

Chef Minister went for the kill after he felt assured of a majority in the 200-member state assembly in the recent Rajya Sabha election. Two Congress candidates together got 123 votes, including the party’s 107 MLAs, 13 independents and three from smaller parties. So Gehlot was absolutely confident that even if Sachin Pilot leaves the party Congress govt would survive. Accordingly, Gehlot made all seemingly attempts to prick Sachin Pilot.

The last straw on camel back was a notice issued to him by the Rajasthan Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) to record their statements in connection with the arrest of two BJP leaders for their alleged attempt to topple the Congress government. According to police sources after getting “instructions” to send notices to the CM and the deputy CM, the SOG had gone back to the police brass for re-confirmation. The notices were sent only after the CM, who holds the home portfolio, re-iterated his instruction.

Everyone could see that the notices might have been sent to many people, but Sachin Pilot was the main target. Pilot saw an attempt by the CM to “finish him politically”, and had conveyed his apprehensions to the high command last week. He didn’t hear from the Delhi leadership, and then came the SOG notice, provoking him enough to launch the rebellion.

That's what Ashok Gehlot wanted. He thoroughly discredited Pilot. And political observers say If Gehlot is able to save the government,it could do irreparable damage to Pilot’s standing in the party.

Its also easy to understand why did Gehlot play such a risky gambit that may even end up bringing his government down? Congress sources say that the CM was preparing the ground for post-2023. If Pilot hung around till the next election, he would be the undisputed successor to Gehlot in the party and also in the government if the Congress were to get a renewed mandate.The high command had denied Chief Minister ship to Pilot in 2018 but there is no way that the young leader could be denied in 2023 by the time Gehlot would be around 73 years old. Sachin could read his long-term game plan.

Analysts say even if Pilot was marginalized in the government, he held sway in the party as the state unit president. Gehlot wanted to end that also. But the real objective of the SOG notice was to trigger a situation where Sachin goes the Jyotiraditya Scindia way, without destabilising the government, say political observers.

Somehow, it appears Congress central leadership, so far playing into BJP game plan, has realized this and is now ready to listen to Sachin Pilot lists of grievances. Pilot today's statement " attempts to malign me with Gandhis' underscores this. Congress must realize that it needs Sachin Pilot more than he needs the party. Congress, at the moment. looks a sinking ship. The Nehru-Gandhi family owned and run Congress needs young mass-based leaders.

(Chander Sharma)

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Will There Be Corona Vaccine By Aug 15?

People all over the world are anxiously waiting a drug or vaccine for the treatment of killer coronavirus. Amid varying claims by political leaders and harbinger, medical and scientific fraternity are yet not sure if drug could come sooner than later.

In his latest utterance as is his wont, US president Donald Trump has claimed that Covid-19 vaccine will be ready this year. However the head of the US drugs regulator has cast doubt on President Donald Trump's prediction asserting "I can't predict when a vaccine will be available,"

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dr Stephen Hahn, says vaccine development would be "based upon the data and science". Hahn is an American physician who is US Commissioner of Food and Drugs since December 2019. Before that. he was a radiation oncologist serving as Chief Medical Executive of the MD Anderson Cancer Center

Trump has been slammed time and again for his reckless utterances on vaccines and treatments during the coronavirus epidemic. He was the first one to champion the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as treatment for corona despite medical experts advising against its use.Though corona outbreak has claimed lives of almost 132,000 people in the US, yet Trump is not serious on containing the outbreak .In recent days, infections have been rising at a record rate in western and southern states, bringing the total to more than 2.8 million nationwide.

There is no hope of corona vaccine and its mass production earlier than an year, say experts. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned in June that scientists may never be able to create an effective vaccine against the coronavirus."The estimate is we may have a vaccine within one year," the WHO chief said. "If accelerated, it could be even less than that, but by a couple of months. That's what scientists are saying." Most of the experts say a Covid-19 vaccine will not be available until at least mid-2021.

But like Trump, India has also claimed that a corona vaccine could be ready by August 15."The under-development vaccine is “envisaged" to be rolled out “for public health use by Aug. 15 after completion of all clinical trials," Indian Council of Medical Research, or ICMR, said in a July 2 letter to clinical trial sites.

After criticism by scientific fraternity, ICMR even defended the August 15 target for launching Covaxin, India’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. “ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel,” the ICMR said in a statement after the scientific community questioned the “near impossible timeline” in getting a vaccine ready for public health use.

Earlier, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev claimed that Patanjali has developed 'Coronil' as potential drug for treatment of coronavirus. Later. it made a u turn saying it was just 'immunity booster,' not 'cure' for corona.

A vaccine normally takes years to develop, but scientists across the world are doing their best to fast-track efforts. There are around 120 vaccine programs currently under way. Oxford University and Imperial College London have both started human trials. Still health officials have expressed cautious optimism that a vaccine will be in production by the end of 2020 or early 2021.

So how strong is India's claim of corona vaccine to be ready by August 15. By all accounts, it appears be like that of Baba Ramdev. If India come with corona vaccine by August 15. it will be a miracle.

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