SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGES MAINSTREAM ENGLISH MEDIA WITH NEWS BROADCAST ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

On February 10, The Washington Post published a headline that got a good amount of attention: "The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol."

Every five years, the Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Department of Agriculture, issues "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," a federal publication that has far-reaching implications on what we eat. The guidelines affect everything from the way companies can advertise their products, to what's in your child's school lunch, to the diet advice offered up by nearly every doctor and nutritionist in the country.

Remember the food pyramid from when you were growing up? Today's iteration, MyPlate, relies on these guidelines as well. They're also the basis for the information on nutrition facts labels on just about all food packaging.

So you can see why so many people are anxiously awaiting the 2015 update.

The 112-pagereport from 2010 included 23 recommendations for the general population and sixadditional recommendations for specific population groups, such as pregnantwomen. The three major goals emphasized were:

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's efforts towards making India a better place for business might have started showing results, with India jumping 12 spots in the World Bank's rankings in terms of ease of doing business. For 2016, India has been ranked 130th on a list of 189 countries, compared with a ranking of 142nd this year, the steepest rise seen by the country in recent years.The rise was primarily on account of improvement in two areas - ease of starting a business and securing an electricity connection."In 2014, the government of India launched an ambitious programme of regulatory reform, aimed at making it easier to do business. Spanning a range of areas measured by 'Doing Business', the programme represents a great deal of effort to create a more business-friendly environment, particularly in Delhi and Mumbai," said the report, titled Doing Business 2016, Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency.

Rukmini Bhaya Nair, in her recent article in NDTV has posed a question to scientists as to why they were not returning their awards when a lot of writers and other ’artistes’ were returning theirs.

At the very outset, to even suggest that not returning awards was akin to either being apathetic  to someone’s killing, or not having courage to speak up is very rash.  The entire structure of her argument stands on a very shaky foundation –  to first assume that this is the worst time for civic rights in the history of post-independent India without establishing it with any objective evidence, and then to try and win people with a  ‘you are either with us or against us’ logic.

Before we move on, I want to say this – in a recent debate on Times Now, Maya Krishna Rao angrily asked Anupam Kher and Arnab Goswami not to dictate to the writers when they should or should not be returning their awards (when they quite reasonably asked her why none of these people returned their awards during the earlier riots and incidents). Now, turning the tables, how would it be if a scientist said ‘’ Please don’t dictate to the scientists when they should or should not speak up’’?

With that childishness out of the way, here is my  broad response to Ms. Nair.

WILL NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA PROVE ANOTHER DAUNTING CHALLENGE FOR MAIN STREAM ENGLISH TV NEWS CHANNELS.

https://storify.com/sureshnakhua/credibility-does-it-matters-yes-mr-vikramchandra-c?utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=t.co&awesm=sfy.co_p4Q1&utm_campaign=

Like the Bofors scam, the AgustaWestland chopper deal too has telltale signs of a Congress connection. According to the Italian newspaper ‘Lettera 43’, main Michel was also the agent of Dassault, which has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Indian Air Force’s 10 billion dollar deal for Rafale fighter jets, supposed to be the world’s biggest tender. 

commission agent Christian Michel’s late father was “close to the Congress party”, and the other middleman, Guido Ralph Haschke, was a Director of Emaar-MGF, a real estate company owned by relatives of Kanishka Singh, who is associated with a Congress high-up.

According to the Italian newspaper report on November 20, 2012, the “mysterious” British citizen Michel, described as “Man of Orsi”, had received 60 per cent (around `210 crore) of the kickback amount of 51 million Euros (around `360 crore) from the Finmeccanica, the manufactures of AgustaWestland choppers.

Dear Rajdeep Sardesai

Before I come to your latest blog, I want to talk about your Facebook post from 14th October 2015. One of the issues you raised there was your problem with “labels“. You said: “it is so easy to label someone with a differing opinion” and that you “resent the use of labels“. Yet, your latest blog starts with the words “The pseudo-patriots“. Isn’t this a “label“, on “someone who has a differing opinion“? I, on the other hand, have no issues with labels and hence I call you a two-faced hypocrite.

Coming to today’s post, you have chosen a convenient straw-man of pitting Dadri against Moodbidri. Like a one-on-one encounter where one event has to win, and the other must suffer an ignominious defeat. In your highly bi-polar world, only one can exist and the other must perish. Unfortunately, the point was never that and it never will be. What the ordinary man on the street is saying repeatedly (and why you had to write your apologetic and defensive blog) is: “Yes Dadri was an extremely heinous incident. We all condemn it. Now can we hear at least a part condemnation for Moodbidri?“. No-one is saying Moodbidri is the counterpart of Dadri in all “chhatees gun“, It is you who has purposely made the debate so, for your own convenience.

While Dadri was in the media

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal desperately wants the cops, and he's doing something about it. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, which has been alleging that the Delhi Police have "completely failed" to provide safety to the citizens, is now planning to move the court seeking a clarity on who should have command over the police.

The state government, which is in the process of seeking legal opinions on the issue, will move either the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court, according to sources. If it finally decides to proceed, the raging issue will be coming up before a court for the first time.

Also read: Kejriwal showing double standards on rape issue: Bhushan

Kejriwal has been raising the demand for control over the Delhi Police, which now reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), following spurt in crimes against women and children. The fresh demand and plan to move the court came in the wake of outrage over the recent gang rape of two minors - a two-and-half-year-old girl and a five-year-old.

The AAP government is also using a recent survey conducted by an NGO - Centre For Media Studies - which said corruption in the Delhi Police was high while graft cases had come down in the Delhi government departments. The government seeks clear answers on as "to whom are the Delhi Police accountable to, when Delhi had a separate elected government, why should police reforms and urgent steps for improvement in law and order get stuck for want of manpower and funds, and why should the public suffer on that account?"

Also read: AAP Govt explores legal option to fix accountability of police

"We are seeking a legal opinion on moving the court. The government may move the Delhi High Court, which after taking suo motu notice of the Nirbhaya incident, is issuing periodic orders for improvement of law and order in Delhi, and seeks impalement in that hearing. We also have the option of approaching the Supreme Court directly on the issue," a source told Mail Today.

The state government feels that the need for intervention has arisen because the Union home ministry had told the HC, which has been asking for separate wings for criminal investigation duty and law & order duties for better functioning of the police, that it was not practicable owing to shortage of manpower and funds.

The home ministry had told the court that 16,000 more personnel would be required to divide investigation and crime detection from law and order wing. This, according to the ministry, will also incur an extra expenditure of approximately `475 crore annually, which it cannot afford.

Delhi Police

Kejriwal has been raising the demand for control over the Delhi Police.

"The control over police can also be divided...For example, the MHA can be in control of the police force in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) areas and other high-sensitive areas to look after VIP security, while MCD and other areas can be left to the state government. The ministry has to look after the security of the entire country. The state government would be better equipped to take care of local security," said the source.

"Any issue of manpower and fund crunch can be addressed by the state government, if given total or partial control over the police," said the source.

It is to be noted that the Sheila Dikshit government had once recommended that VIP security duties remain with the central government, while control over other duties like traffic be moved to the Delhi government.

Also read: Kejriwal playing shallow politics over heinous crimes, says BJP

The issue is important as Kejriwal very well knows the result of the wrath of the electorate. The effect of December 16, 2012 gang rape on the Congress' disastrous performance in the last Assembly elections is a known fact.

Even Dikshit had failed to convince the public that law and order and police were not under the Delhi government. After the elections, she had said, "The people do not necessarily care about such technicalities like whether the police and law and order are under whom... for all practical purposes, the Delhi Police and I as the CM were one and the same."

Act or hand over Delhi police to us, Kejriwal to PM

After several unsuccessful representations to the home ministry, the AAP government is contemplating moving the court, knowing well that the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court had several times in the past had suggested separation of law and order duties of the Delhi Police from crime detection and investigation wings. It claimed that the move would help improve the Capital's security mechanism.

"If the wings are separated, many criminals will notget away and the law and order situation will improve. One team of the policecan go to the spot and maintain law and order in the event of any incident. Theother team, meanwhile, can begin investigation without wasting time," theSC had said recently.

Tanveer Khan, 31, frames images in his shop opposite the passport office on the Ashiana-Digha Road. He has been opening at 9.30 am of late. The urgency is because of Dussehra; Tanveer wants to sell as many framed portraits as possible of goddess Durga. Tanveer and his younger brother Nazeer look after the shop by rotation.

Shortly after opening this morning, Tanveer displayed the framed pictures of various Hindu deities and engaged in a discussion on politics. Development should be the agenda of any election, he said.

Tanveer’s area is part of Digha assembly seat of urban Patna. The JD(U) holds the seat but its sitting MLA, Poonam Devi, has since turned rebel. The current JD(U) candidate is facing tough competition from the BJP’s Sanjeev Chaurasia, son of veteran party leader Ganga Prasad.

In view of the aforesaid reasons, we are of theopinion that the impugned judgment passed by the HighCourt of Andhra Pradesh in rejecting the petitions forquashing the initiation of criminal proceedings againstthe appellants under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. isperfectly legal and valid, the same does not call forinterference by this Court in exercise of its appellatejurisdiction as there is no substantial question of lawframed in the appeals nor is there any miscarriage ofjustice for the appellants to interfere with at thisstage. In our considered view, having regard to thenature of the complaint, the respondents are requiredto prove the allegations against the appellants byadducing valid and cogent evidence, the same has to beconsidered by the trial court and accordingly recordPage 40 Crl. A. No. 857 of 2012 40the findings on the merits of the case. The appealsare devoid of merit, liable to be dismissed and areaccordingly dismissed. The orders granting stay offurther proceedings before the trial court shall standvacated. 

By now the irony of writers and artists who are protesting about intolerance and growing fascism in India via newspaper columns, primetime television shows and social media is obvious to all. The façade that is playing out in media is a cruel joke in a country which is desperate for jobs, progress, and connectivity and for a rightful place in the global order. The aspirational class that voted Narendra Modi into power is tired of shenanigans that play out in television studios night after night. They do not understand the tantrums these writers and intellectuals are throwing. Hungry for efficiency and economic prosperity, this emerging India watched the litterateurs call the Prime Minister of the country a fascist dictator on prime time news without fear of retribution and laughed. This neo middle class watched the intellectuals confer upon themselves intimidating titles like the ‘Conscience of the nation’ and ‘Public intellectuals’ and wringed their hands in desperation and amazement. It did not escape anyone that self appointed voices of the nation were completely detached from the real people and real issues.

Through the cacophony of noises I was able to deciphertwo main reasons for the ‘intellectual tantrums’. Sahitya Akademi is spinelessand did not condemn the killing of MM Kalburgi who was a Sahitya Akademiwinner. Before him two other rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansarewere shot dead brutally and the Akademi did not speak up for either of them.The second reason was the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq who was killed merely on arumor that he had either indulged in cow slaughter or eaten beef. Whatever thecatalyst for returning the awards, all these Award returnees converge on thepresent government being instrumental in quelling dissent and free speech.  If an alien were air dropped in India today, he would think before May 2014, India was aland of milk and honey, there were no communal riots, love and harmony 
wasoverflowing and we lived in some kind of utopian existence

A 13-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Khair beheaded a young boy as revenge after she was raped by his father, police in Uttar Pradesh said Thursday.

Five-year-old Amit was playing outside his house on Tuesday evening, when the girl lured him away under some pretext, took him to a vacant plot nearby and beheaded him, said Rajveer Singh, inspector at Khair police station.

She also allegedly smashed the body with bricks, wrapped it in a polythene bag and set it on fire. The incident came to light when a pack of dogs dragged out the boy’s half-burnt body the next day.

The girl was taken into custody after Amit’s parents told the police that he was last seen with her. Police said she confessed during interrogation that she killed the boy because his father Rinku, who is a labourer, had raped her after giving her a whitener, to which she is addicted.

“Police have taken the girl into custody after registering an FIR. The girl’s father has also lodged an FIR of rape against Rinku, who has been taken into custody for investigation after recording the victim’s statement,” the inspector said.

Police have registered a case of murder against the girl under various sections of the IPC and the SC/ST Act and booked the boy’s father for rape under section 376 of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.

Superintendent of police (rural) Sansar Singh, however, said investigations are still on as some people in the area suspected the involvement of a ‘tantrik’ in the crime.

Tags Girl beheads rapist's son  13-year-old girl beheads boy  Aligarh Uttar Pradesh Police

The snowballing controversy over the remark made by Unionminister of state for external affairs General VK Singh (retd) following themurder of two Dalit children in Faridabad has focused the spotlight on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. General Singh’s remark shows that technocracyis a necessary – but not a sufficient – condition for ministers. They needpolitical nous as well.

Ahmedabad police are in possession of transcripts of purported conversations between Patidar leader Hardik Patel and his associates in which he allegedly discloses a plan to block all highways “by breaking empty soda bottles, parking trucks on the way and burning tyres” on the evening before the India-South Africa ODI in Rajkot on October 18.

Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convenor Hardik and five of his associates are facing sedition charges in a case booked by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) for making provocative statements and “waging war against the government”.

The DCB has also got in its possession transcripts of purported phone conversations among the other accused related to the Patidar rally in Ahmedabad on August 25 in which they are heard threatening to “burn the whole of Gujarat in an hour”, “topple the government” and “burn trains”.

One purported transcript shows an associate of Hardik telling an unidentified man to “keep cartridges ready and shoot in case of a ruckus”.

As the Durga Puja celebrations commenced on Thursday, One person died and over two dozen sustained injuries in clashes during a procession for Dugra idol immersion in Uttar Pradesh.

Incidents of violence was reported from Kannuaj, Bulandshahar, Rae Bareli and Allahabad.

A group of people from a particular community started pelting stones at a procession in Kannauj and later opened fire following a full-fledged clash. Mahesh Kushwaha sustained injuries and died on the way to hospital. Apurva Gupta, another youth sustained critical injuries. Six more people have also sustained injuries and admitted to a hospital in Kannuaj.

Clashes also erupted in Bulandshahar, where over a dozen people who were part of a procession sustained injuries. Krishna Veer, a police constable was also left injured in the violence.  

Similar clashes broke out in Allahabad and Rae Bareli, leaving five people injured.

It was only two days ago that Alok Ranjan, Chief Secretary of UP had held a meeting with the district officers and said that they would be held responsible for any violence during Durga idol immersion in their areas.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is on the lookout for a local priest from Yavatmal district suspecting that he might have instigated a youth to stab a constable in a bid to register protest against the beef ban imposed by the state government.

The incident took place on September 25 this year, on the day of Bakr-id, when Abdul Malik (20), an unemployed youth from Pusad village in Yavatmal, repeatedly stabbed a constable after offering namaz at a local mosque. The constable was on duty, posted outside the mosque. He survived the attack.

While stabbing him, an angry Malik allegedly shouted, “Tumhari government beef ban karti hai, toh yeh lo (Your government bans beef, so you suffer).” Malik allegedly also attacked two more constables who tried to intervene. Subsequently, Malik was overpowered by the constables and they seized his knife.

Mumbai: Amazon Inc's India business has quadrupled in 2015 over the previous year as customers and sellers have risen more than threefold, helped by a similar surge in "fulfillment capacity" as online shopping gathers momentum across the country."Active customer accounts are up 230% year-over-year. We are in the middle of the Diwali season that is going really well," Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer at Seattle-based Amazon, said on an investor call, the first time that these numbers have been made public. "The number of sellers has grown more than 250% year-over-year. Sales are 4x what they were last year."The Indian unit of the world's largest consumer marketplace has been adding products at a rate of 40,000 per day this year with 90% of sellers using its logistics and warehousing services.

 
 

If the Indian judiciary, the highest to the lowest, pursued any one relentlessly for a decade, it was Narendra Modi. The Supreme Court instituted a Special Investigation Team [SIT] to investigate riot cases, brought in the CBI to probe the Sohrabuddin and Ishrat Jahan cases, choosing just the two out of hundreds of encounters throughout the country. While the SIT did an honest job, the CBI did a thoroughly dishonest probe under the very nose of the Supreme Court. In August 2011, The New Indian Express carried three explosive articles [“Sohrabuddin: Interrogating the Media”; “Fixing Shah, by Fabrication”; and “How CBI Betrayed Court to Save Congress”], exposing how the CBI was dishonestly using the Supreme Court’s clout to fix Amit Shah and if possible Modi himself. The New Indian Express articles established how the CBI was lying on affidavit and orally to the court contrary to the evidence it had procured. The final sentences of the concluding article of The New Indian Express were: “This is not the epilogue. Only an honest and independent judiciary can write an epilogue to this perfidy.” This short conclusion tells what volumes cannot.

CHOROUS MOUNTING AGAINST VICIOUS MEDIA AND VENOMOUS MEDIAPERSONS.

Top Lies spread by Indian Media in September 2015

Big Lies:

1. 29 September 2015: The Hindu – PM got the GDP figure wrong

We had a separate story on this issue. The PM while in US had mentioned that India was now a economy with $8 trillion GDP. On PPP basis, which is the preferred method of comparing GDP figures internationally, this figure is the same as the figure issued by IMF in their “World Economic Outlook” report for 2015. The Hindu first showed the nominal GDP which is around $ 2 Trillion (in 2014). But they did not mention here that the corresponding value in PPP terms is $ 7.4 Trillion as per World Bank’s data. Then they claimed that the “latest” available data (from 2011) showed GDP on PPP basis at $ 5.7 Trillion. In doing so they ignored the above mentioned IMF projections for 2015 and also the World Bank report from 2014. Final argument used was that the $ 8 trillion figure was only “estimate” and not “data”, but fact is almost all economic data of such large scale is “estimated” because of size and complexity involved.

2. 10 September 2015: All Media – Meat Ban Narrative

Media Wants Riots: Why Indians are Protesting Bias and Sensationalism in Media

These last few months of media reporting in and on India are sounding ominously like the media climate in America in the period between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq. There is blood and fire in the air and on the ground, and a gloomy atmosphere of even more death and destruction to come. There is a sense of righteousness and justice at work in the passions that these media narratives arouse and stoke, too. But most of all, there is the utter lack of credibility, balance and a sense of honor for truth in all of this idealistic 

India’s Thought Cops are Angry with Modi

In the last week of September at Dadri not far from the Indian capital, an angry mob lynched to death Mohammad Akhlaq over allegations that a cow was slaughtered and he ate beef.

In the 1970s and 1980s in Bihar where there was no Bharatiya Janata Party, cow slaughter was still banned and there were times when there would be conflicts over beef and policemen would visit homes.

Beef conflicts are not new to contemporary India. Cows are not slaughtered across the Islamic world, but the reason cows are slaughtered mostly in the Indian Subcontinent is because Indian Islamists introduced the practice of cow slaughter here as a challenge to Hindu religious practice of worshiping cows.

Fikr-e-Nau (New Thinking), a newly launched Urdu magazine published by Pakistani