From Mohammed Akhlaq to Rakbar Khan, the most recent victim of cow vigilantes at Alwar in BJP ruled Rajasthan, Shashi Tharoor comes out with data provided by the government to maintain that mob lynchings and communal incidents has got worse since BJP came to power in 2014.

Stepping up his attack against the BJP –led government at the Centre, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said in a column he has written for The Print that the figures provided by home ministry to questions in the Lok Sabha and the data available with National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) simply do not add up to the picture the government seeks to portray. He thereby refuted home minister Rajnath Singh’s ‘robust denial’ recently that mob lynching got any worse under BJP rule and minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s claim earlier this month that there was no `big’ communal riots during the past four years.

Tharoor tweeted, "Why BJP Ministers' claims about reduction in communal violence don't stand up to the facts: It seems safer in many places to be a cow than a Muslim,"  pointed out that according to the government Uttar Pradesh (UP), somewhat predictably, reported the most communal incidents over the last four years, a staggering 645. UP also reported the most deaths in these communal incidents (121) between 2014 and 2017, followed by Rajasthan (36) and Karnataka (35). The venues for communal rioting on the BJP’s watch have ranged from Ballabgarh, Haryana, in 2015 to Bhima-Koregaon, Maharashtra, this year.

The home ministry’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data confirm that over 2,885 communal riots were reported between 2014 and 2016. Many others may not have been recorded as communal; as many as 61,974 riots were reported in 2016 under Sections 147 to 151 and 153A of the IPC (the latter records cases relating to “promoting enmity on ground of religion, race and place of birth”). In 2016, 869 communal riots were reported, the largest number in Haryana (250). 

"The figures for 2017 haven’t been released yet. More than halfway into 2018, I dread what they are likely to reveal," Tharoor said.

Tharoor recently warned that if BJP is re-elected in 2019 Lok Sabha elections the saffron party would make India ‘Hindu Pakistan.'

July 23, 2018

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidh’s run-in with his ailment draws politicians from across the spectrum including, his acerbic of critics, wish him a speedy recovery.

“Kalaignar M Karunanidhi is a born fighter. I am sure he will fight back and return fast to good health. Wish him a speedy recovery,” tweeted Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

The nonagenarian leader would remain in hospital under the observation of a panel of doctors for few days, said DMK MP TKS Elangovan. His blood pressure has been stabilized, Elangovan maintained.

Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi said her father is better now.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, rebel leader of the AIADMK, TTV Dinakaran, music maestro Ilayaraja among others visited Kauvery Hospital to enquire about his health.

Chief minister Edappadi K.Palaniswamy announced that the government is willing to extend all medical help to Karunanidhi if it is sought by the family.

S.Gurumurthy, editor of Thuglak magazine remarked that Karunanidhi should get well soon and return home. For Tamil Nadu His leadership continue. He recalled that not only politics Karunanidhi has brought pride to the state in every sphere of social life. 

M.K.Stalin on the occasion of his father's 50th year as president of the party on July 27 urged the cadres to follow in footsteps of 'Kalaignar' who, Stalin noted, overcame so many flash floods,innumerable treachery, overwhelming crises and defeats that heaved him down abyss but, in spite of all that savored astonishing victories.

Chennai: Slapping cases and arresting dissenters has become the order of the day under the present AIADMK government. Particularly, activists, men and women who fight against Vedanta’s Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin and the eight-lane Salem-Chennai green corridor project are bestowed with generous amount of ‘false’ cases. 

For instances five persons who were granted bail by Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Friday have a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 90 cases filed against them for confronting Sterlite. The modus operandi adopted by the police against them is;  slap fresh cases against each person who comes out on bail and send them to jail again. The police freely use the stringent Goondas Act and National Security Act (NSA) as a weapon of repression against the dissenters while the government continues to brand all the people who are against the government as ‘naxalites’, says advocate Jim Raj Milton S, of People’s Right Protection Center. He noted that an atmosphere has been created by the government such that the pro-Sterlite propaganda videos are doing rounds on social media and statements of Sterlite Copper’s chief executive officer P.Ramanath gets coverage in mainstream newspapers while the voice of the dissenters were repressed.

At least 40 anti-Sterlite protesters were arrested by the police including two advocates. While one got bail the other Hari Raghavan is still in jail with a total of 93 cases slapped against him, Milton said.

The state government, according to Lena Kumar of May 17 Movement, has booked P.Maniyarasan of Thamizh Thesiya Periyakkam (TTP) for a speech he made way back in October 29, 1991 and an arrest warrant has been issued against him. Similarly the state government has gone on appeal in a higher court in a case which dates back to 1988 against Pozhilan of Tamizhaga Makkal Munnani (TMM) in which he was acquitted by a lower court.

Environmental lawyer D.Nagasaila told Mirror that during a panel discussion held in Chennai on Friday in which Sterlite CEO Ramanath participated she made it clear that it’s unfair from the part of the state government and Sterlite to keep on arresting people and creating a climate of fear and terror. 

“In Tuticorin the suffering of the people is real. The problem is just there. There is no point in circumventing the issue by accusing some external elements or naxalites,” she said.

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Some Facts:

*Bangladesh had its last major cyclone in 2007.  

*Santa Cruz in Mumbai recorded very heavy rainfall of 994 mm in 2005 while Colaba received only 10 percent of that amount of rain on the same day.

The Chennai-based, self-taught weatherman Pradeep John has such countless information stacked up with him, if not for lack of time, he would apprise anyone seeking information on weather on captivating facets of nature.

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Some take away from a conversation with Pradeep John (his blog: tamilnaduweatherman.com):

Weather is unpredictable.

It’s perilous to predict rains and cyclones.

It would be too haughty to pinpoint a specific reason like climate change, El 

Nino factor et al for the quirks of nature.

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His Life

The winds called him. He followed. This is Pradeep John’s story of romance with monsoon.

For this weatherman the curious affair with rains began with a cyclonic storm which swept Chennai on October 1994. It was northeast monsoon season.  Pradeep, 12 then a class VII student, was asleep. His father Ramachandran, a government servant, mother Monickarasi and brother Dileep Daniel were in the house. It was around 1 am when the sound of heavy rains pounding on concrete and howling winds, followed by power outage roused him from sleep.

Pradeep remembers rain and winds raging throughout the night. A holiday was declared for schools next day. The streets were water-logged. Trees were uprooted; in his own yard a drumstick tree which he was fond of was not spared by the winds either.

Pradeep later learnt that the wind speed on that night was somewhere around 100 km per hour. The city on a single day recorded a rainfall of over 250 mm.

That stormy October night stirred his curiosity  and drew him towards observing and studying rain and wind patterns.

Pradeep recalls he used to dig pits near his house. When it rains he used to check how much water gets collected in them. Such small experiments, observations, extensive reading of weather reports published in newspapers and experience turned him into a self-taught and acclaimed weatherman.

The next copious rains which was etched in his memory, Pradeep remembers, was in 1996. It was southwest monsoon season. The city recorded 700 mm rainfall on a single day; the highest amount of rainfall recorded by the city in the last 200 years.

The young Pradeep consistently and carefully read the weather forecasts published with MSLP (Mean Sea-Level Pressure Analysis) in an English daily. He saved the paper cuttings of the forecasts.

“Note that was a time when there was no television or computers in our houses. All that we had was a radio,” Pradeep recalls.

Naturally he was interested in Geography. But his parents wanted him to study engineering. So he did BE Computer Science course in a city college. His brother went on to do MBBS course.

Pradeep says that till the year 2005-06 he didn’t have much knowledge about weather prediction.

He started blogging in 2008. By 2015 he had friends such as K.Eshan Ahmed of KEA Weather Blog in Chennai and Rajesh Kapadia of (Vagaries of the Weather blog) Mumbai. A senior blogger Rajesh Kapadia was in fact like a mentor to him, says Pradeep.  Between 2008 to 2014 they were constantly in touch. They shared information mutually. They used to chat or call over phone to clarify their doubts and discuss the weatherpatterns.

Pradeep lately tries to juggle his profession, he holds a managerial post at Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) and his passion, as a weather blogger. There is lot of stress as well, he says. 

“But I enjoy it,” he quickly says.

 “At the end of the day it’s not about the number of blogs I come out with. But the way I am able to stay positively connected with people. I’m there for people who seek credible information,” he says.

One of his priorities is to bust myths and fake news that keeps flooding social media. People do get panicky by such fake news and keeps calling him.

Pradeep doesn’t stop short of merely updating weather report. He chips in with other information such as reservoir level etc, to keep the people informed.

Pradeep John lives with his wife Hannah Shalini and daughter Laura, who is studying class II. Whether Laura is interested in what her father is involved in? 

"She watches clouds sometimes. But only to the extent whether it would rain and there will be a holiday for schools. She is only in class II, he points out.

 Ends

Rahul Gandhi gains confidence, rain barbs at Modi, winks. 

But will it win election for the opposition?

Although Rahul Gandhi’s sterling speech, which could have come packed with more precision and depth, and extreme dramatics seem to have done justice to the position taken by the Congress party in the no-trust motion- to highlight Modi government’s failure to deliver on its promises, it still left one skeptic whether this will do to deal with the Amit Shah+Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

There is some truth when Modi said ‘Congress has no confidence in itself.’ It’s clear that Modi has identified the weakness of the opposition as he once again invoked ‘instability’ factor. “Its lack of confidence was leading Congress to create uncertainty and instability.”

” If you don’t believe in people, you will find yourself on the run,” is something the prime minister should be reminding himself standing before a mirror. The PM’s post is not Modi’s preserve either.

To believe in Swachh Bharat and other trash schemes of his government is asking much.

The four year Modi rule has clearly established his despotic face. People should have by now realized that the ‘son of a poor mother’ is a serious threat to the country’s unity and integrity.

However Rahul Gandhi should realize that raining barbs is no big deal. Winning election is. As the BJP juggernaut, despite its awful performance, moves forward Rahul Gandhi need a well worked out game plan and a strong and united opposition to stop it.

First and foremost he should right away undertake the huge task of forging an across the spectrum opposition unity. The absence of a senior leader to lead the opposition in the crucial election ahead is badly felt.

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