India

By Nishant Arora
New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) As political parties continue to misuse social media platforms to spread propaganda, misinformation, and fake news in the absence of a central cyber regulatory body, industry experts have reiterated the need to appoint a nodal cyber regulator to deal with Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and others.


Several countries have appointed their own cyber regulators who separately deal with Big Tech when they fail to address the laws of the land, especially before big-ticket elections.

"Propaganda, misinformation, and fake news have the potential to polarise public opinion. It is often seen that social media is used to promote violent extremism and hate speech against political parties, communities, and religions and, ultimately, to undermine democracies and reduce trust in the democratic processes," Nitin Pandey, senior cyber consultant with UP Cyber Crime, Police Headquarters, told IANS.

Pandey explained that such anti-social elements, using bots of paid Twitter users, spread misinformation.

"With modern artificial intelligence (AI) tools, it has become very easy to morph, and create deep fake, altered voices, videos, and text. And as these messages are circulated in such large numbers many believe them as true," he noted.

As India prepares for any big state poll, WhatsApp gets heavily misused by various political parties as well as individual candidates to woo millions of voters via the automated bulk messaging route.

According to experts, IT cells of various political parties prepare lakhs of WhatsApp groups and broadcast lists to reach smartphones of voters with targeted political messaging.

"WhatsApp is a big beneficiary of such unauthorised bulk messaging, even though the Election Commission has imposed stringent restrictions on conventional campaigns. Influencing and impacting elections in such an unauthorised manner is a crime under the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of People's Act," Supreme Court lawyer and cyberlaw expert Virag Gupta told IANS.

Pandey said It is very important to provide netizens with a solid education on media and information literacy as part of the curriculum.

"There are various fact-checking platforms available online. Before believing any hate or fake news, netizens should cross-verify the content before sharing it with others," he told IANS.

Section 66A of the IT Act has been enacted to regulate the social media law in India and assumes importance as it controls and regulates all the legal issues related to social media law in the country.

The New Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics) Rules was announced in February 2021 to increase the accountability of the social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.) to prevent their misuse and abuse.

"Political parties and marketing companies have been using bots, automation scripts, algorithms and time intervals to bypass rules of the land," according to Gupta.

Recently, the Madras High Court held that social media companies may also be treated as accused in criminal cases.

"In this context, the Election Commission must take immediate action against candidates, parties, and social media platforms for such systemic and large-scale violations of its laws and rules," said Gupta.

"Contempt proceedings can also be initiated against such social media platforms for violation of rules framed under the directions of the Supreme Court," he added.

--IANS
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By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi
New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) Congress seems to be on the upfront and is now giving timely response to the BJP on social media. It all started with senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh taking over as the party's General Secretary in-charge of communication.


On Thursday, Delhi Congress lodged a complaint about a "fake video" of Rahul Gandhi which attempted to establish that the former Congress President was refusing to perform Ganga Arti.

Commenting on the matter, Jairam Ramesh said, "Last night, a police complaint was filed in Delhi against a totally fake video on Rahul Gandhi. The offender deleted his social media post after it was exposed, but he will face the law for his atrocious deed. We will not allow such people to get away lightly."

Delhi Congress has filed complaint against filmmaker Ashoke Pandit for spreading "fake and distorted news, incite, provoke the public and create enmity between groups". The party said that the accused has committed offences that are punishable under the Indian Penal code, 1860 and other legal provisions.

"Janeudhaari Rahul Gandhi is refusing to perform aarti. The reasons are clear," Ashoke Pandit wrote in his now-deleted tweet.

Delhi Congress alleged that the tweet was accompanied with a "maliciously distorted video clip" of Rahul Gandhi, wherein it was sought to portray that the former Congress president was refusing to partake in religious rituals being performed in Rajkot (Gujarat) while worshipping goddess Durga. "It must be pointed out that the video was created by morphing (through deliberately editing) an older video in which Rahul Gandhi was indeed offering prayers in direct contradiction to what was being portrayed by Ashoke Pandit."

The Congress has appointed Supriya Shrinate to head all the Social and Digital media to counter any narrative against the party. Shrinate is a former journalist.

The Congress is fighting on two fronts, says party leaders, on one end with the BJP and on the other with the "so-called news channels". Jairam Ramesh, referring to a news item, said, "Don't take the Congress party for granted any more... This evening a Hindi news channel ran a mischievous graphic image in connection with PFI. This was a blatant attempt to tarnish Congress party's reputation. Our team acted at once and the reference to us was corrected immediately."

Recently, Congress MP Hibi Eden filed a police complaint accusing BJP leader Priti Gandhi of spreading fake and divisive news to disrupt Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Eden alleged that the BJP leader in a tweet shared a set of picture that sought to convey that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is posing with an individual who had been accused of sloganeering "Pakistan Zindabad" in past.

Jairam Ramesh shared the copy of the Congress MP's complaint on Twitter itself, saying that he had initiated legal action against the "online hate factory" of BJP leaders and their devotees and the Congress will not take such a case lightly.

He further stated: "The impression these pictures sought to convey was that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was posing with an individual who had been accused of sloganeering 'Pakistan Zindabad' on a previous occasion."

Eden noted (in the complaint) that "the individuals in the photographs were two separate and distinct people".

"The distortion was not an innocent one because it sought to falsely and maliciously suggest that former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is on a yatra to unite Indians, had demonstrated sympathy for individuals who supported Pakistan and approved their illegal sloganeering and was ultimately attempting to 'break India'," Eden alleged in his complaint.

The Congress leader further said that several users as well as fact-checking social media handles corrected Priti Gandhi and explained that the individuals in the photographs were two separate and distinct people. In fact, the BJP leader even deleted the tweet then "immediately uploaded another one to double down on her messaging making base and vulgar insinuations without the scantest regard for the individuals involved".

"...it is clear that this malicious post was designed to (1) create a dangerously false impression in the minds of the viewers regarding the Congress leader's approach towards Pakistan and individuals involved in illegal sloganeering in support of Pakistan; and (2) to foment social tensions in the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' rallies led by Rahul Gandhi," the complaint said.

Eden sought that an urgent and immediate FIR be registered by under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The Congress in July targeted BJP national president J.P. Nadda and demanded an appropriate apology from the party for sharing a "doctored video clip" of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress alleged that in the original video Rahul Gandhi was commenting on the SFI's violence on his Wayanad office but it was "deliberately and mischievously doctored to establish as if it was a comment on the heinous murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur".

The Congress said that it was immediately brought to the attention of all concerned that the reportage was "false and deliberately misleading".

Jairam Ramesh had then sought apology from the BJP and had threatened to take appropriate legal action against the party and its leaders "who insist and persist in using the social media in such a blatantly irresponsible and criminal manner".

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary, and urged people to purchase khadi and handicraft products as a tribute to him.

PM Modi also tweeted a video of his thoughts on Mahatma Gandhi on this occasion.

"Paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi on #GandhiJayanti. This Gandhi Jayanti is even more special because India is marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

"May we always live up to Bapu's ideals. I also urge you all to purchase Khadi and handicrafts products as a tribute to Gandhi Ji."

"His ideals reverberate globally and his thoughts have provided strength to millions of people," PM Modi wrote in his tweet

--IANS
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BY VISHAL GULATI
Chandigarh, Oct 2 (IANS) With the mass exodus of leaders, comprising loyal and veteran lawmakers, and the sudden rise of the saffron brigade in Punjab, the weakened Congress, which faced a humiliating ouster at the hands of greenhorn Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators in the recent Assembly polls, is a boat about to turn down, political observers believe.


They say the party, which had been making waves till the helm of Capt Amarinder Singh, a BJP man now, has been reduced to a marginal player with one "immature" and "childish" decision by central leadership like razing to ground 100-metre-high Noida twin tower -- taller than Delhi's iconic Qutub Minar -- in seconds like a pack of cards.

In a legislative House of 117, the Congress, which won 77 seats in 2017, managed to win only 18 this time with most of its stalwart faces like former Chief Minister Charanjit Channi and state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu facing humiliating defeat from their respective strongholds.

The BJP, which had won three seats in the 2017 when it had contested in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), secured only two seats this time, while SAD won four and the others won one.

Interestingly, Channi is missing from the political scene after biting the dust, while Sidhu, the blue-eyed of the Gandhis, is undergoing a one-year jail term in a road rage case of 1988 in which one person was killed.

The latter is politically finished after his conviction.

In the present lot of legislators, a tug of war of supremacy is on between senior-most leader Partap Singh Bajwa, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the state assembly, and firebrand young face and three-time legislator Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief.

On most of the party affairs, both Bajwa and Warring are not on the same page, admitted a senior Congress leader, resulting in a fight for one-upmanship and lack of strong leadership and well oiled organisational machinery.

"The party leadership has all dressed up with nowhere to go. The cadre at grassroots is demoralised and confused too," added the Congress leader.

Accepting his defeat with all humility, Congress rebel and two-time Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, whose outfit Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) had fought the elections in alliance with the BJP, had said people of Punjab had rejected communal and divisive politics of the Congress by first rejecting one leader as the chief minister for being a Hindu and then trying to play the caste factor.

He was purportedly referring to the appointment of Channi, the state's first Dalit Chief Minister, overlooking then former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar.

Prominent Hindu face Jakhar, who played a crucial role in strengthening the party's organisation at grassroots under the helms of Capt Amarinder Singh, had defected from the Congress and joined the saffron brigade.

Well ahead of announcement of the chief minister's face by the Congress for Assembly polls, Jakhar had spilled beans by saying Sidhu and Channi were least favoured as the Chief Minister's probable after Capt Amarinder Singh's exit.

He had said he was the first choice with 42 of the 79 legislators favoured his name, replacing incumbent Capt Amarinder Singh in September 2021.

Riding high on the Modi wave, Capt Amarinder Singh, whose wife Preneet Kaur is still a Congress MP, is saying he has a mission to accomplish after joining the BJP.

"I have a mission to accomplish and that is to work for the interest of the state and the country," he said.

Addressing his maiden press briefing last week after joining the party, Capt Amarinder Singh said he wanted to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party President J.P. Nadda.

Besides thanking Modi for opening the Kartarpur Corridor and withdrawal of three agricultural laws, he said the Prime Minister has special fondness for Punjab as whenever as Chief Minister he met him with any demand for the state, he readily accepted it.

"The Congress realised his importance after the devastating 2022 drubbing and defeat when it was reduced from 82 seats to mere 18," said a Congress rebel legislator, who too joined the BJP.

Describing the Congress and the BJP as twin faces of the same coin, Cabinet minister and AAP leader Aman Arora accused Congress leader Bajwa of working secretly for the BJP to implement their dubious agenda in the state.

"The House was supposed to transact business till 3.30 pm but the Congress had failed to raise any issue in the session and preferred to disturb it. The session was extended from one to four days only on the request of Opposition members, but they did not utilise the time properly," he told the media.

Dubbing Partap Singh Bajwa as Partap Singh 'Bhajpa' (BJP), Arora said he is working at the behest of the BJP and they want to implement 'Operation Lotus'.

Slamming the Congress for its irresponsible behaviour in the House on Friday, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said Congress leaders have wasted the precious time of the House by frequent disruptions.

The Congress leaders have mercilessly wasted the taxpayers' money by creating ruckus during the proceedings of the House.

Mann categorically said there "is no difference between the BJP and the Congress".

"As a matter of fact the fake Congress has emerged as the B-team of the saffron party. Earlier, the Chief Minister of the Congress had ruled the state at the behest of the BJP and now the entire Congress party is acting on directions of the saffron party," he added.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS
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By Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar, Oct 2 (IANS) The BJP's Kisan Morcha's 'Namo Kisan Panchayat' is receiving a mixed response in the villages. At numerous places, BJP workers have faced tough questions, even having to wind up the programme instead of educating the farmers about the state and Central governments' agriculture related programmes and policies. However, at a few places it also receiving a warm welcome.


Party leaders had launched the 'Namo Kisan Panchayat' on September 5. The motive is to reach out to each farmer through 14,000 kisan panchayats and explain to them about the agriculture programmes and benefits to the farmers, and at the same time collect data from the farmers about the benefits they have availed from these programmes.

Till Friday evening, the 'Namo Kisan Panchayat' had covered 8500 villages, claimed Hitesh Patel, president of the BJP Kisan Morcha. He also claimed receiving a very good response.

The farmers are not at all enthusiastic about the BJP's propaganda and the claims made by the BJP of success are blatant lies, alleged Jagmal Arya, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), a wing of the RSS. Farmers are facing severe issues of not receiving the minimum support price for their crops, shortage of irrigation water and power and many others.

According to Arya, BKS members are protesting and not allowing the holding of these panchayats in districts like Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Junagadh, Kheda and others.

Farmers have not participated in the panchayats at many locations, said Sagar Rabari, a farmer and AAP leader. The BJP workers are not talking about compensation for damage to crops in the heavy rain. Diesel prices have shot up and so the production cost of crops, MSP and open market rates are too low to meet the production cost. These issues are not addressed in the 'Kisan Namo Panchayat' and so the farmers are unhappy and not participating, he added.

Workers don't have ground knowledge of the agriculture sector, they are just tutored about the government policies and programmes. So when the farmers put questions and ask for solutions, the BJP workers cannot answer, which angers the farmers and they force the workers to leave the village, claimed Dahyabhai Gajera, president of the leftist Kisan Sabha.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Oct 2 (IANS) Union home minister Amit Shah will begin his three-day packed schedule visit to Jammu and Kashmir on October 3.

Officials said the Union Home Minister has a busy schedule ahead of him during his visit to the Union Territory. "The Union Home Minister will arrive in Jammu around 5 p.m. tomorrow (Monday). He will meet delegations of Gujjars/Bakarwals and Yuva Rajput Sabha in the evening."

His schedule for October 4 and 5 includes paying obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Reasi district.

Shah will lay foundation of several developmental works and will also visit Rajouri, Srinagar and Baramulla districts where he will meet various delegations.

Tight security arrangements have been made at all the places being visited by the Home Minister, officials added.

"After paying obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in the morning of October 4, he will fly to Rajouri where he will address a public rally," officials said.

Shah is likely to announce Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Pahari community during his Rajouri visit. Pahari community has sizeable population in Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla and Handwara districts of J&K.

On his return to Jammu, he will lay the foundation of many developmental works including Jammu Convention Complex on the pattern of the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC) in Srinagar.

A delegation of senior BJP leaders will call on him in Jammu, where the political situation in the UT and party affairs will be discussed.

On October 4, he will fly to Srinagar around 5 p.m.

On October 5, the Home Minister will address a public rally in Baramulla and lay foundation of several developmental works in the Valley.

In Srinagar, Shah will also chair a high level security review meeting along with the Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha in the afternoon.

The meeting will be attended by senior officials of civil administration, police, central armed police forces (CAPFs) and intelligence agencies of J&K and the Centre.

He will return to New Delhi in the evening on October 5.

Shah's address to the public rallies in Rajouri and Baramulla is politically significant for the BJP. However, there is no possibility of assembly elections in J&K in 2022.

On its part, the BJP has already fulfilled two important commitments with the declaration of September 23 as a public holiday to commemorate the birth of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra King of J&K.

The BJP also, for the first time, nominated a Gujjar, Ghulam Ali Khatana to the Rajya Sabha thereby giving representation to the Gujjar/Bakarwal community in the Parliament.

The election commission is scheduled to publish the final electoral rolls of J&K on November 25.

This has to be followed by other time bound electoral processes like filing of nomination papers, their scrutiny, time for withdrawal of candidature and the poll campaign period.

Harsh winter sets in J&K by the middle of December which makes holding of elections impossible in the later part of the month.

The earlier J&K can have assembly elections is April-May 2023 and the democratic process is expected to be largely people participative after the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A.

--IANS
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Kanpur, Oct 2 (IANS) At least 26 people were killed while several injured after a tractor-trolley carrying devotees overturned and fell into a pond near a village in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district on Saturday evening.

The devotees, all residents of Kortha village under Sadh police circle, had gone to the Chandrika Devi temple in Fatehpur in the tractor-trolley. There were about 40 people in the vehicle. While returning, the trolley overturned into a roadside pond between Sadh and Gambhirpur village.

The injured were rushed to a community health centre (CHC) in Bhitargaon. The police and senior officials have reached the spot and are supervising the rescue operation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have expressed grief over the incident.

"Distressed by the tractor-trolley mishap in Kanpur. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. Prayers with the injured. The local administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected," Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.

"The road accident in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh is very sad and heart-wrenching. The local administration is providing treatment to the injured. I express my condolences on the irreparable loss of those who have lost their loved ones in this incident. May God give strength to his family to bear this loss," Shah said in a tweet.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed officials to provide proper treatment to those injured in the accident.

The Chief Minister also appealed people to not carry passengers on tractor-trolley. He asserted that tractor-trolley should be used only for agricultural works and freight. "Life is priceless, please don't be careless," he said in a tweet.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has formed a committee to look into a plea against industrial units at Bhopa Thana of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh allegedly dumping hazardous waste and coal ash on the banks of the Ganga Canal.

The plea has been registered on a letter petition raising complaint that certain industrial proponents namely Bindal Duplex Ltd. Paper Mill, Bhageshwari Paper Mill, and Silverton Pulp and Paper Mill Pvt. Ltd. are running units at Village Nangala Bujurg, Bhopa Thana, Muzaffarnagar and dumping hazardous waste and coal ash at the bank of Ganga Canal in huge quantity causing serious environmental damage besides health hazards to the residents in the nearby areas.

"In our view, the issue raised involves substantial question relating to environment arising from the implementation of the Scheduled enactment under NGT Act, 2010 requiring adjudication by this Tribunal," said the NGT bench comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Members A. Senthil Vel and Dr. Afroz Ahmad in a recent order.

However, in our view, first, it would be appropriate to obtain a factual report by constituting a joint Committee comprising of State PCB and District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar who shall visit the site within a fortnight and submit a factual report within two months, the order further said.

The matter will be further heard on December 9.

--IANS
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Kanpur, Oct 1 (IANS) Ten people died while several others were injured after a tractor-trolley carrying devotees overturned in a pond in Kanpur district.

The devotees, all residents of Kortha village under Sadh police circle, had gone to the Chandrika Devi temple in Fatehpur in the tractor-trolley. There were about 40 people in the vehicle. While returning, the trolley overturned into a roadside pond between Sadh and Gambhirpur village.

Ten bodies have been fished out so far and the rescue operation is underway. The bodies have been taken to the Bhitargaon CHC. The police and senior officials have reached the spot and are supervising the rescue operation.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed deep grief over the incident and has instructed officials to provide proper treatment to those injured in the accident.

Further details are awaited.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Oct 1 (IANS) A magistrate of Islamabad's Margalla police station has issued an arrest warrant against PTI chief Imran Khan, media reports said on Saturday.

The area magistrate issued the arrest warrant in the case registered on August 20 against Khan for his remarks on Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported.

The FIR includes four sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

The former Prime Minister is facing contempt charges for his controversial remarks against Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported. The court has issued the warrant for Khan's non-appearance in court.

Following the issuance of the warrant, PTI leader Asad Umar warned the government not to arrest Khan, saying that it will "regret" the decision.

Meanwhile, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the issuance of a warrant in such a "weak" case was pointless.

"A circus has been created in the media by issuing warrants over pointless legal clauses and a foolish case which was not needed," he wrote on Twitter, Geo News reported.

Refuting all claims that Khan has left his residence for an unidentified location, Senator Shibli Faraz shared a picture of the PTI chief feeding his dogs at his residence.

--IANS
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