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PM Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, others extend wishes to people on Chhath Puja

In a post On X, PM Modi said: “My best wishes to all of you on the holy occasion of Chhath Sandhya Arghya. May this great festival, a symbol of simplicity, restraint, determination and dedication, bring happiness, prosperity and good fortune in everyone’s life. Jai Chhathi Maiya!”

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday extended his greetings to people on Chhath Sandhya Arghya in Chhath festival.

In a post in Hindi on X, PM Modi said: “My best wishes to all of you on the holy occasion of Chhath Sandhya Arghya. May this great festival, a symbol of simplicity, restraint, determination and dedication, bring happiness, prosperity and good fortune in everyone’s life. Jai Chhathi Maiya!”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also extended his wishes on the occasion of Chhath Puja and said Indians living in different parts of the country and abroad are celebrating the Chhath festival with great enthusiasm and faith.

“Jai Chhathi Maiyya! Happy Chhath Puja to everyone. Indians living in different parts of the country and abroad are celebrating Chhath festival with great enthusiasm and faith. I wish everyone happiness, peace and prosperity on this holy festival of Surya worship. May Chhathi Maiya keep her blessings on everyone,” Shah said in Hindi on X.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also extended his greetings to the people on Chhath Puja and expressed his hope that the festival would bring new energy and strength to everyone’s lives.

“Heartiest greetings on Chhath Puja, the great festival of sun worship and folk faith. I hope this festival brings new energy and strength in the lives of all of you,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav extended greetings on the occasion and prayed for everyone’s life to be filled with success, blessed with the achievement of all goals and with the constant blessing of success in life.

“Heartiest greetings to all the countrymen on the great festival of folk faith and sun worship, Chhath Puja. With folded hands, I pray to Maa that this holy festival brings happiness, peace, glory, prosperity and well-being to everyone. Jai Chhathi Maa,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.

In another post,  Yadav said: “May you have the taste of the Thekua, may you have the blessings of the Almighty God, with this auspicious wish, heartiest wishes to all the countrymen and people of Bihar on the occasion of Chhath Mahaparva, which is known as an integral part of the culture of Bihar, which shows the qualities of strength and patience of women, the whole of Bihar shines with the light of its celebration.”

Earlier on the day of Kharna, Yadav shared pictures of him celebrating the occasion with his family members including RJD chief Lal Prasad Yadav and sister and party MLA Misa Bharti.

“The Kharna Prasad prepared by the mothers and sisters observing Chhath is awaited throughout the year. Today, people went to the houses of many party workers and well-wishers and received the prasad of Chhathi Maiya,” he wrote in Hindi on X.

The four-day Chhath puja began on Tuesday with Nahay-Khay. Chhath Puja is celebrated in different parts of the country and is a major festival in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The festival starts with Nahay-Khay on the Chaturthi Tithi of Kartik Shukla Paksha, focusing on purification and preparation. This is followed by Kharna on Panchami Tithi, Chhath Puja on Sashti, and concludes with Usha Arghya on Saptami Tithi.

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Case against Flipkart, others for selling T-shirts idiolising Bishnoi, Dawood

During the online vigil, the cyber security officials found that several e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, AliExpress, and marketplaces like TeeShopper and Etsy, had been selling T-shirts that glorify gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Dawood Ibrahim.

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The Maharashtra cyber crime branch has filed a police case against Flipkart, online marketplaces and other e-commerce platforms for selling T-shirts glorifying gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, officials said on Thursday.

According to the release, the state’s cyber wing has filed a case under various Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 353 (public mischief) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

During the online vigil, the cyber security officials found that several e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, AliExpress, and marketplaces like TeeShopper and Etsy, had been selling T-shirts that glorify gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Dawood Ibrahim.

The statement said the cyber unit has filed the case not only against the platforms that hosted these listings, but also against the sellers responsible for listing these objectionable products.

An official said, “The products, which idolise criminal figures, pose a significant risk to the society by promoting a distorted image (of values) which could influence young minds negatively.”

In its release, the cyber unit said it considers this as material harmful, as it attempts to corrupt the values of the youth by using seemingly casual apparel to spread messages that glorify criminal lifestyles.

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India calls out Canada’s move to ban Australia Today for airing S Jaishankar’s press conference

The MEA said that these actions yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech.

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India calls out Canada’s move to ban Australia Today for airing S Jaishankar's press conference

A few hours after Australia Today aired External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s press conference in Australia, Canada banned the outlet. The External Affairs Minister gave remarks on the India-Canada diplomatic standoff. 

Reacting to this, India on Thursday said it was surprised by Canada’s move to ban the outlet and emphasized that it highlighted Ottawa’s hypocrisy towards freedom of speech. Australia Today, which is an important outlet for the Indian community in the country, had aired the joint press conference of S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.

In a weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that they understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. He continued that this happened just an hour or a few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of S Jaishankar with Penny Wong. He called out the incident, mentioning that they are surprised, and the matter looks strange to them.

He further underlined that these are the actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech. He noted that the External Affairs Minister spoke about three things: Canada making allegations and a pattern had developed without any specific evidence, surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, which he termed as unacceptable, and  the political space which has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. 

With this one can draw conclusions, why Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada, the spokesperson said. Australia Today focuses on news and analytical pieces related to the Indian community in Australia and elsewhere across the world.

This incident follows days after devotees were attacked by pro-Khalistani at a Hindu temple in Canada’s Brampton, with S Jaishankar calling it deeply concerning. Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attack and said that there were cowardly attempts to intimidate Indian diplomats.

The diplomatic standoff between India and Canada began in September last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian government agents might have been involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a claim outrightly rejected by New Delhi.

Later in October 2024, ties between both the countries nosedived when Canada termed the Indian High Commissioner a person of interest in its investigation into Nijjar’s murder. Issuing a strongly worded statement, India dismissed the fresh charge and recalled the envoy and some diplomats, while expelling six Canadian officials, including Canada’s acting High Commissioner.

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Wikimedia Foundation says no notice from Indian government received

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

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The Wikimedia Foundation said on Thursday that it has not received any official notice from the Indian government pertaining to its content.

The statement from the Wikimedia Foundation comes days after reports citing government sources, reported that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a notice to Wikipedia casting aspersions about bias and inaccuracies in its articles. However, there was no official communication from the Indian government on the matter.

According to the alleged notice, the Government of India questioned Wikipedia over multiple complaints about bias and inaccuracies on the platform. The government in its alleged letter to Wikipedia noted that a small group of editors appears to have significant control over the contents, particularly influencing its neutrality. 

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

In a statement, the platform spokesperson said: “The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, has not received any official notice from the Indian government regarding editing practices or the accuracy of content on Wikipedia in the last two days.”

The statement further noted that Wikipedia volunteers carefully curate information from reliable news sources and other reputable external publications and they don’t add original content to the site.  

It added that such an approach ensures that Wikipedia compiles information from credible sources. “All sources are cited on article pages, upholding our commitment to transparency,” said the spokesperson.

“More than 850 million Indians visit the site every month, the fifth highest in the world,” the statement said. “Globally, more than 260,000 volunteers contribute content to the site,” the statement added.

It also mentioned that Indian Wikipedia editors are constantly ranked as “one of the top number of contributing editors from a single country globally.

Furthermore, the statement said that the platform articles are required by its editorial policies to maintain a neutral point of view, adding volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions to edit Wikipedia.

“This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge about a topic, rather than any one perspective,” the spokesperson said.

This development occurs alongside ongoing legal proceedings involving WF in a defamation lawsuit filed by news agency ANI regarding its Wikipedia page, which describes the news agency as a “propaganda tool for the incumbent government.” In its lawsuit, ANI has requested the identities of three anonymous editors who made changes to the page. It’s important to note that WF has no physical presence in India.

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