India News
Twitter gives misleading flag to Prashant Bhushan’s tweet on Covid vaccines
Social media giant Twitter on Monday flagged a tweet by activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan as misleading and blocked his account for 12 hours. Bhushan had tweeted a document that mentioned why he is a vaccine skeptic.
Social media giant Twitter on Monday flagged a tweet by activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan as misleading and blocked his account for 12 hours. Bhushan had tweeted a document that mentioned why he is a vaccine skeptic.
He had tweeted that he been attacked by many for tweeting about his views on Covid vaccines. The piece below summarises his Vaccine skepticism & the reasons for this. Apart from the vaccines being untested & having serious adverse effects, he said he was shocked by attempts to censor such contrarian views.
However, after his tweet promoting vaccine hesitancy, netizens questioned Twitter for not flagging his tweet, leading to the microblogging platform tagging it as misleading.
Attaching a news article about a case where a 45-year-old woman died 10 days after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, Bhushan had tweeted on Monday morning that it was irresponsible to promote universal vaccination of experimental and untested vaccines especially to young and Covid recovered.
In a follow-up tweet, he wrote, the healthy young have hardly any chance of serious effects or dying due to covid. They have a higher chance of dying due to vaccines. The covid recovered have much better natural immunity than the vaccine gives them. Vaccines may even compromise their acquired natural immunity.
The move by Twitter comes weeks after another similar high-profile labeling, as manipulated media of tweets by BJP leaders like Sambit Patra who accused the opposition Congress of preparing and sharing a toolkit.
Twitter has been at loggerheads with the BJP-led Central government over series of issues ranging from requests to take down tweets supporting the farmers’ protest, discrediting posts by leaders of the BJP, and more recently new regulation.
Twitter has been under scanner ever since it refused to comply with the new Information Technology rules laid by the Central Government.
The government laid down new IT rules in February which came into effect on May 26. Under the new rules, they directed all major social media platforms operating in the country to appoint compliance officers in India, set up grievance response mechanisms, and takedown content within 36 hours of a legal order.
According to the Centre, the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal. The social media platforms, if they fail to comply with rules, would result in losing the intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.
Read Also: Twitter India head booked by UP police over incorrect map of India
In other India news, Kamal Haasan on Tuesday joined the campaign against Central government’s proposed Cinematograph Act 2021.
India News
Watch: Korean Ambassador Chang Jae-bok performs puja for his new car, video goes viral
In the video a priest can be seen holding the puja ceremony. Ambassador Chang Jae-bok and other officials are also standing in attendance during the puja ceremony. The post was shared by the Korean Embassy on X on September 26
South Korean Embassy in India held a special puja ceremony to mark the arrival of a new vehicle for Ambassador Chang Jae-bok. The official took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a video of the pooja ceremony. He wrote he was delighted to have new Hyundai Genesis GV80 as the ambassador’s official vehicle. He also held a puja ceremony for good luck.
In the video a priest can be seen holding the puja ceremony. Ambassador Chang Jae-bok and other officials are also standing in attendance during the puja ceremony. The post was shared by the Korean Embassy on X on September 26. The video has been viewed close to 80,000 times. The post has more than 1700 likes.
Variety of comments started coming on Twitter. Many social media users were happy on seeing the video and wished Ambassador for the new car. One social media user said Good Luck and safe driving Ambassador Chang. One X user wrote that is the way to appreciate someone’s culture and wished the Ambassador best of Luck.
One social media user thanked the ambassador for embracing the culture. He said good luck for the new vehicle. Another X user said nice looking car. One user wrote performing puja is a very heartwarming. He assured the Ambassador that positive forces will bring much more glory to South Korea and India’s relations. One social media user said great to see this and respect for him. Another X user said India’s culture was the pride of India.
Another social media user said this is a great gesture by the Korean ambassador.
One X user said happy driving and safe journeys.
Another user found the video beautiful.
Another social media user said this will be a good beginning for the car of the ambassador.
Haryana news
Watch: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar reaches Karnal airport on bike, video went viral
On September 1, in an effort to check pollution, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar declared that Tuesdays from now will be designated as car-free days in Karnal.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday took a bike rike to Karnal airport in an attempt to support the car free day initiative in the state. Earlier, the chief minister announced that every Tuesday would be a car-free day in Karnal, where all government officials would travel by bicycle only.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, CM Manohar Lal Khattar wrote that be it Car Free Day or the resolve to make Drug-free Haryana, it cannot be accomplished without public cooperation. He expressed that he also made a small cooperation to reduce car traffic today by travelling to Karnal Airport by bike on Car Free Day. He added that he hopes the aware people of the state will take this message forward and inspire people to give up their cars just for a day.
On September 1, in an effort to check pollution, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar declared that Tuesdays from now will be designated as car-free days in Karnal. Under the aegis of this initiative, all government officials will be required to travel by bicycle on Tuesdays.
Meanwhile on Monday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar flagged off a cyclothon in Haryana’s Yamunanagar to promote the initiative of drug-free Haryana. The campaign titled Cyclothon for a Drug-Free Haryana witnessed the first cyclothon on September 1 and Monday, September 25.
Speaking about drug-free Haryana, the Chief Minister noted that their goal will not be achieved by mere march against drug addiction. He added that in order to eradicate it from its roots they will have to create public awareness continuously. He underlined that to eliminate drug addiction, they have to break the drug supply chain for which the government is taking action against the drug smugglers with great responsibility.
The Chief Minister further remarked that during Cyclothon Yatra Closing Ceremony in Karnal, all the people present there took many resolutions to eradicate drug addiction from the society.
India News
Cauvery water dispute: Bengaluru bandh evokes partial response as public services function normally
Though cab services, autos and hotels, restaurants were seen operating, drivers and hotel operators asserted not many people were coming out to utilise the services.
The Bengaluru bandh summoned by farmers and Kannada organisations on Tuesday and supported by the BJP and JD(S) in protest against the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu evoked partial response as most of the public services were functioning normally. However, very few people ventured out in the streets.
Though cab services, autos and hotels, restaurants were seen operating, drivers and hotel operators asserted not many people were coming out to utilise the services. In Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses and Metro rail services, the usual rush was not seen. In addition, Ola-Uber Drivers Association and Hotel Owners Association have said that their services will be normal today.
On the other hand, Bengaluru Urban district Deputy Commissioner Dayananda K A has declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in the city on Tuesday, in wake of the bandh. Several private companies and firms, including those in the IT sector have asked their employees to work from home. Some shopping malls in the city have decided to remain shut. Many shops and establishments were also seen not functioning as usual in the morning hours.
Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti, which is an umbrella outfit of farmers’ associations and other organisations headed by farmer leader Kuruburu Shanthakumar, has given the call for today’s dawn-to-dusk (6 am to 6 pm) Bengaluru shutdown. Shanthakumar and other leaders of the Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti were arrested by the police at the Mysuru Bank circle, as they were trying to hold a protest march towards Town Hall.
In addition, multiple activists of Kannada organisations were also whisked away by the police at Town Hall, as they gathered there to demonstrate a protest. Farmers’ leaders and Kannada activists slammed the government for allegedly using police force to curtail the protests and bandh. Farmers and pro-Kannada organisations are further expected to stage a protest at the Freedom Park, which is a designated place for such demonstrations.
According to reports, city police have taken adequate security measures to respond to any violence that may happen during the protests. Nearly 100 platoons have been deployed. Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda stated that prohibitory orders under Section 144 are in place across the city from midnight on Monday to midnight on Tuesday in the view of the bandh.
According to existing restrictions and court orders, there is no permission for any bandh or procession in the city, he added. On the other hand, a Karnataka bandh, a state-wide shutdown, was called on September 29 by Kannada Okkuta, an umbrella organisation for Kannada organisations, led by Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj. They are not supporting today’s bandh.
