Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday shared a campaign video Main Modi Ka Parivar Hun ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha Elections. The music video shows people benefitting from various welfare schemes which are ranging from those for farmers to poor households as they showed their support to the prime minister, saying they are Modi’s family.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to X and posted Mera Bharat Mera Parivar while sharing the video. PM Modi has often addressed people as his family members and a recent jibe by opposition leader Lalu Prasad Yadav that he has no family made him emphasize the connection he shares with the people of the country.

Many BJP leaders also shared his letter to people in which he sought their suggestions and support in building a Viksit Bharat. He was confident that they will together take the country to new heights. He addressed the citizens as dear family member. He said their partnership is at the threshold of completing a decade and the trust and support of 140 crore Indians inspires and motivates him.

PM Modi said the transformation has taken place in the lives of the people is the biggest achievement of the BJP government in the last 10 years. He added these transformative outcomes are the result of the sinciere efforts made by a determined government to improve the quality of life for the women, youth, farmers and poor.

The success of schemes for the poor like assistance to women, financial helps to the farmers, free medical treatments through Ayushman Bharat, LPG for all, water, access to electricity. PM Modi said India is moving forward taking both tradition and modernity hand in hand. The last decade witnessed unprecedented construction of new generation infrastructure. He added there has been a rejuvenation of India’s rich national and cultural heritage.

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Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday, announced Red Light On, Gaadi Off campaign, to begin from October 26 in view of very poor air quality in the national capital.

The Delhi Environment Minister chaired a meeting with all the concerned department’s official at the Delhi Secretariat amid rising Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi NCR.  

While speaking to media, Rai said the cold is increasing and the speed of the wind is decreasing. The level of AQI is rising. We had given the directions to implement the second phase of GRAP in Delhi-NCR. The minister further said that he called a meeting today to discuss how to implement GRAP 2 effectively.

There are 13 hotspot areas in Delhi where the level of pollution gets higher. There are 8 places where the AQI is higher, Rai added. A special team would be deployed at those places and a survey would be conducted. He said bus and metro frequency would be increased so that public transport is used more. Additionally, Rai said we would need to make more decisions in GRAP 3.

Firecrackers are completely banned in Delhi. We have spoken to the surrounding states regarding firecrackers and stubble burning, the environment minister said.

He also said that he had a meeting with the central environment minister and he expects cooperation from the states regarding the diesel busses entering Delhi.

BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind criticised the government after AQI rises in Delhi. He said thank you Arvind Kejriwal for making Delhi a Gas chamber again, AQI already crossing 300-350. Now start blaming Centre, Haryana, Diwali, Hindus but don’t take any responsibility for Punjab Parali, he charged. He further criticised the government for spending money on advertisements but failed to tell us what the Delhi government has done in last 9 -10 years.

To mitigate pollution, water was sprinkled through an anti-smog gun at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Road after phase – 2 of the GRAP regulations were implemented on October 23.

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Zomato, the food delivery brand, recently got into trouble after their new Kachra ad campaign which has now sparked controversy across the internet.

The campaign’s tagline, Don’t waste food, Don’t’ be Kachra, was displayed alongside a series of advertisements presenting left-over food in an effort to promote cleanliness and decrease food waste.

The campaign, which was released on June 5 on the occasion of World Environment Day, aimed to increase awareness of the burden that plastic waste has on the environment and to highlight how many kilograms of waste is used to produce even the most basic items. For example, a paperweight requires 3-4 kg of recycled waste, while hand towels require 9-12 kg.

The Zomato advertisement showed how the company chooses to deliver food without using any plastic, therefore protecting the environment.

A comparison between Kachra (trash) and the outcast character in the film Lagaan, which was released in 2001, was made by Zomato. The advertisement also featured the actor, Aditya Lakhiya, who played the character of Kachra in the film Lagaan. Given the larger backdrop of commercial entertainment in India, some users said, Kachra’s character in Lagaan had a contextual meaning.

The actor was presented in a variety of contexts, including as a recycled hand towel, a similar flower pot and paper.

However, the campaign failed to connect with the audience and received criticism for its insensitive approach and was referred to as a casteist idea on various social media platforms.

Users have now flooded the internet with their criticism, expressing their dissatisfaction towards the ad. Twitter is filled with #BoycottZomato.

One user wrote, Zomato’s Kachra advertisement was not an accident, rather, it was a planned and intentional act that may have been approved by the company’s senior management. The user went on to criticise Zomato, labeling it as having casteist ideas. While another said, Zomato’s highly casteist campaign can be attributed to a lack of diversity.

https://twitter.com/peeleraja/status/1666418206146453504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1666418206146453504%7Ctwgr%5Ea3fbc40e5966d35dcdf822dbbbc0be015493ca21%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.livemint.com%2Fnews%2Findia%2Fzomatos-kachra-campaign-draws-ire-of-netizens-11686188672827.html

However, the company informed in a Tweet about the advertisement being pulled down after the flak by the users and justifying its campaign wrote, on the occasion of World Environment Day, its intent was to aware the audience about the alternative usage of plastic waste and its recycling in a humorous way but unfortunately it hurt the sentiments of some individuals and community.

To this decision of Zomato taking the campaign back, it again received crticism from the users, while some called it arrogance for not making any apology, while some were satisfied with the timley action by the company.

A user wrote, the usual day casteism was unfortunate and was happy with Zomato’s timely action by removing the advertisement.

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Nearly two months after his party faced a drubbing in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder-president and actor turned politician Kamal Haasan on Tuesday joined the campaign against Central government’s proposed Cinematograph Act 2021.

The proposed amendments to the Cinematograph Act 1952 would give powers to the Center to re-examine films even after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has cleared it.

Apart from Haasan, many people associated with the film world are criticizing this decision by saying that the amended law will give the Centre powers that might threaten freedom of expression – a constitutional right in the country.

Urging the people to express their concern about freedom, he tweeted that people associated with cinema, media and literature cannot afford to be India’s three iconic monkeys. Seeing, hearing and speaking about evil is the only medicine against attempts to hurt and weaken democracy. In his tweet, he requested the people to raise their concern for freedom and liberty and to act on it.

In another tweet, he said the government had issued a notification regarding the inclusion of the new provision. In this, the government was given the power to change the decision.

Last week, the Center had released the draft bill and sought feedback from the people. For this, time was given till July 2.

The government’s notification said the draft bill adds a provision to grant revisionary powers to the government on account of violation of Section 5B (1) – which deals with principles for guidance in certifying films — of the 1952 Act.

Haasan had already spoken about leaving cinema for politics in April. He had said, If he become a hindrance in his political career, he would have leave cinema after completing his current film.

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He said that his entry into politics is historic as he is among the 30% people who have stayed away from politics..

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