The Good Word

Mar 14, 2022 - Week 11

Volume 7S-44| Pages 2

BJP sweeps Assembly Election 2022 winning 4 out of 5 states with increased vote

shares; Yogi wins a historic second term as UP gives BJP+ 254 out of 403 seats

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

Mar 11, Out of the 40

seats in the Goa

Legislative Assembly,

the BJP romped home

with 20. The Congress

ended up with 11 seats

dashing its hopes of

forming the next

government.

The BJP's vote share in

Goa was 33.31%, and

with independents

professing support for

the BJP it will have no

trouble garnering 21

seats. In 2017, the

party’s vote share was

32.5% but it had won

only 13 seats.

The saffron party won

11 seats in Hindu-

dominated North Goa.

In 2017, it had won

eight of these seats. In

Catholic Christian-

dominated South Goa,

BJP won nine seats to

improve it’s 2017 tally

of five from this part of

the state. In both

halves, it did better. The

saffron brigade had

fielded 12 Catholic

Christian candidates,

mostly in South Goa.

At: OneIndia, NewIndianExpress

International Women’s Day, Mar 8 – courtesy AdolescentHealthChampions

Oil falls 5% over

hopes on Russia-

Ukraine talks

Mar 14, Oil prices fell

more than 5% on

Monday to the lowest in

nearly two weeks amid

hopes for progress

toward a diplomatic end

to Russia's invasion of

Ukraine, a development

that would boost global

supplies, while a

pandemic-linked travel

ban in China cast doubt

on demand.

Brent futures fell $5.77,

or 5.1%, to settle at

$106.90 a barrel, while

U.S. West Texas

Intermediate (WTI)

crude fell $6.32, or 5.8%,

to settle at $103.01, the

lowest close since Mar 1

and Feb. 28 respectively.

Both benchmarks have

surged since Russia's

Feb. 24 invasion of

Ukraine and are up

roughly 36% so far this

year. The US has banned

Russian oil imports and

Britain will phase them

out by the end of 2022.

Russia is the world's top

exporter of crude and oil

products combined.

At: Investing

Mar 5, India may be

pushing for ‘atma-

nirbharta (indigenous

development)’ in

defence equipment, the

central government

earmarked 68% of the

capital budget for 2022-

2023 for domestic

manufacturing

industries, but the

country remains the

largest importer of arms

globally, a report by the

Stockholm International

Peace Research Institute

has shown. Most of

India’s defence imports

come from Russia.

India’s total volume of

imports fell by 21 % from

2012-16, which could be

a reflection of the push

to manufacture arms

and weapons systems

indigenously.

The five largest arms

importers from 2017-21

were India, Saudi Arabia,

Egypt, Australia and

China, while the five

biggest exporters were

the US, Russia, France,

China, and Germany.

At: ThePrint

India largest arms

importer 2017-21;

but volumes fall

Mar 11, AAP has won a

three-fourth majority in

the Punjab 2022 Assembly

elections, a historic victory

for a relatively new party

that only had a presence in

the national capital till

now. AAP won 92 seats in

the 117-member Punjab

Assembly. Congress was

reduced to 18, while the

Shiromani Akali Dal had to

settle for 3 seats.

Former Congress Chief

Minister (CM) Charanjit

Singh Channi was defeated

from both Bhadaur and

Chamkaur Sahib. AAP

candidate Jeevan Jyot

Kaur, being hailed as a

giant killer, defeated

Punjab Congress Chief

Navjot Singh Sidhu and

senior SAD leader Bikram

Singh Majithia from

Amritsar East. Former

Punjab CM Captain

Amarinder Singh also lost

from Patiala to AAP's Ajit

Pal Singh Kohli. The

Shiromani Akali Dal stood

almost demolished after

being in power till 2017.

Both, SAD’s former Punjab

Chief Minister Prakash

Singh Badal and his son

lost their seat. At: JagranJosh

BJP romps home in

Goa with 20 out of

40 seats in polls

The BJP also increased

its vote share in 4 states

including Punjab,

displaying its political

dominance. In UP BJP’s

vote share went up

from an already high

39.7% in 2017, to a

commanding 41.3%.

Yogi Adityanath became

the first chief minister

to retain power in Uttar

Pradesh since the 1985

assembly elections.

Additionally, he is the

only chief minister of

the state with a full five

years in the office, to

win a subsequent term.

This is historic for a

state that has seen 21

CMs in the last 70 years.

The Yogi administration

had worked tirelessly to

ensure that rewards of

social welfare schemes

run by the BJP-led

Centre as well as those

introduced by the state,

reached the masses

Mar 11, In the Assembly

Elections 2022 that

concluded with the

declaration of results on

Mar 10th, the BJP swept

back to power in 4 states

with the AAP triumphant

in Punjab. In Goa, BJP

secured 20 out of 40

seats, in Manipur it

bagged 32 of 60, in

Uttarakhand it won 47

of 70 seats and in Uttar

Pradesh (UP) it was

victorious on 255 out of

403 seats. Engine reaches Khongsang in Manipur,

as part of passenger train trial run

Mar 14, As part of a trial run for the first passenger train in Manipur, an

engine arrived on Monday at the newly-constructed Khongsang railway station

in Manipur's Noney district. The engine under the Jiribam-Imphal Railway line

project is seen as an attempt to improve the railway connectivity for the

people of the North-Eastern region.

Manipur CM N Biren Singh also tweeted. ‘In yet another milestone, happy to

share that an engine has reached Khongsang Railway Station today. Under the

visionary leadership of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, the impetus given

to improve connectivity in Manipur will immensely boost the economy.’

At: MSN, Twitter

At: HinduGujrati

Mar 11, the BJP today

scripted history in the

Uttarakhand election by

becoming the only party

to win a second

consecutive term in the

two-decade-old

existence of the hill

state. In the last four

assembly elections, no

party or the chief

minister were able to

secure a second term. In

fact, no chief minister,

except ND Tiwari, was

able to even complete a

five-year term. Even the

ruling BJP went to the

assembly polls after

changing two chief

ministers months ahead

of the polls. While the

opposition Congress had

claimed anti-

incumbency, the BJP

brushed aside the

theory by securing a

comfortable majority,

riding mostly on the

welfare schemes of the

Modi government. The

saffron party

commanded a

whopping 44 per cent

vote share while the

Congress received

around 38 per cent

votes.

However, in a setback

for the BJP, Chief

Minister (CM) Pushkar

Singh Dhami lost from

the Khatima seat to

Congress leader

Bhuwan Chandra Kapri

by a margin of 6579

votes. The former chief

minister and Congress

leader Harish Rawat,

who was the

frontrunner for the

opposition party’s CM

candidate faces, also

lost to BJP’s Dr. Mohan

Singh Bisht by a margin

of around 18,000 votes.

At: MSN

Biren Singh wins

Manipur for BJP

with 32 of 60 seats

Mar 11, the handsome

BJP victory in Manipur

was driven by the

paradigm shift in the state

Chief Minister (CM)

Nongthombam Biren

Singh’s government had

brought over the past five

years.

Manipur, under decades

of Congress rule, had

been wracked by

insurgency. Widespread

corruption, nepotism,

poor governance made

lives miserable. The BJP-

led coalition government

that came to power in

2017 changed all that.

‘We decided to make

things right from day one.

I told my officers that

they would have to

perform and ensure

development. Corruption

would not be tolerated,”

Biren Singh told Swarajya.

Along with development

of the Hills, the

government also set strict

timelines for completion

of infrastructure projects

In Manipur, the BJP's vote

share went up to 37.5 per

cent from 36.3 per cent in

2017.

At: Swarajya

In Uttarakhand BJP returns to power

with 37 of 70 seats; CM loses seat

uniformly. Simultaneously,

it also worked to overhaul

the abject law and order

situation in the state,

something that was key in

turning the tide in its

favour. The Swamajwadi

party, its key rival’s image

of supporting ‘gunda’ and

‘mafia’ elements added

ammunition to the BJP’s

charge.

Under Yogi, violent crime

incidents like murders

came down almost 23%

over a four-year period

from 2016 to 2020 per the

National Crime Records

Bureau (NCRB) figures.

Cases of kidnapping and

abduction also saw a drop

of 30%. Rape cases came

down by 43% from 2016

to 2020. A tightening grip

on law and order and a

significant reduction in

gender violence

galvanized support for BJP

and Yogi from the women

voters of the state who

form 46.5% of its

electorate.

The Yogi government’s

laudable infrastructure

development initiatives

saw over 15,000 km of

rural roads built in the

past five years. The state’s

GDP went up to twice

what it was in 2017,

despite three years of the

pandemic. In its victory

BJP swept aside farmer

agitation leaders, AIMIM

and Bhim Army Chief

Chandrashekhar Azad

‘Ravan’ most of whom lost

their security deposits in

the 2022 polls.

At: ElectionCommissionIndia

Image and content: FirstPost, OpIndia -

encircle Kyiv or a tactic

to ward off counter

attacks of Ukrainian

resistance.

Russian authorities

denied US allegations of

Moscow approaching

Beijing for military

assistance. The US has

warned China that such

action would invite

punitive consequences

in coordination with

American allies.

President Putin at the

outset of the invasion

had declared that the

intention of the attack

on Ukraine was to

demilitarize the country

not target its cities or

citizens. However, in the

face of western reports

criticizing Russia for Pg 2

Russia destroys NATO’s Ukraine

troops training camp in the west

Mar 15, as the war

entered the 19th day,

Russia warned the West

that foreign mercenaries

and arms shipments sent

to aid Ukraine will be

treated as legitimate

attack targets. A

Russian cruise missile

targeted military bases

in Yavorov and Starichi

in western Ukraine, used

by NATO to train

Ukrainian troops, killing

180 ‘foreign fighters’.

West Ukraine had been

relatively untouched by

the war so far.

Elements of a 40-mile-

long column of Russian

military vehicles north of

Kyiv, that seemed to be

inching forward, have

dispersed. This is

possibly an attempt to

AAP triumphs in

Punjab, bags 92

out of 117 seats

Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile approaches Russian MI-34 chopper

Email: IndiaWiki2020@gmail.com Website: http://TheGoodWord.IndiaWiki.Org

A certain king used to

inquire of all the

Sannyasins that came

to his country, "Which

is the greater man —

he who gives up the

world and becomes a

Sannyasin, or he who

lives in the world and

performs his duties as

a house holder?"

Many wise men

sought to solve the

problem. Some

asserted that the

Sannyasin was the

greater, upon which

the king demanded

that they should prove

their assertion. When

they could not, he

ordered them to

marry and become

householders. Then

others came and said,

"The householder who

performs his duties is

the greater man." Of

them, too, the king

demanded proofs.

When they could not

give them, he made

them also settle down

as householders.

At last there came a

young Sannyasin, and

the king similarly

inquired of him also.

He answered, "Each, O

king, is equally great in

his place." "Prove this

to me," asked the king.

"I will prove it to you,"

said the Sannyasin,

"but you must first

come and live as I do

for a few days, that I

may be able to prove

to you what I say." The

king consented and

followed the

Sannyasin out of his

own territory and

passed through many

other countries until

they came to a great

kingdom. In the capital

of that kingdom a

great ceremony was

going on. The king and

the Sannyasin heard

the noise of drums

and music, and heard

also the criers; the

people were

assembled in the

streets in gala dress,

and a great

proclamation was

being made…(to

continue)

Swami Vivekananda

Karma Yoga

a series of extracts

Mar 14, 2022 | Week 11| Volume 7S-44

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

PAGE 2 THE GOOD WORD

To Be Or NATO Be: Putin’s War On Ukraine Is Also A Western Creation

Devendra Fadnavis produces sensational video of Government lawyer

discussing plot by MVA stalwarts to ‘finish off’ BJP leaders

Mar 14, after Haryana

Chief Minister Manohar

Lal Khattar, declared

‘The Kashmir Files’ will

be a tax-free film in the

state to encourage the

young to see it, a

number of other BJP

ruled states have

followed suit. Gujarat,

Madhya Pradesh and

Karnataka have joined

Haryana in exempting

this film from paying

entertainment tax.

Pramod Sawant, the

former chief minister of

Goa stated today that

the film would be

exempt from taxation in

Goa. Earlier this evening,

the Tripura government

also decided to make the

movie tax-free.

Two days earlier, ‘The

Kashmir Files' team,

including producer

Abhishek Agarwal, met

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and received his

appreciation for their

film. (image above)

At: IndiaTVNews, ABPLive

comprising 125 hours of

video recording to

support his allegations

and submitted it to the

deputy speaker. He

demanded a CBI inquiry

asserting that he will

move court if one is not

sanctioned.

Commenting on the

incident Supreme Court

Advocate and Rajya

Sabha MP Mahesh

Jethmalani said that the

CBI should immediately

arrest Chavan. The

tapes feature sinister

conversations including

one on planting a blood

stained knife, another on

how a person should be

shown to deal in drugs to

arrest him under

MCOCA. There are

conversations that reveal

how policemen were

shunted out if they were

unwilling to be part of

the sordid conspiracy. A

particularly incriminating

one states that - Saheb,

is bent upon finishing all

of them; Devendra

Fadnavis and Girish

Mahajan, one lac and

one percent. They

Mar 8, In a massive

development, Leader of

Opposition in the

Maharashtra Assembly,

Devendra Fadnavis,

made a sensational

charge in the house

claiming that Special

Public Prosecutor of

Maharastra, Pravin

Chavan, was discussing a

plot to ‘finish-off’ or trap

opposition leaders

including Fadnavis,

Girish Mahajan,

Mungantiwar among

others. The BJP leader

produced a pen drive,

Mar 13, Two days after

its release, the movie

‘The Kashmir Files’ has

witnessed a sharp

growth in box office

collections. Directed by

the national-award-

winning director Vivek

Ranjan Agnihotri, the

movie is based on the

brutal genocide and

exodus of Hindus from

Kashmir in the 1990s.

The movie earned ₹8.50

crores on Mar 12. It had

raked in ₹3.55 crores on

the prior and its first

day. So the total box

office collection of

₹12.05 crores was

achieved with a 140%

spurt in the second days

earnings, the highest

jump in collections since

2020.

Despite a release on a

limited number of

screens across India the

film received an

unprecedented

response from

spectators. Tickets to

more than 480 shows

across seven major cities

– Bengaluru, Delhi,

Mumbai, Hyderabad,

Chennai, Ahmedabad

and Pune, were sold out.

More than 500 shows

scheduled on Sunday

evening and late-night

shows were fast-filling

in, in major cities,

indicating that the

movie has become the

biggest craze in the box

office in recent times.

Despite limited film

promotion, its release

not timed during

holidays and

competition from a big

budget movie Radhe

Shyam by Prabhas, ‘The

Kashmir Files’ was

being shown on 2,000

screens on Sunday up

from 630 on opening

Friday.

The film was opposed

by several Islamists

before its release. A

petition was filed in the

Bombay High Court

seeking a ban on its

release, for potentially

hurting Muslim

sentiments. The High

Court dismissed it

asking the petitioner to

seek redress from the

central government

instead. ‘I can prove in

any court or any

platform of their choice

that every frame, every

word in my film is

truth. Nothing but the

truth.’ Agnihotri said,

adding, ‘They can

create as many hurdles

as they want but I can’t

be silenced.’

At: Wion, OpIndia 1-2

HC orders police

protection for poll

violence victims

Mar 14, The Calcutta

High Court granted police

protection to 303 victims

of the West Bengal post-

poll violence after the

TMC won assembly

elections in May 2021.

The decision was made

after the petitioner

informed the court that

the victim will face

serious difficulties

because they are

constantly threatened by

local TMC goons and

police authorities are

refusing to take action.

The Court was also

informed that 47 of the

303 alleged victims were

unable to return to their

workplace, 92 were

victims whose houses

had been demolished,

and 164 were victims

who had been forcibly

evicted from their homes

and were thus unable to

return to their places of

residence.

On Aug 19, 2021, the

Calcutta High Court had

directed the CBI to take

over investigation of

West Bengal’s post poll

violence in which

numerous rapes and

murders were

committed, after TMC

won the assembly

election.

At: OpIndia

‘Kashmir Files’ takes the box office by

storm, unprecedented viewership

will be implicated one way

or another. By next year,

they must be removed.

Means, Fadnavis is over.

Post the revelation

Fadnavis alleged that the

state police is trying to

implicate him, a

whistleblower, under the

Official Secrets Act. After

making the sinister

contents public, Fadnavis

claimed to have submitted

all the evidence to the

Union Home Secretary.

Image: IndiaTVNews

At: RepublicWorld, Telegram-

DevendraFadnavis

From Pg 1 assaults on

several Ukrainian cities,

the Kremlin spokesperson

Dmitry Peskov claimed

that the Russian military is

working with modern

high-precision weapons,

hitting only military and

information infrastructure

facilities. Rebutting

Western media reports,

he accused Ukraine’s

‘armed nationalist

formations’ of allegedly

firing weapons from

densely populated

residential areas opening

themselves to Russian

counter attacks.

The fourth round of

Ukraine-Russia talks are

under way via video

conference. Ukraine said

the fourth round of talks

will focus on agreeing a

ceasefire, the withdrawal

of Russian troops and

security guarantees for

Kyiv. A total of 10

humanitarian corridors

have been opened in

Ukraine today, with routes

established from the Kyiv

region and the eastern

region of Luhansk.

the two countries. The

Moscow stock market

has remained largely

closed since Feb 25.

India, which imports

80% of its oil, usually

buys about 2% to 3% of

its supplies from Russia.

But with oil prices up

40% this year, at a 13

plus year high, the

government is looking at

increasing its purchases

from Russia to help

contain its rising energy

bill.

At: SkyNews, RussiaToday, Stripes,

SkyNews, MarketScreener,

EconomicTimes

Image: Fisildas Map: SkyNews

Russian invasion of Ukraine: fourth round of ceasefire

talks held, even as ten humanitarian corridors opened

Russia is due to pay $117

million in coupons on

two Eurobonds and is

considering payment in

roubles as a

consequence of Western

sanctions. Russia is also

examining the option of

nationalizing businesses

that have closed shop in

the wake of the war.

The rouble, which slid

almost 50% against the

dollar from the outset of

the invasion, was trading

1% higher at 113 to a

dollar on the back of

hopes of a headway

from the talks between

BJP states flock to

declare ‘Kashmir

Files’ tax free

Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile approaches Russian MI-34 chopper

Mar 15, voting on no-

confidence motion

against Pakistan Prime

Minister (PM) Imran

Khan will be held on

Mar 28. The ruling PTI

coalition has a total of

179 members in the

National Assembly,

while the opposition

has 162. However, the

opposition claims to

have the allegiance of

24 members of the

ruling party, which

would give it the upper

hand. An ailing

economy, a troubled

security environment,

and an ascendant TTP

are all reasons for the

unrest against the PM

who is perceived to be

muzzling his critics. An

ordinance passed in the

midst of this crisis for

prevention of electronic

crimes gives authorities

the power to arrest

anyone and put them in

jail till the conclusion of

the trial and the

authority to unlock any

electronic device.

Discussions on

alternative power

sharing agreements are

rife even as there is a

revolt against the

Punjab Chief Minister

by Khan’s own party

members.

At: BusinessStandard

No confidence

motion against

Imran Khan Mar 9, a technical glitch

led to the accidental

firing of a BrahMos

supersonic missile from

India into Pakistan,

during routine

maintenance. The

Indian government has

taken a serious view

and ordered a high-

level court of inquiry.

‘While the incident is

deeply regrettable, it is

also a matter of relief

that there has been no

loss of life due to the

accident,’ the Ministry

of Defence said, in a

brief statement.

The BrahMos missile is

a conventional

precision-strike weapon

that flies at almost

three times the speed

of sound. It was

accidentally launched

from an IAF airbase in

Sirsa, Haryana. The

Inter-Service Public

Relations of Pakistan

said at a press

conference that a high-

speed flying object was

detected inside the

Indian territory by the

Air Defence Operation

Centre of the Pakistan

Air Force which veered

suddenly towards

Pakistan falling near

Mian Channu, 6.50 pm.

At: FirstPost

India accidentally

fires a BrahMos

into Pakistan Mar 4, Karnataka Chief

Minister (CM)

Basavaraj Bommai in

his maiden budget

announced autonomy

for Hindu temples and

religious institutions

which are currently

maintained by the

Muzrai department,

putting an end to

government control on

them.

There is a long pending

demand to do away

with the government

control on the temples,

the CM said in his

budget speech. ‘By

considering these

demands of devotees,

autonomy will be given

to temples coming

under the purview of

Endowment

department’. According

to the Hindu Religious

Institutions and

Charitable Endowment

Department data,

there are 34,558

temples in the state

which are regulated by

the state government.

The CM had claimed

that the use of temple

funds is restricted since

they cannot be spent

without the

government's consent.

At: TimesNow, News9Live

Karnataka frees

temples from

government control