Jawan’s widow gets ₹13.5L via Akshay’s Bharat Ke Veer site
week after BSF head constable Prem Sagar was beheaded by Pakistani intruders on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, his wife received donations worth ₹13.59 lakh from a portal India’s Bravehearts (Bharat Ke Veer) launched by the home ministry in collaboration with actor Akshay Kumar.
The money was directly deposited into the bank account of Sagar’s wife.
Donations received through the website are what the dependents of paramilitary personnel killed in action receive through central and state governments.
“Encouraging response to Bharat Ke Veer website. Within a month the portal has received more than ₹2 crore for helping martyr’s families,” tweeted home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday.
Once the dependents get ₹15 lakh, their details are removed from the site. “We have received inquiries from NRIs, rickshaw pullers and school-going kids about the website. Initially, the payment gateway was not accepting donations from outside of India but that problem has been sorted,” said the ministry official.
“A school kid wanted to know as to how he can donate ₹50 without a bank account. A rickshaw puller asked how he can donate using his mobile phone,” the official added.
The ministry has written to the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate donations through Paypal for those who reside outside of India or don’t have accounts with Indian banks.
CRPF director in general Vijay Kumar, who is coordinating with the management of the website, told HT that so far more than 35,000 transactions had taken place on the website indicating donations of smaller amounts.
Details of 114 personnel from eight central paramilitary forces —BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP, Assam Rifles, NDRF, NSG and SSB — are displayed on the website as of now.
Cable network subscribers in most parts of Kashmir said several Pakistani and Saudi channels were not being transmitted on their televisions, a day after the J&K government asked district magistrates to ensure that 34 illegal channels were not shown on cable networks.
The May 6 order came a day after information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu expressed concern over reports that these channels, many of which propagate hardline Islam and indulge in anti-India propaganda, were being broadcast without the government’s permission. Their transmission, said the order signed by principal secretary (home department) RK Goyal, was against cable TV rules and district magistrate had the power to seize equipment in case of a violation. It added that such channels have the “potential to encourage or incite violence and create law and order disturbance in the Kashmir Valley”.
Topping the list are Urdu and English channels of Peace TV of Islamic preacher and televangelist Zakir Naik, who is facing multiple terror and foreign funding probes. Some of the channels are from Pakistani networks such as ARY, PTV and GEO. Islamic channels like Karbala TV, Ahli-biat TV, Noor TV and Hadi TV are also mentioned in the order.
Cable operators cannot beam channels not permitted by the ministry. Private cable networks, which beam a lot of Pakistani and Saudi channels, are popular, though satellite services such as Tata Sky and Airtel are also available in the Valley.
On Sunday afternoon, authorities told Hindustan Times that the ban was being implemented while residents, subscribing to different cable networks, gave a varied response regarding channels they were not receiving.