Who funded Pegasus snooping? asks Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut; compares it with Hiroshima bombing
Mumbai, Jul 25: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday asked who funded the alleged snooping of politicians and journalists by Pegasus and compared it with the Hiroshima bombing, saying while the attack on the Japanese city had resulted in death of people, the spying by the Israeli software led to "death of freedom".
"The modern technology has taken us back to slavery," Raut said in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
He said the Pegasus case is "no different from the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima".
"People died in Hiroshima, while in the Pegasus case, it led to the death of freedom," he claimed.
He said politicians, industrialists and social activists fear they are being spied upon, and even the judiciary and media are under the same pressure.
"The atmosphere of freedom in the national capital ended a few years ago," said Raut, who is the executive editor of Saamana.
He also sought to know who paid for the alleged snooping by the Israeli spyware.
Quoting a media report, he said the Israeli company NSO charged Rs 60 crore annually as license (fee) for the Pegasus software.
By way of one license, 50 phones can be hacked. Hence, to tap 300 phones, six to seven licenses are required, the Rajya Sabha member said.
"Was so much money spent? Who paid for it? The NSO says it sells its software only to governments. If it is so, which government in India purchased the software? Rs 300 crore were spent for spying on 300 people in India. Does our country have the capacity to spend so much money on spying?" Raut asked.
He also said BJP leader (and former Union IT minister) Ravishankar Prasad had justified spying by saying 45 countries in the world used Pegasus.
Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, claimed that journalists who criticised the Modi government were snooping targets.
An international media consortium had recently reported that several verified mobile phone numbers, including of some ministers, journalists, opposition leaders, and scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking using Pegasus software/spyware.
The government has, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying it "has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever"
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
