Too many Indians are happy to dismiss news of the gathering darkness, shrug at falsehood and bigotry, and be narcoticised into believing all is well. On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government sent tax raiders, escorted by police with automatic weapons, to the offices of a feisty news channel, Bharat Samachar, and India’s… Read More Samar Halarnkar: The lights begin to wink out in India’s democracy
The government of Belarus has launched a broad crackdown on civil society, launching raids and arrests on dozens of organisations in what has been described as a “black week” for the country’s NGOs. The raids, which began last week, have touched all corners of civil society, from groups that campaign for political prisoners’ rights to those that… Read More Belarus NGOs condemn government crackdown after ‘black week’ of raids
Where is the central repository of the leaked information located, and who controls it? While it is par for the course for governments in India to put political opponents, media persons and diplomats under surveillance, the recent use of Israeli-origin Pegasus software may be particularly egregious. Its plug-and-play spyware converts a mobile phone into a… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Has government compromised national security through Pegasus? / Spyware: the export of self-censorship / Saudi Government used Pegasus to murder journalist
Kiss the Ground Film Trailer (2020) The trailer for Kiss the Ground. Watch it and discover a simple solution for climate change. The full-length film: https://kissthegroundmovie.com Living Soil Film The Basics: Why is soil health important? Soil Solutions to Climate Problems – Narrated by Michael Pollan Why Soil Matters – Kiss the Ground Nature Is Speaking – Edward Norton is… Read More Kiss the Ground Film Trailer (2020) / What's the big deal about soil? / Living Soil Film
NB: It should be clear by now that the world is overrun by tyrants who worship nothing but power for its own sake. Our own artists of deception have made this obvious over the past seven years. All that we know, believe and love, all knowledge, all ideals of justice, all that constitutes human life,… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: What the Pegasus scandal means for Indian democracy / Shoaib Daniyal: Spyware attack threatens pillars of India’s electoral democracy
On May 23, 2019, Narendra Modi became only the second non-Congress prime minister to win two consecutive terms. The Bharatiya Janata Party won more than 37% of the popular vote with 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, giving it 55% of seats in the House – marking just the second time a party had an… Read More Shoaib Daniyal: More than two years after his thumping win, why is Modi struggling to implement big policy moves?
Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak. The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware, Pegasus,… Read More Pegasus Project: Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon / Shoshana Zuboff: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
This Stinks Our rivers and seas are being transformed into open sewers by greedy business and useless governments. What’s remarkable is not that a water company knowingly and deliberately poured billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea to cut its costs. What’s remarkable is that the Environment Agency investigated and prosecuted it. Every day,… Read More George Monbiot: Extinction’s Collaborators
Over 80 percent of Indians believe that respecting all religions lies at the core of their identity as Indians. At the same time, over two-thirds of Indian Hindus believe that one must be Hindu in order to be truly Indian. Less than 30 percent of Indian Hindus and Muslims say they have a lot in common —… Read More Uplifting Voices of Peace from Across India
I think I began to think about sport and nationalism a couple of years ago, when the Indian cricket team decided to take the field wearing specially commissioned military fatigue caps. This was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s idea and Virat Kohli, who was captain by then, supported it enthusiastically. The gesture was made in solidarity with the… Read More Mukul Kesavan: The Nation State and Modern Sport
After the truth-shower 