Tag: current affairs – India

JYOTI PUNWANI: How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

Saidulu Singapanga’s most vivid memory of  the 1185 days he spent in custody,  since he was  arrested in February 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967, was when his wife and three children came to visit him in a police lock-up a few days after his arrest. It was the birthday of his daughters, aged… Read More JYOTI PUNWANI: How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

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Bharat Bhushan – Pegasus impact: Loss to Indian Republic and government is much greater

Even if it was a legitimate intelligence gathering operation, the Pegasus expose has effectively derailed it. By now potential targets would have taken appropriate preventive measures. So millions of dollars spent have been effectively flushed down the drain. However, the loss to the Indian Republic and the present government is much greater. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has… Read More Bharat Bhushan – Pegasus impact: Loss to Indian Republic and government is much greater

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Tavleen Singh: History shows, raiding newspapers never works

Whipping the Indian media into obedience has been an important project of Narendra Modi’s government. Inconvenient journalists have lost jobs, been threatened by tax inspectors, charged with ‘anti-national’ activities and silenced in all sorts of other ways. But, the Income Tax raids on the offices of Dainik Bhaskar last week sets a scary new bar.… Read More Tavleen Singh: History shows, raiding newspapers never works

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Samar Halarnkar: The lights begin to wink out in India’s democracy

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

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Bharat Bhushan: Has government compromised national security through Pegasus? / Spyware: the export of self-censorship / Saudi Government used Pegasus to murder journalist

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

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Pratap Bhanu Mehta: What the Pegasus scandal means for Indian democracy / Shoaib Daniyal: Spyware attack threatens pillars of India’s electoral democracy

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

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Shoaib Daniyal: More than two years after his thumping win, why is Modi struggling to implement big policy moves?

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?

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DANIEL BLOCK: How the Facebook-Reliance combine and the farm laws pave the way for digital colonisation

In April 2020, Facebook purchased a 10-percent stake in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, the telecommunications arm of the Reliance empire. In addition to dominating telecom, Reliance is the largest player in petrochemicals and in retail. When its latest acquisition is complete, the company will control 40 percent – a large plurality – of India’s organised groceries sector. That could… Read More DANIEL BLOCK: How the Facebook-Reliance combine and the farm laws pave the way for digital colonisation

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Chitrangada Choudhury: In a passing, the larger picture of dispossession

Blaming ‘the system’ alone for Fr. Swamy’s death obscures how India’s political economy is linked to deprival. When an officer from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) came to interrogate Father Stan Swamy last monsoon, the Jesuit sociologist, then 83, in turn asked him about police integrity, and why a father-son duo (P. Jayaraj and Bennicks)… Read More Chitrangada Choudhury: In a passing, the larger picture of dispossession

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