[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Prof. Krishna Kumar, former NCERT director--On The Deep Flaws In India's Examination System। NEET

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Ajay Kumar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: June 13, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnvblmvbz-Y
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"NEET की परीक्षा में धांधली को लेकर के पूरे देश में बवाल मचा हुआ है। इसी का
संदर्भ बनाते हुए इस वीडियो में एनसीईआरटी के भूतपूर्व डायरेक्टर प्रोफेसर
कृष्ण कुमार से भारत की परीक्षा पद्धति की सबसे गहरी खामियों पर बात की गई है?
इस विषय पर बात की गई है कि नीट की परीक्षा की संरचनात्मक कमियां क्या है?
NEET सहित भारत की तमाम प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं की डिजाइन में किस तरह की कमी है?
ज्यादातर प्रतियोगी परीक्षाएं मल्टीप्ल चॉइस क्वेश्चन में तब्दील होती जा रही
हैं, इस परीक्षा पद्धति की खामी क्या है? डॉक्टर और इंजीनियरिंग जैसी पढ़ाई
में लाखों रुपए खर्च होते हैं तो यह परीक्षाएं भारत के शिक्षा तंत्र के बारे
में क्या बतलाती हैं? हमारे समय में तकनीक का बहुत गहरा असर देखने को मिल रहा
है तो तकनीक परीक्षा पद्धति को किस तरीके से प्रभावित कर रही है?

"There is a commotion in the whole country regarding the rigging in the
NEET exam. In this video, former NCERT director, Professor Krishna Kumar is
talking about the biggest flaws in India's examination system. The topics
discussed are: what are the structural flaws of the NEET exam? What kind of
flaw is there in the design of all the competitive examinations of India,
including NEET? Most competitive examinations are turning into multiple
choice questions, what are the weaknesses in this examination system?
Studies in medicine and engineering involve *lakhs* of rupees, so what do
examinations for such professions tell us about India's education system?
In our age, there is a very deep impact of technology, so how is technology
affecting the examination system?"

[Goanet] Shrink the Economy, Save the World?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PERHAPS THIS IS OF INTEREST. THANK YOU.
>"Economic growth has long been considered such an obvious boon that it’s
pursued by governments across the world as a matter of course."

>"Gains in economic growth have too often buoyed the fortunes of the
richest instead of lifting all boats. Prosperity even in the most
prosperous countries hasn’t been shared. But all the attention to inequality

 is just a crack in the edifice of economic orthodoxy. Now a much more
radical proposition has emerged, looming like a wrecking ball: Is economic
growth desirable at all?"

>"The realization that we hadn’t innovated our way out of our ecological
predicament, along with inequalities laid bare by the 2008 financial
crisis, fueled a more widespread distrust of the conventional capitalist
wisdom. Maybe relentless economic growth was more poison than panacea."

>"Hickel [Jason, an anthropologist who teaches in London and Barcelona and
is one of the movement’s most spirited exponents
]
writes: 'Degrowth is about reducing the material and energy throughput of
the economy to bring it back into balance with the living world, while
distributing income and resources more fairly, liberating people from
needless work, and investing in the public goods that people need to
thrive.'”

>“'We have ceded our political agency to the lazy calculus of growth," [is] the
distinctive argument that Hickel and other degrowthers make . . . .
ultimately a moral one."

>"Yet for the vocal proponents of degrowth, the timorousness of a 'more
balanced position' is what allowed capitalist growth to run roughshod over
the earth in the first place. This is the resolute message promulgated by
Kohei Saito, a 37-year-old Japanese Marxist philosopher who has emerged as
the movement’s public face

. 'Any attempt to blend degrowth with capitalism is doomed to fail,' he
proclaims in 'Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto
.'”

>"By demanding 'capitalism’s end,' Saito is just getting started; what he
calls for is not just degrowth, but 'degrowth communism.'”

>“'Seeds of degrowth communism are sprouting all over the world,' Saito
writes, pointing to experiments in local governance in cities like
Barcelona, which has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050
,
and farming cooperatives in South Africa."

>"Whatever the profound differences between degrowth’s proponents and their
critics, the scale of the climate crisis suggests one point of convergence: We
need all the imaginative help we can get."

--

By: Jennifer Szalai
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: June 8, 2024
Economic growth has been ecologically costly — and so a movement in favor
of ‘degrowth’ is growing.
A rising tide and a bigger pie: Economic growth has long been considered
such an obvious boon that it’s pursued by governments across the world as a
matter of course. But in 2016, when a London professor warned an audience
in Newcastle that Brexit would lead to a precipitous drop in Britain’s
gross domestic product, that well-worn measure of economic activity, one
woman’s heckling caught him by surprise. “That’s your bloody G.D.P.,” she
shouted, “not ours!”

The eruption tapped into a suspicion supported by reality: Gains in
economic growth have too often buoyed the fortunes of the richest instead
of lifting all boats. Prosperity even in the most prosperous countries
hasn’t been shared. But all the attention to inequality

 is just a crack in the edifice of economic orthodoxy. Now a much more
radical proposition has emerged, looming like a wrecking ball: Is economic
growth desirable at all?

Less than two decades ago, an economist like Herman Daly

, who argued for a “steady-state economy,” was such an outlier that his
fellow economist Benjamin Friedman could declare that “practically nobody
opposes economic growth per se.” Yet today there is a burgeoning
“post-growth” and “degrowth” movement doing exactly that — in journals
, on podcasts, at conferences. Consider
some of the books published in the last several years: Tim Jackson’s “
Post-Growth:
Life After Capitalism,

”

 Kate Soper’s “Post-Growth 

[Goanet] In India, the voters have spoken. They do not want autocracy.

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The key outcome of the balloting is that Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata
Party will not become the sole power center in India for the next five
years, as Mr. Modi had hoped and predicted. Mr. Modi and the BJP will lack
a free hand for further repression of civil society, imprisonment of the
opposition, infiltration and takeover of democratic institutions, and
persecution of Muslims. Although Mr. Modi will surely not abandon his Hindu
nationalist drive, now there will be stronger checks and balances, with a
revived opposition and the necessity to compromise with coalition partners."

>"Elections are vital, but still are only one gear in the larger clockwork
of a working democracy. Just as important is what happens in between the
elections: the activity of civil society and the rule of law, the building
of institutions, and the encouragement of tolerance. . . But now, at least,
there are others empowered to stand up to his worst excesses, to prevent
him from unchallenged domination and to return India to the best kind of
democracy — one where competition thrives."
--
By: The Editorial Board
Published in: *The Washington Post*
Date: June 5, 2024
Narendra Modi seemed unstoppable. But voters have rebuffed his Hindu
nationalist party.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu majoritarian project had
seemed unstoppable — a juggernaut of authoritarianism and ethnic and
religious hatred seeking total domination of the country’s politics. But in
the past seven weeks, in an extraordinary outcome, the voters of India put
the brakes on. When the vote tally was revealed Tuesday
,
India’s democracy looked to be in far better shape than anyone thought.

The key outcome of the balloting is that Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party
will not become the sole power center in India for the next five years, as
Mr. Modi had hoped and predicted. Mr. Modi and the BJP will lack a free
hand for further repression of civil society, imprisonment of the
opposition, infiltration and takeover of democratic institutions, and
persecution of Muslims. Although Mr. Modi will surely not abandon his Hindu
nationalist drive, now there will be stronger checks and balances, with a
revived opposition and the necessity to compromise with coalition partners.
For a world suffering a retreat from democracy seemingly everywhere, this
is a remarkably positive turn of events, even better because it was
directly at the hands of 640 million voters. It ranks with the recent
rejection

of
an authoritarian regime in Poland as a bright spot in an otherwise dark
period.


Mr. Modi had frequently predicted that the BJP and its alliance would claim
over 400 seats  in the
543-seat lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, in which 272 is needed
for a majority. But Mr. Modi’s party won only 240 seats
, down 63 from
five years ago, so it will have to negotiate a coalition to govern. The
long-troubled opposition Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi won
99 seats
,
a stunning increase of 47 from the last election; also pivotal were the
victories of several regional parties.


Mr. Modi’s party was shellacked in the huge Uttar Pradesh state in the
north, losing 29 seats, and also lost 14 seats in Maharashtra, home to the
country’s business and finance capital, Mumbai. The BJP also lost the
Ayodhya constituency in the north that houses the Hindu temple to Lord Ram
that Mr. Modi inaugurated

on
the ruins of a Mughal-era mosque — a hugely symbolic defeat in a heavily
Hindu district.


Certainly, voters were unhappy about unemployment, inflation and
inequality, despite India’s overall economic growth. The results map also
suggests a return to older patterns of regional voting that Mr. Modi had
previously defied. But the vote was in protest of Mr. Modi’s autocratic and
divisive ways, too. He has been drifting toward authoritarianism for years,
but voters may have worried that, if given an absolute majority in
Parliament, he would attempt to change the constitution to permanently
disenfranchise some groups.

Before the voting, Mr. Modi encouraged a cult of personality around his
leadership. He claimed that God sent him

 to rule India. When his mother was alive, he said, “I had believed that
perhaps my birth was a biological one,” but “after her death, when I look
at my 

[Goanet] India Keeps Its Glorious, Messy Tradition Alive

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The ever unpredictable electorate of the world’s largest democracy
responded to Modi’s demand for still more power resolutely: No thanks."

>"It struck me as particularly apt that despite all the fanfare about the
glorious new temple in Ayodhya, Modi’s party lost the city’s parliamentary
seat

 [Faizabad] to a political opposition that had been all but left for dead."

>“'We are very happy with the temple but people were fed up with the
B.J.P.,' a local business leader, Rakesh Yadav, told Reuters
.
'People will not always fall for the caste or temple-mosque politics. They
also want to see development.'”

>"India, despite its status as the world’s most-populous democracy, has
been a poster child for this decline under Modi: His government has taken
aim at just about every form of freedom. He has attacked and grievously
weakened the independence of India’s once boisterous press. He has jailed

 critics and political opponents. He has sharpened religious
animosity, referring
during this campaign
 to
Muslims, who make up 14 percent of India’s population, as 'infiltrators'
who seek to steal wealth and power from the Hindu majority. It’s an Indian
edition of the nationalist, populist playbook playing out around the world."

>"That a newly unified opposition managed to prevent Modi’s party from
winning an outright majority under these conditions took everyone,
including me, by surprise. And it suggests that even when would-be
authoritarians attempt to tilt the playing field, voters can and will state
their will, no matter the autocrat’s preferences."

>"This vote wasn’t a total rebuke of Modi and his policies. He is all but
certain to get his third term as prime minister by making a coalition with
allied parties. But it is a clear and salutary check on his authoritarian
project."

>"The whole world should breathe a sigh of relief that India’s voters have
spoken, loudly, in favor of continuing that glorious, messy tradition."
--
By:  Lydia Polgreen -- Opinion Columnist
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: June 5, 2024

Back in January, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India looked all but
unstoppable, he visited the small city of Ayodhya for the unofficial start
of his campaign to win a third term. The location was freighted with
symbolism. For decades, Hindu nationalists had sought to build a temple in
Ayodhya, at a spot they believe to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram.
The only problem was that there was already a house of worship on the spot,
a mosque built by a Mughal emperor in 1528. A Hindu mob had dismantled

 the mosque in 1992, setting off riots that killed 2,000 people, most of
them Muslims. The ruins were a flashpoint
 of religious
tensions in India for decades.

Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party promised to build the temple, and the
lavish event at which Modi officially opened it was a showcase for that
achievement. At the time it seemed like strong election-year messaging for
a politician who built his career on the twin planks of Hindu nationalism
and building a muscular new India.
Unlike other politicians, the event implied, Modi made promises and kept
them.

“It is the beginning of a new era,” he declared

.

Feeling supremely confident, Modi had boldly asked the Indian electorate
for something akin to a blank check to remake the country — control of 400
seats in Parliament in elections that began in April and concluded on June
1. And why shouldn’t he have been confident? India’s economy was the
fastest-growing

 in the world. India had overtaken China as the world’s most-populous
country. World leaders sought Modi’s support on issues ranging from the war
in Ukraine to the climate crisis, cementing India’s ascent in global
affairs.

But the ever unpredictable electorate of the world’s largest democracy
responded to Modi’s demand for still more power resolutely: No thanks.

In a stunning rebuke, election results released on Tuesday showed that
India’s voters have reduced the parliamentary share of Modi’s party by more
than 60 seats
,
not enough for an outright majority, never mind the 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Yogendra Yadav, political analyst and founder Swaraj Abhiyan --"Lok Sabha Results : PM Modi का तीसरा कार्यकाल, Rahul Gandhi की नई छवि, Yogendra Yadav की नज़र में.

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

THIS ANALYSIS IS PERHAPS WORTH YOUR VIEWING. THANK YOU.

By: Rupa Jha, Editorial leather, BBC Hindi
Published in: *BBC News Hindi*
Date: June 7, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FORgU1Pps98
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi and there is no transcript.

"लोकसभा चुनाव 2024 के नतीजे आ चुके हैं और एग्ज़िट पोल के नतीजों से इतर किसी
एक दल को बहुमत नहीं मिला है. ऐसे में देश में अब जो भी सरकार बनेगी वो गठबंधन
की सरकार होगी. भले ही ये नतीजे कुछ लोगों के लिए चौंकाने वाले रहे हों लेकिन
भारत जोड़ो अभियान के संयोजक योगेंद्र यादव ने नतीजों से पहले ही बीबीसी के
साथ बातचीत में इसकी संभावना जता दी थी. लेकिन अब जब नतीजे आ चुके हैं तो सवाल
है कि अगर एनडीए की सरकार बनती है तो कैसा होगा उसका तीसरा कार्यकाल? सवाल ये
भी कि इन नतीजों का भारत की राजनीति पर और ख़ासतौर पर नरेंद्र मोदी और राहुल
गांधी पर क्या असर होगा? BBC के पत्रकारों के सवालों का जवाब दिया योगेंद्र
यादव ने."

"The results of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 have come and apart from the
results of the exit polls, no single party has got a majority. In such a
situation, whatever government will be formed in the country now will be a
coalition. Even though these results may have been surprising for some
people, the coordinator of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Yogendra Yadav had
expressed its possibility in a conversation with the BBC even earlier.

But now that the results have come, the question is that if the NDA
government is formed, how will its third term be? The question is also:
what will be the impact of these results on the politics of India and
especially on Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi? Yogendra Yadav answered the
questions of BBC journalists."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Parakala Prabhakar, the economist, author and political commentator, Parakala Prabhakar, who is also Finance Minister's husband--Results “A Very Clear Tight Slap on PM’s

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: June 6, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNnAQbv7FJg

"In an interview to discuss the election results the economist, author and
political commentator, Parakala Prabhakar, who is also Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband, has said the results are 'a very clear and a
very tight slap on the face of the Prime Minister and his Party and his way
of doing things.'

Describing Narendra Modi as 'a baahubali [strong-armed] kind of person',
Dr. Parakala said: 'The people of India have said very clearly they did not
like what Narendra Modi was doing, his agenda and the way he ran the
government and conducted the campaign.' The results are 'a very clear, very
tight slap on PM's face'; the new government may not survive (a) vote of
confidence: Finance Minister's husband, Economist and Author, Parakala
Prabhakar.

In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr. Parakala said he
is not at all sure how long the new Narendra Modi government will last. To
begin with, he questioned whether it will even be formed and then, if it
is, he questioned whether it will survive a vote of confidence in the Lok
Sabha. If it does, he said there is a very high possibility that in the
next few months the Prime Minister may be changed, either under pressure
from his own Party or the RSS or NDA allies. And there is even the
possibility that Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar could walk out."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, biographer and journalist - "Can Old Mr Modi Become New Mr Modi? His Biographer Thinks Not."

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: June 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdEORJpQoU
*Note:* The interview is in English and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"In an interview with his biographer to discuss whether Narendra Modi will
be temperamentally and psychologically able to adjust to the different
circumstances he will face as Prime Minister in his third term, now that
the BJP no longer has a majority and Mr. Modi will be dependent on his
allies to survive in office, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay says it’s most unlikely
that old Mr. Modi will become new Mr. Modi.

Mr. Mukhopadhyay, the author of ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times’, says Mr.
Modi is by character and attitude used to having his way and accustomed to
close centralized control of the government, enabled by his Party’s
majority, and will find it very hard to become a consensual Prime Minister
who has to listen to, give-in to and share with his allies.

This interview is not about the policies Mr. Modi will follow or the
political strategies his government will devise during his third term as
Prime Minister. Instead it addresses one simple single question or,
perhaps, two. First, how will he adjust and accommodate himself to the fact
that, despite his multiple predictions and boasts, the BJP has lost its
majority and, despite his claim that mother Ganga has adopted him, his own
performance in Varanasi shows he’s lost over 3 lakh votes between 2019 and
2024?"

[Goanet] India’s early election results point to rebuke for Modi and his party

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"In the end, it was voters in the devout Hindu heartland, the BJP
stronghold that propelled Modi to victory in 2014 and 2019, who appeared to
be pulling back their support.

>"Such a result [BJP might not single-handedly secure the 272 seats needed
in the 543-member Lok Sabha lower house, as it comfortably managed in 2014
and 2019] would be a rare setback for an Indian politician who has never
failed to secure a majority in state or national elections over a 23-year
political career and cultivated an image as a popular strongman and a
serial winner.

>“'The entire party structure is built around advertising around him, but
the challenge this time was that they weren’t able to come up with a set of
issues that they could tie around Modi,' said Nilanjan Sircar, a political
scientist at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. The government
'overreached,' Sircar said. 'People were uncomfortable with some of what
the government was doing. Some red lines were crossed.'”

>"In some of the most memorable moments of the campaign, Modi told a
television interviewer that he was chosen by God. He repeatedly warned
lower-caste Hindus at rallies that only he could stop the rival Congress
party from scrapping India’s affirmative action programs or snatching their
livestock and wedding jewelry and redistributing them to Muslims."

>"In the end, it was voters in the devout Hindu heartland, the BJP
stronghold that propelled Modi to victory in 2014 and 2019, who appeared to
be pulling back their support. The Congress and Samajwadi opposition
parties were set to capture more than half of the seats in Uttar Pradesh,
the same state where Modi had consecrated a grand Hindu temple with fanfare
in February, early results showed."

By: Gerry Shih, Karishma Mehrotra and Anant Gupta
Published in: *The Washington Post*
Date: June 4, 2024

The results appear to mark a rare setback for a politician who has never
failed to secure a majority in state or national elections over a 23-year
political career.


NEW DELHI — Indian voters appeared to deliver an unexpected repudiation of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership as early vote tallies

 on Tuesday showed tepid support for his Hindu nationalist party, piercing
the air of invincibility around the most dominant Indian politician in
decades.


Although votes were still being counted as of Tuesday afternoon and the
Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party could still form the government, its
performance was projected to fall short of its showing in 2014, when Modi
swept to power on a wave of national anger over corruption, or 2019, when
he was buoyed by nationalist sentiment over a border clash with Pakistan.


Such a result would be a rare setback for an Indian politician who has
never failed to secure a majority in state or national elections over a
23-year political career and cultivated an image as a popular strongman and
a serial winner. Most analysts expected him to easily brush aside India’s
enervated and poorly funded opposition parties, some of which had their
bank accounts frozen and their leaders jailed by the government in the
run-up to the election.


Yet the mood shifted dramatically as early vote counts trickled in Tuesday
morning and indicated that the BJP might not single-handedly secure the 272
seats needed in the 543-member Lok Sabha lower house, as it comfortably
managed in 2014 and 2019.


Political analysts began to wonder whether Modi would need to negotiate
with his allies and make concessions to form a government. In a rare move,
television networks typically aligned with the BJP changed the photo
accompanying the party logo from Modi to the party president, J.P. Nadda.


Indian stocks dropped 6 percent on fears that the pro-business BJP might
fall short, and companies led by Gautam Adani
,
a billionaire seen as a Modi ally, saw as much as a fifth of their value
wiped out within hours.


For the first time in years, Modi seemed vulnerable.


“The entire party structure is built around advertising around him, but the
challenge this time was that they weren’t able to come up with a set of
issues that they could tie around Modi,” said Nilanjan Sircar, a political
scientist at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. The government
“overreached,” Sircar said. “People were uncomfortable with some of what
the government was doing. Some red lines were crossed.”


In the lead-up to the election, Modi and his allies exuded supreme
confidence, with BJP leaders pledging to capture 400 seats and staking the
campaign almost solely on Modi’s personal appeal.


Modi’s name appeared 67 times in the BJP’s campaign manifesto,
overshadowing the perennial issues of “inflation” and “jobs” mentioned once
and twice, respectively. Many government 

[Goanet] Fear and Hope post the Fourth of June

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Satya Sagar
Published in: *Countercurrents.org*
Date: June 2, 2024
Source:
https://countercurrents.org/2024/06/fear-and-hope-post-the-fourth-of-june/


For weeks now, everyone and his uncle in India has been speculating about
the outcome of the country’s general elections, hunting for clues on media
outlets, studying past trends and crunching numbers from election databases.

Their conclusions have depended on which side of the grand ideological
divide they stand – for or against the Hindu majoritarian regime of
Narendra Modi. The polarization is such that it is impossible to believe
big media or exit pollsters, who have already declared the incumbent
government re-elected, much before the results are out.

The truth is that in this election, given the absence of any explicit
political wave, nobody can really tell which way the verdict will go. There
are too many factors that could prove decisive.

There is one thing that can be said with certainty though. India as we have
known for the last three decades will not be the same after the 4th of
June. Irrespective of the outcome –– there are clear signs the country is
entering a new, more turbulent era and also one shifting away from the
politics of the recent past.

There will be much pain and suffering ahead but also possibilities of great
hope for a better India. While not exhaustive, here is a list of trends
that are visible, some faint and others pronounced, in the 2024 season of
the Great Indian Elections:

*The Modi bubble is about to burst:*  Yes, this despicable charlatan, who
rose to the nation’s top job using everything from communal poison,
corporate cash and brazenly corrupt practices, is headed to the dustbin of
history.

In this election we saw clearly how vast sections of Indians have snapped
out of the spell cast on them for long by his devious manipulation of
religious/nationalist sentiments and harnessing of hatred against the
country’s Muslims and Christian populations.

This is especially true among the youth – who form the largest demographic
section in the country – and who are tired of fighting battles from the
imagined past or be used as pawns of power-hungry demagogues.  All they
want are decent, secure jobs and upward social and economic mobility. The
rest of the country, made up of other age groups, craves peace and harmony
in society to get on with their lives without worry.

Even if Modi worms his way to a third term the victory will be very short
lived and the growing swell of discontent against his regime’s failed
policies will only accelerate. We are entering a period of intense social
mobilization and agitations that will transform Indian politics and society.

However, we do know that Narendra ‘Bonaparte’ Modi will not leave the
throne so easily – as he has simply too much to lose or hide. Hence the
apprehension about social and political turbulence ahead. There will be
many Pulwamas post the Fourth of June for sure.

*The Hindutva phenomenon has peaked:*  The ideological and organizational
push for promoting Hindutva, the RSS idea that India should abandon
secularism and openly adopt Hindu majoritarian rule, has exhausted its
appeal.   What started in the early nineties with L.K. Advani’s rath yatra,
the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the capture of the Indian state
machinery through the BJP’s ascent to power in 2014 – has lost its
momentum.

Both the BJP and RSS are deeply corrupted by the same power they sought for
long and finally achieved. They are shedding dedicated or motivated cadre
(motivated by a dystopian vision of India) faster than fur off a sheep’s
back in summer.

No, Hindutva is not going to disappear anytime soon. Like Covid-19 it will
lose virulence but still hang around in the ecosystem, afflicting the very
aged or those with weak immune systems. However, its ability to infect new
followers or frighten people into submission is gone – in a few seasons it
will be just another virus in the seasonal flu mix.

Among other reasons, this decline is due to Narendra Modi himself. While he
played a key role in popularizing the appeal of Hindutva and establishing
its political and social hegemony  he is also the one responsible for
undermining its future
. In
his self-appointed role as the prophet receiving messages directly from the
*paramatma* he has become vastly larger than the *parivar *he came from.

Today, there are enough indications that the knives are out for Modi –
within the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, both of
which are hurting due to his transition from being their mentee to becoming
their tormentor.

There is no doubt that the RSS will have to dump Modi at some point of time
for its own long-term survival. The only question is whether it will be a
golden handshake or the royal boot that will do the job.

*The Indian Left is in for a grand revival:* No, I am not talking about the
established Left 

[Goanet] Watch interview: With Yogendra Yadav, political analyst - "Could Exit Polls Be a Smokescreen To Conceal Something, . . .

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, Political Affairs Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: June 4, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FAKxuSrvE
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source and the interview is in
English

"The political scientist Yogendra Yadav speaks about a number of surprises
that exit polls have thrown. For one, he believes that the BJP's speculated
sweep in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, and
strong gains in vote share in Tamil Nadu and Kerala do not reflect his
experiences on the ground."

[Goanet] Union Home Minister calling 150 District Magistrates directly- Does it not amount to a corrupt practice?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

From: E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India


To
Shri Rajiv Kumar
Chief Election Commissioner

Shri Gyanesh Kumar
Election Commissioner

Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
Election Commissioner

Dear Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, S/Shri Gyanesh Kumar/ Rajiv Kumar,

I understand that the Congress has registered a complaint with the
Commission about the Union Home Minister "calling 150 District Magistrates
across the country in an attempt to influence the outcome of polls" (
https://www.deccanherald.com/elections/india/lok-sabha-elections-2024-amit-shah-calling-150-dms-across-country-to-influence-poll-result-says-jairam-ramesh-3047854#
).

If it is factually correct, does it not amount to interfering with the
electoral process, amounting to a corrupt practice under the Representation
of People Act?

What is the action taken by the Commission?

The Commission needs to answer this question along with the other questions
I raised in a letter on date.

Or, does the Commission consider this yet another public concern that is
vexatious?!!

Yours sincerely,


E A S Sarma

Visakhapatnam

2nd June 2024

-- 
E.A.S.Sarma
14-40-4/1 Gokhale Road
Maharanipeta
Visakhapatnam 530002

Website: http://eassarma.in

[Goanet] Watch: 'Democracy Survives Only Because People Believe In It': Prabir Purkayastha

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Published in: *The Wire*
Date: June 1, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgk7w0-i6pQ

"In an event organised by the Press Club of India on 30th May, fresh out of
jail Newsclick founder Prabir Purkayastha spoke on curtailment of the
‘Freedom of Expression in Today’s India’ along with retired Supreme Court
judge Justice Madan Lokur.

Both the speakers delved into the declining standards of journalism in
India and the increasing state control over media including platforms such
as Twitter and YouTube and called for collective citizen action to
safeguard India’s freedom of expression."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Shravan Garg, journalist and political analyst- 2024 Election- How politics will change after 4th June? Will nation see a new Modi? | INDIA ALLIANCE

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

"There are doubts about Modi's democratic credentials. As a result the
democratic transfer of power in India is in doubt?  A question which has
never risen earlier with regard to India."

By: Ashutosh, Co-founder, Satya Hindi
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: May 29, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-7rb8qOSjA
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

श्रवण गर्ग की खरी खरी । चुनाव के नतीजों का सबको इंतज़ार है । बीजेपी की
सीटें कम हो सकती है । अगर बीजेपी को बहुमत नहीं मिला तो क्या मोदी को नये रूप
में देश देखेगा ! क्या बीजेपी में बदलाव होगा ? विपक्ष की राजनीति कैसे
बदलेगी?

"Shravan Garg Ki Khari Khari. Everyone is waiting for the election results.
BJP's seats may reduce. If BJP does not get a majority, will the country
see Modi in a new form? Will there be a change in the BJP? How will the
politics of the opposition change?"

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: With various intellectuals of Varanasi- "A Political Evening on Ganga Ghat in Varanasi with Arfa Khanum Sherwani: Will INDIA Gain In UP?"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Senior Editor and Journalist
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May 28, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-n2O6DRVIc
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"As the Lok Sabha elections enter the seventh phase, all eyes turn to the
Purvanchal area of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. The Wire’s
Arfa Khanum Sherwani also reached the Prime Minister’s constituency,
Varanasi.

At the famous Assi Ghat in Banaras, Arfa Khanum speaks with intellectuals
of the city on a traditional boat. A beautiful evening on the ghats of
Banaras. Watch this intriguing political conversation to understand which
way the winds are blowing this 2024 Lok Sabha election."

[Goanet] I’m an Indian Muslim, and I’m Scared to Say So

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"I used to answer the phone with 'Salam.' Not anymore. I don’t want people
to know I’m a Muslim."

>"In the India of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you can’t take any chances."

>"Many Indian Muslims fought against British colonization, and millions
rejected the 1947 partition of the country into a predominantly Hindu India
and a mostly Muslim Pakistan. India is our home, and people like me are
proud patriots."

>"Islamophobia isn’t new to India, and Muslims also faced prejudice and
recurring violence during the generations in which the liberal upper-caste
Hindu elite dominated the nation’s secular democratic politics. But under
Mr. Modi’s right-wing leadership, hatred of Muslims has effectively become
state policy. India is now a country where police have been accused of standing
by

 as Hindus attack Muslims
,
where the killers of religious minorities

 go unpunished and where Hindu extremists

 openly call for the genocide of Muslims."

>"The Indian Muslim response to our subjugation has largely been a
deafening silence."

>"On June 1, India’s voting period comes to a close. It looms as a day of
dread for Muslims like me. According to most projections, it will be
another victory for Mr. Modi — and further validation of mob rule and the
debasement of 200 million Muslims by a hubristic Hindu majority."
-

By: Mohammad Ali Mr. [Ali, a journalist and writer who focuses on
right-wing efforts to transform India into a Hindu nation, wrote from
Delhi.]
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: May 26, 2024

I used to answer the phone with “Salam.” Not anymore. I don’t want people
to know I’m a Muslim.

There is little that would identify me as Muslim to begin with, aside from
my name. I don’t wear a skullcap, and in public I avoid wearing the
loosefitting Pathani kurta and peppering my speech with Urdu words, all of
which are identity markers for Indian Muslims. But in the India of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, you can’t take any chances.

For 10 years, Mr. Modi’s Hindu-chauvinist government has vilified the
nation’s 200 million Muslims as dangerous undesirables. Recently, he took
that rhetoric to a new low during the six weeks of voting in India’s
national elections — which are widely expected to win him a third
consecutive five-year term — directly referring
 to
Muslims as “infiltrators” in a country that he and his followers seek to
turn into a pure Hindu state.

As offensive as that was, it is sadly familiar to Indian Muslims like me
who — after a decade of denigration, violence and murder — live in daily
fear of being identified and attacked, forcing us into self-denial to
protect ourselves.

India is home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations. Islam came
here around 1,300 years ago, and Indian Muslims descend from natives of
this land who converted to Islam centuries ago. Many Indian Muslims fought
against British colonization, and millions rejected the 1947 partition of
the country into a predominantly Hindu India and a mostly Muslim Pakistan.
India is our home, and people like me are proud patriots.

But Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalism has made us the targets in what might be
the largest radicalization of people on the planet. Its seeds were planted
with the founding in 1925 of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing
Hindu organization that sought the establishment of a fully Hindu state in
India and was inspired by the European fascism of that era. When Mr. Modi’s
Bharatiya Janata Party — a political offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh — won elections in 2014 and he became prime minister, he and his
followers saw it as the civilizational moment that Hindus had been waiting
for. Mr. Modi was the god-king who would free Hindu civilization from
centuries of domination, first by a series of Muslim rulers culminating
with the Mughal empire that ruled India for around three centuries and then
by the British colonizers who followed.

Islamophobia isn’t new to India, and Muslims also faced prejudice and
recurring violence during the generations in which the liberal upper-caste
Hindu elite dominated the nation’s secular democratic politics. But under
Mr. Modi’s right-wing leadership, hatred of Muslims has effectively become
state policy. India is now a country where police have been accused of standing
by

 as Hindus attack Muslims

[Goanet] Watch: Ground Report by Sheetal P. Singh, Journalist, "Sixth phase polling. Live from UP | LOK SABHA ELECTION 2024 |"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

THIS IS PERHAPS WORTH YOUR TIME. THANK YOU.

"IN EVERY SEAT IN THIS PART OF UP, BJP'S OWN CADRES ARE ACTIVELY DEFEATING
THEIR OWN CANDIDATES."
WHY?  LISTEN, PLEASE.
By: Dr. Mukhesh Kumar
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: May 25, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9EZFrWvgk
*Note:* This ground report by Sheetal Singh is in Hindi

"छठवें चरण के मतदान में यूपी में बीजेपी की स्थिति कैसी है? सपा उससे कितनी
सीटें छीनने की स्थिति में आ गई है?"

"What is BJP's position in UP in the sixth phase of voting? How many seats
is SP in a position to snatch from it?!"

[Goanet] Watch: जा रही है मोदी सरकार -राहुल हैं असली दावेदार | Laxmi Shankar Bajpai on Loksabha Election |#dblive

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: "Modi government is leaving - Rahul is the real contender"
By: Atul Sinha
Published in: *DB Live*
Date: May 17, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUfnl5movQA
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"Laxmi Shankar Bajpai is a poet, Gazalkaar, and communicator. He retired as
a Deputy Director General from AIR Akashwani."

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: With Anjali Bhardwaj, Sushmita Dev and Nalini Singh -Half the Sky: What Women Bring to Politics is Invaluable

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *Dil se* with Kapil Sibal
Date: May 20, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqXEalfyYPE
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source

"In a discussion with host Kapil Sibal on #DilsewithKapilSibal
, National Campaign
for Peoples’ Right to Information and Satark Nagrik Sangathan’s
transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev and
journalist Nalini Singh discuss the thousand ways in which increased
participation of women in politics can radically transform India’s
politics. There are important questions about the intersection of caste and
class with gender which must be taken into account."

[Goanet] Strangers in Their Own Land: Being Muslim in Modi’s India

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

*LONG READ*
>"It is a lonely feeling to know that your country’s leaders do not want
you. To be vilified because you are a Muslim in what is now a largely
Hindu-first India."

>"It colors everything. Friends, dear for decades, change. Neighbors hold
back from neighborly gestures — no longer joining in celebrations, or
knocking to inquire in moments of pain."

>"He [Ziya Us Salam, 53, a writer who lives on the outskirts of Delhi] is
old enough to remember when coexistence was largely the norm in an
enormously diverse India, and he does not want to add to the country’s
increasing segregation."

>"In the state of Tamil Nadu, often-bickering political parties are united
in protecting secularism and in focusing on economic well-being. Its chief
minister, M.K. Stalin, is a declared atheist."

>"A place [Delhi] where prejudice has become so routine that even a
friendship of 26 years can be sundered as a result."


By: Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar -- Reporting from Noida and Chennai, India
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: May 18, 2024
Families grapple with anguish and isolation as they try to raise their
children in a country that increasingly questions their very identity.


It is a lonely feeling to know that your country’s leaders do not want you.
To be vilified because you are a Muslim in what is now a largely
Hindu-first India.

It colors everything. Friends, dear for decades, change. Neighbors hold
back from neighborly gestures — no longer joining in celebrations, or
knocking to inquire in moments of pain.

“It is a lifeless life,” said Ziya Us Salam, a writer who lives on the
outskirts of Delhi with his wife, Uzma Ausaf, and their four daughters.

When he was a film critic for one of India’s main newspapers
, Mr. Salam, 53, used to fill his time with
cinema, art, music. Workdays ended with riding on the back of an older
friend’s motorcycle to a favorite food stall for long chats. His wife, a
fellow journalist, wrote about life, food and fashion.

Now, Mr. Salam’s routine is reduced to office and home, his thoughts
occupied by heavier concerns. The constant ethnic profiling because he is
“visibly Muslim” — by the bank teller, by the parking lot attendant, by
fellow passengers on the train — is wearying, he said. Family conversations
are darker, with both parents focused on raising their daughters in a
country that increasingly questions or even tries to erase the markers of
Muslims’ identity — how they dress, what they eat, even their Indianness
altogether.


One of them, an impressive student-athlete, struggled so much that she
needed counseling and missed months of school. The family often debates
whether to stay in their mixed Hindu-Muslim neighborhood in Noida, just
outside Delhi. Mariam, their oldest daughter, who is a graduate student,
leans toward compromise, anything to make life bearable. She wants to move.

Anywhere but a Muslim area might be difficult. Real estate agents often ask
outright if families are Muslim; landlords are reluctant to rent to them.

“I have started taking it in stride,” Mariam said.

“I refuse to,” Mr. Salam shot back. He is old enough to remember when
coexistence was largely the norm in an enormously diverse India, and he
does not want to add to the country’s increasing segregation.

But he is also pragmatic. He wishes Mariam would move abroad, at least
while the country is like this.

Mr. Salam clings to the hope that India is in a passing phase.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, is playing a long game.

His rise to national power in 2014, on a promise of rapid development,
swept a decades-old Hindu nationalist movement from the margins of Indian
politics firmly to the center. He has since chipped away at the secular
framework and robust democracy that had long held India together despite
its sometimes explosive religious and caste divisions.

Right-wing organizations began using the enormous power around Mr. Modi as
a shield to try to reshape Indian society. Their members provoked sectarian
clashes as the government looked away, with officials showing up later to
raze Muslim homes and round up Muslim men. Emboldened vigilante groups
lynched Muslims they accused of smuggling beef (cows are sacred to many
Hindus). Top leaders in Mr. Modi’s party openly celebrated Hindus who
committed crimes against Muslims.

On large sections of broadcast media, but particularly on social media,
bigotry coursed unchecked. WhatsApp groups spread conspiracy theories about
Muslim men luring Hindu women for religious conversion, or even about
Muslims spitting in restaurant food. While Mr. Modi and his party officials
reject claims of discrimination by pointing to welfare programs that cover
Indians equally, Mr. Modi himself is now repeating anti-Muslim tropes in
the election that ends early next month. He has targeted India’s 200
million Muslims more directly than ever, calling them “infiltrators” and
insinuating that they 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Alishan Jari, an independent journalist and an aspiring documentary filmmaker--What's It Like to be Muslim in Modi's India? To Be Called an ‘infiltrator’ in your own hom

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May 14, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHR8pMCGPDg

"At a time when the Prime Minister has called Muslims 'infiltrators' and
people who have more children than the rest of us, the independent
journalist and an aspiring documentary filmmaker Alishan Jafri answers the
questions what is it like to be a poor Muslim, without connections and
influence, in Narendra Modi’s India?

What does it feel like when you are called an infiltrator in the land where
you and your ancestors were born, lived and died? And how do poor Muslims
view the prospect of 5 years more of Narendra Modi and his constant picking
on Muslims?

In a 33-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Alishan Jafri also
addresses other questions connected to the situation facing poor Muslims in
India. For instance, every day the Prime Minister claims reservations for
OBCs, STs and SCs will be snatched and given to Muslims. What impact is
this having on Hindu-Muslim relations? Has it made Muslims apprehensive of
the reaction of their Hindu neighbours?

When it has become commonplace for Ministers, MPs, MLAs and, perhaps, the
BJP as a whole, to refer to Muslims as Babar ki aulad and abba jaan and
repeatedly tell them to go to Pakistan whilst accusing them of love jihad,
land jihad, population jihad and cow lynching, what impact has this had on
their mental health and well-being? How did it feel when in December 2021 a
Dharma Sansad in Haridwar publicly called for the genocide and ethnic
cleansing of Muslims?

What is it like to be accused of appeasement when you are amongst the
poorest, the least educated and worst represented people in your country?
And how do poor Muslims view their lives? Are they happy and content or are
they just living and surviving? I am deliberately only giving you the
questions. I think you should hear the answers for yourself. Alishan Jafri
speaks with a poignancy and suppressed emotion that powerfully conveys the
plight of poor Muslims."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Parakala Prabhakar, Finance Minister's husband, the author and economist-- BJP Will Get 200-220 Seats, NDA Below 272; Dictators End Badly

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May, 15, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ6J3-j5xiA
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source


"The respected author, economist and commentator Parakala Prabhakar, who is
also Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband, has forecast that the
BJP will get between 200-220 seats whilst the NDA will fall below the
majority mark. His figure for the NDA could be as low as 255.
When asked if the BJP performs as poorly as he expects, what future does he
see for Narendra Modi, Dr. Parakala said history shows that “almost all
dictators end up in handcuffs or coffins”.
In a 35-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr. Parakala said he
expects to see a non-BJP led and non-NDA led government after June the 5th.
In other words, an Opposition alliance. I do not want to steal Dr.
Parakala’s thunder nor do I want to run the risk of misconstruing what he
has said or wrongly paraphrasing or précising it. I think you should see
this interview for yourself.
Dr. Parakala shared his forecast for each of the states of south India
(Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) as well as
for practically all the states of north and east India.
He speaks individually about UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi. He also speaks individually
about Maharashtra, Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat and collectively the North East.
To sum up what he says (but you must see the interview for the details) Dr.
Parakala believes the BJP could lose between 80-95 seats in north India and
up to a further 15 seats in south India. If you take the average figure of
87 for north India that means the BJP could lose up to 102 seats compared
to the 303 it won in 2019. This is why Dr. Parakala says he expects the BJP
to win between 200-220 seats whilst the NDA will fall below a majority,
perhaps by a significant margin."

[Goanet] Bhima Koregaon: Gautam Navlakha gets bail as Supreme Court lifts stay on Bombay High Court order

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

*>"'We are inclined to not extend the stay as High Court order is detailed
in granting bail. Trial would take years and years and years for
completion. Without going at length into contentions, we will not extend
the stay,' *the Court said."

>"Navlakha, who is a human rights activist and the former Secretary of the
People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), was arrested in August 2018."
By: Abhimanyu Hazarika
Published in: *Bar and Bench*
Date: May 14, 2024
Source:
https://www.barandbench.com/news/bhima-koregaon-gautam-navlakha-gets-bail-supreme-court-lifts-stay-bombay-high-court-order


A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti refrained from extending the
stay as the High Court order was detailed and also because the trial would
take years to complete.

Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018, got
bail on Tuesday after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the Bombay High
Court order granting bail to the activist.

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti refrained from extending the
stay as the High Court order was detailed and also because the trial would
take years to complete.

*"We are inclined to not extend the stay as High Court order is detailed in
granting bail. Trial would take years and years and years for completion.
Without going at length into contentions, we will not extend the stay," *the
Court said.


The Court was hearing NIA's appeal against the Bombay High Court's December
2023 order that granted bail to Navlakha

.

The activist's plea concerning the terms of his house arrest

was
being heard along with the bail matter.

The Bench had in April remarked

 that the activist could not escape his liability to pay security costs for
his house arrest, after being informed by the National Investigation Agency
(NIA) that Navlakha owed the agency about ₹1.64 crore.

During the hearing today, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju,
appearing for the NIA with Advocate Kanu Agarwal, claimed that the dues
owed to it by Navlakha had risen to about ₹1.75 crore.

In response, Justice Sundresh remarked that Navlakha had remained
incarcerated for a long time. He suggested lifting the stay as it would
also solve the issue of the rising dues.

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha with Advocate
Stuti Rai, contested the pending dues cited.

Eventually, the Court ordered Navlakha to deposit ₹20 lakhs and listed the
challenges by NIA for final hearing

Navlakha, who is a human rights activist and the former Secretary of the
People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), was arrested in August 2018.

Though he was lodged in prison initially, he was later shifted to his house
and placed under house arrest in November 2022 after the Supreme Court allowed
his plea

for
the same, on the ground of his advanced age.

He has since been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.

Later, the Bombay High Court granted him regular bail but stayed that order
for three weeks to enable NIA's appeal before the apex court. The stay
later continued to be extended before the same was lifted by the top court
today.

Along with ASG Raju, advocate Arvind Kumar Sharma also appeared for the NIA.

Standing Counsel Aaditya Aniruddha Pande appeared for the Maharashtra
government.

Advocates Shadan Farasat and Natasha Maheshwari also appeared for Navlakha.

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Dr. Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP, and head of its Communications department- History Tells Us that India’s Future is Best Secured by Embracing Its Many Diversities

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May 14, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bkgjUcTPro
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and transcript is embedded in the source.

"Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP and head of its Communications department in an
unusual session with host Kapil Sibal discusses India’s history, the role
of Congress and other stalwarts in securing freedom from the British and
the many lessons our history holds for our future. #centralhall"

[Goanet] Watch: Q: What do India's elections mean for coal communities and climate change? (Long Read)

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Aruna Chandrashekar
Date: May 13, 2024
Published in:  *Carbon Brief*
Source: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/india-coal-mines/

"As prime minister of India for the past decade, Narendra Modi has overseen
a rapid expansion of the country’s coal-mining and coal-fired power
generation.
That expansion since 2014 has come with impacts on coal communities and the
environment, from forced evictions and deforestation through to rising
emissions.
The Modi government has plans for continued expansion, with 93 gigawatts
(GW) of coal generation capacity expected to be built by 2032.
At the same time as expanding coal, Modi has projected himself as a global
climate leader with grand renewable ambitions: he signed the Paris
Agreement for India, pledged a net-zero target and has significantly
expanded the country’s renewable capacity.
Modi’s confidence in securing a third term in India’s ongoing general
election has been evident in his climate pledges: in Dubai last year, he
bid for India to host the COP33 UN climate talks in 2028, while his party’s
manifesto has pledged that India will achieve energy independence in 2047.
>From 13 May to 1 June, at least 29 constituencies with existing or
expanding coal and lignite mines, power plants and ports will go to the
polls to have their say on the incoming government.
Here, Carbon Brief looks back at Modi’s first two terms and asks what
another might mean for coal communities and climate change."

[Goanet] Watch: Q: What do India's elections mean for coal communities and climate change? (Long Read)

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Aruna Chandrashekar
Date: May 13, 2024 at 10:47 PM
Published in:  *Carbon Brief*
Source: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/india-coal-mines/

"As prime minister of India for the past decade, Narendra Modi has overseen
a rapid expansion of the country’s coal-mining and coal-fired power
generation.
That expansion since 2014 has come with impacts on coal communities and the
environment, from forced evictions and deforestation through to rising
emissions.
The Modi government has plans for continued expansion, with 93 gigawatts
(GW) of coal generation capacity expected to be built by 2032.
At the same time as expanding coal, Modi has projected himself as a global
climate leader with grand renewable ambitions: he signed the Paris
Agreement for India, pledged a net-zero target and has significantly
expanded the country’s renewable capacity.
Modi’s confidence in securing a third term in India’s ongoing general
election has been evident in his climate pledges: in Dubai last year, he
bid for India to host the COP33 UN climate talks in 2028, while his party’s
manifesto has pledged that India will achieve energy independence in 2047.
>From 13 May to 1 June, at least 29 constituencies with existing or
expanding coal and lignite mines, power plants and ports will go to the
polls to have their say on the incoming government.
Here, Carbon Brief looks back at Modi’s first two terms and asks what
another might mean for coal communities and climate change."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Derek O'Brien, Member of Parliament, TMC, Rajya Sabha-Interview to Kapil Sibal (Dil se with Kapil Sibal)

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *Dil Se with Kapil Sibal*
Date: May 12, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tn1im5Uvko
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source.

"Why Opposition MP Derek O'Brien wears a Tee Shirt says 'BJP Vs Democracy.'"

[Goanet] Watch: राहुल गांधी: सामाजिक न्याय के नए प्रवक्ता | Rahul Gandhi's Nyay

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: Rahul Gandhi: New spokesperson for social justice

PUBLIC OFFICIALS WHO WATCH THIS VIDEO MAY SEE THAT TIMES THEY ARE CHANGIN'
AND FAST.

By: Ravish Kumar
Published in: *Ravish Kumar Official*
Date: May 12, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM8q0x1wsEw
*Note:* This video is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the source.

"लखनऊ में राहुल गांधी ने संविधान सम्मेलन में जिस तरह से जाति और सत्ता में
भागीदारी को लेकर बोला है, उसे राजनीतिक चर्चाकार अक्सर अनदेखा कर देते हैं।
लेकिन राहुल लगातार भागीदारी की बात पर बोल रहे हैं और कांग्रेस की गलतियों को
भी स्वीकार कर रहे हैं।"

"The manner in which Rahul Gandhi spoke at the Constitution Conference in
Lucknow about caste and participation in power is often ignored by
political commentators. But Rahul is continuously talking about
participation and also accepting the mistakes of Congress."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Sunanda Datta-Ray, former Editor, The Statesman--Modi ‘An Unashamed Showman', has 'Frog in a Well' Attitude to World, Considers Muslims ‘Outsiders'

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Date: May 11, 2024
Published in: *The Wire*
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaqEX-OVDt0
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source


"In an interview to discuss and analyze the often bizarre and inexplicable
things said by Prime Minister Modi in his election speeches, Sunanda K.
Datta-Ray, a former Editor of The Statesman, has said Modi is 'an unashamed
showman … a great actor' who makes 'dramatic statements for the moment'. He
said the Prime Minister’s response to Sam Pitroda’s claim that south
Indians resemble Africans – which the Prime Minister called a *badi gaali *–
suggests 'a frog in a well' attitude to the outside world. He said the
Prime Minister looks upon Muslims as 'outsiders, not belonging to India,
not bhumiputras'.

Mr. Datta-Ray said the Prime Minister’s speeches are 'appealing to voters
at the lowest common denominator'. He said they are 'an unabashed appeal to
gut instinct'. At another point he said the Prime Minister is 'pandering to
the instinct of the majority of Indians who are Hindus'.

Asked by The Wire in a 23-minute interview whether he has ever heard
earlier prime ministers make speeches attacking Muslims, casting aspersions
on top industrialists by name and objecting to being considered similar to
Africans, Mr. Datta-Ray replied with a blunt 'no', agreeing this was 'a low
point'.

Mr. Datta-Ray also said honour demands that Adani and Ambani should take
legal action against the Prime Minister for claiming they are in possession
of and purveyors of black money and *chori ka maal.* 'It is for them to
take action against the PM legally in the courts'. I am only giving you the
main big points made by Mr. Datta-Ray. There is a substantial discussion of
Mr. Modi’s claim that Adani and Ambani have sent tempo-loads of black money
and *chori ka maal* to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party. There’s also a
discussion of Mr. Modi’s claim that Congress wants to decide the membership
of the Indian cricket team on the basis of religion. Similarly, there’s a
discussion about Mr. Modi’s reference to Indian Muslims as people 'who have
more children' and 'infiltrators' as well as his claim that reservations
meant for SCs, STs and OBCs will be snatched and given to Muslims. I will
leave you to see all of that from the interview itself."

[Goanet] WHY: Australia Advised its MPs & Ministers to Carry BURNER PHONE While Travelling to India

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

MUST LISTEN & SHARE. THANK YOU.

By: Dinesh K. Vohra
Published in: Dinesh K. Vohra Show
Date: May 10, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULFBlQFlWuM
*Note:* This news report is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"WHY: Australia Advised its MPs & Ministers to carry BURNER PHONE while
Travelling to India"

"Members of Australia's parliament have been advised to carry burner phones
when they visit India, Seven's *The Nightly* website reports.

The advice, from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, comes in the
wake of reports that "a nest of Indian spies" was expelled

 from Australia in 2020.

Burner phones are cheap devices that are used by people who do not want to
be tracked. They are used by drug dealers, among others, and are often
thrown away after being used just once.

India has long been considered as a friendly nation by Australia, but in
recent months the subcontinental giant has shown that it has designs well
beyond its own borders."

*"The Nightly* quoted Ian Hall, a professor of International Relations at
Griffith University and an India expert, as saying he hoped the change
would lead to a more realistic foreign policy.

'This revised advice reflects unhappiness about India’s recent actions and
New Delhi’s responses to Canadian and US requests for explanations and for
accountability,' he said.'

'I hope it also moves us away from some of the over-exuberant language
we’ve seen in recent years to a more calibrated, interests-driven India
policy.'”

Source:
https://itwire.com/it-industry-news/strategy/australian-mps-advised-to-carry-burner-phones-when-visiting-india.html
, May 10, 2024.

[Goanet] Listen to the interview: With Shravan Garg, journalist and former Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar-Who After Modi in BJP? Why Australian paper asked this question during election? | AMIT SHAH

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Ashutosh
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: May 10, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPdL7OfUiRs
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"मोदी के बाद कौन होगा ? ये सवाल बीजेपी के एक नेता से आस्ट्रेलिया के अख़बार
क्यों पूछा कि मोदी के बाद बीजेपी में कोई उत्तराधिकार की योजना है या नहीं ?
और क्या है हकीकत?"

"Who will succeed Modi? Why did an Australian newspaper ask this
question: whether
there is any succession plan within the BJP after Modi or not, to a BJP
leader? And what is the reality?"

[Goanet] Listen to: Interview with Mujib Mashal, South Asia bureau chief for The Times - "One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Hosted by:  Sabrina Tavernise
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: May 9, 2024
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/podcasts/the-daily/india-election-modi.html?action=click=audio-series-bar=header=Article

"India is in the midst of a national election and its prime minister,
Narendra Modi, is running to extend his 10 years in power.

Mr. Modi has become one of the most consequential leaders in India’s
history, while also drawing criticism for anti-democratic practices and
charges of religious persecution.

Mujib Mashal, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times,
discusses what we might see from Mr. Modi in a third term."

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: Election Commission Will Be Judged by How it Deals With Ruling Party, Not Opposition

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May 9, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KajX-MlvO6o
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source.

"In #CentralHall this time, [we discuss] the threats to Election Commission
of India's credibility and the dangers of it eroding further if it is not
 acting promptly and transparently to complaints from the Opposition. Its
job is to enforce and be seen to enforce a level-playing field. Is it doing
so? Justice Madan Lokur, former judge, Supreme Court of India and Dushyant
Dave, senior advocate and former Election Commissioner, Ashok Lavasa join
host Kapil Sibal to discuss [these matters]."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Prof. Ravikant, Academic and Political Analyst- This issue will bring BJP further down | LOKSABHA ELECTION 2024 | AKHILESH YADAV

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Sharat Pradhan, Journalist
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: April 8, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizIeyblwuQ
*Note*: The interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"पिछले दिनों कन्नौज में जो हुआ वह भारतीय जनता पार्टी की पिछड़ा-विरोधी और
सामंती मानसिकता को स्पष्ट रूप से दर्शाता है। इसके बाद बीजेपी कार्यकर्ताओं
ने कन्नौज में पूरे मंदिर की धुलाई की समाजवादी पार्टी प्रमुख अखिलेश यादव ने
उस निर्वाचन क्षेत्र में अपना अभियान शुरू करने से पहले पूजा-अर्चना की, जहां
से वह खुद चुनाव लड़ रहे हैं। भारतीय संविधान के प्रावधानों का उल्लंघन करने
वाले इस आपत्तिजनक कृत्य पर भाजपा के किसी भी वरिष्ठ नेता द्वारा खेद व्यक्त न
करना उनकी मानसिकता को दर्शाता है।"

"What happened in Kannauj the other day clearly reflects the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s anti-backward and feudal mindset. BJP activists went about
washing the entire temple in Kannauj after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh
Yadav offered prayers before launching his campaign in the constituency
from where he is contesting . The fact that no senior BJP leader expressed
their regret on this objectionable act which violates provisions of the
Indian Constitution shows the BJP mindset."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Shravan Garg, former Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar, भाजपा की ऐसी बुरी हालत,मोदी और शाह से नहीं संभल रहा ॥ Election 2024 ॥ Modi

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: "BJP is in such a bad condition, Modi and Shah are not able to
handle it. Election 2024॥ Modi"
By: Sanjay Sharma, Editor 4PM
Published in: *4PM*
Date: May 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKLN6K_58Sw
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"BJP is in such a bad condition, Modi and Shah are not able to handle it.
Election 2024॥ Modi"

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Shyam Rangeela, Comedian--"मोदी जी को उन्ही की भाषा में जवाब देने वाराणसी जा रहा हूँ" | श्याम रंगीला V/S नरेंद्र मोदी

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: "'I am going to Varanasi to answer Modiji in his own language.'
Shyam Rangeela V/S Narendra Modi."

ELECT A CLOWN EXPECT NOT A CIRCUS, BUT CHAOS AND PERHAPS CATASTROPHE !

By: Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Sr. Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: May 3, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEMGOpKIMqE
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi and the transcript is embedded in the
source.

"Comedian Shyam Rangeela, who is popular for his comedy videos mimicking
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has announced that he will contest the Lok
Sabha elections against the prime minister from Modi’s constituency of
Varanasi. In an interview with The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Rangeela
talks about his decision to contest from Varanasi and why political comedy
is not well received in India."

[Goanet] The Hasdeo movement is a model of resistance’: Alok Shukla

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"His [Alok Shukla's] 'Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee', which
mobilised Adivasi communities from across the State, has saved 4,45,000
acres of forests from no less than 21 proposed coal mines. The Hasdeo is
home to 15,000 Adivasi people, who depend on forest produce and the Hasdeo
river that irrigates their crops."

>"Beneath these forests lie some 5.6 billion tonnes of coveted coal. In
2011, he learnt that the government had given permission to the Adani
Enterprises to develop coal mines in these forests."

>"The objective [of the Hasdeo Bachao Andolan (HBA)] was not merely to
safeguard individual villages but to preserve the entirety of the Hasdeo
region due to the interconnectedness of coal blocks."

>"The challenge wasn’t just faced by me [Shukla], but by the entire tribal
community of Hasdeo, because this is a collective struggle. This battle is
waged between corporate profit on one side and the rights of people to
their livelihoods on the other. Where profit is at stake, all the forces
converge, whether they are government or private. They use the same
tactics: first, they try to convince us, then they offer us things to
persuade us, and if that doesn’t work, they threaten us. And if we
still resist,
they attack us."

>"The challenge here is greater because both the government and private
entities want to run the coal blocks together."

By: Diya Gandhi
Published in: *Frontline*
Date: April 30, 2024
Source:
https://frontline.thehindu.com/environment/interview-alok-shukla-goldman-environmental-prize-campaign-vs-chhattisgarh-coal-mines-hasdeo-movement/article68123721.ece

The activist, who won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his campaign
against coal mines, talks about the struggle of grassroots activists.
Alok Shukla, an activist who has campaigned for years to protect the heart
of Chhattisgarh’s biodiverse Hasdeo forests, was awarded the prestigious
Goldman Environmental Prize in April. His “Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance
Committee”, which mobilised Adivasi communities from across the State, has
saved 4,45,000 acres of forests from no less than 21 proposed coal mines.
The Hasdeo is home to 15,000 Adivasi people, who depend on forest produce
and the Hasdeo river that irrigates their crops.

But beneath these forests lie some 5.6 billion tonnes of coveted coal. In
2011, he learnt that the government had given permission to the Adani
Enterprises to develop coal mines in these forests. And during the pandemic
in 2020, a total of 21 coal auctions had been announced. Shukla gathered
hundreds of Adivasis to protest and used digital platforms to garner
support from civil society. By 2022, the Chhattisgarh legislature stalled
mining in the Hasdeo forests. But Shukla’s battle is far from over.
Excerpts:

*You have a visceral connection to the Hasdeo Aranya forests of
Chhattisgarh and its people even though you did not grow up here. How did
this bond develop?*

My roots are deeply embedded in the landscape of Chhattisgarh. Agriculture
was our way of life. But after college, I became involved in critical
issues such as river privatisation, environmental degradation, tribal
rights, and the preservation of forests. This journey led me to join the
Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA) in 2010, a coalition of groups dedicated
to safeguarding the region’s interests. In 2012 I established a connection
with Hasdeo and since then, we have been united in our struggle.


*When did you first realise there was a threat to these forests?*

In 2010 there was news that the Hasdeo area was being designated as a
“no-go area” for mining. But the very next year, there was a sudden shift;
reports emerged that Hasdeo forests were open for mining. I visited the
region and was taken aback by what I saw. The lush, biodiverse jungle, home
to wildlife and fed by perennial rivers, contrasted starkly with the coal
block maps indicating 23 areas designated for mining. I calculated that
nearly 150 lakh acres of jungle would be directly impacted by 20 of these
coal blocks. When I spoke to local residents, they were aware of the
forest’s depletion but were unaware of the magnitude of the threat and the
potential displacement of 30 villages.

In 2014, clearance was granted to three companies for mining on the fringes
of the Hasdeo region, outside the core area initially designated as a no-go
zone. However, subsequent efforts were made to relax the criteria for no-go
areas, culminating in their complete removal. Realising the imminent threat
to the entire forest, the Hasdeo Bachao Andolan [HBA], comprising 20-25
villages, coalesced into a movement.

A significant turning point came in 2014 with a landmark Supreme Court
ruling that annulled 204 coal blocks nationwide, including 20 in Hasdeo.
Resistance from gram sabhas, using their constitutional rights, the Forest
Rights Act, and environmental laws, has prevented mining beyond the Parsa
East Kete Basan block allocated in 2012.


* How did you initiate the HBA 

[Goanet] In Goa, a glaring disconnect between people’s concerns and political narrative

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Source:
https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/goa-politics-bjp-congress-lok-sabha-2024/article68093562.ece
frontline.thehindu.com

In Goa, a glaring disconnect between people’s concerns and political
narrative
Amey Tirodkar
April 30, 2024

--

Taxi driver stories during elections are no longer taken seriously. People
call them out as entirely made up. In Goa, however, the taxi driver’s story
is very much a part of the electoral narrative this time.

The story is simple. Goa recently got a second international airport in the
district of North Goa. When the local people opposed the project, the
government assured them that they would get 80 per cent of the jobs that
would be created, including those in the taxi sector. In fact, the BJP
government in the State even said that the airport area would have a quota
for local taxi drivers.

Almost a year and a half after the airport’s inauguration, that promise has
not been kept. Vishwanath Rawool, 36, a taxi driver in North Goa, is
disappointed. He said: “I have never voted any other party in my life. We
have voted for Shripad *bhau *[five-term BJP MP who is contesting this time
too] all these years. But when the time came, the outsiders took the major
share. This is cheating.” Asked if that meant he would not vote for the BJP
this time, Vishwanath said: “We will have to talk to our community [caste]
members and act as per the the decision of the community.”
Unemployment to the fore

According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Goa
has the second highest unemployment rate in the country. Anywhere you go in
Goa, people talk about jobs. “Aamche chedu bekar bashlele asaat maare” (Our
children are sitting unemployed) is the sentence that starts every
political conversation.

On whether this will affect the BJP’s electoral performance, Chief Minister
Pramod Sawant said: “It is compulsory to be registered at the employment
exchange centre for a government job, so all Goan girls and boys register
here. Even after they get a private job or go abroad or study further, they
do not deregister. This is why we see swollen data of unemployment.”

Voting for both constituencies in Goa is on May 7. In North Goa, the battle
is between Shripad Naik of the BJP and Ramakant Khalap of the Congress. In
South Goa, it is Viriato Fernandes of the Congress against Pallavi Dhempe
of the BJP. In 2019, both parties won a seat each. In 2014, the BJP took
both seats, and it is keen on repeating that performance.

North Goa is understood to be a BJP bastion. Shripad Naik was a Minister of
State in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government of 1999-2004 and has been one
since 2014, in both Modi governments. He is contesting from the seat for
the sixth time.

On the possibility of voter fatigue, Naik said: “I have never asked for the
party ticket. Our workers want me to contest. They are happy to see me as
their MP.”

Naik became an MLA in Goa in 1994, when the BJP contested 4 of the 40 seats
in alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which was led by
Ramakant Khalap, an advocate. Khalap was Naik’s main supporter then. A
veteran Goan politician, Khalap left the MGP and joined the Congress 25
years ago. In 1999, Naik defeated Khalap to become an MP for the first
time. Now, 30 years later, Khalap, who was out of power and active politics
for 20 years, returns to face Naik yet again.

Avit Bagle, chief reporter od the daily *Gomantak*, said: “In a way, this
is fresh start for Ramakant Khalap. Almost a generation has passed since he
ceased to be an active politician. In Shripad Naik’s case, he has been
there for five terms. So, people might think of a change. It is for Khalap
and the Congress to seize the opportunity.”
South Goa poised for exciting battle

In South Goa, the BJP candidate, Pallavi Dhempe, belongs to one of Goa’s
richest families, which was once engaged in mining. Chief Minister Pramod
Sawant sought to downplay her background by stating that she was given the
ticket for her social work. He said: “She has been active in football
clubs, in women’s various programmes. Her husband, Shrinivas, is also
active in Goan social life; he is a supporter of RSS’ many organisations.”

The Congress has fielded Navy veteran Captain Viriato Fernandes, a social
activist who has been raising environmental issues in Goa for over a
decade. He tried his luck in the 2022 Assembly election on the Congress
ticket but lost by just 700 votes. His strength is his image of being a
voice for Goan environment and culture.

Pramod Acharya, editor of Prudent Media, said: “The South Goa fight will be
fierce. The BJP candidate has a lot of resources compared to the Congress,
whose stronghold it traditionally is. The BJP will have to convince voters
that Pallavi can truly represent their issues, while Viriato will have to
use his limited resources smartly 

[Goanet] Chunk of India’s forests ‘missing’ after 27-year-delay to file reports

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"In compliance with a February 19, 2024, Supreme Court order, the Ministry
of Environment, Forests and Climate Change

 (MoEFCC) uploaded the various State Expert Committee (SEC) reports on its
website earlier in April. This interim order was in response to a public
interest litigation

 challenging the constitutionality of the Forest (Conservation) Act
Amendment (FCAA) 2023."

>"In fact, seven states and Union Territories — Goa, Haryana, Jammu &
Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal — appear not to
have constituted the SEC at all."

>"Promulgating the FCAA without examining the SEC reports displays a lack
of diligence on the MoEFCC’s part and will have terrible consequences for
India’s ecosystems and ecological security. Those responsible need to be
held to account, and the national government needs to take ameliorative
action to re-identify, retrieve, and protect forest areas as per the 1996
judgement."
---

Source
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/unclassed-forests-missing-27-year-delay-to-file-state-sec-reports-analysis/article68117352.ece?pnespid=u6c_CTtdargUyP_R_DS.ApOJvR2oW4Bodemjn_cwrQJmnNItpN.M6.fY01b8UhzJL5DqVlS6
thehindu.com

Chunk of India’s forests ‘missing’ after 27-year-delay to file reports |
Analysis
Prakriti Srivastava, Prerna Singh Bindra, Krithika Sampath
April 28, 2024
The basis of the MoEFCC’s assurance that the Forest (Conservation) Act
Amendment would protect deemed forests is in question
--

In compliance with a February 19, 2024, Supreme Court order, the Ministry
of Environment, Forests and Climate Change

(MoEFCC) uploaded the various State Expert Committee (SEC) reports on its
website earlier in April. This interim order was in response to a public
interest litigation

challenging the constitutionality of the Forest (Conservation) Act
Amendment (FCAA) 2023. A key concern in the petition was that the status of
unclassed forests, which were to be identified by the state SEC reports,
wasn’t known or if they had been identified at all.

With the enactment of FCAA, these unclassed forests — which have legal
protection under the landmark case* T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad* (1996) —
would lose this protection, leading to their inevitable diversion. The SEC
reports were to be prepared in pursuance of the order, which specified that
‘forests’ as per their dictionary meaning and all categories of forests
irrespective of ownership and notification status would be included under
the ambit of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980. As a result, unclassed
forests, a.k.a. deemed forests, would also require the Central government
approval in case a project proponent sought to divert that land for
non-forest use, after multiple other layers scrutiny.

Unclassed or deemed forests may belong to forests, revenue, railways and
other government entities, community forests or those under private
ownership, but are not notified. SECs were to identify all such forests
across the country through available records i.e. Forest Working Plans,
Revenue land records, etc., and by physical identification of any land
patch having the nature of forests as per dictionary meaning regardless of
its ownership.
The missing forests

The status of the reports were unknown from 1996 until they shot back into
prominence when the MoEFCC told a Joint Parliamentary Committee — appointed
to examine the proposed law — that the SECs had identified unclassed
forests that had been taken on record.

This was in response to stinging criticism that the proposed law undermined
the *Godavarman* judgement and would exclude all unclassed forest land from
its purview. The MoEFCC had assured the Committee that “the amended Act
would be applicable” to the SEC-identified unclassed forests, stressing
that the proposed amendment “was in line with the *Godavarman* judgement”.

But in response to an RTI application filed on January 17, 2024, the MoEFCC
said it “did not have the requisite reports”. How then had it taken the
reports “on record” and assured a parliamentary committee that the amended
Act would protect deemed forests identified by the SECs? The Ministry had
effectively proposed to protect forests but it didn’t know where they were.

Following the February order, the MoEFCC uploaded the SEC reports on its
website, 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Dushyant Dave, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India--PM “clearly breached” MCC & “undoubtedly violated” RPA whilst ECI response “insult to constitution”

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 29, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bCzbd1u54
"Modi [has] "very clearly and categorically' breached Model Code of Conduct
and 'undoubtedly violated' Representation of People Act; Election
Commission has 'abdicated its solemn duty' and 'insulted Constitution of
India': Dushyant Dave"

"In a hard-hitting and outspoken interview, one of India’s most highly
regarded Supreme Court lawyers, Dushyant Dave, has said the Prime Minister
is 'guilty, very clearly and categorically, of breaching Clauses 1 and 3 of
the Model Code of Conduct' and added he has 'undoubtedly violated' Section
123 of the Representation of People Act.
Mr. Dave said the Prime Minister has 'demonized and disparaged' as well as
'maligned' the minority community. At one point in the interview, Mr. Dave
even suggested that the Prime Minister could be open to class action on the
grounds of defaming the Muslim community when he called them infiltrators,
something similar to what happened to Rahul Gandhi when he was found guilty
of defaming all Modis.
In a 21-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dushyant Dave, a
former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, also spoke extremely
critically of the Election Commission of India. He said it has 'abdicated
its solemn duty conferred by the Constitution'. He accused it of 'gross
impropriety' and called its response to the allegations against Mr. Modi 'a
disgrace'. Mr. Dave said the Election Commission has 'insulted the
Constitution of India'.
Asked by The Wire, how the Election Commission should respond, given that
for three consecutive days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) Mr. Modi has
continued to demonize Muslims and lie about the Congress manifesto,
disregarding the notice issued by the Election Commission on Thursday, Mr.
Dave said that the Election Commission should issue 'an interim direction'
which would 'injunct' Mr. Modi from demonizing the Muslim community and
speaking untruths about the Congress manifesto.
I am only giving you the main broad points made by Mr. Dave. This is an
extremely forceful and powerful interview. Mr. Dave makes clear that his
view the Prime Minister has breached both the MCC and RPA has been
expressed after due consideration and care and made as a thoughtful lawyer
and not made polemically. I strongly recommend you see this interview."

[Goanet] Watch video: Alok Shukla, 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize, India

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Published in: Goldman Environmental Prize
Date: April 29, 2024
Source:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGxStwKVwDKDSrpvrKvgGvqQbSL?compose=CllgCJZbjcSwwsVzdmmHsFwWbhlPNRSrJxlCtrKGZhcnwFsGtdrqmnfnkGmzLklvptCzzbftfvq=1
Note: The transcript is embedded in the source

"Alok Shukla led a successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres
of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central
Indian state of Chhattisgarh. In July 2022, the government canceled the 21
proposed coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya, whose pristine forests—popularly
known as the lungs of Chhattisgarh—are one of the largest intact forest
areas in India."

[Goanet] From Chai to Pani Puri. The times they are a changin'

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

"Meet The Pani Puri Seller Who Looks Like PM Narendra Modi"

Published in: *Nandighosha TV*
Date: April 27, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1hATnnlPzM

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Shravan Garg, Former Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar-"What does second-round polling indicate?" | BJP | INDIA ALLIANCE | LOK SABHA ELECTION 2024

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

THIS IS PERHAPS WORTH YOUR TIME.
IF SO, PLEASE SHARE. THANK YOU.
By: Prof. Mukesh Kumar
Published in:* Satya Hindi*
Date: April 26, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAoXqgxZ9aY
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi, there is no transcript.

"दूसरे चरण का मतदान क्या कहता है? क्या कम मतदान में जनता की नाराज़गी के
संकेत मिलते हैं? क्या ये मोदी और बीजेपी के लिए ख़तरे की घंटी है? क्या इसने
बाक़ी चरणों का ट्रेंड सेट कर दिया है? वरिष्ठ पत्रकार श्रवण गर्ग का विश्लेषण"

"What does the second phase of voting say? Is there any indication of
public dissatisfaction in low turnout? Is this an alarm bell for Modi and
BJP? Has this set the trend for the remaining stages? [Listen to the] analysis
of senior journalist Shravan Garg."

[Goanet] Maharashtra officials told to pay activist Rs 2 lakh for blocking letter from jail to mother

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has asked the state
government and the superintendent of the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai to pay
compensation of Rs 2 lakh to activist Arun Ferreira

 for failing to send to his mother a letter he had written to her."

>"Justice KK Tated, the chairperson of the commission, said that
withholding Ferreira’s letter [dated: July 14, 2021] violated his
fundamental rights of equality, freedom of speech and personal liberty.

'I recommend respondent [the superintendent and the home department] to pay
a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the complainant [Ferreira],' the order read."

>"In the letter dated July 14, 2021, Ferreira wrote that Swamy had the
'remarkable ability of leaving a lasting impression on everyone he met” and
that he 'seldom spoke nonsense'”.

-

By: Scroll Staff

Published in: *Scroll.in*
Date: April 25, 2024
Source:
https://scroll.in/latest/1067045/maharashtra-officials-told-to-pay-activist-rs-2-lakh-for-blocking-letter-from-jail-to-mother
Arun Ferreira’s letter described his relationship with his co-accused in
the Bhima Koregaon case Stan Swamy, who died in custody in 2021.

The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has asked the state
government and the superintendent of the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai to pay
compensation of Rs 2 lakh to activist Arun Ferreira

 for failing to send to his mother a letter he had written to her.

Ferreira is among the 16 activists, academics and lawyers who were charged
under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their alleged role in
instigating caste violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January 2018. He
spent about five years in jail and was released on bail in August.

The police claim that the accused persons were involved in organising an
Elgar Parishad event on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. Provocative speeches at this
event led to large-scale violence the next day, according to the police.

Justice KK Tated, the chairperson of the commission, said that withholding
Ferreira’s letter violated his fundamental rights of equality, freedom of
speech and personal liberty.

“I recommend respondent [the superintendent and the home department] to pay
a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the complainant [Ferreira],” the order read.

Tated also remarked that the Taloja prison superintendent had committed a
“great mistake” by not forwarding Ferreira’s letter to his mother in July
2021.

Ferreira’s letter described his relationship with his co-accused and tribal
rights activist Stan Swamy

.

Swamy died
 in
custody at a Mumbai hospital on July 5, 2021, nearly nine months after he
was arrested. The 84-year-old suffered from multiple ailments, including
Parkinson’s disease, and contracted the coronavirus infection at the Taloja
prison.

In the letter dated July 14, 2021, Ferreira wrote that Swamy had the
“remarkable ability of leaving a lasting impression on everyone he met” and
that he “seldom spoke nonsense”.

The prison superintendent, however, did not forward the letter to
Ferreira’s mother and instead said the accused wanted to “publish
objectionable material and should be warned as per Maharashtra Prison
Manual”.

The activist told the panel that the move was based on Rule 20 of the
Maharashtra Prisons (Facilities to the Prisoners) Rules 1962, which had
been struck down.

The state human rights commission, in its order on April 4, directed the
Maharashtra home department and the prison superintendent to conduct
workshops to educate prison officials on how to censor inmates’ letters so
that there should not be “any injustice” in any more such cases.

Ferreira was granted bail by the Supreme Court in July. In August, he along
with co-accused Vernon Gonsalves walked out of prison.

Earlier this month, former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen

 was released from jail after being granted bail in the Bhima Koregaon
case. She was the sixth person accused in the Bhima Koregaon case to have
been granted bail.

Trade union activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj was granted default bail in
2021 after the National Investigation Agency failed to complete its
investigation and file a chargesheet as per the anti-terrorism law’s
stipulated time frame. Writer and caste scholar Anand Teltumbe received
bail in 2022. Poet Varavara Rao was granted bail on medical grounds in 2022.

[Goanet] Australian journalist says Indian government pressured her to leave

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

> "An Australian journalist with the country’s public broadcaster was
pressured to leave India after Indian authorities expressed anger over her
reporting on Sikh separatism and informed her that her journalist visa
would not be renewed, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the
journalist, ABC South Asia bureau chief Avani Dias, said Tuesday."

>“It felt too difficult to do my job in India,' Dias said in a new episode
of her podcast series, 'Looking for Modi,' that was released by the ABC on
Tuesday. 'I was struggling to get into public events run by Modi’s party,
the government wouldn’t even give me the passes I need (sic) to cover the
election, and the ministry left it all so late that we were already packed
up and ready to go.'”

>"Indian officials said Dias was 'found to have violated visa rules while
undertaking her professional pursuits' and characterized her account as
'not correct, misleading and mischievous.'”

>"ABC Managing Director David Anderson said in a statement that the
broadcaster 'fully backs and stands by the important and impactful
reporting by Avani Dias during her time as ABC correspondent in India. …
The ABC believes strongly in the role of independent journalism across the
globe, and freedom of the press outside Australia.'”
---
By: Gerry Shih
Published in: *The Washington Post*
Date: Apri; 23, 2024



NEW DELHI — An Australian journalist with the country’s public broadcaster
was pressured to leave India after Indian authorities expressed anger over
her reporting on Sikh separatism and informed her that her journalist visa
would not be renewed, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the
journalist, ABC South Asia bureau chief Avani Dias, said Tuesday.


The ABC, the only Australian media organization with resident journalists
posted in India, said in an article published on its website that “weeks of
lobbying” by Australian diplomats and the office of Foreign Minister Penny
Wong prompted the Indian government to overturn its decision and give Dias
a two-month visa extension, but the reversal came less than 24 hours before
Dias was due to leave the country. Dias flew to Australia on Friday, the
first day of India’s national elections.


“It felt too difficult to do my job in India,” Dias said in a new episode
of her podcast series, “Looking for Modi,” that was released by the ABC on
Tuesday. “I was struggling to get into public events run by Modi’s party,
the government wouldn’t even give me the passes I need to cover the
election, and the ministry left it all so late that we were already packed
up and ready to go.”


Indian officials said Dias was “found to have violated visa rules while
undertaking her professional pursuits” and characterized her account as
“not correct, misleading and mischievous.” The officials said Dias was
granted a visa extension on April 18 but chose to leave India on April 20.
She would have been free to cover the elections had she stayed, they added.


Dias’s case marked the first time in years that a foreign correspondent on
a resident journalist visa has left India under such circumstances. But
many other foreign nationals working as journalists under other visas have
faced mounting pressure in India.


This year, India stripped French journalist Vanessa Dougnac — who had
worked in India for 23 years for newspapers including Le Croix and Le Point
— of her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, a permanent residency status
that is granted to foreign nationals who are married to Indian citizens or
have Indian heritage.


India’s Home Ministry accused Dougnac of producing “malicious and critical”
reporting that created a “negative perception” of India, inciting disorder
and traveling to restricted areas, according to the Indian news website
ThePrint. Dougnac denied misconduct and returned to France on Feb. 16 after
French officials unsuccessfully appealed her case during a visit by
President Emmanuel Macron to New Delhi.


Since 2021, the Indian government has required OCI holders to apply for
separate permission to work as journalists, lawyers or missionaries. But
authorities have denied reporting credentials for at least six Western
journalists, including high-profile employees at the BBC and Al Jazeera.
These foreign nationals had been living in India and working as journalists
for years before the government began its clampdown, forcing several to
leave.


In 2023, Indian tax authorities raided the BBC newsroom in India shortly
after the broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Modi in Britain.


In her latest podcast episode, Dias said she was told by Indian officials
that a 30-minute program she produced on the Khalistan separatist movement
and the Indian intelligence agency’s alleged assassination of Khalistan
leaders abroad had “gone too far.” Indian officials also took issue with
her previous podcast episodes, which have delved into Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s personal life, she recalled.


Dias 

[Goanet] Watch: Ab Ki Baar - No 400 Paar?? | Supreme Leader's Meltdown | Akash Banerjee

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PLEASE WATCH & SHARE.  THANK YOU.
SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?
By: Abhishek Banerjee
Published in: *The Deshbhakt*
Date: April 24, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiECG7BOdiU

"Supreme Leader is pissed - reports are showing that 400 Parr is not
happening!
Supreme Leader's long standing wish of absolute domination - is not
happening!!!
This despite doing everything to remove any opposition and taming the
judiciary and the media.
What will the Supreme Leader do now?
How will he get that 400"

[Goanet] Watch Interview: "With If You're Too Good & Independent, You're Out": Justice Rohinton Nariman On Justice Akil Kureshi

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Rohinton Nariman, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *LiveLaw*
Date: April 24, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qbMCkdSjQ4
*Note:* Transcript is embedded in the source

"Speaking on the appointment of judges, former Judge of the Supreme Court,
Justice Rohinton Nariman said that while the entire system that exists
today was not per se bad, it was not being followed properly or working how
it should be.
Nariman said that the inefficiency of the system was brought out when the
government sat on appointments of some judges. He also added that the
system had failed by not elevating Justice Akil Kureshi to the Supreme
court."

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: "I am an Indian Citizen. No Matter My Faith, Caste, Region or the Food I Eat"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 23, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qosEDyLHsDo
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source

"In #CentralHall, senior advocate Kapil Sibal explores the question of one
identity at the heart of the conversation these days, that of Muslims. With
academic and Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University, Faizan
Mustafa, journalist-anchor and senior editor, The Wire, Arfa Khanum
Sherwani and ex-bureaucrat and VC of Jamia Millia, Najeeb Jung. What is the
identity of Muslims as per the Constitution? What does it mean to be Muslim
in India in 2024?"

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology, LSE & Oxford--“Modi’s India is a Modern Fascism”

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 19, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_tIRYyiNQ
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source.

"We need to call Modi's India a modern Indian fascism": Alpa Shah,
Professor of Social Anthropology, Oxford University, to Karan Thapar for
The Wire.

One of British academias most highly regarded anthropologists has said 'we
need to call Modi’s India a modern Indian fascism'.

Alpa Shah says: 'Indian fascism may not be of the classic kind, whatever
that is, but it’s fascism nevertheless.' In a 40-minute interview to Karan
Thapar for The Wire, to mark the launch of her book, ‘The Incarcerations:
Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India’, Alpa Shah, who is
presently Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics but
has just been announced as the new Professor of Social Anthropology at
Oxford University and a fellow of All Souls College, identified seven key
characteristics of fascism each of which, it seems, applies almost fully to
India under Narendra Modi. She, therefore, argues that terms like
'majoritarianism or ethnic democracy or cultural nationalism' do not
'convey the gravity of threat to democracy under way in India'.

The seven criteria of fascism that Prof. Shah identified are the creation
of a mythic past; the belief in a super human race; the exclusion of
certain people who are treated as 'enemies'; mobs on the street; the
curtailment of dissent; the nexus between government, business and
corporations; and the control of institutions. However, Prof. Shah was
reluctant to say how much of the responsibility and blame for this lies
with Narendra Modi himself or whether India would have reached this point
if he had not become Prime Minister in 2014.

Instead she maintained 'we are all complicit' i.e. the people, the
institutions, the organizations, the wider Sangh Parivar, etc. I am only
giving you what I believe is the headline in this interview. However, it
begins with a lengthy discussion of the Bhima Koregaon case, which Prof.
Shah believes 'is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India'. The
first 15 minutes of the interview are devoted to a discussion about the
Bhima Koregaon case and how it reflects the deeper intricate reality of
India and also how the judiciary and media failed to defend the BK-16. This
is followed by a discussion about what Prof. Shah calls 'the crisis of
Indian democracy' and what she considers the reality of India, including a
discussion about the treatment of Muslims.

The third part of the interview is about her belief that India under
Narendra Modi is 'a modern Indian fascism'. Paradoxically, the interview
ends on a note of hope. Prof. Shah believes 'the seeds of democracy will be
preserved within fascism' and one day we will have the right conditions for
them to flourish. She argues that these seeds of hope will survive a third
Modi victory, if that is the result of the elections that began this
morning. She agrees no matter how deep and dark the night there will be
sunlight eventually."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Yogendra Yadav - The Missing Modi Wave as Livelihood Issues Dominate | MK Venu

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: M.K. Venu
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 19, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4toVAUxZDJA
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source.

"National convenor of the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan Yogendra Yadav, who is on a
1,500-km tour of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar, says there is
a palpable absence of any Modi wave in the Hindi belt, where the BJP had
won the maximum seats in 2019. He says livelihood issues dominate
conversations in a big way, as also indicated by the recent CSDS survey.
Many who voted Modi in 2014 and 2019 say they won't vote BJP this time but
seem overwhelmed by the narrative of 'Ayega to Modi hi' (Modi is sure to
win). Yadav says it seems apparent that the BJP will reduce its seats tally
in the Hindi belt as compared to 2019. The same performance is unlikely to
be repeated. Also, he says, the current election is less presidential than
the previous two Lok Sabha polls."

[Goanet] Minister ‘called for tea’, read headlines with ‘sarcasm’: NYT journo recalls her time in India

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

MUST WATCH. THANK YOU.
>“'To be clear,' she [Emily Schmall was the Delhi-based South Asia
correspondent for *The New York Times*] said, 'journalism is under threat
in India.'”

>"She [Schmall] recalled India’s 'antagonistic' climate, saying  foreign
correspondents find themselves being 'targets of harassment and sometimes
far worse'. It’s also why she had the 'badge of honour' of being summoned
twice by the Modi government under the guise of tea, but mainly to 'explain
their reporting'”.

>"The *NYT *correspondent said nearly a third of the subcontinent is now
'off limits' to foreign journalists without a special permit – 'a permit
that almost never comes'. For almost six years, since the abrogation of
Article 370 in 2019, no foreign journalist has been permitted to report
from Kashmir, she [Schmall] said."

>"The journalist said Muslim media persons are 'most directly in the
crosshairs' in India. She also quoted Ashutosh Varshney as saying that the
country is in the process of 'creating its own Jim Crow system with Muslims
denigrated into second class citizens'”.

>"Schmall said that the Modi government’s 'disturbing pattern of human
rights abuses', particularly targeting Muslim minority, has been largely
absolved”[sic] because of its new 'strategic position' as the fastest
growing large economy, and an alternative to China."
--
*Note:* Video of  "Remarks delivered at the 2024 Camden Conference, held
February 16-18, in Camden, Maine" by Emily Schmall can be seen at URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSu67gnpbHU

By: NL Team
Published in: *Newslaundry*
Date: April 13, 2024
Source:
https://www.newslaundry.com/2024/04/13/ib-minister-called-for-tea-read-headlines-with-sarcasm-nyt-journo-recalls-her-time-in-india
The journalist was speaking at the 2024 Camden Conference on India’s rising
ambitions and challenges.


When Emily Schmall was the Delhi-based South Asia correspondent for *The
New York Times*, she and other foreign correspondents were invited by the
Indian government for what seemed to be a “friendly invitation for tea”.


Tea turned into a tantrum, where “one minister or another minister would
start berating us”. At one of these sessions, the “minister of information”
printed out some of the stories written by the gathered correspondents and
read the headlines aloud, “seemingly at random, with some sarcasm in his
tone”.


Schmall, presently working for the *NYT* in Chicago, was talking about her
time in India at the 2024 Camden Conference, which took place in February
at Maine in the US. Her address on ‘Role of the media and the Modi PR
machine’ delved into the government’s “increasingly brazen crackdown” on
journalists and advocates of free speech – with at least 13 journalists
booked under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, with nine
of them Muslims in Kashmir.


“To be clear,” she said, “journalism is under threat in India.”


Schmall was in Delhi for the *NYT* from 2020 to 2022, and also served as
South Asia correspondent for *Associated Press* between 2018 and 2020. She
recalled India’s “antagonistic” climate, saying  foreign correspondents
find themselves being “targets of harassment and sometimes far worse”. It’s
also why she had the “badge of honour” of being summoned twice by the Modi
government under the guise of tea, but mainly to “explain their reporting”.


*Newslaundry
*
 previously reported

 on how the Modi government conducted three “internal surveys” conducted in
2020, 2021 and 2022 among journalists in India who are either foreign
nationals or who are overseas citizens of India cardholders. Schmall
referenced these surveys and added that beyond “reprimands”, the government
“punishes those whose stories it doesn’t like with short-term visas that
make renting an apartment or even buying a cell phone service, all but
impossible.”


She also talked about French journalist Vanessa Dougnac, who was forced

to
leave India after spending decades in the country. Schmall said it was
“penalty for practising journalism”. She also mentioned the raids on the
*BBC *after the British news outlet released its documentary on Modi’s role
in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Notably, following action by the central
agencies, the *BBC India *has metamorphosed

into
a new firm, ‘Collective Newsroom’, for its India operations.


The *NYT *correspondent said nearly a third of the subcontinent is now “off
limits” to foreign journalists without a special 

[Goanet] Archbishop of Goa urges to skip pilgrimage, vote for candidates with 'secular' credentials

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The Church's obligation to participate in nation-building and in shaping
the moral character of society is a requirement of our faith, it is an
all-important part of the mission we have received from Jesus Christ. It is
in this spirit that all eligible Catholic voters need to exercise their
franchise on May 7, 2024, casting their vote for persons with secular
credentials, who are truly committed to working for the good of all the
people and upholding the values enshrined in our Constitution, he [Cardinal
Ferrão] said."
--
By: IANS
Published in: *Daiji World*
Date: April 18, 2024
Source:  https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1184567

Panaji, Apr 18 (IANS): Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Cardinal
Ferrao, has appealed to the people to refrain from going on pilgrimage
during Lok Sabha voting day and cast their vote for persons with secular
credentials.

In a circular issued by Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, he has said "Indeed,
the growth of a nation is dependent on its citizens' active participation
and responsible behaviour."

The Church's obligation to participate in nation-building and in shaping
the moral character of society is a requirement of our faith, it is an
all-important part of the mission we have received from Jesus Christ. It is
in this spirit that all eligible Catholic voters need to exercise their
franchise on May 7, 2024, casting their vote for persons with secular
credentials, who are truly committed to working for the good of all the
people and upholding the values enshrined in our Constitution, he said.

"In the light of this teaching of the Church, it is clear that Catholics
moving out with family and friends on a holiday or even going on a
pilgrimage on election day, thereby abstaining from the responsibility of
participating in the voting process on May 7, would be not only doing a
disservice to the nation, but failing seriously in their important civic
responsibility," he said.

"It is known that there is a regular train from Goa to Velankanni every
Monday. I earnestly appeal to our Catholics to refrain from taking that
train journey on Monday, (6th May 2024) and, instead, to book their trip
for any other Monday. In case a booking has already been made, it is
certainly worth losing some money by way of cancellation charges for the
sake of the greater good and the sacred duty of exercising one's franchise
on Election Day and thus being positively responsible towards the greater
good of the nation," Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao further said.

He has requested Parish Priests, Chaplains and Superiors of Religious
Houses in Goa to organise special prayer services on May 3, and May 5,
2024, for the success of the elections.

[Goanet] PM's Interview To ANI News Channel Prima Facie Violates The Model Code Of Conduct

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Source:
https://countercurrents.org/2024/04/pms-interview-to-ani-news-channel-prima-facie-violates-the-model-code-of-conduct/

PM’s interview to ANI news channel prima facie violates the Model Code of
Conduct
by E A S Sarma
16/04/2024

--

by Jagdeep S. Chhokar & E A S Sarma

To
*Shri Rajiv Kumar*

Chief Election Commissioner

*Shri Gyanesh Kumar*

Election Commissioner

*Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu *

Election Commissioner

Dear Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, S/Shri Gyanesh Kumar/ Rajiv Kumar,

We refer to an interview given by the Prime Minister to the ANI news agency
recently, which can be accessed at
https://youtu.be/0XLctFnrXTE?si=wMHs2q-5nIOOX4p9.

We feel that the interview prima facie violates the requirements of the
Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as follows.

   - The portions of the PM’s interview relating to references to Ayodhya
   and Sanatana Dharma, based on misrepresentation of the views of other
   political parties, amount to appealing to the religious sentiments of
   voters to vote for the ruling political party to the disadvantage of other
   parties
   - The PM’s assertion on the so-called “transparency” of the Electoral
   Bonds scheme, recently held to be illegal by the apex court, is factually
   incorrect, having the effect of misleading voters
   - The ANI interview, lasting more than 67 minutes, as a part of the
   electioneering campaign of the PM, amounts to the ruling party taking
   advantage of its sway over the media to gain an undue advantage vis-a-vis
   the other political parties to secure an electoral advantage over them. It
   also amounts to the ruling political party misusing a media channel free of
   cost to convey to the voters many schemes proposed to be introduced, such
   as a new scheme proposed for corporate political donations, which are not a
   part of BJP’s election manifesto

We request the Election Commission to initiate action against those
concerned urgently.

Yours sincerely,

Jagdeep S. Chhokar

Former Professor, IIM (Ahmedabad)

E A S Sarma

Former Secretary to the Government of India

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: With Ashok Lavasa, S.Y. Qureshi and Maj. Gen. Anil Verma ADR--Is it Right to Put the Election Commission in the Dock? #CentralHall

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 16, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhelBaWK88o

"The Constitution mandates the Election Commission (EC) to conduct free and
fair elections in India, the backbone of India’s democracy. But how free
and fair are our elections today? Serious questions have been raised over
the functioning of the Election Commission (EC) in recent years
particularly after the Supreme Court’s Order in May, 2023 about
appointments to the EC. Kapil Sibal explores the many aspects of how level
is the playing field being created by the EC, with Ashok Lavasa, Maj. Gen.
Anil Verma ADR, and S.Y. Qureshi."

[Goanet] Fwd: When Did Inter-religious Weddings Become Communal Conspiracies In Kerala?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"They ['most Christian denominations'] do reflect an unacceptable and
toxic mix of orthodoxy with a dose of patriarchy and racism in the guise of
tradition and culture.  But not communalism, or religious targeting."

>"The church hierarchy needs to be questioned on how it zeroes down on an
issue it thinks is critical, and could do untold damage to society,
specially the family unit which the community holds dear, seeing in it the
loving bond between Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph, the Holy Family."

>"The existence of the dowry system so horrible as to verge on the criminal
which has never been outlawed, is the elephant in the room."

>"What is possibly most shameful is the existence of caste in the Indian
church."

>"‘Love Jihad’ myth and ‘honour’ killings are two sides of the same coin.
The ‘Love Jihad’ myth and ‘honour’ killings are then based on the same
logic – a world in which women are incapable of knowing what’s best for
them, (writes Dr Sanjukta Basu)."

>"There was no authentic data supporting the claim of 32,000 conversions.
It was pure fiction."

>"The *Kerala Story* perpetuates misinformation and unfounded propaganda
against the Muslim community. It distorts facts and inflates figures to
fuel anti-Muslim sentiments."
---
By: John Dayal
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 14, 2024
Source:
https://thewire.in/society/when-did-inter-religious-weddings-become-communal-conspiracies-in-kerala
The Kerala Story perpetuates misinformation and unfounded propaganda
against the Muslim community. Love Jihad is a term which was in a way
jointly fathered by the church together with a Kerala High Court judge and
the locals some years go. However, the existence of the dowry system is the
elephant in the room in the southern state.
Mea Culpa. This reporter is a wrong person to write about *The Kerala Story*,
a film by two non Malayalis, director Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul
Amrutlal Shah, which has been praised by the highest political leadership
in the land, given tax exemption in several states, and has now earned
immortality by being screened to young parish audiences in Kerala by
Catholic clergy. It is another point that the film has an Adults Only
certification and priests break the law, and their ecclesiastical vows, by
exposing young minds to it.

In the past, Archbishops waived strict Catholic norms to allow a son to wed
a beautiful Hindu woman, and then a dearly loved niece to marry a strapping
Palaghat Muslim. They then presided over the holy mass as celebrant. The
couples had met at college, or at work. No one had to convert.

These are of course exceptions. Most Christian denominations will not allow
a marriage outside their fold. One sect will even disown the erring member.

And they do reflect an unacceptable and toxic mix of orthodoxy with a dose
of patriarchy and racism in the guise of tradition and culture.  But not
communalism, or religious targeting.

But then that was the purpose of, first, making this film, and then, of
using it to teach future generations that their wonderful Muslim neighbour
was seducing them to make them into sex slaves for some Islamic terrorist
group.

Not that terrorist groups, Islamic, Christian or even some “Indic” faiths
have not used women students they captured, or attracted, as camp followers
in various hotspots of the world. West Asia, Africa and lesser home have
witnessed this. Japan, before the second world war, had made it into
military practice in conquered Korea, and parts of China.

Known, but less researched by government, politicians, and film makers,  is
the continued  white slavery in which India figures in a major way, as a
point of origin and a destination – much like drugs – with tentacles in
Nepal, Bangladesh, Central Asia and some of the former Soviet republics of
east Europe. It occasionally bursts into news or high-level gossip when
some VVIP gets caught, as happened to a protestant Bishop in North India
who was sacked when tapes were released of him frolicking with Slav women
in his bedroom.

The church hierarchy needs to be questioned on how it zeroes down on an
issue it thinks is critical, and could do untold damage to society,
specially the family unit which the community holds dear, seeing in it the
loving bond between Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph, the Holy Family.

The church runs many de-addiction centres, but has never had the energy, or
the funds, to do a survey of the community to assess the incidence of drug
use among its youth. The matter figured tangentially in the early sessions
of two Papal surveys, the two-year long Family Synod, followed by the
Synodality exercise – priest and lay, rich and poor walking together as one
– which is now concluding. It never figured in the final documents.

Both synods were designed to assess the health of the global Catholic
community and to help the Pope and his curia evolve guidelines for the
future. That is how the church has evolved in the last 60 years or so since
the 

[Goanet] When Did Inter-religious Weddings Become Communal Conspiracies In Kerala?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"They ['most Christian denominations'] do reflect an unacceptable and
toxic mix of orthodoxy with a dose of patriarchy and racism in the guise of
tradition and culture.  But not communalism, or religious targeting."

>"The church hierarchy needs to be questioned on how it zeroes down on an
issue it thinks is critical, and could do untold damage to society,
specially the family unit which the community holds dear, seeing in it the
loving bond between Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph, the Holy Family."

>"The existence of the dowry system so horrible as to verge on the criminal
which has never been outlawed, is the elephant in the room."

>"What is possibly most shameful is the existence of caste in the Indian
church."

>"‘Love Jihad’ myth and ‘honour’ killings are two sides of the same coin.
The ‘Love Jihad’ myth and ‘honour’ killings are then based on the same
logic – a world in which women are incapable of knowing what’s best for
them, (writes Dr Sanjukta Basu)."

>"There was no authentic data supporting the claim of 32,000 conversions.
It was pure fiction."

>"The *Kerala Story* perpetuates misinformation and unfounded propaganda
against the Muslim community. It distorts facts and inflates figures to
fuel anti-Muslim sentiments."
---
By: John Dayal
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 14, 2024
Source:
https://thewire.in/society/when-did-inter-religious-weddings-become-communal-conspiracies-in-kerala
The Kerala Story perpetuates misinformation and unfounded propaganda
against the Muslim community. Love Jihad is a term which was in a way
jointly fathered by the church together with a Kerala High Court judge and
the locals some years go. However, the existence of the dowry system is the
elephant in the room in the southern state.


Mea Culpa. This reporter is a wrong person to write about *The Kerala Story*,
a film by two non Malayalis, director Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul
Amrutlal Shah, which has been praised by the highest political leadership
in the land, given tax exemption in several states, and has now earned
immortality by being screened to young parish audiences in Kerala by
Catholic clergy. It is another point that the film has an Adults Only
certification and priests break the law, and their ecclesiastical vows, by
exposing young minds to it.

In the past, Archbishops waived strict Catholic norms to allow a son to wed
a beautiful Hindu woman, and then a dearly loved niece to marry a strapping
Palaghat Muslim. They then presided over the holy mass as celebrant. The
couples had met at college, or at work. No one had to convert.

These are of course exceptions. Most Christian denominations will not allow
a marriage outside their fold. One sect will even disown the erring member.

And they do reflect an unacceptable and toxic mix of orthodoxy with a dose
of patriarchy and racism in the guise of tradition and culture.  But not
communalism, or religious targeting.

But then that was the purpose of, first, making this film, and then, of
using it to teach future generations that their wonderful Muslim neighbour
was seducing them to make them into sex slaves for some Islamic terrorist
group.

Not that terrorist groups, Islamic, Christian or even some “Indic” faiths
have not used women students they captured, or attracted, as camp followers
in various hotspots of the world. West Asia, Africa and lesser home have
witnessed this. Japan, before the second world war, had made it into
military practice in conquered Korea, and parts of China.

Known, but less researched by government, politicians, and film makers,  is
the continued  white slavery in which India figures in a major way, as a
point of origin and a destination – much like drugs – with tentacles in
Nepal, Bangladesh, Central Asia and some of the former Soviet republics of
east Europe. It occasionally bursts into news or high-level gossip when
some VVIP gets caught, as happened to a protestant Bishop in North India
who was sacked when tapes were released of him frolicking with Slav women
in his bedroom.

The church hierarchy needs to be questioned on how it zeroes down on an
issue it thinks is critical, and could do untold damage to society,
specially the family unit which the community holds dear, seeing in it the
loving bond between Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph, the Holy Family.

The church runs many de-addiction centres, but has never had the energy, or
the funds, to do a survey of the community to assess the incidence of drug
use among its youth. The matter figured tangentially in the early sessions
of two Papal surveys, the two-year long Family Synod, followed by the
Synodality exercise – priest and lay, rich and poor walking together as one
– which is now concluding. It never figured in the final documents.

Both synods were designed to assess the health of the global Catholic
community and to help the Pope and his curia evolve guidelines for the
future. That is how the church has evolved in the last 60 years or so since
the 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With K.M. Chandrasekhar, former cabinet secretary - "Modi guilty of impropriety, telling bureaucrats to make post-election roadmap is undemocratic, wrong "

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 15, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaulTI5BwcM
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source

"In an interview to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s order to
senior civil servants to prepare a roadmap for the first 100 days as well
as for the first six months of the as yet unelected new government, former
cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar has said this is 'totally
unconventional and unprecedented'. 'I can’t remember any occasion on which
I was told or any official was told to prepare a plan in anticipation of a
person coming back to power,' he added. Chandrasekhar said this was 'not
desirable, not right, not in the spirit of democracy'.

Chandrasekhar, who was cabinet secretary from 2007 to 2011, said, 'Once an
election is announced the role and character of a government certainly
changes.' Explaining his point further, he said: 'I think democracy demands
that when an election is announced thereafter it’s only a holding operation
the government performs.'

Chandrasekhar said he can’t think of any precedent, either in India or
abroad, where the outgoing government has asked civil servants to prepare a
roadmap for an unelected future government on the assumption that the
outgoing government will be re-elected. He was asked whether this order
from the prime minister, along with an earlier order last year asking joint
secretary and junior officers to act as 'Rath Prabharis' and showcase the
achievements of the last nine years, was 'improper and a misuse of
government powers'. Chandrasekhar twice said: 'I absolutely agree'. He also
agreed that the prime minister was guilty of 'an impropriety.'"

[Goanet] 'Unchristian Act': Concerned Catholics Slam Idukki Diocese Over Screening of 'The Kerala Story' A poster for 'The Kerala Story'.

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"In a statement issued, the group of Catholics said the decision by the
Church authorities to screen the film is 'deeply concerning because it
actively sows seeds of hatred, intolerance and prejudice, among children,
instead of promoting peace, compassion, and acceptance, which are the core
values of Christianity.'"
By: The Wire Staff
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 10, 2024
Source:
https://thewire.in/communalism/unchristian-act-concerned-catholics-slam-idukki-diocese-over-screening-of-the-kerala-story
The Idukki Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church screened the propaganda film
for students of Class X to Class XII on April 4.

New Delhi: A group of concerned Catholics slammed the Idukki Diocese of the
Syro-Malabar Church for screening the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’
for students of Class X to XII as part of the annual summer catechism
programme on April 4.

In a statement issued, the group of Catholics said the decision by the
Church authorities to screen the film is “deeply concerning because it
actively sows seeds of hatred, intolerance and prejudice, among children,
instead of promoting peace, compassion, and acceptance, which are the core
values of Christianity”.

“Screening such a propaganda film that is filled with lies, the Idukki
Church is instilling negative emotions and discriminatory attitudes towards
people of other faiths and failing to teach children about love and respect
for all religions and cultures. Such actions can have adverse effects on
the future generation and society at large, particularly in the present
politically charged context where hate is being weaponised to destroy the
country,” the statement said.

The controversial film has become a talking point in Kerala’s political
circles with more Catholic dioceses announcing plans to screen the movie,
following in the footsteps of the Idukki diocese. Church outfits which are
supporting the screening say it is part of their efforts to “enlighten
teenagers against love jihad”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been trying to woo the Christian
community in the state, has hailed the move. The church and the BJP share
common ground on the issue of “love jihad”, and the BJP has been playing on
the fear among many Christians of “rising Islamic extremism”.

The statement by the group of concerned Catholics condemned the
“insensitive and unchristian act of Diocese of Idukki” while urging all
Church authorities to promote inter-religious dialogue, reconciliation,
fraternity, harmony and peace.

Reproduced below is the full statement and list of signatories

§

Statement of Concerned Catholics regarding the screening of the ‘Kerala
Story’ by the Diocese of Idukki

On Thursday 4 April 2024, Pope Francis in a very incisive message to the
participants in the First Colloquium between the Dicastery for
Interreligious Dialogue and the Congress of Leaders of World and
Traditional Religions, held in the Vatican said, “We need to support each
other in fostering harmony between religions, ethnic groups and cultures.
In particular, I want to emphasize three aspects…: respect for diversity,
commitment to our common home and the promotion of peace.”

Unfortunately, on that very day, in Kerala, the Idukki Diocese, of the
Syro-Malabar Church screened a controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’. The
film was shown to students of Stds. X to XII, as part of the Annual Summer
Catechism programme. On 8 April, several English and vernacular media both
in Kerala and elsewhere, detailed this event under the title, ‘Idukki
Diocese screens ‘The Kerala Story’ for Catechism Students’. A spokesperson
of the Diocese has gone on record saying that the film was ‘shown to
Christian students to raise awareness about the issue of ‘Love Jihad’.’

That a Catholic Diocese has screened this film, defies logic! First of all,
the movie is clearly a propaganda film created to further the Hindutva
narrative that is trying to destroy the secular nature of our country.
Secondly, it is replete with lies, factual inaccuracies and half-truths; so
much so, that the director of the movie, publicly admitted falsehood and
had to correct the figures given in the original curtain-raiser from
“32,000 girls embracing Islam to just THREE!”; besides ten obnoxious
scenes, had to be deleted before the Censor Board gave its certification!
Thirdly, and far more importantly, this is a film which goes against the
teachings of the Church and the person and message of Jesus.

The decision by the Church authorities to screen the film, is deeply
concerning because it actively sows seeds of hatred, intolerance and
prejudice, among children, instead of promoting peace, compassion, and
acceptance, which are the core values of Christianity. By screening such a
propaganda film that is filled with lies, the Idukki Church is instilling
negative emotions and discriminatory attitudes towards people of other
faiths and failing to teach children about love and respect for all
religions and cultures. Such 

[Goanet] Open Letter To President Of India: Take Control Of Election Commission And Other Regulatory Bodies

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PLEASE READ & SHARE.  THANK YOU.

>"An Election Commission that considers itself subservient to the political
executive cannot conduct elections in an apolitical manner."

>"With almost all institutions brought to near-total submission, with
almost every regulatory authority rendered subservient to the political
executive, with investigating and enforcing agencies being
weaponized against the opposition and with the Election Commission refusing
to invoke its authority against the political executive when required, one
perhaps has to hold a magnifying glass to detect the last strands of
democracy left untouched by the political executive today. One can only
hope that those few institutions which still carry a semblance of
independence will survive long enough to resuscitate the failing democracy
in India."
--
Source
https://countercurrents.org/2024/04/open-letter-to-president-of-india-take-control-of-election-commission-and-other-regulatory-bodies/
countercurrents.org

Open Letter to President of India: Take Control of Election Commission and
other Regulatory Bodies
by E A S Sarma [Former Secretary, Government of India]
12/04/2024

--

To

Smt. Droupadi Murmu

Hon’ble President of India

Respected Rashtrapati Ji,

Kindly refer to my letter of April 6th, 2024

in which I had suggested for your consideration the following four
immediate measures to ensure that not a single rupee of the tainted,
illegal Electoral Bonds money is allowed to be used by the BJP and other
political parties to ensure a level-playing ground for political parties in
the ensuing Lok Sabha elections:

   1. Order the ECI [Election Commission of India] to freeze all
   unspent electoral bonds money lying with the BJP and other political
   parties so that it may not find its way into electioneering to upset the
   level playing ground among political parties in the ensuing elections
   2. Institute a judicial commission with senior sitting judges of the
   Supreme Court to enquire into the way the electoral bonds scheme had been
   misused on several fronts including possible deployment of Central
   investigating/ enforcement agencies for intimidating private businesses and
   extorting donations, extending undue regulatory protection to errant
   companies, endangering human lives and hurting the public interest. The
   judicial commission may, if necessary, recommend measures to reverse undue
   benefits given to private businesses, to suggest penal action against
   senior public functionaries, political parties, and others for acts of
   malfeasance associated with the electoral bonds scheme; the desirability of
   banning corporate donations altogether, in view of their toxic impact on
   our democracy
   3. Order all Central investigating/ enforcement agencies to function
   under the oversight of that judicial commission, pending such an enquiry,
   so as to prevent their mis-deployment by the political executive
   4. Considering that the ECI’s independence itself stands compromised,
   direct the ECI to function under the direct oversight of your office so
   that it may fulfill its mandate under Article 324 to conduct elections in a
   free and fair manner

I am afraid that institutional silence and inaction have allowed the
political executive at the Centre to deploy the Electoral Bond-related
money in electioneering to the disadvantage of other political parties,
allowed it exercise an undue sway over all Central investigating and
enforcement agencies to prompt them to file cases against BJP’s rivals and
physically detain them to paralyse their electioneering activity, thus
crippling the democratic processes that lie at the heart of our
Constitution. The Chief Ministers of two States ruled by the opposition are
in jail, their Ministers also being put in jail one after the other and
perhaps a case is being made out by NDA’s political executive to clamp
President’s rule in those States on the ostensible ground that their
administration has come to a standstill.

It has become a rule more than an exception of senior-most leaders of the
Central political executive making unsubstantiated accusations of
corruption against leaders of opposition parties and condoning their
corruption, as soon as they join the BJP, making a mockery of the very idea
of probity in governance. The public perception today is that the party
having more money than others can do anything including buying democracy
itself.

On the other hand, the Election Commission of India (ECI) which has a
reservoir of authority under Article 324 to conduct elections in a free and
fair manner, perhaps overawed by the senior leadership of the NDA
government, 

[Goanet] The Kerala story, Manipur documentary, church factions & BJP's strategy in its most distant state

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief
Published in: *The Print*
Date: April 12, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsAMPbFS7w

"Amid Kerala's multi-party, multi-faith politics, BJP is trying to ground
its image as the number 2 party and weaken the Congress led UDF.

In Episode 1431 of Cut The Clutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta discusses
the politics of Kerala, its religious demographics & why BJP is cashing in
on the Muslim-Christian politics."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Parakala Prabhakar, economist - "Of Course Modi’s a Dictator & His Return Would be a Disaster”: Finance Minister’s Husband

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

A MUST WATCH & SHARE. THANK YOU.

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 12, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLy3YOJeogA

"Of course, Modi's a dictator; he's dragging India back to the dark ages;
his return to power would be a disaster for India": Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman's husband, the author and economist Parakala Prabhakar.

In a devastating critique of the 10 years of Narendra Modi’s prime
ministership, the Finance Minister’s husband, the author and economist
Parakala Prabhakar, has said: 'Of course, Modi is a dictator' adding 'our
democracy is in crisis, our social fabric is torn, our economy is in peril
and we are being dragged back to the dark ages'.

Dr. Parakala says 'a return to power of the present government would spell
disaster for India'. However, Dr. Parakala believes this is unlikely to
happen and also adds that Narendra Modi and the BJP will struggle to get
more than 220-230 seats in the forthcoming elections.

Explaining his electoral analysis more fully, Dr. Parakala says Modi and
the BJP could lose 50-60 seats in north India and perhaps 10-12 in the
south (that is after taking into account any seats they win in Andhra). Dr.
Parakala also says that if Modi is restricted to 230 seats he neither has
the talent nor the people to help win allies to cobble together a majority
and, therefore, he is destined to sit in the Opposition.

In a 45-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr. Parakala says
that if, however, Modi wins a third term 'what is happening in Manipur is
likely to happen in every state in the country'. He says 'if it doesn’t
fall in line the entire opposition leadership could be sent to jail'.
Speaking in some detail about the situation facing India’s 200 million
Muslims if Narendra Modi wins a third term, Dr. Parakala says they would
face 'tiraskar', which he translates as 'rejection'. Dr. Parakala foresees
a two-stage process.

First, Muslims would be reduced to a subordinate status as second class
citizens but then they could actually be pushed out of the country or
forced to leave. In fact, Dr. Parakala says what happens to Muslims could
also, in some shape or form, happen to all minorities.

When he was asked if he meant not just Christians but also Buddhists, Sikhs
and Jains, his answer was 'why not?'. Asked what is likely to be history’s
verdict on the 10 years of Narendra Modi’s prime ministership, Dr. Parakala
said: 'He has set India back in terms of economy 20-25 years, in terms of
polity to pre-independence days and in terms of social fabric back to
1818'.

Dr. Parakala said the big difference between Indira Gandhi’s Emergency of
75-77 and the situation that could follow a third Modi victory is that the
Emergency was a result of one woman’s concern with her future whereas
post-2024 it will be a project to make India a Hindu Rashtra and reverse
its federalism. Therefore, whilst Indira Gandhi’s Emergency ended after 21
months the 'disaster' that possibly looms ahead for India will be a lot
more difficult to reverse. I am only giving you the big broad points made
by Dr. Parakala. There’s an awful lot more in this interview, both in terms
of analysis and news, which I am leaving you to find out for yourself by
watching the interview. I do not want to inaccurately paraphrase or precis
Dr. Parakala. You should hear him in his own words by watching the full
interview."

[Goanet] Israel’s Spy-Tech Industry Is a Global Threat to Democracy

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Israel’s surveillance industry is one of the most advanced and prolific
in the world. A unique environment of legal enablement, partnerships
between private firms and the Israeli military, and the availability of
Palestinians as free test subjects

 has allowed the country to become a world leader in surveillance tech
exports."

>"The NSO Group ['The NSO Group’s Pegasus is a sophisticated form of
spyware categorized as a military export by the Israeli state'] and other
Israeli spyware manufacturers are integral to the country’s security and
diplomatic establishment. For all practical purposes, they are an extension
of the Israeli state. However, there has been no explicit diplomatic
pressure on Israel from Washington or its allies to put an end to the
export of these malicious technologies."

>"Pegasus is especially dangerous because it can be planted secretly,
giving the attacker total control over a victim’s mobile phone."

>"Yet while the NSO Group may have lost its market in the West, that has
not deterred it from trying to use the Gaza war to revive itself. It has
volunteered to play a role in Israel’s war effort, marketing its attempts
to help trace missing Israelis and hostages."

>"The spyware was also deployed against political opponents, journalists,
and activists in India, Hungary, and Rwanda."

>" In 2017, Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit
the country. The *New York Times* reported

that
a $2 billion deal for sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear was
signed during this visit. Pegasus and a missile system were the highlights
of this sale."

>"India has historically supported the Palestinian cause, and its relations
with Israel have not been warm. However, in June 2019, it voted in support
of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council, opposing a move to grant
observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, marking a
significant departure from its previous stance."


>"This industry ['Israel’s spyware'] thrives

 on a constant supply of trained and highly skilled individuals from Unit
8200, the Israeli intelligence unit likened to America’s National Security
Agency (NSA). The unit is a launching pad for its members to join private
spyware companies and start their own tech businesses."


> "Israel must be held accountable for its role in undermining democracies
and emboldening autocratic regimes. The self-proclaimed 'startup nation'
that the West likes to call the 'only democracy in the Middle East' must be
questioned on its rogue surveillance industry."
---
Source:
https://jacobin.com/2024/04/israel-surveillance-tech-industry-democracy
jacobin.com

Israel’s Spy-Tech Industry Is a Global Threat to Democracy
By Maknoon Wani
April 9, 2024
Israel has developed one of the most advanced surveillance industries in
the world. With government support, companies like the NSO Group have been
offering their services to authoritarian regimes to help them clamp down on
political dissent.

--

Israel’s surveillance industry is one of the most advanced and prolific in
the world. A unique environment of legal enablement, partnerships between
private firms and the Israeli military, and the availability of
Palestinians as free test subjects

has allowed the country to become a world leader in surveillance tech
exports.

With around twenty-seven surveillance companies, Israel has one of the biggest
clusters

of such manufacturers in relation to its size. The NSO Group’s Pegasus is a
sophisticated form of spyware categorized as a military export by the
Israeli state and only sold with its express permission. Like other
surveillance manufacturers, the company is licensed by Israel’s Ministry of
Defense.

Pegasus is especially dangerous because it can be planted secretly, giving
the attacker total control over a victim’s mobile phone. It effectively
undermines all the modern security features like encryption and turns a
smartphone into a smart listening device. It can also copy messages,
photos, and emails as well as recording calls.

Investigations have revealed that Pegasus was used against the inner circle
of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered by Saudi
intelligence in 2018. Over the last decade, several reports have also
revealed the use of Pegasus against journalists, activists, and political
dissidents in various countries. The spyware has facilitated assassinations
and severe human rights 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: Shravan Garg, Former Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar -SC livid with Ramdev, rejects apology, Will (it) further penalise him! | PATANJALI | CORONIL

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Ashutosh
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: April 11, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go1v9CvczZU
*Note:* This interview is in Hindi
The transcript is embedded in the source

"रामदेव के पतंजलि ने पिछले दस सालों में खरबों का साम्राज्य खडा किया है । जो
भ्रामक विज्ञापनों की बिनाह पर खड़ा है । सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने रामदेव को
ज़बर्दस्त फटकार लगाई है ? तो क्या अदालत रामदेव को सिखायेगी बड़ा सबक ? और
क्यों अदालत का ये कदम एक बडा सबक सिखायेगा ? श्रवण गर्ग की खरी खरी।"

"Ramdev's Patanjali has built an empire worth trillions in the last ten
years. It stands on the foundation of misleading advertisements. Has the
Supreme Court strongly reprimanded Ramdev? So will the court teach Ramdev a
big lesson? And why will this step of the court be a big lesson?"

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Praveen Chakravarty, Congress Manifesto Committee- Congress wants to "bring back the original idea of India, an inclusive liberal Republic"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 11, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6iXJ3ZtoWw
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source

"In an interview to discuss in some detail the 2024 manifesto of the
Congress Party, a key member of the Congress Manifesto Committee which
drafted the document, Praveen Chakravarty, says: 'The central vision of the
manifesto is to bring back the original idea of India, an inclusive liberal
Republic with respect for institutions and the rule of law.'

In a 50-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Praveen Chakravarty,
who is also the Chairman of the All India Professionals’ Congress,
responded to Narendra Modi’s claim the Congress manifesto carries the stamp
of the Muslim League and that every page reeks of breaking India. 'Prime
Minister Modi cannot see anything beyond Hindu-Muslim'.
Mr. Chakravarty said the Congress manifesto comprises 48 pages, covering 31
topics and 145 specific promises. 'The word Muslim is not there at all in
the manifesto and the word minorities occurs 11 times. What is Muslim about
the Right to Apprenticeship? What is Muslim about doubling economic output?
What is Muslim about giving farmers a legal guarantee for MSP? What is
Muslim about saying we will take back our land from China? … this is the
manifesto for India, every single Indian, to restore our original idea of
India.'
I do not want to steal Mr. Chakravarty’s thunder or run the risk of
paraphrasing him or précising him wrongly. So I think it’s better you
should watch this interview for yourself.
Often, on specific issues, there’s clear disagreement and, again, I do not
want to misrepresent that. It happens over the fact that so many of
Congress’s manifesto promises are not costed, it happens during discussions
about some of the manifestos agricultural promises, it happens over
promises to do with the functioning of Parliament or on CAA as well as the
proposed National Judicial Commission, China and the Chief of Defence Staff
position. I think all of this should be seen by you rather than convey it
through a precis by me."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Praveen Chakravarty, Congress Manifesto Committee- Congress wants to "bring back the original idea of India, an inclusive liberal Republic"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 11, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6iXJ3ZtoWw
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source

"In an interview to discuss in some detail the 2024 manifesto of the
Congress Party, a key member of the Congress Manifesto Committee which
drafted the document, Praveen Chakravarty, says: 'The central vision of the
manifesto is to bring back the original idea of India, an inclusive liberal
Republic with respect for institutions and the rule of law.'

In a 50-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Praveen Chakravarty,
who is also the Chairman of the All India Professionals’ Congress,
responded to Narendra Modi’s claim the Congress manifesto carries the stamp
of the Muslim League and that every page reeks of breaking India. 'Prime
Minister Modi cannot see anything beyond Hindu-Muslim'.
Mr. Chakravarty said the Congress manifesto comprises 48 pages, covering 31
topics and 145 specific promises. 'The word Muslim is not there at all in
the manifesto and the word minorities occurs 11 times. What is Muslim about
the Right to Apprenticeship? What is Muslim about doubling economic output?
What is Muslim about giving farmers a legal guarantee for MSP? What is
Muslim about saying we will take back our land from China? … this is the
manifesto for India, every single Indian, to restore our original idea of
India.'
I do not want to steal Mr. Chakravarty’s thunder or run the risk of
paraphrasing him or précising him wrongly. So I think it’s better you
should watch this interview for yourself.
Often, on specific issues, there’s clear disagreement and, again, I do not
want to misrepresent that. It happens over the fact that so many of
Congress’s manifesto promises are not costed, it happens during discussions
about some of the manifestos agricultural promises, it happens over
promises to do with the functioning of Parliament or on CAA as well as the
proposed National Judicial Commission, China and the Chief of Defence Staff
position. I think all of this should be seen by you rather than convey it
through a precis by me."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: Dhruv Rathee- “Modi is 80% a Dictator and a Darpok (Coward)”; I Call on Indian Voters to Throw Him Out" on YouTube

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 9, 2024
Source: https://youtu.be/4bBIfkK0Z7g?si=huxIPHPZOrcsalNn
Note: The transcript is embedded in the source

"Dhruv Rathee, who is arguably the most widely followed and most highly
admired YouTube video-maker of his generation in India, whose last two
videos on dictatorship have together achieved nearly 50 million views, has
said that Narendra Modi is '70-80% a dictator', adding that like all ‘
*tanashahs*’ (dictators) he is 'a *darpok*' (coward), insecure and lacking
in confidence.

He’s called upon the Indian people to throw out the Modi government. In a
special interview to talk about himself, his childhood and upbringing, his
training as a mechanical engineer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
his marriage to his wife Juli and also what motivates him to make videos
and the extent of preparation and effort put into each of them but also to
talk about political issues such as his view of Narendra Modi as a dictator
and whether India is becoming a dictatorship and his confidence in the
Indian people who he has exhorted to throw the Modi government out, Dhruv
Rathee said that his message to the Indian people is brief and simple:
'Vote Karne Jayen to Sarkar ko nikal phenke' (When you go to vote, throw
out this government.)

Dhruv Rathee says that he has faith that his 2.5 crore audience will heed
his request for each person to share his video with another 100 people who,
in turn, will respond to his message to vote out the Modi government. I
will deliberately stop there and leave you to hear Dhruv Rathee in his own
language and in his inimitable style.

This interview consists of two large subjects i.e. personal questions about
him, his life and his work and also political questions about Modi, the
Opposition, the behaviour of Governors, the Election Commission, the
Enforcement Directorate and CBI as well as the Indian media and surveys
that suggest that 75% of the Indian people like and admire Narendra Modi.

A substantial part of the interview is about Dhruv Rathee’s confidence in
his audience, viewers and fans who he believes will respond to his appeal
to vote against the Modi government.

Right at the end, there are a few further personal questions where Dhruv
Rathee says that he is very conscious of what he says to his audience and
how he says it, that as of now he has no intention of joining politics but
cannot speak of what happens 20 or 30 years ahead and that he’s not drawn
to normal Bollywood films but could be attracted to take part in art
cinema."

[Goanet] Trump to Sue Judge in Last-Ditch Attempt to Avert Manhattan Trial

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump was filing an action
against the judge,
Juan M. Merchan
,
though the papers were not immediately made public."

>"Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump’s lawyers on
Monday planned to file the action calling on an appeals court to delay the
trial and to challenge a gag order

 that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president. The order
prevents Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge’s
own family."

>"Mr. Trump’s unorthodox move — essentially an appeal in the form of a
lawsuit — is unlikely to succeed, particularly so close to trial."

>"The prosecutors added that the recusal request was based on 'a daisy
chain of innuendos.'”
---
By: Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: April 8, 2024
Donald J. Trump’s lawyers indicated they would file an action asking an
appeals court to delay the first prosecution of a former president. The
move is unlikely to succeed.

Donald J. Trump, a week away from standing trial in Manhattan on criminal
charges that he falsified records to cover up a sex scandal
,
has indicated he plans to file a lawsuit against the judge overseeing the
case.

Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump was filing an action against
the judge, Juan M. Merchan
,
though the papers were not immediately made public. An online court docket
where Mr. Trump is expected to file the so-called Article 78 action — a
special proceeding that can be used to challenge New York state government
agencies and judges — showed that the related paperwork was sealed.

Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump’s lawyers on
Monday planned to file the action calling on an appeals court to delay the
trial and to challenge a gag order

 that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president. The order
prevents Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge’s
own family.

Mr. Trump’s unorthodox move — essentially an appeal in the form of a
lawsuit — is unlikely to succeed, particularly so close to trial.

And the appeals court might act fast to reject it. A single appeals court
judge will most likely issue a preliminary ruling on Monday, setting up a
full five-judge panel to consider Mr. Trump’s request in the coming days.

In a separate filing with the appeals court on Monday, Mr. Trump was
expected to ask the court to move the trial outside Manhattan. The request
reflects his deep unpopularity in the solidly Democratic borough.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers have tried several times to delay the trial, but this
is their first attempt in an appeals court. The former president, who is
again the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is aiming to push
all four of his criminal cases past Election Day. If he wins, the cases are
likely to grind to a halt.

This latest effort to stop the Manhattan case — the first prosecution of a
former U.S. president, and possibly Mr. Trump’s only criminal case to make
it to trial this year — comes as Mr. Trump is separately calling on Justice
Merchan to recuse himself from the case.

Mr. Trump and his lawyers argue that the judge has a conflict of interest,
citing his daughter’s position at a Democratic consulting firm that worked
for President Biden’s campaign in 2020.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly assailed Justice Merchan’s daughter on social
media and posted articles with her picture, leading the judge to expand the
gag order to bar Mr. Trump from attacking her.

The judge could rule on the recusal request

 in the coming days. He rejected Mr. Trump’s first recusal request, filed
last year, and is likely to do the same this time.

In a response to Mr. Trump’s most recent request, prosecutors for the
Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the charges against Mr.
Trump, wrote that Mr. Trump “predominantly repeats the same arguments that
he made in his first recusal motion more than ten months ago and that this
court previously considered and rejected."

The prosecutors added that the recusal request was based on “a daisy chain
of innuendos.”

A spokeswoman for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, declined to
comment on the Monday appeal.

Lawsuits against judges are unusual, but this is not Mr. Trump’s first
attempt to use that tactic to try to delay a trial. Last year, he sued the
New York judge presiding over his civil fraud trial — an effort the appeals
court 

[Goanet] Watch: Chief Justice of India, D. Y. Chandrachud-"Need To Balance Seizure powers and Individual privacy rights "

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Need To Balance Seizure powers and Individual privacy rights "

By: Chief Justice of India, D. Y. Chandrachud- Delivering the D.P. Kohli
memorial lecture, New Delhi, April 8 ,2024
Published in:* Live Law*
Date: April 8, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIf24YfLNj0
Note: The transcript is embedded in the source

"Dharamnath Prasad Kohli was the founder Director of the CBI, India's
Central Investigation Agency.He held office from 1 April 1963 to 31 May
1968. Before this, he was Inspector-General of Police of the Special Police
Establishment from 1955 to 1963. Prior to that, he was police chief in
Madhya Bharat and Uttar Pradesh states. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in
1967 for his distinguished services by Government of India.

While inaugurating the 4th Biennial Joint Conference of the CBI and State
Anti-Corruption Officers, Kohli told the delegates:

The public expects the highest standard from you both in efficiency and
integrity. That faith has to be sustained. The motto of the CBI - Industry,
Impartiality and Integrity: these must always guide your work. Loyalty to
duty must come first, everywhere, at all times and in all circumstances.

Since 1999, the CBI has held the annual 'DP Kohli Memorial Lecture' in
Delhi, in his honour."

[Goanet] Watch: Shravan Garg, Former Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar- Is New Congress emerging! Is New BJP only to win for Modi? | RAHUL GANDHI | 2024 ELECTIONS

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Ashutosh
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: April 8, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wMgf17j8WE
*Note:* This news program is in Hindi

"श्रवण गर्ग की खरी खरी । राहुल गांधी क्या नई कांग्रेस का जन्म दे रहे है ?
क्या पुराने चेहरे ग़ायब हो जायेंगे ? क्या मोदी की बीजेपी किराये की कोख हो
गई है ? क्यों मोदी दूसरे दलों से लोगों को ले रहे हैं ? कितने दिन चल पायेगी
नई कांग्रेस और नई बीजेपी?"

"Shravan Garg Ki Khari Khari program . Is Rahul Gandhi giving birth to a
new Congress? Will old faces disappear? Has Modi's BJP become a surrogate
mother? Why is Modi taking people from other parties? How long will the new
Congress and the new BJP last?"

[Goanet] Watch: Rajasthan is going to surprise this time | ELECTION 2024 | BJP | PM MODI

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PLEASE WATCH. THANK YOU.

By: Sheetal  Singh
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: April 7, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAX57v-XKmM
*NOTE:* This ground report is in Hindi.
The transcript is embedded in the source.

"राजस्थान इस चुनाव में चौंकाने जा रहा है । किसानों के आंदोलन ने यहाँ बीजेपी
के लिए नई चुनौती पेश कर दी है । पिछले दो चुनावों में बीजेपी को सारी सीटें
थमाने वाले इस राज्य में भारी उलटफेर हो रहा है।"

"Rajasthan is going to surprise in this election. The farmers' movement has
presented a new challenge for the BJP here. A huge upheaval is taking place
in this state which had given all the seats to BJP in the last two
elections."

[Goanet] Watch: BREAKING: Supreme Court के वकील Kapil Sibbal ने किया बड़ा खुलासा!।DilliTak।

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PLEASE WATCH & SHARE.  THANK YOU

Trans.:
Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal made a big revelation!. Dilli Tak.
By: Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Published in: *Dilli Tak*
Date: April 7, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRW_f1Em7nU
*NOTE:* This important press conference is in Hindi

[Goanet] Here’s the full text of the Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha polls 2024

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The Congress party has promised to restore the statehoodof Jammu  and
Kashmir, give legal guarantee to MSP, conduct anationwide socio-economic
and caste census and scrap the Agnipath scheme."
By: Express Web Desk
Published by: *The Indian Express*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source:
https://indianexpress.com/elections/congress-manifesto-lok-sabha-polls-2024-full-text-9252838/
*Note:* PLEASE ACCESS THE SOURCE TO READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE MANIFESTO (48
pages)

"From promising a nationwide socio-economic and caste census to giving legal
guarantee to MSP and scrapping of the the Agnipath scheme —  the *Congress
party Friday released it manifesto *
for
the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Grand Old Party has also promised to give 10 per cent reservation in jobs
and educational institutions for EWS, bringing new right to apprenticeship
act granting apprenticeship to every diploma holder or graduate below the
age of 25. For urban poor, the party has promised an urban employment
programme guaranteering (sic) work in reconstruction, renewal of urban
infrastructure.

Speaking *at the launch, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi*

 said, 'This election is about those who are trying to destroy the
Constitution and destroy democracy vs those who try to protect the
Constitution. We believe once this fight is won, we will look after the
vast majority of the people, that it is not run for few conglomerates, not
a nation of monopoly, where there is fair competition among businesses.
Constitution has never been at risk as much as it is today.'”

[Goanet] Watch: Ravish Kumar -- 2024: जारी हुआ कांग्रेस का घोषणा पत्र | Congress releases its Manifesto

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

PLEASE LISTEN.  THANK YOU.

By: Ravish Kumar
Published in: *Ravish Kumar Official*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYNon59GdE
*NOTE*: This news report is in Hindi

"अगर आप जानना चाहते हैं कि कांग्रेस सत्ता में आई तो क्या संसद वैसे ही चलेगी
जैसे मोदी राज में चलती रही है, गोदी मीडिया वैसे ही गोदी मीडिया बना रहेगा
जैसे मोदी राज में बना रहा और कोर्ट में राजनीतिक हस्तक्षेप को लेकर वही सब
चलता रहेगा जिसके आरोप मोदी राज में लगते रहे हैं, तो आपको कांग्रेस का घोषणा
पत्र पढ़ना चाहिए। संवैधानिक और संस्थानिक पतन की बात करने वाली कांग्रेस ने
अपने घोषणा पत्र में इन प्रथाओं को रोक कर, संस्थाओं की स्वायत्तता और
स्वतंत्रता को सुरक्षित करने का ठोस वादा किया है। कांग्रेस के मैनिफ़ेस्टो को
पढ़कर पता चलता है कि उसने भारत जोड़ो यात्रा और अन्य जनसम्पर्क से सीखे सबक़
अपने घोषणा पत्र में शामिल किए हैं। इस चुनाव के दौरान दुनिया भर में भारत के
लोकतंत्र को लेकर चिंता जताई जा रही है। कांग्रेस को सत्ता मिले न मिले मगर
उसका घोषणापत्र बता रहा है कि उसने इन चिंताओं को और उसे दूर करने पर काफी
गंभीरता से सोच विचार किया है।"

"If you want to know that if Congress comes to power, will the Parliament
run the same way as it has been running during Modi rule, will the Godi
media remain the same as it was during Modi rule and will everything
continue in the same manner regarding political interference in courts.
If allegations are being made during Modi rule, then you should read the
Congress manifesto. Congress, which talks about constitutional and
institutional decline, has made a concrete promise in its manifesto to stop
these practices and secure the autonomy and independence of institutions.
Reading the Congress manifesto shows that it has included the lessons
learned from Bharat Jodo Yatra and other interactions with the public in
its manifesto. During this election, concerns are being raised across the
world about India's democracy. Whether Congress comes to power or not, its
manifesto shows that it has given serious thought to these concerns and how
to address them."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Sanjay Singh - जेल जाने के डर से आज़ाद हूँ, भाजपा से लड़ने को तैयार हूँ: संजय सिंह

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.:"I am free from the fear of going to jail, ready to fight BJP:
Sanjay Singh"
By: Ravish Kumar
Published in: *Ravish Kumar Official*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ2mP-fAdLI
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi

"संजय सिंह रिहा हो गए हैं और राजनीतिक जीवन की सक्रियता में लौट चुके हैं।
हमने उनसे बात की है। देश की राजनीति उस मोड़ पर पहुँच गई है जहां एक सांसद को
छह महीने तक जेल में डालने के बाद कह दिया जाता है कि उसके ख़िलाफ़ कोई सबूत
नहीं हैं और कोई सवाल नहीं पूछता है। अरविंद केजरीवाल चुनाव के ठीक पहले जेल
में डाल दिए गए, और आम आदमी पार्टी के दो पूर्व मंत्री लम्बे समय से जेल में
हैं। जिन सरकारी गवाहों के बयानों पर इन नेताओं को जेल में डाला गया वो बेल
पाकर चुनाव लड़ रहे हैं या स्पेन घूम रहे हैं। एक सरकारी गवाह ने भाजपा को 55
करोड़ का चंदा दिया है। चुनाव आयुक्त ने चुनाव की घोषणा करते समय कहा था कि
चुनाव का निष्पक्ष होना आयोग का परम धर्म है। अगर आपको लगता है कि 2024 के
चुनाव में इस धर्म का पालन हो रहा है तो आप वाक़ई अमृतकाल का सुख भोग रहे
हैं।"

"Sanjay Singh has been released and has returned to active political life.
We talked with him. The country's politics has reached such a stage where
after putting an MP (Member of Parliament) in jail for six months, it is
said that there is no evidence against him and no one asks questions.
Arvind Kejriwal was jailed just before the elections, and two former Aam
Aadmi Party ministers have been in jail for a long time. Government
witnesses on whose statements these leaders were jailed are either
contesting elections after getting bail or are roaming in Spain. A
government witness has donated Rs 55 crore to BJP. While announcing
elections, the Election Commissioner had said that fairness in elections is
the ultimate duty of the Commission. If you think that this intent is being
followed in the elections of 2024, then you are really enjoying the
happiness of Amritkal."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Atishi Singh, The Wire चायख़ाना में दिल्ली की Firebrand मंत्री आतिशी सिंहक्या केजरीवाल होंगे भारत के अगले PM ?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: Delhi's Firebrand Minister Atishi Singh [is] in The Wire Tea House.
Will Kejriwal be the next PM of India?

By: Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Sr. Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euKfRV70ges
*Note:* The interview is in Hindi.

"Atishi Marlena Singh, also known as Atishi Singh or Atishi Marlena is an
Indian politician, educator, political activist and MLA from Kalkaji,
Delhi. She is a member of the Political Affairs Committee of Aam Aadmi Party
 and currently serving as Minister of Education, P.W.D, Culture and Tourism in
the Delhi Government. She served as Advisor to the Former Deputy Chief
Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia
, primarily on education,
from July 2015 to 17 April 2018."

[Goanet] BREAKING | Supreme Court Grants Bail To Shoma Sen In Bhima Koregaon Case

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Senior Advocate Anand Grover, who represented the arrested professor,
emphasized that there is a lack of evidence connecting Sen to the case
under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, or establishing her
purported links with the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist)."
--
By: Gyanvi Khanna
Published in:* LiveLaw.in*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source:
https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-grants-bail-to-shoma-sen-in-bhima-koregaon-case-254373

The Supreme Court (on April 05) granted bail to former Nagpur University
professor Shoma Sen who is booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention
Act 1967 (UAPA) for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Bhima
Koregaon case.

She was arrested on June 6, 2018, and has been under custody since then,
awaiting trial. Today, the Bench of *Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine
George Masih *held that the restriction for grant of bail as per Section
43D(5) of the UAPA would not apply in the case of Sen. The Bench also noted
that Sen was a lady of advanced age with several ailments. Further, it took
into account her prolonged incarceration, the delay in the commencement of
trial and the nature of the accusations.
Also Read - BREAKING| Supreme Court Stays Allahabad HC Judgment Striking
Down UP Board Of Madarsa Education Act, Prima Facie Says HC Misconstrued Act


Notably, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), after being asked by the
Court why her detention was necessary, told the Court on March 1
5
that her further custody was not required. This statement was also taken
into account by the Court.

The Court directed that Sen shall not leave the State of Maharashtra
without the permission of the Special Court and shall surrender her
passport and furnish her address and mobile number to the investigating
officer. She should also keep the location and GPS of her mobile phone
active throughout and the device should be paired with the device of the
investigating officer so that her location is known.
Also Read - Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Seeking Cooling-Off
Period For Public Servants Before Contesting Elections

The Division Bench was hearing a petition challenging a January 2023 order
of
the Bombay High Court, by which it directed Sen to approach the special
court trying her case, for bail.
Sixty-two-year-old Sen is the sixth out of the sixteen accused in the case
to get bail. Sudha Bharadwajgot default bail(2021)

while Anand Teltumbde

(2022), Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira
(2023)
got bail on merits. Varavara Rao has been granted bail on medical grounds

 and Gautam Navlakha has been shifted

 to house arrest due to health reasons by the Supreme Court. Although the
Bombay High Court has granted bail on merits to Navlakha

and Mahesh Raut
,
these orders were stayed by the 

[Goanet] Watch: Farewell tea-party for Hon'ble Smt. Justice Anuja Prabhudessai [The first woman from Goa to be a High Court judge in India.]

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Bombay Bar Association
Date: April 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poPfAAiOWNk

The Bar Association had organized a farewell tea-party for Hon'ble Smt.
Justice Anuja Prabhudessai on Monday, February 5, 2024 at 5:00 pm in the
Bar Association premises.

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Former Revenue Secretary, E.A.S. Sarma -Why is the Election Commission So Scared of Modi?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 5, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmuPEB9Fqb4

"Former Union revenue secretary and transparency advocate E.A.S. Sarma and
Siddharth Varadarajan discuss the functioning of the Election Commission of
India. Among the questions they address:
1. Why are the three election commissioners reluctant to act on Sarma's
documented complaints about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's violations of
campaign laws?
2. Why have they not responded to the Enforcement Directorate and Income
Tax department's coercive actions against Opposition leaders even though
the model code of conduct is in force?
3. Do we need a model code of conduct for election commissioners so that
they function transparently and independently?
4. Does the problem lie in the fact that the government, i.e. the
executive, dominates the selection process for picking election
commissioners? The Supreme Court ruled that the ECI's powers under Article
324 are vast and that it is up to the commissioners to treat their
constitutional mandate as a 'vast reservoir' of power in exercise of their
mandate of ensuring free and fair elections. Yet they are shying away from
doing so."

[Goanet] अख़बार ने दिखाये पुख़्ता सुबूत, भाजपा बनी इतिहास की सबसे भ्रष्ट पार्टी

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.:
"Newspaper shows strong evidence [that] BJP [has] become the most corrupt
party in history."

By: Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Sr. Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: April 4, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMg5ozijQx4
*Note:* This news report is in Hindi
The transcript is embedded in the source

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Justice Madan Lokur -- Arvind Kejriwal Arrested in Delhi Liquor Policy Scam: Exclusive

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

THIS MAY HAPPEN TO YOU.
SO, PLEASE WATCH & SHARE. THANK YOU.

By: Rajdeep Sardesai
Published in: *India Today*
Date: April 2, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSL6KJbZM2Q

"In a recent episode of our television show, former Supreme Court Judge,
Justice Madan Lokur, provides insights on the ongoing Delhi liquor policy
scam involving Arvind Kejriwal. The case, which began investigations in
August 2022, has seen arrests made and Mr. Kejriwal himself sent to 15 days
of judicial custody. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleges that they
sent him eight summons to which he did not respond, leading to his arrest.
Justice Lokur discusses the implications and the potential chain of
evidence that could link Kejriwal to the scam."

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Dushyant Dave--Kejriwal in Tihar till April 15th. Is this action justified? | Faye D'Souza

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Faye D'Souza
Date:April 2, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpyYqa5wRs

"The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal less than a month
before the Lok Sabha elections raises crucial questions for the AAP and the
larger anti-BJP Opposition bloc, and also the nature of the elections. Faye
D’Souza speaks to Senior Supreme Court Advocate Dushyant Dave."

[Goanet] Watch interview: 600 Lawyers' Letter a Threat to Judiciary By BJP Proxies But CJI is Also Bench-Fixing—Indira Jaising

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published by: *The Wire*
Date: April 2, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C01OR5CQpkU
"[The] Letter by 600 lawyers [is] 'a threat to the judiciary'; 'they don’t
speak in their own voice'; 'CJI guilty of fixing benches': former
Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising [said] to Karan Thapar for The
Wire.

In a hard-hitting and often passionate interview about the letter written
by 600 lawyers (including Harish Salve) to the Chief Justice of India,
alleging 'a vested interest group is trying to pressure the judiciary', and
to also speak about two articles she has written in response (The Wire and
the Indian Express), former Additional Solicitor General and one of the
leading lights of the legal profession, Indira Jaising, has said 'the
letter is a threat to the judiciary'. She says that in contrast to its
claim that unnamed lawyers are trying to 'pressure the judiciary, influence
judicial process and defame our Courts', this letter is guilty of doing
just that.'"

[Goanet] Watch interview: Kerala and Tamil Nadu still invincible for BJP | 2024 ELECTIONS | PM MODI | INDIA ALLIANCE

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

In this interview with Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, a former Chief of Bureau,
The Hindu, in Delhi and Senior Associate Editor, says that "in this claim
of 370 seats there will be no contribution from Kerala and Tamil Nadu."

By: Sheetal P. Singh
Published in: *Satya Hindi*
Date: April 1, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS4FPtf9BNI
*Note*: This interview is in Hindi
The transcript is embedded in the source.

"मोदीजी ने दावा किया है कि वे इस बार चार सौ पार सीटें जीतने जा रहे हैं
जिसमें अकेले भाजपा 370 पार करने जा रही है । ऐसे में देश के धुर दक्षिण के दो
राज्यों की 59 सीटों का आकलन ज़रूरी हो जाता है जहां बीजेपी का 2019 में खाता
तक नहीं खुला था।"

"Modiji has claimed that this time he is going to win more than four
hundred seats, in which BJP alone is going to win more than 370. In such a
situation, it becomes necessary to assess the 59 seats in the two extreme
southern states of the country where BJP did not even open its account in
2019."

[Goanet] Watch: मोदी के सांप्रदायिक भारत से ऊपर, नुज़हत-सुनीता की दोस्ती का जहान

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Trans.: Nuzhat & Sunita's friendship is in a world way beyond Modi's
communal India

By: Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Sr. Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 31, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw4sRzMDAq8
*Note: *The interview is in Hindi.
The transcript is embedded in the source.

[Goanet] The Life, Times, Science and Context of Veronica Rodrigues

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Vrushal Pendharkar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 31, 2024
Source:
https://thewire.in/the-sciences/remembering-veronica-rodrigues-birth-anniversary
Please access the source for the entire article

"A peek into the life and studies of the passionate biologist who devoted
her life to the practice and rigor of science"

"In the mid 1970’s Siddiqi [Obaid Siddiqi, then faculty at the Molecular
Biology Unit] started to get into neurobiology and was keen to look at
systems of taste and smell. With her [Veronica Rodrigues] prior training in
genetics, Rodrigues quickly adapted to Siddiqi’s research ideas. Besides
discussions with Siddiqi, Rodriques knew what she wanted to do. She took
the lead to devise methods to carry out experiments and analyses. 'Even
when she was a student she had strong opinions and ideas and translated
them in research experiments, she actually worked on the lines she thought
about,' says Shobhona Sharma who was Rodrigues’s colleague and Chair of the
Department of Biological Sciences, TIFR, from 2010 – 2018. 'She started to
get results quickly and Obaid and most faculty members were happy about
it.'"

Rodrigues obtained her Ph.D in 1981. Her doctoral work was the first
pioneering work which led to the idea that taste and smell senses are
controlled by genes and not by metabolic processes. This was, perhaps, her
most seminal contribution to science. Such was the impact of her work that
TIFR offered her a faculty position while she was yet to finish her
doctoral work. After a brief postdoctoral stint at the Max Planck Institute
for Biological Cybernetics in Germany, Rodrigues returned to TIFR as a
faculty member in 1985.

That’s when Rodrigues started to explore and dig deeper into the science of
mechanisms responsible for smell and come up with some great insights that
were previously unknown. Hers was the first pioneering work propounding
cellular basis  for
smell and taste. She described the cellular
 systems
responsible for the sense of smell and identified the genes processing the
sense of taste
 by using
models of fruit flies. Rodrigues did this mostly through her students’ work
but also through collaborations with her colleagues at TIFR.

Rodrigues would have turned 71 today. D’Souza [Jacinta, Director of Centre
for Excellence in Basic Science (CEBS), Mumbai] thinks of her often, as she
did when she became the CEBS director in October 2023. It is for more than
one reason we need to remember the life and work of Veronica Rodrigues."

[Goanet] Watch Interviews: Mega Extortion, ‘Quid-Pro-Quo’, Money Laundering Charges Must be Investigated, Culprits Booked

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Kapil Sibal, Host - Central Hall, and Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of
India
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 30, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVmGDXSI7KM

"In #CentralHall, host Kapil Sibal discusses various facets and
implications of the 'crooked intent' of the BJP bringing in Electoral
bonds. The data revelations are only the beginning. Investigations must
follow, to rescue Indian democracy and restore probity in public life,
which is at an all-time low. Where is this money coming from? Listen to the
discussion with Justice (retd) Madan Lokur, former judge of the Supreme
Court, Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) General Secretary, petitioner in the matter
in court and economist Prof Arun Kumar."

[Goanet] This Easter, Is Christianity Still Promulgating Antisemitism?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"This Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate the peace and
renewal promised by Easter, but at the heart of Holy Week liturgies leading
up to the feast are a set of texts that have had brutal consequences for
Jews, not just in the past, but in the present."

>"An unfathomed thermal current long running below the surface of a broad
culture—call it the culture of 'the West'—is still being tapped, even if
unconsciously. That current was first generated roughly two thousand years
ago, in the way that early followers of Jesus told the story of the
Crucifixion, as a crime laid at the feet of the Jews."

>" The Gospels themselves explicitly lodge the Christ-killer charge: for
example, in Matthew, which is often read at Mass on Palm Sunday, Pontius
Pilate pronounces Jesus not guilty and makes an offer to release him, but
an assembled crowd of Jews cries, 'Let him be crucified.' Pilate then
famously washes his hands, saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just
person.' At which point, the crowd replies, let 'his blood be on us, and on
our children.' And so it has been."

>Despite Nostra Aetate [ "In our time", or the Declaration on the Relation
of the Church with Non-Christian Religions, is an official declaration of
the Vatican II, an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. It was
promulgated on 28 October 1965 by Pope Paul VI], neither the council
fathers nor their successors put in place an effective educational
structure that would enable people to understand that the narrative was
most likely written not by eyewitnesses but by followers of Jesus in the
late first century."

>"But the Christ-killer charge is not the largest problem."

>"The 'Gospel truth' boils down to a conflict of Jesus against the Jews.
The first chapter of John declares, 'He came unto his own, and his own
received him not.' Not so. The only people who received Jesus in his
lifetime—his apostles and disciples—were his own; they were Jewish."

>"Gradually, across the many years in which the Gospels took shape, Jesus
came to be regarded as divine: he is depicted in John as saying, 'I and my
Father are one.' That made the purported crime of the Jews even worse,
since the murder of God—deicide—is a cosmic transgression that’s impossible
to adjudicate, much less forgive."

>“'Jesus against the Jews' is Christianity’s paradigmatic origin story,
forming, in effect, a spoiled gene in the DNA of the Church. Because
Christianity was the incubator of Western civilization, that gene was
passed on. That origin story gave Christians and a Christianity-influenced
culture a litany of oppositions: the Church against the Synagogue, the New
Testament against the Old Testament, grace against law, faith against
works, Easter against Passover, Sunday against Saturday, Portia against
Shylock—and always, the Christian God of Love against the Jewish God of
Vengeance."

>"An old squeezing of a Manichaean vise is at work, and during Holy Week
that dynamic shows up with rare clarity. That it is unconscious makes it
only more potent. The God of Love whom Jesus preached was the Jewish God;
Jesus was a committed Jew until the day he died. If Christians had not
forgotten that, the history of the past two thousand years would
undoubtedly be very different. And so would be, especially during Holy
Week, the place of Jews today"

By: James Carroll
Published in: *The New Yorker*
Date: March 28, 2024

The Gospel narratives of the passion and death of Jesus have, across
centuries, framed how Jews are perceived.

This Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate the peace and
renewal promised by Easter, but at the heart of Holy Week liturgies leading
up to the feast are a set of texts that have had brutal consequences for
Jews, not just in the past, but in the present. The Gospel narratives of
the passion and death of Jesus have, across centuries, framed how Jews are
perceived. The response to the tragic events now unfolding in Gaza and
Israel requires a fresh look at this unresolved and expressly Christian
quandary. The lesson may be familiar, but it has urgent relevance.

An unfathomed thermal current long running below the surface of a broad
culture—call it the culture of “the West”—is still being tapped, even if
unconsciously. That current was first generated roughly two thousand years
ago, in the way that early followers of Jesus told the story of the
Crucifixion, as a crime laid at the feet of the Jews. After the Holocaust
made plain that the “Christ-killer” slander was part of what prepared the
way for the mass murder of Jews, the trope was repudiated by the Second
Vatican Council, in the 1965 declaration Nostra Aetate. “What happened in
His passion,” the fathers of the Roman Catholic council said, “cannot be
charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against
the Jews of today.”

But there was a problem. The Gospels themselves explicitly lodge the
Christ-killer charge: for example, in 

[Goanet] Watch: Interview with Prof. Ashutosh Varshney- Has Kejriwal's Arrest & Financial Action Against Congress Impaired India's Electoral Democracy?

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 29, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9onXnL2xSBU

"Join us live to hear Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of
International Studies and Social Sciences at Brown University, discuss one
of the most critical questions of our time. Is India still an electoral
democracy? Many people would say questions about India’s status as a
liberal democracy have become irrefutable but now, with Arvind Kejriwal’s
arrest and financial action against the Congress Party, has a bigger issue
arisen? Does India continue as an electoral democracy? Join us live at 5.00
p.m. to hear Ashutosh Varshney’s answer."

[Goanet] Indian politics roiled as huge donations are linked to investigated firms

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Jalan’s [ 'Mahendra Kumar Jalan was an Indian millionaire (whose) companies
confidentially donated millions to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Bharatiya Janata Party as he faced scrutiny from the Indian government’s
financial crimes investigators in 2019'] case was one of many subplots that
have burst into public view and roiled Indian politics and business after
the Indian Supreme Court forced a state-owned bank to disclose the buyers
and recipients of 'electoral bonds,' an arrangement introduced in 2017 that
allowed companies to give unlimited campaign contributions under a cloak of
confidentiality."

>"The resulting data dump has provided a rare glimpse into the machinery of
Indian politics, revealing how $2 billion have been secretly funneled by
Indian companies into political parties since 2018, with roughly half going
toward the ruling BJP. And the disclosures have caused a public furor just
weeks before the country votes in a national election that political
scientists predict could be the world’s most expensive, at a cost of $15
billion, outstripping even the expected price tag of the 2024 U.S.
presidential election."

>"The records show, Indian companies gave donations just as they received
major government contracts — a familiar practice around the world. But
there was a more striking pattern: Almost half of the top 30 corporate
donors were facing government investigations around the time they purchased
electoral bonds. The unsettling conclusion reached by Indian political
observers is that either Indian business titans have been regularly seeking
to bribe their way out of trouble — or the BJP-controlled government has
been using investigative agencies to extort them."

>“'Even if quid quo pro cannot be proven legally, the new data is, at a
minimum, consistent with the idea that money is being given by businesses
to prevent further legal action by agencies under government control,'
said Neelanjan
Sircar, an expert on Indian politics at the Center for Policy Research in
New Delhi."

>“It’s like a 1980s Bollywood movie where the Bombay don sends his street
goons to say, ‘You pay us and nothing will happen to you,’ said Atishi, ['a
minister of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that rules New Delhi and
Punjab state']. Elections were designed so that no ruling party could
exercise its existing authority to keep winning elections, but this
framework is being dismantled piece by piece.”

-
By:  Gerry Shih and Anant Gupta
Published in: *The Washington Post*
Date: March 28, 2024


NEW DELHI — Mahendra Kumar Jalan was an Indian millionaire with a
diversified portfolio of food processing plants, dairy farms and commercial
real estate. As he faced scrutiny from the Indian government’s financial
crimes investigators in 2019, he began to put money in something else.


Jalan’s companies confidentially donated millions to Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, newly released records show. Jalan
eventually gifted a total of $42 million to the BJP while he was under
federal investigation.


Jalan’s case was one of many subplots that have burst into public view and
roiled Indian politics and business after the Indian Supreme Court forced a
state-owned bank to disclose the buyers and recipients of “electoral
bonds,” an arrangement introduced in 2017 that allowed companies to give
unlimited campaign contributions under a cloak of confidentiality.


The resulting data dump has provided a rare glimpse into the machinery of
Indian politics, revealing how $2 billion have been secretly funneled by
Indian companies into political parties since 2018, with roughly half going
toward the ruling BJP. And the disclosures have caused a public furor just
weeks before the country votes in a national election that political
scientists predict could be the world’s most expensive, at a cost of $15
billion, outstripping even the expected price tag of the 2024 U.S.
presidential election.


In many instances, the records show, Indian companies gave donations just
as they received major government contracts — a familiar practice around
the world. But there was a more striking pattern: Almost half of the top 30
corporate donors were facing government investigations around the time they
purchased electoral bonds. The unsettling conclusion reached by Indian
political observers is that either Indian business titans have been
regularly seeking to bribe their way out of trouble — or the BJP-controlled
government has been using investigative agencies to extort them.


Neelanjan Sircar, an expert on Indian politics at the Center for Policy
Research in New Delhi, said Indian political parties have been known for
decades to “weaponize their enforcement and policing capabilities.”


“Where things have changed in the last 10 years is that the tools of
repression and harassment through financial investigations has
strengthened,” he said. “Even if quid quo pro cannot be 

[Goanet] This Easter, let’s not try to pretend Jesus was a ‘Palestinian Jew’

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus, but this year the holiday comes
with a twist: Jesus resurrected as Palestinian. Never mind that Jesus was
born and died a Jew in Judaea. From the pronouncement of a member of
Congress

 to the pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
,
Jesus is now heralded as a 'Palestinian' or, more delicately, as a
'Palestinian Jew.'”

>"Jesus was not 'Palestinian.' Nor was he a 'Palestinian Jew.'  This is so
for a simple reason: There was no political entity called 'Palestine' in
his lifetime. If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he was born in Judaea as a
Jew. He certainly died as one, under Rome’s heavy hand — the political
condition that led to the two Jewish revolts.


It was Roman colonizers who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine."


>"Why rehearse this well-known history? Because now, in the current crisis,
even Jesus is being enlisted for attacks on Israel. Calling Jesus a
'Palestinian' or even a 'Palestinian Jew' is all about modern politics.
Besides being historically false, the claim is inflammatory. For two
millennia, Jews have been blamed for Jesus’ execution
 by the Romans;
casting him as a Palestinian just stokes the fires of hate, using Jesus
against Jews once again."
-
By: Paula Fredriksen
Published in:  *The Washington Post*
Date: March 28, 2024

*Paula Fredriksen, Aurelio professor of scripture emerita at Boston
University, is a historian of ancient Christianity and the author of *“When
Christians Were Jews ”* and “**Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews* *.”*














*Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus, but this year the holiday comes
with a twist: Jesus resurrected as Palestinian. Never mind that Jesus was
born and died a Jew in Judaea. From the pronouncement of a member of
Congress

to
the pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
,
Jesus is now heralded as a “Palestinian” or, more delicately, as a
“Palestinian Jew.”Jesus made an appearance on social media as a
“Palestinian” around Christmas, and the meme has flourished since then
. The
gambit casts 1st-century Jews in the role of an occupying power and
“Palestinians” as their victims. Just as Herod, the king of Judaea in
Jesus’ time, persecuted the “Palestinian” holy family of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph, so, too, goes the claim, is modern Israel an occupying power
persecuting Palestinians today.So caught up were these advocates in their
own spin that they mischaracterized reality. In a Christmastime post on
Instagram
,
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) condemned modern Israelis as
“right-wing forces violently occupying Bethlehem.” But Bethlehem has been
administered by the Palestinian Authority
 since
1995. Once a significant majority there the Christian population plunged
from 86 percent in 1950

to
less than 12 percent in 2016.As for the Gaza Strip
,
it is even less hospitable to Christians. As the New Yorker reported
 in
January, a count by the Catholic Church in Gaza, “once home to a thriving
Christian community,” found just 1,017 Christians, amid a population
of more than 2 million
. After
seizing control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas ended the designation

of
Christmas as a public holiday and discouraged its celebration
.
The dwindling population of Gazan Christians has been harassed,
intimidated, even murdered
.
Were Jesus to show up in modern-day Gaza, he would find an extremely
hostile environment.So how did Jesus end up “Palestinian”?Roughly 3,000
years ago, on the eastern rim of the Mediterranean, a coastal confederation
of five cities stretched from Gaza into Lebanon. The Bible refers to this
zone as Philistia, the land of the Philistines. In 430 B.C., 

[Goanet] Watch: A Whistleblower on the Rot in India's Shrimp Exports

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 27, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxvDx3dKuLY

"The general manager of a shrimp packaging plant in Andhra Pradesh quit his
job in order to expose the chilling deceptions and violations in the
booming export industry: workers housed like animals, mistreated and
underpaid, and products – later sold by Walmart, ShopRite and Hannaford –
falsely labelled to cover up the use of prohibited antibiotics."

[Goanet] A Whistleblower on the Rot in India's Shrimp Exports

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 27, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxvDx3dKuLY

"The general manager of a shrimp packaging plant in Andhra Pradesh quit his
job in order to expose the chilling deceptions and violations in the
booming export industry: workers housed like animals, mistreated and
underpaid, and products – later sold by Walmart, ShopRite and Hannaford –
falsely labelled to cover up the use of prohibited antibiotics."

[Goanet] 100+ Rights Groups Alarmed by Rising Hindu Supremacy in the US

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>This ['Hindutva or Hindu nationalism'] political ideology, which was first
articulated in the early 20th century with direct inspiration
 from
Nazism, Fascism and other ideologies of racial subjugation, now finds
itself in a deepening alliance

with
various facets of the American far-right. Hindu supremacy poses a growing
threat to our core values of democracy, pluralism and justice, both in
India and here in the United States."

>"Hindu supremacist organizations may hide behind a facade of
multiculturalism and diversity, but in practice they have worked to break
bonds of solidarity between communities and legitimize far-right politics
within communities of color—including by attacking civil rights groups
; collaborating

with
far-right demagogues; spreading anti-Muslim disinformation

; opposing affirmative action

 and caste protections

for
marginalized communities; and working to curb free speech and academic
freedom

."

>"The deeply anti-Muslim project of Hindu supremacy began and continues to
function as a dominant caste project, and its history is littered with
examples of violence against Muslims

and
other religious 
 minorities

, caste-oppressed groups

 and indigenous peoples

. "


Source:
https://m.thewire.in/article/world/100-rights-groups-alarmed-by-rising-hindu-supremacy-in-the-us/amp
thewire.in

100+ Rights Groups Alarmed by Rising Hindu Supremacy in the US
The Wire Staff
March 26, 2024

--

*New Delhi: *More than 100 civil society organisations have issued a
declaration standing expressing “acute concern about the alarming rise of
Hindu supremacy, also known as Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, in the United
States”. The Hindu Right, they say, “now finds itself in a deepening
alliance with various facets of the American far-right”.

Read the full declaration below.

Read the full declaration and list of signatories below.

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, express our acute
concern about the alarming rise of Hindu supremacy, also known as Hindutva
or Hindu nationalism, in the United States. This political ideology, which
was first articulated in the early 20th century with direct inspiration
 from
Nazism, Fascism and other ideologies of racial subjugation, now finds
itself in a deepening alliance

with
various facets of the American far-right. Hindu supremacy poses a growing
threat to our core values of democracy, pluralism and justice, both in
India and here in the United States.

We stand steadfast in solidarity with Savera ,
a new united front that represents the true Indian-American majority, and
that has brought together an interfaith, multiracial, anti-caste coalition
of organizations and activists to resist supremacist politics of all kinds.

Hindu supremacist organizations may hide behind a facade of
multiculturalism and diversity, but in practice they have worked to break
bonds of solidarity between communities and legitimize far-right politics
within communities of color—including by attacking civil rights groups
; collaborating

with
far-right demagogues; spreading anti-Muslim disinformation

; opposing affirmative action

[Goanet] Watch: If PMLA Is Misused, Nation Will Suffer: Justice Ujjal Bhuyan Supreme Court Judge

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

Published in: *LiveLaw*
Date: March 26, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdRRN43SG9s
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Dinesh. K. Vohra - "Stay in jail or resign. BJP government is scared of Kejriwal : LIVE"

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

THIS INTERVIEW IS PERHAPS WORTH YOUR TIME.
PLEASE SHARE IF SO, THANK YOU.

By: Anand Vardhan Singh
Published in: *The Public India*
Date: March 25, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswq9yrp2sI
NOTE: This interview is in Hindi

[Goanet] Kejriwal's Arrest Takes India From the Rule of Law into the Rule of a Tyrant

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"With the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, the hugely popular serving chief
minister of Delhi, Narendra Modi has crossed the *lakshman rekha *– that
uncrossable, invisible line* – *betweenthe Rule of Law and the rule of a
tyrant."

>"Now, with his third election battle imminent, he has finally crossed the
line. Modi had shown scant regard for this line even when he was the chief
minister of Gujarat, where he shored up his popularity by constantly
stoking communal tension in the state.

Modi has used democracy to capture power – only in order to destroy it.
Hitler had done the same thing in Germany in 1933, Mohammed Morsi in Egypt
in 2012, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey in 2016."

>"Modi broke one opposition party after the other, till there were only
regional parties left relatively unscathed. The sole exceptions were the
Congress, the Trinamool Congress in Bengal, and the Aam Aadmi Party. Now
Modi has turned his guns upon these last holdouts for democracy."

>"Kejriwal’s courage in confronting Modi’s tyranny has provided a torch
with which to light the fire of battle in the rest of democratic India. And
it seems as if non-BJP parties are responding."
-

By: Prem Shankar Jha
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 24, 2024
Source: https://thewire.in/politics/arvind-kejriwal-arrest-modi-rule-of-law
Only a united opposition that uses every medium to reach the people and
inform them of the danger they are in, will help.

With the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, the hugely popular serving chief
minister of Delhi, Narendra Modi has crossed the *lakshman rekha *– that
uncrossable, invisible line* – *betweenthe Rule of Law and the rule of a
tyrant.

He has been edging towards this, step by step, ever since he came to power
in 2014.

Now, with his third election battle imminent, he has finally crossed the
line. Modi had shown scant regard for this line even when he was the chief
minister of Gujarat, where he shored up his popularity by constantly
stoking communal tension in the state.

Modi has used democracy to capture power – only in order to destroy it.
Hitler had done the same thing in Germany in 1933, Mohammed Morsi in Egypt
in 2012, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey in 2016.

Modi moved cautiously during his first term in office, consolidating his
none-too-strong support base within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by
taking up long cherished programmes of the latter such as the crusade
against the bogey of love jihad, the ruse of *ghar**wapsi* and the law to
abolish triple talaq.

In his second term, he pushed the Citizenship Amendment Act, the abolition
of Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 in 2019 and a uniform civil
code for all Indians, regardless of their religious affiliation.

These achievements should have sufficed, but paranoia is an incurable
condition.

In 2019 Modi won 303 seats against 282 in 2014, making the BJP the first
non-Congress dominant party in the Indian political system. But this did
not assuage his gnawing insecurity. In the succeeding four years he turned
the National Investigation Agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and
above all the Enforcement Directorate into weapons for use against the
leaders of all the main opposition parties, giving them the choice of being
sent to jail without trial and with little hope of bail, often without
framing a single actual charge against them that they could bring to a
court of law, or joining the BJP.

Also read: The Great Crossover: Opposition Leaders Who Joined the BJP After
Action by Central Agencies


By this stratagem, Modi broke one opposition party after the other, till
there were only regional parties left relatively unscathed. The sole
exceptions were the Congress, the Trinamool Congress in Bengal, and the Aam
Aadmi Party. Now Modi has turned his guns upon these last holdouts for
democracy.

Though that was not their intention, by answering the summons of the ED and
allowing themselves to be questioned for over several hours
,
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have implicitly accepted Modi’s supremacy.
Now Modi has turned his guns on the last but-one holdout, Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal has fought Modi tooth and nail since his first day in office after
his party’s sensational victory in 2015, in which it garnered 53% of the
votes and won 67 out of 70 Vidhan Sabha seats. To further sharpen the
contrast between itself and the BJP, AAP has projected an image of having
done a lot for the people with little money.

To Modi this was unacceptable. Since then Kejriwal has been his bête noire,
to be destroyed by any means possible.

As I have noted before
, AAP’s
new liquor policy – the case over which 

[Goanet] Kerala Government sues President Murmu for withholding assent for Bills

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"In an unprecedented move, the Kerala Government on March 23 sued
President Droupadi Murmu for withholding assent for the four Bills passed
by the Kerala Legislature without disclosing any reasons and Kerala
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for keeping the Bills pending for a long and
indefinite period and later reserving them for the consideration of the
President."

>"The State contends that the actions of the Union Government in advising
the President to withhold assent to Bills passed by the Legislative
Assembly 11 to 24 months back, which were wholly within the domain of the
State Government, subverted and disrupted the federal structure of the
Constitution. It was also a grave encroachment into the domain entrusted to
the State under the Constitution, it argued."

>"The reservation of the Bills by the Governor after keeping them pending
for up to 24 months was a deliberate attempt to avoid carrying out his
constitutional duty and functions under Article 200 of the Constitution.
Hence the reference of the Bills to the President has to be held to be
unconstitutional, the State would argue."
---
Source:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/kerala-government-sues-president-murmu-for-withholding-assent-for-bills/article67983464.ece
Kerala Government sues President Murmu for withholding assent for Bills
K S Sudhi
March 23, 2024
The State Government also appealed against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed
Khan for keeping the Bills pending for a long and indefinite period and
later reserving them for the consideration of the President

In an unprecedented move, the Kerala Government on March 23 sued President
Droupadi Murmu for withholding assent for the four Bills passed by the
Kerala Legislature without disclosing any reasons and Kerala Governor Arif
Mohammed Khan for keeping the Bills pending for a long and indefinite
period and later reserving them for the consideration of the President.

The act of the President in withholding the assent for the four Bills
without giving any reason was highly arbitrary and in violation of Articles
14, 200 and 201 of the Constitution. The reference of the seven Bills to
the President

has to be recalled on the grounds of Constitutional morality, the State has
argued.

*Also Read | What was Kerala Governor doing for 2 years on Bills, asks
Supreme Court
*

The State has listed the Secretary to the President, the Kerala Governor
and the Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor as respondents in the
writ petition filed before the Supreme Court.

Kerala would be represented in the top court by a senior lawyer,
specialising in Constitutional matters and C.K. Sasi, its Standing Counsel.

The State contends that the actions of the Union Government in advising the
President to withhold assent to Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly 11
to 24 months back, which were wholly within the domain of the State
Government, subverted and disrupted the federal structure of the
Constitution. It was also a grave encroachment into the domain entrusted to
the State under the Constitution, it argued.

The reasons assigned by the Governor for reserving the Bills for the
consideration of the President had nothing to do with the Union of India or
the relationship between the Legislature of Kerala and the Union of India.
The actions of the Governor subverted the delicate balance envisaged by the
Constitution between the three organs of State, by rendering the
functioning of the elected executive, which drafted and introduced the
Bills, and then the State Legislature, which passed the Bills, wholly
ineffective and otiose. His actions also subverted the federal structure of
the Constitution, by reserving Bills, which are wholly within the domain of
the State under the Constitution, for the President, it contends.

The Governor, who reserved the seven Bills, avoided a decision from the
Supreme Court by bundling up seven of the eight pending Bills and referring
them to the President. The actions of the Governor lacked bona fides and
were not in good faith. The reservation of the Bills by the Governor after
keeping them pending for up to 24 months was a deliberate attempt to avoid
carrying out his constitutional duty and functions under Article 200 of the
Constitution. Hence the reference of the Bills to the President has to be
held to be unconstitutional, the State would argue.

[Goanet] Watch: The crackdown on India’s political opposition

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Sreenivasan Jain
Published in: *Aljazeera*
Date: March 21, 2024
Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-india-report/2024/3/21/the-crackdown-on-indias-political-opposition

"The India Report on Al Jazeera
The crackdown on India’s political opposition
Elections are weeks away in India and opposition parties are attempting to
take on the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term.
The opposition claims that Modi’s success rate has very little to do with
his governance – but more because scores of his political rivals have been
arrested or charged on questionable grounds. They say it has kneecapped the
opposition and gamed the political arena in favour of the governing party.
In this episode of The India Report, Sreenivasan Jain examines whether
these actions are – as the Prime Minister claims – part of his crusade
against high-level corruption, or an unprecedented campaign against the
opposition which is deeply dangerous to India’s democracy."

"Featuring:
Derek O’Brien – Member of Indian Parliament
Adish Aggarwala – President, Supreme Court Bar Association
Anjali Bhardwaj – Founder, Satark Nagrik Sangathan
Priyanka Kakkar – Chief Spokesperson, AAP
Maya Tudor – Professor, Blavatnik School of Government"

[Goanet] Modi’s Party Doesn’t Control All of India. But He’s Working on It.

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

>"The news media, the national legislature, civil society, sometimes even
the courts — all have largely been bent to his [Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's] will. But one critical group of holdouts remains: some of India’s
richest states, the engine of its rapid growth."

>"They [ his opponents] accuse Mr. Modi’s administration of delaying
federal money for major projects; of jailing or hounding opposition leaders
while shielding anyone who joins the prime minister’s party; of obstructing
the delivery of basic services; and of throwing state politics into chaos."

>"Mr. Modi offers a simple solution: for the states governed by parties
other than his Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., to come on board."

>"If they do not comply, the states get wrench after wrench thrown into the
works of their governments, officials say, making it difficult for them to
deliver on election promises. The B.J.P., relentlessly expanding its base,
waits in the wings."

>“'You’re playing with fire,' India’s chief justice, Dhananjaya Yeshwant
Chandrachud, told the central government
 after the
governor in the opposition-controlled state of Punjab repeatedly prevented
legislative work. 'Will we continue to be a parliamentary democracy?'”

>"The party’s deputy leader and a key cabinet minister have been in jail
for over a year. On Thursday, in a dramatic nighttime raid, government
agents arrested Arvind Kejriwa

l

, the party’s leader and Delhi’s chief minister, whom they have accused of
financial crimes. He is the first serving chief minister to be arrested."

>"The biggest federal-state fault line pits the more prosperous south
against Mr. Modi’s support base in the north."

>"In opposition-held states, Mr. Modi has offered infrastructure and
welfare projects, branded with his name or that of his office, to pitch
himself as India’s only driver of development and growth."
--
By: Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar -- Reporting from Chennai and New Delhi in
India
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: March 23, 2024
As an election nears, political strife between Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and opposition-held states is straining the federal formula that holds
India together.


It is the final frontier for India’s most powerful leader in decades.

Narendra Modi, over his 10 years as prime minister, has made it his mission
to turn a complex and diverse country of 1.4 billion people into something
approaching a monolith dominated by his sweeping Hindu nationalist vision.

The news media, the national legislature, civil society, sometimes even the
courts — all have largely been bent to his will. But one critical group of
holdouts remains: some of India’s richest states, the engine of its rapid
growth.

The future shape of the world’s largest democracy — and its economic
trajectory — may rest on the power struggle that has ensued.

Mr. Modi, who is well placed to win a third term in a national election
that will begin on April 19, is wielding an increasingly heavy hand in what
his opponents call an unfair effort to drive out the governments of the
states his party does not control.

They accuse Mr. Modi’s administration of delaying federal money for major
projects; of jailing or hounding opposition leaders while shielding anyone
who joins the prime minister’s party; of obstructing the delivery of basic
services; and of throwing state politics into chaos.

The tensions are tearing at India’s delicate federal formula of power
sharing and political competition, the glue holding the country together
across 28 states and eight territories.

Regional leaders have described the behavior of the central government,
which holds more power than in federal systems like the United States’, as
that of a colonial overlord. In the south, the most developed and
innovative part of India, officials have spoken of a “separate nation” for
their region if the “patterns of injustice” continue.


Mr. Modi and his lieutenants have in turn accused the state leaders of
harboring a “separatist mind-set” and pursuing politics that could “break
the nation.”

India’s move toward more centralized governance could hurt its overall
growth, analysts say, as such efforts have done in the past. Big national
spending programs focus on basic development problems that the south mostly
solved decades ago. If that region’s freedom to make investments based on
its own needs is restricted, the effects could be far-reaching.

“It is ultimately self-destructive,” said P.T. Rajan, a cabinet minister in
the government of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Modi offers a simple solution: for the states governed by parties other
than his Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., to come on board.

He often draws on automotive terminology to 

[Goanet] Watch Interview: With Anjali Bhardwaj - Primetime: What the Electoral Bond Scam, Kejriwal Arrest Tell Us About the State of Indian Democracy

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 22, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlEhy_QHQzs
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source

"Anjali Bhardwaj of the Satark Nagrik Sangathan speaks to Siddharth
Varadarajan of The Wire."

"Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) or Society for Citizens Vigilance
Initiatives (SCVI), set up in 2003, is a citizens’ group with a mandate to
promote transparency and accountability in government functioning and to
ensure active participation of citizens in governance. We are not
affiliated to, or supported by, any political party.

Our endeavour is to *empower people* to fight corruption and the arbitrary
exercise of power and participate in the effective utilization of public
funds.

SNS creates awareness about the *Right to Information Act, 2005* and seeks
to enable citizens’ participation in governance by using the RTI law to
obtain information about the various activities of the government. Access
to information empowers people to mobilize and meaningfully engage with
government functionaries to hold them accountable and ensure delivery of
basic rights and entitlements. It also results in meaningful participation
of citizens in the allocation of public funds to ensure that funds are
spent to address critical development needs."

[Goanet] Kejriwal Acting As CM From Jail, 'Atrocious Behaviour' of TN Gov RN Ravi Shows Constitutional Crisis

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

By: Karan Thapar
Published in: *The Wire*
Date: March 22, 2024
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHmdNTNR0yA
*Note*: The transcript is embedded in the source.

"In an interview to discuss two dramatic developments that occurred
yesterday – the late night arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
and the damning strictures passed by the Supreme Court against Tamil Nadu
Governor R. N. Ravi – a former Lt. Governor of Delhi has said the claim
that Mr. Kejriwal can function as Chief Minister from inside Tihar jail is
'a joke … it’s quite nonsensical' adding 'practically speaking it’s
absolutely impossible.'”