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Category: India

  • China Warns Of Retaliation As US Pushes 100% Tariffs

    Last week, US President Donald Trump demanded that his European allies impose a 100% tariff against China and India for importing oil from Russia. He apparently promised the European envoy that he would match Europe and impose similar tariffs against both countries.

    Trump has accused China and India of funding the war in Ukraine by importing oil from Russia.

    This was confirmed by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday in an interview with Reuters. He claimed that his country will not impose more tariffs on China and India over Russian oil imports until the Europeans do it.

    In response, China reiterated that no amount of external pressure or coercion will make it compromise its “sovereignty, security and development interests” and warned that if its “legitimate rights and interests are harmed” in any way it will “resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard” them.

    The post China Warns Of Retaliation As US Pushes 100% Tariffs appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Seven International NGOs demand unconditional release of Indian HRD Umar Khalid

    On 12 September, 2025 the seven rights groups described Khalid’s prolonged imprisonment as a “violation of his rights” and an instance of “selective persecution”, asserting that he was arrested on “politically motivated and spurious charges” on 13 September 2020.

    Alongside Amnesty International, the signatories include: CIVICUS, FORUM-ASIA, Front Line Defenders. International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

    The statement expressed deep concern over the invocation of the anti-terror law UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and the repeated denial of bail to Khalid.

    “These repeated bail denials combined with persistent delays, and the continued absence of trial proceedings, amount to a violation of his right to a fair trial, including speedy trial, guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party, as well as under the Constitution of India,” the statement read.

    The groups further highlighted the unequal application of bail standards, particularly in cases related to the 2020 Delhi riots and anti-CAA protests, saying:

    “We are further concerned about the discriminatory application of bail standards in cases arising from the violence surrounding the CAA protests and more broadly in cases involving the UAPA. While similarly situated accused have been granted bail, Khalid continues to be denied relief. Such unequal treatment violates the principle of equality before the law and sets a deeply troubling precedent.”

    The rights organizations also drew attention to the role of the Delhi Police and political leaders during the 2020 Delhi riots, where Khalid and other Muslim activists were implicated.

    “Independent investigations, including by Amnesty International India, Human Rights Watch and Delhi Minorities Commission, have documented the role of the Delhi Police in human rights violations during the CAA protests and the ensuing violence,” the statement said.
    “Police officers were recorded engaging in beatings, torture and other ill-treatment, and arbitrary arrests, and in some cases standing by as mobs attacked protesters.”

    The statement noted that Indian courts have repeatedly criticized the police investigations, describing them as: “Very poor,” “callous,” and “fraught with multiple flaws,” with documented instances of fabricated cases and manipulated records.

    It further condemned the role of senior political leaders, who were seen delivering inflammatory hate speeches, branding protesters as “traitors” or “anti-nationals”, and openly inciting violence.

    “Despite the existence of video and documentary evidence, no meaningful accountability measures have been taken against implicated political figures or police officials,” the statement added.

    The rights groups emphasized that Khalid’s prolonged detention is not an isolated incident, but part of a larger pattern of repression against those exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association.

    “Other students and human rights activists, including Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Shifa-ur-Rehman and Meeran Haider, also remain in detention for their peaceful opposition to the CAA, while police officials and political leaders responsible for incitement or complicity in violence continue to enjoy impunity,” the groups noted.
    “This selective prosecution erodes public trust in the justice system, entrenches impunity for state actors, and criminalises free expression.”

    The seven international organizations demand:

    The immediate and unconditional release of Umar Khalid

    The equal application of bail standards

    An end to the discriminatory treatment of human rights defenders

    Accountability for police officers and political leaders implicated in incitement and violence

    The repeal of the UAPA.

    https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/india-umar-khalids-five-year-imprisonment-without-trial-exemplifies-derailment-of-justice/

    https://thehindustangazette.com/latest-news/selective-persecution-seven-international-rights-groups-demand-unconditional-release-of-umar-khalid-39661

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • The Science Museum just held held a party for climate criminal and genocide-enabler Adani

    On Monday 15 September, the Science Museum in London held a private cocktails and canapés reception for one of its key sponsors, genocide profiteer and prolific human rights violator Adani.

    In the wake of this, campaigners are ramping up calls for a full cultural and educational boycott of the museum for its gross greenwashing for big polluters.

    Adani at the Science Museum: cocktails and canapés for the climate criminal

    The company became the sponsor for the museum’s new ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery. Opening in 2023, this replaced the Shell-sponsored ‘Atmosphere’ gallery.

    The conglomerate is involved in large-scale coal mining. It is one of the foremost companies profiting from the polluting industry driving the climate crisis.

    As India’s biggest coal producer, it has been at the centre of violent displacements of Indigenous Adivasi people from their ancestral lands. It has an extensive record of human rights abuses against the Indigenous population. Alongside this, the company has a chequered history of workers’ rights violations. It has subjected its employees to inhumane conditions which have led to injuries and deaths at its facilities.

    And while the museum sponsorship is through its renewables arm Adani Green Energy, the group is ramping up its production of coal. On 13 September it announced a new agreement for an additional 2,400MW power plant in Bhagalpur.

    Adani is also the operator of Israel’s Haifa port, through which countries are supplying it with the fuel and weapons its using in its genocide. It is a manufacturer of drones in partnership with Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems. Of course, Israel has used these to brutally massacre Palestinians in Gaza.

    Yet, despite ethical issues around the group, the Science Museum has given the Adani name a huge presence within the museum. It has ignored the group’s role in exacerbating global issues of climate crisis and enabling war crimes.

    Once again, the museum’s shameful greenwashing for the coal giant was on full display at this latest schmooze-fest.

    Adani execs: awash with bribery allegations

    Adani held its private reception for investors inside the Science Museum’s ‘Energy Revolution: Adani Green Energy Gallery’. As around 50-60 smartly dressed guests arrived, activists greeted them by unfurling a banner at the museum doorway which read:

    The Science Museum: complicit in human rights buses, fraud, bribery, climate destruction, genocide.

    The cocktails and canapés event coincided with a series of in-person investor meetings hosted by the Adani Group. Between 15 -17 September the ports, coal and green energy arms of the conglomerate came together for these in London.

    The event comes after the museum confirmed earlier this year that it was “monitoring developments” after the US issued arrest warrants for senior Adani executives. This included billionaire Chairman Gautam Adani. The warrants were over their alleged role in a major $265m bribery scheme. Ironically, the bribery allegations revolved around a solar project the company has showcased in its Energy Revolution gallery.

    As the Art Newspaper reported, previous Freedom of Information requests showed that the Science Museum:

    produced an internal due diligence report which identified instances of alleged corruption and fraud, as well as human rights concerns associated with the Adani Group.

    Outrageously however, the Science Museum has obstinately maintained its ties with Adani and hosted this function. This is also despite the clear anti-bribery positions in its own ethics policy, which states that:

    The Science Museum Group will not accept donations, sponsorship or grants where the donor has acted, or believed to have acted, illegally in the acquisition of funds or where there are concerns of fraud, money laundering or other financial crime.

    In bed with BP too

    For the last four years, climate crisis and pro-Palestine campaigners have been holding the museum’s feet under the fire for its problematic sponsorships. The museum also hosts oil and gas company BP among its significant sponsors. This is despite the company’s long atrocious human rights and climate record.

    The fossil fuel major is complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. In November 2023, Israel awarded a number of Western energy companies, including BP, gas exploration licences in occupied Palestinian waters. Alongside this, BP is the operator and largest shareholder of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The pipeline has supplied Israel with 28% of its oil during its genocide.

    Notably, BP worked with the Science Museum to establish its Energy Gallery in 2003. Today, BP sponsors the museums STEM ‘Training Academy’. This trains teachers on how to deliver science education. And until recently, it also hosted the annual awards ceremony of its ‘Ultimate STEM Challenge’ in the museum.

    A full cultural and educational boycott

    In the wake of this new appalling greenwashing event, groups are calling for a full educational, cultural, and academic boycott of the Science Museum.

    Fossil Free Science Museum, Parents for Palestine, Culture Unstained, Education Climate Coalition, and others are spearheading this until it drops Adani as a sponsor.

    As part of this, the Education Climate Coalition is hosting an online webinar on Thursday 18 September.

    As one boycotting school headteacher said:

    discussing with students then agreeing to join this boycott was one of the best educational lessons; our students now have a greater understanding of the importance to uphold moral standards and the power of our collective voice.

    The webinar, designed for educators, will be exploring the following questions:

    • Did you know that the Science Museum’s sponsors, Adani and BP, are both ramping up fossil fuel extraction, are complicit in the genocide in Gaza and guilty of human rights abuses globally?
    • Is the Science Museum compromising itself and its reputation among young people and the educational community by offering these companies a promotional platform?
    • Can educators trust the educational materials made through the Science Museum’s STEM Academy, knowing that they’re funded by fossil fuel companies?
    • If trustees are resigning over this, what message is this sending to our students by maintaining their sponsorship?

    The webinar will feature speakers from the NEU, London Mining Network, Culture Unstained, South Asia Solidarity Group, Ministry for EcoEducation, and DeSmog. The NEU will outline support for any teacher or school joining the boycott.

    Parents pulling up the museum for its problematic partnerships

    It will build on the success of boycott partners like Parents for Palestine, which launched its ‘Press Pause on School Trips’ campaign in May 2025.

    The group has highlighted that school trips are an integral part of a child’s learning and exposure to different ways of seeing the world. But its campaign points out that asking a school to cancel a trip to the Science Museum is not a loss – there are many alternatives. It offers an opportunity for educators to introduce into their classroom topics of climate justice and human rights, including the human impact of fossil fuel production, as well as Palestinian culture, history, and the current genocide.

    Science Museum director Ian Blatchford has claimed that visitors support the Science Museum’s corporate partnerships. Yet in 2021, over 500 teachers pledged to boycott the museum over its support of the billionaire coal producer. And in April, the National Education Union (NEU) – the largest education union – passed the following motion during its conference:

    Support a campaign for schools to boycott the Science Museum Group while they are sponsored by Adani and BP.

    Since it launched its campaign, the group has got 14 schools to agree to boycott the Science Museum. Nearly 500 parents have been involved in the campaign. So far, they have called on 34 schools to cut ties with the greenwashing institution.

    Parents for Palestine member Leila Hoballah said:

    Parents are shocked when they find out about the Science Museum’s partnerships with Adani and BP. This boycott campaign is a practical and easy way to take action. It raises awareness among our school communities and shows that we can have the power to make changes and ensure our kids’ education is not exploited to legitimise dirty profits.

    To join the Science Museum boycott webinar, educators and the public can sign up here.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Pressure Mounts on Indian Government over “Genocidal” Great Nicobar Mega-project

    Shompen people in riverShompen band traversing a river on Great Nicobar Island. © Anthropological Survey of India

    Calls are growing for the Indian government to scrap its controversial Great Nicobar project after it suffered a series of setbacks in recent weeks

    They include:

    • The Tribal Affairs Ministry has demanded answers from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ authorities after it emerged that they had wrongly claimed the project had the consent of the Indigenous peoples of the islands, whose lands are set to be devastated by it. This has been confirmed by the Great Nicobar Tribal Council.

    • The main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has come out strongly against the project, with both Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress Parliamentary Chair Sonia Gandhi raising serious concerns about its impact on the mostly uncontacted Shompen and the Nicobarese peoples.

    • The estimated cost of the project has risen dramatically – the latest government estimates say it will now cost more than US $10 billion, compared to the 2020 figure of just over $1 billion.

    • A series of earthquakes in the region have underlined the warnings of seismologists and geologists that building a huge infrastructure project in one of the world’s most active seismic zones is a recipe for disaster.

    Last year 39 international genocide experts wrote to the Indian President, describing the mega-project as a “death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide”. They called for the scheme to be immediately abandoned.

    Survival International’s Director Caroline Pearce said: “With every passing week it’s becoming clearer that this project is a disaster waiting to happen – from every perspective. It’s a scandalous violation of international human rights law; it will be disastrous for the Shompen and Nicobarese people whose lives are at stake and whose livelihoods will be destroyed; its price tag is now astronomical; and it all stands every chance of coming crashing down when the next major earthquake strikes, as it inevitably will. The government must now abide by its own laws and scrap this ill-conceived project.”

    Editors’ note:

    • The Indian government plans to transform Great Nicobar Island into the ‘Hong Kong of India’. The Great Nicobar project involves the creation of a mega-port; a city; an international airport; a power station; a military base; an industrial park; and tourism zones, spread over more than 244 square km of land, including 130 square km of rainforest.
    • Experts estimate that 10 million trees will be destroyed in the mega project’s creation.
    • The government claims it will offset the rainforest loss by planting trees in the scrublands of North India. Crocodiles and thousands of coral colonies would be translocated to other parts of the island.
    • The mega-project will take up around a third of the island – half of it within the official Tribal Reserve.
    • The project would create a massive population explosion. Currently an estimated 8,000 people live there. The government plans to settle up to 650,000 people under the scheme, a population the size of Las Vegas. In addition to the inherent problems of a sudden population rise, it would drastically increase the Shompen’s exposure to outside diseases for which they have no immunity, and which could wipe them out.
    • The government plans to encourage 1 million tourists and others to visit the island every year.
    • For more information on the Great Nicobar project and its effects on the Shompen and Nicobarese, see Survival’s 2025 report.
    The post Pressure Mounts on Indian Government over “Genocidal” Great Nicobar Mega-project first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Iconic Indian Fast-Food Chain Haldiram’s Adds Plant-Based Meat to Menu

    haldiram vegan
    3 Mins Read

    Haldiram’s, one of India’s largest food companies, has teamed up with plant protein player GoodDot to put its soy-based meat alternative on its menu.

    One of India’s most popular restaurant chains is embracing plant proteins, opening up access to tens of millions of vegetarian customers.

    Haldiram’s, which has been around since 1937, has partnered with Udaipur-based GoodDot to add its soya chaap – a staple soy-based meat alternative in India – to its menu.

    The meat-free product will feature in Haldiram’s tandoori platter at all its stores in the national capital region, which encompasses the cities of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and more.

    Haldiram’s bet on plant-based is a big deal

    haldirams gooddot
    Courtesy: Haldiram’s

    Founded in 2016, GoodDot is one of India’s earliest and most well-established plant-based meat players, with a product range spanning mutton-style bites, chicken-like chunks, BBQ tikkas, biryani, and even an egg-free scramble.

    Its shelf-stable soya chaap is made from soybean flour, wheat protein, whole wheat and refined wheat flours, and gram flour. It contains 15.4g of protein and 3.5g of fibre per 100g, with zero cholesterol and only 0.2g of fat.

    The ready-to-use product can be used in a variety of recipes, from curries and kebabs to stir-fries and salads, and caters to Indians looking for clean-label, additive-free protein options.

    Having raised $7M in funding to date, GoodDot has expanded its offerings to international markets too, including the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and the UAE (among others). It also operates a spin-off foodservice business, GoodDo, with 15 locations across Mumbai and Udaipur.

    Haldiram’s, meanwhile, began as a CPG company making confectionery and snacks, before expanding into a fully vegetarian restaurant chain that has become a household name among Indians both at home and abroad. Last year, its revenues surpassed $1.5B.

    The food giant exports to 80 countries, including Singapore, whose state-owned investor Temasek took a 10% stake in the business earlier this year. The deal valued Haldiram’s at $10B.

    “Soya chaap is one of the most crowded and competitive categories in India’s food space. Everyone sells it, from small stalls to big restaurants,” said GoodDot co-founder and CEO Abhishek Sinha. “And yet, when the country’s food giant […] chose GoodDot Soya Chaap, we are beyond thrilled.”

    gooddot soya chaap
    Courtesy: GoodDot

    Local dishes and affordability can win over consumers

    Research shows that low awareness and common misconceptions about plant-based meat have led to a lack of demand in restaurants, but chefs, restaurateurs and industry leaders suggest that these products need to be integrated into local cuisines to help position them as tasty and indulgent offerings on foodservice menus.

    This year, 37% of Indians said they were looking to add more plant-based proteins to their diets. And despite only 11% having given plant-based meat a go, more Indians want to increase their intake of these products (43%) than conventional meat (36%). In fact, two in five want to reduce the amount of meat they eat.

    Protein content and health are the most influential drivers of plant-based food consumption in the country- however, affordability is among the biggest barriers. Haldiram’s is known for its accessible prices and local cuisine, so GoodDot’s partnership with the chain fits right into these trends.

    It’s not the only major restaurant chain that is betting on meat-free protein in India. In July, McDonald’s announced the launch of its Protein Plus range, which adds 5g of soy, pea, and whey protein per ₹25 ($0.29) slice to any burger. It’s available in all of its outlets in West and South India.

    Meanwhile, plant proteins have also received a boost from the government. In the upcoming reform of its Goods and Services Tax, plant-based milk and texturised vegetable proteins (a common ingredient in meat analogues) will see their tax rate reduced from 12-18% to 5%, on par with milk beverages, butter, ghee, cheese, and sausages.

    The post Iconic Indian Fast-Food Chain Haldiram’s Adds Plant-Based Meat to Menu appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Protesters called out JCB’s ‘bulldozer genocide’ at the DSEI arms fair

    On Tuesday 9 September, campaigners coming together under the banner of #ShutDSEIDown blockaded the entrance to the three-day Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade exhibition in East London during its opening. Despite facing violent policing, as well as a small fascist presence, the protestors succeeded in effectively disrupting the obscene showcasing of the purveyors of war and genocide. The arms fair included no less than 51 Israeli companies:

    JCB at DSEI: profits covered in Palestinian blood

    British bulldozer manufacturer JCB, which Reform-supporting billionaire and peer Anthony Bamford owns, is one of the companies exhibiting its equipment at DSEI.

    Members of the Stop JCB Bulldozer Genocide campaign joined the protests. Campaigners held a banner with the slogan:

    JCB: Stop Bulldozer Genocide in Palestine, India and Kashmir

    They joined other protestors in vocally reminding the arms buyers and sellers attending that:

    your profits are covered in Palestinian blood

    And they told them how:

    you are killing children too.

    JCB at the heart of ethnic cleansing and genocide

    In January 2025, the Stop JCB campaign published a report. It detailed JCB’s role in ethnic cleansing and genocide in Palestine, India, and Kashmir.

    In Palestine, JCB operates through its sole dealer, the Israeli company Comasco. The corporation holds contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defence for the same model of JCB machines the Zionist settler state uses in the demolitions and construction of settlements.

    From as early as 2006, the Israeli military has been photographed demolishing Palestinian homes in the West Bank with JCB bulldozers.

    Currently, JCB is also complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese listed JCB in her July report. This was among numerous companies directly aiding and profiting from the genocide. Israel has long used armoured, unbranded JCB High Mobility Engineer Excavator (HMEE) machines, known as ‘Ami’ in Hebrew, and is now using them in Gaza.

    JCB propping up Hindu supremacist Narendra Modi’s government

    In India, Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has consistently used JCB bulldozers to demolish Muslim homes, shops, and places of worship across various Indian states. It’s part of an ongoing project disturbingly named ‘bulldozer justice’.

    In fact, JCB is so closely intertwined with this project that it has come to symbolise attacks on Muslims. Authorities have used JCB bulldozers to carry out both punitive and arbitrary demolitions. In the punitive demolitions, authorities destroy the homes of people the state accuses of crimes. This includes merely protesting against the BJP.

    In recent months, a targeted campaign of evictions, including demolitions by JCB bulldozers, has been underway across the country.

    Meanwhile, in the northeastern state of Assam, the state displaced 1080 families on July 12. On 17 July, police killed 19-year-old Sakuar Ali in the Goalpara district. According to Human Rights Watch, the BJP government is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens.

    Border Guard Bangladesh reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslims to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15. In July, around 3,400 Bengali Muslim homes were demolished in five eviction drives across Assam. In Siasat Nagar, Gujarat, authorities demolished 8,000 Muslim homes in May. And in the Wazirpur area of Delhi, JCB bulldozer demolitions in June have destroyed the homes, built several decades ago, of Dalit, oppressed caste and Muslim working class families. Originally migrants from Bihar, the state has offered them no rehabilitation.

    Housing demolitions and displacement in Kashmir

    In Kashmir, which is one of the most militarised zones on earth, Indian authorities have consistently used JCB machines in house demolitions during large-scale evictions. This is despite many residents providing proof of ownership.

    It is just one aspect of the Indian state’s broader regime of human rights violations of the Kashmiri people. This is particularly so since 2019, when the Indian government revoked the limited autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    In order to facilitate the entry of Indians and Indian capital, the state is acquiring land and property, and dispossessing local owners without any due process.

    JCB: Stop Bulldozer Genocide campaign at DSEI

    The campaign JCB: Stop Bulldozer Genocide is a coalition of organisations with two main demands. The first is that JCB must end its relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defence and cease all activities in occupied Palestine.

    The second is that JCB must commit to ensuring that its products are not used for human rights violations in India and Kashmir through robust monitoring and prevention systems. This includes making compulsory the use of its existing LiveLink technology to trace and locate JCB machines.

    JCB has routinely exhibited equipment – including the HMEE machines – at the annual DSEI exhibition.

    A member of the campaign stated over DSEI:

    DSEI is a hub for many of the most genocidal and warmongering companies in the world. JCB is no exception. They are proudly exhibiting the same machinery that is directly used to demolish homes, businesses and places of worship in Palestine, India and Kashmir, fuelling programmes of ethnic cleansing and genocide. JCB’s presence at DSEI is a reminder to the world that they are not just a construction company, but a producer of military equipment openly used to further war and violence. JCB defence products have been displayed at DSEI for years – we will not let this continue in peace so long as they remain complicit in genocide. JCB have blood on their hands

    Featured image supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Elephant And Dragon Choose Dialogue

    At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin on September 1, 2025, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met and publicly framed the relationship as “partners, not rivals.” Their readouts stressed dialogue on differences and cooperation on development – language that marks the clearest thaw since the 2020 Ladakh crisis.

    Two moves gave the reset substance, not just optics. First, India and China re-activated the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question in New Delhi on August 19, 2025, and second, they agreed to restart direct flights and expand people-to-people and business links, after a five-year freeze. These are communications channels that reduce miscalculation and restore some weight to a battered relationship.

    The post Elephant And Dragon Choose Dialogue appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Eurasia’s Re-Alignment In The Face Of Late Stage Barbarism

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s meetings in China last week (September 2 and 3) took a remarkable step forward in defining how the world will be dividing into two great blocks as Global Majority countries seek to free their economies not only from Donald Trump’s tariff chaos, but from the U.S.-sponsored increasingly Hot War attempts to impose unipolar control on the entire world’s economy by isolating countries seeking to resist this control with trade and monetary chaos as well as direct military confrontation.

    The SCO meetings became a pragmatic forum to define the basic principles that are to replace other countries’ trade, monetary and military independence from U.S. with mutual trade and investment among themselves, increasingly isolated from reliance on U.S. markets for their exports, U.S. credit for their domestic economies, and U.S. dollars for trade and investment transactions among themselves.

    The post Eurasia’s Re-Alignment In The Face Of Late Stage Barbarism appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • India Cuts Tax on Plant-Based Milk & Meat to Make Vegan Food More Accessible

    plant based tax india
    4 Mins Read

    The Indian government’s latest tax reform has brought plant-based meat and milk alternatives closer to parity with animal proteins.

    In a major win for the future food sector, India’s overhaul of its tax framework will narrow the gap between animal proteins and plant-based meat and milk.

    The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council approved the reforms announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, designed to “enhance the quality of life of every last citizen”.

    The move covers a wide range of products across industries like food, cosmetics, homeware, electronics, medicines, and transportation. Among these are vegan meat and milk alternatives, which are now taxed the same way as packaged animal meat and milk beverages.

    Tax relief for plant-based foods a ‘progressive’ move

    oat milk india
    Courtesy: Kingdom & Sparrow/Alt Co

    GST is a destination-based tax system that replaced indirect taxes like VAT and service tax across India in 2017, under Modi’s first term as prime minister.

    Until now, soy milk, texturised vegetable proteins (a common ingredient in meat analogues), nuts, and prepared fruits and vegetables have carried a GST rate of 12% and other plant-based milk alternatives have incurred an even steeper 18% tax rate.

    At the same time, fresh cow’s milk is not taxed, and most fresh meat either has a 5% levy or none at all. With the new reforms, the GST rate on all plant-based milk, meat alternatives and other vegan foods will be 5%.

    This puts them on par with several other animal proteins, which have also received a tax cut to 5%. This includes beverages containing milk, butter, ghee and dairy spreads, cheese, as well as sausages and preserved meat and seafood.

    Even nutritional yeast and microbial proteins stand to win from the GST changes, with inactive yeast and single-cell microorganisms both seeing GST rates lowered from 12% to 5%.

    “The considerable reduction in GST rates for plant-based foods is poised to increase accessibility to alternatives such as plant-based dairy and soy-based plant-based meat,” Astha Gaur, senior regulatory policy specialist at the Good Food Institute India, told Green Queen.

    “As the effect of these reductions trickles down to the consumers by making them more affordable, we remain enthusiastic about how this progressive move by the government will positively expand the consumer base for plant-based foods, which has previously been a significant challenge,” she added.

    The tax shift is a welcome move for the plant-based industry in India, which still faces labelling restrictions and has previously been attacked by an ad by dairy producer Amul and Mother Dairy, which claimed plant-based milks were not “milk”. The Advertising Standards Council of India struck down three petitions against the dairy giants.

    India is hungry for plant proteins

    vegan tax india
    Courtesy: Plantaway

    The new tax regulations are set to come into effect on September 22 of this year, and they align with the growing demand for plant-based food in the world’s most populous country.

    Despite only 11% having given plant-based meat a go (and 23% having tried milk alternatives), more Indians want to increase their intake of vegan meat analogues (43%) than conventional meat (36%), and two in five want to cut back on the latter.

    The market for vegan food grew by 18% between 2021 and 2024, and according to Ipsos, it’s expected to expand 18-fold in the next decade, with plant proteins “set to be woven into everyday meals and snacks, attracting a wider audience beyond vegans”. This will be helped by the fact that 60% of Indians suffer from lactose intolerance, and 37% want to add more plant proteins to their diets.

    Protein content and health are the most influential drivers of plant-based food consumption in the country, but affordability is among the biggest barriers, with a quarter of Indians saying oat milk and the like don’t offer value for money.

    This is why the GST reforms are so important. “This should not be taken for granted or be seen as a given,” said Abhay Rangan, chief business officer at Senara and former CEO of plant-based dairy brand One Good. “This has been the result of stakeholders in the movement working tremendously hard – continuously making representations to the finance ministry, having dialogue often, and engaging throughout about the needs of startups in what will be one of India’s most important industries.”

    Praveer Srivastava, executive director of the Plant Based Foods Industry Association, called it a “progressive move” that supports healthier food choices, environmental sustainability, and the “growth of the plant-based industry in India”.

    The fight to lower plant-based meat and milk taxes isn’t just confined to India. Government subsidies have supported livestock agriculture disproportionately across the world, and while some European countries have introduced tax parity for these products, industry stakeholders continue to campaign for the same in many others.

    The post India Cuts Tax on Plant-Based Milk & Meat to Make Vegan Food More Accessible appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Left Movements In South Asia Call For Increased Mobilizations

    Hundreds of people have lost their lives and millions their livelihoods and homes due to persistent flooding in India and Pakistan. The unprecedented rains in the last month have caused the rivers in the northern parts of both countries to flood most of the province of Punjab on either side of the border.

    Several other areas in both countries have been badly affected by the floods, such as Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Pakistan and Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Haryana in India.

    Both countries have deployed their armed forces to evacuate thousands of people trapped in areas submerged in water and to run other forms of relief work, due to ineffective disaster management bodies.

    The post Left Movements In South Asia Call For Increased Mobilizations appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Cold War 2.0 Is Against China

    “Globally, all available resources are to be focused on a zero-sum increase in U.S. power and on the defeat of China as the newly arising rival.” — John Bellamy Foster, “The Trump Doctrine and the New MAGA Imperialism”

    On September 3, China staged a grand gathering of over 20 foreign leaders to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. China’s loss of some 20 million people was second only to the USSR in terms of deaths in WWII. We also need to acknowledge the 30,000 killed in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and the fact that 10 million Chinese were enslaved.

    Before the parade in Beijing, the Summit Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) took place in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. The meeting was the largest in the group’s decade-old history. In his Keynote Address, President Xi called on SCO member states to continue to resist “hegemonism and power politics,” and instead advocate for “an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive globalization.”

    Each of these meetings takes the multipolar world a step further, as they transition from a “talk shop” to substantive and cooperative projects that “bypass the US-led system toward one that protects these countries from the West.” This formidable coalition is saying, “You can bully your European vassals into obedience, but not us.” All available evidence suggests that we are witnessing the emergence of a new coalition, the end of Western domination of the global system, and the advent of a new era — provided the world remains intact.

    Photos of Chinese President Xi Jinping embracing Russian President Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi brings to mind Zbigniew Brzezinski’s famous warning in his book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives (1997), when he wrote “the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps India, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances.” Little did Brzezinski know how rapidly the US would push India into a closer relationship with China and Russia, which gives multipolarity a tremendous boost. Nor did Brzezinski foresee the accelerating pace of common grievances and how quickly the multipolar world he feared would emerge.

    I should note that the final declaration made no mention of Ukraine. My sense is that although the war will drag on, Russia has won and Ukraine is already in the rearview mirror. Not coincidentally, the developments in Beijing happened just as the neocons lamentably realized the long-term US military strategy of a major proxy war with Russia in Ukraine has, in all essentials, failed. Here, it’s important to note that for some within the national security establishment, Ukraine was seen as a mistaken use of limited US military resources, but now there is an overwhelming consensus that China must be taken on.

    It is China’s economic growth and alternative development model that strikes fear into the capitalist ruling class. As Asia expert, Danny Haiphong, has asserted, “Without China’s economic development, there would be none in the Global South. These countries want to replicate China’s success.” In short, China is threatening a US-controlled world order that only benefits U.S. capitalists.

    This apprehension accounts for the fact that on November 17, 2011, former President Barack Obama announced his administration’s “Pivot” or “rebalance” to China, which heralded a decade of increased levels of US imperialism toward Beijing. Arguably, today’s most influential iteration of this bellicose approach toward China is the work of Elbridge Colby, the current Under Secretary of Defense, who is known to “prioritize” China and has been called “The China Hawks’ China Hawk.”

    Colby, grandson of former CIA Director William Colby, was a co-author of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which argued that the U.S. should refocus its military might on the Pacific and that Europe and the Middle East were of secondary importance. (Incidentally, Bernie Sanders criticized Colby for halting arms shipments to Ukraine). Colby believed that two-front wars against Russia and China were dangerously stretching US military resources.

    In his 2021 book, Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict (Yale University Press, 2021), Colby advocates, as one reviewer states, “magnifying threats and increasing fears in order to build support among attentive publics and capitalist ruling class leaders for a possible war, this time, with China.” He urges the massive forward deployment of US military power in the Pacific to augment the existing 400 US military bases surrounding China. Furthermore, he counsels constructing an anti-China coalition that would include: Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, India, and Myanmar. It’s not lost on the Chinese that many of these former Japanese colonies are now US colonies.

    Further, Colby seeks to build support within the higher circles of the monopoly capitalist class — and by extension, ordinary Americans — for a possible “limited” war to prevent China from “dominating a key region of the world.” Under certain circumstances, Colby endorses a “limited nuclear war which would achieve victory for the United States.” As journalist and geopolitical analyst KJ Ngo warns, Colby posits a seamless continuum between nuclear weapons and conventional war. At other points, Colby suggests that “selective friendly nuclear proliferation may be the least best option, though this would not be a panacea and would be dangerous.” His fear-mongering reaches a fever pitch when he warns that, “If China succeeds, we can forget about housing, food, savings, affordable college for our kids, and other domestic needs.” In sum, Colby recognizes China’s new position of strength, wants to deny it “regional hegemony,” and in doing so, he’s willing to risk a nuclear catastrophe.

    Foremost in curbing China’s rise is the effort to portray it as a full-spectrum, moral enemy and threat to so-called “Western democracy.” This manufacture of consent to prepare for war requires a massive propaganda campaign, and in 2024, Congress approved 25 anti-China bills in just one week. It was hailed as “China Week” by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. One of the bills passed during the week allocated $1.6 billion, or $ 325 million per fiscal year 2023-2027, to subsidize media worldwide to demonize China. The legislation passed 351-36, revealing conclusive bipartisan agreement to counter China.

    The new law specifically targeted China’s highly successful Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), under which China has built infrastructure and cemented ties with Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the semi-official voice of U.S. imperialism, has warned that the BRI “poses significant risks to U.S. economic and political interests and to longer-term security implications,” and the bill characterized the BRI as China exercising its “malign influence.” What’s so striking about this and other claims is that there’s never any evidence to support them. The “Chinese Threat” is simply assumed to be true and therefore perfectly legitimate, and even “morally right” to oppose China.

    Finally, of the 100 countries surveyed by the Democracy Perception Index, more than three-quarters have a more favorable view of China than of the United States. Conversely, the Pew Research Center’s polling in 2025 indicates that Americans’ negative opinions of China are slightly less unfavorable than in 2024 — 81% in 2024 to 77% this year. Still, 42% see China as the country posing the “greatest threat” to the U.S.

    We know that Americans are the most heavily propagandized people in the world. If the public is to be de-brainwashed about China, social media must take on an uphill but critically important role.

    Recommending Reading on China:

    Ken Hammond, CHINA’S REVOLUTION AND THE QUEST FOR A SOCIALIST FUTURE (NY: 1804 Books), 2023.

    Carlos Martinez, THE EAST IS STILL RED (Glasgow, Scotland: Praxis Books, 2023).

    Jeff Brown, CHINA RISING: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations – The True Face of Asia’s Enigmatic Colossus (Brewster, NY: Punto Press Publishers, 2016).

    Deborah Brautigan, THE DRAGON’S GIFT (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

    The post Cold War 2.0 Is Against China first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Expelling Iran’s Ambassador to Australia

    The rank odour of opportunity seems to have presented itself to Australia’s Albanese government. To balance its apparently principled promise to recognise Palestinian statehood come the 80th United Nations General Assembly next month, it seemed only fair that some firm measure be taken against another Islamic outfit to balance the ledger. The Israelis were watching closely, and a sense of concern had started to bubble along the diplomatic channel that Canberra was proving wobbly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made his views felt: “History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

    On August 26, it all came to the fore. Iran had become the latest, if only briefest, of bogeymen for political consumption in Australia. The Islamic Republic, charged the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, had “directed at least two” attacks of an “appalling” and “antisemitic” nature. Expecting revelations of gleeful massacres involving whole families including livestock and uprooted orchards, we are told that these outrageous incidents were ones of arson: an attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney in October last year, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last December. “These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”

    Mike Burgess, the domestic spy chief, confirmed the claim that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had identified “at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia.” These were linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and found through “painstaking investigation” (good to see that investigations at the spy agency are painstaking). The IRGC had been fiendish in concealing its role, using “a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement.” With shamanistic self-confidence, Burgess revealed that he had warned of this very thing earlier in the year. For a sense of restrained balance, he stated that Tehran may not necessarily be “responsible for every act of antisemitism in Australia.”

    The action undertaken seemed outsized, involving the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi along with three other embassy officials. They have been given seven days to exit the country. The IRGC is also slated for proscription as a terrorist organisation.

    The head scratching question in all of this is: Why bother? The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have larger fish to skin, fry and broil. Tehran, for all its appetites in seeking power and influence in the Middle East, has tended to keep its targets beyond the region to Israeli embassies and property and, most notably of all, dissidents. To target the Australian Jewish community would seem to be a needless expenditure of effort and resources. Australia’s resident talking head on the wickedness of the mullahs, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, herself having spent time incarcerated in Iran on suspicions of espionage, is hardly illuminating in her explanation. “It’s difficult to say what Iran’s direct motivations are, other than to undermine Australia’s social cohesion.” She opts for the primary colour approach, streaked with syllogism: as the Iranian regime is antisemitic, and as Israel is the main enemy, it follows that all Jews, according to the dotty haters in Tehran, are “an extension of Israel.”

    The expulsion’s salience would have been more significant if it had been done in response to activities undertaken against members of the Iranian Australian community, a far more widespread and evident problem. Yet on this point, the Albanese government proved tardy, despite ample evidence of harassment and surveillance orchestrated at Tehran’s behest. In February 2023, the then Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil stated in her Australian National University address that ASIO had “disrupted the activities of individuals who had conducted surveillance in the home of an Iranian-Australian, as well as conducted extensive research of this individual and their family.” The previous month, a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed deep concern at “reports of foreign interference, including the harassment and intimidation of Australians online and in-person.” These matters had been raised with Iran “in no uncertain terms.”

    Iran had also proved to be a more convenient, if selective target. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, for instance, Indian intelligence operatives have been creating much mischief, snooping, harassing and leaving their warning signs, most notably when it comes to the global Sikh diaspora. Concerned about the pangs of longing for the independent state of Khalistan, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not been above resorting to assassination. Melbourne taxi driver Harjinder Singh is one who can attest to threats from the Indian authorities regarding his pro-Khalistan activities, notably to his family back in India.

    To add to this, India was found to have engaged in such friendly activities as cultivating access to sensitive defence technology in Australia and securing airport security protocols. In 2020, Burgess announced that his agency had “confronted” the spies in question “and quietly and professionally removed them.” Despite this fuss, there were no diplomatic expulsions. A façade of excruciating politeness was maintained.

    Least surprising of all was the hearty approval of the Australian move by Israel. With Netanyahu venomously spouting at the Australian Prime Minister that he was feeble and incapable of protecting Jews in Australia, the expulsion was automatically assumed to be a product of constructive Israeli interference. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer, after explaining the reasons for Netanyahu’s hectoring, thought it a “positive outcome” that Australia was “taking the threats against Israel and the Jewish people, Jewish Australians living in Australia […] seriously”.

    Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke dismissed efforts on the part of the Israeli government to claim the lion’s share of credit as nonsense. “We’ve taken this action because Iran has attacked Australians. No other country is involved in terms of that conclusion.”

    Short of WikiLeaks finding out the inner strangeness of this, we await further evidence why Iran would ever bother to expend any time on focusing on a country so far from its interests as to be satirically irrelevant. That said, the nature of much intelligence is that it is often short of being particularly intelligent.

    The post Expelling Iran’s Ambassador to Australia first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • British F-35Bs experience problems during Operation Highmast

    The UK-led international carrier strike group (CSG25), led by the carrier HMS Prince of Wales, commenced operations in the Indo-Pacific in June. However, its embarked F-35B fighters have experienced a couple of dramatic episodes since then. The deployment, known as Operation Highmast, includes ships from Canada, Norway and Spain, and it was also joined by […]

    The post British F-35Bs experience problems during Operation Highmast appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Inside India’s First Cultivated Chicken Competition for Chefs

    great indian cultivated chicken cook off
    5 Mins Read

    Biokraft Foods held a Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off last week, with young chefs showcasing the future of food in the Navi Mumbai event.

    For the most part, cultivated meat companies have relied on chefs to flaunt the full potential of their products. The majority of launches have been held at innovative restaurants in the US, Singapore and Australia. Only two of these innovations have entered a supermarket, and one was for pets.

    Biokraft Foods is taking the same approach in India. The Mumbai-based maker of cultivated chicken held a cooking competition for its product, dubbed the Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off, at the DY Patil School of Hospitality & Tourism Studies last week.

    The final involved 10 culinary students, who were tasked to create an appetiser using the cultivated meat as a hero ingredient for a four-strong panel of leading chefs.

    “We wanted to show that cultivated chicken is real food with real culinary potential. By bringing cultivated chicken meat to young chefs, we encouraged them to reimagine cultivated chicken through creativity, culture, and tast,,” Biokraft Foods founder and CEO Kamalnayan Tibrewal tells Green Queen.

    “These young chefs represent the future of the food ecosystem, and it is important that they engage with ideas that go beyond cooking and that sustainability, ethics, and delicious new ingredients are equally important,” he adds. “The cook-off was our way of making the idea tangible and sparking conversations about how cultivated meat could fit into India’s food future.”

    lab grown meat india
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    The cook-off’s winning cultivated chicken dishes

    The competition saw participants from some of India’s leading culinary schools, and the dishes were judged with several criteria in mind, including hygiene and food waste management, taste and texture, innovation and creativity, and presentation.

    The winning dish, called Masalon ka Safar (Hindi for ‘A Journey of Spices’), came courtesy of Issa Patel, a student at the Patkar-Varde College Department of Hospitality and Catering. He won a prize of ₹40,000 ($455). It brought together flavours from across India: saffron naan from the north, Champaran chicken from the east, tangy tomato chutney from the south, and green chilli thecha from the West.

    “Cultivated chicken felt no different from conventional chicken, tasty, tender, and satisfying. The real plus is that it’s an ethical and sustainable way to enjoy meat,” Patel tells Green Queen.

    cultivated meat india
    Issa Patel’s winning dish, Masalon ka Safar | Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    Another student from the same institute, Shlok Khedekar, secured second place and ₹30,000 ($340) for his creation, Nawabi Yakitori with Miso-Caramel Sauce. “For me, cultivated chicken represents a step towards modern gastronomy, meeting protein needs, delighting taste palettes, and offering a humane, cruelty-free way to enjoy meat,” he says.

    The third prize (worth ₹20,000/$230) went to Vedika Sakpal, a student from the host institute, who made Malai Rose Dumplings. The Kohinoor College of Hotel and Tourism Management Studies’s Shravan Kadam, meanwhile, won ₹10,000 ($115) as part of a special innovation prize for his dish, called Sanjeevani Jugalbandi.

    “As a chef, it is inspiring to see cultivated chicken, just like farmed chicken, being marinated, grilled, spiced, and plated with pride, using different techniques, in a commercial environment,” says Demetrius Cordeiro D’Souza, new product development chef at Biokraft Foods.

    “This competition proves that innovation and tradition can share the same plate, thus opening doors to a revolutionary culinary experience in the future,” he adds.

    biokraft foods
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    Biokraft Foods charts path to market for cultivated meat

    The winners of Biokraft Foods’s cook-off will receive a sponsored visit to the Merck Life Science facility in Bangalore, giving them a glimpse of the food science behind cultivated meat.

    “This is just the beginning. We see the winners as ambassadors of what is possible with cultivated meat,” says Tibrewal. “We would love to involve them in future collaborations, whether through recipe development, showcasing cultivated chicken at pop-ups, or even supporting our eventual market entry. Their creativity helps us connect with consumers in ways science [or] food tech alone cannot.”

    In addition to the cook-off, Biokraft Foods also hosted Forkward, a series of panels highlighting the views of stakeholders across the food industry. They included discussions about modernising menus with cultivated meat, the health and sustainability potential of these proteins, and the bridge between innovation and consumer trust.

    lab grown meat chefs
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    This series of talks gave chefs the chance to “learn directly from diverse voices across the food ecosystem, including non-profits, foodtech pioneers, founders, and leaders from hospitality”, according to Tibrewal. “This is just the beginning of many such conversations that will shape India’s journey towards sustainable proteins,” he said.

    Speaking to Green Queen after hosting India’s first public tasting for cultivated meat in April, he said the two-year-old startup planned to file for regulatory approval with the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) of India this year.

    “The approval pathway calls for thorough safety evaluations, detailed scientific evidence, and transparency in production practices, with the dual aim of safeguarding consumers and fostering innovation,” he says now.

    biokraft india
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    “FSSAI has already set up a scientific working group to create clear evaluation frameworks for cultivated meat, and these frameworks reflect the country’s forward-looking stance on regulation and willingness to engage with next-generation food solutions. This is also complemented by industry efforts to provide strong data on safety, nutrition, and sustainability.”

    An update on its regulatory progress is expected soon, but in the meantime, Biokraft Foods is already plotting its path into the market. “Chefs, hotels and restaurants are the best partners to introduce cultivated meat to consumers because they shape taste experiences and build trust,” says Tibrewal. “Once acceptance grows, we would then look at retail formats.”

    The post Inside India’s First Cultivated Chicken Competition for Chefs appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • India to grow Tejas fighter fleet with 97 additional aircraft

    On 19 August, an additional purchase of 97 Tejas Mk1A light fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF) received the approval of India’s apex Cabinet Committee on Security, a body headed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The procurement decision was reported by Indian media, quoting official sources, with the total value pegged at an […]

    The post India to grow Tejas fighter fleet with 97 additional aircraft appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Bollywood Star Ranveer Singh Launches Fermented Yeast Protein Powder in India

    superyou pro
    4 Mins Read

    SuperYou, the Indian protein startup co-owned by Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, has launched a yeast protein powder big on gut health and sustainability.

    Depending on who you ask, India may or may not have a protein deficiency problem. Regardless, people in the world’s most populous nation are consuming more protein than ever before.

    The issue is, animal-based sources are growing at a faster rate, a blight on the country’s climate ambitions. Agriculture accounts for 15% of India’s emissions, but two-thirds of this comes from livestock farming.

    Still, research shows that 37% of these consumers want to add more plant proteins to their diet, and more Indians want to increase their intake of protein from plant-based sources over that from animals.

    Responding to India’s protein demand, Mumbai-based SuperYou is bypassing both plants and animals, and betting big on yeast.

    Co-founded by Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, the startup has unveiled SuperYou Pro, a vegan protein powder made from biofermented brewer’s yeast, with added probiotics for gut wellness.

    “When we learnt about it, the innovative bio-fermented yeast protein, we knew we had something revolutionary on our hands,” he said. Singh called SuperYou Pro “a breakthrough” that outperforms plant-based proteins and whey. “It’s a great gut-loving, clean and complete protein powder; it’s the love your muscles deserve.”

    How SuperYou’s yeast protein powder is made

    superyou protein powder
    Courtesy: SuperYou

    Founded in 2023 by Singh and co-founder Nikunj Biyani, SuperYou has previously launched chips with plant proteins and a wafer line blending milk protein with its fermented yeast protein. Now, it’s spotlighting the latter in protein powder form.

    To make the ingredient, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast) is mixed with molasses, then fermented in bioreactors to produce proteins and other nutrients. The yeast protein is then separated and purified, before being shipped to SuperYou’s facilities in India. The waste from this process is used as bio-organic fertiliser.

    SuperYou Pro is available in four variants: chocolate, coffee, masala chai, and unflavoured. Each contains a base of fermented yeast protein, chicory root fibre, monkfruit powder (for sweetening), bromelain and papain for enhanced digestion and anti-inflammation benefits, and a probiotic for gut wellbeing.

    It’s free from soy, dairy and gluten, and contains 24-27g of protein per 36g serving. SuperYou Pro is a complete protein with all nine amino acids and a PDCAAS score of 1.0 (the same as whey, casein, and egg whites). The product is designed to enhance absorption and digestibility, and aid gut health and muscle recovery.

    “When I discovered biofermented protein technology, the most advanced and gut-friendly protein innovation, I knew we had to bring it to India,” said Biyani. “We wanted to create a protein powder that delivers clean nutrition, tastes great and performs even better. SuperYou Pro is exactly that.”

    The protein is verified by India’s National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, with quality backing from agencies in China and Australia. It’s manufactured in a GMP-accredited facility certified by the US Food and Drug Administration, and is available online, on grocery delivery apps, and in retail stores across India for ₹3,000 ($34.34) per kg.

    SuperYou looks to lead India’s protein race

    yeast protein powder india
    Courtesy: SuperYou

    SuperYou is targeting India’s growing performance nutrition market with the new protein powder, suggesting that it is suitable for gym-goers, athletes chasing their personal best, post-run recovery, or even for those simply looking to keep active.

    “It performs like whey, tastes great, but without any of the gut discomfort. Our goal with Pro is to make high-performance protein inclusive, clean, and easy to consume without the fuss,” said Biyani.

    SuperYou also claims the new product has sensory benefits. “It’s got none of that grainy, chalky texture that we’re used to when we’re drinking protein. It’s just a smooth, flavourful protein that you will actually enjoy,” said Singh.

    Plus, it requires much less land and water than animal protein, while generating far fewer greenhouse gas emissions. With the new product, SuperYou is aiming to capture 10% of India’s $1.5B protein market within the next 12 months.

    Fellow protein firm Cosmix also sells a range of protein powders blending yeast protein isolate with pea protein, and Soulfuel also sells a protein powder made from brewer’s yeast. Meanwhile, sports nutrition brand Unived has also teased a yeast protein product launch.

    According to Ipsos, India’s alternative protein ecosystem is “on the brink of transformation”, complemented by more awareness around lactose intolerance (which 60% of Indians suffer from) and a concerted effort to eat more protein.

    It’s not just brands looking for a slice of India’s protein pie – restaurants are getting in the act too. Last month, McDonald’s launched vegetarian slices (made from soy, pea and whey) to add 5g of protein each to any burger at all its stores in West and South India.

    The post Bollywood Star Ranveer Singh Launches Fermented Yeast Protein Powder in India appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Tibetan youth protest China minister visit to India | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Trump’s Tariffs Backfire: India Moves Closer To China

    US President Donald Trump is a very contradictory leader. He constantly implements policies that go against his stated goals.

    The perfect example of this is how Trump has treated BRICS, the Global South-led organization that now represents the majority of the planet.

    Trump sees BRICS as a major threat to US hegemony, and, in particular, the dominance of the US dollar as the global reserve currency.

    The US president has openly threatened members of BRICS to try to stop them from seeking alternatives to the dollar.

    In a press conference at the White House on July 8, Trump complained (emphasis added):

    BRICS was set up to hurt us. BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar, and take our dollar as the standard, take it off as the standard.

    The post Trump’s Tariffs Backfire: India Moves Closer To China appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • India Opens First Animal Stem Cell Biobank, With Cultivated Meat A Key Focus

    cultured meat in india
    4 Mins Read

    India’s cultivated meat industry just got a big boost, with a first-of-a-kind animal stem cell biobank listing proteins as a key priority.

    India has opened its first animal stem cell biobank at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB) in Hyderabad, earmarking cultivated protein production as a major focus.

    The centre was inaugurated by science and technology minister Jitendra Singh last weekend, and is aimed at revolutionising animal health, regenerative medicine, and agricultural productivity, in line with the country’s growing emphasis on biotech.

    The 9,300 sq ft biobank was built with a ₹1.85 crore ($210,000) investment from the government. The NIAB is an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology’s Biotechnology Research Innovation Council.

    Biobank will supply stem cells and culture media

    animal stem cell biobank india
    Courtesy: National Institute of Animal Biotechnology

    The laboratory will provide high-quality stem cells of various animal origins, as well as indigenous, cost-effective culture media, to research institutions, veterinary clinics, hospitals, and industry. It will support disease modelling, reproductive biotechnology, and tissue regeneration, with plans to expand under the National Biopharma Mission for biobanking animal stem cells and their derivatives.

    Some of its priorities include accelerating advances in veterinary medicine, regenerative therapies, and cultivated protein production, in a bid to reduce the dependence on imports and foster the country’s biomanufacturing capacity.

    The biobank is equipped with a stem cell culture unit, a 3D bioprinter for tissue engineering, a bacterial culture lab, cryostorage facilities, autoclave rooms, advanced air handling systems, and uninterrupted power backup.

    Singh suggested that these innovations will boost the country’s agriculture-linked GDP, labelling the opening as an “evergreen revolution”.

    “With 18% of GDP from agriculture and 60% of our workforce depending on it, innovations in veterinary health will have a transformative impact. ₹1 spent on agricultural research yields a return of ₹13, and linking industry partners from day one ensures these technologies reach the ground,” he said.

    “The economy will shift from manufacturing to regenerative and genetic processes, and India has already initiated this transition,” he added. “We will not lag behind when the next industrial revolution – driven by biotechnology – takes over.”

    Building on India’s BioE3 strategy and cultivated meat developments

    lab grown meat india
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    Alongside the biobank, Singh also launched five diagnostic tools to enhance animal health “The innovations align with the government’s BioE3 policy, focusing on economy, employment, and environment, to create sustainable, knowledge-based livestock health solutions, from disease control to smart protein production,” said NIAB director G Taru Sharma.

    Short for Biotechnology for Economy, Employment, and Environment, the BioE3 strategy was announced 12 months ago to foster high-performance biomanufacturing, with a focus on accelerating tech development and commercialisation by setting up biomanufacturing hubs and biofoundries.

    Among the policy’s six pillars are smart proteins and functional foods. “By providing dedicated R&D and innovation support, the policy will accelerate the development of new technologies and processes that can pave the way towards the nutrition, price, and taste parity of smart protein products, making them a truly competitive alternative to their animal-derived counterparts,” Sneha Singh, managing director of the Good Food Institute India, told Green Queen last year.

    “Smart protein startups will gain significant momentum through dedicated R&D and innovation support, greater investments, and a nurturing ecosystem. The policy will foster a collaborative environment, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and resources between industry and academia, and encouraging public and private partnerships, leading to faster development and commercialisation of smart protein technologies with biohubs and biofoundries.”

    The new biobank is the latest in a list of developments signalling the advancement of India’s future food economy. Two alternative protein centres opened in Bengaluru in 2024, just as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) worked on establishing a regulatory framework for novel foods.

    In December, Biokraft Foods held the country’s first public tasting of cultivated meat, presenting hybrid chicken to over 30 attendees in Mumbai. And this year, it unveiled cultivated fish products as part of a project with a government-backed research institute, while announcing its intention to file for regulatory approval with the FSSAI.

    Biokraft Foods aims to achieve a commercial rollout of both its meat and seafood products by 2026. The market seems ready. A 2024 survey found that over 60% of Indians are willing to buy cultivated meat, with 59% identifying it as an alternative to conventional meat that promotes nutritional security.

    The post India Opens First Animal Stem Cell Biobank, With Cultivated Meat A Key Focus appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Chris Hedges Report: When Religious Mafia And Rightwing Extremists Take Over

    One of the most stark examples of the expanding tide of authoritarianism worldwide was the 2017 murder of Gauri Lankesh, an Indian journalist and activist, allegedly assassinated by a far-right religious group in India for her fearless journalism.

    Joining host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report is Rollo Romig, a journalist whose Pulitzer Prize-finalist book, I Am On the Hit List: A Journalist’s Murder and the Ruse of Autocracy in India, examines the historic and political context of Lankesh’s murder.

    Romig chronicles the rise of Hindu nationalist extremism in India, linking it to India’s current authoritarian policies under Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    The post Chris Hedges Report: When Religious Mafia And Rightwing Extremists Take Over appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Viral cartoon mocking Donald Trump over India tariff is doctored

    A cartoon mocking US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to impose steep tariffs on India is viral on social media. The illustration, which is in the style of an editorial cartoon, has the headline “How Tariffs Work”. It depicts Trump urinating into a table fan, only to have it redirected onto his own face. The fan features an Indian flag, perhaps implying that the imposition of tariff on Indian exports to the US has backfired on him.

    Several social media users have claimed that this cartoon was originally published by international news outlets.  An Instagram user, Chola Ram Jain, shared the cartoon illustration on August 7, 2025. The caption of the post says, “This is a cartoon published in an American newspaper…” (Archive)

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Chola Ram Jani (@cholaramjani08)

    On Facebook, an account named Indori Bhiya shared the purported cartoon and claimed that a Chinese social media handle had shared this post in support of India. (archive)

    Funny Cartoon in Chinese social media on 02 August , supporting India and shaming Donald Trump.🤣🤣

    Posted by Indori Bhiya on Friday 8 August 2025

    Alt News has received several requests to fact-check these claims on the WhatsApp helpline number (7600011160).

    Fact Check

    To verify the authenticity of the cartoon, we conducted a reverse image search. This led us to an X post by Bruce MacKinnon, an editorial cartoonist for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, from February 3, 2025.

    In the original illustration, the fan features a red maple leaf, which stands as Canada’s national symbol.

    Note the difference in the side-by-side comparison below:

    As readers can see, the original illustration was signed by MacKinnon and dated ’11/26/2024′. The edited version, too, has the same signature. If one observes carefully, one would also notice that the Indian flag is not drawn, instead, a digital image has been superimposed on the original illustration.

    According to MacKinnon, the cartoon was created in November 2024 as a reaction to Trump’s tariff measures against Canada, but he was sure that no “self-respecting family newspaper” in Canada would print it. However, given the events that unfolded on February 1st, the cartoon became relevant again. 

    On February 1, 2025, Trump imposed a 25% additional tariff on most imports from Canada and Mexico to hold them “accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into (our) the country..” 

    To sum up, the viral cartoon being circulated as a commentary on US imposing tariff on Indian imports is not authentic. The image is a digitally manipulated version of an illustration which featured a maple leaf from the Canadian flag, and not the Indian Tricolour. Needless to say, the claim that international news outlets published the illustration is also false.

    The post Viral cartoon mocking Donald Trump over India tariff is doctored appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A Drugmaker Failed to Fix Safety Violations. The FDA Repeatedly Let It Slide.

    The dispatches from one of India’s most troubled generic drug makers were contrite, filled with far-reaching promises to clean up its factory, stop contamination and send safe medication to Americans counting on the company’s drugs. “We have started addressing FDA concerns very aggressively and comprehensively,” an executive from Sun Pharma wrote to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Pakistan inducts first Chinese-built Z-10ME attack helicopters

    Pakistan has formally introduced Chinese-manufactured Z-10ME attack helicopters into service. Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Chief of Army Staff, presided over an induction ceremony for the new attack helicopters at Multan Garrison on 2 August. Afterwards, Munir witnessed a firepower demonstration by new Z-10MEs at the Muzaffargarh Field Firing Ranges. As per an announcement from […]

    The post Pakistan inducts first Chinese-built Z-10ME attack helicopters appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Man slapped on Indigo flight: Misleading to claim incident shows ‘plight of Muslims’ in India

    After the video of a man being slapped on an Indigo flight went viral recently, several social media users highlighted the incident as showing the plight of Muslims in India.  

    Thirty-two-year-old Hussain Ahmed Majumdar from the Cachar district of Assam began suffering from a panic attack on an Indigo Airlines flight from Mumbai to Kolkata on July 31. As cabin crew members came forward to help Ahmed and were trying to calm him down, another passenger slapped him. In the now-viral video which was recorded by another passenger, co-passengers can be seen expressing their anger at the unprovoked attack and asked the person who slapped Majumdar why he had done so. In response to this, the passenger in question stated that he was getting disturbed at Majumdar’s behaviour.

    A panic attack is a sudden feeling of intense fear or anxiety that can cause severe physical reactions despite there being no real danger. The symptoms of a panic attack may consist of rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and dizziness.

    As soon as the visuals began circulating online, social media was flooded with a range of reactions. Many users condemned the violence and expressed sympathy for Majumdar. Since the victim was wearing a skullcap associated with the Muslim religion, some users gave it a communal spin. Some began claiming that this incident happened due to discrimination on the basis of religion. (Archived link)

    Many users clearly termed it as an incident of ‘Islamophobia’ and claimed that the accused was a Hindu, and it reflected the social status of Muslims in India.  (Archived link 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    Alt News performed a keyword search using terms related to the incident. This led us to several news reports which identified the person who slapped Majumdar as Hafizul Rehman. After landing in Kolkata, Hafizul was detained by the authorities. However, he was later released. It is clear that both the victim and the accused belong to the same community, and there does not appear to be any communal angle to the attack.

    Indigo Airlines issued a statement condemning the incident and called such behaviour unacceptable.

    In another post, Indigo reported that in line with its commitment to discouraging unruly behavior on flights, the accused passenger had been suspended from flying with the airline.

    To sum up, in the Indigo slap case, both the victim and the accused are Muslims. The attack was not motivated by communal hate. However, once the video went viral, the incident was given a communal spin on social media. It is misleading to suggest that the slapping showed the plight of Muslims in India. Besides, the politicization of the incident diverted attention from the main issue, which is the need for awareness about panic attacks and related health issues. 

    The post Man slapped on Indigo flight: Misleading to claim incident shows ‘plight of Muslims’ in India appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Abhishek Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indo-Pak Leaders Should “Have a Nice Dinner Together”

    Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi IMAGE/PPI/AFP/The News

    Troublemakers

    Many leaders1 are averse to running their countries in a peaceful and progressive manner. Instead of concentrating on the problems the majority of their people face, they create trouble by introducing or undoing things, in order to gain political mileage and divert the public’s attention from important issues requiring government focus. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one such leader.

    In the Indian Lok Sabha, on August 5, 2019, Modi’s Home Minister Amit Shah announced revocation of Article 370 which had granted limited autonomy to the Indian occupied Kashmir.

    Constitutional expert and eminent scholar A. G. Noorani told Akshay Deshmane what that revocation meant:

    It is utterly and palpably unconstitutional. An unconstitutional deed has been accomplished by deceitful means. For a fortnight, the Governor and other people told a whole load of lies. And I am sorry that the Army Core Commander (Chief) was also enlisted to spread this false thing of inputs from Pakistan. It was all a falsehood. They have undermined the Army’s non-political character. This is patently unconstitutional. Thing is that I had always predicted that they are out to fulfill their Saffron agenda: Uniform Civil Code, Ayodhya and Abrogation of Article 370. It remains to be seen how they accomplish the Ayodhya agenda.

    The Revocation of Article 370 was in complete violation of the 2018 Indian Supreme Court ruling which stated that Article 370 was a permanent part of the Indian Constitution and the only way it could be revoked was through the legislative body that had drafted the Article originally- only they could rescind it. That body, however, stopped functioning in 1957.

    India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said in the Lok Sabha on June 26 and August 7, 1952.

    “I say with all respect to our Constitution that it just does not matter what your Constitution says; if the people of Kashmir do not want it, it will not go there. Because what is the alternative? The alternative is compulsion and coercion…” “We have fought the good fight about Kashmir on the field of battle… (and) …in many a chancellery of the world and in the United Nations, but, above all, we have fought this fight in the hearts and minds of men and women of that State of Jammu and Kashmir. Because, ultimately – I say this with all deference to this Parliament – the decision will be made in the hearts and minds of the men and women of Kashmir; neither in this Parliament, nor in the United Nations nor by anybody else,”

    — Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol. 18, p. 418 and vol. 19 pp. 295-6, respectively in A. G. Noorani, “Article 370: Law and politics,” Frontline, September 6, 2000.

    That has never happened. The Kashmiri people have never been given a choice to decide their own destiny. Immediately after revoking Article 370, political leaders and thousands of Kashmiri civilians, including those who want Kashmir to be a part of India, were arrested. Kashmir and Jammu was locked down and all communication was blocked for eighteen months. Kashmir was cut off from the rest of the world.

    Pahalgam

    In September 2024, Kashmir Times’ editor Anuradha Bhasin told Al Jazeera:

    “For the last five years, all Kashmiris have seen is an arrogant bureaucracy and the important missing layers of a local government.”

    Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in parliament, addressing a rally in the Jammu region said:

    “Non-locals are running Jammu and Kashmir.” “Your democratic right was snatched. We have given priority to the demand for restoration of statehood.” “If [Modi’s party BJP] fails to restore statehood after the elections, we will put pressure on them to ensure it.”

    Bhasin painted a gloomy picture:

    “The hands of the clock have never moved back. Whatever has been taken from the people, in terms of their autonomy or democratic rights, has never been given back. I doubt that would change in the near future.”

    In May 2024, Omar Abdullah, prior and the current Chief Minister since October 2024, had warned about presenting a rosy picture:

    “The situation [in Kashmir] is not normal and talk less about tourism being an indicator of normalcy; when they link normalcy with tourism, they put tourists in danger.” “You are making the tourists a target.”

    Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group:

    “New Delhi and its security agencies started buying their own assessment of peace and stability, and they became complacent, assuming that the militants will never attack tourists.” “But if pushed to the wall, all it takes is two men with guns to prove that Kashmir is not normal.”

    While Modi was in Saudi Arabia, on April 22, 2025, terrorists associated with The Resistance Front killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam, a beautiful hill station and a favorite destination for visitors. The victims were asked about their religion and were killed on communal basis.

    Modi cut short his Saudi Arabia visit and flew back to India’s capital city, Delhi where he didn’t mention Pahalgam at all.

    However, Modi’s divisive inflammatory rhetoric and strategy is well known to the Bihar-based Rashtriya Janata Dal who predicted Modi’s politics:

    “The pyres of the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack have not yet been lit, but the country’s Prime Minister will come to Bihar tomorrow to campaign and deliver speeches because Bihar is holding elections this year.”

    Modi, as if on an election campaign in Bihar, the second most populous state (with a large Dalit and Muslim population), gave a fiery speech:

    “Today from the soil of Bihar I say to the whole world. India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth.”

    Veteran journalist Jawed Naqvi points out that in foreign countries Modi typically gives his speeches in Hindi but he gave this address using English to Bihar’s Hindi speakers (perhaps, to fully capitalize from the foreign press present.)

    The accusing finger immediately implied Pakistan, rather than question the security lapse of the Indian security forces or trying to determine the perpetrators. Pakistan has been involved in the past but, this time no proof exists of its involvement. The rhetoric reached fever pitch and culminated in India’s attack on its neighbor, and when Pakistan asked for evidence of the accusation, India didn’t provide it.

    Pakistan also offered to join a “neutral and transparent” investigation but India refused the offer.

    India blamed Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir’s speech of April 15, 2025 for the Pahalgam tragedy.

    It’s a well known fact that Kashmir is the world’s most militarized zone with very numerous Indian check points all over the state. The question: where was Indian security? was not addressed by the government. Two months later, on June 22, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two persons who provided shelter to three persons involved in the act, according to NIA allegations.

    Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced 5 major decisions taken by the Indian Government in April, 2025:

    1. Suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) with Pakistan.

    2. Immediate closure of the Atari Integrated Checkpost.

    3. Cancellation of all SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme visas for Pakistani nationals.

    4. Expulsion of defense, naval, and air advisors from the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.

    5. Reduction of staff in both High Commissions from 55 to 30.

    The CCS reaffirmed India’s resolve to bring perpetrators to justice and hold their sponsors accountable.

    These are extreme measures that, if implemented, especially the water treaty suspension, will undoubtedly create more trouble and could result in a bigger war in the future.

    On July 28, Indian government said its security forces killed three persons responsible for the April 22 killing.

    Asim Munir

    On April 15, while addressing the Overseas Pakistanis (OPs), Munir came out as Indian Hindu Modi’s2 Pakistani version: full of hate, divisiveness, and communalism.

    “Our forefathers thought that we are different from the Hindus in every possible aspect of life. Our religion is different. Our customs are different. Our traditions are different. Our thoughts are different. Our ambitions are different.”

    “… we are two nations, we are not one nation.”

    The army, not popular in Pakistan for its constant interference in politics and disappearing critics and people as Balochis, seemingly, feels driven to frequently do something to make itself relevant. Munir’s speech to OPs was one such attempt.

    India blaming Munir for Pahalgam attack does not seem very credible. The oppressed people, Kashmiris in India or Balochis in Pakistan, don’t need any inciting speech to fight back; they’re just waiting for the right time because they don’t have the luxury of attacking at will, like the governments do, in the name of “national security.” The oppressed can’t reach the state so they attack innocent people to communicate their plight.

    In Pakistan, Baloch separatists have stopped buses and killed Punjabis after checking their IDs, perhaps in revenge as Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous and dominant province, and has a strong hold over the central government.

    The attacks are cruel, but these kind of ugly incidents may continually occur if governments involved refuse to negotiate and reach amicable solutions.

    War

    On 29 April, Indian government sources quoted Modi: “They [the Indian army] have complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of our response,”

    On May 7, India struck some sites in Pakistan, that then counter-struck.

    India’s Israeli Ambassador Reuven Azar posted on X: “Israel supports India’s right for self-defense. Terrorists should know there’s no place to hide from their heinous crimes against the innocent.”

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Modi: “Israel stands with India in its fight against terrorism.”

    There can be no better person than Netanyahu, the great terrorist and genocider, to advice another terrorist.

    Trump’s ceasefire

    The four-day-war ended when US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on his Truth Social media site:

    “I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE.”

    Propaganda

    In 2014, when Modi was to become Prime Minister for the first time, Amit Shah had bragged about BJP having 3.2 million WhatsApp groups who could instantly turn anything into believable stuff. In May 2024, BJP had at least 5 million WhatsApp groups and its infrastructure is so strong that any message relayed from Delhi could circulate all over India within 12 minutes.

    Kiran Garimella of Rutgers University who researches WhatsApp in India, warned that WhatsApp is not an open social media like X or Facebook which is worrying and a cause for concern for many people.

    “It is concerning that such a huge ‘hidden’ infrastructure plays a huge role in how the public consumes information.” “Only the creators of these groups know the extent to which the tentacles of this WhatsApp infrastructure are spread.”

    What is the result?

    War is like a game to the war inciters, war lovers, war media, and common people under the spell of the media frenzy and are most interested in the one question, who won and who lost?

    The winners

    There were two clear winners: Indian news media and the Pakistan army and its Chief of Army Staff: Asim Munir.

    False news stories and AI generated images came from both sides but India was way ahead in fake news:

    • Indian Navy destroyed sea port Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial center, with “over ten blasts.”
    • The city of Peshawar was turned to “dust.”
    • Pakistani soldiers were “deserting” and generals were “fleeing” the country,
    • Some channels announced destruction of 5 cities where as another settled for 26 cities
    • India’s fake news-master Arnab Goswami also declared a huge blast was heard outside Pakistan PM’s house and he was taken away to a place “20.5” kilometers (12.74 miles) away. Goswami also said it’s not clear whether it was for a safety reason or was it a coup.
    • Zee News declared a coup happened resulting in the arrest of General Asim Munir.
    • and so on…

    For a very long time now, most Indian media has turned into “Godi Media,” a term used by Ravish Kumar, the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award winner. (Kumar was NDTV India’s Managing Editor but left when it was bought by billionaire Gautam Adani, a Modi supporter and fellow Gujarati.)

    Kumar queried as to who should get an award for riveting fake news?

    • News Nation who gave news of Sharif on the run or,
    • Zee News who located Sharif, who was never missing?

    Sumitra Badrinathan, an assistant professor at the American University, observed in an interview with the New York Times that in India “previously credible journalists and major media news outlets ran straight-up fabricated stories [on the 4 day war].”

    The losers

    The victims of the bombings, dead or wounded, are always the first ones to endure the horrors of war. They are the losers.

    Pakistan said 40 civilians and 13 military personnel were killed. India’s figure was 21 civilians and 8 military and paramilitary personnel died. Hundreds of people on both sides got injured.

    The politicians and generals on both sides claimed victory. The war was of a very short duration, thus politicians and generals didn’t feel populace hostility or face dire consequences like resignations.

    Winner and loser honor

    That honor goes to Modi. He was a winner and also a loser.

    • Modi the winner. To his followers, Modi’s heroism enhanced when the Indian news media falsely started giving way too inflated stories of India beating Pakistan.
    • Modi also succeeded in cutting off whatever little cooperation existed between Indians and Pakistanis through arts and sports. The Indian government ordered all Pakistani songs removed from Spotify. All media streaming services, digital intermediaries, and OTT platforms were ordered to discontinue Pakistani films, web series, songs, etc. Pakistani TV channels and dramas, very popular in India, were banned and still are. Pakistani artists and sportspersons social media accounts were blocked and still are.
    • The extent of Modi’s hatred can be gauged from the following film posters: before and after.

    Indian actor Harshvardhan Rane and Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane in Indian film poster of Sanam Teri Kasam IMAGE/BrandSynario/Duck Duck Go

    In an Orwellian move, Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane was removed from the film poster of Sanam Teri Kasam IMAGE/Hindustan Times/Duck Duck Go

    The original film poster had Mawra Hocane but in the revised one, Hocane disappeared in an Orwellian manner. Shah Rukh Khan‘s movie posters of Raees with Pakistani actress Mahira Khan have faced the same fate.

    • Indian singer, actor, producer Diljit Dosanjh film Sardaar Ji 33 with the Pakistani actress Hania Aamir got banned in India. The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Minister of Information & Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw to revoke passports of Daljit Dosanjh, Gunbir Singh Sidhu, Manmord Sidhu and Director Amar Hundal. Just for working with a Pakistani artist, thus displaying the toxic mixture of hate, idiocy, and faulty logic.
    • FWICE’s letter contained many lies about Hania Aamir who had lamented the loss of life: “I don’t have fancy words right now. I just have anger, pain, and a heavy heart. A child is gone. Families are shattered. And for what? This is not how you protect anyone. This is cruelty – plain and simple.

    Mind you, Modi personally may not be giving orders, but, people get emboldened to inflict damage as they know they won’t be stopped.

    Many fields of life, from economics to education and from culture to cricket, have suffered due to rigidity, egotism, and ideology of politicians on both sides. Pakistani military’s control over politicians has never let both countries cooperate and utilize fully the trade, talents, and technology. Hardly a 100 or so Pakistani artists and playback singers have ever worked in Indian films.

    Official trade between both countries has dropped and is routed through Singapore, Colombo (Sri Lanka), and Dubai (UAE), costing more money. Even in peace times, these routes are used for trade due to some or other reason. It’s foolish, but than you can’t make people with power to understand, because the powerful don’t allow discussions or arguments.

    Modi the loser. On May 10, 2025, at 6:55 A.M. Eastern Time (that is 4:55 P.M. Pakistan time and 5:25 P.M. Indian time) on his Truth Social site, Trump announced:

    “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

    It was sobering news for Modi. Modi has created an image of himself as Indian superman with broad 56-inch chest who is globally famous giving hugs to presidents, prime ministers, billionaires, whether they want it or not. He has made 91 foreign trips till July 2025. He has made India a superpower not in reality but by creating such perception. Modi who likes to control the narrative and who desperately wanted to announce victory had to get a ceasefire order from Trump. Trump is such a character that you can’t argue with him because then you face more humiliation — not because Trump is more vitriolic than Modi but because US is economically much more stronger than India, who is economically heavily interconnected with the US.

    Imbecile

    Then there is Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He got so carried away by Pakistan army’s downing of less than half a dozen Indian fighter planes that he equated it as a victory compensating for the loss of half the country (55% of its population in 1971) when East Pakistan seceded with Indian help to become independent Bangladesh.

    That is clearly just a fictional ego boosting comparison.

    Unpredictable Outcome

    Who could have predicted that Modi’s war would give Pakistan army and Munir a new lease on popularity?

    Avoid war

    Poet Sahir Ludhianvi’s poem O Decent People has a quatrain:

    whether the blood spilled is ours or theirs

    it is the blood of Adam’s progeny, after all

    whether the war is in the east or west

    it is the murder of world peace, after all

    War should be avoided at all cost. All wars between Pakistan and India inflict tremendous cost in lives and finances, and, affect the entire South Asian region.

    Both possess nuclear weapons which if, by mistake or bravado, get deployed in the war, would end in great disaster for the entire world. According to climatologist Alan Robock, 1,000,000,000 to 2 billion people would face starvation worldwide, in such case, there would be immediate climate changes, leading to much colder weather than the Little Ice Age and many other disasters, including destruction of ozone layer.

    Dinner date

    Trump advised Indian and Pakistani leaders to go for a dinner date.

    “Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco [Rubio, the US Secretary of State], where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

    Improve relations

    The population of South Asia, including Afghanistan, comprises 25% of global population. With China’s 17% added, the percentage shoots up to 42%.

    The World Inequality Lab study observed that income and wealth contrast in Modi’s India is worse, more than it was during the British colonial rule. Other countries in the region are not any better.

    Suggestions:

    • If 42% of people increase trade in way that exchange of dollars is minimized, either through barter trade or using own currencies, this would save them hustle for dollars and foreign exchange.
    • Increased trade also brings people closer and aids in creating more understanding and tolerance.
    • In the best interest of both countries and the entire South Asian region, it would be better if SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) is revived.
    • Visas should be issued to enjoy tourism and appreciate each other’s natural beauty of land, flora and fauna and cultures
    • Exchange student programs should be initiated
    • Joint cultural, artistic, sports, entertainment, and other such events should be organized and promoted.
    • India and Pakistan should avoid competing to get in the good books of US administration and try to sort out their problems themselves.
    • Pakistan feels insecure when Trump is close to Modi and vice versa.
    • India is the most populous country and Pakistan is the fifth most populated nation, both are made of many nations held together with very weak ties. They should concentrate on making that connection stronger by addressing the problems of various ethnic, caste, gender, and religious groups and by improving relations between the countries of SAARC.

    Gur Mehar Kaur, whose father died during one of the Indo-Pak wars when she was 2 year old, wishes peace:

    “… Only mutual cooperation can drive South Asia ahead. A peaceful subcontinent is the greatest gift we can give our families, our soldiers and ourselves.”

    “Hate is the most anti-national force that we face. The worst thing the BJP under Modi did was nurture a mob that can only be satisfied with blood, killings and hate. For 10 years, this mob has been empowered.”

    Notes:

    The post Indo-Pak Leaders Should “Have a Nice Dinner Together” first appeared on Dissident Voice.
    1    In the Shanghai Communique, 1972, the US declared:

    The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position.

    For almost five decades, peace prevailed between China and the United States on the issue of Taiwan. The above policy was maintained without any serious incident. It could have gone on for decades but for some US generals and others who visited Taiwan in March 2022. Author Eve Ottenberg surmised, “to beat the war drums and provoke China.” Same year in August, Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan too, to incite China.

    The “world’s greatest democracy” seems devoid of a peace gene; it follows it’s own motto: “I war, therefore I am.”
    2    In 1924, 1,165 in-person hate speech events took place in India; 259 were openly calling for violence. Many important BJP leaders, including Modi, his Home Minister Amit Shah, and Yogi Adityanath, the rogue governor of largest state Uttar Pradesh, were involved in these events.
    3    The 2016, the Indian film Sanam Teri Kasam had a Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane as the female protagonist. The film was re-released in February and became highest-grossing re-released Indian film. They are making a sequel but now without Hocane because of the war. (VIDEO/Soham Rockstar Entertainment/Youtube)Dosanjh made a great move. He didn’t implore authorities for the film to be released in India but instead had it released worldwide, including Pakistan, where it became the second highest-grossing film in Pakistan’s history. It is also the highest-grossing Punjabi language film internationally. The film has made almost double the money it cost to make the movie. (VIDEO/White Hill Music/Youtube) Dosanjh’s actions will encourage those Indian and Pakistani artists who wants to collaborate to release their work worldwide to cover the cost and make profit internationally, rather than be at the mercy of local politicians’ whims. Indian film Abir Gulaal with Indian actress Vaani Kapoor and Pakistani actor Fawad Khan was to release on May 9 but was postponed indefinitely. The makers should think of forgoing the Indian market and releasing it worldwide if possible and if it won’t hurt them financially.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Philippines, India conduct joint exercises in South China Sea

    Indian and Philippine naval crews sailed together for the first time in the South China Sea, officials said on Monday, one of several joint exercises the Philippine navy has held to counter China’s far-reaching maritime claims.

    The two-day joint sail included three Indian ships. It began on Sunday, a day before Philippine Prime Minister Ferdinand Marcos left for a five-day state visit to New Delhi that will include talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Before departing, Marcos lauded the two countries’ “shared values” and “steadfastness in upholding international maritime law.”

    China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a critical shipping route that’s also partially claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, despite an international arbitration court in 2016 ruling that its assertions had “no legal basis.” Beijing did not accept the ruling.

    A spokesperson for China’s military on Monday said that Chinese ships had conducted patrols in the South China Sea during the same period as the joint exercises. The spokesperson said those patrols were “routine,” but said that the joint exercises “disrupted regional peace and stability.”

    This image released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Aug. 4, 2025, shows the joint India-Philippines naval exercise in the South China Sea.
    This image released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Aug. 4, 2025, shows the joint India-Philippines naval exercise in the South China Sea.
    (Armed Forces of the Philippines via X)

    The Philippines has pressed its claims over the disputed waterway in recent months, enacting new laws, pushing for a maritime code of conduct, and considering new international lawsuits. Since 2023, it has conducted joint exercises with partners including the U.S., Japan, Australia, France and Canada.

    This year, Manila and Beijing have expressed their quarrel in the physical world — with each country’s coast guard unfurling a flag on a contested sandbank in April — and in cyberspace, jousting over a Google Maps update labeling part of the waterway the “West Philippine Sea.”

    Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Defending Asian skies

    The rapid proliferation of long-range threats such as ballistic and cruise missiles, loitering munitions and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Asia-Pacific region has prompted development of a range of indigenous countermeasures. This threat environment is demonstrated in the region’s perceived need for stronger air defence capabilities to protect national interests and assert territorial claims. Indeed, […]

    The post Defending Asian skies appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Death threats target India journalist Sneha Barve, weeks after assault

    New Delhi, August 1, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra to take immediate action to protect Indian journalist Sneha Barve, who received fresh death threats on July 24, three weeks after a brutal assault.

    “It is outrageous that journalist Sneha Barve, who was nearly killed for exposing wrongdoing, has been threatened once again, while the main suspect in her assault walks free,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must urgently guarantee Sneha Barve’s safety to send a clear message that attacks on the press will not be tolerated and ensure those responsible are swiftly prosecuted.”

    Barve told CPJ that on July 24, Prashant Pandurang Morde – who was arrested for his role in the earlier attack on the journalist – accosted her outside her office in the town of Manchar and threatened her, saying, “This time, we should finish the matter for good.”

    On July 4, Barve, founder of the Samarth Bharat Pariwar YouTube-based news channel, was attacked by a group of men while reporting on alleged illegal construction on disputed land in Manchar, Pune district. A video of the attack shows a man striking Barwe with a wooden rod before she loses consciousness.

    Five suspects were arrested but released on bail three days later.

    The man accused of wielding the rod, Pandurang Sakharam Morde, a businessman with alleged political connections, was named in the First Information Report opening the investigation, but has not been arrested.

    On July 18, Prashant Morde, son of Pandurang Sakharam Morde, went to Barve’s father’s office and threatened to harm the entire family, the journalist told CPJ. In a complaint to police, reviewed by CPJ, Barve said the three suspects had been collecting information about her family and requested police protection.

    CPJ’s WhatsApp messages requesting comment from Fadnavis’ media advisor, Ketan Pathak, did not receive any reply. Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandeep Gill told CPJ by WhatsApp that he would reply, but did not immediately respond to queries. CPJ was unable to immediately source contact information for Morde.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Death threats target India journalist Sneha Barve, weeks after assault

    New Delhi, August 1, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra to take immediate action to protect Indian journalist Sneha Barve, who received fresh death threats on July 24, three weeks after a brutal assault.

    “It is outrageous that journalist Sneha Barve, who was nearly killed for exposing wrongdoing, has been threatened once again, while the main suspect in her assault walks free,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must urgently guarantee Sneha Barve’s safety to send a clear message that attacks on the press will not be tolerated and ensure those responsible are swiftly prosecuted.”

    Barve told CPJ that on July 24, Prashant Pandurang Morde – who was arrested for his role in the earlier attack on the journalist – accosted her outside her office in the town of Manchar and threatened her, saying, “This time, we should finish the matter for good.”

    On July 4, Barve, founder of the Samarth Bharat Pariwar YouTube-based news channel, was attacked by a group of men while reporting on alleged illegal construction on disputed land in Manchar, Pune district. A video of the attack shows a man striking Barwe with a wooden rod before she loses consciousness.

    Five suspects were arrested but released on bail three days later.

    The man accused of wielding the rod, Pandurang Sakharam Morde, a businessman with alleged political connections, was named in the First Information Report opening the investigation, but has not been arrested.

    On July 18, Prashant Morde, son of Pandurang Sakharam Morde, went to Barve’s father’s office and threatened to harm the entire family, the journalist told CPJ. In a complaint to police, reviewed by CPJ, Barve said the three suspects had been collecting information about her family and requested police protection.

    CPJ’s WhatsApp messages requesting comment from Fadnavis’ media advisor, Ketan Pathak, did not receive any reply. Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandeep Gill told CPJ by WhatsApp that he would reply, but did not immediately respond to queries. CPJ was unable to immediately source contact information for Morde.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Mirror or Mirage? The Future of Truth and Freedom of the Press Today

    Truth or Perception?

    True to the words of the legendary 19th-century French novelist Gustave Flaubert, “there is no truth. There is only perception”. The truth may sound or taste bitter. But in reality, there is no singular truth and perception about anything and everything in this divine universe, even about the most abstract ones. Inherent truth is subjective, which lies in the hands of an individual’s interpretation. Together, they have a profound influence on shaping people’s views.

    Its real-life exponent is none other than the dictator Hitler⸺thanks to his exceptional oratory skills, once dangerous and fascinating. On the other side of the coin lies the legacy of the great American social and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. His non-violent liberal views on racial equality echoed deeply. Both historical figures left an indelible mark on the world courtesy of their respective mindsets strategically manifested, intertwined with truth and perception.

    To shape public perception, key news sources include print and electronic media. These include newspapers, television, books, magazines, and radio. Newspapers and television are naturally the most widely ubiquitous, commanding massive audience coverage and deep penetration.

    India has one of the largest newspaper circulations in the world. It endures and reveres the media, but here is the catch. According to media literacy index data, our homeland, India, ranked at a very low level globally. The magnitude of freedom is handy to the journalists at large, and it is alarming! Sadly, in India’s context, it is directionless. Ultimately, it is a wake-up call. The freedom of the press is inextricably linked to the democracy of a country. Apart from this, news channels on television are not behind in the rat race with their contemporaries. Selling content to the audience instead of ensuring quality content that informs them the most. Running for TRP, the real news gets diluted. The essence of informing and information gets killed long before through various media.

    India’s complex emotional landscape

    In a country as emotionally vulnerable and socially heterogeneous — as India. The longstanding challenges, such as Hindu-Muslim tensions, population explosion, poverty, illiteracy, and more. Labyrinths of other enigmas are often engulfed, which causes reactive, colloquial responses. They manifest vividly during nightmarish, complex — Kafkaesque episodes. Numerous instances of public unrest like riots, rapes, suicides, and more are evidence to it. Such emotionally charged reactions complicate the government’s ability to implement and administer policies in a consistent, transformative manner. This is where the truth and the press hold a critical role. In these complexities, the leakages of the internal machinery get highlighted.

    A Press Under Siege

    Having such a media state has major concerns and equally questionable consequences. They often tend to leave a painful scar later in the long term. On the contrary, the case is very different in countries as Russia, China, the US, and the U.K. They usually have concrete, strong, hassle-free, definite political motives and policies. They refrain from the ways India often tends to follow. The typical Indian answer to our emotional country goes back to our heated history textbooks. There have been countless deliberate attempts the whole world has made to conquer the roots of our ‘bhāratavarṣa’. It was not only for centuries but for millennia indeed. Starting from the advent of Alexander the Great in 326 BCE to the British Empire in 1947. The continual cycle of ‘sought and fought’ had fragmented and fractured the internal cohesion. This legacy left the nation in a difficult yet diverse situation. Still, it often backfires, creating an ironic, complicated situation of unity in diversity. Unlike other countries, the US and Russia. Unfortunately, India hasn’t enjoyed an uninterrupted political lineage with a uniform singularity of purpose. In our case, the press doesn’t report the truth. It often has to wrestle for it amid the noise of unresolved historical background, painstakingly.

    Indispensable, twin forces — the truth is an expression, the press is the medium. Shaping and reshaping our views, then our beliefs. Eventually, it solidifies respective ideologies. The media are the purveyors of truth and freedom. Conveying information concisely under the instructions of the government. With such a vital authority and verdict resting on the press, it is a transparent, crystal-clear mirror of the country. It is a double-edged sword, bridging the supreme authority with the assurance of the people. Just exactly like Snow White’s enchanted mirror, today’s press undergoes examination, “Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who tells the truth among us all”? Publicly, things get amplified and complicated with social media. It affects the scenario, which itself is in an uneasy, lopsided state.

    Social Media Perils and Content Pollution

    True to the words of the legendary English poet Alexander Pope, the warmth of his lines is produced in his thought-provoking work, ‘An Essay on Criticism’. The lines “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” These are so apt to the complex content we consume today. The essence of the magnum opus is deeply felt even today in the 21st-century modern world.

    In the essence of the digital age today, Social Media is the online medium that makes shallow learning among the masses a dangerous thing! It has a profound impact and internal pressure on one’s daily life. The ignorance of countless posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and so on, will undoubtedly be bliss. In shades of innumerable benefits, it often results in ruining one’s privacy. Social media validation and accumulating more and more followers are blinding. It is infused with overloaded fake news, intense addiction, and the urge to form opinions and criticism (trolling). Everyone wants to express something without having the real knowledge about it. With this huge confusion and anxiety, it has emerged everywhere like wildfire. All of this has created misconceptions, prejudice, manipulation, censorship, ambiguity, rumours, and misuse. This mess is one of the major grey shades of social media.

    Content is not just consumed; it is exaggerated, engineered, and fabricated. All this is exercised under legitimate knowledge claims. Ultimately, this flooding mechanism has blurred the line between what is reel and what the actual reality is. It has adulterated information to an unprecedented level. India itself produces a large number of content creators globally. In turn, Indians also tend to consume a huge volume of content. Thanks to insanely addictive reels and posts on apps like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and more. As a result, India also leads in average mobile screen time. The estimated screen time is more than 5 hours daily. Even sometimes creating obscene content for the sake of likes and comments is considered normal! At least for disseminating genuine content, social media proves to be an easy yet complex option. Consequently, it has driven the Indian media into peril.

    The Collapse of Free Speech

    Unearthing the truth in the crossword and its clues embedded in a web of lies is hard. It has paradoxically suffocated the very freedom of speech within the compound chaos altogether. Truth is born out of freedom and courage. The press, which once investigated the unknown, unbelievable, and the unthinkable, now tirelessly circles. Just hunting for the truth for the sake of real, meaningful truth. But alas, today, there is both speech and courage immersed deep. The axis of profoundly malicious, politically motivated actions and intentions is strongly holding it. Both truth and press now operate in a system they once sought to expose. Here, language often bought through bribes speaks loudly and boldly to rule over everyone. Often, institutions buy and sell the freedom of speech, putting their agenda forward to the masses. This dirty, unethical transaction not only trades monetary value but also corrupts the system. It hollows the society morally, emotionally, and socially, both intentionally and unintentionally, like a parasite.

    The voice of the innocent (media professionals), who dare to speak the truth, often embraces unjust retribution and tyrannical faith. Their remarkable efforts peel back those thick layers of deception, corruption, and bribery, but go in vain. Pressure groups and others often bury uneasy truths and astonishing facts under the guise of national interest and public welfare. The beautiful irony is just showcased as normal in thin air! The menace is that it is paraded to the audience as a sideshow spectacle. Such skillful, shrewd wordplay and rhetorical acrobatics contribute significantly to it. As a result, even the sharpest person in the room can’t pose a question. This puppetry media manipulation in a performative democracy becomes art, not for informing, but for controlling.

    The Legal Lens: Indian Constitution and the Press

    Laws and the press share a valiant, intertwined relationship where both have the power and potential in society. The law acts as a watchdog over the duty of both the people and the press. The freedom of the media is not only linked to journalism but to the vocal freedom of a country. Leaving it in a deadly dilemma of oblivion if left unchecked.

    Resorting to legal methods for a hand-to-hand confrontation and cleansing it eventually may be the tedious yet best remedy. Highlighting the pitfalls and sorting them to the roots, as there is no smoke without fire. Although this is an even bigger headache since the magnitude of the Indian media industry is a whopping amount of more than a billion dollars.

    By turning through the pages of the most voluminous rulebook of the world, the Indian Constitution. It offers us both a better, comprehensive, and far-sighted view. Indian law is just and faithful enough to meet both ends and refine its application by drawing the light of wisdom over the respective case.

    Article 19(1)(a) relates to the independent freedom of voice and their respective opinions against the actions of the government. The media is legally backed up to highlight the plight of truth ‘lying’ beneath the surface and above it. Likewise, some notable eye-opening cases include the Romesh Thappar vs State of Madras and the Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) (P) Ltd. vs Union of India. These astounding cases had thrust the freedom of the press and media into the limelight, concreting their status even more. These cases and many more are at the confluence of the political and social environment. The emancipation to advance facts and reports without any intervention, but with reasonable restrictions behind the fences.

    Freedom and truth in the press should be carried sensibly within the thin line of legal demarcation relative to the audience. Sensitive news often triggers harmful ideas, and it can lead to both psychological and mental pain directly. Avoiding the spread of any fake news, defamation, contempt of court, blasphemy, voyeurism, and any threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India is of utmost national significance. There has been some progress over time to overcome the stagnant debacle; there is a long road to travel.

    Press, Sacrifice, and Political Ironies

    Dubbed as the 4th pillar of democracy, the press and media enjoy an ironic status owing to their gullible volatility. There remain shining examples of fearless Indian journalism that delivered the truth at the right place and at the right time, undeterred by mental pressure. But ironically, the most staggering report gathered is that our motherland, India, stands amongst the top countries to have the most journalist deaths.

    Renowned cases of such ill-fated scapegoats include Gauri Lankesh, J.Dey, and Daniel Pearl; the list goes on. Their “sacrifice” bears a thought-provoking lesson. These media professionals fearlessly tried to unmask the bitter truth of the wrongdoers and guilty minds. To combat such authoritarian regimes, often influential political ideals march forward carrying the baton, calling for a major upheaval or revolution. In the process, this leads to doublespeak from the other side in a counterreaction. Often, when things take a U-turn, these political ideals later turn into political prisoners! Eventually, their descendants find their lives embroiled, burdened with defining and redefining their ideologies and legacy.

    Such a misuse or mistake can lead to an Orwellian dystopia in a totalitarian manner, as pointed out by the great 20th-century English author George Orwell. In his magnum opus novel, 1984, he showcases the political nightmare the caged media and press cast upon it.

    In the dynamics of India, the silver lining is certainly visible. The architectural Gandhian values of truth and freedom will be followed and resonate. Both the sanguine prospects and outputs of journalism will emerge rooted in integrity and moral duty, without fleeting urgency. But rather with an imperative role, a pillar of democracy, not with transience but with transparency.

    The post Mirror or Mirage? The Future of Truth and Freedom of the Press Today first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.