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Category: India

  • CPJ urges transparency as India broadcast bill raises censorship fears 

    New Delhi, August 15, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Indian government to ensure proper consultation with media publishers before enacting a broadcast regulation bill that journalists fear will give authorities sweeping powers to control online content. 

    “India’s planned broadcast bill could have a chilling effect on press freedom,” CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said on Thursday. “We are extremely concerned by the opacity surrounding the proposed law and its enactment process, and urge the Indian authorities to be transparent to ensure the bill is not tantamount to online censorship.”

    A draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, released to a few select groups in July but not officially made public, would classify online content creators as “digital news broadcasters” and compel them to register with the government. 

    They would also have to set up internal vetting committees at their own expense to approve content before it is posted online. Failure to comply could result in imprisonment and fines. 

    The provisions in the bill came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost support in a national election earlier this year – a development that supporters blamed partly on social media influencers for boosting the opposition’s chances.

    Following criticism, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on X, formerly Twitter, that a fresh draft bill will be published and it would extend the deadline for stakeholder comments until October 15, 2024. 

    The ministry did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Thousands protest for justice in India over doctor’s rape and murder

    Thousands took to the streets of Kolkata in India early Thursday to condemn the rape and murder of a local doctor. Protests have swelled as people demand justice for the victim, and an end to violence against women more broadly. The discovery of the 31-year-old woman’s brutalised body last week at a state-run hospital has sparked nationwide protests.

    She cannot be named in accordance with India’s laws that protect the identity of rape victims. Large crowds marched through the streets of Kolkata in West Bengal to condemn the killing, with a candlelight rally at midnight coinciding with the start of India’s independence day celebrations on Thursday.

    The protesters in Kolkata, who marched under the slogan “reclaim the night”, called for a wider tackling of violence against women and held up handwritten signs demanding action.

    “We want justice,” read one sign at the rally. Marcher Monalisa Guha told Kolkata’s the Telegraph:

    The atrocities against women do not stop.

    Another marcher, Sangeeta Halder, told the paper:

    We face harassment almost on a daily basis. But not stepping out because of fear is not the solution.

    ‘Anger in the nation’

    Doctors are also demanding swift justice and better workplace security in the wake of the killing. Many doctors in government hospitals across several states on have chosen to halt elective services “indefinitely” in protest.

    Protests have since occurred in several other hospitals across the country, including in the capital.

    Dhruv Chauhan, from the Indian Medical Association’s Junior Doctors’ Network, told the Press Trust of India news agency:

    Doctors nationwide are questioning what is so difficult about enacting a law for our security.

    The strike will continue until all demands are formally met.

    The Telegraph on Thursday praised the “spirited public protests” across India. In an editorial it said:

    Hearteningly, doctors and medical organisations are not the only ones involved. The ranks of the protesters have been swelled by people from all walks of life.

    Institutional mishandling suspected

    Indian media have reported the murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a brief rest during a long shift.

    An autopsy has confirmed sexual assault, and in a petition to the court, the victim’s parents have said that they suspected their daughter was gang-raped, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.

    Shockingly, hospital administrators at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the murder took place, initially claimed the woman’s death was a suicide. As the Conversation reported, this was in spite of the postmortem report which found that:

    the killed medical trainee had a broken collar and pelvic bones and severe genital injury.

    In the early hours of Thursday, a mob of some 40 people angry at authorities’ handling of the case stormed the grounds of the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the site of the murder. The men smashed property and hurled stones at police, who fired tear gas in response.

    Though police have detained a man who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, officers have been accused of mishandling the case.

    Kolkata’s High Court on Tuesday transferred the case to the elite Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to “inspire public confidence”.

    Reminiscent of Delhi bus rape

    Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem with an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.

    For many, the gruesome nature of the attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

    The woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.

    Her death sparked huge demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere. Under pressure, the government introduced harsher penalties for rapists, and the death penalty for repeat offenders. Several new sexual offences were also introduced, including stalking and jail sentences for officials who failed to register rape complaints.

    Long fight

    Indian women have long campaigned – via work in human rights organisations, protests, and much more – to stamp out violence against women. But, the problems are embedded in institutional and social norms. For example, New Internationalist reported that:

    Marital rape is still not a crime in India, despite the fact that it is disturbingly common. Among married women aged 18-49 who have experienced sexual violence, 83 per cent reported their current husband – and 13 per cent their ex-husband – as the perpetrator.

    Violence against women is a global problem, and eradicating it requires widespread confrontation of sexist and patriarchal attitudes that uphold male violence as a fact of life.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Global News

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Women in India are demanding justice #ProtectTheProtest ✊


    This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • India Releases 109 High-Yielding, Resilient Crop Varieties for Climate-Vulnerable Farmers

    india climate resilient crops
    4 Mins Read

    The Indian government has introduced over 100 high-yielding, climate-resilient varieties of crops for farmers, a group among the country’s most vulnerable to global warming.

    India has unveiled 109 future-facing varieties of crops for an agricultural sector ravaged by climate change and extreme weather events.

    The new biofortified varieties – spanning a total of 61 field and horticultural crops – are said to be high in yield and resilient to the effects of climate change. They were introduced at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (commonly known as the Pusa Institute) in New Delhi, delivering on a promise made in the finance ministry’s 2024-25 budget last month.

    Prime minister Narendra Modi – who has long had a tetchy relationship with India’s farmers – released seeds and planting material at three sites in the demonstration fields of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which funds the Pusa Institute.

    In an address to scientists, the recently reelected head of state said experts from the ICAR, agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (local farm science centres) should “proactively interact with farmers and inform them about new varieties and technology every month”.

    Climate-resilient crops now need to be produced on larger scale

    india climate change policy
    Courtesy: Narendra Modi/X

    India, the world’s most populous nation, is responsible for 10% of the global agricultural output. The sector contributes to 15% of its GDP, and employs between 43% and 65% of its population. It is the world’s leading producer of pulses, and second-largest producer of wheat, rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnuts, vegetables, fruits and cotton.

    The new seeds are variants of 34 field crops and 27 horticultural crops. The former includes various cereals like millets, forage crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton and fibre, while the latter involves fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, tuber crops, spices, flowers and medicinal crops.

    Modi met with a group of farmers and told them that the new varieties would benefit them immensely, since they would cut expenditures, add crop value and diversity, have a positive impact on the environment, and withstand the impacts of climate change.

    The ICAR scientists who developed the varieties said their brief was to bring underutilised crops to the mainstream. Among the new innovations were rice that can withstand submergence or flooding, climate-resilient guava, a green gram variety customised for the National Capital Region surrounding Delhi, heat-tolerant durum wheat, high-calcium finger millet, and a superior mango variety, according to local media.

    Modi outlined the need for higher-nutrition foods in India, and suggested that people have begun demanding and consuming more organic foods – the country expanded its organic farmland by 145% between 2012 and 2022.

    Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan highlighted the central government’s “lab to land” approach in a way that “science reaches the farmer directly”. He added that the seeds of the new varieties will now need to be produced on a large scale, and will reach farmers in three years.

    Why India’s agriculture needs more action on climate change

    modi climate change
    Courtesy: Narendra Modi/X

    Climate change has dealt devastating blows to India’s agriculture sector. The country is the largest consumer of groundwater, since farmers depend on a heavily stressed water supply for irrigation. And 65% of its farmland depends on rainwater, but inconsistent rainfall and increasing temperatures are decimating crops.

    While it is the second-largest wheat producer, every 1°C increase in temperature brings about a decline in wheat production by four to five million tonnes, according to ICAR. Temperatures have steadily grown in India over the last few decades, with extreme heatwaves sweeping through different parts in recent years. This year has already seen an area in New Delhi record the country’s hottest temperature ever, reaching 52.3°C, while some of its deadliest floods have occurred in the last decade or so.

    So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the nation has lost nearly 70 million hectares of crops due to excessive rainfall or drought. Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to the climate crisis in India, and was among several industries that suffered a combined $159B in economic losses in 2021 due to lost working hours from extreme weather events.

    The Modi government’s rollout of the climate-resilient crop varieties would be welcomed by farmers, and would represent a rare win for the prime minister among this group. During Covid-19, hundreds of thousands of farmers protested against Modi’s move to open up more private investment in agriculture, which they believed would make them vulnerable to low prices.

    Farmers were already facing crippling debt – since Modi first took office in 2014, estimates suggest over 100,000 farmers have taken their lives. The sector’s contribution to the GDP has fallen from 35% in 1990-91 to less than a sixth now, and 82% of it is made up of small or marginal farmers.

    With climate change exacerbating the financial strains on Indian farmers, the mood has continued to sour. It was touted as an important factor in the surprising national election results this year, where Modi’s party had to rely on a coalition to form a government, following two terms built upon landslide victories.

    That said, more needs to be done. Agriculture accounts for 15% of India’s emissions, but two-thirds of this comes from livestock farming. Given it is the leading producer of milk globally, a shift towards plant-based analogues would drastically reduce the country’s climate footprint – if the milk lobby allows, that is.

    The post India Releases 109 High-Yielding, Resilient Crop Varieties for Climate-Vulnerable Farmers appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Closed borders with India cause food, fuel shortages in western Myanmar

    Residents in western Myanmar who rely on trade with India said they are experiencing food shortages due to the closure of some border crossings with India amid Myanmar’s civil war.

    People in Chin state, western Sagaing region and northern Rakhine state said their supplies of  rice, cooking oil, salt, fuel and medicine are dwindling because of the trade disruption following the border gate closures.

    Indian authorities cited the need to check the flow of illegal goods from Myanmar as the reason, according to local sources.

    But Reeta Meena, an Indian Embassy diplomat in Yangon, told Radio Free Asia that the Indian government permits movement through designated border crossing points, including ones at Tamu-Moreh, Rikhawdar-Zokhawthar and Zorinpui-Paletwa.

    Any restrictions might have been imposed by Myanmar or local authorities, she told Radio Free Asia.

    Thousands of civilians from Chin state and Sagaing region have fled across the Indian border and into neighboring Mizoram and Manipur states to escape fighting between junta troops and rebel forces following the Myanmar military’s February 2021 coup d’état.

    But those who have stayed behind have struggled to get goods from India amid periodic border closures due to fighting in their areas, while communication blackouts have cut them off from key cities in Myanmar. 

    In April, 2023, India locked the gates to key border crossings with Myanmar’s Chin state after three Indian citizens were killed that February during an intensified junta offensive against rebel forces in the western states. 

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    Myanmar permits legal international trade with India via the two crossings at Tamu-Moreh in Sagaing region and Rikhawdar-Zokhawthar in Chin state.

    The Moreh-Tamu border gate has remained closed on the Indian side since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

    ‘Severe difficulties’

    But the recent closures of other crossings have led to shortages of basic food items, said a Tamu resident.

    “Indian products, such as food and basic consumer goods, are no longer available to local residents living along the border, creating severe difficulties for them,” the resident said. “Job opportunities are scarce, making it increasingly challenging for them to afford basic necessities.”

    Indian authorities announced that the Myanmar-India border gate, which connects Rikhawdar in Chin state with India’s Mizoram state, would be closed from July 25 to Aug. 7, though Myanmar residents say it is unlikely to reopen until Aug. 12.  

    As a result of this closure, prices of goods in Rikhawdar have surged, with people paying twice as much for goods as they did before, Myanmar locals said.

    Since November 2023, Rikhawdar has been under the control of Chin defense forces who oppose Myanmar’s ruling military junta and have jointly established a public administration focused on the India-Myanmar border trade, public security and regional stability.

    A spokesman for the Regional Defense Force-Hualngoram, the other organization involved in setting up the town’s administration, expressed hope that the Mizoram state government would take measures to help locals obtain essential supplies from India.

    “The closure of the bridge, which we rely on for the flow of goods, has made things more difficult,” he said. “We are currently facing a crisis.”

    Because Mizoram residents rely on produce from Myanmar, a prolonged border crossing closure would negatively impact both sides, said Salai Van Sui Sang, deputy director of the Institute of Chin Affairs.

    It also could lead to tensions between residents of Mizoram and their state government, he added.

    Arakan Army

    Some internal trade routes, which run directly between towns in India and western Myanmar, have been cut off because of fighting between junta soldiers and resistance forces in Chin state’s Paletwa and in Rakhine state — areas controlled by the rebel Arakan Army. As a result, Myanmar residents must rely on products from Lawngtlai in Mizoram state.

    But since June 24, the Central Young Lai Association, an influential NGO in Lawngtlai, has banned the export of goods. Though it allowed some items, including basic foodstuffs, to be transported again in July, restrictions on fuel and fertilizer remain in place.

    On Aug. 7, the organization warned it would take action against the transport of prohibited fuel and fertilizer from Lawngtlai, but did not provide specifics.

    Goods transported from Lawngtlai have been banned because the Arakan Army said they were being used to supply junta forces attacking Chin armed groups.

    Translated by Kalyar Lwin for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Treading Lightly

    The days of tactical vehicles being manufactured solely for the military are declining. Commercial off-the-shelf have been favoured by many nations, but do they really fit the brief? Light tactical vehicles are a staple of any military and, because of their relative simplicity to build, they are widely manufactured in the Asia-Pacific region. However, when […]

    The post Treading Lightly appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Stores of Bangladeshi retail brand ‘Yellow’ ransacked; video viral in India with communal spin

    Bangladesh was plunged into an unprecedented crisis with erstwhile Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ousted on August 5 after a month-long nationwide student protest. An interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus is expected to be sworn in on August 8.

    Against this backdrop, a video has gone viral on social media which users claim shows the looting of a shopping outlet in Bangladesh owned by a Hindu. Several Right-wing accounts have shared the video with the same claim. User @VoiceofHindu71, who has been fact-checked several times by Alt News, shared the video and garnered over 670000 views. (Archive)

    @visegrad24, another verified account which frequently amplifies misinformation, also tweeted the video with the same claim. This tweet garnered over 200000 views. (Archive)

    Several other users shared the same video. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4)

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    We noticed several people were carrying bags with the brand name Yellow. We also noticed a black hoarding where the letters YELL can be seen.

    Click to view slideshow.

    In the viral video, we also noticed a shop named ‘On Fire’. Using Google Maps, we geo-located the incident to Mohammadpur, Dhaka. The store being looted was one of the many outlets of a luxury Bangladeshi brand named Yellow.

    YELLOW, whose parent brand is BEXIMCO, has 19 stores across Bangaldesh and an online platform serving Bangladesh and Canada. Their products include clothing, fragrances, accessories, home textiles, ceramics, paintings, and books. The Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited or BEXIMCO Group is the largest private sector group in Bangladesh founded in the 1970s by two brothers – Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman and Salman Fazlur Rahman.

    Salman Fazlur Rahman held the position of an adviser (private industry and investment) to former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, with the status of a cabinet minister.

    Before Hasina resigned on Monday, August 5, Rahman fled the country on Sunday. Rioters reportedly broke into the home of Salman F Rahman, Hasina’s financial adviser, looting artwork and household items and setting vehicles on fire. In the video, a woman is heard saying, “Take whatever you can. Take everything. You are doing great work. Very good, very good.”

    Several Yellow stores across the country were attacked. In Dhanmondi, protesters set a YELLOW showroom on fire. According to eyewitnesses, even fire service personnel were initially deterred by the protesters. Later in the evening, they returned and attempted to extinguish the fire. Another Facebook post showed a Yellow outlet in Halishahar being looted.

    Hence, a viral video of a YELLOW store in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, being looted is falsely amplified as visuals of a Hindu-owned establishment being looted. In reality, Yellow is a brand owned by Bangladeshi billionaire and Sheikh Hasina’s aide, Salman Fazlur Rahman.

    The post Stores of Bangladeshi retail brand ‘Yellow’ ransacked; video viral in India with communal spin appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • India pledges $300m loan to boost Vietnam’s maritime security

    India has offered to provide Vietnam with US$300 million to strengthen its maritime security amid rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region and increasing wariness in both countries about China’s growing military might and assertiveness.

    India’s pledge was made during a visit to India this week by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, during which he and his host, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually inaugurated a military software hub in the city of Nha Trang in central Vietnam.

    The Army Software Park is being developed with India’s assistance and is expected to produce software solutions as well as provide information technology services.

    Modi said at a welcome ceremony for Chinh at Hyderabad House on Thursday that Vietnam was an important partner in India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision. 

    The Act East Policy is a diplomatic initiative to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels. 

    Both countries would “continue cooperation for a free, open, rules-based and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Modi said.

    This visit from July 30 to Aug. 1 was Chinh’s first trip to India as head of government.

    RELATED STORIES

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    The leaders said in a joint communique at the end of the visit that Vietnam and India “agreed to strengthen further their defense cooperation based on common priorities and interests, and to contribute to the stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

    A package of preferential loans worth US$300 million would be offered for two projects to improve Vietnam’s maritime security, they said.

    They  did not specify details but Indian media said the money would  be spent on procuring two types of patrol boats for the Vietnamese navy.

    In June 2023, India donated to Vietnam a missile corvette, the INS Kirpan, and also sold it 12 high-speed guard boats.

    Rule-based South China Sea

    Maritime security is seen as one of the most important elements of Vietnam-India bilateral relations and they have held regular maritime security dialogues since 2019.

    The joint communique emphasized the importance of “maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.”

    Both countries are committed to finding peaceful solutions to maritime disputes in accordance with international law, in particular the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, they said.

    They stressed that UNCLOS is the legal framework for all maritime activities in the region and the basis for all claims over jurisdiction.

    Vietnam, together with other ASEAN countries, and China are negotiating  a code of conduct for parties in the South China Sea. 

    India and the United States are not involved in those talks but the two leaders called in their communique for a rule-based and effective code of conduct that “does not affect rights and jurisdictions of other countries, including those not taking part in the negotiation process.”

    China has warned against what it sees as the “intervention” of outside countries in South China Sea disputes.

    Edited by Taejun Kang.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Vietnam’s PM visits India to reaffirm strategic partnership

    Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has arrived in India on an official visit with security and defense cooperation high on the agenda.

    This is Chinh’s first visit as head of the government and also the first visit by a Vietnamese prime minister to India in 10years. 

    Chinh is the second foreign leader, after Bangladesh prime minister Sheik Hasina, to visit Delhi since Narendra Modi began his third term as India’s prime minister.

    Security and defense are two core “pillars” in Vietnam-India relations, said the office of Vietnam’s prime minister.

    Delhi is one of Hanoi’s seven comprehensive strategic partners – the top tier of bilateral relations – on par with China, Russia and the United States.

    Prime Minister Modi once said that Vietnam is an important pillar of India’s Act East Policy. 

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    The two countries signed a Joint Vision Statement on a defense partnership, as well as a memorandum of understanding on mutual logistics support in June 2022 during a visit to Vietnam by India’s defense minister Rajnath Singh. 

    “Vietnam-India defense cooperation went back a long time,” said Yusuf Unjhawala, an Indian defense analyst.

    India donated a domestically built missile corvette, INS Kirpan, to Vietnam in June 2023 and “also sold a number of smaller vessels to Hanoi,” Unjhawala told RFA, referring to high-speed guard boats built in both India and in Vietnam under an Indian credit scheme.

    Indian warship.jpg
    The Indian Navy’s anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kiltan visiting Cam Ranh port in Vietnam on May 12, 2024. (Vietnam Defense Ministry) 

    India’s naval vessels have been allowed to make port calls in Vietnam.

    “Hopefully this can be elevated to another level with a mutual logistics agreement” to grant the Indian navy better access to Vietnam’s strategic port of Cam Ranh, he said. 

    Maritime cooperation

    Both Vietnam and India are wary of China’s growing military might and assertiveness. 

    Maritime security is seen as one of the most important parts of Vietnam-India bilateral relations and they have held regular maritime security dialogues since 2019.Vietnam is embroiled in an intense territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea and is keen to upgrade its navy and boost its capabilities.

    Vietnam is also looking to diversify its defense industry to end dependence on Soviet and Russian weaponry and India  could provide a promising alternative, the Bangalore-based  analyst Unjhawala said.

    BrahMos Aerospace – a joint venture between India and Russia – is in talks to export its supersonic cruise missiles to Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

    The company has begun delivering shore-based anti-ship missile systems to the Philippines under a US$375-million contract and Vietnam has indicated its interest in acquiring similar missiles, according to the defense intelligence company Janes.

    Giang Rajnath Singh.jpg
    Vietnam’s defense minister Phan Van Giang and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh during Giang’s visit to Delhi, June 19, 2023. (Vietnam Defense Ministry)

    RFA’s sources said Vietnam is also exploring possibilities to purchase India’s indigenous medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) Akash systems. 

    India has also provided a multi-million-dollar grant to develop an Army Software Park in Vietnam.

    While it is unclear whether any arms contract would be signed during the Vietnamese prime minister’s visit to India, it is almost certain that discussions are underway on strengthening security cooperation, analysts said.

    Edited by Mike Firn.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • What India’s 2024 Budget Means for Climate Change and the Future of Food and Agriculture

    india budget climate change
    5 Mins Read

    India has released its annual Budget this week, with a climate finance taxonomy and spending on resilient crop varieties among the key takeaways for climate change and agriculture.

    This week, Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the country’s annual Budget for a record seventh consecutive year. It was also the first Budget announced by India’s NDA coalition government, which was re-elected for a third straight term in June, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    Contrary to expectations, the BJP didn’t win an absolute majority on its own, let alone reach its predicted number of seats that would have given the right-wing party a supermajority in the party. After landslide victories in the previous two elections, that the BJP had to rely on coalition partners to form a government signalled a shift in the national sentiment.

    India voted against religious persecution, segregation and nationalism, rejecting the polarised environment cultivated by the ruling party in the last decade. But another huge factor was largely in the background: climate change.

    The six-week-long elections were held amid heatwaves in several parts of India, leading to record-high temperatures and dozens of deaths. Climate change was missing from candidates’ messaging, despite one of the biggest backlashes against the BJP’s tenure coming from farmers, a group even more adversely affected by the climate crisis.

    The finance ministry this week suggested that India’s annual per capita emissions are a third of the global average – but these have also risen by 93% since 2001. Its climate target (or nationally determined contribution) has been deemed “highly insufficient” by the Climate Action Tracker, with current policies and action rated as “insufficient” too.

    India is now the most populous country, and also the world’s third-largest polluter – it can’t afford to ignore climate change.

    India ups climate investment, to create a climate taxonomy

    india budget 2024
    Courtesy: PTI

    In the Union Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, Sitharaman has allotted ₹3,265.53 crores ($390M) to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), a 6% improvement on the ₹3,079.4 crores ($367.9M) set aside last year.

    As part of its efforts to meet its climate goals, India will also develop a climate taxonomy to classify economic activities in line with green commitments and broader environmental goals. “We will develop a taxonomy for climate finance for enhancing the availability of capital for climate adaptation and mitigation. This will support [the] achievement of the country’s climate commitments and green transition,” said Sitharaman.

    According to the UN Environment Programme, taxonomies provide clear science-based definitions, help avoid greenwashing, and help identify eligible assets, activities or projects that are low-carbon, align with climate-friendly economic development, or are environmentally sustainable.

    But while the move has been hailed by some, others have raised concerns about possible greenwashing. “India’s climate finance taxonomy could prove helpful and would be a move towards the ‘Paris alignment’ of finance in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Sehr Raheja, programme officer at think tank Centre for Science and Environment.

    “Whether the tagging of activities improves finance for climate or brings in risks of greenwashing remains to be seen after it is released,” he added.

    Aarti Khosla, director of consulting firm Climate Trends, said: “The budget lacks timelines for announcements on taxonomy, carbon pricing mechanisms and detailed strategies for mobilising climate finance for adaptation and mitigation efforts in vulnerable communities.”

    Additionally, the Budget allocated ₹220 crores ($26M) for the National Mission for a Green India, a 37.5% hike from last year. The initiative aims to preserve forest cover and protect citizens from the impacts of the climate crisis.

    Major wins for agriculture and smart proteins

    india farmers climate change
    Courtesy: Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times/Shutterstock

    One of the nine priorities of India’s latest Budget was productivity and resilience in agriculture, a sector that received ₹1.52 crores ($18.15B) for the next fiscal year.

    Sitharaman announced that the Indian government will undertake a comprehensive review of research to develop climate-resilient seeds, and release 109 new high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticultural crops for farmers in 2024-25.

    Meanwhile, in the next two years, 10 million farmers would be initiated into natural farming – which emphasises modern ecology, recycling, and on-farm resource optimisation – supported by certification and branding. This will be implemented through scientific institutions and rural councils, alongside the establishment of 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres.

    The finance minister further outlined plans to shift large-scale vegetable production closer to major consumption centres. “We will promote farmer producer organisations, coops and startups for vegetable supply chains, including for collection, storage, and marketing,” she said.

    The government will also boost the production and marketing of crops like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower to achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses, which are vital sources of plant proteins in the country.

    In another move to help small and medium-sized startups sell products internationally., India will establish e-commerce export hubs via a public-private partnership. A marker of such success is Kanpur-based OatMlk, which last year began exporting its plant-based milk to the UAE and Singapore, and has now landed in speciality stores in the UK.

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is currently working on a regulatory framework for novel foods like cultivated meat. In a move that would potentially interest the smart protein sector, SItharaman announced that the government will set up 100 accredited food safety labs nationwide.

    “We commend the government’s continued dedication to advancing agriculture and food processing, as reflected in the latest budget,” said Sneha Singh, acting managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) India. She labelled the introduction of climate-resilient crops as “a significant stride towards sustainable agriculture”, and said self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds would “create more pathways for value-added products such as plant proteins”.

    “These initiatives will not only enhance food security but also bolster agricultural sidestreams and help localise and accelerate the alternative protein sector,” explained Singh. “Continued support for entrepreneurship, particularly through schemes benefiting MSMEs and startups, is a promising move that will drive growth and innovation in smart proteins, especially cultivated and fermentation-derived proteins.”

    The post What India’s 2024 Budget Means for Climate Change and the Future of Food and Agriculture appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Amazon Gets Fresh, Bayer Loves Basmati: Toxic Influences in Indian Agriculture

    The citizens of India have a problem. In what the media like to call ‘the world’s biggest democracy’, there is a serious, proven conflict of interest among officials in the areas of science, agriculture and agricultural research that results in privileging the needs of powerful private interests ahead of farmers and ordinary people.

    This has been a longstanding concern. In 2013, for instance, prominent campaigner and environmentalist Aruna Rodrigues said:

    The Ministry of Agriculture has handed Monsanto and the industry access to our agri-research public institutions, placing them in a position to seriously influence agri-policy in India. You cannot have a conflict of interest larger or more alarming than this one.

    In 2020, Kavitha Kuruganti (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) stated that the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee had acted more like a servant for Monsanto — there is an ongoing revolving door between crop developers (even patent holders) and regulators, with developers-cum-lobbyists sitting on regulatory bodies.

    However, the capture of public policymaking space by the private sector is set to accelerate due to a recent spate of memorandums of understanding between state institutions and influential private corporations involved in agriculture and agricultural services, including Bayer and Amazon.

    Corporate capture

    As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Amazon (June 2023), farmers will produce for Amazon Fresh stores in India as part of a ‘farm to fork’ supply chain. It will see “critical inputs” in agriculture and “season-based crop plans” in collaboration with Amazon based on “technologies, capacity building and transfer of new knowledge.”

    This corporate jargon ties in with the much-publicised notion of ‘data-driven agriculture’ centred on cloud-based data information services (which Amazon also offers). In this model, data is to be accessed and controlled by corporates and the farmer will be told how much production is expected, how much rain is anticipated, what type of soil quality there is, what must be produced and what type of genetically engineered seeds and inputs they must purchase and from whom.

    This has been described as the recolonisation of Indian agriculture, which will eventually involve a handful of data owners (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet etc.), input suppliers (Bayer, Corteva, Syngenta, Cargill etc.) and retail concerns (Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart — both firms already control 60% of India’s e-commerce market) at the commanding heights of the agrifood economy, determining the nature of agriculture and peddling industrial food. Farmers who remain in this AI-driven system (a stated aim is farmerless farms) will be reduced to exploitable labour at the mercy of global conglomerates.

    This is part of a broader strategy to shift hundreds of millions out of agriculture, ensure India’s food dependence on global finance and foreign corporations and eradicate any semblance of food democracy (or national sovereignty). [1]

    In addition to the MoU with Amazon, an MoU was signed between the ICAR and Bayer in September 2023. Bayer (it bought Monsanto in 2018), which profits from various environmentally harmful and disease-causing chemicals like glyphosate, signed the MoU to help “develop resource-efficient, climate-resilient solutions for crops, varieties, crop protection, weed and mechanization”, according to the ICAR website.

    The ICAR is responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India, and Bayer seems likely to exploit the ICAR’s vast infrastructure and networks to pursue its own commercial plans, including boosting sales of toxic proprietary products.

    But that’s not all. According to the non-profit GRAIN in its article ‘The corporate agenda behind carbon farming’, Bayer is gaining increasing control over farmers in various countries, dictating exactly how they farm and what inputs they use through its ‘Carbon Program’.

    GRAIN says:

    You can see in the evolution of Bayer’s programmes that, for corporations, carbon farming is all about increasing their control within the food system. It’s certainly not about sequestering carbon.

    Given the seriousness of what is laid out by GRAIN in its article, India’s citizens and farmers should take heed, especially as the ICAR website states that a focus of the MoU with Bayer will be on developing carbon credit markets.

    In a letter (14 July 2024) to Rabindra Padaria, principal scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), and Himanshu Pathak, director-general of the ICAR, Aruna Rodrigues says: [2]

    Inking in ICAR’s formal partnership with Bayer (Monsanto) quite simply confirms straightforwardly that the ICAR protects its interest, which is the same as those of Bayer-Monsanto, large chemical/herbicide corporates… the ICAR has ditched its mandate to Indian farmers and farming, which is to promote farmer interests as a priority in an unbiased and objective assessment of what is right and good for Indian farming and food…

    A separate ‘citizen letter’ (20 July 2024) has also been sent to Pathak on the various MoUs that the Indian government has signed with influential private corporations. [3]  Hundreds of scientists, farmer leaders, farmers and ordinary citizens have signed the letter.

    It states:

    Bayer is a company notorious for its anti-people, anti-nature business products and operations in itself and, furthermore, after its takeover of Monsanto. Its deadly poisons have violated basic human rights of peoples across the world, and it is a company that has always prioritised profits over people and planet.

    It goes on to say that it is not clear what the ICAR will learn from Bayer that the well-paid public sector scientists of the institution cannot develop themselves. The letter says entities that have been responsible for causing an economic and environmental crisis in Indian agriculture are being partnered by ICAR for so-called solutions when these entities are only interested in their profits and not sustainability (or any other nomenclature they use).

    The letter poses some key questions such as: Where was the democratic debate on carbon credit markets? How is the ICAR ensuring that the farmers get the best rather than biased advice that boosts the further rollout of proprietary products? Is there a system in place for the ICAR to develop research and education agendas from the farmers it is supposed to serve as opposed to being led by the whims and business ideas of corporations?

    These are fundamental questions given that agriculture is a state subject as per India’s constitution. It is all the more concerning given that the authors of the citizen letter note that copies of the MoUs are not being shared proactively in the public domain by the ICAR.

    The letter asks that the ICAR suspends the signed MoUs, shares all details in the public domain and desists from signing any more such MoUs without necessary public debate.

    However, on 19 July, there were reports that the ICAR had signed another MoU, this time with Syngenta for promoting climate resilient agriculture and training programmes. In response, the authors of the letter state that the ICAR has (again) partnered with a corporation that has a track record of anti-nature and anti-people activities, selling toxic products like paraquat, class action suits against its corn seeds and anti-competitive behaviour.

    Mutagenic HT rice

    It is becoming clear who the ICAR actually serves. Let us return to Aruna Rodrigues and her letter to Rabindra Padaria (IARI) and Himanshu Pathak (ICAR) for additional insight.

    Rodrigues’ letter focuses on the commercial cultivation of basmati rice varieties tolerant to imazethapyr-based, non-selective herbicides. These chemicals can be liberally sprayed on herbicide tolerant (HT) crops because the crops have been manipulated to withstand the toxic impacts of spraying.

    The HT varieties of rice have undergone some form of mutagenesis rather than genetic engineering. Mutagenesis has traditionally involved subjecting plant cells to chemical or physical agents (e.g. radiation) that cause mutations to the DNA in the hope that a resulting mutation may produce a desirable effect in the plant. This kind of mutation breeding has been used for decades but only affects a minority of the plants on the market. Industry watchdog GMWatch says this risky technology (mutagenesis breeding) in the past managed to escape regulation.

    So, this HT crop by the mutagenesis route is not defined as ‘genetic engineering’ (the method usually used to create HT crops) and therefore falls outside the purview of current GM regulations.

    Although the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) bars HT crops (a) for being a HT crop and (b) on account of contamination of crops in a centre of genetic diversity, it has been a long-standing aim of biotech companies like Bayer (Monsanto) to get HT crops cultivated in India.

    Rodrigues asks:

    Is it a deliberate decision of the ICAR to use the mutagenesis route to produce HT rice varieties (tolerant to imazethapyr) with the explicit objective to bypass the formal regulation of GE crops/GMOs?

    Rodrigues accuses the ICAR of effectively ditching its mandate to Indian farmers, many of whom regard organic farming as their competitive advantage. This step is also a potential threat to India’s export markets, which are based on organic standards, along with the necessary co-surety that India’s foods and farms are not contaminated by herbicides, a consequence of using HT crops.

    By adding a trait for herbicide tolerance, the ICAR is informed:

    ICAR’s action directly impacts this vital issue of contaminating our germ plasm in rice and contravenes a Supreme Court Order of “No Contamination”. Furthermore, our export markets for basmati are in excess of US $5 billion in 2023-24. Your action will also directly impact India’s exports and thereby, impact farmer export potential, incomes and income opportunities that premium prices provide.

    Moreover, Rodrigues asserts that the entire mutagenesis process for HT rice must be elaborated, especially when the mutant variety is for the purpose of human consumption. The ICAR is duty-bound to provide, for example, whether a physical or a chemical mutagen was used, the range of doses used and the toxicity for the said material, the herbicide(s) used to test the HT of the basmati rice being used, the concentrations of the herbicides used and the genetic mechanism by which HT rice through mutagenesis has a resistant gene to imazethapyr.

    While the issue of intellectual property rights for the HT rice varieties using mutagenesis is unclear, the ICAR and IARI have executed a technology transfer agreement of the HT trait for commercial cultivation.

    A failed technology

    In her letter, Rodrigues states that, based on empirical evidence of 35 years of HT crops in the US and Argentina, HT crops are a failed technology: it spawns super weeds, increased herbicide use and no added performance yield. Moreover, for India, HT crops are a perverse use of technology, whether genetic engineering or through mutagenesis, that risks small and marginal farmers’ crops and herbs and plants used in many Ayurvedic medicines because of herbicide drift.  It will also uniquely impact the employment of women in weeding.

    She goes on to state that in the US overall herbicide use has increased more than tenfold since the introduction of HT Crops (1992-2012 figure). In addition, HT crops are designed for monocultures and completely unsuited to Indian small-holder, multi-crop farming: anything not HT will be destroyed, the resistant crop stands, but everything else dies, including non-target organisms.

    The herbicides used with HT crops are also a major human health issue. There is a strong link between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In relation to this, there are more than 100,000 lawsuits winding their way through US Courts. Glyphosate (used in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide) is also an endocrine disruptor and is linked to birth defects. Rodrigues notes that Monsanto and the US Environmental Protection Agency had both known for over 40 years that glyphosate and its formulations cause cancer.

    Other herbicides used by Bayer include glufosinate (used in its Liberty herbicide), which is acknowledged as more toxic than glyphosate and, like it, is a systemic, broad spectrum, non-selective herbicide. It is a neurotoxin that can cause nerve damage and birth defects and is damaging to most plants that come into contact with it.

    Glufinosate is banned in Europe and not permitted in India. It has been implicated in brain developmental abnormalities in animal studies and is very persistent in the environment, so it will certainly contaminate water supplies in addition to food where it will be absorbed.

    Imazethapyr (contained in Bayer’s Adue herbicide) is also a systemic broad-spectrum herbicide and is banned in some countries and not approved for use in the EU.

    Prof. Jack Heinemann (University of Canterbury in New Zealand) adds that the likes of imazethapyr must be tested for their ability to cause bacterial antibiotic resistance. An important concern given that India’s population has some of the highest levels of antibiotic resistance in the world. Any spread of HT crops would put people at severe risk of resistance and disease.

    Despite these environmental and health concerns, the herbicide market in India is projected to grow by around 54% in the next five years, from USD 361.85 million in 2024 to USD 558.17 million by 2029.

    In her letter, Rodrigues concludes:

    In view of the above evidence of serious irreversible harm to health, food and agriculture across several dimensions and contravention of the PP (Precautionary Principle), it is a required scientific response for the ICAR to immediately withdraw HT rice varieties and desist from introducing any HT crop through mutagenesis.

    Notes

    1. For further insight into this, see Food, Dependency and Dispossession: Resisting the New World Order by C Todhunter on Globalresearch.ca or Academia.edu.

    2. ICAR Introduces HT Rice Varieties by the Mutagenesis Process Tolerant to Imazethapyr, letter to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, A Rodrigues, 14 July 2024.

    3. Citizens’ letter (incl. farmer leaders and agri scientists) to ICAR against multiple recent MoUs with agri-corporations – ASHA Kisan Swaraj, 20 July 2024.

    The post Amazon Gets Fresh, Bayer Loves Basmati: Toxic Influences in Indian Agriculture first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later

    India Today NE, the India Today group vertical that covers the northeast, reported on Sunday, July 21, that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been airlifted from Dhaka to an undisclosed location amid the nationwide crisis over an anti-quota stir that had already claimed over 100 lives.

    The report authored by journalist Mehtab Uddin Ahmed was tweeted by the X handle of India Today NE at 2.48 pm with a caption that read, “#Bangladesh: Amidst the chaos, reports confirmed that Prime Minister #SheikhHasina was airlifted from here residence in Dhaka. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.”

    Both the report, and the tweet were, however, soon deleted. An archived version of the story can be read here.

    Readers should note that this is an updated version of the report and the update was saved close to three hours after the original story was tweeted.

    Several users on social media shared the India Today NE report and subsequently deleted their posts as the report got retracted. Some of the posts are still live. (Facebook, X)

    False Report by India Today

    As the report of Sheikh Hasina being airlifted or leaving the country amid the ongoing crisis caused ripples, Alt News noticed that the language in the updated version of the report was self-contradictory in nature. It said, “reports confirmed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allegedly airlifted from her residence in Dhaka.” To have ‘confirmed reports’ on something and then to say that it had ‘allegedly’ happened was inexplicable.

    We also noticed that no other media outlet had reported the Bangladesh PM being airlifted. Had it been true, it would certainly have been a major headline across publications. It also appeared strange that the point about Hasina being airlifted was buried in the fourth paragraph of the story under several less important points. The 6-minute video that was embedded in the story did not mention anything about it either.

    Next, we tried to look for details about Sheikh Hasina’s schedule on Sunday and found that she had chaired a meeting with the Army top brass on July 21. This was reported by the international media with photos. For example, in its live blog on developments in the country, VoA Bangla published a photo of the said meeting and reported, “প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা রবিবার (২১ জুলাই ২০২৪) প্রধানমন্ত্রীর নিরাপত্তা উপদেষ্টা, তিন বাহিনীর প্রধান, মন্ত্রিপরিষদ সচিব ও সশস্ত্রবাহিনী বিভাগের প্রিন্সিপাল স্টাফ অফিসারের সঙ্গে বৈঠক করেছেন। প্রধানমন্ত্রীর কার্যালয় সূত্রে জানা গেছে, তিনি দেশের সামগ্রিক নিরাপত্তা পরিস্থিতির ব্যাপারে তাদের নির্দেশনা দেন।”

    [Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday (21 July 2024) held a meeting with the prime minister’s security adviser, the chiefs of the three forces, the cabinet secretary and the principal staff officer of the armed forces. According to sources in the Prime Minister’s office, she gave them instructions regarding the overall security situation of the country.”]

    The US-based media outlet’s Bengali arm posted this on its Facebook page as well. The Facebook post contained two photos and it was clearly mentioned that these were from a meeting Sheikh Hasina chaired on Sunday in Dhaka.

    Indian digital media outlet The Wall, too, reported that Hasina chaired a meeting at her official residence in Dhaka on Sunday.

    On July 21, Alt News reached out to its sources in the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, which refuted the report. “India Today itself withdrew the story. And there are reports by the international media which confirm Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s presence in Dhaka. That is enough to show that the report was false,” the source told Alt News on condition of anonymity.

    On July 22, The Bangladesh high commission in India officially refuted the report. In a letter to India Today, the high commission said, “…the misinformation on the status of the Government of Bangladesh went viral within a short span of time and triggered huge confusion and anxiety among people at home and abroad. On behalf of the High Commission of Bangladesh, I express my sheer disappointment at the aforesaid erroneous article and post.”

    “This kind of misinformation and reporting based on rumour at the time of such critical moment of any country may misguide the people and even add fuel to the crisis and turn the situation into more chaotic. Moreover, such kind of reporting, without gauging the sensitivity, does not only affect the people and the society in large negatively, but also questions the credibility of any news outlet. We request all the news outlets, including the India Today NE, to remain vigil and ensure objective and balanced reporting taking account of the sensitivity of the issue,” it added.

    India Today NE published a story on its website on July 22 ‘apologizing’ for the ‘unintentional error’ and attributed it to a “confidential source that could not be immediately verified.”

    The post India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later

    India Today NE, the India Today group vertical that covers the northeast, reported on Sunday, July 21, that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been airlifted from Dhaka to an undisclosed location amid the nationwide crisis over an anti-quota stir that had already claimed over 100 lives.

    The report authored by journalist Mehtab Uddin Ahmed was tweeted by the X handle of India Today NE at 2.48 pm with a caption that read, “#Bangladesh: Amidst the chaos, reports confirmed that Prime Minister #SheikhHasina was airlifted from here residence in Dhaka. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.”

    Both the report, and the tweet were, however, soon deleted. An archived version of the story can be read here.

    Readers should note that this is an updated version of the report and the update was saved close to three hours after the original story was tweeted.

    Several users on social media shared the India Today NE report and subsequently deleted their posts as the report got retracted. Some of the posts are still live. (Facebook, X)

    False Report by India Today

    As the report of Sheikh Hasina being airlifted or leaving the country amid the ongoing crisis caused ripples, Alt News noticed that the language in the updated version of the report was self-contradictory in nature. It said, “reports confirmed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allegedly airlifted from her residence in Dhaka.” To have ‘confirmed reports’ on something and then to say that it had ‘allegedly’ happened was inexplicable.

    We also noticed that no other media outlet had reported the Bangladesh PM being airlifted. Had it been true, it would certainly have been a major headline across publications. It also appeared strange that the point about Hasina being airlifted was buried in the fourth paragraph of the story under several less important points. The 6-minute video that was embedded in the story did not mention anything about it either.

    Next, we tried to look for details about Sheikh Hasina’s schedule on Sunday and found that she had chaired a meeting with the Army top brass on July 21. This was reported by the international media with photos. For example, in its live blog on developments in the country, VoA Bangla published a photo of the said meeting and reported, “প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা রবিবার (২১ জুলাই ২০২৪) প্রধানমন্ত্রীর নিরাপত্তা উপদেষ্টা, তিন বাহিনীর প্রধান, মন্ত্রিপরিষদ সচিব ও সশস্ত্রবাহিনী বিভাগের প্রিন্সিপাল স্টাফ অফিসারের সঙ্গে বৈঠক করেছেন। প্রধানমন্ত্রীর কার্যালয় সূত্রে জানা গেছে, তিনি দেশের সামগ্রিক নিরাপত্তা পরিস্থিতির ব্যাপারে তাদের নির্দেশনা দেন।”

    [Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday (21 July 2024) held a meeting with the prime minister’s security adviser, the chiefs of the three forces, the cabinet secretary and the principal staff officer of the armed forces. According to sources in the Prime Minister’s office, she gave them instructions regarding the overall security situation of the country.”]

    The US-based media outlet’s Bengali arm posted this on its Facebook page as well. The Facebook post contained two photos and it was clearly mentioned that these were from a meeting Sheikh Hasina chaired on Sunday in Dhaka.

    Indian digital media outlet The Wall, too, reported that Hasina chaired a meeting at her official residence in Dhaka on Sunday.

    On July 21, Alt News reached out to its sources in the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, which refuted the report. “India Today itself withdrew the story. And there are reports by the international media which confirm Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s presence in Dhaka. That is enough to show that the report was false,” the source told Alt News on condition of anonymity.

    On July 22, The Bangladesh high commission in India officially refuted the report. In a letter to India Today, the high commission said, “…the misinformation on the status of the Government of Bangladesh went viral within a short span of time and triggered huge confusion and anxiety among people at home and abroad. On behalf of the High Commission of Bangladesh, I express my sheer disappointment at the aforesaid erroneous article and post.”

    “This kind of misinformation and reporting based on rumour at the time of such critical moment of any country may misguide the people and even add fuel to the crisis and turn the situation into more chaotic. Moreover, such kind of reporting, without gauging the sensitivity, does not only affect the people and the society in large negatively, but also questions the credibility of any news outlet. We request all the news outlets, including the India Today NE, to remain vigil and ensure objective and balanced reporting taking account of the sensitivity of the issue,” it added.

    India Today NE published a story on its website on July 22 ‘apologizing’ for the ‘unintentional error’ and attributed it to a “confidential source that could not be immediately verified.”

    The post India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Painter shot multiple times: Viral video is from Brazil, no connection with India

    The story uses only screenshots and not the actual viral video in view of the graphic nature of the clip. 

    A video is viral on WhatsApp in particular with the claim that a house painter, hailing from the town of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, has been shot dead by an unknown assailant in Kerala.

    This graphic video shows a man, who appears to be painting a wall while standing on a wooden support, shot from a close distance, at least seventeen times in a space of 13 seconds.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Alt News received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline to verify the video. Some messages said the incident was from Uttarakhand, some said Noida.

    Click to view slideshow.

    On WhatsApp, the video is accompanied by a recorded voice message (attached below) which says the following:

    “This is an incident from Kerala. See if anyone can recognize this painter. Check if he belongs to someone’s family, or is a relative to someone. See what has happened to him. He is from Rampur zilla, identify him if you know him.”

    Fact Check

    We ran a reverse image search on one of the key frames from the clip and came across an X post from June 29.

    The Portuguese caption, when translated to English, reads: “CRAZY! Criminal records video murdering a man known as “Olhão” in the Novo Aleixo neighborhood, in Manaus.”

    Taking a cue from this, we ran a relevant keyword search on Google, and came across this news report, which states that the victim from the viral video, identified as Lucas Pereira, was murdered by unknown gunmen while working on a construction site at a house in the Novo Aleixo neighbourhood in the city of Manaus in Brazil.

    We also found a video uploaded by Portal do Holanda, which, according to its YouTube bio, is ‘…the most read news website in Amazonas and the North region of Brazil.’ It reports on the same incident, and features footage of the crime scene.

    Another news report states that Pereira had an open arrest warrant issued against him by the court, after being tried for drug trafficking in April 2024. Based on videos circulating on social media, the report also speculated on the victim’s connection to members of criminal factions in Manaus involved in feuds for control of drug trafficking.

    To sum up, the viral video of a painter/construction worker shot dead is from Manaus, Brazil. The victim, Lucas Pereira, faced a slew of drug-related charges, and the investigation into his murder was on. The video has no connection to India.

    Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.

    The post Painter shot multiple times: Viral video is from Brazil, no connection with India appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Prantik Ali.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • India court delays nearly $90K defamation order against journalist Rahul Pandita

    The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed an order requiring journalist Rahul Pandita to pay INR7.5 million (US$89,800) in defamation compensation to senior paramilitary officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu, according to news reports. This stay will remain in effect until the next hearing, scheduled for October 21.

    On March 5, an appellate court ordered Pandita, an independent journalist and author, to pay the original ask of INR5 million (US$59,900) plus 6% interest, totaling INR7.5 million, from the date of the suit’s filing. This compensation was for Sidhu’s alleged “loss of reputation and goodwill, mental agony, and hardship due to unfounded derogatory remarks.”  

    On May 28, the high court stayed the appellate court’s decision after it was revealed that Pandita was not even aware of the trial proceedings against him and had no opportunity to defend himself, according to CPJ’s review of the court ruling.

    The order stemmed from a December 13, 2014, report by Pandita, who worked with The Hindu newspaper as an opinion and special stories editor at the time, that has since been withdrawn but was reviewed by CPJ. While it is not clear why the publication withdrew the story, The Hindu initially defended Pandita’s report in a response to Sidhu’s legal notice to the publication as fair comment, according to the Mumbai Press Club.

    The report accused Sidhu of negligence in his duties as Inspector general of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) operations in Chhattisgarh. The original defamation suit filed by Sidhu was dismissed by a lower court in Mohali on September 16, 2017, but Sidhu challenged this judgment, leading to the appellate court’s recent decision.

    The report claimed that Sidhu did not perform his duties properly during a Maoist attack on December 1, 2013, which resulted in the deaths of 14 people. Pandita alleged that Sidhu took nearly four hours to reach the location despite being only 400 meters (440 yards) away. Sidhu contested these allegations, which were summarized in a statement published by The Hindu, asserting that he was the first to reach the troops and provided proper leadership.

    In his defense, Pandita’s lawyers argued that the report was not personal, did not invade Sidhu’s privacy, and was written with due care and caution, according to a news report reviewed by CPJ. They emphasized that the articles were published as part of Pandita’s journalistic duties and were based on eyewitness accounts and responses from CRPF officials.

    “The articles were published in relation to the conduct of a public servant, in exercise of public duties, and thus the respondent being a public servant cannot question foul play,” Pandita’s legal team argued. Pandita also maintains that he reached out to Sidhu’s superiors for their right to reply, and that their responses were included in the story.

    Pandita declined to respond to CPJ’s request for comment, and Sidhu has not yet replied to CPJ’s text message.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Umami Bioworks Looks to India to Scale Up Cultivated Seafood

    umami bioworks india
    5 Mins Read

    Singapore’s Umami Bioworks has partnered with two Indian entities as it aims to advance R&D and reach commercial-scale production for its cultivated seafood.

    Months after its merger with Shiok Meats, Umami Bioworks is looking to advance the scale-up efforts for its cultivated seafood through two collaborations with organisations in India.

    The Singapore-based startup has teamed up with the IKP Knowledge Park’s newly established Centre for Smart Protein and Sustainable Material Innovation in Bengaluru, India, which will be aimed at accelerating research and scalability for its cultivated seafood.

    Additionally, it is set to collaborate with the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology in Chennai to set up an R&D facility at the university’s campus.

    “India has a wealth of experienced talent in biomanufacturing and steel production. We saw this combination as among the best-in-class globally, and given the relative proximity to Singapore, it was an obvious choice,” Mihir Pershad, founder and CEO of Umami Bioworks, told Green Queen.

    IKP partnership to validate and transfer Umami Bioworks’ tech

    lab grown fish
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    As part of the incubation collaboration with the IKP’s alternative protein centre, Umami Bioworks’ India-based team will lead the engineering and validation of its plug-and-play manufacturing hardware, supporting the tech transfer from the demonstration line to customer sites.

    “IKP provides a hub for our team to work on this scale-up R&D, including meeting and lab space, and a facilitator to help us connect with the supply chain partners that will enable us to deliver a complete production solution,” explained Pershad.

    “The partnership is initially scoped for a year, with opportunities to extend and expand over time. Our end goal is to successfully deliver a production-ready manufacturing system, led by our team in India, that is ready for deployment to customer sites around the world,” he added.

    “We are excited about the novel technology platform that they bring to our community of entrepreneurs and founders in their pursuit of growth in the smart protein sector,” IKP Knowledge Park chairman and CEO Deepanwita Chattopadhyay said of Umami Bioworks. “This collaboration will not only accelerate Umami’s growth in India, but will also propel the smart protein ecosystem that we are building in the country.”

    The Centre for Smart Protein and Sustainable Material Innovation was established in May, born out of an MoU between IKP Knowledge Park and alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) India. The facility aims to support startups with incubation and product development via access to state-of-the-art equipment, and expert mentorship on the technical, IP, regulatory, marketing and business strategy domains.

    “This landmark partnership between Umami Bioworks and IKP’s newly launched centre is a prime example of how India’s booming biotech industry and growing smart protein ecosystem are attracting global players,” said Aiyanna Belliappa, senior innovation and entrepreneurship specialist at GFI India.

    “We are confident that this collaboration will pave the way for further innovation and investment in India, ultimately contributing to a safe, secure, and just future for food.”

    South India leads the country’s cultivated seafood scene

    cultivated seafood india
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    The partnership comes the same week researchers at the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology developed prototypes of cultivated seafood using milkfish, grouper, red snapper and tilapia cells. The university is also partnering Umami Bioworks, with Sheela Rani, the institute’s director, telling The New Indian Express that the startup will help “set up a full-fledged facility at the campus to develop more cultures and push for commercial-scale production”.

    “We are establishing a collaboration with Sathyabama University to expand our pipeline of marine species cell lines in partnership with their newly established National Facility for Coastal and Marine Research,” Pershad told Green Queen.

    “We will be doing collaborative research to establish cell lines from new fish, crustaceans, and other species. This work will include seeking [a] deeper understanding of the fundamental biology of these species to enable first-ever cell lines to be established for some species,” he added.

    Sathyabama University has earned authentication from the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, meaning its cultivated meat has no recombinant DNA. It will now pursue statutory approvals from the National Biodiversity Authority, the environment ministry, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

    The latter, in fact, has been working to establish a regulatory framework for cultivated meat and seafood companies to file dossiers for approval. In a regulatory conclave held in New Delhi in April, the FSSAI confirmed its willingness to work with the government’s Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council to set up a framework.

    “The FSSAI can institute a working group on cultivated meat. This working group will be able to recommend strategic priorities for cultivated meat (and inputs such as culture media and cell lines) for the FSSAI to consider for regulatory interventions and a strategy for a dynamic regulatory framework,” wrote Astha Gaur, regulatory policy specialist at GFI India. “Ultimately, instituting a scientific panel on novel smart proteins would ensure progressive rule-making and risk management.”

    Umami Bioworks’ partnerships symbolise the fast-growing cultivated meat sector in South India. In January, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (based in Kochi, Kerela) inked a deal with biotech startup Neat Meatt to develop cultivated fish.

    Having raised $2.4M to date, Umami Bioworks has previously outlined its plans of submitting regulatory dossiers in several countries this year. Its merger with Shiok Meats will see it bring cultivated unagi (eel) and white fish (grouper) to the market via hybrid applications.

    “We are now in active review with the Singapore Food Agency, including regular engagements to review data and address any questions that arise during their review,” revealed Pershad. “We are also making rapid progress in two other geographies and anticipate being able to share an update in the near future.”

    The post Umami Bioworks Looks to India to Scale Up Cultivated Seafood appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • India Debuts “Mountain” Tank

    On July 6, 2024, defense contractor Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and the Indian Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) unveiled “Zorawar,” a jointly-developed indigenous light tank. This public debut reflects the culmination of an accelerated two-year effort to define and build a main battle type tank optimized for combat operations in the northern mountain frontier […]

    The post India Debuts “Mountain” Tank appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Rostec: Indo-Russian joint venture delivers 35,000 AK-203s to Indian Army

    Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited, registered and located in India, has produced and transferred 35,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles to the Indian Ministry of Defence. The founders of the enterprise from the Russian side are ROSOBORONEXPORT JSC and the Kalashnikov Group (both are subsidiaries of the Rostec State Corporation). The Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifle is a […]

    The post Rostec: Indo-Russian joint venture delivers 35,000 AK-203s to Indian Army appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • What is the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)?

    Today, the United States is leading the world’s largest multinational maritime war exercise from occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i. 25,000 personnel from 29 nations, including NATO allies and other strategic partners, are participating in the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, under the command of the US Pacific Fleet, a major component of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).

    With RIMPAC now underway, the lands and waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are being intensively bombed and shelled as participating forces practice amphibious landings and urban combat training, and the Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) find their sovereignty once again violated after more than 130 years of colonization by the US.

    RIMPAC aims to fortify the colonization and militarization of the Pacific, ensuring the security of the West’s imperialist agenda against the rise of China and other threats to the US-led capitalist system.

    In the interest of advancing a political education around the history and purpose of INDOPACOM as part of U.S. militarism, the Solidarity Network for the Black Alliance for Peace has published this comprehensive Fact Sheet on INDOPACOM.

    WHAT IS INDOPACOM?

    U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, or INDOPACOM, is one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s eleven unified combatant commands that together span the globe. INDOPACOM’s area of responsibility (AOR) covers half of the earth’s surface, stretching from California to India’s western border, and from Antarctica to the North Pole. INDOPACOM claims 38 nations within its AOR, which together comprise over half of the world’s population. Its AOR includes the two most populous countries in the world, China and India, while also encompassing small island nations, such as Diego Garcia, Guam, Palau, and Samoa, all of which are under some form of U.S. colonial occupation. INDOPACOM comprises multiple components and sub-unified commands. They include U.S. Forces Korea, U.S. Forces Japan, U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, and U.S. Army Pacific.

    According to INDOPACOM, this large and diverse area is optimal terrain to implement its “combat credible deterrence strategy.” This includes an estimated 366 bases and installations across 16 nations–more than any other command structure due to large concentrations in Guam, Hawai’i, Japan, Korea, and Okinawa. Many of the military installations strategically surround China and major trade routes.

    Headquartered at Camp H.M. Smith of occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i, INDOPACOM claims to enhance stability and ensure “a free and open Indo-Pacific” through military and economic partnerships with countries in the region. Nonetheless, it also claims to advance “U.S. national security objectives while protecting national interests.” INDOPACOM states its mission is to build a combat-ready force “capable of denying its adversaries sustained air and sea dominance.”

    THE HISTORY OF INDOPACOM

    INDOPACOM is the U.S. military’s oldest and largest combatant command. It is the result of a merger between three commands–Far East Command, Pacific Command and Alaskan Command–which were established after World War II in 1947. The first commander of the Far East Command, General Douglas MacArthur, was tasked with “carrying out occupation duties of Korea, Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, the Bonin Islands, the Philippines and the Mariana Islands.” From the end of WWII to 1958, the U.S. military conducted 67 nuclear tests throughout the Marshall Islands under “Operation Crossroads.” It conducted another 36 nuclear detonations at Christmas Island and Johnston Atoll in 1962 under “Operation Dominic,” which permanently destroyed the natural biomes.

    Against the backdrop of the Korean War, the key predecessor to INDOPACOM, Pacific Command, was primarily oriented toward combat operations in Korea and later, the Philippines. The ongoing Korean War has resulted in millions of casualties as well as the demarcation of North and South Korea since 1953. By 1957, Pacific Command saw a major expansion and strategic reorientation of its AOR, absorbing the Far East Command and most of the Alaskan Command. Camp H.M. Smith of occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i was selected as the new headquarters because the U.S. Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, the largest maritime invasion force in the world, was already located there.

    Throughout the U.S. war on Vietnam, Pacific Command controlled all U.S. military forces, including South Vietnamese assets, and operations within the country. Leading both the U.S. Pacific Air Forces and Pacific Fleet, Pacific Command’s brutal campaigns resulted in some of the most egregious atrocities, such as the My Lai massacre in 1968. Pacific Command’s operations also included some of the heaviest aerial bombardments, like “Operation Rolling Thunder.” In its numerous campaigns, which also included “Operation Bolo,” “Linebacker I and II”, “Ranch Hand,” and “Arc Lightdropping,” Pacific Command dropped over 5 million tons of bombs and at least 11 million gallons of the highly corrosive herbicide known as “Agent Orange” on Southeast Asia. Pacific Command was also responsible for covert bombing operations targeting Cambodia and Laos during the war, dropping over 2.5 million tons of bombs through “Operation Menu.”

    Pacific Command saw subsequent alterations to its AOR after U.S. forces fled Vietnam in 1973. Responsibility for Afghanistan and Pakistan was delegated to US Central Command after its inauguration in 1983, while Pacific Command assumed new responsibility for China and North Korea that same year. U.S. Secretaries of Defense Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield respectively oversaw territorial expansions to Pacific Command’s AOR in 1989 and 2002, into INDOPACOM’s current formation.

    INDOPACOM NOW

    The United States continues to view the Asia-Pacific region as pivotal to the pursuit of its material interests, emphasizing that the region is home to some of the largest and fastest-growing economies and militaries. The Obama administration’s 2011 “Pivot to Asia” marked a stronger push by Pacific Command for confrontation not only with China but any nation or movement that poses a threat to U.S. hegemony in the region.

    In 2018, Pacific Command was rebranded to Indo-Pacific Command, or INDOPACOM, as it is known today. This move was meant to recognize the strategic importance of India, following heightened aggression toward China during the Obama and Trump presidencies. INDOPACOM regularly conducts joint naval training exercises in the South China Sea with countries like Japan and Australia in clear violation of international law and even secretly stationed U.S. special-operations and support forces in Taiwan since 2021.

    Massive military exercises like the largest international maritime warfare training, the “Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC),” and others like “Cape North” and Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center trainings occur frequently in occupied Hawai’i and Guam, without the consent of the Indigenous populations. In 2023, INDOPACOM carried out new iterations of its“Talisman Sabre” exercise in Australia and its “Super Garuda Shield” exercise in Indonesia. These exercises involved tens of thousands of military personnel from 13 and 19 nations, respectively, including the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Tonga for the first time.

    INDOPACOM’s major military partners in the Asia-Pacific region include Japan and South Korea. The U.S. military holds significant leverage over each nation’s armed forces via agreements undergirding the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), essentially commanding additional joint military structures with their own distinct mission, vision, and objectives in support of INDOPACOM. USFK continues to prevent reunification in Korea as part of its mission to “defend the Republic of Korea,” while USFJ remains committed to the colonial occupation of Okinawa as part of its mission of “provid[ing] a ready and lethal capability…in support of the U.S.-Japan Alliance.”

    BAP AGAINST INDOPACOM

    INDOPACOM works to extend U.S. military influence throughout the Asia-Pacific region and to promote the militarism and violence required to fulfill the material interests of the U.S. ruling class. By portraying China as a global bogeyman, INDOPACOM serves to obfuscate the indigeneity and legitimacy of liberation movements like those occurring on the occupied islands of Guam, Hawai’i, Okinawa, and Samoa, as well as nearly every other nation across the region from Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines. INDOPACOM’s aggressive role in the region serves to create the very instability it uses to justify its own existence and mask the responsibility of U.S. officials provoking new wars.

    The Black Alliance for Peace stands against the influence and power of INDOPACOM, and the ever-increasing militarization of the region. Informed by the Black Radical Peace Tradition, we understand that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the achievement, by popular struggle and self-defense, of a world liberated from nuclear armament and proliferation, unjust war, and global white supremacy. As referenced in our Principles of Unity, BAP takes a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire–one based on war, aggression and exploitation–to the domestic war against poor and working-class African/Black people in the United States.

    The post What is the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)? first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • $4m in research grants deepen India innovation ties

    Five Australian universities will work with counterparts in India on research projects spanning AI, e-waste and stopping superbugs after securing almost $4 million from the countries’ long running research fund. Recipients of round 15 of the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund were announced on Wednesday by Science minister Ed Husic. “From tougher strains of bacteria to…

    The post $4m in research grants deepen India innovation ties appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • People of the Indian diaspora in Pacific – another view through creative media

    Asia Pacific Report

    An exhibition from Tara Arts International has been brought to The University of the South Pacific as part of the Pacific International Media Conference next week.

    In the first exhibition of its kind, Connecting Diaspora: Pacific Prana provides an alternative narrative to the dominant story of the Indian diaspora to the Pacific.

    The epic altar “Pacific Prana” has been assembled in the gallery of USP’s Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies by installation artist Tiffany Singh in collaboration with journalistic film artist Mandrika Rupa and dancer and film artist Mandi Rupa Reid.

    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024
    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024

    A colourful exhibit of Indian classical dance costumes are on display in a deconstructed arrangement, to illustrate the evolution of Bharatanatyam for connecting the diaspora.

    Presented as a gift to the global diaspora, this is a collaborative, artistic, immersive, installation experience, of altar, flora, ritual, mineral, scent and sound.

    It combines documentary film journalism providing political and social commentary, also expressed through ancient dance mudra performance.

    The 120-year history of the people of the diaspora is explored, beginning in India and crossing the waters to the South Pacific by way of Fiji, then on to Aotearoa New Zealand and other islands of the Pacific.

    This is also the history of the ancestors of the three artists of Tara International who immigrated from India to the Pacific, and identifies their links to Fiji.

    expressed through ancient dance mudra performance.

    The 120-year history of the people of the diaspora is explored, beginning in India and crossing the waters to the South Pacific by way of Fiji, then on to Aotearoa New Zealand and other islands of the Pacific.

    Tiffany Singh (from left), Mandrika Rupa and Mandi Rupa-Reid
    Tiffany Singh (from left), Mandrika Rupa and Mandi Rupa-Reid . . . offering their collective voice and novel perspective of the diasporic journey of their ancestors through the epic installation and films. Image: Tara Arts International

    Support partners are Asia Pacific Media Network and The University of the South Pacific.

    The exhibition poster
    The exhibition poster . . . opening at USP’s Arts Centre on July 2. Image: Tara Arts International

    A journal article on documentary making in the Indian diaspora by Mandrika Rupa is also being published in the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review to be launched at the Pacific Media Conference dinner on July 4.

    Exhibition space for Tara Arts International has been provided at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at USP.

    The exhibition opening is next Tuesday, and will open to the public the next day and remain open until Wednesday, August 28.

    The gallery will be open from 10am to 4pm and is free.

    Published in collaboration with the USP Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Jailed Myanmar activists in India in danger of deportation: rights groups

    India must not force about 200 jailed Myanmar refugees to return home, an advocacy group told Radio Free Asia on Thursday, citing dangers that they would face if pushed back into the jurisdiction of the Myanmar military.

    Junta attacks against ethnic minority insurgents and pro-democracy militias that emerged in the wake of Myanmar’s 2021 coup have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Chin state and the neighboring Sagaing region, with thousands seeking refuge across the porous Indian border. 

    Among those who have slipped into India are supporters of those fighting to end military rule and they could be in grave danger if forced back into the arms of the junta, activists say.

    In immediate peril are more than 200 Myanmar people who have been arrested in Indian states bordering Myanmar’s western Sagaing region, said Salai Dokhar, founder of the group India for Myanmar. Most have been detained under immigration laws.

    India has already forced dozens of them back and fears are growing that the rest will soon be expelled, he said.

    “Indian authorities have arrested refugees fleeing from war-torn areas to India, especially in Assam and Manipur states. According to our list, more than 230 people, but 76 of those were sent back to Myanmar,” he added. 

    “Now, they are also working to send all the remaining nationals back. Some of them are absolutely in danger, so we are calling [on the Indian government] to release all of them and if possible, grant them asylum in India.”

    India for Myanmar is one of four activist groups that have called on India to let the Myanmar nationals stay. 

    Decades of strife in Myanmar have forced villagers to flee from their homes for safety in neighboring countries, Bangladesh and Thailand in particular.

    Myanmar’s 2021 coup has triggered a new round of war that has swept areas of Myanmar that were previously peaceful, including Sagaing and Chin state, which border India.

    About 100 Myanmar people in prison in the Indian state of Manipur went on a four-day hunger strike to campaign against their repatriation, said a resident of the state with knowledge of the situation in the prison.

    On Monday, guards cracked down on the protesting inmates injuring four of them, said the resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons.

    “They want everyone to be released in Moreh town and not sent back to the Myanmar side,” the resident said, referring to an Indian town on the border.

    Political activists and those involved in non-violent action in opposition to the Myanmar junta are among those in the prison, he said.

    The Indian government has yet to release any information about the condition of the prisoners. 

    The Indian embassy in Myanmar has not responded to RFA’s inquiries as of this writing.

    The four Myanmar activist groups – including Blood Money Campaign, Defense Myanmar Democracy and the Sitt Nyein Pan Foundation – released a statement on Wednesday calling for India to grant the refugees asylum.

    While those in prison were in immediate danger of deportation, the groups said they were worried about more than 5,000 Myanmar refugees sheltering in Manipur, who they believed could also be forced home.

    Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Taejun Kang. 


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • French journalist Sébastien Farcis leaves India after permit not renewed

    June 20, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Indian authorities to immediately renew French reporter Sébastien Farcis’ journalism permit and cease using legal technicalities to prevent journalists from carrying out their duties.

    Farcis, a New Delhi-based South Asia correspondent for multiple French and Belgian news organizations, including Radio France Internationale, Radio France, and Libération, left India on June 17, after 13 years of reporting, following the government’s refusal to renew a journalism permit to work in the country, according to the journalist, who told CPJ in a text message and a statement he shared on X, formerly Twitter.

    The government did not provide a reason for refusing the permit on March 7. Farcis, who is married to an Indian citizen, holds a permanent residency status, known locally as the Overseas Citizenof India (OCI) visa. Since March 2021, Indian regulations have mandated that OCI visa holders must obtain permits to work as journalists in India.

    “The departure of Sébastien Farcis highlights the increasing challenges faced by foreign journalists in India. The arbitrary refusal to renew his journalism permit, without explanation, undermines press freedom and disrupts journalists’ lives,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Indian authorities must approve Farcis’ permit and ensure that all journalists can work without fear of unjust reprisal, upholding India’s democratic values.”

    In his statement, which he shared with CPJ, Farcis said the permit denial has effectively prevented him from practicing his profession and cut off his income. Multiple requests to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which issues the journalism permits, have gone unanswered, and attempts to appeal the decision have so far been unsuccessful, he said.

    Farcis said in the statement that he has always adhered to regulations, obtaining the necessary visas and accreditations. He said he has never reported from restricted or protected areas without proper permits, and the MHA has previously granted him permission to report from border areas.

    “This decision has had a great impact on my family. I am deeply attached to India, which has become my second homeland. But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” Farcis said in the statement.

    Farcis is the second French journalist in four months to leave India under similar circumstances, following Vanessa Dougnac’s departure in February. CPJ is aware that at least five OCI-holder foreign correspondents have been banned from working as journalists in India over the past two years.

    CPJ’s email to Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who oversees the MHA, requesting comment did not receive a response.

    Editor’s note: This report has been corrected to show Farcis’ journalism permit was not renewed, rather than revoked. 


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Author Arundhati Roy Faces Prosecution in India Amid Modi’s Crackdown on Critics

    Acclaimed author Arundhati Roy could soon face trial under India’s contested “anti-terror” laws in a case that has drawn outrage from free speech advocates in India and beyond. An official from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s far right ruling Bharatiya Janata Party gave the go-ahead on Friday for Roy’s prosecution over comments she made about Kashmir in 2010. This comes as Modi was sworn in last…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Arundhati Roy Faces Anti-Terror Prosecution in India as Modi Expands Crackdown on Critics


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Arundhati Roy Faces Anti-Terror Prosecution in India as Modi Expands Crackdown on Critics

    Seg3 royandmodi

    Acclaimed author Arundhati Roy could soon face trial under India’s contested “anti-terror” laws in a case that has drawn outrage from free speech advocates in India and beyond. An official from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s far-right ruling Bharatiya Janata Party gave the go-ahead on Friday for Roy’s prosecution over comments she made about Kashmir in 2010. This comes as Modi was sworn in last week to his third term as prime minister after the BJP won the most seats in Indian’s Parliament, but lost its outright majority. “This case is so convoluted, it’s hard to say where it begins and where it ends — and that’s the point. The process is the punishment,” says Indian author and journalist Siddhartha Deb, who teaches at The New School in New York. Deb says Modi is trying to show that “everything is normal” despite the shocking electoral setback, with the case against Roy being used to placate his “rabid attack dogs of Hindu nationalism.”


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Why Modi’s India is Suddenly getting Washington’s Cold Shoulder

    Modi’s narrow re-election this month was greeted in the U.S. media with petulant satisfaction that Indian voters had “woken up”, as an oped piece in the New York Times put it.

    The Washington Post’s editorial board rebuked Modi with the headline: “In India, the voters have spoken. They do not want autocracy.”

    The Post editors went on to say that Modi “will lack a free hand for further repression of civil society, imprisonment of the opposition, infiltration and takeover of democratic institutions, and persecution of Muslims.”

    That is quite a withering rap sheet for a political leader who not so long ago was given the VIP treatment in Washington.

    Other U.S. media outlets also sounded smug that India’s legislative elections had returned a diminished majority for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The “shock setback” for India’s strongman would mean that his Hindu nationalist politics would be restrained and he would have to govern during his third term with more moderation and compromise.

    The American media’s contempt for the 73-year-old Indian leader is a dramatic turnaround from how he was lionized by the same media only a year ago.

    Back in June 2023, Modi was feted by U.S. President Joe Biden with a privileged state dinner in the White House. The Indian premier was invited to address the Congress and the media were rhapsodic in their praise for his leadership.

    Back then, the Washington Post’s editors recommended “toasting” Modi’s India, which Biden duly did at the White House reception. Raising a glass, Biden said: “We believe in the dignity of every citizen, and it is in America’s DNA, and I believe in India’s DNA that the whole world – the whole world has a stake in our success, both of us, and maintaining our democracies.” With trademark stumbling words, Biden added: “[This] makes us appealing partners and enables us to expand democratic institutions across, around the world.”

    Modi may well wonder what happened over the past year. The Indian leader has gone from receiving the red carpet treatment to having the rug pulled from under his feet.

    The difference is explained by the changing geopolitical calculation for Washington, which is not to its liking.

    It is not that the Indian government under Modi has suddenly become a bad strongman who has taken to trashing democratic institutions and repressing minorities. Arguably, those tendencies have been associated with Modi since he first came to power in 2014.

    The United States had long been critical of Modi’s Hindu nationalism. For more than a decade, Modi was persona non-grata in Washington. At one stage, he was even banned from entering the country owing to allegations that he was fanning sectarian violence against Muslims and Christians in India.

    Washington’s view of Modi, however, began to warm up under the Trump administration because India was seen as a useful partner for the U.S. to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, a region which Washington renamed as the Indo-Pacific in part to inveigle India into its fold. To that end, the U.S. revived the Quad security alliance in 2017 with India, Japan and Australia.

    The Biden administration continued the courting of India and Modi who was re-elected in 2019 for his second term.

    Biden’s fawning over India culminated in the White House extravaganza for Modi last June when the U.S. media championed the “new heights” of U.S.-India relations. There were at the time residual complaints about India’s deteriorating democratic conditions under Modi, but such concerns were brushed aside by the sweep of media eulogizing, epitomized by Biden’s grandiloquent toasting of the U.S. and India as supposedly world-conquering democratic partners.

    It was discernible, though, that all the American charm and indulgence was setting India up for an ulterior purpose.

    In between the lines of effusive praise and celebration, the expected pay-off from India was that it would be a “bulwark” for U.S. interests against China and Russia.

    As a piece in CNN at the time of Modi’s visit last year in Washington asked: “Will India deliver after lavish U.S. attention?”

    The article noted with some prescience: “India and the U.S. may have different ambitions and visions for their ever-tightening relationship, and the possibility that Biden could end up being disappointed in the returns for his attention on Modi.”

    The Indian leader certainly did receive some major sweeteners while in the U.S. Several significant military manufacturing deals were signed such as General Electric sharing top-secret technology for fighter jet engines.

    Still, despite the zealous courting of New Delhi, over the following months, the Modi government appeared not to change its foreign policy dramatically to suit Washington’s bidding.

    India has had long-held strained relations with China over border disputes and regional rivalry. Nevertheless, Modi has been careful not to antagonize Beijing. Notably, India did not participate in recent security drills in the Asia-Pacific along with the U.S. and other partners.

    New Delhi has also maintained its strong support for the BRICS group that includes Russia, China, Brazil and other Global South nations advocating for a multipolar world not in hock to Western dominance.

    This traditional policy of non-alignment by India is not what Washington wants. It seems that Modi did not heed the memo given during his splendid Washington visit. He rebuffed the American expectation of steering India towards U.S. geopolitical objectives of toeing a tougher line against China and Russia.

    What seems to have intensified Washington’s exasperation with Modi is the worsening proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. After two and half years of conflict, President Vladimir Putin’s forces have gained a decisive upper hand over the NATO-backed Kiev regime. Hence, Biden and other NATO leaders have begun to desperately ramp up provocations against Moscow with recent permission for Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to hit Russian territory.

    When Modi visited Washington last June, the West was (unrealistically) confident that the Ukrainian counteroffensive underway at the time would prove to be a damaging blow to Russian forces. Western predictions of overcoming Russian lines have waned from the cruel reality that Russian weapons and superior troops numbers have decimated the Ukrainian side.

    During Modi’s state trip last year, Washington’s focus was on getting India to act as a bulwark against China, not so much Russia. Modi has not delivered on either count, but the situation in Ukraine has cratered, from the NATO point of view.

    Commenting on U.S. priorities last June, Richard Rossow of the Washington-based think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “If the invasion went worse for Ukraine, or was destabilizing the region, the Biden administration might have chosen to reduce the intensity of engagement with India. But the United States has found that nominal support to Ukraine, with allies and partners, has been sufficient to blunt the Russian offensive…” (How wrong was that assessment!)

    Rossow continued his wrongheaded assessment: “Russia’s ineffective military campaign [in Ukraine] has also underscored the fact that China presents the only real state-led threat to global security, and the United States and India are steadily deepening their partnership bilaterally and through forums like the Quad to improve the likelihood of peace and tranquility in the region. So long as this strategic relationship continues to grow, it is unlikely that a U.S. administration will press India to take a hard line on Russia.”

    Washington and its NATO allies have got their expectations about Russia losing the conflict in Ukraine all badly wrong. Russia is winning decisively as the Ukrainian regime stumbles towards collapse.

    This is a double whammy for the Biden administration. China and Russia are stronger than ever, and India has given little in return for all the concessions it received from Washington.

    From the American viewpoint, India’s Modi has not delivered in the way he was expected to by Washington despite the latter’s fawning and concessions. New Delhi has remained committed to the BRICS multipolar group, it has not antagonized China and it has not succumbed to U.S. pressure to condemn Russia. Far from condemning Moscow, India has increased its imports of Russian oil and gas.

    Now with the U.S. and NATO’s reckless bet on Ukraine defeating Russia looking like a beaten docket, Washington’s disappointment with India is taking on an acrimonious tone.

    In one year, Modi’s India has gone from a geopolitical darling to a target of U.S. recrimination over alleged human rights violations and democratic backsliding. It is not so much that political conditions in India have degraded any further. It is Washington’s geopolitical calculations that have been upended. Hence the chagrined and increasingly abrasive attitude towards New Delhi from its erstwhile American partner.

    • First published in Strategic Culture Foundation

    The post Why Modi’s India is Suddenly getting Washington’s Cold Shoulder first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • India: author Arundhati Roy to be prosecuted over 2010 Kashmir remarks

    Official from ruling BJP party allows action against Booker winner under controversial anti-terrorism law

    Indian authorities have granted permission for the prosecution of the Booker prize-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy over comments she made about Kashmir at an event in 2010.

    The top official in the Delhi administration, VK Saxena, gave the go-ahead for legal action against Roy, whose novel The God of Small Things won the Booker prize in 1997, under anti-terrorism legislation, alongside a former university professor, Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • “Why change for someone else when I know I am shining?”: Changing LGBTQI+ norms in India

    Like most Indians, Ritwik “Ritu” Chakravarty was raised with a strict notion of traditional gender roles. But for Ritu, who identifies as a trans woman, such rigidity never made sense. “My name, Ritu, means ‘weather’ or ‘season,’” she says today. “And my gender was fluid, changing like the weather.” This openness has allowed Ritu to …

    Source

    This post was originally published on American Jewish World Service – AJWS.

  • Democracy Will Not Come through Compromise and Fear

    Aisha Khalid and Imran Qureshi (Pakistan), Two Wings to Fly, Not One, 2017.

    Half of the world’s population will have the opportunity to vote by the end of this year as 64 countries and the European Union are scheduled to open their ballot boxes. No previous year has been so flush with elections. Among these countries is India, where a remarkable 969 million voting papers had to be printed ahead of the elections that culminated on 1 June. In the end, 642 million people (roughly two-thirds of those eligible) voted, half of them women. This is the highest-ever participation by women voters in a single election in the world.

    Meanwhile, the European Union’s 27 member states held elections for the European Parliament, which meant that 373 million eligible voters had the opportunity to cast their ballot for the 720 members who make up the legislative body. Add in the eligible voters for elections in the United States (161 million), Indonesia (204 million), Pakistan (129 million), Bangladesh (120 million), Mexico (98 million), and South Africa (42 million) and you can see why 2024 feels like the Year of Elections.

    Alfredo Ramos Martínez (Mexico), Vendedora de Alcatraces (‘Calla Lily Vendor’), 1929.

    Over the past few weeks, three particularly consequential elections took place in India, Mexico, and South Africa. India and South Africa are key players in the BRICS bloc, which is charting a path towards a world order that is not dominated by the US. The nature of the governing coalitions that come to power in these countries will have an impact on the grouping and will certainly shape this year’s BRICS Summit to be held in Kazan (Russia) in late October. While Mexico is not a member of BRICS and did not apply for membership during the expansion last year, the country has sought to relieve itself of the pressures from the United States (most Mexicans are familiar with the statement ‘Poor Mexico: so far from God, so close to the United States’, made by Porfirio Diaz, the country’s president from 1884 to 1911). The Mexican government’s recent aversion to US interference in Latin America and to the overall neoliberal framework of trade and development has brought the country deeper into dialogue with alternative projects such as BRICS.

    While the results in India and South Africa showed that the electorates are deeply divided, Mexican voters stayed with the centre-left National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), electing Claudia Sheinbaum as the first woman president in the country’s history on 2 June. Sheinbaum will take over from Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who leaves the presidency with a remarkable 80% approval rating. As the mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023 and a close ally of AMLO, Sheinbaum followed the general principles laid out in the Fourth Transformation (4T) project set out by AMLO in 2018. This 4T project of ‘Mexican Humanism’ follows three important periods in Mexico’s history: independence (1810–1821), reform (1858–1861), and revolution (1910–1917). While AMLO spoke often of this 4T as an advance in Mexico’s history, it is in fact a return to the promises of the Mexican Revolution with its call to nationalise resources (including lithium), increase wages, expand government jobs programmes, and revitalise social welfare. One of the reasons why Sheinbaum triumphed over the other candidates was her pledge to continue the 4T agenda, which is rooted less in populism (as the bourgeois press likes to say) and more so in a genuine welfarist humanism.

    George Pemba (South Africa), Township Games, 1973.

    In May of this year, thirty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa held its seventh general election of the post-apartheid era, producing results that stand in stark contrast to those in Mexico. The ruling tripartite alliance – consisting of the African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party, and Congress of South African Trade Unions – suffered an enormous attrition of its vote share, securing just 40.18% of the vote (42 seats short of a majority), compared to 59.50% and a comfortable majority in the National Assembly in 2019. What is stunning about the election is not just the decline in the alliance’s vote share but the rapid decline in voter turnout. Since 1999, less and less voters have bothered to vote, and this time only 58% of those eligible came to the polls (down from 86% in 1994). What this means is that the tripartite alliance won the votes of only 15.5% of eligible voters, while its rivals claimed even smaller percentages. It is not just that the South African population – like people elsewhere – is fed up with this or that political party, but that they are increasingly disillusioned by their electoral process and by the role of politicians in society.

    A sober appraisal of South Africa’s election results shows that the two political forces that broke from the ANC – Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters – won a combined 64.28% of the vote, exceeding the vote share that the ruling alliance secured in 1994. The overall agenda promised by these three forces remains intact (ending poverty, expropriating land, nationalising banks and mines, and expanding social welfare), although the strategies they would like to follow are wildly different, a divide furthered by their personal rivalries. In the end, a broad coalition government will be formed in South Africa, but whether it will be able to define even a social democratic politics – such as in Mexico – is unclear. The overall decline in the population’s belief in the system represents a lack of faith in any political project. Promises, if unmet, can go stale.

    Kalyan Joshi (India), Migration in the Time of COVID, 2020.

    In the lead-up to the election in India, held over six weeks from 19 April to 1 June, incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that his party alone would win a thumping 370 seats in the 543-seat parliament. In the end, the BJP could only muster 240 seats – down by 63 compared with the 2019 elections – and his National Democratic Alliance won a total of 293 (above the 272-threshold needed to form a government). Modi will return for a third term as prime minister, but with a much-weakened mandate. He was only able to hold on to his own seat by 150,000 votes, a significant decrease from the 450,000-vote margin in 2019, while fifteen incumbent members of his cabinet lost their seats. No amount of hate speech against Muslims or use of government agencies to silence opposition parties and the media was able to increase the far-right’s hold on power.

    An April poll found that unemployment and inflation were the most important issues for two-thirds of those surveyed, who say that jobs for city dwellers are getting harder to find. Forty percent of India’s 1.4 billion people are under the age of 25, and a study by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy showed that India’s youth between the ages of 15 and 24 are ‘faced with a double whammy of low and falling labour participation rates and shockingly high unemployment rates’. Unemployment among young people is 45.4%, six times higher than the overall unemployment rate of 7.5%.

    India’s working-class and peasant youth remain at home, the sensibility of their entire families shaped by their dilemmas. Despair at everyday life has now eaten into the myth that Modi is infallible. Modi will return as prime minister, but the actualities of his tenure will be defined partly by the grievances of tens of millions of impoverished Indians articulated through a buoyant opposition force that will find leaders amongst the mass movements. Among them will be farmers and peasants, such as Amra Ram, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and All India Kisan Sabha (‘All India Farmers’ Union’) who won decisively in Sikar, an epicentre of the farmers’ movement. He will be joined in parliament by Sachidanandam, a leader of the All India Kisan Sabha and Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Dindigul (Tamil Nadu), and by Raja Ram Kushwaha, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation from Karakat (Bihar) and the convenor of the All-India Kisan Sangharsh (‘All India Farmers’ Struggle’) Coordination Committee, a peasant alliance that includes 250 organisations. The farmers are now represented in parliament.

    Nitheesh Narayanan of Tricontinental Research Services writes that even though the Left did not send a large contingent to parliament, it has played an important role in this election. Amra Ram, he continues, ‘enters the parliament as a representative of the peasant power that struck the first blow to the BJP’s unquestioned infallibility in North India. His presence becomes a guarantee of India’s democracy from the streets’.

    Heri Dono (Indonesia), Resistance to The Power of Persecution, 2021.

    The idea of ‘democracy’ does not start and finish at the ballot box. Elections – such as in India and the United States – have become grotesquely expensive. This year’s election in India cost $16 billion, most of it spent by the BJP and its allies. Money, power, and the corrosiveness of political dialogue have corrupted the democratic spirit.

    The search for the democratic spirit is at least as old as democracy itself. In 1949, the communist poet Langston Hughes expressed this yearning in his short poem ‘Democracy’, which spoke then to the denial of the right to vote and speaks now to the need for a much deeper consideration of what democracy must mean in our times – something that cannot be bought by money or intimidated by power.

    Democracy will not come
    Today, this year,
    Nor ever
    Through compromise and fear.
    I have as much right
    As the other fellow has
    To stand
    On my two feet
    And own the land.

    I tire so of hearing people say,
    Let things take their course.
    Tomorrow is another day.
    I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
    I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

    Freedom
    Is a strong seed
    Planted
    In a great need.
    Listen, America—
    I live here, too.
    I want freedom
    Just as you.

    The post Democracy Will Not Come through Compromise and Fear first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.