Earlier today, the leader of opposition in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis interacted with Girish Kuber, the Editor of the Express group’s Marathi daily Loksatta, where the former chief minister took a swipe at the journalists, alleging that they are deluded into believing that they wield the power of making and breaking governments.
“The mainstream media journalists have come to believe that they can form the government or topple it,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis’ barely veiled attack on organisations like Loksatta was not lost on Kuber, who tried to defend his organisation’s relationship with politicians. “Media organisations are like dogs snapping at the heels of a bullock cart,” Kuber said while responding to Fadnavis’ assertion.
Loksatta has relinquished its role of being anti-establishment ever since Maha Vikas Aghadi government came into power in Maharashtra: Fadnavis
Fadnavis also indirectly accused Loksatta of being partisan and overly deferential to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. He said that the paper, which prided itself on being anti-establishment for years had forsaken its role of the neutral organisation after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power in Maharashtra.
“I have been closely watching the Express Group as well as Loksatta. Be it our government or any other party government, Loksatta was known as an anti-establishment newspaper and an organisation that voiced the concerns of the people. For years, this has been the legacy of the Express Group,” Fadnavis said.
He further continued, “However, today, if we look at Loksatta after this government(MVA) came to power, and I can give you a comparative on this. After all, I am in politics and I can give you a comparison on this. This is not an allegation but it feels like somewhere Loksatta has relinquished its role of being anti-establishment. The reason could be anything, I don’t know about it but it feels like Loksatta has abandoned its role of being anti-establishment. Because it is you, I am being pretty straightforward, I have no reason to say this behind your back,” Fadnavis said.
Maha Vikas Aghadi government has low tolerance to criticism: Fadnavis
Fadnavis also highlighted how it is easy to criticise the BJP in media and social media but it is not the same with the Maha Vikas Agahdi government. Accusing the Maharashtra government of being intolerant to criticism, Fadnavis said that a single post against MVA or the chief minister attracted action against 10,000 BJP workers across the state.
“It is easy to criticise BJP in media and social media, but it is not the case with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Even a single post criticising the government or the chief minister results in action against 10,000 BJP workers across the state,” Fadnavis said.
भाजपावर टीका करणे सोपे आहे. कारण, ती ऐकून घेतली जाते. पण, आता सरकारवर टीका करणार्या 10,000 भाजपा कार्यकर्त्यांवर कारवाई झाली. (लोकसत्ता, दृष्टी आणि कोन/दि. 4 जून 2021) pic.twitter.com/vl0fMMaVP8
He also slammed media for making a mountain out of a molehill when corpses were seen floating in rivers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. For two days, a smear campaign against the Uttar Pradesh government was run in media even when it was established that dumping bodies in rivers was years-old practice, said Fadnavis, adding that the same scrutiny was not extended to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra’s Beed district when 22 dead bodies were crammed in a single ambulance and taken for cremation.
Before every election, various political parties, specifically, the non-NDA parties, start raising questions on EVMs used by the Election Commission of India. Such doubts on EVMs go up if BJP or other NDA parties win the elections, as the non-NDA parties accuse them of winning the elections by manipulating the EVMs. But when non-NDA parties win the elections, the questions on EVMs disappear completely.
The latest example of the same is the recently concluded assembly elections. Other than Assam, where BJP’s win was certain, and small union territory Puducherry, non-NDA parties have come to power in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. And as a result, no opposition leader is questioning the EVMs, until the next elections. Ahead of the assembly elections,. Mamata Banerjee and other leaders in TMC had raised EVM rigging allegations, but once the TMC govt returned to power, such allegations have disappeared.
The controversies relating to EVMS had started when they were first introduced. Since EVMS are electronic devices and since they include a processor like device inside them, there was a lot of hue and cry regarding the possibility of it being hacked.
Control unit and ballot unit, source: ECI
But the contentions regarding hacking were based on an incorrect understanding of what is happening inside the EVM and what it is made up of. EVMS does not in any way work like desktop computers or even microprocessor based devices. Once they are programmed during manufacturing process, there is no means by which it can be reprogrammed to make it behave like we want to. It is more like a non-programmable calculator with a very basic set of electronics that do not in anyway resemble modern computers / programmable devices. Moreover, EVMS and Ballot units used along with are standalone units that are not connected to external devices to be manipulated (they cannot be manipulated in the first place), neither do they have hardware enabling wireless communications. Even many from the opposition parties accept this, ensuring us that EVMS are “calculator like devices” that cannot be hacked.
It’s such misunderstandings created by flawed arguments we wish to dispel in this article.
Now, the main argument is against the VVPAT machine, which was added as a means for the voter to verify if the machine has indeed cast the vote for the candidate he had in his mind. VVPAT machine contains information about the candidate list in the constituency, their symbols and how they’ve been arranged in the ballot unit. So, by checking the printout on the VVPAT machine one can verify if the ballot unit and the whole voting process was working the way it was intended to be. But there are a few things the critics bring to our notice which they think are major vulnerabilities of the VVPAT machine, when combined with the EVM-Ballot Unit duo allegedly compromises the whole election process, if such accusations are factually correct.
Configuration of CU, VVPAT and BU, source: ECI
Let’s sum up the main charges against the VVPAT and the EVM-VVPAT-Ballot Unit trio.
VVPAT is a patch work into the existing system.
Since VVPAT sits between Ballot unit and Control unit, it can influence what goes inside of the control unit, i.e., information about the vote.
VVPAT is not a standalone device since it is connected to external devices during symbol loading.
Since it is not a standalone device, it is prone to get hacked.
So, the main point against VVPAT is since it sits between the Control unit and the ballot unit, anyone somehow hacking the VVPAT tampering with its “programmable memory” can sabotage the whole election process and get the system to register votes for whomever the intruder wants. And it is alleged the tampering can be done when the data containing candidate list, symbols etc. are loaded into the VVPAT using laptops or other compatible devices.
Now the statement that VVPAT sits between CU and BU is correct as one can see from the diagrams provided by Election Commission of India. While without the VVPAT, the cable from BU connects the CU directlu, the cable from BU now goes to the VVPAT and a second cable from VVPAT, similar to the BU-CU cable in the old system, connects with the CU. There’s nothing doubtful regarding this. Now it’s the interpretative arguments about VVPAT and the connections involved that we wish to analyse.
Interconnections of VVPAT, CU and BU, (source: ECI)
To begin with, the purpose of VVPAT was to bring in more transparency to the voting process through electronic means. The voter, unlike before, now has a secondary means of visual verification, a paper trail that shows the candidate he had voted for. Now, since a certain percentage of VVPATs are verified at the end of the election process, matching them against the votes cast on EVMs, it is not possible by any means to tamper with the election process exactly for these two reasons:
1.VVPATs are verified by the voters at the time of elections
2.VVPATs are verified after the election is over too.
Is essence, VVPAT has brought in more transparency and trust factor in the election process.
What is VVPAT, (source: ECI)
Next, many from the opposition parties and analysts make the claim that the VVPAT machine is a very complex system digital system that is prone to hacking. They also say it contains device drivers such as those which would be used to actuate individual components such as printers, photodiodes etc. In effect, they compare the whole VVPAT to a general purpose mini computer. This is where the whole argument is erroneous.
Simple machines such as standalone printers which are not normally connected to computers, and meant for very specific purposes such as a token machine or a billing machine, runs on something called “Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC)”. What it means that the IC used has been pre-programmed, much like the one-time programmable EVM. ASICs are not reprogrammable in the sense that you cannot change the code it runs on.
Malware can affect only those systems which actually resemble general purpose computers, which runs on an Operating system and has features like RAM etc. The only thing it is designed to receive from an external device is the information about what it should be printing. Just like a token machine can be programmed to alter the content it is supposed to print by using a custom-made application, VVPAT too is most likely desgined around an Application Specific integrated circuit, and the only thing one can change is what it prints, which is done by ECIL engineers before the elections, using symbol loading Jigs or laptops as we have been told by ECI.
The code it runs cannot be changed since it should ideally run on an ASIC. We can simply disregard the allegation that VVPAT is hackable just by noting that it should ideally run on an application specific Integrated Circuit designed to carry out a specific task, here printing and acting as a bridge between the BU and CU, and that its code cannot be accessed or changed.
Uploading date and time in CU using Jigs (source: ECI)
This method of loading external data is also used in setting the Real Time Clock inside the Control Unit using time setting Jigs. Here too, the OTP (One Time Programmable) chip inside the Control Unit has been preprogramed to receive information about time and date, just as VVPAT receives the information of candidates using symbol loading Jigs/Laptops with symbol loading application made by ECIL. So, just connecting the EVM to an *external device* cannot change the code it runs on. The same logic applies to VVPAT running on an application specific IC, much like that of the EVM control Unit.
ECI also mentions that newer models of EVMs are encrypted to the hardware level so that only ECIL/BEL components can be interconnected. This further weakens the argument that any type of tampering is possible. ECI also states these machines are not stand alone in the strictest sense, but needs to be occasionally interfaced with ECIL/BEL certified components for data upload, inspection etc.
Salient features of EVMs, especially the latest M3 model, (source: ECI)
Now since ECI hasn’t yet released the internal schematics of both the EVM and VVPAT, our argument about VVPAT should hold just as good as that for EVM.
Just as EVM ideally runs on a One-time Programmable chip which isn’t hackable, VVPAT too like other special purpose printers should run on Application based integrated circuits which aren’t reprogrammable in the strictest sense of the word, and hence not-hackable like a general-purpose computer which runs on an operating system and has accessories like RAM etc.
Critics make another accusation that the introduction of VVPAT into the system is a patchwork which has compromised the security of the election process, because a “programmable” device is “sitting in” between Control Unit and Ballot Unit.
But this philosophy of “cascading” multiple devices has always been there in election processes, right from its introduction. For instance, when the total number of candidates in a constituency exceeds 16, the maximum number of keys in a single Ballot Unit, additional units are cascaded, i.e., connected in series. The connection is shown below.
Connection for cascading of multiple ballot units, (source: ECI)
So, to cast vote for, say 20th candidate, the voter has to use the second Ballot Unit, and the signal passes through the first Ballot Unit to the EVM.
Now since ASIC based devices are themselves not “reprogrammable/hackable”, the new arrangement devised by designers, Ballot Unit-VVPAT-Control Unit, is nothing different from the old Ballot Unit-Ballot Unit-Control Unit philosophy, since we have argued that VVPAT is not hackable and the only variable inside it is the data for printing.
Rear view of CU, showing connector compartment, (source: ECI)
Based on this too, we can conceptually dispel the allegation that the signal given out by Ballot Unit is prone to manipulation by the processor inside VVPAT. For one thing, you cannot change the code of an ASIC based machine. Second, such a transfer of data, like that already employed in the cascading of Ballot Units, can be employed by a simple timed latch, another non programmable component.
Cascading of ballot units, (source: ECI)
Now, coming to the uploading of symbols. What the critics say is in concordance with what the Election Commission of India has to tell- symbols and other information are uploaded via laptops or other symbol loading machines. Now since the ASIC on which the VVPAT should ideally run, like any other ASIC, will treat this just as data and not as code, because they are non-reprogrammable in the first place.
Which means the worst one can do to an ASIC based VVPAT is to get it print something crazy. But this is an explicit error and can be noted by the voters. Now, such types of attacks on printers have occurred in the recent past, like when printers whose ports were open to the internet have been tricked into printing random stuff.
So, the only kind of printers that are hackable at least to this level are hobby based ones such as given below, which runs of programmable micro controller based platforms. But it would be naive to think any serious designer would go for it.
A hobby project
Above all of these, as said in the beginning, the Control Unit of an EVM attaches a time stamp for each and every vote cast using a Real Time Clock (RTC). The presiding officer registers the sequence of voting too. The voting process is monitored by CCTV surveillance as well. So, during VVPAT matching, any discrepancy that crept in due to a possible hacking can be found out. This verification of VVPAT itself debunks the argument that the election process can be rigged by employing a malware. In fact, VVPAT has provided more transparency in the voting process and has elevated the trust factor common people would ascribe to elections through electronic means.
Time stamping in EVMs, (source: ECI)
So, the arguments by critics about VVPAT philosophy is both counter intuitive and wrong.
VVPAT has brought in more transparency to the election process, since votes cast are now verifiable. Use of VVPAT itself knocks off the argument that these machines can be hacked without anyone noticing, since the voting process uses time-stamping and video surveillance.
VVPAT machines, like printers, are not complex digital machines like programmable general purpose computers in the strictest sense of the word. They run on Application Specific Integrated Circuits the code of which is unalterable.
It needn’t contain executables like device drivers you would see in Operating System based platforms, but the code has been pre-programmed into it.
Since ASIC based machines like VVPAT printers does not contain an operating system and RAM, you cannot manipulate it using any kind of malware.
The Ballot Unit – VVPAT – Control Unit philosophy is essentially the same as the Ballot Unit – Ballot Unit – Control Unit cascading philosophy used in elections.
Here we may prove the equivalency of CU-BU-BU cascading and CU-VVPAT-BU cascading since both VVPAT and EVM+BU are not reprogrammable/hackable.
Equivalency of CU-VVPAT-BU and CU-BU-BU connections
Even the data uploading in VVPAT is in agreement with what is done in the Control unit, for example, setting of time using Jigs.
Printers can only be hacked to the extent of being tricked into printing something esle it was not intended to, which would become obvious to the eyes. Such cases have been reported worldwide, and happens mainly because their input ports were being continuously exposed to the Internet, or a hacked computer.
In essence, these arguments apply only to either general purpose desktop computers, or hobby designs such as described above. (Hobby designs use custom programmable microprocessor-based platforms, like an Arduino Uno or Raspberry pi).
That the statement VVPAT being a “patchwork” on the existing system is far from logically correct even by considering the basic intentions behind incorporating VVPAT machine into the existing system. VVPAT was meant to function as a verification process in the existing scheme of things, and not as a correction to the old system. So, even going by an elementary level of reasoning, it doesn’t look like the designers would have compromised an otherwise perfect methodology just to incorporate a verification mechanism. If adding something like a printer into it might dislodge its safety features, would such eminent designers have even gone for it. Now this defence is by no means fool proof, for only a reasonable technical examination of the arguments like that given above would vindicate it.
Author: Sooraj R
(This article was originally published on author’s website)
Of late, social media companies have presumptuously transmogrified from being mere internet platforms enabling people to connect and share their views to an arbitrary adjudicator and regulator of the content that goes on their portals. The growing popularity and pervasiveness of social media platforms have deluded them into believing that they hold the absolute power to exercise control and regulate the thoughts of users on their platforms.
Recently, Facebook and Instagram removed a fact-check posted on them by PIB Fact-Check, the fact-checking arm of the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India. On May 25, Facebook and Instagram had taken down a fact-check post by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), in which it had debunked a false claim linking the COVID-19 vaccines to imminent death.
The PIB Fact-Check handle on Facebook and Twitter had shared a fact-check rebutting the claim attributed to French Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier that people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 will die in the next two years.
The post was doing the rounds on the internet and considering the nature of the post, fuelling vaccine hesitancy among people. The PIB Fact-Check attached the image of the alleged claim in its post and said: “An image allegedly quoting a French Nobel Laureate on #COVID19 vaccines is circulating on social media… The claim in the image is #FAKE… #COVID19 Vaccine is completely safe… Do not forward this image.”
An image allegedly quoting a French Nobel Laureate on #COVID19 vaccines is circulating on social media
The claim in the image is #FAKE. #COVID19 Vaccine is completely safe
However, a day later, the post was removed by both platforms without offering any explanation. In fact, Facebook and Instagram not only deleted the posts but even went to the extent of warning the PIB account of permanent suspension if such a post is made again.
The PIB officials then reached out to the IT Ministry, complaining to them about the inexplicable behaviour of the two social media giants to remove a post that debunked a false claim doing the rounds on the internet. The IT Ministry in turn got in touch with the senior officials of the two social media organisations through a series of mails, protesting against the lack of transparency on appeals and the fact-checking process.
Following the IT Ministry’s intervention, the post was restored on both platforms. A senior Facebook official later said that the content was blocked by “mistake” but was later restored.
Twitter removes verified badges from the accounts of India’s Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, Sanjay Dixit, RSS functionaries
The incident of Facebook and Instagram is another such incident that highlights the opaque methods employed by the social media websites to control the content on their platforms. Yesterday, Twitter abruptly removed the verified tick mark from the official account of India’s vice president, M Venkaiah Naidu. It was restored earlier this morning, with Twitter providing a spurious explanation for dropping the verified tick.
“The personal account of Venkaiah Naidu was inactive for six months and the blue badge has gone,” an official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. However, there are several accounts that still have a verified tick despite being dormant for years. For instance, Gursimran Khamba and the All India Bakchod have been inactive for months but still, their accounts have retained the verified tick mark. In fact, Khamba has not tweeted for more than 6 years but his account still bears a verified tick.
Furthermore, this morning Twitter removed the verified tick of retired IAS officer Sanjay Dixit without providing any explanation for the same. In March this year, it had removed the verified ticks of various RSS functionaries and rendered no explanation for stripping them of their verifying badge.
The inherent bias of the social media platforms and their tendency of interfering in India’s politics
This has been the modus operandi of social media websites, most notably Twitter for some time now. They randomly suspend and block users and then offer unconvincing explanations such as ‘technical glitch’, ‘mistake’ or ‘oversight’ to play down their violations and prevent exemplary action taken against them. However, such ‘mistakes’ are only reserved for accounts related to a particular ideology, revealing the prejudice harboured by social media websites.
In December 2020, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya shared a video debunking the lies peddled by the Congress leaders. Malviya shared a video in response to an image shared by Rahul Gandhi wherein he insinuated that the police was beating up an old farmer.
The video showed that the law enforcement official who is portrayed in the image shared by Rahul Gandhi as beating up an old ‘farmer’ simply swung the baton in the air to scare the protester away. The baton did not touch the protester. Yet, several Congress leaders and the IT cell bot deceitfully shared the picture to paint the security official of using violence against the old farmer.
Malviya had shared a video to call out this treachery of the Congress leaders. However, his tweet was labelled by Twitter as ‘manipulated media’ while no such label was attached to scores of tweets posted by Congress leaders that carried the misleading picture.
A few months later, Congress IT cell head Rohan Gupta shared a cropped video from PM Modi’s rally in Assam on Twitter. PM Modi in the video had called out Congress formula of keeping the poor poor and exploiting them for electoral gains. However, the snippet shared by Gupta was carefully cropped to give an impression that PM Modi was advocating the exploitation of the poor for votes.
However, Twitter did not show the same alacrity in labelling Gupta’s tweet as manipulated media. Even though Malviya had only debunked the misleading claim made by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, his tweet was marked as manipulated but the Congress IT head sharing a doctored video did not elicit the same kind of response from Twitter.
Similarly, more recently the toolkit fiasco brought to fore the inherent bias of Twitter. BJP leaders shared a toolkit, allegedly linked to the Congress party on social media websites. They claimed that the Congress party is trying to exploit the raging pandemic in the country to revive its dying political fortunes and attack the Modi government.
Propagandist website AltNews, which often acts as an extension of the Congress party, promptly published an article to give the party a clean chit and declare the toolkit to be fake. However, the article was replete with flimsy arguments and cringe-worthy justifications, only serving to solidify the suspicions of the toolkit being made and spread by the Congress party.
While there was no evidence or proof to declare that the toolkit was forged, Twitter labelled the tweets of BJP leaders with the toolkit as “manipulated media”. This triggered a showdown between the Indian Government and the social media tech giant over the latter’s lack of transparency in addressing grievances and murky practices of regulating content on its platform.
The reluctance of social media companies to cede their power to a sovereign government
In order to curb the rampant shenanigans of the social media websites, the Indian Government notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. According to the new digital rules, social media intermediaries with more than 5 million users and providing messaging services will have to enable the identification of the first originator of problematic content that may harm the country’s interests and several other provisions described in the rules. They were to lose protection from lawsuits and criminal prosecution if they failed to adhere to the code.
Besides Twitter, every other social media platform had complied with the new digital laws notified by the Indian Government. Whatsapp had initially filed a lawsuit against the Indian government. The opposition to the new digital rule was predictable, given that it has a provision of penalising social media platforms for its opaque practices and whimsical implementation of its policies. Fearing action against them, most of the social media organisations fell in line, except for Twitter which has asked for additional three months to comply with the new laws.
Even though social media websites claim that they will abide by the new digital rules, it is hard to imagine these organisations will obediently follow the law without giving a fight. These companies had grown accustomed to controlling and regulating thoughts on their platform. They labouring under the impression that they are omnipotent and invincible to be restrained by a sovereign government.
It is to this end that these social media organisations are pulling off antics that they are doing after the application of the new laws. They are testing waters so as to assess the Indian government’s tolerance towards their caprices and in the process retain some of their powers that the new law intends to curtail.
Here is a piece of trivia about Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Her favourite colours are blue and white. Everyone who lives in Bengal already knows this because all prominent government buildings are painted blue and white. The colours also appear prominently in the beautifully designed new emblem of the state of West Bengal. The Chief Minister created it herself. Indeed, Mamata Banerjee has a flair for both art and music and she is not shy to express herself.
Before you start to feel all warm and fuzzy about this, let me tell me how the Chief Minister weaponizes her tastes as an instrument of state power. In Bengal, blue and white is the colour of conformity. From government buildings to flyovers to schools, everything has to be painted blue and white. State ministers, party functionaries and even ordinary party workers use these colours to show their loyalty to all the powerful Chief Minister. In 2018, there was a bit of controversy when a Ramakrishna Mission school resisted changing its historic saffron colour to the TMC chief’s favoured blue and white. But otherwise, everyone falls in line. So far, so good, maybe.
But this gets a lot darker. Government buildings and party workers looking to please their superiors might be okay, but what about your house? Do common citizens also have to paint their houses blue and white? What if they don’t like those colours? Well, the Chief Minister essentially made her disapproval very clear.
Her obsession with blue and white goes so far that in 2014, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation announced an initiative to paint the city in these colours. Those who agree will not have to pay property tax for a year.
Beyond the “Tughaq like” nature of this order, consider what is really happening here. It’s essentially a loyalty test. If you don’t paint your house blue and white, you have turned your house into a visible symbol of dissent against the Chief Minister’s wishes. Everyone walking down the street can see it, including the unemployed youths at your friendly neighbourhood TMC party office. The CM found an ingenious way to get around the system of secret ballots.
Believe it or not, North Korea conducts elections every five years like clockwork. There is only one party and one candidate nominated per constituency. All citizens line up, go to the voting booth where they are given a ballot paper with only one option: YES. The purpose of this election is obviously not to give democratic choice, but it operates as a census and a test of party loyalty. It is rumoured that people can go and ask the officials publicly for a “NO” ballot, but nobody ever seems to have taken that risk.
In Bengal, the idea seems similar. Putting an entire population through a public loyalty test. Who wants to advertise themselves as dissenters? Let’s find out.
It isn’t just painting houses. The Chief Minister’s love of “art” turns every aspect of public life into a loyalty test. Every year during the festival season, the TMC releases a Durga Puja theme song, usually written by Mamata Banerjee herself. Local Puja committees receive assistance from the state government. When collecting this financial help, they receive copies of this song from the local police station. As long your Puja pandal is playing this song at top volume, you are good.
See the pattern? Art and music are just window dressing for something far more sinister. The state in West Bengal essentially dictates public expression. A moment of silence here for Bengal’s famously creative and famously self-admiring class of intellectuals. This is what they have reduced themselves to.
There is a reason that authoritarian regimes love uniformity so much. It isn’t because they feel their choice of colour or music is the best. It is about showing conformity in every moment of your life. The idea here is that of a “party society” borrowed from Communists, but which the TMC made its own. There are no gulags in West Bengal. But in towns, cities or villages, you live within the iron grip of the “party.” The line between party, government and society disappears. Want a water connection? Go to the party. Want to celebrate Durga Puja? There is a party approved way of doing it too. It’s much easier to fall in line than to become an outcast, or worse.
The stories mentioned here are old. Some are from 2018, some from 2014-15 or even earlier. That’s exactly the point. Nobody cared then and nobody cares now. They put an entire metropolis of 10 million people through a party loyalty test and nobody noticed. That’s what liberal privilege is. Meanwhile, the media have been pulling out their hair over Narendra Modi wanting to revamp Central Vista in Delhi. Imagine if the BJP ruled civic bodies were to press for everyone in Delhi to paint their house saffron. What if Yogi Adityanath wanted something similar in Lucknow?
It would never work and maybe it shouldn’t. We want diversity, not conformity.
Mamata Banerjee would tell you that she got her idea of a blue and white “uniform” for Kolkata when she was on a visit to the ‘pink city’ of Jaipur. Incidentally, Jaipur only came to be that way because the local Maharaja in 1876 wanted to please the visiting Prince of Wales. You know the ever benevolent British crown in India. Their motto was “Maa, Maati, Manush…,” I think.
On Friday (June 5), the Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition (SLP) by the Bihar government, wherein it challenged the order of the Patna High Court in the Munger firing incident. The case pertains to the death of an 18-year-old Anurag Poddar caused due to police brutality during Durga idol immersion in October last year.
As per reports, the SLP was heard by a 2-Judge Bench of the apex court comprising of Justices Indira Banerjee and MR Shah. The Supreme Court dismissed the case outright and emphasised that there were no grounds to interfere with the judgment earlier proclaimed by the Patna High Court. The Patna High Court had noted in April this year that the State was duty bound to protect its citizen and bound to pay a compensation of ₹10 lacs to the victim’s family.
The Court upheld that determining the culprit was irrelevant for granting compensation in case of a violation of the right to life. The order stated, “Whether son of the petitioner died as a result of firing by police or by any miscreants from the mob would not be relevant for the simple reason that in any case, the state had failed to protect the life of the son of the petitioner who was a spectator in the procession of Maa Durga Idol Immersion.” The Bihar government had moved the apex court to challenge the Patna High Court order, which had asked it to pay compensation.
Munger firing incident
On October 26, 2020, when the campaign for Bihar assembly elections was going on, the famous Shadipur Badi Durga procession for Visarjan was attacked and allegedly fired upon by police officials. Though the police had denied firing and had claimed that the shots were fired by some members of the crowd, those claims were later dismissed by CISF.
The police had beaten up the devotees who were taking the idol for immersion. Video footage of police brutally lathi-charging devotees who were trying to shield the huge idol and pandal had created a furor on social media. In the violence that ensued, shots were also fired and the 18-year-old Anurag had lost his life. Several other persons were injured in the police brutality.
‘Dalit Christians’ in Tamil Nadu have expressed their anger against Vatican church authorities for appointing a non-Dalit Christian as the bishop of a ‘Dalit-majority’ diocese in Salem, Tamil Nadu.
According to reports, the decision of Pope Francis to appoint Father Arulselvam Rayappan of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore as the next bishop of Salem has angered ‘Dalit Christians’ in the city.
On May 31, Pope Francis had appointed 60-year-old Father Rayappan, who is currently the professor and director of the Centre for Canon Law Studies at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bengaluru, as the new bishop of Salem diocese, where ‘Dalit Christians’ are in the majority.
For decades, ‘Dalit Christians’ have been demanding the appointment of ‘Dalit bishops’ in the vacant dioceses of Tamil Nadu as there is only one bishop from the Dalit community in the city, where the majority of Christians are ‘Dalit Christians’. ‘Dalit Christian’ is referred to as those who have left Hinduism to convert to Christianity in the past and are still categorised as Dalits in Hinduism.
Disappointed with the appointment, Father Z Devasagaya Raj, the former Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), has said that people are disappointed by the appointment of a non-Dalit bishop for the Salem Diocese as they were demanding the appointment of a Dalit to the post.
‘Dalit Christians’ accuse Vatican Church of promoting nepotism
Accusing the Vatican of nepotism in the current appointment, Mathew, the convener of Tamil Nadu’s All Dalit Christian Movements Coalition, said, “It looks like some kind of nepotism is going on because the newly appointed bishop of Salem is the cousin of Bishop Peter Abir Antonysamy of Sultanpet, who is also the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore. They both belong to the same caste, parish, and village. It reminds us of the medieval Church. Are we going forward or backward?”
Another ‘Dalit Christian’ activist, M Mary John, head of the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement, stated that the movement demanding ‘Dalit bishops’ in the state for the last three decades has received a setback by the latest appointment to the diocese.
Expressing his disappointment with the latest appointment, John said, “We have full proof of writing letters to the nuncio and other bishops urging them to appoint a Dalit bishop whenever a post is vacant, but unfortunately it was not even considered. It is very surprising and dejecting that after hearing and promising to grant our request, the higher authorities did not even take note of it.”
The community has long claimed to be victims of casteism.
The Guardian on Friday provided platform to ’eminent’ sculptor Anish Kapoor to foment Hinduphobia and peddle propaganda against the incumbent Indian Government. In his article, Kapoor compared the NDA Government at the Center to ‘Hindu Taliban’ and claimed that the Central Vista Project was an effort to ‘de-Islamify India’.
Anish Kapoor claimed, “Unsurprisingly, the Islamic origin of these buildings offends the current regime in Delhi. It is why the tyrant Modi and his henchmen are destroying it.” In reality, not a single heritage building will be demolished for the project.
Also, the language used here is enough indication of the animosity Anish Kapoor bears towards Narendra Modi. Given the animosity, it is only natural that he will reach wildly incorrect conclusions.
The Guardian article
Kapoor further continues, “It is an abomination that Modi’s hate-filled campaign to de-Islamify India is allowed to continue via the destruction of a world-class monument. Astonishingly, the UN heritage forum is silent and world heritage bodies have kept their mouths firmly closed.”
The UN heritage forum is silent because not a single heritage monument is being demolished. Also, the UN does not have any locus standing to comment on Indian internal matters. Given the factual inaccuracies in the article, it is quite astonishing that it passed the editorial muster of The Guardian.
Another matter to be addressed here is the claim that the buildings have ‘Islamic origins’. It is a matter of fact that the buildings to be demolished were built after independence, so how could they have ‘Islamic origins’? Or is it his claim that the Congress rule essentially represented Islamic rule over India?
Also, buildings like the Krishi Bhawan, Shashtri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan are quite ugly rectangular edifices, not emblematic of great architecture by any measure. Thus, his overbearing fondness for them is quite amusing indeed.
Other gems from the article
Anish Kapoor also proceeded to call architect Bimal Patel a Nazi. He wrote, “Modi has appointed third-rate Bimal Patel as his architect. Patel will design its replacement much in the way that Albert Speer followed his Führer’s lead, but, of course, Patel does not have an iota of Speer’s talent.”
Is this The Guardian’s policy now? To provide platform to the unedited ramblings of a deluded mind to make libelous accusations against a professional? Kapoor did not stop there and compared the Central Vista Project to the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
The claim is so ridiculous that one can only laugh at it in derision. The Central Vista Project has been cleared to proceed by the Indian Judiciary itself. Furthermore, the need for a new Parliament was first highlighted by the Congress party.
Without any evidence, he claims, “The Indian courts have been pressured to acquiesce to this idiotic scheme and journalists and other commentators have been intimidated.” Kapoor also said that Narendra Modi is the “Aurangzeb of our times”.
The Mughal tyrant is infamous for his Jihadist ideology which motivated him to demolish Hindu Temples. He further said, “Modi’s Hindu Taliban needs monuments to itself in order to establish cultural acceptance and domination. Like all fascist-leaning politicians, Modi hopes that by controlling the images at the heart of the nation, he will form a new vision of his India, which places him at the centre alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.”
The rant concluded with, “The destruction of the parliament buildings represents the taking-over of the Indian psyche by a fascist regime. Its ultra-nationalist vision is of Hindu dominion over all Indians at any price, and Modi as its architect will rule India with his right hand raised in salute, palm open, mimicking the Hindu god Vishnu – among others.”
Not the first time Anish Kapoor has ranted against the Central Vista Project
It is not the first time that the ’eminent’ sculptor has ranted against the project. In May, he wrote for The Guardian, “The high court of India has been coerced into giving the go ahead to this hair-brained scheme in the last few weeks without consultation or due process.”
That particular rant included gems such as “Modi and his fascist government have commissioned architect Bimal Patel to redesign this central vista. This without consultation or any understanding or regard to the importance of Lutyens design.” And “Architecture is an effective propagandist tool.”
At least, he was honest enough to admit that his attachment towards the Lutyens architecture is due to its propaganda value.
Not the first time Kapoor has called BJP ‘Hindu Taliban’
The sculptor has been calling the BJP ‘Hindu Taliban’ since at least 2015. It was in 2015 that he said, “A Hindu version of the Taliban is asserting itself.”
He had said in the article for The Guardian, “India is a country of 1.25 billion people, including 965 million Hindus and 170 million Muslims. We have a long tradition of tolerance and, despite differences, have managed to pull our huge country together. But the government’s militant Hinduism risks marginalising other faiths and tearing apart these bonds. Many of us dread what might then happen.”
Anish Kapoor supports Teesta Setalvad
Interestingly, and perhaps not so surprisingly, Anish Kapoor also supports Teesta Setalvad. In the 2015 article, he said that Setalvad was being ‘harassed’ and ‘threatened’ with sedition charges. He described Setalvad as someone who “still seeks justice for the victims of communal violence in the state of Gujarat in 2002”.
Perhaps, he is not aware, or is deliberately feigning ignorance, but Setalvad is accused of siphoning off the funds meant for the Gujarat Riot victims. In 2015, the CBI had conducted searches at her residence and office related to the matter.
Television actor Pearl V Puri, best known for his role in the Hindi television serial Naagin 3, has been arrested last night on June 4 in an alleged rape case. The actor and five others have been taken into custody by the Malad police and are being interrogated.
They have been booked under Sections 376 AB (Punishment for rape on woman under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 4, 8, 12, 19 and 21 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The actor was arrested in a 2019 case, where the victim’s father had registered a complaint against six people for allegedly sexually assaulting his then 5-year-old daughter, in the pretext of getting her work in Television. The identity of the accused had not been revealed at the time the investigation began.
“The victim identified the accused recently, and after recording her statement, the accused has been arrested. After the identification of the accused, we have taken him into custody for further investigation,” said Sanjay Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone of Mira Bhayandar, Vasai.
The police said that the victim confirmed that she was initially raped in a car and then repeatedly raped by the accused involved.
He added that the accused would be produced in court later today.
Actors come out in support of TV actor Pearl V Puri
Following his arrest, a slew of celebrities from the television industry have come out in favour of the actor. Anita Hassanandani, Pearl’s former co-star, has come out in support of him. She wrote a post claiming that the charges levelled against Pearl are false and that the truth will be revealed soon.
She took to Instagram and showed support for the actor with a post that read, “Woke up to some nonsensical news bout @pearlvpuriI know him! It is NOT true … canNOT be true…. all lies. I’m sure there is more to it. And the truth will be out soon. Love you @pearlvpuri#ISTANDWITHPEARL“.
Indian television actress, Krystle D’Souza, known for portraying Jeevika Vadhera in ‘Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai’ too took to Instagram to write a post in support of the actor.
Soon #Istandwithpearl started trending on the social media site.
Pearl V Puri rose to fame after appearing in Ekta Kapoor’s films Naagin 3 (2018–19) and Bepanah Pyaar (2019–20).
He made his acting debut in the 2013 TV drama Dil Ki Nazar Se Khoobsurat and has since appeared in films such as Phir Bhi Na Maane…Badtameez Dil, Meri Saasu Maa, and Naagarjuna – Ek Yoddha. In Brahmarakshas 2, he played a pivotal role.
The Modi government has disbursed nearly Rs 76,000 crore directly to the bank accounts of farmers under the Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme (DBT) after procuring wheat from them during the ongoing Rabi marketing season.
According to the reports, the centre has procured wheat at an all-time high MSP value of Rs 81,196 crore during the current Rabi marketing season (RMS). The Centre has said that wheat procurement increased by 5.44 per cent, in comparison to last year’s total purchases.,
Interestingly, for the first time since the country’s independence, farmers from Punjab have received more than Rs 26,000 crore in their accounts directly. Haryana farmers have also received Rs 16,700 crore into their accounts.
It is worth mentioning that some farmers from Punjab, at the behest of the middlemen, have been opposing the three farm laws enacted by the centre to ease the procurement of food grains. In addition to their objection to farm laws, a few sections of farmers from Punjab were also against the direct transfer of the price of the crop to their bank accounts. However, after a herculean task, the centre has succeeded in convincing the Punjab government to initiate DBT in the state.
Punjab and Haryana last states to join DBT, highest procurement from Punjab
Punjab and Haryana are also the last two states to implement direct cash transfer of the minimum support price, and with this now, the online payment system has become universal across the country.
According to the food ministry, about 44.4 lakh farmers have benefitted from the current rabi procurement operations with an MSP value of nearly Rs 81,200 crore.
“It takes two to three days to transfer the amount to farmers’ account since there are so many transactions in a day. The amount released or paid is reconciled within a couple of days,” said an official.
In the current season, the centre has increased procurement of wheat procurement to 433 lakh tonnes, an increase of six lakh tonnes, and almost every state is reporting the highest-ever procurement. Last year the total procurement of wheat during the RMS was 390 lakh tonnes.
Of the total procurement, a major contribution has been made by Punjab 132.27 LMT, i.e, 32.17 per cent of the total procurement, which is also an all-time high. The centre has procured 84.93 LMT (20.65 per cent) from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh 128.08 LMT (31.15 per cent) till June 2.
“Paddy procurement in the ongoing Kharif 2020-21 season is continuing smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of over 799.74 LMTs of paddy up to June 2 against the last year corresponding purchase of 728.49 LMT. About 118.60 lakh farmers have already been benefited from the ongoing KMS procurement operations with an MSP value of Rs 1,50,990.91 crore out of which an amount of Rs 1,38,330.12 crore of MSP have been transferred directly into farmers’ account up to June 2,” the government said.
The Indian Government on Saturday issued a final notice to social media behemoth Twitter for compliance with the new Information Technology (Intermediary guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
In a strongly worded letter, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology warned the social media giant that such non-compliance with India’s new IT rules will lead to unintended consequences, including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary available under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2020. It said despite sending two notices, Twitter has not complied with the new digital rules.
Government of India gives final notice to Twitter for compliance with new IT rules. pic.twitter.com/98S0Pq8g2U
The letter stated that Twitter has so far not provided details of the Chief Compliance Officer as required under the Rules. It also highlighted that the Resident Grievance Officer and Nodal Contact Person nominated is not an employee of Twitter Inc. in India as prescribed in the Rules. The Ministry also took objection to the office address provided by Twitter, stating that the address is that of a law firm, which is also not as per the Rules.
“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s Lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform. The world’s largest democracy has been among the first countries in the world, outside the parent country of Twiner Ito enthusiastically adopt the Twitter platform,” the letter read.
It further said, “Despite being operational in India for more than a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc. has doggedly refused to create mechanisms that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India based, clearly identified resources. Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twiner Inc. is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law.”
The Ministry stated that though the rules have been in effect from 26 May 2021, as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter is given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available under section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 shall stand withdrawn and Twiner shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India.
Twitter had demanded 3 months additional time for compliance with new rules
Twitter had been resolutely opposing the new digital rules notified by the government of India. Even though other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp have complied with the new laws, Twitter had last month asked the government for an additional three months for the same.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, which came into effect from May 25, mandates the social media intermediaries with more than 5 million users and providing messaging services to identify the first originator of problematic content that may harm the country’s interests. The companies should also appoint an Indian grievance officer to deal with the complaints.
It is notable here that the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 were issued in February this year, and social media companies have already been given 3 months time to comply with the new regulations.
