Amit Shah Spins Manipur Tale on Modi's Behalf; Bail for Two Bhima-Koregaon Undertrails After 5 Years in Jail
Gig workers score first major victory in India, no new IITs or IIMs built, film bill to curb piracy, most journos think their organisations are pro-BJP, baby sold to finance iPhone
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Snapshot of the day
July 28, 2023
Pratik Kanjilal
The Supreme Court has granted bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon case, after the Bombay High Court had rejected their applications. They have been in custody for five years. Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia noted the seriousness of the charges against them, but said that that alone cannot be a ground for denying bail. They also said the material evidence available against Gonsalves and Ferreira “does not justify their continuous detention”. Incidentally, after being exonerated in another case in 2014, Ferreira had written a book and produced artwork on life in Indian jails.
Eight months after the event, the government has said that at their first in-person encounter at a dinner at the G20 summit in Bali, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping had exchanged more than pleasantries ― they had agreed on the need to stabilise bilateral relations. China had spoken of this after NSA Ajit Doval met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of the summit of BRICS NSAs, while the Indian statement had said no such thing.
At the request of the Manipur government, the CBI will probe the assault of Kuki women on May 4. The Centre will seek trial outside Manipur, reports Indian Express. Fourteen perpetrators have been identified from the video of the incident and seven arrested, including the person who filmed it. The CBI, which has taken over the investigation, has made no arrests so far.
“Speaking to the Times of India” – whose reporter or editor remained unidentified, which is strange in itself – Home Minister Amit Shah mounted a strange defence of Narendra Modi’s handling of Manipur. Modi is accused of silence, and doing nothing to stop the violence. Unfair, says Shah. “The PM seeks regular updates, sometimes thrice a day, no matter where he is. He has done more than any other PM to bring the area closer not just in terms of physical distance but also in terms of emotional integration. For them to accuse him of apathy is supreme irony and low-grade partisanship." There is no evidence that the unnamed TOI interviewer practiced anything other than stenography during his or her meeting with Shah.
Shah reeled off statistics about attendance at schools and government offices, ignoring the fact that tens of thousands remain displaced, and claimed that there had been no deaths in Manipur since July 18. This is not true. He was also not asked about the incidents of violence still going on. There has been fresh firing in Kangvai under Churachandpur district with reports of miscreants resorting to bomb shelling and gun battle that led to three Kuki-Zo village volunteers getting injured and one reportedly killed on Thursday early morning. Yesterday, a gunfight also broke out between two groups of people in Manipur’s Bishnupur district, around 50 km from the state capital, where at least one house was torched in Phoubakchao Ikhai area.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has written an SOS letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that he fears a “larger humanitarian crisis” unless the Union government steps in to “share the burden” of sheltering those fleeing political and ethnic turmoil in Manipur, Myanmar and Bangladesh, The Print reports. He has sought PM Modi’s “personal intervention” to get the Union government to support the relief measures of the state government. He also mentioned that Mizoram will have to additionally spend at least Rs 350 crore for the assembly elections due later this year. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s priorities remain elsewhere.
In reaction to the video of the assault on Kuki women in Manipur, a former militant organisation told Meiteis living in Mizoram that they were no longer welcome. There are reports that over 600 of the state’s 2,000 Meiteis have left, fearing violence. A ‘Justice for Tribals’ rally on Tuesday also helped them make up their minds.
The internet ban in Manipur – among the longest in India until now – has especially hurt women, says Reuters. Apart from complete blackouts, authorities also frequently block websites and issue takedown orders to social media platforms which impact access to education and livelihoods, particularly for rural women.
In the last five years, 242 new universities ― over half of them privately owned ― have been set up in India, but no IITs or IIMs.
Parliament has just passed a new law allowing private companies to mine lithium and other critical minerals in India.
China is playing the stapled visa game again. Players from Arunachal Pradesh in a Wushu team headed for Chengdu in China for the World University Games were issued visas stapled into their passports, while their colleagues got regular visas. The team will not participate and India has lodged a strong protest against China issuing visas based on domicile or ethnicity.
The filing of criminal complaints against academics who share their views in the public sphere sets a dangerous precedent. It paves the way for unwarranted censorship of speech, light and democratic exchange of views. The RAIOT explains why we need to defend Professor Kham Suan Hausing. The political science teacher at the University of Hyderabad has been summoned by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal East, on the complaint that his views on the conflict in Manipur are detrimental to the entire Meitei community. The Supreme Court will hear his case on July 31.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about increasing incidents of mob violence against Muslims in different parts of the country.
TIME magazine has unveiled a list of the best movies in the past 100 years, and only one Indian film has made the cut. The list traces the evolution of cinema from The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) to Once upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). The list had room for only Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955).
Gujarat has a booming economy and twice the per capita economy of West Bengal, but the spread of its prosperity is K-shaped and it has the same proportion of people below the poverty line as West Bengal, says Nikhil Rampal in The Print. Besides, West Bengal has been progressing faster than Gujarat over the last five years.
After Gambia and Uzbekistan, dodgy Indian made cough syrup has turned up in Iraq, according to Bloomberg.
For many growing up queer and Christian in 1990s India, the church played a central role in their lives. But the atmosphere of disapproval and disdain caused them to move away. But seeking an anchor and a sense of stability, they found themselves returning to the church. Queerbeat explores whether the church can be a safe and nurturing space for queer folks.
Malik Mohd Ahmad Khan, Special Assistant on Defence to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told journalist Hamid Mir that drug-runners are using drones to deliver shipments to Punjab in India.
The governor of Karnataka, Tahwarchand Gahlot, was not allowed to board his Air Asia flight to Hyderabad because he arrived at the gate after the aircraft doors had closed. This presumably is the price all latecomers have to pay. But Gahlot gets to use his gubernatorial letterhead to raise a fuss about it.
In a bizarre case in West Bengal, a couple apparently sold their baby to finance an iPhone 14, to make better Instagram reels.
What journalists really think
Nearly seven in 10 journalists experience an impact on their mental health as a result of their jobs, and 82% of journalists think their media organisations support the BJP. These are some of the findings of a Lokniti-CSDS report, Media in India: Trends and Patterns, that was released today. The report, based on a survey of 206 journalists, is an attempt to “assess the overwhelming presence of media in our everyday lives'” and its impact on consumers and journalists. The journalists surveyed were from across media – TV, print and digital – and across states. Men constituted 75% of the sample. Apart from gender, other variables included language, age, seniority and membership of media associations. Some 16% of respondents said colleagues “were asked to quit due to their political leanings”. More than half of the journalists surveyed were worried they would lose their jobs due to their political leanings.
Eighty percent said that the media covers Modi “too favourably” while 61% said the Opposition parties were covered “too unfavourably”. On the coverage of the Opposition, 71% of independent journalists surveyed were more likely to “perceive an unfavourable bias” compared to journalists with news organisations.
Parliamentary committees pull up government for lagging
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, headed by DMK MP K Kanimozhi, has expressed “utmost concern” because the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which was launched in 2000 by the Vajpayee government, has fallen short of its target by 24,000 km of roads. A significant portion of the shortfall is in the Northeastern states, The panel’s report records progress up to October 25, 2022.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, headed by BJP MP Rama Devi, has also pulled up the government for failing to estimate the population of people with disabilities. The Census and surveys are sources of relevant information, but the former is indefinitely delayed, and the government is already taking flak for reducing the number of questions about disability in the National Family Health Survey.
There’s nothing hotter than July 2023
An analysis conducted by climate scientist Karsten Haustein finds that temperatures in July 2023 have surpassed all previous records. This is the warmest July in perhaps the past 120,000 years, and the hottest month in thousands of years. The study utilised data from the Global Forecast System (FGS), a weather forecast model developed by the National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The global average near-surface temperature for July is expected to exceed the previous highest recorded temperature for this month, which was observed in July 2019. The findings underscore the severity of the ongoing climate crisis. “It is therefore virtually certain that July 2023 will set a new global temperature record. We just lived through the warmest of any months over thousands of years,” the scientist stated.
Passive euthanasia bill in suspended animation
A parliamentary panel has expressed concern over the long-pending bill on passive euthanasia and urged the Union Health Ministry to address the challenges surrounding this “sensitive subject”. The issue has been awaiting resolution since 2018, prompting the committee to request the ministry to engage with all stakeholders for an informed and well-considered decision in a timely manner. The panel noted that three assurances made by the ministry regarding the legislation on passive euthanasia are yet to be fulfilled. In response to the matter, the ministry stated that it has been under consideration since 2018 and an expert committee was formed in 2020 to explore the issue. However, concrete progress is still pending, prompting the committee's call for action to avoid undue delays in enacting the law.
New cinema bill to curb piracy
In a significant move to combat film piracy and streamline licensing, the Rajya Sabha passed the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023, on Thursday. The bill amending the Cinematograph Act of 1952, was approved by voice vote after the Opposition walked out, since its demand for a discussion on Manipur was refused. Under the proposed amendments, the government plans to impose strict penalties on movie pirates ― up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 5% of the film’s production cost. Additionally, the bill seeks to revolutionise film certification procedures. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) will be allowed to grant certificates with perpetual validity, eliminating the current 10-year validity period. It introduces three age-based UA certifications ― UA 7+, UA 13+, and UA 16+, is also part of the bill's provisions. To curb film piracy, new sections will be introduced in the Cinematograph Act. Section 6AA will prohibit unauthorised recording of films, while Section 6AB will prohibit their unauthorised exhibition.
The Long Cable
In Rajasthan, gig workers’ first major victory in India
Akriti Bhatia
While labour rights have been crashing in flames, the new Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023 (RGW Act) comes up as a breath of fresh air. This ground-breaking legislation aims to establish a welfare board and a dedicated social security fund for platform-based gig workers in the state.
The Ashok Gehlot government has been pioneering pro-people and rights-based legislations, from the Right to Health Bill in 2022, to the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023 (upholding the right to work) to this RGW Bill 2023, in addition to a promised allocation of Rs 200 crore to the Gig Workers Security and Welfare Fund, interventions that will help the Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls and set an example for other governments.
Even the Congress government in Karnataka announced a seed fund of Rs 3,000 crore for comprehensive accidental and life insurance coverage under a Gig Workers Welfare Board for Karnataka after coming to power, as was promised in their election manifesto.
According to a recent Boston Consulting Group report, the gig economy has the potential to service up to 90 million jobs in India’s non-farm economy, transact over $250 bn in volume of work, and contribute an incremental 1.25% to GDP over the long term. India’s gig economy workforce is also one of the largest contributors to the global gig workforce. This shows the exploding importance of platform/gig workers in the larger political economy of India and the world. The gig economy acts like a net for millions of unemployed youth (and older people) to join this low cost, low investment labour market, in the hope of subsistence and “flexi-work” offered by platforms like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Urban Company, Porter, Dunzo, BlinkIt, Amazon and so on.
These platforms call themselves tech aggregators, mediators or facilitators, and not employers, and misclassify these workers as ‘partners’ or ‘mini-entrepreneurs’ and not employees to evade all possible responsibility and accountability.
However, factors like employment arrangements, payment arrangements, costs, incentives, penalties, entry into and exit from this labour market, are not in the workers’ control. They are often expected to obey and comply with rules and conditions often seen in formal job markets, such as wearing uniforms, carrying ID, and so on, and also adhering to the terms and targets set by these companies. However, the fruits of formal employment do not accrue to them, such as decent work, fixed working hours and social security benefits.
In fact, in cases of accidents or even violence at work as reported by some of these workers, instead of offering compensation or support, many of these companies have reportedly gone ahead and deleted aggrieved workers from the database.
It is in this context that the RGW Act 2023 is historic, with offerings like registration of all gig workers with unique IDs; registration of aggregators and primary employers; proposed monetary cess of 1-2% to be levied on each platform-based transaction/duty to be contributed to the social security fund for the workers; provision of social security benefits (including accident and health insurance, maternity, gratuity, pension, EPF, ESIC, scholarships in consonance with existing schemes as prescribed); grievance redressal mechanism for the workers, regular consultations with trade unions working with platform workers, provisions for heavy penalties (up to Rs 50 lakh) on non-complying aggregators and employers, among others. Moreover, the proposed welfare board is to comprise of state officials, representatives of workers, aggregators and civil society, and at least one-third of nominated members must be women.
Some of the issues being raised by unions around the Act are that no portion of the contributions to the fund should be deducted from the workers’ earnings as they are already heavily distressed. Secondly, the formation of the board and rules should be done before the model code of conduct so that elections and the results do not stall or delay the implementation process. Other issues such as need for provisions on basic minimum earnings, capping of commission rates and deductions by companies, capping of maximum working hours, regulation of workers’ ID deactivations, provisions for fuel and other inflation-adjusted costs and allowances in the RGW Act and Motor Vehicles Aggregator Rules 2023 etc. should be considered. Finally, lessons of success and failure from other labour boards (Mathari Board, Construction Workers Welfare Board, Town Vending Committees under Street Vending Act 2014 etc.), established in the past should be seriously studied so that this new Act could be an exemplary blueprint for not just the entire gig force of India, but also for over 50 crore workers of India, their social security, labour rights and human rights.
In the age of platform capitalism, with skewed and anti-worker algorithms operating as digital bosses, such a progressive law could possibly play a role in taming these bosses and paving the way to open-sourced, worker-owned platforms and digital commons.
Most importantly, such a legislation, if implemented well, will be the first step in giving a dignified identity to a “gig worker” who can claim her/his rights from the state, can hold the platform accountable, will have a place in decision-making, and is not merely reduced to an ‘Ola driver’ or a ‘Swiggy delivery person’.
(Akriti Bhatia is the founder of PAIGAM (People’s Association in Grassroots Action and Movements), a media advocacy and action research platform.)
Reportedly
Guwahati's infamous mobile phone snatchers scored big when Deputy Inspector General (Law and Order) Vivek Raj Singh fell victim to them. While out for his routine morning stroll on Mazar Road in Ulubari, Singh was engrossed in a phone call when bike-borne thieves struck, snatching his phone and fleeing. The embarrassing incident has raised eyebrows among police circles, especially since the area has the official residences of several IPS officers. Even top cops aren’t off limits to the thieves.
Prime Number: 66% of 1.34 crore
According to a RTI reply from the External Affairs Ministry, out of the estimated 1.34 crore Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), over 66% have chosen to reside in Gulf countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain. The UAE tops the list with 34.1 lakh NRIs, followed by Saudi Arabia with 25.9 lakh, and Kuwait with 10.2 lakh. Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain are also popular NRI destinations, with 7.4 lakh, 7.7 lakhs, and 3.2 lakh NRIs respectively.
Deep Dive
In the absence of a clear tripartite understanding between India, Bangladesh and China on the waters of the Brahmaputra, China is unilaterally building hydel dams very close to disputed territory. India is responding in kind to deny China strategic advantage, and after it opposed the Belt and Road project, China stopped sharing hydrological data with it. Caught in the crossfire of this proxy war are the most disenfranchised people who live on the banks of one of the world’s biggest rivers, like the Mising, reports Nikkei Asia.
Opeds you don’t want to miss
China is the dragon in the room of Indo-US ties. Sushant Singh writes: “Washington should be prepared to be disappointed unless it has a frank and honest conversation with Delhi. The two sides need to sit down and work out their expectations of each other, particularly in case of their respective military conflicts with China.”
“Two statements within the space of a week, first by Gautam Adani and then Narendra Modi, remind us of the ‘correlation of money and power’ so central to the kind of India that is being built,” writes Harish Khare on the 'new ‘black market of power’ in India.
India needs a clearly articulated chip policy, says Ankur Bisen on The India Forum. It can’t be a game of darts.
The Indian diaspora is dealing with a tricky situation — how to be homesick when various sicknesses are afflicting the homeland, writes Subir Sinha in Outlook.
Does the Supreme Court have any respect for itself, and for its own orders, Gautam Bhatia had asked earlier. Now, he expands upon the theme: does the Supreme Court respect the rule of law?
The leak of vaccination data of millions of Indians shows that the push to digitise health data without adequate safeguards is reckless, writes Rina Chandran.
Anirudh Kanisetti on the most important rebellion we hear nothing about, which unseated the Palas in Bengal.
An excerpt from Romila Thapar’s Our History, Their History, Whose History?
Listen up
For Michael Ondaatje, every novel is an act of discovery. The English Patient emerged from the identity of a burned man in an abandoned Italian villa. The book earned Ondaatje Canada’s first Booker Prize and gained further recognition with the movie adaptation, which received nine Oscars. Listen to him in a conversation with Eleanor Wachtel.
Watch out
Journalist Ravish Kumar features in Vinay Shukla's film "While We Watched," highlighting the suppressive media landscape in India. Dissent is stifled, and pro-Modi nationalism prevails, raising questions about a "weaponised" media's impact on society. He is on Democracy Now to discuss more on the film, press freedom in India, and much more.
Over and out
The Kandahaari anaar, one of the finest varieties of pomegranates, is from Afghanistan and is extensively cultivated in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan. Its exceptional qualities have earned it a prominent place in the writings of mediaeval scholars on medicine and toxicology, with notable mentions from luminaries such as Ibn Sina and Al Qazwini. A thread on the fascinating history and attributes of this remarkable fruit.
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