Godi Media Channels Penalised and Ordered to Take Down Hate-Filled Programmes; Himachal Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Political Dissent; Pegasus Company ordered to Hand Over Spyware by Court
PM Cares remains opaque, The young are getting more obese, An Ambani ‘private zoo’ in Jamnagar faces legal challenges
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
Snapshot of the day
March 1, 2024
Siddharth Varadarajan
The elephant in the room must be spoken of.
The ‘sewalaya’ that Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani announced, conceals several camels in the tent. Newsclick bells the cat, and reports on how “the 'world's largest private zoo' in Jamnagar, Gujarat, the venue of Reliance scion Anant Ambani’s pre-wedding celebrations, has come up under the shadow of a series of legal challenges, with allegations of illegal transfer of elephants from different parts of India, as well as scrutiny of India’s wildlife authorities.”
India Today decided to do a Jab We Met with Anant Ambani. This is not a joke. Elephantine show - Haathi ka Spa and more 👇🏾 [Also see Down with Hate TV below].
Why is there a flood of advertisements as “Modi’s Guarantee” if he's over confident of his victory? Media-watcher Shailaja Bajpai writes on “news channels smiling their way to the bank with Modi-Yogi ads”. There is tons of money to be made.
A US federal court in California has told the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group to hand over documents related to its Pegasus spyware product to WhatsApp. The court said NSO must produce “all relevant spyware” – taken to mean NSO spyware that targeted or was directed at WhatsApp or its infrastructure to access target devices – for a period ranging from a year before and after the alleged attack took place. According to The Guardian, “all relevant spyware” includes code for NSO’s Pegasus and other spyware products. “While NSO does not disclose the names of its clients, research and media reports over the years have identified Poland, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, India, Hungary and UAE as among the countries that have previously used it to target dissidents, journalists, human rights activists…” A spokesperson for WhatsApp told The Guardian that the court ruling, which was made last Friday, was “an important milestone in our long running goal of protecting WhatsApp users against unlawful attacks”. Meanwhile, the Indian government has neither confirmed nor denied its use of Pegasus. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said during Supreme Court arguments in 2021 that that the government cannot be made to answer whether or not it uses the spyware for this would alert terrorists and compromise national security.
Hours after Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan was released after five years in jail in a case of unlawful activities filed by Srinagar district police, the award winning journalist was rearrested after he was set free a day prior. The detention of Sultan under the controversial act was quashed by J&K high court in December last year which termed the allegations against him as “unsustainable” and urged the authorities to end his “illegal” detention. But Sultan’s reunion with his family, which includes six-year-old daughter who was an infant when her father was arrested, his ailing parents and wife, was prolonged by over two months due to “procedural delays” under which some detainees, who are set free by the courts, have to reportedly get clearances from the administration before securing their freedom. Fun Fact: India is in the bottom heap of 19 countries out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index — ranked 161 of 180.
Mukesh Ambani and Bob Iger have joined forces to create an unparalleled Indian media behemoth. The man at the centre of it all is Uday Shankar, who now has to chart the path forward. In the Reliance-Disney merger, The Morning Context has a comeback story.
India’s reputation as crony capital has got bigger, with its penchant for allowing large behemoths to emerge on the corporate front, concentrating control and stifling smaller entrepreneurial ventures. This latest jumbo merger between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Disney Star is poised to significantly disrupt the broadcast landscape in India - with domestic and global cricket events monopolised. This consolidation, the deal for which was signed on February 28, will impact established platforms, in both linear and digital worlds. “Jio Cinema will emerge as the premier digital destination for all cricket content.”
A day after Manipur Police reportedly registered a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case against militants who had abducted a senior police officer and his escort in Imphal East district, a police spokesperson warned of calling in central forces. The Imphal Free Press reports that Inspector General of Police I.K. Muivah told reporters that all action taken by the cops has been “moderately general.” “If the civil police are unable to do their duty due to the obstruction of CSOs [civil society organisations] and public then automatically central forces will have to be called in to assist which will be far more undesirable for the state,” he said. He also said that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act could be re-imposed.
Meanwhile, minority community shopkeepers are being targeted and forced to move out in Uttarakhand, reports The Times of India. “Right-wing elements are intimidating Muslim shopkeepers in Haldwani, vandalising their shops, and using communal slogans. The police have not taken action despite assurances.”
(Credit: X/@cartoonistsan)
Trouble continues to dog the hills of Himachal, which is the sole state to have elected a Congressman as chief minister in the Hindi belt. Barely a day after the trouble-shooter, Karnataka’s deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar declared that Himachal Pradesh was at peace, the state Congress chief Pratibha Singh said that the BJP’s “work” is "better than ours". The Hindustan Times reports as claiming the BJP "will do a lot of things" as per the directions of PM Modi, she said the Congress is on weak footing.
While total PC imports – including laptops and tablets – in India declined by a little less than 1% in December, imports from China rose by 11.3% to $276 million, reports the Business Standard.
There has been a 32% increase in the proportion of fish-eating Indians between 2005 and 2021, a recent study by the Union government and the WorldFish non-profit has found. It says that Indian imports of fish and fishery products increased five-fold in this time period. The state with the highest proportion of fish-eaters generally is Tripura (99.35%) and of daily fish-eaters is Kerala (53.5%). The study found that the increase in fish consumption in the country was owed to its increasing population, increases in wealth and changing food consumption patterns.
Government employees plan an indefinite strike in support of the old pension scheme, also known as the OPS. Railway unions have threatened to shut down the trains on Mayday. One government employees’ union leader told The Hindu earlier this week that the decision to strike was taken after talks with the Union government had failed.
With a multibillion dollar verdict it delivered earlier this week, a jury in Los Angeles brought into full public view a decades-long legal battle between five Gujarati diamond and real estate barons. Holding that he breached an oral contract, the jury in Jogani v. Jogani ordered Haresh Jogani to pay his brothers $2.5 billion in damages and divide up shares of their real estate business in southern California. Bloomberg reports.
Imports of Russian products by BRICS countries as well as Turkey and Indonesia rose by $124.4 billion between 2021 and 2023, helping offset ~70% of the decrease in imports by Japan and the US, UK and EU. In this time period, the value of Indian imports grew by seven times, and the amount of imports by China and Brazil by 60% and 80% respectively – possibly record-high levels – reports Nikkei Asia in a piece on how sanctions against Russia can only be so effective without consensus.
A surge in overseas students studying in Canadian educational institutes has in turn caused housing prices to soar, especially in the country’s densely populated southern Ontario region. Combined with instances of colleges wishing to take advantage of vulnerable students by offering shoddy academic programs, the Canadian government has a problem on its hands. Bloomberg reports, speaks to government officials and students.
Sylvia Houghteling, Kriti Kapila, Jayita Sarkar and Shailaja Paik are among the South Asia writers whom the Association for Asian Studies has awarded this year. Chinnaiah Jangam won the AK Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation for his work on translating Gurram Jashuva’s Gabbilam: A Dalit Epic (english title).
Professor Nitasha Kaul, deported for apparently not being in sync with the BJP and criticising the RSS as well as Ram Madhav, is not giving up. She has hit out again after the Ministry of External Affairs called her shoddy treatment a “sovereign decision”. Read her here: “the personal is political” and vice-versa, we might add. In Case You Missed It, her detailed interview with Karan Thapar.
IndiaSpend reports on how non-native species, commercialisation and human-made climate change are threatening the Nilgiris’ ecosystems.
The BJP has world class abilities to misrepresent facts. A persistent propaganda theme is over non-BJP governments ‘cheating’ Hindus over temples.
Quick Q and A:
Q: Is the money taken from Hindu temples by the Karnataka government being diverted to the welfare of minority communities?
No. The government does not take money from these temples. Money from the donation boxes (Hundi) is drawn by the local committees and deposited in the bank accounts of the respective temples, which are used by the temples for their management, organising programs, development of the temple, etc. Bigger temples have a local official in whose presence the donation box is opened by the committee and this money is deposited in his account only. This money does not go to the government. The work of the Muzrai department of the government is to provide financial assistance to these temples for their development.
Read more here.
Rejecting Wrestling Federation of India or WFI's invitation to take part in selection trials for the Asian Championships and Olympic Qualifiers, Olympian bronze medallist and ace wrestler, Bajrang Punia has moved a joint petition in Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the trials. Plenty is going on in the wrestling world. The dubious Sanjay Singh-led WFI remains suspended by the sports ministry. United World Wrestling has however lifted the ban on February 13. The WFI’s routine operations are still run by the ad hoc committee.
India-Mauritius Naval Base
Amid China’s regional sway, India and Mauritius have jointly inaugurated an Indian-financed air based on the island of Agalega in Mauritius. According to reports, it will be used as a naval base and a launching pad where Indian aircraft will be able to support the country’s ships. Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said, “There has never been a project to turn Agalega into a military base.” “India-bashing campaign is fomented by some people in Mauritius and abroad.” However, in 2018, Jugnauth confirmed to the Financial Times that, “India would be allowed to utilise the facilities in Agalega subject to prior notification from the competent authorities of Mauritius.” The 3-kilometre air strip and jetty project was agreed upon during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 visit to Mauritius and cost 8.8 billion Mauritian rupees ($192 million). Experts say the Agalega has strategic military value in a region where China has steadily increased its presence over the past 25 years. A large portion of China’s imports pass through the Indian Ocean and the Straits of Malacca, making the area extremely important for China.
Down with Hate TV: 3 Programmes Cancelled
The News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Sikri, has ordered for Times Now Navbharat, Aaj Tak and News 18 India to remove the online uploads of the offending programs within seven days. Times Now Navbharat, a part of the mega Times group, has been penalised as anchor Himanshu Dixit was found to have targeted Muslims as a community and termed interfaith relationships as “love jihad”. News 18 India, now part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s group, was fined for as many as three shows, two of which were anchored by Aman Chopra, and one by Amish Devgan. These shows have been penalised as they were found to have communalised the Shraddha Walker murder case as one of so-called “love jihad”.
Indian TV news channels being filled with hate has been a matter of concern for some years now. The Supreme Court, while hearing a matter on the prevalence of hate in Indian media in 2022, cited the audience as a reason. “Hate drives TRPs, drives profit,” one judge said. “It is the generalisation of these incidents by targeting the entire community, which is found to be violative of the principles of Impartiality, Objectivity and Neutrality under the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards (“Code of Ethics”) and the Specific Guidelines covering Reportage relating to Racial and Religious Harmony. In the impugned broadcast, the anchor had also violated Clauses (f) and (h) of the Specific Guidelines for Anchors conducting Programmes including Debates,” the NBDSA order stated.
PM CARES? No Transparency
Electoral Bonds information should go up soon, as the Supreme Court has set March 13 as the date for disclosures. Now for PM CARES. Commodore Lokesh Batra points out that PM CARES) Fund’s audit statement uploaded online has wide discrepancies contradicting the government’s official press releases and replies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Batra had said in 2022, “Besides the discrepancies, there are shockingly no details of financial activities, which are recorded under the financial statement in any of the audit reports. Although the audit report includes ‘Accompanying notes to Financial Statement -1 to 10 pages’, nothing is there. Why? This amounts to PM CARES Fund’s incomplete audit report placed in the public domain. This is indeed strange.” A press release issued by PIB on May 13, 2020, had said, “The PM CARES (Fund Trust today decided to allocate Rs3,100 crore for a fight against COVID-19 for various expenditures of the pandemic emergencies.’’ But, Cmde Batra says, the audit report under these headings do not match the information disseminated such press releases or RTI replies do. He has now asked why he “can't find on the PM cares fund Portal, F. Y. 2022-2023 : Audited Receipt and Payment Account” even after 11 months?
The Long Cable
Guruvayurappan's Grace
Shastri Ramachandaran
I am a direct beneficiary of Lord Guruvayurappan.
The Uttara Guruvayurappan Temple in Delhi's Mayur Vihar attracts many who go not for a darshan of the revered deity but for the food in the temple's canteen. There can be no better breakfast than the idli, vadai (medhu and parippu), dosai (along with delicious sambar and coconut chutney), pazham-pori, elai adai and sugiyan on offer at this place.
One recent morning, after visiting a nearby dispensary, my wife and I walked across to the G-Temple canteen. I felt terribly guilty (for not paying obeisance to the deity) as I sat down to tuck into the crisp masala dosai and medhu vadai soaked in sambar. As greed would have it, I also ordered parippu vadai, pazham pori, sugiyan and elai adai for takeaway—told myself that it is for my daughter Manisha who is visiting from Bangalore.
Back home, I found the sugiyan missing (the second time that my forgetfulness had resulted in such a situation). This made me frantic. I could not go back for just that; nor could I call the temple or the canteen with a petty request to help me get my sugiyan. The temple is particularly busy in the festive month of December when the staff take charge of the canteen's kitchen and catering, besides providing an additional free morning meal to passers-by at the roadside.
I then recalled that, while on my way back home, I had seen a friend and colleague, Mahendra, along with his wife, on a romantic walk in the direction of the temple. I guessed that he too must be a devotee of the G-Temple canteen. I dialled him, knowing that a man tucking into dosai and vadai on a winter morning might not be keen to take the call until after the eating was done. And, I was right. Where he was wrong was in expecting that I would give up when he did not respond to my first attempt. I kept at it. Mahendra gave in and took the call.
I spoke to the affable temple employee who was at the canteen counter on Mahendra's phone, and he readily agreed to hand over my forgotten sugiyan to him.
Perhaps, this was Lord Guruvayurappan's way of letting me know that it never pays to enter the periphery of the sannidhi through the backdoor and exit through the side passage, thus bypassing the presiding deity of the place.
Even so, I feel blessed. Actually, like mercy (not the late Rev S Kappen's niece in Bombay), I feel twice blessed: for the direct benefit, and also for the opportunity of a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Mahendra. May the Lord continue to have mercy on me.
P.S. Mahendra thinks I was getting back at him for the time when he had phoned me to collect the pastries which he had ordered at the IIC confectionery counter but forgot to pick up on his way out. I would opt for a sugiyan over a walnut brownie any day!
(the writer is a veteran journalist)
Reportedly
Forbes staff in India are risking being deported. Forbes India has an analysis of the “ten-most powerful countries”. They are - from number ten, the small UAE. The USA is the most powerful. China, snapping at its heels is at number two. But notably, the country that likes to believe it has arrived, like never before, a Vishwaguru or India, is absent. The criteria include, “a leader, economical influence, political influence, strong international alliances, and a strong military.” There are no points given for bombast, else India would have topped.
Deep dive
Professor R Ramakumar in The Hindu on how states are done out of their rightful share of the net divisible pool of revenues by the Union government and how the practice of fiscal federalism in India is deeply flawed. Deep dive into it here.
(Source: The Hindu)
Prime number: 12.5 million children are obese India is facing an obesity epidemic with alarm bells ringing particularly for the young. A new global analysis, published by The Lancet, found that 12.5 million children (7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls) in the country, aged between five and 19, were grossly overweight in 2022, up from 0.4 million in 1990. The study states that 44 million women and 26 million men aged above 20 in India were found to be obese, this figure being 2.4 million women and 1.1 million men in 1990.
Opeds you don’t want to miss
Regional reporters are indispensable to all English language journalists, writes Abhinay Deshpande.
Vineet Bhalla asks why a recent Supreme Court order broke the liberal trend in UAPA bail cases? On February 7, the court took an extremely restrictive view of bail in UAPA cases. What does this mean for UAPA undertrials?
“It is rather ironic that while the youth are clamouring for jobs in the government sector, large-scale vacancies exist in almost all government departments, adversely affecting efficiency. Due to lack of jobs, youth are turning to war-torn Israel risking their lives”, writes M P Nathanael.
The Hindu’s lead editorial takes a look at implications of the Rajya Sabha elections proving to be a place where “dissidents find an opening.”
Megha Jacob and Sukanya Das write on the increasing healthcare expenses which are encroaching upon the household budgets.
“Sandeshkhali Protest by SC/ST women should be seen as a radical arrival of the periphery to the mainstream. However, they are yet to shake the conscience of privileged urban bhadralok spaces”, write Subhajit Naskar and Suvajit Mondal.
From Sobhana K Nair’s biography of Ram Vilas Paswan, read an excerpt here. “When faced with political extinction, Ram Vilas Paswan often used his ideological agnosticism to switch sides.”
T M Krishna on the reality of the virtual world. As “creators, developers and participants are real people, we have to accept that the virtual universe is a part of a larger reality.”
Karthik Krishnaswamy writes of how Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma's “no-frills captaincy outdid Bazball.” While Ben Stokes' leadership style has attracted most attention, Rohit has achieved better results, quietly.
Former top cop Julio Ribeiro speaks of how questions surrounding Christians and conversion have caused disquiet in far-apart Mumbai and Assam.
Listen up
Krish Ashok, the author of the bestselling book The Masala Lab, joins Sandip Roy to debunk myths about the Indian thali.
Watch out
Retired Supreme Court judges were quickly given government sinecures. Someone must call it out. Ravish Kumar has the verdict here. [Hindi]
Over and out
A “heartfelt tribute to his aunt Usha Mehta, who had played a crucial role in India’s freedom movement”—that’s how Ketan Mehta had envisioned a film, Freedom Radio. In May 2022, the director and producer Anubhav Sinha announced the ambitious biopic. But after the Sara Ali Khan-led Ae Watan Mere Watan was announced last year, Ketan was persuaded by Sinha to drop their project as both movies had the same subject. Now, as that is slated to première on March 21, Ketan remembers how his film was to be about his aunt, who established the underground radio station, Congress Radio, during the Quit India movement.
Know more about why Indian ex-servicemen were moved to Nicobar in 1970s.
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you on Monday, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.