'The release of a biopic drama on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been brought forward by a week, to April 5, raising many eyebrows. The film will now premiere just before the start of voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The blunt and unimaginatively titled PM Narendra Modi is a fawning rendition of Modi’s life, and could have an impact on voters or even be seen as campaign material. Yet a number of former election commissioners told The Wire that the film’s release passes the litmus test of legality and does not violate the model code of conduct...'
'The landmark 1969 musical, director Richard Attenborough’s debut film – a satire on the First World War, and on war and war – has even the Dalai Lama blessing the war effort in the early part of the epic comedy, so pious seems the project, so plainly just. In India, the storyline has not been dissimilar. The messianic effort by the ruling establishment that has gone into underlining the justness of the cause and the absolute necessity of the Balakot airstrikes – in weeks before a national election – has had many mesmerised...'
'Launch a ‘masterstroke’ of questionable effectiveness, make exaggerated claims and then attack those who question your claims as being ‘anti-India’... It was fascinating to view the wave of public approval that greeted the government following India’s airstrikes on Balakot. Celebrities vied with each other in extolling the move. Social media erupted in frenzied jubilation. The media eulogised the firm and decisive nature of the prime minister. Wild claims were floated in the media based on anonymous sources and ‘educated guesses’.
'Since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, there has been a growing worry about the weakening of democratic institutions... Given the government’s attempts to subvert Indian institutions, India’s democratic machinery may to some, seem to be collapsing. At this embattled juncture, it worth to recount the instances when the government had to go back on its decisions. These reversals (sometimes within days) have been the outcome of democratic pressures exercised through public outrage and protests, constructive media involvement and the courts’ interventions.
'With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, Reliance wins contract to build airport in Gujarat despite being lowest bidder, while 5 airports are handed over to Adani Group, including land for power plant in Jharkhand... Recently, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure won a contract to build a new airport at Hirasar, in Gujrat’s Rajkot district. The contract is worth Rs 648 crore, while the airport is to be built at a cost of over Rs 1,400 crore, as reported by The Hindu Business Line...
'Outstripping the social media platforms – that continue to be flooded with fake news – one of the leading news channels in Hindi, ABP News, has managed to air an entire “fake” show. It has been brought to notice that in a programme aired by ABP news on March 1, many BJP supporters – who appeared to be IIT Bombay students on the campus – were in fact outsiders, participating only to propagate pro-Modi propaganda. In the programme titled “2019 Ke Joshile”, some of the “students”, were allegedly planted by the channel itself.
'A leading expert in child psychology says that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise after he appeared to poke fun at dyslexia at a public event, triggering outrage. Mr Modi questioned if a programme for dyslexic children could also help a "40 to 50-year-old child" - in remarks that appeared to be an attempt to ridicule his political rival Rahul Gandhi. "When the head of a country talks like this, it is very, very insensitive. He must apologise," Dr Roma Kumar said...'
'Contrary to the claims of highest ever allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the social security scheme that aims to guarantee the right to work is facing severe fund crisis – with state governments left with no funds to pay workers. From October 2018 to February 1, no Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) were processed due to non-availability of funds for MGNREGA, forcing workers to wait for wages for months, even when the Act promises that wages will be given within 7 to 15 days of work.
'In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack which left at least 40 CRPF personnel dead, the accusations of '`anti-nationalism' against prominent activists and journalist is back on spotlight, but with a higher intensity this time. On this pretext, the trolls and IT cells of Hindu- right wing political parties have started spamming and threatening journalists on social media sites in the name of nationalism. In the latest, Professor Koushal Mishra, from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has been alleged to have circulated the phone number of prominent Hindi journalist Ravish Kumar.
'At 10 am on Saturday, two days after a suicide bomber tore into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir, killing 41 soldiers, a group called “Clean the Nation” was created on Facebook by a man named Madhur Zucc Singh. Just hours before, Singh had posted a video on Facebook in which he is wearing a yellow t-shirt bearing the words “Indian Army” and the image of a man strapped to the front of a jeep as a human shield. “This is not the time to change your DP [display picture] or take out candle marches,” Singh said.
