'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.
'In the face of a raging jobs crisis, Modi is refusing to learn and continues to repeat fairy tales about so many trucks and so many doctors... Last July, while replying to a no-confidence motion, Modi had quoted figures from the provident fund scheme and pension scheme enrolment, as also numbers of doctors, chartered accountants, lawyers and truck or bus operators to claim that one crore jobs were added in one year. Newsclick had pointed out the fallacies in his claims then. This time round he has done the same, refusing to learn that these figures mean nothing, show nothing...'
'The Prime Minister claimed his government built 1.25 crore houses in their tenure till January 19, 2019, while the previous UPA government had built only 25 lakh houses. But the numbers don’t add up... Did the Modi government really build 1.53 crore houses for the urban and rural poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana? India’s interim finance minister Piyush Goyal stated the same while presenting the interim Union Budget 2019 on 1 February.
