'The Indian media have not been active in checking Islamophobia during the coronavirus pandemic. They are equally culpable of being passive when it comes to questioning the government. A global pandemic, it is being argued, may not be the best time to subject the government to scrutiny. On the contrary, it is all the more important for the media to keep a strict vigil on the government’s actions at a time like this. Instead, large sections of the media have become the drum-beaters of the government’s self-congratulatory pronouncements on Covid-19.
'As doctors in Kashmir complain of not having enough personal protection gear and N95 masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, the government on Wednesday issued an order, saying that "strict action will be initiated against such elements who resort to such uncalled for reporting to media.” A senior official said some of the doctors are disobeying the rules and instead of doing actual work during this pandemic, they are airing their views liberally about minor issues, which is creating confusion...'
'Around six hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a three-week nationwide lockdown, on 24 March, he personally asked over twenty owners and editors from the mainstream print media to publish positive stories about the COVID-19 pandemic. The owners and editors represented media organisations working in 11 different languages, including the senior-most members of national media houses such as the Indian Express Group, the Hindu Group and the Punjab Kesari Group.
'We should be deeply grateful to Justice Ranjan Gogoi. His conduct has disabused us of any illusions we might harbour about the legitimacy of the Indian Supreme Court. The government, in a brazen contravention of all propriety, has given him a nomination to the Rajya Sabha. He has been shameless enough to accept it. In doing so, he has not just cast doubt on his own judgement, character, and probity; he has dragged down the entire judiciary with him...'
'A BJP member of the Rajya Sabha is set to move a resolution in the House on Friday, seeking the removal of the phrase “socialism” from the preamble of the Constitution, arguing that the word is “redundant” in the current scenario, and that the word should be dropped to create space for “economic thinking without a particular thought”. The preamble of Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic...'
'Something sinister is cooking, looking at the urgency with which the Bhima Koregaon case has been shifted from the Pune Police to the Centre, under the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The arrests that have happened under the current regime are neither random nor to do only with resisting the current regime. The Supreme Court’s rejection of bail pleas by Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde has serious consequences not just for human rights but also signalling the changing landscape of political discourse.
'Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has been nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind. A notification to this effect was issued by the Union home ministry on Monday... This is the first time that a government has nominated a CJI to the upper house and will raise questions about the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, especially since Gogoi headed benches in key cases that the same government which has nominated him had important political stakes in.
'Jitu Patwari and Lakhan Singh, who went to Bengaluru to meet the rebel MLAs of Madhya Pradesh, were arrested by Karnataka police on Thursday. Both were later released by the police. Both leaders had arrived here to meet the MLAs of Jyotiraditya Scindia faction. Jitu Patwari held a press conference after being released from custody. He said, “Is it a sin to meet friends?” At the same time, Congress MP Vivek Tankha alleged that the minister was beaten up... “Some Congress MLAs wanted to meet us. My cousin Manoj Chaudhary has also been kept here.
'The number of preventive internet shutdowns enforced by the central and the state governments in India saw a major spike between 2017 and 2019, and as many as 95 of these lasted for more than 24 hours. There were at least 147 instances over these three years for which there is no data on the duration of the shutdowns as there is lack of any form of communication on these blockades, according to data available in public domain and compiled by Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC)...
'Seven Congress MPs have been suspended from the rest of the budget session for the ruckus created in parliament for the last three days over a discussion on last week's violence in Delhi. The Speaker has also accepted the government's call to form a committee and examine their conduct for possible disqualification, sources said... Calling it "revenge politics", Congress's leader of the house Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party will "not let up". "This is a government decision, not decision by Speaker. What kind of dictatorship is this?" said Mr Chowdhury.
