HN should take down this post. The country has been heavily polarized into two sections (pro-bjp and against-bjp) with both the sections heavily incentivised by the "IT" deptt of respective political parties.
Very few will talk about the actual issue and most of the comments will be rhetorical, only focusing on what they believe is right.
this post is from a reputed source, I see no reason why it should be taken down.
As far as I am concerned, this is not a subjective thing,
the crack down on Amnesty International in the country is not subject to individual opinions.
One thing that comments so far down here do not highlight is that there was a recent change in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act where there were changes in the amount of money / limit of administrative expenditure that can be allocated to foreign contributions to 20 percent from the previous 50 percent and, Enforcement Directorate had issued a show-cause notice to Amnesty International India recently (I think in 2019).
So while yeah, online discussions mostly conclude to simplest possible explanation i.e. authoritarian / totalitarian / nationalism / and what not - This notice comes just days after FCRA was changed in India, that might be the pushing point / breakpoint towards closure rather than "Government Witchhunt", because Amnesty has been getting the show-causes notices for some time now.
Rose by any other name... Amnesty India has not been convicted of any FCRA violation. India has frozen Amnesty's bank accounts without any judicial oversight making sure Amnesty India cannot function normally.
FCRA was amended with a specific aim in mind. Hindu Nationalist groups have been vocal about religious conversions. FCRA was recently used to target 4 Christian organizations and choke their foreign funding [1].
It is a witch-hunt specifically because Amnesty was harassed by Delhi Police about why they were probing Delhi Religious Riots 2020 and had released the report about the Police excesses in the same? It was after this that Delhi Police targeted Amnesty using FCRA law. [2]
Amnesty India's former head put it succintly: "It has become a crime to work on human rights in India." "Amnesty has not been convicted. It has not even been put on trial in court. Shutdown refers to inability to pay salaries because accounts frozen for second time without any determination of guilt." [3]
FCRA is just bureaucratic powerslam without going through courts to target organization that asks for transparency. India joins highly regarding company of Russia in pushing Amnesty from their country.
There is a fundamental difference Indian nationalism and other countries nationalism. Indian nationalism is all about bringing back the "varna system" which advocates stratification of society based on the birth and access to education is only allowed for the brahmins(priestly caste). This was the system implemented strictly before the Britishers arrived to India.
No country to my knowledge does denies education to its own people in the name of nationalism.
In contrast in other countries the nationalism is not about stratification of society or honoring privilege by birth.
You're conflating nationalism with a cultural supremacy movement. They're similar to outsiders, they often overlap, but they are not necessarily the same thing.
The field of Political Science does not treat nationalism as inherently bad, nor does it use "nationalism" and "ethnic nationalism" interchangeably. There are a million real-life examples of even ethnic nationalism that people generally consider good.
Hindu nationalism is certainly way different, it is an umbrella term that encompasses all Indic cultures, tradition and systems that have evolved for thousands of years.
This is against a mostly one book, one god/no god, one agenda and one power centre ideology being enforced on the people - Marxism, Christianity, Islam, "Atheism", "Feminism"
Especially in a country with a million gods and small unique communities, it falls on the government to protect them from ideologies with a track record for violence and genocide.
> Political liberalism in India is now under assault. The current right-of-center government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appears intent on transforming India's pluralistic, open, and secular state into an ethnic and illiberal democracy. To that end it has sought to place ideologues in key governmental institutions, attempted to curtail academic freedoms at a leading university, and made efforts to curb an otherwise feisty mass media. A weak political opposition, which had in any case failed to demonstrate much mettle when in government prior to the BJP's 2014 electoral victory, now appears utterly incapable of stemming this illiberal tide. As a consequence, India's future as a liberal democracy appears to be at some risk.
> Kumi Naidoo, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, takes a different view, decrying an official effort to "[crush] dissent by demonizing and criminalizing activists, lawyers, and journalists working for some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in India." Amnesty International India has itself been targeted: Its bank accounts have been frozen, and police in Bangalore have accused it of sedition.
This is all motivated reporting. India has such a strong and independent judicial system which does its job. If any charges are put incorrectly then courts will grant relief. India is democratic country.
This discussion like most HN discussions are hijacked by extremist agenda pushers who keep throwing in out-of-context words like nationalism, caste, religion, etc irrelevantly. A simple search shows why Indian govt froze the bank accounts.
Amnesty International continues to violate Indian laws (FCRA) time and again by not disclosing their source of funds. They were investigated a decade ago by the previous government too for money laundering (for people crying hoarse on current government), and Amnesty International halted all it's work then too.
All foreign funding/donations needs to be approved based on FCRA act. Instead of obeying the laws, Amnesty channeled money through various private or other sister orgs, claiming it is remittances for services exported. They lost the case in the State courts couple of times and my guess is they didn't want to risk going to the Supreme court and lose again. So instead of complying with the law, it's time to spin the story against the Indian government.
The slow judicial system is the biggest weapon that the government and other large entities with money have. Not everyone can afford to put their lives on hold for 3 years while a court case slowly winds its way up to a judge.
Its worse now. The Supreme Court Of India has capitulated; it is, for all practical purposes, in the hands of Modi & Shah. An institution that should check unwarranted excesses is looking the other way.
States that are not run by Modi Inc are in a lot of trouble. That's the point though... conformance.
Toyota recently pulled out of the country due to ineffective bureaucracy and that's when they're pushing for more manufacturing. In cases like these there's no way for them to fight if they're against you.
I'm not sure people are aware, but most countries find Amnesty International annoying.
My own country - Australia - has been frequently criticised by Amnesty (eg [1]).
Amnesty's job is to call out human right violations. Citizens of a country may very well say "oh, we don't like these asylum seekers, so we will keep voting for the government that put these laws in place" (in Australia's case). But it isn't Amnesty's job to look at justifications, only violations.
A robust, functional democracy should have space to allow critics, and while it might be unrealistic to expect the government to welcome that criticism, a government shouldn't use its power to act in reprisal against critics.
Some people in this discussion should consider this carefully. It's one thing to disagree with critics, but quite another to approve of reprisals against those critics.
Interesting. Does the Indian government have a legitimate complaint?
There is a very wide spectrum of possibilities here. They range from the Indian government being horrible, through localised corruption, through the government having very legitimate concerns about foreign interference, through to AI India being corrupt and/or in league with western intelligence agencies.
Previous govt had huge concerns as well. PM Singh said "The atomic energy programme has gone into difficulties because these NGOs [non-governmental organisations], mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply."
Also, Important to note that some of the changes to laws for NGOs were done during congress led UPA govt as well. It is just that changes to laws have now been highlighted more by mainstream media.
Is it just my skewed perception of more or less recent reporting about India's politics or is the supposed largest democracy on Earth slowly turning into an authoritarian nationalist state to a degree it hasn't seen in many years. Honestly curious, not a rhetorical question, in case anyone can clarify this with better information or first-hand understanding.
As an Indian residing in India this certainly feels so.
Things have become bad enough that people self-censor. People have been arrested for sharing jokes about politicians to their personal friends over email or social media. Some have been heckled and beaten up. Such people have no recourse. Even if the local govt pretends to act, the perpetrators immediately gets a bail, because the courts are very much in bed with the politics, more so at the lower courts.
Made up and nonbailable charges have been slapped on university professors who have criticized the government. They are not tried on the usual court but handled by a special anti-terrorism body called the NIA that has special powers and provisions to secrecy that ordinary courts do not have.
Political opponents are harassed by income tax raids even when nothing much come put of the raids. Its just an intimidation tactic where people with government authorization tear your apartment apart and grab documents that they can hold on to as long as they want for the harassments value.
I think it's less recent reporting. I don't know a ton about the country's recent history, but India was very much founded as a nationalist state, and the PM position was held by the same family for about 50 years after independence.
A fake narrative being built against India. To be honest everything boils down to religious issues. The dominant two world religions see India as an unfinished conquest. But this is not politically correct view so all other weasel issues are created/spread. Always follow the funding.
Hey! someone else has that document saved. It is absolutely hilarious and tragic.
When it came out, I read the report and realized that it was a hack job, and sure enough - not one person knew its contents, despite the news channels and whatsapp declaring NGOs as enemy number 1.
I've commented elsewhere in this thread how that report says that writing hand written notes is an attempt to evade scanners, and that using google maps and adding pins to it is evidence of near super villain levels of plotting to end India's coal power dreams - by Greenpeace.
This is a big big news. Very sad that Amenesty is halting its work. It could be the case that Amenesty really had some problems in its Indian org, I am not a judge, not going to jump to any conclusions, but if the BJP led government is really trying to curb the work that Amenesty is doing by using central agencies that's very very scary.
I feel India is going on a wrong track, it was doing okay in regards to Democratic values until Modi came to power, and since then it is on a downwards trajectory in that department. I have not seen any media house putting out any news which condemn decision that Modi makes, all are just praising Modi for god knows what reason. This ain't even a news in India, they are all running behind Bollywood celebs.
I feel Indian people are one-two generation(s) away, most of the Indian people can't really digest democracy at the moment.
Indian Hindu Nationalist government has now removed all garbs and is a full on fascism. They have scant regard for law or constitution. They have absolute control over all the 4 pillars of democracy and is effectively controlling popular opinion.
Since whistle blower protection in India is inadequate/inefficient proliferation of TRUTH is stopped in the name of loyalty, discipline, patriotism, job security, national security, intellectual property etc https://archive.is/VWFSC
> transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir
all of these have been issues with every Indian Govt. for decades. I don't see anything about 2021 that would be a straw that'd break a camel's back.
The FRCA too has been the favorite tool for every govt. from 1976, for harassing NGOs. The changes to the law itself aren't as terrible.
> The NGO/FRCA license now expires in 5 years instead of being permanent
Not a terrible idea in a functioning society. In India, it becomes a tool getting fresh bribes out of groups and trapping them in bureaucracy.
> Less than 50% of foreign funds can be used for administrative expenses
IMO, really smart change. I personally know of Indian NGOs that primarily serve as money laundering mechanisms. On paper, doesn't seem like a bad change at all.
> The law now extends to trade/student/workers' unions, women’s wing of a political party, farmers’ organisations, youth organisations based on caste, community, religion, language and organizations that engage in strikes/ blockages/ protests / political action.
Some of these changes are sensible. unions and youth organizations in India are well known to be tools of political parties. If a law had to be applied, it has to at least be consistent.
The part of orgs. that engage in protest is more divisive, especially with the discussion around foreign funding to control opinion becoming a huge thing in the US.
Should outside funding be allowed to facilitate political opinion in a nation? To me, the answer isn't that clear. Both sides of the argument have strong points in favor.
______________
I am generally averse to expanding Govt. power, especially given how corrupt every Indian one has been. The FRCA was terrible, and like the patriot act is something that only serves to expand state power.
That being said, to spin it as a "hindu nationalist" initiative is political posturing.
Anyone who believes that Indian Media's pro-ruling party agenda, religious riots, sedition charges or harassment of activists started or even peaked in the Modi Govt., has been willfully ignorant about the continuing violation of freedoms that Indian Govts. have been part of since Indira Gandhi in the 70s.
______________
In the spirit of transparency, I have an incredibly low opinion of both journalists and activists in India. The complete lack of nuance in how they approach the issues they champion is a glaring example of it. The worst aspect, is that the most egregious ones get widespread coverage in respected western outlets.
Western thought leaders have time and again demonstrated an incredibly limited understanding on complex non-western societies. Whether that be in Africa, China, SEA or India. However, english, open-ness of Indian society, post colonial guilt and its size lead to the most egregious cases being in India.
Lastly, can't be pointing out problems without suggesting solutions. Recently, one of the few journalists I respect immensely (Shekhar Gupta) has started an online-only subscription based media house called the Print. I have found them to be the closest thing to fair journalism in India. The Caravan is another subscription based media outlet that is well respected among my peers (whom I respect) although I personally I am less impressed by it.
I read in another thread. reproducing the comments here for balanced point of view.
"If more than 20% of your funds goes to administrative expenses (office supplies, stationary, tea/coffee, misc), you know there is something shady. Satyam computers, did the same thing, created fake employees, posted huge expenses under admin category for almost 5 years. Later it was found that they were laundering money for YSR from overseas, and went bust and was later acquired by TechMahindra for paisa on the rupee.
Amnesty india is probably in knee deep shit and exiting before anything comes to light."
In the US, <15% admin expense is considered good for a charity, and in the US admin expense also include rent, business services (accounting, legal, IT), and leadership costs (for a small org, the leader might be categorized as management but actually be providing services).
Unfortunately, the BJP's notorious troll army (also known as the "IT cell") has invaded HN also, and pop up whenever our government's misdeeds are discussed.
Remember that this is the same govt that has restricted the speech of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by cutting off their Internet access completely and later, restricting them to a mere 2G connection and to "approved" websites. [1]
It modified the UAPA law to basically designate any Indian citizen a "terrorist" and hold them indefinitely without bail. And used the law to arrest and detain people protesting against a controversial law. [2]
The same government that set up a "donation fund" called "PM Cares", ostensibly to help people affected by Covid-19 and lockdown, but then refused to divulge details under our RTI - Right to Information Act - claiming it was not a public authority. [3]
But then exempted this fund from the same draconian FCRA rules [4]
Oh, if that's not enough, this government also passed a law exempting political parties from scrutiny in foreign funding under the FCRA. Want to guess which is the richest political party in India now? Google it. [5]
Did I mention they also introduced "electoral bonds" to allow anonymous corporate funding for political parties? [6]
Amnesty International was drawing too much attention to the human rights abuses of the government, so the state has come down with all its might on it.
Also surpression in Kashmir seems to have escalated over the past year with removal of local governance and blockade of internet access.
It is not a good combination: Escalating human rights abuses, an economy in freefall, pandemic, border skirmishes with China, nationalism, crackdown on ethnic minorities ...
[+] [-] sidmkp96|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dang|5 years ago|reply
We've banned several accounts and will probably moderate more aggressively next time.
[+] [-] ashleshbiradar|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sumedh|5 years ago|reply
So what is "right" as per your belief?
[+] [-] iKevinShah|5 years ago|reply
So while yeah, online discussions mostly conclude to simplest possible explanation i.e. authoritarian / totalitarian / nationalism / and what not - This notice comes just days after FCRA was changed in India, that might be the pushing point / breakpoint towards closure rather than "Government Witchhunt", because Amnesty has been getting the show-causes notices for some time now.
[+] [-] iamshs|5 years ago|reply
FCRA was amended with a specific aim in mind. Hindu Nationalist groups have been vocal about religious conversions. FCRA was recently used to target 4 Christian organizations and choke their foreign funding [1].
It is a witch-hunt specifically because Amnesty was harassed by Delhi Police about why they were probing Delhi Religious Riots 2020 and had released the report about the Police excesses in the same? It was after this that Delhi Police targeted Amnesty using FCRA law. [2]
Amnesty India's former head put it succintly: "It has become a crime to work on human rights in India." "Amnesty has not been convicted. It has not even been put on trial in court. Shutdown refers to inability to pay salaries because accounts frozen for second time without any determination of guilt." [3]
FCRA is just bureaucratic powerslam without going through courts to target organization that asks for transparency. India joins highly regarding company of Russia in pushing Amnesty from their country.
[1] - https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/government-suspends-f...
[2] - https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/amnesty-report-on...
[3] - https://twitter.com/Aakar__Patel/status/1310844601767309312
[+] [-] john_max_1|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xmohit|5 years ago|reply
> In July 2019,the ambit of UAPA was expanded. It was amended allowing the government to designate an individual as a terrorist without trial.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_Activities_(Preventio...
[+] [-] wtmt|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djsumdog|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nabla9|5 years ago|reply
India: Arrests of Activists Politically Motivated https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/india-arrests-activists-...
Under Modi, India's Press Not Free Anymore https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-pre...
Critics of India’s Modi Government Face Sedition Charges https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/critics-of-indias-modi-gover...
Is free speech under threat in Modi’s India? Activists, journalists, lawyers and academics are concerned that free speech in India is deteriorating (2017) https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/08/03/is-free-speech...
[+] [-] john4532452|5 years ago|reply
There is a fundamental difference Indian nationalism and other countries nationalism. Indian nationalism is all about bringing back the "varna system" which advocates stratification of society based on the birth and access to education is only allowed for the brahmins(priestly caste). This was the system implemented strictly before the Britishers arrived to India.
[+] [-] throwaway0a5e|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] staticautomatic|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] naruvimama|5 years ago|reply
This is against a mostly one book, one god/no god, one agenda and one power centre ideology being enforced on the people - Marxism, Christianity, Islam, "Atheism", "Feminism"
Especially in a country with a million gods and small unique communities, it falls on the government to protect them from ideologies with a track record for violence and genocide.
[+] [-] cscurmudgeon|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ranjitcool1|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] commoner|5 years ago|reply
> Political liberalism in India is now under assault. The current right-of-center government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appears intent on transforming India's pluralistic, open, and secular state into an ethnic and illiberal democracy. To that end it has sought to place ideologues in key governmental institutions, attempted to curtail academic freedoms at a leading university, and made efforts to curb an otherwise feisty mass media. A weak political opposition, which had in any case failed to demonstrate much mettle when in government prior to the BJP's 2014 electoral victory, now appears utterly incapable of stemming this illiberal tide. As a consequence, India's future as a liberal democracy appears to be at some risk.
> Kumi Naidoo, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, takes a different view, decrying an official effort to "[crush] dissent by demonizing and criminalizing activists, lawyers, and journalists working for some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in India." Amnesty International India has itself been targeted: Its bank accounts have been frozen, and police in Bangalore have accused it of sedition.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724
From the Journal of Democracy (Jan 2019)
[+] [-] apexkid|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] david4532452|5 years ago|reply
Amnesty International continues to violate Indian laws (FCRA) time and again by not disclosing their source of funds. They were investigated a decade ago by the previous government too for money laundering (for people crying hoarse on current government), and Amnesty International halted all it's work then too.
All foreign funding/donations needs to be approved based on FCRA act. Instead of obeying the laws, Amnesty channeled money through various private or other sister orgs, claiming it is remittances for services exported. They lost the case in the State courts couple of times and my guess is they didn't want to risk going to the Supreme court and lose again. So instead of complying with the law, it's time to spin the story against the Indian government.
https://www.deccanherald.com/national/linked-private-company...
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-tre...
[+] [-] quirmian|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deskamess|5 years ago|reply
States that are not run by Modi Inc are in a lot of trouble. That's the point though... conformance.
[+] [-] johnnydoe9|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sumedh|5 years ago|reply
This has been going on for decades, no govt wants to expand the judicial system for some reason.
[+] [-] nl|5 years ago|reply
My own country - Australia - has been frequently criticised by Amnesty (eg [1]).
Amnesty's job is to call out human right violations. Citizens of a country may very well say "oh, we don't like these asylum seekers, so we will keep voting for the government that put these laws in place" (in Australia's case). But it isn't Amnesty's job to look at justifications, only violations.
A robust, functional democracy should have space to allow critics, and while it might be unrealistic to expect the government to welcome that criticism, a government shouldn't use its power to act in reprisal against critics.
Some people in this discussion should consider this carefully. It's one thing to disagree with critics, but quite another to approve of reprisals against those critics.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/australia-pm-rejects-amnesty-internati...
[+] [-] liar_brigade|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] roenxi|5 years ago|reply
There is a very wide spectrum of possibilities here. They range from the Indian government being horrible, through localised corruption, through the government having very legitimate concerns about foreign interference, through to AI India being corrupt and/or in league with western intelligence agencies.
[+] [-] ravibhatt|5 years ago|reply
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17150953
Also, Important to note that some of the changes to laws for NGOs were done during congress led UPA govt as well. It is just that changes to laws have now been highlighted more by mainstream media.
[+] [-] sssk|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shadowprofile77|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] srean|5 years ago|reply
Things have become bad enough that people self-censor. People have been arrested for sharing jokes about politicians to their personal friends over email or social media. Some have been heckled and beaten up. Such people have no recourse. Even if the local govt pretends to act, the perpetrators immediately gets a bail, because the courts are very much in bed with the politics, more so at the lower courts.
Made up and nonbailable charges have been slapped on university professors who have criticized the government. They are not tried on the usual court but handled by a special anti-terrorism body called the NIA that has special powers and provisions to secrecy that ordinary courts do not have.
https://scroll.in/article/959082/i-cant-counter-state-propag...
Political opponents are harassed by income tax raids even when nothing much come put of the raids. Its just an intimidation tactic where people with government authorization tear your apartment apart and grab documents that they can hold on to as long as they want for the harassments value.
[+] [-] SpicyLemonZest|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jagannathtech|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Karupan|5 years ago|reply
[0] https://www.scribd.com/document/229493571/IB-Report-NGO
[+] [-] intended|5 years ago|reply
When it came out, I read the report and realized that it was a hack job, and sure enough - not one person knew its contents, despite the news channels and whatsapp declaring NGOs as enemy number 1.
I've commented elsewhere in this thread how that report says that writing hand written notes is an attempt to evade scanners, and that using google maps and adding pins to it is evidence of near super villain levels of plotting to end India's coal power dreams - by Greenpeace.
[+] [-] djsumdog|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lambainsaan|5 years ago|reply
I feel India is going on a wrong track, it was doing okay in regards to Democratic values until Modi came to power, and since then it is on a downwards trajectory in that department. I have not seen any media house putting out any news which condemn decision that Modi makes, all are just praising Modi for god knows what reason. This ain't even a news in India, they are all running behind Bollywood celebs.
I feel Indian people are one-two generation(s) away, most of the Indian people can't really digest democracy at the moment.
[+] [-] anuraj|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ahiknsr|5 years ago|reply
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/07/21/indias-ngo-backlash/ https://www.firstpost.com/india/kudankulam-protests-3-ngos-l...
[+] [-] ashleshbiradar|5 years ago|reply
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/icj-says-fcra-bill-in...
https://scroll.in/article/973909/behind-the-new-rules-for-ng...
[+] [-] known|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azifali|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swarnie_|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] screye|5 years ago|reply
> transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir
all of these have been issues with every Indian Govt. for decades. I don't see anything about 2021 that would be a straw that'd break a camel's back.
The FRCA too has been the favorite tool for every govt. from 1976, for harassing NGOs. The changes to the law itself aren't as terrible.
> The NGO/FRCA license now expires in 5 years instead of being permanent
Not a terrible idea in a functioning society. In India, it becomes a tool getting fresh bribes out of groups and trapping them in bureaucracy.
> Less than 50% of foreign funds can be used for administrative expenses
IMO, really smart change. I personally know of Indian NGOs that primarily serve as money laundering mechanisms. On paper, doesn't seem like a bad change at all.
> The law now extends to trade/student/workers' unions, women’s wing of a political party, farmers’ organisations, youth organisations based on caste, community, religion, language and organizations that engage in strikes/ blockages/ protests / political action.
Some of these changes are sensible. unions and youth organizations in India are well known to be tools of political parties. If a law had to be applied, it has to at least be consistent.
The part of orgs. that engage in protest is more divisive, especially with the discussion around foreign funding to control opinion becoming a huge thing in the US.
Should outside funding be allowed to facilitate political opinion in a nation? To me, the answer isn't that clear. Both sides of the argument have strong points in favor.
______________
I am generally averse to expanding Govt. power, especially given how corrupt every Indian one has been. The FRCA was terrible, and like the patriot act is something that only serves to expand state power.
That being said, to spin it as a "hindu nationalist" initiative is political posturing.
Anyone who believes that Indian Media's pro-ruling party agenda, religious riots, sedition charges or harassment of activists started or even peaked in the Modi Govt., has been willfully ignorant about the continuing violation of freedoms that Indian Govts. have been part of since Indira Gandhi in the 70s.
______________
In the spirit of transparency, I have an incredibly low opinion of both journalists and activists in India. The complete lack of nuance in how they approach the issues they champion is a glaring example of it. The worst aspect, is that the most egregious ones get widespread coverage in respected western outlets.
Western thought leaders have time and again demonstrated an incredibly limited understanding on complex non-western societies. Whether that be in Africa, China, SEA or India. However, english, open-ness of Indian society, post colonial guilt and its size lead to the most egregious cases being in India.
Lastly, can't be pointing out problems without suggesting solutions. Recently, one of the few journalists I respect immensely (Shekhar Gupta) has started an online-only subscription based media house called the Print. I have found them to be the closest thing to fair journalism in India. The Caravan is another subscription based media outlet that is well respected among my peers (whom I respect) although I personally I am less impressed by it.
[+] [-] kcsomisetty|5 years ago|reply
"If more than 20% of your funds goes to administrative expenses (office supplies, stationary, tea/coffee, misc), you know there is something shady. Satyam computers, did the same thing, created fake employees, posted huge expenses under admin category for almost 5 years. Later it was found that they were laundering money for YSR from overseas, and went bust and was later acquired by TechMahindra for paisa on the rupee.
Amnesty india is probably in knee deep shit and exiting before anything comes to light."
[+] [-] sct202|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LordAtlas|5 years ago|reply
Remember that this is the same govt that has restricted the speech of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by cutting off their Internet access completely and later, restricting them to a mere 2G connection and to "approved" websites. [1]
It modified the UAPA law to basically designate any Indian citizen a "terrorist" and hold them indefinitely without bail. And used the law to arrest and detain people protesting against a controversial law. [2]
The same government that set up a "donation fund" called "PM Cares", ostensibly to help people affected by Covid-19 and lockdown, but then refused to divulge details under our RTI - Right to Information Act - claiming it was not a public authority. [3]
But then exempted this fund from the same draconian FCRA rules [4]
Oh, if that's not enough, this government also passed a law exempting political parties from scrutiny in foreign funding under the FCRA. Want to guess which is the richest political party in India now? Google it. [5]
Did I mention they also introduced "electoral bonds" to allow anonymous corporate funding for political parties? [6]
Amnesty International was drawing too much attention to the human rights abuses of the government, so the state has come down with all its might on it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Kashmir
[2] https://www.thequint.com/news/law/no-bail-in-uapa-cases-rega...
[3] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-pm-cares-...
[4] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-cares-fund-gets-fc...
[5] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lok-sabha-passes-bill...
[6] https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2019/dec/01/time-t...
[+] [-] throwaway4good|5 years ago|reply
It is not a good combination: Escalating human rights abuses, an economy in freefall, pandemic, border skirmishes with China, nationalism, crackdown on ethnic minorities ...
[+] [-] malware7|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] arjun1296|5 years ago|reply
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