Dilip Simeon's blog

To say that the Supreme Court’s verdict of contempt of court against Prashant Bhushan has shocked civil society in India would be an understatement. There has been an outpouring of dismay and anger in which even attorney general K.K. Venugopal has joined. Most of the protest has focussed on the blow that punishing Bhushan will deal to civil liberties, notably the freedom to express an opinion,  the freedom to differ and the freedom to criticise – without which democracy cannot survive. But one feature of the judgment has not received the attention it deserves: the Supreme Court is the court of final appeal in the country. But in this case, it is both  prosecutor and judge. As the Latin phrase goes,  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?,  or who will guard the guardians? By filing a  suo moto  case against Bhushan before itself, the Supreme Court has forced us to ask this question. And to it, there can be only one answer: that task has now devolved upon the p...

Alarm bells are ringing in Delhi at Beijing’s potential involvement in the hydro-politics of India and Bangladesh. Foreign Secretary  Harsh Shringla’s sudden visit to Dhaka  on August 18-19 is being seen in this light. China has offered a $987.27-million loan to Bangladesh for a comprehensive management and restoration project on the Teesta, a river Bangladesh shares with India. The loan agreement is to be signed by December this year. The project will be implemented by Power Construction Corporation of China, or Power China, beginning 2021.  Despite China’s collaboration with Bangladesh in the Brahmaputra basin since 2006, Chinese companies were not present on the ground till now. Although official statements say that Shringla’s meetings were confined to ongoing bilateral issues, it is unlikely that Chinese involvement in the Teesta basin was not discussed. Chinese companies would be involved all along the 113-km route of the river in Bangladesh: managing flood cont...

India now has the fastest-growing coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new infections per day.  Crowded cities, lockdown fatigue and a lack of contact tracing have spread Covid-19 to every corner of this country of 1.3 billion people. This week, the authorities said that one-sixth of a tiny tribe on a remote, coral-fringed island had come down with the virus.  Health experts say the virus reproduction rate is ticking up as more state governments, desperate to stimulate an ailing economy, are loosening lockdown restrictions, which is spreading the virus further.  “Everything right now is indicating toward a massive surge in the caseload in coming days,” said  Dr. Anant Bhan,  a health researcher at Melaka Manipal Medical College in southern India. “What is more worrying is we are inching toward the No. 1 spot globally.”  During the  strict lockdown  that held from late March to late May, most of India’s...

Romina Ashrafi, a 14-year-old girl, victim of a so-called ‘honour killing’ in Iran.  Twitter screengrab An Iranian man who beheaded his 14-year-old daughter has been sentenced to only nine years in jail, in a case that has sparked outrage at the way Iranian law appears to enshrine supposed male rights over women’s lives. Rana Dashti, the mother of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi, expressed fury at the lenient sentence in an interview with the Iranian Labor news agency (Ilna) on Friday and said the court’s ruling had “caused fear and panic for me and my family”. Romina was murdered by her father after she ran off with a man aged 28. Dashti said she would appeal against the decision, and that after 15 years she had no interest in continuing to live with her husband. More on so-called honour killing of women She added she was worried about the lives of her only son and other relations. “I no longer want my husband to return to the village,” she told the news agency. The cas...

"This country's tragedy is that it expects more transparency from a moderately established starlet than from the man entrusted to run its government. That it holds a movie actor to a very high moral standard and its Prime Minister to none":  Amit Schandillia (@Schandillia) | Twitter . Just two months after Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment, his actress girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty has found herself at the centre of a vicious hate campaign led by some of India's most high-profile journalists and social media trolls.  Rajput was a rising star in India's popular Hindi film industry, and his death shocked India. His body was discovered in his bedroom on 14 June. Mumbai police said the 34-year-old appeared to have taken his own life, and reports in the press suggested that the actor had been dealing with mental health issues. But within days, the attention generated by his death had shifted to Chakraborty. She h...

NB : It is good to know that Indian police officials have taken note of and acted against communal propaganda in the news media. I hope other channels will learn from this. DS The Indian Police Service (Central) Association on Thursday condemned a promotional video posted by Sudarshan News Editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke which targeted members of the Muslim community joining India’s civil services. Sudarshan News and Chavhanke have a long history of broadcasting Islamophobic and communal misinformation ( see here ). The IPS Association on Thursday called the video a “communal and irresponsible piece of journalism”. The Indian Police Foundation, a think tank, called it “pure venom” and asked the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, the police and government authorities to take action against it…. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/upsc-sudarshan-news-hate-speech-ias-ips-officers_in_5f477f81c5b6cf66b2b374a8 Colin Gonsalves: Refusal of bail to Sudha Bharadwaj is based on in...

Academic freedom is about the right to study, teach and research a diversity of viewpoints. Yet, this right that is so crucial for the pursuit of knowledge has seen widespread attacks in colleges and universities across India.  The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 claims it is based on principles that include creativity and critical thinking, constitutional values, a respect for diversity and the local context, a positive working environment for students and faculty, and substantial investment in a strong vibrant public education system. It also promises “merit-based appointment of leadership” in higher education institutions, and “freedom from political or external interference.” This article shows that the biggest problem for the NEP is the gap between promise and practice. It was written in June 2020 as a status report in response to a call for submissions on academic freedom by the UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion an...