Dilip Simeon's blog

... having passed a law that makes religion, for the first time, the basis for giving citizenship to foreigners, the BJP government reserves the right to bring an NRC which would unsettle large swathes of the country’s own minorities and poor at a moment of its choosing All speeches are made of what is said and what is not. On the day after, therefore, listen closely to both Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words, and his silences, at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital on Sunday. The seething backdrop, still unfolding, is the spiralling agitation and anger, expressed in university campuses and outside, by mostly young people, against the law fast-tracking citizenship for non-Muslim persecuted minorities from three Muslim-dominated neighbouring countries and the BJP government’s oft-stated threat to extend nationwide the National Citizenship Register process in Assam.  Govt of India muzzles dissent Modi On NRC, Detention Camps: 5 Lies From PM's Delhi Speech ...

New Delhi:  Twenty-five people have  reportedly lost their lives  in the ongoing protests against the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens. Most of the deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh (UP) after police allegedly fired on protestors. Though protests have been organised in almost all states across the country, deaths have been reported in only Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. Activists allege that huge gatherings in other states have been peaceful and without any incidents of violence, accusing the BJP of disproportionate police action on protestors. December 12: Five deaths in Assam:  Five people succumbed to bullet injuries in Assam after the police reportedly opened fire on protesters who had taken to the streets defying Section 144, imposed in the state after parliament passed the disputed CAA on December 11. Those who succumbed to bullet injuries include Sam Staff...

Our database of collective actions challenges the mainstream media narrative. Here are our eight key insights  In the past year, tech worker mobilization has reached unprecedented levels. Kickstarter employees  sought union recognition  from their company. Amazon workers led a  cross tech-industry walkout  to support the global climate strike. Googlers grappled with  unionization , fought against  increasing corporate hostility , and challenged their company’s  unethical partnerships . Even Chinese tech workers have joined in, with the  viral 996.icu campaign  that demanded more reasonable working hours.  We documented all the collective actions in the tech industry in a publicly accessible online  database  and analyzed the results. What we learned challenges many mainstream media narratives about the tech workers’ movement. Here are our eight most important insights. 1. Tech worker actions are growing exponentially ...

Arrests have raised questions in China about the company’s ties to the state and the wider tech industry. B y Lily Kuo Around this time last year, Zeng Meng, 39, was on holiday in Thailand, having dinner with his father. Suddenly he was surrounded by Chinese police. Plainclothes officers stood on each side of him, their hands on his shoulders, while another filmed the scene.  The officers showed their IDs and said they had been dispatched from Shenzhen, the headquarters of Zeng’s former employer  Huawei , where he was wanted on suspicion of violating trade secrets.  Having no other choice, Zeng went with them, accompanied by four Thai officers. Within a week, he   had been extradited to China and formally arrested.  Zeng spent the next three months at the Shenzhen No 2 detention centre, reading or working out in his shared 12x6-metre cell. He was not allowed to go outside. The only television allowed was CCTV, which carried the state broadcaste...

Sadaf Jafar, a former teacher, who is a prominent human rights activist in Lucknow, was arrested and beaten by the Uttar Pradesh Police after  the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on 19 December turned violent, her lawyer and family allege. Jafar was making videos of the protest and posting them on Facebook.  In her final video, Jafar can be heard telling a woman constable, “Why are you arresting me? I was protesting peacefully. You could not arrest the people who were pelting stones?”  Speaking with  HuffPost India  on Sunday, Pradeep Singh, her lawyer, said that he met with Jafar for the first time earlier that day.  Singh said that Jafar had bruises on her eyes, neck, back and the lower part of her body. “Male police officers have beaten her. They have beaten her badly. They have clawed at her hair,” said Singh. “She was beaten at the scene of the protest where she was doing a Facebook Live,” he said. “But they also beat her w...

This Act is not only discriminatory and deliberately crafted to exclude people born into faiths that the ruling dispensation doesn’t like. It is also designed to create a sinkhole of corruption , much larger and deeper than anything that India has experienced in its long, corruption-riddled history.  Our national anthem is the first verse of a five-verse Brahmo hymn. The second verse goes, “Aharaha Tabo Awhbhan Pracharito/ Shuni Tabo Udaar Bani/ Hindu Bauddho Sikh/ Jaino Parasik/ Musalman Khristani/ Puraba Pashchimo Aashay / Tabo Singhasano Pashay / Premoharo Hawye Gantha / Jano Gano Oikya Bidhyaka / Jaya Hey Bharata Bhagya Bidhata.” A free translation: “We hear your inclusionary call broadcast 24x7. We, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Muslims and Christians come from East and West to pay homage at your throne, and weave the garland of love. Victory to you, O Bringer of Unity and Decider of India’s Destiny”. That hymn was a clarion call to patriotic Indians, whateve...

A  study conducted earlier this year  by the Oxford in Berlin group and the Berlin Social Science Center predicted that 2019 would see 84,000 Britons relocate to European countries, a drastic increase compared to the 59,000 who moved in 2008. Concerns around Brexit and a desire to hold on to European identity are regularly cited as reasons for moving. The implications of this are yet to be fully understood, but during my time in Copenhagen, I’ve met numerous Brits in similar positions ― most of them chasing a sustainable career in creative fields and looking to improve their own quality of life, while fearing for those less fortunate at home. Britain should be concerned by the way it is hemorrhaging young talent, with the most recent election result signaling the death knell for many of us ever returning This election presented a stark choice: Choose between a fair society that supports the vulnerable, or continue in the same way as the past nine years. Regrettably, ...