IAMC Weekly News Digest, 12th March 2021
MPs hit back after India summons envoy over farmers’ protest debate
Photo: The Economic Times video grab
British MPs have hit back after Narendra Modi’s government summoned the British high commissioner to India to warn against the UK parliament staging debates on the mass protests by Indian farmers…. In the 90-minute debate, the MPs, mainly from Labour, criticised the reforms and urged Boris Johnson to take up the suppression of the protests when Modi attends the G7 summit in June. The debate was called after more than 100,000 people had petitioned parliament to discuss the protests. Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman, criticised the Indian government’s summoning of Ellis and defended the UK parliament’s right to criticise India’s handling of the protests….
Aussie senator David Shoebridge calls out “right-wing, intolerant Modi government”
Photo: The Australian West
“We’re here today to not only show solidarity with those farmers in India and the communities in India that are standing up against an increasingly right-wing, intolerant Modi government, but we’re also standing here today to show solidarity with the diaspora in Sydney,” stated New South Wales (NSW) State Senator David Shoebridge on February 28th 2021. Shoebridge was speaking outside the Indian Consulate in Sydney at a press conference called by the Australian Alliance Against Hate and Violence to raise awareness about the rising threat to the country’s social cohesion posed by far-right Hindu extremism. “There have already been too many incidents of far-right extremist violence, particularly against the Sikh community in western Sydney,” he warned….
‘Wolf in watchdog’s clothing’: India’s new digital media laws spark fears for freedoms
Photo: Altaf Qadri/AP
…. The series of sweeping new IT rules bring almost everything that happens online under a mechanism of government regulation, including giving the government powers to remove “objectionable” online content and erasing people’s right to privacy on social media and encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp. The move has provoked a huge backlash among the world of tech and media and a legal challenge against the rules was raised in Delhi high court this week by several online publishers…. “Providers are being pressed to take down content the Indian government deems illegal or a threat to India’s security – categories that now seem to include criticising the Modi government,” she said….
Announcement
IAMC Issues Detailed Rebuttal to Defamatory Islamophobic Article in Newsweek
News
Freedom House report declaring India only a “partly free” democracy a recognition of reality: IAMC
MPs hit back after India summons envoy over farmers’ protest debate
Aussie senator David Shoebridge calls out “right-wing, intolerant Modi government”
Women Call for India’s Chief Justice to Quit Over Remarks in Rape Cases
‘Wolf in watchdog’s clothing’: India’s new digital media laws spark fears for freedoms
Communal Clashes in Telangana Town: Police Put BJP MP Under House Arrest, Detain 40 Others
Nearly 2,000 people arrested under UAPA in 2019: MHA tells Lok Sabha
Shocked by casual manner in which Kashmiri journalists are routinely detained, says Editors Guild
Time to call the bluff, bust myths created by Hindutva groups to demonise Muslims: S.Y. Quraishi
‘Dalit women continue to face atrocities for claiming their rights’
Opinion
The world’s largest protests you’ve probably never heard of – By Mandeep Rai Dhillon
Is India Degenerating From Democratic To A Dictatorial State? – By Dr Ajoy Kumar
India’s religious warfare – By Katherine Jimenez
Digital Media Rules Violate India’s Democracy & Constitution – By Prakhar Raghuvanshi
For Some Indian Immigrants, Caste Discrimination and Stigma Persists – By Paroma Soni
