ANOTHER REPORT THAT CASTS A SHADOW OVER INDIAN DEMOCRACY

The fifth annual democracy report by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute, titled ‘Autocratisation goes viral’, has downgraded India from “the world’s largest democracy” to an “electoral autocracy”, citing “muzzling” of the media, and overuse of defamation and sedition laws.

V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) claims to produce the largest dataset on democracy with almost 30 million data points for 202 countries from 1789 to 2020.

This report comes within a week of US watchdog Freedom House downgrading India’s status to “partly free” in its ‘Freedom in the World’ report.

While India’s score was at an all-time high at 0.57 (on a scale of 0-1) in 2013, it had declined to 0.34 by the end of 2020 — a loss of 23 percentage points in seven years. “Most of the decline occurred following BJP’s victory in 2014 and their Hindu nationalist agenda,” says the V-Dem report.

“India is, in this aspect (censorship) now as autocratic as is Pakistan, and worse than both its neighbors Bangladesh and Nepal. In general, the Modi-led government in India has used laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism to silence critics. For example, over 7,000 people have been charged with sedition after the BJP assumed power and most of the accused are critics of the ruling party,” says the report.

It adds that the use of defamation “frequently used to silence journalists” and the use of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have placed constraints on civil society and gone against the Constitution’s commitment to secularism.

“Amended in August 2019 (it) is being used to harass, intimidate, and imprison political opponents, as well as people mobilizing to protest government policies. The UAPA has been used also to silence dissent in academia. Universities and authorities have also punished students and activists in universities engaging in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).”

The report notes that civil society is being increasingly muzzled while organisations aligned with the “Hindutva movement” have gained freedom. “The BJP have increasingly used the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) to restrict the entry, exit and functioning of Civil Society Organisations (CSO),” it says.

The report finds that liberal democracies have diminished over the past decade from 41 countries to 32 countries.

“The global decline during the past 10 years is steep and continues in 2020, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2020 is down to levels last found around 1990,” says the report.

PAKISTAN SIGNALS STATEHOOD IN J&K KEY TO MOVEMENT FORWARD – AN IE REPORT

Pakistan has conveyed to India that the February 25 renewal of the 2003 ceasefire along the LoC can lead to a wider engagement only if and when Delhi restores statehood to Jammu & Kashmir as a “starting point” for a discussion on the resolution of the Kashmir issue, reports The Indian Express today.

The joint statement issued by the Directors General of Military Operations does not reflect any change in the Pakistani position that Kashmir is a “dispute” and that its resolution is anchored by the United Nations Security Council resolutions, said authoritative sources in Pakistan who did not wish to be identified. Moreover, they added, the statement in no way implies the acceptance of the Indian “narrative” of a “deal” on Kashmir.

The sources rejected what they called the “narrative” in India that the DGMO agreement was a sign of Pakistan’s “desperation” and “weakness”, or the notion that it could be used by India to signal to the world that “Pakistan and India are talking and everything is fine, or to tell people in (Kashmir) that there is some underhand deal and that Kashmir is done and dusted”.

For its part, Delhi has signalled that if the ceasefire holds and no terrorist incidents occur that could be traced back to Pakistan, wider normalisation of ties could follow. At the same time, it has stressed that restoration of J&K statehood is an assurance underlined several times in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and there is little to discuss beyond that.

In Pakistan’s view, the ceasefire was something it had “talked about publicly” for nearly two years. It had been on the table, and for “whatever reasons”, India was reluctant all this time, and for “whatever reasons”, it had agreed now, the sources in Pakistan said.

MAHARASHTRA HAS 8 OF TOP 10 DISTRICTS WITH MOST COVID CASES

KEY COVID NUMBERS:

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 1,95,766

New Cases in last 24 hours: 21,663

Recovered in last 24 hours: 11,449

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 10,101

No. of deaths in last 24 hours: 113

Eight of the top 10 districts in the country with most active cases are in Maharashtra, the Union Ministry of Health said in its weekly Covid-19 briefing Thursday.

The districts are Pune (18,474), Nagpur (12,724), Thane (10,460), Mumbai (9,973), Amravati (5,259), Jalgaon (5,029), Nashik (4,525) and Aurangabad (4,354). The two others in the list are Bengaluru Urban in Karnataka (5,526) and Ernakulam in Kerala (5,430).

While the disease is showing an upward curve throughout the country, the two highest active case burden states of Kerala and Maharashtra are now showing divergent trends.

In the last one month, active cases in Kerala almost halved — to 35,715 on 11 March from 64,607 on 11 February.

But Maharashtra has seen an explosive spurt in active cases — to 1,00,240 on 11 March from 36,917 on 11 February.

In the same period, Punjab’s active cases increased to 9,402 from 2,112.

Haryana’s active cases went up to 2,440 from 824, Gujarat’s to 3,529 from 1,800 and Madhya Pradesh’s to 3,915 from 1,951 in the same one-month period.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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3 COUNTRIES HALT ASTRA SHOTS AMID CLOT FEARS THAT MOST HEALTH EXPERTS DISMISS

Health authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland on Thursday suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine shots following reports of the formation of blood clots in some people who had been vaccinated.

Austria earlier stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca shots while investigating a death from coagulation disorders and an illness from a pulmonary embolism.

Still, the European medicine regulator EMA said the vaccine’s benefits outweighed its risks and could continue to be administered.

Denmark suspended the shots for two weeks after a 60-year-old woman, who was given an AstraZeneca shot from the same batch used in Austria, formed a blood clot and died, Danish health authorities said. “It is currently not possible to conclude whether there is a link. We are acting early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated,” health minister Magnus Heunicke said on Twitter.

Some health experts said there was little evidence to suggest the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be administered and that the cases of blood clots corresponded with the rate of such cases in the general population.

‘WE ARE NOT RACIST’ — PRINCE WILLIAM DEFENDS UK ROYAL FAMILY

Britain’s royal family is “very much not racist”, Prince William said on Thursday, in his first public remarks since his younger brother Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle made explosive claims in a TV interview.

William, the Duke of Cambridge, also revealed that he had not spoken to Harry since the tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey was first broadcast over the weekend but plans to do so.

Harry and Meghan’s interview has sent Buckingham Palace into a tailspin.

Prince William’s comments follow a rare statement issued by Buckingham Palace earlier this week to say that the issues raised during the interview with Winfrey, the American talk show host, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members,” the statement read.

The statement indicated that Queen Elizabeth II was saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years had been for her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

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KEEP US OUT OF NEW RULES FOR ONLINE CONTENT, PRINT & TV MEDIA GROUPS TELL MODI GOVT

Representatives of multiple print and TV news organisations — which also have a presence in online media in the form of e-papers and websites — met Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar Thursday, demanding they be kept out of the ambit of the new rules for digital media, which were recently notified by the Narendra Modi government.

Representatives from India Today, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Times of India, ABP, Eenadu, Dainik Jagran, Lokmat, among others, under the banner of the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), were present in the interaction, which was held through a video conference.

All these media houses are primarily print and television organisations, with a digital presence. None of them is an exclusively digital news organisation.

With most newspapers also having their e-paper or online versions, and television channels running their stories on their websites too, they were brought under the new IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, released last month.

After the interaction, the government in a statement said the TV and print media organisations welcomed the new rules. However, the organisations said they have been following the existing norms of the Cable Television Network Act and the Press Council Act for a very long time, the statement added.

“Further for publishing the digital versions, the publishers do follow the existing norms of the traditional platforms,” the statement said. “They felt that they should be treated differently than those news publishers, who are only on the digital platform,” the statement added.

In a tweet, the minister said he has taken note of the suggestions offered by the organisations.

The DNPA, meanwhile, thanked the minister for the “constructive meet”.  “DNPA made suggestions that preserve freedom of the press and emphasised that all its members are bound by  — and follow — the regulations of the Press Council of India and/or NBSA,” it tweeted.

TMC INSISTS THAT INJURIES TO MAMATA WERE PART OF A CONSPIRACY AGAINST HER

The incident in Nandigram that resulted in an injury to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday was an accident, according to preliminary police findings submitted to the Election Commission Thursday.

The report claims to have arrived at its conclusion via video footage and accounts of local police and eyewitnesses, including Trinamool Congress members. It says the chief minister was hurt when her car, while maneuvering through a crowded bazaar area, hit a small iron pillar.

Banerjee was waving at people with her car door open. She hurt her feet as the car door was slammed shut after hitting the pillar on the narrow street, the report states.

Banerjee had alleged Wednesday evening that she was attacked by four-five men who pushed her, and banged on the door of her car, causing injuries to her.

The Nandigram incident came hours after the state DGP was moved out on the orders of the EC and a successor sent in. The TMC has described the series of events — from the DGP’s removal to the Nandigram episode — as part of a “well-thought-out plan”.

A Trinamool Congress delegation led by Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien has filed a complaint with the EC, calling the incident a “deep-rooted conspiracy” to kill Banerjee. TMC will hold silent protest rallies across the state today.

In a video message from SSKM Hospital in Kolkata where she is admitted, Banerjee urged her party cadres to remain calm and not to do anything that could trouble the common people. Her left foot in a plaster cast and doctors saying she is in “immense” pain following a fall in Nandigram a day earlier, TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Thursday that she hopes to recover soon and may use a wheelchair to campaign for the Assembly elections starting March 27.

The EC said the TMC allegations against it questioned “the very basis of creation and functioning of EC”. Stating that EC does not appropriate or take over day-today governance of any state including West Bengal, “which keep on functioning as per the extant rules of business and distribution of work normally approved by Hon’ble CM”, the Commission said it “looks undignified even to respond to the allegations of all this being done on the behest of a particular political party”.

MAHA CM URGES PEOPLE TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS

As Maharashtra coronavirus figures touched a six-month high on Friday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray warned that some areas of the state could be on the “threshold of a lockdown”, just like Nagpur, which became the first city in nine months to go in for total isolation for a week, starting March 15.

On Friday morning, after taking a vaccine shot, Thackeray said the government would decide in the next two days whether to impose a lockdown in some other areas, but in an evening address on social media, he tried to allay public concerns, saying the lockdown could still be avoided.

The CM appealed to the people to follow all precautionary measures when they are in home quarantine so that the disease does not spread to their family members. “Many people still refuse to do the Covid test fearing that they may need to go to institutional quarantine. They must go for testing as we have allowed home quarantine. But they must also follow preventive measures…because some incidents have come to light that the negligence in following the preventive measures in the home quarantine is leading to entire families getting infected with Covid,” he said.

In Mumbai, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the surge had not put any additional pressure on the city’s hospital infrastructure right now.

COVID PROTOCOLS IGNORED DURING MAHA SHIVRATRI SHAHI SNAAN

Hosting the Maha Shivratri Shahi Snaan at Mahakumbh, considered among the world’s largest religious congregations, during the time of Covid-19, Haridwar was, in equal parts, excited and anxious on Thursday.

The event, spread over four districts of Uttarakhand with Haridwar as the focal point, registered a footfall of over 28 lakh between Wednesday midnight and Thursday evening, mela adhikari (in-charge) Deepak Rawat told reporters.

While the footfall was along expected lines, the sheer size of the gathering made it impossible for the authorities to ensure Covid-19 precautions such as social distancing and wearing of masks.

While negative RT-PCR test reports were a mandatory requirement for people entering Haridwar, authorities resorted to random checking, admitting that everyone could not be checked as the queue of waiting vehicles stretched into kilometres.

GADKARI TO SUE SWEDISH MEDIA HOUSES FOR DEFAMATION

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will send legal notices to two Swedish media houses, including public broadcaster SVT, for publishing reports alleging that he and his family members were linked to a deal involving luxury bus and truck manufacturer Scania, his office said Thursday.

Swedish news agencies had Wednesday reported that the luxury bus-maker allegedly paid bribes to individuals/officials in seven states in India between 2013 and 2016 to get contracts to sell Scania buses. Media reports also alleged that Scania delivered a luxury bus to a company linked to Gadkari’s son, which was intended for use in Gadkari daughter’s wedding in 2016.

Following the reports, Scania issued a detailed statement Wednesday where it denied sending any bus to Gadkari for his personal use, the official in Gadkari’s office said.

22-YR-OLD UDUPI GIRL WHO WAS FORCED TO QUIT AS OXFORD STUDENTS’ UNION PRESIDENT

On February 11, 2021, Rashmi Samant, a 22-year-old from Karnataka’s Udupi, was elected as the first Indian woman president of the Oxford University Students Union.

However, the MSc student of energy systems at the Oxford University was forced to resign within five days, following outrage over some of her past social media posts that were perceived as anti-Semitic and racist. Though Samant offered an apology for “unintentionally” hurting sentiments, she was forced to step down.

“I believe the cancel culture mob got me. There was a conscious attempt made to unearth posts made by me in the past (going back to 2017). These posts were always there. But no one raked up any issue during the election process. It was only after I won that they were brought up. I believe my posts were not malicious or racist. To take offense you have to perceive it in certain manner. Perhaps, people assume the worst in fellow human beings these days,” says Samant from Udupi, where she is visiting her parents after the fiasco.

The social media posts in question referred to a picture of Samant in front of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial with a caption “The memorial casts a hollow dream of the past atrocities and deeds” and another photo from Malaysia captioned as “Ching Chang”. Some of her comments associated with the LGBT community, where it was alleged that she had used terms such as trans women rather than just women, were also objected to.

“I wish to ask a question to all who termed me insensitive and racist citing my social media posts of the past. Are you being sensitive when you judge a person’s worth based on social media captions of a non-native English speaking teenager that were posted years before the person formed convictions on issues of race?… They were the posts of a teenager who just had access to the world of social media. I again reiterate my apology to those genuinely hurt for my ignorance but not to those with malicious intent,” Samant said.

INDICATORS

(Indian markets were closed yesterday on account of MahaShivaratri)

Nasdaq 13,399 (+330) Dow 32,486 (+189), S&P 3,939 (+41)

US$-Rs. 72.59 GBP-Rs. 101.31, Euro-Rs. 86.78, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.76, Can$-Rs. 57.70, Aus$- Rs. 56.37

GBP 0.71 /US$, Euro 0.83 /US$, Jap.Yen 108.52 /US$, Aus$ 1.28 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 83.28 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.10 /US$,

Pak Re 156.67 /US$, Phil Peso 48.43 /US$, Russian Rouble 73.47 /US$, NZ$ 1.38 /US$, Thai Baht 30.55 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.49 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 56,928

Dollar Index 91.58 Brent Crude 69.49  BDI 1,980

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,721 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,471 / 4,371, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 67,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws. – Mark Twain

OFF TRACK

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