Meanwhile, two Kashmiri vendors were allegedly harassed and threatened with dire consequences in separate incidents in Haryana over the past two days. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in one of the incidents. The incident of two Kashmiri vendors who faced harassment in Haryana emerged through a video depicting the same from Kaithal’s Kalayat, a local man speaking in Haryanvi dialect is heard confronting the vendor sitting on a concrete bench asking him to chant “Vande Matram”. Superintendent of Police, Kaithal, Upasana told The Hindu over phone that the police took suo motu cognisance of the matter to register a case two days ago and efforts were on to identify the accused, who was not seen in the video. In another incident, a man, in another video, is seen holding a Kashmiri vendor by his collar in Haryana’s Fatehabad asking him to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. A woman is also seen in the video trying to intervene and reason with the man to let off the vendor. Fatehabad SP, Siddhant Jain said both, the vendor and the man, were brought to the police station and the man was “counselled”. “We have asked the vendor to file a formal complaint to initiate legal action,” said Mr. Jain. He said the incident took place on December 28.

The quaint phenomenon of Kashmiri shawl sellers moving all over India with their goods is decades old in several parts of urban India. The phenomenon of their being under attack is however recent given the climate of hate incidents in the country.

The JKSA has urged that the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu intervene immediately.  “Dozens of Kashmiri shawl sellers, who have been working in Himachal Pradesh for over 25-30 years, are now being harassed, assaulted, and threatened to leave the State in the Ghumarwin area of Bilaspur district by right-wing groups. This is the 17th such incident that occurred in Himachal Pradesh this year,” JKSA head Nasir Khuehami said. “This atmosphere of hatred and threats has the potential to destroy livelihoods built over generations,” Mr. Khuehami said.

The JKSA, which has been documenting the cases of harassment against Kashmiris, said shawl sellers were being asked to leave Himachal Pradesh. “They are not allowed to sell their shawls, their belongings have been vandalised, and even their mobile phones were smashed when they tried to record these incidents,” Mr. Khuehami said.

He said the incidents were taking place “despite having proper verification and valid documents”. “We further urge the Union Home minister to take immediate and decisive action by directing the authorities to register cases against the fringe and right-wing elements involved under the relevant provisions of law. Strict action will send a strong message that communal bigotry has no place in a progressive and inclusive society,” the JKSA said.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hamid Karra said he spoke to the Himachal Chief Minister and raised the issue of the harassment of Kashmiri shawl sellers. “He [the Chief Minister] assured of strict action,” Mr. Karra said.

Meanwhile, the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC), Jammu and Kashmir Chapter, condemned these incidents. “Targeting people because of their Kashmiri identity goes against the idea of India. Students, professionals, traders, and workers from Jammu and Kashmir have been living and working across the country for decades and have contributed to local economies and institutions,” said Sanjay Sapru, head of AIPC Jammu and Kashmir.

The AIPC chapter urged the State governments and the Union government “to take clear and strong steps to ensure the safety of Kashmiris living outside the union territory”.

Related:

Amid over 17 attacks, Kashmiri Students Abandon Studies or Live in Fear

Pahalgam attack sparks nationwide turmoil, Kashmiri students face a chilling wave of hate across India

Kashmiri students allege attacks in AMU, write to Shah for probe

The post Himachal Haryana, racial harassment and attacks on Kashmiri shawl sellers rage on appeared first on SabrangIndia.

There has been outrage at official complicity and silence, that no FIR was filed for days after the attack. Social media Zindabad. CM Pushkar Dhani (BJP) called Anjel Chakma’s father and publicised the conversation on X. There has been outrage at the prevalent concealment of the crime itself till it resulted in death. Yet, Dehradun’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Ajai Singh has been quick to state on Monday, December 22 that “there is no evidence, prima facie, of racial attack.” The clear lapses and subsequent outrage include a three-day delay in registering the First Information Report (FIR), the refusal by the Selakui police station personnel to register the complaint on multiple occasions, the failure of the police to invoke appropriate sections of the law at the initial stage, and attempts by senior police officials to dilute the crime by portraying it as a fight while ignoring elements of racial abuse.

But should not we, as Indians, ask ourselves, if we are not inherently racist, casteist and communal? Students or professionals, Delhi, Kolkatta, Degradun, Bengaluru, Chennai or Mumbai, who hail from any of the seven states in the north-east face, have faced and have always faced attacks, ostracisation and slurs. I can give examples from the 1980s from the university of Mumbai, 32 years later from 2012, when 3,000 migrant and gig workers tried to flee Chennai, Benagluru and Pune over threats and attacks. Or in between before and after. When this inherent othering was seen in brute communal attacks, first against groups, then against individuals. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians. The civilizationally sanctioned othering of our Dalits, the everyday rape and killings of Dalit women is a reality that crept on to news pages only after the 1990s somehow. Though it has existed forever. Angel Chakma’s brute killing is no worse than Mohammad Aklaq’s (Dadri, 2015) or Surekha and Priyanka Bhotmage (Khairlanji, 2006). Listing or mapping these could run like a gruesome litany, Indian calendar of hate.

Such manifest attacks after humiliation, (1980s, 2006, 2012) however elicited a seminally different response from officialdom. Or mostly. Things were attempted to be brought back on track by an overall adherence to the “rule of law” and “principles of equality and non-discrimination underlined in the Indian Constitution.” Despite gross lapses (Nellie 1983, Delhi, Kanpur 1984, Bombay 1992-1993, Gujarat 2002) in official response the veneer that society accepted or adopted was one worn by the state. A clear and conscience driven adherence to the Indian Constitution. Even if substantive justice or reparation was never quite done. We were, until 2014, a constitutional republic in the shaping and making.

Something sharply changed then, however.

No regime or administration –until 2014 –was headed by outliers who brazenly signalled to cops and officials that “those who are violent” can be identified by “their clothes” or attire. Those holding constitutional posts did not legitimise terms that slur or stigmatise particular groups or communities. Today this is par for the course. We did not have heads of state(s) that proudly espoused sectarian divide and privilege. It is this, the prevalent and dominant a politics ideologically powered on stratification and othering that has brought out the worst in us.

There are enough of us Indians who are civilizationally brutalized into othering that welcome the prevailing, politically endorsed politics of hate and violence that results in Anjel’s tragic demise. Enough in the populace to cheer the hate-leaders on. Even as those very institutions of constitutional governance, naively constructed to act as check on the executive running awry, fail us, fail India seminally.

As 2026 beckons, the rest of us Indians face a stark challenge. To meet this mob cheering hate cheerleaders, head on. To demonstrate, creatively with numbers that there are enough –and more– on our side too. Scared, scattered, maybe. Those that have forever battled stratification and divide from centuries back. Reclaim our homes, streets, schools, neighbourhoods. Do this with stories, songs, protests, meetings, marches. On beaches, parks and highways. Never mind if the panchayats, assemblies, parliament take a while. To ensure not just that we have no Anjels, no  Priyanka, no Junaids whose lives are taken before they have begun to really live. And to most of all break the shackles of all imprisonments free.

Related:

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Not Merry, Not Free: What the attacks on Christmas say about India’s shrinking pluralism

Jharkhand: Another case of mob lynching of Muslim man

Rising Menace: Mob lynchings escalate as vulnerable Muslims and minors face grave danger

The post Racist, casteist and communal, when will we as Indians reclaim that lost charade of constitutional decency? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

मैं दिल्ली हाईकोर्ट गेट नंबर 5 के बाहर उन्नाव रेप पीड़िता के न्याय के लिए खड़ी हूँ। चुप रहना अपराध है।#UnnaoRapeCase #JusticeForUnnaoVictim pic.twitter.com/xfePXbLpTu

— Yogita Bhayana योगिता भयाना (@yogitabhayana) December 26, 2025

These protests have taken place amid grave concerns expressed by the Unnao rape survivor and her family over the suspension of the BJP politician, Sengar’s jail term. Responding to the high court order, the survivor told Hindustan Times, “I am extremely upset by what has happened today in the court.” She also said she felt “extremely unsafe” after learning about the bail conditions granted to Sengar.

Additionally, speaking to ANI news agency on Friday, the victim’s mother expressed strong objection to the bail, saying, “His bail should be rejected… We will knock on the doors of the Supreme Court. We have lost faith in the high court… If we don’t get justice in the Supreme Court, we will go to another country… The person guilty of my husband’s murder should be hanged immediately.”

It is only after this determined expression of the need for justice, public outrage and protests from December 21-24 that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), announced its late evening decision on December 25, 2025 to appeal this suspension of sentence and bail to Sengar, BJP leader and former MLA.

Photographs shared by the news agency showed security personnel asking protesters to put an end the demonstration immediately, warning that legal action would be taken if they did not disperse within five minutes. Women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana, who was present at the protest, said, “Women across India are deeply hurt that the sentence of a rapist has been overturned. This happened in this very court. So, we will seek justice from the same place where the injustice occurred,” ANI reported.

Yet another protester told ANI, “On what grounds was Kuldeep Sengar granted bail, when it was declared that he had committed rapes and murders? If a life sentence was given to him, then why is he out?… We demand that the rapist should go behind bars so women feel safe.”

Kuldeep Sengar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 for the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017. On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court suspended the expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s life sentence, noting that he had already served more than the maximum punishment prescribed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

An earlier protest in the capital was also met with forcible eviction by the Delhi police.

एक गैंगरेप पीड़िता के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार उच्चित है???

उसकी यही गलती है कि न्याय की माँग कर रही है ?

ये कैसा न्याय है ???#JusticeForUnnaoVictim pic.twitter.com/F1mSmOhQEs

— Yogita Bhayana योगिता भयाना (@yogitabhayana) December 23, 2025

CRPF Intimidation?

The court’s judgement has triggered fresh fears within the survivor’s family, despite the order barring Sengar from coming within a five-kilometre radius of her. The survivor’s family has also been granted protection by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). However, controversy has also been generated over the politicisation of this para-military protection including political interference, when earlier this week, the survivor and her family were trying to travel by road to Delhi to meet with advocates. According to an interview played out on social media she told activist and supporter Yogita Bhayana that initially the CRPF tried actively to prevent her travelling to Delhi for legal advice and redressal and only when she raised her voice in objection “was she allowed.” This raises serious questions on the active monitoring and interference in witness protection ordered by the court especially since the para-military forces like the CRPF come under the union home ministry.

Listen to the video on this tweet

पीड़िता के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार gazab – आप खुद सुनिए उन्नाव गैंगरेप पीड़िता को

निःशब्द….#JusticeForUnnaoVictim pic.twitter.com/StjZiCxbMA

— Yogita Bhayana योगिता भयाना (@yogitabhayana) December 24, 2025

The survivor cited past incidents to explain her concerns, saying, “He is a powerful man. He would get his men to do his dirty work for him. When my car met with an accident in which two of my relatives and my lawyer died in 2019, Sengar didn’t do it himself. His henchmen did. Now that he is out, we are all unsafe.”

Now 24, the survivor is a resident of Delhi. Following the grant of conditional bail to Sengar, she has been provided court-ordered protection and is accompanied by five to 11 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at all times. However, her mother has said that security cover provided to her and her three children until March this year (2025) was subsequently withdrawn.

Related:

Delhi HC grants bail pending appeal to Unnao rape convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar

Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Singh Sengar convicted

Ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, brother convicted in Unnao rape survivor’s father’s death

The post Protest outside Delhi HC gate over bail in Unnao rape case, survivor’s mother asks for maximum punishment appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The report identifies the reported disappearance and killing of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar in Bastar in early January as emblematic of the dangers faced by those who speak truth to power. Chandrakar had reported on poor-quality road construction in the region shortly before he went missing; his body was later found in a septic tank. The FSC notes that this incident set the tone for a year in which nine people were killed for exercising their right to free speech, including eight journalists and one social media influencer. It underscores that violence against journalists—particularly those working in rural and semi-urban districts—remains one of the most visible and brutal forms of silencing.

Journalists as primary targets

The FSC report records 40 attacks on free speech actors in 2025, of which 33 targeted journalists. It notes that reporters covering local corruption, illegal mining, liquor mafias, and administrative failures were especially vulnerable. In several cases, the police initially attempted to attribute killings or deaths to personal disputes, accidents, or intoxication, even when the journalists had recently published sensitive stories. The report highlights the case of Uttarakhand-based YouTuber Rajeev Pratap, whose body was recovered from the Bhagirathi, river days after he aired a video exposing liquor consumption inside a local hospital. Despite colleagues raising serious doubts, police claimed he had driven into the river while drunk.

The FSC further draws attention to the continued incarceration of journalists Irfan Mehraj and Rupesh Kumar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, noting that their prolonged detention without trial exemplifies the use of counter-terror laws to suppress journalism. Threats and harassment accompanied physical violence: at least 14 of 19 harassment incidents and 12 of 17 recorded threats were directed at journalists engaged in professional work. The report cites, as illustrative, a threat by TDP MLA Gummanur Jayaram to force journalists “to sleep on railway tracks” if they published allegedly false information about him.

The return of sedition and criminal lawfare

One of the most troubling findings of the report is the resurgence of sedition prosecutions, despite repeated assurances that colonial-era speech offences had been rendered obsolete under the new criminal codes. The FSC documents multiple sedition cases filed in 2025 against satirists, journalists, and political commentators for online posts questioning state action.

The report details how satirists Neha Singh Rathore, Madri Kakoti (Dr Medusa), and Shamita Yadav (Ranting Gola) were charged with sedition for social media commentary following the Pahalgam attack. It flags the Allahabad High Court’s rejection of Rathore’s anticipatory bail as a significant departure from earlier judicial reluctance to allow sedition prosecutions for speech. The FSC also records the filing of sedition FIRs by Assam police against the leadership and columnists of The Wire, including founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and consulting editor Karan Thapar, as well as against journalist Abhisar Sarma for a YouTube programme that relied on publicly available judicial observations.

According to the report, these cases exemplify “lawfare”—the strategic use of criminal law not necessarily to secure convictions, but to intimidate, exhaust, and silence critical voices through prolonged legal processes.

Mass censorship and platform control

The largest category of violations documented by the FSC in 2025 relates to censorship and internet control, with 11,385 instances recorded. The report highlights mass government takedown requests to social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter). In May and July 2025 alone, over 10,000 accounts were withheld in India. Citing X’s submissions before the Karnataka High Court, the report notes that the platform received 29,118 takedown requests from the Indian government between January and June 2025 and complied with the overwhelming majority of them.

The FSC identifies the Sahyog portal as a key institutional mechanism enabling decentralised censorship by allowing state agencies, district officials, and local police to issue takedown notices directly to platforms. Following the Pahalgam attack, numerous accounts belonging to journalists, news organisations, and international media outlets—including The Wire, Maktoob Media, Reuters, and many senior journalists—were withheld without public disclosure of reasons. The report notes that the Karnataka High Court’s decision upholding the Sahyog portal effectively legitimised large-scale, opaque censorship of online speech.

The ‘Hidden Hand’: Self-censorship and corporate influence

Beyond formal orders, the FSC report devotes significant attention to what it terms the “hidden hand” of censorship: informal pressures, verbal directives, and institutional intimidation that rarely leave a documentary trail. The report cites instances of journalists receiving “friendly calls,” media houses quietly dropping stories, and investigative platforms being financially crippled through regulatory action, such as the revocation of The Reporter’s Collective’s tax-exempt status.

Corporate power, the report notes, increasingly intersected with state censorship. It documents the September 2025 ex-parte injunction obtained by Adani Enterprises leading to the takedown of over 200 pieces of online content critical of the company, as well as sustained attempts to suppress reporting on the Vantara wildlife project linked to Reliance Industries. Even where courts later set aside gag orders, the report observes that the chilling effect on media coverage persisted.

Academia, cinema, and the right to think

The FSC records at least 16 serious instances of censorship in academia, including the cancellation of conferences, denial of permissions, deportation of visiting scholars, and the revocation of OCI status of academics critical of the government. In Kashmir, the report notes, authorities banned 25 books on the region’s history and politics and raided bookstores.

In cinema, the report documents excessive cuts, prolonged certification delays, and outright denial of certification to films addressing caste violence, state abuse, or social injustice. It notes that even internationally acclaimed films and centenary classics were barred from screening, underscoring how certification had become a tool of prior restraint rather than classification.

An uneven judicial response

While acknowledging some notable judicial interventions in favour of free speech, the FSC concludes that the judiciary’s overall response in 2025 was inconsistent. The report contrasts strong Supreme Court observations protecting poetry, satire, and art with orders that imposed gag conditions, endorsed expansive censorship mechanisms, or demanded apologies from artists. This inconsistency, the report argues, has failed to provide a stable constitutional shield for free expression.

A shrinking democratic space

In its concluding assessment, the Free Speech Collective warns that the cumulative impact of violence, lawfare, mass censorship, corporate pressure, and regulatory overreach has fundamentally altered the conditions under which speech is exercised in India. The report cautions that free expression has not been extinguished outright, but increasingly conditioned, surveilled, and constrained, creating a climate in which self-censorship becomes a rational act of survival.

As the report starkly concludes, the “hidden hand” shaping India’s speech landscape in 2025 is no longer subtle—it has become structural.

The complete report may be read here.

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The post Free Speech in India 2025: What the Free Speech Collective report reveals about a year of silencing appeared first on SabrangIndia.

We bring you the exclusive transcript of the latest episode of “Cross Bat,” the high-octane, metaphor heavy talk show hosted by the ever ebullient Balancedeep Sabchangasi. Known for his penchant for framing national crises through the nostalgic lens of 1970s Bollywood melodies and the technical nuances of a late-cut at Eden Gardens, Balancedeep attempts to find “balance” even when the pitch is clearly crumbling.

His guest is none other than Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala, a man who exemplifies the delightful charm of a bygone era. A veteran carpenter and restorer of vintage teak and rosewood, Cyrus operates from the old money enclave of Colaba. However, he is perhaps better known for his missives to the highest echelons of power, penned with the elegant precision of an antique dealer and the sharp wit of a seasoned observer. Cyrus represents the Model Citizen of the Amrit Kaal. He is a man who claims to be most law-abiding citizen, while using a strategic “naïve” voice to dissect the shenanigans of our times.

In this exchange, the duo tackles the controversial new MGNREGA Bill. The proposed legislation seeks to fundamentally transform rural employment by repealing the historic 2005 Act and replacing the legal right to work with a supply-driven, centrally capped model. This new framework shifts a significant 40% of the material funding burden to state governments and introduces mandatory 60 day work pauses during agricultural seasons, potentially curtailing the scheme’s responsiveness to local distress. Perhaps most symbolically, the bill removes the “Mahatma Gandhi” prefix from the program’s title, signalling a substantive ideological shift in India’s social safety net.

Cyrus, in his signature style, defends the government’s overhaul of the rural employment guarantee^, discussing key aspects such as democratic checks and socioeconomic security. ^.

The Transcript: Cross Bat with Balancedeep Sabchangasi

Balancedeep Sabchangasi: Welcome to Cross Bat! Today, we’re looking at the new MGNREGA Bill. Is it a masterstroke, a ‘Helicopter Shot’ over the boundary, or are we witnessing a hit wicket for rural India? To help us navigate this, we have the legendary restorer of both furniture and public discourse, Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala. Cyrus, the government says extreme poverty has fallen faster than a wicket on a green top pitch. Yet, they’ve extended free food grains to 800 million people under PMGKAY until 2028. Is this a classic Bollywood double role, or a contradiction that even Kishore Kumar couldn’t harmonize?

Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala: Balancedeep, may I call you BS? You approach the subject with the frantic energy of a bowler in the final over. Please, decelerate. In the hallowed halls of governance, this is not a contradiction. This is Strategic Surplus. You see, the world should see that the house is sturdy to maintain the shining veneer. Yet we keep the pantry stocked with 800 million bags of grain just in case the floorboards collapse^. It is a “pre-emptive philanthropy” that ensures the masses are sufficiently fed so they do not have the ungrateful urge to demand their “legal right” to work. We are polishing the image of prosperity while acknowledging, in a hushed whisper, that the wood may be a wee bit termite-ridden.  

BS: But Cyrus, let’s talk about the “repair” job. Social audits show that, post Digital reforms, misappropriation of funds is less than 0.3%. That’s a cleaner record than most mid table teams! Why do a complete structural overhaul and repeal the legal right to work when a bit of digital “varnishing” would have sufficed?

Cyrus: My dear boy, a legal right is a very cumbersome piece of furniture. It is like a heavy Victorian wardrobe that refuses to fit into a modern, streamlined apartment. It is unwieldy. By repealing the right and shifting to a centrally capped model, the government is merely practicing administrative minimalism. We are de-sanctifying the labour of the commoner. Why should the state be legally bound to provide work when it can simply offer normative allocations based on the prevailing mood in the capital? It’s about flexibility! Should the timber refuse to align with the Amrit Kaal décor, the state can simply withhold the varnish of central allocation.

BS: Flexibility? Studies show no widespread farm labour shortages, yet the bill introduces mandatory 60 day pauses during harvest seasons. Isn’t this like telling a batsman he can’t score during the Powerplay? You’re depriving workers of income exactly when they’re most vulnerable.

Cyrus: It is a rhythmic intermission. We must ensure the rural folk do not become addicted to the stability of a government wage. It spoils the entrepreneurial spirit of the impoverished! By forcing a pause, we encourage them to explore the “free market” of private exploitation, err, I mean, private enterprise. It is a lesson in character building. If they cannot find work in the fields, they can always practice coloured spit accuracy while chewing paan or while their time near garbage piles, which, as I have hitherto suggested, are the new benchmarks for a simplified citizenship.

BS: Let’s talk about the funding. The 60:40 split is a heavy bouncer for states like Punjab or Tamil Nadu. If a state is fiscally strained and can’t meet its 40% share, the workers suffer. Did the government model this risk, or is this “trickle-up” economics where the states are left to fend for themselves?

Cyrus: It is Fiscal Darwinism, BS. We are fostering a healthy competition in destitution. If a state cannot afford its share of the material costs, it simply proves that its administration lacks the visionary zeal of the centre. The Union Budget remains stagnant at ₹86,000 crore, while dues exceed ₹21,000 crore. This is a masterclass in aspirational accounting. We promise the glory of Amrit Kaal while ensuring the material reality is as thin as a cheap plywood veneer. It’s about the feeling of employment, not the actual payment.

BS: But what about the consultation, Cyrus? The original bill was debated for a year with unions and civil society. This one was passed in a midnight session amidst a walkout, debated for barely a few hours. Is this thorough scrutiny or a quick single taken while the wicketkeeper wasn’t looking?

Cyrus: Consultation is such a “pre-digital” concept. Why consult the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha or Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan when their views might cause a cognitive dissonance with the government’s perfect plan? Consulting a worker about a labour bill is like asking the rosewood if it wants to be chiselled. The wood has no macro-perspective. The carpenter knows best! Passing it after midnight is a stroke of nocturnal genius. It ensures that only the most law-abiding and awake citizens are present to witness the unanimous voice vote.

BS: Cyrus, opposition members have suggested looking at Brazil’s Bolsa Família, Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net, or similar schemes in Mexico and South Africa to mitigate concerns. Could we not have learned from these global best practices to build a more robust, less controversial bill?

Cyrus: Brazil? Ethiopia? My dear BS, those are foreign timbers. We are building an Atmanirbhar cabinet here. Why look at a South African model that might favour equity or transparency when we can have a uniquely Indian model of opaque benevolence? To learn from others is to admit that our unparalleled wisdom has a limit. We don’t need best practices from abroad. We have kick-ass creativity at home! Besides, international schemes often involve accountability, which is a very difficult stain to remove once it sets into the wood.

BS: Speaking of accountability, there were no time-bound, measurable goals added. No specific targets for poverty reduction or narrowing the inequality gap. Isn’t a bill without a deadline just a dead rubber match?

Cyrus: A time-bound goal is a trap for the unwary! If you set a goal, people expect you to reach it. That is very un-Sanskari! By keeping the goals vague and the rhetoric high, we maintain a permanent state of “becoming.” We are always about to reduce inequality. We are always on the verge of ending poverty. It keeps the privileged class, of which I am a senior member, in a state of comfortable anticipation while the “trickle-up” continues to the penthouse. Why have a poverty reduction target when you can have a glory expansion target? It also makes the Supreme Leader’s role easier.

BS: Finally, the name. Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been dropped. No discussion. Just a “symbolic” exit. Is this a substantive reform or an ideological renovation?

Cyrus: The Mahatma, with his spinning wheel and his truth, was a bit too austere for the high-gloss finish of the modern era. We needed something that reflects the supply-driven reality of our times. In fact, I have drafted a proposal for a new, more fitting acronym for the scheme: S.C.R.A.P.

BS: SCRAP?

Cyrus: Indeed! The “Strategic Centrally Restricted Allocation Program.” It is honest. It is efficient. And it tells the rural poor exactly what the government thinks of their legal rights, that they are bits of old wood to be scrapped and replaced with the shiny, hollow plastic of modern governance.

BS: Cyrus, as always, you’ve left us with much to polish in our minds. Whether this bill is a century or a duck remains to be seen, but the craftsmanship is certainly unique.

Cyrus: Just remember, BS, that in the Amrit Kaal, if you can’t fix the rot, you simply apply a thicker coat of varnish and call it an “antique”!

Balancedeep Sabchangasi: As we wrap up this intense session of Cross Bat, I find myself feeling like a batsman who’s survived a fiery spell from a vintage pacer like Malcolm Marshall. I feel bruised, bewildered, but certainly enlightened. What have we learned today from the inimitable Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala? Is this the Amrit Kaal renovation of our rural safety net? Is it a complete structural overhaul that replaces legal rights with central discretion?  Is just the surface being polished to a high gloss finish? Is the underlying grain of security for the most vulnerable being shimmied down to nothing^? Is the 60:40 funding split a Fiscal Darwinism? How does one view the nocturnal efficiency of a midnight voice vote? Is the craftsmanship of this bill a sophisticated exercise in rhetorical engineering?

As the haunting notes of “Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli” echo in the background, I ask you, our audience: Is this new S.C.R.A.P. model a visionary leap toward efficiency, or are we simply applying a thick coat of varnish over a deepening crisis? Is accountability such difficult stain to remove? We want to hear your views. Please send us your feedback via our digital channels.

Don’t forget to support Cross Bat. Like a classic Kishore-da melody, we strive to hit the right notes, even when the lyrics are difficult. Stay balanced, stay questioning, and we’ll see you at the next delivery.

 (A regular contributor to SabrangIndia, the writer is a conscientious citizen and a man of science and letters)

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A Satirical Plea, Dripping with Envy, to President Xi Jinping of China

The post Out with MNREGA: Hitting the Poor for a Six appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This questionable decision was made during a meeting of the Chaudhary community held last Sunday in Gazipur village, Jalore district, chaired by Sujnaram Chaudhary, the president of the 14 pattis (subdivisions). The meeting was chaired by community president Sujanaram Chaudhary, with elders deliberating on mobile phone usage within families. The resolution was formally read out by Panch Himmataram and proposed by Devaram Karnol, community members said. The controversial “ban”, it is reported, will be enforced in villages including Gajipura, Pavli, Kalra, Manojia Vas, Rajikawas, Datlawas, Rajpura, Kodi, Sidrodi, Alri, Ropsi, Khanadeval, Savidhar, Hathmi ki Dhani of Bhinmal, and Khanpur, all of which fall within the Patti region of Jalore district.

It was while speaking to PTI, that Chaudhary said that Panch Himmtaram announced the decision. According to Himmtaram, after discussions among panch members and community members, it was decided that daughters-in-law and young women would exclusively use keypad phones for calling.

Besides this, school-going girls who need mobile phones for their studies may use them only at home. They are not allowed to take mobile phones to weddings, social events, or even to a neighbour’s house, Chaudhary further explained, Chaudhary mentioned further. No restrictions have been reportedly placed on boys going to school, however!

When he was questioned on the opposition regarding the panchayat’s decision, Chaudhary clarified that this measure was taken because children often use the mobile phones of women in their households, which may negatively affect their eyesight. He noted that some women give their phones to children to keep them distracted, allowing them to focus on their daily chores.

The New Indian Express reported how Jalore has witnessed similar controversial community diktats in the past. Last year, 2024, local elders ordered the social boycott of two families after a young couple entered into a love marriage, imposing a fine of ₹12 lakh for their re-entry into the community. The couple later approached the Bhinmal police, following which police intervened and facilitated a compromise with most elders, though a few continued to justify the boycott.

June 2025, Caste panchayat enforces social boycott of 55 families in Jalore

In another similar incident in June, a caste panchayat in Jalore announced a social boycott of 55 families over a long-standing dispute related to temple land between two factions of the same extended family. The diktat barred community members from attending weddings, social functions, and even funerals of the affected families. The panchayat also warned that anyone who raised objections would face excommunication and monetary penalties. A complaint in connection with the matter was subsequently lodged at the Bagra police station.

Related:

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A right half won, evolution of women’s right to property under the Hindu Succession Act

Women, married or unmarried have the right to safe & legal abortion: SC

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Let there be Christmas to help us realise that Joseph together with his young, pregnant wife had to trudge a long distance to get themselves registered in Bethlehem due to a Roman decree by Caesar Augustus, which required everyone to return to their ancestral hometown for a census to account for taxation and lineage. Joseph was of King David’s line, so he had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem (David’s city) with Mary. We live in a similar reality today in India: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has disenfranchised innumerable citizens who belong to the minority communities and to the poorer sections of society. With Census 2027 on the threshold, the reality for the entire country will perhaps become even worse! So let there be Christmas which does not disenfranchise anyone!

Let there be Christmas when we humbly learn to accept that Joseph and Mary are migrants, who come from a different part of the country; they are kept out on the streets, very strongly told that “there is no place in the inn.” Later, with Jesus, they become refugees. Scripture tells us, “An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to seek the child to destroy him.” Like so many today, the Holy Family of Nazareth becomes refugees overnight. The land that will provide them refuge and protect them, is Egypt – a pagan country. So let there be Christmas when we will accept and integrate migrants and refugees in our lives and treat them as family!

Let there be Christmas which makes us focus on the stable, the manger, the crib. The place Jesus is born! He is the Son of God! The Saviour of all mankind. He could have chosen a palace as his birthplace with its wealth and pomp, comfort and security. But Jesus choses the poverty and frugality of a stable: with its stench and squalour, the straw and swaddling clothes, the moos and the warmth of the animals housed there. So let there be Christmas which leads us to the frugal and simple, the poor and vulnerable of this world

Let there be Christmas so that we identify with the shepherds! They live in the rugged hills. They are simple, unlettered, marginalized folk, a minority community; their expertise was in tending sheep. Their life was difficult: with long nights spent in the open, biting cold. They are like our rural poor who are today deprived of the benefits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). When the shepherds were given the “good news” of the birth of the Saviour they leave their sheep behind (their attachments) and ran in haste to worship him; their priorities are very clear: they had to be the first witnesses to the herald of the angels! So let there be Christmas for us to reach out to the excluded, the exploited, the minorities, those who live on the peripheries, the ‘others’, the ones who are denigrated and demonised, who are treated as ‘untouchables’!

Let there be Christmas when we are attune to the song of the angels and make it our own! It is not ‘Vande Mataram’ but “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all men and women of goodwill!”  A song of peace, a song which is inclusive and belongs to all!! It transcends narrowness and pettiness; xenophobia and jingoism; arrogance and divisiveness. So let there be Christmas when we live the song and   communicate its spirit to others and ultimately ensure that is peace is a reality in the lives of all people.

Let there be Christmas when we learn the openness and the persistence of the Magi. They lived in a distant land. They possessed wisdom and wealth. However, they had a singular mission in life: a relentless search for the truth and for the Messiah that would epitomise that truth. These were men who studied the ancient manuscripts. They were no pushovers; they knew their stuff. They go out of their way, find Jesus and give him of their best! They realise that having found the truth they have to take a stand for justice. They go back home by ‘another way’ thwarting the evil designs of a ruthless, jealous, fascist ruler. So let there be Christmas, when we are not afraid to seek truth and stand up for what is right.

Let there be Christmas to look for the Star. The Star which guided the Magi and which needs to guide us, always, particularly in this Jubilee Year, when we are called to be pilgrims of hope. That star is a lodestar that guides us when we are lost, when we are caught in the pitfalls of life (like the wiles of a dictator). If we are open to its directions, it will give us endless and relevant possibilities, to take a different path and to stand against the power of evil and injustice in this world. So let there be Christmas which gives us the prophetic courage to dream the impossible dream and to reach for the unreachable star!

Let there be Christmas when we search for what is right, what is just, what is holy! Like the ‘Anawim’ a broken people, who waited in patience and hope, searching for the Messiah; someone who would liberate them from their suffering, from the shackles of bondage.  Mary who sings the ‘Magnificat’; everyone respects her; no one dares pull out her ‘hijab’!  The relentless search of a people for truth, light and for a new tomorrow! It is a search by so many people for a meaning and fulfilment in life, that will have no end! So let there be Christmas when we awake to a new dawn, and bring hope to our brutal, broken world!

Let there be Christmas that gives us the honesty and authenticity, to live against the stream however difficult it is. Material celebration of a festival certainly has a place. But ‘Christmas has been relegated to vulgar materialism, crass commercialisation, unbridled consumerism, blatant hedonism, dancing and merriment, overeating and drinking, the vulgar display of opulence and wanton waste. All this throttles the real spirit and meaning of this festival! We must say an emphatic “NO” to all this. Besides, Christmas is today equated with Santa Claus and Christmas Trees, reindeers, sleighs and snow, with splurging, shopping and extravagance, with tinsels and baubles, mistletoes and holly wreaths. None of these, we all know, have anything to do with the birth of Jesus. Powerful, commercial and other vested interests have meticulously and manipulatively taken Jesus out from Christmas. Sadly, many, have succumbed to this trickery! So let there be Christmas when we truly celebrate the birth of Jesus!

When God our Creator, created the world, the Holy Bible tells us he said “Let there be Light…sky, water, earth, fish, animals….” He finally created man (Adam and Eve). Looking from above, he tells each one of us today, “Let there be Christmas!”

Are we listening?

19 December 2025

(The author is an internationally renowned human rights, reconciliation & peace activist and writer.)

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December 13, 2025 also marks two decades (twenty years) of the passage of this historic law that was enacted after nearly a decade or more campaign by forest rights’ and Adivasi groups across the country. On this occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Forest Rights Act, national campaign coordination organisations (like NRCCJ) have extended extend our heartfelt appreciation to all those, including, parliamentarians, intellectuals, and organisations whose collective efforts made this landmark legislation possible. The Act stands as a historic step to redress past injustices and to democratize forest governance and management, ensuring dignity, rights, and justice for forest-dwelling communities.

The FRA 2006 formally came into force on December 31, 2007, but initially excluded Jammu & Kashmir. Following the abrogation of Article 370, the Act was extended to the Union Territory on October 31, 2019 through the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. Formal implementation began in September 2021, and the State Forest Department was designated as the nodal agency. While the extension of the Act was welcomed by local groups and intellectuals, concerns were raised about entrusting implementation to the Forest Department, given its questionable historical role in restricting customary and traditional rights of forest dwellers.

Union of India’s contradictory stances over two decades

To recall these contradictory pulls, when the Government of India was drafting legislation to recognise tribal forest rights, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change made several attempts to be the nodal ministry. However, the Campaign for Survival and Dignity—a coalition of tribal groups and intellectuals—strongly opposed this, arguing that a ministry associated with past injustices should not oversee the Act. Their advocacy led to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) being designated as the nodal ministry in 2006, through amendments to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

Despite this, in many states and UTs, Forest Departments continued to act as shadow nodal agencies. The consequences have been stark:

• Out of 4.79 million Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claims, 1.47 million were rejected.
• For Community Forest Rights (CFR), the rejection rate stands at 9.56%, with states like Uttarakhand and West Bengal recording rejection rates above 90%.
• In states/UTs including Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, more than 50% of IFR claims have been rejected.

These figures highlight how the lack of awareness has enabled Forest Departments to dismiss or dilute claims, undermining the spirit of the Act.

In this context on the twenty years anniversary of this historic law, these steps by administration’s like Jammu and Kashmir (J and K) remain significant.

The Notification by the J and K administration may be read here

Letter dated December 3, 2025 by AIUWFP to District Magistrate Ms.Indu Kanwal Chib, District Bandipora J&K regarding the Implementation of Forest Rights Act in District Bandipora J&K may be read here. (https://dipr.jk.gov.in/Prnv?n=21737)

Related:

AIUFWP helps Dudhi villagers file Forest Land Claims under FRA

Forest Land Claims filed in Chitrakoot: AIUFWP and CJP make history!

Struggle for Forest Rights in India stretches from East to West

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According to the minister, between 2022-23 and 2024-25, Pune, Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur, Amravati, Akola and Yavatmal districts collectively reported 14,526 child deaths. This high figure includes infants and children under five admitted to government facilities, as well as cases of severe malnutrition. The minister also said that 138 infant deaths have been recorded in the tribal-dominated Palghar district. Palghar has always been high on hunger, deprivation and infant mortality figures.

Speaking in the assembly in response to a question and citing from the state health department’s data as of November 2025, Abitkar said 203 children were identified as suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 2,666 from Moderate Acute Malnutrition. The proportion of underweight children was recorded at 0.23 per cent, while 1.48 per cent fell in the moderately underweight category.

The minister also referred to the Sample Registration System 2022, released by the Registrar General of India, which estimated Maharashtra’s neonatal mortality rate at 11 per 1,000 live births, lower than the national average of 23. In defence, Abitkar said the state government has adopted multiple measures under the Integrated Child Development Services programme to reduce malnutrition. These include regular health examinations, the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana for pregnant women, targeted interventions for SAM children, the Nutrition Campaign, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and the ‘Suposhit Maharashtra’ initiative.

(This is based on a report by PTI)

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A Gandhian to the core, an uncompromising anti-liquor campaigner, a spellbinding orator and Principal of Mahatma Gandhi College, Thiruvananthapuram, Manmathan was a contemporary of Mannath Padmanabhan, the visionary founder of the Nair Service Society which went on to build an empire of educational and medical institutions.

I had the privilege of hearing him once at my alma mater, St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry. He was invited to speak on a subject that was electrifying campuses across the world at that time: students’ unrest. American universities were convulsed by protests against the Vietnam War.

From Berkeley to Columbia, students were questioning imperialism, racism and militarism. Europe, too, was aflame with agitation—Paris 1968 had already entered history as a revolt of ideas as much as of streets.

Prof Manmathan began by extolling the courage and moral seriousness of students in the West.

Then, with his trademark mix of irony and sting, he turned to Kerala. “There, students earn their living to fund their education. They have skin in the game. Here, parents pay the fees, feed the children, clothe them and even buy their bus passes. What stake do they have in the education system? Nothing,” he said.

Then came the coup de grâce: “They enjoy strikes because colleges close and they can sit at home.” For many students, strikes were less about revolution and more about recreation.

Many years later, that long-ago speech came back to me while watching a video clip of S. Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant-turned-ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Ideologically, Gurumurthy stands at the opposite pole from Prof Manmathan’s Gandhism. Yet, in an odd way, they converged on the same sociological truth.

Gurumurthy narrated an anecdote from a lecture he delivered at a prestigious American university. Listening to him, I was reminded of my own long-held view that institutions there recognise talent more readily than we do in India, where caste and community considerations often intrude.

The much-publicised case of Harvard inviting Lalu Prasad Yadav to speak on how his unconventional ideas rescued Indian Railways from financial free-fall comes to mind in this context.

Then came Gurumurthy’s experiment. He asked all the students in the audience to raise their hands if their education was fully funded by their parents.

Without exception, every Indian student raised a hand.

Then he asked who among them had taken bank loans to finance their education. Every American hand went up—black and white, men and women alike. That, he said, revealed who had real stakes in their education.

Listening to Gurumurthy, I was reminded instantly of Prof Manmathan’s cutting question: what real right did Indian students have to speak of “students’ unrest” when so many of them had no financial stake in their education or in the system that sustained it?

When Neighbouring Nations Rise — and India Doesn’t

Recently, The Economist carried an article that asked a troubling question: why are young men and women in India so curiously unmoved by political and social upheavals that would have set generations elsewhere on fire? The magazine contrasted India’s political quietism with the turbulence in its immediate neighbourhood.

Take Nepal. For years, the country had suffered under a political class steeped in corruption and cynicism. Public institutions withered while politicians bickered and bargained. When students took to the streets against corruption and misgovernance, it was not mere tokenism. Campuses became nerve centres of resistance. The agitations were sustained, creative and relentless.

The protests snowballed into a wider public movement. The government, cornered by the moral authority of the youth and the pressure of the streets, was finally forced to step down.

Young Nepalis discovered something transformative—that protest could actually produce political change. They were not merely shouting into the void.

Sri Lanka offers another powerful example. For decades, an oligarchy ruled the island nation, entrenching itself through corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement. By 2022, the economy had collapsed, fuel and food were scarce, and ordinary citizens were pushed to the brink.

It was the youth who lit the spark. Students, professionals and ordinary citizens poured into the streets.

They occupied public buildings, camped outside official residences and refused to budge. The protests were largely peaceful but unwavering.

The President Gotabaya Rajapaksha was forced to flee the country. Power slipped from the hands of a seemingly invincible ruling elite. Today, Colombo has a new leadership, born out of the anger and aspirations of a mobilised citizenry.

In Bangladesh too—whether one approves of the outcome or not—the youth uprising changed the course of politics.

Students and young citizens protested against what they saw as high-handed governance and shrinking democratic space. The unrest grew in intensity and scale.

The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was eventually forced to flee the country and seek asylum in India. That this happened at all is testimony to the disruptive power of youth-driven politics in our neighbourhood.

Crises Without Rebellion: India’s Strange Silence

India, meanwhile, has witnessed convulsions far more severe—yet without comparable mass upheaval.

Consider demonetisation. In one stroke, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invalidated high-value currency notes.

The stated objective was to strike at black money and counterfeit currency.

What followed was chaos. The informal economy collapsed overnight. Millions of workers lost their jobs. Small businesses shut shop. Daily-wage earners were reduced to penury.

People stood in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs to withdraw their own money, only to be told that the cash had run out. Deaths occurred in queues from exhaustion, anxiety and despair.

And yet, there was no nationwide uprising. There was anger, yes; private misery, certainly; public rebellion, hardly.

Then came the pandemic. Without warning, Modi announced an all-India lockdown. The decision may have been justified as a public health emergency, but its execution was brutal in its insensitivity.

Tens of millions of migrant workers lost their jobs overnight.

With no income, no food and no certainty about when the lockdown would end, workers from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh—dismissed casually as “laggard states”—began walking home from cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur.

They walked hundreds of kilometres under the scorching sun, with children on their shoulders and belongings on their heads. Many were lathi-charged for violating Covid norms.

Some died on the roads. The images were heart-rending. The suffering was biblical in scale. Yet again, there was no nationwide revolt. No sustained student movement. No paralysing civil disobedience.

At that time, someone remarked to me with chilling resignation: “We are like that. We won’t rebel. We won’t protest.”

There is a crude joke often made about Indians and sex—that they are obsessed with it in private but prudish in public. Perhaps something similar can be said about protest: we complain endlessly in private but submit meekly in public.

The Weight of Fatalism on a Nation’s Conscience

We are, at bottom, a deeply fatalistic people. Fatalism is the belief that everything is preordained, that human will counts for little, that destiny rules supreme. It is a worldview that teaches acceptance rather than resistance, endurance rather than struggle.

The great poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer captured this worldview in his celebrated poem Premasangeetham. In one stanza, he surrenders completely to divine choreography:

“Salutations to You, the Giver of my life, Lord of Dance, Supreme Soul!

In this world-stage of humanity, I am but a small part of Your dance troupe.

What role I am to play is Yours to decide, O Lord;

My duty is to dance as You will, with devotion and grace.

Be it as a servant or a player upon the stage.

To portray joy or sorrow, I am here to fulfil Your purpose.

You, the unseen Director, guide my every step like the wind.”

This is fatalism at its most lyrical—and its most paralysing. Man becomes a puppet, God the unseen puppeteer. Responsibility dissolves into resignation.

This worldview is profoundly at odds with the doctrine I believe in. According to the Biblical vision, God created man in His own image.

Man is not a puppet but a moral agent. He is sovereign in the limited sphere granted to him. He can choose the right path or the wrong one. Even Adam and Eve had that choice. History is not just enacted upon humanity; it is shaped by human decisions.

Man has the power to transform his life. Let me illustrate with two small stories from my own life. My wife and I were fond of a boy who used to visit our home to play with our grandson. His father pressed clothes for a living.

My wife offered to support the boy’s education. But the father had other ideas. He wanted his son to fetch clothes, return the ironed garments and collect money. Education was seen as a distraction.

The boy was not encouraged to study. He inherited his father’s trade. Today he earns Rs 5 per piece of clothing he irons. Fate did not destroy his prospects; choices did.

In contrast, when I admitted my elder son to a school in Kayamkulam, one of my neighbours—a barber by profession—admitted his son to the same school. Our children travelled in the same school bus. That boy studied diligently, became an engineer, went to the Gulf and today is far richer than my son. Education transformed his life, just as its denial froze the other boy’s.

Last week, while delivering the Justice P. Subramonian Poti Memorial Lecture at the Kerala Club in New Delhi, Prof S. Sivakumar narrated another telling story.

A rich man was extremely liberal in helping his servants with money for festivals, marriages and childbirths. But he steadfastly refused to support the education of their children. His logic was chilling in its candour: if they got educated, they would no longer work as servants.

Is it any wonder, then, that a small shipload of Portuguese soldiers could capture power in Goa, then ruled by Muslims over a predominantly Hindu population? They were the first Europeans to establish a lasting presence in India. They ruled for over 500 years without facing sustained mass resistance.

How many Mughals came to India initially? A few hundred at most.

Yet they ruled India for nearly 700 years. Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire reached its territorial zenith—larger than present-day India. In 1700, India accounted for 25 percent of the world’s GDP. Aurangzeb died peacefully of old age, not at the hands of a revolutionary mob.

Today, Modi’s supporters take pride in the fact that he has ruled for 11 years. In contrast, the British ruled India for about 200 years. The British population in India never exceeded one lakh. Yet they governed a subcontinent of hundreds of millions with astonishing ease.

When Mrs Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency, I was in Delhi. There was not even a whimper of protest initially.

Her police rounded up Opposition leaders with ruthless efficiency—Morarji Desai, Jayaprakash Narayan and countless others disappeared into jails.

Civil liberties were suspended. The press was muzzled. And the people accepted it, contrary to later claims of universal resistance.

Today, we encourage poor youth to indulge in rituals rather than reflection. They walk hundreds of kilometres to fetch holy water. Along the way they are fed with food, beverages, fruits and sweets. They also receive intoxicants. Meanwhile, the children of their leaders go abroad for higher studies.

From Opium to Algorithms: A New Age of Distraction

The colonial rulers used opium to keep the Chinese subdued. In India today, there is a new intoxicant: the mobile phone.

Nowhere in the world is the Internet so cheap. Tens of millions are addicted to their screens.

Yesterday, I saw an autorickshaw driver watching video clips on his mobile, neatly fixed at the centre of his steering handle. He seemed almost pleased when the traffic signal turned red—it gave him uninterrupted viewing time.

Algorithms work with perverse efficiency: if you watch nonsense, you are rewarded with an endless torrent of more nonsense.

Hands chained to mobile phones, symbolising digital addiction and how smartphones control modern life.

Smartphones have become the new chains—an addiction more potent than opium.

Grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, servants, drivers, cleaners, workers—each is sealed inside a personalised digital cocoon, scrolling in splendid isolation.

How can people hypnotised by viral trivia be bothered about price rise, unemployment or the cynical manipulation of public sentiment?

The colonial rulers had opium; we have the smartphone—and it is far more lethal because we swallow it willingly.

Courtesy: The Aidem

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