With nearly 2.2 million cases each year, India has the highest burden of TB in the world and despite all efforts, the instances of drug-resistant TB is on the rise. On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, the President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, re-emphasized the country's commitment towards achieving “zero TB deaths”. Acknowledging that the challenge ahead remained a difficult one, he said [pdf]:

On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, I commend the important work that has been undertaken by various stakeholders led by the National TB Programme. Since 1998, due to the successful implementation of the DOTS strategy; more than 14.2 million people across India have accessed treatment.

However, it is worrisome that India continues to have the highest burden of TB in the world. One of the greatest challenges facing TB control is the detection and management of drug resistant strains of TB. Such challenges highlight the need for strengthening research and development to urgently introduce new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.

Public image, courtesy Central TB Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India.

In its fight to tackle the growing public health threat, the government of India has, in 2012, made two important policy decisions. In a recent email, Kritika Kamthan, program associate at Global Health Strategies (GHS), explained what these policies were about and how they appeared to be faring on the ground. She wrote:

More than half of all TB patients are managed in the private sector in India, where, the quality of care is highly variable, there is rampant use of inappropriate diagnostics and also well documented are examples of over-treatment and the use of irrational drug regimens. The Government of India has recently made two significant policy decisions:

1. Making TB a notified disease: On May 7, 2012 the Government of India (GoI) declared TB a notified disease. The announcement [pdf] signifies that with immediate effect all private healthcare providers, caregivers and clinics treating a patient suffering from TB will have to report every single case of TB to local authorities – district health officer/chief medical officer of a district and municipal health officer of a municipal corporation, every month. However, the policy does not guarantee medical confidentiality of TB patients. As a result of the stigma associated with TB, it is likely that most of these patients might be forced to go underground and refrain from accessing the healthcare system.

2. Banning blood tests/serology based tests for TB diagnosis: On June 7, 2012, the GoI banned the manufacture, sale, distribution, use and import of serology based kits for diagnosis of TB. However, these tests are still being widely misused by the private sector despite not being recommended by the RNTCP or any agency.

Despite the recent policy changes, there has been a rise in morbidity, mortality, development of drug-resistance, and an increasing economic burden which is severely hampering India’s ability to prevent and control TB.

Kritika recognized the role played by the media in building awareness and highlighting the issues surrounding the disease. However, she was also quick to point out that much more could be done in this area especially in the digital space. According to her:

The Indian TB landscape has undergone a drastic change since last year. The discussions around the various challenges including the rise of drug resistant TB, TB/HIV co infection, lack of timely and correct diagnosis, over the counter sale of anti-TB drugs and stigma, have been extensively covered in the media. [However] keeping in mind that nearly 1000 people in India succumb to TB every day, the urgency of the situation needs to be given more prominence in the online space as well.

A TB patient under treatment at TB hospital in Amritsar, India. Image by Sanjeev Syal. Copyright Demotix (23/3/2013)

In a guest post on the Science Speaks Blog, Dr. Madhukar Pai, an associate professor of epidemiology at McGill University, Montreal, mentioned that India's fight against TB is at a “critical juncture” and that innovative approaches would be required in order to achieve control and eradication. India's Ministry of Health too, has recognized this and has tried to mark a paradigm shift in the way TB is detected and treated in the country.

On his blog, Healthcare in India, Dr. Vikram Venkateswaran rues the fact that TB has “fallen off the radar of the empowered Indian”, possibly because a) it affects the lower strata of society much more and b) there continues to be social stigma associated with the illness. He points out that

the fight against TB has to be fought on two fronts- Medical front and on the Societal front. On the medical front our doctors and health workers are in action, but it is upto us to Galvanise the society and do what is needed.

India has an ambitious aim. As President Mukherjee pointed out, “India’s vision is to provide ‘Universal Access to Quality Diagnosis and Treatment’ over the next five years to all, regardless of their economic or social status.” In the past, India has successfully combated other public health threats such as polio and small pox. It remains to be seen, how the fight against TB progresses. After all, this is one fight that India cannot afford to lose.

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This welcome move comes after over four months of active campaigning by the journalist fraternity, civil groups and activists, who saw the arrest as an intimidation tactic by the police and the State government to muzzle not only the news about the incident but also the freedom of the media.

Screenshot of Facebook Page campaigning for the Release of Naveen Soorinje

On July 28, 2012, Naveen Soorinje, a TV reporter for a local Kannada channel, Kasturi TV, was tipped off about an impending attack on a group of young men and women who were partying at a homestay in Mangalore and rushed to the location with his cameraman. According to his statement, the place was peaceful when he reached, with no attackers in sight outside the homestay and so he was in a dilemma whether it was a case of false alarm.

Soon however, over 30 attackers appeared on the scene and according to Soorinje's first person account of the attack, he tried contacting the police at that point of time but his calls went unanswered. Soorinje and his cameraman then filmed the attack, which was later shown across local as well as national channels, thereby drawing the nation's attention to the shocking incident.

Funnily enough, while many of the attackers were picked up from Soorinje's video evidence of the incident, on November 7th, 2012, he himself was arrested by the police and charged as being a co-conspirator in the case. He was booked under multiple sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, criminal trespassing, rioting with deadly weapons, using criminal force on a woman with the intention of outraging her modesty as well as sections of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

It was also alleged that filming the incident and showing it across TV channels had done greater damage to the victims than the attacks/ assaults per se.

On his part, Soorinje denied the charges and said that he was only doing his duty. In his first person account, the English version of which was published in The Hoot, he wrote:

The incident we have reported is shameful, not the visuals we have shown. The 28 July incident at Mangalore is neither a stray incident nor is such an attack in Mangalore a new phenomenon. Every week such incidents take place. Fundamentalists not only attack boys and girls mixing with the boys and girls of another religion but also take them to the police station. This incident would have taken place even if I had not shot it. Our recording has revealed the inhuman face of the fascists and has led to the arrest of eight attackers. No matter what is said and what cases are booked against me, I believe I have done my duty as a reporter and that is the only satisfaction to my hurt self.

Supporting his stance that he had committed no crime and was merely doing his duty as a reporter in recording (and exposing) the incident, the journalist fraternity, civil society groups, rights activists and netizens have since then been agitating against the administration's ‘shoot the messenger‘ policy, petitioning for his release and demanding the withdrawal of all cases against him.

In December, his bail plea was rejected and the police went on an offensive, arresting another journalist who was also present at the time of the attack. However, the agitations and protests continued to gather speed and finally the government offered to drop charges against Soorinje. The current news of bail being given to Soorinje comes as a welcome news and the reporter himself has said that he feels ‘vindicated'.

Twitter was abuzz with the news, with people expressing happiness and relief at the news of Soorinje getting bail.

Geeta Seshu (@geetaseshu): Heartening news- mangalore scribe naveen soorinje granted bail by justice shridhar rao of the karnataka high court.

Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran): HC grants bail to journalist Naveen Soorinje! Naveen is blessed to have some friends who fought tooth n nail for him

Kamayani (@kracktivist): HURAAAH GOOD NEWS NAVNEEN SOORINJE GETS BAIL :-) http://fb.me/2cKIIZhHS

However, the fight is far from over and some see this as a first step in the larger call to ensure that the members of the media are not intimidated and that freedom of the media is upheld.

G. Vishnu (@geevishnu): Naveen Soorinje has been granted bail!!! Finally. And somehow…. It's almost as though the fight has just begun.

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Perhaps he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Biswajit was stabbed to death after falling prey to violent clashes between the student wing of the political party in power and that of the opposition. It has been alleged that taking him to be a member of the opposition party, the cadres of the government's youth wing beat up Biswajit and then repeatedly stabbed him with sharp weapons in broad daylight and full public view. Later, the youth died on the way to the hospital. The shocking event took place on 9 December, 2012, during an 8 hour road blockade programme organized by the opposition.

Images and video footage of Biswajit getting stabbed has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter. Many Facebook users from Bangladesh have condemned the incident and uploaded these disturbing images on their homepage as a mark of protest. The images have been widely shared, leaving netizens with a feeling of alarm that such a thing could easily happen to them as well.

The countrywide road blockade program by the 18-party opposition alliance ended after clashes left four people died and vandalism and arson spread across different parts of the country. Image by Ibrahim. Copyright Demotix (9/12/2012)

Pavel Mohitul Alam's Facebook status reads [bn] as follows:

অবরোধ চলাকালে বিশ্বজিৎ কুমার দাস নামের এক পথচারীকে ধারালো অস্ত্র দিয়ে কুপিয়ে হত্যা করেছে ছাত্রলীগ কর্মীরা।
আমিও একজন পথচারী। বিশ্বজিতের জায়গায় আমি নিজেকে কল্পনা করেছি। বিশ্বজিৎ আর আপনার-আমার মধ্যে তো কোনো পার্থক্য নেই। আজ বিশ্বজিৎকে কুপিয়ে হত্যা করা হয়েছে, কাল রাস্তায় হাঁটতে গিয়ে যে আপনি বা আমি খুন হবো না, সেই নিশ্চয়তা কে দিবে?
স্বাভাবিক মৃত্যুর অধিকার বিশ্বজিতের ছিলো না, আপনার বা আমারও নেই।

During the blockade, Biswajit Das, a pedestrian who was passing by that area was stabbed to death by Chhatra League cadres. I too am a pedestrian; there is no difference between Biswajit and you or I. Am alarmed to think that you and I could so easily face the same brutal end – who is there to reassure us that it will not be so? Biswajit did not have the right to a normal death – it's the same for you and I. [Translator's Note: Chhata League is the student wing of the current ruling party in Bangladesh - the Bangladesh Awami League]

Prior to this, many others have lost their lives in violent political conflicts in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, none of the murders have found justice. Blogger Russel Pervez rued [bn]:

… বিশ্বজিতের মতো মানুষগুলো জনসংখ্যা শুমারীতে নিছক একটা অঙ্ক হিসেবে বেঁচে থাকে আর এমন রাজনৈতিক অপমৃত্যুতেও শুধু মৃতের ঘরে একটা বাড়তি টালির দাগ হয়ে মিলিয়ে যায়।

People like Biswajit spend their lives as a mere a number in the population census and their untimely, accidental death simply adds a tally mark to the death count and disappears.

Media Criticized

When Biswajit was being stabbed, many reporters from both print and TV channels were present there, but none came forward to save Biswajit. Rather, they were all busy taking pictures and videos of the incident. Their actions have been strongly criticized  on social media, especially on Facebook.

Murtala Ramat wrote [bn]:

একটা মানুষকে কোপানো হচ্ছে, মারতে মারতে মেরে ফেলা হচ্ছে আর সংবাদকর্মীরা ক্যামেরা নিয়ে ছবি তুলতে ব্যস্ত!রক্তাক্ত মানুষটার জন্য অ্যাম্বুলেন্স ডাকারও সময় নাই! শেষ পর্যন্ত এগিয়ে আসতে হলো এক রিক্সায়ালাকে! প্রশ্ন জাগে সাংবাদিকতা কী মানবিকতার উর্ধ্বে উঠে গেলো নাকী!

A person is getting beaten and stabbed to death and news reporters are busy clicking photos. They had no time to call an ambulance even. In the end, it was a rickshaw puller who came forward. The question that one is forced to ask is ‘has reportage become a greater priority than humanitarian response'?

The photographers and TV crews filmed the atrocities and nobody took the initiative to protect the victims. Image by Ibrahim. Copyright Demotix (9/12/2012)

Ali Sayed Mahbub commented [bn]:

… মঙ্গলবার ও হরতাল। আমাকে অফিসে যেতে হবে। পথচারী আমিও হবো। মিছিলের মাঝে পড়বো। ককটেল ফুটবে। ভয়ে দৌড় দিবো। তখন ছাত্রলীগ বা ছাত্রদল বা ছাত্র শিবির অন্য পক্ষের মনে করে আমাকেও এভাবে চাপাতি দিয়ে কুপিয়ে লাশ বানাবে।

২০টা টিভি চ্যানেলের ৪০ জন কর্মী, ২০টা নিউজ এজেন্সির ৪০ জন সাংবাদিক, অসংখ্য পুলিশ, অসংখ্য জনতা আমার মৃত্যুবরণ দৃশ্য দেখবে, ভিডিও করবে। ১০টা চাপাতিধারী পশুর বিরুদ্ধে ১০০ জন মানুষ দাঁড়াবে না। তারা ভিডিও করবে-হত্যা নিয়ে নিজস্ব প্রতিষ্ঠানের কাটতি বাড়াবে। আমার মত অধমের মৃত্যুর মূল্য বেড়ে যাবে বহুগুণ।

On Tuesday there is another political protest planned. I will have to go to the office. I will have to pass through the rally. Bombs will be thrown and I will run in fear. Then Chhatra League or any other student wing of political parties will mistake me for being a member of the other party and hack me to death.

Forty journalists from twenty TV channels and a similar number of print journalists, a large contingent of police personnel and general public will stand by and witness, photograph and take video footage of my brutal murder but even a hundred people will not stand up against a mere ten sword-wielding ruffians. The media will be busy garnering TRPs of their channels and increasing sales of their own newspapers and magazines. The price of my death will go up manifold as an enabler of their business advantage.

Ekramul Haque Shamim has posted [bn]:

পুরান ঢাকার জজকোর্ট এলাকায় চাপাতি দিয়ে কুপিয়ে, রড দিয়ে পিটিয়ে, লাঠির বাড়িতে রক্তাক্ত করে মারা হয়েছে বিশ্বজিৎ দাসকে। বার বার সে চিৎকার করে নিজেকে নির্দোষ দাবী করলেও তাকে রেহাই দেওয়া হয়নি। আশেপাশে এতো এতো মানুষ তা দেখছে, এতো এতো মিডিয়া ব্রেকিং নিউজের জন্য ফুটেজ সংগ্রহ করছে, এদের কেউ বিশ্বজিৎ দাসকে বাঁচানোর জন্য চেষ্টা করলো না!

In Old Dhaka Judge's Court area, Biswajit Das was beaten with iron rods and repeatedly stabbed, to death. He kept screaming that he was innocent and merely passing by but still he was not let off. There were so many people around, so many media personnel recorded the event as their breaking news but not a single person came forward to try and save Biswajit!

Activists of the BNP-led 18-party alliance set fire to few vehicles at Kanchpur in Narayanganj during countrywide blockade program. Image by Ibrahim. Copyright Demotix (9/12/2012)

Photojournalist Hasan Bipul has however protested against the criticism being levelled against the media in this incident. He commented [bn]:

কোনোমতেই একমত পোষণ করতে পারছি না শামীম। যার যা কাজ তারই সেটা করা উচিৎ। এই ছেলেটিকে রক্ষা করার প্রথম দায়িত্ব রাষ্ট্রের এবং রাষ্ট্রের পক্ষ থেকে রক্ষার প্রথম উদ্যোগটি আসা উচিৎ ছিল পুলিশের কাছ থেকে। মিডিয়ার কাজ জন নিরাপত্তা দেয়া নয়।

I am sorry Shamim, but I simply cannot agree with you on this. Everyone should do their job. It is not the duty of the media to offer protection to the members of the public. That is the duty of the State and as an enforcer of the State, it was the duty of the police force to come forward to save the youth.

However people like PsychoSaika are not willing to buy this logic and has tweeted [bn]:

@princess_saika: “তুই মানুষ, না সাংবাদিক?” – এই সময়ের জন্য একটা ভালো গালি হতে পারে এটা!

“Are you a human or a reporter?” – This can become a good, modern day phrase for berating someone.

Written by পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha) · Translated by Aparna Ray · View original post [bn] · comments (14)
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Mumbai marked first anniversary of 26/11 attacks (Nov 26, 2009) by Vinit Gupta © Demotix.

On November 21, 2012 Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba militant and the only terrorist to be captured alive following the 2008 attack on Mumbai, was executed. The execution came after Indian President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a plea for mercy by the 25 year-old Kasab, a move that marked the end of a lengthy judicial process.

As soon as news broke about the hanging, online reactions poured in fast and furious. The news also rekindled debate about the death penalty in India and whether it was likely to deter or provoke future terrorist attacks.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), who rose to greater prominence after the Mumbai attack, immediately threatened that there would be more attacks. Pakistan’s Taliban also vowed to attack Indian targets.

B. Raman, a former Indian bureaucrat, commented on the dangers in his blog: (more…)

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BrahMos missile and launch canister on display at the International Maritime Defence Show, 2007, in Russia. The stealth supersonic cruise missile is a joint venture between India and Russia. Image by One half 3544. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

A number of defense contracts are likely to be sealed when Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s visits India in November for annual summit talks with India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

India and Russia have a long history of defense cooperation, with Russia being India's leading partner. According to Russia Today, between 1960 and 2000, Russia supplied India with about $35 billion worth of military equipment. Over the years, the relationship has evolved [pdf] from a simple buyer-seller framework to one involving joint research and development, production and marketing of advanced defense technologies, including missiles, rockets, fighter and transport aircrafts.

However, changing political landscapes may be forcing the allies to realign their interests. While India makes positive strides in its defense relations with the United States, Russia is once again keen to expand its role and influence across South Asia. Moscow’s initiatives include the Dushanbe Group of Four – a proposed collaboration between Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sensing ambivalence in the US-Pakistan relationship, Moscow has also warmed to Pakistan, much to India's chagrin.

Commenting on the turn of events, Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, tweeted:

@Chellaney: New geopolitics, new equations: As India moves closer to the U.S., Russia and Pakistan explore a new relationship with high-profile visits.

Friends and Foes

President Putin was supposed to visit Pakistan at the beginning of October, but postponed his trip at the last minute. Russia later sought to quell India's concerns by insisting they would not sell arms to Pakistan. But eyebrows were raised when a meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) in New Delhi had to be rescheduled from October 4 to October 10 because the Russian Defense Minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, apparently had to participate in an event organized by Putin. This happened to be at a time when Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was visiting Moscow. Around the same time, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also postponed his India visit and went to Islamabad instead.

Military blogger Prasun K. Sengupta elaborates on what he feels will be the nature of cooperation between Pakistan and Russia. He writes:

Interestingly, Moscow has signalled its readiness to warm up to Pakistan’s overtures with the proviso that Pakistan accommodates Russia’s concerns regarding the regional security scenario in Central Asia, given the fact that Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan/Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belt is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan Corridor, and that this belt of Pakistan also borders the Kashgar prefecture of China’s troubled Xinjiang province. To this end, Russia is reported to be willing to extend a sizeable quantum of security assistance to Pakistan, which is likely to include up to 12 new-build Mi-171 helicopters (to be built by the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant) and hundreds of RPO-A Shmel (Bumblebee) shoulder-launched thermobaric rockets, items which the Pakistan Army urgently requires for its upcoming counter-insurgency campaign in North Waziristan.

India is not only apprehensive about the Pakistan-Russia rapprochement but is also concerned about delays in Russia's delivery of certain defense hardware and technologies. For example, the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (now renamed the INS Vikramaditya) will not be ready for transfer before the end of 2013.

For their part, Russia is unhappy with India scaling up their defense relationship with the US and also for diversifying its sources for new defense equipment from nations such as the US, Israel, and France.

Some Russian experts have cited this as one of the reasons why Russia needs to look for additional markets, a sentiment shared by some of the country’s netizens:

@ForcesFocus: India's American-cozying is slowly distancing it away from its old friends. #Russia prefers meeting #Pakistan COAS (Chief of Army Staff) 2 Indian Defence Minister

Nevertheless, both India and Russia appear to be working towards the ‘rebalancing of relations‘ and moving ahead with more deals. Russia is still India's main supplier of defense equipment and will, according to forecasts, continue to be the number one importer of Russian arms, with purchase value increasing from $8.2 billion for the period 2008-2011 to $14.3 billion between 2012 and 2015.

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The Delhi-based group Aatish is best known for their street plays, though they also conduct workshops with marginalized, underprivileged groups. Their Facebook page explains the group's raison d‘être as follows:

Born out of those people who firmly believe that voicing one’ beliefs is crucial, we are all theatre actors. We believe that change is each and everyone's responsibility, and whoever wishes to see it, needs to add their bit, to see it.

[...] We believe in vocalizing and bringing to fore not only our opinions, but also the different issues that plague our society at large, and the few steps that can be taken towards larger and greater solutions.

Till date, the group has scripted and performed street plays that deal with issues such as women's empowerment, child labour, children's education, usage of solar energy, the need to vote, examining the state of democracy, anti-sedition etc. They have partnered with non-profit, grassroots organizations and conducted workshops in Delhi as well as in rural areas – spreading awareness regarding critical issues such as menstrual hygiene and post-natal care. The group also conducts workshops with children, often among those living in shelters run by NGOs, where they not only inspire children to perform and learn acting skills but also tackle serious issues such as child abuse.

Aatish performs a play on post-natal care in a village in Northern India. Image by Ravi Kant, taken from the Group's Facebook Page. Used with permission.

Global Voices caught up with Ankita Anand, founder member of the group and asked her via Email to tell us about Aatish in greater detail. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

GV: What made Aatish focus on social issues and street plays?

Ankita: We felt that not enough street theatre is being done currently. In different people’s campaigns and struggles, so much hard work is done by activists and when they try to sensitize people to such developments that are often not highlighted or mis-projected by the mainstream media, they face challenges. We thought of employing it (street theatre) because visual impressions are strong.

We wanted to creatively mould our anger and frustration with what is happening in the Indian State unbeknownst to so many who are fed with false hopes and visions of incredible India. The idea is not to prophesy apocalypse but for all of us to sit up, take notice and get in on the act. The very fact that we do these plays with no props, lights or sets—by transforming our ordinary bodies and physical spaces like street corners into something less routine—is our way to assert that the regular, routine, seemingly mundane has immense potential and should not be undermined or rejected in waiting for something extraordinary to descend and transform our lives.

We also want to break down the myth that street plays cannot be used to treat the nuances or subtleties of a complex theme. We have done plays on issues like sedition and the stereotypes associated with motherhood and have had engaging discussions with our audience. Also, we want that theatre should not be confined to big auditoria but should reach a much wider audience.

The Aatish Team engages a rural audience in a post-play discussion. Image by Ravi Kant, taken from the Group's Facebook Page. Used with permission

GV: How do you select where to stage these performances? Do you work with other NGOs in this respect? How do you select your themes?

 Ankita: Our performances so far have been in collaboration with other host organizations.We are invited by organizations working on particular issues to stage plays around those themes. While their suggestions and ideas are important to us, the scripting and directing is done by us and we take decisions regarding the final content and presentation.

 We choose our performances on topics close to us that are often marginalized but about which we want to take a stand, in a small effort to lend our voice to a cause that needs it the most.

 GV: What kind of response/ awareness/ change do you want to effect in the audience?

Ankita: We hope to see two kinds of change. First, we want that there should be motivation to act about the issues portrayed. Secondly, theatre should be seen as something creative but doable and accessible. So we want more and more people to start doing their own kind of theatre and using it both for individual and social improvement.

An Aatish street play urging people to be responsible citizens and cast their votes. Image by Richa Chaturvedi, taken from the Group's Facebook Page. Used with permission.

GV: Currently, what are the biggest challenges that Aatish faces? Do you have any vision/plans regarding how they can be overcome?

Ankita: The challenges we face are common to every voluntary group. The group has members with full-time jobs. We have to spend a lot of time deciding upon the rehearsal venue and time because we have to consider everyone’s limitations. We do not have a permanent rehearsal space.

As people with full-time jobs, we realize how tough it is to get involved in other things. But we also know it is possible and that the rewards are rich. Aatish is not a hobby for us. Nor do we see it as merely a theatre group. It is a collective manifestation of what we wanted to do individually, a way of putting our thoughts into actions. We feel that while all of us need to earn a living, it should not stop us from living itself.

GV: Where do you see Aatish going from here?

Ankita: While street plays are close to our heart, we also mean to push the limits of expression and storytelling, and experiment with new forms. We have done one stage play so far but there are others ideas lined up. We only want that in such plays too our politics should be clear and for them to be made in a way that they can easily be performed in open spaces as well.

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The remote, tiny Narcondam Island is home to the endemic Narcondam Hornbill, a highly endangered species, of which only about 350 are left today.The species is protected under Schedule 1 of India's Wildlife Protection Act. The bird is also listed as endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Narcondam Island, India. Google Locator Map by EVS-Islands on flickr CC BY-2.0

The Coast Guards’ proposal, which was duly recommended by the Andaman and Nicobar administration and their State Board for Wildlife, called for diverting 0.637 hectares of land from within the Narcondam Island Sanctuary for installation of the surveillance radar and its accompanying power source.

The installation was claimed to be necessary for remote surveillance of the strategically located Andaman and Nicobar islands as well activities on the coastal seas. However, that would also mean clearing a part of the forest to make a new road as well as increased human presence on that island.

Environmentalists argued that all of this would endanger the fragile ecosystem of the island and pose severe threat to the hornbill population and could even lead to their extinction.

The Narcondam Hornbill. Image by Kalyan Varma CC BY-NC-SA 2.5

The campaign(s) to save the Narcondam Hornbill has been commendable. For example, Conservation India had been running an active campaign urging citizens to take up the cause and petition members of the MOEF and the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). They had also launched a video campaign to generate awareness about the issue and to mobilize public opinion in favour of preserving the island's ecosystem.

Here is the YouTube video, used with permission.

Other efforts included letters sent to the Ministry by various individuals as well as petitions by organizations such as Nature Conservation Foundation, Bombay Natural History Society etc. The views were finally corroborated by the Ministry's Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) after deliberation on the numerous petitions they received and a site inspection.

The committee finally recommended that the radar project be moved to an alternative site or alternative methods of surveillance be explored that would not have negative impact on the region's ecology. The Environment Ministry's memorandum [pdf] stated:

(The) Ministry is of the view that the other options for the purpose, like installation of off-shore structures and several other viable options are available, which can spare the unique habitat of Narcondam lsland from disturbance. However, there is no such option available for the Hornbill, whose survival may get seriously threatened if the establishment of proposed RADAR is allowed on the Narcondam Island. In view of the aforesaid, the proposal of diversion of 0.637 ha of forest land for installation of Coastal Surveillance RADAR and power supply source at Narcondam Sanctuary Island cannot be recommended.

At India's Endangered, Atula Gupta elaborates the reasons why, despite the country's security being an important matter, Narcondam is not the right place for the radar project. She writes:

It is never an easy decision to make when the question is about the country’s security. The coastal guards are planning on installing a series of such radars across the coastline of India for enhanced security surveillance. This is an important move, especially after the 26/11 terrorist attack.

But the roadblock here was the island that is the only place in the world, where one can witness the glorious hornbills. According to experts, these birds nest on tall trees about 250 m above the ground. During nesting period, the female shed their flight feathers and are locked inside their treehouses  as they tend to the young chicks.

The radar installation would have surely disturbed the habitat and the additional human presence, roads etc. would have completely destroyed the conditions necessary for the hornbills’ survival.

However, blogger Arhopala Bazaloides at Karela Fry points out that this step by the MOEF will not be enough to protect and save Narcondam as rampant tourism related anchorage as well as other factors are also creating threat to it's fragile ecology.

There is a police outpost and a lighthouse on the island. Goats were introduced in recent times, causing changes to the ecology. The current step is probably in the right direction, but the short attention span of conservation bodies probably dooms the island ecology anyway. As increasing numbers of cruises and tour groups pull into anchorage, this single act will not suffice to save the island.

Currently, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan has stalled clearance for the Coast Guard proposal which the Defence Ministry had stated to be a critical one.  She has asked the Defence Ministry to “constitute a committee of experts” to study and work out other viable solutions that can ensure the defence and economic security of the country without compromising the endemic hornbills of Narcondam.

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As per the Ministry's proposal, a model is being framed which will allow for valuation of the work done by homemakers in economic terms and then recognition of this contribution to the economy by compensating homemakers for their labour.

The proposed law is expected to refer to homemakers as “home engineers“. Minister Krishna Tirath has said that this amount, which could be anywhere between 10-20% of the husband's monthly salary, should not be looked upon as salary for housework; rather it could be referred to as an honorarium or something similar.

While the Minister sees this as a step forward in women's empowerment, the proposal is being debated hotly, both offline as well as online.

A woman washing clothes. Image by Neil Moralee CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Some feel that “measuring the value of unpaid work at home is conceptually correct and well worth trying”, though making it mandatory for husbands to pay out a fixed percentage of their salaries in lieu of this work may be the wrong way forward.

Others wonder how it will be possible to put a ‘price tag’ on all the work that goes on within a home and how such a law would be implemented – given the various questions that are sure to come up in it's wake.

And questions are indeed being asked. For example, LordRaj asks:

• Are you suggesting an Employee / Employer relationship for the married couple?
• Who is going to decide on the working hours and job description?

In Ground Report, which is an open news platform, D. Chaitanya outlines some further questions related to this issue that people (both men and women) appear to be hotly debating. For example:

• If in the place of wife, house-maid is discharging every day house-hold work, then how should the house-maid be treated? Should not the house-maid be treated on par with the wife? (In such cases) who are legitimately entitled for that 10 or 20% of amount?
• If 10 or 20% salary is deposited on wife’s name, what about the maintenance money to wife, if she deserts the husband and files a maintenance case on husband?
• Will this law create new financial skirmishes between wives and husbands? Like 498-A of Penal Code, Maintenance laws, domestic violence laws, will this law also be misused by some wives?

Blogger Surya Murali too is wondering how the government proposes to implement a law such as this. She says on her blog:

 I am all for the empowerment of women, and also their financial independence… (but) my biggest question to these lawmakers is that how are they planning to implement the proposal? If they go about doing it the way such that a husband shares a percentage of his income with his wife for her work, I don’t see how it makes the economic situation of the house any better or how it makes the woman independent and empowered.  The gross income remaining the same, the household economy is not changed.  Most responsible husbands, in my belief, would share the running costs of the household with their wives anyway… if that isn’t the case, then this sort of a scheme is not going to improve the husband-wife equation of those households.

At iDiva, Archana Jayakumar asks:

How does all of this not make her anything but a glorified servant?

Sunita at Supari.org agrees and calls this proposed Bill as “family breaking move” by the government. Blogger LordRaj concludes that

Under the guise of ‘development and welfare’ of women, all you have been doing is promoting a bias against men.

Men's rights groups tend to agree. Vicky Nanjappa points out:

A proposal to part with a portion of the husband’s salary and hand it over to the wife has been strongly opposed by Men’s rights groups…The ‘Save Family Foundation’ has written a letter to Krishna Tirath, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, seeking immediate withdrawal of the proposal. The foundation, representing around 40 different men’s organizations across the country, has termed this proposal as one-sided.

The Cursed Indian Male appears to be feeling the pressure already. He laments:

With such incentives, it is not surprising that many wives would rather just sit idle, and get free doles from their husbands, with the kind blessings of the Indian judicial system.  And all this under the guise of women empowerment

However, others are more positive to this proposal for various reasons. For example, in a discussion in the Defence Forum India, Yusuf appears pleased. He writes:

Actually this news is music to my ears. Gives me more ways to save tax. :-)

Blogger Surya Murali goes on to offer, what she feels is a more practical solution to the issue, something that will truly benefit the women without getting her into the “employer-employee” hierarchy within the family. She suggests:

Let the government work out a method in which they evaluate the households economically and they give the housewives / homemakers an allowance. This totally skips the husband as a middleman and is a direct deal between the people who want the housewives to be empowered and the housewives. In my opinion, this would not only help the women be independent, it will also improve the general quality of life in households which otherwise manage with meager means. Thus, both targets of economic upliftment and female empowerment would be achieved.

InfoQueenBee agrees and adds:

Instead of making the law to provide for the ‘salary’ to the housewife, some other schemes may be introduced such as statutory-minimum/compulsory life-insurance, medical insurance, investments etc. for the housewives and children.

While we wait to see what happens to the Minister's proposal, it appears that the debate surrounding the question of the husband being forced to pay his “house engineer” an ‘honorarium’ for household work, is far from over.

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Trivedi has been arrested for “insulting” the Parliament and other National symbols through his political cartoons,which parodied the symbols in an attempt to depict a nation beset by scams and corruption scandal. The arrest was done on the basis of  private complaint(s) filed against him with the Mumbai police and at the High Court. Earlier this year, Trivedi's website had faced a shutdown, though he has since then moved to another blog.

Screenshot of the blog Cartoons Against Corruption.

Anti-corruption activists, his peers, as well as netizens are outraged at his arrest, which is widely being seen as a politically motivated and wrongful act by the government. Justice Katju, who is the Chairman of the Press Council of India, defended Trivedi strongly and said that political satire was an occupational hazard that the political establishment must learn to put up with.

On his blog Musings, blogger Arun writes:

The politicians are nervous, it seems, outrageously, and have gone after cartoonist Aseem Trivedi. See this. This is outrageous!  What is happening to freedom of speech in India?

Political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi arrested in India for “insulting” National symbols. Original image from Wikipedia, used and adapted by the author under CC BY-SA 3.0

Expressing support for Trivedi, Sanjeev Sabhlok, an ex-bureaucrat, is scathing in his criticism of the political establishment. Drawing attention to a political cartoon that he himself had drawn in the 1970s, he says:

Apparently, in India, it is criminal to depict the state for what it is: a monster that is sucking up the blood of the people of India…Apparently Trivedi has shown disrespect to national symbols…What is more important: symbols or reality? In my view the government of India is showing the GREATEST disrespect to national symbols. Trivedi has got it right.

Tweets reflecting popular sentiments and outrage have been pouring in, making #AseemTrivedi trend on Twitter. Some examples:

Nikhil Moro (@nikhilmoro): Atrocious! Aseem Trivedi, Indian political cartoonist, arrested under Sec. 124A, the colonial law under which Gandhi was convicted in 1922.

Sujit Kumar Sahu (@sujitsahu53): @janlokpal If a cartoonist can draw a political cartoon then that is crime, but fighting inside parliament is not a crime..!!Jago India Jago

PennyKin (@pallavipinakin): Strange times indeed when a cartoon is classed as sedition but shameless corruption is acceptable. #AseemTrivedi #India

Chetan Bhagat (chetan_bhagat): Scamsters who give away country's resources to friends for free are guilty of sedition, not cartoonists.

Sardar Khan (@hussync_in): You know you are in India when as a cartoonist you are jailed, and as a terrorist you are safe n secured! #AseemTrivedi #iProtest

Tushar A. Gandhi (@TusharG): Arresting and charging Aseem Trivedi is a contemptuous action it must be condemned & Government must be ridiculed.

However, some netizens are also raising questions as to why the outrage is against the government en bloc, when the arrest was made on the basis of private complaint(s) and a court order that followed. Others do not agree to such differentiation:

Abdulla Madumoole (@AMadumoole): @TusharG But it is a private complaint, police has acted as per court warrant – why govt shld be ridiculed?

Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy): @probablytrippy cops = arm of govt, carrying out orders of politicians. since forever.

Some are also questioning  the appropriateness of some of Trivedi's cartoons, such as Gang rape of Mother India (which shows a woman being pinned down) saying that these are in poor taste. However, others are seeing them as acceptable analogies. This has rekindled the discussion about whether or not there ought to be a fine line between art/satire and obscenity.

Siddhartha (@srameshwaram): ashutoshibn7 Aseem Should be freed, everybody should get a chance, but Mother India cartoon should be removed ASAP.,

Shipi Tewari (@shipitewari): Pls don't make ur DPs into trivedi's cartoons.. They are disgusting and cheap.. Pls find other ways to support him! Ughh!

R.K. Mishra (@rkmishra100): @gsurya Both M F Hussain and #Aseem hurt the feelings of people. Everybody can't resist the reaction. #Aseem should apologize.

Sai Kumar (@m_saiK): @PowercutIN and any sensible person knows that cartoon did not insult mother India… It insulted the people running it

Nilanjana Roy (@nilanjanaroy): @aparnaray If you made tastelessness a crime, what would happen to Parliament? Jailing a cartoonist isn't an act of artistic judgement!

On his part, Trivedi remains defiant and has said that he will continue his fight against corruption in political life and governance. Reacting to the popular outrage, the Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil has said that he was looking into the matter but admitted prima facie that the police had no reason to take the cartoonist into custody. The police too it seem to have had a change of heart and are now open to giving up his custody. Netizens were already seeing this as a possible win for digital media.

Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) Is #AseemTrivedi release a win for digital India? Maybe partly. We started the pressure & mainstream media amplified it

However, in court today, Trivedi refused to take bail and insisted that all charges of sedition against him be dropped. Since the police too did not seek his custody, he has been remanded to judicial custody until September 24, 2012. Looks like the battle is not yet over Aseem Trivedi. The online petition demanding his release can be found here. Another petition, asking the government to repeal the Sedition Law, can be signed here.

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As Pakistan enters its 66^th year of Independence, it is a good time to take stock of the security situation within the country – in order to understand the role the nation continues to play in the overall security and stability of the region.

According to the Pakistan Security Report, 2011 [pdf] published by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), though Pakistan continues to rank “among the most volatile regions in the world”, there has been some improvement in the overall security situation within the country, especially since the later part of 2011. The report states:

The last half of the year 2011 was a period of comparative peace in Pakistan in terms of internal armed conflict, acts of terrorism and the consequent casualties. A decrease in the number of suicide attacks and drone strikes were the major contributing factors… the security situation is slowly improving as violence has decreased 24 percent in the last two years.

Given that the country has seen a sharp decline in fatalities caused by suicide attacks and that there have been no significant terror attacks in major cities or in the capital in 2012, the change in the overall security situation seems significant, especially when compared against 2009-2011, which was deadly in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Flags flying in Pakistan on the occasion of Independence Day. Flickr photo by Ejaz Asi, CC BY-NC 2.0

Yet, it is not a time for complacency. On August 16, 2012, a high value military base right outside the capital Islamabad was attacked by gunmen. Pakistan special forces contained the situation within five hours and fatalities were mostly on the militant side.

Three days later, the government issued a blanket cell phone service ban for 15 hours in four major cities – including Karachi and Lahore  - on the Islamic holiday Eid-ul-Fitr because of credible security threats they had received.

These recent events go to show that despite claims made in May 2012 by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan – Yousuf Raza Gilani, that concerns about the security situation in Pakistan were “exaggerated”, the situation on the ground remains fragile and the improvement in the security situation is not all-pervasive.

‘Target killings’ continue in many parts of the country. Karachi continues to suffer its fair share of ethnic and political violence as a turf war rages since 2010. Violence continues to dog the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) including its capital Peshawar. There areas continue to bear the brunt of Pakistan's engagement in the War on Terror.

Balochistan remains in the grip of an insurgency, with the government yet unable to provide a tenable and acceptable solution to address grievances in the region. Rather, as Pakistani journalist and blogger Malik Siraj Akbar pointed out, the violence escalated in early 2012 after “an unprecedented hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs which voiced deep concern over the appalling human rights violations allegedly committed by the army in the country's largest province of Balochistan”.

This infographic published in the PIPS Pakistan Security Report 2011 provides a visual overview of the country's security situation. Used with Permission.

There is also a growing concern about the rise of sectarian violence within the country, which has seen a resurgence since 2007. In 2012 alone there have been three incidents of Shia targeted killings. While the largest number of clashes have been between the Sunni and Shia sects, there has also been violence occurring within the Sunni community; for example, between the Deobandi and Barelvi Sunnis. Huma Yusuf, who is a well-known columnist for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, wrote  in her analytical report [pdf] published by the Norwegian Peacebuilding Rsource Center (NOREF.)

Sectarian violence poses a grave threat to Pakistan’s security and stability, primarily because conflict between mainstream religious communities threatens to involve and radicalise greater swathes of the Pakistani population than any other kind of militancy.

Thus it appears that while there is reason for some amount of cautious optimism regarding the relative improvements in Pakistan's overall security situation, the country still has a long road ahead in its struggle to successfully resolve the complexities of its multi-layered sectarian, ethnic and political issues and help enhance the stability and security, not only within its borders but of the region as well.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

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As the Indian government sought to block bulk SMS, MMS, webpages and specific social media urls, justifying its step as an attempt to control viral rumor-mongering and “cyber-terrorism”, there was a lot of discussion on the mainstream media (MSM) about how social media was fast becoming a “double-edged sword” and how the recent events brought out the “mischief potential of social media in full play“. These MSM opinions, some of which offered tacit support the idea of reigning in social media, did not go unnoticed by netizens. For example, Media Crooks asked:

So what’s with the rant against the Twitterati and social media by these media celebs?

Confirmation that the Twitter account was blocked. Image from Suraj Jain's Twitter.

Blogger Amrit Hallan at Writing Cave wondered if the MSM had an underlying motive for creating a hype around the ‘dangers’ of social media. He wrote:

People in the mainstream media have always been at loggerheads with the free spirit of social networking websites that empowers everybody to express opinions and spread ideas…(they) have been gleefully recommending the curtailment (of social media). Social networking and blogging continuously make their job hard. The moment they try to spread some misinformation, it is countered by Twitter or blogs with factually correct information, often posted by people close to the ground.

Tweets too expressed similar concerns and sentiments:

Priya James (@james_priya): I think by now, MSM coverage volumes of ‘social media terrorism’ has now surpassed even their basic coverage of Assam situation!

Gaurav Sabnis (@gauravsabnis): Politician-MSM nexus in India so blatantly clear with blame for NE rumors laid squarely at social media's doors.

Rajeev Nagpal (@rajeevnagpal): In #India the #MSM can't tolerate any one challenging their hold. No wonder they support censoring social media #HandsOffTwitter

Image designed by author, using visuals from the public domain

Things have been moving very quickly. The ISPs have been sent official communication to block webpages and twitter handles, including those of some journalists plus fake profiles created with the purpose of lampooning the Indian Prime Minister. Curiously, the Pakistani blogger Faraz Ahmed Siddiqui, who was the first to break the news about the morphed photos being used to incite communal tensions, also came under the ambit of censorship and his post was inaccessible on some ISPs.

AEIdeas, a blog from the American Enterprise Institute commented on the issue:

The Indian government ought to have given Mr. Siddiqui a medal for his investigative work. Instead it has blocked his post.

Social media users in India have been following the government actions closely and there is much debate and discussion about whether the crack down on social media is censorship of free speech in the guise of rumor control.

Some have termed the government's action as Orwellian/dystopian. Others have seen merit in the government's ‘intent’ to curb inflammatory content but have been disappointed with the ineffective way the government went about the task – acting as “Net nannies” and “blocking communications, curbing speech, and banning websites”.

At CIS India, Pranesh Prakash did an analysis of the social media content blocked in India since August 18, 2012. Here are the results:

Analysis of blocked social content in India by Pranesh Prakash of The Centre for Internet & Society. Used under CC BY-NC 3.0

Strong reactions are pouring in on Twitter via trending hashtags such as #GOIBlocks, #IndiaBlocks, #Emergency2012 etc. [There is some debate over the use of the word 'Emergency' and the attempt to draw parallels between the present block and the state of emergency of 1975, which saw suspension of civil liberties and persecution of journalists in the name of battling threat to national security].

Indian Rebellion (@reBel1857): today they r blocking ur twitter account, tomorrow ur bank account and then will lock u in ur home … #GOIBlocks #Emergency2012

Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh_prakash): If you oppose #censorship, more power to you! I do too. But calling this #Emergency2012 is ridiculous! #IndiaBlocks #netfreedom

Madhavan Narayanan @madversity): Social media is a modern challenge and a modern opportunity. Government attempts to police it smacks of outdated feudal style #GOIblocks

Raheel Khursheed(@Raheelk):  Everything ██ is █████ ████ ████ fine ███ █ ████ love. ████ █████ the ███ UPA ███ ████ Government ██ #GOIBlocks #Twitter

Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht): First they ignored us, then they argued with us, then they blocked us #emergency2012

Babar (@6a6ar): The only thing left for us to do is block all media and Govt. handles in protest. Let's start a #VirtualRevolution #IndiaBlocks

Abhijit Majumdar (@abhijitmajumder): Govt of #India is just testing #socialmedia waters by blocking spoof PMO accounts. Prepare for greater censorship on #Twitter and #Facebook

Amit Agarwal (@labnol): The Indian govt can force ISPs to block individual Twitter profiles but everything will still be available through web apps like Tweetdeck

Humour and sarcasm too weren't in short supply. For example:

Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy): Now that Govt has solved North East crisis by limiting SMS, it will fight malnutrition by banning food pics on Instagram

Kalyan Varadarajan (@itzkallyhere): My nose blocked. But I didn't poke my nose in Govt matters! My nose isnt a handle. Damn! #GOI

Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats): I've a few SMSs to spare from today's quota. If you mail me recipient's number, message & a cheque, I can send an SMS for you. #BusinessIdea

However, not everyone is amused. Amrit Hallan asks:

Are we going to follow the footsteps of Pakistan and China and turn into a Blockistan? No matter how much it makes some of the English-speaking mainstream journalists happy, blocking isn’t possible, at least sustained blocking. The Internet has empowered the silent majority and there is going to be a big backlash if the government, or another agency tries to take this power back. In what form this backlash is going to manifest? It remains to be seen.

In a guest post on Trak.In, blogger Prasant Naidu suggests how the government could use social media positively.  He says:

instead of banning social media, the government can use it in its favor controlling the crisis of NE. The virality feature that our politicians are scared of can be used for killing rumors. Can’t the government get in touch with Facebook and Google India to find out ways to use social media in a better way? Can’t the Government start a social media campaign to “Save NE and Save India”?

Twitter is one of the tools that the government can use. A brilliant example is how Nirupama Rao, India’s Foreign Secretary used Twitter during the evacuation of Indians at the time of the Libyan crisis.

Social Media is not rocket science; it is about communicating with humans and for that you need to have the will to evolve and change. Banning social networks is not a solution to combat rumors but it is a half backed measure to cover the lid on the growing tensions.

The government, on it's part, issued social media guidelines to be followed by government agencies. It remains to be seen how the situation develops on the ground and what impact the current stand-off between government and social media has on cyber-control policies in the days to come.

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On 25 July, 2012, we reported about ethnic clashes that had broken out between the indigenous Bodo tribe and Bengali Muslim settlers in the Kokrajhar district of the Indian State of Assam.

The mainstream media (MSM) at first chose to shy away from reporting the ground realities of the clashes. After being barraged with questions and criticism on social media about their silence and/or inadequate coverage of the Assam situation, various reasons were offered from their end, perhaps the most curious one being that of the “tyranny of distance” – that the clashes in Assam were happening in a faraway area. Kokrajhar is located at a driving distance of about 215 kilometres from the state capital Guwahati (the distance measured in a straight line would be about 150km), and the national media channels did not have enough reach and lacked the required media vans for reportage.

Kokrajhar is located at a driving distance of about 215km from Guwahati, the capital of Assam

This is where social media stepped in. People reported from the ground, netizens mobilized and offered information about shelters, hospitals etc., and soon a buzz was generated on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and on various websites.

It was perhaps only after the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to the violence-hit Kokrajhar district that the MSM turned their attention to the situation – yet their coverage as well their analysis of the situation left a lot to be desired as they often came up with conflicting descriptions and reasons for the clashes as well as numbers of people affected. Thus the discourse and narrative on the MSM was unable to clear the air with respect to truth versus hype regarding the situation on the ground.

Ranjona Banerji, columnist and consulting editor with MXMIndia, pointed out that the MSM's “biggest weakness has been exposed by the violence in Assam”. In the same article, she went on to add:

I have yet to read – TV is a complete failure here – any sustained set of articles in any one publication on the Assam situation…The best I have read has been in kafila.org and if newspapers are not careful, the internet is going to walk all over their domain. Given the standard of newspapers sometimes, I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing.

While the administration took time to react and the MSM (by now having had moved the Assam riots to their front pages) debated passionately about whether or not the Muslim settlers involved in the clashes were illegal immigrants, mischief-makers took this opportunity and used all the means at their disposal – be it by influencing some of the regional/ vernacular media or by using the Internet, social media as well as SMS and morphed MMS images - to spread a feeling of victim-hood and outrage among a section of the Muslim populace across the country.

People returning home to Assam as news  spread that those hailing from the North Eastern states were being attacked and/or harassed across Western and Southern India. Image by Dipyaman Sarkar. Copyright Demotix (17/8/2012)

As authorities delayed, the city of Mumbai saw vandalism caught on camera and a spurt of violence unleashed on the media. On Youth Ki Awaz, blogger Tanaya Singh described the incidents of that day:

In a protest that was meant to condemn the violence in Assam and Myanmar, two people lost their lives in Mumbai and 46 were injured. The protest rally organised by Raza Academy at Azad Maidan Ground, took a violent form leading to the incident. The rally had a collection of about 1000 people, who had turned up (to protest) against the treatment of Muslims in Assam. It is reported that the crowd suddenly became aggressive and put vehicles on fire which included media vans and a BEST bus.

[...] Though Raza Acadamy tried to keep at bay by saying the they had gathered only to protest and triggering violence was not what they wanted, the president of this academy, who was an organizer of the event, did accept that there was an “irresponsible” speech delivered at the Ground, which could have been the reason behind the whole scene.

[Author's note: the crowd was possibly of a much higher number since Raza Academy later said that they had expected a maximum of 2,000 people and were unprepared for the huge turnout. There have been conflicting reports in the MSM about the actual numbers - for example, NDTV pegged it at about 10,000 while Hindustan Times claimed that it was around 20,000.]

Other accounts however stated that morphed, ‘provocative pictures’ available via MMS and/or printed off the Internet had been circulated among the gathered protesters which led to the violence.

Though the police later rounded up over 20 people and Raza Academy, the organization that had organized the protest, tendered unconditional apology for the incident, the unrest spread and soon there were reports from Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kerala etc., of sporadic attacks and threats issued to people hailing from the North-East.

The rumor juggernaut rolled on unabated for a while, creating panic and insecurity among the people from North Eastern states, prompting them to flee back to their home towns. The blog Our Funerera, blaming the rumor mongering on “fundamentalist forces”, described the events as follows:

After the Mumbai violence many people admitted receiving inflammatory and instigating messages regarding the planned protest. The messages then spread to Pune and the students of the North East region where Assam is situated were reportedly harassed and threatened. Then the evil designs invaded Bangalore—the IT hub of India. North Eastern students started fleeing their hostels in panic and in thousands taking the next available trains or flights.

The fundamentalist forces are trying to create a communal divide all over India by targeting the North Eastern students in the garb of ‘revenge’. The government of India and the concerned states have been taking steps to reassure the safety of all people from Assam and the North East living anywhere in India. But the rumor mongers and the divisive forces must be stopped before they target new areas.

As the situation threatened to spiral out of control, the Government finally took action – primarily against messaging and social media. A temporary ban was put on bulk SMS and MMS. Local police swung into action and began arresting people forwarding ‘hate’ SMS examples. Social media sites were warned to monitor and remove inflammatory content. About 310 webpages were blocked.

While Google and Facebook have promised cooperation, the government has threatened social media platforms such as Twitter with legal action for non-cooperation, though there are now reports emerging that certain specific Twitter urls have now become inaccessible.

Naga students from Bangalore arrive at the Dimapur train station amidst fears of communal violence against the North Eastern people. Image by Caisii Mao. Copyright Demotix (18/8/2012)

However, even as the government sharpens its rhetoric of cyber-terrorism and blames Pakistan-based websites for fanning the rumors, not everyone is satisfied with such polemics. Rather, many people feel that the situation resulted from the government's failure to maintain law and order and offer timely intervention (in terms of offering reassurance, ensuring safety against attacks/threats, preventing the exodus) as well as identifying and booking the criminals swiftly.

For example, Karela Fry feels that such blame game is the government's attempt to “whitewash the lack of action” on it's part to bring to book the actual perpetrators. It argues:

It should be clear that there are groups working inside the country to create trouble. They may be supported, in terms of organization, money, and material, from across the border. However, until the government takes steps to correctly identify these groups, isolate them and then punish them, such terror attacks can take place at any time.

In the next part of this series, we will examine if this ‘blame social media’ stance is warranted (or misplaced) and what role the MSM is seen to be playing in this discourse.

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The Internet and Web 2.0 have enabled students to gain greater and quicker access to ‘International Relations’ (IR) Books, courses and information on universities and scholarships  are easily available online. Professor Sanjoy Banerjee, who holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University and is currently Chair of International Relations at the San Francisco State University, said this when contacted over email:

The main benefit of technological advances (in ICT), particularly the Internet, is that it makes research much quicker. With search engines like Google Scholar, one can find articles and books on topics far quicker and more efficiently than before. Of course, reading and understanding have not become any easier. Still, my students read much more widely, across more disciplines, than I did as a student.

Shahzada Akram, who studied International Relations at the University of Dhaka in the 90′s and who is now Senior Program Manager at Transparency International Bangladesh, adds:

Home Page of the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

The changes are best reflected in the changed political scenario of the world's one of the most important region – the Arab states through the ‘Arab Spring', the impact of WikiLeaks on the diplomatic relations among states, live broadcast of all international and national events in both the television and internet, and so on. These have somewhat forced the traditional teaching and theories of IR to bring in changes in the curricula,and the means of teaching. Now the IR as a discipline is a lot web-based (say in case of my university – University of Dhaka). New courses on media and communication focusing IR have been introduced to keep up pace with the current development in ICT. IR has got a new dimension, and is no longer the subject of a few for discussion. Rather it has become more public, and has gained more access among them.

Also, there are a growing number of “expert voices” like Historian Juan Cole who have moved IR beyond the classroom and onto blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Akram feels that these voices have helped “concepts like ‘soft diplomacy’ gain more ground. The governments now have to be more cautious about their actions/ policies more than ever before.”

On the other hand, too many voices could be adding to noise. Professor Banerjee believes:

Blogs and other social media remain of limited scholarly importance. For the most part, they are not written with scholarly discipline and cannot substitute for academic writing.

Professor Robert Kelly from Pusan National University, who is also a blogger at Robert Kelly-Asian Security blog, commented on the blog International Security Discipulus:

The internet is changing the discipline obviously. We take blogging much more seriously than before. I think Walt’s flagship blog at FP changed a lot, brought a lot of credibility, but Drezner was the real pioneer. Now there are some really good IR blogs, like Duck of Minerva.

He goes on to caution that “the real value of blogging is test-driving ideas that ultimately you should work up for journal submission. Blogging is not an end in itself or a replacement for real research.”

Screenshot of the IR blog The Duck Of Minerva

In January 2012, Foreign Policy magazine published the results of a survey on how social media and Web 2.0 impact the IR discipline. Daniel. W. Drezner provided an interesting snapshot of the results [pdf] from US respondents on his blog:

• More than 28% of respondents cited a blog post in their scholarship, and more than 56% used blogs as a teaching tool. 90% of the respondents said they used YouTube in their teaching.
• 90% of respondents believed that IR blogs had a beneficial impact on foreign policy formulation and more than 51% of respondents thought that IR blogs had a beneficial impact on the discipline of international relations .

The final report of the study, with data from 20 countries, can be found here.

So it seems despite reservations from some senior academics, the role of social media in IR education is growing slow and steady.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

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On April 7, 2012, a deadly avalanche hit a Pakistani military camp in the Gayatri Sector, 30km west of the Siachen glacier, killing over 130 people, most of them military personnel. The scale of the tragedy once again brought into focus a long-standing conflict between India and Pakistan over Siachen, often referred to as “the world's highest battlefield.”

Pakistan Army rescue operation at the world's highest border in Siachen. Photo by Mohsin Hassan © Copyright Demotix (April 8, 2012)

The frozen conflict

Since 1984, armies of both countries have engaged in military conflicts at altitudes as high as 22,000ft above sea level, at temperatures that plunge below -60 degrees centigrade. A ceasefire was agreed upon in 2003 but the conflict continues to this day, forcing both countries to deploy troops and run manned military camps/ stations in this completely inhospitable terrain. While some critics have called this a futile war, other analysts have stressed the strategic importance of this area in the geopolitics of both nations.

Avalanche near the Siachen glacier. Screenshot of a YouTube video posted by zubahan136

Off and on, both sides have expressed desire to disengage and withdraw troops from the Siachen outposts. However, after the Kargil war of 1999, which saw infiltration from the Pakistan side into the Indian side of the LOC, India hardened its stand and decided against withdrawal of troops unless Pakistan agreed to sign off on the AGPL (Actual Ground Position Line) which would map the current positions of troops/outposts.

India's worry was that unless this was done, Pakistan would perhaps commit cartographic transgressions again. Furthermore, India is also worried about becoming vulnerable to possible incursions by China and therefore hesitant to give up her tactical advantage of controlling the Saltoro Ridge.

Stalled demilitarization talks

In June 2005, the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, during a visit to the Siachen base camp at Parthapur, addressed the troops and said that it was time to make Siachen ‘a symbol of peace’ through peaceful negotiations, though he also asserted that there would be no re-drawing of boundaries as a result. While quite a few rounds of talks have taken place between both nations since then, not much progress has been made towards conflict resolution.

The recent tragedy of the avalanche has led the authorities in Pakistan to press for demilitarization of the area by pointing out the human cost and financial burden that maintaining these manned outposts were causing both countries.
Rafeel Wasif, a Pakistani blogger writes:

When a bomb explodes, all we ask for is the death toll; we feel a bit of remorse, discuss it, and that more or less sums up our debate. Whatever this may be, a gift or curse of humanity – we forget all with time and move on to another day. But today, this time around, I am not going to just forget. Why were our soldiers there in the first place? Why do we continue to invest so heavily in protecting a block of snow, with no human inhabitation, except the soldiers who so precariously guard it against foreign intruders?

Once more, talks are on between both countries, though the Indian Defence Minister, A.K Antony has already cautioned against expecting any “dramatic” breakthrough unless Pakistan acquiesced to the ‘authentication, delineation and demarcation’ of the respective troop positions on the Saltoro Ridge. Disappointment has also been expressed from the Pakistani side regarding the futility of these talks.
At pkarticleshub.com, Pakistani columnist and blogger Nazia Nazar talks about what she feels is holding back both sides from reaching a workable solution:

The answer is simple. The atmosphere of propaganda and distrust being the root cause of this issue is consistently hampering its amicable resolution. Unfortunately, the people in India take it as a symbol of Indian pride and gallantry while in Pakistan it is considered the fallout of Indian aggression, which should be retaliated in equal measure.

Building trust

Nevertheless, the fact that both sides have agreed to continue the dialogue in a cordial atmosphere is seen as a step in the right direction in the realm of bilateral ties and cross-border relations. At Youth Ki Awaaz, Indian blogger Shashank Bhashkar offers some suggestions regarding what could be a possible way forward. He writes:

A border can be created along the current LOC and surveillance cameras can be set up to monitor infiltration activities. Both sides can keep their armies in such a position that they can be quickly deployed whenever the other side breaches the agreement. Having cameras will also account for documented proof for the International communities. The need of the hour is to display trust from both sides and come to a reasonable conclusion so that no more valuable human life is lost.

The next round of talks, between the Foreign Secretaries of both countries, is set for July 4th-5th. The ministerial level discussions are likely to take place in August. However, it remains to be seen if both sides continue to stick to their respective arguments – if they do, Siachen will remain a trigger for interstate conflict between India and Pakistan and the stalemate will continue. The challenge will be to find a way out of this and work towards a mutually acceptable solution to this icy conflict.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

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India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers between them. Despite setting up a Joint River Commission for water management as early as 1972, tensions between the countries on how to share resources recently came to a head in a dispute over the Teesta River. At stake are the lives of countless people from West Bengal and Bangladesh who depend upon the river for survival.

To date, only one comprehensive river pact has been signed by India and Bangladesh – a 1996 bilateral treaty that established a 30-year water-sharing arrangement between the two countries. This was set to change in September 2011 when India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was due to sign a pact with his Bangladeshi counterpart regarding access and use of the Teesta River.

Aerial View of the Teesta River. Flickr photo by Prato9x (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Teesta – which has its source in Sikkim – flows through the northern part of West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh, where after coursing through about 45km of irrigable land, merges with the Brahmaputra River (or Jamuna when it enters Bangladesh). In 1983, an ad-hoc water sharing agreement was reached between India and Bangladesh, whereby both countries were allocated 39% and 36% of the water flow respectively. The new bilateral treaty expands upon this agreement by proposing an equal allocation of the Teesta River. (more…)

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