The Centre has issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ […] using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021.
Source: The Telegraph, 21 January 2023
URL: https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/centre-blocks-access-to-bbc-documentary-on-2002-gujarat-riots/cid/1911284
Date Visited: 21 January 2023
ePaper | View or download the UNESCO global report 2021/2022 titled
“Threats that silence: trends in the safety of journalists; insights discussion paper: World trends in freedom of expression and media development” >>
41 pages : illustrations
“The appearance of democracy in India faded under autocratic regimes amid political polarisation, economic turmoil, and digital disruption.” – Frontline Magazine (India), 16 May 2024
“Every individual in this country is being asked what they have done for the government instead of what the government has done for them”
The Special Lecture by Kannan Gopinathan on “Democracy – Individuals and Institutions” was hosted by the Asian College of Journalism on 2 September 2020
2020, we made our citizens walk thousands of kilometres. Then, they were beaten up at every border.”
“Every individual in this country is being asked what they have done for the government instead of what the government has done for them.”, claims Kannan. He remarks, “Citizens are being made to perennially feel obligated. Citizens feel like they are not doing enough for the government, and as if they aren’t worthy enough to ask questions.”
The question that he posed is on point. He asks, “When you feel something terribly wrong is happening in your own country… if I don’t speak up in my own country, where do I speak up?”
Adding to that, “We were told national integration was happening with the removal of Article 370. We were told Kashmir was being developed.” Optimistically, he quips, “Country is run by the collective intellect… It is the intellectual discourse that guide the country forward.” […]
He gives invaluable advice to budding journalists, “As a journalist, you should always ask questions.” […]
“370 has larger context starting from Independence. He was serving as District Magistrate of Mizoram. How many of us know that IAF has dropped bombs on their own citizens? That also we have a history. Does that justify bombing our people today?” […]
Highlighting the dire need of the current situation, Kannan says, “You can’t keep quiet on everything. At some point, if you disagree- it’s better to say it then rather than piling it up.”
Former IAS Officer Kannan Gopinathan resigned from service in 2019, over ‘lack of freedom of expression’.
India’s democracy is taking a rankings battering these days. For a country which prides itself as the world’s largest democracy, this is troubling news.
So what’s going on?
Earlier this month, in its annual report on global political rights and liberties, US-based non-profit Freedom House downgraded India from a free democracy to a “partially free democracy”.
Last week, Sweden-based V-Dem Institute was harsher in its latest report on democracy. It said India had become an “electoral autocracy”. And last month, India, described as a “flawed democracy”, slipped two places to 53rd position in the latest Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit. […]
Populist leaders often polarise society and delegitimise the political opposition, often presenting them as enemies of the state or people. […]
Electoral autocracies, according to V-Dem, are now present in 87 states that are home to 68% of the global population. Liberal democracies, the group says, are diminishing, and are home to only 14% of the people. […]
Source: “Democracy: Institutions and Individuals”: Special lecture for students of journalism by Kannan Gopinathan @ACJIndia #ACJLive
URL: http://acjnewsline.org/special-lecture-by-kannan-gopinathan-ex-ias-officer-and-activist-on-democracy-institutions-and-individuals/
Date visited: 8 November 2020
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
UNESCO World Trends on “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists”
The latest UNESCO World Trends Report Insights discussion paper “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists,” highlights how surveillance and hacking are compromising journalism. Surveillance can expose information gathered by journalists including from whistle-blowers, and violates the principle of source protection, which is universally considered a prerequisite for freedom of the media and is enshrined in UN Resolutions. Surveillance may also harm the safety of journalists by disclosing sensitive private information, which could be used for arbitrary judicial harassment or attack. […]
May 3 acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom. It is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. It is an opportunity to:
- celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom;
- assess the state of press freedom throughout the world;
- defend the media from attacks on their independence;
- and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Source: “2022 Theme: Journalism under digital siege”, World Press Freedom Day 3 May
URL: https://www.un.org/en/observances/press-freedom-day
Date Visited: 7 March 2023
“Every society had narratives about its past and some regarded them as history as time went on […] So your fantasy runs wild, you can concoct a utopia exactly as you want.” – Romila Thapar, during an interactive workshop on 22 August 2013 responding to a participant’s question: “Is there also the risk of creating fake history through the invention of tradition?” >>
We live in a world driven by xenophobia, jingoism and hyper-nationalism. That isn’t true just of our country. Populist politicians come to power saying, our country, our culture, our civilisation has all the resources required to solve our present problems and those who want a more open-minded approach to the world are anti-national. They are betraying the essence of our culture or our religion. I find this way of thinking deeply repugnant. It’s also contrary to the traditions of our freedom struggle – people like Gandhi and Tagore and Ambedkar and Nehru embraced the world.
Source: Historian Ramachandra Guha (author of India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy) interviewed by Naresh Fernandes in “Hyper-nationalism is contrary to traditions of India’s freedom struggle”, Scroll.in, 6 March 2022
URL: https://scroll.in/article/1018777/ramachandra-guha-interview-hyper-nationalism-is-contrary-to-traditions-of-indias-freedom-struggle
Date Visited: 7 March 2023
How paranoid nationalism corrupts
[…] Our statistical analysis suggests that governments have grown more nationalistic since 2012, and that the more nationalistic they are, the more corrupt they tend to be. But the more important role of paranoid nationalism is as a tool to dismantle the checks and balances that underpin good governance: a free press, independent courts, NGOs and a loyal opposition.
Source: The Economist, 2 September 2023 (Date Visited: 3 September 2023)
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris has Called for Nominations for UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2023.
Nominations should be forwarded to the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) latest by 29th January, 2023 at the following address for further consideration and onward transmission to UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France.
Mr. Saroj Kumar Choudhary
Under Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Education Department of Higher Education Room No. 203-A ‘C’ Wing
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road ShastriBhavan,New Delhi – 110001
Contact No.: +91-011- 2338 4442 E-mail: inc.edu@nic.in[…] Article 7 – Procedure for the awarding of the Prize
7.1 The Prize shall be awarded by the Director-General at an official ceremony held for that purpose on 3 May, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. UNESCO shall present to the prize winner a check for the amount of the Prize, together with a diploma and an object symbolizing the award. UNESCO shall officially announce the name(s) of the prize winner.
7.2 The prize winner, shall, if possible, give a lecture on a subject relevant to the work for which the Prize has been awarded. Such a lecture shall be organized during or in connection with the prize ceremony.
7.3 Work produced by a person since deceased shall not be considered for the Prize. If, however, a prize winner dies before he or she has received the Prize, then the Prize may be presented posthumously.
7.4 Should a prize winner decline the Prize; the Jury shall submit a new proposal to the Director- General. […]Article 9 – Appeals
No appeals shall be allowed against the decision of UNESCO with regard to the award of the Prize. Proposals received for the award of the Prize may not be divulged.
Source: Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO Government of India
Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education
URL: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/unesco_cano_world.pdf
Date Visited: 7 March 2023