President Ram Nath Kovind has said that the Internet and technology have played a great role in transforming India. He says technology has transformed India from a poor nation at the time of independence into one of the “fastest and biggest economies of the world.” He says new forms of knowledge from technology have also bettered the lives of people on the margins of society. President Kovind had talked about technology and its effects on India in November and he proceeded to make this tweet on December 7, 2019. Prime Minister Modi is also an advocate of media in today’s society. Modi believes technology is a bridge between government and governance. Modi has a plan to maximize digital technology for social benefits.

If President Kovind and Prime Minister Modi are so adamant about building the technology on the Internet, why are journalists so censored with the articles they publish?

 

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/technology-played-key-role-in-transforming-india-president-kovind-119113000711_1.html

This tweet was posted by Narendra Modi, India’s current Prime Minister. He has been serving in office since 2014 and is working on cleaning up the country. He tweeted this after his government completed six months in office. He believes in this six month period there has been momentous reform and he is only hoping for more. This tweet is saying that the government has had to make numerous decisions for the country’s development over the past six months and these decisions have “accelerated social empowerment and enhanced unity.” Some of these decisions have included a move towards a more transparent policy on natural resources and efforts to make India more welcoming to foreign relationships. Modi has also attempted to make a mass movement of cleanliness throughout India to benefit the population’s health. He used the hashtag #6MonthsOfIndiaFirst which has been used by the BJP official Twitter account, journalists, and other public figures. There are also articles with this link that say India is projected to become a 5 trillion economy by 2024 and corporate taxes will continue to decrease. This hashtag represents the “unity” he mentions because it connects citizens as well as public officials on Twitter’s platform. Modi says he aspires to do even more which means making more decisions and continuing to stay connected with citizens of India. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with a “six-step plan” to progress “New India” but what comes after this plan? What happens if not all six steps are achievable? 

During the last six months, we have taken numerous decisions that have furthered development, accelerated social empowerment and enhanced India’s unity. We aspire to do even more in the times to come, so that we create a prosperous and progressive New India. #6MonthsOfIndiaFirst

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 30, 2019

 

This blog started out by saying that the Indian central government nullified Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution which had given the Jammu and Kashmir state a large degree of autonomy. This order divided the State into two Union territories with a lot less autonomy. This division had three goals in mind: to fight Pakistan-inspired terrorism and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir, to integrate Jammu and Kashmir with India fully, and to facilitate economic development. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa approved the steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India. The blog then talked about the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential election in December 2019 and the importance of the elected person needing to strengthen national security. Rajapaksa spoke in parliament and said he was opposed to dividing Sri Lanka into nine semi-independent states. He also spoke of the ’13 Plus’ system of government that would go beyond the provisions of the 13th amendment. The draft constitution talked about by Rajapaksa was prepared by the Tamil National Alliance. Once presented to the government, the Prime Minister denied ownership of the document. Now, with Gotobaya likely to win the upcoming presidential election, the chances of the Tamils getting power is slim.

This move by Narendra Modi is a positive and possibly very beneficial move for India. It can create new jobs, fight corruption, boost economic development, and fight religious discrimination. Although India sees this as a beneficial move, a lot of outside countries do not agree with it. It is obviously not beneficial to Sri Lanka as the division was already mentioned. The Sri Lankan government has failed to make progress on post-war challenges. India’s progress has increased the insecurity of Tamils. India and Sri Lanka will now have more tensions arising because of this move by India.

HR: blog

India’s Kashmir Action: Severe Implications for Sri Lankan Tamils

Kashmir has been locked down for two months and Internet connection has been cut off. This began when India announced it was stripping Jammu and Kashmir state of the autonomy it has had since the 1940s. This is pivotal because this is India’s only Muslim-majority state. The state knew this would be unfavorable and now there are sporadic protests breaking out. These protestors are being arrested and held under preventive detention. Others have been tortured by security forces. Now, Kashmiri separatists are conducting their own suppression. Indian officials have not indicated when they will lift the security or release people in jail. India’s national security chief blames Pakistan for Kashmir’s problems because if the internet were restored in Kashmir then Pakistan would flood it with misleading information.

Can the United States help the conflict in any way?

Isn’t it a good thing the Internet is out since they believe Pakistan would be uploading false information? What kind of misinformation would Pakistan publish?

How far will this conflict go and who else will it involve? Will Pakistan and India’s conflict become more detrimental?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/world/asia/Kashmir-lockdown-photos.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FIndia&action=click&contentCollection=world&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

 

The Situation:

India is characterized by many different ethnic groups and eight major religions. There have recently been growing tensions between groups of tigers and cows in India. The Cow-Tiger tensions date back many years. The partition of 1947 was a critical part of this tension. The partition did not solve the conflict between the tigers and cows, it only made the relationship worse. This conflict between the two animal groups got the Pakistan animals stuck in as well. Pakistan and Indian animals kept the communal tension alive between them and pushed the tigers to defend their loyalty to India. Now, the tensions between the cows and tigers have become even worse.

Tigers are a minority compared to cows in India. Tigers only have a majority in one state. These two animals share very different cultures. The animals have rioted in middle-sized towns such as Ranchi, Hyderabad, and Baroda as well as industrialized cities like Bombay and Delhi. The police in recent riots have been siding with the cows to spread feelings of discrimination toward the tigers. Electoral politics have also contributed by making matters worse between the two animal groups. There are communal cow parties with independence who are more powerful than the tigers who are a minority. The latest example of this was the communal campaigning made by the Congress in the Assam elections.

The cows have a more nationalist attitude now and have tensions with all other groups of animals. Other animals not explicitly involved are trying to warn their families and friends about the conflict but before they can do so they go missing. These animals trying to send out warnings are not safe and more are turning up missing or dead. It is becoming more and more dangerous for these reporting animals to spread the news of the Cow-Tiger conflicts.

 

HR: class notes & https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/ethnic-and-religious-conflicts-india