If the strength of a liberal democracy is judged by the space it offers for critique and dissent; or by the protection it offers to all its citizens, irrespective of caste, creed or gender, then Indian democracy is on a perilous path. Whether it was in the case of a young Kerala girl’s right to… Continue reading Elections 2019: Democracy in the face of majoritarianism
Author: maya mirchandani
After Balakot, time for a diplomatic offensive
War is politics by other means, said Karl Von Clausewitz, the Prussian military strategist in the eighteenth century. As societies change, and politics changes, so does the nature of war, and the battlefields wars are fought on. The two weeks since the Pulwama attack has shown us that the battlefield is now also on television… Continue reading After Balakot, time for a diplomatic offensive
Indus Treaty: Why India Cannot Afford to Fight Fire With Water
Water is meant to douse fires, yet it is the one natural resource that has, time and again, either been a cause for global conflict or been weaponised by enemy states to score victory. In the case of decades of volatile India-Pakistan relations, the Indus Waters Treaty – brokered by the World Bank and signed… Continue reading Indus Treaty: Why India Cannot Afford to Fight Fire With Water
The Parliamentary Panel Will Reinforce Bias on Twitter, Not Fix It
Round one of the bout between the parliamentary panel on information technology, led by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, and representatives of Twitter ended as expected – with an extension. The committee asked Twitter’s global CEO, Jack Dorsey to appear before it on February 25 to answer to charges of a ‘liberal’ bias that drowns out… Continue reading The Parliamentary Panel Will Reinforce Bias on Twitter, Not Fix It
26/11 and the Media: Where were the Protocols?
Walking down the Colaba Causeway, past the renovated face of Cafe Leopold, in the shadow of the iconic Taj Mahal, or in Kalaghoda, abutting the Jewish Chabad house where scars of violence have been swallowed up by the cracks in its decaying walls, it takes a minute to remember the bloodshed and mayhem let loose… Continue reading 26/11 and the Media: Where were the Protocols?
UNHCR, OCHCR Urge India not to Deport Rohingya
New Delhi. October 3, 2018 Officials from UN High Commissioner for Refugees based in India have said that seven Rohingya men being deported from the Silchar central jail in Assam to their home village in Central Rakhine in Myanmar should be given a chance to make an “informed decision” about their return in the current… Continue reading UNHCR, OCHCR Urge India not to Deport Rohingya
Digital Hatred, Real Violence
This paper was triggered by a study of social media commentary I had released earlier this year, that had shown a spike of 11 percent in religion based hate speech between 2016 and 2017. Here I try to delve into the causes and spread of such speech on social media and the intersections between free… Continue reading Digital Hatred, Real Violence
Israel’s Nationality Bill Is Challenging the Core of Jewish Identity
As the sun sets over the Mediterranean off the coast of Tel Aviv on Sabbath evening, Israelis, young and old, head down to the many bars along Ben Yehuda Street, or to the beach to cool off in the July heat. Ideally, Jewry across the world is meant to be indoors on this day, focused… Continue reading Israel’s Nationality Bill Is Challenging the Core of Jewish Identity
To Delete or Not to #DeleteFacebook, That is the Question
For the last few days, I’ve been grappling with an unexpected existential crisis over whether or not to delete my Facebook. While the harvesting of data of 50 million Facebook users in America for political gain, without consent, is unconscionable, the issues the Cambridge Analytica scandal has raised — of privacy, consent and data security… Continue reading To Delete or Not to #DeleteFacebook, That is the Question
More Counter Speech needed to combat Hate on Facebook in India
Efforts at Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) online have become an important focus for social networks. CVE targets extremist ideologies, tackling them through alternate narratives that focus on peace-building. It is an invaluable tool to supplement counterterrorism strategies worldwide. To identify effective counter-speech on Facebook, ORF conducted a study analysing posts and comments on prominent public… Continue reading More Counter Speech needed to combat Hate on Facebook in India
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