If the Kargil War of 1999 was the first televised war on Indian screens, Operation Sindoor will go down in history as the first time an India-Pakistan armed conflict was live-streamed on television and social media. When India launched air strikes against Pakistani terror targets as a response to the Pahalgam attack in which 26… Continue reading Operation Sindoor and the Fog of War
Category: India
India’s Fight against a Pandemic leads to an ‘Infodemic’ Targeting Minorities and the Poor
The tackling of the Coronavirus pandemic in India — book-ended by the announcement of a stringent lockdown in March 2020, and now an ambitious nationwide vaccination plan in January 2021 — has laid bare social, economic, religious, and cultural fault-lines across the country. Fears and restrictions compounded pre-existing challenges in a country where an estimated… Continue reading India’s Fight against a Pandemic leads to an ‘Infodemic’ Targeting Minorities and the Poor
Fighting Hate Speech, Balancing Freedoms: A Regulatory Challenge
This research essay on ways to combat/ regulate hate speech and maintain the right to Free speech appeared in Volume 9 of the Journal of Indian Law and Society, that was released on May 20, 2020 by the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Abstract: The right to free expression is the heart of a… Continue reading Fighting Hate Speech, Balancing Freedoms: A Regulatory Challenge
Populism, propaganda and politics: Narendra Modi’s electoral playbook
In Hérodote Volume 177-178, Issue 2-3, April 2020, Abstract: The media plays a vital role in a democracy. It informs the public and acts as a watchdog against any abuse of power. During election campaigns, the media provides information on electoral performance, political manifestoes and candidates. However, the prolific spread of social media poses a serious challenge to mainstream media in… Continue reading Populism, propaganda and politics: Narendra Modi’s electoral playbook
Meet Badlu Khan, a Symbol of the Syncretic India the Hindu Right Wants to Erase
The doorbell rings at 11 am, right on schedule. Delhi is still coming to terms with brutal communal violence that has left 53 people dead at last count, but Badlu Khan Nizami arrives for his weekly music class, determined not to allow the horrors of the previous week intimidate him in any way. His metro… Continue reading Meet Badlu Khan, a Symbol of the Syncretic India the Hindu Right Wants to Erase
The danger of cheering the Telangana police
December 16th marks seven years since the brutal Delhi gang rape. Nirbhaya- or “fearless”- was the name the young intern was given by an anguished nation for the two weeks she survived after the horrific attack. As she battled for life, an entire country prayed with her family. We prayed for her recovery, we prayed for justice… Continue reading The danger of cheering the Telangana police
Scaling the Media Mountain- Modi 1.0 and the Indian Press
Days before the results of the 2019 general elections came in, and just 48 hours before his own constituency went to the polls, millions of Indians watched Prime Minister Narendra Modi, election campaign done, labour his way up the steep hills of Kedarnath, pray inside the temple’s sanctum sanctorum, meditate inside a cave. Television channels… Continue reading Scaling the Media Mountain- Modi 1.0 and the Indian Press
Elections 2019: Democracy in the face of majoritarianism
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
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
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
maya mirchandani 