India ranks 131st in press freedom index; Internet 'partly free'

November 21, 2012

india_internet_rank

Washington, November 21: Just in case you did not know, India ranks 131st — between Burundi and Angola — in the 2012 press freedom index of Reporters without Borders. Freedom House puts India in the "party free" category in the 2012 Internet freedom rankings, below Argentina, South Africa, and Ukraine. So much for the world's largest democracy.

India's bragging rights about being one of the world's thriving civil societies with strong free speech statutes, already under a cloud, is facing searching questions following several episodes aimed at curbing freedom of expression. Two young women thrown in the clink for questioning the over-the-top response to Bal Thackeray's death is the latest incident to attract attention of free speech advocates, civil liberties activists, and the world media.

Both Thackeray's death and the aftermath, including massive crowds at the funeral and arrests of the young women received wide coverage in US by a media hard-pressed to understand the granular details of Mumbai's parochial and chauvinistic politics. "A demagogue freezes Mumbai for the last time," was the headline of a Bloomberg report while the Chicago Sun-Times described Thackerey as a "Hindu extremist leader linked to waves of mob violence against Muslims and migrant workers in India."

But the freedom of expression issue went beyond Thackeray's death and the Facebook episode that resulted in police bearing down on two young women who have been bullied into silence for questioning the enforced mourning. Free speech mavens recalled several incidents in recent times, including Congress party shenanigans to muzzle social media, to muse about the decline of civil liberties in India.

The RWB report, for instance, says there is an increasing trend in India of web monitoring and censorship by authorities. According to the Google Transparency website, which logs the Internet content removal requests that Google receives from governments, Indian officials have asked Google multiple times (67 to be exact, between July and December 2010) to remove 282 content items (namely videos critical of politicians) from YouTube and several blogs. Google allegedly complied with 22% of the requests, says RWB.

A Freedom House 2012 study of 47 countries on the subject of Internet freedom ranks India in the "partly free" category, a rank below fully free countries such as USA, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Australia. In its study of key internet controls, the report cites India for blocking Web 2.0, localized or nationwide ICT shutdown, passing new laws increasing censorship, and arrests of bloggers for political and social commentary.

"Ever since the 2008 Bombay attacks, the authorities have been intensifying their Internet surveillance and pressure on technical service providers while publicly denying censorship accusations. The national security policy of the world's largest democracy is undermining online freedom of expression and Internet users' privacy," the RWB report noted.

Some of the ranking makes little sense. In the RWB report on press freedom, for instance, Jamaica, Namibia, and Mali are ranked in the top 25, and Papua New Guinea, Ghana, and Botswana are in top 50; the US came in only 47th and India 131st, down from 122nd in 2010 and 105th in 2009.

So do the media in Mali and Papua New Guinea have greater freedom than in US and India? Not really. The RWB index is based on a complex questionnaire that asks about every kind of violation directly affecting journalists and netizens (including murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). It also measures the level of self-censorship in each country and the ability of the media to investigate and criticize. Financial pressure is also assessed and incorporated into the final score.

The questionnaire also takes account of the legal framework for the media (including penalties for press offences, the existence of a state monopoly for certain kinds of media and how the media are regulated) and the level of independence of the public media. It also reflects violations of the free flow of information on the Internet. The index, says RWB, should in no way be taken as an indication of the quality of the media in the countries concerned.

Still, the numbers do not look good for India. And the recent incidents don't augur well.


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News Network
May 9,2020

Lucknow, May 9: The first patient to receive plasma therapy as an experimental treatment for coronavirus infection in Uttar Pradesh died following a heart attack on Saturday.

The patient, a 58-year-old doctor, was admitted at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) here.

The doctor, who was on ventilator since the last 14 days, died on Saturday evening following a heart attack, KGMU Vice-Chancellor M L B Bhatt said.

Since he had high blood pressure and diabetes, he was under the continuous observation of doctors in the isolation ward, Bhatt said.

“The patient was in a stable condition. His lungs had improved, but he later developed urinary tract infection. Two reports of his samples came out as negative (for COVID-19) today,” the vice-chancellor said.

“He, however, suffered a heart attack around 5 pm. Despite all efforts, he could not be saved,” he said.

The doctor from Orai in Uttar Pradesh was administered plasma therapy at the state-run KGMU on April 26. He was administered the plasma donated by a doctor from Canada who was the first COVID-19 patient admitted at the hospital and later recovered.

Tulika Chandra of Blood Transfusion Department, KGMU said, "When the patient was given plasma therapy, his condition was very bad. His lungs, however, improved. But as he was an old patient with diabetes, he was kept on the ventilator.”

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for treating COVID-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a cured patient is transfused to a critically ill coronavirus patient.

The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies to fight the virus. This therapy uses the antibodies from the blood of a cured patient to treat another critical patient.

The Union health ministry, however, had advised against considering the therapy to be a regular treatment for coronavirus, adding it should be used for research and trial purposes till there is a piece of robust scientific evidence to support its efficacy.

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News Network
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said everyone is unhappy in the society and constantly agitating notwithstanding a "many-fold rise" in materialistic comforts and pleasures.

Addressing a gathering of Sangh workers and intellectuals here in Gujarat, Mr Bhagwat also said that even political parties who are not in power are also agitating.

"Inspite of increase in comforts and materialistic pleasures, everyone is unhappy and is staging agitations. Be it owner or servant, a party in opposition, the common man students, teachers, everyone is unhappy and dissatisfied," the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief said.

He was speaking on the topic "India's Role in the Present World Context".

Mr Bhagwat further said that bigotry, violence and terrorism are on the rise in the present world.

"India has to give 'dharma'  (wisdom) to the world so that knowledge spreads but humans do not become robotic. We have always talked about the concept of global family but not global market," he said.

The lecture was organised by "Madhav Smruti Nyas", an organisation backed by the RSS.

"To think that we are living in a better world is a half truth. Facilities are not evenly distributed. Rule of Jungle is prevailing. A capable person is crushing the weak to climb up. Knowledge is used more for the destruction of the world," the Sangh chief said.

Mr Bhagwat said people are also misusing social media by spreading "false information" to create controversies.

He also stated that trying to put "everyone into one uniform" is also a form of bigotry.

"US and Russia are super powers. China would become a super power too. Now, what super power nations did to others? They just took control of other countries for their own selfish agenda. These super powers gave it back only when they were asked to do so. Otherwise, they never gave anything to others," said Mr Bhagwat.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: India's COVID-19 cases tally crossed 20 lakh mark with the highest single-day spike of 62,538 cases on Friday, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The COVID-19 tally rises to 20,27,075 including 6,07,384 active cases, 13,78,106 cured/discharged/migrated and 41,585 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Andhra Pradesh with 80,426 active cases is the third on the list. There are 1,04,354 cured and discharged patients and 1,681 deaths reported from the state.

Delhi now has 10,072 active cases and 1,26,116 cured and discharged patients. 4,044 people have lost their lives due to the disease in the Union Territory so far. 

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