Indian Political Discussion
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The story barely reported by Indian media
It is a potential scandal that claims to strike at a key pillar of Indian democracy - the freedom of the press - yet it is barely being reported in the Indian media.
There's a simple reason for that: this alleged scandal involves many of the most powerful media institutions in the country.
A sting operation by a news organisation called Cobrapost claims to have revealed a deeply engrained bias towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within many of India's leading media groups, as well as a willingness among some of the country's most senior media executives and journalists to take money in return for pushing a political agenda.
Cobrapost, a small but controversial outlet known for undercover stings, describes itself as a non-profit news organisation that believes too much journalism in India has been "trivialised". It has dubbed its story "Operation 136" - the figure is a reference to India's ranking in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Their website says its recordings show that some of the country's leading news organisations are willing to "not only cause communal disharmony among citizens, but also tilt the electoral outcome in favour of a particular party"- and all in return for cash.
Undercover stings of this kind are notoriously unreliable. The footage can easily be taken out of context or edited to change the meaning of a conversation or misrepresent its real nature.
An undercover reporter from Cobrapost, Pushp Sharma, says he approached more than 25 of India's leading media organisations, offering them all a similar deal.
He claimed to represent a wealthy ashram - a Hindu monastery - which, he said, was willing to pay large amounts of money in the run up to next year's general election in an attempt to ensure the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party, remains in power.
Mr Sharma says he outlined a three-stage strategy his paymasters wanted to bankroll.
First, he proposed the media organisations promote what he describes as "soft Hindutva" - the idea that Hindu faith and values are the defining ideology of India. He suggested this could involve promoting the sayings of Lord Krishna or retelling stories from the Bhagvad Gita, the epic poem that is one of the most holy texts of Hinduism.
The next stage would involve attacks on the BJP's political rivals, particularly Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress Party.
Finally, the plan was to move on to promoting incendiary speeches from some of hard-line proponents of Hindutva, including some divisive radical Hindu figures.
The idea of this stage of the operation, Mr Sharma explained to some of the executives, was to polarise voters in the hope that the BJP would benefit at the ballot box.
'Viral videos and jingles'
Amongst the media groups Cobrapost says it approached were giants like Bennett Coleman, the media empire that owns The Times of India - the largest selling English language newspaper not just in India, but in the world.
It also targeted the The New Indian Express, another large English language newspaper, and the India Today Group, which owns one of the country's most popular television news channels.
Hindi language newspapers and regional media groups were also approached.
According to Cobrapost, all but two of the more than two dozen groups it had meetings with said they were willing to consider the plan.
Videos of the encounters posted on the Cobrapost website show media executives, editors and journalists discussing how they might be able to accommodate his proposals.
The different organisations come up with a whole range of suggestions, from publishing undeclared "advertorials", to paid news items and special features.
Some say they would set up "special teams" to push the ashram's agenda. There is talk of creating viral videos, jingles, quizzes and events.
Cobrapost has made some potentially very serious allegations about some of the countries most powerful media organisations.
In most democracies, claims like this would have generated a huge national scandal with banner headlines and public outrage.
But, here in India, only few online media organisations - including the Wire, Scrolland The Print - have given the story extensive coverage.
'Reverse sting'
Some of the big media groups targeted in the sting have responded to Cobrapost's claims, however.
They deny any wrongdoing and say that the undercover footage has been edited to misrepresent the real nature of the encounters.
The Times of India, for example, says it is "a case of doctoring of content and falsification" and says none of the media organisations Cobrapost names "agreed to any illegal or immoral activity and no contracts were signed".
The Cobrapost videos appear to show Vineet Jain, the managing director of Bennett Coleman, the publisher of the Times of India, haggling over how much the group would need in order to consider the proposal. Mr Jain says he wants $150mn (£112mn) but finally settles for half that.
There is also a discussion about how any payment could be made in cash, possibly to avoid paying tax.
Bennett Coleman has since rejected any suggestion of dishonesty. In fact, an article in the Times of India explained that Cobrapost was the victim of what the newspaper calls a "reverse sting".
It says "senior functionaries" of Bennett Coleman were well aware that Mr Sharma was an imposter and deliberately went along with his proposals in an attempt to "trap the fraudster and discover his true intent".
The India Today group also denied that it had done anything wrong. In a statement it said that the company's managers would not do anything unethical, and that any advertising that divides the country on religious or caste lines will not be acceptable or aired on its channels.
Meanwhile the New Indian Express has said that there are no editorial issues for the newspaper because the meetings were between the undercover reporter and advertising executives and the discussion was only about the possibility of an advertising campaign.
It also said it would never accept advertisements which encouraged communal disharmony and that the executives made clear that any advertisement would need to be legally vetted.
There is no question that the Cobrapost allegations need to be treated with healthy scepticism. But there is also no question that they raise potentially troubling doubts over the independence of the media in India, particularly when it is a year away from a general election.
That the world's largest democracy languishes towards the bottom of the rankings for press freedom is already a matter of national shame.
If proven, these allegations would no doubt see India slipping yet further down the table.
A headline in the online news site Scroll captures the challenge the country faces.
"Cobrapost expose shows Indian media is sinking", it runs. "Now we can fight back or be drowned."
The story barely reported by Indian media
It is a potential scandal that claims to strike at a key pillar of Indian democracy - the freedom of the press - yet it is barely being reported in the Indian media.
There's a simple reason for that: this alleged scandal involves many of the most powerful media institutions in the country.
A sting operation by a news organisation called Cobrapost claims to have revealed a deeply engrained bias towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within many of India's leading media groups, as well as a willingness among some of the country's most senior media executives and journalists to take money in return for pushing a political agenda.
Cobrapost, a small but controversial outlet known for undercover stings, describes itself as a non-profit news organisation that believes too much journalism in India has been "trivialised". It has dubbed its story "Operation 136" - the figure is a reference to India's ranking in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Their website says its recordings show that some of the country's leading news organisations are willing to "not only cause communal disharmony among citizens, but also tilt the electoral outcome in favour of a particular party"- and all in return for cash.
Undercover stings of this kind are notoriously unreliable. The footage can easily be taken out of context or edited to change the meaning of a conversation or misrepresent its real nature.
An undercover reporter from Cobrapost, Pushp Sharma, says he approached more than 25 of India's leading media organisations, offering them all a similar deal.
He claimed to represent a wealthy ashram - a Hindu monastery - which, he said, was willing to pay large amounts of money in the run up to next year's general election in an attempt to ensure the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party, remains in power.
Mr Sharma says he outlined a three-stage strategy his paymasters wanted to bankroll.
First, he proposed the media organisations promote what he describes as "soft Hindutva" - the idea that Hindu faith and values are the defining ideology of India. He suggested this could involve promoting the sayings of Lord Krishna or retelling stories from the Bhagvad Gita, the epic poem that is one of the most holy texts of Hinduism.
The next stage would involve attacks on the BJP's political rivals, particularly Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress Party.
Finally, the plan was to move on to promoting incendiary speeches from some of hard-line proponents of Hindutva, including some divisive radical Hindu figures.
The idea of this stage of the operation, Mr Sharma explained to some of the executives, was to polarise voters in the hope that the BJP would benefit at the ballot box.
'Viral videos and jingles'
Amongst the media groups Cobrapost says it approached were giants like Bennett Coleman, the media empire that owns The Times of India - the largest selling English language newspaper not just in India, but in the world.
It also targeted the The New Indian Express, another large English language newspaper, and the India Today Group, which owns one of the country's most popular television news channels.
Hindi language newspapers and regional media groups were also approached.
According to Cobrapost, all but two of the more than two dozen groups it had meetings with said they were willing to consider the plan.
Videos of the encounters posted on the Cobrapost website show media executives, editors and journalists discussing how they might be able to accommodate his proposals.
The different organisations come up with a whole range of suggestions, from publishing undeclared "advertorials", to paid news items and special features.
Some say they would set up "special teams" to push the ashram's agenda. There is talk of creating viral videos, jingles, quizzes and events.
Cobrapost has made some potentially very serious allegations about some of the countries most powerful media organisations.
In most democracies, claims like this would have generated a huge national scandal with banner headlines and public outrage.
But, here in India, only few online media organisations - including the Wire, Scrolland The Print - have given the story extensive coverage.
'Reverse sting'
Some of the big media groups targeted in the sting have responded to Cobrapost's claims, however.
They deny any wrongdoing and say that the undercover footage has been edited to misrepresent the real nature of the encounters.
The Times of India, for example, says it is "a case of doctoring of content and falsification" and says none of the media organisations Cobrapost names "agreed to any illegal or immoral activity and no contracts were signed".
The Cobrapost videos appear to show Vineet Jain, the managing director of Bennett Coleman, the publisher of the Times of India, haggling over how much the group would need in order to consider the proposal. Mr Jain says he wants $150mn (£112mn) but finally settles for half that.
There is also a discussion about how any payment could be made in cash, possibly to avoid paying tax.
Bennett Coleman has since rejected any suggestion of dishonesty. In fact, an article in the Times of India explained that Cobrapost was the victim of what the newspaper calls a "reverse sting".
It says "senior functionaries" of Bennett Coleman were well aware that Mr Sharma was an imposter and deliberately went along with his proposals in an attempt to "trap the fraudster and discover his true intent".
The India Today group also denied that it had done anything wrong. In a statement it said that the company's managers would not do anything unethical, and that any advertising that divides the country on religious or caste lines will not be acceptable or aired on its channels.
Meanwhile the New Indian Express has said that there are no editorial issues for the newspaper because the meetings were between the undercover reporter and advertising executives and the discussion was only about the possibility of an advertising campaign.
It also said it would never accept advertisements which encouraged communal disharmony and that the executives made clear that any advertisement would need to be legally vetted.
There is no question that the Cobrapost allegations need to be treated with healthy scepticism. But there is also no question that they raise potentially troubling doubts over the independence of the media in India, particularly when it is a year away from a general election.
That the world's largest democracy languishes towards the bottom of the rankings for press freedom is already a matter of national shame.
If proven, these allegations would no doubt see India slipping yet further down the table.
A headline in the online news site Scroll captures the challenge the country faces.
"Cobrapost expose shows Indian media is sinking", it runs. "Now we can fight back or be drowned."
The story barely reported by Indian media
You dont need half a brain to identify so, what you need is wasting a couple of hours watching the news channel you want to expose.
Currently the two biggest and highest ranked media house run channel namely Times Now and Republic are pro BJP. Even after 4 years of BJP in power, they spent all their energies dragging Congress back.
On contrary, NDTV is anti BJP.
That's almost sums up English Channels.
Did that turd came out with this last of your thrust?
How about changing your location to commode?
You're mistaken. He's the turd . Waiting to be flushed . It's you who refuses to oblige him .Did that turd came out with this last of your thrust?
How about changing your location to commode?
Modi government looks to set up media command room, issues tender for technology
India’s government is looking for a company to scrape and analyze social media posts to help boost nationalism and neutralize any "media blitzkrieg by India’s adversaries."
In a lengthy tender posted online, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said it wants a company to provide analytical software and a team of at least 20 professionals to "power a real time New Media Command Room."
They should monitor Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Internet forums and even email in order to analyze sentiment, identify "fake news," disseminate information on behalf of the government and inject news and social media posts with a "positive slant for India," the tender said.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, India’s ministries and cabinet ministers have been active on social media, tweeting new policies and interacting with citizens. But this tender suggests Modi’s government now wants more powerful social media tools to shape a positive narrative about India and encourage nationalism among its citizens in the lead up to state and national elections.
"Essentially, the hub will be a mass surveillance tool," said Nikita Sud, an associate professor of international development at Oxford University. "Nationalism seems to be equated with agreement with the government of the day, or even with the party in power. There are grave implications here for India’s democracy, and for the fundamental rights to free speech and expression guaranteed by the Indian constitution."
A spokesman in the prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a call or text. Calls to a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting were not answered.
Big Brother
India is just the latest Asian country looking more closely at "fake news" and social media. In the run up to a closely-fought election in Malaysia, the government of former prime minister Najib Razak introduced a fake news law that was used to probe his chief opponent Mahathir Mohamad, who won the election and has reportedly proposed to repeal the law. In Singapore, a parliamentary select committee recently held public hearings over the issue of imposing new restrictions on "fake news."
In India’s tender, the government seeks the ability to track trends, topics and Twitter hashtags relevant to government activities. But it also seeks the ability to drill down and monitor individual social media accounts, create historical archives of conversations and help shape a positive narrative about India.
It suggests the social media tool should use "predictive modeling" and "data mining" to "make predictions about the future or unknown events," including the impact of headlines in international publications such as the New York Times, the Economist and Time magazine.
What "would be the global public perception due to such headlines and breaking news, how could the public perception be molded in positive manner for the country, how could nationalistic feelings be inculcated in the masses," it continues. How "could the media blitzkrieg of India’s adversaries be predicted and replied/neutralized, how could the social media and internet news/discussions be given a positive slant for India," the document reads.
"The worst thing is that this is akin to creating surveillance infrastructure, equivalent to China and Russia, which are monitoring many of their citizens," said Niranjan Sahoo, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in New Delhi and a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Rising Democracies Network. "And all these things are being done without robust data protection laws."
The government tender is dated April 25, and noted it was accepting bids until May 17.
Modi government looks to set up media command room, issues tender for technology
India’s government is looking for a company to scrape and analyze social media posts to help boost nationalism and neutralize any "media blitzkrieg by India’s adversaries."
In a lengthy tender posted online, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said it wants a company to provide analytical software and a team of at least 20 professionals to "power a real time New Media Command Room."
They should monitor Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Internet forums and even email in order to analyze sentiment, identify "fake news," disseminate information on behalf of the government and inject news and social media posts with a "positive slant for India," the tender said.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, India’s ministries and cabinet ministers have been active on social media, tweeting new policies and interacting with citizens. But this tender suggests Modi’s government now wants more powerful social media tools to shape a positive narrative about India and encourage nationalism among its citizens in the lead up to state and national elections.
"Essentially, the hub will be a mass surveillance tool," said Nikita Sud, an associate professor of international development at Oxford University. "Nationalism seems to be equated with agreement with the government of the day, or even with the party in power. There are grave implications here for India’s democracy, and for the fundamental rights to free speech and expression guaranteed by the Indian constitution."
A spokesman in the prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a call or text. Calls to a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting were not answered.
Big Brother
India is just the latest Asian country looking more closely at "fake news" and social media. In the run up to a closely-fought election in Malaysia, the government of former prime minister Najib Razak introduced a fake news law that was used to probe his chief opponent Mahathir Mohamad, who won the election and has reportedly proposed to repeal the law. In Singapore, a parliamentary select committee recently held public hearings over the issue of imposing new restrictions on "fake news."
In India’s tender, the government seeks the ability to track trends, topics and Twitter hashtags relevant to government activities. But it also seeks the ability to drill down and monitor individual social media accounts, create historical archives of conversations and help shape a positive narrative about India.
It suggests the social media tool should use "predictive modeling" and "data mining" to "make predictions about the future or unknown events," including the impact of headlines in international publications such as the New York Times, the Economist and Time magazine.
What "would be the global public perception due to such headlines and breaking news, how could the public perception be molded in positive manner for the country, how could nationalistic feelings be inculcated in the masses," it continues. How "could the media blitzkrieg of India’s adversaries be predicted and replied/neutralized, how could the social media and internet news/discussions be given a positive slant for India," the document reads.
"The worst thing is that this is akin to creating surveillance infrastructure, equivalent to China and Russia, which are monitoring many of their citizens," said Niranjan Sahoo, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in New Delhi and a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Rising Democracies Network. "And all these things are being done without robust data protection laws."
The government tender is dated April 25, and noted it was accepting bids until May 17.
Modi government looks to set up media command room, issues tender for technology
PM Modi biggest victim of political intolerance, says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the “biggest victim of political intolerance” and from Gujarat to Delhi “political conspiracies” were hatched against him by “frustrated forces” who have been defeated by the people of the country, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today. He also claimed that the Modi government had ensured development with dignity of all the minorities and listed several initiatives taken by the Centre for the welfare of these sections.
At a press conference here on the occasion of completion of four years of the BJP-led central government, Naqvi said “the caucus of corruption” was unable to digest Modi’s commitment to inclusive growth. “Today our government has made development as the mood of the nation. We have made development, a people’s movement. Prime Minister Modi has become ‘Vikas Nayak’ for the people of the country,” the minister said.
Naqvi said the Modi government has ensured “Development with Dignity” of all minorities.
Naqvi said the Modi government had established “marks of success” by removing “stains of failures” left by the previous regime. Enhancing transparency is the hall mark of the government, which took bold and decisive steps like the surgical strike against terrorists, demonetisation and GST.
Naqvi said the Modi government was successful on every front be it the economy, national security, international affairs. The entire world has been applauding the transformation, he said. The Minorities Affairs minister said the Modi government had broken every barrier of caste, religion and region. “The Congress and its allies are unable to digest the atmosphere of trust and development created by the Modi government. The Congress has become a caucus of corruption,” he said.
Naqvi said the Modi government has ensured “Development with Dignity” of all minorities. “During the last 4 years, 2.66 crore students belonging to poor and weaker sections of minorities have been benefitted from various educational empowerment programmes like Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit cum Means Scholarships, Maulana Azad National Fellowship, Padho Pardes, Free Coaching and Allied schemes, Nai Udaan, Naya Savera,” he said.
Over 5.43 lakh youths have been provided employment and opportunities through job-oriented skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Kaushal Vikas Yojana and Nai Manzil, while Nai Roushni and Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarships have benefitted 1.21 crore girls and women.
Naqvi said concessional loans were provided for self-employment to more than 6.30 lakh people belonging to minority communities under the Term Loan and Micro Finance schemes of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC). He also said that for the first time after Independence, a record 1,75,025 Indian Muslims are going to Haj in 2018 without subsidy.
PM Modi biggest victim of political intolerance, says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the “biggest victim of political intolerance” and from Gujarat to Delhi “political conspiracies” were hatched against him by “frustrated forces” who have been defeated by the people of the country, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today. He also claimed that the Modi government had ensured development with dignity of all the minorities and listed several initiatives taken by the Centre for the welfare of these sections.
At a press conference here on the occasion of completion of four years of the BJP-led central government, Naqvi said “the caucus of corruption” was unable to digest Modi’s commitment to inclusive growth. “Today our government has made development as the mood of the nation. We have made development, a people’s movement. Prime Minister Modi has become ‘Vikas Nayak’ for the people of the country,” the minister said.
Naqvi said the Modi government has ensured “Development with Dignity” of all minorities.
Naqvi said the Modi government had established “marks of success” by removing “stains of failures” left by the previous regime. Enhancing transparency is the hall mark of the government, which took bold and decisive steps like the surgical strike against terrorists, demonetisation and GST.
Naqvi said the Modi government was successful on every front be it the economy, national security, international affairs. The entire world has been applauding the transformation, he said. The Minorities Affairs minister said the Modi government had broken every barrier of caste, religion and region. “The Congress and its allies are unable to digest the atmosphere of trust and development created by the Modi government. The Congress has become a caucus of corruption,” he said.
Naqvi said the Modi government has ensured “Development with Dignity” of all minorities. “During the last 4 years, 2.66 crore students belonging to poor and weaker sections of minorities have been benefitted from various educational empowerment programmes like Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit cum Means Scholarships, Maulana Azad National Fellowship, Padho Pardes, Free Coaching and Allied schemes, Nai Udaan, Naya Savera,” he said.
Over 5.43 lakh youths have been provided employment and opportunities through job-oriented skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Kaushal Vikas Yojana and Nai Manzil, while Nai Roushni and Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarships have benefitted 1.21 crore girls and women.
Naqvi said concessional loans were provided for self-employment to more than 6.30 lakh people belonging to minority communities under the Term Loan and Micro Finance schemes of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC). He also said that for the first time after Independence, a record 1,75,025 Indian Muslims are going to Haj in 2018 without subsidy.
PM Modi biggest victim of political intolerance, says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
What a website. Government website with performance dashboards! Unbelievable. 
Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas
Many corporates also don't have such dashboards...
Please see this
Forward from WhatsApp
Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas
Many corporates also don't have such dashboards...
Please see this
Forward from WhatsApp
What a website. Government website with performance dashboards! Unbelievable.
Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas
Many corporates also don't have such dashboards...
Please see this
Forward from WhatsApp
Where is Ram Mandir?
Hi! Friends need some help. This is a survey for startup owners/founders in India. I need you to fill in this survey for me, please. Would really appreciate the help. GST Impact Survey
Did that turd came out with this last of your thrust?
How about changing your location to commode?
Owww so many many more words....