Recently, I received an email from from a person who introduced himself as Ronny Krier, claiming to be an American cultural researcher. He said, he visits Counterview in a regular basis to read news about India, and thinks, “It's a great platform to break the information filter bubbles and hear different voice.” Then Kreir, who is on Twitter and Facebook , and calls himself “independent investigator, religion-politics researcher,” refers to a friend whom he does not name to point out how the Tibetan government in exile is failing to take care of refugees. Says Krier, “Under the pandemic, my friend, a Tibetan refugee who lived in Dharmsāla, had something to talk about the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration) in dealing with Covid-19 and current issues in the Tibetan community. I met him when I was travelling India, and recently he reached me and talked about it. He really wants to be heard by the Indian public and the global audience. However, he's still a bit cautious about h...

Are journalists being misunderstood even by well-meaning people? I was to kickstart by quoting an article published in theprint.in titled “ED (Enforcement Directorate) says NewsClick used Rs 30 cr ‘mystery remittances’ to ‘pay Navlakha, CPM IT cell member’.” This article has invited a wild comment from a person who is known to be editing a well-known left-leaning blog.  An old time friend since my college days in Delhi University, referring to this article, said on his Facebook timeline: “An absolutely unethical hatchet job by The Print against NewsClick that descends to unprecedented lows in ass-licking. But am I surprised? Yes, at those who still thought Shekhar Gupta is a journalist with integrity. This is him in his true colours. #StandbyNewsClick.” I am referring to the FB post as an example of where do activists, particularly Leftists, go out of the way while referred to “media”. When they refer to media, they mean corporate media, but they forget a major factor: That media i...

Pointing out that it is hard to fathom why state governments in India go back on their word and tearing up contracts awarded by them, “Mint”, in an opinion piece , has given the example of how Gujarat has “reneged” one of its own deals. “In one fell swoop”, the daily says, “Gujarat’s power procurement agency cancelled tenders for 700 MW of solar power generation given to a clutch of energy producers, citing lower tariff bids in a subsequent auction.” “The companies left staring at Letters of Award (LoAs) that might no longer be worth the ink they bear include Vena Energy, Tata Power, ReNew Power and O2 Power”, the unsigned opinion piece says, pointing out, “Last August, these firms had won contracts to put up facilities in Gujarat’s Dholera Solar Park through an auction process that yielded ₹2.78 per unit as the lowest bid for the supply of electric energy to a state-run power grid.” It adds, “In October, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd gave out duly-signed LoAs. The final power purchase ...

The “nationalist” Koo fever appears to have caught up with some Union ministers, BJP politicians, some right-wing actors, media and professionals. I too decided to try it out by downloading what is tom-tommed as a Twitter alternative on my mobile phone, thinking, perhaps it would give a little insight into right-wing news stories, which interest me. Immediately after downloading Koo, I found that I am being invited to “follow” Union ministers, BJP politicians, a few actors and topcops who have become famous for their closeness to powers that be. But that was expected. I decided not to follow any of them, as I knew what they would be saying. So, I looked up if any news media or journalists are there, whom I could follow. Yes, a few news media were there. I decided to follow Republic TV. I also clicked on the “follow” button for News 18 and CNBC TV-18. There were three or four others in Koo’s “offer” list – frankly I couldn’t recognise any of them, hence decided not to follow them. Then ...

  Releasing a fresh video on the plight of two individuals belonging to highly neglected communities of Indo-Gangetic plains, Vidya Bhushan Rawat, a human rights defender, describes the plight of the family of Banarasi Mushahar, who was found dead on a road side about 200 meters from his house in the morning of May 24, 2020, and of his injured friend Rampreet Nat, lying unconscious across the road. While the village Pradhan Keshav Yadav called the police and got the panchnama done and the body of Banarasi was sent for postmortem, and Rampreet was sent to Gorakhpur medical college as he had severe head injuries, the police later made Rampreet as the main accused, and he is currently lodged in Deoria jail, says the video. Rampreet's wife is ailing and suffers from kidney ailment. Rawat’s video reveals, the family of Rampreet has no source of income. His children suffer from malnutrition as they have nobody to lean on. His father is a 'madariwallah' and earns through begging. ...