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This is correct. > Political liberalism in India is now under assault. The current right-of-center government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a

This is correct. > Political liberalism in India is now under assault. The current right-of-center government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appears intent on transforming India's pluralistic, open, and secular state into an ethnic and illiberal democracy. To that end it has sought to place ideologues in key governmental institutions, attempted to curtail academic freedoms at a leading university, and made efforts to curb an otherwise feisty mass media. A weak political opposition, which had in any case failed to demonstrate much mettle when in government prior to the BJP's 2014 electoral victory, now appears utterly incapable of stemming this illiberal tide. As a consequence, India's future as a liberal democracy appears to be at some risk. > Kumi Naidoo, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, takes a different view, decrying an official effort to "[crush] dissent by demonizing and criminalizing activists, lawyers, and journalists working for some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in India." Amnesty International India has itself been targeted: Its bank accounts have been frozen, and police in Bangalore have accused it of sedition. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 From the Journal of Democracy (Jan 2019)

ravibhatt 6y ago
"Journal of Democracy", Lancet and "Global Health Security Index" ---- I put them all in same category. Take whatever they say with a pinch of salt. The reports published by these orgs are prepared by some minimum wage worker which is then rubber stamped. If these institutes were so credible then US and UK would have not been impacted by COVID so badly. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/countries-preparedness-pandemics/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/countries-preparednes... Western narrative about right, wrong and perfect system needs to be called out as they are -- hypocrite.
- nl 6y ago
  >> https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 >> From the Journal of Democracy (Jan 2019) > The reports published by these orgs are prepared by some minimum wage worker Author: Sumit Ganguly is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations at the Indiana University. > Lancet and "Global Health Security Index" I don't know what "Global Health Security Index" is, but no minimum wage worker is getting published in Lancet.
  - ravibhatt 6y ago
    None of his previous work is on the subject of freedom and democracy btw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumit_Ganguly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumit_Ganguly
    - nl 6y ago
      Thanks for the Wikipedia page! I think it makes it fairly clear he is well qualified to write on the topic. Only one of the his 8 books wasn't about India. He was awarded the "Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Distinguished Overseas Indian)" award by the President of India! Additionally he has published extensively specifically about India and democracy since at least 1997: https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Sumit+Ganguly+democracy&btnG= https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=S... I'd note in particular his contribution to the 1997 classic in the field "Paths to Peace - Is Democracy the Answer?" https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/paths-peace https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/paths-peace
- mmrezaie 6y ago
  In your provided link it points to Sweden as one of the best prepared countries for COVID. I am Swedish citizen. I am actually quiet surprised since it is still hard to get tested and test results take longer than two days (mine was a week but it was private and two months ago). Sweden in general is handling it well, but it would take a long time to understand who handled covid better.
  - ravibhatt 6y ago
    The point is not about covid per se. The point is veracity of the institution that are cited all over the globe and orgs like amnesty. These are created, based and are funded by western govts and people -- their point of view is already biased and often times willfully. To highlight the point I used pandemic preparedness. Some one in his/her infinite wisdom comes up with an index with 10 parameters and then publishes it. The parameters are mostly influences by where that person lives and his own political leanings.
    - ravibhatt 6y ago
      Down voting comments by people with higher karma without any contributions --- is how the hypocrites work. If you do not agree with someone - use your power and down vote! That is how entire western worlds has worked for last 200 or more years!
    - nl 6y ago
      I noticed that you seem to attack the sources of a lot of things you disagree with as biased. I don't think that is obviously true, but in any case your arguments maybe better received if you explained why their claims are wrong. I'd note that you used the same approach downthread, until it turned out the author himself was Indian and extremely well qualified to make the points he made.

ravibhatt 6y ago

"Journal of Democracy", Lancet and "Global Health Security Index" ---- I put them all in same category. Take whatever they say with a pinch of salt. The reports published by these orgs are prepared by some minimum wage worker which is then rubber stamped. If these institutes were so credible then US and UK would have not been impacted by COVID so badly. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/countries-preparedness-pandemics/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/countries-preparednes... Western narrative about right, wrong and perfect system needs to be called out as they are -- hypocrite.

nl 6y ago
>> https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724 >> From the Journal of Democracy (Jan 2019) > The reports published by these orgs are prepared by some minimum wage worker Author: Sumit Ganguly is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations at the Indiana University. > Lancet and "Global Health Security Index" I don't know what "Global Health Security Index" is, but no minimum wage worker is getting published in Lancet.
- ravibhatt 6y ago
  None of his previous work is on the subject of freedom and democracy btw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumit_Ganguly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumit_Ganguly
  - nl 6y ago
    Thanks for the Wikipedia page! I think it makes it fairly clear he is well qualified to write on the topic. Only one of the his 8 books wasn't about India. He was awarded the "Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Distinguished Overseas Indian)" award by the President of India! Additionally he has published extensively specifically about India and democracy since at least 1997: https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Sumit+Ganguly+democracy&btnG= https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=S... I'd note in particular his contribution to the 1997 classic in the field "Paths to Peace - Is Democracy the Answer?" https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/paths-peace https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/paths-peace
mmrezaie 6y ago
In your provided link it points to Sweden as one of the best prepared countries for COVID. I am Swedish citizen. I am actually quiet surprised since it is still hard to get tested and test results take longer than two days (mine was a week but it was private and two months ago). Sweden in general is handling it well, but it would take a long time to understand who handled covid better.
- ravibhatt 6y ago
  The point is not about covid per se. The point is veracity of the institution that are cited all over the globe and orgs like amnesty. These are created, based and are funded by western govts and people -- their point of view is already biased and often times willfully. To highlight the point I used pandemic preparedness. Some one in his/her infinite wisdom comes up with an index with 10 parameters and then publishes it. The parameters are mostly influences by where that person lives and his own political leanings.
  - ravibhatt 6y ago
    Down voting comments by people with higher karma without any contributions --- is how the hypocrites work. If you do not agree with someone - use your power and down vote! That is how entire western worlds has worked for last 200 or more years!
  - nl 6y ago
    I noticed that you seem to attack the sources of a lot of things you disagree with as biased. I don't think that is obviously true, but in any case your arguments maybe better received if you explained why their claims are wrong. I'd note that you used the same approach downthread, until it turned out the author himself was Indian and extremely well qualified to make the points he made.