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Its beneficial for farmers but not middle men, and unfortunately there is a huge propaganda to push back on it. The protests were highly unethical in a time whe

by Abhinav2000 6y ago

Its beneficial for farmers but not middle men, and unfortunately there is a huge propaganda to push back on it. The protests were highly unethical in a time where there is covid and congregating in such groups puts the whole country at risk. In any case, I hope its not true that they are asking twitter to remove content - free speech is free speech. Edit: Looks like Twitter went against a legal order, so they are the offending party here: The social media giant "cannot assume the role of (a) court and justify non-compliance," the government said today in a statement. "Twitter being an intermediary is obliged to obey the directions as per satisfaction of authorities as to which inflammatory content will arouse passion and impact public order. Twitter cannot sit as an appellate authority over the satisfaction of the authorities about its potential impact on derailing public order," the statement read.

amachefe 6y ago
Lol... Twitter has already showed that their free speech is not free speech in their platform. If they can censor the free speech of a Head of state, they should be ready to obey directives from a state
ignoramous 6y ago
The incumbent government is as totalitarian as it gets. There's no democracy left, let alone free speech. https://scroll.in/article/832961/finance-bill-in-one-stroke-the-indian-government-undermined-several-democratic-institutions https://scroll.in/article/832961/finance-bill-in-one-stroke-...
- divs1210 6y ago
  > as totalitarian as it gets Either you don't know what you're talking about, or you're consciously lying. If this govt was "as totalitarian as it gets", we would be seeing Tiananmen Square kind of things happening. We would see gulags. Opposition parties would be banned, and all opposition leaders jailed / killed. India is a thriving democracy. It's not perfect, or even well functioning, but it is most certainly democratic.
  - ignoramous 6y ago
    Your definition of totalitarianism is weird. Let's check Wikipedia: > Totalitarian regimes are often characterized by extensive political repression, a complete lack of democracy, widespread personality cultism, absolute control over the economy, massive censorship, mass surveillance, limited freedom of movement (most notably freedom to leave the country) and widespread use of state terrorism. Other aspects of a totalitarian regime include the use of concentration camps, repressive secret police, religious persecution or state atheism, the common practice of executions, fraudulent elections (if they take place), possible possession of weapons of mass destruction and potentially state-sponsored mass murder and genocides. Historian Robert Conquest describes a totalitarian state as one which recognizes no limit on its authority in any sphere of public or private life and it extends that authority to whatever length is feasible. Yep, the incumbent Indian government sounds, looks, feels, acts like totalitarian to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism
webmobdev 6y ago
I have different opinion on both the issues you raised: - The new farm bills is absolutely a disaster for indian agriculture as it it tilts the balance of negotiating power completely in favour of the corporates by dergulating the marketplace and making the laws on corporate farming in favour of the corporates. - In a democratic country, even with an undemocratic government in power like the current one, social media platforms (especially foreign ones), should comply with indian rules and laws.
kranner 6y ago
> Its beneficial for farmers but not middle men, and unfortunately there is a huge propaganda to push back on it. The protests were highly unethical in a time where there is covid and congregating in such groups puts the whole country at risk. It is decidedly not beneficial for farmers with small land holdings, and most farmers in India are such farmers. The new laws remove legal protection when companies fail to honour farming contracts; the only option now is to approach the Sub-Divisional Magistrates for arbitration, a class of government official that is known primarily for being corrupt. The new laws also remove stockholding limits for private companies (except in the event of an official famine, etc). Incidentally new private godowns came up everywhere months before the laws were passed, almost as if these companies could predict the future. If you want to talk about unethical acts, the laws were steamrolled through parliament. It was beyond farcical. Have a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5s4quyO2W0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5s4quyO2W0 And propaganda? The Centre spent a fortune on propaganda justifying the new laws. It even showed pictures of "farmers" said to be in support of the new laws who now claim their pictures were used without their consent. Far from being in favour of the bills, they are part of the protests against them. Here: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/protesting-farmer-filmmaker-made-posterboy-for-farm-laws-sends-legal-notice-to-bjp-1752505-2020-12-23 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/protesting-farmer-film... The Centre claims the laws will give farmers the opportunity to shop around for a better price. The reality is that most Indian farmers are in debt, and can barely afford to transport their produce to the nearest wholesale markets. They can't afford multiple trips. They can't afford to go to a neighbouring state. They have no storage facilities. Their goods are highly perishable. They have to take the price traders will offer, and collusion among traders is extremely common. This is the kind of fortune farmers can expect to make selling to private traders: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/angry-farmer-dumps-10-quintals-of-cauliflower-on-road-after-traders-pay-re-1-per-kg-for-produce/articleshow/80654316.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/angry-farm... All those farmers who are protesting are not doing it out of ideological opposition to the Modi government. They have mostly refused to allow any political party to become part of the protests. They are protesting because they are aware that these laws will result in the government phasing out existing government-run wholesale markets, and then it will be curtains for them. Edit: now the Government has barricaded in the protestors, cut off their water and food, cut off their Internet and barred any journalists from meeting them.

amachefe 6y ago

Lol... Twitter has already showed that their free speech is not free speech in their platform. If they can censor the free speech of a Head of state, they should be ready to obey directives from a state

ignoramous 6y ago

The incumbent government is as totalitarian as it gets. There's no democracy left, let alone free speech. https://scroll.in/article/832961/finance-bill-in-one-stroke-the-indian-government-undermined-several-democratic-institutions https://scroll.in/article/832961/finance-bill-in-one-stroke-...

divs1210 6y ago
> as totalitarian as it gets Either you don't know what you're talking about, or you're consciously lying. If this govt was "as totalitarian as it gets", we would be seeing Tiananmen Square kind of things happening. We would see gulags. Opposition parties would be banned, and all opposition leaders jailed / killed. India is a thriving democracy. It's not perfect, or even well functioning, but it is most certainly democratic.
- ignoramous 6y ago
  Your definition of totalitarianism is weird. Let's check Wikipedia: > Totalitarian regimes are often characterized by extensive political repression, a complete lack of democracy, widespread personality cultism, absolute control over the economy, massive censorship, mass surveillance, limited freedom of movement (most notably freedom to leave the country) and widespread use of state terrorism. Other aspects of a totalitarian regime include the use of concentration camps, repressive secret police, religious persecution or state atheism, the common practice of executions, fraudulent elections (if they take place), possible possession of weapons of mass destruction and potentially state-sponsored mass murder and genocides. Historian Robert Conquest describes a totalitarian state as one which recognizes no limit on its authority in any sphere of public or private life and it extends that authority to whatever length is feasible. Yep, the incumbent Indian government sounds, looks, feels, acts like totalitarian to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism

webmobdev 6y ago

I have different opinion on both the issues you raised: - The new farm bills is absolutely a disaster for indian agriculture as it it tilts the balance of negotiating power completely in favour of the corporates by dergulating the marketplace and making the laws on corporate farming in favour of the corporates. - In a democratic country, even with an undemocratic government in power like the current one, social media platforms (especially foreign ones), should comply with indian rules and laws.

kranner 6y ago

> Its beneficial for farmers but not middle men, and unfortunately there is a huge propaganda to push back on it. The protests were highly unethical in a time where there is covid and congregating in such groups puts the whole country at risk. It is decidedly not beneficial for farmers with small land holdings, and most farmers in India are such farmers. The new laws remove legal protection when companies fail to honour farming contracts; the only option now is to approach the Sub-Divisional Magistrates for arbitration, a class of government official that is known primarily for being corrupt. The new laws also remove stockholding limits for private companies (except in the event of an official famine, etc). Incidentally new private godowns came up everywhere months before the laws were passed, almost as if these companies could predict the future. If you want to talk about unethical acts, the laws were steamrolled through parliament. It was beyond farcical. Have a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5s4quyO2W0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5s4quyO2W0 And propaganda? The Centre spent a fortune on propaganda justifying the new laws. It even showed pictures of "farmers" said to be in support of the new laws who now claim their pictures were used without their consent. Far from being in favour of the bills, they are part of the protests against them. Here: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/protesting-farmer-filmmaker-made-posterboy-for-farm-laws-sends-legal-notice-to-bjp-1752505-2020-12-23 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/protesting-farmer-film... The Centre claims the laws will give farmers the opportunity to shop around for a better price. The reality is that most Indian farmers are in debt, and can barely afford to transport their produce to the nearest wholesale markets. They can't afford multiple trips. They can't afford to go to a neighbouring state. They have no storage facilities. Their goods are highly perishable. They have to take the price traders will offer, and collusion among traders is extremely common. This is the kind of fortune farmers can expect to make selling to private traders: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/angry-farmer-dumps-10-quintals-of-cauliflower-on-road-after-traders-pay-re-1-per-kg-for-produce/articleshow/80654316.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/angry-farm... All those farmers who are protesting are not doing it out of ideological opposition to the Modi government. They have mostly refused to allow any political party to become part of the protests. They are protesting because they are aware that these laws will result in the government phasing out existing government-run wholesale markets, and then it will be curtains for them. Edit: now the Government has barricaded in the protestors, cut off their water and food, cut off their Internet and barred any journalists from meeting them.