Why have 300 million people been protesting in India? A few people have asked me about this so thought I’d offer a handy summary thread (1/22)

Small farmers make up 60% of India’s working population and are routinely romanticized as the backbone of the country. Nonetheless, decades of policy have given them a raw deal (2/22)
From the 1960s, innovations in agriculture (like pesticides and GM seeds) massively increased food production in India. But they also increased the need for small farmers to take out loans to pay for expensive seeds and equipment so they could produce competitively. (3/22)
These loans, with punitive repayment programmes, have dragged much of the farming population into debt spirals that have led to increased poverty, loss of dignity and, most notably, 300,000 suicides (4/22)
Against this background of farmer disempowerment, the ruling party in India, the BJP, tried to stealth pass three bills that would liberalise the agricultural sector and make farmers even worse off than they are right now (5/22)
In response, small groups of farmers started organizing in the Punjab in August. Following suit, smaller local protests sprung up around the country in the ensuring months. Large unions began mounting bigger demonstrations in September (6/22)
What’s interesting about the bills is that they screw over poorer, small farmers as well as wealthier ones. By attacking the whole sector, the government has forced cross-strata solidarity that has allowed these protests to be as big and well-organised as they are. (7/22)
By November, with protests ignored, tens of thousands marched on Delhi and were violently suppressed outside the city with tear gas and water cannons. Unperturbed, around 300,000 protestors set up camp outside Delhi and have been there ever since. (8/22)
At the same time, the major unions of India declared a 24-hour general strike, leading to 250 million joining industrial action in solidarity with the farmers (9/22)
All of this forced the government to the table where they capitulated on some of the most unpopular elements of the new bills. But this was deemed insufficient by the movement’s leaders and protests continued (10/22)
Farmers around Delhi (and throughout the country) have continued to block roads using tractors. They have been supported by thousands who were drawn into activism by India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill in 2019 that discriminated against Muslims. (11/22)
Camped outside Delhi, farmers have been running Sikh langar to ensure everyone is equally fed and watered. The largely pro-government press in India have accused the protestors of being unpatriotic and contributing to COVID-19 by being camped together (12/22)
However, the plunging COVID-19 statistics in the country tell a different story. And India was a country that was born less than a century ago out of protests against unchecked and unjust power. Nothing could be more Indian than opposition to oppression. (13/22)
Anyway, protests escalated in the middle of January when 100s stormed the symbolic Red Fort in Delhi, where the Indian flag was first hoisted on India’s independence in 1947 (14/22)
At the same time, huge protests brought one of the most densely populated cities on the planet to a standstill. Farmers have since started to go further and engage in hunger strikes in their thousands until their demands to have the bills completed repealed are met (15/22)
Throughout the process, the BJP have been showing off their fascistic tendencies. Indian media stations are heavily dependent on government advertising revenue so have acted as broadcasters for the establishment’s anti-protest messaging (16/22)
Military tactics have been used by the police to try and disperse peaceful protestors and to sow dissent. Police have used facial recognition software to hunt leaders. Most shockingly, the internet has been routinely suspended throughout Delhi and the state it is based in (17/22)
India currently leads the world in suspension of internet access, especially after blacking out Kashmir for nearly a year. It’s hard to deny that the BJP are practicing anti-democracy – in a country that proudly touts itself as the world’s largest democracy. (18/22)
So what next? India’s new budget, announced yesterday, features nothing to appease farmers directly. The promise of increased public spending on roads and hospitals may give the economy a boost, shifting aggregate demand in a way that tempts wealthier farmers to desist (19/22)
Equally, India’s new vaccine programme may be used as a carrot to lead some of the protestors back home in exchange for medical support. (20/22)
But, both these outcomes are unlikely. 70% of Indians are vaccine-sceptical and the commitment of farmers to these protests has endured remarkable challenges already. Numbers in the air are unlikely to do much to their resolve (21/22)
How can we help? The protests are showing the world the power of organized labour and exposing the BJP as authoritarian . We need to support the protestors by describing the BJP as anti-democratic and fascist as comfortably as we do the ruling parties of other countries. (22/22)

More from India

Reporters, pundits, activists. Before you echo the notion that Palestinians are being "corralled into small, crowded enclaves", which is in vogue in some circles, here are some facts that you won't find in @btselem's new position paper. Read and decide for yourself.

Thread:


Starting with the West Bank, specifically Area C from which allegedly Palestinians are being systematically pushed into the enclaves of Areas A and B, and replaced by Jewish settlers. If so, we should've seen the demographic balance in Area C shift in the Jews' favor. Has it? /2

Well, there's no evidence for that, certainly none in the paper. Latest UN estimate is ~ 300k Palestinians in Area C in 2013, probably >3 times their number in 1995 when the area was delineated. Jewish population growth in the same area & period was slower or similar at 2.6%./3

While good population stats for Area C are unavailable, there are construction surveys based on aerial photos. Do they support Btselem's claim? Quite the contrary. At least one shows that in recent yrs the total Palestinian residential area expanded more than the Jewish one./4


The same analysis by @RegavimIsrael found that the number of Palestinian structures in Area C increased by 28,600 during 2009-2019, nearly doubling in one decade, far more than the 18,600 built in Jewish settlements in that period, according to official statistics. /5
A lot has happened in the last week re: the IT Rules, 2021! It may feel chilling, but mass awareness is the first step. This is an official thread of our resources on the Rules. Send it to anyone who wants to learn about them. This thread will evolve with updates over time.
1/n

On Feb 25, 2021 we published an analysis of the draft IT Rules, 2021. Alongside the analysis is a rundown of the contentious history of the Rules and the need for starting afresh on this vital conversation about platform accountability. Thread


On Feb 25, 2021, the IT Rules, 2021 came into force. On Feb 27, 2021, we shared with you our comprehensive deep-dive into the Rules - an overview of its contents, the “safeguards” it seeks to establish, and how they affect your fundamental rights.


We're also talking directly to young people and making sure that they are empowered with knowledge about their digital rights w.r.t. the IT Rules, 2021. Watch our video explaining the background of the Rules and the crux of the matter in 5

Currently, public analysis including our own provides a broad overview of concerns. Since new IT Rules are here to stay, we're also providing you with segmented explainers. Our simple video on how the new Rules will affect digital news

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Oh my Goodness!!!

I might have a panic attack due to excitement!!

Read this thread to the end...I just had an epiphany and my mind is blown. Actually, more than blown. More like OBLITERATED! This is the thing! This is the thing that will blow the entire thing out of the water!


Has this man been concealing his true identity?

Is this man a supposed 'dead' Seal Team Six soldier?

Witness protection to be kept safe until the right moment when all will be revealed?!

Who ELSE is alive that may have faked their death/gone into witness protection?


Were "golden tickets" inside the envelopes??


Are these "golden tickets" going to lead to their ultimate undoing?

Review crumbs on the board re: 'gold'.


#SEALTeam6 Trump re-tweeted this.
॥ॐ॥
अस्य श्री गायत्री ध्यान श्लोक:
(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.