1/7. Bhagat Singh Jhuggian, 93, is one of India’s last living freedom fighters. Expelled from school, an official circular called him ‘dangerous’ and a ‘revolutionary’ – at age 11! He became a courier for the radical underground. Story link at end of thread. #IndependenceDay2021
2/7. His reaction to being thrashed and thrown out of Government Elementary School, Samundra in Hoshiarpur, Punjab was: ‘Now I’m free to join the anti-British struggle.’ He did. By the time he was 16, the police were more scared of him than he was of them. #IndependenceDay2021
3/7. This foot-soldier of freedom fought for humanity during Partition which for him was the saddest year ever. He often risked his life to save innocents from frenzied communal mobs. Post-I947 he fought for farmers and workers and still does – at age 93. #IndependenceDay2021
4/7. The Pratap Singh Kairon government jailed him for his role in the 1959 struggle against unjust taxes imposed on farmers. They seized and auctioned his buffalo and fodder chopping machine. But a neighbour bought both for Rs. 11 and returned them to him. #IndependenceDay2021
5/7. He was a prime target of Khalistani terrorists between 1984 and 1993. At least one attempt on his life failed because one of the extremists recognised him as a fine human being and refused to kill him. The hit squad turned back 400 metres from his house. #IndependenceDay2021
6/7. Even today, jathas going from his tehsil to join the farmers’ protests on Delhi’s borders go first to his home to get his blessings. And he is raising resources for the protesting farmers camped at Shahjahanpur. Full story on PARI in 13 languages. #IndependenceDay2021
7/7. Bhagat Singh Jhuggian is worried about the independence and freedom of the nation that he fought for. Because, he says, those now running the country participated in neither. But, he believes, “the sun will set on this Raj, too.” #IndependenceDay2021 ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/bh…
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1/4. Journalists should not accept awards from governments they cover or critique. If the external auditor of a venture you were invested in was accepting the company’s awards, you would be furious. The journalist is an external auditor to government. #Media#Awards
2/4. In this respect, journalists are different from musicians, artists, sportspersons, and some other groups. Unlike journalists, those other groups are not likely to be subsequently called upon to scrutinize the government’s functioning. #Media#Awards
3/4. The point of non-acceptance is less about governments and more about the personal and professional ethical protocols of the journalist. I do not seek to impose mine on other journalists – others who choose to accept state awards have a right to do so. #Media#Awards
1/7. The number of schoolteachers who died of Covid-19 after compulsory duty in UP’s panchayat polls has risen to 1,621 – 1,181 men and 440 women. And the toll could rise further. Link to story (with full list of those deaths) at end of thread. #COVID19#Elections2021
2/7. The UP government says there is no proven connection between the holding of the elections and the deaths of these teachers who, as the Allahabad High Court noted, did not volunteer to render their services “but it was all made obligatory.” #COVID19#Elections2021
3/7. The UP government, the unions point out, sought no postponements. Rather, its pleader had assured the Supreme Court “that guidelines for protecting people from Covid infections would be strictly followed during counting of votes.” That never happened. #COVID19#Elections2021
1/6. 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 (not for the speaker, but countless thousands of others): “Remember, victory in the Mahabharat war came in 18 days. Against Covid it will take 21 days.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi. March 25,2020. (Do add your own favourites). #COVID19India
2/6. 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 (not for the speaker, but for countless thousands of others): “Today, India is ready to protect humanity with not one but two Made in India Corona Vaccines.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pravasi Divas meet, January 9, 2021. #COVID19India
3/6. 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 (not for the speaker but for countless thousands of others): "India has been successful in saving so many lives, we saved the entire humanity from a big tragedy.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Davos, January 28, 2021. #COVID19India
1/7. Indian Billionaires, now 140 in number, almost doubled their wealth in the pandemic year, says Forbes magazine, their combined worth reaching $596 billion (Rs. 44.5 trillion). In a year when GDP contracted 7.7 %. Story link at end of thread. #Forbes#ambani#Farmers#COVID19
2/7. India’s 140 billionaires account for 0.000014 per cent of the population. But they hold wealth equivalent to 22.7 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product of $ 2.62 trillion, bringing that whole other meaning to the word 'Gross.' #Forbes#ambani#Farmers#COVID19
3/7. The total wealth of our top 2 $ billionaires, Ambani ($84.5 billion) and Adani ($50.5 billion), is far greater than the gross state domestic product of Punjab ($85.5 billion) or Haryana ($101 billion) whose farmers they stand pitted against. #Forbes#ambani#Farmers#COVID19
1/6. International Women’s Day: remember this group for whom ‘there is always a lockdown.’ Over 80 per cent of Indian nurses are women. A brilliant story in PARI by Kavitha Muralidharan on nurses in Tamil Nadu. Story link at end of thread. #WomensDay#healthworkers#COVID19
2/6. Nurses working in Covid-19 wards do so at very high risk. Thousands have contracted the virus in India these past 11 months, and several have died – but data on healthcare worker deaths from Covid-19 are notoriously unreliable. #WomensDay#healthworkers#COVID19
3/6. Some nurses, themselves lactating mothers, have worked in wards taking care of pregnant mothers – and their babies – down with Covid-19. This means shutting themselves off from their own, often less than year-old children for long periods. #WomensDay#healthworkers#COVID19
1/6. Are those noisy Punjabis at Delhi’s gates “rich farmers?” The average monthly income of a farm household (avg. 5.24 persons) in that state was Rs. 18,059. Or a monthly per capita income of Rs. 3,450. (NSS 70th Round). Story link at end of thread. #FarmersProtests
2/6. In Haryana: Farm household avg. 5.9 persons. Avg. monthly income Rs.14,434 or Rs. 2,450 per capita. That’s income from ALL sources: cultivation, livestock, wages/ salaries, non-farm businesses. Gee! Such wealth. What a ball these folks must be having. #FarmersProtests
3/6. Sure they’re better off than farmers in, say, Gujarat: Farm household avg. 5.2 persons, Avg. monthly income Rs. 7,926 (or Rs. 1,524 per capita). All India average: farm household 5.1. Avg. monthly household income Rs. 6,426. Per capita barely Rs. 1,300 #FarmersProtests