The November issue—The equivocations of DY Chandrachud; An inmate’s ordeal reveals the mental-health crisis in India’s prisons; Life in Lebanon through half a decade of crises; How the chimera of Khalistan animates Hindu and Sikh fundamentalism; How business autobiographies deal with caste; and more.

Read the issue: caravanmagazine.in/magazine The November issue is now available online for all subscribers.

If you are a subscriber and unable to log in to our website, please write to subscriptions@caravanmagazine.in

GN Saibaba, a former professor of English at the University of Delhi, has died.

Saibaba was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017, for his alleged links with banned Maoist groups. On 5 March, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba, deeming his decade-long incarceration under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act illegal.

🧵[1/4] From the archives, read @HajeeKaashif's essay on the recent books that bear witness to the Bhima Koregaon-16’s incarceration:
caravanmagazine.in/politics/bhima… 🧵[2/4] “It is only by chance that I came out of prison alive,” GN Saibaba said, at his first press briefing after his release from Nagpur Central jail on 7 March this year. Saibaba also mentioned the inhumane treatment and torture he had faced for nearly ten years in prison. Saibaba, who was wheelchair-bound and over ninety-percent handicapped, was confined to the same cell for over eight years and deprived of a wheelchair.
caravanmagazine.in/politics/bhima…

#CaravanCollection | As India approaches the 2024 national elections, here's a selection of our cover stories from the last five years that evaluate Narendra Modi and his BJP government’s performance in different spheres.

🧵[1/10] Read here: caravanmagazine.in/tag/the-carava…
🧵[2/10] Our June 2023 cover story by @nileenams documents how under the Modi government, the Directorate of Enforcement has been in the limelight, conducting flashy raids and dramatic arrests. The agency has been going after anyone and anything the government sees as a threat, including media houses and NGOs. “The intention is not to end corruption, but to end the opposition,” Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel said.
caravanmagazine.in/law/ed-politic…

#DelhiViolence | Today marks three years since anti-Muslim violence unfolded in northeast Delhi.

Here is a master thread of our coverage—ground reports, testimonies of survivors and in-depth investigations into the BJP and the Delhi Police’s complicity in the violence. On 23 Feb 2020, a clash between a Hindu mob that gathered at Maujpur and anti-CAA protesters, who had occupied the road at the Jafrabad metro, marked the beginning of over three days of communal violence in the national capital.

@sagar_reporter: bit.ly/2O4UAXf

🧵 From Adani–NDTV to sycophancy that often results in comical visuals, TV news in India increasingly resembles the theatre of the absurd. How did we get here?

Our latest #CaravanCollections—with in-depth stories on the biggest news outlets—helps explain: bit.ly/3WpyHjI From 2015, Krishn Kaushik’s (@Krishn_) definitive profile of NDTV, which was among the first in-depth reports that highlighted the Roys’ convoluted maze of financial transactions.

bit.ly/35DcMfq

⚡ Ramdev lifting Arnab Goswami off the ground as a feat of strength. Rahul Kanwal skipping rope with a union minister.

How did TV news get here?

In our latest #CaravanCollections, we bring you a selection of stories on the nation’s biggest outlets that help answer this: From 2015, Krishn Kaushik’s (@Krishn_) definitive profile of NDTV, which, among other things, has produced many star anchors that came to define television news.

bit.ly/35DcMfq

The biggest question confronting India on COVID is: how many people died? What we know is that in four months, between April and July 2021, the plague caused more deaths among Indian citizens than any invasion by enemy forces could have inflicted.

bit.ly/3IDZ0eY In the absence of data from India’s Sample Registration System, scientists have had to rely on alternative approaches to estimate COVID-19 mortality. India’s official COVID-19 death count is under half a million.

@VidyaKrishnan’s March 2022 cover story: bit.ly/3IDZ0eY

The RSS and the Sangh Parivar’s appendages beyond Indian borders often remain overlooked—including in the United States, where they mobilise extensive ideological and material support for the Sangh’s Hindu-chauvinist agenda. Ram Vishwanathan’s report on how groups such as the VHP America, the Overseas Friends of BJP and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh have developed their influence over US politics and promoted Hindutva as a key “Hindu-American interest.”

From October 2020: bit.ly/3oYA1tF

#DelhiViolence | 23 Feb marks two years since anti-Muslim violence unfolded in northeast Delhi.

Here is a master thread of our coverage—ground reports, testimonies of survivors and in-depth investigations into the BJP and the Delhi Police’s complicity in the violence. On 23 Feb 2020, a clash between a Hindu mob that gathered at Maujpur and anti-CAA protesters, who had occupied the road at the Jafrabad metro, marked the beginning of over three days of communal violence in the national capital.

@sagar_reporter: bit.ly/2O4UAXf

On the intervening night of 30 November and 1 December 2014, the judge BH Loya died under mysterious circumstances. At the time, he was presiding over the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which Amit Shah was the prime accused.

The Caravan's coverage of the death of #JudgeLoya: Over numerous conversations with Loya’s family members, @niranjan_takle pieced together a chilling description of what #JudgeLoya went through while presiding over the Sohrabuddin trial, and of what happened following his death.

From November 2017: bit.ly/340RXsz

#Thread | Today marks two years since the central government abrogated Kashmir’s special status by reading down #Article370 of the Constitution.

In “State Subjects,” The Caravan featured a collection of voices from various parts of the erstwhile state: Replug | Kargil is closer to Srinagar than it is to Leh. Most of the region’s life essentials—from groceries to daily supplies—come from Kashmir. The people of Kargil have always endorsed the unity of the state.

Mustafa Haji writes. #Article370 bit.ly/2nv30cY

#Article370 | Today marks two years since the Indian government abrogated Kashmir’s special status by reading down Article 370 of the Constitution.

The Caravan’s ground reports from #Kashmir: “The bottom line is that they cannot accept it and swallow that there is a Muslim-majority state in India. So, they want to change the demography of the state,” Arif said.

Praveen Donthi’s dispatch from August 2019: bit.ly/3CahcKD

Updates from our reporters, @chahat_rana1 and @shahidtantray, reporting from Surat on Gujarat's #COVID-19 crisis: Ambulances and private vehicles carrying bodies of people who died of COVID-19 lined up outside the Kurukshetra crematorium in Jehangirpura on 15 April.

#COVID19 #Gujarat

The first part of “Rafale Papers,” an investigative series by the French journal Mediapart, has revealed that in 2018, a French anti-corruption agency had found that Dassault had paid €1 million to an Indian middleman for the #RafaleDeal.

Our coverage of the #RafaleDeal: Modi snatched away a state-owned defence-manufacturing company’s chance at perhaps the biggest manufacturing deal in its history, to replace it with an order that favours a private corporation.

From September 2018, Sagar in: bit.ly/2NuoMdh

#DelhiViolence | Today marks a year since anti-Muslim violence began in northeast Delhi.

Here is a master thread of our coverage—ground reports, video stories, testimonies of survivors and in-depth investigations into the BJP and the Delhi Police’s complicity in the violence. “At around 1–1.30 pm, a right-wing Hindu mob of around two hundred men arrived near the protest site, carrying stones and chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram!’ We could see that they were with the police—we were on a rooftop, from where we were covering this.” bit.ly/3dEvcCm

#DelhiViolence | One year ago, northeast Delhi was engulfed in communal violence. It continued for over three days, killing at least 53 people. Forty of them were Muslim.

A thread of The Caravan’s ground reports documenting the violence: Replug | “At around 1–1.30 pm, a right-wing Hindu mob of around two hundred men arrived near the protest site, carrying stones and chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram!’ We could see that they were with the police—we were on a rooftop, from where we were covering this.” bit.ly/3dEvcCm

On 19 February, the Delhi HC granted bail to three men accused of killing Shahid Alvi during the #DelhiViolence. The court observed that the post-mortem report indicated a long-range shot, and then relied on an NDTV video that showed firing from the nearby Mohan Nursing Home. Replug | The Delhi Police’s effort to sidestep any investigation of the role of Mohan Nursing Home is already stark in light of these and other grievous complaints. Alvi's case, a 25-year-old auto driver, casts it in an even more glaring light. bit.ly/3jCJ2oG

BREAKING: #Updates on the killing of #farmer Navneet Singh at ITO.

An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society. A group of police officials led by ACP HSP Singh have taken charge of the CCTV footage.

https://twitter.com/thecaravanindia/status/1354016012262273024

Eyewitnesses said they saw police personnel fleeing from the spot after Navneet was shot. An police official at the spot (name withheld) later said that his colleagues “ran away out of fear.” #farmerprotests #TractorRally

BREAKING | Updates on the killing of #farmer Navneet Singh at ITO:

An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society. A group of police officials led by ACP HSP Singh have taken charge of the CCTV footage. Eyewitnesses said they saw police personnel fleeing from the spot after Navneet was shot. An police official at the spot (name withheld) later said that his colleagues “ran away out of fear.” #farmerprotests #TractorRally

#Breaking | Navneet Singh, a 34-year-old #farmer protester from Uttarakhand, was shot and killed at ITO this afternoon, acc to an eyewitness. The shooting took place outside the Andhra Education Society on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, he said. #FarmerProtest Harmanjit Singh said he was walking alongside a tractor that Navneet was driving when the latter was shot. The tractor overturned. Harmanjit added that the Delhi Police attempted to take custody of the body but the protesters stopped them. #TractorRally #FarmerProtests

#TractorRally | Thread of visuals from the ongoing rally at the Karnal Bypass. Tractors move down the bypass towards Outer Ring Road, joined by hundreds of protesters on foot. Videos by @shahidtantray. #FarmerProtests

(1/4) #TractorRally | Visuals from the tractor rally at Karnal Bypass. Videos by @shahidtantray. #farmerprotests

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