#Exclusive | How a US-Based PR Firm Is Profiling Activists, Scientists Opposing Pesticides and GMO

@MargotGibbs, @ElenaDebre, @Sarasvati_NT, @aathiperinchery✍️ | @LHreports 1/5
thewire.in/agriculture/ho… A US-based reputation management firm, which received funding from the United States govt, is working to combat opposition to pesticides and genetically modified crops by secretly profiling critics, both across the world and in India.

2/5
thewire.in/agriculture/ho…

#ManipurTapes | Explosive recording—which #Manipur govt claims is ‘doctored’—has been placed before Commission of Inquiry instituted by MHA to investigate violence in the state.

At least 226 people have been killed since the violence began, 39 persons are still missing.

👇 #ManipurTapes | 'Tum bomb marta hai?'

Amit Shah told LS last Aug that Biren Singh “is cooperating”. But audio clip—claimed by deponent/s before judicial commission to be of Biren—suggests otherwise.

thewire.in/government/man…

BREAKING | Satya Pal Malik, recently in the news for revealing previously unknown information on the Pulwama attack has been called in by the CBI “for questioning” on April 28.

The ‘questioning’ will allegedly be on the Reliance Insurance issue.

thewire.in/politics/break… The Reliance Insurance issue is the scheme that RSS and BJP leader Ram Madhav was allegedly pushing Malik to pass while he was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, and which Malik cancelled.

thewire.in/politics/break…

The Satyapal Malik interview with Karan Thapar has had an explosive effect on the political establishment, with the opposition as well as families of soldiers demanding govt accountability.

Here's a thread of the highlights:

https://twitter.com/thewire_in/status/1648612443428622341

Malik consistently says that the government is in full possession of the facts, but has a vested interest in keeping them under wraps to avoid scrutiny of its own role in the tragedy.

https://twitter.com/thewire_in/status/1647886315571257344

It's hot, and getting hotter. Nine states have put out a heat wave alert this week, and India recorded 280 days of heat waves across 16 states in 2022 – the most ever in a decade.

What are Heat Action Plans, and why do we need them? | @aathiperinchery
thewire.in/environment/he… @aathiperinchery Climate scientists found that climate change made the heat waves that swept across large parts of India and Pakistan in May last year a whopping 30 times more likely.

thewire.in/environment/he…

A concerted attempt is being made to present the communal violence in Delhi in 2020 as 'anti-Hindu' riots engineered by a 'Left-Jihadi network'.

What's the reality?

#DelhiRiots2020

thewire.in/communalism/de… The Delhi Police informed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that its control room received 4,000 SOS calls in the wake of Delhi Anti-Hindu riots on February 25.

A report later said that number was closer to 13,000 on Feb 24 and 25 alone.

thewire.in/communalism/de…

It’s been three years since 53 people were killed and hundreds of homes and shops damaged or destroyed in communal violence in Delhi. The victims were overwhelmingly Muslim.

The Wire spent months doing what the police refused to do.

#DelhiRiots2020

thewire.in/communalism/de… The chronology established makes the nature of this actual conspiracy very clear.

This was not a riot planned by just one BJP leader who made just one inflammatory speech but had been worked on by many others since the second week of December 2019.

thewire.in/communalism/de…

Online ownership records show that the car used to abduct Junaid and Nasir in belongs to the Haryana Panchayat and Development department. Police told @alishan_jafri that it has been 'auctioned off'.

This is not the only crime the car is linked to.

thewire.in/communalism/ha… @alishan_jafri Serious questions being raised about possible links to non-state actors who've used the car for violence in the past.

thewire.in/communalism/ha…

In the affidavit filed before the apex court, the Gujarat government underlined that the convicts' "behaviour was found to be good" and that they were released on the grounds that they had completed 14 years in jail.

A thread.

#BilkisBano #BilkisBanoCase
thewire.in/law/convicts-i… In the ICC Statute, the reduction of a sentence remains a judicial mandate and not executive discretion. | Saumya Uma
thewire.in/law/bilkis-ban…

Journalists. Activists. Opposition leaders. All reportedly targeted with a military-grade spyware. This is a thread of stories from @thewire_in, as we mark one year of Pegasus revelations.
#Pegasus #PegasusSpyware
thewire.in/government/pro… NSO Group, the Israeli company which sells Pegasus worldwide, says its clients are confined to "vetted governments", which rules out the possibility that any private entity in India or abroad is responsible for the infections. | @svaradarajan
thewire.in/government/pro…

"I am processing mountains of hate and filth. It is so gory that it is hard to breathe."

Within hours of @LeenaManimekali sharing the poster of herself dressed as Kaali, smoking a cigarette, the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai began to trend on Twitter.

thewire.in/film/leena-man… @LeenaManimekali This further escalated and two FIRs have been registered against the filmmaker, one in New Delhi and the other in Lucknow.

Karnataka BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa went as far as saying that those who insult Hindus “should be hanged or killed by bullets”.

thewire.in/film/leena-man…

As the nation celebrates 75 years of its Independence from British rule, the contrast between 'independence' and 'freedom' seems to have become more and more marked. | Pawanpreet Kaur
thewire.in/culture/citize… An ongoing exhibition in Delhi organised by SAHMAT (Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust) engages with the many meanings of freedom, and frames these within the larger politico-cultural landscape of contemporary India.
thewire.in/culture/citize…

In an interview with Karan Thapar, Justice Deepak Gupta, former Supreme Court judge, explains why the arrest of @zoo_bear and the denial of bail was wrong – and worrying.
@zoo_bear "Mohammed Zubair's tweet was not offensive and did not violate any law," says Justice Deepak Gupta.

The GOI says that Nupur Sharma (erstwhile official BJP spokesperson) Naveen Kumar Jindal were 'fringe' in its response to international outrage.

But is it? 🧐

Here are 10 BJP leaders & workers notorious for their anti-Muslim views. | @therealnaomib

thewire.in/communalism/bj… @therealnaomib 1. Yogi Adityanath:

With hundreds of dog-whistles against Muslims, the CM of UP made anti-Muslim one of his primary political planks.

He promised 'bulldozer politics', and not in a metaphorical way.

Here's our analysis of his hate speech.

thewire.in/communalism/10…

"The accused and the conspirators of the violence will be booked under the Gangster Act and their properties will be seized or demolished," said Additional director general (law and order) Prashant Kumar. | @AsadRizviJourno
#KanpurViolence
thewire.in/law/kanpur-vio… @AsadRizviJourno In the recently held UP elections, the 'bulldozer' was used by BJP leaders as a metaphor to demonstrate their willingness to act against what CM @myogiadityanath called 'encroachers' and 'gangsters'. | @TheOtherKaskar @OohiniMukhopad1 and @rkarnad

Today, the primary impulse behind the 'riot' remains but the 'system' has undergone a change of technology. | @svaradarajan
thewire.in/media/an-sos-f… @svaradarajan Instead of a short, intense bout of large-scale violence in a geographically confined area, the preferred method is to terrorise with a thousand cuts.
thewire.in/media/an-sos-f…

The age of inflation is upon us. | Kaushal Shroff
#RussiaUkraineConflict
thewire.in/energy/a-perfe… Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables, cars, two-wheelers, fuel, fertilisers, steel, nickel, semi-conductors and many other finished products as well as raw materials have witnessed a steep price hike in the last few months.
thewire.in/energy/a-perfe…

Hours after @narendramodi acted to oust Alok Verma from his post as head of CBI at midnight on October 23, 2018, an unidentified Indian agency known to be a user of #Pegasus made a note of 3 telephone numbers registered in his name. | @svaradarajan
#Replug
thewire.in/government/peg… @narendramodi @svaradarajan The blow the Modi govt gave that night was accompanied by a second sucker punch: someone with the keys to India's hush-hush spyware deployment system received authorisation to add Verma's numbers to a list of persons of interest selected for surveillance.
thewire.in/government/peg…

3 years after he was removed as director of CBI by a High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by @narendramodi, Alok Kumar Verma is still struggling to obtain information through the RTI Act, pertaining to the corruption cases filed against him. | @gaurav5173
thewire.in/rights/alok-ve… @narendramodi @gaurav5173 Verma's case is yet another example of how officers who run foul of the government find it tough to get justice or even information through various institutions.
thewire.in/rights/alok-ve…

Hitting out at the BJP, Nationalist Congress Party chief @PawarSpeaks accused it of creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in the country by spreading "false propaganda" about the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley through #TheKashmirFiles.
thewire.in/politics/shara… @PawarSpeaks "Such a film should not have been cleared for screening. But it is given tax concessions and those responsible for keeping the country united are encouraging people to watch the film that stokes anger among people," Pawar said.
thewire.in/politics/shara…

As I approached the venue of the Expo 2020 Dubai, the intricately woven, carbon-fibre latticed entrance gate, created by the London-based Asif Khan Studio, took my breath away, writes R. Nagesh.
#DubaiExpo2020
thewire.in/government/ind… The Japan pavilion facade, which made one think joyously of origami art, was an exquisite demonstration of the theme of connecting minds – its distinct three-dimensional lattice work sought to combine traditional Japanese and Arab patterns.
thewire.in/government/ind…