A youth group in Mumbai invokes legacy of Gandhi-Vinoba Monday, September 11, 2023,  https://www.freepressjournal.in/angels-of-mumbai/a-youth-group-in-mumbai-invokes-legacy-of-gandhi-vinoba “At the Blue Ribbon Movement, we believe in long term, self-initiated change. We believe in invoking deep democracy through different initiatives that start with a three-hour ‘act-a-thon’ where youth learn the tools of accountability within the civic system, then a three-month challenge, followed by a three-year fellowship. This helps them build a lifelong connection with the Blue Ribbon Movement,” Abhishek Thakore said

Leading up to the upcoming Municipal elections in Mumbai, they are encouraging involvement from a larger public through interactive games, civic sessions, conversations with prominent citizens, local audits and a Citizen Manifesto.

Rajni Bakshi said of BRM "At a time when social and political lives are becoming increasingly polarised, they are making an attempt to listen to everyone, and are trying to find ways to go beyond the polarisation,” .

The Sanatana Dharma for which many in the BJP are willing to wage a war may at best be one of the small tributaries of a vast and perpetually self-renewing legacy of a mighty cultural flow of Hindu religion in India. 

https://thewire.in/religion/saakhi-the-santana-dharma-on-caste-dissent-and-democracy 

by Mrinal Pandey

11/09/2023

How much it could cost to rename India to Bharat https://www.deccanherald.com/india/how-much-will-it-cost-to-rename-india-to-bharat-rs-14000-crore-2676833

Ext: As per Oliver’s method, the average marketing budget of a large enterprise is around 6 per cent of its total revenue. Rebranding exercises, meanwhile, cost up to 10 per cent of the company’s overall marketing budget. For the fiscal year 2022-23,  India's revenue receipts stood at a total of Rs 23.84 lakh crore, including tax and non-tax revenue. Applying Oliver's formula to India (0.006*23.84 lakh crore), the 'rebranding' amount stands at a gargantuan Rs 14,304 crore.

Though some leaders from BJP have said that there’s not going to be any formal change in name, no clarity has been officially given. However, if there’s even the slightest prospect of the matter being taken up in the Special Session of the Parliament to be held from September 18-22, then there is likely to be considerable strain on the national exchequer, as the renaming process would require changes at the hyperlocal and individual levels to the international level.

Comment: A Friend while working for a Goan newspaper, has shown, based on the various tenders just before CHOGM, that most of the infrastructure and beautification expenses were picked up under various development and infrastructure budgets and perhaps at least partly represented a shift from normal development and maintenance budgets. A example would be that lighting of the streets and institutions  in Mumbai were done during the republic day celebrations and the power bills since then paid to the recently privatised owners of the power distribution companies, whereas earlier at least the surpluses under BEST would go for provide public transport. 

IPS संजीव भट्ट की पत्नी का बड़ा खुलासा, Shweta Bhatt Exclusive, Gujarat 2002, PM Modi https://youtu.be/jiyd0odSI7A?t=179   

DESH NEETI 7th Sept 

G 20 सम्मलेन से पहले मेधा पाटकर ने मोदी सरकार पर जो बोला अगर आपने नहीं देखा तो कुछ भी नहीं देखा! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58llPJKFZlg Medha Patkar thanks Modi for enabling the bringing together of PEoples' Forces...

Aug 24, 2023

https://thewire.in/politics/g20-booklets-say-bharat-official-name-of-the-country 

Two booklets: “Bharat: The Mother of Democracy” and “Elections in India” trace the roots of Indian democracy from 6,000 BCE with references to the Vedas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and Ashoka, Kautilya and Akbar, among others.

While the first booklet traces democracy in the country through the ‘Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation’, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the rule of Ashoka, Akbar, the Cholas and the Vijayanagar empire, and the teachings of Kautilya and Megasthenes among others; the second compares the conduct of elections in India from the first general elections in 1951-52 to the last one in 2019.

The two booklets have been uploaded on the G20 website as New Delhi prepares to host the annual summit this weekend.

by Sravasti Dasgupta

08/09/2023

Police Case Against 4 Over Editors' Guild's Crowdfunded Manipur Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMUO9mBYSHQ NDTV Sep 4, 2023 
A police case has been filed against three members of a crowdfunded fact-finding team of the Editors' Guild of India, who went to Manipur to look into the media's reportage of the ethnic conflict, over allegations that the report submitted by the team was "false, fabricated and sponsored". The FIR has been filed with Imphal West district police under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including promoting enmity between different groups, and using as true such declaration knowing it to be false.

FIR against Editors : आखिर क्या चाहती है बीजेपी सरकार ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LmuvuRh5go Ajit Anjum Sep 5, 2023

Supreme Court Grants Interim Protection To Editors Guild Of India Members From Manipur Police FIRs Over Fact Finding Report Padmakshi Sharma 6 Sept 20 https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-grants-interim-protection-to-editors-guild-of-india-members-in-manipur-police-firs-over-fact-finding-report-237128 The bench was initially inclined to dispose of the writ petition by granting a limited protection so that the petitioners can approach the High Court.  However, Divan said that none other than the Chief Minister himself made allegations against the EGI in a press conference and went to the extent of saying that "EGI has stoked provocative statements". He highlighted that the Chief Minister's statement was an additional aspect which should be considered by the Court.

 EDITORS’ GUILD OF INDIA REPORT OF THE FACT-FINDING MISSION ON MEDIA'S REPORTAGE OF THE ETHNIC VIOLENCE IN MANIPUR
Sep 2nd, 2023 https://editorsguild.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/EGI-report-on-Manipur.pdf  Extracts: Much before the violence erupted on May 3, Manipur’s tribal tensions, especially between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki-Chin-Zo community, were already reaching their boiling point. The state government seems to have facilitated the majority’s anger against the Kukis through several seemingly partisan statements and policy measures. For example, the leadership of the state
labelled the entire community of Kuki-Zo tribals as “illegal immigrants” and “foreigners” without any reliable data or evidence. 

The Meira Pabis have been accused by the Assam Rifles and Kuki media and civil society organisations of complicity in several mob On June 26, the Spear Corps of the Indian ..released a 2.12 minute video showing that Meitei women helped rioters flee, obstructed their operations, accompanied armed civilians in vehicles ostensibly going on violent raids to shield them from the security forces. attacks. They have blocked security forces from discharging their duties by surrounding soldiers so that they are unable to prevent Meitei youths indulging in violence. 

Manipur Media And Its Post-Truth Narrative The media in Manipur was not left untouched by ethnic loyalties and the deepening divide between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Chin-Zo tribals. Manipur’s media is largely Meitei owned. 

Why Modi Can’t Make India a Great Power https://www.foreignaffairs.com/india/why-modi-cant-make-india-great-power  Sushant Singh
September 4, 2023 Government-Backed Intolerance Is Tearing the Country Apart

the BJP and the RSS have worked to get ethnic groups that form the majority in their own states to join their cause (except when they are Muslims), arguing that these groups deserve to dominate their regions—just as Hindus should dominate India overall. Sometimes, the BJP and RSS even try to amalgamate smaller communities of animistic faiths into the Hindu tradition.

Their argument mirrors the one made everywhere by the RSS, which claims that Hindus are the original inhabitants of India whereas Muslims and Christians are outsiders.

The exodus and violence have undermined Modi’s grand strategy. Under Modi’s “Act East” policy, for example, India is trying to build infrastructure connecting its remote northeastern states with Southeast Asian countries. But the instability has delayed these ambitious projects. The government, for instance, cannot begin a planned highway linking India to Myanmar and Thailand until there is peace in Manipur. It also cannot start a project that would improve the Indian northeast’s coastal access by building a road to the Burmese river town of Paletwa. (Civil conflict in Myanmar is holding up these endeavors as well.) India’s bid for greater influence in Southeast Asia therefore remains stalled, even as China continues its heavy regional spending under the Belt and Road Initiative.

For New Delhi’s Western partners, an India that cannot look outward will certainly prove disappointing. But it will be more disappointing for Indians themselves. Theirs is the largest country in the world; it should, by rights, be a global leader. Yet to be stable enough to project substantial authority, India needs to keep peace and harmony among its diverse population—something it can accomplish only by becoming an inclusive, plural, secular, and liberal democracy. Otherwise, it risks turning into a Hindu version of South Asia’s other countries, such as Myanmar and Pakistan, where ethnic dominance has resulted in tumult, violence, and deprivation