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☆ Data Dump Exposes the Fuzzy Lines Between Money and Politics in India
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Alex Travelli | Hari Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Politics in India is an expensive business, and sometimes lucrative, too. In this year’s election, parties are expected to spend more than $14 billion — as much as in the United States. But there has been little in the way of transparency for the huge sums sloshing around. Reading between the lines of the spreadsheets full of names poses questions about the intersection of government and business in India. Construction companies, gambling impresarios, pharmaceutical bosses and many more corporate entities and individuals had forked over $1.7 billion in bonds since 2019.

Persons: Jairam Ramesh, Narendra Modi Organizations: State Bank of India, Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party of Locations: India, United States

But for rights advocates, Biden's travels were a disappointment, given his administration's vow to prioritize human rights when taking office in 2021. The White House also unveiled a Vietnam Airlines purchase of 50 Boeing 737 Max jets worth $7.8 billion. Rights advocates fear a lack of focus on human rights, while not unexpected, will not only fail to improve conditions in Vietnam and India, but risk worsening them elsewhere. Reporters asked Biden in Vietnam if he was putting U.S. strategic interests above rights and replied: "I’ve raised it (human rights) with every person I met with." "As such, the Biden administration has tended to downplay or avoid human rights discussions," he said.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Biden's, Biden, Carolyn Nash, Narendra Modi's, HRW, Nash, John Sifton, Sifton, Modi, Vietnam's, Kurt Campbell, Campbell, Murray Hiebert, Vietnamese Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong, Lam, Derek Grossman, David Brunnstrom, Humeyra Pamuk, Don Durfee, Josie Kao Organizations: Vietnam Airlines, Boeing, Max, Amnesty International, Rights, Indian, Bharatiya Janata Party, Rights Watch, Vietnam, Communist Party, U.S, Biden, U.S ., Washington's Center, Strategic, International Studies, Vietnamese Communist Party Chief, RAND Corp, Thomson Locations: Vietnam, India, Washington, Hanoi, U.S, Asia, Pacific, China, Saudi Arabia

☆ US report lists 'significant human rights' abuses in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The annual U.S. report on human rights practices released on Monday listed "significant human rights issues" and abuses in India, including reported targeting of religious minorities, dissidents and journalists, the U.S. State Department said. Advocacy groups have raised concerns over what they see as a deteriorating human rights situation in India in recent years under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Human Rights Watch has said the Indian government's policies and actions target Muslims while critics of Modi say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarization since coming to power in 2014. "Human rights activists reported the government was allegedly targeting vocal critics from the Muslim community and using the bulldozers to destroy their homes and livelihoods" without due process, the U.S. report released on Monday added. "Civil society organizations expressed concern that the central government sometimes used UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) to detain human rights activists and journalists," the U.S. report said.

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