CBI RAID ON NDTV : ATTACK ON FREEDOM OF PRESS

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India's Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided the home and offices of top television executives Prannoy and Radhika Roy, co-founders of news channel NDTV, which has often clashed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. In response, the network put out scathing statements and broadcasts, saying the raids amounted to a "witch hunt" and "a blatant political attack on the freedom of the press."

The raids were conducted in connection with loans from ICICI Bank taken out by the Roys, starting in 2008.

The network said the loans have been repaid, and it issued a document that appears to confirm their claim. "NDTV and its promoters have never defaulted on any loan to ICICI or any other bank," read a statement posted on NDTV's website. "We adhere to the highest levels of integrity and independence. It is clearly the independence and fearlessness of NDTV's team that the ruling party's politicians cannot stomach and the CBI raid is merely another attempt at silencing the media."


"In American media, it is considered patriotic to question and make the government accountable, here to be patriotic is to just agree with everything the government says," said Prannoy Roy, speaking to The Washington Post.

India ranks 136th on the World Press Freedom index, slipping three places since last year.

Dissenting voices are often silenced using sedition laws. More than 51 freedom of information activists have been found murdered since the law came to force in 2005.

Major corporate owners also limit the diversity of India's media: Although India has 86,000 newspapers and over 900 television channels, a handful dominate. Reliance, one of India's biggest companies, owns News-18, which dominates coverage on a number of popular TV channels and magazines.

On Monday night, NDTV aired a half-hour Hindi language broadcast, anchored by Ravish Kumar, describing the atmosphere of fear in which Delhi's news media works. "If you ever meet a journalist on these streets ask if they are afraid. They'll tell you without speaking: 'Delhi's journalists are now scared.' . . . This is the capital of fear," he said.

During the broadcast, Kumar said that had the raids not happened, his program would have focused on ongoing farmers strikes in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. "This is an attack on all of you," he said. "Just like this, every day, things that concern the ordinary man are pushed out of the national media.

Several editors and journalists have sharply criticized the raids. Raj Chengappa, president of the Editors Guild of India, said in a statement: "Entry of police and other agencies into the media offices is a serious matter. NDTV, in various statements, has denied any wrong-doing and termed the raids as stepping up the concerted harassment of the news channel and an attempt to undermine democracy and free speech and silence the media."

Rajdeep Sardesai, a former NDTV anchor, now a consulting editor at rival network India Today, said, "When raids are carried on a respectable public figure, on a nine-year-old investigation, questions are bound to be raised."

NDTV's news coverage has riled up members of Modi's Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party, many of whom accuse the network of being anti-BJP. Days before the raid, NDTV news anchor Nidhi Razdan had sparred with the BJP's national spokesman Sambit Patra on air and asked him to leave her show for his accusation that NDTV had an "agenda."

In November 2016, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had ordered an unprecedented 24-hour blackout against the network, saying its coverage on terrorist attacks at Pathankot had revealed "strategically-sensitive information." NDTV argued that its coverage was based on official news briefings and that other broadcasters that had made the same revelations were not being penalized. At the last minute, the ban was lifted.

At a news conference, India's minister of information and broadcasting said that the agency's officials were simply carrying out their duty and there was no political interference in their investigation. He said, "If somebody does something wrong, simply because they belong to media, you cannot expect the government to keep quiet."

INDIA'S NUCLEAR MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY TESTED FROM ODISHA'S CHANDIPUR

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The Prithvi-II missile is capable of carrying a 500 kg to 1,000 kg warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target with precision and accuracy.

Balasore, Odisha: India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a test range in Odisha as part of a user trial by the Army. The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore at around 9:50 am, official sources said.

"The trial of the sophisticated missile was successful and the mission objectives were met," they confirmed. 

The Prithvi-II missile is capable of carrying a 500 kg to 1,000 kg warhead and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target with precision and accuracy.

The state-of-the-art missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed strategic force command (SFC) and monitored by the scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise, a DRDO scientist said.

"The missile trajectory was tracked by the DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha," the sources said.

Teams on board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown.

In salvo mode, two Prithvi-II missiles were successfully test fired in quick succession from the same base, on November 21, 2016.

Inducted into Indian armed forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II is the first missile to have been developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

 

BJP LEADER QUITS PARTY AFTER THE TRADE RULE OF CATTLE BY BJP

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A BJP leader in Meghalaya has resigned from the party in protest against the Centre's new rule that bans cattle trade for slaughter. Bernard Marak, a leader from Garo hills, had created controversy earlier this week by promising cheap beef to people if the party came to power. Assembly elections in the hill state, where beef is staple, is due early next year.  

"I have decided to quit the party because I am a Christian and Garo first," Mr Marak said today. "The BJP is hurting sentiments here on the beef issue. Tribal society has its own laws. The BJP is trying to push Hindutva."

While Mr Marack was the only one to make such a promise, the other party leaders did not appear too enthusiastic about the new Central rule. Calling Mr Marak's opinion's his own, state BJP chief Shibun Lyndoh said they were not "against people having beef".

"Total beef ban is something that even people here do not support," he said, adding what was required in the state were regulations and hygienic slaughter houses.