Hafta 525: USAID controversy, new CEC’s appointment, Vikatan website blocked

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Anand Vardhan are joined by former Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi and cartoonist Rachita Taneja. 

The show starts with a detailed discussion on the controversy surrounding the USAID funds allegedly released to “increase voter turnout in India” and an Indian Express fact-check that found that the said amount was meant for Bangladesh, never India.

“The Election Commission is allergic to the thought of taking money from anyone outside India…We had enough funds and enough self-respect,” says Dr Quraishi, adding that he is also “very confident” about his successors.

On Donald Trump cancelling USAID funding for several projects, Jayashree says, “What he’s doing is terrible…but there is a tendency to paint US aid as US generosity.” The US has used aid programs as part of its foreign policy, she points out.

The panel then moves to discussing the midnight notification issued to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner. “If you need to be bipartisan, you have to have someone who is not a politician,” Raman says about Kumar’s appointment.

On the selection process, Dr  Quraishi says that India has the “most defective system of appointment” despite having the “most powerful election commission in the world.” 

The panel also discusses the Indian government blocking Tamil news website Vikatan after it published a critical cartoon depicting PM Narendra Modi and Trump.

Rachita, who runs the popular page Sanitary Panels, says: “I don’t know where to draw the line between censorship and self-censorship. If you are being given threats or being told that you can land up in jail, is that not part of censorship itself?”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introductions and announcements

00:02:57 - Headlines 

00:09:19- USAID controversy

00:34:30 - CEC appointment process

00:53:06 - Blocking of Vikatan website

01:30:14 - Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

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