Modi government "turns" pro-activist, seeks data on attacks on whisleblowers, social workers, mediapersons

By A Representative
In a surprise move, the Government of India has initiated the exercise of collecting data on attacks on whistleblowers, mediapersons, social workers and right to information (RTI) activists from across the country. This, it is learnt, is in response Parliamentarians’ frequent plea for the number of attacks on RTI activists.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), operating the Ministry of Home Affairs, has circulated a new template to all states, Union territories and cities for capturing statistics relating to the occurrence of such. The data is to be collected under the crime-head “Grievous Hurt of Varying Degrees”, which are recognised in Sections 325, 326, 326A and 326B of the Indian Penal Code.
While welcoming the decision to collect data, Venkatesh Nayak, a well-known RTI activist with the Commonweath Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Delhi, has said that till now the only source where information about attacks on RTI activists was the dedicated Wikipedia page (click HERE) and CHRI.
However, Nayak believes, the fresh official efforts to collect data about the attacks has some “technical problems.” Thus, when an RTI activist/ social activist, mediaperson or whistleblower is murdered, the case is counted under the crime head murder (Section 302) at para #1 of the template.
“So to be counted separately these activists, whistleblowers and mediapersons will have to ensure that they survive the attack. If not, the deceased will be counted in the larger category of 'murders' which gives no breakups regarding the identity of victims”, Nayak says.
Nayak wonders if a first time user of RTI who is attacked (and survives) for his/her intervention under para #20 would be treated as an RTI/social activist is a moot question.
“The recent instance of the alleged murder of an RTI user who filed his first RTI application to inquire about police action against a suspected bootlegger in Gujarat (click HERE) may not even qualify for inclusion in this category”, he says.
“The cop at the police station who is in charge of supplying such data on a monthly basis to the NCRB will wield a lot of discretion in counting such numbers unless the template is refined further to reflect all attacks -- murderous and grievous ones -- separately for RTI users/activists, social activists, mediapersons and whistleblowers”, Nayak adds.
Then, says Nayak, “An internal whistleblower, an employee of a government office, may not be able to get a complaint registered by the police without adequate support from sympathisers or influential people.” In fact, he adds, there isn’t “enough data” on how many internal whistleblowers have been attacked and reported to the police till date.
Referring to the Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh in this context, Nayak says, it has “opened only a peephole into this macabre tradition (and not merely phenomenon) of silencing those who speak the truth.”
Further, Nayak says, at a time when the Government of India (GoI) is seeking to come up with some “retrograde” amendments to the Whistleblowers Protection Act (WBP), 2014 instead of implementing it, it is difficult to say “who will the police official responsible for sending the data to NCRB, recognise as a whistleblower.”

Comments

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

Gujarat government urged to introduce heat-stress safety rules for construction workers

By A Representative A representation submitted to Gujarat Labour, Skill Development and Employment Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya has urged the state government to introduce legally enforceable safety standards to protect construction workers from extreme heat and heatwaves, and to launch a financial assistance scheme for labourers affected by climate-related health risks.

Search This Blog