Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Around 11am today when my first meeting (online) was over and I was out of my house, I came across a group of not less than twelve men standing at the dilapidated gate of an abandoned plot by Kali river. Each one of them knows there is a lockdown, a national curfew. Just days ago on one night, there was a vehicle roaming on street with a loudspeaker announcing ‘hereby people are informed not to gather in a crowd of more than five, to maintain a distance of at least six feet, not touch each other’ so that COVID-19 (a type of coronavirus) does not spread. I was curious about what they were discussing and what was really happening. What was so important that these people thought to gather like this against the advice risking not only their life but also of their families. I was just looking and one man from the group walked up to me. Before he walked over, one of them had asked me to bring a pen and paper — I had rather rudely ignored the request and just moved into my house then. T...

The plant that we so diligently watered and cared for has grown into a big banyan; full of flowers and fruits. Own it now. 53 people have lost their lives in the Delhi riots. You have heard this already. But do you see the problem here? Riot? Was it really a riot? Is it a riot if the state machinery and police take sides; forget keeping silent while mobs went on a rampage but Delhi police took stones in their own hands and threw them at the other side, they directed and aided one side of the mob (as if there was another side anyway), they climbed and destroyed CCTV cameras . Yes, police did all this. It’s all on record. There are videos after videos that prove all this. How then can we call it a riot? It was a pogrom. As Rana Ayyub called, state-sponsored anti-Muslim pogrom. Let’s call it what it was. Now that we have settled on the calling business, let’s get on to our language. The 53 dead bodies, actually in some cases, there were no bodies, only a limb which police...

Across the world, democracy is seeing a fast decline. Now one may deny, dismiss or raise unwarranted doubt over this at one’s own risk but it is an observable fact across the globe. "In Turkey and Egypt, Hungary and Poland, the Philippines and Venezuela, we are witnessing pseudo-democracies taking hold. Meanwhile, democracies that once inspired - South Africa, Brazil - are now marred by depressing stories of corruption. For the 12th consecutive year, Freedom House released its annual survey of democracy being pushed back: between 2000 and 2015, democracy broke down in 27 countries; 71 countries suffered 'net declines in civil and political liberties'", said former director of BBC news, James Harding in his Hugh Cudlipp lecture. Propaganda is fast becoming the chosen tool of politicians and what more, we are seeing that it is working, authoritarianism is on rise everywhere, people especially the young are losing their belief in institutions, citizens n...

I don’t use Whatsapp much for my own personal reasons. Most of the times it’s uninstalled and when it’s installed I check it few times of the day when I have absolutely nothing else to do; that is, after a round of Twitter, Instagram, Reddit etc. Today as it was Eid, early morning when I got up, I sent Eid wishes to all of my contacts who celebrate it via of course Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, FB messenger and few SMSes (two of my friends are still not technologically connected). Late afternoon, as I was browsing through few replies and other messages, I stumbled upon a text in a family Whatsapp group. Now, I usually stay away from Whatsapp groups but this particular text just plain annoyed me. Message which was written in local language roughly translated to, “Nobody celebrates it here… Don’t post such wishes…” I opened the group to check who had posted what. I personally feel these groups are a den of bigotry and hate. That’s one of the reasons I have stopped readin...

Freedom of Press to me is paramount. There are no two ways about it. There is no if and but. Government should have no say in what press reports and what it doesn’t. It is job of editor to do so. Government if it finds, the reportage is false, mala fide or one-sided then it can always present its side. Governments always have enough power in their arsenal to do so. Most of the governments have state media which continuously airs views and opinions in favor of the state. Despite all the arsenal to communicate at its will, governments, left, right and center have used all the power at their hand to hammer at news organizations and reporters who report what is obviously not in favor of the government. Here’s what happened in West Bengal recently which requires our attention at this disturbing trend which is all so growing in recent times. Bengal Is Burning. “Clashes broke out after a Milad-ul-Nabi procession was stopped, allegedly by some people from the Hindu community, on De...