[As the Economic Times reported, the Modi government is considering a law that would penalise anyone with a seven-year jail sentence and Rs 100 crore fine for showing on a map that parts of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that are occupied by Pakistan and China.]
http://scroll.in/article/807685/the-daily-fix-centres-map-paranoia-shows-up-the-absurdity-of-its-idea-of-nationalism Centre’s map paranoia shows up the absurdity of its idea of nationalism 2 hours ago Updated 2 hours ago Shoaib Daniyal Mapping India India has one of the world’s worst rates of malnutrition in the world. The life expectancy of its people fall short of Bangladesh’s by three and a half years. India's infant mortality is one the world’s worst at 38 deaths per 1,000 births. The number is 29 in Nepal. These and a host of other statistics make it clear that India is one of the poorest, most deprived places on the planet. Human development should be undertaken on a war footing. Instead, the government is busy making map laws. ***As the Economic Times reported, the Modi government is considering a law that would penalise anyone with a seven-year jail sentence and Rs 100 crore fine for showing on a map that parts of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that are occupied by Pakistan and China.*** [Emphasis added.] India is famously prickly about maps, keen on ensuring that its claim lines – rather than the actual ground situation – dictate the area’s cartography. This had led to spats between the Economist and the Indian government in 2010, when the magazine’s maps of Kashmir were physically covered up with paper by the Indian government. Accusing India of being more intolerant on this issue than either Pakistan or China, the Economist provocatively insisted on putting up its map online with the disclaimer: “Unlike their government, we think our Indian readers can face political reality. Those who want to see an accurate depiction of the various territorial claims can do so using our interactive map at Economist.com/asianborders." Of course, the Economist showed that in a world with the internet, Soviet-style censorship of maps is impossible. The Indian government cannot hide the ground reality of Kashmir from its citizens in 2016 – there are simply too many sources of information. Nor should it want to. The Indian people are mature enough to accept the truth. For this government to waste its time on censoring maps is to waste it mandate. Showing all of Jammu and Kashmir under India’s control on a map won’t fix India’s alarming infant mortality or poor school enrolment rate. That matters much more than some squiggly lines on a piece of paper. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
