*I*/III. *Rahul Gandhi focuses the spotlight on Modi-Adani nexus* in his response to the Presidential speech in the 2023 budget session of the parliament. It's a blistering attack -- even if in a rather low and, remarkably, even tone -- undeterred by frequent noisy disruptions. <https://twitter.com/INCIndia/status/1622880827704238081> (Watch the full speech here. "Adani" begins at 12 mins. and continues for another 35 minutes or so. The exposure is, of course, far less than comprehensive -- yet fairly hurting.) This speech is, in a way, comparable with his earlier Rafale speech -- despite some differences in style.
For a pithy summarisation, may look up: < https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/print/i-dont-follow-cricket-anymore-inzamam/ >. *II*. *A Brief History of Gagging* (of exposures of Adani's murky dealings -- prior to Hindenburg happened on Jan 24th and, then, Rahul Gandhi speaking in the Indian Parliament on Feb 7th). <<Gautam Adani’s personal wealth has increased exponentially in Narendra Modi’s second term. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani’s wealth grew 13 times from January 2020 to August 2022. While he got richer, criticism and questioning of the powerful in India has become increasingly tough: the country has fallen eight places from 142 to 150 out of 180 in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index. Reporting on the Adani Group has been an uphill task for Indian journalists. Some reporters who dared to investigate the company came into legal troubles. In July 2022, Delhi police landed up on Nair’s doorstep with an arrest warrant. The Adani Group had filed a criminal defamation case against him about 1,000 kilometres away in Gandhinagar, the capital of Adani’s home state of Gujarat. Nair was accused of defaming the conglomerate in 26 tweets. Each tweet linked to a story on the Adani Group, several of which Nair had not written. “They filed a case against me for tweeting links to stories someone else published,” he says. Something similar happened in January 2021, when journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was served an arrest warrant for two stories on the group’s closeness to the Modi government and on its possible tax evasion that were published in The Wire and in the Economic and Political Weekly. First the Adani Group sent legal notices to the publications, asking them to take down the articles. When the EPW took them down, Thakurta resigned as its editor. In 2020, the conglomerate asked a lower court in Gujarat to keep Newsclick, a news website, from reporting on one of its companies, Adani Power. The court duly issued gag orders. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the conglomerate has filed defamation suits against journalists including Bodhisatva Ganguli, Pavan Burugula, and Nehal Chaliawala of the Economic Times; Latha Venkatesh and Nimesh Shah of CNBC TV18; freelance journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta; news website Newsclick; and the news magazine Economic and Policy Weekly. These lawsuits are instruments to intimidate journalists and rarely result in a conviction. “They did not question the stories that I tweeted. They only questioned a Twitter thread that gained traction,” says. Nair, who is out on bail but continues to fight the case. The mounting legal costs on journalists, the time-consuming paperwork and the visits to remote areas where the courts summon make life difficult for reporters like Nair and act as a deterrent for any others who may be thinking of following his lead. “These examples make it essential to have scrutiny outside the country,” says Geoff Law, the editor of Adani Watch. This is a view shared by Geeta Seshu, a member of the Free Speech Collective, a website that monitors free speech in India. She thinks these cases push other journalists to self-censor or drop investigative stories altogether. “In effect, very few journalists will then dare to report on big wigs like Adani,” she says. Thakurta has had similar criminal defamation suits filed against him by large corporations such as the Reliance Group and the Sahara Group. “The difference is they never took me to court,” says Thakurta, who makes many visits to the courts in the six defamation cases he is battling, slapped on him by the Adani Group.>> (Excerpted from: < https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/global-outlets-paid-attention-small-site-had-been-digging-adani-group-years-despite-lawsuits >.) *III*. *A few random examples of brazen patronage by the Modi regime*: *AA*. <(4) Manish Tewari on Twitter: ".@PunjabGovtIndia has been instructed by @MinistryofPower -if you want to bring Coal from Eastern India to Punjab first take it by Sea over Sri Lanka to Dahej/Mundra Ports on West Coast & then by Rail to Punjab. Cost-3 times more than direct Rail.Who owns Dahej/ Mundra ? Adani 👇🏾 https://t.co/0bQZpJlZgB"; / Twitter <https://twitter.com/ManishTewari/status/1622788778392956928?fbclid=IwAR3Mo_vPlyWQHps5l7BoHORm1vEXOf-hseYtpuVneTyuIFi_P8kjoTdZf7o> >. *BB*. <(4) Ravi Nair on Twitter: "Interesting https://t.co/aluTUE2DAE"; / Twitter <https://twitter.com/t_d_h_nair/status/1622973381430874114?fbclid=IwAR1piLkzy0HPNAvW33mdhsBHwBdD3Qi2akcLGpF-M4g-mcMbVoeCQ1RuP9Q> >. *CC*. <State power generation utilities must continue to blend 10% imported coal: Govt | Latest News India - Hindustan Times <https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/centre-wants-state-power-cos-to-keep-10-imported-coal-mix-101658599406897.html> >. *DD*. <LIC, MFs, FIIs Bleed Rs 2 Lakh Crore in Adani Bloodbath; Discoms in Region and in India Cancel Adani Deals, Seek Better Rates (theindiacable.com) <https://www.theindiacable.com/p/lic-mfs-fiis-bleed-rs-2-lakh-crore?s=04&fbclid=IwAR2oN_T_fBlTkWTZOJbxdceht2xI2_Y0hMqwKOs3VNayKkntWLxyuHwzDb4> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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