In recent months, it has become increasingly clear that much of the Indian news media has abdicated its role as democracy’s fourth pillar. Instead of upholding the right of citizens to understand the significance of the events unfolding around them, many outlets have transformed themselves into props of the party in power.
The consequences have been alarming.
Many Indians are now attracted by the notion that we would be better served by more authoritarian forms of government, as Scroll.in’s Supriya Sharma has been discovering as she travels through the country for her series Talking Democracy.
We at Scroll.in believe that our role in helping protect the liberal values enshrined in India’s Constitution comes from reporting rigorously on developments that many others choose to ignore and from presenting clear-eyed analysis of what this all means.
Some of our projects in recent months include:
* The Final Count, a month-long series about the tragic fallout of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, an initiative that the Bharatiya Janata Party threatens to implement across India. The Humans of Assam section of this series included heart-wrenching profiles of Indians who stand in danger of losing their citizenship.
* Our Jammu and Kashmir post-Article 370 coverage cut through the propaganda that the people of the region had warmly welcomed the government’s decision to revoke its special Constitutional status. Among other developments, we reported on how children were detained allegedly illegally under the Public Safety Act and sent to jails in Uttar Pradesh and how the communications blackout meant that families could not even mourn their dead.
* India’s Dirty Secret, on the deaths of sewage workers.
* Fiscal Crunch, explaining the cash shortage facing the Modi government and its impact on federal finances.
* A two-part series explaining how Ram Lalla and Ram Janamasthan became party to the Ayodhya dispute, giving the Sangh Parivar an entry into the case.
To help us keep trying to bring the darker areas of India’s democracy into the light, we urge you to subscribe to Scroll Plus.
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