Molshree

An avid learner. Correspondent @socialsamosa| Former intern @THMumbai, @besoulflower, @TOILucknow

[Vallabh C. Ozarkar @vallabhozarkarr]

'Significant deficiencies’ in Ladki Bahin scheme’s financial management:CAG

Audit finds Rs 3,541 crore excess expenditure without "any specific justification"; flags parking of Rs 15,586 crore in deposit accounts

https://t.co/1O0EHtCdES

[ravish kumar @ravish_journo]

कोई अधिकारी बात नहीं कर रहा है। जब पार्टी पदाधिकारी बन गए हैं। इतनी बहस से अच्छा होता कि बात करते और जवाब देते। समाज के भीतर भाप बन रहा है। कितना दबाते रहेंगे।

[geeta seshu @geetaseshu]

True. And this pic was taken on a date when Mumbai's beaches would have otherwise been inundated with high monsoon waves. Every tree cut contributes to this infernal heat. Btw, it is also telling that the beach is full of men. The women and girls don't even have this escape.

[Aprajita Nafs Nefes 🦋 Ancient Believer @aprajitanefes]

🇮🇳|Heartbreaking scenes from #AndhraPradesh: Mango farmers are dumping their produce on the roadsides because prices have crashed so low that even harvesting, labour, and transport costs are not covered.

This is not a natural market failure. It is engineered destruction of small farmers.

HARSHER TRUTH WITH EVIDENCE:
The Andhra Pradesh government, under policies aligned with BILL GATES FOUNDATION, AMAZON, and WEF, is actively pushing corporate-controlled agriculture that squeezes small farmers out.

•- Gates Foundation MoU (March 2025): The state signed a formal agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for AI-driven precision farming, satellite-based systems, and data platforms in agriculture. This benefits big tech, seed/pesticide corporations, and supply chain giants while marginalizing smallholders.
Source: The Hindu - https://t.co/jlhI5GQvlz

•- WEF C4IR Andhra Pradesh: The state partnered with the World Economic Forum for Fourth Industrial Revolution initiatives, including AI and digital transformation in agriculture that favour export-oriented corporate models over traditional farming.
Source: WEF initiatives and state announcements.

•- Corporate Retail Dominance (Amazon & others): Policies enabling big retailers and processors to control supply chains crush farm-gate prices through middlemen and contract farming, with no effective MSP protection for mangoes like Totapuri.

Governments take billions in the name of farmer welfare while implementing policies that hand control to global corporations. Farmers are left dumping their own harvest on roads while elites and their partners profit from the crisis.

This is deliberate, documented policy against the people ruthless consolidation of food control. Small farmers pay with their blood and sweat for the empire’s agri-tech agenda.

[Stanly Johny @johnstanly]

My point is that I understand when #India doesn't name the perpetrator when it condemns the Israeli bombing of Qatar. I understand when India doesn't name when it condemns the Russian attacks in Ukraine. I also understand if India doesn't want to name when it condemns the Iranian attack on Persian Gulf monarchies. That's strategic balancing. But I don't understand why India doesn't name the country that fired missiles at vessels carrying Indian nationals, and killed three of them, in India's neighbourhood waters!

[Anish Gawande @anishgawande]

Welcome to Mumbai’s newest flyover worth ₹248 crore. At 750 metres of road, that’s ₹33 lakh a metre.

And it opened this week full of potholes.

The flyover is named after the iconic Mrinal Tai Gore, who spent her whole life fighting so ordinary Mumbaikars got a life of dignity.

After seven years, three cost revisions, and a daily penalty on the contractor - this is all they could come up with to honour her?

But kya karein. This is the standard now under the triple-engine sarkar. Cut the ribbon. Click the photo. Leave the potholes for us. Bajao taali.

[ravish kumar @ravish_journo]

ये भी कांड है? एक स्त्री ने अपना दूसरा विकल्प चुन लिया तो इतना हंगामा। रिश्ते टूटते हैं। उनके बीच सौ कारण हो सकते हैं। पति को छोड़ा जैसे वाक्यों से स्त्री को ही संदिग्ध बना रहे हैं। जैसे उसका दूसरा विकल्प चुनना कोई अपराध हो। किसी रिश्ते का टूटना दुखद ख़बर है लेकिन इस तरह की हेडलाइन से लगता है कि पति को छोड़ना कोई अपराध है। पति को भी स्वीकार कर आगे बढ़ जाना चाहिए। चली गई तो चली गई। आप भी चले जाइये। ज़मीन बेचा, मकान बेचा ये सब मत कीजिए। जब रिश्ते अच्छे थे तो पति ने किया। अब उसे अहसान की तरह गिनवा रहे हैं। अहसान कोई बैंक का निवेश नहीं है कि रिर्टन फिक्स होगा। अफसर बनने और बनाने की सनक का इलाज खोजिए। घूस और किसी को फर्ज़ी फंसाने का सुख न हो तो सरकार दरवाज़ा खोल कर बैठी रह जाएगी कोई अफसर बनने नहीं जाएगा। सामंती सुख के लिए ज़मीन बेच रहे थे। सामंती सुख को डबल करने के लिए किसी ने नया रिश्ता चुन लिया। CBSE जैसा कांड हो गया उससे तो फर्क ही नहीं पड़ रहा इस देश को।

[naresh fernandes @tajmahalfoxtrot]

‘Let me die at home’: Back from Bangladesh, an Assam woman struggles to recover from ‘pushback’

A year ago, a government crackdown led to at least 300 people being forced into no man’s land at gunpoint.

Don't miss this moving story by @ZamanRokibuz_

https://t.co/zW51iStHPj

[The Persian Jewess @persianjewess]

Iranian hairstylist Ami Moghadam received death threats for posting videos of women receiving haircuts on Instagram.

So she decided to troll the Islamic Regime and their oppressive mandatory hijab laws in the most epic, hilarious way possible. 😂

[Anish Gawande @anishgawande]

Kindness matters, Prime Minister. But, with respect, a glass of water is not a policy.

Two months ago, alongside @Kumari_Selja, @_SandeepDikshit, @priyankac19, @_YogendraYadav, @bansalavani, and labour rights experts, workers, hawkers, and gig workers from across the country, we submitted an urgent demand letter to the Ministers of Labour, Home Affairs, Health, Housing, and Social Justice.

We asked for heatwaves to be declared a Notified National Disaster. We asked for the Heat Index (not just temperature, but temperature and humidity combined) to become the legal trigger for alerts, so coastal workers aren’t left out. We asked for Binding Heat Safety Rules under the OSHWC Code. We asked that digital platforms be prohibited from imposing delivery time penalties during heat alerts. We asked for cooling shelters at every labour chowk.

Today, 57% of districts across India are classified as heat-prone. We are in the middle of one of the worst heatwaves in history. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for a response.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here's a gift link to the article: https://t.co/aMMHId49OO

[SS #Andolanjeevi #SaabYaadRakhaJayega @sumonseng]

Today for the first time in the history of Independent India the birthday of #RabindranathTagore was not celebrated officially by the Govt of WB, so people took to the streets to reclaim their own Rabindranath Tagore with songs, poems. The programme not permitted.

[Rajendra B. Aklekar @rajtoday]

Wife had been admitted for a small surgery and there has been a very negligent response from the team of Health Insurance TPA of India Ltd who have rejected a claim, which as not even in lakhs, by simply sending a denial letter without any clarification for a policy that has been there for nearly a decade now. There has been no response whatsoever and no questions asked. This has been my first experience of dealing with a TPA and found this one a very unprofessional organisation.

[Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear]

The Woman who confronted Maharashtra State Minister Girish Mahajan at a rally is not Pooja Mishra. Look like BJP IT cell members like @iShashiShekhar & @pallavict have received instructions to go after the woman and character assassination by using unrelated images and pics.

[Manoj Kumar Jha @manojkjhadu]

Whatever the results on 4th May, this Chief Election Commissioner and his team will not be remembered as custodians of democracy, but as willing participants in the systematic ‘dismantling’ of its very foundations.
***********
Institutions derive legitimacy not from outcomes, but from the integrity of the processes they uphold. When that integrity is bent to serve “someone,” it ceases to be an aberration rather it becomes complicity. And the damage is not episodic; it corrodes public trust in ways that are deep, lasting, and often irreversible.
***********
Dear @ECISVEEP a final reminder, even now: history is neither forgetful nor forgiving. When it records this chapter/phase, it will do so with a severity that today’s words can scarcely match.
Jai Hind

[Jacobin Magazin @jacobinmag_de]

Aufgrund der explodierenden Brennstoffpreise können immer mehr indische Wanderarbeiter sich das Kochen nicht mehr leisten. Arme Haushalte sehen sich gezwungen, zu Brennholz zurückzukehren oder Mahlzeiten zu rationieren.
https://t.co/fjHbVuFoDw

[SilencedSirs◼️ @SilentlySirs]

🚨 Budapest now: 17 years of Orbán's rule ended tonight — in the streets. The man who shielded Netanyahu, blocked every EU resolution against the genocide in Gaza, opened his skies to an ICC-wanted fugitive… was brought down by his own people at the ballot box. A lesson to every tyrant: the chair is temporary. The people remain.

[Nikhil Pahwa @nixxin]

I want to clarify something about this article @apar1984 and I wrote:

An infrastructure for mass censorship is already in place, in India, and the new rules expand it.

We're seeing mass censorship of accounts and posts on X, Instagram and Facebook, because of this infrastructure. This infrastructure:

1. Operates with speed:
- blocking of posts has to be executed in 3 hours (govt is considering 1 hour), which means there's no scope for challenging them. This is the shortest takedown timeline in the world. Every order is an emergency order.
- When platforms get 100 at a time, which happens, they act first, think never, and censor always.

Impact: If someone was censored and can't understand why, this is why. No one has time to think.

2. Scale...Scope has expanded uncontested:
- The reasons for which speech and posts can be taken down keeps expanding.
New rules expand government powers to tweets like this one.
- News websites and platforms are covered under IT Rules (illegally)
- Streaming platforms are covered under the IT Rules (illegally)

Impact: more types of speech is already being censored...satire, journalism, or political criticism

3. Operates without challenge, in two ways:
- When you get 160 takedown orders a day (as X disclosed to a court) how many will you challenge?
- Platforms don't want to react because they can lose market access in India. They're faced with unrelenting pressure from regulators, and basically choosing which hill to die on. Us being censored is not their problem.
- Rules are changing frequently: 7 amendments to IT Rules since Feb 2021. By the time courts nullify one rule (and they don't always do this), new rules come up.

How often will people go to court?

4. Ordering takedowns has been decentralised:
- The (illegal) Sahyog portal, which is used for takedowns, is a hotline from government bodies to platforms. Thirty-three states, seven central agencies, and seventy-two companies are onboarded.

5. There is no transparency hence no accountability:
- Users receive no notice. censorship orders are not provided on request.
- blocking orders and the meetings of the committee that reviews them are protected by secrecy.
- RTI's are not responded to.
- Consultation responses are not public.

6. Government is seeking personal data of social media users using Sections 70B, 69 and 75 of the IT Act. This will lead to self censorship.

7. Lawmaking process has collapsed:
- The new IT Rules consultations have a 15 day deadline.
- Implementation timeline for the last one was 10 days.
- Rules are being made where there used to be laws government by Parliament. The new rules mirror provisions from the Broadcast Bill which was withdrawn in 2024. Parliament is being bypassed.

As we wrote: when the IT Secretary reportedly says that platforms should have started preparing to implement based on consultation drafts, it appears that outcomes are predetermined. Consultations appear to be a farce.

MEITY, DoT and MIB are not accountable to anyone but the government for rules that are not in line with laws, and go against a key free speech verdict we got in 2015.

That's why this is an infrastructure for censorship. It is in place, it is operational, and it is expanding. This is not just about the new rules.

This is why we're sounding the alarm about: people need to know what is going on, and the Supreme Court needs to take this up. They are the court of last resort, meant to preserve constitutionality.

P.s: Please keep a copy of this tweet, in case it gets censored. Or just tweet it and tag us... how many will they censor?

[Zee @MhaskarChief]

Iron rod falls from Sewri-Worli bridge on a 23 year old guy who is severely injured and admitted in ICU of KEM hospital. This is a day after a platform collapsed at an under-construction Chembur building killing one man

https://t.co/OYizy0cYss

[sohit mishra @sohitmishra99]

मरने वाले को 5 लाख और खुद वसूलेंगे 5 करोड़! 4 करोड़ 95 लाख का फायदा? वो भी किसी की मौत पर! कुछ तो शर्म करो @MMRDAOfficial
कायदे से पूरा पैसा मृतक के परिवारवाले को देना चाहिए