Saiansha Panangipalli

26 | BU '19 | GW '21 | Traveller, foodie extraordinaire | Brown belt in Taekwondo | Views my own.

[Hindustan Times @htTweets]

Delhi LG office letter calling for stray dog ‘removal or control’ draws flak

(@aaditya_writes & @gargiiishukla ✍🏻)
https://t.co/wyv0xCJ7PR

[Harjinder Kang, HM Trade Commissioner (South Asia) @HMTCSouthAsia]

The #UKIndiaFTA is set to deepen our economic partnership.

Beyond goods - it will strengthen our collaboration across science, innovation and technology domains 👇

[People For Animals India @pfaindia]

A 75% drop in rabies deaths and a two-third reduction in dog bites didn’t happen by outrage, it happened through vaccination, awareness & tireless groundwork
As the SC of India considers community animal policy, decisions should reflect evidence and what has demonstrably worked

[Ramanuj Mukherjee @law_ninja]

The data is clear, blunt, and inconvenient for the outrage industry. The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, reports a 75% decline in rabies deaths in India over 20 years, alongside a two-thirds reduction in dog bite incidence. This is not anecdotal. This is rigorous epidemiological fact.

This dramatic success is a testament to systemic public health interventions, not magic or luck:

- Extensive anti-rabies vaccination programs for dogs across urban and rural areas.
- Improved access to Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for humans, making treatment available at primary health centers.
- Targeted awareness campaigns educating communities on bite prevention and first aid.
- Better integration of veterinary and human public health systems.

These are hard-won gains, the result of consistent, often unheralded, work by countless professionals. This is the result of selfless volunteering services of millions of dog feeders. It's a victory of science and sustained effort over disease.

So, when the Supreme Court deliberates on policies concerning community animals, the foundation *must* be this scientific evidence. To base policy on amplified media narratives or emotional appeals, ignoring a proven track record of decline, is a dereliction of evidence-based governance. It undermines the very systems that achieved this success.

We have a working model. The solution is to support it, not dismantle it based on manufactured fear. 🔬

[Rajat Sharma @RajatSharmaLive]

तेलंगाना में जिस तरह stray dogs को ज़हर देकर मारा गया वो हैवानियत है. बेज़ुबान जानवरों की जान लेना कोई solution नहीं हो सकता. Supreme Court में भी सुनवाई के दौरान dogs की आवाज़ उठाने वालों को चुप कराने की कोशिश हुई. एक वकील ने सुझाव दिया कि dogs को adopt करना एक रास्ता हो सकता है, तो Judge साहब ने कहा orphans के adoption की बात क्यों नहीं करते. जब dogs पर हो रहे ज़ुल्म का सवाल उठाया गया तो, Judge साहब ने कहा कि हम video play करेंगे तो पता चलेगा कि इंसानों के साथ क्या होता है. जब ये सुझाव आया कि sterilization एक रास्ता है तो उसपर comment हुआ कि अब बस dogs की counselling करना ही बाकी रह गया है. मुझे लगता है कि इस approach से कोई फायदा नहीं होगा. जो लोग बेज़ुबान की आवाज़ उठाते हैं, उनके सुझावों को सुना जाना चाहिए और इस मसले में इंसान और जानवर के बीच टकराव देखने के बजाय solution के लिए विचार होना चाहिए. #MyTake #AajKiBaat #StrayDogs #SupremeCourt

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

https://t.co/b6oPBVFTPz

[Press Trust of India @PTI_News]

VIDEO | On stray dogs case in Supreme Court, advocate Divyam Khera says, "The court took the cognisance of the fact that today, essentially, what we are facing is the failure of the municipality. In the last 25 years, they have not done the sterilisations. Had sterilisations taken place as claimed by municipalities that they have done, there would be no dogs in the streets today."

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)

#StrayDogs #Delhi #SupremeCourt

[Rajat Sharma @RajatSharmaLive]

आज मैं आपसे और Supreme Court से, हमारे street dogs के बारे में कुछ कहना चाहता हूं. जो बेज़ुबान हैं, अपना दर्द किसी से कह नहीं सकते, उनकी आवाज़ आप तक पहुंचाना चाहता हूं. Court ने फैसला किया कि हम अपने street dogs को shelters में भेज दें. इसका मतलब क्या निकाला गया? लोहे के सरिए से street dogs की गर्दन को बेरहमी से पकड़ कर बिलखते हुए बेज़ुबान जानवरों को सलाखों वाली बंद गाड़ियों में भर-भर कर, भूखा मरने के लिए छोड़ दिया गया. मैं Supreme Court से और dogs पर गुस्सा निकालने वालों से कहना चाहता हूं कि, shelters में छोड़ दिया जाए ये कहा और हो गया ऐसा संभव नहीं है. पूरे देश में एक भी सरकारी shelter नहीं है. 5 राज्य सरकारों ने लिख कर दिया है कि dogs के लिए shelters बनाना उनके बस की बात नहीं है. इसीलिए shelters तो कोई solution नहीं हो सकता. Shelters को लेकर कुछ figures मैं आपके सामने रखना चाहता हूं. ये figures मेनका गांधी ने compile की हैं. अनुमान है कि सिर्फ educational institutions में 2 करोड़ 32 लाख dogs रहते हैं. अगर इनके लिए shelters बनाए जाएं, एक shelter में 200 dogs रखे जाएं, तो भी 1 लाख 16 हज़ार shelters चाहिए. जिसके लिए 22 हज़ार एकड़ ज़मीन की ज़रूरत होगी. Dogs की daily feed के लिए 92.8 करोड़ रुपये खर्च होंगे. यानी हर साल 33 हज़ार 872 करोड़ रुपये का खर्च. ये solution कैसे हो सकता है? लेकिन court के आदेश को आधार बना कर स्कूल, कॉलेज, हॉस्पिटल, रेलवे स्टेशन हर जगह से dogs को निकाला जा रहा है. उन्हें उन जगहों से दूर किया जा रहा है जहां कोई उन्हें खाना देता है, जहां कोई उनके सिर पर प्यार से हाथ फेरता है. और उन्हें रखने की जगह कैसी हो, कहां हो, इसकी परवाह किसी को नहीं है. इसका नतीजा ये होगा कि dog bites के cases और बढ़ जाएंगे. फिर हम dogs के साथ और cruel हो जाएंगे. फिर हम dogs को और सताएंगे. फिर कोई उन्हें slaughter करने की सलाह दे देगा. Research कहती है कि 90% street dogs किसी को कुछ नहीं कहते. ये dogs जिन सड़कों पर पले, जहां बड़े हुए, अगर उन्हें वहां से हटाया जाता है तभी वो aggressive होते हैं. जब dogs का पेट भरा होता है, कोई उन्हें तंग नहीं करता, तो वो कभी किसी को नहीं काटते. Dogs को बचाने का और dogs से इंसानों को बचाने का scientific रास्ता एक ही है- sterilization, vaccination और dogs को प्यार करने वाले, feed करने वाले, अपनों के आस-पास रखने का. अगर वाकई में sterilization करना है तो 780 centres बनाने होंगे. 780 NGOs को train करना होगा. देश में 3 training centres हैं- लखनऊ, देहरादून और ऊटी में, जिनका इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता है. हमें fear और anger के बजाय, science और compassion के रास्ते पर जाने की ज़रूरत है. जानवरों को मारना, पीटना, कत्ल कर देना आसान है. ये बेज़ुबान बदनसीब, इंसानी ताकत का मुकाबला नहीं कर सकते. लेकिन इतिहास गवाह है कि हिंसा ने, मार काट ने, killings ने कभी किसी समाज को बड़ा नहीं बनाया. दया, प्यार, संवेदना किसी भी देश को बड़ा बनाती है. क्या हम अपने जानवरों के प्रति करुणा और संवेदना दिखा कर दुनिया को रास्ता दिखा सकते हैं? ये सवाल आपके सामने है. जो अपनी बात कह नहीं सकते, Supreme Court को अपने साथ हो रहा ज़ुल्म दिखा नहीं सकते, उनका case कौन लड़ेगा? कल जब Supreme Court के सामने ये case आएगा तो ये बेज़ुबान बेकसूर आपबीती सुनाने के लिए वहां नहीं होंगे. क्या हम सब मिल कर उनकी बात, उनका दर्द, अदालत तक पहुंचा सकते हैं? #SupremeCourt #StrayDogs #SupremeCourtStrayDogs #dogs #MyTake #AajKiBaat

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

Jaipur HALVED its dog population & ended human rabies via ABC (sterilization). Science works. Killing & warehousing fails. Why are we ignoring 30 years of proof? #UntilEveryAnimalIsFree #InternationalAnimalRightsDay

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

Goa Data Fraud: Officials admit 99% of "dog bites" don't involve stray dogs! Yet media screams "Stray Terror." They inflate numbers by 1000% to incite mob violence. #UntilEveryAnimalIsFree #InternationalAnimalRightsDay

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

FINANCIAL DISASTER: A 1,000-dog shelter costs ₹35 Cr to build + ₹24 Cr/year to run. This model will bankrupt municipalities for ZERO reduction in street dogs. #UntilEveryAnimalIsFree #InternationalAnimalRightsDay

[Priyanshi @pricatttt]

Malicious people routinely show the bite figures released by the govt but they hide the circulars released by the same govt. See the circulars 👇 also adding RTI wrt AIIMS which prove this.
https://t.co/YFANPSrflr
#UntilEveryAnimalIsFree
#InternationalAnimalRightsDay

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

"Is there a protocol for reporting bites? NO." RTI proves the govt has no accurate data. They count rat bites as dog bites to manufacture a crisis. #UntilEveryAnimalIsFree #InternationalAnimalRightsDay

[UK in Bengaluru 🇬🇧 🇮🇳 @UKinBengaluru]

Does bioprinting involve actual printers?

@RoyceInstitute and @iiscbangalore’s new partnership on bioprinting is the latest collaboration under the Technology Security Initiative to drive growth and protect lives across UK and India.

Listen to our experts break it down👇

[Your average e-drama enjoyer. @masaaihaara]

Next time instead of making fun of migrant workers who are stuffed inside packed and dingy trains, the indian middle classes should remember that the same fate awaits them regardless of whether they travel in planes, cruises or even rockets. Neoliberalism is all encompassing.

[Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) @internetfreedom]

IFF's Statement on the Sanchar Saathi App Pre-Installation Directive

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), specifically its AI & Digital Intelligence Unit (AI & DIU) on 21st November, 2024 has under the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024 issued a sweeping Direction mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi mobile application on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India. As a preliminary matter the DoT has yet to by itself disclose the full text of the direction. Initial reports by Reuters revealed it's existence and subsequently it's full text was disclosed by Medianama which form the basis of our statement, which will be followed up by RTI, analysis as well as steps, if required to support a challenge to it in a court of law.

The direction by requiring manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi App represents a sharp and deeply worrying expansion of executive control over personal digital devices. The stated objective of curbing IMEI fraud and improving telecom security is, on its face, a legitimate state aim. But the means chosen are disproportionate, legally fragile, and structurally hostile to user privacy and autonomy. Clause 7(b) is the clearest expression of this. It requires that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application be “readily visible” and that, “its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.” In plain terms, this converts every smartphone sold in India into a vessel for state mandated software that the user cannot meaningfully refuse, control, or remove. For this to work in practice, the app will almost certainly need system level or root level access, similar to carrier or OEM system apps, so that it cannot be disabled. That design choice erodes the protections that normally prevent one app from peering into the data of others, and turns Sanchar Saathi into a permanent, non-consensual point of access sitting inside the operating system of every Indian smartphone user.

Viewed through the lens of the Supreme Court’s judgment in K.S. Puttaswamy (2017) that reaffirmed the fundamental right to privacy, this structure cannot pass the proportionality test. K.S. Puttaswamy requires that any intrusion into the right to privacy must meet the standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality. Even if we assume legality and necessity for the limited purpose of checking the genuineness of devices, the order clearly stumbles on proportionality. The government’s own ecosystem already offers less intrusive means to verify IMEI numbers and detect fake handsets such as the Sanchar Saathi web portal, SMS-based KYM (Know Your Mobile) services, and USSD codes all allow a user to perform this task without a permanent app baked into the firmware. There is no technical explanation in the order for why a one-time or occasional verification exercise justifies a resident, non-removable application with elevated privileges that lives on the phone for the lifetime of the device. Forcing a permanent app installation for a sporadic verification function is not a marginal overreach; it is a textbook example of disproportionate state action under the Puttaswamy standard.

The problems deepen when we look at the scope and safeguards. The order invokes “telecom cyber security” as a catch all justification, but it does not define the functional perimeter of the app. Clause 5 of the Directions refers to identifying acts that “endanger telecom cyber security,” an expression so vague that it invites function creep as a design feature, not a bug. Today, the app may be framed as a benign IMEI checker. Tomorrow, through a server side update, it could be repurposed for client side scanning for “banned” applications, flag VPN usage, correlate SIM activity, or trawl SMS logs in the name of fraud detection. Nothing in the order constrains these possibilities. In effect, the state is asking every smartphone user in India to accept an open ended, updatable surveillance capability on their primary personal device, and to do so without the basic guardrails that a constitutional democracy should insist on as a matter of course. IFF is deeply concerned with this direction that sets up a precedent to enforce client side scanning on all smartphones in India and calls for its recall.

As a first step we have filed a RTI with the Department of Telecom not only for a copy of this direction/order but also the underlying justification on how and why it was issued. We will fight this direction till it is rescinded.

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Delhi: On DoT's directions to pre-install Sanchar Saathi App on mobile handsets, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says, "It is a snooping app. It's ridiculous. Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to privacy to send messages to family, friends, without the government looking at everything... They are turning this country into a dictatorship in every form. The parliament is not functioning because the government is refusing to talk about anything. It's very easy to blame the Opposition. They are not allowing any discussion on anything... A healthy democracy demands discussion... There's a very fine line between reporting fraud and seeing what every citizen of India is doing on their phone. That's not how it should work. There should be an effective system to report fraud. We've discussed this at great length on cybersecurity. There's a need for cybersecurity, but that doesn't mean that it gives you an excuse to go into every citizen's telephone. I don't think any citizen would be happy..."

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

Children burn puppies for FUN. People stab, poison, crush, rape, throw acid on, throw boiling water on dogs DAILY. Cruelty ignored — but fake bite numbers get national outrage. #SaveIndianDogs #HumanMenace

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

Dogs saved soldiers in wars. Dogs saved Indians during blasts. Aaj wohi dogs ko desh se hatao? Kaisi shukrane ki soch hai yeh? #CommonManForDogs #AnimalRightsMatter

[Saiansha Panangipalli @SaianshaV]

Fake dog-bite stats = real dog deaths. Goa exposed how numbers get multiplied to spread hatred. #CommonManForDogs #AnimalRightsMatter