2015 https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/fbi-releases-secret-spy-plane-footage-freddie-gray https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/4992/2021/en/ 2020 “Earlier today a US Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations unmanned aircraft system (CPB 104) was preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis. The unmanned aircraft system provides live video feed to ground law enforcement, giving them situational awareness, maximizing public safety, while minimizing the threat to personnel and assets.” After two decades of US unlimited surveillance within the country after 9/11, the a bench of judges, found that the Congress and the government, had lied about the surveillence helping cops stopping 54 crimes/attacks. Infact it was only able to stop 1 case which was close to being solved by regular police work. The West takes the power differential into its calculus in calibrating the raising of human rights with other countries across the world. CCP feels that US use human rights and dissidents - as a pressure point, particularly at key times in the relationship when the West is looking for something in return. https://forbiddenstories.org/about-the-pegasus-project/ https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/who-is-girish-chandra-murmu-cag-and-trusted-aide-of-pm-modi-since-gujarat-days/article66913528.ece https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/cag-of-india-writes-as-our-democracy-matures-my-role-is-becoming-more-vital-9019469/ https://thewire.in/government/officers-cag-reports-ayushman-bharat-bharatmala-transferred https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/policy/story/ayushman-bharat-patients-shown-as-dead-getting-treatment-985-lakh-ab-pmjay-beneficiaries-linked-to-same-mobile-number-says-cag-report-393403-2023-08-09 https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/Aug/17/centre-denies-report-of-the-dead-availing-treatment-underayushman-bharat-scheme-2606174.html https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/data-stories/data-focus/from-fake-accounts-to-payments-to-dead-patients-cag-finds-serious-lapses-in-ayushman-bharat-implementation/article67198748.ece https://www.deccanherald.com/health/healthcare/rs-697-crore-was-paid-to-dead-patients-under-pmjay-cag-2649876 https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/bjp-ally-uppl-leader-sleeping-on-rs-500-notes-pile-photo-goes-viral-887518 S. Nambi Narayanan was one among the many aerospace engineers who worked under Muthunayagam.Former Deputy Director of Intelligence Bureau, R B Sreekumar and Former Kerala Police chief, Sibi Mathew, and 16 other police personnel have been named in the FIR over an alleged conspiracy to frame scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case. Sreekumar was Additional Director General of Police in charge of armed unit in Gujarat during Godhra Incident and was Intelligence DGP immediately after 2002 Gujarat riots took place. The Times of India newspaper carried an exclusive news item based on his report to the Nanavati-Mehta Commission in which he claimed to have documented the state's connivance at the perpetration of riots. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated riots, however, found all such claims to be false, which was endorsed by the Supreme Court. Subsequently, he was denied promotion by Gujarat government to the rank of Director General of Police. He was arrested along with social activist Teesta Setalvad, by the Gujarat Police on 25th June 2022, on the charge of conspiring to falsely implicate innocent persons. Sreekumar had joined the Aam aadmi Party in March 2014. Mike/MK (Mayankodu Kelath Narayanan) headed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) from 1987 to 1990, before heading the Joint Intelligence Committee. He had the privilege of serving under or with titans of the intelligence profession such as B N Mallick, Kao, M M L Hooja, A K Dave, K Sankaran Nair and G C Saxena. He became Chief of the IB again in 1991, before retiring in 1992. He earned his spurs by playing a role in the unseating of the first-ever democratically elected communist government in the world, E.M.S. Namboodiripad's ministry in Kerala, way back in 1957. He began systematically undermining Sahay and he planted his own man, Hormis Tharakan, former Kerala police chief who was occasionally deputed to RAW, as Sahay’s eventual successor. Mike/MK's favourite line was, 'I have a file on you.' He used it, humourously, with ministers, officials, journalists and others he met, leaving them, however, with the uneasy feeling that he wasn't really joking. Indeed, Mike/MK himself gave currency to the tales that circulated about his proclivity to snoop on everyone. He seemed to derive great pleasure in letting me know that he kept a tab on the credit-card spending of editors. His human network of relationships of all sides are legendary. He managed to establish a folksy relationship with his counterparts in the U.S. administration. When George Bush Jr. visited India in April 2006, he put his hand around the shoulders of Mike/MK and whispered into his ears: "I want this agreement". However, the response to 26/11 terrorist strikes showed that Mike/MK couldn't manage or build any capabilities for an effective counter-terrorism command and control, even though he was an expert in counter-intelligence, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism. In 2011, he was awarded with the Gusi Peace Prize, based in Manila, Philippines. Maloy Krishna Dhar was from time-to-time tasked to overlook certain acts by officials which would help the Indian prime minister during elections. He explains how intelligence agencies in India carry out the dirty work, including the victimization of innocent people. Dhar uses these matters to illustrate the need for parliamentary oversight. Dhar retired in 1995 after being passed over in 1994 for the top position in the IB, and he is critical of the man who got the job when Vidyadhar Govind Vaidya retired — D.C. Pathak. https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Corporate-Vigilance-D-C-Pathak/dp/8170492890 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/new-it-rules-centre-draconian-powers-fact-checking-8548308/
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/preventive-detention-based-on-capricious-exercise-of-powers-must-be-nipped-in-bud-sc-2949671 https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/preventive-detention-based-on-capricious-exercise-of-powers-must-be-nipped-in-bud-supreme-court/cid/2008780 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67980484?quot= Prakash Singh v Union of India made the Supreme Court to come out with a set of reforms in 2006 for a Model Police Act. Only 6 States provided a minimum tenure of 2 years to the Director General of Police (DGP). Prakash Singh had alleged that the July 3, 2018, directive was being misused by state governments who were ignoring competent senior officers for appointment as DGPs. A Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) study reveals that, more than a decade down the line, there is not a single case of full compliance and that the State Governments have “blatantly rejected, ignored or diluted significant features of the directive”. Not a single Union Territory is compliant with the directives. There is also a need to incorporate the Menon Committee and Malimath Committee recommendations for devising a national policy paper on the criminal justice system. https://theprint.in/opinion/security-code/pm-modi-wants-india-to-shed-its-colonial-past-he-should-begin-by-reforming-the-police/1136332/ The demand for reforms in police were even before our independence. Prakash Singh v Union of India made the Supreme Court to come out with a set of reforms in 2006 for a Model Police Act. Only 6 States provided a minimum tenure of 2 years to the Director General of Police (DGP). Prakash Singh had alleged that the July 3, 2018, directive was being misused by state governments who were ignoring competent senior officers for appointment as DGPs. A Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) study reveals that, more than a decade down the line, there is not a single case of full compliance and that the State Governments have “blatantly rejected, ignored or diluted significant features of the directive”. State laws (that prohibit enforcement agencies from using drones and certain advanced technologies such as facial recognition cameras or other mass data collection tools without a warrant) doesn’t apply to federal agencies. Law agencies have the right to access internet database, and these databases indefinately stores every internet users geo-location data. https://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/26/us/fbi-occupy/index.html The FBI (capitalist US), & East German police (East bloc of communist Soviets), both developed COunter INTELligence PROgram that to paralyze the political dissent (was treated as terrorism) from the inside, while avoiding the use of overt force. The idea was to chip away at a dissident’s sanity so that he would lose the will to resist, or in the words of a Stasi guide, “(provoke) internal conflicts and contradictions within hostile-negative forces that fragment, paralyze, disorganize, and isolate” the opponent. The first step in COINTELPRO campaign was to identify the target’s weak spots—health, family, finances — then strike them at their core repeatedly. They might send mail from an unknown woman demanding child support or false reports of rape. They might enlist doctors to give false medical diagnoses or ensure the dissident’s career progress is reversed. It is a nightmare designed to unglue a dissident’s psychea, a strategy of gaslighting. Some targets suffered breakdowns and others killed themselves. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/former-supreme-court-judge-ajay-manikrao-khanwilkar-appointed-as-chairperson-of-lokpal/cid/2003661 https://indianexpress.com/article/india/justice-a-m-khanwilkar-aadhaar-to-uapa-to-pmla-he-authored-many-crucial-orders-9185026/ https://www.indiatoday.in/law/story/new-lokpal-chairman-am-khanwilkar-supreme-court-retired-judge-2507877-2024-02-27 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/am-khanwilkar-from-sc-to-lokpal/article67908336.ece "Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of the government." Bihar has 65 policemen for 100,000 people. In the West during peaceful time, they have 300 to 500 policemen for 100,000 people. The public's security expenditure allotted for Indian policemen by the govt. is Rs.1.12 per day . Police History: In the beginning, there was kin policing, with its penchant for blood feuding and traditions of tribal justice. Many pre-civilized villages or communities are believed to have had a rudimentary form of law enforcement (morals enforcement) derived from the power and authority of kinship systems, rule by elders, or perhaps some form of totemism or naturism. Under kin policing, the family of the offended individual was expected to assume responsibility for justice by capturing, branding, or mutilating the offender. To be sure, there were also theocratic institutions (religious temples, magic rituals, grand viziers), but these were probably used as a system of appeals (sanctuary, refuge) and for purposes not associated with justice. Since war has existed, the police function has been somewhat inseparable from the military function as ancient rulers almost always kept elite, select units (bodyguards) close at hand to protect them from threats and assassination attempts, and although it was more theocratic than militaristic, the argument could be made that the first known civilization (Egypt) was a police state. In Mesopotamia, the rise of cities like Uruk, Umma, Eridu, Lagash, and Ur is widely regarded as the "birth of civilization". However, these cities were in a state of constant warfare, and in terms of looking at which residents bore the closest resemblance to police officers, the argument could be made that captured Nubian slaves were the first police force. This group was often put to work as marketplace guards, Praetorian guards, or in other mercenary-like positions. As a police force, their different color, stature, and manner of dress made them quite visible among the Mesopotamians. The idea of visibility could then be regarded as the first principle of crime control. With the rise of the city-states came forms of criminal justice that could be considered as king's policing. It's conventional to note that things like the Code of Hammurabi marked the first known system of criminal law as well as the start of other practices. The Hebrews developed the Mosaic Law and a rudimentary adverse verdana system. The Greeks experimented with highway patrol and jury trials (Athens) as well as secret police and mercenary systems (Sparta). Across Africa, trials were being conducted while sitting down (three-legged stools of justice). Violators were brought before thrones of justice in the name of the crown, and to keep the peace meant, for the most part, keeping the king's peace of mind. Greek philosophy (Aristotle, Plato) was largely responsible for popularizing the majesty of justice by associating good law and order with virtue. It's widely recognized that the first organized police force were the Roman vigiles, the first group of nonmilitary and non-mercenary police. the urban cohorts were supplemented by nighttime cohorts, and there were several thousand of them, recruited and selected from among freedmen only. They were known as the vigiles (watchmen) of Rome, and were empowered not only to fight fires but to arrest law breakers. The prefect of the vigiles eventually became a powerful man, passing judgment on most lawbreakers, except for serious lawbreakers who had to be turned over to the prefect of the urban cohorts. The vigiles were armed with clubs as well as short swords. They eventually took over the duties of the urban cohorts. MIDDLE AGES (400 A.D. - 1600 A.D.) The middle ages either had no system of law enforcement or one of two systems, depending upon what part of the world you were in. Where law enforcement existed, it was most likely a variety of the watch system -- a system premised on the importance of voluntarily patrolling the streets and guarding cities from sunset to sunrise ("2 A.M. and all's well"). The predominant function of policing became class control (keeping watch on vagrants, vagabonds, immigrants, gypsies, tramps, thieves, and outsiders in general). Despite some innovations during this time period (the Magna Carta of 1215 being a notable example), most of this era was characterized by lawlessness and corruption. By the 1500s, there was no country in the world with more robbers, thieves, and prostitutes than England. "At any given time anyone of us could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up in prison. All human beings, regardless of who they are, where they come from, what they have done should be treated with respect and dignity. No individual has the right to judge others." a corrections officer "My hands and legs were tied; a wooden stick was passed through my legs. They started beating me badly on the legs with lathis [batons] and kicking me. They beat me until I was crying and shouting for help. When I was almost fainting, they stopped the beating... Then they turned me upside down... They poured water from a plastic jug into my mouth and nose, and I fainted," "Low-ranking officers often work in difficult conditions. They are required to be on-call 24 hours a day, every day. Instead of shifts, many work long hours, sometimes living in tents or filthy barracks at the police station. Many are separated from their families for long stretches of time. They often lack necessary equipment, including vehicles, mobile phones, investigative tools and even paper on which to record complaints and make notes." Between 1994 and 2008, India’s National Human Rights Commission recorded the custodial deaths of 16,836 people. That is an average of 1,203 people every year. The New Delhi-based Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR) asserts that the number of custodial deaths has been rising year after year, climbing from 1,037 in 2001 to 1,977 in 2008. Police, by the very nature of their functioning, are the most visible arm of the state. A policeman is seen as a symbol of state power and as an agent of coercion and retribution; and not as a friend and protector of the people. In a fundamental sense, the first and most vital function of the state is maintenance of public order and peace in society and ensuring protection of citizens. A police station should be a place of protection but instead it feels extremely unsafe and unwelcoming, a place most people want to avoid. Most of us have plenty of freedom where we are, but throughout the world their are others who are crying out for justice. Beating, torture and illegal arrests are common, so common that complaints about them are few. India's police institution facilitates and even encourages abuses. It says there has been little change in attitudes, training or equipment since the police was formed in colonial times with the aim to control the population. The Indian Police Act in use today was written in 1861 by the British Empire whose primary use of the police was to protect their commercial interests against the rising tide of nationalism. The earlier police commissions before 1947 felt that an ordinary constable is not meant to think and take decisions. From http://win2vin.wordpress.com/ Since 1902 little has changed. The Police Act of 1861, which was patterned on the British rule over Northern Ireland, still guides and governs our police system. The colonial mindset of the police, the distrust people had for the police in British India has continued to date. So far we have seen either foolish reforms or no reforms in making the police relevant in modern democratic and highly insecure world. Global average ratio for police-population is 270, whereas it’s 120 for 100,000 in India. With far less police – ill trained, ill equipped and most of them are posted to protect the politicians, people of India are the least secure (most vulnerable) people in the world. Even after spate of terrorist attacks on our major cities, the political class is less willing to loosen its grip on the police and let it ‘serve’ the people. The efforts to beef up security apparatus, strengthen the intelligence gathering ability, bring about coherence and coordination between different police and security agencies, modernizing the police force, enabling our cities with infrastructure to deter terrorist attacks, and most importantly making police people friendly – all these necessities have been met with lackadaisical attitude of political authorities and are mired in red-tapism. Each MLA seeks Circle Inspector and Sub Inspectors of his choice to be posted in his constituency. The caste, allegiance, amount of bribes, attitude towards people of MLA’s community, and ‘flexibility’ are the characters that determine posting of a policeman. At the state level, senior Police officers are promoted to serve the ‘needs’ of the ruling party. To go ‘slow’ on certain cases, to thwart investigation, to ‘deal’ with political opponents, to ‘handle’ underworld businesses – police are needed for the politicians. 1) Arrest the protestor leaders, throw them in jail. 2) Witch hunt their supporters. Bring out notices for payment for 'damage to public property' by leaders personally. Or auction their property to 'claim' damages. 3) Ensure partisan judgements or if that's not possible, prolong the legal case so that the leaders / other supporters languish in jail for years.
In a piece that was published earlier this year, a former director of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) went all out to draw parallels between the Hindutva of Golwalkar (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue) and the Zionism of David Ben-Gurion, adding further that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in 2017 and visit by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India this year, have catapulted the strategic ties between the two countries beyond the ideological template of nationalism of Savarkar.” Where a political solution is needed, the police is used to suppress any civilian protest is being encouraged as the default for the Indian state. In a shocking instance of police militarisation, protesters were fatally shot by the police in Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) in an anti-Sterlite agitation in May this year. Rumours of the cop who shot at the protesters being trained in Israel led us to discover a high-level police training cooperation agreement between India and Israel. As a part of this cooperation, Indian police trainees are sent to Israel to learn their methods of controlling and surveilling Palestinians. Just in 2018, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian protesters demanding their right to return to their homes. It is an over-burdened force with 24% vacancies across states where crime per lakh population has increased 28% in one decade from 2005-2015.
https://www.ft.com/content/b3a9821b-3b39-4f5d-a88b-e4abdb145857 As Arab nations, especially the oil-rich ones in Arabia, develop closer ties with Israel (mainly for protection from Iranian threats) it has become possible for Arab journalists and officials to openly (in the media) discuss Israel and why it is a good idea for the Arab states, who have been in a state of war with Israel since the late 1940s, to now openly treat Israel as an ally. The main reason is obvious; Israel is the military superpower in the region, despite containing only two percent of the people in the Middle East. Arabs don’t like dwell on that in public, but thanks to the Internet anyone curious about Israeli military capabilities can find out in private. What Arabs can discuss openly is the Israeli achievements in science and technology. It is no secret that Moslems, despite having a population 85 times larger than Jews, win one Nobel prize for every 33 awarded to Jews. By whatever measure you wish to use, Nobel prizes, literacy rates, patents awarded, books published or translated, GDP growth, the Arabs have fallen behind the rest of the world. Part of the problem is the Arab tendency to blame outsiders and to avoid taking responsibility. Arabs prefer to fake it and pretend it's all in their head. Improvisation and innovation is generally discouraged. Police state methods make it easier for the police and military to control a country, even if despicable methods were used. The exact nature of this lethal cultural miasma can best be described by enumerating the major components. Let’s start with the fact that most Arab countries are a patchwork of different tribes and groups, and Arab leaders survive by playing one group off against another. Loyalty is to one's group, not the nation. Most countries are dominated by a single group that is usually a minority (Bedouins in Jordan, Alawites in Syria, Sunnis in Iraq, Nejdis in Saudi Arabia). All of which means that leadership jobs are assigned not by merit but by loyalty and tribal affiliation. Promotions are based more on political reliability than proficiency and efficiency. The “ruling class” (owners, officers, or officials) and everyone else are treated like two different social castes and there is no effort to bridge the gap using what the West calls middle management. Arab leaders prefer to be feared, rather than respected, by their subordinates. They consider it acceptable to lie to subordinates and allies in order to further their personal agenda. Paranoia prevents adequate training. This approach leads to poorly trained populations and low morale. Work accidents that would end the careers of Western managers, officers, or officials are ignored in the Arab world and nobody cares. Not surprisingly, in Arab cultures the ruling class is despised by their subordinates, and this does not bother the leaders much at all. Officers and managers are suddenly transferred without warning to keep them from forging alliances or networks. Any team spirit among officials is discouraged. So subordinates prefer to fail rather than make an independent decision. Large scale enterprises are micromanaged by senior leaders, who prefer to suffer defeat rather than lose control of their subordinates. Even worse, an Arab manager will not tell a Western counterpart why he cannot make the decision (or even that he cannot make it), leaving Western managers angry and frustrated because the Arabs won't make a decision. The Arab leaders simply will not admit that they do not have that authority. Many, if not most, Arab leaders now know that the paranoia and parochialism are bad but ancient traditions are hard to abandon. To Arabs, the value and prestige of an individual is based not on what he can teach but on what he knows that no one else knows. This destructive habit is still around, despite years of American advisors patiently explaining why this is counterproductive. While Westerners thrive on competition among themselves, Arab leaders avoid this as the loser would be humiliated. While Western military and corporation promotion lists are routinely published, this rarely happens in Arab organizations. Westlake Village-based Pinkerton is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sweden-based Securitas, and the deal has been approved by the boards of both companies. Pinkerton was founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.
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