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New Delhi, Jan 17 () Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) to India increased despite travel advisories issued by several countries and attempts by some groups to create "a bad perception" of the situation in the country, said Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel on Friday.
In 2019, till December, there has been a 43-percent increase in tourists availing e-visa, Forex has grown by almost 19 percent and the increase in FTAs is around 8 per cent as compared to the same period in 2018
"I think the data makes clear to those trying to create a bad perception of the country in a planned manner that they have failed in comparison to the attempts made by the prime minister to showcase this country. The data shows India is stable, peaceful and definitely worth seeing," said Patel when asked about the effects the protests against CAA, NRC, NPR have on the tourism industry.
According to data from the ministry, FTAs grew by 4.3 per cent in September 2019, a month after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammy and Kashmir, as compared to the same period in 2018. Similarly, Forex grew by 11 percent during the same period.
In December, when protests against CAA and NRC began, FTAs grew by 3 percent and Forex by 16 percent, the data said. ASG ASG ABH
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Foreign tourist arrivals up despite travel advisories, attempts to create bad image: Tourism Min

<ul class="summary-list"><li>People across India are protesting two controversial citizenship laws that critics say target Muslims.</li><li>The two acts, known as the NRC and the CAA, would provide a path to citizenship for several minority groups and foreigners in India, but exclude Muslims.</li><li>India's deeply religious roots are now at odds with its secular constitution.</li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/">View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.</a></li></ul>Following is a transcript of an episode of Business Insider Today. Watch the full episode <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/videos/1344754715706477">here</a>.In this coastal town in India, workers split bamboo stalks with a machete. They cut and shape them to make fences, homes, and baskets.Ala Uddin was born and raised in the northeastern state of Assam, but after the government implemented a citizenship list, he found himself fighting to prove his identity as an Indian national.Ala Uddin, bamboo worker: "The people are frightened. They feel scared that they might be sent to the detention camps."Ala Uddin is one of the lucky ones. His family is on the registry. But there are still 1.9 million people living in Assam whose <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-citizenship/india-leaves-nearly-two-million-people-off-citizens-list-fate-uncertain-idUSKCN1VL04W">citizenship remains in limbo</a>.In recent months, protests have erupted across India due to two controversial laws that critics say target Muslim immigrants, and even those born here.At odds are the country's deeply religious roots and its secular constitution.Ala Uddin travels from his small island to the town of Dhubri, making on average 250 rupees, or $3.50 a day, to provide for his mother, wife, and four children.But when the National Register of Citizens, or NRC, was enforced, things changed.Uddin: "When I heard about NRC I was shocked. I was completely shocked. Even though the paperwork was there, I had to leave my job and run around to get the paperwork ready."In a country like India, not everyone has their documents in order, says Milan Vaishnav, an expert on South Asian politics.Milan Vaishnav, director and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: "India is a very poor country. Even today, only about 70% of births happen with an official birth certificate. So a lot of people cannot prove their citizenship status. They're worried that this essentially is going to disenfranchise a bunch of genuine citizens who simply are either too poor or come from the wrong community to be able to justify their existence."Uddin: "I was trying to trace my ancestors and relatives, trying to trace my grandfather and my uncles. Trying to figure it out was very stressful.""The hearings were held at rather far-off places. Per person one had to spend 500 rupees to travel one way, so it's 1,000 rupees worth of commuting both ways in a day."The Indian government has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">discussed the possibility</a> of rolling out NRC in the entire country by 2021.On top of that, parliament passed the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">Citizenship Amendment Act</a>, or CAA, which gives minorities originally from neighboring countries a faster path to citizenship - but it excludes Muslims.Vaishnav: "If India were to carry out a nationwide citizens register, and there are people who are deemed to be illegal migrants, illegal residents, not genuine citizens, if you are a Muslim, you will essentially will be deemed perhaps a stateless person, and your citizenship, your voting rights would be taken away."People who are not considered citizens <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49520593">fear being sent to detention centers</a>, even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denied the camps exist.Across the country, Indians of all faiths have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">protesting for months</a>. They claim these laws go against the constitution by deciding citizenship on the basis of religion.Demonstrator: "This bill is unconstitutional, it is communal."Demonstrator: "I got this Indian flag painted because I need to prove that I am Indian."But in some areas the demonstrations turned violent. Twenty-seven people have been killed since the government passed the citizenship act in December.During the unrest, the government shut off internet and phone networks in large areas of the country.Critics say the NRC and CAA laws are just the latest in a series of moves by Modi that are driving India toward being a Hindu nationalist country.Vaishnav: "This is an ideology which has been present going back to the 19th century. This is not a new phenomenon. At the time of India's founding in the 1940s, there was a debate about should India be an avowedly, explicitly Hindu country?"Even though India chose a secular path, today Hindus <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/">make up the majority</a> at roughly 80% of the population, while Muslims account for 15%.And now many fear that the minority voice is being muffled by Modi's laws.Last month, India's Supreme Court <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/india-supreme-court-refuses-stay-citizenship-law-200122061532294.html">refused to put a hold</a> on the CAA. Instead it will hear arguments from the government in favor of the law. Meanwhile, several Indian states have said they will not cooperate.In the weeks and months to come, Muslims fear that life in their homeland may get increasingly harder if they can't prove Hindustan is home.

Why Indians are protesting 2 controversial laws that could leave millions of Muslims stateless

New Delhi, Dec 17 () Union Minister V K Singh on Tuesday said "sponsors" might be encouraging protests by students of Jamia Millia Islamia in the national capital against the Citizenship Amendment Act, and asserted that no Indian citizen would be affected by it. 
 The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force, following protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
 "With this amendment act, is any Indian citizen being harmed?...I would like to ask every student of Jamia Millia how has it (CAA) endangered your citizenship? Are you a refugee who has migrated after having being prosecuted?," Singh who is the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways said.
 "My firm belief is that there is more to it than what we are seeing. And behind this, there would be sponsors. There would be somebody who is encouraging this. In our country, misconception spreads faster. First we used to see newspaper and say that if it is printed in newspaper it would be true. Now we see WhatsApp and say it would be true," he explained.
 "We need to be rational... Let us first understand what are they demonstrating against. How is it affecting you? It is not affecting me... Nobody who is an Indian citizen," the former Army chief said.
 Singh was speaking on the sidelines of the conference on 'Smart Border Management 2019', organised by Ficci and India Foundation. 
 The situation remained tense in the university premises on Tuesday as protesters, including students and local residents, converged outside the varsity holding tricolour and placards to continue their demonstration against CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
 Braving freezing cold, they took out small marches outside the varsity, shouting slogans against the government. 
 This is the second consecutive day of peaceful protests after the demonstration on Sunday turned violent. SID ANS
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Jamia Millia student protests might be encouraged by "sponsors": V K Singh

<ul><li>124 people have been arrested so far in Uttar Pradesh for posting inciting content on social media. </li><li>Over 19,000 <keyword id="2290246" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media-accounts">social media accounts</keyword> on <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword>, <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> and <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword> reported. </li><li>93 FIRs have been registered so far and preventive action taken against over 5,500 people. </li></ul>The Uttar Pradesh police came down fast and hard on all those protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The police has swung into action and come hard on anti-CAA rioters. And, they used social media to identify the protestors. The crackdown resulted in 124 arrests for posting ‘inciting’ on social media. A <a href="https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1210175794531618817">tweet</a> by ANI UP mentions that over 19,000 accounts are affected. In some cases, posts are pulled down, while in others, accounts themselves are blocked. In all, posts from 9,372 Twitter profiles, 9856 Facebook accounts and 181 YouTubers are affected. This is not the first time this has happened This is not the first time that the Uttar Pradesh police has made large-scale arrests over social media posts. During the Ayodhya verdict in November, 79 people were arrested and 8,500 social media posts were pulled down. O P Singh, the UP DGP in a <a href="https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1210424860804927489">statement </a>said that special investigation teams have been formed to investigate the violence. And, internet services have been suspended in 21 districts temporarily and will be restored when the situation turns normal. Mobile data and SMS to remain suspended The Uttar Pradesh government has also <a href="https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1210393794173997056">announced</a> that mobile internet services and SMS services of all providers except BSNL will remain suspended in Lucknow - the state capital - on December 27. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/indias-personal-data-protection-bill-vs-data-laws-in-china-and-russia/articleshow/72990187.cms?src=hp_latest">Indian data laws have an uncanny resemblance to Russia’s 'new' internet and China’s 'Great Firewall'</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/caa-internet-shutdowns-make-india-example-for-china/articleshow/72931761.cms">Indian government shut off the Internet over a 100 times in 2019 — and China is lovin' it</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/nrc-npr-and-caa-are-not-the-same-know-the-differences/articleshow/72963691.cms">NRC, NPR and CAA are not the same: know the differences</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/what-is-npr-national-population-register-the-center-says-npr-will-be-updated-before-september-2020/articleshow/72963649.cms?src=as_rs">The center says NPR will be updated before September 2020: Here is what you must know about it</a>

UP police targets online CAA protestors - pulls up 19,000 social media accounts and arrests 124

New Delhi, Jan 4 () Tata Group firm Titan Company on Saturday said its sales in December were hit due to protests in the North East and other parts of the country.
"Sales in all divisions in the second half of December were also impacted to some extent due to forced store closures due to the protests in the North East and in
many other parts of the country," the company said in a filing to the BSE.
 Thousands of people held protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in various parts of the country.
The general economic slowdown in the economy leading to poor consumer sentiment and lower walk-ins has been a concern for the last few quarters, it said.
The company experienced different consumer responses in each of its divisions.
Retail sales in jewellery were better than expected at the beginning of the third quarter of FY'20, possibly due to a good wedding season and reasonable inelasticity of wedding jewellery, but growth in watches and eyewear were difficult to come by. 
In the jewellery segment, the company itself did better and market share gains were evident, the company statement said. 
"The division met its revised expectations for the quarter. While the revenue growth for quarter is 11 per cent, the retail growth was actually much better at 15 per cent," it said.
In the watch and wearables division, the growth for third quarter was flat compared to previous year. 
After witnessing two strong quarters, the eye wear division revenue grew by only two per cent, primarily led by heavy competitive activity, lower primary sales to trade channels and the disruption in the second half of december due to the nation-wide protests. SID MKJ

Titan says December 'sales in all divisions' hit by protests in various parts of country

New Delhi, Dec 27 () A grouping of Indian and Indian-origin professionals working with tech giants like Google, Uber, Amazon and Facebook have written an open letter against the new religion-based citizenship law and the planned national register of citizens, terming them as "fascist".
 They urged business leaders like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and Mukesh Ambani to "take a stance and publicly denounce the fascist acts by the Indian government".
 The letter by 'TechAgainstFascism' on online publishing platform Medium also urged the leaders to refuse to shut off the Internet at the "government's whim" and to ensure that content moderation is not skewing pro-government.
 This comes at a time when thousands of Indians across the country are protesting the amended citizenship law and the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC). On several occasions, these protests turned violent and have left around 20 dead and several injured in clashes with the police.
 WhatsApp and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have played a key role in providing a platform to people to voice their opinion against and in favour of the Citizen Amendment Act.
 "We - engineers, researchers, analysts, and designers - of the technology industry, unflinchingly condemn the fascist Indian government and the brutality it enacts on citizens. The state-sponsored brutality against protestors must stop immediately," the letter said.
 These employees -- who claim to be located across San Francisco, Seattle, London, Israel and Bengaluru -- added that the opinions expressed are their own and do not reflect those of their employers.
 "The CAA, 2019 combined with the NRC, is a deeply anti-Muslim scheme that will create greater statelessness and global disparity for Muslims, growing worse with India's economic decline and climate change," the letter said.
 It pointed out that with record high unemployment levels, plummeting growth, and rising farmer suicides, such "ultra-nationalist and diversionary tactics are attempts by the Indian government to mask over its incompetence" over the biggest socio-economic crises in the country.
 The over 150 signatories argued that Internet -- an open ecosystem that tech workers have worked hard to build and humanity benefits from -- is banned in places like Assam, Delhi and Kashmir.
 "While portraying India as marching towards 'Digital India' and courting tech company business investment, the regressive government views the Internet as a political tool for suppression of citizen dissent, while utilising the same networks to organise and spread fake content," they alleged.
 The employees called upon technology leaders like Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber), Mukesh Ambani (Jio), Gopal Vittal (Bharti Airtel), Kalyan Krishnamurthy (Flipkart), and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) to "take a stance and publicly denounce the fascist acts by the Indian government".
 The employees urged the leaders to use technology as a force for good, to refuse to share user details with the government, refuse to shut off the Internet at the government's whim, provide tools for citizen mobilisation, and ensure that content moderation is not skewing pro-government. SR MBI ANZ ABM
ABM

Indian techies pen open letter again citizenship bill

<keyword id="1851542" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="maratha-groups" source="Orion">Maratha groups</keyword> continued their protests for the third day across several districts in the state to press for reservation for the community here on Tuesday. Alarmed by the spread of agitation, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has convened an all-party meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday to discuss and resolve the issue. Maratha legislators from all political parties staged a protest near the Gandhi statue outside Mantralaya in Nariman Point and are likely to meet Governor Ramesh Bais later demanding a special legislature session to finalise the community quotas. The great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Tushar A. Gandhi said that the Centre had very successfully engineered violence in New Delhi to scuttle the anti-CAA-NRC protests that had become a big embarrassment for the government. "Now the same modus operandi has been employed in Maharashtra to defame and derail the Maratha reservation agitation," said <keyword id="97377" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tushar-gandhi" source="Orion">Tushar Gandhi</keyword> sharply. Another incident of arson on a government office was reported from Jalna where a village panchayat office was torched by some unknown persons raising pro-quota slogans. Scores of Maratha activists lay down on the railway tracks in Solapur and blocked the passage of at least one long-distance train even as police attempted to clear the railway lines. A local office of the Bharatiya Janata Party was set ablaze at Naiknagar in Hingoli district, while a large number of Maratha activists got down in a stream in Pune for a 'jal-samadhi' protest. Public bus services remained shut for the second day in parts of Parbhani district and in Malkapur, Buldhana district, protestors smeared black paint on posters of the CM on a vehicle. Scores of Marathas launched relay hunger strikes at Chunabhatti in Mumbai and Mungse village in Nashik district demanding immediate announcement of quotas. Schools and colleges remained shut on Tuesday in Shevgaon, Ahmednagar district and students participated in the protests. In Pune, protestors blocked the Pune-Bengaluru Highway by throwing burning truck tyres on the Navale Bridge and squatting on the road, raising anti-government slogans, as 10-km long traffic snarls developed on both sides of the important thoroughfare. A large number of activists took out a symbolic 'funeral' procession of the state government in Tembhurni, Solapur district, while half a dozen services of the Nagpur-Pune sleeper bus services were suspended for the day. In Beed, which was rocked by large-scale arson and violence on Monday, a Nationalist Congress Party (SP) activist <keyword id="13209654" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="yogesh-kshirsagar" source="Orion">Yogesh Kshirsagar</keyword> alleged that the torching of his MLA brother Sandeep R. Kshirsagar was "a pre-planned conspiracy". "Before setting our house on fire, someone had snapped off the power supply here, the miscreants who indulged in stone-pelting were carrying bottles filled with petrol, and the police proved totally incapable of stopping them," claimed Yogesh Kshirsagar. The Shivba Sanghatana President Manoj Jarange-Patil, whose indefinite hunger strike entered the seventhday on Tuesday, again appealed to his supporters in the state to refrain from any violence and carry out a peaceful agitation.

Arson, roadblocks rock Maha on third day of Maratha pro-quota protests

Hyderabad police have registered a criminal case against micro-blogging platform Twitter, Facebook-owned <keyword id="790242" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</keyword> and Chinese short-video making app TikTok on charges of facilitating the spread of hatred and anti-national content on their platforms in the country. The Cyber Crime <keyword id="48675" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="police-station">Police Station</keyword> registered the case following the direction from a city court on a petition filed by a local journalist. This is believed to be the first case against the leading social media platforms for facilitating spread of hatred and anti-national content in the country. The case against the social media platforms was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, conspiracy to wage or attempt to wage war, or abetting waging of war against Indian government, obscene acts and songs in public, statements <keyword id="8818833" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="conducing">conducing</keyword> to public mischief and criminal conspiracy. Silveri Srishailam, who had filed the petition in a Nampally court seeking action against the three social media apps, claimed that more than 1,200 groups were created after the protests against CAA, NRC and NPR began in the country, which were spreading anti-national content. He even claimed that some Pakistanis were members in these groups. He made <keyword id="8842132" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="twitter-communications-india-limited">Twitter Communications India Limited</keyword> and its India MD Manish Maheswari, WhatsApp Inc and its India head Abhijit Bose, and Tik Tok and its head Nikhil Gandhi the respondents in the case. When asked, a WhatsApp spokesperson shared an earlier statement that the company cared deeply about the safety of its users in India. "WhatsApp has made significant product changes and worked with partners across civil society, engaged with relevant government authorities and other technology platforms to help address the harmful consequences of misinformation," the spokesperson said. Inside sources told IANS that Twitter has not received any information on any such development so far. TikTok said it is looking into the matter. While WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, TikTok has crossed 200 million users. According to Statista, Twitter had nearly 35 million active users in India in 2019. Though the FIR was registered on February 18, the issue came to light on Thursday. A police officer said that notices would be issued to the respondents seeking their comments. The petitioner also sought ban on 42 apps, which he claimed were working against India.

Hyderabad police file criminal case against TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp for spreading hate

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's parliament passed a new amendment to its citizenship law earlier this month, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities while singling out its minority Muslim population. </li><li>The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> and has sparked deadly protests around the country.</li><li>The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A controversial amendment to a law was recently passed in India, sparking deadly protests around the country and leading some to question the country's democratic values.On December 11, India's parliament passed an amendment to its Citizenship Act of 1955, which sets out guidelines for becoming a citizen in the country. The 2019 revision added a religious element to the bill, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities who fled neighboring Muslim-majority countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> as anti-Islam, and they say it further marginalizes India's sizeable Muslim minority. Violent protests have erupted across the country in response, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-burning-protests-new-citizenship-act-2019-12">resulting in the deaths of six people</a>. Dozens more have been arrested or injured in clashes with police.The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.The bill has also handed more power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government in crafting a country which affords more rights to its Hindu majority and leaves room for further discrimination in the areas of governance and public space. <h2>What exactly does the bill say?</h2>India's Citizenship Act was first established in 1955 and created comprehensive guidelines related to citizenship in the country.It has been amended several times, including at 2003 amendment that authorized the government to keep a national register of all of its citizens (referred to as the NRC). Today, the register has not yet been implemented except in the northeastern state of Assam, which is home to a Muslim-majority population. The most recent changes to the Citizenship Act (often referred to locally as CAB or CAA) were passed by India's lower house of parliament - the Lok Sabha - on December 10, before being cleared by the upper house of parliament - the Rajya Sabha - a day later. The bill was signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind.The bill was introduced by Indian home affairs minister Amit Shah, a leading member of ‎Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, and it promised to provide refuge for persecuted religious minorities from three neighboring Muslim-majority countries who entered India before 2015.Notably, the act excludes Muslim migrants "as they do not face religious persecution in these Islamic countries," India's parliament <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=195783">said in a statement</a> after the bill's passage. The bill also leaves out two neighboring Buddhist countries, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, which have experienced major refugee crises in recent years. There are about 59,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in over 100 camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article30328790.ece">Indian magazine Frontline</a>, and about 30,000 that live outside these camps.The bill also ignores what the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22491&amp;LangID=E">UN has deemed the world's most persecuted minority</a>, the Rohingya Muslims, who suffered ethnic and religious cleansing at the hands of the Burmese military in Myanmar. Authorities <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-india-idUSKCN1AU0UC">have reportedly pledged</a> to deport the estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees currently residing in India, despite facing danger in their home state. "The only religion that the Modi government follows is the Constitution of India," the statement added.In the statement, Shah "reiterated that the Bill is not against any Minority in India and the rights of each Indian Citizen will be equally protected."The bill does not apply to Assam and other indigenous areas.A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25425&amp;LangID=E">called</a> the act "discriminatory in nature" and said it undermines India's democratic framework:"The law isn't truly about protecting the region's religious minorities," <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/17/india-citizenship-law-protests-narendra-modi-amit-shah-founding-fathers/">wrote Ravi Agrawal and Kathryn Salam of Foreign Policy</a>. "Instead, it challenges India's secularism by making religion part of the basis for citizenship."The Citizenship Act has spurred thousands of people from human rights groups, universities and religious groups to come out in protest this month. On December 15, clashes between police and students escalated on two Muslim university campuses - Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh and of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi - resulting in police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/17/india-protests-students-condemn-barbaric-police">using batons and tear gas on students</a>.The unrest has even led authorities to deploy army personnel and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/curfew-relaxed-few-hours-guwahati-assam-boils-caa-1628386-2019-12-15">impose a curfew in Assam</a>, as protests boil over. <h2>This is not the first time the government has targeted its Muslim population</h2>India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has taken steps to further marginalize the country's Muslim population since coming into power in 2014.The NRC's exclusive use in Assam has been derided by critics as a way to of stoking religious tensions. According to a <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW18C-01%20MDDS.XLS">2011 census</a>, Muslims makeup nearly 35% of Assam's population, and are a majority in eight of the state's districts. <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31">In August</a>, 1.9 million people from the region were excluded from the register, effectively stripping them of citizenship. <a href="https://amnesty.org.in/news-update/uncertain-destiny-for-millions-in-assam-post-nrc/">Amnesty International</a> has criticized the NRC and says it leaves the futures of millions of people in the region uncertain.In September, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-building-mass-detention-center-illegal-immigrants-assam-citizenship-2019-9/commerce-on-business-insider">India began construction</a> on a large-scale detention center in the Goalpara district of Assam meant to hold at least 3,000 detainees, according to Reuters. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kashmir-india-revoke-article-370-quasi-independence-internet-tourists-2019-8">And in August</a>, India also revoked part of its constitution which gave the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir a special status and quasi-independence. Over the past four months, Kashmir, which is home to a significant Muslim population, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/kashmiri-artists-resisting-india-months-long-lockdown-191207062705088.html">has been off from communication, held on lockdown</a>, and is now directly under the control of India's federal government in New Delhi. As part of shutting down communication, residents in Kashmir have lost access to phone lines and the internet. According to advocacy groups, the internet shutdown in the region is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-internet-shutdown-in-kashmir-is-now-the-longest-ever-in-a-democracy/2019/12/15/bb0693ea-1dfc-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html">longest-ever crackdown imposed on a democracy</a>. Only authoritarian countries, like China and Myanmar, have experienced longer internet shutdowns.The four-month internet blackout has been so severe that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-kashmir-accounts-removed-internet-blackout-2019-12">WhatsApp is deleting the accounts</a> of residents in the region because they've been inactive for so long. <h2>State-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims has had dire consequences</h2>The Modi government's attitudes and policies towards minority groups has sparked racially motivated clashes, and observers say that the ruling Hindu party has fostered a culture of impunity through its inaction in addressing violence.Shah, who crafted the citizenship bill, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-speech/amit-shah-vows-to-throw-illegal-immigrants-into-bay-of-bengal-idUSKCN1RO1YD">vowed in April</a> to throw illegal Muslim immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal. He has also <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/bjp-amit-shah-hindu-refugees-mamata-bannerjee-1499691-2019-04-11">previously referred</a> to illegal immigrants as "termites." India has also seen an increase in attacks against its Muslim minority in recent months. A February 2019 report from <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/02/18/violent-cow-protection-india/vigilante-groups-attack-minorities">Human Rights Watch</a> found that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 36 Muslims were killed across 12 Indian states. Roughly 280 people were injured across 20 states during the same period, the rights group added.In a particularly gruesome case last year, an eight-year-old Muslim girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed in Jammu and Kashmir by a group of Hindu men with the intention of committing the crime <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/six-men-convicted-in-rape-of-8-year-old-girl-that-shocked-india/2019/06/10/cde7b17c-8b5f-11e9-b162-8f6f41ec3c04_story.html">in order to drive away Muslim nomads in the area</a>. The country has also seen a <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/asia/in-southern-kashmir-there-s-little-enthusiasm-for-india-s-elections-26253">crackdown on protests</a>, attacks on the <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-india-media">free press</a>, and history books <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/india-modi-culture/">have been rewritten</a> in favor of Hindu achievements.<h2>India is inching towards fascism</h2>Experts have noted that India is straying away from its democratic values under the Bharatiya Janata Party. "There is absolute political consensus within the Bharatiya Janata Party that India is culturally a Hindu country," Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-17/citizenship-law-moves-india-closer-to-being-hindu-country">Los Angeles Times</a>. Harish Pullanoor, an editor at Quartz India, <a href="https://qz.com/india/844672/along-with-narendra-modis-rise-india-has-displayed-classic-signs-that-foreshadow-fascism/">wrote</a> in 2016 that India was "displaying classic signs that foreshadow fascism," including the disenfranchisement of religious minorities. "The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders," wrote Umberto Eco, an Italian philosopher, who wrote of a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/">list of features</a> that define a fascist state.In April, several Muslim merchants in Old Delhi described fears of religiously-motivated violence against them. "I could be lynched right now and nobody would do anything about it," Abdul Adnan, a Muslim businessman, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/asia/modi-india-elections.html">The New York Times</a>. "My government doesn't even consider me Indian. How can that be when my ancestors have lived here hundreds of years?"According to The Times, the consensus among Indian activists and liberal political analysts is that the country, under Modi, has become "more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims.""In plain language, they are what we now call communal fascists," Aditya Mukherjee, a retired historian told The Times. Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in an op-ed in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/">The Washington Post</a> in August that it was time to downgrade India's status as a world-class democracy. "Given the lack of any sort of credible opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the atmosphere of fear among religious minorities and the attacks on a free press, we are now a 40-60 democracy," he wrote of India.

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