July 16, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Black Box Analysis
The Sri Lankan President, J R Jayewardene, has offered to grant 'sufficient autonomy' to Tamil areas of the island to resolve the ethnic issue, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said. The offer had come during the talks the Sri Lankan President had with the Prime Minister. Virtually ruling out support for a separate Eelam, the Prime Minister told a news conference at Raj Bhavan that 'we will not support anything more than what is available in India'.
The overseas wing of the so-called Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) seems to be disintegrating and its former president, Amanullah Khan, is so frustrated with what he called 'integral politics' that he is now seriously thinking of setting up his headquarters in some Middle East country, possibly the UAE.
After a fiery four-and-a-half-hour discussion over the 'Dharavi land scandal', the entire Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly walked out for the day in protest against the government's refusal to appoint a committee of House members to probe the 'deal'. Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar did not agree with Minister of State for Urban Development Ram Manohar Tripathi's offer to ask the chief secretary to investigate the land deal.
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New Indian Express
36 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
UK, India say no room for double standards on terrorism in Modi–Starmer talks
NEW DELHI: India and the United Kingdom on Thursday sent a strong, united message against terrorism, with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer agreeing that there can be no double standards in tackling extremism. Following a bilateral meeting at the Chequers Estate, Modi thanked Starmer for the UK's strong condemnation of the April terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives. 'We are united in our view that there can be no place for double standards in the fight against terrorism,' Modi said. 'We also agree that forces with extremist ideologies must not be allowed to misuse democratic freedoms. Those who misuse democratic freedoms to undermine democracy itself must be held to account.' The statement, also seen as a veiled reference to pro-Khalistani activities abroad, comes amid growing Indian concern over threats to Indian diplomats and missions in the UK. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri later said that India had raised the issue during the bilateral talks. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation between their security agencies, including on the extradition of economic offenders, a longstanding demand from India involving several high-profile fugitives residing in the UK. The two leaders also discussed regional and global challenges. 'We exchanged views on peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the conflict in Ukraine, and the situation in West Asia,' Modi said. 'India supports the early restoration of peace and stresses that respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations is essential. The demand of today's era is not expansionism, but developmentalism.' Modi also expressed condolences for British nationals who died in last month's Air India crash in Ahmedabad. The meeting, which included a private one-on-one between the leaders, also laid the foundation for a long-term bilateral agenda. A 'Vision 2035' roadmap is being drafted to energize the India–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership over the next decade, spanning trade, defence, clean energy, and technology cooperation.
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First Post
3 hours ago
- First Post
Air India crash: How to spin-doctor and peddle narratives, the Western way
Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore used to terrorise villainous Western media by suing them in his courts. They learned to toe the line read more There has been a virtual masterclass lately in the creation and dissemination of biased narratives. Not only in the case of the ill-fated Air India 171 (Boeing 787, June 12, 2025) that crashed, but also in some other, unrelated instances. The age-old practices of 'truth by repeated assertion' and 'dubious circular references' as well as 'strategic silence' have all been deployed in full force. The bottom line with the Air India flight: there is reasonable doubt about whether there was mechanical/software failure and/or sabotage or possible pilot error. Any or all of these caused both engines to turn off in flight. But the way the spin-doctors have spun it, it is now 'official' that the commanding pilot was suicidal and turned off the fuel switch. Boeing, the plane maker, and General Electric, the engine maker, are blameless. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is, alas, not surprising. It is in the interests of Western MNCs to limit reputational damage and monetary loss related to their products. They do massive marketing by unleashing their PR agencies. We also saw how they protect themselves in other instances. A leaked Pfizer contract for their Covid vaccine insisted that if anything happened, it was the user's problem, not Pfizer's: there was no indemnity. Incidentally, a report on July 19 said that the Pfizer Covid vaccine can lead to severe vision problems. Oh, sorry, no indemnity. What is deplorable in the Air India case is that the AAIB, the Indian entity investigating the disaster, chose to release a half-baked preliminary report with enough ambiguity that a case could be (and definitely was) built up against the poor dead pilots. Any marketing person could have read the report and told them that it would be used to blame the pilots and absolve the manufacturers. Besides, the AAIB report was released late night on a Friday, India time, which meant that the Western media had all of one working day to do the spin-doctoring, which they did with remarkable gusto. Meanwhile, the Indian media slept. Whose decision was this? Clearly, Indian babus need a remedial course in public relations if this was mere incompetence. Of course, if it was intentional, that would be even worse. There is a pattern. In earlier air accidents, such as the Jeju Air crash involving a Boeing 737-800 in South Korea in December, the pilots were blamed. In accidents involving Lion Air (Boeing 737 Max 8, 2018), China Airlines (737-200, 1989), Flydubai (737-800, 2016), ditto. I am beginning to believe that a lot of Asian pilots are poorly trained and/or suicidal. Ditto with the F-35 that fell into the ocean off Japan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Truth by repeated assertion is a powerful force for gaslighting the gullible. I wonder what excuses we'll hear about the Delta Airlines Boeing 767 whose engine caught fire in the air after take-off from LAX on July 20. The pilots didn't die, so they will speak up. Besides, they were Westerners. I am eagerly awaiting the spin on this. I also noticed with grim amusement how the BBC, WSJ, Bloomberg, and Reuters, and so on were busy quoting each other to validate their assertions. This is a standard tactic that India's 'distorians' (see Utpal Kumar's powerful book Eminent Distorians) have perfected: B will quote third-hand hearsay from A, then C will quote B, D will quote C, and before you know it, the hearsay has become the truth. But if you wind it back from D to C to B to A it becomes, 'I hear someone told someone that xyz happened.' Out of thin air, then. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There is also the lovely tactic of strategic silence. It has been used to un-person people who ask inconvenient questions. It has also been used to defenestrate inconvenient news. Just days ago, under the Deep State-installed new regime in Syria, hundreds of minority Druze were brutally massacred. There was video on X of armed men in uniform forcing Druze men to jump off tall buildings, and desecrating their shrines. Similarly, there is a brutal reign of terror, rape, murder, and thuggery against Hindus, Buddhists, and others under the Deep State-blessed regime of Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh: a clear genocide. Neither Syria nor Bangladesh gets any headlines. There are no loud human-rights protests as in the case of Gaza. This is not news. It is un-news. 'Manufacturing Consent' all the way. India is particularly vulnerable to this gaslighting because Indians consume a lot of English-language 'news.' Scholars have long noted how the US public has been maintained in a state of ignorance so they could be easily manipulated. The same is true of the Indian middle class. So, there is yet another reason to do less in English. Fooling, say, the Chinese or Japanese public is a lot more difficult. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The fact is that even though Indians may be literate in English, they do not understand the context and the subtext of what is fed to them by the likes of The Economist, NPR, The Financial Times, The New York Times, etc. The best way I can explain this is the 100+5 analogy in the Mahabharata: they may fight with each other on domestic matters, but Anglosphere and Deep State are in cahoots when it comes to international matters. Things are both getting better and getting worse. On the one hand, social media and its imprint on generative AI mean that it is ever easier to propagate fake news (in addition to deepfake audio and video, of course). On the other hand, despite the problem of charlatans and paid agents provocateurs getting lots of eyeballs, the large number of Indians on social media may push back against the worst kinds of blood libel against India and Indians, of which there's plenty these days, often created by bots from 'friendly' countries. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is a serious matter indeed. One solution is to do a version of the Great Chinese Firewall and ban wholesale the worst offenders. Indeed, a few of the vilest handles have been ejected from X. However, the pusillanimity with which notorious Pakistani handles were unbanned, then re-banned after outrage, shows there's something rotten in the Information Ministry. Almost exactly the same as the unbanning of Pakistani cricketers, then rebanning after outrage. Is there anybody in charge? Information warfare is insidious. Going back to the Air India case, I think the families of the maligned pilots should sue for gigantic sums for libel and defamation. The sad state of the Indian judiciary may mean that, unfortunately, this will not go far. However, there is precedent: Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore used to terrorise villainous Western media by suing them in his courts. They learned to toe the line. If this tactic does not work, India should eject the hostile media. The Indian market is increasingly important to Western media (not vice versa) because soon there will be more English-reading consumers in India than in the Five Eyes Anglosphere. I should say that in quotes because as I said above, most Indians are blissfully unaware of the hidden agendas, and naively believe them. But 'Judeo-Christian' culture is very different from dharmic. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I keep getting emails from The New York Times with tempting offers to subscribe to them for something really cheap like Rs. 25 a month. They need Indian readers. I have been shouting from the rooftops for years that one of these charlatan media houses needs to be kicked out, harshly, with 24 hours' notice to wind up and leave. As in the Asian proverb, 'Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.' The monkeys will notice, and behave. Otherwise, the information warfare is just going to get worse. The writer has been a conservative columnist for over 25 years. His academic interest is innovation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Air India crash: 112 pilots called in sick on June 16 after AI-171 tragedy, airline saw spike in leaves
The Central government informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday, July 24 that many pilots linked to Air India reported sick after AI-171 plane crash on June 12 that killed 260 people. On June 16, a total of 112 pilots across Air India's fleet reported sick after the tragic plane crash, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said. London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed just outside the Ahmedabad airport seconds after takeoff. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was on his way to London, was also killed in the plane crash. The pilots who reported sick included 51 commanders and 61 first officers. The response came to an unstarred question raised by MP Jai Prakash regarding reports of mass sick leave among Air India flight crew after the incident. Speaking of the mental well-being of the flight crew after the Air India plane crash, the minister said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had already issued a circular in February 2023 with detailed guidelines on mental health support for flight crews and Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs). The guidelines included easy and quick mental health checks by DGCA-approved medical examiners during regular medical exams and special training modules to help crew and ATCOs understand and deal with mental health challenges. It also includes a Peer Support Programme (PSP) designed to let employees seek help in a safe, supportive environment—without fear of disciplinary action. Earlier, on July 21, answering a question about the probe into the AI-171 crash, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu that the decoding of the Black Box had occurred in India for the first time. Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Naidu said, "First set of the probe is done and a preliminary report is out. Earlier, whenever Black Box had slight damage, the black box used to be sent to the manufacturer for decoding. For the first time, the decoding of the Black Box has happened in India." Lauding the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Naidu said that the agency is 'unbiased.'
