????Wikipedia in trouble? | ??Two major SC rulings on Madrasas and Private Property

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Market Watch

?? After a major fall yesterday, the Indian stock market experienced a significant recovery today. Sensex surged by 694 points to close at 79,476.63, and Nifty rose by 218 points to end at 24,213.

??Major contributors to the market rally included JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank, each advancing between 2% to 4.7%

??Mid and small-cap stocks also recorded gains, though they underperformed compared to the benchmark index

ICYMI

• ???Looks like Bangladesh is speeding up payments to Adani Power after a supply cut disrupted things. They’re keen to avoid further issues.
• ???????Sharad Pawar dropped quite a hint in Baramati, suggesting he might be stepping back from parliamentary politics soon. A big change could be on the way.
• ??India’s got big plans! They’ve officially written to the International Olympic Committee, pushing to host the 2036 Olympics.
• ????Thailand just made it easier for Indian travellers, allowing visa-free entry indefinitely.
• ?????Japan has gone green in a big way by launching the world’s first wooden satellite, aiming for a more sustainable future in space.
• ????Pawan Kalyan is shaking things up in Andhra Pradesh with a strong warning to the state’s Home Minister, showing he’s not afraid to challenge allies.
• ????Salman Khan’s back in the headlines as he faces a fresh threat to his safety, which has fans and security teams on high alert.
• Big news in the financial world: Reliance Jio is gearing up for its IPO in 2025, but it looks like retail investors will have to wait a bit longer for their chance to jump in.
• In Brampton, a Canadian police officer has been suspended after being spotted at a pro-Khalistan protest. It’s raising eyebrows and sparking discussions about police conduct and community relations.
• Controversy is brewing as a leaked report reveals that Imane Khelif, the gold medalist from the Paris Olympics, has “internal testicles” and a “micropenis.” This revelation has sparked a lot of conversations around gender and athletics.

????Wikipedia vs Govt of India

The Indian government has formally issued a notice to Wikipedia, raising concerns about alleged bias and inaccuracies in the content on its platform.

• This notice comes amid ongoing legal challenges faced by Wikipedia in India, particularly a defamation case initiated by the news agency Asian News International (ANI).

Wikipedia to be declared as a publisher? This action follows numerous complaints from users in India who claim that certain topics are presented with a skewed perspective due to the editorial influence of a small group of contributors.

• The government suggested that a small group of editors wield significant influence over Wikipedia's content, potentially leading to skewed narratives.

What’s at stake? If Wikipedia fails to comply with directives from the Indian government and judiciary, it risks losing its status as an "intermediary." This change would reclassify Wikipedia as a "publisher," making it accountable for all published content on its platform. Wikipedia may need to alter its open editing model, potentially implementing stricter controls on content contributions and user anonymity.

• Wikipedia claims to be an intermediary, relying on crowd-sourced wisdom, a neutral point of view, and information from "reliable sources," without editorial intervention.
• However, research suggests that this is inaccurate. Wikipedia operates similarly to a publisher by curating information on current and historical events, paying editors and administrators, and providing widespread public access online. This editorial involvement indicates that Wikipedia no longer qualifies as an intermediary.
• If reclassified as a publisher, Wikipedia would be required to establish offices in India, implement a grievance redressal system, and comply with Indian laws regarding content that may undermine national sovereignty or incite disaffection.

The other legal troubles: ANI Media Private Limited filed a defamation suit in September against Wikipedia over allegedly defamatory content about the news agency.

• “We will close your business transactions here. We will ask the government to block Wikipedia. If you don’t like India please don’t work in India,” the High Court remarked while hearing the case on September 5 .
• Many Wikipedians fear that disclosing user identities could lead to self-censorship, particularly regarding politically sensitive topics. Critics argue that the court's actions infringe upon the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

In the most recent hearing, Justice Subramonium Prasad questioned Wikipedia’s claim of being a "free encyclopedia" while refusing to provide the requested information.

• Justice Subramonium noted the contradiction in Wikipedia’s intermediary status, saying if the content is user-generated, the platform should not resist requests to remove baseless edits. The court also expressed concern about Wikipedia’s claim of neutrality despite disclaiming endorsement of its content.

The big picture: Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has expressed concern that the website has lost its neutrality and now serves as “propaganda” for left-leaning perspectives. In an interview with UnHerd’s Lockdown TV, Sanger explained that when he co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, his goal was to create an unbiased platform that would present “multiple points of view” on contentious topics.

• However, he claims that conservative viewpoints are now discouraged, with contributors facing warnings or removal if they attempt to offer perspectives that challenge the mainstream.
• Sanger pointed out that citing Fox News on socio-political topics is no longer allowed, limiting Wikipedia’s content to views supported by mainstream center-left media sources.

OpIndia released a detailed dossier on Wikipedia’s rampant misinformation campaign and politically motivated bias against India.

Clip du jour

??Supreme Court’s two major verdicts

??Apex court on UP Madrasa Education act

A 5-judge bench headed by CJI Chandrachud in Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the 2004 Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act, overturning a previous ruling by the Allahabad High Court, which had declared the Act in violation of secular principles.

• This decision affects approximately 1.7 million students across 16,000 madrasas, preventing the need to relocate these students to other schools, a move initially ordered by the High Court.
• Supreme Court said the UP Madarsa Act is only unconstitutional to the extent that it granted higher education degrees under Fazil (Master’s degree equivalent) and Kamil (Bachelor's equivalent), which is in conflict with the UGC Act.

About the Madrasa Act: The Board creates a curriculum that blends religious studies with secular subjects, providing students with qualifications from Maulvi (Class 10 equivalent) up to Fazil (Master’s degree equivalent).

• The Act also empowers the Board to set standards, conduct exams, and enforce educational norms, aiming to balance religious instruction with modern education.

Allahabad High Court's View: On March 22, the High Court ruled the Act unconstitutional, stating it violated secularism by establishing a separate educational system for madrasas.

• It instructed the state to integrate madrasa students into the mainstream school system. This ruling had temporarily paused the Act’s implementation until the Supreme Court's recent decision.
• The Uttar Pradesh government has consistently argued that the Madrasa Act is crucial for regulating madrasa education within the constitutional framework. The state contended that only certain provisions should have been examined for compliance, rather than the entire Act being dismissed.

Of note: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has recommended that state funding to Madrasas across the country should be discontinued and Madrasa boards be shut.

• Data from UDISE 2021-22 indicated that approximately 12 million Muslim children do not receive formal education. The report identified a lack of accountability in many madrasas, citing concerns over infrastructure and reports of child rights violations.
• The Commission asserted that merely constituting a Board or taking a UDISE Code does not mean that the Madrasas are following the provisions of RTE Act, 2009. “Therefore, it has been recommended that State funding to the Madrasas and Madrasa Boards be stopped across all States/UTs and Madrasa Boards should be discontinued and closed down.

??SC’s ruling on Private Properties

The Supreme Court of India recently ruled on the state's authority to acquire private property within the bounds of constitutional principles. In a decision by a nine-judge bench, the Supreme Court ruled that not all private properties qualify as "material resources of the community" eligible for state redistribution.

• The verdict highlighted that characterizing a resource under Article 39(b) depends on specific contexts and should consider factors such as resource scarcity and the potential impact on the community.
• The court clarified that while some private properties may be classified under Article 39(b), a broad interpretation, as accepted in 1978, is not permissible.
• The majority opinion, led by Chief Justice Chandrachud, rejected Justice Krishna Iyer's earlier judgment, which had broadly defined private resources as community resources. Justice Nagarathna partially agreed with the majority, while Justice Dhulia dissented fully, indicating a split in judicial perspectives.

Implication of the ruling: While the ruling does not invalidate existing land acquisition laws, such as the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 (FARR), it establishes a precedent for stricter scrutiny of state claims over private properties.

• The decision is likely to lead to an increase in legal challenges against state appropriations of property based on ambiguous claims of common good, requiring more rigorous justifications for such actions.

Of note: The May 25 ruling centered on procedural aspects of land acquisition, asserting that all such acquisitions must comply with Article 300A of the Constitution. The court delineated seven essential procedural rights that landowners must have upheld for any acquisition to be deemed valid.

• For context, the KMC had in July 2010 informed the plot owner, Bimal Kumar Shah, that it had deleted his name from the category of owner and inserted its name in the official records.
• It justified the action citing Section 352 of the KMC Act 1980, which it claimed empowered the civic body to acquire any private land,
• In contrast, today’s ruling examined whether private property can be classified as "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b) of the Constitution. This ruling overruled a precedent set in 1978, which permitted the government to seize private properties for redistribution in the name of the common good. It clarified that not all private properties can be considered material resources available for state acquisition and redistribution.

What’s happening? | US elections

• The first votes in the 2024 U.S. presidential election have been cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, culminating in a 3-3 tie between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
• The 2024 U.S. presidential race, marked by a close contest between Harris and Trump, how to follow it here in India? Click here.

Hi, I’m Aniket Mishra, the editor of this newsletter. I’d love to hear some feedback on the newsletter. WhatsApp me directly and tell me what you think.