Criticism of PM's 'revdi' discourse & more: IT raids on CPR that examined govt policy

The Income Tax department on Wednesday conducted raids at the Delhi office of the Centre for Policy Research and Oxfam India.

CPR is a non-profit think tank which examines and researches government policies. Oxfam is a non-profit which works to provide equal opportunities to marginalised groups and campaigns for policy changes.

CPR counts among its fellows and researchers former deputy editor of the Indian Express Sushant Singh, former Press Trust of India editorial analyst Harish Damodaran and Sonali Verma, formerly of the Wire. CPR is currently led by Yamini Aiyar, who is the president and chief executive. Several CPR fellows have written articles in newspapers, magazines and digital news outlets that are critical of the Narendra Modi government and its policies.

In his column for the Caravan, Sushant Singh recently wrote about Jawaharlal Nehru and the ruling establishment’s attempt to efface his legacy. “Attempts at invisibilising him exist because his persona and influence are too overpowering to fight, other than through falsehood and innuendo,” he wrote.

In another column, Singh wrote about Modi’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric and India’s unpreparedness for a two-front military engagement. In yet another piece on the Indo-China border crisis, he opined that the Modi government’s refusal to accept in public the gravity of the situation was alarming.

In May, Yamini Aiyar wrote that the coronavirus pandemic, the Ukraine war and climate change showed that policymaking for rural India “must shift from a knee-jerk approaches to one that invests in long-term risk management”.

More recently, Aiyar criticised prime minister Narendra Modi’s “revdi” culture remark in a piece for the Indian Express. She called the remarks a “thinly disguised attempt to delegitimise welfare announcements by political opponents”.

In another piece, Aiyar wrote about Modi's speech during the celebrations of the 75th Independence Day and his emphasis on citizen duty. "This emphasis on duties has been an oft-repeated appeal by the PM. I have no quibble with a discourse on citizens’ duties, indeed all citizens are duty-bound. The challenge is in how the terms of this discourse have been framed, casting the government's obligation vis-a-vis the citizen not in terms of 'rights' but in terms of her being the 'beneficiary' or 'labharthi' and therefore bearing duties in return for what the government doles out."

Harish Damodaran co authored a piece for the Indian Express arguing that India can’t sustain the current cost of fertiliser imports and should cap its consumption.

CPR also regularly publishes policy reports. In recent months, it has produced reports on upgrading slums in Odisha, regulating urban trees and how the laws aren’t equipped to deal with rapidly changing urban realities, and democratising the digital space to ensure citizen participation in governance processes.

CPR has also released papers providing suggestions for India’s Emissions Intensity Pledge at COP26 and the need for social security for Indian labour.

Oxfam has similarly produced reports critical of government systems. It recently did reports on the effect of school closures on Adivasi children and inequality in upskilling the youth.

The Income Tax department also conducted a “survey” at the Bengaluru office of the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation on Wednesday, allegedly over violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, the News Minute reported. The foundation provides assistance to digital news organisations.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described the series of raids as a deliberate attempt to exterminate all independent media and voices.

Digipub News India Foundation, which represents independent digital news publishers, condemned the Income Tax raids as an “assault on independent journalism and research”. “Without any clarity on allegations or evidence, Income Tax teams are being used to intimidate and harass organisations involved in public service journalism,” the foundation said in a statement on Thursday.

Digipub asked the Income Tax department to clarify why these organisations were subjected to searches and raids.

Update on September 9

CPR issued a statement on Friday, saying the income tax department had undertaken a “survey” of CPR on September 7 and 8.

“We hold ourselves to the highest standards of compliance and are confident that we have done nothing wrong. We are committed to working with the authorities to address any questions they might have,” the statement said. “We remain committed to our mission to provide rigorous research to policy making in India.”