The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has found itself in august company on a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) list — that of digital predators that undermine press's freedom. Along with the Home Ministry, Modi's Yoddhas have also bagged the honour of using "digital technology to spy on and harass journalists and thereby jeopardize our ability to get news and information". This list, which includes the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, is a list of companies and governments that present "a clear danger for freedom of opinion and expression" in 2020. India ranked 140 out of 180 on 2019 World Press Freedom Index. "On World Day Against Cyber-Censorship [March 12], created at RSF’s initiative, RSF is for the first time publishing a list of digital entities whose activities are tantamount to preying on journalism." — Reporters Without Borders This list shows that countries with right-wing governments and extremist dispositions are more likely to harass journalists and use methods of state censorship to tamp down on dissent. Private companies that engage in surveillance, despite being usually based in Western liberal democracies, have clients in developing nations that almost always target dissenters. Ministry of Home Affairs engages in state censorship The Home Ministry completely disconnected fixed-line and mobile internet communication in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. RSF has called this "an extreme measure preventing Kashmiri journalists from working freely and depriving all of the state’s citizens of access to independently reported news and information". In…
