Investigating the tax affairs of the BBC is like probing the sexual history of monks who've taken a vow of celebacy. It only demonstrates the "independance and impartiality" of the Indian Tax authorities.
BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
181–190 of 425 posts
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was actually wondering about that yesterday. It seems like the West, and the US more specifically, isn't capable anymore of physically reproducing/replacing its technocratic elites, which in this day and age mostly means its tech elites. Which made me wonder what would happen in case of a direct US vs China war when in some companies 20% to 30% to even 50% of the engineers have some close family connections on the…
Many Indians in America or Americans of Indian descent disagree with the rise of fascism in India. Of course many also fall into the default nationalistic mode and become defensive. Actions to take against a ruling party that has widespread support from the police, legislature, judiciary, and media are limited. In India, about 15% of Indians are Christians, Muslims, or other non Hindus. And among Hindus, about 40% ar…
> Many Indians in America or Americans of Indian descent disagree with the rise of fascism in India
I'm aware of that, as I'm also aware that many Russians (especially the educated tech elites) are against the current government in Moscow.
I was trying to put myself in the shoes of the guys calling the shots in Washington, as in, what measures should be taken in regards to the Chinese very-well represented tech diaspora in case of a war against China? (and, as I said, if some skirmishes involving the current Indian leadership were to start). When it came to Russia it looks like the the US and the West went all in, almost all Russians were treated as guilty by default unless.
I'm wondering if the same actions will be taken against the Chinese working for the big US tech firms (or against the Indians). I'm saying that that would be harder for the US to carry out (compared to the current shitting on the Russian diaspora).
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#183It’s worth noting that many companies such as Apple are diversifying from China due to the overreach of the political powers, but they’re moving over to India where the same thing is happening. Strange.
Yes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. They really should be bringing manufacturing and services back home or to closer countries.
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People waking up to the fact that the West and the East are equally bad You probably want to define what "East" is in this context. If East is Russia + China, it's trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens. 1. Economic levels in the West. 2. Respect for citizens' lives in the West. I'm from a country that used to be in the Eastern Bloc, and let me tell you, nobody respects its citizens' l…
I'm Chinese. I'm not commenting on Russia but please keep China out of "trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens". Chinese citizen have been found to be far more satisfied with their government and their future prospects than for example the US. This "propaganda"-sounding fact is even something found by western institutions such as Harvard, York University and Democracy Perception Index! E…
> keep China out of "trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens"
China has concentration camps.
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#185Honestly, a lot of the documentary is a mixture of interviews and CCTV camera footage with a fairly even handed narrative on the top – it, by itself, isn't that shocking and certainly isn't presented in a particularly sensationalist way. I'm amazed by the reaction it has generated. Yes, there's some post-colonial history there and it doesn't look great that it's the BBC that has made it, as opposed to, say, a US or c…
> If you're interested, you can get it (legally) in the UK here And if you happen to be belong to the rest of the ~99.13% world population, you can grab it here: Episode 1 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E01+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A…
There seem to be so few seeders that it's stuck at 5% for me.
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you're interested, you can get it (legally) in the UK here And if you happen to be belong to the rest of the ~99.13% world population, you can grab it here: Episode 1 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E01+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A…
Ha there is no way that 99% of the world population know what to do with those links / hashes / whatever they are.
are you perhaps a teen? that's a magnet link, its used to transfer things via bittorrent. we used to put them in the spokes of our bicycles when we'd ride down to the five-and-dime
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#187Not sure why the offices have been raided, corruption in Indian offices are not new, just because they are the BBC does not make its staff immune. The show itself adds nothing new in real evidence that can be taken to court, however there is a serious risk it create communal disharmony. Muslims and Hindus have found peace since the event, Indians see it as stirring the pot just before the 2024 elections.
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Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
The BBC office in Delhi at the Hindustan Times building employs 200+ people, including many UK staff on temporary attachment. It massively expanded in 2016 but it dates back far longer. I wouldn't be confident that every piece of equipment in that office was obtained legally in the country, let alone being able to prove it. For example someone whose mobile phone got lost/smashed/blownup last time they were in Kabul,…
"For example someone whose mobile phone got lost/smashed/blownup last time they were in Kabul, so they bought a new one" How is that related to the BBC?
> How is that related to the BBC?
I think iso1631 is saying that there may be enough red tape for imports into India that the BBC could technically be breaking the law for failing to declare/pay duties on some equipment they or their employees brought into the country.
If you're in the US, my experience is that it's kind of an anomaly in terms of relatively light enforcement of import taxes for individual citizens. For example, most countries will look at the declared value on foreign parcels and force the recipient to pay import tax before releasing it to them.[1] If someone walked the same thing over the border, and the government wanted to make things hard on that person, they might accuse them of tax evasion, etc.
[1] For those NOT in the US wondering how this is unusual, individuals generally don't have to pay before receiving the parcel here.
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Between India and China you're looking at roughly a 1/4 of the world population. This makes it hard to use sanctions in ways that work better against smaller, less critical countries (like Iran, Myanmar). Even Russia, which doesn't hold quite the same level has been painful for Europe to sanction. It's also problematic having to fight battles on all fronts at once (and at home for the US, which isn't exactly at the h…
The third paragraph is most crucial. Having said that, as an Asian I'm super puzzled with Western countries tendency to moralizing and lecturing other countries internal matter.
Is it wrong to bring up bad treatment of a citizens countries to the leadership of that country? Western countries in feel comfortable doing this because in general they treat their citizens far better than other countries treat their own.
Re: BBC offices in India raided by tax officials amid Modi documentary fallout
#190There is a sampling bias at play right here in HN with the Modi-bashing comments. Indians, and India, is doing great overall. Modi's leadership has played a big role in this. Indians are (generally) emotionally people, and by no means is it an authoritarian state. In fact, we need wise leaders with vision to manage this population.
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