Dear Reader,

A few weeks ago, The Reporters’ Collective reported that the private news agency ANI was using YouTube’s copyright strike system to demand, and get, exploitative compensation for content creators' use of its video clips —disregarding provisions for “fair use”. It was alleged that the agency exploited YouTube’s rule under which channels receiving three copyright strikes in a period of 90 days face termination. Following the report, YouTube responded and asserted that the platform does not adjudicate copyright ownership disputes or make legal determinations regarding fair use.

However, an investigation by The Reporters’ Collective found that YouTube is far from the neutral intermediary it claims to be. The platform “selectively evaluates and even challenges copyright claims” based on opaque and seemingly arbitrary criteria—leaving creators blindsided by YouTube’s vague benchmarks. While ANI has asserted that its actions constitute “lawful protection of property,” the loopholes in YouTube’s copyright policy leave content creators, including news entities, vulnerable to bad-faith actors who may exploit these gaps to censor and suppress dissent.

Climate change and warming oceans have a cascading impact on fishing and fishers. In the waters of the Arabian Sea, as fish hauls plummet, fishers are forced to sail farther and farther out into the deep sea, sometimes inadvertently crossing international maritime borders. When apprehended, they lose years of their lives to the complexities of international law and the state of relations between countries.

As of January this year, 217 Indian fishers were in Pakistani jails, while 81 Pakistani fishers were in Indian prisons. In the past decade, 26 Indian fishermen have died while incarcerated across the border. In a wide-ranging report from Palghar in Maharashtra, Veraval in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan, The Migration Story delves into the lives of fishermen—migrants, largely from Maharashtra, who take the bait of higher wages at the risk of their lives and liberty in pursuit of a larger catch.

Over the past few months, The Probe has been reporting a series of stories on the rampant human trafficking in parts of Western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — an issue that largely goes unreported and unchecked. Now, the grantee reports from Punjab, where on May 15, fifteen bonded labourers—including women and children—from Uttar Pradesh were brutally assaulted at a brick kiln in Ludhiana. Lured by promises of relatively high compensation, they were trafficked and “sold like cattle” from a kiln in Rupnagar to one in Ludhiana. Once trapped, they were forced to work without pay or food. Women were beaten, children assaulted, and young girls molested.

Despite severe injuries and video evidence, the state remains silent, even as civil rights organisations highlight clear violations of multiple labour and criminal laws. It is a graphic indictment of the systemic apathy and negligence in addressing such vicious violations of fundamental human rights.

In April, the Supreme Court held that the Governor of Tamil Nadu did not have the ‘pocket veto’ to indefinitely withhold assent to a bill passed by the state legislature. Exercising their discretionary powers under Article 142, the Court held that all pending bills before the Tamil Nadu Governor be deemed to have received assent.

Following the order, the government went to the Apex Court, under Article 143—which empowers the President to seek the Supreme Court’s advisory opinion on a question of law. It specifically asked the Court fourteen questions about the scope of Article 200 of the Constitution, which outlines the powers and duties of the Governor of a state, when a bill is presented to them by a state legislature. This power has been used sparingly over its 75-year history, with the Court being called upon for its advisory opinion by the President only 15 times. In a comprehensive analysis, the Supreme Court Observer looks at key issues of the references and the Court’s responses.

For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF