The Paradox -- Why "Anxiety" is a Side Effect of SSRI Meds

See Other Articles on SSRI Medications

I was reading about Fluoxetine as a drug for anxiety management.
But I found this information on 1mg.com:

"""Common side effects of Fluoxetine
Weakness, Insomnia (difficulty in sleeping), Nervousness, Anxiety, Blurred vision, Decreased libido, Fatigue, Frequent urge to urinate, Gastrointestinal disturbance, Headache, Palpitations, Prolonged QT interval"""

Is this correct?
Aren't these the same symptoms which this drug was supposed to cure?

It is a common and often frustrating paradox in psychiatry that medications like Fluoxetine (a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor or SSRI) can initially cause the very symptoms they are designed to treat, such as anxiety and nervousness.

The information you found on 1mg is accurate, but it requires context regarding the body’s adaptation process. Here is why this happens and how it differs from the long-term effects.

1. The Paradox: Why "Anxiety" is a Side Effect

When you first start taking Fluoxetine, it increases the level of serotonin in the spaces between your brain cells (synapses). However, your brain has different types of serotonin receptors.

While some receptors eventually help stabilize mood, others—specifically those in the parts of the brain associated with "fight or flight"—can be overstimulated in the first 1 to 2 weeks. This can lead to:

• Increased Nervousness/Jitteriness: Often called "activation syndrome."

• Insomnia: Because serotonin is involved in the sleep-wake cycle, the initial surge can make it harder to fall asleep.

• Palpitations: A physical manifestation of that heightened state of arousal.

2. The Adaptation Phase

The reason doctors prescribe these medications despite these side effects is the Downregulation Effect. After a few weeks of exposure to higher serotonin levels, your brain receptors begin to adjust and become less sensitive. This is usually when the "side effect" anxiety fades away and the "therapeutic" anti-anxiety effect begins to take hold. This process typically takes 2 to 6 weeks.

3. Understanding the Other Side Effects

The other symptoms mentioned involve serotonin receptors located outside the brain:

• Gastrointestinal Disturbance: About 90% of the body's serotonin is in the gut. Increasing serotonin levels can irritate the digestive tract, leading to nausea or upset stomach.

• Decreased Libido: Serotonin has an inhibitory effect on certain pathways involved in sexual response. Unlike the initial anxiety, this side effect can sometimes persist throughout treatment.

• Prolonged QT Interval: This refers to the electrical timing of the heart. While rare, Fluoxetine can affect heart rhythm in some people, which is why it is listed as a potential risk.

Summary Table: Initial vs. Long-Term

Symptom	Initial Phase (Weeks 1-2)	Long-Term (Month 2+)
Anxiety/Nervousness	May increase (Activation)	Usually decreases significantly
Sleep	Potential Insomnia	Often improves as anxiety lessens
Physical Energy	May feel "wired" or fatigued	Generally stabilizes

Important Note: If someone experiences a significant increase in suicidal thoughts, extreme agitation, or a complete inability to sleep when starting this medication, they should contact their healthcare provider immediately. Medical professionals often manage the initial "startup" anxiety by starting with a very low dose and tapering up slowly.

The Things We Take For Granted

My Meditations    <<< Previously

Before I start on this post, let me first clarify that there is nothing happening to me or to people close to me that requires a talk on such a grave topic.

And if I were to tell you (which I will in a bit) what actually triggered me to pick this topic, you would be like “I'm making a mountain out of a molehill”.

Have you ever thought or paid attention to how trivial we think of it to have correct details on our ID cards like Aadhaar or PAN maybe?

I haven't checked the exact details about the case that I am going to share but at a high level it goes like:

A girl about 7 or 9 years old is out of school at the NGO I go to teach at. And the reason I got from the instructor there was that she had some errors (Plural) in her Aadhaar card.

Her name was written as “Baby of Anita” – not her actual name. Her date of birth was incorrect. And her parents' names were put incorrectly in Aadhaar. 
These details are not matching her birth certificate.

Because of this, she is not able to get admission in any school. 

I tried to assist this girl and the instructor by giving them the details of people in my contacts who do Aadhaar Update as a profession but it was of not much use as I was anticipating. I tried to talk to Dhirendra ji in my society and he said he will provide me a number to call.

I doubt if it will be of any help to the girl or just another dead end.

I am basically out of words to express myself about what other consequences lie waiting for this girl ahead.

As I write this today, you have no idea how grateful I feel for my grandfather and my chachaji (younger brother of my father) – just for the proper documentation of my details!

~~~

Other things that I had in mind which we take for granted are the usual: air and water, simple acts of breathing and walking, ability to taste food, ability to see, etc. 

The reason I see these things with such importance today is because I have been thinking about death lately. Thinking about death as a way to refocus and reprioritize my activities and life. And as I had some cough and cold today, I thought about what it must be like for people who are not even able to breathe properly.
From there my attention spiralled to other senses, and simple acts like walking, eating, being able to talk to people we have valued in our lives – and whom you could still talk to (for me, I was thinking of my grandmother).

~~~

And all of this also goes for essentials like: electricity, shelter and schooling – all of which I thought my caregivers owed me. I was wrong – I got them through the conscious choice of my grandparents.

It requires a bit of awareness, a bit of gratitude, a bit of appreciation to rise above the auto-pilot mode of living, above the daily rut of our lives and see, appreciate and feel thankful for what we have – rather than complaining about what we have not. 

I guess that's all for today!

My message to anyone reading this would be: 
Consider the things you take most for granted, the simplest of simple things – those actually might be the things which make life worth living!

From Being Broke to Being Aware - TED Talk on Personal Finance and Investing

Lessons in Investing    Other TED Talks on Personal Finance and Investing    <<< Previously

3 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Broke

Real talk about money from someone who’s been there — now adapted for India 🇮🇳

Picture this: You’re 22, just moved to Mumbai for your first job. A Friday night out with friends — a couple of samosas, a few chai shots, and then the waiter walks up and says, “Ma’am, your card has been declined.” The whole café seems to go silent. That was me in 2016. I had a respectable job at a bank in Bandra, but my personal finances were a complete mess. I’d help companies move crores of rupees during the day, then panic about ordering an extra biryani at night.

The good news? I figured it out. And you can too. Here are the three lessons that changed everything for me.

1️⃣ Learn the language of money (desi edition)

Finance sounds like alphabet soup: PPF, ELSS, NPS, FD, SIP, CIBIL… it’s enough to make your head spin. But don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions. Use free tools like Zerodha Varsity or ET Money. Find a mentor (a finance didi/bhaiya) who talks in Hindi or plain English — no jargon. When you understand the language, you stop being scared of your own money.

2️⃣ Build a money community — without shame

We grew up hearing “paiso ki baat nahi karte” (don’t talk about money). But check this: your rich uncle has no problem discussing stocks at kitty parties. It’s time to break that rule. Join Reddit India groups, Telegram finance channels, or start a WhatsApp group with two trusted friends. Share your real salary numbers, your struggles with credit cards, your first SIP victory. Online anonymity helps — you’ll find digital buddies who keep you accountable without judgment.

3️⃣ Use modern tools, not your dad’s advisor

Your father might swear by his LIC agent or a family friend who “manages” money. But you don’t get a pension like him. You can’t run a home on one income like him. So why take his old-school advice? Groww, Coin by Zerodha, Jupiter, Fi — these apps are licensed, regulated, and built for your phone. They offer low fees, AI-powered insights, and plain-English guidance. UPI changed how we pay; fintech can change how we save and invest. Modern problems need modern solutions.

✨ Bottom line: That embarrassed feeling when your UPI fails or your card gets declined? It doesn’t have to last forever. Start today: learn one new term, share one money truth with a friend, and download one modern investing app. A decade from now, you’ll look back and thank yourself. The future of finance isn’t coming — it’s already here, and it’s working for you.

Written By: DeepSeek

Honoring My Managers: Deepika Saxena

My Meditations    <<< Previously    Next >>>

Good morning!

In my 13 years of experience, I have worked under a lot of managers. To keep this post manageable for me to write and for the readers to read, I am going to stick to a few of those managers (and sometimes to their qualities, rather than to them as a person).

Let’s me start with my first manager, Deepika Saxena.

I was there at the NetEdge Computing in Noida for internship, and I wasn’t doing exactly well with the Android app that I was building. So one bright sunny day, around 10, 10.30, Deepika called me into the conference room. She sat on one side of the oval table and I sat on the other, but not facing each other, and like 1 or 2 chairs away.

Now she said something on these lines: “...We at NetEdge look for a few qualities in a person when we hire him or her and so do every other company. And let me tell you that you do have those qualities in you…” And she went on with that conversation, asking questions normally about work, about my college, education, my interests, family, health and other things.

The qualities that she mentioned were:
- Attitude: maintain a positive attitude towards work expected from you, and people you work with
- Competency: This is the most visible and reported quality in corporate world
- General Intelligence: Not everyone can know everything all the time, but you could cultivate the basic ingredient that makes you knowledgeable and that ingredient is general intelligence
- Commitment: Companies and managers like to hire people they see long term future with
- Humility: Deepika used to say a phrase to people and it was “There is always going to be some person better than you...”

~~~

One observation I had that’s work related from my time at NetEdge Computing (under Deepika) and at Magic Software (under Vikas Kumar Gupta) was that:

“In POCs and Projects with research like goals, you got to come back fast with response and development to a task / ask / or query – a little bit late and your manager or your client or your company may start to lose interest and start questioning the requirement itself.”

Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned!

Dated: 2026-Apr-15, 9AM

‘Challenging, unrealistic’: Women gig workers in Noida stage protest; demand fixed working hours and basic facilities

See All on Minimum Wages And Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)    <<< Previously   

The women described a system in which their earnings could fluctuate sharply based on customer ratings and strict punctuality metrics.

Sonakshi Thapa (27) who had joined Urban Company to support her family, now dreads the commute — twenty-minute-long walks under the scorching sun or when it is raining heavily.

She is among the thousands of female gig workers who work as partners for platforms that provide at-home services.

Noida has been witnessing a series of protests by workers over wages in the last few days. A smaller group of women, all gig workers, gathered on Wednesday morning, but with a different demand: not more pay, but more predictable hours and basic dignity at work.

About 40 women who work with Urban Company, including Sonakshi, assembled outside a training centre in Noida Sector 60. They demanded an eight-hour shift, weekly time-off and access to essential facilities like drinking water and toilets.

The women on Wednesday said their concerns were rooted less in how much they earned than how they were made to work. They said the time was right as the demand put forward by several other workers was being heard by the UP government.

Sonakshi, who started working eight months back, said workers are given 15 minutes to travel between appointments — a target she termed as “unrealistic”. “It takes at least 20 minutes because we have to walk… it is challenging,” she said.

Thapa also pointed to challenges faced specifically by female workers. “We need to change sanitary pads. Every woman faces this issue,” she said. “We cannot do that in customers’ homes. We need proper facilities.”

She said that after deductions linked to ratings and attendance, her monthly earnings had dropped to about Rs 18,000 in recent months.

Another gig worker associated with the company for five months, Neha Devi (25), who earns about Rs 25,000 a month, echoed the same concern. “We are not asking them to increase our salaries. We are asking for fixed working hours and basic facilities.”

Devi said that although government norms prescribe an eight-hour workday, she and her colleagues are often required to work up to 11 hours. Absences on weekends, she said, can lead to disproportionately high deductions. “If my daily wage is Rs 833, why is Rs 1,000 rupees cut?” she said.

The women described a system which leads to fluctuations in their earnings, sharply based on customer ratings and strict punctuality metrics. “Even if we are late by a minute, our daily earnings are slashed by half,” she added.

The protesting women also said that supervisors were often unreachable and, at times, allegedly threaten them regarding account deactivation.

The nature of their work — traveling from a customer’s home to another — also involved lack of access to basic amenities, they said. “We are told to use customers’ washrooms,” Devi said. “But many times, we are shooed away.”

Pinky Kumari (30), quickly unlocked her phone and opened WhatsApp. A series of texts to her supervisor read, “Sir please remove the cancellation”, “Only you could do it. Rs 1,000 would be cut.”

Showing the messages requesting a cancellation reversal, she said those went unanswered. “We were told during training that if we don’t cancel, our money won’t be deducted,” she said. “But no one listens.”

She added that while complaints raised by workers about customers rarely lead to action, even a minor complaint from a customer can result in immediate suspension of a worker’s account.

Wednesday’s protest was cut short later in the morning.

Police escorted the women in buses and removed them from the site. A senior officer present at the spot said the gathering had been allegedly prompted by a “misleading” message circulating among workers and described it as part of a broader pattern of mobilisation seen in recent days.

Queries sent to Urban Company remained unanswered.

Ref

Tags: Indian Politics,Management,

CITU seeks Rs 23,196 minimum wage for entire NCR

See All on Minimum Wages And Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)    <<< Previously    Next >>>

CITU seeks Rs 23,196 minimum wage for entire NCR; Faridabad on alert

CITU Haryana General Secretary Jay Bhagwan said the demand for Rs 23,196 as the base is not arbitrary.

The Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), affiliated to CPI(M), on Tuesday intensified its demand for a uniform minimum wage across the National Capital Region (NCR), proposing a floor of Rs 23,196 per month.

The demand comes amid escalating industrial unrest in Delhi-NCR’s manufacturing hubs, with the union calling for a mass mobilisation at all district collector offices on April 16.

CITU Haryana General Secretary Jay Bhagwan said the demand for Rs 23,196 as the base is not arbitrary and that a committee – comprising representatives from factory owners’ associations, trade unions, the state government, and the labour department – had arrived at the figure in a meeting on December 29, 2025.

“Whether it is Gurgaon, Panipat, Faridabad or Bahadurgarh, industrial associations are issuing statements claiming they cannot implement the new rates,” vice-president Vinod Kumar said in connection to the Haryana government, on April 9, revising minimum wages to Rs 15,220, with effect from April 1, 2026.

Meanwhile, in response to the growing unrest, the Faridabad Police has issued a public advisory warning against any disruption of law and order. A police spokesperson stated that for the last two days, employees of Motherson Sumi Wiring India Limited in Sarai Khwaja have been protesting for a wage hike. To manage the situation, more than 1,500 police personnel have been put on standby.

In Gurgaon, too, police intervened at ShadowFax company in Pathredi-Bilaspur after workers gathered to demand a salary hike on Tuesday.

Ref

Tags: Indian Politics,Management,

In Gurgaon, workers voice opposition over wages

See All on Minimum Wages And Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)    <<< Previously    Next >>>

‘New labour codes not in our interest’: In Gurgaon, workers voice opposition

Workers argued that this increase fails to keep pace with soaring inflation in consumer goods and housing.

Amid protests by factory workers in Noida’s industrial belt demanding fair wages, representatives of the Municipal Corporation Employees Union in Gurgaon pointed out that the new wages announced by the Haryana government are inadequate.

On April 9, the state government notified a 35 per cent hike in minimum wages across categories — raising the monthly pay for unskilled workers from Rs 11,274 to Rs 15,220, and for skilled workers from Rs 13,704 to Rs 18,500. Workers, however, argued that this increase fails to keep pace with soaring inflation in consumer goods and housing.

Municipal union leader Vasant Kumar said, “How can one live on such wages in a city like Gurgaon? The new labour codes, LPG crisis and lack of proper work conditions are not in the interest of workers and we will continue our protests against them.”

As per protesting workers, allied municipal and state employees have announced a three-hour work boycott on April 16 to protest against the government’s handling of workers’ issues across the state since the Manesar protests.

Workers are also opposed to the new labour codes introduced by the Centre.

Explaining why, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) district president Suresh Nouhra said they allow for 12-hour shifts sans overtime compensation and restrict unions. “A member will not be able to express themselves properly and the benefit will only be for corporates. They should be abolished. Factories are trying to start 12-hour shifts but thanks to the protest in Panipat, they could not for now.”

On February 23, at the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd’s Panipat refinery, at least 30,000 contractual workers staged protests demanding better wages and working conditions.

Unions contend that the successful agitation in Panipat, located in Haryana’s crucial industrial corridor, has temporarily halted similar attempts across other manufacturing units in the state.

The municipal union members have been supporting a stir by fire department workers, who have been demanding regularisation and better pay while protesting against “untrained” drivers being deployed to man fire engines.

The sit-in protest in front of the Sector 29 fire station in Gurgaon entered its seventh day on Tuesday. Around 200-odd municipal union members had joined the protest around noon.

Sahun Khan, president of the Gurgaon Fire Department Union, claimed the government’s temporary measure of deploying untrained Haryana Roadways drivers and inexperienced youth to operate fire engines poses a severe public safety hazard.

“Roadways drivers and youths from training centres have no prior training in operating firefighting equipment,” said Joginder Karotha, State Secretary of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh Haryana. He warned that in the event of a major fire, the lack of trained personnel could lead to a substantial loss of life and property, for which the state government would be solely responsible.

Addressing the media at the protest site, union representatives reiterated their long-standing demands, which include: Free medical treatment for severely injured personnel, treating their recovery period as active duty, a monthly risk allowance of Rs 5,000 at par with police personnel, timely disbursement of medical, uniform, and washing allowances, and regularising their employment.

Fire Safety Officer Jai Narayan acknowledged the manpower shortage, but said they have drivers and firemen on duty as of now.

Ref

Wage hike protests in Noida (UP)

See All on Minimum Wages And Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)    <<< Previously    Next >>>

Wage hike protests: Noida's 10-year minimum pay rise half of Delhi, Gurugram; not enough to offset inflation

NEW DELHI: While minimum wages for unskilled workers have risen by just 42% in Noida/Ghaziabad over the last decade, the increases in neighbouring Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad have been close to 90%, shows data.

This also means that while wage increases have outpaced inflation in Delhi and its neighbouring Haryana towns, the hike has been not even enough to offset price rise in Noida/Ghaziabad.

Analysis of past data on minimum wages shows that from Rs 7,936 per month in Oct 2016, the minimum wage for unskilled workers employed in shops and establishments in Uttar Pradesh has increased to Rs 11,314 per month, an increase of 42.6%.

Since 2016, the base year of the consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW), the increases in prices in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar have been 51.3% higher than the increase in nominal minimum wages. In effect, therefore, the real minimum wage now is lower than a decade ago.The situation was similar in Haryana, before the increase in minimum wages announced on April 9, following protests in the state's industrial belts around Manesar.

The minimum wage in the state had increased from Rs 8,070 per month in July 2016 to Rs 11,274 per month before April 9. This 40% increase was lower than the rise in prices rate affecting industrial workers during this period - 52.7% in Gurgaon and 48.1% in Faridabad.

Following the April 9 hike, the minimum wage is now 88.6% higher than in 2016. Delhi has the highest minimum wage in the NCR region. At Rs 18,456 per month, the minimum wage in the national capital has increased by nearly 90% as compared to Rs 9,724 per month in Oct 2016. Interestingly, the national capital also saw somewhat lower inflation during this period than its satellite towns in Haryana and UP, as consumer prices for industrial workers increased by 43.7%.

Ref

The Battle For Voice In Digital India

See All News by Ravish Kumar
<<< Previously

Press Freedom · Digital Rights · India

When the Government
Bans the Joke,
It Confesses Its Own Fear

India's ruling dispensation is no longer satisfied silencing journalists. It has moved on to comedians, cartoonists, animators — and now, you.

Ravish Kumar · 2026

There is something uniquely revealing about a government that is afraid of a joke about a cooking-gas cylinder. A comedian makes a reel. It goes viral. And within days, his Facebook page — built over years, his livelihood — disappears from India. No explanation. No notice. No due process. Just: gone.

That is where we are. That is what India's digital landscape looks like in 2026. Pages are being pulled down. YouTube channels suspended. News portals blocked. Cartoonists' work removed from the internet and, in quiet defiance, pinned to the walls of Delhi's Press Club. An animation studio's three videos banned, not for incitement, not for sedition — but for existing at a frequency the government finds uncomfortable.

Ask yourself one question: if the government were confident, why would it be afraid of a cartoon?

"If you cannot handle a question, banning the questioner is not governance. It is cowardice dressed up in the language of national security."

The Takedown Machine

The cases are no longer isolated. Over the last several weeks, a pattern has crystallised into something systemic. Comedian Rajeev Nigam's Facebook page was blocked in India. He told The Quint that he was not even informed which post triggered the action — his best guess is a satirical reel about LPG prices.^[1] "My page will not be visible to people in India," he tweeted. "And this has not happened only to me."

He is right. The satirical outlet Molitix had its Facebook page restricted under Section 79(3) of the IT Act — again, without being told which content violated which rule, and without being given an opportunity to respond.^[2] Its cartoons — which Indian audiences had freely viewed for years — were pulled from the internet and displayed physically at Delhi's Press Club, because that was the only screen the government couldn't reach.

News channel 4PM has been blocked and has approached the Delhi High Court. National Dastak was targeted. Dhruv Rathi's three animation videos were banned in India.^[3] The Kerala-based MediaOne TV was shuttered for over a year on "national security" grounds — a claim the Supreme Court eventually tore apart, fined the government for, and reversed. But by then, the channel had lost journalists, revenue, and months of its institutional life.^[4]

This is not a crackdown on disinformation. This is a crackdown on discomfort.

12 Years in power — zero press conferences held by PM Modi

1 hr New proposed deadline for platforms to remove flagged content (down from 2–3 hours)

79(3) IT Act provision cited to block pages — no reasons given, no right of reply

The American Mirror

Sometimes it takes a foreign government's bureaucratic paperwork to state plainly what domestic silence refuses to say. The Office of the United States Trade Representative submitted a report to the US Congress and President on March 31, 2025. Its finding on India was blunt: tech companies — YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram — are receiving content removal orders from Indian authorities at such volume and at such speed that they are unable to comply in time.^[5]

The report further observed that the manner in which these orders are being issued appears to be politically motivated — not a response to genuine threats, but a routine mechanism of suppression.^[6]

Read that carefully. The United States government — hardly a crusading civil liberties organisation — has put on record that India's content-removal regime looks like politics, not policy.

And yet, India's IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has pointed to deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation as justification for these crackdowns. That argument might carry weight if the targets were deepfake factories. But Molitix is not a deepfake studio. 4PM is not an AI bot. Rajeev Nigam is a human being who made a joke about a gas cylinder. The AI defence is a red herring, and a transparent one.

"The US government's trade report said what Indian mainstream media would not: India's content-removal orders appear politically motivated."

The Law They Are Building

What is happening today through executive orders is about to be institutionalised through law. The government has proposed sweeping amendments to India's digital media regulations, with public consultations open until April 14. What the new draft would establish, if passed, is a surveillance architecture of remarkable scope.^[7]

Under the proposed rules: social media platforms would be required to conduct pre-upload content checks; user data would have to be retained and handed over on government demand; and — most significantly — the Digital Media Ethics Code, previously applicable only to registered news publishers, would now extend to any individual who posts news or current affairs content on social media.^[8]

That means you. The person who makes a reel about a politician's speech. The student who shares a video of a protest. The homemaker who reposts a news clip. All of you would fall under a government-supervised content-review mechanism. You could be reported, reviewed — and silenced — even without a formal complaint.

The Internet Freedom Foundation's Apar Gupta has warned that the draft's implications go far beyond what the government is advertising. This is not about cleaning up misinformation. This is about building the infrastructure for total digital control — and doing it while the public is still being told it is about deepfakes.

The Double Standard That Tells the Whole Story

Here is a simple question. Which channels were found guilty of spreading hate speech and communal content by broadcast regulators? The answer is the same channels that have been receiving thousands of crores of rupees in government advertising contracts. The News Broadcasters' Standards Authority levied fines. Anchors were censured. And yet — not one of these channels was taken off air for a single day.^[9]

Meanwhile: independent journalists whose channels receive no government advertising find their Facebook pages blocked, their YouTube handles suspended, their income streams severed.

The principle being applied is not legality. It is loyalty.

Channels that ask no questions get crores. Channels that ask questions get shut down. This equation is not a conspiracy theory — it is the observable, documented reality of Indian media in 2025. The public has understood it. Viewership of so-called "godi media" has collapsed, not because of regulation, but because audiences stopped trusting them. But the government's response to losing the information war is not to earn trust — it is to delete the competition.

What Kind of Democracy Remains?

Narendra Modi has been Prime Minister for over a decade. He has not held a single press conference in twelve years.^[10] Not one. He speaks in monologues — to a camera, on his terms, with no questioner, no follow-up, no accountability. That is his relationship with the free press: it does not exist.

And now, having converted mainstream television into a stage-managed applause machine, the government has turned its attention to the only spaces where inconvenient questions were still being asked — social media, independent YouTube channels, satirical pages, comedy reels.

Compare this to the United States, where Tucker Carlson — a deeply controversial commentator — openly accused the American government of being controlled by Israeli interests. No takedown. No criminal case. No page restriction. Trump's government dislikes him. But it has not deleted him.

In India, the threshold for deletion is a joke about a cooking-gas cylinder.

And when you silence that joke, when you pull down that cartoon, when you block that satirical page — you are not protecting national security. You are announcing, to your own people and to the world, that you cannot handle the truth. That you have run out of answers. That the only tool left in your hands is fear.

One hundred and forty crore people deserve a Prime Minister who can face their questions. What they have is a government that deletes the questions instead.

◆

Facts

• Comedian Rajeev Nigam's Facebook page was blocked in India without prior notice or stated reason; he told The Quint he suspects it was due to a satirical post about LPG cylinder prices.
• Satirical outlet Molitix had its Facebook page restricted in India under IT Act Section 79(3); it was not informed which content violated any rule, nor given opportunity to respond. Its removed cartoons were subsequently displayed at Delhi Press Club.
• The US Office of the Trade Representative submitted a report to Congress on March 31, 2025, stating that India's content-removal orders are issued at such frequency and speed that tech platforms cannot comply in time, and that the orders "appear politically motivated."
• The Indian government proposed reducing the mandatory content-removal window from 2–3 hours to 1 hour, as reported by The Indian Express citing government sources.
• The proposed amendments to India's digital media rules — open for public consultation until April 14, 2025 — would extend the Digital Media Ethics Code to any individual posting news or current affairs content on social media, not just registered publishers.
• Dhruv Rathi's three animation videos were banned in India.
• Kerala's MediaOne TV was banned for over a year by the central government citing national security. The Supreme Court overturned the ban and issued a strong rebuke to the government.
• 4PM News channel has been restricted and has filed a petition before the Delhi High Court.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not held a press conference in over 12 years in power.
• The News Broadcasters' Standards Authority has fined and censured pro-government TV channels for spreading hate speech and communal content — yet none were taken off air, and these channels continue to receive substantial government advertising.

Criticisms

• The Modi government has weaponised IT Act provisions — particularly Section 79(3) — as a tool of political suppression, blocking independent journalists and satirists without due process, notice, or right of reply.
• Twelve years in power without a single press conference is not humility — it is contempt for democratic accountability. A head of government who refuses to be questioned is not governing; he is ruling.
• The government's use of "national security" as a blanket justification for banning channels like MediaOne — a claim the Supreme Court dismantled — reveals a pattern of using legal weaponry not to protect the nation but to protect the ruling party from scrutiny.
• The proposed digital media rules, which would subject ordinary citizens' social media posts to government review and potential deletion, represent an authoritarian expansion of state power over public speech dressed up as a regulatory reform.
• The double standard is indefensible: pro-government channels found guilty of hate speech by independent broadcast bodies face zero action and continue to receive thousands of crores in government advertisements, while independent platforms are blocked for asking factual questions.
• Framing the crackdown on independent media under the banner of fighting deepfakes and AI misinformation is dishonest. The targeted accounts — Molitix, 4PM, Rajeev Nigam, Dhruv Rathi — are identifiable human journalists, satirists, and animators, not AI bots.
• The government's IT Cell has industrialised disinformation and communal propaganda on social media for years. The selective enforcement of content rules against critics, while leaving this ecosystem untouched, is not neutrality — it is complicity.
• By attacking the livelihoods of content creators — not just their speech — the government is deploying economic violence as a tool of censorship, targeting people's incomes and livelihoods to enforce silence.
• BJP's silence — from party workers to MPs to Mohan Bhagwat — in the face of this press freedom assault is a form of institutional endorsement. If they genuinely believe in democracy, they must say so publicly and loudly.
• A government so fearful of a cartoon, a comedy reel, and an animation video has already answered the question of whether it has the confidence to face its own people.

Sources & Citations

1. Rajeev Nigam statement to The Quint regarding Facebook page restriction, 2025.
2. Molitix statement on Facebook page ban, citing IT Act Section 79(3), reported by multiple outlets, 2025.
3. Reports on Dhruv Rathi animation video bans in India, 2025.
4. Supreme Court of India ruling overturning the central government's ban on MediaOne TV; Court reprimand on record.
5. Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, submitted to US Congress and President, March 31, 2025.
6. Ibid., USTR Report on India section: characterisation of content-removal orders as appearing "politically motivated."
7. Draft amendments to India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021; public consultation period ending April 14, 2025.
8. Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF); Apar Gupta's public commentary on proposed draft rules, 2025.
9. News Broadcasters Standards Authority (NBSA) orders against pro-government television channels for content violations, 2022–2024.
10. Multiple documented instances confirming PM Modi's 12-year record of no formal press conferences; cited by domestic and international press freedom organisations.

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