Updated: September 17, 2020 2:02:55 pm
Policymakers such as NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, academic historian Romila Thapar, and political psychologist Ashish Nandy, are also monitored by Zhenhua Data, a firm that has ties to the Chinese government and its agencies.
At least 200 influential people, including academics, researchers, think tanks and media organizations, and 40 serving and retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officials who held key diplomatic positions are listed in the Key Information Database abroad (OKIDB) created by the Chinese firm Zhenhua Facts, a The Indian Express investigation Has revealed.
From Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Indian Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla, who previously served as private secretary. to Prime Minister Narendra ModiIFS officers being tracked include those posted to the United Nations: TS Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India to the UN; and Gopinanthan, a member of the Joint Inspection Unit, the only independent external oversight body in the United Nations system.
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Also on the list being monitored are those of India’s key strategic missions, such as Venu Rajamony, Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, as well as responsible for India’s relations with the International Court of Justice and Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Among OKIDB’s diplomats are the ambassador to Japan, Sanjay Kumar Verma, who previously served in Hong Kong and China; The Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ausaf Sayeed, and the Ambassador to Madagascar, Abhay Kumar. The western Indian Ocean is seen by China as the gateway to Africa. In 2019, India appointed a defense attaché for its mission in Madagascar.
Politicians such as NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, academic historian Romila Thapar, and political psychologist Ashish Nandy; Dhruva Jaishankar, Director of the Observer Research Foundation’s American Initiative (son of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar); They are also monitored by Zhenhua Data, a firm that has ties to the Chinese government and its agencies.
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The database mentions Ashoka University professor and contributing editor of The Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta; and C Raja Mohan, Contributing Editor of The Indian Express and Director of the Institute for South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore; and Republic TV co-founder and BJP MP Rajya Sabha Rajeev Chandrasekhar, as a trustee of the conservative Washington-based Think Hudson Institute.
In response to reports from The Indian Express, Zhenhua Data said Tuesday night that it was privately owned, that its partners had no backgrounds in the Chinese military or the Chinese government, and that its operation “was not illegal or unreasonable.” .
Submitting his response through official sources at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, Sun, a Zhenhua representative said: “The Overseas Key Information Database (OKIDB) exists, but it is not as magical as reported by the media, it simply connects people with social media. they use … There is nothing in the operations that is illegal or unreasonable. We collect information from public sources that are accessible to everyone. But we do not obtain private information from confidential sources such as chat stories, psychological profiles or anything that the user decides to hide ”.
While the operations may not be illegal, Facebook has banned Shenzhen Zhenhua data technology from its platform. Responding to inquiries from The Indian Express, a Facebook spokesperson said: “The extraction of public data, as this company appears to have done with various services, including Facebook, is against our policies. Even public data shouldn’t be collected in this way. We have banned Shenzhen Zhenhua data technology from our platform and have sent a cease and desist letter ordering them to stop. “
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Facebook, however, did not indicate when it prohibited or ordered a cease and desist letter to Zhenhua Data.
In the database selected by Zhenhua Data there are also:
· Think tanks such as the International Vivekananda Foundation, the Center for Policy Research, the Observer Research Foundation and the Jindal School of International Affairs.
· Media organizations ranging from Press Trust of India (PTI) and Asian News International (ANI) to Times of India and Aaj Tak.
· Institutions such as the Delhi School of Economics, the University of Mumbai, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.
· Publishers such as Random House India and HarperCollins India.
· NGO Greenpeace, WWF-India and Population Foundation of India.
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For think tanks and researchers, OKIDB’s main focus in India is on the Observer Research Foundation, the Center for Policy Research, and the Institute for Chinese Studies. Other Indian research organizations in the database include the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, the India Council on World Affairs, the China Strategy and Analysis Center, the Council Data Security Officer of India and Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.
OKIDB has a wide range of Indian policy influencers, experts and researchers. They include JNU professor Amitabh Mattoo; CSDS Directors Rajeev Bhargava and Sanjay Kumar; former Foreign Secretary and CPR Senior Member Shyam Saran; Ashwini Deshpande, former Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics; Hemant Adlakha from JNU’s Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, and author Rajiv Malhotra.
OKIDB’s social activists include Abdul Jabbar, convenor of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, an organization that worked to achieve justice for gas victims and their families; and Tseten Lepcha de Sikkim from the NGO Ciudadanos Affectados de Tensta. Nachiket Mor, Former Country Director (2015-2019), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is also on the database.
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