Social media has made us all a little too toxic. How did we get here? When was the last time we appreciated the public policy designed by the political parties that we didn't support? Quite a long time ago. Right? A part of the problem lies in the nature of the beast that is . It gives a voice to all of us and all of us have a political dispensation that colors our beliefs. social media For example, if you belong to the , your beliefs will lead you towards over public goods such as Healthcare, education, and transport. Leftist dispensation greater state control Similarly, the among you will wish for , promotion of individual enterprise, and of course, a dash of nationalistic fervor. Rightists lesser governmental oversight There are no true politicians. It's a tug o' war between the two factions and that tensed rope represents a state of that keeps law-abiding citizens from rioting on the streets. non-partisan dynamic equilibrium ( ) Source: tes.com But all is not well at the moment. The over the past few years has shaken that dynamic equilibrium. It has made the Far-Right xenophobic and the Far-Left anarchic. rise of the Right ( Source: Quora) At the turn of the millennium, these extremists were fringe elements whose reach never permeated the masses. But now, with social media, , and , they can now disseminate their poison to the masses. hashtags private groups Thus, it is now us, the citizens of the world, that are in that state of dynamic equilibrium, instead of the political elites. As we consume more social media and are targeted and retargeted by political ads run by vested interest groups, our descent towards xenophobia or anarchy continues unabated. ( Source: NowThis News) That is why we need to examine these social media-driven narratives with non-partisan code. A non-partisan code is nothing but a program that addresses the concerns of both camps. How about I show you how it works instead of writing a 5000-word treatise? India's Citizenship Amendment Bill: Summary The Indian Government (Rightist), in December 2019 proposed a citizenship amendment bill that, if passed by the Indian Parliament, will expedite the process of granting Indian citizenship to those belonging to 6 religious denominations from its neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Since the current Indian Government is Rightist, the leftists oppose it. The rationale for their opposition is rooted in the fact that the majority religious denomination in India's neighbors is a minority religious denomination in India. Thus, the leftists claim that the law religion by inviting for citizenship all but those from the majority religion of its neighbors. It is also alleged by the left that such a law will lead to the that came to India from its neighboring countries (mostly by illegal means) to make a better living for themselves. discriminates against its minority's deportation of a large number of migrants On the other hand, the Rightists claim that the law would provide relief to those facing . They also claim that the deportation of the illegal migrants (often of the majority religious denomination of India's neighbors) will perpetrated in and by the ghettoized slums where they reside. religious persecution in its neighborhood reduce anti-social activities Therefore, the goals for a non-partisan code are clear. It must be able to achieve the goals of the bill, in its entirety, without asking for the religion of the applicant. If it can do so, a case can be made that the bill does not contain mischievous intent to discriminate against ANY religious denomination. Before I present the code, it is a good time to disclose that I've just started learning to code so some formatting notations might not be present. Also pertinent to note is that the author self-identifies as a rightist but agrees with several features of the leftist beliefs. indian_neighbours = [ , , ]
nationality = input( ) nationality.lower() == : ( ) nationality.lower() indian_neighbours: ( ) neighbour indian_neighbours: neighbour == nationality.lower(): ( +nationality.title()+ )
                status = input( ) status.lower() == : ( ) status.lower() == : ( ) : ( ) citizenship_amendment_bill() "afghanistan" "pakistan" "bangladesh" "Which Country Are You A Citizen Of ? --> " : def citizenship_amendment_bill () if "india" print "You're Already an Indian Citizen. #Jai_Hind" elif in print "Welcome to the Citizenship Amendment Bill" for in if print "Are You Victimized on the Basis of Your Religion in " " ?" "Type Yes or No --> " if "yes" print "India will expedite your process of becoming an Indian citizen." elif "no" print "Apply for Indian Citizenship as per Existing Laws" else print "The Citizenship Amendment Bill is not Applicable in your Case" return You can test out this code in any . online Python 3 development environment In case you're even newer to programming than I or are completely unfamiliar with coding, here's a flowchart depicting the same code in a pictorial format that is easier to visualize. Learnings from the Non-Partisan Code While a case can be made that the bill does not discriminate on the basis of religion, it does discriminate on the basis of nationality. This is evident from the list in Line 1 of the code. indian_neighbours = [ , , ] "afghanistan" "pakistan" "bangladesh" For it to be a truly non-partisan bill, the should provide for expedited citizenship to all persecuted minorities, from any country in the world, and not just these three countries. citizenship amendment bill The rightist in me believes that the list in line #1 will one day expand to include other persecuted minority groups such as the . However, until that day comes, this bill will be deemed colored with a bias towards . Uighurs of China Indic religions #In a Future Amendment to Amendment

indian_neighbours = [ , , , , ...] this "afghanistan" "pakistan" "bangladesh" "china" "sri lanka" Another issue that the bill does not address is that of the sub-denominations and the ultra-marginalized. Within India's neighboring countries, there are several and other historically marginalized communities such as the LGBTQ communities. persecuted sub-denominations of the majority religion Here too, the belief is that one day, the Indian citizenship amendment bill/act would provide for expedited citizenship to all marginalized people and not just those that profess a faith similar to its majority community. neighbour indian_neighbours: neighbour == nationality.lower(): ( +nationality.title()+ )
                status = input( ) status.lower() == : ( ) status.lower() == : ( ) #In a future amendment to the amendment for in if print "Are You Victimized in " " ?" "Type Yes or No --> " if "yes" print "India will expedite your process of becoming an Indian citizen." elif "no" print "Apply for Indian Citizenship as per Existing Laws" Lastly, neither the code nor the bill addresses the regionalistic demands of India's North-Eastern states that are clamoring for a , irrespective of their religion. My reason for omitting it is two-fold: complete shutdown of granting citizenship to migrants Regionalism is parochial and does not conform with the globalistic principles that we need to stem xenophobia My coding skills are rudimentary and I didn't want the code to go over 20 lines Conclusion It is sufficiently clear that the citizenship amendment bill, in its current form, is a step in the right direction. But, it has a long way to go before it can address the leftists' allegations of its communal nature. It is religion-agnostic but discriminates on the basis of geography which, throughout history, has had strong correlations with people's religion. After all, a community is nothing but a group of people living in close proximity and possessing similar habits and customs. Do you like such pieces of sanitized content? Should I do more? I hope you say yes - It's a good way for me to learn programming. Which bill/law should I try to emulate as a non-partisan code next? Let me know in the comments section and look out for it next week.

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Answering Political Debates with #Code: India's Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019

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