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LiveStates· Updated 3 NovLimited coverage

Khandu: no Siang dam decision without public consent

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said only a Pre-Feasibility Report is being prepared for the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project and no construction decision has been made. A 36-hour shutdown against the project disrupted parts of the state, and the Congress demanded it be scrapped.

Why it matters: The proposed 11,200-MW project on the Siang, upstream of the Brahmaputra, touches on India's water security, relations with China and the rights of local communities.

Based on 3 articles read in full. Scores describe each article's framing, not the outlet and not whether it is accurate.

Large outlets read: 1 of 15 (India Today). Most of India’s largest outlets, including NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu and Indian Express, block our reader in this prototype, so their coverage is missing here. The launch pipeline reads their public feeds.

What's missing: None of the articles quotes the protesting groups or gives the number of protesters arrested.

What everyone agrees on

  • Khandu said only a Pre-Feasibility Report is being prepared and no decision on construction has been taken. 1 2
  • The CM promised public consultation and consent, citing the 2013 land acquisition law and the Environment Protection Act, 1986. 1 2
  • Khandu and Deputy CM Chowna Mein have said the state is open to dialogue with stakeholders. 1 3

How each side sees it

Articles 1 and 2 relay the CM's case, while article 3 covers the shutdown and Congress demands; they differ on emphasis, not on the basic facts.

Critical of the Arunachal Pradesh govt
No coverage from this side among the articles we read.
Neutral
Reports the 36-hour shutdown, the district order declaring it illegal, the Congress demands and the government's dialogue offer side by side. 3
Supportive of the Arunachal Pradesh govt
Presents the CM's case that the project is only at study stage and that consent is promised. 1 2 Stresses the China angle: a Chinese dam in Medog County and about 65 per cent of the Siang's water originating in China. 1 2 Reports the CM calling claims of forced eviction or land-taking without consent false, and urging against violence and blockades. 1 2

Where they disagree

  1. Displacement claims: are villages at risk of submergence, as the Congress says, or are such claims misinformation, as the CM says? 1 2 3
  2. Shutdown impact: did the bandh disrupt life widely, or did it have little effect, as a senior police official said for Siang district? 3
  3. Legality of protest: was the shutdown illegal, as the Upper Siang DM declared, or a legitimate protest, as the Congress's call for releasing arrested protesters implies? 3

What's missing

  • No independent figure on villages: the Congress claim that 27 villages could be submerged is not backed by any official survey in the articles. 3
  • Voices of protest groups: the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum and SAAYA are not quoted on the CM's assurances. 1 2 3
  • Arrest numbers: the number of protesters arrested and the charges against them are not given. 3
  • Timeline: no article says when the Pre-Feasibility Report will be completed or how consultation will be held. 1 2

The articles

Centre
2 · India Today NEConfidence: Medium
No decision on Siang dam construction, public consent essential: Arunachal CM Pema Khandu
This article:

Why: Relays the CM's case for a feasibility study using national security and China framing, with no voices from dam opponents. Mild right tilt on security and development, otherwise a plain account.

3 · The Morung ExpressConfidence: Medium
36-hour shutdown hits life in Arunachal districts; Congress demands scrapping of mega dam project
This article:

Why: Reports shutdown, Congress demands and the CM's dialogue offer evenly. Slight lean to indigenous rights and civil liberties concerns, balanced by the strategic importance versus China and the state's consultation.

Right-leaning
1 · Economic TimesConfidence: Medium
Arunachal can control its side, not China's dams upstream: Pema Khandu
This article:

Why: Relays the CM's case for the Siang dam study with national-security and strategic framing. Opponents' voices are absent, and claims of misinformation go unchallenged. Mild state-led infrastructure and security lean.

How we score

Ideology score, −10 to +10

Left-leaning (−10 to −3)
Secular-pluralist framing, minority protection, caste justice and voter access, civil liberties, an active state.
Centre (−2 to +2)
Several positions represented fairly, neutral language, reporting kept apart from opinion.
Right-leaning (+3 to +10)
Cultural nationalism, national strength and security, scepticism of group-based policy, voter-roll integrity, market-led growth.

Stance toward the government

Critical, Neutral or Supportive, scored separately. It refers to the Union government unless the story is about a state. On the spectrum strip, each dot is an article: its position is the ideology score and its colour is the stance.

The swap test

If an article would score differently with the parties' roles reversed, that signal is partisanship. It goes into the stance tag, not the ideology score.

Confidence

High, Medium or Low, based on how much of the article was read, how many clear signals it has, and whether they agree.

Limited coverage and blindspots

Stories with fewer than five articles are marked. A blindspot is a contested story where we found coverage from only one side.

Not ideological

Articles that touch none of the three dimensions, such as a car launch or a match report, carry no ideology score.

How often the feed refreshes

This prototype is refreshed by hand (last on 17 Oct, 03:00 IST). At launch:

Wires and the top 20 outletschecked every 5 minutes
All other outletschecked every 15 minutes
New storygoes up at 3 articles from 2 or more outlets, marked Limited coverage
Live storiesnew articles added every 15 minutes; summary rewritten at most hourly
Home page orderevery 15 minutes

Updates are added, never rewritten

New facts go into a dated update log at the top of the story. New articles carry an “Added” tag. If a note or list changes, the earlier version stays viewable.

Live, winding down, archived

A story is Live while coverage arrives, Winding down after about 2 days without new coverage, and Archived after about 7. Sport results skip winding down and are archived after about 2 days, unless police or a court are involved. Nothing is deleted: links never change, archived scores are frozen, and stories stay on their issue pages and in search.

Large outlets missing

NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Indian Express, News18, ABP, Times Now and Mint block the reader used for this prototype, so their articles are missing. Each story shows how many of India’s 15 largest outlets we read. The launch pipeline will read outlets’ public feeds, TV transcripts and Hindi articles.

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Editor and grievance officer

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Corrections log

  • 16 Oct · Goregaon toddler death: removed the building's name and an unverified claim about the 10-year-old's health, to protect the child's identity.
  • 16 Oct · India–US trade deal: merged two duplicate story pages into one.
  • 16 Oct · INS Mangrol: one report names the commissioning officer differently from three others; flagged in the story, not resolved.