Counterview

By Our Representative  As the country is in the midst of polling for the Lok Sabha elections, leaders of farmers movements, activists and researchers have called out mainstream political parties for their inadequate to insensitive approach towards some of the fundamental questions affecting the agrarian communities across India and the lack of a comprehensive vision, grounded in principles of equity, justice and sustainability. 

By Prof RR Prasad*  The deafening current clamor on one of the agenda items of the 2024 Congress Party Election Manifesto has made common people to ponder whether ideologies like social justice and equity could become conundrum and contentious manifestations of some organization's vision and mission.

By Sonali Kolhatkar*  There are several exercises in extremes playing out in India right now. Nearly a billion people are voting in elections that will last into early June, braving record-high temperatures to cast ballots. Against this backdrop, Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani , is throwing what will likely be the world’s most expensive wedding for his youngest son.

By Our Representative  The All India Kisan Sabha and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham that represents the largest rubber producing state of Kerala along with rubber farmers have sought intervention against the monopoly tyre companies that have formed a cartel against the interests of consumers and farmers.  Vijoo Krishnan, AIKS General Secretary, Valsan Panoli, Kerala Karshaka Sangham General Secretary, and four farmers representing different rubber growing regions of Kerala have filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The geriatric ideology of feudalism, patriarchy, nationalism, religious culture, market led consumerism, monetised society and capitalism continues to propagate the notion that contemporary youths and students are deviants, lazy, unproductive, and useless idiots. They are depicted as being addicted to the digital world, lacking direction and commitment to their own lives, as well as to the state and society.

By Harsh Thakor*  Police in the entire USA have reportedly pounded on the students engaging in protests in solidarity with Gaza. Displaying relentless courage,  student protesters on campuses such as the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Southern California battled to the last inch. Scenes were reminiscent of protests during Vietnam war. This happened even as President Biden approved a bill that would provide USD 26 billion to Israel.

By Salman Rafi Sheikh*  When Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in India with a landslide victory in 2019, his government acted swiftly. Just months after the election, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In doing so, it stripped the special constitutional status conferred on Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and downgraded its status from a state with its own elected assembly to a union territory administered by the central government in Delhi. 

By Rosamma Thomas*  “VVPAT machine is totally opaque,” messaged one voter who voted in Kanniyakumari constituency on April 19, when polling began for the Lok Sabha elections. The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Election Commission, on a petition seeking the counting of all Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail slips cast in the 2024 elections, instead of only verifying five randomly selected Electronic Voting Machines in each assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency.

By Parineeta Dandekar*  The recently-concluded World Fisheries Congress in Seattle in March 2024  discussed several themes relating to the health of our rivers, dependent communities and fish. Of the several interesting sessions, the  symposium on ‘Dam Removal as a River Restoration Tool at the Water-Energy-Food Nexus’ was of particular interest.   I was simultaneously at two parallel sessions and hence was unable to attend some of the presentations but have tried to provide an overview of the presentations and discussions, in addition to the session where I presented a paper.