Counterview

By Rosamma Thomas*  Admission for the Bachelor of Education degree in Odisha was scheduled to be held on 22 and 23 September 2022. However, a brief note from the additional secretary to the higher education department of the state government on September 21, 2022 announced that this process had been put off, “due to some unavoidable circumstances”. The BEd degree was made compulsory for recruitment as a teacher after the Right to Free and Compulsory Education was enacted in 2009. In the years since this rule was implemented, however, teacher training colleges offering this qualifying degree for recruitment as teachers have sprung up across the country, many operating with scant regard for norms set by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). One course offered in Odisha – Bachelor in Hindi Education (BHEd) – is not governed by any norms at all, it appears. NCTE is the statutory body of the Union government that oversees standards, procedures and processes in the Indian educat

By Shankar Sharma*  I have read the article " Building Resilience in India’s Power Sector " by N Vedachalam, released by the Observer Research Foundation, with a lot of interest. I expected it to provide few useful recommendations to our authorities in charting out a sustainable pathway to green energy transition much before the climate catastrophe push our communities to the precipice. But I am sorry to say that the overall discussions or the message implied in the article disappointed me. I was expecting the article, coming from an engineer with past experience in the power sector, to discuss the much needed recommendations to put the power sector on a sustainable developmental pathway. But I could notice mostly technical jargon and a lot of statistical information, which may already be available in the public domain.   The article also seems to have simply accepted what some of the official agencies seem to have indicated as inevitable for the power sector in our country;

By NS Venkataraman*  Nano urea, a fertilizer patented and sold by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), has been approved by the Government of India for commercial use because of its various benefits. Unfortunately, a counter-productive media campaign has been levelled against nano urea, ignoring its merits. When extensive field trials have been carried out on more than 94 crops across 11,000 farmer fields in different parts of the country by several organisations , research institutions putting their efforts together and results have been proved as per the claims , it is counter productive that some controversial views appear in the media, which cause only sensation and nothing more than that.Product details:Nano urea is about a billionth of a metre in surface area and contains nitrogen particles of 20 -50 nanometres. The average thickness of conventional urea particle is 2.8 mm, which is equal to around 55,000 nano urea particles in size. Chemically, conventional

Counterview Desk  The ‘Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace’which held its 17th National Convention at the Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana from 22 to 24 September 2022 on the theme “Deepening our Identity as Religious: Responding to the Signs of the Times”, has expressed concern “at the deteriorating situation of our nation on every front”, especially stating, “Fascism seems to have come to stay” in India. At the same time, the convention, which took place with the participation of 60 persons from 16 states representing 20 religious congregations, in its unanimously-adopted statement added, “We have reached abysmal depths on every parameter: be it social, economic and political”, underlining, “The poor in India become poorer every day; the rich and powerful continue to profiteer at their expense and amass scandalous amounts of wealth.” Text: We, members (63 women and men Religious, from 16 states representing 20 Congregations) of the Forum of Religious for Justice

By Our Representative  In a gruesome incident, brought to light by a senior West Bengal activist, the Border Security force (BSF) appears to have begun using pellet guns to control cross-border smuggling. Binging this to light, Kirity Roy, secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said, BSF personnel attached with Karola border outpost under 90 Battalion fired pellets on a villager of Karola village under Dinhata-II Block and Sahebganj police station area of Cooch Behar district. Roy, who is also national convenor, Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), said, "The victim was severely injured and became completely blind in the sudden pellet firing by BSF", adding, "Our fact finding has revealed that the victim is associated with smuggling activities. The on-duty BSF personnel without any warning fired pellets from the pump gun which caused complete blindness to the victim." Stating that such use of pellet guns is against the t

By Rafeek Ravuther, Chandan Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar*  The migrant workers were one of the most vulnerable sections during the pandemic. India experiences large-scale movement of migrants internally and internationally. After the outbreak of the pandemic, migrant workers continued to face injustice especially in getting wages in expedited manner. In the international context, India, the home of 9 million cross-border temporary labour migrants, carried out the largest repatriation exercise ‘Vande Bharat Mission’. Even though the Indian government addressed the immediate requirement of repatriation, it failed to understand and recognise their post-arrival grievances, like back wages, social protection etc. Recently many workers were deported from the middle- east region. Amidst the establishment of grievance mechanisms such as Consular Services Management System (MADAD) and helplines in Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK), the unresolved grievances remain high. The number of unresolv

By Our Representative  In September third week, NREGA workers across the country were mobilised for two day so raise their issues and submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister. Organised the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a collective of groups that work with NREGA labourers across the country, workers from 13 states -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- carried out Kaam Do Abhiyaan, staging demonstrations and rallies against what they called blatant violation of law by the Central government in making NREGA payments. While NREGA has had very positive impacts, it has lately become fruitless, exploiting labour, even though workers who have put in honest hard work have to wait for their wages endlessly, it was suggested.  In such a situation, there is a need to firm up NREGA implementation and end systematic corruption to ensure that workers get their basic NREGA entit

By Sandeep Pandey*  It is a matter of shame for us as a society that Bilkis Bano's rapists have been released by a District level committee of Gujarat Government. Some people in the Hindutva family are also justifying the act by claiming that a few of the rapists are Sanskari Brahmans. If rapists and murderers will be called Sanskari, then we as a society have to rethink about the moral values and ethical standards necessary to be upheld for us to be called a civilised society. Besides Biliks Bano feeling cheated by the act of Gujarat government, what would be the feelings of women of family of convicts? We're sure no woman would feel that men of their family are sanskari if they indulge in violating the modesty of other women, irrespective of which caste or religion they belong to. We take pride that India is known in the world over for its spirituality. India is identified by Mahatma Gandhi who himself is a symbol of values and virtues. It is a shame that Gujarat which produc

By Our Representative  In a surprise move, the Rajasthan police stopped a Dalit women's rally from Gujarat on the borders after it crossed Gujarat alleging that it would "disturb peace" in village Surana, Jalore district, where the gruesome incident of death of a Dalit boy took place on August 13 after he was brutally beaten up by his teacher on touching the drinking water pot. Sources said, while the Gujarat government had "no objection" in allowing the rally, which originated from the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), an empowerment-cut-technical institute for teens founded by human rights leader Martin Macwan, on September 24 morning, the Rajasthan police stopped it for two and a half hours before allowing it to proceed to Surana. The decision to take out a women's rally was taken at a DSK meeting on September 5 following a condolence meeting of the NGO Navsarjan Trust, also founded by Macwan, activists committed to work against caste-based discrimination, orga