Counterview

By CK Raju* Astrology is a superstition, but why are the colonised unwilling to admit that Johannes Kepler was a superstitious astrologer, who got his livelihood from astrology, and wrote in praise of astrology. And what of Isaac Newton who superstitiously believed in Biblical creationism and apocalypse? His superstitions rubbed off into science and math as in the “eternal laws of nature”, not to mention his superstitions about the Indian calculus, all of which church superstition we happily teach in schools today.

By AC Michael*  The onslaught on citizens of minority faith continues in Madhya Pradesh. Individuals claiming to be members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) say they are preparing to demolish churches in the Jhabua district.

By Our Representative  Mourning the death of Laha Gopalan, leader of the Chengara land struggle, Kerala, India’s civil society network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has said, he will remembered for leading a struggle which exposed the myth of complete land reforms in the State. Gopalan was 72. Ailing for quite some time, he tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to a hospital in Pathanamthitta on September 21.

Counterview Desk  India’s top civil society network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), lending its full-blown support to the Bharat Banch call for September 27, 2021, given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), has regretted that even a year after the farmer's protests, “the anti-farmer, anti-labour, anti-people Modi government” has accepted not even one of their demands.

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  On September 23, 2021, two civilians were killed and several others including nine policemen were injured in violence during an eviction drive in Assam’s Darrang district. The so-called ‘eviction drive’ by the State Government is another blatant effort to ‘weed’ out ‘foreigners’ (read ‘Muslims’) from the State.

By Our Representative  The four new labour codes promulgated by the Government of India came in for sharp criticism from several labour unions and civil rights groups at one-day discussion meeting organised in Ranchi (Jharkhand) on the issue of ‘changes in labour laws. Participants in the meeting asserted that under these new codes, many of the benefits and safeties accorded to labourers have been "taken away", while the right of labourers to create trade unions has been attacked.

Counterview Desk  While the public hearing on mining in Mali hills has been cancelled due to protests by Adivasi and Dalit farmers of the Mali Parbat Surakhya Samiti, Odisha, who have been protesting against the proposed bauxite mining project, India’s top civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has said it is “deeply concerned” at the decision of the Government of Odisha to push the project in a Schedule-V Adivasi-belt Koraput district against the interests of the people and environment.

By Our Representative  Marking 15 years since the Supreme Court of India laid down seven directives on police reforms in its judgment in Prakash Singh and Others vs. Union of India and Others, 2006, well-known advocacy group Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has regretted that “Not a single State, nor the Union Territories, is fully compliant with the directives taken together.”

By Rajiv Shah  Former Gujarat topcop RB Sreekumar, an IPS officer of the 1971 batch, has alleged that the Gujarat government gave “totally false information” on the floor of the State Assembly regarding the appeal he made to the Gujarat governor for the “initiation of departmental action against those responsible for culpable negligence in maintenance of public order and investigation of genocidal crimes” during the 2002 riots.