Post-poll meet: People's Union for Civil Liberties "ignores" human rights activists under saffron attack

Gujarat PUCL chief Gautam Thaker

By Jag Jivan
At a top meeting, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) ignored any mention of top human rights activists Teesta Setalvad and Father Cedric Prakash, currently target of attack by BJP rulers and their saffron supporters. Setalvad, seeking court intervention to institute a case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “involvement” in Gujarat riots, for quite some time has been target. Gujarat government has initiated an inquiry into “embezzlement” of funds of the NGO she runs. Prakash is the latest target of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar for his meetings with Goa Christians questioning freedom of religion in Gujarat in March 2014.
At a news conference a few days ago, Parrikar not only threatened action against Prakash in the same way as he booked a Facebooker for the latter’s anti-Modi posts, but compared the Jesuit rights activist with an extremist Sri Ram Sene chief from Mangalore. When asked why PUCL has “ignored” the vicious criticism by the Goa chief minister, PUCL’s Gujarat general secretary Gautam Thaker told Counterview he came to know about it “rather late”.
Worse, none of the speakers, while discussing post-poll scenario, even once recalled attacks on human rights activists, which, most voluntary organizations admit in private, may further intensify with Modi in power, known as he is for criticizing “five star NGOs”.
Called at Gujarat Vidyapeeth, the meeting, in which Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, apart from mainly Gujarat-based well-known social activists, participated, ironically called for the need to “unite” against Modi’s “autocratic” ways. While saying that Modi will not risk communal riots, veteran advocate Girish Patel predicted, “He will certainly try to corrode existing democratic institutions”.
Congress was target of attack. “The problem was the Congress was so terribly indifferent towards winning the polls that its state party president Arjun Modhwadia was found to be playing games on his mobile most of the time. It utterly lacked self-confidence”, contended Indumar Jani, veteran social activist. Another senior activist Rajni Dave said then when it needed the NGOs’ support it came to them, but after the polls, it has not even cared to talk to them about reasons for defeat.
Harinesh Pandya, who runs Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahal, a right to information NGO, said, he apprehended attacks on the working class to intensify. “In Gujarat, the labour courts have been demolished, while minimum wages are not being implemented”, he said, adding, “Unfortunately, the Congress never took our views seriously.”
Pandya simultaneously criticized AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal saying, “I once asked Kejriwal why were so many Sangh Parivar people were there in the party, Kejriwal replied, “Bring in others, and the Sangh people will go into minority.” AAP’s Anoop Sharma blamed “lack of organization” for poor show of even activists like Kanu Kalsaria and Medha Parkar, who could not muster enough votes even to save their deposits.
Environmental expert Mahesh Pandya -- of Paryavaran Mitra -- apprehended corrosion of the NGOs’ activities by promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR). “In Gujarat, in the name of CSR, the Adanis have virtually taken control of a public hospital in Kutch”, he alleged.
There was criticism of the AAP from various speakers, who said it had initially been soft to the Sangh Parivar.
Farmers’ leader who shot into prominent for opposing Bhechraji-Mandal special investment region (SIR), Lalji Desai, one of the very few who joined the Congress ahead of the polls, said, “The corporate went against the Congress because it took a rights-based approach for jobs, for land, for forests, for food, for information, and so on.”

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog