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Showing posts from June, 2014

Order allowing only decontaminated ships to dismantle "not implemented": Death of migrants at Alang

  In a representation to KG Balakrishnan, chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Delhi, top civil rights activist Gopal Krishna of the Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA) has submitted that the  death  of "some 10 migrant workers"  on Alang beach, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, on June 28 suggests that the authorities continue to treat such accidents as a routine affair and have become “part of a pattern.” The deaths occurred due to a blast triggered by a suspected gas leak that took place in a ship being dismantled at the Alang ship-breaking yard in plot No 140.

GDP no measure of growth, Gujarat isn't developmental model: Chicago scholar

Well-known University of Chicago scholar, Martha C Nussbaum, a “distinguished service professor of law and ethics”, writing in the context of India’s recent Lok Sabha elections, “fought” on the plank of “development”, has said that human development should be treated more than gross domestic product of a country. The scholar says, the question as to what is development becomes relevant is Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, is being “touted as a hero of development policy because of his record in promoting economic growth in Gujarat.” She insists, “it’s time to rehearse again the arguments that have led leading development thinkers all over the world, from the United Nations Development Programme to the World Bank, to reject growth as an adequate measure of development and to prefer, in its place, what is now known as the ‘Human Development’ paradigm.” Nussbaum quotes well known economist Mahbub Ul Haq, who wrote in 1990, in the first of the “Human Development Reports” of the Unit...

Delayed rains in Gujarat: Official intervention sought to end anti-Dalit bias in sourcing drinking water

Exclusive well for Dalits in Panva While the officialdom seems  worried  about failure of rains in Gujarat, fresh information from the state’s rural areas suggest it is starting to affect the marginalized communities the most. A case in point is the plea to the Surendranagar district collector by a local women’s organization of Panva village, Patdi taluka of the district, seeking the top officialdom’s direct intervention to ensure that the Dalits get equal share of water supply. The Panva Mahila Adhikar Panch in its plea has alleged prevalence of untouchability practice against Dalit women in accessing water from the public well of the village.

Dalits of town near Ahmedabad protest against 5-yr delay in allocating housing plots set aside for them

Hundreds of safai karmacharis, mainly belonging to the Dalit Valmiki community, have protested against the failure of the Gujarat government to allocate them land for building houses in Viramgam, a town situated in the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, whose vicinity is likely to see major industrial activity in the near future. The local municipality gave a nod for two plots of land – Survey Nos 377 and 178-- measuring 21,954 square metres way back in 2010, so that they could build their own houses. But so far nothing has been done to allocate the land to the "neglected" families, many of whom are permanent members of municipality, while others are daily wagers.

Gujarat govt "solution" for workers suffering from deadly silicosis: Go in for alternative job sources

Will the Gujarat government implement its word to pay compensation of paltry Rs 1 lakh against those who died because of the deadly occupational disease silicosis starting with 2007? While the amount itself is very small, in a recent decision, it decided to pay up the relatives of those who died while working in agate stone-cutting factories, mainly in Khambhat, with effect from January 2014. “We have been assured that the matter will be sorted out”, said Jagdish Patel of the People’s Training and Research Centre (PTRC), which works among silicosis workers. “However, it must await ministerial nod”, he added.

Lack of transparency, accountability pulls Ahmedabad's ranking to No 10 in 21 Indian cities surveyed

A recent study, “Annual Survey of India’s City Systems (ASICS) 2014: Shaping India’s Urban Agenda”, has found that Ahmedabad ranks No 10th in a group of 21 selected cities selected for survey ascertaining quality of life survey across India. Claiming to an “objective evaluation of city-systems", taking into account  "complex, mostly invisible factors such as laws, policies, institutions, processes and accountability mechanisms that strongly influence quality of life in our cities”, the survey, carried out by a high-profile Bangalore-based NGO, Janaagraha, defines “quality of life” to mean “both quality of infrastructure and services, and quality of citizenship.” The only other city from Gujarat taken up for survey is Surat, which scores No 7 -- better than Ahmedabad.

Gujarat govt claims oustees "fully satisfied" with land acquired for Garudeshwar weir on Narmada

Villagers protest against weir The Gujarat government has claimed that villagers, whose land has been acquired for constructing the Garudeshwar weir across Narmada river, and 12 km from the Narmada dam site, were “fully satisfied” with the package offered to them decades ago. In said this in an affidavit filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in response to a petition filed by Gujarat-based environmental body Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), seeking stoppage of work at the weir, alleging the weir’s environmental and rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) clearances have not been taken, as required by law.

Gujarat’s progress? Poor enrollment, high dropout of girls in upper primary schools

Much against the huge claims of cent per cent enrollment, made year after year following Shala Praveshotsav and Kenya Kelavani programmes, usually carried out in early June, a new report, prepared under the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India, has suggested Gujarat’s poor showing in enrolling children in both primary and upper primary schools. Titled “Primary Education in India: Towards Universal Elementary Education (UEE)”, the report presents a plethora of “flash statistics” showing how different states have performed in ensuring implementation of the right to education (RTE) in the recent past. The report does not just suggest Gujarat’s poor showing in enrolling children it schools; it shows neglect of the girl child — school dropout among girls at the upper primary level is one of the highest in the country, it has found. The report shows that in 2013-14, the net enrollment rate at the primary level was 83 per cent, which means that 17 per cent chil...

Focus on recent efforts by vested interests to dilute India's pro-people laws

Review* of the book by Felix Padel, Ajay Dandekar and Jeemol Unni, Ecology Economy: Quest for a Socially Informed Connection (Orient Blackswan, Hyderabad, 2013, pp 340, Rs795) --- The book under review has gone a long way towards questioning the manner in which some of the key concepts such as development and under-development have been widely used, ever since the days of Herbert Spencer, Marx, Engels and others, right up to modern-day theorists from both the Left and the Right. Questioning the “uniform model” of set stages of development, from primitive communism to feudalism and capitalism used by these theorists, the authors point out that the rapid growth envisaged by these intellectuals has seen the culmination of a ‘New World Order’, leading to extreme forms of exploitation and inequality, and resulting in major issues related to environmental degradation and a steep rise in ‘ecological refugees’. Arguing against the type of neoliberal capitalism that is being posited by these th...

UN official criticizes "caste-based" rape, murder in India; Human Rights Watch wonders if Modi will act

Navi Pillay Addressing the UN Human Rights Council at Geneva, Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has sought to link the recent rape and murder of two teenage girls in Katra village of Uttar Pradesh with what she called sigma of “double assault of caste-based and gender-based discrimination”. Pillay told the conference, cosponsored by Human Rights Watch, that this stigma is further compounded by “discrimination based on their occupation and other socio-economic factors, including whether or not they are migrants.”

IAS babu's appointment in Prime Minister's Office reversed "under pressure" from top industry houses

A top source, known to have worked in close proximity with former Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi before Modi took over as India’s Prime Minister, has raised an alarm: The appointment of RN Choubey, a 1981 batch IAS officer, in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was “cancelled” overnight “under pressure" from industrial houses, including Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). While official reason being cited for this is, the Modi government doesn’t want the PMO to become “heavy top”, actually a similar situation prevailed in October 2013, when Choubey was eased out as director-general hydrocarbons (DGH) by the UPA government for "differing" with RIL.

Don't make much of power benefits from Narmada dam; nod for full height "fraught" with inter-state dispute

Suhas Paranjape In the years to come, will the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) on the Narmada river no more remain an inter-state project, as has been widely claimed? If so far Gujarat government officials have been saying this, of course off the record, now a senior water resources expert has suggested that this may well happen once two states – Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh – fully utilize their share of water.  Suhas Paranjape , who has long been associated with people’s movements on sustainable development, has told Counterview that the benefits of power – the factor which makes SSP inter-state – will not last forever, and the neghbouring states should better realize this.

Backward Regions Grant Fund: Gujarat ranks one of lowest in utilising Central funds

A just-released Planning Commission study , “Evaluation Study of Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF)”, prepared by the top Government of India body’s Programme Evaluation Organization, has found that Gujarat has ranked poorly in the utilization of grants made available under the BRGF programme from the Government of India between 2006-07 and 2010-11. The study has found that, during the period under study, Gujarat ranked No 22nd in utilization of allocation made towards BRGF, and No 17th in utilization of the released grants among 27 states which receive the grants. Explaining BRGF, the study says, it is “an area development intervention that is aimed at promoting decentralized planning and development through a yearly untied development and capacity building grants to 250 backward districts across 27 states.” Gujarat’s districts covered for availing BRGF from the Government of India are – Dang, Dahod, Panchmahal, Banaskantha, Narmada and Sabarkantha. As many as 2,907 village panchayat...

Gujarat "no urban model": Urban malnutrition levels are higher than rural areas, says govt document

In a major admission, the Gujarat government in a recent document has gone to suggest that, far from being an urban model, Gujarat’s urban areas are extremely poorly managed. Giving figures, the document admits, malnutrition levels in the state’s urban areas are higher than rural areas, even as adding, 50 per cent of urban areas lack basic infrastructure like water and sanitation.  The document says, in the urban areas, two per cent children are “severely malnourished” and 33 per cent are “moderately malnourished”, in the rural areas, 1.5 per cent are “severely malnourished” and 25.86 per cent are “moderately malnourished”.

Lurking suspicion: Greenpeace campaign against Adani "behind" IB indictment of top environmental NGO

Is there a direct relationship between the latest Intelligence Bureau (IB) report calling powerful environmental international NGO Greenpeace “ as threat to national economic security ” and the recent campaign by Greenpeace against Adani Group? It would seem so, if has a closer look at a new report titled “Research Briefing: Adani’s Record of Environmental Destruction and Non-compliance with Regulations”, which has been released alongside a fact sheet. Adanis are known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and there is already a view that the the IB’s effort was just move closer to the new masters (read  HERE ).

How to be newsy: Choosing wheat from the chaff

Culling out gist from a plethora of sources available to you is indeed quite tricky. While I cannot speak for others (frankly, I lack competence to do it), journalists are made to do it almost on a daily basis. In doing so, at initial stages, they often falter, as they lack conceptual clarity as to what should be considered news. Of course, there are textbook definitions, but they cannot in any way help one to identify news from the huge flow of information available around. Journalists, especially of my generation, have never been trained into a formal school of communication, hence to them to answer this question academically is even more difficult. They have just “picked up” the skill. I asked a senior editor, “How do you identify what should be headline today?”, and his answer was simple, “Well, Rajiv, it comes from within, frankly, it just comes…” Often, whatever new you find from the available information is identified as news. It’s especially very easy when a big event takes pla...

Narmada waters from dam meant for irrigating Gujarat's parched fields; producing power 'last priority'

  With the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), the powerful inter-state body working under the Government of India, having unanimously  decided  to raise the Narmada dam to the full reservoir level (FRL), 138.68 metres from 121.92 metres, a new apprehension is starting to grip the top Gujarat officialdom. Expressing the new fear, a senior official wondered, once the dam reaches its FRL, will the two neighbouring states, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, allow Gujarat to draw as much water as it wants for irrigation – at the expense of power being produced at the dam? Of would they raise objections, as they are more interested in power than irrigating Gujarat’s parched fields?

Senior journalist who broke fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh "sent" to Dhanbad in "punishment posting"

Gujarat’s one of the most well-known senior journalists, Prashant Dayal, who shot into prominence nationally after a case of  sedition  was instituted against him for a series of scathing stories on then police commissioner OP Mathur in the Times of India in 2008, has been asked leave his chief reporter’s job and instead go to Dhanbad, Jharkhand, by his new bosses of the Bhaskar group. Reason? Says Dayal, “I refused to sign-up a letter forwarded to me by the management, which said I will not accept the Justice Majithia wage board award. It is a punishment posting, which I will not accept.”

Delay expected in eco-clearance of 3,500 Gujarat cases as Modi's Man Friday joins Prime Minister's Office

PK Misra With Dr PK Misra, who was principal secretary to chief minister Narendra Modi during the 2002 riots, having  left  to Delhi as Prime Minister Modi’s additional principal secretary, Gujarat’s “industry-friendly” babus and small entrepreneurs are keeping their fingers crossed: What will happen to a whopping nearly 3,500 applications, said to be pending before the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which he had just come to chair after the post remained vacant for nearly a year?

Gujarat's consumer expenditure "not commensurate" with the state's growth rate: Official document

  Latest information from a well-placed Gujarat official source has revealed that Gujarat’s private consumer expenditure is not commensurate with the overall growth the state has been experiencing. Suggesting dormant capacity of private consumers as compared to many other states, the data – as found reflected in a top document yet to be made public – suggest that in 2011-12 Gujarat’s gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices was 611,767 crore, but the private consumer expenditure formed Rs 287,661 crore, or just about 47 per cent of the GSDP. If the data are any indication, this was the lowest percentage spent by an individual state in proportion to its GSDP.

A Gujarat ‘model’ in budget making

New finance minister Arun Jaitley Will the Government of India’s new policy framework for budget adopt the “model” worked out by the Gujarat government under Narendra Modi, in which the richer states should walk away with a much higher cake of the Central funds as compared to the poorer states? It would seem so, if one takes a closer look at one of the most crucial documents prepared by the Gujarat government late last year, but not made public because of reasons best known to the officialdom. Submitted to the Centre-appointed 14th Finance Commission, the document crucially calls for “an urgent need to include” a formula in devolution of Central funds which would “incentivize economic efficiency.”

Gujarat govt "not implementing" National Green Tribunal orders on clean environment, alleges eco-group

Paryavaran Mitra, Gujarat’s environmental groups, has taken strong exception to the refusal of the Gujarat government to comply by orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in cases fought with its active support. Prepared by Gujarat Social Watch, operating under the auspices of Paryavaran Mitra, its latest study, “Assessment of working of National Green Tribunal (NGT): With special reference to cases from Gujarat and western region bench of Pune”, has cited two such cases where the state officialdom has shown particular inertia.

Eight per cent of all right to information complaints in Gujarat relate to caste-based discrimination

“Akkha gamna kaam thaay pan amara falia na koi kaam thata nathi”, Chitharbhai from one of the coastal villages in Gujarat complained over phone, pointing out that the authorities in the village, to which he belongs, have been discriminating against the Dalit colony while taking up public works. Bringing this to light, senior right to information activist, Pankti Jog has said, “This is one of the most common Dalit complaints I have received on my right to information (RTI) helpline, 9924085000.”

Industry-friendly Gujarat government is "not quite keen" on having a green tribunal bench in Ahmedabad

Hardik Shah The Gujarat government is in no mood to accept the strong suggestion put forward by a well-attended seminar of senior environmentalists, environmental lawyers, experts and activists for a separate bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Ahmedabad. Called by Gujarat’s premier environmental body, Paryavaran Mitra, the suggestion was put forward by Mahesh Pandya, its director, in the presence of a senior environmental official of the state government, Hardik Shah. “The pollution level of Gujarat industries is very high, one of the highest in India, hence there is reason enough to have an NGT bench in Ahmedabad”, Pandya insisted.

Ninety Dalit families face discrimination in access to drinking water: Letter to Gujarat CM

With summer at its height, and increasing number of villages facing water shortage in Gujarat, facts have come to light which suggest that backward communities, particularly the Dalits, have once again begun to face the brunt of the shortage. In a letter written to Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, Kirit Rathod, programme director, Navsarjan Trust, a Dalit rights NGO, operating from Ahmedabad, has said that in village Samosar, tuluka Muli, district Surendranagar, 90 families of the Dalit community “face extreme discrimination” at the hands of dominant caste persons, controlling village local body, in the distribution of drinking water.

Terms of reference of Modi govt's SIT on black money has "ignored" crucial directions by Supreme Court

MB Shah, head of SIT By Our Representative Terms of reference (ToR) for the new special investigation team (SIT) on black money, set by the Narendra Modi government, is learnt to have missed two crucial directions given by the Supreme Court in July 2011. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), in a statement, has said that on page 66 of its judgement, the apex court had ordered that the SIT “must take over the investigation of individuals with bank accounts in Liechtenstein, as disclosed by Germany to India and expeditiously conduct the same”. At the same time, it had added, "The SIT should review concluded matters to assess whether investigations have been thoroughly and properly conducted, if they conclude is there a scope for further investigation”.

Top IIM-A professor opposes plea to privatize govt banks, meant to bring them off right to information purview

TT Mohan Ram Close on the heels of a high-level Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee wanting the public sector banks (PSBs) to be removed from under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act by privatizing them, a top professor of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) TT Mohan Ram has  opposed  the view that the state should distance itself from banking boards in order to privatize banks, which would bring them out of the RTI. According to Prof Ram, the “solution” found by the RBI committee, headed by PJ Nayak, ex-CEO Axis Bank, is, the government should “let its stakes in PSBs fall below 50 per cent” by allowing “government shareholding” to be “transferred to a Bank Investment Company (BIC)”, which is unacceptable.