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Take away gram sabha rights in diverting forest land for projects: High level committee

Over and above seeking to solicit  "utmost complete faith"  in the corporate sector in providing environmental clearance, the Report of the High Level Committee on Forest and Environment Related Laws, formed by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), has asked the Government of India to scale down the role of the gram sabhas in diverting forest land. Released last week, the report, whose  copy  is with Counterview, says that the “provisions of forest rights Act (FRA), which make it mandatory to seek the approval of gram sabha, should be amended.”

Gujarat's lag in higher education is intact, suggest data in new report sponsored by Centre, top industry body

  A fresh report on the status of higher education in India has suggested that, despite a sharp increase in the number of universities and colleges in the recent past, the Gujarat government continues to perform poorly as compared to many other states in ensuring quality education to college-going children. Titled “Annual Status of Higher Education of States and Union Territories in India, 2014”, and sponsored jointly by the Union ministry of human resources and the top industry body, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the report finds that Gujarat government’s per capita spending on higher education (Rs 2,958) is less than nine major Indian states out of 20.

Environmental clearance? Rely on corporate houses' utmost good faith, Govt of India told

In an important move, the high-powered committee, headed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, appointed by the Government of India in order to “review” current environmental laws, has sought to recommend that only those protected areas and forests which have more than 70 per cent canopy would not be disturbed for setting up a project. Taking strong exception to this, environmental activists in a note under circulation say, this is “a problem”, as it means the committee has “excluded wildlife corridors, non-forest habitat types of conservation significance, wetlands, coastal areas and buffer zones.”

Citing CAG, budget analyst says, Gujarat govt figures on dropout, enrollment in primary schools are "false"

Contradicting Gujarat government claims – as reflected in a Government of India book, “Elementary Education in India”, of June 2014 – that dropout rate of lower primary schools went down from 2.99 per cent in 2010-11 to 0.74 per cent in 2012-13, latest report of India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) suggests that the dropout rate was, actually, 19.48 per cent in 2013. CAG confines itself to analysing enrollment in government schools over the years, even as surveying as many as 300 schools to identify infrastructure reasons behind poor enrollment.

CRY survey: Implementation of right to education in Gujarat is "still elusive", reality is "grimmer"

A just-finalized survey sponsored by high-profile NGO Child Rights and You (CRY), in alliance with Buniyadi Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (BAAG), carried out in 243 schools of 17 districts, has found that assertions made by the state government about cent per cent success in implementing right to education (RTE) are false. CRY has said in a report based on the survey, “An analysis reveals that implementation of RTE in Gujarat is still elusive, and in many parameters government’s claim of 100 per cent achievement is debatable… Findings are indicative that reality may be grimmer.”

Yale University scholars 'warn' Congress: There has been 0.8% rise in BJP vote share following every riot

In what may prove to a stern warning to those in the Congress party who have come to believe following the recent debacle in the Lok Sabha polls that stressing too much fighting against communal violence may erode their majority Hindu voter base, a recent Yale University  research  of Indian electoral data, titled “Do parties matter for ethnic violence? Evidence from India”, has reached the drastic conclusion that rise in religious violence in India is a sure sign of the country’s shift away from democracy. Authored by Gareth Nellis, Michael Weaver and Steven Rosenzweig, the scholars base their analysis of assembly election outcomes spread over several decades in 16 major Indian states.

Gujarat slips in rural infant mortality rate, unlikely to achieve millennium development goal by 2015

  Fresh data of the Sample Registration System (SRS), which works under the Census of India, have suggested that Gujarat’s rural areas have failed to improve, and in fact gone down by one point, in its ranking, in the fight against high infant mortality rate (IMR) vis-a-vis other states in the last one decade. According to the latest SRS Bulletin, which was prepared in September 2014 and is based on the data collected in 2013, Gujarat ranked No 12th in a group of 20 major states in rural IMR. What is particularly shocking is that, at 43 IMR per 1000, such so-called backward states like Bihar (42 per 1000) and Jharkhand (38 per 1000) do better than Gujarat.

Gujarat budget mismatch: While tax revenues suggest rise, spending on people's welfare decelerates

% of actuals to budget estimates Facts made available from Gujarat’s finance department show deceleration in spending during the first six months of the current financial year, between April and September 2014. A financial statement, accessed by Counterview, suggests that, while there had been acceleration in revenue collection, this has failed to improve the ability to spend on different projects floated by the Gujarat government for people’s “welfare”. Characterized as “unaudited” accounts, the figures show that, though the tax revenue of the Gujarat government rose from 45.7 per cent of the budget estimates during April-September 2013 to 47 per cent in April-September 2014, this did not impact the ability to raise spending.

Gujarat health sector: A lurking rural-urban gap

  Latest data of the Sample Registration System (SRS), operating under the Census of India, suggest that Gujarat suffers from a huge rural-urban divide in infant mortality rate (IMR) rate compared to most other Indian states. Statistics offered by the SRS Bulletin, finalized in September 2014, show that Gujarat’s rural IMR is 43 per 1000, as against the urban IMR of 22 per 1000, suggesting a whopping gap of 21, higher than 20 major Indian states, with the exception of Assam.

Poor rural IMR is reason behind Gujarat’s failure to achieve UN goal

Latest data of the Sample Registration System (SRS), operating under the Census of India, suggest that Gujarat suffers from a huge rural-urban divide in infant mortality rate (IMR) rate compared to most other Indian states. Statistics offered by the SRS Bulletin, finalized in September 2014, show that Gujarat’s rural IMR is 43 per 1000, as against the urban IMR of 22 per 1000, suggesting a whopping gap of 21, higher than 20 major Indian states, with the exception of Assam. Interestingly, the gap remains high despite the fact that well-known experts have been pointing towards poor state of rural infrastructure in Gujarat for the last several years. Apparently, their voice is not being heard. The CEPT University’s Prof Darshini Mahadevia, pointed towards this in 2007, when she wrote that the main problem with Gujarat’s IMR was a very high rural IMR compared to urban IMR. “Other states have shown far better improvement in rural healthcare than Gujarat. This neglect of rural health and t...

Godse is national hero who must be taught in schools: USA's NRI-sponsored Global Hindu Foundation

Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, is a “national hero” who “fought for independence from the British”, but his reputation was “tarnished” by previous governments. He should “figure prominently” among the list of national heroes to be taught in all government schools. So urges a letter, dated November 15, 2014, addressed to Union human resources development minister Smruti Irani. Posted on  savetemples.org , website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”, it has been described as a ‘project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) USA’. The mission, interestingly, operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

'Unsustainable' development: Gujarat's Flamingo City is grievously threatened, says UK conservation affiliate

Lesser flamingos: Near threatened  The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), an affiliate of the UK-based BirdLife International – a global conservation organization – has identified the Flamingo City in Kutch district of Gujarat as one of the ten important bird areas (IBAs) in India, which are in danger because of “unsustainable developmental policies” and “rising insensitivity towards nature.” Topping the list of ten, the BNHS believes that the situation is particularly precarious for the Flamingo City, because it is “a potential  Ramsar site .”

India blocking international Dalit body's UN consultative status, says UN official

A senior UN official has taken strong exception to India “arbitrarily blocking” high-profile NGO operating from Copenhagen, International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), from obtaining UN consultative status. Calling Indian move “clearly unacceptable, wrong and unfair”, UN Special Rapporteur on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Maina Kiai has said, reprisals were an area of the gravest concern and some states were repeatedly targeting organizations, “thus obstructing legitimate civil society participation.”

Swachh Gujarat? Manual scavenging continues admist CAG indictment, loud govt claims to the contrary

  These photographs were taken by the Ahmedabad-based Dalit rights NGO Navsarjan Trust's senior activist, Natubhai Parmar, on November 13, two days after India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report  slammed  the Gujarat government for the failure of its “Swachh Gujarat” (Clean Gujarat) campaign and existence of “several cases” of manual scavenging, banned in the country.  The snaps were taken in three towns, Surendranagar, Wadhwan and Sayala of Gujarat, and a grim reminder that there is no impact of the Swachh Bharat campaign in Gujarat and manual scavenging continues unabated, despite official denials. CAG had also  regretted  that though the Gujarat government was asked to take "appropriate and swift action" to verify "each and every case" of manual scavenging, CAG did not provide a satisfactory answer to Government of India.

Sardar Sarovar dam, industrial effluents in South Gujarat "adversely affecting" fish catch in Narmada estuary

Fisherfolk near the Narmada estuary Is the anti-dam sentiment downstream area of the Narmada river finally beginning to raise its head in Gujarat? This is the impression gained by senior activists of Delhi-based NGO, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), and Ahmedabad-based NGO Paryavaran Mitra, who visited areas next to the Narmada estuary. An analysis  by Amruta Pradhan of SANDRP, based on the visit, suggests that fisherfolk particularly are clearly feeling the pinch of the obstructions in the Narmada river, especially by the dam, which is situated about 126 km on the upstream.

Gujarat govt blames self for poor GSDP growth, says data wing didn't capture Rs 19,792 crore industrial growth

Rattled by a relatively poor Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP)  growth rate  in recent years, two senior Gujarat government officials, ably assisted by an Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) expert, ironically, have put – to quote them --“big question marks on the credibility of the state income estimation and hence on the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) in the state”. They say this in their recent paper, “Measurement Issues in State Income from Registered Manufacturing Sector – Case of Gujarat”, published by IIM-A.

IIM-A's Ahmedabad slum study tells US policy makes: Slum networking failed, no need to offer support

A top Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) study by three experts -- Sharon Barnhardt, Erica Field and Rohini Pande with the IIM-A, Duke University, and Harvard University, respectively – has said that a slum networking project to relocate slum dwellers, begun in 1987 and implemented six years later in Ahmedabad, was a total flop. The study, based on spot surveys, particularly notices “lack of socioeconomic improvement among” among those who agreed to be relocated. Even after the relocation, it adds, the relocated persons experienced a “high exit rate”. It concludes, “The long-run economic value of this fairly expensive public programme was close to zero.”

Compulsory voting law in Gujarat: Modi "abstained" from House when law was introduced in Dec 2009

OP Kohli Gujarat governor OP Kohli’s recent decision to  legitimise  the controversial law, passed in the state assembly twice in the past, to make voting to local governing bodies compulsory, has come following five-year-long apprehensions in Gujarat that those who do cast their vote without “valid” reasons would face punitive, perhaps criminal, action. Called Gujarat Local Authorities Law (Amendment) Act, the law was first passed in the Gujarat state assembly on December 19, 2009. Interestingly, when the law was voted in the assembly, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House. He, instead, opted to "watch" the proceedings sitting in the chief minister’s chamber of the state assembly.

Australian environmental survey claims 69% Indians oppose Adanis' imported coal-fired power project

A survey conducted by AZ Research for Australian environmental group Market Forces a less than a week ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to visit Australia to attend the G-20 summit has claimed that 69 per cent of Indians, and 87 per cent of Gujaratis, oppose imported coal from Australian mines for Adani's power plant. Sponsored by Australian environmental group Market Forces, the survey has been carried out as part of the environmental campaign in Australia over importing coal from proposed mines in the Aussie province of Queensland’s Galilee Basin, contracted to the Adani Group.

Bypassing funds crunch: Top Ahmedabad NGO to go all-India with its new business model for social cause

Gagan Sethi, Madhava Menon, Rajendra Joshi In an apparent move to bypass foreign funding dilemma, a top Ahmedabad-based NGO, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), working in the arena of social justice lawyering, has decided to go all-India with its Nyayika experiment, operating as a non-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. The Act allows setting up private limited companies to “promote” commerce, art, science, charity or any other “useful” activities on a no-profit-no-loss basis. Currently, Nyayika operates from eight centres in Gujarat -- Ahwa, Modasa, Mandvi, Bharuch, Palanpur, Amreli, Vadodara and Ahmedabad – providing affordable legal services to vulnerable sections.

Right to education? Gujarat government "decides" to discontinue tent schools in Little Rann of Kutch

The Gujarat government is learnt to have decided to wind up 29 schools, operating in tents in the wide expanse of the Little Rann of Kutch, envisaged way back in late 1990s and operating over the last 14 years in order to facilitate children of the saltpan workers to study. Director, primary education, RC Rawal, according to well-informed sources, has told the district primary education officers (DPEOs) of five districts which surround the Rann – Kutch, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Patan and Banaskantha – that in 2014-15 “no funds have been allocated for the tent schools, hence these cannot be supported anymore.”

Gujarat’s lag in household power consumption

The Gujarat government has long claimed that one of the major reasons for the state’s economic progress has been its “excellent” power sector performance. The state’s policy makers have argued, on the basis of Government of India data, that Gujarat’s power consumption, in per capita terms, is one of the highest in India. Gujarat’s new chief secretary D Jagatheesa Pandian, for instance, said in an interview in 2013, quoting Central Electricity Commission figures, when he headed the state energy department, that the per capita consumption of electricity in Gujarat in 2012 was around 1,516 units as against the national average of 879 units. He insisted, “This figure indicates the progress and growth happening in the state. In Gujarat, state utilities are providing an uninterrupted supply of electricity, quality and reliable power to all consumers.” While this may be showcased to prove that Gujarat is at the top in the power sector, it does not tell the full story. No doubt, the official...

NSSO report suggests Gujarat's lag in household power consumption vis-a-vis several other Indian states

Fresh figures released by India's powerful National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), based on its 68th round of survey, have exposed the loud Gujarat government claims of  highest electricity per capita consumption in Gujarat compared to any other major Indian state. Released recently in “Household Consumption of Various Goods and Services in India, 2011-12”, the survey-based report suggests the electricity consumption in Gujarat’s household is lower than nine states both in urban and rural areas out of 20 major Indian states.

Indo-Bangla coal-fired power project "threatens" world's largest contiguous mangrove forest, Sundarban

Protests have broken out in Bangladesh against a joint India-Bangladesh power project at Rampal, situated in the immediate north of the world’s Sundarban mangrove forests, declared world heritage site by UNESCO. The world's largest contiguous mangrove ecosystem stretching over 10,200 sq km across India and Bangladesh, Sundarban’s 4,263 sq km of reserve forest is in India and 5,937 sq km is in Bangladesh. Proposed as 1320 MW coal-fired power station at Rampal of Bagerhat district in Khulna, Bangladesh, the project is a joint partnership between India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Concentration of large holdings in fewer hands marginalizing Gujarat farmers

Average large land holdings in selected states (hectares) A recent Government of India report, giving complete details of the state of agriculture in India, has suggested that while Gujarat may have seen around 9 plus per cent of agricultural growth in the last decade, this has happened alongside a simultaneous marginalization of the state’s farming community. The data put out in “Agriculture Census 2010-11”, finalized this year, have found that large farmers, who form just one per cent of the total farmers in Gujarat, each with an average holding of 20.91 hectares (ha), own 10.30 per cent of the total operational holdings in the state. By sharp contrast, marginal farmers, forming 37.16 per cent of the total farmers – and each with an average holding of 0.49 ha– own 7.7 per cent of the total operational holdings. What is equally disturbing in that, while there was a sharp rise in the number of marginal farmers in Gujarat from 15.85 lakh to 18.16 lakh between 2005-6 and 2010-11, sugges...

Communal clash in South Gujarat village: Silent on VHP "involement", state PUCL blames cow slaughter

Main road leading to the village A statement by the Gujarat branch of India’s premier human rights body, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has blamed cow slaughter for communal clashes on the Bakr Eid day, October 7, at Dabhel village of Jalalpur taluka of Navsari district in South Gujarat.  The PUCL said, “crux of the findings by the inquiry committee after its investigation” under its team found -- “during its visit to the spot of incident, that is Dabhel village, talks by the team members, interaction with the two youths who sustained injuries during the clashes, as also four police personnel” -- that “an incident had taken place of butchering a cow in the village before the clashes began in Dabhel village.”

Central Gujarat Dalits targeted for demanding water; houses vandalised, pregnant women not spared

  In a gruesome incident, a mob consisting of dominant caste persons of a Central Gujarat village, Malavada, attacked the Dalit locality over the demand for supply to water, beating up several individuals, not sparing pregnant women, old persons and children, and vandalizing all the 60 households by forcibly entering in each of them. According to social activists visiting the village, the mob, led by the sarpanch (village head) and her family, belonging to the OBC Thakore community, attacked the Dalit locality which was protesting against “refused” to provide regular water supply to the locality.

A clear case of discrimination? One third of Gujarat's convicts are Dalits, which is highest in India

  In a shocking revelation, just-released Government of India statistics suggest that 32.9 per cent of all convicts and 23.4 per cent of all undertrials in Gujarat’s prisons are Dalits. What makes the situation particularly precarious for the state, being projected as “model” for the whole country to follow, is that Dalits in Gujarat form just about 6.7 per cent (2011 Census) of the total population of the state – lower than any other major state of the country.

Why is Modi silent on a new investigation of 1984 anti-Sikh genocide, asks US foreign affairs professional

A prominent Indian American foreign policy expert, who has been professional staff member for South Asian Policy, US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, has wondered why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi “holding back accountability” for the anti-Sikh genocide of 1984. One who personally suffered during the holocaust as a small child, Jasmeet K Ahuja suggests Modi’s “silence” is already being interpreted as his "strategic necessity": “After all, his demanding a new investigation of 1984 would only embolden Congress Party officials to do the same for the 2002 pogroms in Gujarat. It would be the pot calling the kettle black”, she underlines.