By Gagan Sethi*  The power of television reaching rural Gujarat was envisioned way back in late 1970s and early 1980s. At the Behavioural Science Centre (BSC) in Ahmedabad, I was involved in bringing about awareness on issues of discrimination and untouchabilty with the help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Pij village of Kheda district. This project came to be identified as ISRO-Pij experiment. BSC and ISRO seemed strange bedfellows to me, but there I was, working with ISRO. A dynamic producer K Vishwanath, a leftist at heart, wanted us to get real life stories, which would be enacted and shown across the Kheda district. For organisations aiming at social change using Paulo Friere’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” as a frame, this seemed to be a dream come true. Several stories were collected from the field, and professional writers like Chinu Modi and a few theatre actors were roped in. But the result was half-baked version of urban actors mouthing rural dialogues. Not qui

By Our Representative Following one of the biggest demolition drives in Gujarat's cultural capital, Vadodara (click HERE to read), some of the displaced slumdwellers of Kalyannagar were moved to a rehabilitation colony in Maneja, about 10 kilometres away, in the outskirts of the city. Ashok Gupta, a concerned Vadodara citizen, was in Maneja on November 28, nearly a week after the demolition drive, and this is what he wrote in a Facebook post: "Displaced from Kalyannagar to Maneja, where they are without electricity, water, food... Their only fault is that they are poor and there is no media, no leader to support them. Citizens of Vadodara give them food, medicines, came to teach their kids. They live in subhuman conditions with uncertain future."

By Our Representative Representatives of the Sardar Sarovar dam affected from three states – Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra – thronged the streets of Indore in Madhya Pradesh as part of their six-days yatra to “challenge” the “unlawful” decision of the BJP-led government in Delhi to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam by 17 meters. Saying that the Government of India decision “would lead to a watery grave of 45,000 families”, the anti-dam organisation Narmada Bachao Andolan's (NBA's) statement said, adding, “The oustees questioned the false claims of rehabilitation.”

By Our Representative 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.”

By Our Representative Is the Government of India reconsidering its plans for interlinking of rivers? A top non-profit organization – quoting Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharti – has said that this may well happen, in case the senior minister sticks to what she said on the last day of the India Rivers Week 2014, November 27. “Government will not proceed with interlinking of rivers if environmental consequences are adverse”, Bharti was quoted as saying. “if we want to save our rivers, the first step is to ensure that no untreated effluent or sewage is mixed with treated water and finds its way into our rivers.”

By Our Representative With the Indian economy officially slowing down to 5.3 percent (though experts calculated it earlier at 5.1 percent) during July-September 2014, from 5.7 per cent in the previous quarter, and credit growth hitting a 13-month low in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise to oversee a revival when he swept to power in May is beginning to be questioned. One of the most influential American dailies, "The Wall Street Journal" has said , with India’s economic growth decelerating, doubts have surfaced "about how quickly the country’s new government can deliver on pledges to end a nearly three-year slump and transform the world’s second-most-populous nation into a manufacturing powerhouse."

By Our Representative Australian prime minster Tony Abbott is under attack for “following” Prime Minister Narendra Modi – and for strange reasons. He has been accused of springing a surprise by “buying Facebook likes in India”, like Modi has been doing. SmartCompany , which calls itself a “completely free news, information and resource site for Australia's entrepreneurs”, with contributors including Australia's top entrepreneurs, experts and advisers, has reported that a surge in "likes"on Abbott's Facebook page driven by new fans living in India has “prompted social media users to question his newfound popularity.”

By Our Representative 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 says, 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.”

Vadodara demolition drive: Wither in situ resettlement? By Our Representative In one of the most aggressive demotion drives undertaken in the recent past in the name of riverfront development, more than 2,000 houses of slum-dwellers, who were living in Kalyan Nagar area of Vadodara for nearly four decades, have been razed to the ground. According to local people, whose houses were demolished, they were not served individual notices ahead of the demolition. A senior activist from Ahmedabad, who had gone to Vadodara for spot inspection, told Counterview that the only “notice” that was served to them was through a newspaper several weeks ago. Ironically, Vadodara is known as the cultural capital of Gujarat.

By Rajiv Shah 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.

CAG figures quoted by Jethmalani By Our Representative 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.

By Our Representative 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.”

Protesters against bypass being detained in March 2014 By Our Representative Four years after farmers’ prolonged protests broke out against efforts to divert 177 hectares (ha) of land for the construction of 20-km six-lane national highway as bypass to Junagadh city of Saurashtra in Gujarat, a fact-finding team of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has alleged political conspiracy being hatched while going ahead with efforts to take away parts of farmers’ fertile agricultural for the project. Talking with newspersons, PUCL general secretary Gautam Thakar said, “We found that these politicians, mainly from the BJP, and supported by the UPA government in Delhi, did not want their land to be acquired for the previously planned bypass, which was to be just seven-km long.”

By Our Representative In a surprise move, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left Australia, November 18, the country’s oldest and well-reputed daily, “The Sydney Morning Herald”, decided to analyse what it has called “the dark shadows behind the power of Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping”. In a commentary citing protests which rocked Australian streets in the wake of their visit for G-20 summit, Matt Wade and John Garnaut write in the daily, “The adulation afforded to Modi in Australia reflects a stunning turnaround”, adding, “In 2002, when Mr Modi was chief minister of India's Gujarat state, deadly riots cast a dark shadow over his reputation.”

By Our Representative 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.

By Rajiv Shah 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.

  % of actuals to budget estimates By Our Representative 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.

By Gagan Sethi*  One of the early laws on rural livelihood, based on land and labour, was regarding schedule caste cooperatives being given priority over all others in the allocation of government wasteland. Today, a similar status and privilege is accorded to the likes of Adanis and Ambanis. Under the present scheme of things, they “need” land more than the rural landless in the name of ambitious projects. It was 1978. It took us a year to get 90 acres of saline land on yearly lease off the Gulf of Khambhat. It was jointly given to 60 Dalit Vankar families, who registered themselves as cooperative in a village called Vadgam. Since no food crop would grow there, we saw the possibility of growing prosopis juliflora, better known in Gujarat as gando baval – or mad babool. It was a livelihood generation project, in which the gando baval wood was to be used to make charcoal. It was a challenge to manage it professionally. It was one hour walk to the site of the project through a marshy zon

By Rajiv Shah 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.

By Rajiv Shah  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 rur

By Our Representative 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.

Lesser flamingos: Near threatened  Counterview Desk 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 .”

By Our Representative A fresh incident of attack on those campaigning against stone quarries in Rajasthan has come to light. The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has said, on November 14, Shankarlal Mina, one of the most active workers in the struggle against stone quarry mafias, and is from village Toda, Neem Ka Thana tehsil, Rajasthan, was “brutally attacked in village market in broad day light”. It added, the attack, in which Mina’s hand and leg were fractured, was by "stone quarry mafia and goondas allegedly owing allegiance to former MLA Ramesh Khandelwal, who lost appeal at the National Green Tribunal (NGT)." NGT, Bhopal bench, in September put a stay on all mining activities and illegal stone crushing in Neema Ka Thana and Sikar district.

By Our Representative The American Justice Center (AJC), the New York-based organization which moved an American court against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the US for his “complicity” in Gujarat communal riots, has now "announced" that it has filed of a “criminal complaint” in Australia against visiting Modi for his role in “aiding, abetting and inciting” organized attacks against the minorities of Gujarat before and during the “horrific genocide” of 2002. “The lawsuit is being brought under the aegis of AJC, by Asif Vahora, a survivor of the 2002 massacres, in which over 2,000 people were killed and over 150,000 displaced”, a AJC statement said.

By Our Representative In an unusual development, 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.”

By Our Representative 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.

Fisherfolk near the Narmada estuary By Our Representative 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 interview-based 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.

By Rajiv Shah 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.

Counterview Desk 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.”

By Our Representative Justice PB Sawant, former Supreme Court judge, under whom an apex court bench upheld secularism as one of the pillars of the Indian Constitution, has expressed apprehensions over “attempts at the conversion of India into a theocratic state where Hindus enjoy superior rights." Pointing out the move would be “resisted and challenged”, talking to prominent human rights activist Teesta Setalvad for “Communalism Combat” and Hille Le tv, Sawant, who was also chairperson the Press Council of India, added, “Religious texts of every faith display guidelines to ethical behaviour that can inspire societies and lawmakers.” To watch the interview click HERE

OP Kohli By Our Representative 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.

Gagan Sethi, Madhava Menon and Rajendra Joshi By Our Representative 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.

D Jagatheesa Pandian By Rajiv Shah 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

A public event in Delhi, National Meet on Social Lawyering — organized by the Centre for Social Justice and Lawyers for Change — saw release the book , “Nyayika – Making Professional Legal Services Accessible” , which deals with how Nyayika carried out its unique experiment over the last one year of its existence as a private non-profit company. Prof Madhava Menon, chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Central University, Chhattisgarh, who released the book, said the Nayika model of community lawyering offering affordable legal services with sensitivity to the poor and the vulnerable should focus more on people and communities rather than courts. He added, there was a need to move away from court-centric lawyering towards a process of bringing justice to the people by using administrative and other mechanisms outside the courts to enable people to claim their rights and entitlements, and live with dignity. Among those who took part in the event included founding directors of Nyayika Rajendra Josh

Click on the image to watch spot interviews in Gujarat By Our Representative 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-fired power plant project being imported by Modi’s closest industrial group, Adanis. 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.

By Gagan Sethi*  It’s been 37 years since I started out as a raw hand with a master’s degree in social work from MS University of Baroda. I had refused a job with a four-figure salary. I joined an organisation, then euphemistically called a ‘voluntary organisation’; there were a few of them which prided in being professional and in the business of social change. Many others were all about charity fostering dependencies. Today we are called NGOs (non-government organisations), a word which describes itself as what it is not — a term coined by World Bank which, in a sense, charts the 37 years of change from social work being a vocation to a profession to a job opportunity! In 1977, I remember supervising food for work, that is, wheat bulgur given in lieu of work to the poor. The work involved either building community assets or remodeling their own fields for paddy so that the incomes of the dalit households could be increased. This was to also provide food security to the poor, especial

By Our Representative 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.”

By Rajiv Shah*  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 dou

By Our Representative 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.

By Our Representative The National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), apex body of several people’s bodies across India, has decided to converge in New Delhi on December 2, 2014 to oppose Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s proposed changes in the land acquisition Act, passed last year in Parliament when the UPA-2 government was in power. Calling the decision to change the Act “unacceptable”, the rally will also oppose proposed changes to social, environmental and labour laws. The NAPM believes the rally is particularly important because the BJP’s victory in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls has only boosted the party’s confidence.

Based on NSSO's household survey By Our Representative 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 the 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.

Child labour in stone quarries By Our Representative Three women and a girl child were wounded in during “illegal blast” in the stone quarries in Bharala (Jeer ki chowki), Neem Ka Thana, Rajasthan, said a statement issued by the National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) quoting sources from people's organisations in the state. The incident, it said, happened because of the “violation of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order” not to continue with stone quarrying in the area, even as "exposing" the existing “nexus between mafias, police and politicians.” The incident happened at 3.00 pm in the afternoon “without any warning when the three had gone to the jungle to collect firewood”, the NAPM added.

Main road leading to the village By Our Representative 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.”

Average large land holdings in selected states (hectares) By Rajiv Shah  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