NDA's 100 day "record": 4,600 farmers' suicides, 69,000 attempted suicides, claims NAPM, plans rally

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.
“Now the BJP is talking of bringing an ordinance”, the NAPM says, adding, “Let there be no confusion, people's movements are not going to sit silently and watch these changes take place. People of this country will teach the political class a lesson, as they have done in past. If Modi is too keen to fulfill the agenda of Ambani and Adani then what about the agenda of the people, who have voted them?”
A statement issued by NAPM claims, “Agricultural crisis is writ large and in 100 days of the NDA government; 4,600 farmers committed suicide and another 46,000 to 69,000 attempted. In the same time nearly two lakh ceased to be farmers. Has the Prime Minister provided or created those many jobs? We know the answer! India is not shining and there is no achchhe din for aam aadmi!”
“Arun Jaitely cited principle of 'eminent domain' but as a lawyer he also must be aware of other provisions of the Indian Constitution which guarantees people right to object and dissent, or else the Supreme Court could have declared the 2013 Act ultra vires”, the statement says.
The statement regrets, “A cacophony of voices, from corporate houses, leaders of political parties to ministers in the NDA government are demanding and announcing amendments to the Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013, even before it has been fully implemented.”
It underlines, “The Act was enacted after going through several rounds of consultations with all stake-holders and debated by two Parliamentary Standing Committees headed by senior BJP leaders, Kalyan Singh (2007) and Smt Sumitra Mahajan (2009). It was done in the background of the violent clashes in Nandigram, Singur, Kalinganagar, Bhatta Parsaul and many other places across the country, lest it be forgotten. “
The NAPM says, “The proposed changes in the Act, to remove the consent clause and Social Impact Assessment for land acquisition, will take away two key provisions of the law. Without these, the law will be a replica of the colonial land acquisition Act, 1894, now repealed. The law will look like the proposed Rajasthan Land Acquisition Bill, 2014, now with a select committee of Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha. A draconian bill, it makes any dissent a criminal offence.”
“Farmers and project affected families by Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada valley or in Chhindwara have already declared themselves as the rightful owner of their land, acquired but not used or taken possession or having not accepted compensation, as per the clause 24 of the Act. Many other are following suit in different parts of the country”, the statement points out.
It further says, “Similarly, the NDA government is proposing changes to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) into a policy, make changes to Forest Rights Act, 2006, amend National Food Security Act, and bring significant changes to labour laws, in a bid to boost their campaign 'Make in India'. This is not acceptable to us and we will challenge it. These laws have been framed after years of struggle by people's movements.”
The decision to hold the rally was taken following a discussion involving several people’s organization, prominent among them being the NAPM, the Pension Parishad, the Right To Food Campaign, and the Rashtriya Mazdoor Rozgar Morcha. Among those who have signed the statement include Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), NAPM representatives from different states, including Gujarat’s Anand Mazgaonkar and Krishnakant of the Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, Vadodara.

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World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

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