Stone quarries in Rajasthan: Three women and a girl child injured because of illegal blast, banned by NGT

Child labour in stone quarries

By A 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.
Quoting the order of the NGT, Bhopal bench, which heard a detailed case against such illegal mining and came to the conclusion that all mining activities in Neem Ka Thana as well as in Sikar district must be stopped after September 23, the NAMP said, “The NGT had also ordered the Rajasthan government should conduct state-wide survey and seize all the illegal stone crushers in Rajasthan. However, despite the order, the nexus between mafias, police and politicians is putting villager’s lives into great danger.”
The NAPM said, it needs to be noted that the NGT judgment also pointed towards the fact that there could be “no mining of miner minerals, of whatever size, without the approval of the Ministry of Environmental Forest (MoEF), Government of India.” Despite this, the extraction of minerals continues unabated “causing irreparable damage to air, water, tree, land, etc.”
Calling it “yet another failure of the Rajasthan government to protect people’s well-being”, the NAPM said, “Today’s blast is a painful reminder that in spite of the judicial victory of the people of Neem Ka Thana, who have been agitating against illegal stone crushing and mining for over 10 years, and have faced attacks from police and mafias, the road to justice is still long.”
Declaring that people will resolutely struggle for their rights, the NAPM demanded “stoppage of illegal stone crushing and mining in Neem ka Thana and whole of Rajasthan” and “complete compliance with order passed by NGT so that people and environment are safe.” It urged upon all “concerned citizens to write letters to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan at the earliest to demand the same”, or “email to cmrajasthan@nic.in or cmraj@rajasthan.gov.in.”

'Effort' to disturb communal peace in Badwani

In a separate statement, the NAPM condemned efforts by communal forces to disturbances in Badwani in Madhya Pradesh, where the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has its base since 1985. An incident, which involved some heavy crackers being thrown at members of a community, made the police “not permitting the Muharram procession to be taken out in the streets of Badwani, nor did the grand tajas lit the main streets of Badwani.”
Calling it a “big blow to the inter-cultural and religious harmony-based traditions of the Muharram celebrations which also included tajas put up by Hindu families”, NAMP said, “Badwani with a sizeable Muslim population has been a city with peaceful co-habitation by various sub-communities belonging to the two religions. There also exists a joint committee of Hindus and Muslims that organize various performances like mushayaras.”

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

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.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog