Narmada dam outees: Apex court asks Gujarat, MP, Maharashtra to set up grievances mechanism

Narmada dam oustees

By A Representative
The Supreme Court’s newly-formed social justice bench, which has commenced hearing on the Sardar Sarovar Project case has asked the state governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to appoint Grievance Redressal Authority (GRA), meant for looking into complaints of the oustees of the Narmada dam. Presided over by Justice Madan Lokur and Jusice UR Lalit, the bench began hearing on the case related to further raise in the height of the dam, on January 9, 2015.
The apex court had received summary submission with data and arguments from the petitioner, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), through its leader Medha Patkar, and other project affected person (PAPs), alongside respondents from Union of Indian through the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), and the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Counsel for Government of Gujarat, Harish Salve and Attorney General of India for Union of India challenged the locus standi of Patkar, accusing her and NBA of quoting from only from the judgment on the Omkareshwar dam, calling them “obstructionist” towards the dam.
Salve argued that Parkar should not be heard and the NBA “should not be permitted henceforth to be in the Supreme Court”. A National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) statement said, “The judges listened to all the arguments on maintainability, and then requested advocate Sanjay Parikh to plead on behalf of the representatives petitioners of farmers, labourers and fish-workers in thousands.”
“Parikh narrated the history of violations of the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) Award, the state rehabilitation policies, as well as the judgments of the apex court of 1992, 2000 and 2005”, NAPM, the apex body of tens of people's organizations, including NBA, said.
“The land and livelihood based rehabilitation”, Parikh argued, “is far from completed and the same is evident from the official documents and reports. Hundreds of cases are pending before each of the three GRAs, and hundreds of orders are not complied with. Land offered and/ or allotted to many is uncultivable and hence against law and judgment.”
“Patkar was granted permission to plead as party-in-person against the request of the opponents”, NAPM said, adding, “She, on her turn, put forth the situation on the ground as well as the violations. She narrated the story of the big scandal in rehabilitation that has totally derailed the policy and squandered crores of rupees from rehabilitation funds without completion of rehabilitation.”
“The fake registries scam”, she said, “has led to making affected persons landless instead of giving them better standard of living, promised through policies.” NAPM added, “This made the bench to enquire about the present status and functioning of GRAs. It was finally confirmed before the bench that hundreds of cases are pending before GRAs while there is no chairman in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat today.”
“The bench then directed to appoint urgently the five GRAs in Madhya Pradesh and two in Maharashtra and Gujarat each. Further, the bench stated that it would like to get pending cases redressed and GRA to give their assessment on the differing data presented by parties. The bench also directed the all the three states to consult respective authorities and come back with names of the GRAs”, NAPM said.
The next hearing would be held on January 16.

Comments

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.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Dowry over duty: How material greed shattered a seven-year bond

By Archana Kumar* This account does not seek to expose names or tarnish identities. Its purpose is not to cast blame, but to articulate—with dignity—the silent suffering of a woman who lived her life anchored in love, trust, and duty, only to be ultimately abandoned.

Pairing not with law but with perpetrators: Pavlovian response to lynchings in India

By Vikash Narain Rai* Lynch-law owes its name to James Lynch, the legendary Warden of Galway, Ireland, who tried, condemned and executed his own son in 1493 for defrauding and killing strangers. But, today, what kind of a person will justify the lynching for any reason whatsoever? Will perhaps resemble the proverbial ‘wrong man to meet at wrong road at night!’

Search This Blog