Gujarat tribal leader's arrest under PASA: Civil society unites to demand "immediate release"

By A Representative
In a rare show of unity, several civil society organizations, operating in Gujarat, have for the first time come together to condemn the recent arrest of Jayram Gamit, a well-known tribal farmers' leader of Tapi and Chhotaudepur districts of Gujarat, under what many human rights activists interpret as “draconian misuse” of Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act. Demanding his “immediate release”, a joint statement by them qualified the arrest is “unconstitutional” and “based on false charges which have already been set aside by a local court.”
The organizations which signed the statement include Jamit Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG), with has fought many a battle across Gujarat against “indiscriminate” land acquisition in special investment regions (SIRs); Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), founded by well-known radical trade unionist and lawyer, late Mukul Sinha; apart from several others which operate in the state's tribal areas, including Lok Sangharsh Morcha, Adivasi Ekta Ane Vikas Parishad, Bhilistan Vikas Morcha and Bhilistan Tiger Sena.
The statement was issued following a joint meeting of these organizations, which, among other things, decided to hold a major tribal rally on February 19 in Vyara, district headquarters of Tapi, in protest against the arrest of Gamit. An earlier attempt for holding the rally in Chhotaudepur, planned for February 2, could not succeed, as the district was declared “terrorist prone” to halt any move of protest, and curfew was imposed in all its blocks till February 14.
The statement comes following Adivasi Kisar Sangharsh Morcha (AKSM) chief Romel Sutariya's strong appeal to Gujarat civil society to take up the case of Gamit, arrested in January-end ahead of a major protest planned by AKSM in Chhotaudepur, the arrest, say activists poses a “major challenge” to those who are fighting on a radical platform.
Following the meeting, Jignesh Mewani of the JSM told me, “The Gujarat High Court observed way back in 2011 that specific provisions of PASA were being misused. Unfortunately, anyone who is arrested for PASA, accused of disturbed law and order, is put behind bars for about three months, and he or she can be released only after a Gujarat High Court committee, reviewing the cases, looks into the matter.”
Following the arrest, Gamit was taken to Rajkot, 400 km away.
Meanwhile, the AKSM has issued a notice to the district collector, Chhotaudepur, saying that the protest on February 2 was not allowed and curfew imposed as it would have “fully exposed Gujarat's so-called development model.” A copy of the notice has been sent to the Gujarat chief minister, the director-general of police and the state home secretary.
The AKSM said, “The order was violative of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, which gives tribals specific rights over the natural resources in forest areas. By this order, the Gujarat government has acted under the colonial 1927 law for forests, which is unacceptable”, the notice reads.
“We feel that the a sand mining mafia is at work and is working at cross purposes with the FRA. In village Ambala of Chhotaudepur district, there have been cases of officials' harassment of tribals who protested against sand mafia seeking to mine water bodies. We demand a complete inquiry into the manner in which on December 10, 2014, the forest officials beat up tribals and instituted false cases against them”, the notice reads.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

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.

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 ...

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

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.

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.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog