Jayram Gamit's arrest under PASA in Gujarat: Several thousand tribals turn up to protest

By Our Representative
Several thousand tribal farmers of South Gujarat's Vyara town on Friday took out a major protest against the arrest of Jayram Gamit, a senior activist in Chhotaudepur and Tapi districts, under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act. Gamit was arrested on January 31 and taken to Rajkot, where he is under police lockup ever since. Taken out under the leadership of Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha (AKSM), a statement issued by its leader Romel Sutariya ahead of the rally said, “A reign terror
prevails in Chhotaudepur district. The forest department officials have been forcibly occupying land allocated to the tribal farmers.”
In a statement, the AKSM said, among those who made the rally a “grand success” included Bhilistan Vikas Morcha and Bhilistan Tiger Sena. “Our main was to highlight the false charges leveled againt Gamit under PASA. Our demand was to suspend the district collector, Chhotaudepur, who issued the order to arrest Gamit under PASA”, it added.
The statement said, the rally was also against the effort to crush the democracy by terming tribal movements as Naxalite. The slogans raised included “Stop attacks on tribal movements in Gujarat”, “Stop murder of democracy” and “Forest department leave tribal areas”, it pointed out, demanding a special investigation team (SIT) to go into “false charges” against him.
“It is our democratic right to raise issues of tribals' sovereign rights over land, forests and land on which they live”, the statement said, adding, “We also demanded from the government that instead of seeking to crush the tribals' demands, it would be better to provide basic facilities in the tribal areas such as health, education and other basic requirements.”
The statement said, Gamit was arrested despite the fact that the local court had “absolved him” of all the charges, and the first information report (FIR) dated January 1, 2015, which was the basis of his arrest under PASA, did not name him. “Despite this, the district collector arrested Gamit ahead of a protest sit-in we were planning on February 2”, it added.
“The whole effort is to accuse the tribal movement of running a parallel government”, the statement said, adding, “This is nothing but an effort to crush the tribal movement, which is pitted against sand mining mafia in South Gujarat. Seen against this backdrop, Gamit's arrest is nothing but an act of act of frustration on the part of the state government.”

Comments

Sailesh Gamit said…

salute to jayram bhai gamit as he is one of the Tiger of Aadivasi samaj. we all wish U & we R with U.

April 04, 2015

Missed call drive for VVPAT verification follows online plea to "pressure" poll panel

By Our Representative
Several political activists have begun a new campaign, asking concerned citizens to give a missed call on 9667655855 to “support the demand that 2019 Loksabha elections must be declared only after verification of 50% electronic voting machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) receipts.” The effort, supported by civil society networks across India, is meant to "further pressure" India's election machinery to ensure that the poll outcome becomes more transparent.

Did Modi own, buy digital camera costing Rs 7 lakh in 1987-88, also used email?

Counterview Desk
In an interview to the news channel News Nation, aired on Saturday last, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring that he had approved the air strike despite bad weather because he felt the clouds would hide Indian planes from Pakistani radar is known to have become a laughing stock across India.

Now, top Gujarat "litterateur" close to Modi says: Godse was patriot, so was Gandhi

By Rajiv Shah
A little over a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized BJP candidate from Bhopal Pragya Thakur for calling Nathuram Godse a patriot saying he would never forgive her for the remark, a top Sangh Parivar ideologue, known to close to Modi in Gujarat, has supported her, saying her statement should be seen “within a context.” Thakur won from Bhopal by more than 3.5 lakh votes defeating her nearest rival, veteran Congressman and ex-Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh.

When a neo-nationalist "invaded" hijab clad ladies, Bengali looking scholar in Delhi metro

By Aditi Kundu*
Travelling in Delhi metro on a daily basis to commute from Mayur Vihar to Dwarka, I see diverse people everyday. One can hear them talk about different aspects of life, from kitchen pilitics to national politics. On the morning of May 13, I witnessed a strange incident; disturbing and amusing at the same time.

Terror attacks: Difference in public reactions in India, those in Colombo, Christchurch

By Battini Rao*
Recently, on April 20 during Easter Sunday, more than 250 people were killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in churches and hotels in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Local Islamic organisations Thawheed Jamath (NJT) and Jamathei Milathu Ibrahim (JMI) are held responsible for the attack. Islamic State has also claimed responsibility.

Women lost 88 lakh jobs in 2018: Why Modi "failed" to address their disempowerment?

Counterview Desk
Five human rights leaders Anjali Bhardwaj, Shabnam Hashmi, Purnima Gupta, Dipta Bhog, and Amrita Johri of the Women March for Change have posed 56 questions (alluding to Modi’s claim of 56 inches chest) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP against the backdrop of his interview with a Bollywood star, which was allegedly masqueraded as a “non-political” conversation.

Disproportionately high death sentences against Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims: UN told

Counterview Desk
In their joint submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to meet for the listing of adoption of list of issues at its 126th session, July 1-26, 2019, top Dalit rights organizations have taken strong exception to, among other things, "disproportional application of death sentencing by the judiciary of minorities, such as Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis".

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.

India's 80% construction sites "unsafe", deaths 20 times higher than those in Britain

By Rajiv Shah
The Government of India may be seeking to project India’s construction sector as the country’s second-largest employer of the country after agriculture, providing jobs to more than 44 million people, and contributing nearly 9% to the national GDP, yet, ironically, its workforce is more unprotected than any other industrial sector of the country. Data suggest that the possibility of a fatality is five times more likely in the construction industry than in a manufacturing industry, and the risk of a major injury is 2.5 times higher.

India sans Modi preferable, Congress worthier recipient of Indians’ votes: The Economist

By Our Representative
In a strongly-worded and crucial commentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the electoral political battle is on, influential British weekly “The Economist”, has declared that “Indians, who are in the midst of voting in a fresh election, would be better off with a different leader”, even as pointing out that that under Modi, “India’s ruling party poses a threat to democracy.”

Counterview

Search This Blog