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

By A 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.”

The “Dr” debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

Can cow dung become a source of income? Durga Maida shows the path to self‑reliance

By Vikas Meshram* In the Sailana block of Ratlam district lies the small village of Govardhanpura. This is where Durga Maida lives with her husband and four daughters. Their livelihood depended on just one bigha of land—far too little to feed a family of six. Growing enough grain for the year was impossible, and even meeting daily expenses was a constant struggle. Alongside farming, Durga kept livestock and took up wage labour whenever she could. Hard work was never lacking, but income always was. Month after month, the accounts failed to balance, forcing her to borrow. Looking back, Durga says those days felt heavy and hopeless; farming offered no promise, and there was no sign of change. Her story mirrored the reality of almost every small farmer in the area.

Counterview

Search This Blog