Gujarat government cites swine flu, cancels tribal farmers' rally in Vyara

Jayram Gamit (centre), arrested ahead of AKSM rally in January-end,
released by Gujarat High Court on March 12

By Our Representative
The Gujarat government has cancelled a tribal farmers’ rally, proposed to be led by the Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha (AKSM) for March 20 at Vyara, district headquarters of Tapi district. Imposing section 144, which disallows gathering of more than four persons in a public place except in exceptional circumstances, the reason cited by the state government for cancelling the rally is: The “danger” of swine flu being spread among the proposed rallyists.
The rally was to be taken out against the Shri Ukai Pradesh Khand Udyog Mandli, the powerful cooperative of sugar mills, which AKSM says is controlled by political interests, and has not paid dues worth Rs 90 crore to the tribal farmers against sugarcane sold to them. AKSM termed the non-payment of the dues as a major instance of misappropriation by siphoning off tribal farmers’ money for amassing huge profits.
This was the second time that the state government has decided to cancel AKSM rally. Earlier, it cancelled a similar rally proposed on February 2 at Chhotaudepur, another tribal town in South Gujarat, citing possible terrorist activities (click HERE to read). It imposed prohibitory orders for about a fortnight in order to stop any protest activities.
Worse, the state government arrested one of the popular tribal leaders, Jayram Gamit, under Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA), and kept him under detention in Rajkot for nearly 45 days. The release was allowed a little over a week ago following protests by civil rights leaders and a well-attended rally in Vyara on February 20 protesting the use of PASA to detain Gamit.
Meanwhile, in a statement, AKSM leader Romel Sutariya has said, “Swine flu does not come in the way of the state government organizing different types of fetes for propagating government programmes. How does it come in the way of a rally of tribal farmers, who are protesting against non-payment of their dues?”
The AKSM has written a letter to the district collector, Tapi, for an appointment on March 20, in which it has demanded that the state government should take "complete control" of the sugar cooperative by appointing a liquidator. “We have also demanded that the state government release Rs 200 crore to revive the sugar cooperative and payback the tribal farmers’ dues.
The AKSM has declared that in case the demands are not met, it would “go ahead” with a protest sit-in in front of the district collector’s office in Tapi, courting arrest. “We will be sending a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and begin a fast unto death”, it said.

Comments

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

'Anti-poor stand': Even British wouldn't reduce Railways' sleeper and general coaches

By Anandi Pandey, Sandeep Pandey* Probably even the British, who introduced railways in India, would not have done what the Bhartiya Janata Party government is doing. The number of Sleeper and General class coaches in various trains are surreptitiously and ominously disappearing accompanied by a simultaneous increase in Air Conditioned coaches. In the characteristic style of BJP government there was no discussion or debate on this move by the Indian Railways either in the Parliament or outside of it.

Why convert growing badminton popularity into an 'inclusive sports opportunity'

By Sudhansu R Das Over the years badminton has become the second most popular game in the world after soccer. Today, nearly 220 million people across the world play badminton. The game has become very popular in urban India after India won medals in various international badminton tournaments. One will come across a badminton court in every one kilometer radius of Hyderabad.

Faith leaders agree: All religious places should display ‘anti-child marriage’ messages

By Jitendra Parmar* As many as 17 faith leaders, together for an interfaith dialogue on child marriage in New Delhi, unanimously have agreed that no faith allows or endorses child marriage. The faith leaders advocated that all religious places should display information on child marriage.

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.

Ayurveda, Sidda, and knowledge: Three-day workshop begins in Pala town

By Rosamma Thomas* Pala town in Kottayam district of Kerala is about 25 km from the district headquarters. St Thomas College in Pala is currently hosting a three-day workshop on knowledge systems, and gathered together are philosophers, sociologists, medical practitioners in homeopathy and Ayurveda, one of them from Nepal, and a few guests from Europe. The discussions on the first day focused on knowledge systems, power structures, and epistemic diversity. French researcher Jacquiline Descarpentries, who represents a unique cooperative of researchers, some of whom have no formal institutional affiliation, laid the ground, addressing the audience over the Internet.

Article 21 'overturned' by new criminal laws: Lawyers, activists remember Stan Swamy

By Gova Rathod* The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat, organised an event in Ahmedabad entitled “Remembering Fr. Stan Swamy in Today’s Challenging Reality” in the memory of Fr. Stan Swamy on his third death anniversary. The event included a discussion of the new criminal laws enforced since July 1, 2024.

Hindutva economics? 12% decline in manufacturing enterprises, 22.5% fall in employment

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The messiah of Hindutva politics, Narendra Modi, assumed office as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014. He pledged to transform the Indian economy and deliver a developed nation with prosperous citizens. However, despite Modi's continued tenure as the Prime Minister, his ambitious electoral promises seem increasingly elusive.

Union budget 'outrageously scraps' scheme meant for rehabilitating manual scavengers

By Bezwada Wilson* The Union Budget for the year 2024-2025, placed by the Finance Minister in Parliament has completely deceived the Safai Karmachari community. There is no mention of persons engaged in manual scavenging in the entire Budget. Even the scheme meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS) has been outrageously scrapped.

Search This Blog