Congress, Communists, Narmada Bachao Andolan form front to fight against "draconian" land bill

By Our Representative
In an important political development, Congress, Communists and senior activists fighting against the Land Acquisition Bill, pending clearance of the Rajya Sabha, joined hands on Thursday to form Bhoomi Adhikar Sangharsh Andolan (BASA) as a “movement of land rights” and declared their intention for hold a well-represented rally at Parliament Street, New Delhi, on May 5.
Calling it continuation of “the joint movement against the draconian Land Acquisition Bill, 2015”, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), apex body of rights-based organizations in India, said, this will be third “massive protest” and will be bigger than the one held on February 24. “We discussed the way forward”, it added.
The NAPM said, it was a “strategy meeting” for uniting forces to launch “protests with massive participation in all states, adding, “Various protest actions have been planned by different unions and people’s organisations. All those protesting against the Bill will undertake a signature campaign against the ordinance aiming to collect 5 crore signatures. A Massive Bhoo Adhikar Sangharsh rally will be held on May 5, 2015 at Delhi.”
Among those who decided for the joint movement included Jairam Ramesh (Indian National Congress), Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party India-Marxist), D.Raja (Communist Party of India), K.C.Tyagi (Janata Dal-United), and all the splinter left parties.
The NAPM said, all of them “expressed solidarity with the struggle against the Land Acquisition Bill”, adding, “They decided not to allow the Bill to be passed in the Rajya Sabha. They will struggle inside Parliament and join hands with movements to struggle outside on the street. Together we can defeat this design of NDA government.”
“A comprehensive strategy with the immediate aim of mounting a robust opposition against the new Land Acquisition Bill as well as to move towards the long-term objective of achieving land rights for all was arrived at”, the NAPM said, adding, “Farmers’ unions, people’s movements and political parties from across the country came together to form a strong opposition force against this historic challenge.”
Others participating in the meeting were Narmada Bachao Andolan's Medha Patkar, All-India Kisan Sabha's Hannan Mollah, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti's Dr.Sunilam, All-India Agricultural Workers' Union's Suneet Chopra, the All India Union for Forest Working People's Ashok Choudhary and Roma, Insaf's Dayamani Barla and Virendra Vidrohi, Yuva Kranti's Rakesh Rafiq, Sarvahara Jan Andolan's Ulka Mahajan, and Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch's Smita Gupta.
A Resolution was passed at the meeting said the programmes to be held would include burning of the Land Acquisition Ordinance, once promulgated, as decided by NDA government, April 6; Bhoomi Adhikaar Sangharsh rally in Delhi at Parliament Street on May 5, 2015; state-level conventions, mass mobilisation, padayatras, rail roko, rasta roko and human chains in all states and districts; 5 crore signatures across the country; Zameen Wapsi campaign and a state-level mobilisation against the Land Ordinance on April 9 at Vijaywada, on April 10 at Bhubaneshwar, and April 11 at Patna.

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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.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

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