Dadri lynching: Amnesty goes mild on saffron outfits, attacks UP govt for failing to tackle religious intolerance

By Our Representative
Criticizing the Uttar Pradesh government for not doing enough to "tackle religious intolerance and violence", even as asking it to "go beyond arrests", Amnesty International India, commenting on the gruesome massacre of Mohd Akhlaq on suspicion of stocking and eating beef, has refused to name any saffron outfit for whipping up tension around the incident.
Talking of "self-appointed vigilante groups", but not identifying who these are, the top international human rights group in a state statement said, "Arrests will not to be enough to ease communal tensions. The state government must address cases of incitement to violence, and ensure that self-appointed cow protection organizations do not act as vigilante groups."
Insisting that "the Uttar Pradesh government must do more to protect the rights of religious minorities in the state", Amnesty has pointed towards a worrying trend of rise in communal tensions across the state.
It said, "The Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that there were 68 communal incidents in Uttar Pradesh in the first six months of 2015. Kasganj and Saharanpur districts in the state witnessed clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups in June. In September, there was stone throwing, burning of vehicles and arson by Hindu and Muslim groups in the town of Gonda."
“There is an environment of mistrust and fear in parts of Uttar Pradesh,” Amnesty quoted Abhirr VP, Campaigner at Amnesty International India. “Political leaders continue to stoke tensions by justifying violence. The state government’s inability to check religious intolerance emboldens groups to carry out attacks”, he added, but did not say who these are and why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi quiet about it.
It has been widely reported that, among others, a minister in the Modi government, culture minister Vishnu Sharma said, the grisly killing of Akhlaq as an "unfortunate accident" and an apparent "misunderstanding", adding, It (the murder) took place as a reaction to that incident (cow slaughter)." Meanwhile, Modi has been widely criticized keeping mum on the murder.
Basing its statement on its visit to the village in Dadri where the incident took place, Amnesty said, "Parveen, the sister of Mohammad Akhlaq, told Amnesty International India, 'We were living in peace here, but now we are scared. Our Muslim neighbors are all living in fear'. ”
"Cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested eight men in Dadri, and asked for legal action to be taken against political leaders who violated prohibitory orders and made speeches in the area after the killing", Amnesty said in the maiden statement more than a week after the incident.
“Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav must show that the state government is serious about making the state safe for people from all religions. His government must make public and act on the report of the Justice Vishnu Sahai commission on the 2013 communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, which was submitted last month", Amnesty insisted.
It added, the UP government "must bring to justice all those involved in the violence, including political leaders, police, and administrative officials.”

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Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

Counterview Desk
In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers.
Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’.
Pointing out that Evergreen Revol…

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.

Rejoinder: Inescapable to have Central Water Commission as strong technical body in India

By BN Navalawala*
This is with reference to Counterview Blog (December 5, 2018), "Modi govt 'shelves' water reforms report, shows 'no interest' in its recommendations", below mentioned are my comments/observations thereon:
A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, Former Member, Planning Commission, for restructuring of Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for optimal development of water resources in the country in the backdrop of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Some Hindu bodies in US defending BJP-RSS' divisive, violent activities: Agnivesh

Counterview Desk Last week, Washington DC saw speakers at a religious freedom roundtable, chaired by the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, express concern over "eroding" space for religious freedom in India. Dr Mike Ghouse, executive director, of the Center for Pluralism in Washington DC, referring to the roundtable, said in an email alert that Indian-Americans have "a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)".

Preventing childhood deaths: India performs worse than Bangladesh, "equals" Pakistan

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released study, “The Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report 2018”, prepared by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has identified India among 15 other countries which are still far off the mark in achieving the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD).

India's rewritten textbooks talk of demerits of democracy, praise Hitler, underrate Mughals

Counterview Desk
A detailed, 3,800-word review of the books rewritten under directions of the BJP rulers across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014 has suggested that one of aims of the books is to instill a sense of doubt about India’s democratic polity among the country’s young minds. Reviewed in the prestigious US journal, “The New York Review of Books”, in its latest issue (December 6, 2018) by Alex Traub, the scrutiny insists, the effort has also been to paint Indian history from the angle of “Hindu triumphalism”, even as creating “Islamophobia”.

Govt of India "tarnishing" NGO reputation, dossier leaked selectively: Amnesty

Counterview Desk
Amnesty International India has said that a deliberate attempt is being made to tarnish its reputation by leaking a dossier, supposedly made by investigating agencies, to media without giving it access to any such information. The high profile NGO’s claim follows a Times Now report about proceedings launched by investigative agencies, including Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the rights body for “violations” of rules pertaining to overseas donations.

60 ex-civil servants seek release of CAG reports on Rafale, demonetisation before 2019 polls

Counterview Desk
As many as 60 retired civil servants have asked President Ram Nath Kovind to expedite the release of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on demonetisation and the Rafale deal. The letter, signed mainly by former Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service officers, regrets that the status of the audit is "unclear”. According to them, “An impression is gaining ground that CAG is deliberately delaying its audit reports on demonetisation and Rafale deal till after the May 2019 elections so as not to embarrass the present government”.

Four children die after poor UP Dalit, Muslim families forced to flee to forest area: PVCHR

Counterview Desk
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) has said that the forest department police’s crackdown, allegedly without any prior notice, on Dalit and Muslim households in Dakhin Tola, Churk Bazaar, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh, beating up “children and old people, women, and men in an inhuman way”, has led to “forced displacement, starvation and discrimination”. This has reportedly affected about 350 people.

Murder of Tamil Nadu teenage Dalit girl: "Stoic silence" despite #MeToo movement

Counterview Desk
Brinelle D'souza, who is with the Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has prepared a strong statement to protest the brutal murder of 13-year-old Rajalakshmi. "Other than a few media reports, this gruesome killing has not caught national attention despite a very vibrant #MeToo campaign currently underway", regrets D'souza.

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