Gujarat High Court sets aside police decision to prohibit farmers' padyatra to protest Smart City in Dholera SIR

Dholera SIR farmers

By Our Representative
In a setback to the Gujarat government, the Gujarat High Court has set aside the state police decision to bar farmers of the prestigious Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) from taking out a six-day long padyatra or footmarch to oppose the proposal of smart city in the largely rural area. The foot march was to begin on Thursday.
Smart city in Dholera is one of the proposals floated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister. It is one of the most important projects envisaged by him.
Upcoming farmers' organization Khedut Samaj - Gujarat (KSG) leader Sagar Rabari said, the High Court has "directed" the farmers' organization to reschedule its programme, as pending High Court hearing, the padyatra could not start.
The foot march was to begin in Bavaliyari village of Dholera SIR with the participation of 100 persons and end on November 3 in front of the Ahmedabad district collector's office, where the farmers' leaders were to submit an application seeking beginning of hearing for regularizing farmers' landownership rights.
A large number of poor farmers of Dholera SIR, who were allocated land during the land reforms days in the 1960s, have still not become the rightful owners of the land they have been tilling for decades. Meanwhile, the Gujarat government declared about 28,503 hectares (ha) of land, mainly belongng to these farmers, as government-owned.
The poor farmers, meanwhile, are now being orally told that the lands they were tilling did not belong to them but had been transferred to the Dholera SIR Authority in order to implement the smart city project.
Ironically, the district collector, Ahmedabad, had promised to begin land kacheris (hearings) in each of the 22 villages of Dholera SIR at the Environmental Public Hearing (EPH), held on January 3, 2014, in order to regularize the landownership. The land kacheris have still not been held.
Rabari said, following the High Court order, the KSG, in consultation with the local farmers' organization, Bhal Bachao Samiti, would "meet soon and declare new dates."
Well-known High court advocate Anand Yagnik, who argued for the farmers, referring to several court judgements, and said that the state goverment or the police had "no right to prevent the farmers from expressing their grievances against the government's decision."
Yagnik wondered how could the Gujarat police allow half-a-million Patels to march in Ahmedabad on August 25, while it was denying permission to about 100 farmers taking out padyatra from one village to another.
The Gujarat police, while refusing permission, cited reasons like forthcoming Diwali festivals and dangers to law and order due to lack of police force.
Rabari said, the obstacle in starting padyatra had been "created by the Gujarat government" in order to "restrain the farmers of the state from voicing their grievances", which reflected its "anti-rural and anti-farmer mindset".
Calling the state government move "greatly disappointing" to the farmers of Dholera SIR, he added, "The people of the area are extremely angry with the deployment of a huge police force, police jeeps and trucks, and water cannons all over."
Terming this "the government’s strong resolve to crush the farmers", Rabari said, "They are more enraged and disillusioned by the government’s discrimination against them." While there is "over-enthusiasm to welcome the corporates", the government is "turning a deaf ear" to the farmers' issues.

Comments

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat* The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam* The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

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.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani* A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid* We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra* Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Counterview

Search This Blog