Plea to "transfer" out hydro power units to J&K: Transparency urged in power supply to Punjab, North India

By Our Representative
India's right to information (RTI) activists, in close coordination with those of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state, have made a strong plea for the “transfer”, and not "buyback", hydro power projects put up in J&K to the state, and greater transparently in supplying power to other states.
In an email alert, senior RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a Delhi-based advocacy group, and Dr Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, of the J&K RTI Movement, have said that J&K “is a power surplus state that lights up homes and powers industries across northern India while its own people face severe power outages day after day.”
Basing his information on the RTI reply he received from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), which runs several power plants in J&K, Nayak says, “More than two-thirds of the hydel power generated in J&K is consumed outside the state.”
Insisting that “the first woman Chief Minister of J&K “has her task cut out to 'em-power' the people in J&K, he says, “Punjab is the largest buyer of power generated in J&K followed by Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, in that order.”
Referring to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the then Chief Minister of J&K and the then Minister for Power in the Central Government, Nayak says, it referred to “transfer” of seven hydel projects -- Kishanganga, Uri-II, Bursar, Sewa-II, Pakal Dul, Nimmo Bazgo and Chutak -- to NHPC, in order to "exploit the large power potential in the state".
“The purpose of the transfer is to enable NHPC to 'execute these projects over a period of 10 years', in phases so that their implementation would help the State in its overall development apart from 'meeting its winter peak requirements of electricity'”, notes Nayak.
“The installed capacity of these projects is said to be a little more than 2,000 megawatts. Nearly 40% of the hydel power generated by NHPC projects across the country flows from J&K”, he says.
Adds Dr Rasool of the J&K RTI Movement, “Precious public funds are being invested on polluting diesel generators to provide power supply to far flung areas when a large proportion of the clean energy generated in the state is being sold outside the state.”
“J&K RTI Movement calls on the J&K govermment under Mehbooba Mufti’s leadership to protect the interests of the State better, by negotiating vigourously for the handing over (and not buyback) of the hydel projects to J&K”, he says in a statement.
The demand has been made, even as the RTI replies, says Nayak, have revealed that between 2001-2015 (14 years) NHPC earned more than Rs 19,431.92 crores to be exact from the sale of power generated in J&K to all power utilities, including the J&K government.”
Insisting that the terms of the MoU, regarding transfer of the power projects after 10 years, does not mention of a "buyback" of these projects by J&K government, Nayak says, “The language of the MoU only talks about 'handing over the projects' to J&K government.”
Nayak further says, “The Group of Interlocutors for J&K appointed by the Union Government, in October 2010, to hold discussions with all sections of opinion in J&K and identify the political contours of a solution and the road map towards it recommended the transfer of power projects under the Central Government's control back to the State as one of the several economic and social confidence building measures" required to reach the eventual solution.”
“Strangely”, he says, “The Interlocutors' Report has disappeared from the webpage of the Union Home Ministry where it was hosted earlier.”

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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…

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).

Karnataka: NGO Akshay Patra "not sensitive" to nutrition demands of school children

Counterview Desk
Well-known civil rights organizations, Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, have sent a letter to the Union minister of human resource development, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, other concerned ministers and officials of the state expressing concerns regarding the mid-day meal (MDM) to school children, insisting, all contracts to the Akshay Patra for supply of MDM should be immediately terminated.

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.

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By Our Representative
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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.

Vedanta is out but corporate loot continues in Odisha: Local activists tell NAPM yatra

By Our Representative
Lok Shakti Abhiyan leader Prafulla Samantara, winner of the Goldman Environmental (also known as Green Nobel) Prize in 2017, has regretted that though Sundergarh in Odisha, like other forest areas, is a fifth schedule area, where Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is applicable, but these laws are being “outrightly violated to facilitate corporate loot.”

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