Skip to main content

Three-day Narmada oustees' Bhopal fast ends, NBA seeks Jha Commission report on corruption in rehabilitation

By Our Representative
The three-day protest fast by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), ended in Bhopal on April 29, putting up strong demand to make public the Jha Commission report, which looked into corruption in the rehabilitating and resettling (R&R) of the Narmada dam oustees.
More than 500 NBA representatives and dam affected people observed the fast, called "Chetavani Upvaas" -- or warning fast -- at Neelam Park, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The NBA claimed "nationwide support and solidarity from people and other movements through protests, peaceful demonstrations and fast in their region against the corruption in resettling oustees.”
A statement issued at the end of the three-day fast, the NBA said, "Large scale corruption has taken place in the name of R&R for which the High Court of Madhya Pradesh appointed the Justice Jha Commission. The report was submitted to the High Court, but the government tried everything to stop the report from getting public or going into THE hands of the petitioner, NBA."
It regretted, "Whereas the construction for raising the height of the dam in Gujarat, which would submerge more than 40,000 families in Madhya Pradesh, is going on rapidly, it was mandated that before submergence the government must rehabilitate the project affected people."
"Yet", the NBA said, "The government declared ‘zero balance’, i.e. no one was left for rehabilitation, which was proved wrong by an earlier fact-finding report. Now the Jha Commission report was going to expose the government claim and make the corruption public, but this has not happened."
Among those who participated in the protest fast included representatives of the Communist Party of India; the All-India Trade Union Congress; the All- India Bank Employees Union; the Akhil Bhartiya Siksha Adhikaar Manch; ; the Madhya Praesh Kisan Sabha; the Swaraj Abhiyan; and several grassroots organizations.
The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), which is the apex body of tens of mass organizations across India, and the Delhi Solidarity Group protested in Delhi, and submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner of the Madhya Pradesh Bhavan.
Protests were also held by by the Mumbai Solidarity Group in Maharashtra, where signature campaign was carried out against the "illegal" construction to raise the dam height without complete rehabilitation.
Representatives of Toko-Roko-Thoko Krantikari Morcha, Seedhi, Madhya Pradesh, protested in solidarity with the Chetavani Upvaas and submitted memorandum to the Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Representatives of Lok Shakti Abhiyaan, Odisha, demonstrated in Bhubaneswar.
The NBA, meanwhile, has decided to hold a nationwide protest march in June with the slogan of “Narmada Bachao Desh Bachao” , an awareness campaign about the social injustice happening with the Narmada dam oustees. The march, said the NBA, will also aim to "bring people together against social injustice happening in the different parts of the country."
Meanwhile, the NBA submitted an open letter the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, asking him to make public the Jha Commission report, saying, it would be able to clarify about lots of allegations of corruption as also large number of oustees who have still to be rehabilitated.

Comments

TRENDING

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.