Top Jharkhand tribal activist "offloaded" at Delhi airport, was to attend workshop on environment, politics in UK

In a second controversial incident of “offloading” at the Delhi International Airport, young tribal human rights defender, Gladson Dungdung, who happens to be general secretary, Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM), Ranchi, was on Monday morning not allowed to board the Air India Delhi-London Flight AI 115.
One of the most activist tribal human rights activists in his region, Dungdung was going to London to attend the Workshop on Environmental History and Politics of South Asia, which was to be held in the University of Sussex, UK on May 10.
The officials at the airport, according to Dungdung, told him that since his passport had been impounded in 2013, hence they would need to send it to the regional passport office, Ranchi, for verification, before being allowed to fly abroad.
However, Dungdung suspected the reason lay elsewhere, He said, “The fact is that my passport was impounded in 2013 and returned to me after proper verification in 2014.” Thereafter, he attended a couple of international conferences in Denmark and London in 2014 and 2015 subsequently, “but there was no issue at all.”
“Therefore”, he pointed out, “I am sure, this is a clear impact of my book ‘Mission Saranda: A War for Natural Resources in India’.”

The book, it is well known, is based on Dungdung’s travel to the so-called Red Corridor of India, offering a plethora of evidence to prove that the state-sponsored effort to curb Naxalism in Jharkhand is actually a war against the Adivasis to snatch their resources – lands, forests, water, hills and minerals — in one of the densest forests of India, rich in its biodiversity with an extraordinary variety of wildlife.
In a Facebook post, Dungdung said, “The centre of the war is mineral resources, which I am able to establish through my mission to Saranda forest”, adding, “While defaulters of millions of rupees like Vijay Mallya cannot be offloaded, activists like me are bound to be offloaded.”
“However, my fight for the adivasis' ownership rights over the Natural resources, Adivasi identity, human rights, ecology, and against unjust development processes will continue till they take away my right to life forever… Jai Adivasi”, he concluded.

Priya Pillai

In January 2015, senior Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillai was “offloaded” at Delhi airport from a flight to London where she was scheduled to make a presentation before British MPs regarding alleged human rights violation in the Mahan region of Madhya Pradesh, where coalmining is rampant.
Pillai was told by the immigration officer that he couldn’t fly out of the country, even though she had a valid six-month visa. When she sought the reason, a senior officer at the airport told her that she was on a database issued by the Government of India of individuals who can’t fly out of the country.
Later, in March 2015, the Delhi High Court ordered to expunge the “offload”remark from the passport of Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, and remove her name from a database and allow her to travel abroad.
Stating that the right of free speech and expression “necessarily includes the right to criticise and dissent”, Justice Rajiv Shakdher, in a 39-page order, said: “Criticism, by an individual, may not be palatable; even so, it cannot be muzzled."

He added, "Many civil right activists believe that they have the right, as citizens, to bring to the notice of the state the incongruity in the developmental policies of the state. The state may not accept the views of the civil right activists, but that by itself, cannot be a good enough reason to do away with dissent.”
---
Click HERE to download Dungdung’s book “Mission Saranda”

Comments

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

Search This Blog