Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh "consent" closure of Narmada dam gates: What good would it do?, asks Patkar

By Our Representative
Amidst “fear” in the upstream of the Narmada dam about massive submergence once its 30 gates, already installed, are closed, a top knowledgeable source close to the development has revealed that two states – Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh – have "given consent for closing down the gates." Only Maharashtra hasn't have yet given its nod.
Linked to the completion of the rehabilitation of the dam oustees, it is not known how Maharashtra will hold its decision on gates' closure, as its officials are under tremendous pressure to allow them to closed down”, the source said, adding, “The Government of India has directed the Narmada Control Authority (ANC) to take a decision on this at the earliest on the basis of the three states' formal consent.”
In Ahmedabad for attending a national convention on land rights, Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which is the chief opponent of the Narmada dam, told Counterview, “If this is true, hundreds of families, who haven't yet been rehabilitated, especially in Madhya Pradesh, will face submergence because of the creation of a huge 214 km long reservoir.”
Addressing the three-day convention, which began in Ahmedabad's Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Patkar wondered what good the dam's completion is going to do the farmers of Gujarat. “Four lakh hectares (ha) of land from the 18 lakh in Narmada canal irrigation region has already been decommanded”, she said.
“With industries being the main focus of Narmada water in Gujarat, the farmers of Saurashtra and Kutch will remained deprived of it”, she said, adding how the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which overlaps the Narmada main canal “would mean 60 per cent of Gujarat's land would be open for acquisition for industry.”
“It is a huge conspiracy being played on the people, particularly of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh”, Patkar said, adding, “There is a need to understand the whole issue in the context of the type of development that is afloat ever since 1991, when the new economic policy was floated. Based on this, one would need to fight economic, environmental, social and political battle.”

Kanu Kalsaria

Pointing out that the present government under Narendra Modi is only more aggressively following the NEP, Patkar said, “Under the previous UPA government, there was a space for discussion or consultation before any move to come up with changes in laws affecting the people. Under Modi, there is not such space.”
Insisting that the NBA is not against industrialization, Patkar said, “We are not fools to say that land, water, forests or minerals should not be touched. The point is understand how and for whom these resources should be touched.”
Held under the banner of Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), the national convention saw Aam Aadmi Party leader Kanu Kalsaria, a former Gujarat BJP MLA, praise Patkar, considered till recently a persona non grata for her alleged anti-Gujarat stance because of her opposition to the Narmada dam.
Kalsaria recalled an incident when he met Modi as BJP MLA in mid-2000s opposing a proposed small dam being built in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. “I told Modi that the dam would displace people's livelihood. I was shocked to hear his argument: He replied, I was behaving like Medha Patkar, who is opposed to development. And, there the matter ended.”

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Girl child education: 20 major states 'score' better than Gujarat, says GoI report

By Rajiv Shah
A Government of India report, released last month, has suggested that “model” Gujarat has failed to make any progress vis-à-vis other states in ensuring that girls continue to remain enrolled after they leave primary schools. The report finds that, in the age group 14-17, Gujarat’s 71% girls are enrolled at the secondary and higher secondary level, which is worse than 20 out of 22 major states for which data have been made available.

Congress 'promises' cancellation of Adani power project: Jharkhand elections

Counterview Desk
Pointing out that people's issues take a backseat in Jharkhand's 2019 assembly elections, the state's civil rights organization, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of activists and people’s organisations, has said that political parties have largely ignored in their electoral manifestos the need to implement the fifth schedule of the Constitution in a predominantly tribal district.

Gujarat refusal to observe Maulana Azad's birthday as Education Day 'discriminatory'

By Our Representative
The Gujarat government decision not to celebrate the National Education Day on !monday has gone controversial. Civil society organizations have particularly wondered whether the state government is shying away from the occasion, especially against the backdrop of "deteriorating" level of education in Gujarat.

Hindutva founders 'borrowed' Nazi, fascist idea of one flag, one leader, one ideology

By Shamsul Islam*
With the unleashing of the reign of terror by the RSS/BJP rulers against working-class, peasant organizations, women organizations, student movements, intellectuals, writers, poets and progressive social/political activists, India also witnessed a series of resistance programmes organized by the pro-people cultural organizations in different parts of the country. My address in some of these programmes is reproduced here...
*** Before sharing my views on the tasks of artists-writers-intellectuals in the times of fascism, let me briefly define fascism and how it is different from totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is political concept, a dictatorship of an individual, family or group which prohibits opposition in any form, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is also described as authoritarianism.
Whereas fascism, while retaining all these repressive characteristics, also believes in god-ordained superiority of race, cultur…

Ex-World Bank chief economist doubts spurt in India's ease of doing business rank

By Rajiv Shah
This is in continuation of my previous blog where I had quoted from a commentary which top economist Prof Kaushik Basu had written in the New York Times (NYT) a little less than a month ago, on November 6, to be exact. He recalled this article through a tweet on November 29, soon after it was made known that India's growth rate had slumped (officially!) to 4.5%.

With RSS around, does India need foreign enemy to undo its democratic-secular fabric?

By Shamsul Islam*
Many well-meaning liberal and secular political analysts are highly perturbed by sectarian policy decisions of RSS/BJP rulers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially after starting his second inning. They are vocal in red-flagging lynching incidents, policies of the Modi government on Kashmir, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the demand for 'Bharat Ratna' to Savarkar who submitted 6-7 mercy petitions to the British masters (getting remission of 40 years out of 50 years' sentence), and the murder of constitutional norms in Goa, Karnataka and now in Maharashtra.

Post-Balakot, danger that events might spiral out of control is 'greater, not less'

By Tapan Bose*
The fear of war in South Asia is increasing. Tensions are escalating between India and Pakistan after the Indian defence minister's announcement in August this year that India may revoke its current commitment to only use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear attack, known as ‘no first use’. According to some experts who are watching the situation the risk of a conflict between the two countries has never been greater since they both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad "declared support" to two-nation theory in 1937, followed by Jinnah three years later

By Our Representative
One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Worrying signs in BJP: Modi, Shah begin 'cold-shouldering' Gujarat CM, party chief

By RK Misra*
The political developments in neighbouring Maharashtra where a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government assumed office has had a trickle down effect in Gujarat with both the ruling BJP and the Congress opposition going into revamp mode.

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