Top Left leader says Modi successful in hoodwinking people: 'People still under his strong infuence'

A senior CPI-M leader, in Ahmedabad to attend the three-day national convention on land rights, has admitted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been “successful” in hoodwinking Indian people, adding, “A propaganda master, people still remain under his strong influence.”

Speaking on the closing ceremony of the convention, organized by top Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and her supporters under the banner of Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), Hanan Mollah, CPI-M's politburo member and eight-times member of Parliament, asked about 500-odd social and political activists from 15 states to “intensify” the land rights struggle in states.
An all-India apex body of radical farmers' organizations, BAA, said Mollah, was formed to oppose the Modi government's effort to scuttle the Land Acquisition Act (LAA), 2013, especially by dropping the provisions of consent and social impact impact assessment.
While land rights organizations consider LAA, 2013, passed by the previous UPA government, as a “gain” for those attached with land for livelihood, top corporates identify it as a major impediment for quick expansion of industry in India.
“BAA has been successful in ensuring that the amendments, which were thrice promulgated through an ordinance, are dropped. But Modi has now adopted a new tactic: Of not implementing LAA, 2013, even as asking states to promulgate their own laws to undermine it”, Mollah said.
The convention ended after deciding on a six-month action plan on land rights. It would include forming state-level BAA teams, programmes to gherao state assemblies seeking implementation of LAA, 2013, linking the struggle for land rights with workers' struggle and struggle to implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
The programmes planned include representation to the President of India on August 10, two days before Parliament's monsoon session ends, seeking his intervention for implementing LAA, 2013, taking out inter-state padyatra starting from four states – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Haryana and Assam – in order to “educate” people about land rights, and observing forest rights day on December 15 across India.
The convention saw participation of two political parties, CPI-M and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). While there was a huge talk of forging a unity on land rights, especially around LAA, 2013, promulgated by UPA, the Congress was kept out of the convention. No reason was given.
A six-page resolution passed at the convention called upon delegates to propagate the need to reject the “GDP-based growth model”, as adopted in Gujarat, insisting on stopping forced land acquisition for industrial corridors, smart cities, special economic and manufacturing zones, as also for building dams which lead to displacement of large sections.
Insisting on the need to “empower” local self-government institutions by implementing forest rights Act and Panchayats Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996, which require tribal gram sabha consent for land acquisition, the resolution wanted the government to come up with a clear land use policy to “protect” farmland from being diverted to non-agricultural use.
Ashok Shrimali, general secretary, Mines, Minerals and People (MM&P), one of the chief organizers of the convention, said, “For the first time, the land rights movement recognized the need to take under its fold mining activity. The resolution wants governments to declare no-go areas, such as dense forests and climate sensitive regions.”

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.

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."

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.

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