Undeclared emergency enforced by governments at centre, states, also by aggressive army of “proud Indians”

Several civil rights organizations have decided to hold a national meet of human rights defenders on March 22-23, 2017, at Rajendra Bhavan, New Delhi. The seminar has been organized by PEACE in association with INSAF, PCSDS, HRDA, others. A concept note ahead of the high-level meet under the banner “Reclaiming Rights, Asserting Freedoms”:
Thousands of activists and human rights defenders are struggling to survive the suspension of constitutional rights and rule of law that defines the political climate in India today. This undeclared emergency is being enforced not only by the governments at the centre and in the States, but by an aggressive army of “proud Indians” who have bought into a distorted, monochromatic and ahistorical idea of the nation.
In this supposedly patriotic world-view, India is seen as the most glorious civilisation imaginable, reaching unprecedented heights of progress under a leader who can do no wrong. Anyone who refuses to swallow this idea and uncritically support each new prescription for economic, political and social “vikaas” is anti-national by definition.
Anyone who questions the wisdom of the rulers and their diktats is a dangerous threat to the nation, and a legitimate target for violence unleashed by the state as well as by vigilante gangs of “patriots” who operate with the encouragement and blessing of the state.
These so-called “offences against the nation” cover a wide range of acts. Challenging government policies; using instruments such as the RTI Act or the SC/ST Atrocities Act; challenging misuse of power by caste, class or political elites; mobilising to resist forcible eviction or land acquisition; publicly protesting violations of rights and freedoms; investigating police violence such as rape, sexual assault, torture, encounters and custodial deaths; seeking justice for state-sponsored violence; following one’s own choices and inclinations in personal spaces such as bedrooms and kitchens, or even failing to stand for the national anthem – all these have become risky and life-threatening acts in India today.
A toxic political climate has been created and normalised, in which the Constitution itself is no longer sacrosanct. Democratic rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution - right to equality and dignity, right to dissent, right to equal treatment before the law, freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of movement - are now identified as the greatest threats to democracy.
Those who insist on demanding, claiming, upholding and protecting these rights and freedoms are identified as dangerous and seditious enemies of the state, to be silenced and suppressed by any means.
No effort is spared in the mission of silencing and suppressing these defenders of rights and freedoms, whether social activists, journalists and writers, lawyers, leaders of movements, researchers and academics, whistleblowers, NGOs and professional associations. They are targeted with murderous attacks, hounded and slandered.
Rape, sexual assault and sexual violence are the patriotic prescriptions for women activists. Draconian laws for “maintenance of order” and “public security” are invoked to arrest and incarcerate human rights defenders as “terrorists”, “Maoist sympathisers” or simply “traitors”.
They are subjected to torture and sexual violence in jail. Their families are threatened and attacked by goon squads. False cases and concocted charges are foisted on them, and they face torture and mistreatment in prison. Their families are ostracised and often reduced to penury.
Lawyers are prevented from fighting their cases. Trolls pursue and attack them online and on social media. Their attackers both in and out of uniform are protected by their political affiliations and flaunt their impunity.
Democratic institutions are being systematically undermined and destroyed. Universities are being re-conceptualised as indoctrination centres where unpatriotic tendencies of rationality, independent thinking and critical questioning are discouraged.
Obedient robots are given charge of cultural and academic institutions, where they are busily erasing the boundaries between myth and history, science and superstition, justice and appeasement. Parliament, the courts and human rights institutions are treated with open contempt by the rulers and are increasingly reduced to mute bystanders and helpless witnesses to the attempted murder of democracy.
But resistance is alive. Despite the concerted campaign to silence and suppress them, thousands of human rights defenders, students, activists and concerned citizens continue to stand their ground and are fighting to assert, protect and claim the rig hts and freedoms granted by the Constitution.
* Let us come together to affirm and celebrate our solidarity, commitment and collective strength, and chart the way forward.
* We will not remain isolated!
* We will not remain silent!
* We will not allow this situation to continue!

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Counterview

Search This Blog