Women's group refused permission for public meeting on Intrn'l Women's Day. Reason? Modi in Gujarat on March 8

By A Representative
In a bizarre development, a Gujarat women's rights group working with backward sections, Shabri Sangathan, has been denied permission to hold a public meeting on the International Women's Day, March 8, to raise issues related with the failure of the state government to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
Talking with newspersons on the issues the NGO proposes to raise at the meeting, Paulomee Mistry, who heads Shabri, said, “The police denied us permission orally telling us that Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi would be in Gujarat on March 7-8. They advised us, therefore, to hold our meeting on March 10.”
She added, women are the most affected sections because of the “failure” to implement food security, one reason why the organization decided to highlight it on March 8.
“Why should we celebrate the International Women's Day on March 10?”, Mistry wondered, adding, “We had announced our decision to hold the meet at the historic Dandi Bridge in Ahmedabad quite some time back. However, a poor women's organization is not allowed as cops will be busy with Modi”.
“Women have been told to come to Ahmedabad for the meet from all over Gujarat. They will be here. We will hold our meeting at the spot designated for it. There is no question of taking back our decision”, she insisted.
Mistry regretted, though it is four years since the NFSA was passed, the state government began implementing the Act on April 1 as Maa Annapurna Yojna only after a Supreme Court rap in February last year. "Even today, the Act is not being implemented properly", she alleged.
Mistry said, “The state government has still not prepared a list of antyodaya families who should get food from the ration shops on a priority basis. Besides, while the ration shops, which often open once or twice a month, do offer rice at Rs 3 per kg, and wheat at Rs 2 per kg, they do not offer the staple food of large sections of villagers, the so-called coarse grain (bajri, jowar), which should be offered at Re 1 per kg.”
“Women, who usually go and buy foodgrains from ration shops, suffer the most”, Mistry contended, adding, “The ration shops charge Rs 10 as coupon fees before they buy up ration. Many of them must travel between 3 and 5 km to reach the shops.”
Elucidated Himant Shah, an economist present at the media conference, “The current norm is to have one ration card within one three kilometres of distance. However, there are 17,052 ration shops in Gujarat both in urban areas. Gujarat has about 18,400 villages. It means, large number of villages do not have ration card.”
“Worse”, he added, “There are just eight ration shops operating under panchayats in Gujarat, while Gujarat has about 13,700 village panchayats. Under the panchayats Act, all ration shops should be run by panchayats. As for the rest, 2,700 ration shops are run by cooperatives, while the rest of them are privately owned.”
“The problem of food security”, said Shah, “could be solved if 50 per cent of the panchayats, having women heads, are given the charge of allowing women panchayat members to run ration shops, as women are the main stakeholders in food security.”
Said gender expert Chinmayee Joshi, “Poor widows particularly suffer the most because of poor panchayat facilities. They must get pension, which is a paltry Rs 750 per month, to get ration. Many widows complained to us that they get just Rs 400 because of corruption.”
“In Gujarat”, she said, “There are 1.52 lakh single and widow women who should be getting the Rs 750 pension, which is proposed to be increased to Rs 1,000 November 1. However, the eligibility for it is to get a below poverty line (BPL) card, which many women do not have. The pension is not offered to mothers who have a son above 21 years old.”

Comments

From plagiarism to proxy exams: Galgotias and systemic failure in education

By Sandeep Pandey* Shock is being expressed at Galgotias University being found presenting a Chinese-made robotic dog and a South Korean-made soccer-playing drone as its own creations at the recently held India AI Impact Summit 2026, a global event in New Delhi. Earlier, a UGC-listed journal had published a paper from the university titled “Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis,” which became the subject of widespread ridicule. Following the robotic dog controversy coming to light, the university has withdrawn the paper. These incidents are symptoms of deeper problems afflicting the Indian education system in general. Galgotias merely bit off more than it could chew.

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

Conversion laws and national identity: A Jesuit response response to the Hindutva narrative

By Rajiv Shah A recent book, " Luminous Footprints: The Christian Impact on India ", authored by two Jesuit scholars, Dr. Lancy Lobo and Dr. Denzil Fernandes , seeks to counter the current dominant narrative on Indian Christians , which equates evangelisation with conversion, and education, health and the social services provided by Christians as meant to lure -- even force -- vulnerable sections into Christianity.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Search This Blog