Opposition parties, civil society unite, share platform in Lucknow at convention to mark anniversary of 1857 rebellion

By Our Representative
In an unusual show of anti-BJP unity, representatives from Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Communist parties shared a civil society platform in Lucknow, where nearly celebrations took place began on May 10 to mark the 160th anniversary of India’s first war of Independence, 1857. They had gathered for a “national convention for safeguarding the Constitution”.
Party representatives who participated the meet, including Arvind Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Surendra Rajput of the Congress, Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Javed Raza of JDU, Lal Bahadur Singh of the UP Jan Manch, DP Tripathi of Nationalist Congress Party, Ashish Mittal of the CPI-ML, SP Kashyap of the CPI-M, and Asha Mishra of the CPI, pointing towards the need to “support” creation of combined resistance against BJP.
Welcoming the civil society efforts for the creation of common platform, the political leaders said, there is an “urgent need” to form a joint front against the politics of the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, along more democratic and secular lines.
Also Buddha Purnima day, the convention celebrated Gautam Budhha as a champion of human rights in ancient India, even as pointing towards the importance of Buddha in safeguarding the constitution and bringing together social movements across the country against the attack on their constitutional rights.
A communique issued by organizers of the convention said, “The initiative is a collective response to numerous instances of abuse of power, fascist, right-wing policies of the BJP-led central and state governments. The victory of the BJP in UP elections and the events that have followed require immediate attention of all progressive forces of the country.”
The convention saw Rakesh Bedi, renowned theatre artist of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), noted social activist Teesta Setalvad, bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mandar, Saharanpur activist Sanjay Garg, Varanasi activist Deepak Mallick, student leader Ramkaran of the Allahbad University, Lal Bahadur Singh and Rooprekha from Sanjhi Duniya, discuss participation of youth in politics.
Speaking on the occasion, young Samajwadi Party leader Richa Singh spoke at length on how attacks were taken place against public-run institutions higher learning such as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Hydebarabad Central University.Singh said, hew Universities Grants Commission guidelines cuts up to 85% of seats at M Phil and PhD.
Ramkaran, student leader and activist pursuing law at the Allahabad University threw light on the systematic targeting of Dalit and other marginalized community students.
Other speakers agreed on what they called “unprecedented attack on the constitutional rights by the BJP.” Issues discussed included the communally divisive agenda of BJP, blatant saffronization, autocratic, non-democratic methods of working, abuse of power, anti-poor, pro-corporate economic policies, stoking of communal tensions and hypocritical u-turns of the Modi government at the Centre.
There was sharp focus on the rise of cow vigilantism, on one hand, and 'depoliticisation' of the youth in the country, on the other, with speakers stressing on the need for mass level political education, especially of the youth, on principles of Constitutionalism, rule of law and the historical learning experiences of national movements.
Participants questioned the Prime Minister’s silence on most of the issues, whether it was demonetization, land reforms, train ticket price hikes, scaling down of health and employment opportunities, and so on.
Mandar said while one can fight against anti-people discriminatory policies of the government, the silence of people and fellow citizens against injustice, such as the mob attack,s was harder to accept. Pointing towards the 'India Exclusion Report' published by Mr. Mandar's organisation, which is to be released on May 12, he added, it has carefully scrutinized the adverse impact of the BJP's strategy of 'social engineering'.

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Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

Counterview Desk
In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers.
Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’.
Pointing out that Evergreen Revol…

Rejoinder: Inescapable to have Central Water Commission as strong technical body in India

By BN Navalawala*
This is with reference to Counterview Blog (December 5, 2018), "Modi govt 'shelves' water reforms report, shows 'no interest' in its recommendations", below mentioned are my comments/observations thereon:
A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, Former Member, Planning Commission, for restructuring of Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for optimal development of water resources in the country in the backdrop of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Some Hindu bodies in US defending BJP-RSS' divisive, violent activities: Agnivesh

Counterview Desk Last week, Washington DC saw speakers at a religious freedom roundtable, chaired by the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, express concern over "eroding" space for religious freedom in India. Dr Mike Ghouse, executive director, of the Center for Pluralism in Washington DC, referring to the roundtable, said in an email alert that Indian-Americans have "a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)".

Preventing childhood deaths: India performs worse than Bangladesh, "equals" Pakistan

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released study, “The Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report 2018”, prepared by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has identified India among 15 other countries which are still far off the mark in achieving the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD).

Karnataka: NGO Akshay Patra "not sensitive" to nutrition demands of school children

Counterview Desk
Well-known civil rights organizations, Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, have sent a letter to the Union minister of human resource development, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, other concerned ministers and officials of the state expressing concerns regarding the mid-day meal (MDM) to school children, insisting, all contracts to the Akshay Patra for supply of MDM should be immediately terminated.

India's rewritten textbooks talk of demerits of democracy, praise Hitler, underrate Mughals

Counterview Desk
A detailed, 3,800-word review of the books rewritten under directions of the BJP rulers across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014 has suggested that one of aims of the books is to instill a sense of doubt about India’s democratic polity among the country’s young minds. Reviewed in the prestigious US journal, “The New York Review of Books”, in its latest issue (December 6, 2018) by Alex Traub, the scrutiny insists, the effort has also been to paint Indian history from the angle of “Hindu triumphalism”, even as creating “Islamophobia”.

Govt of India "tarnishing" NGO reputation, dossier leaked selectively: Amnesty

Counterview Desk
Amnesty International India has said that a deliberate attempt is being made to tarnish its reputation by leaking a dossier, supposedly made by investigating agencies, to media without giving it access to any such information. The high profile NGO’s claim follows a Times Now report about proceedings launched by investigative agencies, including Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the rights body for “violations” of rules pertaining to overseas donations.

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.

Four children die after poor UP Dalit, Muslim families forced to flee to forest area: PVCHR

Counterview Desk
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) has said that the forest department police’s crackdown, allegedly without any prior notice, on Dalit and Muslim households in Dakhin Tola, Churk Bazaar, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh, beating up “children and old people, women, and men in an inhuman way”, has led to “forced displacement, starvation and discrimination”. This has reportedly affected about 350 people.

Vedanta is out but corporate loot continues in Odisha: Local activists tell NAPM yatra

By Our Representative
Lok Shakti Abhiyan leader Prafulla Samantara, winner of the Goldman Environmental (also known as Green Nobel) Prize in 2017, has regretted that though Sundergarh in Odisha, like other forest areas, is a fifth schedule area, where Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is applicable, but these laws are being “outrightly violated to facilitate corporate loot.”

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