Narmada oustees' Rally for Valley stopped, Gujarat cops detain Medha Patkar, Prafulla Samantara, Nita Mahadev

By A Representative

Senior leaders of Rally for the Valley, organized by India’s well-known anti-dam organization, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) led by top social activist Medha Patkar, were detained at Gujarat border’s Kavta checkpost near Kavta village in Chhotaudaipur district of Gujarat, as they tried to enter the state from Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday afternoon.
Among those who were detained included top Patkar, Prafulla Samantara, winner of this year's prestigious environmental Nobel, Goldman Award, and top Gujarat Gandhian Nita Mahadev. They were stopped and detained by the police, which has refused to grant to Rally for the Valley a permission to enter Gujarat and take the rally to the state's villages. It rally was scheduled to pass through the Narmada district to reach Maharashtra.

Calling it an attack on the “constitutional rights of citizens of this country”, NBA in a statement said, the Rally for the Valley, which consists of hundreds of activists and Narmada dam oustees, was to pass through Gujarat and reach Jeevanshala, a school run by Narmada Navnirmaan Abhiyan of Chimalkhedi, Maharashtra.

“The police officials failed to produce any written order. Even the vehicles with Gujarat number plate and local buses were stopped from crossing the border”, NBA alleged in a statement, adding, this is nothing but “rampant suppressing people’s voices and their constitutional rights.”
Earlier, the police imposed Section 144 in the area where the NBA rally was to pass from Gujarat, prohibiting more than four persons to gather at one place. Apart from detaining Patkar and other activists, police also detained students, who had come from all over India to participate in the Rally of the Valley
In its last leg, the Rally for the Valley, which began on June 5, World Environment Day, did not face any such problem in Madhya Pradesh. On June 6, thousands of Narmada dam oustees gathered for a public meeting in the submergence zone village of Nisarpur, Madhyya Pradesh as part of the three-day campaign, which was kicked off in Indore.

Addressing the mass meeting, Mahadev, who heads Gujarat Lok Samiti, said, the Modi government has been “pressing for completion for the Narmada dam by closing its gates just to reap political benefit before the Gujarat assembly elections.”
Pointing out that it is impossible to rehabilitate thousands of the oustees before July 31, as desired by the Madhya Pradesh government, Mahadev the government has been seeking to use force to show that all the people had been adequately rehabilitated.
“Water that is currently being diverted from the dam to Gujarat is not reaching farmers but is being sold to corporations and cities”, she alleged, even as Gujarat’s revolutionary songwriter and singer Vinay Mahajan infused sang songs on the need to use non-violent ways in the face of brutal state terror.

Speaking at the public meeting, a class 6 child and a resident of the submergence zone village, Nisarpur, Ankita Soni Pankaj, asked the Prime Minister: “You live in bungalows, wear suits worth lakhs, travel abroad… What do you have for us?”
Those who spoke included Surendra Singh Baghel, MLA, Kukshi, Gajendra Singh, ex-MP, Congress, Patkar, Samantara, Jaswinder Singh Kaur of the All India Kisan Sabha, Dr Sunilam, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti’s Aradhana Bhargav, National Alliance of People’s Movement’s Madhuresh Kumar, and others.

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Rally in Patna: Non-farmer bodies to highlight plight of agriculture in Eastern India ahead of march to Parliament

P Sainath By A Representative Ahead of the march to Parliament on November 29-30, 2018, organized by over 210 farmer and agricultural worker organisations of the country demanding a 21-day special session of Parliament to deliberate on remedial measures for safeguarding the interest of farm, farmers and agricultural workers, a mass rally been organized for November 23, Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Museum), Gandhi Maidan, Patna. Say the organizers, the Eastern region merits special attention, because, while crisis of farmers and agricultural workers in Western, Southern and Northern India has received some attention in the media and central legislature, the plight of those in the Eastern region of the country (Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Eastern UP) has remained on the margins. To be addressed by P Sainath, founder of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a statement issued ahead of the rally says, the Eastern India was the most prosperous regi...

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

Counterview

Search This Blog