"Deep concern" over rapidly changing socio-political atmosphere after coming to power of majoritarian government in India

The all India Milli Council, which held its national convention on July 30, at Talkatora Stadium, came up with the following resolution:
At a time when there are counter efforts to mar the Indian Constitution’s basic components like pluralism, diversity, equality, justice and tolerance and those responsible for this feel sure that nothing would happen to them as if they have got sanction from the highest authorities in the government, the Constitution faces threats to its very existence. This extraordinary situation has perturbed the citizens of the country.
Realising the concerns of the citizens, All India Milli Council (AIMC) has called the national convention “Save the Constitution and Build the Nation” so that the issue is pondered over in detail and remedies are suggested. Following is the resolution passed by the national convention held at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi on July 30, 2017.
1. This gathering demands a total ban on hate speech which is against our ethos and the constitution. We demand stringent action against those who deliver hate speech and also those who support and condone such speeches.

JDU leader Sharad Yadav

2. The All India Milli Council (AIMC) expresses deep concern over the rapidly changing social and political atmosphere after coming to power of a majoritarian government in the country, posing threats to the democratic spirit and basic values of the constitution. We keenly feel that it need a strong movement to address this issue.
3. The AIMC calls upon every citizen to join “Save the Constitution and Build the Nation” movement.
4. The AIMC deplores the growing negative trend among voters that communal crimes pay poll dividends and finding that over 50 politicians holding elected office in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies face charges in criminal cases related to inciting religious violence or stoking communal hatred as revealed by a recent analysis of 50,324 candidates by English daily Hindustan Times.
5. The AIMC urges the government to take special measures and devise a separate law to stop the cases of lynching of minorities and Dalits on the pretext of protecting the cow and other related incidents continuing even after the condemnation of the hate crimes by the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues.

Activist Teesta Setalvad

6. The AIMC demands from the government to constitute a judicial commission to look into the cases of innocent Muslim youth arrested in the name of terrorism, particularly since 2001 and take special steps to rehabilitate them
with dignity, and devise separate laws to punish police officials who have arrested them on false charges.
7. The AIMC feels that there exists a fear psychosis in citizens, particularly the minorities, dalits and other weaker sections of the society since the Modi government took over and adopted authoritarian ways, ignoring the democratic order and therefore, asks the ruling coalition to instill confidence and trust in them.
8. The AIMC condemns the enhanced attacks on the religious places, including mosques, graveyards and other waqf properties and demands urgent steps for saving them.
9. The AIMC demands better care of government minority institutions, including National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) which are in bad shape, and also urges to appoint the chairperson of the NCMEI which remained vacant since Justice Suhail Ejaz Siddiqui demitted office in December 2014. This need further attention of the government in view of Delhi High Court directions on July 9, 2017.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer

10. The AIMC demands from the central government to categorically reject the recommendations of the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) headed by Dina Nath Batra to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to keep legendary Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib’s couplet and Urdu words from school texts.
11. The AIMC feels that although there is no official censorship on the press, it is under pressure and the media as a whole faces threats to its freedom whose recent victim is "Economic and Political Weekly" Editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, besides, organised attacks on media persons carried out by the rightist hoodlums. Therefore, the AIMC demands from the government to take effective measures in this connection.

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…

Mental health: India's 95% patients "deprived" of medical care, treatment gap 70%

By Moin Qazi*
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb. An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million from anxiety disorders. For those who suffer from mental illness, life can seem like a terrible prison from which there is no hope of escape; they are left forlorn and abandoned, stigmatized, shunned and misunderstood.

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.

Counterview

Search This Blog