Medha Patkar "arrested" after Madhya Pradesh cops force their way into pandal, lathi charge Narmada oustees

Patkar surrounded by supporters just ahead of arrest

By Our Representative
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, who was fasting for the 12 days to protest against the “failure” of the Government of India to rehabilitate thousands of Narmada dam oustees, apprehending massive submergence in Madhya Pradesh, has been "arrested".
Fasting in village Chikhalda on the banks of Narmada river with 11 of her supporters, Patkar was “removed” in a violent police swoop, which lasted for an hour, said eye-witnesses.
The pandal in which she and her supporters were on indefinite hunger strike was brought down. The police resorted to lathi charge to remove Patkar’s supporters before taking her away. An NBA activist, Shankarlal, was reportedly admitted in ICU after police lathi-charge. Many others sustained injury.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan denied that Patkar was arrested. He tweeted that he is a "sensitive person", and, considering Patkar's deteriorating health, she has only been admitted in a hospital on advice from doctors. "We wish her long and healthy life", he added.
In a statement ahead of her arrest at 6 pm, Patkar regretted that the only answer to their protest with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Madhya Pradesh chief minister was to put them pick them up and put them in detention.

Patkar being taken away

“We wanted dialogue. However, they had no reply to the arguments we had put forward to contradict their web of statistical lies. Hence, they are using force”, said. She described the use force against her non-violent movement as running counter to Gandhiji’s and Dr Ambedkar’s vision.
Patkar’s arrest took place amidst news that 21 Goldman Environmental prize – popularly Green Nobel prize – winners and 50 international organizations are learnt to have extended their support to the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), asking Modi to intervene and stop “forced eviction” of 40,000 oustees of the Narmada dam.
The support follows world renowned linguist and social scientist Noam Chomsky, along with 800 people from 30 countries, asking Modi to enter into negotiations with Patkar.

An NBA release said, the Goldman prize winners have written “a collective letter”, urging Modi to “ensure the fundamental rights of life and livelihood of the people in a democratic country.”

Pandal pulled down after arresting Parkar

Key organizations that have sought Modi’s intervention include Asian Peasant Coalition, Association for India’s Development, Earth International, World Rainforest Movement, the Asian Human Rights Commission, Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition, Landless Workers Movement - Brazil, International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs - Copenhagen, among others.
Meanwhile, addressing media in Delhi, India’s land rights movement, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA) leaders – CPI-M farmers’ leader Hannan Mollah, environmentalist Soumya Dutta, and National Federation of Indian Women general secretary Annie Raja – claimed that 191 villages and a small town, Dharampuri, would face submergence by mid-October once waters fill up to the full reservoir level, 138.68 metres, of the Narmada dam in Gujarat.

21 Goldman Environmental prize – popularly Green Nobel prize – winners and 50 international organizations extend support to Narmada Bachao Andolan, write to Modi

Even the state government has estimated that 18,000 families still need to be rehabilitated, the BAA leaders said, adding, hundreds of temples, mosques, adivasi religious places, schools, health centres, thousands of shops, small business places, well developed fruits and vegetable farms still being actively used, all will be drowned.

The injured activist being taken to hospital

The leaders said, in its last order dated February 8, 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered the governments to compensate Rs.60 lakh (estimated price of 5 acres of agricultural land there) to all those losing over 25% of the land and who have not taken any compensation yet.
The order had further said, those who took the earlier meagre compensation of 5.58 lakh, but were cheated by the collusion of officers and land-agents, were to be awarded 15 lakhs each family. Even this has still not been done, they pointed out, adding, meanwhile, the state government has amassed large police force, conducting intimidating drills in villages, threatening villagers to vacate or face consequences.

Comments

India failing to dictate diplomatic preferences of Nepal, Bhutan, is unfairly blaming Beijing: Chinese daily

By Our Representative
In a sharply-worded editorial, a top Chinese media outfit, described by BBC as state-run, has said, commenting on India's foreign relations with its neighbours, that "speculation and suspicion" is "certainly not diplomacy". Published in "China Daily", the largest circulating English Monday-to-Saturday newspaper with branches across the world, the editorial notes (September 20) that "several recent events" in Nepal and Bhutan, are "gnawing worrywarts in New Delhi".
The editorial -- which comes close on the heels of a sharp critique of India's foreign policy in a state-supported Russian media outfit, Sputnik International, calling India's anti-Pak diplomacy as having "gone awry" following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "half-baked" push for anti-terror drill down "others' throat" -- says, the " worrywarts" include "Nepalese troops taking part in a joint…

Ahmedabad, GIFT, Adani city get 1.68 lakh acre ft Narmada water; Gujarat's rural areas just 4.27 AF: Letter to CM

Counterview Desk
Well-known farmer rights leader Sagar Rabari, in an open letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, has demanded a transparent account of Narmada water, saying, while he has received a "routine reply" from him to his earlier, the data emerging from his RTI application show huge quantity of water being directed to Ahmedabad, the 10 km stretch of Sabarmati for the Ahmedabad riverfront, and nearby elite urban areas, including the Adanis' Shantigram township and GIFT City.

Accused of being RSS plant, Modi man, Hyderabad Urdu varsity chancellor asks President to probe "irregularities"

Counterview Desk
Refused entry in the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), the central university's newly appointed chancellor Firoz Bakht Ahmed, who claims to be grand nephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, has, in a letter to the President of India, said that MANUU vice-chancellor (V-C) Dr Aslam Parvaiz has accused him of being an RSS plant and a Modi man, whose sole aim is to "interfere in the working of the university".

17 lakh Jharkhand elderly, widows, differently abled do not receive pension: Public hearing told, aadhaar is a hurdle

By Our Representative
Hundreds of elderly, widows, single women and differently-abled persons from different districts of Jharkhand gathered near the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi for a public hearing organized by the Jharkhand Right to Food Campaign and Pension Parishad demanding the right to universal social security pensions ahead of World Elderly Day on October 1.

Ethnocide in Caribbean island filmed following award winning docufilm on Jamaica's anti-colonial Indian roots

International awards winner for Best Feature Documentary Linda Aïnouche for “Dreadlocks Story” (2014), which shows how Indians are entangled in the Jamaican society, and how Hinduism was a source of inspiration for the Rastafari movement, is all set to release her new documentary, “Marooned in the Caribbean”, which aims at documenting the awful desolating living conditions that Raizal people, the native inhabitants of San Andres Archipelago, endure.
Sons of slaves, these islanders have fallen prey to what the Colombian government calls Colombianization. “It’s a process”, according to her, “which kills the Raizal culture; it’s the killing of the Raizal soul. Colombianization subjugates Afro-descendants of San Andres to an ethnocide.”
Explorer, director and producer, Linda Aïnouche writes exclusively for Counterview: ***
Nobody escapes from blood and thunder in Colombia, and definitely not in the archipelago of San Andres, situated closer to Managua and Kingston than Bogota. The Raizal p…

India to deport Rohingya refugees, as the world moves towards prosecuting Myanmar for genocide

By Tapan Bose*
Seven Rohingya Muslims refugees who were held at a detention centre in Assam since 2012 will be handed over to Myanmar. The Supreme Court of India has refused to stop their deportation. The new Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gagoi said, "We are not inclined to interfere on the decision taken".

An elite Kutir set up by Modi far from the "madding" crowd: This Gandhi museum is formal, unapproachable

By Rajiv Shah
Have you ever heard of a Gandhi museum, sough to be projected as the “largest” on the Mahatma, yet totally inaccessible, in sharp contrast to Ahmedabad’s humble, approachable and unassuming Gandhi Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati, set up by the Mahatma during the heydays of the freedom movement? It exists about 30 kilometres away, its idea was conceived by none other than a person who has today become even more inaccessible than he ever was: Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister.

History less known: Kasturba's role as an independent woman and a freedom fighter in her own right

By Nandini Oza*
Even the most deserving of women do not find a place that equals their worth in history. Kasturba is one such woman whose contribution to India’s struggle for freedom has been exemplary, and yet, it has not received the recognition it deserves. Kastur Makhanji Kapadia was born in the year 1869, the same year and in the same town of Porbandar in Gujarat as Gandhiji. In fact she was older than Gandhiji by a few months.

Poor response to tenders for Gujarat's bid for the world's tallest statue, no international firm shows interest

By Our Representative
The Gujarat government’s claim that its decision to build the world’s highest statue in the world, in the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, would attract “tremendous” response top international construction companies, has gone phut. The state government floated international tenders in August to build the statue, which is slated to be 182-metres high. Despite the “international” character of the tenders and big claims, well-informed Sachivalaya sources close to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi say, “not one international firm has come up to offer to carry out the construction activity.”

Hyderabad-based Urdu university "bars" entry of its new chancellor, who had "initiated" reforms in institute

Counterview Desk
In an unusual controversy, Aslam Parvaiz, vice-chancellor of of the Hyderabad-based Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) has restricted the entry of its newly appointed Chancellor, Firoz Bakht Ahmed, allegedly because he was trying to initiate reforms, including setting up of a Maulana Azad Center for Composite Culture and Progressive Studies, Model Madrasa, Center for Empowerment of Muslim Women, Course for the Development of Legal Vocabulary and Legal Consciousness in Urdu, and so on.

Counterview

Search This Blog