India betraying Palestinians? Modi carries forward Narasimha Rao's policy to establish full-fledged relations with Israel

By Sheshu Babu

After Independence, India adopted the policy of non-alignment under the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. While the prime motive was non-interference, India always supported the cause of Palestinians in UN and also in WHO till 2016. It voted in favour of Palestine in almost every resolution. The year 2017 was the first occasion when India abstained from voting on the Palestine issue clearly from the orders of New Delhi, given the Government's current growing strategic and economic relation with Israel.
India was among 20 countries, which abstained during a vote on 'draft decision' on May 23, proposing to support Palestinians in their endeavor to provide health services in the present conflict ridden situation. Discussion on the issue was part of the agenda in World Health Assembly, the WHO annual global level event in Geneva taking place this year (May 21 -26).
The draft decision titled 'Health conditions in the occupied Palestine Territory including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan' was proposed by Algeria, Bahrain, Cuba,Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Venezuela (Bolivian Republic of) and Yemen, etc. (May 28, 2018, www.kracktivist.org).
Discussieons on the health conditions of Palestinians draft was put to vote. 90 countries voted in favour and 6 against (Australia, Canada, US, UK and Guatemala). Twenty nations abstained. At a time when Israelis massacred about 60 civilians in Gaza, India's abstaining is regrettable. Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, the Indian chapter of people's health movement, said that this is shocking (Down to Earth). This comes at a time when Israel is violating human rights consistently.
The seeds of relationship with Israel were laid during the rule of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The visit of Arafat in 1992 had some indications of India abandoning its four decade policy of 'no relations' with Israel. According to PR Kumaraswamy (JNU) , the Rao-Arafat meet removed the last hurdle in normalisation of relations with Israel, and Arafat had no option but to agree that India had the right to decide its own foreign priorities ("Modi Redefines India's Palestine policy", May 18, 2017, https//idsa.in).
Modi, who admires Rao, has carried the policy forward and established full-fledged relations with Israel. Thus,the India right wing has 'backstabbed' the people of Palestinians. Their support to Israel has become an integral part of India's Middle-East policy. Palestine people have been left in the lurch.
People of India should vociferously protest this abstention and force the government to take proactive stance in support of the people of Palestine. The Zionist Israeli rule backed by US and its allies must be sternly opposed. Human rights activists should see that the traditional support to oppressed people like Palestine should not be deviated by the government. Mass mobilisation to protest the indifferent attitude should be stepped up. Indians should firmly denounce atrocities by Israel and its allies.

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US research: 40% of India's casteist Facebook posts are anti-reservation, anti-Dalit

By Rajiv Shah
A recent American civil society research has found that 40% of India's casteist posts on Facebook (FB) have anti-reservation slant. Asserting that the reservation policy in India is similar to affirmative action in the United States, the research study, titled "Facebook India: Towards The Tipping Point of Violence Caste and Religious Hate Speech", says, this type of hate content on FB is mainly directed against Dalits and Adivasis.

Sanjiv Bhatt paying price for deposing on Modi role in Gujarat riots: Wife Shweta

Counterview Desk
Following the Jamnagar sessions court ordering life imprisonment to former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for his alleged involvement in three decades old custodial death case, his wife Shweta Bhatt has said that he has been sentenced for a “for a crime he did not commit”, even as criticizing the Indian Police Service (IPS) Association, Gujarat, for not standing up for him.

Senior advocates targeted because they took up cases against Amit Shah: Lawyers' NGO

Counterview Desk
The Lawyers Collective (LC), an NGO claiming to promote human rights issues, has expressed surprise at the latest move by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR against the Lawyers Collective (LC), its president Anand Grover and unknown office bearers for alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA).

How Gujarat govt imposed curbs on livestock export for 'fear' of losing BJP vote share

By RK Misra*
Insidious are the ways authorities function, preaching one thing, practicing quite another. Administrative muscle-flexing to suit political goals was on display when the BJP-led Vijay Rupani government in Gujarat banned the export of livestock days ahead of Eid. Even the Narendra Modi-led government expressed its intent to confirm it countrywide, but stopped short of doing so.

One of the least peaceful countries, India's global peace ranking deteriorates: Report

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released report has asserted that India's ranking in the Global Peace Index (GPI) is 141st among 163 countries, deteriorating by four ranks in a year. Ranking 163 countries by providing a score to each, the report, prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), headquartered in Sydney, Australia, has found India to be one of the least peaceful nations in the region.

Demand for Bharat Ratna to Dalai Lama as top RSS leader warns China of 'strong' action

Nava Thakuria*
Dharamshala: Indian supporters for a free Tibet have urged the Government of India to confer Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, on the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, for his “immense contributions” in creating goodwill for India in the last six decades. A declaration, adopted at the 6th All-India Tibet Support Groups’ Conference held on June 15 and 16 in Dharamshala township of Himachal Pradesh, said that the Nobel laureate continues to be a holy ambassador of Indian culture enriched with non-violence, compassion and religious harmony.

Sabarmati 'cleaned up' swimming pool style: Untreated effluents discharged in river

Counterview Desk
In a fresh letter to the secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, senior Gujarat environmentalists Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) have taken strong objection to the recent clean-up drive of the about 11.3 km stretch of Sabarmati riverbed undertaken by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), terming it as “swimming pool type clean-up.” The river’s total length is 371 km.

Jharkhand mob lynching: Adivasis protest police 'inaction', FIR against victims

Counterview Desk
The Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch (JJM), a civil rights network, on Monday sponsored a protest against the police action against the Adivasi victims of the lynching which took on April 10, 2019, in Jurmu village of Dumri block in Gumla district of Jharkhand. The incident led the death of Prakash Lakda, aged 50.

Gujarat govt 'considers' temples, charitable institutions as shops and establishment

By Pankti Jog*
The Gujarat state assembly recently passed a new law which would "govern" the working condition of shops and establishments. One of the most talked about provisions of the Act is, it allow shops and establishments across Gujarat to function 24 hours.

There is no 'separate' Kashmir story, as there is for Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, Palestine

By Mohan Guruswamy*
Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of South Asia. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. The name Kashmir derives from the Sanskrit Kashyapmeru. The Greeks knew it as Kaspeiria. Herodotus called it Kaspatyros.

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