Narmada dam oustees of 3 states to begin protest march on May 27, reach Bhopal for public hearing on June 4

By Our Representative
Starting along the banks of Narmada river off the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, the dam affected people of three states – Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra – will begin a week-long on May 27. Seeking to highlight the plight the displaced people, the march will reach Madhya Pradesh capital
Bhopal on June 4, where a public hearing is proposed to be organised.
To pass through Khalghat on May 29, Indore on May 31 and Sehore on June 2, rally organizers, the anti-dam Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which has been fighting for resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) of the dam oustees for three decades, has said that, apart from the farmers who have been uprooted because of the Sardar Sarovar dam, fishworkers and forest workers too would take part in the rally in large numbers.
“Farmers, including people dependent on nature and animal husbandry, fishworkers and forest workers will demand for debt free status and to get right the price for their produce. They will also demand withdrawal of false cases foisted upon farmers in the aftermath of Mandsaur killings”, the NBA said.
The rally is being organized a year after farmers' protest at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, which began on June 1, took a violent turn on June 6, when five persons were killed in police firing.
NBA said, “Once again crisis looms large over land, agriculture, water and forests of the Narmada Valley. After uprooting millionsby building dams like Bargi, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar and Jobat, destroying fertile land, centuries old traditional villages, adivasis, farmers-agricultural workers, fishworkers and artisans have not been rehabilitated even until now.”
It added, “Sardar Sarovar oustees after struggling for 32 years have managed to get a few benefits but thousands of affected people of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have still not gotten justice. To challenge the unprecedented displacement in the name of development, once again, thousands of people will set out from the Valley.”
Among the demands the NBA-led rally has decided to put forward include restoration of the “rights of the gram sabhas of those displaced” to choose the type of development they want, an “independent, transparent and unbiased study” of the socio-economic effects, as also financing and long-term benefits of big projects, and “justifiable share from progress” to the affected people.
The statement said, the conditions of all rivers of the country are in the same condition as Narmada: Destruction of forests, attack of big dams and illegal sand mining, making the rivers die, denial of farmers and workers their right to resources and livelihood.
The statement said, “The impending elections have prompted chief minister Shivaraj Chauhan to promise enough water for Malwa along with 70 other cities”, at a time when “in downstream areas in Gujarat (areas below the dam) the youth are in anguish for deprived of land, water and jobs.”
“After pushing the three states into quagmire in the name of development, the Modi government and state governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have only tried to gain political mileage in the name of Narmada waters”, hence the need to save Narmada, or “Narmada Bachao”, said NBA.
It further said, “Farmers, agricultural workers, fishworkers, cattle rearers, tribals and forest dwellers sustaining on forest produce, who will participate in the rally, will be demanding complete loan waiver”, adding, “In Madhya Pradesh, five farmers commit suicide every day. The state which gives loan waivers worth crores to corporates bears the moral responsibility to extend its support to farmers.”
“We demand minimum price of farm output as 1.5 times of cost, in food grains as well as cash crops and on vegetables, on fish and forest produce, and on milk. Cost should be fixed taking into account value of land and natural resources along with family labour that goes into farming”, NBA added.
Also taking exception to the Chutka Nuclear Plant and 13 thermal power plants, being built along Narmada, NBA said, “This means more diversion of waters and choking the river with ash.”

Comments

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Examples of support to Hindu temples, scriptures, saints by 'Muslim' rulers galore

Siya Ram coin issued by Akbar By Bharat Dogra* At a time when the country as well as the world are passing through very difficult times leading to more urgent need for strengthening national unity for meeting several big challenges ahead, unfortunately disputes relating to religious places have been allowed to raise their ugly head once again. It is well-realized by now by many people that it is not historical facts but narrow considerations of political gain and spreading of fanatic ideas of intolerance which are behind such mischief, but due to the increasing threat of mob violence and patronage available at higher levels to groups spreading intolerance many people are reluctant to openly and fearlessly express their views. Hence there is urgent need for broad-based peace committees with wider social support to spread the message of communal harmony and to appeal against the dangers of spreading false messages regarding places of worship which can ultimate

Gyanvapi case: Use of 'illegal' lawfare to keep the communal pot simmering

By Venkatesh Narayanan, Bobby Ramakant, Manoj Sarang* With a steady drumbeat of bad news for the lives of ordinary citizens -- inflation at a multi-year high , rupee at an all-time low , negative job creation and when all forward indicators as seen by industry leaders point to recessionary clouds on the horizon , what’s a serially-incompetent government to do? Dust out their time-tested-citizen-distraction playbook. The Gyanvapi-Masjid case is all of this -- as a weapon of mass distraction. This zeitgeist of our times is best captured by a recent opinion piece : "The idea is to keep the pot on a perpetual boil, simmering at the top, whirling feverishly beneath. A restless society forever living precariously on the precipice arouses distrst, uneasiness, fear and discomfort, That is a toxic panoply for manufacturing rage, which can then be effortlessly mobilized at short notice. BJP is creating an eco-system of real-time instant delivery of hate-mongers. That is how we are sudde

Targeting mosques, churches: 'Roadmap' for 2025, RSS' centenary year?

416 years old Our Lady of Health Church, Sancoale, Goa By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Fascists use manipulative strategies aimed at whipping up sympathy and support from the majority community, to which they normally ‘belong’. They do so in a variety of insidious and subtle ways. In the past few months, they have gone overboard in their efforts to denigrate and demonize minorities in India, particularly Muslims and Christians. They have spewed hate and divisiveness through their venomous speeches; incited people to violence and have effectively used officialdom to further their vested interests. The results are there for all to see: greater polarisation of the majority community in a country which prided itself for its pluralism and diversity. Their meticulously planned agenda is in order to gain absolute power of the country in the 2024 national elections. More so it is also a roadmap towards 2025 when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will complete one hundred years of its existence.

This varsity succumbed to extra-academic mobocracy, 'ignored' Hindutva archives

By Shamsul Islam* Open letter to Sharda University vice-chancellor Sub: Discarding a Question on Linkages of Hindutva with Nazism/Fascism is blatant Academic Dishonesty! Dear Professor Sibaram Khara Saheb, Namaskaar! According to your esteemed University’s portal: “The name of University, 'Sharda' is synonymous to 'Goddess of knowledge and learning-Saraswati'. She is identified with 'veena', an Indian musical instrument and the ‘lotus’, where she resides. The lotus in our logo symbolizes the seat of learning that the University is created for. "Variety of colours signify the variety of disciplines the university offers and the overlap between petals creating new colours demonstrate the ethos of collaboration between students and teachers of different programme, nationality, creed and colour working towards creating new knowledge…the University's cherished mission to provide education beyond boundaries and to facilitate the students and faculty to achie

Whither climate goal? Increasing reliance on coal 'likely to worsen' India's power crisis

By Shankar Sharma* Recent news articles, How to shock-proof India’s power sector and Power minister points finger at states for worsening electricity crisis , have highlighted a few current problems for the ongoing power sector issues as in April 2022. However, there is a lot more to it than a few temporary solutions as indicated in the articles. It should also be emphasised that it is techno-economically impossible to completely shock-proof a highly complex and geographically wide-spread vast power network, such as the one in India, which is only getting more and more complex with the passage of each year due to some irrational policies/ practices in the sector. A business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, wherein more and more of conventional technology power plants, including coal power plants, will be added in the near future, will also necessitate the increased complexity in the integrated national grid, and as a result the instances of power shortage/ disruptions can only escalate for

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A former Modi ally, Prashant Kishor wanted to enter Congress 'on contract, as trader'

By Anand Sahay* The Congress Party and the election campaigns specialist Prashant Kishor, whose company has done strategic communications for a host of political parties across ideology, should both count themselves lucky that they could not reach an agreement for Kishor to join the party. News reports suggest that the Congress rejected Kishor’s terms. This is not wholly unexpected. People join a party because they are attracted to it, and wish to serve it in any capacity that the party may see fit. But that isn’t Kishor at all. He gave the impression of entering into a contract, as a trader might. If news reports are to be believed, he sought freedom to report directly to party chief Sonia Gandhi, and sought untrammeled control over party communications. When such ideas did not find favour, the consultant withdrew. It is clear he has no particular love for the Congress, and its ideas, ideology and politics. In contrast, look at the key personae in G-23. They

Govt of India 'compromising' on mandate to regulate gene technologies, protect nature

Counterview Desk In a letter sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and other related ministries and departments, the Coalition for a GM-Free India has raised "serious concern" over the guidelines notified for Genome Edited Organisms, in which major exemptions from regulations have been offered to certain categories of Genome Edited Organisms/Plants and products. A letter signed by Sridhar Radhakrishnan and Kapil Shah, co-convenors of the NGO network, addressed to Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, said, the Office Memorandum, dated May 17, 2022 of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology about Safety Assessment Guidelines, which follows the Office Memorandum dated March 30, 2022 of the MoEFCC, said, the move "essentially amounts to entry of risky GMOs through the backdoor. Text : Coalition for a GM-Free India is a national volunteer-driven platform of hundre

A Marxian trend that queries undemocratic customs and traditions of capitalism

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* A very well-meaning comrade called me a pluriversal Marxist with a wild smile full of English irony, while chairing my book release function in the Marx Memorial Library, London. I dedicate this piece to her… There is no other philosopher who is more abused and misunderstood like Marx. There is no other philosophy like Marxism which is more demonised on a regular basis. The mindless vilification campaign against Marx and Marxism continues without any form of reason. The propaganda and portrayal of Marxism as a devilish doctrine signify its importance as a philosophy of human emancipation from the very forces who demonise it. Marxism is a philosophy of praxis which helps us to understand the centrality of creative power of labour in producing socially meaningful value. It helps us to analyse the laws governing production, distribution, consumption, exchange, market, profit, pricing and private property in the development of class-based society. As a humanist p

Counterview

Search This Blog