Skip to main content

Bullet train land acquisition: Farmers' representatives to go to Japan, meet JICA officials, politicians, media

By A Representative
A 20-odd farmers' delegation consisting of representatives from Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli is planning to go to Japan in October to represent before the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the Rs 80,000 crore Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
The delegation plans to go to Japan after JICA "agreed" to listen to the grievances of the project-affected farmers. It will also be meeting the leader of the opposition, student leaders and intellectuals in Japan, and hold press conferences in five cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to make a statement that it's not just land but life that is being for the project.
Revealing this, senior advocate Anand Yagnik, who is representing the aggrieved farmers in the Gujarat High Court, said, JICA guidelines "categorically say that if any person aggrieved by the land acquisition being carried out on finance from Japan Bank can file a petition formally invoking the guidelines of JICA." He added, JICA, after hearing them, would "depute a team and try to reconcile the situation.”
JICA agreed to meet the delegation after Yagnik shot off a letter to Japan’s Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu and Chief Representative of JICA India Office, Katsuo Matsumoto, demanding intervention from the agency wanting constitution of a team and schedule a meeting with the project-affected farmers.

Comments

TRENDING

A fearless spirit lost: Rebecca Thomson dies at 17-hour Catalina Swim Mark

By Harsh Thakor  On July 26, 2026, Rebecca “Becky” Thomson suffered cardiac arrest while attempting the Catalina Channel Swim — a marathon open water crossing from Catalina Island to the California mainland. After swimming for 17 hours, Thomson collapsed in the water. Despite the painstaking efforts of emergency responders and the medical staff at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, she succumbed to a devastating hypoxic brain injury and died Friday evening.

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.

Defying anti-insurgency campaign, Maoists hold demonstrate in West Bengal and Punjab

By Harsh Thakor*  In a notable development, despite the Government of India's sustained campaign against the Maoist insurgency in recent years, organisations in West Bengal and Punjab have continued to hold public programmes associated with the movement's political legacy. Recently, groups in Kolkata and Moga organised separate events focusing on the legacy of the Maoist movement, contemporary political developments, and issues relating to education, democratic rights and social movements.