Big dams lead to "tremendous losses" to environment and livelihood: Activists, exprerts

By Our Representative
Participating in a dialogue in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, environmentalists and activists said that presented said that big dams lead to "tremendous losses" to the environment and livelihood of the people. The dialogue was organized by Narmada Bachao Andolan, Matu Jan Sangathan and Bargi Bandh Visthapit Sangh.
Social activist Medha Patkar presented several case studies to outline how undemocratically and unscientifically dams are being pushed forward without credible studies over environment, social and economic repercussions. Not even one third of irrigation targets have been achieved by the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the electricity generation is shut for a year. About 21,000 km of canals are yet to be completed, dry Kutch has also been left halfway from the benefits of this water, she added.
Vimal Bhai from Uttarakhand blamed the dams on Ganga-Bhagirathi in the Himalayan region for the 2013 floods. GO Jose from Kerala raised the same issue in the context of Kerala and demanded an independent enquiry on the role of dams for the recent floods in the state. Chinmaya Mishra, senior journalist, expressed concerns over the destruction of rivers, forests and farmlands rather than issues over religion and caste that will destroy the future.
Devram Kanera, Kailash Avasya and Dinesh Bhilala highlighted the plight of the displaced from Sardar Sarovar, Jobat dams. Rajkumar Sinha of Bargi Bandh Visthapit Sangh spoke on behalf of the displaced of Bargi dam who have still not been rehabilitated after 28 years. Only 43,700 hectares out of 70,000 ha. planned irrigation have been realized. Electricity targets have not been realized. Bargi dam has just become a feeder of Sardar Sarovar dam. Its waters are being given to industries and power plants instead of irrigation.
Rehmat Bhai of Manthan Adhyay Kendra presented research reports that prove severe corruption in the name of irrigation. Thinker Rakesh Diwan asked people to consider traditional irrigation methods and small scale electricity generation not as an alternative but as the primary way to manage rivers. Dams like Hirakud or Narmada are cheating in the name of development as they have only promoted corruption and destroyed nature.
Vinit Tiwari, National Secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh, highlighted the case of Indira Sagar Dam where 140000 ha. of land was submerged to irrigate 110000 ha. land! Irrigation is just a trick, real intention of these projects is to reap corporate profits rather than ensure food security of the nation.

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Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Visually challenged lady seeks appointment with Gujarat CM, is 'unofficially' detained

By Pankti Jog*
It was a usual noon of November 10. I got a phone call on our Right to Information (RTI) helpline No 9924085000 from Ranjanben of Khambhat, narrating her “disgraceful” experience after she had requested for an appointment with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. She wanted to meet Rupani, on tour of the Khambhat area in Central Gujarat as part of his Janvikas Jumbesh (Campaign for Development).

There may have been Buddhist stupa at Babri site during Gupta period: Archeologist

By Rajiv Shah
A top-notch archeologist, Prof Supriya Varma, who served as an observer during the excavation of the Babri Masjid site in early 2000s along with another archeologist, Jaya Menon, has controversially stated that not only was there "no temple under the Babri Masjid”, if one goes “beyond” the 12th century to 4th to 6th century, i.e. the Gupta period, “there seems to be a Buddhist stupa.”

Gujarat refusal to observe Maulana Azad's birthday as Education Day 'discriminatory'

By Our Representative
The Gujarat government decision not to celebrate the National Education Day on !monday has gone controversial. Civil society organizations have particularly wondered whether the state government is shying away from the occasion, especially against the backdrop of "deteriorating" level of education in Gujarat.

VHP doesn't represent all Hindus, Sunni Waqf Board all Muslims: NAPM on SC ruling

Counterview Desk
India's top civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), even as describing the Supreme Court's Ayodhya judgement unjust, has said, it is an "assault on the secular fabric of the Constitution". In a statement signed by top social workers and activists, NAPM said, "The judgement conveys an impression to Muslims that, despite being equal citizens of the country, their rights are not equal before the law."

Church in India 'seems to have lost' moral compass of unequivocal support to the poor

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*
In 2017, Pope Francis dedicated a special day, to be observed by the Universal Church, every year, as the ‘World Day of the Poor’. This year it will be observed on November 17 on the theme ‘The hope of the poor shall not perish for ever’; in a message for the day Pope Francis says:

Violent 'Ajodhya' campaign in 1840s after British captured Kabul, destroyed Jama Masjid

Counterview Desk Irfan Ahmad, professor at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany, and author of “Islamism and Democracy in India” (Princeton University Press, 2009), short-listed for the 2011 International Convention of Asian Scholars Book Prize for the best study in Social Sciences, in his "initial thoughts" on the Supreme Court judgment on the Babri-Jam Janmaboomi dispute has said, while order was “lawful”, it was also “awful.”

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