Declared foreigner, Dalit Hindu lies handcuffed in Assam civil hospital, "battling" for life

By A Representative
In a disturbing revelation, Ratan Chandra Biswas, a Dalit Hindu, declared a "foreigner" by the National Register of Citizens, is lying handcuffed in Assam’s Goalpara Civil Hospital. Bringing this to light, a human rights site, Sabrang India, reports, he has been found “battling for his life, emaciated and shivering”, pointing out, “His condition is a bitter testimony to the ghastly conditions in Assam 's six detention camps, where over 2,000 persons are estimated to be have been incarcerated.”
Biswas is son of Ananda Chandra Biswas, received a “doubtful foreigners” notice about two years and eight months back. A resident of Gerukabari Village under Manikpur Police Station of Bongaigaon district, he panicked. After receiving the new status, he tried communicating to a local Police Station through a 'middle man'. He paid Rs 500 for the favour. There was no help or clarity forthcoming. Three months later he was arrested and sent to the Goalpara Detention Camp.
At the time of detention, Biswas had complaints. His condition, however, started deteriorating soon after detention. Finally, after prolonged illnesses he was admitted to the Goalpara Civil Hospital, where he lies handcuffed for treatment. A shivering and traumatised Biswas said, on video, “I have studied up to class six. My grandfather's name is in the 1966 Voters list. There is a small piece of land in my father's name. Though I am an Indian Citizen, I have been forced inside a detention camp for the last 2 years and five months.”

Right to walk, right to livelihood: Clearing footpaths 'can't mean' clearing out the urban poor

By Aseem Mishra* India’s cities are locked in a quiet but intensifying struggle over one of their most contested public spaces: the footpath. For pedestrians, a footpath is basic infrastructure—a strip of ground that should allow people to move safely, independently and with dignity. For millions of informal workers, the same stretch of pavement is a workplace, a source of daily income and often the difference between survival and destitution.

Ample evidence of child labour in South Gujarat's cash rich sugarcane belt: Study

By Rajiv Shah A recent German government-funded study , undertaken jointly by the NGO Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, which mainly deals examines the working conditions of migrant workers in the cash-rich sugarcane zone of South Gujarat, has gone a long way to suggest large scale prevalence of child labour during the harvesting season.

Women lawyers petition Supreme Court, seek reconsideration of Aug 4 order on bar council co-option

By A Representative A group of women advocates who stood sixth and seventh among female candidates in the recent Bar Council elections have filed a petition before the Supreme Court, seeking a recall and reconsideration of the Court’s August 4 order determining the mechanism for co-opting women into State Bar Councils.

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