Minority rights leaders detained in Ahmedabad, had planned protest against Modi

By A Representative
Gujarat civil society organisation Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) leaders -- Mujahid Nafees, Shakeel Shaikh, Danish Khan, and others -- who had planned a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the VS Hospital were detained on Thursday afternoon. They had wished to highlight the alleged failure of the Gujarat government to implement "development needs" of minorities, who form 11.5% of the state's population.
An MCC communique said, the Gujarat authorities were "so scared" of the protest against the Prime Minister, whom MCC members had planned to give a memorandum of demands, that the leaders were picked up for detention from their residence at 3 pm, an hour before the protest was planned. Insisting that the Prime Minister "cannot suppress our voice", MCC claimd, "Our demands are all in consonance with international treaties signed by the Government of India."
Meant for the development and protection of minorities, the main demands are: Creation of a separate minority welfare department, separate budgetary allocation for the development of minorities, setting up of a minority commission as a statutory body, opening government schools up to class 12th in minority dominated areas, recognition of madarsa degree as equivalent to the Gujarat Board, special economic package for the upliftment of minorities, and a government policy for the rehabilitation of people displaced by communal violence.

Can free‑living Indian street dogs teach us about how to care for pet dogs?

By Daniel Ramp, Kapil Vishwas Patwardhan, Rosalie Chapple We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet, and how they move through the world.

Rights groups condemn arrests and security buildup amid Siang mega-dam protests in Arunachal

By A Representative A coalition of several civil rights, labour, student and social justice groups, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), has condemned the arrest of three anti-dam activists in Arunachal Pradesh following recent violence in Pasighat, demanding their immediate release and the withdrawal of security forces from protest areas opposing the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

A path of self-reliance in place of migration: Saplings, nutrition gardens and perseverance

By Vikas Meshram* In the tribal belt stretching from Banswara to Dahod, the day often begins with a glance at the sky. The fields are small, the land uneven and sloping, and irrigation mostly means whatever the rain chooses to give. Yet in the villages of this region, a different story has been unfolding over the past few years. Sitting in meetings of Vaagdhara’s Gram Swaraj groups, farmers have begun to treat water, forest, land, livestock and seed as their real capital.

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