Delhi-Haridwar foot marchers for "saving" Ganga resolve to oppose BJP in elections

By Our Representative
The Delhi to Haridwar foot march, which started from Jantar Mantar on March 9, 2019 concluded today at Matri Sadan, Haridwar, the site of long fasts for conservation of Ganga. Currently, 26 years old Brahmachari Atmabodhanand is on fast for 145 days in order to press upon the government listens to his demands.
Earlier, Swami Nigmanand lost his life after 115 days fast in 2011 against illegal mining in Ganga, followed by Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, formerly Prof GD Agrawal, who lost his life on October 11, 2019 after 112 days of fast demanding halt of all proposed and ongoing hydroelectric power projects on Ganga, illegal mining, deforestation in river basin and flow of sewage into Ganga.
A meeting was held in the presence of Atmabodhanand and Swami Shivanand, head of Matri Sadan, in which environmentalist Ravi Chopra, member of Parliament from Nepal Met Mani Chaudhary, and Asia representative of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Phoolman Chaudhary were present.
The marchers who reached Matri Sadan this morning included Faisal Khan, Bhupinder Singh Rawat, Kallol Roy, Praveen Kumar Singh, Aditya Yadav, Dharamveer Singh, Shankar Singh, Krishan Dake, Gautam De Sarkar, Heera Das, Ahmed Iqbal Hussain, Shabbir Hussain, Ramchandra Prasad Das, Sant Shiromani Sanwar Muni Ravidas, Sandeep Pandey, Medha Pushkar, Shalini Shrinet, Sushil Khanna, Hema Bhandari, Uma Ghildiyal and Devesh Patel.
Around 15,000 leaflets were distributed along the route, said a communiqué issued by the organizers. The march was hosted by pediatrician Dr. Ashank in Roorkee, local corporator Gulfam of Kaliyar, and by Hema Bhandari, contender in last election for mayor’s post in Haridwar on behalf of the Aam Admi Party in Haridwar.
“The marchers will take the message in the next general elections that the ruling BJP, which has exhibited utter insensitivity towards the saints fasting for Ganga should not be returned to power”, the communiqué added.

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132 Gujarat citizens, including IIM-A faculty, others declare solidarity with Kashmiris

Counterview Desk
A week after it was floated, 132 activists, academics, students, artists and other concerned citizens of Gujarat, backed by 118 living in different parts of India and the world, have signed a "solidarity letter" supporting the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), who, it claims, have been silenced and held captive in their own land. The signatories include faculty members and scholars of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Amit Shah 'wrong': Lack of transparency characterized bank frauds, NPAs, jobs data

Counterview Desk
India's senior RTI activists Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bhardwaj, Venktesh Nayak, Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, Dr. Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, Pankti Jog and Pradip Pradhan, who are attached with the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), have said that Union home minister Amit Shah's claim that the Government of India is committed to transparency stands in sharp contrast to its actual actions.

Bharat Ratna nominee ‘joined hands’ with British masters to 'crush' Quit India

By Shamsul Islam*
The Quit India Movement (QIM), also known as ‘August Kranti' (August Revolution), was a nation-wide Civil Disobedience Movement for which a call was given on August 7, 1942 by the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee. It was to begin on August 9 as per Gandhi's call to 'Do or Die' in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan on August 8. Since then August 9 is celebrated as August Kranti Divas.

Gujarat's incomplete canals: Narmada dam filled up, yet benefits 'won't reach' farmers

By Our Representative
Even as the Gujarat government is making all out efforts to fill up the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river up to the full reservoir level (FRL), a senior farmer rights leader has said the huge reservoir, as of today, remains a “mirage for the farmers of Gujarat”.
In a statement, Sagar Rabari of the Khedut Ekta Manch (KEM), has said that though the dam’s reservoir is being filled up, the canal network remains complete. Quoting latest government figures, he says, meanwhile, the command area of the dam has been reduced from 18,45,000 hectares (ha) to 17,92,000 ha.
“According to the website of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, which was last updated on Friday, while the main canal, of 458 km long, has been completed, 144 km of ranch canals out of the proposed length of 2731 km remain incomplete.
Then, as against the targeted 4,569 km distributaries, 4,347 km have been constructed, suggesting work for 222 km is still pending. And of the 15,670 km of minor canal…

Ceramic worker dies: 20,000 workers in Thangadh, Gujarat, 'risk' deadly silicosis

By Our Representative
Even as the country was busy preparing for the Janmashtami festival on Saturday, Hareshbhai, a 46-year-old ceramic worker from suffering from the fatal lung disease silicosis, passed away. He worked in a ceramic unit in Thangadh in Surendranagar district of Gujarat from 2000 to 2016.
Hareshbhai was diagnosed with the disease by the GCS Medical College, Naroda Road, Ahmedabad in 2014. He was found to be suffering from progressive massive fibrosis. He is left behind by his wife Rekha sister and two sons Deepak (18) and Umesh (12),
The death of Hareshbhai, says Jagdish Patel of the health rights group Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), suggests that silicosis, an occupational disease, can be prevented but not cured, and the Factory Act has sufficient provisions to prevent this.
According to Patel, the pottery industry in the industrial town of Thangadh has evolved for a long time and locals as well as migrant workers are employed here. There are abou…

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