Skip to main content

Top Odisha civil rights leader arrested, NAPM warns of "morcha" on March 11

By A Representative
The National Alliance of Peoples’s Movements(NAPM), calling the arrest on Wednesday of Lingraj Azad, leader of Niyamgiri Suraksha Parishad, by Odisha police illegal and deceitful, ha said, he "successfully fought the valiant struggle against Vedanta corporation along with Dongria Kondh."
"Initially it was reported that he has been arrested in an old case but just now we have learnt that sedition charges has also been slapped against him", NAPM said in a statement, adding, . Azad is "a fierce fighter for the rights of the adivasis." He is national vice president of the Samajwadi Jan Parishad and national convener of NAPM.
The top rights network said, "Arrests and attacks are not new to him in nearly three decades of his activism. He has faced physical attacks and harassment from the state for his struggle against the systemic oppression and corporate loot of the natural resources", warning, if he not released, it would plan a morcha in Bhubaneswar on March 11 and on the continued violations of rights in Niyamgiri hills.
The statement has been signed by Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andon; Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan; Dr Binayak Sen of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); and Prafulla Samantara of the Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha.

Comments

TRENDING

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan   M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.