Counterview

By  A  Representative A Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) youth conference in Ranchi saw participants expressing serious concern over rising majoritarianism, mob lynching, exploitation of Adivasis, Dalits and minorities, and lack of employment opportunities among the youth, even as expressing serious concern over refusal of the police to file cases under the anti-atrocities Act.

The satellite image showing water body in 2015 By  A  Representative Dr Lubna Sarwath, an Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore alumni, who is currently Telangana state general secretary and spokesperson of the Socialist Party (India), and has worked as convener Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), Hyderabad, in a letter to the Telangana State Legal Services Authority, High Court at Hyderabad, has pointed towards how, because of the destruction of an inflow channel of a water body in the city has led to flooding of Navanami residency, Puppuluguda.

Farooq Abdullah By Sandeep Pandey* When the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Farooq Abdullah was absent in Parliament on the day when the state’s fate was being decided on August 5, 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah informed Parliament that he had chosen on his own will not to come to the Parliament. He even went to the extent of saying that he can’t bring Farooq Abdullah to the Parliament on gun point.

By Moin Qazi* “My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given moment. The result has been that I have grown from truth to truth ….” -- The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol 90 Eighty kilometres to the east of Nagpur in central India lies Bapu Kuti, a historic site in Sewagram, the ‘village of service’, nestled in the serene rustic surroundings close to Wardha district. This dwelling was the residential abode of Mahatma Gandhi from 1936 to 1948 and was the epicentre of the Indian freedom movement.

By Rajiv Shah  An Oxford University study, “The Global Disinformation Order 2019”, has found that India is one of the seven top countries around the world where “a handful of sophisticated state actors use computational propaganda for foreign influence operations”. It adds, Facebook and Twitter has identified India, along with China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which use the two social media platforms “to influence global audiences.”

By Rajiv Shah A recent study published in the “International Journal for Equity in Health” has found that high levels of malnutrition has found the proportion of stunting (40.5%) and wasting (22.1%) among migrant children in the “model city” Ahmedabad were “close to the national average”, but the “proportion of underweight children (50.4%) was considerably higher.”

By Nava Thakuria* Baloch leaders are known to be fighting for the last seven decades to free Balochistan from what they consider as Pakistan's “illegal occupation”, even as seeking active support from India as a “trusted” ally. One of them, a Baloch nationalist leader and President of the Free Balochistan Movement (FBM), Hyrbyair Marri, had a freewheeling interaction through video conferencing with journalists at the Guwahati Press Club in northeast India on September 25, 2019 as part of its Meet the Press programme.

By  A  Representative In a fifth picket in a row, and third at the site itself, work at Adani’s controversial Carmichael coalmine project was disrupted by a group of 20 people, who blocked access from the Adani work camp. The group cited Adani’s immense water usage at a time when much of the country is in extreme drought. The region’s drought situation has reportedly been declared critical, with fears that several places could run out of water by the end of the year.

By  A  Representative Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari has directed the Madhya Pradesh government to file an affidavit on the status of the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of Sardar Sarovar dam oustees by September 30. The bench fixed the next hearing for October 1. It said this following a plea by the state government counsel Kapil Sibbal for more time to file an affidavit on R&R status.

Counterview Desk A statement, simultaneously issued from Delhi and New York, by 211 women from India and 185 from around the world, and endorsed by 87 women’s groups, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2019, has taken strong exception to what it calls “particularly pernicious” argument of the Government of India that the clampdown on Kashmir will the state’s women in the long run. 

By  A  Representative In third such incident since September 9, a group of 30 people "disrupted" on Thursday at powerful Indian tycoon Adani’s controversial Carmichael mine, blocking access from the Adani work camp in central Queensland. Similar protests took place earlier on September 9, September 13 and September 18.

By Sheshu Babu* It seems that judicial system is moving far away from major section of society, specially Dalits, marginalised sections, Muslims and women. Many recent instances are ample proof of this. While the brutal killing of Tabrez Ansari has made little progress, his widowed wife is still clinging on hope . Shaista Parveen has been a widow for three months, a month longer than her two-month marriage with Tabrez Ansari.

By  A  Representative A senior environmentalist of a top non-profit, which enjoys observer organization status with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and special consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC), has strongly objected to Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkare imposing huge fines if vehicles move around without Pollution Control Certificate (PUC) , insisting, PUC actually should be abrogated.

Yagnik with JICA officials By  A  Representative  Senior High Court advocate Anand Yagnik has taken strong objection to what he calls some “Gujarat-based activist friends, more known for computer activism, who are happy that we lost matters of bullet train.” Claiming that they are “spreading misinformation out of malice to the people of India and Japan”, he regrets, “Unfortunately, this NGO hazard enjoys freedom of expression”.

By Ian Hall* With President Donald Trump as his “warm up act”, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally of 50,000 members of the Indian diaspora at Houston’s NRG Stadium on September 22. Dubbed Howdy Modi!, the event kicks off a busy week in the US for Modi, with no fewer than 40 meetings to attend.

Counterview Desk The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has called for judicial inquiry into the “encounter” of two anti-mining activists of the Nandaraj movement, claiming, neither of them was involved with the underground Maoist movement”, even as condemning “persecution” of human rights activist and top academic Bela Bhatia, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and human rights defender Soni Sori, Dantewada sarpanches and 150-200 tribal villagers.

   By Rajiv Shah  A recent opinion poll by a top US media house has suggested as to why President Donald Trump badly needed Indian-American settlers’ support at the Howdy Modi event, and the reason why he ensured Modi to  declare  “abki baar Modi sarkar”. A Fox News survey, carried out days before Modi’s much-publicized Houston event, said that 52% of those polled are “frustrated” with the Trump administration government, while only 37% are “energized.”

By  A  Representative Commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big show in the town, "Houston Chronicle" (HC), even as calling Modi visit "historic for a foreign leader", as it "strengthens bonds between the world’s two largest democracies", has warned that "Texas’ hospitality should not be confused with an endorsement of India’s recent actions in Kashmir nor of Modi’s troubling brand of Hindu nationalism.

By  A  Representative The Mumbai High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to move people out of Mahul, known as toxic hell, even as reprimanding the government for ignoring national security concern while planning the resettlement site in Mahul. It has given the government 12 weeks' time to comply with the order.

Counterview Desk The Financial Accountability Network (FAN), India, a collective of civil society organisations, unions, people’s movements and concerned citizens to raise the issue of accountability and transparency of the national financial institutions, in a public statement has said in a public statement that media reporting on bank charges is misleading, pointing out, State Bank of India (SBI) "continues to fleece its customers." Text: There has been misleading media reports, which claimed that SBI has revised various services charges. The reports claimed that there has been a reduction in minimum balance required to maintain monthly, reduction in penalty for not maintaining minimum balance and restrictions on number of cash transactions allowed at the bank branches. A close scrutiny of documents reveals that there have not been any reductions that are being claimed in the media. The only change in charges by SBI has been reducing of the SMS alert service charges f...

By  A  Representative Four officers’ unions, All India Bank Officer's Confederation (AIBOC), the All India Bank Officer's Association (AIBOA), the Indian National Bank Officer's Congress (INBOC) and the National Organization of Bank Officers (NOBO), have called for a strike on September 26 and 27 to protest against the merger of 10 state-run banks into four bigger banks, service charges imposed on the customers, demanding five working days a week, and scrapping of the New Pension Scheme.

By  A  Representative Well-known environmentalist and human rights activist Rohit Prajapati, in a “quick comment” on the Gujarat High Court's Judgment on the acquisition of land for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet 508 km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, has said that the judgment dated September 19, is “bad in law, spirit and undesirable”.

By  A  Representative In its interim order, the Supreme Court bench has ordered a review meeting of four chief ministers of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and the Union water resources minister, in order to seek a solution to the contentious issue of filling up the Sardar Sarovar dam up to the full reservoir level (FRL), 138.68 metres, which has submerged tens of villages in the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh.

Counterview Desk Datri, considered India’s largest unrelated blood stem cell donor registry, founded in 2009 by Raghu Rajagopal, Dr Nezih Cereb and Dr Soo Young Yang as not-for-profit organization in order to help patients seeking to find a healthy, willing and genetically matched donor, on Saturday introduced three survivors to their respective life-savers, a “first ever” in Gujarat.

Counterview Desk  A policy research paper by the top Paris-based non-profit think tank, Institut Montaigne, has regretted that, five years on, the Narendra Modi government’s “first education-related full-fledged initiative” pertaining to vocational training, Skill India, is anywhere near achieving two of its desired goals – provide employment to the youth, and make them capable enough to become entrepreneurs.

By  A  Representative A new study released by Toxics Link, ‘Dirty Trail: Detergent to Water Bodies’, has found alarming levels of the toxic chemical nonylphenol in detergents as well as in river waters in India. The detergent samples were taken from the local markets of Delhi and water from six rivers i.e. Garh Ganga and Hindon in Uttar Pradesh, Krishnan in Andhra Pradesh, Tapti in Gujarat, Bandi in Rajasthan, Mahanadi in Odisha and Ambazari lake in Nagpur.

By Amitabh Kundu* A reduction in the share of children and an increase in the adult population are important for achieving a high rate of economic growth since it will lead to an increase in the percentage of the working population. The “World Population Prospects 2019” has reported that India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has declined from 5.9 in early sixties to 2.4 to 2010-15. TFR is defined as the total number of children to be born to women in her lifetime by the current age specific fertility rates. By 2025-30, it will fall to 2.1, sliding further to 1.9 during 2045-50. As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India’s TFR declined from 2.7 in 2005-6 to 2.2 in 2015-16. When the TFR touches 2.1, which is called replacement fertility level, we can say that the population is getting stabilised, subject to the momentum factor. India’s population was predicted to peak at 1.7 billion in 2060, declining to 1.5 billion by 2100. The faster decline in TFR, as reported by NFHS, sugges...

By  A  Representative Kids Inteligence, which calls   itself a supportive education company engaged in providing end-to-end solutions for the development of children’s brains, has decided to incentivise homemakers and professionals to join its abacus coaching business. The organization claims itself to be a leading abacus teaching and training institute of Mumbai.

By Rajiv Shah Taking serious note of large-scale destruction of mangroves on about 750 acres in Bhachau taluka of Kutch district, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Delhi, has “directed” the Gujarat government, its forest department, and the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GSZMA), to “jointly inspect the area” and fix responsibility as to who is “responsible for obstruction of the creeks” next to the Kandla Port Trust (KPT), leading to the damage to the plantations in the area.

By  A  Representative Thr Supreme Court has issued notice to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments following a Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)-backed petition seeking the explanation as to whether large areas of Narmada Valley have gone into submergence by filling up the Sardar Sarovar dam up to the full reservoir level (FRL) without rehabilitating the project affected families (PAFs).

By  A  Representative Around 30 environmentalists on Wednesday block access to Indian tycoon Adani's Carmichael coalmine site in Australia, disrupting work for four in the morning. The group blocked the gates of Adani workers’ camp, stopping workers from entering the proposed mine site. The group declared that with Prime Minister Scott Morrison set to "snub" the United Nations Climate Action Summit next week, there is an urgent need to take action and stop the construction of new coal mines.

Protesters in Badwani By  A  Representative Thousands of women and men gathered on at the Shaheed Stambh in Badwani, Madhya Pradesh, to raise their voice against what they called "the destruction of the Narmada Valley", protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat BJP rulers for celebrating the Sardar Sarovar dam being filled up to the full reservoir level (FRL) on September 17, which also happens to be Modi's birthday. Medha Patkar at Shahid Stambh Calling it a black day for the people of the Valley, whose villages and farms got submerged because of highest-ever water level having been achieved in the dam, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which organised the parallel rally across the border with Gujarat, regretted in a statement that Modi's celebration at the dam took place amidst " martyrdom of the Valley". The demonstration in Badwani was preceded by a vehicles rally, which took rounds of the city streets. They were joine...

By  A  Representative The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), India’s top anti-dam campaign organization, that following the Sardar Sarovar dam reaching full reservoir level (FRL), 138.68 metres, villages in the upstream have begun experiencing “earthquake tremors.” In a statement issued from Badwani, where NBA is holding a major rally to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday bash at the dam site, NBA said, this is happening alongside “drowning” of villages in the Narmada valley.

By  A  Representative In an unusual move, over hundred faculty, staff and students of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, have made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking his office to intervene in the Tabrez Ansari lynching case. The statement comes close on the heels of national outrage over the manner in which police and doctors have reportedly tried to undermine the motive behind the lynching of Tabrez, religious fanaticism.

Counterview Desk Ravi Kiran Jain, national president, and Dr V Suresh, national general secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), have said, there is clear evidence to suggest, Jharkhand’s Tabrez Ansari “lynching murder case” is sought to be watered down by state authorities, including police officials and doctors, insisting, the government should “restore the murder charge under Section (u/s) 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)”, even as taking steps against the prosecuting police officials and doctors for “criminal negligence.”

By  A  Representative SEWA Rural, a Gujarat-based NGO, has been certified as the best workplace for women for second year in row by the Great Place to Work, which, says an NGO communique, is a global authority in “creating, sustaining and recognizing high-trust, high-performance culture at workplaces”. The organization partners more than 10,000 oragnizations across 60 countries to help them build a great work culture for their employees.

By  A  Representative The Gujarat State Human Rights Commission has asked the Patan district collector and the chief officer, Patan municipality, to respond detail within 20 days on what action have they taken regarding a complaint it received on gutter workers being forced to enter into manholes without necessary safety equipment, including oxygen masks, putting at risk their life.

Harinesh Pandya, third from right, at the Agariya meet By  A  Representative The Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch (AHRM), an organization working among Gujarat's saltpan workers, has opposed the proposal to turn the Rann of Kutch into a huge lake. Floated by Jaysukhbhai Patel, managing director, Ajanta-Oreva group, the industrialist claims that once the lake on a 4,900 sq km takes shape, the barren Rann would become arable, and the water problem of entire Kutch-Saurashtra region would be solved.

A Srinagar protest on September 13 Counterview Desk Top rights-based organization based in New York, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called upon India to free Kashmiris arbitrarily detained, especially those who have been held for “more than a month without charge”, even as insisting that the UN Human Rights Council, at its current session in Geneva, should “urge India to act on recommendations in the report of the UN high commissioner for human rights.” Also demanding that the upcoming meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, India’s international partners “should put human rights concerns at the center of their engagement with Indian officials and press the government to uphold international human rights standards”, HRW’s Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director, has been quoted as saying that India is making a “mockery of its human rights commitments by denying Kashmiris a voice in their future, jailing political leaders, and suspending basic freedoms.” The HRW statement, ...

Counterview Desk A United States Air Force expert, writing on India’s Chandrayaan -2 mission, has expressed the apprehension that Indian moon probe’s “failure” won’t stop an Asian space race that “threatens regional security.” Affiliated with the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Wendy Whitman Cobb, who is Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, believes like other space powers, India may be “seeking to improve its technology”, but advances can “also bring greater security concerns.” Currently, admits Cobb, “These efforts have been primarily civilian and peaceful in nature.” However, India’s turn toward the military uses of space, so much so that lately it has been developing its own military satellites providing services such as remote sensing, tracking and communications “with greater frequency” has begun to “concern” the neighbours. In her disclosure statement to an article published in the e-journal “The Conversation” Cobb, however, states that whate...

By Medha Patkar The first farmer of Asia was born in Chikhalda, if one is to believe archaeological researchers. A historic village, 50 percent of its population is of Hindus and 50 percent of Muslims, yet it has always remained peaceful. Chikhalda has struggled to save water, land and people along Narmada river.

By  A  Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has announced it would be holding its 12th biennial conference of national coordination at Jagannath Puri, Odisha, on November 23-25, and the issues to be discussed would include the struggle of the Narmada dam oustees, implementation of the Forest Rights Act, amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the situation in Kashmir.

Polluted water from broken pipeline invades a farmland By  A  Representative The pipeline carrying industrial wastewater to the Gulf of Khambhat from Jhagadia industrial estate in Bharuch district has been found to have damaged for the eighth time over the last one and a half months. The crack, says a local environmental organisation, has occurred at Hansot, endangering agricultural farms.

By  A  Representative As the water level in the Narmada dam has reached 138.68 metres mark, which is the full reservoir level (FRL), ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, September 17, the Narmada Bahcao Andolan (NBA) has called for a major protest rally in Badwani, the town in Madhya Pradesh bordering Gujarat.