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Showing posts from March, 2020

Silicosis death of 4 Gujarat workers: NHRC takes 10 years to 'request' compensation

After waiting for 10 long years of a complaint filed by a health rights organization, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the district collector, Bharuch, Gujarat, to take up the matter of paying compensation to the next of kin (NoK) of four confirmed cases of deaths due to the fatal occupational disease silicosis with the labour department, Rajasthan government.

Gujarat construction workers walk home as Rs 2,900 crore welfare fund lies unused

Migrants passing through Gujarat capital Gandhinagar. Photo: Kevin Antao Situated behind the Gujarat University, some of the families of the migrant construction workers from Dahod and Panchmahals districts of Gujarat, and a few from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, who had stayed put in make-shift shanties in Ahmedabad’s sprawling GMDC Ground, have begun a long journey, by foot, back to their home villages in the eastern tribal belt of Gujarat.

Govt's 'misleading' figures to Parliament: Corruption free J&K apple procurement?

Publicised as a measure to ensure better economic development in the newly formed union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and corruption-free procurement, there appears to be little clarity at the highest level on the apples bought J&K growers under the Market Intervention Scheme ( MIS ) that the Central and State/UT level governments claimed to have implemented through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd ( NAFED ).

26% fall in RTI pleas, Gujarat departments 'not registering' applications: MAGP

The annual report of the Gujarat’s State Information Commission (SIC) for 2018-19 submitted to the state legislative assembly on the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that there are over 4,800 cases pending before the SIC, even as five commissioners’ posts are vacant.

Fossil fuel air pollution costs India 5.4% of GDP, lead to 9.81 lakh preterm births: Greenpeace

Pointing towards the economic cost of air pollution, a recent report by top international environmental NGO Greenpeace has said that China, the United States and India “bear the highest costs from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide, at an estimated US$900 billion, US$600 billion and US$150 billion (Rs 10.7 lakh crore) per year, respectively.”

Lignite-based power plant in Bhavnagar dumping effluents, 'polluting' groundwater

The Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd (GSECL), a state-owned electricity generation company, is in the eye of storm in the rural areas of Bhavnagar district for allegedly polluting groundwater sources. Running lignite-based power plant in Padva village of Ghogha taluka of the district, GSECL took over the plant from another state-run Bhavnagar Energy Company Ltd about 18 months ago.

India's 'improved' air quality due to market slowdown, Delhi most polluted world capital

World's most polluting capitals Stating that, regionally, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East carry the highest burden of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution overall, a high-profile report, jointly prepared by the top environmental NGO Greenpeace has said, "Of the world’s top 30 most polluted cities during 2019, 18 are located in India, 28 in South Asia, and all the top 30 cities are within greater Asia."

Slowdown impact: Joblessness in India may cross 8%, people quitting labour market

A 30-day moving average of the unemployment rate during most of the first week of March 2020 was over 8 per cent, even though the ended with an unemployment rate of 7.71 per cent, Mahesh Vyas, managing director and CEO of one of India’s top consulting firms, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has said.

Delhi riots: Saffron report admits cop failure, blames 'Left-jehadi' guerrilla tactics

  A new “fact-finding” report, taking a line similar to that of Union home minister Amit Shah, who has  termed  Delhi riots “pre-planned” and “part of a conspiracy”, has admitted that “the police and law enforcement agencies were on a back-foot” during the riots which have claimed more than 50 lives, rendering hundreds injured and thousands homeless.

Scindia 'wasn't alone', Gaekwad took British help to crush Saurashtra Vagher rebellion

Jodha Malek, Mulu Malek Jyotiraditya Scindia, on joining BJP, has  reportedly  has led researchers to go into forgotten history -- that Scindia's forefathers had joined the British during the first was of Indian independence, 1857. Well-known social activist and researcher Nandini Oza has now revealed that the Scindias were not alone in their support to the British.

Victory for local Dalits: London authorities 'agree' to turn Ambedkar House into Museum

There is good news on the Ambedkar House in London. While the permission to convert this house into a museum was refused by the local authorities, thanks to the Maharashtra government, which assisted a number people in London appeal against the decision, after a lengthy public inquiry, it has become possible to convince the authorities and the permission has been granted. Now the house has officially become Ambedkar Museum.

Barred from South Gujarat? Activist charged with 'not employed in gainful vocation'

The Gujarat government has served externment notice to well-known grassroots human rights activist Lakhan Musafir, known for taking up the cause of the tribal people next to the Narmada dam in Gujarat. Considered a relentless fighter against the plan to develop tribal areas around Statue of Unity, three kilomtres downstream of the dam, as a hot tourist destination, Musafir has been served the notice by Narmada district authorities.

Top US think tank wants WhatsApp, social media cos to oppose Modi 'repression'

The top United States think tank, Freedom House, based in Washington DC, has sought a series of measures, including from top social media companies like WhatsApp, against the Modi government as retaliation against the alleged crackdown in the country’s only Muslim-majority state Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the “discriminatory” citizenship amendment law, which has sparked nationwide protests, which are sought to be suppressed by Modi administration.

Rani Laxmi Bai, Tatya Tope 'martyred' by East India Company, Scindia's forefathers

Jiyaji Rao Scindia In an email alert to Counterview, well-known political scientist Shamsul Islam has said that was “shameful for any political party in democratic India to keep children of Sindhias in their flock” given their role during the First War of Indian Independence (1857). In a direct commentary on Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia moving over to BJP, Prof Islam has quote from a British gazetteer to prove his point.

J&K freedom score down by huge 21 points in a year, 'equals' Pak-occupied Kashmir

  In strong message to India’s powers-that-be, a new report by Freedom House, a high profile US organization, has rated the status of democracy in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) as equal to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Giving both J&K and PoK the same score, 28 on a scale of 100, and categorizing both as “Not Free”, the report rates 210 countries, including individual territories, in order to rate two sub-categories, political rights and civil liberties.

South Rajasthan's 54% rural women beaten up for leaving home without nod: Report

  Finding crucial relationship between what it calls “unpaid work” and sexual violence as a social norm in rural Rajasthan, a new study, carried out by high-profile NGO Oxfam India, has found that a whopping 54.4% of women it had interviewed were beaten up as and when they attempted to leave house without permission, while in 86.4% cases they were harshly criticized for this type of “disrespect” shown to their male folks in the family.

Decisively counter Supreme Court tribal eviction order: Oxfam tells GoI, state govts

  In a major effort to counter the narrative created by the Supreme Court order dated February 13, 2019 which had stated that the tribal claimants whose forest land claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 “have been rejected and have attained finality should be evicted”, a top international NGO has compiled 14 case studies to point out that forest dwellers, in fact, see FRA “as a means to regain control over their forests”, and the apex court must recognize this.

Cops stood by as 80 Khambhat houses gutted in 'anti-Muslim' riots: Gandhian activists

Neeta Mahadev, Gandhian activist, in Khambhat While the world watched how Delhi burned when President Donald Trump, on his two-day visit to India, was praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged religious tolerance, few noticed that when he was arlready addressing more than one lakh crowd, brought to Ahmedabad to “welcome” the US President on February 24, communal flare-up hit Khambhat in Central Gujarat.