Counterview

Counterview Desk India’s top land rights network, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), even as taking strong exception to President Ramnath Kovind giving his accent to the three bills passed in Parliament, has regretted that he didn’t care to pay need to the “irregularities” brought to notice by members of Parliament as also the manner in which the deputy chairman conducting the business in the Rajya Sabha allowed the bills to be passed without voting.

BJP MP from Hathras Rajvir Diler By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* In Gujarat, a young Dalit activist lawyer Devji Maheshwari, belonging to the Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMSCEF) was killed in Surat, allegedly by a goon who was warning him against his Facebook posts not to speak up against Brahmanism. Facts have come to light suggesting there are other issues also which led to the murder, mostly related to land disputes, many a time ignored by activists.

By NS Venkataraman* In the pre-Independent days and for a few decades after independence, ministers, leading men in public life used to acknowledge letters from the public, particularly those with valid criticism or suggestions. This practice, unfortunately, now seems to have gone away.

By Our Representative Several civil society organizations, while felicitating the Shaheen Bagh movement and Bilkis Dadi – whom they called “a global symbol of peaceful resistance” – have demanded that the Delhi Police should immediately stop “maliciously targeting” all equal citizenship protestors, most of whom were women, for the Delhi riots of February 2020.

Prakash N Shah: Writer-activist By Natubhai Parmar* Some of those who once served the Gujarat government in senior positions have suddenly become very active. They are seeking to influence the Gujarati literary atmosphere by taking an unusually keen interest in the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad elections, which are currently taking place via postal ballots.

By Our Representative If you are a doting as well as a discerning parent with a baby or toddler this is for you! A new study, ‘What’s in the Diaper: Presence of Phthalates in Baby Diapers’ released by Delhi-based advocacy organisation, Toxics Link, has sought to raise concern over toxic phthalates which it says have been found in disposable baby nappies that are available in the Indian market.

By Our Representative At a time when online education remains a dream for school students in rural areas due to lack of digital resources, a migrant returnee of Uparpita village of Khariar block in Nuapada district has stepped up to teach low performing children in his village during the school closure, an effort that is lauded by parents and communities in his locality.

Prakash N Shah, Harikrushna Pathak, Harshad Trivedi By Dankesh Oza* The 115-year-old Gujarati Sahitya Parishad is in election mode. More than 3,000 life members of the Parishad are set to elect its 52nd president and 40 plus central working committee (CWC) members, which in turn will elect its executive and two vice presidents, six secretaries and a treasurer for the coming three years (from 2021 to 2023).

By Gauhar Raza* The Delhi Police, which operates directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has been creating a narrative about the North-East Delhi violence (February 2020), which can very well qualify for a fictional novel, on the one hand, and on the other, an eye opener for all justice loving people of India to understand how state agencies under an authoritarian rule can manufacture facts to target all voices of dissent.

By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai* The theme put forth by Ambassador Volkan Bozkir, the President of the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN, was, “The future we want, the United Nations we need; reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”. 

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* SP Balasubrahmanyam (June 4, 1946-September 25, 2020), popularly SPB, who has the world record of singing more than 40,000 songs in 16 different languages of India, represented the idea of India, which is currently under attack. The film industry in Mumbai has been in Hindustani, and not Hindi. Bollywood was built mostly by those whose mother tongue was neither Hindi nor the city’s original mother tongue, Marathi, or what is often called Bambaiya Hindi.

By Atul, Sandeep Pandey* Arun Ferreira is a civil rights activist and human rights lawyer. He has been behind bars since June 6, 2018, when he was arrested in connection to the Bhima Koregaon event held earlier that year. Like many other activists, he was slapped with Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, sedition and other anti-terror related offenses allegedly for inciting the ensuing violence that police claimed was calculated to disturb public peace.

Counterview Desk Stating that the three farm bills passed in Parliament are “against farmers and food security for all”, and urging the President of India not endorse them, the civil rights organization Right to Food Campaign has said that they seek to reduce the state’s role in procurement of foodgrains, even as opening up markets for corporate interests without any protective regulation.

By Salman Khurshid* The protests at Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Millia Islamia, not to mention the protests inspired by them across the country against the CAA-NRC-NPR, were a remarkable break from the past and a repudiation of stereo- types. Virtually leaderless masses of students and women took to the streets to register their presence and participation in Indian democracy.

By Vidya Bushan Rawat* The revolutionary ideals of Shaheed Bhagat Singh have become more than relevant in today's time. It is beyond the imaginations of many how a man who just lived 23 years of his life had so much of idealism. In his prime time, he spent his life in jails under difficult circumstances.

Counterview Desk Friends and family members of Sudha Bharadwaj, a top undertrial human rights activist who is in jail for her alleged involvement in the controversial Bhima-Koregaon case, have said that they are “disappointed” that the Supreme Court has not granted any relief to her on medical grounds.

By Rit Nanda* “The reason for the special distinction that we find in Bengal is that many great men were born there during the last century. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the greatest among them all. He was not an ocean of learning alone; he was an ocean of compassion, of generosity, as well as of many other virtues. He was a Hindu and a Brahmin too. But to him a Brahmin, a Sudra Hindu and a Muslim were all alike”. – Mahatma Gandhi in ‘ Indian Opinion ’, 1905

By Our Representative The Gujarat High Court has issued notice to the state government regarding alleged refusal to appoint Class-III lokrakshak unarmed police constables, armed police constables and jail sepais in pursuant of advertisement by the Lokrakshak Bharti Board dated August 15, 2018 taking into account the meritorious criterion.

By Balwant Singh Mehta, Arjun Kumar* The novel coronavirus pandemic and recession has destroyed the jobs of millions of people across the world at staggering levels. Due to lockdown and social-distancing, many self-employed, casual workers and regular workers were unable to work, and many has to lose their jobs and source of livelihoods.

May 2017: Turkish President Erdoğan with Prime Minister Modi in Delhi By Our Representative Even as India rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments that the Kashmir dispute is a “burning issue” for the stability of South Asia, saying they were tantamount to “gross interference” in the country’s internal affairs, a Washington, DC-based Kashmiri diaspora group has said that the Turkish leader’s statement for “multilateral dialogue” is “consistent” with the stance taken by “the President of the United Nations General Assembly.”

By Dibyendu Chaudhuri* Agriculture employs 42% of the total work force whereas it contributes only 16% to the country’s GDP. The average annual growth rate in agriculture has remained static to 2.9% since the last six years. This means that the post-green revolution conventional agriculture has reached its peak. Responsiveness of soil fertility to fertiliser application, an indicator of stagnancy in agriculture, shows declining trend since 1970. The worst sufferer has been the small and marginal farmers who constitute 86% of total farmers.

Counterview Desk A letter written from the prison at a time when the media predicted imminent arrest of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri, which was later denied by the Delhi Police, has caused considerable consternation -- as it accuses the Kerala government under the Left-democratic dispensation of being as vindictive towards activists as the BJP rulers at the Centre.

By Our Representative In a scary scenario, a Right to Education (RTE) Forum programme has been told that, post-pandemic, “the number of out of school children may increase manifold”, with more than “25 per cent of them may never return to school.” Ambarish Rai, national convener, RTE Forum, said, girls are likely suffer the most. 

By Shamsul Islam* The process of Hindutva takeover of the democratic-secular Indian polity got huge push with Narendra Modi, a seasoned RSS ideologue, becoming PM of India in 2014. His commitment to the cause of the Hindutva politics and hatred for the Indian democratic-secular polity has been unambiguous. While ruling the State of Gujarat as the chief minister in 2013 he had declared himself to be a Hindu nationalist.

By Rohit Prajapati* The current Central and state governments in India, along with the machineries at their disposal, have been and are still unable to answer and address the concerns raised, with facts, figures, and constitutional provisions, regarding the Statue of Unity (SoU) Project in Gujarat.

By Aviral Anand* It is heartening to see that farmers in several states have risen up against some of the new farming changes being proposed by the government. Almost surreptitiously and slyly, the government had introduced various changes by means of these farm bills. Most of the proposed changes have to do with some form of an increased stake of private players in the farm sector.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Narendra Damodardas Modi is a consummated practitioner of politics of Hindutva politics, which is wedded to hate. He does not spare a moment to capture the headlines with his diversionary tactics, which makes him as one of the sharpest managers of media and prime master of propaganda. 

By Our Representative The global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, in its new report: “Punished for speaking up: The ongoing use of restrictive laws to silence dissent in India”, has taken strong exception to the judicial harassment of activists, targeting of journalists and crackdown on protesters, even as pointing towards how rights violations have continued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term, including during the pandemic. 

By Anand K Sahay* Recently, on August 22, a little over 12 months after the Modi regime wreaked the constitutional havoc by embarking on a dangerous and destabilizing course by tearing up the delicate arrangement free India entered into with the Maharaja Hari Singh on the morrow of Independence, Kashmir’s major political parties came together to announce a riposte. 

By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai* Mohammad Zafrullah Khan, Pakistani foreign minister and delegate to the United Nations, had made it clear on January 16, 1948 during the 228th meeting of the Security Council that Gilgat-Baltistan is the part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. Here is the part of his eloquent speech:

By Pragya Ranjan* In April Dr David Nabarro, a WHO special envoy on Covid, singled out India’s coronavirus response for praise, saying ‘Indians know how to do it’, after the country decisively locked down the entire country to prevent the disease from spreading. What we see in India today tells a very different story. 

Hafijul, one of the victims By Our Representative Kirity Roy, secretary of the West Bengal-based human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), in a letter to the chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has regretted that at a time when the whole world was observing the international day of the victims of enforced disappearance on August 30, seven incidents of “enforced disappearance” occurred along the Indo-Bangladesh border. 

Counterview Desk An Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), Delhi, conducted a survey among 4,500 women respodnetns in rural areas of 20 Indian states during the month of July and August 2020 has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has had huge impact on women’s lives, work, livelihoods, and entitlements.

By Our Representative The Gujarat High Court has decided to adjudicate upon a contempt application by Paalabhai Raambhai Ambalia, president of the farmers’ wing of the Gujarat Congress, following his allegation of  custodial torture at the hands of Jaydeepsinh Sarvaiya, DCP Rajkot district, and police inspector Hitesh Gadhvi, Rajkot Police Commissioner’s office.

By Our Representative Justice AP Shah, former chief justice of the Delhi and Madras High Courts, has regretted that the start of the Supreme Court’s decline “coincided with the coming to power of the BJP-led NDA government in 2014”, adding, “Every institution, mechanism or tool that is designed to hold the executive accountable is being systematically destroyed.”

Counterview Desk Even as the Delhi police is investigating into the Delhi riots, three human rights organizations, Karwan-e-Mohabbat, Anhad and Muslim Women’s Forum, have release an exhaustive review of the controversial book authored by Hindutva protagonists, “Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story”, whose PDF version they say has gone viral after the publishers, Bloomberg, withdrew it, though it is available on a top online store .  

By Moin Qazi*    Public banks have played a historically stellar role in financial inclusion and the development of the underserved sector. These banks have been the backbone of the government’s socio-economic agenda. State-owned banks in developing countries have to shoulder the main burden of the government’s development policies -- from rural lending to infrastructure development. 

By Our Representative Several senior human rights and environmental activists, protesting against the Gujarat government decision to order externment of Lakhan Musafir from five South Gujarat districts, have said the charges against a grassroots activist fighting for tribal and forest rights in the area around the Sardar Sarovar dam are “ridiculously false.”

By Dr Arjun Kumar* Since 2017, India has been governed by a single tax regime with the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) after almost two decades of deliberations and hard work. It has facilitated the unification of the Indian market by allowing free movement of goods and services across the state borders which, earlier, acted as the major barriers in such mobility.

By Our Representative  The Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM), a civil rights network, has demanded that “the due process” for the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, scheduled for in current session of Parliament, should be followed before passing it.

By Our Representative More than 600 women’s groups, LGBTQIA communities, human rights organisations, trade unions and farmers’ organisations have demanded that the Government of India should set up a committee, with 50% women as members, for gender segregated data on severity of impact of pandemic on different sections of women, adding, a reliable and accurate data are necessary “to record all forms of gender-based, caste and religion-based violence.”

Child labour in mica mining in India By Ankit Goyal* I don't know if it is right to attribute this to the education system and societal values but the most important thing that is sought after in life is 'career' and 'money'. Because let’s face it, it is only after possession of this that you can afford the most sought after livelihood...

By Sandeep Pandey, Shivi Saba* What purpose does a religion serve? It serves you the meaning of living a life in the right way. Lately, the sentiment around the religion in our country is undergoing transformation, religion has become a marker of character. Earlier this thinking was limited to a very small section of society but now the politics of majoritarianism has taken over. It has influenced the government, administration, police, judiciary and the media.

By Prem Verma*  We are living in very challenging times. There are problems galore and new ones keep mounting. We have experts in creating situations which spawn fresh problems to face and solve. We are sliding down into an abyss from where escape will become increasingly impossible. The value of human life is of no consequence as long as individually the fortunate few at the top of the pyramid can continue to enjoy a lifestyle as if nothing has happened. 

Counterview Desk A new civil society report by top NGO network Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), seeking to provide an assessment of one year of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government after it came to power, has regretted that the Government of India has continued its “blow-hot-blow-cold relationship” with civil society organizations (CSOs).

Counterview Desk Condemning the arrest of formerJawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid by the Delhi Police, the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a platform of over 36 organisations, including students’ and teachers’ groups, trade unions and women's groups, who claim to have come together against “increasing state repression, targeting of academics, activists, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists”, has demanded his release and immediate cessation of “relentless harassment of activists and intellectuals in the name of investigation.”

Counterview Desk An open letter distributed by the Dalits Media Watch, which networks news related to underprivileged sections on the proposed amendments to the Prohibition of Engagement as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, has regretted that it completely ignores to identify and rehabilitate the workers who had been forced by caste-based Indian society to engage in manual scavenging. 

Prafulla Samantara, Sandeep Pandey By Our Representative Several well-known social and political activists from across India fear that the “decision” of the Uttar Pradesh government to to convert an Ambedkar hostel in Ghaziabad into a detention centre will be used for detaining those who are declared foreigners after they are unable to prove their citizenship, insisting, this is happening on lines of the detention centres for alleged foreigners set up in Assam.

Counterview Desk The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), India’s top civil society network, even as condemning the arrest of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and youth activist Dr Umar Khalid, has said that the Delhi police must immediately stop coercing ‘confessional’ statements to manufacture evidence and refrain from painting the democratic anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). 

Counterview Desk The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has asked Delhi police commissioner SN Srivastava to “urgently stop motivated and malicious investigation”, and instead carry out “bona fide” investigation into the violence that shook North-East Delhi on February 23-26, 2020, which took 53 lives and caused injured scores of others.