Counterview

Counterview Desk  Releasing a new study simultaneously in Chennai and Kolkata in view of the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the Citizens’ Commission on Elections (CCE) – a civil society initiative – has regretted “lack of integrity of EVM voting”, pointing out, the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not appear to safeguard against the possibilities of ‘side-channel attacks’, i.e, hacking electronic devices through electromagnetic and other methods.

Counterview Desk  Shankar Sharma, a senior power and climate analyst based in Karnataka, in a letter emailed to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, even as expressing concern over “climate emergency” looming large over India, has said that there is a “massive societal concerns over the pollution/ contamination of air, water and soil in the country.”

By A Representative  Gathered at the Press Club of India in Delhi, several senior academics, activists and lawyers, condemning the Government of India’s alleged attempt to criminalize and break a “legitimate” farmers’ protest, have regretted that following the violence on January 26, the government has “activated the criminal justice machinery to lodge FIRs” against farmer leaders under a range of criminal laws, including the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Solar power plant under construction in Nagaon district By A Representative  An environmental activists’ fact-finding team led by Prafulla Samantara, recipient of Goldman Prize, also known as Green Nobel, has alleged that the process of acquiring the land in for a 15 MW solar power plant in Assam is mired in several “illegalities and violations of policies, laws and regulations” from the nature of land appropriation, to dispossession of people.

By Shamsul Islam*  As the world mourns the 73rd anniversary of MK Gandhi's assassination by Hindutva terrorists on January 30, 1948, RSS, the most prominent flag-bearer of Hindutva politics, whose cadres rule India today, is found reacting angrily to the reality – that the criminals who assassinated Gandhiji were not only part of the ideological world-view of Hindu Mahasabha (led by VD Savarkar) and RSS brand of Hindu nationalism but were also connected with these. 

Open Letter on Heritage & Community Perspectives on (Rajpath) Central Vista Avenue, New Delhi, to the Central Public Works Department, CPWD, New Delhi.  *** Observations and Suggestions from master students of Sustainable Architecture (Heritage and Community Perspectives) at Central University of Rajasthan, with course coordinator Dr. Mansee Bal Bhargava on the proposed Re/development of (Rajpath) Central Vista Avenue project in New Delhi*: We are a group of students from Central University of Rajasthan, pursuing our Masters in Sustainable Architecture where in First semester we are learning about Heritage and Community Perspectives taught by Prof. dr. Mansee Bal Bhargava. It is because of the alignment of the course and the nature of the Rajpath Central Vista Avenue project we are motivated to submit our observations and suggestions on the re/development plan as invited by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). The public attention on the re/development plan of the Centra...

In conversation with human rights defender Vidya Bhushan Rawat , former United Nations diplomat Bruce H Moore, who has served as boards of several NGOs and institutes, including Transparency International Canada, Institute for Global Food Security at the McGill University, Canadians for Tax Fairness, Forum for Democratic Global Governance and the Huairou Commission (an international alliance of grassroots women’s organizations), speaks about growing inequality and food crisis in the post-Covid world. One who served from 2013 in Moscow through 2018 as member of C20, a civil society consultative body to G20 countries, Moore regrets, the world’s rich nations have shown their hypocrisy by quickly amassing vaccines, refusing to bother about the poor countries, wondering why should a country like Canada collect vaccines much beyond the requirement for its citizens. “What is the use?”, he asks. A prominent name among international civil society organisations, Moore was the first director of ...

By A Representative The second edition of the India Justice Report (IJR), a study undertaken jointly by Tata Trusts in collaboration with several advocacy groups, has said that five non-BJP-ruled states – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Punjab and Kerala – are the top performers compared those ruled by BJP, including “model” Gujarat, which ranks No 6th in a ranking of 18 large states for the delivery of justice to people.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  As the mutilating power of Coronavirus strikes on lives and livelihoods and create havocs across the globe, the Davos priests of the World Economic Forum have started the Great Reset Initiative  to manage the consequences of the pandemic. It rightly recognises the urgent need for global cooperation to end the uncertainties and disruptions caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

By Prem Verma*  Farmers had a very successful tractor rally on January 26 in Delhi. The attempt to malign their non-violent effort through the Red Fort violent incident is a standard tactic the Government uses through their supporters masquerading as farmers. What the government fails to realize that the farmers’ protest has now spread to all parts of the country and more and more people are supporting the farmers.

Maharashtra tops justice delivery in India, southern states dominate ranking 29% judges are women, in High Courts only 11.4% 2/3rd inmates are undertrials, says the second edition of the India Justice Report. A note: *** The second edition of the India Justice Report (IJR), India’s only ranking of states on delivery of Justice to people ranks Maharashtra once again at the top of the 18 Large and Mid-sized states (with population of over one crore each), followed by Tamil Nadu (2019: 3rd), Telangana (2019: 11th) Punjab (2019: 4th) and Kerala (2019: 2nd). The list of seven Small States (population less than one crore each) was topped by Tripura (2019: 7th), followed by Sikkim (2019: 2nd) and Goa (2019: 3rd). The India Justice Report (IJR) is an initiative of Tata Trusts in collaboration with Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS–Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives. The maiden IJR was announced in 2019. Through a r...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The tractor rally on the Republic Day in Delhi allegedly turned violent at several places as the protesters clashed with the police and tried to remove the barricades. But these incidents could be termed as stray, given the nature of it things, which could have gone out of control. Of course, the attempt to run through a tractor trolley in and around ITO and then hoisting the flag at the Red Fort could have been avoided. But one must remember: Any movement can become victim of an uncaring and irresponsible state.

Counterview Desk In a statement, an international civil rights network, People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), has regretted that the new year has “kicked off with intensified repression targeting the rural sector”, citing how this is happening in several countries, including India. With offices in Philippines, Zambia, Bolivia and Jordan, and supporting land rights NGOs across the world, PCSF’s is pitted against “neoliberal globalization on food and agriculture policies.”

Counterview Desk In a rejoinder to the National Alliance Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) claim  published in Counterview (“Assam land rights struggle: Corporate-state nexus behind arrests, violence, says NAPM”, January 21), Azure Power -- criticised for setting aside the farmers' rights under land acquisition laws -- has said that its conduct has been “environmentally-public friendly” and is purchasing land in a “lawful and fair manner.”

Amidst Government of India seeking to retaliate Chinese aggression of Ladakh by banning mobile apps in order to create an anti-China sentiment among people, an official Chinese site has claimed that not only India’s “radical” scholars are misleading India on its northern neighbour, "Chinese products took 18.3 percent of India's total imports from April to September 2020, up from 14.6 percent in the same period in 2019..." Reproduced below is the article by Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, visiting fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China and distinguished fellow of the China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute, published in Global Times: *** Some Indian scholars recently suggested that India should play the "Tibet card," cooperate with the US on the Tibet question and use it to contain or publicly oppo...

Was Marx influenced by his Jewish background? It would seem so, if one believes Shlomo Avineri’s book Karl Marx: Philosophy and Revolution . Praised for his “sympathetic and thoughtful interpretation of Karl Marx's view of religion”, Avineri says in his book, "Merely criticizing religion, without trying to identify the concrete social conditions that give rise to it, is to Marx shadow boxing, and unlike many other radicals, he finds it a waste of time.” The author of the 2019 book argues, “The battle has to be engaged against real social conditions, not against religion, which is just an expression of them. To use a later term of Marx, religion is part of the superstructure, and true radicalism has to go to the roots, to the social and economic infrastructure. This is the moment Marx parts company with the other Young Hegelians, whose trajectory continues to focus on a critique of religion: to Marx this is an exercise in futility." Shlomo Avineri in his book, which is par...

By Shamsul Islam* The photographs here show a Hindutva protagonist, Deep Sidhu, with his real masters. He is said to be the culprit who tried to derail the historic farmers' struggle by putting up a religious flag at Red Fort on January 26, with no Delhi police which works under the Indian home minister Amit Shah, a senior RSS cadre who is often described 'Iron Man' by Hindutva camp-followers. 

By Harsh Thakor* A historic peaceful march in the Capital of over 20 lakh peasants riding on eight lakh tractors is being foisted as a conspiracy against the nation. The sinister act of hoisting the Sikh flag at the Red Fort was undertaken by a person suspected to be a BJP agent, Deep Sidhu. He allegedly infiltrated the ranks, masquerading as a farmer activist.

By Shantanu Basu* The Red Fort 'assault' seems to be a premeditated one... Forty unions not part of Sanyukt Kisaan Morcha (SMK) refuse to follow the agreed pathways for the rally and say they would have their own rally. Next a BJP goon, with numerous pics with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah on the Internet, arrives and makes an inflammatory speech at one of the venues, suggesting that farmers had militant links and were acting at the latter's behest.

By NS Venkataraman* From time immemorial, people have been migrating from one country to another. When India was ruled by British, thousands of poor Indians were taken to African countries, Caribbean countries, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other places to work in plantations, construction activities etc.

Counterview Desk Regretting that there is “passivity” of world powers to resolve the Kashmir dispute, a Washington DC based Kashmiri diaspora organisation has wondered if new US President Joseph Biden will “get involved” in resolving allegedly one of the oldest unresolved international problems pending on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

Counterview Desk The virtual Kisan Sansad, a civil society initiative held on January 23 and 24, 2021 at the Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial at Singhu, Delhi, has demanded the repeal of the three central farm laws, legalisation of minimum support price (MSP), and condemned the government’s “repression” of the farmer protests.

By Pramod Ranjan* The world’s biggest messenger company, WhatsApp, is the midst of a big row. Before dwelling deeper into the issue, let us have an overview of what is being said in the matter. On 4 January 2021, WhatsApp issued its new terms of service which said that henceforth the data of WhatsApp users would be shared with five companies associated with its parent outfit, Facebook, and that the services to users who do not consent to the new terms by February 9, would be disconnected. The notice sent the world into a tizzy. The Indian educated class, which is growing increasingly protective of its privacy, came out with a quick and sharp reaction. And this was not unexpected. As on February 2020, the number of WhatsApp users in the world had crossed two billion with Indians accounting for the highest number of its users. About 40 percent of Indians use this digital messenger. As media took cognizance of the new development, WhatsApp groups started getting crammed with messages ...