Cancel Jindal project seeking to 'dispossess' people from forest land: Odisha govt told

By A Representative
The civil rights group, Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN), commenting on the “barbaric” police action on the night of December 3 against the people of Dhinkia village, Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha, has said that the attack took place on people who were “peacefully protesting against the proposed project of JSW Utkal Steel Limited by forcefully acquiring their land.”
In a statement, it said, “Even as Odisha was bracing for the fury of Cyclone Jawad and people were being evacuated to shelters, the police attacked the village, attempted to arrest a leader of the protest, Debendra Swain, and injured four village residents who resisted them.”
According to ICAN, “This is an area where people’s resistance was successful against the State Government’s attempt to grab land for the project of the South Korean steel company POSCO. Now, in the name of development, the Biju Janata Dal government of Odisha is attempting a land grab on behalf of the Indian corporate Jindal, dispossessing people and depriving them of their livelihoods from betel, prawn and fruit cultivation.”
Stating that this area has forests on revenue land, on which, according to the Forest Rights Act, 2006, ICAN said, “The local people can have individual, community and community forest resource management rights under the aegis of their Gram Sabhas. Instead of decentralised, community-led development based on local natural resource-based livelihoods, the State government is seeking to violently impose a model of corporate-led development that will destroy natural resources and the livelihoods of local communities who manage these resources.”
Putting forth a series of demands, it said, the injured “must be provided medical treatment and compensation by the government”, action must be taken against the police personnel “involved in this grave violation of human rights”, the Forest Rights Act must be “implemented and management rights over the local natural resources be vested in the Gram Sabhas.”, and the “proposed project of Jindals in the area should be cancelled.”

The 'Dr' debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

Counterview

Search This Blog