Bhalaswa landfill site The extreme rise in heat in the National Capital has led to yet another climate induced disaster. This time it was the Bhalaswa landfill. A massive fire broke out on April 26, 2022 afternoon between 1 and 2 pm. Yet this was not an isolated incident. This was the 4th major fire in Delhi-NCR. According to data by Delhi Fire Service, there have been four fire incidents in Ghazipur, three in Bhalaswa and two in Okhla this year. Consequences on waste pickers of such disasters haven’t yet been gauged. In December 2021, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group conducted a survey on climate induced disasters with the waste picker communities. As many as 80.9% waste pickers said that they faced occupational hazard during landfill fires as well as health issues. A media monitoring exercise by Chintan, known to be an elite non-profit NGO, claiming to work in the field of sustainability and environmental justice for the past 20 years, indicated landfill fires to be a ...

  In a surprise revelation, Right to Information (RTI) replies based on Badhkam Majur Sangathan (BMS) director Vipul Pandya’s plea show that a whopping 74 percent of those who have been victims of accidents at workplace in the construction sector died between 2008 and 2021 in Gujarat. Just about 26 percent of the victims survived, revealed the details presented by Pandya at a well-attended meeting organised by BMS on the occasion of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, April 28. Obtained from his RTI pleas to various police stations, Pandya told the meet, which took place at the Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute (MGLI), Ahmedabad, in all 1,685 accidents were reported to different police stations of Gujarat. Of these, while 1,238 died, and just about 433 could survive. “Most of the accidents took place in Gujarat’s major four cities – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. Those who died were mainly Adivasi migrant workers, who come for work in cities in the construction sector. T...

A new  book , “The Struggle for Narmada: An Oral History of the Narmada Bachao Andolan”, authored by a former NBA activist Nandini Oza, has gone a long way to reveal the type of worldview held by the powers-that-be who wanted hundreds of villages submerged and lakhs, all in the name of development, in order to build what was qualified as the world’s largest dam on the perennial river Narmada. Based on lengthy conversations Oza had with two NBA activist-leaders, Keshavbhau Vasave and Kevalsingh Vasave, both from Maharashra, Keshavbhau quotes Gujarat chief minister Chimanbhai Patel as telling a meeting held in early 1990s in Mumbai with the intention of having consensus on the dam amidst unprecedented opposition from Adivasis, that the project would resettle Adivasis, living in “monstrous” conditions, “near urban areas” and make them “human.” A Congress chief minister in early 1970s, Chimanbhai became the target of attack of the powerful Navnirman movement (a precursor ...

As many as six Indian citizens, all of them Muslims and aged around 20, have been languishing in Bangladesh prisons, even though five of them have completed their jail term, a senior human rights defender based in West Bengal has said, alleging, the Indian authorities have shown no sympathy towards towards their timely repatriation, resulting in "irreparable loss and injury" to the victims' life and liberty.

    Huge brass coins weighing 2,700 kg, largest one 1,000 kg and the rest relatively small, prepared from brass donated mainly by Dalits of 758 Gujarat villages, have been released at the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), a technical-cum-Dalit empowerment institute operating about 20 kilometres from Ahmedabad. With BR Ambedkar’s image on one side, and of Lord Buddha’s on the other, embossed on the coins is the phrase, “Will Dr Ambedkar’s dream to end untouchability end come true by 2047?” To be presented to the President of India, the purpose of the 1000 kg coin, said Martin Macwan, who conceptualised the idea of minting the coin, is to place it in the foundation of the new Parliament building to be built at the cost of Rs 20,000. “It is meant to be a reminder to India’s law makers that even 75 years after Independence, untouchability remains intact. How can India be called free with such a disgraceful practice continuing to prevail to this day?” he asked. Answering the...

A new report, based on research carried out by Dalit women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in 13 Indian States, where they have been handling cases of caste-based sexual violence, has said that that in most of the cases, the perpetrators of sexual violence against Dalit women and girls belong to dominant castes. Titled "Caste-Based Sexual Violence and State Impunity", the report says, "Of the 50 cases studied, details of the caste of 36 perpetrators are available: eight perpetrators each were from Yadav and OBC communities; four from the Rajput community; three each from the Jat and Muslim communities; two from the Sikh community; and one each from the Prajapati, Maratha, Brahmin, Vaniba Chettiyar, Vanniyar, Gupta, Thakur and Gujjar castes." "An alarming finding is that in over half the cases (62%) men and boys of dominant caste groups have targeted Dalit girls under the age of 18 years", the report, which covers the States of Bihar,...

An on-ground fact finding report by the the human rights organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), taking a nuanced look at the plight of the traditional weaving industry in Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh), has estimated that the handicraft, handloom and power loom business suffered a loss Rs 3,000 crore during and after the lockdown. The report is based on a survey by a 17-member team led by Dr Muniza Khan, a Varanasi-based social science researcher, which conducted detailed interviews of 204 respondents, including 37 video interviews and 19 audio-interviews in the neighbourhoods of those engaged in weaving the famous Banarasi fabric and allied activities. The locations of the respondents were: Varanasi (13 locations), Gorakhpur (Rasoolpur, Purana Gorakhnath), Azamgarh (Mubarakpur, Ibrahimpur, Shahpur) and Mau (Ghosi, Madhuban). The report states, "The artisanal weaving industry as well as the Zardozi industry, that has been in a state of crisis for decades given the...

Continuing to “holiday” in US, a few weeks back, I went to live with a very fine family friend in New Jersey (NJ). My fourth visit US, for the first time, we went by a local train to NJ, a comfortable four-and-half hour journey amidst sub-zero temperature. During our lovely stay, which lasted for about a week, we were taken, among other places, to a spot about which I was told something bizarre by a trade union leader based in Ahmedabad, Ashim Roy. As a journalist I was interested. The spot was the still-under-construction Swaminarayan temple, about an hour-long drive from the spot where we lived in NJ, a US state just next to New York. After parking the car, we went by foot a little round-about way to avoid the construction area to reach of one of the two temples which had been completed. A couple of workers – we were told they were Mexican – were on the job, fixing some electricity issues. They waved at we walked in, smiling, first while we were moving in, and then again when they, a...