In what has been termed as “jumbo celebration”, a Gujarat Dalit rights leader belonging to Saurashtra region ensured that his daughter rides an elephant as part of wedding celebrations which took place in Vadhwan town of Surendranagar district. Natubhai Parmar, who shot into prominence for organising a unique protest against the notorious Una flogging incident in 2016, in which five Dalit boys were flogged as they allegedly slaughtered a cow. Belonging to the Rohit community, whose traditionally live by skinning dead cows, in 2016, Parmar reached Surendranagar district collector’s office with vehicles full of carcasses of cows asking him to organise them disposal of, declaring, his community had decided not to continue with the caste occupation, as it had been termed cow slaughter by saffron vigilantes. The decision to make his daughter ride the elephant, which he brought to Ahmedabad, was to send a message to members of the dominant castes, whose aggressive attacks on wedding pr...

  By Our Representative  Several pro-BJP Muslim intellectuals have insisted on the need to "amicably settle the Gyanwapi mosque impasse", insisting, "Muslims mustn’t repeat the mistake they made in the Ram Mandir case." Calling themselves moderate Muslims, and forming Gyanwapi Reconciliation Committee, those who have sought conciliation include Firoz Bakht Ahmed, former chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University; Prof SN Pathan, former vice-chancellor of the Nagpur University; and Tanvir Ahmed, former Haj Committee chairman. They have urged urged Muslims not to repeat the mistake committed at the time of the Ram Mandir standoff by their "adamant behaviour", which was allegedly guided by the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), whose attitude was "unbending and fissiparous". Claiming that the AIMPLB doesn’t represent the Muslim community, they said in a statement, "Instead of indulging in unserviceable litigation, both t...

Shahid Siddiqui, Bobby Naqvi Bobby Naqvi, who is with the "Gulf News", and is a well-known name among Muslim intellectuals, strongly objecting to the social media post of Prof Ratan Lal, has said that "a big reason for majoritarian hatred against Muslims is irresponsible remarks by people like Prof Ratan Lal of Delhi University."

More than  110 concerned citizens  of Gujarat, including litterateur Prakash N Shah, veteran academics Ghanshyam Shah and Indira Hirway, Indian Institute of Management faculty Navdeep Mathur, and danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, have expressing “concern” and anxiousness over the “rising tide of communalism in Gujarat and India”, have said the latest in the series is tension surrounding the Fine Arts Faculty at the MS University, Vadodara. In a letter, sent to the National Human Rights Commission, the National Minorities Commission and the National Commission of Women, said, the tension in the MS University, Vadodara, Gujarat’s cultural capital, follows communal riots and tensions in Khambhat, Himmatnagar, Dwarka and other places. Kundan Yadav A student of MS University’s Faculty of Fine Arts was booked by the Sayajigunj police in Vadodara for allegedly creating “objectionable” pictures of Gods and Goddesses that led to tension on the campus on May 5.  Kundan Yadav, a native of ...

At the end of a three-day fact-finding visit in Jharkhand by Right to Food Campaign (RtFC) and Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj), team members have urged Jharkhand Government to stop distribution of fortified rice in the state immediately. The Fact Finding Report points to the many serious concerns with regard to indiscriminate distribution of fortified rice to poor households in the state, and in Anganwadis and schools.

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar believes that it is not just rehabilitation issues which nag the Sardar Sarovar dam affected people, especially Adivasis who have lived along the Narmada river for centuries.  The river water is now facing excessive sand mining, on one hand, and effluent discharge in Narmada and its tributaries, on the other, making people increasingly restive, Patkar tells Counterview in an interview (part 2*): *** Q: Apart from rehabilitation, which other issues, in your view, are affecting people living next to the Narmada river today? A: Since in 2019, when they filled up the dam to the full reservoir level, 138 metres, we notice, the river is going down and down and down... Q: Is it because of the climate change? A: Partly, but the main reason is illegal, unbound, unwanted sand mining. Just as Yamuna got finished, Narmada is following the same pattern. We won the case against illegal mining. There are also a number of judgments, lik...

Gujarat’s 60 major dams’ capacity, which is calculated at 16,768 million cubic metres, has gone down by about 14.31 per cent as a result of the silt that has gathered in their reservoirs. Revealing this, Gujarat’s environmental NGO Paryavaran Mitra director Mahesh Pandya said, quoting official state government figures, that in the dams’ capacity has gone down by about 2,400 million cubic metres due to siltation.

Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar has said that the World Bank’s independent review mission, which brought out the Morse Commission report , has been proved right: The Sardar Sarovar dam has not only failed to live up to the loud promises made for irrigating large arid areas of Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat, those who were displaced and resettled in Gujarat are getting increasingly restive as many of them are unable to get the promised water for irrigation and some for drinking water too.

By Our Representative  In a symbolic protest, Dalit households of as many as 1,100 villages across Gujarat switched off lights on the state’s foundation day, May 1, for 15 minutes at 9:00 pm to demand that all the political cases against not only top Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani, who happens to be a Gujarat MLA, but also against Dalit, Adivasi and minority individuals be withdrawn as part of general amnesty. Originally planned to express anger against the manner of arrest of Mevani, who was taken away by Assam police with the active support of Gujarat police on the basis of an FIR filed against a tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the protest was converted into the demand to end atrocities against Dalits and other marginalised communities. A memorandum, addressed to Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, demanded that the “political party responsible for the abusive treatment meted out to the Hon'ble MLA of Gujarat, Jigneshbhai Mevani, should apologize to the Dalit voter...

Calling internet shutdowns “dangerous acts of digital authoritarianism”, a new report has said that in 2021, authorities deliberately shut down the internet at least 182 times across 34 countries, even as underlining, “India is the world’s largest offender, and blacked out the internet at least 106 times” -- or 58% of all shutdowns around the globe. The report, prepared by Access Now, Access Now, a non-profit with legal entities in Belgium, Costa Rica, Tunisia, and the United States, and activities distributed across all regions of the world, regrets, “This is the fourth year in a row that India can claim this dismal title.” Launching on April 28, Access Now’s new report,  The return of digital authoritarianism: internet shutdowns in 2021 , unpacks the data, trends, and stories behind a year’s worth of internet shutdowns. “Authorities shut down the internet to shut down democracy,” said Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Campaign Manager at Access Now. “These vicious weapons of digital di...