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Showing posts from June, 2022

Why did ATS arrest Teesta? Is she terrorist? Are cops incompetent?: Top SC lawyer

Top Supreme Court advocate Kamini Jaiswal, speaking on the recent Supreme Court order rejecting Zakia Jafri’s petition seeking culpability of Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots, has wondered why was the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) sent to arrest well-known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad. Are she a terrorist? Or is the normal police to incompetent? Nowhere does the Apex Court order talk of her connection, if any, with terrorist activities, she added. The arrests took place in the wake of the Supreme Court stating in the order that all those who had the “audacity to question the integrity” and abused “every functionary” who was heading the state during the 2002 riots “need to be in the dock” for keeping the “pot boiling” for 16 long years. It insisted, these persons should be dealt with “in accordance with the law”. A day after the order, Setalvad and Sreekumar, whom the order specifically mentions, were picked up and arrested by ATS and Gujarat police from thei...

Gas exploration: Reliance Industries' plea for even higher price than the one "offered" by Govt of India

In a significant move, the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has declared that the “higher price” being offered by the Government of India to it for oil and gas exploration off Andhra Pradesh coast is “not market linked”, and it should get an even more, in keeping with market realities. The "revision", which the Government of India has still not formally announced, is from $4.2 per MMBtu (million British thermal units) to $8.4 MMBtu, which was challenged by several politicians, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, who claimed it would mean a “windfall” of Rs 54,500 crore to the RIL.

Don't get coerced by Centre-inspired rice fortification plan: Chhattisgarh govt told

Activists of the Right to Food Campaign (RTFC) and the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) have urged the Chhattisgarh government to abandon its rice fortification interventions. They appealed to the state government that it should not get coerced into distributing fortified rice in the food schemes being run in the state by the Government of India.

Ahmedabad upper caste full of contempt towards not just Dalits but also OBCs

Who doesn't know that casteism is all-pervasive in India. However, when one talks of casteism, often things boil down to the intensity of untouchability, officially abolished after India became a republic, found in not just in rural areas but also in towns and cities. I found it existing when I settled down in Ahmedabad, living in a two bedroom apartment in a supposedly posh area. The person who would come to pick up trash daily at our doorstep would be given food leftover in the evening. While we wouldn't have any leftover, the next door neighbour would give it in such a way that she or he doesn't come in direct contact (touch) of the person, who would belong to the Valmiki community, "lowest" in the Hindu social ladder. That was in mid-1990s. We are now living in the third decade of the 21st century. It's a middle class society where I live in Ahmedabad. I often hear phrases like "these scheduled castes" from persons belonging to upper castes to de...

Take action against 'misogynic, regressive' Indian Bank officials, say women's groups

  Women’s groups have demanded immediate withdrawal of the “anti-women” decision by the Indian Bank, which requires women pregnant of 12 weeks’ standing or over should be declared as temporarily unfit until confinement is over, calling it misogynic and regressive. In a statement, the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), has said that the decision of the Indian Bank not to appoint selected women candidates who are six or more months pregnant is “anti-women”, similar to the one taken by the State Bank of India some months ago, but later withdraw “due to huge protests from various quarters.” The Indian Bank in its latest guidelines for Physical Fitness has introduced a new condition that “a woman candidate, who as a result of tests, is found to be pregnant of 12 weeks’ standing or over, should be declared as temporarily unfit until confinement is over. The candidate should be re-examined for a fitness certificate six weeks after the date of labour, subject to the producti...

Why was Prof Kaushik Basu cautious on India? Prof Kirit Parikh had the answer: sedition

Kirit Parikh, Kaushik Basu Yesterday I attended Prof Kaushik Basu's lecture on global economy, after which I did a story on what all he said. I don't know the reason, but he was extremely cautious on issues on which he is known to be vocal on India. I pointedly asked his during the question answer session whether he saw India was slipping into hypernationalism, and if yes, what would be its impact on the Indian economy. Prof Basu had already spoken about hypernationalism in Argentina and how it had harmed the economy. He just said, there was certainly a "risk", but refused to say more. A little later he referred to hypernationalism in the US under McCarthyism in early 1950s. He said, the country overcame the phenomenon before it was too late, and the economy survived. However, he remained cautious on India. A former economic adviser to the Manmohan Singh government, was he told to not directly talk about India in any negative manner? It would seem so, if one goes b...

Indian economy grew 3% in 2020-22, 'risks' hypernationalism: Prof Kaushik Basu

Contradicting the dominant view on high GDP growth in the recent past, top economist Prof Kaushik Basu has said that India’s economic growth has been a “mixed bag” during 2020-22 – it grew by a mere 3%. Speaking at the Eighth Pravin Visaria Memorial Public Lecture, organised by the Gujarat Institute of Development Research in Ahmedabad, Prof Basu, citing World Bank calculations, said, when it is stated that the Indian economy grew by 8.7% in 2021 (or 7.5% in 2022), it is forgotten that the calculaltion is based on the GDP growth of 2020, which was (minus) – 6.6%. Currently Carl Marks Professor of International Studies, Ithaca, New York, and former chief economist, World Bank (2012-16) and chief economic adviser, Government of India (2009-12), Prof Basu’s visual presentation of the economic growth of selected countries showed that India’s growth rate in 2020-22, the Covid period, 3%, may have been better than the world average (1.7%) and emerging markets and developing eco...

Dummy schools in Ahmedabad? Coaching classes are tying up with regular schools!

Dummy schools? Well, this is the new term that has been coined -- and they are a "happening" in Ahmedabad, vibrant Gujarat's business capital. An insider who happens to occupy an important position in one such school told me the other day, what are known as many "classes" -- the after-school coaching shops -- have "tied up" with recognised schools. "The children are helped by enrolling them in regular schools, which for them operate as dummy schools. They don't have to attend classes. Their attendance is marked as present. They appear in regularly in all examinations. Only once a week they are required to go to their dummy schools where they are enrolled, that too if they are science students, as the coaching classes don't have lab facilities", I was told. I have no idea if the Gujarat government is aware of this development. However, it is highly unlikely that the politicians associated with the ruling BJP don't know about it, as...

Heat wave, extreme weather killed 350 people in Maharashtra in 2021, highest in India

  Maharashtra suffered the most deaths due to extreme weather events in 2021, a state-wise analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has said in its recently released  report  "State of India’s Environment 2022: In Figures".  Released to mark the World Environment Day, June 5, the report said, Of the over 1,700 people who lost their lives to extreme weather events (lightning and thunderstorms, cyclones, floods, heavy rains and landslides) in India in 2021, 350 were from Maharashtra. Odisha followed with 223 casualties; and in Madhya Pradesh, 191 lives were lost. According to the report, the year had many more warning signs of the calamity that is confronting the nation, pointing out, "The past decade (2011-2020/2012-2021) was India's warmest decade on record. Eleven out of the 15 warmest years were in the last 15 years (2007-21)." It underlined, "India recorded its fifth warmest year in 2021 when the average temperature remained 0.44°C above ...

IIM-A to 'help conserve' agricultural land for corporates, launches agri land price index

In a surprise move, the Indian Institute of Managment-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has launched what it calls “India’s first ever Agri Land Price Index” in collaboration with SfarmsIndia in order to help conserve agricultural land into real estate. To be hosted by the Misra Centre for Financial Markets and Economy at IIM-A, India’s premier global management institute hopes to provide ‘quality controlled’ data of prices of agricultural land across the country to corporates. SFarmsIndia is an agri-land discovery platform, seeking to connect prospective buyers and sellers, claiming to be “one of the very few platforms in India focusing exclusively on agricultural land listings.” It is said to contain 25,000 registered buyers and sellers, offering more than 7,000 land listings. IIM-A, which formally launched its Agri Land Price Index at the institute, suggests, one main reason it collaborated with SFarmsIndia is, it has been “successful in eliminating middlemen, bringing in price tran...

Dietary risk leads to death of 1.7 million Indians each yr; 71% 'can't afford' healthy diet

More than 1.7 million Indians die every year due to diseases that can be attributed to dietary risk factors and weight levels, says the “State of India’s Environment 2022: In Figures”, the statistical compendium published every year by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Down To Earth magazine. The e-report was released online to mark the approaching World Environment Day, June 5. The report lists these diseases as respiratory ailments, diabetes, cancer, strokes and coronary heart disease. By dietary composition, it refers to diets low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and diets high in processed meat, red meat, and sugary drinks; the weight levels it talks about refer to whether an individual is underweight, overweight or obese. The report points out that 42 per cent of the world’s population cannot afford a healthy diet – the figure is a huge 71 per cent for India. It suggests that the diet of an average Indian does not contain enough fruits, vegeta...

Climate change, environment last priority of Gujarat govt, MLAs: 'performance' report

Despite official propaganda, in a significant revelation, MLAs of the Gujarat state legislative assembly and the Gujarat government appear to be totally indifferent towards issues related with environment and climate change, a study by two advocacy groups, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), released in Ahmedabad, has said. The study, titled “Performance Report of Members of Legislative Assembly Gujarat”, seeking to analyse questions asked the the Gujarat assembly by MLAs, finds that out of 38,121 starred and 10,224 unstarred questions for which answers were sought from various Gujarat government departments over the last five years, only 55 starred and just three unstarred questions related with climate change. The Gujarat government – which formed climate change department with great fanfare when Narendra Modi was state chief minister – appears to be equally indifferent towards the questions related with climate change. Thu...