Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2022

GM mustard not swadeshi, it's a patent of MNC Bayer, GoI 'misleading' SC: Modi told

Counterview Desk  In a representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as many as 42 farmers’ organisations though their representatives , backed by senior scientists and experts, have said that the Government of India (GoI) should stop misleading the Supreme Court “with untrue and incorrect” statements on GM mustard. Insisting that India does not need unsafe GM mustard, in their representation, they urged the Supreme Court to order immediate uprooting of GM mustard crop in various locations. The representation comes even as a penal of experts, coming down heavily on the GoI for refusing to see how in less than a week’s time the pollen from GM mustard will “start contaminating” non-GM mustard fields with transgenes, including male sterility and herbicide tolerant traits. Alleging that the GoI is actively misleading the Supreme Court with untrue and incorrect statements on GM mustard, Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition for a GM-Free India said, “We can list at least five areas where Gov

Hindu state by 2025? BJP-RSS 'will have no qualms' in changing basics of Constitution

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  It was ‘Constitution Day’ once again on 26 November, as the nation remembered with profound gratitude the day in 1949, on which the Constituent Assembly ‘adopted, enacted and gave to ourselves’ a meaningful Constitution. The day was also a reminder that ‘Constitution Day’ for the citizens of India cannot be relegated to just one day- it has to be observed every single day; and secondly, the Constitution belongs to ‘we, the people of India’ and we should never allow it to be desecrated by anyone at any time! Setting the tone for the day, was a momentous address delivered by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud in the Supreme Court of India. CJI Chandrachud who took over the reins of the Apex Court just a couple of weeks earlier began his address by stating that the Constitution of India was a social contract between those historically in power and those who had been marginalised. Highlighting the need to enhance the representation of marginalised communi

A shining example of rationalist heritage of Islam, India's 'compassionate culture'

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed*  Maulalna Abul Kalam Azad, whose 134th birth anniversary tell on November 11, and who joined lacerated hearts and broken beliefs, remains relevant as masses look askance all around in their search for stability in the prevailing times of confusion, communalism and radicalism. The eleven hundred years of common history, opines Azad in “Al-Hilal” (December 29, 1912), have enriched India with the common Hindu-Muslim achievement. According to Maulana, our languages, our poetry, our literature, our culture, our art, our dress, our manners and customs, the innumerable happenings of our daily life, everything bears the stamp of our joint endeavour. There is indeed no aspect of our life which has escaped this stamp. Our languages were different, but we grew to use a common language; our manners and customs were dissimilar, but they acted and reacted on each other, and thus produced a new synthesis. Whether we like it or not, we have now become an Indian nation, united an

Shedding Hindu-Hindi-Hindustan? New Modi-Shah love for Tamil Nadu 'ignores' Periyar

By Sandeep Pandey*   The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) or the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have long argued for ‘Hindu-Hindi-Hindustan’, which into recent years has translated into a crisper English expression: ‘One Nation-One Religion-One Language’. Given this backdrop, it is curious that the BJP government has organised the Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi, the Prime Minister’s constituency. Why did the BJP and RSS feel the need for such an event? All Narendra Modi events are highly publicised and have multiple political objectives. It is never an innocuous religious/cultural event as it may appear from the face of it. Afterall, RSS calls itself a cultural organisation, but has never ceased to surprise us with its political designs. Tamil Nadu has a long history of opposing imposition of Hindi by Union governments. Periyar EV Ramasamy had opposed the idea of compulsory teaching in Hindi as far back as in 1937. The 1960s witnessed violent protests against Hindi in which a number

Facing tough times, Rajasthan's Raika herders hold first-ever camel cheese festival

By Rosamma Thomas*  During the pandemic, the annual Pushkar camel fair in Rajasthan did not occur for fear of contagion; in 2022, it was called off again as lumpy skin disease affected cattle. At Sadri in Pali district, however, festivity continues – a two-day Camel Cheese Festival was held on November 23 and 24, 2022. Visitors spent time with the camel herds and their Raika, drank camel-milk tea with the herders and then returned to lunch at the Kumbhalgarh Camel Dairy, from where the Kumbhalgarh Fort is visible, to taste camel cheese. The Raika herders have been facing a tough time – camels are no longer used as much for transport or agriculture in Rajasthan. The animals have limited utility, but their milk is prized. Camel Charisma, the dairy at Kumbhalgarh, sends camel milk across the country to people who use it in therapy – for autistic children, improved blood sugar levels, or even to treat cancer. It is believed that the health benefits of the camel milk is because the animals

Thousands of farmers march across India, demand 'comprehensive' loan waiver

By Harsh Thakor*  Responding to the the call of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), thousands of farmers, supported by workers, students, youth, women and ordinary people, have staged foot-marches and rallies all over the country to register their protest against the “anti-farmer” BJP-led Union government. Protest gatherings engulfed 25 state capitals, more than 300 district headquarters and numerous tehsil headquarters. Rallies were staged in cities of Chandigarh, Lucknow, Patna,Kolkata, Trivandrum, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Jaipur, comprising a total of around five lakh persons. In all, 3,000 protests led by 33 organisations forming SKM were held all over India. More than five million people poured out on the streets to join the ‘Raj Bhawan Chalo’ or ‘March to Raj Bhawan’ call of SKM, sending memorandum of demand of farmers to the President of India through state governors, seeking her intervene to stop the anti-farmer activity of the ruling party at the Centre. It was on 26 Novembe

US freedom of religion panel asks State dept to equate India's track record with Pak

By Our Representative  The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an autonomous body of the US Government that tracks global religious persecutions, has urged the US Department of State to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), which is America’s red list of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedoms. “Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat for a variety of reasons, including various government policies that do not protect religious minorities,” the USCIRF wrote in a report titled “Country Update: India” released on November 22 detailing the persecutions in the calendar year 2022. Designating India as CPC, “for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations… would reinforce the United States’ concern regarding the conditions discussed in this country update and would encourage the Indian government to diverge from policies that violate religious fre

Amit Shah accused of inciting communal passion: Demand to postpone Gujarat polls

Counterview Desk  In an email representation to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Dr EAS Sarma, former secretary to the Government of India, has objected to the statement reported to have been made by Union home minister Amit Shah, who allegedly justified the 2002 Gujarat riots stating that certain sections of people “taught a lesson” to the rioters. Noting that the statement, if correct, “in effect implies those other than the law enforcement authorities had taken law into their hands”, Sarma says, “Shah's statement needs to be viewed by the ECI in conjunction with the reported fact that it was the Union Home Ministry that cleared the release of the eleven rape convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, directly related to the infamous Godhra incidents in 2002, which triggered the shameful sequence of events that shook the nation's conscience.” According to Sarma, if the statement is true, “I am constrained to draw the inevitable inference that it would have already impacted th

As polls approach, electorate 'failing to realise': Gujarat model is in a shambles

By DN Rath*  Gujarat assembly elections, scheduled to be held on 1 and 5 December 2022, is viewed by many as dress rehearsal for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. When the suffering people have been pointing towards redressal of some local issues like absence of cleanliness, sewage problem, shortage of water supply, troubles created by stray cattle, insufficiency of streetlights, etc., it is evident that they are not fully aware that assembly elections are being fought on ideological standpoints and policy decisions. Nor is there the realisation that the state is in a shambles and the much-trumpeted ‘Gujarat model’ of development has proved to be a hoax. Like other states, the people of Gujarat are also back-broken by steep rise in prices to the tune of 400% in last 20 years. It is not that the government cannot control the spurt in prices if it so wants. Apart from the fact that price rise is an inevitability in a capitalist economy, artificial shortage triggered by massive hoarding, b

BJP poll gimmick? Bilkis Bano rape case 'pardon' vs Rajiv assassins' release

By Sandeep Pandey*  Supreme Court has released six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. This was bound to happen as earlier AG Perarivalan was released in the same case, setting a precedent. Even though four of them are Sri Lankans but a popular Tamil sentiment favoured the release of these convicts which is why Tamil political parties supported this and resolutions were passed by different governments in Tamil Nadu to his effect.  Rajiv Gandhi paid the price of sending Indian Peace Keeping Force to Sri Lanka where it got entangled with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and eventually the whole operation ended up is a fiasco.  However, most importantly Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi and probably Rahul too do not have any objections to the release of these convicts. In fact, Sonia Gandhi played an important role in getting the death sentence of the only lady among the convicts Nalini commuted to life term through the Tamil Nadu Governor. Priyanka visited Nalini in Vellore Jail and