Counterview

By Shamsul Islam*  BJP president JP Nadda in a recent media conversation  has claimed that “RSS is a cultural organisation and we are a political organisation… It’s (RSS is) an ideological front. The RSS and the BJP have their own areas of working very clearly established”.

By Dipankar Bhattacharya*  On 7 May when the third phase of the ongoing elections was taking place in India, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM) issued a working paper ostensibly to present a comparative study on the changing share of religious minorities in 167 countries of the world between 1950 and 2015. 

By Ram Puniyani*  As the election season is in progress the divisive propaganda is also peaking. Chief propagandist of the ruling BJP is Prime Minister Modi himself. In these elections his narrative has been built around the falsehood that if the INDIA alliance comes to power they will give all the facilities to Muslims, they will ensure that Muslims have the first right to live and they will make changes in the Constitution whereby Hindus will become second class citizens. 

By Harsh Thakor*  On 14 April, 2024, at the ripe old age of 98 years, Kâthe Sasso, a resistance fighter, passed away. A courageous and relentless combatant against fascism, a model of how to wage resistance, the intensification of Austro-fascism in the mid-1930s and the rule of Nazi dictatorship from 1938 propelled the course of Kathe Sasso’s life. As political opposition was turning illegal, anti-government activists were compelled to function underground and beyond the boundaries of mainstream society.

By Athena*  Corporate hypocrisy is a masterclass in manipulation that mostly remains undetected by consumers and citizens. Companies often boast about their environmental and social responsibilities. Yet their actions betray these promises, creating a chasm between their public image and the grim on-the-ground reality. This duplicity and severely erodes public trust and undermines the strong foundations of our society.

By Our Representative  A new report , released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Maharashtra, Fridays for Future-Karnataka, and Bahutva Karnataka has sought to contrast claims versus realities on the environment and climate change during the last ten years of NDA’s governance.

By Shankar Sharma*  In the larger context of the ever growing need and importance of renewable energy sources for a sustainable energy/ electricity sector in our country, the critical role of energy storage systems, especially the battery energy storage system (BESS), is being emphasised frequently at the global level, such as the one by  the International Energy Agency (IEA). Unfortunately, our authorities in India seem not to attach the same level of importance, which the BESS deserves.

By Sudhansu R Das  The heat wave in Odisha is increasing every year due to loss of forest cover and the green trees in urban and rural areas. It has made human survival difficult.  It adversely affects the socio-cultural and economic environment; it reduces productivity hours, devastates the livelihood of people. 

By Deepika*  Extending on to the subject of Misleading ads and acting responsibly , another aspect that needs highlighting is our right to health and to be made aware of quality of products, as pointed out by the Supreme Court.

By Vratesh Srivastava*   Vaccine passports were introduced in late 2021 in a number of places across the world, with the primary objective of curtailing community spread and inducing "vaccine hesitant" people to get vaccinated, ostensibly to ensure herd immunity. The case for vaccine passports was scientifically flawed and ethically questionable.

Couterview Desk  The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) has said the death of two children caused by the mortar shell explosion  in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh,  highlights the grim reality of the larger Bastar area turning into a warzone in the name of countering Maoism. 

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava*  We are in the middle of the election now with 4th phase of voting on May 13th at 96 constituencies of 10 states . I am keen to share an experience of celebrating 100% voting for the first time in life in the past 30 years of my voting. In my immediate acquaintances, we are five people out of which only I exercised my voting and the rest four could/did not vote.

By Sanjeev Kumar*  In a Press Conference held at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, many advocates, journalists, and social activists expressed concern for the alarming number of deaths due to manual scavenging within the last week. These deaths are testimony that manual scavenging is still prevalent in this country even after a decade of the practice being banned. 

By Arun Khote, Sanjeev Kumar*  Recently, there have been four instances of horrifying deaths of sewer/septic tank workers in Uttar Pradesh. On 2 May, 2024, Shobran Yadav, 56, and his son Sushil Yadav, 28, died from suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirganj area. In another incident on 3 May 2024, two workers Nooni Mandal, 36 and Kokan Mandal aka Tapan Mandal, 40 were killed while cleaning the septic tank in a house in Noida, Sector 26. The two workers were residents of Malda district of West Bengal and lived in the slum area of Noida Sector 9. 

By Kirity Roy*  In a grave instance of human rights violation, there was custodial death of Daud Seikh, a 27-year-old youth from village Hausnagar, Police Station Samshergunj, District Murshidabad, West Bengal.

Counterview Desk  Th civil rights group, Joint Action Against Custodial Torture (JAACT), referring to the alleged custodial torture of  Savukku Shankar, against whom there are serious charges of making derogatory and disrespectful remarks against women working in the police, has said that while his act is  unpardonable and and is a grave violation of human rights, "Under no exceptional circumstances can torture be resorted to."

By Rajiv Shah  Even as offering lip-service to the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA) for the need to curb plastic production, the Government of India appears reluctant in reducing the production of plastic. A senior participant at the UNEP’s fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), which took place in Ottawa in April last week, told a plastics pollution seminar that India, along with China and Russia, did not want any legally binding agreement for curbing plastic pollution.

By Deepika* It is imperative for celebrities and public figures to act responsibly while endorsing a consumer product, the Supreme Court said as it recently clamped down on misleading advertisements.

Counterview Desk  Telangana for Peace and Unity (TPU), claiming to be an independent forum of concerned citizens of the State working towards peace, communal harmony and constitutional values, in a representation to the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, has said that Madhavi Latha, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP candidate in Hyderabad, has been intimidating voters and disrupting harmony at polling booths.

By Rajiv Shah  I was a little awestruck: The news had already spread that Astrazeneca – whose Indian variant Covishield was delivered to nearly 80% of Indian vaccine recipients during the Covid-19 era – has been withdrawn by the manufacturers following the admission by its UK pharma giant that its Covid-19 vector-based vaccine in “rare” instances cause TTS, or “thrombocytopenia thrombosis syndrome”, which lead to the blood to clump and form clots. The vaccine reportedly led to at least 81 deaths in the UK.

By Sandeep Pandey*  Now Israel has killed over 34,700 Palestinians in its war on Gaza during the last seven months and taken seize of Rafah, the point from where Palestinians can go only into Egypt, where they are not welcome. It cannot be more humiliating for the Palestinians. The humanitarian aid has also been disrupted once again. 

By Sameer Dossani*  One of the more frustrating debates I’ve seen on Gaza in the last few months -- and I’ve seen a lot of them -- was between Bassem Youssef and Konstantin Kisin of the YouTube channel Triggernometry . At the beginning of the interview, Kisin asks a question which he pretends (or perhaps actually believes) to be perfectly reasonable: “If you were in charge of the Israeli government, what would you have done on October 8, 2023?”

By Harsh Thakor*  William H Hinton, who reflected in his writings the strides of China secured under Mao Zedong, died 20 years ago on May 15th, 2004, at a nursing home in Concord, Massachusetts, US. He was 85.  His writings illustrate Mao’s Chinese experiments, claiming, autonomy of workers and peasants surpassed level of any western democracy or third world country. He wrote about the historical periods from the land reform movements  in the pre-revolutionary period of the 1940s to later stages of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.  Hinton was born February 2, 1919, in Chicago. He accepted the Harvard admission, but postponed college and instead traveled to the Far East, supporting himself with odd jobs. He attended Harvard from 1937 to 1939, then transferred to Cornell, and in 1941 took a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy and dairy husbandry. Hinton returned to China during World War II as a propaganda analyst for the Office of War Information, and then again in

By Atanu Roy*  Rabi is a member of our extended family, rather our ‘inner’ family. He has been driving our car for many many years. Sometimes I liked to drive and drop my two sons to their school, but most of the days I had been preoccupied and Rabi was there to help me out.  He had a dream ... to impart good education to his two sons and achieve social mobility, he wished his sons to do something better than him.

Counterview Desk  The civil rights network*, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as  condemning “the cold blooded murder of 12  Adivasis  by security forces in Bijapur, has demanded that the government should “stop the  genocidal war against its own people”. Among the killed persons is Sethu Kunjam, a 5th class student studying in Basaguda School, and another is Channu Avalam, who is of unsound mind, it said.

Counterview Desk   The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), even as condemn what it has called "fake encounter" of 12 Adivasi villagers in Gangaloor, has taken strong exception to they being presented by the authorities as Maoists.

By Vratesh Srivastava*  Following the 1988 World Health Assembly declaration to eradicate polio by the year 2000, to which India was a signatory, India ran intensive pulse polio immunization campaigns since 1995. After 19 years, in 2014, polio was declared officially eradicated in India. India was formally acknowledged by WHO as being free of polio.

By Ram Puniyani*  BJP has a strong electoral machine, well backed up by its parent organization, RSS. The core module of RSS-BJP is based on demonization of Muslims through distortions of the medieval period of history in particular and glorification of the past where caste and gender hierarchy prevailed. When it comes to elections, RSS progeny has resorted to various themes from time to time. 

By Our Representative  While pointing out that the year 2018 “marked a notable increase in both global and India-specific funding for environment technology”, a new report, released in the light of the World Earth Day, which fell on the 22nd of April 2024, regrets that investment in the Indian Environment Tech sector “experienced a decline to $1.68 billion in 2023, a 32% decrease from 2022.”

By Rajiv Shah  Sam Pitroda, known as the father of Indian telecom revolution, has been in the midst of a major controversy for a remark on how Indians across the regions look different. While one can understand Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking it up for his electoral gain, suggesting it showed the racist Congress mindset, what was unpalatable to me was Congress leaders – particularly Jairam Ramesh, known for his deep intellectual understand – distancing themselves from what Pitroda had said.

By Deepika*   The past three-four years, 2020 onwards, have been a revelation of sorts. With the covid fiasco now running into the unimaginable fifth year, and unpredictability looming large, what has also happened in the process is a lot of knowing the unknown and questioning the otherwise acceptable, and the great realisation that somewhere the element of common sense or intuition was missing in the masses.

By Our Representative  The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad’s (IIM-A’s) latest Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES) has said that about 54% of the firms are “still reporting ‘somewhat less than normal’ or lower sales in March 2024”, up from 52% reported in February 2024, adding, overall the survey of 1,100 business executives suggests that profit margin expectations too have remained “slightly muted.”

By Our Representative  Delegates to the April 2024 United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference have  voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution condemning "Hindu nationalist persecution" of Indian Christians, calling on the US Department of State to designate India a country of particular concern. 

Counterview Desk  In an open letter, the civil rights group All-India Feminist Alliance has expressed solidarity with the struggle of Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula, Dalit PhD student of University of Hyderabad who was forced to commit suicide in 2016 because of the authorities' indifference towards his plight after his scholarship was withheld.

By Harsh Thakor*  May 11th is the 10th death anniversary of a well-known Marxist intellectual Suniti Kumar Ghosh, also considered a Maoist by many in the Left. I was privileged to have personally met him in Kolkata in March 2009.  It is very rare to experience any personality with such clear thinking ability or incisive thought or one who would penetrate as extensively in historic endeavors in pursuit of truth.

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava*  Young voters can be the game changers in 2024. Are they realising this? Does it matter to them? If it does, whom are they voting for? So far, the voting of the youth is extremely poor for many reasons.

By Prem Singh*  British rulers, historians, scholars, writers, folklorists have referred to the Rebellion of 1857 that started from Meerut on 10 May 1857 by different names. This diversity of nomenclature reflects people's different attitudes towards the Rebellion. In the War of the nomenclature, the Rebellion has been described with derogatory terms such as 'Ghadar' by the Britishers on the one hand and 'India's First War of Independence' by the Indians on the other. 

By NS Venkataraman*  Referring to the policy of the Government of Canada  for "permitting" the activities of  those who are demanding and carrying campaign  for  independent state in other countries (for example by the supporters of LTTE in Sri Lanka and Khalistan in India),  Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar reportedly said the Canadian government should know the Newton’s  Third  Law.  Newton's Third  Law states that  for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  This  refers to a scenario that if Object A exerts a force on Object B, then Object B exerts an equal amount of force on Object A in the opposite direction.

By Arshad Hussain*  As Akshaya Tritiya or ‘Akha Teej’ is approaching for celebrations that commence from May 10, discreet preparations are underway to solemnize marriages for its importance to be an auspicious occasion when girl children are driven towards matrimonial alliances making them vulnerable to the grim intricacies of life way ahead of their maturity.

By Maju Varghese*  The Spring Meeting of the World Bank and IMF, held from April 15-20, marks the commencement of celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference, aimed at rebuilding the world in the aftermath of world wars and the Great Depression. While the vision and mission of the World Bank and IMF, commonly known as Bretton Woods Institutions, have evolved from wartime reconstruction to eradicating poverty, achieving shared prosperity, and now addressing the imperative of a liveable planet, the institutions have failed to bring about substantial reforms, including governance reforms and rectifying the existence of unbalanced shareholder systems.

By Laurent Gaberell, Manuel Abebe, Patti Rundall*  Nestlé’s leading baby-food brands, promoted in low- and middle-income countries as healthy and key to supporting young children’s development, contain high levels of added sugar. In Switzerland, where Nestlé is headquartered, such products are sold with no added sugar. These are the main findings of a new investigation by Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), which shed light on Nestlé’s hypocrisy and the deceptive marketing strategies deployed by the Swiss food giant.

By Ame Ena*   In China, May Day is an important occasion to celebrate what are considered by the country's authorities as accomplishments and efforts of the working class. The May Day vacation, which is being observed every year from May 1 to May 5, is sought to be projected as an exceptional economic success of the country. 

By Prem Singh*  During the election season, there is a debate going on between the BJP and the Congress as to who has the first right on the country's resources. However, it’s an ugly debate for which mainly the BJP is responsible.  Nowadays, Narendra Modi is the BJP. And he is constantly and blatantly dividing the citizens on the communal lines while reducing the level of electoral debate to the lowest of low. 

By Harsh Thakor*  One of the most intensive strikes in the history of labour movements anywhere in the world took place in India 50 years ago, on May 8th 1974 when workers of the Indian Railways struck work for 20 days, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. The strike was led by George Fernandes who acted as the President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation, one of the two unions recognised by the Railway Board along with the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR).

By Our Representative  A civil society delegation of the Loktantra Bachao 2024 campaign, which met Jharkhand’s Chief Election Officer K Ravi Kumar, in a complaint has alleged that  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "violated" the Model Code of Conduct as well as the Representation of People Act in recent speeches in Jharkhand by giving  "inflammatory and communal". 

By Tanushree Gangopadhyay*  Sections of Gujarat Muslims, with a population of 10 per cent of the State, have been allegedly denied their rights to exercise their franchise in the Juhapura area of Ahmedabad.

By Pranjal Pandey*  Singapore has announced that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will take over as the country’s next leader on May 15. Wong, 51, has garnered unanimous support from lawmakers within the People’s Action Party (PAP). He will succeed Lee Hsien Loong, who has held the top job for 20 years.

By Gauranga Das Prabhu*  In today's interconnected world, the pursuit of equity is seen as a moral necessity that transcends borders and ideology. It invites us to explore ancient knowledge while accepting modern realities and seeking answers rooted in compassion, collaboration, and systemic transformation. We can pave the way to a more inclusive and fair society by relying on both the rich weave of Vedic wisdom and modern discoveries.

Counterview Desk  In a statement marking one year of what it calls “genocidal violence” in Manipur, the civil rights network Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) has claimed that the whole “conflict” is premised on the fact that the state is rich in natural resources.