Counterview

By Rajiv Shah  In a major expose, a top consulting firm, Prestels, which is an expert in industrial safety and health, disaster management, environmental consulting and energy audit, has ranked two of Gujarat’s industrial clusters – Ankaleshwar and Vapi – as the worst polluters out of a total 88 clusters, for which it has collected data. A recent report submitted to the Planning Commission to India by Sumeet Patil, project manager, Prestels, has found that Ankaleshwar tops in comprehensive environmental pollution index (CEPI) with a score of 88.5, closely followed by Vapi’s 88.09. The next high polluter is Ghaziabad in UP with a CEPI of 87.37, followed by Chandrapur in Maharashtra with 83.88, Korba in Chhattisgarh with 83.0, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan with 82.91, Angur Talcher in Orissa with 82.09, Vellore (North Arcot) in Tamil Nadu with 81.79, and Ludhiana in Punjab with 81.66.

Ashok Shrimali By A Representative The Adivasi Ekta Parishad has strongly protested against the alleged large-scale illegal mining of soil, rampant in Valod taluka of tribal-dominated Tapi district in South Gujarat. In a representation to the Gujarat government, a copy of which was submitted to the local executive magistrate, Valod, the parishad, which is an all-India body functioning in several states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, has said that truckloads of soil is being transported from Mordevi village to elsewhere “without any information being provided about the area for which the permission has been granted, and the amount for which mining has been allowed.” The statement wonders if there is any record with the state government about all this.

By A Representative  A recent survey has made the drastic revelation that nearly 20 per cent of all unorganized sector manufacturing enterprises in Gujarat’s urban areas are sick, belying those who believe that sickness has not touched the state’s lower rung manufacturing. Indeed, if the survey is to be believed, the sickness has hit women the most, as they own majority of these enterprises. In fact, the data, which found their way in the National Sample Survey (NSS) report, “Operational Characteristics of Unincorporated Non-agricultural Enterprises (Excluding Construction) in India”, released in November 2012, suggest that Gujarat leads among Indian states in this sickness.

By Rajiv Shah  Top Gujarat government public sector undertaking (PSU), Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC), has been charged for fleecing the farmers by not providing them with fertilizers at a subsidized rate, despite the fact that it was bound to do it under Government of India (GoI) rules. In a letter dated March 18, 2013, the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, has regretted that “the subsidy paid by the government to GSFC has not been passed on to the farmers by the company”, adding, “This (has) defeated the very purpose for which the subsidy is paid by the government.”

By A Representative Taking a serious view of large number of premature deaths of workers working in the agate industry in Gujarat, especially Khambhat, a recent analytical article released by America’s world news site, GlobalPost, has warned that “much of the inexpensive jewelry in US malls features polished ‘agate’ stones, which are leaving a trail of death in India.” Written by Jason Overdorf and titled “How the shiny 'agate' stones in jewelry and rosary beads are killing workers”, the article regrets, “Nobody keeps official statistics for India's total agate exports.”

By A Representative  This piece of news should make power policy makers of the Gujarat government – wanting to put Gujarat at 11.2 per cent rate of growth per year for five consecutive years, 2012-17 – set out to think if they were not hyping out their claims a little too high. Latest information available from authoritative sources has suggested that Gujarat would be back to single digit growth for the second consecutive year, in 2012-13, which is quite unprecedented in the last more than a decade. In fact, available figures suggest, that the actual rate of growth of Gujarat economy is all set to be the worst since 2006-07.

Medha Patkar By A Representative A national convention on Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), proposed as joint Indo-Japanese project, held in Delhi, has reached the conclusion that the project is "not about development but resource grab and corporate profit". The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), which organised the convention at the end of the month-long DMIC Virodhi Sangharsh Yatra March 19, 2013, brought together activists, supporters and experts on one platform to analyse outcomes and devise a strategy for further action. The Yatra was in Gujarat, which accounts for one-third of the project, in March second week. Opening the session, Manoranjan Mohanty applauded the Yatris in spreading awareness about the DMIC.

By A Representative  The Independent People’s Tribunal (IPT), inquiring into on the functioning of the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission (GHRC), has recommended that the GHRC should have its own investigative wing composed by personnel independent from the security forces and not from the same police force against which cases abound. Based on queries sent to the GHRC and the latter's reply, the report underlines, "The state of Gujarat has witnessed large number of human rights violations over the past few decades and as the protector and safeguards The GHRC has completely failed to discharge its duty towards the people, was the common echo during the meet. In the neo-liberal economic era the rights have been grossly violated and the victims have not been protected."

Counterview Desk Martin Macwan, a well-known human rights activist, has regretted that the impression of father of the Indian constitution Dr BR Ambedkar, over the years, has been reduced to a "leader of a caste or sub-caste", and it is time one should overcome this gap. Currently in the midst of a two-month-long march for refurbishing this wrong impression, which ends on April 14, Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, Macwan believes it is time for a wider support for Dr Amdrkar's views, who stood for justice and equality for all. The march, which is going to different villages and towns, proposes to end with a grand shobha yatra in Ahmedabad. Following is text of an appeal he has made for support: ***

Narmada canal By Cedric Prakash* The Gujarat Government has done it again! On February 26, 2013, it tabled the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage Bill, 2013 which seeks to make it compulsory for farmers to get a licence to draw water from a canal or ground well beyond a certain limit and prescribes penal action including imprisonment against the errant farmers.