Counterview

By Vistasp Hodiwala* People who we thought should have known better have failed us. There is no other way to put this. Nothing has been so bloody disillusioning in a long, long time. My insides are churning as I write this with a sense of disquiet and disillusionment. From the time this mid-spring madness has been unleashed upon us, there is just one question which has bothered me the most: Arvind Kejriwal's absolute refusal to say a word on this episode. Even accounting for the fact that he is hurt, his steadfast refusal to be drawn into this doesn't make sense any longer. Especially in the light of recent developments. Is that hurt going to extend all the way to seeing them off? Is that hurt bigger than the dreams and values of the party's founding principles? Can he not be the large-hearted man we have felt he always was, by coming out and finally putting a stop to these inanities? Or is the writing already on the wall and he is merely trying to keep his hands in the cle...

By A Representative In an important move of considerable political significance, Congress and Left parties with be coming together for the first time in many years, joining hands with several human rights organizations and individuals for a rally at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on March 19. The banner of the rally will be "Exposing 300 days of Modi's Rule", says a note by the organizers, adding, Prime Minister Marendra Modi came to power "riding a promise of development", but "his election campaign was fueled by subtle hate against religious minorities".

By Rajiv Shah A new Government of India document, in possession of Counterview, has suggested that Gujarat’s performance in providing land to the tribals under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, is one of the poorest in India. The document shows, as of December-end 2014, Gujarat, an early starter, was able to “dispose of” just 39.97 per cent, or 75,974 claims, out of the total 1,90,051 tribals who had applied for land title deeds or community rights. This is against the national average of a whopping 82.60 per cent (17,13,519 out of 39,59,0190).

By Venkatesh Nayak* Two interesting developments have occurred during the last few days in the “Quest for Transparency” in India. Those who frequent the website of the Prime Minister will recognise the source of that phrase. The first revelation pertains to the Ordinance which was promulgated by the President of India to amend the law on land acquisition and transparent rehabilitation and resettlement. The second relates to the Delhi High Court’s welcome decision declared yesterday bringing back the Attorney General under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). No basis for urgency to promulgate the land acquisition law amendment Ordinance? Anticipating the current controversy over the land acquisition amendment Bill passed by the Lok Sabha on March 10, 2015, brought in to replace the earlier Ordinance, I had filed a right to information (RTI) application with the President’s Secretariat on January 5, 2015 within less than a week of the Ordinance being gazetted asking the followi...

About 20 experts and activists* have written a letter to secretary, Ministry of Environment Forests & Climate Change , with copies to Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel and other senior officials seeking immediate halt of all activities related to the Statue of Unity project in view of recent seismic activity at the Narmada dam site. Copy of the letter: We seek your immediate response following two recent developments related to the Statue of Unity project. News reports dated February 27 and 28, 2015 of the local newspapers detail the latest seismic activity at the Narmada Dam in the Sardar Sarovar region and how locals panicked, coming out of their homes. This was not the first seismic shock experienced in the region. It occurs at regular intervals. This clearly indicates that the region is seismically active with earthquakes of varying intensity vividly experienced by everyone residing there. A February 4, 2015 news report indicates that construction activity is soon to star...

Annastacia Palazczuk By A Representative In major relief, the Adani Group, seeking to go in for one of the world’s biggest mining projects in Australia’s Queensland province, has reached an agreement with its new Labour government which has just taken over, allowing it to dump the dredge spoil on land on the site known as T2, adjacent to the existing coal terminal, and not on ecologically sensitive Caley Valley wetlands or within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

By A Representative A whopping Rs 10,000 crore is likely to remain unspent out of the total allocation for Rs 71,500 crore, set aside for annual plan by the Gujarat government for the year 2014-15. Annual plan consists of developmental expenditure for the social and economic upliftment of the population in such sectors like health and education. It differs from non-plan expenditure, which the government must spend for paying debts, interest on loans, salaries to government employees, and other such expenditure, which does not directly benefit people.

Vyara rally in support of Gamit By A Representative The Gujarat High Court’s Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Board on Monday ordered the release of Jayram Gamit, a young tribal activist of South Gujarat’s Tapi and Chhotaudepur districts. Gamit was arrested under PASA Act on January 31, allegedly in order to preempt a tribal rally, which was planned in Chhotaudepur on February 2. The district was simultaneously declared “terrorist prone”. Section 144 orders were imposed and the rally was banned.

By A Representative A People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) fact-finding team has found that the communal clashes in and around Hansot taluka of Bharuch District in Gujarat, which led to the death of three innocent persons on January 14, 2015, the day of Uttarayan Festival, was “not a sporadic incident” but “a gradual build-up that started on December 9, 2014, which the local administration failed to anticipate.”

Counterview Desk A recent survey report, prepared by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi, for the a high-profile NGO, Lokniti, has found that, given an employment opportunity, 61 per cent of India’s farmers would like to shift to cities, and 50 per cent of farmers said they are “ready to quit farming” if such a possibility arises.