Counterview

By Shantanu Basu* In the past few months, there has been an unseemly smear campaign, often bordering on the abusive, against the state of West Bengal (WB) and Bengalis, not based on hard facts but on amnesiac recollection and horror storytelling. I therefore recount in the following paragraphs the silent resurrection of WB, entirely based upon Govt. of India’s official statistics. WB’s own tax revenues have increased by about 25% combined with a four-fold hike in total capital expenditure in 2012-15. Capital expenditure on social sector has risen over five-fold and matched by a three-fold increase in capital spending on economic services. The budget revenue deficit is down by three-quarters from 2012-15. Tax revenues have risen by about 50% although there is marginal improvement in non-tax revenues. Against the national compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of GDP of 12.27%, WB’s CAGR stands at a creditable 14.27%. Revenue recoveries measured by the buoyancy over the state’s own taxes ha...

By A Representative Congress veteran Ahmed Patel may be fuming over the manner in which BJP chief Amit Shah almost snatched away his Rajya Sabha seat by ensuring that 14 of the party's 57 MLAs in the Gujarat state assembly "crossed over" against him. However, two of his recent media interviews suggest that, despite his "clout" in the Congress, he has not been able to overcome his long-standing fear in taking up the reins of the party.

By Mitra Ranjan* As we are celebrating 70th Independence Day, the death of more than 60 children over 5 days in the Baba Raghav Das College in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh is an extremely heart-breaking, inhuman and unfortunate incident. It is not only a matter of negligence but deliberate killing of Children who were suffering from symptoms of encephalitis. Thirty eight children died over 48 hours due to no oxygen in the hospital. Despite the CM’s knowledge of this lapse no step was taken, leading to the death of so many innocent children. All of them belonged to poor and marginalized sections of the society. The UP Health Minister denying shortage of oxygen to be main cause of death shamelessly said to media: “Children die in August every year. What’s new in this?" The National Convenor of Right to Education (RTE) Forum, Ambarish Rai said, "This unfortunate incident has exposed the deplorable health conditions and weak public health care system prevailing not only in Gorakhpur ...

A rehabilitation site in Narmada valley Medha Patkar, Dhurji Bhai, Vijay Bhai and Santu Bhai, leaders of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), will be spending the Independence Day in jail, it has taken strong exception to the Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Modi governments for maintaining stoic silence on the displacement in Narmada valley, status of rehabilitation sites and adverse social and environmental impacts. Statement by NBA: The day Medha Patkar and others broke their 17 day indefinite fast, Madhya Pradesh police foisted cases of disturbing peace, kidnapping and many other trumped up charges on 55 named and 2,500 unnamed project affected and activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Most of the cases are related to the incident on August 7th when 2,000 strong police force violently attacked the fasting protesters, injured 42 and forcibly hospitalised 10 of them in Dhar and Indore Hospitals. This itself speaks volumes of the terror and oppression being unleashed in the Narmada valley to...

By  A  Representative Well-known civil rights organization, National Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), has urged Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha, to allow six tribal gram sabhas to resume their kendu leaves business. In a letter, CSD has blamed the state forest officials for "violating" Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 by "interfering" the gram sabhas seeking to trade in the leaves.

By Rajiv Shah Seeking to give a controversial answer to the tangled question being debated especially by India's urban development experts as to how urbanized India is, the Government of India's midterm Economic Survey, released last week, has questioned the Census of India data that just 31.2% of the country is urbanized.

By  A  Representative Following all-round appeal to her, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar and several of her colleagues have ended their 17-day fast, which they had undertaken for the the alleged plan to forcibly evict around 40,000 Narmada dam oustee families of the Narmada dam.

By Cijo Joy and Anushka Singh* The ‘Make in India’ drive and its claim of generating employment by getting multi-national companies to manufacture in India is characterized by appalling and inhuman work ‘opportunities’ of which the Vivo India Pvt Ltd is a glaring example. Vivo Company is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that entered the Indian markets in December 2015 under the ‘Make in India’ initiative and was also the sponsor of the Indian Premier League 2017. Its manufacturing unit located in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh came in the news when it was reported last month that over 1000 workers have been terminated from job from the company since the end of the IPL season and on 25th July 2017 angry workers had retaliated and ransacked the factory. PUDR’s investigation, however, revealed that the incident of 25th July was a culmination of the Company’s policies and its treatment of its own workers. Dwindling numbers: The Company currently has over 6000 workers and all employed on...

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* The recent elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, is a glaring example of how corruption has been blatantly mainstreamed by the current political dispensation; the son of the BJP chief of Haryana, literally thinks that he can get away for stalking a girl, due to his political clout; Medha Patkar arrested in the midst of her hunger strike on behalf of the oustees of the Narmada Dam; India’s new President and Vice-President steeped in the ideology of the RSS. These are but a few examples in recent weeks, which illustrate, as India celebrates its 70th anniversary of independence, there are definite efforts being made today to plunge the country into abysmal depths. There is indeed much to be grateful for (thanks to the efforts of millions of Indians these past years). Over the years, India and her people have attained many heights! The 75th anniversary of the ‘Quit India Movement’ on August 9th brought to mind the selfless sacrifices of Mahatma Gandhi and the ...

The tractor carrying the National Flag By Rajiv Shah Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has declined to accept the largest-ever National Flag, prepared by Dalit students and teachers of the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), the Dalit empowerment centre, founded by top rights activist Martin Macwan in 1999 to train girls and boys from marginalized communities in technical skills.