Counterview

Attorney General of India KK Venugopal By Venkatesh Nayak* A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India is currently hearing arguments about whether Article 21 of the Constitution of India contains within its meaning and scope a guarantee of the right to privacy of individuals. The controversy was created by a submission made by the Government of India in the context of a batch of petitions that challenged the constitutionality of Aadhaar (Unique Identification- UID) a couple of years ago. According to media reports, the current Attorney General of India (AGI) has apparently conceded on behalf of the Government that while the right to privacy is a fundamental right, it is a “wholly qualified right.” This seems like a climb down from the original argument made by his predecessor in August 2015 who questioned whether there was a fundamental right to privacy at all, under the Constitution. Readers may access my two-part comment on this controversy here and here . Acc...

Gandhi Samadhi being removed in Badwani By A Representative Even as Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, accompanied by Sardar Sarovar dam affected communities, started indefinite mass fast against the alleged Madhya Pradesh government attempt at "drowning and forcefully evicting people from Narmada Valley without complete and Just rehabilitation", her supporters gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in solidarity protest.

By Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging Governments worldwide to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge. The Plan calls for integrating the fight against human trafficking into the UN’s broader programmes in order to boost development and strengthen security worldwide. Three years later in 2013, the   General Assembly held a high-level meeting to appraise the Global Plan of Action and through a resolution designated July 30th as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The resolution declared that such a day was necessary to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.” The world body states, “human trafficking is a crime that exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labour and sex. The International Labour Organization estimates that 21 million people are...

By A Representative In a surprise move, Vallabh Kathiria, who once belonged to the anti-Narendra Modi camp in the BJP during the latter's chief ministership of Gujarat, has written to the Prime Minister asking him to reject an application by the Delhi University with the Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change for “environmental release” or commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard hybrid seed.

KK Venugopal By  A  Representative The Government of India has said that privacy is not a fundamental right, amd that it is too vague to qualify it as such. Appearing for the Centre in the Supreme Court, Attorney-General KK Venugopal argued that there can be "no independent right called right to privacy, and that privacy is only a sociological notion, not a legal concept."

By A Representative Well-known Kerala-based academic Meera Velyudhan has taken strong exception to what she calls "false communal propaganda" being spread that India's first Dalit president  KR Narayanan wasn't actually a "Hindu Dalit" but a Christian. The propaganda, according to her, is aimed at giving Ramanth Kovind, known for RSS leanings, the status of first Dalit President of India.

By A Representative India may be wanting to eliminate malaria by 2030, but available details suggest that not only India is far from achieving the aim, "between 2012 and 2016, there has been a 300% rise in the cases of chikungunya, dengue followed at 157% and Japanese encephalitis at 124%."

Narmada oustees' rally on July 22 By A Representative Following the “deadline” for resettling Narmada dam oustees, July 31, nearing, anti-dam oustees, backed by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), have threatened to begin an indefinite collective fast on July 27 till their demand not to be uprooted from their houses is fulfilled. The fast will be led by NBA leader Medha Patkar.

Solidarity protest with persecuted atheists By A Representative In what is being described by its organizers as “the largest gathering of ex-Muslims in history”, an International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression, held in London on July 22-24 was participation of delegates as “Islam's apostates, many from countries where the legal penalty for apostasy is death.”

By Moin Qazi* "I’ve got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry The baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I’ve got shirts to press The tots to dress The can to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then see about the sick And the cotton to pick. Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again." .– Maya Angelou (“Woman Walk”) It is an image of resilience: women bending over rice fields, women bending over to lift sacks, bending over to tend children, bending over to draw water from wells, bending over a patch of embroidery, bending over all the time. A woman’s work is never done. The most vivid image of village women is that of a woman as a daily wage farm labour, or on a family plot, legs straight, her body forming a V as hour after hour she is bent over double, hoeing, sowing, weeding, day in and day out, under clear skies and hot sun. Sometimes this work is done with ...