Counterview

Allahabad High Court Counterview Desk Statement by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms: 2016 marked a year of abrasive disagreement between the judiciary and the government especially over the issue of judicial appointments. While both the judiciary and the government may have us believe that transparency in the working of public functionaries is critical in a democracy, it is ironic that there has been complete opacity from both these institutions where disclosing a draft of the memorandum of procedure for appointments to the High Court and Supreme Court is concerned. This process has been shrouded in secrecy, excluding public participation in this crucial process. Repeated requests from the Campaign for a draft of the memorandum to be shared as well as a Campaign draft memorandum sent to the government and the judiciary, have received no response. The efficient functioning of the judiciary rests on steady and regular appointments. These appointments have be...

By  A  Representative The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has rejected a right to information (RTI) application filed by senior RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak to part with any information on the use of pellet guns while dealing with protesters in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since July 2016, saying it “is not related to human rights violation.”

By  A  Representative In a notice it has sent to the Chhattisgarh government, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said, during its on-the-spot investigation, it has found 16 women prima facie victims of rape, sexual and physical assault by state police personnel.

By  A  Representative Neither Gujarat government’s education department, nor women and child department, has any information about private pre-primary schools operating in the state. In separate replies to a right to information (RTI) plea by Mujahid Nafees, they have said, pre-primary schools do not come under their purview, hence the question of providing information on them “does not arise.”

Tribals evicted from the reserve area By  A  Representative Bringing to light what they termed as “illegal relocation” of five tribal villages of Similipal Tiger Reserve by the Mayurbhanj district administration and the Forest Department, Odisha, two civil rights organizations, Similipal Surakhya Manch, Mayurbhanj and the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), have said that plans are now underway to relocate more villages from what is called the “buffer zone” of the tiger reserve.

By  A  Representative The Government of India's (GoI's) allocation of Rs 7,348 crore over the next three financial years as universal maternity entitlement has been termed as a “fraction of what is actually required”, even assuming the only two births are covered under the Maternity Benefit Programme (MBP), announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his new year speech.

By  A  Representative Following Swati Chaturvedi’s book “I Am a Troll”, which created unprecedented flutter for pointing out how the social media cell of BJP would spread hatred, yet another ex-BJP volunteer has declared how the cell worked for continuously  spreading online “hate directed at minorities, some journalists, and anyone else who has opposing views”.

By Venkatesh Nayak* Print and electronic media have highlighted the plight of a young woman who approached the New Delhi office of the Reserve Bank of India to change some demonetised currency notes that she had. Apparently the security personnel did not even allow her to enter the RBI office premises. A police officer is said to have commented on the torn state of the currency notes that this daily-wager carried with her, which was why she was not allowed to enter the building. Exasperated, the woman is said to have stripped down in protest in front of her son while a bystander recorded the entire event on his mobile and circulated it in cyberspace. According to media reports, this was not her first attempt to exchange her old notes at RBI’s Delhi office. If this version is a true record of what happened, it is extremely disturbing that the security personnel tried to usurp the role of the RBI officials who are the only competent authorities to allow or refuse demonetisation related...

By  A  Representative A top Gujarat government water resources official, who has been aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has warned that Gujarat’s Narmada-based canal network has been “reduced to be vulnerable”, underlining it does not even have the “buffer for 15 days” for supplying water, making its “closures for maintenance” almost an impossible task.

By Rajiv Shah In a sharp critique of the Government of India thinking, continuing since the UPA days, that rural women are “vulnerable to sexual assault” when they defecate in the open, a recent study carried has said that such a view only distracts policy makers “from the real social divisions, based on caste, that prevent the adoption of affordable latrines”.