Counterview

By Sadhan Mukherjee* Both the TMC and BJP seem to be caught in a political cleft over Gorkhaland. Only a sincere dialogue among the three parties together – BJP, Trinamool and GJM -- can bring a solution to the vexed issue that has grown beyond the control of any one party. It may still be possible to have a peaceful solution as the condolence marches with the three dead bodies of GJM activists showed. Government allowed the marches without any hindrance and GJM did not take any retaliatory means. Peace prevailed during the marches. The proposed joint meeting on 22 June called by the Union Home Ministry in Siliguri should break some new ground towards an amicable solution as all three sides seem to realise the gravity of the situation. A pre-requisite for a decent and amicable settlement can only be a ‘give and take’. A rigid stand by any one party can break the talks. The introduction of Bengali as a compulsory language in all schools of Darjeeling hills area up to 10th standard by th...

By A Representative The lynching of Zafar Hussein, a political and trade union activist of Pratapgarh, Rajasthan, attached with the CPI-ML (Liberation), was the direct result of India’s ruling establishment’s approach to Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, the national cleanliness drive launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a detailed letter sent to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje has alleged.

By  A  Representative Protests have erupted in the Narmada valley in Madhya Pradesh against the inter-state body, Narmada Control Authority (NCA),which  allowed the Gujarat government to close down the Narmada dam’s 30-odd gates. This follows large-scale fear among villagers of the state's highly fertile Nimad area their houses and land, along with their means of livelihood, would be submerged.

By A Representative In a strongly-worded opinion piece, a top American conservative thinktank expert, Sadanand Dhume, has warned that, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the “space to criticize the government or the ruling BJP without fear of retaliation… may shrink even more.”

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, ‘everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’. In keeping with the letter and spirit of this Right, more than 145 countries of the world have signed the United Nations ‘1951 Refugee Convention’ and the ‘Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1967’. According to the Refugee Convention, “a ‘refugee’ is one who owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it”. Unfortunately, India is one of the few democracies in the world th...

Narmada dam's gates being closed By  A  Representative In a sharply-worded statement, well-known anti-dam organization, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), has described the Gujarat government announcement to close down the Sardar Sarovar Dam’s 30-odd gates as based on “false” representation of the ground realities.

By  A  Representative In a move that is likely to further plunge BJP, especially Sambit Patra, into controversy, the national spokesperson of the party has once again come down heavily on the NDTV, this time on foreign land. He described NDTV as “anti-India, anti-Hindu and anti-BJP” during his visit to Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday.

Counterview Desk A National Alliance of People’s Movement’s (NAPM’s) letter to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking urgent intervention in the matter of police action against peaceful protestors of Puthuvypeen, Kochi: We are writing to you in the context of the serious repression by your Government on the people of Puthuvypeen, near Kochi who have been peacefully protesting against the LPG Import Terminal Project of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for the past 108 days. Just as we were pleased to note certain positive decisions by your government on other fronts, we are constrained to note that like in any other state, people’s voices and struggles continue to be muzzled in Kerala, particularly when the justifiability of ‘development projects’, pushed against popular consent is questioned in democratic ways. It has come to our notice that the Kerala Police, by way of lathi charge of women and men, mass arrests and even unlawful detention of children, has brutally come...

A note on Gujarat-level consultation on Children in Mining Areas, District Mineral Fund (DMF), and Pandhayats (Extension in Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA):   One Day State Level Consultation was organized by Samata with the collaboration of SETU: Centre for Social knowledge And Action, Ahmedabad, Adivasi Ekata Parishad and Mandvi Taluka Sarpanch Association with a special focus on children in mining areas, DMF and PESA on 11th June 2017 at JFM Community Hall, Mandvi, Surat district, Gujarat.  A total of 133 people participated in the meeting. Sarpanches from more than 15 villages, ex- Ministers, teachers, doctors, advocates, media persons, and community leaders participated in the meeting. The consultation was presided over by secretary-general of mines, minerals and People (mm&P) Ashok Shrimali. He introduced the theme of the consultation and why children's rights should not be neglected especially in the mining areas. Shrimali said that mining has been known to cause w...

By Darshini Mahadevia, Renu Desai, Shachi Sanghvi,Suchita Vyas, Aisha Bakde, Mo Sharif Malek, Rafi Malek* The Bombay Hotel locality in the southern periphery of Ahmedabad has developed mainly since the early/mid 2000s. Small and medium-scale builders acquired agricultural land through a series of informal transactions, developed the land for residential societies without any development permissions and then sold the constructed tenements or plots of land in these societies through informal transactions to Muslims from poor and low-income backgrounds. Crime and violence have been rampant in the locality, leading to creation of unsafe spaces for its residents. There is a proliferation of alcohol, drug and gambling dens and many youth have been drawn towards these illicit activities. Thefts and burglaries are quite common. There are several gangs in and around the locality and conflicts between them erupt every now and then in public spaces. Several factors have come together to create t...