Counterview

Counterview Desk  The civil rights group, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM), has complained that the Government of India is not taking cognizance of lives and dignities of the waste collectors on the ground, it is only on paper. "About four million waste collectors in India are suffering to government’s disability to implement its own rules and laws", it said. Stating that most of them belong to Dalit, Adivasi and minority community, it noted, "They moved into big cities in search of livelihood and get entangled in the web of extortion and exploitation by civic bodies. This clearly shows that law in the capital is being mocked by the government’s implementing agencies."  An account of waste picker community's meeting... Text: A meeting of more than 80 families of waste pickers was organized by Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) and other organisations* at the Basti Vikas Kendra, New Seemapuri, Delhi. The Central government launched Solid Waste...

By NS Venkataraman*  China has never concealed it’s hostility towards India in the last few decades. China initiated war against India in 1962 and is still occupying thousands of kilometres of Indian territory. Pakistan gifted some area in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir to China to spite India and China has gleefully accepted this region as it’s own, not bothering about India’s protest. After the 1962 war, there have been several times that Chinese forces have tried to enter Indian territory in Ladakh area. China now demands that Arunachal Pradesh state in India belongs to China. The recent clash between Chinese troops and Indian troops in Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh will not be the last military clash between India and China and many more similar clashes will take place in the coming years , as China would continue it’s efforts to subdue India in variety of ways and will provoke frequent clash with India. Certainly, the hostility between India and China wo...

By Shamsul Islam*  The following quote is from the first paragraph of Lenin’s “The State and Revolution: The Marxist Theory of the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution” (1917) underlining a cardinal truth: how rulers and their henchmen/women repress those ideologies and individuals who strive to emancipate masses from the exploitative rules. This chameleon like lot uses every trick in their criminal armoury. “What is now happening to Marx's theory has, in the course of history, happened repeatedly to the theories of revolutionary thinkers and leaders of oppressed classes fighting for emancipation. During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain e...

By Mansee Bal Bhargava*  “Good governance never depends upon laws, but on the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery.” -- Frank Herbert The film "Well Done Abba", released in 2009, is a 2 hour and 24 minutes long film. It is directed by the legend, Shyam Benegal, who is known for articulating various social issues through his films. The film is produced by Raj Pius and Mahesh Ramanathan and published by the Reliance Big Pictures. The casts of the film include, Boman Irani, Ravi Kishan, Minissha Lamba, Sameer Dattani, Ila Arun, Rajendra Gupta, Meena Nathani, etc. The film may not have made much noise in the box office, it is well classified in the genres of the films that are cross connecting social and commercial besides getting well into the classrooms of social science where courses like water governance are taught. The MSc and MTech students** of the TERI-SAS Delhi studyi...

By Harsh Thakor  Professor Joma Sison expired in the night of December 16th. Joma died peacefully after a period of confinement in a hospital in Utrecht, The Netherlands last night at around 8:40 p.m. (Philippine time). He was 83.An irreparable loss of one of the great Marxist intellectuals and leaders of our times. Sison has departed but he has planted seeds for many roses to bloom. He propelled the Filipino people to shape the country’s future and achieve their aspirations for national freedom and democracy. The CPP declared ten days as a period of mourning for the entire Party in order to give the highest possible tribute to Joma. It decided to dedicate the Party’s upcoming 54th anniversary to Ka Joma’s memory, to celebrate his life and all the victories that we have achieved under his leadership and guidance.All units of the New People’s Army (NPA) have been ordered to stand in formation at the break of dawn of December 26 and silently perform a 21-gun salute by way of giving...

By A Representative  In an incident of threat and violence against a marginalized widow in 24 Parganas (N) district, West Bengal, allegedly by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, on 7th January 2022, the BSF personnel of 158 Battalion of Ghonermath BOP allegedly intimidated Kakali Mallick, widow of late Samir Mullick, yet, even a year later, her complaints have fallen deaf year. In a representation to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman, Kirity Roy, secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), said, the victim lodged “two complaints to the Sub Divisional Office, Bongaon, North 24 Parganas district and the Inspector in Charge of Bongaon, Bongaon Police District, against the perpetrated BSF personnel. “The inaction of the SDO and Bongaon police station inadvertently resulted in the BSF personnel denying justice to the widow. It is an act of misusing official power by government servants”, Roy complained. “This incident shows that BSF violated the c...

Counterview Desk  Power and climate policy analyst Shankar Sharma, in a representation to the Prime Minister, with copies to vice-chairperson NITI Aayog, Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy, Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, among others, has expressed serious concern over the decision to auction/open more than 100 additional coal mines, which, he says, will have “enormous deleterious consequences (social, environmental and economic impacts) to our communities.” Despite this, says Sharma, it is “highly deplorable” that none of the concerned authorities (NITI Aayog, Power Ministry, Central Electricity Authority, Powergrid, Power System Operation Corporation etc.) have considered it necessary consider clarification concerns of the civil society on this, “or even to demonstrate the necessary sensitivity/ civility to satisfactorily respond to specific queries/ representations from civil society.” Text : May I request you to ask the concerned author...