Counterview

By  A  Representative A new “worry” appears to have gripped Gujarat government: Claiming to be No 1 in solar power, it is not sure how the Government of India would fulfill the solar power dream, revising the target upwards from 20 GW to 100 GW, especially when the rooftop segment, forming 40 per cent of the target, as it woefully lacks necessary manpower.

Farmers protest against Dholera SIR By A Representative In an important "relief" to the farmers of living in the 900 sq km Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), touted by the Gujarat government as a Greenfield smart city about 100 kilometres south of Ahmedabad, the Gujarat High Court has order to maintain status quo on land acquisition for going ahead with the project.

Counterview Desk An international advocacy group  report , prepared even as the Paris talks on climate change are on, has accused India that Government of India and India’s coal companies operating in the private sector of causing “major, countervailing detrimental effects on communities which had previously sustained themselves with farming, fishing, hunting and other activities.”

By A Representative In an interesting revelation, a new report by two well-known NGOs, the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), suggests a powerful hold of corporates over the two main political parties, BJP and Congress, in India.

By Jatin Sheth* Bihar still represents rural India as urbanization is much less. There, the BJP lost elections. Similarly, in rural Gujarat, BJP lost heavily in district and taluka (block) panchayat. The following could be the reason: The government allocates large budget spending for rural area. Most of the population falls under beneficiary category. So, almost all people have direct interactions with local government and their officers. 

By Amit Srivastava* A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India has been welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India.

By A Representative Top advocacy group Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), based in Delhi, has warned that if the Rajya Sabha passes the Whistle Blowers Protection (WBP) Amendment Bill, it “may have to" move courts, along with other civil society organizations, “to challenge the constitutionality of the Bill vis-a-vis basic human right to accountable governance and the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.”

\ By Venkatesh Nayak* The Rajya Sabha (Upper House in India’s Parliament) took up the Government’s proposed amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011 (WBP Act) for discussion on December 7, 2015. Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to both the treasury and opposition benches spoke on the contents and implications of the Bill. Any person who has a reasonably good understanding of what it takes to protect whistleblowers would have recognised that the MPs were simply not well prepared to discuss the serious implications of the retrograde amendments that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government is proposing. The discussion on the Bill already passed by the Lok Sabha (Lower House) could not be completed on December 7. Meanwhile, Hussain Dalwai, MP from the Indian National Congress (INC), has moved amendments to the Bill and there is also a major demand to refer the amendment proposals to a Select Committee of the House along with the Prevention of Corruption (Amendme...

By  A  Representative A recent World Bank analysis , even while predicting that India’s growth rate would be around 7.5 per cent by the end of the present financial year ending March 2016, believes that it is largely “oil-fueled.” Carried out by Frederico Gil Sander , senior economist, World Bank, it says, “The drastic decline in global crude oil prices since June 2014 clearly played an important role”.

At Gandhi Peace Foundation By A Representative The national convention of 200 prominent citizens, held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi, has reached the conclusion the current “fight” against intolerance, begun by litterateurs and artistes who have returned their awards in protest, can succeed only when local-level communities begin asserting their rights.