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Showing posts from May, 2013

Representation to Gujarat governor takes strong exception to mining activities in scheduled areas of the state

By Our Reprsentative Several grassroots organizations of Gujarat under the banner of Mines, Minerals and People (MM&P) have represented to state governor Dr Kamla against continued mining of the tribal areas of Gujarat, saying this is happening “against the Constitutional provisions, which prohibit mining of any natural resources that come under the tribal areas, whether it is water, land or forests.” The representation underlined, “It is illegal to allow mining in the tribal areas without prior approval of the gram sabha.”  Those who represented included Ashok Shrimali from MM&P, and social workers from affected tribal villages of South Gujarat. There were Namikaben Chaudhury, who is also sarpanch of Mordevi village panchayat, Bhupendrabhai Chaudhary, of Kosambia village, Manendrabhai Chaudhury or Bahej village, and Lalsinhbhai Gamit of Valod village. 

Senior activists wonder how can Kalpasar start when no environmental or CRZ clearance has been obtained

By A Representative Senior activists of Gujarat have alleged that the Narendra Modi government wants to begin work on the controversial Kalpasar project, which seeks to dam the Gulf of Khambhat, despite the fact that it has not yet complied with the Government of India's Environmental Impact Assessment Notification on September 14, 2006. The project falls under Category ‘A’, 1 (c), i.e. a river and valley project which requires prior environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on the recommendations of Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) constituted by the GoI.

At international meet, India blocked a decision against "harmful substances" asbestos and paraquat

Counterview Desk Jagdish Patel, senior Vadodara-based activist of the People's Training And Research Centre (PTRC) has informed Counterview how India in the second week of May became one of the countries which blocked a decision at a top international meet to oppose action against the use of asbestos and paraquat. A report on the meet, "Joint Chemical Conference Disappoints Those Seeking Action on Asbestos, Paraquat", by Daniel Pruzin, Bloomberg BNA, Daily Report for Executives, Geneva, has the details : ***

State terrorism against civil society?

By Rathin Das Several NGOs and other activists in Gujarat and elsewhere are up in arms against the Union Home Ministry’s (HMA's) order suspending the Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), a network of over 700 NGOs involved in grass root activities. In an order on April 30, 2013, the Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration of the INSAF, apparently for its involvement in what the Government considers ‘political’ activities like ‘Dharnas’ and rallies.

NHRC-centric view of Gujarat riots: Between hope and despair

Ashok Chatterjee* reviews the book, “Lest We Forget History: Tracing Communal Violence in Gujarat 2002″ by P G J Nampoothiri and Gagan Sethi (Books for Change, Rs 300, 2012), which recounts Gujarat’s tragedy from the perspective of a special monitoring group set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC): *** National attention is focused once again on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002. Conflicting accounts have emerged from the Supreme Court’s Special Investigation Team (SIT). Its apparent exoneration of Narindra Modi is challenged by the Courts amicus curiae, while a cover story in TIME on the Chief Minister as India’s icon of economic growth has failed to remove the visa ban imposed by the US since 2002 on grounds of human rights violations. “Lest We Forget History” recounts Gujarat’s tragedy from the perspective of a special monitoring group set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) soon after the killings began, on which the co-authors served. Their conclusion is chill...

In an open letter to CM, top environmentalist wonders why is Gujarat govt silent on danger of chemical disaster

Rohit Prajapati Counterview Desk  In an open letter to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, senior Vadodara-based environmentalist Rohit Prajapati of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti has wondered why is the CM so shy of providing answers to permanent resident Gujaratis (PRGs), who have repeatedly asked him certain questions on issues related with people’s concerns. The letter has been written against the backdrop of the CM’s address satellite-based to non-resident-Gujaratis (NRG), who live in the US, as he did on May 12. The letter following questions Prajapati wants Modi to answer: Text:

What's Rs 90 lakh worth for top Rly Board post? A babu "collected" Rs 50 lakh to buy placement in early 90s

By Rathin Das “Just Rs 90 lakhs ?! That’s not a big price to get such a high post in the Railway Board”, many in bureaucracy would scream. They know Indian republic has a long history of having price tags for several posts that involve interactions with contractors -- first awarding them projects and later clearing their inflated bills, to say the least. The payment made for procuring the post is recovered through kickbacks received from contractors and suppliers, the beneficiaries of the projects at the cost of the exchequer. No questions are asked about the source and destination of the slush money as the bureaucracy-contractor nexus has for long perfected the system of ‘regulating’ the flow of public money back to the coffers of the officers. In this case of Rs 90 lakhs paid to the nephew of the Railway Minister for securing the coveted post, the officer must have relied on the contractors who would be returned the favour by way of speedy payments of over-rated bills.

Involve locals to offset environmental damage in Mundra SEZ and port region, says letter to Natarajan

By A Representative In a letter to Jayanthi Natarajan, Union minister of state for environment nd aforests, New Delhi, several Gujarat-based environmental groups have demanded early implementation of the recommendations of the committee for inspection, which looked into environmental destruction on the part of the Adani Port and Special Economic Zone, Mundra, Gujarat. The letter wants urgent steps to be taken to involve local people in restoring environment, destroyed while implementing the project in the area.

Senior tribal human rights activist reminds President he is custodian of tribal people, must protect them

Gladson Dungdung By Ashok Shrimali* In a strongly worded letter, Gladson Dungdung, general secretary, Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM), Ranchi, has asked the President of India to either "protect the rights of the Scheduled Tribes (Indigenous People of India) or to shoot all of them at once rather than excluding, discriminating, exploiting, torturing and making them landless, resourceless and beggars by alienating them from the natural and livelihood resources in the name of growth and development." The letter has been written in wake of persecution faced by tribals who were refused representation to President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee on April 30, during his inauguration of a power project of the Jindal Steel & Power Ltd at Sundarpahari, which comes under Godda district of Jharkhand.