Rally to highlight poor infrastructure in government schools By Our Representation A survey by Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad's Dalit rights organization, has revealed that despite Gujarat government claims of one of the best infrastructure facilities compared to rest of India’s schools, things have failed to improve in remote and backward villages. In a representation handed over to the district education officer, the Baal Adhikar Suraksha Samiti, a local NGO working for child rights, has revealed, quoting the survey, how in several of the primary schools there are no separate toilets for girls, there is lack of basic seating facilities for children from classes 1 to 4, and computers, though installed, are not in use.

By A Representative Around 30 mass organizations, attached with the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), have strongly protested against the Government of India (GoI) move to bring about changes in the new land acquisition Act, saying any move in that direction will be met with “stiff resistance.” Asking the GoI to ensure its “strict implementation”, the NAPM, which is led by Narmada Bachao Andolan’s (NBA’s) Medha Patkar, said, “The news that two of the key provisions of the Act, consent and social impact assessment (SIA), are to be amended is completely unacceptable.”

By A Representative In an important submission before the Law Commission of India, the Amnesty International India has insisted on the need to undertake critical legal reforms to better defend the right to free speech. Saying that this is important against the backdrop of a “growing trend of intolerance towards dissent and criticism” in the recent weeks, elucidating the submission, Amnesty's senior policy adviser Shailesh Rai said, “Authorities have shown a worrying eagerness to arrest and detain people for the lawful exercise of their constitutional rights to free speech, especially when it concerns the new Prime Minister.”

By A Representative Hundreds of safai karmacharis, mainly belonging to the Dalit Valmiki community, have protested against the failure of the Gujarat government to allocate them land for building houses in Viramgam, a town situated in the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, whose vicinity is likely to see major industrial activity in the near future. The local municipality gave a nod for two plots of land – Survey Nos 377 and 178-- measuring 21,954 square metres way back in 2010, so that they could build their own houses. But so far nothing has been done to allocate the land to the "neglected" families, many of whom are permanent members of municipality, while others are daily wagers.

By A Representative Top social activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan’s Medha Patkar, fighting against the Narmada dam for decades, has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “influenced” the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) “politically” to raise the Narmada dam’s height. She said, she was “shocked” that the decision of the NCA, the multi-state body authorized for all the decisions on the Narmada project, was taken “bypassing the three concerned Union ministers -- Uma Bharti (water resources), Thavaar Chand Gehlot (social justice and empowerment) and Prakash Javdekar (environment), all from Madhya Pradesh.”

By A Representative The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), India’s most well-known anti-Narmada dam body, has said that the recent decision of the Government of India to raise the dam height from 121.92 metres to 139.68 metres has been reached with an eye on helping Gujarat-based “corporates and industries”, who have been “eyeing the Narmada waters and command area land” for quite some time. With this aim in mind, NBA added, “the Gujarat government plans to denotify 4 lakh hecatres (ha) of land from the command area and reserve it for corporates.”

By A Representative In a significant move, the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has declared that the “higher price” being offered by the Government of India to it for oil and gas exploration off Andhra Pradesh coast is “not market linked”, and it should get an even more, in keeping with market realities. The "revision", which the Government of India has still not formally announced, is from $4.2 per MMBtu (million British thermal units) to $8.4 MMBtu, which was challenged by several politicians, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, who claimed it would mean a “windfall” of Rs 54,500 crore to the RIL.

Villagers protest against weir By A Representative The Gujarat government has claimed that villagers, whose land has been acquired for constructing the Garudeshwar weir across Narmada river, and 12 km from the Narmada dam site, were “fully satisfied” with the package offered to them decades ago. In said this in an affidavit filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in response to a petition filed by Gujarat-based environmental body Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), seeking stoppage of work at the weir, alleging the weir’s environmental and rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) clearances have not been taken, as required by law.

By A Representative Gujarat High Court hearing in the anticipatory bail applications of top human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and three survivors of the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre of Gujarat, Tanvir Jafri, Salim Sandhi and Firoz Gulzar Pathan has been postponed till July 9, 2014. This happened, according to a statement issued by Setalvad’s NGO Centre for Justice and Peace (CJP), following a 96 page counter affidavit “complete with detailed records from audited accounts and bank statements disproving baseless allegations made by the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad.”

Villagers protest against Garudeshwar Dam By Rohit Prajapati, Lakhan Musafir* In our case against Garudeshwar Weir (being set up about 12 km downstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada river) in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), has said, “… no project proposal regarding Garudeshwar Weir at Garudeshwar village, District Narmada of Gujarat, has been received in this Ministry.” The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) has said, its affidavit is only for “the limited purpose”, it is “not dealing with the application parawise”, nor it is “giving elaborate details which would show that construction of Garudeshwar Weir is strictly in conformity with law.” It is now clear: the SSNNL has no documents to show and prove that the construction of Garudeshwar Weir is going on as per the law. In their replies the MoEF, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and the SSNNL do not deny our contention that:There has never been an environment and soci...

Teesta Setalvad By A Representative In an important move, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), India’s top rights body, has sought “independent review and intervention” by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) “to stop the continuing persecution and prosecution of human rights defenders, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand of the Citizens for Peace and Justice (CPJ), as also others. In a petition filed with the NHRC, the PUCL said, the intervention was needed as the Gujarat government was seeking institute “false” misappropriation cases. The cases were in retaliation of the fight they had put up for victims of communal riots in Gujarat.

By A Representative Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah flagged off Right to Information (RTI) Bharat Yatra on June 16 in Jammu, organized by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) amidst clear signals emerging that the powerful tool promoting transparency may come under Government of India scanner, with efforts being made to point towards how RTI has become a "hindrance" to growth. Supported in J&K by Sangharsh J&K RTI Movement, the multi-media van, RTI on Wheels, will become the vehicle of MAGP’s RTI Bharat Yatra across India over the next few months. In Jammu, Balvinder Singh, convenor, Sangarsh RTI Movement J&K stated, “RTI has proved to be a powerful tool in the hands of common citizens. It has helped efforts to make government transparent and accountable. It is necessary that the powerful tool reaches to common citizen.”

By A Representative The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has asked the Government of India not to criminalize dissent in the guise of Intelligence Bureau (IB) report on non-government organizations (NGOs), who it has claimed are seeking to “retard” the country’s growth because they raise people’s issues. Submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the IB report, according to the PUCL, India’s premier human rights organization, has done nothing but to “intimidate, slander, throttle and terrorize the voice of various citizens' groups, NGOs and individuals.”

Tapi adivasi meet By A Representative In a development that may create some flutter in the establishment, the Akhil Bharaiya Adivasi Ekta Andolan, Tapi, Gujarat, in what may appear to be an unprecedented representation to the district collector, has demanded that tribal farmers should be allowed to use tractors to till their lands they have lately come to own. Coming from an organization operating in a district whose majority of the population is tribal, the representation wonders, at a time when tribals are being recognized as farmers and given land to till under the forest rights Act, 2006, there is little reason why they should be deprived of the use of modern equipment till their land.

By Himanshu Thakkar, Rohit Prajapati* In a shocking decision on June 12, 2014, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), headed by the secretary, Union ministry of water resources (MoWR), and which includes secretary of Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and senior officials of four states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have sanctioned installation of 17 metre high gates on the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river in Gujarat, taking the effective current height of the dam from 121.92 m to 138.68 m. This has been done after the rehabilitation sub-group (RSG) of the NCA, chaired by secretary, Union ministry of social justice and empowerment (MoSJE) has also cleared this decision. This decision implies submergence of thousands of hectares (ha) of land and displacement of lakhs of tribals and farmers in three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, when their rehabilitation, as legally required, has not been done. More importantly, Gujarat and Raj...

Dalits of Jaspur village By A Representative After the lapse of over a year, Jaspur village of Padra taluka in Vadodara district is once again in the spot. A year ago, on April 13, 2013, the Dalits of the village strongly protested against the dominant castemen providing separate seating arrangement for dinner to the Dalits during a public ceremony at the temple. Taking exception to this and saying that it amounted to treating them as “untouchables”, the Dalits, led by Shantilal Parmar, filed, with great difficulty, an anti-atrocities case against the organizers of the ceremony. “While meek action was taken against the culprits, a year later, the dominant caste leaders decided to retaliate”, Parmar alleged talking to Counterview.

Rajasthan CM By A Representative In a statement, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), the powerful rights-based NGOs' network, has strongly condemned what it has called “highhanded and illegal action of the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA), operating directly under chief minister Vasundhara Raje, against the Rajasthan Samagra Seva Sangh, a well-known Gandhian institute. “The JDA has no authority to seal and vacate the premises of the institution and throw out its residents. It must restore the possession to the Sangh and wait for the pending decision in the High Court, rather than take this drastic and illegal step of sealing the premises”, the statement said.

By A Representative Advance release of the opening remarks, which Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will be delivering at the Human Rights Council’s 26th session on June 10 at Geneva, reveals that the top UN body is all set to highlight issues pertaining to caste and Dalit discrimination as one of the major agendas during future discussions on human rights. Suggesting that caste-based discrimination as equal to the discrimination based on religion and race, Pillai, who is to be replaced by Jordan's Zeid Al Hussein soon, regrets, certain countries refuse to discuss contentious issues related to discrimination.

By Venkatesh Nayak* The last few weeks have mutely witnessed several horrific rapes and murders of women across India. Police response is said to have ranged from apathy and inaction to complete hostility towards the complainants, sufferers of violence (‘victims’ would be a pejorative label thrust upon them) and their families. While many of us read such news items in passing, others are protesting in their own way either before the corridors of power or venting their righteous anger through the media. The keepers of the law like the proverbial ass are tardy in their response. In at least one case rather than take action against the accused and the police who were either perpetrators of such crimes or refused to take immediate action, letters are being exchanged clarifying the caste identity of the sufferers. So one must carry a caste certificate in hand to claim justice in some parts of the country. Meanwhile the accused are said to have threatened the families of the sufferers with d...

Ela Bhatt By A Representative In an open statement, 120-odd prominent intellectuals have taken strong exception to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for remaining “silent on this blatant attack on curbing citizens’ free speech and expression” by the saffron brigade and its supporters. Blaming the state machinery for taking advantage of “the draconian Section 66A of the Information and Technology (IT) Act, 2000,” they have particularly opposes “criminal punishment” of up to three years for merely sending messages which can cause “annoyance” or “inconvenience” or “danger” or “insult”, and gives unfettered discretion to enforcement agencies to enforce it.

Dalits protest against social boycott By A Representative Threat of forced migration is looming large over the Dalit community of Kudol village of Modasa taluka in the newly-formed Aravalli district, North Gujarat, following an upper caste attack on a wedding procession on May 24, where social boycott has been imposed on Dalit families. The attack took place after several dominant castemen objected to the bridegroom riding a horse during the wedding procession, to which the Dalits refused. The procession was attacked despite the fact that eight policemen accompanied the procession. A mob, consisting of several dozen persons, pelted stones on Dalits, injuring some of them, including cops.

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Government of India has published in the Official Gazette the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) it has set up to investigate the issue of black money stashed abroad by Indians. The setting up of the SIT amounts to a welcome reversal of previous government policy on this subject. The previous government had opposed this direction despite a clear order from the Supreme Court in 2011. The SIT will be headed by Justice (Retd) M B Shah with Justice Arijit Pasayat as Vice-Chair. The rest of the members are the same ex officiosenior bureaucrats who were part of the High Level Committee set up by the previous Government to look into the cases of persons who were said to have stashed away money in foreign banks abroad. The Joint Secretary (Revenue) has been added to this list as Member Secretary of the SIT. This SIT is an outcome of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the matter of Ram Jethmalani and Ors. vs Union of Ind...

By Rohit Prajapati* Prakash Javadekar, new minister for environment, forest and climate change, taking over the charge has promised to ensure “fast environment clearances”. This is just beginning of the implementation of the BJP’s manifesto by the the ministry of environment. A new system for online submission of applications for environmental clearances has been launched. But what about online submission of complains against pollution? Javadekar also said that there shall be a maximum time limit for the entire approval process, with stage-wise timelines and promised continuous efforts to bring down the timelines for each stage. But what about the time limit to resolve complains against polluting industries? Now we are in an era where the three ministries of environment, labour and industry, individually and collectively, are increasingly concerned about better environment for industry and its profitability, industrial-friendly labour laws and prosperity of industry, so that industrial...