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Showing posts from May, 2015

Be wary of Mann ki Baat: Modi dumbs down issues comprehensively, deliberately

By Leo Saldanha* I heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Mann ki Baat” address to the nation on May 31, 2015. About how this innovation has captured the attention of the nation and people world over, there is plenty that has been said on TV and also written about. The point of this piece is to ask what is Modi's project when he so shares his thoughts and feelings with the “people”. Just plain listening to Modi's “Mann ki Baat” gives one the feeling that Modi is reaching out, explaining stuff, making people part of his decisions.  But pay careful attention to his tone, the undertones particularly, and one notices a rather dark and patronising manner in which Modi renders his messages. Take today's episode, for instance. Modi spoke of the heat wave; the Kisan Channel that is being launched; the One Rank One Pension promise to Jawans; about success and failures in examinations and how to deal with them; and also announced he would lead the nation in commemorating June 21st...

Will opinions put forth by right-wing groups alone be allowed on IIT-Madras campus?

Counterview Desk Reproduced below is the abridged version of statement issued by the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), which was barred from continuing its activities on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras: We, the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), an independent student body of IIT Madras (IITM) have been derecognised by the Dean of Students (DoS), on May 22, 2015, who stated that we have misused the privileges given by IITM.

To campaign against Adani coal project, Australian natives will meet bankers in New York, London, Zurich, Hong Kong

By A Representative Has the Adani Group finally managed to win an important battle against those who are opposed to the Australian dollars 16.5 billion coalmining project in Queensland province? If the latest statement by a spokesperson of the indigenous people, who have been opposing the coalmines on the land which they claim is theirs, is any indication, they seem to be fighting a losing battle.

Modi's plea to farmers to retain a third of holding for farming: Shifting people from Bharat to India

By Mohan Guruswamy* In his speech to a farmers' gathering in the capital the other day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised them to retain a third of their holding for farming, another third for fodder for the cattle and livestock, and the final third to grow timber. He seems to be oblivious of the reality. The average size of a farm holding is 1.15 ha. Of which the PM wants the farmer to reserve about 0.36 ha for growing crops for sustenance and sale, 0.36 for fodder for livestock, and the rest for growing timber, which will take a quarter of a century to mature. How will the family live and who will feed them? These things apparently don’t figure in his imagery. He clearly is thinking of the Badal or Pawar kind of farmers who drive imported SUV's and have huge benami farmland holdings. Besides farming for such folk is just to ascribe income gotten by other means. The data contained in the 2011 Agriculture Censs reveals a stark picture for Bharat. The PM will do well to see i...

Fifty Gujarat NGOs "join hands" with Congress, AAP, Swaraj Samvad, decide to start "mega agitation" against Modi

Congress' Bharat Solanki By A Representative In a rare show of unity of opposition to the ruling BJP in Gujarat, around l 50 Gujarat-based non-government organizations (NGOs) shared stage in Ahmedabad with senior state Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki, on one hand, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhdev Patel, on the other, to decide on launching an anti-Narendra Modi protest movement in the state, starting on August 9 and ending on August 15.

Opposition to land acquisition bill very wide, extend time for representing to parliamentary panel: NAPM

Medha Parkar By A Representative The National Alliance for People's Movements (NAPM), the apex body of tens of people's organizations across India, has asked SS Ahluwalia, chairperson, Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), for extending the deadline for receiving inputs on Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment Bill, 2015). The deadline for getting responses to the controversial bill ends on June 8.

Username India, password Gujarat: Even choreographed auction of pinstripe suit "chose" Modi's home state

Add caption By RK Misra* Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative but success is a science. If you have the conditions, you get the results.Thus goes an old saying. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi heading a BJP majority government loosely garbed in an almost redundant National Democratic Alliance (NDA) completes an year in office, it is time to delve deep and dissect dispassionately to foresee the future. Over a year ago, the conditions were ideal. A decade of familiarity had already bred contempt. A thoroughly besmirched Congress-led UPA had to go. The young had little patience for the old. And in the vacuum came charging the knight in dazzling armour, riding astride a pedigreed horse called Gujarat. The results followed. Narendra Modi milked both ‘chai’ and ‘chant’ to bag the chair. One year into power, the shining shield has given way to name-sporting suits but India’s dapper prime minister resolutely refuses to get of the high horse called Gujarat. All roads from Delhi c...

Gujarat govt withdraws permission to Swaraj Samvad meet, leader Yogendra Yadav calls Modi "authoritarian"

Yogendra Yadav at the Hall By A Representative The Gujarat government has clamped down on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) splinter group Swaraj Samvad by refusing to "allow" it to hold an activists' meet in Ahmedabad at Mehdi Nawaz Jung Hall, which was booked for the meet. The Gujarat police told Swaraj Samvad activists just an hour ahead of the meet that they could not be allowed inside the hall because its leader Yogendra Yadav, who had come for the purpose, was a "political person", and that there could be "political speeches in the hall."

Top British weekly Economist accuses Modi of behaving like Gujarat chief minister

By A Representative Top British weekly “The Economist” has said it again. In a commentary marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one-year in office, it has said that the alleged improvements in the economy is because of “serendipity” -- because of “oil prices.” Titled “Modi’s rule: India’s one-man band”, it adds, the country has a “golden opportunity to transform itself”. But the way Modi is moving suggests the country “risks missing” the opportunity.

Pepsi bottling plant may access water with police protection amidst allegations of groundwater shortage

By A Representative In an extraordinary development, reports from Tamil Nadu say that PepsiCo's bottling plant, situated in village Suriyur, has sought police protection for water being trucked in to a disputed plant located in a water-stressed area. In statement, India Resource Centre (IRC), a project of Global Resistance, has said, the plant is sure to “receive police protection”, considering the type of governance prevailing in the state.

A Nirbhaya from Hyderabad: Why is there no protest? Because she is not from Delhi?

By Merlin Francis* This is our second Nirbhaya but from Hyderabad. But you wont hear about her. Because she is not from Delhi. Or maybe because protesting for her tragic death is not part of a bigger plan to overthrow a central government. But she died. She was 25 years old. Mother of a little boy. She died on May 19. After being raped by her live in partner and his friends for three months in confinement... On the 13th her mum got a call from the boyfriend of the lady that she was throwing up blood and was asked to come down, when the mother reached the place the guy gave the mother Rs 500 and asked for the girl to be taken to the hospital and that he would follow, but the chap absconded..What later followed was a nightmare... The girl told her mother that her phone was snatched away by her boy friend and he used to get his friends to rape her for 3 months, she was in a relationship with this chap from November 2014 and at the time of her death was 4 months pregnant....When she could ...

SC makes common cause with whistleblowing; Centre wants it to pass 32 tests

By Venkatesh Nayak* On May 13, 2015 the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government used its majority in the Lok Sabha to boorishly push through a set of regressive amendments to the Whistleblowers Protection Act (WBP Act) despite the very vocal and well-reasoned objections of the Opposition. Some MPs of the treasury benches also questioned the wisdom behind these amendments. In brief, the regressive amendments passed by the Lok Sabha: 1) Seek to take away immunity of whistleblowers from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (OSA) which is part of the original Act; 2) Prohibit a whistleblower from making any complaint (about corruption, the commission of any offence or the abuse of power or discretion within Government intended to cause substantial loss to the public exchequer or undue gain to a private party) if the information in the complaint relates to any of the grounds mentioned in Section 8(1) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 inserted as the new Section 4...

Draft National Tourism Policy: Placing central bureaucracy, corporates at core

By R Sreedhar* The new draft National Tourism Policy is really a mockery of the policy formulation process. For one, the government must be clear of what policy is and what are structures and process. While a policy needs to be a short statement of the of the intent of the government which follows up with the required legislative and procedural processes, the draft produced by the Ministry is clearly a consultant’s rambling on the basis of some wishful thinking and imagination, and reads like a badly drafted project report. Poor understanding of the situation on the ground and the ways in which people and tourism are intertwined is as much an ingredient as is perhaps a vested interest to gain bureaucratic and corporate control. The draft document made available for a limited window for response states that the vision is to “develop and position India as a ‘Must EXPERIENCE’ and ‘Must REVISIT’ destination for global travelers whilst encouraging Indians to explore their own country and re...

Kutch earthquake and value of map: Why it was more strategic resource than food

By Gagan Sethi*  On the morning of January 26, 2001, when the earth decided to shake itself a bit on Gujarat soil, little did one know that a disaster of such huge proportions would be the consequence. For serious urban planners the message was: Don’t mess around with nature. I remember being told, “People don’t die because of an earthquake, they die because of poor quality of housing.” It may be difficult to accept, but this is entirely true. Yet, the paranoia of earthquake-resistant housing remains only with those who experienced the shake-up; the learning hasn’t yet gone to other states of India. Housing stock being built still does not yet factor the earthquake. Though this learning is uppermost when I think of the earthquake year, the story I narrate is a little different. I left for Kutch the same day afternoon after ensuring that my family was at a safe place, at my father’s farm house. Kutch was calling. We had a huge contingent of staff and programmes there, but had with n...

Need to deepen fight against Modi government, seeking to do away with social existence in rural areas in one sweep

By Suneet Chopra* The hot debate over the land acquisition ordinances of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is not accidental or restricted only to the matter of access to a scarce resource. Land rights, and especially those that we achieved after our struggle for independence from colonial rule, are crucial to our social existence as citizens with equal rights under the Indian Constitution. The denial of any of these rights is an attack on our right as citizens of India. It must never be forgotten that for over a thousand years we were able to keep a fifth of our population in the shackles of untouchability and semi animal conditions by simply denying dalits land rights in the village. A similar situation prevails in the case of women who may reproduce the family line but are denied the right to land in both the family they are born in and the one they may marry into. Social marginalization like this may be traditional but it violates our rights as full citizens of a st...

India blocks listing of chrysotile asbestos in Rotterdam Convention: Hides behind smokescreen of bogus science

By Mohit Gupta* India along with a handful of countries including Russia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Cuba once again blocked the listing of Chrysotile Asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent list (PIC) at a UN convention meeting currently underway in Geneva, using bogus science and advocating “controlled use”.

PM's China visit: Made in China hallmark of relations with northern neighbour

By Shaktisinh Gohil* Merchant of fake dreams, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken off on a paid vacation to China to avoid uncomfortable questions about his one year tenure as Prime Minister. Modi completes his one year tenure on May 16. All his fake promises of employment of 15 lakh youth in each department, strengthening of the rupee, no farmer will ever commit suicide, safety for women in public spaces and others have proved hollow during the year. To avoid accountability and facing the nation, Modi has gone off to China on an official trip. This visit to China, now that he has undertaken it, should not be limited to sight-seeing, enjoying hospitality and a feel-good visit. India’s experience with China since 1962 has not been pleasant. Last year also when Chinese president Xi Jinping visited India, his visit was marked with an intrusion on our border by the Chinese. Modi should also take up important issues with China. Last year Jinping promised $20 billion investment which is s...

Heads I win, tails you lose. Modi doesn't believe in sharing power, he only commands

By RK Misra* Destiny is a tyrant’s authority for tomfoolery and a fool’s excuse for failure. More so in politics. Not all are born great; some have greatness thrust on them but then neither are those perceived as great, always wise. And when respected citizen-journalist Arun Shourie speaks, the toast of the times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi need take a reality check on his politics and pursuits rather than be guided by personal pique to engineer a contrived PR show counter. Shourie, unlike the two other mercurial mavericks, Subramaniam Swamy and Ram Jethmalani, who stood by Modi in his worst hours of crisis (2002 communal riots etc. etc.), commands respect in both journalism and politics. A man of unimpeachable integrity, he has earned every bit of it through his exemplary conduct, and high quotient credibility. And when he speaks, people listen. For most of those who have watched Modi and his politics over years and decades, he has now become very predictable in his unpredictability...

Was minister not aware of what was being amended in whistleblowers Bill?

By Venkatesh Nayak* One silver lining in the dark cloud that was the debate on the amendments to the Whistleblowers Protection Act (WPA), passed in the Lok Sabha on May 13, 2015, was the frequent mention made of the power of the right to information (RTI) and the numerous attacks on RTI users. Several MPs cutting across party lines made these salutary references. Even the Minister of State for Personnel, who was piloting the Amendment Bill, justified the amendments as being necessary to further the cause of transparency and accountability and protection of persons combating against corruption, though he did not mention how curtailing the scope of whistleblowing by 90 per cent would help those very public causes. The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) was referred to by one MP in the context of the attacks on and murders of RTI users. One National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MP from Maharashtra used the my article (click HERE to read) I forwarded a couple of days...

Vadodara riverfront project without environmental impact assessment?

By Rohit Prajapati, Trupti Shah* The Vadodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan’s (VMSS) proposed Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project resembles a mere real estate project. The “planned” Riverfront Project completely ignores the important characteristics of the river, its wetlands, ravines, biodiversity, flora and fauna, flood and floodplains etc. Many times sophisticated language and concepts are used in the feasibility report of the Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project, but if one closely examines the report, it becomes abundantly clear that those words are not understood in letter and spirit. The project work for the Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project is being carried out hastily and mindlessly, without having conducted the mandatory Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA). The VMSS is using the people’s money in blatant violation of several laws of the land, including the following: (1) The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. (2) Environmental Imp...