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Showing posts from June, 2015

Indian industrial pollution norms have blinkered view of studies researches

By Rohit Prajapati* We are living in a world where a number of experts will readily state their opinions that particular chemicals “within prescribed norms” will have no adverse impact at all. One will find only very few experts ready to state that chemicals in excess definitely leads to particular health problem. Even research related to health problem vis-a-vis chemicals and particular industrial clusters is difficult to find and to my knowledge, there are no resources available for such research in India. The governments at the centre and state levels, and the government medical colleges and institutes lack the political will to take up such research. With practically no substantial resources for activists and whistle-blowers who try to pin-point the issues of health and environment with reference to industry based on Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), activists are blamed by stating that these are ‘non-serious allegations’ against the industry and the state. People are victims of

Authorities seek transparency from foreign funded NGOs, but deny mundane RTI info

Sujatha Singh, former foreign secretary By Venkatesh Nayak* According to media reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is working on a fresh set of rules aimed at tightening the controls on foreign-funded NGOs. According to the news report, “NGOs would be mandated to have a website on which they will be required to put out the details of each foreign inflow for public viewing within 48 hours of receiving the funds. This will include the source of funds, the intended activity for which the funds are expected to be used and the details of its partner NGOs in that specific project, disclosed a senior government official. Annual audited reports for previous years should also be made public, the official said.” (Click HERE ) This move is said to be directed by the Prime Minister’s Office for putting in place a mechanism for monitoring foreign funding NGOs. This is said to be based on several recommendations received from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) earlier. Any move to bring in more tr

CHRI’s analysis of the RTI Rules notified by the Jammu & Kashmir HC

By Venkatesh Nayak* In April 2015 the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) High Court notified its Rules to implement the J&K Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009 within its jurisdiction and in all courts under its administrative control and supervision. Although they ought to have drafted these Rules alongside the State Government which notified RTI Rules in 2009 itself (amended later in 2012), they have done so after more than five years (The J&K High Court RTI Rules may be accessed HERE ) . The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) analysed the RTI Rules notified by the J&K High Court in detail and came up with several recommendations to ensure that the Rules are in tune with the letter and spirit of the J&K RTI Act. Last week, CHRI sent the analysis of the RTI Rules and the recommendations for improvement, to the Chief Justice, J&K High Court. Some of the major areas of concern in the J&K High Court’s RTI Rules are reproduced below: Although the J&K RTI Ac

No serious steps to stop groundwater contamination by Gujarat industry

A farmer in Luna village By Rohit Prajapati* The Effluent Channel Project (ECP) of Vadodara passes through 24 villages and prime agricultural land which is known as the “vegetable basket” of Gujarat. The 55.6 km long effluent channel was commissioned in the year of 1983 to carry “treated” industrial effluent from industries near Vadodara to estuary of River Mahi, Gulf of Khambhat. First it carried the effluent of only Nandesari Industrial Estate and Vadodara Industrial Complex, but later, 1995 onwards, a number of polluting industries also started coming up on along both side of ECP. Since 2004 the villages around the ECP have experienced ground water contamination at alarming rates. The pollution began because of the seepage, leaching, leaking and overflowing of effluent from the ECP and later from a number of polluting industries which were established from 1995 onwards. There have been several investigations conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Gujarat Pollutio

Statue of Unity Project: alliance against environment, life, livelihood of tribals

Work in progress for constructing Statue of Unity By Rohit Prajapati* “The Economic Times” on April 26, 2015 reported, “Tea sellers in India can have contrasting fortunes. While Narendra Modi who sold tea as a youngster has grown up to become the country’s prime minister, Ambalal Tadvi, 40, a tea seller from Gujarat’s Narmada District is staring at an uncertain future. His stall and the little bit of farm land will soon be taken up by the Statue of Unity Project, a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel along with tourism infrastructure coming up nearby.” In March 2015, after the area for ‘Shreshtha (Bhrashta) Bharat Bhavan’, a three star hotel, which is coming up as part of Statue of Unity Project was cordoned off, the Government of Gujarat attempted to evict six families comprising 70 people from their homes, land and livelihoods. The terrorisation of the people reached a fever pitch on March 28, 2015 when six of the affected villagers and three children while registering

Riots a child’s play: I was aghast… How deep was hatred, how casual was talk to kill

By Gagan Sethi*  The year 2002 has been traumatic in the history of Gujarat. For those of us who have seen communal riots from close quarters ever since 1960s, there have been no winners or losers. Most of these riots may have been triggered by some odd incident. But their impact could be seen in the realignment of physical and economic spaces between communities at war. The state has been found to be wanting for immediacy in action, and yet very soon normalcy would prevail. The 2002 trigger was the barbarous incident of burning of the Sabarmati Express train at Godhra. Fifty eight people were charred to death. The impact of the incident was even more far-reaching, as this time the state machinery allegedly supported whatever happened in the aftermath of the Sabarmati Express incident. If the state is perceived as ineffective or inefficient, there is always a hope that justice would prevail. But when the state is seen as the abettor, things are bound to be different. During the 2002 ri