Hemant Shah, Suresh Mehta, Rohit Shukla By  A  Representative In a fresh calculation, a campaign organization set up ahead of the Gujarat elections, claiming to be not associated with any political party, has said, much against the "tall talk" of employment generation during the biennial Vibrant Gujarat global investment summits, during 2004-15, 43.44 lakh fresh unemployed were registered with Gujarat's Employment Exchanges. Of these only 24.41 lakh people could get employment.

Akhil Gogoi By Battini Rao* Akhil Gogoi, leader of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti of Asom, and Chandrasekhar of the Bhim Sena in Western Uttar Pradesh, have been under detention for many months now. Akhil was arrested on 13 September under sedition charges by the BJP government of the state. On 25 September a total of 122 cases against him were clubbed together under the National Security Act, foreclosing any possibility of judicial redress. The NSA advisory panel of the state approved his detention on 19 November, thereby sealing his incarceration for 12 months at least. Akhil Gogoi has been a vocal critic of the BJP government and was arrested for his address at a meeting against amendments to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 which aims to legalise preferential treatment of citizenship applicants on the basis of religion, and which many people in Asom believe is specifically designed to help Bengali speaking Hindus of the state to legally obtain citizenship, while denying it t...

By Moin Qazi* One of the most challenging problems of our times is homelessness. While we continue to record improvements in dealing with poverty, homelessness has been plagued with an unimaginative response from policy pundits. The apathetic approach of successive governments is symptomatic of the disease that ails India’s housing system. Housing is often the bedrock of other development interventions: owning land boosts health profiles, educational outcomes and gender equality. Decent housing is a rising tide that lifts all boats. The converse is equally true. India’s slums are horribly chaotic and sickening. Inmates live in cramped shacks made of rotting wood with rickety corrugated roofs. They are not only visual eyesores but also emblems of raw inequality. Moreover, the slums are unhealthful and physically dangerous. Hygiene is worse. These slums do not just breed physical illnesses but are also home to social ills like gambling, stealing, domestic violence and worse, sexual ass...

By Venkatesh Nayak* “The name’s Bond, Electoral Bond- a sovereign guarantee of donor secrecy for political party funding!” In the near future, this is how an Electoral Bond might introduce itself to large donors (money-wise, not girth-wise or chest size) to seduce them to put money in the pockets of any political party (with apologies to Mr. James Bond immortalised on the silver screen by Sir Sean Connery, the Late Sir Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig and others). Readers may recall the “big idea” of Electoral Bonds (EB) that was announced in the Annual Budget presented in Parliament, in February, 2017. The Government amended three laws relating to elections, income tax and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to create this new method of making monetary donations to political parties. Briefly explained, anybody will be able to buy EBs in the form of bearer bonds from a designated commercial bank for any sum of money and donate it anonymously to a political party that he, she or it...

By  A  Representative In what is being considered a partial success by forest rights activists, following the tribals' six months long campaign, half a dozen gram sabhas of Kalahandi district have "forced" the Odisha Forest Department to issue a special circular allowing them to sell kendu leaf (KL) to anyone whom they want as per the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* On 14 November, speaking at a function in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath vehemently stated, “I believe that after Independence, the biggest lie in India is the word secular...the people who gave birth to this word and who use it, should apologise. No system can be secular. Political systems can be neutral towards sects, but not secular.” Coming from the CM of the biggest State in the country, this is obviously no off-the-cuff remark, but a well-calculated attempt to test the waters and at the same time prepare for the 2019 General Elections. This is not the first time that a senior BJP functionary has negated a core value of the Constitution of India. There have been several utterances from many of them these past years, which have systematically denigrated and eroded the rights and freedom guaranteed in and of the values enshrined in the Constitution of India! There have been lofty proclamations of the establishment of a ‘Hindu Sta...

Counterview Desk Gujarat’s Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani has made an “urgent appeal” for funds through Crowdnewsing (click HERE ) to support his campaign against the BJP ahead of the Gujarat elections. Text of the appeal: Dear friends and well-wishers, ever since the horrific videos of Una flogging surfaced, some of us got together to relentlessly work against the fascist communal and brahmanical Gujarat government led by RSS-BJP. The Una flogging brought to the fore the largely invisible yet deeply entrenched casteist character of BJP led ruling class of Gujarat. In no time, a massive consolidation of the Dalit masses took place in Gujarat. Dalits are just 7% in Gujarat and the mainstream media hardly highlighted their plight and suffering before. However, after one and half year of our continuous struggle under the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, the mainstream media is forced to write about atrocities and marginalisation of Dalits in Gujarat. RDAM’s continuous struggle has been a...

The national flag spread in DSK premises By  A  Representative In a major embarrassment to the BJP, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be “accepting” one of the largest national flags of India, prepared by Dalits at a technical institute off Sanand, Gujarat’s new industrial hub, which houses some of the most “prestigious” industrial units, including Tata Nano and Ford.

By  A  Representative A Kisan Mukti Sansad (Farmers' Freedom Parliament), held in New Delhi after completing Kisan Mukti Yatra of more than 10,000 kilometers under the leadership of the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) in 19 states, saw its leaders introducing a draft Farmer’s Freedom From Debt Bill, 2017, seeking it's approval in the winter session of Parliament.

Kusum, tribal activist, speaking at the meet By Tanushree Gangopadhyay* More than 300 women from different parts of Gujarat assembled in Ahmedabad under the banner of Gujarat Mahila Manch to complain of "abusive, repression, sexual harassment, deprivation and control", pointing towards how the state government has failed to accord them basic human rights. At the end of the day-long meet, they unanimously resolved not to vote for a government which has deprived them of their basic rights.

By Moin Qazi* Reviewing the impact of demonetisation on its first anniversary, it is evident that several sectors have suffered severe setbacks. The microfinance industry is one of them. According to Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory organisation of the NBFC-MFIs, the MFI industry which has a total loan portfolio of just over Rs 1 lakh crore, may have to write-off 7 percent of outstanding loans, or Rs 7,000 crore, because of delinquencies due to demonetisation. “Demonetisation affected a lot of businesses where cash was used extensively including MFIs. But the impact has been extended in case of MFI sector due to non-monetary influences on the ground after demonetisation,” says Ratna Vishwanathan, CEO, MFIN. She explained that the non-payment after the first three months were more influenced by people who were politically motivated or had vested interest and wanted to create a place for themselves in the business post demonetisation. Microfinance has been faci...

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Pope Francis invited all Catholics and, in fact, all men and women of goodwill, to observe 19 November as the ‘World Day of the Poor’. This year was the very first observance of such a day (now fixed for the 33rd Sunday of the Liturgical Year). In a message, which was released last June, Pope Francis said: “I invite the whole Church, and men and women of good will everywhere, to turn their gaze on this day to all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity. They are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by the one Heavenly Father. This Day is meant, above all, to encourage believers to react against a culture of discard and waste, and to embrace the culture of encounter. At the same time, everyone, independent of religious affiliation, is invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity. God created the heavens and the earth for all; yet sadly some have erected barriers, wall...

Counterview Desk A recent study by Aajivika Bureau, an advocacy group working among Ahmedabad’s migrant workers, who come from the tribals belts of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, has found that many of them live in “sub-human” conditions inside the garments factories operating of the Narol industrial belt of Ahmedabad.

By  A  Representative In a shocking disclosure, many of the vaccines injected to children in Gujarat have either been found to be expired, or are in the last stage of expiry, with district health officials, conducting vaccine programme and distributing vaccines to local health centres, writing two letters to the Gujarat government about this.

By  A  Representative Following the refusal to a civil society delegation to meet Krishak Multi Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi in jail in Dibrugadh, Assam, several farmers' leaders, who have got together under Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), have decided to raise their voice against "the continued incarceration of Gogoi is a political ploy to completely silence any voice of dissent in Assam today”.

By  A  Representative In an unusual turn of events, top farmers' body, Khedut Samaj Gujarat (KSG), which had planned a 14-day motorbike rally from South Gujarat's Bhilad to North Gujarat's Amirgadh starting on November 17, has been denied permission to pass through Surat district. "We were told by that they don't have enough cops to handle the bike rally", Sagar Rabari, general secretary on the non-political farmers' organization told me.

By Moin Qazi* Poverty won’t allow him to lift up his head; dignity won’t allow him to bow it down — Malagasy Proverb The global battle against poverty has acquired a new dimension this year with Pope Francis declaring 19 November 2017 as the First World Day of the Poor. Hereafter it will be observed on 33rd Sunday of every year. The occasion provides us an opportunity to reflect on growing inequalities and realign our thinking and approach in the light of our learning and experiences. The perception that the poor do not have skills or would not be able to survive on their own is a myth. This conclusion is grounded in the premise that a paternalistic conceit has hindered the development of poor families and negative beliefs perpetuated about them. The new findings are challenging traditional development wisdom—particularly the assumption that poor families need a great deal of advice, aid, support, and motivation to improve their lives, instead of engaging in wishful thinking we...

By  A  Representative A media note, circulated by the Superintendent of Police (SP), Alwar district, Rajasthan, on the gruesome murder of Umar, allegedly by cow vigilantes, is surprisingly silent on the most critical part of the crime: Mutilation of the body, transporting it to the railway track to another police station area, tyres being stolen from the pickup truck, and the role of cops in all this.

Rahul Gandhi interacting with KSG farmers on Nov 3 By  A  Representative In a major boost to the Congress, the top non-political farmers' organization, Khedut Samaj Gujarat (KSG), has thrown its weight behind the Congress, declaring on Wednesday that it would take out 2,000 km long motorbike rally from South Gujarat's Bhilad to North Gujarat's Amirgadh via Saurashtra to campaign for the "ouster" of the BJP government in the state.

By  A  Representative With an eye on influencing 27 reserved tribal of the Gujarat state assembly, three non-political organizations have together under the banner of Sthalantarit Adivasi Shramik Manch (SASM), putting up one-and-a-half dozen demands, insisting on steps to the taken to "free" migrant tribal workers from the allegedly bonded-like condition, both in cities and in rural areas.

A top world expert has termed the world's biggest multinational seeds company, Monsanto, which is now being bought over by Bayer, and is involved in a dispute with the Government of India on how much of royalty it should take back to home on selling it's genetically modified (GM) seeds, as nothing more than a "marketing success."

By  A  Representative Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has demanded the resignation of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley for poorly implementing Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying, the recent concessions given by the Government of India are only a reflection of how poor the country's finances are being managed.

Angelika Hilbeck* Genetically engineered (GE) crops were introduced to the world almost three decades ago with great fanfare and the first crops commercialized over two decades ago. We were promised no more nor less than the abolishment of hunger and malnutrition and the creation of plants with higher yields and adapted to the challenges caused by the changing climate. Despite the rhetoric, GE plants never were designed for the small scale farmer in the first place. However, overall yields of GE crops did not rise beyond those of non-GM crops in countries that chose not to grow GE crops, like in most of Europe. A sobering reality check of 20 years of GE crop production Since the first commercial release of GE crops over 20 years ago, four commodity crops containing two types of GE traits produced in the same six countries (called the 'six founder biotech crop countries' by ISAAA 2016) - USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, China - are making up over 90% of all commercial GE p...

By  A  Representative Well-known human rights site, www.sabrangindia.in, run by Teesta Setalvad, who has fought several cases for the 2002 anti-minority Gujarat riot victims, has claimed to have found that several of the Muslim houses in different parts of Ahmedabad have been identified and crossed, alleging these are similar to the "Nazi Germany like red cross markings" on Jew houses.

By  A  Representative A joint memorandum by several civil rights organizations addressed to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje has sought immediate arrest of the cops and so-called Gau Rakshaks -- cow vigilantes -- allegedly involved in the "brutal murder" of Umar Mohammed of Kaman Pahadi Bharatpur, even as withdrawal of the case of cow smuggling against Umar and his fellow travellers Tahir and others.

Fr Arrupe with Mother Teresa By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* On 24 October 2016, in his address to the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, Pope Francis said, “just as Fr Arrupe said, wherever there is pain, the Society is there; or better said has to be there”. In this one statement, Pope Francis not only reminded the Jesuits of the need and importance of their presence in the realities of today but also highlighted the rich legacy, which Fr. Pedro Arrupe has left to each one of us! Fr Pedro Arrupe, a deeply spiritual person, was consistently in the midst of pain and suffering. On 6 August 1945, Arrupe was there in Hiroshima when thousands were killed, many more injured and the city was ravaged by the nuclear holocaust. He made the Jesuit residence (where he was also the novice master) into a make shift hospital administering to those who were badly hurt. For several weeks, he selflessly cared for the dying and the wounded using his expertise as a medical doctor to the hilt. H...