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Showing posts from 2018

Women’s collectives as locomotives of economic growth in rural areas

By Moin Qazi* Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere. It’s not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It’s about baking a new pie. ― Gloria Steinem Every woman, regardless of her marital status, needs education, a good job and support with household duties Society needs to abandon culturally entrenched practices, marital or otherwise, that degrades and commodifies women. Women also need legal immunity from debts accrued by the husbands. Changing long-held beliefs, practices and laws may be difficult, but it is the only way to keep price tags off women and ensure them dignity and financial independence. Empowering women is the solution to many problems on a global level, right from poverty. Societies that take the effort to empower women show better development indices, are better governed, more stable, and are less prone to violence. On the other hand, societies that limit women’s e

Story of a person from vulnerable community 'recruited' in Gujarat for rioting in 2002

By Rajiv Shah  Suresh Jadeja, alias Langdo, alias Richard, is a well-known name in the Naroda Patiya massacre case, in which 97 persons were killed on February 28, 2002, the first day of Gujarat riots. Convicted for life on August 31, 2012 for murder and rape, little, however, is known about this rioter’s vulnerable background. Apart from murdering Majid’s nine-member family, he was reportedly part of a group consisting of Babu Bajrangi, Jai Bhawani and Guddu Chhara that killed Kausar Bi. They had “surrounded her, murdered her, ripped out the foetus within her with a sword and killed up”, to quote Revati Laul’s new book , “The Anatomy of Hate”. Suresh particularly acquired notoriety after his name sprang up in a sting operation, carried out by “Tehelka” magazine’s Ashish Khetan, before whom he spilled beans on how he was involved in murder and rape, as also BJP leader Maya Kodnani’s alleged involved in the riot. However, what is not known about Suresh is this: Coming from Chharanagar,

Central government flipflop in Lok Sabha over data on deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* Readers may remember my email alert sent during the first week in November, 2018 , containing statistics of the number of Indian Workers who died in six Gulf Countries since 2012. Using the data that I obtained from the Indian Embassies situated in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, I had pointed out that 24,570 Indian Workers had died between 2012-2018. The Indian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates did not send any data even after I filed a first appeal. A quick calculation had revealed that on an average more than 10 Indians had died every day. I had also showed that Indian Workers in the six Gulf countries had sent more than US$ 209 Billion in the form of remittances. When compared with the deaths data, this worked out to more than 117 deaths for every US$1 Billion remitted to India during this period. Please click here for the RTI queries and the responses I received from the Indian Embassies. Thanks to the widespread print and digital coverage of t

26/11 attack reports accessed from M’shtra legislature: MHA denied access

By Venkatesh Nayak* Next Monday (November 26, 2018), marks the completion of a decade since a group of armed militants launched attacks at multiple places in Mumbai in 2008. On this occasion, I am placing in the public domain, two reports obtained through RTI — one from an inquiry held by Government-appointed Committee and the other the action taken by the Government on the Committee’s findings and recommendations. According to available estimates, at least 164 people including police personnel and NSG commandos died and more than 300 were injured in the attacks, engineered to strike terror in the hearts of the citizenry. The attacks began on the night of 26/11 and ended on 28/11. Ajmal Kasab, the only perpetrator who was captured alive, was executed in November 2012, at the end of a multi-stage judicial process. A plethora of facts and evidence emerged during this process showing their linkages with a neighbouring country. Within a month of the attacks, the Government of Maharashtra s

VECL pipeline pollution: Average COD 2500 plus instead of accepted level, 250

Letter by Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Vadodara, addressed to senior Government of India and Gujarat government officials, asking them to (1) declare ‘Chemical Emergency’ for ‘ECP Industrial Cluster’ of Vadodara District, (2) cancel the ‘Consolidated Consent and Authorization’ (CC&A) of ‘Vadodara Envior Channel Limited’, cancel ‘Environment Clearance’ (EC) of all the defaulting polluting industries, and (3) file criminal case against VECL and defaulting polluting industries as per Order, dated 22.02.2017, of the Supreme Court in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 375 of 2012 (Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anrs V/s Union of India & Ors): You all should agree with us that the Governments and State are expected to take all possible actions to implement the Environment Laws of the Land. Similarly, it is expected that the Governments and State also are expected to implement, in letter and spirit the Supreme Court Order, dated 22.02.2017, of Writ Petit

RTI activist’s murder: M’shtra govt must make public, publicise info sought by Junawane

On November 1, 2018, yet another RTI user was killed in Maharashtra for seeking information to expose corruption and wrongdoing. According to media reports, Rohit Ashok Junawane was brutally attacked by nine armed assailants near his residence in Aundh, Pune and died of the injuries. The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) has written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, demanding immediate action in the matter. The letter calls upon the government to ensure that all the information sought by Junawane is put in the public domain and widely publicized, which would act as a deterrent against such attacks in the future. The letter is also copied to the State Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra for necessary action. Junawane’s killing marks the 78th murder of an RTI user who has been silenced for seeking to show truth to power. The government has failed to implement the Whistle Blowers Protection Act passed by Parliament in 2014 despite the increasing nu

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf

Wasting food? India ranks 100th among 119 countries in Hunger Index

By Moin Qazi* India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, and has at its disposal arable land that has the potential to produce food surplus for export. Yet, it is unable to feed millions of its people, especially women and children. India ranks 100th among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017, where it has consistently ranked poorly. Indeed, the world’s zero-hunger goal appears to be slipping further into the future rather than getting ever closer. Imagine a land mass greater than China. Now imagine that land is only used to produce food. Then suppose all the crops and produce from those 2.5bn acres are not eaten and left to rot. Imagine all of that – and you get an idea of the amount of food the world wastes every year. It is almost a third of the world’s . In terms of weight, it adds up to around 1.3bn tonnes. The case for action becomes even stronger when we consider that 1 in 9 people are malnourished worldwide. Despite the fact that every

Stop tree felling, debris dumping, untreated sewage discharge in Vishwamitri

Several senior environmentalists and academics* of Vadodara have written an open letter to the Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara Municipal Corporation – copies of which have been sent to the secretary, Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change, and Gujarat chief secretary and other senior officials of Gujarat government looking after environment and urban development departments – to immediately stop demolition, tree felling and clearing of vegetation, dumping of debris, discharge of untreated sewage, dredging, digging, filling, levelling, construction, etc. along the city’s Vishwamitri river and its environs. Seeking to thoroughly relook the “development” works going on in and around Vadodara city, the letter says that the activities around the river are in violation of the Gujarat High Court Order dated February 2, 2002, interim order of the National Green Tribunal dated May 25, 2016; and the order of the Supreme Court dated February 22, 2017. Accusing the administrat