Manuben Gandhi (left) with Gandhiji and Abha Gandhi By Nandini Oza* An Indian parliamentarian from the right wing Bhartiya Janta Party, whose government is in power at the centre, when recently called Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse a deshbhakt, I cannot stop penning the pages from Manuben Gandhi’s diary as she describes 30th January 1948, one of the darkest days in the History of India, exactly seventy one years ago today.

By Nachiketa Desai*  It may seem ironical to many, but it is a fact that the Modi government, while celebrating on the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, has come up with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is being considered by the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues as fulfilling Gandhi’s dream of making India a safe heaven for refugees seeking asylum from being persecuted by Islamic nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

By Shamsul Islam* The October 6, 2019 issue of "Organizer", English organ of RSS, was dedicated to 'Mahatma Gandhi', celebrating his birthday; the October 2. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi who identifies himself as 'a Hindu nationalist' also remembers Gandhiji regularly, his ideological parent, RSS displaying Gandhiji's photo too in some of its meetings.

By RK Misra* With a critically important election in Delhi and the country in the grip of a debilitating anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-Nation Register of Citizens (NRC) stir, there has to be more than just ‘kite flying’ that brought Union home minister Amit Shah twice to Gujarat in a matter of ten days.

By  A  Representative Thousands of Adivasis, Dalits, farmers and other common citizens gathered in Barwani district to protest against National Population Register (NPR), National Citizen Register (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) under the banner 'Save the Constitution Jan Andolan', raising the demand from the Madhya Pradesh government to pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly regarding not implementing NPR in the state.

By  A  Representative In a major relief to around 1,500 families of a Cuffe Parade slum in Mumbai, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has upheld the rehabilitation rights of slum dwellers living on mangrove land. MSHRC directed the Maharashtra chief secretary to form a committee of experts in order to make a rehabilitation plan for the families of Ambedkar Nagar slum in Cuffe Parade.

RTE Forum, Gujarat, releasing fact-sheet on education By  A  Representative A Gujarat government document has revealed that it is planning to close down 5,223 schools in the name of school merger. The document, dated July 20, 201 was released by the Right to Education (RTE) Forum, Gujarat. It shows that the worst-affected districts because of this merger are those which are populated by marginalized communities – especially tribals, Dalits and minorities, said RTE Forum’s Gujarat convener Mujahid Nafees.

Omar Abdullah, then and now By Sandeep Pandey*, Rajendran Narayanan** The decision on August 5, 2019 to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A and division and downgrading of State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two Union Territories J&K and Ladakh was taken in a most undemocratic manner without consulting a single person of J&K. The State Assembly is not in existence for 18 months now.

By Moin Qazi* Muslim Indians are the second-largest demographic of India. They constitute over 14% of the country’s population or roughly 172 million people. India is the world‘s biggest democracy, and Indian Muslims are the world’s biggest religious minority. Muslims have considered India as their home for more than a millennium and they have become so seamlessly integrated into its social mainstream that several strands of their culture and tradition have got subsumed into the national fabric. But the tragedy is that Muslims are so marginalised that their presence in important public spheres is almost invisible. Most of them are poor, semiliterate and driven into ghettos. The Hindutva movement has in the last few years orchestrated terrifying campaigns to alienate, disenfranchise and disintegrate Muslims. In an effort to create an exclusivist Hindu state out of a multifaith populace, the government is moving from episodic communalism to state-sponsored Islamophobia. Muslims continue ...

By Nachiketa Desai* Seventy years after the people of India gave themselves a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic, the youth from university campuses and women in towns across the country are up in arms to reclaim the republic from a fascist regime out to impose a Hindu nation.

By  A  Representative Demanding “adequate budget” for schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha has revealed that, as on January 17, 2020, 93% of wage payments were pending for the month, pointing out, “Every financial year, from the third quarter onwards, the funds for NREGA dry up” and “work slows down and delays in wage payments escalate.”

By  A  Representative Country-wide agitations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)/ National Register of Citizens (NRC) took a new turn in Ranchi on the Republic Day as thousands gathered in Idgah Maidan (Kadru) for a long evening of protest songs, poems and plays. The programme, “Ek Shaam Samvidhan ke Naam”, was held to reassert the constitutional values of liberty, equality and solidarity at a time when Indian democracy is allegedly under threat.

By  A  Representative Taking strong exception to deputy chief minister Nitin Patel’s statement against those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), well-known danseuse Mallika Sarabhai has joined tens of activists and students and faculty of Gujarat University, CEPT University, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Nirma University to say that they are seeking “azadi” from the fascist and communal forces of the country.

Martin Macwan explaining Constitution house By Rajiv Shah A senior Congress leader, considered close to interim party president Sonia Gandhi, has suggested a way out of the current impasse on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is being opposed across India for making religion as the basis for providing citizenship to the persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries -- Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

By  A  Representative Even as the date for the execution of Nirbhaya rape case convicts -- Akshay Kumar Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Kumar and Vinay Sharma -- draws nearer (February 1, 2020), the Coalition Against Sexual Violence and the Death Penalty has said that "execution is not the solution to the problem of sexual crimes. It is only a spectacle created to distract us."

Counterview Desk As many as 23 civil rights organizations and 134 individual activists and experts from different fields have taken strong exception to the Narendra Modi government making Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro the chief guest at the prestigious Republic Day parade, to take place at the India Gate in New Delhi on January, stating that he is "a threat to democratic values, indigenous people and environment."

The fact-sheet being released on January 24 By  A  Representative A fact-sheet released by the Right to Education (RTE) Forum, a network of 10,000 civil society organizations across 19 states, has revealed that girls are twice less likely as boys to receive 4 years of schooling. It further said, 30% of girls from the poorest families have never set foot inside a classroom, and 40% of adolescent girls between ages 15-18 years are not attending any educational institution.

By Moin Qazi* One of the dispiriting features of the modern development model is that despite oceans of research and studies, there has not been a substantive transformative impact on marginalised communities. Much of the outcomes have been purely academic and we need more dedicated, courageous and purpose-driven champions who can creatively apply their core competencies and new knowledge to enhance people’s well-being. Similarly, we need to design tools and techniques that can help translate these insights into effective public policies and professional practices that can sustainably deliver quality outcomes on an exponential scale. There is now a tribe of passionate entrepreneurs who are collaborating with like-minded allies and with those with different perspectives, to build a colleagueship of expertise to address pressing human challenges and accelerate the transition of the underprivileged from subsistence to sustainability in emerging economies. Some of them are bright people wo...

Counterview Desk A note on mapping of the condition of the children of migrant sugarcane harvesters in South Gujarat, prepared by the Centre For Labour Research And Action (CLRA) -- an organisation working for the rights and welfare of unorganised and migrant workers -- has said that in spite of the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Amendment Act, 2016, the number of child and adolescent labour is increasing.

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

By  A  Representative The latest edition of the Democracy Index spells gloom for India. The world’s biggest democracy slipped 10 places in the 2019 global ranking to 51st place. The survey published on January 22 attributes the primary cause of “the democratic regression” to “an erosion of civil liberties in the country”. India’s overall score fell from 7.23 to 6.9, on a scale of 0-10, within a year (2018-2019) — the country’s lowest since 2006. The average global score also recorded its worst value ever, down from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44, driven by a sharp regression in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, a lesser one in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and by stagnation in the remaining regions that were covered. The report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit — the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, which is the sister company to The Economist newspaper — records how global democracy fared, analysing 165 independent states and two ...

Sabita Biswas Counterview Desk Of the many people struggling to prove their citizenship in Assam are thousands of climate refugees who have been displaced because their lands have been swept away by erosion or floods, says a report in The Third Pole, pointing out, the situation has created mistrust between mainlanders and those staying on the chars (riverine islands) or on the banks of the Brahmaputra, the transboundary river that starts in Tibet and flows right through the Assam valley before entering Bangladesh.

By Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri* In 2019, regressive amendments were made to the Right to Information (RTI) Act to empower the Central government to prescribe through rules, the tenure, salaries and other terms and conditions of service of information commissioners across the country.

Counterview Desk India’s first carbon-neutral film, “Aisa Yeh Jahaan”, was released in 2015. But the concept has not taken off in India as yet, argues Kartik Chandramouli in a report in the environmental journal Mongabay-India. According to him, at a time when carbon-intensive industries such as energy and aviation are highlighted in the fight against climate change, the film industry is yet to get on board with climate action. The report points out, “Sustainable practices in the resource-intensive film industry could help reduce emissions as well as build awareness.” Text: Biswajeet Bora’s 2015 Hindi feature film Aisa Yeh Jahaan not only showcased the alienation of urban denizens from nature but also demonstrated that even the film industry can take action to tackle climate change. The film was India’s first carbon-neutral film. Bora’s desire to make such a film, together with the work of the Centre for Environmental Research and Education ( CERE ), made the initial inspirat...

Counterview Desk Rohit Prajapati, environmental activist with the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, researcher and writer, in a letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and senior officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Union of India, and their counterparts in the Gujarat, has said taken strong objection to the taking a meeting with concerned authorities on Vishwatri riverfront project despite objections by legal authority.

Counterview Desk An Oxfam study, “Human Cost of Sugar: A farm-to-mill assessment of sugar supply chain in Uttar Pradesh”, conducted in 58 villages across 5 districts of Uttar Pradesh – Meerut, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Lakhimpur Kheri and Muzaffarnagar – has found that sugarcane cultivation is the primary source of income for 67% of the marginal and 95% for the small farmers, but as high as 60% of the farmers, said that their basic quota of sugarcane supply is usually less than their actual produce by anywhere between 150-220 quintals.

Golwalkar, Hegdewar By Shamsul Islam* This dossier is in continuation to my request to friends in Tamil Nadu that democratic-secular organizations/individuals must intervene in this case so that anti-national RSS fails to manipulate/use higher judiciary for hiding its toxic communal agenda. I have reproduced original RSS documents (except one by Rajeshwar Dayal ICS who was the first home secretary of UP after independence) for use in the court. The original documents can be provided on demand.

By Praveen Kabthiyal* There is a need to do some reading on Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) and why they fled from the valley. Between 1990 and 2007 the number of KPs killed in the valley was 399, out of which around half were killed in the first year.

By Moin Qazi* It’s a journey that started with a few thousand rupees. That was the size of the first loan received by a remarkable woman named Vidya Khustale. Vidya invested the money into her tiny business selling locally made detergents and brooms. With the help of that initial investment and subsequent loans, Vidya’s business grew. In the 20 years since she received that first loan of five thousand rupees, Vidya has used the profits from her business to build a dignified life for her family, given good education to her son who is employed as an engineer and has also build a new home. A chance encounter in 2004 helped Vidya break the cycle of poverty and also put me on a wonderful journey.I was posted to Mumbai to head my bank’s state operations in microfinance. I had spent my professional career in villages working with self help groups. I thought Mumbai would mark the end of my rendezvous. I was however determined to keep alive my connections with grassroots. The opportunity came c...

By Bharat Patel* Tata power has announced to the Union Ministry of Power that Tata Power may be forced to stop operating   its imported coal-based Mundra Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP) after February, 2020. It is not only unfortunate but also criminal that irreversible damage has been caused to the fragile ecosystem of Mundra coast for a project that will have a running life of only seven years.

Counterview Desk China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) recently came up with a draft Water Sector Strategy  in order to play what it calls "unique and catalytic role" in improving the efficiency of the water sector through the application of innovative technologies. However, an analysis by Gaurav Dwivedi for the civil rights organization, Centre for Financial Analysis (CFA), says that AIIB contradicts itself when it says that water is a basic necessity and can also be treated as an economic good.

Counterview Desk Shireen Jejeebhoy, director at Aksha Centre for Equity and Wellbeing, previously senior associate at the Population Council, India, argues that the debate on the country's population was fuelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address to the nation, where he drew attention to “concern” about the challenges posed by this ‘exploding’ population growth, needs to centre around the promotion of rights and education, instead of the language of explosion and the threat of coercion that this term implies.

Azim Premji University students' protest against CAA, NRC Counterview Desk Faculty, post doctoral researchers and members of the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, in a statement against allegedly undemocratic practices in the wake of "vengeful" state repression against peaceful protestors, have asked the Government of India (GoI) to set up an independent body to impartially look into recent cases of campus violence.

By Shamsul Islam* No ruling elite on this earth can beat Hindutva rulers of India in hypocrisy and demagogue. Under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 the persecuted Christians in the neighbouring countries would be awarded Indian citizenship; a fine gesture. This love for persecuted Christians in the neighbourhood is to be evaluated not with a pinch of salt but a fistful of salt.

By Feyzi Ismail* The first two decades of the 21st century saw the return of mass movements to streets around the world. Partly a product of sinking confidence in mainstream politics, mass mobilisation has had a huge impact on both official politics and wider society, and protest has become the form of political expression to which millions of people turn.

Aishe Ghosh By Sandeep Pandey* Educational Institutions are meant to be places of learning and authorities managing them are expected to provide a liberal space where diversity of ideas can exist. Of course, this ideal is present at very few places but Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), before the Modi government came to power was one such place of international standing in India. It was comparable to the best institutions in the West in terms of their academic freedom, rigour and diversity.

By Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri* The Central Information Commission (CIC) is without a Chief Information Commissioner once again. Chief Information Commissioner of the CIC, Sudhir Bhargava, retired on January 11, 2020. It was a routine retirement and his date of retirement was known from the time Bhargava took over as Chief. Despite this, the government failed to appoint the next Chief Information Commissioner in a timely manner and has allowed the CIC to become headless.

Often the struggles of rural communities challenge mainstream notions of development; however these are barely mentioned in mainstream history, if at all. Nandini Oza, Independent Researcher, explains how she has created a digital archive of the mass resistance against the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) on the River Narmada in Western India through the oral histories of those who have been directly involved in the powerful people’s movement, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA): Oral history is an old tradition in India where knowledge and history are passed to the next generation orally. This is particularly true among the communities with languages that do not have a written script or in areas where the literacy rates are low, or where rural, tribal and ethnic communities adopt the practice of passing history and knowledge orally. Oral history as a discipline is also a useful method for recording the struggles of indigenous and tribal communities who are dependent on natural resources that...