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Shahid Siddiqui, Bobby Naqvi Bobby Naqvi, who is with the "Gulf News", and is a well-known name among Muslim intellectuals, strongly objecting to the social media post of Prof Ratan Lal, has said that "a big reason for majoritarian hatred against Muslims is irresponsible remarks by people like Prof Ratan Lal of Delhi University." In a Facebook  comment , which has attracted paise, among others, from journaliat-politician Shahid Siddiqui, Naqvi said, "Their commentary on Hinduism and icons of Hinduism (while angering religious and liberal Hindus alike) also triggers a massive backlash against Muslims. When the likes of Prof Lal criticize Hinduism on social media, Hindus bring Islam and Islamic practices and ask 'what about this' or 'what about that'." Naqvi insists, "Muslims (without their fault) and Islam get caught in this crossfire between the so called Hindu liberal class and the religious Hindus. And the ultimate losers are Muslims...

At the end of a three-day fact-finding visit in Jharkhand by Right to Food Campaign (RtFC) and Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj), team members have urged Jharkhand Government to stop distribution of fortified rice in the state immediately. The Fact Finding Report points to the many serious concerns with regard to indiscriminate distribution of fortified rice to poor households in the state, and in Anganwadis and schools. The fact-finding team stresses that in Jharkhand, even as there are high levels of anaemia, there is a significant proportion of adivasi population amongst whom various blood disorders like thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia exist. For the population with these blood disorders, fortified iron is not an answer, the report says. In fact, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI’s) regulations on fortified foods ask for mandatory labelling, with a (warning) statement that asks Thalassemia patients to consume such...

  Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar has said that the World Bank’s independent review mission, which brought out the  Morse Commission report , has been proved right: The Sardar Sarovar dam has not only failed to live up to the loud promises made for irrigating large arid areas of Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat, those who were displaced and resettled in Gujarat are getting increasingly restive as many of them are unable to get the promised water for irrigation and some for drinking water too.

  Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar believes that it is not just rehabilitation issues which nag the Sardar Sarovar dam affected people, especially Adivasis who have lived along the Narmada river for centuries.  The river water is now facing excessive sand mining, on one hand, and effluent discharge in Narmada and its tributaries, on the other, making people increasingly restive, Patkar tells Counterview in an interview (part 2*): *** Q: Apart from rehabilitation, which other issues, in your view, are affecting people living next to the Narmada river today? A: Since in 2019, when they filled up the dam to the full reservoir level, 138 metres, we notice, the river is going down and down and down... Q: Is it because of the climate change? A: Partly, but the main reason is illegal, unbound, unwanted sand mining. Just as Yamuna got finished, Narmada is following the same pattern. We won the case against illegal mining. There are also a number of judgments, like the ...

  Calling internet shutdowns “dangerous acts of digital authoritarianism”, a new report has said that in 2021, authorities deliberately shut down the internet at least 182 times across 34 countries, even as underlining, “India is the world’s largest offender, and blacked out the internet at least 106 times” -- or 58% of all shutdowns around the globe. The report, prepared by Access Now, Access Now, a non-profit with legal entities in Belgium, Costa Rica, Tunisia, and the United States, and activities distributed across all regions of the world, regrets, “This is the fourth year in a row that India can claim this dismal title.” Launching on April 28, Access Now’s new report,  The return of digital authoritarianism: internet shutdowns in 2021 , unpacks the data, trends, and stories behind a year’s worth of internet shutdowns. “Authorities shut down the internet to shut down democracy,” said Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Campaign Manager at Access Now. “These vicious weapons of dig...

A new  book , “The Struggle for Narmada: An Oral History of the Narmada Bachao Andolan”, authored by a former NBA activist Nandini Oza, has gone a long way to reveal the type of worldview held by the powers-that-be who wanted hundreds of villages submerged and lakhs, all in the name of development, in order to build what was qualified as the world’s largest dam on the perennial river Narmada. Based on lengthy conversations Oza had with two NBA activist-leaders, Keshavbhau Vasave and Kevalsingh Vasave, both from Maharashra, Keshavbhau quotes Gujarat chief minister Chimanbhai Patel as telling a meeting held in early 1990s in Mumbai with the intention of having consensus on the dam amidst unprecedented opposition from Adivasis, that the project would resettle Adivasis, living in “monstrous” conditions, “near urban areas” and make them “human.”

Huge brass coins weighing 2,700 kg, largest one 1,000 kg and the rest relatively small, prepared from brass donated mainly by Dalits of 758 Gujarat villages, have been released at the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), a technical-cum-Dalit empowerment institute operating about 20 kilometres from Ahmedabad. With BR Ambedkar’s image on one side, and of Lord Buddha’s on the other, embossed on the coins is the phrase, “Will Dr Ambedkar’s dream to end untouchability end come true by 2047?”