By Our Representative Nearly 100 civil society organizations and individuals from across 20 Indian states have asked the Government of India to work with other South Asian countries to establish a regional human rights mechanism to solve crucial issues nagging vulnerable sections of population in the region. Sponsored by Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Delhi-based advocacy groups, the consultation of civil rights groups took place in Delhi on August 26-27 as part of the regional initiative for a South Asian human rights mechanism, begun four years ago.

By Our Representative Several well-known people’s organizations, which had campaigned heavily against the previous UPA government, have declared that the results of the 2014 general elections are “not only a defeat of the Congress”, but also “a defeat of various progressive forces which were unable to provide any coherent alternative.” Pointing towards the need to “learn from the experiences during the UPA regime”, a note prepared by them says, “In the last few years, we were often preoccupied with specific issues and demands, while there was less emphasis on working together for broader socio-political goals.”

By Our Representative A top commentary, appearing a journal run by an influential US media business group has sharply criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that despite his “oft-repeated campaign mantras about the tea-seller’s son”, he is “proximate to the influential, wealthy and business groups”. Elucidating, the commentary, written by Satyajit Das, a former banker and author of 'Extreme Money and Traders Guns & Money", says, the BJP under Modi "spent an estimated $500-700 million on its election campaign, presumably financed by its supporters in expectation of favourable policy decisions.”

By Our Representative Top environmentalist Sunita Narain, director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, has raised alarm over the Government of India’s being “too busy dismantling the environmental regulatory system in the country”. In an editorial in the top environmental journal, Down to Earth (August 26), Narain has said, reports suggest how over the past two months projects ranging from mining to roads have been cleared on “fast-tracked”. She has said, “While the website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has not been updated in August, in the two months till July end, forest clearance was granted to over 92 projects, which will divert some 1,600 hectares of forest.” She adds, “More recently, the National Board for Wildlife has processed many projects located near or in sanctuaries and national parks.”

By Our Representative The Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), an influential Delhi-based advocacy group, is all set to set up a regional mechanism in order to ensure “effective" implementation of international human rights norms and standards in South Asia. Led by senior activist Henri Tiphagne, WGHR will be deliberating on the crucial issue on August 26-27 with several rights bodies across India at a workshop. A concept note for workshop participants said, though the region comprises over one-fourth of the world population, human rights violations in the region have met with “a stubborn stand on state-centred view of national sovereignty, insisting on the principle of non-interference.”

Medha Patkar addressing rally at Badwani By Our Representative In what may be termed as the first major meet in favour of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR), 2013 in its present form, India’s well-known anti-dam movement, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), held a well-attended public meeting at Badwani, a small town in Madhya Pradesh, situated about 190 upstream of the Narmada dam. The rally made the strong demand that land acquisition of the Narmada dam in Madhya Pradesh should now be held “afresh” in the backdrop of the new Act.

By Our Representative A right to information applicant has suggested that Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, one of the closest confidantes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, did not declare her position as director in a non-profit company in the affidavit she filed before the Election Commission of India ahead of the December 2012 Gujarat state assembly elections. The company, according to the RTI applicant Roshan Shah, who brought this to light, was registered as a section 25 company under the Companies Act with the registrar of companies (RoC), making it a non-profit organisation.

NBA's Medha Patkar during the Samvaad Yatra  By Our Representative About 150 supporters from 15 states across India began their three-day Narmada Adhikar Samvaad Yatra, interacting with hundreds of Sardar Sarovar affected from Khalghat, Chhota Barda and Pipri. They observed “flawed backwater levels, corruption and lack of rehabilitation” against the backdrop of the decision of the Government of India to raise the Narmada dam. The anti-dam Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) said in a statement that the the intensive fact-finding tour will go to “various Sardar Sarovar Project affected villages in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat” and made a declaration at the end.

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* The Gujarat Government has done it again! That it does so, is on expected lines; but that it is doing so by throwing all caution and Constitutional propriety to the wind should be a cause of great concern to every citizen who values the principles of democracy and pluralism, which are the heart and soul of India. The topic in question is the approval and introduction of nine books (eight of which are written and edited by Dina Nath Batra) in more than 42,000 Government-run primary and secondary schools all over Gujarat. In a circular dated June 30, 2014, the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) states, “These books on supplementary literature are aimed at imparting quality education. They will be provided free of cost to all government primary and secondary schools, public libraries and will be also available at GSSTB, Gandhinagar, for individuals interested in these books. These are to be incorporated from this academic session.” Dina Nath Batra has ea...

By Venkatesh Nayak* A reply has been reportedly sent by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to the President of the Indian National Congress (INC) refusing to accept the latter’s claim to the chair of the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in that House for the leader of its parliamentary party. In the age of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) the text of this communication, which amounts to making an important decision, is simply not available on any official website. Nor has the INC displayed the contents of this letter on its own website despite being declared a public authority under the RTI Act, apropos of the June 2013 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC). This decision has not been set aside by any court till date. Reasons for the Speaker’s Decision Although Section 4(1)(c) of the RTI Act requires the Lok Sabha Secretariat to voluntarily place in the public domain all relevant facts about important decisions taken by the Speaker, our access to reasons behind her deci...

Police picket outside Rajpipla campus In his submission to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, senior environmentalist Rohit Prajapati* has strongly rebutted the report sent by the Superintendent of Police (SP), district Narmada, Gujarat, to the NHRC in response to Prajapati’s complaint of October 31, 2013 regarding curb on freedom of expression and peaceful dissent on October 30-31, 2013, when the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi performed his stone-laying foundation for the Statue of Unity in Narmada river. Excerpts from the submission: Our complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is not that “we were prevented from reaching the site inauguration of Statue of Unity by the Gujarat Chief Minister.” In fact none of us wanted to go to the site of inauguration function. Our complaint, as mentioned in the last line of para 3 of our complaint dated October 31, 2013 is: “…villagers were detained illegally to create atmosphere of terror among villa...

By Venkatesh Nayak* On August 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of India has begun implementing its new set of rules for regulating its practice and procedures. These rules were notified in May this year. They replace the existing rules brought into force in 1966 (to download the new SC rules click HERE ). It may be noted that the Registry of the Supreme Court is also a public authority under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Whether the Chief Justice of India is also a public authority under the same law, is a question that has been referred to a Constitution Bench of the Court in November 2010 in the matter of Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India vs. Subhash Chandra Agrawal, (2011) 1SCC 496. This bench has not been constituted for almost four years despite important constitutional and legal questions being framed by the three-judge bench. This is the well known “judges’ assets case”, initiated by the RTI intervention of veteran RTI activist Subhash Chandra Ag...

By Our Representative Top-level Bloomberg View columnist William Pesek has termed much of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the Independence day as rhetoric, phrasing it as a “loud hissing noise you hear coming from India is the air escaping from the Modi bubble.” Pesek, who won the 2010 Society of American Business Editors and Writers prize, regrets, “Since taking office, Modi has scuttled a global trade deal, sidestepped much-needed subsidy cuts, and refrained from letting foreigners hold majority stakes in key domestic sectors. He remains vague about the broader structural reforms partisans hoped he would inaugurate.”

By Our Representative Expressing serious concern over the proposed Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project (VRDP) in Vadodara, Gujarat’s cultural capital, on lines of the Sabarmati riverfront project in Ahmedabad, showcased as urban model for other states to follow, prominent citizens of the city have come together to demand “a thorough and immediate re-look” into it and “reconceptualize” it. “A major problem with the proposed plans and designs is that they fail to recognize that Vishwamitri river is not like the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, or Tapi in Surat”, they say.

Modi's meeting with Shinzo Abe in Japan in July 2012. Abe took over as PM in December 2013 By Our Representative The Japan Times, Japan’s largest-circulation English-language newspaper, has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a man of many contradictions”, who is “frequently criticized for being a Hindu chauvinist”, and is armed with “disavowed parochialism.” Presenting himself as “a leader for all Indians”, Modi, says the daily -- which was founded in 1897, and has a tieup with the New York Times’ international edition -- appears to be actually guided by narrow nationalism. And for this, it gives India’s refusal to sign a World Trade Organisation (WTO) accord as the most prominent example.

By Our Representative The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has said that the case filed by Gujarat police against human rights activist Teesta Setelvad and her colleagues of the Citizens for Peace and Justice (CPJ) is nothing but an effort to “discredit human rights defenders in the public eye thereby making their task as human rights defenders more onerous and difficult to discharge.” In fact, it is an effort to “undermine” the UN Declaration of protecting human rights defenders adopted by UN general assembly in 2013, which acknowledges “legitimate role of human rights defenders and the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”

By Our Representative Mines, Minerals and People (MM&P), a high-profile non-government organization in India, has joined Greenpeace as also NGOs from Australia and Canada to declare that deep-sea mining is coming up as “the newest assault on the world’s oceans”. In a statement, Sreedhar Ramamurthi, chairperson, MM&P, India, has said, “The issue of deep sea mining is not just for scientists and mining companies, the debate has to be much bigger. Is it morally viable? Is it environmentally sustainable? What is going to happen to the waste? What are the economic, social and cultural impacts on local populations in the areas they want to mine? They are the same questions whether you are mining in the deep sea or on land.”

By Our Representative The Madhya Pradesh High Court has said that it may have to “proceed against” those state officials who have failed to comply by the Justice Jha Commission of Inquiry into large-scale corruption in the payment of cash in lieu of land acquired from thousands of Narmada dam oustees. It simultaneously dismissed the petition filed by the Gujarat government to not to allow the outees’ corruption case come in the way of raising the Narmada dam from 121.92 metres, where it is stationary today, to the full reservoir level (FRL) of 138.64 metres, saying it would not hear it, as the matter is pending with the Supreme Court.

By Our Representative The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), taking serious view of safai kamdars of Dudhrej municipality of Surendranagar district of Gujarat being forced to work as manual scavengers, has sent notice to the district magistrate to explain why is the despicable practice, called by Mahatma Gandhi “national shame”, continues unabated in the township. It has sought report from the senior Gujarat official within four weeks. The NHRC response comes in the wake of top Dalit rights organization Navsarjan Trust’s complaint taking strong objection to continuation of the practice in the township. The complaint was forwarded on the basis of www.counterview.net report.

Adani with Modi By Our Representative Following India’s sharp differences over the World Trade Organisation’s plea to sign an international trade deal, found reflected in US secretary of state John Kerry telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India’s stance has sent “wrong signal”, Modi has found a new friend – Australia. Aussie news portal http://www.southasiatimes.com.au/ has reported that Modi is will be on an official visit of Australia on November 15-16. He will be attending the G-20 summit, which is to take place in Brisbane. It adds, “Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Australia, after Rajiv Gandhi came here in 1986, i.e. 28 years ago”. Modi last visited Australia as Gujarat chief minister in December 2004 to campaign for the Vibrant Gujarat investment summit of January 2005.

Broken FETP pipeline polluting nearby areas By Rohit Prajapati* For the past fortnight, the pipeline of the Final Effluent Treatment Plant (FETP) of the Narmada Clean Tech Ltd (NCTL) of Ankleshwar is again leaking with its breakage at the Ankleshwar-Amboli road next to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) camp. The consistent violation of the prescribed norms of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) by the FETP operated by NCTL since its inception is publicly well known. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) should clarify which law of the land sanctions the discharge of effluents that do not meet the prescribed norms of the GPCB. Alternatively, it would appear, by allowing the FETP to operate despite inability to perform within legal norms, the NCTL’s continued violation of the environment laws of the nation is being condoned. The violation of environmental laws is supported by the investigation results of CPCB from 2007 to 2014, and even of NCTL results from 2013 to...

Vasundhara Raje By Our Representative Prominent Gandhians and civil society activists have taken strong exception to the Government of Rajasthan’s recent “forcible acquisition” of the land belonging to the Rajasthan Samagra Sewa Sangh (RSSS), a well-known Gandhian institution in Jaipur, terming it “atrocious” and “fraudulent”. Saying it signifies how the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government is involved in a major land scam, larger than Mumbai’s Adarsh scam, a statement issued in Delhi said, “This is, no doubt, an attempt to towards land grabbing. It is an assault on the Gandhian ideology, for which active cadres for which the BJP and the RSS, are known for”.

By Our Representative Amnesty International, one of world’s prestigious human rights organizations, has asked the Dow Chemical Company to “stop dodging its responsibility towards the survivors of the Bhopal disaster” and take full responsibility for “the catastrophic 1984 gas leak which left thousands dead and many more with chronic and debilitating illnesses”. In a statement issue from its London headquarters, Amnesty said, “The time has come for Dow to appear in an Indian court and account for the failure of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Union Carbide, to respond to the criminal charges against it.”

By Our Representative The Government of India is on way to take more steps towards “easing” hurdles on way to environmental clearance for developmental projects. Minister of state for environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar has already said he is working for “streamlining” environmental clearance (EC) process by delegating more powers to the State level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs). Meanwhile, officials under him are seeking to categorise anew the type of projects to be cleared in states, adding several sectors whose authority for environmental clearance is with the Government of India.

By Nandini Oza*  Delivering her Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, among other things, Arundhati Roy spoke about Gandhiji and his views on Varnashram (caste system), and based on this, she asked a few uncomfortable questions (click HERE to read). Many people have also asked me what my stand on the subject is. Though I cannot claim to be a scholar on Gandhian thoughts and work, I can say that I have read Gandhiji’s own writings as well as the writings of his close aides and secretaries like Mahadevbhai Desai, Indulal Yagnik (all in Gujarati). 

By Our Representative In a significant development, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice TS Thakur and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, has refused to entertain a Petition filed by the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to transfer a seven year old public interest litigation (PIL) from the High Court of Madhya Pradesh to the Supreme Court. Chaired by the secretary, Union water resources ministry, NCA is the decision-making inter-state body with powers to take a final call on all major contentious issues related with the Narmada project, including raising of the dam.

By Our Representative In a scathing attack on Gujarat’s Sabarmati riverfront project, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has showcased as a glowing example of “inclusive growth”, the Los Angeles Times (LAT) has said all that the $200-million public project offered to thousands of uprooted slumdwellers is a life which is “worse off than before”. Ahmedabad’s city officials have “failed to find them alternative housing as promised”, it says, adding, many “families are stuck in a temporary housing site, living in tumbledown shacks made of plywood and plastic sheets that fall apart during the heavy summer rains, miles from city services or decent jobs.”

The old man who "lost everything" because of army atrocity By Our Representative Gujarat-based NGO Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel’s (MAGP’s) recently-concluded people’s contact programme in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has found serious human rights violations by the army and the police in the northern-most Indian state. While campaigning for the right o information (RTI) Act on RTI on Wheels, a specially designed vehicle, with the supported by Sangharsh RTI Movement-J&K, MAGP activists heard the tale of woe from an old man in Gurvet village of Badgaon district who said how the army came to their house, fired at his wife and daughter-in-law, and took away his son.

By Our Representative The influential British weekly “The Economist”, in its latest issue dated August 2, has sought to trigger hornet’s nest by calling top tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) a “rotten role model for corporate India”, insisting, “When it comes to governance this secretive and politically powerful private empire is not a national champion but an embarrassment”. The title of the comment itself is enough to raise eye-brows: “An unloved billionaire: Why Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, needs to reform his empire.”