Ishrat Jehan By Our Representative A top United Nations (UN) report has taken strong exception to the Gujarat government failing to act against high level police officials  responsible for encounter killings of individuals in the aftermath of the 2002 communal riots. The report, released recently, notes that “police officers who have been suspended upon their arrest in cases of suspected extrajudicial killings and charged with extrajudicial killings have been reinstated in senior positions.”

Modi inaugurating pulse polio immunization drive in Gujarat Feb 2012 By Our Representative Well-know British weekly, The Economist, has created flutter by publishing United Nations Children Fund's (UNICEF's) unpublished data which suggest that Gujarat's ranking in immunization of children has slipped from 16th to 21st position between 2001, when Narendra Modi came to power as state chief minister, and 2014, when he became India's Prime Minster, "riding" on a developmental agenda.

Counterview Desk Justice Markandey Katju, former chairman, Press Council of India and ex-Supreme Court judge, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha resolutions condemning his Facebook posts which had called Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhas Bose British and Japanese agents, respectively. He has filed the petition through senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam, as he is abroad.

The tapes put on youtube.com. Click on the image to listen By Our Representative Fresh tapes released by an investigative news site, http://gulail.com/ have made further revelations on how Gujarat government under ex-chief minister Narendra Modi had controversially “snooped” on an innocent young Bangalore-based woman architect. It adds, what is new in the fresh set of tapes is, she was being “stalked like a criminal or a terrorist by the anti-terrorist squad and intelligence machinery” beyond the boundaries of the state.

By Rohit Prajapati* We are living in a world where a number of experts will readily state their opinions that particular chemicals “within prescribed norms” will have no adverse impact at all. One will find only very few experts ready to state that chemicals in excess definitely leads to particular health problem. Even research related to health problem vis-a-vis chemicals and particular industrial clusters is difficult to find and to my knowledge, there are no resources available for such research in India. The governments at the centre and state levels, and the government medical colleges and institutes lack the political will to take up such research. With practically no substantial resources for activists and whistle-blowers who try to pin-point the issues of health and environment with reference to industry based on Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), activists are blamed by stating that these are ‘non-serious allegations’ against the industry and the state. People are victims of

By Kriti Sharma* The real test of a government is its commitment to its very own people, the adivasis, minoritie, sexual or religious, women and dalits. Reference here is not to the politics of doling out that turns up election fever, but the ability to ensure a life of dignity, equality and just entitlement to nation's subalterns. The most controversial bill of this year the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Amendment Bill 2015, however, attempts to rob adivasis, small farmers and forest-dwellers of just that. In one stroke it does away with first, the recognition of relationship of land with its people; second, the basic principle of allowing affected persons to give consent and have a say; and third, the requirement of 'social impact assessment' to fully understand the implications of land acquisition. Thus, it allows for redistribution of land from the poor to the non-poor in certain controversial projects i

By Our Representative The Government of India (GoI) is all set to “drop” one of the most powerful calculation tool – Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) – it had adopted in 2009 to measure the level of pollution in India’s different industrial clusters. One of India’s senior-most environmentalists Rohit Prajapati has said he has received “clear indications” that CEPI wouldn’t be used anymore, there is a strong view in GoI that it “harms” foreign industrial investment into India.

Counterview Desk In a major revelation, “India Spend” India’s first data journalism initiative , has said that a recent, on the basis of an analysis of latest study released by top MNC British Petroleum (BP), that India has becoming the world’s “fastest-growing major polluter”. Prepared on the basis of analysis of a plethora of data in the study , analyst Sajai Jose has said, in 2014 India’s “carbon dioxide emissions growth accounting for the largest share of global emissions growth”.

Counterview reaction By Our Representative Following is the text of the rejoinder to Tata Mundra article published (withdrawn) in www.counterview.net:    Serious concern with your article “Child labour on rise around Tata Mundra plant, teenage girls being forced into sexual abuse: Report” dated June 19, 2015 This is with reference to the article titled ‘Child labour on rise around Tata Mundra plant, teenage girls being forced into sexual abuse: Report’ published by Counterview on June 19, 2015.

By PVS Kumar* During the past one-year we have witnessed an unprecedented attack on scientific temper, rational thinkingand scientific establishment of the country. The assault has been four pronged: 1. Spreading and providing credibility to myths, superstitions, irrational beliefs among the masses; 2. Occupying spaces such as science congress, workshops and conferences and use the official and unofficial platforms for anti-science activities;

Counterview Desk The latest US government's "India 2014 Human Rights Report" has criticized Gujarat government for filing a misappropriation case against well-known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad. This, it notes, was done "after a December 2013 decision by a Gujarat lower court rejecting a protest petition "to force the state to file criminal charges against then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and other officials for allegedly failing to stop Hindu reprisals in Gujarat in 2002."

Karen Gabriel By Karen Gabriel and P K Vijayan* Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been reported as having stated, in an interview to Time magazine, that 'You don't need dictatorship in India, democracy is in our DNA'. Modi says, 'It is not just as per our Constitution that we are a democratic country, it is in our DNA.... I firmly believe that for us, democracy and belief in democratic values are a matter of faith.' He apparently also goes on to remark that acceptance of all religions was 'in our blood': “All religions and all communities have the same rights and it is my responsibility to ensure their complete and total protection. My Government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion. So there is no place for imaginary apprehensions with regards to the rights of the minorities in India” (Indian Express, 8 May 2015). What stands out in these observations is the use of the word 'faith'. This term has two broad

Counterview Desk Well-known sociologist Prof DL Sheth has said that, thanks to Indira Gandhi’s imposition of Emergency on June 25, 2015, the RSS-Jana Sangh became part of the mainstream politics from the very “fringe”. Simultaneously blaming Jay Prakash (JP) Narayan for giving holding their hand to the Sangh, Prof Sheth -- who was one of closest associates of top academic who opposed Emergency, late Rajni Kothari -- reveals, the Sangh at one point, even supported the Emergency.

By Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* Civil society activism is under attack in India as never before! A careful analysis of this past year clearly reveals that those who have accompanied the poor and the marginalised, the vulnerable and the victims of society have often to take up cudgels against the powerful and other vested interests; more often than not, it is also against the Government be it State or Central. Civil society activism in India today involves a whole range of stake-holders which include individuals, academic institutions, writers – scholars, human rights and other non-government organisations and in short anybody and everybody genuinely concerned about what is happening in the country today. There are individuals and institutions who work at the grassroots with Dalits and Adivasis, with women, children and LGBTs, with small farmers, with the displaced and refugees, with slum-dwellers and with the differently-abled and perhaps with every disadvantaged individual or group who have

PM's residence By Our Representative Denial of information to Paragkumar Ashokkumar Patel, the Gujarat citizen who under the right to information (RTI) Act wanted the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to tell him the dates of top Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence, is all set to turn into full blown controversy. Patel has decided not to take things lying down, and has gone into an appeal saying that the denial runs counter to the RTI Act, alleging the PMO's Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) has done it under "pressure" from Modi.

By Our Representative Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office does not think that it is obligatory on its part to reveal even elementary information about the date-wise number of visits made by a top tycoon to his official residence in Delhi. This has come from a right to information (RTI) plea by a Gujarat-based citizen by Paragkumar Ashokkumar Patel, who wished to “total number of visits, datewise” by Gautam Adani.

By Our Representative Taking strong exception to the recently-released revised draft of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, proposed to be adopted at the UN General Assembly this September, a group of 18 top India-based non-government organizations (NGOs) has said that it fails to take into account the broader context of "declining role of the state vis-à-vis the private sector and businesses."

Counterview Desk A comprehensive study, "No, Yoga Does Not Cure Any Disease", by a Karnataka-based researcher-consultant, Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya, has said that "all the available evidence as of now, and the systematic reviews and meta-analyses, indicate clearly that yoga does not cure or prevent, or significantly alleviate, any ailment, that affects humans", adding, "If a lie is repeated often, it is said, people will eventually believe it."

Romel Sutariya By Our Representative In an official communication, the Gujarat police suggests it doesn’t think there is anything wrong with detaining activists seeking to protest against programmes involving state chief minister Anandiben Patel. In a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, the state police has justified the detentions, which took place on December 20, 2014, ahead of the chief minister’s visit to Chhotaudepur in South Gujarat.

By Our Representative Following Reuters Breakingviews Index, which said early this month said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) did not grow by 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year, as claimed by the Modi government but just around 5 per cent (click HERE to read), world's leading consultants Morgan Stanley has created a flutter by declaring that India could not have growth "anymore than 6 per cent."

Replica of new Ahmedabad hospital By Our Representative Four independent members of the board of management, Chinai Maternity and VS General Hospitals, Ahmedabad, have strongly protested against the Gujarat government’s move to convert the hospital into a super-specialty unit. In a statement to the media, they have said, for two long years their plea not to convert it into super-specialty hospital is pending before the charity commissioner court, but without “any progress.”

Shailesh Patel By Pankti Jog* In Mahatma Gandhi’s dry state, even asking for information about illegal liquor trading has proved to be life snatching. Shailesh Kantilal Patel of Surendranagar district of Gujarat filed a right to information (RTI) application on June 15, 2015 at 12 noon at the district superintendent of police’s (DSP’s) office of Surendrangar district. He was murdered on the same day late night.

By Ram Puniyani* The coming to power of Narendra Modi in a way gave an open license to all the affiliates of RSS combine to indulge in open hate speech against the religious minorities. The current agenda behind the hate speech is to consolidate the communal polarization of the society along lines of religion. The well known case of MIM's Akbarudin Owaisi’s hate speech has been despicable and very rightly Akbarudin Owaisi had to be in jail for some time. The case against him should be pursued and the legal course of action must be pursued. At the same time what about the hate speech indulged in by the likes of Pravin Togadia, Subramaniam Swamy, Giriraj Singh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sadhvi Prachi, Sakshi Mahraraj, Yogi Adityanth, Sanjay Raut and company? Apart from these associates of Hindu right-wing patriarch, RSS, who are reported in the media, there are many more indulging in the divisive speech and worsening the communal situation. During this year they have started feeling emb