By Our Representative The World Bank’s latest report , “India Development Update”, has said that India may have taken advantage of the “sharp decline in global oil and commodity prices to eliminate petrol and diesel subsidies and increase excise taxes”, hence the country’s economic growth will “very likely remain above 7 percent in the next fiscal year”. However, it warns that “uncertainty about its momentum is high and downside risks ample.”

By Our Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), apex body of tens of mass organizations of India, has strongly protested against the Odisha Govermnent’s reported attempt to conduct Gram Sabhas in the Niyamgiri area to allow the MNC Vedanta to begin mining of bauxite for its Rs 50,000 crore aluminia refinery project, calling the move as "illegal and contempt of the Supreme Court order".

By Our Representative A new report , “Global Wealth Databook 2015” by top a global financial services firm based in Zurich, Credit Suisse, has found the existence of huge wealth differences in India. The report says that 755,563,000, or 95.4 per cent of adults in India, own wealth less than $10,000, while a minuscule 185,000, or 0.023 per cent of Indian adults, own more than $1 million.

Dholera SIR farmers By Our Representative In a setback to the Gujarat government, the Gujarat High Court has set aside the state police decision to bar farmers of the prestigious Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) from taking out a six-day long padyatra or footmarch to oppose the proposal of smart city in the largely rural area. The foot march was to begin on Thursday.

By Rajiv Shah Even as ranking India 130th in the ease of doing business among 189 countries, up from 134th a year ago, the latest World Bank report, “Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency” has quietly suggested that all’s not well on the social front in India. It has pointed towards “unreliable electricity supply”, which has adverse “consequences for a society’s well-being and living conditions.”

By Rohit Prajapati, Dipti Bhatt, Krishnakant* Gujarat State is an integral part of Indian state. We are shocked to learn from the Press Note dated October 23, 2015 of the State Election Commission (SEC) that it has in effect decided to deny the citizen the right to exercise None of the Above (NOTA), thereby denying in effect denied the citizen’s the right of NOTA during the forthcoming civic polls to take place in November 2015. The SEC has taken away the right to exercise NOTA referring to the legal proceedings in the High Court of Gujarat – Special Civil Application No. 13552 of 2015. It is clear that there are two possibilities in this scenario. Firstly, either the Gujarat State Election Commission has willfully misinterpreted the Gujarat High Court’s order of August 21, 2015 and decided to remove the right to exercise NOTA. Or secondly, that High Court of Gujarat has granted the stay to the Supreme Court’s larger bench judgment dated September 27, 2013 in Writ Petition (Civil) No 1...

By Venkatesh Nayak* On October 27, 2015, a popular English language TV news channel debated the issue of disclosure of Annexures to the NN Vohra Committee report. This 1993 report authored by the then Secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and currently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) examined the issue of the criminal-politician-businessman-bureaucrat nexus and suggested several measures to clean up the system including the establishment of a Nodal Agency to investigate such nexus. The report was tabled in Parliament on August 1, 1995, after opposition parties compelled the Indian National Congress-led Government under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to so do in the aftermath of the gruesome murder of a young woman by her politician husband – notorious as the Tandoor murder case (or the Naina Sahni murder). The latest round of debate on the aforementioned TV news channel focuses on the alleged Annexures to the Vohra Committee report which was not sha...

By RK Misra* India today is a sitting duck. Like a turkey voting for an early Christmas. Let’s sample a recent day’s national headlines. It no longer informs. It screams. Hatred in Mumbai. Violence in New Delhi. Fanaticism in Bengaluru. Punjab on the boil. Protests in Kashmir. Trucker killed in Udhampur over rumours of cow slaughter...

Nayantara Sahgal By Our Representative In a fresh sign of resentment, as many as 350 artists have come together and signed a statement declaring their "firm solidarity" with the actions of top writers, "who have relinquished awards and positions, and spoken up in protest against the alarming rise of intolerance in the country." As many as 33 writers, following Jawarhlal Nehru's celebrated niece Nayantara Sahgal, have so far returned India's best known Sahitya Akademi award. 

By Rajiv Shah An internal Gujarat government note, prepared by the state revenue department and in possession of Counterview, has admitted that the recent amendments to the state’s land various ceiling Acts are meant to “enable the industrialist to speedily establish industry”, in such a way that the industrialist could “purchase” the land for industrial purpose “without prior permission of the district collector.”

Pradyumnasinh Chudasma By Our Representative Is Gujarat's controversial Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling (Amendment) Bill, 2015 all set to be “applied” on Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) – proposed as a Greenfield smart city about 90 kilometres south of Ahmedabad along the Gulf of Khambhat – even before it gets a final nod of President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, with whom it is currently pending?

By Our Representative A top protege of Prime Minister Narendra Modi living in the US, Rajiv Malhotra, who is widely regarded as one of the foremost theorists of Hindutva, is out to create yet another flutter, this time insisting that there is a need to “understand Manusmriti as per Hindu interpretation”, and for this one should “ read Agniveer ”. The article Malhotra wants people to read is titled “Manusmiti and Shudras”, posted on the website http://agniveer.com/ , and authored by Sanjeev Newar, who says that “Manu Smriti hails from an era when even the concept of birth-based caste system did not exist”, adding, the treatise “nowhere supports a social system based on birth.”

Common image of pulses shared in many tweets By Our Representative Ever imagined what was trending at the very top on Twitter on Sunday morning? #BJPMuktGujarat! There was a virtual flow of tweets on the theme, with mostly Gujaratis from the middle-classes strongly supporting the “need” for change in the state following the announcement of local body elections, be held in November-end.

By Our Representative In an unusual move, the Human Rights Defenders Alert India (HRDAI), a national network for the protection and promotion of human rights defenders, has asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to work out ways to influence Gujarat’s State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) “to publicly acknowledge” the importance and legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders, and create "lasting mechanism" to protect RTI activists from frequent attacks.

By Our Representative In a strong effort to internationalize the view that the treatment meted out to Dalits in India should be treated on par with the apartheid, a delegation of the All-India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) has wrapped up its tour of nine American cities in order to highlight centuries old "oppression" suffered by India's “untouchables” within the Hindu caste system.

By Ashok Shrimali* An eye-opening study -- based on interactions with family members and co-villagers of 102 undertrials in Jharkhand, as also each of them while they were on bail -- has found that in 98 per cent of cases the charge against them of being involved in Naxalite activities is not true. In fact, none, except two, were found to have some connection with a Naxal group.

By Our Representative A long-time Gujarat government client propagating Gujarat as India’s best business destination around the world, Ernst & Young (EY), one of the best known international consultants, has said that Ahmedabad tops the list of “second tier cities for investment”. The data published by it show that 26 per cent of the around 505 business executives  it has inteviewed identified as India’s best investment destination among all "emerging business destinations."

By Our Representative One of the world’s top consultants, Ernst and Young (EY), known for catering to the “requirements” of its clients who include both government and global business players, has rated India as the best investment destination in the world. In a survey carried out among 505 business executives form 28 countries, E&Y has said “A leading 32 per cent of the investors ranked India as the most attractive market this year.”

By Jag Jivan According to a recent analysis , expert estimates have suggested that there are a whopping 53 lakh stray cattle, mainly cows and bulls, in India. The analysis suggests that by banning slaughter of non-milching cows, especially in BJP ruled states, the farmers are now further facing a fresh ruination.

Minorities protest against Modi during his US visit By Our Representative In a scathing commentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance ahead of his visit to the United Kingdom (UK), to take place in November second week, the powerful international journal "Newsweek" has wondered if "India is being run by an embattled, authoritarian and repressive regime, supported by vigilantes."

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) is once again here and will be celebrated with traditional pomp and gaiety all over the country. It is a moment for every Indian to spend some time reflecting on the significance of the festival and ask ourselves whether we have truly internalised the meaningful values which this great festival embodies. On Dussehra, we celebrate the triumph of good over evil; of how Lord Ram defeats the demon king Ravan who typifies all that is evil. India’s great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata provide us with gripping narratives of the festival. We need to look around today to see how the forces of evil seem to have plunged a deadly weapon into the heart of India. In Faridabad two innocent dalit children are burnt alive by the higher castes; in Dadri, a man is lynched because of some rumours that he ate beef; in Mumbai, a motley group of Shiv Sainiks violently hold the State to ransom and prevent the improving of relations with Pakistan; in...

Ghulam Ali By Our Representative Indian and Pakistani journalists from Mumbai and Karachi have come togather to declare their displeasure over "violence and threats against Pakistani artists, writers and cricketers in Mumbai", saying they are "dismayed" at what is happening in India.

Akhlaque By Our Representative In a strongly-worded report following its visit to Bisahda village, Dadri, western Uttar Pradesh, where the infamous lynching of Mohammad Akhlaque took place on September 28-29 night, , the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) has said, it would be “quite an understatement to say that Bisahda killing was merely an accident.”

By Our Representative The Majur Adhikar Manch (MAM), an organization catering to the informal sector workers' rights in Ahmedabad, has taken strong exception to the Gujarat government “evicting” 56 tribal families – most of them construction workers – as part of its preparations of the high-profile metro rail project.

Shaktisinh Gohil By Our Representative   In what is being widely interpreted as the first major setback to Gujarat's BJP rulers after Narendra Modi left as India's Prime Minister more than a year ago, the Gujarat High Court has junked a recent Ordinance of the state government enabling the State Election Commission (SEC) to postpone local body elections on the grounds that of “unforeseen circumstances”.

By Our Representative Anita Desai, well-known India-born English writer who has authored of over a dozen novels, has said that she does not recognize “the India of the present time where, under the banner of ‘Hindutva,’ intimidation and bigotry seek to silence writers, scholars and all who believe in secular and rational thought.”

By Venkatesh Nayak* Rumour has it that the Registries of some Information Commissions established under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) are returning 2nd appeals and complaints submitted by aggrieved citizens without admitting them on the ground that proof of identity of the appellant/complainant has not been attached. This action is being taken purportedly under the influence of a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court delivered in 2012.. Is identity proof required at the RTI application stage? Nothing in the RTI Act passed by Parliament or the RTI Rules notified by the Central Government or most of the State Governments require an applicant to submit proof of identity or address along with the RTI application. In the case of State Governments, the lone exception that I can remember is that of Odisha which has stubbornly retained this requirement of proving one’s identity at the RTI application stage despite sustained and very vocal protests from civil society and...

Replica of Dholera smart city By Our Representative Gujarat government is learnt to have imposed prohibitory orders across the entire Ahmedabad district, except for Ahmedabad city. The decision to impose Section 144 in the district’s rural areas comes close on the heels of the “permission” sought by an upcoming farmers’ organization, Khedut Samaj – Gujarat (KSG), to hold padyatra against the proposed Smart City in Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), 90 km south of Ahmedabad, along the Gulf of Khambhat.

Villagers wait for body of slain RTI activist By Venkatesh Nayak* The print and electronic media have reported the recent murder of right to information (RTI) activist Ratansinh Chaudhary, aged 30, in Garamdi village in Suigam taluka of Banaskantha district, Gujarat, on October 17, 2015. This is the eighth instance of murder of an RTI activist in Gujarat, second only to Maharashtra in this dubious distinction. Four residents of the village are said to have accosted him and his son while he was walking in his farm and hit him on the head repeatedly, with stout sticks, resulting in his death. Registering an FIR on the basis of the complaint the deceased’s father, the police has identified all four perpetrators and is investigating the circumstances in which the murder occurred. According to media reports, Ratansinh had demanded information from the District Collector and the District Development Officer (DDO) about the manner of distribution of flood relief package in his area recently...

By Our Representative Gujarat's two senior human rights activists have said that the Gujarat Control of Terror and Organised Crime (GUJTOC) Bill, 2015, currently awaiting the President’s assent, on paper seeks to curb organised crime and terrorism, but, in practice, will prove to be a “no-holds-barred attack on free speech.” In fact, they believe, thanks to its vague language, it will be a “codified a means for police intimidation” to quash any opposition to governmental decisions, terming them “terrorist.”

By Our Representative Coming down heavily on Government of India initiative, Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana (JSSY), meant to ensure “free” and “cashless” services to pregnant women for deliveries in public health facilities, antenatal care, and to infants up to a year, a top advocacy group has found that, in Gujarat, “more than half the women (51.4%) incurred out-of-pocket expenditure for antenatal care, and 48% for deliveries.”

Agate industry causing silicosis By Our Representative A senior National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) official has come down heavily on the Gujarat government for failing to act on some its crucial recommendations, even as stating that other states have implemented them in “99.5 per cent of cases” – whether it was the untimely death workers because of deadly silicosis, an occupational disease, or the 2002 Gujarat riots.

By Our Representative In a move that would give a major setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effort to build his image worldwide, one of the world's most important writers' bodies, PEN International, at its 81st Congress in Quebec City, Canada, has expressed its solidarity with with Indian writers who returned  Sahitya Akademi award, protesting against what it calls "silencing of independent voices" by "killing" writers and artists in India.

By Our Representative The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in a surprise move, has "distanced" itself from its own mouthpieces -- "Panchajanya" in Hindi, and "Organiser" in English. It has fielded RSS'all-India propaganda chief (prachar pramukh) Dr Manmohan Vaidya to tweet through RSS (@RSSorg) that they "are not mouthpiece of RSS", adding, "An official office bearer only speaks on behalf of RSS".

gujaratindia.com, which takes one to CM's copyrighted site By Our Representative In an interesting expose, an upcoming political activist in Ahmedabad has brought to light that Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel wants people to write to her online on any issues they may have not on a Gujarat government website but her personal website, anandibenpatel.com .

By Our Representative A new report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) has made a startling revelation: During the first half of this decade, India’s undernourished population, in absolute terms, increased from 189.9 million in 2010-12 to 194.6 in 2014-16. Released to mark the World Food Day, which fell on October 16, the report is titled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World”.

By Our Representative Nobel Prize winner in economics Angus Deaton has suggested that the Government of India’s cash transfer policy, which would require transfer of money to individual bank account holders receiving government subsidy, hasn’t been properly thought out, terming it as an “experiment on the poor”.

By Our Representative Fresh facts have come to light suggesting that, in Gujarat, there has been extremely tardy progress in the allocation of surplus land to the landless, acquired from big landlords under the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Act, 1960. Based on right to information (RTI) pleas, the district registrar of land records, Junagadh, has admitted that out of 11 of 16 villages for which information was sought, "no land survey of surplus has taken place" for the last 24 years, hence there was no allocation.

The "proposed" GIFT smart city By Rajiv Shah A fresh document, obtained by a Gujarat-based right to information (RTI) activist, Roshan Shah on October 8, has revealed how very slow is the progress in implementing the pet "smart city" project floated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s when he was Gujarat chief minister – Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT). Envisaged in 2007, there are just two towers in the GIFT premises, one of which has partially started functioning.

By Our Representative A top business rating company has said that India's business confidence, for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2015 has continued to fall, with “optimism value for net profits” declining by by 8.3% and “new orders” by 7.2% on “year to year” basis. It added, the composite business optimism index, at 122.0 during Q4 2015, decreased of 4.1% as compared to Q3 2015.

By Rajiv Shah A new report, “2015 Global Hunger Index” has ranked India No 80th of 117 countries selected for calculating global hunger index (GHI). While this is better than Pakistan (No 93), this is no consolation, as it India’s ranking has been found to be lower than the other important neighbouring countries – China (No 21), Nepal (No 58), Sril Lanka (No 69), and Bangladesh (No 73).

MAGP's RTI campaign By Pankti Jog* Manojbhai Patel filed a right to information (RTI) plea with the district collector's office, Ahmedabad, by pasting a revenue stamp worth Rs 20 on July 7, 2015.He was surprise to receive a letter from the Public Information Officer (PIO) saying that his application could not be considered, as he had not paid the fee of Rs 20 by non-judicial stamp.

By Our Representative Uprooted slum-dwellers of Malvani, Mandala and Mankhurd area off Mumbai took out a rally in the city's suburb of Andheri to demand housing rights, which they alleged they were deprived of following “reckless demolition” by the Maharashtra government authorities. Andheri (West) is the next target the demolition drive, they declared.

Farmers of Dholera SIR region By Our Representative Opposition to the Gujarat government decision to “hand over” 28,503 hectares (ha) of land to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by it – Dholera Special Investment Region Development Authority (DSIRDA) – for developing Smart City in the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) is all set to raise its head.

By Our Representative One month ahead of his maiden visit to England, South Asian, black and minority ethnic women’s groups and feminists in scathing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi have said that he has failed to “condemn the rapists or launch an investigation into the Hindutva organisations which support them”, and his own pronouncements on violence against women have been “remarkably few”.

Modi with Merkel at Hanover in Germany: April 2015 By Our Representative A senior expert, working with the powerful Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)-run think-tank has said that the top Germans businessmen who had accompanied German Chancellor Angela Merkel to India early this month have outspokenly declared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done little to “ease” business environment in India.