By Our Representative Members of Ghalib Memorial Movement, including eminent Kathak proponent Uma Sharma and grand nephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Firoz Bakht Ahmed, former director of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Suresh Goel and others have protested against the Delhi government’s alleged neglect of the Ghalib Haveli in Delhi.

Bastar adivasi women By Our Representative There is flutter around the arrest of the seven-person human rights team consisting of lawyers, activists and journalists belonging to the Telangana Democratic Forum (TDF) and handing it over to the Chhattisgarh police on December 25 for investigation.

By Rajiv Shah A new high-profile report supported, among others, by World Bank, has said that the Government of India estimate that the country’s urban population, 420 million or 33% of its total population in 2015, undervalues the “true extent” of urbanization in the country.

By Venkatesh Nayak* A recent media report quotes the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Government of India, saying, there was no need to go into the process of decision making regarding the 8th November demonetisation drive. If the report is true, this is a worrisome departure from the commitment to transparency and accountability voiced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, time and again. Demonetisation and the tale of two RTIs On 14 November, within a week of the demonetisation drive, I filed an RTI application with the DEA seeking copies of the Cabinet Note that was approved by the Union Cabinet regarding the decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denomination. I also sought to know whether the government had sought people’s views on the issue of demonetisation prior to making the decision because the NDA Government had taken steps to consult people on several other important policy issues in the past. I have not received any reply from the CPIO, ...

By Asavari Sharma and Gaurav Madan A new report, “Promise and Performance – Ten Years of the Forest Rights Act (FRA)”, released at a recent national convention in Delhi, has revealed that less than 5% of rights out of a total of over 200 million tribals and other traditional forest dwellers for about 34.6 million hectares (ha) in India has been so far recognized.

By Pankti Jog* The Gujarat government may take pride in organizing Rannotsav, or festival of deserts, in the Rann of Kutch and for giving best of hospitality to the visitors coming from across the world. However, facts have come to light suggesting that it has failed to set up a mechanism which can ensure regular drinking water supply to the nomadic tribes residing inside the Rann.

By Our Representative Is the top BJP leadership convinced about the authenticity of the documents related with corruption charges against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, first made public by editor, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, and in possession of Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress vice-resident Rahul Gandhi?

Way to the coalmining site in Australia By Our Representative The Australian government has brushed aside fresh allegations being made in the country's media on multiple financial crime and corruption probes Adani Group of companies for "siphoning" money offshore and artificially inflating power prices at the expense of Indian consumers, as nothing but “faking news”.

A seminar organized by ANHAD in Delhi By Our Representative The Government of India canceled the foreign funding license of senior human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi's NGO, Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) last week, on the basis of “field agency reports” which suggested that it carried out its activities against “national interest”, but it gave no supporting evidence.

By Pankti Jog* Disappointed with the Gujarat government’s reluctance to recognize their seasonal user rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, over the Wild Ass Sactuary of the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), agariya salt cultivators of the region have strongly represented their case before the Indian People’s Tribunal, which took place in New Delhi on December 15-16, 2016.

By Rajiv Shah A high-profile report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Bound by Brotherhood: India’s Failure to End Killings in Police Custody”, has accused the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for having “failed to ensure accountability in custodial deaths” in India.

By Kiran Pandit* If the objective of the government was to fight corruption then very clearly notebandhi (demonetization) will not hurt corruption. How do pink coloured notes prevent babus and politicians from not accepting bribes? Black money that is in our system is not corruption. Demonetization may reduce black money, there maybe more money coming into the banks and people will resort to cashless transactions. That's fine. But how does this make the corrupt honest? Basically demonetization is barking up the wrong tree. It has helped only: Removal of fake currency ( microscopic amount) Put the political parties in a fix before major elections. Already, its business as usual who are with the income tax officers (ITOs). Almost all chartered accountants (CAs) of Delhi have sorted out their clients black cash and are neat and clean to file the returns. It’s business as usual in Land and Development Office (L&DO), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and municipalities. Although pro...

A minority ghetto in Ahmedabad By Our Representative In a new effort to lobby for minority rights, a new advocacy group has been formed in Gujarat, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), on the occasion of the United Nations Minority Rights Day, which fell on December 18. One of its main aims is to provide a united platform for raising long-pending issues with the state government.

Poor people queue up for cash in Kevadia By Akash Kumar* It is already more than a month, and you can still see queues outside of banks and ATMs. The demon of demonetization is still hunting crores of people in India. Everyday changing goals, from black money to cashless economy, providing new withdraw and deposit limits, government mvoes are shocking common people. The fascist nature of the government is throwing crores of common, marginalized people into misery. A recent report by the research firm New World Wealth said that India is the most unequal country, with 54 percent of its wealth is in the hands of millionaires (who were only 2.5 lakh in 2014). The Modi government's decision of demonetization is not a war against black money but is a trick to snatch poors' savings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should go to bank queues and see who all are standing there and are suffering from his fascist decision. Instead of auditing the funding of political parties, raiding minis...

By Our Representative The Gujarat government's high-profile biennial global business summit, to be held from January 10 to January 13, is unlikely to see any focus on the controversial demonetization move of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite growing apprehensions that it would sharply slow down India's economy and lead to the flight of capital from the country.

By Venkatesh Nayak* 9th December has been designated by the United Nations as International Anti-Corruption Day. Even though India ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2011, this year, International Anti-Corruption Day went by uncelebrated and in fact almost unnoticed. According to a UN estimate, every year, US$ 1 trillion is paid in bribes and US$ 2.6 trillion are stolen through corruption – a sum equivalent to more than 5% of the global GDP. In 2015, Transparency International (TI) rated India 76thamong 168 countries surveyed for people’s perceptions about how corrupt they perceived their governments to be. Countries like Bhutan (27), Chile (23), Ghana (56), Jordan (45), Namibia (45), Panama (72), Rwanda (44), Saudi Arabia (48), Senegal (61), Seychelles (40), South Africa (61) and Uruguay (21) scored better than India on TI’s corruption perceptions index (CPI). In the BRICS grouping, India keeps company with Brazil at 76th place while China is at 83 and Russia fa...

Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad By Our Representative In a surprise revelation which may create flutter among those supporting civil rights organizations, the Government of India (GoI) reportedly sent notices to Indians who had donated as little as more than Rs 10,000 to the NGO Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (or Anhad), run by well-known human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi.

By Our Representative Taking strong exception to the Government of India’s alleged efforts to “undermine” Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2016, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), the apex body of tens of people’s movements fighting for land rights, has said that recent move to amend some of FRA’s “strong provisions” has emboldened Indian states to stop implementing it altogether.

By Rajiv Shah In a revelation which is likely to create ripples among Hindutva advocates, a top US research organization, Pew International, has said that Hindus may have made “substantial educational gains in recent decades”, yet the fact is, they “have the largest educational gender gap of any religion in the world”.

By Our Representative India’s top environmental watchdog, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), has found Varanasi to be the most toxic city of the country. Notorious for water pollution because of the Ganga river, Varanasi is known to be the most polluted stretch in the country. However, how the CPCB has now found that of the 227 days for which it measured air quality, the holy city recorded zero good air days.

By Ujjwal K Chowdhury* Let us not fool ourselves and ask the following questions or look into the following issues: (A) Around 12 lakh crores of 14 lakh crores of demonetized money has come back to RBI and with 20 days to go more. At least 1 lakh crore or more will return. Then there is some money already with RBI from the earlier notes. So where is the black money and counterfeit notes gone? Or have they become white? (B) It is obvious that less than 10% of the black money was held in cash. Some say only 6%. Above fact shows it. Then why punish 96% of the people for crimes done by 4% or lesser? And what a punishment: millions of man hours on queues, 100+ deaths in lines, 15+ bankers dead on duty, several committed suicides, marriages cancelled or turned skeletal, markets standstill, jobs lost etc. etc. India Express, ABP News and Mint have covered very well the human tragedy. (C) If only 6% of black money held in cash, then remaining 94% can only be held in land, gold, foreign account...

Counterview Desk The land rights movement, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), has organized a march to Parliament on December 15 seeking implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. A BAA note:  Sovereign Rights over natural resources in the forest region have always remained a core demand of forest dwelling communities since the colonial days when British colonial power imposed its forcible authority over all natural resources, thus denying the traditional symbiotic relationship between communities and forest resources. Once colonial power established its eminent domain to plunder all natural resources for its needs to expand the Empire, a conflict situation was created between the colonial state and the indigenous communities and unfortunately this plunder has continued in the post colonial era too. Innumerable heroic struggles were fought against the colonial state by the communities - led by exemplary courage and conviction by the subaltern leadership from amongst the Adivas...

By Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* Violence continues to throttle several parts of the world: in the past few days, bombings in Istanbul, Turkey and in the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt; the escalation of violence in Aleppo Syria -- are just some of the violent acts which have resulted in several deaths and many more injuries. In some places violence has become a way of life, highly institutionalised; little children grow up on stories of war, of how the ‘enemy’ needs to be dealt with.  For several across the globe there seems to be nothing to hope for: one act of violence spawns another, for retaliation and revenge. Most are oblivious of the truth that ‘eye for an eye’ makes the whole world blind. Pope Francis in a style which is characteristic of his papacy, has once again sent out a powerful message to the world. It is a message for the Fiftieth World Day of Peace which will be celebrated on January 1st 2017; entitled ‘Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace’, he emphatically state...

By Rajiv Shah A just-published study has revealed the Government of India (GoI) has not been supporting litigations arising from violating National Biological Diversity (DB) Act, 2002, pointing towards how the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), the country’s watchdog for implementing the Act, has been at the “receiving end” for most of the litigations.

Groundwater at an irrigation farm By Rajiv Shah A recent Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report has found that groundwater of villages near Vadodara, known as Gujarat’s cultural capital, is highly polluted due to “industrial activity”, mainly because of what it calls “unscientific disposal of hazardous waste water” into the effluent treatment channel.

By Our Representative Well-known Gujarat-based environmental NGO, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), has alleged that the recent decision to lift moratorium on investment in Ankaleshwar, a well-known industrial centre of South Gujarat, was taken without taking into account failure of the Final Effluent Treatment Plant (FETP) to properly treat industrial waste water.

By Our Representative In an event, which is being interpreted by Uttarakhand civil society as suggesting how the Government of India is not serious about preserving Ganga as a national river, a five-person official committee on December 10 reached Devpryag to assess the impact of dams on the river, without allegedly providing any proper information about its proposed visit.

By Pushkar Raj* The recent summoning of Chhattisgarh officials by the National Human Rights Commissions (NHRC) for abuse of power is significant due to the expectations from human rights protection institutions in the country to deliver on their mandate. However, concerned officials may never appear before the commission to explain their conduct indicating a steep decline in human rights protection regime in the country. Like many other countries, the human rights regime was initiated in India in the aftermath of 1993 Geneva world conference on human rights. Consequently, the Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA) was passed by the parliament for “better protection of human rights” paving way for setting up the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and a number of State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC) in the states. Reality Though the task of protection of human rights was to be carried out under the leadership of NHRC, but it has failed to do justice to its mandate. It is evident fr...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Many in media were shocked to see the last remains of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha being buried and not cremated as per the Hindu customs. Actually, the hype of media reached its crescendo and they were well prepared for a grand brahmanical ceremony, but unfortunately their wish could not be fulfilled. Those who know the legacy of Periyar and Dravidian movement will understand that all of them followed a legacy defined and articulated by Periyar. Jayalalitha was a non-Tamil and brahmin, yet part of the AIADMK through its thick and thin. Even when it was well known that she diluted the whole Dravidian ideological legacies, the concept of welfare measures are part of this historical legacy and that is why Tamil Nadu remain one of the best Indian states in terms of welfare measures of the people. The whole concept of Mid Day meal in India actually came through MGR's successful programme in Tamil Nadu. Even today, the meals provided in Tamilnad...

By Our Representative To mark International Human Rights Day (December 10), well-know civil rights organization, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has launched a web platform, http://attacksonrtiusers.org/Home/Index1/ , for mapping attacks on right to information (RTI) users in India.

By Our Representative De La Rue has strongly refuted as defamatory and malicious allegations about its business published in Indian media, saying it is “not supplying paper for printing of Indian currency and we are not associated with printing of currency in India at present in any form.”

Text of the letter by senior activists of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant to the secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India: The Effluent Channel Project (ECP) of Vadodara passes through 24 villages and prime agricultural land which is known as the ‘Vegetable Basket of Gujarat’. The 55.6 km long effluent channel was commissioned in the year of 1983 to carry “treated” industrial effluent from industries near Vadodara to estuary of River Mahi, Gulf of Cambay. It carries the effluent of Nandesari Industrial Estate and Vadodara Industrial Complex and later on from 1995 onwards number of polluting industries started coming up on along both side of ECP. Since 2004 the villages around the ECP have experienced ground water contamination at alarming rates. The pollution began because of the seepage, leaching, leaking and overflowing of effluent from the ECP and later from illegal untreated effluent discharged by num...

By Our Representative Government of India may claim that the country’s gross national product (GDP) during 2015-16 grew by 7.56%, one of the highest in the world. However, Credit Suisse, a Switzerland-based multinational financial services group, has said that, in real terms, there was a decline of 0.8% in the country’s total wealth in 2015-16.

By Our Representative No Indians would be allowed employment in the Adani Group’s controversial $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mining project in Queensland province. Melbourne-based South Asia Times (SAT) has quoted group chairman Gautam Adani as having assured the Australian authorities that he would not bring any foreign workers for his project.

By Ratan Vasave The adivasis from Gujarat, affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project, have been on relay fast since July 15, 2016. On November 4 late evening, they changed their venue site. It has been shifted to in front of the Rehabilitation Development Office, at Kevadia Colony, near the dam site, with a dead body kept nearby.

By Venkatesh Nayak* Readers will remember my despatch from September this year , describing my efforts to find out details about the sale and the efficacy of anti-riot weapons- particularly pellet guns which have caused severe injuries to hundreds of youth in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir. I had sought information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) about the quantum and price of sale of pellet guns and cartridges as well reports of any studies conducted about the efficacy of such weapons and ammunition on human beings. The RTI application originally sent to the Ordnance Factory Board Kolkata (OFB), landed up with the Khadki Ordnance Factory (OFK). Rejecting the RTI application, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), OFK, had invoked the ground of “defence interest of the State” under Section 8(1)(a) and also claimed that the information was in the nature of commercial confidence, trade secret and/or intellectual property and disclosure would adversely affec...