By Our Representative A civil society convention in New Delhi has taken strong exception to the National Development Bank (NDB), which is the joint initiative of the five BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- for failing to define “sustainable infrastructure” even as seeking to promote it, wondering whose interests it is serving.

The director By Nachiketa Desai* A senior staff member of the country’s premier Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), which is based in Gujarat,  has filed a police complaint of sexual harassment against its director. Indrani Talukdar, former journalist and editor of IRMA’s publications, in her FIR filed with the women’s police of Anand district, has cited five instances of sexual overtures by IRMA director RC Natarajan towards her, some of them even in the presence of other staff members.

By Our Representative India’s top legal rights organization, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), has taken strong exception to the Supreme Court “direction” that “CCTV video coverage will be beyond the reach of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.”

By Our Representative India Resource Centre (IRC), an international campaigning organization based in US, has taken strong exception to the Government of India’s tieup with Coca-Cola for food safety and nutrition, calling it “misguided”, insisting that the multinational corporation (MNC) “will use the partnership to promote unhealthy products.”

By Syed Mujtaba* Kashmir is one of the most long standing and unresolved issues and has faced worst human rights violations and crimes against humanity. Kashmiri people are suffering from torture, extrajudicial killings, mass murders, rape, torture, and abuse, exposition of unmarked graves, detentions and enforced disappearance. The tales of barbarism in Kashmir has never been highlighted by Indian and international media the way other ordinary issues have been propagated in name of human rights and injustice. UN has miserably failed in resolving this issue. The fact is that in any conflict the first and worst victims are women and children, and same is the case in Kashmir. Women primarily have been the most terribly injured party, in this decade’s long conflict. Anywhere in the world, women suffer the most in any sort of conflict. Either she is war booty in the hands of belligerents, or she is a widow back at home. She suffers as a daughter, mother, wife and sister, because most of ...

FETP Ankaleshwar Letter to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, seeking cancellation of the Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CC & A) and issue closure notice to Narmada Clean Tech (NCT), Ankleshwar, as the Final Effluent Treatment Plant’ (FETP) consistently does not meet the prescribed GPCB norms since its inception by Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti’s Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant: We are writing letters since 2008 onwards about the Final Effluent Treatment Plant (FETP) of Narmada Clean Tech of Ankleshwar (NCT) which is not able to meet the prescribed norms of GPCB since its inception is publicly well known. We had again taken up this issue of non-compliance with you in our letter dated 12 December 2016 but there is no-response from your office as if silence is your reply or silence is your commitment to the environment. In such circumstances, we request that the MoEFCC and the GPCB to enlighten us with the law unde...

By Our Representative Following protests in Jaipur, India's pink city, against “illegal” shutting down Hotel Hyatt Rabbani, the police on March 22 was forced to register first information report (FIR) against the cow vigilantes who had attacked the hotel for allegedly cooking beef in its kitchen. The attack, which took place on March 19, saw the hotel staff being badly thrashed in the presence of the police.

By Rajiv Shah A research paper on India’s “readiness” to track down how well it is doing to meet international health and nutrition targets has said that the country’s ability to collect data on both morbidity and death is extremely poor, with “no published report giving cause-specific death rates in India.”

By Our Representative After creating a flutter on by calling Congress as one of the 10 most corrupt political parties in the world, a little known-site with a sensational name, BBC News Point ( bbcnewspoint.com ), which ironically has nothing to do with the prestigious British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has called Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the No 1 corrupt politician of India.

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Government of India is seeking to amend the Income Tax Act, 1961 to make it compulsory for taxpayers to have Aadhaar for filing income tax returns (IT returns). If the Aadhaar number or an Aadhaar enrolment number is not provided by a taxpayer at the time of filing IT returns, after 01 July, 2017, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) will be treated as invalid. At the time of writing this email alert, the text of this amendment proposal was not uploaded on the websites of the Lok Sabha or the Ministry of Finance. Amendment proposal extends the scope of Aadhaar beyond Aadhaar Act, 2016 The proposed move to amend the Income Tax Act to make Aadhaar compulsory for filing IT returns goes completely against what is said in the Aadhaar Act, 2016 . That law is meant for targeted subsidies and payments made out of the Consolidated Fund of India. The income tax that we taxpayers pay is credited into the Consolidated Fund of India . In order to escape this contradiction the...

By Gautam Thaker* In the recent elections held in Maharashtra, accusations were made about tampering with the EVMs. In the results of the District Panchayat and Mahanagar Palika polls, it has been revealed that EVMs had been hacked. In many places, large difference has been noticed between the number of voters registered and the votes counted. In Mumbai, it has been found that one candidate had secured '0' vote. In this context candidates of the respective parties have registered complaints before the Election Commission. Shiv Sena, NCP, MANASE, and Congress candidates have lodged complaints about fraud with the EVMs. Besides that, it is revealed that tampering has also been done with the electoral rolls. During the polls of Mumbai Mahanagar Palika, 11 lakh voters had lost their right to vote at the last moment, as their names were missing. In one ward of Nasik town it so happened that number of votes cast were more than total No. of voters registered. In Yeravada ward of Pune,...

By Our Representative In a scathing editorial, top British daily “The Guardian” has said that Yogi Adityanath, a person “contemptuous of democratic norms” and “a stridently anti-Muslim extremist” has been “chosen by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi to lead Uttar Pradesh.”

By Our Representative Top international human rights organization, Amnesty International, has demanded that the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, “must publicly withdraw” his previous inflammatory statements against Muslims, Christians and other religious minorities.

By Venkatesh Nayak* The J&K Right to Information Act (J&K RTI Act) entered its 9th year of implementation on March 20, 2017. A Rapid Study of the official websites of 230 public authorities under the J&K Government conducted by J&K RTI Movement and CHRI reveals that compliance with the requirement of proactive disclosure of information under Section 4(1)(b) of the J&K RTI Act remains poor. Key findings from this Rapid Study are given below. J&K RTI Movement and CHRI are discussing these findings in order to identify practical recommendations for improving compliance with Section 4(1)(b) of the J&K RTI Act, today (20 March, 2017) at the Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPA), Srinagar. What is proactive information disclosure under Section 4 of the J&K RTI Act? Section 4(1)(b) of the J&K RTI Act makes it compulsory for all public authorities to place a wealth of information in the public domain. This includes deta...

By Our Representative In a strongly-worded statement, the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) has said that it “rejects the falsehood” being spread by the prosecution, which led to the life sentence to 13 of the Maruti workers on “baseless” charge of ‘murder’ on March 18.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Yogi Adityanath has been appointed chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. That shows the power of 'mobocracy' when we call it 'democracy' and paid thugs define it in their different ways wasting time of the nation and confusing people further. I am not surprised at the choice of the Sangh Parivar as they believe in building leaders for future.  Other parties suffer from one individual leader or family and the result is once the individual is defeated or dies or goes to jail the entire party collapses. The RSS is intelligent in this regard so it continue to experiment. It need a leader other than Modi who could be used to vitiate atmosphere further and who can attract votes, a kind of rabble rouser. Yogi is 1972 born yet his ácceptability' is all over the country. As the reports of his being elected as leader of the state BJP party came out there were news of celebrations in many parts of the state. Yogi has equal number of devotees if not more than...

Statement by Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi: The appalling pamphlet put out by ABVP calling for a protest outside CHS against Rajini Krish's death is absolutely uncalled for. We unequivocally reject the politically manipulative and conniving concern extended by the Killers of Rohith Vemula and Assaulters of Najeeb Ahmed. It is a dangerous sign of the future to come. It has been known that whenever Dalit-Bahujans start asserting politically, the right-wing claim immediate stakes on this assertion while the left bastions, even while extending solidarity to the oppressed, affirm the right-wing's claim. In this time of extreme grief, we are now facing a similar two-pronged attack: One, an attempt to appropriate the death of one of us, and our struggle by the saffron right-wing. The other, an accusation by 'thekedars' of left progressivism of being in complicity with and becoming the 'foot soldiers...

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Central Information Commission has published the Annual Report for 2015-16 regarding the implementation of The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). This Annual Report (AR) may be accessed on its website. I thank Commodore (retd.) Lokesh Batra for alerting us about the publication of this AR on the CIC’s website. Our quick analysis of the statistics and issues highlighted in the Annual Report is given below. Central Government- Overall RTI Trends for 2015-16 1) During the reporting year 2015-16 9.76 lakh RTI applications were said to have been received by the registered public authorities (PAs). This is 2.21 lakhs or 22.67% more RTI applications received than what was reported during 2014-15. However in 2014-15 almost a quarter of the registered PAs failed to submit their RTI stats. Only 75.27% of the PAs reported their RTI stats to the CIC. So the data for 2015-16 indicates that the number of RTIs filed with the PAs in GoI continues to display a plateauing...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* After winning Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and losing other three and stealing two of the three states against all the ethical norms, the next agenda of the Sangh Parivar and their paid trolls is to target the leadership of the three parties... Started with Rahul Gandhi, who they continue to call Pappu with TV anchors have started doing it, putting aside all the decency which is required for the media. The debate is not on why BJP stole two mandates but about how it won the mandate in UP and Uttarakhand. It happened same last time when the party lost in major states but the entire discussion was converted into humiliating the Congress Party. The ruling party agenda is not satisfied with their victory in Uttar Pradesh but they want to completely eliminate the leadership of the opposition to create anarchy and chaos in their cadres hence we have to be very careful. For a healthy democracy we need strong opposition and therefore it is our duty to protect our parti...

By Nandini Oza*  Ever since Irom Sharmila as member of Peoples’ Resurgence and Justice Alliance’s (PRJA) lost the 2017 assembly election with less than 100 votes, there has been continuous berating of the voters of Manipur, more so by social and political activists. Some of the comments are rather harsh such as: “Manipuris are a shame. How could they dump Sharmila. After her 16 years fast in solitary confinement all against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)!!!” “If Manipur couldn’t feel Irom Sharmila’s fight then what else to speak?!”

Clean chit to Modi? By Rajiv Shah In a virtual clean chit and a reversal of the past US state department's viewpoint, the Donald Trump government’s first report on human rights situation in India has said that the Narendra Modi government in 2016 “generally respected” freedom of speech and expression, even though the Constitution “does not explicitly mention freedom of the press.”

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Syria continues to suffer and struggle. March 15th marks the sixth anniversary of the bloody Syrian war. This afternoon (March 14th), a bomb blast in the city of Homs killed one and injured several. On March 12th, a double bombing near a popular Shiite shrine in Damascus killed over fifty and scores more were left injured. Since December, the eastern areas of Aleppo have been evacuated, but the bombings continue.

By Sadhan Mukherjee* With the massive electoral victory of saffron forces in UP and UK, and the stitched up seat majority in Goa and Manipur, the intolerance level in our country is bound to increase. The arena of rational debate has already begun to shrink. Frank and open discussion is going to be more difficult.

By Our Representative Following the footsteps of Gujarat's Mufti Abdul Qayyum Ahmed Husain Mansuri, another person being acquitted of terror charges, Abdul Wahid Shaikh of Mumbai, has published a book in Urdu, “Begunah Quaidi”, detailing his days in jail, pointing to how he would be subjected to verbal and physical abuse, threats and stripping of clothes during interrogation, though he was innocent.

By Our Representative In an unusual revelation, an authoritative media site, run by a well-known left-of-centre scribe, has revealed that the Congress “returned to power in Punjab after 10 years not due to the charismatic leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh or Rahul Gandhi-Prashant Kishor's planning but on the BJP vote.”

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Wow Pope Francis! You complete four years tomorrow as our Pope! What a simply amazing period it has been for the Church, for the world, for millions of your admirers, for the Society and well, also for me! You have been able to touch all, in such fascinating yet deeply spiritual ways. You have been instrumental in bringing about the much-needed renewal; you have set the course for a new pilgrimage of trust with God! Your words are inspirational; your deeds are exemplary- motivating us all to do much more. Wow Pope Francis! Four years ago when a friend called me from faraway , in the middle of the night, to tell me that it was a Jesuit who was elected Pope, my immediate response was “Impossible! A Jesuit cannot become a Pope!” A few minutes later, as I browsed the internet, I realized I was very wrong; above all, I felt also elated! Ever since, the joy of being a Jesuit has only deepened. You do not try to hide the fact that you are a Jesuit. I too take genuin...

By Chittibabu Padavala* One of the worst hit in Uttar Pradesh elections is a loud rhetorical section that speaks in the name of all Dalits. And, it seems to be, happily, dumb-founded. The very small Dalit middle class/ employee strata or even tiny elites, drawn almost exclusively from the relatively advanced and reservations-monopolising, Ambedkar-worshipping single castes in their respective regions (Mala, Pariah, Mahar etc.) from the very big Dalit populace (forming one-quarter of the Indian population) is curious in many ways. Particularly, the second and third generation among them is even unique in its uniformity of conduct and public pronouncements. This Dalit middle class's structural position is worth considering. This minuscule section takes away all the 16.5 plus 7.5% reservations in jobs and education in public sector. It has a self-interest in not letting the benefits reach beyond their own caste to include other Dalit castes, or at least, no particular interest in such...

By Our Representative In an effort to create public opinion in favour of the campaign on charges of corruption in high places in the suicide diary of former Arunachal chief minister Kalikho Pul, several civil society organizations took out a rally in Delhi, culminating at Jantar Mantar, seeking “credible investigation” about facts mentioned in it.