Sudarshan Iyengar Counterview Desk Following an open letter by Dr Vallabh Kathiria, former Union minister under AB Vajpayee and BJP leader from Rajkot, asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to allow environmental clearance to genetically modified (GM) mustard seed, several top economists have asked Modi to stop its commercial cultivation.

Thakurta By Our Representative One of the topmost intellectuals, Partha Chatterjee, professor of anthropology at the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies in the Columbia University, has thrown his weight behind Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who was forced to quit as editor of the well-known  journal "Economic and Political Weekly" (EPW) a fortnight ago for publishing a controversial article on the top business house Adani Group.

The all India Milli Council, which held its national convention on July 30, at Talkatora Stadium, came up with the following resolution: At a time when there are counter efforts to mar the Indian Constitution’s basic components like pluralism, diversity, equality, justice and tolerance and those responsible for this feel sure that nothing would happen to them as if they have got sanction from the highest authorities in the government, the Constitution faces threats to its very existence. This extraordinary situation has perturbed the citizens of the country. Realising the concerns of the citizens, All India Milli Council (AIMC) has called the national convention “Save the Constitution and Build the Nation” so that the issue is pondered over in detail and remedies are suggested. Following is the resolution passed by the national convention held at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi on July 30, 2017. 1. This gathering demands a total ban on hate speech which is against our ethos and the consti...

By Moin Qazi* Men and women should own the world as a mutual possession. ― Pearl S. Buck The Punjab Assembly has cleared the way for 50 percent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and municipal bodies. Several other states have already taken to this progressive trajectory and have 50 percent reservations for women in panchayats. Even though India’s women enjoyed constitutional equality with men, religious custom, traditional thinking, illiteracy and economic reality thwarted their freedom for long. During the last two decades the gender landscape has been slowly greening and women are now on the cusp of a powerful empowerment revolution. The issue of gender discrimination is usually exploited by political parties to appeal to their core vote, much like a travelling circus drums up an audience. After the media switches its attention away, the political circus will pitch its tent somewhere else. Gender was not a priority with the government which was content ...

By Moin Qazi* India is now all set to frame a law to curb the wild growth of NGOs following a series of strict observations of the Supreme Court. The CBI has informed the Supreme Court that it has detected 32.97 lakh registered NGOs and voluntary organizations but less than 10% of them, 3.07 lakh, filed their audited accounts. India has tens of thousands of NGOs, including local arms of global charities and homegrown groups, working on a wide range of issues, including poverty, gender rights, urban safety, human rights, microfinance, environmental protection, healthcare, agriculture and clean energy. They form the bulwark of India’s vibrant civil society, which is crucial to developing an effective interface of the government and the community. But sadly not all NGOs are necessarily formed for altruistic reasons, and in a number of cases NGOs are promoted because they make good economic logic to the founders. There is a growing tribe of NGOs which exists, metaphorically or l...

By Anand Mazgaonkar* The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor’s (VC's) suggestion of installing a tank at a prominent place on campus is not only a brilliant, but also an honest idea. Just as we never found out the source of the demonetisation idea -- whether it was the Reserve Bank of India's (RBIs) own idea or whether the Government gave it to the RBI to give it back to the Government to implement -- we will never figure out where this one came from. It may have come from the JNU VC’s own fertile brain, or from Nagpur, or Delhi or it may have done the merry-go-round like demonetisation, i.e., from Nagpur to Delhi to VC and back to Delhi for implementation. Unquestionably, following due procedure, creating lot of smoke does indeed cover up the source, intent and purpose. We must indeed be a stupid people. The only problem is that some of their motormouths betray their true designs. Mr Rajiv Malhotra, is reported to have said he was “glad we’re capturing JNU” and h...

Chomsky By Our Representative World renowned veteran American linguist, social critic and political activist Noam Chomsky has extended his support to the project affected people of the Narmada valley when the indefinite fast and dharna of hundreds of people are underway in Narmada valley.

By Rajiv Shah A top-ranking think tank attached with one of India's foremost business houses has warned that, despite the Government of India target have ensure that 40% of the energy needs would be fulfilled by renewable sources in about a decade, this is not going to happen over the next two decades or more.

Counterview Desk Text of the letter dated 27th July 2017 by prominent advocate, Supreme Court, Prashant Bhushan, as convenor of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) to the Chief Justice of India: On 30th August, 2016, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) had sent a representation to the former Chief Justice of India, Justice TS Thakur, against Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy, sitting Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, seeking initiation of in-house inquiry into the allegations in the representation. The allegations involved abuse of office, particularly nepotism and physical assault against a dalit junior civil judge and interference in the course of judicial process. Thereafter Chief Justice Thakur had appointed Justice Gogoi to scrutinise the case for his preliminary view. It has been reported that Justice Gogoi submitted his report, indicting Justice Nagarjuna Reddy and has suggested that a more thorough three member inquiry commit...

By Our Representative On the third day of indefinite fast in the Narmada Valley, hundreds of villagers entered the Narmada waters and observed jal satyagraha, "challenging" the Madhya Pradesh government’s "plan" to displace 40,000 families by closing gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam allegedly without any rehabilitation in the Narmada Valley.

By Faraz Ahmad* I don’t claim a copy right to this Urdu couplet: “Pahunchi wahin pe khaak jahan ka khameer thha.” Actually I don’t even know the poet who composed this one. But I recall when Jamaate Islami chief Maulana Abul Aala Maudooodi died in New York, the Urdu daily ‘Masawat’ the party organ of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) , had a screaming eight column banner headline in red ink announcing Maulana Maudoodi’s death in United States of America (USA) with this couplet. Ironically for all the supposed anti-US and anti-imperialist vituperation and rhetoric Mauddoodi indulged in in his Friday (khutba) congregations, he like many others of our sub-continent men suffered from typical racial inferiority complex besotten by fair skin and therefore took a white American as his wife. It comes back to me in the context of Bihar strong man and chief minister Nitish Kumar’s latest, though much anticipated somersault discarding the secular Mahagathbandhan and embracing back his alma mater ...

Ahmed Patel with Sonia Gandhi By Our Representative The Congress leadership may have flown 44 of its Gujarat MLAs to Karnataka to “safeguard” the Rajya Sabha seat of Ahmed Patel, political adviser to party chief Sonia Gandhi. But Congress insiders doubt if this this make Patel’s seat fully secure. The MLAs were flown by late evening Indigo flight to Bengaluru on Friday.

By Our Representative A letter purportedly written by the prestigious Economic and Political Weekly's (EPW's) editorial staff, claimed to be authentic, and taking rounds in the social media , has sharply criticized its former editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who controversially resigned from his post, for compromising "the egalitarian culture of the office".

At community nizra in Nawkata Shibodham By Aseem Mishra, Darshini Mahadevia, Yogi Joseph, Arup Das* As part of our research on Guwahati’s hill settlements, a total of six settlements were selected. Four settlements namely Seujnagar, Sanghmaghuli, Teenug-Ganeshpur and Sripur in Lalmati-Behrabari hills and two settlements namely, Mithingapuri and Nawkata Shibodham in Gharchuk have been studied. These and other settlements on hills developed as land in the plains is prohibitively expensive for migrants. Guwahati is a city of wetlands and hills, bound on the north by Brahmaputra river and in the south by Khasi-Garo hills. As a result, geographical constraints apply on the availability of land for the city to expand naturally. Migration to the city from rest of Assam and other parts of the Northeast and economic growth induced after the development of the new capital at Dispur, Noonmati refinery and trade and commerce resulted in demand for land for housing purposes, which was catered to by...

By Aseem Mishra, Darshini Mahadevia, Yogi Joseph, Arup Das* The land rights conflicts in Guwahati have roots in both, historical land regimes as well as contemporary politics of the region. The Ahom King owned all the land within his territory, which he then granted extensively to temples, priests and charitable institutions. The king also gave lands to the labour that gave the state their services; these lands came to be owned by peasants in time. During colonial rule, all land ownership was transferred to the State and only occupancy rights were granted to occupants on payment of a lease tax. Occupancy rights were deemed permanent, heritable and transferable. Land tax was very high, which led peasants to selling lands and migrating to occupy wastelands in remote areas. The Forest Act under the British divested the traditional rights of tribal communities over forestlands. Instead, labour were settled in forests by their masters to harvest timber for commercial use. These labour were...