By Rajiv Shah International awards winner for Best Feature Documentary Linda Aïnouche for “Dreadlocks Story” (2014), which shows how Indians are entangled in the Jamaican society, and how Hinduism was a source of inspiration for the Rastafari movement, is all set to release her new documentary, “Marooned in the Caribbean”, which aims at documenting the awful desolating living conditions that Raizal people, the native inhabitants of San Andres Archipelago, endure. Sons of slaves, these islanders have fallen prey to what the Colombian government calls Colombianization. “It’s a process”, according to her, “which kills the Raizal culture; it’s the killing of the Raizal soul. Colombianization subjugates Afro-descendants of San Andres to an ethnocide.” Explorer, director and producer, Linda Aïnouche writes exclusively for Counterview: *** Linda Aïnouche Nobody escapes from blood and thunder in Colombia, and definitely not in the archipelago of San Andres, situated closer to

By Our Representative Gujarat’s well-known environmental NGO Paryavaran Mitra has asked the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to transparently hold public consultations in the coastal areas for preparing state-level Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP). In a letter to the GPCB member-secretary, the NGO director Mahesh Pandya has said that this is necessary in accordance with the state’s Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011. Following the preparation of the draft CZMP, it would be obligatory to get it approved from the Government of India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change. Taking objection to the state government’s and GPCB’s indifference towards preparing CZMP, Pandya has said, so far, the GPCB has still not put details of public consultation on its website, nor does it has put a summary of the CZMP draft on the site. In fact, says the letter, the Gujarat Ecology Commission and the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority has also not put up a su

By Our Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), one of India’s largest civil society networks, is all set to begin a nation-wide march, Samvidhan Samman Yatra, meant to protect the basic tenets of the country’s Constitution, starting on October 2 in Dandi, Gujarat, and ending on December 10 in Delhi.

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Central Government’s proposal to amend The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) to vary the salaries and allowances payable to and the tenure of Information Commissioners, at will, is being hotly debated across the country. Even before the Draft RTI Amendment Bill is tabled in Parliament, the nodal department for RTI- Dept. of Personnel and Training has issued an advertisement to fill up vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) under the presumption that these amendments will receive Parliamentary approval. This is why the advertisement says that the salaries and tenure of the new appointees will be as may be specified by the Government, instead of the current position which is- salary and allowances equal to that of the Election Commissioners and a tenure of five years. The Amendment Bill has not been tabled in Parliament yet, although it is on the list of legislation that the Government seeks to introduce in the Rajya Sabha. Latest reports

By Neeraj Nanda* A proposal by the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV) to install a life-size statue of India’s Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, opposite top Australian city Melbourne’s Dandenong Station, adjacent to Little India, Foster Street shops, has been shot down in a community consultation survey, which closed on June 7, 2018.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Pakistan's election results have finally come. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf Party (PTI) has won 115 seats in the 270 member national assembly, which means that party would need independent MNAs to come to power. The problems of PTI party are further aggravated with many candidates contesting more than one seat.

By Our Representative Even as the Lok Sabha elections draw nearer, controversy is sought to be once again created around more than a year-old report “Amarnath Yatra: A Militarized Pilgrimage” in order to point towards how it is “defamatory”, was published by a Bengaluru-based “foreign funded NGO”, Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), in alliance with what is termed an “Islamist group” (sic!), Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).

By Adv Masood Peshimam* Hatred many a time has no basis. It’s the philosophy of dislike that foments unrest, sometimes leading to dangerous consequences for the person or the group hated. Hatred is simply unassailable, and any person or group hated is not advised to convince the hater, as the hating instincts cannot be sublimated into love or intimacy. Hatred is a complex phenomenon, many a time based on false pretexts, which are created to generate hatred in order to spew venom and target the person hated or resented.

Krishna Kumari By Sheshi Babu As election results are almost declared, Pakistan is entering the new phase of governance under a new premier. Hindus comprise about 1.85% of Pakistan’s population. In fact, it has the fifth largest Hindu population in the world. Pakistan’s census separates scheduled castes from the main body of the Hindu population; thus they constitute a further 0.25% of national population. Clearly, Dalits constitute significant numbers in the population of Pakistan.

Satyendra Dubey By Our Representative Amnesty International has begun an online petition asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the passage of the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Rajya Sabha. Sharply criticizing Modi for "going back" on his word of providing a "transparent and corruption-free government", Amnesty has said, the amendment "weakens the already inadequate whistle blower protections" provided by law and drastically increases the risks for whistle blowers. Passed by the Lok Sabha in May 2015, it is currently pending before the Rajya Sabha. Pointing out that the amendment would make whistleblowing "much more unsafe", it provides three instances which suggest why a strong law to protest whistleblowers is needed: In 2003, Satyendra Dubey, an employee of the National Highways Authority of India was murdered for exposing corruption in the construction of national highways. In 2005, Shanmugam Manjunath a sales o

By Our Representative Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani has warned that the alleged police attack on about 200 denotified tribal group Chhara community people, including women and children, to avenge a fight with a police sub-inspector “will not be tolerated in any way.” Addressing a well-attended meeting in Chharanagar, Ahmedabad, where Gujarat cops carried out late night operation, he wondered why was no FIR registered against the cops. “If FIR could be registered against Chhara community people, why were the misbehaving cops spared?”, he wondered. Mevani demanded setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the whole incident, which took place on July 27 night. He also demanded a Rs 25 crore package for the rehabilitation of the group.

By Our Representative Even as "predicting" that the Congress will lead the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to victory during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader known to be close to party president Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, has given clear indications that Rahul may give up his claim for Prime Ministership for the sake of opposition unity.

By Our Representative A civil society group has floated a memorandum taking strong exception to what it calls "disparaging anti-women, anti sex-worker and anti-transgender person remarks in Parliament" this week by Maneka Gandhi, Minister, Women and Child Development, Government of India, during the discussion on Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2018. Released by members of the Coalition on Inclusive Approach and proposed to be given to the minister, it seeks signatures from concerned citizens. "In case you wish to endorse, please send in your name via WhatsApp and/or e-mail to Shakun @  9448480954 | shakun00@gmail.com" it says.

By Our Representative A court in Bhuj, district headquarters of Kutch, Gujarat, has rule in favour of the news portal, The Wire , in a high-profile criminal defamation case filed by the Adani Group. The Adani Group’s complaint was against an article by Paronjay Guha Thakurta, originally published in the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), and then republished in The Wire. Guha Thakurta, who was editor of EPW at the time, resigned after the journal’s after EPW insisted the article be taken down from its website following receipt of a legal notice from the Adani Group. While Thakurta resigned from EPW, which withdrew the article, The Wire refused to do it despite Adanis insisted upon the news portal to do it. The article was on how the Modi government had tweaked the rules governing Special EconomicZone (SEZ), where the company had invested. Click HERE to read more

The minister making the remark in the Lok Sabha By Our Representative Reproduced below is an angry of transgender a person over Union minister Maneka Gandhi during the debate on the anti-trafficking Bill in the Lok Sabha this week: *** Can anything/anyone be more dehumanizing?

By Our Representative Score Uttar Pradesh , the state chapter of the Right to Education (RTE) Forum, conducted a state-level meeting in Lucknow on Friday and decided to launch a campaign demanding equal rights to education to all (Sabko shiksha ek saman, mang raha Hindustan') for making education a prime agenda in coming parliamentary elections. During the discussion, activists who had come to know from outside UP to attend the meeting were surprised to know that Uttar Pradesh does not have a State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), a monitoring body for implementation of RTE Act. RTE Forum's Ambarish Rai, noting this, said, SCPCR is "non-existent in Uttar Pradesh for more than a year. There are several cases of violations of the Act but there is no any mechanism for grievance redressal in place. It shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the state government and neglect of the fundamental right to education."

Birhor's family Rajendra Birhor By Asharfi Nand Prasad et al* On July 24, 2018, 39-year old Rajendra Birhor of Chainpur village (Gram Panchayat Nawadih, block Mandu, district Ramgarh) succumbed to poor nutrition and illness. A civil society fact-finding team, which visited the village on July 26, 2018 to investigate the death of Birhor in the village, has been told that his family not issued a ration card under the National Food Security Act.

Screenshot of a video shot by a Chharanagar resident By Our Representative Senior human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi has sounded alert over the alleged sudden midnight police attack on a colony of a denotified tribe colony of Ahmedabad, ccharas. Quoting senior theatre and film director of Budhan theatre Dakxin Chhara and a number of other activists, she said, "According to the information available, there was some altercation between a few chhara boys, who were drunk at night, and they had some fight with policemen on duty." "Police returned around midnight in full force -- hundreds of them from what I have been told by a number of local activists -- attacked the cchara colony, breaking vehicles, cars, getting into people's homes, breaking whatever they could lay hands on, attacking men, women and children, even media and lawyers who tried to intervene", said in a media alert. She added, "Dakxin himself has been beaten up, his old mother-in-law

By Our Representative The Government of India's new data protection Bill a year after it constituted a committee of experts chaired by former Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna to prepare a draft on it, may mire into controversy. Reason: It's proposed amendments to the Aadhaar Act, 2016, and the Right to Information Act, 2005, seek to empower the bureaucracy even more than what it is today.

By Rajiv Shah  A laboratory study has claimed that 32% (21 out of 65) of the food product samples were found to be genetically modified (GM)-positive, and 80% (16 out of 21) of those which tested positive were imported. It contends, these products are being sold in the Indian market, despite the law – Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 – does not allowed GM food “to be manufactured, imported or sold in India.”

By Rajiv Shah Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, Gujarat, which he propagated as the “model” for other states to follow, is facing a major challenge on the health front: If the World Health Organization (WHO) is to be believed, Gujarat’s immunization coverage of one-year olds is one of the worst among Indian states – 72.8% as against the national average of 78.8%.

Kanhiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya  By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* It is criminal on part of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to continue in their effort to destroy the career of students such as Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others, who have been imposed disproportionate fine and expulsion from hostel.

By Sheshu Babu*  When terrorists attack, the media splashes news quickly and continue to discuss at length. The politicians try to use the news for boosting their political career. But deaths due to cleaning drainage holes or potholes on roads are rarely discussed by either media or politicians.

By Our Representative A new campaign, Baatein Aman Ki, is proposed to be organised comprising of 5 Women Yatras covering all Indian states between September 22 and October13, culmination in Delhi. They will start from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, and Delhi. While the routes are being finalised, the one starting from Delhi will cover central India and come back to Delhi. The aim of the five, Yatras, Baatein Aman Ki, consisting of 25 women per yatra, is to take the message of love, harmony, peace, non-violence across the nation. "In times of hate we spread the message of love and sisterhood", a message sent by NGO Anhad's Shabnam Hashmi said, adding, "We invite women groups, people's movements, funding organisations, individual women, artists, film makers, social media experts to join the campaign."

Gujarat activists protest against lynching incidents on July 23 By Our Representative A meeting of concerned citizens of Gujarat met on July 19 in Ahmedabad under the auspices of Movement for Secular Democracy (MSD), chaired by eminent journalist, activist and convenor of MSD Prakashbhai N. Shah, condemning the recent attack on Swami Agnivesh and rise in ‘mobocracy’ in the country was passed. It expressed shock over the fact that, on one side, the Supreme Court, is warning the Central Government over mobocracy, on the other, a ‘saffron’ mob attacks Swami Agnivesh in Jharkhand! It asked civil society to stay vigilant. Copy of the resolution was sent to the President of India.

By Rajiv Shah  Has the Indian industry begun to come off its shell, beginning to see that something is fundamentally wrong, detrimental to its interests, with policies adopted by the Government of India (GoI)? It would see so, if the latest move by the Association of Power Producers (APP), is any indication.

By Our Representative Taking strong exception to the Government of India declaring villages of 10 major Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand – as having achieved 100% sanitation coverage, a Parliament committee report, released in the Lok Sabha on July 19, has observed the dream of the Father of the Nation “for total sanitation for all and a clean India is still elusive.”

By Our Representative Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in may have celebrated the inauguration of what Samsung Electronics' what is claimed to be the "world’s largest mobile phone factory", with Modi characterizing it as “extremely important” for his Make in India initiative to boost manufacturing to 25% India’s economy by 2020 and create millions of jobs.

By Jagdish Patel*  The Gujarat High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Vadodara, challenging the order of the ESI Court, Vadodara to pay disablement benefit as compensation to nine silicosis victims, all of whom are adivasis from Gujarat.

By Our Representative Thousands of representatives from over 200 farmer organisations under the banner of the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay passed what has been called the "no-confidence motion" against the current Indian government outside the Parliament. Those who addressed the rally included Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, Darshanpal, Jagmohan Singh, Atul Kumar Anjan, Ashish Mittal, Kavita Kuruganti, Dr. Sunilam and Member of Parliament Raju Shetty. The no-confidence motion Recently, Government of India declared a Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is merely 10-20% more than input costs as against the 1.5 times price set by Swaminathan Committee. "This MSP too is only declared for Kharif crops", it said, even as demanding to stop land grab, which it said, "has reached an all time high in the name of big projects like Industrial Corridors, Dams, smart cities etc." 

By Sheshu Babu* 'I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection' -- Sigmund Freud Condemning rapes and harassment of women has become a routine with increase of these cases over the years. Among the ten countries reporting incidents of rape, nations like America, Canada, Sweden and UK appear in the list (wonderlist.com, Ejaz Khan). About 36% of women globally have been reported experience either physical or sexual intimate violence.

By Moin Qazi* Despite what is being purveyed in the media, banks are keen on venturing into the hinterlands to set up accounts. Getting people on board is a different story. It is true that both government-owned and private sector banks are not getting compensation of any kind for promoting the financial inclusion agenda. In fact, banks are suffering an additional cost burden of 250 rupees to 500 rupees per account annually and can’t expect profits from them for at least two years a majority of bank accounts that were opened over the last few years for the poor are dormant due to inactivity and insufficient fund. Indeed, the current crisis in the Indian banking sector has led to calls for privatisation of public sector banks (PSB). However, the private sector is no paragon of great virtue. Moreover, the faithful advocates of privatization are ill-informed of the real issues. The huge crowds that throng PSBs and put up with various inconveniences indicate the enormous faith that the pub

By Our Representative A Mumbai-based civil rights geoup, the Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) has strongly opposed what it called "All-India Muslim Personal Law Board's (AIMPLB’s) anti-woman and unconstitutional views", saying, they only go to "aid Sangh’s communal agenda." In a note released on July 19, the civil society group said, the AIMPLB's stand on triple talag, nikah halala and polygamy are "retrograde."

By Our Representative Virtually contradicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that India is not facing a jobs crisis but data crisis, the country's top data consultating firm, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has declared that the labour force participation rate -- expressing the desire the able-bodied persons to find a job -- continues to decline.

By Rajiv Shah A recent paper, published in a top London-based research journal, BMP Open , has said that the out of pocket (OOP) expenditure on healthcare in general and medicines in particular, over the last two decades, has gone up from 4.49% to 6.77% in India, leading to “financial catastrophe” of 18% of the country’s households.

Congress leader Kunwarji Bavaliya being welcomed in BJP By RK Misra* If you can’t beat them, deplete them. After over 20 years of uninterrupted rule in its model state, Gujarat, the BJP is still foraging for rival’s crumbs to fill its overloaded basket. And so it was that on July 14, it inducted Mahendrasinh Vaghela, former Congress legislator and son of the eternal rebel, Shankersinh Vaghela into their party.

Swami Agnivesh  By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* On 17 July renowned social activist and Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh was brutally beaten up and verbally abused in Jharkhand by a violent mob apparently having allegiance with the ruling BJP. Fortunately, they did not succeed in murdering the seventy-nine year old Swami.  However, a couple of day earlier, thirty-two year old Mohammed Azam, a techie from Hyderabad, who worked with Accenture, was not so lucky.