By Our Representative The National Crime Bureau Records data 2020 have revealed there is an over 100% increase in the incidences of violence against women from March 2020 to May 2020. An online panel discussion , which addressed key issues of gender-based violence in India, revealed that this happened because the lockdown “restricted the mobility which has made the so-called ‘safety nests of women’ a sphere of fear and anxiety.” The discussion was organised by the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI) in association with GenDev Centre for Research and Innovation (GCRI). said that during the Covid-19 crisis, the failed to “properly address” the fundamentals of patriarchy and power relation within the household. Participating in the discussion, Poonam Kathuria, director, Society for Women's Action and Training Initiative (SWATI) presented the findings of a study by interviewing 3000 women across several states in the India, which suggested that the frequency of violence has go...

Submission by independent researchers Meenakshi Kapoor and Krithika A Dinesh , independent researchers, working on environmental regulation and policy matters for years, to Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, on the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2020: *** On March 23, 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change issued a draft notification in order to replace the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. The draft was open for public inputs for a period of two months. This implied that the ministry expected the public to comment on the draft law during the national lockdown and a global pandemic. Following submissions from several organisations and policy researchers the comment period was extended to June 30. During this while the country was brought out of the lockdown in a phased manner. However, the country is still encountering a health and economic crisis. A large number of Indians ar...

Vinod Dua, Arundhati Roy By Atul, Sandeep Pandey* British left India in August 1947 but left many of their draconian laws here as a colonial legacy. Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code 1860, i.e., the law of sedition is one such law. British Government of India had inserted it in the penal code in the late 19th century to curb anti-colonial activities in British India.

Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The world is facing its deepest crisis after the world wars. The legitimacy of Westphalian international systems and their post-war reincarnations are falling apart. Political parties are losing public trust and people question their legitimacy. States and governments are becoming hostage and facilitators of neoliberal capitalism, where people live in an environment of unfreedom and market oligarchs enjoy absolute freedom.

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Wanted Now: A John the Baptist! – who brings hope. For many, these past months have been a period of hopelessness, of despair, of despondency and of dejection. There is a listlessness and a cloud of unknowing that have gripped the lives of millions over during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. John’s birth was announced to a barren, aged woman Elizabeth. No one would have expected that; but with God nothing is impossible: John is the new hope!

By Our Representative A fresh video taken by a group of environmental activists led by Rohit Prajapati of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti has suggested that Sabarmati river, which passes through Ahmedabad, turns into a dead river for the 120 kilometres stretch after it leaves Ahmedabad city to “meet” the Arabian Sea. Pointing out that the “river” comprises of just industrial effluent and sewage, Prajapati said in a WhatsApp alert that the video, taken on June 29, 2020, at 2:16 pm, from the river’s Vishala Bridge, next to Gyaspur village, reveals Sabarmati’s “disastrous condition” in and around Ahmedabad district in the downstream. According to Prajapati, even before it leaves the city’s much acclaimed Sabarmati riverfront project, “The river has become a pool of polluted stagnant water”, and after it leaves the city, it is “reduced to a channel carrying effluents from industries from Naroda, Odhav, Vatva, Narol, and sewage from Ahmedabad city.” He says, “The drought like condition of th...

Counterview Desk Denouncing what it has called “all-pervasive and routine culture of police violence and impunity” pervading currently in India, India’s premier civil society network, National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), referring to the custodial death of Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) residents, Jayaraj and Bennicks, said, the FIR filed by the police on the incident “indicates an obvious attempt at obfuscation.”

By Sanjay Dave* In these difficult times of coronavirus pandemic a unique initiative has been undertaken by Utthan, an NGO based in Gujarat, to turn adversity into opportunity for rural poor and marginalized. Due to lockdown the daily wage labourers stopped getting work, and thus there was no source of any income for them.

By Anand K Sahay* The time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term in office began – about a year ago – has been tumultuous in India. A succession of momentous events, with likely long-term impact, has passed before our eyes. Each of these had strong communal undertones and overtones. Each shook the country.

By NS Venkataraman* It is clear by now that China has not concealed its aim and determination to dominate the world as a superpower and expand its territories. In fact, China has begun to give the impression that it would combine different types of strategies on the trade front, propaganda campaign and military strategy to achieve its objectives, depending upon circumstances.

By Our Representative In a fresh campaign, Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan has asked people to give a missed call on 9823157779 asking Congress president Sonia Gandhi to impress upon Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to ensure removal of Manu’s statue from the state High Court premises. The decision for the campaign follows a letter signed by him and supported by over 750 concerned citizens across India for the removal of the statue of Manu, whose laws allegedly stand “in total contradiction to what the Indian Constitution has committed itself to – equality and fraternity, social justice and freedom.” An earlier missed call campaign in May 2019 by senior Gujarat activists, who included Macwan, had seen more than 2.5 lakh people supporting the demand that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections must be declared only after verification of 50 percent electronic voting machine (EVM) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) receipts. During the counting for the Lok Sabha polls on M...

Reproduced below is an article published in "The Globe and Mail" by Jody Wilson-Raybould , independent member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Vancouver Granvill, and. author of” From Where I Stand: Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada”:  ***  There are few periods in my life where I have felt such intense emotions as in recent weeks. The murder of George Floyd, along with the killing of six Indigenous people by Canadian police since April, has left me outraged and incredibly sad. At the same time, I am not despondent. I have been heartened by the activists and protesters who have taken to streets around the world in a push for systemic change. I have lately wondered: Are we at a tipping point in the fight against systemic racism and injustice? Is long-overdue transformative change, including in Canada’s justice system, finally upon us? I believe we are in such a moment, and I am hopeful for our future – I have to be. Actions and protests in su...

Renchi villagers' protest in 2018, declaring Gram Sabha as supreme By Gladson Dungdung* On June 18, 2020, the Government of India initiated the process for auctioning 41 coal blocks for commercialisation. These coal blocks are located in different states within India and most of them fall under Fifth Schedule areas. The Indian government claims that their decision to auction these coal areas is a big step towards making the country Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant) in the energy sector.

By Simran Kaur, Vasundhra Kaul, Varsha Sharma, Sandeep Pandey* While the entire world faced the threat of the coronavirus, India was witness to a peculiar phenomenon. Hundreds of migrant workers poured into the streets, despite explicit warnings – and passionate appeals – by the Prime Minister to stay indoors.

Counterview Desk  Marking 45 years since the declaration of the Emergency, the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a platform of 36 organizations*, mainly civil rights groups and Left-wing labour unions, has called upon on all its constituent organisations and all democratic and progressive organisations and forces to carry forward the struggle for upholding democratic rights and principles and strengthen the movements for unity across caste and community and the struggles for wages, land and livelihood.

A concerned citizens’ letter to the Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, with copies to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat; Additional Chief Secretary, Forests & Environment Department, Gujarat; Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Gujarat; and Chairman, Gujarat Pollution Control Board: *** We, the Concerned Citizens of Vadodara, would like to reiterate our key concerns regarding the Tender for the consultancy for preparation of Detail Project Report for Master Planning of Rejuvenation and Flood Mitigation for the Vishwamitri River (Vadodara) from the origin of the river (Pavagadh) to end point of the river (Gulf of Khambhat), which was introduced on March 6, 2020 with a closing date of May 7, 2020, further extended till June 30, 2020. Our previous letter dated April 17, 2020, we have explicitly stated our concerns and have demanded that the aim, content, and p...

By Our Representative A concerned citizens’  letter  to the Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara, with copies to senior environment and forests officials of the Gujarat government and the Government of India, has taken strong exception to continuation of the local authorities’ decision to continue with the bid for preparing project report for the "rejuvenation" the Vishwamitri river, passing through the city. It says, the bids have been invited even though there have been no “pre-bid meetings and involvement of local expertise and know-how”. Signed, among others, by environmentalist Rohit Prajapati, urban planner Neha Sarwate, landscape architect Dr Shishir R Raval, civil engineer Rutvik Tank, wetland ecologist Dr Deepa Gavali, hydro-geologist Dr Jayendra Lakhmapurkar, and botanist Dr Jitendra Gavali, the letter states, “We strongly believe that Vishwamitri river and Vadodara city deserve much better. The proposed project and its current tender ought to be reconsidered.” Seeking ...

By Our Representative The All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has opposed reported move to once again reduce the interest rate on Provident Fund. AITUC general secretary Amarjeet Kaur has said in a statement, “The employees/workers are already hard pressed in a situation where they did not get wages in lock down due to Covid-19, and many have faced retrenchments.” Pointing out that there may be more wage cuts during unlock phase, Kaur said, the government took unilateral decision to reduce the employers’ share without consent from CBT during Covid-19. The earlier announced reduced interest rate from 8.65% to 8.5%. It is yet to be approved. Yet, there is fresh plan for such reduction without CBT nod, which would amount to total disregard to the statutory functioning of the body. “AITUC is opposed to any attempt to reduce the interest rate on PF”, she added.

By Rajiv Shah A high-profile Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) survey of civil society organizations (CSOs) has complained that government indifference despite the “felt need” to continue with the relief work to the poorer sections society amidst Covid-19 crisis was a major reason why more than 36% of CSOs were forced to stop doing the work, while another 54% said they had plans to stop it in a month’s time.

By Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Arjun Kumar* The Covid-19 pandemic brought the world's smart cities to a halt and is exposing the fault lines in human habits and habitations. More than 99 million people living in India 100 smart cities , especially those living in the densely populated informal settlements and slums, with dreadful combination of poverty and inadequacies in access to water and sanitation and poor waste management, are facing the wrath of this pandemic. 

By Prem Verma* The spread of coronavirus in India and the subsequent misery of the Migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, intensive care units (ICUs), absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc.

By Our Representative Setting aside concerns raised by 1,400 academicians, practitioners, teachers’ unions and civil society organisations (CSOs),  the World Bank has approved USD 500 million loan to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for Strengthening Teaching Learning and Results for States (STARS) project. Approved on June 24, 2020 by the Bank board, the project will be implemented in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra and Odisha. The signatories, in their letter to the World Bank president, had said that the project lacked provisions to improve access to education among marginalized communities, potential involvement of for-profit entities in education and excessive focus on standardized assessments. The project was approved on an “absence of objection” basis, a Right to Education (RTE) Forum statement said. There was no formal discussion, despite the fact that several members of the Bank Board raised concerns directly with the Bank management ...

Narendra Modi with Naveen Patnaik  Dr Bhabani Shankar Nayak, Dr Gopabandhu Dash*  The pandemic of Coronavirus has exposed all limitations of free market economies and anomalies in capitalist global economy. The world economy is in shambles. The unprecedented restrictive and unavoidable lockdown measures by governments across the world has led to the loss of livelihoods, growth of unemployment, economic stagnation and crisis. It is one of the biggest challenges in world history.

Counterview Desk The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), India's premier human rights organization, in a statement issued on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Emergency, has described the situation today as worse than what it was on June 25, 1975, when the “Indian government waged a war on its own people, suspending the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.”

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Few will forget that infamous night of June 25/26, 1975 when emergency was declared in India. No right-thinking Indian will ‘celebrate’ that event as one marks its 45th anniversary. There will be some muted voices perhaps, who will attempt to justify its imposition. There will certainly be no lover of Democracy who will count among them. Abrogating, denying or even suspending the Constitutional rights and freedoms guaranteed to the citizens of a country is a non-negotiable and not acceptable. 

Counterview Desk The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), India’s major civil society network, has asked the of India to immediately revoke the auction of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining in order to “stop corporate loot in eco-sensitive and Schedule V Adivasi areas of Central and Eastern India”.

Book Review: “Memoirs of: A.N. Sattanathan”; Edited by: Dr. Uttara Natarajan; Published by: Permanent Black 2007 *** By Raju Rajagopal* I grew up in a privileged upper caste family where caste prejudices were on display every day. But a class reading of Basavanna’s vachanagalu on caste and class had left a deep impression on me as a middle-schooler. And I vaguely remember promising myself that I too would be an anti-caste crusader. But in the real world, I wasn’t able to summon the courage even to call out the worst forms of caste discrimination within my own family. At one time, I was determined to marry outside ‘my community’ just to make a statement. But I ended up doing what most Hindus did: Marry within my birth caste. Thankfully, my life partner had similar thoughts on caste discrimination and had walked the talk in her interactions with people around her. I was privileged to study at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) in the sixties. With little presence of Dalit...

Ram Madhav By Shamsul Islam*  RSS is a Hindutva gurukul (university) which appears to be specializing in training cadres in speaking lies and manufacturing history. As a latest proof, we find on the 45th anniversary of the Emergency, an ideologue of RSS, Ram Madhav, a prominent graduate of the above gurukul, to claim that Indian democracy survives due to "leaders in the government who fought for that very freedom and are committed to liberal democratic values, not just as a matter of compulsion but as an article of faith."

A George Orwell poster in US By Pushkar Raj* As we commemorate suspension of democracy in India during Emergency in 1975, it is disturbing to note that police are on spree to arrest and detain people and send them to jail as arbitrarily as then. Police knock at the door of journalists and social activists ; one can be charged for airing views on television, or posting comments on social media.

Counterview Desk A letter by well-known Dalit rights leader Macwan Macwan, signed by over 600 concerned citizens, including scholars, writers, teachers, activists and journalists, has asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s intervention to remove the statue of Manu from the Rajasthan High Court premises.

Rahul Gandhi with Jagdish Tytler By Firoz Bakht Ahmed* It seems that Rahul Gandhi has decided not to grow. Rahul’s displaced questions to the Narendra Modi government appears to be more as an effort to vitiate the atmosphere of patriotism. It only further helps bury the image of the already shattered Congress. Amidst trying circumstances at the India-Chinese borders, he asked where Modi was hiding.

Rahul Mukherji, Jai Prasad and Seyed Hossein Zarhani of Heidelberg University, Germany, argue in this article, published in Identities Journal, that COVID-19 management has undermined democratic governance central to the idea of India and close to the heart of founders of modern India. These values were undermined in a number of ways. First, sub-national states and politicians were not adequately consulted before the lockdown on 24 March 2020, even though Kerala’s spectacular performance was well known. Moreover, it is the states that would have to deal with issues such as health, migration and general wellbeing. The imperial and sudden lockdown impacted migrant workers from the oppressed classes and castes most severely. Second, the lockdown of 24 March need not have been sudden since opposition politicians had raised this issue in the Parliament since mid-February. Democratic values were undermined during the lockdown to the detriment of the Indian citizen.  Excerpts: ***...