By Rajiv Shah  A new report by non-profit LibTech India, which comprises of engineers, activists and social scientists as its members, has objected to what inordinate delay in wage payments in the rural jobs scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to the rural workers belonging to the non-scheduled caste (SC) and non-scheduled tribe (ST) categories.

By Our Representative  The rural jobs advocacy group, People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), has taken strong exception to the Government of India reducing the total budget for implementing schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in the FY 2021-22, which “is 34% less than the budget for the previous year, even though the effects of Covid-19 have not abated.”

By Rita Manchanda*  Afghanistan’s continuing political social and economic crisis and its deepening humanitarian catastrophe was at the core of the urgent concerns that motivated a host of civil society and human rights advocates to join the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in an online conversation which took place recently.

By Simi Mehta* The Taliban within a short period has managed to usurp power and make a mockery of institutions of honor. India has made investments in the country’s nation-building process is all but expected to be impacted by the Taliban. What are the choices that India has, how do we categorize them, can the international community step up the pressure to establish a responsible government?

Neighbours pouring water to "purify" street to the hotel By Our Representative    Even as the Gujarat High Court has adjourned to November 17 the hearing in a dispute between the owners of a new hotel in Anand and their neighbour, a prominent oncologist, over alleged illegal construction, the advocacy group National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO) has taken strong exception to the case pertaining to Hotel Blue Ivy -- co-owned by Hindu and Muslim partners – taking a communal turn.

A screenshot of the Ministry of Jal Shakti website By Mansee Bal Bhargava*  Dear Honourable Ministers of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Shri Bishweswar Tudu, Greetings of the Day! This letter is to express my concerns and ideas on the digital platform of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, in other words, the pictorial representation on the homepage of the website, which must give the due importance to the Ministry’s actions and achievements more than anything else.

By Thomas Franco* Today Google Pay (G-Pay) owned by Google, PhonePe owned by Walmart, PayTm owned by Soft Bank and other payment apps have taken over money transfers. As per the report of the National Payment Corporation of India, in September 2021, there were 3.6 billion (3654.5 million) Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions worth Rs 6,54,531 crore.

By Rajiv Shah  Situated in Surendranagar district of Gujarat, Thangadh, known as the ceramic hub of India, also characterises by its industrial units refusing to pay minimum wages or providing necessary health facilities eligible under the law. In all, about 20,000 workers are employed in Thangarh and nearby towns in in about 225 ceramic units manufacturing sanitary ware and other ceramic items.

By Simi Mehta*  Indian foreign policy witnessed sharp changes in the last few decades, with increasing proximity to the US being the most notable of them. That trend of a warming relationship between the two countries has since remained unfettered. On this line of thought, the Centre for International Relations and Strategic Studies (CIRSS), Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi, organized a #WebPolicyTalk series on India-US Strategic Partnership under Modi and Biden.

Bezwada Wilson, Romila Thapar, TM Krishna By Our Representative  The Reimagining India public lecture series, initiated by the civil rights group India Inclusive Collective, has brought together one platform about 50 prominent speakers in order to highlight how, over the last seven years, there have been “consistent attacks” on the democratic fabric of the country, with Constitutional and human rights of people being “trampled with impunity.”

By Gopinath Majhi*  The proposed amendments to Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FCA) vide ‘Consultation Paper on Proposed amendments in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980’ (F No FC-11/61/2021-FC dated October 2, 2021) must be dropped by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC). 

Counterview Desk  Calling it a “retaliation” of Bangladesh violence, several “concerned citizens”*, including Magsaysay award winning social activist and academic Sandeep Pandey and PV Rajagopal of the Sarvodaya Samaj, have said that the recent attacks on Muslim community in different areas of Tripura is a the reflection of “growing trend of using violence against another community.”

By Prem Singh "The aim of consumerism, which the rulers of these [socialist] economies had promoted, when they aspired to surpass the United States in the standard of life, conceived in terms of capitalist West, forced them to abandon their socialist objective. The consumerist standards of the Western world could be achieved only by providing very high incomes to a few in highly competitive industries. 

By Arjun Kumar*  To examine the portrayal of women in media, the inequalities perpetuated till date, and access of media to women and girls, #IMPRI Gender Impact Studies Center (GISC), Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi presented a discussion with Anita Parihar on Gender and Media as part of the series The State of Gender Equality – #GenderGaps.

Lakhbir Singh, his wife By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  There is no doubt that Sikhism actually was a revolt against the Brahmanical system and superstition. Guru Granth Saheb is perhaps the only Holy Book which contains matters from different religions as well as those of various Sufi saints, including Kabir, Ravidas, Baba Farid and others. The aim of Sikhism was to create an egalitarian society, and, definitely, Punjab that way is far better than many other States in India, where violence against Dalits is rampant.

By Rosamma Thomas*  As India fully vaccinated nearly 20% of its population and celebrated the “milestone” of administering one billion (100 crore) Covid-19 vaccine doses, it was time to remember those who died shortly after vaccination . By October 20, 2021 Twitter handle C400T, tracking deaths reported to have occurred after receiving the Covid-19 shot in India, updated the 5,134th death.

By Anand K Sahay* Sonia Gandhi seems to have settled the question for now: she is a hands-on president of her party, no question. Her bold performance at the last meeting of the Congress Working Committee on October 16 can leave no room for doubt on that score, although leading issues still remain.

By Shankar Sharma* According to reports, the Amazon rainforest is losing 200,000 acres a day, even fossil fuel industry continues to get subsidies of $11m a minute. Whereas losing 200,000 acres of rainforest every day cannot be anything but suicidal for humanity, the fact that it may be happening in a distant land cannot be any consolation either for India.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Two of India’s most beautiful regions where thousands of people go to watch and feel the wonders of nature are suffering because of the extremely disastrous rains and floods. The pain that the rains brought to Kerala and Uttarakhand is a warning to all of us. It's nature’s warning to us to mend our ways.

Nihangs, Lakhbir Singh By Ajit Singh*   A Dalit man, Lakhbir Singh, was mercilessly beaten up and lynched to death near farmers’ protest site in the State of Haryana allegedly by Nihang Sikhs. It was alleged that he committed blasphemy by desecrating the Holy Book Guru Granth Sahib.

By Our Representative  Several well-known South Asian activists and public figures of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives have expressed “deep distress” by the spate of violence and killings in Bangladesh on the occasion of Durga Puja and Vijayadashami. “Attacks on minorities are a sign of injustice and a matter of shame for any society and bring a bad name to the Government”, they said in a joint statement.

Counterview Desk A Sevagram to Sabarmati march, which began on October 17 from Wardha (Maharashtra) and will end on October 24 in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), has demanded that the Sabarmati Ashram, the government should not impose "the fashion and glitz of a shallow modernity" at the cost of Rs 1,200 crore, in the name of renovating the Ashram founded by Gandhiji.

By Shankar Sharma*  A team of researchers from Arizona State University has said in a detailed study report: "Protecting half of the planet is the best way to fight climate change and biodiversity loss --  we've mapped the key places to do it". Few other studies have also come to similar conclusions.

Udham Singh (26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940), best known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer , the former lieutenant governor of the Punjab in India , on 13 March 1940, done in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919, for which O'Dwyer was responsible, was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940. While in custody, he used the name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, which represents the three major religions of India and his anti-colonial sentiment. Writes a well-known analyst, "He too could have apologised. He chose the noose instead!" Udham Singh's speech prior to sentencing in UK: *** “I say down with British Imperialism. You say India do not have peace. We have only slavery Generations of so called civilisation has brought us everything filthy and degenerating. known to the human race. All you have to do is read your own history. If you have any human decency about you, you should die with shame. The brutality and blood

By Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury*  India has reached the one billion Covid-19 vaccinations milestone. It is indeed a great news and a big salute to the less paid ordinary health-workers in interiors of India for this feat. The government wants all of India's 944 million adults to get vaccinated this year. Around three-quarters of adults in the country of 1.3 billion people have had one shot and around 30 percent are fully vaccinated, the government says.

By Our Representative  Well-known human rights organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), has written to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), drawing its attention to the repeated attacks on Muslims in Madhya Pradesh that have been taking place since August 2021.

By Dr Kamal Nayan Kabra*  Experience has shown that many counties adopt measures to go in for the growth of their GDP, basically in the existing framework, though also going in for, at the same time, new products and technologies and similar other changes. It is believed that by means of this process enough new job opportunities would emerge to meet the economy’s needs both in terms of numbers as also in terms of the requisite remuneration (wages) as also the supplies of the goods and services to maintain the economy on an even keel.

By Dr Kamal Nayan Kabra* Basic Issue: Growth sans employment is travesty of development Fair, remunerative, assured (that is continuing over a reasonable length of time such that cannot be terminated arbitrarily ) provision of opportunities to the adults to earn their livelihoods to sustain themselves and their families by contributing to the national/ social production process may be considered a reasonable description of what is mean by employment generation. This participation in the social labour process enables one to discharge her/his role as a social human being by participation in the social/national market economy. Hence widely prevalent/observed inability /failure to provide employment, as described above, to a varying, often large, part of their labour force, is among the seminal, historically observed and presently prevalent systemic characteristics of the modern market economies, including India. Experience has shown that many counties adopt measures to go in for the growt

By Dr Gian Singh*  On October 14, 2021, two organisations, Concern Worldwide (An Irish aid agency) and WeltHungerHilfe (a German organization that researches the problem of global hunger), jointly published the Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2021. These organizations have included 116 countries in the world hunger rankings.

By Our Representative  Marking the 16th anniversary of the implementation of the top transparency law Right to Information (RTI) Act, the civil rights organisation, the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) has said in a comprehensive report on the functioning of the information commissions across India that while three out of 29 information commissions (ICs) – in Jharkhand, Tripura and Meghalaya – are “completely defunct” as no new commissioners have been appointed upon the incumbents demitting office, three other commissions, Nagaland, Manipur and Telangana, are headless.

By Sanjeev Sirohi* BJP appears on have made it clear that in its five year rule it is deadly opposed to the creation of a new High Court bench in western Uttar Pradesh. Today, the Allahabad High Court has just one bench -- in Lucknow, created by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on July 1, 1948. Incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath had thundered for a High Court Bench for Gorakhpur way back in 1999 while representing it as MP inside Parliament, but as CM he could not ensure High Court Bench even for Gorakhpur, leave alone West UP, or Bundelkhand, or any other needy region in UP.

Counterview Desk  The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), made up of India's former civil servants*, has asked Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju to notify Section 3 of the Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, passed way back in 1978 "to provide for impartial and independent advisory board to examine the justification for preventive detention."

Inscription proclaiming Muhammad as the messenger of God By Moin Qazi As you read these lines, 1.6 billion Muslims across the world, from Morocco toIndonesia, will be paying homage to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on his birthday (18th October). This day, 1,431 years ago, Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) delivered the historic Last Sermon (khutabat al-wida) on the parched terrain of Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah) in the Uranah valley of Mount Arafat, 20 kilometres east of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It was precisely on the ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah(12th and last month of the Islamic year -6 March 632)) in the tenth year of hijrah(migration from Mecca to Medina) that the Prophet addressed 1,44,000 pilgrims The sermon, though seemingly addressed to a Muslim gathering, had a universal message. It consists of summarized exhortations based on some core teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah (Prophetic practices). It captures the ethos of Islam and provides a great lens for viewing the religion. Some of his a

By Arjun Kumar* A recent webinar on Rethinking the City, organized by the Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies (CHURS) at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi, even as stating that Western concept of city cannot be applied on India, insisted, urban areas were conceived as infrastructure, disregarding the actual inhabitants who live in there. Those who participated in the webinar included Prof Pithamber Rao Polsani, Faculty and Dean, School of Advanced Studies and Research, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology, and Tikender Singh Panwar, Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla and Visiting Senior Fellow, IMPRI. The session was initiated by Tikender Singh Panwar providing the context on the current state of city planning in India. He emphasized the need for more sustainable models in order improved urban habitation. Prof Pithamber Rao Polsani focused on two important factors that force us to rethink the city as a construct and a space of habita

By MK Bhadrakumar*  The Taliban is getting many suitors lately. It is far from the “pariah” that the Biden Administration thought it was destined to be. During the past month alone, the Taliban received six suitors from the region and beyond offering courtship – the foreign minister of Qatar; the special envoys of Russia, China and Pakistan; the High representative of UK Prime Minister; and the foreign minister of Uzbekistan who visited Kabul on Thursday.

By Rajiv Shah    A high profile report prepared by the influential  American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights , taking note of the fact that “in the 70-year history of the Indian Republic, only six Dalit judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court”, has taken strong exception to what it calls “lack of representation of Dalits” in the legal profession and the judiciary.

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Come 16 October – and the world once again focused on the most basic need for a person’s survival: food! The first World Food Day was observed in 1994, to mark the launch of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Ever since, the day is marked to highlight the need and importance of food security across the world. The significance is accentuated especially in these difficult times like the C-19 povidandemic. The theme for 2021 is ‘Safe Food Now for a Healthier Tomorrow’, emphasising on the various immediate and long-term benefits of consuming safe and healthy food.

By Harchand Ram*  Every year October 16 is observed as World Food Day to celebrate the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. In the year 2021, the theme for World Food Day is “Our actions are our Future-Better Production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life”.