By Ashi Datta Gender mainstreaming (the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels) became popular in several international institutions, including financial institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, in the 1990s and 2000s. Sustained political organising and grassroots movements by women across the globe throughout the 20th century were responsible for this. While these financial institutions were assuring the world and its governments of their intentions to foreground gender justice among other pro-people ideals, they were also facing opposition against their loan programmes and policy recommendations. Projects financed by these institutions were revealed to be harmful and disenfranchising for local populations, and their logic of ‘development’ was revealed as flawed and unjust. Since globally women are mo...

Pramod Kumar, a member of AGAM: An initiative for Good Governance, a non-profit organization, with the objective to raise the level of governance in education, health, environmental protection, rural development, law and justice, wrote a letter to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, that various ecommerce platforms, are not complying with the mandatory rules and regulations concerning products. Taking action on the letter the Ministry issued an office memorandum requesting the Central Consumer Protection Authority to look into the matter and take appropriate action. Text of the letter addressed to Piyush Goyal, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: *** Subject: Regarding non-compliance of various rules and regulations for products sold through various ecommerce platform AGAM: An initiative for Good Governance is a non for profit organization working for rights of people and common citizen of India. The prime objective of AGAM is to raise the level of governance in ...

Savarkar with RSS chief MS Golwalkar (Dec 24, 1960) By Shamsul Islam*  This is with reference to an article which appeared in the “Indian Express”, ‘How Savarkar fought for a casteless society’. An opinion piece by Aditi Narayani Paswan, it clearly goes to suggest that the Savarkar rehabilitation project is now taking newer forms. The article claims, Savarkar had “imagined a nation free of malevolent social evils such as caste cruelty, untouchability, and injustice towards women. He advocated a casteless society based on notions of social justice coupled with social cohesion. He wanted to uproot the diversity of the caste system and build a nation based on Hindu unity, where Dalits could live with dignity and happiness.” It adds, Savarkar “spoke out against scriptural injunctions that advocated caste, such as the Manusmriti. According to Savarkar, these scriptures are often the tools of those in power, used to control social structure and maintain their supremacy”. Let us compare...

By Bharat Dogra*  The call for a two day national level strike by workers given by 10 central trade unions and other supporting organizations in India drew a strong response by over 20 crore workers on March 28 and 29, according to organizers. These workers included those from ports and mines, railways and transport, banking and insurance, refineries and telecom, public as well as private sector (including multinational companies). There was a significant presence of women in the strike, particularly those employed in various development schemes, often at very low wages. The strike was in addition supported by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organization of 40 farmers’ organizations which had spearheaded a massive and successful farmers’ protest movement last year. This strike call was given at a time of increasing reports of the twin burdens of unemployment and inflation. Rates of urban unemployment have been at high levels, while the price of essential goods has been inc...

By Moin Qazi*  More than 26 years ago, in 1993, the Latur district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra was jolted by an earthquake that left a trail of mass destruction. It was India’s most devastating earthquake of the 20th century that left nearly 10,000 dead. It ravaged and obliterated vast swathes of villages and uprooted multitudes of people. Today, several thousand women among those severely affected by the tragedy are recognised as transformational leaders. How these semi-literate and impoverished women converted adversity into opportunity is a saga of grit and tenacity. The glue that bonded them and provided the necessary impetus was a passionate and indefatigable social entrepreneur, Prema Gopalan. Schooled and trained in disaster management, she began rehabilitation work among these women and in 1998 formally launched Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) (self-education for empowerment) with a larger and long-term mission of self-empowerment and self-learning. The crisis an...

By Prasanna Mohanty*  One of the striking factors in the BJP’s electoral win in the recently concluded election in five states is the role welfarism played in overcoming anti-incumbency. Ground reports and political analysts have reported and commented on this. The post-poll survey of Lokniti-CSDS and the exit poll of Axis-My India – two very credible organisations in the domain – have also confirmed it. The Lokniti-CSDS post-poll survey said while respondents mentioned unemployment and price rise as the key problems they face, the victory of the BJP in UP, Uttarakhand and Goa (it didn’t cover Manipur) could be explained keeping in mind the beneficiaries of free rations and cash transfers (‘labharthi’). It also said, except Punjab, voters were more satisfied with the Central government – which provided free ration to the poor and cash transfers, than they were with the state governments (also ran by the BJP). The Axis-My India exit poll came to the same conclusion, listing delivery...

By Sandeep Pandey, Vikrant Singh, Pawan Singh, Devesh Patel*  Even though Yogi Adityanath is now back as Chief Minister, the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results can at best be taken with a pinch of salt. The general mood during the campaign was for change. People wanted the Bhartiya Janata Party government to go. People belonging to communities other than Yadav and Muslim, who were anyway believed to be solidly standing with Samajwadi Party, wanted to see Akhilesh Yadav back as CM, who was drawing more people in his rallies than either Yogi or Modi. However, results were contrary to common people’s expectations. It is difficult to believe that in Lakhimpur Khiri, where Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son mowed done five people, the Minister was warned by Rakesh Tikait, the farmer leader, to not go for inauguration of a sugar mill otherwise he would face the ire of farmers, the Minister had to cast his own vote during the same elections amidst high security of...

By Manoj Misra*  The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) under the union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) has recently prepared Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the rejuvenation of 13 Indian rivers and released a document called the ‘overview of Detailed Project Reports for rejuvenation of major Indian rivers through forestry interventions’. These rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Luni, Narmada, Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna and Cauvery (Kaveri). This article is in the nature of a caveat on the overview DPR report and the plans. Process of greening or re-vegetation means raising or creating conditions for growth of vegetation (herbs, shrubs, grasses, lianas and trees, big or small) at locations which once carried it in a natural manner. It is different from ‘plantations’ marked by growing of tree seedlings, which in due course may or may not become forests. Also it is a fact that while tree seedling...

By Rajiv Shah  On March 27, Counterview carried an article titled “Muslim women of India have held hijab 'as part of their identity for centuries'." I usually refuse it comment on the articles and reports that we publish in Counterview, which I have been editing since 2013. We are an open platform, and take viewpoints from different sections. Currently “holidaying” in the United States, I went to meet one of my bosom friends, Khursheed Latif, who lives in a beautiful area called Pocono, known for its forested peaks, lakes and valleys in the US state of Pennsylvania. Khursheed is one of the few friends from my childhood days, which I spent in Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, with whom I continue be in touch even today, talking over phone, exchanging thoughts, and making fun on each other. Jamia is the spot where my parents -- both confirmed Gandhians -- would teach art education, while his father , an Urdu litterateur known to be be close associate of the founders of Jamia M...

Counterview Desk  The advocacy group Working Peoples’ Coalition's (WPC's) national secretariat has said in a statement that India's migrant workforce "continues to toil" even two years after the Covid-19 lockdowns, yet state apathy continues. After the lockdown, said the group , informal workers in India suffered a 22.6% fall in wages, even as formal sector employees had their salaries cut by 3.6% on an average. Even before the pandemic, the growth of the informal sector was sluggish due to demonetisation; however, the pandemic spelt disaster for the informal sector, it added. Text : If the deaf is to hear, the sound must be loud and clear... Remembering these powerful words of Shaheed Bhagat Singh on the 91st death anniversary, who along with Sukhdev and Rajguru, stood firm for the cause of our country. Today, the Working Peoples’ Coalition (WPC) agonizingly marks the second anniversary as a ‘Remembrance Day’ of the government's failure in addressing the lock...

Counterview Desk  In its comprehensive analysis of the informal sector economy, the Working Peoples’ Coalition (WPC) has said it is “in shreds”, as there has been a “sharp increase in poverty, indebtedness and hunger” among the workers employed in the sector. Claiming that the various programmes of the government to alleviate the situation have failed because of policy paralysis, WPC said, it gets 15-20 cases of wage thefts, harassments, accidents and injuries every day at India Labourline -- a mediation and legal aid centre established as an alternate governance system. “This explicitly shows the quantum of precarity that informal workers must face which directly affects their resilience and ability to recover from the pandemic and lockdown shocks”, it adds. Text : A sharp increase in poverty, indebtedness and hunger No extension has been announced for Garib Kalyan Yojana after 1 year as if there are no more COVID waves. The Hunger Watch study conducted in November and December 2...

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed* Though I never see people as Hindus and Muslims as the famous poet saint Kabir had said that he doesn’t see a Hindu and and Muslim in the eyes of a person but a human! Interestingly yet I would like to share that Tilak Raj Rustagi, a Hindu friend and colleague of mine, has since 1983 been coming to my place on Holi to smear the red gulal on my forehead as a mark of the festival’s inter-faith harmonious spirit. Once a relative of mine, on seeing the colour smeared on my forehead, remarked, “It is irreligious and un-Islamic to play Holi.” I told him that such things only reiterate my faith in my religion, as friendly acts like putting gulal or lighting a candle on Diwali cannot take away my religion. In the same tone and tenure, Atyab Siddiqui, a senior Delhi High Court lawyer, while celebrating the hues of Holi with his wife Umema, son Mizan and Sumaiyya, states this lovely couplet about Urdu, “”Munh par naqab-e-zard har ik zulf par gulal/ Holi ki shaam hi to sahar...