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I don’t have to offer any details of what happened at Wayanad. It is the worst disaster of its kind, or perhaps of any kind, that has ever happened in Kerala. But how could it have been so unexpected to the Malayali mainstream? This is what galls me.
Continue reading A Prayer for a Healing State: Thoughts on the Disaster at Wayanad, KeralaThis is a guest post by the well known Bangladesh photographer, SHAHIDUL ALAM. The article was earlier published in NEW AGE BANGLADESH and sent to us by SIMONE RUDOLPHI. The photographs are courtesy DRIK. Shahidul’s article actually answers many question that have been on Indian readers’ minds, including, not the least, the question of “quotas.” Interested readers may also find this article by academic Naveeda Khan useful, written as it is from within Dhaka, though she herself is based in the USA.
It would be a mistake to see this as simply a demand for more jobs. The quota movement, justified as it is, is simply the tip of the iceberg. A rampant government running roughshod over its people for so very long has led to extreme discontent. The quota issue has merely lit the fuse to this tinderbox. As citizens counted the dead and the injured, the prime minister fiddled, advising attendees at an aquaculture and sea food conference on tourism prospects in Cox’s Bazaar.
The original quota had been designed, shortly after independence in 1972 to be an interim arrangement to acknowledge the contribution of freedom fighters who constituted less than 0.25% of the population. Since a government known to be incredibly corrupt is responsible for creating the list of freedom fighters, over 50 years later the 120 fold allocation through a 30% quota has become an easy back door for party cadres to much sought after government employment. Confirmation came through senior Awami Leaguers saying, ‘just get through the initial screening and we’ll get you through in the viva’ and more tellingly, ‘government jobs will only go to party people.’
Continue reading The End is Nigh – Bangladesh Report from Ground Zero: Shahidul Alam
This post is dedicated to the innumerable young students of Bangladesh who have lost their lives in the last few days of struggle. This wasn’t supposed to be our first post on the Bangladesh students’ struggle because our friend Sarwar Tusher, one among the group of dynamic young critical intellectuals associated with the journal Rashtrochinta, was supposed to write a first hand analytical account. Meanwhile, from Thursday night (18 July) the Sheikh Hasina government enforced a total internet shutdown as the Army moved in to quell the protests. Tanks had already been seen moving in some streets and the protesters were expecting an exponential increase in state violence. Another Tienanmen Square seemed to be in the offing.
Continue reading In Defense of the Bangladeshi Students’ Uprising
The Establishment’s desperation is becoming clearer by the day. And by ‘Establishment’ here, I do not mean simply the ruling duo in power today but a constellation of forces, many of whom congregated at a mega-wedding event in Mumbai recently. The embryonic New Congress thankfully stayed out of it – though the Old Congress is pretty much part of the Establishment, as we will see below.
Popular Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal has finally got bail from the Supreme Court – both interim and regular – in the totally fictitious Enforcement Directorate (ED) case in which he has been framed. Yet he must remain in jail because on the eve of his release by a Delhi court and Additional Sessions Judge Nyay Bindu, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) went and arrested him while he was still in jail!
This arrest-within-arrest shows a desperation of the Establishment that has rarely ever been seen before. The desperation was even more evident in the fact that the High court judge, Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain went ahead to uphold the ED plea against the bail order by Judge Nyay Bindu, even before the order had been uploaded to their website. 157 lawyers wrote to the CJI alleging that the brother of the Judge, Anurag Jain is one of the counsels for the ED, which showed a clear conflict of interest. More importantly, referring to the urgent listing, hearing and stay of the trial court’s bail order by the high court, the lawyers’ letter said,
Continue reading Arvind Kejriwal’s Bail: Why the Establishment Wants to Destroy AAPWhat does it portend for the unfolding struggle to save the Constitution and reinvigorate democracy?
Despotic kings or autocratic leaders share one thing in common. They have an uncanny ability to live in their bubbles or not learning from the immediate or past history at their own peril.
Narendra Damodardas Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Pracharak (propagandist), who famously declared during elections held for the 18th Lok Sabha that he was ‘non-biological’, looks no different. He has returned as the Prime Minister of India – for the third time, albeit with a reduced majority and with support from mercurial allies. Yet, he still wants to believe that nothing has changed. The oath taking ceremony, where (barring Pakistan) leaders of other neighbouring countries were invited, looked like a coronation of sorts.
Much on the lines of a king from a literary fairy tale written by a legendary Danish author, he is going about his business with usual élan.
( Read the full article here : https://www.newsclick.in/return-urban-naxal-bogey)
Democracy Dialogues Series 32
Theme : ‘Decoding the Verdict’
Continue reading ‘Decoding the Verdict’ : Prof Zoya Hasan and Dr Ajay GudavarthyThe model of vigilante justice, i.e, bulldozer politics, by the State itself is a phenomenon that has gained fresh legitimacy during the past decade under Modi.
“Under what law can they demolish a house for an offence that hasn’t been proved?”
..police cannot, “under the guise of investigation”, bulldoze anyone’s house without permission, and if such practices continue then “nobody is safe in this country” ..: “Show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating the crime, the police, without any order, can uproot a person, apply a bulldozer. .”
There are interventions of courts which are considered to be ‘breaking new grounds’.
The Gauhati High Court’s judgement in the ‘illegal demolitions’ at Salonabari (May 2022) was one such occasion.
The two-judge bench of the high court led by Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia had come down heavily on the demolitions executed without following any procedure and declared such actions ‘illegal’ and compared the police actions akin to a ‘gang war’ and ordered compensation to the victims as well as actions against guilty officials.
Two years later, this issue was again before high courts recently, as the affected families had approached it for the government’s dilly dallying on compensation and actions against officials.
Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra and its tributary rivers during this period. ( Read the full article here : https://www.newsclick.in/when-state-breaks-its-own-laws)
Democracy Dialogues Lecture 31 :
Speaker:
Dr Parakala Prabhakar
Author, economist and public intellectual
Theme :
The Political Economy of New India
Time :
6 PM (IST), Sunday, 26 th May 2024
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The lecture will also be livestreamed on facebook : facebook.com/newsocialistinitiative.nsi
About the Speaker and His Talk :
Dr. Parakala Prabhakar, is an author, economist, and public intellectual.
He served as Communications Advisor, held a cabinet rank position in Andhra Pradesh Government between July 2014 and June 2018. He was also a former spokesman and one of the founding general secretaries of Praja Rajyam Party.
For several years he presented a current affairs discussion programme on television channels of Andhra Pradesh. His programmes included Pratidhwani on ETV2 and Namaste Andhra Pradesh on NTV .
His book of essays ‘The Crooked Timber of New India : Essays on a Republic in Crisis‘ was widely discussed.
Dr Parakala completed his doctorate from the London School of Economics. He did his Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
About the Talk :
Relentless in exposing the sinister nature of the communal politics of the current ruling dispensation and meticulous in exposing the voodoo economic policies pursued by them which are disastrous to the Indian economy, Dr Parakala Prabhakar is going to speak on ‘The Political Economy of New India’ in this lecture.
May 11, 2024
आधा ज्ञान या आधी जानकारी हमेशा ही खतरनाक साबित होती है।
2021 की जनगणना तक करने में फिसड्डी साबित हो चुकी मोदी सरकार की इकोनॉमिक एडवाइजरी काउंसिल की तरफ से चुनावों के ऐन बीच जारी आंकड़े शायद यही कहानी कहते हैं। इस रिपोर्ट के जरिए 1951 से 2015 के कालखंड के दौरान विभिन्न समुदायों की आबादी में हुए परिवर्तनों के आंकड़े पेश किए गए, जिसमें हिन्दुओं, जैनियों तथा अन्य धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों की आबादी मे कुल गिरावट देखने को मिली है, जबकि मुसलमानों की आबादी बढ़ी है। और इस रिपोर्ट को लेकर सत्ताधारी पार्टी के प्रवक्ताओं ने तथा मुख्यधारा के गोदी चैनलों ने जनसंख्या का हौवा दिखाते हुए बहस भी छेड़ने की कोशिश की ।
पीटीआई की तरफ से जारी यह आंकड़े इस प्रकार थे:
वर्ष 1951 से 2015 के बीच जहां हिन्दुओं की आबादी में 7.8 फीसदी की घटोत्तरी हुई वहीं मुसलमानों की आबादी 43.1 फीसदी बढ़ी। अगर हम आंकड़ों का ब्रेकअप करें तो 1950 में जहां आबादी में हिन्दुओं की तादाद 84.68 फीसदी थी तो वह 2015 में 78.06 फीसदी तक पहुंची थी , जबकि मुसलमानों की आबादी जहां 1950 में कुल आबादी का 9.84 फीसदी थी तो 2015 में वह 14.09 फीसदी तक पहुंची। भारत के जैन समुदाय के बारे में भी बताया गया कि उनकी आबादी देश की कुल आबादी के 0.45 फीसदी से लेकर 0.36 फीसदी तक कम हुई है।
पुराने आंकड़े-नया रंगरोगन ?
सबसे पहली बात यह है कि इकोनॉमिक एडवाइजरी काउंसिल की तरफ से जारी इन आंकड़ों में नया कुछ नहीं है। 2011 तक जो जनगणना का सिलसिला विधिवत चला है, उसके बाद यह आंकड़े पहले से ही चर्चा में रहे हैं। ( Read the full article here : https://janchowk.com/beech-bahas/fear-of-increasing-population-reality-and-trap/)
How a Central university is being allowed to humiliate/ stigmatise Ambedkar and a conspiracy of silence still pervades it.
Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra is again in the news for wrong reasons. It has been more than around four months that a unique initiative of doing readings from Ambedkar has been forcibly stopped, show-cause notices being issued and even punitive action being taken against Dalit teachers, but there is no murmur of protest about it and despite being in the know of these developments, the top bosses of the UGC or University Grants Commission are silent over it.
Stop readings on Ambedkar in open in University Campus, it could endanger the “safety and health of (participating) students and reputation of the university‘
The news of this unbelievable diktat by an educational institution remained dormant for a day.
Expectedly, the tremendous nationwide uproar about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election speech in Banswara, which is considered his most ‘divisive’ in last 30 years, overshadowed other similar urgent issues.
The institution under scanner for this diktat to teachers is Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra, a Central university. You would recall that some time ago, this institution had similarly attracted eyeballs when a team of Hindi research scholars from China had visited it. A visit that was followed by this team’s meeting with RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) leaders at their headquarters in Nagpur.
What is rather troubling to note is that it has been more than four months that this unique experiment of doing readings from Ambedkar, in open, which was an initiative undertaken by the Dalit teachers of the vishwidyalaya, under the informal group called Ambedkar Study Circle India, stands forcibly stopped, show-cause notices being issued to teachers involved and even punitive action taken against three of them, but a conspiracy of silence has pervaded it.
What must have prompted this action by the University administration against the teachers, who were were just following the UGC recommended Code of Professional Ethics? ( Please read the full article here : https://www.newsclick.in/new-india-no-ambedkar-readings)
Statement released by Bahutva Karnataka, a forum of concerned citizens and organisations
“Nari Shakti” was invoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ in 2022. Since then it has been highlighted as an important plank by the BJP. This report looks at how women have fared over the last decade and outcomes of key women focused initiatives.
Violence against Women
Claim: Women’s security will be given more priority (BJP Manifesto, 2019).
“India has been shamed by a string of high-profile rapes and sexual attacks on women….Our heads hang in shame when we hear about rapes….Why can’t we prevent this?”
– Narendra Modi, 2014
“Women security is UP government’s top priority
Reality: Crimes against women and sexual violence have increased in 10 Years of Modi Rule Continue reading Nari Shakti – A report card for the 2024 Elections: Bahutva Karnataka
..‘Agnipath’ Still Simmers ..
‘The anger and anxieties over ‘Agnipath’ scheme – have not died down.
Gone is the period of open protests by youth and students and other ordinary people which rocked when the scheme was hastily announced (June 2022).
It does not mean that the youth are now happy about this scheme.
In an ambience of rising unemployment how is it possible to be happy about the fact that “[d]ue to the implementation of the Agniveer scheme, around 1.5 lakh candidates selected for the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy between 2019 and 2022 were allegedly denied joining.( 2)and all future possibilities of such an employment being closed forever.
Anyone who is keen to know how Agnipath has literally ‘destroyed’ thousands of jobs in military can take a tour of Kuchman City in Nagour ( Rajasthan) once a hub of more than 200 defence coaching academies preparing students from Rajasthan, Haryana and neighbouring parts of Western UP for entrance exams in Military..
…The anger and discontent of the Youth will continue to harm the ruling dispensation – whatever gloss they try to apply over the scheme.
( Read the complete article here : https://countercurrents.org/2024/04/what-is-stopping-the-government-from-scrapping-the-agnipath-scheme/)
Democracy Dialogues Lecture 30 :
Speaker:
Professor Sucheta Mahajan
Centre for Historical Studies, JNU ( retd)
Date: Sunday, 28 th April, at 6 PM (IST)
Theme :
‘Secularism in a Religious Mode ?- Gandhi’s Practice during Partition ‘
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The lecture will be live on facebook.com/newsocialistinitiative.nsi
Abstract :
The talk looks at the practice of Gandhi in his struggle against communalism in the years leading up to Partition.
This is a hugely controversial subject with polarised positions taken by his followers and critics.
The perspective of the talk emerges from Gandhi’s oft quoted but not heeded statement, My Life is My Message. The talk is a reading of a life text in this sense: Gandhi’s mission in Noakhali to mend the social fabric torn by communal riots and spread of communal ideology.
Gandhi’s search for a way out may offer some insights to those sharing his concern for a secular, plural society and polity today.
About the Speaker :
Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, till the end of February 2023, Professor Mahajan has been visiting professor and Fellow at different International and National Institutions.
She was member of the prestigious international research projects such as SPECTRESS and CHCI-MELLON Crises of Democracy, Global Humanities Institute. She has authored and edited many books on India’s Independence Struggle, Partition, Challenge of Communalism, Composite Culture etc
Publications :
Towards Freedom: Documents on the Movement for Independence in India, 1947, Parts One
and Two, (edited and with an Introduction) OUP, 2013 and 2015.
Education for Social Change: MVF and Child Labour, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2008.
RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi- The Hindu Communal Project (with
Aditya and Mridula Mukherjee) Sage Publications, 2008.
Composite Culture in a Multi-Cultural Society (Co-edited with Bipan Chandra), Pearson India & National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2006.
Rites of Passage, A Civil Servant Remembers: H.M. Patel, (ed.), Rupa & Co., New Delhi,2005.
Independence and Partition: The Erosion of Colonial Power in India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2000.
This is a guest post by Purnima Rao and Mridula Koshy
[The Free Libraries Network (FLN) is a coalition of over 250 free libraries, librarians and library activists across India and South Asia. A member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), FLN believes in universal access to reading materials and information. FLN offers a platform for sharing resources, best practices, and insights about free libraries in India. Although it does not own or operate libraries, FLN plays an integral role in coordinating and acting on policy issues related to access to knowledge resources. FLN actively advocates for a free public library system in India. The FLN believes that reading and access to information are a fundamental right. It is motivated by the conviction that a robust free public library system is a foundational bedrock of a just, equal, and democratic society.]
Free Libraries Network, is choosing the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar to announce the completion of its work drafting the People’s National Library Policy. The date is fitting as Babasaheb’s love of books and reading and especially his belief in libraries gives us strength in our anti-caste work to argue for a public library system that is free and open to all. Our network of over 250 free libraries spread across nearly every state in India brings together library movement activists who recognise that without a publicly funded and locally autonomous library system, we will never realise the promise of Babasaheb’s great work, our Constitution. Our democracy suffers when the people do not have free libraries in which to have equal access to vital information.
At this time, we have every reason to fear that the long stagnant question of libraries and of library policy is being revived, but to serve narrow interests. We have seen the question raised in Rajya Sabha in 2022, and call issued from there to the Union Ministry of Culture for a national library policy; we attended the same Ministry’s Festival of Libraries in 2023, where the keynote speaker Vinay Sahasrabuddhe spoke of the “good” and “bad” books and where it was announced that the government would be shifting the library question from the State to the Concurrent list; and we have visited a model library in Delhi, created by the Gautam Gambhir Foundation and inaugurated by Amit Shah, which utilises best practices of modern library science such as open shelving with its impulse to freedom of choice to house a collection that can be characterised as propaganda.
The draft People’s National Library Policy is a counter to these threats and an attempt to revive the question of libraries in India. It recognises the pivotal role of public libraries in empowering communities and fostering societal progress, especially amongst those excluded throughout India’s history, including Dalit, Adivasi & Bahujan people, Backward Classes, women, non-binary & trans people, undocumented & refugee communities and persons with disabilities. Rooted in Dr Ambedkar’s ideals of equity and justice, the policy envisions a public library system that is freely accessible and relevant to all segments of society, transcending barriers of caste, class, gender and disability.
The PNLP will be released on 13th April 2024, at 5:00 PM, Press Club, New Delhi.
The full draft of the PNLP can be read here: https://www.fln.org.in/library-reform-demanding-the-peoples-national-library-policy/
Mridula Koshy and Purnima Rao are members of the Research and Action Group, Free Libraries Network.
अपनी जनतांत्रिक छवि चमकाने के लिए ‘मदर आफ डेमोक्रेसी’ होने के दावों से शुरू हुई भारत सरकार की यात्रा फिलवक्त डेमोक्रेसी रेटिंग गढ़ने के मुक़ाम तक पहुंची है. अभी वह किन-किन मुकामों से गुजरेगी इसके बारे में भविष्यवाणी नहीं की जा सकती.
प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी. (फोटो साभार: pmindia.gov.in)
‘भारत- जिसने औपनिवेशिक हुकूमत से आज़ादी के बाद जनतांत्रिक संरचनाओं को अपनाया और हर नागरिक को संविधान के तहत बुनियादी अधिकार प्रदान किए- वहां जनतंत्र की परंपरा कमजोर की जा रही है….’
दुनिया के अग्रणी विद्वानों- जिनमें से कई भारतीय मूल के हैं – द्वारा पिछले दिनों जारी बयान में प्रगट सरोकार काबिलेगौर हैं. बयान में साफ कहा गया है कि किस तरह यहां ‘मूलभूत आजादियों को भी कुचला जा रहा है या कमजोर किया जा रहा है. ’
गौरतलब है कि साझे बयान का फोकस न्यूज़क्लिक न्यूज़ पोर्टल पर हुए संगठित हमले, भीमा कोरेगांव मामले में पांच साल से अधिक समय से हुई गिरफ्तारियों और उत्तर पूर्व दिल्ली में हुए दंगों के बाद इसी तरह जेल में डाले गए लेखकों, कार्यकर्ताओं पर रहा हैे, लंबे समय तक जेल में रखने के बावजूद चार्जशीट तक दाखिल न होने पर है, लेकिन वह यहां की बद से बदतर होती स्थिति को ही रेखांकित कर रहा है.
तय बात है कि एक ऐसे समय में जबकि चुनाव आसन्न हैं और मोदी सरकार द्वारा देश के अंदर उठाए जा रहे दमनात्मक कदमों को लेकर मामला सरगर्म है, यहां तक कि चुनावों का ऐलान होने के बाद विपक्ष के नेताओं की गिरफ्तारी, प्रमुख विपक्षी पार्टी कांग्रेस के बैंक खातों को बहाना बनाकर सील देने के कदम ने देश-दुनिया में चिंता प्रगट की जा रही है, उस समय इस बयान ने निश्चित ही मोदी की अगुवाईवाली हुकूमत को कत्तई खुश नहीं किया होगा.
आधिकारिक तौर पर इस बयान को लेकर मुल्क के मौजूदा हुक्मरानों की तरफ से कोई प्रतिक्रिया नहीं आई है और न ही उनके हिमायतियों ने इसके बारे में कुछ कहा है. उसकी पूरी कोशिश यही होगी कि हुकूमत के प्रति आलोचनात्मक रुख रखने वाले अन्य बयानों, रिपोर्ट की तरह इस बयान को भी भुला दिया जाए या दफना दिया जाए. ( Read the full article here : https://thewirehindi.com/271640/why-does-the-mother-of-democracy-need-its-own-democracy-index/)
It is an interesting coincidence that ‘Best Friends’ Netanyahu and Modi have been put on the defensive by the judiciary, which they so tried to control.
..[t]here is another way to break a democracy. It is less dramatic but equally destructive. Democracies may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders—presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power. Some of these leaders dismantle democracy quickly, as Hitler did in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire in Germany. More often, though, democracies erode slowly, in barely visible steps.
How Democracies Die – Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
The greatest danger the tyrant can inflict is to limit us to his range of options, not only “for how to live, but also for how to exercise our options.”
– Hisham Matar
(American born British-Libyan writer)
Every hurried and ill-thought attempt to browbeat the judiciary on the basis of legislative majority hides the possibility of a backfire.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, popularly known as ‘Bibi’, is learning this lesson the hard way, in the midst of a genocidal war he has unleashed against the Palestinians — a war which has already killed more than 30,000 people — mostly women and children.
Gone are the days when he was riding the popularity charts. Today, after the attacks on Gaza, there is increasing discontent among the Israeli people themselves against this ‘unending war’ which has manifested itself in the demand of Bibi’s quitting to ‘Save Israel’. Massive protest demonstrations have been held in different parts of Israel.
The recent judgements of the Supreme Court of Israel have further added to Netanyahu’s discomfort. ( Please read the complete article here)
Guest post by HASRATEIN : A QUEER COLLECTIVE
On 11 March 2024, four years after the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the BJP government notified the CAA rules. Continuing their symbolic violence in creating a Hindu Rashtra, the notification came at the beginning of the month of Ramadan, held to be holy by Muslims across the world. As part of their election agenda, this marks another step to consolidate the Hindu vote bank which has been fed on anti-Muslim proposals and propaganda machines. While CAA apologists are using refugee rhetoric to spread hatred against Muslims in the country, the CAA rules show the bureaucratically stringent proofs demanded (Schedule IA and IB) which will ensure many who attempt to claim citizenship through the Act will be rendered de facto stateless.
CAA 2019 is an amendment to India’s citizenship law that fast tracks citizenship acquisition for non-Muslim minorities of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. This includes Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians from these three countries. An earlier version of the bill with this logic was passed by Lok Sabha in 2016 but did not get cleared by Rajya Sabha. The Act introduces anti-secular provision by making religion a criterion in citizenship acquisition. CAA 2019 fulfills many agendas of Hindu nationalism at the same time. Continue reading REJECT CAA-NRC – REJECT NATIONALIST XENOPHOBIA – REJECT DETENTION CENTRES: Hasratein A Queer Collective
[We reproduce below a statement issued on 11 March 2024, by the group comprising the Citizens Commission on Elections, which included eminent citizens like former Justice Madan B. Lokur, Wajahat Habibullah, MG Devasahayam, Sundar Burra and others. This statement announces the formation of the IPMIE, keeping the special urgency to monitor the conduct of the electoral process that stands seriously threatened as we move into the 2024 general elections.]
India is world’s largest democracy wherein General Election to Parliament is around-the-corner (April-May, 2024). As is known the words “election” and “democracy” have become synonymous. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states as much: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”
The situation on the ground in India, has created anxiety and upsurge within the country. The citizen is at the centre of any democracy with their right to vote in a free and fair manner. Currently, the concern among the Indian electorate is that this process is in peril. The present scenario reveals an unevenness of the playing field that militates against the right to free and fair elections, and risks obstructing the will of the people.
Continue reading After Citizens’ Commission on Elections, Independent Panel on Monitoring Indian Elections, 2024 [IPMIE] FormedLast month, on the 21st of January 2024, a young woman, an assistant public prosecutor at a lower court in the district of Kollam in Kerala, took her own life, after sending out one last desperate plea — calling for justice after her death at least. She revealed through audio clips that fighting for justice at her workplace had worn her out completely. Her words brought out the rot infecting the institution of public prosecution (the stench of it is very much in the air, actually, unbearable it has become, though our political leaders and social justice motormouths seem to largely ignore it).
Continue reading Empowered to Death? Tales of Empowerment and Death from KeralaA Joint Statement and Appeal issued by people’s organisations, intellectuals and concerned citizens from Uttarakhand about the violent incidents on 8 th February
( This is an attempt at English translation of the original statement issued by writers, journalists, social activists and people’s organisations. For original statement , please see here )
Developments on 8th February are serious, condemnable as well as tragic. We would like to express our deep concern for the dead as well as the injured and demand proper compensation for them
We appeal to people in Uttarakhand and rest of India to maintain peace and harmony . We condemn all sorts of violence and want that an impartial legal action be taken about the incident. We are of the opinion that every type of resistance, opposition should always remain in the bounds of law and constitution.
We also appeal to the administration that no action should be contrary to Constitutional principles and values.
Say No To Hate, We need Jobs
[We are publishing this response of the Uttarakhand Women’s Groups to the Uttarakhand Draft for initiating further debate.]
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 