Only six companies out of 90 spent over 50% of their CSR budget on skill, livelihood development

April 30, 2019

Excerpts from the report “Enhancing Capabilities, Empowering Lives – CSR in Skills and Livelihood: What are India’s top companies up to?” published by Samhita, and supported by Ambula Cement Foundation, DHLF, Godrej, and UNDP:

With India at the forefront of a ‘demographic dividend’, it is essential for the country to capitalise on the advantage of a young workforce through developing a skilled manpower base. While the corporate sector had always recognized the need for skill development and invested in skilled manpower for their own operations, the introduction of Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013 gave a fillip to their efforts through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Under the ambit of CSR, skilling and livelihood development have appeared to garner considerable interest among companies.

India is currently facing a huge socio-demographic challenge given that majority of its population is in the working age with limited or no skills. As per the Labour Bureau Report 2014, the size of the skilled workforce in India is only 2%, which is extremely low when compared to countries such as China (47%), Japan (80%) and South Korea (96%). It is estimated that by around 2025, 25% of the world’s total workforce will be in India.

It has also been forecasted that the average age of India’s population would be 29 in 2021 as compared to China’s average age of 37, thus giving India a unique advantage of having one of the world’s youngest populations. However, a large young population alone does not guarantee India an advantage. The country needs to ensure that its young workforce is equipped with the skills and knowledge required in a workplace so it can reap the “demographic dividend”.

In order to understand the implementation process of skills and livelihood development programmes, a survey was conducted with approximately 155 non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in the skills and livelihood development space. Detailed interviews were also undertaken with a smaller subset to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the processes.

Overall corporate participation in skills and livelihood development is very high

Ninety out of the top 100 companies reported at least one programme in skills and livelihood development over the last three years. Most industries, apart from media and entertainment and financial services, reported a strong participation of over 75% in skills and livelihood programmes. Public sector undertakings (PSUs) showed a slightly higher involvement in skills and livelihood programmes (96%) than private sector companies (88%).

The high level of participation is not surprising as most companies are well-aware of the desirability of investing in human capital to build and run viable and successful businesses from their own experience. The government’s call to action through the “Skill India”, “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns could also have contributed to the high level of interest among companies.

Budget distribution

Budget calculations are based on data reported by 90 companies. Data shows that the amount allocated towards skills and livelihood development programmes accounted for around 12.7% of a company’s total CSR budget on average. Only six companies spent over 50% of their CSR budget in this sector. This reflects the general finding that most companies supported 4-5 causes on average.

The median CSR budget allocated to skills and livelihood development was Rs 3.92 crore with a median spend of 92% in 2015-2016. The budgets varied widely among companies as shown in the table below. Twenty-six companies (29%) reported a budget below Rs 1 crore, 37 companies (41%) had budgets between Rs 1 to 10 crore and 24 companies (27%) between Rs 10 to 50 crore. Three companies (3%), belonging to the IT and banking sectors had budgets above 50 crore, the highest amount being Rs 9,519 crore.

The CSR contribution to skills and livelihood development for the year 2015-16 was slightly more than one-third of the government’s budget towards key skills and livelihood schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) – the total CSR contribution amounting to Rs 944 crore, as compared to the government’s budget of Rs 2,618 crore.

CSR programmes are plugging sectoral skill gaps

Out of the 90 companies undertaking vocational trades, seven companies have not published any information on the type of trades supported by them. Hence, the valid total for analysis in this sector is based on information given by 83 companies. The data on types of trade supported indicates that almost all companies supported multiple trades. Based on the quantitative mapping, the top five sectors supported through CSR programmes were agriculture (52%), textiles (mainly sewing) (49%), building, construction and real estate (47%), auto and auto components (37%) and IT and ITES (30%).

While agriculture may not face a shortage of labour, it definitely requires skill enhancement in order to raise productivity — almost all companies (95%) supporting agriculture focused on improving productivity by enhancing the knowledge and skills of the farmers by emphasising on improved practices such as multi-cropping, sowing, irrigation, pest management, poultry and cattle training, among others. However, only 5% (two companies) facilitated market linkages. Enhanced productivity may not lead to income increases for farmers, if market linkages, especially those that reduce the role of middlemen, are not well established.

A few companies recognised the fact that it is not possible to look at agriculture in isolation—water scarcity is a key problem in many parts of India. Thus, their agricultural livelihood programmes were part of larger integrated community development programmes that included promoting better watershed development and management and storage practices; aiming to increase the resilience and productivity of farmers. The predominance of sewing programmes could indicate a worrying trend where certain trades are stereotyped for certain target groups (sewing for women, in this case), with little cognizance of the actual market requirement or value to the trainee’s life.

Strategic orientation is slowly gaining traction in CSR interventions

With 28% of companies (24 out of 83) aligning their CSR in skills and livelihood development to their business in one of the three ways mentioned below, data indicates that while some companies are beginning to think strategically, many others still do not subscribe to this approach. A strategic orientation could be articulated in three ways:

Aligning programmes to business objectives
Aligning programmes to a company’s core product or service or expertise
Aligning programmes to the needs of key stakeholders

Companies that aligned their programmes to their company’s core product, stakeholder or business objective believed that it helped to bring a higher level of rigour and expertise within the skilling ecosystem and also encouraged sustainability as the company saw these interventions as central to its business, and not just as philanthropy. Many companies reported following a dual approach—while the flagship programme was aligned to their expertise and synonymous with their brand, they also undertook more localised programmes in skills in the vicinity of their factories or plants to respond to the community’s needs.

Companies move towards rural areas for imparting skills and livelihood training

Only 57 companies clearly reported the type of geography of their programmes, with six companies mentioning pan-India as the focus areas of their programmes. Thirty companies did not provide any information on this aspect. Available data points towards a mixed pattern, with 25 (44%) companies conducting programmes in only rural regions, 10 (18%) companies conducting programmes exclusively in urban areas and 16 companies (28%) in both rural and urban areas. The same pattern held true for most industries, except for the IT (50%: only urban, 25%: only rural, 25%: both) and Telecom sectors (100%: only urban), where the concentration of skilling programmes was in the urban areas.

Interviews indicated that many companies were actively moving to address the skills gap in rural areas as they believed that urban areas were saturated with programmes. However, a few respondents believed that skills development in India was a predominantly urban phenomenon with urban NGOs running urban operations; there were very few expert NGOs in rural areas.

State-wise distribution of CSR programmes in skills and livelihood development reveals imbalances

Only two companies out of 90 did not publicly disclose the location of their programmes. The “Human Resource Deficits and Surpluses across India” map shows the expected surpluses and deficits in semi-skilled and unskilled workforce per state by 2021/2022, calculated as demand for workers by industry minus supply of workers. Ideally, skilling programmes should focus on states with a surplus of semi-skilled and minimally skilled workers (such as the north-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana) as these workers would be either under-employed or unemployed, thereby creating a greater need for them to be absorbed in gainful occupation through skilling or upskilling.

However, these are states in which less than 20 companies run skill development programmes individually. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the most popular states for CSR programmes, even though their needs were not as critical. This analysis highlights two conclusions –

Essentially, training programmes occur where the need from industry is felt more acutely. Companies also appear reluctant to invest in training in geographies where the challenge of ‘placement’ is higher.
States in the north-east, and Jharkhand and Chattisgarh are economically backward, have suffered from political turmoil and unrest and/or geographical isolation and, hence, do not have industrial markets to absorb the labour, leading to a surplus.

Solutions to these are two-fold—increase demand by focusing on developing micro enterprises that can create employment opportunities and simultaneously reduce the supply by undertaking “informed and safe” migration to states with employment opportunities.

CSR programmes in skills and livelihood largely ignore people with disabilities

Of the 88 companies that explicitly mentioned beneficiary groups, most companies reported conducting programmes across a multitude of beneficiaries. The youth (84% companies) and women (70% companies) were common target groups for programmes. On the other hand, only 30% of companies had programmes for people with disabilities. This falls in line with the lack of support received by disabled people in India in general.

Non-financial support by companies was marginal

While every company offering skills and livelihood programmes supported it financially (either covering infrastructure or trainees’ fees or both), only 17% (15 companies) offered non-financial support to the programme and their implementing partners. When provided, nonfinancial support was in the area of curriculum development (10), accommodation (six) and transportation (one) for the duration of the training. In the space of skills and livelihoods, companies have much more to offer than mere financial support. Companies and their industrial associations could leverage their expertise to help develop better curricula in their areas of expertise.

Additionally, companies could also use their cross-industry connections to facilitate trainee placements outside their operation areas. Employees can also play an active role in training or contributing to soft-skills programmes. The nonfinancial contribution of a company needs to be harnessed to ensure that this does not become a missed opportunity.

Courtesy: Counterview

Madras HC curtails Kiran Bedi’s power, tells her she can’t interfere with Puducherry’s govt

April 30, 2019

The high court’s order came on a writ petition filed by Puducherry Congress MLA Lakshminarayanan in 2017 questioning the LG’s powers to interfere in day-to-day administration despite the presence of a council of ministers.

Chennai: Puducherry’s Lt Governor Kiran Bedi cannot interfere with the daily functioning of the government in the Union territory, the Madras High Court said on Tuesday.

The court said that “Bedi does not have to power to call for files and give orders to the officials”, news agency IANS reported.

Kiran Bedi has been engaged in a tussle with Puducherry chief Minister V Narayanasamy since she assumed office in May 2016.

The high court’s order came on a writ petition filed by Puducherry Congress MLA Lakshminarayanan in 2017 questioning the LG’s powers to interfere in day-to-day administration despite the presence of a council of ministers.

Allowing a request by Congress legislator K Lakshminarayanan, the Madurai bench of the high court ruled that the elected government has powers over service matters and cancelled two clarification orders by the centre in 2017 on the powers of the Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor also doesn’t have the right to seek any government documents from the Puducherry government, the high court said.

Puducherry had witnessed unprecedented protest in February this year with CM V Narayanasamy launching an indefinite dharna against alleged interference by Lt Governor Kiran Bedi.

Welcoming the HC order, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said the judgment clearly shows that all powers regarding the administration are with the democratically elected government.

Meanwhile, Kiran Bedi told India Today TV that she will take a decision after examining the judgment.

“This is a historic judgment and a victory of the people of Puducherry. Development of Puducherry was hindered for the last three years because of the arrogant attitude of the LG,” the Puducherry chief minister added.

V Narayanasamy said if the LG doesn’t follow the court order, a contempt petition will be filed against her.

He had earlier accused Kiran Bedi of working on orders of the Centre to disrupt the functioning of his government.

“She has no power at all, she has to only be a post office and sign papers which have been sent by the council of ministers. She has no right to touch cabinet decisions…she is vetoing decisions. She is being encouraged by the PM to create problems for our government,” he had said.

Kiran Bedi had replied, “Sad to see when a CM sends a letter to Lt Governor and within a week demands a reply by force of a ‘dharna’/ blockade of Raj Nivas. Also makes unfounded allegations, misleading people in Puducherry.”

She denied all allegations levelled against her and claimed that she had been functioning in terms of the powers conferred on her under the Government of Union Territories Act of 1963.

Trouble began when the former IPS officer created a WhatsApp group and started giving orders to the police. She regularly inspected government projects too.

She also took on the Puducherry assembly speaker by swearing in three BJP candidates as legislators nominated by the centre. The speaker had refused to let them in the assembly until the Supreme Court approved her action, NDTV reported.

However, Kiran Bedi has denied these allegations, saying she goes by the rule book and that she will not be a “rubber stamp” Lieutenant Governor, the report said.

Fed up with govt promises, villagers build their own road in Odisha

April 30, 2019

According to the villagers, they were waiting for a properly constructed 3-kilometer road since independence. The villagers claimed that they approached concerned administration several times with their demand but to no avail

Kalahandi: The residents of a village under Ambapadar in Odisha’s Kalahandi, who have been waiting for the government to build a road in their village for years, have taken on the task of financing and constructing the road themselves, ANI reported.

According to the villagers, they were waiting for a properly constructed 3-kilometer road since independence. The villagers claimed that they approached concerned administration several times with their demand but to no avail.

One of the villagers said that the residents donated Rs. 3000 each for the construction of a road.

“Whenever we complain about roads to administration we are told how can your village have facilities when the block doesn’t have? Hence, we contributed money among ourselves for the construction of the road. We brought a JCB machine for the construction of road,” a villager told ANI.

Another villager said, “During elections, political leaders come to us for votes and promise to make efforts for the road construction but after polls if forget it.”

The road that villagers are repairing is the road that leads from inside the village and connects with the main road.

Congress moves EC over Illegal Storage of EVMs in Assam

April 30, 2019

While, the three phase election concluded for the 14 parliamentary constituencies of Assam April 23, the controversy surrounding allegations of manipulation of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) refuses to die down. Trouble began at about 10.30 pm on April 28 when trucks loaded with a large number of EVMs and VVPAT machines were parked in Amingaon area under Julukbari Assembly Constituency in North Guwahati. The constituency is famous as it has been represented by BJP’s Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is presently second highest ranking minister in Assam.

Unused EVM and VVPAT machines stacked in a truck at Amingaon in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

When the EVM loaded trucks allegedly reached a private godown owned by a businessman said to be close to Sarma, the news spread like wildfire! Local people and media persons rushed to the Himmatsinka Workshop and found that the EVMs and VVPAT boxes were being secretly unloaded from the trucks.

As the godown was under the jurisdiction of Kamrup (Rural) District, the media persons tried to contact the Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kumar Baishya, who admitted that some unused EVMs have been transferred from Tezpur to North Guwahati as there no place to store those EVMs under Tezpur parliamentary constituency. This led to graver concerns given how there is a close contest between Congress and BJP in Tezpur parliamentary constituency. It may be mentioned that in Tezpur, which was went on poll on April 11, former IAS officer and Congress candidate MGVK Bhanu is in a face off against BJP candidate and state minister Pallav Lochan Das, who is close aid of Himanta Biswa Sharma.

In a letter addressed to Election Commission of India (ECI), the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has alleged that there has been suspicious storage of ‘EVMs’ sent from different districts of Assam near the Strong Room in North Guwahati’s Amingaon. “It has been done only to manipulate and change the EVMs”, said Durgda Das Boro, senior spokesperson of APCC. He also demanded immediate removal of the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (Rural) District Kamal Kumar Baishya alleging that he is close to Himanta Biswa Sharma.

Speaking to Sabrang India, Kishore Kumar Bhattacharyya, General Secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee said, “Kamal Kumar Baishya is most controversial person as he issued winning certificate to the defeated candidate of BJP, just three months back on the instruction of Himanta Biswa Sharma during the last Village Panchayat election.” He further said, “Election Commission can’t transfer either used or unused EVMs keeping political parties in the dark. It was a part of greater conspiracy on the behest of BJP.”

The letter sent to Election Commission of India, the Congress has alleged, “around 10.35 pm on Sunday trucks laden with supposedly EVMs were brought to the Himatsingka Workshop, which is a private property, situated opposite to the DC Office, Kamrup (Rural)”. As the area in which the EVMsare being stored comes under the jurisdiction of the DC, Kamrup (R), the party has also alleged the Kamal Kumar Baishya, ACS, who is also claimed to be close to Cabinet Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, of being involved in the act.

Citing such discrepancies during election period, APCC has urged the CEO of the ECI, to look into the matter and take strict action against the defaulters.

Copy of the complaint may be read here:

Lok Sabha 2019: EC seizes Rs. 3274 crores till fourth phase of polling

April 30, 2019

With three more phases of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections still left, cash seizures have already surged 156.3% from the 2014 polls.

Image Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: The Election Commission said it has seized unaccounted money, illicit liquor, drugs and other inducements worth a total of Rs 3274 crore in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Monday.

“Total cash seizure is Rs 785.26 crore, liquor (Rs 249.038 crore), narcotics (Rs 1214.46 crore), Gold and precious materials (Rs 972.253 crore) and other freebies (Rs 53.167 crore), which makes the grand total of Rs 3274.18 crore,” said an official statement issued by the EC as reported by ANI.

With three more phases of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections still left, cash seizures have already surged 156.3% from the 2014 polls, Hindustan Times reported.

Since the seven-phase elections started on April 11, the total amount of cash seized across the country amounts to Rs. 778.9 crore. In comparison, by the end of the 2014 elections, the total amount of cash seizures was Rs. 303.86 crore, the report said.

The figure, which is updated daily by the Election Commission of India includes cash, liquor, drugs narcotic, gold and other precious materials in seizures.

“Tamil Nadu was the state with the highest haul of gold at 3,063 kg worth Rs 708.71 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 1,263 kg and Uttar Pradesh at 709 kg. At Rs 215.14 crore, Tamil Nadu accounts for the highest number of cash seizures, and close on the heels is Andhra Pradesh with Rs 137.27 crore and then Telangana, with Rs 68.82 crore,” HT reported.

“Apart from that, this year, 62 metric tonnes of drugs and narcotics worth Rs 1185.4 crore have been seized. Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest haul, with 19.4 tonnes. Polling in the state has been spaced out across all the seven phases, and so, the amount is expected to rise,” the report said.

In 2014, 7.64 tonnes of drugs were seized.

Till now,132.6 lakh litres of liquor have been seized during these elections with Maharashtra accounting for 32.24 lakh litres, worth Rs 25.24 crore, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 15.54 lakh litres and West Bengal with 14.06 lakh litres, the report said.

The total amount of liquor seized in 2014 was 65 lakh litres.

“The poll watchdog said it appointed 97 expenditure observers in 72 parliamentary constituencies and 42 assembly constituencies across the country that went to polls on Monday. It was appointed to implement its instructions regarding election expenditure of candidates and for the seizure of unaccounted money, illicit liquor, drugs, and other inducements,” ANI reported.

In order to curb the abuse of money power during elections, the commission decided that each expenditure sensitive constituency would have two expenditure observers. States with geographically difficult terrain have also been allotted a slightly larger number of expenditure observers so that there is better visibility and accessibility.

As per the instructions of the EC, the states deployed adequate resources in terms of Flying Squads (FS), Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) and Video Surveillance Teams (VSTs) in all the parliamentary constituencies and assembly constituencies, the EC said.

The number of expenditure observers was 97, assistant expenditure observers (492), FS (1761), SSTs (1757), VSTs (1080), video viewing team (618) and accounting team (543).

Voting was held on Monday for 72 seats across nine states including five seats in Bihar, one in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Jharkhand, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal and 17 in Maharashtra.

An overall voter turnout of 64.05 per cent was registered in the fourth phase of polling.

Seven-phase elections will end on May 19, and results will be declared on May 23.

Global inequality is 25% higher than it would have been in a climate-stable world

April 30, 2019

Those least responsible for global warming will suffer the most. Poorer countries – those that have contributed far less to climate change – tend to be situated in warmer regions, where additional warming causes the most devastation. Extreme weather events such as Syria’s prolonged drought, South Asia’s catastrophic monsoon floods, and Cyclone Idai in South-East Africa, the third deadliest cyclone on record, are becoming more likely and more severe.

These events are disproportionately bringing death, displacement, and crop failure. As a result of this, projections estimate that the economies of poorer, warmer countries will be gravely harmed by climate change over coming decades, while the cooler, richer countries responsible for the vast majority of the extra CO2 in the air may even benefit in the short term. But as new research reveals, this is not just a future concern – the economic injustice of climate change has already been operating for 60 years.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared different countries’ GDP per capita – a measure of the average person’s economic standard of living – between 1961 and 2010. It then used climate models to estimate what each country’s GDP would have been without the effects of climate change. The findings are stark.

A Mozambican standing in front of her home, destroyed by Cyclone Idai. More than 1,000 people died in the storm. Christian Jepsen/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Many poorer countries’ economies have rapidly grown in the last 50 years, albeit often at great social and environmental cost and to the benefit of the globalised economy. But even that growth has been held back substantially by climate change – the gap in GDP per capita between richer and poorer countries is 25% higher than it would have been in a climate-stable world. And with most richer countries sitting below and poorer countries above the 13℃ average annual temperature at which economic productivity peaks, global temperature rise is an immediate driver of this inequality.

Of the 36 countries with the lowest historical carbon emissions, which are also some of the poorest and hottest countries in the world, 34 have suffered an economic hit compared to a world without warming, losing on average 24% of GDP per capita. The poorest 40% of countries, much of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, have lost between 17 and 31% of GDP in the last half century.

India, one of the lowest emitters per capita, has been regarded as an economic growth champion in recent decades – but climate change has slowed its progress by 30%. While the country’s services sector has boomed, the agricultural sector – which employs half of India’s total workforce – has suffered greatly. A three-fold rise in extreme rainfall events and increased severe droughts have reduced crop yields and cause between $9 and 10 billion in damage per year to the agricultural industry alone.

The same events also regularly bring India’s urban economic hubs to a standstill. With 12m inhabitants, Mumbai has the world’s largest population exposed to coastal flooding. Deluges in 2005 and 2014 forced the city’s international airport and roads to close, and cost millions in property damage.

Increasingly intense Indian summers that now regularly hit above 45℃ reduce productivity, kill thousands, and cause thousands more to commit suicide. Add to this the multi-billion pound costs of rescue and rebuilding from cyclones such as 1999’s Odisha storm, which left two million homeless, and it’s easy to see how climate change can stunt the economic growth of India and similarly affected countries.

Global warming has increased global economic inequality. Noah Diffenbaugh & Marshall Burke/Author provided

For the world’s wealthiest countries however, climate change has added to the coffers – 14 of the 19 highest-emitting countries now find themselves in a better economic position than they would have been if the planet’s temperature had stayed constant, with an average boost of 13%. The US economy has suffered, but by a miniscule 0.2%, while the UK finds itself 10% better off. The 2018 heatwave there posed its own risks to health and crops, but it also provided huge boosts to ice cream sales and tourism.

Cancel debts

As is becoming increasingly clear, there are no quick fixes or easy solutions to climate change or inequality. Reducing emissions is, sadly, not enough, and providing yet more high-interest loans to “help” poorer nations adapt to a warmer world will only deepen global inequality.

Alongside radically changing the economies of the world’s wealthiest nations, we must demand that reparations for past injustices be paid, that the debts of the Global South be cancelled, that privatisation of local industries and lands be reversed, and that the brutal border regimes surrounding the world’s wealthy nations be torn down. Only then can global inequality truly be tackled.

Courtesy: The Conversation

“You are on my Hit List”: BJP MLA Suresh Awasthi Threatens Police Officer

April 30, 2019

Kanpur: Political arrogance and threats to the voters as well as officials have been persistent throughout this election season. The latest to join this list is senior BJP leader from Kanpur, Suresh Awasthi, who threatened a circle officer, Janardhan Dubey, after an argument over a polling agent.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Awasthi is seen engaging in a scuffle with Dubey after he allegedly snatched a voter list from the BJP polling agent. Awasthi can be heard threatening the circle officer, saying “will see you tomorrow, you are on my hit list.” He is also heard warning the officer not to look him in the eye. The officer responded to the threat by telling the BJP leader “to do whatever he wants.”

#WATCH BJP leader Suresh Awasthi threatens Circle Officer in Kanpur after an argument over a polling agent, says ‘I will see you tomorrow, you are on my hit list’. Mayor Pramila Pandey was also present. A case has been registered against Awasthi pic.twitter.com/3wE5uawQ33
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 29, 2019

Kanpur mayor Pramila Pandey and some other BJP leaders were also present when the incident took place. The mayor was seen making efforts to resolve the fight, while Awasthi was heard saying “he (the officer) is a wicked person.”

The incident took place during voting at a primary school under Gwaltoli police station in Kanpur.

BJP members have been passing controversial remarks and behaving in an autocratic manner this election. Earlier, at an election event in Pokhran, BJP’s candidate from Jodhpur, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, was caught threatening the administration and saying, “Today, I am warning the ‘prashasan’

(administration) standing on the podium. This election is not the last election. Government changes in five years. I have kept the ‘janampatri’ (horoscope) of each and everyone. My name will not be Gajendra Singh, if I don’t hang them upside down (Ulta na latka du toh mera naam Gajendra Singh nahi hai).” Adding further, Shekhawat said, “The police and the officials are dancing to the tune of Ashok Gehlot government, which is not right. They are removing party flags only from our houses and catching our vehicles.”

In another distinctly autocratic act, BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, ‘warned’ the district collector (of consequences) if his party were to return to power, after, allegedly, his helicopter was denied permission to land in Chhindwara’s Umreth. Earlier, even the union minister and BJP’s candidate from Buxar, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, was caught misbehaving with the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) KK Upadhyay after his convoy was stopped for violating the Model Code of Conduct. He had said that he knows how to instil sense in the SDM.

Such ‘goonda-raj’ by the politicians poses a severe threat on our democratic system and constitutional values. Also, threats of assaulting and/or sacking them from their position, restricts the bureaucrats from performing their duties and abiding by their oath.

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Fact- finding visit to Niyamgiri – Lanjigada area by CDRO and GASS

April 30, 2019

A 16-member fact-finding team of All India Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) and GanatantrikAdhikar Suraksha Sangathan, Odisha (GASS) had been to Niyamgiri area and Vedanta Plant site, Lanjigada and spent three days from 26^th to 28^th April, 2019 there. All members got divided into two teams. One team visited various villages of Niyamgiri like Lakpadar, Belang Mandal and Dangamati to investigate violation of human rights in the region. Another team visited affected villages of Vedanta Plant like Chatrapur, Rengapali and Bandhaguda, met family members of Dani Batra died on by Industrial security forces on 18^th March at plant site. The team also went to meet British Kumar at his village Ghatikundru who was allegedly beaten by the SP of Kalahandi. The team members also met Inspector In-charge at Lanjigada police station and talked with the District Collector and the SP over phone.

Our findings :-

More violation of Human Rights in name of ‘Maoists’ :In Niyamgiri Dongaria adivasis who are in leadership of Save Niyamgiri Movement under banner of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti have been targeted more in post –gramsabha (2013) situation. At Dangamati village Manda Kandraka died in an encounter by the security forces on 27^th February 2017 allegedly as ‘Maoist’. Since then none of the official has visited his village. Lado Sikaka of Lakpadar village has been picked up twice by the police without notice and had been released every time with a warning. In a similar way 16 tribals leaders either have been put into jail in name of Maoist like in case of Dasuru Kadraka of Garata village or have been released with a confessional statement not to be associated with any joint activities. The midnight raid and arrest of Kuni Sikaka (17) of Garata village on 1^st May 2017 by the police suspecting her as ‘Maoist’ and when agitation happened then she was released under false confessional statement are undemocratic. Lingaraj Azad who is at the forefront of the struggle has been arrested and harassed by the police several times.
Adivasis of Niyamgiri and surrounding areas of both districts of Kalahandi and Rayagada have been dependant on the hill. It is their life and livelihood also. The existence of Vedanta Co. in this scheduled area has always been a threat for them. They have been demanding for more schools, anganwadi centres, healthcentresunder their banner of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti before the government. But in reply the government has been foisting false cases to pressurise them to leave Niyamgiri.

CRPF camp at Trilochanpur: Recently the govt. has converted Trilochanpur Panchayat office into a CRPF camp for the time being.

Construction of a new camp has already been started on encroached land of Layi Majhi of Belaguda village.The villagers did gramsabha in this fifth scheduled area and had opposed this plan of setting up of the camp. But none of the officials attended the meeting. People were cultivating that land since generations and had applied for patta under Forest rights act. The administration has neither taken consent of gramsabha before constructing the camp nor has given importance to the application Layi Majhi under FR Act.

Death of Dani Batra:In this ‘alleged’ clashes happened on 18^th March 2019 at Vedanta Plant Gate site between the affected villages of Chatrapur and Rengapali and security forces, Dani Batra died due to heavy lathi-charge done by the Odisha Industrial Security Forces(OISF) engaged by the Vedanta Co. He was standing far from the gate as a spectator when security forces beat mercilessly many people including Dani Batra. Later on he was found inside a pond. His brother-in-law who received dead body after post-mortem was telling that Dani’s hands and other parts of the body were broken.

Suspicious Death of Sujit Minz:The allegation is that the local villagers after death of Dani got angry and went on a rampage and destroyed company furniture. Then the villagers “violent in nature bound Hav Major Sujit Minz in the CCTV control room alone tied his legs and killed him by setting fire” (as mentioned in FIR given by Ashok Kumar Raul, Inspector of OISF). The team finds his death as “suspicious” because;

1)The CCTV Control panel room is about 100 meters far from the main gate where dead body of Sujit Minz was found by the police. This was confirmed by the Inspector In-charge of Police. Also IIC says the villagers have not destroyed any other place on the way to Control Panel except that place. How a mob could go and tie Sujit Minz and set fire and come back just after a severe lathi charge?

2)The police version is that after post-mortem of dead body of Dani Batra, his family members received the dead body from Lanjigada Hospital and took the body to the Vedanta Gate. But this has not been written in the FIR. Mahendra Bibhar, brother in law of Dani Batra who received body from the police says that all of them came to the village in the night from the hospital and cremated the body on early morning of next day.

3)Two FIRs have already been filed. On Dani Batra’s death though section 320 of IPC has been lodged but no action has yet been taken. But on ‘killing’ of Sujit Minz the Lanjigada police have promptly taken action and have arrested 6 people. The FIR copy says list of suspects as ‘villagers of Chatrapur and others’ but Police have circulated ‘27 names and 300 others’ which the team got from the villagers which shows more arrest would happen in near future. Why is there such discrimination in taking action then?

More Displacement by Vedanta Co: In between Vedanta Company has increased its capacity from 1MTPA to 6MTPA and has occupied land of Rengapali, Borabhattaand also Bandhaguda village for expanding its already made Red Mud Pond. The Co. has not yet displaced all of them though it has paid them compensation. The villagers are facing sever health problem because of dust coming from pond site. Thevillage like Bandhaguda (80 families) was not in the earlier plan when the Co. started its operation.

Pollution in Lanjigada/Niyamgiri :The Red Mud Pond has already reached footstep of Niyamgiri. This would disturb entire eco-system of this plateau. The government should set up committee to evaluate impact on environment and before Titukurin-like situation happened the government should close down Vedanta factory.

Harassment of British Kumar by Kalahandi SP: British Kumar, a tribal activist and leader of ‘Khandualmali Suraksha Samiti’(Save Khandualmali Organisation) was picked up by Kalahandi police on 22^nd December 2018 while he was in Bhawanipatna town. British says he was taken to the SP office. At 8pm the SP came and asked about his association with Niyamagiri and Khandualmali struggle. The SP first threated him, ‘I would fire at you and kill you because you are supporting the Maoists’. British argued that this struggle is part of their rights. ‘Don’t brand it as Maoist.’ Then the SP beat him up inside his office and left with a condition that he would sign daily at Bijepur Police Station. British was going till State Human Rights Commission asked detail about the cases filed against him. It was learned that till that date no such cases had been filed against British Kumar.

Our demands:

Closing down Vedanta Co.:The Vedanta Co. had its earlier plan in setting up alumina plant at Lanjigada and to mine bauxite from Niyamgiri. When in Gramsabha adivasis rejected its plan of mining in Niyamgiri and when the Supreme Court has already uphold decision of the Gramsabha (2013) then we strongly demand before the state government for closing down of the Alumina plant of Vedanta Co. immediately.
No CRPF Camp:The setting up of CRPF camp at Trilochanpur goes against gramsabha resolutions. The government should close its down.
Cases should be withdrawn: The government should withdraw all false cases foisted against the tribals.
Demanding for Judicial Enquiry:A judicial inquiry should be done on suspicious death of Sujit Minz by the High Court sitting judge and till findings of that committee no such arrest should happen.
Basic necessities should be fulfilled:The Adivasi villages have demanded for school, teachers, drinking water and health facility. The government should give respect to these demands and should give priority in providing basic necessities.

We conclude here that the state government has been treating Vedanta Co. as if first citizen of the Odisha. The way brutality of industrial Security forces have been suppressed at Plant site and repression by the paramilitary forces on tribals of Niyamgiri have been increased all these actions go against basic spirit of our democracy. The government should be attentive more towards its own citizens rather than the Multinational company like Vedanta Co.

Name of participating Organisations:

APDR, West Bengal ; CPDR, Tamilnadu; AFDR, Punjab
CLC, Telengana; PUDR, Delhi and GASS, Odisha
Date : 29^th April 2019
Bhubaneswar

Courtesy: Counter Current

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