Love Walking in the Rain

February 16, 2017

Amman, the capital of Jordan, is a wonderful city complete with history, tradition and modernity. Amman, however on a very cold (temperature less than 5 ℃) and rainy day is not the most exciting place to be in. Above all, since Amman is built on hills (jabal) and has several valleys (wadi), walking distances from one house to another, is certainly not something that one easily relishes.

Nevertheless, walking today in the rain with Esraa and Mohamed, two volunteers with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) here in Jordan, was indeed a very special experience. ‘Camp Hussein’ not far from downtown, in north-west Amman, was set up in 1952 to house thousands of Palestinian refugees, after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Today, the winds of change have blown over this sprawling area. It however continues to be one of the poorer quarters of the city; the people who live here are not only Palestinians but also refugees from other countries like Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Somalia besides poor Jordanians.

Esraa and Mohamed had prior appointments with six refugee families, who had contacted JRS sometime earlier. As a ‘Family Visit’ team of JRS(there are four two-member teams) this ‘first visit’ is important : to make a personal contact with the family, to listen to their pain and suffering, to assess their needs and above all, to see in what ways JRS can serve, accompany and if needed, to advocate for them.

There was always a warm welcome at every house. As one listened to the heart –rending stories of these refugee families, one often wondered if compassion and love were just dreams of the past. Everybody had fled war and violence; their travels to Jordan were arduous, but somehow they made it. Once here, there are issues of loneliness and isolation, of not being easily accepted, of education for the children and of employment. The rented ‘homes’ they now lived in had the minimum of facilities (one could see it); the rentals kept increasing. Most find it extremely difficult to make both ends meet.

We listened to the Iraqi woman who fled Mosul and also a violent husband; to the Syrian woman with three children, whose husband is now taken away from her and now detained far away in another camp, because he was ‘working’ and that is against the law; then, there was another woman whose husband has been deported back to the country from which he had fled- and the family has absolutely no knowledge of his whereabouts. Some want to die; others feel totally helpless and hopeless. Listening to their pain, seeing their tears, made the rains and chill, the steep climbs and the slippery slopes, pale into insignificance. As one walked on, the words of Charlie Chaplin kept tugging at my heartstrings “I always love walking in the rain, so no one can me crying.” We did however experience the refugees crying.

For the refugees, JRS represented by Esraa and Mohamed, comes as a life- line. The two of them listened with their hearts. The bonding was infectious, the warmth was palpable. One could feel this, as Esraa embraced an elderly woman and as Mohamed took out some sweets from his bag to give the little children. Today was also ‘Valentine’s Day’, when the world celebrates ‘love’ – even if it is very commercial and cosmetic! (Plenty of reminders in the shops, newspapers and WhatsApp messages). One could not help reflecting on the real meaning of ‘love’: the courage to reach out in compassion, to our sisters and brothers who are displaced, excluded and marginalised. In a very extra-ordinary way, through seemingly ordinary deeds, I was part of an experience in which Esraa and Mohamed communicated to those they encountered, what love actually means!

When I was young, there was a popular love song ‘Walking in the Rain’; it was a boy-girl romantic song. Today, in a very different context and a more challenging reality, I cannot but help remember the chorus of that song:

“Feels like I'm walking in the rain
I find myself trying to wash away the pain
Cause I need you to give me some shelter
Cause I'm fading away
And baby, I'm walking in the rain”

14^th February 2017
Amman Jordan

Frustrated farmer sets his onion field on fire

February 16, 2017

Nashik, Feb 15 (PTI) A farmer in Nashik district of Maharashtra today said he set on fire his onion crop in the field out of frustration.

Representation Image

Krishna Dongare, resident of Nagarsul in Yeola tehsil, said he burnt the crop in his 2.5 acres farm yesterday because the prices had crashed.

"I have spent Rs three lakh on the onion crop in my field, but traders have stopped buying the produce in auctions. Farmers are staging road blockades in the district demanding better prices. The demand was also hit by the demonetisation. If I sold my crop today, I would get only Rs 60,000," Dongare said.

Jaydutta Holkar, chairperson of Lasalgaon's agricultural produce market committee, said onion prices were falling for the past several days and farmers were not recovering even the input costs.

Onion prices have fallen to Rs 100-150 per quintal at some places. APMC centres in the district including those at Mungse and Zodge have stopped auctions of onion, as it is not possible to send the crop to markets across the country due to shortage of railway waggons, traders had said yesterday.

Will Valentine’s Day Soon Be Wiped from Public Memory?

February 15, 2017

Image courtesy socialmaharaj.com

It is not surprising that the right-wing ruling class is usurping Valentine’s Day and stigmatising the celebration of love by Hindu-ising the day. The Directorate of Public Education of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Chhattisgarh government has issued notices to schools, directing that February 14 be marked as “Matru-Pitru Diwas” (Mother-Father Day) to inculcate “bharatiya sanskriti”, or “Indian culture”.

This is not the first time a day meant to commemorate an idea has been changed to signify another, more “Indian”, referent. Since 2015, December 25 — Christmas for most of the world — is officially recognised as “Good Governance Day” in India. This was meant as an homage to veteran BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee on his birthday. It is no coincidence that December 6 — Ambedkar Mahaparinirvanam Diwas, observed by millions of Indians as a day to pay homage to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar — was the day chosen by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to demolish the Babri Masjid in 1992. In past years we have witnessed organisations like the Shiv Sena, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Students Islamic Organisation of India and others indulging in moral policing, often violently, against couples found in public spaces on Valentine’s Day. This year we see the beginning of a different trend. The attack on this secular day of celebration comes from the ruling government, and through a government institution, the Directorate of Public Education, in the name of Matru-Pitru Diwas.

Last February, some national newspapers reported that the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena would not indulge in the usual violence and moral policing on Valentine’s Day. Lalmani Verma's report stated that the “Bajrang Dal’s convener for UP and Uttarakhand, Surendra Mishra, said that the 'acts that couples indulge in' on roads and at public places on Valentine’s Day is 'similar to nature of animals' and interfering with them is useless. 'It has been decided at the top level of the organisation that our workers will not disturb any couple any more,' Mishra said. Bajrang Dal’s Awadh region convener, Rakesh Verma said the organisation was against western culture and hence the workers’ protest will remain confined to torching Valentine’s Day cards only 'but there will be no misbehaviour with any couple.'"

In 2015, just a year prior to these statements, the Bajrang Dal had announced that it would solemnise the marriage of boys and girls found together in public places on Valentine’s Day. As for the couples who refused, the Bajrang Dal karyakartas (workers) would make them leave the area after giving them images of Shiva and Parvathi, as well as Krishna and Radha, and advising them to express their love as these gods did. Even the Shiv Sena had taken a similar decision not to misbehave with couples last year: "'National head of Shiv Sena’s youth wing, Aditya Thackeray, has issued strict directions to not misbehave with any boy or girl on Valentine’s Day. He does not want assault or misbehaviour with youths. Shiv Sena is against western culture and we have communicated our message during past years. We are not going to assault any couple. If any worker will misbehave or assault any couple, he will be expelled from the party', said Anil Singh, UP head of Shiv Sena.” Not only has no leader of the RSS or any other right-wing group made any controversial statements regarding Valentine’s Day this year, the newspapers too, quite surprisingly, are devoid of the usual heteronormative patriarchal advertisements surrounding this day. Like all other festivals, Valentine’s Day has long been a means to make big profits for the markets, and sexist commercials have lured the public into indulging in consumption. Have the cultural right and the economic right come to a consensus to wipe out Valentine’s Day celebrations from India?

While, on the one hand, it is the right wing of this country that invites finance capital into India through neo-liberal policies, on the other hand, the clash between the cultural and economic right wings is most acute on the question of Valentine's Day. While the market wants to make a profit using this day of celebration, for the cultural right the celebration of love stands in the way of constructing a Hindu Rashtra. In past years, it has taken the form of direct attacks. The Shiv Sena, for example, has attacked shops selling Valentine’s Day cards, obstructing their profit-making. The popular mainstream media has stepped back from raising funds from its pages with long advertisements marked with red and pink to mark Valentine's Day. Instead, the newspapers are now printing expressions we can all tell our parents on Matru-Pitru Diwas. Here is a sample: "Without you there would be no me. It's as simple as that! I love you with all my heart. Happy Valentine's Day!" and "As my Mom and Dad… as my friend… as a Valentine… you're the best!" Maybe next year Prime Minister Modi will ask us to take selfies with our parents and post them on Twitter!

It's true that the habit of displaying affection publicly is not common among Indians. Valentine’s Day is an enabler — one that offers a yearly opportunity and vocabulary through which one can express feelings of affection and attraction. Instead, Valentine’s Day has been made the scapegoat for our disturbingly regressive attitudes towards consensual adult relationships outside the narrow bounds of social permissibility. Moral guardians are always ready to stand as gatekeepers of culture.

This day of romance, celebrating individualistic, mutually respectful love, is attacked by those who wish to maintain the status quo. The question is, when do we fight for, and when do we celebrate, equality between the sexes?

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

What’s the point of progress if kids are malnourished, Bombay High Court asks Maha govt

February 15, 2017

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today said Maharashtra’s progress and prosperity is pointless when 50 per cent of children in the state are malnourished and below the poverty line.

The court also observed that the government has not taken any serious steps to address the problem.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and P R Bora was hearing a bunch of PILs highlighting increasing instances of malnutrition-related deaths and illness among those living in Melghat region of Vidarbha and other tribal areas.

“In our state, the children’s population must be over 40 crore. Out of this, 50 per cent children are below poverty line and suffering from malnourishment. What is the point of prosperity and progress in the state when this is the situation,” Justice Kanade observed.

The court further said the state government ought to make separate allocation of funds to address the issue in the upcoming budget session.

The court has posted the petitions for further hearing on March 1, when the secretaries of Women and Child Welfare department and the Tribal Welfare department will have to submit power-point presentations to HC on how they propose to tackle the problem and what measures will be undertaken.

The court had earlier too come down heavily on the government for failing to initiate steps to solve the problem, and had said the concerned ministers will have to take more interest.

All UP BJP MPs, except two, measurably failed to spend funds meant for development

February 15, 2017

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on development plank, but its MPs from the country’s highest populated state failed to spend a whopping Rs 333.6 crores of MPLAD funds meant for development of their constituencies.

UP alone gave the party 71 out of the total 80 seats in Lok Sabha seats in 2014 trusting the promises of ‘vikas‘ (development) and ‘achche din‘ (good days).

Notably, Rs 135 crores of these funds not spent in 33 Lok Sabha constituencies where either Dalits or Muslims are in sizeable number, reveals a study conducted by a US-based advocacy group.

Every year, an MP is given Rs 5 crore for development works under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) in his constituency.

While Rs 71 crore remained unspent in 17 Dalit-dominated constituencies, over Rs 64 crore could not be spent in 16 other constituencies where Muslims account for more than 20 percent of the population.

All these 33 seats are represented by BJP MPs.

The fund utilization percentage for 17 Dalit-dominated constituencies stood at 58.91 percent, while that for Muslim-majority constituencies was 67.76 percent.

“Average of the percent utilized for MPLAD funds drops for Dalit seats to 58.9 percent while it goes up significantly for Muslim seats to 67.8 percent. The average of all seats is 60.8 percent,” says the report.

However, if individual performance as for utilization of MPLAD funds is taken into consideration, two of all the 71 BJP MPs have performed the best.

BJP MP Satish Kumar of Aligarh has utilized 86 percent of the Rs 15 crore allotted to him for the development of his constituency. Maneka Gandhi, also from BJP, comes close second with 85.9 percent of utilization.

Kanwar Pushpendra Singh, BJP MP from Hamirpur, is the worst performer who utilized only 17 percent of his funds and Kannauj’s Dimple Yadav of Samajwadi Party, with 24 percent of funds utilization, is second from the bottom.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter

Take suo motu action for release of undertrials, Centre urges HCs

February 15, 2017

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the increasing number of undertrial prisoners in jails across the country, the government has urged the high courts to take suo motu action for their release after they complete half of their likely term.

Section 436A of the CrPC provides that if an undertrial has completed half of the likely term he is likely to get for the crime he has allegedly committed, then he or she can be granted bail with or without surety. It is not applicable on offence for which the punishment of death has been specified as one of the punishments under the law.

In a recent letter to chief justices of the 24 high courts, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that they should advise the district judiciary to review all such cases and take suo motu action for their release.

“I shall also be grateful if the high court ensures that the undertrial review committee mechanism, for periodic monitoring of undertrial releases, continues to effectively deliver its mandate, so that the basic human rights of the undertrials are not undermined,” he wrote.

In September 2014, the Supreme Court had said that states should release all such undertrials who come under the ambit of Section 436A of the CrPC.

According to National Crime Records Bureau estimates, 67 per cent of the people in jails are undertrials — those not yet convicted of any crime.

At 82.4 per cent, Bihar had the highest proportion of undertrials, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 81.5, Odisha at 78.8, Jharkhand at 77.1 and Delhi at 76.7.

Successive Union Law Ministers and Union Home Ministers have been regularly writing to high courts and state governments to review the status of undertrials.

Adani Group “seeks to change” Australian law to obtain Native Title nod for $16 billion Coal Mining project: W&J

February 15, 2017

The Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) Traditional Owners Council, who have been fighting against one of the biggest coal mining projects of the world, said they would “resist industry push for amended Native Title Act to secure Carmichael mine proposal” and “seek court order to strike out" the move. This is against Adani's project off the Gold Coast of Australia. (https://envirojustice.org.au/sites/default/files/files/Submissions%20and%20reports/The_Adani_Brief_by_Environmental_Justice_Australia.pdf)

Spokesperson for W&J Adrian Burragubba said, “The document Adani is trying to pass off as an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with our people is illegitimate. We launched action last year to defeat this dodgy deal and we are now taking decisive action in the Federal Court to have this fake agreement struck out”.

Burragubba said, “We have put evidence before the National Native Title Tribunal to prove that Adani does not have an agreement with W&J for its mine of mass destruction, which will destroy our ancestral homelands and waters, the cultural landscape and our heritage.”

He added, “Three times we have rejected any deal with the Indian mining conglomerate. Now Adani are on the back foot and have run crying to the Queensland Resources Council and the Federal Attorney General, asking them to do their bidding by pushing through an ‘Adani amendment’ to the Native Title Act.”

Burragubba claimed, his organization has come to know about Adani's move to amend the law from former Federal Resources Minister Ian MacFarlane, who “boasted at a Townsville business breakfast last week that he has spoken to his ‘good mates in Canberra’ about amending native title law.”

He alleged, “This is just additional proof that the Turnbull government is in bed with the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and the Queensland mining industry.”

Representing W&J, lawyer Colin Hardie said, “Adani and the mining industry are trying to manufacture a sense of crisis and appear desperate to force the Federal government to rush through changes to the Native Title Act to suit their interests.”

The Native Title Act requires all members the Registered Native Title Claimants (RNTC) to sign the ILUA, which is a voluntary agreement between a native title group and others about the use of land and waters, for any changes.

At a meeting of the indigenous group called by the industry group, said W&J, over “200 of those in attendance were people not previously identified as W&J people”, adding, worse, some members of the RNTC refused to sign the purported ILUA – the reason why the Adani is seeking to amend the Act.

Meanwhile, an Australian not-for-profit legal practice group based in Melbourne, Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), has come up with an Adani Brief, which it has forwarded to the Australian governments and potential financiers seeking to back Adani’s coalming project, saying such a move “may expose them to financial and reputational risks.”

Giving details of the Adani Brief, EJA lawyer and report author Ariane Wilkinson said, “The extremely concerning international track record of the Adani Group in India raises serious questions about whether they should be allowed to do business in Australia.”

The report, among other issues, focuses on sinking of a ship carrying Adani coal, which saw oil and coal spill off Mumbai’s coast, damaging tourism, polluting the marine environment and attracting a AU$975,000 court fine; and constructing Hajira Port without approval, destroying habitat, claiming land and blocking access to fishing communities, which resulted in a court order to pay AU$4.8 million for compensation and restoration.

Gujarat farmers’ rally “attacked” after protesters demanded Narmada waters near industrial hub Sanand

February 15, 2017

In a development which is likely to go a long way to politically hurt Gujarat BJP rulers' pro-Narmada image, the police on Tuesday allegedly attacked protesting farmers from 15 villages of Ahmedabad district, exploding teargas shells and beating up many of them up with batons for demanding Narmada waters for irrigating their fields.

The farmers were taking out a rally took near Sanand town, which attracted national attention following shifting of the Tata Nano plant from West Bengal with the direct financial support of the Narendra Modi government of Gujarat.

During the scuffle, several farmers, who belonged to Sanand, Bavla and Nalsarovar regions, were injured. At least 3,000 farmers were participating in the rally. The farmers had come in tractors, on motorbikes and other vehicles with huge banners demanding Narmada waters. Many of the vehicles were also damaged during the police attack.

While the state officialdom claimed that seven cops, including district superintendent of police, VR Asari, allegedly because of stone pelting, it admitted, the rally was taken out as the farmers were angry as the state government had refused grant permission for taking out the rally right up to Gandhinagar.

A state government spokesperson further claimed that the stone pelting began even as the cops were in talk with some of the farmers' leaders. This, he added, led to cops resorting to "mild lathicharge and firing some tear gas shells to control the situation." He added, however, "There are no reports of civilian injury." An farmer, however, said, it was the cops which resorted to stone pelting first.

The police said, they have detained more than a dozen farmers for stone pelting, and a first information report has been filed against those who were leading the rally with the Sanand Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) police station.

A senior non-political Gujarat farmers' leader, criticizing the Gujarat government for allowing cops for resorting to the baton charge, said, "It is difficult to understand why Narmada waters, which pass through Ahmedabad district, are not provided to the farmers of the region, but are being sent to far way Kutch and Jamnagar to help industry."

Khedut Samaj Gujarat secretary Sagar Rabari said, "The farmers' anger suggests that people are losing faith in democratic ways of protest. This is not for the first time that they were not allowed to take out a rally. The state government would do well to provide Narmada waters to the region, or face more such protests in the coming days."

Meanwhile, well-known pro-quota Patidar leader Hardik Patel has criticised the “police action” to use force against the farmers, saying this was done "the behest of BJP government in Gujarat, which is known for suppressing people who raise their voice.”

Patel said, the state was trying terrorising people. “Farmers were baton charged for raising their legitimate demand. Such atrocities prove that this government is anti-farmer", he insisted, warning, he would organize more such farmers' protest in coming days." The Congress also gave a statement condemning the police "attack".

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Love Walking in the Rain

Frustrated farmer sets his onion field on fire

Will Valentine’s Day Soon Be Wiped from Public Memory?

What’s the point of progress if kids are malnourished, Bombay High Court asks Maha govt

All UP BJP MPs, except two, measurably failed to spend funds meant for development

Take suo motu action for release of undertrials, Centre urges HCs

Adani Group “seeks to change” Australian law to obtain Native Title nod for $16 billion Coal Mining project: W&J

Gujarat farmers’ rally “attacked” after protesters demanded Narmada waters near industrial hub Sanand

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