Wide-spread non-compliance as thermal power plants don’t meet water use norms

July 5, 2019

A Note by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra based on Information Obtained Under Right to Information Act

Top: Water intake structure for Vedanta power plant under construction on the Hirakud reservoir in Odisha. Middle: Pipes for water transfer near Saradih. Bottom: Water intake structure for power plants under construction at Saradih on Mahanadi river in Chhatisgadh. Pix by Shripad Dharmadhikary

It is almost a month since the normal onset date of the monsoon, and headlines have been dominated by situation of drought and water scarcity over large areas of the country. Under the circumstances, it is a matter of serious concern that many thermal power plants – heavy water guzzlers and the largest industrial user of water – are failing to comply with the legally binding limits on how much water they are allowed to use. This situation has been revealed by information obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra.

These power plants have violated the limits set by new regulations notified in Dec 2015 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Such gross violation of water use limits shows negligence on part of both, the power plants, and the regulating body, that is the MoEFCC and reveals a lack of seriousness to implement these norms.

Only 51% Plant Meet Regulations

We could obtain compliance status (self-reported) for thermal power plants or units from 12 states. Just about 51% of the plants were found to be in compliance with the regulations.

Out of the total 156 plants/ units for which we could obtain the status, 66 claimed that they complied with the water consumption limits, while 30 admitted that they were non-compliant. For another 46 plants, either data was not available, or replies were ambiguous or the plants were closed. As other 14 plants were using sea water, they are exempted from the regulations.

What is equally important is that this compliance status is self-reported status by the various power plants. These figures or status have not been verified or cross checked either by the state pollution control boards (SPCBs) or any other independent agencies.

These 156 plants included a number of smaller, captive power plants. If we consider only the major power plants (those being monitored by the Central Electricity Authority in its Daily Generation list), then the number of plants for which we could get information was only 75, and in this 34 plants were compliant with the norms and 22 were not.

Background and Significance of the Norms

Coal based thermal power plants consume vast quantities of water, mainly for cooling needs and for disposal of ash. They are the largest industrial water users, accounting for close to 70% of all water used for industrial purposes in India. Given this, thermal power plants can cause significant water stress in the local area, especially if they are present in clusters.

It is due to the seriousness of the issue that the MoEFCC, in Dec 2015, brought out a notification amending the Environment Protection Rules 1986, setting limits on how much water a thermal power plant can use per unit of electricity generated. Before this, there was no limit and thermal power plants consumed needlessly excessive quantities of water in a completely unregulated manner. The Dec 2015 rules set the following limits for how much water thermal power plants can use. (Table 1)

The power plants were to meet these norms within 2 years of the notification, that is, by 7 Dec 2017. Coastal power plants using sea water were also exempted from the limits vide amendment dated 28 June 2018.

A 2012 report by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) noted that coal based thermal power plants (TPPs) were consuming 5-7 Cubic Meters/ MWh of water. The new norms require them to consume a maximum of 3.5 (or 3 in case of plants after 2017) cubic meters/MWh. To understand the implications, note that every reduction of 0.5 Cubic meters/MWh in the specific consumption of a 1000 MW plant will save enough water in a year to irrigate 700 ha of land; or provide drinking and domestic use water to 68,000 people for an entire year. Considering that many TPPs are in water stressed areas, the cutting down of water consumption by TPPs has huge benefits for the local areas. Hence, it is very important to implement these norms and ensure that the TPPs keep their specific water consumption within the limits set by these norms.

State-wise Details of Compliance

Unfortunately, as noted above, information obtained by us shows significant non-compliance to these water consumption norms. An overall picture of all states taken together is given in Figure 1.

Table 2 below gives the state-wise details of status of compliance with water consumption norms for power plants listed in the DGR.

Issues of Concern with Compliance Information

Self-Reporting, No Independent Verification

As pointed out above, the status of compliance with the regulations of water consumption is entirely self-reported by the respective power plants. The respective SPCBs just provided us with figures as submitted by the power plants, with no verification or vetting from their side or by any other credible, independent third party.

Some States Gave No Information, Most did not Give for All Power Plants

Out of RTI applications filed with 15 states, we did not get information for even one TPP from three states – Bengal, Karnataka and Rajasthan. This, in spite of several formal appeals and discussions on phone with respective information officers. Most states did not give information about all the TPPs in the states, leading us to wonder whether the states are actually monitoring compliance by all the plants or just passively collecting information from whichever plant submits it, and ignoring others.

The CEA monitors the electricity generation from all the major power plants in the country on a daily basis and puts out the Daily Generation Report (DGR). We used the DGR as a source of identifying operational power plant in each state. Maharashtra gave us information for only 5 TPPs out of 24 listed by the DGR in the state. Madhya Pradesh gave us information for 1 TPP, as against 14 plants in the state. Tamil Nadu and Odisha were the ones who provided most information. T.N. provided information for 11 out of 15 plants in the DGR for the state, and provided information for another 26 plants in the state that are not listed in the DGR. (These are normally smaller, captive plants, which the DGR does not list). Odisha gave us information for 7 out of 11 in the DGR, but also gave information for 32 other plants which are not in the DGR. Most other states were in-between. (See Figure 2).

No Uniform Format for Information Given

Moreover, there was no uniform format in which the information was provided to us. Some SPCBs provided the actual numbers (how many cubic meters of water was used per MWh of electricity produced), whereas many just replied saying “Complied”. Where numbers were provided, some provided only one number, other provide monthly averages for several months, still others provided daily averages for the last quarter. This is in spite of the fact that there is a prescribed standard format for reporting compliance with the regulations, and some states did provide information in this format (See Annexure 1 for sample of the prescribed format) . It is astonishing that that all SPCBs are not collecting and maintaining the information on compliance with water consumption norms in a uniform prescribed standard. It may be pointed out that the notification itself does not give any indication as to for which period and how the specific consumption is to be measured. Thus the only fair interpretation is that on no occasion should the limit be breached.

Information Given is Old in Many Cases

In many cases, the information provided to us was several months old, or even from earlier years. For example, information given by Odisha for most plants was for the year 2017-18, though our applications were made in Dec 2018 / early 2019.

This raises the question as to whether the collection of compliance information is being done on a regular basis to ensure that latest status is available.

Inadequate, Evasive or Impossible to Understand Information

Some states gave us information only for the total water used by the power plants, whereas the norms are for water used per unit of electricity generated. So this information was inadequate in understanding if the regulations were being complied with.

Some of the regional offices of the state pollution control board in a particular state replied to us saying they are monitoring the thermal power plants in their jurisdiction and that these plants have been submitting the details of water consumption, but for compliance status, they just wrote “Thermal power plant has to comply with notification”!

In another state, most regional offices of the pollution control board said that they are monitoring the thermal power plants for water consumption norms, but about compliance status, said “The information asked is not available in form of record. If information for specific industry is asked, then it can be provided as per the provisions of RTI – Act 2005.” Yet, one regional office in the same state did give us the required information.

Need to Put out Information Suo Moto as Required by RTI Act

Given the significance of compliance with water consumption norms, and given all the difficulties, outlined above, in obtaining this information, we urge that it is important for the SPCBs to put all the relevant data in the public domain suo moto. This is also required by the Right to Information Act 2005, whose Art 4 (2) clearly requires “every public authority to …provide as much information suo moto to the public …so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.” The case of data related to water consumption by thermal power plants is a most appropriate case for such suo moto disclosures.

We have started writing to some of the state information commissions requesting them to ensure this, but so far there has been no response.
No Timelines or Reporting to Supreme Court

It may also be mentioned that the Supreme Court is hearing the matter of implementation of the Dec 2015 norms as a part of the Writ Petition (Civil) 13029 of 1985. In this, the MoEFCC/CEA has submitted to the Court detailed time lines, plant by plant for implementation of the SO2 and other air pollution emission related norms. However, no mention is made by MoEFCC/CEA of the implementation and any time lines for the water related norms of the same notification. The original matter pertains to air pollution in NCR (National Capital Region) and the MoEFCC / CEA may be using that as an excuse not to give information about the water norms. But we feel that the status of implementation and the timelines for water norms also must be submitted to the Supreme Court because, one, the water norms are also part of the same notification, and more important, meeting air norms impacts the water use and waste water discharge. For example, to control the SO2 emissions, all plants are to install Flue Gas Desulpharisation (FDG) units, which consume significant amounts of water.

Lack of Seriousness in PCBs to Ensure Implementation of Norms

While the non-compliance and the other above-mentioned issues are a cause for concern, equally worrying is the fact that neither the MoEFCC, nor the state pollution control boards (SPCBs) which are responsible for monitoring the compliance with regulations, seem to be serious about enforcing the norms.

The compliance monitoring figures are not in public domain, and it needed extensive, time-consuming RTI applications and appeals to SPCBs in 15 states to get the information. Even then, we could get only part of the information as many replies were incomplete, inadequate, evasive or impossible to understand. Having the latest status and information about compliance in the public domain is critical to ensure accountability of both, the thermal power plants as well as the PCBs. Information on whether plants are meeting the water consumption norms or not will be of great help to local communities who are directly affected if plants consume more water than allowed.

The Dec 2015 notification gave two years’ time for the power plants to be fully complaint, and yet, there are many who are not meeting the standards more than a year after the expiry of this period. The only action that the SPCBs seem to have taken is to write to the concerned power plants to meet norms. For example, one state pollution control board said that for non-compliant plant, “The unit has been addressed to maintain water consumption below 3.5 m3/MWH.” Other state replies also showed only similar “actions” being taken.

Last but not the least, it appears that the CPCB / MoEFCC has tried to allow the thermal power plants an open ended extension of time period to meet the standards in a manner that is legally questionable. Just as the deadline to meet the norms ended on 7 Dec 2017, the CPCB wrote, on 11 Dec 2017, to all power plants extending up to 2022 the deadline for meeting the air pollution / emission part of the norms in the Dec 2015 Notification. The legality of these directions is being questioned by lawyers, as they claim that the powers delegated to CPCB are to be used to ensure that regulations are met, and cannot be used to extend the deadlines for meeting norms.

In the case of water norms part of the Dec 2015 Notification, these letters of CPCB appear to be even more arbitrary and untenable, as they don’t even set any deadline. All they say is that “the time line for compliance of water consumption limit shall also be finalised in consultation of plants.” This is not only a patent conflict of interest situation but provides an ideal opportunity for rent seeking. Not only that, the time limit for meeting the norms is open-ended, but also there is no time period given by which the deadline has to be set. This effectively makes it an open ended exemption to the plants from meeting the water norms, and thus not only bypasses the provision of deadline in the original notification, and but effectively tries to render the original notification null and void. If the deadline to meet a regulation is not defined, then effectively the regulation is meaningless. Given this, the CPCB letter’s legality is questionable on these grounds also.

Recommendations

Given the massive consumption of water by thermal power plants, and location of many thermal power plants in water stressed areas, it is very important that the limits on how much water a power plant can consume be strictly enforced and adhered to. In other words, the Dec 2015 regulations must be implemented fully. Moreover, the status of implementation, with all the relevant data, must be available in the public domain so that local communities and others can help in the accountability of thermal power plants and regulatory agencies like SPCBs. This is the core of transparent and participatory democratic functioning. More specifically:

All SPCBs and the CPCB must ensure that all TPPs meet the water consumption norms given in the Dec 2015 Notification with immediate effect, as the deadline has long passed.
Without prejudice to (1) above, where power plants have used the letter of CPCB of 11 Dec 2017 to avoid the deadline given in the original Notification, the respective SPCBs must immediately set new deadlines and these deadlines should be made public. In any case, we suggest tht these deadlines should not be more than three months from now, that is, not beyond Sept 2019. Even with this, power plants would have got almost 2 years additional to meet the norms.
All SPCBs should collect the data related to compliance with these water consumption norms in a regular manner.
Such data should be in the uniform, prescribed format for all TPPs no matter in which state.
All this data along with the compliance status should be put out suo moto in public domain. This is also required by the Art 4 (2) of the Right to Information Act.
Compliance can be self-reported, but verification by independent credible agencies and the SPCBs is a must.
SPCBs should initiate action against those not meeting regulations, and put that in public domain so that local communities can follow up.

Courtesy: Counter View

From the Green Revolution to GMOs: Toxic Agriculture Is the Problem Not the Solution

July 5, 2019

Why did the European Food Safety Authority claim that glyphosate was not ecotoxic? This is the question environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason poses in her new 23-page report which can be accessed in full here. In places, the report reads like a compilation of peer-reviewed studies and official reports that have documented the adverse impacts of chemicals used in modern agriculture.

Only a brief outline of Mason’s report is possible here. Readers are urged to consult the document to grasp more detailed insight into the issues she discusses as well as the evidence cited in support of her arguments and claims.

Mason argues that the European Commission has consistently bowed to the demands of the pesticide lobby. In turn, she notes the fraudulent nature of the assessment of glyphosate which led to its relicensing in Europe and thus the continued use of Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup. This ongoing support for the pesticide lobby flies in the face of so much evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of Roundup and other agrochemicals on the environment, living organisms, soil, water and human health.

These chemicals have become integral to an increasingly globalised process of agro-industrialisation. Mason discusses the nature of modern farming by referring to the endless corn fields of Iowa. One hundred years ago, these fields were home to 300 species of plants, 60 mammals, 300 birds and thousands of insects. Now, there is almost literally nothing – except corn – in what amounts to a biological desert. The birds, bees and insects have gone.

It’s a type of farming where so much toxic agrochemicals are used that they have ended up in soils and sediment, ditches and drains, precipitation, rivers and streams and even in seas, lakes, ponds, wetlands and groundwater. A type of agriculture that is responsible for undermining essential biodiversity, human health and diverse, nutritious diets.

The report takes us further afield, to the Great Barrier Reef to discuss the destruction of coral by Monsanto’s Roundup and Bayer’s insecticide clothianidin. It is interesting that the pesticide industry and the media tend to blame global warming for the degradation of the reef. Although there have been efforts to grow new corals, Mason states that pesticide run off from farmland means that corals will continue to be destroyed.

She touches on the role of agrochemicals in relation to the decline of the Monarch butterfly and the now well-documented ecological Armageddon due to the dramatic plunge in insect numbers: insects which are vital to soil health and the food web. Numerous studies and reports are presented as well as warnings from scientists and whistleblowers like Henk Tennekes and Evaggelos Vallianatos about the impacts of toxic chemicals in food and agriculture.

Indeed, since the late 1990s, Mason notes that various scientists have written in increasingly desperate tones about biodiversity loss and the impact on humanity as well as the emerging fungal threats to animal, plant and ecosystem health.

Mason also reveals insight into her own struggles with a local authority in Wales over the destruction of her nature reserve due to the council’s spraying of Roundup in the vicinity. Despite numerous open letters and e-mails to UK and European agencies documenting the impacts of this herbicide (some of this correspondence is contained in the report, with responses), her evidence has been ignored and it remains ‘business as usual’.

That’s because global agrochemical conglomerates exert huge political influence at state and international levels. For instance, back in 2017, the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food was heavily critical of these companies and accused them of the “systematic denial of harms”, “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” and heavy lobbying of governments which has “obstructed reforms and paralysed global pesticide restrictions”. The authors noted the catastrophic impacts on the environment, human health and society in general.

At the time, one of the report’s authors, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, said:

“The power of the corporations over governments and over the scientific community is extremely important. If you want to deal with pesticides, you have to deal with the companies…”

Her co-author, Baskut Tuncak, the UN’s special rapporteur on toxics, added:

“While scientific research confirms the adverse effects of pesticides, proving a definitive link between exposure and human diseases or conditions or harm to the ecosystem presents a considerable challenge. This challenge has been exacerbated by a systematic denial, fuelled by the pesticide and agro-industry, of the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals, and aggressive, unethical marketing tactics.”

In noting the severity of the issue and the driving forces that perpetuate and profit from the chemical-intensive corporatised global food regime, Mason quotes Vandana Shiva:

“The ecological crisis, the agrarian crisis, the food crisis, the health and nutrition crisis, the crisis of democracy and sovereignty are not separate crises. They are one. And they are connected through food. The web of life is a food web. When it is ruptured by chemicals and poisons that come from war, and rules of ‘free trade’ that is a war declared by corporations against the earth and humanity, biodiversity is wiped out, farmers are killed through debt, and people die either because of hunger or because of cancer, diabetes, heart problems, hypertension and other environment and food related chronic diseases. Everyone is paying a very high price for corporate greed and dictatorship and collusion of corporate states to spread the toxic empire of corporations in the name of ‘reforms’.”

Pesticides include herbicides, insecticides, termiticides, nematicides, rodenticides and fungicides. Today, the pesticide industry is valued at over $50 billion and there are around 600 active ingredients. Herbicides account for approximately 80 per cent of all pesticide use.

Of course, Vandana Shiva’s main focus is on India and the ongoing undermining of its indigenous agriculture by foreign corporations.

The potential market for herbicide growth alone in India is huge: sales have probably now reached over $800 million per year in that country, with scope for even greater expansion. And have no doubt the global agrochemical industry has made India a priority.

From cotton to soybean, little wonder we see the appearance of illegal genetically modified (GM) herbicide-tolerant seeds in the country. These seeds are designed not only to push GM into India across a range of food crops but, ultimately, to drive the growth of the herbicide market in India, as they have in South America. The detrimental health impacts there as a result of the widespread use of Roundup are now well documented along with the displacement of indigenous peasant agriculture to make way for commodity monocropping agro-exports. At the same time, in certain cotton cultivation areas of India, we have seen a push to break traditional weeding practices (‘double-lining’ ox ploughing), seemingly with the intention on nudging farmers towards taking up herbicide-tolerant seeds.

Little wonder too that we currently see industry-connected lobbyists (masquerading as objective scientists or independent ‘science communicators’) residing abroad and encouraging farmers in India to plant these illegal GM seeds in what appears to be an orchestrated campaign. Numerous high-level reports have stated that GM is unsuitable for India. Having lost the debate, the GM/agrochemical lobby has now resorted to a tactic of illegal cultivation.

While touting the supposed virtues of GM agriculture, these lobbyists also spend much of their time promoting the merits of its godparent, the Green Revolution, in an attempt to justify the roll-out of GM seeds and associated herbicides. But emerging academic research indicates that the Green Revolution in India did next to nothing in terms of increasing productivity, despite the well-perpetuated myth that it saved lives and helped avert famine. In fact, in Punjab, the cradle of the Green Revolution in India, this ‘green dream’ has turned into a toxic environmental and human health nightmare.

India produces enough food to feed its population. It does so without GM and could do so agroecologically without synthetic chemicals – without ‘nuking’ nature and without destroying human health. While the agrochemical lobby continues to spin the message that India and the world need its proprietary inputs to feed the world and eradicate hunger, the reality is – as noted by Hilal Elver and Baskut Tuncak – that we do not.

If we want to look at the causes of hunger and malnutrition, we must first address the deleterious impacts of the water-guzzling, chemical-dependent Green Revolution, so eloquently described by Bhaskar Save in his open letter to officials in 2006 and extremely pertinent given India’s current water emergency; the global capitalist food regime and its undermining of regional food security and food sovereignty; the lack of income to purchase sufficient food; and various other issues, including an erosion of land rights, debt, poverty and food distribution problems.
No amount of genetic engineering or chemicals can address these issues. And no amount of industry-inspired spin can divert attention from the root causes of malnutrition and hunger and genuine (agroecological) solutions.

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer. Join him on Twitter.

Courtesy: Counter Current

Visiting the Mahabharata in 19 voices

July 5, 2019

“There is a problem with the single voice, especially in the epic. What is a mainstream narrative? What is a majoritarian narrative? The bigger the epic, the more panoply of characters, the more the narratives there are.” – Karthika Nair.

Kanika Katyal in conversation with Karthika Nair

Karthika Nair is the author of several books, including Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, a re-imagination of the Mahabharata in multiple voices. The book won the 2015 Tata Literature Live Award for Book of the Year (Fiction). She is also a dance enabler and was the principal scriptwriter for Akram Khan’s “DESH” (2011), “Chotto Desh” (2015) and “Until the Lions” (2016), which is an adaptation of her own book.

In this interview with Kanika Katyal of the Indian Cultural Forum, she talks about visiting the Mahabharata through poetry, the voices she was most compelled by, her writing influences and what it means to be a dance writer.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

Chawri Bazar Incident: Multicultural Values Trump Communalism

July 5, 2019

A small incident in old Delhi was being used to spark communal tension in the area, but the multicultural values of Indian society seem to have defeated the attempt.

A small incident in old Delhi was being used to spark communal tension in the area, but the multicultural values of Indian society seem to have defeated the attempt. This attempt to turn a spat about parking space into communal disharmony failed, and the residents of Chawri Bazar took out a peace march instead. They have kept the centuries-old values alive that respect all cultures and religions.

Courtesy: News Click

MHA targets Md Sanaullah again, deliberate attempt to obfuscate the truth?

July 4, 2019

As if it wasn’t bad enough that a decorated Kargil war veteran’s citizenship was questioned and he was thrown into a detention camp, the Ministry of Home Affairs has now added fresh insult to Mohammed Sanaullah’s injuries. In a submission before the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy claimed that Sanaullah was sent to a detention camp as he had failed to furnish evidence of his Indian citizenship.

Reddy reportedly said, “The foreigners tribunal observed that none of the documents and their content produced by Mohammad Sanaullah was proved by the authority concerned to establish the linkage about his citizenship.” Reddy further said, “The foreigners tribunal found that Mohammad Sanaullah failed to furnish the required evidence under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, to establish his linkage to his parentage on Indian soil prior to March 25, 1971, and to submit any proof to establish the fact that he was an Indian citizen by birth.”

Mohammad Sanaullah, who served in the Army and fought in the Kargil war, and who received a medal and letter of appreciation from none other than the then President of India for his service to the nation, was declared ‘foreigner’ on March 27, 2019 by the Boko FT, based on a minor confusion about his age.

Moreover, Chandrabaran Das, the Border Police official (now retired) who had initially filed a report flagging Sanaullah’s citizenship, has clarified that this is a case of mistaken identity. In an interview to NDTV, Das who was a sub-inspector with the Assam Border Police when he filed the report in 2009, says that these are two different men with the same name i.e Mohammed Sanaullah. His report had mentioned that Mohammed Sanaullah was an illiterate man and daily wage earner who had confessed that he originally hailed from Bangladesh.

In light of this revelation, all proceedings against the war veteran should have been summarily quashed as now there is no real case against him. But he is only out because he managed to secure bail, something he shouldn’t have had to apply for in the first place. Moreover, the man who had dedicated 30 years of his life serving the nation in some of the most hostile and insurgency prone areas, will now be kept under surveillance almost like a criminal. The provisions of his bail require Mohammed Sanaullah to submit his biometric data to the authorities. The bail order says, “… prior to releasing the applicant on bail, the biometrics of the iris of both eyes, the fingerprints of both hands and photograph of the petitioner shall be obtained.” A copy of his bail order may be read here

Una Dalit flogging case: Hearing on a daily basis from July 29

July 4, 2019

The victims of the atrocious Una Dalit flogging case, that had occured almost three years back, yet await justice. Now, in what could be a major relief, the District and Sessions court of Veraval on Monday agreed to expedite the trial and hear it on a daily basis, starting July 29.

As reported in The Indian Express, Vashram Sarvaiya, one of the eight Dalit victims, had filed a plea on May 31, requesting for a speedy trial. Sarvaiya had submitted that much time had elapsed since he, his family members and relatives were assaulted by cow vigilantes, but they were still awaiting justice.

What happened on July 11, 2016?
On July 11, 2016, Vashram Sarvaiya along with his brother Ramesh, cousin Ashok and relative Bechar were skinning a cow carcass in Mota Samathiyala village, Una of Gir Somnath district in Gujarat. While they were doing so, a group of self-appointed ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow vigilantes) attacked the four of them on the allegations that they were skinning a slaughtered cow.

When Vashram’s parents, Balu and Kunvar, along with two other relatives, tried to intervene and stop the attackers, they were assaulted as well. The accused then allegedly kidnapped the four members of the Sarvaiya family, who were skinning the dead cow, and then took them to Una. There they were allegedly tied to a car and then flogged after which they were paraded in the town and finally abandoned outside the Una police station. The assaulters shot the entire incident and posted it on Facebook, leading to outrage across the nation.

Judicial journey till date:
After nationwide protests, the investigation was transferred to the Gujarat CID crime branch which concluded that the victims had skinned a cow which had been killed by lions in Bediya village. Subsequently, CID arrested 43 accused including then Una police inspector Nirmalsinh Zhala, police sub-inspector Narendra Pandey, assistant sub-inspector Kanchanben Parmar who was in-charge of Sanakhada outpost under which Mota Samadhiyala village falls and head constable Kanji Chudasama for alleged dereliction of duty and helping other accused by forging documents.

Later, the police filed a charge sheet against 34 accused in the Una court and against three juvenile accused in the juvenile justice board in Junagadh. The accused have been charged with attempt-to-murder, subjecting Scheduled Caste members to atrocities among others.

Notably, in April 2017, a writ petition was filed in the Gujarat High Court (HC) by Kanti Chavda, pleading for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the Una case and to investigate if there was a common conspiracy among the fanatical organisations and the Una-based NGO Shri Sanathan Charitable Trust or other organizations working across India. Surprisingly, the HC rejected the plea on the grounds that the Una Dalit flogging case wasn’t the “rarest of rare” and that the CID probe was “satisfactory.”

The victims along with other Dalit groups have been demanding a speedy trial in the case and have expressed their apprehensions over the delay, despite the The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989 clearly stating the need for a “day-to-day” hearing under section 14(3).

Dalit protests:
The Una Dalit flogging incident had led to nationwide protests with the Gujarat state witnessing intense outcry. The video of the attack, that went viral on social media, sparked widespread protests in the state which transformed into a movement for Dalit rights. On July 31, 2016 at a Dalit Maha Sammelan in Ahmedabad, thousands of Dalits pledged to stop picking up carcasses and give up occupations like manual scavenging.

It also led to the formation of the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti to seek justice for the victims of the brutal attack in Una. Shortly after, on August 5, 2016 the Dalit Asmita Yatra was flagged off from Ahmedabad and travelled over 400 kilometres through different villages of Gujarat. Pledges were taken in village after village to shun the traditional caste-based occupations of manual scavenging, cleaning sewer lines and skinning or disposing of dead cattle. The ten-day yatra culminated in the Azadi Kooch at Una on Independence Day. Many Dalits had also attempted suicide in various protests. A police constable was allegedly killed during a Dalit protest in Amreli which had turned violent.

The upsurge among Gujarat’s Dalits even resulted in the resignation of the then chief minister, Anandiben Patel. In a strange move, the then chief minister ‘offered to resign’ on August 1, through a facebook post on August 1, 2016.

The Una protest and Dalit Asmita Rally are a historic response to attacks on Dalit lives, dignity and livelihood. The recent court order gives a ray of hope that justice will be done, despite the past delay.

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Hate Watch: Kamlesh Tiwari- an anti-Modi Hindutva supremacist, with a landmine of hateful content on FB

July 4, 2019

In this fast growing world, social media has become the easiest, fastest and the most convenient way to reach out to the masses and build a community. It has become a central avenue for information, news, misinformation, fake news and hateful content.

In our constant efforts towards monitoring and reporting hate, we have now come across the Facebook profile of the National President of the Hindu Samaj Party, Kamlesh Tiwari. Strikingly, he is not only a Hindutva supremacist but also claims to be both anti-Modi and anti-BJP! A study of his and the related profiles revealed the mammoth of hateful content that is posted by his party and the excessively communal ideology which is being spread through the social media platform. He not only blatantly talks about removing the Muslims and ending Islam from India but also about spreading Hindutva and saffronizing Pakistan. Worse, but now unfortunately common, all happens in the name of Lord Ram!

We firmly believe in furthering the constitutional principles of fraternity, integrity and secularism. In our drive to ensure that these principles are safeguarded, we constantly keep a watch on hate mongering on social media giants like Facebook and ensure that they get reported to the authorities. Last year, CJP approached the NHRC and Facebook to report the hateful content posted by Hindutva activist Deepak Sharma that got his account banned.

Who is Kamlesh Tiwari?
Kamlesh Tiwari (43) is the National President of the Hindu Samaj Party, a political party registered in Lucknow. He had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Faizadabad, Uttar Pradesh. However, he had lost the elections. Notably, he claims to be a ‘social worker’ by profession and a graduate from Shahuji Maharaj University Kanpur in 1996. He has 8 criminal cases pending against him. Some of the charges against him include- Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste, etc.; Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings; Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class; Rioting, armed with deadly weapons; Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, among others.

The Use and Misuse of Facebook:

The Facebook (FB) page Kamlesh Tiwari- Hindu Samaj Party was created almost a year ago and is followed by more than 700 people. Firstly, a look at his cover picture will give a glimpse of the kind of hate mongering he and his party are indulging in. The cover picture has a photo of Kamlesh Tiwari with a few lines in Hindi about the need of progress of the Hindus and Hindutva. However, what is questionable in his cover picture is the line ‘Islam-mukt Bharat’ (Islam free India).

Tiwari also keeps on posting screenshots of news reports where he is seen making some extremely communal statements. He is a staunch supporter of building a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and had claimed that once his party comes to power, neither Muslims nor Masjids or Madrasas will have any place in India. In a similar post published on May 4, Tiwari boasts about how his is the only party which is putting forth its plans without the fear of the Election Commission (EC).

In another such post, he wrote about how he is entirely dedicated to Hindutva and the growth of Hindus (as if the two are synonymous). The caption was written in context to a news report which mentioned Tiwari’s statement on not permitting ‘non-Hindus’ in Ayodhya, once their party comes to power. Following is the post:

Unafraid about any legal consequences, despite 8 criminal cases already pending against him, Tiwari along with his party workers took out a rally in Lucknow on February 17, 2019, where they were openly calling for violence against Muslims. Strikingly, the police force was managing the crowd but nobody bothered to (or were scared to) take any action against such calls for violence. Apart from the video of the rally, pictures were also posted with the caption ‘When we come out on the roads, the government and the administration gets scared of us. Thus, wherever we go, we get strong security. Today, in the first of its kind, our party’s rally crossed a Muslim-dominated area in Lucknow with the slogans ‘Muslim murdabad’ and ‘Muslims leave India.’

On the same day, Tiwari went live on FB where his party members can be seen gathered in a crowd while one of them says ‘Whichever Hindu soldier is listening to this, just kill them (Muslims and Pakistanis) without any second thoughts. Whatever happens next, we will look after it.” They all together then said ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ The video received 1.8k views and 90 shares.

Tiwari was especially very active on Facebook post the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019 and had intensified his party’s ‘Muslim-free and Islam-free India’ campaign. He even expressed his disapproval of the Narendra Modi led BJP government which is apparently trying to protect the minorities and formulating welfare schemes for them while ignoring the condition of our Indian (Hindu) soldiers who lost their lives because of the actions of these minorities.

On February 22, he shared an abusive post accusing the Modi government of not taking action against those who are killing the Hindus ‘in their own country.’ The post also spoke about giving every Hindu a freehand to give answers to the attackers. In another post on the same day, he said ‘chanting Jai Shri Ram or Jai Hind won’t make you a patriot or true to your religion. Instead, keep the courage to say ‘Islam Murdabad’ or join the list of impotents.’

In another anti-Modi and anti-BJP post, shared last year in September, Tiwari accused the government of bringing GST and demonetisation. It further said that this government has betrayed us as Article 370 (giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir) continues to exist and border crimes are on a constant rise. Following is the post:

Apart from multiple such communal, hateful, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, anti-Pakistan posts, what we found the most disturbing and concerning in his entire profile was a video of a small boy (of not more than fourteen years of age) in which he is seen reciting a poem against Pakistan and Narendra Modi. In the video, shot after the Pulwama attack, which received more than 2k views, the boy in a saffron kurta reads a poem from a paper where he reminds Pakistan of 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan war and says “..tab chote se Lal Bahadur ne tumhe nanga kar daala tha…90,000 Pakistaniyo ko ghutne pe gira daala tha..” (Then, Lal Bahadur Shastri had made you (Pakistan) naked and had brought you down to your knees.) He further goes on to say that while our soldiers are dying, Mr. Modi is busy in his election rallies. It is essential to note that at the end of the video, he, through actions, asks someone (who is shooting the video) whether it’s done or whether it was proper.

While each one of us have the right to free speech and opinion, hate speech, targeting as it does the weak and marginalised, is not free speech. It is more objectionable when young children are made to do such things by some powerful figures which in the course brainwashes them and makes them believe the hateful things to be the final truth. This is nothing less than radicalization of the youth in the name of patriotism.

On June 27, Tiwari’s party had marched to the District Magistrate’s office in Lucknow demanding scholarship benefits for the Hindus stating that the Modi government was working only for the Muslims, the ‘Jihadis.’ Not surprisingly, yet unfortunately, he said, “Modi government will give scholarships to Muslim children who will then go to study in the Madrasas and become terrorists.”

While our team was examining Tiwari’s profile, we noticed that he shared a lot of posts from another man’s FB profile named Vivek Shukla. We thus analysed his profile as well and came across another bunch of hateful and abusive posts. As per his FB profile, Shukla is the District Incharge, Etawah, UP of the Hindu Samaj Party and an engineer. His cover picture was of Kamlesh Tiwari, conveying the respect the party has for its head.

On May 8, he shared a post which read “Leave the land of Hindus. Otherwise, Godhra will be repeated once again. Jai Hindu, Jai Kamlesh.” In another post on May 5, he wrote “We love our Hindu religion. Those who do not belong to this religion, find some other country to live in.” While Kamlesh Tiwari was contesting the 2019 elections, he posted “Hurt those who are against the Hindus.” Notably, all such posts are shared with a saffron background.

Another Hindutva activist named Gaurav Kumar Jha is the State President of the Jharkhand wing of the Hindu Samaj Party. Like others, his FB profile is another accumulation of anti-Muslim posts. In a video posted about two weeks ago, Jha is seen speaking about why his party, which earlier supported BJP, decided to go ahead alone as “BJP is talking about minority rights.” He further demanded that every Hindu should be allowed to keep a sword in their house and automatic weapons should be developed that will help make Jharkhand Muslim free. This is crucial to note considering that just a week ago, a 24-year old Muslim man, Tabrez Ansari was lynched and forced to chant Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hanuman. Four days later, he lost his life. Strikingly, on June 26, Jha in his FB post said “The entire nation is shock over the death of a thief” as if justifying the incident. Can there then be a connect between what happened with Ansari and what people like Jha and Tiwari are propagating on social media as well as on the ground? May be!

All in all, FB is increasingly becoming a platform for spreading communal hatred and instigating the masses. It has become a breeding ground of hate speech with no stringent action from the social media giant. Even the Equality Labs report on Facebook India concluded that Islamophobia dominated Indian hate speech while 93% of the reported posts continued to be there on FB.

We are unfortunately moving towards an era where social media is becoming an active platform to radicalize and divide the society. Our national fabric is under severe threat and there is a need for urgent action. We should together not only put a stop to this hate mongering but also report this to the concerned authorities. People like Kamlesh Tiwari and his party are driven by a very malicious agenda which will, if unchecked, destroy the foundational basis on which our India has grown and prospered.

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Dalits in India need their own Martin Luther King

July 4, 2019

Caste, gender and religious biases are a norm in Bambai cinema. Ofcourse, there was a time when the beauty of Urdu language as spoken by Yusuf Khan, Naushad, Sahir, KaifiAzami, JaanNisar Akhtar, Ghulam Mohammad, Mehboob, Kamal Amrohi, and so many others lent a certain elegance to this cinema. Even the non-Muslims, like Raj Kapoor, DevAnand, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Ashok Kumar etc.were comfortable in this language and the scripts were written in Urdu. So, in that way, it was a Hindustani Cinema or Urdu language cinema.

Image Courtesy: Punit Paranjpe / AFP

Similarly, the Hindi Cinema, as it is called today, has more contribution from the non-Hindi speaking people. Whether it is Lata Mangeshkar or her sisters, Mohammad Rafi, Sachin Dev Barman, Salil Chaudhury, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Yeshu Das, S P Bala Subramaniam, and others, Hindi was not their first language but they enriched this.

The greatest of all was Shailendra, whose poetry touched everyone’s heart as it came from his own experiences of life. But who was Shailendra and why has he been so spiritual and why was his poetry so inspiring?It is believed that once upon a time, he was a railway worker and that he was a lifelong ‘communist’. But none tried to put the honorific ‘Pandit’ before his name. Shailendra’s caste remained unknown. Was it deliberate or was it an attempt to draw the attention away from something? What would have happened hadShailendra declared his caste identity in a cinematic tradition where the hero always belongs to a ‘poor’ brahmin family and fights for the have-nots? Yes, this question itself was answered by his son, Dinesh Shankar Shailendra,during a conversation about a year back. He said his father belonged to the Chamar community but then, probably, was afraid in those days that if he revealed this fact, his ‘acceptance’ by the film fraternity would be affected. This is a dirty fact which is still prevalent. Or else, why have the researchers not made an effort to know more about him?

While there are many good films being made, but as the mainstream tradition of this cinema has been that its main patrons are the ‘progressive’Savarnas or the upper castes, and therefore any solution has to come within the framework of their worldview. So, a Good Samaritan in Bambai films always comes from the powerful castes, preferably Brahmin, who ‘helps’ the ‘poor’ and redefines what the ‘dharma’ is. Dark skinned, physically challenged or people with disabilities are mostly laughed at and can never be heroes. Most of the characters are vilified.

Even when one of the main characters in a film belongs to a non-mainstream background, the actor playing that character is definitely from the dominant mainstream. E.g.HemaMalini plays a Banjara woman in Raja Jani(1972) or Dharmendra and Jeetendra belong to the Banjara community in Dharamveer. However, the Banjara community is a very vibrant and talented community, and yet it never occurred to our star directors and producers to look for the talent from the community.It is only when a brahmin or a savarna playsa Banjaracharacter in the film that ensures the ‘success’ of the film.

Similar things can be said about many other films. While their intentions might be good, why do the film makers not attempt to look for an actor from the community itself, who can speak on the issue with conviction? It is good to speak about discrimination but equally important to find voices from within the communities and encourage them. They will certainly show the discrimination in a much more powerful way.

A recent movie, in which its upper caste hero acts as a messiah for the lower castes, is being much talked about nowadays.. One friend wrote in his Facebook post that Dalits in India needed a Martin Luther King and only then they will be able to play such roles, which portray their issues. Till then, the Brahmins will always enjoy the monopoly. Any effort made by anyone to being an issue to light should be appreciated, but it is equally important to see how the issue is addressed. Issue of participation and fair representation is equally important to address an issue in a wholesome manner. Whether the star directors and producers are able to see it or not, the new generation Ambedkarites are ready and will surprise the world in the coming days with their creativity and ideas. After all, the 21st century belongs to Ambedkarism and Ambedkarite assertion.

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