The Ghosts of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Death Still Lingers, Who’s Accountable?

November 12, 2018

The survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy and their succeeding generations as well, are struggling with severe health issues. Newsclick talks to them to report on present day trauma of the city.

December 2- 3, 1984, poisonous gas leaked from the factory of Union Carbide India Ltd’s pesticide plant in Bhopal and killed over 10,000 people and affected more 5,50,000 people. The survivors of the industrial incident and their succeeding generations as well, are struggling with severe health issues. There has been no talk about it in the political sphere but during elections, the political parties makes fraud claims to win votes.

Thumbnail Image Courtesy: APN Live

CourtesyL Newsclick.in

Fear grips minority areas in Sitamarhi district after 3 lynchings that resulted in one death: Bihar

November 10, 2018

Report on Sitamarhi violence shows pre-planned conspiracy reportedly lead by a BJP MLA
In keeping with what seems like insidious designs to communally polarise Bihar, well orchestrated violence that uses the festive occasion of Dusshera was recently unleashed on the unsuspecting residents of Sitamarhi district. The All India Bedari Karvan, which had sent out a fact-finding team to the affected villages has released a report that confirms what seems like a diabolical conspiracy, allegedly overseen by senior BJP leaders, aided and abetted by the district administration and propelled by rumours, that leads to a whirlwind of mindless violence in which an elderly man lost his life. The details are unfortunately all too familiar. Eighty-six year old Zainul Ansari lost his life after a brute lynch mob attack while Sabir Ansari and Moinul Haq are lynched, and left for dead. They survive with serious injuries. Bihar is seeing a complete break down of the rule of law. The social media is being used to ‘celebrate’ the attack.

In Madhuban village for instance attempts are made to change the Durga idol’s immersion route on Dusshera, from the one sanctioned by the district administration to one that ominously passes through minority neighbourhoods. This being thwarted, the immersion passes off peacefully. But the very next day, using the pretext of a rumour, a mob attacks Muslim neighborhoods. And, even though the police headquarters are just five-seven minutes away, allegedly, the police only appears after 40 minutes. Surprisingly, the police not only enters the scene through the minority area, it also beats up members of the community and forces young men inside their houses at gunpoint. Needless to say, the perpetrators of the violence roam free. The report names former MLA Pintu Prashant, a member of BJP, as the mastermind of the entire incident. Since justice eludes the victims, the village remains, to date, in the grip of fear and trepidation.

The violence that is avoided on the day of immersion at Madhuban village is unforutnately unleashed in the nearby village of Murgia Chak. Here, the immersion party sports a mike wielding hate monger who at the end of spewing venom aimed at the minorities, while passing through their lanes, declares that the idol has been attacked. This leads to a frenzied attack on Muslim establishments and the local mosque that continues unabated for hours. Police does not intervene.

But it is the events at Goshala Chak that truly exposes the extent at which the local police is allegedly involved. 86 year old Zainul Ansari, about to visit his daughter, is stopped near the gates of Goshala, assaulted, dragged by a mob and after severing his hands and legs and slitting his throat, is burnt right on the street. For two days after the incident, the distraught family is mislead by the police. On the third day, when internet services are restored briefly, photos and videos that have since gone viral, showing the entire incident, is discovered by the family. At this point the police admits that it had found the body but proceeds to hush up the matter by forcefully conducting his last rites at the nearby city. Again, despite the videos and photos that perhaps many in the entire country have seen, the perpetrators roam free.

In a similar manner, violence racks the villages of Punaura and Mirzapur and unsuspecting passer-byes Sabir Ansari and Moinul Haq are lynched by a mod and left for dead. Both survive with grievous injuries.


The report also details how the Muslims of these villages have been facing unprovoked and shocking violence since only a single, common road exists and at the smallest of pretexts, Muslims are identified, dragged out of vehicles and beaten up.

If this is not an example of jungle raaj in Bihar, what is. But are we really surprised? Because the most shocking aspect of the report mentions how Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, the most high profile BJP leader in Bihar, had visited this very area barely ten days before the violence had broken out . What was his message to his partymen? Are we to look for answers in the blood and mayhem that is left behind ?


Read the whole report in Hindi here.

Related articles:
No end to communal violence in Bihar: A report on Sitamarhi
NewsCentral Exclusive: “Give Us One Hour, We Will Finish Muslims…”

Never Again: Horrors of the Start of the genocidal Pogrom against Jews, 80 Yrs Ago

November 10, 2018

When Will We Ever Learn…that hatred generates violence ? Today the world is governed by feelings of xenophobia more than ever before.

Image courtesy: History.com

It is exactly eighty years since that infamous night of November 9-10, 1938. The world will never ever forget that night known as the ‘Reichspogromnacht’ or by a seemingly more pleasant sounding ‘Kristallnacht’ (crystal night), which ironically refers to the litter of broken glass strewn on the streets after the pogrom. The Nazis and their henchmen were on the onslaught as they attacked Jews and destroyed their property in a night of bloody violence and terror, across Germany and Austria. Thousands were affected, several killed; according to some estimates more than one thousand Synagogues and an additional 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. At least thirty thousand Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The violence on the Jews continued unabated the next day, and the following weeks and for several years after that. It was a pogrom, the start of a genocide. The sheer hate, brutality and inhumanity that unfolded over the period has been recorded for posterity.

Etched in the hearts and minds of all men and women at the end of the Second World War, were those immortal words, “Never Again”. It seemed that the world had learnt a lesson particularly with the promulgation of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ in 1948. Ground realities point to something very different: human nature seems to continue to be feeble and fickle. Eighty years down the road, it seems that we have neither the courage nor the capacity to learn from history; that we will continue dishing out flimsy justifications and incredible reasons to legitimatize hate, violence, divisiveness and war.

When will we ever learn that anti-Semitism has no place in this world? The lone gunman that killed eleven members of the ‘Tree of Life’ Synagogue in the United States recently is but an example of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in several parts of the western world today. This needs to be addressed and countered as soon as possible.

When will the Israelis ever learn that Palestinians have a right to their homeland? Despite the decisions of the United Nations and the outcry by most thinking nations of the world, the Palestinians continue to be at the receiving end of inhuman treatment and hostility from the Israeli regime.

When will the Saudis ever learn that they have no right to continue to destabilize the Middle East? Their intervention in Yemen has resulted in widespread bombing of civilian areas, the deaths of several thousands and a terrible famine all over. The world is aware of the prime movers behind the ISIS- but sadly, everyone else is called out except the Saudis.

When will the US administration ever learn that democracy is about equals? That the core values and vision of any great country are justice, liberty equality and fraternity. That the dignity of the human person is sacrosanct. That agendas and speeches of hate and divisiveness are bound to have negative effects everywhere.

When will the Indian rulers ever learn that India is about diversity and harmony? That the essence of a great country is the constant pursuit of truth and non-violence. That the denigration of the minorities; the instutionalisation of violence, the partisanship in ‘name-changing’, crony capitalism are guaranteed signposts for the destruction of the country

When will the right wing ever learn that inclusiveness is at the heart of people’s development? Be it in the Philippines and Austria, in Brazil and Congo, in Myanmar and in Italy – the ‘official’ xenophobia is bound to have repercussions. A great nation is about building bridges to reach out to one another and not about constructing walls to keep out others.

When will the military industrial complex ever learn that they are responsible for so much suffering all over? The guns lobby, the other producers of weapons, the nuclear club are all having a heyday profiteering from fomenting violence in so many different parts of the world. They have no qualms of conscience when innocent, ordinary citizens have to flee their homes because of violence.

The tragedy is that there are these and too many other ominous signs all over the world today. The ‘Kristallnacht’ of 1938 was not a spontaneous event. There were conditions created: hate speeches given, lies and myths propagated a fear about the ‘other’ slowly but surely entrenched in the majority community. Finally, the demon unleashed itself to an unimaginable level. An objective analysis of the politics of today provides one with the grim reality of very similar indicators.

Sometime in the early sixties Bob Dylan gave us that haunting song, which several folksingers and anti-war protesters like Joan Baez made famous
Yes, ‘n’ how many times a man must look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Yes, the answer is blowing in the wind – but do we have the courage to learn from history and help make our world a better place for all?

Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is a human rights activist)

Women candidates break records in the 2018 US midterm elections

November 10, 2018

Sharice Davids, the first lesbian Native American Congresswoman. EPA-EFE

The 2018 midterms broke the records on female candidates in US elections. More than 20 women were on the Senate ballot, while more than ten times that number stood for the House of Representatives. If we also consider state elections for executive roles such as governor as well as state legislatures, the number of female candidates in 2018 rises by another 3,500. The results mean that several states (including Arizona and Tennessee) will now send their first ever women to the Senate, and more than 100 women will enter the House.

After the new senators and representatives are sworn in, Congress will be more diverse in terms of race and religion – with women making a major contribution to this shift.

Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) and Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) share the distinction of becoming the first Muslim women in Congress. Texas sends both of the first two Latina women to Congress, Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar. Several states will send African American women to represent them in Washington for the first time, too, including Massachusetts (Ayanna Pressley) and Connecticut (Jahana Hayes).

Ilhan Omar is also the first Somali-American elected to US Congress. EPA-EFE

These elections give further support to research that highlights the importance of party loyalty for women as well as men. In other words, all other things being equal, American voters will cling to their own parties, especially when they feel their party is under threat. So we should not be surprised that the combination of Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the numerous allegations of sexual harassment against him have motivated far more Democrat women than Republican women to run for office.

Nearly three-quarters of the women who declared their candidacy in 2018 were Democrats. Even after many contenders were eliminated in the primaries, there were still roughly twice as many Democrat as Republican female candidates on the final ballots.

The mid-terms also demonstrate that women can overcome factors that are typically disadvantages for a candidate, such as being a challenger rather than an incumbent, having little or no experience of elected office, and promoting policy positions that are outside the mainstream.

In one of the most high-profile races in the country, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated her Democratic primary opponent – an incumbent who had served ten terms in Congress – and went on to victory on November 6. This was despite her calls for policy changes that many described as radical, including government guarantees for universal health care, employment and housing. At the age of 29, Ocasio-Cortez is now the youngest woman ever to be elected to the US House.

Changing tactics

Many of the women running emphasised education and healthcare (traditionally regarded as “women’s issues”). But they also prominently presented their views on “hard” policy areas such as national security, immigration, job creation and taxation. Women candidates have not hesitated to be blunt in criticising the records and policies of their opponents, and have performed well in hard-hitting, one-to-one debates. The 2018 mid-terms demonstrate very clearly that there is no such thing as a one size fits all, women’s style of campaigning.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. EPA-EFE

These elections have also shown that, like men, women can leverage their military service records to appeal to American voters. Women veterans winning elected office is not completely new to American politics, but previous examples have been few – if high profile. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq, was elected to the US House in 2012 and the US Senate in 2016, and is famously the first Senator ever to give birth while in office.

The combination of increasing numbers of women serving in the US armed forces, the opening up of new military roles to women, and the continuous deployment of American troops in war zones since 2001 has created a substantial pool of potential female veteran candidates.

Much attention in this election was devoted to a handful of Democrat female veterans running for Congress against incumbent male Republicans. These women – including Amy McGrath (Kentucky), MJ Hegar (Texas), Elaine Luria (Virginia), and Chrissy Houlahan(Pennsylvania) – had lengthy careers in different branches of the military. They were deployed overseas and used their veteran status to bolster their credibility as first-time candidates. Although their fortunes at the polls were mixed (Luria and Houlahan won; McGrath and Hager lost), all waged smart, well-crafted campaigns that pushed their opponents hard and ensured victory was decided by just a few percentage points.

There is still a long way to go before the US approaches both gender and racial equality in elected office, however. As this article is being written, African American Democrat Stacey Abrams continues her fight to become Georgia’s governor amid allegations of voter suppression that disproportionately affects people of colour.

Her opponent, Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp, refused to relinquish his role of overseeing the elections despite his candidacy. President Trump himself has weighed in on this election, describing Abrams as unqualified to be governor of the traditionally Republican state – despite her years as an elected representative in the state legislature and her PhD from Yale law school. If Abrams is successful, she will become the first African American woman ever to become governor, not just of Georgia, but of any US state.

Although Abrams may turn out to be among the unsuccessful women candidates of 2018, women’s experiences of putting themselves forward for election is a formative one that can provide a foundation for future campaigns. It is unlikely that we have heard the last of these women.

This article was first published on theconversation.com

Nazar Nasir: Breaking gender stereotypes in Kashmir through crochet

November 10, 2018

Nazar Nasir

Srinagar:- At the age of 19, Nazar Nasir decided to share the idea of him knitting and crocheting with his family members. Their reaction was exactly as he had expected. He was told in blunt words that this line of work didn’t suit males. But Nazar had made up his mind and decide to live his dreams despite the resistance.

Crocheting has been a well-known art amongst Kashmiris but it has been mostly pursued by the women for decades. It is for the very first time that a male while breaking some rigid stereotypes has made a business out of it. Nazar, who wet up Knotty Crafts, is gaining a huge following not only in the Valley but outside the state too.

A resident of downtown, Srinagar, Nazar is a student of literature. Apart from being a student, he keeps himself busy with crochet. He is the first and the only male who crochets from Kashmir.

Crocheting is a process of creating fabric by interlocking loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials using a crochet hook.

It all started two years ago when his sister brought a crochet hook and some yarn from her aunt and while she was wiggling the hook with the yarn strand, Nazar was so fascinated that he brought himself a hook and some yarn and started experimenting and has never stopped since then.

From being just a mere experimental hobby, his passion for crocheting kept increasing and he turned it into a part-time business.

“For me, crocheting is not just a small business, but an escape from the world as I almost forget my being while crocheting. It’s so healing and so peaceful to me that I can work non-stop without worrying about anything else,” Nazar says during a conversation with TwoCircles.net.

“In a society where knitting and crocheting are considered too feminine a profession to be taken up by men, it was very difficult for me to do something that women usually do here,” he adds.

But paying no need for criticism, Nazar made-up his mind and started crocheting. It has been almost two years now and his business is flourishing day by day.

“People always talk and they say what they have to say, but today those who criticized me are always there for appreciation,” he says.

Nazar says he has been attracted to different forms of art for as long as he remembers.“I first learnt how to crochet and then I got deeper into the world of craft and taught myself to knit, to do macramé and to weave and I’m always learning new things,” Nazar says.

Nazar made his work public through social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and is getting a tremendous response.

“I earned a huge customer base within two years with the help of social media,” Nazar says.

He says he is blessed to be a part of such a big maker community in this age “I can’t describe how perfect I feel being a part of it. I will always try to explore and create more interesting things,” he says.

For people, it’s unusual to see a boy in this field of craft but Nazar says he is proud to call himself, ‘The only male crocheter of Kashmir’.

knotty crafts by Nazar

This article was first published on twocircles.net

Why India’s Children Must Wait Till 2022 To Get Justice Under Law Meant To Protect Them

November 10, 2018

Kolkata: Children participate in an awareness rally against child abuse.

Mumbai: Cases registered over four years to 2016 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, a law meant to protect children and hasten prosecution, will end only by 2022 based on the current rate of disposal, according to a new study.

Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh, which reported the greatest backlog, will take 55 and 101 years, respectively, to finish with such cases, according to a study by Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), an advocacy run by an Indian Nobel laureate.

The number of cases registered under POCSO increased 151% from 2009 to 2014, IndiaSpend reported on August 22, 2015.

More than 104,976 cases were registered between 2014-2016, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

While only 10% trials were completed, the conviction rate was 30% for 2016.

Completion Of Trials & Conviction Rate Under POCSO, 2015-16
	2015(%)	2016(%)
Completion of trials	12	10
Conviction rate	36	30

Source: Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Keeping the disposal rate of 2016 (10%) constant, some states such as Punjab and Nagaland would take about two years, while states such as Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh would take more than 50 years to complete cases registered until 2016.

Source:Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation , Crime in India 2016, National Crime Records Bureau

Until 2012, when POCSO was passed, sexual offences against children were covered under three sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC): Rape under Section 376, outraging modesty of a woman under Section 354 and unnatural sexual acts under Section 377.

With the introduction of POCSO, other forms of harassment were also included. Most importantly, the Act was made gender-neutral and specifically designed to protect child rights and ensure the judicial system would be child-friendly.

Investigations by the police should be completed within two months and the trials within six months, according to amendments made to the POCSO Act and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) by an ordinance in May 2018.

The Supreme Court later ordered high courts to ensure POCSO cases were heard by designated special courts, allowed no adjournments by POCSO judges and constituted special investigative task forces by state police chiefs, the Hindu reported on May 1, 2018.
Why cases are pending under POCSO law

“There has been a rise in the number of cases being registered because of increased awareness and mandatory reporting,” said Yashwant Jain, member, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which oversees POCSO.

NCPCR, under the ministry of women and child development, monitors investigations, trials and establishes child welfare committees, special courts and public prosecutors.

“This has led to the number of cases being more against the number of courts present to deal with them,” said Jain.

“Apart from delays in police investigations, poor working strength of the judiciary adds to the pendency,” Subhadra Menon, executive director, research, KSCF, told IndiaSpend. “Sometimes, priority is given to cases registered under different sections of the IPC over cases registered under POCSO.”

The shortage of judges was documented by IndiaSpend in a three-part series (here, here, and here) and earlier this year.

Only 559 special courts are in place (84%) and only 438 (65%) special public prosecutors have been appointed out of the 665 designated district-wise courts/prosecutors, NCPCR data show.

Constituting special courts and appointing public prosecutors does not mean that the staff increases or is even exclusive in handling POCSO cases. They are also burdened with work from regular courts, according to a 2017 study by the National Law School of India.

“There is also a delay in getting the forensic science laboratory (FSL) report, which further forces the police investigation to postpone their deadline,” Jain said.

Due to inadequate staff and infrastructure at forensic labs, 12,072 DNA samples and as many cases were pending in six central forensic labs till December 2017, the Hindustan Times reported on April 26, 2018.

Another major reason for the delay in investigations is the shortage of police personnel, said Surya Prakash B S, programme director, DAKSH, an advocacy.

As on January 1, 2016, India was short of 500,000 police personnel, according to data from the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

“The case life cycle is at the discretion of the parties and their lawyers,” Surya said. “It is often delayed due to the adjournments from the petitioner’s side.”

Although adjournments are not allowed under the POCSO Act, they are allowed. “Senior judges should ensure that the Act is followed, which it never is, and hence cases remain pending,” Surya said.

Delay in justice has an adverse effect on survivors. “They suffer a range of psychological problems resulting in self-blame and self-harm, lack of confidence, fear and attempt to suicide,” Menon said.

(Kulkarni, a post-graduate in social work, is an intern with IndiaSpend.)

This article was first published on indiaspend.com

Modi Govt Clueless as Joblessness Continues to Rise

November 10, 2018

Despite desperate attempts to create an illusion of new jobs, and despite dozens of ‘schemes’, joblessness has hit a two-year high – and the PM has no clue about what to do.

Over one crore persons have lost their jobs between January 2017 and October 2018, and an estimated 2.95 crore persons are actively looking for jobs now, according to latest CMIE estimates. These estimates are made on the basis of a monthly sample survey done by the CMIE. In the absence of any other source of jobs data – official or unofficial – these numbers have to be relied upon as indicator of the dire jobs situation in the country.

The results for October 2018 showed that the total number of employed persons in the country was 397.2 million compared with 407 million one year ago, in October 2017. If you compare the latest figures with those in January 2017, the number of employed persons has fallen by a chilling 11.2 million (1.12 crore).

No%20of%20employed%20persons.png

In October 2018, the unemployment rate touched a high of 6.9%, even as the labour participation rate touched a low of 42.4%, the lowest in two years, since October 2016. Labour participation rate means the number of persons either working or willing to work. India’s labour participation rate is usually low because of the high degree of female non-participation.

One year ago, the number of jobless persons looking for jobs was 2.1 crore, which has since burgeoned to 2.95 crore – an addition of about 85 lakh more persons to the army of unemployed.

Meanwhile, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has gone into a comatose state on this most important crisis. The whiz-kids employed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command and the government at top levels to churn out data that suits them seem to have exhausted their bag of tricks. For the last one year, they had conjured up ‘job creation’ data out of EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) and ESI (Employees State Insurance) enrolment figures, which were released expressly to create this illusion. However, after being universally criticised for this sleight of hand, it has now been officially admitted that these figures do not represent job creation but rather ‘formalisation’. This itself is a dodgy proposition, but that’s another story. The fact remains that EPFO and ESIC enrolment masquerading as job data has been given a burial, for now.

What the government has not done is to admit that job creation has been a failure primarily because of the bankrupt and foolish policies it has followed. In fact, it continues to rave about how well the economy is doing even when a phalanx of indicators point towards the exact opposite.

Imports are up, exports are down. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is stagnating. Capacity utilisation is down. Credit growth is stagnant or anaemic. Government spending is down. Investments have declined. GST (goods and services tax) collections are running short of targets.

Farm output is good but farm prices continue to agitate farmers since the government has refused to hike support prices as per the National Farmers’ Commission recommendations.

Even as the economy continues to crawl, oil prices have increased and rupee has crashed vis-a-vis the dollar, sending import costs soaring. In response, the government is clueless and is desperately trying to cut down its own spending in a misguided effort to rein in the fiscal deficit.

This worry is a neo-liberal dogma that has never helped revive a flagging economy or create jobs or lift incomes. What the present efforts to cut spending by Rs 50,000 crore will do is to further deflate the economy and discourage private investment.

In other words, the cluelessness of Modi et al is an ominous portent that worse is still to come.

This article was first published on newsclick.in

Press Freedom Under Severe Attack in Bastar

November 9, 2018

A few days ago, the South Asia correspondent for The Dilplomat, Siddharthya Roy and senior journalist Kamal Shukla were detained for eight hours by the Chattisgarh police in Narayanpur, near Bastar. They were in the region to report from the adivasi hinterlands where the mainstream media rarely reaches. Listen to Siddharthya Roy talk about the harassment they faced.

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The Ghosts of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Death Still Lingers, Who’s Accountable?

Fear grips minority areas in Sitamarhi district after 3 lynchings that resulted in one death: Bihar

Never Again: Horrors of the Start of the genocidal Pogrom against Jews, 80 Yrs Ago

When Will We Ever Learn…that hatred generates violence ? Today the world is governed by feelings of xenophobia more than ever before.

Women candidates break records in the 2018 US midterm elections

Changing tactics

Nazar Nasir: Breaking gender stereotypes in Kashmir through crochet

Why India’s Children Must Wait Till 2022 To Get Justice Under Law Meant To Protect Them

Modi Govt Clueless as Joblessness Continues to Rise

Despite desperate attempts to create an illusion of new jobs, and despite dozens of ‘schemes’, joblessness has hit a two-year high – and the PM has no clue about what to do.

Press Freedom Under Severe Attack in Bastar

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