Journalist shot dead in UP two days after Yogi Adityanath declares the state ‘Crime-Free’

December 1, 2017

The claim of Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that he had made UP a ‘crime free’ state fell on its face on Thursday evening when a 38-year-old journalist was shot dead in Kanpur. Naveen Gupta, a journalist working with Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead by three bikers in Bilhaur area of Kanpur.

According to Superintendent of Police (rural) JP Singh, police has filed cases against unidentified assailants and has rounded up few suspects for questioning and investigation. The incident was recorded at 5.30 pm when Naveen was sitting near a shop in Bilhaur Nagar Palika. According to the police version, three attackers approached Naveen on two bikes and opened fire at him. Principal secretary (information) Awanish Awasthi informed media in Lucknow that CM Yogi Adityanath has expressed condolence and ordered DGP Sulkhan Singh to carry out the investigation in the case.

Naveen succumbed to injuries and died on his way to the hospital. He was declared ‘brought dead’ at the hospital. According to the SP JP Singh, the police is talking with the family members of Naveen to find out the motive behind the killing. The incident comes as a blot on the CM Yogi Adityanath who made a remark on Tuesday about investments in the state. He claimed to have sent criminals to their “right place” after coming into the state’s power.

In the latest world press freedom rankings, India was ranked at 136 among 180 countries. The ranking, released in April, marked “nationalism” and “self-censorship” among the media outlets behind the such a low place for India.

Delhi Is India’s Most Dangerous Metropolis, Had Highest Incidence Of Murder, Rape, Abduction In 2016

December 1, 2017

Delhi had the highest incidence of murder, rape and abduction among 19 cities with populations more than 2 million, national crime data for the year 2016, released on November 30, 2017, show.

Further, Delhi also reported the highest crime rate (1,222.5 crimes per 100,000 population) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to data published by the National Crime Records Bureau. Delhi was followed by Kochi (757.9) and Jaipur (756.5), data show.

Delhi accounted for nearly 39% of all crimes under the IPC reported in cities in 2016, followed by Bengaluru (9%) and Mumbai (8%). IPC crimes in Delhi increased 43% in two years from 139,707 in 2014 to 199,445 in 2016.

As many as 2,194 murders were reported across 19 cities in India, down 6% over 2014. Delhi reported the most–479 murders in 2016, with a murder rate of 2.9 per 100,000 population. Patna, the capital of Bihar, reported the highest rate of murder (9.5) with 195 cases in 2016, a 5% decline over 2014.

Kidnapping & abduction up 30% in two years

Kidnapping and abduction cases across metro cities increased 30%–to 15,041 in 2016 from 11,589 in 2014. Delhi reported the most (5,925) kidnapping and abduction cases in 2016, 16 every day, followed by Mumbai (1,949) and Bengaluru (974).

Patna reported the highest rate for kidnapping and abduction in 2016–40.2 cases per 100,000 population, against the national average of 13.2. Patna was followed by Delhi (36.3) and Lucknow (31.9).

As many as 13,803 crimes (IPC and special & local laws) against women were reported in Delhi, or 38 every day, topping the list in terms of cases and crime rate (182.1 crimes per 100,000 women), against the national average of 77.2. Delhi was followed by Mumbai (5,128 cases). Crimes against women across 19 cities increased 9% from 38,385 in 2014 to 41,761 in 2016.

Cruelty by husband or his relatives (29%) was the major crime reported against women in 2016, followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (25%), kidnaping & abduction (22%) and rape (12%).

Delhi had most cases of cruelty by husband or his relatives (3,645), followed by Hyderabad (1,311) and Jaipur (1,008). In terms of crime rate, Jaipur was the worst at 69.5 crimes per 100,000 women, as against the national average of 22.6.

Delhi topped the list for most (1,996) rapes reported among 19 cities in 2016, or five every day. The city also ranked first in terms of crime rate (26.3 cases per 100,000 women) for rape, against the national average of 9.1, followed by Jaipur (22.8) and Indore (17.2).

Delhi reported the most (144) dowry deaths with a crime rate of 1.9 crimes per 100,000 women in 2016. Patna was the worst in terms of crime rate (7.9) against the national average of 0.9, followed by Kanpur (3.7) and Lucknow (3).

Besides the 515,635 crimes reported under the IPC across the 19 metropolitan cities, 2016 also saw 295,002 crimes reported under special and local laws (SLL) — such as Motor Vehicle Act, Land Revenue Act and Money Lenders Act and acts related to crimes against women and children — bringing the total to 808,637 crimes, an increase of 6.5% over 2015.

Kochi reported the highest crime rate (2,553.1 crimes per 100,000 population), including both IPC and SLL crimes. Kochi was followed by Nagpur (1,714.6), Chennai (1,308.6), Delhi (1,263.9) and Surat (1,243.3).

(Mallapur is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)

While most Deobandis opposed the idea, Barelvi clerics spear-headed the movement for Pakistan

December 1, 2017

Jinnah could not have been unaware of the fact that the religious establishment, including Barelvi clerics, saw the state he demanded and won as having been established in the name of Islam

Photo credit: The Nation

In light of the recent commotion created by some Barelvi clerics, which the federal government bungled up with its characteristic incompetence, it is time that someone speaks out the truth about the Pakistan movement and its ideology. Let me say without mincing words: Pakistan was created in negation of principles of secular democracy.

Barelvi clerics had spearheaded the All India Muslim League’s campaign for Pakistan ahead of the 1945-46 general elections. A handful of Deobandis led by the followers of Ashraf Ali Thanvi (who died in 1943) including Shabbir Ahmed Usmani also supported the demand for a separate state for Indian Muslims. However, the main Deobandi party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, led by Hussain Ahmed Madani advocated a vision of wataniyat or nationalism that was fore grounded in territory, rather than religious identity.

Madani warned that even if the Muslim League manage to win a separate state, it will inevitably be a state dominated by some sect of Islam — there could be no such thing as a Muslim or Islamic state of all Indian Muslims because the latter were notoriously divided into sects and sub-sects. Another prominent religious scholar, Abdul Kalam Azad also shared similar sentiments. His speeches are available on YouTube on the question of Muslims’ in a post-British India.
In my opinion, those who say that Pakistan, as it exists today, is not Jinnah’s Pakistan, are missing the point. Jinnah may not have anticipated that his two-nation theory would lay the foundation of a state in which the organic relationship between Islam and the state would result in the rule of the ulema. However, he could not have been unaware of the fact that the religious establishment, including Barelvi clerics, saw the state he demanded and won as having been established in the name of Islam.

A Glimpse into Present Day Ayodhya

December 1, 2017

As the anniversary of one of Independent India’s worst communal conflagrations approaches, let’s take a stroll through Ayodhya, its epic past and it very real present.

Image Courtesy: The Week

Once Upon a Time in Ayodhya

According to the epic Ramayana, many, many years ago… in a kingdom by a mighty river, there lived a great king named Dashrath, who had four valiant sons. Ram, the oldest son, was believed to be an avatar of the Great Vishnu himself, for he was brave, noble, just, fair and loyal. He was so devoted to his family, that he willingly spent over a decade living in the forest to please his father and step mother. He was the maryada purushottam and therefore hailed as divine.

As is customary, legend and folklore copulated to produce a powerful and inspirational hero that the masses have looked upto and prayed to for wisdom, health and wealth for centuries. So far, so good… right? Trouble began when people started shedding blood in the name of this God-King and justified it by saying others had slain his followers and demolished a temple at the spot of his birth to erect a shrine of another religion… one that was associated with ‘blood thirsty’ and ‘savage’ invaders… the ‘outsiders’… the ‘others’.

Today centuries after the invasion when people from all communities, cultures, ethnicities have seemingly assimilated under the common ‘Indian’ identity, the promised temple at Ram Janm Bhoomi and the now demolished Babri Mosque, still figure prominently in shaping the narrative at Ayodhya. Interestingly, Ayodhya, a compound word formed by joining ‘a’ meaning ‘without’ and ‘yudh’ meaning ‘war’ became a city synonymous with the genesis of one of the most chilling communal conflicts in the entire history of India!
But let’s step away from the hate, the dust and debris, the bloodlust and the scars of history. Let’s take a look at modern day Ayodhya.

Twitter Image: Kaushal Vidyarthee

Demographics

According to data from the 2011 Census, Ayodhya today is a city of over 55,000 people. It has an abysmal sex ratio though. There are just 763 females per 1000 males. This is well below the UP state average of 912 females per 1000 males. According to Census data, over 93 percent of the population is Hindu while 6 percent are Muslims. However, 40 percent of the population, that belongs to communities engaged in fishing, shoe-making and other blue collar jobs, identifies as Dalit or Bahujan.

Economy

The economy of Ayodhya is largely dependent on tourism as it is home to the Hanuman Garhi Fort, Nageshwarnath Temple, Janki Mahal, Tulsi Chaura and many other places of interest associated with the Ramayan. Ayodhya also has special significance among Budddhists and Jains and is home to many sites of religious significance from these cultures as well. Ayodhya is infact said to be the birthplace of five Jain Tirthankaras including the first, Sri Rishab Dev. The city is referred to as Saket in Buddhist texts. This is why it draws tourists from across religious lines.

Many people run small businesses related to tourism, such as shops selling religious texts, idols and trinkets, or run small grocery stores and corner shops, eateries and small private firms. There is also a thriving quilt selling business where local shopkeepers purchase shreds left behind on the floors of quilt making industries in adjoining districts and then manufacture patchwork quilts that are bought and used by tourists. Many youngsters also drive auto-rickshaws to ferry tourists from one spot to another.

There are cottage industries dedicated to making khadau or wooden slippers that are fashioned along the design Lord Ram was said to have sported and then discarded when his younger brother Bharat asked him for his footwear so he could reign in his stead while Ram, Lakshman and Sita completed their vanvas. Interestingly, it is Muslim artisans who manufacture these khadaus. Many other people are engaged in horticulture and garland making as the holy city has a high daily consumption of such items. Seasonal agriculture is practiced along the river Saryu on the outskirts of the city.

Education

Literacy rates are high in Ayodhya. While men score over 83 percent, women are not too far behind with a tally of over 71 percent. Ayodhya has five colleges and universities that are popular with students who want to pursue higher education in Sanskrit. However, due to high unemployment in Ayodhya, most graduates leave Ayodhya for greener pastures in neighbouring districts where most of them end up in teaching jobs.

As the Supreme Court deliberates on the Ram Janm Bhoomi – Babri Masjid dispute in the days to come, and political forces vie to keep the communal pot boiling, perhaps the answers to city’s future and the key to peace in the region, lies in the hands of the Millennials of Ayodhya.

Related Articles
1. Ayodhya Dispute: Supremacy of Constitution or Faith?

19 Lakh Jobless in Gujarat, not Six Lakh: Gujarati Economist

December 1, 2017

Image Courtesy: Metro Vartha
Gujarati Economist contests chief minister Vijay Rupani’s claim for organised sector: Jobless Growth, Mockery of the Unemployed: Gujarat Model

Presenting independent calculation of the state’s employment figures, Lokshahi Bachao Andolan (Save Democracy Movement), a campaign platform set up ahead of the Gujarat elections, claiming to be not associated with any political party, has de-bunked official claims on employment and jobs. In a detailed presentation yesterday, they have said that much of the “tall talk” of employment generation during the biennial Vibrant Gujarat global investment summits, during 2004-15, 43.44 lakh fresh unemployed were registered with Gujarat’s Employment Exchanges. Of these only 24.41 lakh people could get employment.

Contesting the figure provided by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, that there are only six lakh unemployed in the state as of today, economist Prof Hemant Shah, associated with the Lokshahi Bachao Andolan, or Save Democracy Movement, told media in Ahmedabad, “Even if we concede that Employment Exchange figures are true, as many as 19.09 lakh people could not get employment during 2004-15.”

Not only are lakhs of people jobless in Gujarat but there is zero social security for workers.

More unemployed persons get registered and less get employment.
Workers from the unorganized sector have been hard-hit.
Employment claims including those of ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ have been proved to be hollow.
Very few people get employment under ‘NREGA’.
Despite the avowed policy of giving employment to 85 % locals, Gujarat government surrenders to the industries at the cost of local employment.
Lakhs of workers are deprived of benefits of social security.

Shah further said, “Each year fresh unemployed are registered, and the names of those who get jobs are deleted. The total number of new job seekers registered with Employment Exchanges in 2001-02 was 2.52 lakh. Things deteriorated year after year. In 2015-16, the number of those who registered for jobs increased to 6.11 lakh. Of this, job recommendations were made for 5.12 lakh, but only 1.77 lakh, i.e. only 35% people, got jobs.”

Pointing out that overwhelming majority of those who register themselves in Employment Exchanges are skilled workers, Shah said, this state of affairs is only of the organised industrial sector, adding, “As for the unorganized sector, we don’t have any figures of the people who may be unemployed or underemployed. Nearly 90% of the workforce in Gujarat and India is employed in the unorganized sector, which includes agriculture.”

Shah said, poor provision of employment in Gujarat has against the backdrop of huge claims made during the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ summits, begun by Narendra Modi as state chief minister in 2003. Thus, he said, figures show, during the 2009 summit an employment potential of 29.81 lakh was announced, followed by 60.69 lakh in 2011.

Lakhs of People are Jobless

♦ In the year 2001-02, 2.52 lakh fresh jobless workers entered the market and were registered but eight years later, in the year 2010-11, 4.11 lakh fresh jobless were registered. In the year 2015, 4.74 lakh jobless have been registered and only 3.37 lakh people got employment. Thus, year after year, more and more jobless people have been registered in the state.

♦ During 2001-11, 29.86 lakh fresh jobless were registered and only 13.38 lakh people got jobs in the state of Gujarat. Thus, during that period, 16.48 lakh people had remained unemployed. Taking into account the span of 2004-15, 43.44 lakh fresh unemployed people registered their names in the state employment exchanges but only 24.41 lakh people got employment and 19.09 lakh people could not get employment. In this way, there has been consistent rise in the number unemployed registered persons in the state.

♦ In the year, 2015, the number of registered jobless people was 6.11 lakh including both educated and uneducated unemployed persons.

♦ Records show that even all the recommended persons from the Employment Exchanges do not get employment. During the period of first six months of the year 2015-16, while there were recommendations to 5.12 lakh people, in actuality only 1.77 lakh people, i.e. only 35 % people got employment.

♦ The unemployment level of skilled and highly educated persons in Gujarat has created real distress. Almost 80 % of engineers in the State are jobless. Because of such large unemployment, there are some 200 to 500 applicants for only one vacancy as and when there is a job tender published and announced by the state government. Even for the vacancy of the post of Talati, lakhs of people applies for the job. Similar is a predicament of Pharmacists, Dentists etc.

♦ The declared policy of offering employment to locals – upto 85 % of vacancies in the industries including Tata’s Nano Project, has not been implemented. While the government is offering relief in lands, water and power supply to the tune of crores of rupees to corporates, on the question of job for the locals, the state government is content with merely issuing notices to defaulter industries.

♦ One of the reasons for tremendous rise in unemployment in Gujarat is attributed to thoughtless, sudden, haphazard and abrupt demonetization (2016) and GST. Over 90 % of the workers in the State are employed in the unorganised sector. Major portion of rural and urban population of the State is engaged in sectors such as construction, transport, home –based industries, small and tiny sectors etc. These people were producing 61 % products for the State’s GDP in the year 1997-98. Presently, its share has come down to 50 %. Due to the blows caused by demonetization and GST, a 2 % reduction has been observed in the GDP growth rate. As per one calculation, reduction of 1 % in the GDP reflects into 0.75 % reduction in the employment level. If one takes into account all this, then it will reveal that reduction of 2 % in the GDP has resulted into 1.5 % decline in the above-mentioned unorganised sectors, which accommodate over 90 % of the work force in the state of Gujarat.

♦ While tall claims of employment generation were made in the Vibrant Gujarat Investment Summits organized at a huge public expenditure of crores of rupees, these have not been realised. In the Vibrant Gujarat Summits of the years 2003, 2005, 2013, 2015 and 2017 no announcements were made on the employment potential of the prospective capital investment. Whereas, in the summits of the year 2007 the employment potential of 13,12,436 persons and in the summit of the year 2009 employment potential of 29,81,021 persons was announced. In the 2011 Vibrant Gujarat Summit, employment potential of 60 lakh jobs was anticipated. With the implementation of Vibrant Gujarat Summit of 2007, employment opportunity for 55,463 jobs and in the summit for the year 2009, employment opportunity for 3,84,954 jobs was created.

Addressing the media, former BJP chief minister Suresh Mehta blamed the Gujarat government for hiding jobs data in the organised sector after 2010, saying, “The figures show that, as of March 2008, 18.39 lakh people were employed in state and private sector enterprises, which increased to 19.49 lakh in March 2009.”

“Thereafter”, he said, “The state government only released jobs potential data announced at different Vibrant Gujarat summits. Since 2007, about one crore jobs potential data were announced. If we all jobs potential announced for Special Economic Zones, it comes to 1.16 lakh. On the other hand, we find from whatever figures we have been able to obtain, that jobs increase by 1.5 or 2 lakh per year.”
Continued Mehta, “The policy of offering employment to the local people up to 85% of vacancies in industries, including the Tatas Nano Project, has not been implemented. The government is offering relief in lands, water and power supply to the tune of crores of rupees, yet, thr government remains contented merely by issuing notices to such defaulter industries.”

Veteran economist Rohit Shukla said, “One of the reasons for tremendous rise in unemployment in Gujarat is attributed to thoughtless, sudden, haphazard and abrupt demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST). A major portion of rural and urban population of the state is engaged in sectors such as construction, transport, home based industries, small and tiny sectors etc.”

“These people were producing 61% products for the state GDP in the year 1997-98. Presently, its share has come down to 50%. Due to blows of demonetization and GST, 2% reduction is observed in the GDP growth rate. As per one calculation, reduction of 1% in the GDP reflects into 0.75 % reduction in the employment level”, he added.

Very Few People get Employment under MANREGA

► MNREGA was promulgated by Parliament in the year 2005, but the state government, then led by Narendra Modi implemented it only in the year 2006.

► In the Budget of 2017-18, under the NREGA scheme, the government has made a provision for Rs. 380 crores and had stated that 6.1 lakh families will get employment. This means an admission that in each such family there are jobless persons. If 2 unemployed persons are assumed per family, there are 12.20 lakh persons are jobless in the rural areas of the state. All these are uneducated families who do not get their names registered with the Employment Exchanges.

► During the period of 2007-12 the Central Govt. had allocated Rs. 2,236 crores to the State Govt. for implementation of NREGA but the Gujarat Govt. had provided employment only to 3 to 6 % workers demanding employment to the Job Card holder families for 100 days. Thus, the fund allocated by the central government has remained unutilized.

► In the budget speech, the Finance Minister of Gujarat had announced that 6.1 lakh families shall be provided employment in the year 2017-18, and 340 lakh mandays employment will be generated. If employment for 100 days is to be provided to one family under the NREGA, then employment potential works out to 610 lakh of mandays. Thus the government had decided in advance to give employment for only 44 days as against for 100 days.

► In Gujarat 38.45 lakh rural families had obtained job cards under the NREGA. Even then, the State Govt. states that in the year 2017-18 it will give employment to only 6.10 lakh families. How, the campaigners have questioned, how will the remaining 32.35 lakh families get employment? Moreover, the office of the Gujarat Rural Development Commissioner says that 7.50 lakh families had demanded job under NREGA, but jobs were offered to only 6.80 lakh families. Thus, 70,000 families did not get unemployment though they demanded job security under NREGA. In Gujarat, daily average wage of Rs. 130.81 is given under the MANREGA. Whereas against that, rate of daily wage is Rs. 153 in Bihar, Rs. 142 in UP, Rs. 159 in Maharashtra and Rs. 180 in Kerala.

► Under the NREGA, during 2016-17, 3,46,608 people of Gujarat had demanded work but only 1,35,112 persons i.e. 39 % people were provided employment. During the entire year, 25.23 man days employment was provided. Thus, merely 7.22 % target had been achieved. Under the 2005 law, the government is bound to provide employment for 100 days to every family but employment was provided only for 18.76 days. If this is the situation for the last year, then how can the state government falsely claim that 340 lakh mandays employment will be provided during the current year?

► The situation for the year 2015-16 is worse. Statistics show that the number of people seeking employment was 5,70,509 but only 4,17,670 people could get jobs. Thus, 27 % could not get employment even though they had demanded jobs. On an average, only 35 days employment was given by the state and merely 10,418 families got 100 days employment.

Gujarat is trailing behind in Social Security of Workers:
→ In Gujarat, the Govt. does not pay enough attention for social security of the workers. Against every 1000 workers, only 419 of urban men and 604 of urban women have received any benefit of the Social Security Schemes. Here, respectively, Gujarat ranks at no. 32 and no. 22 in the country. In the same way in the rural areas, for every 1,000 men, 521 Nos. and 450 women have received benefit of social security schemes. In both the matters, Gujarat ranks at no. 22 in India as a whole.

→ Condition of workers engaged on contractual basis in Gujarat is worse than that in other states. Out of 1,000 contractual workers, only 78 workers get leave with wages and in that, the rank of Gujarat is at No. 7. Whereas, benefit of social security schemes reach to only 166 workers and in it Gujarat ranks at 16.

→ Among those, who get regular salary, the condition of such workers in respect of social security is poor in Gujarat. Out of every 1,000 workers only 422 workers get leave with wages. Here, among 36 states and Union Territories Gujarat is ahead of only Telangana and Chandigarh. The workers of Gujarat are far behind in availing benefits of Social Security schemes. Against 1,000 workers, only 362 workers get benefits of social security schemes and Gujarat ranks at 3 from the last rank only with Diu-Daman and Andhra Pradesh.

→ In Gujarat, there are 12 lakh workers from Gujarat and 8 lakhs from other States, aggregating to 20 lakh workers are engaged in the construction business. For their social security, the Parliament had passed two Acts in the year 1996. Under those laws, cess at the rate of 2 % is levied on the construction of buildings and other constructions. As a result, an amount of more than Rs. 1600 crore has been accumulated in the coffers of the state. The Board constituted under the Act for the welfare of the construction workers, got only Rs. 700 crore by the state Govt. The Govt. spends remaining amount in its budget funds. In fact, this sum has no relation at all with the general budget. Even then, the state government takes up this amount to the credit in the Consolidated Fund and spends off the same. Until the year 2014 the Govt. had not spent almost any sum from the income of such cess.

→ The situation of contractual workers in Gujarat is grim and out of 1000 urban workers, 948 workers are employed without any kind of written agreement. Gujarat ranks at no. 14 in such unfair practices. In rural Gujarat, only 6 out of 1,000 workers get jobs with any written contractual agreement and among 36 states and Union Territories, Gujarat ranks at no. 5 from the bottom, that is it is 31st in assessment of protection for the unorganised sector.

→ The central government runs many schemes for employment generation, including NREGA. However, the benefits have reached only 40 people out of 1,000 persons. In that respect, Gujarat is ranking at the very bottom except for Diu-Daman.

Note: Details and statistics furnished in this Press Note are based on the following documents:
Budget speech of Finance Minister of Gujarat, 2017.

Socio-Economic Review, 2016-17, Gujarat State.
Website of Gujarat Government’s Rural Development Commissioner.
Outline of Activities: 2016-17, Budget Publication No. 32, Gujarat State.
Various Reports of the CAG.
5^th Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey, 2015-16, Labour Bureau, Govt. of India.
Working Paper No. 2, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, Delhi, June 2008.
Discussions in the Legislative Assembly of Gujarat State.

Proposed Legislation on Triple Talaq a Ploy to Target Muslim men?

November 30, 2017

The BJP government has announced its plan to legislate on the practice of instant triple talaq and to make it a criminal offence. We dreaded this moment, and we shall speak up. Although we knew that the incarceration of Muslim men was the implicit agenda of the BJP government, we did not anticipate that the government would s move so quickly and in such an unabashed manner.

While women’s groups are demanding for the rights of Muslim women and looking for civil redress mechanisms, the BJP government is -bent on appropriating the rightful claims of Muslim women for an exclusionary and polarising agenda.

On August 22, the Supreme Court of India struck down the practice of talaq-e-biddat. According to this judgment, it is unlawful for a Muslim man to pronounce talaq three times in one sitting, and if he does so, it will not be recognised by the law. In effect, the marriage continues to be legally recognised.

This judgement not only provides relief to individual women, but it also opens up the possibilities to challenge all the Personal laws, which are discriminatory against women. Hence, this judgment is a milestone in the direction of ensuring gender equality in marital and familial relations. In the particular case of Muslim women, who are still at the receiving end of instantaneous triple talaq, much needs to be done, not the least to spread awareness about the judgement itself among Muslim men and women.

Bebaak Collective — as one of the interveners in the Supreme Court, along with several women’s groups working at the grassroots level with the Muslim community —approached the ministry of minority affairs in New Delhi, as well the State Women’s Commission in Mumbai, to proactively allocate budgets and take initiatives to ensure the implementation of the judgement.

We have urged them to provide monetary relief and socio-legal aid to women who are affected by the violation of this judgment. In our meeting with Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Minister of Minority Affairs and other officials, we reiterated in no uncertain terms that we — as women’s groups working to ensure the rights of women and marginalised groups — do not believe in retributive justice. We do not seek criminal proceedings against Muslim men who continue to exercise the prerogative of unilateral decision-making to end the marriage.

It is essential to think of civil redress mechanisms and restorative justice to ensure that Muslim women are able to negotiate for their rights both within and outside of the marriage. Since marriage is a civil contract, the procedures to be followed on its breakdown should also be of civil nature. There are several recommendations in this direction.

First, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 should be made gender neutral. Even a Muslim man should be allowed to go to the court if he wants to divorce his wife. This is important because the judgement mentioned above has only struck down talaq-e-biddat (instant triple talaq) and not talaq-e-ahsan (talaq over a period of three months), while the latter is also unilateral with some possibility of reconciliation.

Second, the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 should be applied, even after the Muslim woman has been given talaq instantly, if she is facing any form of domestic violence or ousted from her matrimonial home, and approaches the police station.

One of the shortcomings of the judgement itself was that the five-judges of the Constitutional bench did not provide any guidelines for the safeguard of women if the practice continued. A minority of 2 judges passed the buck to the Parliament to formulate a law concerning the practice of triple talaq. This is now being used by the BJP government to criminalise Muslim men. We resist this ploy to incarcerate Muslim men, while the government projects itself as the messiah of Muslim women.

The question that needs to be asked: what has the government, both at the national and state levels, done to ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the past three months? What proactive measures have been taken to discourage the practice of instant divorce and what safeguards are created for Muslim women who still struggle to receive maintenance and exercise their right to stay in their matrimonial house? If the Parliament passes the law, criminalising the practice of instant triple talaq, it is going to affect Muslim women adversely. We resist this government’s vicious ploy to appropriate Muslim women’s struggles for their electoral gains and exclusionary politics.

(Press Statement of the Bebaak Collective, Voice of the fearless)

Another Assam Govt’s Offensive Against Peaceful Protesters

November 30, 2017

Police on Monday (November 27) resorted to brutal lathi-charge, tear-gas and firing of rubber bullets to disperse several hundred protestors in order to carry out an eviction drive in the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary that shares boundary with Guwahati city, and demolished over 400 houses illegally constructed inside it.

Assam

The governments at Dispur and New Delhi have been out on an offensive against the poor by riding on the slogans ‘Acche Din’ and ‘Parivartan’. They take away lands from the poor and given them to capitalists.” The demands are land survey in the State, providing land to landless people, immediate cancellation of the directive to evict 37 tribal villages in Chandrapur and Sonapur revenue circles by declaring Amchang Reserve Forest as an eco-sensitive zone, cancellation of the move to provide cash instead of food under the Food Security Act, inclusion of all poor under the PMAY and making the waiting list of beneficiaries public, declaration of Assam flood a national problem and immediate halt to the move to Saffronize the Panchayati Raj in the State.

Sharply condemning the all out offensive by the government of Assam against indigenous communities and a representative people’s movement Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS), the National Alliance of People’s Movement(NAPM) has demanded an enquiry. NAPM has further said that the majoritarian character of the state government is at the root of the ongoing repression against various sections of the Assamese population including Muslims and Mising, Karbi, Rabha, Dimasa, Bodo, Koch, Kalita, Ahom and other indigenous communities. In addition, the aggressive crackdown on one of the strongest farmers’ movements of the country – Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti is an attempt to stifle any voice that is against ‘corporate resource loot’.

Assam Police

The state government’s moves are multiplied by central government’s brazen policy decisions to completely weaken environmental governance by diluting laws and using the MoEF as a clearance ministry for industries: while claiming to save the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, the state government is actually evicting indigenous communities who live in harmony with nature.

KMSS staged a protest at Panjabari on Sunday morning, demanding a halt in the eviction drive scheduled to resume inside Amchang wildlife sanctuary on Monday and submitted a memorandum to the Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, calling for a solution to the settlement issue through discussions. Earlier, the eviction drive was launched in August, but was suspended after two days because of massive protests.

Assam

On Monday, November 27, 1,500 police personnel came with their guns, tear gas shells, 15 elephants, 20 excavators, 20 Executive Magistrates, and the entire Forest department, District Administration, Assam Power Distribution Corp. Ltd., State Disaster Response Force, Health and other emergency services and brutally demolished hundreds of homes in the Amchang area near Guwahati, Assam. It has been estimated that there are nearly 3,000 families inside the wildlife sanctuary, but some had shifted to other places before the eviction was launched.

What was the urgency for the government in this action that amounts to a wilful misinterpretation of the High Court order, which did not even specify a date for clearing ‘encroachments’? Clear violations of rehabilitation and others norms have been done. While the truth is that Cement companies AG Cement and Raksha Cement, Tea Gardens, coke calcination, brick kilns are the real encroachers who create havoc with the environment in this reserved forest area which was declared in 2004. Even total area and Eco-sensitive zones have not been clearly defined.

Apart from the failure in securing environment, the BJP government is a complete failure when it comes to housing rights of the people. With the continuous chain of evictions from Dharamshala to Indore and Bhopal, from Mumbai to Delhi in the name of Smart Cities raises a serious question as to where will the people go if the only space you have is declared illegal! Same goes for the habitation rights of forest dwelling people and declaration of reserved forests.

7 protestors were injured or grievously hurt. 35 year old Malati Das is admitted to Guwahati Medical College in ICU with a live bullet injury. Amina Khatun and Rashida Ahmed are grievously injured and admitted to Guwahati Medical College in ICU. Gautam Baishya, Utpal Patgiri and 75 others were injured.

KMSS leader and advisor Bedanta Laskar, Joint Gen Secretary Dhaijya Konwar, and activist Gopi Saikia were arrested from various parts of the city. Bedanta and Gopi were not even present in the site, but picked up while coming in a motorcycle in the middle of the city. They were charged with sections 120C, 147, 148, 353, 333, 338, 325 and 188 of the IPC and sent to 14 days jail custody. On 28 November police release an arrest warrant for KMSS leader Dhasko Dey Saikia. On the same day, police even arrested people from outside the CJM court where the leaders were to be produced, including Bedanta Laskar’s father. The ‘witch hunt’ against KMSS is on and the police are trying to suppress any voice of resistance against this total failure of justice and human rights in the state of Assam.

Assam

KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi is already facing incarceration under the draconian National Security Act (NSA) for over a year now. Various human rights teams have failed to get him released. Perhaps, the BJP government is too afraid of people’s leader Akhil Gogoi and of KMSS, the voice of peasants.

Meanwhile, protests have spread into Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Naganv, Mairiganv, Dhemaji, Dhokuwakhana, Darang, Kamrup, Goalpara, Dhubri, Barpeta and Bagaiganv. CM Sonowal has issued a statement that evictions will be halted but has not issued any written order.
We demand from the Assam government:

–          Release Akhil Gogoi and other leaders of KMSS immediately and unconditionally.
–          Protect forests from corporate loot, stop evicting people in the name of saving forests.
–          Ensure forest rights and housing rights of the people of Assam.

Photos from Navkiran Natt’s FB Post

The UK government spied on human rights groups – now they’re taking it to court

November 29, 2017

After human rights groups challenged the government for its mass surveillance infrastructure, they were themselves illegally spied on. Illegal state spying jeopardises all our freedoms, and must be stopped.

Pixabay. CC0.

Why is an international coalition of human rights campaigners challenging the UK government’s mass surveillance programmes in the European Court of Human Rights?

We’ve known that governments have been spying on all of us since whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the scale of mass online surveillance in 2013. At the start of November, Liberty and an international coalition of human rights campaigners challenged the programmes he uncovered in court.

The Snowden documents revealed how UK government ministers allowed GCHQ to collect and store a backup of every communication entering and leaving the UK so they could trawl through them later.

The Snowden documents showed us that those in power have access to our innermost thoughts.

They made public how UK intelligence services accessed the content of communications (including emails, chats, videos and images) gathered by the US government as it passed through American cables or was held by American companies like Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, Skype and YouTube.
The Snowden documents showed us that those in power have access to our innermost thoughts. They can pore over the ideas we share, track our travel plans, listen in on our meetings, browse our financial records, and quietly observe our conversations with friends, lawyers, doctors, colleagues and loved ones.

They can review which websites we visit, which forums we join, what games we play online. They can monitor our location, our movements and our interactions.
At Liberty, and at human rights groups around the world, we saw this for the rights violation it is, and the chilling effect on democratic freedoms that follow – so we took the UK government to court.

In December 2014, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal – the secretive court that oversees our intelligence services – decided that what the Government had been doing was, in principle, lawful.

But two months later, the court issued a second judgment. It ruled that the UK government’s access to US surveillance had unlawfully violated people’s rights before the legal challenge – because the agencies’ internal guidance for handling it had been kept secret.

The government had been allowed to make submissions about that guidance in closed court, without Liberty or the other organisations present. Unsurprisingly, we disagreed with the secretive court’s conclusion that safeguards shown to it in secret were an adequate protection of our fundamental rights.

And in June 2015, the Tribunal confirmed that GCHQ had carried out unlawful surveillance on two of the organisations taking the case alongside us: Amnesty International and the Legal Resources Centre.

The court didn’t rule out the possibility that the other organisations had been monitored too. If they had, the Tribunal simply didn’t disclose it because it didn’t consider it unlawful.

GCHQ had carried out unlawful surveillance on two of the groups taking the case alongside us: Amnesty International and the Legal Resources Centre.

These rulings were the first time this closed-doors court had ever ruled against the security services in its 15-year history. It was the first time it admitted publicly that the UK government had used its surveillance powers to target political and human rights activists.

We are human rights campaigners. Our organisations exist to stand up for people and challenge the powerful. We regularly communicate with activists in the UK and overseas, as well as journalists, whistleblowers, victims of state abuse, government officials and lawyers.

Some of our fellow claimants work in countries where basic rights and freedoms are under sustained and violent attack. Without strict confidentiality and protection of sources, their work is dangerously undermined and they and those they communicate with are at risk.

Industrial-scale state spying is a violation of our fundamental human rights. It jeopardises everything on which our freedom stands – our privacy, our free press, our right to speak, think and associate freely.

No democratic state has ever deployed powers like this against its citizens and remained a rights-respecting democracy.

So we weren’t satisfied with the 2014 ruling that mass surveillance is, for the most part, lawful – and we took our case to the European Court of Human Rights.
At the hearing earlier this month, our barrister had the government’s lawyers on the back foot.

We argued that the UK government should not be able to scoop up and access all of our communications on a massive, international scale.

We argued that, without limits on government surveillance, free expression, democracy and the rule of law are gravely threatened.

We argued that surveillance is only acceptable when it’s based on suspicion of serious criminal activity, and that independent judges should decide when to allow it – instead of the spy agencies and Home Secretary themselves.

Several of the judges posed questions, mostly to the government.

They wanted to know more about the lack of safeguards in place for sensitive information like that handled by human rights organisations, doctors, elected representatives and lawyers.

The court wanted confirmation that surveillance warrants are in fact issued on a rolling basis, with the Home Secretary having signed just one single certificate to green-light the collection of millions of people’s messages. And the judges wanted more information on what safeguards existed to restrict the scope of these warrants.

The government did its best to answer these questions. But it’s not easy to defend policies lifted from the pages of a dystopian novel.

If we win this battle, a vital blow will be struck against mass state surveillance that treats us all as suspects first and citizens second.

We’ll be one step closer to reclaiming our fundamental right to express ourselves and communicate without fear – protecting our freedom and democracy for generations to come.

(Silkie Carlo is Senior Advocacy Officer at Liberty where she leads Liberty’s work on technology and human rights, advocating for the protection of rights in areas including state surveillance, new policing technologies, uses of big data, artificial intelligence and free expression online).

(This story was first published on openDemocracy).

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