Yogi Justice in Yogi Reign

May 13, 2017

The Uttar Pradesh government has refused to grant sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the 2007 Gorakhpur communal riots case.

The Uttar Pradesh government has refused to grant sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the 2007 Gorakhpur communal riots case. The government of the accused has refused to grant permission to prosecute the accused! This is the justice we should expect, now that we have entered into the Yogi era.

This was first published on NewsClick.in.

3 Years of Modi Government: Steep Price Rise Everywhere

May 13, 2017

Once again, it is the people who pay the price, the poor more than those better off.

Image courtesy – Quora

The Modi government has been regularly trotting out figures of the official wholesale price index to claim that these last three years have been a period of extremely low inflation. They have gone far enough to suggest that there have been points in time when the annual inflation rate was actually negative. But as everybody knows from their own experience, this has little bearing to reality.
Consider the following facts, all culled from official data:
● Prices of gram dal have risen by an astounding 75% in the last three years. From an average of about Rs 49 per kg at the retail level in May 2014, it has risen to about Rs 86 per kg at present
● Prices of urad dal have risen by 46% from an average of about Rs 68 per kg at the retail level in May 2014 to about Rs 99 per kg currently
● Prices of arhar have gone up by 24% over the period of these last three-years

And this is when you are looking at three-year variations. What these figures do not reveal is the dizzying heights some of these prices reached during this period before coming down a little. Arhar dal prices, for instance, had spiked to Rs 200 per kg in Sept-Nov 2015. Sugar prices had crossed Rs 50 a kg about a year ago. Onion prices had crossed Rs 100 a kg within the first year of the Modi government. In October 2015, mustard oil prices had reached over Rs 150 per kilo.

In a country where a sizeable section of the population is forced to subsist on a largely or completely vegetarian diet either because of cultural reasons or because meat is too costly to afford, pulses are a crucial source of protein. When their prices hit such unaffordable levels, the poor have little option to cut back on their consumption. And remember that this comes in the context of already declining consumption of pulses as prices put them more and more out of reach of the poor. The amount of pulses consumed per person has steadily declined from about 61 grams per person per day in 1951 to about 44 grams in 2015.

Pulses provide a stark example, but this trend of runaway price spirals in food articles, in particular is familiar enough to all of us. The government may make light of it, pointing out that prices after all came under control after a few weeks or months, but for the poor those few weeks or months matter because they have no choice but to cut back on consumption till prices reach affordable levels. A government that was not so enamoured by markets would intervene quickly and decisively to prevent these price spikes. But like its predecessor, the Modi government too believes the market should be left to ‘self-correct’. The people of India pay the price for this ideological blinker.

Ironically, where allowing markets to determine prices would actually have seen a sharp drop in prices – in the case of petroleum products – the Modi government has once again upheld its anti-people nature by keeping prices at around the same level as they were three years ago. While the current international price of oil has dropped to less than half what it was three years ago. Once again, we do not need to look beyond official data to establish the point.

In June 2014, weeks after the Modi government came to power, the monthly average international price of what is called the ‘Indian basket of crude’ – a combination of various specific kinds of crude oil that India imports – touched $109 per barrel. From that level, it fell steadily to an average of just below $47 per barrel in January 2015. After rising again till May, when it averaged a little under $64 per barrel, it dropped to as low as $28 per barrel in January 2016. Since then, it has risen to now hover at around $50 per barrel.

You would think retail prices of petroleum products in India would more or less reflect this pattern, considering that the country is largely dependent on imported crude. But the reality is that the retail prices of diesel, the main transportation fuel, are actually up from Rs 56.71 per litre to Rs 59.02 per litre while those of petrol are more or less static at just above Rs 71 per litre. These prices are for Delhi, but while the actual prices for other parts of the country would typically be a little higher, the trend is exactly the same. Even PDS kerosene and subsidised LPG have become a little more expensive over these three years – kerosene rising from Rs 14.96 per litre to Rs 18.77 per litre and LPG from Rs 414 per cylinder to Rs 443 per cylinder after accounting for the subsidy.

Why has this happened? Because the Modi government instead of passing on the benefits of international oil prices dropping by half to the people of this country has preferred to use the opportunity to make its accounts look prettier. Thus, as costs have fallen, taxes have become a larger and larger proportion of the retail prices, more than wiping out the benefits of the lower costs.

The figures for the central government’s collection from taxes on the oil sector are telling. In 2013-14, the year before the Modi government came to power, this sector yielded Rs 1.06 lakh crore in taxes to the Centre. In the first year of the Mod government that number rose to Rs 1.26 lakh crore. But the next year, it jumped to Rs 2.1 lakh crore that is about twice the amount collected just two years ago. It implies as if the government collected an extra Rs 4,250 per year from every Indian household just in the form of taxes on petroleum products. This, of course, is only the amount directly being collected as taxes on these products. The actual burden on Indian households would be much larger. Given the fact that diesel is the primary fuel for transportation and for things like running tubewell pumps and gensets for perennially power starved areas, it has a domino effect on prices in general. And once again, it is the people who pay the price, the poor more than those better off.
What should be done?

1) All essential commodities should be made available at controlled prices through universal PDS
2) Strict regulation and control of essential, drug prices
3) Extensive govt. procurement of various commodities at suitable prices so that these can be routed to PDS
4) Strong punitive measures against hoarders and blackmarketeers
5) Strengthening of APMCs, breaking of dominant trader cartels (expand network of procurement centers/APMCs to reach all farmers.)
6) Strict control over export
7) Reintroduce import duty on wheat
For petroleum products
1) Delink from market
2) Cut central govt duties and taxes
3) Ensure gas cylinder supplies at subsidized rates

This article was first published on NewsClick.in.

Judgement of the Allahabad Bench of the High Court on Slaughter Houses

May 13, 2017

Judgement of the Allahabad Bench of the High Court on Slaughter Houses

Dt.12.5.2017

Justices Sanjay Harkauli, J. & Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J.

Yogi government cannot deny citizens right to livelihood and right to food of choice: Allahabad HC

May 13, 2017

Yogi government directed to renew existing licenses and issue fresh ones, open new slaughter houses to provide hygienic food to meat eaters.

A slaughter house being sealed in UP. Photo credit: Hindustan Times

A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday ruled that no government can interfere with the people’s constitutional right to livelihood (Article 19) and the right to food of choice (Article 21).

Coming down hard on the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for its directive leading to the summary closure of allegedly illegal abattoirs and slaughter houses in the state, the high court directed the government to immediately renew existing licenses and issue new ones for slaughter houses and meat ships.

The judgment has been greeted with huge relief by the 27 petitioners and the tens of thousands of persons whose livelihood was severely affected through the summary closure not only of slaughter houses for buffaloes (slaughter of cow and its progeny is prohibited in UP) but even retail mutton and chicken shops.
The bench comprising of Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Sanjay Harkauli observed that the government cannot stop non-vegetarians from their choice of food and it was the duty of the government to provide proper slaughter houses for making hygienic meat available to consumers.

The court observed that while the government was obliged to act in accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 read with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules, Regulations, the manner in which it has proceeded to implement the law has created problems and given rise to the petitions before it.

The Yogi Adityanath government, it noted, must implement the law as a model social welfare state under our secular constitution.

“It is expected that the state government and all its authorities shall make an endeavour to study the social, the economic and the legal impact and the practicality of implementation with a view to implement the laws as a Model Social Welfare State under our Secular Constitution with the objective of ameliorating the conditions in this field of trade and business, hygiene, sanitation and healthy food for its citizens on the anvil that it has the duty to do so”, said the bench.

“[The government’s directive] also gives rise to a consequential apprehension that it would affect an individual [right] to consume food of his own choice resulting in breach of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Thus it is the implementation part and the obligations, duties and responsibilities to be discharged by the State and local bodies and any alleged failure on their part that has given rise to these petitions. The claim of rights and the corresponding obligations therefore being a matter of assessment under the relevant laws and then its effective implementation appears to be the core issue on which the action or cause on behalf of the petitioners would fail or succeed.”

The court noted that the problems highlighted by the petitions would not have arisen if the government had shown due diligence and studied the problem from all angles before issuing its directive.

The court further noted that while claiming that a high powered committee had been appointed by the government for taking appropriate steps, “nothing has been brought before us after passing of such orders before this Court what deliberations have been made and what action has been taken by the state government to study the entire issue in the constitutional, the legal and the practical aspects of implementation of the 2006 Act, the Rules and the Regulations framed there under as well as the other provisions in this regard. We may put on record that had this effort been made by the state government more appropriately before taking any precipitate action the same could have been appreciated by this Court and could have been an aid in resolving the issue more effectively”.

The government has been directed not to dilly dally over the matter and resolve the issue at the earliest.

The court has fixed July 7 as the next date for hearing in the matter.

The justices also reminded the UP government that the Central government itself has been promoting the development of poultries, fisheries, hatcheries, piggeries and the like which are essential and have a direct nexus with the consumption by the public at large. It was therefore the duty of the state government to promote rather than hamper or prohibit such activities.

To ensure compliance with its orders the high court has directed that copies of the judgment are circulated among all divisional commissioners, district magistrates and civic bodies throughout the state.

It may be recalled that the sealing of not just "illegal" slaughter houses but even retail meat and chicken shops were among the first directives of the Yogi Adityanath government, thus hitting directly at the means of livelihood of tens of thousands of Muslims and others too. Within days, six other BJP ruled states had rushed to replicate the Yogi model.

The Entire Judgement of the Allahabad High Court May be Read Here

‘You are Deserving of Death Penalty in the Hindu Rashtra & This Penalty will Be Executed Soon’: Extremist Outfit Threatens former Journo Ashish Khetan

May 13, 2017

Khetan, who received this threat from an outfit, in language strikingly similar to threats by the Sanathan Sanstha(SS) received by rationalists and free thinkers, Narayan Daboklar and Govind Pansare has written to Home Minister, Rajnath Singh urging that the GOI take this and other threats to journalists and free thinkers seriously

Last July (2016) was the first time that Ashish Khetan received such a threat when he had in a formal complaint to the Commissioner of Police solicited action to which, unfortunately there was no response. He proceeded with his public responsibilities for the Aam Admi Party (AAP).

Yesterday, the letter dated May 11, 2017 was delivered and the threat was direct and chilling.” You are deserving of Death Penalty in the Hindu Rashtra’ and in case the message was not clear, the four five line missive “This job, with Ishwar (God’s) blessing will be carried out soon.” The missive refers to the CBI’s probe, by officer Nandkumar Nayar of the SS, that included raids of their offices and even arrests of their volunteers, Virendra Singh Tawde.

Khetan who has received this direct threat is more, much more than an AAP politician, however. In his investigative work as a journalist for Tehelka, Headlines Today and Gulail he has exposed such forces with documentary evidence. In June 2016, he had in a series of social media posts tweeted on the failure of investigative agencies under the Modi regime to nab the culprits behind the murders of Narayan Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. Ashish Khetan had posted messages on social media and mentioned that Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti had perpetrated the murder of Dabholkar. Khetan added that investigation agencies have identified the culprits responsible for Dabholkar’s murder. He had named four members of the Sanatan Sanstha — Sarang Akolkar, Rudra Patil, Jaiprakash Hegde and Praveen Limkar — behind the murder. All four have been absconding since 2008.
The anonymous letter by this extremist outfit proudly identifying itself as part of the Hindu Rashtra regime and vision was received in Khetan’s office(1233/DDC on 11/5/2017). On the envelope there is a reference to the Hindu calendar, “Jayatu Jayatu Hindu Rashtram.”

Khetan has addressed a strong letter to Rajnath Singh, Home Minister to which are annexed the two threatening letters.

In the letter, he states that ‘Yesterday I received a threatening letter at my office claiming that my killing is imminent. The letter advocates the cause of terror accused Sadhvi Pragya and those who are accused of killing the noted rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the political activist from Maharashtra, Govind Pansare, the scholar, MM Kalburgi and many other innocent Indians. It then pronounces my death sentence with the threat that it will be carried out soon.

‘It is pertinent to mention here that those who are suspected of gunning down Dr Dabholkar and Pansare are still out of the reach of law enforcement agencies. Similarly, the prime accused in terror cases like the Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express bomb blasts have been absconding for almost a decade, with our agencies conspicuously failing to bring them to justice. The parent organisations to which these accused belong have also gained in prominence.

‘Sanatan Sanstha, Abhinav Bharat, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Hindu Rakshak Samiti, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Sri Ram Sene, Vishwa Hindu Parishad have all been found to be involved in acts of violence and communal riots. Some of these organisations have common members and leaders. They also keep assuming new identities. Evidence collected by agencies and available with the government suggests that they are all part of the same hydra –headed social forces.

‘Many people believe that in the last few years an atmosphere of fear and oppression has built up in the country. The space for critical thinking and free writing has shrunk. Anyone expressing a contrary viewpoint is easily cast as being anti-national. Writers and free thinkers and activists have been repeatedly threatened and in some cases the threats have resulted in ugly violence and even murder. Sadly, the culprits behind some of these killings are still at large and forces inimical to liberty and equal rights are only gaining in strength.

He has urged the government of India to take strict action against the culprits and protect democracy and free thought and expression.

In July 2016, Ashish Khetan had tweeted, “Right wing group Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate wing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti are behind the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar. Agencies have cracked the case. ‘Sadhaks’ of Sanatan Sanstha and HJS behind Dr Dabholkar’s murder have been identified.” Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune in June 2013 when he had gone for a morning walk in Pune. Even though close to four years have passed ever since Dabholkar was murdered but police have failed to crack this case. Then, after the Modi government was sworn in in May 2014, Govind Pansare was killed in February 2015 and Kalburgi in August of the same year.

“Sanatan Sanstha had carried out bomb blasts in Maharashtra and Goa. Even though agencies had demanded for a ban to be imposed on Sanatan Sanstha but the erstwhile Democratic Front government had failed to take action against the organisation,” Khetan had added.

Khetan had then not disclosed the sources from where he received this information and didn’t provide any documentary evidence in support of his claim. Narendra Dabholkar’s son Hamid Dabholkar had said, “Mr. Khetan’s allegations confirm our suspicions which we, along with the kin of Mr. Pansare and Mr. Kalburgi, have been expressing for a long time — that the murders are the handiwork of extreme rightwing elements. The State government ought to wake up at least now and reveal the names of the assailants,” he said.
Around this time, the CBI had searched the house of an alleged Sanatan Sanstha member Sarang Akolkar, wanted by the NIA in the Goa blast case, in Pune, in connection with the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. CBI sources said besides Akolkar’s house in Pune, searches were on at the premises of Virendra Singh Tawde in Panvel near Mumbai in connection with the Dabholkar assassination case.

The entire text of the May 13, 2017 letter of Ashish Khetan to Rajnath Singh may be read here:

To,
Shri Rajnath Singh,
Home Minister,
Government of India,
New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Many people believe that in the last few years an atmosphere of fear and oppression has built up in the country. The space for critical thinking and free writing has shrunk. Anyone expressing a contrary viewpoint is easily cast as being anti-national. Writers and free thinkers and activists have been repeatedly threatened and in some cases the threats have resulted in ugly violence and even murder. Sadly, the culprits behind some of these killings are still at large and forces inimical to liberty and equal rights are only gaining in strength.

For the last seventeen years I have written about fundamentalist and anti-national forces undermining our democracy and liberty and how these forces have been behind the orchestrated killings of innocent men, women and children. Some of this work has been done in the face of great risk and danger. And my articles have been used in the courts of law to convict those guilty of mass carnage.

Yesterday I received a threatening letter at my office claiming that my killing is imminent. The letter advocates the cause of those who are accused of killing the noted rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the political activist from Maharashtra, Govind Pansare, the scholar, MM Kalburgi and many other innocent Indians. It then pronounces my death sentence with the threat that it will be carried out soon.

It is pertinent to mention here that those who are suspected of gunning down Dr Dabholkar and Pansare are still out of the reach of law enforcement agencies. Similarly, the prime accused in terror cases like the Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express bomb blasts have been absconding for almost a decade, with our agencies conspicuously failing to bring them to justice. The parent organisations to which these accused belong have also gained in prominence.

Sanatan Sanstha, Abhinav Bharat, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Hindu Rakshak Samiti, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Sri ram Sene, Vishwa Hindu Parishad have all been found to be involved in acts of violence and communal riots. Some of these organisations have common members and leaders. They also keep assuming new identities. Evidence collected by agencies and available with the government suggests that they are all part of the same hydra –headed social forces.

The letter sent to me is a chilling reminder of the growing confidence of anti-national and fascist forces who want to exterminate all dissenting voices with violence. The language used in the letter is strikingly similar to many threats that Dabholkar had received immediately before he was brutally killed.
.
I had received a similar threat letter in July last year. I had then sent a complaint to Police Commissioner of Delhi. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a response. I am sure if a similar instance had happened with a BJP or RSS leader or member of RSS parivaar, the response of the police machinery would have been strikingly different.

I would urge you not to treat this is as an individual complaint. I am writing this on behalf of scores of journalists, activists, artists, writers and ordinary citizens across the country who have been threatened or attacked by the right wing forces.

I the ardent hope that the present government will carry out its constitutional duty of protecting liberty and democracy I am writing you this letter. The two threat letters, the contents of which are self-explanatory, are annexed. ’

Annexed to the communication by Ashish Khetan to Rajnath Singh are the letters received and the following:
http://www.sanatan.org/en/a/3429.html

CPDR Fact Finding Team’s Report on Ambedkar Nagar Demolition

May 13, 2017

Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR)

Fact Finding Team’s Report on Ambedkar Nagar Demolition (May, 2017)

BDS movement calls for solidarity actions as Palestinian prisoners enter fourth week of hunger strike

May 13, 2017



BDS activists at the University of Manchester in the UK are planning a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. (Photo: thetab.com)

Today, the mass hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli prisons is in its critical fourth week, at which point the hundreds of hunger strikers may find standing up difficult or impossible. Heeding the call to action issued on May 6 by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement leading this strike to end Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and to ensure dignity and humane conditions for political prisoners, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) calls:

For the Palestinian Authority to immediately end its so-called “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation forces. This collaboration is against the Palestinian consensus and in violation of a March 2015 decision by the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
For legal action against Israeli officials, including Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan and officials in the Israeli prison administration and intelligence agencies for their respective roles in the serious crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners, including torture. Since Israeli courts are failing to hold them accountable, foreign courts must uphold universal jurisdiction and ensure that gross human rights violators are not granted impunity.
For physicians worldwide to reject force-feeding as a form of torture and reject the credentials of any doctor who agrees to participate in this crime. There are reports that Israel plans to import foreign doctors to force-feed Palestinian prisoners, and these plans must be condemned and opposed.
For intensifying BDS campaigns to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, including its cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinian political prisoners. Hewlett-Packard (HP) and G4S in particular are companies that should face escalating boycotts for their complicity in Israel’s brutal system of incarceration and abuse of Palestinian political prisoners.

Support for the demands of the Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike has spread through several Arab countries, especially Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco, with a growing number of celebrities joining the #SaltWaterChallenge. Palestinian trade unions have also expressed their support, as have human rights defenders around the world.

The BNC is confident that this hunger strike demanding dignity and freedom will further nourish nonviolent popular resistance to Israeli injustice and advance the BDS movement’s aspirations for freedom, justice and equality.

This article was first published on mondoweiss.net.

Ramdev gets bailable warrant for hate speech against those refusing to say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ in 2016

May 13, 2017

The 'Baba' had said that if it was not for the law, he would have ‘beheaded’ lakhs of people for declining to chant the words.

Ramdev gets bailable warrant for remarks against those refusing to say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ in 2016

A Haryana Court on Friday issued a bailable warrant against self-styled godman and businessman “Baba” Ramdev for his remarks against people refusing to shout the “Bharat mata ki jai” slogan. Ramdev had been summoned by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Goyal under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke the breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, IANS reported.

The court had summoned Ramdev after Congress leader and former state minister Subhash Batra filed a complaint and demanded and FIR against him.

Ramdev had said that if it was not for the law, he would have “beheaded” lakhs of people for refusing to chant “Bharat mata ki jai”. Batra said he had moved the court because the police had refused to accept his complaint alleging criminal intimidation. “As the police did not register an FIR, I approached the court,” Batra said.

The Patanjali promoter is also Haryana’s brand ambassador for yoga and ayurveda. He had made the controversial statement during a peace rally organised after the Jat agitation.

This article was first published on scroll.in.

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Yogi Justice in Yogi Reign

The Uttar Pradesh government has refused to grant sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the 2007 Gorakhpur communal riots case.

3 Years of Modi Government: Steep Price Rise Everywhere

Once again, it is the people who pay the price, the poor more than those better off.

Judgement of the Allahabad Bench of the High Court on Slaughter Houses

Yogi government cannot deny citizens right to livelihood and right to food of choice: Allahabad HC

Yogi government directed to renew existing licenses and issue fresh ones, open new slaughter houses to provide hygienic food to meat eaters.

‘You are Deserving of Death Penalty in the Hindu Rashtra & This Penalty will Be Executed Soon’: Extremist Outfit Threatens former Journo Ashish Khetan

CPDR Fact Finding Team’s Report on Ambedkar Nagar Demolition

BDS movement calls for solidarity actions as Palestinian prisoners enter fourth week of hunger strike

Ramdev gets bailable warrant for hate speech against those refusing to say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ in 2016

The 'Baba' had said that if it was not for the law, he would have ‘beheaded’ lakhs of people for declining to chant the words.

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