Nisarpur, one of the villages on the bank of the Narmada facing the threat of submergence, is now on the warpath. With the central and state governments threatening to evict villagers forcibly, sending police officials as 'emmisaries' even as the Narmada authorities are avoiding any dialogue, thousands of women and men have been on the streets every day.

About 100 kilometres from the Gujarat border, not very far from the Narmada river in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, Nisarpur village is on the warpath. With forcible eviction looming large over the village and government sending police officials to warn people, here, thousands of women and men are on the street every day. Three days back, it was total strike with all shops and activities closed. On Wednesday, the villagers took out a torchlight procession. On Thursday, again, there was a rally and mass meeting, followed by a special gram sabha to pass a resolute against evicting them by closing down the Narmada dam’s 30-odd gates.

Determined to challenge eviction, the big village, where about 3,000 families live, is almost a township. With all the social and public services, shops and markets, it is, however, dependent on agriculture. Traders to artisans, all gain their livelihood, thanks to the village’s agricultural prosperity.

Farmers of the village grow wheat, maize, banana, papaya, cotton, among other crops. The prime agricultural land attached with the village and all the houses of Nisarpur were recorded as affected by the Narmada Dam at levels below 110 meters.

Lands were officially declared acquired in the year 2000, but most of the farmers, potters, fish workers, laborers, and artisans yet to be rehabilitated. Majority of villagers complain extremely poor compensation for houses they have been asked to leave. The compensation is far from sufficient to build new houses at resettlement sites the project affected families (PAFs) have been offered.

The land the PAFs at the resettlement site has being offered has been acquired from 50-odd landholders. On this site, the project affected families (PAFs) if from four other villages — Kothada, Karandia, Raswa, and Rakti – would be resettled. Ironically, 30 of these 50 landlords today are landless!
Nisarpur is just three km away from Narmada river and the well-known Koteshwar temple complex. Within this single village there are some 30 temples and 10 mosques.

Approximately 60% of Nisarpur’s population is poor, yet they have not received alternative livelihood, which ranges from fishing to making bricks at brick kilns. Many of them have not been allocated housing plots and have been cheated by middlemen, who grabbed the documents, especially of widows, and duped them.

Only recently, when complaints were written by activists, one middleman returned a widow’s documents along with Rs 15,000. However, all are not so lucky.
This is not just the case with Nisarpur but also of large number of other villages in the three districts in bordering Narmada. Government officials are visiting each of the villages, telling people to vacate the villages. In order to make their mission successful, they are paying visits to communities as never before. While police and the lower revenue officials are ready for a dialogue, this not the case with higher officials attached with the Narmada project.

Meanwhile, villagers suspect, the recent inter-state meeting of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) in Delhi on May 17, 2017, would ensure that they are forced out of their village within the next two months, They strongly feel that all this is in violation of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) and Supreme Court orders.
 

Related Articles:
1. 8,000 Dam Effected Families "threatened" with forcible eviction by MP Officials
2. Rally for the Valley SAVE NARMADA, SAVE LIFE!

The post Nisarpur Village Stands Firm, Gram Sabha Passes Resolution Against Forced Eviction appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bhoomi Adhikaar Andolan challenged this brazen attempt at violating not only the constitutional spirit but also the democracy itself and resolved to launch a nation wide strike and struggle against this. BAA leaders collectively said that this attack is not only against Muslims but against farmers and workers as well. Cows and cattle’s have an intrinsic link to the agrarian economy and in our country farmers and workers are from all religions.

The BJP government in the name of cow and river protection is only promoting the corporate agenda and taking away all the rights and livelihoods form the working classes of this country. BAA is going to challenge each and every move and every attempt at diversion of the common property resources and village land for industrial purposes. BAA also supported the demands of the agitating farmers from Tamilandu who have been camping at Jantar Mantar for 36 days now. Comrade Hannan Mollah General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha said, “the intentions of this government are clear and we should not be fooled by their agenda and the diversionary tactics they use. We have to fight the communal terror and also the corporate onslaught on farmers and workers of this country”.   

The protest was addressed by Krishna Prasad, N K Shukla, Amra ram, Badal Saroj, and other leaders of All India Kisan Sabha; Dr Sunilam and Madhuresh of National Alliance of People’s Movements; Ashok Choudhary and Roma, All India Union of Forest Working People; Com Satyavan of All India Krishak Khet Mazdoor Sangathan; Com Prem Singh and Aslam Khan of All India KISAN Maha sabha; Com Atul Anjan All India Kisan Sabha (Ajay Bhawan); Kavita Srivastava, People's Union of Civil Liberties; Com Thirunavukkarasu, President, AIAWU; Com Suneet Chopra (ABKMU); Anil Choudhary and Virendra Vidrohi of INSAF and others. The dharna was also adressed by Com Brinda Karat, Subhashini Ali, Polit bureau Members, CPI(M); D.Raja, National Secretary, CPI; Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML); K.C.Tyagi, former MP and leader, JD(U); D.P.Tripathi, NCP leader and MP. In addition, representatives from different Left and Democratic Parties as well as Organisations of Peasantry, Agricultural Workers, Workers, Women's, Students, Youth Dalit and Adivasis, Trade Unions, people's movements were present in solidarity.

The dharna was attended by a number of farmers and civil rights organisations from Haryana and Punjab who extended solidarity and also launched their own agitation in the States demanding justice. They resoled to continue their fight until justice for the victims of the Alwar is achieved and also to stop any further terror in the name of the cow protection.

Earlier, AIKS President Amra Ram had sat on a Dharna on 18th April demanding justice for the dairy farmer's family. Hundreds of peasants from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan attended the Dharna. The family members of Pehlu Khan and other victims as well as villagers from Nuh attended the Dharna.

The Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan demanded the following :

1. Rs.1 crore compensation for Pehlu Khan's family and job for a family member, arrest of perpetrators of the crime, Government purchase of unproductive cows at market rate and protection of right to cattle trade as well as right to choice of food.
2. The Vasundhara Raje Government of Rajasthan must provide Rs. One Crore as compensation to the bereaved family of Pehlu Khan and Rs.25 lakhs each to the other victims, taking the responsibility of the incident and to ensure civil and democratic rights and to give a strong message to the anti national elements which are trying to disrupt communal harmony.
3. The Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana must ensure Immediate and free medical treatment to all the victims.
4. The state Government must provide government job to one family member of Pehlu Khan.
5. Immediate arrest of all culprits and ensure stringent punishment.  Withdraw false cases against victims. 
6. A special investigation team under direct supervision of Supreme Court must be assigned to ensure impartial investigation to the crime and role of the police
7. A high level enquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court to unearth the conspiracy of RSS to create communal unrest on the issue of cow slaughter.   
8. Ensure farmers right to cattle trade and reopen all cattle markets immediately which had been closed down by the concerned state governments. 
9. Make provisions in the cattle protection law to obligate state governments to purchase unproductive cattle providing market rate to farmers. 
10. Protect the crops from stray cattle’s by incorporating clauses in the law to obligate state Governments to preserve all stray cattle in shelters ensuring  sufficient fodder, water and veterinary care
11. The Union Ministry of Agriculture shall call a meeting of all the peasant and agriculture worker organizations to discuss protection of the rights of farmers on cattle wealth.

Krishna Prasad, Madhuresh Kumar, Shweta Tripathi, Sanjeev Kumar
For Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan
 
Related Articles:

1. What I learnt in Pehlu Khan’s village: Not Muslims, starvation is killing cows and bullocks

The post No Terrorism in the Name of Cow Protection: Call for Nationwide Protest on Lynchings & Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Setalvad's brief testimony was before a full session of the UN Human Rights Council on March 15, 2017, with all the UN member countries in attendance, convened to review the report of the UN Rapporteur on Minority Rights. She noted that since the UN Special Rapporteur's 2013 General Assembly report, the following developments had taken place in India:

1.Speeches by political leaders and members of Parliament had exacerbated the violence in Muzaffarnagar that claimed over 60 lives and left thousands homeless;

2. The targeting of religious minorities accused of "improper" conversions from Hinduism;

3. In the wake of state laws banning the sale of beef, mob attacks on people alleged to have beef in their possession have becoming a recurring event;

4. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial or arbitrary executions noted that encounter killings "have become virtually a part of unofficial State policy" in India;

5. The above acts are often committed with impunity stemming in part from close alignment between the government and non-state actors;

6. Law enforcement agencies fabricate terrorism cases where Muslims are often targets.

Her testimony was part of a larger effort by several partner organizations that includes a joint submission to the UN Human Rights Council for India's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) scheduled for May 4,2017. 

To view the testimony on the UN's webtv may be viewed here.

The post Teesta Setalvad at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on the human rights situation in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sabrang India spoke to Bagchi who sees clear signs of a new communal equation emerging in West Bengal.

Representational Picture. Image credit: India.com

SabrangIndia (SI): How many places were affected by recent communal tension?

Suvojit Bagchi (SB): Difficult to say. Received phone calls from many towns and villages and seen many reports on social media and video blogging sites. But I will refrain from naming the places as I have not visited the areas. However, I spoke to people who could be trusted and they have confirmed severe communal tension in four places– Chandannagore from Hooghly district, Kharagpaur in West Medinipur,  Hazinagar in North 24 Paraganas and Chachal in Malda districts .

SI: What is the scale and nature of damage?

SB: Again I will not conjecture on the nature and scale of damage as long as I have not visited or met the people in the area. It is particularly important as the state government has said that a section of the media is publishing “distorted reports.” So we need to visit these places. Two weeks after the flare up from October 11-15, I have managed to visit only one of the places twice – Hazinagar in North 24 Paraganas.

SI: What have you witnessed there?

SB: Much of it is published in The Hindu. But there are many angles to it which can be explored in further detail as you know a communal clash cannot occur suddenly, like a road accident. It takes time, it takes planning. It has multiple reasons – which unfold over weeks, months and years. Individuals with specific interests work as a catalyst, while political parties use such individuals. However, political parties may also fan tension between communities for very particular political requirements. So multiple issues come to play and you can only touch the surface in a two-day visit.

One factor was interesting in Hazinagar. The list of rioters provided to me by the leaders of Trinamool Congress features many local level leaders or even municipal councillors of the TMC. They are TMC in the morning and organise programmes for the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) at night. Prabhat Khabar – a leading Hindi daily – published a small story in its October 3 edition naming many such local leaders and councillors of TMC who organised Hanuman Chalisa distribution programme for the VHP recently. This tiny information says a lot about today’s Bengal… that the civic body councillors are overtly engaging with an outfit which has a very clear agenda. This perhaps tells us how the politics of Bengal is changing and (changing) fast.

SI: You named one such person… Pradeep Pashi.

SB: I did. I was very keen to meet him as well but could not so far. This gentleman was close to CPI-M at one point of time. Now he is publicly with the TMC and he led the riots. Everybody in the area confirmed that Pashi led the scuffle in many areas. Now all the parties – especially CPI-M and TMC – tell me that he is an “anti social.” But Pashi was always an anti-social who engaged with the ruling parties whenever it suited him. Actually there is nothing surprising as that is how it works in the country. Now he realises that it suits him to be with TMC in the day and to lead a riot at night for right-wing outfits… he is doing that. His name, however, was not mentioned in the report of the Hindi daily.

SI: Are you suggesting that TMC led the riots?

SB: I won’t say that. TMC means Mamata Banerjee and it also means that they do have a secular credential. They have addressed many issues which have given some relief to the minorities. Many boys and girls of the Muslim community told me that they felt “empowered” as they are not unnecessarily hounded by the state and experience small pleasures like visiting shopping malls. I’m not saying that it did not happen in CPI-M’s time – but a section of the Muslims, if not the entire community, loves the chief minister, which is not a bad thing in today’s India.

Perhaps they also liked Jyoti Basu and often say – especially these days – that they did not have any communal tension during Basu’s time. TMC is aware that they have a solid Muslim vote base and thus they can’t afford to antagonise them either.

But TMC also did things which gave confusing signals. For example, one may ask why it is so important for the top leadership to so actively engage with anything that is religious – for all the communities – constantly mixing religion with affairs of State or politics. Why is that important? Now, if the State continuously engages with everything that is religious then the people perhaps start thinking that they can do anything in the name of religion and get away with it.

In Bengal the State perhaps needs to de-link itself with all religion a bit while ensuring law and order especially during the time of festivals. But it is challenging because the rise of BJP at the national level has changed many things in Bengal.

SI: How?

SB: I was talking to Piyush Ghosal. He was CPI-M’s zonal committee member, worked in the same area – Hazinagar – for many years and knows the area very well. He said something interesting. He said – which I quoted in The Hindu – that there was communal tension earlier too, during their time. In fact, in the 1990s a Koran was set on fire in Hazinagar and it was a very difficult time. But CPI-M could diffuse it as the organisation was remarkably powerful. All the MPs and MLAs and councillors belonged to them. Much like it is now for the TMC – they have 22 of the 23-member board in the local municipality. But many of them – as I said earlier – work for VHP or other Hindu outfits. CPI-M had an organisation, which did not have leaders with dual identity, and thus they could control sensitive situations quickly. TMC has an issue with its organisation.

But the other advantage (of CPI-M) is also significant. Historically they did not ever experience a buoyant BJP in the state, in the backdrop of a very strong BJP at the national level. This rise of BJP has impressed millions in India and there is no reason to think that the Bengali middle-class is not part of it. There is another issue.

There are many in the state who have come from East Pakistan and later Bangladesh. Like my family during Partition. Many of these people are covertly communal. They are Bengalis, they were part of CPI-M and even their top leaders, but they never publicly expressed any anti-Muslim bias. Because they knew that the party does not approve it. So the Bengalis, especially those who came from Bangladesh, had two opposing identities. They were communists and they were the people directly affected by Partition. The size of this population is huge. I do not know the percentage but I will not be surprised if these people (with roots in East Pakistan/Bangladesh) make up 35-40 percent of all Bengal’s electors, three to four out of nearly 10 crore people. I’m not saying majority have an issue with the minority but perhaps the majority has a problem.

The post “A new communal Equation is evolving in West Bengal, TMC Cadre during the Day are VHP Activists at Night” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: NDTV
 
Last week (third week of October) saw a record number of arrests, as 446 people were arrested by J-K police.

In addition to the arrest spree, some news reports have claimed that around 1,500 others are under detention in a number of police stations across the state, without any charges.
 
The valley has been facing lockdown since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
 
The PDP-BJP government in the state has incurred wrath of several human rights organisation and activists for reckless slapping of PSA on the civilians. A team of experts from United Nations earlier demanded release of Khurram Parvez who also has been booked under PSA.
 
According to the figures accessed by The Indian Express, police have submitted PSA dossiers against 560 people and have received approval for 483 cases. The Act empowers government to detain a person without trial for a period up to six months.
 
While in opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2010 had criticised Omar Abdullah government over “unwarranted use” of PSA both in and outside the assembly. The party – now ruling the state along with the BJP – ended up booking more than 450 people under the same act in less than three months.
 
As reported by Express, J-K government spokesman and Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar justified the arrests saying it has been done “because we found ourselves in an unprecedented situation”.
 
“There is a difference, lot of difference between 2010 and 2016. Like the local leadership apparently is not in control, the leadership has gone to 10 and 12 year old boys. Those who lead are driven by the street. In 2010, they could assert and bring it back,” he told Express. “What we did (in 2010) is the role of opposition. I wish National Conference does the same but they have disappeared”.

However, a Kashmir Age report claimed that 5,500 of the arrested persons were released after assurance of conduct from their relatives or parents. It claimed that in addition to the nocturnal raids, security forces have been arresting people during mob-control exercises as well, but such youths are mostly released after their innocence has been established.
 
“A good number of those arrested during the unrest are those who instigate youths in mobs to indulge in violence. These also include those responsible for issuing threats to people for not joining the protests or defying the diktats of the separatists,” the report quoted a police source.

Also read: In Dire Need of Rehab Package, Appeal Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley
 

The post Kashmir Crisis: 7000 Arrests during Curfew, more than 450 booked under PSA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Exaro

Renowned investigative journalist and director of WikiLeaks Gavin MacFadyen passed away, as per the tweet posted from the WikiLeaks official Twitter account on October 22. The cause of the death of the 76-year-old, who was known as the founder of Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) and as a mentor of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains ambiguous. However, CIJ on its website claims that the MacFadyen lost his life to lung cancer.

MacFadyen, who was also a filmmaker, has made more than 50 documentaries since the 1970s, focusing on wide array of subjects like industrial accidents, history of CIA, Watergate, neo-Nazi violence of the UK, nuclear proliferation etc. He founded CJI in 2003 to advance training in the field of investigative journalism for in-depth, sceptical and adversarial reporting. Over the next 13 years he helped train thousands of reporters from over 35 countries, many of which are places where free media is under attack.  He trained several students through CIJ.

In the recent years, his focussed on facilitating and protecting whistleblowing activities. He was closely linked to Assange, and was also responsible for Julian Assange Defence Committee, which raises funds to manage the legal expenses of Assange and other WikiLeaks staff.

He reportedly breathed his last in London on October 22. 
 

The post WikiLeaks Director Gavin MacFadyen dies at 76 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

First they threw stones at the car in which Kanhaiya Kumar, president of JNU students union, was travelling from Nagpur airport to the city today to address a public meeting at the Dhanwate Hall on the occasion of the 125^th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.  Next, at the jam packed hall, some shoes and slippers were hurled and a few even tried to jump on to the dais in an unsuccessful bid to disrupt the meeting.

But Kumar was unfazed. Mocking the hooligans who called him a “traitor”, he asked if their conduct accorded with Hindutva’s idea of “patriotism”. “Nagpur is Babasaheb Ambedkar’s land, not Golwalkar’s [ideologue-in-chief of the RSS},” said Kumar. “Sangh headquarters is not Parliament and Manu Smruti is not the Constitution,” he added.

It may be recalled that on October 14, 1956, Dr. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism along with over 3 lakh of his followers at a mammoth rally in Nagpur protesting against the inequities and indignities of the caste system.

"The atmosphere at the meeting was electric", Sharad Dudhat an activist from Nagpur told SabrangIndia. "The Dhanwate Hall was jam-packed and there were nothing less than 1,500-2,000 people outside the hall which accomodates around 1,200 persons, The best part is that an overwhelming majority of those assembled were students and young people.I can't remember when I last attended a meeting as exciting as today's in Nagpur". Kumar who spoke for about 45 minutes was greeted with thunderous applause time and again as he spoke about his idea of Azaadi, said Dudhat.

According to news reports five persons have been detained by the police.

Here is the text of his speech at Nagpur:

The post Targeted by Bajrang Dal goons in Nagpur, Fearless Kanhaiya Kumar unhurt, unfazed appeared first on SabrangIndia.

India’s first, and path-breaking rural works scheme (the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, NREGA) was, in the first instance a part of NDA II, read Narendra Modi’s pet ‘to be reviled’ Congress scheme. Now,, this scheme is currently being starved of Central government funds.

As a result, despite three years –in some parts, four –of consecutive drought –the poorest of the poor are not getting state assistance when they need it most.

However, due to the sharp scrutiny from the Supreme Court, that has now pulled up the Centre for not releasing adequate funds, on time, as mandated to do under the law, the Centre is being made accountable.

Under the Act, passed in 2005 and which became effective in 2006, the government provides a guarantee of up to 100 days of wage employment in rural areas to any household whose members are willing to do manual work. Started in 2006, it draws from the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act of 1977, which was enacted after policymakers found that providing wage employment was the most effective and quick way of providing relief to people facing drought.

The Right to Food Campaign has been campaigning consistently on this issue. Following this, the Swaraj Abhiyan filed a petition on the issue in the Supreme Court. The Swaraj Abhiyan conducted an intense survey of Bundelkhand district in October 2015 and thereafter filed a petition asking for judicial directives for government schemes to be implemented forthwith to stem the acute distress prevalent in rural India. The petition was heard on January 4 and 22, 2016 and again in February 2016. A copy of the petition and written arguments were covered by Sabranginida. The public interest litigation can be read here,

On April 6, 2016, last week, a bench comprising Justice MB Lokur and Justice NV Ramana directed the Centre to release funds immediately, and “not after one year”. It told the Centre: “If you are not releasing funds, no one will like to work.” On April 7, while continuing its hearing, the judges said the provision of employment opportunities in rural projects had been turned into a “chicken and egg situation” by both the central and state governments. While the Centre said that there was not enough demand for work in the states, the states, in turn, said that the Centre had not allotted enough funds for them to effectively run the programme. The next hearing on the petition will be on April 12.

"Relief has to be given immediately and not after one year. Temperature is soaring at 45 degree celsius, there is no drinking water, nothing is there. You have to do some thing and provide relief on time," the bench said. It said as per government's own figures, average workdays is 48 days, while the statute says it should be 100 days.

"The argument holds substance that since you (Centre) are not releasing the funds, states are not willing to allocate works to people under MGNREGA and hence the average workdays will fall," the bench also comprising Justice N V Ramana said."We should realize that there is problem. Nine states and now Rajasthan have declared drought. It is difficult to believe that there is no drought in Bundelkhand and Marathwada," the bench said.

The Truth Lies in the Figures
In his latest, 2016-17 budget speech, union finance minister Arun Jaitley allotted Rs 38,500 crore to the rural employment scheme. While doing so, he claimed  “If the total amount is spent, it will be [the] highest budget spend on MGNREGA.” Jaitley added that the scheme would focus on creating 5 lakh farm ponds and wells, and 10 lakh compost pits for the production of manure.

Why then is there still a shortage of funds?

Largely due to the false claims of the Central government. While announcing an allocation of Rs 38,500 crore for MGNREGA for 2016-17, the Finance Minister claimed that “if it is spent, will be the highest ever expenditure on MGNREA”. But twice in the past the expenditure on the programme has exceeded the allocation for 2016-17; Rs 39,377 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 38,552 crore in 2013-14.  In fact, the highest-ever outlay since the scheme was first implemented in 2006 was Rs 40,100 crore, in 2010-11.

Pending Programme Payments
Through the past financial year, 58 per cent of the total wages were simply not paid by the Centre. This failure to contribute to a robust rural works programme by the Modi Regime has caused acute distress in nine Indian states badly affected by drought and totally affected 24 states.

2015-2016, the last financial year came to an end with 24 Indian states facing a total of Rs 12,483 crore worth of pending payments in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The pending payments amount to over a quarter of the total expenditure incurred on the programme in these states in 2015-16.

The main reason for this lies with the Centre. Pending payments have mounted due to insufficient transfer of funds from the central government to these states. The shortage of funds in these states – which include all the nine states reeling under drought – has led to millions of workers facing tremendous economic hardships due to long delays in wage payments.

Even as per official calculations – which are a gross underestimation – 58 per cent of the total wages were not paid on time in 2015-16. Even when the workers do get paid, they will not get the compensation which is to be paid in cases of delays in wages, mandatory under the law.

Centre Makes a Mockery  of Its Own Decision to Increase Work Guarantee to 150 days
The insufficiency of funds also makes a mockery of the central government’s decision to increase the guarantee of work to 150 days a household in 2015-16 in the drought-affected states. Again as per official records, only 7 per cent of the total rural households registered in NREGA in the drought affected states got work for more than 100 days.

Apart from starving the programme of funds, the government is also not fulfilling its promises and making false claims. The Finance Ministry released only Rs 2,000 crore of the additional Rs 5,000 crore it agreed to spend on NREGA if the expenditure on the programme exceeded the allocated budget of Rs 34,699 crore in 2015-16.

2015-16 was the second year in a row in which the NDA government capped expenditure on NREGA.

By the end of 2014-15 also, nine states were left with pending wages worth Rs 1,203 crore which were made only after these states received funds for 2015-16. The same will happen this year as well; a whopping 30 per cent of the allocation for 2016-17 will be spent just in clearing pending payments from last year.

With no commitment of providing additional resources if the expenditure on the programme exceeds Rs 38,500 crore in 2016-7, the under-funding of NREGA is likely to continue this year as well. These facts expose the hollowness of the central government’s claim of delivering a “pro-poor” budget for 2016-17.

Centre’s Allocation Ignores Inflation
The NREGA is also being undermined by the stagnation of its wages, which are revised by the central government every year. State-wide increase in NREGA wages for 2016-17 range between 0 to 11 per cent, compared with last year’s wages (it is interesting to note that the wage increase of all the eight North Eastern states is less than 4 per cent).

In many states, the NREGA wage is even lower than the minimum agricultural wage, thus failing to provide adequate economic security to rural households. For example, the NREGA wage rate of Jharkhand is Rs 45 less than its minimum agricultural wage.

The central government has provided no justification for the nominal and differential rates of increase across the country. As payment of wages are now linked with the quantum of work done by them, many workers are paid even less than the paltry NREGA wages; either due to their inability to do the stipulated amount of work or due to errors in the measurement of work done by them.

The NDA government is killing a programme whose decade-long achievements were recently hailed as a cause for “national pride and celebration” by the Union Minister of Rural Development.

By failing to ensure timely work and payment and other entitlements to rural workers (such as unemployment allowance in case of non-availability of work, compensation for delayed wages, worksite facilities and timely redress of grievances), the central government is legally violating the employment guarantee act. It is contributing to the suffering of rural workers and forcing them to either migrate in distress or engage in exploitative employment.

In this context, the Right to Food Campaign has also demanded the following:

• Immediate payment of all pending NREGA payments.
• Compensation for delayed payments to be paid automatically along with wages.
• As stated in the Ministry of Rural Development’s Master Circular on NREGA, the 1st tranche of funds (half of the total person days agreed to in the labour budget) should be released in the month of April.
• A separate allocation to be made for the additional 50 days of employment per household approved for drought-affected states.
• Increase in the NREGA wage rate to a minimum of Rs 250, indexing the wage rate to inflation and transparency in wage revisions
• Time-bound punishment to all persons violating any entitlement of the employment guarantee act through institutionalization of social audits and other grievance redress mechanisms.

The post How the NDA II Government has Starved NREGA of Funds, Two Years Running appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In Mankhurd, a Mumbai suburb, the RSS is faced with a grassroots problem. Undeterred by the local police’s attempt to act at Hindutva’s behest, activists of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) in the area have been distributing leaflets in the area and in local trains exposing the fraudulent bid of the sangh parivar to claim Shaheed Bhagat Singh as their own.

When threats did not scare the NBS, the sanghis got the local police, and even the anti-terrorism squad to intervene. The police raided the NBS office, confiscated the anti-RSS leaflets and tried to intimidate the activists. Not to be so easily cowed down, the activists challenged the police to explain under which law of the land it was acting to prevent the NBS from exercising their constitutional right to free speech and democratic dissent.

Recognising the blatant illegality of their act, the police had to back out, for the moment at least. Notwithstanding the continuing veiled threats from the sanghis, the NBS activists have printed a fresh lot of their leaflets in Hindi and Marathi and have resumed distribution of the same in Mankhurd locality and in the local trains.

Written in simple language, the opening para of the leaflet reads: “Brothers and sisters, all over India some people have appointed themselves as the sole custodians of patriotism (deshbhakti) and nationalism (rashtrabhakti). These are the same people who played no role in India’s freedom struggle. These are the same people who had conspired with the British against young Indians like Shaheed Bhagat Singh ready to stake their lives for freedom’s sake. These are the same people who took their inspiration from Hitler and Mussolini and who before independence bowed before the Imperial Queen. Since when have they become the custodians of patriotism”?

Shockingly, they (police) answered that although there is nothing wrong in those pamphlet but people belonging to RSS do not want these pamphlets to be distributed. Finally, when the police could not come up with any substantial argument they had to release me.

Referring to the incidents at JNU and the misconduct of “fascist goons” even inside court premises in open defiance of the Supreme Court’s directions, the leaflet argues that the real reason for the Modi government’s vendetta against the JNU students was simply because “these students were protesting against the anti-student, anti-worker, anti-poor policies of the Modi government”.  What’s happening in India today, the leaflet added was “no different from the lawlessness which had prevailed in Germany and Italy under fascist regimes where too self-proclaimed patriots and nationalists ruled the streets”.

The acute embarrassment of the local RSS-BJP activists at this expose of their inglorious past and devious present may well be imagined. Unable to refute the content of the leaflet, they turned to the local police (The BJP-Shiv Sena coalition is in power in Maharashtra) to silence the NBS activists.

Recounting the developments, NBS activist Virat Choudhary told SabrangIndia:

Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) is a youth organisation which follows the ideals of great martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and its goal is to eradicate social ills like casteism, communalism, etc. from society. We are committed to carry forward the legacy of the great revolutionaries and have been continuously waging struggle against the hateful propaganda of communal groups. Precisely because of this, NBS members have been getting frequent threats from such groups. And now the local police has been acting on the behest of RSS.
 
Recently we decided to publish and distribute leaflets in the area to expose the political designs of RSS and the Modi government.
 
On the night of March 22, Mumbai police cracked-down at the NBS office in Lallubhai Compound, Mankhurd. The three policemen forced the activists to open the gate and started interrogating. They asked the activists to show their identity cards and other documents such as rent agreement. The only reason for their raid at that hour of night was that the pamphlets distributed by NBS were not liked by the RSS people. The policemen took some of the pamphlets and left saying that the activists have to report at Mankhurd police station in the morning.
 
The most disturbing thing was that the police which is supposed to safeguard the people and their democratic rights, was trying to intimidate the NBS activists, forcing them to silence their voices against RSS. Moreover one of the policemen was not even in his uniform. When I asked him for his identity, he gave a vague reply.
 
Clearly, knocking on the door of NBS after midnight and interrogating the activists was aimed at threatening us. In the morning another policemen, again without uniform showed up at the office and asked me to follow him. When asked about his identity, the policeman didn't show his badge or identity card; instead he replied that people call him ‘Kumbar Bhai’.
 
I was mentally harassed and questioned about the pamphlet at the police station for about two hours. The police was pressurising me to handover all the pamphlets to the police. I refused and demanded to be told if there is anything against the law or constitution in the pamphlets.
 
Shockingly, they answered that although there is nothing wrong in those pamphlet but people belonging to RSS do not want these pamphlets to be distributed. Finally, when the police could not come up with any substantial argument they had to release me.
 
But within one hour, two persons from ATS (Anti-terrorism squad) came to NBS's office to ask for rent agreement for verification. They tried to intimidate the activists by indicating that they might have to vacate the room unless the NBS stopped its pamphleteering. As elsewhere, instead of performing its duty, ensuring the masses the freedom of expression and speech, the police is acting unconstitutionally at the behest of the RSS and the ruling party.
 
When there is nothing unlawful in the pamphlets distributed why is police troubling the young activists? What else is the reason behind raiding the office after midnight, if not intimidating them? What is the motive behind ordering them to stop distributing the pamphlets? The whole incident raises serious questions on the role of police and its autonomy. If anything this is suggestive of its unholy alliance with the ruling party.
 
Refusing to be cowed down by the bullying tactics of the police or the continuing veiled threats from the sanghis, NBS activists have printed a fresh lot of leaflets and are back distributing them in Mankhurd.
 
SabrangIndia tried contacting the Mankhurd police today (March 27) to get their version of the entire episode. A phone call on the landline number listed in the directory of the Mumbai police (22926006) was greeted with the response, “this number does not exist.” Attempts to contact the Mankhurd police on two alternate landline numbers provided by the city’s police control room (24783300, 28917286) yielded the same number-does-not-exist response.
 
When contacted this afternoon, Virat Choudhary and his fellow NBS activists were out on action, distributing leaflets on the streets and in the suburban trains.
 
What might the RSS and the local police try next?  

NBS pamphlet can be found here.
 

The post Nailing the sangh parivar’s lies: How the Naujawan Bharat Sabha is doing it appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As he poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them, several of the migrants were moved to tears.

The gesture is particularly significant in view of the growing anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant sentiment across the West and which has been fuelled further by the terror attack in Brussels.

The Holy Thursday ritual commemorating Jesus washing the feet of his apostles before being crucified symbolises the spirit of service towards humanity.  The Pope performed his service during the Easter Week Mass with asylum-seekers provided shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, near Rome city.

The Pope contrasted his own gesture with the “gesture of war” and “gesture of destruction” perpetrated by the blood-thirsty terrorists. He added that the terror acts were aimed at destroying the brotherhood of all humanity which the plight of the migrants invokes.

“We have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and we want to live in peace,” said the pontiff.

The Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio who became Pope Francis in March 2013, is the first non-European to be elevated to the high office in over 1,300 years. And in his short stint as head of the Roman Catholic Church, he has repeatedly shown that he is a Pope with a difference.

Before him, the feet-washing ritual was performed on 12 men, all Catholic. But within weeks of his 2013 election, he shocked many followers by performing the ritual on women and Muslims at a juvenile detention centre.

Four women and eight men took part in the event on Thursday. The women included an Italian Catholic who works at the centre and three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants. The men included four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan and a Hindu man from India.

Pope Francis’ definition of the “people of God” clearly includes everyone.

“All of us, together: Muslims, Hindi, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals, but brothers, children of the same God,” he said. “We want to live in peace, integrated.”

In June 2013, the Pope stunned his followers and the world at large with his remark, “If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” We shouldn't marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society, he said. Just months before then his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI had suggested that gay marriage was a threat to global peace.

The Pope believes that economic inequality is the world’s “No. 1 problem” and that capitalism is at the center of all problems of inequality.

He is no less outspoken on the issue of war and peace. “Jesus is weeping today, too, because we have preferred the path of war, the path of hatred, the path of enmity,” the “commander-in-chief” of 1.2 billion Catholics across the globe said in November 2015 during the Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae where he lives.

Choosing war, he said, is like saying, “‘Let’s make weapons, that way we can balance the budget a bit and move our own interests forward.’ The Lord has strong words for those people: ‘Be cursed!’ He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Those who decide for war, who make wars, are cursed; they are criminals.”

While arms sellers around the world are getting rich, the Pope said, peacemakers are humbly helping people one at a time.

In September 2015, the pontiff issued an appeal to people of “all religions” to come forward and offer shelter to the refugees from war-ravaged Syria and elsewhere. “May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe, take in one family,” he said and announced that the Vatican would do its bit by extending help to two families at its parishes.

In February this year, Pope Francis suggested that the Republican aspirant in the American presidential race, Donald Trump was “not a Christian”. The New York Times reported him as stating: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” The statement was in response to a reporter who asked him about Mr. Trump on the papal airliner as he returned to Rome after his six-day visit to Mexico.

The post ‘We are brothers’: Pope washes feet of refugees during Holy Thursday Mass appeared first on SabrangIndia.