Monsoon Session | SabrangIndia

Parliamentary Committee Gives Nod to Proposed Dilution of Forest Rights

sabrang — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 11:59:13 +0000

A parliamentary committee, formulated for reviewing the contentious amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, has given its assent to the amended Bill without any objections. The committee’s draft report is expected to be presented in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session starting on July 20, 2023.

The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 is a proposed amendment that aims to modify the crucial 1980 law which was initially enacted to prevent indiscriminate conversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. The Act gives the central government crucial power and mandate to ensure proper compensation for any diversion of forest land for non-forestry uses. The provision is available even for land that may not be officially classified as ‘forest’ in government records.

While the Act has undergone several amendments over the past decades, primarily focused on extending protection to larger areas resembling forests, the latest set of proposed amendments set it apart from its earlier trajectory. According to the government, these amendments are necessary to eliminate ambiguities and bring clarity regarding the Act’s applicability to various lands.

Among the proposed amendments, some specify exemptions from the Act, while others actively promote cultivating plantations on non-forest land, potentially contributing to increased tree cover, carbon sequestration, and supporting India’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. Furthermore, the amendments aim to remove the Act’s restrictions on developing infrastructure that would aid national security and create livelihood opportunities for communities residing on the fringes of forests.

The proposed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 have faced objections on various grounds, including concerns about diluting the Supreme Court’s 1996 Godavarman case judgement that extended protection to extensive forest areas, even if they were not officially recorded as forests. Additionally, objections were raised about the exemption from forest clearance for construction projects within 100 km of international borders or the Line of Control in geographically sensitive regions.

The joint committee’s report acknowledges the objections raised by various stakeholders who argue that the amendments dilute forest protection measures. The Environment Ministry however has refuted these claims by asserting that the proposed provisions in the Bill guard against such situations.

Resistance was also encountered regarding the proposal to change the name of the 1980 law from the Forest (Conservation) Act to the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, translating to the Forest (Conservation and Augmentation) Act. Critics argued that the new name was exclusionary and neglected large sections of the population in both South India and the North-East due to linguistic and cultural diversity. However the Environment Ministry in turn defended the name change, stating that it emphasised the need to conserve and augment forests, as forest conservation involves more than just granting clearances.

These amendments were introduced in the Lok Sabha in March 2023, and a draft copy has been available for public comment since June 2022. This early disclosure sparked opposition from various quarters, including objections from some northeastern states that raised concerns about unilateral land acquisition for defence purposes. Environmental groups also voiced opposition, claiming that the amendments removed central protection for areas classified as ‘deemed forests’ (forested areas not officially recognized as forests), potentially compromising them by permitting activities such as tourism in these areas.

The Lok Sabha motioned to refer the Bill to a joint committee, which was seconded by the Rajya Sabha. Jairam Ramesh, Congress spokesperson and chair of the Standing Committee on Science, Environment, and Forests, expressed dissent over the decision to refer the Bill to a joint committee instead of the standing committee. The 31-member joint committee consists of 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, with 18 members belonging to the ruling BJP.

India’s forest cover is defined as land over one hectare in size with a tree canopy density exceeding 10%. While India’s total forest cover has increased to 38,251 sq. km from 2001 to 2021, the rise primarily occurred in open forests with tree canopy density ranging from 10% to 40%. However, dense forest cover has decreased during this period. The proposed amendments encouraging plantation and cultivation may lead to increased tree cover but are unfortunately unlikely to reverse the loss of dense forests.

Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill: North-east to bear the brunt

Forest Conservation Rules violate Forest Rights Act: reiterates NCST

Adivasi struggle led by trailblazers working on-ground: Teesta Setalvad

Cottage industries on the verge of extinction due to deforestation and modernisation in Bengal

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No decision on nationwide NRC yet: MHA tells Parliament

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 04:29:46 +0000

Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

On August 10, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was faced with quite a few questions related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Census in the Lok Sabha. While the response to each of these questions is quite surficial, it is nonetheless important to look at each one of these.

It is known that the process to update the National Population Register (NPR) was to begin in April 2020 along with the phase 1 of Census which is also known as the houselisting process. The Schedule of questions for the houselisting phase was even released and government employees were being trained for the same with an instruction manual that gave details on the collection of data for NPR as well. While the updating of the NPR had caused much furore as it was suspected that NPR would become a foundation for an NRC in the future, all these processes have come to a standstill due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NPR-Census phase stalled in April 2020, as towards the end of March 2020, the national lockdown was imposed and Covid cases were on the rise. Since then, quite expectedly, the government has not made announcements on this front. The last Census took place in 2011 and this year would have been ideal for the next Census, however since with no definite end to Covid-19 in sight, it cannot be predicted as to when a massive exercise like the Census will be scheduled.

However, the government has made a few changes here and is now going to allow digital collection of information for census or self-enumeration. The Home Ministry has stated that there will be a Mobile App for collection of data and a Census Portal for management and monitoring of various Census related activities. When Shashi Tharoor asked the Ministry if the information collected in Census will be used to prepare NRC, the Ministry said that individual data collected during Census are not used for the preparation of any other database including NRC.

The response may be read here:

Questions were also raised on whether a caste-based Census will be held, by MP S Jothimani. Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 was conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and the then Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) in rural and urban areas, but the caste data has not yet been released. The Ministry has said that the raw caste data have been provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) for classification and categorisation but there is no proposal to release the same at the moment.

The response may be read here:

About CAA-NRC

MP Sunil Kumar Mondal questioned the Ministry on the government’s stand on Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), NRC and NPR. The Ministry said that CAA has come into force on January 10, 2020 and about NRC it said, “Till Now, the Government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at National Level.”

The Ministry also made its stand clear on NPR, and said that it will be updated under the Citizenship Act, 1955 along with the first phase of Census, 2021. It also reiterated that demographic and other particulars of each family and individual will be updated in the NPR exercise and no document will be asked for or collected during this exercise.

The response may be read here:

MP Maneka Gandhi raised a query on what happens with persons excluded from the final NRC along with those who will then be detained after exhausting all their legal remedies as also about the government’s plan for nationality verification of such persons. The Ministry responded that any person who is not satisfied with the outcome of the decisions of the claims and objections during the process of preparation of NRC may prefer an appeal before the Foreigners Tribunals within a period of 120 days from the date of such order. The Ministry, however, clarified that such persons excluded from NRC have not yet exhausted all possible legal remedies and hence, the government has not made any plans for nationality verification at this stage.

The response may be read here:

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Almost 2 lakh undertrials languishing behind bars since the outbreak of Covid-19!

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 10:30:42 +0000

Image Courtesy:indianexpress.com

During the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju, has provided some shocking statistics about jail inmates and those prisoners who were granted bail at the time of the first and the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the outbreak of Coronavirus, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the conditions in jails and had directed the States to file responses about the methods adopted by them to decongest prisons (In Re: Contagion of Covid-19 virus in prisons, Suo Motu W.P No. 1 of 2020). On March 23, 2020, an SC Bench had observed that the issue of overcrowding of prisons is a matter of “serious concern” and said, “Having regard to the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, it has become imperative to ensure that the spread of the Corona Virus within the prisons is controlled.”

Subsequently, it had directed all states and Union Territories (UT) to constitute a High-Powered Committee (HPC) comprising of the Chairman of the State Legal Services Committee, the Principal Secretary (Home/Prison) by whatever designation is known as, Director General of Prison(s), to determine which class of prisoners can be released on parole or an interim bail for some period of time.

In his written statement dated August 4, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has revealed that during the lockdown from March to May 2020, a total number of 58,797 undertrial prisoners and 20,972 convicts were released on interim bail/parole on recommendations of the HPC or through efforts of Legal Services Authorities.

Further, during May 2021 to July 15, 2020, as many as 20,593 bail applications were filed before different courts on the recommendations of Undertrial Review Committee which consequently led to the release of only 9,237 prisoners. In addition to this, the Law Minister’s written answer also revealed details about undertrials who have been released from jails after the second wave hit India. “92,593 prisoners including 70,382 undertrial prisoners have been released after the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19,” read the response submitted before Parliament.

As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, that compiles prison statistics reported to it by states and UTs, and publishes it in its annual report “Prison Statistics India”, Indian prisons housed a total of 3,30,487 undertrials as on December 31, 2019.

Relying on the statistics provided by the government and collated by NCRB, a rough total of 1,92,125 undertrials have continued to languish in jails, against 1,38,416 inmates who have been released on parole/bail over the last one year.

The pandemic, especially the second wave has exposed the inhuman and unsanitary conditions of jails across the country. On April 16, the Bombay High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the surge in Covid-19 numbers in prisons where close to 200 prisoners had tested positive for the virus across all 47 jails in the State, reported SabrangIndia. The High Court had also directed the government to vaccinate all accused persons above the age of 45 years immediately after their arrest.

In April 2021, People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) had written to Chief Justice DN Patel of the Delhi High Court about the worsening conditions in the prisons, in view of the virulent second Covid-19 wave. The letter had revealed that at the time, 67 active cases of Covid among jail inmates and eleven among jail staff, including a jail superintendent and two prison doctors had been reported. Overall, around 200 prisoners and 300 staff members had tested positive across Delhi jails and there had been very little reporting of the status of health of inmates over the past one week.

Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), had even written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, on two occasions, about the deplorable conditions of prisons, requesting him to recommend the release of all Bhima Koregaon accused undertrials to the HPC, after learning about their ill health.

Mahesh Raut, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor had tested positive for Covid-19 after an RT-PCR drive was conducted at Taloja in early June this year. Professor Hany Babu, who had also tested positive for Covid-19, had to be shifted to Breach Candy Hospital for treatment of his severe eye infection. His family members had revealed that he did not even have access to clean water to nurse his infected eye. Varavara Rao, who is out on bail, had also contracted Covid in jail last year.

Covid-19 also did not spare the last and the oldest person to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, Father Stan Swamy, who died on July 5, in Holy Family Hospital.

The Law Minister’s complete answer may be read here:

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391 complaints of sexual harassment at workplace received from Central Ministries: Government

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 12:24:16 +0000

Image Courtesy:zeenews.india.com

In a written reply submitted before the Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon Session, Smriti Irani, the Minister for Women and Child Development, states that a total of 391 complaints have been received in the SHe-Box pertaining to various Central Ministries, out of which 150 complaints have been received since January 1, 2020.

Sexual Harassment Electronic Box or the ‘SHe-Box’ is an online complaint portal developed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to facilitate the registration of complaints related to sexual harassment of women at work place. Once a complaint is registered in the SHe-Box, the Minister in her answer, explained that it directly reaches the concerned authority having jurisdiction to take action in the matter. “The responsibility to take action on such complaints as well as to ensure updating of status in that regard on SHe Box, is with the concerned Central Ministries/ Departments,” her answer read.

However, the Minister stated that an analysis of 36 cases filed through SHe-Box by employees of the Ministry of Women and Child Development showed that there were only “two cases” of sexual harassment of women at workplace. Further, nearly 32 cases were “in the nature of public grievances on various matters relating to violence against women, dowry harassment, misbehaviour, suggestions, etc.,” and the remaining two were repeat entries.

In another question posed to the Minister on July 29, she addressed the horrific issue of open auction of Muslim women through an application namely ‘sulli deals’. Hundreds of images of Muslim women were reportedly uploaded via this auctioning app. (the word sulli is a derogatory term used to refer to Muslim women). She informed the Parliament that a First Information Report (FIR) had been registered on July 7, 2021 by the Delhi Police against the application.

In related news, social media giant Twitter, recently responded to a complaint filed by CJP against some accounts that often-used foul language, posted obscene, pornographic content, and encouraged sexual violence against Muslim women. Taking cognisance of our complaint, Twitter suspended 21 accounts, actioned three for violating Twitter’s Media Policy and removed some 11 posts.

The answers may be read here:

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Nearly 50,000 atrocity cases registered under SC/ST Act in 2019: Centre

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 11:36:23 +0000

Image Courtesy:factly.in

In the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, Rajya Sabha members Dr. L. Hanumanthaiah and Dr. Amee Yajnik asked the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, about the details pertaining to the atrocities against people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The total number of atrocity cases against Dalits or people belonging to Scheduled Castes stands at 41,793, and 7,815 cases with respect to atrocities against Scheduled Tribe members in 2019. The Centre has not provided any data for the year 2020.

Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number (9,451) of cases pertaining to Dalit atrocities. On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh registered the highest number of cases (1,920) pertaining to atrocities against the Scheduled Tribes. Year-wise data of total number of cases is as follows:

Year	Total number of cases under the SC/ST (PoA) Act
2015	44,839
2016	47,338
2017	50,094
2018	44,505
2019	49,608

But the conviction rate under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, is very low. The year 2019 saw 4,007 convictions for charges of atrocities against Dalits and only 742 convictions for charges of atrocities against Scheduled Tribe members. Uttar Pradesh, which has recorded the maximum incidents of crime against Dalits, has merely achieved the conviction of 1,619 people. Madhya Pradesh, however, has recorded the highest number of convictions of people booked for crimes against STs (414).

Bihar has recorded 6,637 cases under the SC/ST Act in 2019. But only 46 people have been convicted for such crimes. States like Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Mizoram, Manipur have seen no convictions despite a high number of atrocity cases.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Ramdas Athawale also provided information regarding monetary relief given to the victims of such prejudiced crimes. 73,322 victims have been provided with financial assistance in 2019, with Uttar Pradesh having the highest number of victims getting such relief (23,866). But, residents of Goa, Sikkim, Chandigarh and Assam have not received any compensation!

SabrangIndia had previously reported that on March 17, 2021, the then Minister of State (Home). G. Kishan Reddy, provided shocking data about the frequency of ghastly crimes against underprivileged women and children in India. In terms of registered rape cases against Scheduled Caste women under the Indian Penal Code, the year 2019 recorded 2,369 cases and 2018 recorded 2,067 cases.

Further, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, that deals with penalising perpetrators for sexual crimes against children, the year 2019 witnessed 1,117 cases and 2018 reported 869 cases against Dalit children. Providing more data on rape cases registered against Scheduled Tribe women and children for the last two years, 2019 saw 714 cases against women and 396 cases against children. In 2018, as many as 609 women registered rape complaints, whereas 399 cases were registered by minors.

The answer dated July 28, 2021 may be read here:

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Indian children grossly underweight or stunted across Indian states

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 07:39:10 +0000

Image Courtesy:businesstoday.in

Smriti Irani, the Minister of Women and Child Development, referred to the recently released report of National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20) to give details about malnourished children in the country.

As per the latest data between 2019 to 2020, Bihar has the highest number of underweight children at 41 percent. This is followed by Gujarat at 39.7 percent and Dadar & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu at 38.7 percent. Maharashtra has recorded 36.1 percent underweight children, Karnataka is at 32.9 percent, Assam at 32.8 percent, West Bengal at 32.2 percent and Telangana at 31.8 percent. Mizoram has the lowest number of underweight children (12.7 percent).

Between 2018 and 2019, Dadar reported 35.8 percent underweight children, 3 percent less than the latest data. Similarly, there has been a 0.5 percent increase in Gujarat, 0.1 percent in Maharashtra, 3 percent in Assam and 0.6 percent in West Bengal. Out of the 22 States and UTs, 17 have reported an increase in the percentage of underweight children from 2018-2019 to 2019-2020. Nagaland has the highest disparity, with around 16 percent underweight children in 2018 to 2019, which increased to 26.9 percent between 2019 and 2020. Here are some more statistics in percentage regarding stunted children:

States/UTs	2018-2019	2019-2020
Andaman & Nicobar	21.6	23.7
Andhra Pradesh	31.9	29.6
Goa	23.8	24
Himachal Pradesh	21.2	25.5
Jammu & Kashmir	16.6	21
Kerala	16.1	19.7
Ladakh	23.6	25.8
Lakshadweep	18.7	20.4

In terms of stunted children, Manipur is the leading State at 46.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, a 2.7 percent increase since 2018 and 2019. This is followed by Bihar at 42.9 percent, Dadar & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu at 39.4 percent and Gujarat at 39 percent. Here are some more statistics in percentage regarding stunted children:

States/UTs	2018-2019	2019-2020
Andaman & Nicobar	23.5	22.5
Andhra Pradesh	31.4	31.2
Assam	36.4	35.3
Goa	20.1	25.8
Himachal Pradesh	26.3	30.8
Jammu & Kashmir	27.4	26.9
Karnataka	36.2	35.4
Kerala	19.7	23.4
Ladakh	26.8	32
Lakshadweep	30.9	30.5
Maharashtra	34.4	35.2
Meghalaya	28.9	23.4
Mizoram	28.1	28.9
Sikkim	29.6	22.3
Telangana	28	33.1
Tripura	24.3	32.3
West Bengal	32.5	33.8

The Centre could not provide the latest data for states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Odisha. But data from 2018 to 2019 reveals the grim situation of children in these regions. Jharkhand seems to be in a bad condition with about 45.3 percent stunted children and 47.8 percent underweight children. Uttar Pradesh is not far behind with 46.3 percent stunted children and 39.5 percent underweight children. Rajasthan has 39.1 percent stunted children and 36.7 percent malnourished children.

Earlier, during the Budget Session of 2021, the same Minister of Women and Child Development had provided in her written answer that 21.9 percent children were stunted, 35.2 percent were underweight in the age group of 5 – 9 years and 24.1 percent children were underweight in the age group of 10-19 years between 2016 and 2018, as we has previously reported in SabrangIndia.

The answer may be read here:

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Parliament: Deluge of excuses, denials, disruptions dot 1st week of Monsoon Session

Sat, 24 Jul 2021 07:58:08 +0000

Image Courtesy:thewire.in

The Monsoon session of Parliament has barely begun, crucial matters need to be discussed, however it seems that only denials, excuses and disruptions are happening so far. Parliament sessions will convene again on Monday July 26 after they were adjourned following the Opposition’s massive protests on Friday. The protests were mainly centred on the allegations of the Pegasus spyware being detected on the phones of 38 Indian journalists, politicians including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Union ministers and journalists.

The winged horse no one hired?

Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi has alleged that Pegasus spyware is a “weapon” to be used against terrorists, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have used this weapon against the “Indian state and against our institutions.” The entire week, Union minister for electronics and information technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw has maintained that even suggesting India used Israeli spyware Pegasus to hack phones of journalists, activists and ministers, including him, was an “attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has called this a case of treason, and demanded that a judicial inquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court be set up to reveal who was responsible for ordering such “sedition”.

#PegasusSnoopgate देशद्रोह का मामला है।

हमारी सीधी सी माँग है- सुप्रीम कोर्ट की निगरानी में इसकी न्यायिक जाँच हो ताकि देश को पता चले कि ये देशद्रोह किसके कहने पर किया गया- PM या HM? pic.twitter.com/65A3aIb4XQ

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 23, 2021

No one died due to lack of Oxygen

Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar gave a written reply in Rajya Sabha that “no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by states and UTs.” Pawar, was responding to the question by Rajya Sabha member M.V Shreyams Kumar seeking information on deaths of Covid patients in hospitals due to lack of oxygen. The answer had unleashed a wave of fresh grief across the country where many such deaths had been reported at the peak of the Covid-19 second wave in April and May when the health system had all but collapsed. Leading hospitals across the country had sent SOS messages on social media about oxygen shortage in their Covid-19 wards. This was not limited to Delhi NCR, SabrangIndia reported how Bihar was reeling under the Covid-19 crisis from dearth of oxygen supply, cylinders, long queues outside hospitals, hoarding, black marketing to police harassment. From Uttar Pradesh’ Bhaisa Kund cremation ground the priest, KK Pandey, told SabrangIndia in April, had said that his sister-in-law might not survive due to oxygen shortage.

According to a data analysis report by Arvind Subramanian, Center for Global Development and Brown University, Abhishek Anand Harvard University and Justin Sandefur, Center for Global Development, India has under-counted deaths. It concluded that the actual deaths during the Covid pandemic are likely to “be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands”. This they said makes this “arguably India’s worst human tragedy since partition and independence.” However, the government of India still seems to be reluctant to recognise the tragedy, and its various causes even on the floor of the Parliament.

What about the number of doctors who died due to Covid-19?

The Health Minister was asked to share “the number of doctors, nurses and other para medical personnel who lost their lives in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic during the first and second waves,” and if there was “any proposal from Government to recognize them as COVID martyrs”. The minister of state replied that “the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare does not maintain occupation wise data on COVID-19 cases and deaths”. She added that life insurance benefits are being provided to Health Workers under “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP): Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19”. Data denial if not outright fudging seems to be a hallmark of this government.

However, just a month ago, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr JA Jayalal had told SabrangIndia that there is a delay of compensations to medics martyred to Covid-19. Over 650 doctors had died due to Covid-19 in just two months.As per latest state-wise break-up, Delhi had the highest number of deaths; Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu reported a sizable increase in doctors’ death within a span of eight days, IMA secretary general Jayesh Lele had added.

What’s the Centre’s opinion on states’ planning ‘population control’ laws?

Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh told Parliament that the Centre had no plan to introduce any population control policy. He was responding to unstarred questions by Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and BJP MP Anil Agarwal asking if the Union government had plans to make such a policy. The Bharatiya Janata Party led Union Government’s reply in Parliament, however, is in contrast to the party’s government in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP’s own Adityanath as UP CM announced the new population policy for 2021-2030 on July 10, and sought feedback on it. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) sent detailed comments/suggestions to the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission over the proposed Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021. The CJP, drew reference from some experiments and worldwide trends that have shown that there is a “direct and deep co-relation” between basic civic amenities and healthcare available for women, (including facilities for personal sanitation and hygiene) from marginalised sections, their access to education and health needs, nutrition etc., that also facilitates ready acceptance of population control practices.

There are no indicators if next week will be any different when the House reconvenes. Watch this space.

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SKM people’s whip on MPs for repeal of three anti-farmer laws during the monsoon session!

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 07:01:06 +0000

Farmers body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on July 14, 2021 issued a ‘people’s whip’ on all MPs to demand repeal of the contentious farm laws and a legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP) during the Parliament’s Monsoon Session. The SKM told MPs of both houses that the whip is in accordance with the constitutional right to bring any matter of public interest relating to Union government proceedings before the Parliament.

“MPs are directed to heed [the whip] as a direct instruction of constituents, who have elected them and to whom they are constitutionally accountable… The MPs are also directed not to walk out of the Houses which enables the ruling party to do their business unhindered and even if MPs are suspended by the Speaker/ Chairman, they should again go to the Houses to oppose the Union Government,” said the SKM in a press release.

The people’s whip disallows either Houses from doing any business until the central Government agrees to farmers’ demands. Farmer leaders also warned agitations on every stage if MPs failed to accede to the whip.

Parliament Protest March

Along with the whip, the SKM also announced a Parliament Protest March from July 22 onwards. From Thursday, as many as 200 farmers will march towards the Parliament every day of meeting. The groups will include farmer leaders and volunteers from various organisations across the protest camps at Delhi borders and other parts of India. Further, a special Parliament Protest March will be organised on July 26 and August 9 exclusively by women farmers.

“Women farmers have been at the forefront of this long and historic farmers struggle for their livelihood and future. The special marches on these two days will highlight the unique and memorable role that women have played,” said SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal.

The struggle continues…

Regarding a statement made by foreign organisation Sikhs For Justice, SKM said that such calls by separatist organisations are anti-farmer and against farmers’ interest.

“Neither the SKM nor the farmers’ protest has anything to do with such organisations and SKM calls upon them to desist from attempts to deviate and derail the just cause of farmers, engaged in the peaceful and democratic struggle to secure their income and food security of 140 crore Indians,” said SKM leader Darshan Pal.

Meanwhile, in Haryana, farmer leaders Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh and about 100 farmers were arrested by Sirsa police for sedition after protesting against the State Deputy Speaker at Sirsa.

“SKM strongly condemns the false, sedition charges and all other charges against farmers under instructions of the anti-farmer BJP government. It may be recalled that although farmers had no plans to hold any protest in Haryana in November 2020, this very state government unsuccessfully tried to stop them from marching to Delhi,” said SKM leader Shivkumar Sharma.

Farmers condemned the government for using “terrorising tactics” against farmers by filing charges of sedition. The SKM promised to assist all farmers and leaders in the legal battle.

Similarly, Haryana BJP leader Manish Grover had insulted women farmers and protesters by using uncouth and unpardonable gestures, said farmer leaders. In response, farmers initiated an indefinite dharna outside his residence at Rohtak. Farmers have demanded an unconditional apology from Grover for his statements.

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