Kerala Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution demanding the urgent removal of new Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, against a series of measures adopted and proposals made by Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel. According to news reports the resolution states, “In the name of promoting tourism, the culture and essence of Lakshadweep itself is being negated.” 

Adding that the Union Territory administration is “officially sabotaging the basic responsibility of protecting the lives of people” and that residents of the islands are concerned about the attempts to “encroach upon their cultural and specific features”.

GoI has responsibility to protect UT of LD, its people & its diversities. Current Administrator should be removed right away. KLA unanimously passed a resolution seeking immediate Central intervention. Kerala stands in solidarity with the people of Lakshadweep.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 31, 2021

The resolution was unanimously passed in Kerala Legislative Assembly seeking the removal of Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Patel to be called back. According to news reports, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, asked for the Union government to take cognisance of and intervene, “It is the Union government’s responsibility to ensure that people’s interest should be protected… The Administrator, who is challenging the interests of the people, must be removed and the Centre must take immediate action to protect the lives and the livelihood of people of Lakshadweep.” He added that the new proposals were an attempt to foist the right wing’s saffron agenda, the goings on at Lakshadweep he said was “an experiment of the Sangh Parivar agenda”. 

According to a report in India Today, the CM said, “It began with painting coconut trees saffron and now it has reached a stage where the livelihood, culture of the people is being affected.” The Kerala CM said an attempt is also being made for corporate interests in Lakshadweep. He recalled that the administration had moved to arrest protestors who made banners against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Chief Minister said that Lakshadweep is a place where a crime rarely happens, yet the Administrator is bringing the Goonda Act. According to the CM, “It is to deal with such protests (as the one against CAA) that such moves are made.”

He also alleged that the Administration was trying to destroy the fishing industry, the local’s primary source of income. On the proposed beef ban, which is being seen as a trademark right wing move to impact the Muslim, Christian popultion as well, the CM said, “The Administrator will kill the lives and culture of the people there bit by bit.”

Even the Kerala Opposition agrees with the CM

Opposition leader VD Satheesan told the media that, “A cultural invasion is happening in Lakshadweep by the Union government through the Administrator, forcing anti-democratic ways and destroying human rights of the innocent people of Lakshadweep.” According to news reports this is the first resolution to be moved in the House since the new government was elected.

Why are MPs not allowed to visit the islands?

Speaking to SabrangIndia CPI(M) Member of Parliament (RS) from Kerala, Elamaram Kareem, said the Patel administration had cited Covid-19 protocol to prevent him, and other leaders such as AM Ariff and V Sivadasan, from visiting  the islands. “We are not going as tourists, we are MPs, and want to see the situation first hand and talk to the people. We will carry Rt-Pcr reports as needed for travel, but as Parliamentarians we cannot be stopped from travelling to the Union Territory,” he said. The political unrest and the protests against  Administrator Praful Khoda Patel is not sudden, it has been simmering on the Lakshadweep for the past six months, since Patel’s appointment. Now the delegation of MPs’s who were planning to visit Lakshadweep were told to “plan the proposed visit on a later date”. 

Kerala stands in solidarity with the people of Lakshadweep. State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution tabled by CM @vijayanpinarayi & demanded for urgent removal of the authoritarian Administrator who is trying to implement saffron agenda & corporate interests in the island.

— Elamaram Kareem (@ElamaramKareem_) May 31, 2021

They just want to keep us away from speaking to the people at Lakshadweep and see the reality said Kareem. The letter of denial as it were came from the Additional District Magistrate, Collectorate, Kavaratti. It informed the MPs that there was a mandatory seven day quarantine for visitors from the mainland under the Covid-19 Protocol that is in place. However, it did not stop there and let the MPs decide on the quarantine, but advised them to “visit on a later date,” adding that the administration “would like to host you in the islands as and when the COVID situation improves in the islands.” However Kareem alleged that Lakshadweep administration was using the protocol to  “hide reality”.  “We are going for an investigation, a fact-check visit to see the impact of the proposed “reforms”. We are not going for tourism,” said Kareem, who is leader of CPM MPs in the Rajya Sabha. 

He said the three-member delegation of MPs from Kerala that apart from him included V Sivadasan (Rajya Sabha) and A M Ariff are going to continue seeking a way to visit the islands soon as elected Members of Parliament, “it is our right to visit any place in the country and we expect the authorities concerned of the UT of Lakshadweep will facilitate our visit,” Kareem’s told SabrangIndia. Meanwhile, Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal told SabgrangIndia that he was going to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday and request him to urgently recall Prafull Khoda Patel as the Administrator of the islands.

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The post First coconut trees painted saffron, now livelihood, culture threatened: Pinarayi Vijayan on Lakshadweep Admin appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Mohini Giri, Former Chair National Commission for Women; Wajahat Habibullah, Former Administrator of Lakshadweep and Chair National  Commission for Minorities and Syeda Hameed, Former Member Planning Commission I/C Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep, eminent citizens, experts on demographics and policy of the Lakshadweep archipelago and human rights, have written to M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India bring to his attention the ongoings crisis in the Union Territory. The experts also sent a copy of the letter to Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan, stating that the recent policy changes, which were “proposed unilaterally and arbitrarily, have given no consideration to matters like land use, land ownership, ocean resource utilisation and livelihood practices of the community.” 

They write that they fear that the recent plans of Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 (LDAR) “will destroy the islands, the life and the livelihood of the island people.” The three experts have all been a part of various government appointed offices and have been observers of the developments of the archipelago for decades. They write that the “ethnic community structure of this unique land lying afloat the mighty Arabian Sea” has withstood the “vagaries of the ocean and weather” and mention that many studies have proven how the “stability of the coral reefs that protect the islands has been maintained by the lifestyle and culture of the community which lives there. The island people have found a way to cope with the limitations of land and fresh water availability. Their social fabric is built on an ecosystem based economy linked to fishing and anchored in the cooperation, tolerance, acceptance and mutual dependence which exists there.”

Insult to injury is added they stated as “the culture and traditions of the people who live there have been violated by intervention into their food ethos (beef ban, opening liquor shops etc). Their traditional methods of decision-making of democratic decentralisation are poised to be torn apart by these changes.”

The carrying capacity of the 32 square km area of the inhabited islands, will be “stretched to the limit by indiscriminate expansion of tourism and the various projects proposed under the euphemistic title of ‘Planning and Development’,” they write, adding that “this will destroy the life of the people.”

“We condemn this move of an individual who holds a position of authority in a politically and geographically sensitive area,” they warned that a “law and order situation will likely result from all the above stated arbitrary and irresponsible moves” and urged the VP to “halt the implementation of LDAR 2021 and other repressive orders that are underway”. They asked that the “urgent review in consultation with local bodies” be set up. “The changes being proposed are stated to be for the ‘welfare of the human community’ which means a thorough consultative process by the said ‘human community’,” they reminded. 

The plans “need a vision that takes into consideration a consultative approach rather than be imposed from the top. If access to resources, human rights, secularism, democracy and ethnicity of the island community is to be preserved, your timely intervention will uphold the Preamble to the Constitution of India,” write the experts. They stated that the Lakshadweep islands need “access to safe and secure healthcare, education, just governance, food security and livelihood options linked with their ecosystem, including the rich resource of tuna fishery in surrounding waters.”

The Full Text of the letter may be read here:

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Kerala HC refuses to stay Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority 
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Lakshadweep: Beef Ban, Goonda Act proposed by Administrator Praful Khoda 

The post Lakshadweep: Praful Khoda Patel’s proposals will destroy life of the people, warn experts appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Popular actor and Filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran has most eloquently put what most politicians from Southern India are also flagging as a socio political crisis threatening to engulf the idyllic archipelago of Lakshadweep. The Union Territory’s Administrator, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Praful Khoda Patel, a former minister in the Gujarat cabinet of the then Chief MInister Narendra Modi, has cleared a range of ‘proposals’ that include a ban on beef, disqualification of panchayat poll aspirants who have more than two children, and introduction of an anti-goonda Act.

This has led to a major outcry, especially in Kerala, which has a language, and culture in common with the islanders. Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran who shared his long note on Facebook and bravely asked, “How does disrupting the way of life of a centuries old peaceful settlement become an acceptable means of progress? How will threatening the balance of a very delicate island ecosystem with no regard for the potential consequences pave the way for sustainable development?”

https://www.facebook.com/PrithvirajSukumaran/posts/336591017833458

A strong political comment has come from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who on Tuesday said the changes proposed by Praful Khoda Patel would challenge the “lives, livelihoods and culture” of those who live in Lakshadweep and “cannot be accepted”. He added that “Kerala has a strong relationship, a long history of cooperation” with the islands and thus “Unequivocally condemn devious efforts to thwart it. Perpetrators should desist.”

News reports from Lakshwadeep are quite serious. Challenges imposed on their lives, livelihoods and culture cannot be accepted. Kerala has a strong relationship, a long history of cooperation with LD. Unequivocally condemn devious efforts to thwart it. Perpetrators should desist.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 25, 2021

Vijayan’s words and reaction was echoed by many LDF and Congress MPs from Kerala, stated news reports. The Telegraph reported that Kerala-based Congress politician V.T. Balram said the administrator has been “executing ‘a Sangh parivar agenda’ since his appointment last December.” As recalled by The Telegraph, in 2010 Patel was appointed Gujarat’s home minister after Amit Shah vacated it following the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. 

Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal PP, has also spoken out and written to the Centre, along with other leaders, demanding that Patel be recalled and his proposals reviewed, reported The Indian Express. Patel, since his appointment has proposed drafts of the Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation, Lakshadweep Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Regulation, Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation and amendment to the Lakshadweep Panchayat Staff Rules, stated news reports. According to Faizal, the people’s representatives were not consulted in regard to these draft proposals. 

Lakshadweep Development Authority

One of the triggers for the recent uproar is the draft of the Lakshadweep Development Authority, stated news reports. Faizal told the media that this draft “is aimed at usurping people’s land. The Authority will get huge power to take over land without protecting the interests of land owners. There is a move to develop roads as per National Highway standards. Why does Lakshadweep require huge highways? The Administrator is furthering the business interests of people in the mainland.’’

The outrage has set #SaveLakshadweep to trend for hours on end. Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Central Committee Member of CPI(M) Elamaram Kareem, also wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, asking that the “authoritarian Administrator” be called back. He stated that “Kashmir Lakshadweep is the new target of Modi Govt. People there are being tortured under the new Administrator’s rule. Everything to destroy their culture & traditions.”

After Kashmir Lakshadweep is the new target of Modi Govt. People there are being tortured under the new Administrator’s rule. Everything to destroy their culture & traditions. Wrote to @rashtrapatibhvn to immediately call back the authoritarian Administrator.#SaveLakshadweep pic.twitter.com/rzH43wFil1

— Elamaram Kareem (@ElamaramKareem_) May 24, 2021

Ban Beef, crack down on fisherfolk

Then there is the proposal to impose a ban on beef and has been drafted in the Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation proposal. This has contributed to the unrest in the Union Territory where Muslims make over 90 per cent of the population. As per the draft, quoted by the Telegraph, “No person shall directly or indirectly sell, keep, store, transport, offer or expose for sale or buy beef or beef products in any form anywhere in Lakshadweep.” It is crucial to note that meat and fish are a part of the staple diet in Lakshadweep, TT reports that “Patel has cracked down on the fishing community that makes up more than 80 per cent of the local population”. Their temporary huts, sheds, boats, net-drying facilities and storage spaces have been removed from the shores citing “violation of coastal zone norms” by the Patel-led administration, stated the report. CPI Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam also wrote to the President stating, “Dairies have been hurt by the ban on cattle sale and transport. None of the decisions has been taken in consultation with local communities or their elected bodies.” 

Meanwhile, liquor licences flow free

Viswam apprised the President that as Muslims are “over 96 per cent of the population” of Lakshadweep, “in accordance with the religious and cultural beliefs of the community, the consumption of alcohol was banned on the islands”, reported TT quoting the letter that added, “However, in a recent decision, the administration has begun issuing liquor licences under the guise of promoting tourism and individual freedom, thereby completely ignoring the socio-cultural context of the area.”

Covid crisis, after zero cases last year?

Another point that is most relevant as the nation grapples with the Covid-19, is the fact that Lakshadweep, which had “zero Covid-19 cases” in 2020, reported 6,611 cases on Sunday, according to news reports. Lakshadweep has “over 4,000 cases with over 20 deaths already,” Viswam has written to Kovind, adding, “Further, the pressure on the health infrastructure of the islands has increased manifold leaving the population vulnerable and worried.”

According to Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal PP, “The administrator lifted all Covid regulatory norms,” and that “people arriving from outside were earlier required to quarantine themselves, but Patel relaxed those norms in the name of promoting tourism”. 

Patel, recalled news reports, is the first politician since Independence to be appointed the islands’ topmost official authority. Before that the Administrator was always a senior civil servant.

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The post Lakshadweep: Beef Ban, Goonda Act proposed by Administrator Praful Khoda Patel appeared first on SabrangIndia.