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Tsunami alert sparks panic in Indonesia

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Tsunami Indonesia

Kota Ternate, Indonesia/AFP: A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia Saturday, sparking a tsunami warning and causing panicked people to flee their homes.

Small waves generated by the undersea quake were detected in several parts of the sprawling archipelago, local authorities said, although there were no reports of casualties or major damage and the tsunami warning was lifted after a short while.

Nevertheless, the prospect of a major tsunami set nerves on edge in one of the most seismically active countries in the world, almost a decade after quake-triggered destructive waves devastated western Aceh province.

The tsunami of December 26, 2004, left more than 170,000 people dead in Aceh, on Sumatra island, and tens of thousands more in countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean.

Saturday’s tremor struck northwest of the town of Kota Ternate, at 0231 GMT, the US Geological Survey said. It was followed by a series of aftershocks that measured between magnitude 4.3 and 5.8, the USGS said.

“Tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 kilometres,” said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The centre also warned of small tsunami waves in the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and islands in the South Pacific.

On the tiny Sangihe Islands close to the epicentre in Indonesia, people ran out of their homes when the quake hit, Toni Supit, head of the islands’ Sitaro district, told AFP.

“People in coastal areas felt the strong quake, which lasted for quite some time, and they immediately went to the sea to see if the water was receding abnormally, which is a sign of an incoming tsunami,” he said.

  • Ring of fire –

Tsunami waves nine centimetres high were detected at Jailolo on Halmahera island, in the Maluku Islands, the meteorological agency said. Tiny waves were also detected in Tobelo on Halmahera, and in Manado, on nearby Sulawesi island.

An agency official on Sulawesi said early reports indicated that cracks had appeared in the walls of some houses after the quake, although full damage reports had yet to come in.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said earlier that waves up to one metre high could hit parts of Indonesia, while waves below 30 centimetres were forecast for the coasts of the Philippines.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned people in the northern Maluku Islands and in the north of Sulawesi in particular to stay away from the coast.

Julius Galgiano, a Philippine government seismologist, said the Philippines had also issued a tsunami warning.

“We are telling (local communities) to have a tsunami watch in areas along the coast,” he said, but added that no evacuation orders had been issued and the tsunami waves were not expected to be high.

Around two hours after the quake, the warning centre said there was no longer a tsunami threat.

“The tsunami threat from this earthquake has now mostly passed. Any remaining threat should be evaluated by local authorities in impacted areas,” it said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity, and has been hit by numerous deadly earthquakes over the years.

A 6.1-magnitude quake that hit inland in Aceh in July last year left at least 30 people dead and thousands homeless. It caused a mosque to collapse in one village, killing six children as they took part in a Koran reading session.

Meet the warmongering billionaires who will spend a fortune to influence the next U.S president

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The candidates will be flooded with money from these pro-Israel extremists.

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Haim Saban flank Israeli-America Council Chairman Shawn Evenhaim at the IAC conference in D.C. (Shahar Azran)

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Haim Saban flank Israeli-America Council Chairman Shawn Evenhaim at the IAC conference in D.C. (Shahar Azran)

by Alex Kane is AlterNet

On November 9, the ugly face of America’s money-saturated election process was put on full display.

Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, two billionaires with right-wing, pro-Israel agendas, took the stage at the Israeli American Council’s inaugural conference in Washington, D.C. They fantasized about bombing Iran and about buying the New York Times because they said it’s biased against Israel. Both are bound to play an outsized role in the 2016 presidential elections by flooding the campaign with money to support their favored candidates. In a post-Citizens United world, Adelson and Saban are kings, and Israel will be the beneficiary of their largesse if the donors have the ear of a future president.

Saban and Adelson are on opposite ends of the mainstream (and narrow) political spectrum. Adelson is a casino mogul who bankrolled the 2012 presidential campaigns of GOP candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Saban is in the entertainment business and is a major Democratic Party donor. But when it comes to U.S. foreign policy and Israel, Saban and Adelson take many of the the same positions, displaying an eagerness for war with Iran and a desire to keep the U.S. alliance with Israel rock-solid.

“There’s no right or left when it comes to Israel,” Saban said in what news reports called a joking reference to the moguls’ seating positions at the conference where they spoke.

But the quip was more than just a joke. It was a nod to how the Democratic and Republican parties are united in singing Israel’s praise, backing its military actions and voting to give the country $3.1 billion in U.S. military aid annually. If Adelson’s and Saban’s chosen candidates in 2016 get their way, that unity will shine through during the presidential campaign, with the debate being reduced to who would support Israel the most.

Saban, an Israeli-American famous for producing the TV show Power Rangers, is currently the CEO of the Saban Capital Group, which invests in media companies around the world. A 2010 New Yorker profile of Saban by Connie Bruck paints a portrait of a man who is heavily influential, charming and hawkish. “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel,” he told the New York Times in 2004.

At the the event with Adelson, Saban had a crude prescription for what Israel should do about Iran. “I would bomb the living daylights out of the sons of bitches.” The answer came during a discussion of what Saban would do if he were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and thought a nuclear deal with Iran was a threat to Israel.

His chosen candidate is Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party nomination in 2016. As Bruck reported in the New Yorker, Saban has given millions of dollars to the Clintons in the form of donations to Bill Clinton’s presidential library and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Speaking about Clinton to the Washington Post at the conference, Saban said, “I have told her and everybody who’s asked me, ‘Whatever it takes, we’re going to be there…’ She would be a fantastic president for the United States, an incredible world leader and one under whom I believe — deeply — the relationship with the U.S. and Israel will be significantly reinforced.”

Clinton has given backers like Saban ample reason for thinking of her as the perfect candidate for Israel. During the 2008 presidential election, Clinton was asked by ABC’s “Good Morning America” what she would do if Iran used a nuclear weapon on Israel. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she said. This year, in an interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, she doubled down on her pro-Israel agenda. “If I were the prime minister of Israel, you’re damn right I would expect to have control over security [in the West Bank],” she said.

GOP donor Adelson’s choice for who to back in the 2016 race is trickier. The leading GOP candidates include people like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, two politicians with divergent views on U.S. foreign policy, though Paul has been moving towards a more hawkish position in recent months. What is more clear is that Adelson’s impact, no matter who he backs, will be large. After the GOP losses in 2012, Adelson promised he would “double” his donations to the party. That means Adelson is prepared to spend as much as $300 million on Republican candidates.

Adelson, who made his fortune in the casino business, is one of the richest people in the world. He has used his largesse to shower pro-Israel groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America with millions of dollars. In 2012, it was Adelson who prolonged the GOP primary by boosting Newt Gingrich, who famously proclaimed, in line with Adelson’s views, that the Palestinian people were “invented,” that there is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. When Gingrich finally dropped out, Adelson gave $30 million to a pro-Mitt Romney super-PAC.

His influence in the Republican Party was made clear in March of this year. Chris Christie and other potential presidential candidates flew out to speak to the Adelson-backed Republican Jewish Coalition. But Christie tripped up when he used the term “occupied territories” to refer to the West Bank and Gaza. While the Palestinian territories are indeed under occupation–a term used even by the U.S. State Department–Adelson and his ilk reject that view. The audience at the RJC event in March was no fan of the “occupied” remark, and Christie later apologized to Adelson.

The casino mogul apparently believes Israel should hold onto the West Bank forever, even at the cost of democracy in the area. “I don’t think the Bible says anything about democracy,” Adelson said on November 9. “God talked about all the good things in life. He didn’t talk about Israel remaining as a democratic state, otherwise Israel isn’t going to be a democratic state — so what?”

Adelson also said that the U.S. should “not just talk [with Iran]. I would take action.” Last year, Adelson made waves when he suggested that President Obama should launch a nuclear weapon at Iran to send a message to the country’s leaders. Saban’s and Adelson’s tough talk on Iran comes as a deadline to reach a final nuclear agreement with Iran approaches. Many Democrats and Republicans are deeply skeptical of reaching any deal with Iran.

The 2016 election campaign will likely feature the GOP and Democratic candidates slugging it out on issues like climate change, inequality and immigration. But when it comes to Israel and Iran, the two candidates, backed by people like Saban and Adelson, will have many of the same prescriptions: ramp up pressure on Iran and back Israel no matter what. The only debate will be on how far to take those positions. Think of it as a battle between the Saban position of bombing the “sons of bitches” vs. the Adelson position of nuking Iran.

US/India WTO agreement: How corporate greed trumps needs of world's poor and hungry

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‘The big question is why do governments even need the WTO to decide whether they can guarantee the right to food to their people?

Farmers harvesting in India. (Photo: Asian Development Bank/Rakesh Sahai/flickr/cc)

Farmers harvesting in India. (Photo: Asian Development Bank/Rakesh Sahai/flickr/cc)

by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

The United States cheered on Thursday an agreement it reached with India as progress for the World Trade Organization (WTO). Critics, however, say deal is likely a win for corporations and economic loss for developing countries.

A fact sheet from the U.S. Trade Representative explains that there are two parts to the deal that broke what had been an impasse over agreements from Ministerial meeting last year in Bali. The first is that the two countries stated they would move forward on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)—the WTO’s first multilateral trade agreement of the body’s two-decade existence. The second is an agreement on India’s food security program, which allows for domestic “food stockpiling.”

Begging WTO for Food Security

As the Associated Press summed up: “India had insisted on its right to subsidize grains under a national policy to support hundreds of millions of impoverished farmers and provide food security amid high inflation.”

Regarding that food security program, theNew York Times reports, “Indian and American officials agreed to a peace clause that protects India’s program from a legal challenge until W.T.O. members reach a permanent resolution of the dispute.” India had held out on this issue.

But as the Transnational Institute (TNI) pointed out in a report released this week: “The big question is why do governments even need the WTO to decide whether they can guarantee the right to food to their people? The right to food is a universal human right that should not be subject to trade rules.”

The report also notes that the need for such a peace clause highlights the “deep hypocrisy embedded within the WTO,” as the EU and the U.S., unlike India and other developing countries, are able to pour billions into their own agricultural subsidies.

Deborah James, Director of International Programs at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, echoed these points, explaining to Common Dreams: “The entire debate is outrageous.”

“The world has passed through multiple food crises since the WTO rules were written, and nearly every global agricultural agency now recognizes the dire need for developing countries to invest in agricultural production to promote food security, rather than relying on a global market rife with rich countries’ trade-distorting subsidies and speculative distortions. And due to a mass Right to Food movement, India now has a food security program that has been hailed as the most ambitious in the world,” James stated.

“It is beyond shameful that the United States blocked these negotiations all year in 2013, and that India and other developing countries were left with a peace clause as a consolation prize,” she continued.

Mary Louise Malig,  Researcher, Trade Analyst, and author new TNI report, stressed that the deal does not offer a permanent solution to food security,  and that it “is just a tiny step more than what is already agreed in the Bali Package.”

Yet, according to Timothy A. Wise, who directs the Research and Policy Program at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute, that India and the U.S. were able to reach an agreement on this issue could be positive.

“India was under enormous pressure to settle this, and its allies were under pressure to abandon India. The good news is that India’s firm stance exacted some concessions from the United States that may lead to good-faith negotiations on the food security issues. Time will tell,” Wise explained to Common Dreams.

The TFA as Corporate Win

The agreement also moves forward the WTO’s TFA, which is also problematic, critics charge.

As CEPR’s James wrote in July:

The new agreement on “Trade Facilitation” would set binding rules on customs procedures and trade operations that would demand huge investments from developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to modernize and streamline – according to U.S. and EU standards — their port operations. This means that while we still don’t have binding international rules on, say, the right to water, corporations would have the “right” to have their products exported into developing countries quickly, easily, and cheaply. That’s why nearly 200 organizations around the world opposed the agreement when it was being negotiated last year.

The TFA would also divert limited resources away from priority development needs such as health, education, and domestic infrastructure investments in LDCs and developing countries. Developed countries refused to make binding commitments on financial support during the negotiations. The World Bank announced on July 17 that it would make available, through its Trade Facilitation Support Program (supported by Australia, the EU, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Switzerland) an embarrassingly paltry $30 million for over 100 developing countries to assist them in implementing the TFA.

As TNI’s new report puts bluntly, the TFA is a win for transnational corporations. As they “control the global supply chains across the world, [they] will gain the most from an Agreement that slashes costs and relaxes customs procedures, easing the flow of imports and exports,” the report states.

Malig added in a statement to Common Dreams:  “The clear winners of this break in the impasse are the Transnational Corporations, all poised to benefit from the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.”

While the WTO had touted the economic gains of the Bali deal, Wise stated: “The bad news is that trade facilitation remains a largely unfunded mandate that will not produce the laughable estimate of $1 trillion in economic gains for the world, as my colleague Jeronim Capaldo has shown. And it may well create economic losses for some least developed countries.”

The WTO said Friday that the U.S./India agreement will probably be implemented by the full 160-member body within two weeks.

Putin "prepares for economic war", buys whopping 55 tonnes of gold in Q3

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Putin-Obama

by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge

Just as China is buying ‘cheap’ oil with both hands and feet, so Russia, according to the latest data from The World Gold Council (WGC) has been buying gold in huge size. Dwarfing the rest of the world’s buying in Q3, Russia added a stunning 55 tonnes to its reserves, as The Telegraph reports, Putin is taking advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of Russia’s central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West.

Russia bought more gold in Q3 then all other countries combined.

As The Telegraph reports:

Vladimir Putin’s government is understood to be hoarding vast quantities of gold, having tripled stocks to around 1,150 tonnes in the last decade. These reserves could provide the Kremlin with vital firepower to try and offset the sharp declines in the rouble.

Russia’s currency has come under intense pressure since US and European sanctions and falling oil prices started to hurt the economy. Revenues from the sale of oil and gas account for about 45pc of the Russian government’s budget receipts.

In total, central banks around the world bought 93 tonnes of the precious metal in the third quarter, marking it the 15th consecutive quarter of net purchases. In its report, the World Gold Council said this was down to a combination of geopolitical tensions and attempts by countries to diversify their reserves away from the US dollar.

By the end of the year, central banks will have acquired up to 500 tonnes of gold during the latest buying spell, according to Alistair Hewitt, head of market intelligence at the World Gold Council.

“Central banks have been consistently adding to their gold holdings since 2009,”Mr Hewitt told the Telegraph.

Southeast Asian nations pledge to tackle global climate change

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asean

Nay Pyi Taw/Xinhua: Leaders from Southeast Asian nations have confirmed their determination to unveil respective national targets for mitigation efforts “well in advance of” a key global climate change meeting scheduled for December next year, according to a joint statement adopted at a regional summit here.

Those who are ready are also encouraged to put forward their ” intended nationally determined contributions” by the first quarter next year, the leaders said Wednesday at the 25th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Myanmar capital.

The ASEAN leaders also urged developed countries to continue to demonstrate leadership and come forward early with ambitious emission reduction targets by March 2015, and help the developing countries in climate change efforts.

“Climate change is already having significant impacts, causing major loss and damage throughout the ASEAN region, and disproportionately affecting developing countries,” they said, citing the Cyclone Nargis hitting Myanmar in 2008 and the Typhoon Haiyan lashing the Philippines last year.

The ASEAN climate declaration came on the same day as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon praised pledges made by China and the United States to limit greenhouse gases and called on the rest of the world to follow suit. Ban was also in Nay Pyi Taw for an ASEAN-UN summit.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chinese president Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama promised to take action to limit greenhouse gases. China set a target for its emission to peak by 2030, or earlier if possible, and for the share of non-fossil fuel energy to rise to about 20 percent by 2030.

The United States set a new target to reduce its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels. That’s a sharp increase from Obama’s first administration, when he pledged to cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020.

The new commitments are expected to inject fresh momentum into the global fight against climate change ahead of the UN climate conference in Paris next year.

At the summit, the 10 ASEAN leaders also reviewed progress made ahead of the target of realizing an ASEAN Community by the end of 2015, and adopted a declaration on the ASEAN Community’s post-2015 vision.

They are determined to “shape a bold and forward-looking future for ASEAN which will strengthen the ASEAN Community and enable the realization of a politically-cohesive, economically integrated, socially responsible, and a truly people-oriented, people-centered and rules-based ASEAN,” the statement said.

The summit also adopted a declaration on the ASEAN Secretariat, which is aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of ASEAN and maintaining the centrality of ASEAN in an evolving regional architecture.

Parliament should pass strong anti-child labour law: Kailash Satyarthi

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kailash-satyarthi

New Delhi: On the occasion of Children’s Day Friday, Nobel laureate and child rights crusader Kailash Satyarthi urged parliament to pass a strong anti-child labour law in the upcoming session.

“I urge parliament to pass a strong anti-child labour law in the upcoming session as this has been pending for nearly two years,” Satyarthi appealed in a statement.

“I demand complete ban on all forms of child labour bringing the law in sync with Right to Education Act. I further demand prohibition of employment of children between 14-18 years in hazardous occupations and processes.

“Rehabilitation should be made an integral part of the legislation,” Satyarthi said.

Questioning the celebrations when “millions of children” are still working as labourers, Satyarthi said India needed to act immediately.

“While the nation is celebrating Children’s Day, millions of children are compelled to languish in various forms of labour from farms to mines and factories to homes. Their innocence, freedom and future are getting robbed and education denied,” he said.

“Unless they are brought back to the classrooms, any celebration is incomplete. A proud and progressive India has to act now,” he added.

Satyarthi along with Pakistan’s Malala Yousufzai won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

(IANS)

Video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi allegedly injured in Mosul aired by Egypt's Balad TV

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Screenshot of footage aired by Balad TV supposedly showing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi injured after his convoy was attacked by coalition air strikes.

Screenshot of footage aired by Balad TV supposedly showing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi injured after his convoy was attacked by coalition air strikes.

by Abdelhak Mamoun, Iraqi News

The video below, broadcast on Balad TV, claims to show ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his convoy being attacked in an airstrike that led to his injury or death.

The video claims to show al-Baghdadi next to a black SUV car, suffering injuries due to the airstrike.

In the beginning, Baghdadi appears to be lying on the ground, groaning in pain while one of his aides is lying dead beside him. Baghdadi moves slightly before ISIS elements hurry to rescue him.

The injured, who Balad TV claims is al-Baghdadi, is dressed in a military uniform and is said to be wearing a watch on his right hand which appears similar to the one he wore during his sermon at Mosul. IraqiNews.com has not independently verified these claims.

A spokesman for the Central Command of the US Army, Col. Patrick Raider, said two days ago that warplanes of the international coalition targeted ISIS leaders who were meeting near Mosul and that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may have been among those who were targeted.

According to officials from the United States, US air raids managed to destroy a convoy of 10 cars belonging to the organization of the Islamic State; they were traveling in a convoy near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Bombay HC quashes Muslim, Maratha reservation in Maharashtra govt jobs

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Allows reservation to Muslims in educational institutions, Chief Minister evades comments on Muslim reservation but says the state will challenge the decision in SC.

bombay_high_court

Mumbai/Agencies: The Bombay High Court Friday put a hold on Maharashtra government’s decision to give 16% reservation to Marathas in public service and educational institutions. The High Court also stayed the state government’s decision to provide 5% reservation to Muslims in public service, but allowed them reservation in educational institutions.

On June 25, 2014, with an eye on the state assembly elections, erstwhile Congress-NCP government had approved 16% reservation for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.

While hearing the PILs challenging reservation for the two communities filed by social activist Ketan Tirodkar, an NGO Youth for Equality, Anil Thanekar, I S Gilada of Indian Health Organisation and others, the bench concluded it was not up to the state to treat the Maratha community as a ‘backward class’.

“Rather, the National Commission for Backward Classes and the Mandal Commission has concluded the Marathas are a socially-advanced and prestigious community,” the court said, citing the findings of the Mandal Commission (1990), the National Commission for Backward Classes in February 2000 and a July 2008 report of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (Bapat Commission).

The bench noted several flaws in the report of the Narayan Rane Committee that had recommended the inclusion of the Maratha community in the socially- and economically-backward class, and which forms the basis of the 16 % reservation in favour of the community.

The bench observed that the Rane committee did not refer to important rulings of the Supreme Court and findings of other commissions.

The state government, however, has decided to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis saying he will take all possible steps to remove the stay on the Maratha reservation. But, he did not comment on reservation for Muslims as the BJP has been opposed to it.

“The state government is fully supportive of Maratha quota. We will appeal in Supreme Court on the High Court ruling. We will take measures to ensure that the quota remains,” Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis told reporters on the sidelines of an event in suburban Vile Parle.

Fadnavis further added, “If the court has pointed out any discrepancy in law, we will remove any lacunae in law during the winter session of the State Legislature in Nagpur.”

The court was of the view that the comparative data provided by the government justified its decision to introduce reservation for Muslims in government educational institutions. It, however, excluded private educational bodies from the purview of reservations for the minority community.

The government defended its decision on reservation to Marathas and Muslims contending that the two communities were socially and educationally backward and also economically poor. It said the decision was based on the report of a committee headed by former minister Narayan Rane set up to look into the issue.

The government said it had taken into consideration recommendations of Rajinder Sachar Committee and Mahmoodur Rahman Committee, both of which had recommended reservation for Muslims, while arriving at the decision to provide quotas for them.

Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar is his public interest litigation (PIL) noted that Marathas have been wrongly categorised as socially and educationally backward. It claims Marathas are not a caste, they comprise a linguistic group. Tirodkar adds Marathas are a dominant community, not a backward one.

52% seats in government jobs and educational institutions were already reserved for the targeted groups and the Congress-NCP government had, in the run up to the Assembly poll, raised it to 73 per cent by announcing 16 per cent quotas for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims.

Reservation already exists among OBCs for a section of Marathas known as Kunbis. Maratha Kunbis, who are largely agriculturists, constitute 31.5 per cent of the total Maratha population and have a large presence in Vidarbha and Konkan.

Apart from former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, a majority of the education barons — DY Patil, Patang Kadam, Kamalkishore Kadam and Pawars of Vidya Pratishthan — belong to the Maratha community.

Chhattisgarh: PUCL Condemns sterilisation deaths, calls it a form of medical homicide

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Photo: AP

Photo: AP

by Chhattisgarh Lok Swatantrya Sangathan (People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Chhattisgarh)

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Chhattisgarh expresses its grief and outrage at the deaths of so many young women as the outcome of laproscopic sterilization camps in Bilaspur district in the past week. So far 13 women have died as a consequence of the camp held at Nemichand Jain Hospital at Takhatpur, and a woman of the Primitive Tribal Baiga group as a result of the camp at Gaurela. Dozens of women are ill to the point of risk to life. Almost all were from BPL families.

In the first incident an experienced surgeon who had been honoured earlier this year for having performed enormous numbers of laparoscopic sterilization operations, singlehandedly performed 83 operations in a five hour period with a single laproscope – a circumstance which by itself establishes that adequate aseptic precautions would not and indeed could not have been effected. The camp at Takhatpur was conducted in a private charitable hospital which had remained closed for a year where the physical infrastructure was absolutely abysmal.

These circumstances are routine and they are replicated in “family planning” camps all across the country, in direct and deliberate contravention of the Central Government guidelines formulated in response to Supreme Court orders of 2005 (Ramakant Rai vs Govt. Of India) and 2012 (Devika Biswas vs Govt. Of India), that direct that a medical team can conduct a maximum of 30 operations in a day with three separate laproscopes, and that one doctor cannot do more than 10 sterlisations in a day. The guidelines also state that all sterilisation camps must be organised in established government facilities.

Serious and substantial doubts have been raised about the quality of medication used in these camps. Ironically the Chhattisgarh State Human Rights Commission in their inspections in the year 2009-2010 had recorded that expired drugs, fungus-ridden drugs, and untested drugs manufactured at local facilities were found in the stores and operation theatres of District Hospitals at Durg, Bilaspur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon. In most of the cases little follow up action had been taken by the government. Despite the fact that the Purchase Committee for the drugs was headed by Health Minister Amar Agrawal, the Government has refused to accept any liability for the tragedy.

So far one doctor has been arrested, however, as per newspaper reports, the private local manufacturers in Raipur who were supplying the drugs used in the camps, had already destroyed a significant part of their stocks prior to raids by the Special Investigation Team of the Police.

While the State Government has announced a Judicial Enquiry by District Judge Anita Jha, it does not inspire confidence that another Judicial Enquiry headed by the same Judge into the Fake Encounter of a minor adivasi girl Meena Khalkho has not made any progress since its announcement in June 2012.

Target based coercive female sterilization has had serious consequences all over the country, and in the case of malnutritioned and routinely anaemic women of poor families, fatal ones. Yet the State has continued and rewarded such a policy. In the case of the Baiga tribes where permission is required to be taken from the Collector prior to conducting sterilization, the same was not taken. Perhaps following the procedure could have ensured that the Baiga women could have been provided safer medical conditions.

The State of Chhattisgarh has been seeing a series of medical catastrophes – blindness and even deaths of patients after cataract operation camps in 2011, the scandal of a large number of unnecessary hysterectomies only to extract “smart card” payments, a large number of malaria deaths, and recently a number of jaundice deaths in Raipur and other cities owing to contamination of drinking water by sewage.

The High Level Expert Group of the Planning Commission on Universalization of Health Care in 2013 clearly recommended that all citizens should be able to access equitably tax based, publicly provisioned health facilities and programmes of adequate quality. In our country this is the only way forward to avoid major epidemiological and social tragedies like the present. The Chhattisgarh PUCL further notes with concern that the present development model being pursued by the State Government is resulting in impoverishing a large section of the people who are easy victims of such incidents

The Chhattisgarh PUCL demands:-

  1. A credible Judical Enquiry should be conducted expeditiously into the present incidents preferably by a Retired Supreme Court Judge and the results made public at the earliest.
  2. The said Enquiry should establish whether the norms laid down repeatedly by the Supreme Court have been violated and if so how.
  3. All those responsible for the manufacture, quality control, and supply of spurious drugs should be identified and brought to justice.
  4. The Chhattisgarh Government should immediately consult medical experts at the highest level to lay down stringent guidelines regarding the conduct of various types of health camps.
  5. Targeted approach for female sterilization must be done away with.
  6. Steps should be taken toward the implementation of the recommendations of the High Level Expert Group on Universalization of Health Care.

Dr. Lakhan Singh (President)
Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj (General Secretary)

BJP MLA’s henchman strips, thrashes youth for supporting love marriage

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Suresh Maruti Gatige

Belagavi: A notorious henchman of a BJP MLA has been caught on camera, assaulting and brutally thrashing two young men with hockey sticks after stripping them to the skin.

The barbaric incident which reportedly took place on November 2, came to light only when the hair-raising video footages, reached a few media persons this week. TV news channels on Friday showed visuals where Suresh Maruti Gatige, the henchman of Belagavi (Rural) BJP MLA Sanjay Patil, was thrashing the helpless youngsters.

A known miscreant of Sangh Parivar, Gatige punished the two for allegedly supporting their friend’s love marriage with a girl related to the accused. He thrashed both of them so brutally that a part of the hockey was also broken. Both the victims are said to be the natives of Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

According to reliable sources, the local police were initially reluctant to file case against the culprit. When the father of one of the victims approached a police station in Kolhapur, the police refused to file the case by passing it off by claiming that the incident happened in Karnataka, so the case will be filed there only.

Finally, the case was registered on November 10 at Kakti police station in Karnataka, but police did not initiate any against the accused. However, media pressure gradually forced the police to arrested Suresh Gatige along with four others.

According to senior police officials, the other accused in the case are Digamber Jothiba Kavanewadkar, Jothiba Krishna Gundakal, Namdev Chaloba Bamne and Maruti Subbarao Savanth. All are from Khudanur of Chandgad taluk of Kolhapur district, and were arrested following a complaint filed by the victim, Anil to the Inspector-General of Police (Northern Range) Bhaskar Rao.

Witnesses

Preliminary investigations suggest that the victims- Anil and his friend, Ganesh, both from Khudanur- were witnesses to the registered marriage of Shubhangi and Prabhakar Ashok Vaddar.

The relatives of the girl, who were opposed to the marriage, kidnapped the witnesses from Chandgad and brought them to a farmhouse near Uchagaon village in Belagavi taluk on November 3.

The accused assaulted Anil and Ganesh with a hockey stick. One of them videographed the assault and threatened them if they informed the police.

Meanwhile, MLA Sanjay Patil has denied having any role in the incident, or any connection with the accused. He has said the accused was from Kolhapur district of Maharashtra and was visiting Belagavi.

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