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You are here: Home / Archives for News & Politics

Chhattisgarh sterilization tragedy: Doctor R K Gupta arrested, blames govt for making him breach guidelines

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Indian women who underwent sterilization surgeries receive treatment at the CIMS hospital in Bilaspur, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Eight Indian women have died and more than a dozen others in critical condition Tuesday after undergoing sterilization surgeries in a free government-run program to help slow the country's population growth. A total of 83 women, all poor villagers under the age of 32, had the operations Saturday in a hospital outside Bilaspur city. Each of the women had received a payment of 600 rupees, or about $10, to participate in the program, said the state's chief medical officer, Dr. S.K. Mandal. (Source: AP)

ndian women who underwent sterilization surgeries receive treatment at the CIMS hospital in Bilaspur, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Eight Indian women have died and more than a dozen others in critical condition Tuesday after undergoing sterilization surgeries in a free government-run program to help slow the country’s population growth. A total of 83 women, all poor villagers under the age of 32, had the operations Saturday in a hospital outside Bilaspur city. Each of the women had received a payment of 600 rupees, or about $10, to participate in the program, said the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. S.K. Mandal. (Source: AP)

New Delhi: Dr RK Gupta, who conducted 83 laparoscopic surgeries in just five hours in Bilaspur on Saturday, has been arrested. He was arrested late on Wednesday night from Baloda Bazar. Gupta, who was awarded by the Raman Singh government on January 26 this year for conducting a record number of female sterilizations, has already been suspended and is facing a FIR.

Meanwhile, a team of specialist doctors is reaching Raipur from Hyderabad. They will assist in the treatment of women. Fourteen women have died so far following tubectomies in two separate government camps within two days in Bilaspur.

One of them is a Baiga, a primate tribe protected by law. The government has banned the sterilization of these tribes. Alleging that these deaths amounted to“murders by the government,” PCC Chief Bhupesh Baghel has demanded the immediate resignation of Raman Singh. President of All India Mahila Congress Shobha Ojha has arrived in Chhattisgarh today and reached Bilaspur.

Female sterilization remains the most popular method of population control in India, where public health facilities often lack funding and fake medicines are rampant. The Chhattisgarh tragedy is one of the worst in recent memory from the one-day sterilization drives India regularly holds to keep its 1.2 billion population from growing too fast. Preliminary post-mortem results show no sign of infection from poor sanitary conditions, said Promod Tewari, the top government medical official in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, the town where the sterilizations occurred. That points to flawed antibiotics and painkillers that were given to patients after the surgery as the cause of death, he said.

Sterilization mishaps are common in India. From April 2010 to March 2013, the government paid about Rs.51 crore for 15,264 deaths or failed surgeries, Harsh Vardhan, who was India’s health minister at the time, told parliament on 18 July. Sterilizations are voluntary and couples choose between a tubectomy or vasectomy, he said.

Gupta said he conducted the 83 operations over about six hours, with each one taking about five minutes. He blamed the government for making him breach guidelines that limit a doctor from performing more than 30 in a day.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Laparoscopic Surgeries, R K Gupta, Sterilization

BJP govt wins trust vote in Maharashtra Assembly

November 13, 2014 by Nasheman

fadnavis_bjp

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ minority government Wednesday won the vote of confidence of the state assembly by a voice vote, while the Shiv Sena opted for the role of opposition here.

The development was preceded by the unanimous election of BJP leader Haribhau Bagde as the new Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.

The Congress and Shiv Sena cried foul over the newly-elected speaker’s decision to reject the demand for balloting in the trust vote and instead to settle for a voice vote.

State Congress president Manikrao Thakre alleged that the government has failed to prove its majority as per Governor C.V. Rao’s directives.

“This is a murder of democracy and the entire state has witnessed it. This government continues to be in minority and must resign immediately,” Thakrey demanded.

Shiv Sena’s Ramdas Kadam and other leaders also demanded a count of the voice votes to ascertain how many were in favour of the BJP government.

Thakre said a delegation of all parties would meet the governor to apprise him of the developments.

“We will urge the governor to either order a fresh of vote of confidence since today’s vote was not done properly. The A.B. Vajpayee government in the past at the Centre had fallen because of just one vote. Here, this government fell short of at least 25 votes and has no right to continue. We will not allow the government to work,” he declared.

Congress Legislature Party leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said the ruling party violated rules and must seek a fresh vote of confidence of the house.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Devendra Fadnavis, Haribhau Bagde, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, NCP, Shiv Sena, Udhav Thackeray

Sexual assault cases should be disposed within 1 year: T B Jayachandra

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Law_Minister_T_B_Jayachandra

Mangaluru: Special Courts will be setup in all districts of Karnataka to deal with cases under POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act). Two Fast Track Courts are already rendering such service in Bengaluru, informed State Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights T B Jayachandra.

“In the state under POCSO act, 1577 cases have been registered, in which 281 cases have seen conviction while 1296 cases are yet to be disposed. Already IPC 376 has seen drastic changes and quantum of punishment has also been increased. As per the policy of Union government, state government had already established fast track courts in all districts of the state. And district principal session court judge will be dealing with the cases.” He said.

Around 400 cases were registered from Bengaluru alone. A total of 59 cases have been reported from Dakshina Kannada.

Speaking on low conviction on sexual offenders, the minister said ” Sexual assault cases should be disposed within 1 year but when the witnesses turning hostile, cases get prolonged and delayed. Hence government after consultation with the the legal experts has taken a decision to amend the law.”

“The Central Government has made IPC Section 376 (Punishment for rape) more rigid after the Nirbhaya Case two years ago,” he said.

Also, the Supreme Court has ruled that rape victims’ statement to be directly recorded by a judicial magistrate instead of police officials to cut short protracted proceedings.

About creating awareness among the public especially youth, he said that the Information Department was already directed to telecast advertisements against child and other sexual harassment on television.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: POCSO Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Sexual Violence, T B Jayachandra

Asaduddin Owaisi stresses on political empowerment of Muslims, says vote bank myth dead

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad/INN: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday stressed the need for increase in political representation of Muslim community in the elected bodies across the country.

Speaking in the ‘Meet the press’ programme organised by the Telangana Union of Working Journalists  (TUWJ) at Basheerbagh Press Club here, Asaduddin Owaisi said that the community’s development depends on its representation in the law making bodies. However, he said that the representation has to be real. “The benami leadership of Muslims will not help the community in any way,” he said while referring to Muzaffarnagar riots which occurred despite Uttar Pradesh having more than 60 Muslim MLAs.

The MIM President also described the term Muslim vote bank as a myth and said that same myth got shattered in the recently held parliamentary elections in the country. “There has not been the Muslim vote bank rather a Majority vote bank in India from the first elections in the year 1956,” he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi also announced that his party would contest Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka. However, the party is yet to decided on its participation in Delhi and Jharkhand Assembly elections. When asked about the GHMC elections, he said it was too early to comment on the same as the corporation was still under the process of undertaking delimitation of divisions.

The MIM chief criticised a section of media for targeting the MIM on its entry into Maharashtra politics. “Some people are unhappy with the MIM winning two Assembly seats in Maharashtra. “When I am participating in the democratic process no one has the right to call me anti national.” He said defamation notices have been sent to the political leaders of Maharashtra who made such statements against him and his party.

Stating that the slogan of “Jai Bheem, Jai Meem” would have a long-term impact, he said that the MIM would hard to unite Dalits and Muslims to ensure the political empowerment of both the communities.

Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of having dual stand on communalism. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making statements defending the patriotism of Muslims, other BJP leaders are raking up communal tension by raising non-existing issues like Love Jihad. He also objected to the appointment of Prasar Bharti Director Surya Prakash and said he does not fulfill the criteria of Prasar Bharti charter.

The MIM president reiterated that his party was against the Haj subsidy and instead asked the Centre to release the subsidy amount for the education and employment of Muslim girls. He praised the TRS Government for enhancing the budget for minorities’ welfare in Telangana and hoped that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao would review all the schemes quarterly. Stating that his party was not against the Metro Rail Project, he suggested the government and Metro Rail authorities to take a different route in Old City. He said it would be ideal if the Metro Rail is taken from Bahadurpura and Kalapather to Falaknuma.

Filed Under: India, Indian Muslims Tagged With: AIMIM, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress, Dalits, Majlis, MIM, Telangana Union of Working Journalists, TUWJ

Affordable, quality professional legal services to vulnerable sections through trained lawyers, paralegals: Nyayika case studies

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

From left: Gagan Sethi, Prof Madhava Menon, Rajendra Joshi and Satyajeet Mazumdar

From left: Gagan Sethi, Prof Madhava Menon, Rajendra Joshi and Satyajeet Mazumdar

by Counterview

A public event in Delhi, National Meet on Social Lawyering — organized by the Centre for Social Justice and Lawyers for Change — saw release the book ,“Nyayika – Making Professional Legal Services Accessible”, which deals with how Nyayika carried out its unique experiment over the last one year of its existence as a private non-profit company. Prof Madhava Menon, chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Central University, Chhattisgarh, who released the book, said the Nayika  model of community lawyering offering affordable legal services with sensitivity to the poor and the vulnerable should focus more on people and communities rather than courts. He added, there was a need to move away from court-centric lawyering towards a process of bringing justice to the people by using administrative and other mechanisms outside the courts to enable people to claim their rights and entitlements, and live with dignity.

Among those who took part in the event included founding directors of Nyayika, Rajendra Joshi, founder of SAATH Charitable Trust;  Gagan Sethi, founder of Janvikas; Nupur Sinha, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice; and Satyajeet Mazumdar, CEO of Nyayika.

Providing quality professional legal services, both litigative and non-litigative, through trained lawyers and paralegals in its law centres, Nyayika addresses one the main barriers in access to quality legal services for people from the middle and lower income groups – the high fees of a lawyer – by providing its services for a fixed and affordable fee payable according to a payment schedule. Those unable to pay are offered free services. Nyayika follows transparent processes, assures speedy disposal of cases and is accountable towards its clients, a client friendly standardized operating procedure, and a robust monitoring and information system across eight centres in Gujarat – Ahwa, Modasa, Mandvi, Bharuch, Palanpur, Amreli, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad.

Below we reproduce some of the selected success stories of Nyayika, which would showcase how the new model has worked in solving people’s problems:

Child sex abuse in school, Mota Vijuda, Amreli district:

A child studying in class five was sexually abused by his school teacher, following which his father lodged a written complaint to the school principal. Based on the complaint, the principal brought the incident to the notice of the district education officer (DEO), who initiated an inquiry. Finding substance in the complaint, the teacher was transferred to another school. Nyayika learnt of the incident from a local newspaper. It approached the father of the child, the school principal and parents of two other children of the school and took their statements. The child’s parents regretted that the authorities had not acted sufficiently against the accused.

Nyayika sought copies of the written complaint of the father and the reply he had received from the DEO. An FIR was registered under Sections 4, 8 and 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 against the teacher. On investigation, police found that the complaint was true. Meanwhile, the accused sought anticipatory bail from the court, which was rejected on Nyayika’s plea backed by the public prosecutor. The accused was arrested and is in jail. It took just a month to book the culprit. It has created considerable awareness among people about Nyayika’s ability to seek justice. The teacher community, on the other hand, has become wary of acting in a highhanded manner.

Compensation to Amreli’s workers:

About a year ago, Nyayika learnt that many workers from Amreli district belonging to different talukas — Savarkundra, Lathi, Jaffrabad and Dhari – were not getting any compensation under the Workers’ Insurance Scheme. They would apply for compensation to the district labour officer, who would send the applications for approval to the director, insurance, Gandhinagar. After a lapse of seven to eight months, the director, insurance, Gandhinagar, would return most of the applications saying these workers could not be covered under the insurance scheme. The applications would be rejected, saying the workers did not adequate proof.

Nyayika filed a right to information (RTI) application to know about number of persons from Amreli district who had applied for insurance under the scheme,  how many applications were pending, and how many were rejected.  Based on the RTI reply, Nyayika called a meeting in Amreli of those whose names were rejected. Forty of them turned up for the meeting. Participants were asked why their names were rejected. They replied reason included insufficient documents. As all the workers were consumers of the insurance scheme, Nyayika decided to approach a consumer court for redressal of the grievance.

Twenty of the workers agreed to file complaint before the consumer court under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, under sections 12 and 13. A reply was sought from the director, insurance, Gandhinagar, as to why these persons were not paid insurance amount. The director, insurance, gave several reasons, including failure to send the application to him on time and insufficient documents, including identity cards. These replies were challenged through 20 affidavits, which were forwarded by Nyayika to the consumer court. It was argued that in the case the time period, the period should be counted not from the date of the accident but of the date on which the dispute commenced. As for identity card s, it was suggested that the workers did have them from the talati or the mamlatadar, which was equal to that of the certificate issued by the labour officer.

The consumer court ruled in favour of the workers. Each worker received Rs 1 lakh as insurance amount plus Rs 25,000 as interest. Each of the 20 received Rs 1.25 lakh. The director, insurance, Gandhinagar, who would evade giving proper answer found reason to become more vigilant. The workers became aware of the importance of identity card, and also that they could approach the consumer court to get compensation.

Land acquisition case in Babracot village, Amreli district:

This case relates to land acquisition carried out for mining by Ultratech in Babracot village of Rajula taluka in Amreli district for the company’s cement plant.  The land acquisition had taken place in 1993, and six farmers agreed to sell their land to the company for Rs 70,000 per bigha under an agreement. During Nyayika’s interaction with the villagers, it came out that the company did not pay the full amount. Worse, the company quietly transferred in some land which belonged to the farmers in its name.

During the meeting, Nyayika explained to farmers about the land acquisition law. The six persons, whose land was acquired, agreed that their land had been taken away fraudulently, but had no proof, hence were helpless. Nyayika decided to file RTI application to get documents of the land which was transferred to the company, including ownership details and the amount paid to the farmers. Within 30 days Nyayika received reply. It was found that the company had not paid in accordance with the prevailing market rate. It was also found that the company had fraudulently taken away some pieces of land. The agreement required that the company would provide job to the affected farmers and their families, but this was not done.

Legal notice was served to the company on behalf of the six farmers. The notice demanded payment as per the market rate, and also payment against mental and physical harassment, misuse of the farm land, loss to agriculture and livelihood. In each case, Rs 3 to 4 lakh was demanded as compensation. The company called the farmers for a compromise. The farmers insisted that they should be paid compensation, or else they would approach the court of law. The matter is at the pre-litigation stage. Thanks to Nyayika’s intervention, the farmers in the region became aware of land-related issues.

Incestual rape in Ankaleshwar, Bharuch district:

This case relates to rape of a 14-year-old girl by her father in Ankaleshwar. Studying in seventh standard, the victim lived with his father, who had divorced his wife, with whom their son lived. The girl became pregnant a couple of times, and she was given capsule to trigger abortion. The father would threaten her that she would be murdered if she opened her mouth. During one vacation, the girl’s paternal aunt (chachi) took her to her mother’s residence. When the school vacation ended, the mother asked her to return, but she refused, and divulged what all had happened to her. The mother told everything to the child’s grandmother. A complaint was registered with the Ankaleshwar police station.

The police sought Nyayika’s help. A senior activist Pramilaben, who took personal interest in the matter, took statements from the child, the mother and the grandmother. She also got the child medically examined. An application was filed seeking compensation for the rape victim. Police was told to arrest the accused, which was done within a week. The accused person’s bail application was got rejected with the help of public prosecutor.

Nyayika’s intervention proved crucial. Pramilaben Varmora, a senior paralegal activist with Nyayika, took statement from the grandmother, the mother, and the victim. The father’s lawyer sought to argue out that the mother, who was a divorcee and had illicit relationship with someone, had put up a false case. The public prosecutor was told that the father’s lawyer should argue only on the complaint, and not about the character of the mother. The court agreed. It sentenced the father to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000. The rape victim received Rs 20,000 as compensation within a year.

Employment dispute in Vadoara:

Mr A (the complainant) was employed at ABC Info Soft Solutions Pvt Ltd (the employer) since December 19, 2013. The employer terminated the services of Mr A on April 10, 2014 through a termination letter sent on email. No termination notice was issued even though his contract with the employer required one month’s notice to be issued. Mr A’s salary for the month of March was also not paid. When this issue was raised by Mr A before the employer, it was alleged that Mr A had deleted data from the employer’s PC, hence his services were terminated without notice.

Mr A approached Nyayika on the May 9, 2014. Nyayika sent a legal notice to the employer on May 13, 2014 demanding payment of the salary due, which was Rs 40,000. The employer in turn filed a complaint before the police on May 16, 2014 against Mr A for the loss caused to the company from the data so deleted. The employer then replied to the legal notice on May 19, 2014 agreeing to settle the dispute through conciliation. The first conciliation sitting was held at the police station where Mr A was accompanied by a Nyayika lawyer. The employer agreed to take back the police complaint and agreed to pay part of the salary due to Mr. A. The second conciliation sitting was held at a café, where after much negotiation, the employer agreed to pay a sum of Rs 25000 to Mr A to settle the dispute.

The fees charged by Nyayika from Mr A for the entire process was Rs 1,500 only.

Conciliation in a case of domestic violence:

Mr N and Ms D were in a relationship. They decided to secretly get married and got a registered marriage done on October 20, 2000. Thereafter, they started living with their respective parents. However, their parents soon came to know of this, after which Ms D moved in to the residence of Mr N. Ms D continued her studies, obtained a degree and joined a school as a dance teacher. Meanwhile, Mr N was unemployed because of which his parents started to scold and quarrel with him frequently. This resulted in the couple moving out of the house and living independently in 2003.

Ms D managed the household expenses and sent her husband to an African country for a job. Somehow it did not work out and Mr N had to return to India in the year 2005. Ms D gave birth to a boy in the same year. In the year 2011, Ms D managed to purchase a house from her savings. She also had a second child, a daughter in the same year. Mr N was still unemployed. He developed a habit of drinking, and would also beat up Ms D. He started getting suspicious of Ms D, and this led to frequent arguments. On May 27, 2014, Mr N started a quarrel and Ms D retaliated. On hearing shouts, neighbours intervened and called up Ms D’s mother. Ms D left for her mother’s place at night.

Ms D approached Nyayika on May 28, 2014. The Nyayika lawyer listened to what Ms D had to say. Initially, Ms D wanted a divorce but was counseled about the process and all its pros and cons. Thereafter, she decided that to issue a legal notice to her husband through Nyayika and asked him to be present for mutual conciliation at the Nyayika office. A notice was served to Mr N on June 2, 2014 and the conciliation was fixed for the June 17. The conciliation took place in the presence of Ms D’s mother. Mr N was given a hearing after which both parties put forth their terms and conditions for entering into a compromise. Ms D wanted an assurance from Mr N that he would stop drinking and hitting her. Mr N wanted an assurance from Ms D that she would not get be vacated from the house they were living.. A compromise agreement was reached.  Both parties signed the same in the presence of a notary on June 18, 2014.

The fees charged by Nyayika for the entire procedure was Rs 1,000 only.

The book can be downloaded by clicking here.

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Community Empowerment, Human rights, Legal Services, Nyayika, Rights

Anand breaks jinx, defeats Carlsen in third match

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Viswanathan Anand Carlsen Jinx

Chennai: Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand Tuesday defeated World Champion Magnus Carlsen in 34 moves in the third game of their world title match held in Russia, in the process breaking the “Carlsen Jinx” bugging him since losing the world title to Carlsen last year.

At the end of the third game in the 12 game match, both the players have 1.5 points each.

Grandmaster Nigel Short tweeted: “I said at the start of the game, ‘contrary to popular belief, the match is not over’. However, for some Indian trolls, I am anti-Anand.”

In the Queen’s Gambit Declined opening, playing white, Indian ace Anand started confidently and the moves progressed as per the book with the champion castling on the King side.

While Anand was pushing out his pawns to pave the way for his pieces, Carlsen brought out his queen side knight.

On move 7, Anand started pushing his c-pawn and his other pawns on the queen side and Carlsen similarly responded.

A flurry of activity began on move 11 with Anand traded his white bishop for Carlsen’s white bishop. Following that, Anand gave up his b-pawn in order to advance his c file pawn to the seventh rank.

Anand’s 17th move of putting his knight on the g5 square aiming for a play centered around his pawn on the seventh rank.

This made Carlsen to go into deep thought for a whopping 32 minutes to make his move.

This prompted world number 7 Grandmaster Anish Giri to tweet: “Interesting, the axiom that Magnus has an unearthly memory is being challenged right now.”

Speaking to IANS, world number 23 Grandmaster P.Harikrishna said: “It is unclear why Carlsen took so long. Seems he was figuring out the way to take Anand out of theory/home preparation.”

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi tweeted that the board position was reached in Aronian-Adams but Harikrishna said the Aronian-Adams, though ended in a draw, was not an easy one.

“The position is actually good for Anand as Carlsen’s queen is not in active play and there is not much of an active coordination among his pieces,” Harikrishna said.

At this point Anand exchanged his knight on g5 for Carlsen’s knight on e4 square. The champion captured the white piece with his knight on f6.

Experts were of the view that the game was on razor edge and a mistake by any one of the player would be disastrous.

Soon the other two knights got exchanged and Anand’s queen got into active play, a luxury that was not available for Carlsen.

In move 32, Carlsen gave up his rook for Anand’s black bishop and facing further loss of a piece, resigned.

Reacting to the game, Giri told IANS: “I don’t think there was a change in strategy for Anand. The strategy has always been fine, just today it finally worked out well. Anand got very lucky that Carlsen was completely unaware of this relatively well known variation.”

“If Carlsen had been better prepared, the game should have been ended in a draw, but then again that’s the weakness of Carlsen so there are no “ifs”. I am very glad that Anand came back, now we will have a real fight!” he said.

“The game once again proves that Anand plays well in complicated situation which is not Carlsen’s forte,” Harikrishna told IANS.

He said Anand seemed to have prepared well whereas the opening seems to have surprised Carlsen.

“It is difficult to play this position with black pieces,” he added.

He agreed that the win will bring a lot change for Anand and it is good to bounce back.

On Wednesday Carlsen will play white.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India, Sports Tagged With: Carlsen Jinx, Chess, Magnus Carlsen, Russia, Viswanathan Anand

Third of Modi's council of ministers faces criminal charges: ADR

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

modi-cabinet

New Delhi:  Atleast 30 percent of the ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers have criminal charges against them, think tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said here Monday.

According to ADR, 20 of 64 ministers analysed on the basis of their own declarations face criminal charges, while 92 percent of the ministers are multi-millionaires.

An ADR statement said affidavits of 64 of 66 ministers (including Modi) had been analysed and details of union ministers Suresh Prabhu and Birendra Singh had not been scrutinised as they were not yet members of either house.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley however said any suggestions there were criminals in the cabinet were “completely baseless”.

“These are cases arising out of criminal accusations, not cases out of a crime,” Jaitley told reporters on Monday, adding that the prime minister had personally vetted the new ministers.

According to ADR, 11 (17 percent) ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, and electoral violations.

Of the 21 newly inducted ministers, eight have declared criminal cases.

“Ramshankar Katheria from Agra constituency has declared a case related to attempt to murder. Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti from Jhansi of BJP had also declared a case related to attempt to murder,” the statement added.

The release said that among the newly inducted ministers, Y.S. Chowdary, Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh belonging to Telugu Desam Party, had declared the highest total assets of Rs. 189.69 crore followed by Jayant Sinha (BJP) from Hazaribagh with assets worth Rs.55.67 crore and Mahesh Sharma (BJP) from Gautam Budhha Nagar with total assets worth Rs.47.37 crore.

The average assets size of the newly-inducted ministers is Rs.18.48 crore. In totality, the average assets size per minister is Rs.14.25 crore, the release added.

Of the 64 ministers, 59 are multi millionaires.

The highest increase in assets has been declared by Sharma, owner of a hospital chain in UP. The assets of Sharma rose by Rs.31.52 crore from Rs.15.85 crores as Lok Sabha MP in 2009 to Rs 47.37 crores in 2014.

Chowdary declared the highest total assets of Rs.189.69 crores followed by Sinha with assets worth Rs.55.67 crores and Sharma with total assets worth Rs.47.37 crores.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: ADR, Association for Democratic Reforms, BJP, Cabinet Expansion, Narendra Modi, Portfolio, Ramshankar Katheria, Y S Chowdary

Four women die after sterilization operations fail in Chhattisgarh

November 11, 2014 by Nasheman

People waiting for there turn in the family planning centre to register for sterilization in Patna. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

People waiting for there turn in the family planning centre to register for sterilization in Patna. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

Bilaspur: Four women died last night and ten others were left critical after undergoing a sterilization operation at a government camp in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district.

Commissioner Sonmani Vora said that the government has ordered an investigation and a compensation of INR 2 lakh each has been announced for the next of kin of the four deceased.

“All the women have been admitted to Bilaspur district hospitals, around 10 of them have already been shifted to Apollo and preparations are being done for 10 more. The entire team is here and we are in consultation with other hospitals also,” said Vora.

At least 85 women were operated upon at the government-run Nemi Chand hospital in the Pendari area of Bilaspur as part of a family planning camp. Many of them later started complaining of pain and fever.

Commissioner Vora said that out of all those women 55 are still ‘in trouble’.

“Around 55 women are in trouble. The CM has also ordered inquiry, one medical team has departed from Raipur, and the medical director is also coming. According to my information total 85 operations were conducted, and further probe will be carried based on the investigation report,” he added.

(ANI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Sonmani Vora, Sterilization

Ahmednagar Massacre of Dalits: Fact-Finding Report

November 11, 2014 by Nasheman

Preliminary fact finding report on the inhuman murders of Dalits on 20 October 2014 at Jawakhede (Khalsa), Taluka Pathardi, District Ahmednagar.

Photo: The Indian Express

Photo: The Indian Express

by Dalit Atyachar Virodhi Kruti Samiti, Mumbai

On 20th October 2014, in Jawakhede (Khalsa), Taluka Pathardi, District Ahmednagar, the entire family comprising the father, mother and a son, of Buddhist faith, was killed brutally.

On 27th October 2014, the Dalit Atyachar Virodhi Kruti Samiti sent a committee to Jawakhede village on a fact-finding mission to probe these murders. The said committee comprised of Subodh More (social activist and freelance journalist), Jatin Desai (senior journalist), Pheroze Mithiborwala (social activist), Uttam Jagirdar (social activist), Sudhakar Kashyap (correspondent of IBN Lokmat), Anjan Veldurkar (activist), Vinod Shinde (activist), Professor Ranganath Pathare (senior literary person from Ahmednagar), Bela Sakhare (Nagpur), Keshav Waghmare (social activist from Pune).

Jawakhede village is at a distance of 62kms from Ahmednagar, with a population of about 3000 people. A majority of the population belongs to Maratha and Vanjari caste; while the Dalit, Muslim and Christians live in minority. About 30 households belong to the Buddhist community.

The road going to the main village is a tar road, but the road leading to the Dalit residences is an unpaved road. The village falls under Pathardi-Shevgaon constituency. Shimati Monika Rajle, a BJP candidate (erstwhile NCP candidate) is the MLA from this constituency.

Prior to the murder, the family of Sanjay Jagannath Jadhav (42), Jayashri Sanjay Jadhav (38) and Sunil Sanjay Jadhav (19), were staying in a tin shed on their farm where they harvested millet.

Sanjay has three brothers; all the four brothers, after the division of the property became equal property owner of more than an acre of land. Sanjay’s son Sunil was studying Dairy Science in Mumbai. He was visiting the village during the vacation period.

While he was on a college holiday, he and his family were brutally murdered on 20th October 2014. Sunil was cut in two pieces, waist down and his penis was battered. His father Sanjay Jagannath Jadhav was also attacked in the same way. His mother Jayashri Sanjay Jadhav was struck on her head and her ear was cut.

A few days before the killing of the family, their watch-dog who watches over the adjacent farm, was killed by anonymous people. The “Wagh” families, which belong to a majority Maratha community live in close proximity as also the Vanjari community.

The said murders, which appear to be pre-planned, took place during the middle of the night. The attackers killed the entire family in the out-house. The murderers tried to hide the “bloody” evidence by putting soil and millet crop at the site of murder. Then the bodies were cut in pieces and wrapped in rugs and gunny sacks and thrown in a well near the Jadhav residence.

Sunil’s legs and head was shoved into the borewell a short distance away. Since the borewell’s mouth was narrow, the murderers cut the head and legs into tiny pieces. As per the information given by the locals, the murderers tried to destroy the evidence of the murders. The remaining part of Sunil’s body were scattered all over the village.

The Police took about two days (21st & 22nd October) to find the entire body. The last rites were performed after all the body pieces were found.

Suresh Jadhav, brother of deceased Sanjay, informed the committee that their family has shared names of a few suspects with the Police. However, he regretted the fact that the Police has not arrested anyone.

Suresh Jadhav mentioned that since the suspect “Wagh” family is related to Shri Anil Karale (Deputy Chief, Nagar District) and Shrimati Monika Rajle, the Police is not taking any action against them. Due to political pressure, the police is not investigating the case properly and the culprits are not being arrested.

The deceased Sanjay Jadhav’s brother, Sunil, and their father Jagannath, also mentioned to the fact finding committee that they have shared the suspects names and evidence with the Police. Once again, instead of booking the murderers, the family members are being harassed by interrogating them. The deceased Sanjay’s father, Jagannath with tremendous disappointment shared with the fact-finding committee that if the Police does not book the criminals, he would have no other option but to immolate himself.

When the committee members met Shrimati Monika Rajle, she informed the committee that there have been no incidences of communal disharmony in the village, She said that the villagers were extending total co-operation with the Police who were investigating the said murders. However, she could not explain the delay in arresting the murderers till now.

The fact finding committee met Addl. Police Superintendent Shrimati Sunita Thakare-Salunkhe and inquired why there were no arrests despite the Jadhav family having shared the names of the suspects. The fact finding committee demanded why no action was taken against the suspects. She informed the committee that due to lack of evidence against the suspects no arrests were made.

Shrimati Sunita Thakare-Salunkhe felt that according to her, the modus operandi of the murders at Sonai, Nagar in the year 2013 and these murders is similar. She suspected these murders were done out of ethnic pride.

The sequence of events, i.e. the killing of the watch-dog just two days prior to the murder of Jadhav family, the murder of the family, throwing the bodies cut into tiny pieces in a borewell, none of the “Wagh” families who stay in the vicinity coming to the rescue of Jadhav family; assumes possibility of the murderers being locals from the village or someone who is very familiar with the area.

The committee members raised the question as to why the Police was not considering these possibilities, in all seriousness.

The Police is suspecting an illegal relationship between Sunil and an adult woman from one of the “Wagh” families. However, the committee feels this direction in the investigation is inconclusive or irrelevant. It has become the norm to presume an illegal relationship angle in all Dalit murders. This has become evident in Sonai, Kharda, Kewalepada- Bhandara and Khairlanje incidents, prior to this. The committee is of the opinion that such a line of investigation only leads to defamation of Dalits and gathers sympathy for the criminals in the minds of the upper caste community.

When the committee visited Jawakhede, the post mortem report and FIR was not made available to them, hence they are unable to find out the medical reason for the death of the deceased Jadhav family members. However, Lokmat (a daily newspaper in Pune) has reported basis the post mortem report that all of them were first strangulated before the murder.

The committee was informed that after four days of the murders, the police charged unknown people under The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of), 1989 (Atrocities Act). However, in the opinion of the said committee, the Atrocities Act is applicable only for Hindus, therefore, any charges against an unknown person may not be valid as an unknown person doesn’t have a identity, religion, caste or gender. The committee is questioning the inaction by the Police to take any steps against the suspected upper caste people, and suspects that the police are acting under political pressure.

On 21st October, one day after the murders on 20th October, four people belonging to the Pardhi community were publically stoned by the villagers in presence of the Police. This act was committed outside the premises of Alakoti Gram-Panchayat office in Parner District; and the trigger was: “allegation of theft”. In this incident, Rahul Punjya Chavan and Pikesh Punjya Chavan died and two other victims were grievously injured and have been hospitalised.

In the last few years, there has been marked increase in atrocities against the Dalit Adivasi Nomadic tribes in Ahmednagar District.

In the year 2013, there were 111 cases registered in this district and in this year, so far, till October about 74 cases have been registered. This includes the murder of three young sweeper community people in Sonai by cutting their bodies into pieces, Nitin Aage’s murder after torturing him. Thereafter, on 22nd June 2014, Aaba Kale a deaf and mute, tiller from Kashti village which falls under Dist. Shrigonda, was tortured by the relatives of Shri. Babanrao Pachpute on account of his alleged intercast love affair. The village falls under constituency of Shri. Babanrao Pachpute.

Much before these incidents, many similar vincidents have transpired. These include, the incident of setting fire to Baban Misal and Janabai Borge from the Matang community; the brutal bashing of Dipak Kamble in Karjat District; the rape and murder of Suman Kale from a Nomadic community; the murder of Walekar, a Dalit youth from Paithan village in Shevgaon District; to name a few.

In none of these incidents any of the criminals have been stringently punished. In fact with the support of Police & Politicians, these casteist criminals are getting stronger. This has resulted in more and more atrocities being inflicted upon Dalits.

Certain castes and dynasties from Ahmednagar are responsible for the increasing incidents of atrocities; their flourishing economic affluence, their political dominance and the resulting arrogance plus the attitude that “nobody can touch me” is the root cause behind these incidents. Along with the economic growth, there should have been a complementary cultural change, however, there is a lack of empathy for the downtrodden in the society, or such empathy does not reflect in our society.

The progressive movements that seek social reforms have been weakened, the forces opposing the atrocities against Dalits are not vociferous. All this is resulting in increasing attacks on the community. Be it political leaders from the district or social activists like Anna Hazare, none of them are speaking out against these incidents. As a result, these casteist forces are getting stronger and more powerful. This is what the members of the fact-finding committee opine.

The Police, so far, has not taken any action vis a vis the attacks on Dalits in the districts of Beed-Parali, Padoda, Jalna, Hingoli which are adjacent to Ahmednagar district. In these circumstances, there is no hope of justice or redressal so also there is guarantee to the safety of life and limb and property.

Through this fact finding report, we make the following demands and suggestions to the new government. We demand immediate implementation of these demands/ suggestions.

Demands and suggestions:

  1. Immediate arrests of criminals involved in the Jawakhede murders
  2. Stringent punishments for the criminals involved in murder of two Pardhi community members and causing injuries to the other members of the community
  3. Immediate arrest of criminals involved in the Kashti-Shrigonda atrocities incident
  4. Protection to the witnesses and the affected Dalit victims
  5. Rehabilitation of victim Dalit families
  6. Declaration of Ahmednagar as “Atrocities Prone” district and police protection to all Dalit residential areas
  7. Suspension of officers responsible for neglecting their duties to take action under Atrocities Act
  8. Speedy trial of all communal crime court cases in Ahmednagar by a special Fast Track Court
  9. Strict action be taken against the police and administrative officers holding them responsible for the atrocities in their village/ district

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Ahmednagar, Dalit Atyachar Virodhi Kruti Samiti, Dalits, Jawakhede, Killings

Education & teaching in an de-intellectualised and obedient society – Interview with Apoorvanand

November 11, 2014 by Nasheman

Since the new government has come to power, there are continuous attacks on education in order to saffronize it. The history of the national movement is being re-written to manufacture an RSS role, which did not exist in the struggles against British rule. Dinanath Batra’s books, already a part of the Gujarat curriculum, are sought now to be introduced at the national level. He is same Dinanath Batra, from whose books, Modi drew “inspiration” to prove that in Mahabharata times, India had discovered genetic engineering and plastic surgery! Subramanian Swami wants book burning, starting with books of secular historians like Romila Thapar. RSS leaders have recently met HRD Minister Smriti Irani to discuss revision of text books. Education is being used as a tool to create communal divide.

Newsclick interviews Professor Apoorvanand of Delhi University on this communal attack on Indian history and education.

Filed Under: India, Video Tagged With: Apoorvanand, Dinanath Batra, Education, Hindutva, Romila Thapar, RSS, Smriti Irani

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