Press Release – Govt of Uttar Pradesh immediately release AIUFWP activists

Release the leadership of the All India Union of Forest Working People: 

New Delhi, 1 July 2015: Roma Malik, National Secretary, NTUI and Deputy General Secretary of the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) and Sukalo Gond, Executive Committee, AIUFWP were arrested and interned at the Mirzapur jail yesterday. Many activists were arrested with them early yesterday moring from the AIUFWP office in Robertsganj (District Sonebhadra, UP) while preparing for a public meeting of the All India Peoples' Forum (AIPF). The other activists were released later in the day. All arrests, by the police, and the remand, by the Sonebhadra Court , of Roma and Sokalo are based on three FIRs in which no individual has been named.

The AIPF, a countrywide platform of democratic organisations and individuals, has held several programmes across the country to mark the dark days of the emergency and against the anti-people policies of the BJP government in the past week in its 100 day Campaign for Land Rightsand Labour Rights. The Robertsganj public meeting was part of this nationwide plan.

The AIUFWP as member of both the AIPF and the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan has been part of the countrywide opposition to the amendments to the land acquisition legislation being proposed by the BJP government at the centre that has been imposed through successive ordinances.  The AIUFPW is at the forefront of the struggle for the rights of the people threatened to be displaced by the Kanhar Dam project.

This arrest is the fallout of the incidents of police firing on peaceful protestors against illegal land acquisition for the Kanhar Dam project. Uttar Pradesh Police fired indiscriminately on several hundred dalits and adivasis, including large numbers of women and children, on the morning ofAmbedkar Jayanti (14 April). Several women are injured. Following this, false cases were filed against countless unnamed persons. Four day later, on 18 April, there was a second instance of police firing in which once again several people were seriously injured and some of the key activists of the movement arrested. Those arrested are yet to be released. These charges are false, arbitrary and politically motivated and are aimed at crushing the peaceful and democratic struggle against the illegal acquisition of land for the Kanhar Dam project. Despite there being court orders, including from the National Green Tribunal, against the persistence of land acquisition in scheduled areas, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has pursued and targeted activists who are protesting its illegal actions at Kanhar.

Yesterday evening, five thousand people gathered to participate in the AIPF rally followed by the public meeting carrying on with their plan for the day as also protesting the arrests. The district administration was forced to release most of the activists arrested in the morning but refused to release Roma and Sukalo, who have been in the leadership of many struggles on land rights of adivasis in the area for over a decade. This actually is a clear indication of the fact that the policy of grab is not determined by political colour but by political power and its nexus, irrespective of colour, with corporations.

 

The NTUI calls upon the Government of Uttar Pradesh to immediately release Comrades Roma and Sokalo alongwith those arrested at the Kanhar protest on 18 April 2015 and to withdraw all false cases against the activists involved.

 

Gautam Mody

General Secretary

Nursing Students face Caste Based Discrimination

Nursing Students face Caste Based Discrimination

'DURING MY VIVA, THEY ASKED ME IF I HAD A BOYFRIEND'

By Arita Sarkar & Lata Mishra, Mumbai Mirror | Jun 30, 2015, 01.19 AM IST

(From left) Ribka Pratap, Hiral Bhanudas and Ankita Suhas

Three professors at RN Cooper Medical College accused of caste-based discrimination.

The dean of Dr RN Cooper Municipal Medical College in Juhu on Monday ordered a probe after three students of nursing filed a complaint to the Maharashtra Nursing Council alleging that they were facing caste-based discrimination from three professors. According to the three third-year students, professors Prachi Desai, Suchita Henry and Elsa Parakal had been harassing them since August last year.

"They would always pass comments about our family background. One of the teachers, Desai, would tell us that we come from lowly families and didn't deserve to study here," said Hiral Bhanudas, one of the students.

Bhanudas, Ankita Suhas and Ribka Pratap took admission in the nursing course under the Scheduled Caste category. The students also alleged that the teachers would ask them personal questions during their viva voce sessions. "They would not ask me any questions pertaining to the course. During my viva, they asked me if I had a boyfriend and other irrelevant questions," said Suhas.

The students alleged that the teachers would abuse them and pass casteist remarks. "They would say that we get free educations and jobs easily since we're Adivasis. How is it our fault," asked Bhanudas.

The students decided to complain to the nursing council on June 22 after the teachers told them that they were not fit to appear in the final examinations that begin July 1, and wouldn't be allowed to do so. "They called our parents and told them that we wouldn't be allowed to sit in the exam," said Bhanudas. "We have completed the assignments and have attended classes. How can they then not allow us to sit in the exam?"

Following the students' complaint, the dean of the college, Ramesh Chaturvedi, intervened. "I came to know about the matter on Monday afternoon and we have allowed the students to sit for the exams," Chaturvedi said. "We have constituted a two-member committee to probe into the matter."

Despite repeated attempts, the three professors could not be reached for comment.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/During-my-viva-they-asked-me-if-I-had-a-boyfriend/articleshow/47872422.cms

The perils of being an Indian journalist

The perils of being an Indian journalist

By Zubair AhmedBBC Hindi, Uttar Pradesh

• 26 June 2015
• From the section India

Shahjahanpur may be a small town by Indian standards, but it boasts of no fewer than 150 journalists

A small group of men in a dingy room busily tap on their keyboards on a hot afternoon in Shahjahanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.

The men, all journalists, share space with bulky cameras, tapes and tripods. It is suffocating, but no-one complains.

"This room is our shared office. We share resources and stories too," one man, who works as a television reporter says with a wry smile.

Shahjahanpur may be a small town by Indian standards, (population 400,000 as of 2011) but it boasts of no fewer than 150 journalists. Poor communications and woefully inadequate infrastructure have not deterred them from their chosen profession.

They are currently working on a story that saw their town catapulted into the national spotlight.

Regular harassment

Ironically, it is about the death of one of their fraternity, Jagender Singh, who succumbed to burn injuries following a police raid on his house in early June.

Mr Singh had worked alongside them in this very room until a few years ago when he decided that social media was a more potent force than conventional platforms.

So he ran a Facebook page with thousands of followers, where he posted largely unconfirmed stories on corruption involving government officials and ministers.

Mr Singh's son Rajan told the BBC that his father was regularly harassed by police officers at the behest of a state minister, Ram Murti Singh Verma, who was reportedly a regular subject of Mr Singh's stories.

He alleged that, on the day his father died, a group of policemen acting on Mr Verma's orders set him on fire during a raid on their home.

Jagender Singh's wife (centre) and family are demanding the resignation of Mr Verma

In a final statement from his hospital bed, the journalist also accused Mr Verma of setting him on fire.

The minister has denied the allegations and the ruling Uttar Pradesh government has firmly stood behind him. The police have said that Mr Verma set himself on fire, and they tried to save him.

However, following pressure from national media, police have filed aFirst Information Report (FIR) on the murder, charging the minister as well as four policemen.

Mr Singh's family have since received compensation from the state government, but have demanded the suspension of Mr Verma as a minister. They say they will return the money unless the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) takes over the investigation.

In another incident not long after the death of Mr Singh, another journalist, Sandeep Kothari from Madhya Pradesh in central India, was also burnt to death. Like Mr Singh, Mr Kothari wrote on corruption, but he specifically targeted the mining mafia.

Assault cases

The two deaths are the latest in a number of attacks on journalists working in towns outside India's big cities. They say their confidence is shaken and that they fear for their lives.

The Press Council of India (PCI) says 79 journalists have been murdered in India over the past 25 years.

Sharat Pradhan, a senior journalist in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, once led a powerful journalists' union but left in disgust because he said the organisation had failed to effectively raise security issues.

Mr Pradhan says there is no official data on attacks, but claims there have been several high profile cases of assaults in his state over the past few years.

In one incident, a journalist from Pilibhit town, also in Uttar Pradesh, was tied to a motorcycle and dragged for over a mile until he fell unconscious. No-one knows what prompted the attack.

In another instance, state reporter Nikhil Mishra says he was threatened after he wrote about destitute women being ill-treated in a shelter.

On 24 June, some local reporters who went to cover a public outcry against unsatisfactory road repair works say the contractors threatened them with dire consequences if they covered the event.

Local journalists say they cannot afford to antagonise local politicians and policemen

Shiv Kumar, a reporter who works in Shahjahanpur for a national TV channel says journalism has become risky.

"We often get threats. Police try to create rifts between journalists. It suits them if we are divided. We are used to intimidation from all sides", he says.

"We have to work with them. We can't antagonise them", one small-town journalist said of their relationship with local politicians and policemen.

Sardar Sharma was Jagender Singh's boss for three years. He lamented the loss of respect for journalists and blamed reporters themselves for the situation.

"There is a criminal nexus between many journalists, politicians and police. Such journalists are fake. They indulge in extortion and blackmail. They have let us down", he said.

According to Mr Sharma, these "fake" journalists obtain ID cards from fly-by-night media companies by paying them between 5,000 and 10,000 rupees ($80-160).

He alleges that the state has a number of newspapers which have paltry circulation figures, but "thrive on government ads".

Call for permanence

Nearly all journalists in small towns and cities like Shahjahanpur don't have permanent jobs and work as freelancers.

Media companies pay them only for published stories. A Hindi daily newspaper pays 150 rupees for a published news story, while a TV channel pays 700 rupees per story. So even if a print journalist gets 10 stories published a month, he will still earn less than a daily wage worker.

In stark contrast, reporters who earn salaried incomes from reputed media outlets in big cities earn hundreds of times more.

Furthermore, when reporters are not attached to a specific media organisation, it is much easier to intimidate and threaten them.

Prem Shankar Gangwar works for a Delhi-based national TV channel. He argues that if local journalists are regularised and made permanent, "70% of our problems will be solved".

Mohammed Irfan, an executive member of the National Union of Journalists, says this is a real concern for journalists.

"Our unions have raised these issues with management and with successive governments but so far without much success," he says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33253254

Mercury Workers Poop Unilever Party: Protests Mar AGM 2015

Mercury Workers Poop Unilever Party: Protests Mar AGM 2015

29th June 2015

At around 1 p.m. today, ex-mercury workers, their children and about 40 student and citizen supporters from Mumbai lined up outside the gates of Unilever House in the Mumbai suburb of Andheri. Following the usual dance and drama with security and cops, the silent protestand flyering went off peacefully. About 70 shareholders were handed flyers before they entered the gates, but Unilever's security confiscated the pamphlets. In this digital age, the humble flyer remains a weapon dreaded by corporate wrongdoers. Friendly shareholders are inside the meeting, and will send us an update soon.

Lots and lotsa media turned up. The workers left the protest happy that their long trip from the verdant hills of Tamil Nadu to the chaotic metropolis of Mumbai was worth the effort and the hardship. Please see a copy of the press release below.

Photographs of the protest can be found at facebook page: "Vettiver Collective" or "Mercury in Kodaikanal" or kodaimercury.org

ACTION ALERT – activists of All India Union of Forest Working People arrested

ACTION ALERT – activists of All India Union of Forest Working People arrested

Roma, Sokalo Gond and other women leaders and activists of
All India Union of Forest Working People have been arrested -by the police – from their office in Sonbhadra  this
morning. This has been done to prevent th AIUFWP rally and public
meeting in Robertsgunj today.

The same letter could also be mailed and faxed to the DM and SP, and
people should also call/text them to protest. Let's stuff their phones
and mailboxees with messages.

The contacts are as follows.

Shri Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Fax 0522-2236838
<cmup@nic.in>

DM Sonbhadra Mobile 09454417569 and fax 05444-222090 <dmson@nic.in>

SP Sonbhadra Mobile 009454400304 and fax 05444-252631 <spsbr-up@nic.in>
___________________________________________
Fax: 05444-222090

To
The District Collector, Sonbhadra
Robertsgunj.

30 June 2015

Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression, a national
platform for women's rights and democratic freedoms, protests the
illegal and unjustified action of the district administration of
Sonbhadra in arresting Roma, Sokalo Gond and Avijit, leaders of the
All Indian Union of Forest Working People from the AIUFWP office in
Robertsgunj this morning.

The arrests were made without any warrant or legal notice and the
activists have not been taken to the police station or produced before
a magistrate. Going by the earlier actions of the Sonbhadraa police
and their disgraceful record of violence and brutality against
Adivasis and Dalits, we have reason to fear for the safety of the
arrested activists.

The arrests are clearly a ploy to subvert the AIUFP rally to protest
against violation of the rights of Adivasi and Dalit communtiies
through illegal and forcible land acquisition in Uttar Pradesh. The
rally is an expression of democratic and non-violent protest and is a
fundamental Constitutional right of all citizens of the country.
WSS calls for the immediate release of arrested activists and demands
a fair hearing for their grievances and demands. Democratic protests
cannot be crushed through such means – this is a message that has been
repeatedly conveyed to the district administration by AIUFWP activists
and peoples' movements in the past, and has been upheld by the highest
courts in the country.

We surely do not need to remind the district administration that their
duty as public servants is to maintain peace and protect the
Constitution – not perpetrate violence and crush democratic protests
through the use of violence. Such actions cannot be condoned – you
surely remember that a previous attempt at illegal and unjustified
arrests of peaceful protestors was halted through the direct
intervention of the Chief Minister and led to the transfers of senior
officials.
Please do not repeat such ugly histories – release the arrested
activists immediately and allow the rally to proceed peacefully as
planned.

(signed)
Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression

Copies to
1.      Shri Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Fax 0522-2236838      <cmup@nic.in>
2.      The Inspector-General of Police, Uttar Pradesh
3.      The Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission.
4.      The Chairperson, National SC and ST Commission
=

Press release – Condemning Arrest of Activists by Uttar Pradesh Government

Press release – Condemning Arrest of Activists by Uttar Pradesh Government

AIPF public statement

Condemning Arrest of Activists by Uttar Pradesh Government 

The AIPF condemns the arrest today of AIPF Campaign Committee Member Roma Malik and AIYUWP leader Sokalo Gond in Sonbhadra. The arrest took place this morning, the same day that a rally of the AllIndia People's Forum (AIPF) was planned in Sonbhadra.

The police also detained others including a District Committee member of the CPI(ML) Bijan and NTUI leader Avijit, but released them in the evening.

In spite of the efforts of the administration and police to disrupt and terrorise the participants in the rally, the rally took place.

Thousands gathered and assembled on the street itself and held the 'sabha' without a mike, with defiance and determination.

The sabha was addressed by Sandeep Pandey of Socialist Party India, Ashok Choudhury, All India General Secretary of the AIUFWP, CPI(ML) Central Committee member and AIPF Campaign Committee member Mohd. Salim, AIUFWP leaders Mata Dayal and Sanjay Kumar fromBundelkhand, All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM) leaders Jeera Bharti,Om Prakash Singh and Bhakt Prakash Srivastava, and activists Shankar Kol, Vijay Kol and Shahjehan. The meeting was conducted by CPI(ML) Central Committee member Sudhakar Yadav.

The arrests of Roma Malik and Sokalo Gond is the latest in a series of repressive actions by the Sonbhadra district administration to crack down on activists resisting the grab of forest land and for rights and dignity of the adivasis and the rural poor. The enthusiastic participation in the rally sent a message that the people's struggles would not yield to terror tactics by the Government.

The AIPF demands the release of Roma Malik and Sokalo Gond, and an end to the harassment of activists in the region.

Kavita Krishnan

Kiran Shaheen
ND Pancholi
for AIPF Secretariat

 

 

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS

National Office : 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi – 110 014 . Phone : 011 2437 4535 | 9818905316

E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com | Web : www.napm-india.org

 

Arrest of Adv. Roma and Sokalo Gond is a condemnable attempt to crush democratic struggles 

Immediately release the activists and accept the demands of struggling people of Sonbhadra, UP

 

New Delhi: 30th June, 2015: National Alliance of People's Movements expresses its outrage at the arrest of senior activist and advocate, Roma Malik, Sokalo Gond, and other women activists of the All Indian Union of Forest Working People from the organization's office in Robertsgunj today morning by the police. We are shocked and amazed at the attempts by the UP administration to repeatedly arrest activists and the struggling people for asserting their constitutional rights and protecting the environment.

 

While the memory of ruthless repression where the police open fired at the peaceful protesters at Kanhar Dam on Ambedkar Jayanti is still fresh, this attempt to crush the voice of dissent comes in the wake of the planned people's rally against land acquisition and loot of natural resources that was to take place tomorrow in Robertsgunj is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The right to peaceful protest is part of the fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India and no government can take away or infringe upon this sacred right. It needs to be noted that in numerous instances in the past the higher courts have repeatedly come down on the authorities for trying to muzzle protests through fabricated cases and arrests.

 

We also wish to remind the UP government that some of  met the CM at the CM House in the last week of April, in the wake of the brutal police firings at adivasis and dalits in the Kanhar dam-affected area. The Order of the NGT as well clearly establishes the illegality in the entire process. The CM had assured us that he take note of all the demands in our memorandum and ensure that the conflict is resolved through dialogue with the people and Gram Sabhas. Is this how the Government seeks to resolve conflict? Are these arrests really necessary and lawful?  Such actions will only intensify the conflict and lead to further tensions in the area.

 

We hope that the UP Government will take serious note of the national discontent against the arrest of senior activists of the AIUFWP and direct the district administration to drop all chargers and release the arrested activists and villagers. We convey our deep disdain for the approach of the UP government to openly harass and target activists who are engaged with the people's issues on the ground and are raising important questions of land, natural resources and equality and democracy. We wish to remind the government and the administration that peaceful and democratic struggle of the adivasi and dalit communities, led by the women of Sonbhadra, is their constitutional right and we stand in full solidarity with them.

 

It would be disgraceful if administration tries to resort to such means to silence democratic voices. The rally, which was announced many days ago and is a matter of public knowledge cannot and should not be stopped by such means, we urge. National Alliance of People's Movements demands immediate release of Adv. Roma and Sokalo Gond. We also urge the government to redress the grievances of the struggling people and accept their demands urgently.

 

 

Medha Patkar – Narmada Bachao Andolan and the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM); Prafulla Samantara – Lok Shakti Abhiyan & Lingraj Azad –Samajwadi Janparishad, NAPM, Odisha; Dr. Sunilam, Aradhna Bhargava – Kisan Sangharsh Samiti &Meera – Narmada Bachao Andolan, NAPM, MP; Suniti SR, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe – NAPM, Maharashtra; Gabriele Dietrich, Geetha Ramakrishnan – Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, NAPM, TN;

C R Neelkandan – NAPM Kerala; P Chennaiah &Ramakrishnan Raju – NAPM Andhra Pradesh, Arundhati Dhuru & Richa Singh –Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, NAPM, UP;Sudhir Vombatkere, Sister Celia – Domestic Workers Union &Rukmini V P, Garment Labour Union, NAPM, Karnataka; Vimal Bhai – Matu Jan sangathan & Jabar Singh, NAPM, Uttarakhand; Anand Mazgaonkar, Krishnakant – Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, NAPM Gujarat; Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan – Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan & Mahendra Yadav – Kosi Navnirman Manch, NAPM Bihar; Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar, NAPM Haryana; Kailash Meena, NAPM Rajasthan; Amitava Mitra & Sujato Bhadra, NAPM West Bengal; B S Rawat – Jan Sangharsh Vahini &Rajendra Ravi, Madhuresh Kumar, Kanika and Shabnam Shaikh– NAPM, Delhi

Odisha – Activist alleges police harassment

Odisha – Activist alleges police harassment

• STAFF REPORTER

Sumant Parida, a youth social activist from Rayagada district of Odishaalleged that the police are trying to harass him by terming him to be an associate of Maoists.

Sumant is a member of Lokshakti Abhiyan, an organisation involved in taking up issues related to environment, displacement and rights of tribals and Dalits.

Speaking to newsmen in Berhampur along with Lokshakti Abhiyan convener Prafulla Samantra, he said in recent past anti-Naxal squad of the Rayagada district police had raided his house and pressed him to provide information regarding some Maoist leaders. "Security personnel threatened me if I did not provide information regarding the Naxalites that I never knew," said Sumant.

According to Mr Samantra, it was an effort to frame up Sumant. He claimed that Sumant was a Gandhian and believed in democratic movements against anti-people policies of the government and corporate sector and had no links with the Naxalites. "He is former president of Rayagada College students' union and now earns his living working as plumber," Mr Samantra said.

He is also involved in a movement to protect Jhanjabati and Nagavalirivers.

"The Naxalites also have a squad named Jhanjabati. It seems the police officials might have linked Sumant with the Naxalites because of it," Mr Samantra said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/activist-alleges-police-harassment/article7372401.ece