Gajanand Sharma with his family outisde polling station
Burqa-clad women turn out to vote in Rajasthan
A long queue of women voters during the recent assembly polls in Rajasthan. Picture by: Chandra Mohan Aloria
Jaipur: Elections in five states concluded as voting ended in Rajasthan. It is being considered as the semi-final for the upcoming 2019 election. Rajasthan had polled on December 7 and for the 200-seat Rajasthan assembly, Congress and BJP is having a direct fight. It has been learnt that the incumbent Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is having a tough battle against the Congress. There is also a strong anti-incumbency wave against her, for this elections. Most of the exit polls have predicted BJP losing its ground in the largest state of India to its arch-rival Congress.
Watch here Chandra Mohan Aloria’s pictures who traveled to rural parts of Jaipur as well as urban to capture the polling mood. Chandra Mohan’s camera also clicked Gajanand Sharma, who returned to India, earlier this year (August) after having spent 36 years in a Pakistani jail. He along with his family cast their vote. The award- winning photo journalist has captured some intriguing pictures for you, during Rajasthan’s festival of democracy.
Kolkata: Never-ending serpentine-like lines comprising the sea of humans comprising the common man, who came from different walks of life. Middle aged men and women, students, professional and even senior citizens, brimming with energy and enthusiasm, as they took to the streets on December 6 to save the Constitution and secularism. The rally called by the Left Front and its allies, witnessed a humongous footfall.
These people walked in solidarity to mark their protest against the spectre of communalism, fascism not to mention the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.
Seventy-two-year Basanti Mitra told eNewsroom, “I have come from Nadia district to mark my protest against fascism and communalism. We still can’t come to terms with the fact that 26 years ago, a place of worship had been demolished, and today, the same issue is being raked up for political gains. We as the citizens of this nation are against the construction of Ram Mandir on the disputed site. In fact, the best thing would be to construct both a Mandir and a Masjid.”
United Left Rally
Mitra, dressed in a red-bordered crisp cotton saree, had walked from Mahajati Sadan to Maula Ali and looked quite upbeat on walking right up to Park Circus Maidan, where the rally was meant to end. A few metres ahead of Mitra, near St James School, off AJC Bose road, Dum Dum’s Bikramjeet Bhattacharya, was busy mobilizing his fellow rally participants with slogans like, sompradayeek ushoni ke haarao (defeat communal instigation), RSS-BJP door hataoand Sompreeti Rokkha michil cholchey cholbey (Rally for preserving unity will be taken out continuously).
Amongst the participants carrying red flags, one could easily spot an assortment of professionals making no secret of their shared ideology. “I am committed to fighting the menace of communalism hence I am here to show my solidarity with those who have taken a stand on this issue. The fact that we are witnessing instances of polarization here too are straws in the wind; a foretaste of a spell of ominous uncertainty that threatens to tear apart the state’s social harmony. We, in Bengal have always wanted to co-exist in peace and harmony. But BJP and RSS are hell bent on turning Bengal into a communal cauldron. But they need to understand that in Bengal playing the communal card can only backfire. Where else in India would you see a rally of this magnitude to mark the Black Day for India’s democracy?” said Somobrata Sengupta, a medical representative.
Bikramjeet Bhattacharya, a senior executive participated wearing red coloured T-Shirt
Another participant, while speaking to eNewsroom, said, “We need to understand that this rally comprising over a lakh of participants from different walks of life, aims at highlighting many issues. However, the prime objective is to put up a united fight against politicians who use religion as a tool to exploit sentiments along with highlighting a raft of other issues like human rights, farmer rights and secularism.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Gopa Sarkar, another participant, said, “The way people are being lynched in the name of cow protection and growing instances of atrocities against women should cause us concern. It’s high time that we raised our voice in a sustained manner to see the change that we want to see. So, this single rally won’t help. We came out in support of the kisan (farmers) just a week back, today we condemn Babri Masjid’s demolition and in January we will take to the streets again with our agenda to fight fascism. In this way, we want to create a sustained pressure on both the state and central government.”
The rally had also pictures and quotes of Dr BR Ambedkar, the Indian leader who had drafted the Indian constitution, as December 6 also is the iconic leader’s death anniversary.
Kolkata: He wasn’t much into thrillers or crime fiction or the horror genre. But when this young boy packed his bags and shifted base from Pink City of India, Jaipur to the Maximum City, Mumbai. With dreams in his eyes to make a mark in the business of filmmaking, he grabbed the first opportunity that he got – script for Sony Television’s most successful series – CID, which was soon followed by Aahat, Adalat and even Savdhaan India.
After a successful start in the Indian Television Industry, the Jaipur lad has progressed on to the making films. His debut short film – The Masterpiece was premiered at the Jaipur International Festival. And now his second film – Marilyn Lights has been winning award at various Film Festivals across the globe.
Tanmay was in Kolkata for the Golden Galaxy Awards, and after bagging another award, eNewsroom caught up with him. The young award winning film maker’s planned are chalked out and he has suggestions for Rajasthan film industry too.
Films, a fascination
Talking about his fascination with Indian cinema, he said, “I loved watching films as a kid and wanted to be in the movies since my childhood (that time the fascination was with the acting). But once I was done with my college I decided to pursue it seriously and joined the filmmaking course at Xavier’s institute of communications, Mumbai. And then the rest is history.”
Tanmay Singh
On being asked if his father had any role in his decision, of becoming a filmmaker, he said, “Not really. In fact he (Jagdeep Singh) tried to convince me to do something in science or commerce during school days but I never was the studious types and in fact spent most of my school life writing poetry and stories than paying attention to what was being taught in the class. So I guess wanting to do something in media was a natural progression.”
For a youngster, who had just stepped into the sunny side of his thirties, how natural or appealing was for a much younger to write scripts related to crime and thrillers, he was asked. To that he said, “Well, not really. In fact as a youth I was never into these genres. But then I got my career break with CID. Following which I got a tag for being a thriller writer. The producers of the Saas-Bahu sagas thought I wouldn’t be able to deliver. I would have loved doing those series; the writers there are better paid.”
Short films, a natural progression
Filmmaking seemed to the obvious career for the youngster, once he had his fill with the television industry. He revealed, “As I said films always fascinated me. So, while I was doing CID, I decided to try my hands in films. CID, somehow gave me the confidence of continuing to make short films.” He then added, “I have no qualms making films for the web platforms but of course my ultimate dream is to see my films play at the big screen as that’s how a film is meant to be seen and it was with this aim that I went to Mumbai.”
Speaking about his second short film, Marilyn Lights, he said that the film in all probability was a take on his life. “A lot of my relationships didn’t work out because I felt they might cause a hindrance in my pursuit of being a successful filmmaker. Sometimes we lose and sacrifice a lot of things in life, while chasing our dreams. Marilyn Lights is the story of one such guy who has lost on all fronts in life, but his worst defeat is the loss of hope. A chance meeting with his ex lover rekindles the hope back in him and he decides to give life a second chance.”
However, the youngster, who is interested in the business of filmmaking, feels that he would be experimenting a lot in the time to come as both filmmakers and audience are seeking for content creation and consumption on newer platform.
Regional Cinema needs to improve
However, the youngster who shot his short film in Jaipur is not happy about Rajasthan’s regional film industry. He said, “The regional film industry of Rajasthan is one of the weakest in the country. There is hardly any good local content in Rajasthan, which is quite shameful considering we are the biggest state of the country.” He then paused and said, “I am directing a documentary series, which is a kind of a tribute to one of Andy Warhol’s earlier works, and is expected to release sometime in 2019. And I am planning to shoot my next film in Jaipur too, just like Marilyn Lights.”
Bhopal/Kolkata: Abdul Jabbar needs no introduction when it comes to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The survivor and activist of world’s worst industrial disaster has been praised by The Guardian in its editorial for the work he keeps doing for the gas victims.
Bhopal Gas tragedy killed more than 25,000 people till date and has left injured over 500000 individuals so far, when 27 tonnes Methyl Isocyanate gas leaked from Union Carbide factory on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984. Sadly enough, three decades later the victims have neither got justice nor have they been compensated.
Jabbar was only 27, when tragedy took place. The lethal gas that leaked out of the Union Carbide factory not just made his lungs and eyesight weak, but also killed his mother and elder brother. This personal loss of his in ways made Jabbar take up the fight to get justice for millions of Bhopalis who were affected that fateful night. Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udhyog Sangathan, an initiative of Jabbar has helped stood behind thousands of women and men to help help them become self-dependent after the tragedy. It has more than 30000 members and in most of BGPMUS events, 5000 to 6000 people participate.
Abdul Jabbar
eNewsroom talked to the 61-year-old determined crusader, who has kept his struggle to seek justice for lakhs of Bhopal gas survivors on till date. Following are excerpts from the conversation:
eN: The Bhopal Gas Tragedy could never become a political issue for any political party in India, despite the magnitude of the gas tragedy. Why?
Jabbar: Indian political parties need donations from Multi-National Companies (MNC)s, so they do not want to keep it in their agenda or put it in their manifestos. In 1989, when settlement was being initiated, the matter was raised inside parliament, but it could not become a political agenda of any party.
eN: Union Carbide’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Warren Anderson never got punished, and victims never got a good compensation by any government. Three decades later, do you have still hope that the survivours will get justice?
Jabbar: I still have hope, that one day we will get justice… And if I lose hope, thenwhat will happen to the people that I represent. I have hope because of them, else to whom will they look up to raise their issue?
File Picture of Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Courtesy: Facebook
eN: How you see these 34 years of struggle for justice for a tragedy, where neither the central nor the state government cared for the victims to get justice?
Jabbar: No Indian government or leader wants to look bad before the multinational companies, hence they never got involved in this issue. Dealing with this not-caring attitude of the government has sometimes been more painful than the tragedy itself. It has been a long fight and needless to say, right from politicians to bureaucrats, they have all left us disappointed. They all want us to forget the tragedy.
eN: December 2 has always been the day for the survivours and their family members to express their anger and anguish. This year, however, Run Bhopal Run has been organized on the same day. Film actors Kareena Kapoor and Tigor Sharoff will also be participating in it. You have been unhappy about it.
Jabbar: Yes, it is like rubbing salt onto our wounds. It is a day of sadness and how can so such dramabazi be done on same day. At least for the people of Madhya Pradesh, it is a sad day. I have written to chief secretary to not permit such event on December 2, but not sure what action they have taken. What more you can expect, when the governments want us to forget the tragedy.
Now they (govt) say, how long we will carry on to raise issue of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. They also accuse us of running a shop in the name of the tragedy. When this is level of sensitivity in our governments today, what you expect from them?
Kolkata: On the lines of farmers’ protest in Maharashtra and ongoing All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)’s Kisan Long March in New Delhi, the farmers under Pashchim Banga Pradeshik Kishan Sabha (WBPKS), an older organization than the AIKS took onto the streets of West Bengal to express their anger and anguish. The march, which was also described as Singur Kisan March had huge participation of farmers from Singur. The two day long march culminated on Thursday, a day ahead of the Kisan Long March in Delhi.
Around 50000 farmers assembled in front of Raj Bhavan, Kolkata on November 29, after having traveled on foot from Singur and other parts of the state, crossed the Howrah Bridge to finally reach Rani Rashmoni Road where it was joined by another large contingent of farmers from Sealdah. The crowd was addressed by CPI (M) leader Surjya Kanta Mishra, WBPKS State Secretary Amal Halder and AIAWU State Secretary Amiya Patra.
The presence of farmers from Singur, made the march a significant one for Bengal. For Singur was made the focal point of the Mamata Banerjee’s protest against the forceful land acquisition of farmers in both Nandigram and Singur. It was this mass mobilisation by Banerjee which had played a vital role in bringing down the decade old communist party regime in Bengal.
Ironically, when the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool government is almost on the threshold of completing a decade, the peasants from the same area gathered to draw the attention of her government, demanding them to take initiatives to set up industries on lands that had been acquired for the purpose from all over Bengal, including Singur. As the land, which was once fertile, over the years had turned barren.
A view of Singur Kisan March near iconic Howrah Bridge
The long march which had commenced from Singur on the morning of November 28, was addressed by All India General Secretary of AIKS, Hannan Mollah. He addressed the farmers and inaugurated the long march too.
On the morning of November 29, several thousand farmers from different districts started marching towards Howrah Bridge from Bally. When the march finally reached Howrah Bridge, the participation got multiplied.
The demands of farmers include implementation of the recommendations made by the Swaminathan Commission, waiver of all agricultural debts, guarantee of 200 days of work with a daily wage of Rs. 350 under the MGNREGA Welfare Scheme, a pension of Rs. 6,000 per month for old farmers above 60 years of age.
Amal Halder, state secretary of WBPKS said, “Out of the 997 acres of land that had been acquired, only 11 acres are arable. Agriculture is not possible in the remaining 986 acres of land. As many as 187 farmers have committed suicide due to the burden of huge debts under the Mamata Government. The state government is taking no steps to uplift the condition of the peasant class.” He added that Bengal at present needs industry to flourish. “Around 986 acres of land cannot be cultivated so industries should be set up in these zones. It will definitely the economy of the state,” said Haldar.
Agitating farmers complained that Mamata Banerjee had come to power with the promise of returning land to the farmers. But she also destroyed the Tata motors factory that was ready to operate, and would have provided employment to thousands of people in the area. She did not keep any of the promises she had made as the opposition leader of the state, maintained the farmers.
The efforts that the farmers are taking to make themselves heard across India, is an indicator of the fact that it is high time that both state as well as the central government to take initiatives along with listening to the woes of the farmers and make things conducive for the agrarians in India.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh election 2018 registered over 74 percent voting on Wednesday. From Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to MP Congress president Kamal Nath, Congress’ campaign head Jyotiraditya Scindia and several other prominent names along with common voters exercised their franchisee to elect the future government of the state. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is having a direct fight against Congress in most of the seats. Along with Madhya Pradesh, four other Indian states are having their assembly polls. Rajasthan is schedule to have its assembly polls voting on December 7. Political pundits believe that the elections in five states will set the discourse for 2019 General Election.
Pictures by Raj Patidar (except Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia, which has been picked from respective Facebook page)
Jaipur: Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), Rajasthan has expressed its disappointment at the health agenda of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) outlined in its just released manifesto for Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Elections, 2018.
On Tuesday, the manifesto was released in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and several state leaders.
But after going through the manifesto, JSA maintained that the health section of the manifesto is more like a token consideration, which has been mentioned towards the end of the document. The also felt that the present manifesto was more like a rehash of its previous agenda.
Their statement stated, “The party has conveniently avoided making any promise on increasing the state health budget, which means that the state would continue to remain deprived of the necessary funds to cater to the health needs of its 7 crore population.”
And it regretfully added, “Raje government which right now spends just about 1% of its state GDP on health which is awfully low and there has constantly been a demand to raise it to at least 3%.”
The NGO, which has done significant work in health sector, feels that the government is on joining hands with private healthcare service provider. The statement said, “Major emphasis laid on ‘Universal Health Coverage’ by implementing insurance based model, which implies that the government is keen on expanding its flagship scheme, Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana (BSBY) which is now a part of Ayushman Bharat. This alternately entails that the government would continue to join forces with private health care sector and that a huge amount of public money would be diverted to private entities at the cost of compromising with the much required expansion of public health care services.”
The new aspect which has been highlighted in the manifesto with regard to the future health plan of the party is – promoting the pharma sector.
“There’s also much stress on promoting pharma sector in the state through subsidies and incentives to attract pharma companies to invest and research in the state, which predominantly sounds like an investment and trade promotion agenda than a health agenda,” it noted.
“But, the manifesto talks of lending a major boost to pharmaceutical sector and developing laboratories for testing of medical devices, there is not even a slight mention of making free medicines and diagnostics available and accessible for free, given that medicines and surgicals constitute a major part of out of pocket expenditure on treatment that people are forced to bear,” claimed JSA.
It concludes, “The manifesto on health is thus a major disappointment in many ways. It turns a complete blind eye towards major areas of health which need greater attention such as reducing maternal mortality, infant mortality, countering malnutrition, anemia and diseases such as malaria, dengue and zika, which require more of preventive and primary health care focus than anything else. The constant emphasis on health insurance scheme, which has a secondary and tertiary care focus, is barely going to help deal with the aforementioned health problems.”
“With just no intention of increasing the health budget, all the promises so made sound absolutely hollow and pointless. The party should have rather spelled out how it’s going to ensure right to health for all and what mechanisms will be adopted to expand public healthcare services across the state.”
“The JSA Rajasthan fears that the health agenda of the BJP has very little to offer to the poor and the marginalised, and is more inclined towards profiting the corporate and private healthcare sector.”
Bhopal/Kolkata: Madhya Pradesh is all set to have assembly polls on November 28, 2018. This election is a crucial one and many believe that it decide the fate of Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government. Chouhan is the longest serving Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and this election will decide whether he will return to power for the third time or go into oblivion like Digvijaya Singh. But, a letter, which mentions a survey done by Rastriya Sawaysewak Sangh (RSS) may give sleepless nights to Chouhan, if its true.
A letter bearing the signature of one Pramod Namdeo from the RSS addresses Rakesh Singh, Madhya Pradesh state president of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) states that a secret survey had been conducted between November 15 to 21 by the RSS and the result of this survey indicated that this election Congress would emerge as the winner.
Significantly, the survey also mentions that BJP will be bagging only 68 seats, while its arch-rival Congress will get 142 seats, which is way ahead of the majority mark required in Madhya Pradesh assembly.
The letter start with the message that, BJP’s condition in Ujjain area has suddenly gone worse, and in Gwalior, Rewa, Indore and central MP due to some mistakes in its ticket distribution it is going to setback for the party.
The RSS letter viral on social media
The confidential letter also mentioned that the anti-incumbency wave against the present CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has become very strong.
It also claimed that several rebel party leaders could also affect the party’s performance.
Significantly, the survey pointed out that the rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Party National President Amit Shah is also having negative impact on the voters. And more than that, the work done by the RSS on ground level is also not being beneficial for the party.
The letter also said that Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are not helping BJP directly, so their performance will not benefit the saffron party.
However, RSS issued a letter and denied having conducted any such survey. They maintained that it was an act of some miscreants wanting to take political advantage.
Dhanbad/Ranchi: There seems to be many M J Akbars in Jharkhand’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for within a time span of a week, two of its leaders have been accused of sexually harassing women. Recently, a five times Member of Parliament (MP) and two times Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) has been accused of sexual harassment. The allegations against the legislator has been made by party’s women wing leader only.
Akbar, the former Union External Minister had to resign from his ministerial post in October when #MeToo had gained momentum in India and several women came forward with their stories of being allegedly sexually harassed by the editor, when they were working under him at The Asian Age.
However, even after resignation, party has is yet to take any exemplary action against Akbar.
Jharkhand BJP’s Akbars
In Jharkhand, the issue came to the public eyes when two cases of sexual harassment was filed at Katras Police Station, Dhanbad against the two leaders — Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto and Giridih MP Ravindra Pandey.
However, the two FIR is yet to lodged into a full-fledged case against the two BJP leaders. But Katras police station in-charge Sanjay Kumar has claimed that police inquiry has been initiated.
Amid all, on Monday Kamala Devi, BJP’s women wing leader from Dhanbad, again stated that she would commit suicide with her entire family, if no action will be taken against Dhullu Mahto, the MLA accused of sexually harassing her. Kamala further alleged that Baghmara MLA has threatened to kill her, ruin her business and even harm her son.
BJP women wing leader’s suicide attempt
Kamala’s case came into the media notice, when she had tried to self-immolate herself at Katras police station following which she revealed before media that she had been sexually harassed by Baghmara MLA, but the police is not taking any action on her complaint.
Soon after her allegation, Mahto had counter alleged that she was doing it on the behest of Giridih MP Ravindra Pandey, an allegation which Pandey had denied.
Finally, on Monday, BJP’s Jharkhand unit show-caused both the leaders. However, political observers believe that while both the leaders are facing serious charges of sexual harassment, the show-cause notice by the party is too late and too mild an action.
Watch Kamala Devi’s video below, in which she is clearly saying now there is threat to her and her son’s lives:
Jaipur: Monday was an important day with regards to the election campaign for Rajasthan Election. Right from All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Rahul Gandhi to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) Superemo Mayawati held rallies to show their stronghold in the desert state.
Significantly, once again Rahul Gandhi was seen doing puja during his election rally tour. This time Congress president prayed at Pushkar.
While, Rajnath Singh was seen blessing Jaipur Princess Diya Kumari, an MLA from Sawai Madhopur. However the erstwhile Royal will not be getting a ticket from BJP to contest the Assembly elections. Diya Kumari, had took on to the streets to protest against her own (Vasundhara Raje) government for one of her properties which had been undertaken by Jaipur Development Authority (JDA), which was directly under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Since then things have not been smooth between the two. The increasing tension between the two is the reason behind Kumari not getting the ticket. However, her sharing stage with Rajnath Singh surprised many. But Vasundhara Raje was absent.
Mayawati, known for conducting less number of rallies, sought vote for her ten BSP candidates during her rally. Interestingly, Mayawati also organised her rally, at the same Aamer Vidhan Sabha, where Rajnath had also organised his rally. The rally of BSP supremo was a crowd puller and attracted thousands as audience. A huge number of women were seen listening to Behenji.
Voting will take place on December 7 for the 200 seat Rajasthan Assembly. Political observers believe that the Rajasthan election results will play a crucial role in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
