Second hunger death in a month, and cover ups by Jharkhand officials

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October 22, 2017

Second hunger death in a month, and cover ups by Jharkhand officials

Dhanbad/Ranchi: It’s not even a month, since Santoshi Kumari, an 11-year-old girl died of hunger in Simdega, and news of a rickshaw puller dying due to hunger in Dhandbad’s Sindri area is now making to the headlines.

Baijnath Ravidas, a quinquagenarian, had no ration in his house, when he died, claimed locals as well as ward councillor Sailendra Singh. Many claimed that he was unable to get ration as he had yet to have his ration card issued. Earlier his name was included in his elder brother Jago Ravidas’ card.

“In Dhanbad district, one can’t have these cards issued without a middleman. They rule here. He had applied for a ration card, which is yet to be issued. He was a poor man, but he neither had his Below Poverty Line (BPL) or ration card,” said the ward councillor.

Hunger Death

Baijnath had two sons, of whom, one lives separately, while the other get jobs on casually, not regular.

Like the Simdega case, where Santoshi died while asking for boiled rice (bhaat), as claimed by her mother the administration conveniently claimed it to be a malaria death, here too, Dhanbad district administration, is claiming that the Hunger death is due to prolonged illness and not hunger. As soon as the local channels began relaying the news of Baijnath’s death, the administration issued a communiqué claiming that he had applied for a ration card, only four days back and was about to have it issued soon.

Deputy Commissioner A Dodde, while ruled out the news of Baijnath’s household not having any ration, by stating that his wife worked as a domestic help. However, he accepted the fact that one lakh ration cards have been deleted since NFSA (National Food Security Act) has been implemented.

Significantly, it is not only in Baijnath but also in Santoshi’s case, that many observed the government opting for a cover-up. JMM MLA, Polus Surin has alleged that a team sent by Union Food Supply and Consumer Minister Ram Vilash Paswan to inquire into the death of Santoshi had been sent back from Ranchi itself. They were not allowed to reach Simdega.

He has also claimed that the report sent by Simdega deputy commissioner claiming that the minor girl had died due malaria is completely false. He had further added that the girl’s mother is being harassed for bringing forth the truth. He has even set off an alarm, stating that that if anything happens to the mother, then. The district administration should b held responsible. Surin also claimed that JMM would be raising the issue inside state assembly and upper and lower houses of the Parliament.

Congress helps Shivraj appoint new Lokayukta, secretly!

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October 22, 2017

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Congress helps Shivraj appoint new Lokayukta, secretly!

During his first term as Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly (2010-2013), Ajay Singh (Rahul Bhaiya) had made a name for himself for his aggressive stance against the wrong-doings of the BJP government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. But in his second tenure, which began in February this year, not only his performance has been lack-lustre but this month he did something which will haunt his political career for the rest of his life. He collaborated in Chouhan’s clandestine move to get his own man appointed as Lokayukta of the State.

It was kept a closely guarded secret, known only to Chouhan, a few others involved, and Ajay Singh till an official announcement was made late in the night that former MP High Court judge Naresh Kumar Gupta had been appointed as the Lokayukta. Gujarat Governor O P Kohli, who has been holding additional charge of Madhya Pradesh for over a year, was flown in from Gandhinagar next day (October 18). He administered oath of office and secrecy to the new Lokayukta and flew back to Gandhinagar, barely spending a couple of hours in the Madhya Pradesh capital.

The law, rules and procedures were breached in appointment of Justice (Retd) Gupta as the Lokayukta. No panel of names was prepared and no meeting of selectors was held. Chouhan got a single name approved by the High Court Chief Justice and sent an officer to Ajay Singh to get his signature which the 62-year-old Congress leader obliged — all in secrecy. Appointment of Gupta as Lokayukta created another anomaly. Deputy Lokayukta Justice (Retd) U C Maheshwari had been acting as Lokayukta for over a year. Maheshwari was senior to Gupta by six years in the High Court and now Gupta has come to boss over him. A sullen Maheshwari did not attend Gupta’s swearing-in. A day before, he pushed off to Mhow to celebrate Diwali with his family.

Justice (Retd) Gupta was legal advisor to the Chouhan government before he was appointed a High Court judge in 2010. During that period he was said to have helped Chouhan manage some serious scams and had won the trust of Chouhan. According to PCC spokesman K K Mishra, Deputy Lokayukta Maheshwari was probing corruption charges against an influential IAS officer and now the investigation would naturally be taken over by Gupta as Maheshwari’s boss.

Ajay Singh has been receiving a lot of criticism, mainly from his own party men, for his complicity in Chouhan’s nefarious game. Congress Rajya Sabha member and senior lawyer Vivek Tankha wondered how the Chief Justice of the High Court and Leader of Opposition could become party to serious transgression of judicial procedures. Former Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Srinivas Tiwari and several other party leaders felt that Ajay Singh had forfeited the right to lead the Congress party in the Assembly. There are reports that a large number of missives have been sent to the party high command in Delhi about the unseemly conduct of Ajay Singh.

In a facile statement, Ajay Singh said that he did not know anything about gradation of High Court judges; the Chief Justice suggested the name, the Chief Minister sent it to him and he signed. How innocent! Even ninnies would not take his defence seriously.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Bala Bachan, who was acting Leader of Opposition before Ajay Singh was nominated to the post, came out with an observation that Chouhan had been trying to get Justice (Retd) Gupta appointed as Lokayukta for nearly a year; he had sent the officers from the CMO with Gupta’s name to Bala Bachan as many as six times and every time Bala Bachan returned them saying that he would not sign for a single name. Bachan had always insisted on a panel of three names to select from, as per the rules. When Bachan asked for the file so that he could note down his objections, the officers refused to give him the file, Bachan added.

Half-buried farmers protest: 21 days and counting

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October 22, 2017

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Half-buried farmers protest: 21 days and counting

Jaipur: The Zameen Samadhi Satyagrah (half-buried), which began on October 2 at Nindar village, situated at the outskirt of Jaipur has entered into its 21st days.

Around 2500 farmer families of Nindar village are neck-deep into protest against Jaipur Development Authorities (JDA), which has forcibly acquired their 320 hectares land in Nindar.

The protesting farmers, both male and female have been forced to celebrate Karwa-Chauth, Diwali, Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj at the protest site only, within the pits and trenches. Earlier, some farmers had fallen ill, due to staying semi-buried in the soil for long hours.

Zameen Samadhi Satyagrah

This is one of the most heart-wrenching protests in India by the farmers, Vasundhara Raje led BJP government has yet to wake up to the issue. Along with male farmers, their counterparts, female farmers and their children remain shouting for their rights, against JDA, their voice are getting louder, but yet to reach state government.

Earlier, in Sikar, when farmers of Shekhawati region had sat on indefinite strike and blocked most road, government had to listen them within a fortnight. But same is not with the farmers remain half-buried for such long time.

Watch our video story, showing the fight and plight of the farmers, their families and festival celebrations.

Jaipur amazes with its beauty in Diwali lights

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October 19, 2017

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Jaipur amazes with its beauty in Diwali lights

Jaipur Deewali Diwali — Another area of the old city set for the festivity

Diwali Deepawali Lights — Jaipur’s MI Road dons a glittering look this diwali

Jaipur: The old city of Jaipur, better known as Pink City, as everyone knows, is beautiful because of its colour and marvellous structure. During the festival of light, Diwali or Deepawali, spectacular lighting adds on to the charm of this city area. Keeping the recent three-day curfew into account, this festivity was very much need. Our photojournalist Chandra Mohan Aloria clicked a few pictures to capture the festive mood of the old city.

Deepika Padukone furious after Padmavati’s rangoli get vandalised

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October 19, 2017

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Deepika Padukone furious after Padmavati’s rangoli get vandalised

Kolkata: Ever since Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his team reached Jaipur to shoot for his magnum opus – Padmavati, the film has been surrounded with controversies galore. Jaipur’s Rajput Karni Sena (RKS) had ransacked the sets, slapped Bhansali and threatened the team with dire consequences if they didn’t pack up and leave. Actor Deepika Padukone, who is playing the role of Padmavati is also under constant attack.

And all that without even having read a single line of the film’s script.

Their contention – Rajput glory was being compromised. The filmmakers, had met them on several accounts, but nothing seemed to pacify them. With the film about to release, filmmakers were wary of controversies stirring up in Rajasthan, but definitely not Gujarat.

Violating Padmavati in Gujarat

Actress Deepika Padukone, who is playing the titular role, finally took on to twitter to vent out her anguish against sustained violent outrage of the RKS members. Karan K, a Surat-based Rangoli artist, on had been toiling over 48 hours to design a rangoli, of Deepika Padukone as Padmavati at a mall, just ahead of Diwali. The celebratory mood, turned into an unfortunate one, when about 100 members of RKS, chanting “Jai Sri Ram” vandalised the art work, on Monday.

Karan took on to Twitter to share how his 48-hour-long effort had been aborted by the vandals.

He tweeted, “#padmavati Rangoli controversy! A crowd of 100 people cried JAY SRI RAM and rubbed out my48hrs’ intense work! #SanjayLeelaBhansali,” on Monday. Following which he again tweeted, tagging Deepika, saying that he waiting for her reaction to this act of vandalism.

Deepika breaks her silence

The actress, who till date, had only condemned the cowardly act of forcible gagging of one’s freedom of expression, on being tagged by Karan, broke her silence. She tweeted four times to express her anguish.

“Absolutely heart breaking to see the recent attack on artist Karan and his artwork! Disgusting and appalling to say the least! Who are these people? Who is responsible for their actions?”

She then went ahead a step further, urging Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smriti Irani, seeking for immediate action. Her tweet read, “For how long are we going to let this go on? Allow them to take law into their own hands & attack our freedom & right to individual expression time & again!? This has to stop NOW & action must be taken!@smritiirani.”

Her four tweets were liked by around 26000 people and retweeted by more than 8000 twitteratis in seven hours. She got support from some Bollywood personalities too, including Rahul Dolakia.

No remorse

Meanwhile, the president of RKS, Sukhdev Singh Gomedi had no remorse over their act of vandalism. He even posted a video of theirs, vandalising the artwork, stating that they would repeat the act if similar promotional work for Padmavati is carried out. They had even issued a threat, of setting cinema halls, showcasing Padmavati, on fire, if the film was released without having them pass the content during a special screening.

Gomedi, didn’t receive repeated calls made by eNewsroom, seeking his version, on the incident.

Nine out of 10 children do not get adequate diet in Jharkhand

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October 18, 2017

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Nine out of 10 children do not get adequate diet in Jharkhand

Ranchi/Kolkata: If you think or believe what government agencies in Jharkhand are saying – that the death of Santoshi Kumari due to hunger or starvation is one rare incident and similar case wouldn’t happen in the future, then, its time to do some fact checking.

According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015-16), nine out of ten children aged between 6-23, do not get adequate food in Jharkhand.

Hunger Death

The survey, which is gets conducted under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare says only 7.2 per cent children get adequate diet in Jharkhand. While in Tamil Nadu 31 percent children, belonging to the same age group, get adequate diet for hunger.

The survey further reveals that 47.8 per cent (which amounts to almost half of the children born) in Jharkhand are malnourished, while the national average remains 44.

Santoshi, a resident of Simdega district’s situation became worse, when her mother did not get food from PDS (public distribution system) shop as her Aadhar card was not linked. However, in general, most of the children lead a vulnerable life, in this mineral rich state.

For the fiscal year 2017-18, Jharkhand government has allocated Rs 3105.97 crores in health budget, which amounts to only four percent of the total budget.

“When it comes to attracting investors, Jharkhand government spends more than 200 crores only on one summit – Jharkhand Global Investors Summit. Of which, about 100 crores is just spent for for Public Relations (PR) works,” Ranchi-based Right to Information (RTI) activist, Sunil Mahto told eNewsroom.

Interestingly, it took both the Jharkhand and Union government to spring into action after almost 20 days of Santoshi’s demise. The government was initially denying the fact that the 11-year-old had died due to starvation. It, on the contrary, was claiming that she had died due to malaria. Thus, it would be interesting to see the government’s course of action.

Santhoshi’s death come immediately after the report, which shown India slipping down lower in the World Hunger Index Before signing off, we should remember that India has now slipped to 100 out of 119 countries in World Hunger Index ranking.

#MeToo, moved thousands of Indian women to express the sexual abuse they faced

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Shahnawaz Akhtar

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October 17, 2017

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#MeToo, moved thousands of Indian women to express the sexual abuse they faced

Kolkata: Over the past 24 hours, MeToo has been trending over the internet. For, those walking in late, Metoo, is a social media campaign initiated by Hollywood actor Alyssa Milano, after the scandal of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein came out in the open. The campaign aims at making women speak out, if they have experience sexual abuse at some point of their life and let the world know the magnitude of the sexual assaults that women face in her life.

The most trending

MeToo, has now become of the most trending topic on social media, with over half a million tweets and infinite number of Facebook shares. Eminent Hollywood personalities, right from Lady Gaga, Patricia Arquette to many more took on to the social media to make this movement go viral.

The campaign, which has taken off well in the west, has also gained a huge momentum, both in India and the sub-continent, among netizens.

Since Monday morning, several women, many well-known figures have shared MeToo on Twitter and Facebook, including activists, journalists, writers. As time trickled by, the social media movement grew stronger, with women taking on to Facebook and Twitter, to share their story.

Even UN Women also tweeted that it is the time to listen the voices of women around the world. It is the time we take stand against the violence against women. The twitter handle also mentioned that 1 out of 3 women and girl experience violence in their lifetime.

#MeToo, India

Delhi-based documentary maker Saba Dewan, a name synonymous with the #NotInMyName campaign, also, narrated her fear that she had developed because of the constant sexual advances that she had to face since the age of 6.

Significantly, Indian women, chose to share their experiences without naming and shaming the culprit. Also, according to most of the experiences shared, the offenders, were either relatives, colleagues or mostly men they had known for some time.

Interestingly, Bollywood refrained from addressing the issue. One or two stray tweet was all this movement got, unlike Hollywood. It is when, Bollywood actor like Priyanka Chopra, who is now getting many roles in Hollywood in an interview said after the MeToo trend that, she had lost major movies as she chose not to compromise.

Men Too!

Men too, came out in a decent number to share the sexual exploitation that they had faced as a child. Shilbhadra Baban Dutta, posted, “As a little boy, dirty men did dirty things to me.” Dutta, was not the only man speaking out on sexual abuse faced by men or boys. Sarfaraz Khan, a Fiji-based social worker, highlighted in his post, how parents and relatives turn a blind eye, when kids report of being sexually abused by a relative. In his post he shares that his plight of being violated at the age of 7.

Nobel laureate, Kailash Satyarthi, in support of the movement, tweeted, “MeToo is a reflection of the social and cultural revolution that is sweeping the world. The victims are shedding the stigmatisation. We will not allow our children and women to be invalidated by societal constructs, I stand with you all til (till) we end this.”

Trending, but not for India

But, despite thousand of shares and tweets related to MeToo being written by Indians, indicating that it is an everyday issue in India, many feel that the movement would yield not much result. “We took on to the streets after Nirbhaya. But has that stopped rapes? No. So, I have little hope about MeToo bring about a social change. Also, none of those tweeting are naming and shaming,” said Ananya Das, a Kolkata-based student of Sociology.

However, many feel that this could be a precursor, to bringing about a change. “Till sexual violence is not stamped out from the face of the earth we have to keep reminding the world, our men, our children, how we were violated and felt helpless then. We have to continuously break the culture of silence, break the culture of denial, finish the concept of honour and Shame associated with it. Only when girls and Women can talk normally about it, not have fear that they will be best will this violence and abuse finish. Men, families and society has to learn to respect the autonomy of the women. This is the key,” summed up Jaipur-based activist, Kavita Shrivastava.

Not the first

Me Too, is not the first social media movement to make people acknowledge sexual abuse of women. Earlier in 2014, #YesAllWomen campaign and 2012’s #EverdaySexism campaign had also attempted to highlight the issue.

How a town’s huge firecracker recovery reminds Delhi ban

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October 15, 2017

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How a town’s huge firecracker recovery reminds Delhi ban

Giridih: Nobody has the exact idea about the firecrackers’ worth that go boom in Delhi, and National Capital Region (NCR) during Diwali. It is also, here that the Supreme Court has banned the sale of firecrackers, to control pollution.

But, 1300 kilometers away from Delhi, in Giridih, a small town in Jharkhand, which doesn’t even have one-fourth of the national capital’s population, firecrackers being recovered by the district administration over the past 72 hours. The raid is still on.

However, being small town, here the major concern for the administration was not pollution but huge quantity of illegal crackers, which is being stocked in residential area.

“We have seized 787 big boxes of firecrackers from four different locations. Our search is still on. We are conducting these raids, as our major concern is the huge quantity of firecrackers being stocked in residential area,” Sub-divisional Magistrate Vijaya Jadhav told eNewsroom.

Firecrackers worth four crores has been shifted in through 15 tractors to different locations. Most of the firecrackers are either made in China, from Indian city Sivakasi or from Bengal state.

firecracker giridih deepawali — Administrative officials monitoring the raid at the site

On Friday, when the search and seizure had begun on a tip off, which SDM Jadhav had got from her source, power had cut off for more than seven hours in the area surrounding the place where the firecrackers had been stocked up. And entire district administration including District Commissioner Uma Shankar Singh, Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Variar were seen supervising the raid, along with the SDM.

“We are really concerned. Such a huge stock in residential area can be lethal, so those trader stocking up firecrackers in their houses will be treated as accused. Two people have been arrested, but prime accuse Intikhab Alam, alias Putul is absconding,” informed Jadhav.

Firecracker Giridih deepwali — Officials recovering the firecrackers from a house

Administration has dispatched the recovered crackers to far away locations and issued fresh guidance for the firecracker sellers in the district.

On October 9, Supreme Court had banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. The order was given, on the basis of a petition filed by three toddlers, who had approached the court through their parents, claiming that firecrackers burst during Diwali, makes air poisonous the already polluted air of Delhi.

While in India, firecrackers are burst through out the year, on marriages, after cricket matches results, but its burst in massive quantity during Diwali festival. Cashing the occasion, large number of sellers do business without license and even stock in residential area, thereby, posing a threat to common man’s life.

Farmer neck-deep protest: Condition deteriorates, spirit soars high

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October 8, 2017

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Farmer neck-deep protest: Condition deteriorates, spirit soars high

Jaipur: The condition of the farmers, who have staged farmer neck-deep protest inside pits, and trenches since October 2, against alleged forcible land acquisition by Jaipur Development Authority are deteriorating fast.

Hundreds of farmers from Jaipur, Rajasthan are protesting against alleged forced land acquisition by JDA and termed it as Zameen Samadhi Satyagrah (land burial satyagrah). Farmers informed that their 320 hectares land, which belongs to 2500 farmer families have been forcibly acquired by JDA. After that, the heart-wrenching protest by farmers began on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2 at Nindar village in the outskirt of state capital.

“At least five farmers have high and low blood pressure because of staying inside the soil for such a long time. Female farmers who are inside pits, are also facing health related issues,” Nagendra Singh, a farmer who is communicating to media about the protest told eNewsroom.

But, it has not dampened the spirit of farmers.

“In fact, our agitation is getting bigger. As today, the number of farmers have increased and 29 more have added to existing 33,” added Nagendra.

Farmer neck-deep protest

Farmer Graveyard Pits Neck-deep — The neck-deep protest by Jaipur farmers that had begun on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti.

Since the news and the photographs of the peasant protest had surfaced, it was widely shared and commented on social media. The unique demonstration against the government, neck-deep buried in pits, attracted India’s attention. A large number of women folks too joined the protest and remain inside trenches to boost their male counterparts’ morale.

No Rajasthan government official have met the farmers and listened the grievances yet. Only the local police station SHO arranged doctors for the farmers.

Its a back to back protest by farmers in desert state, as last month only, Shekhawati region farmers had also a fortnight long movement against the Vasundhara Raje government to waive off their loan. They were successful in forcing the government to meet their demands. And like in Jaipur’s protest, female farmers had then also played important role in the agitation.

However, the Jaipur farmer’s protest is more similar in nature like the farmers from Tamil Nadu, who had sat in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and had even eaten rats, drunk urine while making the demands from center government to waive off their loans.

Indian farmer’s most heart-wrenching stage-in against land acquisition

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October 5, 2017

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Indian farmer’s most heart-wrenching stage-in against land acquisition

Nindar/Jaipur: Hundreds of farmers from Jaipur, Rajasthan are protesting against alleged forced land acquisition by Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) and termed it as Zameen Samadhi Satyagrah (land burial satyagrah). The heart-wrenching protest by farmers began on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2 and they are demanding to enhance their compensation from JDA. The photographs of the peasant protest, shows them demonstrating against the government in a unique way. Half buried in pits, the farmers, have a large number of women folks to boost their morale. Its a back to back protest by farmers in desert state, as last month only, Shekhawati region farmers had also a fortnight long movement against the Vasundhara Raje government to waive off their loan. They were successful in forcing the government to meet their demands. However, the Jaipur farmer’s protest is more similar in nature like the farmers from Tamil Nadu, who had sat in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and even ate rats, drunk urine while making the demands from center government to waive off their loans. Witness the peasant movement in Jaipur, through some captivating pictures clicked by our photo journalist Chandra Mohan Aloria.