Even as the number on attacks RTI activists in the state have become frighteningly routine, political leaders who have come under the scanner, mostly from the ruling BJP, are still untouched. In the latest incident in which Porbandar-based advocate and social worker Bhagu Devani was stabbed on last Friday, police have arrested Laku Odedara, brother of former Porbandar Nagarpalika president Vikram Odedara, along with three others but former irrigation minister Babu...
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The not-so-shining India by Dr Binayak Sen
TODAY, India is considered around the world as a rapidly developing country posting economic growth rates of around 8-9 percent consistently over the last several years. Along with China, which is much further ahead, India is seen as a powerhouse of the global economy in the decades to come and already it is home to a very large number of dollar billionaires, perhaps the largest such number in Asia. In...
More »RTI activist attacked in Porbander by Meghdoot Sharon
An RTI activist Baghu Dewani was attacked by unidentified persons in Porbander in Gujarat on Friday. Dewani has been hospitalised after he was stabbed by unidentified persons. Dewani is said to be in a serious condition in the hospital. The 65-year-old advocate-activist Bhaghubahi Dewani was first assaulted with sticks by two unidentified persons and then stabbed thrice in the abdomen. The assailants then fled the scene. Dewani has accused former BJP minister...
More »Is there a ban on reporting bad news from India? by Andrew Buncombe
It was the writer and activist Arundhati Roy who set foreign journalists in India busily chattering recently. In an interview with Stephen Moss in the Guardian, Ms Roy was discussing the Maoist and Adavasi “resistance” to encroachment on tribal lands. Mr Moss, asked her why, “we in the West don’t hear about these mini-wars?”. Ms Roy replied: “I have been told quite openly by several correspondents of international newspapers, that...
More »“Land acquisition shouldn't be through coercion”
-The Hindu Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said environmental clearance to a project should not be construed as a licence for forceful eviction of people. Asked about the resistance to land acquisition for the Posco steel project in Orissa, Mr. Ramesh said acquisition should not be coercive. He hoped the Orissa government would exhibit sensitivity in dealing with the agitators and resolve the issue...
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