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LAKHS OF FARMERS TO GATHER AT KISAN MAHAPANCHAYAT OF SAMYUKT KISAN MORCHA AT DELHI ON 20TH MARCH

LAKHS OF FARMERS TO GATHER AT KISAN MAHAPANCHAYAT OF SAMYUKT KISAN MORCHA AT DELHI ON 20TH MARCH Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) | Press Release – March 19, 2023

The Mahapanchayat shall demand that the Union Govt. fulfil the commitments it had given in writing to SKM on 9th December, 2021 and also take effective steps to mitigate the ever increasing and spiralling crisis being faced by farmers.

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India tops in internet shutdowns globally for the fifth consecutive year: Report

India tops in internet shutdowns globally for the fifth consecutive year: Report
01 March,2023

With more than 800 million internet users, India has the second-largest digital population in the world, after China. The internet connects the country’s remote rural areas with cities

https://www.newsclick.in/india-tops-internet-shutdown-globally-5th-consecutive-year Out of 187 shutdowns across 35 countries last year, 84 were ordered in India, including 49 in J&K, according to Internet advocacy watchdog Access Now.

Full report https://www.accessnow.org/cms/assets/uploads/2023/02/KeepItOn-2022-Report.pdf

Although Access Now counted fewer than 100 shutdowns in India for the first time since 2017, it is “not convinced” that the government has “embarked on the path towards positive sustained change regarding digital rights”.

“Legal challenges against shutdowns, fewer mass protests in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sustained and increasing crackdown on dissent may have increased administrative friction or reduced the incentives for authorities to impose shutdowns,” the report adds.

The group also feels all disruptions in India in 2022 weren’t recorded due to the government’s “persistent failure to publicly release shutdown orders in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment” and the “technical challenges in monitoring, tracking, and recording shutdowns—in particular in communities where shutdowns are an emerging issue”.

As NITI Aayog Looks into Water Trading, it Should Know the High Costs it May Bring

India’s initiative to study the global benchmarks for water trading indicates that the NITI Aayog, as a national body of planning, has decided to continue with its neoliberalist stand and strengthen it further. 

If this comes into effect, though it is a national resource, water will be sold like gold and silver. As NITI Aayog Looks into Water Trading, it Should Know the High Costs it May Bring (thewire.in) 

Since the idea is directly concerned with property rights, the foremost challenge is how the legitimisation of monopolisation and exploitation of water and water resources will be justified in prevailing constitutional settings. How will the principles of equality and rights over water as a property be defined for water markets? Once water becomes a commodity for trade, a disturbing question will be what can be a ‘comfortable’ price of water for the poor and middle classes.

For a country like India, this idea also presents a challenge to equity. Instead of fighting for water for all, it encourages more water to the price payers. 

As the purpose of trade is to increase private surplus value, the worry is how the government will control the exploitation of groundwater. The NITI Aayog cannot afford to avoid the fact that big farmers and industrialists can collect excess amounts of water by investing in water trading. To ensure more water, they can establish water plants in plain lands and extract groundwater excessively by using advanced technology, as Nestlé is currently doing.

by Deepti Acharya

17/02/2023