Civil society activists urge Election Commission to curb poll malpractice https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/civil-society-activists-urge-election-commission-to-curb-poll-malpractice/amp_articleshow/110041447.cms  Bella Jaisinghani May 11, 2024  Civil society activists in Maharashtra met CEO S Chockalingam, demanding the EC 'Grow A Spine or Resign'. They raised concerns about MCC violations, voter data discrepancies, surrogate ads, campaign violations, and launched a postcard campaign.

This collective of organisations and individuals also undertook a postcard campaign in which hundreds of postcards were sent to ECI, Delhi, from various cities containing the image of a spine -- demanding that the Election Commission 'Grow A Spine or Resign'.

Participants included People’s Union for Civil Liberties, National Alliance for People's Movements, Bharat Bachao Andolan, All India Lawyers Association for Justice, Shramik Mukti Dal, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy, Bombay Catholic Sabha and others.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1789285109943730579 
#GrowASpineOrResign a nationwide citizens' campaign across 11 cities on 11 May 2024 demanding @ECISVEEP
for accountability and free & fair elections.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/uddhav-master-of-india-blocs-vote-jihad-bjp/articleshow/110021201.cms City BJP chief Ashish Shelar on Friday said that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was “vote jihad’s aaka” (master) and alleged that the INDIA bloc had started a “vote jihad.” BJP minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said Mahayuti won’t allow Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas to do injustice to sons of the soil and they will not allow South Mumbai to turn into Malvani (in Malad).

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/shah-to-telangana-voters-its-vote-jihad-vs-vote-for-progress/articleshow/109994114.cms 

https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/events:2024_climate_change_fiction_webinars:index

Climate change fiction as a way of coming to terms with the reality of global warming and climate change.. imaginative responses have offered a significant critique of techno-science and the dominant development paradigm and opened out conceptual alternatives and pathways to transformation....

https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/events:2024_climate_change_fiction_webinars:01

Climate Change Fiction: The South Asia Experience
Antecedents to climate change fiction: Utopian and speculative narratives from South Asia
Marine ecosystems and climate fiction from South Asia
Climate Change Fiction: A Conversation with Amitav Ghosh 

The Decline of Foreign Banks in India: A Closer Look  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyN_WbUM-Fw

Moneylife News Bite

Why Foreign Firms Have Bit the Dust in the Financial Sector https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKko5oWZOBY   May 8, 2024
Foreign banks once thrived in India's financial sector, but now they're retreating. Citibank, a retail finance pioneer, recently sold its Indian business to Axis Bank, echoing a broader trend. Standard Chartered and HSBC have minimal presence compared to local giants like HDFC Bank. Similarly, foreign mutual funds struggle, with many, including Morgan Stanley and Fidelity, leaving. This shift marks a departure from optimistic projections of the 1990s. Mismanagement and global crises favoured Indian firms, which capitalised on trends like digital banking. Foreign companies' short-term perspectives led to their exit, while Indian firms thrived. Watch the video as Debashis Basu explains.

https://www.moneylife.in/article/why-foreign-firms-have-bit-the-dust-in-the-financial-sector/74103.html  While Indian entrepreneurs and managers have, indeed, shown tremendous talent and execution skills, the ‘Quit India’ policy for foreign financial companies has not happened by design, but by default. 

Quite frankly, all the assumptions made in the mid-1990s about the Indian middle class have turned out to be wrong. There was no smooth surge in middle-class prosperity for foreign businesses to tap into because the Indian economy continued to be mismanaged. Productivity remained poor, corruption and taxes stayed high, and crony capitalism undermined infrastructure growth in the mid-2000s, resulting in bad loans of Rs20 lakh crore in PSBs.

when disruptive opportunities like the digital on-boarding of customers happened, domestic banks were better placed to scale up. Similarly, when the stock market took off post-Covid-19, domestic mutual funds and broking firms grew rapidly.

While the financial sector threw up clear winners (Indians) and losers (foreigners), note the same has not happened in other sectors. For example, foreign companies in personal products have not quit. Their powerful presence continues. Indian companies have not made much headway in winning market shares from multinational companies like Colgate and Hindustan Lever.

The reason foreigners have lost out in the financial services business is because they have been impatient and had a short-term view—perhaps those traits come from the nature of the financial services business itself.

संदेशखाली पीड़िताओं ने कहा भाजपा ने ज़िंदगी नर्क बना दी  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMFjDfP1if0  । Navin Kumar  May 10, 2024 
क्या प्रधानमंत्री, रक्षा मंत्री और गृह मंत्री ने देश से झूठ बोला? पीड़िता बताकर उम्मीदवार बनाया अब जवाब देते नहीं बन रहा। बंगाल की राजनीति में मोदी की मिट्टी पलीद।

In practice, democracy as a principle seldom overpowers the notion of democracy as an administrative practice. It is no different in India. Questions about the state of democracy come up only around crises of procedures like those related to elections or institutions like Parliament. Few seriously examine what values should mark democracy in a country like India where pluralism, diversity and tolerance are necessary for society to survive.

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-democracy-election-9316842/ 

Due to the structural inequalities of Indian society, B R Ambedkar considered democracy a value that the Constitution must protect and guarantee. Gandhi did not favour the constitutionalisation of democracy which, according to him, has to be preserved in society as an essential value. He did not want to privilege and legalise democracy as a part of constitutional morality over a traditional, social morality. In his view, it was not a part of our natural sentiment. Rather, it was artificially cultivated or externally imposed — which is in contrast to the “real” democratic tradition in India that flourished through religious co-existence.

The state’s position as “guardian of democracy” resulted in many unpleasant episodes, including the proclamation of Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975. What makes the present situation different from previous experiences is that the clout of certain kinds of organisations is no longer seen as abnormal. This happened during the Emergency as well – Sanjay Gandhi’s hold on the government is well-known. But the current regime has legitimised the sway of organisations like the RSS through popular means. The conditions of a working democracy may be the same for seven decades, but the principles and values have the potential to be altered.

by M H Ilia

09/05/2024

Data collected by the government of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan showed that about 45% of Madhya Pradesh’s martyred soldiers were from the Bhind and Morena districts. If the neighbouring Gwalior district is included, the figure is even higher. https://thewire.in/society/chambal-agniveers-blacksmiths-carpenters-shopkeepers 

But ever since the Agnipath scheme was launched, the situation has changed.

Chambal’s youth are becoming disillusioned with the army. According to Manu Sikarwar, a resident of Kailaras tehsil of Morena district, “it is a matter of pride to be martyred for the country, but if we are martyred, our family will neither get pension benefits nor other benefits that a regular army soldier gets.

by Deepak Goswami

08/05/2024

The Somaiya management "discontinued theassociation" of their Principal Parveen Shaikh

No Indian Express, supporting Hamas, and glorifying terrorists is not ‘political opinion’: Somaiya school’s Parveen Shaikh gets usual cover fire from Leftist media
 https://www.opindia.com/2024/05/indian-express-somaiya-school-article-on-principal-parveen-shaikh-support-hamas/  Indian Express suggested that Somaiya School should stand by Parveen Shaikh and “serve as an example for education leaders across the country.” What example does the newspaper want set for educators? That you can blatantly support terrorists and rapists like Hamas and be proud of it?

https://scroll.in/latest/1067582/mumbai-principal-sacked-after-being-targeted-by-hindutva-website-says-she-is-mulling-legal-action

 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/why-a-mumbai-school-principal-should-not-be-sacked-over-her-social-media-posts-9304414/  Liking a post on social media that valorises a Hamas fighter after what happened on October 7 is not expected from a school principal, especially one who has a stellar record leading an institution. But if the management of the Somaiya School in Mumbai presses its demand for Parveen Shaikh’s resignation, it will hurt the school. It will also send a chilling message to its students, and future citizens: That the price for expressing a political opinion, even if it is unpopular, is too high. If the principal can be fired for this, why should students debate at all? The school seems to be another in a line of institutions, great and small, that are willing to sacrifice their autonomy and “cancel” employees for expressing an opinion. However, the Somaiya School saga, as it has unfolded so far, also offers a ray of hope. The silver lining in the entire episode is that Shaikh, rather than bending, has asserted her constitutional rights and sense of professional duty. ” I live in democratic India; I hold the principle of freedom of speech in high regard as it is a cornerstone of democracy… I will not resign because I have given hundred per cent to the organisation,” she said. A significant number of parents too have reached out to the Trust that manages the school to express their support for Shaikh. The Somaiya School should stand by its principal and serve as an example for education leaders across the country. And, as a professional who leads an institution of learning, Shaikh should realise that her “liking” a social media post may be personal but its import will be public. Also available at https://www.indiaacademicfreedom.net/school-education/why-a-mumbai-school-principal-should-not-be-sacked-over-her-social-media-posts 

Comments on WA GS: We are seeing too many of these. Very few managements/organisations/groups seem to have the ability to push back against such organised state-backed vendettas.

LA is Transforming its Concrete River - here's why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--L6dNoSnf0 Circle of the Earth  

For years, the Los Angeles River was a drainage ditch along most of its 51 mile length, and large parts have been covered in concrete. The Los Angeles River became heavily polluted from agricultural and urban runoff over the last century, negatively impacting both residents' health and the environment. People living in the the area were overly exposed to pollutants and didn't have much access to green space.

In this video, we'll show you how Los Angeles residents have been transforming the LA River by using natural-based solutions to restore the watershed, improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people by increasing biodiversity and improving water security. 

 From the Commentary of the film: the restoration of the los angeles river has become a leading example of how urban waterways that have been reconstructed into drainage systems and divert water out to sea can be transformed back into rivers that capture and hold rain water runoff which is especially important in drought-prone
areas it has been demonstrated that by restoring the waterways using natural-based solutions we can increase biodiversity and improve water quality and the river becomes a valuable asset and a huge benefit to the city's residents don't you also think more cities should restore their rivers back into green spaces ? 

Comments on WA"  PPP This is so much related to our )pune) river beautification drive. I wonder if this is know to our jeevit Nadi folks? We love to build flyovers and demolish after few years, build BRT routes and demolish after few years. And possibly the RFD to seems to have this plan. GDP should increase continuously. It is easy route

DM: RFD of the project was constructed in Mula-Mutha river without PMC, when the water came out of Mahapur river it entered the house, that was sin.
And the river is pure internal and external nature The river itself is independent, self-regulating, with natural order, order, security, internal and external laws of nature.

In the absence of PMC, trees are felled and vehicles enter the wrong roads, Punekars suddenly fight, it is a sin to avoid project rush...

Example – There are internal and external relations like farmer and land.
external means farmer and Antarman means field or land, farmer himself internal means acres of open land and Bahirman means vegetables, fruits.

The Maharashtra government has given loans to the farmers of the state, and there have been reports of farmer suicides without loans. It is a sin to cheat farmers by disqualifying them in the matter of loans

SN: This is the most apt and probably the most hopeful way to get the right things done going ahead. Depending on govt, authorities, so called global-leaders is not going to be just too late but also they will continue on destructive projects which will only benefit them for holding on to power. As individuals we get bogged down by the enormity of what one can do alone.
It is only through power of communities and movements like ours which can make lasting change by taking everyone along on a sustainable and caring path. So spread this awareness of our movement to Revive Pune Rivers in the right manner to your friends, relatives, colleagues, communities, etc.