What kind of India do we seek?

What kind of India do we seek?  https://vikalpsangam.org/article/yogendra-yadav-writes-what-kind-of-india-do-we-seek/  Yogendra Yadav Reporting on the 10th Anniversary of Vikalp Sangam, and its session at Bhuj Nov 24.

real alternatives to modern development? Can they take on the challenge of scale and survive in the face of giant corporations in a globalised market economy? Does the practice of majority-based democracy leave any room for concerns of future generations and nature? Valid questions. But you must also ask another set of valid questions: Can anyone seriously think of offering to every Indian the lifestyle available to everyone in the Global North? Is this model worth replicating? Can we afford to go on with the destruction of nature, lives and livelihoods as an inevitable cost of “development”?

Once we recognise the unbearable weight of these questions, a quest for alternatives does not remain an obsession of a mad minority. Once we realise that alternatives are not about going back to our past, but about imagining and shaping our future, this becomes a collective search. How do we make these radical alternatives feasible? Can we think of a “scale out” rather than “scale up” model? What is the roadmap of transition from where we are to where we wish to go? 

210 Forest Rights Act Claim Forms Approved in Gram Sabha at Naranag, Kangan

In a significant step towards empowering forest-dwelling and nomadic communities, 210 individual claim forms under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 were passed today in the Gram Sabha held at Naranag, Kangan. This milestone event underscores the growing momentum in securing the rightful access and ownership of forest resources for indigenous and pastoral communities in Jammu & Kashmir. 

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The Right to Live Under the Grip of UAPA 

The Right to Live Under the Grip of UAPA  Eenadu 15.10-2024

Professor Saibaba, who languished in prison for ten years for a crime he did not commit, passed away last Saturday. With a 90% disability, he endured a hellish experience in a dark cell. He was not even allowed to see his mother one last time when she passed away. 

The Bombay High Court, which determined that there was no evidence to support the charges against Saibaba, overturned his life sentence last March, describing the criminal proceedings against him as a 'judicial failure.' 

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Freefall In India’s Academic Freedom Ranking Is Reflected In Cancelled Lectures At IIT Bombay & Elsewhere

Freefall In India’s Academic Freedom Ranking Is Reflected In Cancelled Lectures At IIT Bombay & Elsewhere https://article-14.com/post/freefall-in-india-s-academic-freedom-ranking-is-reflected-in-cancelled-lectures-at-iit-bombay-elsewhere-670749ce2fd0f   Since November 2023, IIT-Bombay has prohibited teachers and students from organising events that “may be viewed as political” without permission. Talk by at least four prominent intellectuals and experts, including environmentalist and historian Ramachandra Guha and cultural activist Ganesh Devy. In three cases, the events were called off at the last minute. 

The Academic Freedom Index , released by the FAU Institute of Political Science in Germany and the V-Dem Institute in Sweden, placed India in the “completely restricted” category—countries where restrictions on academic freedom are consistently applied across all academic disciplines.  From 2013 to 2023, India’s AFI ranking slipped from 0.6 to 0.2 on a scale of 0 to 1.  India was in the bottom 30% of 179 countries, lower than Pakistan, Congo, and Russia.

Another PM Cares?

A whats app message Another good decision of Modi Government on the suggestion of Superstar Akshay Kumar: ........
Payment of only one rupee per day and that too for Indian Army. In the cabinet meeting yesterday, Modi Government opened a bank account for the modernization of Indian Army and for the soldiers who get injured or martyred in the war zone. In which every Indian can donate any amount as per his/her wish. Which starts from 1 rupee and is unlimited.

This money will also be used to buy weapons for the army and paramilitary forces. On the suggestion of people on Mann Ki Baat and Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Modi Government has finally taken a decision on today's burning situation and opened Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualty Fund Account in New Delhi, *Canara Bank.

This is a master stroke of Film Star Akshay Kumar. From where no one can stop India from becoming a super power. If even 70% of India's 130 crore population puts only one rupee in this fund daily, then that 1 rupee will become 100 crore in a day. 3000 crores in 30 days and 36000 crores in a year. 36,000 crores is not even Pakistan's annual defense budget. We spend 100 or 1000 rupees every day on useless things, but if we give one rupee for the army, then India will definitely become a super power.

This money of yours will be deposited directly in the Army Assistance and War Casualty Fund of the Ministry of Defense. Which will be used for military equipment and army soldiers.

So join this campaign of Modiji and help the army directly.

Nothing will be achieved by shouting slogans against Pakistan, blocking roads and making statements. Implement the thinking of Modi and the people of the country and strengthen the army of your country. So that countries like Pakistan and China can be shown their place without the help of any country. Bank details are given below.

Solidarity with Ladakh

Solidarity with Ladakh’s ‘Delhi Chalo’ Yatra, Demanding  Constitutional Safeguards
By Vikalp Sangam General Assembly https://vikalpsangam.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ladakh-Padayatra-Solidarity-Statement-by-VSGA-final-4.9.2024.pdf   We are shocked at how the BJP, having promised 6th Schedule status when Ladakh was converted into a Union Territory in 2019, has gone back on this.  The primary demands by the citizens of  Ladakh are inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, statehood, separate Parliamentary seats for Kargil and Leh, and a public service commission for Ladakh enabling its youth to get jobs. Such steps are crucial to safeguard Ladakh’s ecologically and culturally unique and fragile status, especially against unrestricted and inappropriate land use, commercialisation, and excessive tourism. Protecting Ladakh’s ecological integrity is also vital for the climatic and water security of South Asia as a whole.

Whose City is it anyway? by Amit Singh - on Jai Bhim Nagar

Whose city? by Amit Singh on Whatsapp (ohotos https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNF_m11Vy-wfvUguuTE9-_3Xzi3R3poGXaDFrgzxEOr2hwjGD2psID0OOD2_k6zcA?pli=1&key=NG1EN3B4algwaGtZbmRlMnRacDFqNlhlNF9TakRR)

Whose city is it anyway? Of real estate sharks like Hiranandani who have displaced so many people off the lands in Powai and deforested the area? Or of many workers who were living till this Wednesday in Jai Bhim Nagar, a slum surrounded by Hiranandani owned huge residential towers, and whose jhuggis and homes were demolished by the BMC under the directives of powers that rule Mumbai and Powai?

After their homes and memories were shattered on Thursday afternoon, many of them are forced to live now on the nearby roads. The footpath near the Powai plaza towards the Galleria shopping mall has been the most kind so far to give shelter to hundreds of people.

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Transformational Solidarity: A Dalit Feminist Viewpoint

Transformational Solidarity: A Dalit Feminist Viewpoint Priyanka Samy   https://thewire.in/caste/transformational-solidarity-a-dalit-feminist-viewpoint  We live in times where struggles for social justice and equity converge, revealing inherent similarities between issues.... we must transition from our binary understanding of systems and power. This mandates the social justice movement to rise to a new level of consciousness and action. It is an urgent call – to move from performative politics to progressive politics, from tokenistic solidarities towards transformational solidarities.

Transformational solidarity goes beyond the superficial allyship often displayed by those who remain ensnared in the webs of white and Brahminical supremacy. It demands of us a deep, introspective commitment to understanding the diverse ways in which people are systematically oppressed.

Recalibrating our politics to embody transformational solidarity is not a one-time action but a continuous process of unlearning, learning, strategising and re-strategising. Moreover, as the civil society space is increasingly shrinking across the globe, the time for surface-level solidarities has long passed.

Ladakh Solidarity- PUCL-NAPM-VS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx-zYD4hZus 

Ladakh Solidarity- PUCL-NAPM-VS 

webinar on Ladakh: https://www.youtube.com/live/xx-zYD4hZus?si=aGj7bkd-m9616g4_

Ashish Kothsri hISTORICAL Context   https://youtu.be/xx-zYD4hZus?t=441  end=861 Land issue.. for tourist, miining, Vision from outside... - commwercial industrial profit making, security zone, religious,  the narrative itself..  Ecological crisis in terms of water, people from outside ladakh are also dependent on this as a source of water.. https://youtu.be/xx-zYD4hZus?t=861

https://youtu.be/xx-zYD4hZus?t=921 Kavita welcome Sonam...

Sonam Wangchuk,

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