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DECEMBER 2011
Bhanwari Devi Missing Case: Accused
Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna
Sacked
Rajasthan Water Resources Minister Mahipal Maderna was
dropped from the Cabinet on 16 October 2011 after an official
recommendation sent to the Raj Bhavan for his dismissal. He
was dismissed in the wake of allegations about his involvement
in a case of mysterious disappearance of an auxiliary nurse
midwife, Bhanwari Devi.
Maderna, son of powerful Jat leader and Congress veteran
Parasram Maderna could not be persuaded to put in his papers,
following which Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot decided to
recommend his sacking to the Governor.
The State government announced his removal a day before a
habeas corpus writ petition filed by Bhanwari Devi’s husband
comes up for the next hearing in the Rajasthan High Court.
Maderna figures as an accused in the first information report
registered for rape, kidnap and murder of Bhanwari Devi, 36, who
has been missing from Jaliwada village in Jodhpur district since
1 September 2011. Maderna faces charges under Sections 376
(rape), 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian
Penal Code.
Save Sharmila Campaign Launched
from Srinagar
The Save Sarmila Campaign was flagged off by Magsaysay award
winner Sandeep Pandey on 16 October 2011. The campaign was
launched in Srinagar demanding the revocation of the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Jammu and Kashmir
and the northeast.
The campaign, in which 20 persons are participating with an
objective to express solidarity with Irom Sharmila, who has been
on fast for the last 10 years demanding revocation of the AFSPA.
The campaign is headed by noted social activist Medha Patkar.
The team started its march from Srinagar and will proceed to
Imphal to bring the demand into focus.
The demands in Kashmir and the northeast were almost the same
as far as political rights were concerned. However, in many
northeast States, demands varied. Some northeast States are for
autonomy and some want independence.
ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) ACT (AFSPA)
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), was passed
on 11 September 1958, by the Indian Parliament of India. It
conferred special powers upon armed forces in what the act calls
disturbed areas in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was
later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as The Armed Forces
(Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990.
According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in
an area that is proclaimed as disturbed, an officer of the armed
forces has powers to:
• Fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing
of death, against any person who is acting in
contravention of any law against assembly of five or
more persons or possession of deadly weapons.
• To arrest without a warrant and with the use of necessary
force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is
suspected of having done so
• To enter and search any premise in order to make such
arrests.
It gives Army officers legal immunity for their actions. There can
be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against
anyone acting under that law.
In 2004, in the wake of intense agitation that was launched by
several civil society groups following the death of Thangjam
Manorama, while in the custody of the Assam Rifles and the
indefinite fast undertaken by Irom Sharmila, Union Home Minister
Shivraj Patil visited Manipur and reviewed the situation with the
concerned state authorities.
The central government accordingly set up a five-member
committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B P Jeevan Reddy,
former judge of the Supreme Court. The panel had to review the
provisions of AFSPA and advisthe Government of India whether
(a) to amend the provisions of the Act to bring them in
consonance with the obligations of the government towards
protection of human rights, or (b) to replace the Act by a more
humane Act. The Reddy committee submitted its
recommendations on June 6, 2005. However, the government
failed to take any concrete action on the recommendations
IROM SHARMILA
Irom Sharmila Chanu known as the Iron Lady of Manipur or
Menghoubi (the fair one) is a civil rights activist, political activist,
and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. Since 2 November
2000, she has been on hunger strike to demand that the Indian
government repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
(AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other
parts of India’s northeast.
She was awarded the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights,
which is given for an outstanding person or group, active in the
promotion and advocacy of Peace, Democracy and Human
Rights. She shared the award with Lenin Raghuvanshi of People’s
Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian
human rights organization. In Addition the largest monetary prize
the first Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize was given to her in
2010 by the New Delhi IIPM. She was awarded the Sarva Gunah
Sampannah Award for Peace and Harmony aka the 12th Signature
Women of Substance award (Assam) also in 2010. she is the
recipient of the first Mayillama Award (Kerala). in 2010 she was
awarded in absentia a lifetime achievement award in Bangalore.
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
Uphaar Tragedy: SC Slashes
Compensation for Victims
Supreme Court of India slashed the amount of compensations to
the Uphaar theatre fire tragedy victims awarded by the Delhi High
Court. A bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran reduced the
amount of compensation from 18 lakh to 10 lakh rupees to the
families of deceased where the victims were above 20 years of
age and for the victims below 20 years, it was reduced to 7.5 lakh
rupees from 15 lakhs. The bench also drastically reduced the
punitive damages to be paid by Uphaar Cinema owners, Ansal
brothers to the Centre from 2.5 crore rupees to 25 lakh rupees.
The court, however, retained the part of the High Court’s verdict
that mandated payment of 1 lakh rupees as compensation to those
injured in the incident. 59 people were killed and 103 injured
following a devastating fire in an electrical transformer during a
film show on 13 June, 1997 at the Uphaar theatre in South Delhi.
Bombay HC Confirms Death Sentence
for Four Youths
The Bombay High Court on 17 October 2011 upheld the death
sentence awarded to four convicts for murdering 10 people in
2003.
The judges described the offence as rarest of rare cases for giving
capital punishment and observed that the accused showed no
repentance for their acts. The four accused, including a selfstyled
godman Santosh, lured the victims saying that they would
multiply their money manifold using black magic. The accused
would ask the victims to come to a lonely plateau in Nandos for
prayers and then butcher them mercilessly.
On 29 September 2003, they murdered two persons. Then they
murdered four on 30 October 2003 and then on 14 November
2003, they murdered the entire Mali family.
The four convicts—Santosh Manohar Chavhan, Amit Ashok
Shinde, Yogesh Madhukar Chavhan and Mahesh Dhanaji
Shindemeticulously planned the murders. They acted as if they
are professional murderers. None of the accused has shown any
signs of reformation.
World’s Seven Billionth Baby ‘Nargis’
Born In UP INDIA.
A girl child named Nargis born in this village on 31st October
2011at 7:20 am has been declared the seven billionth baby of the
world based on the law of probability and an intricate set of
calculations by the UN.
Even though United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) has not
pinpointed where the landmark baby would be born, experts have
identified this village, near Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, as the
site of the momentous event. Ajay Kumar and Vinita, the proud
parents of the girl, are natives of Danaur village in the state.
A function was held at the Community Health Centre in
association with children welfare NGO Plan India and the health
department. Plan India is also marking the day to draw the world’s
attention to India’s seven million ‘missing’ girls, referring to
widespread female foeticide and infanticide in a society that
traditionally prefers male children.
Meanwhile, Philippines also welcomed the world’s symbolic
seven billionth baby. Weighing 2.5 kg, Danica May Camacho,
was delivered just before midnight on Sunday at Manila’s Jose
Fabella Memorial Hospital. The parents and the baby were met
by top United Nations officials in the Philippines, who presented
the child with a small cake. Local benefactors gifted the baby a
scholarship grant for the child’s study and a livelihood package
to enable the parents to start a general store.
But India needs to worry as the country is set to become the
world’s most populous by 2025 at the current growth rates.
Currently, India and China account for more than one-third of
the world’s population. But where China has made strides in
controlling population, India’s population growth continues to
be explosive and will overtake China’s population in 2025. China’s
population will decline around 2050, whereas India’s population
will only begin its decline by 2060.
Tribals Protest Non-Tribals Getting
Award
Tribal groups in Jharkhand are protesting against the award of
the Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award 2011 to
activists Binayak Sen and Bulu Imama.
The Jharkhand Human Rights Movement and the Jharkhand
Indigenous People’s Forum have jointly written a letter to Binayak
Sen and Bulu Imama, asking them not to accept the award on the
behalf of tribals.
Both organisations have also written to Gandhi Foundation
president Richard Attenborough.
‘We have objections as the award will be given to non-tribal
people in the name of Adivasis. We want to know whether the
foundation did not get any tribal leader for the award,’ Human
Rights Movement general secretary Gladson Dundung said.
Echoing him, Zerom Z. Kujur, convener of the Indigenous People’s
Forum, said: ‘We request the Gandhi Foundation either to change
the name of the award or change the award winners.
‘We have no objection if Sen and Imam are conferred awards for
their own work. They do not belong to the tribal community, so
how could they be conferred award in the name of a tribal leader,’
he asked.
The awards ceremony will take place in Britain Nov 9.
Magsaysay Awardee to go on fast over
BPL Benchmark
Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey decided to observe a fiveday
fast from 22 October 2011 and observe a black Diwali in
protest against the Planning Commission’s definition of poverty
and setting a BPL benchmark of Rs 32 per person expenditure
per day in urban areas and Rs 26 per person in rural areas. Pandey
is to observe the fast at his ashram in Lalpur village of Hardoi
district.
Pandey decided to demand universalisation of the public
distribution system (PDS), withdrawal of the cash transfer scheme
as a substitute for PDS, Rs 250 as minimum wages under NREGS
with scope for upgradation with price rise and with every hike in
salaries of government employees.
Pandey’s NGO Asha Pariwar mentioned that demand that BPL
lists to be decided by Gram Sabhas and Ward Sabhas, and
common school system concept be included in the Right to
Education Act would also be placed.
It alleged that the government had not been able to check farmer
suicides, hunger deaths and malnourishment of children. Also,
the economic policy of the government is benefiting the well-off
sections of society at the cost of the poor.
Real-Time Info System for Trains
Launched
The Indian Railways on 19 October 2011 launched a real-time
train information system (RTIS) for 12 important trains through
which passengers can access the accurate train running
information. Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi launched the facility
at the Economic Editors’ Conference.
The GPS-based train tracking system was jointly developed by
the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO),
Lucknow and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur to
overcome the limitations of the existing Train Running Information
System.
Passengers will be provided with the information about the
location of the train, its running position — on time or late, next
stop, nearest approaching/crossed station and the speed.
This facility has been provided for :
12301 Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express,
12302 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express,
12305 Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express,
12306 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express,
12313 Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express,
12314 New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express,
12951 Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani Express,
12952 New Delhi-Mumbai Central Rajdhani Express,
12953 Mumbai Central-Nizamuddin A K Rajdhani Express,
12954 Nizamuddin A.K.-Mumbai Central Rajdhani Express,
12003 Lucknow-Delhi Shatabdi Express and
12004 New Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi Express.
International Day for Disaster Reduction
Observed 12th Oct.
International Day for Disaster Reduction was observed on
12th October. This day is observed on the second Wednesday
of October to raise awareness about disaster risk reduction. It
encourages people and governments to participate in building
resilient communities and nations.
The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), the apex
National Institute of the Government of India with the nodal
responsibilities for human resource development, capacity
building, training, research, documentation, public awareness
and policy advocacy in disaster management observed the Day.
Various activities including competitions of posters, slogan and
paintings were conducted and awards were distributed.
“We need to work on decentralization of disaster reduction
and mitigation efforts, and to integrate the issues of disaster
management with development and inclusive growth” said
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Mullappally
Ramachandran. He stressed the need for science-based
awareness of communities and strategies of risk perception
in the light of new and emerging challenges in particular of
climate-change. Shri Ramachandran also said that the National
Institute of Disaster Management needs to open regional
campuses in most vulnerable zones of the country.
Sri A E Ahmed, Secretary to the Government of India for Border
Management, who is also Secretary, Disaster Management
stressed the need for risk communication in the context of
climate-change and ecological degradation and impact of
exploitation of natural resources, resulting in new and more
serious effects in form of disasters.
Dr Muzaffar Ahmed, Member of the National Disaster
Management Authority of the Govt of India stressed on
learning the lessons from tragedies like Bhopal disaster. Rallies
of students were also organised at Delhi based Universities
and colleges to mark the initiatives of awareness for disaster
reduction.
Israeli-Palestinian Prisoner Swap
The first ever prisoner swap between Israelis and the radical
Palestinian group Hamas took place at the Rafah crossing on 18
October 2011. Israel’s abducted soldier Gilad Shalit was handed
over to Egyptian authorities and in exchange, 477 Palestinian
prisoners were released by Israel. Israel and the radical outfit
Hamas had signed the deal in the second week of October 2011.
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