Mathura

Social media

News, Opinion 20 November 2020

Social media platforms need to act against toxic and bullying messages

There is toxicity in the air everywhere but more than that the poison in the virtual world can be the reason for huge damage to our social fabric and democratic society. American media has the spine to stop President Donald Trump‘s press conference in between when they felt that he was lying and could pose a danger to the whole electoral system. Social media handle Twitter deleted many tweets of President Trump terming them harmful as well as fake news. World over there is a concern for this that this toxicity must stop as it will bring calamity to societies and divide them further but look at us where fake news is being paddled by ‘respectable’ channels and leaders of the government tweeting opposition alliance as ‘Gupkar gang’. For the last few weeks, the nation watched how Arnab Goswami became the ‘news’ number one and the highest court of the land was ‘worried’ about him. If you don’t like him don’t watch his channel, said Justice Chandrachud. He added, ‘I don’t Chandra Hud watch his channel’. The other day, the Chief Justice of India said the same thing but then when people react to these cases, the government threatens them with contempt cases. A comedian joked and the ‘Sarkar’ has filed a contempt petition against him. The same government which has said that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s open letter to Chief Justice of India related to Justice Ramanna is not a contempt of the court. The Bombay High Court recently heard the bail petition of poet and author Varvara Rao who is incarcerated in Taloja jail and finally ordered that he be treated at Nanavati Hospital. The government was not willing to do so and wanted the poet’s family pay for his medical expenses. So, are we going to see a new trend in the coming days where you may be arrested but if you are ill or unwell then expenses have to be borne by the individual or his immediate family member? Capitalism everywhere. A journalist who has been exposing the land mafia in Assam was…

Babari Masjid,

Opinion 2 October 2020

CBI court’s decision on Ayodhya reflection on the state of the judiciary today

On December 6th, 1992, it was not just Babari Masjid that was razed to the ground but also the spirit of the Constitution of India. Those of us, who have followed these cases and the vicious movement led by the Sangh Parivar in the 1990s for the Ram Janam Bhumi know that they had the least faith in the judiciary. After the demolition, none of the leaders except Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh expressed regret otherwise all of them were actually wanting to take ‘credit’ for the demolition. The hero, of course, was Kalyan Singh but in the Brahmanical manipulation of the party, he found himself out from the dominant position otherwise there was a time when he felt himself as the fit candidate for the prime minister of India. Each of them has written and spoken a million times about their role in the demolition of the mosque and they continue to do so but unfortunately, the CBI judge Mr Yadav was unable to hear the voice, the video and the conspiracy to demolish the mosque. The newspapers, magazines, videos, public meetings everything is available. Lal Krishna Advani had actually compared the Ram Janam Bhumi movement to India’s independence. This is how they built up a narrative around. If there is lawlessness in the country and fake narratives are flying high in the air, the main culprit of this is Lal Krishna Advani who wanted to fill his prime ministerial ambitions and failed in doing so. Even when he claimed that he was the best friend of Vajpayee, there was an internal competition and Advani always felt that it was he and not Vajpayee, who built BJP and therefore he has got bigger right to lead the party. We all know that Advani’s w(rath) yatra left a trail of blood everywhere it passed through. It is a well-known fact that when the power of Mandal forces was unleashed the Sangh Parivar decided to take this through the Ram Mandir issue and a new set of leaders emerged from the OBC communities. Justice Librahan who headed the commission to…

Dr Kafeel Khan Suspended Asst. professor BRD MEDICAL COLLEGE GORAKHPUR, A Pediatrician

Opinion 11 September 2020

TIME TO JUDGE THE JUDGEMENT: Kafeel’s is no ordinary case. How many judges are doing their duty today?

When the only cause for elation, even a smile in the morning, is news of the release of an innocent detainee with the words that his detention ‘was bad in law’, then democracy is indeed staring at its nadir. Priyanka Gandhi called Kafeel after his release. We would have liked to call the judges who delivered this judgment. Why? For doing their duty? For upholding a fundamental principle of the law? That a man is innocent until proved guilty? But how many judges are doing their duty today? If they were, would Sharjeel Imam, Devangana Kalita (who was indeed granted bail on one of several charges) and numerous others be rotting behind bars? Here we do not even talk of the Bhima Koregaon/Elgaar Parishad case in which many intellectuals, journalists, advocates, professors and human rights defenders are in jail on charges similar to those levelled against Dr. Kafeel Khan. Kafeel’s is no ordinary case. Accusations made against him were never really about the ‘incendiary’ speech he is supposed to have made at Aligarh Muslim University. It is well known that the deep corruption and mismanagement of a hospital in Gorakhpur where sixty children lost their lives for lack of oxygen, was brought to light when the man in charge—Kafeel Khan—disclosed the fact that earlier bills for cylinders were kept pending despite his repeated reminders resulting in total unavailability of oxygen in the hospital. He was never forgiven for this and it was only a matter of time before the predator pounced on the prey. He was arrested in 2017 for dereliction of duty and being engaged in private practice. In 2018, Dr. Khan was released on bail as the court did not find him guilty of medical negligence. When a departmental inquiry cleared him of all charges a fresh inquiry was initiated clearly suggesting that there was more to this case than met the eye. The Uttar Pradesh government got another opportunity to nab him after his speech at AMU in December 2019 during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens movement when he was accused of promoting…

Prof. Bhim Singh

India, News, Politics 10 May 2020

Save J&K : Release all political prisoners under PSA

constitute  Advisory Committee of reps. of recognized political parties Jammu Tawi, J&K (India), 10th May 2020 :     “Jammu & Kashmir is passing through most difficult times in the history of India only because the rulers from Delhi have demolished entire political system in J&K and continuing to install dictatorship of bureaucracy thus threatening the political/democratic system in J&K. It is need of the hour to allow political parties in Jammu & Kashmir, at least, recognized political parties whose leadership is either detained in prisons or inside their houses, to move on ground to interact with the people who have been passing through this dark era. Corona Virus terror has added fuel to the fire and the people/wretched of the earth have nowhere to go to seek any remedy from the present State & Corona Virus terror. Thousands of the J&K boys (students & labourers) stranded in different parts of the country like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,  Delhi, Himachal Pradesh & other areas have not been provided any transport, any means to return to their homes in Jammu & Kashmir. Hundreds of boys (workers) stranded in Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Madhya Pradesh have been shouting at top telling the rulers in Delhi that the workers in these areas have no system to fill up the forms as required by the Govt. about their identity. Local Police & other Revenue Officers do not provide these J&K boys held in dark rooms this information nor hundreds of stranded workers have got the so called information nor they have facility to send any online/information about their whereabouts. The Administration in the respective States and Delhi have no information about the J&K labourers/workers engaged in several private factories and mills in the respective States. This is the time that President of India revokes the President’s Rule in J&K, constitute a Advisory Committee of all recognized National and regional political parties operating in J&K. This is only way to restore confidence of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The dictatorship of the bureaucracy shall do no good rather it shall demolish the confidence of…

Sandeep-Pandey

Opinion 30 April 2020

Need for immediate nationalisation of health services

Ram Shankar met with a fatal hit-and-run accident in rural area of Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh on 16 April, 2020 and was referred by the District Hospital to Trauma Centre of King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow. He could not be admitted there and was referred to nearby Balrampur Hospital. From there he was referred to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. He was denied admission at these government facilities as only coronavirus affected patients were being admitted and beds had to be kept free for them. Leaving no choice for them the attendants had to take him to one private hospital after another because either it was too expensive or treatment was unsatisfactory. After going through Almighty, Kamakhya, Charak, Maa and Madocks he finally landed at Galaxy Hospital in Thakurganj where Ram Shankar expired on the morning of 21 April but not before his relatives were made to cough up close to Rs. 2 lakhs in all. The cost of using ventilator at Madocks was Rs. 11,000 for a day but in the bill double the amount was charged. Ram Shankar belonged to an Other Backward Class with merely half an acre of land in his village. 35 years old Asghar who used to run a small shop from a kiosk in Dubagga, Lucknow, who was riding a motorcycle till a couple of days back, died on 22 April of some undiagnosed illness. The doctors of hospitals where he went were either unwilling or unable to treat him. It is a peculiar situation where some doctors or medical staff are unwilling to deal with patients for the fear of contracting coronavirus. On 23 April Kiran went to get herself examined at Community Health Centre in Rampur Mathura of District Sitapur. She was asked to get some tests done at a private pathological laboratory at nearby Mehmoodabad. She was diagonsed of tuberculosis, given a strip of medicines and asked to buy more from the market. Another patient came from Kanpur with a cardiac problem and sought admission to Lari Cardiology of KGMU. But he could not get admitted as…

PM Modi Speech On Coronavirus

Opinion 28 April 2020

A GOVERNMENT WAGING WAR AGAINST ITS OWN PEOPLE

The Bhartiya Janata Party led government in India has a penchant for doing things in a ‘surgical strike’ manner, a much publicised military operation they carried out against Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out demonetisation in November 2016 at a few hours notice leaving the common citizens stranded with Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes which had suddenly become illegal. Tourists were evacuated in Indian Air Force planes, the last one carrying just one passenger, from Jammu and Kashmir, before autonomy of the state was taken away on 5 August, 2019. Similarly, coronavirus lockdown was implemented without giving adequate time to citizens to be prepared to face it. Lakhs of daily wage or contract workers, who live in sub-human conditions, were stuck in their places of work with all transportation to their homes abruptly coming to stand still. Narendra Modi even invoked memories of how the country faced war situation in the past to deal with the current crisis. When the writer met a group of eleven workers walking in Lucknow, capital city of state of Uttar Pradesh, 500 kilometer east of Delhi, on the evening of 28 March, 2020, he was informed by them that they had been walking since 22 March, the day Narendra Modi had given a call for one day ‘people’s curfew,’ implying they were walking almost 70 km per day, and they still had a good 150 km to go before they would reach their homes in Bahraich. (The writer has organised several peace marches and from experience can say that it is difficult to walk more than 20-30 km per day for an ordinary person.) Workers have walked more than a thousand kilometers to reach state of Bihar from Delhi. These walks were eerie as all eating and even tea joints were closed en-route courtesy lockdown. Later the government took a decision to make buses available but a group of 14 ‘dholak’, an Indian percussion instrument, makers, stuck in Agra found it difficult to pay Rs. 800 per adult and Rs. 500 per child that they were asked to pay to reach their…

Sandeep-Pandey

India, News, Politics, Social Media 10 March 2020

Convert detention centres into Schools or Hospitals

The Prime Minister had declared from the Ram Lila ground before the Delhi elections that there are no detention centres in the country in the context of nationwide anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens protests. But there were media reports of temporary detention centres being run in various jails of Assam and a permanent one being constructed in Gwalpara district. When this writer along with Medha Patkar met Akhil Gogoi in Guwahati jail on 19 February, we saw seven foreigners mentioned on a notice board inside the gate of jail. To verify the claim of Prime Minister a yatra was organised from Rajghat, Delhi to Matia in Gwalpara in the last week of February.  At the end of the yatra a human chain was to be formed outside the under-construction centre to sympathise with people who’re in detention centres. How big is it a crime to be put in jail for not having been able to prove one’s citizenship? And for how long will one be put in jail? Obviously for not more than ‘life term’. Since life term itself is not for entire life, what will happen to the citizenship status once the accused foreigner completes his/her term in jail and who cannot be deported for whatever reason? The question of what will happen to a Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi, covered for granting citizenship under the CAA, if they are not able to prove that they came from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan prior to 2014, is also unclear.  It doesn’t appear that much thought has gone into all aspects of this complicated issue, to which there was a simple solution of granting work permit without right to vote to all illegal immigrants if they desired. The Delhi-Assam yatra was organised by Khudai Khidmatgar, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Justice Forum, Assam and Socialist Party (India) with 18 yatris from eight different states of India. The yatra started from Rajghat, Delhi on 23 February but was stopped by Uttar Pradesh police as soon as it entered the Aligarh district border. The UP administration would not…