Tag: India

NOVANEWS By Colin Todhunter Asia-Pacific Research   What is the point in central government orders and carefully thought out regulatory norms if government officials and regulators act with blatant disregard? This is precisely what we now see happening in India where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are concerned. India has the greatest brinjal germplasm in the world with 2,500 varieties, including wild species. Following news in April that (genetically engineered) Bt brinjal is being illegally cultivated in Haryana, prominent campaigner and environmentalist Aruna Rodrigues says: “These varieties are now under threat of irreversible contamination (cross-pollination) because of cumulative acts over time of senseless and criminally irresponsible regulatory oversight. More pro...

NOVANEWS By Michael Porter Communist Party of India (Marxist) rally. Photo: Jaffar Theekkathir Millions of people have poured into the streets in recent days to join courageous protests challenging the far-right government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India. Modi has failed to accomplish his major campaign promise of economic development. Instead his government has given India four years of anti-worker, anti-farmer, ethnic and religious chauvinist and anti-women policies. Modi’s far-right Bharatiya Janata Party is deeply concerned about its prospects in upcoming national elections later this year. The BJP came to power in 2014 with flowery promises of development and anti-corruption measures, but the material reality of a controversial currency policy, the anti-Muslim mob viol...

NOVANEWS An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard in Srinagar, January 15, 18. (Photo by AFP) India is interested in training its military at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian Defense Ministry informed on Thursday on the outcomes of the visit by India’s Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba. “During his visit to Russia, Admiral Sunil Lanba has delivered a lecture for the students of the General Staff’s Military Academy on the role of the Indian Navy in the maintenance of peace and stability in South Asia. During the meeting with the academy’s leadership, the Indian military commander commended the level of training of the academy’s graduates, expressing the interest of the Indian side in training its military personnel...

NOVANEWS By TCN News Note to readers: please click the share buttons above   Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand is an important figure in the field of environmental engineers in India. Formerly known as Professor G.D. Agarwal, he has been a faculty member in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Member-Secretary Central Pollution Control Board. At the age of 79, the engineer took diksha and became a sanayasi. He has played an important role in stalling 3 hydroelectric projects to ensure uninterrupted flow of Bhagirathi, which becomes Ganga after meeting Alaknanda, for the initial 175 kms. The swamy now, 86, has undertaken another unto death at Haridwar since 22 June, 2018, demanding a law for conservation of river Ganga. Close to Rs. 500 crores was spent as part of the previous Ga...

NOVANEWS By Dr. Chandra Muzaffar Note to readers: please click the share buttons above The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) is shocked to learn that the prominent Indian social activist, Swami Agnivesh, was assaulted on the 17th of July 2018 in the Pakur area of Jharkhand State while leaving a hotel where he had participated in an event. The assassins are allegedly from the youth wing of the BJP, the ruling party. They had torn his clothes and hurled abuses at Agnivesh. They were angry that the activist had made a statement defending the consumption of beef. In recent months, the consumption of beef in a society where the cow is venerated has become a volatile issue with cases reported of Muslims being killed because they had eaten the meat of the animal even wit...

NOVANEWS By Countercurrents  The farmers in Maharashtra won a historic victory after 50,000 farmers threatened to siege the state assembly. The Devendra Fadnavisgovernment of Maharashtra has agreed to the demands of protesting farmers. A committee has been set up, which will consider all aspects of their demands, which includes loan waiver, free electricity and a higher price for their produce.The government has given its acceptance in writing, said state minister Chandrakant Patil, after a delegation of farmers met government representatives this afternoon. Mr Fadnavis said the Chief Secretary will do the follow up. The Fadnavis Government has decided to table a bill in the Monsoon session of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, which will assure minimum price for agricultural p...

NOVANEWS On the 67th anniversary of its proclamation, the Indian Republic finds itself in a veritable state of siege. The government of the day and the corporate-communal cabal that it represents and serves so brazenly have mounted a multi-pronged assault on the constitutional basis and framework of the Republic of India. The principles and values enunciated in the Constitution are being subverted in every possible way and the institutions that had been built to promote and protect the rights of the citizens and the collective interests and aspirations of the people are being systematically hijacked and destroyed. Indeed, the RSS has time and again made it clear that it does not recognise the Constitution as the basis of the modern Indian Republic. For the RSS, the Republic is just an or...

NOVANEWS IN THE ONGOING ASSEMBLY ELECTION CAMPAIGN in various states, most notably the state of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has once again unleashed a communal campaign aimed at consolidating Hindu voters against the imaginary Muslim enemy. The BJP Manifesto for Uttar Pradesh promises to set up ‘anti-Romeo quads’ outside college campuses. While the BJP President Amit Shah claims these are aimed at curbing incidents of sexual harassment of women students, the BJP’s national co-convenor Sunil Bharala has made the communal and anti-women agenda of ‘anti-Romeo squads’ amply clear. Bharala declared that the squads are aimed at acting against Muslim men involved in “love jehad” – the BJP’s term for consensual relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women. This is not the first time the BJP has ...

NOVANEWS The events of Delhi University are ominous. ABVP, the stormtroopers of the RSS, rioted for two consecutive days in Delhi University, using bricks, stones and sticks to prevent a seminar from taking place. The Delhi Police colluded with this assault, with its men joining ABVP in assaulting women students and journalists. Three constables have now been suspended – but this gesture only begs the question about who was giving the orders to Delhi Police to permit a riot on the University campus? Several facts are notable here. The Delhi Police refused to file an FIR against the ABVP cadre that were indulging in open, wanton violence and celebrating by dancing atop a Delhi Police bus. Instead the Delhi Police did a lathi charge on the students peacefully waiting outside the police st...