kracktivist

Marie Colvin Killed in Syria, and the Story She Paid With Her Life to Tell

kracktivist — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:13:04 +0000

Peter Bouckaert

Published in: The Daily Beast, FEBRUARY 22, 2012

She took to wearing a black patch over the eye she lost when shot in the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2001, and always seemed to have a notepad and a pen in her hand. She was inevitably in the midst of war’s chaos before the rest of us got there, proudly filing,as she did on Tuesday, as “the only British newspaper journalist” at the scene. She was a legend to all of us who cover conflict, and universally beloved for her inspiring courage and deep commitment to the work of reporting.

On Tuesday, after she filed her horror-filled account from Homs for her paper, The Sunday Times, she got in touch on Facebook to tell me just how horrific the situation in Homs was. We had worked closely together in Libya for the past year, strengthening an occasional friendship over the years into a deep and affectionate bond. As she was preparing to enter Syria last week, we compared notes several times, looking at the routes into the besieged city of Homs and assessing the risks she would face. Her drive and determination to report—to witness—overcame all of her fears, and she was absolutely determined to get in, somehow.

Our conversation reminded me of what a unique person Marie Colvin was—an amazing journalist for sure, always first on the scene, but also a deeply caring human being who was never overcome by the cynicism and egotism that plagues the world of war reporting.

Her story for The Times was behind a pay wall, so many could not read her powerful account of atrocities in Syria. She first encouraged our Facebook group of conflict journalists and rights reporters to post her latest story from Homs, saying she wasn’t technically competent enough to do it, and saying that she’d face “the firing squad” at her paper for the lost revenue, explaining “I don’t often do this, but it is sickening what is happening here.” Many of us commended her for her courage, and then a journalist, believing she had already left Homs, expressed his relief that she was safe. She responded in her usual funny fashion, relishing the dark humor of war correspondents:

“I think the reports of my survival may be exaggerated. I’m in Babo Amr. Sickening, trying to understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now. Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until it stopped. Feeling helpless. As well as cold! ….

What “Rape Sonograms” Are Really About

kracktivist — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:53:43 +0000

This week, the Virginia State Legislature – joining Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa – passed two of the country’s most restrictive abortion bills. One, a personhood anti-abortion bill and the other, mandating a coercive mandatory transvaginal probe for women seeking abortions. This week’s momentum of the “personhood” movement is not surprising in that it is closely tied to conservative Republican’s inability to target the economy as a problem in a campaign year. A shift in focus on social issues is logical.

It struck me as particularly meaningful, therefore, that I was watching The Loving Story as I thought about the passage of these bills. That documentary is about the mixed race couple who took their challenge of Virginia’s anti-miscegenation slavery laws to the Supreme Court in 1963, exactly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Can you tell by looking at it, if that map is a map of states considering personhood bills or a map of the states that had anti-miscegentation laws up to 100 years after Emancipation? Of the states that have introduced personhood bills 77% had anti-miscegenation laws on their books as late as 1948-1967. Of the 16 states that never repealed their anti-misegenation laws, but rather had them overturned by Loving vs. Virginia, more than half have introduced personhood bills.

These statistics are not a coincidence. Racism, sexism, homophobia – they go hand in hand and the people oppressed by them experience them in intersecting ways. Worldwide, women’s human rights are complicated by these intersections.

Like these two Virginia bills, anti-misegenation laws were really not about “morality” or “decency”, but about social order. They’re not about “personhood” but “humanity.” Sex, controlling other people’s private lives, dictating what they do with their bodies and controlling their “place” in society. The more “human” you perceive yourself to be, the more you presume you have authority to tell others how to be and what to do. And, like those laws, these bills are based on ignorance, entitlement and arrogance. After many years, the Lovings won their landmark case and succeeded in finally dismantling shameful government-sanctioned racism in regards to mixed-race marriages.

Exactly how ugly and perversely wrong do things have to get before people pay attention to how fragile women’s rights and choices are in the face of sexism, misogyny, and legislative bullying? Is requiring women to undergo a medically unnecessary, invasive vaginal penetration bad enough? To me, it sounds as punitive, threatening and coercive as “virginity tests” that female Egyptian anti-government protestors were subjected to last year.

Personhood bills grant full rights, privileges and immunities to multicellular diploid eukaryotes. They also, for good measure, restrict and may entirely ban hormonal contraception. The second Virginia bill, and others like it, is what I want to focus on here. It forces any woman seeking an abortion to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. Without her consent.

You see, if you raise the bar for decency, humanity and safety so far up, it might make your actual indecency and coded threats of violence seem somehow reasonable.

Either that, or the Republican Virginia legislators are unclear about what “trans,” ”vaginal,” and “consent” mean. “Trans,” a panic-inducing prefix for conservatives, means “across.” “Vaginal” means a place in a woman’s body to put phallic things into when the government wants to. For someone that hasn’t had to or will never have to experience it this is how Medline Plus explains what happens when you put “trans” and “vaginal” together in an ultrasound:

“You will lie down on a table with your knees bent and feet in holders called stirrups. The health care provider will place a probe, called a transducer, into the vagina. The probe is covered with a condom and a gel…The doctor can immediately see the picture on a nearby TV monitor.”

“Consent” means with permission. I am surprised, since a TV monitor is part of the procedure, that they haven’t yet mandated a live-stream into the legislative chamber – just to make sure no one is cheating them of their god-given right to invade another person’s body without her permission.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, a conservative Roman Catholic, who has never experienced a transvaginal probe, has explained that he will sign the ultrasound bill, although he is uncertain about the personhood bill. Does this mean he’s not sure if a mass of undifferentiated cells are people, but he is sure that women aren’t?

Not only are they fuzzy on those terms, but the Governor and Republican members of the Virginia State Legislature don’t understand what rape is. Maybe they should consult the FBI, which defines rape this way:

“The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

Or their own state’s rape statute:

“If any person has sexual intercourse with a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, or causes a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, to engage in sexual intercourse with any other person and such act is accomplished (i) against the complaining witness’s will, by force, threat or intimidation of or against the complaining witness or another person; or (ii) through the use of the complaining witness’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness; or (iii) with a child under age 13 as the victim, he or she shall be guilty of rape.”

Or maybe they just think women should “expect to be raped” if they live in Virginia and want abortions, just like in the military.

Republican legislators explicitly declined to vote for a proposed amendment that would have required women to sign a consent form. Carrie Brandstrom, who started the FaceBook page Stay out of MY UTERUS! Stop ANTI-Women Legislation, called it a “rape sonogram” earlier this week and she is right. That’s what it should be called.

As Andy Kopsa, writing in RHReality Check, put it, “The bottom line is pro-choice legislators in state houses around the country as well as physicians and women’s rights activists must start drawing the clear line between state forced transvaginal ultrasounds and rape.”

I know that the Republicans in the Virginia Legislature, and the people that support them, don’t want to rape good women. They know that unless a woman screams and fights, it’s not “real rape.” They want toprotect women from their own intrinsically poor decision making faculties and take away the access to birth control and abortions that turn them into craven sluts.

Can you imagine making it mandatory for any man needing medicine for erectile dysfunction to pay for and have a rectal exam and cardiac stress test? I mean, how ridiculous is that? No legislative body would ever pass an amendment making anal penetration with a probe mandatory for men who don’t want it.

Ha! What a joke! Except it isn’t.

It was a protest that no one took seriously. Virginia State Senator, Janet Howell, to whom I am currently erecting a small shrine in my office, attached the mandatory rectal exam and cardiac test to theses abortion bills. Needless to say, it did not pass. That’s because THAT is different and the legislators in question have no doubt about whattransrectal probes are. Just to be clear, I don’t want to make any transorifice probe mandatory, but there is no difference between these procedures except the gender of the people subjected to them.

Delegate David Englin, a Democrat who thinks women are equal before the law, had this to say:

“This bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions. This kind of government intrusion shocks the conscience and demonstrates the disturbing lengths Republican legislators will go to prevent women from controlling their own reproductive destiny.”

He proposed the failed amendment that would have required women to give their consent before the invasive procedure. These bills go beyond casual misogyny. They ignore and revoke women’s right to privacy and deny them their personal liberty, not to mention dignity. They are unconstitutional and will be challenged if signed into law.

How long will it take for women to have full and equal reproductive rights and control over their own bodies, free from conservative legislative interference?
By Soraya L. Chemaly | Sourced from Feminist Wire

Virginia’s proposed abortion law ‘akin to rape’ (smh.com.au)
Virginia’s Ultrasound Bill Makes No Exceptions For Rape Or Incest (tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com)
New Virginia Law Is Being Called “State-Funded Rape”…Do You Agree? (bossip.com)
New Virginia Personhood Laws Outlaw Birth Control – and Oh, Yeah – Can Penetrate Women Without Their Consent (uncommontary.com)

Filed under: Advocacy, Disability, Health Care, Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Violence against Women, Women Rights Tagged: Abortion, Bob McDonnell, Emancipation Proclamation, Janet Howell, Republican, Sexual intercourse, Virginia, Virginia General Assembly

Attacks on Journalists: Press Council chief serves dismissal notice on CM

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:49:10 +0000

22.2. 2012

Shri Prithviraj Chavan,
Chief Minister of Maharashtra,
Mumbai,

Dear Chief Minister,

A delegation of eight journalists from Maharashtra met me today and apprised me of a large number of physical attacks on journalists/media houses in the State of Maharashtra including the recent one on Times of India building in Mumbai allegedly by Shiv Sena people.

I was informed that in the last ten years well over 800 journalists were physically attacked, while in the last two and half years
213 journalists were attacked by political workers and anti-social elements. More shocking was the day light – murder of veteran journalist J.Dey.

In this connection I had written two letters to you but there was no response from your side to either of them. Did I not even deserve the courtesy of a reply?

Freedom of the Press is a guaranteed Constitutional right under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution, and it is the duty of the Press Council of India to uphold the freedom of the press in view of section 13 of the Press Council Act.

It is the duty of the State Government to maintain law and order in the State, but it seems to me that your Government is neither able to maintain law and order nor prevent attacks on journalists, which seriously imperils freedom of the press.

You are, therefore, requested to now show cause why I should not recommend to the President of India to dismiss your State Government under Article 356 of the Constitution since your Government apparently seems to have failed to uphold the Constitution as it has failed to uphold the freedom of the press under Article 19 (1) (a).

Please give a reply to this letter within three weeks from today after which I will take such action as is fit in the circumstances.

Yours sincerely,
(Markandey Katju)

Press freedom violation: Katju to send teams to states (thehindu.com)

Filed under: Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Women Rights Tagged: ARTICLE 19, Asia, attacks, discrimination, fourth estate, Human Rights, India, journalists, Maharashtra, Markandey Katju, Mumbai, Press Council of India, Press freedom, Shiv Sena, State government

Piyush Pandey and the Vedanta open letter

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:43:20 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Anant Rangaswami Feb 22, 2012FIRST POST, Feb 22, 2012

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, an activist-blogger, has posted an impassioned open letter to Ogilvy South Asia executive chairman and national creative director Piyush Pandey in the context of the campaign created by his agency for Vedanta and his role in the communication.

“After so many socially responsible ad campaigns by you I was aghast to see Vedanta’s “Creating Happiness” ad. Recently unveiling the campaign you said: “The Vedanta ‘Creating Happiness’ campaign is extremely close to my heart for it’s all about enabling India. I have worked on this campaign along with my team as an excited young copywriter and I look forward to the people of India not just appreciating Vedanta’s efforts, but getting inspired to do something on their own to make India a happier place.”

‘Ten years of the Gujarat Genocide’

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:40:37 +0000

Invitation to a Commemoration Meeting in Mumbai:
‘Justice for Victims of 2002 Genocide’
Day/Date: Monday, February 27, 2012; 6-8 pm. (Meeting starts at 6 pm sharp)
Venue: St. Xaviers College Main auditorium, Next to Rang Bhavan,
5, Mahapalika Marg, Mumbai. (Phone: 22620661)

February 27/28 mark ten years both of the tragic death of 57 persons due to fire in a compartment of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra station and the criminal manipulation of this tragic incident as a pretext for the Modi government sponsored anti-Muslim genocide throughout the state.

On February 27, thousands of victim-survivors of the mass crime, lawyers, jurists, activists, artistes and intellectuals from all over the country will assemble at Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad for a commemoration. Through words and images, reminiscences and video-clips, photo exhibition, names of ‘Missing Persons’ enlisted on a ‘Wailing Wall’, honouring those who risked their lives to save neighbours who were the target, music and tears, the Crimes Against Humanity committed ten years ago will be recalled and the plight of the traumatised and the displaced highlighted. The survivors from Gulberg Society will lead the assembled people through the housing colony and recount the horrors of February 28, 2002. A collective resolve will be renewed to continue the struggle for justice to the victim-survivors and punishment to the perpetrators and masterminds of the carnage.

The entire programme at Gulberg Society, symbolising the Holocaust in Gujarat will be webcast for viewing Live on the afternoon/evening of Feb 27 and posted on U-tube subsequently so that we remember, never forget.

Simultaneous Commemoration Meetings are planned in several cities, including Mumbai and Delhi. For a part of the meeting on Feb 27, we hope to be able to view the programme webcast Live from Gulberg Society. The Mumbai meeting is being jointly organised by ALL justice and peace-promoting individuals/organisations and St Xaviers College. We urge you to be there and also publicise it widely within your circle of family, friends and colleagues urging them to be there too.

Convenor: Javed Anand, Citizens for Justice and Peace (M: 9870402556)

Co-convenors:

Dolphy D’Souza, Bombay Catholic Sabha (M: 9820226227)

Fr Lancy Pinto, Justice and Peace Commission (M: 9769814788)

Hasina Khan, Awaaz-e-Niswan/Forum Against Women’s Oppression (M: 9870162113)

Irfan Engineer, All India Secular Forum (M: 9869462833)

Noorjehan Safia Niaz, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (M: 9833072690)

Shabnam Hashmi detained and released in Gujarat, Citizens demand intervention (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Victims’ pleain Gulberg case rejected (thehindu.com)
Memorial to a Genocide (Gujarat 2002 – 2012) Nationwide Call to participate (kractivist.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Announcements, Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Press Release, Violence against Women, Women Rights Tagged: Holocaust, Narendra Modi, Sabarmati Express

Orissa – Police file false cases against Dandapani Mohanty, Nachika Linga and three other CMAS activists

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:30:58 +0000

Feb 21, 2012– A note received from Dandapani Mohanty

Chasi Mulia Sangha (CMAS) is going to hold a meting at Narayanpatna. All the tribal communities will be attending the meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to save the tribal language, culture and territory. Also, the objective is to provide education up to the 8th class in tribal language. In this context, two tribal students Landa Tadingi and Chakra Tadingi along with Suka linga, the younger brother of Nachika Linga, came to Berhampur to contact guests and for preparing the leaflets for the meeting. While they were returning, they were arrested by Berhampur Police at the Berhampur railway station on 17th February 2012.

The police recovered from then the fortnightly newspaper named Janatantra (Regd. No. ORIORI/2001/5588), Swaviman (Regd No. RNI-70589/98), 2000 copies of the pamphlet titled “Adivasi Jeevan Vasa Sanskruti Surakshya Pai Samabas Ku Safal Karantu” (d. 21.2.2012) and three books written by the environmentalist Prafulla Samantray, one handycam, two sarees and one blanket. They were charged using a fabricated case no. GR/241/12 under Sec-10,13,18,20,39,40 UAPA 124/A/IPC. The FIR has been lodged against Dandapani Mohanty (convenor of Jana Adhikar Manch), Nachika Linga (CMAS President) and the other three who were arrested by police.

CMAS is a democratic organization, organizing the tribal people in a democratic manner in order to raise their voices for implementation of the government’s policy in tribal areas. Since last four years, CMAS has organized many meetings in a democratic manner. Many intellectuals, social workers have attended these meetings. CMAS is not at all a banned organization. Unfortunately, Odisha police has treated the democratic organization and democratic peoples as terrorists and are trying to suppress the democratic voices, The police has now foisted a fabricated case under UAPA act against Dandapani Mohanty & Nachika Linga. So I appeal to all the democratic minded people in country to raise their voices against state violence and demand before that the government must withdraw the fabricated case against the five of us.

NAPM strongly condemns this high handedness of the Odisha state and continued repression in Narayanpatna. (icrindia.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Press Release Tagged: Adivasi, Asia, Berhampur, Central Reserve Police Force, CMAS, discrimination, Government, Health, Human Rights, India, Lingam, Maoism, Maoist, Nachika Linga, Naxalite, Odisha, Orissa, torture, Tribal rights, Tribe

Signature campaign against draft Indian National Water Policy 2012

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:20:59 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Join People’s Campaign for Right to Water-Karnataka in opposing Draft National Water Policy 2012 prepared by Ministry of Water Resources and demand its immediate withdrawal.
Water is a life and precious resource, which should be carefully conserved and available for use by all living beings for now and in future. We oppose the introduction of the very concept of water as an economic good, we will strongly oppose the anti-constitutional approach of providing water only to those who can afford to pay for it. Water cannot be commodified and should not be traded.

It is the responsibility of the Government to provide clean and safe drinking water to rural and urban areas. Any attempts to privatise in the guise of public-private partnership, outsourcing of operations and management, or other functions amounts to abdication of this responsibility. In carrying out this responsibility the Government should ensure the Right to Water to every citizen. This right is linked with the Right to Food (security). Therefore such a right cannot be an outcome of tradable, competitive economic water rights. The policy should outline various measures to implement the Right to Water, with adequate funding and technology as required. This must lead to improved public health and human well-being.

The Peoples Campaign for Right to Water – Karnataka (PCRTW-K)

Demands :

1. The Government has a responsibility to provide clean and safe drinking water.

2. Public-private partnership, outsourcing of operations and management amounts to abdication of responsibility.

3. The Government must commit to time bound assured universal coverage with implementation through democratic elected local Governments in urban (ULG’s) and Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI’s) in rural areas.

4. The Government is to work towards implementing the universal human right to water and sanitation including introduction of legal measures as required.

5. Policy and implementation to ensure that none can be denied water based on lack of affordability.

6. Water is not a commodity and cannot be traded or treated as economic good.

We invite you to join us in this campaign by signing the e-petition below as soon as possible and also encourage your friends to do so.The signatures and petition will be submitted to the Ministry of Water Resources and the Planning Commission, GoI.

Please sign petition here

Turning off the tap on water as a human right (thehindu.com)

Filed under: Human Rights Tagged: Drinking water, Government, Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China, Panchayati raj, Planning Commission, Public–private partnership, Right to water

Victory for Ghar Banao Andolan, Mumbai High Court Vindicates their Contention Agianst Hiranandani Developers

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:59:05 +0000

Mumbai High Court Indicts Hiranandani Developers; Orders Stopping of Further Construction

Accepts Criminal Fraud and Says Petitioners free to Initiate Criminal Proceedings against the State Government and Hiranandani Developers

Mumbai, February 22 : “It is a victory of the struggles of the working classes of Mumbai who live in slums, bastis and chawls, face eviction and are constantly termed as ‘encroachers’. The interim judgement of Mumbai High Court today vindicates our stand and once again proves the criminal nexus between builders, politicians and bureaucracy. We welcome the directions of the Honourable Court and hope the land will be returned to the original owners or used for the urban poor. It is ironical that the Government of Maharashtra was kind enough to give 300 Acres of land to Hiranandani at the rate of 40 paisa per acre but has continued to evict and break the homes of basti dwellers in Mandala, Sathe Nagar, Golibar, Kannamwar Nagar and others,” said Medha Patkar.

She was reacting to the interim judgement in a PIL filed by her against Niranjan Hiranandani for irregularities and fraud in development of Hiranandani Gardens, township in Powai. Mumbai High Court bench presided by Chief Justice Mohit C Shah and Smt Roshan Dalvi today ordered immediate halting of all construction and directed the developers not to sell any flats without the Court order. The case was argued by Advocate Ashish Mehta on behalf of the petitioner, Medha Patkar of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan – National Alliance of People’s Movements. In earlier years the case was argued by senior advocate Y P Singh.

Court accepted criminal intent and illegality in land allotment to the Hiranandani Developers and building of the Hiranandani Gardens it said the petitioners are free to initiate criminal proceedings against the Developers, State Government and other Statutory authorities.

It ordered the developers to construct 3,000 flats (1500 flats of 400 Square feet and 1500 of 800 square feet) to be handed over to the State Government, which will allot it to the Lower Income Group and Middle Income Group people at the rate of 135 Rs / square feet, the rate prevalent in 1985. The land in question was, actually given on lease to Hiranandani for building houses for poor people but in gross violation of all terms and conditions it built sky scrapers, housing societies, Malls etc for rich and big businesses.

While posting the case for final hearing on March 29th 2012 Court directed MMRDA, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, State Government, Developers and Petitioners to jointly prepare diagrams showing the extent to which the FSI and TDR has been used and how much remains to be used. Court accepted the contention that huge losses has been incurred by the government due to violations by the Hiranandani developers but didn’t pass any judgement on that since there is a separate arbitration case ongoing in Mumbai High between the State and Developers.

Members of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan expressed their satisfaction at the progress and said they will wait for the final judgement in March2012. Millions of working class people have a right to decent housing and it is time state government started evicting the big builders who have encroached upon the public and other land meant for housing of urban poor. Let government use the land above ceiling available in Mumbai for implementing of the right to housing. Let them implement Rajiv Awas Yojana. Our struggle against the Builders will continue and we will continue to expose their corruption.

Sumit Wajale, Prerna Gaekwad, Santosh Thorat, Madhuri Shivkar, Madhuri Variyath

Contact : 9423965153 / 981998059

Medha Patkar Refuses Basava Award (kractivist.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Press Release Tagged: Government of Maharashtra, Hiranandani Gardens, India, Kannamwar Nagar, Medha Patkar, Mumbai, Municipal Corporation of GreaterMumbai, State government

Nuclear Effect: The Story of villages within the radiation zone

kracktivist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:47:17 +0000

By Sayed Isthiyakh
2/21/12

KAIGA (KARWAR) – Kaiga located amidst dense forest of Sahyadri section of Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada District – one of the biggest districts of Karnataka State with abundant natural resources. The district has varied geographical features with thick forest, perennial rivers and abundant flora and fauna and a long coastal line.

Apart from natural resources the district has some man-made wonders. Supa Dam, Kadra Dam, Kodasalli Dam and Gerusoppa Dam are important among Hydro Electric Power Projects while Kaiga Generating Station is important Nuclear Power Project.

Kali Nadi Hydro Electric Project (KPCL) set-up across west flowing Kali River releases endless energy. Having origin at Diggi village in Western Ghats, joins Arabian Sea after completing journey of 160 kms.

The estimated power potential of the river is about 1700 MW with an annual yield of 6500 MU. Supa Dam, Kodasalli Dam, Kadra Dam are built in different phases having number of power generation units along with small dams across tributary rivers.

The main tribes of the district are Sidhi, Kunabi, Halakki Vokkaliga, Gonda and Gouli are spread across the district.

The five villages Balemane, Hartuga, Harur, Balase, and Sulageri come within five kilometers of radius of Kaiga Atomic Power Plant. The location of the villages and hamlets is that they are surrounded in one direction by Kaiga Atomic Power Plant, in another direction by Kali hydro power dam and its back water, and yet in another direction by the gigantic Sahyadri mountains.

This is a sensitive area wherein if any untoward man-made or natural disaster happens, it would be very difficult to protect the population residing in the area, it is even not possible to reach the area.

Open letter to Piyush Pandey on Vedanta’s “Creating Happiness”

kracktivist — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:45:49 +0000

Executive Chairman &National Creative Director India and South Asia

Ogilvy & Mather Pvt Ltd

21^st Feb, 2012

Dear Mr Piyush Pandey

Greetings !

You are the Icon of Indian advertising Industry and I was delighted to know that you have been appointed as the brand ambassador for D&AD White Pencil Award. The new award from D&AD has been announced for an idea that raises awareness or changes behaviour around a pressing social, environmental or health issue. This is a significant initiative in the world of communication.

Your mile sur humara tumhara’ for the National Literacy Mission in 1988 got etched in our collective Indian advertising memory years ago. . As also your anti smoking ads for the Cancer Patient association which won you two Cannes Gold Medals in 2002.

In 1999 “Bhopal Express” – a film based on the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 that was co- written by you, acted as a catalyst in bringing to the forefront the human rights violations committed by Union Carbide , a corporate genocide. You supported the cause of Bhopal gas victims, and I respect you for that.

After so many socially responsible ad campaigns by you I was aghast to see Vedanta’s “Creating Happiness” ad . Recently unveiling the campaign you said “The Vedanta ‘Creating Happiness’ campaign is extremely close to my heart for it’s all about enabling India. I have worked on this campaign along with my team as an excited young copywriter and I look forward to the people of India not just appreciating Vedanta’s efforts, but getting inspired to do something on their own to make India happier place.” http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/01/vedanta-group-unveils-first-ever-national-corporate-campaign/

May I ask you, if you really know whether Vedanta has enabled or disabled India ? Whether Vedanta has protected the environment of the tribals in India, or has been on land grabbing spree and attacking peaceful protestors?

I urge you to visit Niyamgiri hills, I am sure you will love the paradise on earth, which Vedanta is hell bent on destroying .

Niyamgiri Hills, named after the Niyamraja, the main deity of the Donagria Kondhs, are one of last untouched wildernesses of Orissa. Rising to a height of more than four thousand feet, it is the source of Vamshadhara river as well as major tributaries of Nagavali rivers. Niyamgiris form a distinct phytogeographical zone because of its height and its highly precipitous topography . It has some of the most pristine forests in Orissa. Niyamgiri flora is of ‘great phyto-geographical importance’ as the hilltops harbor high altitude plants with Himalayan/North Indian and Nilgiri/South Indian elements. Preliminary studies show that it has approximately 50 species of important medicinal plants, about 20 species of wild ornamental plants, and more than 10 species of wild relatives of crop plants .

The forested slopes of the Niyamgiri hills and the many streams that flow through them provide the means of living for Dongaria Kondh and Kutia Kondh, Scheduled Tribes that are notified by the government as ‘Primitive Tribal Groups’ and thus eligible for special protection. In addition, the Dongaria Kondh, whose total population is 7952 according to the 2001 census, are regarded as an endangered tribe. Schedule V of the Indian Constitution which enjoins the government to respect and uphold the land rights of Scheduled Tribes applies to the entire Niyamgiri hills region. While the Kutia Kondh inhabit the foothills, the Dongaria Kondh live in the upper reaches of the Niyamgiri hills which is their only habitat.

In the polytheistic animist worldview of the Kondh, the hilltops and their associated forests are regarded as supreme deities. The highest hill peak, which is under the proposed mining lease area, is the home of their most revered god, Niyam Raja, ‘the giver of law’.

They worship the mountains (dongar from which the Dongaria Kondh derive their name) along with the earth (dharini). These male and female principles come together to grant the Kondh prosperity, fertility and health.

According , ‘Report of the four member committee for investigation into the proposal submitted by the Orissa Mining Company for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri’, dated August 16, 2010, by Dr N C Saxena, Dr S Parasuraman, Dr Promode Kant, Dr Amita Baviskar. Submitted to the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.

Image via Wikipedia

”As Narendra Majhi, a Kutia Kondh from Similibhata village, said, “We worship Niyam Raja and Dharini Penu. That is why we don’t fall ill”. Sikoka Lodo, a Dongaria Kondh from Lakpadar village said, “As long as the mountain is alive, we will not die”. Dongaria Kondh art and craft reflect the importance of the mountains to their community— their triangular shapes recur in the designs painted on the walls of the village shrine as well as in the colourful shawls that they wear. All the Dongria and Kutia Kondh villagers that the Committee conversed with emphasized the connection between their culture and the forest ecology of the Niyamgiri hills. Their belief in the sacredness of the hills is rooted in a strong dependence on the natural resources that the mountains provide. Their customary practices in the area include agriculture, grazing and the collection of minor forest produce (MFP).All Dongaria Kondh that the Committee spoke to expressed their strong attachment to the Niyamgiri hills, their stewardship of the land, and the legitimacy of their rights arising from their long-standing presence in these hills. They strongly voiced their contentment with life and their opposition to any destructive change of the ecology threatening their culture. As Sikoka Budhga said, “We can never leave Niyamgiri. If the mountains are mined, the water will dry up. The crops won’t ripen. The medicinal plants will disappear. The air will turn bad. Our gods will be angry. How will we live? We cannot leave Niyamgiri.”

Research by Amnesty International and other local and international groups documents the serious and continuing pollution caused by the refinery’s operations. Despite the string of decisions against Vedanta, the company has failed to remedy the pollution.The latest high court verdict states that Vedanta cannot circumvent conditions issued by India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), stipulating that plans for expansion of the refinery should go through a fresh environmental and social impact assessment and a public hearing process. Residents of 12 villages who live in the shadow of the massive refinery – mostly Majhi Kondh Adivasi (Indigenous) and Dalit communities who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods – have long campaigned against the expansion.India’s great land grab continues, with police forcibly evicting tribal villagers in Orissa from land sold to UK-based Vedanta Resources to use as a toxic waste dump .

In your various interviews you have time again said you get creative insights from the people you interact with and also while you make ad campaigns you relate to the common man.I urge you to go and find for yourself what Vedanta is doing to Niyamgiri Hills and talk to the tribals yourself to know the truth.

Meanwhile I would like you to see activist Satyabadi Naik’s shocking video of police crackdown on a peaceful protest by women of Rengopalli and other villages against Vedanta’s toxic Red Mud Pond in Lanjigarh. This video was recorded on 23 Jan 2012. Watch the Video urgent-villagers-protest-against-vedanta-red-mud-pond

Soem more films on the REAL FACE OF VEDANTA

The Real Face of Vedanta

Niyamgiri – The Mountain of Law

iii. The Protector of the Streams

iv. Controversy over best environmental management award to vedanta

Now after reading my letter and watching the videos you tell me , is Vedanta “ Creating Happiness “ or ‘ Faking Happiness” ?

Regards

Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal

Mumbai

Open letter to Shyam Benegal on Vedanta’s Creating Happiness (kractivist.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Advocacy, Health Care, Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Minority Rights, Violence against Women, Women Rights Tagged: Asia, Bhopal, Bhopal disaster, Dalit, discrimination, Human Rights, India, Kutia Kondh, Niyamgiri, Niyamgiri Hills, Niyamraja, Ogilvy & Mather, Orissa, Piyush Pandey, Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, torture, Tribal rights, Vedanta, Women Rights

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