000-tobecategorised

https://thewire.in/rights/promised-gram-swaraj-eludes-varanasi-villages-narendra-modi-adopted 

This is the first article in a series of ground reports looking into whether the Bharatiya Janata Party has kept its poll promises in the last 10 years.

Over the last one decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted eight villages in Varanasi under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY). Chauhan’s village Domri, next to the river Ganga, is one of them. Under this scheme, each parliamentarian in India adopts one village from their constituency to make it a ‘model village’ within their tenure. Modi announced the SAGY in his first Independence Day speech in 2014, with promises of smart schools, universal access to basic health facilities and pukka housing for homeless villagers.

However, Domri is far from being a model village. In the absence of a house, most families in the Harijan Basti say they survive the monsoons under plastic and use a thin cloth for protection from mosquitoes when sleeping outside. For many, the cold becomes more unbearable than summer and rain

by Srishti Jaswal

14/03/2024

  नागरिकता क़ानून: संविधान पर धर्म का प्रहार | CAA implemented   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFfgyPndzmE  
Mar 13, 2024 नागरिकता क़ानून के नियमों को लागू कर दिया गया है। पिछले दो तीन दिनों में इस कानून के नियमों को लेकर बहुत सारे पहलू सामने आए हैं, लिहाज़ा उन्हें एक साथ रखकर देखने में इसकी राजनीति और इसके असर को हम ठीक से देख पाएंगे। इसलिए हमने तुरंत इस पर वीडियो बनाने से पहले यही सोचा कि जो इस विषय के विद्वान हैं, उनके सुचिंतित विश्लेषण का इंतज़ार कर एक समग्र वीडियो बनाया जा सके। जिसे देखने के बाद इस मसले से जुड़ी महत्वपूर्ण बातों की जानकारी आम दर्शकों को हो जाए। ज़ाहिर है वीडियो लंबा होगा और आपको पूरा देखना पड़ेगा। इस मामले पर रील्स नहीं बन सकता है। आपको यहाँ बहुत कुछ जानने को मिलेगा। 

Can religious processions on roads be banned in India? Can such a law be implemented on events of different religions simultaneously and equally? The question does not have a particular answer but we can definitely sense the ferocity of the times in which the question is being posed. We need to listen carefully to the underlying voices behind the protest against agitations on roads or offering of namaz. We also need to see how far the political rhetoric related to roads has changed in the past decade. The issue of toll tax or poor infrastructure of roads has not been raised as often and as vigorously as the matter of namaz on roads. Why is the question of road use so ferociously brought up only at the time of namaz? https://thewire.in/communalism/dont-hide-your-communal-prejudice-under-the-cloak-of-protecting-our-roads

Similarly, footpaths have vanished from roads in urban areas. Rights have been denied to pedestrians and here in Delhi, there is not a single lane for lakhs of cyclists. I am citing this example only to show that a road is not such a public and democratic space after all. In India, a particular class has dominated the roads – we call it the class of ‘car-wallahs’. A long campaign was run in a capital city like Delhi for making way for ambulances.

Democratisation of roads in India has taken place in a very narrow sense. Even if we look at it only as a space for unhindered traffic, there is gross dishonesty here. However, one must understand that roads are not used only for going to office or a hospital. They are used for hundreds of democratic and religious activities. 

by Ravish Kumar

12/03/2024