19 July, 2015
Chhattisgarh PUCL Condemns The Abduction
And Killing Of Four Constables
By People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Chhattisgarh
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Chhattisgarh condemns in no uncertain terms the abduction and killing of four constables belonging to the Chhattisgarh Auxiliary Force (erstwhile SPOs) attached to Police Station Bedre, district Bijapur by the Maoists
16 May, 2015
Curious Case Of Chhatradhar Mahato
By Nisha Biswas
The judgment of May12, 2015 of Midnapore session court to sentence Chhatradhar Mahato to life imprisonment is a travesty of justice and an attempt by the state to send a clear message to the people’s movement across West Bengal and India that any dissent against the state and the ruling classes will be answered in a ruthless manner
01 March, 2015
A Journey To Niyamgiri, A Celebration Of Life, Activism And Struggle!
By Shobha.R
We are once again reminded of the goondaism that prevails in regions like these, where communities face threats of abuse, intimidation and forced eviction due to mining and other so called development projects; where human right defenders and activists who believe in and abide by the law are made to feel like criminals and where the rich corporates who violate the law, rule the land
21 February, 2015
Kerala's Maoist Question
By Aishik Chanda
The state should immediately start considering Adivasis as very-much residents of Kerala. Then Forest Rights Act, Panchayati Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA), distribution of “cultivable land” to Adivasis and reduction of malnutrition deaths will follow automatically. As far as the Maoists are concerned, experiences of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have shown that they can be flushed out of a state, but they will continue returning back till they find fertile grounds for “revolution”
20 February, 2015
War And The Lightness of Being Adivasi: Security Camps And Villages In Bijapur, Chhattisgarh
By People's Union For Democratic Rights
Between December 26th and 31st 2014, a PUDR fact-finding team visited 9 villages of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh to ascertain reports of arrests, intimidation and harassment, including sexual abuse by security forces who are stationed there to fight the Maoists. Predominantly Adivasi villages, the residents of Basaguda, Kottaguda, Pusbaka, Lingagiri, Rajpeta, Timmapur, Kottagudem, Korsaguda and Sarkeguda, narrated the daily acts of violence and violations committed by armed personnel residing in security camps
06 February, 2015
‘Adivasi Campaign’ Demands Rejection Of The Land Acquisition Ordinance, 2014
By Adivasi Campaign for Human Rights
The present BJP led National Democratic Alliance government introduced an ordinance on 31st December 2014 to amend the LARRA. The Ordinance set aside the five major safeguards – social impact assessment, mandatory consent of the affected people, provisions to safeguard food security of the communities, punishment to the government officials and returning of unutilised land to the original land owners. These amendments effectively reintroduced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and ought to be rejected for the following reasons
27 December, 2013
Condemn Killing of Media Persons by CPI (Maoist)
By Asish Gupta & D Manjit
Peoples Union for Democratic Rights condemns the killing of Sai Reddy, a correspondent of Deshbandhu, a Hindi newspaper, based in Bijapur in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh on December 6, 2013. In a statement issued on December 10, 2013, the South Regional Committee of CPI(Maoist) claimed that Sai Reddy had “played an active role against the people’s movement in Basaguda and Usur areas over last two decades”, and therefore was condemned to death. Ironically, Sai Reddy not only wrote against Salwa Judum but was arrested by the police in 2008 and charged under Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act for allegedly being a Maoist supporter
29 October, 2013
The Terrible Cost Of An Inhuman Counter-Insurgency(PDF)
By Human Rights Forum
This report exposes the immense and entirely unacceptable suffering inflicted on adivasis by our not-so-human governments and police
20 August, 2013
Niyamgiri Mining Plan Gets A 12-0 Drubbing
By Countrercurrents.org
The Dongaria tribes of Jarapa village in Rayagada district today rejected the Niyamgiri mining plan, which was conceived to secure raw material for Vedanta Aluminium at Lanjigarh, Odisha, India. 11 other villages earlier rejected the mining plans of Vedanta in similar Gram Sabhas
15 August, 2013
India: The Burning Train
By Satya Sagar
Over six decades ago Pandit Nehru, the country's first Prime Minister, famously declared India’s 'tryst with destiny' and promised to make Independence a vehicle of future peace, prosperity and democratic rule for all his countrymen and women. But for millions of Indians living in this vast and diverse land it is as if Independence never arrived and our colonial rulers never left. There are two simple questions they pose that nobody seems to have an answer for. Who exactly got the freedom that India is supposed to have achieved? And WHO does this country really belong to?
30 June, 2013
Brutal Killing Of Adivasis In Bihar
By Jharkhand Human Rights Movement
A letter to president of India requesting an investigation on the brutal killing of 8 innocent Adivasis including 3 minor children in police firing, at Katharwa village in the state of Bihar on 24 June, 2013
26 May, 2013
Maoist Violence A Threat To Secular Democratic Forces In India
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The Maoist threat and violence will only strengthen the militarized minds in the bureaucracy who will make a war cry. It will strengthen the right wing agenda of political parties and the end result would be that situation would turn more difficult for all those whose rights are violated particularly the most marginalized sections of our society whether it is Dalits or Aadivasis or Muslims and other backward communities
NAPM Condemns The Ambush By Maoists In Bastar
By National Alliance of People’s Movements
Politics of Violence and Counter Violence will only Maim Adivasis, Increased Militarisation in the Region would be no Solution
Condemn Massacre Of Leaders And Workers Of The Congress Party
By Concerned Citizens
The latest Maoist action will only invite even more state repression in the area. The CPI(Maoist) leadership, which authorized the attack, seem to have cynically calculated that such increased repression will swell their numbers and help their movement grow. If that is the case then their politics is as evil as those they claim to be fighting against and should be shunned by all those who stand for democratic norms in political struggles for peace with justice
CPI(ML) Condemns The 25th May Attack Of Maoists On Congress Rally
By KN Ramachandran
The 25 th May attack on the “Parivartan Rally” of Congress in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh by Maoists leading to killing and injuring of many including Congress leader Mahendra Karma and severe injury to V.C. Shukla, is a suicidal act which will only lead to further intensification of state terror against the adivasi masses
17 April, 2013
Fact Finding Report On The Death Of Three People
In The Bomb Explosion At Jagatsinghpur District, Odisha
By Concerned Citizens
On the 9 th of March 2013 , a 12 member team consisting of human rights activists, journalists, academicians, democratic rights and civil liberty activists, conducted a fact finding visit to Patana and Gobindapur villages of Dhinkia Panchayat in Jagatsinghpur District of Odisha. On the 2 nd of March 2013 , a bomb blast took place in the Patana village and three people were killed on the spot. One seriously injured person was admitted in a hospital at Cuttack
16 March, 2013
Preliminary Report On The Fact Finding In Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh
By Democratic Students’ Union
In the three weeks from mid-January till the first week of February, several villages in the Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh experienced the terror of the armed forces of the Indian state. The CRPF, Chhattisgarh state police, erstwhile SPO’s of the Salwa Judum along with various coercive arms of the state orchestrated a systematic targeting of villages, burnt down hundreds of homes, ostensibly in random, further, burnt down the schools built by the people, picked up villagers, young and old, and physically tortured them while their homes burned to the ground
19 December, 2012
CRPF Kills Unarmed Villagers And Terms It
‘Encounter With Maoists' In Odisha
By Coordination Of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO)
Following an outcry against the alleged killing of five tribals/Maoists in an ‘encounter', near Bhaliaguda village of Gajapati district of Odisha, a six-member team of individuals representing CDRO and Women against Sexual Violence and State Violence (WSS) visited Odisha from 8 December to 9 December 2012. Here is the fact finding report
03 September, 2012
The Government Of Violence: The Massacre Of 17 Adivasis- A Video
By CRDO Fact Finding Team
An all-India fact-finding team of rights activists belonging to the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) visited the area in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh where 17 adivasis died as a result of firing by CRPF forces on the night of June 28, 2012. The team visited the villages of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta on July 6 and 7 and elicited information about the events
23 July, 2012
Is Judiciary Biased Against Adivasis?
By Gladson Dugndung
An Adivasis dominated village “Nagri” is situated at a distance of 15km from Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand. On 23 November, 2011, the Jharkhand Government began to capture 227.71 acres of fertile land of the villagers and handed over the entitlement of the major part of the land to the IIM, the IIIT and the Law University and the poor Adivasis are protesting against this acquistion ever since. Now the recent judgements from Jharkhand High Court raises questions about the impartiality of the judiciary
16 July, 2012
The Government of Violence:A Massacre In Dandakaranya
By Kamal K.M
A pictorial story by an Indian film maker on the massacre of 17 adivasi people, including 5 children, in three villages in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state, India
10 July, 2012
Fact Finding Report Of The Killing Of Adivasis By CRPF Forces In Bijapur District
By Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations
An all-India fact-finding team of rights activists belonging to the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) visited the area in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh where 17 adivasis died as a result of firing by CRPF forces on the night of June 28, 2012 . The team visited the villages of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta on July 6 and 7 and elicited information about the events. Here is a brief report of the team
The Buck Stops At Your Door Mr. Chidambaram
By Gladson Dungdung
The Corporate Home Minister P. Chidambaram must leave his office, precisly because he is responsible for the brutal killing of all the innocent villagers including 17 innocent Adivasis of Kottaguda, Sarkeguda and Rajpenta villages of Chhattisgarh. The questions should be asked to Mr. P. Chidambaram that is it enough to say sorry after taking away the precious lives of 17 innocent people?
07 July, 2012
“Deep Intelligence” in Bastar: Mapping The Maoists From The Skies
By Trevor Selvam
In any other country in the world, when such a massacre takes place, a government with an iota of morality would ask the local Police Chief and the Chief Minister to step down. Now we are not asking for the resignation of Mr. Chidambaram. We are not asking for Mr. Singh to express some apology (he would probably nod off during such a try). All we are saying is, let there be some acceptance of responsibility
30 June, 2012
Killing 22 'Maoists' : First Triumphalist Bluster --Then Lies -- Then Denial
By Trevor Selvam
One whole day later, reports started filtering in, that 11 year old children and 16 year old girls were among those shot dead. Then the Local Congress Party decides that there is something totally fishy about the reports and decide to carry on an investigation themselves. The Hindu reports there are doubts about the exact nature of the campaign carried out by the brave Cobra commandos. There are reports now emerging that majority of those killed were villagers attending a meeting
21 March, 2012
Capitalism: A Ghost Story
By Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy tells the story behind the much hyped "Indian growth'' and how protest movements are muffled, so that the ruthless Indian coporate juggernaut move ahead unopposed
No One Form Of Resistance Is Going To Succeed: Arundhati Roy
Diana Mavroleon in conversation with Arundhati Roy and Professor Robert Biel
Transcript of a radio interview conducted on 8th June 2011
28 February, 2012
Release Abhay Sahoo: Free India
By K. P. Sasi
Abhay Sahoo of anti-POSCO movement of Orissa is in prison today with 50 fabricated false cases, four of which cannot be bailed. But he is not alone. There are over 200 fabricated false cases on over 800 activists of the anti-POSCO movement, whose freedom is restricted without being jailed. But they were attacked by the police and the goons of the company for defending their lands
14 February, 2012
Press Freedom Stifled In India’s Naxal Areas
By Gayatri Parameswaran
It might be the world’s largest democracy but India is struggling to defend its democratic status in the ‘red corridor’ – areas troubled by Naxalite or Maoist insurgency. Expectedly, press freedom is taking a beating. Some activists say the government is controlling information to hide its bad human rights track record
03 February, 2012
Jungal Mahal And Recent 'Peace' Efforts
By Dipankar Chakrabarti
The Maoists must take into cognizance the ground reality. They should ponder over the desertion of other anti-CPI(M) forces from their side as well as large number of their cadres and sympathisers . They also need to be circumspect about their gradual isolation from the civil society and the common people in the wake of their excessive dependence on armed action and autocratic control over the mass organisations
29 January, 2012
Coming Downhill From Kashipur
By Deba Ranjan
Police firing and encounter deaths for corporate development in Odisha/India
05 September, 2011
No One Raped And Murdered Meena?
By Akhil Katyal
Will Meena Khalkho's case be picked up by the mainstream media like they did Jessica Lall's? Or will the difference in her political environment and class position and, above all, her distance from Delhi, be too much to bridge?
30 August, 2011
Killing, Denial And Manipulation
By Gladson Dungdung
Brutal killings continue in Jharkhand
22 August, 2011
A Fact Finding Report On The Forced Land Acquisition
And Repression At Gobindpura
By Democratic Front Against Operation Green Hunt
The struggle of the people of Gobindpura continues. They have refused to part with their lands and houses, braving threats, inducements and severe repression. The women & children, especially girls have played a very glorious role in the struggle
Face to Face: A Talk With Anti POSCO PPSS Leader Abhay Sahoo
By Musab Iqbal
Musab Iqbal, Chief Editor of newzfirst traveled to very heart of resistance in Odisha to understand the overlapping phenomena of resistance and development. He interviewed the leader of anti POSCO PPSS Abhay Sahoo, a man who architected this movement from ground zero and lead it through its all tough time
27 July , 2011
POSCO Protesters Are Determined
By PUCL-Bangalore
Visit by PUCL-Bangalore to POSCO Affected Areas 22-24 July, 2011
22 July , 2011
Historic Judgement By Indian Supreme Court Against Arming Civilians
By Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar
Full text of the Supreme Court order by Justice Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar declaring the use and arming of SPOs as well as state support for Salwa Judum in Chattisgarh state of India unconstitutional and directing the state to disarm SPOs, stop using them in counterinsurgency operations, as well as file FIRs and prosecute them vigorously
21 July , 2011
The Indian Supreme Court Condemns
The Injustices Of Globalization
As An Amoral Paradigm Of Developlement
By Niloufer Bhagwat
The importance of this judgment lies in the recognition by the Supreme Court , that there is a breakdown of the ‘social contract ' between the government and people in these regions, as a consequence of the distorted policies of globalization implemented, pursuant to which illegal and unconstitutional measures were adopted by the State
28 June , 2011
Who Is Making Them Cry?
By Gladson Dungdung
The 64 years of Indian independence has added more pains, sufferings and sorrows in the lives of majority of its people. The Indian state instead of healing the pains, sufferings and sorrows of the old-men, it turned their lives into a hell. Their cultivable lands were taken away from them by the ‘mighty state’ with the barrel of guns in the name of growth and development
19 June , 2011
Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides,
Human Rights And The Agrarian Crisis
In India (PDF)
By Center for Human Rights and Global Justice,
New York University School of Law
It is estimated that more than a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years—the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history. A great number of those affected are cash crop farmers, and cotton farmers in particular. In 2009 alone, the most recent year for which official figures are available, 17,638 farmers committed suicide—that’s one farmer every 30 minutes
15 June , 2011
Lying Down For Justice: The POSCO Satyagraha In Pictures
By POSCO pratirodh Sangram Samiti
Jagatsinghpur district administration has temporarily halted forceful land acquisition for POSCO project. The government will restart the process from 17th June 2011. The officials illegally demolished betelvines at Gobindpur village. The people are now rebuilding it. Here are some pictures from the historic Satyagraha
13 June , 2011
Lying Down For Justice Children Show The Way
By S.G.Vombatkere
The people and especially the children of Dhinkia, Gadkujang, Govindpur and Nuagaon villages in Jagatsinghpur District in Odisha have shown the nation how people matter over governments' plans for development of business corporations at their cost. The children “illegally” lay down on the hot earth under in the blazing summer heat and refused to move to allow entry to government officials to take over forest land and their villages for the POSCO mega-project
Our Children Have Opened The Nation's Eyes
By POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
Splashed across the headlines and TV channels across India are the people of the proposed POSCO project area and their heroic fight to stop this illegal project from grabbing our lands. The bravery of the children and women of our villages - lying down in front of a thousand armed police poised to destroy their lives and homes - has captured the nation's attention
09 June , 2011
Activists Fear Carnage As Acquisition Clock Ticks In Odisha
By Countercurrents.org
Villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur who are keeping a day and night vigil to prevent forcible land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore integrated POSCO steel project, fear that the police might unleash a mid-night action any time similar to what happened at the Ramlila grounds few days ago. More than 20 platoons of police are currently stationed at the mouth of these villages and any ill-conceived move to forcibly acquire land or evict the protesters might lead to bloodshed
08 June , 2011
Halt Attack On Protesters At POSCO Project Area
By Concerned Citizens
Thousands of people are peacefully protesting while 24 platoons of police have been deployed in the area, probably for use in a brute force attempt at taking the land of the villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur in the coming days
Nation's Conscience Must Be Awakened To
Anti-POSCO Struggle
By Concerned Citizens
Tackling corruption must begin by scrapping the scandalous POSCO project
22 May, 2011
Red Mud Spill And People's Resistance
At Niyamgiri: A First Hand Report
From The Struggle(PDF)
By Miriam Rose
On 16th May after heavy rain, toxic red mud poured from a breach in one of Vedanta's Lanjigarh refinery red mud ponds, spilling onto the village below. The next day landless people displaced by the project held two blockades demanding adequate compensation; a five day walking protest ended with a meeting of 500 people on the threatened Niyamgiri hills; and the funeral of a tribal movement leader, killed by factory pollution, was held. Two months before Vedanta's often-subverted AGM this will be bad news for the company. This is a direct report from the scene
Report From Mehndiganj Near Varanasi: A Coca-Cola Affected Area(PDF)
By Miriam Rose
Mehndiganj is a village about 20km from Varanasi in North East India. Coca-cola company began operating a large factory there in 2000 which quickly began depleting the water table in the surrounding villages and farmland. The plant draws 500,000 litres per day from deep boreholes reaching the third strata of the earth, while local people are only allowed to bore wells to a fraction of that level. In 2006 a quarter of wells in eight surrounding villages had dried completely
11 May, 2011
Dear Jairam Ramesh, Please Listen
By Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere
An open letter to India's Environment minister Jairam Ramesh regarding Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) Public Hearing due to be held at Jadugoda, Jharkhand, on May 26, 2011
07 May, 2011
Fact Finding Report On Police Brutalities In Odisha
By Concerned Citizens
An All India Fact Finding team was constituted to look into some incidents of alleged encounter and false implication of villagers in anti-Maoist operation. While Team One covered incidents in Malkangiri and Kashipur, Team Two went to Sundergarh District of Odisha
04 May, 2011
What The POSCO Order Means
By Campaign For Survival And Dignity
The order on the POSCO project is condemnable in more ways than one. The basic principle is simple. The forest land and resources are not the private property of the government that it can give away. They belong to the people, the 4000 families who have rights
03 May, 2011
POSCO Loot Of Our Mineral Wealth And Environment
Is Far Worse Than The 2G Scam
By Leo F. Saldanha
Jairam Ramesh's disastrous decision favouring POSCO comes a day after CBI exposes A. Raja's shocking loot when heading Environment Ministry
Vidarbha's Dying Fields And Farmer's Suicides
By Vikram Jadav
Left behind by India’s soaring economic boom is Vidarbha, a region of hilly forests in the middle of India. It used to be known as India’s cotton belt – but now captures headlines as its suicide belt - that’s an average one suicide every eight hours
02 May, 2011
The POSCO Project Given The Go Ahead
By POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
Today, in a sanctimonious order riddled with lies and distortions, the Environment Ministry allowed the POSCO project at Jagatsinghpur, Orissa state, India to proceed. The livelihoods of 4000 families (over 20000 people) and the laws of the land have been sold to the highest bidder
27 April, 2011
Narayanpatna: A Report From Ground Zero
A Fact Finding Report
Preliminary report of the DSU fact finding visit to Narayanpatna, Odisha
26 April, 2011
Is There Anyone To Hear This Boy’s Cry?
By Gladson Dungdung
The worst thing is Anup Oraon has not even seen his father since his birth. When he was born his father Paulus Oraon was already behind the bars. Though he cannot express his pains, sufferings and sorrows in words but his endless cry, anguish and anxiety are enough for describing everything he has been undergoing in the absence of his father
11 April, 2011
Dantewada: Days Of Rage
By Javed Iqbal
One year after 76 security personnel were killed in the Chintalnar area, with allegations of rape being used as a weapon of war soon after by the state, the latest attack on the adivasis of Bastar during a five-day long carnage has led to break the silence on atrocities that have been committed for over six years now, across the undivided Bastar region
30 March, 2011
Chintalnar Massacre: Fact Finding Report
By 13 Member Fact Finding Team
A 13 member fact finding team visited the Chintalnar Area of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh to probe into the incidents of atrocities perpetrated by the Salwa Judum and the state forces on the adivasis living in this area between 11th and 16th of March 2011
29 March, 2011
Are These Anti-Naxal Operations Mr. Chidambaram?
By Gladson Dungdung
Chhattisgarh's Koya commandos, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and CoBRA battalions burnt more than 300 houses and food grains, raped 5 Adivasi women and killed 5 men of Timapuram, Morpalli and Tarmetla villages of Dantewada between March 11 and March 16, 2011 alleging them as the Maoists during the ongoing special police operations against the Maoists in the region
28 February, 2011
Three Killed In Police Firing On People Protesting Against
Thermal Power Project In Andhra Pradesh
By NAPM
The inevitable has happened, police opened fire on the peacefully protesting villagers in Vadditandra village and killed three villagers and critically injured atleast 25 people today afternoon in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh, India
22 February, 2011
Maoist Kidnappings: Who Gains By The Blame Game?
By S.G.Vombatkere
The real and obvious agony of the families of these two officials (and the families of others killed in Maoist attacks and ambushes) is brought out by the electronic media, but it ignores the agony of families of thousands of adivasi people who have been victims of governments' economic violence and police depredations over the decades. Is the electronic media being impartial or partisan?
21 February, 2011
Raigad’s Victory Is Inspiring And A Warning To Greedy Corporates
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
With the Maharastra government denotifying the land acquired for Raigad SEZ of Mukesh Ambani led group Reliance Industries come an end to a historic protest movement of Raigad farmers who had deep faith in the democratic structure of the country despite its all weaknesses
State of Chhattisgarh Versus Dr. Binayak Sen
By Radha Surya
The rejection of Dr. Binayak Sen’s bail application by the Chattisgarh High Court on February 10 is the most recent in the series of blows that have been dealt by a vindictive state apparatus
I Try To Hope That I Will Live Again
With Binayak In My Lifetime: Ilina Sen
By M Suchitra
Dr Ilina Sen, well-known social activist and feminist scholar, who currently heads the Department of Women’s Studies in Mahatma Gandhi University, Wardha, Maharshtra speaks in detail to M Suchitra about her husband's trial and her appeal to the Chhatisgarh High Court
19 February, 2011
Honourable High Court Decides Criminal Appeal No. 20 & No. 54/2011
By Sadanand Patwardhan
There are insurmountable hurdles to reasonably concur with the Honourable High Court’s judgement in denying relief to Binayak Sen and Piyush Guha by granting bail during the pendency of main appeal against the conviction by competent trial court. Had the High Court granted relief to Sen, then it would have been left with no choice but to grant same relief to Guha. Because Binayak Sen was “prosecution’s only link” between Narayan Sanyal and Piyush Guha
PUDR Asks The Maoists To Release The Two Hostages
Taken By Them Unconditionally
By PUDR
PUDR asks the Maoists to release the two hostages taken by them unconditionally and call upon the authorities to address the specific instances cited by the Maoists so that Adivasis suffering is mitigated and incidence of hostage taking becomes redundant
08 February, 2011
Yet Another Binayak Sen
By Anand Teltumbde
Sudhir Dhawale is a prototype of a contemporary dalit activist: coming from a poor family, moderately educated and without any notable social acclaim. What makes them similar apart from their unflinching dedication to the oppressed humanity is the neurotic behavior of the state towards them. Binayak Sen’s case is by now world famous, tearing down the veneer of all state claims to democracy. Sudhir’s hopefully is adding to the shame of the establishment
19 January, 2011
'Niyamgiri You Are Still Alive’
By Suma Joson
Here is the documentary film , 'Niyamgiri You Are Still Alive’ By Suma Joson which won the Vasudha, Environment Award at the International Film Festival of India in Goa, 2010
10 January, 2011
Can Anyone Save This Tribal Girl?
By Himanshu Kumar
The persecution of Soni Sori
Political Killings In West Bengal
By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights
Hitherto the media and the authorities had confined themselves to condemning killings by the CPI (Maoists) in the Jangalmahal area, in which officially it was claimed that 79 persons lost their lives. But the killing by CPM cadres on January 7th, who fired around 300 rounds on a 250 strong crowd, primarily women, protesting the local CPM diktat that each family to send one person for arms training, thus killing 8 persons and injuring 20 with most bullets fired on the back, show how it is becoming a free-for-all between political parties
29 November, 2010
The People Friendly Police?
By Gladson Dungdung
The recent brutal killing of Dhirendra Kumar in Barwada police station clearly indicates of how the police stations have become the safest place of inhuman treatment, torture and brutal killings
23 November, 2010
Hegemony Overthrow or Political Power Seizure?
What Comes First?
By Trevor Selvam
Those who want to change things, need to rethink their alliances, as well, and also the business of overthrow of this specific cultural hegemony that is on the build. While Gramsci talked about the need to overthrow the bourgeois consensus and create an alternate radical consensus, perhaps in this country it is necessary to overthrow the middle class consensus. Without an independent civic society movement this cannot happen
16 November, 2010
In The Undeclared War Zone Of South Orissa
By Debaranjan Sarangi
The impoverished tribals of South Orissa is caught up in the violence and counter violence of the Maoists and the State
Invisible Cities: Part Two: Hunger
By Javed Iqbal
Malnutrition is not just a rural phenomena but is even unchecked amongst the poorest sections of the urban population. While access to development is often cited as a cure to the ills of hunger, there are many people living in Mumbai, deprived ‘access’ to development – healthcare and basic human rights
Plundered Histories, Forgotten Terrains And Entangled People
By Goldy M. George
A critical search on Planning and Commission on Mining
15 November, 2010
Internally Displaced Hunger
By Javed Iqbal
A look at hunger among internally displaced tribals from Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh states of India
11 November, 2010
Why, Rahul Gandhi, The Adivasis’ Soldier Silent?
By Gladson Dungdung
Perhaps, Rahul Gandhi is much worried on the matter of Adivasis deserting the Congress Party rather than protection of their rights therefore he intends to get back the lost Adivasi vote bank by projecting himself as their soldier. The relevant question here is if he is Adivasis’ soldier then whose government has been carrying on eviction of the migrant Adivasis in Assam, Salwa Judum in Chhatisgarh and Operation Green Hunt in the so-called Red Corridor?
04 November, 2010
The Operation NGO Hunt In Jharkhand
By Gladson Dungdung
The Jharkhand government has launched a new operation in the state, which can be called the “Operation NGO Hunt”. In a latest discovery, the Jharkhand Police have found 1300 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as sympathisers of the Naxalites though nobody knows the ‘parameters’ of ‘sympathiser’
26 October, 2010
Violations Of The Forest Rights Act In The POSCO Project Area
Referred To The Tribal Ministry
By Campaign for Survival and Dignity
The Ministry and its officials are desperately shopping for somebody to give them a pro POSCO report, since they are finding it difficult to get around the proof of illegality. This is the same thing they have done in several other projects
23 October, 2010
Majority Report Of MOEF Committe A Vindication Of
Peoples Just Struggle Against POSCO Porject
By Ashok Chowdhury, Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty & Leo F. Saldanha
For project affected communities, the Committee's majority findings are a strong vindication of their resolute stand that the POSCO project represents the worst form of development – where our nation's resources are looted, our environment is devastated and Transnational Corporations walk away with tonnes of money, and not merely our iron ore
21 October, 2010
Ensuring Right To Education In The Red Corridor
By Gladson Dungdung
The Indian State must understand that the right to education and the police camps in the schools cannot go together. The Indian State has been practicing betrayal tricks (giving rights by one hand and taking away by another mighty hand) with the marginalized people of the country for last six decades. If the Government doesn’t stop it, the rapid growth of left-wing extremism cannot be halted
20 October, 2010
POSCO Project Justification Based On Flawed Data
By Mining Zone People's Solidarity Group
Orissa Government and POSCO Have Misled the Public on Benefits to the Country, says New International Report
18 October, 2010
Majority Of POSCO Enquiry Committee
Confirms That POSCO Project Is Illegal
By Abhay Sahoo
Today, three of the four members of the committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests confirmed that the POSCO project is illegal and that all of its clearances were obtained by breaking the law. The Committee has also found that the project has potentially very dangerous impacts on issues like water, air pollution, and the coastline, and none of this was ever properly evaluated
12 October, 2010
The Maoist Versus The State Of India
By Prakash Kona
The author considers the historic reasons of maoist uprising in India and raises some questions about its objectives
29 September, 2010
The Jury Verdicts of IPT, Ranchi
By Gladson Dungdung
We are extremely pleased to inform you that we had organized a very successful Independence People’s Tribunal on Operation Green Hunt in Ranchi on 25th and 26th of September, 2010 under the banner of the Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum with the support of Operation Green Hunt Virodhi Nagrik Manch, Jharkhand Indigenous People’s Forum, Jharkhand Initiatives Desk, Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan, Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee and many other groups
18 September, 2010
State Response to Maoist Violence in India: A Critical Assessment
By K S Subramanian
Maoist violence is the consequence of increased atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (especially in the central tribal belt) and widespread tribal unrest due to commercialisation of forest resources. Ignoring such analysis and acting primarily on reports by the Intelligence Bureau, which is not equipped to study the multiple complexities of developmental conflicts, the Ministry of Home Affairs has resorted to brute police force to deal with the violence. But, as suggested by several reports, the problem should be handled politically and administratively, implementing the constitutional provisions for dalits and adivasis that have so far been ignored
16 September, 2010
Lucas Tete, Maoist Violence And K Balagopal
By Biswajit Roy
It’s a welcome development that Arundhati Roy, G N Saibaba, Mahasweta Devi, Sujato Bhadra and others have condemned the killing of Maoists’ POW and Bihar policeman Lucas Tete as reported by Bengal Post
31 August, 2010
Niyamgiri To Bellary, Polavaram To Konkan:
Stop All Destructive Projects Now
By Dipankar Bhattacharya
The cancellation of the Vedanta group’s ‘mining rights’ in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha’s Kalahandi district surely marks a huge victory for the growing people’s movement against corporate invasion and plunder
Niyamgiri: A Temporary Reprieve
By Ranjan K Panda
The Dongria Kondh know that their battle against Vedanta and for the preservation of their sacred Niyamgiri is not over in a state where money matters, people and the environment don’t, reports Ranjan K Panda from Orissa
26 August, 2010
Not Only Niyamgiri: Stop Resource-Grab Everywhere!
By NFFPFW
The NFFPFW (National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers) welcomes Indian government's decision to deny forest clearance to the Vedanta mining project at Niyamgiri. Though much delayed , this decision is a just move, and perhaps for the first time in the history of the country the government has said ‘no’ to a large and powerful corporation on social and environmental grounds
Uttar Pradesh Farmers Latest Victims Of
Indian Business’ Land Grab
By Arun Kumar
Three protesting farmers were shot dead and more than forty others injured August 14, when police opened fire on a protest at Jikarpur, a village in the Aligarh District of Uttar Pradesh (UP).The farmers were protesting against the land expropriations being carried out by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state government to build a 165-kilometer highway, the Jamuna (or Yamuna) Expressway, linking India’s capital, New Delhi, with Agra, the city that is home to the Taj Mahal
24 August, 2010
Faking An Ecounter: Killing The Peace Process
By Coordination Of Democratic Rights Organizations
Preliminary Report of the All India Fact Finding Team on the Killing of Azad and H. C Pandey. Released to the media at Hyderabad on 22 August, 2010
On The Support To Mamata Banerjee -
An Open Letter To Intellectuals
By Sumanta Banerjee
An open letter to Mahashweta Debi, D. Bandyopadhyay, Suvaprasanna, Sujato Bhadra and other friends…
21 August, 2010
More Than Just An Arrest
By Nagarik Mancha
On 17th August 2010, social activist and our General Secretary, Naba Dutta, had been arrested from West Medinipur. Owing to unprecedented public outcry against the arrest, he was granted bail next day, but not before serious, and totally fabricated, criminal charges were brought against him. Why and how did this happen?
17 August, 2010
This Is Your Army Mr Chidambaram!
(And The People Belong To This Country)
By Reyaz-ul-Haque
We know very well Mr. Chidambaram that you will never apologize for the atrocities committed at your behest. This brutal army represents the real face of your government
16 August, 2010
The Cold-Blooded Murder In Jharkhand
By Gladson Dungdung
On July 5th, 2010, the security forces picked up 45 year-old Etwa Munda of Papirdah village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand and killed him in a fake encounter
14 August, 2010
Superpower Democracy Mass-Murders Abroad!
Largest Democracy Mass-murders Its Own Children
By Jay Janson
US media have never called millions killed in their own homes, by US military during invasions and occupations since Korea through Iraq, mass murder. Likewise, the annually legislated starvation of millions of Indians in the 'largest democracy in the world', is never called mass murder. India buys WMD, with money saved, seeks to use the market to solve the problem. NY Times fields a question, “Should Food be a Right?
13 August, 2010
Unlikely Alliances In Fight For Sacred Lands
By Tess Thackara
Major shareholders are joining the Dongria Kondh tribe’s fight to protect their homeland from mining by Vedanta Resources
12 August, 2010
Signals From Vijayawada And Lalgarh:
And Challenges Before Revolutionary Communists
By Dipankar Bhattacharya
The CPI(M) will have to pay the price for its opportunist sins and revolutionary communists can have no sympathy for it on this score. Any meaningful defence of the legacy and gains of the Indian communist movement and resistance to the anti-Left offensive of the ruling classes necessarily calls for a firm and decisive rejection of and struggle against the CPI(M)’s opportunism
11 August, 2010
Mamta, Maoists And Mediation
By Rahul Pathak
Lalgarh rally suggests towards the possibility of mediation which can bring some peaceful solution to the naxalite problem, the opposition should welcome this move rather than politicizing it
09 August, 2010
Modi’s Method
By Sadiq Naqvi
After the genocide in 2002 and a string of fake encounters targeting Muslims, the 'Hindutva lab' is again active. Now, secular social activists are being branded as Maoists and jailed
06 August, 2010
Environment Ministry Directs Orissa Government
To Stop Work On The POSCO Project
By Campaign for Survival And Dignity
The Environment Ministry today finally issued a welcome but ambiguous order directing the Orissa government to stop work on the POSCO project and the illegal process of forest land takeovers that is taking place. While giving some immediate relief by stopping the illegal land grabbing that the Orissa government started last week, the order is silent on the basic issue: the illegal forest clearance granted by the Ministry on December 29, 2009
05 August, 2010
Brazen Mockery Of The Forest-Rights Law
By Subrat Kumar Sahu
In yet another unfortunate incident in which how the FRA 2006 – which the government dubs as an instrument to correct ‘historical injustices’ meted out on forest communities – has rather been used as a tool of oppression and intimidation, a Dalit villager in Orissa was arrested on 21 July 2010 for raising issues of forest rights
Family Matters
By Javed Iqbal
In Bastar, the un-sanitized war is brutal, unforgiving and uncompromising. And it’s impact on families has been specifically devastating. Battles aren’t just fought in the jungles – this a war where villages are the battlefields, homes are the trenches and your family is a weapon and a target
The Dispossession And Criminalisation Of
The Adivasis Of Central India
By Stan Swamy
The dispossessed Adivasi is hunted as a criminal; the looter-outsider has become ‘honourable citizen’
Poverty Spectrum Disorder
By Sadanand Patwardhan
A couple of rupees of difference in consumption levels that are used in defining poor is all it takes to shift literally hundreds of millions of people from poor to non-poor and vice versa. Once this is learnt it becomes obvious that Poverty Line is unlike an internationally recognized BORDER that it is made out to be – inviolable & sacrosanct - a sort of litmus test to decide whether to bestow or to withhold “welfare largesse” . In fact, what we have is apicture of Poverty Spectrum – a continuum – of deprivations that has wafer thin separations
03 August, 2010
Half of India’s Population Lives Below
The Poverty Line
By Arun Kumar
According to a new Oxford University study, 55 percent of India’s population of 1.1 billion, or 645 million people, are living in poverty. Using a newly-developed index, the study found that about one-third of the world’s poor live in India
31 July, 2010
Endless Cry In The Red Corridor
By Gladson Dungdung
After the arrival of the Monsoon, the city dwellers are enjoying the cool weather. The farmers are busily preparing their paddy fields. However, the atmosphere in the red corridor is more or less the same, a mood of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, pain and shock prevails in the region
30 July, 2010
POSCO, Polavaram Projects Illegally Take Over Forest Land:
Ministry On The Rampage
By Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Recent actions by the Environment Ministry and the Orissa and Andhra Pradesh governments with respect to the POSCO and Polavaram projects are in total violation of the law and of democracy. They show yet again that the forest bureaucracy is among the key drivers of land grabbing across the country
28July, 2010
Andhra - Independent Fact-Finding Team
On The 14th July Sompeta Firing
Interim Report
The firing occurred on 14 July 2010 in which two persons died and five were injured by bullets (including a cameraman of TV-9 Telugu channel). In the events prior to the firing, about 300 people belonging to the neighbouring villages opposing the power plant and about 50-60 police personnel were injured
27 July, 2010
Land Grab For POSCO Project Begins
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Today the Orissa government initiated "acquisition" of land in the proposed POSCO project area of Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa. The project is in complete violation of the law and this "acquisition" is part of an illegal land grab
24 July, 2010
Lalgarh - Massive Protest By Women Against
Rapes Committed By Security Personnel
By Partho Sarathi Ray
On 20th July, around 50,000 women under the banner of “Committee to save honour of women” tried to march into Jhargram town to protest against the recent incidents of raping of women in Sonamukhi village by the joint security forces
Odisha Poverty, Corporate Plunder And Resistance
By Prafulla Samantra & Asit Das
Odisha has become the beacon of hope for the struggling workers and peasants of this country in their heroic struggle against the predatory mining and industrialization of the state uprooting the toilers of the soil. Massive people’s resistance is going along the length and breadth of the state. Some prominent ones are Kalinga Nagar, Niyamgiri, anti-POSCO (Korean Steel Company), and anti-Vedanta University people's struggles
19 July, 2010
Dear Chhattisgarh Police, Are You Mad?
By Javed Iqbal
And a few days ago, to my surprise, the Chhattisgarh police branded me a Maoist agent. And I’m not the only one who receives this ‘honour’ from the police
Memories Of A Friend In Exile
By Mahtab Alam
It came as a shocking, rather, frightening news when I read about the arrest of my friend Abdul Shakeel Basha, a peace and human rights activist, a few days back. For a moment, it felt as though we had almost turned into a fascist state, where campaigners of peace and justice have no place. Shakeel was arrested on 17th June 2010, by the special cell of Delhi Police on the requisition of the Gujarat Police for his alleged affiliation with Maoist/ Naxal movement of India
15 July, 2010
Gujarat: Making Of A Fascist State
By Ram Puniyani
Social activists are being put behind bars in Gujarat branding them maoists
12 July, 2010
‘Cholera’ Outbreak Kills Over ‘60’ In Bastar
By Javed Iqbal
A suspected cholera outbreak has killed around an estimated 60 people in Bijapur District of South Bastar, Chhattisgarh since the beginning of the 7th of June this year when the first fatality was confirmed in Gadiguda village in Pamed Block.Yet violence continues unabated in affected-areas
Maoists Attack Contractor’s Home
By Javed Iqbal
Two killed, two injured, including 11-year old son of contractor
10 July, 2010
Hunted Chasing A Dream
By Raja Jaikrishan
'I feel guilty of Azad's untimely killing. I think as Azad was keeping regular contact with me to hold peace talks with the centre, that's why he died so early,' Swami Agnivesh said. In the guilt of Swami Agnivesh is guilt of the entire civil society has been damned
03 July, 2010
Statement on arrest of Dr. Nisha Biswas
and other civil rights activists in Lalgarh
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are shocked by the arrest on 14th June of Dr Nisha Biswas, Scientist - Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute Kolkata, Manik Mandal, writer, Kanishka Choudhary, school teacher, and ten other persons by the W Bengal police from Lalgarh area, where they had gone at the request of the local people to investigate human rights violations by police and paramilitary
30 June, 2010
Maoists Ambush Indian Police Patrol; 26 Killed
By Aljazeera
Suspected Maoist rebels have killed at least 26 police officers during an ambush in the Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh state on Tuesday
29 June, 2010
Terrorizing The Democratic Space
By Gladson Dungdung
Terrorizing of human rights activists in Jharkhand
Indian Environmentalist Arbitrarily Arrested
And Illegally imprisoned
By William Gomes
Mr. Moirangthem Ashnikumar Singh, an environmentalist and Vice-President of Thanga Elfare Committee, Secretary of Keibul Lamjao National Park Forum, was arbitrarily arrested on 27 April by the Bishnupur police in Bishnupur district of Manipur state
28 June, 2010
Pictures That Turn A Generation; Armies That Lie
By Trevor Selvam
Let this picture then tell the lie about India shining. Let this picture be the turning point of the struggle for genuine democracy. Let this picture be carried around in every demonstration to show the world how G20 Manmohan’s India follows the Geneva conventions
Economics That Causes Militancy: W(h)ither The Republic?
By S.G.Vombatkere
Armed militants ambushing or attacking State power is bad news concerning everyone. But neglecting first causes and suppressing the symptoms by up-scaling police action (like Operation Green Hunt) only enlarges the circle of innocent adivasi people caught in the crossfire and paying with their lives and livelihoods. The nation as a whole loses
Denizens Of The Other India
By D Bandyopadhyay
It was time that one should check up what type of governance tribals had before the civil administration collapsed? A basic ingredient of any civil administration is the administration of justice. How was it done before the territories were “lost” to the Maoists?
26 June, 2010
Maoists Respond To Chidambaram
By Sanhati
Letters from P. Chidambaram and CPI(Maoist) to Swami Agnivesh regarding the possibility of dialogue
25 June, 2010
For Whom Are The Forests Turning Red ?
By M Suchitra
A journey through Chhattisgarh, the heartland of maoist- government conflict
The Summer Of Our Discontent
By Javed Iqbal
Summer 2010, and it is becoming evidently clear that the adivasi refugees from the Maoist-Salwa Judum conflict in Dantewada, residing in Khammam district have either no access to water nor food. There are an estimated 16,024 IDPs identified in 203 settlements in Khammam district alone with a 110 settlements in the Reserve Forest. At the same time, the Forest Department is struggling to prevent the clearing of forests by the IDPs for podu cultivation
Attack On CRPF Camp Or Fake Encounter?
By Tusha Mittal
The government story of a a Maoist attack on a CRPF camp at Lalgarh in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district may be fake
17 June, 2010
Death And The Maiden
By S V Rajadurai and V Geetha
A photograph featured in The Hindu, dated 17-06-2010 shows security personnel in West Bengal , carrying the body of a woman killed in a purported raid on a Maoist hideout. The woman's body had been trussed up like the carcass of a dead animal. The photo speaks volumes of how the Indian state views those it considers a threat to the internal security of the nation - as people beneath its contempt and consideration
Rights And Wrongs Of Armed Resistance
By Gautam Navlakha
A discussion on armed resistance in the context of the Maoist resistance in India
15 June, 2010
Rape As A Weapon Of War
By Javed Iqbal
Rape as a weapon in the war between the Maoists and the Indian government
Wars Against People
By Raja Jaikrishan
An environment has been created where the abuse of power by the governments of the Indian subcontinent is visible and invisible at the same time. It is like a mirage, which disappears as we draw close to it. The institutions of democracy are being used to muzzle screams of victims and numb their thinking
14 June, 2010
Operation Green Hunt's Urban Avatar
By Arundhati Roy
While the Indian Government considers deploying the army and air force to quell the rebellion in the countryside, strange things are happening in the cities
Kottacheru: A Short History Of Violence
By Javed Iqbal
This is the story of Kottacheru. But this can also be the story of thousands of villages in India
09 June, 2010
Letter to PTI against concocted report on
Arundhati Roy's speech at Mumbai
By CPDR
Letter of protest to PTI against concocted report on Arundhati Roy's speech at Mumbai
07 June, 2010
Arundhati Roy, Operation Green Hunt
And The Indian Middle Class
By Abhijit Dutta
Abhijit Dutta argues that the Indian Middle Class should be engaged rather than castigated in the people's movement against government of India's "Operation Green Hunt"
04 June, 2010
India's War On People
By Gautam Navlakha & Arundhati Roy
Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights held a public lecture by Gautam Navlakha and Arundhati Roy on the 2nd of June in Mumbai. This was purportedly Arundhati Roy's first public meeting in India after her visit to Maoist controlled territories in Dantewada. She outlines her views and clarifies a lot of her 'controversial' opinions and paints it in the larger canvas of the nation and the globe as a whole. Gautam Navlakha, another writers and a passionate opponent of state brutalities on people and who has also lived amongst the Maoists and written a beautiful essay, puts across his views.- A Video Series
03 June, 2010
Orissa Situation Worsening
By Surya Shankar Dash
The situation in Orissa is gradually worsening in every area where people have put up brave resistances against forcible land acquisition and mindless mining and industrialization at the cost of life and livelihoods of millions of people. It is very difficult to say if these movements can withstand the disaster which looks so imminent
Maoists Nurse Grassroots
By Raja Jaikrishan
The success of evicting Tata from Singur catapulted Mamata Banerjee as the savior of adivasis in Singur. She maintained since that land couldn’t be taken from unwilling peasants. She has humbled the CPM in Bengal, twice –first during the Lok Sabha poll and now in the civic body poll with the support of the Maoists
01 June, 2010
The Indian Government Should Surrender
To The Maoists: An Immodest Proposal
By Jesse Ross Knutson
Jesse Ross Knutson suggests that Indian state will do well to avoid a confrontation with Maoists and surrender to their policies
29 May, 2010
Scavenging Consent: Desperate For Casus Belli
By Trevor Selvam
Now the tone is changing gradually regarding yesterdays train mishap. A foot and half of fish-plates were found removed. A BBC cameraman has displayed the gap in one of their broadcasts. No evidence of a blast any longer. No evidence of gelatine, dynamite, ammonium nitrate. The foreign press had already expressed some caution, in their statements and terminology. But not the Indian press. They are so free, unfettered and dynamic when it comes to spreading innuendo!
Reports From Ground Zero
By Tusha Mittal
A civilian bus is blown up. Six men are arrested below radar, a mindless cycle of violence rolls on in Dantewada
28 May, 2010
Have You Looked At Barsa Lakhma’s Face?
By Nirmalangshu Mukherji
The Hindu, 25 May, posted the above photograph of a person on its frontpage under the head “Six Naxals held for Dantewada massacre”. The person, Barsa Lakhma, is alleged to be a Naxal “leader”, a “commander” who is said to be involved in the gunning down of 76 security personnel. Take a close look at Barsa Lakhma’s face. With his puzzled eyes and full cheeks, how old does he look like? 15? 16?
27 May, 2010
Illegal Clearing of Forest for POSCO Project
By D Raja
D. Raja's letter to Prime Minister of India
Scrap POSCO
By Fact Finding Team
A fact finding team traveled to Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa to look into the human rights violations in the wake of May 15 police attack on the activists of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) and villagers affected by the proposed POSCO project. The fact finding team demanded the immediate withdrawal of all forged cases against villagers and anti-POSCO movement leaders, release of those arrested, withdrawal of police force from the area and initiate immediate withdrawal of the proposed POSCO project from this site
25 May, 2010
The Big Fat Brutal Lie
A Video
Police bruatlity against peaceful protesters against POSCO at Balitutha, Orissa state, India on May 23, 2010
Examining The Myth Of Maoists Concern For Tribal Welfare
By Nirmalangshu Mukherji
The state dismantles operation green hunt since its immediate victims are unarmed tribals under mental and physical seize. The state announces total and universal amnesty to the young tribal people in the militias and the PLGA—and a safe and concrete programme for their rehabilitation—once they surrender (only) to a citizen’s body . The essentially non-tribal leadership of CPI (Maoist) is brought to justice for their crimes against humanity
24 May, 2010
The Real Face of Vedanta
A Video
The plight of tribals in the Niyamagiri hills of Orisa state, India, where Vedanta's bauxite mining is destroying the livelihood and life of the people
A Member Of The Civil Society
Responds To Chidambaram
By A K Agrawal
Would the Naxal problem have been there if 25% of the mining profit was spent on the poor and the tribal living in the mining area and whose life was uprooted by the greedy corporate/mining mafia with active connivance of the law enforcers and policy makers
23 May, 2010
We Will Not Leave Our Village (gaon chodab nahin)
Video By K.P Sasi
This song describes the present day exploitation of tribal land and forests in the name of development in India
22 May, 2010
PEACE NOW In Tribal Areas
By Dr.B.D.Sharma
Former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, B.D Sharma's letter to the President of India
16 May, 2010
Conspiracy Against Non-Violent Resistance Movements In Orissa
By Nachiketa Desai
A macabre drama is unfolding in the poverty-stricken Indian state of Orissa where a democratically-elected government has begun to crush over a dozen people’s peaceful resistance movements against their forceful eviction from their forest, farm, water bodies and source oflivelihood to help giant multi-national corporations usurp mineral-rich forest and fertile agricultural land
D Raja's Letter To Prime Minister Of India
I am writing in the context of the brutal attack of the Orissa police on the peaceful protesters of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti in Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa. More than 100 people, including many women, have been injured; those seriously injured are receiving no medical care; the police have burned houses and shops as well as the protesters' tents; and the police are blocking the entry or exit of any person from the area. This kind of atrocity can never be justified. But what makes it doubly criminal is that the Orissa government claims to be doing so as they have rights over the land
Can 'Civilised' People Show Such Disrespect
For The Land And Those Who Cultivate It
By Felix Padel
This state violence perpetrated by police and goondas contains the seeds of future atrocities, and acts as the surest recruiting ground for Maoist insurgency
Orissa: Miners’ Paradise
By Nachiketa Desai
‘Mining Happiness’ is the catch-line of the recent multi-million-rupee multi-media advertisement campaign of the Vedanta Aluminum Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange listed mining giant Vedanta Resources PLC. Vedanta’s advertisement campaign claims the company’s one million ton alumina refinery to be scaled up to five million tons at Lanjigarh in the state’s Kalahandi district, ill-famed for recurring droughts and starvation deaths, will wipe off poverty and bring about all-round development of the region
15 May, 2010
Police Atrocity Against Villagers In Orissa
By Nachiketa Desai
In a massive armed assault using crude bombs, bullets and batons, the Orissa police cracked down on over 1,500 villagers staging a peaceful sit-in dharna since January last against their imminent displacement to make way for South Korean mega corp Posco’s 12 million ton Greenfield steel plant in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, Orissa state, India. More than 100 people, five of them seriously, including women and children were injured in police action which began since the crack of the dawn on Saturday
Stop Police Attacks On Peaceful Protesters
In Orissa
Appeal By Concerned Citizens
We believe that, to crush peaceful dissent in such a brutal manner can only serve to undermine Indian democracy and push large sections of the Indian population to the point of desperation. At no point, in their struggle for over five years, have the anti-POSCO protesters indulged in any violent activities and have instead set an example to the rest of the country on how to carry out a democratic struggle based solely on the mass support of ordinary men and women
Police Attack On Anti-POSCO People’s Movement - Chronology Of Incidents
By POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
‘More than 100 villagers injured, the condition of 5 persons is serious and 18 persons including 5 women got arrested by the Police under the direct supervision of Orissa Chief Minister’- POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS)
The Real Story Of The POSCO Project
By Campaign for Survival and Dignity
This is not just a “dispute over land acquisition for development.” The POSCO project is illegal and will not bring any benefits for the local population or the country’s economy. Rather, it is simply plunder of lives and resources
Timeline Of Events In POSCO Project Area Relating To Forest Rights
By Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Timeline of events in POSCO project area
Horrific Images Of Police Brutality ( VIDEO)
See the horrific images of what the police was upt at balitutha today
Kalinganagar Police Firing ( VIDEO)
Footage of the police firing at Chandia village on 12 May 2010 that caused the death of Lakhman Jamuda, aged 55, and an active member of Bisthapan Birodhi Janmanch.
Lessons From Chhattisgarh Peace March
By Nachiketa Desai
Having met with nasty protest from traders of Jagdalpur and Dantewada, the peace marchers held a review meeting in which several participants stressed the need for crossing the Indravati river into the 'Red Corridor' to express solidarity with the Maoists' cause of giving the ownership rights to the adivasis over land, forest and water bodies,
with the rider that taking up guns was not the solution
03 May, 2010
Am I A Maoist?
By Gladson Dungdung
I’m neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but I’m an Adivasi who is determined to fight for his own people, whom the Indian State has alienated, displaced and dispossessed from their resources and is continually doing it in the name of development, national security and national interest even today
28 March, 2010
In Defence Of The Bitch…
By Trevor Selvam
One can dispute many of the tactics of the Maoists and one can critique many of their actions, but it is time for India’s intellectuals to comprehend that diminishing and ridiculing the stand taken by Arundhuti Roy will be a permanent scar on the evolving history of this nation. She is merely stating that the regular channels for genuine change in India are exhausted. Someone has to state this very clearly. That those who are attempting alternate methods are being violently suppressed. And it is their story that she wants to tell
22 March, 2010
Walking With The Comrades
By Arundhati Roy
Last month, quietly, unannounced, Arundhati Roy decided to visit the forbidding and forbidden precincts of Central India’s Dandakaranya Forests, home to a melange of tribespeople many of whom have taken up arms to protect their people against state-backed marauders and exploiters. She recorded in considerable detail the first face-to-face journalistic “encounter” with armed guerillas, their families and comrades, for which she combed the forests for weeks at personal risk
