Aspects of India´s Economy / By Sudha Bharadwaj
The following is a note on the work and experiences of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor Karyakarta Committee), Labour Camp Jamul, district Durg, Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh has a population of about 20 million, with significant proportions of tribal and dalit communities (32 and 12 per cent, respectively). Of the area of 135,000 sq. km., 45 per cent is forest land.
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Sanhati / By CDRO, IAPL, WSS
In the morning of 22nd April 2018, an alleged encounter took place in Boriya-Kasnasur of Bhamragarh tehsil of Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra. A fact finding team comprising of 44 persons from across 12 states belonging to three major human rights networks and organisations – Co-ordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO), Indian Association People’s Lawyers (IAPL) and Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) visited the sites of the alleged encounters in the district of Gadchiroli. Their findings show that while the term encounter is being used for all of these instances, they are in fact fake.
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Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) / By WSS
Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) condemn the recent spate of genocidal violence unleashed by the Indian State on the adivasis of Central India in the form of ‘encounter’ killings in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. … Reports coming out of area reveal heartbreaking accounts of how villagers including children gathered for a marriage function were rounded up and killed without provocation by the security forces.
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Statement by Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS)
WSS condemns the wave of state repression following the peaceful commemoration of the Ambedkarite community on the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. The most recent wave of repression is a set of raids without a warrant conducted simultaneously at 6 am on 17 April, 2018, upon the homes of Kabir Kala Manch activists Rupali Jadhav, Jyoti Jagtap, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Dhawala Dhengle in Pune; Republican Panther activists Sudhir Dhavale and Harshali Potdar in Mumbai; and Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling and Delhi-based CRPP activist Rona Wilson.
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Press Release by Indian Association of People´s Lawyers (IAPL)
In a shocking development, the Pune (Maharashtra) police today, April 17, 2018 at around 6.00 a.m. conducted simultaneous searches at homes of prominent activists in Maharashtra namely Sudhir Dhavale (Dalit activist, Republican Panthers), Harshali Potdar (Woman activist, Republican Panthers), Ramesh Gaychor, Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe, Rupali Jadhav and Dhawala Dhengle (all Kabir Kala Manch activists) in relation to the violence that ensued on the day of bi-centenary celebrations of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon on January 31, 2018 and the subsequent bandh.
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Statment by CRPP
As part of a shocking search operation conducted by the Pune (Maharashtra) police on April 17, 2018, at the residences of various activists in Maharashtra, the home of the CRRP Public Relations Secretary, Rona Wilson was also searched in Delhi. The Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) strongly condemns the police raids in the residences of peoples activists in the strongest words.
While Dalits have been still struggling to get the culprits who engineered attack on the peaceful congregation of Dalits on 1 January 2018, the Maharashtra Police under the instruction of the BJP Government has taken a shameful step to raid the houses of the activists who organized the peaceful Elgar Conference at Shaniwarwada, Pune on 31 December 2018 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaonof 1818. As a matter of fact, the convenors of the Conference were Justice P B Sawant and Justice B G Kolse Patil, the respected names in the state of Maharashtra. And more than 250 Ambedkarite and progressive organizations were its organizers. In this context to target a few select activists is utterly condemnable.
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Scroll.in / By Anand Teltumbde
The actions of the police and the media during the April 2 bandh against changes in the Atrocity Act demonstrates that prejudice runs deep.
On April 2, in an unprecedented show of solidarity, Dalits across India observed a Bharat Bandh to protest against the March 20 judgement of the Supreme Court that effectively took away whatever teeth the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act had been left with.
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The Wire / By Sukanya Shantha
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Police’s inability to arrest Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan chief Manohar Bhide, the prime suspect in the attacks unleashed on Dalits visiting Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, led to a massive protest with over 50,000 Ambedkarites pouring into Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on March 26.
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Documented on Sanhati India / By Sudhir Dhawale
Two hundred years ago, on the 1st of January 1818, the Peshwas and the troops of the British East India Company confronted each other at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in one of the battles of the Anglo-Maratha War. The battle heralded the end of the Peshwa empire. The British installed a victory pillar at the site, with the names of 51 fallen soldiers inscribed on it, of whom 22 were Mahars, while the rest were Bahujans and people from different religious communities.
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