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Tag: Varavara Rao

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

13/10/2020

The Wire / by Ajay Gudavarthy

The right seems to believe that given the cultural codes of Hindu way of life, dispensing with the old will meet less protest and resistance from the society – creating a scope for more fear and less resistance.
… It began with the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and Kalburgi – all of them into their 70s, and more recently the arrest of Varavara Rao, and now Stan Swamy, both into their 80s.
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There is an environment of fear in India. The State must renew the commitment to rights

12/10/2020

Hindustan Times / by Hindustan Times

The action against a range of intellectuals and activists and journalists – Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Stan Swamy, Apoorvanand, Harsh Mander are among the better-known examples – indicates that the space for free expression and dissent is jeopardised.
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NCRB 2019 data shows 165% jump in sedition cases, 33% jump in UAPA cases under Modi govt

12/10/2020

The Print / by Leah Verghese

In recent years, sedition and UAPA have been weaponised against critics of the govt. National Crime Records Bureau’s recently-released data confirms this.
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Varavara Rao denied medical care: Family

Varavara Rao denied medical care: Family

Mumbai Mirror / by Shruti Ganapatye

Jailed activist and poet Varavara Rao is being looked after by co-prisoners Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira rather than competent medical authorities in Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai, his family have said.
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Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Statement by Progressive International

Members of the PI Council ring the alarm on arbitrary arrests and the breakdown of justice in India.
The conduct of the Indian Government is unacceptable in the international framework for the protection of human rights and runs counter to the Indian Constitutional framework.
The members of Progressive International call upon the Indian government to immediately stop persecuting non-violent protestors wrongly accused and booked by the police. 
Read full statement

Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

THE ROADS WERE NEVER QUIET!

By Release The Poet

CDRO called to observe Sept 22nd as a protest day countrywide against the ‘witch-hunts’ & undemocratic arrests of Bhima Koregaon-15 & others. The city of Kolkata reciprocated too.
Few glimpses of 22nd’s on-road protest, joined by 20+ organisations at Bowbazar, Kolkata.

Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

Outlook / by pti

Kolkata, Sep 22 (PTI) Several Left-wing outfits and rights bodies staged a demonstration in Kolkata on Tuesday against the arrest of activists by the BJP-led government at the Centre, which they alleged was using the NIA to crush democratic movements.
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The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Seven and Eight

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Seven and Eight


VV with wife Hemalatha and the author

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed. Today’s Telangana wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I have written and spoken about him and his poetry in the past, but now he is on the deathbed, in a faraway hospital, being subjected to retributive torture by the powers that be. Now, with a never-before urgency, I want to speak and write about him, through an interminable torrent of words.
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Maharashtra: Families of Prison Inmates Worried / Lockdown for some, lockup for others

Maharashtra: Families of Prison Inmates Worried / Lockdown for some, lockup for others


Read PUCL Report: Imprisoned and Unsave

Lockdown for some, lockup for others

Deccan Chronicle / by Bela Bhatia

More humane provisions are needed for prisoners, including political prisoners and those charged under special laws.
It is obvious that the threat of the coronavirus, a communicable disease, is worst in places of high population density. The prison is one such place. About half a million persons are incarcerated in more than 1,300 jails scattered all over India. More than two thirds are undertrials… It is only high-profile cases like those of Binayak Sen, Varavara Rao and others incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case that attract national or even international attention. While this attention is justified, most people do not realise that thousands of powerless, impoverished people face similar or worse injustice.
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Maharashtra: Families of Prison Inmates with Co-morbidities and Age Issues Worried

News Click / by Varsha Torgalkar

Activists have been demanding the release of prisoners on health grounds. So far, six inmates have died of COVID-19 in prisons across state and 1,772 prisoners have tested positive out of total 11,267 tests conducted as per the Prison Department data.
Pune: On July 12, poet and activist Varavara Rao’s daughter addressed a press conference saying, “My father, Varavara Rao, an 81 years old poet, blabbered about his father’s funeral which was held 75 years ago. Whatever he talked was incoherent during the weekly call from prison to family. His co-prisoner, Vernon Gonsalves, told us that he is in no condition to walk and carry out his daily works,” The family had panicked after the call and held the press conference the next day.
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Varavara Rao’s sons-in-law appear before NIA in Mumbai

Varavara Rao’s sons-in-law appear before NIA in Mumbai

Varavara Rao’s sons-in-law appear before NIA in Mumbai

Telegana Today / by Telangana Today

The Mumbai unit of the NIA had summoned them a few days ago asking them to appear before it as a witness under Sections 160 and 91 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc).
Hyderabad: Revolutionary writer P Varavara Rao’s sons-in-law K. Satyanarayana and KV Kurmanath appeared before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case this morning.
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‘Not Sure Whether My Husband Will Return Home After NIA Questioning’, Says VV Rao’s Daughter Pavana

08/09/2020

Outlook / by Preetha Nair

The NIA has summoned K Satyanarayana and KV Kumarnath for questioning in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) is set to question two sons-in-law of revolutionary poet-writer Varavara Rao, the family says that the harassment at the hands of the state continues despite the deteriorating health condition of the incarcerated poet.
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EFLU Teachers’ Association stands in Solidarity with Prof. K. Satyanarayana

Statement by The English and Foreign Lanuages University Teachers´ Association

Click to enlarge
The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five


Solidarity poster by PSO (Sep 2020)

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed … Here, I will attempt to paint the 80 years of his life in seven angles – a rainbow of seven colours that characterise him – a creative writer, teacher, editor, organiser, activist, and lastly, a victim of the state, yet a humane individual.
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Why is Right to Health denied to political dissidents?

Why is Right to Health denied to political dissidents?

rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

The callousness with which these political dissidents are being treated goes against the Supreme Court’s directive, given right at the beginning of the lockdown.
The last few days have shown that the Right to Health, defined by the Supreme Court in more than one judgment as an integral part of the Right to Life, is being denied to the jailed intellectuals awaiting trial in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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