South Asia Citizens Web

Victim survivors and Citizens for Justice and Peace welcome the judgement passed by the Honourable Supreme Court in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri & Citizens for Justice and Peace SLP 1088/2008 today. The order is annexed to this press release.

The nation heaved a sigh of relief when Anna Hazare broke his fast (August 2011). The breaking of the fast with coconut water offered by a dalit and a Muslim girl was an attempt to project as if Anna’s upsurge represents all the sections of society and is not just having a narrow social base of elite middle class. Now as the matters stand a large section of dalits and Muslims are standing up to raise their voices against the ‘Anna claim’ that it is an inclusive upsurge. Congress in its frustration said that Anna Hazare is an agent of RSS, how far is this true?

Unique Identification (UID): A Primer. The Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious exercise to provide a "unique identification" (or UID) number to every resident of the country. Each number is to be connected with three types of biometric data: iris scans, fingerprints (all ten fingers) and a picture of the face.
Meanwhile, the UID project has raised many questions related for instance to privacy, civil liberties, financial costs, and even technical feasibility. Even the Planning Commission is concerned that disquieting "test results" of the UID project have been ignored. . .

The debate on the recently promulgated Industrial Relations Ordinance 2011 has offered the trade unions an opportunity to call for a thorough review of the basic premises of labour legislation adopted by the Ayub regime in 1959, in contravention of the principles followed till then. Some of the points made by them merit serious attention.

We would like to point out to the people’s representatives in India, the Indian and international civil societies, and the national and international media that the authorities in Tirunelveli district (in Tamil Nadu, India) are treating our nonviolent Gandhian satyagraha with contempt and are harassing us with false cases and threats. Some thirty innocent and law-abiding men and women from Koodankulam and Idinthakarai villages are being harassed with CrPC 107 case for “disturbing the peace” (copies of summons enclosed). Similar cases have already been slapped on a few more of our friends also. It is a shame that authorities are being so intolerant about nonviolent and democratic protests but giving so much attention and importance to terrorist attacks and wanton killings. We demand that all of these cases be withdrawn immediately and that our Constitutional right to protest (against the dangerous nuclear power plants in this case) be honored and respected.