South Asia Citizens Web

12th July, 2020: National Alliance of People’s Movements expresses deep concern over the series of destructive and extractive projects being taken up in the bio-diverse rich regions of the North-Eastern states that jeopardize the interests of wild life and humans alike. ‘Dehing Patkai’ in Upper Assam became a flash point of resistance last month after the recent “recommendation for approval” by the National Board of Wild Life (NBWL), to allow open cast mining by Coal India Limited in about 98.59 hectares of land in the Saleki Reserve Forest (Digboi), which is a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve.

We, the signatories, are all Veterans of the Indian Armed Forces, who have served in the defence of our nation in various ranks and appointments in peacetime and in operational/war zones, over the past several decades.

A politicised military serves only the interests of a single political party. In doing so this undermines public confidence in representative democracy and the preservation of national security as a national goal. The politicisation of the military appears to be rooted in myths that have shaped a dominant narrative on military rule

Development of vaccines and medicines that treat Covid-19 are extremely important elements in the ways to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. Around 150 vaccine candidates are currently undergoing pre-clinical and clinical trials globally, though none are yet available. However urgent the need, this vaccine development must also ensure both efficacy and safety, otherwise it will endanger the efforts to overcome Covid-19 and also vaccine programmes against other infectious diseases.

The BJP led Modi government is determined to hand over all the national assets and resources to the private corporates. No sector of the economy and industry is spared. Coal mine, banks, defence, oil, insurance, electricity, telecom, space and atomic energy all are being privatized by the Modi regime. The latest target of privatisation is the Indian Railways.