Dilip Simeon's blog

तीस साल पहले पलायन के वक्त घाटी में ही रह गए कश्मीरी पंडितों के करीब 800 परिवारों का कहना है कि धारा 370 के तहत जम्मू-कश्मीर राज्य का विशेष दर्जा खत्म होने के बाद भी उनके हालात में कोई बदलाव नहीं आया और स्थानीय प्रशासन द्वारा उनकी प्रताड़ना जारी है. ये पंडित परिवार रोजगार और मासिक वित्तीय सहायता समेत अपनी मांगों को लेकर श्रीनगर में विरोध प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं. इनके संगठन कश्मीरी पंडित संघर्ष समिति के अध्यक्ष संजय टिक्कू पिछली 20 सितंबर से आमरण भूख हड़ताल पर बैठे हैं. Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti Fast-unto-Death enters day 7 श्रीनगर के हब्बा कदल स्थित गणेश मंदिर में उपवास पर बैठे संजय टिक्कू कहते हैं कि बयानबाजी करना और आंसू बहाना तो सबको आता है लेकिन घाटी में रह गए कश्मीरी पंडितों की असल में अब तक किसी सरकार ने नहीं सुनी. इन पंडित परिवारों ने राज्य की आपदा प्रबंधन और राहत-पुनर्वास कमेटी पर आरोप लगाया है कि वह इनकी समस्याओं पर कोई ध्यान नहीं दे रही है. कश्मीरी पंडित संघर्ष समिति का कहना है कि ऐसा लगता है जैसे राहत-पुनर्वास कमेटी के लिए संसदीय समिति की सिफारिशें, हाइकोर्ट के आदेश और के...

NB : It was only a Dalit girl who was raped and cremated at night without her family being allowed to be present. Had a cow been killed, batallions of the Sangh Parivar would have been burning entire cities.  DS ...  As the UP government set up a  Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe  the alleged  gangrape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman  by four upper caste men in Hathras, and her death, several of the state’s Dalit MPs from the ruling  BJP  told  The Indian Express  that the incident has “dented” the administration’s image and is “politically damaging”.  The MPs, however, blamed the incident on “deep-rooted casteism and corruption in police” while expressing their confidence in the state government. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hathras-up-gangrape-bjp-mp-sit-6656424/ ‘We are Dalits, that’s our sin… We want our children to leave’ Protests erupt across country as political leaders, activists add voice to chorus of c...

Amnesty International on Tuesday said it is halting all its activities in India due to freezing of its accounts and claimed that it is being subjected to an “incessant witch-hunt” over unfounded and motivated allegations. Amnesty India, in a statement, said the organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. “The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt,” it said. However, the government has said that Amnesty has been receiving foreign funds illegally. In 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had carried out searches at the headquarters of Amnesty International in Bangalore. The raids were conducted for an alleged violation of the foreign exchange act. The organisation claimed that the attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organi...

On September 23, the chairman of a Block Development Council in Budgam was shot, becoming the seventh political functionary to be killed by militants this year. His death prompted the President of the All Jammu and Kashmir   Panchayat Conference to declare, “It is quite unfortunate that film actress Kangana Ranaut was granted Y-plus category central (security) cover within a day despite the fact that she has done little for strengthening democracy. On the other hand, elected panchayat members who have been sacrificing their lives for the nation are being deprived of security.”.. Despite having a free hand for nearly a year to politically turn around Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian government continues to lose the support of local populations even as the India-China military stand-off continues in Ladakh. If Farooq Abdullah is to be believed, Kashmiris are so angry with Delhi that Chinese rule is more acceptable to them. In an interview to Karan Thapar, Abdullah claimed that Kash...

Dear Friends,  Please join us in this important diaspora-organized conference at a critical time for Indian Democracy. And please share this message widely with your friends and colleagues.   We must come together in large numbers to send the message that we will not allow India’s Secular Democracy to be derailed.  Any attack on one community is an attack on all of us. Our silence enables those attacks, and will eventually consume all of us.   Let us speak up now in one voice! Best Regards,  Raju Rajagopal;  Co-founder, Hindus for Human Rights (.org) Founding Member of 'Reclaiming India'   Indian Democracy at a Perilous Crossroad A Virtual International Conference on Oct 3 and 4 Register at  www.ReclaimingIndia.Org Reclaiming India@73, featuring:         “The Modi Regime and the Destruction of India” Dr. Ramachandra Guha ,  Author Suchitra Vijayan , The Polis Project   ...

If one were to look at what is occupying TV news channels and social media, it would seem India’s tanking GDP and rising job losses, and tensions with China in Ladakh are less important than exactly what time actor Deepika Padukone reached  Mumbai from Goa  after being summoned for questioning by the Narcotics Control Bureau for some hash she allegedly wanted in 2017. For the last three months, Bollywood has been used by government-friendly TV channels as political distraction.  Bollywood is the new JNU. What was demonised as   the Tukde Tukde Gang is now the Nashedi Gang. Bollywood   has always been the opium of a large section of Indian masses. Now, its salacious WhatsApp secrets are tumbling out, and the voyeuristic masses are transfixed. Indians have a new public enemy No.1. Just the way Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar were once. The names change, but the chant remains the same – ‘lock them up’.... https://theprint.in/opinion/pov...

NB : Sanjay Tickoo is one of the bravest members of civil society in India and has been raising his voice against the injustice and negligence suffered by Pandits in the Kashmir Valley for over two decades. Despite the terrible hardships that his community has experienced, he never allowed any communal bitterness to enter his soul. It is a tragedy that this humble family man has had to take recourse to a hunger strike to make the deaf hear. All those who care about democracy and justice should raise their voices and see to it that he can end his hunger strike with dignity. Salaam my friend. Dilip Fast-unto-Death against Disaster Management Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (DMRR & R) Department, UT of JK at Ganesh Mandir, Ganpatyaar, Habba Kadal, Srinagar from 20.09.2020.  Fast-unto-Death enters day 7.  Medical Condition of Shri. Sanjay K. Tickoo, President, KPSS: Physical Weakness, Immune system very very low, B.P. Fluctuating Shri. Sandeep Koul also joined Pr...

Call it what it already is: Donald Trump's Supreme Court, and it's as corrupt as he is, as cynical as he is, as outright stupid as he is, as racist as he is, as fascist as he is. The Republican Party killed it, and Trump is driving another nail in its coffin with the  nomination of arch-conservative Catholic Amy Coney Barrett .  RBG is gone , and look at who Barrett will join: Clarence Thomas? A clown. Samuel Alito? A rubber-stamp hack. Neil Gorsuch?  A replacement bell-ringer for racism. Brett Kavanaugh? A weepy beer-swilling prep-monster. John Roberts? He wrote the brilliant line, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Tell that to George Floyd, Johnny boy. But they know the job they've been put there to do. Trump as much as told them this week when he said, "I think it's very important that we have nine justices. It's better if you go before the election, because I think this scam tha...

Despite a strong response at the outset of the pandemic, as of Sept 22, India has the world's fastest growing outbreak of COVID-19 in absolute numbers according to WHO, reporting more than 5·6 million infections. Restrictions began to be lifted in June, and this relaxation has continued in the face of a continuing dramatic increase in case numbers nationally. Beneath these alarming national figures, the pattern of spread in India is nuanced and complex, with marked differences between states, and between rural and urban areas. For example, cities like Kolkata and rural areas in the north of India were relatively spared the outbreak initially, whereas Delhi, with strong international connections, was at the forefront of the first wave. Even so, India is clearly facing a dangerous period. The country has responded well in many regards, especially for such a large and diverse nation. India instigated a national lockdown in March, which was praised by WHO. During the lockdown period,...