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Environmental awareness must soon reach a critical mass, whereby massive societal resources are re-allocated to scale up solutions in a great ecological transition; before biosphere, social, and economic collapse become unavoidable. An approaching ecological inflection point reflects a narrow band of opportunity to repair fragmented, quivering nature, clearly at its breaking point, before it is too late

http://www.countercurrents.org/barry010516.htm

Environmental awareness must soon reach a critical mass, whereby massive societal resources are re-allocated to scale up solutions in a great ecological transition; before biosphere, social, and economic collapse become unavoidable. An approaching ecological inflection point reflects a narrow band o…
countercurrents.org

Subjugation of women in India is the only kind of oppression that cuts across caste, class, community and race. Women would prefer if men give up these uncivilized, obscene, vulgar, brutal practices against women rather than merely chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. In a country where the incumbent Prime Minister refuses to let his wife live with him in his official residence, the hollowness of the slogan is all too apparent. Women don’t really care about the slogan. Women in India want ‘Azadi’ not idolatry! Just let the women exercise their constitutional right to equality and liberty in all spheres of life – political, economic, social and cultural without any discrimination

http://www.countercurrents.org/aggarwal010516.htm

Women in India do not appear to be active participants in the debate around the chanting of the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Even the debate in the media is dominated through discourse by men.The chanting of this slogan– necessary to prove ‘patriotism’ – is an obsession only of the so called ‘patrio…
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Hundreds of workers in Manika Block of Latehar District (Jharkhand) sent a five-rupee note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to protest against the measly increase of NREGA wages in Jharkhand this year – from Rs 162 per day to Rs 167 per day

http://www.countercurrents.org/pr010516.htm

1 May 2016: Hundreds of workers in Manika Block of Latehar District (Jharkhand) sent a five-rupee note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to protest against the measly increase of NREGA wages in Jharkhand this year – from Rs 162 per day to Rs 167 per day.
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Do the human stories from the 21st century UK or India, sound different from the reality Engels found in 1844-’45 and, based on his findings, depicted in The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) or far different from today’s toilers in Africa and Asia? A contradictory reality emerges: higher profit or superprofit, and “deepening poverty, mass unemployment, social exclusion, greater inequality, and collective despair”, “rising insecurity, less choice, wage freezes”..., “higher levels of work intensity”. Are not there relations or contradictions in the reality? Is there any reason that can make the reality in the underdeveloped hemisphere better than the European reality? Is the reality basically different from the reality that gave rise to the world workers’ May Day? In this May Day, the questions, basically old, demand renewed search

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Condition of labor in today’s world is not difficult to gauge. News on labor’s working and living condition is in abundance, which help comprehend the conditions within which labor survive in the present day world.
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During the last few years, villages of Manika Block in Latehar District have been terrorised by Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), a police-sponsored outfit allegedly aimed at countering Maoist influence. Under this pretext, armed JJMP gangs are roaming in the area and harassing innocent villagers – extorting money, interfering with elections, supporting corrupt contractors, beating up dissenters, and even attempting to siphon off funds from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc300416.htm

During the last few years, villages of Manika Block in Latehar District have been terrorised by Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), a police-sponsored outfit allegedly aimed at countering Maoist influence. Under this pretext, armed JJMP gangs are roaming in the area and harassing innocent villagers…
countercurrents.org

Here is an extract of a paper presented by Dr KS Sharma at the XXXII Indian Social Science Congress held at New Delhi from 18'" December to 22nd December 2008. The Paper quotes Dr. B. R. Ambedkar extensively and seeks to bring out some views he had expressed at one stage in his political life. This extract is relevant on the eve of May Day

http://www.countercurrents.org/sharma300416.htm

( The following are extracts from A paper presented by Dr KS Sharma at the XXXII Indian Social Science Congress held at New Delhi from 18'" December to 22nd December 2008. The Paper quotes Dr. B. R. Ambedkar extensively and seeks to bring out some views he had expressed at one stage in his political…
countercurrents.org

Making a sarcasm out of the ceasefire, Syrian airstrikes in Aleppo for the past six days have killed over 200 people. The bombing is targeting residential areas & according to witnesses, no neighborhood of the city has not been hit. That death toll is expected to rise. Wednesday they bombed a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF/Doctors Without Borders), killing 27 people including children & three doctors. One of the doctors killed was the city's last pediatrician.

http://www.countercurrents.org/scully300416.htm

Just so we're clear on what supporting the Assad regime & foreign military intervention in Syria means: Making a sarcasm out of the ceasefire, Syrian airstrikes in Aleppo for the past six days have killed over 200 people. The bombing is targeting residential areas & according to witnesses, no neighb…
countercurrents.org

People from Narmada Valley observed three day fast from 27-29 April in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with a nationwide support and solidarity from people and other movements through protests, Peaceful demonstration and fast in their region against the corruption in Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar Dam oustees, demanding to make Justice Jha Commission report public and accessible to the people as well as to Narmada Bachao Andolan and Narmada Control Authority (NCA), the petitioners in the Madhya Pradesh High Court

http://www.countercurrents.org/napm290416.htm

People from Narmada Valley observed three day fast from 27-29 April in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with a nationwide support and solidarity from people and other movements through protests, Peaceful demonstration and fast in their region against the corruption in Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Sardar…
countercurrents.org

112 film makers, academics, journalists and artists from India petition for the immediate release of Kanak Mani Dixit

http://www.countercurrents.org/pr290416A.htm

We, film makers, writers, academics and artists from India, are shocked and dismayed at the news of Shri. Kanak Mani Dixit’s arrest in Kathmandu. Kanak Mani Dixit is a much loved and admired figure in media and cultural spheres across South Asia. At a time when conflict and nationalist rhetoric is t…
countercurrents.org

Release of Fact Finding Report by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) and Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) entitled, “State of Siege: Report on Encounters and Cases of Sexual Violence in Bijapur and Sukma Districts of Chhattisgarh”

http://www.countercurrents.org/pr290416.htm

Release of Fact Finding Report by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) and Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) entitled, “State of Siege: Report on Encounters and Cases of Sexual Violence in Bijapur and Sukma Districts of Chhattisgarh”
countercurrents.org

Our beloved ‘Vice Chancellor’, first of all I take this opportunity to congratulate you for your act of punishing some anti-national students for their act on 9th February 2016. But I have some grievances which I would like to bring into your consideration

http://www.countercurrents.org/kumar290416.htm

Our beloved ‘Vice Chancellor’, first of all I take this opportunity to congratulate you for your act of punishing some anti-national students for their act on 9th February 2016. But I have some grievances which I would like to bring into your consideration.
countercurrents.org

The latest killings of scores of freethinking writers by “Islamist” or “unknown” assailants are fast turning Bangladesh into a killing field. The latest killings of an atheist blogger, one university professor, and two LGBT activists in Bangladesh have stirred the world outside Bangladesh. Even the UN has demanded prompt probe into the latest killings in the country. However, what we hear from Bangladesh is bizarre, and unfortunate. While the Home Minister thinks people live ...in absolute safety, the police chief has asked people to make their own “security circles”. Some politicians have already “identified” the killers, said to be BNP-Jamaat activists! Surprisingly, while the Home Minister asserts there is no ISIS in Bangladesh, the Information Minister has confirmed – with absolute precision – there are 8,000 al Qaeda activists in the country

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The latest killings of scores of freethinking writers by “Islamist” or “unknown” assailants are fast turning Bangladesh into a killing field. The latest killings of an atheist blogger, one university professor, and two LGBT activists in Bangladesh have stirred the world outside Bangladesh. Even the…
countercurrents.org

Deba Ranjan Sarangi has been a consistent and passionate voice against injustice both within and outside Odisha. As a writer, film maker and human rights activist, he has highlighted and critiqued policies of destructive development, unbridled mining practices, displacement, police impunity, atrocities on Dalits, Adivasi issues , growth of communal fascism in Odisha, violence on women and farmers’ suicide in the context of acute agrarian crisis. Sarangi was arrested on March ...18, 2016, by plainclothes policemen from the Kucheipadar village of Rayagada District, Odisha. After he was released on bail Countercurrents.org conducted an Email interview with him where he speaks of the hidden agenda of mining not just in Odisha but all over India. He also puts forward an alternative model of development for India

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Deba Ranjan Sarangi was arrested on March 18, 2016, by plainclothes policemen from the Kucheipadar village of Rayagada District, Odisha. Debaranjan was in Kucheipadar to attend a funderal ceremony of one of his friend’s father. He was arrested with a non-bailable warrant issued by the court of JMFC,…
countercurrents.org

The journey was an introspection of the self. I thought of the way I was afraid on seeing them, how easily I judged them. But then when I started talking, how the fear vanished, how the compassion came, how easily was I able to relate to them, their worries and how their tragedies became my personal tragedies. It was no more ‘them’ speaking’; but ‘us’. And it was beautiful

http://www.countercurrents.org/ami280416.htm

The journey from Kerala to Guwahati had always been eventful for me. This time it was the mid semester vacation, the train was Vivek express and I was travelling alone for the first time. As soon as I got into the 3rd AC compartment from Palakkad, I felt suffocated. The train is usually filled with…
countercurrents.org

Kashmiris have a nickname for everyone and everything

http://www.countercurrents.org/ashraf280416.htm

For past sometime, film actor Anupam Kher has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. For a change one would not like to counter his campaign against Kashmiri Muslims which, according to some Pandit leaders, has already substantially damaged their cause. Let us concentrate on his name. He is Kha…
countercurrents.org

Science should learn from nature; neither from the laboratory alone nor try to teach nature a lesson or two. Nature tells us that health is man’s birth right and any deviation from the normal (which is the rule rather than exception, called healthy chaos in science) is being managed by the human immune system. The range of change in blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol or any other of the millions of chemical molecules that humans have ( a single human cell cytoplasm has 10,000 protein molecules: there are one hundred thousand billion cells in all) all been managed properly by the immune mechanism. We have recent increase in diseases now, thanks to our messing up with our life styles and environment

http://www.countercurrents.org/hegde280416.htm

“To have something different you must do something different. But in order to do something different you must be able to think something different. And before you can think something different you must be willing to believe something different.” - Anon
countercurrents.org

If you observe Kanhaiya’s speeches and interviews, we can discern a definite direction in which he intends to go. First of all, he says that the lack of unity between the Left and Dalit sections has been the main reason for the rise of Hindutva Right. He was focusing his attack throughout on Hindutva, false nationalism and attack on educational institutions

http://www.countercurrents.org/marla280416.htm

As one commentator said a few days back, “it is not easy to escape the limelight, if you happen to be Kanhaiya Kumar.” Well said, but why? Why at all, a student leader has been catapulted into the center stage of Indian politics, whether he likes it or not?
countercurrents.org

Led by JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, a group of students from Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy, (JNU) Delhi started an indefinite hunger strike demanding a rollback of the university authorities' punishment for them. Students participating in the indefinite hunger-strike are Kanhaiya Kumar, Rama Naga- General Secretary JNUSU, Shweta Raj, Chintu Kumari, Anant Prakash Narayan, Sraborni Ahmed , Aqsa Asger, Nitisha Kholkar, K. Feyaz Ahmed , Pratim Ghoshal, Anand, Pankhuri Zaheer, Samanth Singh, Sunaina , G. Suresh, Birendra, Awadesh, Sanjeev and Parthipan

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc280416.htm

Led by JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, a group of students from Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy, (JNU) Delhi started an indefinite hunger strike demanding a rollback of the university authorities' punishment for them. Students participating in the indefinite hunger-strike are Kanhaiya Kumar, Rama Naga-…
countercurrents.org

Towards the end of a town hall meeting in Philadelphia broadcast last Monday night over MSNBC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders declared his support for the Obama administration’s program of assassination by drone-fired missiles and its steady build-up of US troop strength in Syria and Iraq

http://www.countercurrents.org/ar270416.htm

Towards the end of a town hall meeting in Philadelphia broadcast last Monday night over MSNBC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders declared his support for the Obama administration’s program of assassination by drone-fired missiles and its steady build-up of US troop strength in Syria and Iraq.
countercurrents.org

Israel has reached grim new highs this year, incarcerating a much greater number of Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 15, making Dima’s imprisonment disturbing not so much for its novelty but for how routine it is

http://www.countercurrents.org/silver270416.htm

Dima al Wawi, 12, the youngest Palestinian female detainee, is welcomed by her family at the Jbara checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, after her release on 24 April. (Keren Manor / ActiveStills)
countercurrents.org