They Would Have Arrested Gandhi: Ramachandra Guha On Raids On Activists
NEW DELHI, August 28: Author and historian Ramachandra Guha today lashed out at the government over the countrywide raids and arrest of activists, calling it a "brutal, authoritarian, oppressive, arbitrary. illegal act" by the Maharashtra police. Speaking to NDTV after the arrest of five well-known activists and intellectuals, Mr Guha blamed it on the "corporate cronies of the ruling government," who, he said, were bent on grabbing tribal land, forest and mineral resources. The arrest of the activists was meant to take away the only representation the tribals have, he said.
Through the day, the Pune police had conducted raids on the homes of nine activists across five cities, which ended with the arrest of five - Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, and activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves. The police said the arrests were linked to last year's Bhima Koregaon violence, in which Dalit activists had clashed with upper-caste Marathas.
In June, five people -- Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen -- were arrested for allegedly making "provocative" speeches at an event in at Bhima Koregaon village in January, which, the police said, triggered violence. Today's raids were carried out on basis of what they said during interrogation, the police said.
Mr Guha told NDTV that he knew some of those arrested and while he did not always agreed with them, he knew that they "never themselves preached or practiced violence".
"But these are people who represent the country's disenfranchised and the dispossessed," he said. "What is happening in the adivasi heartland of india... it is murder, rape, physical, natural, social... and these were the lawyers representing the tribals... and their arrest leaves those dispossessed unrepresented in court," he added.
As a biographer of Gandhi, I have no doubt that if the Mahatma was alive today, he would don his lawyer's robes and defend Sudha Bharadwaj in court; that is assuming the Modi Sarkar hadn't yet detained and arrested him too
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 28, 2018
Intellectuals and professionals including author Arundhati Roy and Indira Jaising have criticized the arrests in harsh terms. Earlier today, Indira Jaising tweeted: "One day there will be no one left to defend the rule of law,one day there will be no rule of law left to defend."
Ms Roy, in a statement, compared the arrests to the 1975 Emergency. "It is as close to a declaration of an Emergency as we will ever get," read a statement from the Booker-prize winning author.
Mr Guha, however said, he needed to make his stand clear. "The witch hunt against activists was was started by Congress, this government taking it further," the historian had added.
Courtesy: ndtv.com
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
