The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
Social activist Medha Patkar was arrested in New Delhi on Friday for failing to furnish probation bonds in a 24-year-old defamation case filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. The arrest comes after a court granted Patkar a one-year probation in April, but she failed to comply with the order to furnish bonds.
'I dreaded meeting him these days because every time he'd say: We have to fight this government, even if it means going to jail.' 'He'd been in jails run by the British, he'd also been in jails in independent India, now he was ready to go to jail under this government.'
'And then the people who call themselves great nationalists, I can bet you that 99 per cent of them are dodging taxes, have sent their kids to America, or are doing everything to make sure that what goes on in this country doesn't affect their personal wealth or their whatever bull*&$%.'
'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
Under the relevant law, the activist may get a jail term of two years or fine or both as the punishment.
The court sentenced Patkar after considering the evidence before it and the fact that the case went on for over two decades.
For someone who is such an indefatigable litigant, what is stopping Mr Saxena from using the law to depose Mr Kejriwal? Maybe we will get the answer after May 25, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Love Storiyaan comes alive in the courageous and fearless voice of six spirited romantics speaking direct dil se, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Saxena, who became the Delhi LG in May 2022, is an accused, along with three others in a case of alleged attack on Patkar for opposing the Narmada dam project.
The PIL was filed by National Council for Civil Liberties, which accused NBA of indulging in several illegal activities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying those who have been thrown out of power are taking out foot march to get back to power.
N Chandrababu Naidu, when he was chief minister of the state, had sought funding for the project in 2015, but the Bank had deferred its decision in the light of the alleged government excesses.
Vinai Kumar Saxena's current job as lieutenant governor of an Opposition-ruled state will raise the bar -- not just for him, but also for the Aam Aadmi Party government, which never says no to a fight with the representative of the central government in India's capital.
Saxena, 64, will succeed Anil Baijal who resigned from the post last week citing "personal reasons".
The contrast between the two meetings couldn't have been more stark, yet, both were organically linked, the latter a show of support for the former.
Narmada Bachao Movement leader Medha Patkar led a massive protest rally in Guwahati on Wednesday demanding shelving of dam projects in ecologically fragile and tectonically highly sensitive Northeastern region especially in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in order to safeguard interests of masses in the region.
After discussions Behar offered Patkar lemon juice to end her hunger strike in support of the Sardar Sarovar Dam affected persons.
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on Monday trained her guns on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and slammed his government for "committing excesses" on tribals, who have lost their land to the Sardar Sarovar Project in the state.
The NBA had moved applications for expunging certain adverse remarks made by the apex court in the May 11 judgement lashing out at the NGO for making false statements in the affidavit for securing favourable order.
Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar has told the Supreme Court that she is seeking transfer of a criminal defamation case against her outside Gujarat as there was threat to her life in the state from the respondent.
Medha Patkar was on Monday arrested when she tried to stage a demonstration outside the Secretariat in Mumbai demanding implementation of rehabilitation package for people in Maharashtra affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project.
In a determined voice, she told rediff.com, "I beckon the people of the state and voluntary organisations to launch a well-concerted protest to counter the injustice meted out to the people of Nandigram. We cannot just sit idle and let a government destroy a state."
The NBA has received no response from the PMO after the fact-finding mission.
Patkar has been on fast for the last eight days protesting the government's move to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam and demanding rehabilitation for the people displaced by the project.
Patkar said she expected some concrete action from the Centre on the Narmada Bachao Andolan's demand for rehabilitation of the project-affected people and reversal of the decision to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam.
They were protesting against the demolition of slums by the Brihanmumbai\nMunicipal Corporation.
Medha Patkar on what she calls the Special Exploitation Zones.
Citing examples of alleged corruption, she claimed that families affected from Sardar Sarovar and Indira Sagar project had been forced or lured by officials to prepare fake registries to avail benefits of the state government's special rehabilitation package (SRP).
Bhagwatibai Patidar, who had began her fast with Patkar, continued to refuse food for the 10th day today.
Unrelenting in her demand that work on the Sardar Sarovar Dam should be halted immediately, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar's indefinite fast entered the eighth day Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that "urban Naxals and anti-development elements" with political backing had stalled the construction of Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river in Gujarat for many years by running a campaign that it would harm the environment.
The Supreme Court on Monday expressed annoyance over the delay in providing relief to Narmada dam oustees saying the issue had not moved an inch forward in the last one year. "Today, the position is that we have not moved an inch forward," a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said referring to its April 23, 2007 order in which it had asked the Madhya Pradesh Government to clarify the factual position on relief and rehabilitation which was objected to by NBA.
The plea was to stop constructionn work to raise the dam's height.
Patkar, who was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, said all the activists would return to the valley tonight en route Bhopal and Indore and continue the struggle from there in order to keep up the political pressure generated on the issue.
Two more NBA activists - Jamsing Nargavekar and Bhagwati Patidar - who too had been on fast with Patkar, also ended their strike.
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