The CBI has registered a case against Arunachal Pradesh environmental activist and lawyer Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving Rs 20.94 lakh in foreign funds without mandatory FCRA registration or prior permission. The agency claims these funds were used to organise and sustain protests against two hydropower projects in the state. A preliminary enquiry indicated Tatak received foreign contributions directly into her personal account and did not file income tax returns declaring these funds.
Spearheading the protests against the dams, the All Assam Students' Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and All Mishing Students' Union have raised the alarm that these mega dams would have a catastrophic effect on life and livelihoods of people living in the downstream areas of the Brahmaputra river in Assam.
Assam government on Friday accused Left-wing extremists of engineering protests against big dams in the state and warned of appropriate action to tackle the design.
Mirza was in Rajkot on Sunday for a function where she told reporters that she supported Aamir's stand on the dam.
A mass protest mobilised by anti-dam protestors from Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Thursday stopped a turbine component that was being transported to the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-power Project in Dhemaji district of Assam.
The BJP-led NDA government's decision to facilitate resumption of stalled work at 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Power Project being constructed by the National Hydro-Power Corporation at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary has not gone down well with many anti-dam organisations in Assam. They fear a catastrophic downstream impact by the mega dam project.
The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, an organisation spearheading protests against a proposed dam in eastern Assam, has called for an indefinite bandh in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts from Tuesday. The bandh has been called to protest 'police atrocities' on agitators who were forcefully evicted from the demonstration site at Ranganadi in the wee hours of Monday. Akhil Gogoi, general secretary of KMSS, claimed that police personnel resorted to unprovoked lathi-charge.
Anti-dam crusader Medha Patkar on Thursday added more decibels to the raging anti-mega dam agitation in Assam and said that it was now snowballing into national movement for the mass support it had generated.
'Gandhi turned his life into a counter-intuitive experiment in old ideas like non-violence and swadeshi.' 'He offered numerous universal ideas that talk to the human condition.' 'His ability to take risks was outstanding,' says Sopan Joshi, explaining why the Mahatma's ideas are as relevant as ever.
