NPRD Condemns DDA’s Insensitivity towards Disabled Students

THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), in a statement issued on December 23, has condemned the utter insensitivity displayed by the Delhi Development Authority in demolishing a hostel housing visually impaired students at Janakpuri, Delhi. This thoughtless and callous action on the part of the DDA has left around 25 of the hostel’s inmates to face the vagaries of nature. They have been compelled to seek shelter under temporary tents in unhygienic conditions, at this time of the year when the winter is at its harshest in Delhi.

AARM Delegation Meets President over Eviction of Adivasis

THE president of India gave a sympathetic hearing to a delegation led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and Jharkhand Adivasi Adhikar Manch secretary Praful Linda who submitted a memorandum to him on December 22. The delegation which comprised adivasi leaders of the Chotanagpur area of Jharkhand were from three project affected areas in which more than three lakh people, a large number of them adivasis will be evicted. They were Mohan Oraon, Dr Ashok, Anita Tirkey, Deepika Bara, Aloys Minz, Surendra Oraon, Mukesh Oraon and Fildri Toppo.

Denial of Basic Rights

THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), in a statement issued on December 15, has expressed its serious concern at the deteriorating health of Prof G N Saibaba, a person with 90 per cent disability who is in solitary confinement in the infamous anda cell at the Nagpur Central Jail. It is deplorable that despite his facing multiple medical problems, the jail authorities have refused to shift him to a hospital for treatment.

Observe January 3 as Women’s Education Day

THE Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, in a statement issued on December 20 has called upon its units to observe Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule’s birth anniversary on January 3 as Women’s Education Day.

Implement RPD Act

RANI Rasmoni Avenue, one of the busiest roads in Kolkata, turned into a sea of yellow as more than 12,000 disabled persons gathered at the call of Paschimbanga Rajya Pratibandhi Sammilani, the West Bengal affiliate of National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD). This was in response to the call given by the NPRD at its second conference held at Virudhunagar in September 2017 for nationwide action on December 4 demanding the speedy implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016.

Dalits of Tripura Resolve to Form 8th Left Front Govt

THE struggling left and democratic masses of Tripura must not let their guard down after the formation of the Left Front government in the state for an 8^TH term in the ensuing election, but they must continue their struggle to enthuse the people of the country in forming a pro-people alternative government in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told a mammoth rally called by the Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee in Agartala on October 29.

Reservations for Dalit Priests: DSMM Congratulates Kerala Government

IN a letter written to Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, on October 8,

Second NPRD Conference: Conference of Victory, Call for Consolidation

THE thousands that had turned out at the Deshabandhu maidan in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar on September 17 braving an overcast sky and incessant showers, to mark the conclusion of the NPRD’s second conference, reflected the confidence that the disabled people of Tamil Nadu and the country reposed in the NPRD. In the NPRD and its affiliates they saw the embodiment of their hopes and aspirations.

TAMIL NADU: Caste as the Menace

ON August 29, at 10 pm, K Swaminathan, vice-president, SZIEF (AIIEA) called and asked me to free myself the next day to visit Nallur village near Thirukazhukundram. Imparting the immediate necessity and urgency, he informed that the entire village was attacked by casteist forces when Vinayaka Chathurthi was celebrated by the dalits in that village. Accordingly, Uma Maheswari, Abinava Vidyatheerthan and myself (General Insurance, AIIEA) accompanied him to Nallur village.

On the Dera Sacha Sauda Episode

“I salute this land of deras” – this is how Narendra Modi started his address to an election rally in Sirsa in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. And his opening sentence in another election rally in Jind during the campaign was: “I salute this land of Khaps!” There remains no doubt about the complicity of the BJP government in Haryana after the orgy of arson and violence following the August 25 conviction, by a Panchkula-based special CBI court, of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet alias Ram Rahim for rape of his two followers.

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