SSP affected in Gujarat continue relay fast with dead body of Dhulji Bhai

December 5, 2016

The Saradar Sarovar adivasis from Gujarat continue their Relay Fast with the dead body of Dhulji Bhil.

Government of Gujarat responsible for the death of Duljibhai, rejecting his legal claim for the land.

(Photographs in attachement)

The Adivasis from Gujarat, affected by Sardar Sarovar Project have been on Relay Fast since July 15th, 2016. Since yesterday night, they are at the agitation site (opposite Rehabilitation Development Office, at Kevadia Colony, near the dam site) with a dead body kept nearby.

The dead body is of 80 years old adivasi Dulijibhai Bhil of original village, Kadada, on the bank of Narmada. But it can’t be called a natural death since one must know how & why the death occurred and why are such old & young adivasi oustees compelled to go for such a long agitation, with no redressal! Duljibhai’s story is typically self-explanatory!
It was village Kadada, one of the 19 villages affected, fully hilly community in the mountain ranges of Vindhyas, which had no electricity, no motor pump, no shop, and no school!

Duljibhai belonged to the Bhil community that lived on agriculture with the only support of trees, forest & fish. There were a large number of families whose names were not in the official list of the oustees, and many of them, therefore, continued to live in the village Kadada itself, dispersed in to various phalias (hamlets) of Kadada. Many others, shifted to rehabilitation site (vasahats) with their fathers, haven’t got land/rehabilitation till date. Many old adivasis, undeclared and not rehaibilitated, have passed through a long process of complaining before Grievance Redressal Authority (retired judges in chair) as directed by the Apex Court, faced harassment and suffered of expenses and delays with no redressal.

Duljibhai had paternal land, and after his father’s death, his mother and his 3 brothers with himself became the successors. The submergence occurring in village Kadada since 1994 compeled the family to shifted to the R & R site, Amaroli in 2007 where three brothers did get the government allotted land but Duljibhai was left out. However Duljibhai’s complaint was lodged with GRA since 2002 itself. GRA of Gujarat, as usual, forwarded the complaint to Saradar Sarovar Punrvavat Agency and there was no positive response to Duljibhai.

At Amroli, his two elder brothers, Bhaglabhai and Bhuljibhai & younger brother Rumalya got land, whose 5 acres landholding for each is also not adequate yet cultivated by many sons & grandsons with families of theirs. Duljibhai, on the other hand is left with no source of livelihood nor houseplots. Even in 2003 as per the village Panchanama, in Dhulji’s Bhai family alone there were five major sons. If Duljibhai’s declared as oustees at least few of them could have got declared as project affected and received R & R benefits.

Duljibhai had submitted complaint application to GRA since years and he also furnished certificate of succession as well as a Panchanama with the village Sarpanch and few other villages as the Panchas’ in 2003 itself. However Duljibhai received a letter from GRA as second response rejecting his claim just a few days ago which was indeed a shock to him at the age of 80 after having a struggle so long.

The whole family of Dhulajibhai, including women & children had sat outside the office in N aswadi, about a year ago however they were forced to give up 2 days fast, including one by Dhulajibhai. Naib Tehsildar, who held a dialogue along with the police officers, then made promises to enquire & do justice. Yet nothing happened.

Dhulajibhai was committed to the rights through struggle and participated in various activities, always. He and his family members were at the Relay Fast too and with no final & concrete response from the Government of Gujarat, he laid his life.
Dhulji’s story brings out the way in which SS affected adivasis are facing torture in Gujarat. The adivasis sitting with dead body of Duljibhai Bhil are demanding reply to all their demands & those of Duljibhai.
Will the NCA take the responsibility for such an inhumane torture to death of an adivasi oustee, against the false claim of the Gujarat government having rehabilitated all the oustee families since years ago?

Do write, immediately to Vijay Rupani, CM Gujarat; Ms. Uma Bharati, Water Resource Minister of India; Jual Oram, Minister for Tribal Affairs.

Jikubhai Tadvi,      Ratan Vasava,       Balubhai,         Shankarbhai Tadvi

Contact : Ratan Vasave +91 99136 29994

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Narendra Modi Beats Trump, Putin, Tops TIME Person of the Year Poll

December 5, 2016

Narendra Modi Beats Trump, Putin, Tops TIME Person of the Year Poll

First published: December 5, 2016, 11:39 AM IST| Updated: 1 hour ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi serves langar during his visit at Golden temple on the eve of the Heart of Asia Conference, in Amritsar on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won the online reader’s poll for TIME Person of the Year 2016, beating out other world leaders like US President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent US leader Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Modi won with 18 per cent of the vote when the poll closed last night, getting significantly more votes than his closest contenders, including Obama, Trump and Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange, who all received 7 per cent of the ‘yes’ vote.

Narendra Modi wins reader’s poll for TIME Person of the Year https://t.co/4ql3vDmdYP

— TIME (@TIME) 5 December 2016

Modi was also placed far ahead of other prominent figures of this year, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (2 per cent) and US Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (4 per cent), Time said.

Time’s editors will decide the final Person of the Year later this week, but the online poll results provide a look at how the world sees these figures and Modi emerged as the most influential figure in 2016, according to the online poll.

Time said the reader poll is an “important window” into who they think most shaped 2016.

It is for the second time that Modi has won the online readers’ poll for Time Person of the Year title, securing the honour in 2014, when he had got more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast.

For the fourth year in a row, Modi is among the contenders for Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ honour, which the US publication bestows every year to the one “who has most influenced the news and our world in the past year, for good or ill”.

Last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel was Time’s ‘Person of the Year’.

Time said in recent months, Modi saw high approval ratings from Indians, according to a September Pew poll. It added that Modi has come under scrutiny recently for getting rid of 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, impacting cash-based businesses and threatening India’s economy.

Current poll results, analysed by poll host Apester, found that preferences differed across the world and the United States. Modi performed particularly well among Indian voters as well as those in California and New Jersey.

Modi had been in the lead in this years online poll and according to the initial votes cast, he had got 21 per cent voting in his favour.

For a while Assange had overtaken Trump for the lead in the online poll, getting 10 per cent of all the “yes” votes cast by participants, Time had said.

Among the contenders this year are former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, FBI Chief James Comey, Apple CEO Tim Cook, parents of slain Muslim-American soldier Humanyun Khan, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Time had also analysed the moments from 2016 when this year’s poll contenders were most talked about. For Modi it was October 16 when the Indian leader had suggested during a summit of BRICS nations in Goa that Pakistan is the “mothership” for terrorism.