COurtesy: India Resource Centre

Varanasi, India: Coca-Cola’s bottling plant has been shut down by state government authorities in Mehdiganj in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) ordered the plant to shut down because it found the company to be violating a number of conditions of its license, or “No Objection Certificate” (NOC).

The Pollution Control Board, in its order dated June 6, 2014 (which we obtained yesterday), noted that Coca-Cola had failed to obtain clearance to extract groundwater from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), a government agency that monitors and regulates ground water use in water-stressed areas.

Coca-Cola Factory in Mehdiganj
Credit: India Resource Center

The groundwater in Mehdiganj has gone from “safe” category in 1999 when Coca-Cola started operations to “critical” in 2009, according to the CGWA. As a result, more ground water use restrictions are in place, including on ground water use by farmers and the community for drinking water.

The closure is a major victory for the community in Mehdiganj which has actively engaged the UPPCB, CGWA and other government agencies to shut down Coca-Cola’s plant. The campaign had also alerted the government to Coca-Cola’s failure to meet a key condition of a temporary license given to it – obtaining the clearance from the CGWA. The campaign, which enjoys widespread local support, had also sent letters from 15 village councils (panchayat) in April 2013 seeking closure of Coca-Cola’s plant.

For background on Mehdiganj and for more information visit www.IndiaResource.org

मज़दूरों की एकजुटता को तोड़ने और प्लाण्ट ख़ाली करवाने के लिए कम्पनी ने 31 मई को हरियाणा पुलिस से साँठगाँठ कर मज़दूरों पर बर्बर लाठीचार्ज करवाया, जिसमें 30 से ज़्यादा मज़दूरों को गम्भीर चोटें आयी हैं। इस बर्बर दमन ने साफ़ कर दिया है कि चाहे भाजपा की वसुन्धरा सरकार या कांग्रेस की हुड्डा सरकार, वे तो बस पूँजीपतियों के हितों को सुरक्षित करने का काम कर रहे हैं। 

The post एहरेस्टी के मज़दूरों की एकजुटता तोड़ने के लिए बर्बर लाठीचार्ज appeared first on मज़दूर बिगुल.

KRANTIKARI NAUJAWAN SABHA Date: 18th June 2014 Release Despite the Delhi Police coercion since yesterday to stop the Protest Demonstration for ‘security reasons’, we held a Protest in front of Bikaner House, New Delhi this morning against the anti-labour reforms proposed by the BJP government in Rajasthan. This ‘denial of permission’ for any democratic voices […]

The custodial torture and death in Wadala Police Station is the latest to draw attention to the endemic practice of police torture.

By Mansi Sharma,

FOR the underprivileged in our country, police stations have become torture chambers. It would not be an exaggeration to compare them with Abu Ghraib.

The pictures emerging from the cells of Abu Gharib – of wanton and indescribable physical and sexual abuse of detainees, shocked the world. Something not very dissimilar is happening in Indian police stations.

On May 16, 2014, when the Supreme Court of India acquitted five of six men accused in Akshardham attack case, it drew attention towards coercive methods adopted by investigating agencies to extract confessional statements.  The Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission-appointed Ravi Chander enquiry dwelt at length on the torture inflicted upon scores of Muslim youth following the Mecca Masjid blast on 2006. I remember, at a convention in Delhi some years ago, one of those tortured recalling the smell of burnt flesh in police custody, and then realizing it were his own lips smouldering from the electric shocks administered by the police.

Images are for illustrative purposes only.

However, torture is not confined to terror investigations at all; indeed, it has become endemic and often seen as a quick route to ‘solving cases’. But even in this widespread culture of abuse and torture, the case of gross abuse of four young men at the hands of police at the Wadala police station manages to shake us.

On the night of April 15, police picked four boys, Agnelo (Richie), Arbaz, Irfan and Sufiyan from their homes near Reay Road Police Station for the theft of gold chain and brought them to Wadala Police Station.

They were not presented before the Magistrate, in violation of the law, till two days later. Though Arbaz was minor, he was kept with the other accused. Two days later, Agnelo died in police custody.

Their affidavits submitted to the court describe the horror, abuse and indignity these boys were subjected to. In his written complaint, Irfan has said “my hands and legs were tied with a big rope and a big heavy iron rod was put between my folded legs on which I was hanged upside down. I was naked during this time. Mane and Kamble were assaulting me turn by turn with belt and the danda one by one. Then One Ganya officer holding the stick tried to insert the said stick into my anus but as the stick was thick it didn’t penetrate into my anus and so Mane and Kamble said that we have to spray petrol into his anus using a spray pump”.

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सिर्फ़ एक महीने के घटनाक्रम पर नज़र डालें तो आने वाले दिनों की झलक साफ़ दिख जाती है। एक ओर यह बिल्कुल साफ़ हो गया है कि निजीकरण-उदारीकरण की उन आर्थिक नीतियों में कोई बदलाव नहीं होने वाला है जिनका कहर आम जनता पिछले ढाई दशक से झेल रही है। बल्कि इन नीतियों को और ज़ोर-शोर से तथा कड़क ढंग से लागू करने की तैयारी की जा रही है। दूसरी ओर, संघ परिवार से जुड़े भगवा उन्मादी तत्वों और हिन्दुत्ववादियों के गुण्डा-गिरोहों ने जगह-जगह उत्पात मचाना शुरू कर दिया है। पुणे में राष्ट्रवादी हिन्दू सेना नामक गुण्डा-गिरोह ने सप्ताह भर तक शहर में जो नंगा नाच किया जिसकी परिणति मोहसिन शेख नाम के युवा इंजीनियर की बर्बर हत्या के साथ हुई, वह तो बस एक ट्रेलर है। इन दिनों शान्ति-सद्भाव और सबको साथ लेकर चलने की बात बार-बार दुहराने वाले नरेन्द्र मोदी या उनके गृहमंत्री राजनाथ सिंह ने इस नृशंस घटना पर चुप्पी साध ली। मेवात, मेरठ, हैदराबाद आदि में साम्प्रदायिक दंगे हो चुके हैं और कई अन्य जगहों पर ऐसी हिंसा की घटनाएँ हुई हैं।

The post लुटेरे थैलीशाहों के लिए “अच्छे दिन” – मेहनतकशों और ग़रीबों के लिए “कड़े क़दम”! appeared first on मज़दूर बिगुल.