CounterCurrents: Farmers Continue To Suffer Pains Of Demonetisation, It Wasn’t All Bad: 5 Signs Of Positive Change In 2016

Dear Friend,

As India's demonetisation enters 52nd day, and also the promised 50 day window of Prime Minister Narendra Modi    has passed, things are not getting any better. There is no cash in ATMs, long queues still continue. More than that many people have nothing to withdraw from ATMs! The worst hit are farmers. Moin Qazi tells the plight of farmers in his article "Farmers Continue To Suffer Pains Of Demonetisation". Farmers are dumping onions and tomatos on the road. Whatever they can sell, they are selling    at throw away prices, as the accompanying video from ABP News shows. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to address the nation tomorrow. Perhaps he would announce some sops to win votes in the upcoming elections. They may divert the public anger and even may please some people for some time. But the pain of demonetisation is not going to go away any time soon. 

As the year draws to a close, Sarah van Gelder looks back at 2016, and sees some positives. She closes the article with this advice "We are living on a planet with a carbon-saturated atmosphere, in a time of increasing inequality and terrifying violence. Trump’s administration won’t get us where we need to go, but neither would the Democratic Party’s corporate-friendly policies. So, even as we enter a time that could be quite dark, we should focus not on finding a way back to an Obama/Clinton past, but on how to move forward by nurturing the seeds of real change that began to germinate in 2016."

Donald Trump's election was a wake up call. Ron Forthofer, a retired Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas says, the Trump nightmare is nothing new. It has been going on for many decades. Many people chose not to wake up to the reality. Now that Trump is here it's time for action. He concludes the article "If the message of ‘peace on earth’ is to have any meaning, all people must realize that the ‘others’ are fellow human beings whose lives have the same value as ours."

Take a look at a Photo Essay on the protest led by Standing Rock Sioux indigenous Americans against Dakota Access Pipleline that has grown into a huge movement for environmental protection.

Viswanath L, an IIT Kharagpur canditate takes our attention to the technological and ethical pit falls of India's controversial biometric Aadhar project. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Farmers Continue To Suffer Pains Of Demonetisation
by Moin Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/farmers-continue-to-suffer-pains-of-demonetisation/

The farm sector has taken the worst scalds. The government’s decision triggered a nationwide cash crunch that sent farm prices   crashing to rock-bottom levels, bringing misery to millions of farmers.





Bastar Police Continue Their Vendetta Against Women Human Rights Defenders
by Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/bastar-police-continue-their-vendetta-against-women-human-rights-defenders/

Advocate Shalini Gera and her colleagues of JagLAG who were in Jagdalpur in connection with a case of false encounter of a young Adivasi boy (1), were confronted on the night of 27 December by a police team which entered the dharamshala where they were staying and accused them of trying to exchange demonetised notes on behalf of the Maoists. Despite the fact that they were following up on an order by the Chhattisgarh HC for exhumation and a second post-mortem in the case and their accommodation had been arranged by the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Adv Shalini and her colleagues were ordered to come to the police station for interrogation. Attempts were also made to forcibly search their rooms and belongings. When asked to produce a warrant, the SI in charge of the team became even more aggressive and abusive. It took a personal call from the Divisional Commissioner to the SI to force the police to back off.






It Wasn’t All Bad: 5 Signs Of Positive Change In 2016
by Sarah van Gelder 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/it-wasnt-all-bad-5-signs-of-positive-change-in-2016/

We are living on a planet with a carbon-saturated atmosphere, in a time of increasing inequality and terrifying violence. Trump’s administration won’t get us where we need to go, but neither would the Democratic Party’s corporate-friendly policies. So, even as we enter a time that could be quite dark, we should focus not on finding a way back to an Obama/Clinton past, but on how to move forward by nurturing the seeds of real change that began to germinate in 2016.






Wakeup Call
by Ron Forthofer 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/wakeup-call/

If the message of ‘peace on earth’ is to have any meaning, all people must realize that the ‘others’ are fellow human beings whose lives have the same value as ours.





20 Photos: My Seven Months Of Living At Standing Rock
by Desiree Kane 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/20-photos-my-seven-months-of-living-at-standing-rock/

A Photo Essay on the protest led by Standing Rock Sioux indigenous Americans against Dakota Access Pipleline that has grown into a huge movement for environmental protection







The Case Against Aadhaar
by Viswanath L 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/the-case-against-aadhaar/

The Aadhaar programme proposes to set up technological barriers to the commission of fraud, but takes no responsibility towards the identity crisis it may cause to bona fide citizens. The big data it generates, together with the continuous collection of citizens’ biometric data,is a frontal attack on the future of civil liberties in our country. On these counts the Aadhaar programme should be scrapped ab initio.The Aadhaar Act, which provides a semblance of legality to it, actually exposes the unviability of the underlying technology in the clearest possible terms and should help the Supreme Court in concluding the matter at the earliest.






Shivaji Statue: Why Important For Hindutva Brigade
by T Navin

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/shivaji-statue-why-important-for-hindutva-brigade/

The Hindutva advocates see in Shivaji a symbolism for promoting their concept of Hindu Rashtra through propagation of anti-minority attitude. Statue remains a means for reinforcing this mindset and promoting Hindutva.






Kashmir 2016: The Year Of Unrest Is Fading Out
by Gowhar Naz 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/kashmir-2016-the-year-of-unrest-is-fading-out/

As 2016 draws to a close and we move into 2017 – the start of a new year. It is that time of the year, when you get to look back with the mixed feelings on what you did and what you missed out on. No wonder, you didn’t do anything significant this year, like winning some tournament, or a gold medal in the academics. As Kashmir dealt with the worst kind of an outbreak (which was a new season) of unrest in six years.






My Romance With A Village Postman
by Moin Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/30/my-romance-with-a-village-postman/

When I write this diary I feel extremely dismayed with the way the Indian village postman has receded into the far horizons of the rural landscape .The traditional postman has been slowly consigned to grandma’s folklores and lullaby tales  . But it is an image that just won’t get washed away by the driftwood of history. The image will keep revisiting us.  The postman remains a   hero for those of my generation .Everyone knows for sure that the new digital show kids can’t provide the warmth and intimacy that has gone along with the figure of the traditional postman.