PEOPLE'S
(From 1977-1980 these
reports were published by the Peoples
DISSENTING VOICES
..Let them make children
beg
but why call that education?
Let them kill the poor
but why call that democracy?
These are the voices of poets from some of the
languages of
A fact-finding team report on the riots in
A fact-finding team report on the measures used against the peasant movement in parts of Telangana area of Andhra Pradesh. Since August 1978 - arrest of around 800 peasants, institution of scores of criminal cases, firing on peasants by police and landlords, setting up of police camps in villages and culminating in the notification of the two taluks of Karimnagar district as disturbed areas.
REPRESSION IN SINGHBHUM
The report of an investigation
into the frequent
instances of police firing on Adivasis in Chaibasa, and oppression of landless labourers
in Baharagora areas of Singhbhum
in
A fact-finding report into the
police firing
on
Caste and communal violence, extraordinary laws and regulations, inhuman tortures, increasing police firings, slow judicial process and abominable jail conditions are some of the forms of attack on democratic rights. Six parliaments have come and gone, five prime ministers have changed, promises were made and assurances given. But the attack on people's rights continues. This report, essentially based on government data brings out the continuity of the assault.
A fact-finding team report on
the agitation
in
A fact-finding team report on the burning of Harijan huts in Bilaspur allegedly by Jat landlords. The team feels that the Haryana police is covering up the incidents and is spreading the rumour that Harijans set fire to the huts themselves to cash in on the political atmosphere in the country.
A study on the working of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, as adopted & extended to the Union Territory of Delhi. The report has an annexure on cases from Beggars' Court, Kingsway camp.
"... Rape to hazaron saal se hota raha hai aur aurat to bhogne ki cheez hai" a senior cabinet minister has remarked. The attitude towards women embedded in our ancient culture has not undergone any basic change. The report comments upon the role of the state in this context and also the protest movements against rape.
A report on the spate of arrests of writers, cultural activists and labourers, many of whom were tortured, from May 21 to July 31. The report concludes that governments in all states pay scant attention to democratic values and the right to dissent.
A report of a fact-finding team on the arrests of leaders of the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS) on 11 February and subsequent police actions in the Dalli Rajhara Area.
A fact-finding report into a police firing on a Girijan Rytu Coolie Sangham meeting at Indervalli, which was reported to have left 60 dead and 100 injured. The fact that Gonds have been continuously alienated from their land and forest produce has been the main reason for tensions. Efforts by the tribals to organise themselves faced stiff resistance from the state.
A fact-finding team report on the murder of Mr Jaya Prakash,
a trade union leader on
An investigation into the
alleged torture of
a Bhartiya Janata
Party (BJP)
woman worker by the
A report on the demolition of
499 jhuggis in New Seemapuri
on
The papers submitted for the 1st Annual Convention of PUDR include, an analysis into the relevance, the need for, and the larger political context of PUDR, an attempt to draw a connection between science and democratic values by Prabir Mitra and a paper on “Cultural Coercion and Creative Obligations” by the Hindi poet, Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena.
A fact-finding team report into repression in
A report condemning the
premeditated
attack on a
A report on the Forest Bill, which was soon to be enacted. The Government stated its objectives behind introduction of this bill as protection of the fast depleting forests in the country. But the bill has far-reaching implications for our economy, environment, democratic polity, and for the people who inhabit these forests. The report presents a critique of the forest policy and appeals to all democratic sections to oppose the bill and demand its withdrawal.
A joint fact-finding team with the People's Union for Civil Liberties (Madhya Pradesh), and the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (Nagpur) visited Bharweli and Balaghat, where 3 workers working in the mine of the Manganese Ore (India) Ltd.. (MOIL) were killed in a police firing, several others were injured and 15 leading activists were put in prison. The fact-finding team viewed the police firing as a continuation of the systematic harassment faced by the workers in their attempt to organize into an independent union.
A report on the Hospitals and other Institutions (Settlement of Disputes) Bill 1982, explaining it in the light of the already existing National Security Act (NSA) and the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). The report includes a summary of the chapters of the bill and its consequences.
The fact-finding report provides a documentary glimpse into the untold and sordid story that lies behind Asiad '82. The report contains extracts from the writ petition filed by PUDR in the Supreme Court, and sections from the historic judgment of Justice Bhagwati and Justice Bahrul Islam. This judgement has far-reaching implications for the locus standi of petitioners, for the employment of children and migrant labour, and for civil and political rights in general.
A report on the completion of one year of the
strike by over
2.5 lakh textile workers of
Papers for the 2nd annual convention of PUDR consist of:
(a) Taking suffering seriously: a paper by Upendra Baxi on social action litigation by the Supreme Court.
(b) A paper on locus standi and public interest litigation by Govinda Mukhoty.
(c) Costs of (IN) Justice: on the costs of court cases.
(d) A synopsis of Criminal Law and Democratic Rights.
(o) A paper on the State Legal System and Social Movement by Arun Bose.
A report dealing with the question: whether Public Interest Litigation which focuses on problem of implementing the basic right of the people and holds a promise for democratic rights movement can fulfill this promise in a system consisting of outdated colonial laws and operating in a Society insensitive to the needs of the people and a government which treats each demand as a law and order problem. The report contains a brief description of the Public Interest Litigation Cases taken up by PUDR.
A report on the Armed Forces (
The report deals with the widespread violence unleashed in the wake of the decision to hold elections; the impact of special acts and regulations invoked in Assam; the freedom of the press; the rights of government employees; and police atrocities and the deployment of paramilitary forces on people.
This is a joint report with the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, West Bengal (APDR). The police, state administration and the landlords with its own armed forces had started a series of onslaughts on mass movements organised by the local peasants in Jehanabad. The report concludes that the administration had totally failed to implement the minimum wages, land reforms etc. and that the police here are by no means a neutral force, but have strong connections with anti-social elements and are siding with the landlords against the people.
This report focuses on the democratic rights of unorganised labour
in
A report on the Central
Industrial
Security Force (Amendment) Bill passed by the Lok
Sabha on
A coal mine was opened at Saharjori in Santhal Parganas district of Bihar by over 1000 miners, and operated by them as a co-operative. The miners were appealing to the government to take over the mine and operate it as a government-run mine. In response, the mine was bulldozed by the government and the miners were being harassed. A fact-finding team was sent to investigate how and why the miners opened the mine in that backward area, and the response of the Government.
Police repression on the peasant movement in Jehanabad block of Gaya
District in
This documentary report on political killings in
rural
The report examines the wider implications of the decision of setting up a University Security Force.
(a) Economic background of a social conflict.
This paper critically examines the need and impact of the growing trend towards mechanisation in mines.
(b) Mines, Mechanisation and People: a paper by Shanker Guha Niyogi. This paper relates the issue with the direct experience of trade unions confronted with the problem of mechanisation.
(c) Environmental Impact of Mining.
(d) The Woman, the Machine and the Trade Union.
(a) Meghatuburu: Mechanisation in the Making of a Struggle.
(f) A comedy of Errors: Mechanisation
and Planning in
(g) Rapporteur's report on the IIIrd Annual Convention
This joint report with Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) presents the record of democratic rights and the tale of repression in Andhra Pradesh, this time by a non-Congress government.
10 people were killed in police firings, 3 in police "encounters", 6 by landlords, 310 villagers affected by police raids, and 55 brought under ESMA and NSA - all these are N.T. Rama Rao's achievements in one year of government. The report attempts to show that immediate attention from all democratic sections is necessary to counter the birth and growth of this culture of repression.
It is easy to document the exploitation and oppression of women outside the home, but the severest oppression takes place within the walls of the home itself. This report, which highlights the condition of women inside the family, and their democratic rights, concludes that the structure of the family, and the social norms and values that are built around it, are completely against the democratic principles our republic stands for. Hence, the democratic rights movement, to be true to its own principles, must seriously take up the question of the rights of women within the family.
A fact-finding report on the reported incidents of repression, both by police and goondas, on the people involved in an anti-liquor agitation in the Kumaon district of Uttar Pradesh. The team found that the state had responded to it with indifference and at times was in direct collusion with the liquor traders.
This leaflet deals with the Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Ordinance 1984, and other previous undemocratic laws introduced in Independent India. It explains the definition of "terrorist" in the law, and shows how innocent people, fighting for their rights, can be termed as “terrorists”.
The report of a joint enquiry into the anti-Sikh
riots in
A joint-fact finding report uith
CPDR
(
of fundamental rights to fair wages and land.
An enquiry into the killings
of 10 people in
a Harijan basti
in village Kaithibigha,
The report of a fact-finding team, enquiring into
the serious
and widespread violation of the fundamental rights of people, through
the use and
misuse of the laws enacted in
The report of a joint
fact-finding team with
PUCL (Madhya Pradesh) and CPDR (
[Note: This is a very
lightly edited version of an annotated list of publications brought out
by PUDR
in 1985]