Asking the government to "respect right to dissent" in a free and democratic society like India, the leaders emphasized that the roles of civil societies should be taken up positively as they also work as watchdog and constantly remind the policy-makers and corporations of their wrong doings, if any.
Though the government has, of late, taken many decisions to keep NGOs at bay, the recent move of the home ministry that submitted an affidavit in the Delhi High Court against the Greenpeace India on October 9 acted as a trigger for the civil society leaders to take up the issue more strongly.
They have now joined hand and slammed the Centre for its discriminatory and negative approach towards free speech and constructive criticism.
The home ministry had in its affidavit told the High Court that the Greenpeace India was working against national interest by often opposing government policy. Criticizing the government for such an action, senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, women's rights activist Vrinda Grover, Achin Vanaik of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace and journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta in a joint media briefing stressed that the government's recent actions on the environment was at odds with its mandate of 'Sabka Saath Sabha Vikas'.
Emphasizing that the role of environmental watchdogs like Greenpeace is important to keep checks and balances on government's environment policies, they noted that the 'national interest' point was used in the affidavit by the home ministry as a pretext to justify blacklisting Greenpeace International and blocking them from transferring funds to any entity in India.
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: "The Greenpeace is a globally respected organization that for the last 40 years has been working for a sustainable and equitable future. We are present in over 50 countries and all continents. For us to be 'blacklisted' in this manner is unprecedented.
"Civil society voices are critical to any democracy. Suppressing these voices through restrictive measures is against all that India represents to the world. This is not the image that the new government should be projecting to the world."
Referring to the home ministry's affidavit, Prashant Bhushan asked, "When did advocating for clean development, energy access for all and the implementation of India's laws become anti-national"?
He said, "When organizations like Greenpeace India raise their voices against the policies of the state that threaten the environment, they are operating within the constitutional frame of India and should be allowed to do so. The government is bending over backwards to attract foreign investment in mining, insurance, retail and other sectors - why is it afraid of the money that comes to legitimate NGOs?"
The Greenpeace has already written to the Union home minister Rajnath Singh and minister for environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar, seeking an appointment to discuss the case and the group's work in India.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=NGO,Greenpeace International,Greenpeace India
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India's mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Civil societies want govt to end its campaign of intimidation against NGOs
Dengan url
http://obecedes.blogspot.com/2014/11/civil-societies-want-govt-to-end-its.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Civil societies want govt to end its campaign of intimidation against NGOs
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Civil societies want govt to end its campaign of intimidation against NGOs
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar