India’s democracy suffered a body blow this week when police raids across six cities resulted in five prominent left-wing human rights defenders being arrested, the homes and offices of many more searched, and their documents, books, mobile phones and laptops seized.
The fate of four million Bengali speaking people in India’s large north-eastern state of Assam today hangs in perilous balance. Their names have been left out of the penultimate draft of the National Citizens Register. This means that if they are unable to prove their Indian citizenship in the last chance they will get for this – with only one month to file their claims…
Like in the jungle, it is the survival of the fittest. Elected Governments are doing everything in their power to exclude people and the poor from getting benefits that are rightfully theirs.