By Arbab Ali - Rat-miner Wakeel Hasan was a national hero in November, after helping rescue 41 men trapped in a Himalayan tunnel. Now, he’s on the streets, after authorities bulldozed his house.
New Delhi, India – Wakeel Hasan had to climb his neighbour’s 1.8-metre (six-foot) wall to enter the rubble-filled plot of land where his house stood only a day earlier.
The police had barricaded the front of the land where his home, a single-floored, two-bedroom house that his family had called home for over a decade, was demolished on Wednesday by the authorities in Khajuri Khas, a densely populated neighbourhood in India’s capital, New Delhi.
A day later, he stood on the rubble of his house, tears rolling down his face as he overturned bricks and wood planks to try and recover his 15-year-old daughter Aliza’s textbooks, who had to miss her 10th standard annual examination on Thursday.
“I can’t even look at this demolished home and not cry,” Hasan told Al Jazeera.
Only three months ago, Hasan was a national hero and had made headlines for rescuing 41 construction workers trapped in a Himalayan tunnel for more than two weeks.
His team of so-called “rat-hole miners” was called to the northern Uttarakhand state after professional rescuers armed with tunnel drilling machines repeatedly failed to reach the trapped workers. A nation of 1.5 billion people held its collective breath as the rat-hole miners dug by hand for 26 hours to free the buried men in November.
Hasan and his team received national recognition for their feat, including praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a selfie with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Cash awards were announced and TV channels interviewed Hasan and his team of rat miners for days.
Only three months later, Hasan’s life turned upside down when he got a frantic call from his daughter while at a shop buying groceries.
‘Dragged out of the house’
Aliza said police officers had arrived at their house to demolish it and that she, along with her older brother Azeem, was standing against the door to prevent the police from entering. It was about 9:30 in the morning.
Soon, half a dozen police officers, some of them female, barged into the house and allegedly hit Aliza and Azeem, the assault caught on camera by people in a crowd that had gathered by now.
“I was slapped by the female police personnel and Azeem was pushed around, slapped and verbally abused. We were then dragged out of the house and thrown into a police car,” Aliza told Al Jazeera.
When Hasan reached home, he saw officials from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the government organisation in charge of planning and development of infrastructure projects in the capital, attempting to demolish his house with large hammers.
Before Hasan could do or say anything, a bulldozer began tearing the structure down.
The DDA claimed Hasan’s house was built illegally on government land. In a statement, it said Hassan’s family was informedbeforeo the demolition and that they were given enough time to evacuate.
Hasan says no prior notice was given and that he had the legal documents to prove it was his house, including an electricity bill issued by the government.
“They claim the act was part of a demolition drive of illegal properties, yet they only demolished one property: mine,” he told Al Jazeera.
The DDA and the police in New Delhi are controlled by Modi’s central government, even though an opposition party governs the capital.
When the DDA was asked about the action, it said it was routine, non-discriminatory and targeted no particular individual.
‘Because I’m from a minority community?’
However, Hasan has a different story to tell. “I told them what I did in Uttarakhand. When all their machines had failed, we dug those workers out. I hoped they would consider not demolishing my house,” he said.
The opposite happened.
“When I told them my name it felt as if what little remorse and pity they had left them,” he said. “I don’t understand why I was targeted. Was it because I am from a minority community?”
Labour rights activist Sucheta De says the demolition was both illegal and criminal. “If we see the past instances of demolitions, it looks targeted, anti-poor and anti-minority,” she told Al Jazeera.
Lawyer Kawalpreet Kaur, who often takes up demolition cases and is closely following Hasan’s, suggested that if indeed Hasan’s property was illegal for so many years, it was the government that needed to answer questions.
“He had been staying in his house for over a decade. The question arises: if the government claims it was their land, what had they been doing for so many years?” she asked, adding that the demolition appeared to be “vindictive” as only Hasan’s house was demolished in the neighbourhood.
2. Munna Qureshi, 29, shows a photo on his phone showing himself, Hasan, and another rat-hole miner after tunnel rescue. [Md Meharban/Al Jazeera]
A tale of bribes
Across New Delhi, a city of more than 30 million people, many residential neighbourhoods are what are known as “irregular” — they do not have all government approvals. Millions of Delhiites live in them, spanning generations. That includes a significant chunk of the city’s Muslim population, which constitutes 12 percent of the city’s residents, and is often forced to relocate to such neighbourhoods after previous targeting of their homes by authorities.
Parts of Khajuri Khas are irregular. While individual residents might have home ownership documents, the grey legal stature of such neighbourhoods gives governments and local officials power over residents, say lawyers and activists. The power to regularise localities, as governments often do to woo voters before elections, eliminating the threat of demolition that otherwise always hovers over those living in these communities. Or, the power to deliver on the threat and demolish homes.
“A large section of the population in Delhi is always under the threat of demolition and can face demolition whenever the government wishes,” De said. “There is no accountability from the government. This is the reality in Delhi.”
Often, the only way to get a temporary reprieve is to pay bribes. That, Hasan claims, is also the case in Khajuri Khas.
Hasan says that in 2016, authorities came with bulldozers and demolished a portion of his house. “That is when my neighbour and I paid (in total) INR 8 lakhs [about $9,500] to them [as a bribe],” he said.
But the officials he paid transferred to another department, and their replacements came asking for bribes again. “I was threatened by the DDA officials that if I didn’t pay up my house would be demolished,” he said. He didn’t have the money to bribe them.
Then, three months ago, authorities arrived to demolish the homes of a few Hindu neighbours, Hasan said. But the local legislator Mohan Singh Bisht, from Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party, intervened and stopped the demolition, he said.
“However, when I called him on the day my house was being demolished, he said he couldn’t do anything,” Hasan said.
Hasan believes that his inability to pay up was a key reason his house was demolished on Wednesday. That he is Muslim made him especially vulnerable.
“Because I am Muslim and because my name is Wakeel Hasan, it is easier for them to demolish my home,” he said.
DDA spokesperson Bijay Shankar Patel denied the charges. “The allegations are not true,” he told Al Jazeera, refusing to offer details on why the house was demolished.
Yet, the bulldozing of Hasan’s home follows a pattern of government agencies targeting Muslim properties and religious structures across India, especially in states governed by the BJP.
Last month, authorities in New Delhi razed a 600-year-old mosque allegedly encroaching on government land. In the same week, at least five people were shot dead by the police in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani town after they protested the demolition of a decades-old mosque and a school.
In two reports published last month, rights group Amnesty International said Indian authorities conducted the “punitive” demolition of at least 128 Muslim properties between April and June 2022, rendering at least 617 people either homeless or without livelihoods.
When his house was being demolished, Hasan, in a desperate move, telephoned Manoj Tiwari, the BJP parliamentarian from his constituency who had garlanded him when he returned to New Delhi after the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue.
“I contacted everyone, but they did not return my calls. Manoj Tiwari had felicitated me and even came to my residence. I called him multiple times. Even after a day of the demolition, he has not returned my calls,” Hasan told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reached out to Tiwari who said the demolition was being probed. “I told officials about this. But they demolished suddenly. It’s an investigation,” he said, adding that he would arrange for a better house for him, “legally”.
“I talked to the LG [lieutenant governor] Delhi and the house was arranged yesterday [Thursday], but he denied it due to distance. Now, we are arranging nearby,” Tiwari said, adding that there was “no communal angle” to the demolition. The lieutenant governor is a federally appointed nominal head of the Delhi state, equivalent to the governors in other Indian states.
When asked about the growing number of demolitions of Muslim homes, Tiwari said: “It may be a conspiracy against [the] BJP during the election time.” India is set to hold its general election in April and May.
‘They should’ve buried us with the house’
At 9:40am on Wednesday, Hasan’s fellow rat-miner Munna Qureshi was working at a site 35km (22 miles) away when he got a call from his friend. Hasan told him about the ongoing demolition. Qureshi, who had dug out survivors from the Uttarakhand tunnel alongside Hasan, rushed to Khajuri Khas.
There, he says, Hasan and he were detained by police and their phones were confiscated while the demolition was going on.
“At the police station, I was punched in the face and verbally abused,” said Qureshi, who lives in a 2.4-3-metre (8-by-10-foot) rental unit about 400 metres (1,312 feet) from Hasan’s demolished home.
“What will I do with all these trophies and medals? Is this how they treat people who make the country proud?” he said as he held up a box full of medals and prizes he had received for the tunnel rescue.
Hasan’s trophies lie under the rubble of his house.
His wife Shabana was with her in-laws in Modinagar, a small town about 40km (25 miles) from their home, when the demolition occurred. She says they had bought the house in 2013 for 3.3 million rupees ($39,800).
“We had saved our entire lives to buy and build this house and they demolished it in minutes. We borrowed money, sold our village land, and sold our wedding jewellery to buy this property,” she said, adding that they still owed 1.2 million rupees ($14,475) to relatives they had borrowed the money from.
“They knew who my husband was, but they still demolished our house. Just because we are Muslims?” asked Shabana.
Hasan says he is prepared for a lengthy court battle. “I am not very hopeful but we won’t move an inch until we are given our house back,” he said as the family sat and ate on a damaged bed on the side of the road. Over their heads hung a red tarpaulin provided by neighbours.
“They should have buried us with the house,” Hasan’s daughter, Aliza, sobbed.
“Is this a life where we have to sit on a wooden cot by the side of the road?”
Source: Al Jazeera
Indien 3.7.2024: ist das Land mit Schmutz, Abfall und Ratten - und den Regierungen ist es egal:
CODEX-PAJEET II | INDIEN: DAS SCHLIMMSTE LAND DER ERDE
(ENGL orig.: CODEX-PAJEET II | INDIA: THE WORST COUNTRY ON EARTH)
Video auf Odysee: https://odysee.com/@AmalekInternational:6/Codex-Pajeet-II:8 -
18.7.2024: Indien - ärmer gehalten als mit England
Info von Informant Orientalist - 18.7.2024
— die Regierungen seit der Unabhängigkeit von Indien lassen die Bevölkerung [angeblich] noch viel mehr in der Armut als die Engländer vorher.
Komisches
Indien am 22.7.2024: Jemand wollte
Restaurants gemäss Religion einteilen:
Gericht in Indien entscheidet gegen
die Einteilung von Restaurants nach
Religion in BJP-regierten
Bundesstaaten
India court rules against dividing
eateries by religion in BJP-ruled
states
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/22/india-court-rules-against-dividing-eateries-by-religion-in-bjp-ruled-statesIndien
am 13.9.2024: Indiens oberstes Gericht
gewährt Oppositionsführer Arvind
Kejriwal Freilassung auf Kaution
India’s top court grants bail to
opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/13/indias-top-court-grants-bail-to-opposition-leader-arvind-kejriwal-2Indien
27.9.2024: Kinder können nicht
schwimmen:
In Indien: Dutzende
Kinder ertrinken während religiösen
Fests
https://www.nau.ch/news/ausland/dutzende-kinder-ertrinken-wahrend-religiosen-fests-in-indien-66836036Indien am
27.9.2024: Es ruft das Mittelalter:
Mutmaßlicher Ritualmord: Siebenjähriger
in Indien getötet
https://orf.at/stories/3371109/Kinder aus Indien in die Schweiz adoptieren am 27.9.2024: Dokumente fehlten - Vermittlungsstelle hatte gar keine Bewilligung - die kriminelle Mutter Teresa vermittelt Babys von alleinerziehenden indischen Müttern:
Zahlreiche Fälle: Schweiz: Adoptionen indischer Kinder oft ohne Zustimmung der Eltern
https://www.20min.ch/story/zahlreiche-faelle-schweiz-adoptionen-indischer-kinder-oft-ohne-zustimmung-der-eltern-103192497
Letizia Vecchio - Eine aktuelle Forschungsarbeit um die St. Galler Ethnologin Rita Kesselring legt erhebliche Missstände bei der Vermittlung indischer Heimkinder in die Schweiz offen.
Eine neue Studie deckt erhebliche Missstände bei den Adoptionen indischer Kinder in der Schweiz auf.
Behörden schauten offenbar gezielt weg und ignorierten, dass für die Adoption notwendige Dokumente nicht vorgelegt wurden.
Viele Kinder wurden ohne die Zustimmung der leiblichen Eltern vermittelt.
Eine Adoption sieht hohe rechtliche Hürden vor – so müssen die leiblichen Eltern des Kindes beispielsweise eine Verzichtserklärung unterschreiben. Umso erschreckender ist es daher, dass Schweizer Behörden bei der Vermittlung indischer Kinder in den Jahren zwischen 1973 und 2002 nicht so genau hinschauten. Das ergab eine am Freitag veröffentliche Forschungsarbeit um die Ethnologin Rita Kesselring der Universität St. Gallen.
Die Studie «Mutter unbekannt – Adoptionen aus Indien in den Kantonen Zürich und Thurgau, 1973 - 2002» wurde im Auftrag der Kantone Zürich und Thurgau angefertigt. Sie zeigt exemplarisch auf, dass die damals verantwortlichen Stellen in der Mehrzahl der untersuchten Fälle die in der Schweiz geltenden Vorschriften nicht durchgesetzt haben. «Sie akzeptierten, dass ihnen zentrale Dokumente fehlten. Zudem liess der Kanton Zürich eine Vermittlungsstelle gewähren, die nicht über die nötige Bewilligung verfügte», heisst es in der Medienmitteilung des Kantons Zürich.
Heime verdienten Geld mit Adoptionen
Aber warum wurde bei der Adoptionspraxis in diesem Mass «geschludert»? Laut den Forscherinnen zahlte man in der Schweiz damals Geld dafür, dass in Indien Kinder zur Adoption freigegeben wurden. Diese flossen an Mutter-Teresa-Heime, die die Adoptionen vermittelten und denen das Geld als «lukrative Einnahmequelle» diente. Mutter Teresa, die in der katholischen Kirche als Heilige verehrt wird, bat 1987 per Brief das Bundesamt für Ausländerfragen, den Visaprozess für indische Adoptivkinder zu beschleunigen, wie die «Aargauer Zeitung» schreibt.
Bei vielen der untersuchten Fälle handelte es sich nicht um Waisen- oder Findelkinder. Vielmehr wurden die Kinder unverheirateten Frauen weggenommen, die sonst mit gesellschaftlicher Ausgrenzung hätten rechnen müssen und quasi gezwungen wurden, ihr Baby abzugeben.
Richtlinien verschärft
Insgesamt wurden 2278 Heimkinder aus Indien in die Schweiz vermittelt. Bei wie vielen von ihnen die Vorschriften bewusst umgangen wurden, geht aus der Medienmitteilung nicht hervor. Allerdings ist davon die Rede, dass «die Mängel den gesamten Prozess» betrafen: Von der Aufnahme der indischen Kinder, während ihrer Pflege und bis zum Adoptionsentscheid.
Seit 2003 wurden die Richtlinien für Adoptionen mit dem Inkrafttreten des Haager Übereinkommens nachhaltig verschärft. In Indien wurden zudem zahlreiche Mutter-Teresa-Heime geschlossen.
Politische
Gewalt in Indien am 13.10.2024:
Muslimischer Politiker im indischen
Maharashtra Wochen vor den Wahlen
erschossen
Muslim politician in India’s
Maharashtra shot dead weeks before
state polls
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/13/muslim-politician-in-indias-maharashtra-shot-dead-weeks-before-state-pollsZwei Verdächtige befinden sich in Untersuchungshaft, nachdem Baba Siddique vor dem Büro seines Sohnes in Mumbai mehrfach angeschossen wurde.
Two suspects are in custody after Baba Siddique was shot multiple times outside his legislator son’s office in Mumbai.
Indien
mit China am 22.10.2024: Grenzkrieg
ist beendet:
Wie Indien und China sich aus einem
Grenzkrieg zurückzogen – und warum
gerade jetzt
How India and China pulled back from a
border war — and why now
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/22/how-india-and-china-pulled-back-from-a-border-war-and-whyIndien
hat Probleme am 24.10.2024: "Wo werde
ich hingehen?": Hindu-Mann tot,
Muslime im indischen Bahraich werden
angegriffen
‘Where will I go?’: Hindu man dead,
Muslims in India’s Bahraich face
attack
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/24/muslims-arrested-houses-torched-in-indias-bahraich-after-hindu-man-killedIndien
mit Frauenmorden ohne Ende am
26.10.2024:
"Hat das Leben eines Dalits keinen
Wert?": Der Mord an einem Mädchen im
Teenageralter in Indien
‘Does a Dalit’s life have no value?’:
The murder of a teenage girl in India
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/10/26/does-a-dalits-life-have-no-value-the-murder-of-a-teenage-girl-in-indiaIndien
am 21.11.2024: Ein Milliardär hat
Probleme:
Indischer Milliardär Gautam Adani in
den USA wegen angeblicher Bestechung
und Betrug angeklagt
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani
charged in US for alleged bribery,
fraud
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/11/20/indian-conglomerate-chair-gautam-adani-indicted-in-the-usKenia
gegen den indischen Miliardär Adani
am 21.11.2024:
Kenia storniert nach US-Anklage
Geschäfte mit Adani im Wert von mehr
als 2,5 Milliarden US-Dollar
Kenya cancels more than $2.5bn in
deals with Adani after US indictment
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/11/21/kenya-cancels-more-than-2-5bn-in-deals-with-adani-after-us-indictmentKrimineller
Bill Gates mit kriminellen
Menschenversuchen an Millionen am
4.12.2024:
Bill Gates erklärt Indien zu seinem
„Labor“
https://tkp.at/2024/12/04/bill-gates-erklaert-indien-zu-seinem-labor/Indien
am 12.12.2024: Der neue
Schachweltmeister heisst Gukesh
Dommaraju, ist 18 Jahre alt und kommt
aus Indien:
Indischer Teenager wird jüngster
unangefochtener Schachweltmeister
Indian teenager becomes youngest
undisputed world chess champion
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2024/12/12/indias-gukesh-beats-chinas-ding-to-become-youngest-chess-world-championIndian teen prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju prevailed in a thrilling endgame that had been expected to end in a draw.
Teenager Gukesh Dommaraju of India became the youngest undisputed chess world champion by beating defending champion Ding Liren of China in a dramatic turn of events in the last game of a 14-game match in Singapore.
Gukesh, 18, is four years younger than Garry Kasparov, who had been the youngest world champion since 1985 when he beat Anatoly Karpov.
Delhi
hat Probleme am 13.12.2024: Die
Regierung zerstört muslimische Häuser
- wie im Gazastreifen:
Nach dem Bulldozer: Indische Muslime
kämpfen mit Verlusten inmitten
zerstörter Häuser
After the bulldozer: Indian Muslims
grapple with loss amid demolished
homes
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/12/13/after-the-bulldozer-indian-muslims-grapple-with-loss-amid-demolished-homesFototexte:
"Meine Frau und ich zittern immer noch vor Schmerz, wenn wir an Ziyan denken. Wir wurden nie benachrichtigt, die Behörden haben uns sowohl unser Haus als auch unseren Sohn gestohlen."
Der muslimische Aktivist Javed Mohammed zeigt ein Foto seines Hauses vor dem Abriss in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh im Norden Indiens [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Salma Bano kämpft mit den Tränen. Banos Haus in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, wurde im Juni 2024 im Rahmen eines Entwicklungsprojekts am Flussufer abgerissen, wodurch der Schulunterricht ihrer Kinder unterbrochen wurde [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Salma Banos Kinder in ihrem umgezogenen Heim in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh – weit weg von der Schule, in der sie früher waren.
Shahid Maliks zerstörtes Haus im Südwesten Delhis. Tage nach dem Abriss verlor Malik auch seinen kleinen Sohn, der an kardiovaskulären Komplikationen starb, die sich nach Angaben der Ärzte durch den Staub verschlimmerten, den er einst obdachlos eingeatmet hatte [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
ENGL orig.:
After the bulldozer: Indian Muslims grapple with loss amid demolished homes
Photo texts:“My wife and I still shiver with pain whenever we think of Ziyan. We were never given a notice, the authorities stole both our home and our son from us.”
Muslim activist Javed Mohammed showing a photo of his house before it was demolished in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh in northern India [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Salma Bano struggles to hold back her tears. Bano’s house in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, was demolished in June 2024 as part of a riverfront development project, disrupting her children’s schooling [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Salma Bano’s children in the relocated home they’ve been moved to – far from the school they used to go to, in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Shahid Malik’s demolished home in southwest Delhi. Days after the demolition, Malik also lost his infant son, who died from cardiovascular complications made worse, doctors said, by the dust he inhaled once homeless [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
The article:
By Shivangi Mariam Raj - New Delhi, India – From death to the loss of relationships, India’s wave of bulldozer demolitions leaves a long-lingering trail of despair.
Shahid Malik is fighting for a home that no longer exists.
For the past two years, Malik, an accountant by profession, has been working with a local lawyer to seek justice for the demolition of his house and more than two dozen others in Kharak Riwara Satbari, a neighbourhood in southwest Delhi.
In October 2022, the Delhi Development Authority, a body responsible for urban planning, construction of housing and commercial projects, and land management in the Indian capital, tore down the houses without any prior survey or notice after losing litigation for control over the land to a private builder.
The cases Malik has filed – one on behalf of the Resident Welfare Association and another for his own home – still await a hearing. “The hearing is being continuously deferred to another date and we haven’t even had a chance to present our grievances. How long must we wait?” he asks.
But Malik has lost a lot more than just his home. Malik’s son Ziyan was born with cardiovascular complications two months before the house was demolished. His condition “got worse after we were pushed out in the cold”, Malik recounts, pointing towards the rubble of his demolished home.
As the infant cried continuously for hours, Malik rushed him to the doctor the same evening as his home was demolished. For the next six days, Ziyan was transferred from hospital to hospital and eventually put on a ventilator in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
On a cold October morning, the parents noticed Ziyan’s body turning blue as he struggled to breathe. Then, he was no more. For the family, his death was a direct consequence of their home being demolished.
“The doctors told us that exposure to dust made it even harder for him to breathe,” Malik says.
‘Bulldozer justice’
Like Malik, hundreds of Indian Muslims have seen their homes demolished in recent years without any notice, and in many cases without any legal documents to justify the razing of homes in which generations of families grew up, lived and dreamed of a future.
Often, city authorities cite urban development, beautification drives, or clearing “illegal encroachments”. However, in many cases, the demolitions are publicly pitched by governments as punitive measures against activists and their critics, in states ruled by the Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath has earned the epithet of Bulldozer Baba (Daddy Bulldozer), while the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan gained popularity as Bulldozer Mama (Uncle Bulldozer). Their victims have often been disproportionately Muslim.
“The claims of ‘unauthorised constructions’ are inconsistent and specifically single out one community over and over again,” says Najmus Saqib, a lawyer working with the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a civil rights advocacy group. “In such a scenario, it is hard for us to convince the community to trust the judicial institutions. There is a feeling of hopelessness everywhere.”
In June 2022, authorities in the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj – formerly known as Allahabad – demolished the home of activist and community leader Javed Mohammed. He was charged under the National Security Act and was labelled the “mastermind” of violence that erupted in Prayagraj that month, following derogatory remarks by the then-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Muhammad.
The irony? “The Prayagraj Development Authority, the organisation that oversaw this demolition, has itself failed to produce a sanctioned map of the building that houses its office,” Saqib tells Al Jazeera. The Prayagraj development body did not respond to questions from Al Jazeera on the allegations of highhandedness against it.
But the effects of these demolitions linger long after. Families are forced to start life anew in makeshift tents, new neighbourhoods or a distant city altogether. Already limited access to healthcare, nutrition, safety and sanitation as well as irregular access to water and electricity in these new spaces compounds their struggle.
‘Can we get our old life back?’
Salma Bano’s home was among the 1600 houses bulldozed in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, in June 2024. More than 1,000 Muslim families were evicted for the Kukrail riverfront development project in Lucknow. Saplings were planted over their demolished homes to build a forest.
“Our entire neighbourhood was surrounded by bulldozers and within hours, everything was dust. We did not have anything to eat for the next two-three days,” Bano says. “Now that we are in this new house, we still have to think every day about how much we eat because we do not have enough earnings. I have five children. How will I feed them when my home and my world is all shattered?”
The displaced families have been relocated to Vasant Kunj, a neighbourhood about 15km (9 miles) from their old locality. Lucknow urban development authorities did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the criticism of the demolitions.
“I am constantly worried about my children not being able to get proper education. Their school was much closer to our old home. Now we cannot afford their school fee or the charges for a school bus,” Bano says.
The family has to pay the government back in instalments for the house they have been allocated. “Everyday essentials are much more expensive here than they were in Akbar Nagar. Inflation is eating us alive,” Bano says. “I feel that our future is completely ruined.”
Mohammad Ishaq, her husband, adds that the family itself has been broken by the demolition. Earlier, his parents and brothers lived with him.
“But there is no space for them in this tiny new flat. I also lost my job and had to take a loan to get an auto rickshaw so I can earn a living. I do not know for how long I can continue this way,” he says. “Can we get our old life back?”
Relief and trauma
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of India declared that government authorities cannot demolish any property belonging to people accused of a crime without following due legal process. The judgement also underlined that the owner of the property must be given advance notice to challenge or respond to the order.
That judgement is “a great relief”, says Kumar Sambhav, founder of Land Conflict Watch, a data-research project that analyses ongoing land conflicts in India.
But the court verdict only addresses punitive demolitions. “Houses that are built on public land are exempted from this order and this ambiguous gap may allow the targeting of the minority community to continue,” Sambhav cautioned. “In the absence of the right to housing, the landless and the homeless of the country reside in the commons. Their homes will always be considered an encroachment.”
These demolitions have a psychological effect, as well, say mental health specialists.
“There is an irreparable sense of displacement,” Zulekha Shakoor Rajani, a Bangalore-based psychologist, tells Al Jazeera. “Personal trauma is being compounded by collective trauma and this is adversely impacting the mental health of many Muslims across the country.
“People feel abandoned with a lack of support and their sense of reality is gradually being distorted as they are no longer safe in their own homes.”
That lack of support can breed a sense of isolation.
Javed Mohammed, the community leader, was in jail when his home in Prayagraj was demolished on June 12, 2022. He wanted to make sure that his wife and daughters, Afreen Fatima and Sumaiya Fatima, were safe.
“But many people who were close to us were reluctant to help. They were afraid,” Mohammed says. “I think they feared that their homes might get bulldozed arbitrarily if they helped us. I can understand it because even what happened to us was unlawful and arbitrary. We felt very alone at the time.”
After months of struggle, the family was able to find rented accommodation in Prayagraj, but the landlord was often harassed by the local police for offering them shelter. And Mohammed’s fraught social relationships are yet to recover, more than two years later.
“I used to be quite well-known in my city and had several forms of interactions with many individuals and organisations, but after this episode, they are all afraid,” he says. “Many people I used to see almost daily no longer meet me or speak to me over a phone call. My social life is no longer the same as before. I feel that sense of being alone even now.”
A lasting calamity
The repeated incidents of bulldozer demolitions act as psychological warfare against India’s Muslims, say analysts.
“For any healing to begin, the violence must stop. We are now noticing a rise in complex post-traumatic stress disorder cases where recurring flashbacks, ruminating thoughts, and nightmares make it even harder for the people to come out of their loss,” Rajani explains.
In Nuh, a city in the northern Indian state of Haryana, authorities bulldozed more than 1,000 Muslim homes, shanties, and small businesses in August 2023, accusing the community of participating in violence against a provocative and armed Hindu supremacist procession that marched through Muslim neighbourhoods.
Saddam Ali (name changed to protect identity) lost his home and medical store. “We had no idea that this was going to happen. While I am trying to build my house again, I am unable to see my son sinking into depression. He is now dependent on antidepressants,” Ali tells Al Jazeera.
“The pain of losing everything that he had built with so much hard work within minutes in front of his eyes was too much for him to bear.”
Source: Al Jazeera
Welche Religion hatte dieser Fast-Mörder aus Indien?
Fast-Frauenmord an Italienerin in Oslo (Norwegen) am 22.12.2024: Der Täter hatte "indische Wurzeln":
Femizid konnte verhindert werden: 21-jährige Italienerin nach Messerangriff im Koma
https://www.suedtirolnews.it/chronik/21-jaehrige-italienerin-nach-messerangriff-im-koma
Von: fra
Oslo – Martina Voce, eine 21-jährige Italienerin aus Florenz, liegt nach einem Messerangriff ihres Ex-Partners in Oslo auf der Intensivstation. Der 24-jährige Angreifer, ein Norweger mit indischen Wurzeln, stach etwa 30 Mal auf sie ein, wobei er auch die Halsschlagader traf. Die junge Frau musste notoperiert werden.
Glücklicherweise verhinderten Kollegen der 21-Jährigen einen Femizid. Zwei Männer und eine Frau, die mit Voce in einem Geschäft arbeiteten, eilten ihr zur Hilfe, als der Angriff stattfand. Dabei wurde der Angreifer ebenfalls verletzt und befindet sich mittlerweile im künstlichen Koma. Er konnte bislang nicht befragt werden.
Martina Voce hatte die Beziehung zu dem Mann vor etwa zwei Monaten beendet. Laut ihrem Vater schwebt sie noch in Lebensgefahr, doch die Ärzte geben sich zuversichtlich.
Der Geschäftsführer der Ladenkette, bei der Voce arbeitete, dankte den mutigen Angestellten für ihr Eingreifen, das vermutlich ihr Leben rettete.
Indien
gegen den kriminellen, ungarischen
Juden Soros am 26.12.2024:
Wie George Soros zum "Feind Nummer 1"
für Indiens Modi wurde
How George Soros became ‘Enemy Number
1’ for India’s Modi
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/26/how-george-soros-became-enemy-number-1-for-indias-modiBy Yashraj Sharma - The ruling BJP has accused the billionaire of financing opposition-championed initiatives critical of Modi that it claims are aimed at destabilising India.
New Delhi, India — As India’s Parliament convened for its winter session in late November, the world’s largest democracy braced for heated exchanges between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition, led by the Congress party.
The northeastern state of Manipur is still burning, after more than a year of ethnic clashes that critics have accused the local BJP government of exacerbating; the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth has slowed down; and one of India’s richest men, Gautam Adani, is at the centre of a corruption indictment in the United States.
But on a cold and grey day in mid-December, BJP leaders marched through Parliament premises holding placards aimed at pushing back against opposition criticism by linking the Congress to an unlikely villain in their eyes: George Soros.
Since early 2023, the Hungarian-American financier-philanthropist has emerged as a central target of the BJP’s rhetoric, which accuses Soros of sponsoring the country’s opposition and backing other Modi critics with the intent of destabilising India. Those accusations sharpened ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections in which the Hindu majoritarian BJP lost its majority for the first time in a decade, though it still secured enough seats to cobble together a coalition government.
But the campaign has reached fever pitch in recent days, with the BJP even accusing the US Department of State of colluding with Soros to undermine Modi.
In a series of posts on December 5, the BJP posted on X that the Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, used the work of a group of investigative journalists — funded in part by Soros’s foundation and the State Department — to target the Modi government on questions related to the economy, security, and democracy.
The BJP cited an article by French media outlet Mediapart claiming that Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the State Department funded the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Then, it drew attention to the OCCRP’s exposes on the alleged use of Pegasus spyware by the Modi government, investigations into the Adani group’s activity, and reports on declining religious freedom in India to suggest that Soros and the Biden administration were in effect behind this coverage.
“The deep state had a clear objective to destabilise India by targeting Prime Minister Modi,” a BJP spokesperson said at a news conference, adding that “it has always been the US State Department behind this agenda [and] OCCRP has served as a media tool for carrying out a deep state agenda”.
The comments targeting the State Department took many analysts by surprise as the US is one of India’s closest strategic allies. But some experts have suggested that the move is about domestic political posturing, aimed also at aligning the Modi government with the incoming Trump administration’s insistence on how the “deep state” conspires to undermine democracy.
“The instrumentalisation of Western criticism into a domestic political platform represents a rather new phenomenon in Modi’s India,” said Asim Ali, a political researcher. It represents an effort, he said, to build the narrative of a “face-off between a ‘Western-backed coalition’ and a ‘popularly backed nationalist coalition’.”
An ‘easy target’
In January 2023, US-based forensic financial research firm Hindenburg alleged in a report that the Adani Group had been engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”.
After the report’s release, Adani Group’s shares plunged in value by about $112bn, before recovering over subsequent days. The firm has since followed up with more research and analysis on the conglomerate’s business practices.
The Adani conglomerate has denied the allegations. Hindenburg, in turn, received a show-cause notice from the Indian capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), accusing the group of using non-public information to build short positions against the Adani Group.
But the fraud and corruption allegations became the centrepiece of the Congress-led campaign against Modi and Adani in the then-upcoming Indian parliamentary elections.
Congress leader Gandhi alleged in Parliament in February 2023 that “the government policies are tailor-made to favour the Adani Group”. He displayed two photographs of the prime minister and the billionaire sharing a private jet and of Modi taking off in an Adani Group jet for campaigning ahead of the 2014 national election.
In February 2023, Soros waded into that Indian political war over Adani. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he said the Adani crisis “will significantly weaken” Modi’s “stranglehold” on the Indian government.
This was met with furious condemnation from Modi’s party. Then-federal minister Smriti Irani said the founder of the Open Society Foundation has “now declared his ill intentions to intervene in [India’s] democratic processes”. India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar described the billionaire as “an old, rich opinionated … dangerous person”.
Al Jazeera has sought responses from Open Society Foundations on the allegations against it levelled by the BJP and ministers in the Modi government but has not yet received a reply. However, in September 2023, it issued a statement about its activities in India, where it said, “Since mid-2016, our grant making in India has been constrained by government restrictions on our funding for local NGOs.”
But the recent criticism of Soros is not so much about the billionaire, said Neelanjan Sircar, a political scientist at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in New Delhi.
“Soros is an easy target: he represents a lot of money, he represents a position that is critical of Modi, and, of course, funds a lot of things,” said Sircar. “But it is not about him as this abstract entity for everybody to hate – rather, it is his alleged connection to a set of social and political actors that the BJP is trying to vilify within India.”
Since the recent US indictment of Adani, over allegations of bribery in India that the group has denied, Modi’s party has sharpened its attacks on the Congress and Soros, attempting to portray deep links between the two. The BJP cited alleged funding by Soros of the Forum of Democratic Leaders in Asia Pacific (FDL-AP), which has Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi’s mother, as co-president, to bolster its claim. “Soros is not a citizen of this country and he wants to create instability in the country,” said Jagdambika Pal, a member of parliament from the BJP.
The Congress, however, has rejected suggestions that it is influenced by any foreign actor and has insisted that the BJP’s anti-Soros campaign is aimed at distracting the country from the Manipur crisis, India’s economic challenges and the US indictment of Adani in an alleged bribery scheme.
BJP leader and spokesperson Vijay Chauthaiwala denied a request from Al Jazeera for comment on criticism of the party’s attacks on Soros.
Meanwhile, the French media outlet Mediapart in a public statement, said it “firmly condemns the instrumentalisation of its recently published investigative article about OCCRP … in order to serve BJP’s political agenda and attack press freedom.”
The anti-Soros narrative
India is not the only country where right-wing movements have targeted Soros, placing the 94-year-old at the heart of global conspiracies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused Soros of trying to push immigrants into Europe and has tried to stop the billionaire’s support for groups in the country through a legislative bill. In the US, supporters of President-elect Donald Trump frequently accused Soros — without evidence — of financing Black Lives Matter protests and caravans of migrants headed to the US during the first Trump administration.
Often, these conspiracies also carry anti-Semitic undertones, critics say.
But the campaign in India is different, according to research by Joyojeet Pal, an associate professor at the University of Michigan. An analysis of posts on X around Soros found that Indian influencers pushing conspiracy theories about him are generally “careful not to use anti-Semitic tropes” and rather focus on his “soft spot for Muslims”, Pal told Al Jazeera. By extension, that translates into an alleged “hatred of Hindus”, according to this narrative, Pal said.
Pal’s research found that a few social media accounts belonging explicitly to the BJP politicians “were important in putting out the key content” against Soros when the party pushed back against his comments on Adani and Modi. “However, the main amplifiers of content were [pro-Modi] influencers … by aggressively retweeting content to make it viral.”
Presenting Soros as a shadowy puppeteer “is very attractive” for some political movements, said Pal, because it “suggests a broader conspiracy”, showing their opponents “as weak enough that they need to take orders from a foreign manipulator”.
In India, the attacks against Soros have moved from social platforms like X and Instagram to WhatsApp chats and increasingly shows on mainstream television where he is targeted by BJP spokespeople and party supporters.
As a result, “people all the way down to villages know there is this entity called Soros who is targeting India, but none of them know exactly who this person is”, said Pal. “An unknown enemy is much scarier than one you can see and evaluate.”
‘Tone deaf’ or ‘posturing’?
To many observers of India’s foreign relations, the big surprise in recent days has come from the BJP’s decision to paint the US State Department as a party to the supposed Soros-led conspiracy against the Modi government.
In a media briefing on December 5, Sambit Patra, a BJP spokesperson and parliamentarian, insisted that “50 percent of OCCRP’s funding comes directly from the US State Department … [and] has served as a media tool for carrying out a deep state agenda”.
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On December 7, the State Department said the BJP’s accusations were “disappointing”, adding that the US “has long been a champion of media freedom around the world”.
Experts too questioned the BJP’s accusations.
“The Indian attack seems tone-deaf and out of step with reality in the sense that the US State Department has seemingly gone out of its way to convey its desire to strengthen and deepen ties with India,” said Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Centre, a Washington, DC-based think tank. “It is very opposite of wanting to malign and destabilise the country.”
The US government has been “really bending over backward to show just how committed they are to partnership with India” on multiple fronts, from security, technology, and trade, to education, he said.
But Kugelman noted that “the BJP’s posturing could be for the incoming Trump administration, which has essentially made the same type of arguments against the so-called US deep state”.
Sircar and Ali, meanwhile, both said the BJP’s focus on Soros as a villain was — in their view — fundamentally rooted in domestic politics. Modi, Ali said, wants to use “anti-Western nationalism as an attractive nationalist plank in parts of India resilient to the lure of Hindu nationalism”.
And in Soros, India’s governing party has found the face to put on its dartboard.
Source: Al Jazeera
E-ID in Indien am 27.12.2024: wird als "Fortschritt" verkauft - z.B. zum Einreichen von Lebensbescheinigungen:
Indien: Digitale Identität und Biometrie auf dem Vormarsch
https://transition-news.org/indien-digitale-identitat-und-biometrie-auf-dem-vormarsch
Quelle: Biometric Update: India transforming public finance with digital identity and biometrics
Mit diversen Initiativen will die Regierung die Überprüfung von Renten und die Verteilung von Sozialleistungen rationalisieren. So können Rentner ihre Lebensbescheinigungen mithilfe von Gesichtserkennungstechnologie auf Smartphones einreichen. Die Superkontrolle wird den Bürgern als Fortschritt bei der «finanziellen Eingliederung» und «Verbesserung der Regierungsführung» verkauft.
Indien hat umfangreiche digitale Initiativen eingeführt, um die Überprüfung von Renten und die Verteilung von Sozialleistungen zu rationalisieren. Angeblich sollen das digitale Lebenszertifikatssystem und das Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)-Programm «messbare Ergebnisse in Bezug auf Effizienz und Betrugsbekämpfung» bringen.
Die Programme bauen auf Indiens Vorstoß zur digitalen Identitätsüberprüfung auf, der mit der Gründung der Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) und ihrem biometrisch basierten nationalen ID-System begonnen habe, informiert das Portal Biometric Update.
Das digitale System ermögliche es Rentnern, ihre Lebensbescheinigungen mithilfe von Gesichtserkennungstechnologie auf Android-Smartphones einzureichen. Im November 2024 habe das Ministerium für Renten und Rentnerwohlfahrt die Kampagne 3.0 eingeführt und die Reichweite der Initiative auf 800 Städte und Gemeinden in allen Bezirken ausgeweitet.
Die Einführung der Gesichtserkennung für die Überprüfung von Renten sei in anderen Ländern schon erfolgreich umgesetzt worden. Die indische Initiative sei ein Beispiel für den wachsenden globalen Trend, biometrische Technologie für die Verwaltung der sozialen Sicherheit einzusetzen, begeistert sich Biometric Update.
Der Bevölkerung wird die digitale Superkontrolle als Fortschritt bei der «finanziellen Eingliederung» und «Verbesserung der Regierungsführung» verkauft. Begünstigte zahlreicher Programme – wie Subventionen, Renten und Stipendien – erhalten Zahlungen direkt auf ihre mit der «Aadhaar» genannten persönlichen Identifikationsnummer verknüpften Bankkonten.
Dadurch verringere man Verzögerungen und es werde sichergestellt, dass die Gelder ohne Zwischenhändler bei den vorgesehenen Empfängern ankämen, erklärte der indische Finanzminister Nirmala Sitharaman. Ihm zufolge ist dieses Projekt «eine hervorragende Lektion in effizienter Regierungsführung». Denn es sei wichtig, jede Rupie ordnungsgemäß zu verbuchen.
Mit der Integration biometrischer Technologien und digitaler Identitäten setze die digitale öffentliche Infrastruktur Indiens einen weltweiten Standard für Transparenz und effektive Mittelverwaltung und stärke das Vertrauen in staatliche Dienstleistungen, so Sitharaman.
Indien zeige, wie eine starke digitale öffentliche Infrastruktur durch den Einsatz von Biometrie und Aadhaar das Leben verändere, die Rechenschaftspflicht fördere und einen fairen Zugang zu Sozialleistungen ermöglichen könne.
Kritische Aspekte zum Datenschutz werden in dem Artikel von Biometric Update vollständig ignoriert.
