Narmada Bachao Andolan - The tale of non-existing Compensation, Rehabilitation, and lives of 40,000 Families

Via a Press Release dated 17th June 2017, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has cleared the final raising of Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) in Gujarat by lowering of gates and impounding of water in the reservoir upto its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of EL 138.68 mts. The NCA which under the Chairmanship of Dr. Amarjit Singh, Secretary (WR, RD & GR) considered all aspects of environmental and Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) issues.

Fifty-six years after the foundation stone for the Sardar Sarovar dam on the River Narmada was laid the Gujarat government got permission from the Centre to shut its gates. While 30 gates of the dam have been closed, it will open the gates of misery for more than 100,000 people, whose houses and land are likely to get submerged.

Besides the statement issued by noted activist Medha Patkar (viewed above) Narmada Bachao Andolan also issued a statement on 17th June. 2017 stating that;

“The level of falsehood involved in the decision taken by NCA on the closure of Sardar Sarovar gates is unprecedented.” Even the media has been spreading such lies about resettlement of Narmada affected families, even the the government cannot claim this: “A total of 46,840 PAFs have been resettled in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.”

On the 19th June 2017, supporters of Narmada Bachao Andolan laid siege to the entrance of Ministry of Water Resources protesting against the undemocratic and unjust decision of Narmada Control Authority to close the gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam, in its June 16th meeting. The decision paved the way for imminent submergence of 192 villages and one township of Madhya Pradesh this monsoon season when the full reservoir level will be achieved. 

In past two months, despite many assurances from NCA, NVDA and govt. officials, including citing the Supreme Court order of February 2017, the decision had been taken without verifying actual ground conditions in Madhya Pradesh. The Andolan supporters strongly pointed out that the claims of the almost complete disbursement of the compensation, as per SC judgment, is not at all true since a number of applications are still pending infront of the Grievance Redressal Authority in Madhya Pradesh. 

In these matters, the claims of the project affected families for disbursement of the appropriate amount for the land lost hasn’t been settled yet. It also needs to be noted that those who have received cash compensation, are yet to receive their due R&R entitlements for the loss of their houses and other common facilities, simply because 88 R&R sites in Madhya Pradesh are not complete. In such a situation, it is impossible for nearly, 40,000 families to move to these sites, which lack even most of the basic facilities, including drinking water.

Graphic: Raj Kumar Singh

The Supreme Court order while bringing down curtains on the legal battle had brought relief to the 2,039 displaced families. However, those facing displacement to allow the dam to function at its full capacity say they have nowhere to go. 

Down To Earth, an on the ground organization which has spoken to many locals shared a grim picture of those trapped on the ground with no place to go. 

“In 2003, I was given Rs 40,000 and a plot on the floodplains of the Khooj rivulet ( a tributary of the Narmada) in compensation,” one Iqbal Reyaz from Dharampuri, who works as a daily-wage labourer, told DownToEarth. Five years ago, Reyaz decided to relocate to the rehabilitation colony, aptly named Dharampuri Basahat, literally Dharampuri resettled. He was the first one to build a house there. But it got submerged the very next year, during the floods of 2013. “No one compensated me for the loss of the new house, and I had to return to my old house,” Reyaz stated. “I was a fool to go there. Since the colony is in the floodplains, no one from my town dares to shift there,”.

But going by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award guidelines, the authorities should also provide a primary school for every 100 families, a drinking water well for every 50 families, a seed store for every 500 families, before initiating the eviction process. Barely a month left to meet the apex Court's deadline, it is unlikely that the requirements would be met. 

The South Asian Network on Dams, Network, and People wrote a detailed article questioning the legality of the lower of the gates of the Dam. 

[Story to be updated. Last updated 20/06/17]

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Interview with Team Periferry-Providers Of Equal Employment Opportunities To Transgenders

PeriFerry is an equal opportunity job consultants for Trans person; that is PeriFerry provide alternative job solutions for them. Accessing the untapped talent pool, and bridging the gap between an inclusive employer and a deserving candidate is their forte. 

Sourya (S): How do you generally introduce yourself? Social activists? Entrepreneurs? Crusaders?

Neelam (N): "Social Entrepreneurs"

(S): What is the story behind the name PeriFerry?

(N): The name actually comes from the word “Periphery” which means the edge. We thought that was a word we could relate to the people who are living their lives on the edge - and how we could, as facilitators, probably act as a ferry and help them get to their desired destinations.

(S): How did this idea germinate?

(N): Doing something for the Trans* community has been on my mind for a long time, ever since college days. Mainly because I'd never really hesitated talking to them whether it was in Trains or beach or anywhere else and I really understood their stories. So during my stint at Goldman Sachs, I had to come up with an idea for an initiative which would have a social impact as part of an internal competition. I came up with the idea of an inclusive workplace focusing on the transgender community. My team in Bangalore and I happened to develop this project along with Solidarity Foundation. Eventually, I realized I was passionate about this cause and so quit my job to start working on this idea.

(S): Neelam, was your family open to the idea of your quitting your job at Goldman Sachs for this? 

(N): I am where I am only because of my family. My parents have taught me from a very young age to take my own decisions and also have, in the process, made me strong enough to face the brunt of bad decision making. That's the only reason I could take such a big step and never regret it. I also have two older siblings, sister, and brother who are also particularly supportive of the things I do. 

(S): Do you think most workplaces can be considered safe and/or equipped for transgenders?

Nanditha (Na): It differs from one workplace to another, to be honest. Fortunately, quite a lot of companies seem to focus on diversity and inclusion these days, which means they are more welcoming towards the third gender. However, not a lot of them are equipped to have them in their offices, when it comes to having inclusive facilities. We are trying to meet these needs through our sensitization workshops.

(S): Have you ever faced trouble convincing potential employers to give transgender/transsexual citizens a fair chance of employment?  

(Na): Yes, most of them think of hiring Trans* community only as a societal initiative so dismiss us thinking we are trying to sell something out of sympathy. What they don't realize is that they're equally or more skilled and sometimes possess great education qualifications as well. They can help a team become much more diverse and also bring new perspective and viewpoints in a team. We have to make them look at the business objectives when they hire them.

(S): How does PeriFerry sensitize a workspace to make sure it is easier for the employee to fit in?

(Na): We take on a two-fold approach for this. One is to ensure the employee is given personalized training for him/her to fit in a corporate environment through skills development and training. The other is to sensitize the existing employees in a workplace to ensure they know how to be inclusive through their communication, the facilities they offer and the benefits they extend to the third gender.

(S): Does PeriFerry periodically follow up with both employees and employers? 

(Na): Yes, we have the policy to follow up consistently until the first six months of placement to make sure things are going smooth. Also, take feedback through the lifetime of the placement. 

(S): What would you consider to be the proudest/defining moment of PeriFerry yet?

(Na): Well, naturally when we made our first placement. Our candidate had struggled for a really long time in getting a job despite having good education qualification. She had gone door-to-door at different companies all rejecting her only because she was a trans-woman. And seeing someone as deserving as her get an opportunity through PeriFerry made it worth the effort. 

(S): Where do you see PeriFerry in a year? 

Team: We ourselves covering all the major cities in India, in terms of employment opportunities. Also, our objective is to see a less transphobic and homophobic society through our awareness programs. 

(S): Have companies been generally receptive to transgender/transsexual employees?

(Na): Definitely! In fact, the team was overwhelmed by the response we received from them after we launched. We had so many employers reaching out to us expressing interest in collaborating with us or even to just appreciate us for our initiative. It was indeed heartening.

(S): In case there is a potential employer reading this, could you briefly describe the process via which someone could employ a transgender through PeriFerry?

(Na): We would request them to fill out a form on our website www.periferry.com We would then reach out to them, understand their requirements or profile they are hiring for and put them in touch with a client who would be suitable for the role. In the meantime, the team would conduct sensitization workshops in their company. If our client gets placed in that company, we would ensure we follow up with the employee and the employer as well till the client settles down in the workplace.

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MP, Gujarat Police Stop Narmada Bachao Andolan - Protesters Arrested.

On the 3rd day of the ‘Rally For The Valley’, which is a campaign of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, leaders of the rally, Medha Patkar, Prafulla Samantara, Soumya Datta, Dr. Sunilam, Jasbir Singh (All India Kisan Sabha, MP), Nita Mahadev (a noted Gandhian, Gujarat) along with hundreds of protestors have been detained at Kavta check post, kavta village of Chhota Udaipur district.

Police check post at Katva Village

As per reports, the rally was going to visit the Jeevanshala (a school run by Narmada Navnirmaan Abhiyan) of Chimalkhedi, Maharashtra when police officials stopped them from crossing the Gujarat border. The police officials failed to produce any written order. Even the vehicles with Gujarat number plate and local buses were stopped from crossing the border.

The protestors, under the leadership of social activist Medha Patkar have been detained by the Gujarat Police while they were moving from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra via Gujarat. The protestors have been stopped at the Gujarat Border and are not allowed to cross the Gujarat border.

Activist Medha Patkar (second from the right) with an injured boy

“A group of people, who were on their way to Chhota Udepur, were detained at Kavta check-post on Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border,” the police official from Kawant police station said to Newsd.

“They were detained as per the notification under section 144 of CrPC, which prohibits unlawful assembly or processions in the district,” district collector Vijay Kharadi said to Newsd.

According to Idrish Mohammed, a law student at Jamia Milia Islamia University took to Facebook and posted a picture of detained school kids from Kerala who joined the rally, the Gujrat Police assaulted protesters infront of the Madhya Pradesh Police. 

As seen above Idrish last posted on Facebook 11 hours ago painting a bleak picture of the administration stating, "The kids who were beaten up by the police were sent to the hospital for medical examination. The medical officer is completely drunk and not in his senses. He SLAPPED the kids and harassed them badly. Another face of Justice System"

Local villagers gathered for Protest. 

The Narmada Bachao Andolan has been going on since 1985. 




Story to be Updated.
All Pictures are sources from the Facebook of Mr. Idrish Mohammed and are his property.

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Wanna Cry? All You Need To Know About The Ransomeware

A ransomware is a software which scrambles information stored on a computer system to make it inaccessible. The process of scrambling is done through known methods of encryption. The purpose is to then ask for an amount of money to decrypt valuable information. 

So how does Ransomware work?

How does it get through?

Imagine you hired the best architects and got a palace built for your yourself. Little known to you or the architects, there exists a weak wall near your garage. This can be broken by application of minimal force and people can get in through that and steal your expensive car. They can also disrupt your telephone and gas lines to cause you further harm. Or worse even, plant a bomb below your bedroom. Scary isn’t it?

Something similarly keeps happening with all software companies. They hire the best developers to write the most intricate codes, and little known to them they leave out vulnerabilities which can be brute forced and broken. Now people can get in and cause all sorts of mayhem.

If these vulnerabilities are unknown and not solved, they are called ‘zero-day exploits’. 

A ransomware may or may not use a zero-day exploit to leverage the attack. A ransomware might just promise you a lottery ticket, free coupons, facebook or gmail hacking, etc.

What does it do?

A ransomware is a simple software which encrypts and decrypts data based on a condition. Once the ransomware is loaded onto the computer using a vulnerability, it will instantly encrypt and make the data unusable.

It may ask for a password to decrypt. Or, It may show a message communicating the condition for decryption. It may also ask for payment, it may ask for release of a prisoner, it may ask for change in politics, anything.

Once the condition is met, a password is provided which can be used to unscramble the information and make it usable again.

What is WannaCry?

Just last month I was thinking there is not much interesting things to write about. I was not wrong but impatient.

WannaCry gets onto the system through common phishing tactics. An email containing an attachment is circulated. Upon downloading the attachment it instantly freezes the system and asks for a payment of $300 in BTC. If not paid within three days, the payment amount is doubled to $600.

However, it promises to hold events (time periods) when data can be decrypted for free by clicking the decrypt button, after expiry of six months. This is for poor people 

WannaCry got first reported on Friday the 12th of this month (May, 2017), and within a day it spread over to a quarter of a million computers across the globe.

How did it start?

WannaCry reportedly used a vulnerability on older Microsoft Windows operating systems. Mostly Windows XP and 7 attacks were reported. Microsoft held that systems running updated versions of Windows 7 and above were immune to it.1 There has been no reports negating this. 

Who got affected?

It started with the crippling effect on Britain’s National Health Service. Unlike in the US where people pay for healthcare in hefty bills, medical service in UK is free of cost. Therefore, outdated systems dying for lack of attention.

While Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in April 2014 many UK agencies missed that. A Freedom of Information Act request by Citrix in December, 2016, reported 90 percent of UK hospitals had computers running outdated Windows XP.2

As it was not a targeted attack, it spread on to many other parts of the globe, some reports on Middle Eastern banking systems also surfaced.

Resolution

Microsoft

To Microsoft’s credit they had already released the security updates back in March, here is a compilation of all the relevant security updates.3 If you have not updated your system you should go through them.

Code Name	Solution
“EternalBlue”	Addressed by MS17-010
“EmeraldThread”	Addressed by MS10-061
“EternalChampion”	Addressed by CVE-2017-0146 & CVE-2017-0147
“ErraticGopher”	Addressed prior to the release of Windows Vista
“EsikmoRoll”	Addressed by MS14-068
“EternalRomance”	Addressed by MS17-010
“EducatedScholar”	Addressed by MS09-050
“EternalSynergy”	Addressed by MS17-010
“EclipsedWing”	Addressed by MS08-067

Microsoft also released a malicious software removal tool specifically for WannaCry on 22nd May for a permanent resolution.

Other quirky solutions

A young cyber security expert from London figured that the WannaCry malware repeatedly tries to connect with a website. If the website responds it shuts down. So he bought the website and made it respond.

For instance, a malware may check if http://aabbccdd.com is live or not. Depending on that there can be further instructions for the malware to commit.

This shows that WannaCry was not remote controlled. It means it is an independent malware which is supposed to run and spread all on its own.

Global Politics

It would be unfair to not talk about National Security Agency of the United States, Shadow Brokers, and the lesser known philosophy behind hacking.

A lot of internet develops due to constant work by different anonymous groups. As soon as one attack is launched, and gets enough attention, the global internet fortifies against it. Much like our bodies’ immune systems. Therefore, more the attacks, better the internet gets in the long run.

Sometimes attacks are just attention-seeking in nature, and sometimes they are deadly. In my opinion, WannaCry was seeking attention towards larger societal flaws. If it meant to cause real damage it would not have been made into a ransomware virus asking for $300 to $600. Also total revenue from WannaCry is said to be around $50,000 at max. It uses technology which can be used to target core banking companies and siphon off millions of dollars never making it to global media. Or worse, target nuclear plants where a lot of devices still run on outdated Microsoft products.

Attention sought for what?

The National Security Agency of the United States has been in the offensive since its inception. It is unofficially known that 90% of NSA’s budget goes into development of offensive weapons. The NSA constantly researches and adds to it’s library weapon grade software. The EternalBlue vulnerability used in WannaCry is just one among million options that NSA has for itself. Other deadly offensive weapons released in the past include the billion dollar STUXnet virus, which was recently linked to NSA.

Especially in EternalBlue’s case, NSA had found it long back but decided not to report it to Microsoft. It was the Shadow Brokers group who stole a considerable part from NSA library and reported it to Microsoft. Enabling it to release an update in March 2017, much before the breakout of the virus.

When hacker groups like Shadow Brokers get hold of such software they either report it for money or release it on the internet. The public quickly gets immune to it, thereby spoiling the weaponry NSA spends millions to build. And the best part is that NSA does all of it legally.

Anonymous Internet groups across the globe are fighting against orchestrated surveillance, censorship and rogue government agencies. One thing that’s for sure, our immune systems may make us feel sick, but if we fight our immune systems we will be dead faster.

1. Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks
2. Nine in Ten NHS Trusts Still on Windows XP
3. Microsoft Security Updates

This article has been republished with due permission of the Author, Mr. Donnie Ashok, from his website IndianTechLaw.

Original article can be viewed here

Donnie Ashok is a freelance technology advisor, cyber security advisor and a final year law student studying B.A.LL.B at Gujarat National Law University. IndiaTechLaw is an initiative by Donnie Ashok.

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