Month: February 2022

‘Helping Indians Though Situation Difficult’: Ukranian Envoy Appeals Against Sensationalism

Igor Polikha said Ukraine is doing everything to help those at the border, but everyone has to wait their turn.

New Delhi: Amid allegations of racism against Indian nationals trying to leave Ukraine’s borders, the country’s envoy to India on Monday appealed against sensationalism. Igor Polikha said Ukraine is doing everything to help those at the border, but everyone has to wait their turn.

The envoy said Ukraine is helping the stranded Indians and extending assistance in their evacuation notwithstanding the “very difficult” ground situation. Polikha said he himself reached out to some of the Ukrainian border guarding commanders requesting them to assist the Indians who are trying to exit the country through land borders.

“The situation is very difficult and complex. My resources are limited. We are victims of aggression. Still, we are trying to help people including those from other countries,” he said at a media briefing.

He also pointed out that the crisis has been caused by Russia’s aggression, and Ukraine is treating everyone on equal footing.

Polikha said that only Russian President Vladimir Putin can guarantee the safety of Indian nationals.

The ambassador also claimed that the Russian forces are targeting schools, ambulances and civilian areas and that situation in Ukraine is “very difficult and complex.”

Polikha said the circumstances at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing are challenging as lakhs of people including diplomats, foreigners and Ukrainian citizens are queuing up to exit Ukraine.

“In the case of Indian nationals, we are even trying to use our personal contacts to help them. But, you have to understand the ground realities. We are in a war,” he said.

Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday met Polikha and requested Ukraine’s assistance in the evacuation of the stranded Indians.

“I had a long and productive meeting with the foreign secretary. The number of Uranian refugees has exceeded four lakhs. It is approaching very quickly to five lakhs,” Polikha said.

Quoting projections by some “pessimists”, he said that if the war is not stopped, then there is a possibility that the number of refugees could increase to seven million.

“In such a case it will be a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.

Asked whether he can assure the safety of Indian students, Polikha said “only Russian President Vladimir Putin can give that assurance”.

“I don’t know what will happen there after three hours. We are trying to be helpful to everyone,” he said.

The Indian embassy in Ukraine also urged citizens not to “exhibit aggressive behaviour” while at railway stations, saying there are large crowds at railway stations. It asked Indians to remain patient and composed.

“Ukrainians both civilians and authorities have been remarkably supportive in facilitating evacuation efforts of Indian citizens, especially considering these critical and dangerous times. You are all requested to respect [these] sentiments,” it said.

India to Provide Humanitarian Assistance to Ukraine: MEA

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the country had managed to “accelerate efforts” to evacuate Indian nationals from Ukraine though the ground situation remained “complex and fluid”.

New Delhi: India on Monday said it would provide humanitarian assistance – including medicines – to Ukraine.

According to reports, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “India will provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including medicines. However, no more details are yet available.”

He also said that the country had managed to “accelerate efforts” to evacuate Indian nationals from Ukraine though the ground situation remained “complex and fluid”, and noted that around 8,000 Indians left that country since the first advisory was issued earlier this month, before the conflict began.

Bagchi said at a media briefing that 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights in the last few days as part of the evacuation mission.

The Indian embassy in Kyiv had started issuing travel advisories requesting Indians to consider leaving that country after tensions between Ukraine and Russia began to increase. Russia had launched the attack on the eastern European country four days back.

A large number of Indians left the country following the advisories.

Bagchi said the government has decided to send four union ministers as the prime minister’s envoys to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals through Ukrainian land border crossings with these countries.

He said Union minister Hardeep Puri will go to Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova, Kiren Rijiju will travel to Slovakia and Gen (Retd) V.K. Singh is leaving for Poland.

Bagchi said the situation on the ground in terms of evacuation continues to be “complex and fluid” but India has managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hours.

“You have seen media reports. Some of them are concerning. Nevertheless, we have been able to accelerate our evacuation process clearly over the last 24 hours,” he said.

The MEA spokesperson also urged the Indian students not to panic.

“I do not think the students should panic. They should try to go to the western parts of Ukraine while contacting our control rooms and sharing their locations so that we can get them registered for their exit,” he said.

Bagchi said India’s focus has been on evacuating its nationals through the land border crossings, noting that there has been some improvement in the movement of people into Poland through the situation on the Polish border is still difficult.

He said there has been progress in the evacuation of people along the border in Romania and that exiting through the Hungarian transit point is also picking up momentum.

The spokesperson said India has managed to open a new route through Moldova and an MEA team has already reached that country this morning to assist the evacuation of Indians from Moldova to Romania.

“This new route should help Indians in Southern Ukraine. We are looking at how we can move them to Moldova and then to Romania,” he said.

Bagchi said India is encouraging its citizens to move to western Ukraine and that the MEA’s understanding is that some students in the cities in eastern Ukraine are boarding trains to the western side.

“We want to emphasise that people should not reach the border directly. If they do they will face a long waiting time to cross as you have seen on the Polish border. You have seen it on the Romanian border too. Please do reach in the western part of the country, but please seek shelter in nearby towns,” he said.

Bagchi said flights are not a constraint.

“We will add more flights as needed. We are continually augmenting the number of MEA teams in border crossing points. We are also augmenting a number of officials in the nearby countries,” he said.

India on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland.

India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary, Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland, Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from Ukraine.

It is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.

(With PTI inputs)

After UNSC, India Abstains From Ukraine-Related Vote in UNHRC

The resolution to hold an urgent debate on Ukraine that will also consider a resolution for a probe into alleged human rights violations was passed.

New Delhi: After New York, India abstained in Geneva at another Ukraine-related vote in a UN body. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted on Monday to hold an urgent debate on Ukraine that will also consider a resolution for a probe into alleged human rights violations.

Speaking before the vote, Ukraine’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva said Russian forces were attempting “to sow panic among the population by specifically targeting kindergartens and orphanages, hospitals and mobile medical aid brigades thus committing acts that may amount to war crimes”.

Earlier on February 25, the president of the Human Rights Council, Federico Villegas had confirmed that he had received a letter from ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko requesting the Council to convene an urgent debate on human rights in Ukraine. This initiative was supported by the European Union and the United States.

Filipenko claimed that the attack by Russia was not just on Russia, but on “every UN member state, on the United Nations and on the principles that this organisation was created to defend”.

Russia’s ambassador Gennady Gatilov said his country had launched “special operations to stop the tragedy” in Ukraine’s breakaway Donbass region, and that Russia’s forces were not firing on civilian targets in Ukraine.

The vote was passed by 29 out of the Council’s 47 members voting in favour, while thirteen countries, including India, abstained. The five countries that voted against the request for an urgent debate were Russia, China, Eritrea, Cuba and Venezuela.

Besides India, other nations that abstained were Armenia, Gabon, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Pakistan, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

The UNHRC will now hold the urgent debate on Thursday, where it may take up a draft resolution proposed by Ukraine that will demand a high-level probe into alleged violations by Russia dating back to 2014.

The vote came just after the UN Security Council approved a resolution that called for an emergency session of the General Assembly to discuss the Ukraine issue, as there was a lack of unanimity among the permanent members. Russia had previously vetoed the February 25 draft resolution authored by the US and Albania.

India had abstained on both the recent votes in the Security Council, claiming that the door to diplomacy had to be kept open. China and the UAE had also abstained from the UNSC vote. While the UAE was consistent, China changed its vote from an abstention in New York to a ‘no’ in Geneva.

The debate on Ukraine is to take place on Thursday, after the initial high-level part of the council’s five-week session, when ministers and top officials from over 140 countries will speak.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to address the UNHRC and hold disarmament talks in Geneva this week. However, the Russian news agency stated his trip had been called off as the European Union had closed its airspace to Russian planes as part of sanctions against Moscow.

(With agency inputs)

Watch | UP Elections 2022: ‘People of Gonda Have Decided to Vote for Change,’ Says SP’s Suraj Singh

According to Singh, the people of Gonda are reacting to being deceived by the ruling BJP’s unfulfilled electoral promises.

Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Suraj Singh, who has been fielded by the party from Gonda city’s eponymous constituency in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, believes that the people of the city have grown tired of the supposed ‘unfulfilled promises’ made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 assembly elections.

In his estimation, all seven of the assembly constituencies in Gonda are set to go in favour of the SP.

The Wire‘s Yaqut Ali talks with Singh to understand the key issues on the basis of which he seeks to contest the current election, including rising inflation, unemployment, the issues of farmers and more.

Delhi Riots: HC Seeks Political Leaders’ Stand in Pleas to Implead Them in Proceedings

A bench of which was dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi issued notice to all proposed respondents against whom action is sought in the petitions.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday sought the stand of several political leaders, including Anurag Thakur (BJP), Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (Congress), Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and others on pleas to make them parties to proceedings seeking FIR and investigation against them for allegedly delivering hate speeches leading to the February 2020 riots amidst protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, which was dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi, issued notice to all proposed respondents- persons against whom action is sought in the petitions.

One impleadment is filed by petitioner Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq who has sought FIR for hate speech against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma.

Also read: How a Witness Was Hidden From Accused, Defence Counsels in a 2020 Delhi Violence Case

The other application is by petitioner Lawyers Voice which has sought the registration of hate speech FIRs against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, former AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan, Mehmood Pracha, Harsh Mander, Mufti Mohammad Ismail, Swara Bhasker, Umar Khalid, BG Kolse Patil and others.

“Before we implead, we will have to give them an opportunity. We can’t implead (without hearing) if they oppose it,” the court said.

The court had earlier granted time to petitioners’ advocates for filing of applications for adding as parties certain political leaders to the pleas alleging that they delivered hate speeches which led to the 2020 violence.

Apart from seeking action against those who allegedly gave the hate speeches, some petitions have also sought other reliefs, which include setting up of an SIT, FIRs against police officers who were allegedly involved in the violence, and disclosure of persons arrested and detained.

In its response to these prayers, police had earlier said it had already created three special investigation teams (SIT) under the crime branch and there was no evidence till now that its officers were involved in the violence.

The police, in its affidavit earlier, has said that investigation into the riots have not revealed any evidence till now that political leaders instigated or participated in the violence.

Earlier, while asking the parties to collate the issues, the court had noted that the Supreme Court, in an order of December 17, 2021, has requested it to dispose of expeditiously, preferably within three months, a plea seeking registration of FIR against some politicians for their alleged hate speeches which purportedly led to the north-east Delhi riots last year.

The matter would be heard next on March 22.

(PTI)

MP: Dalit Man Beaten Up and Forced to Drink Urine for Filing RTI Application

The victim was first locked up in a room and then allegedly thrashed severely by the accused, who also made casteist remarks against him.

Gwalior: A 33-year-old Right to Information (RTI) activist was allegedly beaten up and forced to drink urine by seven people after he sought information related to a village panchayat in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district, police said on Monday.

“After initial treatment in a hospital here, the severely injured victim, Shashikant Jatav, was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for further treatment,” an official said.

“Two of the accused have been arrested following the incident, which took place on February 23,” the police said.

“Jatav had sought information under the RTI Act about Barhi village panchayat under Panihar police station area,” additional superintendent of police Jayraj Kuber said quoting the complaint lodged by the victim.

Also read: Elderly Dalit Man Beaten By ‘Upper’ Caste Neighbours, Family Alleges UP Police Reluctant to Act

Angry over this, Barhi sarpanch’s husband, panchayat secretary and others called him to the village panchayat office on February 23.

The victim was first locked up in a room and then allegedly thrashed severely by the accused, who also made casteist remarks against him.

“According to the victim, the accused also allegedly forced him to drink urine from a shoe,” the official said.

“Jatav was initially admitted to the Jayarogya Hospital and Medical College here and later referred to the AIIMS in Delhi for further treatment,” he said, adding that an official will be sent to the national capital to record the victim’s statement.

“The police registered a case against seven persons under Indian Penal Code sections for attempt to murder and abduction, and provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act,” he said.

“More penal provisions could be added in the case after the victim’s statement,” he said.

“The seven accused have been identified as Asha Kaurav, Sanjay Kaurav, Dhamu, Bhura, Gautam, Vivek Sharma and Sarnam Singh,” the official said.

(PTI)

Ceasefire Talks Begin at Belarus Border Four Days After Russia Invades Ukraine

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said at least 102 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since Thursday, with a further 304 wounded, but the real figure is feared to be “considerably higher”.

Kyiv/Moscow: Ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials began on the Belarusian border on Monday as Russia faced deepening economic isolation four days after invading Ukraine.

Russian forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency said.

But they ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two failed to make as much ground as some had expected.

Talks began with the aim of an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces, the Ukrainian president’s office said. Russia has been cagier about the talks, with the Kremlin declining to comment on Moscow’s aim.

It was not clear whether any progress could be achieved after Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear-armed units on high alert on Sunday.

The talks are being held on the border with strong Russian ally Belarus, which has become a launchpad for the invading Russian troops.

“Dear friends, the President of Belarus has asked me to welcome you & facilitate your work as much as possible. As it was agreed with the Presidents (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy and Putin, you can feel completely secure,” Belarusian foreign minister Vladimir Makei said at the start, according to the foreign ministry’s translation on Twitter.

The Western-led response to the invasion has been emphatic, with sanctions that effectively cut off Moscow’s major financial institutions from Western markets. Russia’s rouble currency plunged 30% against the dollar on Monday. Countries also stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Battle for the cities

Blasts were heard before dawn on Monday in the capital Kyiv and in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian authorities said. But Russian ground forces’ attempts to capture major urban centres had been repelled, they added.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were focusing on Chernihiv city, northeast of Kyiv, and parts of Donetsk region in the east among other areas.

Kyiv authorities warned residents emerging from a weekend curfew that they would see newly erected fortifications, tank traps and other defensive installations in the streets as the city girds for further battle.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken over the towns of Berdyansk and Enerhodar in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhya region as well as the area around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Interfax reported. The plant’s operations continued normally, it said.

Ukraine denied that the nuclear plant had fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.

Dozens of people were killed in Russian rocket strikes on Kharkiv on Monday, Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said at least 102 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since Thursday, with a further 304 wounded, but the real figure is feared to be “considerably higher”.

More than half a million people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Fighting took place around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol throughout the night, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said. He did not say whether Russian forces had gained or lost ground, or provide any casualty figures.

A US defence official said Russia had fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since Thursday, some hitting civilian infrastructure.

Weapons

Partners in the US-led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) defence alliance were providing Ukraine with air-defence missiles and anti-tank weapons, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

The Kremlin accused the European Union of hostile behaviour, saying weapons supplies to Ukraine were destabilising and proved that Russia was right in its efforts to demilitarise its neighbour.

“Throughout Russia, the vast majority of the population has friends or relatives who live in Ukraine. Naturally, everyone’s hearts are aching for what is happening to these relatives,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

The Kremlin declined to comment on whether there was a risk of confrontation between Russia and NATO. Russia has demanded that NATO never admit Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Western nations announced sanctions including blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system.

In an emergency move, Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5%. Authorities told export-focused companies to be ready to sell foreign currency.

It also ordered brokers to block attempts by foreigners to sell Russian securities.

Corporate giants also took action in response to the sanctions, with British oil major BP BP, the biggest foreign investor in Russia, saying it would abandon its stake in the state oil company Rosneft at a cost of up to $25 billion.

Protests

Protests have been held around the world against the invasion, including in Russia, where almost 6,000 people have been detained at anti-war demonstrations since Thursday, the OVD-Info protest monitor said.

The UN Human Rights Council agreed on Monday to Ukraine’s request to hold an urgent debate this week on the invasion after Kyiv’s ambassador told the Geneva forum that some of Moscow’s military actions “may amount to war crimes”.

Zelenskiy on Monday asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership immediately.

“Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal…I am sure we deserve it,” he said in a video shared on social media.

US President Joe Biden will host a call with allies and partners on Monday to coordinate a united response, the White House said.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

The EU shut all Russian planes out of its airspace, as did Canada, forcing Russian airline Aeroflot to cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice.

Protecting Farm Land From Animals Is a Costly Exercise for UP’s Vantangiyas

Even though the forested villages in Maharajganj district have seen agricultural activity for the last 100 years, farm land has not yet been consolidated, impeding efforts to fence it properly.

Gorakhpur: In Maharajganj district’s forest villages, primarily inhabited by the Vantangiya community, locals are forced to spend thousands of rupees to instal electric fences to protect the crop from stray animals.

This helps villagers get a night’s sleep. In this region, where farm land is not clearly demarcated so as to allow ease of fencing, keeping watch all night is the only other option.

Land of Vantangiyas who can neither spend money on fencing nor keep physical watch, is left uncultivated.

There are a total of 23 forest villages in Gorakhpur and Maharajganj districts. More than 4,500 Vantangiya families live across Maharajganj’s 18 villages. Agriculture is the main occupation here. This is because the community has received land on lease under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. This act is better known as the Forest Rights Act.

The history of their name offers a picture of their practices.

‘Tangiya’ is a farming system practised in the mountains of Myanmar. In it, cultivation is carried out on barren tracts of land between forested areas. Around 100 years ago, practitioners of this farming system were brought by the British from then Burma to eastern Uttar Pradesh, to set up sal and teak plantations in the Gorakhpur and Maharajganj regions. They came to be called the ‘Vantangiyas’ – ‘van’ means ‘forest’.

Vantangiyas have inhabited this forested region in eastern Uttar Pradesh ever since and have been engaged in this mode of cultivation for a living. After the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, the community got legal ownership of the land.

Land cultivated by Vantangiyas now. Photo: Manoj Singh

Under the Forest Rights Act, 3,798 families of Maharajganj district got 128.361 hectares of residential and 1488.761 hectares of agricultural land. In Gorakhpur, 504 families got 24.97 hectares of residential land and 202.8 hectares of agricultural land. However, some families are still deprived of land rights under the Forest Rights Act.

The Vantangiyas possess fertile land in these forest villages where they grow wheat, paddy and many vegetables. They also rear a large number of cattle.

Also read: In Central UP, Lush Mustard Fields Make Mockery of Farmers’ Constant Struggles

Out of 18, 12 villages in Maharajganj district are located in the dense forest of Sohagi Barwa Wildlife Sanctuary while six villages – Vilaspur, Daulatpur, Barhawa, Bhari Vaisi, Surpar and Khurrampur – lie on the edge of the forest.

Mangroo, a resident of Khurrampur forest village, has installed a wired fence around his farm land, close to his house, and connected it to a ‘stun machine’. He turns the machine on at night and low intensity current flows through the wires. If stray animals try to enter the farm, they get a slight jolt and are scared away. The machine also makes a steady noise. Villagers believe that ones an animal receives a mild shock, it is wary of most fences, wired or not.

The machine which sends a jolt of electric current down the wire surrounding fences around farm land. Photo: Manoj Singh

Mangroo said he and other villagers came up with this arrangement last year as a last ditch effort to save his crop from stray cattle. “Whether it is day or night, herds of stray cattle enter the fields and destroy the entire crop,” said Mangroo. 

Two machines – a small one worth Rs 4,500 and a bigger one costing Rs 13,000 – and the wire fence, together meant that a significant amount of money needed to be spent.

But the cost would have risen had he installed similar machines in fields that are farther away from his house. This has meant that only one of his fields – where he grows vegetables – is protected this way.

The chairman of Khurrampur’s forest rights committee, Rajaram, said that the government has provided electricity and built a road in the village, but stray animals are the problem of the hour.

chairman of Khurrampur’s forest rights committee, Rajaram. Photo: Manoj Singh

“Wild animals like porcupine, boar and nilgai were already a nuisance for our crops,” he said. “Now, stray cattle has been causing further destruction. Farming has become excessively difficult. Though the machines offer a solution, but they are very costly.”

According to Rajaram, a single machine costs around Rs 15,000. “In the village, 8-10 people usually pool in money to set up such machines. I have also installed similar equipment to protect 20 acres of agricultural land and erected a wired boundary. Many people are doing it,” he said.

“We are poor. We don’t have Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 to spare. How can we buy the machine?” a local, Ramraj asked. “It’s beyond reach for us. We can only afford to cover the field with jute rags, but that is also damaging for the crop.”

Rajaram added that the key problem is that farm land is not consolidated in the village. In spite of his being a “revenue village” – one with clearly demarcated borders – the fields are scattered, making it difficult to install enough electric fences and power machines that are needed to protect all of them, he said.

Mangroo, by the room that houses the ‘stun’ machine. Photo: Manoj Singh

A Khurrampur villager, Jhinki, said stray cattle are the main problem. “Nilgai and bisons also cause a lot of damage. All these animals enter the fields and graze on the crop. The problem has aggravated during the past four to five years.”

Vantangiyas in the Bhari Vaisi village near Campierganj have fenced their fields with wire and mesh as well. A villager, Hariram, said, “Animals are a big nuisance in the village. They eat away all the crop. We are forced to leave our land uncultivated at times. Some of us try to protect the crop by installing wires and mesh in the field, but not everyone can afford it.”

Here too, the village has been left out of land consolidation drives.

In Khurrampur, 119 hectares of land has been given on lease to 304 Vantangiya families, while 68.597 hectares has been given to 147 Vantangia families in Bhari Vaisi. Both the villages fall under the Pharenda assembly constituency.

The stray cattle menace and the havoc it wreaks on agriculture has increased the rate of migration from forest villages and a large number of youth are moving to places like Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat to find work. The gravity of the migrant crisis in the region was highlighted when about 1,000 labourers returned to the forest villages of Maharajganj in the lockdown imposed during the pandemic.

“The government is neither managing stray animals nor is it concerned about the damage they cause to the crop,” said Rajaram. “We are dealing with the problem on our own.”

Watch | ‘People of Ayodhya Have Been Cheated, Yogi Ji Will Have to Face the Consequences’

Samajwadi Party Ayodhya candidate Pawan Pandey says that the party is assured a win from the seat.

Samajwadi Party leader Pawan Pandey had won the coveted Ayodhya seat for the first time for his party in 2012. He has also been a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government. The Wire speaks to him on his hopes from this seat this time.

‘Nightmare Scenario for India If US Decides Russian Threat Means Easing Up On China’: Shyam Saran

The former foreign secretary says that even though Biden has publicly spoken about unresolved differences with India over the Ukraine issue, there is also understanding in Washington about India’s historic ties with Moscow.

In a comprehensive interview to discuss the implications of the Ukraine crisis on India’s relationships with Russia, China and the United States, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran agrees that it has created a predicament but adds we have experience handling such situations.


However, he accepts that the tight rope India is walking at present could become more difficult in the weeks ahead. He also says that as Russia’s dependence on China, which is already undeniable, significantly increases there could be pressure on Moscow from Beijing to change its stand on the India-China as well as India-Pakistan issues and also to diminish the sale of Russian military equipment to India, which is targeted against China or its close ally Pakistan.

Saran says that even though President Biden has publicly spoken about unresolved differences with India over the Ukraine issue, there is also understanding in Washington about India’s historic ties with Moscow and the fact that up to 60-70% of Indian defence equipment comes from Russia which, at the moment, when there is a potentially volatile and unpredictable situation on the border with China, is a critical concern for New Delhi.

Amongst the many dimensions of the present Ukraine crisis which Saran discusses is the fact that Russia is not making the advance in the Ukraine it was expected to and the public relations disaster the country has faced internationally. Although he makes no prediction, he says it’s conceivable Putin could end up being pushed out of office in some sort of palace coup.

However, Saran also talks about the possibility of a nightmare scenario from the Indian point of view. As he wrote in a recent article in The Tribune:

“The nightmare scenario for India would be if the US comes to the conclusion that it confronts a greater threat from Russia and that this justifies a strategic accommodation with China. In blunt terms, concede Chinese dominance in Asia while safeguarding its European flank.”

If the nightmare scenario were to happen, it would mean India would be virtually on its own facing China with a hostile Pakistan to our west and neither America nor Russia fully with India.

Saran also talks about the dramatic change, which has occurred in the last 36 hours, in Germany and the wider European Union’s relationship with Russia. In a sense, this is one possible pointer that Europe is focussing on the Russian threat as a priority and that could lead to some sort of strategic accommodation with China. As pointed out above, this sort of development lies at the heart of the nightmare scenario Saran discussed.

Watch the full interview here.