The Evening Wrap: PM Modi addresses nation during the 77th Independence Day celebrations

Delivering his last independence day speech before the 2024 general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for his return to the ramparts of Red Fort next year. Noting that he came to power in 2014 promising change, and was elected again in 2019 on the basis of his government’s performance, he said that he would present a report card of India’s achievements in 2024. “Next time, on August 15th, at this very Red Fort I will speak of the achievements of our country, the potential and resolve of our people and their success and self confidence,” Modi said, in a speech lasting 89 minutes — his fourth longest in 10 years. “You would have seen that whichever project our government laid the foundation stone of was also inaugurated by my government, and whatever projects are being initiated this year, their inaugural has also been written into my fate,” the PM said. He added his “guarantee” that in his next term, India would be the third largest economy in the world, an emphatic declaration of his confidence that he will return to power next year. Referring to Indians as “mere parivarjanon (my family members)“, Modi said that, in order to develop further, the country should rid itself of three big obstacles: corruption, dynasty politics, and appeasement politics. By referring to the whole country as his family members, the PM drew a line between himself as one of the people, and the nepotism of dynasty-based parties, who only thought in terms of promoting their own family ties. He reiterated his assurance, after his speech on the motion of no confidence against his government in Parliament, that the country was with the people of Manipur, which has been in the grip of ethnic violence for the last few months. “In the north-east, especially in Manipur, a period of violence has ensued, many people died, many of our mothers and sisters were disrespected,” he said, adding that there has been news of peace being slowly established in the last few weeks. The Central and State governments were working together to resolve the issue and establish peace, he said. Among the new initiatives by his government, the Prime Minister announced that interest rate subvention will be given to the urban poor to buy houses. Under the Vishwakarma Yojana, to be launched next month, those with traditional skills and crafts will be allocated ₹1,300 crore to ₹1,500 crore to encourage them in their craft. Many artisan communities belong to the marginalised sections of society. Modi also announced a programme to train women in self-help groups to use and repair drones, which will be deployed in agricultural work. “We have also kept a goal of making two crore ‘lakhpati didis (sisters with at least a ₹1 lakh in resources)‘,” he said. The number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras will be increased from 10,000 to 25,000 in the coming years, he added. Kharge skips PM’s Red Fort address; Congress deems it a ‘crass election speech’ with point by point rebuttal Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, contested the PM’s assertion that he (Modi) would hoist the Tricolour again from the Red Fort next year. Separately, the Congress party reacted to the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech and termed it “a crass election speech filled with distortions, lies, exaggerations and vague promises”. When Kharge, also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was asked about giving the 77th Independence Day function at the Red Fort a miss, said he had a problem with his eyes, and he also had to hoist the national flag at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. The AICC flag-hoisting ceremony was attended by senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. On the Prime Minister’s assertion that he would provide a report card and hoist the Tricolour again at the Red Fort next year, Kharge said, “Everyone says ‘I will keep winning’. All the things he said shows his arrogance. He [Mr. Modi] will hoist the national flag but at his residence.” In his speech, Kharge referred to his own microphone being switched off in Parliament, and alleged that the Opposition’s voice is being muzzled by expunging words and moving privilege motions. He said raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T) Department were being carried out against Opposition leaders, and that the Election Commission of India was being weakened. “It pains me to say that today, democracy, Constitution, and autonomous institutions — all three are in great danger,” Kharge. The Congress chief said nation-building is a continuous process and recalled the contributions of all former Prime Ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the BJP. In the official response to Modi’s speech, Congress’ communication chief Jairam Ramesh said the Prime Minister had made it all about himself and his image, instead of bringing the country together on Independence Day. “To summarise, PM Modi’s failures in the last nine years can be categorised under durniti (bad policies), anyay (injustice) and — perhaps most importantly — badniyat [ill intention]. Rhetoric and bluster can no longer cover up this truth which is now evident to the entire country,” Ramesh said in a statement. The former Union Minister accused the Prime Minister of addressing the devastation in Manipur casually by comparing it with incidents in other parts of the country and showed no sorrow for Manipur turning into a war zone because of the government’s failures. Ramesh said that while talking about India’s capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister had failed to mention “inadequate oxygen supplies and the PM’s failure to order adequate vaccines in a timely manner”, which ended in 40 lakh COVID deaths. “It takes particular audacity to claim that our borders are safer than before when Chinese troops continue to block Indian access to 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Depsang and Demchok more than three years after they intruded. And to casually lie to the nation, as he did on 19 June, 2020, and claim ‘Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ [no one has entered our border] as our own troops who have been captured are being mistreated by the Chinese,” the Congress leader charged. Ramesh added that India’s demography is being wasted, and democracy and diversity is under attack. “The social fabric of the country has been torn apart through the control of media and the misuse of social media by the Modi government, the BJP, and the hydra-headed Sangh Parivar,” he said. In a point by point rebuttal, Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s talk of women-led development is meaningless as the government has not acted on the women wrestlers’ sexual harassment allegations against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh. “The only performance has been the 40% ‘commission raj’ of BJP State governments, the function of BJP as a ‘washing machine’ to ‘clean’ those Opposition leaders who are arm-twisted by ED/CBI/I-T to comply with or ally with the BJP, and bringing down elected State governments,” the Congress leader said, responding to Modi’s statement on his government’s “reform, perform and transform” approach. “And the only ‘transformation’ has been in the concentration of economic power in select Modi-made monopolies (‘3M’) that is exacerbating price rise and ensuring record inequality, especially the PM’s direct role in directing deals and government revenues towards his most favoured business group,” Ramesh alleged. The Congress leader said the Prime Minister had tried to deflect the blame for inflation on the rest of the world, when the reality was that crude oil prices have been substantially lower than when compared with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s years. “There was a time when the PM spoke of TOP — Tomato, Onion, Potato — and LPG cylinders in his speeches. Today, with skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, his attempt to deflect blame for his failures is pathetic,” Ramesh said. Donald Trump indicted in Georgia over 2020 election meddling Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on August 14 with scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, with prosecutors turning to a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other top aides in a sweeping criminal conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power. The 97-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump and his allies to undo his defeat in the battleground state, including hectoring Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes to keep him power, pestering officials with bogus claims of voter fraud and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favourable to Trump. It also outlines a scheme to tamper with voting machines in one Georgia county and steal data. “Mr. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Mr. Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favour of Mr. Trump,” says the indictment issued Monday night by the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Other defendants included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani; and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced his efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia. Multiple other lawyers who devised legally dubious ideas aimed at overturning the results, including John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, were also charged. Willis said the defendants would be allowed to voluntarily surrender by noon Aug. 25. She also said she plans to ask for a trial date within six months. The document describes the former president of the United States, the former White House chief of staff, Trump’s attorneys and the former mayor of New York as members of a “criminal organisation” who were part of an “enterprise” that operated in Georgia and other states — language that conjures up the operations of mob bosses and gang leaders. The indictment bookends a remarkable crush of criminal cases — four in five months, each in a different city — that would be daunting for anyone, never mind a defendant simultaneously running for president. It comes just two weeks after the Justice Department special counsel charged him in a vast conspiracy to overturn the election, underscoring how prosecutors after lengthy investigations that followed the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol have now, two-and-a-half years later, taken steps to hold Trump to account for an assault on the underpinnings of American democracy. The sprawling web of defendants in the Georgia case — 19 in total — stands apart from the more tightly targeted case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which so far only names Trump as a defendant. The Georgia case also stands out because, unlike the two federal prosecutions he faces, Trump would not have the opportunity to try to pardon himself if elected president or to control the outcome by appointing an attorney general who could theoretically make it go away. As indictments mount, Trump — the leading Republican candidate for president in 2024 — often invokes his distinction as the only former president to face criminal charges. He is campaigning and fundraising around these themes, portraying himself as the victim of Democratic prosecutors out to get him. Republican allies once again quickly rallied to Trump’s defense. “Americans see through this desperate sham,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The counts against Trump include violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, act as well as other crimes such as conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit false statements. Nagaland village councils pledge to stir against Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act Four village councils in the Sendenyu area of Nagaland’s Tseminyu district have initiated a movement against the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023, passed in Parliament on August 2. These village councils (VCs) of the Rengma Naga community have appealed to the VCs of all Naga tribes across Nagaland to take up the matter of “great urgency and imminent crisis” to create pressure on the State government so that the 60-member Assembly rejects the Act. The four VCs cover the Sendenyu, New Sendenyu, Thongsunyu, and Lostuphen villages. On August 12, the members of these four VCs pledged to oppose the Act “designed against the interests of the indigenous communities” to ensure that the “rights bestowed by our ancestors do not go in vain in the name of so-called national importance and security”. The Act, the VCs pointed out, also challenges the “very essence of traditional customary and indigenous ownership-rights of the people over their land and forest” as guaranteed by Article 371A of the Constitution of India. Alarmed by the rapid decline of fauna and flora species in the region, the people of the villages in the Sendenyu area resolved to start community biodiversity conservation by unanimously passing The Sendenyu Village Wildlife Conservation Act of 2001. The villages subsequently donated their clan and private lands for community conservation to form a wildlife and biodiversity corridor of about 22 sq. km (2,200 hectares), which was resolved to be managed by Sendenyu Community Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Board. Less than 5% of forest land in Nagaland belongs to the State government. “As a result of our continued efforts, our biodiversity conservation area has not resulted in an increase in the population of flora and fauna but also led to the recording of a new amphibian, Ichthyophis sendenyu, now featuring on the IUCN Red List of threatened species,” Gwasinlo Thong, the chairman of Sendenyu Community Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Board told The Hindu. The four VCs resolved that the Act undermined the sacrifices of the community, discriminated against, and discouraged the efforts of the true custodians of Nagaland’s forestland by enabling arbitrary diversion by the Central government without obtaining prior consent from village councils and the local district authority. According to the current provision of the Act, the whole of Nagaland and its forests fall within 100 km of the international (Myanmar) boundary giving the Centre the arbitrary power for diversion. “We appeal to the VCs of fellow Naga tribes across the State to take this issue as a matter of great urgency and imminent crisis so that the Act can be rejected by the Nagaland Assembly, and the rights bestowed by our ancestors do not go in vain in the name of so-called national importance and security,” the resolution read. The VCs also endorsed the concerns of the Nagaland Community Conservation Area Forum (NCCAF) over the Act, which it called unconstitutional, undemocratic, and unacceptable. “There is a huge ambiguity over the definitions and provisions of the Act, putting the rights and security of the people at stake,” NCCAF chairman Heirang Lungalang said. He pointed out that communities in Nagaland have voluntarily come forward to take up conservation practices in their traditional ancestral lands to sustain and preserve the rich biodiversity resulting in the recognition and documentation of over 407 community-conserved areas in the State, one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots. Assam mulls full withdrawal of AFSPA by year-end: CM Himanta Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 15 said his government will take necessary steps to withdraw AFSPA from the entire State by the end of this year. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is now limited to only eight districts of the northeastern State, he said. Hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the 77th Independence Day here, Mr. Sarma also said around 8,000 “revolutionaries” have returned to the mainstream in the last three years. “I want to assure the people of Assam that by the end of this year, we will take fruitful steps to withdraw the AFSPA from every district of Assam. That will be an ‘amritmoy’ time for Assam’s history and we are eagerly waiting for that day,” he said. Since the beginning of its application in the State more than three decades ago, the extension of the AFSPA was recommended 62 times, Mr. Sarma said. “The northeast region is now free from terrorism. In the last three years, four peace accords have been signed with revolutionaries of Assam and around 8,000 revolutionaries have returned to the mainstream,” he said. In Brief: Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on August 15 announced a plan to expand the Supreme Court with 27 additional courts and 51 judges’ chambers. Currently, the Supreme Court has 16 courtrooms and two registrar courts. Its judicial strength is 32. In his address at the 77th Independence Day celebrations at the Supreme Court lawns, Chief Justice Chandrachud said an “overhaul” of the court infrastructure was necessary on a priority basis to make courts more accessible and inclusive. The top judge said the emphasis of the new project would be on modernising the judicial infrastructure. Sulabh International founder, Padma Bhushan recipient, and social worker Bindeshwar Pathak on August 15 died of a cardiac arrest at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, shortly after he was brought to the hospital. Pathak was 80 years old. Credited with bringing in the revolutionary Sulabh Complex system to India, which contributed significantly to reducing open-defecation and manual scavenging, Pathak was closely associated with his non-profit and “worked till the end”, said people who have known and worked with him. Pathak was brought into the hospital at 1.15 p.m. on Tuesday, shortly after which he suffered a cardiac arrest and died at 1.42 p.m. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 15 August 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Promised change in 2014, performance in 2019, will return with report card in 2024: Modi at Red Fort Delivering his last independence day speech before the 2024 general election, [Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch]( for his return to the ramparts of Red Fort next year. Noting that he came to power in 2014 promising change, and was elected again in 2019 on the basis of his government’s performance, he said that he would present a report card of India’s achievements in 2024. “Next time, on August 15th, at this very Red Fort I will speak of the achievements of our country, the potential and resolve of our people and their success and self confidence,” Modi said, in a speech lasting 89 minutes — his fourth longest in 10 years. “You would have seen that whichever project our government laid the foundation stone of was also inaugurated by my government, and whatever projects are being initiated this year, their inaugural has also been written into my fate,” the PM said. He added his “guarantee” that in his next term, India would be the third largest economy in the world, an emphatic declaration of his confidence that he will return to power next year. Referring to Indians as “mere parivarjanon (my family members)“, Modi said that, in order to develop further, the country should rid itself of three big obstacles: corruption, dynasty politics, and appeasement politics. By referring to the whole country as his family members, the PM drew a line between himself as one of the people, and the nepotism of dynasty-based parties, who only thought in terms of promoting their own family ties. He reiterated his assurance, after his speech on the motion of no confidence against his government in Parliament, that the country was with the people of Manipur, which has been in the grip of ethnic violence for the last few months. “In the north-east, especially in Manipur, a period of violence has ensued, many people died, many of our mothers and sisters were disrespected,” he said, adding that there has been news of peace being slowly established in the last few weeks. The Central and State governments were working together to resolve the issue and establish peace, he said. Among the new initiatives by his government, the Prime Minister announced that interest rate subvention will be given to the urban poor to buy houses. Under the Vishwakarma Yojana, to be launched next month, those with traditional skills and crafts will be allocated ₹1,300 crore to ₹1,500 crore to encourage them in their craft. Many artisan communities belong to the marginalised sections of society. Modi also announced a programme to train women in self-help groups to use and repair drones, which will be deployed in agricultural work. “We have also kept a goal of making two crore ‘lakhpati didis (sisters with at least a ₹1 lakh in resources)‘,” he said. The number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras will be increased from 10,000 to 25,000 in the coming years, he added. Kharge skips PM’s Red Fort address; Congress deems it a ‘crass election speech’ with point by point rebuttal [Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address]( the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, contested the PM’s assertion that he (Modi) would hoist the Tricolour again from the Red Fort next year. Separately, the Congress party reacted to the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech and termed it “a crass election speech filled with distortions, lies, exaggerations and vague promises”. When Kharge, also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was asked about giving the 77th Independence Day function at the Red Fort a miss, said he had a problem with his eyes, and he also had to hoist the national flag at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. The AICC flag-hoisting ceremony was attended by senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. On the Prime Minister’s assertion that he would provide a report card and hoist the Tricolour again at the Red Fort next year, Kharge said, “Everyone says ‘I will keep winning’. All the things he said shows his arrogance. He [Mr. Modi] will hoist the national flag but at his residence.” In his speech, Kharge referred to his own microphone being switched off in Parliament, and alleged that the Opposition’s voice is being muzzled by expunging words and moving privilege motions. He said raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T) Department were being carried out against Opposition leaders, and that the Election Commission of India was being weakened. “It pains me to say that today, democracy, Constitution, and autonomous institutions — all three are in great danger,” Kharge. The Congress chief said nation-building is a continuous process and recalled the contributions of all former Prime Ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the BJP. In the official response to Modi’s speech, Congress’ communication chief Jairam Ramesh said the Prime Minister had made it all about himself and his image, instead of bringing the country together on Independence Day. “To summarise, PM Modi’s failures in the last nine years can be categorised under durniti (bad policies), anyay (injustice) and — perhaps most importantly — badniyat [ill intention]. Rhetoric and bluster can no longer cover up this truth which is now evident to the entire country,” Ramesh said in a statement. The former Union Minister accused the Prime Minister of addressing the devastation in Manipur casually by comparing it with incidents in other parts of the country and showed no sorrow for Manipur turning into a war zone because of the government’s failures. Ramesh said that while talking about India’s capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister had failed to mention “inadequate oxygen supplies and the PM’s failure to order adequate vaccines in a timely manner”, which ended in 40 lakh COVID deaths. “It takes particular audacity to claim that our borders are safer than before when Chinese troops continue to block Indian access to 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Depsang and Demchok more than three years after they intruded. And to casually lie to the nation, as he did on 19 June, 2020, and claim ‘Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ [no one has entered our border] as our own troops who have been captured are being mistreated by the Chinese,” the Congress leader charged. Ramesh added that India’s demography is being wasted, and democracy and diversity is under attack. “The social fabric of the country has been torn apart through the control of media and the misuse of social media by the Modi government, the BJP, and the hydra-headed Sangh Parivar,” he said. In a point by point rebuttal, Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s talk of women-led development is meaningless as the government has not acted on the women wrestlers’ sexual harassment allegations against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh. “The only performance has been the 40% ‘commission raj’ of BJP State governments, the function of BJP as a ‘washing machine’ to ‘clean’ those Opposition leaders who are arm-twisted by ED/CBI/I-T to comply with or ally with the BJP, and bringing down elected State governments,” the Congress leader said, responding to Modi’s statement on his government’s “reform, perform and transform” approach. “And the only ‘transformation’ has been in the concentration of economic power in select Modi-made monopolies (‘3M’) that is exacerbating price rise and ensuring record inequality, especially the PM’s direct role in directing deals and government revenues towards his most favoured business group,” Ramesh alleged. The Congress leader said the Prime Minister had tried to deflect the blame for inflation on the rest of the world, when the reality was that crude oil prices have been substantially lower than when compared with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s years. “There was a time when the PM spoke of TOP — Tomato, Onion, Potato — and LPG cylinders in his speeches. Today, with skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, his attempt to deflect blame for his failures is pathetic,” Ramesh said. Donald Trump indicted in Georgia over 2020 election meddling [Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on August 14 with scheming to overturn his 2020 election]( loss in the state, with prosecutors turning to a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other top aides in a sweeping criminal conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power. The 97-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump and his allies to undo his defeat in the battleground state, including hectoring Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes to keep him power, pestering officials with bogus claims of voter fraud and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favourable to Trump. It also outlines a scheme to tamper with voting machines in one Georgia county and steal data. “Mr. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Mr. Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favour of Mr. Trump,” says the indictment issued Monday night by the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Other defendants included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani; and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced his efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia. Multiple other lawyers who devised legally dubious ideas aimed at overturning the results, including John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, were also charged. Willis said the defendants would be allowed to voluntarily surrender by noon Aug. 25. She also said she plans to ask for a trial date within six months. The document describes the former president of the United States, the former White House chief of staff, Trump’s attorneys and the former mayor of New York as members of a “criminal organisation” who were part of an “enterprise” that operated in Georgia and other states — language that conjures up the operations of mob bosses and gang leaders. The indictment bookends a remarkable crush of criminal cases — four in five months, each in a different city — that would be daunting for anyone, never mind a defendant simultaneously running for president. It comes just two weeks after the Justice Department special counsel charged him in a vast conspiracy to overturn the election, underscoring how prosecutors after lengthy investigations that followed the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol have now, two-and-a-half years later, taken steps to hold Trump to account for an assault on the underpinnings of American democracy. The sprawling web of defendants in the Georgia case — 19 in total — stands apart from the more tightly targeted case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which so far only names Trump as a defendant. The Georgia case also stands out because, unlike the two federal prosecutions he faces, Trump would not have the opportunity to try to pardon himself if elected president or to control the outcome by appointing an attorney general who could theoretically make it go away. As indictments mount, Trump — the leading Republican candidate for president in 2024 — often invokes his distinction as the only former president to face criminal charges. He is campaigning and fundraising around these themes, portraying himself as the victim of Democratic prosecutors out to get him. Republican allies once again quickly rallied to Trump’s defense. “Americans see through this desperate sham,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The counts against Trump include violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, act as well as other crimes such as conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit false statements. Nagaland village councils pledge to stir against Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act [Four village councils in the Sendenyu area of Nagaland’s Tseminyu district have initiated a movement]( against the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023, passed in Parliament on August 2. These village councils (VCs) of the Rengma Naga community have appealed to the VCs of all Naga tribes across Nagaland to take up the matter of “great urgency and imminent crisis” to create pressure on the State government so that the 60-member Assembly rejects the Act. The four VCs cover the Sendenyu, New Sendenyu, Thongsunyu, and Lostuphen villages. On August 12, the members of these four VCs pledged to oppose the Act “designed against the interests of the indigenous communities” to ensure that the “rights bestowed by our ancestors do not go in vain in the name of so-called national importance and security”. The Act, the VCs pointed out, also challenges the “very essence of traditional customary and indigenous ownership-rights of the people over their land and forest” as guaranteed by Article 371A of the Constitution of India. Alarmed by the rapid decline of fauna and flora species in the region, the people of the villages in the Sendenyu area resolved to start community biodiversity conservation by unanimously passing The Sendenyu Village Wildlife Conservation Act of 2001. The villages subsequently donated their clan and private lands for community conservation to form a wildlife and biodiversity corridor of about 22 sq. km (2,200 hectares), which was resolved to be managed by Sendenyu Community Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Board. Less than 5% of forest land in Nagaland belongs to the State government. “As a result of our continued efforts, our biodiversity conservation area has not resulted in an increase in the population of flora and fauna but also led to the recording of a new amphibian, Ichthyophis sendenyu, now featuring on the IUCN Red List of threatened species,” Gwasinlo Thong, the chairman of Sendenyu Community Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Board told The Hindu. The four VCs resolved that the Act undermined the sacrifices of the community, discriminated against, and discouraged the efforts of the true custodians of Nagaland’s forestland by enabling arbitrary diversion by the Central government without obtaining prior consent from village councils and the local district authority. According to the current provision of the Act, the whole of Nagaland and its forests fall within 100 km of the international (Myanmar) boundary giving the Centre the arbitrary power for diversion. “We appeal to the VCs of fellow Naga tribes across the State to take this issue as a matter of great urgency and imminent crisis so that the Act can be rejected by the Nagaland Assembly, and the rights bestowed by our ancestors do not go in vain in the name of so-called national importance and security,” the resolution read. The VCs also endorsed the concerns of the Nagaland Community Conservation Area Forum (NCCAF) over the Act, which it called unconstitutional, undemocratic, and unacceptable. “There is a huge ambiguity over the definitions and provisions of the Act, putting the rights and security of the people at stake,” NCCAF chairman Heirang Lungalang said. He pointed out that communities in Nagaland have voluntarily come forward to take up conservation practices in their traditional ancestral lands to sustain and preserve the rich biodiversity resulting in the recognition and documentation of over 407 community-conserved areas in the State, one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots. Assam mulls full withdrawal of AFSPA by year-end: CM Himanta [Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 15 said his government will take necessary steps]( to withdraw AFSPA from the entire State by the end of this year. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is now limited to only eight districts of the northeastern State, he said. Hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the 77th Independence Day here, Mr. Sarma also said around 8,000 “revolutionaries” have returned to the mainstream in the last three years. “I want to assure the people of Assam that by the end of this year, we will take fruitful steps to withdraw the AFSPA from every district of Assam. That will be an ‘amritmoy’ time for Assam’s history and we are eagerly waiting for that day,” he said. Since the beginning of its application in the State more than three decades ago, the extension of the AFSPA was recommended 62 times, Mr. Sarma said. “The northeast region is now free from terrorism. In the last three years, four peace accords have been signed with revolutionaries of Assam and around 8,000 revolutionaries have returned to the mainstream,” he said. In Brief: [Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on August 15 announced a plan to expand the Supreme Court]( with 27 additional courts and 51 judges’ chambers. Currently, the Supreme Court has 16 courtrooms and two registrar courts. Its judicial strength is 32. In his address at the 77th Independence Day celebrations at the Supreme Court lawns, Chief Justice Chandrachud said an “overhaul” of the court infrastructure was necessary on a priority basis to make courts more accessible and inclusive. The top judge said the emphasis of the new project would be on modernising the judicial infrastructure. [Sulabh International founder, Padma Bhushan recipient, and social worker Bindeshwar Pathak]( on August 15 died of a cardiac arrest at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, shortly after he was brought to the hospital. Pathak was 80 years old. Credited with bringing in the revolutionary Sulabh Complex system to India, which contributed significantly to reducing open-defecation and manual scavenging, Pathak was closely associated with his non-profit and “worked till the end”, said people who have known and worked with him. Pathak was brought into the hospital at 1.15 p.m. on Tuesday, shortly after which he suffered a cardiac arrest and died at 1.42 p.m. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[40,000 Kukis from Myanmar in Mizoram since 2021, never created any problem: Mizoram MP counters Amit Shah] 40,000 Kukis from Myanmar in Mizoram since 2021, never created any problem: Mizoram MP counters Amit Shah]( [[Explainer | How much worse can China's economic slowdown get?] Explainer | How much worse can China's economic slowdown get?]( [[‘My ode to Bapu’: Kamal Haasan releases ‘Hey Ram’ on YouTube on India’s 77th Independence Day] ‘My ode to Bapu’: Kamal Haasan releases ‘Hey Ram’ on YouTube on India’s 77th Independence Day]( [[Watch | Meet India’s oldest circus clown] Watch | Meet India’s oldest circus clown]( Copyright @ 2023, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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