Lakshadweep in danger| what is happening? Praful patel|

Hello, friends! Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar islands these are truly India’s precious gems.

The level of biodiversity, wildlife and nature that can be seen here cannot be found anywhere else in India. Generally, the garbage that you get to see on the roads of the other Indian cities is not seen here. There are few remaining places in India where nature is truly present in its purest state. But chants of ‘Save Lakshadweep’ are widespread on social media now. What’s happening? What dangers are these islands facing? Come let’s try to find out in today’s video. Friends, Lakshadweep is made of 35 tiny but beautiful islands. These islands are really small. Their total surface area is 32.62 sq km only. Lesser than that of a small town. According to the 2011 census, the total population is only about 60-70 thousand people.

It is the smallest Union Territory of India. Politically, they do not have a Legislative Assembly or a Chief Minister. Their entire political framework is of 3 levels only. First, there is an MP in Lok Sabha from Lakshadweep. Currently, he belongs to the NCP Party. Second, there are local self-governments in Lakshadweep in the form of Panchayats. Third, is an Administrator appointed by the President. Who is responsible for the governance of the entire Lakshadweep islands.

Till 2020, the Administrator of Lakshadweep was Dineshwar Sharma. Who was an IPS officer. Before him, there were several well-educated IAS and IPS officers who became the Administrators of Lakshadweep. So it was a position that was generally given to bureaucrats. But on 4th December 2020, Dineshwar Sharma passed away. After that, instead of an IAS or IPS, a politician was appointed as the Administrator of Lakshadweep.

And this politician was, Praful Khoda Patel. Friends, to understand any art properly one must understand the artist first. To know what’s happening in Lakshadweep now we need to learn about Praful Patel first. Praful Patel started his political career in Gujrat as an MLA in 2007. In 2010, when Amit Shah was arrested by the CBI, Praful Patel was appointed the Minister of State Home of Gujrat by Narendra Modi. After this, when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, Praful K Patel was then appointed as the Administrator of Daman and Diu UT. There was a tradition of appointing IAS and IPS officers are Administrators here as well. In this Union Territory.

But then a politician was appointed. And the matter didn’t end here. After that, Dadra and Nagar Haveli,which is another Union Territory. Praful Patel was appointed the Administrator of it too. He was the Administrator of 2 Union Territories. It seemed like there was a scarcity of good bureaucrats throughout the country. That one politician had to be appointed as the Administrator of two Union Territories. In April 2019, when elections were to be held in both the Union Territories, Caravan magazine reported that the Election Commission had issued a notice to Praful Patel. Why? Because the then collector of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Karan Gopinatha was made a coercive request.

The Election Commission admonished Praful K Patel for this. And a few months later, the officer,Kanan Gopinatha resigned. This wasn’t the only controversy involving Praful K Patel. In 2019, in Daman and Diu, in Daman specifically, 90 homes were demolished. That were on sea-front land. It was done with the excuse of progress. The locals protested against it and the MP of Daman, Lalu Patel,requested the collector to restore those homes on humanitarian grounds. In response, the collector said that the people who lost their homes can apply for loans under the Awas Yojna of the Prime Minister.

When the protests increased,Sec 144 was imposed. And two government schools were converted into temporary jails. To detain all the protestors. The next controversy happened in December 2019. The Parliament passed a Bill that both these Union Territories Dadra and Nagar Haveli Andaman and Diu, would be merged into one Union Territory. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. This is the name of that single Union Territory now. People expected that these Union Territories would get a Statehood. Like Goa was given.

Or at least a Legislative Assembly anda Chief Minister. So that it is more democratic. Instead of appointing an Administrator from some other place to handle all the governance. Leaving the people powerless to vote them out. But no, merging these two Union Territories resulted in quite the opposite. Can you guess who was the first Administrator of this new Union Territory? Praful K Patel. Moving forward. In February 2021, seven-time MP of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mohan Delmar, who is also a tribal rights activists, committed suicide in a hotel room in Mumbai. A 15 pages long suicide note was found, written in the Gujarati language. Can you guess who was named in this suicide note? Praful K Patel.

His son Abhinav alleged that his father was harassed by Patel. And ₹25 crores were demanded. Threatening that not paying the ₹25 crores would lead to false cases being registered against him. Under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act. I think this much background information would suffice for now. Let’s come back to the present. Now Praful K Patel is the Administrator of not only Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, but also of Lakshadweep. What did he do after becoming the Administrator of Lakshadweep? First, the little democracy that remained with the people living in Lakshadweep, was all taken away. Other than electing an MP once in five years, they can elect officials only at the Panchayat level. From these Panchayats, power over five different areas was taken away. In Education, Healthcare, Agriculture animal Husbandry, and Fisheries sectors. The power of the Panchayats over these was snatched away.

Second, new Panchayat regulations were proposed people with more than 2 children would now be ineligible to contest elections in Lakshadweep. It is an extremely interesting law. You might wonder why don’t they enforce it on the entire country? Politicians with more than 2 children cannot contest elections anywhere in the country. It wouldn’t happen. Why?Because it will mean that of the 303 elected BJP MPs,96 MPs would automatically be disqualified because they have more than two children. Meaning approx one-third of the BJP MPs have more than 2 children.

The question arises that why is such nonsense law being made for Lakshadweep only? Is there any problem of overpopulation in Lakshadweep? Let’s check the data here as well. The fertility rate of Lakshadweep is only 1.4. 1.4 is one of the lowest fertility rates in the entire country. This data is published by the government’s own Ministry of Health and Welfare. If you don’t believe it I’ll put a link to it in the description below. In this report the women literacy of Lakshadweep is one of the highest in the country at 96.5%. So why is such regulation being enforced? The local people allege thatthe government is doing this so that the prominent politicians can be stopped from running in the elections of Lakshadweep. Third, the people of Lakshadweep allege that Praful K Patel had spread Covid on their island. Why so? Because last year, when the country was going through the first wave, there was not a single case of Coronavirus on Lakshadweep island. Because the Standard-Operating-Procedure was that every person coming into Lakshadweep had to first be tested and then had to spend 14 days in quarantine.

But when Praful K Patel became the Administrator he changed the rules. The new guidelines stated that one needed a negative RT-PCR test to enter the islands. How did this end up? In January 2021 the first case was seen in Lakshadweep. And what is the situation now? There have been more than 6,000 cases in total and more than 24 people have died. Had this simple rule not been changedwould this have happened? Maybe not. Fourth, is the Anti-Goonda Act. Friends, what happens normally? How are law and order maintained? If the police catch someone doing anything wrong they arrest the person. The person has a trial in the court. And it is the court that decides if the person is guilty or not.

Isn’t it? But recently we’re seeing several cases where the governments are making laws that give the police those judiciary powers. 100 years ago, a Rowlett Act was passed by the Britishers as per which any person could be arrested and jailedwithout a court trial. 100 years later, the Indian Government brought the UAPA Amendment Bill of 2019. The government did the same thing. The Government has the power to declare someone a terrorist. They can be jailed without a trial. In March, there was a similar law passed in Bihar. Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021. That gives police officers special powers to conduct search and arrest. Without a warrant.

Not only this, if any police officer commits an offence under this Act, even the court, before taking any action needs to take the permission from the Authorised Officer of the Government. Meaning the court needs the permission of the Government before taking any action. Coming back to Lakshadweep. The draft of a new law has been introduced in Lakshadweep. Called the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities,or the Anti-Goonda Act. Basically, it allows the detention of any person without public disclosure for up to one year. What was the sense behind it? Some people would think that the crime rate has been increasing by a lot in Lakshadweep.

There must be so much crime that such Acts needed to be introduced. Don’t the ‘blind followers’ who support everything give such justifications? I’ll show you the data for that too. The crime rate of Lakshadweep is the lowest in the entire country. So for whose benefit is it being introduced? Even if the crime rate wasn’t the lowest, it wouldn’t have made any sense to make such laws. Because these laws go against thePrinciple of Natural Justice. They go against Democracy.

So why are these new laws being made? The locals say that Praful K Patel will use it to jail those people who will criticize his decisions or protest against them. The powers of Panchayats were snatched away. Police Raj is enforced. But it still doesn’t end here. Fifth, a new Lakshadweep Development Authority was created. It is being said that it will become easier to sell Lakshadweep’s land to big corporates. And the natural biodiversity and ecosystem would be in great danger. Praful Patel says that he wants to develop a smart city in Lakshadweep.

He’ll build a “smart city” in Lakshadweep which is really a group of tiny islands where nature is preserved so beautifully. But what about the rest of the country? Someone needs to ask Praful Patel what is his friend Narendra Modi doing for the last7 years in mainland India? They have the whole country to build smart cities. How many smart cities have been built there? The sixth point is quite interesting. Praful K Patel hails from the state of Gujarat. And alcohol is banned in Gujarat. Same as Bihar. So you’ll think that he’ll apply the same thinking in Lakshadweep as well.

But no. Alcohol was already banned in Lakshadweep. And Praful Patel reversed that. Till now there was only one liquor store at one resort in one of the islands of Lakshadweep. Now, Praful Patel has done away with these restrictions. And gave permission for more alcohol stores to open in the Lakshadweep islands. Seventh, a CPI(M) MP alleges that Praful K Patel demolished several boat sheds of the local fishermen. A video of a fisherman in Lakshadweep went viral on Twitter. Where he shares his story. And finally, the eighth point that isn’t very significant but it needs to be mentioned because it shows how the people living there are being unnecessarily harassed. A Beef ban has beenintroduced in Lakshadweep now. If you don’t know, the culture of the people living in Lakshadweep is similar to the Malayali culture similar to the culture of the people living in Kerala. So traditionally, the people do eat beef there.

So even though they know that it is a part of the culture of the people living there a beef ban is still being imposed on them. It is a minor point. But think about all the points that I told you. There is a group of islands in our country where people are very educated. air is unpolluted, there is no pollution no garbage clean and beautiful beaches, no crime, no problem of overpopulation, There weren’t even any Covid related problems until recently. The people living there fish for their livelihood in a sustainable manner.

The fishing does not even reduce the population of the fishes there. Their way of fishing is much different from commercial fishing. Other than this there is a little tourism which aids in their sustenance. The beauty of the place is mesmerizing. There is harmony and peace among the people. And then suddenly a politician comes in and ruins everything. Damages people’s property. Fires people from their jobs. Brings in Covid cases with him. Which causes the deaths of several people. Takes away power from the Panchayats. Forcefully imposes the Goonda Act on the people.

What is this? A comic became quite famous on Instagram regarding this situation. Take a look. It’s a fitting comic. Praful K Patel says that his agenda is only the development of Lakshadweep. He compares it to the Maldives. Why can’t Lakshadweep have resorts similar to the ones in the Maldives? But I’ll like to pose a question here. What kind of development is this? Who is this development actually for? Will the locals of Lakshadweep benefit from five-star hotels or will it benefit the rich capitalist people who come in to buy the land and take away all the profits from the resorts? Will the natural biodiversity of Lakshadweep survive this kind of development? Or will it too be sold off like the biodiversity of the rest of the country? Will this development bring peace to the people living there? Do they even want this? Have they ever been asked? Think about all of this. And speak out for Lakshadweep.

Friends, I hope you found this article informative. Let’s meet in the next video. Thank you very much.