Can New Caledonia gain independence from France?
The story so far: A high-stakes attempt by French Overseas Minister Manuel Valls to broker a new political accord for New Caledonia collapsed on May 8, plunging the French Pacific territory into profound uncertainty.
What is its current status?
For decades, New Caledonia, a French island territory of approximately 2,71,400 people in the southwest Pacific Ocean, has been on a complex journey regarding its status. The 1998 Nouméa Accord, born from a history of colonial tensions and a near civil war in the 1980s, explicitly recognised the 'trauma' inflicted upon the indigenous Kanak people. It also led to three referendums on independence, in 2018, 2020 and 2021, of New Caledonia from France. While all three rejected independence, the final vote was boycotted by pro-independence parties and its legitimacy has been contested.
Why is independence still a demand?
New Caledonia's modern history began with its seizure by France as a penal colony in 1853. Despite attempts to ease colonial rule, such as granting French citizenship to all inhabitants in 1957, deep divisions persisted, culminating in the 1984-1988 conflict. The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) emerged during this period as a powerful political force, advocating for complete independence.
The 1998 Nouméa Accord was a landmark compromise. It established a unique sui generis status for New Caledonia within the French Republic. It granted the territory significant autonomy, including its own Congress with law-making powers, and incorporated 'New Caledonian citizenship' which restricted voting rights to long-term residents, a key provision for Kanak political representation.
However, due to the FLNKS boycott of the last independence referendum, over COVID-19 and customary mourning periods, the final solution to New Caledonia remained uncertain.
Why did recent talks fail?
The period following the contested 2021 referendum was marked by heightened tension, which exploded in May 2024 over a French proposal to 'unfreeze' the electoral roll (to change rules which restrict voting rights to only long-term residents). The ensuing riots, the worst in decades, resulted in 14 deaths, and hundreds injured. In this volatile context, the French government, through Mr. Valls, intensified efforts to find a 'third way' — a new institutional status that could offer a form of sovereignty without complete traditional independence.
Mr. Valls's mission aimed to facilitate dialogue between FLNKS and loyalist factions towards such a consensual outcome. The concept of 'sovereignty in partnership' became central. This envisioned New Caledonia gaining enhanced international recognition and control over most aspects of governance such as the judiciary, but with an immediate, negotiated delegation of the exercise of these powers back to France.
However, this path was abruptly blocked on May 8. During the negotiations, the proposal was decisively rejected by hardline loyalist factions in the island. They deemed the 'sovereignty in partnership' model as tantamount to disguised independence. Instead, these loyalist groups proposed a form of partition, with the pro-independence North and Loyalty Islands provinces having an association status, while the wealthier, loyalist-majority South Province would remain fully French. This solution was found unacceptable to both the French state, which upholds New Caledonia's indivisibility, and the independents who called this 'paramount to apartheid'.
The failure of the talks has significantly amplified the obstacles. The immediate challenge is the upcoming provincial elections, due by November 2025, which will now proceed without a prior political agreement on the territory's future.
Franciszek Snarski is an intern at The Hindu.
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Harsh Mander: The assault of four Muslims and the two sides of India's meat economy
At the end of another harrowing journey of the Karwan e Mohabbat to meet four men lynched by a mob in Aligarh on May 24, I return with only one great solace. That they are alive. Savagely injured, traumatised, terrified. But alive. Except for this outcome, their story is the same as ones I have heard too many times during at least a hundred journeys of the Karwan e Mohabbat to the homes of people lynched. The account of lynching that recurs in a loop is of young men meting out numbing violence on petrified unarmed men. Of their ferocity powered by the visceral hate of those who lead the land. Of cynical extortion. Of a complicit police force. Of the acquiescing onlooker. The four lynched men – Aqil, Arbaaz, Aqeel and Nadeem – were all in their 30s or early 40s. They were of the Qureshi clan, the caste of Indian Muslims whose traditional occupation for centuries has been the slaughter of animals for meat. The killing of cows is of course banned by law, but buffalo meat is licit in Uttar Pradesh. Before the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power, butchers were licenced to slaughter buffaloes in their abattoirs. This was an honest trade with no attendant dangers. But it was abruptly halted by the Adityanath government which refused to grant licences to the small slaughter-houses where animals had been lawfully butchered for many generations. This decision overturned the lives of tens of thousands of families in the meat business. The family of Aqil, Arbaaz and Nadeem was one of them. It is mostly big beef factories that this government has licenced to slaughter buffaloes. During his first bid for national power in 2014, Narendra Modi accused the Congress-led government of abandoning the green and white revolutions to expand farm and milk produce and instead favouring what he called the ' pink revolution ' or encouraging the slaughter of animals for their meat. The irony is that despite the hardening of laws prohibiting cow slaughter and a massive rise in cow vigilantism, in the 11 years of Modi's leadership of the country Indian beef exports have steadily grown. Many of India's largest beef exporting companies are owned by Hindus and some even by Jains. Despite the hateful discourse that surrounds this trade, this is by no means a Muslim monopoly. The further irony is that when the names of contributors to the BJP through electoral bonds were revealed, many beef export companies figured in the list. For the family of Aqil, Arbaaz and Nadeem, the cancellation of licenses of their slaughter house posed a crisis of survival. Butchery was the only profession they knew. But fortunately, they still had licences to sell meat. The family owns seven meat shops in Aligarh. They would buy legal buffalo meat from a beef factory in Atrauli, about 40 kilometres from Aligarh. Each time they would buy around 900 kg of buffalo beef from the factory, pack this into a pick-up van and drive past a checkpoint on to the highway to Aligarh. The profit margins were small, they told us. They would buy the meat for Rs 230 a kilo, and sell it for Rs 260. The volume of sale, from seven meat retail shops, ensured a modest income for the extended family. For Aqeel, the 35-year-old driver from a working-class family, livelihood options were even fewer. He would hire a pick-up van and transport a variety of goods. Among these was also, from time to time, the dangerous cargo of meat. With the proliferation of violent 'cow protection' groups – claiming allegiance with the Bajrang Dal, and having close links with the police, the local administration and the ruling BJP – the 40-kilometre journey from Atrauli to Aligarh was always fraught. However, there was no way to avoid it. The militant groups often extorted money from the meat transporters. The men who were lynched spoke of being waylaid some months earlier by a group of Bajrang Dal men who demanded their exaction money. When they refused, the Bajrang Dal members took them to the police station. There the police allegedly brokered a deal of Rs 2.9 lakh, and retained a portion of this for themselves. I have no way of confirming the veracity of this claim. On the hot summer morning of May 24, the three men in the meat trade and the driver drove out of the beef factory in Atrauli at 8 am with their usual load of 900 kg of buffalo meat. Hum sirf ek number ka kaam karte hain (we only do legal work), they kept repeating when we met the badly injured men in the hospital. Their paper work was complete, including the bills of purchase and the licence of the veterinary doctor that the meat was buffalo meat. Some four kilometres into the highway, eight men on four motorcycles blocked their way and forced them to park the pick-up van on the side of the road. 'These were the usual Bajrang Dal men,' they told me. I asked how they were sure that they were from the Bajrang Dal. The saffron scarves, or gamchas, that they wrapped around their necks was the marker, they said. It is like a uniform. The meat transporters showed the young men all their papers, pleading that the meat was not of a slaughtered cow, and everything complied with the law. The men who had blocked their path sneered and tore up the papers. The men in the pick-up begged to be allowed to continue their travel, but the vigilantes said other 'brothers' were on their way. Within a short while, around a dozen more motorcycles converged on the spot, the crowd of young men swelling ominously. They dragged the four men from the van where they were cowering, snatched their mobile phones and money, stripped down many to their underwear and began thrashing them viciously, with iron and wooden rods, bricks and stones. Some minutes later, a police Gypsy jeep arrived. The beleaguered men ran desperately to the vehicle and crawled into it, begging the policemen to protect them. The policemen brushed aside their pleas brusquely, reportedly with communal slurs. After that it was open season for the mob. The crowd of attackers and onlookers continued to inflate. Some onlookers began to record videos, which are widely circulating. It is hard to watch these videos without your stomach lurching. The incessant pitiless beating, the men's desperate screams of pain, their bodies soaked in blood, their begging vainly for mercy. Some men even drove motorcycles over the legs of their quarry. You can spot the police in some of the videos, doing little to restrain the bloodthirsty mob. Chilling also is the fact that not one from the crowd intervenes to help the victims. The lynch mob set aflame the pick-up van with the meat. When the survivors evaluated their financial losses later, it was Rs 13 lakh for the pick-up van and Rs 2 lakh the cost of the meat. The men began to lose consciousness. If matters had followed the course that I have observed in too many cow-lynchings around the country, the next step would have been their bleeding to death. That this did not happen was the result of the intervention of one man. A police officer of conscience. Yes, they do exist. I have worked long enough within the government system to affirm that there are good officials even in the worst of regimes. I will not name this police officer, because we live in such a twisted age that I don't know if he will be rewarded as the hero that he is, or be punished. He arrived, dispersed the mob, rescued the four men and rushed them for medical attention to the nearest district hospital, and from there to the medical college hospital in the Aligarh Muslim University. It is a grim commentary on the times that we occupy that these acts, which should be nothing more significant than the elementary fulfilment of his official duties, glow instead as rare acts of heroism. The families of the injured men we met said that their men would not have lived if the police officer had not intervened on time. They bless him and believe that it was Allah who sent him. Aligarh meat traders assault: FSL report finds the meat being transported was NOT beef Aligarh DIG Prabhakar Chaudhary has confirmed that the meat being transported by the traders who were ambushed and brutally assaulted was NOT beef as against the accusations of members of… — Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 27, 2025 Rashid, the driver Aqeel's brother, recalled to us, 'He was unconscious when his wife first saw him. She called us on the phone and told us he was dead. When we saw him, there was not a part of his body that was not injured. Even the region around his eyes. It is the grace of Allah that he is alive. There were so many stitches on his head. They had beaten him with steel rods on his head and legs and back. They had also beaten him with bricks and stones. Their experience in the district hospital was discouraging. Not only was it ill-equipped to deal with this kind of medical emergency. They spoke of a doctor who abused them and declared that since they were inveterate cow-killers, they deserved worse. The university medical college was better. The staff, they said, were diligent and caring. But they seemed to be under pressure, because they kept trying to discharge them while their myriad wounds were still unhealed. Perhaps the authorities did not want their presence in the hospital to speak with the line of political leaders of various opposition parties who lined up to meet the injured men. The public statements of these leaders were damaging and embarrassing for the ruling party. Ramji Lal Suman, Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party, for instance declared, 'These people [the attackers] have nothing to do with cow welfare. Several beef companies had paid huge amounts to the BJP in the Electoral Bonds Scheme. Several beef factory owners are Hindu. All this is done to divide society on religious lines and go after the minorities.' Congress MP from Saharanpur Imran Masood said: 'A joke was made of law and order, and they were beaten up. This was tragic, and the way the SHO saved the lives of those men. If he were not there, they wouldn't have survived. But, the way they were beaten up and this behaviour of acting like goons. Is this how the rule of law will be established, that people are beaten and robbed on the road?' The driver Aqeel was the most severely injured of the four and even at the time I write, he still hovers between life and death. His early discharge was the most unfortunate. His family quickly admitted him to a private hospital, where he was in the intensive care unit when we visited. Concerned people are paying the hospital bills. The remaining three men were in the general ward of the medical college. Their bodies still bore raw signs of their brutal lynching. Dozens of stitches on their heads, many broken bones, the flesh still torn from their bodies. As we spoke with them, the injured men were remarkably stoic. Their pain was still visceral, their rage quiet. They wanted justice, they repeated, not revenge. But the police had registered crimes of cow slaughter against them, which fortunately had to be dropped when the laboratory certified the meat was of a buffalo. The police were unwilling to apply the crime of lynching and were slow in arrests. But the greatest dilemma of the victim survivors was about what they would do to feed their families after their wounds healed. They saw no option except to go back to the same work, despite the manifest threats to their lives. They knew no other work. The seized meat is being sent for sampling. Meanwhile, based on the complaint, FIR is being registered against the four people who were brutally assaulted by the mob. — Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 24, 2025 Days after my visit to Aligarh, I am both haunted and edified by the words of driver Aqeel's elder brother Rashid. Incidentally, his trade is running a cycle puncture repair shop. This is the stereotype of the Muslim loser that Prime Minister Modi recently purveyed. But Rashid spoke with wisdom, sadness and grace. 'It is because of Allah's mercy and the support of so many good people that our Ateeq is alive,' he said. 'Had people not reacted so quickly, our boy would have died, the police would have claimed the meat was cow meat, the other men would been have thrown into prison and bulldozers would have razed down our homes'. 'We cannot tell you who were those who attacked our boys,' he went on. 'But this is clear, that behind them, backing them are powerful forces. Neither Hindus are bad nor Muslims are bad. It is these Bajrang Dal people who are goondas. The Bajrang Dal should be banned. If anyone among us does wrong, it should be the government, the constitution, the law which should act. If the constitution and law say killing cows is wrong, then it is wrong. Let the wrongdoers be punished. Let the courts even send them to the gallows. Imagine if there was cow meat in the van. Even then the Bajrang Dal goondas had no right to thrash them. They should have simply handed them to the police and let them punish the wrongdoers. What right do these Bajrang Dal people have to take the law into their own hands? If they are going to act in this way, then are we not just throwing away the Constitution? He is mindful of the injustice to his community. 'The big factory owners have the right to slaughter buffaloes, but we do not. Never mind. Yeh bhi sabar kar lenge [this also we will endure]. But we demand justice from the government for the lynching. Think what would happen if we had committed this lynching? We and our families would have been hounded; bulldozers would have demolished our homes. The videos clearly reveal who were the men who attacked our boys. They should be arrested and punished. Why are the police treating the attackers so lightly?' He went on to affirm his love for his country. 'I was born in India. This India belongs to us all, to Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. But now hatred has entered the hearts of every child. No one, of any religion, should be free to cause harm to others. And the media should tell the truth. 'I have only this appeal to Modi Saheb and Yogi Saheb. Our Bharat was of brotherhood and love. Where has that love disappeared? I want back my Bharat, the Bharat that we had before 2014. Bring that back.' I am grateful for support from Zayed Mansoor Khan, Sumit Gupta and Imaad ul Hasan Harsh Mander, justice and peace worker and writer, leads Karwan e Mohabbat, a people's campaign to counter hate violence with love and solidarity. He teaches at FAU University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and Heidelberg University, Germany; Vrije University, Amsterdam; and IIM, Ahmedabad.
Indian Express
an hour ago
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Udyog Kranti: Mann, Kejriwal launch portal for 45-day approval to industry
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday launched a set of 12 initiatives as part of 'Punjab Udyog Kranti' to 'revolutionise' industrial growth in state, including ensuring all required approvals to investors within 45 days of filling application, and action against officers and officials concerned in case of any delay. They also launched the 'FastTrack Punjab Portal', set up for the purpose. 'If you want to set up a new project, start a new business, expand your business or diversify business and you apply on the portal, you will get all approvals within 45 days,' said Kejriwal. Kejriwal said many clearances had notified timelines of 60 to 120 working days, and actual processing often took even longer, creating unpredictability in project execution. The AAP national convener said all the concerned departments will inform within seven days of filling an application for a project about any shortcomings in the proposal. Thereafter, no fresh objection can be raised in connection with the proposal. He said thereafter the government would take action against an officer who did not approve the application. 'If you are not given an approval within 45 days, then automatically you will get deemed approval,' Kejriwal said, adding thereafter the state government would take action against the officer concerned who did not approve the application. 'This will be personally monitored by the chief secretary. An officer has to give an explanation if he does not take action within 45 days. Everyone will be on their toes,' he added. 'I understand that it is a historic move,' said Kejriwal, adding this 'accountability-backed, system-driven reform' makes Punjab a national model in investor facilitation surpassing even the most industrialised states such as Telangana, Karnataka (both Congress governed), Gujarat, Maharasthra (both BJP governed) and Tamil Nadu. Kejriwal said in another initiative, Punjab is now easing the processes for issuing building plan approvals and structural stability certificates as this used to be hugely time consuming and expensive for investors. Now the state government is introducing a self-certification system, he informed. Industrialists can get their building plan approved by any architect and the state government will accept the same. Similarly, he said the industrialists can get their building stability certificate issued by any qualified civil or structural engineer and the state government will accept it. There will be no more unnecessary inspections and running behind the government for approvals, he added. He also announced to simplify norms for issuing fire safety non-objectionable certificates (NOCs), saying a self-certification system is being introduced and the fire drawings made by empanelled architects shall be accepted by the government. Validity of fire NOCs for industry has been revised from one year to three to five years on the basis of risk classification with only hazardous industries requiring annual NOC, he said The former delhi chief minister said for the first time in India, Punjab is launching a digitally delivered land feasibility certificate, issued by the Circle Revenue Officer (CRO)/ Tehsildar within a notified timeline of 15 working days. Kejriwal said Punjab's new plot sub-division policy allows easy division of industrial plots among family members, co-developers, or joint ventures, giving businesses the flexibility to monetise or redevelop land according to evolving needs. He said another important initiative addresses a long-standing industry demand, allowing conversion of leasehold plots into freehold plots. He further informed of another landmark initiative in which over Rs 250 crore will be disbursed towards industry incentives. The state government is clearing all the backlog of incentives to be paid to investors, he said, adding that Rs 150 crore has already been disbursed since April 2025. By the end of this month, a total of Rs 250 crore will be disbursed, which will be a record in Punjab's history. He said the state government will invest Rs 300 crore in focal point infrastructural upgrades by November. Kejriwal said 'Punjab Udyog Kranti' will take the state and its industry towards greater heights and realize the vision of 'Rangla Punjab'. Mann said 'FastTrack Punjab Portal' is the backbone of a re-imagined initial governance model. He reiterated that these reforms are the beginning of a movement and not the end. He said till now industrialists were considered as ATMs for elections. Industrialists used to fund the traditional parties for just securing the right to work, so that they do not face any harassment, he said, adding that after assuming power, his government took several initiatives to facilitate the industrialists. He said that Punjab became the first state to launch unique colour coded stamp papers, to facilitate the entrepreneurs for setting up their units. Mann said that any industrialist keen on setting his unit in the state can get this unique colour coded stamp paper from Invest Punjab Portal. He said that industrialists will have to just pay various fees required for getting clearances in form of CLU, forest, pollution, fire and other to set up the unit while purchasing this single stamp paper only. After purchasing the stamp paper, the industrialist will get all the necessary clearances from all the departments within 15 days to set up his unit, he said, adding that several states have approached Punjab government asking for the model to replicate it. Mann said that his government had inherited a system when the industry from the state was fleeing and the industries were fed up with the extortion system that prevailed during the previous regimes. However, Mann said, his government 'restored the faith of industrialists' by providing them an friendly atmosphere coupled with a good law and order situation. He said this is contrary to the situation when during previous regimes the leaders used to seek shares in the ventures. Mann said that earlier the MoUs were signed with the political families in power but now these agreements are signed for progress and prosperity of the state.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: AAP, Congress looted state, says BJP's Malik
Asserting that the BJP operates on the principle of 'more work, less talk', party's former state president Shwait Malik on Tuesday highlighted the development projects carried out by the party in the state. He also accused the AAP and Congress of 'looting Punjab' and 'befooling Punjabis' with unfulfilled promises. Addressing a press conference, Malik sought votes for party's Ludhiana West constituency candidate Jiwan Gupta. Malik underscored the BJP leadership's vision, citing the construction of an international-level railway station in Ludhiana and the nearly complete airport as key initiatives of the Modi government. He also credited the Modi government with the elevated roads and flyovers in Ludhiana. Malik further enumerated the achievements of the Modi-led government, including the establishment of the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Punjab, the first AIIMS in Bathinda and a satellite hospital of PGI in Ferozepur. He also highlighted national schemes, such as free foodgrains for 80 crore people, the Ayushman Bharat scheme, substantial benefits for industry, and the 'One Nation, One Tax' initiative. Malik stressed that despite the absence of a BJP government in Punjab, the party has approved major development works across the state, demonstrating its commitment to the entire nation. The former state BJP president claimed that leaders 'discarded in Delhi' are being given 'plum posts' in Punjab with vehicles and bungalows, burdening taxpayers.
