Latest news with #ShahCommission
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Health
- Time of India
Over 1.07 cr people sterilised during Emergency, highly exceeding govt's target
Over 1.07 crore people were sterilised during the Emergency period from 1975-77 , exceeding the targets of 67.40 lakh set by the then Indira Gandhi Government as part of vigorous population control measures, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday. In response to a written question, the minister presented the data from the Justice JC Shah Commission report , which was set up on May 28, 1977, to inquire into, inter alia, excesses, malpractices and misdeeds during the Emergency, including the use of force in the implementation of the family planning programme. "Further, a total of 548 complaints of sterilisation of unmarried persons and 1774 cases of death linked to sterilisation during the Emergency period were also reported to the Shah Commission. The Shah Commission Report was tabled in Parliament on August 31, 1978," Rai said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like When the Camera Clicked at the Worst Possible Time Read More The presented data showed that in 1975-76, the government set the goal of conducting 24,85,000 sterilisation procedures and surpassed the target by accomplishing 26,24,755 surgeries across India. These substantial figures were dwarfed in the subsequent year, 1976-77, when targets soared to 42,55,500, and the sterilisation procedures performed skyrocketed to 81,32,209, it showed. Live Events The data showed that the sterilisation procedures exceeded the targets by over 59% during 1975-77. "Between 25 June 1975 and 21 March 1977, India was placed under a state of Emergency under Article 352 of the 25 June 1975, the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had issued the Emergency proclamation under Article 352, citing threats from internal disturbance," a fact sheet issued by the PIB had said. The Shah Commission had collected evidence through public hearings, testimonies and official records, and submitted three reports between 1978 and 1979, it had said.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Over 1.07 cr sterilised during Emergency, exceeding target of 67.4 lakh: Govt
The government on Tuesday told Lok Sabha that more than 1.07 crore people were sterilised during the Emergency period from 1975 to 1977, exceeding the target of 67.40 lakh set by the then Indira Gandhi government. In response to a written question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai presented data from the 1978 Justice J C Shah Commission report which detailed the excesses of the Emergency, including the use of force in the implementation of the family planning programme. According to the data, in 1975-76, the government set a goal of 24,85,000 sterilisation procedures and surpassed it by completing 26,24,755 surgeries across the country. 'These substantial figures were dwarfed in the subsequent year, 1976-77, when targets soared to 42,55,500, and the sterilisation procedures performed skyrocketed to 81,32,209,' the reply said. The government said sterilisation procedures exceeded targets by more than 59 per cent between 1975 and 1977. 'Further, a total of 548 complaints of sterilization of unmarried persons and 1,774 cases of death linked to sterilization during the Emergency period were also reported to the Shah Commission. The Shah Commission Report was tabled in Parliament on August 31, 1978,' Rai stated in the reply to BJP MP from Telangana's Chevella, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy. The Shah Commission had collected evidence through public hearings, testimonies and official records, and submitted three reports between 1978 and 1979.
News18
a day ago
- Health
- News18
Over 1.07 cr sterilised during Emergency, exceeding target of 67.4 lakh: Govt
Agency: New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Over 1.07 crore people were sterilised during the Emergency period from 1975-77, exceeding the targets of 67.40 lakh set by the then Indira Gandhi Government as part of vigorous population control measures, Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. In response to a written question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai presented the data from the Justice JC Shah Commission report, which was set up on May 28, 1977, to inquire into, inter alia, excesses, malpractices and misdeeds during the Emergency, including the use of force in the implementation of the family planning programme. 'Further, a total of 548 complaints of sterilisation of unmarried persons and 1774 cases of death linked to sterilisation during the Emergency period were also reported to the Shah Commission. The Shah Commission Report was tabled in Parliament on August 31, 1978," the minister said. The data showed that in 1975-76, the government set the goal of conducting 24,85,000 sterilisation procedures and surpassed the target by accomplishing 26,24,755 surgeries across the country. These substantial figures were dwarfed in the subsequent year, 1976-77, when targets soared to 42,55,500, and the sterilisation procedures performed skyrocketed to 81,32,209, it showed. The data shows that the sterilisation procedures exceeded the targets by over 59 per cent during 1975-77. 'Between 25 June 1975 and 21 March 1977, India was placed under a state of Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution…On 25 June 1975, the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had issued the Emergency proclamation under Article 352, citing threats from internal disturbance," a fact sheet issued by the PIB had said. The Shah Commission had collected evidence through public hearings, testimonies and official records, and submitted three reports between 1978 and 1979, it had said. PTI ABS ABS KSS KSS view comments First Published: August 19, 2025, 15:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Loading comments...
Indian Express
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Emergency, 50 years on: The Sanjay gang, and what Shah Commission said about them
To investigate the widespread abuse of power during the Emergency from 1975 to 1977, the then newly elected Janata Party government headed by Prime Minister Morarji Desai appointed a commission of inquiry under former Supreme Court Chief Justice J C Shah in May 1977. The Shah Commission submitted its findings in 1978 in a report that detailed the alleged misuse of power by politicians and bureaucrats, particularly those considered close to former PM Indira Gandhi's son Sanjay, during the Emergency. Since the panel had been solely tasked with fact-finding as per the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, it meant it was not authorised to take any action of its own accord. Only the government could decide how to proceed with its findings, and after the Indira Gandhi government came to power, the report was quietly buried. Days after the Narendra Modi government returned for a third term in power last year, a demand was made in the Rajya Sabha to table the Shah Commission report. A look at the key figures who came under the Commission's scanner. Sanjay Gandhi was one of the six people against whom the Shah Commission ordered the filing of complaints, for refusing to take oath or give evidence under oath in different cases. The Commission ordered cases against Sanjay in five matters – alleged harassment of a firm; demolitions in Kapashera, Andheria Morh, and Karol Bagh in New Delhi; and for reportedly pressuring magistrates to sign a backdated order in case of the police firing at Turkman Gate in April 1976. As per the Commission, Sanjay initiated the demolitions in Kapashera and other villages located along the Delhi-Gurgaon road, as he reportedly saw these structures as 'eyesores' that he encountered en route to the Maruti factory he had helped establish in Haryana. The firm that the Commission said had faced Sanjay's ire was 'Pandit Brothers', with its manager and the two partners arrested. The Shah Commission report quoted Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Krishan Chand as saying that sales tax and price tag raids were initiated on the firm under Sanjay's orders. Nikhil Chakravarty, the then editor of the weekly Mainstream, told the Commission that the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister during the Emergency, V C Shukla, told him that articles critical of Sanjay were not permitted. When Chakravarty refused to give assurances that his outlet would comply, 'pre-censorship' orders were imposed on Mainstream. Shukla, however, told the Commission that he 'merely advised' Chakravarty and any action taken against the editor or the publication 'had nothing to do with the acceptance or otherwise of my advice'. S C Bhatt, the then Director of All India Radio's (AIR) News Services Division, told the Commission that throughout the Emergency, the government 'policy' was to play up the speeches of Mrs Gandhi and Sanjay. Bhatt said 'written and unwritten instructions' were frequently received by AIR from Shukla himself, who justified the publicity to Sanjay on the grounds that even private media was paying close attention to the Congress leader at the time. The Commission also summoned Shukla in a case linked to 22 employees of the AIR and Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) being engaged in February 1977, after the elections had been called, to translate the Congress manifesto into 10 languages, allegedly on Shukla's instructions. He denied he was behind the orders. The Commission concluded that Shukla had 'violated the basic norms of administration'. Shukla was also named in the Commission's inquiry into the 'harassment' of famed playback singer Kishore Kumar, for refusing to cooperate with the government. The Commission said Shukla was 'responsible for the various disabilities inflicted on Kishore Kumar'. The Commission ordered filing of complaints against then Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal for refusing to take oath or give evidence under oath in the detention cases of Murlidhar Dalmia, M L Kak, Pritam Dutta, Ishwar Lal Chowdhary and Pitambar Lal Goyal. Dalmia was the chief adviser at the Technological Institute of Textiles in Bhiwani, Haryana. On November 30, 1975, the district magistrate of Bhiwani issued detention orders under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) against Dalmia on the grounds that he was a staunch follower of the RSS, and that after the organisation was banned, he often criticised Mrs Gandhi and her government. The Commission said the evidence before it showed Dalmia was detained because of Bansi Lal's 'spite against him'. Charges on 'non-existent grounds were fabricated' to detain Dalmia, the report said, adding that Bansi Lal 'abused his authority' and continued to abuse his position after he became the Union defence minister during the Emergency. M L Kak, a correspondent of The Tribune, was detained the same day as the Emergency was invoked under MISA, also on the grounds that he was an active member of the RSS, that he had spread violent and false propaganda against the government, and that he incited the public to overthrow Central and state governments by force. Kak told the Commission that he incurred the 'dislike' of Bansi Lal because of his critical reporting on the Haryana government. Pritam Dutta, a retired Navy Commander from Rohtak, had obtained wholesale distributorship rights in Haryana for products of Khodays, a Bengaluru-based liquor company. In 1974, he declined to allot a sub-agency of Khodays's products to one Ram Chander, 'who was close to CM Bansi Lal'. The Commission found that Bansi Lal 'grossly misused' his authority in the case of Dutta. In the case of Ishwar Lal Choudhary, a district employment officer in Bhiwani, the report said he had 'incurred the displeasure' of Bansi Lal's son Surinder Singh and political secretary Mahabir Parshad for refusing to comply with their 'irregular requests' to include their nominees in lists of candidates forwarded by the Employment Exchange to employers. The Commission said the illegal detention of Choudhary illustrated Bansi Lal's 'capricious and highly arbitrary style of administration'. Pitamber Lal Goyal, an advocate in Bhiwani district, told the Commission that his father, grandfather and uncle were victims of Bansi Lal's 'relentless vendetta' during the Emergency owing to a political rivalry between their families. The Commission found Bansi Lal's conduct in this case 'reprehensible'. Swami Dhirendra Brahamchari, a yoga guru who in 1973 founded the Aparna Ashram in J&K and was known as Mrs Gandhi's yoga teacher, held considerable influence in the Congress government. In 1973, Brahamchari floated Aparna Agro Private Limited with the intention of dealing in aircraft. In March 1976, he wrote to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) requesting permission to keep at his J&K ashram an 'agricultural spraying aircraft' that, he said, had been 'donated' by an American company to him. The DGCA was sent two requests by him in this regard, until then Union Defence Minister Bansi Lal allegedly intervened. 'The evidence before the Commission leads to the conclusion that the initial decision to reject the proposal twice… on valid grounds of security and sensitivity of the area was subsequently changed in favour of granting the permission, though with some conditions attached, at the instance of Bansi Lal,' the Commission said. The logbook of the aircraft showed that Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi had used it, for personal trips as well as 'practice flights' by Sanjay. In July 1976, Brahamchari requested the Central Board of Excise and Customs for an exemption on paying Customs duty on aircraft on the grounds that Aparna Ashram was a 'charitable' institution. Though Brahmachari appeared before the Commission, he refused to take oath and provide evidence in his case. 'From the evidence it is quite clear Brahamchari obtained the Customs clearance permit by misrepresenting that the aircraft was a donation, when it was in fact purchased by him… Brahamchari fully exploited his association with the then Prime Minister's house in getting the aircraft imported by misrepresenting it as a gift. He has actively abetted the subversion of established administrative procedures,' the Commission said. The Commission also made adverse remarks on the functioning of various officers, including prominent figures like Delhi Development Authority (DDA) vice-chairman Jagmohan, CID Superintendent of Police K S Bajwa, Deputy Inspector General of Police-Range in Delhi P S Bhinder, and Navin Chawla, the Secretary to Delhi the L-G. As DDA vice-chairman, Jagmohan was at the heart of demolitions in Delhi as part of Sanjay's five-point programme, including slum clearance and tree planting. The Commission noted that while 1,800 structures had been demolished in a two-and-a-half year period before the Emergency, between 1975 and 1977, 1.5 lakh structures were demolished, more than 90% by the DDA. K Raghuramiah, the then minister for works and housing, suggested to the Commission that Jagmohan was taking orders from the Prime Minister's house. 'Jagmohan grossly misused his position and abused his authority. He, during the Emergency, became a law unto himself and went about doing the biddings of Sanjay Gandhi without care or concern for the miseries of people,' the Commission said. The Commission also spoke about the 'misuse' of preventive sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure for detentions in Delhi, and noted that some MISA warrants were deliberately kept unexecuted, allegedly on the directions of Bajwa and Bhinder to SPs. Though Chawla, the L-G's secretary, had no position in the jail hierarchy, the Commission said he exercised 'extra-statutory control' in jail matters and sent instructions, including on the treatment of particular detainees. '(L-G) Krishan Chand by his various actions and inactions… appears to have abdicated his legitimate functions in favour of an overambitious group of officers like Bhinder, Bajwa and Chawla… He betrayed his trust and committed a serious breach of faith with the citizens of Delhi,' the Commission said.
Indian Express
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
A ‘Nasbandi Colony' and a ‘Mata Indira Sanjay Act': 50 yrs later, ghosts are vivid at Turkman Gate
Along the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, adjoining Loni, lies 'Nasbandi Colony'. The name has stuck, 50 years on after the Emergency's sterilisation and resettlement drives uprooted residents of Turkman Gate, located in the Capital's heart, and dispatched many of them here, to its fringes. There are other things that remain the same in this colony, since it got the first of its Turkman Gate evacuees in the Eighties. Open drains line bumpy, pothole-marked roads, where two-wheelers weave their way through cattle. The smell of open garbage is pervasive. Residents say the government gave land, but no livelihood or shot at a new life – not even a school. Around 16 km away, at Turkman Gate, located in Delhi's Walled City, other families whose houses were razed during the Emergency now live in DDA flats they got as compensation. The flats, built 48 years ago, are in need of repair, while the cramped lanes sport endless electrical repair shops. As many here make a living as scrap dealers, used air-conditioners and coolers crowd public spaces. As per the Shah Commission that went into the Emergency excesses, six people were killed when police opened fire in the Turkman Gate area on April 19, 1976, on protesters, days into a demolition drive. Over 1.5 lakh structures were pulled down across Delhi during the Emergency, but Turkman Gate remains the most vivid example of the drive. While the protests at Turkman Gate on April 19, 1976, were over the demolitions, anger was also bubbling over sterilisations. On April 15, a sterilisation camp had been inaugurated at nearby Dujana House by Sanjay Gandhi and then Lieutenant Governor Krishan Chand. Overall, as per the Shah Commission, over 1.1 crore sterilisations were carried out between 1975 and 1977, against the government's target of 65 lakh, and over 1,774 died during the sterilisation procedures. Amid the steady clatter of machines turning out envelopes at a small factory near the same Dujana House, Zakir Ahmed, 69, sits quietly at his dispensary unit. He first started working at the age of 7 at a wedding card workshop, which still exists across the road, and was not yet a teen when the sterilisation teams arrived. 'They targeted outsiders – labourers, beggars, construction workers… those just walking by,' Ahmed says. Officials offered inducements to meet their sterilisation targets – sometimes money, often a 4-litre tin of Dalda (refined oil), rarely a transistor. Ahmed remembers one incident in particular. On April 18, 1976, as a van carrying men and boys for sterilisation crossed the neighbourhood, a woman snuck up and opened the back door. 'Unko azad kara diya nasbandi se pehle (She freed them from sterilisation).' Ahmed adds: 'Nobody could be saved from nasbandi in those days. Those who said anything would be jailed under the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act).' The very next day, April 19, came the bulldozers. 'Those months were very difficult,' Ahmed says. 'People were terrified… Families… Hindu, Muslim… all would beg their loved ones not to travel after dark, offer each other shelter. Every time one left home, one was scared.' To ward off action, 'many put up photographs of Indira Gandhi at their shops'. Such was the contempt for the PM and her son, says Muhammed Shahid Gangohi, one of the founding members of the Turkman Gate Welfare and Coordination Committee, that 'people referred to the MISA Act as Mata Indira Sanjay Act'. If there is another name that invites similar derision, it is Rukhsana Sultana, a socialite and boutique owner who had risen quickly within the Congress in Delhi due to her proximity to Sanjay. Safi Dehlvi, 75, a former Congress leader, says Sultana took the lead in implementing Sanjay's sterilisation targets in the Walled City, as the one overseeing the camp at Dujana House. 'In April 1976, Sanjay came here and received a hostile reception… He looked around and said he saw a 'mini-Pakistan'. Within a few days, bulldozers were at Turkman Gate's doors.' The afternoon of April 19, Gangohi recalls, he was on his way for his BA first-year exams at Zakir Husain College. 'Around 4.30 pm, there was an announcement that students from our area should meet the Principal. We sensed something had happened… We were told that at 1.45 pm, police and military had come, there was a lathicharge as well as police firing. Around 500 people were arrested… beaten so brutally that it was equivalent to being killed.' Gangohi's family house shared a boundary wall with a mosque; they thought that gave them some immunity. 'But it was also demolished.' Most of the displaced were sent to Trilokpuri initially, while a few were moved to Nand Nagri, Ranjit Nagar and Shahdara. Gangohi says that the two appeals the displaced made were that 'families not be split' and that they get 'built-up area' as compensation. 'But the accommodations at Trilokpuri and Nand Nagri were completely barren… with no roads. It was a jungle.' Mohd Rizwan, 75, points to a spot along Asif Ali Road near Turkman Gate: 'This is where Sanjay Gandhi addressed the public, telling them the benefits of the sterilisation programme… After four-five days, the demolitions started.' One of his relatives, Abdul Malik, 23, was among those killed, Rizwan says. Another old-time resident of Turkman Gate, who was in school then and is now a senior government official, says on the condition of anonymity: 'Teachers would pressure us (on the issue). Near Chandni Chowk Market, we would run into Youth Congress volunteers raising slogans of 'Hum do, hamare do (Us two, ours two).' Government employees were afraid their promotions would be stalled if they put up resistance, he says. Historian Sohail Hashmi, who was himself a witness to Emergency crackdowns as a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, talks about the experience of his mother, the headmistress of a government school in Kidwai Nagar. 'Teachers were expected to present two sterilisation certificates every month… It were the poor, the rickshaw-pullers, the drug addicts, who bore the brunt of this policy.' Santosh Gupta, who was among the first settlers at the 'Nasbandi Colony' and continues to live there, says his mother Sashi Bala was among those who volunteered for sterilisation. His father, who earned a living as a tailor, his brother and he never discussed the subject, Gupta says. 'I was too young to ask, and she never told us anything.' He wonders though if it was for land. In exchange for undergoing the procedure, Bala received a 90 sq yard plot in 'Nasbandi Colony'. In 1985, the family moved there. In 1998, Gupta opened a small shop on the plot, and lives in an adjoining house with his wife and four children. Bala and her husband are now deceased, as is Gupta's elder brother. He is now thinking of moving, perhaps to Karawal Nagar, which offers at least better amenities as well as connectivity, Gupta says. His 'Nasbandi Colony' plot could fetch Rs 55 lakh, he says. But could the ghosts of Emergency end with that? Ahmed, who has lived his lifetime in the shadows of it, still recalls the lifting of the provision, and their anticipation of a new start. 'The streets erupted in celebration, Delhi felt as joyous as Eid or Diwali. Outside the Tiz Hazari court, there were such long queues that shops ran out of liquor,' he says, before he breaks into a cough that has become chronic, a reminder of decades spent inhaling paper dust.
