The Indian police have arrested the young peace activist Praveen Singh along with other activists apparently in the wee hours of Monday morning, one of his co-worker Arvind Bhagwat told on social media.
Arvind Bhagwat told that all the activists including Praveen Singh were forcibly picked up by the police from Gairsend town of northern Indian State of Uttarakhand.
Praveen Singh along with Ram Krishna Tiwari, Mahesh Chandra Pandey and Vinod Juglan was sitting in the Hunger Strike Camp as part of the “Right To Employment and Health Movement” with demands to declare Gairsain, a permanent Capital of Uttarakhand, to establish a Department for prohibition of liquor in the State, and to declare Right to Employment a Fundamental Right.
They started hunger strike on December 7 near the statue of Virchand Singh Garhwali in Ramleela Maidan, Gaisain.
The demonstrators were of the view that the problem of migration of people of hilly Uttarakhand had been aggravated so much that that if Gairsain could not be declared permanent Capital of Uttarakhand in couple of years, no person would stay in the villages of hilly Uttarakhand.
They also grumbled that the State government didn’t pay attention to the unemployed, resulting they were forced to adopt intoxication and no appropriate efforts were made by the government to prevent liquor consumption in the State.
They also gave the deadline of December 10 to the State government to fulfill their demands, saying if they didn’t receive the positive response, they would start a Padyatra – imitating the historical Dandi March – on December 11 from statue of Virchand Singh Garhwali in Ramleela Maidan to Vadhansabha Gairsain.
The Uttarakhand State is making liquor as its main source of income by setting target to increase sale as higher as ₹2,310 crore (Indian rupees) for the current fiscal year (2017-18).
Praveen Singh has also been very proactive for Indo-Pak peace, and in previous two years 2015 & 2016, he led a “People for Peace Cycle Rally” from Delhi to Wagah border. The rallies consisted of students from various Indian Universities.
However, this year the Indian students were not allowed to reach Wagah border; though they intended to do so as part of efforts to bring the two Countries closer.
