Palash Speaks

Parliamentary failure, Maoist Action Intensified Against SEZ
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Parliamentary ways of Resistance and dialogue failed as merciless evictil drive against Rural India by corpotarized colonianl feudal brahminical polity continues in the best interests of Star War launching Zionist US Imperialism. The Nation celebrated Sunita`s Space Travel and now welcomes USS Nimitz. Despite the experience of Bhopal gas tragedy, despite knowing the history of Salim and DOWS, despite feeling the COLA Heat in day to day life, the Ruling left front is desperate to sacrifice the Peasant Masses for capitalist development based on proposed chemical hubs! Ironically, they are most vocal against arrival of USS Nimitz on Indian coast though they happen to be the most consistent partners of Ruling Combination of Indian Brahminical system! External affairs minister, who is the architect of INDO US strategic roamnce, the kuleen Brahmin and refugee dalit hater Pranab Mukherjee happens to be their Presidential candidate , rejected by Sonia Gandhi!
In the wake of the controversy over the visit of nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to Chennai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today dismissed apprehensions saying the warship does not carry nuclear warheads.The Indian government said Wednesday that firm environmental measures are in place ahead of the port call of the nuclear powered USS Nimitz, the world's largest aircraft carrier that will drop anchor off Chennai July 1-5.
Mamata is isolated and so called democratic forcers , media and intelligentsia side with the STATE Power.West Bengal's ruling Left Front on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of resumption of an all-party peace meeting at the state-level on Nandigram in the near future and said it would be held at the local level. Thsi is nothing but parliamentary failure in West Bengal and Rest of India that the Maoists take the Lead in SEZ Resistance! A communist stronghold for ages, Nandigram, along with Singur, is going through hell in a state where the Left Front has never been dethroned in the last three decades. All this because West Bengal has been bitten by the latest brainchild of India's economic liberalisers for attracting global capital.
Opponents rightly say the government is sidelining the still-crucial Agro sector which employs more than 60 percent of the Indian workforce and generates over a fifth of India's gross domestic product. The ruling Comradors have destroyed indigenous Economy as well as the society to serve their masters!
Maoists blow up India rail station as strike bites.Today is the second and final day of the two-day nation-wide economic blockade called by the Naxals against the Centre's economic policies.
The protest call had evoked some response in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa on Tuesday.At the same time the insurgents, who say they are fighting for rights of poor peasants and landless labourers, showed their growing punch in India's economically important mining regions.Security analysts said the rebels have cleverly hooked onto an issue -- the seizure of land for SEZs -- that has angered many poor Indians. On the other hand, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has already clarified that his government has yet to decide on a special economic zone in Mahishadal despite the Centre’s in-principle approval for one.The chief minister’s clarification is being seen as an attempt to prevent the ripples of Nandigram from spilling over to Mahishadal, 10 km across the Haldi river.
India's government is planning to build about 250 special economic zones across the country, hoping the projects will attract foreign investors, radically improve infrastructure and create new jobs while maintaining the country's blistering economic growth figures.
Let us wait, friends with the silence of a Burning Ghat!
Let us see, Will there be a repeat of the 14 March carnage in Nandigram? It seems like it, as the CPI-M heavyweight, Mr Sitaram Yechuri, told journalists in Delhi on Sunday that the party would take on the Opposition in Nandigram in the Kespur-Garbeta line, the Statesman reports. Mr Yechuri said that a fresh bout of violence rocking Nandigram, indicates that the ongoing battle is of a political nature, which has no link with the farmland issue. Hence, the party has decided to fight it out, as pointed out by Mr Yechuri. But people across the state as well as the country are aware of what exactly connotes the infamous Kespur-Garbeta line and what is their political battle according to the Marxist lexicon.
The proposed chemical hub in West Bengal, which won't come up in Nandigram because of violence there, has to be set up near a port, state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said today.
"I am not going to Nandigram, but we must have the chemical hub near a port," Bhattacharjee told a CII sponsored seminar, 'technology intervention in micro and small sector' here.
He also said that the small and medium sector could not be ignored, even though his government was inviting large industries to the state for investment.
"We are inviting large industries for more job creation," he said.
UK consultant McDonald said that the chemical hub should come near a port.
Formally launching an incentive package for cottage and small-scale industries, the chief minister asked the concerned ministry to implement it properly.
Interest subsidy, capex subsidy and electricity subsidy were included in the incentive package announced by the state.
Small-Scale Industry Secretary G D Gautama said that the state proposed to build 20 sector-specific clusters at a cost of around Rs 80 crore.
Currently, there are only three clusters in the state. 20 new clusters were proposed while state government has approved 17 more in the khadi and handloom sector, Gautama said.
Meanwhile, Union Additional Secretary For SSI & Rural Industry, Jawahar Sircar said that centre was planning at least four design and tool rooms in the four metros which would cost Rs 20 crore each.
It is well in accordance with the new Marxist capitalist Imperialist Brahminical aesthetics that CPI(M) state secretary Comrador Biman Bose is taking the "facts" on Nandigram and Singur to the US. Bose is leaving for the country on June 27 to raise funds for his non-governmental organisation, Vidyasagar Foundation, which works on literacy programmes in rural areas. However, he is extending his fund-raising trip by eight days during which he will talk to influential Bengali NRIs on what happened at Nandigram to counter the Internet campaign launched by Naxalite groups and the Trinamool Congress. The cyber campaign centres around the police firing of March 14 at Nandigram in which 14 villagers were killed when a protest against a now-abandoned land acquisition programme turned violent.
To express support to the state government’s plan for industrialisation in the state, the Students’ Federation of India would collect signatures from the public. The signature collection campaign would start on 28 June.
Senior Left leader and the State Secretary of the Forward Bloc Ashok Ghosh said that he had telephoned Left Front Chairman Biman Bose as state Congress working President Pradip Bhattacharya had sought to know the fate of the postponed all-party meeting on Nandigram.
"I had a talk with Biman Bose and it was decided that at the moment instead of the state-level all-party meeting to discuss ways to restore peace in Nandigram, the local and block level meetings would be held," he said.
Ghosh said the East Midnapore district administration was taking the initiative for local level all-party meetings and both sides were showing a "positive" attitude.
People have not yet forgotten how the Marxist goons had captured Kespur-Garbeta by perpetrating murder, arson and loot in 2000 with tacit support from the police.
Trained and armed goons of the ruling party mobilized from outside and accompanied by the police orchestrated a similar operation to establish their rule in Nandigram, by torturing the poor peasants, their traditional vote bank.
But the CPI-M’s design to establish their sway was foiled in the face of a stiff mass resistance on the Nandigram soil, unlike that of Kespur-Garbeta.
Even a few hundred party comrades, including as many as 20 senior leaders, have fled their homes and are still staying in make shift relief camps as their entry has been sealed by the Opposition.
So the Marxists have now become desperate to make an attempt to capture Nandigram by following the Kespur-Garbeta model.
But this might lead to further massacre, even on a much larger scale than the 14 March cadre-police operation.
Meanwhile, despite a high alert among security forces, armed Maoists -- who claim to be fighting for the rights of neglected tribes and landless farmers and are active in half of India's 29 states -- burnt down part of the Birandih railway station in West Bengal state.The station is in a remote part of West Bengal, which borders Jharkhand, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, senior police officer Jogesh Chatterjee said, noting three workers were kidnapped, while railway protection force staff at the station were threatened.
Armed Naxalites besieged the Birandih Railway Station, 55 km from West Bengal's Purulia District, this morning, disrupting train services on that route.The Naxals also manhandled the railway staff and forced Railway Protection Force personnel's out of the station building at gun point.They were also reported to have damaged important documents and papers.All long distance trains on this route had to be diverted.
The rebels had damaged the rail lines on Bailadilla Hills in the Bastar forests hitting the movement of iron ore to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The eastern Central railway had suspended train services as the blockade call affected Naxal strongholds of Gaya and Jehanabad.
The Communist Party of India (Maoists) has been protesting against Centre and State Government's globalisation, industrialisation and SEZ policy.
In March, at least 14 villagers were killed in police clashes with protesters in West Bengal, where the state government planned to set up a chemical hub on farmers' lands. It galvanised popular opposition to SEZs across India.
After Nandigram, the CM is keen to build a consensus on land acquisition in the state.
Maoist insurgents blew up a railway station and disrupted public transport across several Indian states on Wednesday, on the second day of a strike that highlighted their growing strength and national coordination.The insurgents used powerful explosives to blow up Biramdih railway station in a pre-dawn attack in the eastern state of West Bengal, disrupting links with many parts of east and south India, officials said.
Maoists called the two-day strike in their strongholds of east and central India to protest against special economic zones (SEZs), low-tax enclaves created to boost industrial growth that have sparked protests from farmers who will lose their land.
In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, rebels called out employees of a coffee extracting plant from work near the port city of Vishakhapatnam, an SEZ location, and blew it up.
Authorities in many mineral-rich regions of south, east and central India suspended public transport. Shops were shut in rural areas and mining operations in the eastern state of Jharkhand and the central state of Chhattisgarh were suspended.
On Tuesday, a goods train engine was blown up and another set ablaze in Jharkhand. Rebels also set ablaze five trucks transporting minerals in the state.
The strike in the impoverished states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar has cost the state some 600 mln rupees, or 15 mln usd, officials said. It has crippled transportation and brought iron and coal mining in the mineral-rich state to a halt.
Shops and commercial establishments kept their shutters down, causing estimated losses of about 500 mln rupees, Agence France-Presse reported. Schools and colleges were closed and government offices registered low attendance, the agency said.
Buddhadeb assures punishment of Singur girl killer
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Tuesday said the guilty in the killing of Singur girl Tapasi Malik would be punished irrespective of his party affiliation.
"We would want law to take its course in this case and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to reach its logical conclusion soon. The guilty should be punished irrespective of party affiliation," Bhattacharya told reporters at state secretariat Writers Buildings.
"I accepted a CBI inquiry when the incident occurred. A man was arrested and was interrogated by CBI. We want a proper probe and truth to come out. I am not concerned about the political party the arrested person supports. I think CBI is taking too much time to finish the probe," Bhattacharya said.
The investigating agency has arrested Debu Malik of Singur, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) worker, as a prime accused in the death of 18-year-old Tapasi Malik, whose charred body was recovered Dec 18 from the area fenced off for the upcoming Tata Motors small car plant.
The ruling CPI-M has, however, been quick to identify Debu as a supporter and not a party member.
Debu was produced before a Delhi court Sunday for allegedly killing Tapasi, a member of the anti-land acquisition group Singur Krishijami Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee), and then burning her body inside the fenced off area, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district. Her family had lost their land to the project.
Land politics lands Buddha in trouble
By A K B Krishnan
CHANGE throws about its own challenges and dilemmas for Buddhadeb Bhattacharya of West Bengal. As Marxist chief minister of the state, he claims to understand the new generation better than some of his partners in the left ruling front and the opposition. And that landed him in real trouble.
Bhattacharya could persuade capitalist Ratan Tata to set up a factory in Nandigram. But his power of persuasion has failed to work with his comrades of some of the left-minded and left parties. They fail to understand the significance of an automobile factory coming up in the farmland of West Bengal that provides for 4,000 direct job opportunities and attracts a host of ancillary units with huge employment potential.
What offended his comrades most is the government’s U-turn on land reforms, the Left Front’s biggest achievement. The same government that distributed land among the poor is now charged with snatching farmers’ land and giving it to the rich.
And Bhattacharya’s plunge to meet the expectations of the young generation fell flat in the face of resistance. His exhortations that this generation wants industry, business and the service sector more than agriculture failed to change the mindset of the traditional left parties who can’t cope with the idea of promoting modern industries. Seven successive elections have returned the Left Front to power in West Bengal. Its main strength has come from its being able to change the ownership pattern of agricultural land. "It has achieved substantial success in agriculture but there is still ample room for greater development and productivity," Bhattacharya explains.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=157534&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22
Radiation checks in place for Nimitz visit: Govt
With fears being raked up of radiation hazards from one of the world's largest nuclear powered aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz, the government on Wednesday said a "stringent radiation monitoring protocol" is in place for the warship's visit to Chennai later this week.
"A standing environmental safety committee has carried out a detailed survey of the Chennai port and cleared the anchorage of USS Nimitz from the radition hazard point of view," a defence ministry spokesman said in Delhi.
Noting that a radition safety contingency plan is already in place, spokesman Sithansu Kar said experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Defence Research and Development Organisation have set up radiation monitoring laboratories on ships for frequent monitoring of water and air samples during the course of the three-day visit of the warship.
Left slams USS Nimitz visit, puts conditions on N-deal
Stepping up pressure on the United Progressive Alliance government on the foreign policy front, Communist Party of India-Marxist virtually warned it against 'compromising on vital issues' to clinch a deal to operationalise the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.The party and its Left ally Communist Party of India also flayed the decision to allow a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier, which was part of 'hostile operations against Iraq' to make a port call at Chennai.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said: "It was still not clear what the agreement being arrived at by India and the US is about as negotiations progress to narrow down differences on the 123 agreement to operationalise the deal."
"The UPA government should not try to clinch an agreement by compromising on vital issues raised by Hyde Act or by trying to avoid such issues in the 123 bilateral agreement," the party said after its Central Committee met in New Delhi over the last three days.
"The Hyde Act cannot be the basis for bilateral agreement on the civil nuclear deal with the US," Karat said, referring to the act passed by the US Congress setting the terms and conditions for the nuclear deal.
Kerala's ruling Left opposed to contract farming
Thiruvananthapuram (IANS) The Left-ruled states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura are opposed to the idea of contract farming even as the practice is catching on in many other Indian states.
According to Kerala Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran, the idea of contract farming is not acceptable because the state has only small farmers with small holdings who would not be able to hold their own in the face of a private company.
The first sign of dissent by the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-ruled Kerala and the other two states were seen at a meeting convened by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi last month to discuss the national farm policy.Contract farming is taking place in Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and is catching on in several other states too.It basically means a private party can enter into a contractual agreement with individual farmers or a group of farmers. The farmers will carry out cultivation in the manner stipulated under the contract.The private party will contribute by way of initial investment, providing inputs like seeds and fertiliser and also the necessary extension services. The final product will be purchased by the private party at a pre-determined price.
While Kerala's ruling Left seems to be opposed to the idea, K.J. Joseph, a senior academic at the Centre for Development Studies here, said it would be welcome in the state where agriculture is fast losing its lure.
Contract farming, according to those in favour of it, is to help reduce post harvest losses, build supply chains and develop linkages with the food processing industry.With the exception of rubber almost all crops have seen the area under cultivation dwindle over the years in Kerala.
Nandigram might have been a major setback, but Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is in no mood to give up the chemical hub. He is trying to build a consensus and says the project would occupy 25,000 acres, reports CNBC-TV18.
AP reprts from BEIJING, China :China has closed 180 food factories after inspectors found industrial chemicals being used in products from candy to seafood, state media said Wednesday.The closures came amid a nationwide crackdown on shoddy and dangerous products launched in December that also uncovered use of recycled or expired food, the China Daily said.Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety.International concerns over China's food safety problems ballooned this year after high levels of toxins and industrial chemicals were found in exported products.
Chinese-made toothpaste has been rejected by several countries in North and South America and Asia, while Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed for dog and cat deaths in North America. Other products turned away by U.S. inspectors include toxic monkfish, frozen eel and juice made with unsafe color additives.
Authorities in China have pushed for more stringent controls and increased publicity of their efforts to control the problem.
The proposed chemical hub would create a minimum of a hundred thousand jobs. This is what the Bengal Chief Minister says in a letter written to political parties, in which he has laid down some basic facts about the project. Seeking views from parties within the Left Front as well as outside, Bhattacharjee says, the chemical hub would occupy 25,000 acres. That is more than double the size of the plot that his government was looking to acquire in Nandigram for the same project.
But Nandigram is now a closed chapter, and the chemical hub is likely to be located at Haldia because the town has a major port nearby.
The Tripura government is planning to set up a chemical hub in view of the huge availability of natural gas, Gail India chairman and managing director UD Chaubey said on Thursday. The government is exploring the possibility of setting up such a hub in the Baramura hills or in adjacent areas in West Tripura district because gas was available in abundance, Chaubey quoted chief minister Manik Sarkar as having said during a meeting on Wednesday.
The Gail chairman said that Tripura was also looking for a suitable consultancy firm that could provide guidance for the chemical hub project. Besides ONGC, Gail too has begun exploration for natural gas in the state. Chaubey came here on Wednesday in connection with the launch of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling station for small vehicles which was inaugurated by the chief minister last night at Badharghat, near here. Tripura became the first state in eastern India to use CNG, Chaubey said, adding that GAIL has commissioned a project to supply CNG to an estimated 20,000 vehicles initially.
In a letter to political parties, the CM says Bengal needs to move fast because other states are vying for the project. The Union government might invest up to Rs 10,000 crore on the project to create road and railway connectivity.
LF partner questions chemical hub in West Bengal
Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee is still struggling to relocate the proposed chemical hub from Nandigram, a major Left Front partner today questioned the logic of setting up such a hub in the state and asked the government to come clean on the project.
"There are lots of questions which need to be answered by the state government on the adverse impact of the chemical hub on human beings and environment and whether it would be hazardous from the environmental point of view", Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said here.
Emphasising that his party was yet to take a stand on the proposed chemical hub, he demanded, "It must be made clear by the government what the chemical hub is about, who are the companies that would be invited to set up units in the proposed chemical hub. What will be the benefits to the state? There are lot of queries. The entire thing is not clear to us."
FB at its secretariat meeting has already decided to consult the chemical scientisists and environmentalists before taking a stand on the proposed chemical hub.
Gulf Oil set to become the chemical hub of India
The Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd, formed with the merger of Gulf Oil India Ltd and IDL Industries Ltd, with interests in lubricants, explosives, mining and speciality chemicals, is all set to become the chemical hub of India.
According to Subhas Pramanik, Managing Director of the Hyderabad-based Hinduja Group company, a speciality chemical facility will be set up with an investment of Rs 20 crore in Hyderabad as the company has a strong base here. The new entity after the merger of Gulf Oil India Ltd and IDL is planning to diversify into speciality chemicals and form the chemical hub of the country.
The company, which now owns one of the world's largest lubricant and explosives business, has chalked out a strategy not only to significantly step up exports of both lubricants and explosives, but also to explore major business opportunities in mining and speciality chemicals. With properties in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, GOCL is also considering plans to develop some of these for real estate activities
IOC to set up $ 3.2 billion chemical hub in West Bengal
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) for setting up a chemical hub in Haldia at an investment of around Rs. 15000 crore ($ 3.2 billion). India's leading oil producer will play the pivotal role in setting up the hub, which will include a greenfield 15 million tonne (mt) refinery.
According to sources close to the development, IOC's plan for a similar size 15 mt refinery in Paradip is also progressing and will not be affected by its Haldia venture.
As part of the agreement, IOC will study all aspects of the chemical hub, the proposed refinery, upstream and downstream units and finalize a detailed roadmap.
With the signing of the MoA, West Bengal has placed itself ahead of other states in the SEZ race. It has already selected an anchor developer and an anchor investor for the said SEZ.
"We will now approach the Union government for other necessary approvals and infrastructure facilities for the PCPIR," the State Minister for Commerce and Industries, Nirupam Sen said. "The chief minister had a meeting with the PM a few days ago in which the proposal for a deep sea port near Haldia was discussed. A consultant will be appointed to study the proposal."
IOC is also keen on a deep sea port since it will facilitate movement of large vessels for transportation of crude oil.
Singur, Nandigram And Industrialisation Of West Bengal - II
Nilotpal Basu
THE SEZ QUESTION AND NANDIGRAM
There has been extensive coverage on the stand of the Left parties on the current SEZ policy of the government in these columns. The major areas of our disagreement with the extant policy pertain to nature of the land use, extent of land use, the tax package and the rehabilitation package. The design of the current package of the government has undergone a qualitative change when SEZ rules were framed under the Act and process of approvals which has led to sanctions being given to 237 SEZ proposals.
This huge number immediately brings to the fore the contrast with China which had successfully executed the SEZ approach to ensure investment and employment generation. The total number of SEZs in China is only 6 and they are concentrated on manufacturing exports by linking these zones to physical infrastructure like port and other transport facilities.
In India, apart from the already sanctioned 237 SEZs, the Board of Approval gave the ‘in-principle’ approval for another 166 SEZs within less than a year of the promulgation of the SEZ rules. A scan of the number and nature of these SEZs reveal a clear-cut picture of regional and sectoral imbalance. Of the 237 sanctioned SEZ proposals, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu account for 147 SEZs which is 60 per cent of the total sanctions. Again, 148 out of the 237 SEZs approved so far are in the IT sector. Further, preliminary studies are also revealing a major possibility of real estate activities in many of these proposed and sanctioned SEZs instead of actual manufacturing/processing activities which would have been desirable from employment generation point of view.
The crux of the difference between the government, on the one hand, and the Left parties, on the other, is on the nature of investment. Unless investments lead to production and employment generation, the stated objective of the SEZ policy will stand defeated. On the other hand, the present situation poses the danger of investment flowing into financial activities which can, at best, heat up the economy without any corresponding employment generation – a classic example of ‘jobless growth’.
Nandigram in East Midnapur district of West Bengal is one of the seven SEZs sanctioned in West Bengal. The proposed SEZ will develop a mega chemical hub. The choice of this mega chemical hub in the Haldia region is the result of a long exercise undertaken by the government of India where this venue was chosen alongwith four other sites in the country. With the existing petroleum refinery of the IOC, the petrochemical plant at Haldia in the joint sector and the huge facility of Mitsubishi chemicals, this decision to have the mega chemical hub located here was a natural conclusion. Incidentally, the Haldia petrochemicals have led to 700 units in the downstream providing an employment to over 1 lakh people. The government of West Bengal has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Oil Corporation to be an anchor investor for the project, while the Salim group will be the promoter for building the infrastructure. The Salim group will also build a 100 km six-lane expressway bypassing Kolkata and the new township at Rajarhat and Salt Lake, the eastern satellites. The expressway will be a major link and part of the central backbone of the road network in the state linking Darjeeling Hills in the north to the Sagar islands in the south. The expressway will also link to a bridge over Hooghly river which will connect South 24 Parganas and East Midnapur in the Haldia township.
Beyond this, there has been virtually no other progress towards the Nandigram SEZ. It has to be pointed out that unlike largely real estate-driven activities in the SEZs in other parts of the country, the West Bengal government has maintained and sponsored proposals for SEZs where 50 per cent of the total land will be used for actual industrial-processing activities with major emphasis on employment generation. 25 per cent of the land will be related to social infrastructure of this real economic activity. This position of the West Bengal government is identical to the position taken by the Left at all India level. The proposed SEZ at Nandigram will strictly adhere to this basis.
These columns have published the statement of the central committee of the CPI(M) describing the actual incidents in Nandigram. It is true that a particular document circulated by the Haldia Development Authority (HDA) had created confusion. The chief minister of West Bengal has categorically stated that no cognisance of that document need to be taken and that no progress on the project will take place until after widest possible consultations are held with elected representatives in the panchayat and the people of the area. As there has been no survey done and consultations held, the question of land acquisition does not arise before these processes take place. People’s Democracy has also editorially commented on the document by HDA. In any case, under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, HDA does not have the executive authority to notify acquisition.
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0128/01282007_nilotpal.htm
India: Defend Left Front Government Of West Bengal
By Prakash Karat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
click here for related stories: Democracy matters 6-25-07, 9:44 am
June 21, 2007 marks a historic anniversary. This date marks the completion of thirty years in office of the Left Front government of West Bengal. This is a record not only in India but the world. There is no precedent for this remarkable record of a Left formation having won seven successive elections to a state legislature and that too with not less than a two-thirds majority each time. In fact, in the last elections held in May 2006, the Left Front won a three-fourths majority and polled 50.18 per cent of the vote.
It is this sustained popular base and electoral support that has surprised and perplexed many. After