Palash Speaks

Buddha cult goes strong as India in Blue!
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
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh toes Buddhadev line of capitalist development .On Thursday hesaid the controversial Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project in Raigad will be scrapped if the talks between the Reliance Company and agitating farmers over compensation package does not work out within the time-frame provided under the laws.
Deshmukh was intervening a marathon debate running over four hours in state legislature assembly as the opposition launched a scathing attack against the DF government on the issue.
Buddha cult goes strong as India in Blue!Meanwhile, the markets took a huge leap of faith on Thursday with the Sensex vaulting up as much as 248 points to close at a new high of 15,550.13 points.That, however, is the exact opposite of how global fund managers are feeling. A Merrill Lynch monthly survey of 186 of them showed that Indian equity languishes at the bottom of the heap in terms of their preference.
On the other hand,tension gripped Singur, the proposed site for the Tata Motors’ small car project in Hooghly district, on Thursday after police foiled an attempt by Trinamool Congress-lead Save Singur Farmland Committee workers to destroy the boundary wall of the project site.Taking advantage of the heavy shower, more than 100 committee supporters attacked the projectsite and damaged portions of the wall at two places in Khasherveri and Koley Bazar points.
Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population. Only China has a larger population. Almost 33% of Indians are younger than 15 years of age. About 70% live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities. Over the thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West; Indian people and culture have absorbed and modified these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.
Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today. The government has recognized 18 official languages; Hindi, the national language, is the most widely spoken, although English is a national lingua franca. Although 82% of its people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 138 million Muslims--one of the world's largest Muslim populations. The population also includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.
The Hindu caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources divide society into four major categories, priests (Brahmin), warriors (Kshatriya), traders (Vaishya) and farmers/laborers (Shudra). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as "untouchables." In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis--local, endogamous groups based on occupation--and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Despite economic modernization and laws countering discrimination against the lower end of the caste structure and outlawing "untouchability," the caste system remains an important source of social identification and a potent factor in the political life of the country. Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies. Moreover, caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities, where an increasing percentage of India's population lives. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system.
India's population is estimated at nearly 1.1 billion and is growing at 1.3% a year. It has the world's 12th largest economy--and the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China--with total GDP of around $797 billion. Services, industry and agriculture account for 51%, 28%, and 21% of GDP respectively. Nearly two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. About 28% of the population lives below the poverty line, but there is a large and growing middle class of 325-350 million with disposable income for consumer goods.
The United States is India's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2005 was $26.8 billion. Principal U.S. exports are diagnostic or lab reagents, aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, ferrous waste/scrap metal, and computer hardware. Major U.S. imports from India include textiles and ready-made garments, Internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, gems and jewelry, leather products, and chemicals.
U.S.-INDIA RELATIONS
Recognizing India as a key to strategic U.S. interests, the United States has sought to strengthen its relationship with India. The two countries are the world's largest democracies, both committed to political freedom protected by representative government. India is also moving gradually toward greater economic freedom. The U.S. and India have a common interest in the free flow of commerce and resources, including through the vital sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. They also share an interest in fighting terrorism and in creating a strategically stable Asia.
Differences remain, however, including over India's nuclear weapons programs and the pace of India's economic reforms. In the past, these concerns may have dominated U.S. thinking about India, but today the U.S. views India as a growing world power with which it shares common strategic interests. A strong partnership between the two countries will continue to address differences and shape a dynamic and collaborative future.
In late September 2001, President Bush lifted sanctions imposed under the terms of the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act following India's nuclear tests in May 1998. The nonproliferation dialogue initiated after the 1998 nuclear tests has bridged many of the gaps in understanding between the countries. In a meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee in November 2001, the two leaders expressed a strong interest in transforming the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. High-level meetings and concrete cooperation between the two countries increased during 2002 and 2003. In January 2004, the U.S. and India launched the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP), which was both a milestone in the transformation of the bilateral relationship and a blueprint for its further progress.
In July 2005, President Bush hosted Prime Minister Singh in Washington, DC. The two leaders announced the successful completion of the NSSP, as well as other agreements which further enhance cooperation in the areas of civil nuclear, civil space, and high-technology commerce. Other initiatives announced at this meeting include: an U.S.-India Economic Dialogue, Fight Against HIV/AIDS, Disaster Relief, Technology Cooperation, Democracy Initiative, an Agriculture Knowledge Initiative, a Trade Policy Forum, Energy Dialogue and CEO Forum. President Bush made a reciprocal visit to India in March 2006, during which the progress of these initiatives were reviewed, and new initiatives were launched.
In December 2006, Congress passed the historic Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Cooperation Act, which allows direct civilian nuclear commerce with India for the first time in 30 years. U.S. policy had opposed nuclear cooperation with India because the country had developed nuclear weapons in contravention of international conventions and never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The legislation clears the way for India to buy U.S. nuclear reactors and fuel for civilian use.
The U.S. and India are seeking to elevate the strategic partnership further in 2007 to include cooperation in counter-terrorism, defense cooperation, education, and joint democracy promotion.

'Does India belong to urban people only?'

Sheela Bhatt
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/18binter.htm

July 18, 2007
Ulka Mahajan of the Savahara Jan Andolan and the National Alliance of People's Movement is running around on a hot summer afternoon in Mumbai. Along with her is lawyer Surekha Dalvi of the Shramik Kranti Sanghathana from the Raigad district in Maharashtra and Prabhakar Narkar, a political activist. The three of them are trying to convince Maharashtra legislators to support their movement for the farmers of Raigad.
Reliance Industries [Get Quote] has sought permission to build India's biggest Special Economic Zone near Mumbai comprising more than 14,000 hectares of land. Recently, Reliance received approval for the Navi Mumbai SEZ for which the company has already acquired land but Reliance's Maha Mumbai SEZ in Raighad needs around 14,000 hectares of land.
Mahajan and her colleagues are leading the intense struggle against Reliance which looks like a long drawn out affair.
The approval for the Navi Mumbai SEZ has rung alarm bells for farmers in Raigad district who are opposing the Reliance move. In the town of Pen, 18 farmers and labourers are on an indefinite fast to oppose the Reliance SEZ.
Although political support is not forthcoming, farmers opposed to the Maha Mumbai SEZ are determined to fight.
Mahajan, their leader with long years of work behind her to help the poor and downtrodden, spoke to Managing Editor (National Affairs) Sheela Bhatt about the struggle.
India's great rush for SEZs
http://www.rediff.com/money/sez.html?zcc=rl

Globalisation: Impact on Indian Economy
Sitaram Yechury
Globalisation has today become the buzzword. It offers respectability to a nakedly aggressive design of imperialism which seeks to economically recolonise the developing third world. Its admitted objective is to restructure the economies of the third world countries in such a manner that they dovetail to imperialists' interests of garnering super profits. In other words, the economies of these countries are to be so restructured that they, without any restrictions, make themselves available for imperialism's plunder and loot. This predatory character of imperialism, in the current phase, has become more aggressive, particularly since the dismantling of socialism in the former USSR and Eastern Europe. With no countervailing force now present, at the global scale, imperialism is seeking to impose its hegemony through such economic enslavement of the world.
Any attempt at a scientific inquiry of why such an offensive was mounted by imperialism in the last two decades of the 20th century and intensified today must consider both the objective conditions and developments resulting from development of world capitalism and the subjective desire of imperialism to strengthen its hegemony and exploitation in search of super profits.
One of the features of capitalist development is that while it grows, there is a tendency towards centralisation and concentration of capital. This is an inherent law of capitalist production and development. Over a period of time, there would be fewer and fewer capitalists but larger and larger ones.
During the course of the second half of the 20th century, after the Second World War, aided by tremendous advances in science and technology, capitalism developed enormously. This was based on intensifying the exploitation both within the capitalist countries and of the third world countries. During the course of this half century, tremendous concentration of capital took place. It is this concentration of capital, both of financial and industrial capital, that today is seeking to reorder the world and redefine international legality in order to pursue its super profits without any obstacle or hindrance. The internationalisation of finance capital seeks to impose what is know as financial liberalisation, ie, creating circumstances for finance capital to have unhindered access to third world countries in order to make speculative profits. It is this centralisation of industrial capital that is seeking unrestricted access to the economic resources and the markets of the third world countries to reap super profits.
http://www.cpim.org/misc/2000_globalisation_sry.htm
THE SINGUR SIMMER
OH, WHAT A GRUESOME PARTY
Following fresh revelations by the CBI, the CPM struggles to be rid of the taint of Tapasi’s brutal murder. Her bitter family pines away for justice
Shibani Chaudhury
Singur
Seven months after Tapasi Malik was found raped, killed and charred not far from her home in Singur, the cbi has charged Debu Malik and Suhrid Dutta, both local CPM apparatchiks, with involvement in the girl’s brutal killing on December 18 last year, darkening the stain on the ruling party. Efforts by the CPM to declare the cbi investigation politically motivated aren’t washing. Rifts over the issue have been reported within the CPM and the Left Front. Party veteran Benoy Konar was heckled by local members when he visited Singur sometime back. And when rsp leader Kshiti Goswami said the cbi should be allowed to conduct investigations independently, Konar wrote sardonically: “Has Kshitibabu become closer to the cbi than to the CPM?”
What really brings the tensions within the Left Front to light is Jyoti Basu’s statement on his 94th birthday recently that “ those who try to break the Left Front will be washed and wiped out”. Responding to this, Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc, said, “Let Jyotibabu remember that if the Left Front is broken the CPM will be wiped out too.”
Tapasi’s brutal murder became an instant signpost of the Singur conflict, though she was barely an active participant in the movement. Tapasi was a quiet, gentle girl, her neighbours say. She kept to herself, had just one or two friends. She busied herself with cooking and other household chores. She fell prey possibly because she was an easy target; her home did not have an outhouse toilet so everyday before dawn she had to visit the fields for her ablutions. She was out on this vulnerable walk when she was attacked, abused and killed. Immediately after her death, CPM district committee member Bolai Sanpui announced to the media that her killing was because of a love affair gone wrong. Tapasi’s family and several others have raised questions about why Sanpui, who had no connection with the family, would issue such a statement in the first place.
Seven months later her father, Manoranjan Malik, 46, sits in his small damp home in Bajemelia village. Manoranjan is not a direct loser of land; he is a fish seller and sometimes works as a share cropper. But he has backed the land movement since it began. His conversation alternates; now impassioned, now bleak. “By killing my daughter they wanted to suppress the movement, wanted to spread fear. Women and girls are active in the land movement here. Land is everything to us. One Tapasi is gone, but there will be another hundred in her place. But I’ve lost my only daughter. Such a horrific end — how she must have suffered…” he says in a faltering voice. “Our villages were peaceful, there was never any danger. Our women could walk without fear even after midnight. We all look after each other — nobody goes hungry. There is always rice, potatoes and vegetables to share, wide open fields for our animals to graze. We need nothing from outside. Since 2006 and “Tata”, our independence is gone. Everything is changing. Such terrible forces have come into play. Will we not fight this?”
Tapasi’s mother, Molina, barely shifts out of the blankness that has descended on her since her daughter’s death. “What is happening to our lives? What did we do? We will not get to live our lives the way we lived it before. What we knew is gone — the freedom, the fields. They have taken away our lives.” Molina can hardly get herself to talk to her two sons, Surajit, 17, and Subhas, 15. She has no faith left in life, in the system, in destiny. “No medicine can take this wound away from our hearts.”
Nobody from the administration has come to visit the family. “Some cid people came and asked invasive questions and harassed the young girls here,” says Manoranjan. “Those who did this to her could not have been human. But they have forgotten that there is a God above. The cbi official now is satyabadi — upright — he is like a God in these dark times where you can trust nobody. I pray that the truth will prevail and the law will be fair.”
Across protesters in Singur, there is a sense of disillusionment that stems from different reasons, but dreads the same outcome — the loss of land and livelihood. “Singur has several entry points; in Nandigram there is a single road that they blocked off so they could protect their land,” says Manoranjan. Others feel Nandigram held out because they kept all political influences at bay and allowed land protection to be the single unifying force. Some feel the Singur movement would have stayed on course had Mamata Banerjee not entered it with her hyped demonstrations. Initially, land activists had wanted to base protests on rights, but they turned into publicised political confrontations while the basic issue of land protection got diverted. The subsequent murder of Tapasi had its own repercussions on the movement.
What of the promise of opportunities and affluence when the Tata Motors factory is up and functioning? Nobody in the villages believes it will uplift their lot. “How many people will they employ, thousands? Will our simple boys get jobs in their hi-tech factories? We are the sacrificial goats,” asks Manoranjan. Even those who have given up their land (mostly CPM followers) and whose sons are being offered training, are reportedly protesting a clause that outlines an examination and says only those scoring more than 90 percent marks will be given jobs. “The training is theirs, they are the examiners, they will give the marks, they will give the jobs. Do we have no will, no right to our own property?” asks a young woman. “Our boys will be used to carry sand and lime for the buildings,” says Manoranjan.
For most people, the disappearance of their land behind the high wall, the police vans and the bulldozers is shattering. “Earlier we used to feel emboldened when we saw the police. Now they are around our villages all the time and we feel threatened. They can do anything to us. We have no dignity in their eyes because we are not rich people.” says an ageing Harani Maitra.
The barren land that sezs are supposed to come up on is nowhere in sight in Singur. The monsoon has filled every pond, canal and rivulet. Brilliant green rice saplings skim flooded fields, rows of vegetables surround houses. Bananas and papayas hang heavy in almost every backyard. In the lushness, the memory of Tapasi survives as a grim reminder of the CPM’s culpability and the continuing subjugation of Singur’s people.
With inputs from Debjit Dutta
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=Ne280707oh_what.asp
Zee News
Sunita Williams may come for Hyderabad astronautical congress
Hindustan Times - 3 hours ago
Williams, who returned to earth on June 22 after spending 195 days at the International Space Station, said she would love to fly to Mars.
Sunita Williams now eyes travel to Mars Hindu
Bhagavad Gita, Lord Ganesha Took Care Of Me In Space: Sunita
Ministries at loggerheads over SEZ issue

Makarand Gadgil / Mumbai July 20, 2007

Maharashtra government's finance ministry and industry ministry are at loggerheads over the issue of giving tax exemption to the activities in the non-core area of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

According to the state finance ministry estimates, for every three hectare of the SEZ, state will loose taxes worth Rs 1 crore, as cement, steel and other material used for development of SEZ will be exempted from taxes.

The 10 multi-product SEZs are coming up in the state which cover more than 20,000 hectares of land, where in non-core areas of the SEZ, development of malls, multiplexes, housing colonies, among others will be allowed.

Presently, state government's law on SEZ is being scrutinised by the Central government and once it is okayed, approval of the state cabinet will be required once again before it could be presented in the legislature. And at this stage, we will take up this issue and oppose extension of tax exemptions to non core areas of the SEZ, said sources in the finance ministry.

However, industry department finds these fears unwarranted. A senior official from industry ministry said, ?we will be giving exemption to those activities, which are essential for running of the SEZ and approved by the Central government?.

If one goes through the decisions of Board of Approval (BoA) in the case of SEZs in some other states, then one can find that, they have not even approved of extending tax exemptions to development of port in the SEZ or convention centre.

So, there is no need to panic and assume activities like malls, residential complexes etc and we will get tax exemption from Central government, sources from industry department pointed out.

A former MP and member of BJP?s national executive Kirit Somaya has demanded for codification of tax concessions given to SEZs Under SEZ Act by the Centre.

Speaking to Business Standard, Somaya said ?I have written a letter to chief minister and expressed fear that, due to lack of clarity on this issue there is likelihood that, state government will loose around Rs 17,500 crore as a tax revenue?.

Starbucks to file fresh application to enter India
Hindustan Times - 4 hours ago
Starbucks Corp is soon going to file a fresh application to enter the Indian market. The world's largest coffee chain would be filing a fresh proposal to enter India as its first application was rejected by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board a few ...
Starbucks delays India entry; withdraws FIPB petition Economic Times
Starbucks' India entry plan grows cold India eNews.com
Rural market - A world of opportunity

GONE ARE the days when a rural consumer went to a nearby city to buy``branded products and services". Time was when only a select household consumed branded goods, be it tea or jeans. There were days when big companies flocked to rural markets to establish their brands. Today, rural markets are critical for every marketer - be it for a branded shampoo or an automobile. Time was when marketers thought van campaigns, cinema commercials and a few wall paintings would suffice to entice rural folks under their folds. Thanks to television, today a customer in a rural area is quite literate about myriad products that are on offer in the market place. An Indian farmer going through his daily chores wearing jeans may sound idiotic. Not for Arvind Mills, though. When it launched the Ruf & Tuf kits, it had created quite a sensation among the rural folks as well within few months of their launch.
Trends indicate that the rural markets are coming up in a big way and growing twice as fast as the urban, witnessing a rise in sales of hitherto typical urban kitchen gadgets such as refrigerators, mixer-grinders and pressure cookers. According to a National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) study, there are as many 'middle income and above' households in the rural areas as there are in the urban areas. There are almost twice as many 'lower middle income' households in rural areas as in the urban areas. At the highest income level there are 2.3 million urban households as against 1.6 million households in rural areas. According to Mr. D. Shivakumar, Business Head (Hair), Personal Products Division, Hindustan Lever Limited, the money available to spend on FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) products by urban India is Rs. 49,500 crores as against is Rs. 63,500 crores in rural India.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/10/11/stories/0611000c.htm
Unfortunately, the Government of India has not only failed to support the cause of the people in West Asia but has connived with US policies in the region, as shown by the vote in IAEA on Iran. Its continued military relationship with Israel in which India has become the largest importer of arms from Israel sits ill with its protestations of support for the Palestinian cause. India must oppose the continued occupation of Iraq and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as well as Syrian and Lebanese territories. Similarly, India must use all its diplomatic leverage and international stature to take an immediate initiative for a serious peace process in West Asia. This Conference calls upon the UPA government to abide by the promise in the Common Minimum Programme that it shall pursue an independent foreign policy. It should also keep in view the fact that equitable peace in West Asia is also in the interest of the Indian people and escalation of war there shall greatly endanger the energy security of South Asia.
http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?&act_id=16459
Saddam’s Pre-Determined Execution & Dynamics of Imperialism(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ... the most vociferous dissenting voices of resistance against US imperialism, at least in the last ...
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0107/01072007_maidul%20islam.htm
Pl see the Web Page:
The Evolving India-U.S. Strategic Relationship
A Compendium of Articles and Analyses
http://www.comw.org/pda/0603india.html
World Policy Institute - Arms Trade Resource Center
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports.html
Human Rights Records in the United States

On February 26, 1999, the United States issued its "1998 Human Rights Report." Posing as a "human rights judge" once again, it attacked the human rights records of more than 190 countries and regions.
Ignoring the actual situation, the report blamed China for committing "widespread and well documented human rights abuses," but did not say a single word about the human rights problems in the United States.
In fact, the U.S., which often grades human rights records of other countries, won low marks from its own people and the international community.
A U.S. human rights organization called "Peter D. Hart Research Associates" indicated in its survey released on December 10, 1997 that 63 percent of those surveyed believe that poor people in the U.S. are usually discriminated against.
The report added that over half of the surveyed in the U.S. believe that the disabled, the elderly, and the native Americans are routinely discriminated against; 41 percent believe that black Americans are often discriminated against, while 70 percent of the blacks themselves believe that they felt discriminated against.
A director of the organization Human Rights U.S.A. said at a press conference that "the survey shows we have human rights problems right here in the United States."
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/zgrq/t36633.htm

If the US workers do not wake up, they might have a couple of atomic bombs
dropped inside their territory with all the crazy moves made by these
warmongers. The Pentagon is planning to go inside the territory of Pakistan,
and those guys, they do have weapons of mass destruction, and it looks like
the Russians are moving toward the Islamic world. The world today is more
dangerous than the times of the cold war
http://www.sacbee. com/111/story/ 280660.html
U.S. Grand Strategy for South Asia - Carnegie Endowment for ...This may be the first time the U.S. is basing its South Asia strategy on positive engagement with Pakistan coupled with a clear acknowledgement of India’s ...
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17006
The Indian Ocean Region
The Indian Ocean – Current Security Environment
Atul Dev, a New Delhi based senior freelance journalist
in the Mauritius Times, 25 May 2007
"Let this be clear: the two major powers of the region, China and India, are scrambling for advantage around the Indian Ocean's rim. China is building military and naval links with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The cooperation between China and African countries is now getting more and more visible, particularly after the China-Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006... Reports available indicate that both India and the United States are studying intensely this rise in Chinese activity. At the last meeting of the Indo-US Defence Joint Working Group held in New Delhi (on 10 April 2007), China's 'growing naval expansion in the Indian Ocean' was noted with concern. The meeting also noted: 'China is rapidly increasing military and maritime links with countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar....Based on this power play now going on in the Indian Ocean, it is expected that countries of the region would sit up and take note of two growing external naval powers – US and China -- increasing their presence in the region. A collective security arrangement is in order. But knowing the rivalries within the region, will this ever be possible? The 200 years of the Anglo-Saxon presence in the region has now been replaced by the US-China presence to further and protect their interests. Isn’t it time for the ‘owners’ of the Indian Ocean to get together to protect their own interests? "
Strategic Politics and the Indian Ocean
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0030-851X(197424%2F197524)47%3A4%3C509%3ASPATIO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST TERRORISM
World Trade Center/Pentagon Terrorism and the Aftermath
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/usterror.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/
http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/Alternative.html
http://globalresearch.ca/
US might strike in Pakistan: White House
Friday July 20 2007 12:12:21 PM BDT

Military-to-military co-operation between countries is a normal and accepted manner of enhancing the military skills of each other armies. Such co-operation does not amount to a military alliance or military and political subservience. Such co-operation does lay the foundations for a remote contingency of military inter-operability between the two nations. India itself felt this emergent need in 1962 from the United States.
United States military co-operation with India should be viewed as a desirable strategic necessity in terms of India’s long range national security requirements and interests. It should not be viewed or tagged with United States policies pertaining to Pakistan.

Negotiators Fail to Agree on Disarmament Schedule for N. Korea
Washington Post - 4 hours ago
By Edward Cody BEIJING, July 20 -- After three days of upbeat talks, negotiators from six nations announced Friday that they had failed to agree on a schedule for North Korea to take the next steps toward nuclear disarmament.
Ambitious chapter
ND TV reports: The urgency to wrap up the 123 agreement in this round of negotiations is reflected both in the extension of talks by a day and also in the top-level team that was sent by New Delhi to Washington this time round.
Headed by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, it includes Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodar and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
The Indo-US nuclear cooperation deal is possibly the most ambitious chapter in India and America's diplomatic history.
For two years now there have been numerous meetings on the sidelines and four formal rounds of negotiations on this, all under the critical scrutiny of political opposition in both countries.
With President Bush's term in office winding up in 2008, negotiators are racing against the clock.
If the civilian nuclear arrangement is to be approved by the current Congress, then the legislation will have to ''lie'' in Congress for 90 days before it can be voted on.
For this to happen India will first have to secure a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and also secure the approval of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers' Group that controls world trade in fissile materials.
For India, the civilian nuclear pact with the US could help to meet its growing energy needs. For the US, it opens up a huge market for nuclear supplies.
The benefits to both are crystal clear but the challenge now is to arrive at a compromise on a nuclear cooperation deal that doesn't undercut existing US laws.
At the

Warmonger White House is Playing with Atomic Fire, India Obliged
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
wARMONGER us iMPERIALISM IS SET TO MAKE THIS PLANET ITS COLONY !Gayatri Mantra in sente works so fine! Now US Imperialism is launching an attack on enemy Pakistan on behalf of fraustrated Hindutva!The United States and India extended nuclear talks for the second day Friday in a determined attempt to finalize an implementing agreement for their landmark civilian atomic deal.
Mind you, US War Machine spares None and it is well written in history!
Indian Ruling Class hopes to be a part of the Post Modern Galaxy Manusmriti order as US starwars regenerated with complete space dominance and we may boast that an Indian origin, the US Navy engineer contributed a little bit! Though New Yorkers are still questioning their air's safety after a steam pipe eruption spewed dirt and debris into the sky over midtown. Many remember the cover-up after the last major pipe rupture and the illnesses ground zero workers faced years after officials assured them lower Manhattan was safe.
Despite popular resistance against US imperialism in this part of the World the Ruling Comradors of this divided geopolitics have opened the gates of Indian Ocean. The Indo US Nuclear Deal, strategic grouping of India, US, Australia and Japan would simply complete the task! With full zionist cooperation the emerging Hindu Superpower is all set to crush all nationality movements and Peasants` s Resistance whatsoever! Internal security and so called democratic setup all over Asia barring Great China have been handed over to US and this new infrastructure and defence system is funded by Zionista with maximum Muslim Hatred! On the other hand, India`s old gold friend Russia has not "slammed the door" on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, even though it has pulled out of the pact, Russian media quoted the country's foreign minister as saying on Friday. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave notice Russia would suspend compliance with the treaty, a landmark post-Cold War pact limiting conventional military strength on either side of the old Iron Curtain.
The Israeli lobby has many "thinktanks" that provide future advisors to the various administrations, both Republican and Democrat. During the Clinton Administration, the Israeli lobby provided officials from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy like Martin Indyk. During the Bush Jr Administration, many of the officials the Israeli lobby provided are from their Republican "thinktanks," like the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).Read: http://www.rense.com/general36/zinf.htm

President Bush, ratcheting up a fight with Congress over Iraq, accused Democrats on Friday of conducting a political debate on the war while delaying action on money to upgrade equipment and give troops a pay raise.

"It is time to rise above partisanship, stand behind our troops in the field, and give them everything they need to succeed," Bush said in the Rose Garden .
If the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq is reversed before the summer of 2008, the military will risk giving up the security gains it has achieved at a cost of hundreds of American lives over the past six months, the commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad said Friday.
U.S. weapons and defense technology makers are lining up to cash in on closer military ties between the U.S. and India.India's Defense Ministry says it will be spending more than $30 billion from 2007 through 2012 importing weapons from foreign nations. It's part of an upgrade of India's armed forces.Big spending by India on arms follows key defense and other pacts with the U.S. The two nations inked a 10-year defense cooperation pact in June 2005, and in March signed a deal to supply New Delhi with U.S. nuclear power technology.
Some observers say the improved ties between the nations will mean billions of dollars in weapons and gear sales for U.S. companies such as Boeing, (BA) Lockheed Martin (LMT) and United Technologies. (UTX)
U.S. firms also want to knock Russia out of the box as India's top arms supplier. India buys about 70%-75% of its arms from Russia. India's government says it bought about $9 billion in Russian ships, submarines, planes and other equipment from 1993 to 2006.
Expanded U.S.-India ties are also viewed by many analysts as a counter to China, which carried out its first test of an anti-satellite weapon on Jan. 11 and is bulking up its military clout.
The U.S. exported just $300 million in military equipment to India in 2005, mostly anti-submarine aircraft and artillery technology. That figure could swell into the billions as more deals are signed with U.S. firms. India's shopping list is expected to include advanced U.S. fighters, attack helicopters, radar systems and missiles.Analysts say India's rising reliance on foreign weapons is a tacit admission by New Delhi that efforts to develop more homegrown arms lag.
An influx of U.S. technology in the form of licensed production of U.S. weapons might help India set the stage to produce advanced military technology of its own. India could emerge as a major defense exporter — especially in areas such as military software.
This could further jostle the balance of power in Asia.
NASA and the vision for space exploration received a rare plug from President George W. Bush on Tuesday when the U.S. leader told a Cleveland audience why he decided in 2004 to have the space agency set its sights on the Moon.The president dodged the essence of the question, saying "I can't give you the exact level of funding".But he did explain to the audience why he directed NASA in the aftermath of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident to develop a new human space transportation system and come up with a plan for returning to the Moon by 2020.
"I believe in exploration, space exploration. And we changed the mission to make it relevant," he said.
Bush was speaking at a town hall-style meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel Cleveland when he was asked by a member of the audience to comment on how he intended to fund NASA and its new mission "going forward."
Major MNC pharma companies are buoyant over investing in India. In thelast six months or so, MNCs who have shown interest to invest in the country include companies like Merck & Co, BMS, Astra Zeneca, Chiron Corporation, Daiichi, Eisai, Teva, Ivax, Pliva, and Apotex.
The investments are being made in the areas like contract research, clinical research, discovery research, marketing, and manufacturing.
The companies are eyeing the cost competitiveness of the Indian market without compromising the quality aspect. There is also the important aspect of India implementing WTO regime post 2005. India, with its varied genetic pool and naïve population is once again a favorite destination for clinical research.
Steven M. Hutchins, director, Outsourcing, Merck & Co., New Jersey told Pharmabiz, "We are looking at the option of opening our office in India post 2005. For the time being, we view India as a cost effective yet qualitative destination for doing research to support our drug discovery channel." Merck has awarded discovery research contracts to Indian CROs like Chembiotek Research International, GVK Biosiences, Syngene, and Sanmar Specialty Chemicals.
In a time of shifting global alliances, few countries feel completely secure from their neighbors, especially in Asia where ancient feuds still provoke hostile attitudes. So it should come as no surprise that a nation as suddenly capital rich as India is plunging headlong into upgrading its military arsenal. In this month's issue, contributor Seema Singh looks at the new relationship between the world's second largest nation and arms makers in America who are looking to profit from its needs in "Delhi's Defense Spending Spree". With a five-year defense modernization budget in excess of US $30 billion, arms exporters are courting India like never before, Singh explains. This is particularly true of U.S. contractors, who have only recently gained a foothold in the corridors of India's capital. These days, American defense firms are working closely with the Pentagon and the U.S.-India Business Council, in Washington, D.C., to ensure that they have a fighting chance at snaring a good sized portion of Delhi's new war chest.
Acccording to From Wikipedia(Pl see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trade), the free encyclopedia, the arms industry is a massive global industry and business which manufacturers sell weapons and military technology and equipment. Defense companies produce arms mainly for the armed forces of States. Products include guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic Systems, and more. The arms industry also conducts significant research and development.It is estimated that yearly, over 1 trillion dollars are spent on arms. [1] Many industrialized countries have a domestic arms industry to supply their own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial legal or illegal domestic trade in weapons for use by its citizens. The illegal trade in small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability. Sometimes legally purchased weaponry is re-sold for illegal purposes.
Contracts to supply a given country's military are awarded by the government, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what US President Eisenhower described as a military-industrial complex, where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closely linked. Various corporations, some publicly held, others private, bid for these contracts, which are often worth many billions of dollars. Sometimes, such as the contract for the new Joint Strike Fighter, a competitive tendering process takes place, where the decision is made on the merits of the design submitted by the companies involved. Other times, no bidding or competition takes place.
In the Cold War Era, arms exports were used by both the Soviet Union and the United States to influence their standings in other countries, particularly Third World Countries. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, global arms exports initially fell slightly, but have since grown again to cold war levels.[2] Russia is the world's top supplier of weapons, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales, followed by the United States, France, Germany and Britain.[3][4]
The Control Arms Campaign, founded by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms, estimates that there are over 600 million items of small arms in circulation, and that over 1135 companies based in more than 98 different countries manufacture small arms as well as their various components and ammunition. According to Oxfam, an estimated 500,000 individuals die in small arms-conflicts every year, approximately one death per minute.[5]
As U.S.-Indian Alliance Grows, Defense Firms Seek to Profit
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006; D01
After decades on the sidelines, U.S. defense contractors are eyeing India's growing military budget and aging arsenal as a multibillion-dollar opportunity that could help offset a projected slowdown in Pentagon weapons spending and extend production lines for such items as the F-16 fighter.
India has been effectively closed to U.S. defense firms since the 1960s, initially because of its ties with the Soviet Union, and later under formal sanctions imposed in response to nuclear weapons tests in 1998. Those sanctions were lifted in 2001, a decision given impetus by the Sept. 11 attacks and the growing strategic alliance between the two countries.
Several of the Pentagon's largest contractors, including Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., have either opened new offices or beefed up existing ones in India and are part of an industry-wide wooing of military officials and business leaders there. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., maker of the Black Hawk helicopter, opened an office in India in April and is competing for a contract for 200 helicopters potentially worth more than $3 billion. General Dynamics Corp., based in Falls Church, bought an Indian company in 2004 and is using it to sell communications equipment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083003091_pf.html
US, India break 'logjam' in nuclear talks but final accord elusive
The United States and India have "broken a logjam" in
talks to forge an implementing agreement for their landmark civilian atomic
deal but a final accord remains elusive, officials said Thursday.
http://au.news. yahoo.com/ /070720/19/ 140ez.html
Resolution of the Conference on War, Imperialism and Resistance: West Asia
New Delhi, 12th-14th March
15 March 2007
Unfortunately, the Government of India has not only failed to support the cause of the people in West Asia but has connived with US policies in the region, as shown by the vote in IAEA on Iran. Its continued military relationship with Israel in which India has become the largest importer of arms from Israel sits ill with its protestations of support for the Palestinian cause. India must oppose the continued occupation of Iraq and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as well as Syrian and Lebanese territories. Similarly, India must use all its diplomatic leverage and international stature to take an immediate initiative for a serious peace process in West Asia. This Conference calls upon the UPA government to abide by the promise in the Common Minimum Programme that it shall pursue an independent foreign policy. It should also keep in view the fact that equitable peace in West Asia is also in the interest of the Indian people and escalation of war there shall greatly endanger the energy security of South Asia.
http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?&act_id=16459
Saddam’s Pre-Determined Execution & Dynamics of Imperialism(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ... the most vociferous dissenting voices of resistance against US imperialism, at least in the last ...
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0107/01072007_maidul%20islam.htm
Pl see the Web Page:
The Evolving India-U.S. Strategic Relationship
A Compendium of Articles and Analyses
http://www.comw.org/pda/0603india.html
World Policy Institute - Arms Trade Resource Center
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports.html
Human Rights Records in the United States

On February 26, 1999, the United States issued its "1998 Human Rights Report." Posing as a "human rights judge" once again, it attacked the human rights records of more than 190 countries and regions.
Ignoring the actual situation, the report blamed China for committing "widespread and well documented human rights abuses," but did not say a single word about the human rights problems in the United States.
In fact, the U.S., which often grades human rights records of other countries, won low marks from its own people and the international community.
A U.S. human rights organization called "Peter D. Hart Research Associates" indicated in its survey released on December 10, 1997 that 63 percent of those surveyed believe that poor people in the U.S. are usually discriminated against.
The report added that over half of the surveyed in the U.S. believe that the disabled, the elderly, and the native Americans are routinely discriminated against; 41 percent believe that black Americans are often discriminated against, while 70 percent of the blacks themselves believe that they felt discriminated against.
A director of the organization Human Rights U.S.A. said at a press conference that "the survey shows we have human rights problems right here in the United States."
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/zgrq/t36633.htm

If the US workers do not wake up, they might have a couple of atomic bombs
dropped inside their territory with all the crazy moves made by these
warmongers. The Pentagon is planning to go inside the territory of Pakistan,
and those guys, they do have weapons of mass destruction, and it looks like
the Russians are moving toward the Islamic world. The world today is more
dangerous than the times of the cold war
http://www.sacbee. com/111/story/ 280660.html
U.S. Grand Strategy for South Asia - Carnegie Endowment for ...This may be the first time the U.S. is basing its South Asia strategy on positive engagement with Pakistan coupled with a clear acknowledgement of India’s ...
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17006
The Indian Ocean Region
The Indian Ocean – Current Security Environment
Atul Dev, a New Delhi based senior freelance journalist
in the Mauritius Times, 25 May 2007
"Let this be clear: the two major powers of the region, China and India, are scrambling for advantage around the Indian Ocean's rim. China is building military and naval links with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The cooperation between China and African countries is now getting more and more visible, particularly after the China-Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006... Reports available indicate that both India and the United States are studying intensely this rise in Chinese activity. At the last meeting of the Indo-US Defence Joint Working Group held in New Delhi (on 10 April 2007), China's 'growing naval expansion in the Indian Ocean' was noted with concern. The meeting also noted: 'China is rapidly increasing military and maritime links with countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar....Based on this power play now going on in the Indian Ocean, it is expected that countries of the region would sit up and take note of two growing external naval powers – US and China -- increasing their presence in the region. A collective security arrangement is in order. But knowing the rivalries within the region, will this ever be possible? The 200 years of the Anglo-Saxon presence in the region has now been replaced by the US-China presence to further and protect their interests. Isn’t it time for the ‘owners’ of the Indian Ocean to get together to protect their own interests? "
Strategic Politics and the Indian Ocean
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0030-851X(197424%2F197524)47%3A4%3C509%3ASPATIO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST TERRORISM
World Trade Center/Pentagon Terrorism and the Aftermath
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/usterror.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/
http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/Alternative.html
http://globalresearch.ca/
US might strike in Pakistan: White House
Friday July 20 2007 12:12:21 PM BDT

Agence France-Presse . Nashville, Tennessee -The White House on Thursday refused to rule out striking at suspected terrorist targets inside Pakistan and would not say whether US forces would first seek permission from Islamabad.
Asked whether the US president, George W Bush, had ruled out US military action inside Pakistan, spokesman Tony Snow replied: ?We never rule out any options, including striking actionable targets.?
Asked whether Bush would first seek authorisation from the Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, Snow told reporters: ?Those are matters that are best not discussed publicly.?
Washington in recent days has sharply criticised Musharraf?s truce with leaders in Pakistan?s tribal areas, where al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were believed hiding, calling on him to take aggressive military action.
And Bush?s top counter-terrorism adviser at the White House recently suggested that the United States did not get all of the cooperation it hoped for from Pakistan in the global war on terrorism.
At the same time, the White House has been praising Musharraf personally.
President Musharraf has put his life on the line and has been a very important ally in the war on terror,? Snow
said as Bush travelled here to make remarks on the federal budget.
It`s also clear that Taliban and al-Qaeda, in the northwest territories and the federally administered tribal areas, have begun to put on operations that threaten the government of Pakistan itself,? he added.
President Musharraf, having tried one approach, in terms of dealing with the tribal leaders, is now going to have to be more aggressive and is being more aggressive moving forces into the region to deal with the security problems there,? he said.
AFP/ The New Age BD
The two countries are close to ironing out differences on storage of spent fuel after three days of talks on the 123 agreement. Talks in Washington on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal are going down to the wire. While,beleaguered Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday suffered a major blow when the Supreme Court reinstated suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry in a verdict likely to shake the General's grip on power!According to reports, the US has agreed to India's offer to set up a dedicated spent fuel storage facility. This development comes after National Security Advisor M K Narayanan held several rounds of discussions with his US counterpart Stephen Hadley on Thursday. Both Narayanan and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon also met vice president Dick Cheney after the talks.
Since the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union, American naval doctrine has undergone a dramatic transformation. The focus on a global threat during the Cold War years has shifted to one of regional challenges and opportunities. Consequently, the doctrine of open-ocean war-fighting at sea, against erstwhile Soviet naval and nuclear forces, is increasingly changing to one of power projection and the employment of naval forces from the sea, in order to influence events in the littoral regions of the world. Moreover, the "littoral" continues to be defined vaguely as "areas adjacent to the oceans and seas within direct control of, and vulnerable to, the striking power of sea-based forces," although it is understood to extend to more than a thousand miles inland. 4 This strategic concept has been further expanded to encompass the employment of naval expeditionary forces and joint operation missions.
The recent American missile strikes against targets in Afghanistan and Sudan (August 1998) were carried out by warships of the US Fifth Fleet operating in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Early in the morning of August 20, 1998, four surface warships and a submarine in the Arabian Sea launched 60 "Tomahawk" Sea Launched Cruise Missiles (SLCMs) against the Zahawar killi-El-Badr terrorist camp in Afghanistan, 160 km south-west of Kabul. At the same time, two warships in the Red Sea launched 20 "Tomahawk" SLCMs at the Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, suspected to be engaged in the manufacture of a nerve agent. 1 These missile attacks were in response to the bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania earlier in the month (August 7).
The seven American warships believed to have carried out the missile attacks—USS Cowpens, USS Shiloh (cruisers), USS Briscoe, USS Elliot, USS Hayler, USS Milius (destroyers), and USS Columbia (a nuclear-powered submarine)—were operating as part of the Fifth Fleet, which was recommissioned in July 1995 specifically for operations of this nature. 2 The "Tomahawk" SLCMs are ideal weapons for such a mission, in terms of their range (1,150–1,700 km); accuracy (a Circular Error of Probability (CEP) as low as 10 metres, due to Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation capabilities); and the avoidance of detection by radar (being low-flying). Each missile costs approximately US$1 million. 3
These missile attacks clearly demonstrate the ability of the US Navy (USN) to exercise military power against littoral states deep inland from the sea, as well as its capability in successfully maintaining the forward deployment of its forces far from their home bases in the US. These factors clearly constitute the critical trends in US naval policy in the Indian Ocean in the future.
Meanwhile,in Bangladesh,National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCT is set to reprint school textbooks with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman restored as "Father of the Nation" and Ziaur Rahman named "proclaimer of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu."(UNThe rewritten history says Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman declared independence on behalf of Bangabandhu on March 27 in 1971.The NCTB in preparing the new scripts of school textbooks added "Father of the Nation" and "Bangabandhu" to the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The arrest of Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina has stalled the reform process in the party. The Awami League source said reformists want to see the momentum of public anger due to arrest of Sheikh Hasina and if the anti-reformist group of the Awami League fails to gear up the movement they will surface again.( The News Today )
It is reported that India believes a new formula proposed for a deal on agriculture and industry tariffs is a good basis for negotiations to resume in the stalled Doha round of global trade talks, a report said Friday.Earlier this week, chief negotiators on agricultural and industrial trade at the World Trade Organisation released detailed technical proposals aimed at reviving the nearly six year-old effort to reduce global trade barriers.The new draft text on Non-Agriculture Market Access and agriculture 'is a good basis for starting intensive negotiations,' Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.Nath, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi, said he talked with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on Friday and told him 'this is not a text of convergence. It is a text that will lead to further negotiations.'
Strategic Co-operation Versus Military –to-Military Co-operation: A strategic partnership between the United States and India in the 21st Century is "inevitable" as the India Shining Sensex Brand Brahminical Ruling class considers!Indo-US strategic co-operation in the contiguous areas of South Asia , namely the Middle East and South East Asia may be only marginal till such time a full Indo-US strategic partnership emerges. However Indo-US strategic co-operation in the Indian Ocean region and the "freedom of the high seas" offers promise of substantive progress. In any case this itself has spill-over effects on the Middle East and South Asia.

The three day talks on the 123 agreement have now been extended by a day, a sign that both sides are trying hard to break the impasse over India's right to reprocess spent fuel and the fallout of India conducting a nuclear test.India's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan also held talks with US Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday in an effort to break the logjam.Narayanan and his American counterpart Hadley and their respective delegations had a three hour-long meeting. The American side has stated that both India and the United States had overcome most of the outstanding issues.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon meanwhile, met Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.Burns has termed the final talks as going into an extra innings, adding that he was hopeful that there will be an agreement.
''We have overcome many of the outstanding issues. We just need to go the extra couple of feet,'' he said.
India and the US could be close to clinching the nuke deal as positive signals emerge from Washington on India's rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. According to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assessment, talks on the issue have entered the "last leg".
Reports say that the two sides have removed major roadblocks to implement the landmark agreement while the crucial issue is now to incorporate this understanding in the text of the 123 agreement. Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman of the State Department, said that while no dramatic breakthrough was expected immediately, the two sides have made "good progress" in sorting out the differences. State Department Spokesperson Sean McCormack said, "well, we hope that's in fact the case. The United States has expressed its commitment and expressed its desire to reach an agreement. And we're sure that the Indian government wants to reach an agreement. The question is a matter of when and the timing of it."

Evaluating the opinion of the party rank and file and fearing general people?s anger, the Awami League reformists have stopped their reform move, because they think that if street protest gains momentum over the political arrest, it will be difficult for them to survive and they may be the target of the movement.
A reformist leader, who earlier reacted sharply over Zillur Rahman?s nomination as the acting AL president, blamed the administration to shut down their reform move. He said that Hasina?s arrest has changed reform scenario and we have to move a different way. He, however, did not explain what would be the different move.

While an Indo-US strategic partnership has to await the passage of time, it also has to await the emergence of some more harsh strategic realities. On the American side these harsh strategic realities will revolve around an American realisation of the lack of strategic utility of Pakistan. On the Indian side the harsh strategic reality will emerge from a realisation of the strategic losses from the wasted years of non-alignment (one could add ‘selective non-alignment’) and that if India has to emerge as a major player in global affairs, there is no place for strategic ambiguities.
United States Military-to-Military co-operation With India: According to Dr. Subhash Kapila,
this has been an on-going process. Even during the non-alignment era, albeit, on a very limited scale. India and Indians should not forget that in India’s darkest military hour of 1962, it was the US Air Force which came into play in air-lifting Indian troops from Delhi to Ladakh and the North East , US military aid came unreservedly in 1963.but as soon as the crisis was over, India’s Congress party in power and its civilian bureaucracy reversed back to their old ways. Dr. Subhash Kapila is an International Relations and Strategic Affairs analyst.
Dr. Kapila says that the world has greatly changed since then and so also India’s defense policies under the present political dispensation. Any new political dispensation would be unable to roll back India’s current defense policies including strategic co-operation with the United States.
United States military-to-military co-operation with India should study the voids and inadequacies in India’s current defense and security requirements. It is there where the United States should step in with a ready hand. United States should appreciate that with a dependency rate varying between 70%-85% of India's three Services on Russian origin equipment, it would be difficult to step-in in terms of a wholesale re-arming of Indian Armed Forces with US military equipment.
United States military-to-military co-operation with India should ideally encompass: (1) Increased military training at each others training establishments of middle and senior rank military officers; (2) Increased joint military exercises of all the three services ; (3) Enhanced liaison and co-operation in defence intelligence with special focus on global terrorism and organized crime; (4) United States providing India with military equipment in the fields of surveillance, electronic warfare, digital communications and precision guided munitions.
India is in position to offer at economical prices the use of training grounds to the US forces in glacial terrain, high altitude areas, jungle warfare and desert warfare. An indirect spin-off in this field could be improvement of Indian military logistics infrastructure in such areas.
Military-to-military co-operation in areas cited above does not amount to military alliances. It is strange that while India carries out political, scientific and economic co-operation with all and sundry, no hackles are raised. Yet if some US officers attend some course at the Jungle Warfare School, there is a shrill cry by India’s political opposition parties .Such political parties are either strategically ill-informed or ill-advised. They also ignore a realistic appraisal of India's strategic requirements and national security interests.
Conclusi