International Conspiracy, Latest Logic of Repression by Marxist Gestapo Mechanism!
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Buddhadeb Now sees International conspiracy! What for? Is it a Marxist government at all? Does this government undermine US interests or it has decided to overthrow the Zionist Brahminical system? Who is opposing his brand of capitalist Development?
Mrs Indiran gandhi was most quoted to warn of international conspiracies whenever she faced any challange within!
Mind you, this is the latest logic of repression by Marxist Gestapo Mechanism!
International conspiracy to destabilse India, says Buddhadeb while India's ruling Congress party looked set to lose power in the tiny western tourist state of Goa on Thursday after a group of legislators withdrew their support to the coalition. Expressing concern at terrorist activities in West Bengal like last year's blast at a railway station in Jalpaiguri that killed eight people, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said this was part of an international conspiracy to destablise India from within. Buddhadev Bhattacharjee today admitted that his Left Front government was not free from corruption and his `do-it-now` slogan given a year ago could not overnight bring transparency in the administration.
A total of 40 people were killed in political clashes in West Bengal last year, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told the assembly today.
The 40 included 24 CPI-M activists, three members each of the Trinamool Congress and congress and 10 from parties like the Gorkha National Liberational Front and Jharkhand Party, he said while replying to a question.
A total of 3,998 arrests were made in connection with the clashes and 19 cases were registered, he said.
West Bengal`s opposition Trinamool Congress today rejected Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee`s apology and appeal to lift its boycott of the assembly shortly after he expressed regret for his alleged derogatory remarks about the leader of the opposition.The political heat over farmland acquisition issue, sought to be cooled down during the recent parleys between Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, is still raging in West Bengal with the latter's decision to boycott the chief minister for his alleged derogatory remarks in the Assembly recently.
The Basu-Mamata talks, which generated hope of an early restoration of peace in trouble-torn Singur and Nandigram as also ensuring normal relations between the government and the opposition, received a setback nearly a month after over the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's comments against the opposition leader in the state Assembly.
The Trinamool Congress' decision to boycott all House proceedings where the Chief Minister will be present, has come at a time when the state Assembly is on its extended budget session and that is likely to continue till end of this month.
The chances of rapprochement between the ruling Left Front and the main opposition Trinamool Congress over the controversial farmland acquisition issue had brightened after the former Chief Minister's diplomacy. The exercise however, received the jolt with the Chief Minister's comments on opposition leader Partha Chatterjee.
During his reply to Home (police) department's budget speech last week, the Chief Minister made a remark against Chatterjee, questioning his power and liberty to speak in his own party without fear.
It was a matter of concern that explosives used to trigger the blast at Belakoba Railway Station were brought from outside and local people were involved in the attack, he told the assembly in reply to a question.
Terrorists were active along the Western and the Eastern borders. "If we look at Pakistan and Afganistan, we can see what shape terrorism is taking on the subcontinent," he said.
Asked whether the US had a hand in this conspiracy, Bhattacharjee replied that the US had a role wherever terrorist activities were taking place across the world.
"I cannot say specifically whether the US has a hand here, but there is no doubt that they play some role in the subcontinent," he said in reply to a supplementary question.
Bhattacharjee said the state government was working in tandem with the Centre to combat terrorist activities. The danger remained despite stepped up vigil, he said.
Noting that information was regularly exchanged among intelligence agencies of the state, the Centre, the Army and BSF, he said in some cases, arrests were made on the basis of information provided by the central agencies.
Bhattacharjee, who also holds the home portfolio, admitted there were some weakness in the state intelligence agencies.
Replying to a question on the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), he said after the operation by Bhutan's army against rebels sheltering in the kingdom, KLO activities had stopped for some time and the militants took shelter in a neighbouring country.
The KLO was now trying to re-group in Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Siliguri in North Bengal, where vigil had been stepped up. The KLO problem would persist because of the Ulfa in Assam, he said.
Claiming that the KLO and other groups did not have the people's support, he said the state government had initiated a process to bring KLO militants back to the mainstream and around 150 of them had returned. But other groups like the Kamtapur People's Party were coordinating among themselves.
To another question, he said the state government would provide compensation of Rs 50,000 to families of the eight persons killed in the blast at Belakoba Railway Station. But this was getting delayed due to a complicated procedure, he said.
Asked whether the state had sought more security forces from the Centre, Bhattacharjee said: "We have asked for more forces keeping in mind the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the Western border."

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Wednesday that a just-completed nuclear deal with India complies with U.S. law, but some experts doubted that, and lawmakers said the agreement could face a rough road in the U.S. Congress.
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Congressional sources and other experts told Reuters the agreement reached last week appears to go a long way toward meeting the demands of India's nuclear establishment, giving New Delhi rights only accorded to key U.S. allies Japan and the European Union.
"The administration is going to call this a success even though from policy and legal perspectives, there are major problems," said one congressional source, who spoke anonymously because he learned details of the deal on a confidential basis.
The pact, approved by India's cabinet on Wednesday, would allow India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years, even though New Delhi refused to join non-proliferation pacts and tested nuclear weapons.
"We're very satisfied because we know the agreement is well within the bounds of the Hyde Act," Burns told reporters after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Hyde Act, approved by Congress in December, created a unique exception to U.S. export law to allow nuclear cooperation with India. The just-completed agreement, called a 123 agreement after a section of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, spells out technical details for that nuclear cooperation.
Communist Buddha of West Bengal confesses corruption but does any one know how much they have milked from expatriate Indians (NRIs)
Media Release
Jul. 26, 2007

Countless money has been stolen by the West Bengal communists from expatraite Indians who tried to set up industries in West Bangal but did not understand only bribes work with these communists.
These communists are in bed with Indian oligarchs like Tata, Birla, Ambanis who feed them well with money. These communists will do anything to get hold of money. They preach laziness in west Bengal. The approach to the expatriate Indian is simple - you have it, I do noy. So your's is mine.
When it comes to Indian oligarchs, the comminists are straightened top to the bottom. Thge oligarchs treat these communists as street dogs. They throw a some crores of Rupees (million of dollars) and ask them to secure the oligrachs'' interests at the cost of common people and poor farmers.
The communists are now in bed with Intalian born Sonia Gandhi's congress party too. That has happened because Indian oligrachs want that to happen.
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/17692.asp
CIA, ISI had plan for militancy in Punjab: Ex-RAW official

The US had an "interest" in Punjab militancy and hatched a "covert action plan" in collusion with Pakistan`s ISI in 1971 to encourage a separatist movement in the border state, says a new book by a former top Indian intelligence officer. The American "interest" in Punjab militancy lasted for a little more than a decade through the seventies and eighties after the covert plan was initiated by the Richard Nixon administration, says the book.
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/index.asp
Disinvestment white paper in next session, no change in policy

New Del: The much-delayed status report on disinvestment process during the previous NDA government will be tabled in parliament in the coming monsoon session.
The white paper on disinvestment since 1999, which has been in the making since the UPA regime took over, would finally be tabled after sustained pressure of the parliamentary standing committee on finance.
"Standing committee on finance has been repeatedly insisting on the government to place a white paper in Parliament on disinvestment. It is nothing but a chronological development of the entire scenario of disinvestment since 1999. It does not mean we are changing policy," Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told newsmen after the Cabinet meeting that cleared the paper.
He said the national common minimum programme has made it abundantly clear that UPA coalition shall not encourage nor implement and support any strategic sale and that policy stands as it was.
After the document is placed in Parliament, there can be a debate on it. The Parliament is meeting for monsoon session between August 10 and September 14.
Since 1999, government has given up the controlling stake in 12 central public sector companies apart from selling hotel properties owned by India Tourism Development Corporation and Air India's subsidiary Hotel Corporation of India.
The government has raised more than Rs 10,350 crore since NDA government took office from strategic sales.
Special Economic Zone
A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. The category 'SEZ' covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Zones (FZ), Industrial Estates (IE), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others. Usually the goal of an SEZ structure is to increase foreign investment. One of the earliest and the most famous Special Economic Zones were founded by the government of the People's Republic of China under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s. The most successful Special Economic Zone in China, Shenzhen, has developed from a small village into a city with a population over 10 million within 20 years. Following the Chinese examples, Special Economic Zones have been established in several countries, including Brazil, Pakistan, India, Iran, Jordan, Poland, Kazakhstan, the Philippines,Russia, and Ukraine. North Korea has also attempted this to a degree, but failed. Currently, Puno, Peru has been slated to become a "Zona Ecomomica" by its president Alan Garcia. A single SEZ can contain multiple 'specific' zones within its boundaries. The two most prominent examples of this layered approach are Subic Bay in the Philippines and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone in Jordan.
According to World Bank estimates, as of 2007 there are more than 3,000 projects taking place in SEZs in 120 countries worldwide.
SEZs have been implemented using a variety of institutional structures across the world ranging from fully public (government operator, government developer, government regulator) to 'fully' private (private operator, private developer, public regulator). In many cases, public sector operators and developers act as quasi-government agencies in that they have a pseudo-corporate institutional structure and have budgetary autonomy. SEZs are often developed under a Public-Private-Partnership arrangement, in which the public sector provides some level of support (provision of off-site infrastructure, equity investment, soft loans, bond issues, etc) to enable a private sector developer to obtain a reasonable rate of return on the project (typically 10-20% depending on risk levels).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEZ

Development and Technology
( The Statesman, June 29, 2007)
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=161080
We can modernise our agriculture through innovations in cooperation with our research organisations. And technology should disturb the environment and the ecosystem the least, suggests MANAS JOARDAR
Incidents of brutal atrocity in Singur and Nandigram are quite fresh in our memory. In context of the present agitation against land acquisition and industrialisation drive here, it is worthwhile to recollect the plight of the English workers in Britain during the early years of industrial revolution. A large pool of displaced farmers and farm workers was forced to leave villages and joined factories as industrial workers. They were an extremely exploited lot. The Saddler Committee, constituted on the issue, made the round of a horrible working condition of the workers.
China with an enviable GDP growth record after implementing quite a few industrialisation projects under the SEZ scheme with tax and labour rules favouring the industrialists, has been facing agitation in recent times by millions of displaced farmers and jobless factory workers. Environmental pollution is exceedingly high. Of the twenty most polluted cities of the world, sixteen are in China. With labour-scarce modern technology, benefit of industrialisation is being enjoyed by the privileged section only. Inequality is rapidly growing there. Gini Index has jumped from 35 in 1990 to 45 in 2003. For America, the figures are 35 in 1970 and 41 in 2003.
Policy formulators of our country, overzealous to imitate the China way, seem to have rubbished the darker side of the SEZ experience of China. A top politician of UP reportedly received a new plane as return gift from a leading industrialist who (courtesy - the politician) was offered one thousand hectares of agricultural land under the SEZ scheme.
In the post-industrial revolution ages, spectacular advancement of science took place in the Western world. This led to new technological innovations that sought to make people’s life more comfortable. Industries readily took them up to produce consumer goods. Overthrowing all religious barriers upon gluttony and greed, people of the West jumped upon raising their standard of living. Added to colonial exploitation, industrial development helped them accumulate more wealth.
Rabindranath Tagore, during his pretty long tour of some western countries in the 1920s, was overwhelmed by their scientific achievements, but at the same time their insatiable greed pained him utterly.
Apart from various branches of science and technology, tremendous progress has been made in developing destructive war weapons too, by trading which the industrialised countries are getting richer and richer. Ironically, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – a body to ensure global peace – are five prominent weapon traders too. They export over three-fourths of all conventional weapons.
As a fall-out of industrialisation and urbanisation, forests and wetlands are being destroyed. Stock of fossil fuel and other minerals is getting exhausted. The level of underground water is steadily going down. The ozone layer at the stratosphere is getting depleted, making way for almost uninterrupted entry of harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Tropical rainforest, once considered as the lungs of the planet, generating over 20 per cent of oxygen, is being rapidly destroyed by the wood and paper-pulp traders of the West. Air and water are being heavily polluted.
Following a series of events the world over, it is now almost conclusively established that global warming caused by greenhouse gases (GHG), comprising about 77 per cent of carbon dioxide, is not a myth. In an article published a few years back in the British journal Nature, it was estimated that over one million species of plants and animals, one-fourth of all life in the world, would be extinct within 2050 due to man-made climate change.
During a recent sitting in Bangkok, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that emission of GHG has gone up by 70 per cent between 1970 and 2004. Carbon dioxide has increased by 80 per cent. Increase of GHG during the period was maximum in the power generation sector – about 145 per cent, next was vehicular emission – 120 per cent, followed by industrial emission – 65 per cent.
Through globalisation, policies are being so formulated as to help the rich countries pile up wealth for lifting their hedonistic life-style without caring for the other world where more than 2.5 billion people live in extreme poverty. More than 10 million children die each year before attaining the age of five. Around one billion people lack access to safe water and some 1.75 million die each year due to cholera, dysentery and other diarrhoeal diseases The richest 10 per cent own 85 per cent of the global assets, and the bottom half only 1 per cent. The inequality between the rich and the poor is on the rise in countries where 80 per cent of the global population lives. The IPCC recommended downsizing of lifestyle. The richer section can cut down on use of natural resources and reduce pollution substantially.
In 2005, Nelson Mandela observed: “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times – times in which the world boasts of breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation – that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.” The liberalisation policy under the structural adjustment programme of the World Bank, has been depriving the Indian farmers. During the past 12/13 years, over 1,50,000 of them have committed suicide.
In formulating development strategy for our country, we must keep in mind that the western model may not work here. Our historical tradition and geographical location are different. We can modernise, as we have done through the ages, our agriculture through innovations in cooperation with our research organisations. We must put stress on development of the underprivileged section. The technology should disturb the environment and the ecosystem the least. We should aim at a sustainable development paradigm.
Much water and electricity can be saved by avoiding wastage and by using more efficient appliances. Dependence on fossil fuel has to be reduced. We must say “No” to nuclear power. Pollution control measures need to be strictly monitored.
With huge solar and wind energy available here, we should fully utilise them. Small hydropower is another source of clean energy which can be generated with natural falls, run-of-river and back water. Quite a few such installations are working successfully. Biofuels derived from agricultural residues and the seeds of neem, jatropha, ratanjyot and some other trees may play an important role in the transport sector. Such efforts have already started through self-help groups in Puducherry and Dehradun with technical know-how from the IIT, Delhi.
About five lakh women and children die each year due to diseases related to smoke emitted during cooking. Dr Karve has devised a bio-gas plant that needs only vegetable residues, waste food, green leaves, etc. It requires only 1 kg of feedstock against 40 kg of cow-dung. The digestion process is also quick – 48 hours instead of 40 days. More than seven hundred such units have already been installed in Maharashtra.
Sulabh Public Toilet founded by Dr Pathak in 1970, has been quite a successful sanitation device. It has been further modified to make it more suitable for rural areas. The Centrally sponsored Rural Sanitation Programme, supported by UNICEF, is another low-cost project providing proper sanitation facility.
Besides all this, micro-irrigation, rain water harvesting and, hopefully, many more small innovations shall work wonders through community participation, if, of course, political will is not lacking.
(The author, a former member of the Senate and Syndicate, is a retired teacher of Applied Physics, Calcutta University)
India was one of the first in Asia to recognize the effectiveness of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) model in promoting exports, with Asia’s first EPZ set up in Kandla in 1965. With a view to overcome the shortcomings experienced on account of the multiplicity of controls and clearances; absence of world-class infrastructure, and an unstable fiscal regime and with a view to attract larger foreign investments in India, the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Policy was announced in April 2000.
This policy intended to make SEZs an engine for economic growth supported by quality infrastructure complemented by an attractive fiscal package, both at the Centre and the State level, with the minimum possible regulations. SEZs in India functioned from 1.11.2000 to 09.02.2006 under the provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy and fiscal incentives were made effective through the provisions of relevant statutes.
To instill confidence in investors and signal the Government’s commitment to a stable SEZ policy regime and with a view to impart stability to the SEZ regime thereby generating greater economic activity and employment through the establishment of SEZs, a comprehensive draft SEZ Bill prepared after extensive discussions with the stakeholders. A number of meetings were held in various parts of the country both by the Minister for Commerce and Industry as well as senior officials for this purpose. The Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, was passed by Parliament in May, 2005 which received Presidential assent on the 23rd of June, 2005. The draft SEZ Rules were widely discussed and put on the website of the Department of Commerce offering suggestions/comments. Around 800 suggestions were received on the draft rules. After extensive consultations, the SEZ Act, 2005, supported by SEZ Rules, came into effect on 10th February, 2006, providing for drastic simplification of procedures and for single window clearance on matters relating to central as well as state governments. The main objectives of the SEZ Act are:
(a) generation of additional economic activity
(b) promotion of exports of goods and services;
(c) promotion of investment from domestic and foreign sources;
(d) creation of employment opportunities;
(e) development of infrastructure facilities;
It is expected that this will trigger a large flow of foreign and domestic investment in SEZs, in infrastructure and productive capacity, leading to generation of additional economic activity and creation of employment opportunities.
The SEZ Act 2005 envisages key role for the State Governments in Export Promotion and creation of related infrastructure. A Single Window SEZ approval mechanism has been provided through a 19 member inter-ministerial SEZ Board of Approval (BoA). The applications duly recommended by the respective State Governments/UT Administration are considered by this BoA periodically. All decisions of the Board of approvals are with consensus.
The SEZ Rules provide for different minimum land requirement for different class of SEZs. Every SEZ is divided into a processing area where alone the SEZ units would come up and the non-processing area where the supporting infrastructure is to be created.
The SEZ Rules provide for :
Simplified procedures for development, operation, and maintenance of the Special Economic Zones and for setting up units and conducting business in SEZs;
Single window clearance for setting up of an SEZ;
Single window clearance for setting up a unit in a Special Economic Zone;
Single Window clearance on matters relating to Central as well as State Governments;
Simplified compliance procedures and documentation with an emphasis on self certification
Approval mechanism and Administrative set up of SEZs
Approval mechanism
The developer submits the proposal for establishment of SEZ to the concerned State Government. The State Government has to forward the proposal with its recommendation within 45 days from the date of receipt of such proposal to the Board of Approval. The applicant also has the option to submit the proposal directly to the Board of Approval.
The Board of Approval has been constituted by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred under the SEZ Act. All the decisions are taken in the Board of Approval by consensus. The Board of Approval has 19 Members. Its constitution is as follows:
(1)
Secretary, Department of Commerce
Chairman

(2)
Member, CBEC
Member

(3)
Member, IT, CBDT
Member

(4)
Joint Secretary (Banking Division), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance

(5)
Joint Secretary (SEZ), Department of Commerce
Member

(6)
Joint Secretary, DIPP
Member

(7)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology
Member

(8)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries
Member

(9)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
Member

(10)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence
Member

(11)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests
Member

(12)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice
Member

(13)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
Member

(14)
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development
Member

(15)
A nominee of the State Government concerned
Member

(16)
Director General of Foreign Trade or his nominee
Member

(17)
Development Commissioner concerned
Member

(18)
A professor in the Indian Institute of Management or the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
Member

(19)
Director or Deputy Sectary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce
Member Secretary
Administrative set up
The functioning of the SEZs is governed by a three tier administrative set up. The Board of Approval is the apex body and is headed by the Secretary, Department of Commerce. The Approval Committee at the Zone level deals with approval of units in the SEZs and other related issues. Each Zone is headed by a Development Commissioner, who is ex-officio chairperson of the Approval Committee.
Once an SEZ has been approved by the Board of Approval and Central Government has notified the area of the SEZ, units are allowed to be set up in the SEZ. All the proposals for setting up of units in the SEZ are approved at the Zone level by the Approval Committee consisting of Development Commissioner, Customs Authorities and representatives of State Government. All post approval clearances including grant of importer-exporter code number, change in the name of the company or implementing agency, broad banding diversification, etc. are given at the Zone level by the Development Commissioner. The performance of the SEZ units are periodically monitored by the Approval Committee and units are liable for penal action under the provision of Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, in case of violation of the conditions of the approval.
Incentives and facilities offered to the SEZs
The incentives and facilities offered to the units in SEZs for attracting investments into the SEZs, including foreign investment include:-
Duty free import/domestic procurement of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units
100% Income Tax exemption on export income for SEZ units under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for first 5 years, 50% for next 5 years thereafter and 50% of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years.
Exemption from minimum alternate tax under section 115JB of the Income Tax Act.
External commercial borrowing by SEZ units upto US $ 500 million in a year without any maturity restriction through recognized banking channels.
Exemption from Central Sales Tax.
Exemption from Service Tax.
Single window clearance for Central and State level approvals.
Exemption from State sales tax and other levies as extended by the respective State Governments.
The major incentives and facilities available to SEZ developers include:-
Exemption from customs/excise duties for development of SEZs for authorized operations approved by the BOA.
Income Tax exemption on export income for a block of 10 years in 15 years under Section 80-IAB of the Income Tax Act.
Exemption from minimum alternate tax under Section 115 JB of the Income Tax Act.
Exemption from dividend distribution tax under Section 115O of the Income Tax Act.
Exemption from Central Sales Tax (CST).
Exemption from Service Tax (Section 7, 26 and Second Schedule of the SEZ Act).
SEZ Approval Status
Consequent upon the SEZ Rules coming into effect w.e.f. 10th February, 2006, fifteen meetings of the Board of Approvals have since been held. During these meetings, formal approval has been granted to 341 SEZ proposals and in-principle approval has been granted to 171 SEZ proposals. Out of the formal approvals, 130 SEZs have been notified.
Land requirements for approved Special Economic Zones:
The total land requirement for the 341 formal approvals granted till date is approximately 44268 hectares out of which about 87 approvals are for State Industrial Development Corporations/State Government Ventures which account for over 21169 hectares. In these cases, the land already available with the State Governments or SIDCs or with private companies has been utilized for setting up SEZ. The land for the 130 notified SEZs where operations have since commenced involved is approximately 17663 hectares only.
Out of the total land area of 2973190 sq km in India, total agricultural land is of the order of 1620388 sq km (54.5%). It is interesting to note that out of this total land area, the land in possession of the 130 SEZs notified amounts to approximately 177 sq km only. The 341 formal approvals granted also works out to only around 443 sq km.
SEZs- leading to the growth of labour intensive manufacturing industry:
Out of the 341 formal approvals given till date, over 120 approvals are for sector specific and multi product SEZs for manufacture of Textiles & Apparels, Leather Footwear, Automobile components, Engineering etc.. which would involve labour intensive manufacturing. The employment projected in the 130 SEZs notified so far is over 17,43,530 additional jobs. SEZs are thus going to lead to creation of employment for large number of unemployed rural youth. Nokia and Flextronics electronics hardware SEZs in Sriperumbudur are already providing employment to 3800 and 2069 persons, majority of which are women. Hyderabad Gems SEZ for Jewellery manufacturing in Hyderabad has already employed 1200 girls majority of whom are from landless families, after providing training to them. They have a projected direct employment for about 30,000 persons. Apache SEZ being set up in Andhra Pradesh will employ 20, 000 persons to manufacture 10,00,000 pairs of shoes every month. Current employment in Apache SEZ is 2500 persons. Brandix Apparels, a Sri Lankan FDI project would provide employment to 60,000 workers over a period of 3 years. Even in the services sector, 12.5 million sq meters space is expected in the IT/ITES SEZs which as per the NASSCOM standards translates into 12.5 lakh jobs. It is, therefore, expected that establishment of SEZs would lead to fast growth of labour intensive manufacturing and services in the country.
Benefits derived from SEZs
Benefit derived from SEZs is evident from the investment, employment, exports and infrastructural developments additionally generated. Investment of the order of Rs.100,000 crores i

Santhals and the Muslims are the Victims of Forced displacement in Assam

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
PACT IN INDIA ASSURES SOME, INFLAMES OTHERS
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Last August Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi triumphantly announced a settlement in a bitter ethnic dispute that had cost thousands of lives in the northeastern state of Assam. But now the carrying out of that accord is creating new bitterness and fears of violence in this remote region of India. What had been hailed as a victory for national unity has instead produced sharp new antagonisms between Hindus and Moslems. The focus for the renewed friction is a state election scheduled for Dec. 16.
December 4, 1985

PEACE FRAGILE IN ASSAM A YEAR AFTER CARNAGE
By SANJOY HAZARIKA, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
A perilous calm prevails in this northeast Indian state of Assam, one year after thousands of people were killed in riots. The fighting turned the fertile valley of rice fields into a vast, bloody religious and ethnic battleground. It is widely believed that at least 5,000 died. Some officials argue that the toll was higher, perhaps as high as 8,000. The Assam government says its figure is 3,000 dead. Hindus fought Moslems, the native Hindu Assamese battled aboriginal tribespeople and Bengali-sp...
February 26, 1984
The Santhals and the Muslims are the victims of forced displacement in Assam's Bodo areas.They are already the breeding ground for armed rebellion but now militant outfits in and outside the state are exploring options of recruitment from amongst these groups.For eleven long years the Santhals have been refugees in their own land. Life in the camps, which are home to at least two lakh Santhals, has always been and still remains harsh.
Systematic ethnic cleansing in an erstwhile insurgent and now resurgent Bodoland has ensured that the Adivasis lost their land and livelihood forever.
Assam refugees seek rehabilitation
Mind you, In the cacophony of jingoistic nationalism against the Bangladeshi infiltrators many Bengali Hindu refugees that had migrated to India during the 1947 Partition are being targeted for lack proper documentation and face the specter of deportation to the place they had left some sixty years ago.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Parliament in 2004 has further weakened the case of the Bengali Partition refugees to acquire the citizenship rights. The bill clearly states that under no circumstance the Bengali refugees can get citizenship rights in India and even their children would be treated as illegal migrants. Joya Chatterjee examines the place of the Bengali refugees in the postpartition politics of India. Initially sidelined, neglected, and denied privileges, unlike the Punjabi refugees of West Pakistan, over time the Bengali refugees learned to organize and demand their rights. Chatterjee argues that the refugee experience led to awareness and a language of rights for all citizens articulated in the voice of the politicized Bengalis. 3
Dovetailing her essay is Ramnarayan Rawat's analysis of Dalit politics in the partition years and their demand for recognition and rights as a minority group, which they failed to achieve. As the author argues, Dalit politics reveals the true face of Indian democracy as no more than a majoritarian tyranny.
The Ambedkrites calls this a conspiracy of the upper caste Hindus to punish the followers of the B.R Ambedkar who mostly came from Kholna, Jassor, Barisal, Dhaka and Faridpur region from where Jogendranath Mandal had got Ambedkar elected to the Constituent Assembly. Since these Bengali refugees belonged to the low caste they were deliberately settled in undeveloped locations and the state governments instead of rehabilitating, discriminated them due to the yawning language divide.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Parliament in 2004 has further weakened the case of the Bengali Partition refugees to acquire the citizenship rights. The bill clearly states that under no circumstance the Bengali refugees can get citizenship rights in India and even their children would be treated as illegal migrants.
The Ambedkrites calls this a conspiracy of the upper caste Hindus to punish the followers of the B.R Ambedkar who mostly came from Kholna, Jassor, Barisal, Dhaka and Faridpur region from where Jogendranath Mandal had got Ambedkar elected to the Constituent Assembly. Since these Bengali refugees belonged to the low caste they were deliberately settled in undeveloped locations and the state governments instead of rehabilitating, discriminated them due to the yawning language divide.
The Bengali Refugees: A Surfeit of Woe
Unbalanced Exchange. While India has temporarily accepted the refugees and is doing its best to help them, the government of Indira Gandhi sees only economic and political disaster in the massive influx of impoverished peoples. The refugee problem has chronically troubled India since the August 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. In northern India there was a fairly balanced exchange, with 6,000,000 Moslems fleeing to Pakistan and 6,500,000 Hindus and Sikhs entering India. But since partition, 4,300,000 Hindus from East Pakistan have fled to India, for the most part into West Bengal. There has been no comparable flight of Moslems. This imbalance has created the social, political and economic problems that have plagued the state and turned its capital, Calcutta, into a sinkhole of human misery.
The cost of feeding and attempting to house the refugees is currently $1,330,000 a day—an expense that Mrs. Gandhi's government can ill afford if it is going to fulfill the campaign promise of garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) made last March. The food required by the refugees is rapidly depleting existing food stockpiles, and threatens to create a famine for the Indians themselves. The refugees are also taking work away from the Indians; in West Bengal, refugee peasants are hiring out as agricultural labor for a quarter of the wages local labor is paid.
No Room. Faced with these problems, the Indian government calls the refugees "evacuees" or "escapees" and hopes for their return to their homeland. "Being a poor country ourselves," Mrs. Gandhi told refugees at a camp in eastern India, "we cannot afford to keep you here forever, even if we wished to do so." Their return to their homeland is not likely in the foreseeable future, with the pogrom under way in East Pakistan and the probability of a protracted guerrilla war there. Moreover, because of the war and the exodus, the planting of crops in East Pakistan was at a disastrously low level before the rains began. Famine is almost certain to strike, and when it does, millions more will pack their modest belongings and seek refuge in a country that has no room for them.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905183-3,00.html
http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/446DBB731DBFEEB5802570B8005A71A5?OpenDocument
AROUND THE WORLD; Assam Said to Plan To Deport Bangladeshis
REUTERS
The man elected the next Chief Minister of the state of Assam in northeastern India said today that his party planned to expel thousands of immigrants who came here illegally from neighboring Bangladesh. ''We want them to be deported immediately after their detection,'' the politician, Prafulla Mahanta, leader of the Assam People's Front, said in in an interview. The party defeated the Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in elections on Monday.
December 21, 1985 World News
MORE ON IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES AND: DEPORTATION, MAHANTA, PRAFULLA, INDIA, BANGLADESH
Government concern over Bangla refugees
4 Dec 2001, 2316 hrs IST,TNN

new delhi: home minister l k advani on tuesday said that the influx of refugees from bangladesh following prime minister khaleda zia’s return to power had caused serious concern. responding to a calling attention motion moved by p r das munshi and adhir chowdhury (both congress) in the lok sabha, advani said the government had received reports about atrocities on minorities by supporters of the ruling bangladesh national party and jamaat-e-islami. ‘‘such incidents were in particular noticed during the durga puja festival when cases of physical assault on members of the minority community, damage to temples and puja pandals, disruption of festivities and vandalising of idols were reported,’’ he said. advani said such incidents had ‘‘bred a sense of insecurity amongst the minority community in that country.’’ he said brajesh mishra, principal secretary to the prime minister, had taken up the matter with begum zia on his visit to dhaka on 26-27 november. he, however, urged the members to keep in mind that the attitude of the eastern neighbour towards india was much different from that of pakistan. das munshi pointed out that secular elements in bangladesh had protested the harassment of minorities and cited the example noted bangladeshi intellectual sahrar kabir who had been arrested for his denunciation of communal incidents.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/323266003.cms
Title: Crisis of Hindu Bengalis
Author: Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Publication: The Daily Pioneer
Date: Nov 13, 2001
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/secon3.asp?cat=\opd2&d=OPED
The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party's call for imposition of Jaziya on the Hindu Bengalis (as reported in the Bangla daily, Sangbad) typifies the phrase: "History repeats itself." What was a hypothesis yesterday, however, is a reality today as Hindu Bengalis in Bangladesh are facing the grim prospect of forced conversion, inevitable death or inevitable (and ignominious) migration to India. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that even the normally indifferent regional language press of India's West Bengal - which is not known to be supportive of or sympathetic to the plight of the minorities in Bangladesh - is narrating the graphic details of the plight of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh at the various rural points and the suburbs of Calcutta.
Narrating his transformation from garment exporter to pauper, Harishchandra Das of Dhaka says he has "lost a bank balance of Rs 30 lakh" and suffers "a forced occupation by Bangladeshi Muslims of his 30 bigha land". The only silver lining for Mr Das is that his "wife and children are intact (sic)" and their penury is compensated by the open society of India.
The new victim of Begum Zia's anti-Hindu actions appears to be the prosperous urban Hindu Bengali of Bangladesh. Mr Das is a living example of this. In fact, the other two characteristics of the Bangladeshi Muslims were evident even during Partition and post-partition days, when Hindu women and Hindu land (property) were targeted. The tradition continues, notwithstanding a few incident-free interregnums.
http://www.fisiusa.org/fisi_News_items/Bangla_news/bangla021.htm
Bangaldeshi refugees flooding state: Academician
Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 30, 2003
An estimated 60,000 people have entered India from Bangladesh after the last general elections in that country in October 2001.
This was revealed by Asiatic Society president Amalendu De, an expert on Bangladesh affairs, in Kolkata on Wednesday. Talking to TNN on the occasion of the presentation of a research paper on the problems of refugees at the institute, De said these Bangladeshis had scattered in West Bengal and other states.
And, unlike the refugees who had entered after the Partition, the Centre as well as the state government were indifferent to the plight of the new entrants.
According to information from across the border, there is real danger of 'Talibanisation of Islam' in Bangladesh. And, it is feared that unless a secular leadership is developed there, communal forces are likely to gain ground in neigbouring West Bengal, harping on the plight of the minorities across the border. De called for a study on property laws in the two countries.
Bangla refugees flooding state He said there was nothing discriminatory in the property laws in India but in Bangladesh properties of minorities could be taken away rather easily. For example, if one brother of a family in Bangladesh left for India, his property could be attached as enemy property.
Transfer of properties was the prime reason why many people belonging to the minority community had left Bangladesh, De said.
Editorial published in ULFA organ Freedom says:
Problems are result of 59 years of colonial rule
Recently masses of Geleki, border area of Asom and Nagaland became victims of Naga aggression.Armed Nagas carried out attack against the residents of Geleki, Sibsagar killing two men and destroyingteagardens along with houses. Supporters of Greater Nagaland demanded oil city Nagira to bewithin their territory which is followed by attack on people with volleys of gunfire for continuous oneweek. Simultaneous attack was also carried out upon the people of Sadiya by Arunachali people.During the same period, most surprisingly Mizoram govt sent intruders to Asom to harass the peopleresiding in Asom – Mizoram border.
Obviously these attacks occurred under the same network. The area of land of Asom, which is carrying struggle against the Colonial rule for the last 28 years is 78,529 square kilometers. This is a conspiracy to occupy lands of Asom in the name of aggression by other states so as to diminish the area to such an extent that the national liberation movement becomes irrelevant. Already Nagas established
four municipal boards, schools, hospitals and churches upon the land of Asom.
This is a national crisis. Attack on Merapani, Chungajan of 1984 could not be obliterated from the
memory of people of border areas. The misery of the penury – stricken backward sections of Boro
and Kochari people under the Naga invasion became the vital cause for Boro agitation later on. The
total area of greater Nagalim was 1.26 lakh hectares during their dialogue with India govt on 2001.

In the post-World War II period refugee problem emerged out to be one of the biggest problems before the international community. India has also experienced it at a large scale. Factors such as rise of religious nationalism, ethnicisation of politics, state terrorism, anarchic majoritarianism and above all state’s refusal to conform to norms set by the international refugee regime, rendered the refugees stateless and subjects for inhuman treatment. On the other hand, historical forces like religious, linguistic or ethnic nationalism and regional economic disparity continue to generate refugees in the eastern and north-eastern regions of India. Faced with unfriendly state, both in the country of origin and the country of adoption, the refugees struggle to find the ways and means for a healthy living, and wherever possible they make efforts to put up an organised movement for their ‘human rights’.
In 2001, the BJP government in Uttaranchal had denied domicile certificates to the Bengali Hindu refugees settled in the state since early fifties. Some moneylenders turned land mafia even grabbed their land with the help of police and officials. After demonstrations by some social organization, the state government reluctantly started investigation and made some arrests and dismissed few officials.
This was not an isolated incident against the Bengali refugees who were victims of the division of Bengal in 1947. In 2004, twenty-one such persons were deported from Navrangpur district in Orissa. The BJD-BJP combine government also served deportation notices to more than fifteen hundred people in Kendrapara district of the state. A strong protest by the Utkal Bagiya Surakshya Committee forced the Patniak government to keep its order in abeyance.
The same story moves to Maharashtra where recently in Arsha Tehseel of Bhandara district fifty-two Bengali refugees were arrested but later released with a fine and personal bond to submit all documents relating to the citizenship rights. All district collectors in Maharashtra have been instructed to collect the data of the Bengali refugees residing in the state. The collectors in turn have issued a circular that all such persons to submit their citizenship documents within a month, failing which they would be liable for deportation. This has created anxiety among number of Bengali refugees that had settled in Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchirauli districts of Maharastra since fifties.
The 1955 Indian Citizens Act clearly states that all those who migrated to India in wake of country’s partition are entitled for citizenship and their children would become natural citizens of the country. This raises the question why such persons have been denied the citizenship rights in the country?
In order to understand this problem one has to look at the pattern of the settlement of the Partition refugees in India. The majority of the refugees that had come from West Pakistan were either Punjabis or Sindhis. Most of them belonged to the Hindu upper caste and were given money and land at low rate and were settled in the big cities of India. They were the one who were the prime beneficiaries of evacuee property left in India by the Muslims migrating to Pakistan. Such people today hold the lions share in the development of the country and are enjoying the benefits of the ‘Shining India’.

''Everytime people come and ask us and I say the same thing over and over again. Our condition is deplorable. Ten days of the month we get ration and that's just rice. Since 1996 this problem has been going on,'' said Kisku, Secretary, Relief Camp.
''We've done everything, no one has listened. Now it's better to die than go on living like this. We had two groups which were fighting for our rights - Cobra and Birsa.
''The government has appeased them and brought them into ceasefire. They were promised tribal status but that's also not fulfilled. The situation is such that there maybe another riot,'' Kisku added.
It was in these refugee camps that insurgent groups fighting for Adivasi rights were born.
At the moment these groups are on ceasefire but NDTV was told that some negotiations were on with armed Adivasi groups in Jharkhand.
With a 70 lakh Adivasi population in Assam, the potential for militant groups to recruit is enormous.
Potential rebels
The ULFA has already started recruiting from Upper Assam's Adivasi tea garden community.
''We had sought help from them, but they said it's your own state problem we won't be able to help you, we cant join your fight but we can give you ideas,'' said Kisku.
''The way the government policies are, without picking up arms, without violence, you can't achieve what you want, even your basic rights,'' he added.
And once recruitment takes place, children will be a step away from picking up the gun.
There are at least 50,000 children under 15. With no support systems they are the worst off.
Many have died of hunger, of which no records exist. The ones who do survive are forced into labour.
The government of Assam had recently assured that anganwadis sanctioned in 2005 will be operational by June 30 this year. But there are no such centres in the vicinity of the camps.
Hunger, homelessness and uncertainty have led to chronic depression. For traffickers too, this is fertile ground for luring young girls with promises of jobs.
Moni has just been rescued from a Delhi household in Karol Bagh. She was taken by a middleman two years ago. She isn't alone, many others have disappeared.
''This has happened here. They are given the temptation of Delhi and money and all the girls who've gone have never returned,'' informs Kisku.
''We found out that Ekka Placement services take them. They don't give us the addresses or make the guardians speak to their children,'' he added.
Ethnic riots
In Bongaigaon dist, thousands of displaced Muslims - mostly of Bengali origin - are also waiting to be shifted from the refugee camps.
Forced to live in refugee camps in the first wave of ethnic riots in 1993 with the Bodos at least 20,000 refugees still remain. During monsoons, the place is flooded. Health, sanitation, education or food were never delivered.
These people have completed the archetypal 14 years in exile, meanwhile they've lost their land and hope. Even these people get nothing from the government but they are the survivors.
Both men and women work outside the camps. The only help they get is from Muslim organisations.
''Till we get rehabilitated we will keep waiting, we will agitate. We have pinned our hopes on our minority leaders. It is they who help us out,'' said Tanser Ali, Muslim Relief Camp, Hepasara Bongaigaon.
''We don't get any help from the official agencies - no ration, no water, no education, no electricity, no healthcare, but we all work as daily wagers,'' he said.
The condition in these Adivasi and Muslim relief camps is deplorable.
The Supreme Court's Special Commissioner, who visited the camp, has said ''it is completely unacceptable that citizens of the country are living in conditions of destitution with chronic denial of their rights to food and livelihood.''
Three months have been given for the state government to fulfill their commitment. But the deadline is not a guarantee for the government to act.
For camp residents, there is little hope.
Bangla Hindu influx has Northeast India on edge
Dhaka’s disclaimer and New Delhi’s tacit approval thwart a resolution of the status of Hindus in Bangladesh

In the weeks following the 1 October 2001 general elections, Bangladesh witnessed an outburst of systematic attacks on the minority Hindu community across the country, in addition to attacks on activists of the freshly ousted Awami League.
By 8 October 2001, at least 30 people had been killed and more than 1,000 others injured. Their houses were torched, ransacked and in many cases seized, women were raped, and temples were desecrated.
The Hindu-dominated areas in Barisal, Bhola, Pirojpur, Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna, Kushtia, Jhenidah, Bagerhat, Feni, Tangail, Noakhali, Natore, Bogra, Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria, Gazipur and Chittagong were the worst hit.
Many Hindu families have reportedly fled their homes and sought refuge in areas considered ‘safe.’ The Bangladesh Observer reported that at least 10,000 people of the minority community from Barisal district had left their homes following attacks by activists of the fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party and had taken shelter in neighbouring Gopalganj district, the electorate of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Many others fled to the Indian states of Tripura and West Bengal.
In one incident on 4 October 2001 at Panchaboti in Narayanganj district, activists of the newly-elected Bangladesh National Party attacked the house of schoolteacher Dilip Mondol. They assaulted Mondol's 60-year-old father and four-month-old daughter. They also attacked and attempted to strip the teacher's two sisters and their mother when they came to the father’s defence.
Dhaka, in a permanent state of denial regarding any influx of minorities into India, took a regrettable approach to the violence. Ministers in the newly sworn-in government characteristically dismissed reports of the attacks as “exaggerated” and “politically motivated.”
The Government's sensitivity to any scrutiny of its treatment of minorities is indicated by the detention of Shahriar Kabir, an independent documentary filmmaker, under the Special Powers Act, 1974. Kabir, who was returning from Calcutta after investigating the condition of Bangladeshi refugees in India, was detained for being “in possession of documents which can endanger the stability of the country.”

Kabir told the BBC that his group, the South Asian Coalition Against Fundamentalism, had collected evidence from the victims who had fled the country, and would publish its findings soon.
Despite a demonstration in Dhaka to demand Kabir's release as well as appeals from rights groups, the journalist was kept in detention and later charged with sedition. He was released after a month in custody on six-month ad-interim bail.
Meanwhile, on 27 November 2001 the High Court, in response to a petition filed by a rights organisation, ordered the Government to investigate the incidents and submit a report by 15 January 2002. It issued notice to the government as to why it had not taken action against those responsible for the attacks on minorities. Earlier, on 24 November 2001, the Court had ordered the Government to explain why it had not taken steps to halt post-election attacks and harassment of minorities.
The attacks on Hindu minorities drew the attention of the Indian Government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Another right-wing ally of the BJP, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, sought New Delhi's intervention.
The Indian Prime Minister's Principal Secretary and National Security Advisor Mr Brajesh Mishra subsequently visited Dhaka reportedly to convey India's concern over the attacks on minorities, in addition to general parleys on security issues. The subject was also raised in the Indian Parliament.
Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh however are not a new phenomenon. The community has suffered discrimination and harassment since the 1947 Partition of India. In 1965, following the Indo-Pakistan war, the then Pakistan Government introduced the Enemy Property (Custody and Registration) Order II of 1965. The Defence of Pakistan Rules identified the minority Hindus in what was then East Pakistan as enemies and dispossessed them of their properties.
After independence from Pakistan, the President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his Order No. 29 of 1972 changed the nomenclature from Enemy Properties Act (EPA) to ‘Vested Property Act’ (VPA). The repression of minorities however did not end - this, in spite of the fact that Bangladesh's liberation war was antithetical to the 1947 Partition that took place on religious lines. Linguistic and cultural similarities also do not seem to have induced efforts to ensure equal treatment of the country's Hindu minority.
Rather, Clause 2 of the Order stated, “Nothing contained in this Order shall be called in question in any court.” In fact, one of the reasons for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's continuation of the VPA was the forcible takeover of Hindu-owned lands by Awami League leaders during the Pakistani regime, and opposition to the repeal of the EPA.
The consequences of the continuation of the VPA have been devastating. The Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), a Dhaka-based NGO, estimates that a total of 10,48,390 Hindu households have been affected by the Vested Properties Act, and estimates that 1.05 million acres of land have been dispossessed. About 30 percent of the Hindu households (including those that are categorised as missing households) or 10 out of every 34 Hindu households are victims of the VPA/EPA.
These estimates, although based on various plausible assumptions, should be considered as sufficiently indicative of the problem.
The Hindu minority has suffered under Governments of both the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party (see box). Because of the atrocities, hundreds of thousands of Hindus have fled from Bangladesh and have taken shelter in neighbouring States of India. According to ALRD, “the implementation of Enemy Property Act\Vested Property Act has accelerated the process of mass out-migration of Hindu population from mid 1960s onward. The estimated size of such out-migration (the missing Hindu population) during 1964-1991 was 5.3 million, or 538 persons each day since 1964, with as high as 703 persons per day during 1964-1971. If the above estimates are close to reality, then it would not be an exaggeration to conclude that the Enemy/Vested Property Acts acted as an effective tool for the extermination of Hindu minorities.”
The influx of the Hindu minorities due to the repression of the Muslim majority in Bangladesh and migration of Muslims in search of lebensraum has been equally devastating for the indigenous peoples in North East India. As a result of the exodus of Hindus in 1947 to escape the communal riots in then East Pakistan and subsequent illegal migration, indigenous Tripuris in the Indian state of Tripura have been reduced from being 70 percent of the population in 1947 to 27 percent today.
The insurgency movements in the Indian state of Tripura are directly related to the uncontrolled illegal migration into Tripura, the marginalisation of the indigenous Tripuris and the unwillingness of New Delhi and Agartala to take cognisance of the problem.
The insurgency led by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is also rooted in anti-foreigner agitation in Assam. Though, because of the religious affinity the focus has generally been on migration by Muslims, there is no denying that most Hindus migrate to India permanently due to the insecurity and repression they face in Bangladesh. New Delhi's silence and tacit approval of Hindu fundamentalist organisations in India have encouraged Hindus to migrate to India, and have forestalled the seeking of a permanent resolution of the status of millions of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Moreover, the reaction of both New Delhi and Hindu fundamentalist organisations to the atrocities on other minorities in Bangladesh has been contemptible. When thousands of Chakma and other tribal minorities from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh sought shelter in India in the mid-1980s, New Delhi made the camp conditions in Tripura insufferable to force them to return to their homeland.
Whenever tribal refugees facing massacres sought refuge in India, they were repatriated. Many refugees tried to enter Tripura from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh following large-scale communal violence on 25 June 2001 in which more than 200 houses were gutted. However, within 24 hours, the Border Security Force personnel on the Indian side had repatriated 34 Marma families after a flag meeting with the Bangladesh Rifles. The refugees were not even given temporary shelter.
New Delhi needs to take a pragmatic approach to this problem. While illegal immigration threatening the demographic composition of the North East has to be dealt with, New Delhi cannot overlook the unabated influx of Hindu minorities that also directly contributes to the insurgency problems in the North Eastern region. It is also obliged to provide refuge to those fleeing atrocities at home.
At the same time, it should take comprehensive measures to identify the Hindus who fled Bangladesh since 1971 after the signing of the Indira-Mujib Accord and take up the issue of their return with safety and dignity with the Government of Bangladesh. New Delhi must demonstrate its political resolve to take up their plight with Dhaka and find a solution within the framework of international law.
Most migrants can provide evidence that can withstand judicial scrutiny to prove their Bangladeshi citizenship and ownership of lands in Bangladesh. Unless, such measures are taken, episodic reactions such as visits by the National Security Advisor are meaningless.
Nor can the issue be resolved by opening the floodgates to millions of Bangladeshi Hindus. The large influx and the connivance of the local administration in Tripura and West Bengal, coupled with New Delhi's tacit approval to the clandestine integration of the Hindus, is only contributing to insurgency in the North East.
It is time New Delhi woke up and addressed the root causes of its own problems.
http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfquarterly/Jan_march_2002/bangla_hindu.htm

Indo-Bangladeshi relations
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During the partition of India after independence in 1947, the Bengal region was divided into two territories: East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) and West Bengal. East Bengal was made a part of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan due its overwhelmingly large Muslim population (then more than 85%). In 1955, the government of Pakistan changed its name from East Bengal to East Pakistan.
However confrontations between East and West Pakistan started soon after. In 1948, Jinnah declared that only Urdu would be the official l

Why Don`t You Ring Me?
Suicidal Detachment Would Lead to Greter Tragedies Like Polavaram
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Were my late father Pulin Babu living today, he certainly would have reached Malkangiri and would have visited adjoining all Chhattishgargh and Andhra areas which have to be submerged in Polavaram Dam. He could do any damn thing to save his people! He met all the prime ministers from Pdt. Jawahar Lal Nehru to Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his life time and voiced the Dalit Bengali Refugeees scattered countrywide. Unfortunately, I may not do that. He invested his property for Dalit Refugee movements. He encounterd statesponsered violence and repression accross the border not only as a refugee leader but also as a peasant leader in Uttarakhand. I have no property to invest as I only inherit the lifelong struggle from him. I have to work as a professional for my biotic sustenance! I face sever crunch for time, space and money. But I may not be detached from the plight of my people simply because I bear the destined legacy of my dead father.
Every month my wife Savita complains of heavy Telephone and Internet Bills pending and crunch for money to run the home. But I am not able till this date to discontinue my adventure with the destiny of the enslaved eighty five percent masses of this country and beyond.
In my home district, Udhamsingh Nagar, in the district town more than three hundred officials belonging to Bengali dalit refugees live together in different posh colonies. They organised under UP- Uttarakhand Bengali Employees` association. They have no financial crunch. They financed and mobilised the Bengali Refugees resistance aginst denial of citizenship by then BJP government led by Nityanand swami. At that time , everone happened to be in close touch with me. Now no one cares to ring me up or giving any followup. But whenever they face a serious crisis , they never forget to get me involved immediately.
This is the trend amongst SC ST Tribal Minority communities suffering from lack of social interaction and communication gap altogether!
I never get a regular feedback from anywhere. I have to write. I have to ring them. Well, I called on every refugee and sc Leader and intellectual in Bengal and Orrissa. Only today, my wife warned me of phone and Net billing. She complained , no one rings you or recalls you why you are so involved!
In Salt Lake , Kolkata a host of intellectuals and IAS officers, engineers, scientist, professors, doctors cave in within an Arena of Post Modern Brahminical Consumer arena. Only I name a few of them, Dr Upen Biswas, former joint Director of CBI and a leader Bengali Namoshudras, IAS officer rtd. Income Tax commissioner Mr Amar Biswas, a poet and backbone of Bangla dalit Sahity sanstha, Mr Kumud Biswas, another Rtd. IAS officer. My wife`s MaUSA, MY uNCLE iN Law, IAS Sudhir Kumar Biswas, former chairman of UP employees Selection Board reside in Lake Town. None of these gentleman is anyhow concerned with the problems of the community. They encashed Ambedkar and dalit origin to get the job thanks to quota and reservation. They have been very very successful by profession. They have enough money, time and space to invest for the community. Many of them may turn up as whole timer. But non of them is ready to expose themselves belonging to Dalit Community.
That is how, no national Dalit movement is possible despite individual attempts like that of VT Rajshekhar!
My Father was a whole timer and he invested his life for the community. Why others are so detached?
This suicidal detachment would result in greater tragedies as our people have faced during Partition Halocaust, during Marichjhapi Genocide and Have to face in Polavaram Submergence in Malkangiri!
Pl read Ambedkar`s Life and works once again! If you believe in other ideologies, plese go through the theories and history once again!
B. R. Ambedkar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar

The Polavaram reservoir submerges an area of 63,691 ha comprising of 60,063 ha in Andhra Pradesh, 2,398 ha in Chattisgarh and 1,230 ha in Orissa. Out of the total submergence area, the area under cultivation is about 30,650 ha and the forest area 3,705 ha. The reservoir submergence will affect 250 villages and a total population of about 1.45 lakhs in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
http://nwda.gov.in/index3.asp?sublink2id=12
SHRI ARJUN SETHI: My actual problem or concern arises only when the implementation of a project by a State affects the interests of other States. As I have stated, I would like to be very brief in my intervention.
As far as Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal is concerned, the hon. Minister has already stated that it has recommended for FRL/MWL 150 ft project. The hon. Minister has not said anything and has stuck to the award given by the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal. It is now reported that the concerned States had held inte-state meeting in the year 1997. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has intimated that the water level may go up to FRL/MWL 182 feet due to back water effect, by adopting design of 36 lakh cusec, and as a result seven villages and 1026 hectares of territory in Orissa are likely to be affected.
We have no problem if they adhere to 150 ft. FRL/MWL because that has been agreed to by the concerned State. It is now reported that they have intimated in a meeting that they are going to have FRL/MWL 182 feet, as a result a number of villages, especially in Malkana district of Orissa, are going to be affected. As you know, Sir, especially in those areas a large number of adivasis live and their homes will be submerged due to this.
The State Government of Orissa has a number of times written to them and they should not go up to 182 feet FRL/MWL. A number of times, meetings have been held under the aegis of Central Water Commission also. So far as I remember, three times, that is in the year 1997, 2000 and 2001, the CWC held meetings to resolve the issue. In every meeting both the CWC and the State Government of Orissa have requested the concerned State of Andhra pradesh to give details of back water effect. Both the CWC as well as the Government of Orissa wanted to have a detailed study report as well as back water profile up to FRL/MWL 182 feet for examination[R13] .
The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has not given the details. As a result of this, the particular issue is still pending before the CWC. I would like to know from the hon. Minister whether the State Government of Andhra Pradesh is having this particular project at the FR level 150 feet or they have increased it to 182 feet.
Secondly, I have asked a number of questions in this particular Session itself regarding the details of this project. Today also in his statement he has not given any details as to whether the particular State Government is going for 182 feet FR level. I would like to have the details. Similarly, I would like to know from the hon. Minister whether the Government has any information now in this regard. In response to an unstarred question on this subject, he avoided giving the answer. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has not reported the status of construction of Indira Sagar or Polavaram Project. This is the answer given by the hon. Minister to the House.
Another thing which I would like to bring before the House is that the hon. Minister has stated in his statement that the environment clearance has already been given. You will be surprised to know the time taken to give the environment clearance. The report was submitted to the Ministry on Environment and Forest on 10.10.2005 and the clearance was given on 25.10.2005. Within 15 days, the environment clearance was given. I am surprised how the environment impact of having this particular project can be studied in 15 days only, whereas a number of such other projects are lying for months and years together. For those projects, they have not been given the environment clearance.
PART II PROCEEDINGS OTHER THAN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (XIV LOK SABHA)
http://164.100.24.208/debate14/debtext.asp?slno=5759&ser=&smode=
Red Listed plants threatened by Polavaram Dam- ANTHRA Sanyasi Rao et al.pdf
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Polavaram Dam makes Godavari Nadhi an item for consumption Sunday, Jun 24
http://mbbhushan.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/polavaram-dam-makes-godavari-nadhi-an-item-for-consumption/
Bachawat Award is outdated and makes the Polavaram project hazardous
According to the Central Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the implications of the Polavaram project proposed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh strong objections were raised by Orissa and Chattisgarh state Governments and several individuals against the project and they wanted it to be revised.
Agreement were entered into in 1978 by the 3 states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa regarding an FRL/MWL of +150ft on the condition that the back water curve due to the project during floods should not exceed +150ft above mean sea level. Ultimately the agreement was revised on 2-4-1980 and it was accepted by the tribunal on 3-4-1980 and the Government of India accepted this agreement.
Polavaram Dam is controversial and is opposed by varied sections in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere in the country. The claims of Andhra Pradesh government are questioned and the manner in which it has carried out the works has raised serious doubts about the importance it gives to any national norms and transparency in a project that would have irreversible implications to ecology and people.
It threatens to displace a Koya tribe that’s no less than cultural genocide.
Displacement underestimated and scope for social justice displaced
http://mbbhushan.wordpress.com/2006/10/10/polavaram-dam-need-for-national-debate/
AP government mentions of 299 villages (276 in AP, 7 in Orissa & 16 in Chattisgarh) displacing a total population of 1,95,357. Villages forming part of the scheduled area are 297 villages. Eexcept 2 villages in East Godavari of AP all other villages threatened of submergence are in the Scheduled Areas of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. The data of AP government is old and many villages have not been included in the submergible villages. The data provided by the AP is contested by activists and scholars. Studies of M Bharath Bhushan & R Murali, CESS, among others have found AP govt has underestimated and underplayed the the losses.
About 3,30,000 people with Scheduled Tribes constituting around 60% are likely to be affected with the contemplated backwaters level of + 183 feet. It is estimated that about 400 villages will be affected. Massive displacement of adivasis is bound to have irreversible ecological losses with uphill migration of the adivasis and deforestation in the Eastern Ghats. Ecology of Orissa, Chattisgarh and AP is threatened of the uphill migration by displaced tribals. Media reported of the tribal villages already identifying pockets in forest as alternative sites.
It is in sensitive area and displacement of adivasi in large numbers is bound to make the situation volatile in “dandakaranya”.
Ecological concerns Wildlife and biodiversity concerns of Eastern Ghats are beyond state boundaries. There are approximately 10 tigers in the Papikonda sanctuary and about 5 tigers in the affected area as there is abundant water even during the summer. This is the richest forest area in AP in terms of biodiversity and is mostly moist deciduous forest. This forest forms a contiguous forest corridor with the forests in Orissa and Chattisgarh
Flood disaster is underestimated
Much against the AP government’s submission to the GWDT that severe floods of 25 lakh cusecs occurs once in 48 years, it is seen such floods occur within twenty years with such floods occurring in 1986 and 2006! Flood water level (Back water level) at Badrachalam has reached at RL 172 this year with a flood discharge of 20 to 23 lakh cusecs without any Dam. If the proposed Dam is constructed with the height off wall about 84 ft. above the River Bed Level at Polavaram obstructing the Flow would, create heading of the levels which may reach more than +200 ft., at Badrachalam and same may be at Konta of Chattisgarh and Motu of Orissa. Owing to which the submergence of Forest, private land, and villages adversely affected and people displaced would be far above the estimates of the AP government.
Central agencies failing to ensure norms
The Government of A P has commenced the Head Works and the Canal Works before the Site Clearance that was granted on 19-09-2005 and Environment Clearances were obtained on 25-10-2005. Public Hearing was conducted on 10-10-2005 and within 8 days, the A.P. Pollution Control Board has given “No Objection Certificate” on 18-10-2005. The very next day i.e. on 19-10-2005 the Expert Committee of MOE&F has granted Environmental Clearance. It was approved by the MOE&F on 25-10-2005, after the construction of the Project commenced in the Month of March, 2005.
As per the norms the Government is required to hold the Public Hearings in all the areas of submergence due to construction of the Project. But the Public Hearing were not held in the submergence areas of Chhattisgarh and Orissa till date and as on today the Pollution Control Boards of those two states have not given “No Objection Certificate”.
CM takes dam issue to Centre
Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, July 12: Union environment and forest minister Mr A Raja has reportedly assured chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik that he would ask the Andhra Pradesh government to redraw its Polavaram project proposal to meet the stipulations set by the High Court.

Official sources here said Mr Patnaik had met Mr Raja in New Delhi today and expressed concern over the environmental clearance accorded to the Polavaram project. The project will adversely affect 6,000 tribals of Malkangiri district in the state, he said.

The chief minister pointed out that over 100 hectares of forest land in Orissa will be submerged if the AP project was implemented. He also informed the Central minister that the Orissa High Court had directed the AP government to reformulate the project in such a manner that there is no submergence in Orissa.

Mr Patnaik also requested Mr Raja to clear the proposals submitted by the state government for regularisation of eligible pre-1980 forest encroachments. The state government had submitted proposals in respect of 17 districts, of which clearance has been received for regulararisation of encroachments made prior to 1972 in nine districts.

The chief minister requested Mr Raja to clear the balance proposals, in respect of the nine districts, viz, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Khurda, Nayagarh, Rayagada, Boudh, Kalahandi, Koraput and Kandhamal (ie, up to the cut off year of 1980) and also to clear all the proposals in respect of the remaining districts viz, Baragarh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jajpur, Nuapada and Sonepur.

Later the CM met the Union minister of mines, Mr Sis Ram Ola and apprised him of the investments taking place in the mineral-based industry sector in the state. The chief minister, emphasising the value addition principle for allocation of mines on preferential basis, sought the support in providing such raw material linkage to the mineral-based industry.
Mr Ola stated that some of these issues have been addressed in the Hoda Committee Report, which will be duly considered by his ministry.

The contentious issue of divestment of Nalco also figured in the discussions and the Central minister reportedly told Mr Patnaik that the proposal for disinvestment in Nalco has been clearly withdrawn. Mr Ola stated that some of these issues have been addressed in the Hoda Committee Report, which will be duly considered by his Ministry.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=9&theme=&usrsess=1&id=123032
POLAVARAM DAM kills Lakhs of People in Godavari Delta -5
http://profshivajirao.googlepages.com/polavaramdam-5

The opponents are arguing that on the basis of the latest spillway design criteria used for dams in other countries the Central Water Commission is also following their own standards as presented in the above tables. They argued that the normal rule of thumb is to design the spillway for a peak flood that is 1.5 to 2 times more than the previously recorded flood and this thumb rule is not followed in the case of Polavaram. The opponents argued that the peak flood discharge recorded in 1970 and 1966 varied from 20 to 22 lakhs cusecs and on this basis the engineers of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa advised their Chief Ministers to incorporate in the agreement of 2-4-1980 , 36 lakhs cusecs as the peak flood discharge recorded in August 1986 in Godavari was 35 lakhs cusecs and hence the peak flood for spillway design of Polavaram project must be fixed at about 54 lakhs cusecs. It is reported in the News papers that on the advise of the A.P.State Government has recently revised the spillway design flood to about 48 lakhs cusecs. Consequently the revised peak floods is increased by about 30 to 33% of the previous figure of 36lakhs cusecs for which the 3 states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have entered into an agreement on 2-4-1980 as accepted by the Bachawat Tribunal. In view of this enormous increase in Probable Maximum Flood being used for spillway design, the whole nature of the project has completely changed and all the previous estimates made for back water curve, number of villages likely to be submerged and extent of Forest lands under inundation and the population to be resettled and the costs of rehabilitation have to be completely enhanced on a substantial scale with the result that the cost of the project will abnormally exceed as compared with the benefits will be conferred by the project and hence the costs far exceed the benefits and make the feasibility of the project unacceptable even from the point of view of Economy. The opponents argued that although the dam break analysis has been done by one of the wings of the Union Ministry of Water Resources namely, the National Institute of Hydrology at Roorkee, their work as presented in the Environmental Impact Assessment report is drastically reduced upto a length of about 30km downstream of the Polavaram dam upto Rajahmundry. But the catastrophic damage due to an inevitable collapse of the dam due to bombing by terrorists, earthquakes, construction and foundation failures or human failures or collapse of dams in the upstream side of Polavaram will result in inundation of dozens of cities and thousands of villages covering a population of about 45 lakhs in most fertile deltas of East Godavari and West Godavari districts. If a risk analysis is made the A.P.State Government will come to understand how difficult and almost impossible it will be to plan for an effective disaster management plan to protect the lives of billions of animal and human population and save the most valuable crops, industries and human habitations of inestimable value. Since the state Government is refused to take the responsibility to prepare these crucial reports they can never arrive at a meaningful cost benefit ratio and consequently they can not think of alternate project proposals which can be implemented to attain the same economic goals of agriculture developments by supplying the Godavari water for drinking water and agricultural needs of millions of farmers and farm labourers in the drought prone regions of Rayalaseema and Telangana besides stabilizing the existing irrigation systems of Godavari, Krishna and Pennar deltas. Hence the opponents of the Polavaram dam are demanding for a fresh appraisal of the Polavaram project to utilize the enormous quantity of river waters wastefully joining the Bay of Bengal for diversion to all the regions of Andhra Pradesh including North coastal Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema. If the present engineers and officials of the state Government are found to be non-cooperative with the state Government to chalk out new projects in place of the Polavaram project for optimal utilization of Godavari waters the independent engineering experts and the intellectuals of the state will come forward to help the state Government for this purpose.
Large numbers of people show their opposition against the Polavaram Dam.

RAIPUR, India (AWW) - A mammoth dam and river inter-linking project in eastern India has sharply raised environmental concerns and propelled neighbouring states into a bitter dispute over the costs and benefits of water. The case highlights the kind of future battles that will increasingly be fought over water, one of the world's most precious resources.
The dam and river inter-linking project, called Polavaram project, straddles the eastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP). The AP government is promoting the project over objections from its neighbours Orissa and Chhattisgarh states that decry the project's adverse impact on local communities.
At the heart of the squabble lies significant environmental and human rights concerns. Project critics say, construction of the dam is already inducing tribal villagers, called Adivasi, to flee to higher ground to escape inundation, taking with them a particularly unsound farming practice called 'podu'. This practice entails burning up a patch of forest, farming it for 2-3 crop cycles, and moving on in search of another pristine patch for the same purpose, scarring the earth and destroying forest cover.
BIG PROJECT...
Concerns have begun to grow in recent months as the AP government pursues construction of the mammoth US 3-3.5 billion dollar project. First envisaged by the British in 1941, the Polavaram project aims to construct a dam on the mighty Godavari river and divert large quantities of water 174 kilometres through a link canal to the Krishna river. The dam is expected to produce 960 megawatts of power and irrigate 291,000 hectares of land in 15 of AP's 23 districts, according to a study done by India's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The total land requirement for the project is 46,060 hectares. Authorities claim that the project will also provide drinking water to 2.5 million people in 540 villages on the project's route.
...BIGGER CONCERNS
Clearly, a massive undertaking such as this is bound to raise just as massive controversies. The project's critics claim that human and environmental costs make the project too expensive to construct.
Environmentalists are particularly concerned about the adverse effects of the project. A study by the MoEF estimated that a combined total of nearly 200,000 people would be affected by Polavaram in AP, Orissa and Chhattisgarh states. Studies carried out by Independent groups, such as a 1996 report by Godavari Krishna Vijaywada Link (GKVL) and National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), found that the project would submerge an area of 63,691 hectares, mostly in AP but also in the nearby two states. Half the estimated inundated land will be agricultural, and about five percent will be forests.
With numbers like these, the controversy is hardly likely to go away. Already, there have been reports that the local Adivasis have been moving uphill, axing more forests for farmland and homesteads. Tribals who remain in their traditional villages have put up notices to discourage AP government officials from visiting. One such notice states: "This is our village and we do not allow any body from the Government."
P. Shivaramkrishna of Shakti, an organization fighting for the rights of the tribal, said, “The government should give a second thought on decreasing the height of the dam to minimize the sub-mergence level.” He added, “Besides, an alternate model could be find out for safeguarding the lives of the Lakh people coming under the sub-mergence zone.”
Most recently, the major irrigation minister P. Lakshmaiah has informed that the state government has decided to retail the dam height at 150 feet as per the recommendations of the nine-member committee of experts headed by Preetam Singh, former Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), which was mandated to study the issue of submersion of land under the project.
Non-governmental organizations have found that uphill migration of the Adivasis has contributed to deforestation. A 1994 study by NGOs had estimated that 153,000 acres of forest cover would likely lost due to such uphill migration. Even that rate is now considered conservative. M. Bharath Bhushan, one of the authors of the 1994 study who is associated with of Aranyika, a network of NGOs from the three states affected by Polavaram, says," the rate of deforestation observed in October 2005 indicates that earlier estimates are far small and do not show the real danger."
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES
The Polavaram project has been controversial since the very beginning. Decades after the British mooted the idea, the federal government's Central Water Commission (CWC) granted hydrological clearance to the project in 1982. But opposition from activists stalled the project for years. In 2005, the AP government took up the matter seriously and declared its intention to complete the project in five years.
But it has not been smooth-sailing. Public protests and litigation brought the project to a standstill as the AP High Court stayed work till the MoEF granted environmental clearance to the project. That clearance was contingent upon public hearings in the affected areas. Accordingly, a series of such public hearings were conducted by the state, ultimately helping it win clearance from the MoEF in October 2005.
But critics charge that not only will the project threaten indigenous tribes, but the October 10, 2005 public hearings too were conducted haphazardly. They point out that the MoEF clearance was granted in haste after the AP government conducted such hearings in only five places - Khammam, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Krishna districts. None were held in neighbouring affected states of Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
According to Bharath Bhushan, tribal communities that are hardly literate were not provided the executive summaries of the project in their local language before the hearings. Nor were they allowed to raise their voices during the hearings. Besides, he adds, they were not aware about the rehabilitation packages being offered.
"How can the project get environmental clearance when the views of tribal villagers who are going to be affected were not taken into consideration and when no proper public hearing was held?" asks Medha Patkar of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) which had presented a joint memorandum to the AP chief secretary, demanding that construction of the Polavaram dam be stopped.
NEIGHBOURING STATES ALARMED
Manish Kunjan, former state lawmaker from Chhattisgarh's Bastar district was equally enraged over the MoEF clearance without consent from his state. "The project will submerge at least 30 villages in our state and we are not going to let that happen," he declares.
The Chhattisgarh state government has asked AP state government to review the project, making it clear that it would not allow inundation in its territory because the benefits accrued to it is so minimal.
Meanwhile, Orissa state's chief minister Navin Patnaik also wrote a letter to his counterpart in AP, objecting to the latter's decision to go ahead with the project without consulting Orissa. He has sought a review of the entire issue and sent a similar letter to the Central Water Commission expressing his displeasure at clearances given without his state's approval.
But the protests have fallen on deaf ears, and it is easy to see why. India is a huge country with pockets of prosperity amid grinding poverty. So is the case with water. While parts of the country have abundant water, others remain dry for long spells. For politicians and technocrats, the obvious answer lies in technology, especially those that can bend nature to the will of "development experts" in government departments. Tellingly, politicians are loathe to oppose a project that is touted to have such wide benefits. A meeting of all political parties in January this year also gave its tacit approval to the project, though the Communist Party of India (Marxist) asked the state government to reduce the size of the dam to minimize submersion.
R Ajayan, convener of Plachmeda Solidarity Committee commented, “It is very unfortunate that all the political parties are in favour of the dam. Though the communist parties speak about safeguarding people’s interest, in this case they are also supporting the government.”
Ajayan also said that under the Panchyati Raj Act, It was the Gram Sabha that has got the power to decided what should be done. “But in this case,” he said, “the Gram Sabhas have been completely sidelined.”
PROJECT SUPPORTERS SEE BENEFITS
Project supporters say, the river inter-linking is crucial for irrigation. They point out that long distance inter-basin transfer of water from surplus basins to deficit areas has been mooted for a long time. A National Perspective Plan (NPP) formulated in 1980 by the federal government and CWC identified a number of inter-basin water transfer links to connect both peninsular and Himalayan rivers across the country. The inter-linking of Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Cauvery rivers is one of the four parts of the Peninsular Rivers Development Component of the NPP.
OTHERS SEE HIGH COSTS
However, the benefits of Polavaram have been hyped out of proportion, claim critics. They point to a 2005 survey by GKVL and National Water Development Agency (NWDA), the project would displace at least 250 villages affecting around 20,000 houses. Other studies have put the number of likely-to-be-displaced villages at more than 300, predominantly tribal villages. (ENDS/AWW/RM/SP)
‘No’ to dam

We are disappointed with your coverage of the resistance to Polavaram dam. People’s resistance to such large projects is necessarily complex and subtle. While the article ‘Get out’ (Down To Earth, November 30, 2005) makes a passing reference to the protests against the dam by Adivasi communities in Khammam, West Godavari and East Godavari, the coverage in the December 31, 2005 issue of dte, is a complete misrepresentation of the movement against the dam.
By saying that the Andhra Pradesh government has finally bowed to pressure from families to come up with a modified rehabilitation package for the project-affected families, thereby implying that this has fulfilled peoples demand, is a far cry from reality. Their demand is not for a better rehabilitation package but a strong “No” to the dam. The following points illustrate the vibrancy and strength of the movement:
l Strong grassroots mobilisation by youth groups in Khammam district has forced the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to reconsider its ambivalent position on the dam. Local leaders of the party are now completely opposed to the dam while state and national level leaders continue to play around with demands like height reduction and complete rehabilitation
• People’s committees in Khammam, East and West Godavari districts are raising larger questions about the purpose of the dam and its relationship to the growth corridors along the coast where massive domestic and foreign investments in industrial and tourism infrastructure are being made at the expense of fishing communities.
The Polavaram dam cannot be understood outside its geohistoric specificity. While Narmada Bachao Andolan raised many important issues, resistance to Polavaram is moving ahead very creatively and attempting to articulate a new sets of questions.
Anantha Krishna and Sagari R Ramdas
sagari.ramdas.gmail.com
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
April 14, 1891 – December 6, 1956
Bhimrao "Babasaheb" Ambedkar.
Alternate name: Baba Saheb
Place of birth: Mhow, Central Provinces, India
Place of death: Delhi,India
Movement: Dalit Buddhist movement
Major organizations: Independent Labour Party,Scheduled Castes Federation,Republican Party of India
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Marathi: ????????? ?????? ????? ???????) (April 14, 1891 — December 6, 1956) was a Buddhist