Palash Speaks

Weep, Mother India! Weep!
Blackest Day For Independent India, Indo- US Deal declared
The post Cold War aggressiveness of American and British foreign policy now makes India a Real Colony
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Deal silent on N-test; Govt says nation?s interests not mortgaged

The agreement to operationalise the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is silent on any repercussions on New Delhi conducting an atomic test even as the government today made it clear that the country`s interests have not been mortgaged and the strategic programme remains unaffected.
http://zeenews.com/index.asp
The post Cold War aggressiveness of American and British foreign policy affecting Iraq, North Korea, and the southern former states of the Soviet Union has step-by-step unsettled Moscow. The straw that broke the camel’s back is undoubtedly the US decision to build a new radar facility on Polish and Czech soil, that although directed at putative Iranian rockets could easily be upgraded to be aimed at Russian ones. But it began with President Bill Clinton’s decision to expand Nato right up to the frontiers of the old Soviet Union.
Dangers of return of the Cold War
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=164042
It is the Blackest Day for Independent India but has to be written in Golden letters in the history of Shinging Sensex India ruled by Brahminical comradors as they have been successful to make India a real Zionist Hindu Colony of US Post Modern Manusmriti Galaxy Order at last! The enslaved Indian People have no courage to face the US strike power omnipresnt with collabration of the colonial Indian statepower. Pakistan is feeling the heat and fire! We may not feel. Bangla nationality in Dhaka has also welcomed US supremacy there. This Indian subcontinent is a free military zone since today.
A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people and injured about 45 others on Friday at a hotel near Islamabad's Lal Masjid, officials said, just hours after riot police clashed with hundreds of religious students at the newly reopened mosque. We don`t see any Red Alert whatever happen around! We have not learn anything from Iraq and Afgan experiences. Our memry does not have any archive on Vietnam, Latin america, Korea. We have forgotten all japanese crimes. Even we forgot the War of 1962 and now we do gang up agianst China with strategic grouping with US, Australia and japan!
This is Indian foreign Policy. This is nonsense Sensense! This diplomacy!
Weep, Mother India! Weep!
What a Farce!
India and United States today officially announced that they had completed negotiations on the bilateral text on civil nuclear co-operation, but opposition parties said doubts remained on the extent to which Indian strategic autonomy had been curtailed ...
The United States and India have completed an agreement to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology, it was announced Friday, in a deal that would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy if approved.While a step forward on what would be a major shift in U.S. policy, the accord must still clear several more steps, including international and U.S. congressional approval, before nuclear trade could begin.
In a single-page joint statement, the countries provided no specific details, but hailed their work as a "historic milestone." The United States has portrayed the agreement as deepening ties with a democratic Asian power.Critics say the measure damages international nonproliferation efforts and could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic uranium for weapons. That, they fear, could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia.
Friday's announcement came after more than a year of detailed, often frustrating technical talks.
Whatever demon may be Bush or any American President he may not dare to go against US interests. Our so called National leadership along with so much hyped democratic institution and FDI fed gift sponsorship monger media damn care Indian National interests and the enslaved population. They have made a woman first citizen! They will have a Muslim as vice President and reservation and quota are enough to satisfy the bargaining previleged enslaved Cream! This casteology and absolute communalism happens to be the spirit of Indian nationality mortgaged in the Swiss bank accounts! Bush may have the Veto Power but he has to care for the Parliamentary debate and popularity graph. Our leaders have every avenue to bypass the Parliament and Judiciary! US citizens may boast of democratic transparency and civil as well as human rights. But we Indian citizens are identityless orphans roaming around and stripped of everything including life , liberty and livelihood.
Minimum empowerment of individual citizen is absent till this date to defend citizenship. Thus, they sale out our freedom and sovereignity so smoothly and we fools sing Vande mataram! Mera Bharat Mahan!
The Centre on Friday tried to hardsell the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement to the political setup in particular and the nation as a whole, saying it will open the way for bilateral cooperation between India and US.

Briefing journalists on the nuclear deal, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, however, admitted that the "deal is not the best, but is a very good one." In the same breath, he claimed that "India has retained its right to test."

The government fielded the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar; Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and National Security Adviser MK Narayanan at a briefing on the nuclear deal.

Narayanan said the Indo-US bilateral agreement on nuclear deal fulfills the terms outlined by Prime Minister in Parliament on August 17.He said there was no reference in the agreement to the nuclear tests carried out by India in 1998. "It refers to only civil nuclear cooperation."

Asked what he felt were the shortcomings of the agreement, Narayanan said India would have liked to get reprocessing and enrichment technologies.
The Left allies and opposition NDA is "satisfied" with the civil nuclear deal concluded with the US, the government maintained today.
"We have already met the Left and the members of the NDA. I think we have explained to them in great detail as to what it is," National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said when asked about the response of the two political alliances to the deal in the backdrop of their stated apprehensions.
"The impression that we have got from the discussions is that they were particularly satisfied," claimed Narayanan who briefed the Left and opposition leaders when they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here over the last two days.
To press the argument in this regard, he said Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar did most of the talking with the leaders of Left and NDA which carries "a lot of credibility and which will be carried across the board."
"If nuclear community is on board, I think, that would make everybody happy," Narayanan said.
Narayanan was addressing the joint press conference along with Kakodkar and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on the 123 agreement reached with the US last week.
Kakodkar, who had earlier voiced doubts over certain elements of the deal particularly the reprocessing right, expressed happiness over the final text of the agreement.
He said the final agreement reflects the understanding between the two countries reached on July 18, 2005 and March 2,2006.

The Australian government has dropped charges against an Indian doctor arrested over foiled bomb plots in the UK over a lack of evidence.Meanwhile,
Hundreds of religious students clashed with police and occupied Islamabad's Red Mosque during its reopening Friday, demanding the return of a pro-Taliban cleric two weeks after an army raid to oust Islamic militants ...On Friday, TADA court Judge Pramod D Kode said he would sentence Dutt on Tuesday, July 31. Last November the star was found guilty of possessing arms in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.The Home Ministry is reportedly upset with super cop Kiran Bedi for her open tirade against the government. Sources in the Home Ministry have claimed that her comments violate service conduct rules.
Three years after President Bush urged global rules to stop additional nations from making nuclear fuel, the White House will announce today that it is carving out an exception for India, in a last-ditch effort to seal a civilian nuclear deal between the countries.In general, advocates of a far-stronger relationship between India and the United States have favored the nuclear cooperation deal, and it passed through Congress fairly easily. But those arguing that the administration has not made good on its promises to clamp down on the trade in nuclear fuel argue that Mr. Bush could be setting a precedent that will undercut his nonproliferation initiative.
Australia has said it would consider supplying uranium to India despite the country not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, provided it agreed to inspections by the UN atomic watchdog.
The proposal, which has been strongly backed by Prime Minister John Howard, has put the Opposition leader Kevin Rudd at the loggerheads with the labor government, which had earlier argued that selling uranium to India would undermine the NPT.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia would consider supplying uranium to India even if it did not sign the NPT, provided it agreed to inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency.
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, meanwhile, said the government will seek further legal advice on whether it has the constitutional powers to override the states' bans on uranium mines in western Australia and Queensland, 'The Age' reported today.
Downer said that while he would prefer the countries signed the International Non-Proliferation Treaty, "you have to face up to the facts".
He said India had no record of exporting nuclear weapons technology to other countries and the export of uranium would help curb greenhouse emissions on the sub-continent.
"India is the second biggest country in the world in population terms," Downer said, adding "Its economy is growing at nearly 9 per cent a year. It's going to be a massive consumer of energy and we want to deal with the issue of climate change."
Downer said any uranium exported to India could be used only in civil nuclear facilities and Australia would never sell yellow cake for nuclear weapons or nuclear-powered military vessels.
Just two months ago, Macfarlane had vowed Australia would not sell uranium to India unless it signed the NPT.
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Robert McClelland said that the Federal Government's "unrestrained promotion of nuclear power was a cause for great concern."
"Instead of - seeking approval for the export of Australian uranium to India, the Foreign Minister should - join labor in campaigning for wide-ranging reform of the non-proliferation treaty to encourage India to join," McClelland said.
US lawmakers have warned Bush administration of “inconsistencies” in the 123 agreement after reports that Washington has agreed to allow India to reprocess spent nuclear fuel under the civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi.
The warning came after the agreement between the USA and India was finalised in extended talks in Washington last week.
In a letter to President George W Bush, as many as 23 Congressmen-led by Democratic lawmaker Mr Edward Markey expressed their concern that perhaps Washington may have “capitulated” to India’s demands on the agreement.
The Congress passed the Hyde Act less than a year ago, settling minimum conditions that must be met for nuclear cooperation with India, as well as the non-negotiable restrictions on such cooperation, Mr Markey said.
Stating that these conditions and restrictions were not optional or advisory, Mr Markey warned “If the 123 agreement has been intentionally negotiated to sidestep or bypass the law and the will of Congress, final approval for this deal will be jeopardised.” In the letter, the lawmakers stressed “the necessity of abiding by the legal boundaries set by Congress” for nuclear cooperation.
“The Agreement for Nuclear Cooperation is subject to the approval of Congress, and any inconsistencies between the Agreement and the relevant US laws will call congressional approval deeply into doubt,” lawmakers told the White House.
The scheduled announcement, described yesterday by senior American officials, ends more than a year of negotiations intended to keep an unusual arrangement between the countries from being defeated in New Delhi.Until the overall deal was approved by Congress last year, the United States was prohibited from selling civilian nuclear technology to India because it has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.The legislation passed by Congress required the United States to cut off the supply of nuclear fuel to India.
India's Parliament balked at the deal, with politicians there complaining that the restriction infringed on India's sovereignty because it cut off nuclear assistance to India if it tested a nuclear weapon, and because it prohibited India from using American fuel to help bolster its weapons arsenal.
Under the arrangement that is to be announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush has agreed to go beyond the terms of the deal that Congress approved, promising to help India build a nuclear fuel repository and find alternative sources of nuclear fuel in the event of an American cutoff, skirting some of the provisions of the law.
In February 2004, President Bush, in a major speech outlining new nuclear policies to prevent proliferation, declared that “enrichment and reprocessing are not necessary for nations seeking to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.” He won the cooperation of allies for a temporary suspension of new facilities to make fuel, but allies that include Canada and Australia have also expressed interest in uranium enrichment.
The problem is a delicate one for the administration, because this month American officials are working at the United Nations Security Council to win approval of harsher economic sanctions against Iran for trying to enrich uranium. India is already a nuclear weapons state and has refused to sign the treaty; Iran, a signer of the treaty, does not yet have nuclear weapons.
But in an interview Thursday, R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, who negotiated the deal, said, “Iran in no way, shape or form would merit similar treatment because Iran is a nuclear outlaw state.”
He noted that Iran hid its nuclear activities for many years from international inspectors, and that it still had not answered most of their questions about evidence that could suggest it was seeking weapons.
Because India never signed the treaty, it too was considered a nuclear outlaw for decades. But Mr. Bush, eager to place relations with India on a new footing, waived many of the restrictions in order to sign the initial deal. It was heavily supported by Indian-Americans and American nuclear equipment companies, which see a huge potential market for their reactors and expertise.
Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who opposed the initial deal and said he would try to defeat the new arrangement, said Thursday, “If you make an exception for India, we will be preaching from a barstool to the rest of the world.”
Though India would be prohibited from using the fuel it purchases from the United States for nuclear weapons, the ability to reprocess the fuel means India’s other supplies would be freed up to expand its arsenal.
“It creates a double standard,” Mr. Markey said. “One set of rules for countries we like, another for countries we don’t.”
Robert J. Einhorn, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that in “the first phase of negotiations with India, the administration made concessions that put the country on par with countries that have signed” the Nonproliferation Treaty. (Israel and Pakistan are the only other countries that have refused to sign it, and North Korea quit the treaty four years ago.)
“Now we’ve gone beyond that, and given India something that we don’t give to Russia and China.”
Mr. Burns said he disagreed because “this agreement is so very much in our national interest.”
“It will further our nonproliferation efforts globally” by gradually bringing India into the nuclear fold, he said.
Peace process in Nandigram to begin today: Basu

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has decided to begin today the peace process in Nandigram, where 14 people were killed in violence four and half months back, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu said.
"The Chief Minister (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) has said that the peace process in Nandigram is beginning today," Basu said after the weekly CPI(M) state secretariat meeting here where Bhattacharjee was also present.
The government was forced to shelve the chemical hub SEZ in Nandigram following stiff protests by villagers led by Trinamool Congress and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind under the umbrella of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee.
However, the area continued to be on boil prompting the Chief Minister to appeal to the opposition for talks on restoring peace in Nandigram.
Bhattacharjee has also written to the Opposition parties on the chemical hub, which is now proposed to be set up in Haldia, as also the acquisition of agricultural land for industries.
However, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has rejected the Chief Minister's overtures, saying their agitation would continue till the perpetrators of the March 14 'genocide' in Nandigram were brought to book.
Basu, however, said that the government was not thinking of holding an all party meeting to arrive at a consensus on the proposed chemical hub in Haldia.
"We are not thinking about it. We are thinking about Nandigram. An area cannot remain a free zone for long," said Basu, a former West Bengal Chief Minister.
While slamming the opposition for forming an 'opportunistic alliance' in the recent Haldia civic polls, Basu said the Trinamool Congress was bereft of any principles and programmes.
The Trinamool Congress-led grand alliance, which included the Congress and the Jamiat's political arm People's Democratic Conference, got seven seats in the Haldia municipal polls, as the Left Front retained the civic board retaining 19 of the 26 wards. While the TC got six, PDCI claimed one seat.
The Opposition had drawn a blank in the previous elections of the Haldia municipality in 2002.
"We were confident of winning the Haldia civic poll. But since the municipality is adjacent to Nandigram, we thought the opposition would get some seats," Basu said.
"That way the victory is significant because despite the municipality being close to Nandigram, the opposition could not make inroads. The Trinamool, Congress and BJP had formed an opportunistic alliance," the nonagenarian leader said.
Asked about the Trinamool rejecting the Chief Minister's offer for talks, Basu said "They (Trinamool Congress) do not have any principles and programmes. Still they have got votes.
We have to go to those people who have voted for them".
Stiff opposition to Tata`s titanium-di-oxide project in TN

Chennai: After having a rough ride on its Singur small car project in West Bengal, the Tata Group is now facing stiff opposition in Tamil Nadu to the Rs 2,500-crore titanium-di-oxide project proposed to be set up in southern districts of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin.
Expressing apprehension that the corporate giant's venture would displace them from their native land and deprive them of their livelihood, local villagers, mostly belonging to the dominant Nadar community in the south, have resolved to oppose the project tooth and nail.
The issue is set to snowball into a major controversy, similar to the Nandigram row, with some political parties, apparently eyeing the Nadar votebank, also "taking up the cause."
PMK founder S Ramadoss, a ruling DMK ally who is trying to get a foothold in south Tamil Nadu, has also reportedly expressed support to the agitating groups.
A Viyanarasu, who has formed a struggle committee called Federation for Tamil Land Protection, told a news agency that about 40,000 families would be displaced as the Tata company is planning to set up the plant on 12,000 acres of land.
"The government is talking about employment and economic growth. But take the cases of Koodangulam nuclear plant and Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Jobs and rehabilitation were promised when those projects were implemented but most of the displaced families were left in the lurch. What is the guarantee that a private company will honour its word,?" he asked.
Though Tata Steel originally inked a pact with the previous AIADMK government in 2002, the project did not take off due to undisclosed reasons.
Buoyant global economic outlook has prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revise upward India`s Gross Domestic Production (GDP) growth rate by 0.6 per cent to 9 per cent for 2007. Major upward revision has been made for emerging markets with growth projection for China, India and Russia being raised substantially, IMF said in its update on the World Economic Outlook (WEO) on Wednesday. IMF had revised India`s GDP forecast to 9 per cent over the projection made in April this year. The WEO update has also revised the growth forecast for 2008 by 0.6 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, headed by former Reserve Bank Governor C Rangarajan, had on July 16 pegged the country`s economic growth rate at 9 per cent in 2007-08.
The RBI, however, in its annual policy statement had projected a growth rate of 8.5 per cent.
India has recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.4 per cent during 2006-07.
IMF has also revised the forecast for world economic growth to 5.2 per cent, up by 0.3 per cent from the projection made in April.
The growth rate for china, however, has been revised by 1.2 per cent to 11.2 per cent and for Russia by 0.6 per cent to 7 per cent.
Vyapar Rojgar Bachao Andolan, a consortium of traders, hawkers, farmers, trade unions, cooperatives and consumer organisations, will organise country-wide protests to oppose the entry of big corporate houses and global retailers into the Indian retail sector.
"The entry of big corporate and retail giants had put the livelihood of more than 40 million people at risk," India FDI Watch Director Dharmendra Kumar told reporters here.
The consortium, in association with the other similar organisation, is going to observe August 1-8 as the awareness week and would held demonstrations, dharnas and protest march in all district headquarters on August 8. It will hold a protest march and rallies on August 9 in all metro cities.
"On August 9, which is also the 65th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, we along with other trade unions would organise huge protests in all metropolitan cities," he said.
It will also submit a memorandum to chief ministers of various states and to the prime minister.
It also plans to present a charter of demands to the prime minister, demanding strict law to ban all corporations in retail, formulation of national policy on retail trade and small manufacturing industries, implement the national policy on urban street vendors, and the repeal of APMC model act.
The consortium also claimed that it has the support of large number of trade organisations and labour unions across the country.
Secy: Posco will stay even if it misses out on Khandadhar
NEW DELHI: A NEW twist to the country’s biggest FDI project, Orissa state government has said that Pohang Steel Company will stay in the state even if it does not get the Khandadhar mines. State officials, however, indicated that the chances of that happening were rare.
Mittal to build steel plants in both Jharkhand, Orissa
Indian Express

News Today

“It is not necessary that every company should have its own captive mines. Posco has plants across the world and nowhere does it have captive mines,” said Orissa government Industries Department commissioner cum secretary Ashok Dalwai. “Posco never came to Orissa just for iron ore but for a host of other reasons.”
While the Korean steel giant refused to give a straight answer on this, according to the MoU signed between the government and the company in June 2005, the state government had agreed to grant prospecting licences and captive mining leases for 600 million tonnes to Posco.
For the first phase of the project, the government had recommended Khandadhar mines in Keonjhar district which reportedly have reserves of 200 million tonnes. The centre, however, had returned the application citing need for giving a hearing to other applicants.
Almost 251 applications have been received for the mines and 45 have already been rejected.
“We don’t expect a situation where we will not get the mines,” said a senior Posco official. “Principally, it has already been decided to give the mine to Posco. It is just a matter of completing the procedures and hearing the other applicants out. We expect to get the lease in the next two months.”
Meanwhile, the state government has denied that the mine is owned by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company and said that it was a virgin mine. Khandadhar would provide ore for Posco’s first phase of production of 4 million tonnes by 2010.
To sort out the issue of land acquisition, Posco has roped in the Xavier Institute of Management to prepare a master plan for relief and rehabilitation. “Private land acquisition has not been a problem and it is part of the government land that has been encroached upon. Once the master plan is ready, displacement will begin,” Dalwai said.
Out of the 4,004 acres earmarked for the company in Jagatsinghpur area, 3,566 acres belongs to the government while the remaining 436 acres is private land. “We are trying to work out some kind of a settlement with the people who would be displaced. We will follow the norms that are laid down in the relief and rehabilitation policy of the state including planned resettlement of the houses and providing jobs to one member of each family in the company,” the Posco official said.
Almost 3,093 acres of the government land is classified as forest land and would require compulsory forestation for the same area in some other part of the state. The company is meeting the Forest Advisory Committee next month.
Where is nation's biggest FDI project headed?
• Posco expected to start construction by December 2007. Company hopes to get mining leases and land in the next three months.
• Master plan for relief and rehabilitation of encroachers on government land being prepared by Xavier Institute of Management.
• Encroachers may be offered alternate land or money.
• Hearing of 251 applications on Khandadhar mines in the process; 45 applications already rejected.
• The 12 million tonne plant will come up in three phases of 4 million tonnes each. First phase to be completed by 2010.

ACC extends deadline for Hasina, Zia to submit asset info

Dhaka: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has extended by seven days the deadline for submitting wealth statement of detained former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina after her archrival Khaleda Zia of BNP was granted similar extension.
"The former Prime Minister (Hasina) has sent to us a petition through the jail authorities seeking extra time for seven more working days," ACC secretary Mokhlesur Rahman was quoted as saying in media yesterday.
The anti-graft body served notices on the two former Prime Ministers of Bangladesh last week, demanding their wealth statements within seven working days. The two leaders, however, sought an extension of the deadlines.
Zia received the notice at her Dhaka cantonment residence while Hasina got it through jail authorities at her makeshift prison at the Parliament complex.
ACC officials said the leaders were given extra time to furnish their asset information in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Commission rules 2007.

Haneef Released
Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, who has been cleared of charges of supporting a terrorist organisation, has been conditionally freed from custody, requiring him to report to the immigration department by phone everyday and in person every week.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said he has made a residential determination, meaning that rather than being detained in immigration custody, Haneef will be released into residential detention.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors withdrew the case against the 27-year-old Haneef, arrested on July 2 and later charged with "recklessly" supporting a terrorist group, at a Brisbane Magistrates` court hearing following a review.
Andrews said while he had not reinstated Haneef`s visa, the Gold Coast-based doctor would not be moved to a detention centre.
The Immigration Minister said he is seeking advice on whether to reverse his decision to revoke Haeef`s visa, but in the meantime he is free to live at home.
"That means that he has to reside at an agreed place, it means he`s free to actually move about in the community," he said.
Under the conditions of his release, Haneef would be required to report to Immigration Department by telephone either every day or every few days, and once a week report in person, Andrews said.
Haneef would be free to move about in the community. "Residential detention means the place in which he is residing is that unit. That means that he has to reside at an agreed place, he`s free to actually move about in the community, but as a matter of legal principle he is still formally... in detention".
Andrews said he would seek further advice from the Commonwealth Solicitor General about whether he would need to reverse his decision to cancel Haneef`s visa.
"My duty is to uphold the Immigration Legislation. I will continue to regard this with the utmost seriousness,` he said.
"This does go to the whole question of national interest and national security," he said.
"The decision I`ve made can be looked at by the Solicitor General", he added.
Andrews said the police investigation would continue. "The DPP made a decision today, the charge was withdrawn. As a matter of prudence, as a matter of caution, I am seeking that advice," he said.
Pranab in Thiphu
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here on Friday on a three-day official visit during which India and Bhutan are expected to sign an agreement on implementation of a 1095-megawatt hydro-power project.
The minister was received by Bhutanese Information Minister Leki Dorji on his arrival and was given a traditional white scarf.
He flew in by a chartered flight of Druk Air, a royal Bhutanese airline, which landed one hour behind the schedule due to bad whether.
During his visit, the two countries are expected to sign a landmark agreement on implementation of a 1095-megawatt hydro-power project. The run-of-the-river project is estimated to cost around Rs 3,514 crore.
Cooperation in Hydel power sector is one of the key elements in Indo-Bhutanese ties which will get a further boost during Mukherjee`s visit as part of stepped up bilateral exchanges in the recent months.
Burns on Kashmir
Offering to “influence quietly” India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, the USA has noted that there has been “good” progress to resolve their bilateral differences but the two countries need to “go a lot farther” to consummate this process. US undersecretary of state for political affairs Mr Nicholas Burns said there had been progress in bilateral ties.

Losing Heart as No One stands United with Dandkaranya refugees
Should we not learn something from Mr Gauranga Sarkar?

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Mr Shridam Biswas or Mr Ujjwal Biswas could not call me. Neither they cared to give any follow back from Orissa. Meanwhile I requested dalit Sahitya sanstha and West Bengal refugee and dalit leaders to take a stance inthis connection. I did my best to infrom dalit and refugee leaders countrywide about evrything relating Polavaram Dam. Only Mr Bharat Bhushan kept me informed about updates. thanks Mr Bhushan!

Mr Gaurang Sarkar, a vetern Dalit and Refugee leader, a rtd. IRS, based in Bally, Howra edits and publishes Adhikar Patrika and Bengali which is well circulated among Bengali dalits and refugees countrywide. I talked to him . He is an octogenerian intellectual and ia enthusiastic enough to initiate immediate mass mobilisation. He informed to teke up the matter in his Patrika. Not only this , he is activating all his contacts accross the country. Should we not learn something from Mr Gauranga Sarkar?
Mind you, Not only MarichjahapGenocide or Nandigram and Singur Repression, all activities of Ruling Brahminical class as they got hold on WestBbengal after power transfer amidst partition haolocaust, reveal class conflict within Bangla Nationality which roots in its history. The ruling class is more than successful to oust the Dalit Refugees continuously crossing the border out of Bangla Geopolitics. They annihilated the Dalit Base. The Bengali Dalit and refugee masses are much more enslaved and tamed as they could not sue the responsible Indian leadership and british Imperialists for partition holocaust. They were meek eye witness of genocides Naxalbari, Marichjhapi to Nandigram!They could not raise their voice aginst inhuman Brahminical system. First they supported the Congress on Dole and now they are the most loyal votebank of Marxist Brahminical Communalism represented by the scientific rigging machinery of CPIM. They dare not revolt against the Marxist Gestapo!It has also to be remembered that the comrades can be quite ruthless if they set their minds on something. The Marichjhanpi incident in the Sunderbans in the 70s (mentioned in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide) is a case in point. The hard-hearted manner in which the Left Front government evicted the East Bengali refugees from there and sent them back to Dandakaranya in what is now Chhattisgarh underlined the same official and political determination now in evidence in Singur.

Yet, at one time, when the leftists were not in power in West Bengal, they used to favour the settlement of the refugees in the Sunderbans. But their views changed after assuming office; just as it has now on industrialization. So, the Left slogan today is not 'land to the tiller', but land to the Tatas.

Echooes of the rcent Past may not touch them. They lost the heart to have enouh sympathy for the kith and kin exiled elsewhere. Media and literature help them as no news , no information is ever available about dalit refugees` plight outside Bengal.
I am habitual in writing or speaking as I belong to the exiled lot which is deprived of everything including Identity and Mother language!
Petitions are available in the records of the All-India Congress Committee. The refugees asked for jobs, housing, money and to be rehabilitated together with their own kind. The petitions show that people fleetingly held great hopes of the Indian State. Such hopes were not in evidence among the refugees decades later. Hopes of a paternalistic benevolence soon evaporated, leaving a popular disillusionment with the State.

On August 15, 1950, a refugee organisation even celebrated "Anti- Independence day" at Hazra Park in Calcutta. The government, on the other hand, remained cruel and self-congratulatory.Dalit satyagrahis in Utter Pradesh marching to the Legislative Assembly in the middle of 1946 carrying placards and raising slogans saying: "Down with British Imperialism", "Down with Congress", and "Scrap the Poona Pact". Elsewhere, Dalit activists burnt khadi clothes and Gandhi caps. The leaders of the Scheduled Castes Federation interacted regularly with the leaders of the Muslim League. The Scheduled Castes Federation of UP, which called the Pakistan demand anti- national in 1944, supported the Pakistan demand in 1946. Some Dalits requested that they be made part of Pakistan.
In 1999, Human Rights Watch (New York) published a report on the Dalits (literally broken or oppressed people) of India, a population that now numbers about 160 million. Before the growth of a self-conscious Dalit movement a few decades ago, the terms most commonly used to designate this population were ‘Untouchable’ and “Harijan” (“Children of God,” a term used by Gandhi). Human Rights Watch found that the situation of Dalits was deplorable and called their condition “hidden apartheid.” Despite India’s very progressive laws, HRW found that Dalits do not enjoy the protections to which they are entitled.

“If there are any people more oppressed than Dalits,” Rashidi notes, “I don’t want to see it. Nothing compares to that.” Ken Cooper, who was bureau chief for the Washington Post in New Delhi, notes that “as an African American I used to think American racism was the most stifling obsessive system of oppression in the world, with the exception of what was South African apartheid. After my stay in India, I am sure the caste system was and continues to be worse—it has religious sanction and has been ingrained for 3000 years.” Comparative oppression is not a useful exercise, since each society seems to conjure up its own form of barbarity. Nevertheless, both Rashidi and Cooper make the case quite forcefully that Dalit life is painfully hard.

Little that HRW catalogued is new to either the Dalits or to the many agencies and political organizations who have been at work for social justice in India. As with social justice work elsewhere, there are many factors that prevent the emancipation of the Dalits. The main causes of atrocities against Dalits, the Indian government acknowledges, are “disputes and conflicts arising from land, wages, bonded labour and indebtedness.” Without widespread economic change, any movement for social justice will falter.

The government looked on refugee relief as a matter of charity, while the refugees increasingly demanded such relief as a matter of right.Are these government documents better read as an example of straightforward class prejudice? Did the lower-level personnel of the State, who dealt with the refugees daily, share the attitudes of their superiors? Even if a few words were common, State and people spoke different languages from which the dialects (if not the dialectics) of modern West Bengal's politics evolved. The general sense of rights among the public was considerably strengthened by refugee struggles. This is a debatable matter in our society where (despite much talk couched in the language of rights) a sense of entitlement is still weak. Even today, it depends more on political power and social connections, than on notions of citizenship.

Dandakaranya is the burning evidence that the suffering and struggle for life and livlihood for Dalit Bengali Refugees have to continue infinite!

Dear Palash Chadra, Ujwal and Shridamda

Find a report on the situation by a national fact finding committee comprising shri b d sharma, social scientists from delhi, hyderabad and khammam, lawyers among others

Looking forward to meeting Ujawalda and Shriramda shortly

FYI
Bharath

All India Fact-finding Report on Polavaram Dam Project

Preliminary Report

An all India Fact-finding team comprising Dr. BD Sharma, Former National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Dr. Jayashankar, former Vice-chancellor, Kakatiya University, Dr. I. Thirumali, Reader in History, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, G N Saibaba, Lecturer in English, University of Delhi, Shirish Medhi, Social Activist from Mumbai, Dr. Gopinath, Eminent Cardiologist, Andhra Pradesh, Rona Wilson, Research Scholar, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Ajay Mishra, Reporter, Sunday Post (Hindi), Suresh Kumar, Advocate, Hyderabad, Ch. Prabhakar, Advocate, Hyderabad and Ravichandra, Teacher, AP Government Residential Schools. The team toured across 9 mandals in the districts of Khammam, East and West Godavari districts that are to be affected by the Polavaram Dam Project between 3 nd March and 6th March, 2007.

The team spent 4 days in and around the site of the proposed Polavaram Dam touring extensively in all nine Dam-affected mandals. First the members arrived at Hyderabad on the 2 March, 2007. The team proceeded to Bhadrachalam on the following day and from there it divided into batches to conduct surveys on all the mandals. It had extensive discussions with the people of various villages and sarpanches. It also met the various organizations formed to fight against the question of displacement of lives and livelihoods. The team felt the need for further extensive studies in the affected areas at regular intervals taking into consideration the enormity of the situation with the threat of displacement of vast sections of the people.

Our findings:

1. Damning the people; damning the procedures; damning the law
The work of digging of canals by the government of Andhra Pradesh started even before permission is accorded to construction of the Dam. The modus operandi of the government so far without any procedures and norms spending crores for digging the canals have forced one to believe that ultimately it is going to serve the interests of the contractor lobby.

2. No Permission accorded so far from any government agency

The land acquisition has begun even before it could be known whether the projects would get permission or not from the Central Water Commission, the Forest Department, the Environment Department, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and other relevant departments and agencies. No permission has been so far given by the Central Water Commission. In fact the Supreme Court had asked the state of Andhra Pradesh to comply with the directives of the Central Water Commission. Contrary to this the AP government has been filing contradictory statements with different government institutions from which it has to get the necessary and mandatory clearance.

3. Gram Sabhas bypassed: Politics of manipulation and coercion

The Government has not gone to the people in the Scheduled areas which are mostly the project affected area. They have not been consulted nor their due consent been taken before proceeding with the acquisition of land for the construction of the dam. The entire area that will submerge when the dam gets finally constructed comes under provision of the 5 th schedule of the constitution. In most of the villages the mandatory Gram Sabha meetings did not take place to discuss and deliberate on the issue of Polavaram. Wherever it has happened it was facilitated under the shadow of heavy police deployment with a battery of government officials threatening the villagers with dire consequences. The Gram Sabhas of these areas are the supreme decision making bodies. Without the consent of these bodies any other notification of any government institution—including the aforementioned bodies—stands null and void.

When in Maredubaka village in Kukunoor Mandal, people passed resolutions against Polavaram dam and the R & R package offered by the government those resolutions were ignored, suppressed and manipulated. Some Mandal Praja Parishads (MPP) also have passed resolutions against the construction of the dam but time and again over the last one year the officials have not accepted or recorded the written resolutions sent by the MPPs as told by Kantepale Raju, Sarpanch of Maredubaka and also by the sarpanch of Amaravaram of Kukkunoor mandal.

The District Collector is not supposed to sit in the Gram Sabha. But in Paidipakka village in Polavaram mandal the district collector Mr. Luv Aggarwal sat in the Gram Sabha along with the RDO, BDO, MRO, PO and others and a huge posse of armed police force at the background. There he told the people that the government can't pay more than 1.3 lakhs and the villagers had no other option but to leave. This village has a sizeable section of the non-tribals and since they don't have any legal entitlement they are the main targets of coercion. Once they budge the tribals can follow.

Secretly tribals are called individually to the RDO offices and are threatened to sign the papers. They are told that they have to inevitably move out and that is no way out for them. Those villagers who are refusing to budge have been targeted by striking off their ration cards, cutting of the power supply to the villages and also demolishing their roads.

It is evident that the government of Andhra Pradesh has been keen to hide facts—from the people of the affected areas in particular and the society at large—than the things that they have so far revealed about the various facets of the project. It is intriguing that why the government is operating under complete secrecy when it claims that the project is the answer to all the water and power problems faced by the state.

5. R & R Package: Old tales of Divide and Rule, Secrecy and Mystery

The compensation package offered by the government varied from village to village, tribal to non-tribal and last but not the least, the nature of the land holdings. It has more loopholes than concrete proposals on paper. In many cases it operates by word of mouth than through any documented intervention. It is the good old strategy of divide and rule by manipulating on the vulnerability of the targeted population.

The people of the project affected area, whether tribal or non-tribal are unaware of the rehabilitation package which is touted by the AP government as one of the best packages ever made in the world! Yet no sarpanch of the affected villages could give us a copy of the R&R package spoke volumes of the secrecy and mystery behind the politics of R & R. It should be noted that since 1947 not a single R & R package of any major displacement has been fulfilled by the government.

Some of the absentee landlords in the area who are non-tribals will definitely get a good compensation many times higher than what the government has so far offered to the common tribal masses. One glaring example is that of Mr. Totakura Venkattappaiah who owns 500 acres of fertile land at Amaravaram village in Kukkunoor mandal. He and his family lives in Hyderabad. Most of this land from the 500 acres belongs to the Koya tribals. The so-called compensation will come in the name of the tribals who have been living as agricultural labourers but the money will go to the coffers of the absentee landlord!

The government also has used different tactics to lure the people in favour of rehabilitation by giving them packages which are at best illusory. For instance, in Kondukota village which comprises of 50 percent Koyas and 50 percent Malas (SC) there has been neither official notification nor survey. Yet the officials have approached the people with various packages. They have offered them to hold land at the project affected area ( i.e. their present place of stay) as well as the newly promised location of rehabilitation! The local MLA took the Empowering Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to only those places where the people have ostensibly supported the projects.

6. Compensation amounts released in two villages: Administration's fraud and People's anguish

In two villages Vinjaram (Kukkunoor mandal) and Rudramakota (Boorgampadu mandal) the first acts of acquisition of land for project took place. The compensation was released to the acquired cultivated and fertile lands. The team came across a big group of people at Rudramakota, Velerupadu mandal, sitting in the local temple and settling the dispute that has surfaced after the cheques were encashed and the actual money was being distributed. The size of the amount was decided by the village elders. Thus Kanthi Reddi Punnamma, a 65 year old woman got 58000 rupees. This was in return of the 2 acres of fertile land that was relinquished permanently for the dam. She and her family lived off this fertile land for many generations. For her 2 acres Punnamma was given 230000 rupees. At the end of the day Punnamma was left with a meager 58000 after dividing the amount with her sons and another major stake holder the local Cooperative Bank which had the lion's share: a good 50 percent of the total amount! This 50 percent covers the agricultural loans which were actually struck off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year! The officials (MRO, MDO, Collector) promised the villagers that the amount of the loans would not be deducted from the compensation amount. This was one of the main agreements between the villagers and the government before they agreed for the compensation to part with their land. But once the compensation was awarded, all the banks queued up with their knives to demand their pound of flesh. Only the landlords who had the land under false names had the last laugh. The villagers reported with anguish how the land records were manipulated and outsiders got the benefits.

7. Deceit and domination of the people of Telengana

Yet another act of deceit and domination over the people of Telengana. More than 80 percent of the water of Godavari flows through Telengana. Significantly, the mammoth project has little to offer when it comes to water/power sharing to the already drought prone region that Telengana is. It is natural for the people of Telengana to suspect the unwarranted haste shown by the Andhra Pradesh government to push through the project flouting all norms and procedures before the formation of the Telengana State. They strongly believe that the formation of the Telengana state would be an impediment to the Polavaram project and hence against the interest of the Andhra Pradesh government.

8. Protests prevented through repression and coercion

The people who have protested against the construction have been threatened by the officials belonging to the office of the collector, the RDO, BDO, MRO, PO etc. The people who sat on Dharna from the Chegondipally village in Polavaram mandal have been charged of treason. Mr. Sonam Raju of the same village had to spend three months in the Rajamundry prison and warrant has been issued against five of his fellow villagers for allegedly burning the huts at the construction site of the spill way. Another Mr. Bangu Anil Kumar of Kondu Kota village was also arrested and released after 17 days for opposing the project.

9. Polavaram: Another 'Modern Temple' of Colossal Waste

The Polavaram project with its projected costs and benefits is a colossal waste of public money. It would destroy the rich flora and fauna of the forests of the Eastern Ghats on either side of the river Godavari in the catchment areas of the dam. It will uproot the lives and livelihoods of some of the oldest tribal communities—the Koyas and Konda Reddys—who are the inhabitants of these regions. Even according to the official estimates 236000 people living in 276 villages would be displaced by the dam in Andhra Pradesh (including a few of them in Chhattisgarh and Orissa). About 50 percent as per government statistics belong to the scheduled tribes and 15 percent to the scheduled castes.

All the 9 mandals that will submerge come under the scheduled areas. In fact the Polavaram project displaces the largest number of people—more than 2 lakh tribals among them—as well as some of richest of biodiversity in the world. Tribals cannot live in non-forest areas. They will lose their constitutionally guaranteed rights under the scheduled area, if they are rehabilitated. They will lose their traditional strength and culture outside their natural habitat. They are aware of this and they steadfastly refuse to move away from their villages and forests.

The ownership of land and forest produce is not fixed in these areas. Traditional sharing methods are more persistent. No R & R package will do justice to the tribal communities here.
It is amazing and at the same time unfortunate and disappointing to note that the media and the civil society have written very little about this! It is unequivocally the largest displacement and destruction of natural flora and fauna in Post-47 India.

As recommendations what flow out evidently from the initial findings are that:
The government of Andhra Pradesh should immediately come out with a White Paper on all issues related to the Polavaram Dam Project. All construction work including that of canals should be stopped forthwith till a proper review is made after a discussion on the White Paper by the people of the affected areas, civil society and experts of peoples' organizations.
The President of India through the Governor of Andhra Pradesh should seek a report on the impact of the project on the tribals in the area as per the 5th Schedule of the Constitution of India. Such a report should be made by experts who have worked on the issues of the tribals including various laws related with the 5th Schedule. Till the Presidential review is done all construction work related to the dam should be suspended.
The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy package announced by the Andhra Pradesh government and the ground realities of the use of force and coercion by the local administration on the people in all the 9 mandals should be enquired into by an independent committee comprising of experts who have knowledge on the various aspects of tribal life and livelihood.
The central government should initiate immediately a process to study the alternative plans for utilizing the waters in Godavari as well as other rivers and tributaries in Andhra Pradhesh made by expert committees and peoples' organizations.
A judicious and acceptable plan to redistribute the waters in the river Godavari among the Andhra, Telengana and Rayalaseema regions.
An all India Fact-finding team:
1. Dr. BD Sharma, Former National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes
2. Dr. Jayashankar, former Vice-chancellor, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh
3. Dr. I. Thirumali, Reader in History, University of Delhi
4. G N Saibaba, Lecturer in English, University of Delhi
5. Dr Medhi, Social Activist from Mumbai
6. Dr. Gopinath, Eminent Cardiologist, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh
7. Rona Wilson, Research Scholar, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi
8. Ajay Mishra, Reporter, Sunday Post (Hindi), New Delhi
9. Suresh Kumar, Advocate, Hyderabad
10.Ch. Prabhakar, Advocate, Hyderabad
11.Ravichandra, Teacher, AP Government Residential School, Hyderabad

That this is not an isolated observation is testified to by a report on practices of untouchability published a few years ago in a well-known Calcutta weekly (Gupta 1977: 48-50). The report vividly brought home the persistence of caste discrimination in rural West Bengal, Debu Mukhi, a hanri by caste, of Rohini village in Jhargram sub-division of Midnapur district mentioned that inspite of the much publicized literacy campaign in the district their children were kept segregated in school. He said, ‘Teachers tell our children to bring their own asaans (small mats) and they are asked to sit separately in class.’

But spatial segregation in school or residential segregation in the village is not the only discriminations they face, as Gupta learned from the doms and hanris (two scheduled castes) of Rohini. For many years after Independence, they had to wear bells around their neck whenever they ventured outside their locality (para) to forewarn the upper castes of their approach! Though these practices have waned others persist. The doms and hanris are not allowed inside the homes of the upper castes and if they stray inside then the premises have to be washed and plastered afresh with cow dung. Their touch is still considered polluting and for the brahmin, baidyas and kayasthas, a purificatory bath is mandatory on contact with them.

The scheduled castes are not allowed to draw water from wells and tubewells belonging to the upper castes. They are only allowed to use the public tubewells sunk by the government. Though they play the dhak (drum) during the Durga Puja or other festivals, they are denied the right to enter temples or offer prayers. At ceremonial feasts they are treated like scavengers and offered the leftovers in soiled leaf plates. As Jaladhar Patar of the same village puts it, ‘We and the dogs eat together after everyone else has eaten.’ And when the dogs have to be shooed away, the upper castes call out ‘shoo hanri’!

Upper castes in the village do not admit to the persistence of untouchability but concede after persistent enquiry that isolated instances may have occurred. They maintain that it is the filth and squalor of the lower caste lifestyle that sets them apart. The stigma attached to status is deftly displaced upon questions of hygiene.

Last year another instance of caste discrimination came to light from another place. In Pursurah village of Hooghly district, a scheduled caste school teacher’s wife was fined Rs 8,000 because she entered the local Kali temple to offer prayers after bathing in the temple pond. Subhama Sheet was singled out for her misdemeanor by the village elders for her caste status. The fine imposed was necessary to perform the purificatory rituals (Biswas 2001: 22).

More than five decades after Independence, with nearly two and half of them under Left Front governance, caste discrimination has not disappeared. Yet caste discrimination is not a major public issue in West Bengal. Embedded in the customary practices of the civic community it persists unobtrusively. Caste is not the principal conduit of political power and contestation in the state. Transgression of caste norms invites social sanctions but not violent retribution. Caste based pogroms and massacres are not frequent. A quick review of the historical reasons as to the absence of caste as the means of exclusion will reveal the historically constituted nature of discrimination.

There are certain particularities to the caste structure in West Bengal. The upper castes: brahmin, kayastha and baidyas, who as a result of the Permanent Settlement (1793) came to control most of the land, functioned largely as absentee landlords. Land was a productive asset that yielded substantial rent. But they were neither directly engaged in supervising agricultural production nor increasing productivity. As residents of urban areas in Calcutta or the district towns, these upper caste landlords became detached from agricultural pursuits.

These castes had the opportunity to acquire English education in urban educational institutions and develop a stranglehold on jobs and professions (Mitra 1995: 20). The high correlation between literacy and engagement in higher professions is clearly manifest from Table 1. The head start of the upper castes in education enabled them to monopolize jobs and professions, so much that the upper caste bhadraloks have since exercised undisputed authority in the public realm. As Mitra (1995: 21) put it, ‘Indeed, so absolute is the ascendancy of the top castes in Bengal that the subordinate castes take their subordinate status almost as a divine dispensation.’

In the rural areas, during British rule, the dominant peasant middle castes were too dispersed and disparate to pose a challenge to bhadralok hegemony. The 1931 Census enumeration of castes in the West Bengal districts reveals that middle caste groups were localized in particular districts or contiguous areas but were not distributed over a wide area. The rajbangshis (later to be classified as scheduled caste) were preponderant in the North Bengal districts of Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar. In Cooch Behar they comprised 53.56% of the population, while in Jalpaiguri they were 33.68% and in Dinajpur they formed 20.53%. Dependent on rainfed agriculture, these districts were the least developed. Other than plantations and orchards, there was little sign of industrial development. For the rajbangshis, opportunities of higher education were limited in the region and Calcutta was too far and inaccessible.

The mahishyas were prominent in the south-western districts of Midnapore (31.56%), Howrah (24.92%), Hooghly (15.92%) and 24 Parganas (12.14%), and present in Nadia (6.49%) and Murshidabad (5.48%). The kurmimahatos were largely confined to Manbhum (17.84%) from which has been carved the present district of Purulia, while the aguris/ugra kshatriyas, another dominant peasant middle caste, were only to be found in Burdwan district.

A section from these castes who became proprietary tenants and succeeded in educating their children, engaged in social reform of their castes. In the 1920s when the non-cooperation movement of Gandhi found a resonance in the rural areas of South-West Bengal, it was these middle castes like mahishyas who formed the bulwark of the movements. Engagement with the Congress party gave a boost to the reformist stirrings among these castes. But none of the middle castes had a statewide presence to exercise social dominance. Their localized presence, lack of English education and professional advancement left them far behind the upper caste bhadraloks (Chatterjee 1982).

The challenge to bhadralok hegemony that the emergent Muslim middle class posed in the 1940s was dissolved with the partition of Bengal, as the landowning Muslim peasantry left for Pakistan. Chatterjee (1982:101) has noted how even though the Muslim landowning peasantry was akin to the dominant peasant middle castes of other parts of India in their behaviour, their challenge to the bhadraloks acquired the stigma of communalism.

In his own words, ‘Muslim conversion has a great deal to do with the rather unique caste structure in Bengal, because a very substantial bulk of the peasantry who would otherwise have formed the large middle caste, became Muslim. In many respects, both before and after partition the Muslim landowning peasantry in both halves of Bengal have behaved much like the dominant peasant middle castes in other parts of India, but because of religious "communalism" this has taken completely different ideological and organizational forms in undivided and later divided Bengal, especially in terms of the hold of the substantial landed peasantry over the Muslim small and landless in eastern Bengal’ (Chatterjee 1982:101).

Like the intermediate caste dominant peasants, the scheduled castes were also too dispersed and fragmented to pose any challenge to the upper caste bhadralok. In the wake of partition, the most organized among them, the namasudras who were mostly to be found in the East Bengal districts, migrated to West Bengal in large numbers. Many of them settled in the border districts of Nadia and 24 Parganas but later migrants who sought refuge after 1964 were resettled in Andaman Islands and Dandakaranya in Madhya Pradesh.

The 1940s were turbulent times in Bengal. Large scale political mobilizations and strikes tested British governance sorely. But the large scale mobilization of the sharecroppers in both North and South Bengal known as the Tebhaga movement by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha left an enduring legacy. The Tebhaga struggles began in the North Bengal districts a couple of years before Independence and continued especially in the South Bengal districts after 1947. The struggle for two-thirds share of the produce by the sharecroppers set in place the discourse of class for agrarian struggles. It was able to displace any vestiges of the caste discourse for peasant struggle.

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:3kaiImDiA1cJ:www.india-seminar.com/2001/508/508%2520anjan%2520ghosh.htm+Dalit+Refugee+movement+in+Bengal&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=18&gl=in

This was the impact of collective leadership and peoples movement where tribals took leadership and faced the Government and RTZ in a non violent struggle. I try to visualize the mining situation of Kendujhar and what is going to happen in 10 to 15 years. I take leaders (men and women) to Badamapara area, where Tata has already completed mining. They see the real situation after mining. The natural streams have dried, forests are destroyed, tribal people have left their native l