Palash Speaks

Hilsa Politics as Bangla Brahminical Communalism takes on Dalit Muslim Insurrection!
Fresh violence broke out in troubled Nandigram

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
Nandigram flares up yet again! Fresh violence broke out in troubled Nandigram in West Bengal Sunday as Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporters and a Trinamool Congress-backed group clashed while taking out separate processions.Police used batons to disperse the clashing mobs, East Midnapore Superintendent of Police G. Srinivas told IANS. Both the CPI-M and the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), which opposes government takeover of farmland for industry, had taken out processions when the fighting occurred. The CPI-M supporters were celebrating the party's win in the Haldia municipal elections while BUPC wanted to surround the Nandigram police station.
CPIM is cashing Bangla Brhminical Communal nationality on the same line as the Bangladeshi Muslim Nationality has taken over Bangla nationality in Dhaka. Facing stiff resistance of United Dalit MMuslim Insurrection against Buddh Brand Capitalist development, indiscriminate land acquisition for Urbanisation and Industrialisation the Post Modern Marxists, comradors of US Hindu Zionist Post Modern Galaxy order plays Bangla Nationality Card so well to keep the Vote Bank Intact! Thus, Hilsa and Moitri Express have taken over every other issues. Buddha declared that there won`t be no SEZ in Nandigram, but just after romping home in Laxman Seth Tamalika Seth stronghold Haldia, Nandigram has to feel the heat and fire of the state sponsored violence!
Meanwhile, Scientists and teachers today predicted disastrous effects for the proposed chemical hub in Haldia and urged the state government to provide a detailed report of the proposal to the public.
In a letter written to the chief minister, the Teachers and Scientists Against Maldevelopment (TASAM) warned that “the proposed hub will effectively become an instrument for providing cheap labour and dumping ground for the toxic material due to the relaxed environmental laws of our country”.
The state government should have consulted the experts before proceeding with the proposal. “The decision taken by the government was solely an administrative one. It should have discussed the matter with researchers and scientists of this field”, said Prof. Partha Sarathi Ray, chemical technology professor at Calcutta University.
Prof. Rabindra Nath Majumdar, another professor at Calcutta University, said that the government’s decision of selecting Haldia to set up the chemical hub was wrong because it is dangerous to set up such a hub in any fertile land or even coastal area. Though the government has publicly announced that the hub would be “environment friendly” and “less polluting”, it has not provided any substantial data to support it.
After political parties, the chemical hub proposed by the Left Front government has come into the bad books of a section of teachers and scientists.

The members said it was wrong of the government to acquire land at Nandigram without putting to rest problems pertaining to pollution, waste management, disposal of effluents, etc. They demanded to know the details about the design, the investors and other players in the setting up of the proposed hub.
“Chemical pollution is as detrimental to the environment as nuclear pollution. Moreover, such an activity cannot be allowed in a densely populated state like West Bengal,” said Manindra Narayan Majumdar, former Professor of chemistry and Dean Faculty of Science, Kalyani University. Citing various disasters in chemical factories, he added that accidents are highly possible in such plants.
Abhee Dutt Majumdar from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics said they have conveyed their concerns to the chief minister several times but to no avail.
“Our state is rich in biodegradable and renewable resources like plant biomass. The government should try to utilise these resources instead of setting up petro-chemical hubs,” he added.
The project in Nandigram has become a flashpoint between the state's long-ruling communists and farmers who say their prime agriculture land is being taken away.West Bengal has witnessed regular protests over acquisition of agriculture land for industry this year, with violence in Singur, near Kolkata, where Tata Motors is building a small car factory.The project, billed as key to the rejuvenation of West Bengal and a test case for the communists, has been mired in trouble with some farmers saying the government took their land against their will.The government says it has compensated most of the affected farmers and is unwilling to halt the project.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee appealed to the central government to take action against the West Bengal government.She said that if the Centre can take action against the Andhra government then action should be taken against the Bengal government.
In the wake of the Bangladesh government’s six-month ban on export of hilsa, the state fisheries department, keen to boost the sale of the fish from Bangladesh in local market, has taken up the matter with the central government. While at least 25 people have been injured in a clash between ruling CPI (M) and opposition Trinamool Congress supporters that took place in Nandigram on Sunday.According to reports, trouble started after a victory procession of the Trinamool Congress that won seven of the 26 seats in the recently concluded Haldia civic polls turned violent. here are reports of bomb explosion in the area and a CPI (M) party office was also attacked.
Trinamool along with Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), which is opposing the land acquisition for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Nandigram, has called for a shutdown on Monday.
Meanwhile, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee demanded dismissal of the State government and asked the Centre to intervene.Banerjee held the state government responsible for the murder of Tapasi Malik at Singur, site of the Tata Motors'
small car project, and threatened to continue its agitation
till the forcibly-acquired land was returned to the owners.
Condemning the police firing that killed seven farmers
in Khammam district in Andra Pradesh, Banerjee said, "We
don't support what happened in Andhra Pradesh and this is our
stand for any such incident anywhere in the country, unlike
the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in West Bengal".
Appreciating the Andhra Pradesh government's steps
ordering a judicial probe into the police firing that killed
farmers, announcement of compensation for the families of the
deceased and the injured and anouncement of punishment for the
officials responsible for the incident, Banerjee regretted
that the Left Front government was yet to take any such step
here on the killing of 14 persons in police firing on March 14
at Nandigram.
"If the Centre can ask for report from the Andhra
Pradesh government on the incident, it should also ask for
reports on Nandigram and Singur from the West Bengal
Government on the same ground," she said.
Banerjee said that despite an assurance to look into
their demands during 26-day-long hunger strike, he did not
keep his word.
"No system worked properly in the state and the police
was not allowed to work independently," she regretted alleging
that after the L F win in the Haldia Municipality, the local
authority issued notification for acquisition of land in all
those wards where opposition candidates had won creating
tension among farmers.
Reports from Nandigram said 26 people who were injured were admitted to hospital. Srinivas, however, said only five people had sustained injuries and one bomb was hurled. He said there were no reports of firing.
"The situation is now under control," Srinivas said as tension gripped the area.
BUPC leader Abdus Samad said the CPI-M procession had ended peacefully. But when BUPC began marching, CPI-M workers hurled bombs at them.
CPI-M leader Ashok Guria, however, alleged that BUPC men attacked their party office, triggering the clash.
The BUPC has now called a 12-hour Nandigram shutdown Monday to protest against the latest violence. It said CPI-M men fired from Khejuri, a stronghold of the party and where most CPI-M supporters of Nandigram are now sheltered in camps.
"We will surround the Nandigram police station on Aug 1 to protest the firing," said Samad.
"The latest violence is because of comments made by Haldia MP Laxman Seth who dubbed the verdict in Haldia as a mandate for industrialisation and hinted at eyeing Nandigram again for an industrial complex," a BUPC supporter said.
Haldia is an industrial town close to Nandigram where the communists are planning to relocate the chemical hub that was originally planned in Nandigram triggering the saga of violence and killings.
The Left Front won the civic body elections held this month under the shadow of the violence in Nandigram.
Meanwhile, CPI-M patriarch Jyoti Basu said he was concerned over the latest reports of violence. "Nandigram is still violent and the peace process has to make headway," he said.
At least 22 people have been killed, hundreds injured and several raped in Nandigram in protests since January against the special economic zone (SEZ) and a chemical hub planned there in collaboration with Indonesia's Salim Group.
Following the violence, the SEZ plan was scrapped but thousands of people belonging to both the CPI-M and the BUPC have been living in camps.
The all-party talks to start a peace process in Nandigram and facilitate the return of terror-stricken villagers to their homes have not yielded much success.

Mr Kiranmay Nanda, minister-in-charge, today said that he has written to two Union ministers ~ Mr Jairam Ramesh and Mr Pranab Mukherjee ~ asking them to discuss the matter with Dhaka. “I have also requested the chief minister to discuss the matter with the Centre”.
To stop the sale of local hilsa weighing around two kilos, the state government has decided to impose complete ban on the use of nets used by fishermen in south Bengal, Mr Nanda said.
“We issued a circular in June on the specification of nets to be used. But fishermen had already procured their nets for this season. So we are going to issue an order on the density of the knitting. This will ensure that only the bigger fish gets caught in the net”, Mr Nanda said after discussion on his department’s budget.
India, Bangladesh to resume train service after 36 yrs

India and Bangladesh are all set to resume cross-border passenger train services after 36 years. Two trains will start to ply between Kolkata and Dhaka in September. Meet 10-year-old Sridhar Das, he is going back home to Bangladesh after one of his frequent visits to India where his father Nirmalendu Das works. For this father and son, and thousands of others like them, this journey is an arduous one. To get to Dhaka, they must alight at the Gede Railway Station in India, and walk three kilometers to catch a connecting train from the Darshana railway station in Bangladesh.
Little wonder then that the resumption of direct trains from Kolkata to Dhaka is eagerly awaited.
Nirmalendu Das says, “No doubt we will be benefited from this bus service. It’s going to help us.”
Basu demands inquiry into AP police firing
Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu today said there should be an impartial inquiry into the police firing in Andhra Pradesh to find whether the firing was unprovoked.
"I hope there will be an inquiry to find out whether the firing was unprovoked or absolutely necessary. I hope that our party's Andhra unit will raise demand for an inquiry into the incident," Basu told reporters here.
Referring to report of attack on CPI(M) zonal office in Nandigram today, the veteran Marxist said "This is unfortunate. It seems Nandigram is not within West Bengal."
"However, despite all such provocations we won the Haldia Municipal polls recently. It (the Haldia civic poll result) is a matter of pride for Left Front that people are with us."
Basu came to state party headquarters to attend the state committee meeting.
Six persons were killed and eight others injured when police opened fire yesterday to quell violence in Khammam district during a state-wide shutdown called by Left parties in AP to demand the distribution of land to the poor.
Board set to clear more SEZ proposals
New Delh): The board of approval for special economic zones will meet on August 8 to consider eight cases, including two from Infosys, as the process gathers momentum after a change in norms and less political resistance.
“After the August 8 meeting, we will have a large chunk of SEZ proposals — that had piled up before the assembly polls because of political opposition in various parts of the country — cleared,” a government official said.
With the empowered group of ministers changing the rules and putting a cap of 5,000 hectares on multi-product zones in April, the stage was set for faster clearances.
As of now, the board had approved 547 zones, of which 132 had been notified. The board has given formal clearances to 362 and in-principle clearance to 177 zones. Nearly 200 cases had been considered in five meetings since May 9.
Listed for in-principle approval at the August 8 meeting are Adarsh Prime Project’s 468-hectare IT SEZ in Karnataka, Enfield Infrastructure’s 16-hectare IT Zone in Bengal and the 10-hectare Genpact project in Rajasthan.
Other proposals include two from Infosys Technologies for IT Zones in Andhra Pradesh and a biotech SEZ by Veritas Infrastructure Development Ltd.

Singur: Govt should have issued single notification, not 13

Express News Service

Kolkata: The former secretary of the land and land revenue department of the state had filed a writ petition in the form of a public interest litigation (PIL) in Calcutta High Court challenging the acquisition of land at Singur for the Tata Motors’ small car project. The matter is being heard by a Division Bench of Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh. The counsel of the former land and land revenue secretary Soumendra Chandra Bose today contended that the notifications for land acquisition at Singur were virtually illegal.

The counsel added that Hooghly collector Binod Kumar who was in charge of land acquisition did not have the power to issue a notification for acquiring land at Singur on behalf of the Governor of the state. According to an existing order issued by the state government, only a person holding the rank of secretary or joint secretary was authorised to issue the notification. Further, there was no record to suggest that the Governor of the state had delegated this power to Kumar.
The state government had issued 13 notifications for acquiring 997.11 acres of land spread over five mouzas at Singur. But instead of doing so, the counsel argued, that the government should have issued only a single notice. All that the 13 notifications did was to create confusion among Singur residents. He added that the state government should produce all records related to land acquisition before the division bench so that malpractice during the acquisition process could be detected.
CPM seeks regulatory frame work for corporates
Madurai: Maintaining stiff opposition to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail the CPI(M) today sought a regulatory framework for domestic corporate houses entering the sector.
''Parliament should enact a model legislation to be followed suit by all the states, '' CPI(M) polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury said addressing the members of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI) here last night.
Mr Yechury, the second polit bureau member to address the TNCCI after a gap of 26 years after veteran Jyoti Basu, said the party was for a system of licensing to allow big business houses to venture into the sector, in order to prevent monopoly.
Domestic corporate houses, which initially supported the party’s stand on opposing FDI in retail have now become apologists, offering a fallacious rationale, he observed, expressing surprise. This was because they have resigned to the fate of being collaborators for the backdoor entry of foreign monopoly into this vital sector, he explained.
In this context, he welcomed the initiative of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to study the legal options adopted by other states to prevent the entry of corporate giants in this field.
Justifications by the Centre and ruling classes for FDI, including quality, competitive price and helping farmers, were all myths which, Mr Yechury said were exposed much earlier.
Police firing: Andhra govt announces compensation
A bandh to protest the death of six persons in police firing disrupted life here today even as the Left parties and main opposition TDP stepped up their attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, demanding his resignation for the incident. Tension gripped the town as hundreds of CPI(M) and CPI activists organised a sit-in at the district collectorate here with the bodies of those killed in the firing yesterday. The bodies, wrapped in red flags, were kept on a platform as the relatives of the victims sat wailing nearby.
The activists ended their protest after the chief minister announced compensation of Rs five lakh for the kin of the dead and said they would be given a government job, a house and three acres of land. The protestors then allowed the bodies to be taken for an autopsy.

There is tension in Khammam in Andhra Pradesh a day after six people were killed in police firing when a protest by CPM activists for land reform turned violent.Victims' families are refusing to cremate the bodies of those killed till action is taken against the concerned police officials.
The state government has announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the families of those who died. The government has also announced Rs 50,000 as compensation for the injured.
Land agitation
On Saturday, a three-month-old land agitation turned violent after a mob attacked the jeep of an Additional Superintendent of Police.
Security officials say there was a significant presence of Naxalites in the area last afternoon, which led to escalation of violence.
Khammam is a stronghold of Left parties, including CPI and the CPI(M).
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu are expected to visit Khammam on Sunday.
Chief Minister YSR Reddy has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
On Saturday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked the Andhra chief minister to submit a report on the firing incident.
The firing at a mob of Left activists at Mudigonda village yesterday during a state-wide bandh to press for the distribution of land among the poor triggered a political storm, with the entire opposition condemning the incident.
TDP President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri said the chief minister should immediately step down, owning moral responsibility for the "killing of innocent protestors".
Senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, who visited Khammam with Yechuri, termed the deaths as a "case of ghastly murder" and said it would have "far-reaching repercussions at the national level". Naidu and Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrashekhar Rao too visited Mudigonda and Khammam.
The state government has ordered a judicial probe into the firing, transferred Khammam's Superintendent of Police R K Meena and suspended Additional SP Ramesh Babu and two other officers.
Chief Minister Reddy appealed to the Left parties to call off their three-month-old protest for the distribution of land to the poor as his government was already implementing a programme for this.
Left activists who staged the sit-in for over 20 hours in Khammam, however, demanded that a case should be filed against police personnel responsible for the firing.
Emotions ran high as the protestors shouted slogans against the government. Opposition leaders including Naidu and TRS chief Chandrasekhar Rao, who visited the site of the protest, expressed solidarity with the demonstrators.
Naidu said the TDP would give Rs 1 lakh to the family of the victims and provide free education to their children.
In Hyderabad, the Left parties and TDP organised a rally to protest the firing. Leaders who addressed the rally demanded the chief minister's resignation.
Yechuri said the chief minister "is trying to suppress a peaceful movement for land reforms". The Left parties would continue their land struggle, he said.
The CPI's Dasgupta said: "We will raise the issue in the coming session of Parliament. The Congress government here cannot get away with a fascist approach towards a peaceful movement for land reforms."
Yesterday's violence-marred bandh came a day after talks between the government and representatives of Left parties failed to break the impasse over the distribution of land to the poor. The Left parties have been insisting on the setting up of an autonomous commission to monitor the land distribution.

Development policy flawed, says Patkar
While blasting the state for its industrialist-friendly policies, social activist Medha Patkar dared the government with another ‘freedom struggle’. Patkar, who on Monday led a protest against the displacement of the poor due to misplaced ‘development’ policies like the formation of Special Economic Zones in Maharashtra, alleged that while the government’s was favouring big names in the industrial sector, it was least bothered about the displacement it was causing.
Patkar was forced to hold the meeting at the starting point of the rally — Sandhurst Road near Dongri — when the protestors, including hundreds of displaced hawkers, peasants, labourers, Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and civil liberty groups from various parts of the state, were stopped by the city police in their steps.
Speaking at Azad Maidan,Mumbai, Patkar pointed out that development and displacement are the two sides of the same coin. “To displace people from their livelihood by evicting the urban poor from their homes, taking away fertile lands of farmers and tribals, depriving fishermen from fishing are some of the grave issues of misplaced development plaguing the country,” Patkar said.
Upping the ante against the ill-planned development, Patkar demanded a true and just development of all people. “Our leaders should stop uprooting and displacing poor and working class people from their livelihoods in the name of development,” she said.
Simpreet Singh, an activist, said “We oppose the Maharashtra government’s decision to repeal the Urban Land and Ceiling Act, as it will further help the interests of the builder lobby and a few elite people.”
“On the contrary, the state government should implement ULCA to buy or seize surplus lands and re-distribute the same among displaced people after asking them to form societies,” she added.
The protestors also decided to submit a memorandum to CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy CM R R Patil, demanding immediate revoking of the SEZ Act, cessation to demolition of slums and illegal encroachment of land by builders.

Jairam pep talk on Singur
KOLKATA: “Singur will be the catalyst of industrial revival in eastern India,” Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for commerce said today. The restriction on foreign direct investment from Bangladesh would be lifted on a case by case basis this year, he earlier told reporters during the day after the AGM of the Indian Tea Association.
“I know this is a controversial statement, but I am known to stir up controversies,” he said. SNS
DLF launches its first IT SEZ in Gujarat

DLF Ltd has launched its first IT SEZ at Gandhinagar. This is its first commercial venture in Gujarat. This will be followed by projects in other cities in Gujarat. The SEZ will have state of the art, world-class facilities.
Speaking about DLF’s entry in Gujarat, its spokesperson said that after successfully launching our first IT SEZ complex in Gujarat, we propose to launch IT SEZ in Ahmedabad with 3.5 million sq.ft in next 3-4 months. We are aspiring to set up townships in all the major cities of Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat.
We are also planning to participate in development of International Convention Centre in Ahmedabad, development of modern state-of-the-art Bus Stand in various cities. Beside this, DLF would also like to get involved in the development of Japanese’s City and Sabarmati River Front Development”.
The IT space is spread over 25 acres and offers 2.5 million sq ft of developed workspace, is all set to revolutionize IT workspace in Gujarat. It is a ready-built IT workspace to offer unmatched scalable advantages.
This SEZ project at an estimated cost of Rs.850 crores will be developed over two phases. The first phase is expected to be operational in next 15 months and being an IT SEZ, it would cater to all the international and national IT/ ITES companies. The project can generate jobs for 30,000 direct and indirectly.
Tin-pot riot squad brings tears to top cops’ eyes
Rajib Chatterjee
KOLKATA, July 27: The recent agitation in Singur, which saw farmers retaliating even after teargas shells and rubber bullets were fired upon them, may not only be because of their undaunted spirit. Senior police officers have found out the reason, that a large number of police personnel do not have the required skill to use these non-lethal weapons and disperse mob.
The state has in the past year, witnessed many agitations, at times violent ones, particularly in Nandigram and Singur. Investigating the reasons behind the failure of police to disperse the mob, officers found out that a large number of police personnel, some aged above 45, don't know the "right technique" to use non-lethal weapons such as teargas shells and rubber bullets, often used to quell mob and restore normality. Some of the policemen have not held such a weapon in the past three years.
"Most policemen don't know the number of teargas shells needs to be fired to restore normality in an area. They are also unaware of the distance between the policemen and mob that needs to be maintained while firing teargas shells," Mr RK Majumdar, director general and inspector general of state armed police, said. Now, it has been decided that such police personnel would be sent for retraining. Senior police officers have been asked to prepare a list of policemen who require training regarding effective use of non-lethal weapons.
"Policemen have started receiving training on effective use of teargas shells at the Barrackpore armed police brigade.
“Instruction has been issued to district police authorities to prepare a list of those willing to enlist for the training," Mr Majumdar said. The state home department has also sent a team to the Mob Dispersal Training Academy of the Central Industrial Security Force at Coimbatore recently. Now, they will in turn impart training to their colleagues on effective use of teargas shells and rubber bullets. It has been decided that a separate mob disposal squad will be set up in each district in future.
Three batches of police personnel from North and South 24-Parganas have been trained in Barrackpore.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=164298
Tata Steel TN project faces opposition

CHENNAI: Tata Steel's move to set up a titanium dioxide plant in Tamil Nadu faces criticism from opposition parties barely a month after the company entered into an agreement with the state government for the second time.
On Sunday, AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha threatened to demonstrate against the project.
Last month, the Tatas had announced that they would set up the plant to make titanium dioxide - used as a base for paints - from ilmenite, mined from the beach sands of Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts in southern Tamil Nadu.
Former MP and actor R. Sarath Kumar, who is planning to launch a political outfit soon, has set up a "fact-finding team" to investigate the sale of land to the Tatas in 50 villages in Sathankulam, Radhapuram and Tiruchendur areas of the district.
PMK chief S. Ramadoss said, "Ilmenite should not be a private property and the government should itself set up the plant instead of giving it to a private party like the Tatas.
"When the government is finding it tough to set up desalination plants in Tamil Nadu, the Tatas' talk of desalination plant, reclamation of land and agro-based employment is simply unbelievable," Ramadoss said.
The plant, entailing an investment of Rs.25 billion, will have a capacity to mine 500,000 tonnes of ilmenite and make 100,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide a year.
India imports about 70,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide every year.
Political outfits are alarmed that huge chunks of Tamil Nadu's southern beaches will go to private hands as the project needs a huge area of land - for every 100 tonnes of sand mined for ilmenite, 90 tonnes of sand will go waste.
Tata Steel had first signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jayalalitha government in 2002, but the project failed to take off.
The AIADMK now alleges that the ruling DMK is acquiring land from farmers in Santhankulam taluk at very low prices and the Tata project "would affect the livelihood of around 20,000 families".
"Moreover, Karunanidhi has created an impression among farmers that as many as 1,000 people would get direct employment and indirect employment for 3,000 in the proposed plant," she said.
"The AIADMK party condemns the DMK government's initiative in acquiring land indiscriminately from poor farmers to hand it over to entrepreneurs."
Ramadoss said, "It is simply shocking to learn that the government would acquire 10,600 acres of land for the Tatas".
He warned Tata's Tamil Nadu plans would soon turn into another Singur - the town near Kolkata where a project of another Tata firm, Tata Motors, has been facing violent protests.

Mainstream, VOL XLV, No 32
Culpable Derelection of Duty by Police Officers
by D. Bandyopadhyay
Sunday 29 July 2007
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article250.html

constituencies of Chitrakut district. In addition Dadua’s brother contested from a constituency of Pratapgarh district on the SP ticket. The mother of Thokia dacoit Piyariya Devi contested on the Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket from Naraini (Banda). All this poses a serious danger to the basic tenets of democracy. How can we expect the true voice of people to emerge when voters are pressurised increasingly by the threats of dacoits and how can we expect corruption to be curbed when the utilisation of development funds in a panchayat starts with paying a share to the dacoit gang? Clearly the dacoit menance has to be brought to the centre-stage of protecting democracy in areas like Chitrakut. In the legends of the Ramayana, it is Lord Rama who provided protection to villagers threatened by monsters. In modern times, helpless people are still waiting for a protector. n
It is quite heartening that after some initial delay the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is proceeding with the investigation of the Tapasi Malik rape-and-murder case with expedition and dexterity. They are showing their professionalism for which they have made a name for themselves.
Delay undoubtedly hampered the quality and speed of investigation because many of the important clues and vital evidence must have been lost or deliberately suppressed or concealed due to both the efflux of time and interference by interested persons and groups.
It was the duty of the State Police to do what the CBI is doing now. They were on the spot immediately after the event when much of the evidence now lost or not easily retrievable could have been easily gathered and the culprits could have been arrested pending further investigation.
It is now clear that this rape and murder was not a crime of passion. It was a deliberate act of the party in power and its local leaders to send a clear message to the agitating farmers and their family members to desist from such “anti-party” activities.
The day before she was murdered, Tapasi appeared on the rostrum at Kolkata’s Chowringhee where Ms Mamata Banerjee was on an indefinite hunger-strike. As Tapasi was a leading figure of the anti-land acquisition movement at Singur she was publicly lauded for her courage and leadership. Hence she was made the ta

Betrayal By Orissa Government and Destined Environmental disaster Immediate task should be surveys to point out the submergence are a village to village in Dantewara and Malkangiri 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 Changing Currents was Earth Report's countdown to the 3rd World Water Forum (Kyoto, Japan, 16-23 March 2003). Dam Dam Dam Big dams. Love them or hate them, we have to live with them. Environmental campaigners contend that vast schemes such as the Three Gorges in China or the Narmada in India, are social and environmental catastrophes in the making. But their backers have a different view. Big dams can provide non-polluting energy and control flooding. In the run up to the World Water Forum, Earth Report presents the case for and against big dams. We travel to China and India to examine two of the most contentious dams presently being built, and we visit Norway where the economy is almost entirely based on hydropower. http://www.tve.org/cc/doc.cfm?aid=932 Floods are the most destructive, most frequent and most costly natural disasters on Earth. And they're getting worse. Large parts of central and western England are underwater in the worst flooding in 60 years. Insurers estimate the damage could reach $6 billion -- on top of the $3 billion in flood losses suffered in northern England in June. Over the past two months, the monsoon season in Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan has, conservatively, claimed hundreds of lives. Texas has suffered major flood damage, as have Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and North Carolina. Although California's primary water worry right now is drought, increasingly serious floods lie in store for us, too. Flood damages have soared around the world in recent decades for a variety of reasons. Global warming is worsening storms; we've deforested and paved over watersheds; and more people are living and working on floodplains (there are few better examples of this than the fast-sprawling cities of California's Central Valley). But a key factor behind the spiraling flood damages is the very flood-control measures supposed to protect us. Flood damages soar when engineering projects reduce the capacity of river channels, block natural drainage, increase the speed of floodwaters and cause the subsidence of deltas and coastal erosion. In addition, "hard path" flood control based on dams and levees can ruin the ecological health of rivers and estuaries. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/29/EDG3IQ8JRI1.DTL Dear Bharat Ji and friends! I have talked you to shift the agitation epicentre in Malkangiri and dantewara on telephone. I have talked to Orissa and bengal leaders. Since the people in Orissa and Chhatishgargh are quite unaware of the danger ahead and despite official objection the state governments do not help them anyway. The state machinery is avoiding to workout the survey and hearings to measure the impact, direct or indirect, it is nothing but betrayal to the people of the respective states.You may not involve the people or mobilising them unless you clarify the facts. Unfortunately enough facts are not available concerning Malkangiri and Dantewara. But simple logic may put forward the level of danger ahead. The catchment areas have to be submerged and the damage have to be extensive as we have seen in cases of Tehri Dam, Rihand Dam, Bhakhra Nangal dam, Narmada dam and Sardar Sarovar. We know the destined calamity but we may not project it to our people, this the basic problem of any mass movement. And the misinformation campaign overlaps our concern and endevours. Anti Polavaram Dam Agitation is centred around Khammam and east Godavari districts of Andhra only despite the fact that the project woud cause extensive damage to resettled Bengali refugees, Dalits and tribals in Chhattishgargh and Orissa. The Dandakaranya Project touches the borders of Maharashtra ,too. Thus, the role of respective state governments are not transparent anyway. This is a violation of RTI act. Medha patkar is quite a vetern in mass mobilastion against anti people River and water management. She has neglected the Orisssa and Chhattishgargh factors. More over link Krishna Godavri project implications are not highlighted properly. Which may have adverse impact on other southern states also. I believe, the activists involved have greater tasks ahead. It needs proper homework to resist the State Power and Brahminical Set up. I am afaid, the anti Polavarm dam agitation lacks momentum on these points. Immediate task should be surveys to point out the submergence are a village to village in Dantewara and Malkangiri. Public hearing should be arranged in every effected village. I believe that it is going a big agitation. Perhaps bigger than Narmada bachao Andolan! Palash Bharath to me Dear Palashda & friends Met Shridamda and Ujawalda. Discussed the issue of Polavaram damn displacement from different dimensions of the problem that adivasis and dalits are going to suffer from displacement and post displacement that is going to be a disaster in Eastern Ghats The sheet of reservoir on the bed of displacement of more than three hundred villages in three states of Dandakaranya is a problem with several implications Social and political unrest as a consequence of displacement and ecological destruction in the region is going to be manifold Problem in Orissa is not just 13 settlements with around 3000 aces of land at +150 ft RL. And it is not a question of mere consultation of AP government with neighbouring states It is a problem much higher in magnitude of implications due to direct displacement and also indirect implications. Real magnitude of displacement in Orissa and Chattisgarh is not known yet known. It will be much higher like in Andhra Pradesh where the government revised its displacement figures from 250 villages to 276 (officially admitted) after the field studies have pointed out that AP Govt data is all baseless fiction Similarly it will go up from 13 to many villages in Orissa also Besides, the whole issue is currently debated at +150 ft RL. While there is also problem of +175 ft for which the AP government has agreed to give compensation for frequent damages due to floods and backwater effect. thus the number of villages affected by displacement and backwaters is going to be high. and that is totally ignored currently the problem of displaced adivasis and vulnerable communities in tens of thousands moving helterskelter will being havoc in the entire region adjoining the submerged villages. they do not see the boundaries of forests or the states. so called unaffected villages in the proximity of the submerged villages will pay heavily because of this. it will be social, political and ecological disaster. Bengali settlements in Orissa will face the fallout, so is the the region up to Sukma in Dantewada of Chattisgarh and Bhadrachalam town and surrounding areas of Polavaram and Devipatnam mandals in Andhra Pradesh. threatened villages are not accepting the government rehabilitation. even if the government succeeds in forcibly evicting them or luring them with compensations the villagers are finally going to live further up in the hills by axing the forest. already the threatened villagers have put up their village name boards to 'reserve' a patch of the forest. newspapers have reported of the earmarking villagers have done in the neighbouring forest region. one needs to realise these aspects of the problem and also press for action in the light if this reality. not just the official data of 13 settlements in Motu block Shridamda plans to visit Malkangiri shortly will keep you informed of the progress bharath See these references: References http://www.iimcal.ac.in/programs/FPM/DataFile.asp?FileID=6 India: Peaceful Demonstrators Against the Narmada Dam Project Arrested, Beaten, and Intimidated by Police.?? The Sierra Club: Human Rights Campaigns.? 1999. ?Medha Patkar.?? The Goldman Environmental Prize.? 1992. Narmada River page.? International Rivers Network.? 1996-2000. Roy, Arundhati.? The Cost of Living.? New York: Random House, Inc.? 1999. ?The Sardar Sarovar: A Brief Introduction.?? Friends of the River Narmada.? 2000. Shruti Mukthyar.? ?Alternatives.?? Friends of the River Narmada.? U of Wisconsin-Madison: Institute for Environmental Studies.? 2000.? Large dams power India`s growth story Sapna Dogra Singh / New Delhi July 25, 2007 http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=292202&tab=r Despite the controversies surrounding large dams, the government is betting on a host of such mega projects to meet the country?s power generation needs. As part of the strategy, it is working on what will be the biggest dam in the country ? the 3,000-Mw Debang multi-purpose project on the Debang river in Arunachal Pradesh. Multipurpose dams serve two purposes ? power and irrigation. The Debang project will benefit the entire North-East and the eastern regions. ?The detailed project report has been prepared and is awaiting techno-economic clearance by the Central Electricity Authority,? said an official of the authority. Being developed by the Arunachal Pradesh government and the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), the project is likely to be commissioned in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-17). The displacement of people due to the project was ?marginal? and so it was unlikely to face much opposition, said officials working on the project. Power planners say dams have been good for the country. An example is the Bhakra Nangal dam, which irrigates Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, and provided water for the Green Revolution. A multi-purpose project on the Satluj river, this 1,326-Mw dam will soon add a capacity of 90 Mw. According to an official of the Bhakra Beas Management Board, the dam produced 440 million units of electricity in June to meet the demand for paddy crop. During non-monsoon months, the production is 275-300 million units. Last year (April 2006-March 2007), the production was 5,382 million units. In Maharashtra, the Koyna dam, which has the country?s first underground power house, supplies water to western Maharashtra and power to the neighbouring areas. Completed in 1963, the 1,920-Mw project is one of the largest civil engineering projects commissioned after India?s independence. The Koyna electricity project is run by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Most generators are located in excavated caves a kilometre deep inside the surrounding hills. The 1,000-Mw Tehri dam in Uttarakhand became fully operational this year. By 2011, another 1,000 Mw will be added. Simultaneously, many other dams are being upgraded. The Srisailam dam in Andhra Pradesh, for instance, will soon add another 900 Mw to its capacity of 770 Mw. The six river basins in the country have the potential to generate 150,000 Mw. However, so far, only 34,000 Mw has been tapped. The power ministry plans to add 16,553 Mw by 2012. According to an official of the Central Electricity Authority, the contracts for 16,000 Mw have been awarded. The government plans to add 30,000 Mw hydro capacity during the Twelfth Plan, 31,000 Mw during the Thirteenth Plan and 38,000 Mw during the Fourteenth Plan. More big projects like Debang might come up, said the official. By 2012, the country will see three new projects of 1,000 Mw and above. These are the Karcham Wantoo project (1,000 Mw) in Himachal Pradesh, the Tehri pump storage scheme of 1,000 Mw and the 2,000-Mw plant at Subansiri in Arunachal Pradesh. DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Poor Pay Social Costs of Big Dams Without Gain, says Global Report By Meena Menon http://www.ips.org/socialforum/0122/devindia.htm MUMBAI, India, Oct 12 (IPS)- The hundreds of big dams built by India in the past half century have boosted national food and industrial production, but at a cost paid by the poorest, says a new study backed by both supporters and critics of multi-purpose river schemes. The survey was sponsored by the World Commission on Dams (WCD), which has been set up by governments, aid agencies, non-governmental organisations and anti-dam movements from across the world, to review the gains and losses from the world's 45,000 large dams. The India study is one of several country studies, which are helping prepare the WCD global report to be released in November. The India report, made available to IPS, has advised India to build big dams only if the benefits can be spread evenly among the people. The WCD is funded by industry, governments and aid agencies. It has held nine public hearings on six continents and listened to experiences of 120 people from 68 countries, regarding 1,000 dams. Although the Indian government did not permit a WCD hearing in the country two years ago, it subsequently became a member of the global forum. ''Large dams...must only be implemented if they also serve the cause of equitable distribution of resources, wealth and opportunities,'' says the India country report prepared by a team of Indian experts. According to the study, India's big dams have played an important role in increasing farm productivity, power generation and industrial water supply. However, they also had negative social and environmental effects, specially the eviction of a sizeable part of India's population from its ancestral home. India has more than 4,000 large dams of over 15 metres height as defined by the International Commission on Large Dams. Nearly two-thirds of the people displaced by multi-purpose river valley projects, are either tribals or members of the socially oppressed 'scheduled castes', who have the lowest incomes among the country's poor. These groups had to bear a disproportionate share of the social costs of big dams, considering that tribals and scheduled castes make just one-fourth of the Indian population, the report notes. The big dams have been specially harsh on indigenous people, who are less than a tenth of India's population, but made up nearly half of those displaced by the projects. ''There seems no justification for the imposition of costs on millions of innocent tribals and other rural people, who lose even the little they have in order to benefit those who already have more than them,'' says the report. The irrigation benefits of big dams are reaped by farmers and others in the command areas and the costs are borne by ''society at large, the taxpayers and the project affected people,'' it adds. The report estimates that on average, each big dam in the country has submerged nearly 5,000 hectares of forest. In the last 20 years, big dams are estimated to have swallowed up some 9.1 million hectares of India's forests. The study notes with concern that most of these schemes were not required to internalise the costs of preventing or minimising their harmful impact. It expresses greater worry over the Indian government's inability to enforce compliance with project conditions. Moreover, the process of environmental impact assessment (EIA) of big dams was subjected to political and administrative pressures, it says. ''Pressure is brought upon the professional project consultants to prepare EIAs in a manner such that the project is cleared,'' it says. India is estimated to have spent about 919 billion rupees (20 billion U.S. dollars) in the past 50 years on irrigation schemes. Most of these were linked to dams. However, India's big irrigation schemes have run up heavy financial losses, with annual operational losses of more than 30 billion rupees (680 million dollars) in 1993-94, the study estimates. The report also expresses worry that the safety aspect of big dams has been generally neglected by planners. ''In dam after dam, it has been observed that the required attention is not being paid to this very serious aspect of dam appraisal,'' it points out. Environmental clearance for big dams was made compulsory by the government 22 years ago, and ''that also more as a matter of policy than a statutory requirement.'' It became a statutory requirement only six years ago. More than 2,500 of the large Indian dams were begun before the year 1978. ''Consequently, for these 2500 plus large dams, no assessment was required to be done of their social and environmental costs or viability nor was there any attempt to prevent or minimise most of the adverse impacts,'' says the study. (END/IPS/ap-dv-en/mm/mu/00) September 18, 2003: Arundhati Roy discusses India's dams with host Mishal Husain. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/dammed/transcript.html Mishal Husain: Arundhati Roy, welcome to WIDE ANGLE. Arundhati Roy: Thank you. Mishal Husain: Now you've come to be very much identified with the issues that we've seen in the film. Why was it that you chose to get involved? Arundhati Roy: Because I think that the story of the Narmada Valley is the story of modern India -- and not just modern India, but the story of the powerful against the powerless and the whole world, really. And it isn't a story that works itself into the conventional divisions of the left and the right and the working class and the bourgeoisie and so on. It's a story that somehow is so complex that it involves the river, the ecology, the caste system in India, the class system, too. [It?] sort of a peg, or a keyhole, to use to open a very big lock, you know? I thought this was that story. And in 1999, when the Supreme Court lifted its stay on the construction of the dam after six and a half years, that decision was what pushed me into the valley. Because suddenly it appeared that this fight that we thought had been won -- the Bank had been pushed out, [which was] unprecedented in the history of the bank, and the six year stay given by the Supreme Court seemed to point in the direction of a victory -- and, suddenly, it was all reversed. Mishal Husain: The history of dams in India is a very long one. I mean, this is a well-established way that India's pursued development. Arundhati Roy: Absolutely. Dams are the temples of secular India and almost worshipped. I keep saying they are huge, wet cement flags that wave in our minds. They're the symbol of nationalism to many. And if there were an Olympics in dams, India would have a bronze. It's the third largest dam builder in the world; and perhaps the most committed because we have built 3,300 dams in the 50 years after independence. And today another 650 [are] under construction. Forty percent of all the big dams being built in the world are being built in India. And so there's this, until recently, unshaken faith in these completely obsolete things. But hopefully, the faith has been shaken a little. I don't know. Mishal Husain: But they've been a source of pride for successive Indian governments-- a symbol of achievement? Arundhati Roy: Well, certainly it started off that way. I think it would be unfair to say that in the late '40s and '50s, when Nehru was the champion of big dams, that it was a cynical enterprise because they really believed that these were going to be the solution to the famines and hunger in India. But the point is that 50 years down the line, they have proved otherwise. We have 3,300 big dams, but the drought prone and flood prone areas in the country have actually increased. And from being a dream, they've become a very cynical corrupt enterprise; a way of letting governments lay their hands on huge sums of money; a way of centralizing resources; a way of snatching rivers away from the poor and giving them to the rich. And so in a sense they've become monuments to corruption. Mishal Husain: But, obviously, there have been benefits because successive governments don't build over 3,000 dams unless at least some of the benefits are tangible. Arundhati Roy: You can argue that about anything. Colonialism didn't have benefits. Surely, it did. The issue is not that they don't have benefits. The issue is: who does it benefit and how sustainable are those benefits? And you see when a dam is built, forgetting about the issue of displacement, even ecologically, it takes many years for the destruction to set in. So in a place like Punjab, which was the cradle of the Green Revolution and really the heart, the rice bowl of India, today all those lands are getting waterlogged, salinized. They don't know what to do with the salt water. And that destruction, once it sets in, can't be reversed. Mishal Husain: Let's just talk for a moment about the area that we saw in the film, the Narmada Valley, an area you now know quite well. Describe to us what it's like from your perspective. Arundhati Roy: You mean aesthetically? Well, I guess, if you go soon after the monsoon, it's beautiful. It's like Scotland... misty and green and lush and idyllic in some way. And in the plains, perhaps the richest soil in Asia, where every kind of crop can grow. And so when you're there, you keep thinking the ideal had all been flooded, and you keep thinking of all that under water: all that life, all that culture, uninterrupted civilizations from, I don't know, the Paleolithic Age or something. All those temples, everything just gone, and for what? The argument is always posited as though you can either have irrigation and electricity because of dams or you can go back to the Stone Age, whereas that isn't what the NBA is saying. [They are] simply saying that there are better, more efficient, more sustainable ways of irrigation and producing electricity than these big dams. Mishal Husain: But what would you say to the argument that everyone has to start somewhere and the government is trying to do something pro-actively to meet these really pressing needs that India has? I mean, water is such a precious resource and India's demand for it is going to double in the next 20 years or so. Arundhati Roy: Precisely. And that's why the dams are the wrong thing. Just take the case of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. You know, of course it's been projected as the solution to the problem of Gujarat drought regions of Kutch and Sarashtra. If you actually look at the government's own plans, it's going to irrigate 1.6 percent of Kutch's agricultural land and 9 percent of Sarastra. The rest of it is going to already water rich areas where the big farmers grow sugar and so on. And what it has done over the years? This huge project? It has soaked up almost Gujarat's entire irrigation budget. And with that amount of money, using more local water harvesting schemes, you could have brought water to every single drought prone village in Gujarat. Mishal Husain: Do you think exactly the same potential benefits could have been met in other ways? Arundhati Roy: Not exactly the same. Ten times more. And the question is never asked about why are those areas drought prone? Why are they becoming increasingly more drought prone? Because of this completely random exploitation of ground water or because of the destruction of the mangrove forest as an ingress of salt water from the sea. There's no question asked about why environmentally destructive projects have been allowed to proceed. And you take the case of Gujarat. I think it has the second largest number of big dams in India, and still it's drought prone. Mishal Husain: Why then would the Indian government spend all of this money? After all, India is bearing the entire cost of this huge project alone after international donors pulled out. Why would it spend all this money if the benefits are as questionable as you say they are? Arundhati Roy: Because for one, a potential dam is more important politically than an actual dam. So when the Sardar Sarovar is coming up, in the election campaigns in Gujarat --of course until this Hindu fundamentalism became the chief issue -- the benefits of this dam are trumpeted. It's complete propaganda. But they?e told, it can serve you breakfast in bed, it will solve your daughter's wedding. The campaign makes it sound like some magical thing. Eventually when the dam is built, as the Bargi Dam was built, the benefits are never what they say they are. So a lot of it has to do with propaganda and people's unquestioning belief in big dams, which have never been questioned before. Why are they so terrified of the argument? They don't let it be made. The World Commission of Dams was threatened with arrest when it was going into Gujarat because they don't want to question it. They don't want to say maybe there's a different way of doing it. Mishal Husain: But these are tried and tested. I mean, for instance, the United States is water sufficient largely because of some dams over the years. The Hoover Dam is the most notable example. I mean, these are tried and tested ways that countries have become sufficient in water. This particular project might be flawed, but are you against the principle of dams, per se? Arundhati Roy: Yes, I am, actually, after much thought. And in America, if you ask Bruce Babbitt, they're blowing up big dams. They're decommissioning them. In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic. And even if you look at America and look at India, they're two very different kinds of countries, you know? Of course when they built big dams in America, they dunked the American Indian into reservoirs. In India, you're talking about a kind of model of development that has displaced between 35 and 50 million people. On what basis can it be justified? We?e been talking about what big dams have done for India. In fact, there's not a single study done by the government that says that big dams are the reason that India is now food self-sufficient. Mishal Husain: No, but the government and-- there are other analyses that have been produced -- is that this particular dam will displace about 250,000 people. Now obviously that's a huge number, but the potential benefits will reach 40 million. Somewhere that arithmetic also works. Arundhati Roy: It doesn't, does it? I mean, isn't that a flawed argument when, firstly, the number of people it's going to displace is 400,000 because there's a very clever way in which they decide who is officially counted as project affected and who is not. And then if you posit the fact that it's going to benefit 40 million, first of all, if you read the essay I've written, you'll see how arbitrary that figure has been arrived at --A. B -- who are those 40 million people? It's absolutely untrue that this is going to be the case. But secondly, the assumption is that either you displace these 400,000 people and you bring water to 40 million or nothing. But what we're saying is that there are more sustainable ways of bringing water to those 40 million people. Mishal Husain: How would you do it? How would you meet India's water needs? Arundhati Roy: If you go to Gujarat today, you'll see that in Gujarat, there are villages who now know that this rhetoric about the Sardar Sarovar and Narmada water's coming is simply untrue. And you see the fantastic ways in which local water harvesting schemes have really been producing two and three crops a year in areas which we've been told are drought prone. page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 continue to next page Large Dams In India -- Temples Or Burial Grounds? By Angana Chatterji and Robert Jensen 22 September, 2004 Zmag How do we measure progress? How are lives improved by progress? Who benefits from -- and who suffers the consequences of -- progress? These are central questions today as nation-states and corporations pursue what are typically called "development" projects. One of the most controversial of these in recent years is a series of more than 3,000 dams in India?s Narmada River Valley. Government officials say these dams and an extensive irrigation system will bring electricity and water to areas of the country suffering from drought, and the technocrats insist that it will work. But other voices challenge this rhetoric of technological triumph, most notably the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement). Arguing that the government exaggerates the benefits and underestimates the costs, this nonviolent people?s movement since the mid-1980s has focused attention on the human suffering and environmental damage that comes with "big dams." These dams flood vast areas and displace hundreds of thousands, mostly peasants and adivasi (tribal) people, while promises of relocation and resources usually prove to be illusory. Just one of the dams, Sardar Sarovar, could uproot as many as a half-million people. In August 2004, Angana Chatterji was one of three members of an independent commission who went to the Narmada, visiting villages and listening to more than 1,400 people at hearings. The commission investigated violations in resettlement and rehabilitation policies connected to the Narmada Sagar, one of the Narmada dams. Chatterji, N.C. Saxena (a member of the Indian government?s National Advisory Council and former secretary of the Planning Commission of India), and Harsh Mander (former director of ActionAid India) will submit their report this fall to the National Advisory Council, headed by Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi. Chatterji, a Calcutta-born anthropology professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, described the situation in the Narmada Valley as desperate and cited one villager?s statement to sum up the sense of despair: "There is no future here; we are living out our days, focused on survival. The Narmada gave us life; they have turned her against us." Despite the setbacks, Chatterji not only continues but intensifies her advocacy work through her association with the Narmada Bachao Andolan and groups such as the U.S.-based International Rivers Network (http://www.irn.org/), for which she is a board member. Chatterji is passionate and sharp-tongued, with an ability to bring the complex issues into clear, and sometimes painful, focus. In a play on an often-quoted comment of India?s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Chatterji began our conversation by saying, "Dams are not the temples of India. They are her burial grounds." In an interview in September, she explained why the Narmada struggle remains crucial. http://www.countercurrents.org/en-jensen220904.htm India?s Greatest Planned Environmental Disaster: The Narmada Valley Dam Projects http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/narmada.html The Narmada Valley Development Project is the single largest river development scheme in India.? It is one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world and will displace approximately 1.5 million people from their land in three states (Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh).? The environmental costs of such a project, which involves the construction of more than 3,000 large and small dams, are immense.? The project will devastate human lives and biodiversity by inundating thousands of acres of forests and agricultural land.? ?The State? (India) wants to build these dams on the Narmada River in the name of National Development.? But ?How can you measure progress if you don?t know what it costs and who has paid for it?? (Roy 16).? Each monsoon season thousands of people are told by the Indian government that they will have to be relocated as their ancestral lands are flooded out.? ?The people whose lives were going to be devastated were neither informed nor consulted nor heard? (Roy 26).? A disproportionate number of those being displaced are tribal people: Adivasis and Dalits. Damming the Narmada River will degrade the fertile agricultural soils due to continuous irrigation (rather the seasonal irrigation which is dependent on the monsoon), and salinization, making the soil toxic to many plant species.? The largest of the dams under construction is the Sardar Sarovar, which, if completed, will flood more than 37,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land, displacing more than half a million people and destroying some of India?s most fertile land. The thing about multipurpose dams like the Sardar S