Mayawati Shatters SEZ Dreams!
Elephant Set to launch Casteology Nationwide
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
"prakash ray" writes:
WILL YOU SHUT UP>>> YOU FASCIST>>>>
On 8/19/07, palashc biswas wrote:
Buddha, Pranab Broker Indo US Nuclear Deal
CPIM Diversion Gimmick continues, Focus shifts in New
delhi from Kolkata
Pl Read:
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/august_a2007/articles.htm
Mayawati Shatters SEZ Dreams while THE UP government on Saturday amended the Special Economic Zone policy framed by the previous government. According to the new document, land owned by the farmers will not be acquired forcibly to set up SEZ. Meanwhile, Mayawati tries her best to escalate
her experiment of Casteology and social eingineering in UP countrywide. Now, Maya's man talks social engineering in Rajasthan.Mayawati's elephant seems all set to do an Uttar Pradesh in this desert state too. In an attempt to draw a bridge between the upper and lower castes, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday announced the formation of Brahmin-Dalit Bhaichara Committees in all 200 Assembly constituencies of the state.
After three straight sessions of losses, the Sensex today zoomed up by 286.03 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to settle in the green at 14427.55, following a rebound at Wall Street.While, in the backdrop of Nandigram SEZ issue, the government on Monday made it clear that farm land cannot be acquired without the consent of the owner but said dependence on agriculture sector for employment needs to be reduced.India's communists stepped up their opposition to a controversial nuclear deal with the United States on Monday, with one senior leader threatening to cut off vital support to the government if it pursued the pact. The four main left parties, who have 60 MPs in the Lok Sabha have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition not to pursue talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to clinch the deal.
It is rather a worrying factor that Dalits have not achieved development even six decades after Independence and things need to be changed, said Usha Mehra, chairperson of Commission on Categorisation of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh.Usha Mehra along with members of the commission visited some SC colonies in Tirupati and surrounding areas on Sunday.Interacting with people of Gandhi Nagar, she urged them to keep their surroundings clean to prevent the outbreak of diseases.
Later, the commission members visited Chaitanyapuram Dalit Colony and received representations from people on categorisation of Scheduled Castes.
Usha Mehra said the commission would submit a report to Parliament after eliciting views of Dalits in the State on categorisation of SCs. She also visited Gandhipuram and Arundhati Colony in Tirupati rural mandal. MRPS leaders Raju Madiga, Gopi Madiga and Erraiah Madiga who met the commission, stressed the need for categorisation of SCs to provide social justice to all the castes.Mahajana Charmakarula Sangham president Muniratnam, Budaga Jangama Hakkula Porata Samithi leaders Kullayappa and Marranna and some research scholars from Tirupati also met the commission seeking categorisation of SCs.
Responding to a question by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on the Nandigram issue in the Lok Sabha, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the effort is to discourage acquiring of fertile land.
No farm land can be acquired till there is consent of the owner, he said during Question Hour. Pawar said the government wanted the agricultural production to increase but at the same time, dependence of people for livelihood on the sector needs to be reduced.
Noting that a big majority of country's population depends on agriculture for livelihood, Pawar said 82 per cent of them possess less than 2.5 acres of land.
Most of them depend on rainfall, making their livelihood difficult, he said adding in view of this, it is better that they opt for alternative sources of employment.
Citing examples of developed countries like the UK and Germany, he said they also had heavy dependence on agriculture earlier, but now not more than four per cent of their population is into farming.
They diverted to other sectors and their problems were solved, Pawar said, adding the same example should apply to India if the situation is to change.
Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Shailesh Krishna said the state government has accepted the SEZ policy of the Central Government.The new SEZ policy approved by the state cabinet may affect the big industrial houses that were beneficiaries in the previous government, including the multi project one being set up by the Anil Ambani Group at Noida. Asked about the fate of projects approved by the previous government, Krishna replied that old proposals would be reviewed in the context of the new policy.
The Lok Sangharsh Morcha on Sunday gave a call to tribals and other downtrodden in Gujarat and other parts of the country to look for a solution to their problems “outside the framework of law.” They should remain prepared to fight long arduous battles to get justice from the “lawless governments.”
The Morcha, which organised a convention of the tribals and other downtrodden on the “People’s Rights and the Issues of Democracy in Gujarat” here adopted resolutions, including one condemning the alleged atrocities on the tribals by the Narendra Modi Government and his “false propaganda” on allotment of forest land to the tribals.
It called for the immediate scrapping of all Special Economic Zones and condemned the police firings in Khammam (A.P.), Nandigram ( West Bengal), Orissa and other States.
Communist Party of India general secretary A. B. Bardhan and veteran Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande were present. Briefly dealing with the alleged police atrocities on the tribals agitating for their rights on the forest lands in various states, Collin Gonsalves, a senior Supreme Court advocate, said that from his long experience in practising law he had realised that there was “no law, no court, no government” for the poor and downtrodden. Pointing out that he was contesting several cases in the Supreme Court on the tribals’ rights on the forestland, he said it was hardly leading to anywhere.
“If you want to get your problems solved and re-establish your rights on the land you till, you must seek a solution outside the framework of law. He advised the tribals to join hands with the Dalits and Muslims to fight for the downtrodden.
Mr. Bardhan, addressing the gathering, said he supported the contentions of Mr. Gonsalves and regretted that the subsequent governments in the post-independent era had belied the hopes and expectations of the poor and the downtrodden of a better deal by their own government.
He said that even 60 years after Independence, nearly 80 per cent of the population in the country, largely constituted by the tribals, Dalits and Muslims, had to still survive on a paltry income of Rs.20 per family per day.
The government had no land to give to the tribals for tilling, but could give thousands of acres of land to the industrialists to set up the Special Economic Zones. Criticising the government’s SEZ policy, he said he was not opposed to industrialisation, but questioned the need for giving such large chunks of land to the foreign and domestic investors to set up SEZs which could solve the problems of thousands of families of poor tribals and marginal farmers.
Castigating the government for “its failure” to frame a proper land policy, Mr. Bardhan said the tribals were being driven out from the forests and the Dalits and other downtrodden from the land earmarked for the SEZs.
Displaced when they settle down in the slums in the urban areas, their houses were being “bulldozed.” The compensation paid to the poor in lieu of their land given for SEZs, was too inadequate, he felt.
Assuring that he and his party would be with the tribals and other downtrodden in their fight for justice and rights, Mr. Bardhan, however, advised them to wage a war under some political banner.
Durgapur SEZ plan for infotech
The Durgapur development authority has cleared a proposal by construction firm Shapoorji Pallonji & Co to set up an infotech special economic zone (SEZ).
The SEZ will come up on 25 acres allotted by the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (Adda), whose board okayed the proposal yesterday.
Bansagopal Chowdhury, the Adda chairman, said the SEZ would be set up near the Software Technology Park in Durgapur’s Bidhannagar and will house a number of infotech companies.
“Shapoorji Pallonji will develop infrastructure for the Rs 100-crore project on 25 acres in Durgapur’s Bidhannagar area. The company will have to follow the land utilisation pattern fixed by Adda,” Chowdhury told a media conference. He said 5 per cent of the turnover of the project would go to the authority.
The project needs clearance from the approval board under the Union commerce ministry. If land acquisition is completed, approvals come through faster.The project, expected to be up and running by 2012, would generate around 4,000 jobs, Chowdhury said, adding that infotech SEZs have never been targeted by the Opposition.
The Samajwadi Party government had given approval to the Anil Ambani Group and six other private companies to set up SEZs in the Noida region.The cabinet has also decided to do away with first-come-first served policy. Proposals to set up SEZs will now be invited through open tenders. "This will ensure transparency in the selection of companies", Krishna said.
Krishna said under the new policy, SEZs will be developed through private-public partnership. Concessions to non-processing units will be withdrawn while processing units will continue to get the usual concessions.
Even as Anil Ambani's proposal for a special economic zone in Noida was turned down by the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday, Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai SEZ (formerly called the Maha Mumbai SEZ) has also run into problems.
In an affidavit filed before the Bombay high court on Friday, the Maharashtra government's industrial and urban infrastructure development arm, CIDCO, has opposed the state government's decision to notify 4,000 hectares of land from Khopta and 21 nearby villages for acquisition for the Mumbai SEZ in Raigad district.
The Mumbai SEZ is one of two being promoted by Reliance Industries [Get Quote] in the district, the other being the 4,000-hectare Navi Mumbai SEZ.
An affidavit to this effect was filed by the CIDCO managing director in the Bombay high court, which is hearing a public interest litigation on the acquisition of land for the Reliance SEZ. The PIL was filed by Peasant and Workers Party leader Datta Patil and others. The petitioners had made CIDCO a respondent in the PIL.
The affidavit states that the decision to notify the land from these villages was taken without consulting CIDCO, which is a planning body for the area. CIDCO had prepared plans to develop a township in this area, which was approved by the government, the statement said.
Besides the township, the affidavit states that the land in these villages will be required to develop a container freight station, container depots - since these villages are near Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust - and other allied activities.
The division Bench hearing the PIL, comprising high court Chief Justice Swatantra Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, has adjourned the hearing for four weeks and directed Reliance Industries to file an affidavit.
Farmers in Dadar village of Raigad district whose land has been notified for acquisition for the Reliance Industries-promoted Mumbai special economic zone have formed a company to develop a multi-product SEZ on 2,500 acres, the minimum land required under current SEZ rules.
A company called Kalbhairav Agro & Development Company has been floated for the purpose and 450 of the 1,000 farmers in the village have become shareholders. This marks the first time farmers have proposed an SEZ.
Farmers have been allotted one share for every 1,000 square feet of land they own. Thus, a farmer owning 1 acre gets 40 shares.
The company is chaired by A B Patil, a commerce graduate who owns six acres and two jeeps. He said he was confident of others joining once they saw some action on the ground.
According to Patil, all registration formalities for the company are complete and the proposal has been sent to the registrar of companies. The formal proposal to set up the SEZ will be sent to the Centre and the Maharashtra government once the registration is received.
"The government's attitude to this experiment will reveal if it is really interested in farmers' welfare," he said.
The state government has notified nearly 10,000 hectares in 45 villages in the district for acquisition for the Mumbai SEZ, a move strongly resisted by farmers.
Kalbhairav Agro has not yet drawn up firm fund-raising plans, however. Patil said the company was talking to the promoters of Magarpatta City on the outskirts of Pune for ideas. Farmers there joined hands and successfully developed a township and an infotech park.
"We will learn from their experiences of becoming crorepatis," he said. Kalbhairva also intends to talk to financial institutions for assistance and is even planning an initial public offer.
Patil admitted the task of setting up the SEZ was difficult because the farmers would have to face the might of Reliance Industries [Get Quote] and the state government. But he said the company would go ahead because the "fruits of development should be enjoyed by farmers themselves and not a few outsiders".
Reliance Industries, he said, was offering farmers Rs 10 lakh an acre. But farmers can easily sell the land to other companies for no less than Rs 1 crore an acre.
POSCO unit should open by end of 2011: Govt
Zee News - 1 hour ago
New Delhi, Aug 20: South Korean steelmaker POSCO is making progress on its troubled plans for a plant in eastern India and the unit should begin production by the end of 2011, India's steel secretary said on Monday.
Posco plant to begin operations by 2011-end Business Standard
Posco likely to start production at Indian steel plant by late 2011 MarketWatch
Activists protest POSCO project in Orissa
NDTV Correspondent
Monday, August 20, 2007 (Cuttack)
Using religion to express dissent, activists opposed to the Rs 52,000 crore POSCO steel project in Orissa marched from Cuttack to the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar.The march was organised to pray to Lord Shiva for the withdrawal of the Korean steel company's project.
Earlier, the POSCO India had announced it's plan to start construction work for its 12 million tonne steel plant in October this year.
Udyam - a youth body - organised the Bol Bom March on Sunday to protest against the impending displacement of 20,000 people.
They also protested the right accorded to POSCO to draw 15 to 18 crore litre of water per day from the river Mahanadi, which they said would endanger the livelihood of lakhs of farmers.
“the Undercover Economist” & Underwear Technologies
A new book “the undercover economist” unravels the mystery why rich are rich and coincidently I had explained over the years in much simpler way India is basically exporting raw materials or products that are low tech and have low value additions. I actually coined a term “Underwear Technology”- India promoted underwear technologies providing incentives worth $50b annually.
I have attached it after the message again.
India can be rich only when it firstly promote inventors and engineers who could found tech companies than displace commission agents, secondly promote development of globally competitive products with patent protection and serve the world market, thirdly minimize differential cost between producers and consumers and fourthly promote high technology industries and freeze investment on low technology products.
India's Lower Castes Seek Social Progress In Global Job Market
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, August 20, 2007; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/19/AR2007081901724.html?hpid=moreheadlines
PUNE, India -- As a Dalit, Pratibha Valmik Kamble is part of the poorest and most ostracized community in this subcontinent's ancient caste system, a group of people so shunned that they are still known as untouchables. Her mother is a maid, her father a day laborer.
Yet here in this prospering city, Kamble, 24, was recently applying to an Indian firm called Temp Solutions to go to Philadelphia for a well-paid social service job there. During the interview, she twisted her hands nervously in her lap, knowing that if she landed the position, she would not only make more money than both of her parents combined, she would enhance their social status, and her own.
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Michael Thevar, who recruits lower-caste workers for temporary jobs, speaks to Pratibha Valmik Kamble, right, and Vivek Kumar Katara in Pune, India. (By Emily Wax -- The Washington Post)
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India has long had an affirmative action program for federal government jobs, setting aside 23 percent of positions for the most oppressed castes. Now activists are campaigning to open the private sector to them as well, whether the employer is Indian or multinational. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said he favors that goal.
So does Temp Solutions co-owner Michael Thevar, himself a member of a low-ranking caste. He gave Kamble the job. "I'm so proud of you," he told her after delivering the good news. "I know so well how much you struggled. That's why I am that much more impressed."
Kamble's eyes went wet as she straightened her mustard-colored outfit and smiled, appearing to be almost embarrassed by his praise.
Recruiting drives aimed at hiring members of India's unprivileged castes, who make up 70 percent of the population, remain rare in the subcontinent's booming service sector. But as India hurtles into world markets, such hiring has touched off a larger debate over the country's 3,000-year-old caste system.
In much of India, the system organizes people into a rigid social order by accident of birth, determining everything from professions to marriage partners.
While the caste system is outlawed by the constitution, low-caste Indians still experience severe discrimination. Dalits are regarded as so low that they are not even part of the system. To this day, they are not allowed to enter many Hindu temples or to drink water from sources used by higher castes.
So far only two major companies -- Bharti Enterprises and Infosys -- have announced they would set aside jobs for Dalits and other oppressed castes.
Ramesh Bajpai, executive director of the New Delhi-based American Chamber of Commerce in India, said the issue of affirmative action for oppressed castes has not been raised among his members -- an indication, some Indian workers contend, that many U.S. companies are not fully aware of the caste system and its complex legacy of discrimination.
India-based executives for IBM and Microsoft, which are among the top foreign employers in this country, declined to comment for this article.
"Things are changing in India and, I believe, changing for the good," said Bajpai. "As far as we know, our member companies try to hire across the spectrum of Indian society. But since the government has started talking about this issue, we in the industry will follow. It is a complex and interesting discussion."
Airtel to connect Haryana Tech Park
Signs MoU with Selecto Systems to provide data, fixed voice and mobile services to the Technology Park
Monday, August 20, 2007
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Selecto Systems for providing telecom network infrastructure and services for its IT SEZ-Haryana Technology Park (HTP) on the Delhi – Agra National Highway in Haryana.
Selecto Systems promotes the HTP and is technically assisted by Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park.
The MoU assigned Airtel the "Preferred Telecom Service Provider" status and will be given preferential rights to establish and provide telecom infrastructure and services at the HTP.
Milan Rao, chief operating officer - North, Airtel Enterprise Services and Kamal Meattle, chief executive officer, Selecto Systems signed the MoU.
The HTP is being built on 1.65 million square feet area and will be ready for
occupation on January 1, 2010 and will service 30,000 users.
The Park will be equipped and serviced facility suited for international IT, KPO and BPO firms.
As a part of the MoU, Airtel will set up the telecom network infrastructure at the SEZ, ensuring all the SEZ clients have access to telecom services. Airtel will also establish a dedicated help center to address the telecom requirements of the SEZ clients.
Airtel will provide data, fixed voice and mobile services to the HTP. Companies at the SEZ will also be able to safeguard themselves against any unforeseen disasters by
having access to back up their critical business data and applications through the business resiliency and continuity services.
There are several exclusive features of rich countries;
1. People of rich countries are highly skilled.
2. Rich countries have very high productivity per employee.
3. Rich countries sell high value high technology products and buy low technology products; it is reverse for poor countries.
4. Rich countries have very efficient legal system and law is enforced vigorously.
5. There are ethical standards in every day life and every one is accountable to society.
6. Rich countries have low level of corruption.
All rich countries are efficiently governed.
Ravinder Singh August20, 2007
Progressindia2007@ yahoo.com
http://www.slate. com/id/2171898/
the undercover economist
Milton Friedman, Meet Richard Feynman
How physics can explain why some countries are rich and others are poor.
By Tim Harford
Posted Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, at 7:07 AM ET
If economics can tell us something useful about crime, marriage, or carpooling—as I believe it can—then other academic disciplines should have something to tell us about economies. Last month, Science published an example that may turn out to be important. Two physicists, Cesar Hidalgo and Albert-László Barabási, and two economists, Bailey Klinger and Ricardo Hausmann, have been drawing unusual pictures of economic "space" that promise a deeper understanding of the biggest question in economics: why poor countries are poor.
There are many explanations, but some are easier to test than others. One very plausible account of why at least some poor countries are poor is that there is no smooth progression from where they are to where they would be when rich. For instance, to move from drilling oil to making silicon chips might require simultaneous investments in education, transport infrastructure, electricity, and many other things. The gap may be too far for private enterprise to bridge without some sort of coordinating effort from government—a "big push."
That is an old and intuitive idea in economics, but as an informal argument it leaves a lot to be desired. For a start, while plausible, it might not be true. If it is true, it might be far more so for some kinds of economy than for others. And if there is to be a big push, in which direction should it go?
Testing the idea took three steps. First, economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research broke down each country's exports into 775 distinct products. Next, Hausmann and Klinger used that data to measure how similar each product is to each other product. If every major apple exporter also exports pears, and every major pear exporter also exports apples, then the data are demonstrating apples and pears to be similar.
Presumably, both economies would have fertile soil, agronomists, refrigerated packing plants, and ports. For the third step, Hausmann and Klinger called upon Hidalgo and Barabási, who specialize in mapping and analyzing networks. The result was a map of the relationships between different products in an abstract economic space. (And look at more maps here. Apples and pears are close together; oil production is a long way away from anything else.
"The physicists' map shows each economy in this network of products, by highlighting the products each country exported. Over time, economies move across the product map as their export mix changes. Rich countries have larger, more diversified economies, and so produce lots of products—especially products close to the densely connected heart of the network. East Asian economies look very different, with a big cluster around textiles and another around electronics manufacturing, and—contrary to the hype—not much activity in the products produced by rich countries. African countries tend to produce a
few products with no great similarity to any others."
That could be a big problem. The network maps show that economies tend to develop through closely related products. A country such as Colombia makes products that are well connected on the network, and so there are plenty of opportunities for private firms to move in to, provided other parts of the business climate allow it. But many of South Africa's current exports—diamonds, for example—are not very similar to anything.
If the country is to develop new products, it will mean making a big leap. The data show that such leaps are unusual.
None of this is proof that other development prescriptions— provide financing, fight corruption, cut red tape, and lower trade barriers—are useless. Nor is it a green light for ham-fisted industrial policy. Klinger warns: "It's easy to take the policy implication too far and start trying to pick and choose where to settle in the product space." But it is a big step forward. Policy-makers should take note, and economists, too.
Tim Harford is a columnist for the Financial Times. His latest book is The Undercover Economist.
Aamdani Athanni Kharcha Rupia – Economic Profile Of India ©
On one front India has corporate indulging in grabbing farmers land at 20 years old rates with GOI connivance who have not developed a single technology in 2-5 generations (Ambanis, Tatas & othrs), on another there are political agents specializing in converting slum properties in to super malls, on yet another there are moneylenders who charge 120% interest from farmers and small businesses, on yet another front there is run way imports of all kind of products at practically no duty and exports are generally raw materials or low value added products. In the following you can see June imports are 52.25% higher which was 46% in April.
Non-oil imports during June, 2007 were estimated at US $ 13530.70 million which was 52.25 % higher than growth on non oil imports of US$ 8887.25 million in June, 2006. Non-oil imports during April-June, 2007 were valued at US$ 40078.64 million which was 50.36% higher than the level of such imports valued at US$ 26654.92 million in April-June, 2006.
http://commerce. nic.in/pressrele ase/pressrelease _detail.asp? id=2112
https://www. cia.gov/library/ publications/ the-world- factbook/ rankorder/ 2187rank. html
Now Earnest & Young has also come out with prediction of India overtaking Developed countries in GDP like Goldman Sachs. I asked GS top executives in India, Can you give me the items India shall export in 2050? They couldn’t say a word. In the second link all other “Tigers” have substantial trade surplus. China has $179b surplus, Russia $105b that is one seventh in population, Brazil $13.5b, South Korea $2b, India is the only emerging economy that had rapidly growing trade deficit that was $41b in 2006.
153rd Out Of 158 In Current Account Balance
You see that in the list India ranks at the bottom.
A common argument to counter trade deficit issue is India is getting NRI investments and remittances of Indian workers. But can they substitute for gross incompetence of Commission Agents kind of Indian corporate? Goods made in India could have created millions of jobs. By the way the commission agents corporate who claim most of India financial resources have neither created new jobs for 10-15 years nor any significant technology.
I as an inventor put Man Mohan Singh in absolute idiot class firstly for promoting commission agents in the country and then diverting all the hard earned NRI deposits and remittances at their disposal. As a matter of fact India
There was a popular song “Aamdani Athanni Kharcha Rupai”, Indian imports are growing at twice more rate than exports.
India is either exporting low value addition goods or simply raw materials like iron ore, food items and raw cotton and low technology products.
https://www. cia.gov/library/ publications/ the-world- factbook/ rankorder/ 2078rank. html
Indian Exports Under 1% Of The World.
Indian exports are less than 1% of the world at that too consists of mainly low value added products and raw material.
But the problem is Man Mohan Singh can’t think of any one other than Ambanis or Tatas. You can see Tatas operating in areas marked in red failed to produce goods India imported worth $70b and figure for Ambanis could be $20b in expanding the full list. RIL exports of petroleum products have little value additions.
Ravinder Singh August06, 2007
Inventor
Progressindia2007@ yahoo.com
http://commerce. nic.in/ftpa/ default.asp
Top 15 Commodities EXPORTS
Rank Commodity Apr-Mar 2006 Apr-Mar 2007
1 PETROLEUM (CRUDE & PRODUCTS) 11,639.65 18,551.91
2 GEMS & JEWELLARY 15,529.06 15,585.69
3 RMG COTTON INCL ACCESSORIES 6,553.69 6,752.39
4 MACHINERY AND INSTRUMENTS 5,077.54 6,504.71
5 DRUGS,PHRMCUTES & FINE CHEMLS 4,995.25 5,512.12
6 OTHER COMMODITIES 2,510.73 5,413.68
7 MANUFACTURES OF METALS 4,233.24 5,026.58
8 TRANSPORT EQUIPMENTS 4,322.97 4,905.92
9 PRMRY & SEMI-FNSHD IRON & STL 2,982.73 4,374.30
10 COTTON YARN,FABRICS, MADEUPSETC 3,944.78 4,136.55
11 IRON ORE 3,801.10 3,891.67
12 NON-FERROUS METALS 1,340.29 3,486.58
13 PLASTIC & LINOLEUM PRODUCTS 2,819.32 3,191.40
14 ELECTRONIC GOODS 2,173.06 2,732.17
15 DYES/INTMDTES & COAR TAR CHEML 1,649.39 2,253.59
Total 103,090.53 126,331.10
Exchange Rate: (1US$ = Rs. ) 44.2735 45.2495
Top 15 Commodities of Import
Rank Commodity Apr-Mar 2006 Apr-Mar 2007
1 PETROLEUM, CRUDE & PRODUCTS 43,963.09 57,074.45
2 ELECTRONIC GOODS 13,241.75 15,946.32
3 TRANSPORT EQUIPMENTS 8,838.47 15,413.57
4 GOLD 10,830.52 14,461.11
5 MACHRY EXCPT ELEC & ELECTRONIC 10,009.81 13,848.87
6 METALIFERS ORES & METAL SCRAP 3,881.80 8,333.77
7 PERLS PRCUS SEMIPRCS STONES 9,134.42 7,487.40
8 IRON & STEEL 4,385.74 6,043.47
9 ORGANIC CHEMICALS 4,739.30 5,435.86
10 COAL,COKE & BRIQUITTES ETC. 3,868.70 4,595.42
11 OTHER COMMODITIES 5,896.25 4,534.21
12 FERTILEZERS MANUFACTURED 1,673.26 2,673.43
13 NON-FERROUS METALS 1,844.37 2,605.95
14 ARTFCL RESNS,PLSTC MATRLS,ETC. 2,267.71 2,601.84
15 INORGANIC CHEMICALS 2,244.82 2,375.44
Total 149,165.73 190,565.97
Exchange Rate: (1US$ = Rs. ) 44.2735 45.2495
END NOTES
i Appeal on Nandigram Violence
The continuing violence in Nandigram, West Bengal resulting in needless death and injury to innocent
villagers, has become a cause of great concern to people all over India.
Whatever may have been the initial reasons for the start of the conflict it is clear from media reports and
eyewitness accounts that the situation now is spinning out of control, resulting in a fratricidal war between
different sections of the local population.
It is also evident that over the past several months of agitation and turmoil thousands of ordinary people- of
all political hues- are unable to make a livelihood, go about their daily work or even enjoy the basic right
to sleep without fear. Women in particular have been severely affected while many children are unable to
attend school normally.
