Nokia Claims and broken Myth of Custmer safety in India

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
MNCs in India do very well to sustain the Brahminical rotten system wit exploitation of the masses hit by inherent inequality. They calim to be benevolent and boasts of very fine custmor service. Recent advicery issued by Nokia exposes the myth of Custmer safety in India.
Japanese company Matsushita has said Nokia's battery recall may cost it as much as $172.5 million after it agreed to shoulder the financial burden of the product replacement.Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, earlier this month recalled 46 million of its Nokia-branded BL-5C batteries after warning customers they could overheat when recharging.The vendor reported it had received nearly 100 reports of the devices overheating although it said there had been no serious injuries or property damage. Matsushita has agreed to cover direct costs involved in a recent advisory by mobile phone maker Nokia on defective BL-5C batteries.In a statement, Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. said it has agreed to cover the "direct costs associated with the product advisory, including, among other things, logistics costs, call center costs, and replacement battery costs."
Nokia issued an advisory last Augusts 14 warning users of possible overheating problems caused B5-LC batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006.
Three people were injured in two separate incidents when "dangerous" Nokia mobile phone batteries burst in different towns of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.According to the police, the battery of a Nokia 1100 handset burst suddenly leaving a mother and daughter wounded in Khanna town of Hamirpur district in southern Uttar Pradesh around noon.The victims were identified as Savitri, 45 and her daughter Puja, 18.
"Savitri had just picked up her mobile to respond to an incoming call while it was being charged and her daughter was sitting close to her when their handset burst, causing burn injuries to both of them," police said. "The phone battery was manufactured in Hungary."
In another incident in Koren village in neighbouring Banda district, it was the same battery model but manufactured in Japan this time. It was inside a Nokia 1600 handset that burst in Koren, injuring 35-year-old Rajesh Kushwaha.All three victims were stated to be "out of danger".
According to Nokia's advisory, the Matsushita battery was identified in "very rare cases" that it "could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge."The said advisory applies to about 46 million batteries, according to Nokia's website.Any Nokia consumer who is currently using a Nokia product containing a BL-5C battery subject to the product advisory can request a replacement battery free of charge, according to the statement.Customers who would like to check if their BL-5C battery is subject to the advisory should visit the website http://www.nokia.com/batteryreplacement or contact their local Nokia call center.
Shares closed slightly higher in light trade, extending last week's gains amid a lack of newsflow, with Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) and Outokumpu helping to prop up the main indices.
The OMX Helsinki 25 finished 0.29 pct higher at 3,122.64 and the OMX Helsinki 0.45 pct higher at 11,270.87. Volume was 666 mln eur.
Outokumpu rose 1.94 pct to 22.03 eur. The share has risen in recent sessions on hopes of improved demand for stainless steel in the next few weeks following a destocking phase by European distributors, according to a trader.
Rautaruukki added 0.83 pct to 40.17 eur after saying its Ruukki unit is to increase deliveries of certain components used in ships and power plants to Wartsila production sites in Finland, China and Italy.
Nokia rose 0.62 pct to 22.64 eur, utility Fortum rose 1.03 pct to 23.55 eur and paper producer M-real 1.74 pct to 4.10 eur. There were falls for M-real's peers Stora Enso (nyse: SEO - news - people ), down 0.53 pct to 13.03 eur, and UPM-Kymmene (nyse: UPM - news - people ), down 0.96 pct at 16.55 eur.
In a previous interview, Nikka Singson-Abes, spokesperson for Nokia Philippines, advised local users to check with the website for proper procedures on replacing defective batteries.
Nokia has announced that India has become the second largest market for Nokia in terms of sales, going past the United States in the quarter ended June 2007.
Over the last three years, India has been gaining significant ground Year on Year moving from No 4 position in 2005 to No 3 position in 2006 and is today poised right behind China. In another milestone, the company also announced that it has started exporting to 58 countries from its Sriperumbudur, Chennai manufacturing plant. This is a remarkable feat for Nokia’s manufacturing plant in India and demonstrates the operational efficiencies of the factory and conducive business environment provided by the state and central government. Today, the factory has reached production volumes of 60 million handsets (August 2007) and is exporting half of its production to 58 countries across Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile,Dairy major Amul, Life Insurance Corporation of India and mobile manufacturer Nokia have emerged as India's top three brands according to Asia's Top 1000 Brands, a survey conducted by Media, an advertising and marketing publication. Nokia, the global mobile handset maker as also been judged as the leading brand across Asia.
The Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony was ranked the second best Asian brand followed by oral care major Colgate and beverages firm Coke. Panasonic, Honda, 7-Eleven, Samsung, Nestle [Get Quote] and Adidas were among the other brands in the top ten list.
Media magazine together with brand consultant Asian Intergrated Media and market research company Synovate have conducted the annual Asia's Top 1000 Brands survey for this year. The survey was done across nine markets, namely China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Indonesia.

"India is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy buoyed by impressive economic growth, skilled manpower and tremendous business opportunity. As the market leader in devices and infrastructure, Nokia is committed to build the telecom ecosystem in the country and foster the creation of a favorable environment for collaboration and economic development,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia Corporation.
The factory currently employs 4700 people, 70 percent of which are women. The Nokia Telecom Park has received an investment of USD 500 million with seven global component manufacturers likely to generate in excess of 30,000 jobs when fully functional.
“Today, India hosts a comprehensive Nokia R&D, Manufacturing and Design presence. Moreover, we are also the country’s leading provider of wireless infrastructure through Nokia Siemens Network, the newly merged entity. This not only reiterates our commitment and belief in the market but also underscores India’s emergence as a strategic resource hub for Nokia globally,” said Kallasvuo.
Nokia Siemens Networks has recently announced its plans to invest USD 100 million in India over the next three years as a part of its commitment to develop a strong telecommunications environment in India. This is to better address and drive the growth of Indian mobile industry and to better serve its customers.
This investment will include setting up a proposed telecommunication equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu for wireless network equipment, new offices across various cities, additional development of an existing R&D centre, and expanding the Global Networks Solution Centre.
Nokia Corporation has recently introduced a new organizational structure under which Nokia's current business group and horizontal group structure in the device business will be replaced by three main units. The new organizational structure will be effective from January 1, 2008.
Devices, responsible for creating the best device portfolio for the marketplace; Services & Software, reflecting Nokia's strategic emphasis on growing its offering of consumer internet services and enterprise solutions and software; and Markets, responsible for management of Nokia's supply chains, sales channels and marketing activities.
The move is driven by Nokia's strategy to create an organization that would allow it leverage opportunities that convergence and the internet industries present in the future.
Nokia's healthcare initiative

As part of its healthcare initiative, Nokia has conceived the idea of setting up an healthcare centre at Sriperumbudur. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO, Nokia Corporation laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art healthcare centre at the Nokia Telecom SEZ Park in Sriperumbudur recently. Also present on the occasion were David Cheung, vice president and operations and logistics, Nokia Asia Pacific, Sachin Saxena, director, operations, Nokia India and D Shivakumar, vice president and country general manager, Nokia India.
The Nokia Healthcare Centre will be set up in an area of 3000 square meters in the Non Processing Area (NPA) of the Nokia Telecom SEZ Park and will cater to the healthcare requirements of the employees in the SEZ as well as the local community in the region. Comprising of 30 beds in all, the Nokia Healthcare Centre will be set up in association with a professional healthcare group and will be fully operational by mid 2008.
Sachin Saxena, director-operations, Nokia India , said, 'The Nokia healthcare centre is a reiteration of our commitment to the welfare of our employees in the SEZ. Additionally, it will also cater the healthcare requirements of the community around the SEZ. It is our endeavour to ensure that our employees receive world class healthcare facilities right here in the SEZ.'
The Nokia plant currently employs 4700 people, 70 per cent of which are women. The Nokia Telecom Park has received an investment of $500 million with seven global component manufacturers likely to generate in excess of 30,000 jobs when fully functional.
Kallasvuo, was on a 3-day visit to India from 22 August. During his visit, he met senior government officials , leaders of Indian industry , key Indian customers and partners and the Nokia SEZ component suppliers.
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries.
yarn.at.technocraftgroup.com" to me
show details 9:48 pm
Dear sir,

I have tell short detail and enclose my correspondance done with noika care and scan copy of all document pelase as under :

I have purchased a nokia mobile no. 3230 IME-3593620044669137 for Rs. 9996 dated 20.06.2006-Invoice No.750 from Anupam Stationary Superstore Pvt Ltd (Borivali).

We regret to inform you that within 4 days mobile stopped working, I had submitted the mobile to your Service center on 24th June’2006, Job Sheet No. 189_343506/060624/15 at Service Telecom Malad. We got back 8th July’2006.

After few days worked, again mobile had stopped functioning on 13th July’2006 and it was submitted to your service center on 13th July’2006 job sheet no. 5300083659 at HCL Infonet Ltd(Andheri) .They told us mobile is defected and we had got the replacement on 3rd Aug’2006.
But again we regret to inform you that mobile again stopped working on 10th Aug’2006 and it was submitted to your Service Center on 10th Aug’2006 Job sheet no.5300091018 at HCL Infotech Ltd (Andheri) and they told us to take delivery after repairing of handset but we have no words to express our metal stress , while communicating with your authorized dealer , many time we communicate and enquired about getting delivery of our handset , but he done false promises then we went personally that time after a long argument, he given us in writing that to take delivery in one week i.e on 24.01.07 but no use still we have not yet received the mobile. We can submitted all complaint documents to you also.
We also inform you that after getting bad response from your authorized service center, we had communicate to your –1) Manager, Nokia Capital, China (P.rep)Pin-Dongguan, Fgn-Air-Rlad B-RR10998853634 2) Manager, Nokia India, New Delhi-Pin.110037, RLAD B 5306 3) Rajesh-HCL Infine Ltd, Andheri , Pin-400059, RLAD B-5307 on 07.02.07 by pending own amount and we feel very sorry to say that then also till we don’t get any positive reply from your end. Due this handset we and our family facing a big mental stress and financial loss for doing communication which is useless .
Now we are not interested in getting the mobile back . I had very unexpected and bad experience with Nokia Mobile and It
has caused lot of mental harassment and exploitation of Consumer rights
we request you to look into this matter and give us our right to get back our money please.
Thanking you,
SANJAY AGARWAL

----- Original Message -----
From: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
To: complaintsboard@gmail.com
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 11:13 AM
Subject: Fw:

----- Original Message -----
From: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
To: complaintsboard@gmail.com ; naveennavii@yahoo.co.in
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 10:27 AM

Catherine Sumiya Joseph
Nokia Care
We are enclsoing herewith scan copy of all document , which show you as proof of our communication done by us .

We hope your positive reply in this matter.

Regards,
Sanjay Agrwal

----- Original Message -----
From: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
To: mailto:support.services@nokia.com
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 3:21 PM
Subject: Fw: Nokia - Sanjay Agarwal - N3230 Service Provision Delay Concern
Catherine Sumiya Joseph
Nokia Care
Thank for your mail, we regret to inform you that after doing lot of expenses on correspondence and wasting our time, now you tell us to collect same instrument, we don’t have any interest to take back the same instrument. Better you return back amount or give us credit note of same value then we will take another instrument .
We hope you will understand our mental situation and harresment which we were facing due to this instrument and we don’t any interest to take this instrument.
We hope your proper judgement in this matter.
Regards,
Sanjay Agrwal
----- Original Message -----
From: NokiaCare
To: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 2:57 PM
Subject: Nokia - Sanjay Agarwal - N3230 Service Provision Delay Concern

Dear Mr. Agarwal,
Thank you for e-mailing Nokia Care.
This is in reference to your concern with Nokia 3230. We have noted your experience with the service provision of your phone and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused.
However, as we understand that you had contacted the dealer in order to collect the phone, we request you to contact the Nokia Care Centre where the phone was submitted for collecting the phone. We would also request you to take along the job sheet for collecting the same.
Further, kindly revert if you face any concern.
We hope this clarifies and regret the inconvenience caused.
For further enquiries, please feel free to contact our Technical Support Executives at 30303838 between the hours of 9:00am and 12:00 midnight, seven days a week. For online support, visit "Have a question? Ask Nokia" at www.nokia.co.in. You may also find answers to your queries at www.nokia.co.in/support. We reassure you of our continuous support.
Please help us improve our services by clicking on the following link:
www.nokia.co.in/caresurveys
Kind regards,
Catherine Sumiya Joseph
Nokia Care
-------Original Message--------
From:
To:
CC:
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 4:55:38 PM
Subject: Fw: Nokia - Sanjay Agarwal - N3230 Service Provision Delay Concern
To,Revathi Durai
Nokia Care
Thank you for your quick correspondance and please note following detail which you required in your mail :
1. Complete address of the Nokia Care Centre where the handset has been submitted
a) Sarvesh Telecom, Sh.2, Goshala Chawl N0.1, Malad (E) , ASC-189_343506, Email- sarvesh_mumbai@nokiacareindia.com, job sheet no. 189343506 dtd- 24.06.06
b) HCL Infinet ltd, Nokia care center , Borovali-Mumbai,1) job sheet no. 5300083659 dtd 13.07.2006 (2) job sheet no.5300091018 dtd.10.08.06
2. Primary contact number - 9270056943
3. Alternate contact number-9821748395
We hope a best cooperation after this correspondance and quick action.
Regards,
SANJAY AGARWAL
----- Original Message -----
From: NokiaCare
To: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 5:22 PM
Subject: Nokia - Sanjay Agarwal - N3230 Service Provision Delay Concern

Dear Mr. Agarwal,
Thank you for e-mailing Nokia Care.
This e-mail is in reference to your concern regarding Nokia 3230. We understand your displeasure over the delay in the service provision and the repeated concern in your phone and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused. Please note that this incident is not a true reflection of our services. Our endeavor is to provide you with quality service and your feedback will help us in improving it further.
You may kindly note that we have not received the attachments sent by you. To look into your concern further and assist you in the best possible way, we request you to revert with the below mentioned details:
1. Complete address of the Nokia Care Centre where the handset has been submitted
2. Your primary contact number
3. Your alternate contact number
The above mentioned details are vital for us to further assist you. Please be assured of our best attention in resolving the concern in your phone.
Pursuant to your request for refund, we would like to inform you that we are currently not in a position to comment on the same. However, we would like to assure you that we would forward your request to the Customer Care Division for their due consideration once we are in receipt of the requested details.
We appreciate your patience and further solicit your cooperation.

For further enquiries, please feel free to contact our Technical Support Executives at 30303838 between the hours of 9:00am and 9:00pm, seven days a week. For online support, visit "Have a question? Ask Nokia" at www.nokia.co.in. You may also find answers to your queries at www.nokia.co.in/support. We reassure you of our continuous support.
In view of improving our services, we request our customer to take part in a short automated customer satisfaction survey from the web link mentioned below. You can rate this e-mail service on a scale of 1 - 5. A rating of 1 would denote your dissatisfaction towards the services and 5 would denote your satisfaction towards the services. Your feedback will help us in our efforts to continuously improve our service to you.
Please help us improve our services by clicking on the following link:
www.nokia.co.in/caresurveys
Kind regards,
Revathi Durai
Nokia Care

-------Original Message--------
From:
To:
CC:
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:56:44 PM
Subject: Fw:

[THREAD ID :2-29DSKT]

----- Original Message -----
From: yarn@technocraftgroup.com
To: sarvesh_mumbai@nokiacareindia.com ; nccnpt@hcl.in
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 10:45 PM

To,
Nokia Care,
Mumbai

Dear sir,
I have purchased a nokia mobile no. 3230 IME-3593620044669137 for Rs. 9996 dated 20.06.2006-Invoice No.750 from Anupam Stationary Superstore Pvt Ltd (Borivali).

We regret to inform you that within 4 days mobile stopped working, I had submitted the mobile to your Service center on 24th June�2006, Job Sheet No. 189_343506/060624/15 at Service Telecom Malad. We got back 8th July�2006.

After few days worked, again mobile had stopped functioning on 13th July�2006 and it was submitted to your service center on 13th July�2006 job sheet no. 5300083659 at HCL Infonet Ltd(Andheri) .They told us mobile is defected and we had got the replacement on 3rd Aug�2006.
But again we regret to inform you that mobile again stopped working on 10th Aug�2006 and it was submitted to your Service Center on 10th Aug�2006 Job sheet no.5300091018 at HCL Infotech Ltd (Andheri) and they told us to take delivery after repairing of handset but we have no words to express our metal stress , while communicating with your authorized dealer , many time we communicate and enquired about getting delivery of our handset , but he done false promises then we went personally that time after a long argument, he given us in writing that to take delivery in one week i.e on 24.01.07 but no use still we have not yet received the mobile. We can submitted all complaint documents to you also.
We also inform you that after getting bad response from your authorized service center, we had communicate to your ââ?¬â??1) Manager, Nokia Capital, China (P.rep)Pin-Dongguan, Fgn-Air-Rlad B-RR10998853634 2) Manager, Nokia India, New Delhi-Pin.110037, RLAD B 5306 3) Rajesh-HCL Infine Ltd, Andheri , Pin-400059, RLAD B-5307 on 07.02.07 by spending own amount and we feel very sorry to say that then also till we donââ?¬â?¢t get any positive reply from your end. Due this handset we and our family facing a big mental stress and financial loss for doing communication which is useless .
Now we are not interested in getting the mobile back . I had very unexpected and bad experience with Nokia Mobile and It has caused lot of mental harassment and exploitation of Consumer rights then also I request Nokia to give me my Money back with interest or I will be forced to take legal actions and applied to Consumer Court and take help of Press and Media to show harassment of Consumer by Reputed company and ask proper judgement . I am enclosing the job sheet copy and invoice with this letter.
Thank you,
SANJAY AGARWAL

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CIA reveals Cold War secrets
Agency declassifies long-guarded 'family jewels': an illegal detention, domestic spying and Mafia help in a plot to kill Castro.
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
- Self-guided tour to the CIA's family jewels
WASHINGTON — After fighting to keep them secret for more than three decades, the CIA released hundreds of documents Tuesday that catalog some of the most egregious intelligence abuses of the Cold War, including assassination plots against foreign leaders and illegal efforts to spy on Americans.
The records are part of a trove of jealously guarded documents long known within the agency as "the family jewels." Assembled in the early 1970s as part of an internal inquiry of potentially embarrassing or illegal activities, the records were subsequently turned over to Congress, prompting investigations and sweeping intelligence reforms.
The records were ordered released by CIA Director Michael V. Hayden as part of what he characterized as an effort to close an embarrassing chapter in the agency's history.
The documents serve as "reminders of some things the CIA should not have done," Hayden said Tuesday in remarks to the agency's workforce. "The documents truly do provide a glimpse of a very different era and a very different agency."
Indeed, many of the episodes detailed in the 693 pages of newly declassified text read like relics from another time, including elaborate attempts to enlist Mafia operatives to poison Cuban President Fidel Castro.
But other documents seem remarkably relevant today, as the nation grapples anew with questions of how much latitude U.S. intelligence agencies should be given, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The documents describe secret CIA holding cells and the possibly illegal detention of a suspected Soviet spy who was held without trial for years at a CIA lockup facility in Maryland before it was determined he was a legitimate defector. They also detail plans to eavesdrop on international phone calls of U.S. residents, and aggressive efforts to root out leaks of classified information to reporters.
Watchdog groups praised the release of the records, and said it was a remarkable step for a secretive organization under no legal obligation to declassify the documents.
"It allows the agency to simultaneously distance itself from its questionable past and portray itself as open and forthcoming," said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists.
Even so, the released records are incomplete, with dozens of pages blacked out by CIA censors. One memo that lists the most damaging secrets contained in "the family jewels" is missing its first paragraph. A separate memo that is supposed to summarize the "unusual activities" of the CIA's domestic branch includes just three paragraphs followed by 17 blacked-out pages.
The records that are complete do not appear to contain major revelations of CIA misdeeds, but provide extensive new detail from internal CIA accounts on episodes that have fascinated Cold War historians for decades. Most of the records are memos written by agency officials in response to a 1973 order from then-CIA Director James R. Schlesinger for employees to report activities they thought might violate the agency's charter.
Arguably the most exceptional operation detailed is a plot to enlist organized crime figures to assassinate Castro shortly after he came to power. Although the machinations were uncovered more than 35 years ago, the newly released reports show that the CIA director at the time, Allen W. Dulles, "was briefed and gave his approval" to the operation.
According to a five-page memo, a private investigator contracted by the CIA worked directly with Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana to come up with the assassination plan. In an almost comical aside, the CIA only realized it was dealing with Giancana after subsequently seeing his photo in a most-wanted list in Parade magazine.
"Sam suggested that they not resort to firearms but, if he could be furnished some type of potent pill, that could be placed in Castro's food or drink, it would be a much more effective operation," the memo said.
But after several failed attempts, the Cuban operative selected by the Mafia "got cold feet and asked out of the assignment." The Mafia suggested another candidate, but the operation was canceled when the botched 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion exposed the Kennedy administration to criticism for its anti-Castro policies.
The CIA's first Mafia contact in the plot was Johnny Roselli, a Las Vegas mobster later convicted of cheating Friars Club members out of $400,000 in a "rigged gin rummy game." Years later, he threatened to expose the Castro plot if the agency didn't halt his deportation proceedings. Then-Director Richard Helms refused, and the episode was splashed across news pages by columnist Jack Anderson.
The records also shed extensive light on the CIA's involvement in efforts to spy on Americans, including student antiwar activists, Black Power group leaders, pro-Castro sympathizers and Soviet dissidents.
CIA operatives worked closely with local police to gather intelligence against groups planning protests at the 1972 national political conventions. The agency also worked with the U.S. Secret Service at those events.
Antiwar activists were followed, some all the way to Paris, where they attended meetings with Viet Cong representatives. The surveillance turned up financial connections between Beatle John Lennon, described only as "a British subject," and a project linked to antiwar activist Rennie Davis, one of the defendants in the Chicago Seven trial.
In a program code-named MHCHAOS, the CIA recruited, tested and dispatched Americans with "existing extremist credentials" abroad to gather intelligence on efforts by Cuba, China, North Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Korea and "the Arab fedayeen" to foment domestic extremism in the U.S.
Between 1967 and 1971, the CIA had agents monitor dissident groups in the nation's capital, almost boasting about how one group was "successfully penetrated."As part of an effort to combat drug trafficking, the CIA asked the Department of Agriculture to plant a field of opium poppies in Washington state to be used to test "photo-recognition systems" designed to detect illicit crops from overhead.
CIA spy planes were used to observe an oil spill off Santa Barbara and hurricane and earthquake damage. But the agency refused a request from federal "Alcohol & Tobacco" authorities to use infrared scanners to locate moonshine stills.
The CIA's relationship with the Nixon administration was varied and complex. In one series of documents, the agency said it had reimbursed the White House more than $33,600 for the "postage, stationery and addressing" of thank-you notes to letter writers who praised President Nixon's 1970 speech on his decision to invade Cambodia.
The documents also describe a panicked internal investigation to find out whether the CIA might be implicated in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's resignation. E. Howard Hunt, who organized the break-in at the Watergate Hotel, was a former CIA agent, as was James M. McCord Jr., one of the "plumbers" arrested during the attempted bugging of the Democratic Party headquarters.
Director Helms ordered agency officials to report all contacts with Hunt and McCord. The inquiry didn't turn up any evidence that implicated CIA officials. But one official reported getting a call from Hunt in the spring of 1972, just months before the break-in, asking for a referral of "a retiree or resignee who was accomplished at picking locks."
The documents also contain an undated summary of Hunt's CIA retirement status, noting that he made $28,226 per year in his last year at the agency, which entitled him to a monthly pension of about $1,200.
The documents released Tuesday portray a CIA obsessed with news coverage that is too negative, or too accurate. In one case, the agency conducted physical surveillance of Anderson, the muckraking columnist, and his associates, including Brit Hume, now a Fox News anchor.
In Project Mockingbird, the agency in 1963 wiretapped the office and homes of Washington-based syndicated news columnists Paul Scott and Robert Allen, who had published articles that cited "top secret" classified information, according to an undated, unsigned memo.
The memo said John A. McCone, then agency director, authorized the telephone interceptions in coordination with Robert F. Kennedy, the attorney general; Robert S. McNamara, the secretary of Defense; and other senior U.S. officials.
The wiretaps were "particularly productive in identifying contacts of the newsmen," the memo said, including 18 members of Congress and 16 staff members from the White House and other government offices. Indeed, the inquiry concluded that the columnists "received more classified and official data than they could use."

CIA hired mafiosi to kill Castro in 1960
`FAMILY JEWELS': Aside from plots to kill foreign leaders, the declassified CIA materials also revealed government spying on prominent journalists and Vietnam war protesters
AFP, WASHINGTON
Thursday, Jun 28, 2007, Page 7
The CIA offered US$150,000 to mafia figures to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro, just one of several CIA plots against foreign leaders detailed in 693 pages of classified US documents released on Tuesday.
Other CIA targets -- long alleged but only now revealed in the intelligence agency's own documents -- included Congo independence leader Patrice Lumumba, as well as Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo.
The documents also detail apparently illegal government spying on US citizens opposed to the Vietnam War and on prominent journalists in the 1970s, as well as experiments using drugs on unsuspecting subjects.
Among the released CIA files was a lengthy memo that exposes the agency's 1960 recruitment of top mafia figures already wanted for crimes in order to assassinate the Cuban leader.
"The mission target was Fidel Castro," the 1973 document said.
According to the memo, the man chosen for the "se

Islamophbia prevails with Hyderabad Serial blast! Left Isolated and Succeeds Paranab
China and India do not not pose a threat to each other
In a dramatic turnaround, the BJP today distanced itself from the Left
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Hindu-Muslim ties in spotlight in wake of Hyderabad bombings
Christian Science Monitor - 3 hours ago
By Tom A. Peter A pair of coordinated bombings rocked the city of Hyderabad in southern India on Saturday night, claiming 42 lives and heightening tensions between the nation's Hindu and Muslim population, and foreign neighbors with alleged ties to ...
Explosives used in Hyd blast point to HuJI hand
Monday August 27, 06:55 PM
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070827/211/6jz1t.html
The Indo-US nuclear deal would spark off a new wave of economic growth with about $100 billion worth of investment in the country expected over the next 10 years!Indian Parliamentary communists once again failed to lead the anti Imperialist Resistance and Islamophbia prevails with Hyderabad Serial blast!
After clarifying his party's position on the nuclear deal, the BJP's legislative face needs to work on isolating the Left.Though the isolation is more than complete. Since the Nimitz episode the Leftist Parliamentary farce is exposed though the so called Parliamentary communists in India were did well to shift the international focus from Dalit Muslim Insurrection in West Bengal to stall a national Dalit movement. First they tried to mobilise a false Land Movement. Then tried to enflock the Dalit Bengali Refugees resettled out of Bengal.They were always worried of the Muslim Vote Bank. Dying for the operationalisation of Indo US Nuclear Deal West Bengal Marxists led by nonagenerian Patriarch Jyoti Basu, Loksabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Capitalist Marxist CM Buddhadeb Bhattachary and Biman bose tried everything to save the deal. Rightly the Congress Party chose the Kirnahaar Brahmin Pranab Mukherjee as a crisis manager and he is successful. Industry also intervened to save the deal and toilet papers mobilised the much needed public opinion. Thus, the Brahminical comradors played the game with surgical precision and Post Modern Galaxy Manusmriti Order runs Boom Boom!The exercise to resolve the current stand-off over the nuclear deal began this evening with senior Congress leaders holding talks with their CPI counterparts who have obtained aggressive posturing against the agreement.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as also Defence Minister A K Antony and Political Secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel, were closetted with CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan and party leaders D Raja and Gurudas Dasgupta. This is the first formal interaction between a group of Left party leaders and that the ruling party on the Indo-US nuclear deal since the Left threat of serious consequences if the 123 agreement was operationalised.
In kolkata, Several members of the CPI-M state committee Sunday opined that it would be unwise to pull down the UPA government and go for a mid-term poll. The committee took stock of the situation arising out of the stand-off between the Left parties and the Manmohan Singh government on the Indo-US deal. The state committee reviewed the party’s organisational preparedness to meet the eventuality if a mid-term poll becomes inevitable. It was learnt that the CPI-M state leadership explained to the members that the question of withdrawing support from the UPA goverment on the issue was “premature and essentially a media creation.” The CPI-M politburo and central committee had never issued such a threat. While,the union Parliamentary Affairs minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, said in Kolkata, that there is no crisis in the Congress-led UPA government and “it is all a media creation.’’Responding to CPI-M Politburo member and Citu all- India president, Mr MK Pandhe’s remark earllier in the day that the CPI-M would withdraw support to the UPA government within a month if the Centre goes ahead with the operationalism of Indo-US deal, Mr Das Munshi said : “I don’t consider Mr Pandhe to be a leader of much standing.”
Taking part in a Citu programme in the city Mr Pandhe said the CPI-M would review the Congress’ stand further and decide on withdrawing support if it goes ahead with operationalising the deal.
Rather there’s scope for meeting a common ground if the implications of the Hyde Act are properly studied by the UPA government, the members were told. Mr Biman Bose, state secretary, briefed the members on the party Politburo and central committee decision urging the Congress to press the pause button on operationalising the deal. Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also explained the dangers of “succumbing to the USA”.
The state leadership told the members that the nuclear technology lobby in the USA stands to benefit hugely from the deal where over $ 100 billion is involved. The US administration is trying to bring India within its strategic fold so that it can dictate India’s foreign, economic and educational policies.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should value the opinion of Indian MPs on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal more than that of American lawmakers, senior CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said on Sunday.
''We (Left parties) urge the Prime Minister to value the vote of the Indian Members of Parliament above the vote of an American MP. What we are saying is not to operationalise the deal as the issue deeply concerns our future,'' Karat said.
''We hope the PM takes into account the view that majority in Parliament was against the (123) Agreement. This is the first time that the interests of the Indian people are going to be subordinate to another country's law and legal framework,'' she said.
''The (UPA) govt is at pain to explain that the Hyde Act is not applicable to India. But this is an India-centric Act specifically cleared by the US Senate,'' the CPI-M Politburo member said.

The current political turmoil in India over the civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States has raised questions about the viability of the Congress-led UPA coalition Government, but none seems to be bothered about its foreign policy implications for the country.The BJP seems to be changing its mind on the nuclear deal. Perhaps realizing that the deal does have a lot of support among those who are aware of it.Party leader LK Advani is now coming to the fore in place of those who had been slamming the deal till now. And now the BJP is saying that it has no problems with closer ties to the US.Sources have told NDTV that the BJP is now toning down its strident opposition to the deal.
Who cares for man and Nature?
The United Nations climate change watchdog called here Monday for more investment and funds to address climate changes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a report presented to a preparation meeting for the UN climate change summit slated to be held in Bali, Indonesia in December, the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said additional investment and financial flows of up to $210 billion will be needed each year by 2030 in order to maintain greenhouse gas emissions at current levels.The UN climate change watchdog said the developing countries need a large share of investment and financial flows because of their expected rapid economic growth.
Some nuclear analysts in Washington were surprised, partly because the Bush Administration was widely perceived as having caved in to key Indian demands, the Washington Post observed in an article published on Sunday.
The paper said that the Bush Administration had assured India that it could receive uninterrupted nuclear supplies from the US and maintain the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel -- a potentially dangerous prospect because reprocessing technology can also be used to make weapons-grade plutonium.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday said in Beijing that China and India do not not pose a threat to each other, in comments that assume significance in the backdrop of speculation that Beijing is unhappy with the growing Indo-US strategic relationship. Friendship is the "mainstream of China-India relations", he emphasised pointing out that in more than 2,000 years of friendly ties "times of unpleasant memories" lasted two to three years only. In a rare gesture, the Chinese leader received PTI correspondent Anil Joseph to bid him farewell on his posting back to India after a 11-year stint in Beijing.
"This is the first time for me to have a one-to-one meeting with a correspondent to bid farewell. That is why today I wish to speak from my heart, away from all those usual protocols", the 65-year-old Premier said.
CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan recently made it clear that the Left parties were not prepared to back down on their demand and said it was for the government to decide whether it should continue or to commit sati.
''It has to take a decision on the nuclear deal. If the government is bent on falling then who can stop it,'' he had said.
In a dramatic turnaround, the BJP today distanced itself from the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal with Leader of Opposition L K Advani saying that his party has no objection to the 123 Agreement if the government amends the Indian Atomic Energy Act to ensure strategic independence and non-hindrance in reactor fuel supplies. Speaking to The Indian Express while visiting the blast sites in Hyderabad, Advani said: "It is anti-Americanism which propels the Left to oppose a nuclear ship docked at Chennai port. So far as the BJP is concerned, and it is in national interest that we have no objection to a strategic partnership with the US. This includes the forthcoming joint naval exercises." Advani, however, said that the proposed nuclear deal in the present form was an agreement between "unequals" and the BJP objected to such "strategic subservience".
"We have always felt that India's nuclear deterrence is imperative in the national interest. It is, therefore, that we have firmly resisted becoming part of the non-proliferation regime, which is what the nuclear deal seeks to impose on us," he said.
But he made it clear that if the UPA government could bring an amendment in the Atomic Energy Act to protect India's strategic independence then "there is no problem with the 123 Agreement."
These latest remarks from the Leader of Opposition appear to undermine the Left's consistent claim that a "majority" in Parliament are opposed to the nuclear deal.
Advani said his party has pleaded that international agreements which impinge upon India's strategic independence or territorial integrity should be ratified by Parliament and an amendment to this effect must be made in the Constitution.
He said it was his party which supported the UPA government on the vote against Iran at the IAEA as it did not want any other country in the neighbourhood to become a nuclear power. "Whatever that we do in the field of foreign policy has to be our choice... We regard it as odd that the American Hyde Act should be speaking about India's attitude towards Iran," he said.

With the furor over the Indo-US nuclear deal continuing to dominate Indian politics, NDTV conducted an exclusive opinion poll to assess the people's views.
Over 12,000 people from 120 constituencies were surveyed by the NDTV team, out of which 75 per cent of the respondents were from rural India. The results of the poll show that only 37 per cent of the people trust the Left's stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal.Among those polled, 56 per cent were aware of the nuclear deal, while 44 per cent were not aware of it.Out of those who are aware of the deal, 60 per cent of people want the deal to go ahead.With regard to the people's faith in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 63 per cent of those surveyed said that they trusted the prime minister. And 65 per cent of those who trust the PM feel that he should not resign.With reference to the prospect of mid-term polls if the Left withdraws support from the government, the NDTV poll shows the Congress as gaining ground and the BJP and the Left sliding.
According to the poll, if an election were held at the moment, the Congress will gain 40 seats across the country, which will mean the party's tally will jump from 145 in 2004 to 185.The other big gainer will be the BSP; its tally is set to rise by 23 seats to 42 seats in all.Meanwhile, the BJP is expected to lose 22 seats, which implies at drop in its national tally from 138 in 2004 to 116.
The other big loser will the Left Front, its tally is expected to drop from 64 seats in 2004 to 39 seats.
Meanwhile,a historic nuclear cooperation agreement between the US and India appears to be unravelling, as US officials said in Washington that the deal is final and cannot be renegotiated.
"We can't renegotiate it because the agreement is done," said Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, the chief US negotiator for the deal.
"Neither government wishes it to be renegotiated, because it is now complete," he said.
Philip D. Zelikow, former counsellor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a key player in the accord indicated that Washington might find it difficult to offer further concessions to India.
"The Indian negotiators were as tough as or tougher than anyone that the US has encountered in recent years," he said.
"India won a great deal," he added.
The statement of State Department spokesman Sean McCormack re-ignited the debate over the nuclear agreement in the Indian Parliament after he told reporters that "the proposed 123 agreement has provisions in it that in an event of a nuclear test by India, then all nuclear cooperation is terminated."

"There is no question that we will ever compromise, in any manner, our independent foreign policy. We shall retain our strategic autonomy," he added. (
RJD endorses Indo-US nuclear deal
The RJD, a key ally of the UPA government at the Centre, today endorsed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, saying the treaty would enable the country to fulfil its energy needs.Adopting a resolution at its national conference held in Sarnath near here, the RJD, headed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, endorsed the deal on the ground that it would enable the country to generate nuclear energy to meet the infrastructural requirements.

"There is no alternative other than generation of nuclear energy to meet our electricity requirements at present and in future," the resolution said.The party congratulated the UPA government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for working out the deal with the US.The RJD resolution on foreign policy demanded withdrawal of the US-led allied forces from Iraq and reconstruction of the war-ravaged country under the supervision of the UN.The resolution also expressed concern at the political instability in Pakistan and Bangladesh and hoped that the political crisis in the two neighbouring countries would be resolved soon.The RJD urged the government to take steps for strengthening good relations with the neighbouring countries, including China, with whom India has boundary dispute.
Keen on moving forward with the country's rapidly developing ties with the United States, a group of Indian Parliamentarians on Monday asserted that the Indo-US relationship was not hostage to the success or failure of the civilian nuclear deal.
Participating in a discussion at the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, "Indo-US relationship is multi-faceted, multi-cornered and multi-dimensional. It is wrong to peg it on just the nuclear deal."He, however, added that "the deal is like a key to a lock. The door is full of possibilities."
Though the Indo-US partnership will survive, the deal would give an impetus to it. Urging opponents of the deal to look at it in a realistic manner, he said, "It will fulfil India's energy needs."
According to Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, there is a whole big world in the Indo-US relationship which we should not overlook.
"Don't judge the Indo-US relationship in terms of the success or failure of the deal," he said.
Prasad said though the Left has an ideological problem, his party had different objections to the deal.
"We don't want to close the option of going in for a nuclear test when the time comes, especially because of our hostile neighbourhood. Indo-US amity was initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government and if the Congress takes it forward, we are sure to support it," he said.
Terming opposition to the deal as a "legacy problem" and not something which will be a major hurdle to Indo-US ties, member of Parliament B J Panda, who is the chairperson of the forum said, "The deal has been a complete change of paradigm. It makes available energy which has been denied to us."
Even "if the deal is derailed the Indo-US relationship will not suffer," he added.
Pitching for the deal on the same lines, Singhvi, who will lead the Parliamentary debate on the deal on behalf of the Congress in Rajya Sabha said, "This will reverse an isolation of 40 years."
On political opposition the deal faces, the Congress spokesperson said, "When the Left makes a valid point, we do backtrack like the PPF interest rates. You cannot make everybody agree to a decision taken in national interest," he added.
The Left parties in Tripura will stage agitations and protest rallies on subdivisional level against the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Centre, along with two other countries, proposed to hold a joint naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, in the first week of September .
In a statement issued here today, the Left Front leaders said the 123 Agreement would harm India's sovereignty. They said it was evident that India voted against Iran twice on a nuclear reactor, following pressure from the US.
''In order to consolidate US presence in Asia, three countries, including India, had decided to organise a joint naval exercise, to be held between September 4 and 9 in the Bay of Bengal,'' the statement said.
It also added that under the prevailing situation, the Left Front would stage demonstrations against the move on September 6 to generate public opinion and make people aware of the intention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Leftists also urged the people to join the agitation programme against the growing incidence of US influence on Asian countries.
Nuclear Undivided Family
If you thought New Delhi was bending over backwards to accommodate Washington, think again. For the US, India may be the goose that lays the golden egg, reports Shantanu Guha Ray
While flying to India from the US some months back, Saikat Chaudhuri, a management professor at Wharton Business School, met a General lectric executive headed for talks with Indian bureaucrats. He was going to discuss deals to build power plants — both nuclear and thermal powered. The GE executive told Chaudhuri he had already made several inconsequential trips to India, but was upbeat. Once the 123 Agreement was signed between the two nations, the potentially huge Indian market would open up. That is Washington’s essential bet, which is why it is bending over backwards to woo India. The collateral benefits to the United States of a strategic partnership with India will far outweigh the classical risks arising from a breach in the existing non-proliferation regime. “He was preparing for the market that would open up with the Indo-US nuclear deal. Ultimately, economics determines everything,” says Chaudhuri.
While all the sound and fury at home has hinged on whether India should be tying its destiny so intrinsically with the United States, little attention has been paid on how and why India has become such a flavour of the day in the US. After all, India’s formative instincts and psychology have been anti-American. Even though officially non-aligned, India sailed along with the erstwhile Soviet Union and its worldview. And the US forever wanted to “restrict” India’s role on the world stage because Washington perceived it as a “strategic threat” in the region. So what happened? With the collapse of the Soviet empire, the world changed too suddenly in too many ways. India repositioned and recalibrated its policies to the new realities. The process is still ongoing. The nuclear deal is not the result of some overnight policy flip-flop; nor is it about the nuclear deal alone. Indeed, the first steps in giving a new tone to the Indo-US relationship — greater trust, expanding consultation on a range of issues, greater cooperation in a whole slew of sectors from markets to defence to strategy — were taken by a set that is now baying for the UPA’s blood — the BJP.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=Ne010907Nuclear.asp
india, pakistan, bangladesh: 60 years since Independence: Bright prospects, but also shadows
http://www.mmorning.com/ArticleC.asp?Article=5023&CategoryID=7
Members of the Special Police of India`s Andhra Pradesh State, wearing tricolor turbans, taking part in a march past during a rehearsal for celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of independence
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian independence, poses with Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, and Lady Mountbatten, at the viceregal residence in Delhi in April 1947. Sixty years after the end of British rule, India seems to be taking what its people see as their rightful place in the world
When India comes to celebrate a century of independence it will be as a superpower, a trading giant straddling the world, just next to China -- according to conventional wisdom.

That may be 40 years away yet, but such predictions from major banks, which put India ahead of Japan by 2025 and the United States in 2050, give great hope to many.
The nation of 1.1 billion people -- marking 60 years since Britain’s Indian Empire was partitioned on August 14-15, 1947 -- proudly sees itself well on the road to economic, political and social greatness.
It is a far cry from the harrowing end of British rule. Partition of the sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan -- out of which Bangladesh was eventually born -- triggered an enormous population shift and widespread violence.
Now, however, the optimism is almost palpable in the mega cities of Delhi and Bombay, with growth topping nine percent and the full backing of Washington to break out of nuclear isolation and take a prime role on the global stage.
Government feeds the optimism . Commerce Minister Kamal Nath dismisses speculation about India’s future, boasting: “The future is India”.
In a booming economy, the media gives a blanket coverage of India’s emergence as a force to be reckoned with.
The buyouts of prestige Western companies, planned moonshots, new billionaires, ethnic fashion, literary or sporting heroes are all splashed over the front-pages as proof of India empowered.
Just key “India” and “superpower” into a Google Internet search and more than 1.6 million answers pop up.
The Times of India ran a big promotional campaign headlined “India Poised” and The Hindustan Times dubbed its annual showcase summit “India: The next global superpower”.
Such euphoria moved Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi to outline her vision of India’s future, not as a traditional military superpower but “a global power for peace, prosperity and progress”.
Oxford history don and India specialist Maria Misra takes umbrage at the idea of India as a stereotype superpower flexing muscle around the world.
In Vishnu’s Crowded Temple, published this month, she sees India becoming “a great, not a super power” wielding global influence rather than sheer might.
“India isn’t going to become a society like America; it’s too diverse... neither is it going to be like China.
“India is likely to fulfill its leaders’ ambitions to win it a place among the Great Powers”, she said. “But it will remain a unique hybrid of history -- the product of a curious conjuncture between an ancient culture, colonialism and modernity”.
It has fallen on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a technocrat less given to rhetoric, to point out the pitfalls ahead.
He warned starkly this month that agriculture -- which provides a livelihood for two-thirds of the population and about a fifth of economic output -- was in deep crisis.
The worst flooding in 30 years across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam states has left many dead and compounded the crisis.
The dividends of growth have yet to trickle down to the rural poor, Singh admitted, despite his multi-billion dollar aid schemes and pro-poor platform.
“We cannot be complacent till the growth becomes inclusive and socio-economic development benefits more than half the population”, said the economist who in 1991 led reforms that ended decades of socialist insulation.
The government provides statistics to dampen any dream of superpowerdom: 46 percent of all children under three are malnourished, 86 percent of the 457 million working Indians earn less than 20 rupees or half a dollar a day, more than 78 percent of families lack toilets.
Sonia Gandhi speaks eloquently of the “dazzling prosperity” alongside “dehumanizing poverty”.
Historian Misra analyses the “baffling paradox” that makes India, “strikingly different from all other global colossi”.
“The achievements of India’s democracy and its awesome creativity are undeniable, so too are the violence, criminality and murderous religious passions of its turbulent politics”, she said.
India’s dark side poses a real threat to ideas of a glorious 21st century.
Misra noted the sprawling shanty towns, crumbling infrastructure, the countless millions who do not attend school and the broader threat of terrorism.
The prime minister admits roads, railways, ports, airports and the power sector all require massive expansion and quality upgrades.
Add to that rampant corruption, knee-deep red tape, uncertainty over how many millions are infected by HIV-AIDS, the risk of natural disasters and disease and the picture darkens.
Meanwhile, the two other states that emerged from partition -- Pakistan and Bangladesh -- face daunting challenges.
The jury is still out on whether India’s rise will also lift up her neighbors or if they will drag India down again.
Few in Islamabad and Dhaka venture to look beyond the coming months, despite the strengthening economies of the former West and East Pakistan.
Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since January and Pakistan today teeters on the brink.
“Talibanization is on the rise and extremism is there”, said Pakistani political analyst Talat Masood.
“My impression is that things can improve once the military regime has gone and democracy is restored fully. The problem is that the army does not want to de-link from politics and agents of change are missing.
“Terrorism is brewing amid a sense of isolation among the people”, Masood said. “Unless we change the basic structure, the country cannot make progress”.
For Sirajul Islam, Bangladesh’s leading historian, “Our journey as a respected nation in the world has just begun in the last one decade after a series of false starts”.
The military-backed authorities in Dhaka are seeking a fresh start and tackling the corruption which corroded all sides of life.
“We are busy mending the wounds of past and cleaning up the mess that our leaders have created”, said Sirajul Islam.
Pakistan’s next elections are due by early 2008. Bangladesh has set polls for December the same year.

CPI-M's chemical hub is actually killing hub: Mamata
Monday, August 27, 2007
Reiterating her opposition to the setting up of a chemical hub in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday said the communist rulers were not planning a chemical hub but a "killing hub".
Addressing a public rally at Sonachura in trouble-torn Nandigram in East Midnapore district, where fresh violence two days back claimed another life, Banerjee said: "We will not allow any chemical hub or land grab in the name of that. They are for killing hub, not chemical hub."
"The CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) still eyes Nandigram," she said as she vowed to fight the Left Front government's move to set up a chemical hub in neighbouring Haldia.
"The blood stains of Nandigram are yet to dry and he (Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya) is talking about a chemical hub," she said.
The firebrand leader also announced to take her battle to Khejuri, the neighbouring area of Nandigram that is a stronghold of the CPI-M and out of bounds of the anti-land acquisition Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee.
Banerjee said she would hold rallies in Khejuri, which is used as a base by the CPI-M to launch attack on the villagers of Nandigram.
Earlier, Banerjee had ruled out the possibility of Trinamool Congress taking part in an all-party meeting on Sep 3 over the proposed chemical hub in Haldia.
Bhattacharya has called the all-party meeting to find a consensus over the hub in an alternative location after the flare-up in Nandigram, where it was originally planned.
In fact, faced with severe opposition over land acquisition, the state government has decided to scale down the area of the chemical hub to 4,000 acres from the planned 10,000 acres.
The proposed chemical hub as part of a special economic zone (SEZ) in collaboration with the Salim group of Indonesia had triggered a bloodbath in Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata, since January, claiming at least 25 lives so far, including 14 deaths on March 14 in police firing on the villagers resisting entry of cops in the area.

Ayub Khan believed only Pak Army offered hope for country's peace, stability
By ANI
Monday August 27, 03:51 PM
Lahore, Aug 27 (ANI): Former Pakistan President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan believed only the Army offered hope for peace and stability in his country.
Retired Associated Press (AP) correspondent Watson Sims recounted his first encounter with the Field Marshal and recalled the latter having told him that Pakistan had many good public servants, but that they all suffered from a lack of direction and purpose.
"We will get some of these good chaps and put them in charge. Once the situation is under control, there will be new elections," Sims quoted Ayub as saying.
He said he flew to Karachi immediately, upon hearing an All Radio Bulletin report that the government in Pakistan had been dismissed.
He requested for a meeting with President Iskander Mirza, but found out soon enough that the Pakistan Army had started running the affairs of the country.
"We could hear someone pacing up and down behind curtained doors at one side of the office. Mirza, visibly ill at ease, said the government was dismissed because it had been unable to control the country's widespread lawlessness. There would be new elections, but important issues had to be resolved before a date could be chosen," Sims wrote in his article 'Exclusive from Pakistan: My Most Memorable Assignment'.
"Suddenly, the doors to the balcony were thrown open and a strapping, moustached man in the khaki uniform of the Pakistan Army entered the room. Quickly, General Muhammad Ayub Khan took command of the meeting," Sims said.
He said Ayub told him that Pakistan had drifted into disorder under its civilian government, and that the army offered its only hope for stability and peace.
Sims said he then asked whether he could leave and send his story, to which President Mirza protested, saying it was "off the record".
Sims said Ayub told him that he might send his story after first letting his assistant, General Yahya Khan have a look at it, which was done within half an hour.
General Yahya, according to Sims, only challenged one word.
"Why do you say this is a 'luxurious' palace? It is not nearly as luxurious as your White House," Sims quoted General Yahya as telling him.
Sims said, later the story became a worldwide AP exclusive.
According to a Daily Times report, later, when a Pakistani journalist asked Ayub at his first press conference why the country had been forced to learn of its change of government from a foreign news agency, the Field Marshal said, "Well, none of you chaps asked me".
The column appears in the Columbia Journalism Alumni Journal's summer 2007 issue. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070827/139/6jyrk.html
Cases against 82000 people raise brows
Violence in city-Cases to be settled in two weeks: DMP Commissioner

People in general and, the policy makers in particular, have raised their eyebrows about the filing of cases against

Look, these are bones of slaves !
If we do not persist in our struggle
The enemy would finish us with his bayonets
And pointing to our bones he would tell the rest of the world
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Tsundur : A New Milestone
In The Movement For
Dalit Emancipation
By Subhash Gatade
13 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
If we do not struggle
If we do not persist in our struggle
The enemy would finish us with his bayonets
And pointing to our bones he would tell the rest of the world
Look, these are bones of slaves !
Look, these are bones of slaves !!
( A Hindi couplet)

D Dhanraj from Tsundur ( Guntur, A.P.) possibly does not know how the rest of the world remembers 6 th of August. Neither possibly he knows that there is a city called Hiroshima in far away Japan which was nearly obliterated that day. But for him also the very day symbolises deaths and destruction and an endless wait for justice.
He can still recollect each and every incident on that fateful day way back in 1991 when five people from his own community were lynched before his eyes by a mob of marauders belonging to his village itself.
In fact, the blood thirsty mob had nearly lynched him also but somehow he was saved. Streets of Tsundur that day witnessed deaths of total eight people all of them dalits when a 400 strong armed mob of Reddys - a landlord caste which has dominated the politics of A.P since independence - attacked the dalits to teach them a lesson. The perpetrators of the massacre were so brutal that they cut the dead bodies into pieces, put them in gunny bags and threw them in the nearby Tungabhadra canal.
But as of now the wait for justice seems to be finally over. The recent judgement of the Special Court - which was the first of its kind formed under the provisions of the SC and ST Act (1989) at the scene of offence- has rather vindicated their sixteen year old struggle. Twenty one of the accused have been given life imprisonment which 35 of the accused have been asked to serve one year rigorous imprisonment. The court have acquitted the rest of the accused showing lack of evidence, but a coalition of dalit organisations have been pressing upon the government to file a petition in the upper court to challenge the acquttal.
A brief recap of the events in this 'historic case' tells us that the upper caste ( read Reddys' ) used the pretext of of alleged harassment of a Reddy girl by a dalit youth in a cinema hall to attack the dalits. The planned nature of the attack was evidnt also from the fact that within no time a few hundred strong mob of Reddys wielding traditional weapons (and few of them carrying modern firearms) descended on the dalit hamlett and unleashed their fury against the innocents. In fact, sensing an imminent attack, most of the menfolk had alread left the village. Once the marauders came to know of this they literally chased the dalits on the road adjoining the Tungabhadra canal and lynched them one by one.
Looking back it is clear that the preplanned attack against the dalits was another futile attempt by the Reddys to reassert their age-old authority which had seen fissures with the growing assertion of dalits. The changed atmosphere in the village was for everyone to see.Not only many of the dalits boys and girls had benefitted from the affirmative action programmes in education, a few among them had even surpassed the Reddys in many respects. Many of the dalits from the village were working with Indian Railways. Overall the situation was such that the Dalits had refused to follow the medieval dictats reserved for them under the Varna system.
D Dhanraj was a crucial witness to the whole case. He did not falter for a moment despite tremendous pressure brought upon him by the powerful Reddys.One can see that Tsundur, the small village in Guntur, has created many such 'unsung heroes' - ordinary looking people who faced heavy odds so that they get justice. Merukonda Subbarao, a fifty six year old daily wage-worker, who had served as the first president of the Tsunduru Victims Association was another such 'hero' who identified and named forty of the accused standing in the court room, from among the one hundred and eighty three accused. It was clear that the whole incident was etched in his memory so strongly that he did not falter despite the judges requests to repeat the identification. And who can forget Martyr Anil Kumar, a young man in his twenties who was in the forefront of the struggle so that the perpetrators of the massacre are punished without delay. Anil was killed in a police firing during one of those struggles.
http://www.countercurrents.org/gatade130807.htm

The Supreme Court Monday found itself pitted in an unsavoury row with the central government on the question of its power to order closure of commercial activities in unauthorised colonies in Delhi without hearing the four million affected people.
While the government is building pressure on the corporate sector to pitch in for the welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), its own efforts are drastically wanting. Despite having higher allocation of funds for welfare and educational development schemes for SCs and STs, the gap between them and general students is widening, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out in its latest audit report. Meanwhile,Observing that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has lost its power in recent years, its newly appointed chairman Buta Singh today said he will take up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make the Commission more effective.He said the Commission does not have the power to implement the Reservation Act following certain court directives.He demanded that on the pattern of Central Election Commission, which has sole responsibility to implement People's Representation Act, the Commission for Scheduled Castes should also be given the right to strictly implement the Reservation Act.He also demaned the revision of the Reservation Act which prescribes 15 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes. The government has drafted a new Reservation Act which envisages increase in reservation for the SCs. It also envisages more power to the Commission, he said.

"Since UPA government in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) promised strengthening the Commission and formation of new Reservation Act, I will take up the issue with the prime minister and urge him to pass the draft of the Act, which was finalized and submitted to the government few years back," Buta told reporters in Jalandhar.

"I along with Sushil Kumar Shinde, has chalked out a concrete draft of the proposed reservation Act, which at present is lying before the cabinet and the Commission demands the Act be passed at the earliest and be handed over to the Commission for its implementation in true spirit," the chairman said.
In the performance audit report on "Educational Development of SCs and STs" the CAG has flayed Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs for poor financial management resulting in ambitious schemes for education of SCs and ST not delivering the desired results.
"The two indicators of educational development - Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and Gross Drop-out Ratio (GDR) - displayed an adverse trend in respect to SC and ST boys and girls. The gap in GDR between general and SC and ST candidates, which was 6.7 per cent and 15.1 per cent in 2001-02, deteriorated to 10.4 per cent and 16.6 per cent in 2003-04, respectively," the report said.
The CAG has pointed out underutilisation of funds, delayed or short release and diversion of funds, unspent balances lying with states and inadequate publicity resulting in poor awareness of schemes as the reason for the gap.
A bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat entered into a heated argument with Additional Solicitor General Vikas Singh when the latter was fiercely opposing the bench order passed Monday for shuttering down commercial activities in 15,000 unauthorised colonies within three weeks.In halting commercial activities in the unauthorised colonies, the bench, which also included Justices C.K. Thakkar and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, was of the view that 'what is impermissible in the authorised colonies, could not be allowed in unauthorised colonies'.The bench passed the shuttering order amid stiff opposition from Singh.

'Don't raise your voice. We are not accustomed to hear raised voices,' snapped Justice Pasayat as Singh insisted that the court should not pass the sealing order without hearing the people likely to be affected.
A New Delhi radio station had a discussion panel on an August 2005 night, where an industrialist, a businessman, a lady medical doctor and a scientist, talked about how India can become a global superpower. It was mind blowing! The doctor commented that India had drastic disasters in recent years like the Gujarat Quake, Orissa's Super Cyclone and Tsunami, yet without an epidemic. She said it was because of how India is equipped to deal with medical emergencies. The panel experts went on to say that it was because of India's qualified medical professions, scientists, technologists, and industrialists etc. What communities do these professional experts represent? Very few work in poor and backward communities.
India is one of the focal countries for MDGs. In connection to the question, "Is India really a poor nation?" it will worth to note the comment of V. T. Rajshekar, a writer and Dalit activist. “In fact "poverty" is not the problem of India itself. India is rich country deliberately kept poor by the 15% upper caste rulers. (V. T. Rajshekar, The Dalit Voice, 25/1, 1-15 January 2006, p.23)
http://desicritics.org/2007/08/23/013305.php
We can look at the question of MDGs through four windows.
The 15/85 Window
15/85 Window represents the 15% Indian High Caste who hold 85% of India's assets! V. T. Rajshekar has described how India has been kept in desperate poverty by the minority high caste community who possess increasingly excessive assets.
This window also represents the inequality of assets-sharing, motivated, influenced and nurtured by ethics, tradition, politics and religion through the centuries. How can MDGs be viewed through this 15/85 window and can they restructure the situation?
The 52/9 Window
The 52/9 Window represents the 52% Indian BC (Backward Class) who live on 9% of India's assets! This window has been the Indian vote bank or national policy-making body, yet remains poor. Although they suffer caste discrimination from High caste, they still enjoy oppressing the SC/ST (Dalit) community which is lower in the Brahminical caste setup.
The community of this window - being India's largest community - suffers economic, political, oppression at the hands of the upper caste.
The 22.5/2 Window
22.5/2 Window represents the 22.5% Indian Dalits (SC/ST) who live on 2% of Indian assets! This window is the weakest section of Indian society closest to the poverty line. They not only suffer inequality in sharing assets, but suffer dehumanization. This group does not even come under Hindu caste categories.
Although SC/ST suffers caste discrimination they are also used as an Indian vote bank like backward classes. This window is almost a quarter of the population, yet survives on only 2% of Indian assets. This condition has been in Indian soil for years and nothing has been done even after half a century of Independent India. The backdrop of poverty in India has deep roots in caste and religion, which need to be sorted out before any attempt to fulfill the MDGs.
The 10.5/4 Window
The 10.5/4 Window represents the 10.5% of India's religious minorities (Islam, Christians, Sikh, Buddhist) who live on 4% of Indian assets! This window has been liberated from the dominion of Hindu upper caste oppression by means of converting to other religions where caste does not exist. Yet, the economic condition does not change.
Though socially liberated, economical, political, and physical oppression continues to exist. The Indian government has made choices for government aid based on faith, and they've been against religious minorities. Inclusion of Sikhs and Buddhists in the presidential provisional list of Schedule Caste categories, leaves Christian Dalits blindfolded. Christians live with 4% of Indian assets is a visible sign that they are still under the poverty line. It is the same with the country's Muslims.
Christians and Muslims of India suffer double at the hands of Indian micro-minority upper-caste rulers. Christians Dalits suffer caste discrimination under the Hindu caste system before converting to Christianity. By means of converting to Christianity, they are liberated from caste oppression only to be re-oppressed under India's constitution by snatching away the SC status facilities from the movement when the religious symbol of baptism falls on him/her. This act of bias forces the person into economic oppression even after being liberated from the caste system.
What can be said finally?
What can be said finally can never become a final solution. It will take a long time to see the long-lasting impacts and MDGs being fulfilled. Destroying spiderweb a hundred times will not solve the problem unless and until the spider is destroyed first. Similarly, finding the root cause and uprooting it will be essential to create a caste-free society, sharing.
The 15/85 Window sharing its excessive 85% assets with other windows will help fulfilling eight-fold MDGs: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2. Achieve universal primary education. 3. Promote gender equality and empower women. 4. Reduce child mortality. 5. Improve maternal health. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 7. Ensure environmental sustainability. 8. Develop a global partnership for development.
The communities of 52/9 Window and 22.5/2 Window should plead with India's government to reserve some of the private sectors is their birth right to ask their mother land. Denial and opposition from the private sector is the sign of their desire to keep 85% of Indian assets in their hands.
The community 10.5/4 Window needs to ask to be granted SC status as their birth-right demand to live with equality, dignity and in a democratic nation.
MDGs should be addressed within the issues of four windows presented here.
Some Dalits Are Even Less Equal
The Arunthathiyars bear the weight of caste oppression in Tamil Nadu, says R. Adhyaman
I belong to the Arunthathiyar community, the most oppressed of the Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu, where Dalits comprise 20 percent of the population. Of the 76 communities listed as SCS, the Paraiyars, the Pallars and the Arunthathiyars are the three main groups.
Arunthathiyars constitute about one-third of the state’s Dalit population and live in miserable conditions, working as manual scavengers, cobblers and agricultural labourers. Thousands are employed as conservancy workers in civic bodies. Though they speak Telugu at home, their children go to Tamil medium schools and follow Tamil customs. We are Tamils and that’s why I have named my organisation the Adhi Thamizhar Peravai.
All Dalits are not equal. Arunthathiyars are looked down upon by other SCS. We bear the whole weight of caste oppression. It is no secret that the two-tumbler system is still prevalent in many villages. But I have news for you. There are villages where they keep three tumblers in tea shops — one for the caste Hindu, one for the Arunthathiyar, and one for the non-Arunthathiyar Dalit. The Pallars and Paraiyars think they are superior to us. They don’t inter-marry with us. The two Dalit parties in the state, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal (VC, formerly known as Dalit Panthers of India) and Puthiya Thamizhagam, represent the interests of the Paraiyars and the Pallars respectively. In the last Assembly elections, VC contested nine seats as part of the AIADMK front and all nine candidates belonged to the Paraiyar community.
There are 44 reserved seats in the Assembly, but Arunthathiyars have never won more than five seats. At present, there are three Arunthathiyar MLAS — two in the DMK and one in the AIADMK. Paraiyars are the majority in the northern districts, Pallars in the southern districts, and Arunthathiyars in the western districts. No one except a Paraiyar can contest a reserved seat in the north. Pallars rule the roost in the south. But when it comes to areas where we are in majority, this rule does not apply. Parties field non- Arunthathiyars and win.
The benefits of reservation for Dalits in Tamil Nadu have gone to Pallars and Paraiyars. There is 18 percent reservation for SCS. Our demand is that six percent of it should be earmarked for Arunthathiyars. We have represented our demands to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and he has promised to consider the matter. We have also asked him to take steps to abolish manual scavenging. The CM granted one of our demands and formed a welfare board for conservancy workers.
Adhiyaman is founder president, Adhi Thamizhar Peravai, a Dalit social movement. As told to PC Vinoj Kumar
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=hub010907shadowlines.asp
Laloo Takes Maya Path
Borrowing from the UP Chief Minister’s Sarvajana strategy, the RJD promises 10 percent quota to upper caste poor if it is voted to power, reports Anand ST Das reports
THE PROMINENT red tilak that Laloo Prasad Yadav often wears on his forehead has acquired a different hue these days. Over the past one year, Laloo has probably visited more temples and performed more religious rituals than in his entire political career. Restless ever since his and wife Rabri’s 15-year reign in Bihar came to an inglorious end, Laloo is now looking to replicate in his state Mayawati’s social engineering formula that won her the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. His staunchly pro-backward Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party has begun openly espousing causes of the forward castes.
At the RJD’s state-level conclave in mid- July at Rajgir, in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home district of Nalanda, Laloo promised a 10-percent reservation in state government jobs for upper caste poor if the RJD comes to power in the 2010 Assembly polls. To strike a balance, he also reasserted his commitment towards the Dalits and the extremely backward castes, and promised to fight for their “dignity” and “just rights”.
The need for a new social arithmetic was being increasingly felt in the RJD’s think-tank after Laloo’s Muslim-Yadav vote bank failed to win him the November 2005 election. Laloo has engaged in a number of religious ceremonies at his residence and visited several temples with wife Rabri Devi in the past few months. After months of a calculated image makeover, he finally announced his party’s soft stance towards the upper castes. The RJD’s mantra has changed to welfare of “all communities and sections”. In Rajgir, the party vowed to fight on behalf of all castes and communities. One of the nine resolutions adopted at the conclave also promised Scheduled Caste status to backward Muslims in Bihar.
“It is unfair and wrong to say that the RJD was harsh towards the upper castes. Our governments always had ministers from the upper castes. Now we have announced a 10 percent reservation for upper castes because there is an urgent need for their socio-economic uplift,” said Shyam Razak, the RJD’s spokesman and a former minister. Many political observers, however, see the RJD’s new strategy as a reflection of Laloo’s impatience to win back power. “This is a clever, last-ditch ploy by Laloo with obvious inspiration from Mayawati. It is too late for him to see the need for uplift of all sections of society,” said Dr Shaibal Gupta of the Patna-based Asian Develop - ment Research Institute.
WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE THE RIGHT BALANCE

India’s Unending Journey: Finding Balance in a Time of Change
By Mark Tully,
Rider, £14.99
We should be thankful to Mark Tully for deciding to leave his explorations into faith and spirituality, his own and India’s, as a post-retirement option. But given his belief that much of life is 95 per cent fate and 5 per cent free will, this might have been predestined. Even then, one cannot but feel grateful that Tully kept his religious thoughts to himself most of the two decades he was chief correspondent of the BBC in India. Given his fatalism (he believes that his being in Puri on Kartik Purnima and the beginning of this book on that propitious day were no mere coincidence), who knows, there might have been doubts over the objectivity of the broadcasts, and BBC Radio would not have been what it has been.
Tully talks about his personal growth — the changes in his belief system as he goes through school in Marlborough, university in Cambridge, a failed stint at a theological college and, finally, as assistant representative of the BBC in India, where he rediscovers his own religion. The sparse account of this transition is interwoven with reflections on the drawbacks of world religions (particularly Semitic), and on religious beliefs, accompanied by scholarly observations. His point is to show how profoundly his religious thoughts have been influenced by the Hindu way of life, its pluralism, its humility, its diversity and its sense of balance. Having achieved this feat, he now wants all the faithful, as well as the different faiths, to follow suit in order to strengthen the belief in god and to restore harmony among peoples.
His other significant intention is to rediscover India’s tradition and religious virtue for the people of the country, which is hurtling down the path of change without a thought and without a suspicion that it may fall into the same trap that Western materialistic societies have fallen into. Since Tully subscribes to the belief that “he could only preach what he had personally experienced”, his experiences in England, Scotland and India come in handy.
While preaching (Tully’s propensities can hardly be suspected to be anything else), he dares his readers to call him “counter-cultural” or “an old-fashioned socialist and romantic about India” — all the phrases being presented by him as comments already made by previous listeners. Tully, perhaps in order to prevent these precious descriptions from being repeated, mentions that his thoughts about India have been thrashed out in front of — and found an echo among — scholars, economists, heads of multinational companies as much as of religious bodies. Tully, quite evidently, is not the only one worrying his head about India’s destiny.
But what is he so worried about? One is the loss of faith. He illustrates this with the example of Ireland. The gay, colourful and yet rabidly Catholic country, which once had priests swarming all around, is squirming under the aggressive secular drive of the State. Although the inflexibility of the Church and its prescriptions about sexual practices had a lot to do with its decline, Tully believes the development has robbed the country of its unique character. It is now like any other place in the world undergoing the onslaught of globalization.
This brings us to another of Tully’s worries — progress and its pitfalls, be it in science, technology or economy. Man’s strides in the former gave the world the atom bomb, and the latter has led to an unbridgeable gap between the rich and the poor. Tully warns that there is no ‘certainty’ that progress will benefit all. He quotes John Gray, professor of European thought in the London School of Economics, to strengthen his case, “Belief in progress is the Prozac of the thinking classes.”
Tully preaches balance at all times, be it in the pursuit of religion, political success, economic prosperity or sex. Which is fair enough. But did Tully need to hardsell Hinduism this way to promote it as the model to be followed in order to achieve the balance? Tully presents an almost idyllic picture of India where festivals are occasions for reaffirming social harmony (he mourns the lack of festivals in the British calendar), caste brothers share marriage expenses, and religious leaders shake hands and make up. Why gloss over the uglier side? When his friend, Radhakant Nayak, reminds him that casteism lacks a social conscience, Tully can only answer that there have been movements to redress the balance — the Bhakti movement, and the more contemporary Dalit movements. How far has it got India? While Uttar Pradesh has a Dalit chief minister, Dalit doctors in a premier medical institution in the heart of the Indian capital continue to be ghettoized. Would Tully call that ‘balance’?
Tully sees the rise of the Hindu Right as a response to dogmatic secularism practised over the years by India, and blames politics for the development. One wonders if Praveen Togadia and his kind would continue to have such a huge audience to hear their fulminations against the minorities had Indian pluralism been truly at work. Tully’s idealization of Indian social cohesion is almost insufferable. India is definitely undergoing a lopsided growth. But one wonders if the answer to the problem could lie in the reassertion of the fundamental Hindu values. Besides, who is to decide what is ‘fundamental’?
There can be no doubting Tully’s sensitivity to the changing Indian scenario. This comes out best when he goes back to his old-style reporting on the Dalit family in UP or on communal amity in Varanasi. But in trying to bind his own spiritual growth to India’s unforeseen destiny, Tully ties himself in knots. He raises profound questions — like “Is God malign?” “Why should a loving God make it necessary for us to suffer?” — but cannot answer them. He wants the Church to be less dogmatic and learn from the Indian tradition to be “more tolerant of plurality and more willing to question their certainties.” But he does not want it “to forfeit all claims to certainty merely in order to avoid conflict with others, or that it should come to feel it should avoid all moral judgments”. He swears to have learnt humility from India, but does not refrain from crowning himself with glory for taking on John Birt (spelt once as Bird), director general of the BBC.
There are incisive passages in this book. Take Tully’s lambasting of modern management doctrines and their indiscriminate use in all situations. He also senses, as astutely as ever, India’s dilemmas as it tries to follow the path of progress. But if Tully is so sure of India’s “genius for absorption and adaption”, one cannot see why he indulges in the foolhardiness of assuming its self-destruction.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070824/asp/opinion/story_8230269.asp
Govt asked to do more for cause of Dalits [ 2007-8-15 ]
By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 14: Lawyers and politicians voicing for the rights of Dalits Tuesday said the government had not been doing enough for the promotion and protection of Dalit rights
"The constitutional amendments declaring Nepal a society free from all caste hierarchies are only limited to the documents and have not been implemented into meaningful practice," they said.
Speaking at a talk programme 'Nepal`s Dalit Movement and Friendship with India,' they said Indian leaders voicing for the Dalit rights had always helped in emancipating their people from caste discrimination and the same should be emulated here.
Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Chabilal Bishowkarma said India's Dalit movement was initiated following the success of its social revolution and social reforms.
He said Dalit had played a leading role in the then democratic movement against the Ranas as well as during the April movement last year.
Bishowkarma said Dalits have demanded equal participation in the constituent assembly election through proportionate participation adding that the patience of the Dalits in launching the movement should not be regarded as their weakness.
"The Dalits are having patience so that their action would not affect the CA polls," he said.
Vice-Chairman of Nepal Bar Association Hari Prasad Upreti said there is virtually no participation of the Dalits in the judiciary.
Upreti said though the parliament has declared Nepal of being freed from untouchability but the same has not been put into real practice.
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=24987
India's Statue of Liberty
Posted August 18th, 2007 by kashifIndia News Articles By Dr. Joseph D'souza
International President, Dalit Freedom Network
www.josephdsouza.com
On August 15th, India celebrates her 60th birthday as a modern independent nation. Celebrations are already on as Indians proudly remember their past 60 years and the many successes in them. The Dalit freedom movement too celebrates the founding of the democratic Indian nation. There is much to be proud of.
In the fields of agriculture, technology, education, economics and our experiment with 'democracy' we have done well. We have managed to remain a pluralistic, democratic, free India in spite of attempts to destroy our diversity, plurality of religions and our democratic foundations by fundamentalist forces. These forces have never reconciled to the idea of a modern Indian nation built on the modern Indian Constitution.
We remember our founding fathers: Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Predictably, the elitist media and spin doctors will pay some lip service to Ambedkar or completely forget him as did the speechwriters and advisors of President Bush when he gave his speech in New Delhi in March 2006 and mentioned Nehru, Gandhi and Tagore as India's great founding leaders.
Tagore was a great Indian but not a founding father of the Indian nation. Ambedkar was. Without Ambedkar, the author of India's Constitution and a Dalit, there would be no social justice in the nation; there never would be the empowerment of millions of Dalits and lower castes in modern day India through the means of 'reservation' and affirmative action by the State in keeping with the requirements listed in the Constitution.
Without Ambedkar and Nehru there would be no religious freedom of the kind we have known in India for 60 years. It has withstood efforts of the Hindutva forces - those who live by the slogan 'one nation, one religion, one culture' - to take away this freedom from the masses through anti-conversion laws dubbed as 'freedom of religion' laws. Thankfully, three governors of states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have recently rejected the anti-conversion laws passed by legislators.
The Indian National Congress party - traditionally nonsectarian and currently in power nationally - seems to have a schizophrenic mentality towards these laws. While the Congress governors in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are contesting the laws passed by the BJP governments, the Congress leadership allowed the state of Himachal Pradesh - where the Congress party is in power - to pass an anti-conversion law despite wide spread protests by civil society groups.
This catering to a 'soft-Hindutva' line has been one of main reasons for the demise of the Congress Party in northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the Hindi heartland. Those who want Hindutva do not opt for the softer version. They go for the real thing. And anyway the majority of oppressed peoples and the minorities do not want Hindutva because it will not deliver freedom, dignity and development for the masses. The people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two of India's most populated states, have repeatedly demonstrated this.
The present Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a Dalit woman, reportedly is building a statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in the city of Lucknow which will stand taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York. If this really happ