Palash Speaks

Interference, CPM Cries! Mamta Bids for Anti CPM Coaliation!
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Benoy sprays Gangajal
Verdict will inspire forces of anarchy: CPM leader
The high court verdict on the March 14 firing in Nandigram again revealed the cracks in the ruling front: the CPM complained that it would “inspire the forces of anarchy” but its major allies called it a “reflection of public opinion”. ... | Read..
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/bengal/index.asp
On West Bengal Governor’s Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on November 10.
THE statement issued by the Governor of West Bengal regarding the latest developments in Nandigram is surprising. It is well-known that from January 2007, there has been violence engineered in Nandigram and normal life disrupted. For the past ten months, thousands have been driven out of their homes and the State administration prevented from functioning in the area.
The Governor has been fully appraised of the reasons behind this abnormal situation. The Governor is well within his constitutional role to communicate his views to the state government and the Central government. However, he has chosen once again to go public with a statement which is uncalled for. The content of the statement makes it clear that this is not the role expected from the office of Governor under the Constitution.
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/1118/11182007_pb.htm

CBI resumes investigation into Nandigram firing
In less than 24 hours after the Calcutta High Court order, a team from CBI's Special Crime Branch has left for Nandigram to resume its investigation into the police firing there. The High Court, in a scathing criticism of the firing in its order pronounced on Friday described the police action as "unconstitutional" and "unlawful".
Police fired indiscriminately on unarmed farmers and common people at Nandigram on March 14 this year killing at least 14 people and injuring scores more. The court also ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to resume investigation to the justification of the firing and submit the report within a month.
The court order came as a serious body blow to the state administration as the judiciary virtually rejected all ploys of the government put forward in justification of the firing. The people on whom police fired were protesting against forcible grabbing of their agricultural land ostensibly for industrialization.

The CPM on Saturday dubbed the Calcutta High Court order declaring the March 14 police firing in Nandigram "wholly unconstitutional", as "interference in the state and Centre's jurisdiction" and urged the West Bengal government to move the Supreme Court. An already plagued Government of West Bengal and the CPI(M) received yet another major jolt on Friday when the Calcutta High Court ordered the Government to pay hefty compensation to all those killed and injured in the police firing that killed at least 14 farmers at Nandigram on March 14, 2007. The Court also ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue with its investigation into the firing and submit the report to the court within one month from Friday. State Government has also been instructed to pay compensation to all those who were allegedly raped by marauding CPI(M) cadres at Nandigram on the day.According to the High Court order, the Government would have to pay Rs 500,000 to each of those killed in the firing. Of this compensation amount that State Government has been instructed to pay the amount within a month. Those injured and allegedly raped would have to be paid Rs 100,000 each as compensation immediately. Left Front constituents also welcome the court order.The court order came as a major embarrassment for the State Government and the CPI(M) party. The Government, in consultation with the CPI(M) part, had earlier announced a meager compensation of Rs 200,000 to those killed. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed challenging the compensation announced by the State Government. Government's compensation package was also summarily rejected by the opposition parties.
"The High Court's order on Nandigram is interference in the state and Centre's jurisdiction. We are urging the state government to move the Supreme Court. If High Court has the last word on everything, what is the use of the legislature and the executive?" CPM West Bengal secretary Biman Bose told a party rally in Kolkata.
Bose, who is the Left Front chairman and a CPM Politburo member, questioned "Will the court decide the government's course of action?
"If the court tries to rule over the two other pillars of democracy, what is the need of the legislature and the executive? The court has suddenly turned proactive on Nandigram," he said. He also criticised Governor Gopalkrisha Gandhi, who has indicted the state government, saying the "recapture" of Nandigram was "unlawful and unacceptable".
"The governor is playing a partial role on the Nandigram issue," he said.
"Why did not the governor show concern when CPM supporters were attacked and driven out of Nandigram?" he asked.
Senior CPM leader Benoy Konar said "Raj Bhavan and the court have joined hands against the democratically elected government in the state.
"It is because of the governor that the High Court took up the case on Nandigram," he alleged.
"The governor is also a citizen, he can take up the Trinamool Congress flag and join politics. But he cannot do this while being an occupant of Raj Bhavan," he said.
Maenwhile,Encouraged by the latest political and social developments and, of course, the latest order of Calcutta High Court on Friday on the Nandigram issue, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee launched her bid to form an anti CPI(M) coalition in the state. She called on "secular and democratic parties" to rally together and form an anti-CPI(M) "front" as "a political alternative" in West Bengal. She has even agreed to remain content being a constituent to the proposed alliance if there arises any objection against her leadership. Asked whether the Bharatiya Janata Party would be a part of the proposed front, she said that "it will comprise only secular parties."
Mamata demanded the state government's "immediate dismissal" over the recent violence in Nandigram and said she would be calling on Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Saturday to place her demand. She, however, stopped short of demanding President's rule in the state or promulgation of Article 356 of the Indian Constitution.
Her appeal for a new "political alternative" appeared to be directed at the non-CPI(M) Left Front constituents, some of whom had been critical of the CPI(M)'s role in the recent Nandigram developments.
It may be recalled that the State Congress leadership had earlier given a call for the setting up of a "secular democratic front" and urged the Trinamool Congress to join after severing ties with the BJP.
Mamata welcome the Calcutta High Court's Friday's ruling on the March 14 police firing and subsequent violence at Nandigram. She said, "In the wake of the ruling and the Governor's recent comments on the developments in Nandigram, the State government has no moral, Constitutional and political right to continue in power."
She announced a series of agitations by her party in the days to come in support of the demand for dismissal of the State government. "I am again requesting the Centre to pay its role and take proper action" in West Bengal, she added.

Criminal behind Nandigram violence held and Guns fell silent in West Bengal's trouble-torn Nandigram as Central Reserve Police Force marched through villages to ensure peace in the area invaded by armed Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters over the last week, leading to murder, rape and arson. Violence in Nandigram has claimed at least 34 lives since January.
A notorious criminal who was allegedly behind the recent violence in Nandigram was arrested from West Bengal's South 24-Parganas early on Saturday, police said. Acting on a tip, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided a guesthouse in Mahishadal and arrested Salim and four of his associates. The police have recovered arms and ammunition from them. Salim has confessed to his involvement in the violence in Nandigram, police said.
Police sources said he had been operating from Khejuri, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) stronghold near Nandigram. He was wanted in a number of criminal cases including murder, robbery and extortion. Salim will be produced in a Tamluk court on Sunday.
‘Hurdles’ to CBI probe Part II
BHAVNA VIJ-AURORA
New Delhi, Nov. 16: Eight months after submitting its preliminary inquiry report, the CBI would find it difficult to pick up the threads of the investigation into the March 14 firing, sources said today.
A lot of crucial evidence may have been destroyed.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/bengal/story_8558847.asp
With Nandigram tense again and the CRPF patrolling the area, conducting the investigation is not going to be easy, the sources added.
“According to the initial inquiry, the boundaries between the police and the CPM cadres had been blurred anyway. Now the demarcation between the March 14 incident and the present situation is going to be extremely difficult,” a senior CBI official said.
“If we had taken the investigation to its logical conclusion at that time, the present situation may not have arisen. With the kind of weapons they had access to and the indoctrination of the cadres, Nandi- gram was waiting to explode,” he added.
Although the police had opened fire on March 14, the CBI apparently found clues to the involvement of CPM supporters.
A large number of .315 bullets, which the police use, were found at Sonachura and Gokulnagar in Nandigram and Janani brick kiln in CPM stronghold Khejuri.
“We had arrested 10 men and at least half of them had confessed to being CPM members. They were released on bail after that. Tracing them again will not be easy,” a source said.
The arrested party members had “confessed” to the CBI that they had been supplied with arms and ammunition by the party — .315 rifles, country-made arms, shotguns, automatic pistols, revolvers and bullets.
The sources said the CBI had found evidence of local CPM leaders assembling supporters at the brick kiln near the Bhangabera bridge, from where the police had started firing on the morning of March 14.
Devastation survey begins
OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/bengal/story_8558850.asp
Nandigram, Nov. 16: East Midnapore district officials entered Nandigram for the first time in 10 months to take stock of the devastation.
Five teams went to Sonachura, Daudpur, Gokulnagar, Samsabad and Kendamari-Jalpai to draw up a list of houses damaged and asked villagers whether they needed utensils or other essentials to start a normal life.
“We have asked them to complete the job as early as possible. Once the list is prepared, the compensation process will begin,” said district magistrate Anup Agarwal.
The government has announced that villagers will get Rs 10,000 for fully damaged houses and Rs 5,000 for those partially damaged. Those who need utensils and other essentials will get Rs 1,000.
In most places, a small crowd followed the officials. “We showed the BDO how some of the houses were set afire,” said Prabir Mondal of Sonachura.
The teams worked till 6pm and will return tomorrow.
A National Human Rights Commission team also came to Nandigram. It went to the local high school, where Pratirodh Committee leaders handed over a list of 1,140 refugees.

Relief rally ends in fight
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/calcutta/story_8557233.asp
Two groups of students clashed over collection of relief material for Nandigram victims near the Amherst Street-Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing on Friday.
The warring groups were the CPM-backed Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the Progressive Democratic Students’ Front (PDSF). At least six students of both groups were injured and admitted to Medical College and Hospital.
SFI supporters blocked Amherst Street from 4pm to 4.30pm, disrupting traffic in several central Calcutta areas, demanding “arrest of the culprits”.
Trouble started around 3.30pm, when a group of PDSF supporters, who were marching along Amherst Street and collecting relief material, tried to enter St Paul’s College.
“The march was peaceful and people were spontaneously responding to our appeal for help. As we approached St Paul’s College, a large number of SFI students, armed with lathis and knives, attacked us,” said Amit Chakraborty, a member of the PDSF state committee.
“Three of our supporters were injured. PDSF state president Sourabh Mukherjee was injured in the head,” said Chakraborty.
SFI’s Calcutta district committee member Indrajit Ghose, however, said PDSF supporters and some Maoists were forcing students of the college to contribute to the relief fund. “When the students objected, they started beating them up. Three students were injured,” said Ghose.
Both groups lodged complaints with police.

Allies join Opp in welcoming verdict
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Nov. 16: The Left Front junior partners ~ RSP and Forward Bloc ~ today spoke in unison with the Trinamul Congress welcoming the High Court verdict on the 14 March police firing at Nandigram.
While the two LF constituents said the state government “should take a lesson from the verdict”, the Trinamul demanded that Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee be sacked immediately as the “verdict vindicated our stand that the chief minister has failed to discharge his Constitutional duties to protect the people of Nandigram.” The FB even stated in a stinging indictment of the state government’s handling of the Nandigram turmoil that the verdict “reflected the people’s opinion and as such the state government should honour it in full measure”. The CPI-M state secretary Mr Biman Bose, however, declined comment on the verdict, but said : “Nowadays the judiciary is intervening in state government’s work because of which development work is getting delayed”. Asked to respond to the verdict, Mr Bhattacharjee said :”Let me first get a copy of the verdict and then I will be in a position to comment.”
The home secretary, Mr Prasadranjan Ray, initially said the state government would abide by the court’s verdict, but later added it would consult its legal advisor on the matter.
The CPI said the law would take its own course in the Nandigram firing case. Trinamul chief Miss Mamata Banerjee said the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had no moral, constitutional right to continue in office. A Trinamul delegation would meet the Governor tomorrow to demand the resignation of the chief minister.
Miss Banerjee appealed to all political parties minus the CPI-M to form a secular, democratic Front to “save democracy in West Bengal” and said if any political party has reservations about the Trinamul in playing a pivotal role in the formation of such a Front, it “is prepared to give the reins of leadership to anyone keen on galvanising the people to dislodge the anti-people CPI-M from power.” Mr Manoj Bhattacharya, RSP central committee member, said the three LF junior partners had stated three days after the 14 March police firing that the police action was “unconstitutional’’ and the HC verdict only vindicates that stand.” PWD minister Mr Kshiti Goswami also welcomed the Court order.
Mr Ashoke Ghosh, FB state general secretary, said the police firing that caused the deaths of 14 people was “the fallout of the CPI-M’s political adventurism”. In the FB’s assessment the “root cause of the violence, public discontent and protests that began at Singur and spread to Nandigram was the two wrong policies of the state government ~ SEZ and retail chain by corporate houses that would pauperise millions of average people of the state.”
Speaking at a party rally at Dubrajpur, CPI-M state secretary Mr Biman Bose said a good compensation package was awaiting the victims of police firing at Nandigram.

Situation in Nandigram grave, says Congress
New Delhi: In a strong criticism of the CPI(M) over the violence in West Bengal's Nandigram, the Congress today said it was a "natural outcome" of placing the interests of the party cadres above that of the people.
Expressing concern over the "grave situation" in Nandigram, the party said the state government's writ "appears to have ceased to run" there. The Congress denounced the "culture of violence and cult of armed cadres." "All this is the natural outcome of a system where the interests of party cadres are placed above the interests of the people at large and the law and order machinery is not allowed to function professionally," a draft political resolution of the AICC said.
However, the resolution did not mention by name the CPI(M), the largest party in the Left bloc which provides crucial outside support to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
In her address, Congress President Sonia Gandhi touched upon the major challenges faced by the party in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, saying there is no alternative for Congress workers but to keep aside their differences and put up a united fight.
Referring to Naxalism, which the Prime Minister had described as the most serious challenge for internal security, she said the party has always viewed it as a question of law and order as well as a social issue.
"Therefore to fight extremism, administration in tribal areas should be more sensitive and focused on development," she said, adding more attention should be paid on issues of land ownership and forcible occupation of land.

BJP flays PM, Sonia for ignoring Nandigram
New Delhi: The BJP today criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi for not mentioning Nandigram violence in their speeches at the AICC session and questioned whether their "deafening silence" indicated their approval of the "mayhem" against Muslims there.
The party also took strong objection to Gandhi's allegation about BJP indulging in "obstructionist" politics, saying it reflects her "undemocratic mindset".
"Beyond the semantics and pseudo-minority tokenism, what is shocking is the deafening silence of the Prime Minister and Congress president over the atrocities committed against Muslims in Nandigram," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
"Does their continuing silence indicate that their conscience has been effectively overshadowed by the compulsion of power and the urge to hold on to it at any cost," Prasad said attacking Singh and Gandhi for not mentioning Nandigram in their speeches at AICC session.
Alleging that CPI(M) cadres had indulged in "mass rape and state-organised mayhem" in Nandigram, the BJP leader asked: "will the Prime Minister and Congress president come on record and let the nation know" whether it bears "their stamp of approval?" About Rahul Gandhi and the young MPs being projected at the AICC session, Prasad said BJP feels that the young leaders of Congress lacked "political potential".
Referring to the arrest of three Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists in Lucknow yesterday, he asked the UPA government to resolve to combat terror regardless of "political consequences" in the light of the development in Uttar Pradesh.

IAEA Talks On: AICC Aesthetics and Nuke deal
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Green signal to Indo Us nuke deal. Green signal to strategic regrouping in Indian Ocean region! Green signal to the shift of War against Terrorism right into the heart of Indian Subcontinent!
IAEA talks on!
UPA-Left panel will debate outcome!
Thanks the Bengali Brahmins!Thanks Hypocrite Capitalist marxists!The UPA government succeeded in getting clearance from the Left to proceed with talks for India-specific safeguards agreement at the IAEA but with the condition that its outcome will be presented to the UPA-Left committee on Indo-US nuclear deal before it finalises its findings.External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said last day after the sixth meeting of the UPA-Left committee that the members felt that impact of the provisions of the Hyde Act and 123 Agreement on the IAEA safeguards agreement should also be examined.
“This will require talks with the IAEA Secretariat for working out the text of the India-specific safeguards agreement. The government will proceed with the talks and the outcome will be presented to the committee for its consideration before it finalises its findings,” he said, adding the findings of the committee will be taken into account before the operationalisation of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.
After three-and-a-half years in coalition at the Centre, the Congress on Saturday said it was not for sacrificing its political space for ever and came out with full backing for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Indo-US nuclear deal with party President Sonia Gandhi making it clear that it will not have any impact on the country's strategic nuclear programme. Virtually ruling out the possibility of mid-term polls to Lok Sabha in the backdrop of UPA-left standoff on the nuclear deal, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday categorically stated that the next general elections would be held in 2009.Praising the "sagacious" leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for implementing many promises in the common minimum programme and the party's own manifesto, she said "as we look back on the past three-and-a-half years of the government, we can justly take satisfaction". She cited launching of flagship programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Bharat Nirman, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, National Rural Health Mission and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The new Rs 25,000 crore Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana would be the catalyst for the Second Green Revolution, Gandhi said.
"You all know that the Lok Sabha elections are due in 2009," she told the delegates at the All India Congress Committee session in New Delhi.
Her remarks assume significance in view of speculation of mid-term polls with the Left parties unhappy over the Indo-US nuclear deal.Asking partymen to pull up their socks ahead of the assembly polls, she reminded Congress workers of the upcoming elections in two states including Gujarat next month.She said that in 2008, a number of states would go to polls where the party would face a tough challenge.
In a speech clamoured for by Congressmen from across the country at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session here, party's heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Congress should be relevant to a broad range of young Indians and become "meritocratic" in which progress is linked to performance along with accountability.

Nuke deal will not hurt India's strategic programme not , PM declares as Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided to play it safe while delivering her speech at the All India Congress Committee meeting on Saturday in New Delhi.The Congress president's bilingual speech had no mention either about the forthcoming elections in Gujarat or the developments in the violence-hit Nandigram. Addressing around 3,000 members of the party, she lambasted the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for not co-operating on issues in Parliament and slammed it as an obstructive party.Talking about the saffron party's unreasonable politics, Sonia said it does not discourage her party. "We are not deterred, we are determined," she said.
"The achievements of our government so far are all the more creditable given the stubbornly uncooperative attitude of the BJP in Parliament. No words are strong enough to condemn the BJP's attacks on our prime minister and on our party," she said.
"The Congress was also in the Opposition, but we never acted beyond reasonable limits and always strived to maintain the dignity and decorum of Parliament. On matters of national interest, the Congress had always extended its hand of support," she added.
Sonia was also unusually forceful while warning Congressmen, who were going against the party line on important issues in public.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday described as "totally wrong" allegations that the India-US civil nuclear deal would hurt the country's nuclear programme.
"The propaganda that the nuclear deal will hurt our strategic programme is totally wrong," the prime minister told the All India Congress Committee session here, departing from his prepared text.

"The agreement concerns only with the civilian side of our nuclear programme. It has no bearing on our strategic programme, which will remain intact," he said.

"The propaganda that it will affect our sense of judgement and independence of our foreign policy is equally wrong," he added. "I have repeatedly said in parliament that India is too big a country, we have the heritage of (Jawaharlal) Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Nobody can bent India anywhere."

In his written speech, however, Manmohan Singh made a sedate reference to the controversial nuclear deal.

He said: "The nuclear agreement is an effort to open closed doors for us so that we can obtain nuclear fuel and technology from countries such as the US, Russia and France and remove the shortage of electricity in the country. You need to understand this reality and explain to our people."

On Friday, India said it was going ahead with India-specific safeguards talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the government's communist allies who had been earlier opposed to the negotiations gave a half-hearted green signal.

Smash And Grab:TEHELKA Story on Nandigram

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Nandigram war to be fought in Delhi
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Nandigram_war_will_be_fought_in_Delhi_now/articleshow/2544324.cms
NEW DELHI: Even as the Opposition, especially the BJP, was gearing up to disrupt Parliament proceedings on the Nandigram issue, the Left parties decided not to allow it to be raised in the House, saying it was a “state subject”.
After a meeting of four Left parties, the leaders maintained that the Nandigram issue was a “state law and order subject”, which could not be discussed in Parliament as rules did not permit such matters to be raised.
“Nandigram can be discussed in the West Bengal assembly but not in Parliament,” CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta told a joint press conference with other Left leaders including his party colleague D Raja and CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury.
In Kolkata, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) on Thursday deferred its plans to quit the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Cabinet or the Left Front till November 29 when its state committee will meet to take a final call.
However, state PWD minister and RSP leader Kshiti Goswami will be boycotting all West Bengal government events and not attending office till November 29. But other RSP ministers will attend office and government functions.
The BJP, which was planning to corner the CPM-led Left Front over the issue, however, has been unable to decide on whether to push for the dismissal of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in West Bengal. The BJP, in fact, has been speaking in two voices on the demand, leaving its cadre confused about their party’s stance.
Parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra, while interacting with reporters here on Thursday, took on the West Bengal CM for justifying the CPM-sponsored violence in Nandigram by harping on the “we-paid-them-back-in-the same-coin” argument. “If a chief minister uses such language, he has no right to continue in office,” the BJP leader contended. “The chief minister should be sacked,” he added.
However, others in the BJP — and the alliance led by it — have adopted a more cautious stance. Leader of the Opposition, LK Advani, in his interaction with West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi after a tour of the violence-ravaged areas, rooted for a “calibrated” approach.
While the decision to recommend the ouster of the Left Front government was left to the governor’s wisdom, the BJP veteran argued that the latter could first seek a detailed report from the state government under Article 355 and then could take recourse to Article 356 if the state failed to comply with the initial direction.
Only a day earlier, BJP president Rajnath Singh had alleged that there had been a complete breakdown of constitutional machinery in West Bengal and demanded that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government be dismissed.
The NDA a team led by Mr Advani reports that only those who pledge allegiance to the CPM can live in Nandigram. Those who fled the area during the “recapture” can safely return home only if they obtained a "no objection" clearance from the local CPM committee. Besides pledging allegiance to the CPM, returnees must also refrain from speaking to the media.

Smash And Grab
What the CPM has unleashed is not a war for the control of Nandigram; it is waging a desperate and dirty battle for survival in its oldest fort. SHANTANU GUHA RAY reports

Sudeep Chaudhuri
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=Ne241107Smash_AndGrab.asp
IT’S A patch barely 250 square kilometres. It’s not big enough to contain a single Lok Sabha seat, it struggles to send six members to the 294-strong West Bengal Assembly. Not worth evoking desperate measures from a party that has been entrenched in power for more than three decades, you would think. Yet, over the last year, Nandigram has been a bloodied and mostly unsung battleground, locked in fullblown warfare launched by governmentbacked CPM apparatchik on the people. They went into it with an elaborate battle-plan, laying siege, scorching earth and taking pocket by pocket. They went into it with the most sophisticated weapons, AK-47s and landmines included. They were unafraid to kill and to destroy and to leave thousands destitute. They were adamant about keeping out the forces of State until the party had finished its work — until the CPM had made sure Nandigram had “fallen” the CRPF and local police remained in barracks.
The subservience of all things, including the State, to the will of the party is a classical Stalinist tenet; the CPM had just effected it in Nandigram, impervious to all protest, in violation of accepted principles of governance, in utter disregard of democracy. It is seldom that the Governor is outraged enough to speak out openly on public violations. Gopal Gandhi did, even pleading with grand old man Jyoti Basu against what the CPM was up to in Nandigram, but to little effect.
Finally, when Nandigram was “won” on November 12, the celebrations had a ring of military victory — columns of cadre in red bandannas drove in, the party flag was rampantly planted and local party offices jubilantly re-occupied.
This was a CPM stronghold that had all but fallen to the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), an outfit that arose in opposition to Nandigram being declared an SEZ, but which slowly came to be backed by a cross-section of political and civil society groups. It had to be regained. The CPM did it ruthlessly. At Writer’s Building in Kolkata, the seat of government, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself announced the end of the campaign, General-like. Asked about the violent smash and grab by his party in Nandigram, he retorted: “Well, it was a violent takeover by dangerous forces, they have now been paid back in the same coin.” Blunt. nabashed. Unapologetic. “We did not trigger violence. We faced it, resisted it for months and then, eventually countered it. As I said before, the Opposition and the BUPC have got a taste of their own medicine. There was tension, total chaos and lack of peace in Nandigram. We had to do something. Our supporters risked their lives and returned home and retaliated only in desperation,” he told TEHELKA minutes after his triumphal announcement.
In the process, though, Bhattacharya and his party had raised fundamental and disturbing questions: Is the will of a political party above all other interests? Is armed assault on 24 NOVEMBER 2007 TEHELKA the adversary permissible tactic? Are we to accept might as right? Is there an agency to prevent such sanction-driven lapse into mayhem? The CPM, after all, had left no one in doubt about the tactics it was employing to reclaim Nandigram — “maaro” was the cry of Politburo member Brinda Karat and the party was resonating it, in New Delhi and in West Bengal. Party boss Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury were offering grand articulations of the eye-for-eye violence, glossing over the ground rules of multi-party democracy. Local CPM bosses Biman Bose, Benoy Konar and Lakshman Seth (MP from Tamluk, which overlaps Nandigram) were exhorting cadre to pull no punches. The chief minister, his image as a literary sophisticate notwithstanding, was willing to submit his government to the intents and purposes of his party.
REPORTS THAT Bhattacharya has been “hounded by pangs of conscience” over what’s happened in Nandigram might do his image more than deserved credit. The fact is, whatever his personal opinion, his public face has been that of a man who sanctioned the brutality, at least did nothing to stop a bloody campaign by his own party when as chief minister he should have.

Photo:ABP
On the contrary, he and his party swung swiftly backstage to buffer their transgressions in Nandigram politically. A timely softening on the nuclear deal was widely interpreted as a means to neutralise both the Congress’ local belligerence and any intervention that New Delhi might have contemplated. And within the Left Front, dissent was effectively armtwisted. Consider the changed tone of senior RSP leader and state PWD minister Khiti Goswami. Days after he told a crowded press conference that he and two of his colleagues would resign from the Left Front government, Goswami did quite a U-turn; nobody was quitting, nobody was saying anything anymore about Nandigram or the CPM, at least not on the record. It is well-known that all Front partners including the CPI are deeply distressed at the CPM’s handling of Nandigram but they play under the compulsions of being junior, spanked partners. They can’t risk breaking rank.
But why did the CPM go so far in Nandigram? Why did it resort to Red Army Stalinism?
The answers are slowly coming to the fore. It was not about Nandigram, really, not about one Lok Sabha seat or half a dozen in the Assembly. It was all about the realm. You lose a bastion like Nandigram and you could start a cascade of similar revolts, it could be the beginning of the end. At the party headquarters in Alimuddin Street in the heart of Kolkata, CPM leaders offer no end of explanations for Operation Nandigram, including that it was becoming a hub of Naxalites. But the real lie within the CPM itself — it fears that one loss could trigger a series, that once the myth of its invincibility is exploded, other areas would follow the Nandigram example. Nandagopal Bhattacharya, top CPI leader and West Bengal minister, agrees: “As a ruling party, it is important for the Left Front to look into the ground realities in Nandigram. We cannot let a stronghold slip away and let the Opposition rule. We currently hold all the four parliamentary seats in the (Midnapore) region and a significant number of Assembly seats. We need to improve, not lose out.”
In fact, his voice echoes with sentiments expressed by a staunch opponent. Basudev Bose, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), accused of fermenting trouble in Nandigram along with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, says the end of violence in Midnapore district now revealed the true reason of the Left Front’s panic. “Nandigram should have been silent ever since Bhattacharya announced that there will be no chemical hub there. In fact, not many know the previous efforts to industrialise also met with disaster in the region when the state government — way back in the 90s — pushed a jelling ham project over 250 acres of land. But that the region was not silent is evident from the fact that those fighting in the area are doing it for political control, for the May 2008 panchayat elections in West Bengal.”
Bose calls the Nandigram experience a desperate attempt by the Left Front to maintain its stronghold over the countryside. “But there were cracks in the Red Wall of Bengal that guarded the countryside and the CPM realised there’s trouble brewing in a number of areas.” There’s already been waves of anti-CPM ferment in the urban middle class following Rizwanur Rahman’s dubious murder; intimations of losing ground in the rural heartland must make party bosses nervous. Political analysts agree. Noted writer Samaresh Mazumdar feels the kinds of discontent opposition parties are generating in rural Bengal are not simple pushovers. In many places, these forces have gained more than a toehold. “Frankly, Mamata Banerjee has got a new lease of life in her fledgling political career because of Nandigram, a region where TMC has never been a dominant factor except a few seats here and there. And that it was suddenly pushing an agenda was clear to the Left Front though those outside Bengal felt BUPC was fighting for its land from industrial sharks. In fact, there are no land sharks in that region.”
Nor is it such a Maoist stronghold as the CPM claims. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya claimed Nandigram acquired a volatile overtone after state intelligence confirmed the presence of a group of Maoists under the leadership of one Ranjit Pal from Jharkhand who had set up a training camp and was smuggling firearms. It was obvious that the chief minister was oblivious to comments made to the contrary by state Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy; 24 hours before the chief minister spoke, Roy had told reporters that despite the Communists’ claims of Maoist presence in Nandigram, no rebel was found in the region. The CRPF did confirm the recovery of one landmine and a 3.3 rifle from BUPC stronghold Sonachura. But opinion about Nandigram becoming a Maoist stronghold was met with scepticism. Noted Bengali litterateur Suchitra Bhattacharya said: “Who knows who planted it to give the entire operation a different colour. It’s almost like George Bush’s excuse to attack Iraq despite not
finding any chemical weapons.”
The Opposition is beginning on the “desperate CPM” theme too. Hours after the siege was broken through gunfire, BJP leader LK Advani — on a visit to Nandigram — old villagers outside the Tamluk hospital that there was more at stake for the Left Front government in West Bengal than just settling scores with a gang of farmers backed by the Trinamool. “The way the party moved in total cohesion to take charge of Nandigram confirms my belief. So does my belief that the silence from the Congress is because it has the nuclear deal in mind and needs the Left’s support to seal it. Obviously, the party will not react on Nandigram.” Agrees Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, describing the Centre’s silence on Nandigram as its gift to the CPM for softening its stand on the nuclear deal. “I am aware of the Centre’s compulsions. Till 12 days ago, the Centre — despite repeated requests for CRPF and intervention — did not react and allowed the massacre to happen. But the good sign is that many Left intellectuals and members of the Bengali intelligentsia are waking up to the realities of CPM misrule,” she told her supporters in Tamluk, where she was camping on being denied entry to Nandigram.
BANERJEE SHOULD know. The city’s intelligentsia, despite a brutal cane charge by the police, assembled in the heart of Kolkata on November 14 and observed a silent protest. Veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who sided with the Left Front and asked those protesting why they did not raise their voice when BUPC members attacked CPM cadre, found himself increasingly isolated. “Sorry Soumitra, do not make such stupid remarks. You must know what you are saying. No one visited your
film festival [Chatterjee is the chairperson of the film fest currently on in the city] and everyone is sad at your pro-Nandigram remarks. I do not know what you will do but I will side with those who lost their family members, those who lost their homes and those who lost their livelihood,” wrote veteran footballer Surajit Dasgupta in a
pro-Left vernacular daily.
But now that the guns have fallen silent will the Trinamool sing a different tune? Party functionaries reject any such idea, claiming the second phase of Nandigram will soon be announced and that there would be no let up. “Mamata doesn’t want to dilute her agitation on the Nandigram issue. We will continue to highlight an important issue like Nandigram,” Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, told TEHELKA.
What’s in store for the ruling party? If there is anything Bhattacharya needs to be worried about after the Nandigram pogrom, it is this increasing isolation, especially from those who — despite not being in the party — stood with him for the last four decades on almost all issues, barring Singur and, of course, Nandigram. And if this feeling spreads among he people, both inside and outside Kolkata, the man who was once considered a thinking chief minister, will have to do some serious introspection. Presently, he is busy collecting his armour. The next battle is due in the panchayat elections in May 2008. Bhattacharya needs to win it — to retain the grip on his seat, party and power.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 4, Issue 45, Dated Nov 24, 2007

Related Stories

COVER STORY
Smash And Grab
What the CPM has unleashed is not a war for the control of Nandigram; it is waging a desperate and dirty battle for survival in its oldest fort. Shantanu Guha Ray reports
INSIDE NANDIGRAM
Party Zindabad, People Murdabad
Hundreds killed, raped and driven out, and the remaining made to join victory marches. The CPM was unwaveringly brutal in Nandigram, reports Shantanu Guha Ray
OPINION
Now or Never For The CPM
It is amusing to hear a party talk about the Constitution when it is trampling on it. By Apoorvanand
WEB EXCLUSIVE
'They kill people like birds'
Activist Debojit Datta who has played an active role in convening the BUPC, writes of Nandigram from behind the battlelines.

WSWS : News & Analysis : Asia : India
West Bengal’s Stalinist government mounts terror campaign to quash peasant unrest
By Kranti Kumara
15 November 2007
Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/beng-n15.shtml
Through a murderous campaign of terror, the Stalinist government of West Bengal, India’s third most populous state, has reasserted control over Nandigram, an area 160 kilometers southwest of Kolkata (Calcutta) that has been convulsed by peasant protests for the past 10 months.
At least eight persons were killed and scores more injured in a week of violence, beginning November 6, mounted by armed goons organized by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The CPM is the dominant partner in West Bengal’s Left Front government.
At least 10,000 villagers—some reports put the total closer to 18,000—have fled the Nandigram area, finding refuge in relief camps or with relatives.
While the CPM goons initially prevented their entry, the area is now being occupied by hundreds of troops from the Central Reserve Police Force, which is answerable to the Congress Party-led Union or federal government.
Last January, the peasantry of Nandigram rose up to prevent the state government from expropriating their land and transforming it into a special economic zone for the Indonesian-based Salim Group. While some local leaders and members of the CPM and its close ally the Communist Party of India (CPI) joined the rebellion, many of those who did not subsequently fled or were chased from the area. Nandigram then became off limits for government representatives, with villagers digging up roads and burning down bridges to keep them out.
On March 14, a more than 4,000-strong contingent of police—including para-military, Rapid Action and Combat Commando forces—mounted an armed assault on Nandigram on the orders of the Left Front government. The predictable result was a massacre. Fourteen peasants were killed and many times that number injured, but ultimately the attack was beaten off. (See: West Bengal Stalinist regime perpetrates peasant massacre)
This time, the CPM goons, who reportedly had been exhorted by senior party leaders to crush their enemies, were even more ruthless. Eyewitnesses claim that they impeded or outright prevented the injured from getting medical attention. The East Midnapur Superintendent of Police has said that two teenage girls have been admitted to hospital after allegedly being gang-raped by CPM goons.
According to the right-wing Indian Express, “In a move reminiscent of medieval warfares [sic], the CPM organised a huge rally placing 500 captured BUPC members, all tied up, on the forefront as human shields.”
The BUPC (Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh or Resistance Against Land Eviction Committee) has been leading the anti-government protest in Nandigram. It is led politically by the Trinumul Congress, a right-wing Bengali nationalist split-off from the Congress Party and the official opposition in the state parliament. But other tendencies are also active in the BUPC, including the Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI) and CPM dissidents.
The brazen and bloody CPM terror campaign in Nandigram has provoked a storm of opposition in West Bengal and across India.
On Monday, daily business in the state was largely paralyzed as the result of a bandh or general strike called separately by the Trinumul Congress and the SUCI.
Large numbers of intellectuals, many of them previously publicly known as government supporters, have denounced the CPM-orchestrated violence.
On Sunday police used baton charges and arrests to break up a peaceful protest against the Nandigram violence mounted by artists and academics, many of them well known, outside the 13th Kolkata Film Festival.
The protesters—who included film directors Rituparna Ghosh and Anjan Dutta, poet Joy Goswami, and the painters Sanatan Dinda and Samir Aich—demanded the “immediate stoppage of mass killing by CPM cadres in Nandigram.”
Film director Aparna Sen warned the Left Front regime its repression would fail: “The truth can’t be suppressed. Questions are coming out and will continue to flow. The government must answer.”
The CPM’s principal Left Front allies, the Forward Bloc (F, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the CPI, are, for their part, desperately seeking to distance themselves from the Nandigram atrocity.
State Public Works Department Minister Kshiti Goswami has sought the permission of his party, the RSP, to quit his cabinet post.
Commenting on the CPM offensive in Nandigram, Goswami stated: “I don’t know if I would call this genocide. But this is definitely an expedition of killing, plunder and destruction.”
Goswami claimed that the CPM had “deceived” its allies when it had claimed last week to be seeking a peaceful resolution to the Nandigram crisis and announced a relief package for the area. “One thing is being said, another thing is being done.’’
Following an emergency meeting of RSP, CPI and FB leaders Sunday, the CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar told a press conference, “All the three Left Front allies hold the CPI-M solely responsible for the present situation in Nandigram. We do not support what has been going on there and unequivocally condemn the barbarism and spiraling violence taking place in the area.”
West Bengal Chief Minister and CPM Politburo member Buddadeb Bhattacharjee has arrogantly rejected the criticism from within and without his government. On Tuesday, he smugly declared that the “Opposition has been paid back in the same coin” and on Wednesday he blamed the violence on the central government’s failure to rapidly deploy the Central Reserve Police Force to Nandigam.
Bhattacharjee and the CPM leadership have claimed no delay could be brooked in reasserting the government’s authority and “law and order” in the area because Maoist insurgents or Naxhalites had begun to develop a base in Nandigram.
In the name of “industrializing” West Bengal, Bhattarcharjee has been spearheading a drive to woo Indian and foreign capital to the state by pursuing “investor friendly” policies, including establishing special economic zones and effectively banning strikes in information technology and IT-enabled industries. For this, he has been rewarded with an official invitation from the Bush administration to visit the US and recently Henry Kissinger, the eminence grise of US imperialist geopolitics, called on him.
There is no question that the CPM leadership and the Left Front government bear political, if not criminal, responsibility for the Nandigram bloodbath. Acting on behalf of Indian and international capital, they have sought to coerce peasants into ceding their land, their sole source of livelihood.
That said, India’s workers, toilers and socialist-minded intellectuals must beware: the Indian bourgeoisie intends to make use of the Stalinists’ crimes to pressure them, and politics as a whole, still further right.
L.K. Adavni, the parliamentary leader of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party, is calling on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government to impose “president’s rule” in West Bengal, that is for the central government to dismiss the state government.
The UPA, which is dependent on the Left Front for its parliamentary survival, is rather likely to use the crisis in the CPM and the Left Front to pressure them to be even more accommodating to its right-agenda, especially in respect to operationalizing the Indo-US nuclear treaty.
Indeed, there already newspaper reports claiming that there has been a breakthrough in the Left-UPA logjam over the treaty. According to these reports, the Left Front may now be ready to allow the government to proceed with the next stage in operationalizing the treaty, that is, in seeking International Atomic Energy Agency approval for giving India a unique status within the world nuclear regulatory regime.
See Also:
In wake of West Bengal massacre: Indian workers must advance an independent socialist programme
[23 March 2007]
Nandigram massacre:
Leading Indian intellectuals condemn West Bengal’s Stalinist-led government
[19 March 2007]
West Bengal Stalinist regime perpetrates peasant massacre
[16 March 2007]
West Bengal state elections: Left Front lurches further right
[8 May 2006]

PM promises sops for farmers!
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government will soon come out with measures to improve the conditions of farmers and hoped that India's rate of poverty can be reduced to single digit within a decade.
"In the coming weeks, we plan to take further steps to improve the condition of farmers," Singh said in his address at All India Congress Committee session here.
It has been after a long gap that country has achieved an average agriculture growth rate of four cent in the last three years, he said, adding that it would be his government's endeavour to maintain the growth rate in future.
Singh said the overall economic growth has averaged nine per cent per annum in the last three years and "I am confident that if we continue to keep the nation on this growth path, it will be possible to reduce poverty to single digit figure within the next decade." The 11th Plan aims to reduce poverty rate from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. Currently, the country has 28 crore people living below poverty line.
Sharing concern of his partymen over high prices of essential commodities, Singh said the government has little control on global factors including a sharp increase in prices of crude oil.
"...We must keep in mind that global prices of basic food commodities have seen a rapid rise for a variety of factors. We do not have any control on these factors," he said.
The wholesale price index, he said, was the lowest in the last 20 years.
However, the government would continue efforts to ensure that essential food items are available to the poor at reasonable prices, the Prime Minister said.
Brand Buddha takes a beating
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Brand_Buddha_takes_a_beating/articleshow/2541719.cms
KOLKATA: Nandigram or Singur, if anybody needs a bull’s eye, aim at Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The chief minister is by far the most popular target these days in what is fast evolving as a snipers’ paradise.
The man, who started with a bang after he assumed the reins from Jyoti Basu, with his brand of dynamic administration and active wooing of industries to the state, had won many admirers both within and outside the Left Front. In fact, riding on Brand Buddha, the Left Front had won a sweeping majority in the last elections in West Bengal.
But is the West Bengal chief minister’s reign on the verge of ending with a whimper? Many within the CPM believe so, especially after his surprise comments about his partymen having paid back Trinamool workers in the same coin in Nandigram. So, is Mr Bhattacharjee — till recently, CPM’s coolest asset — about to become a serious liability.
Be it the Nandigram mess, the administrative bungling of the public distribution crisis, the role of the police force in the Rizwanur case or his proximity to the former police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee — who contested the Cricket Association of Bengal elections — Buddhadeb’s handling of a wave of serious issues has left his party leaders worried about whether he’s really helping the CPM’s cause in the state.
On the “war zone” that the CPM has created in Nandigram, Left wing historian Sumit Sarkar has likened Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to Narendra Modi, who is seen by many as the off-stage architect of the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
Some eminent authors also feel that a more apt analogy to Nandigram, however, might be found in the Vietnam conflict, with the CPIM playing the role of America — whose ‘imperialism’ it cites as its main reason for opposing not just the Indo-US nuclear deal but any strategic cooperation with the reviled Uncle Sam.
Many also feel Nandigram isn’t merely a geographical locale, but a generic symbol of protest against the oppression of the powerless by the powerful — a conflict between traditional ways of life rooted in land and the unstoppable juggernaut of industrialisation.
What Bhattacharjee’s detractors also point out is the active role that veteran leader Jyoti Basu is still having to play in resolving complex issues. “It is almost as if he is still running the government from behind the scene,” they point out. “Especially when it comes to handling of the allies, it is always Basu that the party really counts on.”
What probably triggers this lack of confidence on the part of the allies is perhaps the fact that Buddhadeb has always been the independent voice ever since he quit the Jyoti Basu cabinet way back in 1993. “Many in the party have never been able to embrace him because of this.
“He is also known to be way too egotistic who rarely pays heed to his allies,” said a CPM senior central committee member, without mincing words. “Moreover, relations between CPM and other Left partners have been at an all-time low during his tenure with ministers like RSP’s Kshiti Goswami threatening to quit the cabinet on more than one occasion because of serious differences with the chief minister.
”
Buddhadeb’s biggest advantage seems to be the non-availability of a viable alternative to him within the CPM. While names of leaders like Gautam Deb and Nirupam Sen have done the rounds, the fact that they do not have any standing in national politics goes heavily against them.
Somnath Chatterjee’s name was also being considered in the run-up to elections, but that too looks a distant possibility. Chatterjee, incidentally, is currently the Speaker in Lok Sabha.
Top 100 Indian American companies generated $2.8 billion in 2006
New York: The top 100 Indian American companies collectively generated over $2.8 billion in revenues last year and provided full time jobs to nearly 22,000 employees in the US, according to a study.
The study has been conducted by VII, a Virginia based company, and co-sponsored by News India-Times, a New York based weekly, which published the study in its Nov 16 edition.
The top five on the VII-100 list of privately held Indian American companies are: Ducon Technologies Inc (manufacturing, $343 million), Nath Companies, Inc (hospitality, $114 million), Acro Service Corp (professional services, $106 million), Dlz Corporation (professional services, $90 million) and Galaxy Builders Ltd. (construction, $88 million).
Software industry with 26 companies monopolises the list. Five of them are in New Jersey, a new hub for the industry after Silicon Valley.
Leading the software companies on the 100-list is Indotonix International Corporation with revenue of $71 million, ranked No 7.
Top two of the 10 fastest growing companies in the list are also in software services. Astir IT Solutions, Inc grew by 151 percent in a year to reach $5.8 million revenue in 2006. Ignify, Inc, at $3.1 million, grew by 142 percent in the same period.
Of the 100 companies, 50 have off-shore facilities in countries including Canada, Britain, Germany, China, Egypt, Japan and India.
Only privately held, independent businesses (not a subsidiary or division) were eligible for the study. Additionally, the chief executive officer, general partner or president of the company - and at least 50 percent shareholders - has to be of Indian origin as well as a permanent resident or citizen of US. The criterion for ranking was the 2006 sales figure, which for participation had to be at least $1 million.
For the 2007 study, VII found 142 eligible participants from the over 2,400 companies it had invited to participate.
The total revenue generated by the top 100 Indian American companies in the 2006 VII study was $3.3 billion. The drop to $2.8 billion in 2007 is due to two large companies since getting acquired by other groups, no more meeting the ownership criteria.
Since its beginning in 1996 the VII-100 list has become the leading information source on Indian-owned entrepreneurial performance in the US.
Source: IANS
Congress for exhausting other options before oil price hike
New Delhi: The Congress Party on Saturday urged the government to explore all other options before raising prices of petrol and diesel in the wake of spiralling crude oil prices in the international market.
"The AICC is well aware of galloping oil prices in world market. It calls upon the Congress-led UPA Government to explore and exhaust all options before passing on any additional price burden to consumers," draft resolution at the All India Congress Committee Session said in New Delhi.
It said subsidies on kerosene, cooking gas, food and fertiliser "must be focused on the truly poor and vulnerable" sections of the society.
The AICC resolution comes within a fortnight of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing concern over the growing subsidy bill, which he said, would cross a mammoth Rs 1,00,000 crore on account of petroleum, food and fertiliser.
Even as the crude prices are flirting with 100 dollar per barrel mark, the government has not been able to pass on the burden to the consumer on account of political considerations.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, while expressing concern over the increasing burden on the state-owned oil companies, had stated earlier this week that the government was not yet ready to announce a price hike.
Rahul's day out in AICC session
The All India Congress Committee session in New Delhi on Saturday is all set to launch Rahul Gandhi as a youth icon. The party managers, who are masters in the image-building exercise of the Gandhi-Nehru clan, are working overtime to give final touches to the strategy, which will have larger ramifications for the party's future. For the Congress's PR managers, Rahul Gandhi is a 'work in progress' and Saturday is an important day to show off some initial results.
However, there are a few hitches in their political mission because the AICC session of limited members is being held at a gloomy time, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faces a grave crisis over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The party's commitment to secularism, coalition politics and independent foreign policy too are under test.
Also, despite inflation coming under control, the price factor in the marketplace is not giving any relief to the people. Moreover, three years of the Congress-dominated United Progressive Alliance rule does not have enough achievements to catch the popular imagination on which Rahul Gandhi can have an easy and safe ride. Of course, the Prime Minister's Office would blame it on lack of publicity by the party machinery, but the fact remains that Congressmen are impatient and directionless.
The desperate attempts of the Congress PR managers to project Rahul Gandhi as the Dhoni of the party notwithstanding, it does not appear to be a bed of rose for Rahul.
In his first Congress Working Committee meeting, he tried to bring in a fresh attitude in the registration of new members when, reportedly, he argued that there is an element of hypocrisy in the oath taken at the time of entering the party. The new Congressman has to take an oath that he will never consume alcohol, always wear khadi, and subscribe to an unimaginative publication, Sandesh. Rahul was quite right, but when it was pointed out that by arguing like this he was taking on the ideals of none other than Mahatama Gandhi himself, he had to quickly clarify that he wasn't opposed to khadi at all.
"I always wear khadi and feel comfortable in it," he said. Before the khadi controversy he had to retract, clarify, modify or dilute his statements on the creation of Bangladesh, Babri Masjid, P V Narasimha Rao and the Nehru-Gandhi family.
But, as everyone knows and as all Congressmen accept meekly, the Congress party's survival strategy and electoral tactics solely revolve around the Gandhi family, so Rahul has the genuine support of the grand old party. Congress managers claim that, notwithstanding the debacle in the recent assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi remains unscathed. Of course, it's equally true that the party doesn't have any other option and precisely because of this, the Congress's young brigade is setting its eyes and pinning its hopes on Rahul Gandhi.
The AICC meet on Saturday, however, has the potential to turn historic if Rahul Gandhi finally decides to come out of his fortress-type bungalow on Tughlaq Lane and take on the country's challenges head-on.
Rahul will face a complex situation while establishing his leadership. The timid mindset which has been developed over the years in the Congress, which attaches a premium to loyalty and sycophancy, will be hard to counter. The darbari culture, which Rahul seems to be allergic to, can't be genuinely replaced without his own credentials coming under scrutiny. Rahul Gandhi will have to be less and less radical as he establishes himself. Right now, he has certainly fired the imagination of the party's young crowd. They are itching to support him.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi held a closed-door session at the Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi where he heard out his party's young leaders. It was a free and fair discussion on all aspects of reviving the party. In such sessions ideas to attract young people were debated in detail. In an effort to reach out to the youth and expand the party base, Rahul Gandhi suggested that the minimum age for becoming a member of the party be lowered from 21 to 18. The decision was taken at the first Congress Working Committee meeting Rahul Gandhi attended following his recent induction into the party's highest-decision making body.
In a surprise statement in that closed-door session, Rahul Gandhi had asked young Congressmen to create a network of reliable young people all over India, much on the lines of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His idea is to establish a permanent communication line to percolate party news faster and reliably.
Aware of the public's demands, Rahul Gandhi is slowly learning the tricks, too. Recently, in Lucknow, when journalists showed their irritation when two Congress leaders were answering questions being put to him, Rahul Gandhi intervened to say, "I will answer all your questions." "You people think I don't know how to speak. Now, let me show you how I speak," he said.
Come Saturday, young Congressmen gathered in the capital from every nook and corner of the country will judge if Rahul Gandhi has indeed learnt how to speak.
Tata talks rehab with Besu
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/calcutta/story_8556841.asp
Tata Steel is in talks with Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) to undertake a community development project, worth Rs 21.5 crore, for 15 years to rehabilitate people who will be displaced by a greenfield project in Jharkhand.
The company’s proposed 12-metric-tonne-per-annum greenfield steel plant in Seraikela, Jharkhand, will displace about 3,100 families settled across 10,600 acres. The project area covers 25 villages.
A six-month pilot project will start from December, for which Tata Steel has sanctioned Rs 12 lakh to form field groups and for networking with local NGOs.
The company is planning an “extensive resettlement and rehabilitation programme”, which will include steps to improve the economic condition of the people to be affected by the project.
The steel plant will affect an estimated 16,229 people, 25 per cent of them belonging to the SC/ST/OBC category and 90 per cent to the economically weaker section.
“We have been running a Technical Training Centre on our own in Seraikela since November 2006. Youth from Seraikela and Gamharia blocks are being trained there and 13 have been employed in West Asia,” said a Tata Steel official.
In addition to this, as part of their corporate social responsibility, the Tatas are considering a collaboration with the School of Community Science and Technology (Socsat) of Besu, which will undertake a study and suggest rehabilitation programmes following an “active interface” with the local residents.
“We assist in improving the quality of life of the residents of the areas where we operate with the objective of making them self-reliant,” he said.
Socsat has undertaken a number of projects in rural Bengal, including installing arsenic-free water filters and training self-help groups and marginalised artisans in production-enhancement skills.
Socsat director N.R. Bandopadhyay said: “A rehab project will be successful only when the affected community is sensitised to the cause of development and the positive fallout of the project on their lives.”
For this, he added, participatory planning and action in the process of development are necessary. Keeping this in mind, Socsat wants to join hands with local NGOs and other community development groups in the area and undertake a survey to identify the skills, marketing network and source of inputs to develop sustainable livelihoods.

Local listing on Mittal agenda
SAMBIT SAHA
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/business/story_8558792.asp
Luxembourg, Nov. 16: Calcutta-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal wants to list ArcelorMittal — the world’s largest steel company — on the Indian bourses.
Speaking to The Telegraph at the company’s Luxembourg headquarters, Mittal, with son Aditya by his side, said he hoped to list the steel behemoth in India when government regulation permitted it.
Mittal’s startling reply came in response to a question on whether he wanted to list his Indian entity which is planning to establish two steel plants in the country.
“Why the Indian subsidiary? We want to list ArcelorMittal itself on the Indian stock exchanges,” Aditya Mittal said.
The Mittals are betting big on India: they plan to build two 12mt steel plants in Orissa and Jharkhand at an investment of $20 billion, making it the largest foreign direct investment in the country.
“If ArcelorMittal can be listed on Paris and New York, why not Mumbai?” Laxmi Mittal asked.
Media reports have suggested that the Mittals could offer shares as compensation to villagers for land acquisition in the two eastern states, fuelling speculation that the Indian subsidiary might eventually be listed.
But the Mittals want Indians to participate in the growth story of the parent company which plans to add another 20 million tonnes of steel capacity in other parts of the world at a cost of $28.5 billion. This is over and above the 24mt of steelmaking capacity it wants to create in India.
Current regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India do not allow a company incorporated abroad to list on the domestic bourses. They can, however, list their Indian subsidiaries.
The Securities Contract Regulation Act bars any such possibility.
Moreover, the partial convertibility of the rupee also acts as a hindrance to the repatriation of profits.
But the Mittals are hoping that the situation will change.
Technically, however, domestic investors can still buy the ArcelorMittal stock on the overseas bourses. The Reserve Bank of India recently permitted residents to invest up to $200,000 a year to purchase property, invest in stocks and carry out other capital account transactions. But this is a window that can be accessed by very few — and it doesn’t provide any hedge against exchange risks.
Overseas companies are allowed to float Indian depositary receipts which mirror the American depositary receipts and the global depositary receipts but there are few takers for this instrument.
Observers believe that a move to list the company is not unusual from a family which is proud of its Indian roots, testified by the fact that the Mittals still hold Indian passports.

UN panel votes for death penalty moratorium
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
A U.N. committee voted on Thursday in favor of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty in a key step toward the passing of the nonbinding motion by the world body.
Ignoring the plea of leading human rights organisations both inside and outside the country, India on Thursday voted against a UN resolution that called for a moratorium on death penalty and finally abolishing capital punishment.
Opponents had tried to derail the resolution in the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee by inserting amendments on the right to life of unborn children.
More than 15 amendments were voted down in two days of acrimonious debate that touched on whether the death penalty was a human rights issue or a domestic matter. Some Caribbean and other countries accused the European Union, a key backer of the text, of seeking to impose its values on other nations.
The resolution, which calls for "a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty," was passed 99-52 with 33 abstentions. It is likely to go to the full 192-member assembly in mid-December where supporters say they expect few countries to change their position.
"It's a question of coherence -- a country that votes in a certain way here will do so there," Italian Ambassador Marcello Spatafora told Reuters shortly before the vote.
Eighty-seven countries -- including the 27 EU states, more than a dozen Latin American countries and eight African states -- jointly introduced the draft resolution, though opponents singled out the EU as the driving force.
Two similar moves in the 1990s failed in the assembly. This time, the text of the resolution stops short of an outright demand for immediate abolition.
Vanu Gopala Menon, ambassador of Singapore which has a mandatory death penalty for most drug offenses, accused those who brought the resolution to the committee of being "sanctimonious, hypocritical and intolerant."
Barbados was among the most vocal in complaining that "a group of countries" was trying to impose its will, saying it had been threatened with the withdrawal of aid over the issue.
Human rights organization Amnesty International welcomed the vote as a "historic resolution and a major step towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide."
"Although the resolution is not legally binding on states, it carries considerable moral and political weight," Amnesty International said in a statement.
China, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan account for about 90 percent of all executions worldwide.
According to Amnesty, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice -- a statistic that opponents of the resolution contested. They said more than 100 countries retained capital punishment on their statutes, even if they did not all use it.
Botswana's representative Rhee Hetanang said the death penalty was a domestic criminal justice issue. "No amount of intimidation and bullying will cause us to go against the expressed wish of the people of Botswana," he said.
Egypt and Iran were among countries proposing a last-minute amendment that would have urged member states "to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of unborn children."
The United States, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe were among the countries voting for that amendment. It was rejected 83-28 with 47 abstentions.
"We are in agreement with the view expressed in this amendment that the lives of the unborn deserve the strongest protection, and we agree that countries that advocate for the abolition of the death penalty should be at least equally scrupulous in showing concern for innocent life," U.S. representative Joseph Rees said.
The United States abstained in a vote on a more strongly worded amendment that would have said abortion was only admissible in necessary cases, "in particular where the life of the mother and or the child is at serious risk."

Global face-off likely on Iran sanctions
A face-off begins this coming week among the world's major powers over whether to impose new economic sanctions to pressure Iran into suspending its nuclear-fuel program.
Weeks of shadow diplomacy will start to gel on Thursday, when the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, meets in Vienna to debate the IAEA's latest report on Iranian cooperation with inspections of its fuel program. Iran says its program is purely civilian. The U.S. and its European allies believe it is for weapons.
Iran , has tried 75 times in the last five years to buy materials that could be used for making a nuclear weapon, it has been reported, as Teheran vowed "never" to give up the pursuit of nuclear power.
The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, an off-shoot of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has turned down repeated Iranian requests to buy "dual-use" products - useful for peaceful or military ends. The group, which aims to control and monitor the trade of nuclear-related materials, keeps its records secret. But a leaked list of items sought by Iran included key ingredients such as nickel powder, compressors, furnaces, steel flanges and fittings and electron microscopes.
The 75 refusals were from only seven of the 45 member states, suggesting that Iran had made many more efforts to buy sensitive goods. The West fears the Islamic regime, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has threatened Israel with annihilation, is secretly developing a nuclear weapon, which Teheran routinely denies.

US to freeze Tamil charity assets
Pakistani troops backed by helicopter fire attacked militants in Pakistan's troubled northwest, killing up to 40 followers of a rebel cleric in the latest of clashes that have left 100 militants dead in recent days, officials said Saturday.
In a bid to flush out the militants from Swat, the army continued assaults Saturday, said the army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, adding that four soldiers died in the week's fighting.
The militants were killed Friday in Kuza Banda, Basham and Shangla, three of their strongholds in Swat district, the army said in a statement. In a separate incident on the same day, two soldiers were wounded when their convoy was attacked by hand grenades, the army said.
The latest deaths bring militant casualties in the past several days to 100 in Swat, where troops are battling supporters of Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who is demanding the implementation of strict Islamic laws and has asked his followers to wage holy war against the army.
The U.S. considers Pakistan a key ally against international terrorism. But the fighting came as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was in Pakistan to urge President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to end the emergency rule he declared two weeks ago or risk undermining U.S. support.
Fighting has raged in Swat since July when government troops were sent there to contain the activities of Fazlullah, whose men have captured several villages, police stations and some government buildings.

In Human Rights Court?!
Against Battered Mothers and abused children!
Battered Mothers and their abused Children....
International Court Affirms Right to Protection of Abuse
Court Affirms Right to Protection of Abuse Victims Run Date: 10/26/07
By Alison Bowen WeNews correspondent
An international human rights court has ruled that a Colorado woman
was
entitled to government protection from an abusive ex-husband after he
murdered their three daughters. Eighth in our "Dangerous Trends,
Innovative Responses"
series.
(WOMENSENEWS) --Jessica Lenahan wants to know who riddled her three
daughters' bodies with bullets. Whether the trigger finger that
killed her daughters--Rebecca, 10; Katheryn, 8; and Leslie, 7--
belonged to her estranged husband or a police officer returning his
fire is one of many unanswered questions that prompted Lenahan to
file a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
after she unsuccessfully carried a lawsuit filed in a Colorado state
court that was eventually heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights, which convenes in Washington,
D.C., to hear cases, agreed on Oct. 9 to admit Lenahan's case,
finding that she exhausted all legal avenues in the United States. "I
think that they owe me an explanation of who shot the kids," Lenahan
said. "This is what I'm asking the U.S. for, is these things, and
they still have not been able to give the answers." She also wants
validation that the Castle Rock, Colo., police department violated
her right to due process by failing to enforce a restraining order
against her husband. The international court's ruling says that
countries in the Americas are responsible for protecting victims of
domestic abuse from private acts of violence under the American
Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, an international treaty
signed in 1948. "Allowing her case to go forward is saying that she
has a valid case," said Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, Lenahan's co-
counsel and human rights fellow and attorney at Columbia Law School
in New York. "That's kind of the first victory." Defied Restraining
Order In events that have become well-known in domestic-violence
circles as the "Castle Rock case" Lenahan's estranged husband, Simon
Gonzalez, kidnapped her three daughters in 1999, violating a court-
issued restraining order that required arrest upon violation. Eight
phone calls in 10 hours to the police produced no assistance, and her
husband later drove to the police department and opened fire. A spray
of officers' return fire killed him, and officers then found the
couple's three daughters dead in Gonzalez's truck. Police said the
girls had been killed hours earlier. Araceli Martinez-Olguin, co-
counsel for Lenahan at the New York-based American Civil Liberties
Union's Women's Rights Project, said a restraining order is issued
when a judge has already decided that harm is likely to occur.
Police maintained there was no reason to believe any danger would
ensue.
** * * * * * * **
The United States sent a Justice Department delegation to hearings
and vigorusly argued their case in a 40-page brief. Among their key
arguments made were that the local police provided an adequate
response to Lenahan's calls and that she failed to show officers the
restraining order. The United States also argued that Lenahan did not
exhaust her legal remedies because the actual facts in her case were
never heard at the state level before her litigation was initiated
with higher courts and she had leapfrogged over a police
administrative review process. Lenahan's latest pleadings may provide
abuse victims a way to assert their rights through international
courts. Her case now moves into a second phase to determine whether
the United States and the Castle Rock Police Department violated her
human rights, including the rights to due process and special
protection as a domestic violence victim. A successful ruling paired
with similar court decisions around the world could create a body of
litigation to protect domestic violence victims. Bettinger-Lopez and
advocacy groups hope a victory would spur the United States to
proactively increase protections. A final ruling could take up to
several years.
** * * * * * * *
Advocates Watch Court Proceedings An array of advocacy groups
submitted friend-of-the- court briefs supporting Lenahan's case
throughout the legal battles, including the Denver-based National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Washington-based National
Network to End Domestic Violence. Lenahan will not receive financial
compensation, but her case points to another strategy to help victims
and advocates plumb the system for justice. "I think it'll carry a
lot of weight," Bettinger-Lopez said. "It opens the door for other
people to file complaints against their countries for failing to
protect them when the government is aware that they're in danger." In
a similar case that originated in Brazil, the commission ruled in
2001 that a battered woman's human rights were violated by a
government that tolerated violence. Rulings by the commission
established suggested procedures for all members of the Organization
of American States, including the United States, but no official
enforcement exists, Bettinger-Lopez said. Political and moral
pressures create more of an incentive. "The world is watching," she
said. "If the U.S. gets accused of human rights violations by an
international tribunal, that's very embarrassing. " Maya Raghu,
senior staff attorney at New York-based Legal Momentum, a women's
advocacy law group, said U.S. law, which focuses on what the state
cannot do to citizens, differs from international law, which
highlights citizens' rights, such as safety. "International human
rights laws have evolved to say that, yes, there is this duty on
states to protect their citizens," Raghu said. U.S. Not Likely to
Respond Raghu, who plans to file a friend-of-the- court brief
supporting Lenahan's case, said the U.S. government does not
automatically submit to international laws, and she finds it unlikely
that the commission's decision will inspire U.S. courts to revisit
their decisions or find them binding in any way. The commission's
ruling could conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court's June 27, 2005,
decision on Lenahan's case, which found she had no personal
entitlement to police enforcement of her restraining order. A
dissent, written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the majority rule ignored the clear
language and intent of Colorado's mandatory arrest statute.
Colorado's law, like similar statutes around the nation, responded to
a persistent pattern of non-enforcement of reports of violence and
was specifically intended to remove police discretion from the
decision of whether to arrest the violator of a protective order. But
Raghu said that the decision of the human rights commission, combined
with favorable decisions in other international forums, may serve as
a prelude to a blanket international law protecting victims. "The
nice thing with this decision, and hopefully the decision on the
merits, it will be contributing to this body of law," Raghu
said. "And that's always helpful." If Lenahan wins her case, domestic
violence groups will have an international referral for survivors who
wish to bring cases to court. "It encourages women to use the extent
that they can of the law," said Sheryl Cates, CEO of the Texas
Council on Family Violence based in Austin, Texas, which operates the
National Domestic Violence Hotline. Many survivors don't have the
finances or expertise to maneuver through the courts, Cates said, but
Lenahan's success would provide another nugget of guidance the
hotline could provide. Christina Falck, director of development at
the Boston-based R.O.S.E. Fund, which assists abuse victims with
reconstructive surgery for injuries and self-esteem programs, said
the commission's decision highlights a "colossal" case that
rightfully propels it into conversation. Lenahan's case reverberates
among abuse victims, she said. "Unfortunately, this is more the case
than the exception," Falck said. "You do see survivors battling with
the courts and saying, 'How many restraining orders do I have to get
for someone to pay attention to me?'

Sidr moving towards Tripura with colossal damage to the Sundarbans
Palash Biswas

Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Reports: 2,000 killed by cyclone
More than 900 bodies have been recovered in Bangladesh following a devastating tropical cyclone, but local news reports put the death toll at more than double that figure. full story
http://edition.cnn.com/ASIA/
Coastal villages leveled 1:07
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2007/11/16/von.bangladesh.damage.chi

A very severe cyclonic storm named ‘Sidr’ on Thursday hit Bangladesh’s southern coast, wiping out homes and uprooting trees in what officials described as the worst storm in years. Reports at the time of going to press suggested that the storm might have spared the West Bengal coast narrowly.
“The cyclone has battered Bangladeshi coastal areas. The velocity of the wind in that area is 220 to 240 kilometres,” said Samarendra Karmakar, the director of Bangladesh’s meteorological department. Around 650,000 villagers were evacuated from the coastal areas. No casualties were immediately reported, but rescue teams were on standby, an official said, adding that communications with remote areas and offshore islands were cut.
In Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the cabinet discussed emergency measures. The air force was asked to remain on standby to provide helicopters for relief at short notice. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued warnings to West Bengal, Orissa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In West Bengal, warnings were issued in Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Paraganas and east Midnapore districts. There was panic in Kolkata, where people remained glued to TV screens and weather websites for the latest on the storm. There were sighs of relief as news came in that the cyclone had spared the state. However, Regional Meteorological Centre director G.C. Debnath told PTI that the entire gangetic belt of West Bengal would experience heavy to very heavy rain in the next 24 hours.

Sidr moving towards Tripura
Shillong: The cyclonic storm, Sidr, after hitting the Bangladesh coast is moving towards Tripura and south Assam, met officials said today.Officials in the Regional Meteorological Centre of Assam said several places in Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Barak Valley of Assam have been witnessing heavy rainfall since last night.The wind speed in parts of south Assam and Meghalaya was recorded at over 40 kmph.
Storm causes colossal damage to the Sundarbans

"Sidr" was believed to have caused massive damage to the mangrove forest, but the extent of loss could not be immediately ascertained.

Saturday November 17 2007 09:58:50 AM BDT

The world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, suffered colossal damage as the super cyclone "Sidr" first hit the forest at about 9 pm on Thursday. A colossal damage was caused to the Sundarbans, the world heritage site, as the violent storm at first hit the forest,(Bangladesh Today)
Sundarban Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) SM Shahidullah told UNB.
"Forest office establishments and tents were damaged while some of its boats capsized and others washed away during the severe storm," he said.
Assistant Prof. of Forestry and Wood Technology department of Khulna University told the agency that the Sundarbans took the burnt of the storm saving the nearby human habitations, including Bagerhat town and Khulna city, as the major threat of the hurricane was absorbed by the "bio-diversity hot spot."
He said animals, including tigers and deer, might have died while innumerable trees uprooted and damaged from such massive hit by the hurricane resulting in long-term loss of natural beauty.
UNB correspondent Bishnu Prasad Chakravorty from Sharankhola, the worst hurricane-affected upazila, said the cyclone "Sidr" was believed to have caused massive damage to the mangrove forest, but the extent of loss could not be immediately ascertained.
Bangladesh Today

The Bangladesh Navy ships and Army helicopters on Saturday were trying to reach thousands of survivors of the super cyclone that killed almost 1,100 people and pummeled the country with mighty winds and waves. Cyclone Sidr smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250-kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a 5-metre tidal surge. It was the strongest cyclone since a 1991 storm killed some 143,000 people in this country.
Navy ships scoured the coastal areas for hundreds of people reported missing after the storm and also to clear river channels clogged with sunken vessels to restore normal navigation, officials said. Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.

The official death toll from the cyclone was more than 900, but some newspapers on Saturday gave figures between 1,100 and 2,000, quoting their reporters in the devastated areas. "It will take several days to complete the search and know the actual casualty figure and extent of damage to property," said food and disaster ministry official Ayub Miah.
Aid officials described the damage from the storm, which blew away homes and ripped out trees and power lines, as extremely severe. Most of the country plunged into darkness on Friday after the electricity grid was knocked out. Many parts of Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, were still without power on Saturday. U.N. agencies and Red Crescent officials said some 1,000 fishermen were still unaccounted for in the Bay of Bengal, onboard about 150 boats. Fishing community leaders in Cox's Bazar and Barisal said they still expected some of the missing crew to return safely.
In past storms, many fishing boats had taken shelter in the Sundarban mangrove forests and survived, said Shohel Ahmed, a Barisal fisherman. The Sundarban, home to the endangered Royal Bengal tigers and a World Heritage site, took the brunt of the latest storm and forest officials said many wildlife could have died. The Category 4 cyclone devastated three coastal towns and forced 3.2 million people to evacuate, officials and aid agencies said.
It lost strength after landfall and passed over the country early on Friday, weather officials said.
In New York, John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said his office would make available "several million dollars" in emergency aid, but he declined to name a specific figure.
The U.N.'s World Food Programme said it was sending 98 metric ton of high-energy biscuits, enough for 400,000 people for three days. "The urgent needs are food, water purification tablets and medicines," WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.
Storms batter the country every year. A severe cyclone killed half a million people in 1970, while another in 1991 killed 143,000. Many of the country's 140 million people live around low-lying river deltas vulnerable to tidal surges.

How Bengal escaped Sidr
- Devastation in Bangladesh, Met officials justify alarm
G.S. MUDUR
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/frontpage/story_8559223.asp
A ship sinks in the Mongla river in Bangladesh. (AFP)
New Delhi, Nov. 16: Scientists today attributed the shift of Cyclone Sidr towards Bangladesh to factors long known to influence cyclone paths, but asserted that its scale and severity justified the warnings issued to Bengal.
India Meteorological Department officials said they had anticipated an eastward shift which began about three hours before the cyclone hit Bangladesh about 80km east of the initially predicted landfall zone.
The 250kmph winds killed around 600 people in Bangladesh, left thousands injured or missing, flattened houses and unleashed a 15-foot tidal surge that destroyed three coastal towns and forced the evacuation of 32 lakh people. Unofficial reports put the toll above 1,000.
Three factors could have contributed to the shift — Earth’s rotation, the interaction of the cyclone’s outermost winds with land just as they began to graze the coastline and high-altitude winds called the westerlies.
“A (cyclonic) system in the northern hemisphere’s atmosphere is deflected slightly towards the east because of Earth’s rotation,” said H.R. Hathwar, additional director-general of the IMD. “As it neared the coast, the balance of the cyclonic system could have been disturbed and caused the winds to change direction a bit.”
Scientists are yet to fathom the mechanics of these land-wind interactions, but the tendency of cyclones in the northern Bay of Bengal to veer towards Bangladesh indicates that the effects are consistent over time.
The cyclone may also have come under the influence of long-range winds blowing from west to east called the westerlies.
Yesterday, the IMD had initially predicted landfall (the cyclone hitting land) at 89°E longitude on the Bengal-Bangladesh border. But it struck the coast at 89.8°E, about 80km eastwards.
This is within the acceptable error margin when dealing with an event on the scale of a cyclone, a scientist said.
“A cyclone has dimensions of 300km to 500km (Sidr had a 450km diameter), and an 80km shift would still mean severe winds on either side of the border,” said Mrutyunjaya Mahapatra, director, cyclone warning division, IMD.
Scientists used a synthesis of satellite imagery, ground data and a weather radar in Calcutta to track the cyclone and wind speeds. Despite the eastward shift, parts of Bengal experienced 90kmph winds that damaged over 1,000 thatched houses in North and South 24-Parganas.
Predictions that Bengal would be hit had led many tourists to cancel or truncate seaside trips and software companies to arrange guesthouse rooms for staff. Some people suggested the Met office should have issued hourly bulletins instead of a sweeping cyclone forecast.
“The warning was justified because such high-speed winds had the potential to cause extensive damage,” Hathwar said. “In such situations… it’s better to be overcautious.”
The weather radar is mainly used for real-time wind tracking and “nowcasting” — forecasting for the next two to three hours. But a Met warning issued two-three hours before a cyclone strikes would be too late for evacuation or effective public advisories

No surprises in Cyclone Sidr
- Shift to Bangla was caused by long-known factors: Scientists
G.S. MUDUR
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071117/asp/frontpage/story_8558598.asp
New Delhi, Nov. 16: Scientists today attributed the shift of Cyclone Sidr towards Bangladesh to factors long known to influence cyclone paths, but asserted that its scale and severity justified the warnings issued to Bengal.
India Meteorological Department officials said they had anticipated an eastward shift which began about three hours before the cyclone hit Bangladesh about 80km east of the initially predicted landfall zone.
The 250kmph winds killed over 550 people in Bangladesh, left thousands injured or missing, flattened houses and unleashed a 15-foot tidal surge that destroyed three coastal towns and forced the evacuation of 32 lakh people.
Three factors could have contributed to the shift -- Earth’s rotation, the interaction of the cyclone’s outermost winds with land just as they began to graze the coastline, and high-altitude winds called the westerlies.
“A (cyclonic) system in the northern hemisphere’s atmosphere is deflected slightly towards the east because of Earth’s rotation,” said H.R. Hathwar, additional director-general of the IMD.
“As it neared the coast, the balance of the cyclonic system could have been disturbed and caused the winds to