Palash Speaks

Mraxist Ruled Bengal On RAZOR’S EDGE
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
For the last 30 years, the right wing was fighting
against the left govt. Nandigram is a conspiracy to
dislodge the govt. A local issue is globalised. People
are more upset than during the Gujarat kilings.
Joseph g
What’s wrong with SEZs?
India’s Special Economic Zones are currently under review having drawn sharp criticism and continued protest from a wide range of environmental and human rights groups, as well as farmers, villagers, fishing and agricultural workers who face losing their land, homes and livelihoods.
Critics also point to a lack of transparency and unwillingness to hold open public consultations on the SEZ issue.
Some 400 SEZ projects, offering incentives to big businesses had been approved (formally and in-principle) amounting to 1,25,000 hectares, around the size of Delhi.
Under current SEZ plans, companies would be exempt from the usual labour and environmental protection laws causing protesters to rename them ‘Special Exploitation Zones’.
Commenting on government’s economic policies Umi Daniel, Head of ActionAid's Food and Livelihoods work says "The priority for big business is profit, not India 's food sovereignty, nor the lives and livelihoods of millions of women and men who rely on agriculture, seas and forests.
"Government must act to protect poor people from corporate abuse and ensure they benefit from economic development, not collude in their marginalisation through grabbing their land and resources.
"India needs to critically look into the current agrarian crisis and bring out a policy vision with the active mandate of agricultural workers, farmers and fisherfolk."
RAZOR’S EDGE
In a politically and emotionally charged atmosphere, it is not unnatural for priorities to get warped. In West Bengal today, the topmost priority is the restoration of the rule of law, of the Constitution and of democratic rights and conventions. Yet all these — absolutely vital for the proper functioning of a democratic polity — are under assault in different ways and in varying scales in West Bengal. Some of the attacks are blatant and obvious, and thus easy to protest against without being misunderstood. But the rightness of the cause should not be allowed to cloud judgment on the aptness or otherwise of the process. In a democracy, the means are as important as the end. To maintain the convergence between the ends and the means, the founding fathers of the Constitution very meticulously laid out the doctrine of separation of powers between the three organs of the State: the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. By working within their designated spheres, the three organs are expected to uphold the structure of democracy. The separation of powers is maintained by a delicate balance. This balance can only be preserved by following a set of unwritten conventions that are true to the spirit of the Constitution. They are conventions because even in as elaborate a document as the Constitution of India it is impossible to take note of every possible eventuality. Changed times produce changing challenges for the practitioners of democracy and the interpreters of the Constitution. This often results in the upsetting of the balance of powers.
The judgment of the Calcutta high court, describing the police firing in Nandigram on March 14, 2007 as "wholly unconstitutional’’, has, in many ways, caught the mood of the times because it criticizes the beleaguered Left Front government. What it does in intent and in substance is to condemn what was an executive decision. Some police officers and government servants present on the spot or aware of events in the area took the decision and gave the order to open fire. Their judgment may have been flawed, but their intentions (on available evidence) were not mala fide. They were trying to do their duty within the executive powers given to them. It is easy, of course, to say post facto that the situation did not warrant a police firing. An error of judgment and a wilful transgression of the Constitution are mistakes of two different orders.
The point being made here is not about the validity or otherwise of the police firing. The argument concerns the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution and its importance in a democracy. In a mature and old democracy, the importance of conventions needs no underlining. But in a fledgling one like India, they need to be upheld and their transgressions questioned.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/opinion/story_8560377.asp
Actor Prasenjit donates Rs 1 lakh for Nandigram affected
Kolkata : Bengali matinee idol Prasenjit has donated Rupees one lakh to the Forum of Artistes, Cultural Activists and Intellectuals towards treatment of those injured in recent violence in Nandigram.
"Many people have been killed, devastated and rendered homless in Nandigram. Whichever political party they belong to, they belong to West Bengal and therefore, my neighbours. ... This little help is not from any filmstar or hero. This is only holding a friend's hands in a time of need," the actor said in a release.
Pointing out that he was at present out of town and would remain so for some time, he said, "if I had been in Kolkata, I would have stood by them directly. But I am helpless."
Son of renowned screen actor of yesteryears Biswajit, Prasenjit said "I have an affinity with these people. They regularly watch my films. They have made me their own with love and respect. They enquired about my health even during minor ailments and wished me speedy recovery."
Forum sources said that earlier, noted historian Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar had donated Rs 75,000 towards those affected by Nandigram violence.
Actor-director Aparna Sen had also contributed generously for the affected people, the sources said adding contribution and aid were pouring in from common people too.
Besides sending a team of doctors to the relief camp at the Nandigram High School, the Forum had also despatched a truckload of warm clothings, including 100 blankets, for the inmates, the sources added.
NRIs shocked by violence at Nandigram
------------ --------- --------- ------
File RTI application seeking West Bengal government's response on
actions taken
------------ -----
Long walk for my name
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/calcutta/story_8560042.asp
Anjan Dutt
APPALLED by the recent spate of large scale displacement and violence
in Nandigram, 74 concerned NRIs have filed a collective Right to
Information application at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC
regarding the Nandigram state of affairs in an effort to hold the
West Bengal government accountable to Indian citizens across the
world especially in the light of its total apathy to the repeated
intimations of immanent violence by the BUPC from Nandigram and its
failure in protecting the lives and rights of the citizens of
Nandigram.
These 74 NRIs, belonging to a diverse group of academics,
professionals, lawyers, activists and students, many of them
volunteers and supporters of the organization - Association for
India's Development, have demanded information on the number of
people killed or injured in the current spate of violence since
November 4; the reasons for delay in the protection of citizens and
human rights activists who tried to visit the area; the number of
police force deployed in the area; the actions taken by the
government to restore peace, provide relief, rehabilitate the
displaced villagers, and book the criminals who perpetrated the
ghastly acts of violence and those who blocked the entry of media-
persons and CRPF jawans in Nandigram; and the status of land-
acquisition and the SEZ project in the area.
The 'recapture' of Nandigram villages by CPI(M) party cadres for
political assertion is completely illegal and undemocratic. We see
the RTI application as an instrument for enforcing accountability and
transparency and expect that the government respond to the
seriousness of its implication in this violent morass with concrete
answers.
On behalf of concerned NRIs we urge the government of West Bengal to
respond to the crisis in Nandigram in a democratic and just manner
and make sure that people's basic constitutional and legal rights are
upheld and security, peace and justice in the area restored. We also
expect a prompt response to our application for information.
Long walk for my name
Guest Column
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anjan Dutt
I have always felt uncomfortable walking in rallies and protest marches. I have always believed in the individual as opposed to the collective. I never belonged to any political party. If there be any agenda that I have it is to live and work in a democratic space where the voice of the individual registers. My decision to join the silent protest march on November 14 stemmed from a terrible sense of fear. The fear of losing my democratic space.
Lots have been said and written about the politics of violence at Nandigram and the complete lack of transparency, responsibility and morality in the way my government has gone about the issue. To me it is a fight between David and Goliath, where, unlike the fable, David lost out to Goliath purely because of size and shortage of gunpowder. But what has made me truly insecure is the realisation that I, or for that matter any average citizen, is losing the space to question our establishment. That perhaps my government has taken its electoral majority for granted. It has forgotten that it cannot function only for those who have voted for it and not take care or listen to those who have not.
As far as development of society is concerned, I would like to share a little information. Continuous nonchalance and neglect on the part of the Assam government led to the Bodoland uprising. Spearheaded by the All Bodoland Students’ Union (ABSU), it translated into a savage civil war for the last 20 years, leading to the complete destruction of the environment. Professional poachers and fellers took advantage of militancy and the Manas Tiger Reserve was ruthlessly plundered. The Unesco declared it a red zone. Finally and inevitably both parties realised that it was not benefiting either and a peace pact was made.
A section in the ABSU decided to bring improvement in the region and through the field director of the Manas Tiger Project invited a small Calcutta-based eco-tourism organisation called Help Tourism to engage the locals in a dialogue. A huge open meeting with the villagers resulted in a people’s plan to protect their environment through tourism. Today over a 1,000 locals, including ex-militants and ex-poachers, are running a tourism project called Mouzigendri Eco-tourism Society, protecting almost 1,000 acres of forest area at eastern Manas. It took 250 locals and ex-militants and seven days to build a kachha road to facilitate the entry of two environment scientists from Unesco who drove down and declared Manas to be a model for rural development in south-east Asia.
No matter how small the whole effort may seem compared to our crises, to me it is one of the most transparent and beneficial ways to development where the government works as a facilitator along with NGOs to ensure development where locals feel involved and not betrayed. Where 20-year-old militants end up as voluntary forest protectors.
The more I think of the Manas project the more the civil society movement in Calcutta becomes relevant and I end up believing that the killings at Nandigram could have been avoided.
As I walked in the rally alongside 60,000 others, the transparency of my fellow walkers, the sheer willingness to come together, the energy of being engaged kept reminding me of those who have worked and are still working for the Manas Project.
I know that my walking in the rally will not bring peace in Nandigram. It is for myself that I walked. For the sheer joy of being involved from within. And it is that same "self" that felt uncomfortable going to the film festival when many of my colleagues and other fellow citizens stood away for a human cause. I do not want to know their political belief. I only know that they stood up for democratic voice. And I didn’t want my name to stand apart from that desperately needy democratic voice. "Because", in the words of John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, "it is my name. Because I cannot have another name. Because if I am silent I sign myself to lies. Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of those who are killed and hanged. How may I live without my name!"
Film festival and a protest
Shubhajit Chatterjee on the morbid montage of the best world cinema and the lawless violence at Nandigram
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/calcutta/story_8560044.asp
The festival crowd at Nandan. Picture by Aranya Sen
Calcutta’s much-loved annual event, the international film festival, wrapped up on Saturday with its mixed baggage of cinematic gifts, surprises and disappointments. The "culturally-inclined" home audience stood up to its label by running across shows amidst traffic, drizzles, and cyclone threats.
While the international selection comprised mostly average films with rare dazzles of cinematic talent, the audience savoured the works of eminent, political filmmakers like Fernando Solanas, Glauber Rocha, Ken Loach, Karel Kachyna and Jean Luc Godard. Hidden among the sizeable package one also came across recent works by celebrated artists such as Istvan Szabo, Claude Chabrol, Vera Chytilova and Sixth Generation Chinese filmmaker Zhang-Ke Jia.
The more exciting angle was the encounter with cinema of more contemporary artists like Amos Gitai, Abbas Kiarostami and new Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, all of whose five films were screened.
Despite the culturally rich and diverse package, the festival was engulfed by broader political events that transformed it into a contested democratic platform and opened up unforeseen ethical dilemmas for its audience. This year’s festival kicked off with a morbid montage of the controlled, illuminated atmosphere of festivity where the highest officials of the state and police were inaugurating the event, and the murky, lawless violence at Nandigram where the ruling party’s armed workers were recapturing lost territory from Opposition forces.
The spectators’ critical eye noticed an ironic double stance of the organisers as films like Solanas’s The Cloud or Fransisco Quevedo’s The Violin dramatised the problems of modernisation and political censorship, reminding many of similar situations at the local front. The political turmoil and its repercussions and the protest meetings and demonstrations around the festival premises culminated in a bandh on November 12 followed by one of the largest protest rallies in recent times without an explicit political banner on November 14, drawing over 60,000 citizens, including many prominent figures from the creative world of Bengal.
The crises assumed the stature of public outrage following the police harassment and arrest of more than 60 citizens from a peaceful protest march organised by artists and students outside Academy and Nandan premises. As the festivities rolled on, the political crises led to reopening of ethical controversies over the role of the state, civil rights and raison d’etre of cultural festivals. Enraged over the officially "unfortunate" turn of events coupled with authoritarian and insensitive statements issued by Left Front leaders, noted artists and intellectuals, including explicitly or implicitly Left-leaning ones, voiced their anguish, many of whom publicly declined the official festival invitation in a gesture of protest.
While a section of faithful cinephiles expressed their disapproval by abstaining from the festival, many others stayed on paying tribute to serious cinema as a source of critical education and inspiration. The overall climate took its toll on the festival, which had a thinner attendance compared to earlier years. On the other hand, the city’s cinephilia proved its own point as one heard a section of participants confessing about the way they ignored the bandh to attend the festival or dutifully divided their time between protest demonstrations and rare gems of world cinema. Unlike other years, discussions and debates about films and festival scheduling progressed under a looming shadow of discomfort.
While effective cultural tutelage and democratic ideals inspired ordinary urban citizens to denounce, walk or sing in defence of civil rights, what eludes us forever are the critical perspectives of those exploited subjects, whose lives have been led in the shadow of poverty, displacement and political treachery for decades to facilitate political gains of various undemocratic forces. As a few onlookers at the November 14 rally commented, the so-called poor, uncultured, "not yet citizens" are teaching their self-appointed representatives a lesson in politics. The lesson could perhaps be even more effective when the resentful citizen could become as sensitive to the concrete crises of democratic politics as he is to the threat to his own privileges as a citizen.
(The author teaches film studies at Jadavpur University)
Violence-hit refugees wait for relief
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=176857
Rajib Chatterjee
NANDIGRAM, Nov. 17: A total of 115 quintals of rice is stacked at the Nandigram-I block office ~ located within a 500-metre radius of Brajamohan Tewari High School where more than 4,000 victims of Nandigram violence, including hundreds of children and elderly people, are crying for food.
Officials said relief materials couldn’t be distributed properly among the displaced people of Nandigram because of the absence of a block relief officer. Nandigram-I block has been without a relief officer for the last four years, said Mr Ashok Kumar Sarkar, block development officer (BDO), Nandigram-I block. He said: "The Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee (BUPC) has demanded rice for the refugees. We have distributed a total 15 quintals of rice among them. Four tarpaulins have been given to the refugees to setup makeshift shelters." Sheikh Sufiyan, senior BUPC member, said: "We had requested the administration to disburse relief materials, but they gave only 15 quintals of rice while we need more than 10 quintals of rice to feed the victims of CPI-M sponsored terror." The BUPC is therefore requesting non-governmental organisations to come forward with relief materials.
"Waterborne diseases are spreading rapidly at the relief camp, thanks to contaminated drinking water. Repeated appeal to provide safe drinking water to refugees have fallen on deaf ears," Sheikh Sufiyan said.
Dr Mridul Sarkar, a doctor belonging to a voluntary medical organisation, said more than 50 persons, including a few children, have taken ill after waterborne disease broke out at the camp.
Many persons have been suffering from fever, but the state government is yet to send a medical team to the camp, Dr Sarkar said. Dr Sarkar has visited the camp along with some other doctors and inspected the health condition of the refugees. When asked about the allegation, the BDO said: "The charges are false. We would give them more relief materials if they demand."
"As part of our drive to restore peace in the area, we are organising peace talks to ensure return of victims to their own villages. If peace is restored, relief materials wouldn't be required," said the official.
Mr Ramprasad Ghorai, an employee of the Nandigram-I block office said it is becoming difficult for him to handle the relief distribution mechanism.
"It was 2004 when block relief officer, Mr Amalesh Panda, was transferred from Nandigram-I block. The post has been lying vacant since then and I have been handling the relief distribution job alone."
ALL INDIA CITIZENS’ CONVENTION CONDEMNS NANDIGRAM ATROCITIES, FORMS COMMITTEE TO STEER COUNTRYWIDE ANTI-SEZ MOVEMENT
dnr3000
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 05:33:26 -0700
ALL INDIA CITIZENS' CONVENTION
AGAINST ATROCITIES ON THE PEOPLE OF NANDIGRAM
AND AGAINST SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE
3A/38, W.E.A., KAROL BAGH, NEW DELHI-110005 Telefax : 25726631
Date : 19th June, 2007
PRESS RELEASE
ALL INDIA CITIZENS' CONVENTION CONDEMNS NANDIGRAM ATROCITIES, FORMS COMMITTEE
TO STEER COUNTRYWIDE ANTI-SEZ MOVEMENT
Eminent jurists, lawyers, educationists, teachers, poets, litterateurs,
scientists, artists, social activists, doctors, engineers and people from all
walks of life, from different parts of India, gathered at Hindi Bhavan, New
Delhi today for the All India Citizens' Convention Against Atrocities on the
People of Nandigram and Against Special Economic Zones.
Prof. Tarun Sanyal (President, Forum of Artists, Cultural Activists and
Intellectuals, West Bengal) presided. The Convention was addressed by Ms. Medha
Patkar (eminent social activist) S/Shri Rajinder Sachar (former Chief Justice
of Delhi High Court), D. Bandopadhyaya (former Secretary, Land & Land Revenue,
Govt. of West Bengal), Prakashbhai Shah (former Editor, Jansatta Gujarati),
Gursharan Singh (eminent playwright, actor and director), Sumit Chakaravarty
(Editor, Mainstream), Prof. Vijay Kumar Piyush (President, Federation of
University Teachers' Association, Jharkhand), Anil Nauriya (Advocate, Supreme
Court), Suhas Borker (independent documentary film-maker & director), Prof.
Arun Kumar (Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU), Prof. Soumitro
Banerjee (recipient of Bhatnagar award & professor, IIT Kharagpur), Prof. K.R.
Chowdry (retired Professor, ANGR Agricultural University, Hyderabad), Dr.
Satayjit Singh (Vice-President, Medical Service Centre), Amitabh Banerjee
(Engineer), K.S. Subramanian (former IPS officer and Senior Fellow, ICSSR),
Prof. Narendra Sharma (Zakir Husain College, Delhi) and Prof. Miratun Nahar
(former Member, West Bengal Women's Commission).
Former Attorney General of the US and President of the International Action
Center, Mr. Ramsey Clark, eminent jurists Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer and Justice
P.B. Sawant, and noted film director Ms. Aparna Sen sent messages to the
Convention.
The Convention was also addressed by prominent social activists - S/Shri Nando
Patro (Convener, Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee, Nandigram), Anup Singh
(Vice President, Haryana Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Samiti Against SEZ &
Agricultural Land Acquisition), Vilas Sonavane (organizer of movement against
SEZ in Raigad, Maharashtra), Tapan Das (organizer of the Singur resistance
movement), Dr. D. Surendranath (President, Karshaka Pratirodha Samithi,
Kerala), Ms. Binapani Das from Orissa, Ms. Mini K. Philip from Kerala and Shri
Ramanjaniappa from Karnataka.
During the day-long deliberations at the Convention, a Resolution was debated
and adopted, condemning the grabbing of lands by State Governments, which is
being used by the people for agriculture and other purposes for supporting
their livelihoods, at the behest of domestic and foreign corporates; and
condemning the brutal suppression of people's democratic movements against
land-acquisition by State Governments. The recent State-sponsored violence
against the people of Nandigram was specifically condemned by all the speakers.
The Resolution demanded of the Central Government to take steps to immediately
repeal the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005.
The speakers hailed the manner in which the peasants and workers in different
parts of the country are continuing to develop resistance movements against
acquisition of farmers' lands despite all-out repression by State Governments,
and expressed solidarity with all these movements. They noted with admiration
the determined and courageous exemplary role of the women of Nandigram who,
alongside men, faced the brutalities of the police and the criminals engaged by
the ruling party valiantly, and did not bow down even after being physically
tortured and raped.
Speaker after speaker exposed the myths propagated by the Central and State
Governments in favour of SEZs, and noted that SEZs would in fact lead to loss
of livelihoods for millions of people and not generate large scale employment
as claimed. The non-applicability of labour laws in SEZs would lead to
increased exploitation of workers and the dilution of environmental laws would
lead to large-scale destruction of ecological resources. Food security would
also be endangered with the acquisition of cultivable lands. The speakers
observed that land acquisition for SEZs has begun at a juncture when, as a
result of policies of economic liberalisation and globalisation that successive
Governments have adopted for the last 16 years at the behest of a handful of
corporates, agriculture in India has already been plunged into an all-out
crisis; and excessive debt-burden is pushing farmers out of agriculture,
forcing thousands to commit suicide each year. The speakers noted that
corporates were rushing for SEZs in the vicinity of urban areas in order to
maximize profit from real estate rather than to establish production units.
Medical Service Centre, a voluntary organization of doctors and paramedics,
which had visited Nandigram after the carnage, distributed publications of its
findings at the Convention. Aavishkara, an organization of theatre activists
from Karnataka, staged a short play on land acquisition.
The Convention ended with the formation of an All India Committee Against SEZ
and Forcible Acquisition of Land. The Committee, consisting of experienced
social activists and advised by prominent intellectuals supporting the
movement, will help develop and co-ordinate anti-SEZ movements throughout the
country.
Issued by
Narendra Sharma
Convener
Resolution
All India Citizens' Convention Against Atrocities on the People of Nandigram
and Against Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
This All India Citizens' Convention attended by eminent jurists, lawyers,
educationists, teachers, poets, litterateurs, scientists, artists, social
activists, doctors, engineers and people from all walks of life, from all over
India, convened at Hindi Bhavan, New Delhi on the 19th of June 2007; notes with
grave concern that the Central and State Governments have embarked on a scheme
of establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs), forcibly grabbing land from
farmers for the benefit of domestic and foreign corporates.
This house notes with concern that land acquisition for SEZs has begun at a
juncture when, as a result of policies of economic liberalisation and
globalisation that successive Governments have adopted for the last 16 years at
the behest of a handful of corporates, agriculture in India has already been
plunged into an all-out crisis; and excessive debt-burden is pushing farmers
out of agriculture, forcing thousands to commit suicide each year.
This house, after a careful examination, totally rejects the grandiose claims
made on behalf of SEZs by Central and State Governments. On the contrary, the
house foresees a much graver crisis looming large, if the SEZ policy is carried
through:
* The claim of creating lakhs of jobs in SEZs is a complete hoax. It is well
known that ever since the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and
globalisation were adopted, employment in the organised sector has hardly
increased. Thousands of industries have closed down, rendering lakhs of workers
unemployed. The private sector depends on automation and mechanisation, or
outsourcing to the informal sector under the most exploitative conditions of
employment. The corporates, which will establish production units in SEZs, will
also seek jobless growth and only a small number of jobs for a highly skilled
workforce can be expected in sectors like IT.
* On the other hand, millions of people dependent directly or indirectly on
agriculture will lose their livelihoods when their lands are grabbed for the
SEZs. With only agricultural skills, none of them will ever get remunerative
employment in these zones. Whatever has happened till now indicates that there
will never be a pro-people policy where the displaced are given complete
economic rehabilitation and compensation to protect or improve their
livelihoods. The fate of lakhs of displaced farmers and labourers will be mass
migration to urban centres in search of elusive and exploitative temporary
employment, and they are sure to become victims of poverty and destitution.
* Further, the SEZ Act and Rules allow substantial portion of the acquired land
to be used for non-industrial purposes. This is also an important reason why
there is such a rush to establish SEZs by the corporates. In reality, SEZs are
an excuse to accumulate huge land-banks near large cities, which can later be
sold or used for real estate development. With the Government liberalising FDI
in real estate, there is an all-out rush for speculation in land. From this
angle too, it is clear that SEZs will not generate any additional employment.
* Revenue losses due to tax concessions, exemption on stamp duty and the
provision of providing electricity and water at highly subsidised rates to the
SEZs will definitely lead to the burden of additional taxes on the common
people, who are already over-burdened with taxes and in many cases farmers will
face acute water shortage. On account of the tax and duty exemptions given to
those who set up SEZs and those who will establish businesses in them, the
Union Finance Ministry itself estimates that just up to 2010, revenue up to Rs.
1.6 lakh crores will be lost. The foregone tax revenue each year is five times
the annual allocation for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
* Acquisition of cultivable land will not only make lakhs of farmers and
agricultural labourers lose their livelihoods but also will definitely have
adverse effect on production of food grains, vegetables and other farm
products. Food security of rural communities will be further threatened as
prices of food grains begin to rise.
* In the SEZs, labourers will be employed with a far greater degree of
exploitation and oppression since the labour laws of the land are not
applicable within these Zones. There will be no fixed working hours, no legally
determined minimum wages, no maternity or retirement benefits and finally no
security of jobs - all jobs will be on contract basis. Above all, workers will
be deprived of their right to organise themselves and form unions. More so,
there will be a reign of terror in the SEZs, constant retrenchment and unstable
and insecure jobs in tune with global labour-market demands. In the SEZs, the
possibility of sex harassment of women labourers will be much greater than in
other areas.
* Apart from land, the SEZs will pose a direct threat to environmental
resources. Huge quantities of water will be diverted to the SEZs in
water-scarce regions, and water sources will be polluted by unregulated
industries and industrial wastes. Environmental clearance procedures, which are
already diluted in the wake of liberalisation and globalisation, will be
further diluted in the SEZs. Forest resources and people dependent on forests
for their livelihoods, particularly the tribals, are also threatened by the
plan of the Ministry of Environment & Forests to lease forest land to
industries. This will affect the rainfall pattern in the country too.
In sum, deliberately turning a blind eye to all these problems and painting a
rosy picture of the so-called gains from SEZs is definitely against the
interest of millions of peasants, workers and common people of the country.
Peasants, agricultural workers and the common people understand the grave
threat to their lives and livelihoods and have risen in revolt in different
parts of the country. In fact, the move to acquire lands to establish SEZs and
the resistance against it is taking place in the backdrop of several other land
acquisition moves by State Governments on behalf of corporates. For example,
the people's / farmers' movements
* against Salim SEZ in Nandigram and against Tata Motors at Singur, West Bengal
* against Anil Ambani SEZ at Dadri, U.P.
* against Reliance SEZ at Gurgaon and Jhajjar, Haryana
* against Trident SEZ at Barnala, Punjab
* against POSCO steel plant and SEZ at Jagatsi

Draft Vision NER 2020 and Extra Constitutional Killings
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

The Assam government will form a committee of legal experts to examine the options for initiating action against those indicted by the Justice K.N. Saikia Commission. The Commission has indicted the former Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the then police hierarchy and the Home Ministry for the “extra-constitutional killings” in Assam during 1998-2001.
Meanwhile,A Public Hearing on ‘Draft Vision NER 2020’ held at Chintan Bhawan in Gangtok on 17 November.
“It was intended that there would come a paradigm shift in the planning process and the future plans for the North East Region (NER) will be people’s plans that would be formulated for achieving the targets and goals enunciated in this Vision NER 2020 document,” said an official. “North East Council (NEC) took the initiative for this vision document in 2005 and now the culmination of the process of formulation of this document has come,” an official added.
Ms Sushma Singh, the secretary of DoNER, made the presentation at the public hearing. The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi has published a draft of the ‘Vision NER 2020’ document for an informed public debate on the same.
“The Vision Document has been prepared in two stages ~ the first stage involves the people of the region and the members of the civil society from whom responses were collected on the ‘Vision for the NER in 2020’, said an official. “The second of which was done by the NIPFP on the basis of the final document collating the responses received from the first stage” an official added.
The salient points emerging from the public hearing would be duly considered for the inclusion in the Final Vision Document. It is likely to be attended by a council of ministers, MLAs, zilla adhyakshyas, upadhyakshyas, head of departments, district collectors, DDOs, representatives from various trade organisations, NGOs and local gentry.
On the othr hand,The Congress Party today endorsed the two-pronged strategy adopted by Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh to resolve the problems in the North Eastern Region, advocating the need to hold dialogue with the disgruntled elements, as well as forceful handling of the challenge posed by the militants. The resolution adopted at the end of the day-long AICC session had nothing new to say about the North Eastern Region (NER), accept express its full-fledge support to the initiatives taken by the UPA Government. The resolution on the foreign affairs also endorsed the ‘Look East Policy’ as well as the steps taken by Manmohan Singh Government to improve relations with neighbouring countries like Myanmar and China.Not to be left behind, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also came out in full support of the UPA Government’s initiative, lauding the AICC leadership for backing him in the crisis in the aftermath of the repeal of the IM (DT) Act by the Supreme Court. He also seconded the contention that the internal security situation has improved.

Meanwhile,Satyabrata Chakraborty reports for The Statesman from Agartala:
Even as a fake currency racket involving citizens of Myanmar and Bangladesh has of late been busted jointly by the Tripura and Mizoram police, there is hardly any effective measure to check the smuggling of forged notes into North-east's International fringe line. The inflow of fake currency’ from across border in Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and parts of Assam is now increasing alarmingly.
The governments in the North-east were earlier alerted by the Union home ministry against the Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence's machination aiming at destabilising economy of the country by circulating fake currency notes and by promoting the drug trafficking and narco terrorism in the region. The North-east governments were also categorically told by the centre that the ISI was extending support to the underworld elements operating in and outside the country and raising the pitch of a high-voltage disinformation campaign to discredit India's security forces for alleged violation of human rights. Despite the centre's concern, the bordering towns and markets have already become swamped by forged currencies.
On the basis of an allegation that some employees of the State Bank of India unit at Mamith of Mizoram, Aizawl intelligence officials recently visited Kanchanpur area of north Tripura to identify inmates of the Reang evacuee camp there allegedly involved in the racket. The Aizawl official came in the guise of the State Bank of India's employees working in the Mamith branch of Mizoram. Two Reang evacuees, Mr Ramkumar Reang and Mr Mabala Reang secretly agreed to supply fake currencies to the officials at a hotel in Mizoram. Both the evacuees were later arrested by Mizoram police following their arrival at the hotel at Toitang, a township in Mizoram, with the forged notes. Mizoram police was told by Mr Ramkumar Reang and Mr Mabala Reang that a Congress party Leader of north Tripura Mr Karim Mia was also involved in the racket. Mr Mia was subsequently arrested. He named several Bangladeshi criminals engaged in fake currency circulation in the region. State Bank of India authorities in Aizawl however denied any hand of Mamith SBI employees in forged note circulation. SBI authorities also rejected allegation in the media that the SBI manager at Mamith had been arrested by Mizoram Police. Meanwhile several citizens of Myanmar who earlier crossed over to Mizoram, were nabbed by police for circulating forged currencies.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=176814
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters here on Friday that the government would also revive all the 20 cases of “secret killings” for re-investigation as recommended by the Commission. Mr. Gogoi described the period from 1998 to 2001, during which the secret killings of family members of the leaders and cadres of the ULFA occurred, as the “darkest chapter in the history of Assam.” Asked to comment on the recommendation to dismantle gradually the Unified Command Structure under which synergised counter-insurgency operations are conducted by the Army, Assam Police and Central paramilitary forces, Mr. Gogoi said the situation was not conducive for that as there were threats from the jehadis apart from ULFA. He, however, said the government had stated in the Action Taken Report on the Commission’s report that the recommendation would be considered during the tri-monthly review of the Unified Command. He refuted Mr. Mahanta’s allegations that the report was manipulated by the Congress government to appease ULFA and malign the former Chief Minister and the regional party government led by him.
“We have never come to power with the help of ULFA. Why should we appease ULFA? It is a false, concocted and motivated allegation against us. We are not going to slow down the operations against ULFA.”The Chief Minister also asked the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to clarify whether the regional party had accepted or rejected the report. He said that other ministers in the then Mahanta government should also share collective responsibility for the “secret killings.” He challenged Mr. Mahanta to file a case to reject the Justice Saikia Commission report.
NDTV.com
AGP distances itself from Mahanta
Hindu - 43 minutes ago
Guwahati (PTI): The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Sunday preferred to keep itself at a distance from former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, saying he is answerable to the people of the state after his indictment by a judicial panel in the "secret ...
Assam ex-CM denies hand in 'secret killings' since 1991 Times of India
Gogoi promises punishment for secret killers Daily News & Analysis
ULFA?s ISI link
In an average Asomiya's understanding, bringing the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to the negotiation table is a tough and challenging job. It is so not because of its ideology or gallantry, but the outfit's growing nexus with Islamist fundamentalists, who would presumably never allow the ULFA leaders to come out for peace talks with the government. The relationship of ULFA leaders with the Islamist ultras thus emerges as an anxiety and an unrelenting threat to the people of Asom in the trouble-torn north-east. The indigenous Asomiya people, though living with so much resentment against New Delhi, could, however, never support an organization that is maintaining links with the religious fundamentalist groups based in Bangladesh or Pakistan.
And for the ULFA leaders, who pledged to make Asom independent from India, it has appeared as the greatest challenge to convince the indigenous people that they were pursuing the same commitment and dedication for their movement. The banned armed outfit, which is fighting New Delhi since 1979, has been repeatedly insisting that sovereignty (of Asom) cannot be compromised. what was missing in those statements, issued from time to time, were the strong argument and pragmatic policies to make Asom Independent country.
Moreover, ULFA leaders had never answered a few questions, which had arisen in various public forums in the recent past. Those vital questions include the outfit's growing liaison with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, its hand in explosions rocking the state for years and its unclear views on those hundreds thousands of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the region.
Media reports, meanwhile, continue revealing ULFA'a close links with the Islamic ultras. Quoting a US intelligence think tank, the local media had recently reported that ULFA was going to increase financial enterprises and enhance strong links with Islamist militant groups. Stratfor, in its latest analytical report titled India: Ulfa abandons peace talk, said, "Though India has largely turned a blind eye to militant groups operating in its far-flung Northeast, the growing Islamisation of the region, the deteriorating security situation in Bangladesh and these insurgents' recent reach into the heart of India's financial hub provide more than enough reason for New Delhi to start paying closer attention to its North-eastern border."
As the ULFA leaders remained silent on these sensitive issues, the governments, both in Dispur and New Delhi, and also the army authorities have come out with pompous campaigns against the strongest armed group of the Northeast. Even the Asom chief minister joined the campaign stating that there was 'no doubt about linkages between the ULFA and fundamentalist jehadi groups'. Addressing media persons in Guwahati on November 1, chief minister Tarun Gogoi disclosed that he had already informed the Prime Minister about the growing nexus of ULFA with Islamist militants. Earlier, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief divulged that the ULFA had been maintaining links with the ISI and operating out of Bangladesh. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on October 26, CRPF director-general SIS Ahmed claimed that they had convincing information that the ULFA was getting direct and indirect support from the ISI.
Meanwhile, the ULFA continues to be in media headlines with both positive and negative developments. In one incident, where ULFA militants had to face the heat of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM faction) on the Asom-Nagaland border area recently, there are reports that leaders of ULFA with that of the United National Liberation Front (Manipur) and the NSCN (K faction) had come together to revive a united forum named Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front.
A press statement, issued by the ULFA leader Raju Baruah on November 12, had confirmed the news that the outfit had faced a frontal attack from the NSCN (IM), where both the armed outfits reportedly lost many of their cadres. The incident took place at Tigit, near to Sonari (Sivasagar district), where an ULFA rebel named Mridul Moran died. Some ULFA cadres were also nabbed by the opposite group, whom they urged for release immediately.
In another development, the SS Khaplang-led NSCN faction had resolved to revitalize the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front, which was formed in the nineties. Representatives from the NSCN (K), UNLF and ULFA attended a meeting in Thailand a few months back, quoting Kughalu Mulatonu, a kilonser (minister) of NSCN (K), local media reported. The Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front may include other Northeastern groups like People's Liberation Army, People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup in the long run.
However, depressing news came for ULFA as more than 60 cadres surrendered at a time on November 1. The ceremony, held in Guwahati witnessed the surrender of Ujjwal Gohain, the finance secretary of ULFA's 28th battalion, and three women cadres to the authority. The rebel leader Gohain was quoted by media as saying, "There are serious internal conflicts within ULFA leading to a sense of disillusionment and frustration among the ranks." The Asom police chief RN Mathur viewed that the ULFA was losing its support base and the mounting frustration finally prompted most of the cadres to join the mainstream.
http://assamnet.org/posts/index.php?t=rview&goto=1285&th=561#msg_1285

Panel opens can of worms
A STAFF REPORTER
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/frontpage/story_8561897.asp

Guwahati, Nov. 17: The People’s Committee for Peace Initiatives, Assam (PCPIA), the pressure group of 27 organisations mobilising support for peace talks between the government and Ulfa, today set a three-month deadline for the Tarun Gogoi government to come up with a concrete plan of action on the sensational findings of the Justice (retd) K.N. Saikia Commission.
The commission had probed the secret killings that rocked the state between 1998 and 2001, in which relatives and associates of Ulfa activists were murdered. The PCPIA today also sought a complete list of those killed.
One of PCPIA’s chief convenors, Lachit Bordoloi, said if the government really wished to show its sincerity and commitment towards the families and relatives of those killed in the “Ulfocide”, as the Saikia commission has described the secret killings, it should set up the experts’ panel immediately to weigh the possibility of legal action against former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and others indicted by the panel.
The PCPIA also wanted Dispur to prepare the complete list of those killed during the period when the AGP-led government was in power in Dispur and make it public.
“We don’t want the report to be reduced to a tool for political one-upmanship. It is not the time for political gimmicks. The issue is serious and needs serious handling. We want a concrete plan of action. This can be achieved within three months and this should be made public,” Bordoloi said, without elaborating as to what steps the PCPIA will take if the deadline is missed.
The PCPIA chief convenor also said it was Dispur’s moral responsibility to probe all the cases. “Only a few cases were probed by the commission. There are many. This can be done through a separate measure, such as giving the Saikia Commission another mandate to probe the cases,” he said. The Saikia Commission had probed 35 cases in all.
But the Assam PCC also launched a scathing attack on Mahanta today for what it described as his “wild” allegations against Gogoi. PCC spokesman Rajesh Kumar Joshi, while welcoming the Saikia Commission report, lambasted Mahanta for his “baseless banter”.
Joshi said, “Mahanta’s remark that the K.N. Saikia Commission report was placed to appease Ulfa is not only misleading but mischievous. The party wants Mahanta to refrain from making baseless allegations and be prepared to face the consequences of his misdeeds.”
Mahanta today accused the Tarun Gogoi government of hatching a “political conspiracy” to damage the image of regional politics in Assam, adds PTI. Denying his hand in the secret killings, Mahanta alleged at a convention of his party, the AGP (Progressive), that under the present Congress regime, several killings have taken place but the government has not even ordered a judicial probe.

Nandigram Echoes Expected to Rock the parliament!

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
The Nandigram BDO office has so far prepared a list of 167 houses affected in the violence at Gokulnagar, followed by 100 houses at Kalicharanpur, Daudpur and Samsabad areas and about 80 in Sonachura. The West Bengal government had earlier announced that villagers would get Rs10,000 for fully damaged houses and Rs.5,000 for partially damaged ones. Those who need utensils and other essentials will get Rs.1,000 from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.According to sources, the East Midnapore's district administration is planning to set up four more CRPF camps in four worst hit areas in the clashes and the scene of the CPI-M onslaught to regain its lost bases. An all-party meeting was also called in Nandigram Saturday where the district administration, as a first step of confidence building measures, urged local people to return homes with their families. In the latest round of violence, thousands of people belonging to the BUPC ended up as refugees when they had to flee to escape the wrath of the heavily armed CPI-M supporters, who launched an attack on Nandigram from the adjoining base of Khejuri to ensure return of their people to the villages.

We are also conducting an inquiry to get the exact figure of affected villagers and list the number of houses damaged in the violence," Nandigram-I block development officer (BDO) Ashok Sarkar said, adding that police have been asked to provide protection to the villagers to return to their homes.

The All-India Congress Committee on Saturday condemned the “culture of violence and the cult of armed cadres” in Nandigram in West Bengal, as also the 2002 Gujarat riots exposed by the media.A resolution, which was part of an omnibus document on the economic, political and foreign affairs situation, noted with concern the grave situation in Nandigram where, it said, the writ of the State government appeared to have ceased to run. The Nandigram issue, which has seen CPI(M) coming under fire, is expected to rock Parliament when its brief winter session resumes on Monday after a three-day break for the winter session. Main opposition BJP has already moved a motion in Rajya Sabha for a debate on Nandigram on Monday, alleging the violence-hit area of West Bengal had been converted into a "war zone by state agencies and CPI(M) cadres". Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata in East Midnapore district, flared up in January this year over a proposed special economic zone (SEZ) with the ruling Communist Party of India (CPI-M) and Trinamul Congress-backed anti-land acquisition Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) fighting a bitter war. Though the SEZ proposal was later scrapped, a turf battle continued between the two groups which has claimed about 34 lives.
The notice for the adjournment motion was sent by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi to the Rajya Sabha Secretary General. The motion seeks suspension of the Question Hour on Monday to allow discussion on the Nandigram issue. Giving the notice, Joshi said a "serious situation" had arisen in Nandigram due to "barbaric atrocities perpetrated on women farmers and other weaker sections of the society". He alleged Nandigram had been converted into a "war zone by state agencies, including the CPI(M) cadres of West Bengal".
The saffron party is keen for a debate on Nandigram to corner the CPI(M) and the UPA government. Refusing to accept that the matter was a state subject, the party argues that it can be debated in Parliament like 2002 post-Gordhra riots in Gujarat. The BJP says Nandigram is not a state issue exclusively as it pertains to acquisition of land for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which is a central subject.
Meanwhile, after 11 months of unabated violence, the West Bengal administration has finally begun work to rehabilitate victims in trouble-torn Nandigram by preparing a list of houses damaged.
"We have successfully entered Nandigram's violence-hit Sonachura, Gokulnagar, Kalicharanpur, Kendamari-Jalpai, Mohammodpur, Dudpur and Samsabad areas to take stock of the devastation. We have prepared a long list of affected villagers in all these areas," says Nandigram-I block development officer (BDO) Ashok Sarkar.
Nandigram echo at Congress meet
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Nandigram_echo_at_Congress_meet/articleshow/2549159.cms
NEW DELHI: Despite a palpable uneasiness in the Congress camp about needling the Left over the Nandigram mayhem, the issue made its way into the deliberations at the AICC session on Saturday.
Under pressure from its West Bengal unit, the party blamed the Marxist state government in the political resolution for allowing anarchy to prevail in the troubled area. It "noted with concern the grave situation in Nandigram where the writ of the state government appears to have ceased to run".
Congress "condemns the culture of violence and the 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."
The resolution, however, carefully refrained from naming the political party. Perhaps the paragraph in the lengthy resolution would have gone unnoticed but for a youthful party member from Bengal regretting the party leadership's inability to focus on the violence let loose by the Marxist cadres.
"Soniaji, you go everywhere to stand by the victims — from Kashmir to Godhra, why don't you visit Nandigram," asked Subhankar Sarkar, a former state Youth Congress chief said. Sarkar's brief speech in the afternoon slog hour after the senior leaders spoke suddenly raised the temperature at the session.
He lamented his party's hesitation to pick up an issue which had begun drawing the attention of the world. Once he set the tone, Sarkar's colleagues from the state were on the cue. Manas Bhuian and Deepa Dasmunsi took their turns in assailing the Marxist rulers of Bengal.
A plague on all their houses
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=3c28125d-27ca-4791-b9d3-6b69dd5416d8&MatchID1=4601&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=7&MatchType1=2&SeriesID1=1156&MatchID2=4586&TeamID3=1&TeamID4=8&MatchType2=1&SeriesID2=1151&PrimaryID=4601&Headline=A+plague+on+all+their+houses
Nandigram isn’t a pretty place. It wasn’t a pretty place when I had gone there in January, a few days after the first round of violence engulfed the area. Nandigram town, even with a banner proclaiming that the ‘Bangshidhari Tripathi Football Tournament’ was well underway (who won the tournament?), was nothing but a blasted heath. But it had enough smatterings of modernity — mobile phone shops, a busy fish market, a Foreign Liquor (Off) Store — to remind me that I wasn’t in Macbeth country but in 2007 rural West Bengal. The roads were apologies of dirt tracks, with a no-lights darkness connecting the eight-nine villages of the area. I was told that this was a dhaan-paan (rice-paan) area with ‘fisheries’ and even the occasional sunflower field. But these turned out to be apologies as well. The truth is Nandigram was one very sorry place even when left alone.
Eleven months later, with the CPI(M) having recaptured the sub-district from enemy hands, Nandigram is bound to be even less pretty. A terrain where murder and rape have taken place at the behest of the state government — not to mention a ground made fertile by Trinamool-sponsored grandstanding — it would have suited the people of Nandigram if the area had fallen off the map. It didn’t.
But with all the terror that has brought Nandigram its proverbial 15 minutes of fame, I know that it won’t be long before Nandigram does become a pretty place. And what makes me so sure? Because 11 months ago, I heard what the CPI(M) strongman from adjoining Tamluk, Lakshman Seth, had to say about the whole dirty affair.
Seth is also the Chairman of the Haldia Development Authority, one of the original ‘SEZs’ in West Bengal. It was his issuing a notice regarding Nandigram becoming a chemical industries hub that first sucked the area into a cadre war zone. With the agitation in Singur in nearby Hooghly district against the Tata car plant project simmering for a while — matters coming to a boil when an anti-land acquisition activist was murdered in December 2006 — the Trinamool-backed anti-industrialisation brigade were ready to take on the ‘anti-people’ administration in Nandigram. But if Singur was a matter of farmers wanting better prices for their lands, Nandigram was about simply erecting a blockade. And that’s what the opportunistic Mamata Banerjee, ‘losing’ the fight in Singur, ensured was done in Nandigram.
It was Seth who was squarely blamed for being “in a rush”. The Chief Minister had publicly castigated him for not ‘preparing’ the ground and not reaching out to the people to explain the benefits of industrialisation and allaying their fears. Presented as a rogue leader, Seth became the fall guy. Most of us sighed with relief that Buddhababu wasn’t involved in the horrors we were hearing from Nandigram. It was renegade cadres going wild fighting a territorial war. Phew.
But was Seth really the mad, bad and dangerous ‘Kurtz’ cut off from headquarters and doing his own dastardly things in the heart of darkness? He had, after all, won the municipal elections in July, which many within the CPI(M) saw as a ‘referendum’ on Bhattacharjee’s pro-industry policy. Seth had told me on a January afternoon, “If they think that issuing the [Nandigram] notice was a mistake, I have nothing to say. You are aware that despite the number of seats the CPI(M) occupies in the assembly, 50 percent of West Bengal’s people voted against the Left Front.” It seemed he was telling me that whether Buddhababu liked it or not, he needed men like Seth. And instead of silly ideologically bland CRPF men cleaning up Nandigram, Bhattacharjee depended on and defended men like Lakshman Seth who ‘liberated’ Nandigram last week.
Does that make Buddhadeb culpable of killing defenceless people in the form of collateral damage? Yes. Does that make Mamata innocent of using the lives of people as fodder for her own dangerous, stultifying politics? No. As Nandigram prepares to turn pretty, which I’m sure it will now some sunny day, a plague on both the houses of the CPI(M) and the Trinamool. And on Bengal itself.

Marxists maul all in the way
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=176793
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Nov. 17: A day after the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mr SS Nijjar of Calcutta High Court ruled that the police firing on 14 March in which 14 Nandigram residents had been killed had been unjustified and violative of the Constitution, the CPI-M leadership made it clear today what it thought of the judiciary, especially Calcutta High Court, the Governor, intellectuals and the media. CPI-M state secretary Mr Biman Bose, senior Citu leader Mr Shyamal Chakraborty and senior leader of the CPI-M's peasant wing Mr Benoy Konar spewed venom at a CPI-M rally here today, and Mr Bose urged the state government to move the Supreme Court against yesterday's HC order.
JUDICIARY
"Democracy is threatened when one of its pillars (the judiciary) crosses its limits. It should stay within its parameters," Mr Bose said. "If the court decides everything, what is the use of the executive or the legislature in a democracy? What is the use of spending millions on elections? We can have only the judiciary... A democracy cannot be run like this. If the Centre thinks it can have a democracy by increasing the salary of the judges, then so be it," he said. "If a judge passes this way and is obstructed by the assembled multitude ~ I see a sea of heads before me ~ a catastrophe will take place," he said. "Please make way for the 'honourable judge' so that such a thing doesn't happen. Otherwise, much hue and cry will be raised on Monday," the LF chairman said, probably in reference to the last time he had been chastised by the HC.
"The court has held the 14 March police firing at Nandigram unconstitutional and illegal and ordered the CBI to conduct a probe," Mr Shyamal Chakraborty said. "What's the point of such a probe if the HC has already made up its mind?"
"It's not the police's job to paint or act," Mr Benoy Konar said in criticism of the HC's indictment of police action on 14 March. "The 'honourable judge' must be aware that policemen escorting him carry revolvers too... It's part of their job. If your office is under attack, will you ring up Lalbazar and ask the authorities to send policemen armed with rose petals?" he said.
GOVERNOR
Mr Konar called the Governor the Trinamul's flag-bearer. “I am asking the Governor to openly act like a politician if that's what he really wants to... You are a free citizen and you can carry the flag of the Trinamul Congress.” Mr Chakraborty found it "strange" that plight of CPI-M supporters from Nandigram "compelled to flee their homes" could elicit no sympathy from the Governor during a meeting with Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi at the Raj Bhavan but the CPI-M "recapture" of Nandigram happened to be abhorrent enough to dampen the “ardour of Deepavali for Mr Gandhi. "The Governor's heart did not bleed when 27 of our party activists were killed over the past 11 months in Nandigram”, he said. In a literary faux pas, Mr Konar said: “The Governor’s actions remind me of what Lord of Chateau Noir, a character in Dickens' David Copperfield, said:"'I can endure your brutality not your hypocrisy'." Apparently, it did not occur to Mr Konar that the Lord of Chateau Noir was a creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and not Charles Dickens.
INTELLECTUALS
The silent march of the intellectuals seems to have riled the CPI-M leadership to no end. “A woman film director who participated in the march has asked what do I know of Nandigram,” Mr Bose said. “Unlike her, I do not stay in a south Kolkata mansion... Had she been a true buddhijibi (intellectual), she would have sympathised with the plight of our party activists living in refugee camps for the past 11 months,” he said.
“Buddhijibi buddhiman, sujog pele kore khan (Intellectuals are intelligent, they strike when the iron is hot), ” rhymed Mr Konar quoting a junior comrade. But the true intellectuals should be like the third eye of a God, as it is this eye of knowledge which lets the society progress, he said, making an astounding statement for a self-proclaimed atheist. “These intellectuals are like fledglings who are fed by their parents. The feeding is done by television channels and dailies,” he felt.
MEDIA
Some print and electronic media houses got a tongue lashing from CPI-M leaders at the meeting. “Some channels and dailies are spreading canards against us,” Mr Chakraborty said. “The media was silent when buddhijibis choked the streets. But it was strident in its criticism of the way Buddhajibis ‘held up traffic’ when they took out a procession,” Mr Bose said. Emboldened by the leaders’ media bashing, some cadres rose to the occasion, heckling reporters present in a burst of noise. “Sit down, do not heckle the media (henostha korben na)” Mr Bose said to calm the cadres.

Discussion on this Pageone item
Disclaimer: These are Internet generated discussion threads for which the The Statesman has no responsibility.

RE:Marxists maul all in the way
It is all fair if you are a CPM. Whatever you do, whatever, is fair. Because, CPM cannot do anything wrong. If a Governer protects CPM, that is fair. If a PM licks CPM, that is fair. If a president fa
To CPM democracy is money but they shout for the benefit of poor to win the election. CPM leaders are bunch of opportunistic people who maintains WB as a money making machine for the last 30 years. It is difficult for them to lose that luxury and comfort.

RE:Marxists maul all in the way
To the first writer: When people lose all honesty and decency they will lie, distort facts, blame everyone who oppose them. Like a thief, rapist or murderer, initially they oppose their misdeeds but a
Honourable HC, you say 14 March Police Firing was unjustified. Would you please clarify whether the murder of 32 CPI(M) workers and eviction of CPI(M) was justified or unjustified?
Of course, both Trinamul and CPI(M) used violence. Why is the CPI(M) being singled out when it comes to criticism? Has the honourable HC forgotten that as the judiciary it must carry out its actions i
"Buddhijibi buddhiman, sujog pele kore khan" - Well said. Buddhijibis lost their Buddhi and were Buddhihin for the last 11 months. Only after the recapture of Nandigram by CPI(M) have they found their Buddhi.
Its a sacrilege to even sympathise for the 2500 CPI(M) refugees. It is a sin to even grieve for 32 CPI(M) dead. If you do, you are branded a murderer, rapist, hoodlum. Let hundreds of CPI(M) supporter
Let there be no industrialisation. Let the masses continue ploughing the fields and remain poor. Who benefits if the masses remain poor and there is cheap labour? The very people who are criticising Buddha today.
Naturally, everyone wants to buy cheap vegetables, hire cheap maidservant to clean ones house or ride the rickshaw for a cheap fare. The enlightened critics of Buddha will be the most affected if the
RE:Marxists maul all in the way
Industrialisation is necessary, as the CPM fools have realised 30 years late, but not at the cost of fertile multicrop land of a large number of farmers. The job of the Govt was to build infrastructur
TO BUDDHA, KONAR, SHYAMAL AND BIMAN: AAR SAFAI GEYO NA : NACHTE NA JANLE UTHONER DOSH: CPM LEADERS FIND FAULTS ON EVERY ONE RANGING FROM HC, GOVERNORS, OPPOSITION, INTELLECTS, POLICE, PROFESSORS, WELL FILM ARTISTS, MEDIA, HOME SECRETARY
BUT CPM NEVER INVESTIGATE OWN FAULTS. SO MANY PEOPLE CAN NOT BE WRONG. CPM LEADERS NEVER SEE BEYOND THEIR CADRES. THEY ARE BEST EXPLAINED AS BENGALI PROVERB: NACHTE NA JANLE UTHONER DOSH:
RE:Marxists maul all in the way
Role of media in west bengal about Nandigram issue is really deplorable. Let the media be judgmental instead of instigating violence. Most of the TV channels and Newspapers are not objective in their
To Aparna Sen
Hi Aparna, Why you were silent during durgapuja and Id when 3000 evicted people of Nandigram could not celebrate any occasion ?Were not they supposed to have food,shelter ? Why We do not see any prot
RE:Marxists maul all in the way
To CPM democracy is money but they shout for the benefit of poor to win the election. They became rich in the name of poor. Can we have the wealth-list of all the CPM leaders before and after joining
RE:Marxists maul all in the way
"the murder of 32 CPI(M) workers and eviction of CPI(M)". A Villager account - (1) Murder of Shankar Samanta(CPM leader cum goon) & his brother count two. These goons killed four innocent villagers wi
Opposition, LF allies
KOLKATA, Nov. 17: The diatribe against the judiciary, Governor and the intellectuals by the CPI-M leadership has been criticised not only by the Opposition but also by Left Front partners. Mr Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition said: “These statements are instigation to the armed cadres of CPI-M. Earlier their attacks were directed against the opposition but now it is being directed towards the intellectuals, Governor and their latest victim is the judiciary. With things going wrong it has disturbed the mental and political balance of CPI-M leaders.” Mr Kshiti Goswami, RSP leader and state PWD minister said such statements were against any class struggle and the rightist reactionary forces would be taking advantage of such a situation. “Such statements would only provoke their cadres and might lead to a bloodshed. How can they attack the people of civil society who had once helped us to come to power? Or even the judiciary or the Governor who has a distinguished background? This kind of arrogance does not suit a party after being in power only in a federal state without any influence outside its borders.” Although choosing to remain silent on the attacks on Governor, judiciary and intellectuals, the CPI state secretary, Mr Manju Kumar Majumder reminded the CPI-M leadership that other Front allies are as important as the CPI-M to keep the Left Front going. “It is imperative that other front partners should not be weakened to ensure a strong Left Front,” he said. Incidentally, Mr Benoy Konar had said if CPI-M showed signs of weakness it would not strengthen the Left Front. The leader of the Congress legislative party Dr Manas Bhuniya said: “The CPI-M have lost their heads after the latest judgement of the Calcutta High Court.”SNS

Left Sticks to Shameless Defence of Nandigram Recapture! Soap Opera On
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
Left Sticks to Shameless Defence of Nandigram Recapture! While the other part of the Ruling Manusmriti Hegemony, comprising Congress as well as NDA play well the Parialmentary Opera! In New Delhi,Stepping up pressure on CPI(M) on Nandigram issue, a delegation of Congress leaders including Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Priyaranjan Dasmunsi on Sunday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and suggested a high-level team be sent to the area to assess the situation.The delegation which also included Manas Bhuiyan, Congress Legislature Party leader and Pradip Bhattarcharya, Working President of PCC, earlier met senior AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, in charge of party affairs in the state, who assured that she would place their demand before the party.
Coming down heavily on the CPI(M), the Congress had on Saturday accused the major Left party of putting the interests of its cadres above that of the people in Nandigram.
In a resolution adopted at the session, the party expressed concern over the "grave situation" in Nandigram, where the state government's writ "appears to have ceased to run." The party also 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," the AICC resolution said.
In her inaugural address, Gandhi too referred to the "major challenges" faced by the party in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, saying there was no alternative to Congress workers but to keep aside their differences and put up a united fight.

Nandigram: Kolkata sheds tears
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/14look2.htm
Nandigram recapture defended at Left conference
Shut up or ship out
Party targets governor & court
The CPM today accused governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi of “hypocrisy” and asked him to quit Raj Bhavan and join the Trinamul Congress. ... | Read..
http://www.telegraphindia.com/section/frontpage/index.asp
Dacoit in Red army
The CPM’s “us” may not all have been party cadres. ... | Read..
http://www.telegraphindia.com/section/frontpage/index.asp
Boy hit with bullet in Nandigram, escapes miraculously
Nandigram : For 11-year-old Bulu Mir, it was a miraculous escape as he recovered from a fatal bullet injury and is still grappling to come in terms with the reality. On October 27, he was playing with his sister in the courtyard of his Satengabri home in Nandigram when a bullet sprayed and hit him in the left side of the skull. As he lay bleeding in his courtyard, Bulu was initially given up for dead, but was rushed to the Nandigram hospital from where he was shifted to Tamluk hospital and later, to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. Returning from the jaws of death, Bulu was released from SSKM Hospital on Friday and is lodged with his mother Anjuman Bibi at the Brajamohan Tiwari School relief camp here. His psychological scars, however, are yet to heal.
"I am a student of Rajaramchak Primary School. I am not involved in any movement. I was playing with my sister when something hit me in the head. I don't know what happened," Bulu told PTI in broken sentences at the relief camp, his mother by his side.
Biswanath Paria, heading the voluntary medical camp at the school, said it would take some time for Bulu to recover completely and lack of proper medicare facilities here may delay recovery.
Although Bulu wants to go home, his mother Anjuman Bibi is not very keen. "I am afraid to leave this camp. Since the day this happened to Bulu, I have no news of my husband Sharafat Ali and my five daughters. I do not know what will happen to us once we go home," she said.
Cooch Behar(W (PTI): Left leaders at a meeting here on Saturday defended the recapture of Nandigram by the CPI(M).
If recapturing was wrong, was it correct on the part of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), the anti-land acquisition front, to capture vast areas of Nandigram, the Left leaders said while defending the party's role at the Coochbehar district conference of the state co-ordination committee here on Saturday.
Cooch Behar MP (Rajya Sabha) and CITU leader Tarini Roy said a large number of people were rendered homeless at Nandigram for over eleven months.
During this time, the administration, he said, had done nothing to send back the homeless to their homes. "At last the CPI-M had to take up the matter in the interest of the people", he said.
On the Nandigram issue, he said, the CPI(M) was engaged in organising public opinion by highlighting the actual situation.
Assistant secretary of the state co-ordination committee Manoj Kanti Guha said 28 persons had been killed in Nandigram since January 3 this year, but no one raised a hue and cry .
"Now the CPI(M) is being blamed for recapturing the area from where they were forcibly driven out", he said.
New delhi:Hitting back at the intellectuals who criticised the Bengal government on the Nandigram issue, senior Communist Party of India - Marxist leader Brinda Karat on Sunday said that she was puzzled by their silence when hundreds of villagers were not allowed entry for the past several months.
The party politburo member said that they did not raise their voice when over 3,500 villagers were living in camps for about 11 months and denied entry to Nandigram.
"I respect the works of many of these intellectuals and artists. But I am a little bit puzzled. For 11 months, when 3,500 people were out in the camps, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said it was a drama. Did they accept that?" said Brinda.
"Where were they? I want to know. I am puzzled about that," she said.
Asked about noted historian Sumit Sarkar's criticism of the CPI-M, she said that she did not want to go into the criticism raised by individuals.
Defending party colleague Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Brinda said he is the only chief minister in the country who had
declared that there will be no land acquisition if people do not want it.
"He has the support of the people of Bengal. This is the only chief minister who attempted to bring the opposition to
confidence. But there is a motivated political alliance from Maoists to BJP to Congress to Trinamool who oppose him," she said.
Asked whether her party was embarrassed at the developments in Nandigram, Brinda said, "It is not a question
of embarrassment, but it is a question of concern."
She alleged that there was a lot of misreporting of the incidents in Nandigram.
"There has been one-sided reporting. That is why I am saying we are concerned. CPI-M cadres were at the receiving
end for the last 11 months," she said.
Asked about rape of women in Nandigram, the 59-year-old leader said if there is any veracity in these reports, the
West Bengal government will take strict and stringent action against the culprits.
Narendra 'Newton' Buddhadeb

Sumit Bhattacharya
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/16sumit.htm
Over the second weekend of November, when the rest of India was pondering the box-office fate of two self-indulgent Hindi movies, Indian democracy was being raped, pillaged and murdered in Nandigram, the cluster of villages in West Bengal that has seen terrorism of a unique kind over a violent anti-land acquisition struggle all of this year.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist wears its secular heart on its sleeve. It likes to point out Gujarat 2002 as evidence of the horror of the Right even in the new millennium. It wants the Tehelka sting on the Gujarat riots discussed in Parliament, but maintains what happened in Nandigram is a state subject.
It is not. Nandigram is as much a blot on India in the new millennium as Gujarat 2002. Both massacres are similar. Very similar.
They both happened during the reign of chief ministers seen as bigger than the party they lead, chief ministers who are seen as pro-development, even ruthlessly so.
And in both, the perpetrators of State terror will point at precursor events as justification. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its saffron cohorts will always point at Godhra and the people killed every time anyone says 'riots.' The CPI-M will always point at its cadres being driven out of Nandigram. The BJP will scream 'premeditated jihadi terrorism,' the CPI-M will shout 'Maoists.'
Heed the statements of Narendra Modi and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Modi gave 'every action will have an equal and opposite reaction' a whole new sinister meaning, and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has gone on record that what happened in Nandigram is payback by the same coin. Isaac Newton, RIP.
So, next time there is jihadi terrorism or Maoist violence, the solution, it follows from Narendra Newton Buddhadeb, is giving a free hand to private armies -- to rape, to burn, to kill.
Look at the images from Gujarat 2002 and Nandigram 2007: cadres on bikes, headbands, armbands, arms. Only the colour has changed: from saffron to red.
The Babu Bajrangis of Gujarat will find blood brothers in the likes of Shukur Ali and Tapan Ghosh ? CPI-M 'leaders' from West Midnapore ? against whom there are non-bailable arrest warrants, but who an entire state police can't find and arrest. There are shouts and murmurs that the two were caught smuggling half-dead bodies from Nandigram to show the body count as less, and then eventually arrested under different names, and that their identities were revealed in a district court. Yes, unofficial reports peg the death toll in the Nandigram massacre to nearly triple digits.
The Communists think they have monopoly over facts. That is why their cadres are now going around Nandigram pointing out stockpiles of ammunition and landmines to journalists and the CRPF as proof that Nandigram was a Maoist uprising. Never mind their own guns. Never mind that the media, activists and Central forces were not allowed access to Nandigram when it was burning. Just imagine, in an age when a star catching a cold will likely be 'breaking news,' there were no images from Nandigram before the media was 'allowed' in.
There is a Central Bureau of Investigation report with the Calcutta high court chief justice on a 'police firing' in Nandigram earlier this year. Maybe it will point us to what really happened in Nandigram, not just this November, but before that.
Ironically, the 300,000-plus voters of Nandigram make up what is called a red stronghold. If in such a stronghold a cluster of villages can hold out against an entire state government's might for nearly a year, what exactly was the government doing besides its leaders issuing statements like 'we will make life hell for them'?
Fact is, to stand up to the CPI-M in West Bengal is to stand up to terror. Terror that is as subtle as it is sinister. If you are anti-CPI-M, you will not get water in your village house. You will not get a School Service Commission job. Even if you do, you will be posted to the back of beyond. It is all cloak and dagger, it is all about where your loyalty lies. The grassroot organisational make up of the CPI-M in West Bengal has striking similarities with the one organisation the Communists love to hate, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In every para -- Bengali for neighbourhood -- there are CPI-M dadas who are the custodians of right and wrong.
In Kolkata now, the battle-lines are being drawn. The 'intellectuals' coming out in protest against Nandigram will be countered with 'intellectuals' who owe their existence to the Communists. Processions will be countered by processions. Propaganda will be countered by propaganda.
These are Frankensteins of our own making.
The CPI-M came to power against the backdrop of State terror unleashed by the Congress. It empowered the villagers with its pioneering land reforms. And now, with its over two decades of social engineering having borne fruit in a brilliant brain-washing machine -- mogoj dholai, as articulated so well by a fellow 'Bong' colleague -- it is showing its fangs.
The Communist West Bengal government is following a policy of State terror best articulated by George W Bush [Images], the man who is a metaphor for everything they oppose: You are either with us, or against us.
Meanwhile, cry, India.
On second thoughts, don't; the Sensex must have touched 30,000 by now. Or some movie stars must be fighting a cold war. Or some NRI somewhere must be having a gala marriage.

CRPF asked to relocate camps elsewhere in Nandigram
Nandigram : In a move apparently aimed at clipping of the wings of the CRPF deployed in Nandigram, the West Bengal government has asked the central paramilitary force to shift all their five camps from present locations and to work under areas of responsibility assigned by the district police chief.
"We have been asked by the DGP, West Bengal, to shift our five camps from the present location. We have also been asked to work in the area of responsibility to be assigned by East Midnapore SP S S Panda," CRPF's deputy inspector general Alok Raj told PTI.
After armed CPI(M) cadres recaptured Nandigram from its rival Bhumo Uchched Pratirodh Committee backed by Trinamnool Congress, the CRPF has camps in Nandigram, Gokulnagar and Rajaram Chowk, besides Khodambari-I and II.
As per the DGP's instructions, the Nandigram camp is to be shifted to Temgua, the Gokulnagar camp to Pankhai, the Rajaram Chowk camp to Jellingham, Khodambari-I camp to Teropeksha and Khodambari-II to Khejuri Mahila Vidyapith.
The CRPF women's company has been asked to shift from Nakuri to Chandipur, he said.
Till now, the CRPF, which had set up camps at the present locations at the instruction of the DGP had been working independently as per the area of operation given to it by the administration, Raj said.
Asked why the forces were being shifted, Raj, who attended a meeting with the DGP at Nandigram police station, pleaded ignorance. "We had set up camps here on being asked by the DGP to do so. I don't understand why we are being asked to shift now.
Raj said the CRPF had asked the DGP to allow it to set up a camp at Takapur where locals were pleading for one but the request had been rejected.
"Our first duty now would be to shift the camps. We shall then work as per the area of responsibility to be given by the SP," he said.
Since their deployment at Nandigram, the CRPF had been able to bring back confidence among the local people.
On Friday, CRPF's additional director-general N R Das had said it would ensure normalcy in Nandigram.
After warning CPI(M)'s cadres riding on motorcycles and trying to dominate the area, the CRPF apprehended one of the bikers on Saturday as his vehicle did not have a number plate.
No help, force cries foul
- CRPF stresses need to set up camps in interiors
KINSUK BASU
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/bengal/story_8562013.asp
CRPF men patrol the Bhangabera bridge on Saturday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha
Nandigram, Nov. 17: The CRPF today said it was difficult to fan out in the interiors of Nandigram in the absence of adequate support from the district administration, particularly police.
Five days after trooping into the land battle zone, the central force today vented its frustration at a meeting with senior state police officers, including Sujit Sarkar, additional director-general (intelligence), and Vageesh Mishra, ADG (railways).
The CRPF officers said it was necessary for the force to dig deep into the terror-torn pockets but it could not do so without the administration providing the infrastructure to set up camps.
The decision to set up camps, sources said, followed appeals from several Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee members, who said they wanted to return home in the presence of the central force.
“People at Satengabari and Ranichawk said they were keen to return. It is harvest time for many and they wanted us there while they arrived home. But we need some basic support to keep our men there,” said a senior CRPF officer.
The CRPF has set up five camps, but they aren’t of much use as they are located in places where there is hardly any trouble, the officers said. For instance, the camp of the women’s battalion is in Tamluk, 65km away from Nandigram. Another camp is in Nandigram town, which is largely trouble-free, and two have been set up in Khodambari, which has not seen much violence either.
“What we need to do is set up camps in the interiors where fear is lurking in every corner,” a CRPF officer said. “We need to set up at least three camps in the interiors, including one in Khejuri.”
Today’s high-level meeting was the first the CRPF has held with the state police since arriving in the state on Mission Nandigram.
The police officers assured support to the central force and suggested joint combing operations to flush out outsiders. It was decided at the meeting that four new camps would be set up.
“We want to move into some of the pockets immediately and need logistics support, including accommodation. Given the number of phone calls we receive from different areas, it appears the women’s regiment in Tamluk cannot stay put in one place for days,” said Alok Raj, the CRPF DIG.
“We hope things will work out,” he added.
Raj had yesterday written to the district police chief, S.S. Panda, for help in setting up a camp at Takapura.

Hooded hunter’ in net, rape cry rings again
A STAFF REPORTER
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/bengal/story_8562011.asp
Nandigram, Nov. 17: The CRPF today caught a 29-year-old suspect in the alleged rape of a Satengabari resident and her two daughters as another woman accused CPM workers of raping her.
Anup Karan alias Bachchu, believed to be one of the CPM’s hooded hunters, was handed over to Nandigram police after CRPF jawans caught him “moving suspiciously” outside a relief camp of the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee.
The jawans — on duty at Nandigram Bazaar, yards from the police station — swooped on Anup around 10.15 this morning as he was circling the relief camp in a new motorbike that had no registration number — a trademark of the hooded hunters.
Anup tried to speed off. The jawans gave chase and grabbed him as he struggled to wriggle through the morning market crowd.
When Anup failed to produce the bike’s papers, the jawans took him to the police station.
A relative of the rape victim later came to the police station and identified Anup. The police will meet the woman, lying in a Tamluk hospital, on Sunday and ask her if she can identify him from his photograph. She and her daughters were allegedly raped on Monday.
Anup’s arrest came hours before a housewife from Garupara turned up at the Nandigram School relief camp, where her husband has been staying, and alleged that she was gangraped by CPM workers twice, on Wednesday and Thursday. She was alone at home. Her three sons and two daughters are staying with relatives.
Dressed in a crumpled yellow saree, the woman broke down when she saw her husband at the camp.
She alleged that three CPM workers had barged into her house on Wednesday and raped her. The next day, four others attacked her. Fearing that she was being watched, she did not dare go out of her house the next day.
“Today, I took some grains, and on the pretext of getting it chaffed, sneaked out. I took a trekker and somehow reached my husband, who has been in the camp since Sunday,” the woman said.
The couple do not want to return home now. The police have lodged a case and sent the woman for medical tests.

Hot-blooded, cold-blooded and blue-blooded

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
Army chief warns over troop morale
The head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, has expressed concern over troops' morale and the strain placed on resources by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Advertisement)
His comments came in an internal report leaked to the Sunday Telegraph, in which the chief of the general staff said troops felt "devalued, angry" and were "suffering from fatigue".
Saying that the military covenant was "clearly out of kilter", he went on: "We must strive to give individuals and units ample recuperation time between operations, but I do no underestimate how difficult this will be to achieve whilst under-manned and with less robust establishments than I would like."
The report, drawn up for General Dannatt and entitled Staff Briefing Team Report for 2007, said the present level of operations was "unsustainable", the Army "undermanned" and increasing numbers of troops were "disillusioned" with service life.
The general also said that operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are putting soldiers and their families under "great pressure", and their long-term impact is "mortgaging the good will of our people".
The report, drawn up following interviews with thousands of soldiers and their families, said in terms of "overstretch" that "the tank of goodwill now runs on vapour; many experienced staff are talking of leaving".
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: "The only conclusion anyone can come to now is that the Army is too small and under-resourced for the tasks it is being asked to carry out.
"The utter disjunction between Labour's foreign and defence policies is now laid bare for all to see.
"What is worse is our inability to keep some of our most experienced personnel, which will have a knock-one effect that could keep the Army in crisis for years to come."
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: "These powerful views from our troops confirm what many alarmed commentators have said for several years.
"The fact that General Dannatt as head of the Army is prepared to present them in this way, and add some telling remarks of his own, shows just how bad things have become."
His Highness at the Summit
Op_ed
By Ben Tanosborn
Translation
http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18015/26/

Hot-blooded, cold-blooded and blue-blooded
If you are part of a noble lineage, or so consider yourself, you can be hot-blooded, cold-blooded

The Left is determined to oppose this deal and we think it is bad for our country!
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
N-deal won't affect India's atomic programme: Sonia
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday came out in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal saying it would have no impact on India's atomic programme, but enable the country to acquire fuel and technology and help in getting much-needed electricity for faster growth.A day after Left parties gave clearance to the government to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency for working out India-specific safeguards agreement, she told the All India Congress Committee meeting that there were differences with the outside allies but efforts were on to evolve a consensus through discussions. While,The CPI-M on Saturday said there is no change in the Left stand in their opposition to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, a day after they allowed the Government to open nuclear safeguards talks with the IAEA.
"The Left is determined to oppose this deal and we think it is bad for our country," CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat told NDTV. Karat reminded the UPA that it is a coalition government and said it will have to come to terms with the "fact that a majority" of the political parties and Members of Parliament do not want the deal to go ahead.
Meanwhile,terming it 'wrong' on the part of the UPA to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, BJP President Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the decision to sign the pact had been taken without consulting the party.
"The UPA government's progress towards signing of the deal is wrong...it is not good for the future of the country," Singh said addressing the party's 'yuva garjana rally' to kickstart the party's campaign for the second phase of assembly elections in the state here.
Asserting that the deal would 'jeopardise' the country's right to develop nuclear energy on its own in the future he said the decision to go ahead with the pact had been taken without taking the BJP into confidence. Praising the previous NDA regime Singh said the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had the 'unbending will' and 'guts' to go for nuclear testing at Pokharan and face the US sanctions which followed.
To a query that India had an international commitment to see that the deal is implemented, Karat said " no agreement can be put above Parliament and the interest of this country."
Asked for his response on the planned Indo-Russian nuclear agreement not being signed during the recent visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Moscow, Singh said "the inference is clear. This government(UPA) does not want to displease the Americans."

In Karat's view, India should have gone ahead with the agreement just as it did with the US on the 123 agreement.
Since the Government was in any case approaching the IAEA for India-specific nuclear safeguards talks it could have gone with the Russian agreement too, he said.
"The IAEA could have been told that India wants to put the reactors which Russia is supplying also under safeguards," he added.
""Why is it that we are totally reliant on one bilateral agreement--the 123 agreement," he asked, adding that there is no "Russian Hyde Act" which may put brakes on future nuclear tests by India.
"There is no Russian Hyde Act and we are not going to the IAEA for the Russian agreement but we still want to go for the 123 agreement," he added.
Endorsing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurance to the country that the agreement would not in any way affect the strategic nuclear programme, Sonia said from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, their policy was one of self-reliance.
"But international cooperation on our own terms is an inalienable part of this policy of self-reliance," she said, amidst applause from the gathering of Congress delegates from all over the country.
The deal, she said, was aimed at getting the much-needed power for industry, agriculture, cities and rural areas through the help of several friendly countries.
At the same time, Gandhi said that the Congress was committed to a comprehensive universal nuclear disarmament, an action plan of which was presented by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the United Nations in 1988.
The plan is now getting new supporters and 'our government is taking it forward,' the UPA chairperson said.
The prime minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, Congress Working Committee members, state presidents and AICC office-bearers were among those present at the day-long meeting, the first after Hyderabad Congress plenary in January last year.
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal
By Rohini Hensman
http://mwcnews.net/content/view/18140/26/
With the parliamentary debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal now scheduled for 27-28 November 2007, the fate of the deal hangs in the balance. Opposition to the deal has come from three distinct quarters, but the reasons for opposition overlap. The main complaint of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the deal is that it will open up part of India’s nuclear programme to international scrutiny and compro