Palash Speaks

Crude bombs flied: Chhattisgarh to Nandigram
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Crude bombs flied: Chhattisgarh to Nandigram
CRPF on Nov 30 seized five crude bombs in Nandigram’s Janani brick Kiln which is located close to Khejuri, a CPI (M) stronghold.
It was the same Janani brick kiln from where the CBI had arrested 10 persons with huge cache of arms and ammunition on March 17 after the agency was entrusted with the task of probing the March 14 police firing at Nandigram.

Hit is alleged that Left, so called Human activists, NGOs, Intellectuals, Congress are active to oppose the BJP led Chhattisgarh Govt for its policy of ‘salva judum’. Few days back a collector described a Congress leader as'naxalite sympathiser'.
RPF DIG Alok Raj, who led the operation, said that the bombs were immediately defused and would be handed over to the local police later. Sniffer dog Bhukan, brought from Chhattisgarh, spotted the bombs concealed under a heap of bricks at the kiln.

Despite millions spent on sophisticated explosive detection machines, experts agree that the snout of a hunting dog is the best equipment to find bombs.
Bhukan, a male dog of the CRPF, had helped the central police force in the recovery of 72 mines in maoist-infested areas of Chhattisgarh recently, Raj said.
It is unfortunate that on Nov 28 due to land mine blast 10 police personals and two villagers including a child have been killed.
The CRPF DIG said that his force would continue search operations in areas rocked by the series of violence. Meanwhile, the CBI team has gone to affected areas as part of its investigation.
Apart from Gokulnagar, Bhangabera, Satengabari, Sonachura and Garchakraberia, where simmering tension still prevailed, normalcy was gradually returning to embattled Nandigram.

Lok Sabha condemns Chhatisgarh landmine attack
Raipur, CGnews:The Lok Sabha today condemned the landmine attack in Chhattisgarh in which 12 people, Ten personnel of the 2nd Mizoram India Reserve Battalion, currently deployed in Chhattisgarh, were killed.
"The House condemns such acts of violence perpetrated against innocent people and the law enforcing agencies," Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal said.
Members stood in silence for a short while as a mark of respect in the memory of the departed.
Twelve people, including 10 jawans of the Second Mizoram Reserve Police Battalion, were killed in a landmine blast at Dantewara district in Chhatisgarh yesterday.

Bookies ride on MODI: In future on Nuke deal
http://www.newsanalysisindia.com/130112007.htm
By - Premendra Agrawal

Tags: Raipur; thechhattisgarh; Bookie; Modi fever; Satta; Cricket; Punters; Election Bet; Nuke dea;l Horse race; Swiss; Kickback; Akib Bhai; Gujarat; Godhra; BJP; Assembly Election; Bush; US; tag this
Now satta fever is high on Narendra Modi, not cricket and in future it would be on Nuke Deal.

Nuke Deal is future option for Bookies
Betting is going on outside and inside Lok Sabha on the Nuke Deal. The time Political circle is betting cons and pros of the Indo-US Nuke Deal. In future there may be satta on this issue. After all it is an International issue. More importantly this issue relates to the sovereignty of our nation on nuke and foreign policy. We can’t mortgage both to please an Italian origin Congress queen. Nuke deal nukes Nandigram
US media reported: Bush administration, which has bet the ranch on a war in Iraq based on wildly unrealistic assumptions, has, in effect, doubled this bet on the nuclear deal with India. This time around, the administration is betting that the up-side potential of transformed US-India ties is quite high, while the down-side risks to proliferation can be contained.
Bookies ride high on Modi fever
By - Premendra Agrawal

Tags: Raipur; thechhattisgarh; Bookie; Modi fever; Satta; Cricket; Punters; Election Bet; Nuke dea;l Horse race; Swiss; Kickback; Akib Bhai; Gujarat; Godhra; BJP; Assembly Election; Bush; US; tag this

Sadarbazar of Raipur in thechhattisgarh has emerged as a favourite ground for bookies guided and controlled by Middle East-based big punters. They run the betting market through a chain of collection centres in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has become an exception, with bookies betting heavily on his chances of retaining power in the assembly polls next month.
'Due to Modi's alleged role in the post-Godhra carnage on minorities in Gujarat, people living in India or abroad are strongly debating the fate of Modi. That's why the betting market has collected Rs.510 million on his fate in just one week,' said Raja.
Before this betting on elections is organised from Delhi and Mumbai only, the satta operators have their local connections who accept the bids.
While for cricket the bets are accepted by local bookies, election bets are being managed by some influential satta operators from Delhi and Mumbai. Sources having association with people who place bets revealed that for the Congress, the satta operators had fixed 40-43 seats. Betters will either place bets for less than 40 seats or 42 or more seats. Again if the Congress gets 40 or 42 seats, nobody will win and the money will go to the bookies.
The sources clarified that no manipulations were involved since the stakes were too high to leave any scope for maneuvering. “It is not possible for anyone to influence the satta market. It operates on its own, since nobody can risk setting wrong stakes which might lead to massive losses”, a source clarified.
Satta operators fix the rates and number of seats a party or alliance is going to win through their good connections. Bookies also take inputs from mediapersons who indicate trends about the chances of different political parties. Even the contesting parties take a regular feedback from the satta market, which they believe indicates credible trends.
The satta election network is said to be the same as that of cricket. Since in this type of betting the bets are made verbally, the credibility of the person placing these is essential. For this the satta operators are reportedly taking the services of local bookies, who are acting as commission agents.
The satta operators keep monitoring the situation and the rates keep varying, depending on the changing prospects of different parties.
Akib Bhai, a top punter in Sadar Bazar in the Chhattisgarh capital, told IANS: 'Narendra Modi, who is seeking to retain power for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the assembly polls, has created a sensation in the betting market.
'During just the past one week, the market has collected Rs.510 million from over 33,000 bookies through 18,000 centres on whether Modi will be able to install the saffron government again.'
According to betting market sources, the big bulls are promising punters that their money will be doubled if Modi manages to win 100-120 seats. If he manages a two-thirds majority, the returns will be four times the bet.
If the BJP gets a simple majority (between 91-100), the punters will get back 20 per cent more than what they bet on Modi.
However, if he is restricted to 60-80 seats, the punters would get only 60 per cent of the bet back.
'Out of over 33,000 bookies who had staked their amount till Nov 27 morning, 72 percent brought in money predicting the BJP's final figure will be between 100-120,' said a source.
Kickback horse race Pune to Swiss
Gambling in India is not legal and as such there are no casinos in India legally. But betting on horce races has been legalised. Other than lotteries, legalised gambling in India is only limited to betting on horse-racing on the pretext of horce racing being a "skill".
Rs 35000 cr of Pune’s Racehorse owner Hasa Ali is frozen in Swiss Bank; Swiss is heaven for Eco-criminals as Quattrocchi, 10 Janpath fame nearest of Gandhi dynasty. Bil Clinton pardoned Bandit Mark Rich. India is poor country of rich people. Mark Rich was sentenced to 325 years.
Hasan Ali of Rs 350 million in Swiss?
Feroz Khan's Dharmatma
Feroz Khan's Dharmatma had Premnath playing the matka king Ratan Khatri . The character of the protagonist in Bollywood filmmaker Feroz Khan's film Dharmatma (which was the first Indian adaption of the film The Godfather) was based on Ratan Khatri.
Satta on Cricket
In the past there was a report on an online betting racket at Nagpur has revealed that satta operations, in keeping with the times, have turned truly cyber. The ongoing India-Australia series might have thrown up new stars such as V V S Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Hemang Badani. But on the flip side, it has also come to light that the cricket satta market has gone really high-tech.
It is well established that betting on cricket, though illegal in India, is well-organised involving a whole lot of gizmos - cell phones, calculators, TV sets, computers, voice- recording facility, et al.
Bookies of cricket satta might be behind the death mysteries of Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje.
Betting on previous Punjab Assembly Election
On Feb 12, 2007 before one day of the Election Day satta men gave 41 to Congress and 74 to SAD-BJP alliance. If someone places a bet of Rs 100 for the SAD-BJP alliance winning 74 or more seats, he will get Rs 200 in return. In case the SAD-BJP alliance tally is less than 41, he will lose his money.

Elusive yeti finally tracked down in Nepal?

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
Strong quake jolts Indonesia, no tsunami
Jakarta: A powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia on Saturday, geological agencies said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered 100 kilometers from Sibolga, a city on Sumatra island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck 35 kilometers beneath the earth's surface. It earlier put the magnitude at 6.1.
The Indonesian geological agency put the quake's strength at 6.3 and said it hit at a depth of 18 kilometers. The agency did not issue a tsunami warning as the quake was too close to the coast line, said local meteorologist Ali Imron.
Elusive yeti finally tracked down in Nepal?
Kathmandu: More than 20 years after mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner became the butt of ridicule for saying he had sighted the legendary yeti in eastern Tibet, an American channel says it has come across extraordinary footsteps in north Nepal that could belong to the elusive beast.
American Sci-Fi Channel, which produces "Destination Truth" - a programme that goes on the trail of fabled birds, beasts and other creatures - returned to Kathmandu Friday after its quest for the yeti resulted in the discovery of three footprints in a river bed in Solukhumbu, the district known as the gateway to Mt Everest.
"We had been setting up infra-red cameras in different locations for three days when Tul Bahadur Rai (the crew's liaison officer) spotted the footprints," Brad Kuhlman, executive producer of the show, told IANS.
"My first reaction was, oh boy! I was amazed at coming across the pristine steps. It was like finding a needle in a haystack."
Embedded in the sandy bed of river Monju, at a height of nearly 3,000 metres, were three footprints measuring about 15 inches. The prints had five toes, in contradiction of a local legend that attributes the animal with only four toes.
"There were two rights prints and a left," Kuhlman said. "One right print is very clean with the heel dug into the ground. It was as if the animal that made the prints had jumped from the boulders surrounding the sand."
The triumphant explorers have made casts of the prints, which will be now taken to experts in the US to study and indicate what could have made them.
"We are not sure of anything," Kuhlman said when asked if he believed the prints were incontrovertible evidence that the yeti existed.
"We are only sure that what we found would be impossible to be made by humans. Though the prints do not definitively prove the existence of the yeti, they will at least raise questions and awareness," he added.
Four years ago, yeti believers were aghast when Japanese climber Makoto Nebuka triggered a fierce debate saying he had researched the yeti for 12 years and concluded that it was actually the endangered Himalayan brown bear or meti.
Messner, the daredevil Austrian mountaineer who has climbed all the 14 highest peaks in the world, however, is a champion of the yeti's existence and claims he has encountered the creature four times, once including a mother and child.
The yeti legend became known in the nineteenth century when the Sherpas' belief in an ape-like gentle creature that walked erect like man and lived in solitude among mountains reached the outside world.
The first search expeditions for the yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman and Banmanchhe - meaning creature of the jungles in Nepali - started in the 1920s but none could ferret anything more than footprints.
The American team that could have made one of the most sensational discoveries of the year now heads for Zanzibar to track down the popabowa, a vampire like bat that is believed to come out at night and attack people.
US Democrats reach fuel efficiency deal, clearing way for vote
Washington: Congressional Democrats reached a compromise to boost automobile fuel economy by 40 percent, clearing the way for a House vote probably next week on an energy bill that Democratic leaders would like to send to President Bush before Christmas.
The agreement came late Friday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reached an accord with Rep. John Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan who is a longtime protector of the auto industry that dominates his home state, to ease the impact of the new fuel economy requirements.
''A compromise has been reached on automobile fuel efficiency standards,'' Dingell announced in a statement.
Automakers would be required to meet an industry-wide average of 35 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) for cars and light trucks, including SUVs, by 2020, the first increase by the U.S. Congress in car fuel efficiency in 32 years.
With oil prices hovering near $90 a barrel and gasoline above the relatively high price of $3 a gallon (79 U.S. cents or 54 euro cents per liter) in the U.S., Democrats have been eager to send Bush a package of new energy measures.
But Democratic leaders were stymied over disagreement on the auto fuel efficiency issues as Dingell, the longest serving member of the House and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, insisted on some provisions to ease the transition for automakers.
Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement that the auto efficiency increases ''will serve as the cornerstone'' of the energy bill she intends to bring up for a vote next week.
Agreement among Democrats on the auto fuel economy issue was viewed as the key to getting the bill passed by the Senate, where opponents are sure to launch delay tactics, like prolonged debates, that would require 60 votes to overcome.
Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who strongly opposed the 35 mpg requirement when it passed the Senate in June, endorsed Friday's compromise. It ''will require new fuel economy standards that will be challenging for auto manufacturers,'' he said in a statement. ''But we got concessions on some of the most important issues.''
Under the agreement, the ability of carmakers to use production of so-called flex-fuel vehicles that run on 85 percent ethanol to offset some of the fuel efficiency increases would be extended five years, to 2014. Also, the new standards would be set on the basis of vehicle weight, giving manufactures greater flexibility to meet the requirements for SUVs and pickup trucks.
Still, the industry overall must achieve a 35 mpg average, counting all vehicles, by 2020, compared to the current requirement of 27.5 mpg (11.5 kilometers per liter) fleet average for cars, a level that has not increased since 1989, and 22 mpg (9 kpl) for SUVs, passenger vans and pickups.
Pelosi said the bill also will include a ramp up in the use of ethanol and other biofuels and a requirement for non-public electric utilities to use a minimum amount of renewable energy such as wind and solar to produce their power.
While details of those provisions were still being worked out, aides said the ethanol provision was expected to mirror Senate requirements for use of 36 billion gallons (136 billion liters) of ethanol a year by 2022, a sevenfold increase over today's productions.
Power companies would have to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy, aides close to the discussions said.
Both the Senate and House approved separate energy bills last summer, but Democratic leaders have struggled for weeks to try to work out a compromise acceptable to both chambers, and garner the 60 votes needed to survive a sure filibuster in the Senate.

Most telemarketers flouting rules
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
Govt sells 49 pc of Bharat Petroleum to Shell
New Delhi: The union cabinet on Friday approved the sale of 49 per cent equity of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to Shell or its affiliate for Rs 1.5 billion in cash.
The proposed sale will enable BPCL to withdraw from a joint venture company that has a competing business interest-- production and sale of branded lubricants in India-- and to concentrate on building and promoting its own brand of lubricants, a government spokesperson said.
Source: IANS
Sensex gains 350 points
Mumbai: Indian capital markets opened on a robust note Thursday in tune with global peers. There was buying across all sectors.
Just after the opening bell, the benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) went sharply up to 19,297.10, a rise of 358.23 points over Wednesday's close of 18,938.87 points. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also jumped by 77.50 points to 5,695.05.
The rupee appreciated by nearly eight paise against the US dollar. It was quoted at 39.7250/7300 a dollar in morning deals.
The broader indices continued to outperform the benchmark index. The BSE mid-cap index moved up by 53.94 points or 0.64 percent at 8,437.43. The BSE small-cap index also progressed 64.62 points or 1.20 percent at 10,439.92.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have pulled out funds to the tune of $43 million in equity as per numbers provided by the watchdog till now, while domestic institutional investors continued to be net buyers.
Asian markets were trading firm. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 3.32 percent or 908.71 points to 28,279.95, Japan's Nikkei rose 2.38 percent or 361.02 points to 15,514.80, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted gained two percent or 165.88 points to 8,442.14, Singapore's Straits Times advanced 2.51 percent or 84.62 points to 3,454.34 and South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 2.59 percent or 47.45 points at 1,882.14.
The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank, which moved up 4.68 percent to Rs.1,683, ICICI Bank advanced 4.59 percent to Rs.1,178.50 and Maruti Suzuki scaled up 2.85 percent to Rs.994.25.
The top losers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, down by 0.77 percent to Rs.903 and Bharat Heavy Electricals that declined 0.52 percent to Rs.2,710.50.

Source: IANS

Most telemarketers flouting rules
Mumbai: Almost 80 per cent of telemarketing firms continue to pester thousands of subscribers in blatant violation of telecom regulations.
An Indian telemarketing company makes 20 to 25 calls per “seat” (operator) and most of these companies have a minimum of 20 to 25 employees.
Even conservative estimates would peg the figure at around 30 million calls per day by all telemarketers across the country. Telemarketers sell services for everything from mobile phones to credit cards and bank accounts.
Effective October 12, 2007, it has become mandatory for telemarketing companies to register with the recently launched National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has authorised service providers to either penalise errant telemarketers with a fine of Rs 500 per unsolicited call or disconnect their lines following subscriber complaints.
However, with the regulator not fixing a deadline for registering with the NDNC, the menace is expected to continue for a while.
“Of the 55,000 to 60,000 telemarketing companies in the country, only 10,700 have registered with the NDNC. This is alarming. Only listed companies are allowed to operate while the remaining continue to make unsolicited calls to telecom subscribers,” an official with DoT confirmed.
Applications of 3,000 companies are under process and, as on November 27, the regulator had rejected 7,100 applications after preliminary verification. The unregistered companies, and those rejected, are still doing business, added the official.
A Trai official confirmed that unsolicited calls were being made by telemarketers and that it was receiving complaints from customers.
The regulator is also considering making norms stricter for telemarketing companies, while it would also double the current fine per unsolicited call to Rs 1,000.
Gaming in India set to grow 72% by 2010-11
The Indian gaming market is growing at a dizzying pace. The figures tell the story.
The Indian gaming segment comprising mobile, computer and console games and development touched Rs 192 crore in 2006, and is likely to cross Rs 1,700 crore by 2010, states Nasscom.
The compound annual growth rate is 72 per cent over 2006-2010. Industry players are more bullish. They peg the figure for 2010 at almost Rs 2,500 crore.
“Interactive online entertainment is changing the way an entire generation consumes gaming... it is expanding beyond passive consumption to include story-telling and that is where we get our casual, first-time gamers,” said Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak, which is collaborating with Intel and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), to organise a gaming summit on November 28, in Mumbai.
The summit, insists Sharma, will bring to the fore issues like retailing games both mobile and online that players haven’t been able to master.
“Zapak, which already has 10 gameplexes (dedicated cyber cafes that promote online gaming), will more than double the number in 2008. Besides, pre-paid game cards should see us reaching to the next million consumers,” he said.
Subho Ray, president, IAMAI, agrees with Zapak’s efforts to make cybercafes the ‘Mecca’ for gaming. Most of the revenues for online games come from organised cybercafés (Rs 12.17 crore), followed by subscription-based revenues (Rs 6.6 crore), and advertising (Rs 2.24 crore).
Already retailing at 1,300-odd retail shops, Zapak has been able to attract the younger crowd with a range of “easy-priced game cards”.
Zapak is also committed to invest $30 million (around Rs 120 crore) over the next two years, developing its content and delivery model in India.
Meanwhile, Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames, is busy with his own retail strategy for mobile games. “Video clips, games and advertising have been available in limited capacities on mobile phones, accessing the content has typically been cumbersome, due to slow response times, high costs, and the need for excessive clicking on the part of the consumer,” he points out.
Indiagames is ready to launch pre-programmed scratch cards and CDs in retail stores by January 2008, which will enable users to load their mobile phones with games of choice.

“These retail packs will be priced at as low as Rs 50 and will allow users to buy particular game subscription for a fixed number of hours,” said Gondal.
Investing largely in developing a business model for the online gaming platform, Zapak believes that advertising-based revenue models are not going to be on its priority lists.

“Since the gamer base is limited today, there are not many advertisers who would bet their money on in-game advertising,” Sharma reasons.
“The main driver for sustained growth in the online games market will be the continued uptake of broadband services,” according to Strategy Analytics, an international research firm.

Ray feels online gaming will accelerate in 2008 “if it were to be declared as e-Sports and all the advantages that accrue to sports are extended to online gaming as well”.

Source: BS
FDI policy review on Thursday
New Delhi: The proposed review of the FDI policy is scheduled to be taken up for consideration by the Union Cabinet this Thursday, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said.
Investments in the retail sector, however, are unlikely to be part of the revision.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed capping foreign investment at 74 per cent for scheduled airlines, chartered airlines, cargo airlines as well as ground handling services of aircraft.
Maintenance and repair operations, flying training institutes as well as helicopter and sea plane services may get FDI inflows up to 100 per cent, if the proposal is approved by the senior ministers in the Union Cabinet.
It has also been proposed to increase the equity component of foreign investment in public sector refineries to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.
India is fastest growing market for Dell
Mumbai: India has become the fastest growing market for the nearly $57 billion IT company Dell. For its third quarter of the financial year 2007, the company posted a 47 per cent growth in revenues for India compared with China’s 22 per cent growth.
The company does not disclose India revenue figures. Analysts, however, peg the figure at over Rs 2,000 crore.
“We have registered growth in all segments in India – the public sector, large corporates, small and medium businesses and the consumer segment. We’ve had demand picking up from all the 20 cities we’re present in,” said Steve Felice, president, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Dell. China’s market, though, is nearly five times bigger than that of India, so “the growth rate is maturing”.
Sales outside the US were up 16 per cent and represented 46 per cent of the company’s overall revenue, “reflecting continued strength in emerging countries”.
In Asia-Pacific and Japan, where the company is actively expanding its presence, revenue in the quarter grew by 18 per cent on a 20 per cent increase in units.
China, Brazil and India registered strong unit growth of 26, 30 and 42 per cent, respectively. Combined revenue growth from Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric) during the quarter was 32 per cent.
BS
Typhoo plans India launch
Kolkata: UK-based Typhoo Tea, which was acquired by the Apeejay Surrendra group in 2005, is eyeing an Indian launch, and may even have a manufacturing facility in the country.
Marcus Banfield, chief executive officer, Typhoo, said a couple of brands were likely to be launched in January 2008. "The research is being done, it would be in the premium segment," Banfield said.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the 11th National Conference of the National HRD Network.
Typhoo has brands like London Fruit & Herb, Heath & Heather, Melrose and Glengetti. Banfield said the Indian teabag market was growing at 40%, and with the increase in disposable income it made sense for Typhoo to tap the market.
Typhoo would also consider having a manufacturing facility in India, which would cater to the South East Asian and Australian markets. Banfield said.
Typhoo has only one manufacturing facility in the UK. Typhoo Tea has its headquarters in the UK in Moreton on the Wirral, where products are blended, packaged and sold to 39 countries across the world.Banfield said a manufacturing facility in India would give the company access to cheaper labour and logistics for export to countries closer to India.
German firm hot on India's solar energy market
New Delhi: Roth and Rau, a Germany-based solar cell manufacturing solutions provider, sees India emerging as the fourth largest generator of solar energy and a key driver of its global business in the coming years.
"Although still a small market, India is catching up fast with world majors in solar energy generation," Thomas Hengst, vice-president of Roth and Rau, said while speaking about his group's plans for India in this clean energy source.
"Roth and Rau is expecting orders worth as much as 80 million euros from India in 2008 from two million euros at present," he told IANS.
Apart from Germany, Roth and Rau supplies equipment to various countries including Japan and China.
"India still is not among the world's top 10 solar energy generators. But at the current pace of 20 per cent annual growth, India can emerge as the fourth largest generator of solar energy after Germany, Japan and China in the coming years." he added.
Hengst said his company had entered the solar equipment-manufacturing segment in India in 2004. Currently four Indian solar cell manufacturers including Central Electronics Ltd and Maharishi Solar were sourcing equipment from Roth and Rau.
According to statistics available with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), India receives solar energy equivalent of over 5,000 trillion kWh per year.
The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4-7 kWh per square metres, depending upon the location, but the high cost of equipment remains a constraint in its large-scale utilisation, officials said.
The estimated unit cost of electricity from grid connected solar energy plant is estimated at Rs 12-15 per unit, which is much higher compared to power available from other renewable energy sources like wind and biomass.
For now, solar energy systems are mainly being used for standalone applications such as lighting, telecommunication, small power requirements, battery charging, water heating and cooking.
So far, around 1.4 million solar photovoltaic systems aggregating to about 110 MW peak solar photovoltaic module capacity have been installed in the country.
In addition, about 600,000 solar cookers and 2 million square metres of collector area has been installed for solar water heating applications that is equivalent to about 1,400 MW of thermal capacity, officials said.
Source: IANS

Guj govt merchants of death: Sonia
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
Guj govt merchants of death: Sonia
Navsari: Describing Gujarat's BJP Government as "merchants of fear and death", Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday questioned the saffron party's claim that the poll-bound state had witnesses development under its rule.
"The crime against women are increasing and anti-social elements feel secure as they are getting state protection. Today the rulers of Gujarat are merchants of fear and death," she said.
Addressing a public meeting at village Jamanpada in Chikli (ST reserved) Assembly constituency in this district, Congress President Sonia Gandhi made an indirect dig at the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi when she said that a state does not progress through printing of advertisements and display of coins.
People of Gujarat want a government that does not break hearts but works to join them. "I know that the people in Gujarat are impatient for a change. A sensitive government is needed in Gujarat that can take care of all sections of people, including adivasis. I have come to seek your mandate (janadesh) so that Gujarat is once again a peaceful and progressive state," Sonia Gandhi said.
This is the only chance where you can cast your vote and bring peace to Gujarat to make it a state of prosperity and equality, Sonia said. "I am sure on the day of elections Congress would get majority and will usher in a new future for Gujarat." The Congress President arrived at the venue of the rally in a helicopter.
She was accompanied by Union Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, Gujarat Pradesh Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki and Opposition Leader in the Assembly Arjun Modhavadia.
Tehelka expose claims a victim in BJP
Calcutta News.Net
Friday 30th November, 2007 (IANS)
The Tehelka expose on the Gujarat violence seems to have taken its first toll in the run up to the assembly elections in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Godhra BJP legislator Haresh Bhatt has been denied the party ticket to contest the December ballot. Besides facing anti-incumbency and rebellion in the local unit, Bhatt was one of the prominent faces caught on the Tehelka tapes released in October.
Bhatt had reportedly talked about manufacturing and acquiring arms for use against Muslims in the riots that followed the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express Feb 27, 2002, at Godhra.
The BJP has nominated a state minister, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, to contest from Godhra, which has a lot of symbolic political relevance. Bhatt has been a former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader.
***
BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is known for his attacking batting style and also for his one-liners known as 'Sidhuisms'.
The MP from Amritsar has often raised the issue of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots while campaigning in the western lands of Saurashtra.
Swinging an imaginary cricket bat as if he is about to send the opposition for a six, he makes liberal use of 'Sidhuisms' as was seen in Amreli district.
He has particularly been harsh on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, whom he refers to as 'Rahul Baba'. Sidhu has been saying: 'Rahul Baba says the Gujarat riots would not have taken place had there been a Gandhi ruling Gujarat at that time. I say the 1984 riots would never have taken place had there been an Atal Behari Vajpayee ruling India at that time.'
Sidhu praises Chief Minister Narendra Modi sky high. 'Modi has led Gujarat like a true leader over the last seven years and he is sure to lead the state for at least 17 more years.'
***
Do minority votes count? In Gujarat they definitely seem to be counting a lot. The reason is that a very large number of Muslims will be going for Haj when the elections take place Dec 11 and 16.
According to reports, at least 1.6 million devout Muslims will be flying to Jeddah from Gujarat over the next 10 days. A large number of them are voters. It is a good guess as to who will be losing those precious votes.

SRI LANKA: Heroe's Day Speech by LTTE Leader: A Commentary
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
SRI LANKA: Heroe's Day Speech by LTTE Leader: A Commentary:
Update No. 132
By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan.
http://www.saag. org/notes5/ note419.html
The annual Heroe's Day speech of Prabakaran, the LTTE leader on 27
November 2007, that was being looked forward to, as LTTE's
assessment of the situation and its future plans, contained many
nuances, but no surprises. The full text of the speech is given as
an Appendix.
The main focus of the speech was directed to the international
community with an appeal to cease giving military and economic aid
to the Sri Lankan government and accept the right to self
determination and the sovereignty of the Tamil Nation.
My observations on the speech are
1. The address has more political content than the earlier ones and
the first one after Balasingham' s death whose input could be seen in
the earlier speeches but not this time. The first few paragraphs
give the historical and the international setting of the Tamil
struggle.
2. Indian intervention then was termed as part of one of its `
regional expansion'. This shows that the LTTE did not understand
then nor now of Indian sincerity and its efforts to find a
reasonable solution. It is conceded that the security aspects of the
Indo Sri Lanka could have been avoided but yet the main accord did
provide for the first time Indian guarantees of devolution to meet
the aspirations of the Tamils. The 13th amendment was not the best
of the document but it could have been the beginning to be built
upon. It is true that the implementation of the 13th amendment was "
blocked by the chauvinistic Sinhala State" as mentioned in the
speech, but the LTTE was equally responsible in preventing its
implementation ( recall their booklet- "13th Amendment- an
autopsy"). The LTTE took upon India which is not a small power and
without whose support there could never be a solution. Many well
wishers of the Tamil cause in India were aghast when the LTTE sought
support from the very Sinhala nation for their arms, equipment and
support in fighting the IPKF! If today we see not much of a stir
over the killing of Tamil Chelvan in India, the LTTE should have an
introspection and see what had alienated India that it does not want
to get involved at all on the Tamil question when the Tamil areas in
the east have been ravaged and civilians are getting killed everyday
due to aerial bombing.
3. It is good to see the mention of the Tamil Diaspora and its
value. The term used should have been "Sri Lankan Tamil Expatriates"
who have steadfastly supported the movement and the bulk of them
still have faith, admiration and hope that the LTTE will one day
bring justice to the Tamils. What I have seen before and see even
now is the lack of `political finesse' of the LTTE and their over
dependence on the military aspects of their struggle. It is time
they let the expats do the home work to bring an end to the war with
a solution that could be acceptable to all stake holders. Again the
Tamil National Alliance despite doubts about its credibility did try
its best to put a political "face" on behalf of LTTE. It was however
never allowed to think or work independently and the LTTE leadership
is responsible for marginalising this entity which in the beginning
showed great promise.
4. It is also true( as pointed out in the speech) that Rajapakse
government has shut fast the door for peace and it appears to be
confident of a military solution. It is also true that they have
been considerably helped by many of the countries in providing
equipment, weapons and training that is having an impact on the
ground. The LTTE appears to be most vulnerable to aerial attacks and
big bombs and high explosives are being used. The lethal nature of
the bombs could be gauged from the fact that TamilChelvan and five
others who were in a bunker were asphyxiated by a very heavy bomb
that hit directly and destroyed the entrance. It is important for
both sides to realise that there is no military solution. The
seeming military advantage the Sri Lankan Security Forces have now
is mainly due to the air superiority and if the LTTE gets hold of a
few SAMs, the military balance will be restored!
5. I mention this because, sensing victory, the Rajapakse government
is dragging its feet on the recommendations of the Vitharana report,
Report A etc etc. The All Party Committee it seems has gone on
a "holiday" as the LTTE leader has mentioned. Going back, it should
be clear to all that the Sri Lankan government has never
specifically put forward a clear and specific devolution package
except the District Development councils suggested in the Thimpu I
talks and the 13th amendment which at any rate was an Indian
enforced one. The Sri Lankan Government never responded to ISGA
proposals of the LTTE. The ISGA had many objectionable portions but
these were never discussed. Till today there has not been any
counter proposal. The international community should note this point.
6. Mention is made of Sinhalisation of the east which all reports
indicate are true. Names are being changed and the beautiful area of
Sampur and Mutur have been made high security zones. A generally
peaceful area of Batticola is now one vast refugee camp as the
people there have nowhere to go But does this not indicate the
failure of the LTTE to protect its own people? In the Sudumalai
speech, Prabakaran indicated that the responsibility of protecting
the Tamils had been given to India and yet on a messy and in my view
avoidable incident ( the Indian side is more to blame) the whole
scenario changed!
7. Three of the four Thimpu principles are once again emphasised and
any final solution will have to take into account in some form or
other, the issues relating to Tamil Home land, the Tamil Nation and
the Tamil Right to self determination. Balasingham' s earlier
conceptualisation of "internal self determination " unlike external
determination' has now been given up.
8. The Co-chairs have been accused of having failed in their
responsibility. Akashi's efforts in running from place to place have
been in vain and there is yet no coordinated and concerted call for
enforcing a cease fire by the international community. Cease fire
and Peace Process are dead for all practical purposes.
9. Finally, there is a warning to the Sri Lankan government that it
had spread its feet "too wide" and will be forced to face serious
consequences of its misguided ambitions.
The LTTE's position since the loss of the east has hardened with no
chance of coming to the negotiating table in the near future. Its
tactics will change and more incidents in the south could be
expected. Douglas Devananda escaped another effort of a suicide
bomber and there was an IED explosion in the outskirts of Colombo
killing innocent civilians two days ago This is probably in
retaliation to the bombing on the day of the speech when many
civilians were killed in the LTTE controlled area.
If the LTTE wants the international community to understand them and
help them, they should first stop the politics of assassination.
Douglas is just a tiny cog in the big wheel of Tamil nationalism and
his elimination is not going make the situation easier even for the
LTTE.
Prabakaran has always maintained that the "Sinhala Nation" can never
be trusted and will never yield any space to the Tamils to meet
their aspirations. The Sri Lankan Government is doing its best to
prove this point. It is still not too late for the Sri Lankan
government to gives up its military option and go for a generous
political package no matter what the JVP or the JHU has to say on
this issue.
Till that time, the violence that has now been unleashed will keep
spiralling and may get out of hand if saner voices do not intervene.
Appendix:
The full text of the Heroe's day speech is given herewith.
The 21st century began as the `Asian century' and the world is
looking towards Asia. Many countries in our region have grown in
leaps and bounds in social, economical and scientific fields. They
are researching space, moon and atom. The whole human race is taking
up new challenges and has embarked on a united path, seeking answers
to many of nature's mysteries and looking for remedies to incurable
diseases. It is seeking to protect the entire globe and its plant
and animal lives. Sadly, the Sinhala nation is moving in exactly the
opposite direction, on a path of destruction. It is trying to
destroy the Tamil nation and, in the process, it is destroying
itself. This beautiful island continues to soak in blood.
Buddhism is a profound spiritual duty. Its philosophy emphasizes a
life without desires, a life of love and justice. The Sinhala
nation, claiming that it has followed this path for more than two
thousand years, has in fact remained immersed in the poison of
racism. It is unleashing unthinkable violence against another
people. During the long history of the Tamil struggle, first through
non-violence and later through armed struggle, the Sinhala mindset
has remained unchanged. The Sinhala nation did not change even after
so much destruction and lost lives. It continues on the path of
violence. It only desires to find a solution to the Tamil question
through military might and oppression. It cunningly evaded efforts
to seek peace and is boldly taking forward its military plan. The
international community's economic and military aid, its moral and
political support, its diplomatic efforts, and its one-sided
involvement directly aided this turn of events.
We know very well that the military, economic and geo-political
interests of the world's powers are embedded in our region. We
understand their concern to take forward their interests. We also
recognize the concerns of the international community to bring about
stability and good governance to this island for these reasons. At
the same time the chauvinistic Sinhala State is attempting to
exploit this interest in our region of the international powers. It
is trapping the international community in its chauvinistic project
and turning the international community against the Tamil freedom
struggle. Our people are dismayed and disappointed that these
countries, trapped in the deceptive net of the Sinhala State, are
being unhelpful in their involvement to resolve our problem.
These one-sided involvements of foreign powers are not new in our
prolonged struggle. India intervened in our national question then
as part of its regional expansion. India signed an accord with the
Sinhala State without the consent of the Tamils. The Indo-Lanka
Accord was not signed to meet the aspirations of the people of Tamil
Eelam. In fact, India then attempted to force an ineffectual
solution on our people - a solution which did not even devolve
powers to the extent of the Banda-Chelva pact signed in the 1950's.
India tried to enforce that accord with the strength of more than
100,000 Indian forces, with the power of the agreement between two
countries and with the assistance of treacherous Tamil paramilitary
groups. However, even this ill-considered solution, which did not
even address the basic national aspirations of the Tamils, was
blocked by the chauvinistic Sinhala State.
We are intimately familiar with the Sinhala State and its deceptive
politics. Our people have a long history of bitter experiences. That
is why we explained to India on many occasions, at many locations
and at many levels about the implacability of Sinhala chauvinism. We
explained to India then that the aim of the Sinhala State was not to
find a solution to the Tamil question and bring peace; but to occupy
the Tamil homeland, destroy its resources, and enslave the Tamil
nation. India refused to accept this reality. As a result our land
witnessed great sorrow and destruction.
Today, the international community is making the same mistake that
India made many years ago. Even the countries that are the guardians
of the peace efforts succumbed to the deception of the Sinhala State
and listed our freedom movement as a terrorist organization. What we
find most incomprehensible is the fact that these same nations,
which labeled us terrorists, not so long ago fought in defence of
their own freedom.
The Sinhala nation is unable to stomach the support of our Diaspora
for the Tamil freedom struggle; it is unable to accept the
humanitarian help and the political lobbying by the Diaspora to end
the misery heaped on our people. That is why the Sinhala nation is
trying hard to shatter the bond between our people in our homeland
and our Diaspora. Some countries are also assisting this amoral
effort of Sinhala chauvinism. These countries are denouncing, as
illegal activities, the humanitarian actions and political protests
of our people abroad-actions that are carried out according to the
laws of those countries. These countries have imprisoned and
humiliated Tamil campaigners and representatives. These countries
have ridiculed their protests and their efforts to seek justice.
This partisan and unjust conduct of the international community has
severely undermined the confidence our people had in them. And it
has paved the way for the breakdown of the ceasefire and the peace
efforts. Furthermore, the generous military and economic aid they
have given to the Sinhala State and their diplomatic efforts to prop
up the chauvinistic Sinhala State has encouraged the Sinhala nation
further and further along its militaristic path. This is the
background to the confidence of the Rajapake regime in continuing
with its unjust, inhuman war of occupation of our land.
Overconfident of its military victory over the Tamil freedom
movement, the Rajapakse regime has shut fast the door for peace. The
desire to oppress the Tamils has intensified as never before. With
the entire world giving support, the Sinhala State, using the
ceasefire as cover, and exploiting the peace environment, prepared
its war of occupation. The SLMM that was monitoring the peace
covered its eyes, tied its hands behind back, and went to sleep in
Colombo. The exhausted Norwegian facilitators remained silent. The
countries that preached peace to us also went silent and refused to
speak out. The Sinhala State started its war and justified it with
slogans like `War for Peace', `War against terrorism' and `War for
the liberation of the Tamils'.
The Rajapakse regime assembled its military might and let loose a
massive war on the eastern region of our homeland. This part of our
homeland became a wasteland after incessant bombing and shelling.
Trincomalee, the famous Tamil capital, was destroyed. Batticaloa, an
ancient cultural city of the Tamils, became a land of refugees.
Jaffna, the cultural centre of the Tamils, was cut off from the rest
of the world and turned into an open prison.
The Sinhala State's war of genocide destroyed the peaceful life of
the Tamils. It turned the Tamils into refugees in their own
homeland, ruined their nation's social and economical infrastructure
and plunged them into unprecedented hardships. While our motherland,
caught within gruesome Sinhala military rule, is destroyed,
Sinhalisation of our historic territory is going on under the
pretexts of High Security Zones and Free Trade Zones. This naked
Sinhalisation proceeds by the hoisting of Lion flags, the erection
of Sidharthan statues, the renaming of Tamil streets with Sinhala
names, the building of Buddhist temples. Sinhala settlements are
mushrooming in the Tamil homeland.
The unjust war, the economic blockade, the restrictions on our
people's freedom of movement, the killing of thousands, the
displacement of hundreds of thousands, have all deeply wounded the
Tamil psyche. The Sinhala nation is celebrating this tragedy as a
victory. It is lighting firecrackers believing it has defeated the
Tamils. The Sinhala military leadership believes that its occupation
of the east has been completed and the barbed wire noose around the
neck of Jaffna has been tightened. The Sinhala nation arrogantly
believes it has manacled the eastern coast from Pothuvil to
Pulmoddai. The Sinhala leadership thus believes it has won great
victories against our struggle.
The Sinhala nation has always misunderstood our freedom struggle. It
consistently underestimates us. Only after carefully scrutinising
the global situation and external conditions; only after accurately
estimating the strengths and weaknesses of the adversary; only after
gauging the enemy's goals and strategies; only after ensuring that
we remain focused on our own strategy; only then did we implement
our plans to take our liberation struggle forward. We have
strategically withdrawn from the east while launching defensive
attacks. The Sinhala nation could have learnt the dangers of putting
its feet too wide apart in our land as it did during past battles.
But the Sinhala military has fallen yet again into the net we spread
and it is now forced to commit large numbers of troops to rule land
without people. Caught in a territorial trap, it will soon be forced
to face the serious consequences of its misguided ambitions.
Operation `Ellalan', the very first combined Black Tiger and Tamil
Eelam Air Force attack was a massive blow to the Sinhala military.
It has disrupted the daydreams of the Sinhala nation. The Sinhala
nation has not emerged from this massive shock delivered by our
beloved fighters. The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our
Heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation. Those who plan
to destroy the Tamil nation will in the end be forced to face their
own destruction.
The Rajapakse regime is never going to realize that the Tamil
national question cannot be resolved by military oppression. The
Sinhala leadership is not going to shed its desire for military
supremacy or the Sinhalisation of the Tamil homeland. The Rajapakse
regime is working hard to import more and more destructive weapons
from all over the world without care for the cost. Therefore, it is
not going to give up its war of genocide.
The All Party Representative Committee was appointed by the
Rajapakse regime to spread a smokescreen over the misery that its
military adventures are creating in the Tamil homeland and to
deceive other governments to get their aid and support. We clearly
predicted this would happen one year ago. We have been proved right.
After dragging on without putting forward any solution, the
committee has gone on holiday.
The past sixty years have proven beyond any doubt that no political
party in the South has the political honesty or firmness in policy
to find a just solution to the Tamil national question. It has been
also proved beyond any doubt that none of the Southern parties are
ready to accept the core principles for a lasting peace: the Tamil
homeland, the Tamil nation and the Tamil Right to self
determination. The ruling party is adamant on unitary rule; the red
and yellow parties are calling for no solution at all; and the main
opposition party, somersaulting from its earlier position, is, on
the one hand, saying nothing concrete and using evasive language to
support the military actions of the government and, on the other
hand, saying it supports peace efforts. All this clearly clarifies
our point and proves beyond doubt that all the Sinhala political
parties are essentially chauvinistic and anti-Tamil. To expect a
political solution from any of these southern parties is political
naivety.
The Sinhala nation showed eagerness in the peace talks only when we
shattered their `Operation Fireball' military action and made them
realize that the Tigers cannot be defeated. It was only when we
proved our military prowess and only when we were militarily in a
position of strength that the Sinhala nation signed the ceasefire
agreement. Now, with abundant monetary and military aid from several
countries, it has rehabilitated its destroyed military and has
prepared itself for war again. It is yet again walking the military
path having abandoned the peace path.
The Rajapakse regime, after unilaterally abrogating the ceasefire
agreement, is ruthlessly implementing its military plan to remove
the contiguity of the Tamil homeland. It has killed and disappeared
thousands of our people. It reprimands and controls the Norwegian
facilitators. It vehemently criticizes the SLMM. It even dares to
brand senior UN officials as terrorists in order to hide its own
terrorism. It is obscuring the ground reality in the Tamil homeland
by striking fear among journalists and NGO workers.
The world's powers, even while taking forward their own geo-
political interests, respect human rights and democratic
institutions. Be it this universe, human affairs or international
relationships, they all revolve on the wheel of justice. That is why
nations like East Timor and Montenegro broke free of their
subjugation and gained their freedom with the help and support of
the international community. Even now, the international community
continues to work for the freedom of nations like Kosovo.
Yet the actions of the international community with respect to our
own national question are unjust. The confidence our people placed
in the international community has been eroded. By only paying lip-
service to peace the international community has contributed to the
killing of an extraordinary son of our nation, Tamilselvan. It has
stopped the heartbeat of a light that walked the path of peace. I
will be lighting the lamp for my dear brother, Tamilselvan, who
until last year was with me every time we, with a burning desire to
reach our goal, lit the lamps for our fallen Heroes. The
international community has made the entire Tamil world drown in its
tears. Had the international community firmly and unambiguously
condemned the anti-peace activities and the war mongering of the
Sinhala regime, Tamilselvan would be alive today. A huge blow would
not have fallen on peace efforts.
The Co-chairs, acting as the guardians of the peace process, have
failed in their responsibility. If the Co-chairs do not have a moral
obligation to protect peace efforts, what exactly is the purpose of
their meeting from time to time in different places? Is it their
intent to assist the Sinhala regime to wipe out the Tamils?
Questions like these have arisen in the minds of our people. Our
people firmly expect that at least from now on the international
community will take a new approach in relation to our freedom
struggle. On this sacred day it is the hope of our people that the
international community will cease giving military and economic aid
to the Sinhala regime and accept the right to self determination and
the sovereignty of the Tamil nation.
My beloved people,
We are an ancient people with special qualities. We have a unique
national identity and national foundation. We have been struggling
non-violently and by armed struggle for a very long time against
national oppression. We are not terrorists, committing blind acts of
violence impelled by racist or religious fanaticism. Our struggle
has a concrete, legitimate, political objective. We are struggling
only to regain our sovereignty in our own historical land where we
have lived for centuries, the sovereignty which we lost to colonial
occupiers. We are struggling only to reestablish that sovereignty
and rebuild our nation. The Sinhala nation is continuing to reject
our just and civilized demands for freedom. Instead, it has declared
a genocidal war on our land and our people. Behind the smokescreen
of fighting terrorism, it is creating immense human misery.
Despite our people enduring injustice and oppression, facing death,
destruction and massive displacement, no country, no nation, no
international organization has raised its voice on our behalf. We
face this situation alone because, although 80 million Tamils live
all around the globe, the Tamils do not have a country of their own.
On this day, when we remember our Heroes, I ask the entire Tamil
speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam. I wish
to express my love and gratitude to you for your past participation
in the building of our nation, bringing together your abundant
intellectual, material, monetary and many other resources in the
service of our nation and ask that you stand with us in the coming
years of our freedom struggle .
Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with
determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome the
hurdles before us and liberate our motherland. On this day when we
remember our Heroes who sacrificed themselves for this sacred goal,
let each one of us carry their dream in our hearts and struggle
until it is achieved

Left forces govt to scrap labour Bill
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
Videocon buys 2,000 acres in Bengal
Kolkata: The Videocon group, which signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the West Bengal government for a Rs 15,000 crore steel and power project last month, has directly negotiated with land losers near Asansol for 2,000 acres.
The direct negotiation with landowners was a clear deviation from the West Bengal government’s stance that the land would be acquired by the government agency West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon Group said, the group had negotiated with 250 landowners who hold around 2,000 acres. Around 95 per cent of the landowners opted for compensation in the form of cash.
The group had also given an option of shares in the proposed joint venture being set up for the project. However, most of the landowners went for monetary compensation. The package was over and above the one job offered to each family by the company.
Videocon is yet to take possession of the land, since the West Bengal Urban Land Ceiling Act does not permit acquisition of such large tracts of land by industry.

Left forces govt to scrap labour Bill
New Delhi: A labour reform Bill to cut red tape for small units was withdrawn from the Rajya Sabha hours after being introduced as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and its Left supporters could not agree on its provisions.
As the Left and the government have opposite positions on the Bill, its fate is unclear. On Wednesday, the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendments and Miscellaneous Provision Bill, 2005, was listed for debate and passing.
The Bill seeks to free small units from paperwork. All units employing 20 or more people have to furnish returns, maintain registers and report to the government. The Bill aims at increasing this to 40.
Even earlier, the Left trade unions had announced they would oppose the amendment. But when they saw a copy of the Bill on Wednesday morning, they made it clear they would vote against it.
The government didn’t press the Bill on Wednesday and over the next two days, it was not listed in the Order of Business in either House.
The reasons for the Left’s displeasure are obvious. In 2005, when the government proposed the amendment for the first time, it wanted to change the non-reporting threshold from 20 to 500 employees.
The amendment also proposed tougher punishment if units out of the threshold did not report to government. It also proposed a set of simplified forms for reporting.
The government has now changed its stand. Sources say the latest amendments seek to increase the threshold from 40 to 20 employees. Although a compromise has been attempted over this part of the Bill, clauses for punitive steps have been dropped.
The Left wants exactly the opposite. CITU National Secretary Tapan Sen said, “We want the reporting threshold limit to remain 20. The government will not be allowed to go beyond this.” The Left has, however, asked the government to retain harsher punitive provisions.
There has been a small compromise by the Left as well. They had initially asked the government to bring down the threshold limit to 10 employees. Realising this will be impossible, they are ready to keep the limit at 20, but will not relent beyond this.
Although the BJP has agreed to support the government, UPA managers are not too keen on risking taking its help.
“The amendment will exempt almost 50 per cent manufacturing establishments from furnishing returns. We can’t allow that,” Sen said.
Videocon buys 2,000 acres in Bengal
Kolkata: The Videocon group, which signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the West Bengal government for a Rs 15,000 crore steel and power project last month, has directly negotiated with land losers near Asansol for 2,000 acres.
The direct negotiation with landowners was a clear deviation from the West Bengal government’s stance that the land would be acquired by the government agency West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon Group said, the group had negotiated with 250 landowners who hold around 2,000 acres. Around 95 per cent of the landowners opted for compensation in the form of cash.
The group had also given an option of shares in the proposed joint venture being set up for the project. However, most of the landowners went for monetary compensation. The package was over and above the one job offered to each family by the company.
Videocon is yet to take possession of the land, since the West Bengal Urban Land Ceiling Act does not permit acquisition of such large tracts of land by industry.

India to cut tariff for Singapore goods
New Delhi: Taking the currently operational India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) forward, the Union Cabinet yesterday approved tariff elimination as well as reduction in an additional 555 products. This will benefit exporters from Singapore.
The Singapore CECA, signed in June 2005, was the first-of-its-kind agreement that India signed with any country. The agreement not only entails duty cuts and reduction in duties on goods, but also focuses on ways and means to increase trade in services as well as facilitation of investments.
According to experts, more than trade in goods, India stands to gain from the services and investments components of the agreement.
“Import tariffs on goods were already lower in Singapore before the agreement. Thus, exporters from that country stand to gain from the CECA on trade in goods,” said a Delhi-based expert.
Today’s Cabinet decision comes when a free trade agreement is being negotiated with the Asean trade bloc, of which Singapore is a member.
The decision also includes a clause that any additional benefits extended to the Asean FTA in future will also be extended to Singapore.
In another decision, the Cabinet decided to place the Eleventh Five Year Plan before the National Development Council (NDC) for approval. The NDC meeting will be held on December 19.
Announcing the decision taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, last night, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told reporters that this would enable operationalisation of the plan for the period 2007-12.
The draft plan document was cleared by the Planning Commission on November 9, with a target of 9 per cent annual economic growth, up from 7.6 per cent in the Tenth Plan.

NDC, the country’s highest policy making body, comprises the Prime Minister, Union ministers, state chief ministers and members of the Planning Commission.
The Plan, the most ambitious document prepared by the Commission so far, aims at raising the average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 9 per cent with an estimated outlay of Rs 36,44,147 crore.
Among other things, it also proposes to increase farm sector growth rate to 4 per cent from 2.13 per cent in the previous Plan.
The Plan aims to reduce poverty by 10 percentage points, generate 70 million new jobs and reduce unemployment among educated persons to less than 5 per cent.
It will also focus on the education sector by increasing the outlay to 19 per cent of the Central budgetary support from less than 8 per cent in the previous Plan.

Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin
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

Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin
Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:53pm GMT
By Ed Stoddard
DALLAS (Reuters Life!) - More Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin's theory of evolution, according to a new Harris poll released on Thursday.
It is the latest survey to highlight America's deep level of religiosity, a cultural trait that sets it apart from much of the developed world.
It also helps explain many of its political battles which Europeans find bewildering, such as efforts to have "Intelligent Design" theory -- which holds life is too complex to have evolved by chance -- taught in schools alongside evolution.
The poll of 2,455 U.S. adults from Nov 7 to 13 found that 82 percent of those surveyed believed in God, a figure unchanged since the question was asked in 2005.
It further found that 79 percent believed in miracles, 75 percent in heaven, while 72 percent believed that Jesus is God or the Son of God. Belief in hell and the devil was expressed by 62 percent.
Darwin's theory of evolution met a far more skeptical audience which might surprise some outsiders as the United States is renowned for its excellence in scientific research.
Only 42 percent of those surveyed said they believed in Darwin's theory which largely informs how biology and related sciences are approached. While often referred to as evolution it is in fact the 19th century British intellectual' s theory of "natural selection."
There are unsurprising differences among religious groups.
"Born-again Christians are more likely to believe in the traditional elements of Christianity than are Catholics or Protestants. For example, 95 percent believe in miracles, compared to 87 percent and 89 percent among Catholics and Protestants, " according to the poll.
"On the other hand only 16 percent of born-again Christians, compared to 43 percent of Catholics and 30 percent of Protestants, believe in Darwin's theory of evolution."
What is perhaps surprising is that substantial minorities in America apparently believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology and reincarnation.
The survey, which has a sampling error of plus or minus two percent, found that 35 percent of the respondents believed in UFOs and 31 percent in witches.
More born-again Christians -- a term which usually refers to evangelical Protestants who place great emphasis on the conversion experience -- believed in witches at 37 percent than mainline Protestants or Catholics, both at 32 percent.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved.
http://uk.reuters. com/article/ lifestyleMolt/ idUKN29228758200 71129?sp= true
mediacare
http://www.mediacar e.biz
From: Rick Rozoff
To: Stop NATO
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 10:26 PM
Subject: [stopnato] Chad, Sudan: Another EU, NATO Proxy War
http://africa. reuters.com/ wire/news/ usnL29878995. html
Reuters
November 29, 2007
Chad army, rebels fight near Sudanese border
UFDD [Union of Forces for Democracy and Development]
leader Mahamat Nouri, a former defence minister who
defected to join the anti-Deby rebellion, rejected
what he called government "lies" and said fighting
resumed on Thursday.
"There has been violent combat since 7 o'clock," he
told Radio France International (RFI), saying he was
speaking from the battle zone in eastern Chad.
He said French aircraft, part of a French military
contingent stationed in the landlocked former French
colony under a bilateral defence treaty, were flying
reconnaissance flights for the government over the
rebel positions.
Chadian army sources, who asked not to be named, said
an army column advanced from the town of Guereda and
attacked the rebels in their mountain stronghold at
Hadjer-Marfaine.
"We are chasing them towards the (Sudan) border," one
army source said. There was no independent
confirmation of the fighting or information on
casualties.
The EU force for Chad, which will include U.N. police
and also send soldiers to northeast Central African
Republic, will try to help contain a widening conflict
in Sudan's Darfur region which has pushed armed
raiders and refugees across the border.
....
- ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ------
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/africa/ 7118405.stm
BBC News
November 29, 2007
Chad rebels warn EU peace force
Rebels in Chad have warned the nascent European Union
peacekeeping force they will fight it as a "foreign
occupation army" if it sides with President Deby.
The warning from the rebel Assembly of Forces for
Change (RFC) follows a major battle with a different
rebel group which shattered a month-long ceasefire.
The clashes were near the area where 4,000 EU
peacekeepers are to be sent - the border with Sudan's
Darfur region.
....
The BBC's Stephanie Hancock says latest reports from
the area say there has been renewed heavy fighting in
the past few hours.
UFDD spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye told our
correspondent that fighting had resumed.
Chadian army sources, who asked not to be named, also
confirmed renewed clashes after an army column
advanced from a garrison town near the border with
Sudan, to attack a rebel stronghold.
Both the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development
(UFDD) rebels and the government say that hundreds of
fighters have been killed in this week's clashes.
....
EU force delays
The proposed EU force has been hit by delays and fears
that its French contingent may not be seen as neutral,
given France's support for Chadian President Idriss
Deby.
"The strong involvement of the French is naturally
being seen with some scepticism here and there,"
Austrian Defence Minister Norbert Darabos said.
Austria is one of the EU contributor nations to the
force, which was initially scheduled for deployment
this month.
The delay is reportedly because contributor nations
have yet to commit to supplying the required numbers
of troops and logistical resources such as aircraft
and medical support.
On Wednesday, Ireland became the latest country to
approve its contribution of 400 troops as well as the
force leader, Lt Gen Patrick Nash, but the Irish are
not expected to arrive in Chad before January or
February next year.
- ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ------
http://www.africasi a.com/services/ news/newsitem. php?area= africa&item= 071129181847. 69nwcclx. php
Agence France-Presse
November 29, 2007
Senegal announces regional military manoeuvres
- -The manoeuvres, dubbed Deggo 27, are to "test the
(troops') deployment ability" with the support of
France which will provide planes, vehicles and ships.
Several West African countries will hold joint
military manoeuvres in Senegal from Monday, ahead of
the planned creation of an ECOWAS standby force, a
Senegalese military official said.
The December 3-7 manoeuvres involve contingents from
six countries -- Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea Bissau,
Guinea and Mali as well as Senegal -- of the 15-nation
Economic Community of West African States.
The first troops were expected to arrive in Senegal
late Thursday.
They are to form the western battalion of the
6,500-men intervention force which ECOWAS wants to set
up by 2010.
The manoeuvres, dubbed Deggo 27, are to "test the
(troops') deployment ability" with the support of
France which will provide planes, vehicles and ships.
They will be held at Thies, 70 kilometres east of the
capital Dakar, Colonel Abdoulaye Seck of the
Senegalese land forces told journalists.
Army chiefs of ECOWAS member countries agreed in June
2004 to create the permanent 6,500-men force,
including the 1,500-strong rapid reaction unit for
troubleshooting missions.
The standby brigade should be fully in place by 2010.
Based in Abuja, ECOWAS includes eight French-speaking
nations - Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast,
Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - five English-speaking
- - Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -
and two Portuguese-speaking ones - Cape Verde and
Guinea-Bissau.
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http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/stopnato
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
stopnato-subscribe@ yahoogroups. com
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BlackBoxVoting Exclusive: The Collapse of the Trust Me Elections Model
BBV Exclusive: The Collapse of the Trust Me Elections Model Reply to:
crew@blackboxvoting .org
Please distribute freely - printer-friendly pdf version of this report,
click here:
http://www.blackbox voting.org/ moonshine3. pdf (contains 38 footnoted
sources and references) Contributions are tax-deductible and always
appreciated!
An original Black Box Voting investigative report:
http://www.bbvforum s.org/forums/ messages/ 1954/70968. html (discussion
area) By Bev Harris
In 2007, Black Box Voting embarked on a year-long investigative series
examining elections in what we call the Moonshine territories –
reputedly the most corrupt local governments in America. What we found
has staggering implications for the design of American election systems
as a whole. Our current system only works if we trust every human link
in the chain. In this report we will knock the concept of trust-based
elections out the window.
What follows concludes with examples from places like Illinois, New
York, Oregon and California. It begins with our examination of the
"Trust Me" election model as it is implemented in locations like
Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. What we
found in these locations quickly unravels into an indictment of
faith-based elections in all 50 states.
The very core of the voting machine controversy is not paper trails or
spot check procedures. The essence of whether an election system can be
trusted is whether it allows the owners of the government, The People,
to view the counting and the chain of custody. Votes counted in secret,
and secret chain of custody can never work unless we change human nature
itself.
MOONSHINE AMERICA: Collapse of the "Trust Me" model
Fraud follows presidential primaries like a hound on a scent. Most
people don't pay much attention, because they are watching the main
event: the general election.
During the 1996 presidential primary an elections official in Logan
County, West Virginia sold his own vote. County Clerk Glen Dale "Hound
Dog" Adkins pocketed an impressive $500 for it, higher than normal --
but then again, maybe votes cost extra when you buy them from someone
who also has inside access to adjust ballots and voting machines.
Conspiracy theory? That's half right. The Logan County sheriff and the
city of Logan's police chief also pleaded guilty to election fraud, and
six officials in nearby Lincoln County also got nailed. Conspiracy yes,
but not a theory.
For the past five years citizens have looked on in amazement as public
officials perform contortions of reason to justify why our votes should
be counted in secret by insiders, with a chain of custody so
indecipherable only a criminal defense lawyer could love it.
"After all, you have to trust someone," they tell us.
TRUST ME. BUT YOU CAN'T WATCH ME.
THE NEW MOTTO FOR ELECTIONS IN AMERICA
Such a concept turns citizen sovereignty on its head, giving government
insiders ultimate power over the will of the citizenry rather than the
other way around. It's a relatively new model for elections, and of
course the concept is laughable, yet they feed it to us with a straight
face. In May 2005, Fulton County, Kentucky election official Lesia LaRue
resigned. Two of her deputies bit the dust as well. LaRue was indicted
for falsifying records and missing funds.
In January 2007, former Morgan County, Tennessee election official Tim
Steelman pleaded guilty to stealing more than $10,000 from his office
and was sentenced to four years probation. Steelman resigned after
prosecutors issued an ultimatum: he must plead guilty and resign, or
face an ouster lawsuit and criminal prosecution.
FAITH BASED ELECTIONS
Voting machine manufacturers admit that using their equipment requires
citizens to suspend any ability to make sure results are accurate.
"There has to be faith in their local election boards," said James Ries
Jr., president of Microvote, one of the voting machine providers for the
moonshine states. "It's one of those areas of a leap of faith. That you
really do have to have a faith in your local jurisdiction, that they are
conducting equitable elections in the best faith of the voters."
You have to trust your elections official, but that's not all. The
weakest link in the human chain can destroy the integrity of the
election simply by swapping a memory card or popping in a USB memory
stick. The human chain includes the programmers at the company that
manufactures the voting machine; the subcontractors who maintain and
service the machines; each person who has access to the voting machine
warehouse (which may include the janitor, the sheriff, and the
transportation crew); employees of the elections division; and the
designated elections administrator.
In June 1998, a mistrial was declared for Bowie County, Texas Clerk
Marylene Megason. She had been charged with two counts of abuse of
official capacity, dummying up payments to her son's company for work
that was actually performed by employees of her office and jail inmates.
In Bowie County, the County Clerk is responsible for voter registration.
In August 2006, prosecutors filed charges against the Greene County,
Arkansas Election Commission Chairman Karl Horton on two counts of
financial identity fraud. A scary thought: Due to voter registration
requirements, elections officials have access to the social security
number and signature of every voter in their jurisdiction.
In August 2000, Kentucky State Auditor Ed Hatchett released the audit of
former Floyd County Clerk/elections chief Carla Robinson Boyd. She had
already been convicted of theft, sentenced to five years probation and
directed to pay restitution in the amount of $26,822. Carla Robinson
Boyd's uncle, C. Ollie Robinson was a Floyd County clerk before her.
"Floyd County will probably have to sue the estate of the late county
clerk C. Ollie Robinson," wrote the Floyd County Times. Robinson
reportedly owed the county $51,047 according to a state audit, after
which the state of Kentucky assumed control of Floyd County spending for
a time.
Carla Robinson Boyd's husband, Joe Bolton, has programmed the Microvote
machines for Floyd County and 22 other locations for more two decades.
Now he's her ex. He seems like a nice guy, but Joe Bolton programs
machines that count nearly 200,000 Kentucky votes while sitting in the
privacy of his own home. Whether or not you trust whoever replaced
Carla, you also have to trust Joe. In the secret chain of custody that
controls vote counting, one broken link can invalidate everything.
Another Microvote county is Elliott County, Kentucky. In 2006, the state
auditor found that $12,515 was missing from the county clerk's fee
account, in addition to more than $28,000 already owed from previous
years. Elliott County Clerk/elections official Reeda Stinson Ison blamed
the prior years' deficits on an employee in the clerk/elections office
who stole from the account. A local grand jury wound up indicting the
deputy clerk for theft, and Ison herself for official misconduct.
"It's one of those areas of a leap of faith," Microvote president Ries
Jr. says. "Quite frankly it's very difficult to convince somebody how do
I know my vote counted."
In May 2006, State Auditor Crit Luallen released two audits, covering
calendar years 2004 and 2005, of Owsley County, Kentucky elections
official Sid Gabbard's office, formally disclaiming any opinion because
he did not maintain adequate accounting records to allow the auditors to
verify the revenues and expenditures. The 2004 audit uncovered a $61,876
shortfall; receipts were received by the Clerk's office but not
deposited into any of the office's accounts. A cumulative shortage of
over $65,000, partially offset by personal and unidentified deposits,
was discovered at the end of 2005.
Those in control of the counting and chain of custody for secret vote
counting are the very same public officials caught in financial
cheating. And should we really be surprised? Human nature is imperfect.
The founders of this nation realized that, and precisely for that
reason, envisioned a system based on distrust, not trust.
"If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and
I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become
wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of
individual exceptions." — Thomas Jefferson
And yet, The People are not entirely inattentive. Ever the rascals,
politicians decided (without our consent) to implement "Trust Me"
election systems. Vendors (who perhaps get a bad rap in all this because
after all they can't sell what government insiders don't want to buy)
cooperated in the manufacture of computerized systems based on trusting
insiders. The People realize this setup is bogus, but despite many
efforts, have so far been unable to dislodge the Trust Me system.
KENTUCKY FRIED POLITICS
Before moving on to other Moonshine states and the rest of America, I'll
mention that Kentucky has a political history so colorful it actually
does inspire awe. Kentucky's 1900 Sec. State Caleb Powers was prosecuted
and convicted (three times) for the murder of Gov. William Goebel and
spent eight years in prison. In April 2002, one Pulaski County candidate
shot and killed the other candidate. And in Kentucky, it's not unusual
for the sheriff to be the drug dealer.
Kentucky was one of the first places in America to install "Trust Me"
voting systems. They began using paperless touchscreens with secret
software programmed by private individuals back in 1986. We can point at
Kentucky, or we can learn from Kentucky. When votes are counted in
secret, The People can only displace their governors if the insiders who
control counting and chain of custody are honest. This system will lead
to a government that is progressively more corrupt. Unless we correct
this flawed "Trust Me" elections model, America will become one big
Kentucky.
THE "AL CAPONE" CLEAN-UP METHOD
Kentucky has also provided an excellent example of corruption clean-up
using the Al Capone strategy. When the feds couldn't get at Capone for
his other gangland activities, they investigated him using financial
audits. Kentucky currently has an especially tough-minded state
financial auditor, Crit Luallen. When you read the audits performed by
her division, you find both a no-nonsense, no excuses approach and a
willingness to turn things over to prosecutors. Some of the crookedest
officials in Kentucky were brought down not for their drug deals, but
using their financial records.
The Kentucky state auditor formally disclaimed any opinion on financial
doings in Knox County audit, referring the 2003-04-05 audits to multiple
agencies for prosecution, citing $2.7 million in questioned
expenditures. County payments were being cashed or deposited into
accounts of companies other than they were made out to, owned by
relatives of county officials. Nearby Knott County had nearly $13.5
million cited in questioned costs. The audit detailed 23 findings and
was referred for criminal prosecution to the US Attorney, the FBI, the
Kentucky State Police, and several other law enforcement agencies.
When you think about it, any time an elections official is caught
forging a document, it pretty much blows up the chain of custody.
In 1999, former Fayette County, Kentucky Deputy County Clerk Stacia
Johnson entered a guilty plea to one count of Theft and one count of
Forged Instrument. The Theft count arose from her taking more than
$41,000; the Forged Instrument charge was from the alteration of a
document to hide the theft. Johnson was sentenced to serve 30 days in
jail and then probated for two years.
In Oct. 2007, a candidate for the position of Boone County
Clerk/elections chief pleaded guilty to second degree forgery. Ed Moore
dropped out of the county clerk's race after news of his forgery
surfaced, but still nearly won the race. Democrat Rena Ping squeaked by
him to prevail.
Kentucky may have a culture of corruption, but no-nonsense audits and a
willingness to prosecute are getting traction on cleaning it up. In the
end, however, you can't prosecute your way out of corruption. You still
need the front-end protection: elections controlled by The People. The
public needs to be able to see the counting and the chain of custody
needs to be simple, and in the public view, at all times.
For some reason with elections, we allow excuse after excuse. When
records are missing and safeguards botched, as in Ohio 2004, public
officials do not hold other public officials accountable. The same
people who concocted a fake homeland security alert in Warren County
Ohio in 2004 are still in office, as are those who destroyed elections
records in violation of a court order. The Ohio sec. state has not held
them accountable. Contrast that with this Kentucky audit:
"The Auditor of Public Accounts was engaged to audit the financial
activity of the Knox County Fiscal Court for fiscal year ended June 30,
2003, and we have issued a disclaimer of opinion thereon. Based on our
assessment of fraud risk, we determined the risk for fraud to be too
high and we were unable to apply other procedures to overcome this fraud
risk. In addition, the Fiscal Court had weaknesses in the design and
operation of its internal control procedures and accounting functions.
Furthermore, management elected to override the internal control
procedures that were in place…The significance of these issues, in the
aggregate, prevents us from expressing an opinion and we do not express
an opinion on the financial activities of the Knox County Fiscal Court."
And the auditors took it right to the prosecutors, at the state AND
federal levels.
OTHER MOONSHINE STATES
While he didn't match Kentucky's former secretary of state in audacity
by murdering a governor, Arkansas Secretary of State during the Clinton
years, William James McCuen — also known as Bill McCuen — admitted
to accepting kickbacks in connection with voting machine procurement,
and conspiring with a political consultant to split money embezzled from
the state. He was indicted on corruption charges in 1995, sentenced to
17 years in prison and fined.
The voting machines are supposed to go through various levels of
standards-setting, evaluation, and certification. Yet even the kingpins
in these areas admit that insiders can alter election results. In a
recent deposition, which will likely be released to the public very
soon, one of the most powerful governmental authorities stated that the
idea that insiders might tamper is "a frightening thought."
"If that happens, we've got a lot bigger problem than elections," he
stated in sworn testimony.
News flash to the kingpins: The problem has arrived.
The 1980s featured Mississippi Operation Pretense, with at least 71
Mississippi county officials pleading guilty to corruption charges in 26
counties. 20 And lest you think human nature has changed in Mississippi
since the mid-80s, note that two Tunica County sheriffs have been
convicted of various crimes in recent years and a new election was
ordered in Tunica County in Nov. 2007 after ballots were seized
following a search warrant issued for the Tunica County Circuit Clerk's
office.
The current system uses a chain of custody so convoluted it can
collapse when a single document disappears. Example: Election officials
will tell you they put seals on the voting machines to make sure no one
changed anything. What they don't tell you: Public records show that
these seals frequently arrive with mismatched seal numbers, or broken,
or missing, blowing up the chain of custody. And what about this: Have
election officials ever falsified a document? In June 2005, Benton
County, Tennessee Clerk Rosanne Ward and her husband Jerry wer