Adivasis in Assam issue deadline to Centre as Assam orders CBI probe into riots

Adivasis in Assam issue deadline to Centre as Assam orders CBI probe into riots
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
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Adivasis in Assam issue deadline to Centre

Saturday, 01 December , 2007, 20:34

Guwahati: Four major Adivasi outfits have given a deadline of December 7 to the Centre to introduce bill in the Parliament for granting them ST status.
In a meeting held in Guwahati, the outfits asked the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to introduce the bill in Parliament by December 7, "failing which a full-fledged agitation will be launched".
In such an event, activities in coal and iron mine fields will be blocked in Jharkhand from December 17 and the Adivasis of Assam will extend full support to their counterparts there.
The outfits which attended the meeting are Birsa Commando Force, Cobra Militants of Assam, Jharkhand Bisom Party, All India Adivasi Youth and Students Union and the All Assam Adivasi Students Association.

thanks to IBN they cared to bring his news.. none
else had time to talk about him, although he
exemplifies the ray of hope that still exists amidst
the vast darkness in today's society..!
--- Mrinal Singh Raja wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Still there are some good people who represent true
> Assamese spirit.
>
>
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/meet-the-man-who-saved-the-assam-adivasi-woman/53301-3.html
>
> We want more assamese like him....
>
> -Mrinal
__._,_.___
Shantikam Hazarika wrote:
I read your report Mr. Kashyap and it was very very objectives. I feel we should, who ever is nearby, should help her with her studies which seems to be her main concern now. I think she is showing much more maturity than those who want to wallow in the murky waters.
BTW if you remember Shekhar Gupta telling us that during Nellie, one
mischievious cameraman was trying to retrieve a Holy Quran from a nearby mosque and was trying to place it in his camera angle and other
photographers prevented him from the contrived shot.
Interestingly, there are quite a few who still want to play politics and create mischief with Nellie. Just see the latest Tehelka issue. The journalist is apparently from Assam.
Thank you for your reporting.
Shantikam Hazarika
----- Original Message -----
From: "samudra gupta kashyap"
To:
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:22 PM
Subject: [asom] Media refrained from carrying ...
remember the pictures of nellie carnage of february 1983. the media in assam at that time did have those ghastly pictures that were carried by india today, illustrated weekly and sunday etc. but the three daily newspapers of the brahmaputra valley did not carry the nellie pictures. even this time, the same assam tribune, dainik asam and dainik janambhumi have refrained from carrying the picture of the stripped girl.
meanwhile, pl read a story on the front page of indian express (today's edition, new delhi) about the girl whose modesty was outraged by some of our great beltola heroes. i went and met her in her village yesterday.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/244641.html
samudra gupta kashyap/guwahati
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 assamonline@yahoogroups.com wrote :
>For the People of Assam/Northeast India
>For the People of Assam/Northeast India
Corrigendum to the Statement of BHRPC regarding Clash in Guwahti
Waliullah:
It was NOT only single phrase that was offensive. The whole statement was offensive.
Inshallah, wisdom will one day dawn on you and you will realise the folly of your mischievious intents.
Shantikam Hazarika
----- Original Message -----
From: Waliulllah Ahmed Laskar
To: assamonline@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 7:41 PM
Subject: [asom] Corrigendum to the Statement of BHRPC regarding Clash in Guwahti
Dear Group Members,
The Statement posted by me in this group regarding Violence in
Guwahati street on 24th November, 2007 on behalf of the Barak Human
Rights Protection Committee, in the capacity of Special
Representative of the organisation to the city, contained a sentence
to which our many friends in the group raised onjections. The
sentence was as follows:
"These speak a volume of the attitude of Assamese people towards the
tribals which also can explain the barbarity committed against the
Adibasis."
Here a mistake has been committed by me inadvertently in the
construction of the sentence. The sentence rather should be as
follows:
"These speak a volume of the attitude of some of the Assamese people
towards the tribals which also can explain the barbarity committed
against the Adibasis."
I sincerely regret this mistake and apologize to all the persons who
have gone through this statement.
Yours
With Sincere Regret
Waliullah Ahmed Laskar
Special Representative to Guwahati
Barak Human Rights Protection Committee,
15, Darandha, Panjabari Road, Guwahati-781037.
Re: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/3894
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/3879
--- "Waliulllah Ahmed Laskar" wrote:
Humanity Was Raped in Guwahati on 24th November, 2007
More than 20 people were killed, 3 women raped, one girl stripped off in the highway and paraded, about 300 thousand injured of whom the condition of 10 is critical and 45 persons simply disappeared when the demonstrators belonging to Adibasi, as some tribal communities--mainly Kul, Santal, Munda--who work in tea gardens are known here, were marching towards the state secretariat in Dispur, Guwahati on the fateful day of 24th November as a part of their programme formulated to push for the age-long demand of including the communities in the list of scheduled castes.In the course of the march while police stopped them before they reached the Last Gate of the MLA Hostel some of the demonstrators turned violent and destroyed properties such as shops, vehicles etc. and injured some pedestrians. Some local residents came out to retaliate the violence, to take revenge and to teach the tribals a lesson. In the process they got wild and savage so much so that they lost every sense of humanity and unleashed the brute within them. The beast killed many innocent persons, kicked the dead bodies with diabolic enjoyment, stripped many women off all cloths, raped them and it raped the humanity. We saw in Guwahati the wild dance of the beast.
Circumstances cry to yet another most diabolic fact that during the period of 4 to 5 hours of this wild dance of the beast in the political and administrative power center of the state no worth mention state presence was there. The beast danced with the tacit leave of the state. The state allowed the beast to finish its horrendous ritual by making it self absent. It is nothing but the naked parade of electoral politics in its worst.
The officials of the organisation which co-ordinated the programme told that they did not have any intention to create a violent situation. They regretted the fact of committing violence by some of their members.
The facts which indicate clearly towards direct and indirect abetment of the government are:
1. When the tribal groups sought permission for a meeting and a demonstration they were denied.
2. When they held the meeting and demonstration there was no adequate arrangement of security forces.
3. After the mayhem started no forces sent to control the situation.
4. Government is trying desperately to show down the incident reducing the number of casualties in its statement,perhaps in order to save the perpetrators from the law.
5. The authorities of the medical college hospital where most of the injured were admitted released many of them without proper treatment to show down the enormity of the mayhem, perhaps in order to save the perpetrators from the law.
6. At first just an inquiry by an additional chief secretary was ordered and later a judicial inquiry overlooking callously the demands of CBI probe.
7. More cases registered against the demonstrators that against the local residents.
8. No case was registered regarding rape cases.
There some other more painful facts indicative of the callousness of the so-called civil society which include the attitude of the media in covering the incident. Most of the local media presented the story in such a way as if they are justifying, or at least making an excuse of, the brutality meted out to the demonstrators by making tacit statement of who-started-it-first. There are also allegations that doctors raped a victim girl who was brought in Guwahati Medical College.
These speak a volume of the attitude of Assamese people towards the tribals which also can explain the barbarity committed against the Adibasis.
The Barak Human Rights Protection Committee categorically condemns the violence and the mayhem. The committee demands:
1. A CBI probe into the whole incident.
2. Compensation of 5 lakhs to the family of deceased, 2 lakh to the victim of rape, 1 lakh to the victim of abuse 50 thousand to the severely injured, 25 thousand to the other injured and adequate compensation to those whose properties were destroyed.
The Barak Human Rights Committee urges the Assam State Human Rights Commission to register a suo-moto case against the police and other government officials for whose negligence in duty made the mayhem possible.
The Committee requests all people to maintain peace and harmony.

__._,_.___
Assam orders CBI probe into riots
Guwahati: The Assam government Saturday announced a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the ethnic rioting here Nov 24 that left one person dead and around 250 injured.
The government also decided on financial packages for the development of six ethnic groups in the state.
"We have asked the CBI to probe the circumstances into the clashes between some Adivasi (tribal people) protestors and a section of local residents. The judicial enquiry we have ordered will go on simultaneously if necessary," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told journalists here.
Protestors under the banner of the All Assam Adivasi Students Association (AAASA) vandalized shops and damaged vehicles during their protest march in the city, sparking retaliation by residents.
An Adivasi protestor died in the clashes. A woman from among the demonstrators was stripped naked before she was rescued by an Assamese youth and handed over to the police for safety.
The AAASA is among other Adivasi and tea plantation workers' community demanding Scheduled Tribe status for the tribal community in Assam.
The central government has rejected the demand on the ground the Adivasis were migrants and not indigenous to the state.
"We shall also look into the conspiracy angle to ascertain if any force was behind the violence to divide the society in Assam and corner the Congress party," the chief minister said.
Gogoi announced exclusive financial packages for six ethnic groups in the state - Tea Tribes (including Adivasis), Ahom, Moran, Chutia, Motok and the Koch-Rajbongshi communities.
He did not elaborate on the packages but said the initiative is aimed at ushering in economic progress and development of the people belonging to these communities. "We shall move the centre for funds for this purpose," he said.
The ruling Congress is in a spot ahead of panchayat polls beginning this month as people belonging to the Tea Tribes have been its traditional supporters.
People belonging to the tea garden communities wield influence over nearly 20 of Assam's 126 assembly constituencies.

India On The Take
Ravi Ramamurti, Northeastern University 11.28.07.
India is a democracy and has a free press, but when it comes to
corruption, it is no better than China, according to Transparency
International. Indeed, in the last two decades, corruption in India
has shifted from the "retail" level, whereby petty officials
extracted bribes from average citizens, to the "wholesale" level,
where groups of officials extract fewer but larger payments from
companies with deep pockets.
U.S. companies flocking to India must therefore tread carefully.
Their conduct, after all, is governed by provisions of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, to which Congress added strong anti-bribery
provisions in 1998. India has a long way to go before it becomes a
corruption-free country like Finland or Singapore.
To be sure, India's blistering growth of the last few years is the
result of fewer government controls. Deregulation has unleashed
competition in many businesses, and Indian consumers are no longer
beholden to petty officials when they need such things as an airline
ticket, a telephone connection or a loan. Instead, several private
firms seek their custom, and corruption has all but disappeared. The
consumer has emerged as king.
But when it comes to things that companies need to grow and succeed,
the story is quite different.
Most Indian businessmen will tell you that despite years of
deregulation, they encounter as much or more corruption than before,
because companies still rely heavily on inputs provided by the state
and only by the state. For example, to move imports or exports
through ports or customs, to ship goods by rail, to set up new
factories, to resolve legal disputes, or to obtain zoning permits,
they rely on public officials and public institutions.
Deregulation may have promoted faster growth, but ironically, faster
growth has increased the bargaining power of public officials,
because firms find that the opportunity cost of delays is higher than
before. They are therefore willing to pay more for timely inputs from
public institutions. And public officials, it seems, are happy to
oblige.
Entrepreneurial public officials have also uncovered new
opportunities for corruption as the world has changed. With faster
growth, assets that weren't worth much earlier, such as land or the
frequency spectrum, have soared in value. These have become
new "choke points" at which corrupt politicians and officials can
extract large bribes.
Of course, companies share the blame for perpetuating the corruption
culture. A few Indian companies, like Wipro, Infosys, or Tata Motors,
have taken the high road, but other Indian firms view corruption as
just another means of gaining competitive advantage. Similarly,
foreign firms such as General Electric and IBM have helped to raise
the bar for ethical conduct, but others have adapted to the world as
it is, often relying on third parties to handle the unsavory aspects
of doing business in India (think Enron).
Transparency International also surveys the propensity of firms from
industrialized countries to pay bribes abroad. According to its last
survey, Swiss companies were the cleanest and American companies fell
in the middle of the pack, while the worst offenders hailed from
Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and other emerging markets such as China
and Russia. But none resorted to bribes as liberally as local firms.
The good news is that some Indian provinces are less corrupt than
others. Kerala in south India and Gujarat in the west are relatively
clean, but Karnataka (home to Bangalore's information technology hub)
and the eastern state of Bihar are among the most corrupt. Thus, an
American firm's exposure to corruption depends on what industry it is
in and the part of India in which it operates.
Will corruption disappear as India becomes more affluent? Don't count
on it. After all, wholesale corruption is alive and well in the U.S.
As one Indian observer put it, "What we call corruption, you call
campaign contributions!" Remember the famous $200 million bridge to
nowhere in Alaska, whose sole purpose was to ingratiate local
contractors who would contribute to Congressman Don Young's campaign?
Or the $90,000 in cash found in Louisiana Congressman William
Jefferson's refrigerator?
So long as we need public institutions staffed by people with
discretionary powers, and so long as corrupt officials can earn
several times their regular salaries through graft, corruption will
not be fully eradicated, even in affluent countries like the U.S.--
nevermind emerging economies like India.