Protest against the violent repression of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Dear friends and comrades,
Delhi Solidarity Group, National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, Campaign for Survival and Dignity, National Alliance of People's Movements (Delhi), join the KSG in protesting this ruthless violence against the people by Orissa Govt and POSCO company... we strongly condemn this undemocratic suppression of a peaceful people's movement for protection of their rights and resources.
Kindly join the Tuesday demonstration at Delhi's Orissa Niwas at Chanakyapuri at 10.30 am (onwards) and thereafter for a press conference at the Press Club at Raisina Marg at 1.30 pm - where some comrades from Jagatsingpur, Orissa will also talk about the extent of violence unleashed by Orissa Govt and POSCO goonds on people.

Protest against the violent repression of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti in Orissa
Join in huge numbers on Tuesday

Please join in condemning the brutal and heinous attack on the peaceful protest of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti at Jagatsingpur in Orissa on Thursday the 29 th. At least 17 people were injured when supporters of a local MLA, armed with lethal weapons and crude bombs attacked the members of anti-POSCO group near the proposed site for the steel plant. The attackers threw about 6 bombs at the agitators; many were critically injured. The police and the district administration intervened only after the clashes took place.
Friends, at the moment, around 16 platoons of police force have cordoned off village Dhinkia where at least 1000 villagers are trapped. The violence wreaked on the people is completely state sponsored to take over the areas that are the strongest base of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti at Jagatsingpur. The situation right now is volatile and further state violence seems inevitable. It is not a clash of pro and anti POSCO people as the media and the Orissa government are claiming --- it is a desperate bid to pave the way for the South Korean corporate giant POSCO by using state force.
Support the struggling people opposing the POSCO project by joining us in the dharana. Assemble around 10.45 on the road outside the Orissa Nivas. We will present a memorandum to the Resident Commissioner that will be signed by all organizations present. Do forward this mail and tell as many people to come with banners, songs, slogans and join the protest.
Time: 11 am
Venue: Orissa Nivas, Bordoloi Marg, Chanakyapuri
Date: Tuesday the 4th of Dec.
In solidarity,
D Manjit and Nagraj Adve
On behalf of Kashipur Solidarity Group and Others
Multi-product SEZs may be allowed to buy more land
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/12/04/stories/2007120456770100.htm
Relaxation in ceiling to happen on a case-to-case basis

Orissa officials enter POSCO site after two years
PARADIP: For the first time in two and half years, Orissa government officials on Monday entered the proposed steel plant site of South Korean company POSCO as the agitators remained confined to a village near Paradip since they clashed with the project supporters on Thursday.
The government officials led by District Collector of Jagatsinghpur P K Meherda visited Nuagaon village, one of the places demarcated for the steel plant, and held discussion with local people.
Official sources said the collector, however, could speak to only one group of people who were supporting the project. He could not go to Dhinikia village which was considered as the epicentre of the anti-POSCO movement.
"We spoke to people. The government seeks support of the people in the locality before setting up the project", Meherda told reporters.
The state government officials including police and the company officials were not allowed to enter the proposed plant site for the last two and half years in the face of resistance from the local people, particularly those belonging to CPI- backed POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the body of farmers and fishermen spearheading the campaign against the project.
Meanwhile, the anti-project group announced that they would now begin armed struggle alleging they were being attacked by the state's ruling BJD supporters and hired goons.
They also pledged that the villagers would ensure that the government failed to undertake a socio-economic survey in the area scheduled to start this week.
POSCO: agitators plan armed struggle
Even as the Orissa government is expressing confidence that the ground-breaking ceremony of the POSCO steel project in Jagatsinghpur district will be conducted on April 1 next, the people facing displacement on Sunday announced that they would take up arms to foil the administration’s plans to acquire land for the project.
“After the violent attack on our people on Thursday, the people have been forced to take up arms to protect our land,” president of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti told reporters at Dhinkia gram panchayat.
At least 15 persons were injured on Thursday when the samiti supporters were attacked by hundreds of project supporters at Balitutha locality where the Samiti had set up a camp to continue its agitation against the project and prevent entry of the police and administration officials and POSCO employees from entering the site.
They hurled bombs at the samiti activists, attacked them with sharp weapons and set the tents put up at the camp on fire. The police reached Balitutha after the attackers left the spot.
Tension started mounting in the area again on Sunday when hundreds of anti-POSCO activists — men, women and children — took out a procession in the area to express opposition to the setting up of the steel project in their locality.
They were armed with lathis, bows and arrows and other sharp weapons.
The procession culminated in an oath-taking ceremony where the protestors took a pledge to fight the project till the end.
Police sources said they were keeping a close watch on the developments.
Political support

Several Left parties have condemned the Thursday’s attack on the anti-POSCO activists and extended their support to the agitation.
At a joint press conference here, the leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) also announced the launch of a State-wide agitation against the attack on the villagers opposing the steel project.
They demanded that an all-party meeting be convened soon to discuss various issues relating to the project.
Left parties seek withdrawal of police from POSCO site
Demanding the withdrawal of police force deployed at the proposed POSCO steel project site, the Left parties on Sunday threatened to launch a state-wide agitation against attempts to acquire fertile land for a steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district.
Leaders of CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc urged the Orissa Government to hold "detailed talks" with the South Korean steel major and said all the political parties should be involved in the dialogue to find a way out.
Accusing the state government of unleashing a "reign of terror" near the project site, CPI's Dibakar Naik, CPI(M)'s Subhash Singh) and Santosh Mitra (Forward Bloc) told reporters that "an attempt was being made to create a division among the people".
Anti-project activists were attacked recently in a "brutal" manner in Dhinkia, they alleged.
The leaders said the police force must leave the area forthwith and government should give up the idea of setting up POSCO project at the proposed site.
Naxal PLGA week begins
MALKANGIRI, Dec. 2: Naxal PLGA week (Pupils Liberation of Guerrilla Army) began here at Malkangiri from today amidst posters and bandh. It would go on till 8 December. Police patrolling in and outside the district headquarters and combing operations in various sensitive pockets have been intensified. All vehicles are being checked at all entry points of the town. Besides this, Naxalites had succeeded in sticking posters and banners even inside the town for the first time. The police have recovered posters and banners from the DNK Parade ground which is just a few metres away from the SP office and the police reserve office. Thousands of posters have been been pasted all the way from Malkangiri to Motu. Traffic has been disrupted in this region. The Malkangiri SP, Mr Stish Ku Gajbhiye assured that necessary measures have been taken to resume traffic movement from Malkangiri to Motu and said that the security has been put on an alert.
The Naxalites has called for strengthening of the PLGA unit by joining in large numbers in the posters. After the formation of PLGA in 2000, Naxalites blasted the Potteru police out post and the Dhalis house at Potteru in 2001. A police vehicle was blasted in 2002, rice was looted from various GP godowns at kalimela and MV-79 and MV 88 outpost were blown off in 2003 and 2004 December. In 2005, Dhalis house at MV 55 was blown off and arms looted from the security personnel on duty. Keeping this in view, security has been beefed up at Malkangiri. n sns
Posco should not be set up on proposed site:Left party leaders
Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 2: Instead of recreating a situation akin to Nandigram, the chief minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, should follow the example of his West Bengal counterpart and declare, that in view of the opposition by the locals, the Posco steel plant would not be set up at the disputed site.
The irony is that observations to this effect were made by the Left party leaders–CPI, FB, SUCI, CPI (ML) and the CPM. A team of Left party leaders visited the troubled Dhinkia area of Jagatsinghpur district yesterday, to support the anti-Posco movement spearheaded by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti.
They warned the government of serious consequences, if it tries to force its way and crush the people’s movement by deploying hired goons and the police. Addressing a press conference here today, the Left party leaders condemned the recent spate of violence at Balitutha and the use of force. The chief minister declared that he wants peaceful industrialisation and that his government will not resort to force, but since 22 November, a heinous design of deploying hired goons has taken place. In the garb of pro-Posco activists, these goons have assaulted people, hurled bombs and set fire to tents pitched by the PPSS at Balitutha, alleged the Left leaders.
The game plan is to stop peaceful demonstration on Balitutha bridge with the help of goons and then deploy police all over the place. They pointed out that for over 64 days, the PPSS had been staging a blockade on the bridge without indulging in violence of any kind, but they had been attacked.
Now the administration has virtually surrounded Dhinkia village. We were also initially refused entry to the area by the local police yesterday, said Mr Dibakar Nayak, state head of the CPI. Mr Santosh Mitra of FB, Mr Kitish Biswal of CPI, Mr Subash Singh of CPM, Mr Narayan Reddy, CPI MLA, and other SUCI leaders also voiced the same views.
The united Left demanded a probe into human rights violation which had taken place in the area and also into the more than Rs 100 crore already spent by Posco.
Who has benefited from the money?, has it been given to create a private army of goons? or did it go to the pockets of certain local ruling party leaders? were some of the questions asked by these leaders.
They pointed out that the chief minister had committed that project work would start on 1 April, 2008.
He is trying to meet the deadline by using age-old British tactics of dividing the locals, making them fight against each other.
It is a well established fact for over the past two years, that the locals are opposed to the project.
They refuse to part with rich agriculture lands. For two years, the villagers have refused to allow Posco and the government officials to enter the area. So the government should declare that the project would not be set up at the proposed site, they Left front leaders said.
However, reports from the troubled zone, said that after the Left party leaders visited Dhinkia yesterday, the pro-POSCO factions had started holding counter meetings at Nuagaon, Gadakujang and Govindapur villages.
The police have deployed two platoons at Trilochanpur and has virtually surrounded Dhinkia, which happens to be the stronghold of PPSS. They have also erected a barricade at an entry point to Dhinikia to beef up security.

Mr G.K. Pillai
Our Bureau
New Delhi, Dec. 3 The Government is likely to allow multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) developers to acquire land beyond the currently specified ceiling of 5,000 hectares for such zones.
The Empowered Group of Ministers on SEZs had, in April this year, pegged the ceiling on multi-product SEZs at 5,000 hectares.
The relaxation in ceiling would happen on a case-to-case basis and may come about once the Land Acquisition Act was amended.
The Bill, for this purpose, is expected to be introduced in Parliament during the current session.
“Now that the rehabilitation policy has come into being and there is a proposal to introduce a Bill to amend the Land Acquisition Act, the Government is likely to look at increasing the upper limit for land acquisition by SEZs,” Mr G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary, said at the India Economic Summit here on Monday.
Mr Pillai later clarified to newspersons that there were only three or four cases (including that of Kandla SEZ) where the developers were keen on land area beyond the current level of 5,000 hectares.
The Government has so far given formal approvals for 404 SEZs spanning 19 States and three Union Territories. Another 160 applications are before the Government.
As many as 172 SEZs have been notified so far by the Government, out of which 60 have already commenced operations in the last 18 months.
At the summit, Mr Pillai said that SEZs would by end-March this year give direct employment of 1,50,000 against the current level of around 50,000.
The total investments made into the SEZs so far stood at $13 billion, out of which $3 billion has come as foreign direct investment (FDI) during the last 18 months.
“From the Government’s point of view, SEZs have been quite a success. I expect a three-fold jump in FDI into SEZs in the next 18 months,” Mr Pillai added.

Related Stories:
Nanguneri evolves into a cluster of SEZs
SEZs not a land-grab game, says Dhoot
‘Handling of land acquisition is the litmus test of India’s SEZ policy’
States to acquire land only from willing sellers for SEZs
GSM players reject govt solution on spectrum

BS Reporter / New Delhi December 04, 2007

Operators of GSM technology services have rejected a compromise offered by the government to end the controversy over spectrum allocation, calling it “one-sided”.

The solution required operators to accept, in the interim, the industry regulator’s recommendation suggesting a major increase in subscriber numbers for service providers to qualify for additional allocation of spectrum, the radio frequencies that enable wireless communications.

The telecom regulator had recommended a two- to four-fold increase in minimum subscriber norms in different circles for operators to qualify for additional spectrum.

However, operators have been asked not to dispute the final report of a committee that has been set up by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to examine subscriber norms qualifications.

The committee comprises members from associations of the rival lobbies of GSM and CDMA operators and independent experts.

As part of its interim solution, DoT also suggested that spectrum for GSM operators should be capped at 10 Mhz and that of CDMA operators at 5Mhz.

Under this interim solution new operators that have a licence and are waiting for spectrum would be given start- up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz in GSM (instead of 6.2 MHZ).

The government has also made it clear that it would not reverse its decision to permit dual spectrum usage by operators under the same licence.

The proposal was discussed today in a meeting called by DoT Secretary D S Mathur with chief executives of leading telecom companies.

Those who attended the meeting included Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal, Vodafone Essar’s Asim Ghosh and Sanjiv Aga of Idea Cellular who met Mathur in one group.

Representatives of Spice Telecom, led by B K Modi, and executives of Aircel met Mathur; Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications, Anil Sardana, CEO of Tata Teleservices, and HFCL Chairman Mahendra Nahata all met Mathur in individually.

The CEO of a GSM operator said the compromise was “not acceptable” and that the operators would continue to pursue the legal course.

The Muslims and Sri Lanka
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
http://www.cpiml.in/071206.htm
Relase of Tamils in SL: MDMK demands Centre to intervene
Chennai: MDMK on Monday demanded the Centre to diplomatically intervene and prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to relase the Tamils, arrested after an assassination bid on the Sri Lankan Minister Douglus Devananda.
MDMK Chief Vaiko, in a statement, said the Sri Lankan government had arrested thousands of Tamils in the island republic from November 30.
Tamils in the island were apprehending arrests and the Indian government, which had given lot of arms to Sri Lankan government, should intervene to prevent the arrests of the 'innocent Tamils', he said.
The Muslims and Sri Lanka*
By Kamalika Pieris
.
The first wave of Muslims to arrive in Sri Lanka came from West Asia.
Therefore let us briefly look at the Muslim achievements in West Asia. Islam
originated in the Arab Peninsula, where the Prophet Mohammed preached in 622
AD. Islamic religious teachings are held in the Koran and the Islamic social
life is guided by the Islamic Sharia Law. The Arabs, once converted to
Islam, went on an expansionist spree which eventually swallowed up Egypt,
Syria, Persia, Iraq and finally, in 711 AD, Spain. Virtually all those
countries had their own civilisations prior to Islamisation. Persia had
developed the Persian script and had the Zoroastrian religion. But they all
converted to Islam and accepted the Arabic language. By the end of the 8th
century, the Islamic empire extended from Persia to Spain and included parts
of Northern Africa as well. There were two political centres. Firstly,
Damascus (660-750 AD) and thereafter Baghdad (750-1258 AD).
Between the 8th and 12th centuries, there developed a great Islamic
civilisation, intellectually brilliant, wealthy and enterprising. This
Islamic civilisation developed an urban civilisation well before Europe,
which got there several centuries later. Cairo in Egypt, Damascus in Syria
and Baghdad in Iraq were very advanced cities with paved streets, tiled
floors, public baths, bookshops, libraries, and universities. There
developed a distinct Islamic art and architecture, which is visible even
today. There were great scholars, best known of whom is Avicenna, of Persian
origin, (980-1037 AD). His medical writings were used in medical schools in
France, Spain and Italy as late as 1650.
Western Europe owes much of its knowledge of mathematics, medicine,
astronomy and philosophy to Arabic writings. These writings preserved Greek
thought as well. The Arabic writers also functioned as a conduct for the
transmission of ideas from India and China. The Arabic scholars formulated
the oldest known trignometric tables, introduced Indian numerals, known
Arabic numerals, and compiled astronomical tables. They established
obsrvatories to study the heavens. In the field of optics and physics, they
explained phenomena such as refraction of light, and the principle of
gravity. They made significant advances in chemistry. They discovered
potash, alcohol, silver nitrate, nitric acid, sulphuric acid and mercury
chloride. They originated processes such as distillation and sublimation.
Arabic scholars made significant advances in medicine. Many drugs now in use
are of Arab origin. They established hospitals with a system of internees.
Discovered causes of certain diseases and developed correct diagnoses of
them, proposed new concepts of hygiene, made use of anesthetics in surgery
with newly innovated surgical tools and introduced the science of dissection
in anatomy. They furthered the scientific breeding of horses and cattle, and
improved upon the science of navigation. They also developed a high degree
of perfection in art of textiles, ceramics and metallurgy. (Most of this
information has been taken from references in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15
ed. 1995).
Christian scholars were greatly impressed by Arabic scholarship. There was
considerable cultural interaction between the two groups, with much of it
taking place in the Mediterranean shoes, particularly Spain and Sicily. It
is not generally known that Arabic culture influenced French culture as
well. There are words of Arabic origin in the French language. More
importantly, voluminous Latin translations were made in the 12th century, of
major Arabic writings. These were studied successively at the major emerging
intellectual centres of Europe, such as Italy, France and later England and
Germany. It should also be noted that during this time, Arabic had become,
not only a religious language, but also the main international language of
the region. (lingua franca). It was also the main language for scholarship.
The Arabs also expanded eastwards, towards India and China, in search of
trade. In the 9th and 10th centuries, an assortment of Persians, Arabs,
Abyssinians, all Muslims, speaking Arabic and therefore conveniently called
'Arabs' dominated the overseas trade from Baghdad to China. The Muslims of
Sri Lanka were a part of this trade operation. There is evidence that there
were Muslim merchant settlements in Sri Lanka as early as the 7th century.
M. A. M. Shukri has used the Arabic (Kufi) inscriptions in Sri Lanka to
throw light on the origins of Sri Lanka's Muslims. He says that the Sri
Lanka Moors originally came from Aleppo, a city in Syria. ('Sri Lanka and
the Silk Road of the Sea' p181). Apparently there is an Arabic document in
the possession of one of the oldest Moor families in Beruwela. It said that
in 604 AD two sons of the Royal family of Yemen came to Lanka, one settled
in Mannar the other in Beruwela (Daily News 25.9. 98. p 16).
Muslim settlements started in Mantai, and thereafter spread systematically
in the trading ports. Archaeological evidence, such as tomb stones, indicate
that there were Muslim settlements in 10th century, in Anuradhapura,
Trincomalee and Colombo. Thereafter, there were Muslim settlements in the
port towns along the southwestern seaboard, such as Beruwela and Galle.
Lorna Dewaraja, in her book "The Muslims of Sri Lanka, 1000 years of ethnic
harmony 900-1915 AD" (Lanka Islamic Foundation, 1994) has studied the
situation of the Muslims in Sri Lanka, with particular reference to the
Kandyan Period. She makes several important points.
Firstly, she makes a comparison between the way Muslim settlers were treated
in Sri Lanka and the way they were treated in Burma, China and Thailand. In
Burma, Thailand and China, Muslim traders established trading posts which
eventually became permanent settlements. Every Burmese Muslim had two names,
one, Burmese and the other Arabic. For all practical purposes, only the
Burmese name was used. Further the Burmese king forbade the slaughter of
goats and fowl and forced the Muslims to listen to Buddhist sermons. In
China too, the Muslims had two names. They used the Chinese name and spoke
Chinese and used their Arabic names only with fellow Muslims. In Thailand
too, the Muslims were obliged to camouflage their Muslim identity from
hostile eyes. (Dewaraja. p 6, 13, 15). In Sri Lanka, the Muslims had no such
problems. As we all know, the Muslims use their Arabic or Persian names very
openly and proudly. Even today, the Muslims in Kandyan areas have 2 names, a
traditional Sinhala family name denoting the person's ancestry and
profession and an Arabic name. For all practical purposes, only the Arabic
name is known and used. The Sinhala name is used only in legal documents and
is useful in proving long residence in the island and ownership of land.
(Dewaraja. p 12-13).
In the latter half of the 13th century, with the decline of the Caliphate of
Baghdad, Arab commercial activity in the Indian Ocean decreased. This trade
was taken over by the Indian Muslims of Gujerat and other Indian centres.
Hindu merchants did not travel. They were based in India. They exported
their marchandise in Muslim owned vessels. Thus colonies of Islamised
Indians came up in the ports in India's south western (Malabar) and south
eastern (Coromandel) coasts right up to Bengal. Thus thriving centres of
Muslim commercial activity studded the Indian coastline. Subsequently,
colonies of such Indo-Arabs emerged along the coasts of Sri Lanka. These
settlements were described by the Dutch and British as 'Coast Moors'.
(Dewaraja p 41, 43).
The second wave of Muslims came to Sri Lanka from South India. They were the
descendants of earlier Arab traders who had settled in South Indian ports
and married local women. Thus Tamil and Malayalam came to be written in
Arabic script, and was known as Arabic Tamil. The Koran was translated into
Arabic Tamil. It was translated into Sinhala only recently. Since it was
compulsory for Muslim children to read the Koran, they had to know Arabic
Tamil. This partly explains why Muslims who have lived for centuries in
wholly Sinhala speaking areas retained Arabic Tamil as their 'mother
tongue'. Generations of Sri Lankan Tamils went to theological institutions
in Vellore to study Islamic learning. It has also been suggested that
Muslims speak Tamil because Tamil was widely used in maritime commerce in
the Indian Ocean (Dewaraja p 17).
Lorna Dewaraja points out that during the time of the Sinhala kings, from
the ancient period, right upto the Kandyan Period, there was racial amity
between the Sinhalese and the Muslims. The reason was that the Muslim
traders were economically and politically an asset to the Sri Lankan king.
The King therefore provided protection and permission for the traders to
settle in Sri Lanka (Dewaraja p 4).
"Right through from the Anuradhapura period to Kandyan times there was a
Muslim lobby operating in the Sri Lankan court. It advised the king on
overseas trade policy. They also kept the king informed of developments
abroad. The Muslim trader with his navigational skills and overseas contacts
became the secret channel of communication between the court and the outside
world" (Dewaraja p 8). The Sri Lankan kings encouraged the Muslims to
maintain their links with the Islamic world as this was mutually beneficial.
In the 13th century, Al Haj Aby Uthman was sent by the Sri Lankan king,
Bhuvanekabahu I to the Mamluk Court of Egypt to negotiate direct trade. They
were sent on important and confidential missions to South India right up to
Kandyan times. The Muslims of Sri Lanka spoke Tamil and other South Indian
languages and some even spoke Portuguese (p 8, 16).
Dewaraja says that when the Portuguese first appeared off the shores of Sri
Lanka, the Muslims warned the king, sangha, nobles and the people of the
potential threat to the country's soveriegnty. When the Portuguese tried to
gain a foothold in Colombo, the Muslims provided firearms, fought side by
side with the Sinhalese and even used their influence with South Indian
powers to get military asistance to Sinhalese rulers. Through the
intervention of the Muslims, the Zamorin of Calicut sent three distinguished
Moors of Cochin with forces to help Mayadunne (p 50).
When the Dutch appeared and persecuted the Muslims in their coastal
settlements, the Muslims ran to the Kandyan Kingdom. Senerat (1604-1635) and
Rajasimha II (1635-1687) settled these Muslims in the Eastern coast. Senerat
settled large numbers of Tamils and Muslims in Dighavapi area of Batticaloa
to revive the paddy cultivation. There were roads leading from Kandy to
Batticaloa passing through Minipe and Vellassa (p 127).
Dewaraja points out that it is clear from the writings of Pybus that even in
1762 the authority of the King of Kandy was strongly felt in areas around
Trincomalee even among his Muslim and Tamil subjects. It is necessary for us
to bear in mind that the Kandyan Kings saw themselves as kings of the whole
country. Through Kottiyar in Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Kalpitiya and Puttalam
they traded with India, and the Muslims and Chetties acted as the middlemen.
From Kottiyar (Trincomalee) to Kandy there was a land route following the
Mahaweli. Muslims had pack oxen and caravans and travelled this rout. The
resting places on this route became the nucleus of later Muslim settlements
(Dewaraja p 91, 125, 126).
Muslims were made welcome in the Kandyan Kingdom. They were integrated into
Kandyan society primarily by giving them duties which related to the King's
administration. They were made a part of the Madige Badda or Transport
Department. They were allowed to trade in arecanut, which was a royal
monopoly. The Muslims from Uva, which was near the salterns, had to bring
salt as part of their obligatory service (Dewaraja p 100-101). In addition
to this, select Muslims were involved in the Maligawa rituals and were given
Maligagam lands. Their duties included salt, hevisi, silversmith (acari)
also the higher function of kariya karavanarala. Therefore the Muslims were
involved however minimally in the administrative and ritual aspects of the
Dalada Maligawa as well (Dewaraja. p 107-8, 110). In addition, Muslims also
functioned as weavers, tailors, barbers, and lapidarists (p 137-138).
Muslims also functioned as physicians, and presumably they practised Unani
medicine. Dewaraja states that at this time, Unani had been practised in its
pure form in towns like Colombo, Galle and Beruwela (p 128). A Muslim
physician named Sulaiman Kuttiya who was practising in Galle was invited to
the Kandyan court, taken into royal service and given land near Gampola. His
descendants who lived till 1874 carried the prefix "Galle Vedaralala" (p
91). The most renowned of these Muslim physicians were the Gopala Moors of
Gataberiya in the Kegalle District. The family traces its pedigree to a
physician from Islamic Spain, whose descendants migrated to the Sind in
Northern India, from where they were ordered to come to Sri Lanka to attend
on King Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya (1236-1270) (p 128). The Gopala
descendants continued to function as physicians to the king, during reigns
of Rajadirajasinghe (1782-1798) and Srivickrama Rajasinghe. (1798-1815). The
Dutch also appointed two Muslims as local physicians in their hospitals, and
one of them, Mira Lebbe Mestriar was thereafter appointed as Native
Superintendent of the Medical Department in 1806 by the British (p 133).
Another important function of he Muslims in the Kandyan Court, was that they
acted as envoys to the King. One Muslim envoy had been sent to the Nawab of
Carnatic. Another had been sent to Pondicherry soliciting French assistance
against the Dutch, in 1765. The King also made use of his Muslim subjects to
keep abreast of developments outside his kingdom. The Muslims were useful in
this respect because of their trade links and knowledge of languages (p
135-136).
The Muslims were received favourably in the Kandyan Kingdom, as far as can
be seen. Robert Knox says that charitable Sinhala people giftd land to
Muslims to live (Dewaraja p 115). Muslims adopted the outward appearance and
dress and manners of the Sinhalese. Even James Cordiner couldnot see the
difference (p 120). In Galagedara there are yet two villages occupied only
by Muslims, surrounded by Sinhala villages. These two villages had Masjids
(p 104). Masjids were built on lands donated by the king. Present
Katupalliya and Meera Makkam Masjid in Kandy were built on land gifted by
the king. The architcture of the Katupalliya is Kandyan. (p114-115). Ridi
Vihare in Kurunegala gave part of its land for a Masjid and allocated a
portion of land for the maintenance of a Muslim priest (p 113).
In 1930, in Rambukkana many Muslim boys had received their education in
Buddhist monasteries. Many of them studied Sinhala and idigenous medicine.
Facilities were provided for the Muslim boys to say their prayers and attend
Koranic classes, while living in the temple. In this remote village in
Rambukkana, Muslims made voluntary contributions towards the vihara and they
participated in the Esala Perahera. The drumers voluntarily stopped the
music when they passed Masjid (Dewaraja p 113).
Between Hammer and Anvil: Sri Lanka's Muslims
Adam's peak, a symmetrically conical mountain set in the gorgeous hill
country of southern Sri Lanka, is sacred to all of the island's main faiths.
There is a strange indentation set in the living rock of the summit. To the
majority Sinhalese Buddhists (69% of the total population) it is the
footprint of the Buddha Gautama. The Tamil Hindus (21%) know better - it is,
of course, the sacred footprint of the God Shiva. Then again, the island's
Muslims (7%) insist, it is the footprint left by Adam when, cast out of the
Garden of Eden by a wrathful God, he fell to earth in the place nearest to
that celestial grove in terms of beauty, fertility and climate - Sri Lanka.
In happier times Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim - together with the island's
Catholic Christians, who believe the footprint to be that of St Thomas -
were content to disagree amicably, sharing the pilgrimage season between
December and April each year, when every night thousands of people climb the
seemingly endless stairs to the 2,224 metre summit and await the sunrise.
As the whole world knows, those days of inter-racial and
inter-denominationa l harmony are long gone - though not at Adam's Peak,
secure in the government-dominate d Sinhala heartland. Rather the troubles
are at the other end of the island, where for twenty years, ever since the
simmering hostility between Buddhist Sinhalese and Tamil Hindu exploded into
open warfare, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have pursued their
struggle for a separate Tamil state.
As the third, and smallest, of the island's racial-religious communities,
the Sri Lankan Muslims - generally if confusingly known as "Moors" - have
become the forgotten losers in this vicious struggle. The Tamils, evidently
misclassified by the British during their long hegemony in South Asia as a
"non-martial race", have fought with an extraordinary fanaticism under the
cold command of the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakharan. From the earliest
days of the war they did not hesitate to employ "ethnic cleansing" - that
late 20th century euphemism for genocide - against Sinhalese villagers
living in the north. Subsequently, and with the same ruthlessness, the same
tactic has been used against Muslims.
To understand why this should be so, it is necessary to examine the
anomalous situation of the Sri Lankan Moors - Tamil speakers who yet, for
the most part, support the Sinhalese-dominated government of Chandrika
Kumaratunga.
There have been Muslims in Sri Lanka for well over a thousand years. Trading
dhows plied the waters between the Middle East and the island known to Arab
sailors - like the legendary Sinbad - as Serendib even in pre-Islamic times.
The first Muslim merchants and sailors may have landed on its shores during
the Prophrt Muhammad's life time. By the 10th century this predominantly
Arab community had grown influential enough to control the trade of the
south-western ports, whilst the Sinhalese kings generally employed Muslim
ministers to direct the state's commercial affairs. In 1157 the king of the
neighbouring Maldive Islands was converted to Islam, and in 1238 an embassy
to Egypt sent by King Bhuvaneka Bahu I was headed by Sri Lankan Muslims.
From about 1350 onwards the predominantly Arab strain in Sri Lankan Islam
began to change as Tamil Muslims from neighbouring South India moved to the
island in increasing numbers. By the late 15th century, when Portuguese
vessels first arrived in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka's Muslims were truly
indigenous to the island, representing a mixture of Sinhalese, Arab and
Tamil blood, and speaking Tamil with Arabic overtones, sometimes known as
"Tamil-Arabic" . None of this made any difference to the newly-arrived
Portuguese, for whom all Muslims were "Moors" - the name given to their
traditional enemies in Morocco and southern Spain. The name Moro - employed
as a derogatory designation by the Portuguese - stuck, and is today "worn
with pride" by Sri Lankan Muslims, in much the same way as the "Moros" of
the southern Philippines.
In Sri Lanka, as everywhere they went, the Portuguese made a special point
of persecuting the Muslims. As a consequence, many fled the western littoral
which had passed under Portuguese control, and settled in the north and east
of the island where their descendants live to the present day. A hundred
years later, in 1656, when the Dutch replaced the Portuguese, a third (and
final) element was added to the island's Muslim population - the Malay.
Malay sailors had been visiting Sri Lanka for centuries using long-distance
outrigger canoes; now, with the arrival of the Dutch, many more were brought
from Java to serve their Dutch colonial rulers in Sri Lanka. In time they
were absorbed into the island's ethnically diverse Muslim community, though
even today many Sri Lankan Muslims identifying themselves as "Malays" rather
than "Moors" can be found living in Western Province, and especially in
Colombo.
Today Sri Lanka's Muslims live scattered throughout the island, from Galle
in the south to the Tamil-dominated Jaffna peninsula in the north. Generally
they are involved in commerce, from running local dry goods stores to
dominating the wealthy gem business associated with Ratnapura - "Jewel City"
and much of the capital's import-export business. In the disputed north and
east of the country, where the LTTE are currently battling the Sri Lankan
armed forces, many Muslims are farmers or fishermen, living in small
villages far from the protection of government forces. It is these people -
the poorest of the island's "Moors", descendants of the orginal refugees
displaced by the Portuguese four hundred years ago - that are now caught up
in the struggle for "Tamil Eelam".
Most Moors speak Tamil as their first language, regarding Sinhalese and
English as languages of commerce to be used in their business dealings.
Despite this linguistic affinity they do not consider themselves Tamil,
however, and have precious little sympathy for the Tamil Tigers' cause.
Rather they tend to support the government, albeit passively, wishing simply
to pursue their business interests with the full freedom of religion they
have long been accustomed too. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible. In
those areas contested by the LTTE with a substantial Muslim population - for
example, Northern Province's Vavuniya District, and Eastern Province's
Tricomalee and Batticaloa Districts - they are under serious pressure.
Initially, it seems, the Tamil separatists hoped to enlist the
Tamil-speaking Moors in their struggle for an independent Tamil state
encompassing all of Northern and Eastern Provinces. When the Moors remained
aloof - and even indicated support for the government position - they became
identified as enemies. Worse than that, as Tamil-speakers there seemed, to
Tiger minds at least, an element of treason in their lack of support.
Subsequently, as the LTTE struggle for secession developed into open warfare
with the government in Colombo, Prabhakharan, showing characteristic
ruthlessness, targeted the Moors for "ethnic cleansing" - that is, physical
expulsion or elimination - from the lands sought by the Tigers as a Tamil
homeland.
The Tigers first began to attack the Moors on a systematic basis over a
decade ago. In August, 1990, in two separate incidents, more than 230
Muslims were massacred at prayer at towns near Pulmoddai, in the north-east
of the island. At the same time Prabhakharan gave notice that the entire
Muslim population of Northern Province, including the then rebel-held
capital of Jaffna, should leave contested areas forthwith or face being
killed. An estimated one hundred thousand people were affected by this
threat, many of who have since fled to government-controll ed areas in the
centre and south of the island. Tens of thousands were made destitute, the
majority of whom still eke out a living in refugee camps. Following this
incident, Muslim fishermen became a favourite target of LTTE maritime
patrols, and Muslim businessmen a preferred target for abduction and ransom.
Muslim leaders in the north and east have responded by voicing their own
claims for autonomy in the region, making it clear that - should the LTTE
reach an agreement with Colombo on autonomous status - they would seek to
opt out from Tamil control. Prabhakharan' s response has been as vigorous and
ruthless as ever. If the Muslims won't accept Tamil rule, they must be
expelled from Northern Province and Eastern Province en masse.
Caught in the intricate and seemingly endless web of violence between Tamil
Hindu and Sinhalese Buddhist, Sri Lanka's Muslims are increasingly
desperate, unsure which way to turn, and whom to trust. Forgotten victims of
a particularly vicious war, they are trapped between hammer and anvil, a
long way indeed from the Garden of Eden.
*A brief history of the Muslims of Sri Lanka*
Introduction
Sri Lanka, known to the ancients as Ceylon, has been recorded in history
books as a country that has had many visitations from foreign travellers
throughout the ages. The people are mainly Buddhist, with a complex mixture
of Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations. The
main race are the Sinhalese while the Tamils, Muslims and Burghers
(Anglo-Sri Lankans) form the remaining. The Muslims of Sri Lanka are a very
small minority amounting to approximately 10% of a total population of 16
Million people. They claim descendancy from the Arab traders, who made Sri
Lanka their home even before the advent of Islam. The Tamils comprise around
25% of the population.
Sri Lankan Muslims can be categorized into two distinct sub groups, the
Moors and the Malays. The former is the name given to them by the Portuguese
colonial rulers who used the word Moros to identify Arabs in general. The
Malays are a group of Muslims who originated from Java and the Malaysian
Peninsula. They differed from the Moors, both, in their physical appearance
as well as in the language they spoke which was a mixture of Malay and local
dialects.
The Muslims of Sri Lanka have a colorful history behind them punctuated by a
long spell of hardship suffered during the Portuguese and Dutch ocupation of
the Island. It is much to their credit that they withstood the onslaught of
economic constraints, political intrigues and religious persecution to stay
behind and survive. Most other peoples may have packed their bags and left
for good. They not only saved their religion from the Christian enemies but
also rebuilt the economy, slowly and steadily, by the 18th century when the
British took over control of the island from the Dutch.
Being geographically isolated from the main centers of Islamic culture and
civilization the Muslims of Sri Lanka were forced to interact closely with
their neighbours, the Muslims of South India, in order to preserve their
identity. Had they been denied this slender link, it is possible that, they
may have lost their distinct Islamic character completely. However, it must
be observed that this link has also caused many Indian (Hindu) traditions
and rituals to creep into their culture and life style, some of which, even
though vehemently anti-Islamic, are still practised to date. Lack of a
correct understanding of the teachings of Islam has been the main cause of
this sad situation.
Having adapted to the local conditions in various ways and also contributing
largely to the Islands economic prosperity, the Muslim community of Sri
Lanka, unlike the Hindu Tamils of the Northern Province, has saved itself
from any major clash with the indigenous Sinhalese population. They have
also been able to receive a fair share in the countrs Politics and
Administration by virtue of their hard work and also of being an important
minority whose support has been vital to all the political groups in the
country. Although it may be said that the Muslim community was not
politically dominant at any stage, yet, it is certainly true that they
manouvered their political activity without much noise, unlike the Tamils.
This work attempts to present a brief history of the Muslims of Sri lanka
from their early Arab trader beginnings to the present day minority
community that is fully integrated into the Sri
Lankan society.
Historical Background
Sri Lanka (previously known as Ceylon) lies of the south-east of the Indian
state of Tamil Nadu. The pear shaped island, often referred to as the pearl
of the east is separated from mainland India by a narrow strip of water
called the Palk Straits.
Being in such close proximity to and having such easy access from India, it
might be expected that Sri Lanka received a large number of migrants from
its neighbour from pre-historic times. The original inhabitants of the
island are believd to be an aboriginal tribe called the Veddahs. The
Sinhalese, presently the majority community, are supposed to be the
descendants of the colonists, led by Vijaya, from the valley of the Ganges
who settled in the island around the 6th century B.C. Sinhala, the language
of the Sinhalese, is an Aryan language, closely related to Pali. Buddhism
was introduced to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa
during the period 307-267 B.C.
Trade relations between India and Sri Lanka are traced to the 3rd century
B.C. Historians have not been able to pin-point the actual date of
establishment of Tamil settlements in Sri Lanka. However, during the 3rd
century B.C. a Tamil General, Elara, set up a Tamil Kingdom at Anuradhapura,
in the North Central Province, and ruled there for 44 years. He earned a
reputation for his just and impartial administration among the Sinhalese and
Tamils and was thus called Elara the Just.
The strategic location of the island, in the Indian Ocean, together with
some of the coveted goods it produced, resulted in a fair degree of foreign
trade even from ancient times. The Romans discovered the commercial value of
Sri Lanka in the first century A.D. and the island was visited by Greeks,
Romans, Persians, Arabs, and Chinese traders. Sri Lankas trade offering
included Cinnamon, which grew wild in the forests of the wet zone, precious
stones, pearls, elephants and ivory.
While most of the traders were only visitors to the island, who made their
fortunes and left, it was the Arabs who settled down, making Ceylon their
home. Furthermore as the Muslims of Sri lanka claim their desecndancy from
the Arabs it is imprtant to look at the information available on the advent
of the Arabs to the island.
The Arabs:
The Tamils of Sri Lanka, throughout history, have attempted to categorize
the Sri Lankan Muslims as belonging to the Tamil race. This has been mainly
for selfish reasons in a bid to eliminate the minority Muslim community from
having its own unique identity. The Government of Sri Lanka, however, treats
the Muslims as of Arab origin and as a distinct ethnic group from the
Tamils.
Fr. S.G. Perera in his book -History of Ceylon for Schools- Vol. 1. The
Portuguese and Dutch Periods, (1505-1796), Colombo (1955), The Associated
Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., p 16, writes,
-The first mention of Arabs in Ceylon appears to be in the Mahavansa
(Ancient Sri Lankan history) account of the reign of the King Pandukabhaya,
where it is stated that this king set apart land for the Yonas (Muslims) at
Anuradhapura-
With the decline of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century A.D., Roman trade
also died out and the Arabs and Persians filled up the vacuum; engaging in a
rapidly growing inter-coastal trade. After the conquest of Persia (Iran),
Syria and Egypt, the Arabs controlled all the important ports and trading
stations between East and West. It is estimated that the Arabs had settled
in Sri Lanka and Sumatra by the 1st century A.D. K.M. De Silvas, Historical
Survey, Sri Lanka - A Survey, London (1977), C. Hurst & Co. Ltd., p 50,
states,
-by about the 8th century A.D., the Arabs had formed colonies at the
important ports of India, Ceylon and the East Indies. The presence of the
Arabs at the ports of Ceylon is attested to by at least three inscriptions
discovered at Colombo, Trincomalee and the island of Puliantivu-
The manner in which Islam developed in Sri lanka is very closely similar to
that on the Malabar coast of India. Tradition has recorded that Arabs who
had settled down on the Malabar coast used to travel from the port of
Cranganore to Sri lanka on piligrimage to pay homage to what they believed
to be the foot-print of Adam on the top of a montain, which, until today, is
called Adams Peak.
Ibn Batuta, the famous 14th. century Ara

Land worth Rs 500 bn illegally occupied in Bangalore

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Land worth Rs 500 bn illegally occupied in Bangalore
Bangalore: India's IT hub has become a land grabbers' paradise, with around 45,000 acres worth Rs.500 billion ($12.6 billion) at market rates illegally occupied in and around the city, a survey by lawmakers shows.
Bangalore is also competing with other Indian cities over blatant violation of building laws.
The authorities' move to legalise violation by levying a hefty fine on violators has led to a storm of protests from political parties and associations of residents.
The land grabbers include religious figures, politicians, bureaucrats and realtors, the committee of legislators that looked into the illegal occupation of government land in and around Bangalore says in its report.
Only the family of former Congress chief minister R. Gundu Rao, which also figures in the long list of land grabbers, has refuted the committee's findings.
Others, including two well-known religious personalities, are yet to give their version of the story.
The report, running into 1,000 pages, has kicked up a minor storm with the Congress dismissing it as a witch hunt as no leader of consequence from the other two major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), figures in the list.
Committee chairperson A.T. Ramaswamy of JD-S has refuted the Congress claims and says his report is based on official documents obtained from various departments whose lands have been grabbed.
Ramaswamy, now a former legislator following the dissolution of the assembly last week, has submitted the report to Governor Rameshwar Thakur in the absence of an elected government in the state.
The lands illegally taken over by the grabbers belong to departments of revenue, forest, minor irrigation, health, animal husbandry, transport, Bangalore Development Authority, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, Bangalore City Corp, Karnataka Housing Board, Wakf Board, Bangalore University and Karnataka Slum Clearance Board.
The committee has found that the grabbers had not spared even graveyards, dry lakes and tank beds.
The committee says that officials of various government departments and agencies have colluded with the land grabbers. It has recommended severe punishment to the guilty.
One of the bizarre cases of land grab identified by the committee in its interim report submitted earlier relates to an as yet unidentified person pledging a dry lakebed to a bank to raise a loan of Rs.50 million.
Since the person defaulted on loan repayment, the bank auctioned the pledged lake bet and raised Rs.76 million.
The committee found that more than 15 acres of the lakebed in Byrasandra in central Bangalore had been encroached by a realtor. The realtor fabricated documents to show possession of the area and on that basis took a loan of Rs.50 million from the Indian Overseas Bank (IO branch in Jayanagar here.
The lakebed had been given by the government in 1986 to the forest department to develop a tree park. The encroachment and IOB auctioning the land to recover its amount took place sometime later.
Though the committee wants to the governor to act on its report, the Congress is opposing it as mostly its leaders have been named by it.
The party also contends that since the assembly has been dissolved, the committee has ceased to exist and its chairman should not have gone ahead with finalising the report and submitting it to the governor.
Ramaswamy justifies his action saying the report had been finalised by the time assembly was dissolved. Since there was no elected government, he can only submit the report to the governor, he told reporters during the weekend.
Apart from massive land grabbing, the city and surrounding areas have seen widespread violation of building rules and regulations.
The JD-S and BJP coalition government enacted a law in September 2006 to regularise unauthorised constructions not only in Bangalore but also across the entire state by colleting a fine from the violators.
The law came into effect from September and the regularisation process is to start from Dec 14.
The Congress, the Left parties, some trade bodies and various residents' association have launched protests against the implementation of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regularisation of Unauthorised Development or Constructions) Rules 2007.
They argue that the levy is unscientific and a burden on small residential properties.
The law says that 50 percent of the funds collected by urban bodies for regularisation will be utilised for the development of parks and open spaces and the remaining 50 percent for infrastructure, civic amenities, lighting, drinking water, drainage system and such other facilities.
"The fee prescribed for regularisation is reasonable," says S. Subramanya, head of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bangalore City Corp).
He has been telling the media and representatives of trade bodies and residents that since the regularisation fee will be utilised to develop infrastructure, there is no justification to oppose the government decision.
However those opposing the law remain unconvinced.
Source: IANS
Controversy no help for 'Aaja Nachle'
New Delhi: Controversies mostly act as oxygen for films. However, the row over the objectionable lyrics in "Aaja Nachle" that led to a brief ban on the film in some states, couldn't work wonders for it.

According to box-office reports, Madhuri Dixit's much-awaited comeback vehicle opened to a poor response of 25 to 30 per cent across the country and hasn't set the cash registers ringing yet.

"As compared to other Yash Raj movies, 'Aaja Nachle' hasn't got a great opening. Even the hype hasn't helped it," Deepak Taluja, vice-president of operations at Fun Cinemas, said.

"The film registered 50 to 55 per cent occupancy in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. With up to 60 per cent in Rajasthan and Mumbai, it was a little better over the weekend. Only in Bangalore did we record 90 to 95 per cent occupancy," he said.

In the capital and its suburbs, the occupancy in some popular multiplexes was dismal. JAM had 30 per cent, Satyam about 65 per cent and M2K Cinemas had less than 40 per cent.

However, it is expected that increased curiosity amid viewers might bring them to cinema halls in the coming weeks.

"The film is doing reasonably better than those which are already going on in multiplexes. It is also expected that by Wednesday and in the coming weeks, the movie might pick up, courtesy the high curiosity among audiences," said Pramod Arora, president and CEO of PVR Ltd.

The film was banned in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana after Dalit leaders alleged that the title song made derogatory insinuation about the community.

The objectionable portion of the title song was: "Bazar mein machi hai maramar; bole mochi bhi khud ko sunar" (There is so much chaos in the market that even a cobbler is calling himself a jeweller).

Trouble first erupted when Udit Raj, who heads the Indian Justice Party, led a demonstration on Friday to a movie hall in New Delhi where the film was being screened.

The ban was revoked after producer Yash Chopra tendered an apology and removed the objectionable line from the title song.
Sethu project will help coastal communities, says official
Rameswaram: Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) has allocated Rs 80 crore exclusively for the development of coastal communities, an official said on Monday.
Fishing harbours would come up at places like Thondi, Sethupava Chattiram and Mookaiyur in the course of the project, K Suresh, the Chairman of Chennai Port Trust and in-charge the SSCP, said.
A multi-purpose harbour would come up in Rameswaram, while another one of international standards is being planned for Colachel, he told reporters here after distributing certificates to women self help group (SHGs) members who were imparted training by various NGOs.
The infrastructural development as part of the SSCP would improve the lot of coastal communities, he asserted.
On the present status of the project, he said the dredging has been stopped following the August 31 Supreme Court order putting on hold the demolition of Ram Sethu.
The work would commence once the Supreme Court announces its decision, he said, without elaborating.
Sangh Parivar outfits were opposing the present alignment of project saying it would destroy the 'holy' bridge built by lord Rama.
As per the present alignment, the 48 km-long chain of limestone shoals connecting Rameswaram to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka, should be dredged to complete the channel which would drastically reduce the distance between the Eastern and Western coasts of the country.
http://www.indiavca .org/MsgDisplayF ortUpdates. aspx?id=7
IFC to acquire stake in Angel Broking
September 04: US-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector funding arm of World Bank, is planning to acquire stake in India-based Angel Infin Private Limited, a subsidiary of Angel Broking group, for approximately Rs.1.5 billion.
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ International_ Finance_Corporat ion
International Finance Corporation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty and improve people's lives.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, DC. It shares the primary objective of all World Bank Group institutions: to improve the quality of the lives of people in its developing member countries. [1]
Established in 1956, IFC is the largest multilateral source of loan and equity financing for private sector projects in the developing world. It promotes sustainable private sector development primarily by:
Financing private sector projects located in the developing world.
Helping private companies in the developing world mobilize financing in international financial markets.
Providing advice and technical assistance to businesses and governments.
Contents[hide]
1 Ownership and Management
2 Funding of IFC's Activities
3 IFC Activities
4 See also
5 External links
6 References
//
[edit] Ownership and Management IFC has 179 member countries , which collectively determine its policies and approve investments. To join IFC, a country must first be a member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). IFC's corporate powers are vested in its Board of Governors, to which member countries appoint representatives. IFC's share capital, which is paid in, is provided by its member countries, and voting is in proportion to the number of shares held. IFC's authorized capital (the sums contributed by its members over the years) is $2.45 billion; IFC's net worth (which includes authorized capital and retained earnings) is considerably larger and at the end of June, 2005, was $9.8 billion. [2]
The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Board of Directors, which is composed of the Executive Directors of the IBRD, and which represents IFC's member countries. The Board of Directors reviews all projects.
The President of the World Bank Group, Robert Zoellick, also serves as IFC's president. IFC's CEO and Executive Vice President, Lars Thunell, is responsible for the overall management of day-to-day operations. He was appointed on January 15, 2006.
Although IFC coordinates its activities in many areas with the other institutions in the World Bank Group, IFC generally operates independently as it is legally and financially autonomous with its own Articles of Agreement, share capital, management and staff.
[edit] Funding of IFC's Activities IFC's equity and quasi-equity investments are funded out of its net worth: the total of paid in capital and retained earnings. Strong shareholder support, triple-A ratings, and the substantial paid-in capital base have allowed IFC to raise funds for its lending activities on favorable terms in the international capital markets. Retained earnings now represent almost three-quarters of IFC's net worth of $9.8 billion (end-June 2006).
[edit] IFC Activities Within the World Bank Group, the World Bank finances projects with sovereign guarantees, while the IFC finances projects without sovereign guarantees. This means that the IFC is primarily active in private sector projects, although some projects in the public sector (at the municipal or sub-national level) have recently been funded.
Private sector financing is IFC's main activity, and in this respect is a profit-oriented financial institution (and has never had an annual loss in its 50-year history). Like a bank, IFC lends or invests its own funds and borrowed funds to its customers and expects to make a sufficient risk-adjusted return on its global portfolio of projects.
IFC's activities, however, must meet a second test of contributing to a reduction in poverty in line with its mandate. In practice, this is broadly interpreted, but considerable time and effort is devoted to both (i) selecting projects with positive developmental outcomes, and (ii) improving the developmental outcome of projects by various means.
Apart from its core investment activities, IFC also carries out technical cooperation projects in many countries to improve the investment climate. These activities may be linked to a specific investment project, or, increasingly, to broader goals such as improving the legislative environment for a specific industry. IFC's technical cooperation projects are generally funded by donor countries or from IFC's own budget.
Lars Thunell is the current Executive Vice President and CEO leads IFC's overall strategic directions.
http://www.corpwatc h.org/article. php?id=7828
Home » Issues » Corruption » World Bank Knew About Enron's ... E-Mail Page Printer Safe
World Bank Knew About Enron's Payoffs in Guatemala
by Jim Vallette, Special to CorpWatch
August 1st, 2003
Matt Wuerker A newly released U.S. Senate report has found that the World Bank and other U.S. taxpayer-backed agencies knew that Enron was paying commissions to a shadowy company called Sun King to win a contract to build a power plant on a barge in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, ten years ago.
The bipartisan Senate Finance Committee report, released on Wednesday, including contracts and corporate correspondence, says: "Enron benefited from taxpayer support and multilateral organization support to extend its international reach, including the Guatemalan power project with its questionable payments."
The report is a revelation about the shady world of international project finance, a game that Enron perfected hand-in-hand with institutions like the World Bank, and U.S. government agencies like the Overseas Private Investment Bank (OPIC). Reading between the lines, one can see a lethargic, perhaps negligent, response by these agencies when they were warned of potentially dodgy deals in which they were involved. The Clinton and Bush administrations' preponderance of effort has been in expanding the global operations of favored U.S. corporations.
Today, Enron International still controls this project, and U.S. taxpayer monies are intertwined, through outstanding OPIC and Maritime Administration project finance.
Enron, backed by World Bank and U.S. government money, bought out a publicly-held stake in the power plant in 1993. President Jorge Serrano smoothed the transition. "The Serrano government is a staunch proponent of free market economic policies, and includes privatization as a cornerstone of its platform," reads a 1992 Enron memorandum. The memo requested a $71 million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector arm. The IFC approved the loan in March 1993. OPIC also supported the plant with a $73.8 million political risk insurance package in 1992.
As part of the deal, Enron agreed to pay 6% of the plant's gross revenues to a politically- connected investment group called Sun King. Subsequent events swept Sun King and President Jorge Serrano from the power plant, and power itself.
In 1993, after the Puerto Quetzal plant came on line, Enron started paying tax-free "commissions" to Sun King. According to Enron memoranda contained in the Senate report, Sun King had a relationship with President Serrano that "could prove embarrassing. " The same description could be true of the World Bank, OPIC, and Enron's relationships with this project.
One Enron memorandum notes that the "Sun King payments do not represent any REAL [original emphasis] service to Puerto Quetzal Power Corp." Another states that Sun King "talked him [President Serrano] into signing the [privatization] contract. It is the typical 'finder fee' arrangement. As wealthy indviduals that they are, they have the capacity to establish contacts, make pressure, and represent your interest. One of the guys seems to be closer to the army than others, [and] this can be of some benefit if in a given situation if we need to approach the army. [W]e definitely don't want them against our interests if something goes wrong."
The IFC, in reviewing Enron's proposal, apparently knew about the Sun King arrangement, at least according to an Enron memo dated March 12, 1993. That month, the IFC approved a $71 million loan facility. The interoffice memorandum from Ron Teitelbaum notes that "The IFC has objected to PQPC [Puerto Quetzal Power Corporation] paying the commission to SK as this payment has the potential to interfere with PQPC's ability to service the debt owed to the IFC. It is possible to improve this situation if the liability to pay the commission is moved back to PQPC under terms that should be acceptable to the IFC."
President Jorge Serrano then went too far for the Guatemalan public appetite. As the project finance was completed, President Serrano proposed an increase in electricity rates. The price hike, which totaled as much as 100 percent for some customers, were part of the principal complaints of the demonstrators who took to the streets in Guatemala City during the spring of 1993. President Serrano responded to the unrest by declaring martial law, and by attempting to dissolve the Guatemalan Congress. His reach for government-by- decree failed when he was unable to win the support of the military. President Serrano fled the country in May 1993, and the rate increases were suspended. He is currently in exile in Panama.
As long as Serrano was in office, Sun King represented intangible value to Enron. After Serrano was forced to flee, the value of Sun King to Enron eroded. Enron immediately began to discuss buying out the partnership' s stake in Puerto Quetzal. A January 1994 memo by Enron employee David Odorizzi explained, Sun King has "fairly low" political influence "and in practical terms, Sunking [sic] seems reluctant to flex any political muscle they have left to help the project." After making nearly $5 million of monthly payments since April 1993, Enron bought out Sun King's interest for $12 million.
This buyout used U.S. taxpayer dollars. The Senate investigation found that "Enron used World Bank funds and funds from U.S. taxpayer supported agencies and lending organizations to finance the Guatemalan power project as well as the questionable payments to Sun King,".
In 1999, the Houston office of the Internal Revenue Service informed the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice that Enron "may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" in Guatemala.
The SEC and Justice apparently never pursued this any further. Instead, the Clinton and Bush/Cheney administrations continued to grease Enron's global operations.
Enron rose to international heights on the back of public institutions, particularly the U.S. Export-Import Bank, OPIC, and the World Bank. Since 1992, at least 21 agencies, representing the U.S. government, multilateral development banks, and other national governments, helped leverage Enron's global reach by approving $7.2 billion in public financing toward 38 projects in 29 countries.
The company was the darling of these institutions' global energy privatization strategy, first engineered by the Reagan administration' s Treasury Department. In 1983, the department called upon the World Bank to end its "socialist drift" toward public energy projects and to instead "remove impediments and adopt policies which foster private sector involvement in energy development. "
Treasury continued to champion Enron through the Clinton era. In 1999, just as the IRS was warning the SEC and Justice about Enron's overseas dealings, CEO Kenneth Lay wrote letters reflecting a warm relationship with the out-going and in-coming Secretaries of Treasury.
Exit Robert Rubin: "Although not surprised, I am sorry to see you step down as Treasury Secretary. By any objective or subjective measurement, you have done an outstanding job not only for your country but for the world," crowed Lay. "If you are considering joining any corporate boards, I would like very much to talk to you."
Enter Lawrence Summers: "Congratulations on taking the reins at the Treasury," wrote Lay. "You have certainly had a lot of on the job training with Bob and I have absolutely no doubt that you will do an outstanding job, just as he has done I hope our paths continue to cross and certainly stand ready to be available if there is anything at all I or Enron could do for you or the department."
There was plenty that Treasury officials continued to do for Enron. After the IRS first warned of Enron's potential FCPA violation, Treasury agencies OPIC and ExIm approved even more financing for the corporations' global expansion. OPIC supported a power project in Nigeria, structured very similarly to Puerto Quetzal. In Nigeria, Senator Carl Levin charged last year, "Enron cooked the books." (See CorpWatch link)
In 2001, the World Bank, with no opposition from the Treasury respresentative, backed a $3.3 million guarantee for an Enron power plant in Panama. The financing flowed to an investor in the plant named Lloyds TSB Bank of Panama, a subsidiary of Lloyds (the London-based insurance and banking empire).
One can only assume that MIGA officials did not read the transcript of the Feb. 2001 U.S. Senate investigation on money laundering. One of the banks investigated by Sen. Carl Levin's staff was a Lloyds affiliate named British Bank of Latin America (BBLA), "a small offshore bank that was licensed in the Bahamas but accepted clients only from Colombia. (and) became a conduit for illegal drug money." According to that Senate investigation, BBLA's account statements included "large money transfers" with Lloyd's Panamanian affiliate.
Even after Enron's collapse, the U.S. government remains on the hook for many standing OPIC and ExIm deals with Enron. The Bush/Cheney administration even failed to oppose a new project in which Enron International is a leading player: the expansion of the Transredes gas pipeline system in Bolivia. Last December, the Inter-American Development Bank, in which the U.S. government is the leading investor, approved a $125 million loan for this project.
Here, again, U.S. government and multilateral bank officials have neglected accusations of financial malpractice and corruption. According to Jorge Cortes of the Bolivian NGO, CEADES, a May 2002 investigation by Bolivia's Parliament found that Enron had created a "ghost foundation" used by company staff to buy shares in the Cuiab pipeline, thus increasing its value while defrauding legitimate shareholders. The Bolivian govenrment has also admitted that government officials received $2.5 million dollars from Enron, allegedly for travel expenses, while the public gas pipeline company was being privatized. Further, charges Cortes, the Bolivian President benefits from a secret private gas line leading from the Transredes system to his own gold mine. The mine, in turn, is supported by an IFC investment.
"Corporate corruption controls much of the power in Bolivia and the public interest has been hijacked by private profit," charges Cortes.
As the U.S. Senate investigation reveals, such hijackings are occurring with some knowledge of the federal government and multilateral development banks. The contagion was noted by long-time global anti-corruption activists, traditionally a fairly conservative group, at the 11th International Anti-Corruption Conference, in Seoul, Korea, in May 2003.
Their final communique declared:
"We believe that water and energy resources should be considered public goods, access to which is a fundamental human right... When it appears likely that officials in privatized water or energy utilities may have engaged in corrupt practices, an independent commission should investigate them together with any public agencies - including international financial institutions (IFIs) and export credit agencies - that may have financed the transactions. .. When international agencies are found to have financed such corrupt transactions, they - not the consumers - must bear appropriate responsibility for outstanding loans and credits.. We recommend that IFIs and donors should end the practice of insisting on privatization as a condition of loans and allow for the consideration of the full range of public and private sector models."
Jim Vallette is research director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies. He is co-author, with Daphne Wysham, of SEEN's March 2002 report, "Enron's Pawns: How Public Institutions Bankrolled Enron's Globalization Game," available at: www.seen.org.

In India, a terrible place to be born a girl
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Dwikhondito fire rages in Kolkata, 40,000 copies sold so far
Kolkata, December 2 The fourth edition of Dwikhondito, the third in
the autobiographical series by Taslima Nasreen that created a major
controversy, has completely sold out.
"Now we are bringing out the fifth edition which will be without the
two pages that contained disparaging remarks about Prophet Mohammad.
The author called me on Friday morning and told me to delete the
offending portions," said Shivani Mukherjee, owner of People's Book
Society, which has published all the five books in the series.
She said that the sudden increase in the sales was probably because
of the controversy about the contents of the book. "The reason is
very obvious. It is the controversy regarding the book. So far more
than 40,000 copies had been sold," the publisher added.
The first in the series Amaar Meyebela (My childhood) sold the most

Govt may lift 5,000 hectare limit for SEZs
NANDIGRAM, CHOMSKY AND CIVIL SOCIETY MOVEMENT
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Govt may lift 5,000 hectare limit for SEZs
New Delhi: The government may lift the cap of 5,000 hectares for multi-product special economic zones (SEZs) in view of the new Relief and Rehabilitation Policy and the proposed amendments to
the Land Acquisition Act.
This was announced by commerce secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai at the India Economic Summit 2007.
Have fun with a fighting spirit with my latest comedy on Indian communists and their secularism in Taslima issue--

Part-1
http://youtube. com/watch? v=yKzhpjEeElY

Part-2
http://youtube. com/watch? v=Iy6Dz1yRWMY

Thanks
Biplab
From *Devil's Advocate*
Arundhati Roy: I don't believe that a write like Taslima Nasreen can
undermine the dignity of ten million people. Who is she? She is not a
scholar of Islam. She does not even claim that Islam is her subject. She
might have said extremely stupid things about Islam. I have no problem with
the quotations that I have heard from her book. *Dwikhandito* has not been
translated into English but let's just assume that what she said was stupid
and insulting to Islam but you have to be prepared to be insulted by
something that insignificant.
Karan Thapar:* She, I believe, has been in touch with you . What has she
told you about the experience that she has been through?*
Arundhati Roy: Well I have to say that I was devastated listening to what
she said because here's this woman in exile and all alone. Since August
she's been under pressure, she says, from the West Bengal police who visit
her everyday saying, "Get out of here. Go to Kerala, go to Europe or go to
Rajasthan. Do anything but get out of here. People are trying to kill you,"
not offering to protect her but saying get out. On 15th November when there
was this huge march in Calcutta against Nandigram, they said, "Now you're
going to be killed so we're going to move you from your flat to some other
place" and they did it but they withdrew most of her security which is
paradoxical because on the day when she was supposedly the most under the
threat, she had no protection. A few days later they gave her a ticket and
pushed her out of the state.
Karan Thapar:* What about Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee? He is a poet, he is an
author; how does he emerge from this story? *
Arundhati Roy: He emerges from the story, as far as I am concerned, as the
principal scriptwriter who managed quite cleverly to shift all the attention
from Nandigram to Taslima and Taslima is not the person who is displacing
the poor peasants of Nandigram. She is not the person who is robbing people
of their daily.
Karan Thapar:* So he used her as a pawn to take the pressure off himself in
terms of Nandigram? *
Arundhati Roy: I think very successfully because we are discussing her and
not Nandigram right now.
http://www.ibnlive. com/news/ if-i-were- treated-like- taslima-id- give-up-writing/ 53464-3.html

NANDIGRAM, CHOMSKY AND CIVIL SOCIETY MOVEMENT
Hindol Bhattacharjee
"Civil Society movement deals with the 'language' of the movement for the consent of the governed. More it is spontaneous, more it is decentralized, disarrayed and therefore dangerous. Any power structure tries to point out the centre of the movement. When it fails to determine the coordinate, it becomes furious---this is what is being happened in case of the Left Front Government of West Bengal in dealing with the after effects of the massacre organized at Nandigram ". This is what Mr. Chomsky has written to me in a letter sent on 2 December, 07. One should understand the doctrine of control of opinion in order to feel the consent of the governed. When the Civil Society Movement takes place, the power structure has lost its patience, it is
because primarily they are unable to determine the centre of the movement. Nandigram shows us in different ways that the ways of movement are now without any centre. It is the fact that politics is not in the same paradigm as it was. Politics, in a bigger way, is also not centralized. It needs an abstract form of market where it can spread its philosophy of economy to not to a concrete section of people but to a large number of target audience. This is the communication objectives of the multinational economy. It is no doubt that from Pasco to Nandigram and Singur, the primary communication objective of the multinationals and the national bourgeois is to define their definitions of economy and development.
If the main objective of the multinationals is to capture the market and to define their definition of development, what has happened so that their concepts were hindered? It is easy to feel. They became unable to manufacture their target audience. Due to the spontaneous overflow of movement by the farmers in West Bengal, the fascists and the so called democratic parties of India, have lost their control and understanding that though through several years they have manufactured a culture of consumerism, yet, the urban decentralized culture of consumerisms did nothing, the power of farmers to sustain in the movement for their land reached the climax from where the urban artistes, urban humanity and urban sensibilities rose to their heights and failed to control their positions of inert sensations.
In actuality we can also define the eccentric behaviorism of the ruling class in West Bengal against the civil society movement in Kolkata. Against the massacres happened in Nandigram during 30 October to 10 November, Civil society movement takes its shape and in the active participation of the artists, painters, poets, and the commonplace people in the great procession it was clear to the power structure that people are not originating their movement in the self same paradigm, they are moving through having no such centres, they are establishing their protests in different dimensions including their protests without any political platform.
Driving force of the power structure needs a centralised against force, so that they can fight against it and can demolish it. But the importance of civil society movement is that the civil society movement is always flickering. It deals with new issues and every individual feels urge from their inner course of mind to protest against the power structure. There is no such centre, no such committee, and it is spontaneous, yet they are gathering spontaneously without having any kind of hangover of their individual ideologies. In the post modern era, like the polyphonic structure of our existence, the governed and the consent of public mind are dangerous for the people who are in the driving force of ruling class. The movement of the civil society is unpredictable and for that reason the power structure needs to divide the movement's spirit. Therefore they utilize the religious fascism to strengthen the political fascism.
The example is of Taslima. Taslima due to the fundamental abusive dictums of CPM was compelled to quit Bengal and compelled to edit the unwanted portion of her book, Dwikhondito. It is not her shame but it is the shame of ours because we can not make the r resistance in such a way as to make a culture to stop the evils of intrusion of power structure in the case of evaluating literature. But after the strong civil society movement, it was clear that power structure needs these kinds of deviations to make a filter in the movement to divide the unity of the movement. It is a result of their helpless condition to not to point out the coordinate of the civil society movement.Anyone can clearly point out the fact that CP in their paper, Ganoshakti, is not making any statement against Mamata but they are continuously attacking the civil society.
Even after this their main motive of political statements is to attack the civil society movement by proving it not a movement but an apolitical phenomenon. I would like to ask everyone that how this mass movement can be an apolitical. What is political? What is the language of politics and what is the language of apolitical affairs? As the civil society movement has no such centre, it is not 'concrete', it is abstract and power structure has a lot of problems to fight against the abstract political objectives. Should i say that that the genocide or massacre organised at nandigram is a political phenomenon and the protest against it is apolitical as it has no such roof of political colour!

But this is the policy of any power structure to establish that any kind of movement which is not reaming under the roof of the existing political colour, is apolitical and against politics. They are giving dictums that artists only have rights to be confined in art and have no right to make a movement which has no such botherations what political parties are doing. They are more dangerous as they can make a movement where all individuals with their democratic notions will gather with no hang over at their back.
In case of Pasco, and in different metropolis and cities, if intellectuals, artists, writers, painters, poets gather to form a party less movement, a politics having a different definition of politics, then, a real political struggle will be happened in India for the sake of democracy. The movement in Nandigram showed us the way and raised the Civil Society Movement, which , to my opinion is the ultimate solution of the lack of movement against all kinds of fascism, economic imperialism. Like the introduction, I am using a portion of Chomsky's letter sent to me on 18 November, "The public mind is like a post modern sky. You have to use your individuality to serve the Civil Society Movement, decentralizing this movement from all kinds of ideological fascism so that a revolt can take place. You are a poet. You should not bother to think what will happen next. You do your job, creating a background of movement which is completely democratic, against all kinds of fascism" . It is hopeful because Nandigram with its grim events, have lighted our ways.