Memoirs of Self Sufficient Indian Villages and Post Modern MICRO Metro Hubs as Obama Arrives in Singapore for APEC Summit
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred NINE
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Nov 14
, 2009 08:06 PM
4
Friends,
I began my Professional career from Dhanbad, Jharkhand,the capital of Indian Coalfields. I was involved in CHIPKO movement and we were fighting for Himalayan Communities and their Identities. AK Roy, the Marxist co Ordination committee and Koyla Kamgar Union Leader from Jhrakhand and Shankar Guha Niyogi, the leader of Chhatishgarh Mukti Morcha worked in alliance with us. I left my village Basantipur and got admission in GIC, Nainital. I had Visited Kolkata and New Delhi meanwhile beside some other excursions. But like a typical Hill Man, I did know nothing about the plains. We said only the thing which we really meant.I went to Allahabad University for PHD in Poetry, but had been disillusioned as DR. Manas Mukul Das was not available for guidance and I could not adjust with others. I shifted myself and JNU with a plan to join M phil course in linguistics. Meanwhile , I had been offered Lecturership in Kumayun University which I neglected as I wanted to pursue Higher studies. But URMILESH, the PSO leader in JNU visited Dhanbad and offered me to work in Dainik Awaz for some time. I was so much so interested tha I RUSHED to Dhanbad to know Indian Economy and Production system, labour conditions leaving my studies abegging and joined the Hindi New paper as a Trainee Journalist with a salary of 350 Rs. per month. Immediately I was involved in the Aboriginal Life and livelihood thanks to Comrade AK Roy ad Mahashweta Debi. I was a NOVICE in Journalism and could not adjust with the typical syntax and style in Hindi. My friends were fond of making a Donkey of me.
It made me STRONGER and Determined. So, I engaged myself in the studies of coal Mines, Mining and Mines accidents, trade union Phenomenon and Jharkhand Movement. I worked round the clock for Four years.
I joined Classes in Indian School of Mines and CMRS to know technically the Mining affair and mines Safety, Mining Engineering.I was never afraid of Underground Fire and Pollution and would roam anywhere in Jharkhand and Bengal in BCL and ECCL Coalfields. I have seen day to day working in Koyla Nagar, the BCCL headquarter. I had been visiting Mines to find that Survey reports being sidelined and with the absence of Mining Engineers,Agents, Managers, the Mining Sardars had to bear the load of Mining. The Contacters would get payment without doing any work. Illegal Mining was in Vogue. I have visited many spots of Illegal mining and combed the neighbourhood villages to know the Dead persons in cases of Illegal Mining. Near Nirsa, in Chapapur Colliery I succeeded to get some Human Bodies trapped in the illegal Mines involving the Police and not Publishing the news of the Accident. But I could not locate a single member of the Victims` family. In Giridih, near a Hundred people were trapped with the Illegal Mining Pits in SUBSIDENCE. I camped there but could not trace the dead persons.
I witnessed the Manipulation very closely in Mining Industry in case of accidents. My short story, ISHWAR KI Galti deals with this topic. I knew personally Coal India Management and PR Officials, DGMS, CMRS official and exposed them very well until my Newspaper defended me.
I had to join the Cocktail parties in Coal Mines every night. I had to interact with the Politicians who were themselves Gang leaders in Mafia Empire.
I saw the leaders like SHIBU Soren and Suraj Mandal being Changed. I saw KS Chaterjee, a pure Demogogue. Stefan Marandi, Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda were no where in the LIFE and Politics of Jharkhand who emerged the leader with marginalising Jharkhand leaders, movement and people.
It was a case study of Indian Economy as we saw as Eyewitness how the Natural resources and Minerals were SOLD Off and the Masses left in death procession in INFINITE Starvation. I witnessed the dealing, package and Recharge so often.I also knew well about the CFRI affairs. PUBLIC Money and tax Payers Money being MISUSED. Jharkhand being the RICHEST in Minerals, was the Victim of Mismanagement and Corruption, persecution and Ethnic Cleansing. AS Jharkhand became a separate state, I had been closely watching the Budget Plans, Non budget Plans, Financial management and Flagship Welfare Progrrames, NGOs working, Political parties, People`s representaton and Resistance and the Resource and human Resource Management inflicted by GRAFT.
Madhu KODA case is just a tip of an ICEBERG! It is well in the tradition of Jharkhand and Indian. Nationalisation, Privatisation, Modernisation and licensing of Mines at the COST of the livelihood and Life of Tribal People in central and eastern India have been the GREATEST Source of Resources of Indian parliamentary Politics.
Every One is Black in Coal affairs. just see the case of Orrissa Mines which have been closed in large Number as IRREGULARITIES could not be hidden.
Palash Biswas
Kolkata, India
Nov 14, 2009 02:52 PM
3
"Koda has only set an example of benevolence-par-excellence; by staring Charity at Home."
Rajneesh Batra
New Delhi, India
Nov 14, 2009 02:35 PM
2
Scams in India, are another name for 'joke'.
NOTHING, seemingly can be done to cure this pandemic, since everyone ( the judiciary, police and even the media ), get a share of the pie too.
While Kodas scam has got 'caught' ( we know he will never actually be sentenced to jail though ), minister Raja who got away with a cool 4k-50k C scam, will never be caught. Why this partiality? Todays Congress has too many friends in the media, it seems!
TN politicians are legends of corruption. While MGRs money, even divided among his former ministers, is itself a fortune, Karunanidhis nephew is currently the richest man south of the Vindhyas.
The media is too engrossed in spreading anti-male hatred and the Congress chief is busy with anit-male politics, while the judiciary and police are morally and ethically bankrupt.
The politicians meanwhile, are SPIRITING the money ( through hawala, etc. ), ABROAD - into safe havens in the west, Swiss accounts, Dubai, etc.
Through these, we INDIANS are the biggest losers. Not only has our system been corrupted institutionally, but OUR MONEY is finding its way away from our shores!
Corruption is modern day slavery, since the money we make is finding its way outside the nation.
Partha persistent spammer
chennai, India
Nov 14, 2009 02:05 PM
1
Guess a new "Koda of Konduct" is required? MOU in sms-ese now means "My (place) Or Ur"? Madhu (honey) gets stung by his own bees (from his own bonnet)!!
Harsh Rai Puri
Bhopal, India
http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262840
U.S. President Barack Obama arrived late Saturday in Singapore, where he joins leaders of Pacific Rim economies in meetings to discuss recovery from the global financial crisis and promotion of free trade.
U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for a new era in trans-Pacific relations. In a speech in Tokyo, the president said America is determined to partner with Asia to meet the global challenges of today.
President Obama says America is and always has been a Pacific nation. "The United States of America may have started as a series of ports and cities along the Atlantic ocean, but for generations we also have been a nation of the Pacific. Asia and the United States are not separated by this great ocean; we are bound by it," he said.
We feel the change and mood all over the Globe. Free Market democracy plays HAVOC in South east Asia resembling Africa, Latin America and East Europe! We Indian are GA GA Boom Boom with the Revival of dead Capitalism from grave yard Shaping into Post Modern Manusmriti Apartheid Brahaminical System of Tri Iblis Zionist Fascist Corporate galaxy Imperialism. India Urban and Semi Urban DEMOGRAPHY is made with EXODUS, Displacement, Migration, Destruction on name of DEVELOPMENT, Industrialisation , Urbanisation and realty Boom.More than half of the Urban Semi Urban Population consists of SUMDOG Indians belonging to SC, ST, OBC and Minorities Communities, the Black Negroid Untouchables Indigenous Aboriginal. While the Rural India has been Captured. Free Market Democracy and Technology, Consumer Culture and Cell Phones, retail Chain and Strategical Marketing have changed the Character of Rural Human Scape and land scape with the Exception of the Tribal belt in North East and Central India which have become MOW Zones declared as Maoist as well as Insurgency frontires. We have NO Representation in any sphere of Life and are deprived of everything, Citizenship, human Rights,Civil Rights, Right to Information, right to Employment and Livelihood, right to Food security, right to education as our world, our Traditional Agricultural villages have transformed into MICRO Metro Hubs! Without any Awakening! Without any Empowerment!We have CEASED to be Human Being and converted ourselves into CONSUMERS only!
I have been in MARAM Valley in Senapati District of Manipur in 2000 while shooting with Joshy Joseph his first feature film as a writer.The Village Head picked me to show the Village and atop the Hills he told me that it was the CENTRE of the Universe. he explained the Geography as locating Manipur in the South, Nagaland in the North, Burma in the East and India in the west as Foreign territories. they Insisted quite Violently that the language of the Film should be in the Dialect of their Village.They could speak English also as most of them were converted and schooled in christian Mission. But they hated to speak any other Indian Language including Manipuri. They were the NAGA people who could pass Capital Punishment for the Defaulter. they lived a traditional self sufficient village despite being Enlightened.
Many of you must have been read the BIBHUTI Bhushan classic Novel, ARANYAK which had no Protagonist and not even a central theme. the Book is full of the Fragrance on aboriginal Indigenous Life and Livelihood Self sufficient.
I remember my childhood in Basantipur in sixties while we had to grow Everything we needed. Our People just used to buy Cloths,Fishes, Meat, Kerosine Oil to light the Home and books and copies meant for education.Cereals, Oilseeds, ,Sugar were ABUNDANT and it was before Green Revolution while the fertilizers, machines, genetic seeds, Chemicals were introduced for the first time in Indian Agriculture. pant Nagar University, the Centre for GREEN revolution is only Six KM away from Basantipur and we were partners of the experiments in green revolution and within the end of the decade, we found ourselves STARVING.the Reaction was Little late as we witnessed Khalistan Insurgency in Eighties which heralded as the IMMINENT agricultural Crisis and we never Identified it. When Sharad Joshi in Bidarbha and Mahendra Singh Tikait in Meerut and Western UP, the leaders of SHETKARI Kamgar Union and Bharatiya Kisan Union led the Peasant uprising , I was working in Meerut.But the Movement was SUBVERTED with Ram Janma Bhumi Movement and Babri demolition followed by nationwide Communal Riots leading to further persecution of Minorities in Bangladesh as Taslima Nasreen has written well in her controversial Novel, LAJJA.
Bust Remembering the Self sufficient Rural India, I must suggest you who Never knew it , to read Mahashweta Debi,Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, Pearl Buck, Galsworthy, Lu Shun and Manik Bandopadhyaya , Premchand, tara shnkar bandopaddhyaya works and only then you may Understand what Free Market democracy means to India.
Meanwhile, the exodus of Rural world to aliegn Metro Cities have created Violent ETHNO Nationalism. As Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has warned the State Bank of India (SBI) not to recruit any "outsiders" during Sunday's exams in which the bank will recruit for 1100 vacancies.
In a warning letter written by MNS leader Bala Nandgangkar, the party has demanded that only Maharashtrians or those living in the state be allowed to take the exam for the Maharashtra openings.
So far, the SBI has not alerted the police to the MNS threat.
Himanshu Roy, a Joint Commissioner of the Mumbai Police, said the police will discuss the issue with the bank to ensure that Sunday's exams "are conducted smoothly."
In the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, the MNS won 13 Assembly seats.
Earlier this week, SP leader Abu Azmi was manhandled by MNS legislators for taking his oath in Hindi.
As Azmi started to take his oath, several MNS members swooped on him and pushed him aside. Legislator Ramesh Banjle uprooted the microphone from the podium.
When Azmi attempted to save himself, MNS member Ram Kadam slapped him and hit him on the face and chest, shocking the 288-member house that had converged for the oath-taking ceremony.
The house was adjourned for 30 minutes. Action followed soon, with four MNS legislators-Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale-were suspended for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident.
Air Force One landed at Singapore's Paya Lebar military airbase on a flight from Japan for the latest stop of a nine-day Asian tour that will also take Mr. Obama to China and South Korea.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders have stressed that the global recovery is still fragile, and more coordinated efforts are needed to overcome protectionism and maintain stable growth.
Mr. Obama was accused by some APEC leaders Saturday of backtracking on free trade.
Mexican President Filipe Calderon singled out Washington for "going in the opposite sense of free trade." Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made the same point.
Mr. Calderon mentioned increasing "buy American" clauses in U.S. legislation.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spoke Saturday to propose a European Union-style model for cooperation, which he called the Asia-Pacific Community.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a high standard regional trade agreement under the Trans-Pacific partnership would be good for America.
President Obama said Saturday the United States will engage members of the TPP, which consists of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
Leaders of Pacific Rim economies are gathering in Singapore to discuss recovering from the global financial crisis and promoting free trade.
Leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation have stressed that the global recovery is still fragile, and more coordinated efforts are needed to overcome protectionism and have stable growth.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, spoke Saturday about establishing a new model for cooperation that he calls the "Asia-Pacific Community".
Mr. Rudd said, "Our vision for the future is how do we create an institution which draws all these economies. And, most importantly, together with an agenda which covers the political, security, and economic space."
The U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, gave further details on President Barack Obama's announcement in Tokyo that the United States would engage members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
"We believe that a high standard regional trade agreement under the Trans-Pacific partnership can help bring home to the American people the jobs and economic prosperity that are in fact the promise of a global trading society," said Kirk.
The TPP's members are Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
President Obama, on his first official visit to Asia, arrives in Singapore late Saturday to join the APEC leaders.
BLOGS / Sundeep Dougal
Goonda Raj And 'Hindi Hegemony'
The ugly scenes in Maharashtra Assembly -- where legislators of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) slapped and [roughed up a Samajwadi Party legislator for taking the inaugral oath not in Marathi but in "national language" Hindi provide a lot of food for thought and are bound to keep the commentariat busy. Three perspectives:
First, Samar Halarnkar in the Hindustan Times:
The chattering classes of Mumbai's high-rises hate and fear the Senas, ascribing to them a lunacy beyond understanding. But scratch many seemingly sensible Maharashtrians, and they will gradually talk of culture, tradition, language and the fear of being swamped by Mumbai's great and growing diversity. Of course, they will insist, the way Raj is going about this is wrong, there must be no violence, but you know, what he says isn't really wrong...
Next, Rajeev Dhavan in the Indian Express, like a good lawyer that he is, doesn't lose sight of the crux of the matter and has useful practical suggestions:
The correct course of action is for the Speaker to issue breach of privilege notices to those who directly participated in this breach, as well as those who conspired to make it happen. This means notices should go to Raj Thackeray to ask him of his complicity in the conspiracy. If he says he was not part of the conspiracy to disrupt the assembly, he would knock himself down a peg or two on this issue. If he admits his involvement, he must be punished along with the others, albeit by token suspension for the legislators and censure for the non-assembly conspirators. At this stage, to punish by imprisonment would make martyrs of such persons. But, issuing process of breach of privilege is a must.
Meanwhile, in the DNA, R Jagannathan, while not questioning Abu Azmi's constitutional right to take oath in Hindi, joins issue with the Hindi hegemonism that his supporters have adopted:
Speaking about Hindi as a national language is no different from speaking about Hinduism as India's official cultural expression. Hindi is a great language, but it is not any more national than Marathi or Kannada, or Bengali or Telugu. Ironically, it was left to the MNS to point out the obvious: that Hindi is just another regional language of India.
Constitutionally though, while there may not be a "national" language, Hindi indeed has been privileged, and as Dhavan points out:
There was always a Hindi version of the Constitution. But if there is any doubt, the 58th amendment mandates the president to publish an authoritative text of the Constitution and every constitutional amendment of it in Hindi (Article 394A). If someone wants to take their oath in Hindi, they are doing no more than following authoritative text of the Constitution itself!
Dhavan also comes to the heart of the matter in his usual no-nonsense style:
What is even more ironical is that even in the Maharashtra assembly, two BJP members took their oath in Sanskrit (Girish Bapat, Girish Mahajan). Congress members took their oath in Hindi (Amin Patel, Ramesh Singh Thakur) and English (Baba Siddique). It is said the Samajwadi Party MLA, Abu Asim Azmi, drew attention to himself and his choice of language. Suppose he did, so what?
http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2131&eid=
jitender gupta
Ill-gotten: Koda being discharged from hospital
cover story: the koda files
Miner Sins
All of Jharkhand was his stage, and Koda a major player. So, who rewrote the script?
Smruti Koppikar , Saikat Datta
At one level, the life of Madhu Koda and the Rs 4,000-crore scam he allegedly scripted is a meteoric rags-to-riches story. At another, it is a complex web of intrigue involving mining contracts, hawala transactions and property deals. How did the 38-year-old Koda pull it off? Outlook brings you the man, his method and the politics behind Jharkhand's biggest scam....
From Labourer To Chief Minister: In the early '90s, the son of Rasika Koda was nothing more than a labourer in the iron ore mines of Chaibasa, 160 km from Ranchi. By 2000, he was contesting the Bihar assembly elections on a BJP ticket. In 2005, he was denied a BJP ticket, forcing him to contest as an independent. He won, and wrested the mines portfolio in return for supporting the Arjun Munda-led BJP government. A year later, he and a few other independents withdrew that support, reducing the BJP government to a minority. Subsequently, he became the state's first independent chief minister with the support of the Congress, Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and independents.
Significantly, Koda continued to retain the mines portfolio even after becoming CM. Everyone, it seems, was happy under him. If he made money, as the allegations and the evidence now indicate, he also shared his wealth generously with friends, key aides, national and state political leaders as well as state government officials loyal to him.
High office in Jharkhand opened up several opportunities for Koda. With nearly 18 per cent of the country's mineral wealth in his state and with enough discretionary powers to help companies get mining leases there, Koda made full use of his position till he had to resign as CM in 2008 ahead of a trust vote because he did not have the numbers.
How The Money Was Made: The mines portfolio in Jharkhand has always been a lucrative one for any government in power. Since Koda held charge of the ministry under the BJP government and retained it as CM, he had the power to clear mining deals. Every recommendation for a mining lease, say I-T, ED and state government officials, brings in anything between Rs 10 and Rs 12 crore as bribe. And state mines secretary Jayashankar Tiwari is said to have cleared 47 mining leases on a single day during Koda's tenure.
The scam broke when a local daily owned by the Usha Martin group—whose proposal Koda rejected—began a series of exposes.
The second lucrative source of illegal funds was in the 25 per cent cut of the total turnover that a few powerful politicians demanded from the existing mine leases. Companies had to pay for the state's continued patronage. Officials in the government point out that key Koda aides such as brothers Binod and Vikash Sinha, Sanjay and Dhananjay Chowdhury and Arun Kumar Shrivastava also began partnerships to invest in existing mine leases or in transporting ore to ports such as Haldia in West Bengal. Hundreds of tonnes would be lifted out of mines overnight in trucks belonging to Koda's key aides. But the amount of ore extracted would be undervalued to enable mining companies to pay the state a lesser percentage of royalty. So, if 30 truckloads were dispatched, only two truckloads would be shown on record.
The final cash cow was the transfer-of-bureaucrats business. Anything between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore is said to have been the going rate for a lucrative posting during Koda's time.
How Koda Got Exposed: A series of investigative reports from 2007 onwards in local Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar apparently blew the lid off the scam. Strange, one might think, as the newspaper is owned by Neutral Publishing House, whose majority shareholders, the Jawahar family, are also the promoters of Usha Martin Group: among the state's oldest and biggest mining companies.
This group had been trying to set up a joint venture with the state-owned Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation even before Koda became mining minister. This JV, it was proposed, would have Usha Martin holding 76 per cent stake. But Koda opposed the proposal, and redrew the contract when he became CM, reducing Usha Martin's proposed stake to 49 per cent. Finally, after several deliberations, he rejected the proposal. This, many now say, proved to be his undoing, as a series of exposes began appearing in Prabhat Khabar.
Prabhat Khabar has a long and enviable history of investigative journalism, but questions began surfacing about how the documents on Koda were sourced. The rumour mill in Ranchi has it that private detective firms were hired and hackers employed to dig out information that was later also furnished to the I-T department. Neither the I-T department nor the ED denies any of these rumours. When contacted by Outlook, representatives of the Usha Martin Group refused to comment. Also, advocate Ritu Kumar had filed a PIL in August 2008, but the I-T and ED investigations have been stepped up only this year, perhaps to mar the Koda camp's chances in the assembly elections in November-December.
The Money Trail: So, what was Koda doing with the huge cuts he made from the mining lobbies? An army of aides, led by Binod Sinha, his brother Vikash, and the Chowdhury brothers, Sanjay and Dhananjay, invested the slush money in several national and international ventures. Money was also being routed through Mumbai-based businessmen Arvind Vyas and Manoj Punamiya. Documents now available with the ED show that Punamiya's Mumbai-based import-export firms under the Balaji Group had invested in mine leases in places such as Liberia and South Africa.
Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chowdhury also created several companies—including Camtech Manufacturing and Blue Techno—that would invest in infrastructure projects in Dubai and also help route over Rs 1,450 crore to shell companies abroad. Blue Techno also entered into various MoUs and agreements with companies in Thailand and South Africa for purchase of land for development of ports and mines. The company is reported to have offices, functioning as fronts for money transfer, in Mumbai, Singapore, Nigeria and Indonesia, besides a central Asian country.
Punamiya's Balaji Group—basically Balaji Universal Trade and Balaji Bullion—was central to Koda's operations to siphon off the money he made by issuing mining licences post-September 2006. Based in Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar with a small office at Nariman Point, Punamiya helped Koda & Co launder money by providing them the import-export cover they needed. Investigators say Koda zeroed in on Punamiya through his political connections. In fact, Koda's associates Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chowdhury are directors of Balaji Bullion.
Punamiya, through his companies, made cash deposits of Rs 650 crore in the Zaveri Bazaar branch of the Union Bank of India between late 2006 and 2008. The total transactions are worth Rs 990 crore in these accounts. Investigators say they are yet to open some almirahs and lockers on various premises of the Balaji Group, which could add to the volume of cash that has been discovered.
Is It The End For Koda?: In Ranchi, they say he'll win the elections and that the case will drag on and be forgotten.
By Saikat Datta in Ranchi and Smruti Koppikar in Mumbai
