India ABLAZE Launched into Space. Manmohan Rushes to Tokyo to Bail Out Melting Japanese Economy. GoM Approves Insurance FDI. ISRO Eyes Manned Moon M

India ABLAZE Launched into Space. Manmohan Rushes to Tokyo to Bail Out Melting Japanese Economy. GoM Approves Insurance FDI. ISRO Eyes Manned Moon Mission by 2015, Awaiting Govt Approval. Obama Establishes Double Digit Lead over McCain! Financial Crisis Summit to be Nov. 15 - U.S. Official.The MNS Rampage: Thackeray Granted Bail, Repercussions felt in Bihar and West Bengal



Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 90

Palash Biswas

Chandrayaan-1 has perfect launch
(01:25) Report
Oct. 22 - India's first unmanned mission to the moon, the Chandrayaan-1 had a perfect launch according to the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Madhavan Nair.





Barring any technical failure, the spacecraft will reach the lunar orbit and spend two years scanning the moon for any evidence of water and precious metals.

An ANI report.

Raj Thackeray arrested in Mumbai
(01:33) Report
Oct. 21 - Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray has been arrested on Tuesday sparking violent protests in and around Mumbai.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that all measures were being taken to keep the situation under control.

An ANI report.


US, India sign nuclear deal
(01:36) Report
Oct. 11 - The United States and India signed a potentially lucrative agreement on Friday that would allow India to buy U.S. civil nuclear technology for the first time in three decades.

The accord, reached after years of tortuous negotiations and harshly criticized by non-proliferation advocates, was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Pavithra George, Reuters


'Fashion' stars walk the ramp at LFW
(02:19) Report
Oct. 21 - Actors from Madhur Bhandarkar's film "Fashion," Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Mugdha Godse walked the ramp at designer Narendra Kumar's show at the Lakme India Fashion Week in Mumbai.


An ANI report.



India Ablaze launched into Space.India launched its first unmanned moon mission on Wednesday, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power!

The US on Wednesday congratulated India on the successful launch of the maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I, describing it as demonstration of the country's technological prowess in its quest for peaceful exploration of space.

India Inc is hopeful that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would bring down repo rates to 7 per cent from the current 8 per cent and create a mechanism to monitor banks' lending, according to an industry lobby survey.


India reached a historic milestone in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday as it successfully launched its first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan 1, into Transfer Orbit. The feat placed India as the sixth country to join the space-trotters club after USA, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. The spacecraft was successfully launched at 6:22 am (IST) and with it the ISRO scientists at Sriharikota burst with joy that was resounded by the entire nation.

Nevertheless, dark happens the Moon for Indians facing the turmoil of communal violence instituted by the ruling Brahminical Hegemony to subvert the Parliament in Session derailed from the track to address the burning national international issues!In what seems like a backlash against MNS-led violence against north Indians in Mumbai, two air conditioned bogies of a train – reportedly with Maharashtrian passengers on board – two bogies of Vikramshila Express were set on fire in Barh area of Bihar.

Maharashtra and Bihar burn as Assam and Orissa have been. Kashmir and entire north East happens the Troubled zone for time infinite. Tamil Nationality has to clash with Indian foreign policy. Global financial crisis Inferno eats Indian Economy. Parliament Session is once again subverted as none of the burning issues have been addressed at all. Mass Destruction of Black Untouchables, indigenous communities and minorities continue as well as continues the War against Terrorism! Unable to stall either INdo US Nuclear deal or the Strategic realliance in US lead, the decoupled Left now takes credit to Save India! The Marxist ways of capitalism, indeed, save India as nandigram and singur have exposed well! On the other hand, the planted Prime Minister, the supreme slave Dr manmohan singh rushes to Tokyo to bail out the melting Japanese Economy. US periphery is not enough, Japanese corporates are now Invited to the open Indian Consumer market to destroy us!Reaffirming their commitment to fight terrorism and trans-national crimes, India and Japan on Wednesday signed a joint declaration on security cooperation that will intensify interaction between their militaries and expand the scope of strategic dialogue between the two Asian powers. Cooperation between coast guards, defence dialogue, coordination on issues relating to disarmament and non-proliferation and disaster management are some of crucial elements of the security cooperation pact signed here by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso.

Japan's Nikkei average fell more than 5 percent on Wednesday, with Sony Corp and other exporters battered as the yen advanced on the dollar and euro, while banks were hit by worries about their earnings. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and other big banks tumbled after a Nikkei business daily report that they will cut their earnings outlooks, while trading houses slid after oil fell on fears of a slide in demand.

European shares extended losses by midday on Wednesday, led by commodity and financial stocks.

The first global summit on the financial crisis and how to reform the financial system will be held on Nov. 15 in the Washington, D.C., area, a senior Bush administration official said on Wednesday.

"This will be the first in a series of summits that bring together leaders from the countries that participate in the G20 finance ministers process to discuss current economic challenges," the official said declining further identification.

The official said that at the first meeting, which will be 11 days after the U.S. presidential election, it will be important that the leaders discuss the causes of the financial crisis, progress being made, develop principles for reforms and to instruct working groups to begin developing recommendations.

A venue in the U.S. capital area has not been chosen yet, the official said. A dinner at the White House will be held the night before the summit, the official said.

The G20 includes the Group of Seven major industrial economies plus key emerging-market countries like China, India and Brazil.

Keeping the more expensive manned lunar missions in its radar, the country's top space agency is planning to send two Indians to the Moon by 2015 in a purely indigenous effort.

And Indian Space Research Organisation's(ISRO) ambitious plans does not end there for it has just started technical capability as well as mission planning for a Mars mission saying the red planet was the "next natural destination" for the space agency.

After the spectacular success of the country's maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-I, ISRO said on Tuesday it would gear up for the complex and challenging task of the manned mission which is awaiting government's approval. The manned mission project is estimated to cost Rs 120 billion (about 2.4 billion dollars).

"Now we have a little bit of breathing time (after today's launch)... we are looking how we can design a capsule, which can carry two(Indian) astronauts onboard a GSLV rocket," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said at a post-launch press meet here.

"This is a very complex and challenging task... first of all to conceive a module, which can predict the condition of human life in space, is a big challenge is terms of technology and realisation," he said. The manned mission will be an indigenous initiative but foreign agencies are welcome to cooperate, he said.

Besides, selecting the astronauts and training them for the space flight and improving the reliability of the launching system were also complex issues, he said.

"After considering all these, we have prepared a project report and this had been cleared by the Space Commission and is awaiting the government approval. Based on this, we will have the first man mission from Indian soil before 2015," a beaming Nair said.

Meanwhile, Group of Ministers (GoM) has cleared a bill to hike the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49% from the current 26% and it will be placed be
fore the Cabinet now, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

“The GoM has approved the proposed amendment with certain modifications and the same are to be placed before the Cabinet,” minister of state for finance P K Bankal said in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

The government on October 16 had deferred a decision on hiking Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in insurance sector to 49% from 26%, as it is watching for the impact of the global financial crisis. The proposed changes include amendments in the IRDA Act, 1999 and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Act, 1956 among others.

It is a time for jubilation for the scientific community of India and they are cherishing every moment of it with the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 early Wednesday!

I was excited as a child when I learnt from All India Radio that Man has landed on Moon. It was an American Mission. But I believed that it was breaking the barriers in the space.

After almost four full decades, my motherland India enters the elite Space club just after USA, USSR and Japan! But I feel nothing! Sorry !Nothing! The excitement of that day before four decades is quite absent in the Indian Masses despite the Information explosion. How can it be? When your Home is burning, how you may celebrate a Carnival irrelevant? More than hundred private companies are associated with Moon Mission India! The meat of the national Revenue is going to be digested by India Incs and MNCs! We are amidst the Global financial meltdown! How do we afford such a strategic Moon Mission associated with Nasa and with direct involvement of Developed Capitalist nations including United States of America!All these instruments have been developed in India, but Chandrayaan-1 also carries six other instruments, developed in collaboration with the European Space agency, Bulgaria and the United States.

I don`t know whether I would survive in 2015. but I am sure that I would not be excited with Indian Manned Moon Mission either!
How would I?

Seventy Corore of my countrymen are suffering from Food insecurity!

Twenty Corore of them face starvation!

Indigenous communities and black Untouchables are predestined to be killed!

Dismissing suggestions that Chandrayaan-1 was an expensive mission, ISRO today said the moon odyssey will enable India to upgrade technological expertise for exploration of outer space and ultimately help in setting up a base on the earth's natural satellite.

"Moon mission cost is less than Rs 400 crore, which is just ten per cent of annual budget of ISRO spread over many years," ISRO spokesperson S Satish said, countering critics who questioned the need for such a venture when other countries have already explored the moon.

Cost of India's first unmanned lunar mission, slated for October 22, is Rs 386 crore, which includes Rs 100 crore for the establishment of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu near here that will perform the task of receiving radio signals transmitted by future satellites, not just Chandrayaan-1.



With inherent injustice and inequality how may we the enslaved majority Indian people enjoy the US backed super Power status of a colonised Periphery?

However, we black untouchables have something to celebrate as we approach closer to the Dream of martin luther King!

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has established a double digit lead over his Republican rival John McCain just two weeks ahead of crucial elections, a just released poll says.

The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that 52 per cent voters favour Obama against 42 per cent who support McCain, showing a four per cent increase since the poll two weeks ago. The poll has a margin of error plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

The poll says that a growing number of voters said that they were comfortable with the Democrat's values, background and ability to serve as commander-in-chief.

It's the largest lead in the Journal/NBC poll so far, and represents a steady climb for Senator Obama since early September, when the political conventions concluded with the candidates in a statistical tie.

"Voters have reached a comfort level with Barack Obama," said Peter D Hart, a Democratic pollster who conducts the poll with Republican Neil Newhouse.

Though most voters polled said that McCain is better prepared for the White House than the first-term Obama, there are increasing concerns about the readiness of McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the poll showed.

The race, the Journal said, has rested largely on the question of whether voters could get comfortable with Obama, the first African-American to run on a major party ticket, and one who has been on the national political scene for just a few years.

McCain has worked to stoke concerns about Obama's past and his qualifications, raising questions about his rival's character and his association with 1960s-era radical William Ayers. The new poll suggests that these attacks haven't worked.


Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray was granted anticipatory bail for two days in all the cases pending against him. He was earlier remanded to 14-day judicial custody by the Kalyan Court, which later approved his bail application. On Tuesday too he had been sent to judicial custody in another case but was granted bail. The situation outside the Kalyan court where the MNS chief was being tried was tense, with the party’s activists gathered outside the court and indulging in miscreant activities.

NCP chief and Union Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday denounced the violence carried out by MNS in Maharashtra but said there was no need for Central intervention as the state government is already taking action in the matter.
Pawar, whose party is a part of the Congress-led coalition government in Maharashtra, also criticised the media for highlighting actions of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, saying this had led to creation of a ‘monster’ out of the situation.



Meanwhile, The Maharashtra Government seems to be learning its lessons. Their new zero-tolerance approach with Raj Thackeray is an attempt to demonstrate that they are not going to go soft on him as many believed they did last time.


So the state is likely to bring in an ordinance on Wednesday against destruction of public property.

The ordinance will seek to increase the fine and punishment of upto five years.

It will also have provisions to recover money directly from those who damage public property be it a political party.



The MNS activists had indulged in stone throwing nad slogan shouting to protest their leader’s arrest and the police had to resort to cane-charge to disperse the mob. A preventive curfew was clamped in Kalyan from 11 am.

After Tuesday's incidents outside the court in Bandra, in Mumbai, where groups of MNS activists indulged in violence, police today prevented all journalists from standing near the court.

In a separate incident Bihari students in rural Patna set on fire two air-conditioned coaches of the Vikramshila Express in the Barh area of Bihar, which were reportedly carrying Maharashtrian passengers.

Hundreds of slogan-shouting students descended surrounded Barh railway station in rural Patna demanding that MNS leader Raj Thackeray be tried for sedition.

The students set on fire the coach of the Danapur-Durg South Bihar Express, Superintendent of Railway Police (Patna) D N Gupta was quoted as sayiing by the media.

No injuries were reported as the passengers had fled as soon as the attackers started setting the bogies on fire. Police had to fire four rounds in the air to disperse t he protesting mob.

The incident had an effect in West Bengal too, as the Eastern Railway authorities decided to cancel all trains that pass through Bihar, as a preventive measure.


More European banks may fail as cash injections dry up and the region's economy grinds to a near-halt next year, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

The IMF said in its economic outlook for Europe that banks are still under severe pressure to reduce their high leverage the amount of debt they carry in proportion to their assets.

It said recapitalization was ``now likely to slow'' because cash-rich investors such as sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors such as pension funds are now less interested in buying into banks. Instead, governments have decided to take equity stakes and become the provider of new capital.

Leaders from Asia and Europe will gather in Beijing Friday for two days of talks in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy will seek Asian b
acking for his bid to rebuild the world's financial system.

The global economic woes are set to dominate the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM), a summit of 43 nations held every two years, with the forum offering the first opportunity for Asian countries to discuss the financial crisis as a group.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has made it clear he will use the event to press Asian nations for support in a dramatic restructuring of the global financial system.

Sarkozy said on Tuesday his objective for the forum was "to convince the Asian powers to take part in this (financial) rebuilding."




Three killed in landmine explosion in West Midnapore


Three persons, including a doctor, were killed in a landmine blast set off by suspected Maoists in West Midnapore district on Wednesday, a senior police official said. The blast blew up a vehicle killing its driver, the doctor in-charge of the Belpahari primary health centre and a woman employee at Patharchabri on the Simulpal-Laboni road under Belpahari police station, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia told the media.

The explosion occurred at around 2:30 PM and could have been triggered by Maoists, he said.

Villagers claimed that they had informed the police in the morning that "wires were lying on the road and that a landmine could have been planted, but no action was taken

‘Worried’ Buddha mum on Darjeeling Morcha

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee broke his silence on Darjeeling, saying the signs were “extremely worrisome”, but did not name the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the prime mover of the agitation in the hills.


After meeting hill affairs minister Ashok Bhattacharyya at Writers’ Buildings today, the Bengal chief minister said in a statement: “What has been happening in the hills of Darjeeling district over the past few days is extremely worrisome. Activities like changing of car number plates, defacing government buildings and naming them as offices of the Gorkhaland government and imposing a dress code... have certainly hurt the sentiments of the people and disturbed the rule of law in the hills.”

He said the district administration had been “instructed to ensure that law and order is maintained in Darjeeling” and the state government was keeping an eye on the developments’’.

Such activities could affect the tripartite talks in Delhi, he pointed out. “Based on a request by our state government, the Centre convened a tripartite meeting to discuss the Darjeeling issue and come to a solution to the problems being talked about by the protesters. Given that, the activities in the hills threaten to affect the talks atmosphere. So, the manner in which the present agitation is being staged should stop.”

Bhattacharjee appealed to the “right-thinking people of the hills” not to give into such “provocation”.

“What is necessary in this regard is the co-operation of all right-thinking people of living in Darjeeling district. Please don’t give into any provocation.’’

He said the hill economy had suffered “immensely’’ because of the agitation and that people of Darjeeling would be hurt the most if the movement continued.

“The agitation has cost the hill economy dear, affecting the life of every person living in Darjeeling. Tourism, education and the general condition in the hills have become the casualty. Consequentially, Siliguri, Dooars and the Terai regions have also been affected,” he said.

DM order

The Darjeeling district administration has ordered that signboards reading “Government of Gorkhaland” were to be brought down at the earliest.

The Chandrayaan-1


The Chandrayaan-1 Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS), an ESA payload, is the result of a joint development by Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in England, and ISRO Satellite Centre. The instrument will conduct high-quality mapping of the moon based on an X-ray fluorescence technique, which will also be used to identify the presence of Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Iron and Titanium on the lunar surface.

The launch of India's maiden unmanned mission to Moon [Images] on Wednesday prompted Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama [Images] to underline the need for the United States to revitalise its space programme "to remain the undisputed leader in space".

"With India's launch of its first unmanned lunar spacecraft following closely on the heels of China's first spacewalk, we are reminded just how urgently the United States must revitalise its space programme if we are to remain the undisputed leader in space, science, and technology," Senator Obama said.

Obama, who is ahead in most opinion polls for the November presidential election, stressed on the importance for the US to train new scientists and engineers for the next generation so as not to "let other countries surpass" American technical capabilities.

"We must not only retain our space workforce so that we don't let other countries surpass our technical capabilities; we must train new scientists and engineers for the next generation,'' Obama said in a statement.

He said his plan to revitalize the space programme and close the gap between the Space Shuttle's [Images] retirement and its next-generation replacement includes $2 billion more for NASA [Images] -- but more money alone is not enough," the Illinois Democrat added.

"My comprehensive space policy focuses on reaching new frontiers through human space exploration, tapping the ingenuity of our commercial space entrepreneurs, fostering a broad research agenda to break new ground on the world's leading scientific discoveries, and engaging students through educational programmes that excite them about space and science," Obama said.

The Democrat Party leader said as a child he had been inspired by the splashdown of Apollo. "As a child, I remember sitting on my grandfather's shoulders and watching the Apollo astronauts return from a splashdown to Hickam Air Force Base, dreaming of where they had been," Obama noted.

"It inspired my imagination and gave me confidence in what we as Americans could achieve. It's time for a space programme that inspires our children again," he underlined.

"As President, I will lead our space programme boldly into the 21st Century - so when my daughters, and all our children, look up to the skies, they see Americans leading the way into the deepest reaches of our solar system," the Democratic nominee said.


The successful launch of the India's maiden mission to moon Chandrayan 1 is "just the beginning" of the opening up of a new frontier of cooperation between the US and India on a wide range of sectors, the United States India Business Council (USIBC) said on Wednesday.

"It is an extraordinary moment in history. We have an India of 1.3 billion people looking to the heavens and now exploring the frontiers of Space," USIBC president Ron Somers told PTI upon the launch of Chandrayan 1.

The liftoff of Chandrayan 1 was lustily cheered at the US Chamber of Commerce where the USIBC had organised a live broadcast of the historic occasion that saw the participation of officials from the White House, the State Department, the NASA and senior officials of the Indian Embassy.

The USIBC event also saw the participation of the Indian American community who were clearly thrilled.


The Smart Near Infrared Spectrometer (SIR-2), the second ESA payload, developed by Max Plank Institute of Germany, will explore the mineral resources on moon’s surface. The Sub kiloelectronvolt Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SAR), the third ESA payload, developed at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Space Physics Laboratory of Bikram Sarabhai Space Center, will analyze the surface composition of the moon, and the magnetic anomalies associated with the surface.

The Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM), developed by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, will target the radiation environment surrounding the moon.


"In an era of renewed interest for the Moon on a world-wide scale, the ESA-ISRO collaboration on Chandrayaan-1 is a new opportunity for Europe to expand its competence in lunar science while tightening the long-standing relationship with India – an ever stronger space power," said Prof. David Southwood, ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

Two other instruments from the U.S., the Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), will try to detect the presence of water ice at moon’s poles, up to a depth of a few meters, as well as help obtain a map-view of the mineral resources on the moon, at high special and spectral resolution.

On the other hand, notwithstanding the drop in international oil prices, the government has no immediate plans to reduce retail price of petrol, diesel and domestic LPG as oil firms are yet to breakeven.

"There is no such proposal with the government as of now," Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said when asked if the government was planning to cut fuel prices by this weekend to brighten Diwali.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum continue to incur losses as a 22 per cent depreciation in value of rupee against the US dollar have wiped away some of the gains from falling international crude oil prices.


The Indian Space Research Organization announced the successful launch of its first unmanned lunar space mission: Chandrayaan-1 is the first Indian spacecraft expected to reach Moon’s orbit, where it will spend the next two years to investigate the lunar surface. Its primary objectives are to conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar surface, as well as upgrade the technological base in the country.

On October 22, Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) launched Chandrayaan-1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, at 06:22 IST (Indian Standard Time).

The agency explained that Chandrayaan-1 was placed into an elliptical transfer orbit around the Earth, which will help it obtain the desired trajectory later on. As it reaches the vicinity of the moon, the spacecraft will slow down, which will allow it enter into an elliptical orbit, where it will begin its observations.


Heralding a new era in the country's space programme, India on Wednesday successfully launched its first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, becoming the sixth nation to undertake an odyssey for exploration of lunar surface. Meanwhile,in line with fall in global markets, the domestic bourses on Wednesday closed in the red with the benchmark Sensex losing a hefty over 500 points to cut short the gaining trend of the past two days. Marketmen attributed the steep losses to heavy selling pressure, re-emerged on renewed worries of global economy falling into a recession.

The 30-share index, which had gathered nearly 710 points in the past two sessions, lost 513.49 points, or 4.81 per cent, at 10,169.90.

Three persons were killed and over 170 arrested in neighbouring Thane after violence erupted there following the arrest of MNS leader Raj Thackeray, police said.
Three deaths were reported in the Pisoli village area in Kalyan last night following a clash between two groups, Thane Police Commissioner Anil Dhere said. MNS leader Raj Thackeray, who was arrested on Tuesday and spent a day in police custody, returned to his residence amidst celebrations by supporters on Wednesday evening.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over the plight of the common man in Mumbai who is caught in the mayhem caused by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists to protest the arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray!


Thirteen people were killed and 27 injured when a bomb attached to a two-wheeler went off at Ragailong near the Police Commando Complex in Imphal West district on Tuesday evening. According to official sources, unidentified militants targeted the place where security personnel and civilians were gambling ahead of Diwali.

The home-grown PSLV-C11, ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle, placed the spacecraft into a transfer orbit around the earth exactly 18.2 minutes after a textbook lift off at 6.22 am from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in this island in the Bay of Bengal, 100 km north of Chennai.

When the spacecraft finally reaches its destination at 100 km above the moon surface after a series of manoeuvres over the next two weeks, it would signal India's arrival in the league of nations -- the US, Russia, European Space Agency, China and Japan which are already involved in lunar exploration.

India's last tryst with moon came way back in 1984 when Indian astronaut, Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, travelled to space along with two Soviet cosmonauts. The focus now shifts to ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (ISCRAC) at Payenya in Bangalore, which will be the country's nerve centre for tracking and controlling Chandrayaan-1 over the next two years of its life span.

What a contrast in between the Full Moon and the dark Moon! People on Honeymoon may perhaps feel it most!

The short-term outlook for Indian economy looks "cloudy" in the face of the global financial meltdown and steps are required to prevent the credit crunch from turning into a crisis of confidence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday in Tokyo.

"The short-term outlook is cloudy but I am confident that the Indian economy has the resilience to sustain its growth momentum in the medium-term... we have to prevent the liquidity crisis from becoming a crisis of confidence in the international monetary and financial system," he said.

Singh was addressing a gathering of top Indian and Japanese business leaders in Tokyo on the second day of his three-day official visit to Japan.

For the first time, the Centre on Wednesday admitted that it may miss the budget targets for fiscal and revenue deficits for 2008-09 as global financial crisis is exerting pressure.
"Thanks to the global financial crisis, which is exerting pressures on all economies, it is likely that we may overshoot budget targets (for fiscal and revenue deficits)," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at USAID function in New Delhi.

According to the budget estimates, the Centre would be bringing down the fiscal deficit below the three per cent and revenue deficit to 1-1.1 per cent this year, Chidambaram said. However, he said, the government will do its best to remain as close to the targets as possible.

"If we are not able to achieve the targets by 31.03.2009, I am sure we can achieve them by 31.3.2010. I often console myself by saying that we waited odd 60 years to achieve some fiscal discipline, it does not matter to wait for one more year," he said.

Fiscal deficit represents excess of government's total expenditure over total income (excluding market borrowing), while revenue deficit is the difference between the current expenditure and current receipts.

The Budget for 2008-09 targets to cut fiscal deficit to 2.5 per cent of GDP and revenue deficit to one per cent of GDP.

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act binds the government to cut fiscal deficit to three per cent of GDP by 2008-09 or 0.3 per cent every year.

Revenue deficit is targeted to be reduced to nil in five years by 2008-09 or 0.5 per cent every year.

The joy of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists knew no bounds as the 44.4 metre tall four-stage rocket majestically soared into the sky, capping their four years of toil for the first-ever mission that would travel beyond earth's orbit in the country's forty-year-old space programme.

"The launch was perfect and precise. It was a remarkable performance by the PSLV. The satellite has been placed in the earth orbit and with this we have completed the first leg of the mission. It will take 15 days to reach the lunar orbit," a beaming ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair announced.

President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani congratulated the space scientists on the successful launch.


Chandrayaan-1 carries 11 payloads, including two instruments from the American space agency, NASA, which will assess mineral resources, map the polar regions, look for ice deposits and prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the moon and prospect the lunar surface for natural resources.

Coming after 44 years of its maiden rocket launch from Thumba in 1963, Chandrayaan-1 will also look for possible uranium deposits on the moon as India sets out to augment its energy capacity through international bilateral nuclear pacts.

Later addressing a press conference, the ISRO Chairman said the first leg and perhaps one of the most difficult parts of the journey to the moon has been completed successfully.

"The 360-tonne PSLV-C11 has precisely achieved the objective of placing the satellite in the orbit around the earth with its nearest point being 250 km (perigee) and the farthest around 23,000 km (apogee)," Nair said.

"If everything goes on well, on Nov 8 we will be injecting the spacecraft into the lunar trajectory."

Nair expressed the hope that India would be able to send the first man-mission to moon from Indian soil before 2015 and that mars was the next natural destination for the ISRO.

Help build 'new India': PM tells Japanese investors

Seeking Japanese investments to build a ‘new India’, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that he has come this time on a mission: to consolidate the multifaceted India-Japan strategic relations.

"Our relations have changed considerably over time and we now have a multifaceted relationship. Japan is not just a source of development aid but an important investor and partner in building Asian co-operation," Singh said at a luncheon hosted by the Indian and Japanese business community in Tokyo.

"For me, each interaction with Japan has been a most pleasurable, educative and revealing one. It has revealed to me how much our two countries can do together, and how little we have done," he said.

"I have come to Japan to consolidate this partnership," Singh said ahead of his summit talks with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso.

"We welcome Japanese investment in our efforts to build a new India," the Prime Minister said while thanking Tokyo for its generous aid in the form of Overseas Developmental Assistance (ODA).

India currently gets 30 per cent of all Japanese ODA, becoming the largest recipient, overtaking China.

"We are deeply grateful that India has been the largest recipient of the Japanese ODA for the last five years. Its most visible symbol is the Delhi Metro," he said.

Describing Japan as the ‘economic and technological powerhouse of the world’, Singh noted that both nations were located in Asia to which the 21st century undoubtedly belongs.

Raj Drama!

MNS leader Raj Thackeray, who was arrested on Tuesday and spent a day in police custody, returned to his residence amidst celebrations by supporters on Wednesday evening.

Hundreds of supporters who thronged his residence 'Krishna Kunj' in the Shivaji Park area of Central Mumbai and celebrated Thackeray's return by bursting crackers after a court in Kalyan granted him bail.

"He is happy that he has been released from police custody and appealed to MNS activists to mantain peace," Shishir Shinde, general secretary of MNS, said.

Thackeray was arrested from Ratnagiri on Tuesday in connection with cases of assault registered against MNS activists for attacking North Indian candidates appearing for railway recruitment exams.

The MNS leader spent the night in custody at the Manpada police station in neighbouring Dombivali and was produced before a magistrate's court in Kalyan where he was granted bail. On Tuesday, he was granted bail in a similar case by a court in Mumbai.

Thackeray was also granted interim relief by the court in a case where Railway police sought his custody, after which he was released.

Sporadic violence was reported on Wednesday in Mumbai which was by and large peaceful, a day after MNS activists went on a rampage to protest the arrest of Raj Thackeray, as curfew was clamped in the area around the Kalyan court in Thane where the politician was to be produced.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, stray cases of violence were reported in Ahmednagar district where MNS workers targeted buses breaking window panes in Sangamner area and resorted to arson and stone pelting at several places.

"There were no reports of any major violence in the city and the situation was largely peaceful," Police said.

As they kept a tight vigil on the country's financial capital, Police said they had been given instructions to sternly deal with MNS activists if they indulge in violence after Raj was picked up in connection with the attack on North Indian job aspirants on Sunday.

Curfew has been clamped in the area around the Kalyan court, where Thackeray was to be produced, and the Manpada police station, police said apparently not wanting to take any chances after Tuesday's arson and rioting in Thane.

The police had a tough time dispersing the crowd which had gathered around the police station and were maintaining a tight vigil.

In overnight violence in neighbouring Thane, three persons including brother of a local MNS leader were killed, Thane Police Commissioner Anil Dhere said.

The deaths were reported in the Pisoli village area in Kalyan last night after a clash between two groups.

Miscreants torched an auto-rickshaw in the northern suburb of Dahisar and damaged another in suburban Ghatkopar.

Services on the Central Railway was disrupted for some time when miscreants attempted to block tracks using a cement sleeper near Kalyan station, railway officials said.

Left Claims Credit to Save india

UPA's friend-turned-foe, Left parties, self-congratulated themselves for saving India from getting trapped in the global financial turmoil by stopping the government from allowing pension money in stock market and opening up banks for foreign investment.

Demanding reduction in the fuel prices, Sitaram Yechury (CPM) said, "you must congratulate us as we have stopped you from increasing the FDI in insurance".

The policy allowed 26 per cent foreign direct investment in insurance. While there was a move to raise the FDI ceiling to 49 per cent, the Left parties which had provided crucial support to the government, were opposed to it.

Had the government allowed the pensions funds to be invested in the share market, "what would have happened to pensioners now," Yechury asked. Investors have lost over 50 per cent value in the stock market since January this year.

He said with the softening of crude oil prices, government should cut prices of petroleum products. Yechury also sought a cut in the issue price of food grains supplied through ration shop since food prices have come down.

"These two measures should be immediately taken, if government is serious about inclusive growth," he said. The CPM MP said the government has delisted only eight commodities in futures trading though there was a demand for banning 25 essential commodities.

"But I do not know why you have included rubber in the list of banned items," he said. The primary cause of inflation is speculative trading in commodity exchanges where turnover has exceeded Rs 40 lakh crore, he said. "How can you stop rise in prices when people are expecting profit from commodity futures," he asked.

Slow pace in river interlinking irks Parliamentary panel


Asking the government to take urgent steps regarding interlinking of rivers, a Parliamentary panel on Wednesday warned that if the pace of arriving at consensus is not accelerated by states, the ambitious programme would take at least another 30 to 40 years to materialise.


Presenting its 11th report on Inter Linking of Rivers (ILR) in Lok Sabha today, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources said it was "disheartened to note that though all states had agreed to the ILR programme in principle, problems cropped up on the specifics of the issue of water sharing and other related benefits."

The committee felt that if the pace of arriving at consensus and preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) is not accelerated, the actual implementation of projects under ILR would take another "30-40 years or more" for completion of all the identified 30 links.

The committee, headed by R Sambasiva Rao, "desired" the Ministry of Water Resources to take urgent and concerted measures to bring all the concerned states on one platform to arrive at a consensus for all the 30 links at the earliest.

The committee, in one of its recommendations, suggested that the government should ask the Irrigation and Water Resources Finance Corporation to raise funds through bonds to fund projects under the ILR.

"To begin with, the Corporation could raise funds for the Ken-Betwa link for which the DPR is likely to be available by end of December, 2008," it said.

The report said the government should discuss threadbare with Nepal issues relating to the Himalayan component of the ILR programme so that Kathmandu could also appreciate the benefits accruing from the programme to them.


Left parties to decide on alliance strategy in AP

Amid efforts to forge a grand alliance to fight the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh in the forthcoming assembly elections, the state leaders of CPI and CPI(M) met in Hyderabadon Wednesday to discuss the political situation and a common strategy on public issues.

The state CPI(M) Secretary B V Raghavulu and his CPI counterpart A Narayana had a two-hour long meeting at the CPI(M) headquarters.

While broad contours of tie-ups with other opposition parties were discussed at the meeting, a final decision on alliances will be taken after the central committee meetings of the two parties before the first week of November, the Left leaders said.

"I will submit my report on the alliances to the state executive committee meeting here on October 29. It will be discussed by our national executive committee on November 1 and 2 after which a decision will be taken," Narayana told reporters.

The CPI(M), on the other hand, will discuss the issue of poll alliances during its meeting, scheduled to be held here from October 30 to November 5 before taking a final view, Raghavulu said.

There has been hectic activity in the opposition camp in the last few weeks with Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Left parties stepping up efforts to forge a grand alliance to take on the Congress.

However, there are reports that Left parties have different view points on alliance strategy.

While CPI(M) is said to be in favour of sailing with the main opposition TDP in view of the latter's strong cadre base, the CPI is reportedly keen on joining hands with the actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party.

Eastern Railway cancels 12 trains due agitation by students

Eastern Railway on Wednesday cancelled 12 trains running through Bihar, including the Howrah and Sealdah Rajdhani Express, owing to the student agitation in the state over the recent assault on railway recruitment examinees in Mumbai.

Besides, the 2301-Up Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and 2313-Up Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, other important trains cancelled include the 3111-Up Lalquila Express, 3133-Up Sealdah-Varanasi Express and the 3049-Up Howrah-Amritsar Express, an ER release said.

Other cancelled trains include the 3105-Up Sealdah- Ballia Express, 3185-Up Ganga Sagar Express, 3021-Up Mithila Express and the 0231-Up Howrah-New Delhi Puja Special.

The 2367-Up Bhagalpur-New Delhi Vikramshila Express, 3401-Up Bhagalpur-Danapur Intercity Express and 3419-Up Bhagalpur-Muzzafarpur Janseva Express have also been cancelled, the release said.

Stating that four trains passing through Bihar were short-terminated, it said the 2381-Up Poorva was stopped at Asansol, while the 2317-Up Akal Takht Express was terminated at Jasidih. The 3151-Up Jammu Tawi Express was short- terminated at Baruipara and the 0365-Up Howrah-Danapur Puja Special was short-terminated at Vidyasagar.

Centre to take final view on GUJCOC soon: Home Ministry

The Centre will take a "final view" on the the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill, 2003 (GUJCOC) soon, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Replying to written questions, Minister of State for Home Radhika Selvi said the bill has been under examination of the Centre "in the light of the angles of conflict with any Central law, the policy of the Central government and other legal and Constitutional angles."

"It is expected that a final view in the matter would be taken in the near future," the minister said.

In reply to another question on Rajasthan Control of Organised Crime Bill, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said a fresh draft of the bill was received by the Ministry on May 16 this year and is under the examination in consultation with various ministries and departments including Law Ministry.

He said the revised draft bill was sent after certain objections and comments of the Department of Revenue and the Department of Telecommunications were communicated to the state government for their consideration.

FM discusses liquidity situation with bankers

Finance Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting with senior bankers last evening in the backdrop of easing liquidity situation following a slew of measures taken by both RBI and the government.

"The meeting reviewed situation in the light of easing liquidity situation," Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakrabarty said.

Credit delivery to productive sector was also discussed during the meeting, he said.

The meeting was also attended by State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt and Indian Banks Association and Bank of India Chairman T S Narayanaswami.

When asked whether any meeting with Prime Minister was also there on the day, Chakrabarty said, "I am not aware of that."

Last month, owing to the tight liquidity situation, many banks had tightened their purse and went slow on credit disbursal.

Cash in the market dipped to the extent that inter-bank call money rates went as high as 23 per cent.

However, Finance Minister P Chidambaram came to the rescue of borrowers.

"Our banks are ready and willing to provide credit. Suitable advisories are being issued to the banks," he had said.

Following this, RBI issued a notification saying, "In view of the improved liquidity in the markets, the banks concerned are advised to review all such cases and permit drawal of sanctioned limits, guided by their usual commercial judgment."

Govt to set up 1500 new ITIs

Government will set up 1500 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in blocks where there are none at present, Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, he said the Government has taken up establishing ITIs in those blocks where such institutes do not exist now. He said 5000 skill development centres will also be set up on priority.

Fernandes said 300 ITIs will be approved by the month-end on top of a similar number sanctioned recently.

About 100 applications for ITIs are currently pending with the Government.

In addition, 100 ITIs will be upgraded with Government funds and another 400 through World Bank assistance. After that, 1396 ITIs would be upgraded through assistance from financial institutions, he said.


RS adjourns after uproar over attack on Christians in Orissa

Opposition BJP and ruling Congress members on Wednesday clashed in the Rajya Sabha over the issue of attack on Christians in Orissa, leading to abrupt adjournment of the House.

Trouble broke out when Congress member Shantaram Laxman Naik rose to read his Zero Hour notice on the issue, provoking BJP members who strongly protested against raising state matters. Orissa is ruled by BJD-BJP coalition.

Rudra Narayan Pany (BJP) led the opposition attack which was immediately countered by Congress members, plunging the House into turmoil.

Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan pleaded with the agitated opposition members to restore peace as the notice had been admitted by the Chairman and he could not do anything about it.

As Pany rushed towards the podium, Khan admonished him. "I condemn this. I am warning you," he said as the BJP member had a heated argument with the Chair.

Senior BJP member S S Ahluwalia then asked Pany to take his seat and he himself entered into a verbal duel with Khan. BJD member B J Panda was also seen standing in protest.

Amidst noisy scenes, Khan asked Naik to read the notice, further infuriating the opposition members who rushed to the well.

Some members from the Congress too rushed towards the well to counter the BJP attack.

At one point of time, an agitated Pany was seen rushing towards the Congress bench and was persuaded by his senior party colleagues to go back to his place.

As the din continued, Khan adjourned the House 15 minutes before the scheduled lunch recess.



Indo japanese landmark Joint declaration
India and Japan on Wednesday inked a landmark joint declaration on security cooperation but immediately assured China that their enhanced ties were not aimed at it or any other country.
Economic partnership and security cooperation between India and Japan “are not at the cost of any third country, least of all China,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso.

“I have explained on several occasions both in India as well as in China and abroad that I sincerely believe that there is no competition between India and China. The world offers enormous scope for both our countries to realise their development ambitions.

“So there is no question of our ... economic partnership with Japan being at the expense of any other third country, least of all China,” Singh said here on the eve of his visit to Beijing to attend the 7th ASEM Summit from October 24.

Aso also tried to downplay the ‘China factor’, saying “we do not have any assumptions as targeting a third country, including China.” Earlier, Singh and Aso inked the Joint Declaration on enhanced security cooperation between India and Japan, saying their ties were rooted in their similar perceptions of the evolving environment in the region and the world at large.

The two sides stressed common commitment to democracy, open society, human rights and the rule of law and pointed out their deep respect for each other’s contribution in promoting peace, stability and development in Asia and beyond.

Recognising that India and Japan are partners with a mutual stake in each other’s progress and prosperity, the joint declaration said “a strong and prosperous India is in the interest of Japan and a strong and prosperous Japan is in the interest of India."

We will solve ethnic issue after 'finishing' terrorists: Lanka

Ahead of the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Senior Adviser Basil Rajapaksa here next week, Sri Lanka on Wednesday promised to address the decades-old ethnic conflict in the island nation through a political settlement but only after "finishing" terrorists.

Sri Lankan Minister of Rural Industries and Self Employment Promotion S B Nawinna said the government is committed to protecting Tamils in the restive northern region and that it had made efforts to supply food and other essential items to those affected.

"The government will end the conflict through a political settlement. After liberating the eastern region from the LTTE, the Government conducted elections and have made a Tamil as the Chief Ministers. Likewise, due representation will be given to people in north also," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

"We will settle the (ethnic) issue after finishing terrorists," Nawinna said.

His comments assume significance as India has been insisting that Sri Lanka should address the ethnic issue through a political settlement as there could be no military solution to the problem.

India has voiced concern over the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka and has asked Colombo to ensure that the rights of Tamils in the island nation do not get "enmeshed" in the hostilities and that their safety is not compromised.

Basil will be coming here next week to discuss the issue with the Indian leadership.

Rs 7.35 crore fraud: Two accused of duping IA sent to PC

Four office bearers, including chairperson of a private firm, accused of duping state-owned Indian Airlines of Rs 7.35 crore by not remitting sale proceeds of air-tickets, have been remanded to two days of police custody by a Delhi court.

"The recovery has to be effected at the instance of the accused. Therefore, two days of police custody is granted," Metropolitan Magistrate Satish Kumar said, allowing Delhi Police plea that their custodial interrogation was needed to ascertain the money trail.
Sanjeev Khanna, chairman of Delhi-based M/s Rao Tours and Travels Private Ltd, woman accused Swatanter, director of the firm, Jyotika Khanna and Satish were arrested following the complaint of Indian Airlines that they did not remit the sale proceeds of the tickets in the tune of Rs 7.35 crore with it.

Indian Airlines had on July 13, 2000 appointed the firm its authorised dealer for selling the tickets, said the complaint lodged by Tilak Raj, Manager (finance) of the Airlines.

The private firm, however, did not remit sale proceeds of the air tickets, distributed during August-September, 2006, and a cheque, issued to the company, also bounced, it alleged.

Later, an FIR on May six last year was lodged against the firm and its officials under various provisions of the IPC, dealing with fraud, breach of trust and misappropriation of public money.

The police, seeking their custodial interrogation, said the money and various documents have to be recovered at the instance of the accused.

No third alternative before LS polls: Bardhan

Dismissing the possibility of a third front emerging at the national level before the Lok Sabha polls, CPI leader A.B. Bardhan on Tuesday said the Left will instead have state-specific alliances to fight the BJP and the Congress.

"There is no question of an all-India front coming up before the elections. The third alternative is a perspective to be materialised through struggles," the CPI general secretary told reporters here.

On the chances of projecting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as the prime ministerial candidate of the anti-Congress and anti-BJP axis, he said his personal opinion was that she would be a better candidate.

"I have only said there are several aspirants, and according to me, she is better than others," he said. Voicing concern over the communal polarisation taking place in many parts of country resulting in the alienation of minorities, Bardhan said it was regrettable that the Centre has not responded to the demand for a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter in Delhi.

It has become all the more necessary to have a probe into the Jamia Nagar incident as so many doubts have been raised and so many questions asked about it, he said. Resenting the tendency to equate the entire Muslim community with terrorism, he said "What sort of national unity could be there if 18 crore Muslims are alienated." On the attack on Christians in Orissa, he said the Centre has failed to exercise the constitutional powers and create a sense of security among those under attack "from forces like the Bajrang Dal".


India is fastest growing market for Bell Helicopter

After taking 52 years to sell its first 100 choppers in India, Bell Helicopter expects to sell its next 100 in less than five years as the country has emerged as an important market for the US company, a top official said.

"India is our fastest growing market in the whole world," said Bell's director of communications Greg Hubbard, who was here for the civil aviation show last week.

"When we started our India office in 1995 we had only four percent of the market share; today we enjoy 52 percent market share," Hubbard told IANS.

Bell sold its first helicopter in India in 1956 and delivered its 100th commercial aircraft to leading Indian infrastructure company Abir Infrastructure during the air show here.

"We have sold 17 helicopters in India this year, we expect to sell 22 next year and we expect to sell our next 100th one within five years," Hubbard said.

"In India our growth rate is 15-17 percent while it is less than five percent in the US or Europe. Russia and Brazil are also growing fast, but the growth rate is lower than that in India," he said.

According to the Bell executive, the global downturn has not affected its India operations; nor does the company expect it to do so in the future. "Unlike fixed wing aircraft, helicopters are utility vehicles and demand will always be there."

Bell Helicopter, which is a subsidiary of Texas-based $13.2 billion multi-industry company Textron Inc, is also excited about supplying military helicopters to India.

"We will bid for the Indian Army's 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter programme by end of December and we are hopeful of bagging a large contract."

Giving details of the Bell429 model that it unveiled at the air show, Hubbard said the company had adopted a unique approach while developing the model.

"We formed a panel of customers and asked them what features they wanted and during the designing process they participated in working out the trade-offs between various features," he said.

"As a result, we ended up developing a very flexible model that can be easily customized. For example, it has a completely flat floor that helps in customizing to meet specific needs of customers," he said.

The helicopter has a glass cockpit and digital controls designed to meet the latest safety requirements and is very quiet, he said.

Talking about training institutes and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centres that Bell is planning to set up in India, Hubbard said: "We hope to select our Indian partners by early next year."



Sena targets Lalu, takes credit for disrupting Rly exams

Keen to reinforce its pro-Marathi agenda in the face of aggressive stand on the issue by MNS chief Raj Thackeray who is hogging limelight, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday sought to take credit for thwarting the scheduled Railway exams in Mumbai, saying they were arranged "exclusively" for Biharis.
An editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana', which flayed Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for his "anti-Maharashtrian" stand in recruitment in Railways, played down the role of MNS in jolting the exam. It said the recruitment of "bhaiyyas" was stopped by Shiv Sainiks who agitated at the exam centres in Mumbai.

MNS workers too arrived waving their flags but it was the valour of Shiv Sainiks that finally clinched the issue leading to cancellation of the exams, the editorial claimed.

In a departure from its earlier assertion that Shiv Sainiks too had bashed up the candidates from north India at railway stations in the metropolis on October 19, the paper said the MNS workers were responsible for the attack on Biharis asleep on railway platforms.

It also carried a statement by Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray saying that the Sainiks would never resort to a cowardly attack on people in their sleep.

Lambasting the Railway Minister, Saamana said, "The Railway Board exams for recruitment covered only the Yadavs coming from Bihar and nobody from other states, including Uttar Pradesh."


Nun rape case: No CBI inquiry says SC, archbishop disappointed

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hand over to CBI the investigation into the alleged rape of a nun during the on-going communal violence in Orissa.
"At this stage we do not think that handing over the investigation into the case from the state police to the CBI is in the interest of the victim as well as in the interest of justice. We think that the victim will cooperate with the state police," a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said.

The Bench noted that the victim has left the area and was refusing to participate in the Test Identification Parade (TIP), though nine persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged rape.

On the issue of compensation for damage caused to churches during the communal riots, the Bench asked the Orissa Government to assess the damage and assist in re-building them.

The apex Court said that proceedings in cases arising out of the violence will have to be conducted by setting up fast track courts.

Further, the Bench said that the central para-military forces provided to the state government for maintaining law and order in riot-hit area will remain there till December-end in view of the upcoming festival of Christmas.

The Archbishop of Cuttack had in a petition sought Rs hree crore compensation for demolition of Churches in the anti-Christian riots, while seeking a CBI inquiry into attacks on Christians.

He alleged that Orissa government was not taking steps o arrest the culprits who allegedly raped and paraded the nun naked on August 25.


I am disappointed over SC judgement: Archbishop




Noting that he was ‘disappointed’ over the Supreme Court declining to hand over the nun rape case to CBI, the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on Wednesday said they were not interested in filing a review petition in the apex court.

"I am disappointed. I was expecting more from the Supreme Court," Archbishop Raphael Cheenath said, adding he would hold talks with the community leaders before taking any further action.

Cheenath, who had filed the petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the state government to hand over the case to the CBI, said that the court should take a harassed woman's statement into consideration.

The Archbishop said he approached the apex court seeking a CBI probe after the victim expressed her ‘no trust’ on the Orissa police. "How can the woman face the same police which turned mere witness to her being assaulted and raped," Cheenath said.

Asked what would be the community's next course of action, the Archbishop said that he would like to speak to the nun before saying something.

Declining to reveal whereabouts of the nun, the Archbishop said he would try to speak to her over phone.

Though he was a petitioner, Cheenath said he was yet to receive a copy of the judgement. "I will go through the wording of the judgement copy before giving further statement on the matter," he said.

On the court's advice to the state government to help in re-building damaged churches, Cheenath said he was expecting positive action from the state government.

Earlier, Cheenath had claimed that nearly 200 churches and prayer houses were damaged during violence.


Book Raj for murder, demand RJD, LJP, BJP

Slamming the Congress government in Maharashtra for ‘failing’ to protect north Indians from attacks by MNS men, UPA constituents RJD and LJP and Opposition BJP on Wednesday demanded booking Raj Thackeray for murder after the death of a youth in violence.
LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the Maharashtra government has booked MNS chief Thackeray under bailable sections of the IPC.

"You release him tomorrow and he will indulge in same activities...he should be booked under section 302 (murder) of the IPC as a candidate (for the railway board exam) injured in Maharashtra violence has died," Paswan told reporters before Lok Sabha met for the day.

He also demanded job in Railways on compassionate grounds for the kin of the victim. "The LJP will provide Rs one lakh to the family of the deceased," said Paswan.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain dubbed Raj as a ‘murderer’ and demanded that he be booked under Section 302 of IPC.

Describing Raj as a ‘danger for national unity’, Hussain said the treatment meted out to north Indians in Maharashtra is something done ‘not even in Pakistan’.

Taking potshots at RJD over the violence in Maharashtra, the BJP leader said the RJD should withdraw support to the UPA government at the Centre.

After the Lok Sabha was adjourned following an uproar over the issue, RJD member Ram Kripal Yadav told reporters that violence was continuing in Maharashtra.

"Taxi drivers, shop-keepers of north Indian origin are

being targeted...Raj Thackeray be booked under section 302 of IPC or we continue with our agitation," he said.

He claimed the Centre and Maharashtra governments failed to take action which helped Raj become a ‘hero’.

"The Centre should use provisions under Article 355 or 356 to curb violence and instil a sense of confidence in people," he added.

LJP member Ramchandra Paswan claimed the Bihar government also maintained a silence when north Indians were being targeted and said it too should be dismissed.

Airlines can repay fuel dues in 6 instalments

Indian carriers troubled by a financial crunch on Wednesday got time until March 2009 to clear their dues, estimated at about Rs 2,500-2,800 crore, to oil companies in equated monthly installments.
The decision was taken at a meeting called by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora with airline bosses and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to work out ways to help airlines stay afloat without hurting the interests of oil firms.

Patel said that it was decided that oil companies would extend the credit period on jet fuel purchase to 90 days from 60 now (applicable till March 2009), as also allow airlines to clear dues in EMIs by March 2009.

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya, Jet Airways Executive Director S K Dutta and Air India Chairman Raghu Menon were among those who attended the meeting.

The meeting was necessitated as some airlines, including Jet, have defaulted on payments at the end of their 60-day credit period on Aviation Turbine Fuel purchase.

Representatives from state-run oil firms Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum and Finance Ministry officials also attended the meeting.

Why target us for being pro-Maratha, look at DMK: Sena
Defending its stir to facilitate jobs for Marathi people in the Railways, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday cited the example of political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the ruling DMK, that were exerting pressure on the UPA Government to protect the interests of Tamilians in Sri Lanka.
"The DMK has even threatened to withdraw its support to UPA at Centre if the government failed to curb the anti-LTTE offensive launched by Sri Lankan military," an editorial in 'Saamana', the Sena mouthpiece, commented. "These political parties are so sensitive to the Tamilian interests even outside India and Shiv Sena is being condemned for supporting jobs of Marathis in Maharashtra with the labeling of regionalism," the editorial in the paper, edited by party chief Bal Thackeray, said.

The editorial said just to mention a few, Maharashtra had given to the nation illustrious sons like Babasaheb Ambedkar, C D Deshmukh (who resigned from the Nehru Cabinet on the issue of Samyukta Maharashtra) and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar.

"But the rulers in Delhi always handed a raw deal to Maharashtra and expected it catapult before it. The Shiv Sena will never tolerate this situation and will always support Marathis in their fight for justice," it said.

Reliance Communication launches ‘Free laptop offer with unlimited net surfing’
Reliance Communications, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has entered into a strategic alliance with five computer hardware suppliers, to offer free laptops with internet connectivity to customers.

The computer companies are Intel Corp, Acer, Asus, HCL Infosystems and Lenovo.

The company claims that, the latest introduced scheme will enable customers to get free laptops powered by Intel's 'Atom' with high-speed internet data card service of Reliance.

However, under the scheme, customer has to pay monthly installment of Rs 1,500 for two years duration.

Reliance Communication is Country 's leading wireless internet service provider with over 10 lakh customers and access to 20,000 towns and 4.5 lakh villages in the country.

Spice S-580 Music Phone Launched in India

Spice Mobiles has announced the availability of its latest smart and slim musical handset, dubbed the Spice S-580, in the Indian market.


Seven PSU banks to be recapitalised: FM

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that seven PSU banks having a capital adequacy ratio of below 10% would be recapitalised.


Chidambaram said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and assured the Rajya Sabha that policy rates can be revisited if inflation continues to moderate.

Replying to a discussion on supplementary demands for grants in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister said, "We have taken pre-emptive measures (to deal with the global crisis) and we are drawing upon the inherent strength of our economy. We will overcome the crisis."

Referring to the measures taken by the Reserve Bank to manage the crisis, Chidambaram said, "CRR has been reduced by 250 basis points and repo rate has been reduced by 100 basis points... We are watching the situation. If the liquidity situation remains benign, there is no reason to infuse further liquidity and if inflation continues to moderate, we can again revisit these rates."

Parliament on Wednesday approved the supplementary demands for grants with the Rajya Sabha returning the Bill. The supplementary demands were earlier approved by the Lok Sabha.

The supplementary demands envisage an additional expenditure of Rs 2,37,385 crore, which include Rs 15,000 crore for payments to banks towards farmers debt relief fund.

On Tuesday, Chidambaram held a meeting with senior bankers in the backdrop of easing liquidity situation following a slew of measures taken by both RBI and the government.

"The meeting reviewed situation in the light of easing liquidity situation," Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakrabarty said.

Credit delivery to productive sector was also discussed during the meeting, he said.

The meeting was also attended by State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt and Indian Banks Association and Bank of India Chairman T S Narayanaswami.


Indian shares drop 4.8 pct; Reliance, ICICI lead
Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:23pm IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+] * Shares fall 4.8 pct on global recession fears

* Disappointing Wipro earnings drags down software stocks

* Resources shares slump on worries of falling demand (Updates to close)

By Devidutta Tripathy

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Indian shares fell 4.81 percent on Wednesday in a broad sell-off, erasing the previous session's gains as recession fears hammered international equity markets and helping knock the rupee to a record low against the dollar.

Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), India's most valuable firm which is due to report quarterly results on Thursday, fell 5.8 percent, and top private-sector bank ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 8 percent.

These two stocks, which account for more than fifth of the main index, contributed most to the fall.

Disappointing quarterly results from No. 3 software-services exporter Wipro Ltd (WIPR.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and a muted outlook on worsening economic conditions triggered selling of other outsourcers.

"Global cues, selling pressure from foreign institutional investors are hitting the markets," said D.D. Sharma, vice president at Anand Rathi Securities in Mumbai.

Asia, EU wrestle crisis in messy diplomatic dance
Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:58am IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
1 of 1Full SizeBy Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Dozens of Asian and European leaders representing half the global economy gather this week confronting a world financial crisis but their talks are more likely to cloak differences than galvanise action.

At the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) opening on Friday, the 27 EU member states and the European Commission will trade views with Japan, China and India and 13 other Asian countries on the global downturn, climate change and international security.

Beijing, this year's host, has stressed the value of the biennial leaders' meeting in joining two regions that account for two thirds of world trade and 60 percent of global output.

"If everyone doesn't meet like this, then it's much easier for misunderstandings to arise," said Zhou Hong, an expert on relations with Europe at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Europe is fairly united on many issues, of course, but Asia is much more disparate, so achieving consensus among all 45 members is never easy. But we do need it now."

The meetings make no binding decisions, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose bailout of the British banking system swiftly became a model for the United States and many EU countries, will not attend.

Yet even a symbolic flourish of unity may help as governments seek to steady themselves in the financial turmoil: the two-day meeting will issue a closing statement likely to stress a shared purpose in the face of financial meltdown and economic slowdown.

"The main thing is to come out with strong united messages conveying confidence -- confidence that, yes, we can improve the international financial system," France's ambassador to Beijing, Herve Ladsous, speaking last week, said of the ASEM meeting.

surprise rate cut
Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:52pm IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
1 of 1Full SizeBy Surojit Gupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Shoring up India against a global recession has overtaken taming double-digit inflation as the government's prime economic goal, officials said on Tuesday.

Soon after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed its key lending rate by 100 basis points on Monday, just four days before a scheduled review of monetary policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country should brace for slower economic growth, but stressed the economy and banking system were safe.

"There was in some sense unjustified nervousness about the impact of the recession in advanced countries on the Indian economy," said Suresh Tendulkar, chairman of prime minister's Economic Advisory Council.

"It is precisely to dispel this nervousness that the prime minister made his speech, and I think the Reserve Bank of India cut the repo rate to keep the India growth story going."
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Tuesday that financial stability would be a focus with growth and inflation as India faced the indirect impact of the global crisis.

"At this moment we must stimulate the economy. The steps that we have taken on the CRR (cash reserve ratio) and the repo rate are intended to stimulate the economy," he told parliament.

"Meanwhile we continue to pay attention to inflation. I concede inflation is still high."

Like elsewhere around the world, Indians have been bombarded with headlines of global market turmoil and forecasts of slowing growth and job losses, and sentiment has been undermined



Chandrayaan: ‘It was a perfect launch’

K Sreedevi at Sriharikota | Wednesday, 22 October , 2008, 18:15
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14782731


The rains are not a taboo anymore at Sriharikota (SHAR).

Moments before the launch of India's first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan -I, at 6.22 am on October 22, 2008, there were prayers to the rain gods to rein in their fury.

However, the incessant showers around 9 a.m. in the area was a matter of cheer.

The relaxed and jubilant group of ISRO scientists actually did not even mind getting drenched in the drizzle. For it was celebration time after an "on the dot" launch of India's first lunar mission worth about Rs 360 crore. The copy-book launch of Chandrayaan into orbit by PSLV-C11 was a matter of pride for all.

"It is a remarkable performance by the launch vehicle," beamed ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair. "It is a perfect launch. What we have started is a remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the moon".

Chandrayaan –I launched successfully

Exactly seven years ago, on the same date (October 22, 2001), ISRO scientists had successfully and proudly launched a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C3) carrying three satellites - one Indian and two foreign.

Today, on the day of PSLV’s 14th flight, however, the pride was greater on achieving the "perfect" launch "against all odds".

"We have been fighting against all odds," said Nair, admitting that the heavy rains and cloudy skies over the last four days had led to a lot of worries about the launch.

There were moments of apprehension until as late as the penultimate day of the launch (October 21). But the tiresome team refused to let even nature come in the way of its 27th launch exercise. “What we faced in the last five days is nearly an ordeal. We were looking for breaks in between rains to carry out preparation. We had lost all hopes for the launch yesterday,“ Nair said.

But his special prayers to Chengamma Devi at Sulurpet on Monday evening and ISRO team’s offering to Lord Balaji at Tirumala Tirupati last week seem to have paid off.

"Fortunately, we had clear skies today and we would be completing the remaining part of the journey within 15 days," Nair said heaving a sigh of relief.

"It was a coincidence of events working against all odds. The launch was perfect and precise. The satellite has been placed in the earth orbit. With this, we have completed the first leg of the mission and it will take 15 days to reach the lunar orbit."

Special: Destination Moon

After some more procedures, Chandrayaan's orbit would be finally lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar surface around November 8.

"Injecting the spacecraft into the lunar trajectory is another key aspect of the mission and we are looking forward to it," Nair said.

Unveiling future plans of the research organization, the ISRO chief said his team was looking at moving from moon mission to a manned mission and was gearing itself up to send GSLV spaceships with two humans before 2015.

Work on the RS 12,000-crore Chandrayaan-II, with the same set of scientists, had already begun and the focus would be on a soft landing on the moon, he said.

Inside Chandrayaan-1

Re-useable launch systems were also at a conceptual stage and would materialize in 2020, Nair said.

Despite such elaborate plans, ISRO was working only on a shoe-string budget of S1 billion on projects, compared to the $20 billion spent on the same project by its US counterpart, NASA, Nair claimed.

With Chandrayaan, India joins the elite space club comprising the US, Russia, European Space Agency, China and Japan by demonstrating its capability to explore the moon with its own spacecraft and launch vehicle.

From the launch of a US-made Nike-Apache Sounding Rocket from Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram, on November 21, 1963, which marked India’s foray into space, we have come a long way.







Yahoo to axe 1,500 jobs on weak ad revenue
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Reuters
Posted: Oct 22, 2008 at 0918 hrs IST

San Francisco, October 22: Yahoo Inc posted a sharply lower quarterly profit on nearly flat sales, but its shares rose 8 per cent on the Internet media company's plan to cut at least 10 per cent of its work force to save costs.
Yahoo, the leading provider of online display advertising, said on Tuesday it planned to cut at least another 10 per cent of its roughly 15,000-strong global work force, and reduce its expense-run rate by around $400 million by the end of 2008.

The planned job cuts of more than 1,500 employees expand an earlier cut of roughly 1,000 jobs, or 7 per cent, that Yahoo made in February. Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said Yahoo was prepared to further cut jobs and other expenses in 2009 if the economy continues to deteriorate.

Yahoo is cutting its work force in high-cost markets and hiring aggressively in lower-cost locales such as Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia.

"The stock is up," Cowen & Co analyst Jim Friedland said. "It's not up on better-than-expected results. It's up on a lack of a complete meltdown in the business," he said.

The Silicon Valley-based Web pioneer said net income for the third quarter tumbled to $54.3 million, or 4 cents per diluted share, from $151 million, or 11 cents per diluted share.

Gross revenue, including payments to affiliated websites that carry Yahoo ads, edged up 1 per cent to $1.79 billion. Net revenue was $1.325 billion, compared with the average Wall Street estimate of $1.37 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Wall Street was looking for a profit, on average, of 8 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Net revenue forecasts had ranged from $1.29 billion to $1.43 billion, the same data showed.

Yahoo President Susan Decker said the company struggled as corporate brand advertisers scaled back spending on Web marketing promotions, not only in the United States but also across Europe and Asia. Marketers in the travel and retail industries have been canceling some contracts, she said.

"We are still seeing a weakening trend in some Asian markets," Decker said.

Yahoo co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Yang put a brave face on the situation, saying that while its premium display advertising business was declining, Yahoo appeared to be gaining market share as buyers consolidated their spending.

"I am encouraged that most advertisers who are still spending in this environment are spending with Yahoo," Yang said.

GLOOMY OUTLOOK, NARROWING OPTIONS

Yahoo forecast fourth-quarter gross revenue at between $1.773 billion and $1.973 billion. That represents a decline of 3 per cent to a modest growth of 8 per cent from the year-earlier quarter's $1.83 billion.

"I had been predicting they would reduce their guidance for (the fourth quarter) but they really whacked it," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst with Wunderlich Securities.

"It had been in the mid-teens, now it's just barely over 2 per cent for revenue growth in the fourth quarter, normally a seasonally strong one," he said, referring to the midpoint of the per centage growth Yahoo has forecast.

Shares of Yahoo gained 7.7 per cent to $13 in extended trade on the results, after closing 6.1 per cent lower at $12.07 on Nasdaq. But despite the rebound, the stock remains at 5-year lows as hopes earlier this year that Microsoft might acquire Yahoo for $33 or more per share have dissipated for now.

Free cash flow fell to $215 million from $231 million in the 2008 second quarter and $310 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Analysts said that while the latest downturn in Yahoo's business has forced the Sunnyvale, California-based company to make sweeping cutbacks, these cuts are likely to further damage its competitiveness with Internet market leader Google.

"They don't have much of a choice, but it's likely to hurt Yahoo's longer-term growth," Friedland said.

Excluding one-time items such as the costs of fending off a proxy campaign by Carl Icahn to force Yahoo back into talks with Microsoft Corp on a possible merger, quarterly profit rose to $123 million, or 9 cents a diluted share.

For the September quarter, the company said it ran up $36 million in merger, consulting and legal costs related to its on-again, off-again talks with Microsoft, an aborted proxy fight with activist investor Carl Icahn, and its bid to win regulatory approval for an ad sales deal with Google Inc.

Icahn subsequently joined the Yahoo board.

Yahoo and Google recently agreed to delay their advertising deal amid competitive concerns by the US Justice Department but Yang.



Once Chandrayaan goes near the moon, we will be there to track it’


The 32-metre antenna in Bangalore will allow us to collect the signals from Chandrayaan about 4,00,000 km away both in terms of satellite control capability and the science data coming from the various onboard experiments.


After its expected launch on Tuesday morning, Chandrayaan-1, the Indian lunar orbiter, will be injected into its first orbit around the earth in just 17 minutes. During its subsequent course to the final orbit around the moon, and during the orbiter’s lifetime of two years, a critical element of the mission will be the constant communication link from the ground to the satellite for tracking it as well as for its orbit control and house-keeping — the Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) operations — and receiving data from the 11 onboard experiments.

Missions that go beyond a distance of 1,00,000 km from the Earth are usually termed as deep space missions and Chandrayaan-1 is the first such for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). For deep space missions, ISRO has established an impressive communications infrastructure called the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, a village located about 45 km from Bangalore, as part of the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command (ISTRAC) system. Comprising a massive indigenously built 32-m antenna and a German 18-m antenna, the IDSN will be the centre of activity for the entire duration of the mission.

Excerpts from an interview of ISTRAC Director S.K. Shiva Kumar with Science Correspondent R. Ramachandran:

Dr. Shiva Kumar, what are the critical issues involved in telemetry, tracking and communications in general associated with deep space missions?


When we talk of satellites in near earth orbit, we mean about 1,000 km altitude or more, or near earth space of about 2,000-2,500 km in range from the Earth’s surface. But when we say deep space mission, we mean lakhs of kilometres. For example, when we talk of the Moon mission, it means that the distance is not less than the Earth-Moon distance, which is about 4,00,000 km. Internationally, there is a way of categorising deep space and near earth, but a common way of defining would be the moon distance and beyond.

In deep space missions, as the space probe moves farther away from the Earth, the strength of the signals from it become weaker and weaker. The real challenge is to catch those weak signals. Mathematically, from antenna theory, we know that we have to put up larger and larger dishes. ISTRAC has so far been involved with smaller dimension 10-11-metre diameter dishes. But now for a deep space mission, it jumps to something like 32 m. To make such an antenna, especially through the indigenous industry, was a big challenge for us. We looked at [systems] the world over and found that the nominally working deep space antenna you get to see is 30m-plus. We decided to make a 32-m antenna in Bangalore, which would give us the strength to talk to our satellite from our own soil and also to collect the signals from Chandrayaan about 4,00,000 km away both in terms of satellite control capability and the science data coming from the various onboard experiments.

But wisely this DSN-32 has not been done only for the Chandrayaan mission but for all deep space missions to come in the future. It puts us in the category of deep space antennae found anywhere else in the world. That is the whole essence of building an Indian Deep Space Network facility. Starting with Chandrayaan we are pretty sure that we can track any other object deeper than this. If we are doing a Mars mission we do not have to worry at that point of time whether we have to build some more things. We have built a world standard facility that meets all the international standards. That means it can track any other [deep space] object. Simply stated, it is state-of-the-art interoperable and cross-support compatible facility that meets the Indian requirements with good margins and also the requirements of any other space agency.

For deep space applications, when we say that we are capable of receiving signals of weaker strengths with this antenna, we should similarly be able to pump fairly strong signals to the satellite for commanding the spacecraft. Once the diameter of the dish is increased, that is very easily done with higher power amplifiers. About 2 kW was our normal usage. This time we have put up a 20 kW high power amplifier. That much power with a big dish is enough for the satellite to receive and execute the command functions. This is another world standard that has been met by IDSN. This antenna will also be capable of doing what is called the two-way ranging required for determining the position of the spacecraft. In addition, we have put up a reception facility for the science experiments [next to the antennae at Byalalu].
All the data will be sent to the spacecraft control centre [of ISTRAC] and the science data will be sent from this facility to the Space Science Data Centre (SSDC). The science data received here can then be sent to different processing systems for producing the various data products. All this needed a lot of critical technologies to be done and everything had to be done through the Indian industry.
In terms of the amount of data that you would be receiving, what would be the bandwidth requirements? Could you give a comparison with what you handle in LEO missions?

Of course, in deep space everything is [at] a premium. Actually, IRS satellites, which are in 700-900-km orbit, produce much more data than what Chandrayaan will produce. For the imagery that you collect with 1-m and 5-m resolutions, that data is quite voluminous. But we are [already] in the higher level of data transmission from Chandrayaan. We will be transmitting data at 8.4 Mbps, whereas many people are doing it at much lower rates. Just for comparison, IRS satellites transmit at 100 Mbps data rate. Since we have handled high bit-rate data links, there is no issue in handling these lower bit-rates. For Chandrayaan, since the incoming data is at 8.4 Mbps, we have organised ourselves well for transmitting the data. The data we receive from Chandrayaan at our SSDC will be redistributed [for which] we have put up really high-speed dedicated links [up to 16 Mbps depending upon the experiment and the location]. In addition to that, since some people did not want dedicated links because they wanted [their data] to be in the public domain, we have put up a high-speed internet link of 16 Mbps. These are all, I would say, first in our domain. ISTRAC has never handled so many high-speed links.
How will the operations be sequenced? Will it be that the normal ISTRAC network would track up to 1,00,000 km and then switch over to DSN?

That’s rightly perceived. Actually, the satellite will be first put into an orbit with an apogee of 22,800 km. This is quite close to Earth. Since ISTRAC has a fairly big network, all our stations commonly used in our IRS missions will be deployed. None of these stations has a big antenna but they are good enough for tracking up to 1,00,000 km without any problem. Once we cross the 1,00,000-km barrier, the big antenna will come in. Notwithstanding this [nominal procedure], since we are deploying the big antenna for the first time, we cannot be waiting till 1,00,000 km. So, for most part of the trajectory we will be tracking it with both DSN-18 and DSN-32, even earlier than 1,00,000 km. But beyond 1,00,000 km, we will be doing specifically by the mission-assured IDSN.
Are there any issues with regard to calibration that you need to do before you start your operations?

First, there are the standard test and evaluation procedures that we have in ISTRAC. Then we have tracked some of the LEO satellites like Cartosat and IRS-P4/Oceansat with the big antenna. But, of course, this does not satisfy anybody because you have to track something nearer to moon. Very recently, we have started tracking SELENE, the Japanese lunar orbiting satellite [launched in September 2007], thanks to cooperation from JAXA [the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency]. We have been able to track the satellite continuously with this antenna. That has given us ample confidence to say ‘Yes. Once Chandrayaan goes near the moon, we will be there to track it.’ To that extent, our comfort level is quite high because if you have tracked a similar object that is closer to moon and you have been able to establish links with good margins and all that, we don’t have to speak much about our ability to do [the same] with Chandrayaan. In addition, we are planning to track another deep space [cometary] probe ROSETTA [launched in 2004]. This was another opportunity that was created thanks to the European Space Agency.
That is one part of it. We have also tracked radio stars, which are quite good in S-band and X-band [the frequencies that will be used for TTC operations and science experiments respectively], like Cygnus, Cassiopeia, as well as Sun and Moon. This has given us ample experience in terms of pointing the beam on such a far off object, a major thing in my opinion. It also gives us ample scope for measurements because their movements are quite slow and we now know how to maximise our signals.
What are the critical technologies that had to be developed to establish this set-up?

The realisation of the entire antenna system itself was a big challenge because we were doing it for the first time. ISTRAC was responsible for building this. We chose ECIL [Electronics Corporation of India Ltd.] as the prime contractor who had the primary responsibility for the reflector and the mount of the antenna. In turn we worked with ECIL very closely. Along with that we chose BARC for antenna control servo system, the major subsystem. The RF design was entrusted to the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC). ISTRAC and ISAC together developed the feed system. These three are the heart of the whole system and these four agencies constituted the core team for executing the project. But that is not all because many subsystems had to be realised. So we went around scouting different industries in the country. We could identify sources with good capability within the country — L&T, Godrej & Boyce, SLN Technologies in Bangalore, HAL and many others. I think we had interface with 40 industries to do this work.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/22/stories/2008102255641100.htm

RPF had warned Maha police about attack
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Raghvendra Rao
Posted: Oct 22, 2008 at 1021 hrs IST
New Delhi, October 21: On at least three occasions in the run-up to the Railway Recruitment Board's examination on October 19, where candidates from North India were attacked by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Headquarters in New Delhi had informed the Maharashtra Police that it was anticipating trouble at many of the examination centres and wanted the local police to beef-up security.
In one of its communications to Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Ramrao Wagh, the RPF had expressed concern over "certain local political activists and hoodlums" who could target applicants from outside Maharashtra and had demanded that sufficient police strength be made available to guard the exam centres.
The October 19 written exam was conducted to fill up 518 posts in the categories of enquiry-cum-reservation clerks, goods guards and assistant station masters. Out of the 2.29 lakh applicants, only 26,000-odd could appear for the exam following the violence perpetrated by MNS workers. The first missive was sent on October 3 wherein the RPF informed the state police about the examination giving out a list of all the examination centres. "We told the Maharashtra Police that a similar problem had taken place during railway exams in 2006 and that ample force was to be deployed at the 144 exam centres in Mumbai," a top RPF official told The Indian Express. This communication was then followed up with two more letters, the first one sent on October 9 and the second on October 16 when RPF officials, both at the headquarter and state level underlined the “possibility of a disruption”.
RPF officials also said that the stone-pelting on applicants in Thane on October 19 were recorded on camera by the MNS workers who later sent the video footage to all the news channels.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/RPF-had-warned-Maha-police-about-attack/376266/
Lenders see recession through 2009
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Reuters
San Francisco, October 22: The US economy is currently in a recession that will not end until the middle of next year when a slow recovery begins, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Tuesday.
"A recession appears to be under way, as evidenced in rising unemployment, contracting manufacturing activity and declining inflation-adjusted consumption spending," said Jay Brinkmann, the trade group's chief economist, at the group's annual convention.
Unemployment will climb to 7.8 per cent by early 2010 before declining, the MBA said.
The housing sector will see more pain ahead, Brinkmann said, with the worst downturn in new home sales and construction yet to come.
New, single-family home sales will hit bottom in the middle of next year, falling to an annual rate of 413,000, Brinkmann predicted. The pace of those sales hit 460,000 in August.
The low point for the existing-homes market was set in mid-2008 when sales hit a 4.91 million unit rate, the MBA said.
The bottom of the home building market will be reached next summer when total housing starts set a 800,000 annual pace, Brinkmann said at the trade group's annual meeting in San Francisco.
September home starts set a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 units, their slowest pace since January 1991.
But Brinkmann also said he expects the foreclosure rate to be higher a year from now.
"My expectation is, nationally, we are going to be up," he said.

Action replay: Raj steals a march on stumped Sena
22 Oct 2008, 0323 hrs IST, S Balakrishnan, TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Action_replay_Raj_steals_a_march_on_stumped_Sena/articleshow/3625798.cms
MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena appears to be suffering from political paralysis with Raj Thackeray emerging as the sole champion of the Marathi manoos. The Se
na simply did not know what to do as hundreds of Marathi youths protesting Raj’s arrest were lathi-charged by the police. “If we condemned the violence against the Marathi youths, then we would be unwittingly helping Raj’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). If we kept quiet then we would be seen as being unsympathetic to the Marathi cause. We simply do not have a strategy to counter Raj,’’ a Sena activist conceded on Tuesday.
In the ’70s, the Congress politically propped up a cartoonist, Bal Keshav Thackeray, who had a visceral hatred for communists. The idea was to neutralise the reds’ influence as they had a stranglehold over industries.
Thackeray Sr’s Sena wiped out the communist influence in Mumbai. Now, history is repeating itself with the Congress and its ally, the NCP, backing Raj Thackeray with a view to delivering a body blow to the Shiv Sena. If the near-total bandh in Mumbai and Thane on Wednesday following the arrest of Raj was any indication, then the Congress-NCP alliance appears to be succeeding in its cynical gameplan. Another Thackeray has emerged on the political scene and he is, ironically, destroying the Sena.
Even though transport services were not substantially affected, most shops, schools and factories downed shutters when news of Raj’s arrest in Ratnagiri reached Mumbai. Fear gripped the business community even though Raj’s MNS does not have the organisational strength like the Shiv Sena to impose a bandh. Raj’s earlier violent campaigns have instilled a fear—like the Shiv Sena of the ‘70s—among traders and educational institutions. They decided to play it safe at the slightest hint of trouble.
Anil Desai, a confidante of Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, claimed that Raj is a creation of the electronic media. “The solid work put in by the Shiv Sena for the Marathi people over 40 years cannot be wiped out,’’ he reasoned. But already rumblings are being felt in the Sena over the failure of the party’s leadership to prevent Raj from stealing Bal Thackeray’s agenda. “The state is trying to pulverise our party, but our leaders appear to have no strategy to checkmate it,’’ a Sena MLA conceded.
Another Sena insider said: “The Sena’s leaders have become big-time builders, hoteliers and so on, and have thus developed a stake in the system. How do you expect them to lead street battles? In contrast, most of Raj’s supporters are jobless youths who have no stake in the system and are hence willing to start street battles.”

MNS had four VVIP suites at guest house
22 Oct 2008, 0320 hrs IST, Yogesh Naik , TNN

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray managed to get four VVIP suites at the circuit house (government guest house) in Ratnagi
ri, from where he was picked up early Tuesday morning. The guest house had been recently renovated.
Thackeray stayed in the Ashwini suite of the guest house with his MLA Bala Nandgaonkar. A large number of his supporters had also gathered at the guest house.
Ratnagiri superintendent of police Fatehsingh Patil said that many of the MNS supporters had collected stones for pelting during the night as they feared the police might take action against Raj.
A senior IAS officer in Mantralaya has reportedly appraised the Chief Minister’s Office about the use of the government property by Thackeray and his supporters.
A Ratnagiri guest-house staffer, Pandurang Padave, said that Raj had booked four VVIP suites and eight ordinary ones for himself at the guesthouse. After Raj was eventually arrested, the MNS men left without paying the Public Works Department, which manages the facility. It is not known if the bill will be cleared.
Ratnagiri PWD deputy engineer M S Kulkarni said the MNS had informed the collectorate about his tour 10 days ago. “The collector’s office had sent us a note to give the guest house. Besides, we can give the guest house to private parties if there is no demand from government officers or ministers.’’
But retired IPS officer Y P Singh said that such a large quantity of rooms is not given to even ministers. “The MNS managed to get a huge number of rooms and this shows that the administration is at his beck and call,’’ said Singh.

President’s visit to fetch more Chinese capital

Hafiz sanaullah
http://thepost.com.pk/NatNewsT.aspx?dtlid=188450&catid=2

As the US is losing, China is rapidly gaining influence in the war on terror's worst hit province - NWFP - and its adjoining tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Thanks to the US predator and drone attacks on the tribal territory of NWFP causing heavy loss of civilian lives.
Why the people in the soil of frontline ally have turned their faces towards China? Answer is simple. People in the heaven of Taliban needed energy and food. The Bush's White House has turned its back. They cried for wheat and ghee (bread and butter) Bush sounded news - good or bad- of US anti-submarine frigate to Pakistan and that too over 30 years old.
What China did? Economically depressed Pakistanis cried for help. China came for the rescue. If anybody doubts he better give microscopic look into President Asif Ali Zardar's first choice of official visit to China which made the top American diplomat for South Asia Richard Boucher apparently apprehensive of the growing influence of Taliban militants in settled areas of the NWFP, to dash to Peshawar to probe and search about China's growing influence.
He met NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti separately, normally the US technique. Chinese commodities are flooded in the markets of Peshawar and elsewhere in the NWFP and its adjoining tribal areas. From electronic items to rickshaws and bicycles and from wristwatches to several other items of daily-use of common man in both inexpensive and high priced quality is a source of income for millions of jobless people in the province.
A large number of people dash to China where they have rented flats for their brief business trips. Swat was the main route for Chinese goods for transit to down the country. The militancy blocked the route. Queries are sounded whether it is militancy or an attempt to block the route for Chinese goods. The murder of some Chinese here and there in the NWFP is being linked to discourage Chinese in NWFP and its tribal areas. Naturally there seems to be foreign hands behind all these tragic incidents.
China proved a friend in need and deserved to be called a friend in deed at a time while Pakistanis expected wheat, food and energy from the US. China won over hearts and minds of people of the NWFP and tribal areas at this critical juncture.
President Zardari is back in Islamabad after his first ever four-day official visit to China. What he said about his visit is widely covered by Pakistani and international media. But one aspect of his keen interest in China depicts from his statement that he will visit China after every three months. His visit has proved successful and fruitful as Pakistan and China signed 12 agreements focusing on enhancing economic and trade cooperation between the two friendly countries.
The visit is believed to have a positive impact on international politics, economic uplift, trade relations, commercial pursuits, peace in the region and the ongoing war on terror.
The significant aspect of the visit is President Zardari made China the first choice of his official visit which reflects the sentiments of the people of Pakistan for China people as Zardari put it "he wanted to develop the political friendship between the two countries that was already deepened than the sea." President Zardari particularly mentioned the special relations of Bhutto family including Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto with Chinese leadership. The leadership played a pioneering role in promoting and deepening the bilateral ties that turned into a strategic partnership over the period. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was also of high praise for Zardari for his visit to China as his first destination for the state visit which demonstrates that Pakistan attaches immense importance to the bilateral relations between the two countries.
The visit paved the way for Pakistan and China to reiterate their commitment to play their role for peace, development and prosperity of the region by strengthening their multi-faceted relations and cooperation in diverse fields. It was a golden chance that the Pakistani president and the Chinese prime minister in their formal talks focused on further cementing strategic partnership. The visit shows there was a determination on both sides to strengthen the existing trade and economic cooperation including the mega projects of infrastructure, energy, mineral development, defence production, science and technology. It is to be noted that China and Pakistan have a five-year economic development programme and it was decided that a meeting of the joint economic committee would soon be held in Islamabad to explore the avenues of preferential treatment to Chinese investment in Pakistan as well as a provision of soft credit by the Chinese banks and financial institutions. The visit also provided the opportunity for a substantial discussion on practical cooperation between the two countries to promote trade and investment, with a focus on enhancing Pakistan's production capacity in cement and steel sectors as well as energy development. According to a joint statement issued on the first state visit of President Zardari to China the two sides agreed to fast track the implementation of the Five Year Development Programme on economic cooperation and make full use of the free trade agreement in goods and investment and Pak-China Joint Investment Company.
The pledge made by the Chinese premier during a meeting to help Pakistan overcome its economic troubles, raised the morale of the people of Pakistan and deepened their trust in the time-tested friend of China particularly at a time while Islamabad is in an economic grip. The Chinese premier pledged that whether it's confronting the present financial crisis or fighting terrorism both China and Pakistan must strengthen their bilateral cooperation.
President Zardari's visit should be considered fruitful as China agreed to provide $500 million in a concessional loan to help Pakistan meet its balance of payment needs in April. Zardari's hope to secure another concessional loan of $500 million to $1.5 billion will provide relief to the ailing economy of Pakistan. Apart from this, the Chinese companies and entrepreneurs have offered to invest $5 billion in Pakistan's defence, banking, oil exploration and mining sectors, develop Thar coal, build Bhasha and Kohala dams and launch Pak-Sat IR by 2011. Some leading industrialists and business tycoons met President Zardari and made offers by expressing their willingness to intensify cooperation with Pakistan in defence, production, oil and gas, energy, poly technologies, electronics, hydropower generation and other sectors. Zardari has very rightly made it a point to encourage investment and offered preferred treatment to the Chinese firms.


There are ample opportunities Pakistan offered in various sectors given its strategic geographical local and the presence within the country of many resources. China has extended offers of help in several areas including mineral development, agricultural research, satellite procurement and technical cooperation.

The joint statement envisages strong opposition to all forms of terrorism, extremism and separatism. Both sides resolved to cooperation with each other to fight the above mentioned three forces. China conveyed its complete support to Pakistan's commitment and efforts to fight terrorism and appreciated its sacrifices rendered by the people and the government of Pakistan towards this end.

Sarah Palin's new image cost Republicans $150,000Shopping spree in Minneapolis just before party conference is revealed in campaign records

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Sarah Palin's new image cost Republicans $150,000Shopping spree in Minneapolis just before party conference is revealed in campaign recordsElana Schor in Washington guardian.co.uk, Wednesday October 22 2008 14.49 BST Article history
Sarah Palin, with her daughter Willow, holding her brother Trig, campaigns at a rally in Henderson, Nevada. Palin is giving the American sign language hand sign for "I love you". Photograh: Eric Jamison/AP

The Republican party has spent $150,000 (£92,000) on clothes and accessories since late August for Sarah Palin and her family, according to records of party spending.

The Republican shopping sprees, including a $75,000 jaunt to the upscale store Neiman Marcus, began showing up on financial disclosure reports in early September, just after Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.

Palin often depicts herself as a homespun product of small-town "real America"on the campaign trail, but she was revealed last month to be working with a secret team of stylists on sharpening her dress sense.

Today's reports on the Palin family's elaborate spending habits – a $295 pram was among the purchases as a treat for baby Trig, according to politco.com – could hurt the Republicans' credibility. The election is less than two weeks away.

The former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards became a national joke last year after campaign financial reports showed him spending $400 on haircuts. McCain and his wife, Cindy, were plagued this year by reports of $500 shoes and a $300,000 party ensemble respectively.

"The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," Palin's spokeswoman, Maria Comella, told politico.com, declining to confirm that the fashion expenses were exclusively for Palin.

No similar shopping trips were reported by the Republican party before Palin became McCain's running mate.

The Neiman Marcus branch where Republicans shopped in September was located in Minneapolis, the site of the party's national convention where Palin was introduced as McCain's running mate. Republicans spent $9,440 at a Macy's shop in the city during the same period. Another $4,900 was registered at Atelier, a men's fashion emporium, suggesting Palin's husband Todd was treated to a new wardrobe.

Palin's makeover was not limited to attire, according to a lengthy story due to be published this weekend in the New York Times. The vice-presidential hopeful worked with Priscilla Shanks, a voice coach and Hollywood actor, to help refine her speaking style before her speech at the Republican convention.

She has billed her home state of Alaska, where she is governor, for more than $21,000 for taking her five children on official trips – even when they were not invited.

Palin claimed $17,000 in per diem reimbursements from her state's government for nights spent at her family home in Wasilla, Alaska. Tax experts have questioned the propriety of those claims, which were not added to her annual income tax returns.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said the McCain campaign's spokeswoman, Tracey Schmitt.

"It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/22/uselections2008-sarahpalin

Chinese surfers see red over Microsoft black-outs
Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:57pm IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
1 of 1Full SizeBy Kitty Bu

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Internet users have expressed fury at Microsoft's launch of an anti-piracy tool targeting Chinese computer users to ensure they buy genuine software.

The "Windows Genuine Advantage" programme, which turns the user's screen black if the installed software fails a validation test, is Microsoft's latest weapon in its war on piracy in China, where the vast majority of 200 million computer users are believed to be using counterfeit software, unwittingly or not.

"Why is Microsoft automatically connected with my computer? The computer is mine!" one angry blogger wrote on popular Chinese web portal Sina.com. "Microsoft has no right to control my hardware without my agreement."

Another blogger railed over the cost of authorised versions.

"If the price of genuine software was lower than the fake one, who would buy the fake one?" he wrote.

A visitor to a Beijing internet cafe said Microsoft was violating people's rights.

"If, when I'm programming, the computer screen goes black, that will probably cause some important information to be lost," he said. "Who will pay me for my loss then?"

Dong Zhengwei, 35, a Beijing lawyer, described Microsoft as the "biggest hacker in China with its intrusion into users' computer systems without their agreement or any judicial authority", the China Daily said.


Wells Fargo Chairman Prefers U.S. Plan to Buy Stakes (Update2)

By Ari Levy

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman Richard Kovacevich said the U.S. Treasury's intention to buy stock in banks provides a better stimulus to escape the financial crisis than an earlier plan to purchase soured mortgage-related assets.

``Direct capital injections versus buying loans is a far more preferable way'' to help companies already facing credit losses, Kovacevich, 64, said yesterday at an event hosted by San Francisco's Commonwealth Club. ``It's an important tool to get the financial system back into the money business again.''

Wells Fargo, which agreed to buy Wachovia Corp. for about $14 billion this month, is one of nine large lenders slated to receive cash infusions as part of the government's plan to spend $700 billion unfreezing credit markets. Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, will get $25 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among the others that will receive the cash.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson last week urged banks to ``deploy'' the money in loans. He was forced to change his strategy after the initial plan to buy distressed assets caused banks to hoard cash and failed to halt a slide in the stock market. Kovacevich declined to say if he initially opposed Paulson's plan as the New York Times reported.

Wells Fargo dropped 99 cents, or 3 percent, to $31.65 at 10:04 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares gained 8.1 percent this year through yesterday, the biggest advance in the 24-comopany KBW Bank Index. Wachovia fell 17 cents to $5.92, adding to its 84 percent decline this year.

He's Seen Worse

Kovacevich said the current economic crisis isn't the worst he's seen, and the U.S. government's may help end the credit freeze ``reasonably soon.''

``Our customers, except those in residential home lending or autos, are doing quite well,'' he said. ``By far, the worst economic crisis of my career was in the 1980s.''

The Wachovia deal, orchestrated by Kovacevich, marks an eastward expansion and strategic shift for Wells Fargo, which maintained a profit during the financial crisis by avoiding riskier loans. Wachovia's mortgage portfolio includes an estimated $74 billion in future losses.

The Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal will create the biggest U.S. bank network, with 6,675 branches. The Federal Reserve said yesterday that Wells Fargo agreed to reduce its deposit base to comply with U.S. bank-merger law should the combined company control more than 10 percent of deposits nationwide.

Wachovia reported its third straight quarterly loss today, hurt by crumbling mortgage markets and writedowns on securities backed by real estate. The loss for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $23.9 billion, or $11.18 a share, compared with net income of $1.6 billion, or 85 cents, in the same period a year earlier, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said in a statement.

The Wachovia deal would be Wells Fargo's biggest acquisition since Norwest Corp. purchased the old Wells Fargo 10 years ago and adopted the name.

Kovacevich was chief operating officer at Minneapolis-based Norwest in the 1980s when current Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf, 55, was running the auto-dealer business and working on commercial loans. Kovacevich was promoted to CEO of Norwest in 1993 and stepped down in June 2007 to make way for the promotion of Stumpf, who has been with the company for 26 years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 22, 2008 10:06 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJA_SCWQqtkw&refer=home

Tripura suicide in stock crash
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Agartala, Oct. 21: A 26-year-old man hanged himself here last night after he found that he had bungled while trying to recoup his losses in the market downswing.

Jayanta Saha, a resident of Shanitola and son of an LIC development officer, had invested over Rs 18 lakh in equity shares, which had halved in the meltdown.

Jayanta did not hold a regular job but made a living by investing in the stock market.

A harried Jayanta planned to recoup the losses by making fresh investments in 700 more shares. But while operating his demat account through the Internet yesterday, he keyed in an extra zero, thereby placing an order for 7,000 shares.

Jayanta, who had passed MCom from Tripura University, was alone at home as his parents had gone to Bangalore to visit his married sister.

Having realised the mistake, Jayanta spoke to his father in Bangalore over phone and was advised not to worry.

“Apparently it is a case of suicide though we have found no suicide note. Only papers containing accounts of share values were recovered from his bedroom,” said Sanjay Biswas, officer-in-charge of East Agartala police station.
Police sources said Jayanta’s father Santosh and his mother Manjushree arrived home this morning. He was cremated today after post-mortem.

“Jayanta was upset at having lost so heavily in the stock market, especially because part of the money was his father’s,” an LIC agent and Jayanta’s cousin, Chhaya Saha, said.

Saha said even his parents had tried to pacify him from Bangalore, saying the loss would be made up in time but “Jayanta was inconsolable”.

Kotak Securities, through which Jayanta transacted business, downed shutters early, presumably on hearing the news of his death. Mintu Bhowmik, who heads the local office, refused to comment on the monetary value of shares under his care.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081022/jsp/frontpage/story_10002713.jsp

THE GREAT GAME
- Where is India on the new map of energy security?
Chandrashekhar Dasgupta


The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, October 2005
“Turkestan, Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Persia …they are the pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a game for the dominion of the world,” wrote George Nathaniel Curzon in 1898, at the high noon of the British Empire.

Central Asia all but ceased to figure in international relations during the Soviet era. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, triggered off another struggle for influence over the newly independent states in Central Asia and the Caspian region. A century after Lord Curzon, the American energy secretary, Bill Richardson, highlighted the geo-strategic importance of the region, albeit in more prosaic terms. “This is about America’s energy security, which depends on diversifying our sources of energy worldwide,” he said in October 1998. “It’s also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don’t share our values. We’re trying to move these newly independent countries toward the West. We would like to see them reliant on Western commercial and political interests than going the other way. We’ve made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it’s very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right.” A new Great Game had been launched in Central Asia.

Though the theatre of contest remains broadly the same, the players as well as the stakes are very different today. In the 19th century, the principal players of the Great Game were Russia and Britain. Today, the leading players in the new Great Game are the United States of America, Russia and China, together with a supporting cast including the European Union, Turkey and Iran, among others. Central Asia was only the theatre of the 19th-century contest; the principal stake lay elsewhere. The stake was the control of the approaches to Britain’s Indian empire, rather than the resources of the arid lands of Central Asia. The objective in the current contest is to control access to Central Asia’s vast oil and gas resources. The geopolitics of the new Great Game no longer focuses on potential invasion routes, as it did in Curzon’s time, but on the alignment of oil and gas pipelines.

Since the Caspian-Central Asian region is landlocked, its petroleum and natural gas production can reach major foreign markets only through pipelines leading directly to consumer countries or to international ports from which they can be shipped to consumer countries. During the Soviet era, all pipelines constructed in this region passed through Russia. Even today, the bulk of oil and natural gas produced in the region is exported through pipelines running northward through the Russian Federation. Thus, for instance, gas from Turkmenistan is currently delivered to Central Europe via Russia.

Two new pipeline routes have radically changed the geopolitical map of the Caspian-Central Asian region. An east-west oil pipeline now runs from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey, bypassing Russian territory. A new west-east pipeline transports oil from Kazakhstan to China. Both these ambitious ventures have important strategic implications.

The strategic objective of the US-backed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is to reduce Western dependence on Russia for energy imports. Russia, with its vast deposits of oil and gas, is an energy superpower. The EU is already heavily dependent on Russia for gas imports and this dependence is expected to increase further as a result of declining offshore production in the North Sea. The new pipeline will enable the EU to secure access to Caspian oil and gas without giving Russia the control or leverage that it might exercise as a transit state.

The construction of the pipeline was an immense political enterprise in a region divided by deep animosities. The shortest routes from Baku to Ceyhan lie through Iran or Armenia but neither was politically acceptable. The US would not even contemplate an option involving Iran, a “rogue state” in its eyes. The latter option was impracticable because Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan are characterized by deep hostility, while its ties with Turkey are still marred by historical animosities. Ruling out these shorter — and more economical — alignments, the only feasible option was the pipeline that now initially runs northward from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Tbilisi (Georgia) and thence southwards to Ceyhan (Turkey).

The alignment of the pipeline thus took into account existing regional political realities. At the same time, it is also creating new political realities. The Western alliance is building closer ties with both Georgia and Azerbaijan. Both countries have contributed troops to current peacekeeping operations in Iraq and Kosovo. Georgia has received sizeable military aid from the US, and is now an eager candidate for Nato membership. Washington is pressing for Georgia’s early admission, but several of its west European allies are reluctant to get drawn into Georgia’s dispute with Russia over the status of the territories of Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia. Azerbaijan, more wisely, has thus far refrained from seeking Nato membership, while indicating that the option remains open for the future.

China’s search for energy security provides the strategic rationale for the Kazakhstan-Xinjiang pipeline. China’s spectacular economic development can be maintained only if it is able to import increasing volumes of oil and gas. The quest for energy security has led China to invest heavily in oil and gas fields in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America. This enables Beijing not only to secure access to overseas “equity oil” but also to diversify its sources, thereby minimizing the risk of a disruption of supplies on account of political instability in an oil-producing country.

The Chinese have been prepared to pay high prices for oilfields in Central Asia. Heavy costs are also involved in transporting oil and gas over a distance of 3,000 kilometres from Kazakhstan to China’s industrial heartland. Many analysts have drawn the conclusion that Chinese policy in this regard is shaped by strategic factors. They maintain that Beijing is prepared to pay a premium for oil and gas transported by overland routes because it apprehends that, in certain contingencies, the US may employ its naval supremacy to impose a maritime oil embargo against China. As in the case of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, energy security considerations (rather than purely economic calculations) appear to provide the rationale of the Kazakhstan-China pipeline.

How does India fit into this new geopolitical map? Indian officials are reportedly holding talks with their Turkish and Israeli counterparts to examine the feasibility of transporting Central Asian oil from Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon on the Mediterranean, linked by an overland pipeline to the Red Sea port of Eilat, from where supertankers could pick up shipments destined for India. This route would avoid the overcrowded Suez Canal or the long detour around the African continent.

The Ceyhan route might be an attractive short-term option. The preferred long-term goal, however, must be to obtain access to Central Asia’s oil and gas reserves through less circuitous southward routes running through Iran or through Afghanistan and Pakistan. For example, crude oil from Azerbaijan could be carried through pipelines to Iranian ports for shipment to India. Gas from Turkmenistan could be delivered to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Political factors obstruct early implementation of these projects. The Iran option would face strong opposition from the US, and would be practicable only if other powerful countries can be recruited as partners in the enterprise. The Pakistan-Afghanistan option must await restoration of peaceful conditions in southern Afghanistan and adjacent areas of Pakistan. Yet, we must not lose sight of these alternatives because of the important contribution they can make to our energy security — and to consolidating our ties with neighbours.

The author is a retired ambassador and is currently a Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081022/jsp/opinion/story_9995591.jsp

No terror charges on Godhra accused: SC

NEW DELHI, Oct. 21: The Supreme Court today dropped POTA charges against all the 134 accused in the 2002 Godhra train burning incident in Gujarat in which 59 Kar Sevaks were burnt alive, while holding that a trial under POTA cannot proceed if the review committee decides otherwise.
A bench of Chief Justice Mr KG Balakrishnan and Justices Mr R V Raveendran and Mr Dalveer Bhandari held that a trial under POTA cannot proceed if the review committee recommends that the offence against the accused cannot be made out under the anti-terror law. The bench also directed that the trial against the accused will now resume.
The apex court, however, said the state can always file an appeal against the POTA review committee.
The apex court gave the order on a bunch of petitions challenging the decision to prosecute the accused under the anti-terror law even after the Gujarat POTA review committee had held that offence under POTA cannot be made out against them.
The SC rejected the Gujarat government’s stand that the review committee recommendations are not binding. n SNS
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=228047

TN: Human chain deferred

Chennai, Oct. 21: The human chain protest demanding the Centre to stop military aid to Sri Lanka and provide medicine and food to the Tamil population in the island nation through the International Red Cross has been postponed to 24 October due to continual rains in the State for the last three days.
In another significant development, the student wings of the DMK and MDMK joined hands to form a Confederation of All Students alongwith the students unions of the Left, Dravidar Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, “to channel the rising emotions among the students community in the right direction in support of the suffering Tamil brethern in Sri Lanka”. The students would start a campaign against a section of the English media, “supporting state terrorism of the Sinhalese and opposing the self-determination rights of Tamils”. These are the ones who count in the state, since the AIADMK and Congress have negligible presence among the students’ community.
The confederation in a resolution said that they would boycott classes on 24 October and hoist black flags in front of colleges and conduct meetings to mobilise all the students against the Centre’s military and economic assistance to “Sinhalese government carrying out a genocide of Tamils”. The resolution said that relief materials should be provided through the International Red Cross and other international agencies as it should reach the suffering Tamils and should not go to the hands of the island military. Going a step further from the stand of their leaders, the students said that the Vattukottai resolution demanding a separate Tamil homeland for island Tamils had been endorsed by the people in the Kangesanthurai bye-election, which was accepted by all parties concerned as a referendum and the subsequent general elections and this alone could be the solution to the conflict.
n SNS

Rajapaksa assurance
Massive operations by security forces to capture the Tamil Tigers stronghold of Kilinochchi was taking more time as troops have been instructed to ensure safety of battle-zone trapped civilians, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said, adds PTI.
“We have directed the Armed Forces to refrain from inflicting any harm, even a scratch, to the innocent civilians who are being used as human shields by the terrorists in the Wanni,” the President said. Speaking at the National Research Council ceremony in Colombo yesterday, President Rajapaksa said that army was fighting under constraints as they had been told to avoid any civilian collateral damage.
“We are proud to have an army which is complying and carrying out their humanitarian operations accordingly,” he said.
He said the ongoing military operations were designed to liberate the Tamil masses, who are deprived of their rights for many years due to LTTE's intimidation.
The President said that humanitarian assistance was being allowed for the trapped civilians in the rebel held area even when the government was aware that some of the food items were ending up with the terrorists.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=228044

Orissa tops communal violence chart

PTI & SNS
New Delhi, Oct 21: Orissa has recorded the highest number of communal violence incidents this year, resulting in the death 41 people, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
“A total of 695 cases of communal violence were reported from different states during the period in which 116 people were killed and left 1680 injured,” minister of state for home affairs Mr Shakeel Ahmad said in reply to a question.
“Orissa recorded maximum of 159 cases till September 2008 which left 41 people dead and 76 injured. The ministry does not maintain record of the property destroyed during the violence,” he said.
In terms of toll, Orissa was followed by Madhya Pradesh where 19 people were killed, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh where 11 people lost their lives and Karnataka where three persons were killed.
Mr Ahmed was replying to a question by Members of Parliament Mr Naveen Jindal and Mr P Karunakaran. He said the data included recent incidents of violence targeted against the members of Christian community in Orissa in the wake of murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others on 23 August this year.
The minister said seven advisories and communications were sent to Orissa government between 25 September to 18 October , 2008 at various levels. “Four advisories were sent to Karnataka between 15 September to 15 October, 2008,” he said.


“Orissa was asked to take stringent action against persons indulging in communal violence, including identification and apprehension of elements inciting communal violence and hatred,” the minister said.
Similarly, Karnataka was also asked to take immediate steps to stop violence targeted at minority communities and their places of worship, Mr Ahmad said.
Karnataka today ordered a probe by Corps of Detectives (COD) into the fire that broke out at a church in Yadavanahalli in Anekal taluk after the government came in for flak from Christian bodies and political leaders on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing till tomorrow of the petition filed by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack seeking a CBI inquiry into the rape and humiliation of a Christian nun, while allowing the Centre to file some additional documents in connection with the ethnic violence that rocked the Kandhamal district of Orissa.

Caring for the land losers

Developing countries like India and China, burdened with about one-third of the world’s total population, are for rapid industrial development so that jobs are available to as many people as possible. Availability of suitable land with infrastructure is most vital for development of industries, and particularly attracting the big industries which require large parcel of land.
In India the governments, central and the states, announce their industrial policy without doing any homework on availability of land with infrastructure. While some states left the matter to industrialists to find suitable land, others made ready industrial plots (with infrastructure and services) in advance and these states ~ Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana ~ attracted more industries than others.
States like Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal, which have a good reserve of natural resources, as well as human resources (particularly West Bengal), are unable to provide land with infrastructure to industrialists and advise them to find their own land (as is the case with the Jindal Industries which is preparing to set up a major steel plant in West Bengal). This highlights the unplanned industrial development across the country particularly in West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar.
China too is facing major problems in acquiring land for industry and violent protests have flared up in villages where even local leaders have been harassed and beaten up. However, in most cases before the situation turns violent, the state committees sit with the displaced persons and provide them with adequate compensation. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is a one-party state and there is no opposition party to agitate.
While industrialisation is essential for economic development and creating employment opportunities and wealth, it must be developed in a planned manner; unplanned industrial development encroaches on fertile agricultural land, evicts villagers and turns them destitutes and creates environment pollution leading to climate change.
In order to establish planned development, it is essential for government to earmark in advance the land for industries in order to ensure that such industries do not encroach upon high-yielding agricultural land/water bodies, resulting in the eviction of farmers from their land which has sustained them for generations. This inheritance of loss is unbearable for the farmers and their families and sometime the suffering leads to loss of human lives. Consequently unplanned industrial development must be stopped.
In India, the earliest planned use of land can be traced back to 1894, when the British introduced the Central Land Acquisition Act primarily for housing the British citizens and military population in settlements (cantonments) adjoining a few existing urban centres and for establishing new towns.
The Land Acquisition Act 1894 is indeed very old and archaic. It is surprising that even after 113 years the central government has failed and neglected to amend the Act considering that it has caused more harm than good over the past 60 years. Even though the Centre has announced its amendment several times, it has failed to do so.
In order to avoid any controversy in the future on state governments acquiring land for private industry (as it happened for the land acquired by the West Bengal government for the Nano plant at Singur in 2006), it is essential that the revised Act must state specifically under what circumstances the state governments can acquire land for private industrial houses.
As per the existing Act, the state government cannot acquire land for a private company except for “public purpose”. It has not been specifically mentioned what constitutes “public purpose”. Many experts said that since Tata Motors’ main motive is to make profit for the benefit of the shareholders, the project cannot be classified as “public purpose”. Others said that since the car factory would provide employment, it could be termed as “public purpose”.
This controversy and disturbance that followed during 2006-08 could have been avoided had the Act specified what constitutes “public purpose’. Accordingly, the revised Act must specify clearly what constitutes “public purpose” and clarify other controversial issues.
Furthermore, the Land Acquisition Act states that the landowners should be compensated monetarily at the market price of the land, but does not include any clauses granting rehabilitation and resettlement rights of people displaced.
It is obvious from the present experience that land owners and farmers are reluctant to part with their land, unless they are offered better compensation package, including resettlement and rehabilitation. Industrialists are now providing these facilities, as is evident from the packages offered by industrialists recently.
The Land Acquisition Act provides landowners with the market price of land as compensation. Now it is a well known fact that “the method of fixing fair price through the averaging of the sale deed price is unfair even as a starting point because of systematic undervaluation of the deed price due to stamp duty and income-tax (on land)”.
Since the evicted families found that the compensation amount was a petty sum compared to the enhanced price of land once it was acquired for industry or development, most of the farmers and displaced persons are unwilling to accept the cost of land only.
For example, the price of land around the car factory at Singur had gone up four times since the work on the factory commenced. However, as per provision of the Land Acquisition Act, only the nominal price of the land prior to commencement of the car factory was paid as compensation to Singur farmers. Consequently, there was a demand from the displaced families that the compensation had to be paid considering the enhanced price of land and many industrialists felt the demand was justified.
About a year back, the Union ministry of rural development announced that it had prepared a draft proposal for a comprehensive Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act; it is yet to be placed in Parliament for approval.
On 27 August, Union minister for steel and mines Jitendra Prasada said in Kolkata that “the draft policy consists of a provision for adequate compensation to the land losers, job guarantee for the displaced and has provision for including land lowers as share holders in the project.” However, the proposed Act has to be implemented by the state government.
The proposed Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act covers all the demands made by the displaced persons in West Bengal, Orissa and other states. Had this Act been approved by Parliament a year ago, many of the prevailing land disputes (in West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar) could have been settled and progress on the industrial front could have been made.
Procrastination by the Centre has delayed industrial projects and caused loss of crores of rupees to the states and the Union government.
Notwithstanding the delay, different industrialists have already adopted various packages for the rehabilitation of displaced persons;
The most important issue with respect to providing compensation for land has its roots in the fragmented nature of the land pattern in Singur and in other parts of West Bengal. An estimated 20 to 30 per cent of agricultural land owners in Singur are absentee landlords and they do not personally tend to their land. These and other important issues have been recorded in a study conducted by the Centre for Human Settlements and prepared by Tara Lonnberg on “The Use of Land and its Acquisition for the Development of Industry: the Case of Singur, West Bengal”.
Thus, it is not known whether all the persons who claimed compensation from the government are the current owners of the land; there may be many cases that the compensation has been claimed by former landlords or absentee landlords. This is based on the statements of the people associated with the state’s Land Records and Surveys department which estimates that 80 per cent of the land data deficit is due to land owners not reporting change in ownership or use of their land.
When landowners wish to convert the use of their land from agriculture to homestead land, they are supposed to go through a process of applying for the proposed change of ownership. However, due to lack of knowledge of the legal requirement, such changes in land use are often made outside the legal framework, without the knowledge of the authorities.
While the compensation should be paid to the person owning the land at the time of compensation, if a transfer of acquisition occurred prior to the acquisition; which the landowner failed to report, then the government records would not have been updated, and would not recognise the rightful claimant as the owner. In the process the wrong person would be identified as eligible recipient of compensation. Without the land deed in hand, the land owner has to contest the misdirected compensation in court.
It is yet uncertain whether the rightful owners of Singur land have received compensation. There have been reports in the print media that compensations have been paid to men in Singur who have sold the land to some one else earlier.
One of the big steel producing companies in India, Jindal group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of West Bengal to establish a steel plant at Salboni. The company required about 6,000 acres or more of land and it has ventured to acquire the land on its own by directly negotiating with the land owners. The company is progressing satisfactorily.
In order to avoid any confrontation with the land owners, the company has offered an attractive compensation package termed as “Salboni model”. It proposes to pay for the land at the open market price if not higher. And in addition, it proposes to give company’s share at free of cost, so that the families will have long term earning from the shares even in case the land owners spend their money within a few years. Many industrialists have hailed this as one of the best packages offered to displaced families.
On 28 August, the West Bengal government approved a new airport project at Andal, Burdwan, where for the first time the land losers will be compensated with land. The promoting company would buy about 3,500 acres of land from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited. Those who would lose their homes would be provided with a house. It is estimated about 250 families would be displaced.
The Centre must revise the Land Acquisition Act and take steps to get the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act passed at the coming winter session of Parliament for rapid industrialisation of the country. However, it is the state which has to implement the Acts and it must have its machinery ready.

(The author is executive director, Centre for Human Settlements)

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=227885

Manufacturing consent


22 Oct, 2008, 0409 hrs IST,Ram Puniyani,

Noam Chomsky is one of the foremost rights activists. He theorised as to how the US administration creates consent of the broad layers of population
for its acts of aggression.

The perceptions which were drilled into popular psyche related to the dangers of communism, while attacking the emergent nation state of Vietnam in yesteryears or weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq in recent times.

By the time such propaganda starts getting questioned, the mainstream US propaganda becomes part of popular consciousness and too large to be countered by the sceptics and its opponents. Manufacturing consent is achieved through various mechanisms, the major of that being the media.

And by the time the state version starts getting challenged the ‘goal’ of the state is achieved. So even if the critics prove that there were no WMDs, the goal of controlling the oil wells is over. Even if some sections question the veracity of the version of 9/11, Afghanistan is in its pocket.

Another dimension to this comes when the powerful political formations, in power or out of power, achieve the same, through molecular permeation, infiltration in media, through other parts of state apparatus. In the Indian context, the perceptions about minorities can be traced to the role and sustained propaganda programmes of ‘supra-political’ formation with a political agenda of a Hindu nation.

Currently ‘all terrorists are Muslims’ is the perception, deep rooted, hardly affected by the reports of citizens fact-finding committees or the academic and popular contributions by activists/scholars. The initial propaganda gradually became part of broad-ranging perceptions and the policies of the administration, police and other investigating agencies make it the base of their actions. So we see that Batla house encounter in the Jamia Nagar has lot of holes in the story dished out by the vacillating police authorities, and the human rights activists have pointed the flaws in the same demanding the deeper probe.

The acceptance of such a simple demand is shelved in order to go along with popular sentiments and to ‘preserve the morale’ of police force! The voice of these activists questioning the version dished out by the authorities hardly reaches the popular level as the media already ensures that police version is part of popular perception. Truth, the desirable guiding principle of the social policies can wait.

In different acts of terror, in front of mosques or in other crowded places, always the Muslims are involved and the job of investigating authorities is fairly well cut out. The tragedy with a section of media is that, contrary to ethical norm of doubting the official/police versions, they are not only meekly accepted; at times they are accepted in highly exaggerated form as well.

Here the word ‘Islamic terrorism’, initially popularised by the US media after 9/11, is generously used while nobody has heard of Hindu terrorism when Dhanu of LTTE killed Rajiv Gandhi or Sikh terrorism, when Khalistanis were doing such actions or Christian terrorism when Irish republican army was indulging in acts of terror.

The other points elaborated by Chomsky relate to ‘Thinkable thought’ and ‘Unthinkable thought’. These are the outcome of the propaganda, indoctrination, which is the culmination of the same process. So by now the thinkable thought is that all Muslims are terrorists and unthinkable thought is that anyone else can be also be a terrorist.

By now all the acts of terror where Bajrang Dal is involved are either, suppressed, under-projected or forgotten with ease by the social thinking process. So the Bajrang Dal activists getting killed while making bombs in Nanded or Kanpur soon lapse out from popular memory, and the blasts where Hindu Jagran Samiti is involved is not taken due note of.

The consistent propagation that Christian missionaries convert by force and fraud is thinkable thought, good enough of a pretext to kill and maim them. There are reports by the human rights groups to the contrary, but that is not the story bought by the mainstream, media and others.

While a section can claim that they are objective, the pattern of reporting of large section of media on anti-Christian violence is hidden in the small columns in the back pages while the acts of terror hog the front page banner headlines. Channels keep screaming about a Muslim terrorist, while reports of violence against Christian are buried somewhere under the weight of the news of ‘jehadi terrorist’, and of those doing aggressive conversions!

So today, even when the role of state in the carnage of Gujarat, even when Modi’s role in leading the carnage in Gujarat is well known, for section of media he is the hero, for whom he is the hope for India.

So today when it is a well known secret that VHP and Bajrang Dal are behind the Orissa violence, they can dare the state to ban them and see the consequences! So it is thinkable (and doable too) that SIMI should be banned, it is unthinkable that Bajrang Dal can be banned, despite its role in Orissa violence.


( The author is retired professor of IIT, Mumbai)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Manufacturing_consent/articleshow/3625887.cms

SEZs: Going down well-trodden path


11 Oct, 2008, 0000 hrs IST,R PRASAD & R SINHA RAY,

Special economic zones (SEZs) are in the news yet again with the much publicised decision of the Maharashtra government to go in for a referendum on
the acquisition of land in Raigad and the granting of eighteen formal approvals and ten in-principle approvals by the Board of Approvals of SEZs on September 22.

Much has been made of the fact that SEZs are being proposed in large numbers in industrially backward states like Uttar Pradesh, and Orissa, and have even shown up in the hinterlands of Nagaland. Based on this, proponents of SEZ policy argue that it is heralding a new dawn of balanced industrialisation. Contrarians choose to call the outcomes a ‘race to the bottom’ characterised by state governments over-reaching themselves in a bid to attract SEZ investment. This trend, they argue will lead to fiscal ruin and neglect of crucial public functions like boosting agriculture, education, and health.

This article postulates that neither camp is correct, because contrary to general perception, SEZ activity continues to be focused in states with strong industrial bases perpetuating the trend of unbalanced regional development.
SEZs have been notified (i.e., been approved by the board and acquired land) in only 17 out of 29 states with six of these states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka — bagging 80% of SEZs both in terms of numbers and total land area notified. These states fall in the top ten states of India along the dimensions of state domestic product (SDP), SDP per capita, SDP from industry, and percentage share of industry in SDP. In terms of formally approved SEZs (those that have been approved by the board but not necessarily acquired land), the trend is identical.

States like Uttar Pradesh and Orissa which have low ranks in many economic indicators have succeeded in attracting SEZs but they are the exceptions rather than the rule. The non-SEZ states which include the North-East states, Chhattisgarh, and Tripura lie in the bottom ten, in respect of most economic (and social) indicators. Even within SEZ states the quantity of SEZ activity measured by the land area under SEZs increases with SDP from industry, average industrial SDP over the last three years and so on. This strong correlation continues to be valid after removing Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh which can be considered as atypical on account of their high SEZ activity, between themselves accounting for almost 40% of the total land approved.

One may suspect that the statistical results reflect the relatively innocuous fact that large states have a higher amount of land available for SEZs and also a higher industrial SDP by virtue of their size. However the correlation between total land area of a state and land area under SEZs is low. States like Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu &Kashmir which lie in the top half of Indian states in terms of land area, do not have any SEZs.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/SEZs_Going_down_well-trodden_path/articleshow/3581849.cms

White House not proposing second stimulus package


21 Oct, 2008, 2240 hrs IST, REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The White House on Tuesday said it was not proposing a second economic stimulus package, but was open to ideas that would clearly help the economy.

"We're not proposing a second stimulus package right now," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "We are open to good ideas, we will listen to people if they put anything forward that we think would actually stimulate the economy; so far we have not seen that."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday told Congress another wave of government spending may be needed following a first stimulus package earlier this year.

US govt chooses PWC and E&Y to manage $700 bn rescue plan


21 Oct, 2008, 2145 hrs IST, AGENCIES

WASHINGTON: The US government has selected two major accounting firms to help it manage the $700 billion rescue program for the financial system.

The Treasury Department said on Tuesday it had chosen PricewaterhouseCoopers to be the auditor for the program. Ernst & Young will provide general accounting support.

The two firms will work on the part of the rescue program that is handling the purchase of troubled assets from banks as a way of encouraging them to resume more normal lending.

Treasury said that Ernst & Young will be paid $492,006.95 initially while Pricewaterhouse Coopers will be paid $191,469.27 for its services initially. The two contracts last until Sept. 30, 2011.

In a statement, Treasury said that the two firms will help the department with accounting and internal control services that will be needed ``to administer the complex portfolio of troubled assets the department will purchase, including whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.''

Britain to loan Iceland 3 bn pounds to repay savers


22 Oct, 2008, 0556 hrs IST, AGENCIES

LONDON: Britain is planning to lend about three billion pounds (five billion dollars, 3.8 billion euros) to Iceland to repay Britons with savings in
a stricken Icelandic bank, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Financial Times, quoting unnamed officials in Iceland, said a British delegation hoped to wrap up the deal, worth about 30 per cent of the island nation's gross domestic product, during a trip to the country this week.

The British finance ministry announced Tuesday that the delegation would be heading to Iceland to finalise a compensation deal for British savers with Icesave, a subsidiary of Landsbanki.

After talks between finance minister Alistair Darling and Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde, "officials from the Treasury and Bank of England are going to Iceland to work on finalising an agreement that aims to compensate UK depositors and ensure fair treatment for creditors", a statement said.

The freezing of thousands of British-held accounts following the collapse of Icesave came close to provoking a diplomatic incident earlier this month.

A British delegation visited Iceland October 10-11, with both sides reporting progress on the issue of compensation for British savers. Britain said last week it would provide a short-term loan of up to 100 million pounds to Landsbanki to help repay cash to British savers.

Iceland's once booming financial sector has collapsed under the weight of the global financial crisis, with the government forced to take over the major banks for lack of liquidity as its krona nose-dived.

The country has been scrambling to get hold of foreign currency to try to re-boot its struggling foreign trade. On Tuesday, the government said it hoped to reach a deal on an economic rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund within a day or two.

Iceland has also been negotiating with Russia for a loan that could be worth as much as four billion euros.

US aid to banks seen exceeding $700 bn


22 Oct, 2008, 1425 hrs IST, REUTERS

NEW YORK: The US government will likely have to pump much more money into banks than the $700 billion it has committed if they are to survive the do
wnturn, even if the cost is a tough pill for taxpayers to swallow.

The government must temporarily support the US banking system, until banks can attract substantial amounts of new money from investors. To begin operating normally again, banks will have to admit to their bad assets.

But that cannot happen immediately. Banks cannot predict how many of their loans will sour because they do not know how much the economy will shrink, and forecasts of their future losses would only spook investors. Investors will likely shy away from pouring money into banks until they fully understand the extent of their bad assets.

That hesitancy means that in the near term, the government will likely need to pony up more than the $700 billion it agreed to shell out through the Trouble Assets Relief Program, experts said. "The government is being political and not saying they're putting in a trillion dollars or more, but the commitment has to be open ended," said Dan Alpert, a banker at Westwood Capital.

By the numbers, the outlook for banks is troubling. US commercial banks had about $1 trillion of capital as of the end of the second quarter. That may sound like a lot, but Alpert estimates that banks globally could have a total of $1.25 trillion to $1.5 trillion of writedowns and losses from mortgages, of which perhaps $600 billion have already been recorded.

Admittedly not all of those will be in the United States, and banks will generate capital in the coming years even as they write down assets and set aside more money for losses. But add in expected losses from commercial real estate, leveraged loans, credit cards, auto loans and a host of other areas as economic growth slows, and even the Treasury's full $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program starts to look worryingly small.

But if $700 billion from the government is not enough, don't expect investors to make up the difference -- they aren't interested in pouring money into a banking system that would otherwise be insolvent. That's why pumping in enough money to keep the banking system solvent is key, experts said.

China - Rising by stamping skulls of our fellow countryman who were mercilessly slaughtered



Are you aware that the news you are watching is interlaced with
Communist China's propaganda,as
Communist China maps a realm of news with innocent lives?
Communist China is scheming a millennial terrorist activity by
manipulating people's behaviors
through electromagnetic waves to contain criticism and harm
innocent human lives.

1. The anomaly in community traffic of cars and motorcycles and drag
racing,and reckless honking by
cars and motorcycles is exceeding an unprecedented level.
2. Communist China has the technology to scan the human brain waves
through military satellite and
to discern and decipher their thoughts,scheming to instill
individual interference focusing on
each individual in need using the satellite electromagnetic
waves.
3. Deploying electromagnetic waves is poised to project onto the
human brain with certain
sounds for the perception of grossly traumatizing or startling
pain,or deploying the broadcast
of noise via electromagnetic waves in sleeping humans with edited
clips of films or through
voice or image signals onto our brains or besiege our sensory
functions with fabricated
audible and sensory illusions.
4. It manipulates one's moods,such as
smiling,nervousness,disgust,panic,anger,sorrow,
desires,appetite,and so forth.
5. It interferes the human brain's thinking capability,memory or
linguistic capability,to name a
few,causing spasms of muscles and fingers in the left and right
hands,stinging aches
throughout the body,coughing,yawning,trembling,involuntary
blinking of the eye,runny
nose and so forth.
6. Electromagnetic waves are deployed to hinder the motoring
functions of the body and neck,
disrupt the heartbeat or respiration,manipulate dizziness,deprive
one's sleep,spasm,saliva
gland,dental neural pain,etc.
7. Watch out that Communist China is infiltrating the news media by
deploying electromagnetic
waves to besiege the broadcast media,map out viral disillusion or
erroneous perception,and
investigate threats of brainwashing in viral spreading.
8. It further moved to deploy various symptoms in what one sees of
media icons,gesture terms,
adding a skewed interpretation to one's cognitive
awareness,misleading an individual to
hallucinate or suffer,such as the North Korean's rigid
smile,which is a tactic Communist
China often deploys to counter the people.
9. By observing the resolution accuracy of Communist China's sound
and image (scenario)
interference projected onto the human's brain,this can only be
achieved with a certain level
of frequencies at the source of interference,hence there is no
doubt that it has to be the
electromagnetic wave. Yet questions remain as to what range of
frequencies the source of
interference deploys,or what kind of electromagnetic waves
insulation chamber would suffice
to provide an insulation yield? Communist China might deploy
specific metal alloys as small scale
molecular antennas, which are attached to the human brain in
large number,creating
electromagnetic waves when the human brain is in function,where
the current created by
Communist China's electromagnetic interference would poise to
amplify in a staggering
number of multiplication,which Communist China can detect at all
times to discern and
muscles would excel the generation of electrode,which in turn
create a corresponding
electromagnetic wave within.
10. Some of Communist China's intimidation experiences in 2002:6.9
"Hey,are you tired of living?"
6.14 "We had concocted the bombing incident at the U.S. embassy
in Pakistan"
"Jiang Zhemin ordered us to kill you,but without creating
scenes"6.16 "The Pakistani
civilian troops confessed that they had schemed the bombing of
the U.S. embassy in
Pakistan,which we had manipulated them to confess,so what are you
going to do about it?"
6.19 "Hey,why don't you just go ahead and commit suicide""We are
going to scheme
murder using the public bus"6.20 "Commit suicide by burning
charcoal,get it?"6.25 "Jiang
Zhemin just does not like you,go hit your head against the wall".
11. I reckon that there are victims abound out in the street,no less
alarming than wars,and those
not in the know or did not understand that Communist China's
simple electromagnetic design
could easily turn people against each other,create moving
incidents,little lese to say mislead
the youth to broach down the wrong path,suicidal prompting,design
and fabrication of a host
of society news (which Communication China refers to as movie
making),as Communist China has had a
decade long of the technology,and has long abused its
technological advantages to scheme up design
of abusing human lives by arranging fabricated news to poison and
infiltrate the free
world,manipulate and misguide the contents of the media,and
deploy brainwashing and malicious
spread of viruses,done with insinuation and riddles.The fact that
Communist China's slaughtering
the innocent had been the result of a high level of
calculation,and a high level of rationalization,
where the threats are in existence,and cannot be ignored of their
detrimental severity.
12. Communist China often coerce people to watch news compiled by the
reporter Lu Yuling of the cable
news in order for them to be saved,but few are aware that
Communist China had merely deploy the
reporter to entrap many people. I do envision that those that
turn to committing crime as framed
by Communist China,the extra sufferings by the ordinary
people,and the deaths of many innocent
lives will not go unnoticed as hindered by a condoning attitude.
13. Nazi Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Chinese Liberation Army, security
police and armed police have committed suppression and massacre on
their own civilians. Hu, Jiang and the other atrocious butchers owe
these innocent civilians! More horrible and serious is that they are
using mysterious killing technologies to cause harms to human brains
around the world, making advantage of numerous international
politicians and journalists to help them commit atrocities and
beautify their actions, aiming to overturn and suppress those innocent
people and cover up their terrorist acts and win fame by cheating the
world. Securing in the knowledge that they have strong backing, these
arrogant and shameless butchers have committed tortures and mass
killing cruelly to those innocent ones around the world.
Unfortunately, neither these politicians and nor journalists knowing
what is what would dare to express their conscience.
14. The inhumane acts and atrocities committed by Nazi China are far
more vicious than that of Nanjing massacre in China during WWII
committed by Japanese army, as Chinese government is using mysterious
technologies to commit massacres to masses of bare-handed civilians
around the world as well as launch violence and terrorist activities
to suppress these completely unarmed people’s freedom of speech. These
demons, like Hu, Jinag and Chinese Liberation Army, despise the
chastity, dignity and precious life of those innocent ones and
suppress the emotions of their beloved. Meanwhile, relying on the
condition that most of people in the world will not be able to witness
their vicious acts of violence and behaviors they have committed
unscrupulously and shamelessly, these Chinese Liberation Army enjoys
using cruel ways to torture, massacre and trample on these innocent
people, physically and mentally, in one free world. The arrogant Hu,
Jiang and those jackals nurtured under such ferocious power treat
themselves as the symbol of benevolence and hero, as they fail to
learn their gutless and vicious acts to trample on those innocent
people. If these demons, butchers and dregs of human, such as Hu,
Jiang and Chinese Liberation Army who have become frenzied and
conscienceless appeared in the site of Nanjing massacre in WWII, they
definitely would be the leading roles to act atrocities!
15. We don’t want to see masses of innocent people to fall victim to
the hell on earth built by red China where they will be susceptible to
tortures and massacres for thousands of years.
16. Despite being even unable to fend for themselves in face of the
high-tech detriments and attacks from China, we can not tolerate the
fact that these politicians and journalists will become the
accomplices to help China commit its terrorist acts and suppression on
these innocent people in the current era or an unknown future.
17. In view of the notorious, vicious and sinister Hu, Jiang, Chinese
Liberation Army with blood-stained hands, we just cast doubt over
whether these greats of knowing what is what who have negotiated with
these demons will show their conscience to save these innocent
civilians or will act just for the sake of their profits, or are under
the control of China. In this current drowned world, how will these
innocent lives be treated in face of the atrocious acts committed by
these diabolical figures, or when these innocent people will witness
the practice of democracy in China? Will these phenomena turn out to
be the joint efforts and endeavors achieved by China and those
powerful figures in the world? Are we really dedicated to overturning
such adversity? Our goal is to eliminate the vicious power one day
with our strenuous efforts, and we absolutely will achieve it!


Chen,Shun-Chuan's Blog http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/shun-chuan
http://abn2739.blogspot.com




http://www.counterpunch.org/toussaint10212008.html

October 21, 2008


Time to Delink


The Economic Crisis and Latin America
By ERIC TOUSSAINT

T he economic and financial crisis, whose epicentre is found in the United States, has to be utilised by Latin American countries to build an integration favourable to the peoples and at the same initiate a partial delinking.

We need to learn the lessons of the 20th century in order to apply them at the beginning of this century. During the decade of the 1930s, that followed the crisis that exploded on Wall Street in 1929, 12 countries in Latin America suspended for a prolonged time the repayment of their foreign debt, prinicipally to North American and Western European bankers. Some of them, such as Brazil and Mexico, imposed on their creditors a reduction of between 50% and 90% of their debt some 10 years later. Mexico was the one that went the furthest with their economic and social reforms. During the government of Lazaro Cardenas, the petroleum industry was completely nationalised without any compensation for the North American monopolies. Moreover, 16 million hectares were also nationalised and in large part handed over to the indigenous population in the form of comunal goods (“el ejido”). During the thirties and up until the middle of the sixties, various Latin American governments carried out very active public policies with the aim of seeking a partially self-centred development, known later by the name of the model of industrialisation via substitution of importations (ISI). On the other hand, beginning in 1959, the Cuban revolution attempted to give a socialist content to the Bolivarian project of Latin American integration. This socialist content began to appear in the Bolivian revolution of 1952. Brutal US intervention, backed by the dominant classes and the local armed forces, was necessary to put an end to the ascending cycle of social emancipation during this period. The blockade of Cuba since 1962, military junta in Brazil from 1964, US intervention in Santo Domingo in 1965, the Banzer dictatorship in Bolivia in 1971, the Pinochet coup in Chile in 1973, installing of dictatorships in Uruguay and Argentina. The neoliberal model was put in practice first in Chile with Pinochet, and with the intellectual guidance of the Chicago Boys of Milton Friedman, and afterwards was imposed on all the continent, aided by the debt crisis that exploded in 1982. With the fall of the dictatorships in the eighties, the neoliberal model continued in force, principally through the application of structural adjustments programs and the Washington Consensus. The governments of Latin America were incapable of forming a common front, and the majority applied the recipes dictated by the World Bank and the IMF in a docile manner. This ended up producing a large popular discontent and a recomposition of popular forces that led to a new cycle of elections of left or centre left governments, beginning with Chavez in 1998, who committed himself to installing a different model based on social justice.
There is a dispute between two projects of integration
At the beginning of this century, the Bolivarian[3] project of integration of the peoples of the region has gain new momentum. If we want this new ascending cycle to go further it is necessary to learn the lessons of the past. What was particularly missing in Latin America during the decades of the 1940s to the 1970s was an authentic project of integration of economies and peoples, combined with a real redistribution of wealth in favor of the working classes. We need to be conscious of the fact that in Latin America today there is a dispute between two projects of integration, that have an antagonist class content. The capitalist classes of Brazil and Argentina (the two principal economies of South America) are partisans of an integration based on their economic domination over the rest of the region. The interests of Brazilian companies, above all, as well as Argentine ones, are very important in all the region: oil and gas, large infrastructure works, mining, metallurgy, agrobusiness, food industries, etc. The European construction, based on a single market dominated by big capital is the model that they want to follow. The Brazilian and Argentine capitalist classes want the workers of the different countries in the region to compete amongst themselves in order to obtain maximum benefit and be competitive on the world market. From the point of view of the left, it would be a tragic error to fallback on a policy of stages: support a model of Latin American integration according to the European model, dominated by big capital, with the illusionary hope of giving it a socially emancipatory content later on. Such support implies putting oneself at the service of capitalist interests. We do not have to involve ourselves in the capitalist’s games, trying to be more astute and letting them dictate the rules.
The other project of integration, that falls within Bolivarian framework, wants to given a social justice content to integration. This implies the recuperation of public control over natural resources in the region and over large means of production, credit and commercialisation. The levelling from above of the social conquests of the workers and small producers, at the same time as reducing the asymetries between the economies in the region. The substantial improval of paths of communication between countries of the region, rigourously respecting the environment (for example, developing railway lines and other means of collective transport before highways). Support for small private producers in numerous activities, agriculture, artisan, trade, services, etc. The process of social emancipation that the bolivarian project of the 21st century is pursuing aims to liberate society from capitalist domination supporting forms of property that have a social function: small private property, public property, cooperative property, comunal and collective property, etc. At the same time, Latin American integration implies equiping oneself with a common financial, judicial and political architecture.
Latin American is losing precious time
The current international conjuncture, favorable for developing countries that export primary products, needs to be utilised before the situation changes. The countries of Latin America have accumulated close to US$400,000 million in reserves. This is no small figure, in the hands of Latin American Central Banks and which needs to be utilised at an opportune moment in order to help regional integration and shield the continent in the face of the effects of the economic and financial crisis that is unfolding in North America and Europe and that threatens the whole planet. Unfortunately, we should not create illusions: Latin American is on the path to losing precious time, while the governments, beyond the rhetoric, pursue a traditional policy: signing of bilateral agreements on investment, acceptance or continuation of negotiations over certain free trade agreements, utilisation of reserves to buy bonds from the US Treasury (that is, lending capital to the dominant power) or credit default swaps whose markets have collapsed with Lehman Brothers, AIG etc, advance payments to the IMF, World Bank and the Paris Club, acceptance of the World Bank Tribunal (ICSID) as a way to resolve differences with transnationals, continuation of trade negotiations within the framework of the agenda of Doha, maintainance of the military occupation of Haiti. Following a loud and promising start in 2007, the initiatives announced in regards to Latin American integration seem to have come to a halt in 2008.
Bank of the South
In regards to the launching of the Bank of the South, this has already been delayed quite a bit. Discussions have not progressed. We have to get rid off any confusion and give a clearly progressive content to this new institution, whose creation was decided upon in December 2007 by seven countries in South America. The Bank of the South has to be a democratic institution (one country, one vote) and transparent (external auditing). Before using public money to finance large infrastructure project that don’t respect the environment and which are carried out by private companies whose objectives are to obtain maximum benefit, we have to support the efforts of the public powers to promote policies such as food sovereignty, agrarian reform, the development of studies in the field of health and the establishment of a pharmaceutical industry that produces high quality generic medication, reinforce collective rail-based means of transport, utilize alternative energies to limit the impact on depleted natural resources, protect the environment, develop the integration of education systems….
Debt
Contrary to what many think, the problem of the public debt has not been resolved. It is true that the external public debt has been reduced, but it has been replaced by an internal public debt that, in certain countries, has acquired totally huge proportions (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, and Guatemala) to the point that it derails a considerable part of the state budget towards parasitically financial capital. It is very worthwhile following the example of Ecuador, which established an integral auditing commission to study the external and internal public debt, with the aim of determining the illegitimate, illicit and illegal parts of the debt. At a time when, following a series of adventurous operations, the large banks and other private financial institutions of the United States and Europe are wiping out dubious debts with an amount that by far surpasses the external public debt that Latin America owes them, we have to constitute a united front of indebted countries in order to obtain the cancellation of the debt.
Nationalisation of the banks without paying compensation and exercising the right of reparations
Private banks need to audited and strictly controlled, because they run the risk of being dragged down with the international financial crisis. We have to avoid a situation where the state ends up nationalising the losses of the banks, as has happened many times before (Chile under Pinochet, Mexico in 1995, Ecuador in 1999-2000, etc). If some banks on the brink of bankruptcy have to be nationalised, this should be done without paying compensation and exercising the right of reparations over the patrimony of their owners.
Moreover, numerous litigation cases have emerged in the last few years between the states of the region and multinationals, from the North and the South. Rather that taking them to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is part of the World Bank, dominated by a handful of industrialised countries, the countries of the region should follow the example of Bolivia, which has pulled out of the organisation. They should create a regional organism for the resolution of litigation cases initiated by other countries or private companies. How can we continue to sign loan contracts or trade contracts that state that, in the case of litigation, the only jurisdictions that are valid are those of the US, United Kingdom or other countries of the North? We are dealing here with an inadmissible renouncement of the exercising of sovereignty.
It is worthwhile establishing a strict control over capital movements and exchange rates, with the goal of avoiding capital flight and speculative attacks against currencies in the region. For the states that want to make the Bolivarian project of Latin American integration for greater social justice a reality, it is necessary to advance towards a common currency.
Integration has a political dimension
Naturally, integration has to have a political dimension: a Latin American parliament elected by universal suffrage in each one of the member countries, equipped with a real legislative power. Within the framework of political construction, we have to avoid repeating the bad example of Europe, where the European Commission (that is, the European government) has exaggerated powers in regards to the parliament. We have to move towards a democratic constituent process with the goal of adopting a common political constitution. We also have to avoid reproducing the anti-democratic procedure followed by the European Commission that attempts to impose a constitutional treaty elaborated without the active participation of citizens and without submitting it to a referendum in each member country. On the contrary, we have to follow the example of the constituent assemblies of Venezuela (1999), Bolivia (2007) and Ecuador (2007-8). The important democratic advances achieved in the course of these three processes will have to be integrated into the Bolivarian constituent process.
Likewise, it is necessary to strengthen the powers of the Latin American Court of Justice, particularly in matters regarding the guaranteeing for the respect of inalienable human rights.
Until now, various processes of integration coexist: the Community of Andean Nations, Mercosur, Unasur, Caricom, Alba….It is important to avoid dispersion and adopt a integration process with a social-political definition based on social justice. This Bolivarian process should bring together all the countries in Latin America (South America, Central America and the Caribbean) that adhere themselves to this orientation. It is preferable to commence this common construction with a reduced and coherent nucleus, rather than with a heterogeneous set of states whose governments follow contradictory, if not antagonistic, social policies.
Partial delinking from the world capitalist market
Bolivarian integration should be accompanied with a partial delinking from the world capitalist market. We are dealing with trying to progressively erase the borders that separate the states that participate in the project, reducing the asymmetries between the member countries especially thanks to a mechanism of transfer of wealth from the “richer” states to the “poorer”. This will allow for the considerable expansion of the internal market and will favour the development of local producers under different forms of property. It will allow for the putting into action of a process of development (not only industrialisation) with substitution of importations. Of course, this implies the development, for example, of a policy of food sovereignty. At the same time, the Bolivarian project made up of various member countries will partially delink itself from the world capitalist market. This means in particular the repealing of bilateral treaties in areas of investment and trade. The member countries of the Bolivarian group should also pull out of institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, at the same time as promoting the creation of new democratic global institutions that respect inalienable human rights.
As was mentioned before, the member state of the new Bolivarian group would equip itself with new regional institutions, such as the Bank of the South, which would develop collaborative relations with other similar institutions made up by states from other regions in the world.
The member states of the new Bolivarian group will act with the maximum number of third states in favour of a radical democratic reform of the United Nations, with the objective of ensuring compliance with the United Nations Charter and the numerous international instruments that defend human rights, such as the international pact on economic, social and cultural rights (1996), the charter on the rights and responsibilities of states (1974), the declaration on the right to development (1986), the resolution on the rights of indigenous people (2007). Equally, it would lend support to the activities of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It would act in favour of reaching understandings between states and the peoples with the goal of acting in order to limit climate change as much as possible, given that this represents a terrible danger for humanity.
Eric Toussaint, president of the Committee for the Cancellation of Third World Debt – Belgium www.cadtm.org , author of The World Bank: A Critical Primer, Pluto, London, 2008.
Translated by Fred Fuentes

" We may elect representatives to Congress to end the war in Iraq, but the war goes on. We may plead with these representatives to halt Bush's illegal wiretapping but the telecommunications lobbyists make sure it remains in place. We may beg them not to pass the bailout but 850 billion taxpayer dollars are funneled upward to the elites on Wall Street. We may want single-payer, not-for-profit health care but it is not even discussed as a possibility in presidential debates. We, as individuals in this system, are irrelevant. "
The Idiots Who Rule America
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081020_the_idiots_who_rule_america/
By Chris Hedges
Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. That it is still in power, and will remain in power after this election, is a testament to our inability to separate illusion from reality. We still believe in "the experts." They still believe in themselves. They are clustered like flies swarming around John McCain and Barack Obama. It is only when these elites are exposed as incompetent parasites and dethroned that we will have any hope of restoring social, economic and political order.
"Their inability to see the human as anything more than interest driven made it impossible for them to imagine an actively organized pool of disinterest called the public good," said the Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul, whose books "The Unconscious Civilization" and "Voltaire's Bastards" excoriates our oligarchic elites. "It is as if the Industrial Revolution had caused a severe mental trauma, one that still reaches out and extinguishes the memory of certain people. For them, modern history begins from a big explosion—the Industrial Revolution. This is a standard ideological approach: a star crosses the sky, a meteor explodes, and history begins anew."
Our elites—the ones in Congress, the ones on Wall Street and the ones being produced at prestigious universities and business schools—do not have the capacity to fix our financial mess. Indeed, they will make it worse. They have no concept, thanks to the educations they have received, of the common good. They are stunted, timid and uncreative bureaucrats who are trained to carry out systems management. They see only piecemeal solutions which will satisfy the corporate structure. They are about numbers, profits and personal advancement. They are as able to deny gravely ill people medical coverage to increase company profits as they are able to use taxpayer dollars to peddle costly weapons systems to blood-soaked dictatorships. The human consequences never figure into their balance sheets. The democratic system, they think, is a secondary product of the free market. And they slavishly serve the market.
Andrew Lahde, the Santa Monica, Calif., hedge fund manager who made an 870 percent gain last year by betting on the subprime mortgage collapse, has abruptly shut down his fund, citing the risk of trading with faltering banks. In his farewell letter to his investors he excoriated the elites who run our investment houses, banks and government.
"The low-hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking," he said of our oligarchic class. "These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."
"On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal," he went on. "First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have [reined] in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government."
Democracy is not an outgrowth of free markets. Democracy and capitalism are antagonistic entities. Democracy, like individualism, is not based on personal gain but on self-sacrifice. A functioning democracy must defy the economic interests of elites on behalf of citizens. This is not happening. The corporate managers and government officials trying to fix the economic meltdown are pouring money and resources into the financial sector because they only know how to manage and sustain established systems, not change them. Financial systems, however, are not pure scientific and numerical abstractions that exist independently from human beings.
"When the elite begin to think that money is real, the crash is coming," Saul said in a telephone interview. "That is just a given in history. Because what they've done is pull themselves out of the possibility of looking in the mirror and thinking, this is inflation, speculation, this is fluff. They can't do it. And when you say to them, gosh, this is not real. And they say, oh, you don't understand, you're so old-fashioned, you still think this is about manufacturing. And of course, it's basic economics. And that's what happens every single time.
"The difficulty is you have a collapse, you have a loss of face by the people who are there, and it's not just George Bush, it's very, very deep," Saul said. "What we're talking about is the need to rethink the departments of economics, of political science. Then you have to rethink the whole analytic method of the World Bank. If I'm the secretary of the treasury, and not a guy like [Henry] Paulson, but I mean a sort of normal secretary of the treasury or minister of finance, and I say, OK, we've got a real problem, let's get the senior civil servants in here. Gentlemen, ladies, OK, clearly we have to go in another direction, give me some ideas. Well, those people don't have any other ideas because at this point they're about the fourth generation of what you might call neoconservative globalist managers, unfairly summarized. So they then go to the people who work for them, and you work down; there's no one in there with an alternate approach. I mean they'll have little alternatives, but no basic differences in opinion. And so it's very difficult to turn anything around because they've eliminated all opposing ideas inside. I mean it's the problem of the Soviet Union, right?"
Saul pointed out that the first three aims of the corporatist movement in Germany, Italy and France during the 1920s, those that went on to become part of the Fascist experience, were "to shift power directly to economic and social interest groups, to push entrepreneurial initiative in areas normally reserved for public bodies" and to "obliterate the boundaries between public and private interest—that is, challenge the idea of the public interest."
Sound familiar?
"There are a handful of people who haven't been published in mainstream journals, who haven't been listened to, who have been marginalized in every way," Saul said. "There are a couple of them and you could turn to them. But then who do you give the orders to? And the people you give the orders to, they are not going to understand the orders because it hasn't been a part of their education. So it's a real problem of a good general who suddenly finds that his junior generals and brigadiers and corporals, you want them to do irregular warfare and they only know how to do trenches. And so how the hell do you get them to do this thing which they've never been trained to do? And so you get this kind of disorder, confusion inside, and the danger of what rises up there is populism; we've already had populism in a way, but we could get more populism, more fear and anger."
We may elect representatives to Congress to end the war in Iraq, but the war goes on. We may plead with these representatives to halt Bush's illegal wiretapping but the telecommunications lobbyists make sure it remains in place. We may beg them not to pass the bailout but 850 billion taxpayer dollars are funneled upward to the elites on Wall Street. We may want single-payer, not-for-profit health care but it is not even discussed as a possibility in presidential debates. We, as individuals in this system, are irrelevant.
"I've talked to several Supreme Court justices, several times in several countries," Saul told me, "and I say, look, in your rulings, can you differentiate easily in cases between the social contract and the commercial contract, and to which the answer is, we can no longer differentiate. And that lies at the heart of the problem. You don't have the concept of the other, and of obligation of the individual leading to individualism. You can't have that if the whole legal system has slipped over the last, really, 50 years, increasingly, to a confusion between the social contract and the commercial contract. Because they are two completely different things. The social contract is about the public good, responsible individualism, imagining the other. The commercial contract is a commercial contract. They're not supposed to be confused. They don't actually fit together. The commercial contract only works properly when the social contract works in a democracy."
The working class, which has desperately borrowed money to stay afloat as real wages have dropped, now face years, maybe decades, of stagnant or declining incomes without access to new credit. The national treasury meanwhile is being drained on behalf of speculative commercial interests. The government—the only institution citizens have that is big enough and powerful enough to protect their rights—is becoming weaker, more anemic and less able to help the mass of Americans who are embarking on a period of deprivation and suffering unseen in this country since the 1930s. Consumption, the profligate engine of the U.S. economy, is withering. September retail sales across the U.S. fell 1.2 percent. The decline was almost double the 0.7 percent drop analysts expected from consumers, whose spending represents two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. There were 160,000 jobs lost last month and three-quarters of a million jobs lost this year. The reverberations of the economic meltdown are only beginning.
I do not think George W. Bush or Barack Obama or John McCain or Henry Paulson are fascists. Rather, they are part of a cabal of naive, mediocre and self-deluded capitalists who are steadily weakening political and economic structures to a point where our democracy will become so impotent that it can be blown aside, probably with broad popular support. The only question is how this will happen. Will there be a steady and slow decline as in the late Roman Empire when the Senate ended as a farce? Will we see a powerful right-wing backlash from those outside the mainstream political system, as we did in Yugoslavia, and the rise of a militant Christian fascism? Will there be a national crisis that allows those in power to instantly sweep away all constitutional rights in the name of national security?
I do not know. But I do know that what is coming, as long as our oligarchy remains in charge, will not be good. We will either recover the concept of the public good, and this means a revolt against our bankrupt elite and the dynamiting of the corporatist structure, or we will extinguish our democracy.
'Media-police collusion is a threat to society'
CNN-IBN
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/mediapolice-collusion-is-a-threat-to-society/76234-3.html

Karan Thapar Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate. Why is Arundhati Roy angry with the police and upset with the press? That's the key issue I shall explore today. Arundhati Roy, let's start with the recent encounter in Jamia Nagar in New Delhi. You've called for an independent judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge. Why do you involve yourself into this work? What's your locus standi?
Arundhati Roy: Well, I am just one of those thousands of people who are asking some very serious questions of the police. The trouble is that you know, even if you wanted to believe this police version, you so know which police version to believe…the Bombay police, the UP police, the Gujarat police or the Delhi police. All of them have different versions. There's a blizzard of masterminds. The Additional Commissioner of Mumbai police, Rakesh Maria recently said that Tauqeer, who is the Delhi police's mastermind of Indian Mujahideen, is a media creation. The point is who creates the media creations…is it the media or the police or do they work together?
Karan Thapar So you are motivated by these contradictions? Is that the sole reason you need a judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge?<0/i>
Arundhati Roy: Again, it is not just me. It was thousands of people who are saying one thing, you know. When the police have killed people, it ceases to be a neutral party. It cannot have an impartial investigation in its own actions. And there are so many serious questions about what happened at Batla House.
Karan Thapar But before we come to those questions, let me point out what many people will be thinking at this moment. They are going to why do you think will an encounter, when a senior police officer like M C Sharma is killed and another injured would be fake. The police would not endanger themselves in a fake and fraudulent incident.
Arundhati Roy: Well, historically the police and security agencies the world over have done things like that. I am not saying it is fake. I am saying lets have an enquiry because…this matter of M C Sharma, for instance would be cleared up if they would only produce the post mortem report. Instead the post mortem report is leaked in various ways and Mail Today says that he was shot from behind. (Journalist) Praveen Swami (of the daily The Hindu) says he was shot from two sides. The residents say that the police arrived and that there were drills and that they are making holes in the flat now. Why cannot all this be cleared up if they would just produce the reports, which even the Magistrate asked for the report and has put out a warrant for investigating officer for the investigating officer and they still haven't produced it.
Karan Thapar As you speak, I get the impression that your whole premise is that you don't trust the police. Millions of Indians do. Is it fitting and fair that you should question their veracity in this way when you know that it would not just demoralize them but it would seriously undermine their struggle to contain terror?
Arundhati Roy: Well. Millions of Indians do not trust the police. Is our choice not to question them because here we are talking about the communal profiling of a hundred and fifty million people, demoralising them, radicalizing a whole generation and asking serious questions of a story that is told to us that is full of holes? Especially because such a senior police officer died in the incident, why should we not clear it up for the sake of police itself?
Karan Thapar Let me for a moment play Devil's Advocate and point out to you evidence that you are deliberately ignoring. AK-47s were found in Batla House, so were two pistols. Policemen were shot at, policemen were killed. Atif's name appears in the Ahmedabad, Mumbai and UP police findings. Now, most recently, it transpires that Atif's degree from Allahabad is a fake. Why aren't you giving the police, as anyone else will, the benefit of the doubt? The evidence suggests that there is something suspicious, that there is a case. Why do you doubt it?
Arundhati Roy: Let enquiry clear it up. Even in the case of these recoveries, you know, there is a serious procedural lapse. When the police make recoveries at the scene of the crime, they should have independent witnesses corroborating it. They didn't, like in the case of the Parliament attack.
Karan Thapar Isn't it possible that people are scared to come forth?
Arundhati Roy: No, but they have to get the seizure memo signed, right? And even the magistrate is asking for all these documents…for the FIR, the post mortem report, for the case diary not being produced. Now, let me ask some questions about Atif. The reports in the media given out by the police say that they have had him under surveillance since July 17. If so, then how was he allowed to plant these bombs in September? And even when they say that they had him under surveillance, they say that his number was called by a number, which was called by another number…I mean, c'mon, that's a lead, not proof that someone is a terrorist.
Karan Thapar Maybe the surveillance wasn't effective. Maybe the police are exaggerating that they had him under surveillance. What about the other evidence that the police have brought into the public domain? It transpires that clips of the car that was used in the Ahmedabad bombings were found inside Atif's mobile, it transpires that literature of Al Qaeda was found at Batla House. It seems that even Saif has been using an assumed name. He has been travelling under a false identity calling himself Rohan Sharma. He even had that gentleman's voter identity card with him. None of these is suggestive or corroborated but you are dismissing it as otherwise.
Arundhati Roy: I am not dismissing it. If there is an enquiry, all this will also be a part of it. I am not dismissing they may be real terrorists. There are real terrorists; who are they; are these boys the real ones? While the police are giving us evidence, there are also strange stories floating around. The police have been using the media to put out stories. All this is very disturbing and all this could be cleared out.
Karan Thapar See, if I understand you correctly, there are two things you want clarified. One is that you want the questions and the inconsistencies in the police stories clarified because they suggest that the police hadn't got a clear cut case. And the second thing is that you want to try and get at the proof that establishes that the police had good reason to suspicious of the people.
Arundhati Roy: Exactly! Even their own versions are contradicting each other. On the one hand they say that you know, we did not know that they were terrorists and that is why we went in, in this casual manner. But the minute something came up they come out and say that these were the masterminds. There are so many things, you know. They say that people were killed in the crossfire but the proof is that these two men were killed while they were kneeling with shots in their head.
Karan Thapar That's an assumption, I must point out!
Arundhati Roy: No, there are pictures.
Karan Thapar Suggested. But we do not have the corroboration from the police.
Arundhati Roy: The police should show the post mortem report but we see it from the photographs.
Karan Thapar You know what listening to you, people will say? And I am repeating what I have said to you earlier! They will say that her problem arises from the fact that she does not trust the police. Is it right that you should have such serious doubts about them?
Arundhati Roy: Not just rights, I think its our duty to have serious doubts and especially today, when we are sliding quickly into fascism and terrorism. It's our business as members of civil society to ask hard questions.
Karan Thapar In which case, what are you suspecting the police…or let me put me more strongly and bluntly…what are you accusing the police of, on this issue?
Arundhati Roy: Well, primarily of giving us a story that doesn't hold together and insults our intelligence.
Karan Thapar Why would they do this?
Arundhati Roy: I don't know. That's what we would like to know.
Karan Thapar Is it not possible that they have got it right and you have doubts about them?
Arundhati Roy: Maybe! But an enquiry would show that, wouldn't it? The more they block it, refuse to produce the post mortem…the more they subterfuge and obfuscate their way through this, the more people will get suspicious of them.
Karan Thapar An enquiry at the end of the day, would be in their benefit as well! Is that what you are arguing?
Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!
Karan Thapar What then do you say of people who argue that this is typical Arundhati Roy. She's been against dams and developments; she's in favour of cessation of Kashmir. She's attacked nuclear weapons and is now she is defending terrorists?
Arundhati Roy: Well, to being accused of being typically oneself is not an accusation. But if you are accusing me of having a world view that I do not believe in…I mean I do not believe in neo colonial military occupation, I don't believe in nuclear weapons and I don't believe in ecological destruction; then I am guilty as accused. Raising questions does not amount to supporting terrorism. I raised questions on the Parliament attack along with the people; we want to know who the terrorists are. We don't know. Now, of the people we defended, two of the four 'masterminds' of the case were released. Afzal has been convicted by the Supreme Court which says that says that we have no evidence to prove that he is attached to any terrorist groups but in order to satisfy the collective conscience of society, he is being sentenced to death. Excuse me Karan, its my case that the collective conscience of society is also a part of media construct and a part of the judicial imagination constructed by these stories that being put out.

Karan Thapar So, you are saying to me that as a citizen, as a conscientious democrat, it is your duty to question. And if the questions are awkward and unsettling, so be it and that they must be answered, none the less?
Arundhati Roy: Yes, absolutely!
Karan Thapar Arundhati Roy, lets come to the wider issue about how the police treats the people it has arrested and it is holding in detention. You are extremely upset by the fact that India Today journalists were given an access to the young men arrested at Batla House so that interviews could be done. Why do you call this a terrible thing?
Arundhati Roy: Well, look this phenomenon of media confessions is becoming a standard operating procedure with the Special cell and the Delhi police. The point is that neither the courts nor any kind of international law allows you to say that people who are being held in police custody under torture…
Karan Thapar How do you know that they are being held under torture?
Arundhati Roy: Well, the possibility of torture…maybe that day, they were not tortured…it was the first day…
Karan Thapar You are saying that Human Rights laws and values do not permit people under detention to be interviewed when they are not willing to be interviewed?
Arundhati Roy: Yes! And even the courts do not accept these as confessions or evidence. But the reason these are done is because they have a propaganda value.
Karan Thapar The assumption when you say that such incidences have propaganda value is that these are forced confessions…that the young men interviewed did not give the answers they did, willingly and voluntarily. How can you conclude that that's the case?

Arundhati Roy: In this case it is very easy to be sure. Those young men, before they were caught, Zeeshan went to Headlines Today, Saquib went to Mail Today…both these (media units) are owned by the India Today, as you know. They were all people who came out in support of Atif and Saquib and said, look we know this guy. We know who he is.
Karan Thapar Then how come you are calling those so called confessions when they are incriminating themselves and that when they went willingly to Mail Today or India Today, there are inconsistencies.
Arundhati Roy: Yes, so which version are we supposed to believe? The custodial one or the non-custodial one?
Karan Thapar All the three men named by India Today and I will name them, Zia-ur-rehman, Saquib Insaar and Shakil admitted to planting bombs. You are denying or doubting the veracity of the so called confessions.
Arundhati Roy: Obviously! Its absurd not to, because they are in police custody. The same guys, Saquib went to Mail Today saying that I have known Atif for years…I got him this house. I mean it's hardly the behaviour of terrorists.
Karan Thapar I assume that the point you are making is that any interview that is granted in police custody is not a willing and voluntary one and therefore any confession made in that interview is a forced confession and not acceptable?
Arundhati Roy: Well, it is not admitted. Even in the Parliament case, the courts admonished the police for parading these people before the media and giving these media confessions. They didn't do anything to the police which is why the same police ; in fact Mohan Chand Sharma was a part of that cell, that same cell did it to theses people and it served the purpose. The propaganda value has been achieved.
Karan Thapar You are saying that the Courts had admonished the police at the time the Parliament attack had happened for arranging such alleged false confessions and the police disregarded that admonishing and did the same thing again.
Arundhati Roy: That's right.
Karan Thapar In your eyes, is the police guilty of violating fundamental human rights by arranging what you call false confessions to be made in forced interviews? Is this a violation of basic human rights?
Arundhati Roy: It is a violation of all kinds of rights. I say it again, that in this atmosphere of communal profiling, this kind of propaganda is essential for them. It is the keystone to this whole enterprise. They have achieved what they set out to, regardless of what the court says.
Karan Thapar The police have made a habit of this. It happened under circumstances, in the Arushi murder case, practically everyday. They hold press briefings, where half baked theories or at least unconfirmed details they are repeated and revealed to the press. The press then prints them as facts. The readers and the viewers of television then accept it as the truth. Are you disconcerted by this?
Arundhati Roy: I am utterly disconcerted by this because now it is the combination of the media and the police…you do not know which ends where and which begins where. In a situation where these encounter specialists are going out and summarily executing thirty people, calling them terrorists…No one asks questions once they are dead. We just accept it.
Karan Thapar Just a moment ago, you spoke about the collusion between the media and the police. Are you saying that the press is itself in error when it accepts what is given by the police and publishes it without verifying or double checking it?
Arundhati Roy: It is not just an error. It is outrageous to do something like this.
Karan Thapar So the press' behaviour is outrageous?
Arundhati Roy: It is outrageous. There are statements like…and this man looked at me and he looked like a human bomb…I mean what kind of journalism is that?
Karan Thapar So when as a result, like many people have said, this collusion between the police and the press leads to Jamia Nagar or to Azamgarh being thought as terrorist hubs or breeding grounds for terrorism, how unfortunate is that?
Arundhati Roy: It is not just unfortunate, its very dangerous. We now have a situation where a hundred and fifty Muslims and an equal number of Dalits and Adivasis in a different set of circumstances are being targeted in this way. Even if half a per cent of them decide to stop putting their heads down and decide to hit back, life as we knew it is over. A whole generation is radicalised and India becomes a threat to not just itself, but to the whole world.
Karan Thapar This is something very important that you are saying. You mean that this behaviour of the police and the uncritical reporting by the press is going to end up in alienation and breeding the terrorism that we think we are controlling.
Arundhati Roy: Yes, that and also that this is a recipe for sliding into fascism. And we are bang in the middle of it now and this is how it works.
Karan Thapar Why does the Indian middle class society that is so proud of calling itself a liberal democracy, accept this?
Arundhati Roy: Well, I don't think we are anymore proud of this. We have increasingly accepted that we are a police state and there is a sort of sliding of the democracy into majority into fascism that is a real danger now.
Karan Thapar So you are saying that the middle class no more stands up for the liberal values it believes in. It is actually in a sense accepting the horrible shortcuts and therefore colluding. It's a very strong criticism, do you really mean it?
Arundhati Roy: I do. In fact, I feel that some day like the Nazis in Germany, we will be called upon to answer for what we have done and why we kept quiet while this was happening.
Karan Thapar I get the feel that you are deeply disillusioned with the Indian middle classes.
Arundhati Roy: It is not just the middle classes, you know. It is the framework that we are putting into action these days. I have spent ten years writing about it. We are in a very serious situation. If we are to right it, all of us should ask ourselves very serious questions about when we chose to speak up and when we chose to stay quiet.
Karan Thapar But in keeping quiet, as you say suggesting, Indians today are prepared to do, they are not just betraying essential values that they claim they believe in, they are actually betraying themselves and letting down their country. That's the case you are making.
Arundhati Roy: I am making that case and I am saying that with these policies that we are persuing, today every ordinary Indian's life is going to be at risk and we will pay very heavily for the consequences of what is going on now.
Karan Thapar So it is virtually the last moment to stand up and be identified with the values that we claim to believe in otherwise those values are gone and with that our lives are gone.
Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!
Karan Thapar And that's not an exaggeration?

Arundhati Roy: Nope! Absolutely not!

Karan Thapar Arundhati Roy, a pleasure talking to you on Devil's Advocate






A global financial meltdown of this magnitude has inevitably prompted an explosion of black humour. My personal favourite centres on Iceland, the small North European country whose currency has collapsed and where the stock market index fell by 70% on October 14. Question: What is the capital of Iceland? Answer: $3.50.

India, mercifully, is not about to go the way of Iceland. Nor are there descriptions of India as the new Burkina Faso with nuclear weapons. Yet, there is a deepening realisation that no amount of reassuring platitudes delivered in slow, loud and impeccable diction by the finance minister is going to prevent the Incredible India dream from turning into a nightmare. The ideologically-inclined may direct their ire at smug investment bankers and hedge fund managers who descended on India to educate the natives on modern capitalism. However, to the new middle classes that extricated themselves from the shortage economy, enjoyed the benefits of housing, car and education loans, a rising stock market and surfeit of consumer goods, the party-poopers are at home.

The outrage over Jet Airways' proposed job cuts was a revelation. At one level, it symbolised the end of hope in the New Economy. But it also suggested that even impeccably groomed kids, trained in hospitality, will not hesitate to kick butts and even solicit the help of Raj Thackeray to safeguard their future. Politically, all this is bad news for the government. Regardless of who was really to blame, the ultimate responsibility for things going wrong is invariably pinned on incumbent administrations.

For governments it's a no-win situation. Adopting a hands-off approach is impossible because the mismanagement of private greed has a knock-on effect on the whole economy and mar people's lives. At the same time, bail-out packages (including nationalisation) invite charges of cosy stitch-ups - in a Vanity Fair article Christopher Hitchens described them as privatisation of profits and socialising of debts.

Electorates need someone to pillory and governments are first in the retribution queue. In the US, the sub-prime crisis sealed the fate of John McCain because he is the nearest thing to a President Bush proxy. If the Republican still pulls off a miraculous win it is because the White working class is wary of a Black president. In Britain, opinion polls suggest that despite some imaginative crisis management, Gordon Brown is being considered for a place in a chamber of horrors.

The implications for the Manmohan Singh government are ominous. A few months ago it had banked on an overall mood of optimism and some populist gestures to see it through. Now, with elections only a few months away, it is sandwiched between two different impulses. Conservatives charge it on financial profligacy, high inflation, spending inefficiently beyond its means on gimmicky schemes and burdening the future with a fiscal deficit that could touch 10% of GDP. The remaining socialists charge the regime with being enticed by the glitz of consumerism and encouraging reckless speculation. They would rather sacrifice rapid growth for a life of secure stodginess and modest expectations.

In today's climate of uncertainty, the government can hardly be expected to mount a credible campaign based on the appealing but intangible spin-offs from the Indo-US nuclear agreement. Nor will the invocation of a non-productive NREG galvanise the poor into believing that a distant Sonia Gandhi is a reincarnation of the combative Indira Gandhi. Middle India is both fearful and angry. It knows what it doesn't want: terrorist attacks, job insecurity, dwindling purchasing power and political chaos. It is less sure how the goals can be achieved.

In moments like these, the temptation to look for a strong, no-nonsense leader who can offer a lifeline is irresistible. Controversy is no deterrent. An exasperated industry said so after the tomfoolery in Singur and the sacked Jet Airways staff said so in Mumbai.


CPM Alleges Breach of Parliamentary Prvilege on 123 Agreement (in line with the cue prvided by CNDP)


I/II.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CPM_moves_privilege_motion_against_PM/rssarticleshow/3609399.cms
CPM moves privilege motion against PM
17 Oct 2008, 1815 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Friday moved a breach of privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for "violating" the promise he made in Lok Sabha that he would come back to Parliament before operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.
"We have submitted the breach of privilege motion with the Speaker. It will come up before the House on Monday. Let's see what decision the Speaker takes on the issue," CPM Parliamentary Party leader Basudev Acharia said.
Acharia said the Prime Minister, during the trust vote debate in Lok Sabha on July 22, has assured that he will bring back the 123 Agreement to the House after securing clearance from IAEA and NSG and before signing the deal.
The CPM leader said Singh has not kept his word and went ahead with signing the agreement with the United States which is a "breach of privilege" of the House.
He pointed out that the Prime Minister has given nine assurances to House with regard to the nuclear deal on fuel supply assurances, reprocessing rights and other issues.

II.
October 8 2008

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/india-unity/message/27921

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)

Demands

Parliamentary Review before Signing of 123 Agreement

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) notes with great concern various reports to the effect that the government of India is to sign the "123 Agreement" with the US as regards civilian nuclear trade between the two countries anytime now. In fact the signing of the agreement appears to be overdue in that it has reportedly already been twice postponed for certain reasons. And a similar agreement has already been signed with the French government.




This does clearly contradict the solemn promise made by the Indian Prime Minister on the floor of the parliament on July 22 last in his concluding reply to the debate on the confidence motion moved by him a day earlier. He then had categorically assured: "I have said on several occasions that our nuclear agreement after being endorsed by the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group would be submitted to this august House for expressing its view."




While the CNDP desists from speculating whether going ahead with signing of bilateral agreements with foreign nations pursuant to the waivers granted by the NSG and the IAEA constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege, it emphatically demands that before taking up any such bilateral agreement the GoI must come back to the parliament to obtain its view on the whole gamut of issues and the momentous developments since July 22 as per the solemn commitment made by the Indian Prime Minister.




The CNDP takes this opportunity also to reiterate its firm, consistent and principled opposition to the "nuclear deal" as it surely undermines the prospects of global nuclear disarmament, promotes the cause of nuclear militarism and nuclear-weapon build-up in India, threatens to intensify the arms race between India and Pakistan , carries forward the perilous US-India "strategic partnership", and seriously distorts India's energy priorities.


Arundhati Roy: Nope! Absolutely not!

Karan Thapar Arundhati Roy, a pleasure talking to you on Devil's Advocate






A global financial meltdown of this magnitude has inevitably prompted an explosion of black humour. My personal favourite centres on Iceland, the small North European country whose currency has collapsed and where the stock market index fell by 70% on October 14. Question: What is the capital of Iceland? Answer: $3.50.

India, mercifully, is not about to go the way of Iceland. Nor are there descriptions of India as the new Burkina Faso with nuclear weapons. Yet, there is a deepening realisation that no amount of reassuring platitudes delivered in slow, loud and impeccable diction by the finance minister is going to prevent the Incredible India dream from turning into a nightmare. The ideologically-inclined may direct their ire at smug investment bankers and hedge fund managers who descended on India to educate the natives on modern capitalism. However, to the new middle classes that extricated themselves from the shortage economy, enjoyed the benefits of housing, car and education loans, a rising stock market and surfeit of consumer goods, the party-poopers are at home.

The outrage over Jet Airways' proposed job cuts was a revelation. At one level, it symbolised the end of hope in the New Economy. But it also suggested that even impeccably groomed kids, trained in hospitality, will not hesitate to kick butts and even solicit the help of Raj Thackeray to safeguard their future. Politically, all this is bad news for the government. Regardless of who was really to blame, the ultimate responsibility for things going wrong is invariably pinned on incumbent administrations.

For governments it's a no-win situation. Adopting a hands-off approach is impossible because the mismanagement of private greed has a knock-on effect on the whole economy and mar people's lives. At the same time, bail-out packages (including nationalisation) invite charges of cosy stitch-ups - in a Vanity Fair article Christopher Hitchens described them as privatisation of profits and socialising of debts.

Electorates need someone to pillory and governments are first in the retribution queue. In the US, the sub-prime crisis sealed the fate of John McCain because he is the nearest thing to a President Bush proxy. If the Republican still pulls off a miraculous win it is because the White working class is wary of a Black president. In Britain, opinion polls suggest that despite some imaginative crisis management, Gordon Brown is being considered for a place in a chamber of horrors.

The implications for the Manmohan Singh government are ominous. A few months ago it had banked on an overall mood of optimism and some populist gestures to see it through. Now, with elections only a few months away, it is sandwiched between two different impulses. Conservatives charge it on financial profligacy, high inflation, spending inefficiently beyond its means on gimmicky schemes and burdening the future with a fiscal deficit that could touch 10% of GDP. The remaining socialists charge the regime with being enticed by the glitz of consumerism and encouraging reckless speculation. They would rather sacrifice rapid growth for a life of secure stodginess and modest expectations.

In today's climate of uncertainty, the government can hardly be expected to mount a credible campaign based on the appealing but intangible spin-offs from the Indo-US nuclear agreement. Nor will the invocation of a non-productive NREG galvanise the poor into believing that a distant Sonia Gandhi is a reincarnation of the combative Indira Gandhi. Middle India is both fearful and angry. It knows what it doesn't want: terrorist attacks, job insecurity, dwindling purchasing power and political chaos. It is less sure how the goals can be achieved.

In moments like these, the temptation to look for a strong, no-nonsense leader who can offer a lifeline is irresistible. Controversy is no deterrent. An exasperated industry said so after the tomfoolery in Singur and the sacked Jet Airways staff said so in Mumbai.


CPM Alleges Breach of Parliamentary Prvilege on 123 Agreement (in line with the cue prvided by CNDP)


I/II.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CPM_moves_privilege_motion_against_PM/rssarticleshow/3609399.cms
CPM moves privilege motion against PM
17 Oct 2008, 1815 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Friday moved a breach of privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for "violating" the promise he made in Lok Sabha that he would come back to Parliament before operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.
"We have submitted the breach of privilege motion with the Speaker. It will come up before the House on Monday. Let's see what decision the Speaker takes on the issue," CPM Parliamentary Party leader Basudev Acharia said.
Acharia said the Prime Minister, during the trust vote debate in Lok Sabha on July 22, has assured that he will bring back the 123 Agreement to the House after securing clearance from IAEA and NSG and before signing the deal.
The CPM leader said Singh has not kept his word and went ahead with signing the agreement with the United States which is a "breach of privilege" of the House.
He pointed out that the Prime Minister has given nine assurances to House with regard to the nuclear deal on fuel supply assurances, reprocessing rights and other issues.

II.
October 8 2008

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/india-unity/message/27921

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)

Demands

Parliamentary Review before Signing of 123 Agreement

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) notes with great concern various reports to the effect that the government of India is to sign the "123 Agreement" with the US as regards civilian nuclear trade between the two countries anytime now. In fact the signing of the agreement appears to be overdue in that it has reportedly already been twice postponed for certain reasons. And a similar agreement has already been signed with the French government.




This does clearly contradict the solemn promise made by the Indian Prime Minister on the floor of the parliament on July 22 last in his concluding reply to the debate on the confidence motion moved by him a day earlier. He then had categorically assured: "I have said on several occasions that our nuclear agreement after being endorsed by the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group would be submitted to this august House for expressing its view."




While the CNDP desists from speculating whether going ahead with signing of bilateral agreements with foreign nations pursuant to the waivers granted by the NSG and the IAEA constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege, it emphatically demands that before taking up any such bilateral agreement the GoI must come back to the parliament to obtain its view on the whole gamut of issues and the momentous developments since July 22 as per the solemn commitment made by the Indian Prime Minister.




The CNDP takes this opportunity also to reiterate its firm, consistent and principled opposition to the "nuclear deal" as it surely undermines the prospects of global nuclear disarmament, promotes the cause of nuclear militarism and nuclear-weapon build-up in India, threatens to intensify the arms race between India and Pakistan , carries forward the perilous US-India "strategic partnership", and seriously distorts India's energy priorities.



__________________________________________________________________________

Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace â€" CNDP

A â€" 124 / 6, 1st Floor, Katwaria Sarai

New Delhi â€" 110016,

telefax - 011-26517814

e mail â€" cndpindia@gmail.com


Three sons murdered, she seeks protection for the rest
Font Size -A +A
Express news service
Posted: Oct 21, 2008 at 0316 hrs IST

Lucknow, October 20 A Dalit woman from Allahabad, who has taken to arms to protect her family, visited the state capital on Monday to meet Director General of Police Vikram Singh.
Vidhyawati (45) from Allahabad, was seeking protection from the men accused of murdering her three sons. They were threatening to kill her and her family, she said.

Armed with a licensed gun, she, however, could not meet the police chief. The police took her application and assured her that it would be forwarded to Singh.

In her application, Vidhyawati named former village pradhan Manik Chand Patel, his son Doodhnath and cousin Rakesh Patel. She accused them of murdering her son and now forcing her not to give statement against them in court.

The men had been released on bail a week ago from the Allahabad District Jail.

The Deputy Inspector General, Allahabad Range, MK Prasad, said: "We provided an arms license to her after she complained about the threat to her family.

Security has been arranged for her when she visits the court for hearings."

Two of Vidhyawati's sons were allegedly poisoned in 2003 and 2004. A third was killed brutally in 2006 and his body was found on the railway tracks.

The murders took place after she staked claim on her father's land following his demise.

No FIR was lodged in this connection.

"My rivals were trying to capture my land and when I opposed it, they beat me up. Because of the threat I left the village but did not let them capture the land," said Vidhyawati, who is currently living in Soran with a physically-handicapped husband and two children.



--
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Visit my blog at
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com


Chengara's Dalit-Adivasis call to restore their fundamental rights

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat





Bharathi Sreedharan could not resist taking risk on her life through dense forest as her children suffered in hunger and starvation in the Chengara village which has been unconstitutionally and unethically blocked by the trade union gangs of all the political parties including the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala. Her agonizing face reflected the happenings inside the village as for more than two months; it is completely cut off from rest of the country. No outsider is allowed to venture into the village and no villager is allowed to come out of it. CPM's goons attack people from the buses once they recognize that they have sympathies with Chengara people. Many families are on the verge of hunger death if in the next few days no arrangement of food supply is done. 'They want us to get out of the place but we are determined, says Bharathi, we won't allow them to take over the place. We are ready to face any eventuality'. We are ready to die for the cause of our children'.



Bharathi came hiding to get some ration from her brother. When the road is blocked from all the way, it is possible only through walking around 10 kilometers in the forest to come and reach the office and wait for him to be there at Laha Gopalan's office who is the leader of ' Sadhu Jan Vimoc-hana Samyukta Vedi', the organization fighting for the land and livelihood rights of the Dalits and Adivasis in Chengara. It is remarkable that people have united in this struggle and are determined to sacrifice their lives for the land. Interestingly, it is for the first time, that Kerala is witnessing an assertive emerging Dalit Adivasi struggle independent of the influence of dominating communities irrespective of religion.



Gopalan hails from a trade union back ground as he worked in Electricity department and now swears by the legacy of both Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Ayyankali, another Dalit revolutionary from Kerala. The semi constructed office in Pattthanamthittha is a place where all the Dalit-Advasis in the Chengara struggle come and stay. According to Laha Gopalan, they ventured into the area some fourteen months back, as it was legally a government land which should have gone to the landless Dalit-Adivasis of Kerala. The government of Kerala was never interested in the land reform and whatever happened in the name of land reform was eyewash. The tragedy is that there are villages where the Dalits do not have land for even cremating their people. The issue of Dalits and tribal has been neglected by the national and state level parties and hence we decided to make our own destiny.



About 10 kilometer away towards Tiruwala lives the big family of Sabu who are five brothers. Each brother has a big family of his own to support. They have no land. Sabu and his wife have small tea shop. The number of children in the family and the small kitchen that they have for their survival tell the story as how the successive Kerala governments failed to give land to the Dalits. ' Sabu was happy that Chengara's vast track could have provided him a source of independent living and some land for agriculture work. He went there with other families. The real assault came from the trade unions this year when people refused to leave their land. ' The union felt that they can coerce us to accept their issues but at the moment people are ready to die. They will commit mass suicide if police and other forces are sending to evict them. We are not ready to accept anything less than a decent land package for our children', say Sabu. He adds that situation is worsening as there is no food, no water and no sanitation in the entire area. Particularly, it is becoming difficult for children and elderly people to stay. Because of the blockade, we can not provide emergency treatment to any of the villagers as vehicles are not allowed and there is every chance of a bloody fight if we come in touch with the trade union people. Children are facing the malnutrition as there is nothing to eat and drink. We can not go to market to buy milk and rice. Moreover, because of no work in the past two months, there is no money to buy anything'.



How come he is here in the village. ' Sir, the union people allowed us 5 days leaves during the Onam festivities. We were allowed to move in and out and hence I came here. I have overstayed here and hence it is difficult to go there because of blockade'. I can not speak to my relatives and friends there, I am really worried as if food is not provided to people soon, they will start dying soon. I am concerned about children and elderly people. They are completely cut off from the rest of the world. It is shameful.'



The seize of Chengara went off well until one day the government which was keen to revive its lease to Harrison Plantation decided that the Dalit and Adivasis could only be evicted if they push it through other routs which is 'right to live' issue of the 70 odd plantation workers who were working there. The issue is the Chengara's tea plantation was already defunct years ago and hence to blame the current situation for the crisis is absolutely wrong. Harrison Plantation cannot use these 70 workers as a shield to deny land rights of the people. The tactics they adopted are fascistic in nature as from the August this year, the situation worsened after the plantation trade union and CPM in particular started blockade. Now the parties have not only used the local tea plantation trade unions but people have been invited from other parts of the state also against the landless people. All the ways going to Chengara were blocked by the party men and no material including medical aid was allowed to go into the village. Only allowance given to people was during ONAM festivities when the blockade was lifted for 5 days to let the people celebrate the festival. But after that the blockade has become functional and harsher and it might turn into a bloody war. Now the situation has gone out of hand. People inside the Chengara area have no source of livelihood; there is no supply of food and water. Some Muslim youth organizations of the area wanted to send rice for the families but but never allowed to do so. It is violation of their rights to food and free from hunger. The state government has shamelessly allowed the situation to go out of hand which has given strength to the trade unions.



It is unfortunate that in this war against their Dalits and tribal the organized gang of the trade union is taking action irrespective of ideology. It is a rare combination of how the upper caste communists and the Hindutva people can come together to wipe out the legitimate demands of the Dalits and tribals. The duplicity of the CPM's idea comes that the same party launch movement for restoration of land in Andhra Pradesh but want to say that all the Dalits and tribals who have now settled in Chengara are encroachers. Perhaps they have forgotten their own slogan of ' Jo jameen sarkari hai, woh jameen hamari hai ( the government land is our land. Land struggles historically invoked this slogan. Harrison Plantation Company did not have legal rights to the acquired land. The lease expired long back. The dalits and tribal who did not get benefited under any programme of the government rightfully acquired the land and asked the government to redistribute it to them. How come the communist government of Kerala kept quiet and turned hostile to Dalits who have just extended the slogan what the communist parties have been raising every where else except in the states they have been ruling. Is it because this land struggle is first of its kind being led by the Dalits and have organized both the Dalits and tribal together in the state.





Dalits have been asking the government to allot them land. In 2006 in the Patthanamthitta district after five days struggle in the government land of rubber plantation area, the land was given to the Dalits on the papers only. Many people are still trying to find where there land is which was given to them on papers by the state government. Says, Raghu, one of the members of the Solidarity Committee, 'we do not want papers, we want land'.



Patthanamthitta is a district about 60 kilometers from Kottayam, the heart of the Syrian Christian, the original brahmanical convert to Christianity. About 40 kilometer from the town is the heart of Ayappa, the Hindu God. The land relations here are different as the dominant community here is the upper caste Christians. What their role is in the entire struggle of the Dalits, I ask Raghu. ' Oh, like any other feudal, the Syrian Christians also are not interested in the battle of Dalits. Dalits here have separate churches for them.' The Solidarity Committee members like Simon John, who is also Chairman of Backward People Development Corporation, Kerala concede that the original Brahmin converts to Christianity have not left their old prejudices in the Church and therefore are not very keen in supporting the movement of the Dalits and tribal in Chengara. Like the CPM cadre, many of them too feel that the Dalits and tribal have 'encroached' the government land, though it is another matter that they all forgot that Harrison Plantation has been the biggest encroacher and was overstaying at the place. It is also shocking that Kerala did not have substantial land reform and all talks of a Kerala module in the developmental text books are big farce if one visit the rural areas of Kerala and speak to Dalits and tribals. A lot is written about Kerala model as a state. Recently a friend wrote to me from London about casteless, dowerless society in Kerala. Yes, I said, Kerala's caste prejudices are hidden underneath like West Bengal since the first thing the communist regime does is to stop the export of information to outside world. More importantly since a large number of writers and authors actually have been sympathetic to the CPM's policies with upper caste mindset, they do not really expose the Kerala myth. It was not just Bengal, Tatas have huge track of land in Kerala in the name of tea gardens and plantation. One should not forget that great Dalit revolutionary Ayyankali emerged in Kerala to fight for the rights of Dalits. It is not for nothing that both Patthanmthitta and Trivendram represent two different kind of dominations that Kerala has : the Christian domination and the Hindu domination. Both these upper elites interest are against the rights of the Dalits and other marginalized communities. They remain caged to their old prejudiced worldview.



Laha Gopalan is a determined man. He has seen the traumas of the Dalit communities in the villages where they do not even have land for funeral leave alone for education and houses. ' The political parties, both at the national and state level have betrayed the cause of the Dalits and tribal,' he says. ' We started our struggle when people failed to get land by any request. We found that there is no land to them and the government wanted to further the lease at the area which was being used by the Dalits and tribal. Our historic struggle started last year as 7000 people captured the area and started living there. One should have expected that the communist parties which have raised the slogans of ' jo jameen sarkari hai, wo jameen hamari hai, ( Government land is our land) today are strangely at the other end. There is no hope in the sight as the trade unions are determined to take law in their own hand and kill people with chief minister virtually becoming a 'Dhritrastra'.

Says Laha Gopalan, ' when we started our first struggle the government termed that they were genuine demands. In June 2006 about 5000 families were living in another plantation area when the revenue minister interfered and promised them land. Chief Minister Achutanandan promised about 1 acre land to each family of the landless but nothing happened. Since August 4, 2007, there are over 7000 families and the government has so far neglected their demand. The unions have surrounded the area and are beating people who are showing solidarity. The lives of the solidarity committee members are in deep threat in the area. They are being identified in the buses, taxis and even in the press conferences and targeted.'



' Even in the war zones people allow doctors and medical teams to visit the victims but here the goons of CPM and other trade unions have denied that too to the people,' says Simon John. They are not allowing the food supply in the village. There is a hunger and starvation situation prevailing in the 'samarbhoomi' and one person is already dead due to hunger. It is violation of people's right to life', add John. ' We are deeply disturbed at the turn of events as government and political parties led by the upper castes are not at all bothered about the growing marginalization of the communities says another activist in Patthanamthittha.



Is it not strange and ironical that CPM and other communist parties who have been in the forefront of agitation against any kind of exploitation in the organized sector do not find that the landless people in Chengara are struggling for a genuine cause? The party leaders termed the entire struggle as unwanted and felt that the local goons and land mafias have taken over the Chengara land struggle. Ofcourse, Party's anti Dalit stand is visible anywhere. One does not blame the top leadership of the party for being anti Dalit as it would be too much to blame but definitely party's local leaders are not really that radical Dalit supporters as they should have been. CPM for that matter is like any other political party ( we wanted it remained a different political party) whose cadres hail from dominant communities and serve their local interest as we have seen in West Bengal and how the party remained mute to the displacement of about 700 Valmiki families in Belilius Park in Howarah several years back. Today, party's proud MPs have made use of the entire space for private properties and shops. Ofcourse, the poor Balmikis never got support from any other Bhadralok parties in Bengal and living in Bengal in highly uncivilized and unacceptable conditions near the waste-mountains, on sewerage lines and on the railway tracks. Similar thing happen in Kerala where the Dalits and Adivasis of Chengara have not got support from any other political outfits. That gives strength to fascistic tendencies of the ruling party and their leaders. But the fact is this nationalism of the communist parties is more dangerous. Our problems with the Hindutva fascist is that we know that they are against the people but when the so called leaders of the proliterariat start behaving neo Hindutvavadis then situation need special remedial measures otherwise people's frustration would explode soon.



Chengara's land struggle is historical. It shows that people can not really depend on government dole out for land. Political parties in connivance with the defunct industrial houses are keeping people landless. New landlessness is on the rise. Courts are being used as an excuse to evict people. The marginalized have understood this and are ready to fight till end. If the government of Kerala think it is wrong, let it come out in open and say that they oppose people's movement for land right. The government cannot use trade unions and other goons to threaten people and evict them. Life in Chengara has become miserable and any further delay will turn Chengara into another Nandigram. The situation in Chengara would become more dangerous and bloody if the government does not behave responsibly. All national and international rights bodies should take care of this note that denying people free movement is denying them right to choice and livelihood. Kerala government has failed to protect Chengara's Dalits and Adivasis right to move free from one place and other. The inhuman blockade has created unprecedented situation where children and elderly people in Chengara are suffering. Any further delay would escalate the crisis and only government of Kerala would be held responsible for this. The government must act fast and negotiate with the struggling masses of Chengara. The trade union blockade is unconstitutional and illegal and must be removed immediately as it violate the fundamental rights of the people living there who are victim of the criminal silence of the government and civil society.




--
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Visit my blog at
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com

























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