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Jyoti basu is dead

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

SLUM Kolkata EXTENDED Embryo of LALGARH

SLUM Kolkata EXTENDED Embryo of LALGARH

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams 272

Palash Biswas

 

Suspend Lalgarh joint operation: Mamata

Economic Times - ‎6 hours ago‎
KOLKATA: At a time when the joint operation at Lalgarh and other Maoist infested areas in West Midnapore is at its peak, Trinmool Congress chief Mamata ...

'Disturbed' tag call foxes Didi's partymen

Times of India - Nirmalya Banerjee - ‎15 hours ago‎
They have to clear the confusion over her repeated demands that the Lalgarh area be declared "disturbed" when Trinamool Congress does not want excesses to ...

Protest against Lalgarh crackdown

Times of India - ‎21 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The protest against anti-Maoist operation in West Bengal's Lalgarh region by Left Front government, reached Delhi on Tuesday. ...

Those arrested in Lalgarh are not 'outright Maoists: Bengal official

Sify - ‎Jun 30, 2009‎
Conceding that none of the 22 villagers arrested by security forces during the Lalgarh operation were 'outright Maoists', the West Bengal government Tuesday ...
Hand hurdle for relief Calcutta Telegraph

Liberhan report, Lalgarh likely to generate heat in Parliament

Business Standard - ‎11 hours ago‎
The Lalgarh incident is also expected to generate heat during the month-long session with the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal likely to be ...

Latehar may soon become Lalgarh II

Economic Times - ‎6 hours ago‎
RANCHI: As security forces continue to flush out CPI-Maoists from Lalgarh in West Bengal, there is a fear that a similar situation may occur in the Latehar ...

A Lalgarh village caught in the crossfire

Hindu - ‎21 hours ago‎
... a heavy exchange of fire between the joint security forces and the Maoists in the village which is located near the Sijua forest in the Lalgarh region. ...

Bardhan blames West Bengal government for Lalgarh violence

Hindu - ‎Jun 28, 2009‎
NEW DELHI: Criticising the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the Maoist violence in Lalgarh, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan has blamed the Left Front ...

Lalgarh: is it liberated or ruled by fear?

Hindu - Praveen Swami - ‎Jun 25, 2009‎
LALGARH: Early this month, as police marched into the forests around Lalgarh, the adivasi residents of Salboni were told, by Maoists, to start building ...

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    Petrol price up by Rs 4, diesel by Rs 2; LPG, Kerosene spared

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    Agencies

    Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 1918 hrs IST
    Petrol

    New Delhi Days before the general budget, the government hiked petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday by Rs four and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, with effect from midnight.

    It, however, decided against decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, while leaving LPG and Kerosene prices unchanged.

    Provisions would be made in the budget, to be presented on July 6, to cover the loss on account of LPG and kerosene, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.

    The decision to increase the price was taken after Deora met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.

    http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Petrol-price-up-by-Rs-4-diesel-by-Rs-2-LPG-Kerosene-spared/483677/


    Rail budget: Fare revision, vendor passes likely

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    Agencies

    Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 0957 hrs IST
    Mamata Banerjee

    New Delhi Nominal passenger fare revision, incentives on freight transport, enhanced funding for security and seasonal passes for vendors at Rs 20 are likely to be the highlights of the Railway Budget to be presented on July 3.

    Besides, economic meals at stations and more Janata trains are expected to find mention in the budget as also expediting work on railway coach factory in Rae Bareli and putting the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) on fast track.

    While the ongoing work for world class stations would be given a further push, Sealdah in West Bengal is likely to be added in the list for modernisation of stations.

    The resumption of construction work between Katra and Qazigund section in the Kashmir rail link project is also likely to be announced in the budget. The work has been stopped in the 70-km-long due to the alignment problem since last September.

    More trains like the popular Garib Raths launched during Lalu Prasad's tenure are expected to be announced.

    "However, they will not be named as Garib Raths," a source said, adding "few such trains may be announced for the eastern region. There is also a likelihood of introduction of non-AC coaches in such trains."

    Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is giving final touches to the budget, has expressed her intention to bring to the fore the humane side of Railways.

    Announcement of more rail overbridges and rail underbridges at unmanned level crossings to curb accidents may also find a mention in the budget.

    Introduction of integrated security system at major stations to strengthen security might also be announced.

    Access control, baggage screening, CCTV installation and bomb detection and disposal system are to be introduced as critical component of the integrated security system at stations.

    Filling up of vacant posts in the RPF and modernizing the fleet along with providing special training to the forces in view of the enhanced security threat perception is also expected in the budget.

    While the usual announcement of new trains and new lines are to find mention in the budget speech, more emphasis could be given on passenger amenities, sources said.

    There were complaints against non-availability of food at reasonable rate at railway stations and also the quality of food available in trains.

    http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Rail-budget-Fare-revision-vendor-passes-likely/483534/


    CASTE WAR IN PUNJAB

    When Sikhs hate Dalits because of caste, why not reject them & establish Ravidas religion?

    The curse of Brahminism is even if you quit Hinduism and convert to any egalitarian religion to seek liberation you cannot get rid of casteism which is the other name for racism. The powerful Jat (shudra) castes of Punjab embraced Sikhism to fight Brahmins but within no time they are back in the Brahminical stomach.

    Sikhism itself was founded by Guru Nanak to fight Brahmins and their Brahminism but all the castes that went over to the revolutionary Sikhism carried their caste stink with them.

    Brahminism is the world's deadliest octopus and this whole country of 1,200 millions is struggling to escape its tentacles but failed.

    The May 25, 2009 spontaneous Punjab violence is the direct result of the long simmering caste hatred between the Dalit Sikhs and the Jat Sikhs that resulted in the targeted assassination (May 24) of Sant Ramanand at Vienna (Austria) of Dera Sachkhand, Ballan, near Jalandhar. The whole lot of Guru Ravidas followers (Dalits) violently protested all over Punjab and parts of Haryana and taught a lesson to the Jats.

    Brahmins have hearty laughter: But the Brahmins had a hearty laughter and quietly enjoyed how they managed to split Dalit Sikhs and Dalits from Jat Sikhs and made them fight each other. The principle of Brahminism is divide and rule. Sikhism, a military religion, was born to fight Brahminism and free all the oppressed people including Dalits from Brahminical tyranny and racism. Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the Sikh gurus and the most revolutionary of the lot, declared Brahminism as the Enemy No.1 of the people. Sikhism quickly grew and came to dominate the whole of Punjab.

    "Blue Star" & Indira Gandhi murder: But the Brahmins would never forget or forgive their enemy. During the partition (1947), the Brahmins deceived the Sikhs by using M.K. Gandhi who made them remain with Hindus. Sikhism itself was dubbed a reform movement within Hinduism — like Budhism and Jainism. The enemy was waiting for an opportunity to once for all break the backbone of the Sikh martial race. That opportunity came when Indira Gandhi sent the army itself into Golden Temple and killed the revolutionary leader, Sant Bhindranwale (1984), and thousands of Sikhs on their holiest day and that too inside their holiest shrine, Golden Temple. In DV, we called it "Hindu war against Sikhs" (DV Edit June 16 1984).

    The Dalit Sikhs did not forget the crime committed by Indira Gandhi. A devout Dalit Sikh (not a Jat Sikh) took the revenge and killed the then Prime Minister (DV Edit Nov.16, 1984: "A Dalit kills Indira taking Sikhs closer to Khalistan").

    Sikhs corrupted & co-opted: All this is now part of history. But the Khatri and the Jat Sikhs in particular have forgotten their great ancestors like Sardar Kapur Singh, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, both Jat Sikhs, and all the crimes committed by the Brahminical people against the Jat Sikhs and allowed themselves to be corrupted and co-opted by the Brahminical force.

    What a tragedy that Punjab's sole Jat Sikh party of Akali Dal is in the pocket of the Brahmana Jati Party. In almost every gurudwara in Punjab, the Brahminical people have established a unit of their Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) to re-write the Guru Granth, the holy book of the Sikhs, and include Hindu gods and goddesses. This is being vigorously done. The Jat Sikh religious leaders or their party never objected to this Brahminical blackmail.

    No hope in Jat Sikhs: We have very exhaustively written on the "Fall & slow death of Sikhism" by holding a long Debate on the subject (references to DV Debate is given at the end of this Editorial). We say with deep sorrow that we have hardly any hope of the Sikh military religion of Guru Gobind Singh then and Sant Bhindranwale recently, reviving itself. The Khatri Sikhs like Manmohan Singh etc. have no Sikhism in them except their turban and beard. Many have given up their religious symbols also. The Jat Sikhs were the only people keeping the Sikh flame burning. But the deep Brahminical infiltration, with the Akali Dal itself becoming an ally of the Brahmana Jati Party, we have no hope in the Jats. The Jat Sikhs only job today is to obey the Brahminical order to attack the Dalit Sikhs.

    Targeted assassination: Since the Jat Sikhs themselves are not interested in Sikhism what hope is there for Dalit Sikhs and other Dalits?

    The Vienna explosion was clear and loud. Both the Dalit saints had gone there to preach Guru Ravidas message to only Dalit Sikhs and other Dalits. It was not a Sikh gurudwara but a Ravidas Temple of the Dalits.

    Killing Dalits is Hindu dharma: What business the Jat Sikhs or other upper caste Sikhs had to go there when they were not invited or the prayer meeting was not to their liking? That means the upper caste Sikh assassins went there determined to kill the Dalit saints. This proves the intensity of caste hatred even in a far off foreign land.

    Hinduism (Brahminism) is the other name for caste hatred. Dalits are its worst victims — from centuries. The whole lot of Indian Dalits, who form over 20% of its 1,200 million population, are daily suffering the Hindu hatred and violence which is fully justified by Hinduism as their dahrma (religious duty).

    The Babbar Khalsa International (Hindu May 27, 2009) says the:

    "Indian agencies are behind the Vienna attack and they are trying to split the Ravidasiya community from the Sikh Panth".

    When the Brahminical rulers of India and the upper caste Sikh rulers of Punjab say they hate Dalits, why beg them?

    Dalits refuse to quit Hinduism: That is why Babasaheb, the Father of India and the country's most audacious warrior against Brahminism, revolted and kicked it out asking his Untouchable followers to quit Hinduism.

    But they did not. Even when Hinduism grinds them to dust and they all know who is the culprit. We call it: Slaves enjoying their slavery.

    The Punjabi and Haryana Ravidas Dalit followers are also caught in the same dilemma. When Guru Ravidas, Dr. Ambedkar and all the Dalit saints were victims of Brahminism and daily the Dalits are persecuted by the Hindus they are still sticking on to this stinking house.

    This is because the Brahminical leaders have given a powerful injection of their religion, the poison of which the Dalits are not able to get rid of.

    Jats made monkeys, Dalits bribed: On one side they have made monkeys of Jat Sikhs and continue to instigate them against Dalits. On the other they are riding the back of every Dalit saint, infiltrated their deras, tempted them with all sorts of bribery.

    Though Guru Ravidas was hated by the Brahminical people, who only finally killed the saint and also his famous disciple, Mira Bai (DV Feb.1, 2009 p.9), the vaidiks did not give up the hope of retaining Dalits within Hinduism. M.K. Gandhi's fasting stunts against separate electorate finally reduced the fate of Dalits who are once for all made Hinduism's most obedient slaves enjoying their slavery. Heard of it anywhere else?

    Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Father of India, and the country's greatest fighter against Brahminism after the Budha, asked Dalits to quit Hinduism and embrace Budhism. Barring a fraction, Dalits by and large remained within Hinduism as its slaves.

    Power of Brahminical media: The Brahminical people wield such enormous influence on all their victims only because of the power of their manuwadi monopoly media but Dalits and other persecuted minorities denied human rights have none except the Dalit Voice.

    So, when Brahminism is reigning supreme, unchallenged, making a bloody fool of every section that challenges them, how to win the war launched by Babasaheb against Brahminism?


    DV stands by Ballan saints

    Editor's letter to Sant Surinder Dass Bawaji,

    1.At this critical time in the history of the Dera Sachkhand, Ballan, when a senior monk was assassinated and the head of your Dera was also injured at the Vienna shoot-out, we, as the Editor, want to assure the full support of Dalit Voice and our family world-wide.

    2. We remember having spent two days at your holy centre in 2004 and appreciated your efforts to establish the greatness of Guru Ravidas whom the Jat Sikhs are refusing to recognise as the Guru of Guru Nanak.

    3. Guru Nanak established the Sikh religion to fight Brahminism but the Brahmins were waiting to take revenge. The "Blue Star" was a Brahminical conspiracy to destroy Sikhism. They succeeded.

    4. We were the first Dalit to get arrested and jailed in Chandigarh for supporting the Sikhs in 1986. But, alas, the Sikhs are more interested in serving Brahmins than the Dalits who are the backbone of Sikhism.

    5. Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) is playing a double game. Beware.

    6. We think the time has come to establish Guru Ravidas movement as a separate religion. Nothing to do with Sikhism. We will join you at such a meet at Ballan to discuss the same and then make a declaration. We assure to stand by you.

    6. All this underlines the urgent need for our own "media centre" about which we have spoken enough with you.

    Date: 27.5.2009 V.T. Rajshekar


    DV document dedicated to Sant Bhindranwale

    BIRTHPANGS OF KHALISTAN

    V.T. Rajshekar

    Foreword; Why Beant Singh killed Indira Gandhi; RSS worked for Congress; Sikhs didn't demand Khalistan; Punjab & Law of Contradictions; Sikhs and India's bogus communists; Savarkar defends DV; US proof of Cong. hand in Delhi riots; Govt. surrenders to Sikhism; Sikhs: Is it a defeat or victory?; Black lies in White Paper; Sikhs alienated; RSS, Arya Samaj hand in Punjab conspiracy; Hindu war against Sikhs; the Spokesman paper persecuted.

    The DV editor was arrested, handcuffed, dragged to Chandigarh and jailed for supporting the Sikh struggle for self-determination.

    Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Akali Dal top leader, visited Editor in Chandigarh jail and offered to get the Editor elected to Parliament for the support but the Editor declined.

    Today the same Sikhs, who once died in thousands in the Brahminical war against them, joined the very enemy to fight
    and kill Dalit Sikhs.

    1985 pp.42

    Only photocopy available — Rs. 40.

    http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/june_a2009/editorial.htm


    I am DISCONNECTED since last SUNDAY as everyone does not know my Cell Phone Number which remains: 919903717833. Please call me on Mobile.

     I have written about the accident in Sodepur.

     The Sunday accident wiped out FIVE lives and it is quite normal even after full three working days, NO Speed Breaker, No Divider and no TRAFFIC Regulation! We have to live in Accident prone zone and the CPIM leaders, CPIM ruled Municipality and the Administration forgot all the ASSURANCES to clear the road faced by stiff Demonstration.

    Electricity and water supply have been restored as the absence of these essential services would provoke the masses to come on the streets. But the Lind Line Telephone is DEAD in the area where professionals connected to EMERGENCY Public services live! The Electric pole is replaced in SUNDAY night itself, but the Telephone pole is still missing. cable was also connected withing the night.


    Last day, Me and Sabita attended a meeting in the Sant Rabidas Gurudwara situated in TILJALA near the LOHA PUL Crossing in PARC Circus!

    The Gurudawara was established in 1943 by Rabidas Samiti of Scheduled caste People. As the area was inhibited by sizable Punjabi population in preindependence area, and the Punjabies used to VISIT GURUDWARA as well., they used the Ravidas temple as GURUDWARA also. GURUGRANTH Sahib is worshipped in the temple even today and no smoking, drugs or khainee allowed in the campus!

    Seeing the CASTE Divide and War in Punjab, the SIKH Hindu divide since the Khalistani movement, Kolkata indigenous aboriginal people may boast to have the RAVIDAS GURDWARA as no body in the area may recognise the Gurudwara as a SC Temple as it has been ORIGINALLY!

    Sabita had the opportunity to address the gathering but I preferred to interact the people who came from TENGRA, TILJALA, Park circus and the SLUM area of EAST Kolkata.


    Kolkata, specilly East Kolkat around Beleghata where MK Gandhi stayed amidst media focus during Partition Trauma, Parc Circus , Tengra and Tiljala Happen to be a GREATER SLUM UNBOUND!


    The  media Focus is LALGARH at this point but the fact remains that the SLUM KOLKATA remains the POTENTIAL LALGARH Embryo!

    While we reached Sealdah Junction from Sodepur, it was already raining! We ENTRAINED Baruipur local from South Section and the train was fully loaded with Human Structures.

    Within Minutes we landed on Parc circus station which connects the MINORITY, SC, ST and OBC Population in Slum Kolkata! Lacs of them have to fight for SUSTENANCE. The area was ruled by the Left earlier and now it happens to be DIDI`s DEN perfect.

    DIDI is the Railway Minister. She held the portfolio in NDA Government. We could not understand why she overlooked this low profile Sub Altern Rly station so important!


    The station has only shed hardly twenty feet long which could not save us from the Rain. It has no Sub way.

    We had to cross the busy Rly line and land into the world of the SLUMS directly.

     It was smelling so violently that the stomach had to revolt.

     SO filthy, so dirty, so unmanaged, so void of Civic Facilities, we may never imagine that we live in so called Metro standing there!


    Minority areas all over the city, even in Dhrma Tolla and Burrabazar business Hubs apart from Kamarhati to Matia Bruj  and Garden Reach, Khidir Pur and Raja Bajar are DEVOID of CIVIC Facilities. Sachhar Committee has exposed well how the MUSLIMS have to live and survive without education, empowerment, livelihood and job!


    Generally,most of Kolkata citizens have to sustain themselves with an income of some HUNDRED Rs only. Footpath Dwellers, slum dwellers, refugee colonies make KOLKATA an Infinite Slum with Potential Lalgarh Embryo!


    I will come back to the topic again. Let me present some hard updates most relevant.

    Mamata Bannerjee supported Singur,Nandigram and Lalgarh Insurrection and thus, she could help UPA to romp home with Manipulated caste Hindu Vote bank Mobilisation for ILLUMINATI Rule with an agenda of so called Economic Reforms, which is nothing but an agenda of Mass Destruction!

    Mamata is a RLY Minister. She opposes the Lalagarh Operation but has also DELINKED with CHHATRAPATI Mahto and his People`s committee supposed to be affliated and CONNECTED to Maoism! Government of West Bengal and CPIM and entire Left argue for POLITICAL Process but adopted the Military Option with Zero Tolerance.


    The government today said it was not averse to talking to the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities if the outfit made a formal proposal.But home secretary Ardhendu Sen also made it clear that it would not talk to committee convener Chhatradhar Mahato, against whom cases were pending.

    "We know Mahato is not a Maoist, nor is he officially associated with the CPI (Maoist). He is simply a leader of the committee. But he is wanted under the IPC and we shall arrest him once we get him," Sen said.Earlier, the government had ruled out any talks, saying they were not possible with "a gun held to our head".


    Asked why the government had earlier turned down a proposal for talks, the home secretary said: "It depends on the situation. Now we are getting feedback that talks with the tribals could help improve things."


    Mahato today appealed to the government for talks through a television channel. 


    If Mahato and his COMMITTEE is not Maoist, as Mamata supported mahato and his COMMITEE and also OPPOSES  the Lalgarh Operation, why does she prepare for the RAILWAY Budget for the Illuminati? Let her resign and expose the UPA NDA anti People Combine as well as the Marxist Capitalists! It is hard question quite relevant to her political Credibility and Personal Integrity!


    Meanwhile,Railway minister Miss Mamata Banerjee today vehemently opposed chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's proposal to the Prime Minister to hand over the land of sick Central public sector undertakings for setting up industries.


    Miss Banerjee said the "motive" of the proposal was clearly to use the land for real estate activities and "as such we won't allow the proposal to materialise."


    The railway minister said it was the Trinamul Congress which had all along been demanding that land of sick PSUs be used for setting up industries instead of "grabbing agricultural land through a mindless application of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to help hand-picked industrialists and investors reap fabulous profits at the cost poor farmers."


    Gyanpeeth winner GIRIRAJ kishore confided eminent Hindi Novelist Madhu Kankria that I would be writing on Lalgarh in his esteemed mag AAKAR. Madhu ringed me this afternoon and requested to accompany her to Lalgarh. I declined. I am sorry because the young lady is very gentle and labourious. For me , she is the most active and respectably writer amongst the ladies!
     
    I had discussed with Lalgarh stand OFF with GIRIRAJ Kishore. I never know how he set his mind to include me in his set of established writers as I am not a GANDHIAN or Lohiate at all. I have discussed Nationality Problem, Tribal Segregation, Alienation of Aboriginal Indigenous people from the mainstream, the DIVIDE in Landscape and Humanscape. I never thought that he was assigning me with a JOURNALIST task which nobody dares as I am not Professioal in that sense.
     
    I had to engage myself with the sweet lady to discuss all the points and inform her that media stories are flooding. If she is interested at all about the plight of our people , it is not just some days` affair. We have to see the fall out.
     
    It is quiet reminiscent with Seventies while Comrade CHARU Majumdar rejected the Naxal Plan to make the Mangrove Forest Sundervanas the BASE. In accordance to the pragmatic outlook of comrade Majumdar, it would have ISOLATED the Naxals from the MASSES as he considered the Masses as the best Weapon of Class Struggle as well as REVOLUTION! He insisted on land reforms. Land was to be CAPTURED and it would have regimented the PROLETARIATE. But it did not happen at all as the Naxals did INDULGE themselves in the Politics of INDIVIDUAL MURDER which was defined as ANNIHILITION of CLASS Enemy!
     
    Armed Struggle is as JUSTIFIED as VOTE for REVOLUTION. The world shows it while we trace the HISTORY. But NO DEMOCRACY in the world so far OPTED for REVOLUTION. As the Masses opted for Peaceful Change in Democartic political process. In India, EMERGENCY as well well as the DICTATORSHIP of Mrs GANDHI had been NEGATED by VOTE. Masses in india is now HABITUAL to bring about CHANGES with VOTE. Thus, the Marxist Rule in West Bengal since 1977 without any BREAK is threatened by Parliamentary Elections and the FOLLOUP SWEEP in Municipal Elections!
     
    Why should the people OPT for VIOLENCE and ARMS?
     
    What CHHATRADHAR Mahato is INSISING time and again that they want the Basic Rights and Development in SEGREGATED Tribal populated areas. They tried their best to oppose DEMOCRATICALLY the ATROCITIES by the Police, Administraion and State Power. They also OPPOSE the REPRESSION. And the STATE and POWER POLITICS, ironically including MS Mamata Bannerjee, the undisputed leader of Land Insurrections in Bengal, term and Isolate them as MAOISTS!
     
    Maoists have been ENTRAPED in Jungle Based Insurgency as they have been ISOLATED from the Mainstream Mass which still believes in the PARLIAMENTARY Politics, however might they be DISILLUSIONED with  the DOCTORED System and MANUSMRITI Rule, they deny to IDENTIFY with any INSURGENCY! Rather, they would like to Protest by VOTE. They have done in BENGAL and elsewher repeatedly.
     
    Maoist pockets have posed Potential danger to Indian RULING Hegemony , not to the Parliamentary system which remains INTACT and UNDERTAKEN by Corporates, MNCS, ZIONISM and ILLUMINATI!
     


    Under this circumstances , our people suffer from REPRESSION Trauma and it is a Landscape under Gorilla War fare. The Security forces have just entered Lalgarh and captured insurgency area.


    They feel Relaxed.


    It never means the STAND OFF is over. You may not visit Lalgarh without SECURITY at this point as CROSS FIRE and Mines explosions continue. I dislike most the SECURITY cover while I meet or interact with my people!


    More over, I never deal the nationality or Identity or Subaltern issues as a JOURNALIST. A visit under State sponsored Security scan and some BITES  fro the People on RIFLE Point make very good stories in media to Justify the Military Option and Ethnic Cleansing! But while we deal with the problem it demands certain COMMITMENT, Physical presence for longer time and constant RAPO and Interactions!


    I asked her quite rudely whether she is a BRAHMIN. As the Brahamins would never understand or be wanting to resolve the STAND OFF. The sweet young lady denied. I suggested her to follow the adequate process. If circumstances allow, I would be glad to accompany her anywhere!


    Outsiders do deal with the problem in SIMILAR ways , i am afraid to say and remain CUT OFF from the landscape as well as Human scape systematically to further Strengthen the Hegemony!
     
    While MAMATA Bannerjee is EXPOSED as MAYAWATI is EXPOSED in her Naked AMBITION! Today, I have talked to the COMMITTED BSP workers in SODEPUR where the STATE BSP Headquarter is situated. I discussed the COMMITTED BSP workers how MAYAWATI is Killing the AMBEDKAR Ideology.
     
    I am trying my best to convince my Marxist Friends that AMBEDKAR IDEOLOGY is quite RELEVANT and ANNIHILITION of caste is more important than ANNIHILITION of Class enemy!


    But KOLKATA and Bengal Politics do limit itself in POSH areas and Business HUBS like BURRABAZZAR where they may get resources and Fund. No Politics is interested to involve in areas devoid of Resources and Fund.


    Hence OPERATION SHUN SHINE under TMC Tenure guided by MAMATA BANNERJEE and led by NAXAL REPRESSION Warrior Subroto Mukhopadhyaya, mind you, BOTH BRAHAMINS , simply skipped BURRA Bajaar. No Bomb was EXPLODED, No Class ENEMY was sought after all along the POSH Business Hubs in Kolkata during seventies.


    The Tiljala area houses the Trinamool Congress HEAD quarter where from Mamata defeated the LEFT single handedly with Leftist mode in last Parliamentary elections and where from she wiped out the LEFT in Municipalities today! But TMC or CPIM did nothing for the people as most of them belong to minorities, SC, ST and OBC communities!


    This area is the BIRTH Place of TANNERY Industry. More than Fifty Thousand people were connected to the Industry. They established the Production system and they had been the Productive forces.
     
     All these PEOPLE find them out of TANNERY INDUSTRY and capitalists like DALMIA ICC fame and MNCS have taken over.
     
    They supply Resources and funds to the Political parties.
     
     Hence all types and color of WHOLE TIMERS BAMCEF, BSP, MARXIST, RSS whole timers and activists HATE to visit these areas! They Can not get anything from here.
     
    I talked to WAMAN MESHRAM face to face, Mtang Bhai, the supreme trainer and assigner of Cadres and whole timers in Bamcef, Major Siddharth Burves, the President of Maharashtra Bamcef and appealed them to work as INCLUSIVE and take INITIATIVE for a real NATIONAL Resistance breaking all barriers and diversions! I requested them to change the MIND SET of Bamcef ACTIVISTS and Whole Timers. I have talked to Marxists and EVEN BSP leaders, nationality Movement leaders across the demographic and Landscape divides countrywide!
     
    We Must DO Something as the DIVIDE amongst us create such situations like LALGARH Standoff wher our own PEOPLE have been SIEZED under Indefinite CROSS FIRE.
     
    We have to resist the CORPORATES and ILLUMINATI, even US Imperialism, ZIONISM and CIA and MOSSAD!
     
    But our Marxist friends divert the Resistance focusing on the COMMUNAL Divide to SUSTAIN Manusmriti Apartheid Corporate RULE just to save the three MINOR Bases in bengal, Keral and Tripura! It is not in National Interest neither in GLOBAL Interest. It is in US Interest. Thus, the CAPITALIST Marxists in Bengal do not HESITATE to hand over the TROUBLE ZONE in stand OFF to forces like CIA and MOSSAD!


    But last day a TMC activist also running a NGO, named some MRS MUKHERJEE and an employee from TRIPURA BHAVAN, a tribal INSERTED themselves right into our interactions for REPORTING!

     

    Let me ask my Marxist friends whether they believe in COMMUNIST Menifesto and CLASS Struggle? Whether they believe in Withering away of RELIGION as well as STATE? whetehr they Believe in CLASS Struggle?
     
    All these CONCEPTS do relate to ARMED STRUGGLE. If the MAOISTS are BANNED for IDEOLOGY why should not be the REST OF THE LEFT as they do proface ARMED STRUGGLE and Revolution under COVER of Popular Parliamentary System! It is IRONY taht talking on POLITICAL Process the Capitalist Marxists have been ENTRAPPED by the MANUSMRITI Hegemony to adopt MILITARY Option and ZERO TOLERANCE in Lalgarh, quite UNAWARE that SLUM KOLKATA is being TURNED into another LALGARH!
     
    The Hegemony never cares for the FULL GENERATION ABSCONDING and DRUG ADDICTED! Immeresed into BLACK HOLE!
     


    The state Assembly today witnessed a heated altercation between members of the Treasury Bench and Opposition MLAs after Speaker Mr HA Halim refused to allow an adjournment motion alleging atrocities by the state police in Lalgarh. The motion was moved by Trinamul Congress MLA, Mr Ashok Deb. The motion triggered an angry response from CPI-M MLAs who shouted and prevented Mr Deb from reading out the motion. The Opposition MLAs, led by Mr Partha Chattopadhyay, leader of the Opposition, staged a walkout following that.


    The motion stated that the state government was suppressing the movement of people belonging to the tribal community brutally and in "fascist ways". Common people including women were being tortured and even sources of drinking water were being destroyed, the motion pointed out. "Houses are being demolished and looted. People are fleeing their villages. Ruling party activists are capturing villages with the help of police," it maintained.


    The Opposition MLAs demanded that the operation, which is being carried out on the plea of flushing out Maoists from Lalgarh, be stopped and efforts be initiated to restore peace in the area by accepting the demands of the people.


    Left Front MLAs especially those belonging to the CPI-M countered the allegation traded by the Opposition legislators. Reacting to the motion, the CPI-M MLA from Kumargunge, South Dinajpur, Ms Mafuja Khatun, said the Trinamul was opposing the state government's initiative to restore peace in Lalgarh because not a single casualty from the operation has been reported so far.


    "Trinamul wants bloodshed. They want to see human bodies. As the state government is carrying out the operation without causing bloodshed, Trinamul is opposing the operation. They (Trinamul leaders) are like vultures always on the look out for mara garu (dead cattle)," Ms Khatun alleged. She went on saying: "The Trinamul supremo has claimed that she was not aware about the Central forces being at work in Lalgarh. Did she not knowthat it was the Prime Minister and the home minister's decision to deploy the Central forces in West Bengal".


    Raising fingers at Trinamul legislators, the CPI-M MLA said: "Your ministers at the Centre should step down if they have minimum self respect."


    Later, in a calling attention motion, Congress legislator, Mr Manas Bhuinya, urged the chief minister to recover arms from "CPI-M cadres" in Garbeta, Keshpur, Khanakul, Arambag. Why should political activists hold arms? Mr Bhuinya asked. He also accused the state police of carrying out atrocities in Lalgarh.
     
    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Intelligence indicates terror threat to west coast: PC

    Hyderabad/Chennai: Launching the NSG hubs, home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said intelligence agencies have indicated a terror threat to the country's west coast but it did not meant that there will be an imminent attack.

    "There is an intelligence input (and) as is the practice established recently, we share all inputs immediately with the state governments concerned.

    "There is an input that there could be a threat to the west coast. We have, therefore, shared it with (the governments of) Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra. But that does not mean that there is an imminent attack," he said inaugurating a regional hub of NSG in Hyderabad Earlier, opening a regional hub of NSG in Chennai, the home minister said special forces of the army will be used to set up anti-terror hubs in Bangalore and Jodhpur.

    He said setting up of NSG units did not mean there was an increase in terror threat to the country.

    "We are also using special forces of the army. Bangalore hub is by the special forces of the army. I am trying to set up a special forces of the army in Jodhpur and one in Guwahati using the Border security force", he said.

    "Establishing NSG hubs will increase its flexibility and reach and it does not mean that terrorist threat has gone up in the country", he told reporters.

    Referring to the November Mumbai terror attacks during which it took more than 12 hours for NSG to arrive from Gurgaon, Chidamabarm said NSG hubs would decrease the response time and would enable it to reach any part of the country quickly in case of any terror threat.

    To a question, the Minister said no city in the country was a hub for terror. "You can't brand any city as a terror hub," he said.

    Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said special forces would be deployed for providing security on Tirumala Hills, visited by lakhs of devotees every year.

    NSG Director General N P S Aulakh, Hyderabad Hub Head Lt Col Sandeep Sen, state home minister P Sabita Reddy and other top officials were also present on the occasion.


    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Muslim board to discuss Liberhan report July 12

    Lucknow: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Wednesday said its members would discuss the Babri Masjid probe report in its executive body meet at Kozhikode July 12.

    "Even though the (Liberhan) Commission has taken 17 years instead of three months to submit its report, we would still like to know what the report has to say about the martyrdom of the 16th century Babri Masjid," senior board member Maulana Khalid Rasheed told IANS here.

    The report on the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition by the Liberhan Commission, which was formed 17 years ago, was submitted Tuesday to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

    Rasheed said: "Since our next meeting is due at Calicut in the next 10 days, all members of the Muslim Personal Law Board would naturally like to take a decision on that report at the meet."

    Rasheed, who was also Lucknow Idgah's Naib Imam and head of a three and a half century old seminary Firangi Mahal, hoped "the report would least of all, expose the role of several political leaders behind the demolition".

    AIMPLB legal adviser Zafaryab Jilani who has been convenor of the erstwhile Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) wants "punishment" for all those who were responsible for the demolition.

    Jilani has been closely associated with the legal aspects of the issue being dealt with simultaneously by a special trial court as well as the Allahabad High Court.

    Jilani urged the Muslim law panel to ask the prime minister to take a decision on the report within three months after it is tabled before the parliament. "I hope the government does not waste any time in placing the report before the parliament now," he said.

    Source: IANS

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Sensex closes on a high, up 144 points

    Mumbai: A key index of the Indian equities markets ended trade Wednesday 144 points above its last closing figure, as realty, energy and banking stocks picked up.

    The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened at 14,506.43 points, closed at 14,638.05 points (provisional) - 144.21 points or 0.99 percent higher than Tuesday's close.

    Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the day 1.15 percent up at 4,340.3 points.

    Broader market indices also closed in the green, with the BSE midcap index ending 1.18 percent up, and the BSE smallcap index closing 0.45 percent higher than its previous close.

    Source: Indo-Asian News Service
     

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Memorials will earn money from tourists: Mayawati

    Memorials will earn money from tourists: Mayawati

    Lucknow: Seeking to justify use of nearly Rs.3,200 crore (Rs.3.2 billion) of public funds for building grandiose memorials and statues of Dalit icons, including of herself, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said the money earned from tourists visiting the spots will be used for development.

    "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters.

    The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief has ordered nearly three dozen statues to be built and installed in different parts of the city. The statues include that of Dalit icons like Ambedkar, BSP founder Kanshi Ram and seven of the chief minister herself.

    There are five memorials also in various stages of constructions in the city and nearly 60 redstone elephant statues - the BSP party symbol.

    Interestingly, the chief minister has decided to do away with the entry fee for the first six months.

    "While visitors will be allowed free entry in each of these memorials for the first six months, the entry fee would come into place subsequently and that money would be utilised only for development of Ambedkar 'grams' (villages) and Kanshi Ram grams," she said.

    The move was seen as a response to widespread criticism on misuse of public funds by Mayawati in building expensive memorials and statues in the state capital.

    Source: IANS


     

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Bangalore, Jodhpur NSG hubs to be manned by Armed forces

    Chennai: Special forces of the army will be used to set up anti-terror hubs in Bangalore and Jodhpur, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

    Inaugurating the second National Security Guard hub here, he said setting up of NSG units did not mean there was an increase in terror threat to the country.

    "We are also using special forces of the army.
    Bangalore hub is by the special forces of the army. I am trying to set up a special forces of the army in Jodhpur and one in Guwahati using the Border security force", he said.

    "Establishing NSG hubs will increase its flexibility and reach and it does not mean that terrorist threat has gone up in the country", he told reporters here.

    Asked whether there would be more NSG hubs, he said the four metros of Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata are covered in the first phase.

     

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    PC spells out second action plan under 100-day agenda

    New Delhi: Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday outlined the second action plan for his ministry, as part of the agenda for the first 100 days of the government, including delegating more responsibilities to the Jammu and Kashmir police.

    Presenting the assessment of implementation so far of the 100-day agenda of his ministry, he said the second action plan will be for the period of June 1 to Sep 30 and will include the "spillover" of the first action plan.

    "I visited Jammu and Kashmir on June 11. A decision has been taken to redraw lines of responsibility among the army, the paramilitary forces and the Jammu and Kashmir police. We encourage the Jammu and Kashmir police to take over more responsibilities concerning law and order," Chidambaram told reporters here.

    The home minister, who visited Orissa last week, also requested the Orissa government to ensure that the remaining internally displaced persons, affected by last year's communal violence, are rehabilitated in their villages.

    Chidambaram named the relief work carried out in Cyclone Aila affected areas in West Bengal and measures taken to beef up coastal and border security among the highlights of the 100-day agenda action plan implementation.

    Source: Indo-Asian News Service
     
     

    New Delhi: Ahead of the meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders in Egypt later this month, India Wednesday said it is not "afraid to talk" to Pakistan but expects Islamabad to take concrete and visible action against terrorist outfits before deciding on resuming the dialogue.

    "We are not afraid to talk... We will certainly keep talking. At the same time, we expect Pakistan to take concrete action against terrorists that is visible before India and the international community," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here when asked about the likelihood of resuming Composite Dialogue with Islamabad.

    "India is still waiting to know what steps Pakistan has taken to book the culprits (of the Nov 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai)," he said at his first formal press conference after assuming office on May 22.

    Krishna confirmed the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Guilani on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt mid-July.

    Source: Indo-Asian News Service

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Freebies, recession may put Rail Budget off track

    New Delhi: The impact of fare cuts, the unavoidable hike in wage bill, slower revenue growth and the freebies she has been promising will likely force a deficit budget from Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday, senior officials said.

    According to their estimates, the fare cuts announced by former railway minister Lalu Prasad and the impact of the Sixth Pay Commission may together result in an annualised loss of Rs 17,000 crore.

    Along with that, if Banerjee decides to implement schemes like discounted passes for students and the elderly, along with improved quality of food for passengers and other amenities without fare hikes, the fiscal impact could be severe, they added.

    One benchmark, which senior officials of the Railway Board maintain explains the constraints and the pressures on the ministry's finances, is the operating ratio - the money spent to earn Rs.100.
    "The interim budget has already indicated that the operating ratio of the Indian Railways will be 88.3 percent this fiscal," said a senior official of the board, requesting anonymity.

    "With the kind of freebies being talked about, without hiking passenger fares, this ratio could go even above 90 percent. This is bound to take a further toll on the surplus," the official told IANS.
    Banerjee has already said she will overhaul the existing "Tatkal" (instant ticket) scheme and the tour packages of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp and improve the food quality and passengers amenities without hurting the average passenger.

    "Our aim is not just to generate surplus but also to take care of facilities and amenities to the masses," Banerjee had said during her first interaction with the media after taking office.
    "There is a sharp degradation in the facilities given to the passengers with bad food quality, dirty trains and toilets and lack of drinking water and even the basic cleanliness at platforms," she had said.

    "At the end of the day passengers must feel happy and satisfied with their train journey. My target is to continue to make railways a profitable venture but not at the cost of passenger amenities."

    But there are constraints on resources.
    "This year, freight earnings are down because of the slowdown. The fare cut is costing us Rs 3,000 crore. And on top of it, we have to shell out Rs 14,000 crore on account of the Sixth Pay Commission," said the Railway Board member.

    In the previous year, the growth in freight earning was over eight percent on an average; this, however, slipped to three percent during the first three months this fiscal.

    "There is a need to increase fares to improve food quality and other amenities. Further sops will add to revenue losses," the official said, adding the surplus of Rs 90,000 crore generated during the past five years could dry up fast.

    In the interim budget presented Feb 13, former railway minister Lalu Prasad announced fare cuts of two percent and introduced 43 new routes and the plans of railways to invest Rs 35,900 crore in 2009.

    Lalu Prasad had said budgetary support to the railways had declined from 53 percent to 29 percent since 2004 and it was investing over Rs 20,000 crore out of its internal resources to fund its projects.

    The interim budget also projected cash surplus of Rs 19,320 crore for 2008-09 and Rs 18,847 crore this fiscal. Also the projection of gross traffic receipts for 2009-10 was at Rs 93,159 crore for the year 2009-10.

    Source: IANS

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Fare revision, vendor passes likely in Mamata's budget

    New Delhi: Nominal passenger fare revision, incentives on freight transport, enhanced funding for security and seasonal passes for vendors at Rs 20 are likely to be the highlights of the Railway Budget to be presented on July 3.

    Besides, economic meals at stations and more janata trains are expected to find mention in the budget as also expediting work on railway coach factory in Rae Bareli and putting the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) on fast track.

    While the ongoing work for world class stations would be given a further push, Sealdah in West Bengal is likely to be added in the list for modernisation of stations.

    The resumption of construction work between Katra and Qazigund section in the Kashmir rail link project is also likely to be announced in the budget. The work has been stopped in the 70-km-long due to the alignment problem since last September.

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Liberhan, Lalgarh to dominate House proceedings

    Liberhan, Lalgarh to dominate to House proceedings

    New Delhi: The submission of the Liberhan Commission report has raised prospects of generating political heat in the first Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow after the general elections. 

    The scenario for the session, which was expected to be a business-like affair till now, has suddenly undergone a change with main opposition BJP attacking the Congress-led coalition after the presentation of the report of the Liberhan Commission that went into the Babri Masjid demolition.       

    Though the contents of the report, presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, were not known, the BJP has alleged that the Centre has "begun its conspiracy". 

    Congress has hit back as to why the NDA did not scrap the Commission during its six-year rule and its leaders hope to "corner" BJP on the issue. In the finance-centric session, the Railway Budget would be presented to the Lok Sabha on July three and the General Budget for 2009-10 on July six. The Economic Survey would be presented on the opening day tomorrow.   
        
    The Lalgarh incident is also expected to generate heat during the month-long session with the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal likely to be pilloried by both Congress and BJP.

    The Trinamool Congress, an arch detractor of the Marxists, is expected to make all out efforts to extract political mileage out of the police operations in Lalgarh and take the opportunity to attack the Left Front government in West Bengal.       

    The attacks on Indian students in Australia is expected to figure prominently with the racist incidents raising concerns all over the country.       

    The opposition parties are also expected to raise the situation caused by truant monsoon and its effect on power, drinking water and crops, price rise and impact of recession on labour.     

    UPA sources have said that the government will make efforts to introduce a bill to provide food security. 

    However, the much-delayed Women's Reservation Bill is unlikely to come up in this session as the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice scrutinising the Bill is yet to be reconstituted.

    Source: Business Standard
     

    Wednesday, July 01, 2009

    Quota in faculty recruitment in IITs is a fact: Sibal

    New Delhi: Clearing all speculation on faculty reservation in Indian institutes of technology (IITs), Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal Wednesday said quota in faculty recruitment at the IITs was a fact and these institutions "have to work with it".

    "Faculty reservation in IITs is a fact. Any attempt to exempt (it) is infructuous," Sibal told all the 12 IITs in a programme at IIT Delhi.

    The comment came after IIT Delhi director Surendra Prasad said: "Sir, we are a little bit confused on faculty reservation. There is mental strain among us about it. We are confused."

    In response to the statement, Sibal made his stand clear and went on to add that "as we move bottom upward, the problem will be solved. You have to work with it."

    The HRD ministry last year had advocated implementation of 15 percent quota for Scheduled Castes, 7.5 percent for Scheduled Tribes and 27 percent for Other Backward Castes in the faculty recruitments. However, all IITs across the country have opposed it.

    Sibal said that IITs might be confused about the issue but not the government. "We are not confused. The issue must be handled with sensitivity and care."

    "No institution can live in isolation. It has to take everyone along."

    Though majority of the IITs expressed their displeasure over the development, many refused to give an official comment. But IIT Madras director M.S. Ananth told IANS: "We are going to debate the issue."

    Source: Indo-Asian News Service

    States warned of fleeing rebels
    - 7000 Maoists may have sneaked out of Lalgarh, Ghatshila on alert

    Bokaro/Jamshedpur, June 30: The Centre has warned Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chhattisgarh that more than 7,000 Maoists, many of them armed, have fled Lalgarh in Bengal to sneak into the neighbouring states, forcing the East Singhbhum administration to step up patrolling in the Ghatshila sub-division bordering the troubled spot of West Midnapore.

    Based on intelligence inputs from the Union home ministry, the inspector-general of the special branch of Jharkhand, Bibhuti Bhushan Pradhan, sent out a letter to all 24 district superintendents of police (SPs), asking them to keep an eye on bus stands, railway stations, hotels, dharamshalas and nursing homes where the fleeing rebels might try and take shelter.

    High-level sources said Bihar's inspector-general of police (operations), S.K Bharadwaj, as well as the additional director-general of police (headquarters), Neelmani, were in touch with senior police officers of Jharkhand, including the inspector-general, D.K Pandey, and the additional director-general, Rajiv Kumar.

    Pradhan confirmed having alerted all SPs. "The SPs have been directed to be extra vigilant around public places," he told The Telegraph from Ranchi.

    The warning seemed to have an immediate effect at Chakulia on the Jharkhand-Bengal border, where the police had been put on high alert with jawans of Indian Reserved Battalion (IRB), Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) and district police dispatched on long-range patrolling.

    The Bengal police have identified some CPI(Maoist) leaders who had apparently crossed over into Ghatshila from Lalgarh. They include Vikasji, the secretary of the Purulia-Bankura-West Midnapore zonal committee, Kishanji, the politburo member, Kanchan, the Bengal state committee secretary, and Rakeshji, a member of the Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa border regional committee.

    Keeping this in mind, the police and paramilitary forces have been directed to scan the jungles and conduct search operations in Chakulia.

    "We are in touch with our counterparts of West Midnapore district to know the latest from Lalgarh," said the East Singhbhum SP, Naveen Kumar Singh. "Our forces are on maximum alert."

    The East Singhbhum district police had on June 19 sealed the state's borders with Bengal along Chakulia, Dhalbhumgarh and Ghatshila after security forces launched an offensive against the rebels in Lalgarh.

    But, due to a slowing down in operations, the forces were withdrawn from the border on June 25. But, the paramilitary forces, including the CRPF, IRB and JAP, were kept on standby at camps in and around Chakulia.

    The deputy inspector general of police (Kolhan), M.K. Mishra, said the police in Jharkhand were vigilant. "We are working in tandem with the Bengal police," he said.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/frontpage/story_11180389.jsp

    Intelligence vicious circle in Lalgarh
    A jawan offers milk powder to a girl in Lalgarh. (Pradip Sanyal)

    Lalgarh, June 30: The "circle of domination" may be in place but a vicious circle is enveloping Lalgarh.

    Police feel that around "400 to 500" tribal youths trained by the Maoists to handle weapons are on the loose in Lalgarh but the security establishment's efforts to track them down or identify them are running into a stonewall of hostility. Enraged, the police are said to be beating up people who chose to stay back in villages, further alienating an already aggrieved populace.

    The vicious circle worsens the impact of the collapse of the "intelligence network" during the seven months Lalgarh was inaccessible to state agencies, especially at a time security forces are bracing for a long settlement in the restive belt.

    Information is proving to be a stumbling block for the police. The men have fled the villages; only women and children remain. Even if the men return, the police are not sure how the security forces will tell between Maoist supporters and others.

    "Those who have been trained by the Maoists will return gradually," said Kuldiep Singh, IG, western range. "But we are helpless as we would not be able to identify them. Even if they indulge in hit-and-run tactics, we will not be able to do anything unless they are caught red-handed since they are all local residents."

    In such a scenario, the villagers allege, the police are making "random arrests" of men they come across and threatening as well as beating up women.

    In Kumarbandh village, about 2.5km from Kantapahari where the forces linked up from two sides and completed the so-called "circle of domination", the police carried out a raid last afternoon and picked up the only man present, 25-year-old Diwan Soren.

    Citing another instance, villagers alleged that Subhas Mahato was arrested in Bankura's Sarenga yesterday as soon as he revealed he hailed from Barapelia, the "headquarters" of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities.

    "We had locked ourselves in but we were dragged out and questioned," said Uttami Majhi of Rasoonpur village. "When we resisted, my neighbour Sabitri and I were hit on our arms by the police. The police said 'rub some oil and the pain will go'."

    Since then, the women have left their homes for a relief camp.

    "About 400 to 500 local youths were trained by the Maoist guerrillas in the Jhitka and Kadashole-Mohultala forests," a senior police officer said. "Those from outside can easily be identified as they speak a different language and cannot prove that they belong here. But the task becomes so much more difficult when it comes to local youths who have been trained."

    The officer said that recently in Lachhipur village, an improvised explosive device was detonated when a CPM local committee member, Chandi Karan, was passing by on his motorcycle. He escaped narrowly, but the bomb was detonated by someone in an adjoining paddy field where villagers were working.

    "In all probability, it was detonated by one of the trained local youths," the officer said. "But with the villagers not talking, there was little we could have done."

    In Narcha village near Barapelia, Malati Tudu said: "We have asked the men to leave, we have told our husbands and sons to go."

    The women and children have moved into a primary school. "We have not locked our doors but kept them open because if they are locked, the police might break them open," Malati said. "We are poor people and we do not have the money to repair our doors."

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/frontpage/story_11181484.jsp

    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.

    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.

    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    City toughest business nut

    June 30: Calcutta has been ranked the toughest place to do business in a survey of 17 cities by the World Bank.

    Some state government officials blamed a "perception" factor, like the exit of the Nano. "Perception is as important as delivery on the ground. While there is a lot to improve, the report reflects more what people think of us than the reality is," Subrata Gupta, managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said.

    Gupta felt that the Nano's departure had worsened the perception about the state.

    But an analyst associated with the survey said local officials were also kept in the picture. "The team had several rounds of interactions with local officials. The preliminary data were sent to the local officials for review and comments on a confidential basis," Jana Malinska, the investment policy specialist with the project, said in an email response to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

    "The data were collected with the help of 15 private sector professionals representing big law, accounting and trading firms in Calcutta," she added. "A dozen of local officials from different departments took part in the project-launching meetings. We invited them to fill out the surveys along with our private sector contributors."

    "Calcutta is ranking last in the report but the active participation of the local officials in our study could be a sign that improvements could be happening," Malinska said.

    The key areas of concern, such as registering property and obtaining building clearance, had struck deep root much before the Nano was conceived. Left untreated, such festering ailments could have bubbled back to the surface because of the churning over the past few years and the consequent administrative inertia, an official of an industry chamber said in Delhi.

    "It is good feedback. It is a wake-up call for the state administration to take corrective measures," said another city-based investor, Mahendra K. Jalan.

    The seven parameters of the survey were ease of starting business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. It did not take into account macroeconomic conditions, infrastructure, workforce skills or security parameters that are vulnerable to perceptions.

    Construction permit and property registration, two areas where Calcutta languishes at the bottom, fall in the domain of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

    Asked, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: "The World Bank study was based on a survey done a few years back. But I will not deny that the problems here are far more severe than in other places. But we have started the improvement process. We have reduced the time taken for mutations and plan to reduce it even more."

    The mayor said building sanction took more time because "we have to follow the government protocol and CMC does not have a free hand there".

    However, a state industry department official admitted that conversion of land for industry and mutation took "a very long time".

    A lawyer felt that the low rank on enforcing contracts – a legal issue – had to do more with perception than reality. Debanjan Mandal, partner of legal firm Fox & Mandal, said: "Getting an interim enforcement is quickest in Calcutta and the final order takes as much time as in any other big cities of India."

    If the problem is indeed one of perception, the state has slipped back to where it was a decade ago. The government had then identified perception as the biggest roadblock and went on an overdrive to change it.


    Posco lease decision on hold

    Cuttack, June 30: Orissa High Court has extended the status quo order on granting mining lease for Khandadhar iron ore reserves in the state by over a month.

    Posco's proposed steel plant is largely dependent on the lease to Khandadhar iron ore reserves. The division bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice B.P. Ray extended the status quo order till the first week of August while adjourning hearing on the case till then, following submission of an amendment petition related to the case yesterday.

    Posco had signed an MoU with the Orissa government in June 2005 to build a 12MTPA steel plant by 2016 near Paradip port. The government had recommended for the grant of the prospecting licence for Khandadhar iron ore reserves in favour of Posco.

    The high court, however, had on March 20, 2009, directed the Union government not to take any decision on the state government's proposal after it was challenged through a petition by the public sector Kudremukh Iron Ore Limited.

    Kudremukh, one of the 226 applicants for mining lease at Khandadhar in Sundargarh district, had sought judicial intervention against the recommendation in favour of Posco.

    Essar Steels had also thrown its hat into the ring challenging the state government's decision.

    Some of the other applicants had also followed up with petitions alleging that the decision was illegal as it was taken without giving equal opportunities to all applicants, especially the applications filed earlier. All of them had been taken up for analogous hearing.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/nation/story_11178098.jsp

    Govt suffers trust deficit Labour at camp in 'protest'

    Lalgarh, June 30: Two tribal women gave birth in a relief camp run by the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities here in the past week because they wouldn't accept help from the government.

    "In our village, hundreds of children are born at home without any medical super- vision. The government has never bothered about us. Now they are putting up a show of sympathy. We won't take their help," said Parbati Kisku, who got a daughter six days ago.

    The aversion to anything to do with the government is understandable when the el- derly woman in charge of the daily needs of the camp between Kantapahari and Lalgarh says how an expectant Jasomani Mandi was kicked in the tummy by policemen raiding their village last November.

    It is that series of raids af- ter a blast on the chief minister's route that gave birth to the Lalgarh agitation.

    Jasomani, 22, gave birth to a son last night.

    The camp at Narcha Primary School was set up on June 19 when committee supporters started fleeing villages like Barapelia, Chhotopelia and Dalilpur as the security forces started advancing to reclaim Lalgarh.

    The camp housed around 250 people until yesterday. The men fled after the forces entered Kantapahari yesterday. There are about 115 women left in the camp now.

    Jasomani, exhausted after labour, mumbled she wouldn't take her son to a hospital for check-up or vaccination.

    Parbati, 30, was more vo- cal. "I really needed a doctor and a hospital six days ago. Now my daughter and me are fine. The women in the camp helped me deliver my child. We are used to this kind of hardship," said Parbati, her daughter in her arms.

    Six days ago, she could not have sought the help of a qualified nurse even if she wanted to. The health sub-centre 3km away at Kantapahari, there for mother and child care, has been closed for the past five months.

    She could have gone to the block health centre in Lalgarh town, also around 3km away, but she did not.

    "We are supporters of the People's Committee," said Jasomani, with a sense of pride.

    Parbati and Jasomani have to rely completely on the other women in the camp because their husbands were among the men who fled yesterday.

    After the security forces took control of Kantapahari, Binpur I block development officer Saurav Barik had sent health workers to the sub-centre at Kantapahari to reopen it.

    Hearing about the childbirths, he also sent an ambulance to the relief camp in Narcha to ferry the mothers and their children to the Lalgarh block health centre.

    "They refused to come. We will try again. We'll also take the other women and children for check-ups and the necessary healthcare after speaking to local villagers," the BDO said. That wouldn't be easy.

    Sombari Murmu, 58, among the women in charge of the daily needs of the camp inmates, said: "The same police that tortured us all these years are trying to be our friends. We had wanted them to apologise for the torture inflicted on our women — like the kick to Jasomani and the rifle butt blow that almost took Chhitamoni Murmu's eye — but neither the police nor the administration listened to us. How can we trust the government?"

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/bengal/story_11180918.jsp

    Hand hurdle for relief

    Lalgarh, June 30: The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government knows development has to be the priority to bring normality back in Lalgarh, but the local administration is hamstrung in a trouble zone where not too many officials want to work.

    Out of a sanctioned strength of 51, the Binpur I block office has only 26 personnel, with key officers for panchayat and rural development missing for months.

    "Lack of personnel is a big problem and it is difficult to roll out development projects in remote areas in the absence of a proper administrative machinery," admitted West Midnapore district magistrate N.S. Nigam.

    He did not want to go into the reasons behind the vacancies, but a junior block officer said it: "Fear of Maoists."

    "Vacancies are high in most government offices in remote areas because people don't want to go to such places. But there is an additional factor here — the threat perception."

    Out of the 10 panchayats under Binpur I, the rebels are most active in Lalgarh, Sijua and Ramgarh, the three vertices of what is known as the core area of Maoist domination.

    The other thing common among the three tribal-dominated panchayats with a total population of over 60,000 is deprivation.

    With the Maoist influence getting linked to the people's discontent, the state is trying to roll out a slew of development projects and send a team of eight senior officials to the region. "We are sending the first batch tomorrow. They will camp there for a week," chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said at Writers' Buildings.

    The eight will go into tribal villages and interact with the people to understand their problems and prepare a report, which will be used to draw up an action plan.

    But hefty allocations alone cannot alienate the Maoists as decades of deprivation has resulted in a complete lack of faith in the government. "Here, a development project means intervention in bits and pieces from which only a handful benefit. This results in mistrust, as in most cases the beneficiaries are loyalists of the ruling party. Then, there is always the problem of waste of government funds," said a professor of economics in Calcutta.

    For instance, a senior Sijua panchayat official claimed that projects worth over Rs 1 crore were getting implemented there, though nothing was visible on the ground.

    Yesterday, Maoist action squad members melted among villagers in Sijua after attacking a paramilitary team and forcing them to retreat.

    "Had the administration delivered on development, the Maoists could not have had such a strong influence," said a sociologist. "The administration has to act now and the re-sults must be visible for it to win people's confidence."

    But the government does not have enough people for the job. "We have requested the government to fill the vacancies immediately so we can execute the projects in a time-bound manner," said Nigam.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/bengal/story_11180919.jsp

    SEZs get loan prop

    New Delhi, June 30: The developers of special economic zones (SEZ) can finance infrastructure projects through foreign borrowings.

    While easing the norms for external commercial borrowings (ECBs) today, the government, however, barred the developers from using foreign funds for integrated townships and commercial real estate within SEZs.

    Infrastructure, according to ECB norms, includes power, telecom, railways, roads, bridges, ports, industrial parks and urban amenities such as sanitation and sewage facilities.

    "This is an important step and provides an opportunity for developers to tap the global market for resources especially when there is a lack of funds domestically," L. B. Singhal, director-general of the export promotion council for EoUs and SEZs, said.

    The economic slowdown has halted the rush for SEZs. Leading developer DLF had moved the government to get some of its zones denotified. Many others have sought time to complete their projects because of a funds crunch.

    Exports from SEZs grew 36 per cent to Rs 90,416 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 66,638 crore in the previous fiscal. The government has given formal approvals to 568 projects and notified 315 of them.

    The government, as part of Export-Import Policy 2002- 07, had allowed SEZ developers to raise ECBs up to $500 million for maturities of less than three years. The permission, however, was not renewed.

    More reliefs

    For realty firms outside SEZs, the finance ministry today extended the use of ECBs for integrated townships for another six months till December. The minimum area to be developed should be 100 acres.

    Overseas borrowing rules for non-banking finance companies engaged in funding infrastructure projects were also relaxed.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090701/jsp/business/story_11181308.jsp

    Flop show

    DLF Cybercity, a glitzy glass-and-marble affair, stands tall just outside India's teeming capital. The 150-acre special economic zone (SEZ) — meant for information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITeS) in Haryana's Gurgaon — hums with activity.

    Young men and women sit glued to their desks in swank offices. The SEZ has four centrally air-conditioned, earthquake-resistant office towers with 11 blocks, complete with a gym, a swimming pool, a health club, a business centre and a round-the-clock ambulance service.

    To an outsider, everything seems to be moving like clockwork in DLF Cybercity, down to the security men at the gate who are screening cars with robotic precision. But then, appearances can be deceptive and who knows it better than DLF, the realty major which has just "surrendered" permission to set up five of its SEZs in the country. Truth be told, DLF Cybercity — one of the 91 operational SEZs — the government formally approved 568 proposals in the country — is a far cry from the dozens of SEZs that developers are struggling to get off the ground.

    From Nandigram to Paradip (Posco) to Raigad (Reliance), India's SEZ dream lies in tatters, torn asunder by intense agitations against land acquisitions. "Farmers all over India are now buoyed by the success of the Nandigram movement and are resisting land acquisition wherever SEZ developers or state governments are trying to acquire land," says Ulka Mahajan, the Mumbai-based convener of the Action Committee Against Globalisation, which spearheaded a "successful" campaign against the 10,000-hectare SEZ being promoted by Reliance Industries Limited in Maharashtra's Raigad district.

    The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has called off the Indonesia-based Salim Group's 10,000-acre SEZ (this had received "in principle" approval but no "formal" approval as the state government did not pursue it after the agitation broke out) in Bengal's West Midnapore district.

    As if trouble over land was not enough, Indian SEZs are now buffeted by the global economic downturn. "Our exports are declining because of the global slowdown, so all SEZ developers are delaying these export-driven projects," Videocon Industries chairman Venugopal Dhoot says. Videocon Realty and Infrastructures Limited, a unit of Videocon, is having trouble getting its three SEZs in Maharashtra off the ground.

    To be sure, the SEZ hasn't reached the end of the road. Indeed, it would be facile to predict its demise at this stage. But clearly, hopes for an SEZ-driven economic boom along the lines of China are fading fast. Struck by the double whammy of a land and funds crunch, despairing SEZ promoters are putting more and more projects on hold.

    In an effort to keep the projects alive, the inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA), which approves or rejects SEZ proposals, has extended the deadline for 35 formally approved SEZs by one year. Under the SEZ Act of 2005 and the subsequent SEZ Rules, a formally approved project can get a maximum extension of two years if it has failed to take off in its stipulated three-year time frame.

    Among the extended projects are: Bajaj Holdings and Investment Limited's automobile SEZ in Maharashtra, K. Raheja Corp's multi-serviceSEZ in Goa, NIIT's IT/ITES SEZ in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), L&T Phoenix Infopark's IT/ITES SEZ in Hyderabad and Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority's auto components SEZ in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand).

    Commerce ministry officials blame the delays not on land problems but on the present state of the economy. "Indian SEZs are not immune to the global recession," says Lalit B. Singhal, director general of the export promotion council for EoUs and SEZs, which falls under the commerce ministry. Since the units operating in the SEZs are export driven, Singhal argues that any global economic downturn would "hit them hard."

    In fact, close on the heels of DLF surrendering five of its 11 SEZs in Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Haryana and Orissa, another realty major, K. Raheja Universal, withdrew from two of its SEZ proposals for Navi Mumbai late last week.

    Gokuldas Exports, among India's biggest export houses, too has given up its proposal to set up a textiles and apparel SEZ in Bangalore. Managing director Rajendra J. Hinduja cites the central government's order that no state government can acquire land and give it to SEZ developers, unless the landowners consent to this. He explains that the price was to be roughly Rs 30-40 lakh an acre when the state government was to acquire it earlier, but landowners jacked up the price four times. Also, the SEZ guidelines specify that the land being acquired has to be contiguous. This condition made it difficult to buy land, he adds.

    While commerce ministry officials put up a brave front and say such denotifications are not entirely unexpected in the present economicscenario, ministry insiders label it as a "disturbing" trend.

    DLF Limited says its decision to denotify the formally approved SEZs has nothing to do with the company's liquidity position. "What's the point of constructing a property or for that matter an SEZ when there is little demand for it? It is as simple as that," says DLF spokesman Sanjey Roy.

    Few economic issues in recent times have stirred up so much controversy as the Centre's policy on SEZs — specially delineated duty free enclaves deemed foreign territory where trade, duties and tariffs are concerned. Politicians — from the left to the right — dubbed SEZs the "great Indian land grab," promoting little but real estate.

    India embraced SEZs about four years ago with the objective of increasing investment, exports and employment. To investors, SEZs —offering a 10-year tax holiday and duty-free imports, among other concessions — looked attractive. Singhal of the SEZ promotion council says that exports from the operational SEZs have climbed from Rs 22,000 crore in 2005-2006 to Rs 99,688 crore in 2008-2009.

    Again, over the last three years, the SEZs have attracted a total investment of Rs 1,04,867 crore and created 2,52,735 direct jobs. "If you take the indirect jobs into account, SEZs have provided employment to nearly a million people in only three years," Singhal declares.

    Not surprisingly, industry associations support the SEZ policy to the hilt. FICCI secretary-general Amit Mitra says a few land agitations or a few denotifications sought by a handful of developers "cannot and should not detract from the success of the SEZ policy" in the country. "Besides, while there may be agitations in Bengal or Orissa, there are absolutely no agitations in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat over SEZs," he says.

    Critics remain unconvinced. Economist Partha Mukhopadhyay of New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research says the country's private SEZ model is fundamentally flawed, from the commercial standpoint. He says it expects the developer to assemble land, provide infrastructure and other services and make it attractive for industry to locate there. This difference between the amount that industry is willing to pay and the cost of development is the surplus available to finance the infrastructure and profits of the developer. This, Mukhopadhyay argues, locks landowners and other project affected people "in a zero sum game" with developers. No wonder, he says, that SEZ developers are already floundering in the country.

    Mumbai-based SEZ consultant C.S. Sanghvi agrees. Unlike in China where the SEZs mostly house manufacturing units and operate in a regulated manner, Sanghvi says a large number of private developers plunged into the sector once it opened up primarily to "take advantage of the upswing" in the real estate market. "Now that the real estate market has crashed, SEZ developers are dragging their feet, waiting for the real estate market to recover," says Sanghvi.

    In its attempts to reduce frictions over land acquisition, the commerce ministry has suggested that SEZ developers buy land directly from land owners. It has also asked all states to ensure that land is acquired "through consent." Yet, for all that, land remains the most contentious issue for SEZ developers.

    "You can't build a factory in the air. You need land for it and that is hard to come by, despite all our efforts and the best package we have offered," says Posco senior general manager Saroj Kumar Mahapatra.

    Posco's proposed 12-million-tonne, coast-based steel plant, an approved SEZ, being set up at a cost of $12 billion, is delayed by two years over land acquisition. The Orissa government and the South Korean steel giant are facing stiff opposition in its efforts to acquire 438 acres of private land that comes under its plant site of 4,004 acres.

    Many moan the loss of government revenue given away by way of tax concessions to the companies in SEZs. Partha Sarathi Banerjee, an independent researcher engaged in an ongoing Indo-French academic project on the politics of SEZs in India, feels a line needs to be drawn between "private interests and the public good." Or else, says Banerjee, people will form natural barriers to these zones, much as residents of Dhinkia and Gobindanagar — the last two holdouts in the anti-Posco movement — have erected at the entry points to their villages.

    For now, though, it seems to be a make or break situation for SEZs.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090628/jsp/7days/story_11168620.jsp

    'Maoists are practising terrorism'

    As one follows the broken road along the river Manjha to the small hamlet of Sebdellah, the only signs of civilisation are the electricity poles jutting out of lush green fields and an odd motorised vehicle.

    It is hard to imagine that this serene hamlet in the Naxalbari area of Darjeeling district in north Bengal once reverberated with cries of revolution and liberation. Today, when the government is having a hard time combating the Naxal rampage in Lalgarh and its adjoining areas, Sebdellah continues to be quiet. It may have spawned the Naxal movement in the late 1960s, but now it has few sympathisers here.

    Kanu Sanyal, the man who led many of those "mass struggles," continues to live in Sebdellah. Frail and ailing, the 79-year old leader now spends most of his time lying on the floor of his one-room house. The huge black and white framed pictures of Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tse-tung on his walls seem to be his only company.

    The Naxalbari movement was launched by Charu Mazumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal in the summer of 1967. The revolutionaries led the peasants and occupied large tracts of land of the jotedars (landlords) and distributed them among the sharecroppers and the landless. Scores of landlords gave up their lands and fled the area in fear. Those who resisted or even asked questions were simply eliminated.

    But 42 years down the line, what has been the impact of the movement on Naxalbari and the villages around it? Sanyal replies, "Nothing has changed. Only the oppressors have," he says. The oppressors could be anybody, says Sanyal — the government, landlords, industrialists. Progress, development and modernisation are empty words for Sanyal. "Progress means being free from exploitation. I don't see that in Naxalbari, or for that matter, anywhere in the country," he says.

    Sanyal is dismissive of the Maoists in Lalgarh and other parts of the country. "What they are practising is terrorism. Nobody knows their ideology, and more importantly, there is no mass participation," he says.

    Other old timers in the area are equally contemptuous of the Lalgarh Maoists. "If we had to hold a protest march or raid a landlord, one whistle was enough. The whole village would get together. Can the Maoists of today do the same? They themselves live in jungles. How can they think of a revolution," asks P.P. Sharma, 67, a former Naxal activist.

    The fact is that Naxalbari and its surrounding villages are no longer fixated on land and revolution, although basic issues like roads, electricity and drinking water still remain major concerns. "Nothing much has changed since those days except for some new roads and an increase in population, which is because of the huge influx of Bangladeshis in the area," says Gulabuddin Ansari, a 50 year-old grain crusher in Hathgisiya village. As a youngster Ansari had actively participated in the Naxal movement.

    If change has come to one place, it is the Naxalbari block headquarters itself. It is a small but bustling place with a 20-bed hospital, a telephone exchange, noisy markets and shops selling the latest models of television sets and mobile phones.

    "Naxalism is just a word for us. I only understand the importance of this place when people in Calcutta and elsewhere raise their eyebrows when I say that I am from Naxalbari. For them, it is as if Naxalism still exists here. The reality is that we have moved on," says Pradip Prasad, who runs an NGO working in the field of AIDS and drugs.

    With the Nepal border just a few kilometers away, smuggling is the most profitable business for many of the locals. "I can earn anywhere between Rs 300-400 a day just by peddling goods between Panitanki and Naxalbari," says Mangal Burman, 25. Panitanki is bang on Nepal border.

    The police too admit that Naxalism is hardly an issue here anymore. "Our main problems are smugglers and drug traffickers," says an official at the local police station.

    The most important pilgrimage for Naxalites in the area is Bangaijote on the outskirts of Naxalbari. A memorial has been erected here to honour nine protestors, including five women and two children who were gunned down by the police on May 25, 1967. Named 'Tienanmen Square,' with 'of India' squeezed in almost as an afterthought, the memorial is built in the same shape as the Monument to the People's Heroes in Beijing. The place also has the busts of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung and Charu Mazumdar.

    But Sharma points out that most of the locals are ignorant of the significance of the memorial. "Ninety nine percent of the people in Naxalbari do not even know that these places exists," he says.

    The talking point here is not Naxalites or their latter day avatars — the Maoists. Politics interests people the most and the panchayat elections that are to be held today happens to be the hottest topic of discussion.

    But if there is one thing that Naxalbari and the villages around are united in, it is in their respect for 'Kanubabu' as Sanyal is popularly called. "Kanubabu did what politicians rarely do. He stuck to his ideals," says Gulabuddin Ansari.

    "I always wanted to live among the people and that's what I am doing. I don't see it as a sacrifice or anything like that," says Sanyal when asked about the reverence with which people treat him even today.

    Sanyal is really the last vestige of Naxalbari's Naxal heritage. The rest has been consigned to history.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090628/jsp/7days/story_11168626.jsp

    What to look for in Budget 2009

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    Reuters

    Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 1648 hrs IST

    New Delhi The new UPA government will present the FY10 federal budget on July 6 and is expected to expand both the budget deficit and its market borrowing requirement to support growth.

    Following are some scenarios on what Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may announce and its impact on financial markets. The current fiscal year of 2009/10 runs until the end of next March.

    BUDGET DEFICIT

    The government is almost certain to expand the 2009/10 budget deficit beyond the 5.5 per cent set in an interim and pre-election budget in February.

    Bonds have priced in expectations that the deficit will swell to between 6.25 per cent and 6.5 per cent of GDP. So it is unlikely to be rattled so long as the deficit is around these levels.

    But any sign that the government is bowing to pressure for populist spending measures to make good on promises made in the April and May general election would spark a bond sell off.

    If it also fails to present a plan to bring the deficit back under control in subsequent years, the country's credit rating could come under pressure.

    GOVERNMENT BORROWING TARGET

    The government will raise its borrowing target for 2009/10 to help pay for its increased budget deficit.

    Bond yields have jumped to factor in a massive increase in government borrowing. Ten-year bond yields, for example, are up 170 basis points since the start of the year.

    The forecast borrowing would be 29 per cent above 2008/09 borrowing of 3.06 trillion rupees.

    ASSET SALES:

    Mukherjee is likely to announce plans to sell shares in some state run firms to help fund rural and social programmes, a central part of the government's election platform.

    Asset sales would relieve pressure on the bond market and help keep the budget deficit in check.

    Analysts say the stock market could absorb 100 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) in share sales. A higher amount would be difficult to swallow and would weigh on market sentiment.

    Analysts suggest Coal India Ltd and hydro-power generator NHPC would be among the easiest IPOs to complete.

    Shares in railways consulting firm RITES, power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Rural Electrification Corp and power transmission firm Power Grid Corp could also be sold off smoothly, they say.

    However, potential sales of telecoms firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Air India may be problematic. Unions have opposed IPOs of the telecoms firm and loss-making Air India would need to be restructured to make it attractive to investors.

    INFRASTUCTURE:

    Mukherjee is expected to announce more plans to repair India's shoddy infrastructure, considered by many foreign investors as the Achilles' heel of the economy that prevents the sort of double-digit growth seen in China.

    Infrastructure investment is currently around 6 per cent of GDP, so that figure could rise, although the budget deficit limits spending for now.

    Measure would cover both urban and rural projects and include improving the rural roads network and building more low-cost homes to deal with massive demand. It will also announce plans to revamp public transport across the country including building metro rail networks in other cities.

    These moves will be positive for infrastructure firms and could benefit India's largest infrastructure firm Larsen & Toubro and others such as GMR, GVK and HCC among others.

    Indeed, the real estate sub-index on the Bombay stocks market has more than doubled in the past three months, compared with a 50 per cent rise in the main index.

    REFORMS:

    The government is unlikely to unveil any significant economic reform plans in the budget even though its decisive election victory has put pressure on it to deliver new initiatives.

    Parliament is already chewing over plans to raise the foreign investment ceiling in insurers to 49 per cent from 26 per cent and reforms in the pension fund management sector -- a process likely to take 6-8 months before approval is reached.


    PSU oil firms losing Rs 170 crore per day

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    Agencies

    Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 1355 hrs IST
    New Delhi Public sector oil firms have seen losses on fuel sale widening to about Rs 170 crore per day on firming international oil prices and may end the fiscal with over Rs 49,000 crore in revenue loss.

    Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have seen losses on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene inflating from Rs 130 crore to about Rs 170 crore per day, an industry official said.

    The three firms calculate the desired retail selling price of the four government-controlled products on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international oil rates of the previous fortnight.

    The firming international crude oil prices, which are at a seven-month high of about USD 73 per barrel, widened losses on petrol to Rs 6.94 per litre from Rs 6.08 per litre in the second half of June. On diesel, the losses have soared to Rs 4.11 a litre from today against Rs 2.96 previously.

    The three firms are losing Rs 96.98 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder and Rs 16.01 on every litre of kerosene.

    "Government has to urgently device a means to tackle these losses. The options can be a combination of a marginal price increase in petrol and diesel, issue of Government bonds and contribution by upstream firms like ONGC," he said. A Rs 2 per litre hike in petrol and Re 1 a litre increase in diesel rates has been on cards but even this may prove insufficient going by the rising losses.


    Govt clears 21 FDI proposals, defers 14, rejects 7

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    Agencies

    Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 1510 hrs IST

    New Delhi Government cleared 21 FDI proposals worth Rs 84.90 crore, most of which is likely to be brought in by the world's largest chemical company BASF through an open offer.

    The Government, on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, however, deferred 14 proposals including that of Vijay Mallya-run United Breweries to raise Rs 708 crore through issuing convertible warrants.

    A proposal by venture fund India Rizing Fund to reconsider its application to set up a fund for the Indian defence sector in the light of new norms for FDI calculation was also deferred.

    As many as seven proposals, including those of three telecom majors Bharti Telemedia, Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo, were rejected by the Government.

    A proposal by Germany-based BASF SE to make an open offer for acquiring a 20 per cent stake in chemcial manufacturer Ciba India may bring in Rs 63 crore.

    The acquisition follows global acquisition of Ciba Holding AG by BASF.

    Through the Indian acquisition, the German company will manufacture and trade in speciality chemicals.

    The Ciba India share was down 0.94 per cent to close at Rs 210 on BSE on Wednesday.

    The government also gave the nod to Vodafone Essar, the second-largest GSM operator, to hive off its towers and related infrastructure into a separate arm Ortus Infratel.

    Earlier, Vodafone Essar's plans to create Ortus Infratel was deferred after the revenue department had raised concerns over the company's application.

    The Government cleared the proposal by venture capital fund -- Ventureast Trustee Company Ltd -- to accept contributions up to 2 million dollars from Mauritius-based Ventureast Proactive Fund.

    The fund will invest in securities of Indian companies and also distribute income realised to the Mauritius-based company under the automatic route.

    A proposal by UB Group to raise Rs 708 crore by issuing convertible warrants to FirStart Inc was deferred after the Department of Revenue raised objections to it.

    Also deferred was a proposal by Zee Entertainment to transfer shares to an overseas entity belonging to the promoter group for uplinking a non-news and current affairs TV channel.

    A proposal by venture fund India Rizing Fund to launch the Defence SME Scheme to invest in radars, military aircraft, helicopters serial reconnaissance, naval ships, etc was deferred.

    Earlier, the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy has conveyed its no objection to the proposal if the fund is controlled by resident Indians and foreign contribution to it is less than 50 per cent of the total.

    Now, the fund wants to get the matter re-examined under two recent press notes which altered the method of calculation of FDI.

    A proposal by Unitech Wireless Ltd to increase the shareholding of Norway-based Telenor to 74 per cent in their joint venture was also deferred.



    Rs 100-cr package for Lalgarh mulled

    ;Pranesh Sarkar &
    Shyam Sundar Roy
    KOLKATA/MIDNAPORE, 30 JUNE: As the joint forces conducted recce run in Ramgarh, Kantapahari and its adjoining areas to restore law and order today, the state government was preparing a special package worth around Rs 100 crore to win the hearts of people in Lalgarh and undertake development work in the next two years. According to officials at Writers' Buildings, the fund would be raised from the budget allocations of those departments included in the task force that was set up to carry out development work in the area. Departments like agriculture, health, Paschimanchal Unnayan Affairs, ARD, irrigation, PHE, panchayat and rural development etc would recommend development projects within a week.
    The project proposals would be prepared after eight senior officials of the concerned departments visit Lalgarh tomorrow and hold discussions with local people to ascertain their needs. After these departments submit proposals, a comprehensive development plan would be prepared. The work, which would be recommended, is going to be carried out with the funds to be allocated under the special package, said officials.
    "All of these departments would allocate Rs 7-10 crore for carrying out development works depending on the recommendations made by them. The total amount of the special package is likely to be around Rs 100 crore," said an official.
    Officials also said projects like extension of minor irrigation facility, installation of drinking water sources, excavation and renovation of ponds, renovating health centres, implementation of rural electrification project, constructing hostels for tribal students, proper distribution of BPL cards, construction of roads would be given priority.
    However, officials pointed out that involvement of government officials is the need of the hour to complete the works on time. There was no scarcity of funds to carry out development in Lalgarh.
    A senior officer said CoBRA forces have been deployed in Kumarbandh, Harulia and Modhupur jungle areas.
    Earlier, the joint forces defused two landmines in Kiamacha forest near the Goaltore-Chandrakona Road and Sejua. Senior officers today held meetings to chalk out a plan for an operation in Dharampur village, where the PSBPC supporters torched the house of Mr Anuj Pandey, CPI-M zonal committee member and the party office. The joint forces are expecting to march towards Dharampur tomorrow. The SP said they have asked for three more companies of Central forces for Lalgarh. Four persons who were arrested yesterday from Salboni for their alleged involvement with Maoists were produced before the chief judicial magistrate of Midnapore court today and remanded in judicial custody till 13 July. Meanwhile, the state has decided to drop the charges framed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against two suspected Maoists arrested from Bankura on Sunday. The charges would be framed under the IPC.



     

    Kolkata, India

    by Nitai Kundu

    Summary

    The slums of Kolkata can be divided into three groups: the older ones, up to 150 years' old, in the heart of the city, are associated with early urbanization. The second group dates from the 1940s and 1950s and emerged as an outcome of industrialization-based rural–urban migration, locating themselves around industrial sites and near infra-structural arteries. The third group came into being after the independence of India and took vacant urban lands and areas along roads, canals and on marginal lands. In 2001, 1.5 million people, or one third of Kolkata's population, lived in 2011 registered and 3500 unregistered slums.

    The 1956 Slum Act defines slums as 'those areas where buildings are in any respect unfit for human habitation'. The Calcutta Municipal Council Act of 1980 defines bustees as 'an area of land not less than 700 square metres occupied by, or for the purposes of, any collection of huts or other structures used or intended to be used for human habitation'. The Central Statistics Organization defines slums as an area 'having 25 or more katcha structures, mostly of temporary nature, or 50 or more households residing mostly in katcha structures huddled together or inhabited by persons with practically no private
    latrine and inadequate public latrine and water facilities'. There is a host of different slum categories, primarily divided into two categories:

    Registered slums (bustees): these slums are recognized by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) on the basis of land title; since 1980, they have been taken over by the CMC for letting/lease to slum dwellers.

    Unregistered slums: this comprises slums onthe land encroaching settlements.

    The bustee-type generally has some form of secure tenure or ownership rights based on land rent or lease, with structures built by the slum dwellers, or house rental/lease of structures built by third parties.

    Tenure security is, in principle, not available to the unregistered land encroaching settlements on road sides (jhupri), along canals (khaldhar) or on other vacant land (udbastu).

    It is envisaged that the number of urban poor will increase considerably in the near future due to natural growth and in-migration, combined with a lack of wellplanned and long-term intervention strategies.

    Over 40 per cent of Kolkata's slum residents have been slum dwellers for two generations or longer, and more than half originate from the Kolkata hinterland. With the majority engaged in the informal sector, with average monthly earnings of between 500 and 1700 rupees and a household size of five to six persons, some three-quarters of the Kolkata slum population are below the poverty line.

    The standard of living of the slum dwellers caused concern even during colonial rule. For a long time, slums were treated as an eyesore and a nuisance to be dealt with for reasons of safety, security, and the health and hygiene of the urban elite. Policy interventions focused mostly on clearance and removal. The First, Second and Third Five-Year Plans laid emphasis on slum eradication and removal. Various attempts were made to address the issue in alternative ways; but all failed for different reasons.

    The Environment Improvement in Urban Sector (EIUS) scheme, in operation since 1974, has been partially successful in improving the living environment of slum dwellers; but it has not helped in preventing the growth of new slums through migration or natural increase. The scheme suffers from lack of community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring of the programme. Another initiative that has generally been effective in reducing urban poverty is the National Slum Development Programme (NSDP).

    Although some considerable successes have been achieved, there is a long way to go for Kolkata in terms of addressing the issues related to urban poverty and slums. There is an urgent need to establish clear long-term strategies that address such issues as:

    land titles in bustees;

    unauthorized new slums around canal and roads;

    greater effectiveness of urban poverty-eradication programmes;

    public awareness-building programmes on slum population;

    the role of each actor and stakeholder;

    poverty reduction approaches to slum improvement;

    inadequate municipal institutional arrangements, including coordination of the activities of various actors.

    This summary has been extracted from:

    UN-Habitat (2003) Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies', pp195-228.



    source:www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

    To read the full report, choose & click on one of the pdf icons below.



    Document size: 1.9 MB



    Document size: 1.6 MB (b&w)

     

     http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/cities/kolkata.htm

     


    2003 Development Planning Unit | Anna Soave | Khanh Tran-Thanh

    The malaria and typhoid fever burden in the slums of Kolkata, India: data from a prospective community-based study.

    National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33 CIT Rd. Scheme - XM, Beliaghata, Kolkata 700010, India.

    Recent research has indicated that the malaria burden in Asia may have been vastly underestimated. We conducted a prospective community-based study in an impoverished urban site in Kolkata, India, to estimate the burden of malaria and typhoid fever and to identify risk factors for these diseases. In a population of 60452 people, 3605 fever episodes were detected over a 12-month period. The blood films of 93 febrile patients contained Plasmodium (90 P. vivax, 2 P. falciparum and 1 P. malariae). Blood cultures from 95 patients grew Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi. Malaria patients were found to be significantly older (mean age 29 years) compared with patients with typhoid fever (15 years; P<0.001) but had similar clinical features on presentation. Having a household member with malaria, illiteracy, low household income and living in a structure not built of bricks were associated with an increased risk for malaria. Having a household member with typhoid fever and poor hygiene were associated with typhoid fever. A geographic analysis of the spatial distribution of malaria and typhoid fever cases detected high-risk neighbourhoods for each disease. Focal interventions to minimise human-vector contact and improved personal hygiene and targeted vaccination campaigns could help to prevent malaria and typhoid fever in this site.

    PMID: 16455118 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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    Slums

    Slums

    Calcutta , India

    This slum is less well known than the City of Joy , is located in another suburb of Calcutta, but is really an impressive huge desolated place . But like all india ,it also has beautiful smiles and playing children .

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    Calcutta slum dwellers grieve for Mother Teresa

    Philomena Maiti

    'Now who will care for us?'

    September 10, 1997
    Web posted at: 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT)

    From Correspondent Anita Pratap

    CALCUTTA, India (CNN) -- For the past five days, 72-year old Philomena Maiti has cried herself to sleep. Mother Teresa, the woman she knew for 50 years, is dead.

    "Now who will care for us?" she asks. "When Mother was here, we felt wanted, we felt loved."

    Maiti lives in a Calcutta slum called Moti Jheel, where Mother Teresa began her work half a century ago, caring for the poor, the sick, the starving and the illiterate.

    Images of the first slum Mother Teresa went to when she began to chart her unique course.
    video icon 859K/24 sec. QuickTime slideshow (no sound)

    Perhaps 35,000 people live in Moti Jheel now, and many of them have Mother Teresa to thank for changing their lives. Palton Rai was 4 when he enrolled in Mother Teresa's school.

    Palton Rai

    "She gave us a good foundation," he said. "We learned to interact with people. I got a job easily."

    The free school Mother Teresa started in Moti Jheel will continue to do her work. Children are taught English along with the local language -- Bengali -- ethics and hygiene. They also receive food and medicine.

    "If we didn't turn up at school, Mother would come looking for us at home," said another of her students. "She would never beat us. She would feed us first, and then scold us."

    'The poor have only God to rely on'

    So moved was Mother Teresa by the plight of the people in this slum that she left the serene and cloistered environment of her Loreto convent to live and work amongst the poorest of the poor.

    Shrine in Moti Jheel

    Moti Jheel is overcrowded and most of its inhabitants are Muslims, but there are Hindus and Christians as well. The slum lacks water, sanitation and proper housing. But when Mother Teresa was there, it did have hope.

    "Mother helped me build this house," says one of its residents. "I was a poor widow with eight children. She helped me so much."

    Those who were touched by Mother Teresa's love say they feel orphaned now.

    "My heart breaks when I think of the old days," said Philomena Maiti. "The poor now have only God to rely on."

    http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/10/teresa.first.slum/index.html

    Title: Women in Calcutta slums.

    POPLINE Document Number: 031842

    Author(s):

    Chakravarti B
    Das S

    Source citation:

    Asian Profile, 1985 Apr;13(2):129-38.

    Abstract:

    4 slum clusters were selected arbitrarily from the 3 different regions of Calcutta, India, in an effort to understand the problems in the lives of women for whom living itself is a problem. 120 women of various age groups were interviewed. Kankulia and Goabagan appear to be the poorest and dirtiest of the 4 slums. The slum at the Lower Range-Ballygune Circular Road area gives the impression of some improvements in the physical environment. The Muraripukur slum cluster differs from the others in terms of literacy, education, and occupation. The Kankulia slum is a typical Calcutta slum of considerable age. In earlier days, it was presumably situated on the fringe of the locality. As new buildings were erected with the expansion of the city, it came to be encircled by a ring of middle-class households. Uprooted peasants' wives responded to an increased demand for maid servants in middle-class localities. They gave birth to children who grew up in the slum and came to constitute the 2nd generation. Women in the 50 and older age group generally report that they did not work as maid servants when they first came to Calcutta. Those of 30 or 40 years of age report that they have been on the job as maid servants since age 12, 13, or 14. The picture is much the same at Goabagan, another typical Calcutta slum surrounded by middle-class households. The rate of literacy in both slums is very poor; 80% of the respondents at Kankulia and 76% at Goabagan are illiterate. At Kankulia 92% and at Goabagan 71% of the respondents work as maid servants. The extent of the family's dependence on their income is demonstrated by the fact that the figures showing the total family income fail to suggest any remarkable addition to the women's earnings. The slum cluster at Muraripukur-Canal East area presents a contrast. Basically it is like a refugee colony inhabited by people from Eastern Bengal districts. About 40% in the Muraripukur segment come of bhadralok families of professional and trading backgrounds. Women with some amount of education and of the East Bengal bhadralok background appear reluctant to work as maid servants. Nearly 66% of those in this area stitch readymade garments at home and use this as a source of supplementary income. In the Ballygunge Circular Road, Lower Range, nearly 92% of the respondents work as maid servants. The rate of illiteracy is high, with 68% being illiterate. About 52% of the respondents' families have a monthly income of more than Rs. 400/-, compared to the figure of 10% in Kankulia and 33% in Goabagan. Another distinctive point in the Ballygunge-Lower Range slum cluster is the relatively cosmopolitan character of its population. There is a South Indian concentration coexisting with people from different parts of the country. The CMDA in its slum development program has outlined 5 basic elements -- improved sanitation, drainage and drinking water facilities, construction of metaled roads in the slum clusters and their electrification. Despite various problems in the implementation of their program, the CMDA has been able to make a certain amoung of impact in the minds of the slum women. The CMDA activities have been able to arouse a certain amount of expectancy in the women's minds on the basis of which they themselves are placing their own requirements.

     

    Slum

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Jump to: navigation, search
    Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, the second largest slum in Africa[1][2][3] and third largest in the world.[1]

    A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, one billion people worldwide live in slums[4] and will likely grow to 2 billion by 2030.[5]

    The term has traditionally referred to housing areas that were once respectable but which deteriorated as the original dwellers moved on to newer and better parts of the city, but has come to include the vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world.[6]

    Many shack dwellers vigorously oppose the description of their communities as 'slums' arguing that this results in them being pathologised and then, often, subject to threats of evictions.[7] Many academics have vigorously criticized UN-Habitat and the World Bank arguing that their 'Cities Without Slums' Campaign has led directly to a massive increase in forced evictions.[8]

    Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings vary from simple shacks to permanent and well-maintained structures. Most slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services.[9]

    Etymology

    Slum in Mumbai, India

    "Slum" was originally used mainly in the phrase "back slum," meaning a back room and later "back alley".[10] The origin of this word is thought to come from the Irish phrase 'S lom é (pron. s'lum ae) meaning 'exposed vulnerable place' [11] The Oxford English Dictionary says it may be a "cant" word of Roma (Gypsy) origin. The etymologist Eric Partridge says flatly that it is "of unknown origin."[12]

    Other terms that are often used interchangeably with "slum" include shanty town, favela, skid row, barrio, ghetto, and "The Hood," although each of these has a somewhat different meaning. Slums are distinguished from shanty towns and favelas in that the latter initially are low-class settlements, whereas slums are generally constructed early on as respectable, often prestigious communities. Skid row refers to an urban area with a high homeless population. The term is most commonly used on the west coast of the United States. Barrio may refer to an upper-class area in some Spanish-speaking countries, and only is used to describe a low-class community in the United States. Ghetto refers to a neighbourhood based on shared ethnicity. By contrast, identification of an area as a slum is based solely on socio-economic criteria, not on racial, ethnic, or religious criteria. The term "The Hood" is used in the United States only to describe a slum with a high minority population mostly refering to an African American population, from a shortening of "the neighborhood".

    Characteristics

    Slum in Tai Hang, Hong Kong, in the 1990s
    Bishopgate, a former slum area in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, UK

    The characteristics associated with slums vary from place to place. Slums are usually characterized by urban decay, high rates of poverty, and unemployment. They are commonly seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, high rates of mental illness, and suicide. In many poor countries they exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care.

    A UN Expert Group has created an operational definition of a slum as an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding; and insecure residential status.[13] A more complete definition of these can be found in the 2003 UN report titled "Slums of the World: The face of urban poverty in the new millennium?".[14] The report also lists various attributes and names that are given by individual countries which are somewhat different than these UN characteristics of a slum.

    Low socioeconomic status of its residents is another common characteristic given for a slum.[15]

    In many slums, especially in poor countries, many live in very narrow alleys that do not allow vehicles (like ambulances and fire trucks) to pass. The lack of services such as routine garbage collection allows rubbish to accumulate in huge quantities. The lack of infrastructure is caused by the informal nature of settlement and no planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Fires are often a serious problem.[16]

    Many slum dwellers employ themselves in the informal economy. This can include street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution. In some slums people even recycle trash of different kinds (from household garbage to electronics) for a living - selling either the odd usable goods or stripping broken goods for parts or raw materials.

    Slums are often associated with Victorian Britain, particularly in industrial, northern towns. These were generally still inhabited until the 1940s, when the government started slum clearance and built new council houses. There are still many examples left of former slum housing in the UK, however they have generally been restored into more modern housing.

    Growth and countermeasures

    Suburban slums in Cairo
    Some of the largest slums in the world, sorted by population

    Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in the Third World.

    In April 2005, the director of UN-HABITAT stated that the global community was falling short of the Millennium Development Goals which targeted significant improvements for slum dwellers and an additional 50 million people have been added to the slums of the world in the past two years.[17] According to a 2006 UN-HABITAT report, 327 million people live in slums in Commonwealth countries - almost one in six Commonwealth citizens. In a quarter of Commonwealth countries (11 African, 2 Asian and 1 Pacific), more than two out of three urban dwellers live in slums and many of these countries are urbanising rapidly.[18]

    The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain, the Indian Government has announced.[19]


    Many governments around the world have attempted to solve the problems of slums by clearing away old decrepit housing and replacing it with modern housing with much better sanitation. The displacement of slums is aided by the fact that many are squatter settlements whose property rights are not recognized by the state. This process is especially common in the Third World. Slum clearance often takes the form of eminent domain and urban renewal projects, and often the former residents are not welcome in the renewed housing. Moreover new projects are often on the semi-rural peripheries of cities far from opportunities for generating livelihoods as well as schools, clinics etc. At times this has resulted in large movements of inner city slum dwellers militantly opposing relocation to formal housing on the outskirts of cities. See, for example, Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban, South Africa.

    In some countries, leaders have addressed this situation by rescuing rural property rights to support traditional sustainable agriculture, however this solution has met with open hostility from capitalists and corporations. It also tends to be relatively unpopular with the slum communities themselves, as it involves moving out of the city back into the countryside, a reverse of the rural-urban migration that originally brought many of them into the city.

    Critics argue that slum clearances tend to ignore the social problems that cause slums and simply redistribute poverty to less valuable real estate. Where communities have been moved out of slum areas to newer housing, social cohesion may be lost. If the original community is moved back into newer housing after it has been built in the same location, residents of the new housing face the same problems of poverty and powerlessness. There is a growing movement to demand a global ban of 'slum clearance programmes' and other forms of mass evictions.[20]

    See also - variations of impoverished settlements

    See also - people, organizations and other related articles

    References

    1. ^ a b A Trip Through Kenya's Kibera Slum
    2. ^ Participating countries
    3. ^ Machetes, Ethnic Conflict and Reductionism The Dominion
    4. ^ Article on Mike Davis's book 'Planet of Slums
    5. ^ Slum Dwellers to double by 2030 UN-HABITAT report, April 2007
    6. ^ UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003".
    7. ^ See, for instance, the press release from Abahlali baseMjondolo on the Slums Act in South Africa
    8. ^ For instance see the work of Marie Huchzermeyer
    9. ^ UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003".
    10. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
    11. ^ Cassidy, D: "How the Irish invented Slang", page 267, CounterPunch Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-904859604
    12. ^ Eric Partridge: Origins, 633
    13. ^ UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003".
    14. ^ Slums of the WorldUN-HABITAT report, downloadable.
    15. ^ Measure Evaluation / NIPORT (2006)Slums of urban Bangladesh: mapping and census, 2005. Centre for Urban Studies / Measure Evaluation / National Institute of Population Research and Training. Accessed 9 June 2007 [1]
    16. ^ [For more on this see the report on shack fires in South Africa by Matt Birkinshaw at http://abahlali.org/files/Big_Devil_Politics_of_Shack_Fire.pdf]
    17. ^ Millenium Develpment Goals - News, 5 April 2005
    18. ^ Comhabitat: Briefing paper produced for the Commonwealth Civil Society Consultation, Marlborough House, London, Wednesday, 15 November 2006
    19. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1805596.ece
    20. ^ See Robert Neuwirth's article 'Squatters and the Cities of Tomorrow'

    Further Reading

    External links


     

     
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    slum n. A heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor. Often used in the plural.
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    Facing the Issues of Asia's Urban Slums

    Click the audio icon to listen to an interview with Celine d'Cruz of Slum/Shack Dwellers International

    Celine d'Cruz, co-coordinator Slum/Shack Dwellers International
    Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Mayor, Quezon City, Philippines

    HONOLULU (Sept. 24) – Across Asia, millions of people are pouring into crowded and often unmanageable urban areas in search of a better life.

    To some, particularly those who are tasked with running cities, these denizens of the "informal sector" represent a social and planning nightmare. But others see these striving urban slum and shack dwellers as the source of not just inspiration, but of solutions to at least some of Asia's urban planning challenges.

    This was the thrust of a discussion recently at the East-West Center that brought together a number of planning specialists, city leaders and others to talk about the implications of the urban transformation in Asia. They gathered for the inaugural seminar of a series on "Urban Asia –Challenges in Transition and Governance."

    Among the many topics discussed during the seminar was the role of civil society – citizen groups, nongovernmental organizations and others – in improving urban governance.

    Opinion among participants was somewhat divided between those who seek a greater role for civil society groups and those who believe that the ultimate responsibility, quite naturally, rests with those who have been elected to govern and manage.

    The most passionate voice for involving marginalized members of a city in its planning decision was Celine d'Cruz, originally from Mumbai, India, who is co-coordinator of the multinational service organization "Slum/Shack Dwellers International."

    d'Cruz said the focus of her group is not so much to take over the task of urban planning, or even to change basic policies. Rather, it is simply to win the urban poor a place at the table when decisions are being made. This, she argued, rarely happens under traditional circumstances.

    "We chose not to make changes in policy our first goal," she said. 'If you make the right changes on the ground, you prove yourself. We don't have a problem with good policy; our problem is with implementation."

    As an example, she said that in India, "policy is like a beautiful woman, but there is no one who can marry her."

    d'Cruz said her organization works not to direct the activities of slum dwellers or take charge of their lives, but rather to give them a voice so they can make their own decisions.  In Mumbai, for instance, when residents of one slum area came to recognize that there was just one functioning toilet for some 800 residents, they realized that marching on city government with broad demands for an improved sanitation system would result in nothing more than studies, planning and applications for loan funds.

    Instead, they simply asked for help in building one clean and functioning toilet facility for this one neighborhood, and then stood up to build the facility themselves.

    "The whole point is to come to the table with information and with solutions, and then the city leaders have to listen to you. It was like a dam burst open," she said.

    Shack/Slum Dwellers International recently received a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the urban poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The importance of the grant is that the money will go directly to grassroots groups to support their efforts in negotiation with urban governments.

    d'Cruz acknowledged that there is a danger in this kind of money, as it can lead to bureaucratic stagnation and dependence on outside funding rather than on the energy and ideas of the slum dwellers themselves. But she said the key will be to use resources to get marginalized people directly engaged with those who ultimately make the decisions about urban planning and development.

    "We're clear that we are going to work with government, whether we agree with them or don't agree with them," she said. "We'll engage any government that is in power. Whoever is across the table – we'll talk."

    It became clear at the Urban Asia seminar that such a conversation does not always come easily.

    d'Cruz's presentation drew a sharp response from Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the mayor of fast-growing Quezon City in the Philippines. With 2.68 million people, this city – just north of Manila – poses just about every urban planning and management issue imaginable. That includes, Belmonte said, dealing with the urban poor and the "informal sector" who have moved to the city in search of jobs and opportunities.

    "In the Philippines, virtually all the politicians talk about the litmus test of reducing poverty, and they are all accused of coddling the informal sector," Belmonte said. 'But can we really make a difference in the lives of these people? When you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, what do a few thousand matter? What's the angle? What are we trying to achieve?"

    Belmonte put a practical spin on the problem that faces administrators throughout the region: "The job is so immense. I am supposed to help everyone in the city, not just the 30 percent who are marginal. I'd welcome any help here."

    And that, said d'Cruz, is precisely what groups such as hers intend to do. They are not there to fight government or replace it, but rather to help make it more efficient in dealing with the problems of human migration and growth that are beyond anyone's ability to control.

    "You do your homework," she told Belmonte. "We do our homework. That's the model we choose. Then we can work together."

    Information on Slum/Shack Dwellers International can be found at www.sdinet.org.

    ##

    The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations and the governments of the region.

    Click here for daily news on the Pacific Islands.

    Click here for links to all East-West Center media programs, fellowships and services. naire kids escape slum fire.


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      Slums Within Asia

      The definition of a slum varies from one form to another depending on the background or country from which an individual comes from. Someone from a rich country may define slums as old run down buildings, whereas someone from a poor country will define slums as un-serviced haphazard constructions . The universal definition of a slum as found in the dictionary is said to be a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and filth . Slums are seen as a purely physical phenomenon. Slums are populated by two groups of people, the poor and the strangers . Since in slums there is a lack of cleanliness, serious diseases can spread easily and quickly. Slum inhabitants go through many problems, a few being they lack of public transit, constant migration, lack of water, no sewage or solid waste facilities, pollution, and shelter shortages . They also face poor ventilation, due to a lack of windows and electricity. They also tend to establish homes on unused land that is usually privately owned or government owned land. Therefore a concise definition for a slum would be a crowded urban area, marked by poverty, where living conditions are very bad and in poor condition .There are many reasons for the origination of


      Slum conditions may be horrible, but the poor have a better chance of getting labour work in the city, and have a much better life. A major policy change by SEWA is to allow banks to extend its activities to rural areas. SEWA was born in 1971, and was born in the labour movement with the idea that the self-employed, like salaried employees, have a right to their wages, decent working conditions and protective labor laws. In the second phase in 1976, the SEWA bank started advancing loans to its depositors from its own funds, and withdrew the credit from nationalized banks. Therefore by providing slum dwellers with training and teaching them how to manage their accounts, their participation increases, and thus the organization such as SEWA succeed. SEWA also lobbied the government in order to get cheap credit, and thus they helped to reduce the interest rates for the poor. SEWA lends money to its members if it is for working capital, for work tools, and for housing . Most associations try to eradicate slums, rather then trying to develop them, which would lead to a decrease in poverty. The SEWA bank provides all financed linked supportive services to its member, and with this aim they have started a work security insurance scheme and a housing program . Due to the large increase of population, there ends up being less housing, food, and water available. Another reason, besides over population is that when a city grows, land is taken over that was traditionally used for other purposes. SEWA stands for self-employed women's association . Slums are usually located and grow around mills or other large employment centers. 2) Fifty years of independence, India still has the largest number of poor people of any country in the world. Phase one from 1974 to1977, it concentrated on mobilizing self-employed women to bank with them, and acted as an intermediary for its depositors to get loans from nationalized banks.

      Common topics in this essay:
      India SEWA, , Slums India, Byculla Khar, Gerald Aungier, sewa bank, poor women, self-employed women, definition slum, sewa bank acts, nationalized banks sewa, slum dwellers, define slums, poverty alleviation, country define slums, own water, country define, bank acts,

      See the rest of the paper. Join Now!

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      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Jump to: navigation, search
      Charu Majumdar

      Charu Majumdar (Bangla: চারু মজুমদার) (1918–1972) was a communist revolutionary from India. He was born on 1918 in Siliguri, West Bengal. His father was a freedom fighter. He dropped out of college in 1938. In 1946, Maumdar joined the Tebhaga movement. He was briefly imprisoned in 1962.

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      [edit] External links

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      Charu Majumdar and my Ill-fated Romance - ...we are talking about the real deal, the fire-eating revolutionary, the father of the Naxalite movement.
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      Charu Majumdar

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      Charu Majumdar - The Father of Naxalism

      19 Nov 2003 ... Charu Majumdar - The Father of Naxalism Nadeem Ahmed (HindustanTimes.com) May 9 Comrade Charu Majumdar's life is a story of "riches to rags" ...
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      Urban Dictionary: Charu Majumdar

      29 May 2005 ... Charu Majumdar - 1 definition - Father of Indian Communist Movment, which is the path of new and glorious society ie to the socialist world.
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      Charu Majumdar: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

      Majumdar. Charu Majumdar (Bangla: ???? ???????) (1918–1972) was a communist revolutionary from India.He was born on 1918 in Siliguri. Siliguri ...
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      IISH - Asia Department - Collections - Bangladesh

      11 Feb 2008 ... Anita, Mohumita and Abhijeet Majumdar, children of Charu Majumdar. ... Interviewed by Shahriar Kabir, at Charu Majumdar's residence in ...
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      The Sunday Indian - The Nation's Greatest News Weekly - History ...

      First General Secretary and Co-Founder of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), Charu Majumdar joined Tebhaga Movement in 1946 and organised ...
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      1969
      Summing up th8 experience of the practice of the Indian revolution Comrad8 Charu Majumdar taught us in April, 1969, the method to 'I expand the ...
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      1972
      On July 28, 1972, rebel leader Charu Majumdar, founder of the Maoist movement that had its roots in agrarian unrest in West Bengal in the late ...
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          It will take a while for you to stomach the fact that he is the most wanted Maoist leader in Kerala, a glimpse of whom would be valuable information for ...
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          "how was it possible for George Bush to visit Andhra without any stiff resistance from people where Maoists claim to have strong support? ...
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          No landmines were found, nor was there any resistance from the Maoists. "Normal traffic has now been restored between Laxmipur and Narayanpatna and ...
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          1. The Communist Manifesto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

            Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on ...
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            by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels - 2006 - Social Science - 96 pages
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            In 1847 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto, which predicted the fall of capitalism. Read the excerpt below. "The modern ...
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            Palash Speaks

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            But his concept of Annihilation of caste has always been more RELEVANT than the ANNIHILATION Of Class Enemy! It is the Real Class Struggle in India against ...
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            The road from Naxalbari

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            Let us take a deep study on this Naxalite Movement: : Let us take ...

            12 May 2009 ... On the question of the 'annihilation of the class enemy', the Kanhai Chatterjee group had serious objections, as they were of the view that ...
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              1. Home - BAMCEF

                BAMCEF: The All India Backward (SC, ST, OBC) And Minority Communities Employees Federation.
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                24 Sep 2008 ... On both the fronts BAMCEF had succeeded to the extent that the power ... BAMCEF salutes the dedication, sacrifice and efforts of all its ...
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              5. Samatha India :: Kanshi Ram: from BAMCEF to the Bahujana Samaj Party

                Kanshi Ram: from BAMCEF to the Bahujana Samaj Party Dalit heroes :: Kanshiramsamatha01.08.2008 12:57 ISTKanshi Ram: from BAMCEF to the Bahujana Samaj ...
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              7. BAMCEF bulletin

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                  Free, News, Legal, Prizes, Download, News Letters, Schools, Colleges, Sex, Photogallery, Wallpapers, Media, Bollywood, Crime, Actress, Customs, ...
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                  1. Mulnivasi Mahila Sangh - BAMCEF

                    Dr.Manisha Bangar- National President-Mulnivasi Ladies Sangh ... the offshoot organisation "Mulnivasi Sangh" was working under the able guidance of BAMCEF. ...
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                  2. Activities - BAMCEF

                    It is only through such organization, we could erase the inhuman culture of the Arya Brahmins and reestablish the honorable Mulnivasi culture. BAMCEF has ...
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                  3. Palash Speaks

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                    Last day, Me and Sabita accompanied a team from Mumbai Mulnivasi Mahila Sangh comprising of Shibani Biswas and former Air Hostess Prabha Tai and Bamcef ...
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                  8. SMS GupShup

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                    1. BAMCEF bulletin

                      20 Nov 2000 ... The conference was inaugurated by Mr. Waman Meshram, National President BAMCEF. ... In his inaugural speech Mr. Waman Meshram said that Arya ...
                      www.ambedkar.org/News/hl/BAMCEFbulletin.htm - Cached - Similar -
                    2. 25000 Dalits in Kerala to embrace Buddhism http://www.deccanherald ...

                      19 Nov 2001 ... Special guest: Mr. Jagdish Roy (Chairman, Dalit Sahitya Academy, England). Mr. Waman Meshram, National President BAMCEF shall Preside over. ...
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                    3. Dalit Voice - The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied ...

                      According to a report in the local Marathi daily, Samrat (May 1, 2006), Waman Meshram, president, BAMCEF, addressing a meeting at Shivaji Park here on April ...
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                    4. Dalit Voice - The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied ...

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                    5. title

                      17 May 2007 ... I made the decision on the platform without any obligation to invite your, then President Waman Meshram at my own expense to help me ...
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                    6. Voice of Liberation of Indeigeneous People and their Motherland ...

                      Gandhi sacrificed the rights of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to create Pakistan -Mr. Waman Meshram. Addressing the people gathered in the ...
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                    7. Voice of Liberation of Indeigeneous People and their Motherland ...

                      Elaborating the basic cause of organizing the convention Mr. Waman Meshram said that or ganizing a convention is not the objective before the organization. ...
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                    8. Brahminical bid to kill 2 crore Bengali Dalit

                      To project the plight of our Bengali Mulnivasi brethren we brought this along with documentary evidence to the notice of Waman Meshram, President of BAMCEF. ...
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                      4 Mar 2007 ... In this context, BAMCEF president Waman Meshram told the function organised by Jamat-e-Islami Hind here on Saturday no law supported ...
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                      999 999% /999 VOICE OF DALIT INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER December ...

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                      Visiting scholars and activists included Professor Kancha Ilaiah, Dr John Dayal, Mr. M C Raj, Mr. Waman Meshram and Mr M.K.Parmar from India, ...
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                      1. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar And His People

                        Includes collection of articles and news stories concerning the Scheduled castes and tribes who were the focus of Dr. Ambedkar's work.
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                      3. B. R. Ambedkar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                        Born into a poor Untouchable family, Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna — the Hindu ...
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                      4. Image results for Ambedkar

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                      5. Local business results for Ambedkar near Kolkata, West Bengal

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                        Dr BR Ambedkar Social Welfare Associated

                         - maps.google.co.in
                        242/2a,A P C Road, Shyambazar, Kolkata - 033 25301195
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                        Dr BR Ambedkar Jr High School

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                        37/1,Guru Rabi Das Sarani, Topsia, Kolkata - 033 22854077
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                      6. Introduction - Dr.B.R.Ambedkar

                        The younger brother's name was Bhimrao Ambedkar. A few days passed. ... Dr.B.R.Ambedkar - Great Leader who fought untiringly for the downtrodden ...
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                      7. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University -Education At Your Doorstep

                        Formerly known as Andhra Pradesh Open University. Has a wide network of 137 study centers spread throughout the state. With guide to management, academics, ...
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                      8. Dr Ambedkar Foundation - The Web Site

                        A government sponsored body to carry on the work of Babasaheb.
                        ambedkarfoundation.nic.in/ - Cached - Similar -
                      9. Law University

                      10. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University

                        Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Result of CCC ,B.A. , B.COM, MGT , MSO , MHD (FEB-2009). UPCOMING EVENTS. 21 JUNE 2009 ...
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                      11. Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar

                        Formerly Regional Engineering College, Jalandhar. Includes information on departments, placements, research, and other facilities.
                        www.nitj.ac.in/ - Cached - Similar -
                      12. Video results for Ambedkar


                        Unveiled, Maya's creations far from complete

                        Expressindia.com - Lalmani Verma - ‎Jun 26, 2009‎
                        Construction was started by UPRNN at the Ambedkar Memorial complex in Gomti Nagar nearly a month ago. It will be a 28-metre high, pink stone pyramid, ...

                        HIV affected woman denied treatment, delivers outside hospital

                        Indopia - ‎3 hours ago‎
                        ... her baby outside a government hospital after she was allegedly denied treatment by the doctors in eastern Uttar Pradesh&aposs Ambedkar Nagar district. ...

                        Ambedkar varsity admissions on

                        Times of India - ‎Jun 24, 2009‎
                        NEW DELHI: The admission process for the first batch of Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD) kicked-off on Monday. The second state university of Delhi will ...

                        Steps to curb exorbitant school fees

                        Hindu - Atiq Khan - ‎Jun 25, 2009‎
                        The Cabinet also okayed the proposal to upgrade the civic facilities in the Dalit "bastis" in 2000 Ambedkar villages in the 2009-10 financial year involving ...

                        Mayavati in a monumental battle

                        Calcutta Telegraph - Samanwaya Rautray - ‎Jun 29, 2009‎
                        And only one statue for Ambedkar is hurting?" Mishra asked, trying to play the Dalit card. "Fine, let the court issue a notice. We will raise larger issues ...

                        PS to CM orders suspension of JE

                        Times of India - ‎Jun 29, 2009‎
                        ... Raj Kumar on Monday when he came to know that the tube well had not been functioning for last eight months at Rajpur Ambedkar village in Pindra block. ...

                        CM's parks guzzle crores

                        Times of India - Pankaj Shah - ‎Jun 27, 2009‎
                        The Ambedkar Udyan in Gomtinagar was already touching a mark of Rs 1500 crore on expenditure few months back. And if the details submitted by the petitioner ...

                        TD MLA goes on fast amid high drama

                        Express Buzz - ‎Jun 29, 2009‎
                        HYDERABAD: High drama unfolded on Monday, first at the BR Ambedkar statue near Tank Bund and later at the Gandhinagar police station, as Telugu Desam Party ...

                        Ambedkar Rd repair work is complete

                        Times of India - ‎Jun 6, 2009‎
                        MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has announced that all the repair work on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar road has been completed and the ...

                        Survivor speaks of Yemenia crash

                        BBC News - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        A 12-year-old girl thought to be the only survivor of the Yemenia air crash has told how she was thrown into the ocean and watched her aircraft sink.

                        Australia denies media report on deaths of Indian students

                        Economic Times - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        1 Jul 2009, 2238 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The Australian government on Wednesday contested the claims that 54 foreign students, nearly half of them Indians, have died in that country last year saying the reports "did not contain accurate statistics".

                        West Bengal civic polls: Trinamool-Cong beat Left Front

                        Times of India - ‎3 hours ago‎
                        KOLKATA: The Congress-Trinamool alliance in West Bengal continued its victory march and crushed the ruling Left Front (LF) in the urban civic body polls on Wednesday.

                        India still waiting for action on 26/11 culprits: Krishna

                        Sify - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        Ahead of the meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders in Egypt later this month, India Wednesday said it is not 'afraid to talk' to Pakistan but expects Islamabad to take concrete and visible action against terrorist outfits before deciding on ...

                        CPM wants report tabled in parliament

                        Daily News & Analysis - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded on Wednesday that the Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the disputed Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 be tabled in parliament.

                        EDITORIAL COMMENT | Name Games

                        Times of India - ‎24 minutes ago‎
                        Even before the much-awaited Bandra-Worli sea link was thrown open to the public, the name game had begun. At the inauguration of the bridge, NCP chief Sharad Pawar proposed that it be named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

                        CRPF withdrawn from Kandhamal

                        Economic Times - Nageshwar Patnaik - ‎4 hours ago‎
                        BHUBANESWAR: In a major development, the last batch of Central forces deployed in the trouble-torn Kandhamal district was withdrawn on Wednesday, according to Kandhamal district collector Krishan Kumar.

                        NSG hubs ready but faces shortage of commandos

                        IBNLive.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        TEETHING PROBLEMS: Experts say there is always a 25 per cent shortfall of manpower in such hubs. ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos be a Citizen Journalist.

                        Exams are not the problem

                        Times of India - Nandita Sengupta - ‎23 minutes ago‎
                        HRD minister Kapil Sibal's idea of doing away with the class X board exams is a sweet nothing. It's music to the ears but it doesn't amount to much.

                        Omar orders CRPF pullout from agitating Baramulla

                        Daily News & Analysis - ‎52 minutes ago‎
                        Srinagar: Renewed protests in Baramulla that have claimed four lives so far forced the six-month-old Omar Abdullah government on Wednesday to replace CRPF with J&K Police in the garrison town.

                        Dalit icon statues to be projected as tourist spots: Maya

                        Times of India - ‎4 hours ago‎
                        1 Jul 2009, 1930 hrs IST, PTI LUCKNOW: Unfazed by the outcry over the alleged misuse of funds for construction of statues and parks in Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday said the state government would project these places as tourist ...

                        Slap lands Andhra MP in a soup

                        Daily News & Analysis - Javed M Ansari - ‎59 minutes ago‎
                        New Delhi: Nagarkurnool Congress MP M Jagannath has begun to feel the sting of the slap he landed on the cheek of a bank manager in Mehboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday.

                        Is change on the right track?

                        Times of India - Tanmoy Ghosh - ‎4 hours ago‎
                        Mamata Banerjee should take necessary steps to put an end to police atrocities. All tourist spots should be well-connected to the city by rail.

                        Marksheet case: Lawyer representing doctor, son apologises

                        Daily News & Analysis - ‎3 hours ago‎
                        PTI Chennai: The lawyer representing a doctor and his son in a forged marksheet case has apologised to Madras High Court judge S Reghupathy, whose charge that a Union minister had tried to influence him in the case sparked off a nationwide concern ...

                        Sukhbir Singh Badal gives explanation on his resignation

                        PunjabNewsline.com - ‎2 hours ago‎
                        CHANDIGARH: Sukhbir Singh Badal President Shiromani Akali Dal and Deputy Chief Minister Punjab who submitted his resignation from the post of Deputy Chief Minister Punjab to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has given explanation on reasons for ...

                        Orissa Assembly speaker summons missing MLA

                        Economic Times - Nageshwar Patnaik - ‎6 hours ago‎
                        BHUBANESWAR: Orissa Assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat on Tuesday summoned an independent MLA from Athagarh, backed by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Ramesh Rout, who is apparently "missing" for the last 10 days, for personal appearance on or before ...

                        Court sentences 16 in fodder scam case

                        Times of India - ‎1 hour ago‎
                        1 Jul 2009, 2207 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: A CBI special court has sentenced 16 people out of the total of 48 convicted in one of the multi-crore fodder scam cases.
                        Nine get 3yr RI in fodder case Calcutta Telegraph

                        Nirupama is new foreign secretary

                        Hindustan Times - ‎8 hours ago‎
                        Nirupama Rao, named as the next Foreign Secretary, served in the East Asia Division of the Ministry from 1984 to 1992, including as Joint Secretary (East Asia).

                        Nitish calls for food security legislation

                        Times of India - ‎18 hours ago‎
                        PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar has written a letter to Union agriculture and consumer affairs minister Sharad Pawar extending support to Central government's proposal to bring about a legislation, National Food Security Act, to provide food ...
                        Govt boost to job Calcutta Telegraph

                        Siddu sees red over circular

                        Times of India - ‎15 hours ago‎
                        BANGALORE: The government's circular curbing the powers of opposition leaders is threatening to snowball into a major controversy.

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