Portrait of a Holy City Struck by Capitalism and Tata`s Pull Back

Portrait of a Holy City Struck by Capitalism and Tata`s Pull Back
Option

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 51

Palash Biswas
http://troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/



Calcutta Telegraph Mamata adamant on sit-in at Singur
Hindu, India - 14 Aug 2008
“None has the right to stop a democratic movement,” she said, referring to moves by the State government to disallow any attempt to disrupt peace at Singur. ...
Singur: Govt to take stern steps The Statesman
In Singur, security plan in place for Aug 24 TMC strike Kolkata Newsline
Displaced Singur farmers to get shops Livemint
Calcutta Telegraph
all 5 news articles »

Economic boost: Tata Motors transforms Singur
Times of India, India - 11 Aug 2008
Like it or curse it, the Tata Nano factory in Singur is happening. No matter what Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee say or do from here on, ...
Himalayan Singur, minus Mamata Calcutta Telegraph
CPM signals Tata-Mamata talks Calcutta Telegraph
all 7 news articles »
Congress asks Left to initiate Singur talks
The Statesman, India - 9 Aug 2008
Alleging that the state government's “dictatorial” attitude and hasty administrative steps at Singur has complicated the situation, Madhya Pradesh Congress ...
CPM plans tit for tat in Singur Calcutta Telegraph
Marxists caught in their own trap The Statesman
Govt waits for Mamata request Calcutta Telegraph
all 8 news articles »

Singur under seige, thanks to the Left Front

Bs Reporter / Singur August 22, 2008, 19:00 IST

Singur is under siege today thanks to a meeting organised by the Left Front
Close to 1,000 buses have brought in lakhs of people to Singur, the factory site of Tata Motors. All movement on the National Highway, to and fro from the factory, has been stopped. While some work appears to be underway, only a handful of people are working at the site and the area is paralysed by people walking or squatting around the site.

Many of the buses carrying CPI (M) supporters appeared to be parked inside the site.

Thanks to the show of strength the factory site seems deserted. Very few men and machine appear to be working inside. The action is entirely outside the factory.

In other words, it's a another day of work loss for the Singur factory.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=45152

AFP India's Tata says may shift Nano car plant due to protests
AFP - 4 hours ago
If the protests do not end at the Singur plant, "we will very reluctantly need to move," Tata told reporters following the Tata Motors annual meeting. ...
End of Nano dreams? Tata threatens to pull out project
NDTV.com, India - 7 hours ago
Ratan Tata has threatened to pull out 'Nano' car project from West Bengal if violence continues in Singur. West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, ...

FICCI comes out in support of Singur project
Merinews, India - 2 hours ago
FICCI said that Tata’s small car unit in Singur has been a dream project for the state and any number of alternative sites were offered on a platter ...
No industrialisation at cost of farmers: Mamata
Hindu, India - 8 minutes ago
Singur problem would never be solved until and unless 400 acres of land forcibly taken away from unwilling farmers for the small car project was returned ...

Basu welcomes Mamata's willingness to talk on Singur
Press Trust of India, India - 8 Aug 2008
In an apparent softening of her belligerent stand on the Tata Motors' plant at Singur, Mamata Banerjee had said yesterday that she was open for talks with ...
Mamata's Singur agitation 'fascist' in nature: Subhas Hindu
Industry backs Buddha on Singur, takes a dig at bandh culture Expressindia.com
Let Singur be a state showpiece Economic Times
NDTV.com - Hindustan Times
all 236 news articles »
Nationwide strike against price rise cripples Left-ruled states
Times of India, India - 20 Aug 2008
The strike hindered work in the Left Front government's industrial spotlight of Singur as well. Only those workers who’ve been given shelter at the small ...
Small car’s big troubles continue
Daily News & Analysis, India - 17 hours ago
“Should the uncertainty continue, the company will take a call and decide if it makes sense to continue in Singur. Till then, Tata Motors is determined to ...

AFP Farmers talk tough on Singur
The Statesman, India - 8 Aug 2008
8: Although Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee agreed to talk to the authorities of Tata Motors over the “Singur land grab” controversy, ...
Communists assure security to Tata's small car plant at Singur Economic Times
Renewed protests threaten to delay Nano India launch Reuters
Bumpy road for world's cheapest car AFP
Hindu - MarketWatch
all 54 news articles »

VIENNA: A proposed provision in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group draft seeking to halt all nuclear commerce between the Group and India if it conducted further tests seemed to have become the sticking point as the 45-member NSG went into the second round of its meeting here Friday. ( Watch )

Most members are in favour of lifting the current ban that prevents nuclear commerce between the NSG and a non-signatory of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), like India. But some NSG members insist that it should not be lifted unless New Delhi formally says no to further nuclear tests.

India has made it clear it will not accept any "new" provisions in the draft that the United States had prepared for the NSG before its two-day meeting began here Thursday.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_says_no_to_new_provisions_in_NSG_draft/articleshow/3394115.cms

When Mr Obama surged ahead, the news media went into overdrive and, according to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Centre, there has been more coverage of him than Mr McCain in the US news media every month this year, BBC reports. According to BBC,` They were watching President George W Bush's approval ratings scrape historic lows, the economy heading for the doldrums and continuing slaughter in Iraq - despite the surge of American troops.

The Republican Party seemed underwhelmed by its choice of presidential candidates and it was not hard to find party activists hunched over a beer and staring blankly into the middle distance, conceding that the Democrats seemed to have the White House wrapped up.’

RSS playing havoc to partition India once again. The movement for land for Amarnath Shrine is doing well as it has provoked the Autonomy demand forgotten.Reviving their strike call, separatist leaders on Friday asked people to observe a complete shutdown in the Kashmir valley for three days in the wake of the Amarnath land row, media reports.

Kolkata did nothing to stop partition in 1947. Rather the Bengali Brahmins did everything to ensure that the power should be transferred to them only ejecting out our indigenous people out of their Home lands in Punjab, Sind and Bengal.

Kolkata civil society has not decided any stance on this burning issue!


In Kolkata, the Sacred Cow of Bengalies worldwide,Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata Friday threatened to pull out of Singur saying that it was not possible to work in an atmosphere of tension and distrust.Even as the agitation in Singur is set to intensify, Tata Motors has assured the West Bengal Government that they will not pull out of the project until forced to. Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata met Bengal Industries Minister, Nirupam Sen, late Thursday night and expressed his anxiety over the proposed agitation on August 24. The meeting was held to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation at the Nano car plant at Singur. Tata aims to roll out the world's cheapest car in October this year.

After the threat from Tata group chairman Ratan Tata to shift the Tata Nano factory out of West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that the government is looking for a solution to the issue.

He said that the government has to find the solution through dialogue on Singur, adding that people of the state want the project.

"There will be future talks. I have appealed to the opposition to have peaceful demonstrations," said Buddhadeb.

He said that Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee wanted some papers that have been sent to her office.

In a surprise move, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself kicked off the crucial talks on the Singur deadlock with the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The key issue of the talks is Mamata Banerjee's demand for the return of 400 acres from the Tata factory site to angry farmers.

If the land is not returned, Mamata Banerjee has threatened to indefinitely gherao the Tata Motors factory site from the August 24.

Tata group chief Ratan Tata has threatened to exit West Bengal if there was no let-up in violence at Singur, where the company is building a factory to make the world's cheapest car 'Nano'.

Tata said if the group was unwanted in the state "we would have to make a move despite whatever investments had been already made in the project".

The project is facing political protests, marred by violence. The Opposition, mainly the Trinamool Congress, has been demanding return of 400 acres of land, which the Tatas say, is required for ancillarisation of the project.

Meanwhile,Tata Motors (TML) has reviewed the long-term financing plans it announced in May for the Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) acquisition. Given the market weakness, it plans to raise Rs 3,000 crore through a phased divestment of certain investments over 6-8 months instead of the earlier plan to issue convertible preference shares.

TML had earlier announced that it would raise Rs 7,200 crore through three different rights issues. Now, it would raise Rs 4,200 crore through two different rights issues.

Shares in India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) ended down on Thursday after having risen nearly 5 percent on its decision to scrap a planned 30 billion rupee ($686 million) convertible preference share issue.

India's top vehicle maker said late on Wednesday it would cancel the issue due to weak stock markets, and instead raise funds by selling some investments over the next six to eight months, within the Tata group where possible.

It now plans to raise 42 billion rupees from two rights issues instead of 72 billion rupees from three simultaneous issues to help fund its $2.3 billion acquisition of the Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands.

Addressing shareholders, Tata said that the company was looking at acquisitions to complement its product range. Without clarifying the segment in which Tata Tea was eyeing acquisitions, Tata said that the acquisitions would be strategic that would add particular strength, footprint in another country or access to technology.Tata Tea will be a beverage and food company, said Ratan Tata, chairman Tata Tea, at the company’s annual general meeting.

Mergers and acquisitions, or investments would be made, which make strategic value for us,” he said.

Responding to queries, on whether Tata Tea would consider changing its name, Tata said that the complexion of the company had changed from a mere tea company and the company would consider it.

Speaking on the sidelines, R K Krishna Kumar, vice-chairman, Tata Tea said that the company was eyeing markets in America and Russia in a big way and could even look at acquisitions.

Tata Tea would also look at spread and expanding its wellness range. The company was now a complete global company with 42 brands in 45 countries.

Tata Motors, one of India`s largest car producers will launch new second-generation Tata Indica by name of Indica Vista, reports Business Standard.
Within days of withdrawing a proposed investment plan of $3 billion in Bangladesh because of the country's prevalent political instability and the non-committal stance of the government, Tata Steel (BOM:500470) (Mumbai, India) firmed up its plans of developing a steel complex with a capacity of 4.5 million tons per year in Vietnam. The project will have an estimated cost of $5 billion. Essar Steel (Mumbai), POSCO (NYSE:PKX) (Pohang, South Korea) and Baosteel (Shanghai, China) were also reported to be in the race with Tata Steel for the project.

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THE £6.2-billion takeover of the Scunthorpe steelworks and the rest of the Corus business has proven to be the buy of the century for the new Indian owners.Tata Steel has made it into the list of the world's wealthiest companies for the first time in its 101-year history.The maiden entry at number 315 in the list of Global 500 companies released by the Fortune magazine comes after the Mumbai-based steelmaker announced its yearly profit had almost trebled to £1.46-billion.Profits for the quarter ending June 30 were also up by 21.78 per cent.But the latest results do not include the consolidated performance of Corus which is due to be announced next month.

Have you watched the live telecast and analysis on your TV browsing National and local channels today?

The press conference was managed with surgical precision.

Ratan Tata was perfect enough to draw the present Industrial scenario and future potentials in West Bengal!

But we have not addressed the basic problems what happened to all those closed industrial units in west Bengal? More than fifty six thousands of them?

What happened to the workers employed there?

What happened to the property owned by those industries?

What happened to Cotton?

What happened to Jute?

What happened to Tea?

What happened to engineering products?

It is the new aesthetics of market to strike the soft targets. Ratan tata quoted the Intelligentsia which eventually leads Singur Insurrection and addressed the Civil Society with a request to decide his option, to be or not to be!

Thus, the Portrait of the Holy city is drawn with intense interaction in between the Corporate and the civil society.

Sharing anguish of Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata, leading industry chambers on Friday asked the West Bengal Government to resolve the land issue with the Opposition and ensure that the Tata's dream small car project is not pulled out of the state.

The three apex chambers -- CII, FICCI and Assocham -- said West Bengal would be a big loser if the Tatas withdraw from the Singur project out of frustration.

"This (Tatas' withdrawing) will create problems for the state not only in the present but also for future in attracting investment," Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Secretary General Amit Mitra said.

He said many alternative sites were offered "on a platter" elsewhere in the country for locating the small car project. But the Tatas decided on Singur because they were "committed to bring investment into a state which had attracted little investor attention".

An angry Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry Chandrajit Banerjee said, "Small car is a world story. It is an issue of the country's image."

Banerjee said if the Tatas pull out of West Bengal, it would "irreversibly hamper the future industrialisation of the state and could take it back to an age of industrial vacuum".

Asked who is to blame for the impasse, Banerjee said, "anybody trying to create roadblock is wrong".

Assocham President Sajjan Jindal, whose JSW group has also lined up big-time investment in the State, said if the Tatas leave it would take West Bengal "back to the 1970s when the state witnessed large exodus of industry".

My friends, despite the aggressive stance taken by the Resistance Hegemony, Singur People have no chance in the bargain!
Not at all.
Anad Bazar Patrica leads the media to defend indiscriminate Industrialisation and Urbanisation! It defends Nuke Deal and US interests in India! It is fighting to build up Public Opinion for Tatas, Salem and Zindal and all the corporate houses. It is perverting Bengali language and literature. It has published so many issues of Desh to focus on Industrialisation! It has launched a campaign to promote Brand Buddha and at the same time it is the fiercest critic of the Left, specially CPIM! It mocks the third front and alliance of the Left with Mayawati. it is the only media Hose which shamelessly supports any US aggression anywhere in the world.
Pardon me!All the dignitaries of the so called Civil society have been produced by this Anad Bazar Group. Only exceptions are Mahashweta di and Nabarun Bhattacharya, her son!
Would all the writers and artists belonging to SWAJAN, SANHATI and Nagarik Manch be ready to boycott this anti people Media House?
Would Icon Writers not write in Puja specials published by the media houses helping the Ruling Gestapo?
Would they have enough courage to boycott the electronic media booms?
Zee network has taken over all government auditoriums including the cluster of Rabindra Sadan as they had tried in vain to capture the News Agency UNI. UNI workers sent back Subhash Chandra? Who dares in Bengal?
Dr Amartya sen is another Holy Cow of Bangla Caste Hindu Nationality who is the most powerful spokesman of US corporate Imperialism and the Ruling Gestapo in West Bengal? Who is also pleading for TATAs. The so called Nobel laureate spares Imperialism in significant works on Famine in India as well as China.
May the Civil society try to eject out this global Icon out of Bengal?
Nothing is going to happen,Mr Ratan Tata knows it correctly and hence, he leaves the Option of Industrialisation open to be decided by the Civil Society only. he has staked his money on the Right choice and he is not going to fail!
On Thursday, a section of city Intelligentsia led by Mahashweta Devi addressed another Press conference. Tushar Talukdar was on of the intellectual present. Talukdar was Kolkat Police commissioner during Jyoti Basu tenure. The so called civil society is tempted to field ex IPS, WBCS and IPS officers to defend Singur and Nandigram cases! is it not contradictory. The Butcher of Marichjhanpi genocide, Amiya Sanyal speaks on democratic norms. All those officials, known policy makers and executives of Ruling Hegemony gestapo accompany Mahashweta Devi and waste tonnes of news prints on edit pages! How the massacre Brigade has changed it`s heart?
Where is the space for the victims? Those who are uprooted from life and livelihood? Those who are being annihilated?
Neither Ruling nor Resistance Hegemony is interested to save our indigenous aboriginal communities!
I beg your pardon!


The Government of Bengal has been holding talks with the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for the last few days to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to the opposition of the villagers to the Tata Motors plant which is to produce the low cost car Nano. The controversy surrounds the acquisition of 997-acre plot by the Bengal Government for the Rs 1 lakh car plant at Singur, 40km west of Kolkata.While the Trinamul Congress led resistance demands that the Government return 400 acres to those who did not want to sell their land, the Government has refused to do so.
Where the fire brand leader was hidden all the time while Tatas were allowed to go on with construction works?
Tats were allowed to invest Rs 15,000 corore! Now Ratan Tata leaves the Option to be decided by the Civil Society whether to pull out or not!
Where has been our dearest NGO leader Medha Patkar?
On 24th, I am sure . we will see another Olympiad of Reality Show where all the unexpected faces would be presented. We may guess some of them as Amar Singh and Somen Mitra!
Congress has also jumped in the fray as the marriage between UPA and Left is broken abruptly!
I won`t be surprised if the ruling left fields Mayawati to plead for Industry!
What is this all about?
Please explain!
What the Indigenous people, the peasants would get in this power game?
Mamata has clarified that she is against neither industrialisation nor the Tatas. It is understood that she is against the Ruling left Front! What to do with this stance?
Mamata and Medha and the Civil society have allowed Tatas and the State government to go on with Singur Project! Now they are just bargaining for some hundred acres of land!
What is the development we see in POSCO, Orissa?
What happened in Barnala?
What was the case of Navi Mumbai?
What we see in Noida?
Are all these cases not linked at all?
Just trace the developments in the sovereign Open Market!
Just have a look on the changing Geopolitics which has been turned into a war zone, a killing field with realliance of Global ruling Classes and strategic realliance in US Lead!
Who is leading the movement against the anti people policy making of the central government? What about Inflation, price rise, retail chain, nuclear plants and parks,GM seeds, natural resources, food security and starvation?
The Resistance Hegemony is either ignorant or cooperative to the task of annihilation!
Matters took a dramatic turn yesterday with the Trinamool Congress (TC) controlled gram panchayat in Singur saying that it would not grant any permissions to the plant like environmental and water use licences, and also threatened to take action against the company as its factory was blocking the rainwater drainage channel of the entire area leading onto the Hooghly river.
Speaking to reporters after the Tata Tea AGM, Ratan Tata said today: "We are deeply concerned at the violence and disruption and at the safety of our employees, equipment and investments at the project site at Singur," He said: "It is for the people of West Bengal and Kolkata to decide whether we are unwanted or accept us as a good corporate citizen.
"If it is the latter, then it is good."
He said that if it was the other, then it would be impossible to alter the plan "following which we would have to make a move despite whatever investments had been already made in the project."

Visibly disturbed Tata said that Rs 1500 crore of investments had been already made in the project.
"There is a sense of tension, violence and disruption (at Singur). Obviously it is not a conducive atmosphere. The compound wall is broken down, materials stolen." "Whatever be the cost, we will move out if the situation demands so," he said.
Tata said that there was a general perception that Tatas were exploiting the State. "We are extremely sensitive to the needs of the rural community. We have not come to exploit anyone. We have got the land on lease and not bought it."
The State had been long ignored by industrial houses, including the Tatas. "Despite much flak which we have drawn for locating the dream project at Singur, we have decided to locate the project here.
"We are also gifting a hospital to the State which would be commissioned in March 2009," he said. Saying that he had no regret for coming to West Bengal, he said "I am an optimist."
If the project was moved out of Singur, then it would definitely affect the future flow of investments by the Tatas in the State, he said.
Explaining the situation at Singur, Tata said: "It is not possible to work under police protection."
On the issue of 400 acres which had been earmarked for the ancillary units, Tata said that the small car 'Nano' was a unique product. "It is necessary to incorporate the ancillary units in the same location to keep the logistics cost low." 
The main opposition Trinamool Congress in the State is insisting that the company set up operations on 600 acres and return 400 acres of land earmarked for ancillary units to farmers from whom the property was acquired forcibly.
With the State Government not relenting to the opposition party's demands, a deadlock has been created leading to tension and violence in the project area.

TC chief Mamata Banerjee meanwhile has said that she would go ahead with the indefinite dharna near the Tata Motors' small car plant from August 24 but was open to dialogue.
She said yesterday that her party had already offered to the state government a solution for return of the 400 acres at Singur to 'unwilling' farmers.
Banerjee offered, “Let the company take whatever land it wants for its 600 acre factory and only after that will the farmers who have not accepted compensation take back their land- I am not insisting on return of the exact land”.
Tata Motors had written a “confidential” letter to Banerjee on the Nano small car project in Singur saying it needed only 600 acres for its car plant, while the other 400-odd acres at Singur would house auto component companies which would supply to the Nano project and also to other clients.
According to the government, this had emboldened Banerjee to ask for return of 400 acres.
To combat this, the state government yesterday produced a letter by Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant giving an “update” to West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen reportedly saying that it needed the full 997 acres now.

And now see what is all about the Policy making?
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval for compulsory packaging of food grains and sugar in jute bags on 100 per cent basis for the jute year 2008-09 (July-June).
In the 2007-08 jute year too, following a meeting of the CCEA that was held under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, it was decided that jute bags must be used on 100 per cent basis for packaging of food grains and sugar.
The decision has been welcomed by the Rs 6,500-crore turnover jute industry, which had earlier apprehended a dilution of the Jute Packaging Materials Act, 1987, which makes it mandatory for food grains and sugar to be packed on 100 per cent basis in jute bags.
The move will directly benefit four million jute growers and two-and-a-half lakh workers engaged in the jute mills industry. The decision will ensure offtake of nine lakh tonnes of jute goods, out of the 17 lakh tonnes produced by the industry.
However, some exemptions have been prescribed in the order under the JPM Act. In the case of shortage or disruption in the supply of jute packaging material, the Union Ministry of Textiles will, in consultation with the user ministries concerned, further relax these provisions up to a maximum of 20 per cent for food grains and sugar, respectively.

The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.63 per cent during the week ended August 9, above the previous week’s year-on-year rise of 12.44 per cent, Government data showed on Thursday. The Union Government, on Thursday, approved a new open market sale scheme (OMSS) for wheat and rice in order to keep grain prices in check ahead of the upcoming festival season.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), at its meeting here, decided to allocate wheat under the OMSS both to State Governments/Union Territories as well as bulk consumers, such as roller flour mills.
“We plan to channelise about 50 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat under the scheme between September and March next.
Another 10 lt will be allocated to States/UTs as additional above-poverty-line (APL) quota”, a senior Food Ministry official said.
The exact distribution of the overall 50 lt OMSS quantities between the States/UTs and bulk consumers, and also the timing of intervention and locations, will be decided by the Ministry based on the recommendation of a Committee of Secretaries (CoS).
The official WPI for ‘All Commodities’ for the week ended August 9 rose to 240.7 points, up from 240.4 points for the previous week.

The annual inflation rate was recorded at 4.24 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.
On a disaggregated basis, during the latest reported week, the index for the Primary Articles group rose marginally as the Food Articles’ group index rose by 0.3 per cent due to higher prices of masur (3 per cent), tea, moong and gram (2 per cent each) and milk (1 per cent). However, the prices of urad, fish-marine and arhar (1 per cent each) declined.
In a move that would keep the roll out of third generation services on track, the Department of Telecom has rejected telecom regulator’s call to review some parts of the recently announced third generation policy. The TRAI had sought a review on several issues in the policy – the key one being DoT’s decision to allocate spectrum to CDMA players based on subscriber numbers. The regulator had also asked the Government to refer the issue of allowing new and foreign players back to TRAI so that it can suggest the terms and conditions of the new licence category.Rejecting TRAI’s view on foreign players, an internal DoT note said, “ The unified access licence are authorised to provide triple play – voice, data and video without any limit on speed of data. 3G service providers are not new category of licensees and they shall be offering 3G services under terms & conditions of the UASL licence. Therefore, the provision of the TRAI ACT 1997 is not applicable in this situation.”
Faced with falling margins due to rising interest rates, banks are focusing on the small and medium enterprises sector. Although lending to SMEs is slightly more risky compared with big corporates, with defaults ranging from 1-3 per cent, the higher returns make up for the defaults, said bankers.
It is, as one banker said, the ‘bread and butter’ for banks.
An SME client is usually charged interest rates slightly higher than the benchmark prime-lending rate of banks. “While a ‘AAA’ rated corporate can get loans at PLR or even 1-1.5 per cent lower than PLR, lending to SME is usually never lower than PLR,” said Mr V.K. Dhingra, Executive Director, UCO Bank.
Besides earning a higher yield, banks also benefit from a host of ancillary businesses from an SME client, according to Mr T.M. Bhasin, Executive Director, United Bank of India.
“Ancillary businesses such as Letter of Credits and guarantee from SME clients give banks an opportunity to earn fee-based income,” he said.
Banks are also taking additional initiatives to increase lending to this segment. For instance, ICICI Bank is planning to launch a private equity fund for SMEs and State Bank of India has recruited dedicated customer relationship executives to serve SME customers and to acquire new business.
Union Bank of India is redesigning its SME segment into clusters, based on both geography and industry; setting up processing centres called ‘SME Sarals’ and hiring specialised credit officers for this segment. So far, the bank has set up seven SME Sarals and hired 280 officers.
United Bank of India is looking at a 40 per cent growth in its SME portfolio in 2008-09, up from 27 per cent last year.
UCO Bank is looking at 20 per cent growth, against 18 per cent last year. “Gems and jewellery, auto components, engineering and textiles are the sectors our bank will be focusing in a big way this year,” said Mr Dhingra.
Union Bank of India saw its SME segment grow by 41 per cent to Rs 12,630 crore, in the first quarter, up from Rs 8,962 crore last year. For this fiscal, the bank has set a target of Rs 17,000 crore or 35-37 per cent growth.
Bank of India, which had an SME portfolio of Rs 21,000 crore as on June 30, 2008, expects growth in this segment to be around 22-23 per cent, which is in line with earlier years, said Mr S. C. Jain, General Manager, in charge of SME.
The lack of bargaining power with SMEs is also one of the reasons that banks would continue to focus on this segment.
“For SMEs there is no other capital available. They have to go in only for loan capital,” said Mr T. S. Krishnaswamy, Deputy General Manager, SME, SBI.
Given the overall economic slowdown, SBI is expecting its SME growth to see slight moderation, he added.
This year the bank is expecting the growth to be around 25-27 per cent, down from 31 per cent over the last three years.
The bank’s outstanding SME advances as on June 30, 2008 were around Rs 90,000 crore.
“SME is a segment of high growth. So our focus on this segment will remain. But because of the overall slowdown, new investments could be lesser this year,” he said.
This year, engineering goods sector may be hit by the high steel prices and the food processing sector too may be affected due to sluggish monsoon and curbs on exports of pulses, he added.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday gave its approval for continuing the ongoing schemes of Ground Water Survey, Exploration and Investigation, Central Ground Water Authority, and Study of Recharge to Ground Water as one integrated scheme on Ground Water Management and Regulation at an outlay of Rs 460 crore during the Eleventh Plan period.
The scheme will help strengthen the ground water resource management system, delineation of ground water development-worthy areas, developing area-specific artificial recharge and rain water harvesting techniques, development of web-enabled ground water information system for quick dissemination of ground water data, and strengthening of coordination and synergy amongst all other stakeholders.


The state government has said the Calcutta High Court order in the Rizwanur Rahman case was an “emotional judgment” and that it would contest Thursday’s ruling.
The court has allowed the CBI to file chargesheets against seven persons, including Rizwanur’s father-in-law Ashok Todi, his brother Pradip and three police officers, for abetment of suicide
But Subrata Mukhopadhyay, the junior counsel for the state, said: “There has been no trial and unless this is done no one can be seen as guilty of abetment of suicide. This is clearly an emotional judgment.”
The court has also termed the city police’s attempts to arm-twist the couple “unconstitutional” and “inhuman”.
Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee appealed to the Tata group chief, Mr Ratan Tata to persuade the state government to return to the unwilling farmers 400 acres of the 997 acres acquired for the small car project at Singur since “industrialists should have a human face and show concern for the people.”
The state government, on the other hand, claimed that Tata Motors had clarified that the vendors' park was indispensable for their small car factory, contradicting Miss Banerjee's stand that the ancillary units on the controversial land could be shifted elsewhere .
Miss Banerjee pleaded that the Tatas require only 650 acres for their small car plant and claimed the letter written to her by the managing director of Tata Motors Limited, Mr Ravi Kant, mentioned the quantum of land needed for the mother plant.
The state commerce and industries minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, said he had enquired with the TML MD about the matter. The Tatas have given details of the land use in the total project area of 997 acres including the vendors' park.
“The Trinamul Congress chairperson had cited a letter at the meeting with industrialists. Since we were not aware of anything I enquired about it with Mr Kant. He gave us details of the land use which includes the land for ancillary units,” said Mr Sen.
The state government also said it was yet to receive any document from the Trinamul on the modalities for returning the controversial land. Miss Banerjee said: "We have already given the documents to them but again if they want we can always provide them with the relevant documents.''
After talks with the Trinamul-led Opposition the state government, it was learnt, believes there is “scope for negotiation over the 400 acres of land”. Over 60 acres of the controversial portion have been set aside for building roads and installing power lines.
The Trinamul chief insisted that they would go ahead with the agitation at Singur for an indefinite period from 24 August and any attempt by the administration to scuttle it would meet with stiff resistance. The state government would be “solely” responsible for the consequences, she said.
Miss Banerjee, who oversaw the agitation programme during the day, said the CPI-M would deploy one of its mass organisations to block roads of Singur on 24 August. “The intention is quite clear. The state government would be responsible for any eventuality,” she said. The administration is worried as the President is scheduled to visit Joykrishna Library on the same day at Uttarpara in Hooghly district.
The state home secretary, Mr AM Chakrabarti, said he would meet representatives of the Krishi Jomi Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee, spearheading the agitation, in a day or two.

The Statesman, Kolkata reports:
Two days after Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee drew applause from captains of industry for her views on industrialisation, CPI-M politburo member Mr Sitaram Yechury (photograph right) today was locked in a verbal duel with ICC committee members over the Marxists’ politics of forcing a shutdown on economic life by calling frequent bandhs like the one that paralysed life in three Left-ruled states yesterday.
“You seem to be in a mental state of the 1960s as you frequently call bandhs when the economy takes a beating and people are forced to remain indoors. What did you gain by yesterday's bandh ?” one industrialist asked Mr Yechury. “No wonder investors move away from West Bengal to Gujarat because the economic climate there is more congenial than here,” said another. “How can it be that the people of the three Left-ruled states have a perception about bandhs that is not shared by the rest of the country which carries on normally on such days ?” a third asked.
Mr Yechury had the stock Left response that bandhs or strikes were “but a last resort of the people when their pent-up feelings go unresponded." But he immediately became belligerent in his response to the barrage of criticism and asked the industrialists why they had remained silent during the past three years when prices of essential commodities had skyrocketed because of forward trading.
“If you want a serious debate, don't be led by prejudices (against the Left),” he almost chided the industrialists. “If investors shy away from Bengal, it's not because of bandhs, but for other reasons”, he said, without spelling out the “reasons.” He, however, claimed Bengal now ranked first among states attracting investment. In the end, Mr Yechury said politicians and industrialists need to collaborate rather than confront each other for the country's growth. He also felt a solution to the Singur stalemate through discussion would help the state’s economy
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet Thursday accepted most of the recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee to improve the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2008, which has already been introduced in Parliament.
The information and broadcasting minister, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, told reporters that the government would incorporate the committee’s recommendations in the Bill through amendments in the next session of Parliament.
The minister said the Cabinet extended by six months a 29 August 2006 Central Notification concerning wheat, rice and pulses. The extension would be effective from 1 September 2008. The scope of the notification has been extended to paddy. Official sources said the order would help state governments check hoarding, and thereby control price-rise.
CGHS facilities: Mr Dasmunsi said the Cabinet considered proposals on extending CGHS facilities to journalists accredited to the Central government. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, constituted a three-member ministerial committee to examine if the CGHS facilities could be extended to families of the journalists. The committee includes the health minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, and the I&B minister. The committee would come out with its views this month, Mr Dasmunsi said.
MEA posts: The Cabinet also decided to create 518 posts in the external affairs ministry. Of these, 249 posts would be within the country, comprising 139 officers and 110 staff. The remaining 269 posts ~ 175 officers and 94 staff ~ would be created in Indian missions abroad.
The Cabinet decided to merge the two Centrally-sponsored schemes of Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) and Computerization of Land Records (CLR), and to replace them with a modified Centrally-sponsored scheme of National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP).

Worried’, Tata flashes Singur alert
OUR BUREAU


Tata, Sen
Calcutta, Aug. 21: A “worried” Ratan Tata has no intention to pull out of Singur “until and unless forced to do so”, the Bengal government said tonight in the first public admission that the car project is not as foregone as was being made out.
“Actually, he is quite worried about the developments in Singur. He did not anticipate this kind of thing to happen for such a project,” industries minister Nirupam Sen said tonight after meeting Ratan Tata at a city hotel.
Asked whether there was any possibility of the Tatas withdrawing from the Singur project, Sen said: “He has made a lot of investment and it is not his intention to pull out until and unless he is forced to do so by circumstances.”
The comments attributed to Tata are certain to winch up pressure on Mamata, who has been trying hard to shed the tag of “anti-industry”.
Tata has said the fate of the project will ultimately be decided by the people of Bengal. “Tata thought that the small car project will be beneficial to the people of Bengal and that it will be welcomed by all,” the minister said.
The dramatic late-evening meeting took place on the eve of the Tata Tea annual general meeting — the official purpose behind Tata’s visit to the city — and on a day Mamata announced that she would go ahead with the siege of Singur from Sunday.
“We have told Tata that as far as discussions with the Trinamul Congress are concerned, they have assured us that there would be no lawlessness… there will be peaceful demonstration,” Sen said, indirectly putting the onus on the Opposition party to ensure the protest does not spin out of control — a possibility when charged crowds assemble.
Sen, who was accompanied by industries secretary Sabysachi Sen, said Tata expressed “anxiety” over what would happen on August 24. “I hope all parties, even those who are opposing us, will think before any kind of action so that the project can go through peacefully,” the minister said.
He declined to say if the government discussed any compromise formula with Tata.
Tata landed in the city at 6.25pm and reached the hotel after an hour or so. Sen called on Tata a little after 9pm and the talks lasted one and a half hours.
Trinamul has demanded the return of 400 acres meant for vendors to “unwilling farmers”, saying the car plant needed only “600-650 acres”.
The Tatas have clarified in a letter to the government today that the entire project needed 1,000 acres as the ancillary units were an integral part of the small-car project.
Trinamul sources said late tonight that Mamata wanted to meet Tata but the state government was preventing the industrialist from holding talks with her.
The party sources said the situation could be defused even now if the government made a public admission that land was acquired “forcibly”.
In return for such an acknowledgement, the Trinamul leadership will scale down the size of “the land to be returned” to “250 or 200” acres from 400, the sources said. According to government figures, the number of acres belonging to “unwilling farmers” stands at 167.
An official at the chief minister’s secretariat said the government and Trinamul might hold a second meeting in the next few days, after Mamata’s representatives met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Sen at Writers’ Buildings yesterday.
“I can’t say whether the second meeting will be held tomorrow or the day after, but it may take place,’’ the official said. Asked about this, the Trinamul chief merely said: “Our door is open for positive dialogue.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080822/jsp/frontpage/story_9727496.jsp
Sir, people feel bandh is Left’s first option
A STAFF REPORTER

Sitaram Yechury at the session. Telegraph picture
Calcutta, Aug. 21: Interactive session is the flavour of the season but not everyone is as fortunate as Mamata Banerjee to enjoy an uncontested run. Sitaram Yechury, the CPM politburo member who addressed a meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce at Bengal Club on Thursday, should know.
Yechury, whose party’s labour union Citu is celebrating the “success” of a 24-hour bandh on Wednesday, held forth before the industrialists on issues such as the nuclear deal, price rise and land acquisition.
As soon as his speech was over, an industrialist asked a question on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, and Yechury breezed through the familiar territory. But the next question rang out like a pistol shot in sharp contrast with the diffident queries that greeted Mamata at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
Over to Bengal Club, Thursday afternoon.
Harsh Jha (MD, Tata Metaliks): Please forgive me if I am being a bit harsh, but I think the Left is still wrapped up in the 60s and 70s. Why else do we have so many bandhs in this particular state? Yesterday’s strike call forced the state to come to a halt. What did the country gain?…
Yechury: (Tries to say something)
Jha: We have heard you. Please hear us, too.
Weren’t you contributing to inflation as well through this bandh? What impression are you sending out? The daily labourers lost out on their income.
Yechury: I think you are being too partisan. It’s not that we call for industrial strike too often. If I remember, the last such strike was called three years ago. And what impression are you talking about? If you are so concerned, why didn’t you support us when the CPM sought imposition of tax on windfall gains on private, joint venture oil firms and private refineries?….
Jha: (Tries to speak)
Yechury: I have heard you. Please listen.
We don’t want oil companies to make this windfall profit and let the common man bear the burden of increase in oil prices. Please don’t think in isolation.
Gaurav Swarup (MD, Paharpur Cooling Towers): I think we are deviating. Sir, without being so blunt, I think you will appreciate that bandh does affect the image of the state. Apart from other things, it does speak of the work culture as well. In fact, frequent bandhs affect the overall environment for investments in the state.
Yechury: I think you must appreciate that the CPM has always believed that strike is the last option. What do you do? We have been trying to attract the attention of the Prime Minister on the price rise of essential commodities and other issues for the last three years. Forget the figures of inflation. It’s the normal people who go out to the market who are the worst hit.
Yechury: And I would like to know whether the impression of the state is being hit owing to the bandh call or the agitation in Singur? Please understand that it’s the pent-up frustration of the people that force us to tread the path of a bandh. It’s the last resort.
Dibyendu Bose (MD, Tata Martrade International Logistics Ltd): But Sir, people outside feel bandh is the first option for the Left in Bengal. OK, even if we accept this bandh culture, can we just ensure that during a bandh, you can at least keep planes and trains out of its ambit? The aged and ailing, waiting for long-distance trains, suffer tremendously during such bandhs. At least, if it can be ensured that the sick can reach hospitals on a bandh day, that would make a lot of difference.
Yechury: I know what people feel about Bengal from outside and it’s not what you claim. Even Kerala had a bandh yesterday. But yes, I think what you are suggesting is true. We do try and ensure that the sick and the ailing don’t bear the brunt of the strike call. Trust me, we tried really hard and when there was no option, we had to go for a strike.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080822/jsp/frontpage/story_9727498.jsp
Land-grab cry from churches
MITA MUKHERJEE
Calcutta, Aug. 16: The land-grab cry against the government, till now heard only from Singur and Nandigram, is coming from some Christian missionaries, too.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church that runs a school for poor children on 375 acres in Falakata, Jalpaiguri, has been told by the government that it can keep only 24 acres.
“It (the government) wants to take the rest of the property,” said Bernard Halder, the principal of Seventh Day Adventist Church School, Calcutta, who also manages the property matters of the Falakata school.
The government informed the church about its decision two years ago. Halder said the compensation the church was getting was measly.
A senior land and land reforms department official said the church had flouted land ceiling norms, hence the acquisition. “Going by the land ceiling rules, an organisation cannot hold over 7.5 acres in urban areas and 24.20 acres in other areas,” he said.
The government can allow an organisation to possess more land in special cases, for instance, if it is for setting up an industry or for implementing a developmental project of the state or central government. But in such a case, cabinet approval is required.
“So, the church in Jalpaiguri will have to hand over the excess land,” the official said.
Citing the land ceiling rules, the state has started acquiring 60 acres from the Methodist Church in Asansol, 21 acres from the Baptist Union Church in Midnapore, 21 acres from the Evangelical Luthera Church in Purulia and 14 acres from the Church of North India in Jiagunge, Murshidabad.
“Ours is a philanthropist organisation,” Halder, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, said. “We give free education, boarding, food and vocational training to poor children. A Christian missionary had donated the land and our main source of income is from cultivation of paddy, dairy farming and pisciulture on this land,” he said. “It will be impossible for us to run the institution if the land is taken away.”
The Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, a state-level organisation of Christian members and churches, has contended in court that the government cannot include church plots under land ceiling rules. The Pariseba will organise protests from September.
The organisation has written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar and land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah.
Mollah said: “I am only aware about the problem with a church in Jalpaiguri. I am looking into the complaints of the other churches.”
Herod Mullick, general secretary of the Pariseba, said: “If the state government turns a blind eye, we will organise law violation programmes and march to the Assembly.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080817/jsp/bengal/story_9702861.jsp

It’s Congress vs police at Singur
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Aug 21: Fresh trouble broke out in Singur when Congress supporters clashed with police after being resisted from entering the small car project area this morning.
Angry Congress supporters later blocked Durgapur Expressway for three hours from 11 a.m. today alleging that police resorted to lathicharge without any provocation.
According to reports, more than 2,000 Congress supporters, led by PCC member and former MLA, Mr Abdul Mannan, took out a rally from Singur demanding that land, acquired for the project without the consent of the farmers, be returned. Policemen on duty intercepted the rally at Sahanapara after Congress supporters tried to enter the project area. Soon a scuffle between police and Congress workers ensued. The situation deteriorated after Mr Mannan was allegedly manhandled by some policemen. Congress supporters later clashed with policemen triggering tension in the area. A huge police contingent was deployed to bring the situation under control. No one, however, was injured in the clash.
After being chased away by policemen, Congress workers sat on Durgapur Expressway and blocked the road for three hours that led to heavy traffic jam. The road block was withdrawn around 2 p.m. after senior police officers intervened. It may be mentioned here that home secretary, Mr Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, during his visit to Singur car project last week, had made it clear that strong action would be taken against those who disrupt project work. He also told the reporters that no outsiders would be allowed to enter the project site.
“Congress supporters had planned to disrupt construction work for which they were not allowed to enter the project site. Only a scuffle between police and a section of agitators took place in front of the main gate of the project area today. The allegation of Congress leaders being humiliated by policemen is false. We didn't resort to lathicharge," said a senior district police officer. Meanwhile, a farmer from Beraberi Purbapara village at Singur, Narendranath Das (80), whose 4 bigha land came under the project area, died at his house following a cardiac arrest early today. His family alleged that Das was mentally upset after his land was forcibly taken away by the state government. He had been an active supporter of Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee which organised group meetings at various places across Singur today. Leaders of the peasants’ body urged people to participate in the indefinite dharna scheduled to start from 24 August outside the project area.

Protestors block road in Purulia
PURULIA, Aug. 21: Protesting against the closure of a polysacks factory at Jhalda in Purulia, employees blocked the Purulia-Jhalda road today.
It was reported that the employees failed to turn up yesterday due to the 24-hour industrial strike. Following yesterday's strike, the management decided not to open the factory today as well. As a result of which the Citu-backed employees’ union, protested against the closure and demanded the factory’s opening as soon as possible. However, Mr Bishnu Agarwal, a spokesperson of the management, expressed his displeasure at yesterday's forceful strike. The bandh in Purulia district actually started from Monday night itself. The situation finally returnedto normal today with a few stray incidents. On Monday most shops were closed due to Mansa Puja (snake worship). The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) organised a ‘rail roko' and Maoists called a bandh on Tuesday and there was an industrial strike yesterday.

State seeks relief for forest land bldgs
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House panel may keep govt`s land buy cap at 30 per cent
Business Standard, India - 14 Aug 2008
In the draft amendment to the Land Acquisition Act, it was proposed that the state could acquire only up to 30 per cent of the total land required for the ...
Land acquisition for Mopa airport starts
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Yechury upholds strikes, backs lower rates
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Asked to comment on the controversy over the land Acquisition Act, 1894, he said "it is outdated and fresh legislation has to be brought." PTI.
Union Government issues administrative sanction
Newindpress, India - 17 Aug 2008
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Feel America in Durga Puja Count Down!

Feel America in Durga Puja Count Down!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 50

Palash Biswas
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Will Left get the 'right' response?

Soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the government would "very soon" approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to move forward on the Indo-US nuclear deal, an upset Left announced withdrawal of support to the UPA government. The move ended weeks of suspense on the issue. Now, with the PM declaring that there is no threat to the government’s stability, stage is set for a flurry of activities on the political scene. The Communists had also come down heavily on the government for approaching the IAEA to finalise the India-specific safeguards pact. With more and more support making the number game crucial, the big question is whether the determined Left parties will be able to rock the Indo-US nuke deal boat?
Hindustantimes.com brings together the stories that have dominated the popular mood in the recent times.

Also read Whither nuclear deal?

Convincing them is the key



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Pramit Pal Chaudhuri , Hindustan Times
August 20, 2008
First Published: 23:07 IST(20/8/2008)
Last Updated: 23:15 IST(20/8/2008)


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Nothing, not even mushroom clouds, gets nuclear non-proliferation zealots into a frenzy more than talk of spreading enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology. This acronym may prove to be the single biggest hurdle to India ending its nuclear isolation when the Nuclear Suppliers Group meets in Vienna today.

The reason is that both technologies pave the way to atom bomb-building. Enrich uranium above a certain point and it’s warhead-ready. Reprocessing lets you strain glow-in-the-dark waste for fissile material. “Non-proliferation experts worry about reprocessing because it allows for the separation of pure plutonium from spent fuel rods,” says physicist R. Rajaraman. “In principle, it can be used directly to make weapons.” Thou Shalt Not Spread ENR Tech is the 11th commandment of arms control.

The fact that the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal leaves the door slightly ajar for India to access ENR equipment has made the New Zealand-to-Norway anti-nuclear axis so noisy in the run-up to Vienna. Their other demands include penalties for nuclear testing and a periodic review to see whether India isn’t N-cheating on the sly.

How enrichment and reprocessing has been seen in the eyes of various countries is a parable on how the Indo-US nuclear deal is understood by different players. For India, getting access to ENR was both a right and a requirement. ‘Full civil nuclear cooperation’ with the US had to include some ENR stuff, though the US doesn’t share this even with close allies. Section 104 of the Hyde Act allows India to get some ENR equipment and material under certain conditions. US proliferation expert Sharon Squassoni complained that the deal made India “a legitimate reprocessing State”.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=ce61c7ed-2568-4c58-89ee-76f2e869ce74Nucleardealimbroglio_Special&&Headline=Convincing+them+is+the+key


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India, Nasa tie up for Chandrayaan
Times of India - 20 hours ago
MUMBAI: Preparing to its first unmanned mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, between October and December, India joined seven other nations to team up with Nasa for the future exploration of earth's only satellite.
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BBC News
Shilpa’s emotional connection with Goody!
Times of India -

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Just feel America!

Feel America in Durga puja Count down!

Banga or Vanga was never a part of Arya varta! It was the land of ASURAS!

Durga was invoked to crush the asuras and capture the Anarya Bhoomi, the Cursed forbidden land for the vaidikee Aryas who introduced Manusmriti and caste system to enslave the indigenous communities.

We indigenous people of Bengal and all over the world, converted into Hindutva, celebrate the defeat and indiscriminate Annihilation of our ancestors. We celebrate our displacement!

With just two months left for Durga Puja, the shopping for the festival has already begun!

In a goodwill gesture that will provide the much-needed relief to tourists, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) announced on Monday that it will not call bandhs during the Durga Puja.
“We welcome tourists during the Pujas and there will be no bandh in that period. If any emergency arises, we will make it public 20 days before,” said GJM chief Bimal Gurung.


The first lot of Nano cars is expected to come out of the factory in Singur, West Bengal, by September-October. On Tuesday, West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said the first batch of Nano would roll out as scheduled before the Durga Puja.


With Tata Motors having written a confidential letter to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the Nano small car project in Singur, its Managing Director Ravi Kant has given an update to West Bengal Industry Minister Nirupam Sen.



However, the Nano brand so far does not find a mention in the available passenger car dealership application forms, which ask applicants to give their five-year sales and service estimates for six brands - Indica, Indigo, Indigo-Marina, Safari, Sumo and Spacio.
Just months ahead of the launch of its Rs 1 lakh Nano, the world's cheapest car, automaker Tata
Motors has started the process of expanding the dealership network for passenger cars. Tata's passenger car brands currently include Indica, Indigo, Sumo and Safari and would be joined by Nano before the year-end.

In a public announcement on Wednesday inviting applications from prospective dealers, the company said this would maximise their "opportunities, even as Tata Motors constantly expands its portfolio of passenger vehicle products and services, including the recently unveiled people's car, the Tata Nano".


It is the Black magic of Myth and Legends which hijack logic and sense of History. Indigenous people in Bengal worshipped Kali and Shiva! Durga puja had been always an elite affair associated with Brahminical zamindari! After the first world war, the Zamindars were decaying. Feudal lords had to feel the after affects of war and recession. So called struggle for freedom to liberate the zamindars, Rajas and Nawabs led by the Brahmins was launched to defend the ruling Class interests. And Durga Puja suddenly came into vogue very soon. Public Puja Festivals soon became the greatest Cultural festival first in Bengal, and then countrywide.

Scheduled castes of Bengal were still engaged in Manasa Puja, Gajan, Charak, Baruni, Gassi, Shivratri, Rakshakali Puja and Sheetala Puja, the indigenous rituals involving the forces of nature an the totems! They were never in the sphere of Durga Puja!

I have seen all the dimensions of folk in Tripura, Assam, Manipur,Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar and UP. but our people have soon forgot Jan, Ashtak gaan, Dole, Charak, Keertan, Zari Gaan, Rupgaan, Bhassan, Ramjatra, Krishanjatra, Naam Jangya, gaan, Baab gaan, Tennath, Sinni and every other ways of cultural behaviour. They disowned the natural forces as Shiva, Kali, Manasa, Sheetala and so on. Very soon they adopted all the caste hindu dieties of Ruling Hegemony as Durga, Ganesh,Rama, Laxmi and Saraswati.They even left Krishna Consciousness and surrendered to Brahminical supremacy. Now they enjoy most their legacy of enslavement and defeat, their displacement and annihilation glorified by Religion, Myth and Legends, superstitions!

I witnessed the changes happening around me while I was a child. In the Terai of Nainital. Where the ejected Namoshudra and Paundra Kshtriya and Malo peasants and fisherman were thrown into the dense uncultivated forest of Gim Corbet fame! it was a land of Plague, cholera and Malaria. our people were not afraid of that. They were not afraid of the Jungle or wild life either. We had the indigenous people from Sundarvan area of Khulna and Satkheera. They worshipped the forces of Nature. I remember the lost legacy of Banabibi most!

Sundarvan-spreading across the border into Bangladesh, the Sundarban is the forest at the delta where the Ganges meets the sea, 2500square km of forest has been declared a tiger sanctuary.Afternoon visit Tiger Project Area for view of wild animals.

Manindra sardar was a Paundra Kshatriya. His mother called my father God father. The Sardar family belonged to Sundarvana area of Khulna and they worshipped Ban Biwi, the reigning goddess of Sundarvan. In west Bengal, while I visited Sudhanyakhali, Pakhiralaya and Gosaba and other Sundarvan areas like Hasnabad, I came across the devotees of Bana Biwi. but our people, the partition victims rehabiliated in refugee colonies nationwide could not bear the legacy.

After breakfast full day sight seeing of Kolkatta-isn’t an ancient city like Delhi with its impressive relics of the past., it’s largely a British creation which dates back only 300 years and was the capital of British India , Job Charnock-a English merchant, kept the name of Kolkatta, later who married with a Brahmin’s widow.Visit for local sight seeing of Victoria Memorial- is a huge white-marble museum, a strange combination of classical European architecture with Mughal influences and the solid reminder of British Calcutta ,visit St.Paul’s Cathedral – is one of the most important churches in India. After visit Kalighat- 500 years old temple of goddess Kali, legend that when Shiva’s wife Parvati’s corpse was cut up, one of her fingers fell here, important pilgrimage site. Lunch at restaurant.

It is evident with Kalighta and Dakshineshwar temples that Durga was not the Goddess of Indigenous people. But Ramkrishna Paramhans, swami Vivekanand and Ramkrishna Mission made the indigenous goddess of nature saving our people from epidemics the goddess of Mainstream caste Hindus. Diwali is now associated with the Goddess.

When the Gods are worshipped, the animals also get a legitimate share of devotion from the worshippers. Think of Lord Shiva. He always moves with Nandi. The sacred bull is revered in every part of the country. Lord Kartik flies on a peacock. By coincidence, the bird is as charming as the heroic God. Ma Durga is found riding either on a lion or a tiger. In the Sundarvan area of West Bengal, a God named Dakshinrai is often worshipped who is believed to be the Lord of tigers. The locals believe that Dakshinrai will drive away the marauding big cats. In many parts of the country, snakes are treated with respect. In fact, Naagpanchami is the occasion to worship the serpents. It is believed that Mansa, the daughter of Lord Shiva, is the Goddess of snakes. Lakshmiji is worshipped along with an owl. Ma Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, is found with swans. Dharmaraj is always accompanied by a dog. If you remember, in the last journey of the Pandavas only the dog went to heaven with Yudhishthir. Yamraj has a buffalo as his Vahana. Ma Sashthi is believed to be fond of cats. Idols of Ma Kali are made with a jackal drinking blood dripping from a severed human head. Omnipresent Narada moves anywhere riding on the Garuda, the king of birds. Many people serve food to monkeys as representatives of Bhagwan Bajrangbali. Similarly, an elephant is the Vahana of Lord Viswakarma. The question is, was the Vahana concept just an imagination of our ancient gurus? Or could it be that the animals were associated consciously with the Lords to spread an important message?

Animals are associated with indigenous aboriginal people. Most of the wild life, specially the snakes and the birds are Totems. These totems were associated with Hindu deities making them more accepatable and using the popular myths and legends to entrap and enslave the indigenous people in the religion of Hinduism cursed with caste system and untouchability.

In the Terai of Nainital, I saw our people giving up Matua religion and Baruni identifying the Scheduled caste legacy. With further empowerment and awakening, they left Gajan and Charak and some of the superstitions involving semi gods, ghosts and spirits which were connected with harvesting. They left Gassi, the indigenous version of Nabanna, the festival of Harvesting.

rather they adopted Durga puja and Sarswati Pujs as posing caste Hindu. i could not distinguish the differences then as I never felt the stings of Caste system in Uttarakhand! I never knew the social fabrics of Bengal completely dominated by Brahmins. Our People adopted durga Puja to identify themselves with the High castes of Bengal as they were so proud of Rabindra, Vivekanand, Nazrul and Netaji. This was a feel of mainstream life and status the dalit Bengali refugees tasted out of Bengal.

I remember those days while my father tried his best to demand and ensure reservation for Namoshudras and Paundrakshtriyas . our people protested vehemently and declared that they were no more Untouchables. They never wanted Reservation as they felt like higher castes and worshipped Durga! Only after LPG introduced with intense Job crunch and anti pathy growing against East Bengal refugees thanks to RSS and Bengali Ruling Brahmins, our people awakened to demand reservation!

Our peopel forgot the History and are never ready to identify with Dravid, Anarya, Asura and Banga!

Now the Market uses it!

The Telgraph, Kolakat reports:

Organised marketing of the annual worship of Durga has begun with a Bengali-owned American company buying the rights to a Calcutta puja that will have Mithun Chakraborty as its brand ambassador.

Every rupee spent on Badamtala Ashar Sangha Puja at Chetla this year will come from the coffers of Media Morphosis, owned by New York-based Adris Chakrabarty. The company will market the event to recover its investment.

The company’s Indian subsidiary, Mumbai-based Manhattan Communications, will start a publicity campaign to attract sponsors in the run-up to the autumn festival. And MLA Fatakeshto Mithun will be the ticket to more eyeballs. On Friday, the actor turned up for the first promotional shoot in Mumbai.

“This is an effort to marry creativity with commerce on a corporate platform. Puja in Calcutta showcases wonderful artistic innovations and we are happy to play a supporting role,” Gautam Majumder, a senior official of the company, told Metro.

“The club has been branding its Puja cheap and we want to scale it up,” he added.

First up would be an SMS contest titled Experience Badamtala with prizes galore to select a theme for this edition of the south Calcutta club’s Puja.

Mridul Pathak, one of the patrons of the Puja, sold the idea of a tie-up to Chakrabarty during a trip to New York earlier this year.

“We tried to impress upon the company that we brought to life some unique themes and won accolades over the past few years without spending crores. Last year, we won eight awards,” said Suvajit Sarkar, the convener of the puja.

A team of company officials, led by Chakrabarty, visited Calcutta in March and held a discussion with the club’s members on Dol Jatra. The deal was signed soon after.



Please just wait Forty Five days for Durga puja Festival!

The Count Down for Mega retail bazaar has begun as soon as the sixth Pay Commission based pay hike is implemented. We , those who are not central government employees and other who have no purchasing capacity as par as the entry into the Open Market demands, have to feel the heat and dust! Ration at home is influenced immediately. Rice, flour, vegetables, edible oils, cosmetics, clothes, fishes, meat.. every day to day commodity is on steep hike. The Urban and suburban Bengalies are not so worried as the find the most expected Hilsa so cheap at the rate of just one hundred Rupees from the start!

On 15 th August Evening, me and wife Savita chose to walk around the market which turned to be as dense as a deep core forest of Humanity affluence! In our locality, we are privileged to have a string of Shopping Mall including Ready Made Centre, Shri Niketan, More and Reliance Fresh. Vishsal stands on BT Road. Spencer is to be launched very soon. Khadim Khajana and another shopping mall of SriNiketan are under construction!Our Posto Baba Journalist friends get Shopping Mall coupons very often and visit around the Metro declaring that shopping was never as good as it is now just like a new heaven!

Ready made centre saw no less than sixteen persons dead suffering from Gas Leak caused by Fire. It is ready to open and the Sale with stock clearance has to draw unprecedented crowd of super consumers. The station Road is so crowdy that you simply can not walk.

The pay scale details are awaited. New recruitment is rarest of happenings in the age of ERS VRS and retrenchment thanks to hire and fire policy. But an old man working in Kolkata GPO declared that day , `I will marry once again’.

Here you are! The Honeymoon has just begun!
You may not bargain at any shop. Lest you would be shown the exit.The logic is Pay Hike! since the government has declared it , we the people have to pay whatever demanded in exchange!

It is the big day for the nuclear deal as the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) begins a two-day meeting in Vienna. Without the NSG's approval, India cannot import nuclear fuel and technology from the world.

India is not only Sensex India! Not only Shining India! It is now Hindu super Power! Shopping Malls and Retail Chains make you global where you may chose any thing! Any international Brand. Credit Boom is olready on vogue. You have not to earn for consumption. just keep intact the VISA or Credit Card. Those who have to be benefited by recent or happening pay hike, or personal loan may jump forward and push the Commodity Index upwards!

Regional media and TV channels fed by FDI have turned to be the best agents of the market, we know!

Our new ICONs happen to Sanjay Nirupam, Jade Goody, Rahul Mahajan, Monika Bedi and so on. Ramdeb Baba plays a rare role of Travel aagent with his hyped much Yoga!

Just remember how Ramayana and Mahabharata were used to open the Rural market with promoting TV sets as the most wanted Home appliance!

Just imagine how Internet with MP3 technology plays the gimmick in young minds! Imagine that our children are going to have their on Micro PCS for only Rs Four Hundred!

Imagine that we would be using laptops without hard disk and Pen drives with maximum Memory more than 32 GB would play the IT game! Imagine that Computer Revolution takes over the Mobile and TV!

The Rural sector is already open!

Open are all the natural resources!

Rural production system survives no more!

Rural life is not self sufficient as it has been few decades ago! Green revolution changed the village Life and Agriculture itself. Chemicals and fertilizers played a vital road. now a complete package with chemical hub and Nuclear plant, automation and GM seeds take over. SEZ has changed the landscape and human scape. Reatil chain is going to change the life style.




Durga Puja in Bengal is no more a cultural festival. It is all year round the most super Duper Hit Reality show of Marketing Dewanagee. so, the count Down has begun from the 50th day!Ad campaigns are on! reality shows are on full swing.

our indigenous communities have no escape route as Past is never past for them. The aboriginal communities consisting of SC, ST, OBC and minorities live in superstitions. They live in past. But they aspire to cope with the Present which is physically Future for them. They are annihilated. They are uprooted. Displaced. Deprived. Persecuted. They are ousted from life and livelihood. But they tend to compete with those who have purchasing capacity infinite! And it is suicidal!

We are seized by Mythology as well as Modern times!

Myths do the maximum damage! Just browse any TV channel. The fastest. the super duper. The color. The cable! The News channel. The Musical. The astronomical and the Religious. They emphasise most on the Myths and legends! So a devotee of Sai Baba is declared the khatron Ke Khiladi. All the nonsense is created on name of Aliens and flying causers! Ravan, Rama, Sita, Mandodari, Hanuman and a string of mythological character are chased by the market forces.Superstitions mad real! Crimes become thriller and scandals and sting become the infinite source of entertainment.

All these Nonsense and all the superstitions, laughter shows and reality shows are targeted to entrap the potential consumers hidden amongst us! Purchasing Capacity haunts us as any legend or Myth would! Forget Culture! Forget language! Forget ethics!Forget behaviour! forget values! Forget family and relations. Forget Country and society. You are just an Unit of consumer alienated. here you stand.Do right or wrong whatsoever! Get the Purchasing power. If it is a credit card . So it be. Just enter the market and forget anything else!

Families are broken. Love marriages end so soon. But the Honeymoon continues like UPA Left! No feeling, no love! it is copulation only! No aesthetics, it is Sex only!

You may see so many Hip Lines around you while only before a few decades so many tonnes of News print were wasted to debate on the breast line! The Breast is all Open! Sexy is the most hyped tag! Salawar Kammeez exit and enters Capri! Brands rule our psyche struck by Myths and Legends for ages!

The market uses most the Myths, the legends, the Icons and Religion, our deeper most involvement!They are the hunters out in the dark of our superstitions, belief and religion! They strike most our roots to uproot us!

I am reading once again the so called classic of Tara Shankar Bando Padhyaya, Nagini Kanyar kahini, all about the snake charmers, the VISH VEDEs! All the myths and legends of Manasa Mangaland Padmpuran are used and interwoven in real life encounters! It is so charming and involving!

I am reading and I am dreaming!

Savita called me while I was in deep sleep and was dealing with the Myth of Doom`s day. The Himalayas melted. The Glaciers were coming down and I was just swimming on the waves and running downwards to the Ocean! My body converted into a soul. A ray of light entered into the Black Hole and it was an infinite Journey. My body was revolving like a reptile and I felt so close to a rare experience of meditation! It was like a feel the
KUNDALINI!

Kundalini (ku??alini ?????????) Sanskrit, literally "coiled". In Indian yoga, a "corporeal energy"[1] - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent coiled at the base of the spine,[2][3][4] hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent power'. Kundalini is considered a part of the subtle body along with chakras (energy centres) and nadis (channels). The overall conception has many points in common with Chinese acupuncture.

Kundalini
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yoga and Tantra propose that this energy may be "awoken" by such means as austerities, breath and other physical exercises, visualization and chanting. It may then rise up a subtle channel at the spine (called Sushumna) to the head, bringing psychological illumination. Each chakra is said to contain special characteristics.[5] Yogis tend to attempt this alone, Tantrics in couples, both usually under the instruction of a guru.

When Kundalini Shakti is conceived as a goddess then, when it rises to the head it unites itself with the Supreme Being (Lord Shiva). The aspirant gets engrossed in deep meditation and infinite bliss.[6][7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini

I was awake and felt very angry as savita disturbed in meditation! I decided to have a little KHAINI! Khaini is a product indigenous to India. It is essentially flavored "chewing tobacco". You, born out of Chappel drop when one chappel came to India 30 years back, khainikhor slum dweller of Burrabazar spit everywhere on Calcutta roads!

Savita was irritated!she tried her best to stop me! I was adamant.It is the cheapest Indigenous nasha. Savita is frightened of cancer as we have seen my chhoto Kakima and my father to succumb suffering from cancer. neither of them ever used Khaini!

savita was outraged and Called me CHANDAL!
I declared, ` So I am’!
Then I contested, `I never disturb you in your superstitions, religion and Puja path! I protest the Brahmins and you have developed a Brahmin at home’!
The debate continues!

The gist is that we are never liberated from superstitions, myths and legends! These are the soft most roots in our heart and mind. the market, the global world target it most fiercely!

In Hinduism, the Asura (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes referred to as demons or sinful. They were opposed to the devas. Both groups are children of Kashyapa. The views of Asuras in Hinduism vary due to the many deities who were Asuras then later became known as Devas. The name is cognate to Ahura—indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary recognises the use of the term in reference to Zoroastrianism, where "Ahura" would perhaps be more appropriate—and Æsir, which implies a common Proto-Indo-European origin for the Asura and the Æsir.

The negative character of the asura in Hinduism seems to have evolved over time. In general, the earliest texts have the asuras presiding over moral and social phenomena (e.g. Varuna, the guardian of Ṛtá, or Bhaga, the patron of marriages) and the devas presiding over natural phenomena (e.g. Ushas, whose name means "dawn", or Indra, a weather god).

In later writings, such as the Puranas and Itihasas, we find that the "devas" are the godly persons and the "asuras" the demonic. According to the Bhagavad Gita (16.6), all beings in the world partake either of the divine qualities (daivi sampad) or the demonic qualities (asuri sampad). The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita describes the divine qualities briefly and the demonic qualities at length. In summary the Gita (16.4) says that the asuric qualities are pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance.

The Padma Purana says that the devotees of Vishnu are endowed with the divine qualities (viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ smṛto daiva) whereas the asuras are just the opposite (āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ).


Rural markets
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Rural Markets are defined as those segments of overall market of any economy, which are distinct from the other types of markets like stock market, commodity markets or Labor economics. Rural Markets constitute an important segment of overall economy, for example, in the USA, out of about 3000 counties, around 2000 counties are rural, that is, non-urbanized, with population of 55 million. Typically, a rural market will represent a community in a rural area with a population of 2500 to 30000[1].

Contents
[hide]
1 Significance
2 Strategies
3 Present position
4 References




[edit] Significance
In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of the green revolution in India, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy, namely, rural marketing has taken shape. Sometimes, rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing – the later denotes marketing of produce of the rural areas to the urban consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers. Also, when we consider the scenario of India and China, there is a picture that comes out,huge market for the developed products as well as the labor support. This has led to the change in the mindset of the marketers to move to these parts of the world.

Also rural market is getting an importance because of the saturation of the urban market. As due to the competition in the urban market, the market is more or so saturated as most of the capacity of the purchasers have been targeted by the marketers.So the marketers are looking for extending their product categories to an unexplored market i.e. the rural market. This has also led to the CSR activities being done by the corporate to help the poor people attain some wealth to spend on their product categories. Here we can think of HLL (now, HUL) initiatives in the rural India. One of such project is the Project Shakti, which is not only helping their company attain some revenue but also helping the poor women of the village to attain some money which is surely going to increase their purchasing power. Also this will increase their brand loyalty as well as recognition in that area. Similarly we can think of the ITC E-Chaupal, which is helping the poor farmers get all the information about the weather as well as the market price of the food grains they are producing.In other view these activities are also helping the companies increase their brand value. So as it is given above the significance of the rural market has increased due to the saturation of the urban market as well as in such conditions the company which will lead the way will be benefited as shown by the success of HUL and ITC initiatives.


[edit] Strategies
Dynamics of rural markets differ from other market types, and similarly rural marketing strategies are also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial consumer. This, along with several other related issues, have been subject matter of intense discussions and debate in countries like India and China and focus of even international symposia organized in these countries[2].

Rural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include:

Client and location specific promotion
Joint or cooperative promotion..
Bundling of inputs
Management of demand
Developmental marketing
Unique selling proposition (USP)
Extension services
Business ethics
Partnership for sustainability
Client and Location specific promotion involves a strategy designed to be suitable to the location and the client.

Joint or co-operative promotion strategy involves participation between the marketing agencies and the client.

'Bundling of inputs' denote a marketing strategy, in which several related items are sold to the target client, including arrangements of credit, after-sale service, and so on.

Management of demand involve continuous market research of buyer’s needs and problems at various levels so that continuous improvements and innovations can be undertaken for a sustainable market performance.

Developmental marketing refer to taking up marketing programmes keeping the development objective in mind and using various managerial and other inputs of marketing to achieve these objectives.

Media, both traditional as well as the modern media, is used as a marketing strategy.

Unique Selling Propositions (USP) involve presenting a theme with the product to attract the client to buy that particular product. For examples, some of famous Indian Farm equipment manufactures have coined catchy themes, which they display along with the products, to attract the target client, that is the farmers. English version of some of such themes would read like:

The heartbeats of rural India
With new technique for a life time of company
For the sake of progress and prosperity
Extension Services denote, in short, a system of attending to the missing links and providing the required know-how.

Ethics in Business. form, as usual, an important plank for rural markets and rural marketing.

Partnership for sustainability involve laying and building a foundation for continuous and long lasting relationship.

'''Building sustainable market linkages for rural products: Industry’s role, scope, opportunities and challenges'''

Introduction: Rural products of India are unique, innovative and have good utility and values. Large number of these rural products (like handicraft items, food products, embroidery, clothes & other products) sustains a significant segment of the population in the rural areas. Several attributes of rural products can be identified, for which, it has a demand in the market. Out of the lots, ‘ethnic origin’ and ‘indigenous design & appearance’ are two traits of rural products, attracting a premium in the market. But, contrary to this, the non-uniformity of rural products (from one another) and lack of its quality control measures has been creating a negative demand. Besides, the small sized and dispersed production units of these rural products hinder realization of the economies of scale in marketing and result in high transaction costs per unit of output. Niche-based products have no local market. Products in local use are also not marketed horizontally; they often first travel down to market through a long chain of intermediaries and then up to more difficult locations in the rural areas. In the process, the people in rural areas suffer from both low prices as producers and high prices as consumers. In this conflict, rural products loss its equilibrium and the supply side becomes exponentially high. Because of this hazard, rural entrepreneurs face acute economic loss and rural markets become stagnant. Therefore, there is an emergent need for Building sustainable market linkages for rural products, so that, it can be connected to larger markets and farmers can get a sustainable livelihood.

Market linkages for rural products: There are, broadly speaking, three ways in which they can be connected to the markets. They can do it on their own — through cooperatives. Or, the state can do it for them — through its procurement engines. Stages one and two, in a manner of speaking. Today, developmental thinking on market linkages has reached stage three — linkages through companies or industries.

Across India, previous attempts to create such linkages have floundered. Take Assam and other eastern states itself. Around the Eighties, the state government here decided that cooperatives were a great way to consolidate its political base. Loans went to the undeserving. Debts were written off. The institutions slowly got corrupted. As for the linkages provided by the state, these offer uncertain sustainability. Given this context, one can conclude that profit-oriented industry linkages are a more sustainable, more scalable alternative. In this scenario, companies can use the social infrastructure (the self help group et al) as an alternative procurement and distribution chain and vise versa.

Industry’s role in building market linkages: To make an effective market linkage, industries have to play as an engine of market, which can generate a brand image of the rural products. This initiative of industries will also strengthen the backward and forward linkages of the rural market, besides, accelerating the innovations of the rural products. Definitely, this strategy will also give a remarkable dividend to the industries & profit making companies. In micro level, it is observed that to create a sustainable market linkage for rural products, industries can develop an ecosystem of Self Help Groups (SHGs) by involving the local communities through village level empowerment. It is nothing less than the next phase in the democratization of commerce. Under this paradigm, industries can create a network with viable marketing channels covering all the linkages from villages to the global level. This architecture provides the right value of procurement through the village procurement centres and rural entrepreneurs can sell their products faster with better price realization. This model is also capable of generating a consumer business and an output business in a win-win scenario, where rural producers can get a wide marketing horizon and the industries shall get a new, lower cost ‘salesforce’. Another role of industries in building market linkages for agro-based rural products can be the ‘dynamic contract farming’. If a conventional industry can kick off a contract farming business, and export niche horticulture crops like cucumbers, the small and marginal farmers who could grow these small cucumbers would make Rs 30,000 in profits in a year. KRBL, one of India’s largest basmati exporters, has contract farming agreements with 24,000 farmers; Global Green buys from about 12,000 farmers. Moreover, in the current era of information technology, industry and private companies can also creatively use ICT for building sustainable marketing linkages. This approach creatively leverages information technology (IT) to set up a meta-market in favour of small and poor producers/rural entrepreneurs, who would otherwise continue to operate and transact in 'unevolved' markets where the rent-seeking vested interests exploit their disadvantaged position. ITC e Choupal is the best example in this context. Through creative use of Information Technology, ITC eChoupal has been creating sustainable stakeholder value by reorganizing the agri-commodity supply chains simultaneously improving the competitiveness of small farmer agriculture and enhancing rural prosperity. eChoupal also sidesteps the value-sapping problems caused by fragmentation, dispersion, heterogeneity and weak infrastructure. ITC takes on the role of a Network Orchestrator in this meta-market by stitching together an end-to-end solution. It eliminated the traditional 'mandi' system which involved lot of middlemen as a result of which farmers failed to get the right value for their produce. The solution simultaneously addresses the viability concerns of the participating companies by virtually aggregating the demand from thousands of small farmers, and the value-for-money concerns of the farmers by creating competition among the companies in each leg of the value chain.

Scope & opportunities: The basic scope of this novel initiative will be the mutual benefits of the rural entrepreneurs and industries. The entrepreneurs – primary beneficiaries, SHGs – bridge with the community, participating companies/industries and rural consumers have befitted through a robust commercial relationship. These models of marketing linkages demonstrate a large corporation which can play a major role in reorganizing markets and increasing the efficiency of a rural product generation system. While doing so it will benefit farmers and rural communities as well as shareholders. Moreover, the key role of information technology—provided and maintained by the industry/company for building linkages, and used by local farmers—brings about transparency, increased access to information, and rural transformation. Besides, this strategy of market linkage, addresses the challenges faced by rural entrepreneurs due to institution voids, numerous intermediaries and infrastructure bottlenecks. Moreover, the prime scope of this model is the creation of opportunities for the rural entrepreneurs for product differentiation and innovation by offering them choices. Because of this sustainable market linkages, rural producers can participate in the benefits of globalization and will also develop their capacity to maintain global quality standard. Nonetheless, it creates new stakeholders for the industry sector. And subsequently, they become part of the firms’ core businesses. The involvement of the private /industry sector at the rural product and market development can also provide opportunities for the development of new services and values to the customers, which will find application in the developed markets. It will be worth mentioning that building a sustainable market linkage through industry’s intervention will also empower the rural mass (producers, farmers & entrepreneurs) to cope with socio-economic problems in the rural society and will ensure economic self –reliance.

Challenges: There are significant challenges to the entire process the most important being the capacity building of the rural entrepreneurs. For decades, the entrepreneurs associated with very conventional/traditional knowledge of business, humiliation with government, so they are likely to look at these initiatives with skepticism. Only consistent performance can convince the skeptics. Therefore, the industries must play a catalytic role to cope with this challenge and should also train the entrepreneurs to develop their managerial and IT skills. On the other hand, the products of the existing and popular brand also stand as threat to the rural products. These global giants (brand) may try to suppress the rural products in the markets with its communication hype. Therefore, developing alternative and additional market linkages for these products is an absolute necessity. Moreover, the low volumes of rural products, high operating cots, high attrition, and absence of local know how and relationships may also create problem in the process. Henceforth, it is essential to make a way out to cope with these odds.

Conclusion: These issues gain added complexity under globalization, where markets are characterized by extreme competition and volatility. While rural products has been perceived traditionally as catering to the local market, or at best, to a wider national market through limited formal channels, the reality of globalization since the 1990s introduced a new dimension to the market for such products. The issue of rural product generation through industrialization, therefore, needs to be viewed from a new angle and on far more scientific lines. The core of a scientific approach is to understand the market opportunities for rural products along with the country's development priorities and to chalk out a strategy where rural industries have an important role to play. While rural products are forced to increasingly become part of global supply chains, these products need to adapt themselves, not only according to the changing tastes of the national market, but also according to changes in tastes in the international market. Therefore, a process is essential to explore the market linkages and capacity building for SHGs through a bottom up approach and continuous dialogue with stakeholders of rural enterprise. This process should ensure the participation of rural people as consumers and producers in the globalization mechanism, with better livelihoods and global access to markets. The real challenge of building a sustainable market linkage starts here.


Bengal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Bengal (Bengali: বঙ্গ Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙ্গদেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent nation of Bangladesh (previously East Bengal), and the state of West Bengal in India, although some regions of the previous kingdoms of Bengal (during local monarchical regimes and British rule) are now part of the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Tripura and Orissa. The majority of Bengal is inhabited by Bengali people (বাঙালি Bangali) who speak Bengali (বাংলা Bangla).[citation needed]

The region of Bengal is one of the most densely populated regions on earth, with a population density exceeding 900/km². Most of the Bengal region lies in the low-lying Ganges–Brahmaputra River Delta or Ganges Delta, the world's largest delta. In the southern part of the delta lies the Sundarbans—the world's largest mangrove forest and home of the Bengal tiger. Though the population of the region is mostly rural and agrararian, two megacities, Kolkata (previously Calcutta) and Dhaka, are located in Bengal. The Bengal region is notable for its contribution to the socio-cultural uplift of Indian society in the form of the Bengal Renaissance, and revolutionary activities during the Indian independence movement.

Etymology and ethnology

The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 BC.[6]

Other accounts speculate that the name is derived from Vanga(বঙ্গ bôngo), which came from the Austric word "Bonga" meaning the Sun-god. The word Vanga and other words speculated to refer to Bengal (such as Anga) can be found in ancient Indian texts including the Vedas, Jaina texts, the Mahabharata and Puranas. The earliest reference to "Vangala" (বঙ্গাল bôngal) has been traced in the Nesari plates (805 AD) of Rashtrakuta Govinda III which speak of Dharmapala as the king of Vangala.[7]

Some accounts claim that the word may derive from bhang, a preparation of cannabis which is used in some religious ceremonies in Bengal.[1][2]

The Proto-Australoids were one of the earliest inhabitants of Bengal.[8] Dravidians migrated to Bengal from the south, while Tibeto-Burman peoples migrated from the Himalayas,[8] followed by the Indo-Aryans from north-western India. The modern Bengali people are a blend of these people. Pathans, Iranians, Arabs and Turks also migrated to the region in the late Middle Ages while spreading Islam.




Durga Puja
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Durga Puja (Bengali: দুর্গা পূজা, ‘Worship of Durga’), also referred as Durgotsab (Bengali: দুর্গোৎসব, ‘Festival of Durga’) is an annual Bengali festival that celebrates worship of Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the five days observed as Sashthi , Maha Saptami, Mahashtami, Maha Nabami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to traditional Bengali Calendar and the fortnight corresponding the festival is called Debi Pokkho (Bengali: দেবী পক্ষ, ‘Fortnight of the Goddess’). Debi Pokkho is preceded by Mahalaya (Bengali: মহালয়া), the last day of the previous fortnight Pitri Pokkho (Bengali: পিতৃ পক্ষ, ‘Fortnight of the Forefathers’), and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja (Bengali: কোজাগরী লক্ষ্মী পূজা, ‘Worship of Goddess Lakshmi on Kojagori Full Moon Night’)

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in West Bengal and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday. Not only it is the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from West Bengal, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and in some parts of India including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and Bangladesh. Nowadays, many non-residential Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in the countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Kuwait etc also. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum. [1]

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists resemble Durga with India, she had become an icon for the Indian independence movement. On the first quarter of 20th Century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja includes the worships of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati, Kartikeya and Mahishasura also. Modern tradition have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

Contents
[hide]
1 Names
2 Durga puja
2.1 Kolkata
2.2 Siliguri
3 Origin of the autumnal ceremony 'Sharadiya'
4 History
5 Evolution of the Community or Sarbajanin puja
6 Creation of the Idols
7 Durga puja in other parts of India
7.1 Maharashtra and Goa
7.2 Punjab
7.3 Orissa
7.4 Karnataka
7.5 Gujarat
7.6 Kerala
7.7 Kashmir
8 Durga Puja outside India
8.1 Bangladesh
8.2 Nepal
8.3 United States, Europe and Australia
9 Theme-based Pujas and Pandals
10 Environmental impact
11 Popular culture specific to the puja
12 See also
13 References
14 External links




[edit] Names
In Bengal, Durga Puja is also called Akalbodhan (Bengali: অকালবোধন, 'untimely awakening of Durga'), Sharadiya Puja (Bengali: শারদীয়া পূজা, ‘autumnal worship’), Sharodotsab (Bengali: শারদোৎসব ‘festival of autumn’), Baro Puja (Bengali: বড় পূজা, ‘grand puja’), Maayer Pujo (Bengali: মায়ের পুজো, ‘worship of the Mother) or only referred as Puja or Pujo. In East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Durga Puja was used to celebrated as Bhagabati Puja. It is also called Durga Puja in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. [2]

Durga Puja is called Navratri Puja in Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra[3], Kullu Dussehra in Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh[4], Mysore Dussehra in Mysore, Karnataka[5] and Bommai Kolu in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andra Pradesh[6].


[edit] Durga puja
The worship of Durga in the autumn (শরৎ Shôrot) is the year's largest Hindu festival of Bengal. Durga Puja is also celebrated in Nepal and Bhutan according to local traditions and variations. Puja means "worship," and Durga's Puja is celebrated from the sixth to tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Ashwin (আশ্বিন Ashshin), which is the sixth month in the Bengali calendar. Occasionally however, due to shifts in the lunar cycle relative to the solar months, it may also be held in the following month, Kartika (কার্তিক Kartik). In the Gregorian calendar, these dates correspond to the months of September and October.

In the Krittibas Ramayana, Rama invokes the goddess Durga in his battle against Ravana. Although she was traditionally worshipped in the spring, due to contingencies of battle, Rama had to invoke her in the autumn akaal bodhan. Today it is this Rama's date for the puja that has gained ascendancy, although the spring puja, known as Basanti Puja [One of the oldest 'sabeki' Basanti Puja held every year at spring in Barddhaman Pal Bari more details for more details]], is also present in the Hindu almanac. Since the season of the puja is শরৎ Shôrot autumn, it is also known as শরদিয়া Shôrodia.

The pujas are held over a ten-day period, which is traditionally viewed as the coming of the married daughter, Durga, to her father, Himalaya's home. It is the most important festival in Bengal, and Bengalis celebrate with new clothes and other gifts, which are worn on the evenings when the family goes out to see the 'pandals' (temporary structures set up to venerate the goddess). Although it is a Hindu festival, religion takes a backseat on these five days: Durga Puja in Bengal is a carnival, where people from all backgrounds, regardless of their religious beliefs, participate and enjoy themselves to the hilt.


[edit] Kolkata
In Kolkata alone more than two-thousand pandals are set up, all clamouring for the admiration and praise of the populace. The city is adorned with lights. People from all over the country visit the city at this time, and every night is one mad carnival where thousands of people go 'pandal-hopping' with their friends and family. Traffic becomes a nightmare, and indeed, most people abandon their vehicles to travel by foot after a point. A special task force is deployed to control law and order.


[edit] Siliguri


Durga Puja 2007 of Saktigarh Uttjal Sahgha, Siliguri.
Hundreds of puja pendal are set up every year in the siliguri mahakuma area. Many attractive colourful pandal, glorious "Protima", and colorful lighting create joy for visitors. During the puja period, visitors come here from all over the world. The city is adorned with lights. Every day visitors come out on the roads with their family and friends. They enjoy the festival through the night.


[edit] Origin of the autumnal ceremony 'Sharadiya'
The actual worship of the Goddess Durga as stipulated by the Hindu scriptures falls in the month of Chaitra, which roughly overlaps with March or April. This ceremony is however not observed by many and is restricted to a handful in the state of West Bengal.

The more popular form, which is also known as Sharadiya (Autumnal) Durga Puja, is celebrated later in the year with the dates falling either in September or October. Since the Goddess is invoked at the wrong time, it is called "Akaal Bodhon" in Bengali.

The first such Puja was organised by Raja Nabakrishna Deb of the Shobhabazar Rajbari of Calcutta in honour of Lord Clive in the year 1757. The puja was organised because Clive wished to pay thanks for his victory in the Battle of Plassey. He was unable to do so in a Church because the only church in Calcutta at that time was destroyed by Siraj-ud-Daulah. Indeed many wealthy mercantile and Zamindar families in Bengal made British Officers of the East India Company guests of honour in the Pujas. The hosts vied with one another in arranging the most sumptuous fares, decorations and entertainment for their guests. This was deemed necessary since the Company was in charge of a large part of India including Bengal after the Battles of Plassey and Buxar.


[edit] History


Godess Durga, in one of the Pandals of Calcutta, now Kolkata.
A considerable literature exists around Durga in the Bengali language and its early forms, including avnirnaya (11th century), Durgabhaktitarangini by Vidyapati (14th century), etc. Durga Puja was popular in Bengal in the medieval period, and records exist of it being held in the courts of Rajshahi (16th century) and Nadia district (18th century). It was during the 18th century, however, that the worship of Durga became popular among the landed elite of Bengal, Zamindars. Prominent Pujas were conducted by the landed zamindars and jagirdars, enriched by British rule, including Raja Nabakrishna Deb, of Shobhabajar, who initiated an elaborate Puja at his residence. Many of these old pujas exist to this day. Today, the culture of Durga Puja has shifted from the princely houses to Sarbojanin (literally, "involving all") forms. The first such puja was held Guptipara - it was called barowari (baro meaning twelve and yar meaning friends)

Durga puja mood starts off with the Mahishasuramardini' – a radio programme that has been popular with the community since the 1950s. While earlier it used to be conducted live, later a recorded version began to be broadcast. Bengalis traditionally wake up at 4 in the morning on Mahalaya day to listen to the enchanting voice of the late Birendra Krishna Bhadra and the late Pankaj Kumar Mullick on All India Radio. as they recite hymns from the scriptures from the Devi Mahatmyam or Chandi.

During the week of Durga Puja, in the entire state of West Bengal as well as in large enclaves of Bengalis everywhere, life comes to a complete standstill. In playgrounds, traffic circles, ponds -- wherever space may be available -- elaborate structures called pandals 'are set up, many with nearly a year's worth of planning behind them. The word pandal means a temporary structure, made of bamboo and cloth, which is used as a temporary temple for the purpose of the puja. While some of the pandals are simple structures, others are often elaborate works of art with themes that rely heavily on history, current affairs and sometimes pure imagination.

Somewhere inside these complex edifices is a stage on which Durga reigns, standing on her lion mount, wielding ten weapons in her ten hands. This is the religious center of the festivities, and the crowds gather to offer flower worship or pushpanjali on the mornings, of the sixth to ninth days of the waxing moon fortnight known as Devi Pakshya (lit. Devi = goddess; Pakshya = period; Devi Pakshya meaning the period of the goddess). Ritual drummers – dhakis, carrying large leather-strung dhak –– show off their skills during ritual dance worships called aarati. On the tenth day, Durga the mother returns to her husband, Shiva, ritualised through her immersion into the waters –– Bishorjon also known as Bhaashan and Niranjan

Today's Puja, however, goes far beyond religion. In fact, visiting the pandals recent years, one can only say that Durgapuja is the largest outdoor art festival on earth. In the 1990s, a preponderance of architectural models came up on the pandal exteriors, but today the art motif extends to elaborate interiors, executed by trained artists, with consistent stylistic elements, carefully executed and bearing the name of the artist.



Image of Durga in an early 19th Century lithogragh.
The sculpture of the idol itself has evolved. The worship always depicts Durga with her four children, and occasionally two attendant deities and some banana-tree figures. In the olden days, all five idols would be depicted in a single frame, traditionally called pata. Since the 1980s however, the trend is to depict each idol separately.

At the end of six days, the idol is taken for immersion in a procession amid loud chants of 'Bolo Durga mai-ki jai' (glory be to Mother Durga') and 'aashchhe bochhor abar hobe' ('it will happen again next year') and drumbeats to the river or other water body. It is cast in the waters symbolic of the departure of the deity to her home with her husband in the Himalayas. After this, in a tradition called Vijaya Dashami, families visit each other and sweetmeats are offered to visitors (Dashami is literally "tenth day" and Vijay is "victory").

Durga Puja is also a festivity of Good (Ma Durga) winning over the evil (Maheshasoora the demon). It is a worship of power of Good which always wins over the bad.


[edit] Evolution of the Community or Sarbajanin puja
Initially the Puja was organised by affluent families since they had the money to organize the festival. During the late 19th and early 20th century, a burgeoning middle class, primarily in Calcutta, wished to observe the Puja. They created the community or Sarbojanin Pujas.

These Pujas are organized by a committee which represents a locality or neighbourhood. They collect funds called "chaanda" through door-to-door subscriptions, lotteries, concerts etc. These funds are pooled and used for the expenses of pandal construction, idol construction, ceremonies etc. The balance of the fund is generally donated to a charitable cause, as decided by the committee. Corporate sponsorships of the Pujas have gained momentum since the late 1990s. Major Pujas in Calcutta and in major metro areas such as Delhi and Chennai now derive almost all of their funds from corporate sponsorships. Community fund drives have become a formality.

Despite the resources used to organise a Puja, entry of visitors into the Pandal is generally free. A few Puja conducted in Gurgaon by wealthy Bengalis charge a fee. Pujas in Calcutta and elsewhere experiment with innovative concepts every year. Communities have created prizes for Best Pandal, Best Puja, and other categories.when you do puja you get blessed.


[edit] Creation of the Idols
The entire process of creation of the idols from the collection of clay to the ornamentation is a holy process, supervised by rites and other rituals. On the Hindu date of Akshaya Tritiya when the Ratha Yatra is held, clay for the idols is collected from the banks of a river, preferably the Ganges. After the required rites, the clay is transported from which the idols are fashioned. An important event is 'Chakkhu Daan', literally donation of the eyes. Starting with Devi Durga, the eyes of the idols are painted on Mahalaya or the first day of the Pujas. Before painting on the eyes, the artisans fast for a day and eat only vegetarian food.

Many Pujas in and around Calcutta buy their idols from Kumartuli (also Kumortuli), an artisans' town in north Calcutta.


[edit] Durga puja in other parts of India

[edit] Maharashtra and Goa
In Maharashtra, Durga Puja is an enjoyable occasion. Puja is performed each day and devotees do not remove the flower garland that is put each day on the idol or image of the deity. After nine days, all nine garlands are removed together. Young girls who have not attained maturity are invited to eat, play games, dance and sing. An elephant is drawn with rangoli, and the girls play guessing games. Then they are fed a meal of their choice.

In Goa great festivities take place in the temples of shree Shantadurga , shree Mhalasa Narayani and shree Vijayadurga.


[edit] Punjab
People of Punjab strictly observe Navratri. Some Punjabis have only milk for seven days before breaking the fast on ashtami or navami. They worship Durga Ma and do the aarti at home. Some of them have fruit or a complete meal only once a day. Intoxicating drinks or meat, and other forms of entertainment are completely avoided. At the end of the fast, devotees feed beggars or worship little girls who spell the Shakti of the Mother Goddess.


[edit] Orissa
Orissa was part of the larger Bengal Presidency before it attained statehood in 1936. Many Bengali families had settled in Orissa, especially Cuttack, the erstwhile capital city. They were engaged in business or worked for the Government.

The first recorded Durga Puja in the state is said to have been in the year 1832 in the Kazibajaar area of Cuttack. The festival found favour among the Oriyas who assisted Bengali families in the organization of the Pujas. Due to differences which cropped up in later years, the Oriya people chose to organise and celebrate the Puja independently.

A pandal in Orissa is called "Merrha". For many years, the most expensive installation was the ChaandiMerrha (Chaandi means Silver) of Choudhuri Bajaar area of Cuttack. The ornamentation was done entirely in silver. A substantial increase in funding has led to the gold plating of the ornamentation. Now it is known as "SunaMerrha" (Suna means Gold). A few other Pujas in Cuttack now have silver ornaments, too.

The Durga Puja festivities are also prominient in Maa Cuttack Chandi temple. Maa Cuttack Chandi is the presiding deity of Cuttack. The goddess popularly called as Maa Katak Chandi, sits and rules on the heart of the ancient city. She is worshiped as Bhubaneswari. Maa Chandi is worshipped in various incarnations of Durga during the puja. In Cuttack, people strongly believe Maa Katak Chandi as 'The Living Goddess'.

The largest Pujas are held in Bhubaneswar. Shaheed Nagar, Nayapalli and Rasulgarh spend the most on the idols, decorations, lighting, and other elements.

One reason for the wide acceptance of Durga Puja is the importance of Maa Tarini, who is considered one of the embodiments of Shakti in Oriya culture. In addition, the state is close to Bengal and the peoples share a common socio-cultural history spanning millennia. Orissa is home to many important shrines dedicated to the Goddess; great festivities are organised there on Durga and Kali Puja.

It is thus one of the prime festivals of Orissa as well. People in Orissa celebrate it on a large scale. The Goddess Durga is among the sacred goddesses of Orissa. The celebrations are quite similar to the neighbouring state of West Bengal.


[edit] Karnataka
Durga Puja is celebrated in a grand way in this state. In Mysore, Dussehra is easily the most popular festival. Elephants are decked up with robes and jewellery and taken in processions through the streets of the city. In fact, many people visit Mysore from all over the country to watch this colorful event. There is also a floating festival in the temple tank at the foot of Chamundi Hill and a procession of chariots around the temple at the top.

Mysore is named after Mahishasur, the very demon which was slain by the Goddess. The original Indian name was Mahishur. There are temples dedicated to the demon king and even a gigantic statue of the demon in the city.


[edit] Gujarat
Navratri is devoted to Amba mataji. In some homes, images of mataji are worshiped in accordance with accepted practice. This is also true of the temples, which usually have a constant stream of visitors from morning to night. The most common form of public celebration is the performance of garba and dandia-ras/ras-garba (a form of garba with sticks), Gujarat's popular folk-dance, late throughout the nights of these nine days in public squares, open grounds and streets.


[edit] Kerala
In Kerala, Durga Puja signifies the beginning of formal education for every child aged 3-5 years. While puja goes on in the temple for all ten days, it is the concluding three days which are most important. Ashtami is the day of Ayudya Puja, when all the tools at home are worshipped. Custom dictates that no tools be used on this day. On navami day, Goddess Saraswati is honored by worshipping the books and records at home.

Thousands throng the Saraswati temple at Kottayam during this period to take a dip in the mysterious holy pond, whose source is yet unknown. Large gatherings are also seen at the famous temples at Thekkegram (Palghat), in which there are no idols, only huge mirrors. A devotee finds himself bowing before his own reflection, which symbolizes that God is within us.

Thrikkavu Temple, a famous Durga Devi Temple at Ponnani, Malapuram District of Kerala, is also famous for Navarathri festival and vidyarambham (beginning of formal education). Thousands of children throng this temple on vijaya desami day for vidyarambham.


[edit] Kashmir
Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir celebrate their festivals with pomp and show. These days, festivities are more subdued. The favorite deities of Kashmir are Lord Shiva and Serawali Ma Durga, the one who rides the tiger. Pundits and Muslims alike vouch that Navratri is important. Here each Hindu household does the puja at home. All the adult members of the household fast on water. In the evenings, fruit may be taken. As elsewhere, Kashmiris grow barley in earthen pots. They believe that if the growth in this pot is good, there is prosperity all year. The most important ritual for Kashmiri Pandits is to visit the temple of guardian goddess Kheer Bhawani on all nine days. On the last day of Navratri, an aarti is held at the temple, after which people break their fast. On Dussehra day, Ravana's effigy is burnt.


[edit] Durga Puja outside India
Durga Puja is celebrated by the Indian diaspora residing in different parts of the world. It is also celebrated in regions and by people culturally and historically distinct from India.


[edit] Bangladesh
Apart from India, there are numerous Durga Puja pandals in Bangladesh where বিজয়া দশমী Bijôea Dôshomi is officially recognized as a government holiday. Festivals are organized in every district center of Bangladesh, as well as in the thanas and villages. In 2007, the approximate number of Puja Mandap in Bangladesh is 20,649 [7].


[edit] Nepal
Dussehra in Nepal is called Dashain. As it is chiefly a Hindu nation, the pattern and dates of the festivals coincide with those of India. The King of Nepal plays a key role in the festivities, particularly during Saptami or the Seventh day of the pujas. Despite the overthrow of monarchy in Nepal, the Royal Family still has a significant cultural role in the nation.


[edit] United States, Europe and Australia
Durga Puja is organised by communities comprising of Indians in the US ,Europe and Australia. Although pandals are not constructed, the idols are flown in from Kumartuli in Bengal. The desire by the diaspora peoples to keep in touch with their cultural ties has led to a boom in religious tourism, as well as learning from priests or purohits versed in the rites. Also recently, the immersion of the Durga idol has been allowed in the Thames river for the festival which is held in London.


[edit] Theme-based Pujas and Pandals
Pandals and idols inspired by a particular theme have been the hallmark of many community or Sarbajanin Pujas in Calcutta since the 1990s. Puja committees decide on a particular theme, whose elements are incorporated into the pandal and the idols. Popular themes include ancient civilizations like the Egyptians or Incas. Contemporary subjects like the Titanic and Harry Potter have also been the subject in some pandals.

The design and decoration is usually done by art and architecture students based in the city. The budget required for such theme-based pujas is often higher than traditional pujas. They attract crowds and are well-received. Inspired by Calcutta, theme-based pandals are becoming popular in cities in neighbouring states, particularly Orissa (see above). Experimentation with the idols does not happen much outside Calcutta.


[edit] Environmental impact


Image of Durga being immersed in water. This has led to harm to aquatic life of many plants and animals
"Commercialisation of Hindu festivals like Durga Puja in the last quarter of 20th century have become a major environmental concern as devout Hindus want bigger and brighter idols and are no longer happy with the ones made from eco-friendly materials," said Ramapati Kumar, a toxics campaigner for Greenpeace. Environmentalists say the idols are often made from non-biodegradable materials such as plastic, cement and plaster of Paris, and are painted using toxic dyes.[8]

Environmentalists state that such materials do not dissolve easily. They reduce the oxygen level in the water, resulting in the death of fish and other aquatic organisms. The paints used contain heavy metals such as mercury, chromium and lead which are carcinogenous. These can adversely affect drinking water.


[edit] Popular culture specific to the puja


Covers of two prominent Bengali periodical’s Autumnal issues. Desh (left) with a traditional cover art and Unish Kuri (right) with a fashionable cover.
Durga Puja is one of the most important events in the Bengali society's calendar. Many Bengali films, albums and books are released to coincide with the Puja. The West Bengal government gives a fortnight of holidays for the Pujas. This time is used in various ways. Many people travel in India or abroad. Gatherings of friends called "Aadda" in Bengali is common in many homes and restaurants. A lot of shopping is done, and retailers cash in on this opportunity with special offers.

Visiting Pandals with friends and family, talking and sampling the food sold near them is known as Pandal Hopping. Young people embrace this activity. TV and Radio channels telecast Puja celebrations. Many Bengali channels devote whole days to the Pujas.

Bengali and Oriya weekly magazines bring out special issues for the Puja known as "Pujobaarshiki" or "Sharadiya Sankhya". These contain the works of many writers both established and upcoming and are thus much bigger than the regular issues. Some notable examples are Anandamela and Shuktara.


History
Main article: History of Bengal


Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire


Robert Clive, of British East India Company, after winning the
Battle of Plassey in 1757.


The Bengal Presidency at its greatest extent in 1858


Map of the Bengal province, 1893
Remnants of Copper Age settlements in the Bengal region date back 4,300 years,[9][10] when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed by the 10th century BC, located in the Bihar and Bengal regions. Magadha was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and consisted of several Janapadas.[8] One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BC, located in an area in Bengal.[11] From the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.

The first recorded independent king of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around early 7th century.[12] After a period of anarchy, the native Buddhist Pala Empire ruled the region for four hundred years, and expanded across the northern Indian subcontinent into Afghanistan during the reigns of Dharmapala and Devapala. The Pala dynasty was followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena dynasty. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Sufi missionaries. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region.[13] Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkic general of the Slave dynasty of Delhi Sultanate, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Delhi Sultanate for the next few hundred years. In the sixteenth century, Mughal general Islam Khan conquered Bengal. However, administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire gave way to semi-independence of the area under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who nominally respected the sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. The most notable among them is Murshid Quli Khan, who was succeeded by Alivardi Khan.

Portuguese traders arrived late in the fifteenth century, once Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498. European influence grew until the British East India Company gained taxation rights in Bengal subah, or province, following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, when Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab, was defeated by the British.[14] The Bengal Presidency was established by 1766, eventually including all British territories north of the Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh), from the mouths of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra to the Himalayas and the Punjab. The Bengal famine of 1770 claimed millions of lives.[15] Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772. The Bengal Renaissance and Brahmo Samaj socio-cultural reform movements had great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal. The failed Indian rebellion of 1857 started near Calcutta and resulted in transfer of authority to the British Crown, administered by the Viceroy of India.[16] Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two zones.[17]

Bengal has played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups were dominant. Armed attempts against to overthrow the British Raj reached a climax when Subhash Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army against the British. Bengal was also central in the rising political awareness of the Muslim population—Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906. In spite of a last ditch effort to form a United Bengal,[18] when India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines.[19] The western part went to India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan, giving rise to Bangladesh in 1971). The circumstances of partition was bloody, with widespread religious riots in Bengal.[19][20]

The post-partition political history of East and West Bengal diverged for the most part. Starting from the Bengali Language Movement of 1952.[21] political dissent against West Pakistani domination grew steadily. Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, emerged as the political voice of the Bengali-speaking population of East Pakistan by 1960s.[22] In 1971, the crisis deepened when Rahman was arrested and a sustained military assault was launched on East Pakistan.[23] Most of the Awami League leaders fled and set up a government-in-exile in West Bengal. The guerrilla Mukti Bahini and Bengali regulars eventually received support from the Indian Armed Forces in December 1971, resulting in a decisive victory over Pakistan on 16 December in the Bangladesh Liberation War or Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[24] The post independence history of Bangladesh was strife with conflict, with a long history of political assassinations and coups before parliamentary democracy was established in 1991. Since then, the political environment has been relatively stable.

West Bengal, the western part of Bengal, became a state in India. In the 1960s and 1970s, severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist-Naxalite movement damaged much of the state's infrastructure, leading to a period of economic stagnation. The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 resulted in the influx of millions of refugees to West Bengal, causing significant strains on its infrastructure.[25] West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election, defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress. The Left Front, led by CPI(M) has governed for the last three decades.[26] The state's economic recovery gathered momentum after economic reforms in India were introduced in the mid-1990s by the central government, aided by election of a new reformist Chief Minister in 2000.







Religion in ancient Bengal: during pAla and candra
http://tanmoy.tripod.com/bengal/palacandrarelig.html.

Buddhism was on the decline and idol worship on the rise in Bengal at the beginning of this period. However, under the pAlas, buddhism grew, and as its last resort India, it developed some unique sects here. Similarly, hinduism started developing its uniquely east Indian and Bengali forms during this period.

Hinduism
Vedic and Puranic
Many of the land grants in this period to brahmins mention vedic rituals, and the brahmins are praised for their knowledge of the scriptures, grammar, philosophy, and travel to holy places. Their praised behaviour included prAtaH, nakta, ayAcita and upavAsana. During this period, brahmins from other parts of India, e.g. lATadesha, kroraJja, muktAvAstu, and especially madhyadesha coming and settling down in Bengal. Mention of this settling is found as early as the donation of land to 205 vaidika brAhmaNas by bhUtivarmA, great-great-grandfather of bhAskaravarma, but the largest record is of a large land grant to 6000 brahmanas in zrIhaTTa in punDravardhana by the candra king zrIcandradeva.

In this period, the pauranic tradition is also in strong force in Bengal. vedavyAsas mahAbhArata, rAmAYaNa, and the various purANas were also commonly read. The stories of pRthu, dhanaJjaYa, ambarIsha, sagara, nala, yayAti, vali, bhArgava, karNa, vRhaspati, agastya, parashurAma, rAma, hutabhuj and svAhA, dhanapati and bhadrA, viSNu and brahmA, brahmA and sarasvatI, indra and paulamI, purandara and vali, shiva and sati, umA, and sarvvANI, sUrya and his horses, samudrotthita sashadharalAnchana candra of atri's dynasty and kAnti and rohiNI were already well known. viSNu has already completely merged with avatAra kRSNa, son of devakI who went to yashodA, and is shrIpati, ksamApati born of the sea and husband of lakSmI and vasudharA, murArI husband of lakSmI, janArddana, hari, murAri. The other avatAras like narasiMha, parashurAma and vAmana are also known.

vaishnavism
Temples to nanna-nArAYaNa and garUD.astambha, temples to kAdambarI devakulikA, sthAnaka viSNu with lakSmI and sarasvatI, and separate idols of lakSmI and sarasvatI (one with rAm instead of the usual swan as her steed) and garUD.a have also been found. Overall, viSNu with lakSmI, sarasvatI, vasumatI, jaYa, vijaYa, his twelve avatAras, and brahmA predominate the idol collections. Most viSNu idols in Bengal are sthAnaka and in a group, few garUD.AsIna, AsIna, and yogAsIna are also found. The shaYAna style is extremely rare. Similarly, the mot common form was the trivikrama form, and the next was of the vAsudeva forms. But some other forms, e.g. abhicArika, shrIdhara (hRSikesha), vishvarUpa, and caturmukha. Joint idols of brahmA and viSNu, and separate idols of fat, four faced, four armed brahmA seated on a swan are also found. lakSmI is usually gajalakSmI, but four armed and two armed standing idols are also found, sometimes carrying a jhÃpi. Out of the avatAras of viSNu other than kRSNa, the most popular separate ones were varAha, narasiMha and vAmana; though a few matsya and parashurAma, and haladhara were also found. A few idols show influence of mahAyAnI buddhism on vishnavism in this period.

Shaivism
Shaivism was probably less important in comparison to vaishnavism. There is mention of establishment of a four headed liGgam for shiva. nArAYaNapAla donated land to pAshupatas, and is said to have established one thousand shiva temples. rAmapAla is said to have constructed three shiva temples, one temple dedicated to the eleven rudras and others to sUryya, skanda, and gaNapati. The shaivism was probably of the pAshupata kind started by shiva-shrIkaNTha and lakulIsha in first century BC. The eighteen Agamas and the six yAmalas written slightly later, including the piGgalA appendix to the brahmayAmala describe the pAshupata sect: it describes kAmarUpa, kaliGga, kaGkana, kAJcI, kAverI, koshala, and kAshmIra as being outside the AryAvartta which is ideal for shiva worship. However, gauD.iYa teachers were not considered amongst the best. Shiva was worshipped mainly as a liGgam, usually one headed, but sometimes four headed in north bengal. The latter usually has four shakti idols. Also are found candrashekhara, nRtyapara, sadAshiva, umA-maheshvara, ardhanArIshvara and kalyANa-sundara or shiva-vivAha. Out of the the rudra forms vaTuka bhairava and aghorarudra has been found. Both two armed and four armed IshAna forms have been found. A four armed sthAnaka is known as virUpAkSa, though it fits nIlakaNTha better. The naTarAja or naTeshvara form in bengal is distinct from the southern ones, are usually ten armed as described in matsyapurANa, and do not have the apasmArapuruSa at his feet. A twelve armed version is also found. The sadAshiva follows uttara-kAmikAgama and garUD.a purANa description; it is similar to the southern forms, and might have been brought from there. The umA-maheshvara was the favourite of the bengalis: shivakroD.opaviSTa, sukhAsInA, AliGganavaddhA, and hAsyAnandamaYI umA had tAntrika significance. arddhanArIshvara (man on right, woman on left) is rare in bengal. The kalyANa sundara forms have typically bengali characteristics like saptapadI and kartri vahana. The aghora rudra worship was probably a cult. The wildly laughing, fiery faced naked vaTukabhairava holding skull and wearing skull garland and wooden slippers accompanied by dogs is definitely a tAntrika influence. Some shaivaite teachers, especially of the sadAshiva form, were respected far outside bengal.

Separate gaNapati and kArttikeYa are also found though gaNesha was probably more popular. He was always portrayed dancing on a mouse with a fruit in his hand: a typical siddhiphaladAta. A single example of shaiva gANapatya sect has been found, and is exactly like the southern form: probably an import. kArttika is in the mahArAjalIlA pose on a peacock.

shAkta
Shakta purANa from seventh-eigth century speaks of shakti worship in rADh.a, vArendra, kAmarUpa, kAmAKhyA, and bhoTTadesha. jaYadratha-yAmala written outside bengal after the guptas mentions IshAnakAlI, rakSAkAlI, vIryyakAlI, prajJAkAlI etc., as well as ghoratArA, yoginIcakra, cakreshvarI, etc. These ultimately lead to the tantradharma in Bengal, and the forms of shakti in this phase is probably already precursors to being tAntrika. In fact mahAnIla sarasvatI seems completely tAntrika. Most idols are four armed and standing. Sometimes she is alone, sometimes with the entire family of gaNesha, kArttikeYa, lakSmI, and sarasvatI, and sometimes with family and brahmA, viSNu, and shiva. A chameleon, perhaps from the caNDI-kAlaketu story, and two auspicious banana plants, foreshadowing later kalAbau, are almost always found. The contents in the four hands vary, and these have been variously called caNDi or gaurI-pArvvatI. Sometimes, they are only two armed, sometimes joined by other gods like navagraha. Seated forms are rarer, and have four, six or twenty hands, and are called sarvvamaGgalA, aparAjitA, pArvvatI or bhuvaneshvarI, and mahAlakSmI. There is an example of liGgodbhavA caturbhujA, two arms in dhyAnamudrA, two holding akSamAlA and a book, called mahAmAYA or tripurabhairavI. Of the ugra forms, mahiSamarddinI durgA, sometimes called shrI-mAsika-caNDI, is the most popular, in the oldest forms she is eight or ten armed. The navadurgA form mentioned in bhaviSyapurANa is also found; this is probably influenced by mahAyAna and vajrayAna. Twelve and sixteen armed mahiSamarddinI have also been found, as well as a thirtytwo-armed. A few four and six armed vAgIshvarI have also been found. Of the mAtRkAs, cAmuNDI was most common in bengal especially in the twelve armed siddha-yogeshvarI, two armed danturA, rUpavidyA, ksamA, rudracarcikA, rudracAmuNDA, and siddhacAmuNDA forms. There is a pishitAsanA on a donkey, and a carcikA on a corpse. A four armed brAhmaNI, a few varAhI, and an indrAnI have also been found. gaGgA and yamunA used to flank the temples, yamunA alone is rare otherwise. gaGgA on a crocodile is not that rare, and four armed gaGgA idols are also found. gaGgA is sometimes called dakSiNA-kAlikA.

In later evolution, the distinction between shAkta and Buddhist tantrik beliefs is often difficult.

saura
sUryya was considered the healer of illnesses, and his importance continued to rise. The form of the idols were clearly of the western/Iranian kind, though the interpretation probably got strongly influenced by the vedic and brahminical thoughts. Most of the idols are standing, and with entire family: seated ones are rare. They rarely had six hands. There is one which has three faces and ten hands; probably this is mArttaNDa bhairava. There are rare idols influenced by southern rather than western tradition. A few horse-riding revanta idols are also seen. Some independent navagraha idols are also found; separately only a single candra and a single bRhaSpati have been found.

Other
In addition, manasA has been found. The local concept has also produced gaGgA and yamunA, as well as bauddha hArItI and brAhmaNya SaSThI. A lady with a child is known: it is not clear whether this is a depiction of the birth of shiva or viSNu. Rare examples of indra, agni, varuNa, yama, and kuvera have also been found. zrIcandradeva also established a maTha for brahmA and eight maThas, two each (one each for dezAntarI and vaMgAla) for agni vaizvAnara, yogezvara ziva, jaimini, and mahAkAla ziva. They studied the four vedas and cAndra vyAkaraNa and housed a variety of people: we find mention of, amongst others, kAryanirvAhaka and other brahmins, kAYastha, mAlAkAra, tailika, kumbhakAra, kAlalika, shaGkhavAdaka, DhakkavAdaka, drAgaD.ika, karmakAra, carmakAra, naTa, sUtradhAra, sthapati, karmakara, veTTika, nApita, rajaka, mahattara, brAhmaNa, vArika, gaNaka, and vaidya.

Buddhism
Royal support
Many of the kings in this period belonged to the mahAyAna sect of buddhism, as is clear from their official documents staring with appropriate prayers. However, many of the queens seem to be shaivaites (especially the pAzupata sect), and the kings established many temples dedicated to shiva, sarvvANi, nArAYaNa, eleven rudras, sUryya, skanda, gaNapati, and other hindu gods. Sometimes, like under nArAYaNapAla, not only were temples dedicated to shiva, but arrangement were made to provide for worship and sacrifice in these temples. The kings also participated in hindu rituals like bathing during the summer solistice, giving land grants to brahmins, attending the yajJas, and organizing srAddha ceremonies. dharmmapAla seems to even have accepted and somewhat reformed the caste system in society, and it seems that the later pAlas and kAmbojas might even have become hindus.

vihAras
On the other hand, this support for hinduism pales into insignificance when compared to the rise of Buddhism during this period. The state support for building and enhancing vihArAs, already known from the previous period, continued during this period. Thus dharmmapAla enhanced the nAlanda mahAvihAra with repairs, and established the somapura (or somapurI or zrIdharmapAladeva) mahAvihAra (in current pAhAD.apura in rAjazAhI district; may have originally been a jaina vihAra). Tibetan sources claim that the latter was established by devapAla, but archaelogical evidence is against that. Its three storied central building housed the main temple on the second floor; with ornamentation on top it looked like a pyramid. The courtyard surrounding this had buildings at each corner, and 177 housing units around it. This mahAvihAra had 108 temples, 6 schools and 114 teachers, including such famous ones like bhikSu AraNyaka kAlambalapAda bodhibhadra, atIsha dIpaGkara for a while, vIryyendra who made a huge buddha statue in buddhagaYA, and later, karuNAshrImitra teacher of gokulashrImitra. Under dharmmapAla, in the traikUTaka vihAra (location unknown, but may be in rADh.a), AcAryya haribhadra wrote his famous works. Buddhist kumAra ghoSa in 778 AD established a maJjushrI statue, probably during the rule of dharmmapAla. vikramazIla dharmmapAla might also have established the vikramapurI vihAra which housed such teachers as avadhUtAcArya kumAracandra and lIlAvajra, stdent of lakSmIGkara. In the eighth century itself, bAlaputradeva made a vihAra in the mahAvihAra of nAlandA, and devapAla gave five villages for its upkeep. Either he or dharmmapAla established the odantapurI vihAra as well. Later he put brahmin vIradeva, who turned buddhist under AcAryya sarvajJashAnti of kaniSkavihAra and came to devapAla in yashodharmapura vihAra in budhagaYA, as a teacher in nAlandA. In 851 AD, probably under devapAla, gomin avighnAkara went to the kingdom of karpadina in shilAhAra and established a prayer hall in kRSNagiri mahAvihAra. rAmapAla might have established tje jagaddala mahAvihAra which housed such teachers as vibhUticandra, dAnazIla, mokSAkara gupta, zubhAkara gupta, and dharmmAkara.

During mahIpAla and jaYapAla, vikramashIla and somapura mahAvihAras were international institutions of knowledge. Many great texts were written during this time, and teachers like atIsha dIpaGkara and ratnAkara arose. A bengali whose name is recorded as pau-si or ko-lin-nai took a lot of sanskrit texts to china in 1026 AD.

vihAras were scatterred all over in this period: traikUTaka vihAra in rADh.a, devIkoTa vihAra, with such teachers as AcAryya advaYavajra, udhilipA, and bhikSuNI mekhalA, in dinAjapura, paNDita vihAra in caTTagrAma, phullahari vihAra in nort Bihar, paTTikeraka mahAvihAra, kanakastUpa vihAra in which was probably the one referred to by harikAladeva raNavaGkamalla as durgottArA vihAra, and sannagara mahAvihAras, where lived vanaratna, in tripura, vikramapurI mahAvihAra with such teachers like avadhUtAcAryya kumAracandra, lIlAvajra, and puNyadhvaja in vikramapura, jagaddala mahAvihAra with the likes of vibhUticandra, dAnashIla, shubhAkara gupta, mokSAkaragupta, and dharmmAkara in varendrI, and many others. The number of smaller vihAras was huge, and though many famous teachers lived there, not all have been traced yet.

mahAyAna and its evolutions
The sammatIYavAda of the previous period is almost unrecognizable in the Bengali buddhism of this phase: the advent of tAntrika beliefs changed it almost beyond recognition. Traditionally AcAryya asaGga is associated with this large scale tAntrika influence on mahAyAna. The exact reasons of this transition are unknown, but it is possible that increased contact with the himAlaYan tribes might have contributed. The net resut was that shUnyavAda and vijJAnavAda, yogAcAra and mAdhyamikavAda, and even sarvAstivAda and mahAsAGghikavAda failed to capture people's attention except probably during their initiation; most people focussed on the magical elements and the importance of mantra giving rise to mantrayAna.

mantrayAna however soon evolved into the complex thoughts of vajrayAna. nAgArjuna conceived of the shUnyatatva: the idea that sorrow, karma, and its results are all meaningless, and knowledge or vijJana, of this fact, the knowledge associated with goddess nirAtmA, is nirvANa and leads to mahAsukha. bodhicitta is a particular state of the mind or soul which decides upon attaining true knowledge; it is compared to the concentration that underlies sexual intercourse. To control emotions, one needs to arouse them first. This bodhicitta is supposed to control the emotions and senses to the extent that it is called vajra, or hard. When bodhicitta becomes vajra, bodhijJAna is achieved, and this path is called vajrayAna. The gods and goddesses are the personifications of the mantra needed to control the emotions. All these are secret, and a teacher is essential in following this path.

sahajayAna is the part of mantrayAna that deemphasizes the gods, goddesses, and rituals (‘mokkha ki labbhai pAnI hNAi?’). The way to bodhi was not known to ordinary people, not even to Buddha himself: everyone had the capacity to reach bodhi which resided in their own bodies. They conceived of the female nihilistic nature and male kindness: their sexual union lead to ultimate happiness. They believed in basic equality (samarasa) and an empty mind (khasama: like the sky). They did not believe in asceticism (to vinu taruNi nirantara Nehe bodhi ki labbhai praNa vi dehe~), and liked simple comfort. They were totally against brahminical rituals (kajje virahia huavaha home~ | akkhi uhAvia kuD.a e' dhUrme~ ||) and caste system as well, and did not believe in the vedas and Agamas (jAhera vANacihNa rUba Na jAnI | se koise Agama vee~ vakhANI ||). Neither did they have much respect for the other religions of their time (jai nggA via hoi mukti tA suNaha siAlaha | lomupAD.aNo atthi siddhi tA juvai nitambaha || picchI gaNahe diTTha mokkha tA moraha camaraha | uJche~ bho aNõ hoi jANa tA kariha turaGgAha ||), and later extended that to the kApAlikas. In this period, however, the distinction between the sahajayAnIs and the kApAlikas was not that marked (A lo dombI toe sama karibe ma sAGga | nighiNa kAhNa kApAli joi lAga). These kApAlikas remained naked and used to wear garlands of bones. They wandered alone, and much of their behaviour arose out of the characters attributed to shiva.

kAlacakrayAna, a separate evolution from vajrayAna looked to rise above the cycle of time by controlling the activities of the body. Tradition has it that it arose in sambhala and came to Bengal later, but one of its main teachers, abhaYakaragupta lived here.

It is to be noted that these forms are not always cleanly distinguishable. It is not possible to classify the 84 siddhAcAryyas like AcAryya sarahapAda or sarahavajra of nAlanda from rAjJI city during ratnapala having been initiated at uDDiYAna, nAgArjuna, student of sarahpAda at nAlandA, luipAda of uDDiYAna, tillopAda or tailikapAda of paNdita vihAra from a brahmin family in caTTagrAma during mahIpAla, nAD.opAda, student of jetAri, of phullahari and vikrashIla vihAra from varendrI during jaYapAla, shavarapAda, student of sarahapAda, from baGgAla, advaYavajra, kAhNapAda, bhusuku, student of atIsha dIpaGkara, from vikramapura, kukkuripAda from a bengali brahmin family, etc. into the various sects.

All these forms of attaining bodhi relied on haThayoga, which involved a knowledge of the human body. The concept of the three major veins or flows, lalanA, rasanA, and avadhUti, their connections and cakras go back to this period. So does the classification of the religious natures of men into dombI, naTI, rajakI, caNDAlI, and brAhmaNI.

As the ideas of sahajayAna increased, the difference between Buddhist tAntrism and Hindu tAntrism slowly disappeared. Starting around the end of the pAla period Buddhist sahajayAna and Hindu shAkta beliefs slowly merged. In fact, some of the later forms like kaulamArga (a brahmnical system of beliefs that accepted the caste system, but whose main aim was to awaken the kulakuNDalinI, identified with shakti, in one's own body to unite with shiva) and nAthadharma, both of which claim descent from matsyendranAtha, who may have been the same as luipAda described above, can not be nicely classified as either Hindu or Buddhist.

The nAthadharmIs probably arose out of the rasasiddha yogis, the sect that did not believe in a freedom after death. That sect believed that the body is everything. They believed that this physical body could be converted to the shiva form, and that is freedom. The nathadharmIs sought for the cause of all ills and sorrows in an unprepared body and hence which wanted to improve the physical health more than anything else. Though they do not exist in Bengal today except as a sect of weavers, a famous character in Bengali folklore is madanAvatI or maYanAmatI, mother of gopIcÃda or govindracandra (disciple of jAlandharipAda or AdinAtha or hAD.ipAda, disciple of gorakSanAtha) and disciple of gorakSanAtha, disciple of matsyendranAtha. Other famous people of this sect include mInanAthaand cauraGgInAtha.

The avadhUtas, who lived ascetic lives in the forest, the pre-sahajIYA religion, that looked for simple, often carnal, pleasure, and the bAUla community of Bengal, who were much closer to the original vajra and sahajayAna, also arose out of this disintegration of the original buddhist religion.

Gods and goddesses
Though most of the idols from this period can be linked to mahAyAna and vajrayAna, a few do belong to the old buddhyAna conception of a central large shAkyasiMha or bodhisattva gautama in bhumisparsha, abhaYa, vyAkhyAna, dhyAna, or dharmacakrapravarttana form, surrouded by buddhAYana, incidents from his life. Some of these buddhas are worshipped even today as shivas.

mahAyAna pantheon was based on Adibuddha and AdipraJjA or praJjApAramita. The pancatathAgata or the five dhyAnibuddha, namely, vairocana, akSobhya, ratnasambhAra, amitAbha, and amoghasiddhi, and a sixth vajrasattva arose out of this Adibuddha. Each of these dhyAnibuddha has a bodhisattva and a mAnuSI buddha: present dhyAnibuddha amitAbha corresponds to bodhisattva avalokiteshvara lokanAtha and mAnuSI gautama. The bodhisattva's maJjushrI and maitreYa are also very famous. In addition, their power, all thought of as different forms of tArA are also important. No idols of Adibuddha have been found, though some of praJjApAramita have been. A few dhyAnibuddhas have also been found. The most common idols are of avalokiteshvara lokanAtha: mainly in the padmapANi, siMhanAda (said to cure leprosy), SaD.akSarI and khasaparNa (named probably after a place name in south bengal) forms, rarely of sugatisandarshanarupI form; both Asana and sthAnaka. There are a few 12-armed and six-armed forms which seem to be influenced by the Hindu pantheon of gods. The next most common avalokiteshvara was maJjushrI (linked to akSobhya) in the forms of maJjuvara on a lion, arapacana on a lotus on a snake, or of sthiracakra forms. vajrapANi who was the god of power and rain, and bodhisattva maitreYa are rare. Of the lower deities important are jambhala (god of wealth like the Hindu kuvera and linked with ratnasambhara), heruka (with akSobhya), and hevajra (a tAntrika god), the last usually embracing shakti. A few trailokyavashaGkara have also been found.

Of the tArAs, khadirvanI tArA (or shyAma tArA, linked to amoghasiddhi), vajra tArA (linked to ratnasambhara), and bhRkuTI tArA (linked to amitAbha) are the most common. A sitAtapatrA or sitatAra might also have been found, and a mahApratisarA (one of the pancarakSAmaNDala); and a few cannot be classified. Of the other goddesses, we find mainly mArIci (linked to vairocana and related to Hindu sUryya), parNashavarI (also called pishAcI, linked to amoghasiddhi), hArItI (shakti of jambhala), and cuNDA. A few uSNISavijaYA have aso been found.

vajrayAna conceived of a large number of gods and goddesses; called by names such as vajrasatva, hevajra, heruka, mahAmAYA, trailokyavashaGkara, nIlAmbaradharavajrapANi, yamAri, kRSNayamAri, jambhala, haYagrIva, samvara, cakrasamvara, cakreshvarAlI, kAli, vajrayoginI, siddhavajrayogini, kulukullA, kurukulla, vajrabhairava, vajradhara, hevajrodbhava, sitAtapatrAaparAjitA, and uSNISavijaYA. It is difficult to link these with the actual idols found from this period: many of these are unrepresented, and many idols do not seem to have been otherwise named.

Thus, in addition to vihAras, buddhism used to be well an alive in temples across Bengal. Temples of bhagavatItArA in candradvIpa, lokanAtha and buddhardhitArA in samataTa, cuNDA in paTTikeraka, and lokanAtha in harikela were quite famous. Most of the evidence, however, seems to concentrate in north and east Bengal, and slightly in bÃkurA-vIrabhuma region.

Jainism
Jainism (or nirgrantha religion) reduced in influence during this period. It still seems to have existed into the thirteenth century: at least in lATa, gauD.a, and vaGga; but it was quite weak by then. A few idols have been found of the digambara sect: mainly of pArshvanAtha, but a few of RSabhanAtha, AdinAtha, neminAtha, and shAntinAtha as well.

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