Troubled Galaxy Destroyed dreams, Chapter 315
Palash Biswas
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SINDH TODAYMamata for railway coach factory at Singur - 4 hours ago Singur (WB), Aug 2 (PTI) Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her ministry was prepared to set up a rail coach factory at Singur, provided 600 acres ...Press Trust of India - 13 related articles »Singur train: Flutter before flag-off - Times of India - 49 related articles »Singur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Singur
57 min - 12 Oct 2006 -
Abadbhumi,
a documentary film based on the forcefull aquisition of farmer's land
by West Bengal Government on behalf of TATA Motors. To protest the ...
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3052261023426138538 -Calcuttaweb - Singur Tata
Singur: Singurland.blogspot.com
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'Why should Singur's farmers subsidise Tata?'
Our Land, Their Development: A Photo Essay On Singur - India ...
Singur
Nico (eurovision) feat Codu Penal - Singur pe strada
4 min 39 sec - 10 Nov 2006 -
Romania hip hop rap R&b enjoy!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmEWJOB5X3s -ZNet - Singur and Nandigram
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Nip 'n' tuck at Singur home for Nano
Refuting Fareed Zakaria's unfettered & unconvincing lies about ...
place to feel the winds of political change ushered in by a “reformist”
Left. The government's tactics were rich in Orwellian irony: it ...
State wary of acquiring land for own projects
Return the acquired land to owners, says Didi
CPM will not do a Singur on Mamata
Elesh Parujanwala wins Rakhi Sawant's hand in Swayamwar
NEW DELHI: India's controversial item
girl Rakhi Sawant on Sunday night chose NRI businessman from Canada Elesh
Parujanwala as her "life
partner", bringing to an end the month-long 'Swayamwar'
drama that kept millions of viewers hooked to their TV screens.
Parujanwala was among the top three finalists who waited anxiously
to be 30-year-old Rakhi's suitor.
He finally won Rakhi's hand
pipping Manas Katyal, a 22-year-old event manager from Delhi and Chittiz Jain,
the businessman from Delhi.
Maoists kill 2 CPI(M) leaders, threaten to kill 6 in Jhargram
Midnapore (PTI): Maoists shot dead two
CPI(M) leaders and issued posters threatening to kill six other
Marxists in West Midnapore district as violence continued unabated in
strife-torn Lalgrah, despite over a month-old operation by joint
security forces.
Nirmal Mahato, the CPI(M) branch
committee Secretary of Amdanga, was shot dead by Maoists, who claimed
he was killed for exploiting poor villagers, police said.
The Maoists then blocked the Amdanga-Lalgarh road felling boulders preventing security forces from raiding the area.
The attack came barely 10 hours after
the Maoists gunned down of CPI(M) local leader Kalipada Singh (50) at
Chirugora village last night.
A gang of 15 Maoist cadre stormed into Singh's house and killed him on the spot for alleged corrupt practices.
Maoists declared that Mr. Singh,
convenor of CPI(M)-backed Police Santras Pratirodh Committee, was
'given death sentence' in their 'Kangaroo court' recently, the police
said.
In another development, panic spread as
posters( supposedly put by Maoist rebels) came up in Goaltore,
Midnapore Sadar, Salboni and Jhargram warning six CPI(M) leaders,
including CPI(M) Zonal Committee secretary of Jhargram Rabi Sarkar, of
'justice' at the Kangaroo court 'very soon'.
The gunning down of two CPI(M) leaders
was preceded by a gun-battle between Maoists and joint
police-paramilitary forces at Bhulagedia in Lalgarh two days back.
Denying the administration's claims
that three people, including Maoists, were hit during Friday's firing,
CPI(M) spokesman Bikash told PTI over phone that a villager,
Lakshmikanto Soren, was hit by the bullets while he was tilling field.
Bikash alleged ordinary villagers were
being harassed by police and paramilitary forces and claimed the local
people were not with the police and ruling party.
Meanwhile, the two assistant
sub-inspectors, Sabbir Molla and Kanchan Bauri, who were kidnapped by
Maoists when they were returning to their camp at Dharampur from
Lalgarh on Thursday, were still untraceable despite raids in certain
forested pockets, police said.
Nine CPI(M) leaders have been killed in Maoist attack in West Midnapore district in the past one/two months.
Centre may need to pull out troops from J&K to battle Naxals
K.P. Narayana Kumar
New Delhi:
The Union government will have to seriously consider shifting some
paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalions from Jammu
and Kashmir to Chhattisgarh to fight Maoist rebels who have stepped up
attacks in the central Indian state, according to police and
paramilitary officers.
The Chhattisgarh police have informed the
Union government that the state needs at least 54 battalions—or 54,000
men—of armed police to mount continuous and effective operations
against the rebels, known as Naxalites.
Security
threat: A file photo of Naxalites training at a temporary base in a
Chhattisgarh forest. The number of Naxalite attacks in the state
increased from about 100 seven years ago to 624 last year. Mustafa
Quraishi / AP
those offered by the paramilitary as well as the state police. We
definitely need more support from the paramilitary,” said Vishwa
Ranjan, director general of police .
Home minister P. Chidambaram
said last month that the government wants the CRPF to play a secondary
role to the state police in J&K. The CRPF was replaced by the
J&K police in the district of Baramulla.
Naxalite violence,
which Prime MinisterManmohan Singhhas described as India’s most serious
national security threat, has increased in Chhattisgarh, a densely
forested state of 20 million people. In their latest strike, the rebels
killed about 30 policemen patrolling Rajnandgaon district earlier this
month.
Naxalites take their name from Naxalbari, a village in
West Bengal where a peasant uprising broke out in the 1960s and spread
to other parts of India. Among states where the rebels are active,
Chhattisgarh accounts for the highest number of casualties. In 2008,
the state reported 620 incidents related to the Maoist insurgency, with
85 security personnel and 157 civilians killed.
CRPF deployment
is the heaviest in J&K, where security forces are battling a
two-decade-old anti-Indian insurgency. A paramilitary officer with vast
experience in anti-Maoist operations said the CRPF must be asked to
withdraw some of its battalions from J&K and move them to
Chhattisgarh.
“The CRPF has deployed 77 battalions out of 200 in
J&K, whereas in Chhattisgarh it has only 14 battalions. Similarly
in Orissa and Jharkhand where it is facing the brunt of the Naxal
violence, the CRPF has very few battalions posted in these states,”
said this officer, who didn’t want to be named. “It is time to
reconsider the priorities of the CRPF,” the officer added.
The
number of terror incidents in J&K declined from 3,071 in 1999 to
708 in 2008. In Chhattisgarh, the number of Naxalite attacks increased
from about 100 seven years ago to 624 last year.
“There have been
several discussions on this (moving some CRPF battalions into
Chhattisgarh) within the ministry. But it is a bit complicated and may
take time,” said a home ministry official who did not want to be
identified.
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah warned the
Centre earlier this month against carrying out any sudden pullout of
paramilitary forces. “We have over 70 battalions of the CRPF and the
state police’s strength is not even one-third of it. Five battalions of
the state police, which includes the India Reserve Police, are
undergoing training. So any rash decision in this aspect can be
detrimental to the state’s security,” he said.
According to Union
home secretary G.K. Pillai, the Centre is working towards mobilizing
forces in districts affected by Maoist violence. “We are aware of the
need for more troops in these states and are working towards it.
However, the Chhattisgarh state police first needs to augment its rural
police,” Pillai said.
He refused to confirm whether some battalions would be transferred from Jammu and Kashmir to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/22212858/Centre-may-need-to-pull-out-tr.html?d=1
No indefinite deployment of Central forces: Chidambaram
Special Correspondent
“State police will have to take over the responsibility as soon as possible” |
Situation in Lalgarh still not stable, says Home Minister
“Armed Forces Special Powers Act is being amended”
— Photo: R.V. Moorthy
Home Minister P. Chidambaram addresses a press conference in
New Delhi on Saturday. At left is Home Secretary G.K. Pillai.
NEW DELHI: The Centre has made it clear to all States that while
paramilitary forces would be available for deployment, it could not be
for an indefinite period. The State police force would have to take
over the responsibility of maintaining law and order as soon as
possible.
The Centre’s clarification came on the deployment of Central forces
in Lalgarh at the request of the West Bengal government. Noting that
the situation in Lalgarh had still not stabilised, Union Home Minister
P. Chidambaram, at a press conference here, said the CPI (Maoist)
“continues to have pockets of influence and is suspected to be behind
some recent acts of violence.”
Tripartite talks
Expressing satisfaction that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha heeded the
advice of the Centre and the West Bengal government in withdrawing its
agitation, he said the GJM had been invited for tripartite talks on
August 11. “I hope that the talks will be held with an open mind and
all avenues explored towards a resolution of the issues raised,” he
said.
Replying to queries by journalists on incidents of political
violence still being reported from West Bengal, Mr. Chidambaram said
political parties should be political adversaries, but violence should
not take place.
On the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), he
said it was being amended and the government was looking at limiting
the application of the legislation to some areas. He said the Centre
would have to take a decision on restricting the application of the
controversial Act in some areas. The Act is currently enforced in Jammu
and Kashmir and some parts of the northeast.
“The AFSPA amendments are getting ready. I cannot disclose the
nature of the amendments because that has to go through the Cabinet
process.”
Mr. Chidambaram said the three-Minister Group, comprising Home, Law
and Health Ministers, took note of the judgment of the Delhi High Court
[decriminalising gay sex] in the case of Naz Foundation relating to
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and finalised its recommendation
to the Cabinet.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/02/stories/2009080260270800.htm
Power Game Intensifies in West Bengal!
Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday said her ministry was
interested in setting up a national project on the site of the now
abandoned Tata Nano factory in this rural belt of West Bengal.
"We want industry to come up in Singur. If the land which has been
taken for industry in Singur is handed over to the railways by the
centre, then we will set up a national project there," Banerjee said
while flagging off the Singur-Howrah Andolan suburban train here.
She said the railways would implement the project through a joint
venture. "We will follow the public-private-partnership model. We are
very much interested in such a venture."
West Bengal Sports and Transport Minister and senior Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Subhas Chakraborty, now under treatment at
a private hospital here, is critical and has been put on ventilator, a
hospital spokesman said Sunday.
Chakraborty, who was admitted to the AMRI Hospital in the satellite
township of Salt Lake Tuesday night, has a malfunctioning kidney,
besides severe heart problems.
"He came to the hospital with respiratory problem, an infected lungs
and high fever. His heart is also not ok. So we have shifted him to
ventilator," the hospital's medical superintendent Debasish Sharma told
IANS.
The minister would be given blood transfusion Sunday night for
increasing the platelet count. "Once that is over, we may go for
dialysis," Sharma said.
President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, music maestro A
R Rahman and noted lyricist Gulzar today saw Oscar-winning movie
'Slumdog Millionaire' at Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium here.
Oscar awardee Resul Pookuty and Vikas Swarup, on whosenovel 'Q and A' the movie is based, also attended the screening.
According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, the two-hour-long
special screening was exclusively organised for the President and
restricted for selected invitees.
Slumdog Millionaire had bagged eight Oscars early thisyear at the 81st Academy Awards.
"The film reminds us about the lives of the people. It isreally a
thought-provoking movie," Rahman, who along with Gulzar won the Oscar
for Best Original Song 'Jai Ho' in themovie, told reporters after the
screening.
The special show of Slumdog Millionaire in Hindi was alsoattended by
Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the PrimeMinister's Office,
Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja,Minority Affairs Minister Salman
Khursheed and CBI directorAshwani Kumar among others.
The rags-to-riches story of a slum-dweller in Mumbai, whogoes on to win
Rs two crore in a reality game is directed byDanny Boyle.
The government's drive against 15-year-old commercial vehicles and
non-LPG autorickshaws will continue tomorrow as per a Calcutta High
Court order banning such polluting vehicles in the metropolis from
August 1.
India's private airline operators on Sunday called off a strike planned
for Aug 18, responding to a government offer to hold talks to see how
the ailing industry could tide over its financial woes.
Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Sunday roped in the
Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the bribery case against National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chief Buta Singh's son Sarabjot
Singh alias Sweety Baba. The CBI arrested alleged hawala operators Anup
Begi, Dhukh Singh
Chauhan and Madan Singh, who were reportedly involved in collecting
money from the complainant, contractor Ramrao Patil, and were going to
send the money to another operator, Shyamlal Chaudhari, in Bangalore.
CBI officials have launched a manhunt for Chaudhari.
A reshuffle in the Left Front-led
government in West Bengal to make it function better was
suggested today by senior party leaders during the two-day
state committee meeting of the CPI-M which began here.
In the backdrop of the party's recent debacle in the
Lok Sabha and civic polls, the leaders felt that there was a
need to refurbish the party's image and initiate steps to make
the government function better, party sources said.
Some members pointed out that a few ministers were not
keeping well and could make way for new faces, sources said.
The leaders also stressed the need to provide pro-poor
governance.
The functioning of health, environment and power
departments was particularly criticised by the leaders in the
meeting being attended by CPI-M general secretary Prakash
Karat and politburo member Sitaram Yechury, sources said.
The members did not favour acquisition of agricultural
land for industries.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)’s central leadership
Sunday advised West Bengal’s ruling Left Front government to bring
about transparency in all levels of the administrative system in the
state. It also said the government should focus on pro-people issues
and address the problems of common people.
A press release issued by the CPI-M state committee said the government
had achieved a lot in the state in terms of socio-economic development
but that does not mean it would ignore its shortcomings.
“We must focus on sectors like agricultural, farmers loan schemes,
animal husbandry, irrigation and setting cooperative societies in the
coming years. We must ensure that poor farmers get easy agricultural
loans without any hassles,” it said.
These decisions were taken in a two-day state committee meeting here
that was attended by CPI-M’s central leadership like party’s general
secretary Prakash Karat and politburo member Sitaram Yechury.
“The government should also prepare a proper BPL (below poverty
level) list in our state. And we also need to give importance to our
rationing system,” the press note said.
“The government should take significant initiatives to improve the
education system and the healthcare infrastructure within the state. it
should also formulate beneficial policies for the close-factory
workers,” it added.
“We have received some temporary setbacks but it’s not impossible
for the Left Front to once again build up a congenial network with the
common people,” it said, pointing out the opposition political force,
which indulges destructive politics, could not carry out developmental
works for the interest of people in West Bengal.
In what seems likely to be
an increasingly hot button issue for Congress-led UPA government, Trinamool
Congress chief Mamata Banerjee
called on home minister P Chidambaram to issue a
directive to West Bengal's Left Front government under Article 355 to stop
"political violence" against TC workers.
Banerjee's demand came after
she met Chidambaram on Thursday and though Article 355 falls well short of
dismissal of a state government, it is intended to serve as warning and its
provisions call on Centre to protect a state from external aggression or
internal disturbances.
The use of Article 355, under which a state
government can be asked to rein-in a certain situation, has been used in recent
past with regard to communal violence in Kandhmal in Orissa and attacks on
churches in Karnataka. It is intended to be a strong rap on the knuckles for a
state government and clearly has its political implications in the context of
West Bengal.
QnA: Why has the government not done much to put and end to
Mayawati's statue building spree?
Ironically, The
Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday accused the Trinamool
Congress of fomenting violence in West Bengal, saying part of its
"conspiracy" is to create a law and order situation and then demand
dismissal of the Left Front government so that elections could be held
under Central rule.
"Trinamool Congress is moving on a
strategy of inciting and escalating violence and using that as a
pretext to demand Central intervention. They are conspiring to
destabilise a duly elected government and getting the assembly polls
advanced so that these can be held under Central rule," party leader
Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.
Mr. Yechury said while Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has described Maoist violence as the gravest threat to
internal security, two Union ministers of the Trinamool Congress, Mukul
Roy and Sisir Adhikari, went to Lalgarh and "incited" violence.
"At a time when joint operations by
Central and State security forces to contain Maoist violence is going
on, they visited the area, incited violence and provoked confrontation
with security forces, thereby giving sustenance to Maoist violence and
endangering the unity and integrity of the country," Mr. Yechury said.
The introduction of the suburban train covering a 34-km distance from
here to Howrah is the Trinamool Congress chief's way of paying tribute
to the anti-land acquisition movement of Singur that forced auto major
Tata Motors to shift its Nano car factory to Sanand in Gujarat last
year.
"This train is a recognition to those who participated in the anti-land acquisition movement in Singur," she said.
Banerjee had earlier announced an express train on the route but
changed her decision after railway officials pointed out that such a
train on the short stretch will be unviable.
Re-stating her oft-repeated position, the minister said industry could
come up on around 600 acres of the acquired land while the remaining
approximately 400 acres should be given back to the unwilling farmers.
"The railways will set up industries only on this 600 acres," she said.
Banerjee disclosed that the railways have already identified 113,000
acres across the nation which can be used for developing industrial
infrastructure.
"Six bighas of this land is in Singur. This will be used for setting up
an industrial cluster under the Kishan Vishan project, which will help
farmers sell their products like potatoes, flowers and vegetables from
outlets on this land. This will also create employment in Singur," she
said.
Banerjee, who also inaugurated a computerised train reservation centre
here, said Rs.50 lakh would be spent for making Singur a model station.
The Singur agitation, which started in mid-2006 following the project
announcement by the state's ruling Left Front soon after it swept the
assembly polls, helped the Trinamool decimate the Left in last year's
polls to rural local governments and the April-May parliament
elections.
Banerjee staged a 26-day hunger strike in Kolkata in 2006 protesting
against the forcible land acquisition by the state government in
Singur, and demanding 400 acres taken from farmers unwilling to part
with their land be returned to them.
She later travelled to the rural pocket and laid siege of the factory for 14 days last year.
After the Singur movement, followed by a similar agitation in
Nandigram, the land acquisition agitation snowballed into a major issue
in the state and brought handsome rewards to the Trinamool at the
hustings.
On the other hand, Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury today criticised Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram for his comments on killings in West Bengal and
alleged that everyone knew who were responsible for the killings in the
state.
"The Union Home minister's comment is sweeping and uncalled for.
We shall ask him in Parliament tomorrow about the basis of his remark.
He must have supporting documents.
Everybody knows who are instrumental for killing in West Bengal," Yechury said here.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had made the observation during a
meeting with Trinamool Congress chief and Railway minister Mamata
Banerjee that many districts in WestBengal had turned into 'killing
fields'.
During his recent meeting with Banerjee, Chidambaram expressed concern
over the spate of killings in West Bengal and said there should be an
end to it.
Claiming that all political parties have full protection in West
Bengal, Yechury said, "Chidambaram should explain who turned the state
into a 'killing field' as he has observed. He must have sufficient
document on this".
Yechury was here to attend the CPI-M's state committee meeting.
Centre rushes 2,500 troops for relief work in cyclone hit West Bengal
The home ministry is in constant touch with the state governments and
ready to provide more help if required by the two states, a home
ministry said.
he Centre on Tuesday dispatched 2500 personnel of the central
paramilitary forces to assist in the relief and rescue operations in
cyclone hit areas of West Bengal.
“We have rushed 25 companies
of CRPF, BSF and RPF to help in the aid and rescue operations in the
cyclone hit areas of West Bengal,” a home ministry official said.
The home ministry is in constant touch with the state governments and
ready to provide more help if required by the two states, the official
said.
“We are monitoring the situation closely. It is improving and things are settling down now,” the official said.
The Centre had already dispatched 200 personnel of the riverine units
of BSF based in Sundarbans, West Bengal. About 1000 personnel of the
National Disaster Response Force have also been pressed into relief
operations.
Some of the forces have already reached the spot to help local authorities in rescue operations.
“NDRF
and BSF officials are in constant touch with relief commissioners of
West Bengal. We are very prepared and ready to meet any situation,”
Union home minister Chidambaram had said on Monday.
Monday’s
storm ripped through Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah,
Hooghly, Burdwan and East Midnapore affecting a population of 22.3 lakh
and killing 64 people.
61,000 houses have been destroyed, 132,000
houses damaged, 41,000 people have taken shelter in relief camps, North
24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore are the worst
affected districts, said the chief secretary.
The People’s Committee Against Police
Atrocities last day accused the forces of firing on ordinary tribals and
threatened a “bigger movement” in protest.
While
searching for two policemen believed to have been kidnapped by Maoists,
the forces had a series of encounters with the guerrillas in Lalgarh
yesterday. The two constables are still missing.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee
today said her ministry was prepared to set up a rail coach
factory at Singur, provided 600 acres of the 1000-acre land
earlier acquired by the Tatas to set up 'Nano' factory was
made available to it.
The announcement of the project came exactly a year after
she launched her indefinite agitation in the village that
ultimately drove the Tatas to take away their prized small car
project to Sanand in Gujarat.
On the other hand, Senior CPI(M) leader and MP Sitaram
Yechury today demanded that cyclone Aila, which devastated
many areas in West Bengal recently, should be declared a
"national calamity".
Yechury, who was here to attend the two-day CPI(M) State
Committee meeting ending today, told reporters that if Kosi
river flood in Bihar could be declared a national calamity by
the Centre, then why not Aila in West Bengal.
Concerned over the gravity of the situation in Aila-hit
West Bengal, all the 31 MPs of Left parties have contributed
their one-month salary to Chief Minister's Relief Fund for
relief, restoration and reconstruction work in the devastated
areas, Yechury said.
He and another CPI(M) MP Bacudeb Acharia today handed
over cheques worth Rs 4.5 lakh raised by the Left Front MPs
from their one-month salary to Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee.
The minister said she wished to set up the project on a
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. Similar projects were
also lined up for Allahabad and Aleppy.
The project for Aleppy had already made headway, she
noted.
Mamata said the remaining 400 acres could be returned to
the farmers who had sold the land to the state government for
the Tata project.
Mamata Banerjee said her
alliance with the Congress was there to stay, a day after the latter
decided to pull out its candidates and let her contest both Assembly
seats going to polls this month.
After
a meeting of the Trinamul Congress core committee at the party
headquarters, Mamata said: “Lots of rumours are being spread about our
relations with the Congress. But I should say our alliance with the
Congress was there… is there and will be there… The alliance is there
to stay.”
Asked
how she felt about the Congress surrendering to her, the Trinamul chief
said: “I’m thankful to the Congress. We have no quarrel with the
Congress…. Trinamul is the second-largest partner of the UPA and the
first ally of the Congress. Our relationship with the all-India
leadership of the Congress is very good.”
The
state Congress had egged on the central leadership to contest the two
seats if Mamata did not agree to their 1:1 formula. The relations were
also perceived to have been soured after the Congress formed the
municipal board in Uluberia following cross-voting.
Meanwhile, Lalgarh Stand Off and Woes suffered by the Tribal Population as well as Joint Security forces continue!
Barely hours after Maoists gunned down a
CPI(M) activist at Chirugora village under Belpahari police station,
another CPI(M) leader was killed by the ultras at Amdanga under Lalgarh
police station in West Midnapore district late Friday night.
Superintendent
of Police, West Midnapore, MK Verma, confirming the incident, said four
Maoists knocked on the door of Nirmal Mahato (48) at around 0030 hours
last night. As soon as he opened the door, five rounds of bullets were
pumped into his body, killing him on the spot.
Anil
Mahato, brother of PCPA leader Chatradhar Mahato, along with five
school students were arrested in this connection, the SP informed.
Hundreds
of PCPA workers, demanding the release of the arrested leader and the
students, have gone on a sit-in strike in front of the Lalgarh police
station. They have also blocked the main road between Lalgarh and
Ramgarh placing huge boulders.
Meanwhile,
the road stretch between Chilgora and Sirshi was dug up by the PCPA,
not allowing any police movement from Midnapore district headquarters
towards Lalgarh.
Earlier,
a group of 30 Maoists, in two action squads, came out of Khankrajhore
forest at about 2130 hours last night and gunned down CPI(M) activist
Kalipada Singh (40) at Chirugora village under Belpahari police
station. Singh was an influential member of the Ganatantrik Pratirodh
Committee set up by the party to tackle the Maoist influence in the
area.
India will achieve uranium self-sufficiency by 2013: Kakodkar
Government had given approval for setting up a 4x700 MW nuclear power reactor unit
India is expected to achieve self-sufficiency in uranium production
to feed its existing nuclear power projects and proposed plants by
2013, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Sunday.
With
the Jadugoda Uranium mill in Jharkhand expanded and the proposed
expansion of Turamdih mill expected to be over next year, uranium
production would go up.
Besides, exploration of uranium is
underway at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh and it is expected to go on
stream by 2013, he told reporters here.
Kakodkar was here on the
occasion of five years of the propellant reaction project at the Indira
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research attaining criticality.
“We are
also working to explore uranium at Gogi near Gulbarga in Karnataka,” he
said and expressed the hope that a proposed project at Meghalaya would
also be cleared soon.
With the completion of proposed projects, the country would overcome shortage of uranium by 2013.
Stating
that the existing reactors were of world class, Kakodkar said, “We will
also put in continuous efforts to further improve their performance
through our research and development team.”
Centre had given
approval, in principle, for setting up a 4x700 MW nuclear power reactor
unit. “We want to quickly get (final) approval and start constructing
these projects. There are also plans to set up another 4x700 MW power
unit,” he said but did not divulge details.
Left asks govt to take over marketing &distribution of RIL gas
Amidst Ambani brothers’ fight, Left MPs on Sunday demanded that
government should take over the marketing and distribution of gas
produced by RIL to ensure that national asset is not surreptitiously
appropriated as “family property”.
As many as 30 MPs belonging to
the Left parties have said in a letter to the Prime Minister that the
government must take over the marketing rights of gas, produced by
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries (RIL) in the Krishna-
Godavari (KG) basin, and they also opposed linking its prices with
international prices.
“As gas is being produced in our own soil,
there is absolutely no justification of pricing it on the basis of
linkage with international price of an altogether different product
like crude oil as has been done at present by making the gas price at
$4.32 per mmbtu,” the letter said.
“Hence the present gas price
determined by the EGoM must be revised and it should be benchmarked to
$2.34 per mmbtu as offered to NTPC by RIL in 2004-05,” the letter added.
It
said the government’s firm assertion through the affidavit filed in the
Supreme Court should be followed up by appropriate executive action on
proper distribution mechanism to make the gas available to priority
sectors in the country.
In the face of ”surreptitious and
unauthorised” bid of appropriating the country’s sovereign natural
resources as “family property” by some private players as pointed out
in government’s affidavit in the apex court, the Left parties said that
government must take over distribution and marketing rights of KG-D6
basin gas.
“We urge upon the government to take over the
distribution and marketing rights of the KG D6 basin gas at the
delivery point so that the same can be distributed and marketed through
national gas grid under government control.
“Gas Authority of India (GAIL), a PSU, can be assigned the role of a nodal agency for this purpose,” the letter said.
The signatories to the letter include Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, Basudeb Acharia, Prashant Chatterjee, D Raja.
Mittal for greater business-politics ties
New Delhi (PTI): The face of telecom
India, Sunil Mittal, who was once keen on joining politics but left his
ambition behind to create the largest private teleco, feels it is time
for greater business-politics ties on the lines of Nandan Nilekani
heading a prestigious government programme.
"I think the country is moving towards
the next generation of leadership and this formation will really
determine whether business people or professionals have a role in
politics," Mr. Mittal, who led Bharti Airtel to become Asia's leading
mobile operator, told private broadcaster CNBC-TV 18 in an interview.
"You are seeing early signs of that.
Nandan Nilekani has joined one of the most important positions in the
government. You will start seeing more of this," he said.
Mr. Nilekani, former co-chairman of
Infosys, has been appointed to head the Unique Identification Authority
of India (UIAI), the UPA government's initiative aimed at creating and
maintaining a national database of identity details of all the
citizens.
On his plans to join politics, Mr.
Mittal said, "...I am very comfortable with politics. I am a keen
political student and some years back I did think that at 50 I should
be in some form or the other in politics. But in the last 4-5 years I
have recaliberated my plans and I am happy being where I am.
"I think we are in the phase of a
transition here from old political guard to a new one. And I think in
the new one you may have a situation where people who are professionals
or businessmen may have a role in politics...," he said.
NGO opposes Education Bill in current form
New Delhi (PTI): As the government
gears up to pass the landmark right to Education Bill, a NGO today
alleged that the Act did not provide for disabled and special children
and demanded immediate stalling of the law.
Disabled Rights Group (DRG), an
organisation working for differently abled people, alleged that the
current form of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
Bill 2008 had left out children with disabilities while defining the
"disadvantaged" group.
"Call it lack of political will or
something else, the clause which was there just a few months back has
suddenly disappeared. Is the Minister (Kapil Sibal) not aware of the
11th five-year plan that has a chapter on disability?" asked Javed
Abidi, the convener of DRG.
Mr. Abidi said the DRG had confronted Sibal earlier this week on the same issue.
Sibal, he alleged, had not responded
positively. But the minister suggested a separate infrastructure for
people with disability, he said, adding that Sibal told the DRG
representatives that nothing could be done about the clause.
The landmark Bill provided for free and
compulsory education as a fundamental right of every child in the 6-14
age bracket and earmarked 25 per cent seats to children from
economically weaker sections in private schools.
The Bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week, was moved in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Mr. Abidi demanded that the term, 'children with disability' should be included in the 'disadvantaged' group.
"The Bill should mention special
schools and other infrastructure for teaching such students.
'Disability' as defined in the National Trust Act of 1999, covering
autism, cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities, should also be
included in the Bill," Mr. Abidi told PTI.
He alleged that Sibal has been
"outrightly insensitive" on the issue and said his comments have put
the future of 30 million children, between the age group of 6-14 years,
at stake.
"After years of fighting for inclusiveness of disabled group, suddenly we are talking about segregation," Mr. Abidi said.
Mithu Alur, founder chairperson of
ADAPT -- formerly The Spastics Society of India -- said the government
has ignored the rights of the disabled in its "100-day frenzy".
"The government has taken advantage of
our non-political stand. The minister, is perhaps, not aware of the
provisions made for the disabled in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA),"
she alleged.
"In the frenzy of completing the first
100 days of the government, we have been thrown out, claimed Aloor who
is also the member of the National Mission of the SSA.
Mr. Abidi demanded that the Government
must give clarification in both the Houses of Parliament on the
inclusiveness of the disability clause, followed by a notification. He
also demanded changes in the Bill.
DRG has called for an indefinite dharna on the issue tomorrow at Jantar Mantar here.
LIC employees to observe 2-hr walk-out strike on Aug 4
Mumbai (PTI): LIC employees plan to
observe a two-hour walk-out strike on August 4 to protest against the
LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, introduced by the Finance Minister in the
Lok Sabha on Friday, a senior office-bearer of an employees association
said.
"We are observing a two-hour
nation-wide walk-out strike on August 4, opposing the LIC Amendment
Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha. Around 70,000 employees from 2,048
centres will go strike," All India Insurance Employees' Association
General Secretary, K Venu Gopal, told PTI here.
The Bill says that the minimum capital of LIC would be increased from the present Rs 5-crore to Rs 100-crore.
"There is no need for this as the
Corporation has been doing its expansion from its internal resources
for the last 56-years without Government support," Gopal said.
According to IRDA, insurance companies
registered after 1999 are expected to have a capital base of Rs
100-crore but since LIC was registered in 1956, it does not require to
increase its paid-up capital to Rs 100-crore, he said.
He further alleged that increase in the
paid-up capital to Rs 100-crore could be a precursor to disinvestment
as Rs 5-crore is a very small amount for disinvestment.
Travel by Air India only, govt tells its employees
New Delhi (PTI): In a move that could
give some comfort to the cash-strapped national carrier, the government
has directed its employees to use only Air India during their official
domestic and foreign tours.
The Government also made it clear that
this would be applicable to the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) of
officials including those belonging to the Public Sector Undertakings.
"It has been decided by the Department
of Expenditure that in all cases of air travel both domestic and
international where the Government of India bears the cost of air
passage, the officials concerned may travel only by Air India," an
order issued by the Ministry of Personnel said.
The Ministry said it had consulted with the Department of Expenditure on the purview of the order with regard to LTC.
"....Department of Expenditure has confirmed that the order will apply in cases of LTC also," it said.
For travel to places not connected by
the national carrier, the order said, the officials could travel by Air
India to the point closest to that destination.
Ashes of Gayatri Devi immersed in the Ganga
Haridwar (PTI): The ashes of Gayatri Devi, former Jaipur royal, were immersed in the Ganga here on Sunday.
Her family members reached the bank of
the river carrying the urn and immersed her ashes in the river amid the
chanting of Vedic hymns.
Devi died in Jaipur on July 29 at the age of 90.
Left Front team visits killed Trinamool leader's house
Burdwan (WB) (PTI): In a rare gesture,
a Left Front team comprising an MP and 6 MLAs on Sunday visited the
house of a Trinamool leader who was killed allegedly by a group of
CPI(M) cadres in the district.
Family members of the Trinamool leader
Samsur Rehman, also a school headmaster, during their interaction with
the visiting team accused local CPI(M) MLA Pradipta of the murder,
police said.
Two of the slain leader's daughters
even grabbed the hands of Pradipta forcing the police to intervene as
the situation got tense.
This led the team to drop its plan of
visiting the house of another Trinamool leader Jafar Ali, who was also
killed in the July 29 clash.
The delegation then visited houses of the injured Left Front workers.
Later, CPI(M) leader Saiyad Md Mossiah expressed regret at the behaviour of Rehman's family members.
CPI(M), Trinamool activists killed in clash
Burdwan (WB)(PTI): A CPI(M) activist
and one Trinamool Congress worker were killed on Sunday in a clash
between members of both the parties in Ketugram village here.
CPI(M) activist Khelu Sheikh, 35, died
on the spot, while Amin Sheikh, 26, succumbed to injuries later, police
said, adding that the two groups hurled bombs at each other.
"Both the deceased have criminal records in our books," district SP Raja Raj Shekheran said.
On Saturday, a Trinamool supporter was attacked allegedly by CPI(M) cadre in the same area.
Singur train: Flutter before flag-off
OLKATA:
What did Mamata Banerjee have in mind while announcing Andolan Express' between
Singur and Howrah? Barely four days remain before she
flags it off from Singur
on August 1 and officials are still not sure what kind of a train it is going to
be.
Should she insist upon an express train, it will make the record
books as one that covers the smallest distance. Such a train would not be of
much help to people of the area as the fare would go up manifold. One option is
to run an EMU service between the two stations. But then, EMU locals can't have
names and can't be called Andolan' local. The only remaining option is to run a
passenger train. This would also probably find its way to the record books as it
would barely cover 35 km.
"We are still working out the details. It's
not yet clear what kind of a train it will be. In the past, there was a Singur
local from Howrah. This was later extended to Tarakeswar. She may have been
talking about reintroducing this service," a senior railway officer
said.
Some officers believe this could be the train that Mamata had
talked about in her budget speech. Maybe, her final aim is to connect Singur
with Nandigram, via Howrah. Officers preferred to remain mum when asked how
popular such a train would be.
A retired officer said the idea is
absurd and will only result in further congestion along the Howrah-Tarakeswar
section.
Duronto launch
In the article, Andolon Exp &
second ladies' special in Aug' which appeared in Monday's edition of The Times
of India, it was reported that three pairs of Duronto Expresses would start from
April 2010. This was incorrect. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee had announced
that the trains would start in August 2009 itself.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City/Kolkata-/Singur-train-Flutter-before-flag-off/articleshow/4827720.cms
Cops battle rebels in Patamda | ||
| JAYESH THAKER | ||
Jamshedpur, Aug. 1: Maoists The Around As An “Have Forces Singh “The The As | ||
 |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090802/jsp/frontpage/story_11311121.jsp
Poster threat to police station |
| OUR CORRESPONDENT |
Cuttack, Aug. 1: One Confirming “We The poster read: “We will blow up the police station. The innocent and the poor are being harassed in this police station.” On June 23, 2007, several leaflets of Maoist literature were found on Orissa High Court premises in Cuttack. |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090802/jsp/frontpage/story_11311508.jsp
CRPF boss in red den |
| SHASHANK SHEKHAR |
Bokaro, Aug. 1: Landing Sources said that Raman directed the officers there to be on more alert and chalk out new strategies to counter the Maoists. After Inspector-general Laxman Singh later said that Raman discussed strategies on how to counter the Maoists, especially in case of sudden attacks. Raman also gave a few vital tips to the security personnel after being “satisfied with the security” of Jhumra Pahar. |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090802/jsp/frontpage/story_11310895.jsp
Firm in city, lax on fringes - Cops: 1700, caught: 2 autos | |
| OUR BUREAU | |
The Over The Telegraph answers your questions on how the day unfolded and what lies ahead. Did Saturday’s action signal the government is serious about implementing the court order? If In However, Was there violence? Only Why was it less violent than in January when some autos were seized? It is early days yet. Last time, organised violence had broken out on the third day. But Trinamul The But the police are keeping their fingers crossed. Did the government help commuters? The It Why were the seizures so few? In In the adjoining areas, police inaction ensured that the number of vehicles seized was confined to five. Why did so many illegal autos ply in Tollygunge? Lax Even What about Monday? The Monday will trigger another problem. Around 300 contract carriages — pool cars and school buses — will go off the streets. “Students may face some problems,” said transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury. The | |
|
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090802/jsp/frontpage/story_11311684.jsp
- Views
Killing fields of West Bengal
The manner in which Left-ruled states are organized, the writ of the
state government mandarins in the Writers Buildings does not extend to
the CPM party leadership in Alimuddin Street in Kolkata
Union home minister P. Chidambaram may or may not have heard of a
place called Choeung Ek in Cambodia where thousands perished at the
hands of the Khmer Rouge. While he was wildly off the mark in terms of
the fatalities, he was quite close—in sentimental terms—when he
labelled many districts of West Bengal as the “killing fields”.
On
Thursday last week, Chidambaram is reported to have expressed his
concern about the killings, saying many districts in the state have
become killing fields. He said this was unacceptable, as those who were
being killed were average political workers. His statement came days
after four workers of opposition parties were killed in political
violence in the state.
Why is West Bengal caught in a violent
political ferment? It is a difficult question to answer. Some elements
of an answer are, however, known: the desperate attempts by the
Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, to reoccupy lost political
space, the sullen resentment of the poor now becoming more activist,
and the ascendance of the Trinamool Congress-Congress party combine.
For a state as politicized as West Bengal, this is a volatile mix.
In
any normally run state, this state of affairs would have been blamed on
the ineptness of the state government. West Bengal is different. The
manner in which Left-ruled states are organized, there is a certain
split in authority between the government and the party. What the party
says cannot be ignored by the government. Conversely, at times, what
the party does cannot be checked by the government, however detrimental
it may be to peace and order in the state.
Something similar is
happening in West Bengal. The writ of the mandarins in the Writers
Buildings does not extend to the CPM leadership in Alimuddin Street in
Kolkata, let alone in far-flung places such as Burdwan and Lalgarh.
Even if chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to set matters
right, he may not be able to do so. As the state assembly elections
inch closer, the fight for political primacy between the CPM and
opposition parties is unlikely to let such administrative niceties get
in the way.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/02210400/Killing-fields-of-West-Bengal.html?h=B
- Economy and Politics
Bengal puts phase II of restructuring on hold
Romita Datta
Kolkata:
West Bengal has indefinitely postponed plans to restructure 28
state-owned firms that could have potentially led to job losses,
shuttering two of the companies and converting another nine into joint
ventures with private partners.
The state government decided to
suspend the second phase of the programme due to the current economic
slowdown, a top official said.
“You can’t expect people to
invest in restructuring at a time like now,” said Sumanta Chaudhuri,
principal secretary of the state’s department of public enterprises and
industrial reconstruction. “Our decision to stop restructuring our PSEs
(public sector enterprises) was based on advice from our consultants.”
The
restructuring exercise has Deloitte and Touche Consulting India Pvt.
Ltd, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd and Mott MacDonald Consultants
(India) Pvt. Ltd as consultants. The UK’s department for international
development (DFID) is funding the initiative.
“The downturn in
the economy might have affected the state government’s plans,” a DFID
spokesperson said. “The West Bengal government must decide its
priorities on reforms.”
In the second phase of restructuring,
the state government was to receive Rs184 crore in grants from DFID and
was to sell, partly privatize or close down some 28 companies that
included West Bengal Film Development Corp. Ltd, West Bengal Tourism
Development Corp. Ltd and West Bengal Small Industries Development
Corp. Ltd.
The restructuring of the state’s PSEs began in
December 2003 and was scheduled to end in 2011. Of the 30-odd firms
restructured in the first phase till December 2007, 21 were wound up.
Around
6,000 people were retrenched from these companies through a severance
scheme. Half of them were later retrained and redeployed elsewhere,
according to the website of the industrial reconstruction department.
The government received Rs209 crore from DFID for the first phase.
consultants had advised us to shut two unviable companies and to
continue to run 15 companies (in the second phase). But the state
government was told to reduce manpower in most of them,” said a state
government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It was
almost impossible for the state government to retrench people at this
juncture.”
The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist), suffered its worst poll debacle in 32 years in the recently
held national elections. The alliance won 15 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats
in West Bangal, compared with 35 it had won in the previous general
election in 2004. Polling statistics show the Left Front trailed the
opposition grouping of the Trinamool Congress and the Congress party in
195 of the 294 state assembly segments.
The Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG), which audits the accounts of government agencies
and state-owned firms, in its latest report on the state’s finances
released this month, has pointed out that till 31 March 2008, of the 60
state government-owned companies that were in operation, the 23 worst
performing ones had an accumulated loss of Rs2,232 crore.
“Despite
poor performance and complete erosion of their paid-up capital, the
state government continued to provide financial support to these
companies in the form of loans, conversion of loans into equity,
subsidy, etc.,” the report said, adding that in 2007-08 the state
government had provided Rs219 crore in financial assistance to these 23
firms.
In the 2007-08 financial year, only 27 state-owned
companies posted profits. They together reported a profit of Rs368.27
crore, the CAG report said.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/22212820/Bengal-puts-phase-II-of-restru.html?d=1
- Economy and Politics
Naxalites ‘tamed’ in Andhra Pradesh, hub of the movement
K.P. Narayana Kumar
New Delhi: At a time when Maoist rebels are expanding their
influence elsewhere in India and stepping up attacks, security forces
in Andhra Pradesh claim to have finally gained the upper hand over the
rebels they have been battling for two decades.
In fact,
paramilitary officers and home ministry officials engaged in the fight
against Maoists, known as Naxalites, say Andhra Pradesh can serve as an
example for other states where the rebels are active.
Naxalites
take their name from Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal where a
violent peasant movement erupted in the 1960s and spread over the years
to other regions of India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described
them as the biggest threat to India’s national security.
The
Centre last month banned the Communist Party of India (Maoist) under
the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, terming it a terrorist
organization.
“There are disturbances in Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar, whereas the Andhra Pradesh
police seem to be more in control of the situation,” says director
general of the Central Reserve Police Force A.S. Gill.
This is
despite the fact that at least a third of the members of the central
committee, the apex decision-making body of the Communist Party of
India (Maoist), belong to Andhra Pradesh.
According to Gill,
relentless counter-attack operations mounted by the state police had
helped tame the Naxal menace in Andhra Pradesh. “The state police even
made use of the talks with the Naxalites in 2004 to get more
information and background on the Maoists. This helped immensely in
tracking Naxals in later years,” said the CRPF chief.
“At this
point, it would be unwise to talk to the Naxalites as they are
relentlessly attacking the police as well as civilians in several
states,” he added.
The number of Naxalite attacks in Andhra
Pradesh, according to the home ministry, had declined from 577 in 2003
to 92 in 2008, while they have increased from 256 to 620 in
Chhattisgarh and from 342 to 484 in Jharkhand, respectively. The number
of Naxalite attacks in Orissa increased from 49 to 73 over the same
period.
P.V. Ramana, a research fellow with the Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses, says the surrender and rehabilitation
policy instituted by the Andhra government in 1997 also played a major
role in drawing away recruits from Naxalite groups.
“Over 7,000
Naxalites surrendered since the time the policy was initiated while
2,500 have been rehabilitated and assets worth Rs20 crore have been
distributed to them,” he says in a research paper titled A critical evaluation of Andhra Pradesh’s response to the Naxalite challenge.
A
paramilitary officer with years of experience in anti-Naxalite
operations says the formation of a specialized force called Grey Hounds
in 1989 to counter Naxalites was a prescient move by the Andhra Pradesh
government.
The Grey Hounds unit, which numbers around 5,000 men,
has a separate intelligence wing whose personnel keep tabs on the
movement of Naxalite groups.
“Some of the other states facing the
Naxalite problem do not even have enough people to man the police
stations. That is the first measure that needs to be taken in these
states: to recruit more policemen,” said the officer, who didn’t want
to be named.
However, a senior official with the intelligence
wing in the Andhra Pradesh police, warns that the decline in Naxalite
violence may be a temporary lull. According to this officer, Naxalites
are still active in the border districts of the state. According to
this officer, who also didn’t want to be named, Naxalites are active
across the borders in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
“It
is not as if they have gone to rest or sleep. The Naxals are
continuously visiting villages in the border districts,” he said. “They
deliver their own justice system and are earning a tremendous amount of
revenue from these areas through extortion as these places are heavy on
mining.”
http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/02003401/Naxalites-8216tamed8217.html?d=1
- Views
Of nuclear insecurity
should not fall into the trap of matching Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile.
The country has sufficient deterrent capability, and should instead
focus on strengthening its nuclear command, control and communication
systems
Pakistan is at it again. While the country continues to be in the
grip of a chaotic fight with the Taliban, military planners and
strategists in Islamabad are quietly increasing the size of the nuclear
arsenal.
Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint
In
briefings to the US Congress, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
Admiral Mike Mullen confirmed that the country was adding more weapons
to its nuclear stockpile. Most of the new nuclear material is enriched
uranium. But once Pakistan finishes the construction of new nuclear
reactors, it will be in a position to produce plutonium, another source
to build nuclear weapons.
Predictably, India is concerned. Soon
after he was sworn in, minister of state for defence M.M. Pallam Raju
said Pakistan was crossing the minimum nuclear deterrent threshold. The
minister wanted the international community to exert pressure on
Islamabad to cap its nuclear weapons programme.
That pressure is
unlikely and, in any case, will have little or no effect. Since the
advent of the Barack Obama administration, Pakistan has been greatly
emboldened. Free flow of monetary aid is likely. The “tilt” (to use an
expression from the age of Richard Nixon) in Pakistan’s favour has been
restored. Finally, the policy confusion in the Obama administration
will ensure that Pakistan goes scot-free, even for the most egregious
nuclear violations.
There is speculation as to why the country is
expanding its nuclear arsenal. Most of the reasons ascribed for this
behaviour are likely to be excuses for Pakistan, and no more. For
example, it has been argued that Obama’s renewed push for a fissile
material cut-off treaty (FMCT) has forced Pakistan to ramp up its
nuclear material production. This is no argument at all. FMCT is, at
this stage, a dream. To build a consensus on it is not only difficult
(despite a United Nations general assembly resolution in its favour),
but is likely to be blocked by countries such as Iran, North Korea and
Pakistan. Without their support, an FMCT will not work.
If there
is a reasonable explanation at all, it is likely to be found in the
paranoia of Pakistan’s rulers. They see a big nuclear weapons cache as
the ultimate source of security against India. There is no need to
argue that this is not the case: The country faces other lethal
threats, such as the Taliban.
India should not fall into the trap
of matching Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile. The country has sufficient
deterrent capability, and should instead focus on strengthening its
nuclear command, control and communication systems.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/07212043/Of-nuclear-insecurity.html?d=1
- Views
The relevance of Amartya Sen
economist’s concepts on justice, as he discusses freedom as
“capability” in his new book, are dogged with imprecision and relativity
The economic crisis has demolished some of the simplistic
assumptions about self-regulating markets even as the old alternative
of economic planning remains a proven failure. The world is eagerly
seeking new ideas.
Amartya Sen—whose new book The Idea of Justice has recently been published—is a voice that is being heard.
European
politicians from Gordon Brown to Nicolas Sarkozy are admirers. Brown’s
Labour Party seems close to embracing one of Sen’s pet themes:
capabilities.
Sen says societies should give importance to
practical freedoms such as the ability to live a healthy life, get
educated and participate in society rather than only on negative
freedoms that ensure other humans or governments do not invade your
life.
Sen also tries to move the inequality debate away from a
tight focus on access to assets, income and commodities that the Left
is obsessed with.
Sen realizes that the poor may be content in
their sorry state; they respond to their deprivation by reducing their
expectations from life. “The hopeless beggar, the precarious landless
labourer, the dominated housewife, the hardened unemployed or the
over-exhausted coolie may all take pleasure in small mercies, and
manage to suppress intense suffering for the necessity of continuing
survival, but it would be ethically deeply mistaken to attach a
correspondingly small value to the less of their well-being,” Sen wrote
in his book On Ethics and Economics.
These are concepts
dogged by imprecision and relativity. It is not clear how these
capabilities are to be provided and by whom. Some could misuse Sen as a
cover to meddle heavily in the market process that delivers growth
better than any other system.
Sen says that both “the state and
the society cannot escape responsibility”. Here, there are echoes some
of the more informed talk about inclusive growth in India, minus fiscal
irresponsibility and populism. And what about our own Left?
As Sen notes in an interview to the New Statesman:
“A party which has a real commitment to the underdogs of society should
be worried that India has a higher proportion of undernourished kids
than anywhere else in the world. Instead, the Left parties are
concerned with whether India is losing its sovereignty by signing a
contract with the US for a civil nuclear project.”
http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/29211904/The-relevance-of-Amartya-Sen.html?d=2
- Columns
-
The uncertainties of the PM’s Pakistan gambit
Capital Calculus | Anil Padmanabhan
There is something about the month of July and Manmohan Singh. He
presented his first budget as finance minister in the same month in
1991; oversaw a budget for the first time as a prime minister in July
2004; faced and won a crucial trust vote on 22 July 2008, after his
government had been reduced to a minority following the withdrawal of
support by Left parties; and, then finally on 16 July, his
out-of-the-box offer to Pakistan in the Egyptian city of Sharm
el-Sheikh triggered a mini political crisis for the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance (UPA).
in Parliament, including from within the Congress party, appreciated
the positive effort and more disapproved of its details. The Opposition
can’t be blamed, because it is its dharma to question, and rightly so, government action/inaction.
The
positive is that the Opposition managed to shake off the inertia that
gripped it after defeat in the April-May general election. The bigger
concern is the covert challenge thrown to the Prime Minister from
within the Congress party that could potentially weaken him. Publicly
everybody ranged behind the Prime Minister, but behind the scenes it
has been a prolonged stretch of palace intrigue.
As a result, the
danger now is that Singh may go on the defensive and eschew all such
initiatives, and India and Pakistan would have lost an opportunity to
break the status quo in the relationship—defined by mutual hatred and
distrust. Unlike before, status quo has larger underlying risks:
Pakistan as a nation is in the throes of an internal crisis and faces
the risk, though intellectuals in Pakistan disagree, of imploding and
being overrun either by extremist elements or forces supported by them.
This would be disastrous for India; even if they do not assume power,
but are able to influence Islamabad, the situation would get worse.
Also Read Anil Padmanabhan’s earlier columns
On
the face of it, nobody is opposed to moving the ball forward with
Pakistan. My instinct is that most of India fully backs such an
initiative; the aspirations of its citizens have been stoked and they
see the six-decade hostility with Pakistan as an impediment in
realizing their dreams.
The political critique of Singh was
premised on two issues: Inclusion of Balochistan—an area that has seen
internal unrest since the 1970s—in the joint statement issued by the
two countries, thereby implicitly suggesting that India had something
to do with the situation there; and, delinking of actions against
terror to revive the composite dialogue between the two countries. Both
were perceived as reversing India’s foreign policy thrust and also
risked India being included in the list of nations, such as Pakistan,
that have been accused of exporting terror. But what was overlooked
were the probable reasons for the effort.
Through his initiative
Singh was seeking to give the Pakistani establishment room to
politically manoeuvre against its home-grown terrorist cells, which
have now turned into a Frankenstein. No political establishment worth
its salt, in either nation, can be seen as taking radical initiatives
at the behest of the other. By delinking the issue of terror, Singh had
freed the arms, as it were, of the Pakistan establishment; similarly,
by including Balochistan, Pakistan has been provided a rhetorical
victory.
The error is that the deal has been inked with the
political leadership, which everyone knows does not have a lien beyond
Islamabad—something akin to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of the Mughal
feudal dynasty, claiming to be the emperor of India after British
forces suffered an initial defeat during the 1857 mutiny. A genuine
out-of-the-box initiative would mean talking to the army and
Inter-Services Intelligence, the intelligence arm that is controlled by
the army and the chief architect of Pakistan’s terror export strategy.
And, as Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Centre for Policy Research, argued in his column in The Indian Express
on 31 July, beyond a point, this line of reasoning could be
self-defeating. According to Mehta, including Balochistan in the joint
statement feeds Pakistan’s sense of victimhood and would, in fact,
become an obstacle to its ability to address its problems. “Only
Pakistan can save itself. The test of its resolve will not be that it
claims diplomatic victories. The test will be the day it does not need
rhetorical crutches to provide cover to it to move decisively against
terrorism directed against India,” Mehta wrote.
Which then brings us back to the risks.
The
first obvious one is that of another terror attack, similar to the
audacious one in Mumbai on 26 November; it would be an unmitigated
disaster. Second, Singh’s defensive posture, especially after the
Congress party leadership expressed only calibrated support to him
during the debate in Parliament, may restrict him and imperil any
further steps—such as freer people movement, resuming sporting ties and
so on. So far, publicly, Singh has not exhibited any signs of a
rethink. We will have to simply wait and see how and whether he moves
the ball forward again.
Finally, I would like to leave you with a
poignant thought shared by an erudite friend who, unfortunately, does
not want to be identified. Responding to last week’s Capital Calculus
the person remarked: “Isn’t it strange that talking to our neighbours
is defined as an out-of-the-box thinking?” What an idea, Sirjee!
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/02215247/The-uncertainties-of-the-PM8.html?h=B
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