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Saturday, September 19, 2009

India is 'losing Maoist battle'

Excuse of Unilateral War Agaist Aboriginal Indigenous Rural India,India is 'losing Maoist battle'Resultant in CORPORATE Monopoly on Natural Resources and National revenue!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams,Chapter 376

Palash Biswas



Pl read:

The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, September 19, 2009

 - 16 visits - 5 SepBusiness Line
is the leading resource on Indian business. It is a financial and
business daily newspaper published by Kasturi and sons Limited, ...
www.thehindubusinessline.com/ - Cached - Similar -
More results from thehindubusinessline.com »








Cobra’s hunt fells 24 rebels














Raipur, Sept. 18:
At least 24 rebels were gunned down in the strongest attack on Maoists
launched by security personnel in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh
since last night.





While
10 bodies of Maoists have been recovered so far, an assistant
commandant of the CRPF’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action
(Cobra), Manoranjan Singh, was killed in action.





Five jawans were said to be missing and a combing operation has been launched to search for them.





This
was Cobra’s maiden operation in Chhattisgarh and it involved some 600
personnel, so far the biggest movement of forces in any rebel operation
in the state.





Senior
police officers have denied that the operation, code name Green Hunt,
was a part of the Union government’s larger plan of launching a massive
anti-Naxalite operation across states.





“It
was part of the state’s ongoing offensive against insurgency,” the
inspector-general of police (headquarters), R.K. Vij, told The Telegraph.





Security
personnel raided a rebel camp located at Palachalam, 600km south of
Raipur, under Kisteram police station area on Thursday evening.





The
forested and hilly area adjoining Andhra Pradesh often doubles up as a
rebel hideout because of its inaccessibility. Additional
director-general of police Girdhari Nayak said that jawans surrounded
the area from all corners and then attacked the camp. Rebels retaliated
and a gun battle ensued, continuing for the better part of the night.





Nayak added that 10 bodies were recovered and security personnel had destroyed an arms factory being run at the hideout.





During
the gunfire, the assistant commandant from Manipur was killed on the
spot, while four jawans were injured. The government rushed two
helicopters to evacuate the injured. Sources said the condition of all
those injured and admitted to Jagdalpur government hospital was
critical.














The personnel then launched a massive combing operation to search for the missing jawans.





The
operation coincided with the arrival of senior IPS officer Vijay Raman,
58, recently promoted by the Centre as special director-general of
police to deal with the Maoist menace.





The
1973-batch officer will co-ordinate with directors general of police of
seven Maoist-hit states and will be based in Raipur.





Raman
landed here yesterday evening and met chief minister Raman Singh and
top police officers who refused to divulge details of the meeting. He
was supposed to return to New Delhi this morning, but after being
informed about the operation he landed in Nagpur and rushed to
Dantewada.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090919/jsp/frontpage/story_11515486.jsp










Terror strike? Blame public mood across border




























New Delhi, Sept. 18:
Terrorism is more likely when people of one country disapprove of the
leadership or policies of another, a new study has suggested,
challenging the idea that terrorists represent fringe groups outside
mainstream society.





A
new analysis of public opinion in one set of countries and terrorist
incidents against targets from another set of countries has revealed a
strong association between public opinion and acts of international
terrorism.





The
study by researchers at Princeton University in the US and Charles
University in the Czech Republic indicates that the greater the levels
of public disapproval in one country over the leaders or policies of
another country, the higher the incidence of terrorism from the first
country against targets from the second country. The study appears in
the journal Science today.





“Public
opinion appears to be a useful predictor of terrorist activity,” Alan
Krueger, professor of economics at Princeton said in a statement issued
through the university. “This is the first study to relate public
opinion across countries to terrorism.”





Krueger,
who has applied rigorous statistical techniques to analyse terrorism,
was unavailable for additional comments on the study as he is currently
with the Barack Obama administration as assistant secretary for
economic policy in the US treasury department.





The
study analysed 952 terrorist attacks documented by the US National
Counterterrorism Center between January 2004 and August 2008, among
which 841 were perpetrated by groups from Pakistan against targets from
India.





Krueger
and his co-worker Jitka Maleckova from Prague analysed public opinion
obtained through polls in 18 Middle Eastern and North African
countries, including Pakistan, and counted the number of terrorist
attacks from these countries directed against people or property from
nine powers — the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, France, Canada, Japan,
China, and India.





“A
20 percentage-point increase in the disapproval level of a country’s
leaders... was associated with a 93 per cent increase in the number of
terrorist attacks,” they wrote in their research paper.





They
dropped the Pakistan-India pair in the analysis describing it as an
“outlying observation”, but point out that the findings of the
correlation between terrorist incidents and public opinion are similar
if the pair is included.





“This
doesn’t appear surprising — negative public opinion in a society may
enable terrorists to find recruits,” said Alok Bansal, a senior fellow
at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.





But
Krueger and Maleckova have cautioned in their report that their
findings do not allow them to infer whether terrorists are responding
to public opinion or whether they are responding just as the larger
public in their own countries. But the results suggest that countries
can try to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks by seeking to mould
public sentiment in other countries.





The
study has also indicated that richer countries with higher level of
civil liberties are more likely to be targets of terrorist attacks.
But, contrary to popular notions, terrorism is not associated with
poverty in a country.





Top
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090919/jsp/frontpage/story_11516172.jsp

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 Press
Releases



news

1 - 10 of 100 results
  • Major Maoist leader arrested from Lalgarh
  • The
    combined forces were on the lookout for Jatin Pratihar (52), a
    homeopathic practitioner, ever since they marched to Kantapahari on
    June 29 during the course of their flush-out ...
  • New Kerala
  • ·
  • 5 hours ago
  • Maoists on back foot, planning human shields?
  • By Sujeet Kumar, Dantewada (Chhattisgarh), Sep 19 : In the face of a sustained assault by security forces, Maoist leaders have begun fleeing their landmine-protected hideouts in ...
  • New Kerala
  • ·
  • 2 hours ago
  • Chhattisgarh: Bodies of 5 cobra officers found
  • Raipur:
    Police Saturday recovered the bodies of five policemen of elite
    Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (Cobra) in jungles where rebels
    and police battled throughout Friday ...
  • Mynews India
  • ·
  • 4 hours ago
  • Cops launch assault on Naxals, kill 30
  • A
    combined team of the elite anti-Naxal force, the Commando Battalion for
    Resolute Action (COBRA) and the Chhat-tisgarh police killed around 30 Maoist rebels on Friday in Dantewada ...
  • Hindustan Times
  • ·
  • 14 hours ago
  • Eight detained for interrogation in Lalgarh
  • Eight
    persons, including suspected Maoists, were detained on Friday for
    interrogation after arms and ammunition seized from them during anti-Maoist operations in West Midnapore ...
  • Hindustan Times
  • ·
  • 14 hours ago
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090919/jsp/business/index.jsp






































































This IPO will be game-changer: Pipavav

19 Sep 2009, 1355 hrs IST,
DEV CHATTERJEE,ET Now









In an exclusive interview, Pipavav Shipyard chairman Nikhil Gandhi spoke on the IPO receiving such a good response. IPOs that performed well | Best performing stocks








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Air India flight leaves 25 confirmed passengers behind
19 Sep 2009, 1540 hrs IST,
IANS



A Port Blair bound AI flight left 25 passengers with confirmed
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Slow demand crimps India property rebound
19 Sep 2009, 1655 hrs IST,
REUTERS



India's property market has recovered from lows plumbed early
this year but is unlikely to see a quick rebound given soft end-user
demand. Why realty is good investment





All headlines >>News on your MobileLog on to m.economictimes.com





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Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:12:08 GMT

Navratri, most colorful dance festival begins on Saturday


Navratri

Women
in traditional attire pose for photographs as they practice the Garba,
a traditional dance of Gujarat state, ahead of the Navratri festival in
Ahmadabad on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. The annual festival of Navratri,
or nine nights, where thousands of youth dance the night away in
traditional costumes begins from Saturday, September 19.


http://news.in.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=3235460

19/09/2009

Nanavati Commission seeks phone details from Modi's office

Ahmedabad:
The Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 riots in Gujarat Saturday
asked the staff of Chief Minister Narendra Modi to provide details of
their phone conversations with ministers during the riots that killed
over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Mukul
Sinha, advocate for the NGO Janshangharsh Manch, said: "The commission
has sought details of telephone conversations between the chief
minister's staff and other ministers, and Jaideep Patel," then a leader
of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, affiliated to the state's ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party.

The role of the Narendra Modi-led
government has been under the scanner, with many victims and rights
groups alleging complicity of its ministers in the riots. But despite
the plea of the Manch, the commission had still not issued any summons
to Modi or his staff to appear before it, Sinha told TV news channel
NDTV 24x7.

Source: IANS


Top News
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed

Pakistani
police plan to arrest an Islamist militant leader who India blames for
last year's Mumbai attack, for propagating jihad, or Muslim holy war,
and collecting funds for a charity he heads, police said.

Other Top Stories


19/09/2009

Media hype on China can be dangerous, warns NSA

New
Delhi/ China: Seeking to downplay recent incursions by Chinese Army
along the Line of Actual Control, National Security Advisor M K
Narayanan today cautioned that media "hype" could lead to "unwarranted
incident or accident" that could create problems with the neighbour.

Media hype on China can be dangerous, warns NSA

He
acknowledged that incursions were taking place but said there was
"hardly any increase" in these activities and situation was not
"alarming".

The NSA disagreed that China was trying to put
pressure saying "India of 2009 is not (India) of 1962" and said both
nations are keen to maintain peace and transquility at the border.

"In
terms of number of incursions, there has been hardly any increase.
Occasionally inroads are a little deeper than what it might have been
in the past. I don't think so that there is anything alarming about it.
I think we have a good understanding about the whole issue," Narayanan
told Karan Thapar on his 'Devil's Advocate' programme on CNN-IBN.



Israel warns of threats to India

















An Indian soldier surveys the Taj Mahal Palace Tower Hotel in Mumbai, during the attack in November
Major hotels and a Jewish centre were among the targets in Mumbai









Israel is warning that Islamist
militants are preparing attacks in India similar to those in Mumbai
last year, media and officials have said.

Israel's
counterterrorism unit said the group that launched the Mumbai attacks
was planning to target Western or Israeli tourists, AFP news agency
said.

Israeli television also reported that a travel advisory would warn Israelis against travelling to India.

India has blamed Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attacks.

"The
terrorist group that carried out the serious Mumbai attack in India is
planning to carry out a number of attacks across India, particularly
against concentrations of Western or Israeli tourists," AFP quoted the
counterterrorism unit as saying.

The attacks last November left more than 170 people dead, including nine gunmen.

Targets included a Jewish centre run by the New York-based orthodox Lubavitch organisation.

The Israeli statement said the planned attacks could target other Lubavitch centres in India.

The warning was based on "a concrete, very serious threat", it said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8262110.stm

Excuse of Unilateral War Agaist Aboriginal Indigenous Rural
India,India is 'losing Maoist battle'Resultant in CORPORATE Monopolyon Natural Resources and National revenue!


Orissa is given away to Pasco and Tatas. Chhattisgarh is Captured by Reliance! Bengal Property is undecided and to be decided in a Civil War in between CPIM and TMC Factions killing only Black Untouchables!


Aboriginal scheduled Coastal areas have been captured by Private oil companies including Reliance!

Urban slums and Semiurban Underclass dens have to be gifted away to Realty Sector. Agrosector and realty Market have to be shared by Chemical MNCs and Retail Chain!

Refugees of all kind, tribes most aboriginal have to be ejected out so that all MINES and Land may be owned and used for Development and Infrastructure, Industries and urbanisation, so Citizenship Amendment Act was passed! It was publicised as Dual Citizenship for foreign capital Inflow as well as Urgency for national security and Integrity! Bengali refugees and Muslims being Deported, the SHOWCASE was Complete with Hidden Agenda of India Incs! Then Nandan Nilekani of Infosis enters as Cabinet Ranked with data base Unique identity Number Project!


Twin Teror Acts were introduced to curb Insurgency and Terrorism! Infact branding and Isolating Minorities, nationalities and Popular Insurrections as anti National Subvertive Activities, Extremism and Terrorism with AFPSA, Military option and ZERO Intolerance ENABLED, complete Sovereignity for MNCs, LPG Mafia, Promoter and Builder raj, corporate Monopoly in absence of Virtual Resistance due to Idelogical betrayal ENSURED as had been ensured BRAHMIN Bania Raj with Power Trasfer to Manusmriti apartheid zionis Hegemony since partition of Indian Geopolitics!


Haterd Muslim and Pakistan Phobia with Kashmir Problem made all the Space for Defence deals, Weapon Market and swiss bank accounts! Indo Us Nuclear deal has opened allthe Floodgates of US Corporate Imperialism making and tagging India with Recession Inflicted US War Economy! Colonisation is complete as Governance and Policy Making have been invested in Extra constitutional elements violating parliamentary  Democratic Norms and Killing Constitution! Economic Reforms meant for Mass Destruction.Neo Brahamin Zionst Upsurge of Blind Hindu nationalism makes India live in super power Nuclear Fantacies experimenting in False MOON Mission and DUDDED Nuclear EXPLOSION! Inflated Economy hyped false Recession with limited Indices Swings due toENHANCED FIIs and FDI! Fiscal and Monetary Policies tilted in favour of Tax Code to bail Out the Authortarian capitalism, the Greedy Killer Money Machine! Oil Economy, Energy Miss Management and IT bbom kiled Indigenous Production system! defence Hike disbalanced balance of Payment and Politics Corrupted national network of Welfare, utility and Industry! Simply Privatisation is OPTED discarding Socialist Mdel of Development and neoliberalism introduced to put the nation and its Properties on Sale! disinvestment Drive is ON. Jobloss and Land Acquisition in Full Swing! Farmers Commit Suicide and rural India devastated with Displacement, repression, Ethnic Cleansing and exodus!


Excellent landsape and humanscape to Escalate Maoist Naxal menace and interstingly it COINCIDES with Neo Liberal Age, Projected NGO Rule and Nuclear armament amidst War against Terrorism while Internal security is vested into Cia and MOSSAD with Strategic realliance in US Israel lead!

Now Anti Nepal campaign and China Security Threat Hyped TUNING with Maoist Menace so that the maistream Masses may be isolated from Popular Insurrection and resistance ENABLING Military Option and Zero Intolerence!

lalgarh Phenomenon is apparently a classic example how the rebel Masses may be Branded as Maoist!

Media Homwork for Nation Wide Anti maoist Campaign,thus, happens to be the Post Modern ASHWA Medha Yagya of Corporate India against Indigenous Aboriginal India and it is MONOPLISTIC Aggressin on Indian People in general colored otherwise!



Hence, it is aired that Worried
after the massive assault launched by security forces and warned of
more in the coming days, top Maoist leaders have started fleeing their
landmine-protected hideouts in the Chhattisgarh jungles and are
planning to put up human shields to thwart the troopers, top officials
said Saturday. At least two dozen ultras were killed in the attacks
Friday.

Reports that the government is preparing for the biggest assault on the Maoists has unsettled the rebels, the officials say.

The
Maoists hold sway over much of the iron-ore rich Bastar region - spread
over 40,000 sq km in the five districts of Dantewada, Bijapur,
Narayanpur, Kanker, and Bastar.

India-Maoist polit


Reports
coming in from the interiors of restive Bastar region - where the
ultras have set up a massive infrastructure to carry out insurgency in
several states - indicate that the outlawed Communist Party of
India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) politburo members, including general
secretary Ganapathi, have started moving out from their base in the
Abujhmar forest to cross over to Andhra Pradesh to avoid an aerial
attack the government may be planning.


On Friday, in one of
Chhattisgarh's biggest drives against Maoist insurgents, over 500
policemen led by the elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action
(Cobra), an anti-Maoist force drawn from the Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF), attacked rebel hideouts in several locations in Bastar's
Dantewada district. Officials claimed to have killed at least two dozen
insurgents though some 10 bodies have been recovered so far.


An assistant commandant of the Cobra battalion, Manoranjan Singh, and five other personnel were also killed in the operation.

"The
CPI-Maoist politburo members have instructed their military wing,
People's Liberation of Guerrilla Army (PLGA), to avoid a direct fight
with troopers to prevent losses of their skilled fighters and put up
human shields before the forces in order to make the battle a
long-drawn-out affair," a top police officer involved in drawing up the
anti-Maoist combat strategy told IANS. He was speaking after receiving
fresh inputs from the Maoist-controlled Bastar jungles.


The
source said: "They (Maoists) have begun to put up boys and girls drawn
from their two units - the Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangh and the
Krantikari Adivasi Balak Sangh - to prevent troopers from moving into
the territory commanded by ultras and also give a chance to their urban
sympathisers and human rights activists to whip up a global campaign
over the killing of minors and abuse of human rights."


A CRPF
commandant posted at Bijapur's war zone remarked: "Maoists know they
can't withstand the attacks of Indian troopers for a long time. Once
their armed force is shaken, the Maoists will be reduced to the
strength they had almost two decades back. So the only option left
before them is to engage child soldiers recruited forcibly in the past
five years to make the battle a lengthy one."


A top
counter-terrorism expert said: "The forces should not go to the jungles
just to hunt and recapture the areas being held by Maoists. After
pushing back the Maoists, the government must have a quick plan to
create livelihood for the local populace being misled by the rebels for
years. This is a must to erase the sympathy among them for the ultras.


"Once
you capture the Maoist bases in Chhattisgarh which are deprived of
economic prosperity, the government must take care of the socioeconomic
problems in the area, improve infrastructure, set up police stations
and strengthen governance mechanism; otherwise the rebels will regain
the bases once the forces retreat."


Haryana cops, forensic experts probe attack on Rahul's train!

Police and forensic experts
in Haryana were Wednesday questioning people and searching villages to identify
those who pelted stones at

the Amritsar-New Delhi
Shatabdi Express in which
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was travelling.



The incident
took place Tuesday night near Gharaunda town, about 20 km from Panipat town and
100 km from the national capital.



"We are investigating the matter
based on various clues. People in nearby villages are being questioned about who
was behind this incident," said Rohtak range Inspector General of Police V.
Kamaraj.



Though no one was injured, three coaches, C-2, C-4 and C-7,
were damaged.



One stone actually pierced the twin toughened glass of
the Shatabdi express and landed inside coach C-4. The glass panes of two other
coaches suffered damage as well.



Police officials said they were
trying to identify whether the miscreants were youth or children and also
whether the attack was deliberate or just another incident of stone throwing on
trains.



The attack is being viewed seriously by Haryana police as
well Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials as the train had a VIP guarded by
the Special Protection Group (SPG) on board.



Incidentally, none of
the stones hit the C-3 coach in which Rahul Gandhi was seated on a window
seat.



The SPG did not allow the train to stop at Panipat
station.



Rahul Gandhi, who chose to make his Delhi to Ludhiana and
return journey in an air-conditioned chair car coach instead of flying in a
helicopter or taking an executive-class seat on the train, alighted from the
train at the New Delhi station just after 11 p.m. Tuesday. He looked
unperturbed.



However, fellow passengers said the incident had left
them disturbed.



"A child who was sitting next to the smashed window
could have been hurt. If this has happened because of Rahul travelling on this
train, it would be better if such VIPs don't travel with the public. The stone
hit the window like a bullet and landed in with glass pieces," one passenger
said.



Rahul Gandhi had made the day-trip to Punjab's industrial city
of Ludhiana to participate in a training camp for Youth Congress leaders. He
took the train early from New Delhi station and returned late in the
evening.



The Congress MP from Amethi followed his mother and Congress
president Sonia Gandhi in travelling economy class. The 38-year-old Congress
leader chose to travel by train as part of the party's austerity drive because
of the drought in many parts of the country.



Sonia Gandhi had Monday
travelled by a routine Delhi-Mumbai flight on an economy-class seat as part of
the austerity drive.


Left-wing Extremist group














Maoist Communist Centre
(MCC)

1. Formation


The outfit came into existence,
in its earlier version, on October 20, 1969, as Dakshin Desh.
When the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was formed with
the merger of several Maoist groups in 1969, one left-wing extremist
group, Dakshin Desh, did not join and decided to retain its independent
identity. In 1975, the outfit was renamed as the Maoist Communist Centre
(MCC).


2. Objectives


Like other left wing extremist
groups, the purported objective of the MCC is to establish a ‘people’s
government’ through ‘people’s war’. It traces its ideology to the Chinese
Communist leader Mao Tse Tung’s dictum of organised peasant insurrection.


3. Leadership and
Command Structure


Amulya Sen and Kanhai Chaterjee
were the leaders of the Dakshin Desh. After the death of Kanhai
Chaterjee in 1982, factional differences surfaced within the outfit.
A new leader, Shivenji, entered into a dispute with his deputy Ramadhar
Singh, ostensibly over the issue of individual annihilation. In the
days that followed, the latter broke ranks with the MCC and joined the
CPI-ML. In the second half of the 1980s Pramod Mishra and Sanjay Dusadh
emerged as the most formidable leaders of the MCC.


The MCC consists of an
underground party unit — Krantikari Kisan Committee (KKC), the Red Defense
Corps and the Youth and Women Fronts. The General Secretary is the top
functionary of the organisation. He also heads the Central Committee,
the top decision making body of the outfit. Apart from that, there are
Zonal Committees, Sub-zonal committees, Regional committees and Village
committees. The outfit also has a military wing. It has an estimated
50 squads each consisting of some 20 cadres. The MCC has also formed
several front organisations, including the Naujawan Pratirodh Sangharsh
Manch, Krantikari Budhijivi Sangh, Krantikari Sanskritik Sangh, Krantikari
Chhatra League, Communist Yuva League, Naari Mukti Sangh and Mazdoor
Mukti Sangh.


4. Area of Operation


In its early years, Dakshin
Desh was active mainly in the Jangal Mahal Area of Burdwan district,
West Bengal. Sunderbans, 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Midnapore districts
of West Bengal.


At present the MCC has
a presence in Bihar, Orissa (Sundargarh, Keonjhar) and Jharkhand. In
Bihar, the MCC is primarily active in Gaya, Aurangabad, Camoor (Bhabhua),
Rohtas, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Bettiah and Sitamarhi districts. In
the newly created State of Jharkhand, the group is active in Chatra,
Daltangonj, Hazaribagh, Palamu, Giridih, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi, Garhwa,
Lohardaga, Gumla, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Latehar districts.


The MCC is also trying
to expand its activities in Burdwan, Nadia, and Howrah and North 24-Pargana
districts of West Bengal. In Uttar Pradesh, the MCC has been making
fervent attempts to gain a foothold in Mirzapur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra
districts.


5. External Linkages


The MCC maintains close
relationship with the Maoist
insurgents
in Nepal. On July 1, 2001, Nine Naxal outfits of India,
Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka joined hands to form an umbrella organisation,
the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations (CCOMPOSA)
with a purpose to unify and coordinate the activities of the Maoist
Parties and organisations in South Asia. It is believed that the MCC
along with the PWG and the Maoist insurgents in Nepal has been instrumental
in the formation of the CCOMPOSA for a greater cooperation and understanding
among the Naxalite groups of India and Nepal. Recently, the MCC, mainly
active in Central Bihar and Jharkhand, has been active in North Bihar
areas bordering Nepal. It is suspected that the MCC has moved to the
North Bihar region to get closer to the Maoists in Nepal and to facilitate
the exchange of men and material.


Also, the MCC has acquired
the technology for manufacturing and implanting landmines from the People’s
War Group (PWG), which had picked up the techniques
from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
of Sri Lanka.


6. Major Incidents


2004



  • July 29: A group of 60 armed cadres
    of the MCC kill a civilian at Kaima village in the Latehar district
    of Jharkhand.



  • July 18: MCC cadres kill a resident
    of Ambatola village in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.



  • July 12: MCC cadres kill Parmeswar Pathak,
    a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, at Sarhari village in
    the Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh.



  • July 10: MCC cadres kill two persons
    near Kharira village in the Gaya district of Bihar.



  • June 30: MCC cadres kill two private
    security guards of a stone crushing company at Chahawan village in
    the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh.



  • June 22: Six Jharkhand Armed Police
    personnel, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector, are killed in a landmine
    explosion triggered by suspected MCC Naxalites near Rania in the Ranchi
    district of Jharkhand.

  • April 29: The United States adds Maoist Communist Centre and the
    PWG in its Terrorist Exclusion List.




  • April 26: A group of around 100 MCC Naxalites kill two police personnel
    at Simra police station in the Aurangabad district of Bihar.





  • April 26: MCC cadres kill two police personnel near Jori village
    in the Gumla district of Jharkhand.





  • April 20: Naxalites of the outlawed MCC kill a Patrolling Magistrate,
    identified as Ajay Kumar Sinha, during a landmine blast in the Dhanbad
    district of Jharkhand.





  • April 7: 26 police personnel are killed during a landmine blast
    triggered by the MCC at Saranda forests in the Chaibasa area of
    Jharkhand.



2003




  • December 31: Police arrest six suspected MCC informers during a
    combing operation from the Burmu and Chanho areas in Ranchi district
    of Jharkhand.



  • December 25: Four police personnel are killed and three more sustain
    injuries in an MCC ambush at Pithoria in Jharkhand's Ranchi district.



  • December 5: MCC Naxalites demand Rupees 7crore from the management
    of the SAIL-owned Meghahatuburu mine in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum
    district.



  • November 23: Bihar Government orders a crackdown on all Non Governmental
    Organisations (NGOs) with links to the left-wing extremists outfits-Maoist
    Communist Centre (MCC) and People's War Group (PWG) in the State.



  • November 18: Six MCC cadres, including a 'sub-zonal commander',
    are killed during an encounter with the security forces at Banaru
    forests in the Chatra district of Jharkhand.



  • November 12: Approximately, 300 MCC Naxalites attack a police patrol
    party near Rerha village in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.



  • October 14: Naxalites of the MCC kill one person and injure four
    police personnel at Demotar in the Hazaribag district of Jharkhand.



  • October 11: MCC Naxalites kill a police officer and injure four
    others with a powerful landmine near Katajhora in the Purulia district
    on the West Bengal-Jharkhand border while they were on patrol.



  • September 12: Two Naxalites of the MCC, including an 'area commander',
    are killed in an encounter at Sijang under the Palkot police station-limits,
    Gumla district. Another Naxalite is killed in an encounter at Chhotka
    Khantga in the same district.



  • September 13: Jharkhand Police arrests an 'area commander' of the
    MCC near Konar dam in the Giridih district.



  • September 11: Two MCC Naxalites, including an 'area commander',
    are killed in an encounter at Sijang under the Palkot police station-limits
    in the Gumla district of Jharkhand. Another Naxalite is killed in
    an encounter at Chhotka Khantga in the same district.



  • September 8: 11 police personnel and a civilian are killed in a
    landmine blast triggered by the PWG and the MCC, in a joint operation,
    in the dense forests of Kaimur range in the Rohtas district of Bihar.



  • September 4: MCC Naxalites kill two persons in Tundahuli village
    under the Ormanjhi police station-limits in the Ranchi district
    of Jharkhand. Separately, MCC Naxalites abduct and later kill two
    persons in Serak village under the Chandwa police station-limits
    in Latehar district.



  • August 24: Jharkhand Police raids a place under the Bhandari police
    station-limits in Garhwa district and arrests four MCC Naxalites.



  • August 22: An MCC 'area commander' is killed during an encounter
    near Chouki village under the Ramanujganj police station-limits
    in Sarguja revenue district of Chhattisgarh. In Jharkhand, MCC Naxalites
    kill two persons and critically injure one of the same family in
    Kangar village under the Raidih police station-limits in Gumla district.



  • August 21: MCC Naxalites kill two civilians in the Veeru village
    of Simdega district in Jharkhand.



  • August 10: Naxalites of the MCC kill four persons, including a
    police personnel and a village headman, in the Jamui district of
    Bihar.



  • August 6: MCC Naxalites abduct and later kill three persons on
    the borders of Chandauli and Mirzapur districts in Uttar Pradesh.



  • July 27: While a Naxalite of the MCC is killed, the Bhojpur district
    police chief has a narrow escape during an encounter near Gataria
    bridge under the Piro police station limits in Bihar.



  • July 26: Naxalites of the MCC blow up the newly constructed building
    of the Govardhanana Police Station on the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar's
    West Champaran district with dynamites.



  • July 22: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel is killed
    when MCC Naxalites ambush a patrol party at Baruhatu hills, Ranchi
    district, on the first day of their 48-hour long Jharkhand bandh
    (general shutdown).



  • July 16: Approximately MCC 200 Naxalites abduct three persons and
    later kill two of them in Pehera village of Giridih district in
    Jharkhand.



  • July 15: Naxalites of the MCC cause large scale damage to railway
    tracks leading to derailment of at least three trains and uprooting
    of signals and points as part of their Tirhut-Mithinanchal (Northern
    Bihar) bandh (general shutdown).



  • July 9: MCC Naxalites abduct 15 engineers of the Larsen and Toubro
    and Hindustan Construction from Kosama village, approximately 100
    kilometres from Ranchi, capital city of Jharkhand. In Gumla district
    of Jharkhand, Naxalites of the MCC kill three persons in Dari village.



  • July 6: Naxalites of the MCC abduct and later kill a person in
    Badani area in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.



  • July 5: Naxalites of the MCC take captive the entire staff of Hehegarha
    railway station in Jharkhand's Latehar district, disrupting train
    services for over 10 hours on Garhwa Road-Barkakana Section of East
    Central Railway.



  • July 2: Three police personnel are killed and three others injured
    when Naxalites of the MCC attack the Paraiya police station in Gaya
    district of Bihar.



  • July 1: Naxalites of the MCC kill three persons at Lutidih under
    the Simaria police station-limits, Chatra district in Jharkhand.



  • June 30: Naxalites of the MCC kill six persons in separate incidents
    in Latehar and Gumla districts of Jharkhand.



  • June 20: A couple is lynched for alleged
    involvement in the killing of a three-year-old girl after MCC’s
    ‘People’s Court’ (kangaroo court) awards them death penalty in Barhi
    village, Latehar district of Jharkhand.

    In Bihar, MCC Naxalites kill
    two persons in the Roh police station limits of Nawada district.









  • June 17: An MCC Naxalite is killed during
    a clash with the rival CPI-ML (Liberation) near Pithiaon village,
    Rohtas district of Bihar.



  • June 14: MCC Naxalites blast the newly
    constructed building of Tilothu police station in Rohtas district,
    Bihar.



  • June 11: MCC targets railway property
    at various places on the second day of the Jharkhand bandh
    (strike).



  • June 10: Normal life is affected in
    the State of Jharkhand on the first day of the two-day bandh
    called by the MCC to protest against alleged police atrocities.



  • June 7: Eleven MCC Naxalites surrender
    before the District Magistrate in Darbhanga, Bihar.



  • June 4: Three personnel of the Central
    Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the driver of the vehicle are
    killed when MCC Naxalites trigger a landmine at Karo mines under the
    Bermo sub-division, Bokaro district in Jharkhand.



In Chatra district, Jharkhand
Naxalites kill two persons branding them police informers.





  • June 2: MCC Naxalites attack the office
    of a private company engaged in executing the Sone canal project setting
    ablaze dumpers, vehicles and furniture at Nawadih village in the Rohtas
    district of Bihar.



  • May 30: MCC Naxalites abduct six persons
    in Narayanbeda village, East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.



  • May 25: Three Government Railway Police
    (GRP) personnel are killed after MCC Naxalites attack Simultalla railway
    station in Bihar’s Jamui district.



  • May 24: MCC Naxalites ambush two tractor-trailer
    loads of villagers near Banwari Champapur village in Bihar’s West
    Champaran’s killing two persons and injuring three others.



  • May 15: Unidentified assailants kill
    two MCC Naxalites, including an ‘area commander’, in the Umarakoling
    area of Gumla district in Jharkhand.



  • May 12: Jharkhand police launches ‘Operation
    Hilltop’ in Jhumra hills, Bokaro district, to flush out MCC from the
    area.



  • May 10: Police arrest an MCC ‘area commander’
    in the Patrahi village of Aurangabad district in Bihar.




  • May 6: Normal life is affected in several
    parts of Jharkhand during the bandh (strike) called by the
    PWG and MCC against alleged police atrocities.


  • May 5: MCC calls for a strike in six
    districts of Jharkhand to protest against alleged police atrocities.



  • May 4: Two MCC Naxalites are arrested
    in the Saranda forest near Digha, Sundergarh district, Orissa.




  • May 2: Naxalites of the MCC abduct
    and later kill an activist of the Jharkhand Sangharsh Jan Mukti
    Morcha (JSJMM) in Anjan village, Gumla district.





A ‘sub-zonal commander’
of the MCC is killed in an encounter in Goriyadih village under the
Ghaghra police station-limits in Gumla district, Jharkhand.





  • April 30: Two MCC Naxalites, including
    a ‘sub-zonal commander’, are killed in an encounter at Nava Jaipur
    in the Daltonganj district of Jharkhand.





  • April 27: Seven MCC Naxalites are arrested
    after an encounter in Nawadih village, Saranda forest areas, West
    Singhbhum district, Jharkhand.





  • April 25: An MCC Naxalite, allegedly
    involved in the killing of the erstwhile king of Vijaygarh near
    Rampur village, Sonebhadra district, Uttar Pradesh on February 25,
    2003, is arrested from Kusumha village, under Robertsganj police
    station limits, in the same district.





  • April 16: MCC Naxalites escape into
    the Saranda forests in West Singhbum district, Jharkhand, after
    looting an unspecified quantity of explosives from Roxy, Kevland
    police station-limits, Sundergarh district in Orissa.

    Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun
    Munda offers to hold talks with the MCC.





  • April 15: MCC Naxalites kill eight
    police personnel and injure three more by setting off a landmine
    blast and also loot six Self Loading Rifles, two other rifles, a
    revolver and several rounds of ammunition from them before fleeing
    from the spot in the forests of Cherki valley, Nawada district in
    Bihar.





  • April 14: Naxalites of the MCC attack
    a police outpost at Chandrapura railway station, Bokaro district
    in Jharkhand and loot 23 rifles and several hundred cartridges.





  • April 7: Naxalites of the MCC set ablaze
    a house of the Forest department at a village in the Sundargarh
    district of Orissa.





  • April 8: A MCC training camp is unearthed
    and three cadres are arrested in Balubhang village, Latehar district
    in Jharkhand.





  • April 6: Naxalites of the MCC kill
    three alleged criminals in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand.




In Orissa, Naxalites
of the MCC set ablaze a house and a truck of a forest guard in San
Ramloi village, Birsa police station limits, Sundergarh district.




  • April 1: Naxalites of the MCC kill
    one person and injure another in Tamad near Ranchi on the first
    day of the 48-hour bandh (strike) called by them and the
    PWG to protest the US-led attack on Iraq and alleged police high-handedness
    in the State of Bihar and Jharkhand





  • March 30: MCC Naxalites kill three
    persons near Lavalong, Chatra district in Jharkhand.





  • March 28: Two Naxalites of the MCC and a personnel of Bihar Military
    Police (BMP) are killed and as many injured when in a Naxal attack
    on the Bednagarh picket of Chenari police station, Rohtas district
    in Bihar.

    In Jharkhand, the MCC Naxalites kill a former colleague in Kasiyat
    village, Chatra district.



  • March 18: Naxalites of the MCC injure three police
    personnel and loot 15 rifles and 1000 bullets in an attack on a
    police post in Lodipur village, Gaya district in Bihar.



  • March
    5: Naxalites of the MCC kill a farmer in Laxmipur village, Palamu
    district in Jharkhand.



  • February
    25: Naxalites of the MCC kill the erstwhile king of Vijaygarh and
    a member of his escort team in the jungles near Rampur village,
    Manchi police station-limits, Sonebhadra district, Uttar Pradesh.


    In a joint operation, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and
    Special Task Force (STF) personnel of Bihar Police unearth the nerve
    center of the MCC and arrest three MCC Naxalites and five Nepalese
    Maoist insurgents in Patrakar Nagar locality, Patna, Bihar.



  • February
    16: Naxalites of the MCC attack the motorcade of Janata Dal (United)
    [JD-U] Jharkhand State unit chief Gautam Sagar Rana near the forests
    of Marhara, Hazaribagh district.



  • February
    13: Naxalites of the MCC attack several villages and loot guns and
    cartridges in Jamui district, Bihar.



  • February
    10: Six security force personnel and four Naxalites of the MCC are
    killed near Chiro village, Latehar district during the 48-hour bandh
    (general strike) called by the MCC in Jharkhand.



  • February
    8: Naxalites of the MCC abduct five persons from Dumaria police
    station-limits, West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. While three
    of them are killed, the Naxalites chop off a hand of each of the
    remaining two before setting them free.



  • February
    7: Two persons are beaten to death by Naxalites of the MCC at Pipra
    village, Gaya district in Bihar.



  • February
    3: Naxalites of the MCC attack the crusher unit of the Golden Quadrilateral
    Highway project in Aurangabad district in Bihar.



  • January
    28: A self-styled sub-zonal area commander of the MCC is arrested
    in a raid at a hideout in Simaria police station area, Chatra district
    in Jharkhand.



  • January
    26: Three Naxalites of the MCC are arrested in Burmu near Ranchi
    in Jharkhand.



  • January
    13: Naxalites of the MCC abduct four businessmen from Hussainabad
    block, Palamu district in Jharkhand.



  • January
    8: In Jharkhand, a police driver is killed and five security force
    personnel injured in a landmine blast set-off by the MCC, near Kasmar
    village, Palamu district. In Bihar, five Naxalites of the MCC are
    arrested for the January 4-killing of three persons in Tilai village,
    under Sanjhauli police station-limits, in Rohtas district.



  • January
    4: Naxalites of the MCC kill three members of a family in Tilai
    village, under Sanjhauli police station-limits, Rohtas district
    in Bihar.



2002



  • December
    31: Suspected Naxalites of the MCC kill Democratic Youth Federation
    of India (DYFI)--the youth wing of the ruling Communist Party of
    India (Marxist) CPI-M--local-level leader Lakshmi Bag, in Jangipara,
    Hooghly district, West Bengal.



  • December
    23: In a release issued in Gaya, Bihar, the Bihar-Jharkhand-Bengal
    Special Area Committee of the MCC claims responsibility for the
    December 20-Saranda forest ambush and warns of similar 'operations',
    if security agencies did not stop torturing innocent farmers and
    labourers on the pretext of curbing extremism.

    In Jharkhand, police arrest 10 suspected MCC cadres in Manoharpur
    police station-limits, West Singhbhum district.



  • December
    20: Naxalites of the MCC lay an ambush on a convoy of police personnel,
    in Jharkahnd, killing 18 police and injuring 20 more in Saranda
    forests, at Bitkilsoya, Manoharpur police station-limits, West Singhbhum
    district, bordering Orissa. They also loot an unspecified number
    of arms and ammunition and set ablaze 11 vehicles in the convoy.



  • December
    19: Naxalites of the MCC kill a village headman in Manoharpur village,
    West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.



  • December
    16: Approximately 60 Naxalites of the MCC and PWG lodged at Midnapore
    Central Jail, West Bengal, begin an indefinite hunger strike to
    press for their unconditional release.



  • December
    13: A Naxalite of the MCC is arrested and booked under POTA in Srijan
    village, West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand.



  • December
    2: Naxalites of the MCC kill two persons in separate incidents in
    Latehar district.




  • November
    20: Naxalites of the MCC attack the Central Coalfields Limited’s
    (CCL), Piparwar office, in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, and snatch
    away three guns from private security guards.




  • November
    18: Jharkhand police arrest 19 Naxalites of the MCC in Ranchi.




  • November
    17: Jharkhand police arrest four MCC Naxalites and recover explosives
    in Gumla district.




  • November
    15: The MCC and PWG issue a call to boycott the celebrations
    to mark the second anniversary of the formation of Jharkhand State.




  • November
    10: Naxalites of the MCC attack Harsidpur village, in Bihar’s Nawada
    district, and kill two persons.




  • November
    7: 37 Naxalites of the MCC surrender with weapons to Chief Minister
    Babulal Marandi, in Bokaro district.




  • October
    26: An estimated 550 supporters and sympathizers of the MCC are
    detained in Jharkhand and West Bengal States while on their way
    to participate in a convention organized by the Struggling Forum
    for People’s Resistance (SFPR), a front organization of the MCC,
    in Kolkata, starting on the day.



  • October 18:
    Three activists of the Struggling Forum of People's Resistance,
    a front organization of the MCC, are arrested from Bandagaon, West
    Singhbhum district, and been booked under the Prevention of Terrorism
    Act (POTA).



  • October 12:
    Two Naxalites, including a 'sub-zonal commander' of the MCC, are
    arrested in Madanpur village, Aurangabad district, Bihar.



  • October 9: Suspected
    Naxalites of the MCC make an abortive bid to loot firearms in an
    attack on a police picket in the Kashichak police station area,
    Nawada district, Bihar.



  • October 7: Four
    Naxalites of the MCC are arrested from Bokaro district, Jharkhand.
    A huge quantity of arms and ammunition is recovered from their possession.



  • October 5: Naxalites
    of the MCC kill a local leader of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party
    (BJP) in Bokaro district, Jharkhand.



  • September 24:
    Nine Naxalites of the MCC are arrested and a huge cache of arms
    is seized in Prasangan village, Latehar district, Jharkhand.



  • September 22:
    A huge quantity of arms and ammunition is recovered in a village
    in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, after an encounter with Naxalites
    of the MCC.



  • September 13:
    West Bengal police arrest five Naxalites of the MCC from Singhahore
    village, Bankura district.



  • September 9:
    Police arrest an 'area commander' of the MCC and two of his associates
    on the outskirts of Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand.



  • August 16: Two
    persons are killed and six others injured in an attack by Naxalites
    of the MCC in at bazaar in Bagha, West Champaran district, Bihar.



  • July 15 A suspected
    Naxalite of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) is arrested from Dakshin
    Kashilya village, Birbhum district, West Bengal.

    During the 24-hour bandh (general shutdown) called by MCC in Jharkhand,
    Naxalites attack a goods train with heavy gunfire between Hehegada
    and Chhipadohar stations, Dhanbad division, and kill a security
    force personnel, besides injuring five others.



  • June 12: Four
    Naxalites of the MCC arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism
    Act (POTA). One among them reportedly played a key role in the October
    31, 2001-massacre in Topchanchi, Dhanbad, in which 13 police personnel
    were killed by the MCC.



  • July 10: Police
    arrest an 'area commander' of the MCC in Omkaleshwar, Varanasi district,
    Uttar Pradesh.



  • July 9: Three
    MCC Naxalites killed in separate encounters in Chandauli and Sonebhadra
    districts, Uttar Pradesh.



  • July 1: 14 Naxalites
    of the MCC surrender at a 'Janata Darbar' (People's Court) in Chiata
    village, East Champaran district. Bihar.



  • May 20: Bharatiya
    Jananta Party (BJP) local-level leader killed, elder brother Injured
    in an MCC attack at Chanlaso village, Jharkhand.



  • May 7: On the
    second day of the two-day economic blockade of Jharkhand, an estimated
    15 police personnel and a Naxalite of the MCC are killed in a landmine
    blast at Mthadih, Koderma district.



  • May 6: On the
    first day of the two-day economic blockade called jointly by the
    MCC and the People's War Group (PWG), MCC Naxalites attack a police
    patrol party near Kamundi, Latehar district in Jharkhand.



  • April 27: Supreme
    Court approves death sentence to four Naxalites of the MCC, who
    killed 35 persons in Bara village, Gaya district in Bihar in 1992.



  • April 13: The Jharkhand police submit chargesheet
    against eight MCC Naxalites, accused of killing 13 personnel of
    the Jharkhand Armed Police at Topchanchi, Dhanbad district on October
    31.



  • April 10: One CRPF personnel and one MCC Naxalite
    killed in an encounter in Vishrampur Saraiya village, Aurangabad
    district in Bihar. Separately, the Special Task Force (STF) demolish
    an MCC bunker and arrest two of its Naxalites in Koriari village,
    Kaimur district.



  • April 2: A police personnel killed and four others
    injured when the MCC Naxalites ambushed a vehicle of the State Bank
    of India near Lara village, Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand.



  • March 5: A police personnel killed when the MCC
    Naxalites attacked a police station in Arwal district in Bihar



  • February 26: 24 Naxalites of the MCC surrender
    in East Champaran district of Bihar.



  • February 20: The MCC Naxalites killed four persons
    during the 2—hour general strike called by the MCC and the PWG in
    Jharkhand.



  • February 16: 12 Naxalites of the MCC including
    their ‘zonal commander’ surrender in Darbhanga



  • February 15: The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO)
    of the Shahabad forest division in Bihar was abducted and later
    killed by the MCC Naxalites in Rohtas district.



  • February 4:
    Naxalites of the MCC attack a police party and killed 9 police personnel
    at Jorighat, Chatra district in Jharkhand



  • January 6-7: Seven Naxalites of the MCC killed
    in different encounters in Rohtas district in Bihar



2001



  • December 31: Five MCC Naxalites arrested after
    an encounter in the Palkot police station area, Gumla district in
    Jharkhand.



  • December 21: Two personnel of the Central Reserve
    Police Force (CRPF) killed and four others injured in a landmine
    blast triggered by Naxalites of the MCC, in the forests, 3 km away
    from the Chinia police post, Garhwa district in Jharkhand.



  • December 10: MCC holds a Jan Adalat (Kangaroo Court)
    in Bhagwanpur village, Sarguja district in Chhattisgarh. They execute
    three persons after four hours of ‘public trial’ on charges of misusing
    the outfit for monetary gains.



  • December 5: Union government bans MCC under Prevention
    of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO).



  • November 12: The MCC Naxalites kill two local-level
    leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Latehar district in
    Jharkhand.



  • October
    31: The MCC killed 13 police personnel near at Topchanchi near Dhanbad
    in Jharkhand.



  • October
    4: Four police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police
    (DSP), were killed and four others seriously injured in a landmine
    blast triggered by the MCC Bargarh, Garhwa district in Jharkhand.



  • September
    29: Naxalites of the MCC burnt alive a police personnel in Kodarma
    district in Jharkhand.



  • September
    24: MCC Naxalites attacked the Giridih district police chief when
    he was returning to Giridih from Hazaribagh after attending the
    meeting of police chiefs of Naxal-affected districts.



  • September
    23: 12 CRPF personnel were killed by a landmine blast triggered
    by the MCC at Abroj forest area in the Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand.



  • September
    6: Five persons including two police personnel were killed by the
    MCC at Pathki Latehar distirct, Jharkhand



  • August
    6: MCC Naxaltie ambushed police patrol party at Chilgo forest near
    Bokaro in Jharkhand. One guard-cum-jeep driver was killed and one
    police personnel seriously injured in encounter.



  • June
    24: The MCC Naxalites attacked a police picket at Dhekuli, Sheohar
    district in Bihar and looted six rifles and a large quantity of
    ammunition. Three police personnel were also injured in the incident.



  • June
    7: Approximately, 100 MCC Naxalites attack a passenger train at
    Haurbera station near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and looted arms and
    ammunition. Six Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel injured
    in the incident.



  • May
    27: One police personnel was killed and five others seriously injured
    when more than 100 MCC Naxalites attack Mali police station, Aurangabad
    district in Bihar.



  • May
    21: The MCC Naxalites attack a police team and loot four rifles
    from them in Hembrom Bazar, Ranchi in Jharkhand. Four police personnel
    injure in the attack.



  • April
    14: Fourteen persons were massacred by the MCC at Belpu village,
    Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand. Those killed belonged to the Gram
    Suraksha Dal (Village Protection Force) which the villagers had
    raised three years ago to guard against MCC attacks.



  • April
    5: Eight police personnel were injured in an attack by the Naxalites
    of the MCC in Ranja Gahti, Gumla district in Jharkhad.



2000



  • December
    18: The MCC looted six self-loading rifles and two carbines from
    the police in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar.



  • November
    12: In Jharkhand, the MCC killed the wife of the Hazaribagh Deputy
    Commissioner.



  • October
    5: In the State of Jharkhand, the MCC killed the Lohardaga district
    Superintendent of Police, Ajay Kumar.



  • February
    12: The MCC killed 22 persons including 19 police personnel in a
    landmine blast in Palamu, Jharkhand during the first phase of State
    Legislative Elections.



1999





  • November
    18: The MCC killed 12 persons Latu village, Palamu in Jharkhand.



  • March
    18: The MCC massacred over 34 upper caste Bhumihars in Senari village,
    Jehanabad in Bihar.



1992



  • February
    12: The MCC massacred 37 members of
    the landowing upper caste Bhumihar community at Bara village, Gaya
    district in Bihar.



1987



  • May
    29: The MCC massacred 42 persons belonging
    to an upper caste Rajput family at Dalelchak-Baghaura village in
    Aurangabad district, Bihar.



1986



  • October
    7: The MCC killed 11 persons belonging to the upper caste Rajput
    community in Darmia village Aurangabad district in Bihar.




http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/MCC.htm








IAF buzz on China border

- Landing strip reopens after 45 years























New
Delhi, Sept. 18: The Indian Air Force today landed a troop-carrier
aircraft to reopen a forward landing strip after 45 years near a
disputed border with China.





Defence
headquarters, however, maintained this was part of a policy to upgrade
infrastructure in the frontier and had nothing to do with current
tensions.





The
reopening of the Nyoma advanced landing ground — on the cards since
November 2008 — will allow the UPA government to demonstrate resolve in
the face of criticism from the BJP that it was timid when confronted by
an aggressive China.





Key
officials in the security establishment, including the top brass of the
military, however, acknowledge that “transgressions” by border patrols
of India and China are bound to occur because the boundary is not
demarcated.





This
time, though, the presence of the top commanders of the army and the
air force added more muscle to the event than the reopening of two
previous advanced landing grounds.





“This
is at best a demonstration of ability, not intent,” one senior officer
said. “It gives us an alternative supply route in bad weather but I
doubt how effectively it can be used to move large loads (such as
troops and hardware) because of weight and time restrictions at that
altitude.”





Speaking about the experience, an air force officer on board the AN-32 transport aircraft told The Telegraph:
“It was awesome, the way the ground rushed up at us when we were
landing at dawn. The pilot had to do a lot of manoeuvring among the
hills before the aircraft touched down.”





The
pilot chosen for the task — Group Captain S.C. Chafekar — is from the
IAF’s Chandigarh-based 48 “Camels in the Sky” squadron.





The
Nyoma advanced landing ground (ALG) in eastern Ladakh is the third
forward strip to be reopened in the Ladakh frontier since May 2008. At
13,300ft, it is lower than the other two.





On
the banks of the Indus, Nyoma is about 23km from the Line of Actual
Control. It is also closer to the Chumar Sector where a Chinese patrol
was seen by Indian military observers to have “crossed over” into Mount
Gya, in territory claimed by India, and spray-painted boulders claiming
that the area belonged to China.





The
Indian Army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, who was taking over as the
chairman, chiefs of staff committee, on July 31 acknowledged that
“there have been several transgressions” of the Line of Actual Control
in recent months but did not give details of the incident purported to
have taken place in Chumar.





The
two top commanders of the air force and the army, responsible for the
territory and airspace over the northern region, were in the aircraft.
Western Air Commander Air Marshal N.A.K. Browne and Northern Army
Commander Lt Gen P.C. Bhardwaj were among the passengers.





Nyoma was to be made operational by the end of 2009 but orders were sent out to hasten the work.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090919/jsp/frontpage/story_11516144.jsp


19/09/2009

Top 100 brands: Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM retain lead

New
York: The financial crisis has wiped out billions of dollars from the
top 100 global brands, especially from the financial services sector
but the top five — Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE and Nokia — managed to
hold on to their positions despite a challenging year, says a survey.

Top 100 brands: Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM retain lead

According to a survey by leading brand consultancy Interbrand, Coca-Cola retained the top slot for the ninth year in a row.

While,
there are no Indian company in the league of top 100 most valued global
brands, most of them have a significant presence and brand recognition
in the country.

The top gainers in this year's BusinessWeek and
Interbrand's annual ranking include -- Google (25 per cent), Amazon (22
per cent), Zara (14 per cent), Pepsi (3 per cent) have all prospered
during a challenging year for marketing executives.

But the
year that was spelt gloom for brands in the financial services sector,
UBS slipped dramatically down the list, falling 31 places to the 72
position, losing half of its brand value.

Seven brands mainly
from the financial services sector fell right off the list including
Merrill Lynch, AIG, ING after huge subprime losses.

Another major outcome of the survey is that there has been no change in the top five spots despite difficult times.

At a time when big banks and auto brands fared the worst, food brands benefited as consumers began eating more at home.


19/09/2009

Community selling: Airtel offers STD, local calls at 50 paisa per minute

New
Delhi: Bharti Airtel announced offering both local and STD calls at a
flat rate of 50 paisa per minute to its 110 million subscribers.

The
'Airtel Advantage' initiative is aimed at offering the added advantage
to this significantly vast Airtel community to be in touch with each
other at a remarkably affordable rate of 50 paisa per minute-- be it a
national long distance call (STD) or a local call, the company release
said.

"The Airtel customer community of over 110 million enjoys
the special and exclusive benefits of being on the largest Network of
over 100,000 towers and availability across 1.5 million outlets making
it the most compelling service to be on," Bharti Airtel Mobile Services
President Atul Bindal said.

"Airtel Advantage is a further step
to reward all our valued customers. We launch the Airtel Advantage of
50 paise calling benefit to all our customers across the country," he
added.

Airtel has the largest telecom network and distribution in
India covering 4.25 lakhs towns and villages. With more than 100,000
BTS sites and over 1.5 mn retail and distribution outlets, the brand
reaches out to nearly every corner of the country.

The Indian
market currently has over 400 million mobile subscribers out of which
nearly every fourth customer is on the Airtel networks.

"Our
consumer usage analysis indicates that over 95 per cent of Airtel
mobile customers make a local call or STD call to another Airtel mobile
number.

"Also with increased urbanisation and migration from
distant parts of the country to the cities, long distance calling has
been on the rise across the country. Therefore, the 'Airtel Advantage'
Plan will serve as a tremendous value proposition to the large Airtel
community of over 110 million customers," it said.

Business Standard


Business Archive


http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/MCC.htm


India is 'losing Maoist battle'

















Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh
Maoists have a presence in almost 200 Indian districts









India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says his country is losing the battle against Maoist rebels.

Mr
Singh told a meeting of police chiefs from different states that rebel
violence was increasing and the Maoists' appeal was growing.

The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor.

They operate in a large swathe of territory across central India, and in some areas have almost replaced the local government.

More than 6,000 people have been killed during their 20-year fight for a communist state.

'Going up'

"I
have consistently held that in many ways, left-wing extremism poses
perhaps the gravest internal security threat our country faces," Mr
Singh told a conference of Indian police chiefs in the capital, Delhi.

"We
have discussed this in the last five years and I would like to state
frankly that we have not achieved as much success as we would have
liked in containing this menace."

The prime minister said that despite the government's best efforts, violence in Maoist-affected areas was going up.

The
prime minister admitted that the Maoists had growing appeal among a
large section of Indian society, including tribal communities, the
rural poor as well as sections of the intelligentsia and the youth.

Mr Singh said a more sensitive approach was necessary in dealing with the Maoists.

"Dealing
with left-wing extremism requires a nuanced strategy - a holistic
approach. It cannot be treated simply as a law and order problem."

The
rebels operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of
Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and West Bengal.

In some areas they have virtually
replaced the local government and are able to mount spectacular attacks
on government installations.

The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless workers.





Clashes at Maoist 'area' in India
















Protesters fell trees to construct roadblocks to prevent the paramilitary forces from entering the villages of Lalgarh in the Midnapore district, some 200km west of Kolkata on June 18, 2009
Protesters have blocked roads with trees to keep the authorities out











Indian security forces have clashed
with protesters in the Lalgarh region of West Bengal state, where
Maoist rebels have taken control.

Hundreds of baton-wielding police charged and fired tear gas shells at a crowd of almost 3,000 in Pirakata.

Villagers backed by the rebels have blocked roads to prevent security forces from entering Lalgarh.

The state government has called in more than 1,000 paramilitary troops to retake the area after police fled.

Meanwhile,
the bodies of four more communist workers have been found, taking the
number of party workers killed in recent violence to 10.

The
four bodies were found outside Lalgarh. The men were among six party
workers who police suspect were kidnapped by the rebels.

Maoist-linked violence has killed 6,000 people in India over the past 20 years.

'Bloodbath' fears

Reports
from Lalgarh say tension is running high in the area as the villagers
have formed "human shields" to prevent the security forces from moving
in and wresting control of the area.








Map









West Bengal interior minister Ardhendu Sen has appealed to villagers to allow the security forces to enter Lalgarh.

"Please don't get used by the Maoists. Please move away. We don't want a bloodbath," Mr Sen said in an appeal to the villagers.

Separately,
rebel leader Kishanji told the BBC in a telephone interview that the
federal and state governments should stop troops from entering the
area.

He said the government should hold meetings with the local people to learn about their grievances.

The
tribespeople-dominated Lalgarh area in West Bengal's West Midnapore
district has been under the virtual control of the rebels since
November.

Armed rebels are now reportedly patrolling roads there.

Over
the past few days, villagers backed by the rebels have taken over more
villages in the area and burnt down and demolished offices belonging to
the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M).

'Liberated zone'

The BBC's Amitabh Bhattashali in Calcutta says hundreds of CPI(M) workers have left Lalgarh in recent days.








A Communist party office set on fire by villagers in Lalgarh
Communist party offices have been set on fire by villagers in Lalgarh









Maoists claimed it as their first "liberated" zone in West Bengal.

Our correspondent says that taking control of Lalgarh is part of a long-term plan for the Maoists.

The
area encompasses vast tracts of the forests of West Midnapur, Purulia
and Bankura districts of West Bengal and adjoins parts of the states of
Jharkhand and Orissa.

Violence in Lalgarh began last November
after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya narrowly
escaped a landmine blast blamed on the rebels.

Protests were launched when a number of locals were arrested on suspicion of attempting to assassinate him.





Maoist 'rampage' in West Bengal

















Violence in Lalgarh
The house of a communist party leader was attacked









Hundreds of Maoists backed by
thousands of villagers have seized the ruling party's last stronghold
in a troubled part of India's West Bengal state.

Armed rebels
are reportedly patrolling roads around the village of Dharampur in the
Lalgarh area after police fled. Three people were killed, reports say.

Rebels have been entrenching themselves in Lalgarh since last November and now have almost total control of the area.

Maoist-linked violence has killed 6,000 people in India over the past 20 years.

The
rebels operate in more than 180 districts across east and central India
and are seen as a major threat to national security. Last week more
than 20 police were killed in the eastern state of Jharkand.

The Maoists say they represent the rights of landless farmhands and tribal communities.

'Ransacked'

The
BBC's Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta said that as hundreds of workers
from the state's ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M),
fled the Lalgarh area, Maoists claimed it as their first "liberated"
zone in West Bengal.












Advertisement





Maoists set fire to an abandoned police post







One of the police posts was later set ablaze and the Maoists were
reported to have demolished the house of a local communist leader.

"The
Maoists went on a rampage yesterday in Dharampur village and ransacked
our zonal secretary's home and party office before setting it on fire.
Three of our men are dead and six more still missing," a CPI(M)
official said.

The village of Dharampur was the last bastion
for the ruling communist party in Lalgarh. Other villages in the area
had been under Maoist control since November.

Our correspondent says that taking control of Lalgarh is part of a long-term plan for the Maoists.

The
area encompasses vast tracts of the forests of West Midnapur, Purulia
and Bankura districts of West Bengal and adjoins parts of the states of
Jharkhand and Orissa.

Arrests

Lalgarh has experienced considerable unrest for a number of months.

The
violence began last November when police arrested some local residents
on suspicion of attempting to assassinate the chief minister of West
Bengal state, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, after he narrowly escaped a
landmine explosion set off by suspected Maoist rebels.

A
Peoples' Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) was subsequently
formed to protest against the arrests. They launched violent protests
and strikes against the local police.

The police and state
administration have been virtually non-existent in most of Lalgarh
since then. Polling booths could not be set up for recent general
elections so voters had to cast ballots outside the area.

Our
correspondent says the insurgents and the CPI(M), which has been the
state's dominant political force, have been fighting a turf war.

In
the past few years, he says, the Maoists have extended their influence
with guerrilla commanders camping in the area and providing basic
military training to local youths.




India admits 2010 Games problems

























Commonwealth games site



















India needs to take immediate steps to
ensure that it is in a position to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a
top sports official has said.

The Indian Olympics Association
secretary general, Randhir Singh, said some of the concerns raised over
the progress of preparations were valid.

His comments follow a warning from the Commonwealth Games chief that Indian plans were severely behind schedule.

There are also concerns over security arrangements and housing for guests.

In
a letter to the local organising committee, Commonwealth Games
Federation chief Mike Fennell is reported to have warned that India's
preparations were behind schedule.

He said it was "reasonable to conclude that the current situation poses a serious risk to the Commonwealth Games in 2010".

The Games are due to be held in the Indian capital, Delhi, from 3-14 October next year.

Behind schedule

A federal government report a few months ago found that work on 13 out of the 19 sports venues was running behind schedule.








Commonwealth games site
India says venues will be ready on time despite delays.









Mr Singh told the BBC that some of Mr Fennell's concerns were valid and "things had to be worked out".

However, he said the infrastructure would be ready on time despite the delays.

"There is not a lot to be fixed, but we have to get it activated," Mr Singh said.

Earlier,
he told The Indian Express newspaper that Games authorities needed to
"wake up, decentralise, ensure our concerned departments and
stakeholders come together. Knowing the capabilities that we have,
there is no reason why we can't deliver".

Mr Singh said there
were 23 committees looking into various organisational aspects of the
Games, but "the chairmen of those committees hardly meet".

"So
first, we have to ensure they come together more often. We also need to
give these committees more powers so that they don't have to run to the
chairman of the organising committee for every small thing," he said.

"At the moment, these committees only have an advisory role - but they must have the power to take decisions."

Mr Singh said there would be "no problems" with security at the games.

"We just have to reassure the Commonwealth Games Federation that we can host the best games ever," he said.

Preparations for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi have long been plagued by controversy.

There
were also doubts about the future of the venue of the Games village for
8,500 athletes after environmentalists went to court protesting against
its location next to the River Yamuna.

But the Supreme Court threw the case out and allowed work on the village to continue.














Race 'not behind health protests'















Advertisement





'Race is such a volatile issue in this society'







President Barack Obama has said that
some Americans may oppose him because of race, but that this has not
been the main factor behind healthcare protests.

He suggests,
in TV interviews to be broadcast on Sunday, anti-government sentiment
was the key reason for angry protests against healthcare reform.

Former President Jimmy Carter said this week that much of the vitriol against reform plans was "based on racism".

Many felt "that an African-American should not be president", he said.

Mr
Carter made the point after Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson shouted "You
lie!" while Mr Obama was delivering an address on healthcare to
Congress last week.

'Volatile issue'

Recent
protests against Mr Obama's healthcare reform plans have included angry
town hall meetings and a taxpayers' demonstration in Washington last
weekend.





















Are there some people who don't like me because of my race? - I'm sure there are












Barack Obama





















Some have accused Mr Obama of tyranny and promised to "reclaim America".

In
comments to ABC, Mr Obama said race was a "volatile issue" and "it
becomes hard for people to separate out race being a sort of part of
the backdrop of American society versus race being a predominant factor
in any given debate".

"Are there some people who don't like me because of my race?" he said. "I'm sure there are.

"Are there some people who voted for me only because of my race? There are probably some of those too.















HEALTHCARE IN THE US





46 million uninsured, 25 million under-insured



Healthcare costs represent 16% of GDP, almost twice OECD average



Reform plans would require all Americans to get insurance



Some propose public option to compete with private insurers





















But he added that he thought some were "more passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right.

"And I think that that's probably the biggest driver of some of the vitriol."

In a separate interview with CNN, Mr Obama said he did not think race was the "the overriding issue here".

He also said he was not the first president to come up against angry protests.

"The
things that were said about FDR [Franklin Roosevelt] were pretty
similar to the things that were said about me - that he was a
communist, he was a socialist," Mr Obama said.

"Things that
were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the
New Deal programmes were pretty vicious as well."













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FROM OTHER NEWS SITES




AFP via Yahoo! Obama says race not "overriding issue" in criticism (Reuters) - 1 hr ago





Irish Times Race 'not behind healthcare issue' - 1 hr ago





RTE Online Obama says racism not 'overriding issue' - 3 hrs ago





Chicago Tribune Fear of big changes, not race heats debate, Obama says. - 9 hrs ago





Forbes.com Obama: Race not 'overriding issue' in criticism - 10 hrs ago










































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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264166.stm





South Asia



















































Page last updated at 00:13 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 01:13 UK



















































































Pakistani local residents gather around the rubble of a market after a suicide car bomb blast near the garrison city of Kohat on September 18, 2009.










At least 33 people are killed and many injured as a suicide car bomb hits a village market in north-west Pakistan.































































A senior UN envoy says the plight of Tamils displaced by the recent war is putting Sri Lankan reconciliation at risk.




































At least eight die in a fierce gun battle between Maoist insurgents and security forces in central India, police say.











































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India's 'Twittering Minister'







Soutik Biswas | 12:41 UK time, Friday, 18 September 2009




Comments











(19)












Shashi TharoorTo tweet or not to tweet is the question that Mr Shashi Tharoor must be asking himself these days.



India's junior foreign minister is a former UN diplomat, a prolific writer, a political debutant and an inveterate Twitter-er.
Some are already calling him, rather uncharitably, India's 'Twittering
Minister', and skewering him for "wasting time" with his "frivolities"
on the social networking site. His supporters - and there are over
160,000 people following him on Twitter - say that Mr Tharoor is not
your average staid, fuddy-duddy Indian politician; and his thriving
online social networking skills make him refreshingly different.



His political colleagues may not agree. It all began when Mr Tharoor got ticked off by the government for staying in a luxury hotel in Delhi as
his official bungalow was not ready to move in. He promptly moved out
and Twittered about how it didn't make much sense to him because he was
paying for his hotel room, not the taxpayer. It was bad timing. The
Congress government says it is on a major austerity drive in these
pressing times, though many feel that it is mere tokenism - ministers
may travel economy class and Rahul Gandhi may travel by train but they
invariably do so with a retinue of sullen faced security men and
fawning officials, which ends up inconveniencing other passengers.



Matters came to a head earlier this week, when Mr Tharoor, provoked by
a follower on whether he would travel "cattle class" on his next trip
to his constituency in Kerala, Twittered back: "Absolutely, in cattle
class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!" He earned an immediate
reprimand from his Congress party. "The party strong disapproves the statement of the minister,"
a spokeswoman said. "It is unacceptable, not respecting political or
any other sensibilities." Delhi's chattering class debated whether the
Twittering Minister was poking fun at economy class passengers by
alluding to the "cattle class". And whether he was raising the hackles
of the stuffy political class by calling them "holy cows".



Twittering back, Mr Tharoor has negotiated the "cattle class" slight
uncomfortably, arguing that it was a "silly expression" not meant to
disrespect economy travellers. Instead, he says, it was airline
companies who "herded passengers in like cattle".



He also came up with a somewhat revisionist and semantic take on the
phrase "holy cow". "Holy cows are NOT individuals but sacrosanct issues
or principles that no one dares challenge. I wish the critic would look
it up," he writes. "Now I realise that I shouldn't assume people will
appreciate humour and I shouldn't give those who would wilfully distort
your words an opportunity to do so."



As far as my limited knowledge goes, "holy cow" is mostly used as an
exclamation, in American slang. In my part of the world, people use the
phrase loosely as a mild pejorative.



It is time for scholars to now join the merry fray and decode Mr
Tharoor's use of the phrase. And political pundits to find out whether
the 'Twittering Minister' was taking a dig at the starchy party bosses
while saying that humour doesn't always find many takers. Come to think
of it, why not deploy a team of psychologists to ascertain if Mr
Tharoor was being supercilious in wondering whether Indians, by and
large, are a humourless people.



Should a member of the cabinet be using popular social networking
tools to network with people? The jury is still out on this, but when I
scan Mr Tharoor's tweets I find most of them to be harmless,
constipated takes on cricket, traffic jams in Delhi, Patrick Swayze,
Roger Federer and so on. They are unexceptional, unexciting and largely
irrelevant - like most of stuff on social networking sites. He's also a
frenetic Twitter-er: on Friday, a working day, he sent out 10 tweets in
less than three hours.



No one should take away Mr Tharoor - or anybody's - right to use
this social networking device to voice his or her opinions. But does
Shashi Tharoor trivialise his office and work with his manic tweeting?
Should he slow down and write his words more carefully before sending
them out all over the world? Or should he tweet on regardless? What do
YOU think?



PS: Mr Tharoor may have earned a bit of reprieve after his party
admonished him and one of its leaders sought his resignation over his
"cattle class" tweet. This evening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said
his junior minister's remark "was a joke." I suspect most party members don't share Mr Singh's view.











'We are like this only'







Soutik Biswas | 05:04 UK time, Wednesday, 16 September 2009




Comments











(18)












Work at a Commonwealth Games sporting venue in DelhiIn the early days of music television in India, one channel ran a zany Curry Western spoof.
A rotund man in garish cowboy attire walks into a kitschy hick town
bar, orders a whisky and a dosa, spews expletives and challenges a
co-drinker to a fight after the unusual meal. As the spoof winds down, a punch line rolls up: 'We are like this only'.





I am reminded of the line when I read and hear about the mess over preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next
year. Commonwealth officials are panicking over the slow pace of work
and wondering aloud whether the games will take off. A smug Indian
official in charge says there is nothing to worry about.
All will be fine, he says, and the games will be among the finest ever.
The subtext of his message: this is the Indian way of doing things,
silly. The stadiums will be eventually built, and we will have a jolly
good Games. We are like this only. And sab chalta hain (everything goes), another of our favourite alibis.



But this time the bluff may be called sooner. There is little doubt that India has approached its first major international sports event in
nearly three decades with characteristic lack of planning. A report by
the federal government's own auditing arm says work on 13 of the 19
sports venues is behind schedule. There aren't enough hotel rooms yet to house guests
- another government estimate reckon that only 35% of the additional
hotel rooms planned for the games will be completed in time.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell is skittish: he wants to meet the PM now
for an assurance that the games will held in time. In an internal note,
the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada says in desperation:
"Verbal assurances [from Indian officials] are no longer sufficient." A
telling comment comes from a foreign engineer who is working at an
unfinished stadium site. "The people over here are very careless and
the mentality is very lazy," he says. "If one person works, the other
five want to just stand around him and watch. They all waste time."



Wasting time and procrastination is a national pastime, so why blame
India's poor, underpaid and overworked construction workers. The games
are being planned by an organising committee along with two dozen
committees - whose heads apparently hardly meet - stacked with
bureaucrats, politicians, sports administrators, who are often
politicians themselves, and so on. One person I know who was a member
of the organising committee quit after he found out to his dismay that
nothing was moving on his front in the year he was there. In one
meeting called to shortlist some contractors for a job, he found a
bureaucrat on the selection committee who had joined it a day before
from some nondescript ministry. Friends who have been involved with
international sporting events tell me it is not so much about
completing work on the stadiums, but of ensuring that the
"operationals" are in place - hotel room bookings for athletes, the
state of preparedness for the media, transport hubs to take the media
and guests to the stadia and back and stuff like that.Workers at a Commonwealth Games site in Delhi



Nothing much has moved along on these fronts, they say. The games
village is being built on a controversial environmentally sensitive
site - the banks of a dying river which skirts the capital. The less
said about the infrastructure, the better. The games, according to its
website, will leave behind "a city much more beautiful and charming
than it currently is". It talks about how a colonial city centre has
been "given a new façade and is experiencing a resurgence", and how the
city's monuments are being "cleaned and revitalised".



I don't know how much truth there is in these claims. But I do know
that if it rains during the event, Delhi's roads will overflow with
water and sewage or cave in. If there is a gale, electricity lines will
snap, trees will fall and block the roads, and roofs will fly. The
organisers must have been delusional to award the games to a city with
such utterly shambolic infrastructure. Also, since there will be no
separate lanes for the venues-bound traffic, I see huge gridlocks, and
traffic being stopped to let the games traffic pass. Slums are expected to fenced off with bamboo, and beggars are to be rounded up. The 12-day, 17-discipline sporting event is all set to become the biggest nightmare for Delhi's denizens.



It also could turn out be India's biggest shame. Already workers
have died at the construction sites, and human rights groups are up in
arms about how workers at venues are being underpaid and have flimsy security.
I spotted a picture where women workers wore tatty rubber sandals at a
site where the signage indicates they should be wearing boots. It's the
same old story - apart from a few shining exceptions like the Delhi Metro- of brazen disregard for basic safety norms, woeful planning and exploitative contractors.



And we have revulsion for real change. We remember how an indoor
stadium roof leaked in the monsoon rains and players quit wet tables
when the world table tennis championship opened in Calcutta decades
ago. We remember how we sat on drying paint at an upgraded cricket
stadium and endured its stinking, overflowing rest rooms to watch an
international game. We see our politicians taking over sports
organisations and do to sport what they have done to politics in the
country. We laugh it all away every time. We are like this only. Sab chalta hain. Why do we have no shame?

















Why austerity is a joke in Indian politics







Soutik Biswas | 16:28 UK time, Wednesday, 9 September 2009




Comments











(30)












Shashi TharoorIndia's Grand Old Party, the Congress, has asked two of its ministers to abandon a life in luxury. This happened after news washed up that foreign minister SM Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor were
living in two upscale hotels in Delhi because their official bungalows
were not yet ready for them to move in. Both ministers say they are
paying for the pricey hotel rooms from their own pockets.



But apparently embarrassed by the report, the party high command has
ordered the two men to leave the hotels and move into more modest
dwellings because their lifestyle "flew in the face of party's emphasis
on austerity in public life." One of the two luxury loving ministers,
Shashi Tharoor, is bristling with anger. "I would be ashamed if I was
spending the people's money. But I'm not - I'm spending my own
savings," he Twittered. Mr Tharoor, a former aide to ex-UN chief Kofi Annan, said he "needed a gym and some privacy" and the hotel gave him both.



But the newspaper that broke the story explained that it had a case against the two ministers staying
temporarily in a luxury hotel even if they were paying. It wrote: "That
two high-profile UPA ministers, one of cabinet rank, have been staying
at five-star hotels for more than three months is not, this newspaper
will maintain, a case for moral or legal rebuke. Anybody with the
requisite means is within his rights to stay at a five-star hotel or
build a palace unto himself. But External Affairs Minister SM Krishna
at the ITC Maurya and his Minister of State Shashi Tharoor at the Taj
sit against the stark backdrop of Congress exhortations on "austerity"
and "sacrifice". Congress MPs are being asked to part with a fifth of
their salary for drought relief (itself a meagre amount, but that's
another matter) as their colleagues in the Ministry of External Affairs
are running up, presumably, bills that beggar those salaries manifold.
Perhaps it's pertinent to ask who should be more embarrassed - the two
ministers or the party itself?"



The problem with this argument is that we are taking Congress - or any
party in India - exhortations to maintain austerity seriously. Indian
politicians love to preach what they don't practice. The Congress - and
most national parties - have a long history of pleading its members to practice austerity, but citizens have never seen any evidence of that in real life.



So the more things change, the more they remain the same. What about
the long, expensive cavalcades carrying ministers and the red and blue
beacon bearing cars carrying their minions with party flags painted
illegally on their number plates muscling in and out of traffic? What
about the glittering political receptions? What about the wasteful
adverts with pictures of ministers and lawmakers announcing the opening
of a railway station or a city flyover? What about the politicians with
a bevy of hangers-on travelling business class? Why then the austere
righteousness over two ministers who are paying for their own
accommodation in posh hotels?Shanties in front of a palace in India



The bit about Congress MPs being asked to part with a fifth of their
salary is a bit of a joke anyway. "There are two ways of making
politics one's vocation," sociologist Max Weber once
said. "Either one lives for politics or one lives off it". In India,
politicians live off politics for the most part. Apparently, the
Congress party is distressed with the "extravagant lifestyle of its
ministers". Do Indians even take such sanctimonious piffle seriously in
a patronage-driven democracy ravaged by brazen political corruption?



Nobility cloaked in hypocrisy is the bane of Indian society. Blame
should not be placed at the politicians' door alone. In a depressingly
hierarchical society where the past casts a long shadow over the
present, ostentation is encouraged, accepted and practised with a
vengeance by the rich and the middle class alike.



People vie with each other to host flashy and vulgar weddings and
functions as beggars fight for their pickings outside, reminiscent of Ryszard Kapuscinski's description of a reception that the Ethopian emperor Haile Selassie threw
for visiting leaders that he attended. A sumptuous feast was on inside
the venue. Outside, Kapuscinski writes, "in the thick of the night, a
crowd of barefoot beggars stood huddled together. The dishwashers
working in the building threw leftovers at them. I watched the crowd
devour the scraps, bones and fish heads with laborious concentration."
In rich and middle class India, scenes like these are tiresomely
routine. Those who practice ostentation often condemn it the most.
Doublespeak and hypocrisy is a national affliction; and talk is cheap.
And people get the politicians they deserve.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/


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