Mamata follows the Left Front strategy to deal with Maoist Menace in Jungle Mahal and announces a VIRTUAL SALAWA JUDUM Violating Supreme court Recent Order. Mamata has announced that Ten Thousand Tribal from the Jungle Mahal would get JOB in Police. She has replaced CHHTISHGARGH Branded SPO with SPC. While the Apex court has decided that ARMING Tribals against Naxals is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!Mamata established Supremacy of GUN suggesting the Tribal Rebels to OPT for Government Gun!Mamata Banerjee plays Dangerous Gimmicks to fulfil her Election Manifesto Promises before the Brigade Rally on 21st July. After Singur Bill and Treaty with Gorkha Rebels, Mamata tries to solve the Maoist Problem with her Jungle Mahal Package of Development without addressing the Problem at all!Mind you, the lion`s share in Indian Budget is spent on Defence and Internal security. Recruiting in Armed Forces and Police may NOT solve Unemployment Problems as it DOES NOT Create any Social Property to boost the Production System!Without recognising Tribal Rights in Scheduled Area and the ownership of Tribals on the Natural resources, the Development Gimmick would NOT change the scenerio, I am afraid!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY TWO
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Mamata follows the Left Front strategy to deal with Maoist Menace in Jungle Mahal and announces a VIRTUAL SALAWA JUDUM Violating Supreme court Recent Order. Mamata has announced that Ten Thousand Tribal from the Jungle Mahal would get JOB in Police. She has replaced CHHTISHGARGH Branded SPO with SPC. While the Apex court has decided that ARMING Tribals against Naxals is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!Mamata established Supremacy of GUN suggesting the Tribal Rebels to OPT for Government Gun!Mamata Banerjee plays Dangerous Gimmicks to fulfil her Election Manifesto Promises before the Brigade Rally on 21st July. After Singur Bill and Treaty with Gorkha Rebels, Mamata tries to solve the Maoist Problem with her Jungle Mahal Package of Development without addressing the Problem at all!Mind you, the lion`s share in Indian Budget is spent on Defence and Internal securty. Recruiting in Armed Forces and Police may NOT solve Unemployment Problems as it DOES NOT Create any Social Property to boost the Production System!Without recognising Tribal Rights in Scheduled Area and the ownership of Tribals on the Natural resources, the Development Gimmick would NOT change the scenerio, I am afraid!
"Don't encourage unrest and don't take up firearms and guns. If you want to take up guns, do this for the government, for the people of your country and to protect Jangalmahal. Our government has decided to recruit 10,000 local youths of Jangalmahal in police forces within the coming three months. Application forms for such recruitment will be made available to you from local police stations. No one in Jangalmahal will remain jobless," the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee announced at the function on Tuesday.
The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) has described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sops for Junglemahal as a "political gimmick".
Ashok Jibon Ghosh, spokesman of the PCAPA — a frontal unit of the Maoists — said there was no talk about the release of political prisoners of Junglemahal, a promise Mamata had made prior to the polls. "She also did not spell out her stand on withdrawal of forces. The PCAPA will intensify agitations in Junglemahal soon," he said.
In Purulia, a Maoist faction in a statement described Mamata's call for peace talks as a "ploy to make Maoists surrender arms and ideology".
"It was an insult while joint security forces are still present in Junglemahal. The Maoist are not opposed to her development initiative but want to see action rather than words," the statement said.
On a day when chief minister Mamata Banerjee started for Jangalmahal to bolster development in the less developed districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, her party MP and singer Kabir Suman on Monday put across a different development roadmap for the area that begins with the withdrawal of central forces. The defiant singer also dared to question Banerjee's setting up of a review committee under Justice Malay Sengupta and demanded immediate release of political prisoners. Kabir Suman expressed his views at a convention organized by a total of 22 mass organizations and rights bodies. The Trinamool MP also argued in favour of repealing the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in Bengal.
Kabir Suman is also skeptic about pushing the development agenda in presence of central forces. "The presence of central forces in the area will prevent participation of locals in the development process that is a prerequisite for sorting out the problem in Jangalmahal," the Trinamool MP said.
Suman's view found favour with several mass organizations. Speakers representing the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), Mazdoor Kranti Parishad (MKP), Democratic Forum Against Terror and even individuals such as writer Nabarun Bhattacharya endorsed Suman's view while opposing the government's development plan. APDR state general secretary Debaprasad Roy Chowdhury alleged that the state government is trying to impose conditions on the release of political prisoners that are an insult to a political activist.
"The state government wants the political activist in jail to declare that he won't participate in such activities after his release. This is not all. State officials are trying to stifle the dissenting voices within the jails. The expert panel has been asked to review the conduct of the undertrial before deciding on his release," said Roychowdhury.
Writer Nabarun Bhattacharya also came down heavily upon the Mamata Banerjee government over the delay in releasing the political prisoners. "The government is trying to linger the process that prompts one to question its sincerity of the government to keep up to the promise that the Trinamool Congress chief made before the Assembly polls," Bhattacharya said.
CPI(Maoist) leader Bikram, on the other hand, denied the charge brought against them by the Mamata Banerjee government that the Maoists were opposed to development. In a press statement, Bikram urged the CM to cite a single instance where Maoists have come in the way of development.. "If she can prove this we will go to the Writers' Buildings and lay down our arms," said Bikram.
Ten thousand jobs were on dole at Jangalmahal, special financial packages, bicycles and even the promise of considering a bridge to be built over the Subarnarekha as chief minister Mamata Banerjee decided to better Santa Claus on this hot July afternoon to appease the mass sentiment in one of West Bengal's poorest habited areas. This was her very first visit to the area on Tuesday after becoming chief minister and the people of Kharikamathani in the Nayagram area of Jangalmahal expected the world out of Mamata. The sensitivity of the visit was enormous, considering the fact that this was perhaps the single most critically affected area of the state, where Maoists had for years lorded over everything.Economic Times reports:
In her pre-poll run-up, Mamata had promised that she would alleviate poverty as much as she possibly could from this area if she became chief minister. On assuming power, among her first decisions, was the promise that she would declare a financial package for Jangalmahal.
Mamata knew it was extremely important to be politically correct in order to bring about peace in the region. As a first step, she assured the people of Jangalmahal that nobody in the region would remain jobless. Jangalmahal has been one of the country's most active Maoist strongholds and even though central security forces have managed to beat the squads back, nobody is entirely sure that peace has returned. Therefore, Mamata held out financial lollipops to entice people in exchange of cessation of violence.
"Don't encourage unrest and don't take up firearms and guns. If you want to take up guns, do this for the government, for the people of your country and to protect Jangalmahal. Our government has decided to recruit 10,000 local youths of Jangalmahal in police forces within the coming three months. Application forms for such recruitment will be made available to you from local police stations. No one in Jangalmahal will remain jobless," the chief minister announced at the function on Tuesday.
Giving an indication to the Maoists, who have lost their support base in Jangalmahal following joint operations by the Central forces, Mamata also said that those who surrender arms and return to the mainstream of life, will be given a special financial package by her government.
Jangalmahal comprises three economically backward districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Mamata knows it well that local people and the poor tribal population in Jangalmahal don't have adequate access to pure drinking water and modern health facilities. Education infrastructure in the region is also very poor.
During her hour-long speech, Mamata also attempted to give the local people an idea about how her government is planning to dole out such basic needs to them. "We are in the government for just a month and twenty days. Nothing major was done by the previous government for Jangalmahal in their 34-year regime. We will take a little time to offer you some development packages. Our government has decided to spent Rs 112 crore for providing drinking water in Jangalmahal. We will take 30 months to work this out," the chief minister announced.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Mamata-announces-devpt-package-for-Maoist-hit-Jangalmahal/articleshow/9200595.cms
13 JUL, 2011, 07.15PM IST, TAMAL SENGUPTA,ET BUREAU
Mamata to offer bpl cards to all tribal families in jangalmahal
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that her government will provide BPL cards to all the tribal families living in Maoist-infested Jangalmahal. This will help the tribal families in this region to avail of several civic amenities at cheaper rate.
Mamata also announced that her government will purchase Kendu leaf from the poor tribals in order to pay them proper price to help them earn their livelihood. Kendu leaf is required to manufacture bidis.
The chief minister was addressing a government function at Sarenga in Bankura district on Wednesday which was the second day of her stay in Jangalmahal. Bankura is a part of Jangalmahal which comprises two other districts of West Midnapore and Purulia.
The chief minister held a meeting at Sarenga which was a Maoist den a few years back. The Maoists had killed three policemen in Sarenga in January 2009. A Trinamool Congress leader was also killed in the area a few months back. Naturally, security arrangements were beefed up in the run-up to the chief minister's function in Sarenga. The state's chief secretary Samar Ghosh and home secretary G D Gautama were also present at the function along with senior state police officials.
Mamata also announced that her government will upgrade 48 secondary schools in Bankura district to the level of higher secondary schools. She also said that a high madrasa will be set up at Simlipal in Bankura district. "A blood bank will be set up at the Khatra sub-divisional hospital in the Bankura district," the chief minister announced. She also said new colleges will be established at Baital, Joyrambati, Kotulpur and Indus in the same district.
The chief minister also urged the people of Bankura to allow her some time (at least six months) to fulfil the commitments she had made on Wednesday. "The previous Left Front government did nothing for the tribal population. The previous government has left a debt burden of Rs 2,03,000 crore and we have to calculate every moment how we will pay the salaries to our employees," Mamata said.
"I shall come back to you after six months to find out the progress of the work which I have mentioned today," the chief minister said.
"I have been told that doctors are unwilling to come to Jangalmahal. Our government will arrange accommodation for those physicians who will be deputed in Jangalmahal.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/mamata-to-offer-bpl-cards-to-all-tribal-families-in-jangalmahal/articleshow/9212466.cms
13 JUL, 2011, 02.37AM IST, BHARTI JAIN,ET BUREAU
Maoists join hands with South Asian sister outfits, resolve to fight 'Indian expansionist hegemony'
NEW DELHI: Even as the West Bengal government explores the option of brokering peace with the Leftwing extremists, the Maoists have resolved to work with their sister outfits in Nepal and other South Asian countries to fight the "Indian expansionist hegemony" and make South Asia a base for the "world proletarian revolution."
The declaration of the South Asian Maoist outfits - assembled under the umbrella of Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) - "to develop ongoing people's wars, initiate new ones, and accomplish a new democratic revolution in their respective countries" was made in a resolution adopted at their fifth international conference held in March this year, possibly somewhere in Nepal.
Congratulating the Maoist forces in India for "successful withstanding the state's counter-revolutionary offensive", the conference noted that "while the initial victories in beating back this war of the people, politically as well as militarily, give better conditions to the revolutionaries, the gravity of the challenges they face remains."
Recalling the CCOMPOSA was formed to unite the Maoist revolutionaries of South Asia - spread across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan - and fight Indian expansionist hegemony and imperialism in the region, the resolution asked them to "seize power where it is possible, develop ongoing people's wars to higher levels, prepare and initiate people's war where parties exist and build up parties where they don't."
Interestingly, the resolution was adopted even as the Trinamool Congress was warming up to the Maoist forces in the run-up to the West Bengal polls. Mamata Banerjee went on to promise the withdrawal of Central forces from Jangalmahal are and a likely truce with the Maoists in the state, in the event of her party being voted to power.
On Tuesday, Banerjee made her first visit to Jangalmahal as chief minister. She appealed to the Maoists to give up arms, while announcing an economic package for the area. The Centre, meanwhile, has decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy.
However, the security agencies here are not quite convinced about the peace moves with the Maoists getting too far. "The Maoist ideology provides for tactical political alliances, but this is only to achieve further annihilation of the State forces.... they use peacetime to regroup and rearm," a senior official of the security establishment warned, adding that Banerjee may soon realise this strategy and would be forced to turn the heat on the Maoists once again.
"The description of Indian State as a 'expansionist hegemony' in the March 2011 CCOMPOSA declaration clearly shows that Maoists are anti-national and are instigating their sister outfits in other South Asian countries into joining the war against the Indian State," the official noted.
Interestingly, the West Bengal government has shown no inclination to cut back the 5,000-strong Central forces deployed in Jangalmahal by the erstwhile Left Front government for anti-Maoist operations.
In fact, at a recent conference of DGPs of nine Naxal-hit states, the West Bengal DGP sought additional Central forces but was told by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the forces will be spared only after it has put in place the necessary infrastructure for housing them.
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY TWO
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Mamata follows the Left Front strategy to deal with Maoist Menace in Jungle Mahal and announces a VIRTUAL SALAWA JUDUM Violating Supreme court Recent Order. Mamata has announced that Ten Thousand Tribal from the Jungle Mahal would get JOB in Police. She has replaced CHHTISHGARGH Branded SPO with SPC. While the Apex court has decided that ARMING Tribals against Naxals is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!Mamata established Supremacy of GUN suggesting the Tribal Rebels to OPT for Government Gun!Mamata Banerjee plays Dangerous Gimmicks to fulfil her Election Manifesto Promises before the Brigade Rally on 21st July. After Singur Bill and Treaty with Gorkha Rebels, Mamata tries to solve the Maoist Problem with her Jungle Mahal Package of Development without addressing the Problem at all!Mind you, the lion`s share in Indian Budget is spent on Defence and Internal securty. Recruiting in Armed Forces and Police may NOT solve Unemployment Problems as it DOES NOT Create any Social Property to boost the Production System!Without recognising Tribal Rights in Scheduled Area and the ownership of Tribals on the Natural resources, the Development Gimmick would NOT change the scenerio, I am afraid!
"Don't encourage unrest and don't take up firearms and guns. If you want to take up guns, do this for the government, for the people of your country and to protect Jangalmahal. Our government has decided to recruit 10,000 local youths of Jangalmahal in police forces within the coming three months. Application forms for such recruitment will be made available to you from local police stations. No one in Jangalmahal will remain jobless," the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee announced at the function on Tuesday.
The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) has described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sops for Junglemahal as a "political gimmick".
Ashok Jibon Ghosh, spokesman of the PCAPA — a frontal unit of the Maoists — said there was no talk about the release of political prisoners of Junglemahal, a promise Mamata had made prior to the polls. "She also did not spell out her stand on withdrawal of forces. The PCAPA will intensify agitations in Junglemahal soon," he said.
In Purulia, a Maoist faction in a statement described Mamata's call for peace talks as a "ploy to make Maoists surrender arms and ideology".
"It was an insult while joint security forces are still present in Junglemahal. The Maoist are not opposed to her development initiative but want to see action rather than words," the statement said.
On a day when chief minister Mamata Banerjee started for Jangalmahal to bolster development in the less developed districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, her party MP and singer Kabir Suman on Monday put across a different development roadmap for the area that begins with the withdrawal of central forces. The defiant singer also dared to question Banerjee's setting up of a review committee under Justice Malay Sengupta and demanded immediate release of political prisoners. Kabir Suman expressed his views at a convention organized by a total of 22 mass organizations and rights bodies. The Trinamool MP also argued in favour of repealing the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in Bengal.
Kabir Suman is also skeptic about pushing the development agenda in presence of central forces. "The presence of central forces in the area will prevent participation of locals in the development process that is a prerequisite for sorting out the problem in Jangalmahal," the Trinamool MP said.
Suman's view found favour with several mass organizations. Speakers representing the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), Mazdoor Kranti Parishad (MKP), Democratic Forum Against Terror and even individuals such as writer Nabarun Bhattacharya endorsed Suman's view while opposing the government's development plan. APDR state general secretary Debaprasad Roy Chowdhury alleged that the state government is trying to impose conditions on the release of political prisoners that are an insult to a political activist.
"The state government wants the political activist in jail to declare that he won't participate in such activities after his release. This is not all. State officials are trying to stifle the dissenting voices within the jails. The expert panel has been asked to review the conduct of the undertrial before deciding on his release," said Roychowdhury.
Writer Nabarun Bhattacharya also came down heavily upon the Mamata Banerjee government over the delay in releasing the political prisoners. "The government is trying to linger the process that prompts one to question its sincerity of the government to keep up to the promise that the Trinamool Congress chief made before the Assembly polls," Bhattacharya said.
CPI(Maoist) leader Bikram, on the other hand, denied the charge brought against them by the Mamata Banerjee government that the Maoists were opposed to development. In a press statement, Bikram urged the CM to cite a single instance where Maoists have come in the way of development.. "If she can prove this we will go to the Writers' Buildings and lay down our arms," said Bikram.
Ten thousand jobs were on dole at Jangalmahal, special financial packages, bicycles and even the promise of considering a bridge to be built over the Subarnarekha as chief minister Mamata Banerjee decided to better Santa Claus on this hot July afternoon to appease the mass sentiment in one of West Bengal's poorest habited areas. This was her very first visit to the area on Tuesday after becoming chief minister and the people of Kharikamathani in the Nayagram area of Jangalmahal expected the world out of Mamata. The sensitivity of the visit was enormous, considering the fact that this was perhaps the single most critically affected area of the state, where Maoists had for years lorded over everything.Economic Times reports:
In her pre-poll run-up, Mamata had promised that she would alleviate poverty as much as she possibly could from this area if she became chief minister. On assuming power, among her first decisions, was the promise that she would declare a financial package for Jangalmahal.
Mamata knew it was extremely important to be politically correct in order to bring about peace in the region. As a first step, she assured the people of Jangalmahal that nobody in the region would remain jobless. Jangalmahal has been one of the country's most active Maoist strongholds and even though central security forces have managed to beat the squads back, nobody is entirely sure that peace has returned. Therefore, Mamata held out financial lollipops to entice people in exchange of cessation of violence.
"Don't encourage unrest and don't take up firearms and guns. If you want to take up guns, do this for the government, for the people of your country and to protect Jangalmahal. Our government has decided to recruit 10,000 local youths of Jangalmahal in police forces within the coming three months. Application forms for such recruitment will be made available to you from local police stations. No one in Jangalmahal will remain jobless," the chief minister announced at the function on Tuesday.
Giving an indication to the Maoists, who have lost their support base in Jangalmahal following joint operations by the Central forces, Mamata also said that those who surrender arms and return to the mainstream of life, will be given a special financial package by her government.
Jangalmahal comprises three economically backward districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Mamata knows it well that local people and the poor tribal population in Jangalmahal don't have adequate access to pure drinking water and modern health facilities. Education infrastructure in the region is also very poor.
During her hour-long speech, Mamata also attempted to give the local people an idea about how her government is planning to dole out such basic needs to them. "We are in the government for just a month and twenty days. Nothing major was done by the previous government for Jangalmahal in their 34-year regime. We will take a little time to offer you some development packages. Our government has decided to spent Rs 112 crore for providing drinking water in Jangalmahal. We will take 30 months to work this out," the chief minister announced.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Mamata-announces-devpt-package-for-Maoist-hit-Jangalmahal/articleshow/9200595.cms
13 JUL, 2011, 07.15PM IST, TAMAL SENGUPTA,ET BUREAU
Mamata to offer bpl cards to all tribal families in jangalmahal
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that her government will provide BPL cards to all the tribal families living in Maoist-infested Jangalmahal. This will help the tribal families in this region to avail of several civic amenities at cheaper rate.
Mamata also announced that her government will purchase Kendu leaf from the poor tribals in order to pay them proper price to help them earn their livelihood. Kendu leaf is required to manufacture bidis.
The chief minister was addressing a government function at Sarenga in Bankura district on Wednesday which was the second day of her stay in Jangalmahal. Bankura is a part of Jangalmahal which comprises two other districts of West Midnapore and Purulia.
The chief minister held a meeting at Sarenga which was a Maoist den a few years back. The Maoists had killed three policemen in Sarenga in January 2009. A Trinamool Congress leader was also killed in the area a few months back. Naturally, security arrangements were beefed up in the run-up to the chief minister's function in Sarenga. The state's chief secretary Samar Ghosh and home secretary G D Gautama were also present at the function along with senior state police officials.
Mamata also announced that her government will upgrade 48 secondary schools in Bankura district to the level of higher secondary schools. She also said that a high madrasa will be set up at Simlipal in Bankura district. "A blood bank will be set up at the Khatra sub-divisional hospital in the Bankura district," the chief minister announced. She also said new colleges will be established at Baital, Joyrambati, Kotulpur and Indus in the same district.
The chief minister also urged the people of Bankura to allow her some time (at least six months) to fulfil the commitments she had made on Wednesday. "The previous Left Front government did nothing for the tribal population. The previous government has left a debt burden of Rs 2,03,000 crore and we have to calculate every moment how we will pay the salaries to our employees," Mamata said.
"I shall come back to you after six months to find out the progress of the work which I have mentioned today," the chief minister said.
"I have been told that doctors are unwilling to come to Jangalmahal. Our government will arrange accommodation for those physicians who will be deputed in Jangalmahal.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/mamata-to-offer-bpl-cards-to-all-tribal-families-in-jangalmahal/articleshow/9212466.cms
13 JUL, 2011, 02.37AM IST, BHARTI JAIN,ET BUREAU
Maoists join hands with South Asian sister outfits, resolve to fight 'Indian expansionist hegemony'
NEW DELHI: Even as the West Bengal government explores the option of brokering peace with the Leftwing extremists, the Maoists have resolved to work with their sister outfits in Nepal and other South Asian countries to fight the "Indian expansionist hegemony" and make South Asia a base for the "world proletarian revolution."
The declaration of the South Asian Maoist outfits - assembled under the umbrella of Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) - "to develop ongoing people's wars, initiate new ones, and accomplish a new democratic revolution in their respective countries" was made in a resolution adopted at their fifth international conference held in March this year, possibly somewhere in Nepal.
Congratulating the Maoist forces in India for "successful withstanding the state's counter-revolutionary offensive", the conference noted that "while the initial victories in beating back this war of the people, politically as well as militarily, give better conditions to the revolutionaries, the gravity of the challenges they face remains."
Recalling the CCOMPOSA was formed to unite the Maoist revolutionaries of South Asia - spread across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan - and fight Indian expansionist hegemony and imperialism in the region, the resolution asked them to "seize power where it is possible, develop ongoing people's wars to higher levels, prepare and initiate people's war where parties exist and build up parties where they don't."
Interestingly, the resolution was adopted even as the Trinamool Congress was warming up to the Maoist forces in the run-up to the West Bengal polls. Mamata Banerjee went on to promise the withdrawal of Central forces from Jangalmahal are and a likely truce with the Maoists in the state, in the event of her party being voted to power.
On Tuesday, Banerjee made her first visit to Jangalmahal as chief minister. She appealed to the Maoists to give up arms, while announcing an economic package for the area. The Centre, meanwhile, has decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy.
However, the security agencies here are not quite convinced about the peace moves with the Maoists getting too far. "The Maoist ideology provides for tactical political alliances, but this is only to achieve further annihilation of the State forces.... they use peacetime to regroup and rearm," a senior official of the security establishment warned, adding that Banerjee may soon realise this strategy and would be forced to turn the heat on the Maoists once again.
"The description of Indian State as a 'expansionist hegemony' in the March 2011 CCOMPOSA declaration clearly shows that Maoists are anti-national and are instigating their sister outfits in other South Asian countries into joining the war against the Indian State," the official noted.
Interestingly, the West Bengal government has shown no inclination to cut back the 5,000-strong Central forces deployed in Jangalmahal by the erstwhile Left Front government for anti-Maoist operations.
In fact, at a recent conference of DGPs of nine Naxal-hit states, the West Bengal DGP sought additional Central forces but was told by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the forces will be spared only after it has put in place the necessary infrastructure for housing them.
-
India's Maoist Menace - Bloomberg
-
www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07.../india-s-maoist-menace.html - Cached
-
29 Jul 2010 – Armed rebels hold the Red Corridor, a region the size of Portugal, in their grip. The nation's mineral wealth and 8.5 percent annual growth ...
-
Maharashtra ignoring Maoist menace: BJP - Yahoo! News
-
in.news.yahoo.com/maharashtra-ignoring-maoist-menace-bjp-1517... - Cached
-
5 Jul 2011 – Read 'Maharashtra ignoring Maoist menace: BJP' on Yahoo! News. Mumbai, July 5 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday accused the ...
-
Balangir cops ill-prepared to combat Maoist menace - The Times of ...
-
3 Jul 2011 – Even as Maoists are busy distributing leaflets and pasting posters in at least six villages near Harishankar, a week after the SOG personnel ...
-
Maoist menace: Revolution feeds on drug money - Times Of India
-
articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com › Collections › Lalgarh - Cached
-
15 Feb 2011 – The Maoists milk the drug mafia promising them "protection ...
-
Mamata balm for Red fort
*
The Hindu
Daily Pioneer - 22 hours ago
While this would create jobs and prevent adventurists from venturing intoMaoist clutches, this would also help rein in the Red menace as locals would be ...
-
India gropes for response to Maoist menace - FRANCE 24
-
www.france24.com/.../20100407-india-gropes-response-mao... - France - Cached
-
7 Apr 2010 – India gropes for response to Maoist menace. The wreckage of a military vehicle after a Maoist attack in Dantewada on April 6. ...
-
Army to fight Maoist menace? - Hindustan Times
-
www.hindustantimes.com/...to...Maoist-menace/Article1-712221.asp... - Cached
-
22 Jun 2011 – In what can be seen as an indication of the government's strategy to push for army deployment, union minister of state for home affairs ...
-
India: India's Maoist Menace | Feral Jundi
-
feraljundi.com/industry-talk/india-indias-maoist-menace/ - Cached
-
25 Aug 2010 – We do not have the forces to move into areas occupied by the rebels," Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai told India's Institute for Defence ...
-
Sumit Ganguly: Fighting the Maoist Menace in India - WSJ.com
-
online.wsj.com/.../SB100014240527023038308045751770838732... - Cached
-
11 Apr 2010 – Nanyang Technological University professor Sumit Ganguly writes in The Wall Street Journal that it will take a combination of military ...
-
Bihar fights Maoist menace with goats - India News - IBNLive
-
ibnlive.in.com/news/bihar-fights-maoist-menace.../140256-3.html - Cached
-
12 Jan 2011 – Officials say goats worth over Rs 80 lakh have been distributed to poor families.
-
Maoist Menace in India and Aamjunta « Life of an "Aamjunta"
-
aamjunta.wordpress.com/.../maoist-menace-in-india-and-aamjunta/ - Cached
-
Maoist Menace in India and Aamjunta. Posted on February 26, 2011 by aamjunta. The recent kidnap and hostage drama of the district collector of Malkangiri ...
Mamata to offer bpl cards to all tribal families in jangalmahal
Economic Times - 4 hours ago
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that her government will provide BPL cards to all the tribal families living in Maoist-infested Jangalmahal. This will help the tribal families in this region to avail of ...
Mamata includes Jangalmahal tribals in BPL list
The Hindu - 6 hours ago
After giving a call to Maoists to lay down arms, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday turned her attention to the poorest of the poor in Jangalmahal by announcing that all tribals in the three districts would be included in the below ...
Mamata declares tribals in Jungle Mahal as BPL
Indian Express - 6 hours ago
Sarenga (Bankura): After giving a call to Maoists to lay down arms, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeetoday turned her attention to the poorest of the poor in 'Jungle Mahal' by announcing that all tribals in the three districts would be ...
Mamata Banerjee asks Maoists to lay down arms
Economic Times - 20 hours ago
KOLKATA: At a pre-poll rally in Nayagram, Mamata Banerjee had promised to resolve Jangalmahal's woes once she came to power. A little over two months later, she returns to Nayagram as Chief Minister, amid high expectations, and she did her best to keep ...
Mamata to Maoists in Jangalmahal: lay down arms and sit for talks
The Hindu - 22 hours ago
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged the Maoists in the Jangalmahal region that spans parts of three districts in the southwest of the State to lay down their arms and sit for talks with the State government. ...
Lay down arms: Mamata to youth
Indian Express - 21 hours ago
In her first public meeting in Junglemahal after she took over as West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked youths of the area to lay down arms and return to the mainstream. Without mentioning the word "Maoist" even once in her ...
Mamata's Junglemahal offer is a political gimmick, say Maoist groups
Indian Express - 21 hours ago
The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) has described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sops for Junglemahal as a "political gimmick". Ashok Jibon Ghosh, spokesman of the PCAPA — a frontal unit of the Maoists — said there ...
Maoists turn down Mamata's dialogue offer
Times of India - Jul 12, 2011
KOLKATA: Turning down chief minister Mamata Banerjee's offer to lay off arms, the Maoists have questioned her sincerity. In a statement, Maoist leader Bikram said, "Her offer of dialogue is nothing but a proposal of surrender." The red brigade alleged ...
Mamata announces devpt package for Maoist-hit Jangalmahal
Economic Times - Jul 12, 2011
KOLKATA: Ten thousand jobs were on dole at Jangalmahal, special financial packages, bicycles and even the promise of considering a bridge to be built over the Subarnarekha as chief minister Mamata Banerjee decided to better Santa Claus on this hot July ...
No more bloodshed in Junglemahal, vows Mamata
NDTV.com - Jul 12, 2011
PTI, Updated: July 12, 2011 16:25 IST Nayagram: Making good her promise of a special package for three Maoist-hit districts of Junglemahal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today arrived in Nayagram bringing a slew of development projects and ...
Ahead of Mamata visit, Junglemahal seeks autonomy
Indian Express - Jul 11, 2011
Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set out for a two-day visit to Junglemahal, where she will address a series of public meetings on Tuesday, Maoists have come up with a sudden demand for "autonomy" in 19 blocks of West Midnapore, ...
Mamata Banerjee walks the talk, to visit Maoist-hit areas today
Daily News & Analysis - Santanu Banerjee - Jul 11, 2011
As state and central intelligence inputs suggest that the Maoists are regrouping and consolidating their hold in their areas of influence, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has chosen to visit the areas ...
Mamata blitz in bag of gifts
Calcutta Telegraph - Arnab Ganguly - 20 hours ago
July 12: Mamata Banerjee today launched in Jungle Mahal what looked like a "bread-bombing" policy of aggressive pursuit of development programmes and peace with an appeal to people not to be afraid of Maoists, though she did not explicitly mention them ...
Maoists' autonomy demand for 19 blocks in Junglemahal precedes Mamata visit
Indian Express - Jul 11, 2011
Ahead of Mamata Banerjee's much-awaited visit to Junglemahal after becoming the chief minister of West Bengal, the Maoists have demanded 'autonomy' for the tribal population in the 19 blocks of the three Left Wing Extremism-affected districts — West ...
Gunfire in Jhargram before Mamata visit
Hindustan Times - Jul 11, 2011
Maoists and the security forces exchanged fire in West Midnapore barely 24 hours before Mamata Banerjee's visit to the region on Monday, her first after taking over as West Bengal chief minister. The scene of the gunfight was about 3.5 km from Lalgarh, ...
Food sops for tribals in Bengal's Maoist-affected areas
TwoCircles.net - 5 hours ago
By IANS, Sarenga (West Bengal) : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday categorised all tribal families of the Maoist-affected areas as below poverty line (BPL) so that everybody gets food. Addressing a rally here in Bankura district to ...
Mamata balm for Red fort
Daily Pioneer - Saugar Sengupta - 22 hours ago
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday marked her maiden entry in bloodstained Jangalmahal and unleashed a slew of development packages to rid the region of the Maoist menace. In what is being viewed as an attempt to dispel Maoist fears from ...
Mamata to announce special package for Jangalmahal
Hindustan Times - Jul 11, 2011
PTI West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday left for a two-day visit to Maoist-hit Jangalmahal where she is scheduled to announce a special package for the people of the region and review the situation. Last Friday, the chief minister had ...
Expectations soar on eve of CM's visit to Nayagram
Times of India - Jul 11, 2011
NAYAGRAM: On May 6, Mamata Banerjee addressing an election rally in Nayagram had promised to resolve Jangalmahal's woes once she came to power. A little over two months later, she returns to Nayagram as chief minister, amid soaring expectations. ...
Mamata to stay in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal for 2 days
Economic Times - Jul 11, 2011
KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will pay a two-day visit to Maoist-infested Jangalmahal from Tuesday to announce some financial packages for the tribals in West Midnapore and Bankura. This will be her first visit to the Maoist zone after she ...
Tight security for CM
Times of India - Jul 11, 2011
MIDNAPORE: With chief minister Mamata Banerjee choosing Maoist-hotbeds of Nayagram and Jhargram as part of her whirlwind Jangalmahal trip, the district police are keeping no stone unturned to ensure her security. Adding to the district administration's ...
Mamata waves magic wand in Maoist heartland
iNewsOne - Jul 12, 2011
Nayagram/Jhargram (West Bengal), July 12 (IANS) Handing out land deeds, old age pension and scholarship cheques amid thunderous applause, Mamata Banerjee Tuesday went on a wish fulfilment spree as she toured the Maoist heartland for the first time ...
Mamata announces sops for Maoist-affected areas
TwoCircles.net - Jul 12, 2011
By IANS, Nayagram (West Bengal): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday announced a development package for Maoist-affected districts, asserting that violence will not be tolerated. on her first visit to rebel-affected districts after ...
Rebels keep crowd away from rally
Calcutta Telegraph - Pronab Mondal - 20 hours ago
Lalgarh, July 12: Villagers who had thronged Mamata Banerjee's Lalgarh rally last year kept away from the chief minister's meeting in Jhargram today after a directive by Maoists. The rebels are reportedly miffed with Mamata for not delivering on two of ...
Now, Red outfit in Jangalmahal warns Mamata
Times of India - Jul 10, 2011
KOLKATA: A day before chief minister Mamata Banerjee's Jangalmahal visit, Maoist-backed outfit People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) threatened on Sunday to launch fresh agitation if the state did not stop "arbitrary arrest" of PCPA ...
Undeclared freeze on tough law
Calcutta Telegraph - Biswajit Roy - 20 hours ago
Calcutta, July 12: Mamata Banerjee has told police officials not to make arrests under a stringent central law if Maoists eschew violence, government sources said. Mamata's decision not to use the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act came after her ...
Trinamool MP opposes police operation in Jangalmahal
Times of India - Jul 11, 2011
His comments came on the same day when Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee started for Jangalmahal in a peace mission. Suman's comments, however, contradict his party stand as days before Mamata Banerjee made it clear that her government will take strong action ...
Mamata Banerjee to visit Maoist hotbeds
Economic Times - Jul 10, 2011
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit the Maoist hotbeds of West Midnapore and Bankura next week in her first district tour after taking over the reins of the state in May. Banerjee is scheduled to visit Jhargram and Nayagram ...
Mamata will stay in Jangalmahal for 3 days
Asian Age - Jul 11, 2011
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday afternoon left for a three-day visit to Jangalmahal. It is her first visit to the Maoist-hit West Midnapore and Bankura after becoming the chief minister. Elaborate security measures have been made to ensure her ...
Didi's Junglemahal package: Rice at Rs 2 and 10k police jobs
Firstpost - Jul 12, 2011
TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee busy with her party colleague Mukul Roy during her administrative mass rally at Jhargram in West Midnapore district on Tuesday. Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Jhargram, West Bengal: West Bengal Chief ...
SC ORDER ON SALWA JUDUM
'As Much A Lesson For The Maoists As For The Government'
'Appeal to both the Maoists and the government to initiate peace talks on the basis of justice and constitutional principles, since ultimately that is the only way forward'
NANDINI SUNDAR , RAMACHANDRA GUHA , SRIRAM SRINIVASAN , E.A.S. SARMA
The petioners' statement on Supreme Court order dated 5.7.11 on Salwa Judum/SPOs by justice Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar
We warmly welcome the order by Justice Reddy and Justice Nijjar directing the State of Chhattisgarh to stop using Special Police Officers (SPOs) in counterinsurgency operations, disarm them and stop supporting vigilante movements by any name. We also welcome the order to the Centre directing it to cease from financially supporting SPOs to engage in counterinsurgency.
Judging from the personal reactions we have had – from a very wide variety of people many of whom we do not even know – the order has been widely hailed as a landmark restatement of constitutional values. If the state is to be recognised as legitimate it must act lawfully and cannot sacrifice the law and Constitution for immediate expediency. As the judges have so succinctly observed "the power of the people vested in any organ of the State, and its agents, can only be used for promotion of constitutional values and vision." However, judging by the reaction of the Home Ministry and the Chhattisgarh government, this basic constitutional principle is being willfully ignored. This simply reinforces the point that the judgement makes about the way in which the respondents are undermining the Constitution and thereby the basic human values enshrined in it. Instead of accepting the Court order for the sake of good governance and the national interest, they are talking about a review petition.
Right from 2007 when the case was first heard before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land has consistently maintained that the state cannot arm civilians. This, it is clear from the record, has been the considered opinion of not simply Justices Reddy and Nijjar, who issued the present order, but of the judges at previous hearings, such as Justice Balakrishnan, Justice Kapadia, and Justice Aftab Alam.
That the SPOs and Salwa Judum have been engaged in horrific crimes is a matter of record. The judgement therefore directs the State of Chhattisgarh to "investigate all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, or those popularly known as Koya Commandos, filing of appropriate FIRs and diligent prosecution."
At the same time, the judgement is as much a lesson for the Maoists as for the government. It makes it clear that the Maoists too cannot take the law into their own lands. For when the Constitution does swing into action, it has the power of people's aspirations behind it, and is a far more powerful and credible weapon in their hands than the gun.As the judges say, "the fight against Maoist/Naxalite violence cannot be conducted purely as a mere law and order problem to be confronted by whatever means the State can muster. The primordial problem lies deep within the socio-economic policies pursued by the State on a society that was already endemically, and horrifically, suffering from gross inequalities. Consequently, the fight against Maoists/Naxalites is no less a fight for moral, constitutional and legal authority over the minds and hearts of our people. Our constitution provides the gridlines within which the State is to act, both to assert such authority, and also to initiate, nurture and sustain such authority."
We therefore appeal to the Maoists to join all right thinking citizens in hailing this historic judgement and to desist from harming SPOs, or any other group of citizens in any way. They should be allowed to peacefully reintegrate into their villages. We also appeal to both the Maoists and the government to initiate peace talks on the basis of justice and constitutional principles, since ultimately that is the only way forward.
Nandini Sundar
Ramachandra Guha
EAS Sarma
(Petitioners in WP 250/2007)
http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277602
13 JUL, 2011, 02.51AM IST,OUR POLITICAL BUREAU
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asks Maoists to lay down arms
KOLKATA: At a pre-poll rally in Nayagram, Mamata Banerjee had promised to resolve Jangalmahal's woes once she came to power.
A little over two months later, she returns to Nayagram as Chief Minister, amid high expectations, and she did her best to keep her promise. She doled out 10,000 jobs for the people of Jangalmahal, special financial packages, bicycles for girl students and the promise of considering a bridge to be built over the Subarnarekha.
Mamata on Tuesday asked the Maoists to join the mainstream by laying down arms and promised that her government would provide them compensation and take care of their families.
"on't encourage unrest and don't take up firearms and guns. If you want to take up guns, do this for the government and to protect Jangalmahal. Our government has decided to recruit 10,000 local youth of Jangalmahal in police forces within three months. Application forms for such recruitment will be made available to you from local police stations. No one in Jangalmahal will remain jobless," the Chief Minister announced at a function at Kharikamathani in the Nayagram area of Jangalmahal .
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/West-Bengal-Chief-Minister-Mamata-Banerjee-asks-Maoists-to-lay-down-arms/articleshow/9204650.cms
Rs 1500cr wish for hills
- 'Full & final consensus' reached on all issues except financesVIVEK CHHETRI *
Darjeeling, July 12: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has asked for a special package of around Rs 1,500 crore for the new hill set-up as part of the tripartite agreement expected to be signed by the party, the state and the Centre in Darjeeling later this month.
Morcha sources said though a "full and final consensus" had been reached on the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration with the state government on July 8, the issue of finances — the quantum that the GTA would receive as well as the pattern of funding — would be finalised only after the Centre studied the draft of the agreement.
"Since Delhi would be a major source of funding for the new body, a final decision on the financial issues can only be arrived at after the Centre studies the draft agreement," a Morcha leader said. "We have asked for something between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1500 crore to be given under the special package to the GTA over a period of five years."
This package would exclude the annual budgetary allocations under central assistance, the state's matching grant, plan and non-plan funds and allocations under other central projects like the central job scheme.
However, the Morcha leader said both the state and the central governments had agreed "in principle" to development schemes like setting up of a super-speciality hospital along with a medical college and a central technical university in the region.
The leader said it had been agreed upon that the GTA would have 45 elected members and five nominated members. The proceedings of a secretariat, which would be created for the GTA, would be conducted by a speaker, much like the chairman of a municipal corporation.
The school service commission, college service commission and provident fund department, regional transport authority and tauzi department, that deals with land leased to the tea gardens, would be brought under the new body. "It (the new body) will have 59 departments," the leader added.
The GTA will also have jurisdiction over the cinchona plantation, the biggest public sector undertaking in the hills. The cinchona plantation is spread over 24,000 hectares in Mungpoo, Latpanchar, Rongpo and Munsong and employs around 5,000 workers besides providing indirect subsistence to over 40,000 hill people.
The new body will also have the power to recruit Group D, C and B employees.
The three-tier panchayat system would also be revived under the new agreement. "There will be a three–tier panchayat system but the GTA would be above the zilla parishad. It will also supervise the functioning of the zilla parishad," the leader added.
At the moment, there are no functional panchayats in the hills. A system comprising gram panchayats and panchayat samitis was in place in Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council areas, but no election has been held since 2000. Till then, polls were held only to the gram panchayats as the GNLF that ran the DGHC felt the powers of the panchayat samitis would overlap with the council's.
"We shall have a properly functioning panchayati raj in Darjeeling soon," the leader said. "Let us hope the region now prospers."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110713/jsp/frontpage/story_14233568.jsp
Is Mamata still controlling the Railways?
IBNLive.com - 15 hours ago
Mamata Banerjee has said so," said Trivedi. The first announcement of the new Railway Minister allegedly came under the direction of his political boss and predecessor at Rail Bhavan - Mamata Banerjee. There's a fear that the Rail Ministry will still ...
Families of Kalka accident victims heckle Dinesh Trivedi
NDTV.com - 12 hours ago
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked Dinesh Trivedi to go to Fatehpur, where the Kalka Mail had derailed but he was heckled by angry relatives of train accident victims. The relatives surrounded Mr Dinesh Trivedi and raised slogans against ...
Trivedi offers jobs to families of Kalka Mail victims
The Hindu - Jul 12, 2011
My leader Mamata Banerjee has also directed me that it is the first thing we have to do," Mr. Trivedi told reporters soon after taking the oath. "One member from the families of each of the deceased would be given a job... that is what railways is ...
Who is Dinesh Trivedi?
NDTV.com - Jul 12, 2011
New Delhi: Dinesh Trivedi, a trained pilot now in charge of the vast Indian railway network, is an articulate, suave and widely travelled politician who has, for long, been Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's point man in New Delhi. ...
Mamata name on lips, Trivedi hits tracks
Calcutta Telegraph - Jayanta Roy Chowdhury - 20 hours ago
New Delhi, July 12: New railway minister Dinesh Trivedi today stepped into party boss Mamata Banerjee's shoes, track safety as his first priority and her vision document as his "Bible". Sworn in as cabinet minister, Trivedi left for Fatehpur to meet ...
Trivedi announces jobs, officials say no such provision
Indian Express - 16 hours ago
Former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had also promised jobs to the families of those killed in the Jnaneswari rail accident in West Bengal that killed 148 people on May 28, 2010 and also to the kin of 60 people killed in an accident near Sainthia in ...
Trivedi, tasked with putting Railways on track
IBNLive.com - Jul 12, 2011
PTI Kolkata: A trained pilot, Dinesh Trivedi has a challenging task ahead in putting the Railways on track after his boss and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee often came under attack for alleged neglect of this key ministry hit by train accidents in the ...
Dinesh Trivedi is new Railway Minister
Economic Times - Jul 11, 2011
NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi was Tuesday named India's new railway minister, a post that had been lying vacant since Mamata Banerjee stepped down in May to take over as the West Bengal chief minister. Trivedi, who was minister of ...
Dinesh Trivedi gets on with job after taking charge as rail minister
Times of India - 20 hours ago
The minister said, "I am going straight to the site of accident, my leader (Mamata Banerjee) has directed me." Railways was without a full-time Cabinet minister after Banerjee took over as the Bengal chief minister in May, and minister of state for ...
Trivedi offers jobs to train victims' kin
Deccan Chronicle - 16 hours ago
The minister headed straight for the accident site under party chief Mamata Banerjee's "directive". Speaking to reporters, the Trinamul Congress leader stated that he is heading straight to the accident site in Fatehpur district. ...
Train safety will be top priority: Trivedi
IBNLive.com - Jul 12, 2011
It was also a criticism of your leader Mamata Banerjee. It has been a criticism of most railway ministers over 15 years that they don't see themselves as the railway ministers of India, but railway ministers of their home state. ...
Dinesh promises poriborton in Railway Ministry
Daily Pioneer - 22 hours ago
The Trinamool leader surprised political pundits by winning the Railway Ministry race from Mukul Roy, a close confidant of party chief Mamata Banerjee. Roy, who was holding the additional charge as junior Minister in the Rail Ministry after Mamata took ...
A pilot to fly Rlys out of security, financial troubles
Financial Express - Jul 12, 2011
New Delhi: Dinesh Trivedi could make it to the coveted post of Cabinet minister for the Railways partly because he was not seen as a threat to Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal politics, thanks to his Gujarati origin. But the elevation of this trained ...
Passenger safety high on new rly minister's agenda
Business Standard - Jul 12, 2011
Trivedi, seen as a close aide of his predecessor Mamata Banerjee, also said he would follow Banerjee's footsteps in the Rail Bhawan. "All that a minister has to do is follow the guidelines of the Vision 2020 document. In those guidelines, safety is ...
Will PM now do justice to railways in Cabinet rejig?
Times of India - Jul 10, 2011
Since May, the ministry has no full-time Cabinet minister after Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee shifted to West Bengal as CM. The accident exposes the cost of a "part-time" railway minister who ran the show from Kolkata. Mamata went on an overdrive of ...
The new faces in Cabinet
Hindu Business Line - Ashwini Phadnis - Jul 12, 2011
Mr Trivedi, who is considered very close to the Trinamool Chief, Ms Mamta Banerjee, first entered Parliament through the Rajya Sabha in 1990. Subsequently, he was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 and was holding charge as Minister of State, ...
No person should die in a train accident: Dinesh Trivedi
iNewsOne - Jul 12, 2011
He also defended his party leader Mamata Banerjee, who was often criticised as an 'absentee minister' for her preoccupation with West Bengal, as having done 'fantastic work' during her tenure. 'In democracy everyone is alike to express their opinion ...
Dinesh faces ire of Kalka victims' kins
indiablooms - 10 hours ago
The Minister said he was asked by her party supremo and former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to first rush to the victims. "Life cannot be compensated with money. But we promise to provide jobs to one member of the families of each of the victim," ...
BJP holds PM responsible for poor state of Railways Ministry
Hindustan Times - Jul 11, 2011
Nadda held Prime Minister, who has kept the Railways portfolio with himself since Mamata Banerjee resigned to become chief minister of West Bengal, responsible for the poor state of affairs in the ministry. "The Prime Minister is squarely responsible ...
BJP slams PM Manmohan Singh for Kalka rail derailment
Economic Times - Jul 11, 2011
The railways portfolio has been with the Prime Minister since May after Mamata Banerjee resigned as Union minister to take over as chief minister of West Bengal. Nadda castigated former railway ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Banerjee. ...
Indifferent Roy deboarded
Deccan Herald - 22 hours ago
Informed sources said Roy's disobedience to the prime minister accelerated his unceremonious departure from the railway ministry as he preferred to accompany his leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to visiting the accident site. ...
Railway Ministry is Orphaned - BJP
Daijiworld.com - Jul 11, 2011
Launching a direct attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP said that ever since Mamata Banerjee vacated the post, the Railway ministry has not been given proper attention. "The ministry is orphaned and not paid any attention, and the Prime ...
Opposition blames PM
Indian Express - Jul 11, 2011
The CPM, on the other hand, alleged that the Railways has been on a "disastrous path" under its former ministerMamata Banerjee. "It was used for the political ends of the minister in West Bengal. duty. The PM should explain how this shocking state of ...
Train Mishaps Derail Cabinet Reshuffling
Wall Street Journal (blog) - Vibhuti Agarwal - Jul 11, 2011
He has been heading the ministry himself, after the former railway minister, Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress party chief, was elected chief minister of West Bengal in May. Ms. Banerjee has often been criticized for neglecting the railway ...
Railways chugs on unsafe tracks
Deccan Herald - Anil Sinha - Jul 11, 2011
Repeated accidents tell the story of railways' failure to run on a safe truck under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. After the massive accident of Kalka Mail at Fatehpur on Howrah-Delhi track railway ministry is trying to defend the safety situation ...
Railway Minister Trivedi meets Kalka Mail accident victims
DailyIndia.com - 12 hours ago
All these projects - that was Mamata Banerjee priority also - so this is definitely going to be priority. Safety has zero tolerance (sic)," he added. At least 68 people died and around 249 persons got injured, when 15 bogies of a speeding Delhi-bound ...
India Digest: BJP Slams PM Manmohan Singh for Kalka Rail Derailment
Wall Street Journal (blog) - Jul 11, 2011
(Source: The Economic Times) CM wants Infosys' Murthy to guide IT policy: In a bid to give boost to the Information Technology sector in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has planned to convince former Infosys chief NR Narayana Murthy to become ...
Deadly rides
Calcutta Telegraph - 20 hours ago
Mamata Banerjee's last term as the railways minister highlighted the vacuum in the railway administration as she devoted all her time and energy to her political battle in West Bengal. But several of her predecessors, including Nitish Kumar and Lalu ...
Political vacuum in rail ministry: Opposition
Express Buzz - Jul 11, 2011
NEW DELHI: With no full time railway minister for the past two months and the previous incumbent Mamata Banerjee having spent a lot of her time preparing for the West Bengal assembly polls, the spate of rail accidents over the past few months is being ...
Tough job, says Salman; Trivedi to visit Fatehpur
Rediff - Jul 12, 2011
Trivedi, till now Minister of State for Health, will be taking over as Railway minister after his party chief Mamata Banerjee resigned from the post when she became West Bengal Chief Minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was holding the Railway ...
-
Mamata Banerjee
Mamata to offer bpl cards to all tribal families in jangalmahal
Economic Times - 4 hours ago
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that her government will provide BPL cards to all the tribal families living in ...
Mamata includes Jangalmahal tribals in BPL list - The Hindu
Mamata blitz in bag of gifts - Calcutta Telegraph
Mamata balm for Red fort - Daily Pioneer
*
-
Is Mamata still controlling the Railways?
IBNLive.com - 15 hours ago
Mamata Banerjee has said so," said Trivedi. The first announcement of the new Railway Minister allegedly came under the direction of his political boss and ...
Times Now
Mamata name on lips, Trivedi hits tracks - Calcutta Telegraph
Families of Kalka accident victims heckle Dinesh Trivedi - NDTV.com
*
-
Mamata Banerjee's Gorkhaland Territorial Council talks spark ...
Economic Times - 20 hours ago
SILIGURI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative to form a Gorkhaland Territorial Council (GTC), as per the wishes of the Gorkha Janamukti ...
-
Onir wants to plea Mamata Banerjee
Times of India - 1 day ago
It's been a week since Onir returned to his hometown and, now, the director is keen on meeting CM Mamata Banerjee. "I will be leaving for Durban soon . ...
West Bengal's grim finances - Hindu Business Line
Bengal to focus on ayurveda - iNewsOne
Cong will be wiped out in Bengal: Uma - Indian Express
-
West Bengal government to take stake in CIL's coal-to-liquid project
Economic Times - 18 hours ago
KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to fast track and take a ... A West Bengal government official said: "Mamata Banerjee has written a ...
-
Cabinet rank eludes defiant Mukul Roy
Times of India - 1 day ago
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy, party chiefMamata Banerjee's man on Friday who had defied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ...
Rail MoS ignores Assam train mishap - India Today
Not a blind follower, Sir - Calcutta Telegraph
Kalka Mail toll reaches 69 - Chandigarh Tribune
* -
New-age billboards must for new-look city
Times of India - 18 hours ago
KOLKATA: With chief minister Mamata Banerjee trying hard to give the city an international look, a major area of thrust has been on the removal of ugly ...
-
<B>A K Bhattacharya:</B> Why Singur is important
Business Standard - Ak Bhattacharya - 1 day ago
Singur in West Bengal is where Mamata Banerjee's battle against the Left Front gained a decisive edge. The question that many observers of Bengal politics ...
Price of Singur - Calcutta Telegraph
*
-
Spoken English exams must from Class I
Times of India - 1 day ago
The Mamata Banerjee government will, therefore, focus on honing English... Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had hinted at the move in the assembly, ...
Counsel chaos & upgrade blueprint - Calcutta Telegraph
Bengal may do away with exams till Class 8 - TwoCircles.net
* -
Politics makes Delhi-Howrah route corridor of death
Times of India - 1 day ago
The ministers — be it Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad or Mamata Banerjee — pushed railway mandarins to run new trains at higher speed catering to their ...
Keep up to date with these results:
-
Create an email alert for mamata banerjee
PRICE OF SINGUR
- The creative destruction of natural spaces for economic growthAnup Sinha *
The land problem in Singur was a turning point in the political fortunes of both the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress. The story is far from complete, and the legal twists and turns between Mamata Banerjee and the house of Tata could unfold in surprising ways. The issue of adequate compensation for farmers, who had to part with their land, is still an open question to which many well known economists of the country are trying to come up with acceptable answers. There are important related issues too, such as compulsory versusvoluntary transfers of land, the definition of what constitutes 'public purpose' to justify acquisition, and the precise role of the government, on which debate continues. The Singur case has been recognized as one which is representative of many other instances of land acquisition for economic development, and the significance of finding a 'just' price of land. The debate is certainly worth the attention it has received in the media because of its significance for determining future directions of development of both agriculture and industry. In this debate, however, a couple of issues seem to have been pushed aside by the emphasis on finding a purely economic solution to the rather thorny problem.
The first aspect of the problem is the difficulty of finding the 'equilibrium' market price of land at which voluntary transactions can take place where both the buyer and the seller benefit, and, as economists put it, all mutually advantageous trade is exhausted. Land, because of its intrinsic nature of being naturally given and fixed in quantity, attracts rent. Hence, as every economist knows, prices based on the current incomes from land are inadequate. How much of the potential rent can be extracted by the buyer and the seller is a matter of bargaining. In large transactions, such as the one in Singur, it becomes a matter of political bargaining. When economists talk of an acceptable solution, they obviously mean that there is no unique solution. A complete failure of bargaining to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution is also a distinct possibility. Therefore, a theoretical solution may or may not be feasible on the ground. Political strengths of the bargaining parties determine outcomes. The historical context becomes critically important. Even the word 'bargaining' sounds softer on paper than on the ground. The use of coercive force, where land transactions are concerned, is extremely common — it can be observed everywhere starting from the big land mafias, the ruthless promoters and their middlemen working for a fee, to the small landlord evicting an even smaller tenant.
This brings me to the second aspect of the land problem. The land problem in India relates to finding an answer to the question: how best to acquire large tracts of land for development? Here, development is almost axiomatically understood as industrialization and its supportive physical infrastructure of roads and power plants and ports. Indeed, elementary textbooks on economic development use the words modernization, industrialization and urbanization interchangeably, as they do with the words traditional, agricultural and rural. Even Karl Marx once referred to all development as the progressive urbanization of the countryside. If it is all about development, then the land problem clearly is much more than finding the just price of land or even an acceptable solution on paper. It is about the creative destruction of natural spaces and geographies for the promotion of modern economic growth.
Modern economic growth as understood by the process of industrialization is quite recent, relative to the time frame of humans in the world, or even the period where humans discovered agriculture. Modern economic growth is only about 250 years old, in all shapes and speeds, from the great transformation in Western Europe to the socialist interregnum in the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, to the story of Mao's and post-Mao China, to the variety of post colonial experiences in Asia, Africa and America.
Whatever may have been the actual stories of the advent of industry-led economic growth in different parts of the world, a common feature has been the dispossession of land and livelihoods of some people, sometimes many people, almost invariably with some connection to land and agricultural livelihoods. Indeed, as many economists have observed, the key role of agriculture has been to provide resources easily and cheaply for industrialization to proceed with minimum interruptions. Agriculture has provided land and its produce (food and raw materials) and released labour from productive activity. In return, agriculture is supposed to gain access to industrial inputs that enhance productivity like tractors and fertilizers, and other industrial consumer goods. This relation between the two sectors is not as obvious and smooth as it might appear. The mechanism of this transfer of resources has been either through the aegis of State control or through extremely imperfect markets. At the initial stages of industrialization a critical mass of resources (primitive accumulation as it is sometimes called) have to be transferred from the rural, agricultural, non-modern sector. This has invariably been a troubled process fraught with instances of violence, cruelty and injustice, and always with the tacit support of the modern State.
The historically famous enclosure movement in England, the rise of the Zaibatsu and the Meiji reforms in Japan, the dispossession of the American Indians and the large-scale violence of Stalin's collectivization programme are all stories of violence of varying degrees — where the peasantry or other indigenous people have had to bear heavy costs. The American story is particularly telling, since the continent is known to have always had abundant land compared to the number of people who inhabited it. I remember once seeing a poster on display in a shop on an American Indian reservation some years ago which claimed quite starkly: "They made many promises but kept only one; they promised to take our land, and they took it."
It was in the erstwhile Soviet Union, perhaps for the first time in history, that a conscious debate took place in the 1920s about the role of agriculture in modern industrialization. One view was to allow the farmers to enrich themselves, which in turn would create the demand for industrial goods, and the tempo of industrialization could be stepped up. The other view was to put industry in command and ensure that all resources from the agriculture sector would be made available as easily and cheaply as possible. The first view never got off the ground, and Stalin's version of the second view had disastrous long-term consequences, in terms of human costs as well as the productivity of land. Even much later, in the decades of the 1960s and the 1970s, mainstream development economists debated the complex theory of the State-led urban bias in rural planning for growth and transformation of the agricultural sector in backward economies.
The economies which came late into the race for modern economic growth, a country like India for instance, had dreams of a fast and decisive transformation, led by planned industrial growth. Industrialization was not as rapid as was envisaged and the planning strategies went awry in terms of poverty reduction and employment generation. The narratives of the dispossessed, during that phase of planned industrialization are gradually coming into the open. Agriculture did develop to some extent, but with stark inequalities and widespread economic deprivation. However, a new emerging group of landowning farmers did turn rich, and they did not want to be left out from being able to consume modern industrial goods and services. A significant component of the urge to industrialize came from this source. This was part of the second push for industrial growth after the opening up of the economy since 1991.
The push to industrialize in West Bengal came from the necessity of increasing income and employment opportunities after the growth of the agricultural sector began to stagnate in the state. After years of effectively denying the necessity of modern industry as a submission to capitalism, the Left Front woke up late to the lure of global capital, and, more importantly, lost the political bargaining game in the process of acquiring land for the big push towards industrialization. The rest is recent history.
The new government in West Bengal now has the daunting task of stepping up industrial growth to improve the state's domestic product, but with a commitment to avoid the human costs. It has admitted the need for industrialization as an instrument for increasing the welfare of the people. The ideology of modern industrialization, in this sense, is shared by both the Left Front and the new coalition in power. The story of modernization, industrialization and urbanization, however, is about growth with violence and dispossessions. It can come only at increasing costs. And without the blessings of the state, no industry can grow and survive. Any government that believes costs are likely to be negligible could be sadly mistaken.
Singur, then, is not merely a question of land and its right price; it is an issue of changing spaces and geographies of land and the people who live on it. It was not the first instance of developmental violence, nor by any stretch of imagination, is it going to be the last. The only good that may yet come out of the experience is that it might provoke some thinking beyond the text-books of the past century on what development should really be all about, and the instrumentalities of attaining that goal.The author is professor of economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110713/jsp/opinion/story_14203980.jsp
Rebels keep crowd away from rally PRONAB MONDAL Lalgarh, July 12: Villagers who had thronged Mamata Banerjee's Lalgarh rally last year kept away from the chief minister's meeting in Jhargram today after a directive by Maoists.
The rebels are reportedly miffed with Mamata for not delivering on two of her key election promises: withdrawal of central security forces from Jungle Mahal and the release of villagers arrested on charges of having Maoist links.
Over the past three days, rebel groups toured villages and told residents to stay away from today's rally.
More than 10,000 people had made it to Mamata's rally on August 9 last year at Lalgarh's Ramkrishna Higher Secondary School ground. Another 40,000 had got stuck because of the rush that clogged various approach roads.
Barely 5,000 people attended today's rally.
One of the touring rebel groups said the chief minister was a "traitor".
Maoist leader Akash said Mamata had been "unmasked". "People in Jungle Mahal have understood that the assurances will prove to be false like her pre-poll promises."
The rebels went to villages in Nayagram, Gopiballavpur and the Jhargram-Lalgarh-Belpahari area as soon as Mamata announced her Jungle Mahal visit.
"We were told that Mamata betrayed the people of Jungle Mahal and so we should not go to her meeting. They said people had voted for Trinamul with an expectation that their basic demands would be fulfilled but Mamata changed her attitude after the poll victory," Satish Mahato, a Kadamsole resident, said. Mahato had walked 5km under scorching sun last year to attend Mamata's meeting.
Madhab Soren, of Lakshmanpur, said Mamata had echoed the voice of the people in Jungle Mahal before the polls. "But she has changed her strategy. She has made it clear that central forces would not be withdrawn from our area. (But) we do not want life under the surveillance of police patrolling," Soren said.
Both Mahato and Soren skipped today's rally.
An intelligence branch officer said senior rebel leaders had come out of their hideouts in Purulia's Ayodhya hills and visited West Midnapore villages.
"Leaders like Bikash, Akash and Ranjit came to the villages 15 days ago and asked people to build a mass movement against the new government. Even Kishan, the head of the rebel outfit's guerrilla wing, made a short trip to Lalgarh," said the officer.
The rebels also distributed pamphlets, published under the banner of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), listing their demands.
"The seven seats that Mamata won in Jungle Mahal were a gift from us. People here fought a battle against the CPM. Now they have fled the area. The poor people will also fight Trinamul if they try to cause them any harm," said a Maoist leader in Belpahari.
On development projects announced by Mamata, he said: "The more she makes false promises, the more we will win mass support. It is because she will not be able to fulfil all her commitments and we will make her failure to fulfil promises an issue. We know that money will be siphoned off by corrupt local political leaders."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110713/jsp/bengal/story_14233397.jsp
Mamata blitz in bag of gifts
- CM invites Maoists to talks but sends a message tooARNAB GANGULY *
July 12: Mamata Banerjee today launched in Jungle Mahal what looked like a "bread-bombing" policy of aggressive pursuit of development programmes and peace with an appeal to people not to be afraid of Maoists, though she did not explicitly mention them.
The chief minister invited the sceptical Maoists to talks, urged them to abandon the gun and steered clear of their contentious demands. But she showered development promises on the people and crystallised a police recruitment drive in a welfare offensive aimed at weaning aggrieved sections to the mainstream and removing the reasons that drove them to the rebels.
The overall message she delivered at the Maoist-affected Nayagram and Jhargram in West Midnapore appeared to be: the government will spare no effort to hold talks but it will also not fight shy of political and administrative initiatives intended at drawing people away from the Maoists even if it means upsetting the rebels.
Mamata made over 40 announcements — most of them new and some old — focusing on health, education and job generation, reminiscent of the "bread-bombing" policy some western nations had adopted to win over hostile or aggrieved populations. The thrust of Mamata's development package appeared to be aimed at making Jungle Mahal feel that it had not been elbowed out of the resource allocation table.
But, in an oblique reference, the chief minister conceded the Maoists have "misunderstood" her, the closest she came to acknowledging that the rebels are unhappy with the delay in releasing "political" prisoners and the refusal to withdraw central forces till they lay down arms.
Mamata used the opportunity to issue a direct appeal to the Maoists to join the peace process. "My friends, who are misunderstanding me, I want to tell them to come for talks," she said.
The Maoists expressed their displeasure by telling people not to attend Mamata's rally, the turnout at which was lower than that a year ago when she became the first senior Bengal politician to visit Lalgarh.
Mamata did not mention either of the demands, suggesting that she is keeping the compulsions and responsibilities of governance in mind while dealing with the Maoists whom the current Opposition had said were in cahoots with her party once.
The chief minister did not use the word "Maoist" even once during the 45 minutes she spent addressing meetings at Nayagram and Jhargram.
One of her proposals that could rankle the Maoists as well as rights activists deals with recruitment of 10,000 youths from Jungle Mahal in the police force as national volunteers, home guards and special constables.
Some activists saw a parallel with Chhattisgarh's vigilante force that has been disbanded by the Supreme Court. But others pointed out that if Mamata implemented her plan, it would rob the rebels of a teeming source of recruitment.
'Don't be afraid'
Mamata made development the cornerstone of her speeches, at one point telling the people not to be afraid of those who stand between them and the state machinery.
"They (the officials) are here to assist you in development. If you face any problem, go to police. There is no need to be afraid of the people who tell you not to take assistance from the government," Mamata said. She did not mention the Maoists but the rebels have in the past asked the people to turn their back on all symbols of government.
She also fired a direct development question at the Maoists. "What is the use of killing poor people? Why stop them from collecting food supplies from government offices, going to work, schools and colleges? There is no difference between us. We belong to the same country," Mamata said.
"We want peace, not guns. The battle can be ideological but it has to be fought democratically. Everybody should join the development process. There is only one way for the people to live. Guns can't feed people, can't provide them with health care, education and jobs. If you have to take up arms, do it for the country. Take government jobs, work for yourself. Take the gun provided by the government."
Central forces* Mamata in Nayagram. (Anindya Shankar Ray)
The chief minister made only one reference to central forces. "Central forces are not here to disturb people. If there is peace, nobody will bother you," Mamata said, sticking to her stand articulated last week that the personnel will stay till arms are laid down.
She also promised a special economic package for the rebels who surrender their arms. "For my friends who will abandon their arms and join the mainstream, the government will offer economic package and jobs. The government will ensure that you can lead your life with dignity," Mamata said.
While asking the people to go to the police, Mamata asked the law-enforcers to behave. "I am asking the police to behave well with the people," she said.
Police raid balm
In this context, Mamata sought to address a grievance that played a decisive role in alienating the people of Lalgarh from the Left government.
The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for Chintamoni Murmu, Lakshmimoni Pratihar and Gangamoni Murmu, who were injured in police raids on November 3, 2008, a day after the Maoists had triggered an explosion targeting then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's convoy in Salboni. Others injured in the same assault will get a compensation of Rs 50,000, Mamata said.
Alleged police torture in the immediate aftermath of the Salboni blast had driven people en masse towards the Maoists. "The incident had taken place in 2008," Mamata said, probably to remind the people that the Left was in power then.
Mamata arrived at Jungle Mahal with the top brass of the state administration, including chief secretary Samar Ghosh, home secretary G.D. Gautama and director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee.
Dial and declare
En route to both the venues, Mamata did not resist the temptation to mingle with the people and play to the gallery. She stopped her convoy at a number of schools and held brief interactions with the teachers and students who were waiting by the roadside.
At Basda SC High School on way to Nayagram, Mamata went inside and had a word with the students and teachers. Asked for a hostel by the students, Mamata took out her cellphone and made a call. Once she was through, she turned to the girls and said: "Don't worry. Hoye jabe (It will be done)."
At Nayagram, the crowd asked for a bridge to Bharsaghat, prompting Mamata to go into a huddle with the chief secretary and announce that such a project would be undertaken. In an impromptu decision, she also announced an archery academy at Kharikamathani, where the Jhargram meeting was held.
Mamata will address a meeting at Sarenga in Bankura tomorrow.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110713/jsp/frontpage/story_14233552.jsp
http://www.anandabazar.in/index.html
Strict army rules on rebels: Antony SUJAN DUTTA *
AK Antony
New Delhi, July 12: Defence minister A.K. Antony today said the army had been given "standard operating procedures" as it moved its units to Chhattisgarh's Naxalite-hit areas, ostensibly for training.
"We are there not to fight or engage Naxalites. At the same time, the government has given them (the army) standard operating procedures for self-defence," Antony said, confirming the report in the July 9 edition ofThe Telegraph.
The government had approved the "Rules of Engagement" (RoE) for a brigade-minus force (less than 3,000 soldiers) that is headed for Narayanpur district in south Chhattisgarh. Army chief General V.K. Singh had asked for the RoE in January.
The army has been allotted 750sqkm for a "manoeuvre range" in Narayanpur on the edges of the Maoist stronghold in "Abujhmarh", near the Raoghat mines of the Bhilai steel plant. Two battalions from the Assam and Bihar regiments of the infantry led by a brigadier have been tasked to establish the range.
One of the key points in the RoE — or standard operating procedures — is that the soldiers can fire in self-defence if attacked by Maoists. Antony said the army was going into Chhattisgarh because it did not have enough field firing ranges. There are only 40 ranges available now, down from 104 six years ago. "The army is now having a presence in some of the areas where they were not present earlier. But it is going into these areas purely on professional grounds. They want more training grounds (as) they are short of firing ranges."
The minister was, however, not willing to part with details of the rules of engagement. In the past, he has discouraged public discussion on counter-Naxalite operations.
"These (issues like deployment of the armed forces to tackle Naxalites) are not to be discussed in public. I will not entertain any public debate ," he had said last month. But the government's position on involving the military — the Indian Air Force has already deployed helicopters to support security forces — has shifted from a blanket "no question of it" last year to a more calibrated "presence for training" this year with boots already on the ground.
This is in keeping with past practice. In the early 1970s, for example, at the peak of the insurgency in Mizoram, the army established the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in the state. This was done as much to school soldiers and officers in a live hostile environment as it was to aid deployment against the insurgents.
In Jammu and Kashmir, too, the army first sent units to establish training centres in the teeth of the insurgency before it was deployed fully to dominate the Valley in the late 1980s.
A former commandant of Mizoram's CIJWS, Brigadier (retired) B.K. Ponwar, heads the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker, south Chhattisgarh, that is supported by the army.
Corruption caution
A.K. Antony today asked global companies vying for multi-billion dollar military orders from India to stick to the straight and narrow path while negotiating contracts with the armed forces.
As India prepares to sign defence deals, big enough to change the fortunes of the global majors, Antony also promised that decisions would be based on merit and would not be guided by political considerations.
"Do not try to corrupt our people.… Quality and price are the only criteria in terms for acquisitions. All the vendors will get level playing field," the defence minister told an audience that included representatives of many of the companies at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis here.
The defence minister's words have gathered more weight since Lockheed Martin and Boeing were among the four companies eliminated from the race to supply 126 combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force for an estimated $12 billion. The Eurofighter Typhoon and the Rafale were shortlisted despite stiff lobbying by the Pentagon.
The armed forces are now in the middle of concluding mega deals to buy submarines; attack, transport and heavy-lift helicopters; heavy artillery guns and warships.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110713/jsp/frontpage/story_14233381.jsp
13 July 2011 Last updated at 17:50 GMT
Share this page
5,391
Mumbai: Explosions shake India's financial hub
Click to play
The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan says the explosions happened in the middle of rush hour
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Twenty-one people were killed and 113 injured, said Maharashtra state's Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan.
He called the explosions, during Mumbai's busy evening rush-hour, "a co-ordinated attack by terrorists".
One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district in the city centre.
Police sources were reported as saying the explosions were caused by home-made bombs.
The attacks are the deadliest in Mumbai since November 2008 when 10 gunmen launched a three-day co-ordinated raid in which 166 people were killed.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Soutik BiswasBBC News, Delhi
The three explosions in Mumbai have taken place in some of the most crowded neighbourhoods in the city.
Zaveri Bazaar is a bustling market area famous for its jewellers. It has been targeted before: during the serial blasts in the city in 1993, 17 people were killed and 57 injured when a scooter packed with explosives blew up there.
Opera House, next door, is also a bustling business district teeming with traders. And Dadar, in the heart of the city, has one of the most crowded railway stations on Mumbai's busy suburban train network.
The choice of locations makes it clear that the blasts were intended to cause maximum casualties. But early footage of one of the blast sites - a ripped-off cover of a bus shelter and a car with its glass shattered - points to a medium-level and possibly crude explosion.
So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Mumbai is under attack the way it was in November 2008. And this could easily be the handiwork of a local group.
The BBC's Soutik Biswas, in Delhi, says there is no evidence so far to suggest that Mumbai is under attack in the same way.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denounced the bombings and appealed to Mumbai residents "to remain calm and show a united face".
US President Barack Obama strongly condemned the "outrageous" attacks, and offered "support to India's efforts to bring the perpetrators of these terrible crimes to justice".
High alert
The latest explosions hit the city as workers were making their way home.
The first struck the Zaveri Bazaar at 1854 (1324 GMT), tearing through the famed jewellery market, according to police. A minute later, a second blast hit the busy business district of Opera House, in the south of the city. At 1905, the third bomb exploded in the Dadar area of central Mumbai.
Because the explosions occurred within minutes of each other, "we infer that this was a co-ordinated attack by terrorists", Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters.
Mumbai had been put on a state of high alert and a commando team was standing by, he said. Delhi, the capital, Calcutta and several other cities have also been put on alert.
Forensics teams have been sent from Delhi and Hyderabad to examine the explosion sites.
The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.
In Zaveri Bazaar, witnesses described a motorcycle exploding next to a jewellery shop. Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik said a bomb had been left in an abandoned umbrella.Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years, most notably in 2008
Photographer Rutavi Mehta told the BBC he was shopping nearby and heard the explosion. He grabbed his camera and ran to the scene.
"I took a couple of photographs. I think they might be too graphic for broadcast," he said.
"Bodies and limbs were strewn everywhere. People were crying and screaming. The area was packed with shoppers at the time of the blast. A few offered assistance to the blood-soaked victims, while others looked on in a state of shock," he said.
"It was totally chaos. There were pools of blood everywhere."
The second and most powerful blast was in the nearby Opera House district. Local media said it was planted inside the two-storey Prasad Chamber building.
In the central Dadar district, the bomb tore apart a taxi that was parked next to a bus stop, witnesses told the BBC. It was unclear whether the explosives were planted inside the vehicle or in a nearby electricity meter box.
"I heard a loud explosion. And then I saw people with serious injuries lying in pools of blood," another person told the Times of India.
An unexploded bomb was also reportedly been found in Dadar.
According to some reports, the blasts came on the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks. But court records show his birthday to be in September.
Those attacks, which targeted two high-end hotels, a busy train station, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
Pakistan was quick to condemn the latest explosions, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
Peace talks between Pakistan and India have only recently resumed since they were broken off after the 2008 attacks.
Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years.
As well as the 2008 attacks, co-ordinated blasts on seven of the city's trains on 11 July 2006 caused massive loss of life. More than 180 people were killed and hundreds wounded in those bombings, which were blamed on Islamist militants.
The city suffered four bomb attacks during 2003, including twin blasts on 25 August 2003 which killed 52 people.
In 1993, 257 people were killed and 700 injured in a series of 12 bomb blasts across the city. The attacks were allegedly ordered by the Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for Hindu-Muslim riots.
Are you in the area? Did you witness the explosion? Send your comments using the post form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
Read the terms and conditions
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14141454
Mamata balm for Red fort
Daily Pioneer - Saugar Sengupta - 22 hours ago
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday marked her maiden entry in bloodstained Jangalmahal and unleashed a slew of development packages to rid the region of the Maoist menace. In what is being viewed as an attempt to dispel Maoist fears from ...
State government ignoring Maoist menace, says BJP
Hindustan Times - Jul 5, 2011
Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse claimed that poor communication systems plagued the Bhamragad sub-district, among the worst-hit by the Maoist menace. "The situation is very serious. Perhaps, (state) home minister RR Patil is unaware of all this," ...
Balangir cops ill-prepared to combat Maoist menace
Times of India - Jul 3, 2011
BALANGIR: Even as Maoists are busy distributing leaflets and pasting posters in at least six villages near Harishankar, a week after the SOG personnel gunned down a woman rebel, questions swirl in Balangir about the readiness of the security forces to ...
Army to fight Maoist menace?
Hindustan Times - Jun 21, 2011
In what can be seen as an indication of the government's strategy to push for army deployment, union minister of state for home affairs Gurdas Kamat said on Tuesday that the security forces were on the receiving end in the battle against Maoists. ...
Forces come together to tackle Maoists
IBNLive.com - Jul 12, 2011
BHUBANESWAR: Expressing concern over the increasing Maoist attacks in the State, the Orissa Government on Monday announced that it is chalking out strategies to counter the menace. Maoists have killed at least 22 persons since February. ...
Chhattisgarh vs Maoists: What's in store?
Daily Bhaskar - 16 hours ago
Never before has the police force appeared so united against the menace of Maoists. This comes after Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, in wake of the Maoist attacks in the recent past, lashed out at senior police officials for not tackling the ...
SC judgement on Salwa Judum a setback to national security: BJP
Times of India - Jul 6, 2011
The Chhattisgarh government has been using Salwa Judum, formed by local tribal youths, to counter the Maoist menace "While BJP is studying the Supreme Court judgement on naxalism, it is a setback to national security," said BJP spokesman Shahnawaz ...
War against Maoists must not slow down Express Buzz
Maoists, militants are big threats to national security: BJP DailyIndia.com
Salwa Judum order upsets tribals Daily Pioneer
all 203 news articles »Email this story
Plans to develop Maoist-affected areas hang in balance?
Times of India - Jul 10, 2011
The state government left no stone upturned to check the Maoist menace in this region. Apart from making huge investment on security arrangements and also on development works, the government also showed interest in keeping people dwelling in the ...
Andhra Pradesh: Wilful Blindness
Washington Bangla Radio - Jul 11, 2011
By the time the state realizes the Maoist menace, it may be too late for the state to handle them with a bifurcated police force contributing to a weaker response to the problem. The CPI (Maoist) will also use political boundaries of state and ...
Maoists freeze development efforts, step up violence spiral in Chhattisgarh
Newstrack India - Jul 11, 2011
... is under complete control of Maoists. There is no security force presence there," said Kumar. Aiming to formulate ways to resolve the issue, several analysts and security experts have suggested a two-way strategy to combat themenace, by promoting ...
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
No comments:
Post a Comment