Welcome Nadine Gordimer!We also Need a BARRACK OBAMA to End Manusmriti Apartheid Raj in India! SC OBC Leaders proved Themselves Creamy Layer Enough to

Welcome Nadine Gordimer!We also Need a BARRACK OBAMA to End Manusmriti Apartheid Raj in India! SC OBC Leaders proved Themselves Creamy Layer Enough to Betray Our People. Only Aboriginal Negroid Leadership May Bring SPRING in Indian SUMMER! While MAOIST Threat Endangers BASELOST Marxists as Never Before. Audie For Money Machine But No One Know Where to drive On! Auto Industry Recession Justifies NANO Relocation!


Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 104
Palash Biswas
India's Maoist Revolution - India

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=1O2WwESwJhw

40 Years of Naxalbari Uprising - Maoist Naxalite India
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=0DwQlgTnryw



AUDI cars are being imported by Indian Resurgent Moneymakers. The Cra may run with three hundred KM speed and costs about Rs Two Corore per piece. Indi has no road to drive the AUDI CAR! it is only a matter of Status symbol.

The Nuclear nationalism is the same commodity which has no use for either Moneymakers or the starving masses!

Mari Marcel Thekaekara writes on `India has reneged on all its promises to adivasis’ in Murung Express’:

At 84 million, India has the largest number of indigenous people. Why are the adivasis still so marginalized? Why are they displaced from their lands and forests, and reduced to migrant labour?

Did you know that India boasts the largest indigenous population in the world? This is not a common quiz question so it’s a fact hardly anyone knows. But our 8% adivasi population works out to 84.15 million people, according to the 2001 census.


At 84 million, India has the largest number of indigenous people. Why are the adivasis still so marginalized? Why are they displaced from their lands and forests, and reduced to migrant labour?

Did you know that India boasts the largest indigenous population in the world? This is not a common quiz question so it’s a fact hardly anyone knows. But our 8% adivasi population works out to 84.15 million people, according to the 2001 census.

Another fact that we don’t go around broadcasting is that our adivasi areas are at the bottom of every poverty index in the country. Adivasis remain amongst our poorest, most deprived people because the billions that are sanctioned for their welfare continue to be siphoned off by corrupt politicians or bureaucrats. Anthropologists and activists have often been accused of romanticising tribals -- their way of life, their “symbiotic relationship” with nature, their sense of community, their world vision.

Like indigenous people all over the world, adivasis share a unique worldview. They are largely an egalitarian people who for thousands of years have kept intact their culture of sharing, community living, generosity of spirit, veneration for the earth and all it provides. This attitude to life rendered them particularly vulnerable to marauding invaders who exploited their collective trusting, generous spirit. It’s difficult to define an adivasi. Or to highlight the injustices meted out to them as a people. Unlike dalits, injustices against adivasis are less easy to pinpoint as they constitute a diverse group with hundreds of different clans, tribes, languages and customs scattered all over the country.

Bureaucrats and officials often maintain that no amount of aid can ever lift adivasis out of their abject poverty. “It is their own fault that they are so indebted and poor,” government officials complain. Meanwhile, the local non-tribal population views them as lazy and good-for-nothing. At a meeting in Germany, my husband Stan had just delivered a talk on adivasi values and way of life, and how much we all have to learn from them. A German member of the audience stood up and said: “You are speaking nonsense. I have been a missionary in adivasi areas and they know nothing other than to eat, hunt, and procreate.” A tea planter in the Nilgiris once asked us: “Is it true that these adivasis have sub-normal intelligence?” And a former chief secretary was convinced that a group of adivasis who met her to present a memorandum were not adivasis because “they wore blue jeans and sneakers,” and when she visited their village she found they were eating rice and sambar “just like us”, not tubers and dried meat. The media mostly portrays adivasis as exotic creatures dancing with feathers in their hair, or wearing colourful, ethnic clothes. Indira Gandhi danced with them in adivasi villages. The cameras loved the footage. But no one ever took them seriously.

India’s adivasis are on the verge of being wiped out. Not physically, but their way of life and their culture which is thousands of years old and has fascinated anthropologists for over a hundred years. But anthropologists tend to focus more on their socio-cultural norms and practices which appear so exotic, different and alien from the dominant culture and therefore so interesting. Very little has been written about the adivasi economy, the general attitude being that they are so poor what can they possibly contribute to economic thinking?

In this period of economic meltdown on the one hand, and the reality of climate change on the other, we must look to lesser-known economies like those of the adivasis for sustainable solutions. Now more than ever before in history we need to study this way of life, as it is the nomads and hunter-gatherers who held the key to a sustainable lifestyle.

In the northeast, the Nagas are divided into Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Further administrative sub-divisions within states, into districts, talukas and panchayats have been organised in such a way that tribal concentrations are broken up, marginalising them further both physically and politically. India, the new nation-state that proudly proclaimed its hard-won freedom from the colonial raj, promptly embarked on a process of colonising its own adivasi population. Adivasis have been driven out, marginalised and deprived of dignity in the process of ‘national development’.

The supposed development of adivasi areas brought in waves of aggressive, exploitative non-tribal immigrants in search of opportunities and employment. They usurped jobs ostensibly meant for adivasis. They impoverished the local tribal population, introduced hard liquor, sexually exploited adivasi women, and cheated the naïve, non-materialistic adivasis. In the rich mineral belt of Jharkhand, the adivasi population has dropped from around 60% in 1911 to 27.67% in 1991. Large numbers of adivasis have been forced to eke out a living in cities and urban centres. According to a rough estimate, there are over 40,000 tribal domestic working women in Delhi alone! In some places, development-induced migration of adivasis to other adivasi areas has led to fierce conflicts, as between the Santhali and the Bodo in Assam.

India’s total forest cover is reportedly 765.21 thousand sq km. Of this, 71% is in adivasi areas. The logical conclusion would be that only adivasis have succeeded in preserving forests. Of this, 416.52 and 223.30 thousand sq km are categorised as ‘reserved’ and ‘protected’ forests respectively. About 23% of these have been declared wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, a move that alone has displaced around half-a-million adivasis. By the process of colonisation of forests, that began formally with the Forest Act of 1864 and finally the Indian Forest Act of 1927, the rights of adivasis were reduced to mere privileges conferred by the State.

Adivasis won certain concessions because of their persistent battles against the British. The Forest Policy of 1952, the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 cut back more and more privileges in the post-colonial period. Traditional forest rights were slowly forbidden or usurped. From the Forest Bill of 1980 to 2005, we have come a long way.

The 2005 Forest Bill, together with the Common Minimum Programme of the Congress Party, promises new hope for adivasis, though this is still only on paper. At the very least it forms the basis for adivasis to fight for their rights, with declared policy on their side. But in order for adivasi communities to come into their own, in order for the spirit of the law to succeed, we need a taskforce comprising experts on adivasi culture and traditions. People who believe in adivasis, work in adivasi areas and can ensure that adivasis are involved in their own governance and can take control of their own destinies. They should be people who respect and truly appreciate the depth, wisdom and superior values of adivasi culture.

This may be dismissed as romantic nonsense by a lot of people. But for those who know the real adivasi world -- more so as we watch India’s descent into crass commercialism where progress is defined by vulgar materialism and values, and culture is sacrificed on the high altar of economic growth regardless of the consequences to the earth or its people -- hope lies in a return to community, to a reverence for the earth and to old sustainable ways.
http://www.morungexpress.com/morung_express_review/7384.html


Poems by Pashupati Mahato, the anthropologist

shombuk aajo

ramchandra uakey sidhailo tumi ke hey?
uttar ailo, hami shombhuk, jatitey shudro.
ramchandra sidhailo, tumi ki koirchho?
uttar ailo, hami baed path korchhi.

proja botshol ram, gota desher raja
ragey gur-gurayn, tolwar tainey
ghochang korey dilo shombhuker gola kaitey
shurdrer baed path cholbek nain.

manusanghitar ain, ramchandra rokhok,
ain omainnyo korlaey rashtrodrohi
shasti to patei hobek.
mrityudondo mrityudondo mrityudondo.
shombhuker gola kathchhey ainer rokhokra,
rashter biruddhey judhyo ghoshona,
eeta shoibhek nain,
hamra gonotontrer raja, shoibo nain.
shombuk-ke khujte ramayan ghantley pabi
ekhon jey ramayan choilchhey
otha domey samajsebider dolkhani,
shombhukra ekhon jailey, Bina bicharey.
bichhinotabadi, prithokotabadi,
rashtrodrohi shombhuk,
e’der gharey kota matha!!
shombhukra moirlo 14 march 2007 ey
nandigramey, nandigram tomakey selam.

Shambuk today too

Lord Rama asked him: Who are you?
He replied: I am Shambuk, Shudra by caste.
Lord Rama asked: What are you doing?
He replied: I am reciting the Vedas.

Rama, the ruler of the masses, is the king of the nation
Trembling with rage, drawing his sword,
Decapitated Shambuk with a single stroke.
A Shudra must never recite the Vedas.

The Law of Manusamhita, Lord Rama is its protector
Violation of the law is anti-national.
He must be punished!
Capital Punishment! Capital Punishment! Capital Punishment!
The protectors of the law are decapitating Shambuks
Declaration of war against the state?
This cannot be tolerated,
We are the kings of democracy, we won’t tolerate it.
To find Shambuk search through the Ramayana,
But the Ramayana of today -
Is brimming with the arrogance of social liberators,
Shambuks are in gaol, without trial.
Separatist, secessionist
Treacherous Shambuks,
Who, pray, are these fellows?
Shambuks were killed on 14 March 2007
In Nandigram, Nandigram we salute you!

(Translator's note: Shambuk is a Shudra character in the Ramayana. In the epic, after Rama has assumed the throne of Ayodhya following his return from exile, a Brahmin accuses him of causing the death of his son by his toleration of the Shudra, Shambuk, who has violated the caste hierarchy by engaging in extreme penances. In order to redress the situation, Rama searches for, finds and kills Shambuk. And the Brahmin boy comes back to life.)

Toutor

gota puruliay toutor toutor
domey liyai ke bodo toutor, babur?

court kachariye toutor,
jomi registri-ye toutor
thanay toutor, party office-ey toutor,
panchayat-ey toutor.
uara anchla paitey ghurchhey,
somajsebi-ke bishisto samajsebi boley
shwor ta chaikhey dhekrichhey
bolchhey hami puruliar toutor

chho nachey programme patey,
bidesh jaitey toutor dhor
suratey lebar legbi taw
mota taka niye toutor dhor.

hashpataley bhorti kortey
toutor dhor -
oxygen cylinder patey
toutor dhor
na holey anjona mahato’r
lekhen morbi.
chaila bhorti korbi schooley, toutor dhor,
B.Ed-ey bhorti hobi toutor dhor -
gota puruliyai toutorer desh.
toutor dhorei to legechhilo
koilkata patal railey
ghurli jokhon, tokhon TB,
ley ibar toutor dhor.

Touts

The whole of Purulia is full of touts!
A great competition over who’s the greatest tout of the babus!

Touts in the courts
Touts in the land registration offices
Touts in the police stations, touts in the party offices
Touts in the village government.
They go around with their collection cloth held out
The social liberators are termed as “distinguished social liberators”
Burping after swallowing the cream,
They declare, “We are the touts of Purulia!”

Want to get a chance to go abroad for the Chho dance programme?
Catch the touts.
Want to be a labour supplier to Surat?
Catch touts, with a big pile of money.

Want to get hospital admission?
Catch touts.
Need an oxygen cylinder?
Catch touts.
Or else, you will die, like Anjana Mahato.
Want to admit your child to school? Catch the touts.
Want to be admitted to the Bachelor of Education course? Catch the touts.
The whole of Purulia is tout country .
‘Twas through touts that I got to work
In Calcutta’s metro rail.
When I returned, I had tuberculosis.
There, now to go and catch the touts!

[Translator's note: In colloquial parlance, "tout" refers to fixers or middlemen, an entity with which Bengal society, and especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), is brimming. Anjana Mahato is the poet's mother.]
Posted by Nila-kantha-chandra at 5:01 PM
http://cuckooscall.blogspot.com/2007/08/voices-from-soil.html

Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories
By Nadine Gordimer
Bloomsbury £8.99; 192 pages
FT bookshop price: £7.19

The best stories in Nadine Gordimer’s 11th collection share the nuances of loss and dislocation that come from peering back into the “foreign country” of the past: a widow delicately probes her late husband’s male lover, a young woman unravels the truth of who her father might be, a German wife adjusts to the bewildering hinterland of her African husband’s heritage.

“Alternative Endings” – a trio of differently weighted affairs and their impacts – makes a strong finish but, surprisingly for a Nobel Laureate with an impressive and vital backlist, several of these tales sacrifice storytelling and mood to a congested cleverness of style. Convoluted phrasing often trips the reader, while a refusal to cap questions with question marks is wearisome.

Half these stories are good but intriguing themes of belonging and alienation are padded out with exercises that dissipate this slim volume’s energy.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/471d10b8-a161-11dd-82fd-000077b07658.html


Welcome!

Welcome Nadine Gordimer!

We have not the Courage enough to Identify oursleves with Ngroid Roots long lost in manusmriti as well as Apartheid. Like Pet Animals we have been so habitual with Bondage and enslavement to bear inherent inequality and injustice and live an Inhuman or Subhuman life happily. No way we are ready to risk our Adjusted status of Slavery for the Ultimate victory of Indigenous, Aboriginal, Minority castes and communities, Outcastes and Underclasses! In this Majoritarian Parliamentary Polity, we Chant the name of Dr Ambedkar or Nelson Mandela, Now we have another Icon BARRACK OBAMA, to live in peace under brahaminical Hegemony. Our Enlightened, Empowered and organised friends fed with quota and Reservation thanks to the Indian constitution made by dr Ambedkar, live in affluence and indulged in Dalitology in the same way as our Marxist friends do chant the hymns of Ideology so Sacred without any Commitment. We invest most of our time to please the people in power for our employment, position, promotion, placement and minor benefits and never think in terms of Return to our people. The SC and OBC representatives and educated lot have proved themselves the most disgusted Cremy Layer living a lease of prosperous life indebted to the Brahaminical Hegemony.

The History witnessed the Insurrections led by Negroid people in India and Worldwide! Africa and Americas proved that we must accept the Truth that we have to be united under Negroid Leadership if we want Liberation and Empowerment and Equality and Justice at all.

Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel Laureate and one of the first people Nelson Mandela wanted to meet after he emerged from prison, will arrive in the city on November 10 to deliver a lecture.Gordimer, a strong voice against apartheid, has titled her talk “The Inward Testimony”, which she will deliver at Town Hall, at 6pm.She is visiting the country on an invitation from the public diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs.She arrives in Mumbai on November 7 and will be in Calcutta till November 13, when she leaves for New Delhi.

We wlecome her arrival so that we may feel the pangs of life our Negroid Brothers and Sisters live gloriously. Thus, we may not be Ashamed of our roots and we must recognise our Demonised ancestors and feel their Dreams lost!

I have known Dr Pashupati Mahato,the well known anthropologist since my Dhanbad days in 1980. He has written a string of Books on aboriginal negroid Identity and nationalities. He has traced the history of Indiginous Insurrections and investigated deep into the changing demography of Bengal. We have discussed the issue widely and we do discuss it occassionally wherever we meet!

Pasupati-da is a distinguished anthropologist and social and cultural activist.His recently published book of poems are (in Bengali) Manbhum Ma Hamar (Manbhum, My Mother: A Collection of Adivasi Bengali Poetry). The book has been published by Shobar Ganyer Khobor (Calcutta, 2007).

Our dear friend and guide comrade AK Roy believed it! The marxist Minister from tripura and eminent poet anil sarkar believes it as well.

I have talked to friends associated with PVCR and Nafre India and other leading Mass Movement related NGOs and organisations.

I have witnessed the activities of Dalit panchayats and Bhoo Shakti kendra in Tumkur, Karnataka. I was amazed to see the empowerment of women there. I talked to Jyothi and Raj!

The friends from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra and Tamilnadu including Jyothi and Raj agree that it is hightime that the nationwide Indigenous Moolnivasi movement should be launched immediately.

Friends all over Himalay region, North east, Jharkhand, Gujrat, Rajsthan, Maharashtra, Orissa and Bihar do agree on thsi point.

Over 10 million adivasis have been displaced to make way for development projects such as dams, mining, industries, roads, protected areas, etc. Though most of the dams (over 3,000) are located in adivasi areas, only 19.9% (1980-81) of adivasi landholdings are irrigated, compared to 45.9% of holdings of the general population. India produces as many as 52 principal minerals. Of these, 45 major minerals (coal, iron ore, magnetite, manganese, bauxite, graphite, limestone, dolomite, uranium, etc) are found in adivasi areas, contributing around 56% of the national total mineral earnings in terms of value. Of the 4,175 working mines reported by the Indian Bureau of Mines in 1991-92, approximately 3,500 can be assumed to be in adivasi areas. Income to the government from forests rose from Rs 5.6 million in 1869-70 to more than Rs 13 billion in the 1970s. The bulk of the nation’s productive wealth lies in the adivasi territories. This was the reason adivasis were not allowed to form their own states. Instead, their land was parcelled out to the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Promises made to adivasis before Independence were broken by dominant community politicians. Most Indian states were formed primarily on the basis of language groups. But for the adivasis all principles were ignored. Adivasi territories were divided and distributed, ignoring the validity of applying the same principle of language in the formation of states. Jharkhand was divided between Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. After several decades of struggle, the Bihar part of Jharkhand is now a separate state. The Gond region has been divided amongst Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, the Bhil region has been divided between Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Both factions of BAMCEF do work with an Ideology of MOOLnivasi Concept.

Despite all this, I am sorry that OBC or SC leaders behave like the Brahmins and deny the Mandatory SPACE for Tribal leadership!

More over, I have always been writing and saying if we happen to be so committed and involved for the cause of Indigenous majority Liberation and End of Manusmriti and apartheid, why should we remain so isolated! If the NGOs are not working for Fund raising projects only, why there we find the Links missing in between! We all are Activists Isolated like distance Islands!

We never know how Black Barrack Obama would prove himself as the President of not only United States of america but also the Leader of the existing galaxy order! How would he overcome the White Zionist Hegemony of Americanism. But he is historically poised as a BLACK Personality who made it! He dated with History. And the Negroids worldwide, the Black Untouchables of this galaxy may chant, WE CAN! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! NO WHERE!

This Planet, this Galaxy belonged to us!

This Planet, this Galaxy has to belong to us.

Aprt from the debate on the outcome of the Future, we may say that Barrack OBAMA made Martin Luther King`s dream TRUE!

History teaches children that the greatest civilisations on earth were those of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Pyramids and temples are extolled as marvels of architecture. In India, we are proud of Mohenjodaro and Harappa. We can boast about Susrutha performing surgery while most people still ran around in skins! But what we don’t spell out is the fact that all these wealthy, progressive civilisations were based on slavery and exploitation of human labour. The greater glory of civilisation somehow exonerates the darker underbelly of these societies. Indigenous people were the only ones in history who believed in complete equality. Their societies did not hoard. Wealth was distributed equitably. The spoils of the hunt were shared with those who stayed at home. People worked together rather than in competition. It was a society without greed.

I am an Ideological Marxist. Who believes in Ideology! In History! In People! I am not a Political Marxist.Thus,despite supporting Nandigram and Singur Insurrections I refrained from joining Brahaminical ressistance led by TMC and MS Mamata Bannerjee! Rather, I feel that we could not lead from the front and the leadership is Hijacked by Brahmins and Brahaminical Elite Civil Society, part and parcel of Mraket Forces!

Thus, I do not feel happy while I find the ruling marxists in Bengal including its dearest BRAND Buddha is endangered most today. They have lost faith. They have lost Ideology. They have lost strategy. They have lost Vision! They have lost the Base. They have lost Mass Support and Roots! But they cling to Powere like Paracites most hated and run blindly on the HIGHWAY of LPG and capitalist development.

Where I live, a suburban, SODEPUR is sieged with a string of Shopping Malls and retail Chain. Reliance Fresh. MORE. Vishal. Shriniketan. Readymade Centre. Khadim Khajana. SPENCER, Big Brother are waited.

What a pity. This is the dramatic climax of much hyped Land Reforms! rural development! Panchayati Raj!

Is this the same bengal which led the Subcontinent in the Freedom struggle?

Is this the BENGAL where the Arayans could not visit until Middle age! Where Buddhism and Love Philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Baul Life style, Bhatiyali and the Spring Flowers of naxal bari bloomed!

It is quite a pit that he CPI (Maoist) confirmed that the Helpless LPG Icon Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the target of Sunday’s blast in West Midnapore and threatened “countless explosions” in the future.The statement came on a day villagers in Lalgarh, close to the blast site, dug up roads to stop police raids to catch Maoists.

What a pity that about 200 students of primary teachers’ training institutes blocked school education minister Partha De’s car in Bishnupur and hurled stones at it protesting the state’s inaction in legalising the centres.

It happened never before in Marxist raj. Even the Regimented Gestapo failed to defend its minister! Could we imagine it before? for this did Utpal dutta led the KALLOL movement and DR Ashok Mitra joined as the Minioster of Finance in Jyoti basu Ministery!

Not only the Maoists, North Eats Extremists and the Jehadies also get sympathisers in West Bengal nowadays!

Why?

Would our Marxist Friends spend some time for SELF CRITICISM!

Why the Left Leaders and even the Ministers should behave like gangstres, Promoters, Builders, Agents of MNCs and corporates and as Mafia DONs!

Recession on Auto Industry justifies my writeups on systematic Relocation of NANO to save TATA MOTORS` International Credit! The Marxists have not declared open the deal Details and rope in much more Foreign Investment on this RED soil. The fascism is RED in Bengal as well as the CORPORATE IMMPERIALISM!

A brief understanding of history is necessary here. Adivasis were culturally distinct from dominant, mainstream populations. They protected their identity fiercely, with taboos on marriage with outsiders. In pre-colonial history, adivasis enjoyed self-rule and fought anyone who threatened their freedom. Local rulers respected this, and the adivasis were seen as an independent, distinct people. They were part of the unknown frontier even after the British subjugated the smaller states, one by one. The areas they dominated were perceived as unknown territory, dangerous even. The adivasis fought the British tenaciously, though their role in India’s independence remains largely unrecognised.

Life changed drastically for adivasi communities with the British Permanent Land Settlement in 1793 and the establishment of the ‘zamindari’ system that conferred control over vast territories, including adivasi homelands, on designated feudal lords for the purpose of collecting revenue. Relationships with the surrounding dominant communities and the rulers changed forever.

But even the British Crown’s dominions in India were forced to accede independence to adivasis politically. The agency (tribal) areas, where the agent governed in the name of the Crown, left the local self-governing institutions untouched. It also recognised tribal supremacy in the excluded areas (northeast) where representatives of the Crown were figureheads and tribal chieftains ruled their people.

The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 proclaimed the supremacy of the sovereign. It introduced the concept of total colonisation of any territory in the name of ‘public interest’, a precedent followed even today, forcing on local populations an outside definition of the notion of ‘common good’. This is particularly evident in adivasi regions. The colonial concept of rex nullius (that which has not been conferred by the sovereign belongs to the sovereign) and terra nullius (land that belongs to no one) bulldozed traditional political and social entities, spelling the death knell for traditional forms of self-governance.



The attack on November 2 was aimed at the chief minister’s convoy, the statement issued by Kanchan, secretary of the outfit’s Bengal chapter, said. Even if the police strengthened his Z-plus security four times over, he would still not be safe, it said. “Countless explosions would take place in the near future.”

“If the CPM and the police continue attacking us, we will take revenge. We will not let Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose sleep and the state government’s armoury will not be enough to protect them,” the letter said.

The outfit claimed that the explosion proved local people supported the Maoists’ attack and described the operation as “a symbol of people’s resistance”.

Bhattacharjee (picture above) escaped as his convoy crossed the spot 15 minutes before the blast. The lead pilot car in Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s convoy suffered the brunt of the explosion.

The CPI (Maoist) also criticised the government’s decision to suspend relatively junior police personnel.

Nearly 4,000 tribals from about a dozen villages dug up the roads connecting West Midnapore and Bankura today.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, West Midnapore superintendent of police, said: “The villagers are digging up the roads in Lalgarh to prevent the raids. We are looking for people hiding in the villages and assisting the Maoists. But we will continue the raids.”

The villagers also gheraoed the police station in Lalgarh town and cut power supply to the area protesting the arrest of three school-going teenagers. The three got bail today, but three others arrested yesterday were remanded in police custody for a week.

A team from Calcutta’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory visited the blast site lastday.


De, an MLA from Bankura district, about 180km from Calcutta, sat grim-faced in his Ambassador as the agitators shouted slogans, thumping the bonnet and showing him slippers. Some lay in front of the car while the outnumbered policemen in the pilot car stood and watched.

De was in Bishnupur for a conference of the Bengal Library Association when he was gheraoed around 3.30pm. The attackers fled after 10 minutes when CPM workers came running out of the venue and escorted the car to the conference.

De suffered an injury to his right foot when a shard of glass from the cracked wind screen fell on him.

Shakti Ranjan Basu, Bankura primary school council chairman and working president of the reception committee at the conference, said the police had been warned that the minister may be heckled. “It is a security lapse,” he said,

But a police official said: “The inspector-in-charge of Bishnupur police station was present. Policemen were deployed but the protesters could not be identified as they were not carrying flags.”

In September, Calcutta High Court declared the 130-odd primary teachers’ training institutes illegal. The Centre promised to find a way out after De met HRD minister Arjun Singh last month.

De today said he was “pained to see how future primary teachers behaved”. “Demands can’t realised by strong-arm tactics like throwing stones and waving shoes at a minister. We are trying to solve the problem. I have asked the police to take appropriate steps against the troublemakers.”


The 85-year-old writer of stories and novels, whose books were banned several times by the white South African government, will be given the honour of “state guest” in West Bengal, said Amit Dasgupta, the joint secretary of the public diplomacy division.

Gordimer’s lecture is part of the Nobel Laureate Lecture series organised by the division. Last year, American mathematician John Nash, on whose life the film A Beautiful Mind was made, had been invited for the lecture.

But last year, Calcutta was given the miss, as Nash only visited New Delhi and Mumbai. This year, the ministry is making up for it and more, for Gordimer’s talk is reserved for the city, while in the other two, she will be reading from her books.

The writer, who won the Booker for her novel The Conservationist, wrote powerfully and movingly about the lives of ordinary people, many of them black, in the violence-ridden apartheid era, earning the wrath of the authorities repeatedly.

Her latest book of stories is Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (2007).

She has outlived that cause. But an activist forever, in a post-apartheid world, she works on AIDS and HIV prevention, a severe problem in South Africa.

“Gordimer will interact with Calcuttans, including writers,” added Dasgupta. She will attend a dinner at Raj Bhavan.

Dasgupta is also planning to take her to Victoria Memorial and St Paul’s Cathedral and city bookstores. But he complained that his early inquiries have revealed that not many city bookstores have any of her books.

In a swoop operation, officers of the Military Intelligence of the Eastern Command, along with the Special Task Force of the city police, detained seven Manipuri youths, suspected to be members of the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak-Shanti) late this evening.

One of the youths, T. Kantha Singh, is a self-styled lieutenant while others are top-rung members of the outfit, which had claimed responsibility for the October 19 grenade explosion in front of the Manipur chief minister’s bungalow and damaging a vehicle in Imphal.

Singh is also the founder member of an outfit — United People Liberation of Kangleipak, an offshoot of Prepak.

“We have detained them for interrogation. If Manipur police inform us about their criminal antecedents, then we would arrest and produce them in court. As of now, there are no city links,” said Jawed Shamim, the city detective chief.

Earlier in 2007, two Manipuri students were arrested from Calcutta as they were wanted in Manipur for being members of Prepak.

Insiders claimed Singh, in his early thirties, had turned up with one of his close assistants, Abiyoma Singh, at an auction house on Lenin Sarani here — next to Jyoti Cinema — after they learnt about an auction of old cars belonging to the Border Roads Organisation. “The idea was to extort money from people from the Northeast who were planning to buy the vehicles. Singh’s reason for staying in Calcutta was to oversee any Northeast-related auction in the city and then extort money,” said a senior intelligence official. “This money would have been pumped back to their outfit in Manipur.”

Apart from the duo, there were four others, including Chittaranjan Singh, a senior PLA member, overseeing financial activities of the outfit. He had put up in Manipur Bhawan and turned up to collect money from those winning a bid to buy the vehicles. Representatives from Assam, Nagaland and even Arunachal Pradesh were also present at the bidding venue, insiders in Military Intelligence said.

Kantha Singh, sources claimed, had put up in a house in Madhyamgram with Abiyoma for the past month while the rest had turned up barely a week back and put up in lodges around the Chowringhee area.

Around 5.30 this evening, the joint team turned up in plainclothes and rounded up the seven even before those present at the auction venue could realise what was going on. Late tonight, they were brought for interrogation.

“The photographs have already been sent to the Manipur police. A team from Manipur is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and subsequently, once they produce the charges against the seven, the youths will be arrested,” said a senior STF official.

Police arrest four Maoists in Orissa

The Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel of Orissa on Friday nabbed four Maoists, including three women, from Malkangiri district for their alleged involvement in several criminal cases.

The four Maoists were arrested during a raid on a Maoists training camp in Jakalkunda forest area, about 700 kilometers from Bhubaneshwar.

The arrested Maoists have been identified as Kumari alias Kona Pangi Sonai of Nallakonda Dalam, Aruna alias Damayanti of Korukonda Dalam, Padma of Chintur Dalam in Andhra Pradesh and Krishna alias J.Durga Rao.

Police said that the arrested Maoists were involved in several attacks in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

All the four were involved in the recent ambush on Andhra Pradesh police party in Chitrakonda reservoir which resulted in killing of 37 Andhra greyhounds. They were also wanted in at least 10 cases in Orissa and about 40-50 cases in Andhra Pradesh. They were also involved in landmine blast in a security vehicle and attacks in R. Udayagiri and Deogarh guesthouse in Orissa. Maoists literature, landmines, about 10,000 rupees cash, CDs, mobile phones and maps have been recovered from the spot, said Satish Kumar Gajbhiya, Superintendent of Police, Malkangiri.

Maoist rebels attacked a boat ferrying 63 policemen of the ”Grey Hound” force of Andhra Pradesh police in Malkangiri district in Orissa on June 29 this year. On July 16, at least 24 policemen were killed when Maoist rebels exploded a landmine under a security vehicle in the same district.

The Maoists are highly active across a wide swathe of India, including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. They are also active in some areas of Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers and regularly attack government property and policemen.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had earlier described the four-decade-old Maoist rebellion, which has killed thousands, as the single biggest threat to India’’s internal security.

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Christians brace for gang-rape, slaughter
India's believers may face bloodbath after another Hindu activist is shot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 06, 2008
11:05 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Christians who have been persecuted by Hindu militants in 12 Indian states could face more bloodshed after another Hindu activist, Rashtriya Swayamsevak, was reportedly shot dead by Maoists this week.
India's Communist Party estimates that more than 500 Christians have been killed by Hindu mobs in Orissa, 12 times more than official government claims of only 40 homicides. One official said he personally authorized "cremation of more than 200 bodies" found in jungles after Christians were blamed for the death of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 24. They continue to be persecuted even though Maoists openly admitted to murdering Saraswati.
According to the Communist Party report, Hindu extremists may have used government machinery to "minimize the evidence and possibly destroy dead bodies."
Thousands of homes and churches have been destroyed, and tens of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee the violence. Mission Network News estimates 5,000 Christian homes have been burned, 200 churches ruined, 10,000 people remain in government-operated refugee camps, and tens of thousands are living in forests – many seriously wounded.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80365

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991"who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"
Nadine Gordimer
South Africa
b. 1923

Presentation Speech
Presentation Speech by Professor Sture Allén, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy
Translation from the Swedish text
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Art is on the side of the oppressed, Nadine Gordimer says in one of her essays, urging us to think before we dismiss this heretical idea about the freedom of art. If art is freedom, she asks, how could it exist within the oppressors?
Nadine Gordimer agrees with last year's Laureate, Octavio Paz, in asserting the importance of regaining the meanings of words, as a first step in the critical process. She has had the courage to write as if censorship did not exist, and so has seen her books banned, time after time.
Above all, it is people, individual men and women, that have captured her and been captured by her. It is their lives, their heaven and hell, that absorb her. The outer reality is ever present, but it is through her characters that the whole historical process is crystallized.
Conveying to the reader a powerful sense of authenticity, and with wide human relevance, she makes visible the extremely complicated and utterly inhuman living conditions in the world of racial segregation. She feels political responsibility, and does not shy away from its consequences, but will not allow it to affect her as a writer: her texts are not agitatorial, not progandistic. Still, her works and the deep insights she offers contribute to shaping reality.
In one of her great novels we meet Maureen, the stronger of husband and wife in a family who, with the help of their boy, have fled the fighting, taking refuge in a hut in his native village. Here, gradually, the strains on their mode of life, language and everyday relations become unbearable. One day Maureen notices a helicopter landing. She does not know whether it brings friends or enemies but, stricken with unspeakable horror, she instinctively leaves the hut and starts running towards the sound. She runs ever faster and more frantically. She runs with all the suppressed trust of a lifetime. She runs for her survival, the enemy of all responsibility.
This is the closing scene of the novel. Were there still possibilities ahead of her? Or was this the very end? To Maureen and what she stands for, the future appears to hold out the opposite of utopia, a dystopia. This is not Nadine Gordimer's only vision, but it is one which she has found it necessary to give expression to.
In this way, artistry and morality fuse.
People are more important than principles.
A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.
No one is in possession of all goodness, and no one has a monopoly of evil.
Irony does not need any prompting.
Children who meet, gladly meet halfway.
The power of love makes the mountain tremble.
Thoughts and impressions such as these are called forth by novels like A Guest of Honour, The Conservationist, Burger's Daughter, July's People, and My Son's Story. However, in a manner as absorbing as in her novels, Nadine Gordimer develops her penetrating depiction of character, her compassion and her powers of precise wording in her short stories, in collections like Six Feet of the Country and, as yet untranslated, A Soldier's Embrace and Something Out There.

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is remarkable how often Nadine Gordimer succeeds in her artistic intent - to burn a hole through the page.

Dear Miss Gordimer,
Ninety years ago, the prize citation mentioned "the qualities of both heart and intellect". Indeed, these words apply no less today when the Swedish Academy points to the Nobelian concept of outstanding literary achievement as an important means of conferring benefit on mankind, in terms of human value and freedom of speech. It is my privilege and pleasure, on behalf of the Swedish Academy, to convey to you the warmest congratulations on the Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 and to invite you to receive the Prize from the hands of His Majesty the King.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1991-1995, Editor Sture Allén, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1991/presentation-speech.html

India's maiden moon mission -- Chandrayaan-I — on Saturday entered the tricky lunar orbit after scientists successfully carried out a most critical manoeuvre, 18 days after it was fired into outer space.
Space scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out the lunar orbit insertion by firing the liquid engines on board the spacecraft for 817 seconds.
"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) began at 4:50 p.m. and lasted for 817 seconds (14 minutes)," ISRO spokesperson S Satish said. The satellite has been placed in a 7,502 km X 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon, he said.
Heaving a sigh of relief, ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair said Saturday's operation was the ‘most critical moment’ in the mission.
Whose CHANDRAYAN is this as MANUSMRITI rules India! And even today Shombuk must be killed!
What India we live in?
Five persons were killed and six others injured on Saturday when a mortar shell exploded in the crowded Bengali Basti area in Meerut, police said ruling it out as a terrorist act.
"Some rag pickers had found the mortar shells in the Cantonment area while gathering scrap. They struck the shell with a hammer to extract metal and it exploded," Inspector General of Police, Meerut Range, Harbhajan Singh said.
The five killed have been have been identified Omar Dutt, 10, Nizamul Hasan, 12, Sudhiyan, 18, Razakh Ali, 16, and 17-year-old Musharraf.
What India is this while Hindutva Bomb is Politically justified?
BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Maharashtra government and police of harassing Malegaon blast suspect Sadhvi Pragya Singh in the name of investigation.
"It seems that Pragya Thakur is being harassed in the name of investigation. Not even a terrorist is subjected to tests three to four times as she has been subjected to," he said on the sidelines of a party function.
"There is definitely a role of the Maharashtra government and police in this whole episode," he said.
Nine persons, including Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, having allegiance to a right-wing Hindu outfit, and a serving lieutenant colonel have been arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast.
Hindu Unity is Mobilised in Peculiar political statements. Apparently disapproving of the pro-Maharashtrian campaign, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said people who ask for preferential treatment within a particular state are ‘narrow minded’. Patil, who himself hails from Maharashtra, suggested that such actions divide and weaken the country. On the other hand the Congressman, the Maharashtra Minisiter justified the Encounter of the Bihar Boy, RAHUL RAJ!
"At times we find that people say that we speak a particular kind of language, we are born in a particular state and so we should be given preference over others. That approach is really a narrow minded approach," Patil told a group of girl students from Arunachal Pradesh at his residence.
Just one month into the fiscal year, the US federal budget deficit already has reached USD 232 billion, according to estimates released !
How would it look in India and in Indian Economy as the World Bank Gangsters led by Chettiar Chidambaram, RBI and finmin pumps national revenue in Bailout bypassing Parliament and constitution! US Congress ratified the Bailout Plan! Who Ratified Chettiar FEEDs?

That is how the deficit would look as measured by the Treasury Department, the rival Congressional Budget Office said. Treasury is going to put the USD 115 billion in bank stock purchases made as part of the bailout of the financial system last month directly onto the deficit ledger.
By some estimates, the deficit could even double from the record USD 455 billion posted last month, after the costs of the bailout, additional stimulus legislation, and the impact of slumping revenues are factored in.
For its part, CBO counts the bailout cost so far at USD 17 billion, which represents the "present value" of the money. Basically, that accounts for market risk and represents the amount this portion of the bailout will cost the government in the end after it recoups its investment in bank stocks.
The new estimate comes as most economists say the economy is in a recession that could become the deepest in decades. It also puts the government on course to run a record deficit for the 2009 budget year, which began Oct 1.
Ominously, income and payroll tax revenues for the month fell compared to October 2007. Corporate income tax receipts fell by USD 5 billion.
Outside of the spending for the bailout, the deficit rose by USD 60 billion over last year, CBO predicts. But once the bailout is included, the deficit swells by USD 175 billion under Treasury's accounting methods.
US President-elect Barack Obama called early Saturday for urgent action to prop up the flagging US economy and stop the hemorrhage of jobs, arguing that there was not "a moment to lose."
In his first weekly radio address since his decisive election victory last Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat said he wanted to reassure Americans that his administration would "hit the ground running on January 20th because we don't have a moment to lose."
He argued that while the administration of President George W. Bush and Congress had taken steps to prop up the struggling financial sector and other parts of the economy, the United States "will need further actions during this transition and subsequent months."
"First, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear," the president-elect said.
Obama pointed out the government will then need to address the spreading impact of the financial crisis on other sectors of the economy and to ensure that the rescue plan that passed Congress is working to stabilize financial markets while protecting taxpayers and helping homeowners.
"Finally, we will move forward with a set of policies that will grow our middle-class and strengthen our economy in the long-term," Obama promised.
He said he did not underestimate the enormity of the task ahead.
"Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country," he noted. "I know that we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and work together as one nation."
On Friday, Obama met with his economic advisors to discuss the economic situation and chart his administration's future course.
The meeting came on another brutal day for the US economy. Official figures showed the US unemployment rate rose to its highest level since 1994 in October, 6.5 percent.
The Labor Department said 240,000 jobs had been cut in October, the 10th straight month of job losses, and new revisions meant that a whopping 651,000 workers have lost their livelihoods in the past three months alone.
Can Washington save the Big Three US automakers?
8 Nov 2008, 1019 hrs IST, AGENCIES
DETROIT, MICHIGAN: With the Big Three US automakers teetering on the edge of insolvency, it appears Washington may finally be ready to come to
Detroit's rescue.
Only hours after both General Motors and Ford Motor Co announced large third-quarter losses -- and stressed that they are both rapidly running out of cash -- President-elect Barack Obama focused on the industry's plight during his first news conference since Tuesday's election.
"I have made it a high priority for the transition team to work on additional policy options to help the auto industry adjust," Obama told reporters gathered in Chicago.
Just how bad a situation the automakers are facing was hammered home on Friday, when GM reported a $2.5 billion net loss for the third quarter, bringing to nearly $57 billion its losses since the beginning of 2005.
Ford's $129 million quarterly loss, meanwhile, brought to nearly $24.5 billion the deficit it has run up since plunging into the red in 2006.
Yet the losses only partially state the true depth of the problem for the automakers.
Going into the third quarter, GM had $21 billion on its books. By the end of September, that had plunged to $16.2 billion, coming perilously close to the $11 billion to $14 billion it says it needs on hand to keep the company operating.
Ford burned through $7.7 billion in the quarter, though its reserves are nearly twice as richer thanks to a massive line of credit it acquired last year.
Though it doesn't report its full financial data, the privately-held Chrysler LLC is also thought to be fast running out of cash: one reason, analysts believe, why its parent, Cerberus Capital Management, was so eager to sell Chrysler to GM.
That deal, however, was scuttled by GM, and observers believe Cerberus may now rush to find another buyer as the economy continues to worsen.
"I doubt there's anyone who challenges the fact that we're operating in difficult times, perhaps as difficult as we've ever faced in the auto industry," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said during a Friday conference call with reporters and industry analysts.
Detroit's situation has certainly worsened in the face of the current economic crisis that combines what many describe as a "perfect storm" of factors, such as high fuel costs, tight credit, job losses and rising commodity prices.
But the seeds of the current crisis date back to the last big oil shock, of 1979, which helped the Japanese gain a foothold for small, fuel-efficient products.
As gas lines faded from memory, the Asian automakers continued to gain ground by focusing on quality, something GM, Ford and Chrysler have only recently come to grips with -- and with varying degrees of success.
Further compounding the situation, Detroit has been consciously slow to embrace changes in the American automotive marketplace, especially the shift from big trucks to small, fuel-efficient passenger cars.
And even where it has, lamented Consumer Reports' auto analyst David Champion, it has needed "more models that were exciting for people to buy."
Again, Detroit has begun to address that complaint, and a flood of more fuel-efficient -- and exciting -- models are on tap to debut over the next several years. The challenge now will be to keep that flow going.
GM President Fritz Henderson said Friday the automaker will have to cut back on some product programs in order to ensure liquidity.
That creates a conundrum, of course: to stay alive, short-term, the Big Three might be curtailing programs that would ensure long-term success.
So federal aid becomes all the more important, said Joe Phillippi, an automotive analyst and head of AutoTrends Consulting.
"Both the current administration and the incoming administration recognize it will take at least 50 billion dollars to tide the automakers over through 2009, when they start to get some labor cost relief, and an improvement in demand," he told AFP.
Obama said Friday he would push Congress to accelerate the delivery of $25 billion in loan guarantees aimed at helping automakers develop more fuel efficient vehicles ahead of upcoming regulation.
The Big Three asked for another 25 billion in loan guarantees for more general expenses during a meeting with top lawmakers in Washington Thursday.
"Automakers need immediate funding to stay on track during this difficult time," said National Association of Manufacturers president John Engler.
"We're talking about close to a million jobs in America -- we're talking about a lasting impact on our industrial production in the United States. We simply cannot afford to let the auto industry fail."
Asia to avoid full-fledged financial crisis: ADB

8 Nov 2008, 2043 hrs IST, REUTERS
NEW YORK: Asia is expected to avoid a "full-fledged" financial crisis as governments and the corporate sector learned lessons from the previous crisis that hit the region a decade ago, the head of the Asian Development Bank said.
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda told Reuters he also expects economies in the region to attain a more prominent role in the new global financial system that could emerge after leaders of the Group of 20 countries meet in Washington next week.
"Combined with the large buildup in foreign exchange reserves, capital outflows can now be handled more effectively than in the past. And reforms have improved financial systems," Kuroda said in a speech to the Asia Society in New York.
"A range of indicators also point to a healthier corporate sector in Asia. The result is that a full-fledged financial crisis in the region is unlikely," he added.
Nevertheless, the region is already feeling the economic impact of the global crisis, Kuroda said, forecasting aggregate economic growth for developing Asia will decline by 1.5 percentage points this year from a record 9.0 percent in 2007.
He said he sees "a further 0.5 or 1.0 percent deceleration next year."
"Initially we thought developing Asia could grow by 7.2 percent (in 2009), but now that is unlikely," Kuroda told Reuters in an interview following his speech.
"The giant economies of China and India, which account for a large portion of the growth estimate, have already seen growth slow significantly," he said.
It was only recently that the global credit crisis truly started to take a bite out of Asia's regional growth prospects, he said.
"The really serious impact on the Asian financial sector, markets has emerged only after mid-September. That is when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, creating credit crunch situations all over the world, including Asia," he said.
On a positive note, Kuroda said inflation is also slowing in Asia as commodity prices fall and demand weakens.
"Inflation last year and the early part of this year was the number one challenge for many emerging economies in Asia," he said.
"But now inflation is a secondary issue. Particularly next year, the number one challenge would be how to sustain high growth because the economy is slowing down quite rapidly," he said.
NEW ARCHITECTURE
The International Monetary Fund believes emerging economies will be the only source of global growth next year due to recessions in industrialized economies, where the current financial crisis has emanated from.
Kuroda said he believes Asia's emerging economies stand a real chance to increase their voice and stature in a new financial architecture and that the meetings in Washington are a good starting point for setting agendas and direction.
"You cannot easily identify which country gains from it, but all emerging economies would basically gain because of a greater voice and influence over the international financial system," Kuroda told Reuters.

Global recession has begun

8 Nov 2008, 1045 hrs IST, REUTERS
LONDON: Yesterday's bleak reports on the state of US and European manufacturing confirmed that a global recession has already begun.

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM)'s composite business activity indicator plunged for the second month to 38.9 - far below the 50-point threshold dividing expanding activity from a contraction, and the lowest level since September 1982. The 11-point plunge in the index over the last three months (Aug-Oct) has been equalled on only four occasions since 1945 (1949-50, 1959-60, 1974 and 1980-81).
It dispels any remaining doubt that the United States has already entered recession - which the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines as "a significant decline in economic activity, spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months".
The economy has been in troubled for more than a year. Manufacturing output peaked in Jul 2007 and had fallen 2.3 percent by Aug 2008 according to estimates published by the Federal Reserve. Private sector jobs peaked in Nov and were down 0.7 percent by Aug.
Repeat claims for unemployment insurance had risen almost 1 million over this period, and the number of people in desperate poverty receiving help under the federal government's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (food stamp) program surged almost 2.5 million.

Also Read
? Asia to avoid full-fledged financial crisis: ADB
? BRIC want financial system overhaul
? Obama assures to confront the economic crisis 'head on'
? Can Washington save the Big Three US automakers?

But until the last two months, problems had been largely confined to the motor manufacturing and construction sectors. While production of cars and light trucks declined 28 percent between July 2007 and August 2008, output of other durable items intended to last at three years or more actually rose, albeit by a marginal 0.4 percent.
Nonfarm businesses eliminated 815,000 positions on a net basis between November 2007 and August 2008. But most job losses were recorded in construction (-360,000) and motor manufacturing (-105,000) with fairly modest losses spread across the rest of the manufacturing and service industries (-349,000).

THE DOWNTURN SPREADS
In the last two months, however, the downturn has widened to the rest of the economy as growing financial turmoil and a darkening outlook have caused households and businesses to prepare for a long and deep slump by retrenching.
Retail sales have fallen in each of the last three months (Jul-Sep). But the Census Bureau measures sales in cash terms rather than by volume, so the headline numbers tend to be distorted by changes in the price of gasoline, as well as financing programmes and deep discounting designed to shift auto inventories.
A better guide to the underlying strength of the consumer sector is "core sales" of items other than autos and gasoline. Core sales fell in both August and September, the largest cumulative decline since the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, the first consecutive monthly decline in more than a decade.
Core sales have risen on average just -0.12 percent in each of the last 12 months. Since even core inflation has been running faster than this, sales volumes have been flat or falling for a year. But the pace of decline has accelerated sharply in recent weeks.
World has 100 days to fix crisis: EU leaders

8 Nov 2008, 0010 hrs IST, AGENCIES
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: European Union leaders backed a 100-day deadline by which the world's leading economies should decide urgent global finance
reforms, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday.
Sarkozy, who chaired a special meeting of EU nations, said the financial crisis and economic downturn required a quick deal on an overhaul at a Nov 15 summit in Washington bringing together leaders of the world's 20 largest industrialized nations and emerging economies.
"We are in an economic crisis. We have to take this into account," Sarkozy said. "We have to react and we have no time to lose." "I'm not going to take part in a summit where there is just talk for talk's sake," Sarkozy told reporters after talks between the heads of the EU's 27 nations.
The EU is calling for a second global summit next spring to flesh out changes to the way the world economy is governed. They want to see far more supervision of big financial companies and are urging governments to jointly monitor them.
They want to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street excesses that caused havoc in markets worldwide, and are bringing emerging economies China, India and Brazil on board for talks on shaping a new world economic order.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Washington talks should be a "decisive moment for the world economy." A text agreed by EU leaders says they want an early warning system that would watch for financial bubbles and prevent ``world imbalances'', such as the swelling US trade deficit.
They also suggest making the International Monetary Fund the world's financial watchdog, suggesting it be given more power to curb financial crises and give more money to aid countries in trouble.
The Europeans also want to close loopholes that allow some financial institutions to evade regulation, and ensure supervision for all major financial players, including ratings agencies or funds carrying high amounts of debt.
The leaders in a declaration called for greater transparency in markets that would no longer omit "vast swathes of financial activity from auditable, certifiable accounts." It also said "excessive risk-taking must be overhauled," a reference to the sale of high-risk debt securities and executive pay that may reward risk-taking.
EU leaders will call on the Nov 15 summit to agree immediately on five principles: submit ratings agencies to more surveillance; align accounting standards; close loopholes; set banking codes of conduct to reduce excessive risk-taking; and ask the International Monetary Fund to suggest ways of calming the turmoil.
To date, European governments alone have committed some 2 trillion euros ($2.6 trillion) in cash injections, bank deposit guarantees, interbank loan coverage and partial or full nationalization to prop up consumer and business confidence.
The damage done worldwide is fueling a search for a "new Bretton Woods", a reference to the post-World War II conference that shaped the international financial system.
In Washington, there is little desire in the waning days of the Bush administration for a major overhaul of financial regulations. But the United States and European nations are no longer the only players. China and Brazil and India are jumping at the chance to join a major international effort.
G-20 finance officials nations will meet this weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to prepare next week's summit. This may pave the way for emerging economies to play a larger role in global finance talks. France is suggesting bring them on board as members of the exclusive world club of G-8 industrialized nations which regularly meets to discuss the global economy.

Nobel words
OVERLEAF
Rrishi Raote / New Delhi October 14, 2008, 0:09 IST
Writing for me is like travelling,” says this year’s Nobel literature laureate, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. He lives in at least three parts of the world — New Mexico, Nice and Mauritius (the home of his paternal ancestors) — and benefited from a peripatetic youth, divided between France, Nigeria, Thailand, England and America. He spent a few years with the forest-dwelling Emberas Indians of Panama, and is an expert on Amerindian culture. So it should come as no surprise that his writing is about “thresholds” and encounters, between cultures, between childhood and adulthood, between past, present and future. He opens one book, The Mexican Dream, with Bernal Díaz, the conquistador-chronicler, at the first meeting of Spaniard and Amerindian, where two dreams collide: the Spaniards’ dream of gold, and the Indians’ of a myth fulfilled.

Literature this may be, but it also harbours a strong political critique, one which has intensified in Le Clézio’s writing since the 1970s. The “rationalist” West, he says, is devaluing nature and traditional cultures, and this is dangerous to us all. Therefore, when he stands up to deliver his Nobel lecture in December, expect him to make a forceful and timely statement about globalisation, cultural impoverishment and the deadening insulation of modern technology.
The Nobel literature lecture has from its inception been a blunt political tool, thrust into the hands of the solitary craftsman. In part this is because the Nobel century (the first prize was awarded in 1901) is so deeply stained with conflict. That conflict often provided the material which the laureates spun into literature. Also, each laureate has had some debt to redeem — whether it be to a group whose collective enterprise, intellectual or political, has shaped him; to his people long suppressed; to his nation that has long believed itself ignored and belittled ... This is one reason why Trinidadians hailed the prize for themselves in 2001, even though V S Naipaul had been so critical of the country of his birth.
When he stands up to lecture, then, a laureate is more than himself, less than autonomous, more than an artist. It is a rare laureate who speaks mainly of himself or his work. In 1905 Lithuanian-born Polish laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz said, heartbreakingly, “It has been said that Poland is dead, exhausted, enslaved, but here is the proof of her life and triumph.” What happened to Poland afterwards is well known. The French novelist Anatole France, after his speech of thanks in 1921, in which he said “[t]he most horrible of wars has been followed by a peace treaty that is not a treaty of peace but a continuation of war,” went over and shook hands with the German chemistry laureate — and the audience applauded this rapprochement between the nations.
And in 1946, in the aftermath of another war, Swiss laureate Hermann Hesse condemned its Nazi authors: “I hate the grands simplificateurs, and I love the sense of quality, of inimitable craftsmanship and uniqueness.” That statement is as true of fundamentalists of all kinds today as it was then; and, since the mid-century, although many laureates speak of contemporary events, their words could as much apply to our world today.
William Faulkner said in 1949, after Hiroshima-Nagasaki: “There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up?” Albert Camus asked in 1957, after the Soviets crushed Hungary, “[W]ith what feelings could he accept this honour at a time when other writers ... are condemned to silence?” Octavio Paz wondered in 1990: “What will arise from the collapse of ideology? Is this the dawn of an era of universal concord and freedom for all or will there be a resurgence of tribal idolatry and religious fanaticism, unleashing discord and tyranny?”
Now that the media have proliferated and we are surrounded and bombarded by a great deal of language ill-used, recent laureates like Toni Morrison (1993) and Doris Lessing (2007) have called for a necessary distancing of the writer from the clamour and distractions of the world and its purposes. “We must live fully in order to secrete the substance of our work, but we have to work alone,” said Nadine Gordimer in 1991. One’s beliefs must be earned, after all, and when they are delivered in the full blaze of Nobel glory and with the weight of unfolding history behind them, we must have a reason to trust the author of the words.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=337281
An African dilemma

By BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI
Chinua Achebe, one of the finest writers of his generation, caused a stir some years ago when he penned a trenchant review of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, famously concluding that the Polish-born English novelist was "a thoroughgoing racist".




Achebe painstakingly examined the novella - published at the turn of the century and widely regarded as part of the Western canon - its every tone and nuance, and concluded that it projected the image of Africa as "the other world, the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilisation".

"That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked."

Needless to say, Achebe's comments provoked outrage in literary and intellectual circles - our own Nadine Gordimer weighed in in Conrad's defence - with many arguing that Achebe had taken the narrative out of its place and context.

Barely six years later Achebe was to produce another polemic, The Trouble with Nigeria, an unremitting putdown of his own country, the corruption and vanity of its leaders. He mocks Nigeria's attempt to develop a tourism industry. Who, he wonders, would, in his right senses, spend his money and time in Nigeria.

"The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership," he says bluntly. One reviewer noted that Achebe said things which only a Nigerian could get away with. I thought of this ambivalence, the dilemma, the helplessness of the African intelligentsia as I watched the carnage, the absolute misery, visited on the poor souls of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by their own brethren.

More than a million people have been forced to leave their homes at the point of a gun in Goma. We watch as the old, the infirm, even the blind, their pathetic rudimentary possessions carri ed precariously on their heads, trudge forlornly, obviously running away from danger but unsure of a refuge ahead, a nook for their tired bodies or a morsel of food for their empty stomachs. At one point a stampede for a few biscuits left a child trampled to death. It's a sorry, searing sight.

The DRC, this vast fertile land whose people have been left in abject poverty as its wealth has, over the ages, been plundered by an assortment of warlords and two-timing foreigners, is literally the belly, if not the guts, of Africa. Break it and you almost decapitate the continent. Mend it and you're on the way to sorting out Africa's intractable problems.

That was the rationale behind Thabo Mbeki committing time and SA's resources into a settlement between the warring factions in the DRC a few years ago. That was supposed to anchor Mbeki's African renaissance. But like all of Mbeki's other handiwork, it's unravelling.

The current catastrophe in the DRC is not the first and it will obviously not be the last. But what's depressing is the deafening silence from Africa and its leaders. There has been no condemnation of this outrage, not of the rebels or Rwanda, who seem to be fuelling the conflict. The people who rushed in to help are the outsiders - the European foreign ministers and, of course, the everpresent but oft-ridiculed aid agencies.

We're often tardy to sort out our own mess, but get tetchy when well-meaning foreigners jump in to help. The armchair intelligentsia who won't dirty their hands, rail, not against the thugs who butcher our people, but against the image of Africa that's often projected by strangers. We instinctively want to defend its honour, but we're also exasperated by the folly of its often brutish leadership.

If we're concerned about Africa's image, we should sort out its reality - like the slaughter of the innocents in the DRC.
http://free.financialmail.co.za/08/1107/front/ednote.htm

“Things Fall Apart”
A golden jubilee
Oct 23rd 2008
From The Economist print edition
A birthday party for an African classic
AFP
Seeing light in languageCHINUA ACHEBE’S “Things Fall Apart”, which celebrates its golden jubilee this year, is Africa’s best known work of literature. The slim novel has been translated into 50 languages and has sold 10m copies. Never once has it been out of print.
Africa was on the cusp of change when the book first came out. A handful of African countries had already become independent by 1958, but few people would have predicted then what shape change would take elsewhere on the continent. Right from the book’s very first line, “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond”, the reader is also launched into uncharted territory. Who was this Okonkwo and why was he so well known? Who was it that knew him? With a heightened diction and extensive use of allegory and metaphor, Mr Achebe gave Okonkwo, a famed wrestler, a heroic mien. But he is mostly alone in trying to defend the traditional society in which he was born, and when his efforts fail, in bitterness Okonkwo hangs himself.
The allusion in the title to Yeats’s poem, “The Second Coming”—“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”—signalled Mr Achebe’s awareness that he was living at a crossroads in history, something he regards as being good for a writer and for which he has always been grateful.
The first person to read the manuscript was Gilbert Phelps of the BBC, whom Mr Achebe had met during a short visit to London. Excited by the novelty of a voice that was not a slavish copy of European literature, but something authentically African and new, Phelps sent it on to his own publisher, William Heinemann, with a note: “This is a very exciting discovery…It is full of characters who really live, and, once begun, it is difficult to put down.”
Now known as the grand-daddy of African fiction, Mr Achebe has had a more difficult life. In 1990 he was involved in a car accident in Nigeria, and has since been a paraplegic. He and his wife, Christie, live in upstate New York, where he is professor of languages and literature at Bard College.
The golden jubilee of “Things Fall Apart” was presaged by the announcement in June 2007 that Mr Achebe had been awarded the second Man Booker international prize. In contrast to Man Booker’s older and better known annual counterpart which lauds a single new book, the international prize celebrates an “achievement in fiction”. Asked what the panel had been looking for among the 80-or-so living authors whose work was considered for the prize, Nadine Gordimer, the oldest of the three judges and the only Nobel-prize-winner, gave an immediate response: “illumination”. For Mr Achebe, who has won his fair share of prizes over the years, the Man Booker was especially touching for being chosen by his peers.
Elegant in his wheelchair, dressed in his Nigerian chief’s robes and his red domed hat, Mr Achebe has been receiving accolades the world over. The celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication began in Portugal. They continued in Texas and in Nigeria, where Mr Achebe’s home village, Ogidi, dedicated the Mookoche festival, the Ibo people’s Thanksgiving at the end of the rainy season, to “Things Fall Apart”.
The festivities continued in London earlier this month where Mr Achebe was the guest of honour at a lunch at the House of Lords and then the subject of a two-day conference at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. The highlight will be a ceremony early next month at the Library of Congress just before the author’s 78th birthday.
For Mr Achebe, the end of the celebrations will mark a welcome return to his peaceful life at Bard College. “I feel the pressure of the paraplegia really cuts into my day,” he says. He is anxious to get back to work. An autobiographical essay, “Reflections of a British Protected Child”, about his childhood in the British Protectorate of Nigeria, is finished and now in the hands of his agent.
His next project will be to translate “Things Fall Apart” into his native Ibo for the first time. The translation Mr Achebe is striving for is not the Union Ibo that was imposed on southern Nigeria in the early 1900s by British missionaries bent on religious conversion and the distribution of the Bible. “Even my own village has words or expressions that are not used in a village two miles away.” For a writer for whom language and literary imagination are quite inseparable, Mr Achebe’s ambition is to find the inchoate languages, varying in detail from village to village, that were the heartbeat of the Ibo nation of his birth.
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12459705
Nadine Gordimer
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Nadine Gordimer
Born 20 November 1923 (1923-11-20) (age 84)
Springs, Gauteng, Johannesburg,
South Africa
Occupation Playwright, Novelist
Nationality South African
Notable work(s) The Conservationist, July's People
Notable award(s) Nobel Prize in Literature
1991

Nadine Gordimer (born 20 November 1923) is a South African writer, political activist and Nobel laureate.
Her writing has long dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She has recently been active in HIV/AIDS causes.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Political and literary activism
3 Work and themes
3.1 Overview of critical works
4 Biography by Roberts
5 Bibliography
6 Honours and awards
7 Further reading
8 References


[edit] Biography
She was born in Springs, Gauteng, an East Rand mining town outside Johannesburg, the daughter of Isidore and Nan Gordimer. Her parents were both Jewish immigrants, her father a watchmaker from Lithuania near the Latvian border,[1] and her mother from London. Gordimer's early interest in racial and economic inequality in South Africa was shaped in part by her parents. Her father's experience as a Jewish refugee in czarist Russia helped form Gordimer's political identity, but he was neither an activist nor particularly sympathetic toward the experiences of black people under apartheid.[2] Conversely, Gordimer saw activism by her mother, whose concern about the poverty and discrimination faced by black people in South Africa led her to found a crèche for black children.[1] Gordimer also witnessed government repression firsthand, when as a teenager the police raided her family home, confiscating letters and diaries from a servant's room.[1]
Gordimer was educated at a Catholic convent school, but was largely home-bound as a child because of her mother's "strange reasons of her own" (apparently, fears that Gordimer had a weak heart).[2] Home-bound and often isolated, she began writing at an early age, and published her first stories in 1937 at the age of fifteen.[3] Her first published work was a short story for children, "The Quest for Seen Gold," which appeared in the Children's Sunday Express in 1937; "Come Again Tomorrow," another children's story, appeared in Forum around the same time. At the age of 16, she had her first adult fiction published.[4]
Gordimer studied for a year at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she mixed for the first time with fellow professionals across the color bar. She also became involved in the Sophiatown renaissance.[4] She did not complete her degree, but moved to Johannesburg in 1948, where she has lived ever since. While taking classes in Johannesburg, Gordimer continued to write, publishing mostly in local South African magazines. She collected many of these early stories in Face to Face, published in 1949.
In 1951, the New Yorker accepted Gordimer's story "A Watcher of the Dead",[5] beginning a long relationship, and bringing Gordimer's work to a much larger public. Gordimer, who has said she believes the short story is the literary form for our age,[3] has continued to publish short stories in the New Yorker and other prominent literary journals.
Gordimer's first novel, The Lying Days, was published in 1953. In 1954, she married Reinhold Cassirer, a highly respected art dealer who established the South African Sotheby's and later ran his own gallery; their "wonderful marriage"[2] lasted until his death from emphysema in 2001. It was her second marriage and his third. Their son, Hugo, was born in 1955, and is today a filmmaker in New York, with whom Gordimer has collaborated on at least two documentaries. Gordimer also has a daughter, Oriane (born 1950), by her first marriage.

[edit] Political and literary activism
Apartheid in South Africa

Events and Projects
Sharpeville Massacre · Soweto uprising
Treason Trial
Rivonia Trial · Church Street bombing
CODESA · St James Church massacre

Organisations
ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB
Conservative Party · ECC · PP · RP
PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF
Broederbond · National Party · COSATU
SADF · SAP

People
P. W. Botha · Oupa Gqozo · D. F. Malan
Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu · F. W. de Klerk
Walter Sisulu · Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz
Andries Treurnicht · H. F. Verwoerd · Oliver Tambo
B. J. Vorster · Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger
Steve Biko · Mahatma Gandhi · Trevor Huddleston

Places
Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island
Sophiatown · South-West Africa
Soweto · Vlakplaas

Other aspects
Afrikaner nationalism
Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter
Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document
Disinvestment campaign
South African Police

This box: view • talk • edit

The arrest of her best friend, Bettie du Toit, in 1960 and the Sharpeville massacre spurred Gordimer's entry into the anti-apartheid movement.[1] Thereafter, she quickly became active in South African politics, and was close friends with Nelson Mandela's defense attorneys (Bram Fischer and George Bizos) during his 1962 trial.[1] When Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Gordimer was one of the first people he wanted to see.[1]
During the 1960s and 1970s, she continued to live in Johannesburg, although she occasionally left for short periods of time to teach at several universities in the United States. She had begun to achieve international literary recognition, receiving her first major award in 1961.[6] Throughout this time, Gordimer continued to demand through both her writing and her activism that South Africa re-examine and replace its long held policy of apartheid.
During this time, the South African government banned several of her works, two for lengthy periods of time. The Late Bourgeois World was Gordimer's first personal experience with censorship; it was banned in 1976 for a decade by the South African government.[7][8] A World of Strangers was banned for twelve years.[8] Other works were censored for lesser amounts of time. Burger's Daughter, published in June, 1979, was banned one month later; the Publications Committee's Appeal Board reversed the censorship of Burger's Daughter six months later, determining that the book was too one-sided to be subversive.[9] Gordimer responded to this decision in Essential Gesture (1988), pointing out that the board banned two books by black authors at the same time it unbanned her own work.[10] July's People was also banned under apartheid, and faced censorship under the post-apartheid government as well:[11] In 2001, a provincial education department temporarily removed July's People from the school reading list, along with works by other anti-apartheid writers,[12] describing July's People as "deeply racist, superior and patronizing"[13]—a characterization that Gordimer took as a grave insult, and that many literary and political figures protested.[12]
In South Africa, she joined the African National Congress when it was still listed as an illegal organization by the South African government.[14][1] While never blindly loyal to any organization, Gordimer saw the ANC as the best hope for reversing South Africa's treatment of black citizens. Rather than simply criticizing the organization for its perceived flaws, she advocated joining it to address them.[1] She hid ANC leaders in her own home to aid their escape from arrest by the government, and she has said that the proudest day of her life was when she testified at the 1986 Delmas Treason Trial on behalf of 22 South African anti-apartheid activists.[14][1] (See Simon Nkoli, Mosiuoa Lekota, etc.) Throughout these years she also regularly took part in anti-apartheid demonstrations in South Africa, and traveled internationally speaking out against South African apartheid and discrimination and political repression.[1]
Her works began achieving literary recognition early in her career, with her first international recognition in 1961, followed by numerous literary awards throughout the ensuing decades. Literary recognition for her accomplishments culminated with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, which noted that Gordimer "through her magnificent epic writing has—in the words of Alfred Nobel—been of very great benefit to humanity".[15]
Gordimer's activism has not been limited to the struggle against apartheid. She has resisted censorship and state control of information, and fostered the literary arts. She refused to let her work be aired by the South African Broadcasting Corporation because it was controlled by the apartheid government.[16] Gordimer also served on the steering committee of South Africa's Anti-Censorship Action Group. A founding member of the Congress of South African Writers, Gordimer has also been active in South African letters and international literary organizations. She has been Vice President of International PEN.
In the post-apartheid 1990s and 21st century, Gordimer has been active in the HIV/AIDS movement, which is a significant public health crisis in South Africa. In 2004, she organized about 20 major writers to contribute short fiction for Telling Tales, a fundraising book for South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, which lobbies for government funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and care.[17] On this matter, she has been critical of the current South African government, noting in 2004 that she "approves" of everything President Mbeki has done except his stance on AIDS.[17][18][19]
While on lecture tours, she has spoken on matters of foreign policy and discrimination beyond South Africa. For instance, in 2005, when Fidel Castro fell ill, Gordimer joined six other Nobel prizewinners in a public letter to the United States warning it not to seek to destabilize Cuba's communist government. In 2001 she urged her friend Susan Sontag not to accept an award from the Israeli government, though she angered some (including her biographer) by refusing to equate Zionism with apartheid.[citation needed] Gordimer's resistance to discrimination extended to her even refusing to accept "shortlisting" in 1998 for the Orange Prize, because the award recognizes only women writers.
Gordimer self-identifies as an atheist,[20] but has not been active in atheist organizations.

[edit] Work and themes
Gordimer has achieved lasting international recognition for her works, most of which deal with political issues, as well as the moral and psychological tensions of her racially divided home country. Virtually all of Gordimer's works deal with themes of love and politics, particularly concerning race in South Africa. Always questioning power relations and truth, Gordimer tells stories of ordinary people, revealing moral ambiguities and choices. Her characterization is nuanced, revealed more through the choices her characters make than through their claimed identities and beliefs. She also weaves in subtle details within the character's names.

[edit] Overview of critical works
Her first published novel, The Lying Days (1953), takes place in Gordimer's home town of Springs, Transvaal, an East Rand mining town near Johannesburg. Arguably a semi-autobiographical work, The Lying Days is a bildungsroman, charting the growing political awareness of a young white woman, Helen, toward small-town life and South African racial division.[21]
In her 1963 work, Occasion for Loving, Gordimer puts apartheid and love squarely together. Her protagonist, Ann Davis, is married to Boaz Davis, an ethnomusicologist, but in love with Gideon Shibalo, an artist with several failed relationships. Ann Davis is white, however, and Gideon Shibalo is black, and South Africa's government criminalised such relationships.
Gordimer collected the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for A Guest of Honour in 1971 and, in common with a number of winners of this award, she was to go on to win the Booker Prize. The Booker was awarded to Gordimer for her 1974 novel, The Conservationist,[22] and was a co-winner with Stanley Middleton's novel Holiday. The Conservationist explores Zulu culture and the world of a wealthy white industrialist through the eyes of Mehring, the antihero. Per Wästberg described The Conservationist as Gordimer's "densest and most poetical novel".[1] Thematically covering the same ground as Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm (1883) and J. M. Coetzee's In the Heart of the Country (1977), the "conservationist" seeks to conserve nature to preserve the apartheid system, keeping change at bay. When an unidentified corpse is found on his farm, Mehring does the "right thing" by providing it a proper burial; but the dead person haunts the work, a reminder of the bodies on which Mehring's vision would be built.
Gordimer's 1979 novel Burger's Daughter is the story of a woman analyzing her relationship with her father, a martyr to the anti-apartheid movement. The child of two Communist and anti-apartheid revolutionaries, Rosa Burger finds herself drawn into political activism as well. Written in the aftermath of the Soweto uprising, the novel was shortly thereafter banned by the South African government. Gordimer described the novel as a "coded homage" to Bram Fischer, the lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists.[23]
In July's People (1981), Gordimer imagines a bloody South African revolution, in which white people are hunted and murdered after black people begin a revolution against the apartheid government. The work follows Maureen and Bamford Smales, an educated white couple, hiding for their lives with July, their long-time former servant. The novel plays off the various groups of "July's people": his family and his village, as well as the Smales. The story examines how people cope with the terrible choices forced on them by violence, race hatred, and the state.
The House Gun (1998) was Gordimer's second post-apartheid novel. It follows the story of a couple, Claudia and Harald Lingard, dealing with their son Duncan's murder of one of his housemates. The novel treats the rising crime rate in South Africa and the guns that virtually all households have, as well as the legacy of South African apartheid and the couple's concerns about their son's lawyer, who is black. The novel was optioned for film rights to Granada Productions.[24][25][26]
Gordimer's award-winning 2002 novel, The Pickup, considers the issues of displacement, alienation, and immigration; class and economic power; religious faith; and the ability for people to see, and love, across these divides. It tells the story of a couple: Julie Summers, a white woman from a financially secure family, and Abdu, an illegal Arab immigrant in South Africa. After Abdu's visa is refused, the couple returns to his homeland, where she is the alien. Her experiences and growth as an alien in another culture form the heart of the work.[27][28][29][30]
Gordimer's recent novel, Get a Life, written in 2005 after the death of her longtime spouse, Reinhold Cassirer, is the story of a man undergoing treatment for a life-threatening disease. While clearly drawn from recent personal life experiences, the novel also continues Gordimer's exploration of political themes. The protagonist is an ecologist, battling installation of a planned nuclear plant. But he is at the same time undergoing radiation therapy for his cancer, causing him personal grief and, ironically, rendering him a nuclear health hazard in his own home. Here, Gordimer again pursues the questions of how to integrate everyday life and political activism.[14]

[edit] Biography by Roberts
Ronald Suresh Roberts published a biography of Gordimer, No Cold Kitchen, in 2006. Gordimer had granted Roberts interviews and access to her personal papers, with an understanding that she would authorize the biography in return for a right to review the manuscript before publication. However, Gordimer and Roberts failed to reach an agreement over his account of the illness and death of Gordimer's husband Reinhold Cassirer and an affair Gordimer had in the 50s, as well as criticism of her views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Roberts published independently, not as "authorized", and Gordimer disavowed the book, accusing Roberts of breach of trust.[31]
In addition to those disagreements, Roberts critiques Gordimer's post-apartheid advocacy on behalf of black South Africans, in particular her opposition to the government's handling of the AIDS crisis, as a paternalistic and hypocritical white liberalism. The biography also revealed that Gordimer's 1954 New Yorker essay, A South African Childhood, was not wholly biographical and contained some fabricated events.[31]


[edit] Bibliography

Novels
The Lying Days (1953)
A World of Strangers (1958)
Occasion for Loving (1963)
The Late Bourgeois World (1966)
A Guest of Honour (1970)
The Conservationist (1974) - Joint winner of the Booker prize in 1974
Burger's Daughter (1979)
July's People (1981)
A Sport of Nature (1987)
My Son's Story (1990)
None to Accompany Me (1994)
The House Gun (1998)
The Pickup (2001)
Get a Life (2005)
Plays
The First Circle (1949) pub. in Six One-Act Plays
Adaptations of Gordimer's works
"The Gordimer Stories" (1981-82) - adaptations of seven Gordimer short stories; she wrote screenplays for four of them
Other works
On the Mines (1973)
Lifetimes Under Apartheid (1986)
"Choosing for Justice: Allan Boesak" (1983) (documentary with Hugo Cassirer)
"Berlin and Johannesburg: The Wall and the Colour Bar" (documentary with Hugo Cassirer)
Edited works
Telling Tales (2004)
Short fiction collections
Face to Face (1949)
Town and Country Lovers
The Soft Voice of the Serpent (1952)
Six feet of the Country (1956)
Friday's Footprint (1960)
Not for Publication (1965)
Livingstone's Companions (1970)
Selected Stories (1975)
No Place Like: Selected Stories (1978)
A Soldier's Embrace (1980)
Something Out There (1984)
Correspondence Course and other Stories (1984)
The Moment Before the Gun Went Off (1988)
Once Upon a Time (1989)
Jump: And Other Stories (1991)
Why Haven't You Written: Selected Stories 1950-1972 (1992)
Something for the Time Being 1950-1972 (1992)
Loot: And Other Stories (2003)
Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (2007)
Essay collections
The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places (1988)
The Black Interpreters (1973)
Writing and Being: The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (1995)



[edit] Honours and awards
W. H. Smith Commonwealth Literary Award (England) (1961)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (England) (1972)
Booker Prize for The Conservationist (1974)
CNA Prize (Central News Agency Literary Award), South Africa (1974, 1975, 1980, 1991)
Grand Aigle d'Or (France) (1975)
Orange Prize shortlisting; she rejected
Scottish Arts Council Neil M. Gunn Fellowship (1981)
Modern Language Association Award (United States) (1982)
Bennett Award (United States) (1987)
Premio Malaparte (Italy) (1985)
Nelly Sachs Prize (Germany) (1986)
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (1988, A Sport of Nature)
Nobel Prize for Literature (1991)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Best Book from Africa (2002; for The Pickup)
Booker Prize longlist (2001; for The Pickup)
Legion of Honour (France) (2007)[32]
Hon. Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Hon. Member, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (Britain)
Patron, Congress of South African Writers
Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
At least 15 honorary degrees (the first being Doctor Honoris Causa at Leuven University in Belgium)

[edit] Further reading
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Nadine GordimerBrief biographies

Nadine Gordimer at www.contemporarywriters.com
LitWeb.net: Nadine Gordimer Biography (2003)
Guardian Books "Author Page", with profile and links to further articles
Critical studies

Stephen Clingman, The Novels of Nadine Gordimer: History from the Inside (1986)
John Cooke, The Novels of Nadine Gordimer
Andrew Vogel Ettin, Betrayals of the Body Politic: The Literary Commitments of Nadine Gordimer (1993)
Dominic Head, Nadine Gordimer (1994)
Christopher Heywood, Nadine Gordimer (1983)
Rowland Smith, editor, Critical Essays on Nadine Gordimer (1990)
Barbara Temple-Thurston, Nadine Gordimer Revisited (1999) ISBN 0805746080
Kathrin Wagner, Rereading Nadine Gordimer (1994)
Louise Yelin, From the Margins of Empire: Christina Stead, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer (1998)
Short reviews

Index of New York Times articles on Gordimer
Speeches and interviews

Nadine Gordimer, Nancy Topping Bazin, and Marilyn Dallman Seymour, Conversations with Nadine Gordimer (1990)
Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech (1991)
Biographies

Ronald Suresh Roberts, No Cold Kitchen: A Biography of Nadine Gordimer (2005)
Research archives

Collection Index for Nadine Gordimer Short Stories and Novel Manuscript collection, 1958-1965 (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas)
Guide to the Gordimer manuscripts, 1934-1991 (Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
Nadine Gordimer Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadine_Gordimer

BA to snap last direct link to city
SANJAY MANDAL AND OUR BUREAU

Ta-ta
Nov. 7: British Airways will suspend its Calcutta-London flight from March 28 next year.

“The route is not making a profitable contribution to our business and we are unable to sustain it,” said Amanda Amos, the British Airways (BA) area commercial manager, South Asia.

Calcutta, which took a blow when the Tatas decided to move their Nano plant from Singur last month, is the only station in the country the airline is pulling out from.

Passengers booked to travel with BA after March 28 will be contacted by the airline.

After Air India suspended its non-stop flights to Heathrow from the city in October, BA was the only airline offering a direct connection.

If Air India does not resume the service by April and BA sticks to its decision, passengers from eastern India will have to take flights which have stopovers at other airports.

Mohini Bhavnani, 71, a frequent flier, said: “At my age, it is pretty difficult to stop over at another airport.”BA, which announced a drop in half-year profits to £52 million from £616 million last year, blamed “the recent rise in fuel surcharge and the global recession” for the pullout.

But a spokesperson in Mumbai said: “BA will start direct flights between Hyderabad and London on December 7.”

“Calcutta is the only sector from where we are pulling out,” the spokesperson confirmed. BA, flying to the city since the 1930s, had started its non-stop service in 2001. It has three flights a week.

Airline sources said that after Indian economic reforms, Calcutta was expected to become a hub for metal-based industries. It was also expected to benefit from the push for closer economic ties with Southeast Asia and China. “Unfortunately, Calcutta has not yet come of age as a global business destination,” an Air India official said.

Big-ticket investments in Bengal have been few. The Nano plant had raised hopes of a revival of industrialisation, which were snuffed out by its closure. “The agitation that forced the Tatas to leave sent a wrong message. It’s natural that the city’s prospects and business projections, including air traffic, will be affected,” an industry observer said.

Sandipan Chakravorty, eastern region chairman of CII, said: “It (the decision to suspend BA flights) is very unfortunate. This will have negative impact on business. For trade and commerce, time is the essence…. I feel sad to hear this.”

In 2007, there was 20 per cent growth in international passengers from Calcutta. “In 2008, the growth was 5 per cent and we fear it will be negative growth in the first quarter of 2009,” an aviation official said.

Yesterday, the BA 272-seater Boeing 777 arrived with 213 passengers and left with 249, airport officials said. On November 4, it came with 154 passengers and left with 243. Sources said an airline needed a constant load factor of 75 to 80 per cent through the year.

Lufthansa, too, has reduced the frequency of its Calcutta-Frankfurt services.

“India remains an incredibly important market for BA and we continue with our growth plans on routes that we believe will be profitable,” Amos said, adding Calcuttans could join BA services via other Indian gateways.

Travel agents said BA had been downscaling its operations here for some time and till recently, was working out of a small office. Now even that has been closed and passengers are being advised to make transactions through credit card or HSBC Bank.

Airline officials said the 17 employees here would be given time to “either look for jobs or get themselves repositioned within BA”.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081108/jsp/frontpage/story_10081441.jsp

Salute for Obama, Left and Right
OUR BUREAU

Advani,
New Delhi, Nov. 7: L.K. Advani has written a congratulatory letter to US President-elect Barack Obama, terming his win “a victory of democracy and certain basic human values that are universal”.
“For us in India, your victory is a matter of joy for two reasons. Firstly, it reaffirms the close bond between India and the US. Secondly, by reposing faith in the ideals of equality, freedom and racial non-discrimination, the people of your great country have signalled the triumph of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr,” the BJP leader said in the letter, released to the media today.

But his party faced uncomfortable questions on the “shadow of doubt” over the RSS in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and on Advani himself in the Babri Masjid demolition. The reason: BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy defended the attack on S.A.R. Geelani, a Delhi University professor, by a worker of the party’s student wing ABVP yesterday.

Geelani was not clean, Rudy said, and the seminar he was attending had been organised by pseudo-secular and radical elements. If that made “nationalist students” fly into a rage, it can be understood, the BJP spokesperson said. “The protest, however, could have been more hygienic,” he added. The ABVP worker had spat on the professor.

Rudy argued that Geelani deserved this treatment because he had been convicted by the high court in the Parliament attack case. It did not matter that the Supreme Court had later acquitted him, the “shadow of doubt” still hovered around him.

When this led to questions about the “shadow of doubt” over parent organisation RSS’s hand in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and Advani and other senior BJP leaders’ role in the Babri demolition, Rudy laughed them away.

The BJP will launch what it calls “India’s largest political portal on the Internet” — www.lkadvani.in — on the life and politics of Advani tomorrow, when he turns 81.

The party was in a spot on another issue — the rising political temperatures in Bihar over Raj Thackeray. Although the BJP has criticised Raj, said to be behind the latest attacks on north Indians, the Shiv Sena, which started the hate politics, is a close partner. Advani proudly flaunts Bal Thackeray as his oldest ally.

Praise from Yechury

Like the BJP, the CPM too had praise for Obama today. Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said that at a time leaders like the US President-elect and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had admitted the crisis in capitalism, the UPA was clinging to the “discredited neo-liberal economic policies”.

The CPM called for a special fiscal package to increase public expenditure in ways that would raise the income and consumption of common people, employment-intensive public investment, strengthening the public distribution system and reducing fuel prices to “protect the Indian people from the global economic crisis”.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081108/jsp/frontpage/story_10080635.jsp

Midnight movie test, again
AMIT ROY

Rushdie, Mehta (below) .

New York, Nov. 7: Salman Rushdie has announced he would collaborate with director Deepa Mehta to fulfil a long-held dream of turning his acknowledged masterpiece, Midnight’s Children, into a feature film.

But among directors and producers attending the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in New York, where the announcement was made, there was one overriding apprehension. As one producer put it to The Telegraph today: “Can such a film be shot on location in India?”

His opinion was: “The film will probably have to be shot outside India.” He recalled that when Mehta attempted to shoot Water in India as part of a trilogy, the project was cleared by the Indian government but the movie was sabotaged by self-styled guardians of Hindu culture.

Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, who cut their hair in order to portray widows, found that their tresses had regained their original length without the film being made (they may be in the cast of Midnight’s Children).

In 1997, a similar fate befell the BBC which had invested a substantial sum doing pre-production on Midnight’s Children. The project to adapt the novel and make a television serial was pulled.

The film was cleared by the Indian government and a cast even assembled but the authorities withdrew permission after it became concerned about a possible backlash from sections of the minority community.

Rushdie, who had written the script after others had tried and failed to satisfy the author, had the consolation of seeing Midnight’s Children enacted on stage in London.

Others producers and directors say that Midnight’s Children, which has won the Booker Prize and the Booker of Bookers twice, is a work whose time has come in cinematic terms and that it can only be shot on location in India.

Unlike Mehta’s Water, it would look wrong if filmed in Sri Lanka, for Midnight’s Children would require large crowd scenes.

Rushdie’s old script will not do either. The new screenplay will be written by him with Mehta’s help. She will be able to tell him what works cinematically and what does not. The author has in the past been willing to let others leave out sizeable chunks of the story. That the book is known for its magic realism won’t make it easier to arrive at a script.

The two have set an ambitious deadline of releasing the film in 2010. “I am delighted that my friend Deepa Mehta has agreed to make the film of Midnight’s Children,” Rushdie told a news agency. “Her passion for the book, combined with her immense talent as a filmmaker, means that my novel has been placed in the best possible hands. I also look forward to working with her on the screen play.”

Mehta said that in literature, there were only a handful of characters that remained indelible in her mind — “on top of the list is Saleem”.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081108/jsp/frontpage/story_10081498.jsp


O Tu.su Mfi: Self-expression, oral history,
and social commentary for the
Jharkhand goddess
June McDaniel
This article is an examination of the .Tusu tradition of the Jharkhand area of
West Bengal and Bihar. Tusu is a goddess of both the A, divasis and the Hindus,
and as such, she both supports and undermines the Hindu tradition. She is a
good example of the difficulty in drawing lines between the textual 'great' and
the folk 'little' traditions. Worship of the goddess Tusu is an annual ritual at the
Jharkhand new year. It involves singing Tu.su songs, primarily by women,
which cover a variety of topics: family life, political concerns, war, starvation,
economic inequality, and romance.
There has been little work on this tradition by religionists. Jharkhand religion
is an Adivasi or tribal tradition in India, with a mixture of Hindu and tribal
followers. It opposes the larger institutionalized or temple-based religions, with
their traditions of Sanskrit text and commentary and specialized priestly class.
THE JHARKHAND SITUATION
Tusu is an important goddess of the Jharkhand peoples, who have been working
to create their own territory within India. They have recently succeeded. In the
year 2000, the Indian Parliament approved the formation of Jharkhand. Its land
comes primarily from the state of Bihar's northern region, and it is an area rich
in minerals and forest land. A wide variety of scheduled castes and tribes live on
this land. While the dominant languages of the area are Kurmali and Sadri/
Sadani, Jharkhand leaders are working to create a composite Jharkhandi language
with a common script.
International Journal of Hindu Studies 6, 2 (August 2002): 175-97
© 2003 by the World Heritage Press Inc.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t53882q31v745gl0/fulltext.pdf?page=1

Obama win triggers run on guns in many US stores

8 Nov 2008, 1955 hrs IST, REUTERS

PHOENIX: Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

"The day after the election, I had many more calls than usual from people looking for semi-automatic rifles," said David Greenberg, the owner of the Second Amendment Family Gun Shop, in Bisbee, Arizona, who sold out of AR-15 rifles in recent days.

"There seems to be a fear they will be banned, and it's fairly likely," he added. "Obama and Biden are driven to eliminate firearms from the face of the country."

Gun stores and trade groups have reported a spike in firearms sales in the run-up to the Nov. 4 election victory of Democrat Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who many perceive as strongly pro-gun control.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry, reported a 10 percent jump in gun sales this year based on its analysis of an excise tax placed on firearms and ammunition, and a spokesman said the increase had grown dramatically ahead of the election.

"Gun owners are afraid of what Obama is going to do as far as guns," said spokesman Tony Aeschliman. "He has a clear record of being against us."

Obama stated his support for the right to bear arms during campaigning, although both he and Biden back a permanent ban on assault weapons -- military style semi-automatic rifles -- and "common sense measures" to keep guns away from children and criminals, positions which spurred concern among some gun enthusiasts.

"It's always been the liberal or Democratic agenda to restrict gun ownership," said Jim Pruett, the owner of a gun store in a Houston-area strip mall, whose sales more than tripled on the Saturday before the election to $35,000.

In McPherson, Kansas, gun dealer Steve Sechler said demand at a gun show last weekend jumped by more than 50 percent as buyers rushed to stock up on guns including Kalashnikov and AR-15 rifles.

"Most of the people there were cussing Obama and saying we need home defense," Sechler said.

BUSINESS BOOMING

Obama loyalists say gun owners need not fear curbs when he takes office in January. The Democratic governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, told a rally last month he had spoken directly to Obama about the right to bear arms.

"If you are a sportsman, if you are a gun owner, if you are someone that honors and respects the Second Amendment, you have nothing to fear from Barack Obama," he told a crowd in Chillicothe.

The lobbying arm of the powerful National Rifle Association, however, stoked concerns during the campaign, calling Obama a "serious threat to Second Amendment liberties."

Among other complaints, they accused Obama of endorsing a 500-percent increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition -- a comment he made as an Illinois state Senator in Illinois in 1999, but has not repeated.

The sentiments are so strong Wall Street is taking notice. BB&T Capital Markets analyst Frank Mitsch on Wednesday raised estimates for Olin Corp due in part to expected increased sales from its Winchester firearms ammunition business.

CJI pleas for more courts in country

8 Nov 2008, 2108 hrs IST, PTI

KOCHI: Making a strong plea for more courts in the country to reduce pendency of cases, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said a proposal has
been sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this effect.

At least 100 CBI courts should be set up in the country, including three in Kerala, Justice Balakrishnan said in his inaugural address at the 53rd anniversary celebrations of the Kerala High Court here on Saturday evening.

To reduce pendency of cases, there is an urgent need to have more courts, he said. In Mumbai there are 20 additional courts, while Delhi has 10. There should be at least five additional courts in each district, he said.

Pointing out that there are 4000 cases pending in Thrissur family court, he said the minimum number of cases in family courts should be only 400.

Urging people to avoid unnecessary litigations, the CJI said there are more than 3.5 crore cases pending in different courts in the country. As many as 48,000 cases are pending in Supreme Court alone.

During the function, the CJI declared Cheriyanad in Alapuzha district as 'litigation controlled village'.

Earlier, Justice Balakrishnan stressed the need to provide chambers to advocates in the court complex as it would improve the efficiency of the legal system.

Modi flays ATS for booking army officials in blast case

8 Nov 2008, 1851 hrs IST, PTI

RAIPUR: Defending the Indian Army in the Malegaon blast case, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday said the UPA government is dampening
the morale of the armed forces by suspecting them of terrorist activities.

Modi, addressing an election rally in Dhamtari, 80 kms from here, flayed the Mumbai ATS, for booking innocent army officials, who had been working for the sake of motherland.

Modi also attacked Congress' new ally Samajwadi Party for questioning the recent Batla House encounter in Delhi, in which two terrorists and a policeman were killed.

"Such acts by responsbile ruling members are deliberate attempts to demoralise the security forces," he said.

Harping on his pet issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, Modi said that the local Congress candidate is also an outsider, and added that, it is the tradition of Congress to get leaders from outside and urged the people to vote for the BJP.

Given the fact that Dhamtari is considered as the 'Punjab' of Chhattisgarh in terms of food grain production, Modi said, the country's granaries are empty under the present UPA government, which were never during the NDA rule.

Sangh distances itself from Malegaon episode
8 Nov 2008, 1343 hrs IST, S Balakrishnan, TNN

MUMBAI: The Sangh Parivar has decided to completely distance itself from Lt- Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit and others arrested in connection with the
Malegaon bomb blast of September 29.

Sources close to the top echelons of both the RSS and the BJP said Lt-Col Purohit and his associates belonged to a "fringe group". They said such groups had always remained on the periphery of the Parivar for the past several decades, but they never enjoyed the patronage of the leadership.

The stand contrasts with the ambivalence BJP chief Rajnath Singh showed when he said that police did not have sufficient evidence against Sadhvi Pragya Singh and other Malegaon accused. Even though the party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani struck a different chord, hewing to the BJP's stand against giving any quarter to those accused of terrorism, the impression that the party was not clear on what stand to take on the alleged terrorists — motivated by the desire to avenge killings by jehadi terrorists — remained. The party spokesperson even insinuated that the Malegaon probe was a "sponsored affair".

The Sangh Parivar leadership, however, does not want to be seen as having reversed its "tough-on-terror" stand for the sake of Malegaon terrorists. In fact, many in the RSS question the decision of Lt-Col Purohit and his associates to call their organisation Abhinav Bharat, an organisation originally founded by Veer Savarkar.

Pankaj Phadnis, who is married into the Savarkar family and who is now the main trustee of the Abhinav Bharat charitable trust, said he was "deeply dismayed" to find the name Abhinav Bharat being tarnished by individuals who were in no way connected with his organisation.

Phadnis, who is a management expert working for a large industrial house in Mumbai, told TOI, "Abhinav Bharat was a revolutionary society formed sometime in 1905 by Veer Savarkar so that India attains absolute political independence. Its prominent members included Madam Cama, Sikander Hayat Khan, Acharya Kriplani, Balasaheb Kher, Harnam Singh and countless others. Inspired by Mazzini, the famed Italian revolutionary, it was a truly secular, non-sectarian body committed to Indian independence. The sacrifices made by its members are the stuff legends are made of. Once the goal of independence was attained, Veer Savarkar publicly dissolved Abhinav Bharat."

In 2001, Abhinav Bharat was registered as a charitable trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950 bearing registration number 19962. Donations to the trust are exempt under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. Access to its web site, www.abhinavbharat.org, is open only to those who confirm that they shall work towards a peaceful, pluralistic, inclusive and just human society. Currently, it has sponsored a doctoral study in the University of Mumbai on the universalisation of primary education.

"The organisation being investigated for its alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast is an unauthorised and illegal user of the term Abhinav Bharat and therefore an impostor," said Phadnis, who is close to several top RSS and BJP leaders.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Sangh_distances_itself_from_Malegaon_episode/articleshow/3688939.cms

Real scandal: Dead men buying property in Goa

8 Nov 2008, 0232 hrs IST, ET Bureau

PANAJI: In Goa, forming name-sake companies which allows 100% FDI has been a major route for investing in properties. This easy route, adopted often
in collaboration with locals looking to make a quick buck is responsible for many foreigners violating Fema that governs all land sales made to foreigners in India.

“In many cases, a person with a small shack buys huge land else where. We have also found cases wherein a dead person is named as an Indian partner to the business deal which clearly indicates that the deals are not genuine,” says Anupam Kishore, joint secretary, Debt Management, who headed an inquiry into foreign land deals in Goa.
Senior bank officials too admit that a ‘large share’ of their foreign business in Goa deals with property purchases.

Official records point that since Fema came into force in 1999, nearly 500 foreigners own property in Goa, mostly British and Russians. The state government has now sent 482 transactions for inquiry to the enforcement directorate.

Fema allows a person of foreign national with a business visa to procure land in India after staying in the required state for 182 days in the preceding financial year. The individual must also have papers for either long-term employment in that place or for carrying on business/vocation there. A foreigner can also purchase land purely for personal use — like a holiday home. In both cases the foreigner has to prove his intentions to stay in Goa for an uncertain period of time.

However, land can also be jointly bought/registered with an Indian partner, where the paper work becomes simple after the foreign person spends mandatory 182 days in Goa. According to government sources, this joint route while used to seek permission for commercial purposes like running a restaurant, shack or be rented out; is often also used for drug trafficking — all done hand in glove with the local (Indian) partner.

In a recent meeting with RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao, Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat has asked for changes in Fema rules granting state greater control in land sold to foreigners. Besides this, the state will soon be empowering registrars to refuse registration of deals made to a foreigner if it’s not in ‘public good’. This, they say, will help put a ‘blanket ban’ on sale of land to foreigners.

The government’s strong move against foreigners has come post the ghastly murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling last February. While locals have been blamed of murdering the girl, questions were also raised about how tourists were so easily allowed to extend their visas.

Meanwhile, the state government’s move has already frightened many foreigners who claim that they are being simply harassed for being an ‘outsider’. “A lot of people have been left stranded. Being under investigation, they cannot even sell their property and go back.

These people have put in their entire savings here and don’t know what to do,” claims advocate Vikram Verma who has assisted many foreigners in buying their dream homes in Goa. So while enforcement directorate is yet to charge those with fraudulent deals, for Goans, its time the foreigners went home.

Obama to go ahead with Polish missile shield plans: Warsaw

8 Nov 2008, 1429 hrs IST, AGENCIES

WARSAW: President-elect Barack Obama has told Polish President Lech Kaczynski he intends to follow through with plans to build parts of a US
anti-missile shield in Poland, Warsaw said on Saturday.

"Barack Obama has underlined the importance of strategic partnership between Poland and the United States, he expressed his hope of continuing the political and military cooperation between our two countries," a statement said.

"He also said the anti-missile shield project would go ahead," said the statement issued by Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone.

Cong's Judum hero booked for bribing tribal woman for vote
8 Nov 2008, 0227 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Caught on camera offering currency notes to a tribal woman during campaigning in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh Opposition leader Mahendra Karma
was on Friday booked by the local police for allegedly bribing electors to vote in his favour.

Following EC directions asking district authorities to have an FIR registered against Mr Karma, the police charged him under Section 171B of IPC, which deals with bribing of a person for inducing him into exercising electoral right.

Mr Karma, candidate from Dantewada, was photographed by a section of the media on Thursday handing over money to a tribal woman and telling her to press the button next to the Congress symbol. He was clicked handing over a few hundred-rupee notes to the woman soon after the election speech.

On a subsequent complaint filed by the returning officer, the EC directed the registration of an FIR against the Opposition leader under the IPC as well as under Section 123(1)(b) of the Representation of Peoples’ Act. The SHO of Dantewada immediately complied, booking Mr Karma both for violation of the IPC and RPA. A case has been registered him at Kotwali Dantewada.

“A show cause notice has been issued through district electoral officer to Mr Karma for violation of model code of conduct,” chief electoral officer Alok Shukla confirmed. Action would be taken after Mr Karma files his reply to the show-cause notice, he said.

The monetary inducement of a tribal woman by Mr Karma came when he was campaigning in Behramgarh and had just wound up his address to a small gathering of tribals in a remote village. Campaigning is on for the assembly poll in Chhattisgarh, set for a two-phase election on November 14 and 20. The offence, if proven, could result in his being barred from contesting elections under RPA.

The media also saw Mr Karma — who had by then realised that he had been clicked offering the bribe to the tribal woman — instructing a man carrying a bag, allegedly full of money, to leave his side. Mr Karma on Friday declined comment to newspersons on the developments.

Mr Karma has been instrumental in the emergence of Salwa Judum. He sold the idea of a people’s movement against Maoists to the BJP government in 2006, and was himself involved in the Salwa Judum’s anti-Naxal protests. The Dantewada seat, being contested by Mr Karma, has become the hotbed of political activity during this year’s elections and is one of the worst-affected Naxal-hit districts of the state.

US ropes in Pak security experts, India jittery
8 Nov 2008, 1336 hrs IST, Indrani Bagchi, TNN

NEW DELHI: As new US Centcom commander General David Petraeus begins a strategy security review in Tampa, Florida, the presence of two security
analysts from Pakistan as consultants have raised eyebrows here.

Ahmed Rashid, an acknowledged authority on the Taliban and Afghanistan, and Shuja Nawaz, author of a book on the Pakistan army, have been named "consultants" at the classified review starting in Florida this weekend. The aim is to review the war plans in Afghanistan and Iraq as the Barack Obama administration considers the wisdom of a troop surge in Afghanistan.

About 100 military specialists, known as the Joint Strategic Assessment Team, will help with the wide-ranging assessment and are expected to report in February. They will be helped by policy officials from the participating countries.

India's concern stems from the possibility that Rashid's latest recommendation of the "grand bargain" to solve Afghanistan's mammoth problems of security and terrorism may have found fertile ground in the Obama set. Certainly, the central argument in the article draws the same connections between "solving" terrorism in Afghanistan and "solving" Kashmir that Obama has been advocating for a while, including in the same journal some time ago.

In a much quoted article in the esteemed 'Foreign Affairs' journal, Rashid and America's best known Afghanistan expert Barnett Rubin wrote that Pakistan would be persuaded to stop supporting terrorism if India can be persuaded to solve Kashmir, which they argue to be a bigger strategic threat to Pakistan than terrorists on their soil, which "can be controlled". This is a "grand bargain" that India will not support.

However, sources said, it's premature to be hyperventilating about such a diplomatic initiative. Indian policymakers believe that once the new US administration takes shape, the realities of the situation will become much clearer to the new Washington. At its worst, India expects to have to do some diplomacy to counter any such perceptions.

The Rashid-Rubin article goes on to make the following suggestions:

à Pakistan should not be "pressured", because its security establishment believes that it is threatened by a US-India-Afghan alliance to dismember Pakistan.

à Pakistan's military command continues to believe the two-nation theory and wants Kashmir to be incorporated into the South Asian homeland for Muslims. To this extent, Afganistan, they say, is "within Pakistan's security perimeter".

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/US_ropes_in_Pak_security_experts_India_jittery/articleshow/3688897.cms

Jet Airways terminates services of 35 expat pilots

8 Nov 2008, 2119 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: With the aviation industry in a facing rough weather, private air-carrier Jet Airways has terminated services of up to 35 expatriate pilots
who captain the airlines' Boeing 737-aircraft.

"Services of 35 expatriate pilots have been terminated by the airline," a source close to the development said here on Saturday.

Confirming the development, a Jet Airways spokesperson said some 25-odd pilots have been sacked. But aviation industry sources claimed that services of up to 35 expatriate Boeing-737 captains have been terminated by the Naresh Goyal-led domestic airline.

The expatriates get between USD 15,000-18,000 salary per month besides prerequisites such as five-star hotel accommodation and business-class conveyance to their home country.

Earlier, around Diwali time, Jet had sacked around 400 support staff, but later rescinded its move by taking back all the retrenched employees.

Another private air-carrier, Vijay Mallya-run Kingfisher Airlines, had last month announced a 90 per cent cut in the salaries of its trainee pilots as part of its cost-cutting measures.

Corus to bring down production by 30%, shut 3 blast furnaces

8 Nov 2008, 1953 hrs IST, PTI

LONDON: Tata Group-owned world sixth largest steel maker Corus plans to cut production by 30 per cent until the end of March 2009 and temporarily
shut down three blast furnaces.

"Corus expects to produce about 30 per cent less crude steel than planned during the two quarters to the end of March 2009," the company said in a statement.

Last month Corus had said it was cutting production by 20 per cent, or the equivalent of one million tonne of crude steel, to run to the end of the year. The group, which was formed from the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens, would close a blast furnace each in Scunthorpe, IJmuiden and Port Talbot.

In Britain, Corus has four blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, although one was already idle. Two at Port Talbot and one at Teeside would not be affected at the moment.

Corus Chief Executive Philippe Varin said: "The current slowdown requires us to adapt our operations to the changing environment with maximum speed."

We are adopting responsible measures in the areas of production and costs to optimise our results. Meanwhile, our strategy for long-term growth remains unchanged," he added.

No jobs would be lost in the newest round of cuts but on Thursday Corus said 400 people are to go in its distribution business.

Michael Leahy, General Secretary of the Steelworkers' Union Community, said: "We understand that there will be no permanent capacity cuts. However, we will be having discussions with Corus nationally and locally as to how we might mitigate any damage that may be caused by the shortfall in the order book." He said the cuts underlined how the economic crisis was hitting manufacturing.

World Bank approves $109 mn loan for Bangladesh
8 Nov 2008, 1737 hrs IST, REUTERS


DHAKA: Bangladesh will get a $109 million loan from the World Bank for efforts to repair infrastructure and restore the livelihoods for thousands of
families affected by last year's cyclone Sidr, the bank said on Saturday.

The cyclone caused extensive damage to property, livestock, and crops, with total damage and losses estimated at $1.7 billion. Overall 30 districts and about 9 million people were affected, leaving some 3,000 dead and more than 55,000 people injured, the bank said in a statement.

The finance will assist emergency efforts started after the cyclone in 2007 to construct or improve some 300 multi-purpose shelters and renovate 100 kilometres of coastal embankments with cyclone-resistant building techniques.

It will also support activities in the agriculture sector that will help farmers prepare for the next growing season and strengthen their ability to cope with future disasters.

"This is vital for Bangladesh as it is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to natural disasters and climate change," said Xian Zhu, World Bank country director for Bangladesh.

The project will also finance preparation of future schemes for river bank improvement, coastal embankment strengthening, disaster shelters, and upgrading of the rural road network.

By the end of the project period, it is expected to have helped around 57,000 poor farming households.

It brings the Bank's support for Bangladesh's cyclone response to $259 million.

The loan from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary arm, is for 40 years with a 10-year grace period and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent.

IDBI Bank gets 10-12 proposals for IHFL sale, says official

8 Nov 2008, 1540 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: IDBI Bank has received around 10-12 proposals from potential buyers of its wholly-owned subsidiary IDBI Homefinance (IHFL), a top bank
official said.

"Around 10-12 parties have approached us and we are evaluating the proposals. We will shortlist (the buyer) in the next few months," IDBI Bank's Deputy Managing Director, Jitender Balakrishnan, told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI-IBA-organised seminar here today.

The bank has decided to sell IHFL with a view to consolidating its home loan finance business, which is currently being rolled out through both its own housing finance division and its Pune-based wholly-owned subsidiary.

However, with valuations under pressure in the wake of the current downturn in the financial markets, the lender may not get what it expects. This could delay the sale process by a few more months.

IDBI Bank had taken over the erstwhile Tata Home Finance in September 2003 and renamed it as IHFL with a view to operating a separate unit for its home loans business.

IHFL presently has a home-loan portfolio of above Rs 2,700-crore and a presence in 18 centres across the country with 150 employees.

Internet revolution that elected Obama could save Earth: Gore

8 Nov 2008, 1224 hrs IST, AGENCIES

SAN FRANCISCO: Former US vice president Al Gore said an Internet revolution carrying Barack Obama to the White House should now focus its power on
stopping Earth's climate crisis.

The one-time presidential contender turned environmental champion told Web 2.0 Summit goers in San Francisco on Friday that technology has provided tools to save the planet while creating jobs and stimulating the crippled economy.

"The young people who have been inspired by Barack Obama's campaign and the movement that powered Barack Obama's campaign want a purpose," Gore said.

"One of the reasons we were all thrilled Tuesday night is it was pretty obvious this was a collectively intelligent decision."

The Internet's critical role in Democrat Obama's victory in the presidential race against Republican John McCain was a "great blow for victory" in addressing a "democracy crisis" stifling action against climate change, Gore said.

The Web has "revolutionized" nearly every aspect of running for US president and delivered an "electrifying redemption" of the founding national principle that all people are created equal, according to Gore.

"Some week," Gore said in greeting to an audience that leapt to its feet cheering. "It really was overwhelming. It couldn't have happened without the Internet."

Obama's victory, seen by many as a repudiation of policies of president George W. Bush, was validation of sorts for Gore, who lost to Bush in a controversial election outcome in 2000.

"Belated redemption is part of what we are celebrating this week," Gore said.

Since leaving politics Gore has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his relentless efforts to combat climate change and starred in an Academy Award-winning global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

He also founded Current TV, a cable television operation that taps into user-generated videos and news coverage fed to its website.

Obama not to attend G20 summit

8 Nov 2008, 0921 hrs IST, AGENCIES

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week.


Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter on Friday confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit.

"As he said himself, there is only one president at a time," she told reporters after Obama's first post-election news conference in Chicago.

Earlier the White House confirmed it did not expect Obama to take a seat at the talks on November 15.

"We are in communication and coordination with them. I don't know whether someone will actually be in the building. I don't expect in the room," spokesman Tony Fratto said of Obama's economic team.

But Fratto pledged close cooperation with the president-elect's economic advisers on the best way to respond to the global financial meltdown in order to avoid sending "confusing signals" to international markets.

"We look forward to hearing their views on how to deal with these issues which are going to go on for some time," the spokesman said one week before outgoing US President George W Bush hosts the summit.

Obama is keen not to trample on the sitting president's authority. But his aides are also leery of becoming too closely associated with the outgoing administration's 700-billion-dollar banking bailout, which remains unpopular among many voters, sources said.

Power cut has hit TN textile sector badly: Union Minister
8 Nov 2008, 1917 hrs IST, PTI

TUTICORIN(TN): Union Minister of State for textiles E V K S Elangovan on Saturday said the power cut in Tamil Nadu, had hit the textile sector in
the state and asked the DMK Government to take steps to overcome the crisis.

Talking to reporters here, he said the global economic crisis had not affected the textile industry in the country.

He said the UPA Government's efforts only saved the Indian Banks from the impact of the economic crisis that had affected the American banks.

Stating that the power cuts in Tamil Nadu had hit the sector "badly" in the state, he said the state Government should take effective steps to end the power crisis and start more power generation units.

He also said cooperative organisations would be started to protect the handloom and powerloom sectors and their workers.

Welcoming the Re one a kg rice scheme and Rs.50 spices pocket scheme, he said the government should ensure really poor people got them.

Govt slashes duty on garment imports from Nepal upto 75%
8 Nov 2008, 1914 hrs IST, PTI
KATHMANDU: Nepal's ailing garment industry suffering due to a global slumpdown in demand has welcomed India's decision to slash duty on exports to
the country by upto 75 per cent.

The Nepali exporters will be now paying between half to two thirds less duty to India.

The amount of duty paid will come down to around Rs 4 million from Rs 12 million going by estimated annual apparel export of Rs 100 million and on the basis of 4 per cent customs duty, according to Nepali Garment Exporters' Association.

"The central government of India has issued a notification in this connection, rolling back the unfair decision," Vice president of Garment Association of Nepal, Uday Raj Pandey was qouted as saying by Kantipur.

The Indian policy decision has come as a great respite to Nepali exporters, said garment entrepreneurs. The sudden decision by Indian customs in the last week of August this year to charge customs duty on maximum retail price (MRP) instead of the invoice rate had created unnecessary hassles, they said.

"With the fresh decision of the southern neighbor, the duty volume on Nepali apparel will decrease two to threefold, and that means our competitiveness will strengthen in the coming days," Pandey said.

In a major policy reverse, India has rolled back its decision to impose customs duty on maximum retail prices (MRP) of garments exported to India and will now levy tax on the price indicated on the customs invoice.

The decision had brought exports of even top brands like John Players, Peter England, Ituchu and Pantaloons to a standstill.

US financial crisis may hit India's exports in Q4: Deloitte


6 Nov 2008, 2101 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Country's exports, including BPO services, software and financial services exports, are likely to be hit by the global meltdown in the
fourth quarter of 2008, says a report by global research firm Deloitte.

"The ongoing slowdown in the US economy will likely to affect the future growth in India's exports. Experts predict that US businesses would likely either reduce outsourcing or withhold expansion plans," the report Deloitte Global Economic Outlook for the fourth quarter of this year said.

Consequently, as a result of the financial crisis, the BPOs, financial services and other software exports contributing to about 2 per cent of India's GDP are likely to be affected, the report said. Software industry body NASSCOM has also predicted that there would be a significant impact of the global crisis on the Indian BPO sector.
The financial turmoil and recessionary tendencies in major economies have already impacted India's export growth, which slowed to 10.4 per cent in September even as the country increased its imports by 43.3 per cent over September 2007.

The report said that the country's economic growth may fall by as much as 2 per cent over the next few years in the backdrop of the current financial crisis. "India will face slower growth prospects with analysts predicting a fall of as much as 2 percentage points over the next couple of years," it said.

The report, which has been prepared by economists from the research group said that the global economy remains at substantial risk. However, the speed and size of rescue efforts taken by the government are working well for a recovery in the future, it said.

Slowdown-hit PSUs chant the austerity mantra


8 Nov 2008, 1659 hrs IST, Dheeraj Tiwari & Subhash Narayan, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The economic slowdown is forcing austerity not just in the private sector: employees with state-owned companies are also being told to
take cuts to their compensation packages, as the slowdown bites into profitability.

Salaries in the public sector have always lagged those in the private sector, but state-owned companies have sought to bridge some of that gap using quaint-sounding perks and allowances. However, perks such as washing allowance, unhealthy locality allowance, cash handling allowance and extra performance pay look set to be abandoned as state-owned companies struggle to maintain profitability amid rising costs.

"Certainly, bonuses in the form of performance pay may see a dip since the second quarter results of some public sector undertakings are not outstanding. The worst case may be for oil PSUs, which faced most of the brunt," an official in the government's department of public sector enterprises (DPE) told ET.

The combined losses of the three state-owned oil firms - IndianOil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) - stood at around Rs 14,000 crore in the first half of 2008-09 . However, the final decision on whether to continue with the whole range of allowances will rest with the company and its administrative ministry.


Also Read
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? Indian exporters to bear burns of US bankruptcies: D&B
? India doing better than other economies: JP Morgan

This austerity drive comes at a time when companies in the private sector are being forced to abandon the use of coloured printers or keep the office air-conditioning on all the time. Some private firms have even stopped providing employees luncheon coupons.

It's not as if it's all about costs at public sector companies. Some of these allowances are relics from the past and indeed cumbersome to administer. Like, for instance, the cash handling allowance, which required the company to pay an employee a sum of Rs 300 each month for cash disbursed over Rs 10 lakh.

And the tight rein on costs is also not restricted to poorly-performing state-owned companies. Even highly-profitable firms are tightening their belts, given the need to conserve cash because of the liquidity crunch in the markets.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Slowdown-hit_PSUs_chant_the_austerity_mantra/articleshow/3689336.cms

New concerns over rising poverty


8 Nov 2008, 0000 hrs IST,

By: Usha Tuteja


The estimates of poverty in India have been an important but debatable issue among academia and policy makers. So far, there is no consensus on the rate and proportion of decline in poverty.

The latest numbers indicate that the level of poverty was 27.5% in 2004-05 and it has dropped to 25.9% in 2005-06. This means there were 260 million people in the country whose income was less than Rs 356.30 a month in the villages and Rs 538.60 a month in the cities. These numbers reflect the poor trickle down effect of six decades of development in the country.

If the poverty level is redefined on the basis of access to education, health, infrastructure, clean environment and empowerment of women and children, the existing numbers of poor will add up to a staggering quantum. Recently, two reports by the World Bank and the ADB have been released on poverty estimates. The World Bank revised its benchmark of extreme poverty up by 25 cents from $1 per person a day to $1.25 per person per day. The ADB has estimated an even higher benchmark of $1.35 per person per day.

The revised benchmark by the World Bank is the average of the national poverty lines of the worlds’ 15 poorest countries. The ADB’s benchmark is Asia-specific based on surveys from 16 Asian countries. When these benchmarks are used for estimating poverty levels in India, the situation becomes grave and uncomfortable. By using the first poverty line, the estimated number of poor in India during 2004-05 was 456 million or 41.6% of the total population.

According to the second poverty line, the number of poor in India was 622 million, which is 54.8% of the population. Evidently, these estimates are significantly above the official estimates of 27.5% indicated by the Planning Commission. Among the states, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP, Orissa indicate that around 40% of the population is below the poverty line.

A deeper probe into the poverty statistics measured by the World Bank, the ADB and the Planning Commission reflects poor achievements on inclusive growth despite attaining a growth momentum of as high as 8-10% by the country over the last few years. In the past quarter century, the poverty rate has slowly declined by somewhat less than one percentage point a year. But the number of poor have remained stubbornly large. Moreover, the decline in poverty was faster during the ’80s than during the ’90s and in recent years. Clearly, India has not experienced the spectacular declines in poverty, expected in an emerging economy with high growth.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/New_concerns_over_rising_poverty/articleshow/3687144.cms

Obama wannabes say, yes, we can!

8 Nov 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET Bureau

Even before the Democratic Party has finished celebrating the historic triumph of Obama’s inspirational campaign message of “Yes, We Can!”, India’s
politicians are getting into the act — pun intended! Telugu actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, whose Praja Rajyam Party will be making its debut in the coming elections to the AP legislative assembly, has expressed confidence that the outcome of the US presidential polls will be repeated in AP: “Like Americans, who created history by voting overwhelmingly in favour of change and social justice, our people will repeat the same message,” PTI quoted Chiranjeevi as saying.

The youth wing of the 123-year-old Congress has taken note of Obama’s triumph while interpreting it rather selectively as a victory for youth but without, of course, touching on the fact that the 47-year-old Senator from Illinois bagged his party’s presidential nomination on his own steam and without the benefit of dynastic politics.

Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar told TNN that “though ours is a young country demographically, old people are running it. Youth stand for idealism and transformation.” His Karnataka counterpart Krishna Byregowda added, “age matters as it reflects the candidate’s attitude. The person has a better understanding.” Congress MLC P Rathod struck the required note by saying, “age is one of the reasons for McCain’s defeat. This is why Rahul Gandhi has been saying that we require experience of the seniors, and the youth to build the country.”

Karnataka BJP spokesperson C T Ravi said, “it is the bane of Indian parties that one cannot get a poll ticket even at 47 when the US has a president at that age.” One wonders if the same point was made at the BJP’s recent national executive meet in Bangalore, which was addressed by its 80-year-old prime-ministerial candidate! The more things change in the US, the more they remain the same in India.

BJP in denial on Malegaon


8 Nov 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET Bureau

While the Mumbai ATS probe into the Malegaon blasts is uncovering deeply disturbing linkages between fanatical Hindu groups and serving army
officers, the BJP continues to be in denial.

The party’s support for the accused in the terror plot is vote-bank politics at its cynical worst. The main opposition party’s attempt to cast doubts on the investigation itself is blatant interference in a critical and highly sensitive process. For a party that keeps harping on ‘law and order’ and ‘national security’, outright support for individuals and groups accused of terrorist acts is sheer political profligacy. It is becoming increasingly clear that there are links between members of these extreme fanatical groups and the Sangh Parivar’s constituents.

In such a scenario, it is imperative to probe the nature and scale of these links and act against any groups that support terrorist violence. But given the failure of the secular-liberal parties to envisage a genuinely inclusive democratic project, one that breaks away from the identity-management paradigm, the majoritarian consensus has been virtually unchallenged. This consensus creates a climate where the BJP can put out the insidious logic of ‘patriotic’ terrorist groups.

Equally disturbing is the revelation that members of the armed forces may be directly involved in terror plots. The Indian army is widely seen as one of the last secular institutions in the country. A perception that is demonstrated, say, in the instinctive calls for calling out the army whenever communal riots break out. To have members of this fraternity now being suspected of active and direct involvement with fanatical groups and terrorist acts is a development that has grave implications for the nation. Indeed, the Deputy Army Chief has admitted as much while promising cooperation to the Mumbai ATS in its probe.

This is critical for the institution to retain its image and, indeed, its very character. There must be a thorough probe into links between serving armed forces members and all right-wing groups, and renewed efforts be made to totally insulate the army against such influences. Indeed, the investigation into the Malegaon blasts should change the very contours of the anti-terrorism paradigms in the country.

Job loss scare: Focus on SMEs


8 Nov 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET Bureau

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked industry leaders to refrain from large-scale layoffs. While his concern is understandable, the government
needs to worry more about the job losses in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) than at big corporates. Large corporates have mostly shifted to capital-intensive manufacturing.

The sharp decline in the headcount at steel companies despite a large increase in production is a case in point. The availability of cheap capital in recent years has helped this shift from labour to capital-intensive manufacturing. Therefore, while the manufacturing output at large companies may decline sharply, job losses are unlikely to be of the same order.

Similarly, in the case of service organisations, barring the large IT players, many functions have been outsourced to smaller service providers. Telecom being an obvious example. The real issue, therefore, is small and medium manufacturing, which accounts for nearly 40% of industrial production but a disproportionately higher share of employment, and the smaller service providers.

But unlike the huge uproar in the case of Jet Airways laying off about 800 employees, job losses at the smaller enterprises often remain below the radar because of the fewer numbers at each unit. The deteriorating external demand has already caused merchandise exports growth to plummet to a three-year low of 10% in September. For instance, diamond processing, a labour-intensive export industry, is reportedly sitting on an inventory enough to meet a year’s export demand and is faced with severe job losses. Textiles is another sector that is hit because of exports slowdown. In fact, as growth hit nations try to export their way out of slowdown, the situation could get even more difficult for India’s exports.

Goldman Sachs expects banks’ non-performing assets to double from the 2007 levels because of the stress in the SME and mid-sized corporate segments. Therefore, reaching out to them is more relevant from a job preservation perspective. There is a good case for making credit available to them urgently. Since government is a big consumer of SME produce, speedier purchase and quick payments would also help reduce working capital requirement. Better management of schemes would also speed up exports.

Hinduism in Double Trouble: Mao & Christ Come Together in Orissa
Thursday 6 November 2008


By Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi (Author of India: The Grand Experiment)

On May 18 2006, the Maoists in Nepal (who practice the precept of China’s late Chairman Mao Zedong that political power comes from bullets, not ballots) forced the world’s only “Hindu” nation to discard its Hindu identity in favor of a “secular” one.

On August 23, 2008, in India’s eastern state of Orissa, a group of 18-20 pro-Christian Maoists armed with AK 47 rifles gunned down revered Hindu leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati along with his four associates. The Swami had been forcing lower caste Christians to reconvert to Hinduism and had instigated large scale violence against them during December 2007 and January 2008.

Militant Hindus retaliated to the Swami’s ghastly murder by killing over 40 Christians, injuring hundreds, raping a nun, burning hundreds of homes and churches, and driving approximately 50,000 Christians into jungles and refugee camps. Those in the refugee camps pray, but Intelligence Officers suspect that some of those in the jungles are also learning the art of using a rifle. The Maoists had trained 20,000 guerillas before these Christians were driven to the forests. Now, the Maoist ranks may swell with Christian youth who have lost everything at the hands of Hindu arsonists.

They have nothing more to lose but much to gain from learning how to get money from officials (who extracts bribes from everyone) and eventually to rob banks (owned by a government which did not prevent the arsonists from looting their homes, businesses and whole villages).

Pro-Christian Maoists in Orissa have already warned a number of specific Hindu leaders responsible for anti-Christian violence that they are next on their hit list. A few hundred “Christian-Maoist” guerillas will change the power-equation in Orissa. By refusing to defend their families the government gives to the Maoists the ethical right to self-defense. However, once they move beyond defense to revenge they destroy the image Christianity has built up by two centuries of humanitarian service and developing democratic institutions of civilized life. For the next generation of Indians, Christian guerillas may define what Christianity means just as terrorists now define Islam.

Today (on October 31, 2008) the ten million strong women’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist – not Maoists) has made public its decision to support the Catholic nun raped by the Hindus.

(Why would a political party in need of Hindu majority vote stand up for a despised, persecuted minority It is a principled stand but it is also possible that the Communists are seeing that a social revolution is taking place in Orissa: 50,000 people have chosen to live in jungles and refugee camps rather than reconvert to Hinduism! The Communists may be agreeing with Mahanta Krushna Charan Dash Goswami, President of the Matha Mandir Surakhsya Parishad that Hinduism is being reduced to a minority religion in some pockets of Orissa.)

At least one good American Christian (presumably, unaware of the Christian-Maoist nexus) has asked his Congressman if he should help Christians in Orissa buy guns.

In the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh, the Government and the upper caste Hindus tried to create an armed force called “Peace Mission” (Salwa Judum) to counter Maoist insurgency. In March 2007, three hundred armed Maoists retaliated by invading the Police camp with rifles, grenades and petrol bombs. They killed 55 of the 79 “Security” forces, without losing even one of their members.

Consequently, the Prime Minister of India acknowledged that this growing Maoist revolt has become the “single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country.”

The Maoists have established a significant presence in at least 13 of India’s 28 states. They are recruiting guerillas and terrorizing entire regions to establish a safe haven called “Revolutionary Compact Zone” from Nepal in the north all the way down to Andhra Pradesh in the south. The goal is to build a base for launching a full-scale revolt against India Inc. – the custodian of a corrupt democracy.

Is Armed Revolt against “Shining” India Inevitable?

A democratic India that can send a rocket to the moon is certainly shining. It makes me proud. However, our corrupt culture of bribery in government, courts, police, education, employment and business makes it incapable of providing equality of opportunity. Upper caste Hindus are the primary perpetrators and beneficiaries of corruption. Hindu asceticism renounces wealth but it espouses a moral philosophy that cannot fight corruption. Intellectuals such as the late Oxford don Nirad Chaudhuri have charged that Hinduism’s venal gods that require appeasement are an important reason why upper caste Hindus corrupted clean institutions built up by British Christians.

In 2004, the BJP led “Hindutva” Government became so proud of India’s sudden economic boom that it tried to fight the General Election on the slogan “India Shining.” But many peasant farmers were committing suicide, because unable to repay their debts they were harassed by banks and money lenders. The peasants shocked the pundits by defeating the BJP-led government and entrusting their future to Sonia Gandhi – an Italian born, Roman Catholic widow of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Mrs. Gandhi did focus some of her attention on the plight of the rural poor, but failed because she had to rely on corrupt bureaucracy and creaky political machinery to implement her welfare programs. So far she has not exhibited the strength needed to build a new party that has moral nerves to match her vision.

What do you think the children of a harassed farmer do after he commits suicide? My guess is that in many cases the son accepts the offer of a gun which comes with a promise to change the rotten religio-social “system” responsible for his father’s death. The daughter becomes her brother’s trusted informer.

Journalists have gone into the jungles to meet with the Maoists that killed the Hindu Swami, but the police cannot get to them. India Inc has become so bankrupt (morally and intellectually) that soon it will have to send in the army to crush it’s downtrodden, but it knows that the army’s use would be democracy’s ultimate moral defeat. An imported political system that offers no hope to the poor will lose its right to remain.

From the perspective of the hopelessly poor, India’s secular democracy has already failed. But at least some of the poor think that it is not democracy that needs discarding but Hindu culture that provides no spiritual basis to make democracy work.

The Conversion Controversy

The initial conflict in Orissa was ethnic, not religious. Swami Laxamananda Saraswati succeeded in instigating Tribals to kill Scheduled Caste (Untouchable/Dalit) Christians because the Christians were demanding to be reclassified as Tribals. This would make them eligible for special quotas in educational institutions, jobs, loans, and political office. The Tribals feared that if the Government conceded the Scheduled Castes’ demand then their children would have to compete against better educated Christian children. The Hindu government was insensitive to poor Christians and the Christians were insensitive to the needs of the Tribals who were poorer than them. A Christian leadership confused by a secular sense of social justice and Marxist leaning Dalit Liberation Theology precipitated the political (non-violent) conflict.

In this non-violent conflict over affirmative action programs, the Swami saw an opportunity to mobilize the Tribals against the Dalit converts to Christ. His agenda was to stop conversions. His motivation was hatred and his method was force. If he were a saint he would have won poor Christians by empathizing with their poverty and need. He would have used his position to reconcile the two groups and fight their common enemy – poverty. He could have championed poor Christians by asking the Government to consider their plight. But blinded by Hindutva ideology he complicated the conflict by injecting the issue of conversion in a battle against poverty.

The Western Church supports missionaries to serve poor Hindus but many rich Hindus pay their leaders to harass the poor who convert to Islam and Christianity.

Gandhi, Untouchability and Conversions

When he was a child Mahatma Gandhi’s mother taught him that Uka – the boy who cleaned their lavatories – was “untouchable”. Any accidental contact with him required a cleansing bath. While studying in England, Gandhi experienced the beauty of a different culture, one built on the biblical assumption that human beings were created equal. He was liberated by white families affirming his human dignity.

This “English” Gandhi revolted against inequality when the racial arrogance of white South Africans violated his dignity. He devised his weapon of Satyagraha – passive, non-violent resistance – to use his opponents’ biblical view of human equality against their routine violation of the Bible. The “African” Gandhi did not champion the dignity of the black Africans. To this day Indians in Africa are considered more racists then the whites.

Gandhi liked the biblical ideas of human equality and the dignity of a sweeper, but he could not bring himself to reject the Hindu faith that people were either born unequal due to their karma in previous lives or because Brahma created them unequal to begin with. His ambivalence expressed itself vividly in controversy over conversion:

In 1935, Newspapers reported that in village Kavitha in Ahmedabad (in Gandhi’s native state of Gujarat) the upper caste Hindus had committed horrible atrocities against some “untouchables”. Columbia University educated Untouchable leader, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, had been thinking about conversion for a while. In a Depressed Classes conference in Yeoli in Maharashtra, on October 14, 1935, he made his famous announcement that he was born a Hindu and had no choice, but he will not die a Hindu because he does have a choice. Ambedkar’s resolve initiated a national debate on conversion.

John R. Mott, the American founder of the YMCA, asked Mahatma Gandhi if he thought it was wrong to “preach the Gospel with reference to its acceptance.”

The Mahatma responded in his paper Harijan (19 & 26 December, 1936): “Would you, Dr. Mott, preach the Gospel to a cow? Well, some of the ‘untouchables’ . . .can no more distinguish between the relative merits of Islam and Hinduism and Christianity than a cow . . . If you must share [the Gospel] with the Harijans, why don’t you share it with Thakkar Bapa and Mahadev? Why should you go to the ‘untouchables’ and try to exploit this upheaval?”

Dr. Ambedkar was not the only one enraged by Mahatma Gandhi’s view of the Dalits. His own follower Jagjivan Ram – a gifted, young, ‘untouchable’ Congressman from Bihar – registered his protest. Gandhi had demonstrated that Hinduism’s caste arrogance was worse than the racial arrogance of white South Africans: It assumes that most of the “untouchable” Hindus are an inherently lower species – like animals. Indeed the Hindu Law of Manu classifies Untouchables as “talking animals”!

This prejudice that marred Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy not only continues to this day, but is reinforced each time an educated, upper caste, “secular” Hindu argues that missionaries should not attempt to convert the “Lower Castes.” This condescending attitude drives militant Hindus such as Swami Laxamananda Saraswati to try and save the lower castes from Christian missionaries, if necessary by force. Why should anyone follow a Swami who believes that they are stupid animals, incapable of thinking for themselves and therefore have to be herded into the Hindu fold with a stick.

Why is Christ Losing to Mao?

Chances are that you have never heard that at least some of the “persecuted Christians” in Orissa are Maoists. Some of them killed Hindus and burned their homes in December 2007.

You have not been given this information because India’s Christian leadership has presented a simplistic picture which happens to be untrue. That is not to suggest that Christian spokespersons lack integrity. They have misled the world because:

(a) Like secular journalists, most Christian leaders have not taken the time to understand poverty, the poor and the growing appeal of Maoism. Therefore, they cannot make sense of what is happening. They describe what they understand.

(b) Some of them are motivated purely by their compassion for the sufferings of fellow-Christians. They do not have the time or the tools to diagnose the deeper disease…

Unfortunately, the failure of Christian leadership goes much deeper: Christ is losing at least some of his followers to Mao because the Church no longer preaches “the Good News to the poor”. Their Gospel aims to take souls to heaven but is not bothered whether or not God’s will is being done in India. Some missionaries do specialize in subjects such as elementary education, health, micro-financing and linguistics, but no one seems to know anything about the biblical worldview that liberated Western nations out of poverty, oppression and corruption, giving them relatively just, clean and sensitive governments.

Perhaps the most tragic fact is that at a time like this when Indians are killing and dying in search of human equality, there is a growing group of American missionaries teaching the upper caste followers of Christ not to worship with lower caste converts. This unthinking forum is importing American racism into the Indian Church. It believes in segregating churches along caste lines because it thinks that the Great Command to love our neighbors as ourselves can be superseded by the obligation to make disciples of the Brahmin nation (people-group).

Secular democracy has failed but there is no forum in India that teaches biblical economic and political thought. The Maoists overtook Nepal because several decades ago the Government of North Korea donated libraries to every school. No one bothered to see what those books were teaching. In as much as Marxism is a Christian heresy, it does do some good. But just as the Chinese Marxists are searching for a satisfying world and life view, India needs literature that will expound a reforming worldview and spirituality. Then our universities, colleges, seminaries, pulpits, radios and television will communicate a message that makes sense even to the Maoists.

The fact that militant Hinduism is giving birth to Christian Maoists will thrill the proponents of Dalit Liberation Theology. But is this something to celebrate Medieval Europe had plenty of “Christian” knights who dedicated their weapons and skills to the Church. Most of them became such nuisance that Popes sent them away on Crusades to kill and die away from their homelands. It took Europe centuries to bring physical might under moral right. India inherited a professional army, police and bureaucracy from the British. These institutions have degenerated. The Maoists killed the Swami only because the Orissa Government did not bring him under the rule of law. In choosing not to protect innocent Christians the Government failed again. That deserves condemnation and a resolve to transform.

But is government’s failure good enough reason to exchange civil government and rule of law with the rule of guns and gangs A civil war could be justified when the Government itself kills the poor who agitate for affirmative actions or for their right to convert. But under present circumstances, it is foolish to destroy the magnificent institutions that the Christian political thought, spirituality and wisdom gave us through the British. The Church should be training its youth to reform and run the institutions of justice that Hindu secularism has corrupted. Christ and Mao have come together in Orissa because people oppressed for thousands of years have decided to stand up against Hindu socio-economic system. One brother is choosing Christ, the other Mao. The Maoist brother gets angry when Hindus persecute his brother who chose Christ. The Christian should love his Maoist brother, but cannot follow his brother in hating his oppressor. He has to follow Christ and find supernatural power to repay good for evil. The Church has to equip a Christian to love both the Hindu oppressor as well as his Maoist brother and help them both to find the true Savior of the world.

The Maoists are not dumb. They know that in the short run their violence will drive investors and industrialists away from Eastern India and in the long run they will have no option but to join the democratic mainstream. Bullets do give political power, but they also take it away, quickly and abruptly. In the long run they establish either chaos or authoritarianism as the order of the day. That precludes the possibility of establishing peace – the pre-requisite to prosperity.

The Maoists need to know how they can help build a culture of human equality and dignity, freedom and justice, honesty and service, education and development, science and technology, peace and prosperity where guns remains under the authority of moral law. India will seek the Kingdom of God when it sees that the historical track record points to Christ, not Mao.

© Assist News

Vishal Mangalwadi (1949-) is an international lecturer, social reformer, political columnist, and author of thirteen books. Born and raised in India, he studied philosophy at universities, in Hindu ashrams, and at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. In 1976 he turned down several job offers in the West to return to India where he and his wife, Ruth, founded a community to serve the rural poor. Vishal continued his involvement in community development serving at the headquarters of two national political parties, where he worked for the empowerment and liberation of peasants and the lower castes. Vishal and Ruth are currently in the United States exploring The Soul of Western Civilization - the Bible. This study was inspired by Vishal and Ruth’s recognition of India’s need for the reforming power of the Bible. The first fruits of their research are available in (i) Eight-Part lecture series “The Book of the Millennium” and (11) Eleven-part lecture series “Must the Sun Set On the West?” available from interro_liens_callback.

© Vishal Mangalwadi Vishal VishalMangalwadi.com P.S. The sources for this essay will be sent upon request by the author.
http://journalchretien.net/breve14777.html

State neglect fodder for Maoists
7 Nov 2008, 0310 hrs IST, Saugata Roy & Sukumar Mahato, TNN

The ambush on the chief minister’s convoy in Salboni is a warning to the CPM that has so far discounted the Maoist menace as restricted to the
Belpahari block in West Midnapore. The blast on a national highway - in the middle of a high-security zone - has laid bare the fact that the threat is real and spreading.

The Maoists have found sympathizers in an area from where most villagers had gone to the chief minister’s programme at Salboni. What’s more alarming is that Maoist operations are taking place in a traditional Left Front bastion, barely 7 km from Midnapore town. Only a few months ago, CPM made a comeback in the Belpahari panchayat samiti under the tribal-dominated Jangalkhand in the panchayat elections. But Maoists seem to have drilled into the Left support base.

The paradox becomes apparent when one visits the Jangalkhand - otherwise attractive for its pristine natural beauty and the complete absence of anything modern.

A 10-km walk on the meandering morrum path from Simulpal and nestled deep in the forest is Loboni village - where a Maoist blast blew up a medical van carrying a doctor and a nurse about a fortnight ago. In an open heath close by, stand the ‘martyr columns’ of Parikshit Singh and Rampada Singh, killed in March 2007. That was the last time CPM district secretary Dipak Sarkar came to this place.

The CPM’s local leaders fear to tread in this area. At Loboni primary school, Maoist posters are stuck on the doors - durnitibaj lokder gana adalat kore shasti din (punish corrupt functionaries in people’s courts). "Even government officials don’t come to this area," a contractor said.

You can sense the fear if you try to talk to the village folk. Women, hauling huge bales of hay and bundles of forest wood, glance at outsiders with mistrust - as if they were all from the police. The mood is similar in Sakhabhanga, Patharchakri, Jamaimari and Hadhadi. "What do we do? My husband has died. I live on my own. We are all scared of police. They come on motorbikes and pick up young men from the area. They arrested my elder son Asok while he was coming from Belpahari with medicine for his wife, a day before the blast near Simulpal. But he was charged in the blast case," said Kunidebi Karmakar of Hadhadi.

And what about the bon party (‘jungle party’, the local name of the Maoists)? Kunidebi shied away. "I don’t know about any party," she muttered.

Like Kunidebi, most villagers in this forest area have come to terms with the Maoists, who descend from the hills during the night to hold meetings. "The new breed of Maoists are emulating the old communists. They mix with the people, dine with them, support their cause, and thus consolidate their support base," said district Congress general secretary Subrata Bhattacharya. And the ruling communists, completely cut off from these areas, are banking on the administration to bail them out.

"A local official came to me one day and said the government will construct a road down Darra village under Kantapahari. I asked him whether he knew that most people there were suffering from TB. He had no clue," said doctor Shantanu Bhattacharya, who has set up a training centre for self-help groups in Simulpal.

The scene is similar in the Salboni villages, close to Midnapore town. Villagers here have no electricity, have to haul water from temporary wells because most tube wells are defunct, and have no ration cards. "We have no proper roads. I have been raising these issues at the gram samsad meeting, but to no avail," said Bairanda Mahadanda, samsad secretary. "Add to it the corruption in the panchayats. The local CPM leaders have no time for our problems," said Sachin Chalak, a former DYFI activist.

The discontent and the administrative apathy are paving the way for Maoists to strike roots. CPM local committee secretary Santi Bhuin recalls how the Maoists held a ‘people’s court’ in Garmal and Jagannathpur villages in Salboni in April and murdered CPM branch secretary Mukul Tewari and partymen Jugal Murmu and Nabakumar Murmu.

Alimuddin Street sensed the problem much earlier and tried to handle it politically. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refuses to see it as a mere law and order problem. CPM state secretary Biman Bose has urged activists to reach out to poor villagers and take up the socio-political challenge.

But most leaders in West Midnapore are busy looking out for the enemy within. They have been using the administration to make arbitrary arrests, thus spreading the discontent further. "We have taken serious note of the problem. The Opposition has targeted us. We are also aware of our limitations and will take corrective measures," said CPM’s West Midnapore district secretariat member Dahareswar Sen.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/State_neglect_fodder_for_Maoists/articleshow/3683218.cms

‘Maoist’ duo and informer in Salboni net
OUR BUREAU

The arms seized from the arrested trio. (Samir Mondal)
Calcutta/West Midnapore, Nov. 6: Police today arrested two “hardcore Maoists” and an alleged informer in connection with Sunday’s Salboni blast.

The suspects landed in West Midnapore police’s net after raids in Salboni and Lalgarh last night.

A 7.65mm Bulgaria-made pistol, a 9mm pistol of Italian make, 43 bullets and Maoist literature have been seized from Sunil Hansda alias Rimil, 25, and Sunil Mandi, 30, and Bhagabat Hansda, 40.

“The police have come to know that Sunil Mandi and Sunil Hansda have been carrying on operations in several places and they are hardcore Maoists. Bhagabat Hansda is a Jharkhand Party activist,” home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said after a meeting with inspector-general of police (law and order) Raj Kanojia.

He added that Bhagabat sent Maoists information on entry and escape routes and provided food and shelter.

Seven persons, including three school-going teenagers, had been arrested on Monday, a day after the explosion struck a convoy carrying Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and his deputy Jitin Prasada, who were returning from the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Jindal steel project in Salboni. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had crossed the spot a while ago.

According to district police superintendent Rajesh Kumar Singh, today’s arrests can lead to a “major breakthrough” as the three may give “vital leads” on Maoist operations in the Lalgarh, Jamboni, Belpahari and Binpur areas of West Midnapore.

“Sunil Hansda and Mandi are members of the Maoist guerrilla squad and used to frequent Jharkhand. Their interrogation can reveal their connections with Sasadhar Mahato, the absconding mastermind of the November 2 landmine blast” Singh said. “Of the 43 bullets seized, three had been used,” he added.

Mandi is accused of involvement in the killing of 11 policemen in Jharkhand’s Ghatsila area in August this year, the police said.

According to the police, the two pistols seized from the trio belong to Mahato. “Mahato used to keep in his possession the Italian and Bulgarian pistols. He would hand them over to Mandi and Sunil when he went somewhere,” an officer said.

The SP said the CID would probe the blast. Additional director-general, CID, Bhupinder Singh led a team to Salboni today.

CM smells ‘plot’

The chief minister today told his party leaders that the Salboni attack was part of a concerted effort to derail industrialisation in Bengal.

“They want to abort the Salboni steel project after the Nano pullout from Singur. But there is no question of going back on industrialisation and development despite all these threats,” a state CPM committee member quoted Bhattacharjee as saying.

“We have to reach out to the people, particularly the poor, who were with us but now harbour misgivings against us.”

With four municipal polls round the corner, the party has decided to focus on the “conspiracy to kill the chief minister with tacit support of the Opposition”.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081107/jsp/bengal/story_10075953.jsp

ArcelorMittal approaches West Bengal govt for land

Press Trust of India / Kolkata November 03, 2008, 14:32 IST



World's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal has approached West Bengal government for land at Rajarhat in the state, as it wants to set up an office there, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said today.

Billionaire L N Mittal, who runs the steel behemoth, is keen to set up a central office in Rajarhat near the city, for which the company has sought land from the state government, Bhattacharjee said here, inaugurating the 36th World Congress on Housing Science.

He said other companies such as telecom giant Airtel and ICICI Bank had also approached the government for land at Rajarhat.

Mittal was in the process of setting up greenfield plants in Orissa and Jharkhand.

Bhattacharjee said land prices were moving upward and that the asking rate per acre at Rajarhat was Rs seven crore.

He said housing was a major problem in the state and that the government was taking steps to set up satellite townships at Dankuni, Domjur and Baruipur. Bhattacharjee said since the government alone would not be able to provide housing for all, the PPP (public-private partnership) model was an ideal alternative.

Lapses on part of West Bengal police for naxal attack on VIPs
New Delhi (PTI): Basic security drill was not ensured by West Bengal police ahead of the visit of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to Maoist-infested Midnapore district on Sunday when the Left-wing extremists triggered a landmine explosion.

Sources in Union Home Ministry said the police had not carried the basic road opening exercise, a mandatory security drill, ahead of the VIP arrival to or departure from a foundation-laying ceremony of a steel project in West Midnapore district.

The remote-controlled mine was exploded by the Maoists at Salboni shortly after Bhattacharjee had passed through that area and Paswan was approaching the point in Jhargram district, adjacent to naxal-infested Midnapore district.

While state Home Secretary A M Chakraborty said it was not a timer but a remote controlled device used to trigger the blast, Union Home Ministry officials were surprised that the West Bengal Police had not sent a Road opening Party (RoP) ahead of the VIP visit.

The pilot car of Paswan was caught in the mine explosion which was followed by the fall of a high-voltage electricity wire that led to injuries to six policemen.

State Police Chief A B Vohra himself is conducting an inquiry and fix responsibilities in case of lapses.


West Bengal parties cry foul over police action at Salboni
November 8th, 2008 - 6:44 pm ICT by IANS -

Kolkata, Nov 8 (IANS) Two leading opposition political parties in West Bengal - the Trinamool Congress and the Congress - Saturday accused the police of indiscriminately arresting innocent villagers in West Midnapore’s Salboni area following the Nov 2 landmine blast.The Trinammol Congress demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the matter.

“Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee had demanded a CBI enquiry into the incident. We’ll soon write to the centre asking for a high-level CBI probe into the blast,” senior Trinamool Congress leader and former union minister Saugata Roy told IANS here.

He said: “In the letter Trinamool Congress would complain about the unnecessary harassment of its party workers at Salboni. They were arrested by the police without any proper reason.”

“The police have arrested five of our party members and also searched the house of (West Midnapore district Trinamool Congress secretary) Mrigen Maity. They are also creating problems for local residents in that region and interrogating them as if they were involved in the blast,” added Roy.

“How come the Maoists placed a long wire, spreading over more than two and a half kilometres, despite the thick police cover in that region. It’s also quite strange the blast occurred after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s car passed the spot,” he said.

A high-intensity landmine went off when the convoy of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan was returning from Salboni after laying the foundation stone of Jindal’s 10-MT mega steel plant.

Senior state Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee also put the blame on the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led state government.

He alleged that the CPI-M was torturing innocent people, especially those who belong to other political parties, in the name of Maoist connection.

“A team, led by state legislative assembly member Manas Bhuniya, will head for Salboni on Nov 11 to meet the locals who are now being tortured by the police,” Mukherjee told IANS.

West Bengal universities tie up with Italian institutions
November 8th, 2008 - 12:13 am ICT by IANS -

Kolkata, Nov 7 (IANS) A high-level delegation from Italy Friday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with several leading West Bengal universities here to launch an educational exchange programme.The academic delegation from the University and Polytechnic of Turin signed the agreement with four premier West Bengal universities - Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Rabindra Bharati University and Burdwan University.

“West Bengal and Turin have a cultural similarity in their origins. I am very hopeful of this academic cooperation, as it’ll serve several issues of mutual interest with reference to scientific collaboration as well as studies in art, literature, culture and political science,” city mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya told reporters at the MoU signing programme.

“The MoU was signed between four leading educational institutions and top 11 Italian universities,” he said.

“There’s always a malicious campaigning about Kolkata, outside India, that it’s a city of traffic congestion and filth. I think this type of wrong ideas are common because it’s a communist ruled state in the country,” Bhattacharyya added.

“This educational cooperation programme will open up a new era for the students in West Bengal to come in contact with the rich culture heritage of Italy,” he said.

West Bengal eyes Italian technology, investment

Kolkata, Nov 7 (IANS) West Bengal is eyeing Italian technology and investment in leather, engineering and textiles, state industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen said here Friday.

‘There is very high interest in our state about Italian leather and tannery industries. They have high-quality tanning technology and design. We want to bring such technology to Bengal,’ Sen said at an interactive session in the presence of the mayor of the Italian city of Turin.

He said jewellery made in India was different from that sold in Europe. ‘We have good jewellery entrepreneurs and highly skilled workers here. So, we can look for partnerships in this sector.’

Besides, the minister said, there was also scope for Italian investment in textiles and engineering.

Sen, however, regretted that West Bengal had derived no dividend from the arrangement it entered into with Italian nodal body for investment Sinest. ‘We have not been able to forge any joint ventures. But we hope the arrangement will reap fruits in the future.’

Turin mayor Sergio Chiamparino said his city of one million people in north west Italy had a 55 million Euro economy.

‘We had a low unemployment rate of 4.2 percent during the last five years. But like many other places of Europe, we are now starting to experience the first impact of the economic crisis,’ Chiamparino said.

Chimaparino was in the city in connection with the Festa Italiana 2008 - the seventh edition of the annual flagship event of the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber sources said while Italy’s trade with India stood at $61.41 billion in 2002, the figure has more than tripled to $185.6 billion in 2006-07.

Will Sourav be face of Brand Bengal?
7 Nov 2008, 0341 hrs IST, TNN
KOLKATA: The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is keen on involving Sourav Ganguly "as a brand ambassador" of West Bengal. The former India
captain, too, is interested in doing something for the state, Bengal urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.

According to the minister, who is close to Sourav, the cricket icon recently expressed his desire to do something for Bengal after his retirement. "He is extremely worried about Tata Motors pullout. Even the Salboni blast on the chief minister's convoy has worried him. He has repeatedly conveyed that to me. As a citizen, he is concerned about the state and wants the best for Bengal," Bhattacharya said.

Given Sourav's country-wide popularity, Bhattacharya feels he is best-suited to showcase projects of the state. "This is the reason why he can well be a brand ambassador for the state," he said.

Asked if Sourav plans to enter politics, Bhattacharya said: "I don't think so. I have never asked him about politics. Nor would I even suggest that to him. However, if he represents Bengal it would be good for the state."

Sourav has already set up his own cricket academy and is in the process of developing a sports complex in Behala.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Will_Sourav_be_face_of_Brand_Bengal/articleshow/3683325.cms

Protesters alleging torture lay siege on West Bengal police station
National, Fri, 07 Nov 2008 IANS


Kolkata, Nov 7 (IANS) Irate locals lay siege Friday to a West Bengal police station and blocked roads in West Midnapore district protesting against alleged torture and arrest of 'innocent' students following Sunday's landmine blast.


The blast was triggered by suspected Maoist ultras on the convoy of two union ministers and West Bengal Chief Minister Budhhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Protesters alleging torture lay siege on West Bengal police station
National, Fri, 07 Nov 2008 IANS


Kolkata, Nov 7 (IANS) Irate locals lay siege Friday to a West Bengal police station and blocked roads in West Midnapore district protesting against alleged torture and arrest of 'innocent' students following Sunday's landmine blast.


The blast was triggered by suspected Maoist ultras on the convoy of two union ministers and West Bengal Chief Minister Budhhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Gogoi says Bangladesh 'most problematic'
Guwahati (PTI): Days after the Assam serial blasts, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said religious terrorism was posing a greater danger than insurgency and claimed militants groups in Bangladesh were helping extremists carry out terror strikes in the country.

"The serial blasts that rocked various parts of the country have revealed the growth of fundamentalists and religious terrorism which was more dangerous than insurgency," Gogoi told reporters here. He suggested that religious leaders take a stand to solve the problem. "The need of the hour is for all religious leaders-- Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs-- to sit together."

Without directly blaming Bangladesh insurgent outfits for the serial blasts in the state on October 30 that left 84 persons dead, Gogoi said Assam, surrounded by a number of countries, was a vulnerable place. "But of them, Bangladesh is the most problematic ... This is the main problem as terrorist groups there are supporting local insurgents for terror activities," he said.

Bangladesh has denied that any insurgent outfit based in the country was involved in the blasts. Asked about the identify of the perpetrators of the recent blasts, Gogoi said "investigations are going in the right direction ... We have crossed the quarter final stage and are now in the semi-finals."

Gogoi demanded complete coordination among the N E states and neighbouring West Bengal to contain militancy . "We have called for the upgradation of the intelligence bureau office in Guwahati so that it could coordinate with the N E states as also West Bengal as north Bengal is a corridor used by terrorists," he said.

Emerging nations demand big role in meltdown talks
Sao Paulo (AP): Brazil, Russia, India and China are unifying to demand a big role in negotiations aimed at creating a new global financial order and preventing another economic meltdown, Brazil's Finance Minister said on Saturday.

After meeting with top economic officials from the four nations plus Mexico and South Africa, Guido Mantega said they will insist that developing nations have a big say in deciding how to fix the problems that caused an economic crisis that has hit them hard.

"We are still directed and controlled by institutions that reflect the economic situation of the 1940s and 1950s," Mantega said.

Speaking ahead of a weekend meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents from the Group of Twenty industrialised and developing economies, or G-20, Mantega said the world financial structure created by rich nations can't be fixed without a strong say from the so-called BRIC nations.

"We consider that the present institutions failed," Mantega told reporters. "They did not know how to avoid this financial problem. They did not detect it in time and failed to prevent it from happening."

France is suggesting bringing emerging economies on board as members of the exclusive world club of G-8 industrialised nations, but Mantega didn't specify which emerging-market nations besides Brazil, Russia, India and China should be allowed to join.

European presidents yesterday suggested making the International Monetary Fund the world's financial watchdog, giving it more power to curb financial crises, with more money to aid countries in trouble.

Obama apologises to Reagan for 'off handed seances' remark
Chicago (PTI): US President-elect Barack Obama has apologised to former first lady Nancy Reagan for his "careless" and "off handed" remark in which he referred to her having held "seances" in the White House.

Obama, who called Reagan after his press conference here, had a "warm conversation" with the widow of former President Ronald Reagan, transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

"President-elect Barack Obama called Nancy Reagan on Saturday to apologise for the careless and off handed remark he made during today's press conference," Cutter said.

"The President-elect expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs Reagan that so many Americans share and they had a warm conversation," she added.

At his first interaction with the media since coming out victorious in the November 4 Presidential election, Obama was asked if he had spoken to all "living" Presidents.

"I have spoken to all of them who are living," he replied adding, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances."

The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted astrologers during her husband's presidency as revealed by the president's former chief of staff Donald Regan in his memoir 'For the Record'.

However, there have been no reports of seances being conducted in the White House during the Reagan administration. Ronald Reagan, who was president of the US from 1981 to 1989, died in 2004.

Another first lady Mary Todd Lincoln is believed to have conducted seances to communicate with the dead during his husband Abraham Lincoln's presidency.

It is being pointed out that Obama was apparently confused about Reagan's consulting astrologers with reports of other First Ladies making contacts with the dead.


Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pak: Pranab
Kolkata (PTI): Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan which has to be sorted out between the two countries, External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said here on Saturday.

"Essentially it has been stated that it is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan," Mukherjee said when asked to comment on US President-elect Barack Obama's reported desire to appoint former US President Bill Clinton as a special envoy on Kashmir.

The problem has to be resolved under the Shimla agreement and subsequently the Lahore agreement, besides the series of discussions which had taken place including within the framework of the composite dialogue, he told reporters on the sidelines of the curtain raiser for the BIMSTEC summit 2008 here.

On the issue of Obama discouraging outsourcing by US companies, Mukherjee said it was the internal economic matter of that country and would comment on it when needed.


Trades will be settled at yesterday's closing price.


Communist allies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh want to ban futures in cooking oil, sugar and other commodities to tame inflation that reached 7.57 percent last month. While a study found no evidence that halting rice and wheat futures last year curbed prices, the government needs to keep food affordable for the half the 1.1 billion people who live on less than $2 a day.

``Halting futures trading will probably have little impact on Indian inflation,'' Anne Frick, a senior oilseed analyst for Prudential Financial in New York, said in an e-mail. ``World soy- oil prices are up due to fundamental factors, not speculation...''

The four commodities banned by India have a daily traded value of about 12 billion rupees ($288 million) on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. and the National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange Ltd., according to the regulator. Trading of all commodities on India's 23 exchanges totaled $922 billion in the year to March.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on May 4 the government may halt some contracts because of political pressure to see ``if it has any impact at all on inflation.'' The government-appointed panel chaired by economist Abhijit Sen last month didn't recommend extending the ban to other food commodities, saying there was no conclusive evidence to suggest futures trading contributed to price increases.

Chickpeas futures surged 89 percent in the past 12 months on the National Commodities exchange, while rubber rose 41 percent and soybean oil advanced 21 percent in the period. ``Prices may start to rise again if supply-side constraints are not eased,'' Si Kannan, associate vice president at Kotak Commodity Services in Mumbai, said by telephone. ``The ban is a short-term measure.''

The government halted futures trading in wheat and rice last year and lentils in 2006 to check a surge in local prices. A futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set price for delivery by a specific date.

India's imports of palm oil and soybean oil may be as high as 570,000 tons in May and June and may increase to as much as 700,000 tons a month starting in July, Dorab Mistry, a director at Godrej International Ltd., said last month. The South Asian nation relies on imports to meet half its edible-oil needs, buying palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil.

Rubber-growers don't expect the ban to have a significant impact because they don't rely on the futures market to price their crops, Sajen Peter, chairman of the state-run Rubber Board, said in an interview today. ``Indian farmers get the highest farm-gate price anywhere in the world and don't depend much on the futures to formulate their selling strategies,'' he said in the southern city of Cochin.

Kerala state accounts for more than 90 percent of India's rubber production, the world's fourth-biggest. Domestic traders, producers and consuming companies are the main participants in India's commodity exchanges, compared with the 13 million people in the country who trade stocks. Overseas funds aren't allowed to buy and sell commodity futures. China is the biggest buyer of vegetable oils.
http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2008/05/indias-marxists-win-more-futures.html
In India’s Coalition Math, Marxists’ Power Is Magnified
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By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: October 9, 2007
NEW DELHI, Oct. 8 — To a stranger, Prakash Karat and the organization he leads, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), would seem like anachronisms in the roaring capitalist economy that is India today.

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Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP
Prakash Karat is the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
But quite improbably, by seizing on India’s deepening friendship with the United States, Mr. Karat and his party have lately emerged as a sharp and dangerous weapon against the coalition government, making it plain that though the Communists do not have the strength to rule India, they have the power to spoil the plans of those who do.

On Tuesday, as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, was in India for what the government described as a routine, long-planned visit, political squabbling intensified, and speculation was rife that the increasingly strained relations between Mr. Karat’s party and the government that it has supported were about to give way.

India’s electoral math makes it impossible for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition government, which is led by the Congress Party, to govern without the backing of its Communist allies, principally Mr. Karat’s party. And so, if Mr. Karat carried out his veiled threats to withdraw support, the government could not continue, and fresh elections would have to be called before its five-year term expires in 2009.

In a vague bit of saber rattling, Mr. Karat has threatened “serious consequences” if Mr. Singh’s government advances its negotiations on its nuclear deal with the United States. He sees it as a part of a strategic alliance with the United States, intended to increase American weight in Asia — and he wants none of it.

“We don’t want to be another Japan,” Mr. Karat said. “It’s not in our interest.”

The nuclear accord — initiated by the Bush administration, approved provisionally by the United States Congress and described as a centerpiece of a new relationship between the countries — would allow India to buy nuclear technology to generate energy. It would require India to negotiate separate agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The Congress Party seems to be rolling up its sleeves for a battle. The fourth-generation scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, Rahul Gandhi, was recently elevated in the party, becoming one of 11 general secretaries. His mother, Sonia Gandhi, the party chairwoman, said Sunday that those who opposed the nuclear deal were “enemies” of progress.

“We need not surrender our vital interests to America,” the leftist parties roared back on Monday in a statement.

Government officials have contended that the deal does not signify the surrender of an independent foreign policy, an assertion that seems to have been borne out most recently with respect to Myanmar, formerly Burma. India has cultivated good relations with Myanmar’s military rulers, and in contrast to American calls for sanctions, it has said little about the latest crackdown on antigovernment protests, except to gently suggest a investigation into the killings of protesters.

Oddly, Mr. Karat’s group has been closer to the American position on Myanmar in that it has urged greater pressure on its military rulers. He is fond of excoriating American policy in Iraq and equally fond of highlighting India’s traditional strategic and cultural links with Iran.

It was the nuclear deal that prompted Mr. Karat’s most ferocious threats against the government and not a host of issues that might be expected to anger the Communists, like the dismal statistics on child malnutrition in India or the poor state of the country’s public health system.

The Communists, long a part of the Indian political fabric, have rarely wielded as much influence as they have in the past three years as the government’s allies. They have been blamed for blocking further liberalization of the economy, including the entry of foreign retail chains, for putting the brakes on proposed changes in labor laws and for opposing the nuclear deal on the basis of a lingering cold war mind-set.

“There is a knee-jerk anti-Americanism,” said the historian Ramachandra Guha. “In some sense they can’t forgive America for having won.”

Mr. Guha also took pains to credit the Communists for having been less corrupt than other parties and for preventing violence against religious minorities in the states they have controlled. Such violence has engulfed many other places across India.

Shekhar Gupta, editor of the English-language daily The Indian Express and one of Mr. Karat’s sharpest critics, said the Communist Party of India’s opposition to the government had nothing to do with performance, only ideology.

“Nothing irritates the left more than people of the other persuasion running a government successfully,” Mr. Gupta said.

The Indian Communists are buffeted by ideological disagreements of their own, with Mr. Karat beating an anti-American drum, while his comrades in West Bengal, a state governed by the Communists, woo American industry to revitalize a sagging economy.

That state-led industrialization drive — call it the Bengal Communists’ more hammer, less sickle policy — has invited violent peasant protests, and some say it has weakened the party’s hold on one of its two key states. Kerala State is the other. The party holds 43 of 545 seats in Parliament, and forcing elections soon would not necessarily improve its standing.

Whether realpolitik will trump ideology remains to be seen. Mr. Karat, at any rate, casts himself as an ideologue. “We’re not going to come into power,” he said flatly. “We may win seats. We may lose seats.”

For the government, Mr. Karat represents only one kind of Communist worry. India has another set of Communists: the Maoist guerrillas, uninterested in elections but increasingly, and violently, active to varying degrees in 13 of 28 Indian states. The prime minister has described those Communists as India’s biggest internal security threat
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/world/asia/09india.html?ref=world

Wrong diagnosis, says Yechury



Special Correspondent







NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday questioned the government’s decision to “cling” on to neo-liberal policies when its “trickle down economics” was getting discredited across the world.

Briefing journalists here on the party’s suggestions on how India should deal with the impact of the global economic crisis, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said: “The government has made a wrong diagnosis and, therefore, its prescription will not help the country. The government refuses to accept the fact that the crisis reflects bankruptcy of the ideology of neo-liberalism.”

Disappointed with the government’s response to the crisis, the CPI(M) said the government was relying upon only one policy instrument — interest rate — to control inflation and reverse the growth slowdown.

Further, the CPI(M) noted that the government has till date chosen to discuss policy responses with only corporate bigwigs and bankers; completely ignoring State governments, political parties, trade unions, farmers organisations and other stakeholders.

“Cut fuel prices”


In particular demanding a cut in fuel prices, Mr. Yechury wanted to know why the government was shying away from this much-awaited decision when it had reduced aviation fuel price by Rs.26 per litre.

Import duty and excise duty on aviation fuel had been reduced but no effort was being made by the government to cut petrol and diesel prices. A cut in fuel prices is among the suggestions that the CPI(M) has made to protect India from the global economic crisis. Other suggestions include a special fiscal package for increasing public expenditure to increase income and consumption of the working people; expand the fiscal deficit of the Central and State governments; protect domestic jobs; announce a moratorium on job or wage cuts in the organised sector; strengthen the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and extend it to urban areas; and massive public investment in employment intensive sectors.

For agriculture, the CPI(M) has suggested that foodgrains production be encouraged and public procurement operations expanded for all major crops across the country. Also, import protection should be accorded through higher tariffs for cash crops such as oilseeds, rubber, and cashew.

Besides, the government should regulate domestic corporate retailers; announce sector-specific relief packages for small-scale industries; reverse steps taken to liberalise capital account convertibility; prohibit Participatory Notes; abandon banking and insurance sector deregulation, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill.

About the recent decision of the Cabinet to increase Foreign Direct Investment cap in the insurance sector, Mr. Yechury said it defied logic at this juncture; particularly since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on September 30 said that “the foremost challenge is to insulate India from the ill-effects of the international financial crisis.”

Asked whether the Left claimed to have saved India from a worse crisis by fighting several neo-liberal policies that the government wanted to introduce, Mr. Yechury said the CPI(M) did not want to score points by saying “I told you so” as the common man was bearing the brunt of the crisis. “All that we are seeking is a course correction.”
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/08/stories/2008110860831400.htm

CPI(M): probe ‘Hindutva infiltration’ in Army



Special Correspondent


“It has disturbing implications for national security”






NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday said the Centre should take reports of ‘Hindutva infiltration’ in the Army seriously.

In a statement, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau demanded an investigation into the role of the Bhonsala Military School, adding that no private educational institution could be allowed to provide military training.

Referring to reports that the Malegaon bomb blast was allegedly masterminded by some Hindutva organisations, the Polit Bureau said the involvement of retired Army officers and a serving officer had disturbing implications for national security.

New dimension


“The new dimension to the growing terrorist threat must be fully investigated and the entire network and persons involved uncovered. Instead of strongly coming out against such extremist groups resorting to terror, the Bharatiya Janata Party has dismissed the serious development as a ‘sponsored investigation.’ The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its outfits are making absurd statements that Hindus cannot be terrorists. These are the same people who go on talking about Islamic terrorism,” the statement noted.

Of the view that the presence of extremist elements resorting to terrorist violence among Muslims and Hindus must be recognised, the Polit Bureau said both should be dealt with firmly and their networks dismantled irrespective of which community they belonged to.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/08/stories/2008110860761200.htm

Forerunner of secular nationalism

By Subrata Mukherjee
The partition of Bengal in 1905 and the incapacity of the moderates to extract substantive concessions from the British helped in the consolidation of extremism.
Bipin Chandra Pal, an integral part of the trio ~ Lal, Bal Pal ~ created the first major mass popular upsurge against the British Raj before the advent of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the second most important leader, after Aurobindo Ghosh, of extremist politics in Bengal.
He was a radical both in his public as well as his private life. He started off as a believer in the Empire and subsequently became its militant opponent. As a student he was a Brahmo and had to leave home for marrying a widow. He was not sectarian and looked upon Krishna as the soul of India. He had to discontinue with his education for lack of finances.
He was a man of indomitable courage and conviction. This trait led him to disagree with Gandhiji during the non-cooperation movement of 1921. As a consequence, he had to spend the rest of his life in oblivion. He died in 1932 in abject poverty.
Pal believed that the basis of a successful and enduring political action is political philosophy and like the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, endorsed a philosophy of praxis, thus making him an activist theoretician.
After beginning his career as a teacher, Pal made his debut in politics at the Madras session of the Indian National Congress in 1887. Before taking to full time politics in 1901, he toured England and the USA to study comparative religion. He started a journal New India with a purpose of creating social awareness. The partition of Bengal in 1905 became a catalyst, for until then, he was a moderate believing in the innate sense of British justice.
With the Bengal partition New India became a political journal making a passionate plea for India’s independence. Pal joined Aurobindo and advocated boycott and Swadeshi as the very basis of independence struggle. It was Pal who introduced the phrase “passive resistance” to imply action that was opposite to aggression. This meant breaking the existing law by establishing a parallel administrative structure with the intent purpose of paralysing the official administration. Boycott, National Education, Swadeshi and self-government were the important ingredients of his notion of passive resistance.
By 1905, Pal became the undisputed leader of the extremists in Bengal and in 1906 he started a daily Vande Mataram. With similar objectives of Jugantar founded in 1901 by Aurobindo’s brother Barindra Kumar Ghose, Pal established the Anushilan Samiti as a school to teach physical culture to Bengal’s youth.
As a Congressman, his major aim was to democratise and broaden the base of the party. He was aware of the limitations of the early Congress with its membership mainly confined to the urban-based successful lawyers. he was equally critical of the terrorists for he regarded them as cowards in general. He also observed that terrorism led to an increase in repression by the government resulting in the general breakdown of the national movement.
In 1906, Pal and Aurobindo proposed Tilak’s name for the post of the Congress Presidency. The Tilak-Pal alliance not only generated considerable alarm among the British but also the Congress leadership. This assessment led him to quit Vande Mataram, which he rejoined after the arrest of Aurobindo in 1908. Though he was opposed to terrorism he refused to be a witness against Aurobindo in the latter’s trial for his writings against the Raj.
Pal’s major emphasis in this extremist phase was the attainment of Swaraj by open and lawful methods. His efforts were to emphasise self-help and self-organisation. Distancing himself completely from any terrorist activity, he remarked that bombs and assassinations did not have any place in the programme and that “both our instinct and our wisdom equally rebel against these outlandish methods of political warfare”.
In the wake of the disarray of the extremists after the Surat Congress in 1907 mainly because of governmental repression and Tilak’s arrest, Pal was forced to go abroad. The revolutionaries in Europe expected the support of Pal but he continued to oppose their activities as he did in India.
During his stay in England there was a sea change in his outlook for he totally moved away from his extremist phase. Instead of total independence, he contemplated an association of free nations as a federal ideal. Pal returned to India in 1911 and participated in the home rule movement led by Tilak and Annie Besant. In 1918 along with Tilak he participated in the International Home Rule Conference in England.
The next phase in Pal revealed his severe criticism of Gandhiji’s philosophy and practice of non-violent non- cooperation. He considered Gandhian programmes as based on magic rather than logic. He also opposed the Khilafat and cautioned against the ill effects of pan Islamism.
Pal suffered a defeat when his amendment was rejected at the special session of the Congress in Kolkata in September 1920 and when Gandhiji emerged as the undisputed leader of the Congress and secured overwhelming support for his resolution for launching the non-cooperation movement. Pal contended that the action plan for non-cooperation be deferred and the time gained could be used for sending a delegation to England to meet the British Prime Minister to make a last-ditch effort to gain self-government by negotiation and dialogue.
Pal, who never learnt the art of compromise, became “totally isolated and alienated from the mainstream of the national movement”.
Pal made a major contribution in the realm of political theory. He recognised the absence of modern vocabulary in Indian political thought and conceded that words like politics, patriotism, nation and independence were western in origin. Hindu thought was theological in nature and the social system was deformed by the caste system. Unlike the West where the spirit of patriotism was the link between the individual and the state, in India this link was provided by religion.
But Pal was careful to note that no religion was entirely based on renunciation as their major sustenance came from satisfying people’s interests and needs. It is this later urge that led to the establishment of a modern nation. Even in India this was true as evident from the unity of Hindu and Muslim landlords in protecting their common interests towards the end of the Mughal Empire and the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. As such the stability of a nation is best preserved when all sections of the people find fulfilment of their desires.
In the context of India, Pal pleaded for a composite patriotism which would bridge the gap between the two major communities. Towards this end he insisted on the need to organise an “Akbar festival” along with a “Shivaji festival”.
Pal was no blind worshipper of the West. He characterised the American and European democracies as cruel and thought that the future Indian democracy would be far better than these for it would be based on equality. He felt that imperialism contributed more to unification of humanity than any other association or organisation. This did not mean that he endorsed its cruelties and exploitative mechanisms.
What he pleaded for was transcendence to a larger and broader entity other than a nation. The sociability in human beings would eventually push towards a common bond among nations and the current trends towards globalisation affirm Pal’s belief.
Like Gandhiji, he advocated labour intensive rather than capital intensive technology as far as India was concerned for that would mitigate the problem of unemployment. Like Jefferson he believed in the idea of self-sufficiency and the freedom of the village-based artisans who could combine their art with agriculture.
In 1917, Pal in association with Das and Motilal Ghose unseated the Moderates in the Bengal Provincial Congress. In the same year, Pal was one of the few Indian leaders who supported the Bolshevik Revolution explaining the cause of the revolution to the lack of democratic institutions in Czarist Russia.
Pal has to be remembered for his courage, convictions and selfless devotion to the cause of India’s independence and development. In remaining steadfast with his belief in secularism he did not even mind near oblivion from the national scene and in spite of being in dire financial need he showed his courage of conviction.

(The writer is Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi)

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=230072


India Infoline.com Tata Motors to shut Pune, Lucknow plants for 6 days
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WB govt to set up new industries at Singur : Buddhadev


7 Nov 2008, 1842 hrs IST, PTI
KOLKATA: The West Bengal government will announce in a few days plans to set up new industries at Singur after the exit of the Tatas Motors from
there and has several proposals in hand, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said.

"We have several proposals in hand. We will announce these in a few days. Land was acquired at Singur for industrialisation and we will set up industries there and nothing else," he said in an interview to CPI(M) daily 'Ganashakti' published today.

Claiming the exit of the Tatas from Singur would not impact the investment scenario in the state, Bhattacharjee pointed out that none of the Indian and foreign investors had gone back on their plans for West Bengal.

"The Singur episode is an isolated one arising out of the destructive movement of Trinamool Congress ... and none of the Indian and foreign investors has left because of the post- Singur situation," the chief minister said.

Bhattacharjee said "people will not forgive opposition parties if they continue to pursue policies which harm the state's interests. Industrialists have identified these parties which have tarnished West Bengal's image ... but I feel that this will not last long."

Claiming that investment in West Bengal had gone up in the last three years, Bhattacharjee said "I hope this trend will be maintained in the near future." There were investment queries from China, Japan, the US, Germany, besides fresh investments were coming from companies like Reliance, Birla and even the Tatas, he said.

World business leaders warn of more financial pain

8 Nov 2008, 2204 hrs IST, AGENCIES
DUBAI: Business leaders gathered in Dubai on Saturday warned the world to brace for even more painful economic times ahead, but said the victory of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama offers hope for fresh leadership at a crucial time for the global economy.

The financial crisis that began with bad U.S. home loans is now moving from the banking sector into wide swaths of the global economy _ costing millions of jobs, forcing working families to cut back and driving once-mighty companies into bankruptcy.

The U.S. government said Friday the country's unemployment rate shot to 6.5 percent, its highest level in 14 years. Jobless rates are rising elsewhere too: The U.N. labor agency said last month that world unemployment will hit 210 million people by the end of next year, its highest rate in the past decade.

How deeply the global downturn will cut remains uncertain, participants at a regional meeting of the World Economic Forum in Dubai said Saturday. While they called for calm, they also acknowledged there is cause for concern.

``We will be telling our children and our grandchildren about this crisis,'' said Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief executive of Pacific Investment Management Co., the Newport Beach, Calif.-based investment firm better known as PIMCO. ``You cannot turn off the fuel of this crisis easily.''

Consumers in the U.S., for example, are facing the triple whammy of tougher access to credit, rising joblessness and falling home and investment values, El-Erian said.

Cleaning up the fallout will take both time and sacrifice, participants here said.

``It's going to be really tough,'' El-Erian said. ``You now have to save even more for retirement. This is a tough time, and it's important that expectations be formulated accordingly.''

The need to recalibrate spending and expectations was a theme sounded by others as well.

Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, said residents of countries like the U.S. and the UK have no alternative but to increase savings and reduce household debt.

And, he said, homeowners and individual investors need to accept that a big chunk of the nest eggs they had amassed on paper is likely gone forever.

``People are going to have to recognize the wealth hit and be prepared to move on from that,'' he said.

The economic slump is not just affecting Western countries. Soud Ba'alawy, executive chairman of investment firm Dubai Group, said ``each and every business is going to be challenged.'' He predicted annual growth in the booming Gulf could slow to as low as 2 to 3 percent, from 6 to 8 percent previously.

Business leaders were hopeful, though, that the future Obama administration will bring a renewed willingness by the world's largest single-nation economy to work with other countries to fix the global economy.

``You now have a golden opportunity for leadership at a time when leadership is needed both domestically and internationally,'' El-Erian said.

WTO chief urges tough global financial regulation


8 Nov 2008, 2129 hrs IST, REUTERS

PARIS: The head of the World Trade Organisation urged countries to accept tough new international regulation of finances even if it was an
"ideological revolution" for them to share sovereignty on such issues.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde published on Saturday, Pascal Lamy said it was politically sensitive in the United States and in emerging countries to accept supra-national authorities, but the financial crisis required adaptability.

"There are world organisations for trade, health, the environment, telecoms, food. There are two black holes in world governance: finance, with its bursting bubbles, and migration," Lamy was quoted as saying by Le Monde.

"We need international regulation of finance with binding rules and a mechanism of surveillance and sanctions. A sick cow or a defective lighter don't cross borders, whereas at present a toxic financial instrument can," he said.

Lamy reiterated that countries should resist the temptation of protectionism, which was one of the factors that caused the Wall Street crash of 1929 to snowball into a worldwide economic depression.

He rejected the notion, voiced by some critics of the US Democratic Party, that under Barack Obama the world's biggest economy would be more protectionist than under the market-friendly Republicans. "What changes with the Democratic Party are the plans to reduce social insecurity. The feeling of insecurity engendered by free trade is stronger in the United States than elsewhere because the social safety net is thinner there," he said. "If the Democrats apply their social programme, that can reassure Americans and help international trade talks. Obviously they have to have the resources to match their ambitions. But in any case I think it would be wrong to equate Republicans to liberalism and Democrats to protectionism," he said.

Lamy announced on Nov. 4 he would seek a second term as director-general of the WTO and renewed his vow to conclude the Doha round of talks to open up world trade. Lamy's current term began in September 2005 and expires on Aug. 31, 2009.

Brazil demands big global finance reforms


8 Nov 2008, 2229 hrs IST, AGENCIES

SAO PAULO: Brazil's president on Saturday demanded major reforms of the international finance system with strong input from big emerging nations
because the global economy is victimizing the world's poor.

Addressing finance ministers and central bank presidents from the world's 20 major economies, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the planet's poor stand to lose the most from a credit crunch that has slammed businesses small and large from Brazil to China.

He called on the Group of 20 nations officials gathered in Sao Paulo ahead of a Nov. 15 G-20 summit in Washington ``to formulate proposals for a substantial change of the world's financial architecture.''

``We are all paying for this adventure,'' said Silva, a former union leader who is Brazil's first working class president. ``This system collapsed like a house of cards that dragged down with it the dogmatic faith in the principles of nonintervention by the state in the economy.''

The stakes for a global financial revamp are high, he said, because millions in developing nations are suffering from the worldwide credit crunch that started in the United States and Europe. In Brazil, for example, farmers are planting less soy and corporations are reducing output of products ranging from iron ore to steel and automobiles.

After lending by American and European banks virtually dried up amid shattered confidence, foreign investors started dropping emerging market investments, forcing extreme measures by governments like Brazil's to prop up battered currencies and provide credit lines to companies.

``Foreign investment funds are withdrawing their assets in the capital markets of emerging countries to cover the losses they sustained in advanced markets,'' Silva said. ``This loss of funds affects balance of payments and makes it difficult for companies to finance themselves.''

France is suggesting bringing emerging economies on board as members of the exclusive G-8 club of industrialized nations.

Brazil's finance minister proposed the group be expanded to as many as 15 countries, but didn't specify which emerging-market nations besides Brazil, Russia, India and China should be allowed to join.

European presidents on Friday suggested transforming the International Monetary Fund in to the world's financial watchdog, giving it more power to curb financial crises, with more money to aid countries in trouble.

Brazil and other emerging-market nations have long complained they do not have sufficient representation within bodies like the IMF and the World Bank. Silva said the G-20 is well-poised to help forge new international finance regulations because it has broad representation from both rich and developing countries.

``We need a new, more open and participative governance. Brazil is ready to assume its responsibility. This is not the moment for narrow-minded nationalism or of individual solutions,'' he said.

Washington supports a significant role for Brazil and other developing nations, said David McCormick, the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs.

Silva ``presented a constructive overview of the challenges we face and the need for developed and developing nations to work together in addressing those challenges,'' McCormick said in a statement.

Tribals raise toast to Obama
- Colours, crackers & rallies in support of US President-elect
RAJ KUMAR

Members of Jharkhand Janadhikar Party take out a victory rally on Wednesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra
Ranchi, Nov. 5: If America today celebrated its historic triumph over racial prejudice with pride, this tribal heartland, too, erupted into bouts of ecstasy.

Barack Obama, set to become the first black President of the US, is a tribal of Kenyan origin and his ascension to power was viewed here as a victory for the entire tribal community.

A group of tribal permanent settlers in Ranchi took out a victory procession to mark the momentous event. Under the aegis of the Jharkhand Janadhikar Party (JJP) and Adivasi Moolvasi Janadhikar Manch (AMJM), they began their march from the Morabadi grounds shouting slogans. They pledged their moral support to the US President-elect for his promise to promote world peace. They congratulated US citizens for their grit to break racial barriers.

“Barack Obama has made us proud. He has shown to the world that you cannot judge a person by the colour of his skin or the place of his origin. He has fulfilled the dreams of millions of tribals across the world. That feeling of being neglected is gone,” beamed JJP president and co-ordinator of AMJM Ratan Tirkey.

Celebrations were galore at Albert Ekka Chowk, where members and supporters of the Jharkhand Chhatra Sangh (JCS) took out a rally to congratulate Obama. The sound of crackers and colours of solidarity filled the air. “By electing Obama as its 44th President, US citizens had cocked a snook at apartheid,” said a reveller.

JCS district president Mahendra Kacchap expressed hope that Obama would help improve diplomatic ties between the two countries. “We hope he will be successful in eradicating mean and caste-based politics in this world,” he said.

Noted tribal leader and scholar Ram Dayal Munda, who did his PhD in linguistics from the University of Chicago, said the election of a black as the President of a world power would be the beginning of a new era. “It will help America build a people-friendly image,” he said.

Adivasi Chhatra Sangh president Chamra Linda called Obama’s victory historic. “It is a turning point in Indo-American ties. Let’s hope US policies will now be pro-people and not pro-colour.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081106/jsp/jharkhand/story_10070361.jsp

Fellowship to encourage Dalit publishing careers announced
8 Nov 2008, 0450 hrs IST, TNN

MUMBAI: Navayana, a publishing house that specialises in Dalit literature, is launching Avarna, a fellowship for Dalits and adivasis interested in a
publishing career. The award is open to candidates from across south Asia and five chosen ones will be given the chance to study the post-graduate certificate course in editing and publishing taught by the School of Cultural Texts and Records at Kolkata's Jadavpur University.

Navayana founder S Anand said his reason for initiating the fellowship is the "almost total absence of Dalits in the publishing and media sectors. These are careers of the privileged". He cites a demographic survey of media organisations in the capital carried out by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in 2006. The surveyors found not one Dalit or adivasi decision-maker in the newspapers and television channels that were studied.

"Just imagine a US media without blacks," said Anand. "Only in sectors where there is reservation, you will see Dalits."

Anand believes that having a diverse mix of people in an organisation is useful. Dalits in a newspaper, for example, would be in a better position to write about issues related to their community. However Dalits don't view publishing as a possible career, Anand pointed out, as there are no role models in the field as there are in politics and non-governmental organisations. In 2004, Anand had lobbied with Chennai's Asian College of Journalism to admit four Dalits.

Rimi Chatterjee, one of the faculty for the course, said that it's a good time to be in publishing as many publishers have recently set up shop in India. "There is a demand for labour," she said. "The editing skills (for publishing) are quite specialist. You can't learn this from books."

Prominent Dalits have praised Avarna. Columnist Chandra Bhan Prasad, who has declared English the "Dalit goddess", called the fellowship "a milestone" and a means for Dalits to enter new professions. According to him, learning English is the only way Dalits will better their prospects. "We say that if a Dalit baby is born, say ABC in the left ear of the baby and 123 in right ear of the baby," he said. Kancha Ilaiah, who teaches political science at Hyderabad's Osmania University, said: "It's a very positive fellowship. Dalit's don't get trained, particularly in elite institutions."

For more information, visit www.navayana.org .

Orissa tribals to take on Naxals

Soumyajit Pattnaik, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Bhubaneswar, October 27, 2008
First Published: 23:18 IST(27/10/2008)
Last Updated: 23:21 IST(27/10/2008)

The Orissa government on Monday issued a notification for recruiting 2,000 Adivasi youths from five-Naxal infested districts to fight the insurgents.

Only candidates from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) will be recruited to these 2,000 posts of special police officers.

The Centre, sources in the home department said, had mooted the appointments. The state was also asked to bolster capacity to start combing operations soon after a Naxal strike, a senior official, who didn’t wish to be identified, said.

The recruitments will be done in Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. Each district will fill up 400 posts.

After selection, the candidates will enter into a contract with the district police. They’ll be paid a consolidated remuneration, which is yet to be fixed. “On completion of three years of satisfactory contractual service, the eligible special police officers may be absorbed on regular posts against ST vacancies of constables and sepoys or equivalent rank,” the notification said.

It has also stressed on verifying the antecedents of aspirants “with particular emphasis on any possible links with any extremist organization or outfit”.

"The recruitment process will be completed within two months,” home secretary T.K. Mishra said.

Apart from appointing tribal youths, the Orissa government has also requested the ministry of home affairs for of a counter-insurgency battalion for resolute action (COBRA). Each COBRA battalion will comprise commandoes specially trained in jungle warfare. Each battalion will have 1,000 commandoes in the same age group like the Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh.

While Andhra has raised Greyhounds to take on the Naxals, states like Orissa depend on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Orissa owes the Centre Rs 100 crore for its deployment.
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