Poverty of QUEEN of England and the RICH Indian INCs, Debate on TERROR in Indian Parliament, Cry for WAR Against Pakistan, Starving Enslaved Common Ma

Poverty of QUEEN of England and the RICH Indian INCs, Debate on TERROR in Indian Parliament, Cry for WAR Against Pakistan, Starving Enslaved Common Masses and ZIONIST Global ECONOMY and its Ruling GalaxY Hegemony.Obama to offer Israel 'nuclear umbrella' - Report.Pentagon Welcomes Pakistani Raids, Calls for Sustained Effort Against Terror Networks as Pakistan moves on Mumbai Accused

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 122

Palash Biswas

UN: nearly one billion starving
Almost one billion people worldwide are starving after rising food prices pushed 40m more towards hunger and under-nourishment, the UN's food agency reported yesterday.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that the food crisis had left an estimated 963m people - around 14 per cent of the world's population - unable to afford to eat enough calories to lead a normal life.

The majority of the hungry come from the developing world, with 65 per cent living in seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia, the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008 report said.

The goal, set in 2000 by the Millennium Development Goals, of halving the number of hungry people by 2015 has suffered a "serious setback", said FAO director-general Jacques Diouf, who called on wealthy countries to invest $30bn a year in agriculture.

"This sad reality should not be acceptable at the dawn of the 21st century."


Food Crisis Leaves 40 Million More People Starving (Update1)
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By Jason Gale

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Forty million people joined the ranks of the world’s undernourished this year, and the global economic crisis may add more even as food prices decline, a United Nations agency said.

The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 963 million adults and children are suffering from prolonged food deficiency, mostly caused by higher prices for staples such as rice. Almost two-thirds of these live in India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia, the Rome-based agency said in an e-mailed statement today.

The situation may deteriorate further as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression reduces demand in developed countries for exports from developing nations, and erodes investment and development aid, the FAO said. It expects cereal output to expand by 1 percent or less in developing countries this year, compared with at least 10 percent in developed nations.

“If lower prices and the credit crunch associated with the economic crisis force farmers to plant less food, another round of dramatic food prices could be unleashed next year,” said Hafez Ghanem, FAO’s assistant director-general, in the statement. “Emerging economies in particular are subject to lasting impacts from the credit crunch even if the crisis itself is short-lived,” FAO said.

Prices of major cereal crops have declined by more than 50 percent from the peaks reached earlier this year, Ghanem said. Even still, FAO’s Food Price Index, which tracks global prices of six major agricultural commodity groups, was 28 percent higher in October than it was two years earlier, the agency said.

‘Distant Dream’

“World food prices have dropped since early 2008, but lower prices have not ended the food crisis in many poor countries,” Ghanem said. The finding is reported in FAO’s annual “State of Food Insecurity in the World,” released today.

“For millions of people in developing countries, eating the minimum amount of food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream,” Ghanem said. “The structural problems of hunger, like the lack of access to land, credit and employment, combined with high food prices remain a dire reality.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, one in three people -- or 236 million -- are chronically hungry, the highest proportion of undernourished people globally, according to the FAO report.

“The crisis has mainly affected the poorest, landless and households run by women,” Ghanem said. “It will require an enormous and resolute global effort and concrete actions to reduce the number of hungry by 500 million by 2015,” a target set under the UN’s Millenium Development Goals.

Most of the increase in the number of starving people occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo “as a result of widespread and persistent conflict,” FAO said. The proportion of undernourished people surged to 76 percent from 29 percent, according to FAO.

About 46 percent of Congolese are chronically malnourished because of poverty and insufficient local food production, said Claude Kalinga, a spokesman for the UN’s World Food Programme. Those most affected are children aged 6 to 30 months, and pregnant and breast-feeding women, he said.

“Food insecurity is exacerbated by wars, the population’s physical insecurity and its being displaced,” Kalinga said in an e-mail today. Eastern Congo has been wracked by a 14-year conflict that’s displaced about 1.5 million of the country’s 62 million inhabitants, according to the UN.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 9, 2008 20:13 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aGgQrD5EwniQ&refer=germany

"Terrorism is like a tree. Terrorists are leaves on that tree…. As many terrorists you kill, leaves will grow back. Organisations are branches…If you cut a branch the tree will still remain". - President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan(in his first TV interview after the Mumbai attack)

Poverty of Queen of england is EXPOSED in Global Melt Down and RECESSION as Her Majesty is BOUND to control costs in house keeping in her Royal Palace! As the Previleged Civil society of Shining FREEsenSEX XXXXX India of Durable Commodities and Capital Goods, Zionist Ruling Hegemony of Manusmriti and Apartheid we may feel Resilient enough as INDIA INCs generate more Aggression in ESCALATING the Killing Fields! debate on TERROR and Internal Security engages Indian Parliament as the CREAMY LAYERS of Ruling Class and its TOILET MEDIA creates BLIND NATIONALISM unprecedented to DECLARE WAR against PAKISTAN! Enslaved Common Masses are PREDESTINED of STARVATION as well as REPRESSION, Inherent Inequality as well as INJUSTICE. We are SIEGED within a ZIONIST GLOBAL ECONOMY and its Ruling Galaxy hegemony is quite DISSATISFIED with its current Licenece of MASS DESTRUCTION. Just Invoke the NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL and BIOLOGICAL Gods and Goddesse! But the Queen is also a FULL FLEDGED symbol of the DECLINE of GODDESS POWER Infinite as well as IMPERIALISM! How do we DEFEAT Fascism and ZIONIOSM, that`s the question!

According to the Global Hunger Report, India is ranked 96th out of the 119 countries surveyed (GHR does not include the North American, Western European countries, and Australia, since it assumes that there is no hunger in these countries, and evething is hunky dory!)... More importantly, in terms of child malnutrition, India ranks 117/119 (we beat Nepal and Bangladesh on this count)


In 50s and 60s, India did not produce enough grains to feed its population, and we were dependent on foreign food aid (Lal Bahadur Shastry, India’s 2nd Prime Minister, even made an appeal to people to keep fast for one meal a week as a solution - and bizzaire though it may appear to people now, but a large number of Indians actually followed that appeal).


Pakistan has put an Islamic leader linked to the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks under house arrest, reports say. The cleric, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, has been accused by India of heading the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry on Thursday ordered detention of 8 Jamaat-ud-Dawa leaders, including its chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Dawn News channel reported quoting police sources. The offices of Jamaat-ud-Dawa linked to the Mumbai attacks were closed, a day after the outfit was declared a terrorist group by the United Nations, an official said. It was unclear whether the moves against nine Jamaat-ud-Dawa premises in Karachi represented the beginning of a major crackdown on the group. Its headquarters remained open Wednesday, as did other branches across the country.

Pentagon Welcomes Pakistani Raids, Calls for Sustained Effort Against Terror Networks!


The Zionist World Bank gangsters failed to RESIST the GLOBAL Meltdown despite Indian Incs BOOM BOOM! But Chidambaram is promising change in the scenerio of Internal security as the World POWER CENTRE Oval OFFICE in the White House succeeded to plant him in the HOME MINISTERY and the ENTRY of ANOTHER GENOCIDE MASTER MIND Montek Singh Ahloowalia seems to be MANDATORY in Indian FINANCE MINISTERY to feed the Hungry MONEY MACHINE, Weapon Industry,Chemical Monsters, NUCLEAR Maniacs, Corporates, India INCs, Toilet MEDIA, MNCs, Builders, RETAIL Chain and PROMOTERs. It took eight years of damage under Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove to get a Barack Obama to the White House. It took the greed of a few investment bankers to bring the world to its knees and force a rethink of a global economic order. Will a convergence of oceans rising, economic crisis and terrorism finally compel a unity beyond platitude as the first condition for survival?

American Jews can add the "sin of market manipulation" to their transgressions recalled on the Yom Kippur Day of Atonement, according to allegations made by Hamas.we can now rightly pin the blame for the current gobal economic crisis, as yet another chapter in the evil dealings of the Zionists.This latest revelation has been exposed by our Hamas brothers. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum has outlined yet another plot by the Zionists to oppress Muslims, but this time by economic means. This in turn looks like it could eventually upset the Camel Urine market and put many of these warriors for Allah out of work. We need to fight this oppression, that looks set to undermine the Uhmma!

26/11 was a hostage mission for ransom: Ajmal confesses

Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) The militants involved in the November 26 Mumbai attacks had a clear mission: to take hostages and contact media to "make demands" after attacking the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman has said.
"We were instructed to carry out firing during rush hours... Then we were to take some people hostage... To contact media people and make demands. This was the strategy decided upon by our trainers," Ajmal, the only terrorist arrested alive after the November 26 terror attacks, has said.

In a statement recorded by the police during interrogation, he said, "We were shown a film on VT railway station. The film showed commuters during rush hours." "Then we were to take some people hostage, take them to the roof of some nearby building and contact Chacha (LeT functionary Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi), who would have given us numbers to contact media people and make demands," Ajmal said.

Ajmal and his accomplice Ismail Khan had formed a team code-named VTS and were shown the location of the rail terminus on satellite maps on the internet.

The operation to attack the city which was originally scheduled for September 27 was cancelled for some reason and the group of ten stayed in Karachi till November 23, he said.

On November 23 the group of ten left with Lakhvi and a trainer identified only as Kahfa from Azizabad near Karachi where they took two launches before they boarded the vessel 'Al-Hussaini' to sail into Indian waters.

"While boarding the ship, each of us was given a sack containing eight grenades, an AK-47 rifle, 200 cartridges, two magazines and a cellphone," he said. PTI

Investigations into the Mumbai terror attack have pointed to the possibility of involvement of the underworld don Dawood, police revealed on Thursday. ZEE news reports.


India’s political class united in Parliament on Wednesday and unanimously passed a resolution condemning the terrorist attack on Mumbai.


"I apologise to the people of the country that this dastardly act could not be prevented," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha and promised that the country’s security apparatus would be improved to prevent a repeat of what happened in Mumbai.


Singh alleged the "epicentre of terrorism" is located in Pakistan and demanded that the terror infrastructure in that country must be dismantled.


India has exercised "utmost restraint" but it should "not be misconstrued as a sign of our weakness". India cannot be "satisfied with mere assurances."


At the end of a daylong debate in the Lok Sabha, Singh read out a resolution that was passed with unanimous acclamation by the entire House.


The Pentagon has welcomed Pakistan's raid on alleged terrorist bases in its northwestern region, but says counter-terrorism efforts need to be made on a sustained basis. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says neither Pakistan nor India has asked the U.S. military for help in responding to the Mumbai attacks. But at a news conference Tuesday he welcomed Pakistan's raids in its tribal areas, which are reported to have netted the alleged mastermind of the attacks.

"We see it as a positive step," he said. "I think what all the problems we have emanating from Pakistan, terror-wise, is that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with on a sustained basis, that it can't be done in fits and starts, that there needs to be a constant and vigilant effort to go after the terrorist networks that exist there and throughout the region."

Morrell said the United States is prepared to help both Pakistan and India deal with their terrorism problems, but he would not comment on whether the United States has asked for any specific action, such as access for its experts to the captured terror suspects.

President-elect Barack Obama has called the terrorist safe havens in northwestern Pakistan the biggest threat to the security of Americans.

During a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, President Bush said Pakistan has some of the most dangerous "ungoverned spaces" in the world. He said the United States wants to help Pakistan and other countries get control of such areas.

"The Pakistani people and government understand the threat because they have been victims of terror themselves," said Mr. Bush. "They are working to enforce the law and fight terror in the border areas, and our government is providing strong support for these efforts."

U.S. air strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas, which have resulted in a number of civilian casualties, have been sharply criticized by officials and the Pakistani public. But President Bush repeated that while the United States wants to help partner nations deal with their own terrorism problems, it will do whatever it must to protect its troops just across the border in Afghanistan.

In a column in Tuesday's New York Times newspaper, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistanis understand the threat of terrorism because they have repeatedly been the victims of it. He says terrorists have killed nearly 2,000 Pakistanis so far this year alone. He said he is determined to fight terrorist groups in his country, but he also warned Indian officials and ordinary citizens not to use the Mumbai attacks to stir up anti-Pakistan feeling and to push for military action. He said if that happens, the Mumbai terrorists will have accomplished their mission.

On the other hand,the top U.S. military officer says he is concerned that the global economic crisis could create instability and, potentially, more terrorism around the world, particularly in African countries and other relatively poor areas.

Admiral Mike Mullen says the global economic downturn could create more terrorists.

"I'm very concerned about the global financial crisis and its impact globally on security," he said. "I think it will impact on security, over a period of time. As food prices continue to go up, as other costs continue to go up, as this pressure is brought globally, I think the possibilities for increased instability, as opposed to increased stability, are there. Without being precise about where that might happen, I just think the extent of this, or the length of this, is going to have an impact on increased instability in countries that are already under a great deal of pressure because their economies aren't that healthy in the first place."

Admiral Mullen says jobs are the key link between the economy and security.

"With a stable economy, jobs come," he said. "You are able to expand and create the kind of positive cycle that gets you away from the violence and other options for unemployed young men, in particular."

At a Pentagon news conference, the admiral also noted that terrorists need places to train and take refuge, and he says economic troubles can also result in more of those, as governments have fewer resources to devote to securing their territory. He says the problem puts "enormous" pressure on African countries in particular, where many governments have very large areas to defend and terrorists have been trying to gain a foothold.

"I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen," Adm. Mullen said. "And I try to pay attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular, and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I'm extremely concerned about that."

Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not suggest any U.S. military operations to eliminate or prevent the creation of terrorist safe havens. The Pentagon has a variety of programs designed to improve the defense capabilities of partner nations in Africa and elsewhere, and the U.S. government also has aid and development programs that may help ease the impact of job losses caused by the economic downturn. But the admiral says the effort to reduce global terrorism may get more difficult as job losses increase and all countries tighten their defense budgets, including the United States.

Meanwhile,U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Afghanistan, where he says the Pentagon aims to send at least two more combat brigades by next summer 2009.Before arriving in Kandahar Thursday, Gates told reporters on the plane that he expects the U.S. to remain involved in what he called "this struggle" - a reference to the war in Afghanistan --for quite a long time. But he said he wanted to make sure Afghan forces are "out in front" in the battle against insurgents and the Taliban.U.S. officials have said the U.S. could send as many as 20,000 troops to Afghanistan next year, to join the 32,000 it already has there, along with nearly as many from other NATO countries.

In New Delhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that Pakistan was the "epicentre" of global terrorism and the world needed to deal with it "sternly and effectively".Indian cabinet members, speaking before parliament Thursday, said those who laid siege to Mumbai certainly came from Pakistan, but they are ruling out military retaliation. An opposition leader calls the challenge facing India "a war-like situation."

Tough language regarding Pakistan was aired in India's parliament , in a session devoted to the terror attack on Mumbai. In his first official remarks to lawmakers, the country's new home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, indicated that intelligence findings leave no doubt as to where the attack originated.

"The finger of suspicion unmistakably points to the territory of our neighbor, Pakistan," he said.
The interior minister announced that 20 new schools will be set up, nationwide, to train commandos and other personnel in counter-insurgency and anti-terror techniques. A special coastal
command will be established to try to prevent more militants from again using the sea to enter India for terror strikes.

Chidambaram says the entire region is "in the eye of the storm of terror."

His fellow cabinet member, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told lawmakers - some of whom shouted for revenge against Pakistan - that a retaliatory strike is not an option. But he insists Islamabad completely dismantle the terrorist infrastructure on its soil.

"What we are most respectfully submitting, suggesting to the government of Pakistan, please act," he said. "A mere expression of intention is not adequate."

Opposition leader L.K. Advani, of the nationalist BJP party, accuses Pakistan of sheltering organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, known as L-e-T, which is blamed for the 60-hour siege of Mumbai.

"If South Asia is today in the eye of the storm of terror, the epicenter of this storm is Pakistan," said Advani.




A United Nations Security Council panel Wednesday has ruled that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity is a front for L-e-T and designated four L-e-T leaders as terrorists, including one who was among the suspects arrested this week by Pakistani authorities.
Police in India say they have identified the nine suspected Islamic militants killed during the three-day siege of Mumbai and uncovered new details about them - including their hometowns in Pakistan. The terrorist attack and the way it was carried out is being studied by terrorism experts to learn what lessons can be drawn from the assault. Experts in Washington warn future terrorists may use similar tactics as the Mumbai attackers.
The small gang of terrorists that attacked Mumbai came armed not just with guns and grenades, but also carrying cell phones, GPS and other high tech gear.

And this level of sophistication is worrying to experts, who warn the Mumbai attacks could be the start of a dangerous trend.

"The beach landing, the GPS, the use of Google, cell phone communication, I think it is far more sophisticated than the 9/11 attackers which [who] were effectively using flight control software and box cutters," said David Heyman, a Homeland security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Experts say the international community must be aware that if terrorists are using more sophisticated technology, they could someday carry out attacks with radioactive material or biological weapons.

Nuclear non-proliferation expert Leonard Spector says the ruthlessness shown by the terrorists in Mumbai raises concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions. He says if Iran develops nuclear weapons, there is a danger that nuclear material might end up in the hands of terrorists.

"We may have a situation where the weapons exist but who controls them day to day, who is responsible for each aspect of their manufacture, for keeping the weapon grade nuclear material, for example, as the weapons are made," he said. "All this is opaque to the outside world and perhaps not so clear cut internally."

Being better prepared is part of the answer, say experts, who note India has elaborate plans on paper to deal with nuclear or biological attacks. But in the case of Mumbai, Indian security forces were caught completely off guard, says Heyman.

"On the surface, there are a lot of good steps being taken there, but what we saw was how spectacularly unprepared they were for these types of attacks," he said. "They have fewer than a hundred boats to cover a coast that of the size of our coast, the United States coast."

Yet experts say alert citizens can prevent terrorist attacks such as the case in London in 2006, where a plot to use liquid explosives on planes was foiled.

"An investigation was started a year prior to that because a citizen, a neighbor of one of the participants in that plot told police that some strange activity was going on there," said David Heyman.

Pakistan has arrested at least 20 people, including two militants alleged by India to be key players in the Mumbai attacks, but India has made it clear it wants to see more action.

New Delhi on Thursday announced a massive overhaul of its security and intelligence agencies in the wake of the attacks, which provoked a public outcry over the government's response.

Among the new measures, the government will seek to create an FBI-style national investigative agency, beef up coastal security, better train police, strengthen anti-terror laws and increase intelligence sharing, said Home Minister P Chidambaram.

"Given the nature of the threat, we can't go back to business as usual," Chidambaram told Parliament.

Under pressure from India and the United States, Security Council panel on Wednesday declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist group subject to UN sanctions including an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

US officials say the group, which has offices, schools and medical clinics around the country, is a front for Lashkar-e-Toiba, a banned militant group accused by India of carrying out and planning the Mumbai attacks.

Sindh provincial home secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said nine Jemaat offices in Karachi were ‘sealed’ on Wednesday, but gave no more details.

Pledging support for a full-scale war against terror, Opposition BJP on Thursday said the Government must stop ‘running’ to Washington hoping that the US would come to its rescue in tackling Pakistan-backed terrorism.

"Please stop running to mummy (US) hoping that somebody else will help the country to tackle terrorism,” senior BJP leader Arun Shourie said initiating a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. He said the government keeps pinning its hopes on US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice coming to India to resolve the country's problems with regard to terrorism.

Asking the government to stop the peace process with Pakistan, he said, "your intelligence record shows that ISI is now knitting together Indian insurgent groups".

Observing that China was propping up Pakistan, Shourie said Islamabad was supporting terrorism and at the same time putting the onus of the peace process on New Delhi.

Advising the government to come out of the ‘self-denial’ mode, he said four days before the Mumbai terror strikes, former Home Minister Shivraj Patil was taking consolation in the figures showing comparison of terrorist attacks during the NDA and the UPA governments.

The starving of India’s farmer
Yoginder K. Alagh
Posted: Nov 30, 2005 at 0000 hrs IST
When one set of instruments fails, to some the answer is to have more of the same—only larger, bigger and deadlier. I always dread those whose answer to each failure is to set up newer and bigger institutions. Nothing is ever given up; the old ones drag along, crippled. Once the spit and polish wears off, the new ones face the old problems and we are all back to square one. Delhi’s propensity to make cooperatives, CBOs, autonomous agencies, public-private partnerships and so on, must go.
The mess in agriculture is by now well known, since the best critiques have been incorporated by the government itself. But very few real solutions are forthcoming. Profitability rates in Indian agriculture have fallen and in a market driven agriculture, this drives investment to other sectors and seeds, agro-chemical and credit inputs do badly. The argument is that the small Indian farmer is inefficient. Those who don’t understand the problem will never solve it.

In a set of painstaking studies of virtually all the farm management data available—and while it needs improvement, it is one of the richest data sets available of its kind anywhere in the world—economist Abhijit Sen, presently looking after agriculture in the Planning Commission, has shown that the factor productivity of Indian farming has, in fact, improved in the ’90s. In plain words, this means that per rupee of labour, capital or input use, the small Indian farmer is getting more output than earlier. It is true Sen shows that the earlier pattern of small farmers being more efficient is changing and size class does not seem to matter, but he reminds us that most farmers are, in fact, small and getting smaller.

Aha, you can ask me, if the grain of truth is that efficiency has improved, what is your problem? It is in the fact that growth of inputs has gone down from the ’80s. You may be more efficient but if you are starved of inputs, you stay at low income levels. Decline in the annual growth rate of fertiliser use was from 7.8 per cent annually during the 1980s to 4.3 per cent during the 1990s, due to increasing fertiliser prices. Very large imports in cash crops like cotton and oils meant that cash crop prices did not rise correspondingly. The situation in the early parts of this decade was worse, though it improved marginally in the last two years. Irrigation growth is almost half of what it was earlier. No wonder, when the economy is booming, agriculture, where efficiency is improving, is not doing well.

Paradoxically, some of the input supplying industries are doing well. A few years ago, a New Pricing System was introduced for fertilisers. It was not really new, since its outlines were given by some of us in the mid-’80s and it was again recommended by all the expert groups who went into it, but with firm level price fixing given up, the incentives to improve efficiency spurred cost and energy reduction and by now our average costs are much below import prices and a large part of our industry is better than Chinese or American efficiency levels. The industry is ready to fly, like a lot of India. There are two jokers in the pack. Energy prices are going out of the window and we have a very macho interventionist energy pricing policy. Second, at this stage it would be chimerical to raise fertiliser prices and stab ourselves in the back. But it is not beyond our ingenuity to keep on the reform track, to push the remaining laggards in productivity to improve or quit, to expand efficient capacities, design incentives for industry to develop and push new products, including the environmentally savvy ones to the farmer and prepare for the final decontrol.

In seeds, we really have to get back to the drawing board. This column has been citing the examples of hybrid paddy and Bt cotton to argue that the legal systems which were created to determine foolproof safety controls on genetically engineered seeds were used to look into productivity, cost or other commercial aspects which they were not meant to do. The economic tests were supposed to be met by the market. Also, there was no thinking on the relationship between the user groups, co-ops, farmer groups, small technology companies in which India has strength and the multi-nationals.

The kind of coordination mechanisms which were developed earlier and lead to the spread of the HYV technologies have been weakened and no new successful working models put in place. Newer systems run into problems. But if at high levels of policy-making, solution systems do not exist, the experiments fail. Sanat Mehta was quoted in this paper last week with a wake-up call, showing that in the case of Gujarat cotton quality and productivity has crossed global levels, but lakhs of farmers are still persecuted. It is easy to break past systems. It is difficult to build new ones. The sooner we do it, the better off we will be.
http://www.indianexpress.com/oldstory.php?storyid=82929



Killers will pay for slaying innocent Indians: Rahul

Declaring that the Mumbai terror strikes were a "war on India", Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that the message should go to the perpetrators that there is a "cost" to killing innocent Indians.
"It is not enough for us to protect the people ... we should go one step beyond. People who have done this should understand very clearly ... not only do we hold lives of our people highly, but there is also a cost to killing innocent Indians," Gandhi said.

Participating in the discussion on the Mumbai terror strikes in the Lok Sabha, he said that India will not stand around and tolerate people coming into her cities and killing ordinary Indians.

When the terrorists attacked Mumbai, they did not attack the young or the old, Hindus or Muslims, upper or lower castes but Indians, he said. "If our enemies view us as one, we have to act as one."

Gandhi said a "national priority and a national response" was needed to deal effectively with the "war" being waged against the country.

"We will fight this war against terror and win this war," he said lauding the unity shown by Parliament in response to the Mumbai attacks.

Gandhi's sister Priyanka Vadra watched the speech from the Speaker's Gallery, while his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi was present in the House.

India Releases Names of Suspected Gunmen in Mumbai Attacks
Indian police have released the names of nine suspected gunmen killed during last month's three-day terrorist siege in Mumbai.

Police investigator Rakesh Maria told reporters Tuesday that authorities have uncovered new details about the suspects and traced their hometowns to Pakistan. Maria also released the gunmens' aliases and showed photographs of eight of the suspected attackers. Authorities say they withheld a photo of the ninth suspect because his body was too badly burned.

It was not immediately clear how police tracked down the suspects' hometowns, but Indian authorities have been interrogating the lone surviving gunman in the attack.

Nobel Winner Urges Obama to Push for Mideast Settlement

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari is urging U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to focus on solving the Middle East conflict in the first year of his presidency.

The former Finnish president and veteran diplomat spoke Wednesday in Oslo, Norway as he received the 2008 prize for decades of global peace-making efforts.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ahtisaari said U.S. partners in the so-called quartet - the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - must also remain committed to a peace deal that encompasses the larger region as well. He said the credibility of the international community is at stake.

Laureates of the 2008 prizes in literature, economics, medicine, physics and chemistry also received their awards in the Swedish capital, Stockholm Wednesday.

French scientists Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi were honored for AIDS research, along with German researcher Harald zur Hausen, who discovered the virus that causes cervical cancer.

The literature prize went to French author Jean-Marie Le Clezio, while Princeton University professor and newspaper columnist Paul Krugman won for economics. Japanese-American physics laureate Yoichiro Nambu, 87, and his two Japanese co-laureates, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, were honored for their research on the nature of sub-atomic particles.

The chemistry prize went to U.S. researchers Martin Chalfie, Roger Tsien, and Japanese colleague Osamu Shimomura for work on fluorescent proteins.

Recipients get a diploma, a medal, and a $1.2 million cash prize. The awards are traditionally given out on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the industrialist and inventor of dynamite, who created the prize endowments.

UN Urges Israel to Ease Palestinians' Plight
The United Nations Human Rights Council is urging Israel to take steps to ease the plight of Palestinians.

The council approved a report on Tuesday, calling on Israel to improve the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip, among other measures.

A U.N. official for human rights in the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, issued a stronger rebuke in a statement, saying the International Criminal Court should investigate the situation in Gaza, likening Israeli policies to a "crime against humanity."

Israel reopened its border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday, to allow trucks transporting humanitarian aid into the territory.

The Israeli military said it allowed in some 40 trucks carrying food, medical supplies and cooking gas as well as fuel for Gaza's power plant.

Israel had tightened its blockade of the territory since a series of cross-border rocket attacks last month.

Also on Tuesday, Israel allowed a small boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists to sail to Gaza from Cyprus. The group brought in humanitarian supplies and also transported a Palestinian man who has been separated from his family in Gaza for several years.

Israel and Egypt closed their borders with Gaza for most traffic after the Hamas militant group took control of the territory last year.

In other news, a United Nations spokeswoman, Michele Montas, on Tuesday announced that the "quartet" of Middle East peace negotiators and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet at the U.N. in New York on December 15.

The quartet is made up of the European Union, Russia, the U.N. and the United States. The group has strongly backed peace talks that were launched in Annapolis, Maryland last year, even though few expect an agreement by the end of this year, as originally planned.


India Inc beats slowdown blues, fires on all cylinders
11 Dec 2008, 0700 hrs IST, Krishna Gopalan & Kausik Datta, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: The big guns of India Inc have taken the slowdown in their stride, and are going ahead with their expansion plans. A number of large Formula for successful biz India Inc on crossroads industrial houses ET spoke to said there is no question of going slow on projects which are in advanced stages of completion. Only those that are on the drawing board may be reviewed. They said more than availability of funds, falling demand is the key concern.

Big groups, continue to pour money into their flagship projects. Consider the case of Tata Steel, which is looking to make investments in both existing projects as well as greenfield ones. The company’s plant at Jamshedpur is in the midst of an expansion, which will see its capacity going up from the current 3 million tonnes (MT) to 10 MT by 2010.

The company’s total investment will be Rs 27,000 crore, with Jamshedpur alone accounting for Rs 12,000 crore. The rest — Rs 15,000 crore — will go into setting up a 3 MT plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa. “There are some projects that are high revenue generating for us, like Jamshedpur and Orissa. These are on the fast track,” Tata Steel’s managing director B Muthuraman told ET recently.

The story is not too different for Tata Motors, which is going ahead with its investment plans for the famous small car project. The work on the plant at Sanand, Gujarat, is progressing steadily. The auto maker is also going ahead with its
Rs 6,000-crore investment plan for existing plants.

A proposal for setting up vehicle-testing facilities is also on track.

The situation is pretty much the same for the diversified Aditya Birla Group. DD Rathi, chief financial officer and whole-time director of Grasim Industries, the group’s cement company, said they would go ahead with those projects that have already been initiated. “At the same time, we are doing a reality check on the upcoming expansion plans,” he said.

“We have no dearth of finance to execute new projects. We just want to be doubly sure that the timing of a new project is right, since a lot has changed globally over the past three months,” Mr Rathi said. Grasim has added 2 MT capacity last year and another 15 MT this year. Once the projects are completed, Grasim’s total capacity will go up to 50 MT.

The Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Group is also going ahead with those projects that have reached financial closure. Its power projects in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, which will have a total installed capacity of 2880 MW, are well on track. The company has lined up an investment of Rs 11,500 crore for these projects.
There is no change in our schedule, as these projects are at an advanced stage,” said Seshagiri Rao, the group’s director (finance). The group’s steel business is also in an expansion mode, with total capacity set to rise to 10 MT from the current 4 MT. Mr Rao, who admitted that the outlook for the steel industry is looking bearish today, remained optimistic about meeting the deadline.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Company/India_Inc_beats_slowdown_blues_fires_on_all_cylinders/articleshow/3821037.cms

Mukesh Ambani named among world's top chemical kings!

Billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani, who heads the country's most valued corporate group, has been ranked sixth among the world's 40 RIL's first crude from KG basin World's largest refining companies most powerful faces in the chemical industry.

In a list compiled by international chemical business information provider ICIS, Ambani has moved up four positions in this year's list, topped by German chemical major BASF Chairman and CEO Jurgen Hambrecht.

Ambani is the only Indian on the ICIS Top 40 Power Players list for 2008, where he follows Dow Chemical's Andrew Liveris (second), Saudi Arabian firm Sabic's CEO Mohamed Al-Mady (third), Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Co's CMD Maha Mulla Hussain (fourth) and China's Sinopec Chairman Su Shulin (fifth).

According to the report in the weekly magazine ICIS Chemical Business, under Ambani's leadership, "Reliance Industries continues to dominate the Indian petrochemical scene and to push forward with diversification and globalisation plans".

In the report, ICIS stated that these people have changed the face of global chemical industry through mergers and acquisitions, policy leadership, innovation or financial performance.

Although Reliance Petroleum's new world scale refinery- cum- polypropylene (PPP) complex at Jamnagar progressed ahead of schedule, the start-up has been delayed due to the slump in the markets, it added.

British journalist on mission to redistribute India's wealth
New Delhi (IANS): Award-winning British journalist and author Alan Hart is on a mission to find 12 international experts, mainly economists, to thrash out a policy for equitable redistribution of wealth in India.

"I will fund the experts' trip to India. They will have to debate the state of the country's economy and present a paper on how to redistribute wealth in this country. We will network with private groups across India so that the paper is not thrown into the dustbin by the government. India is going to be an economic model for the rest of the world to follow," Hart told IANS.

The 65-year-old former Independent Television Network (ITN) reporter believes that "India will be torn apart by rage" if steps are not taken quickly to redistribute wealth. He also fears that India's pro-US stand may harm the country.

"Look at the map of the world, India is surrounded by Muslim nations. It makes no sense for India to proceed this way as a puppet of the US, which is in alliance with Israel. The country is battling an economic crisis along with the rest of the world, which could lead to World War III.

"It needs to deflect the situation. India has a potentially huge middle class but more than 750 million people still live below the poverty line. It still accounts for 40 percent of the world's poor," the former BBC presenter said.

Hart, who was close to Mother Teresa and also made a film on the Missionaries of Charity for his independent production company World Focus, identifies easily with poverty.

"I was born in an impoverished family in World War II Britain. My father juggled three jobs at a time, but I went to the best grammar school in Britain," he said.

World Focus is also credited with making a full-length two-hour documentary movie on global poverty - "Five Minutes to Midnight".

"The leaders of the Western world have to tell their people that we cannot go on living beyond our means. The days of good old materialism are over and people have to take smaller slices of the global cake. Though capitalism is the only way to create wealth, it has been badly managed," Hart said.

Hart, who has been reporting on the Middle East for nearly 40 years, has just released his new book "Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews". It is a two-part volume on why the modern state of Israel, the child of political Zionism, has become its "own worst enemy and a threat to peace in the region".

The book also explores why the whole of Arab and the wider Muslim world is in an explosion of frustration, "waiting for its time to happen". Hart says his empathy lies with both sides - the Jews and the Muslims alike.

"I am waiting to see if US President-elect Barack Obama has a magic wand to change America's foreign policy in the Middle-East and change the world in the process - bring back Israel to its 1967 order with Jerusalem as the capital of the two nations with an open border," he said.

Hart began his journalistic career at the age of 17, when he reported on the uprising of Blacks against White settlers in Malawi.

"I studied at the university of life when I landed in the darkest part of central Africa - Malawi - at the age of 17 to become a journalist," he recounted.

Since then, he has seen many wars. In Nigeria, where he flew in with Irish Catholic priests to cover the Nigeria-Biafra war in 1967, Hart found an "entire village of malnourished children with ginger hair, swollen bellies and wizened faces as if they were 100 years old".




"I was moved to tears and ITN had the courage to keep its camera rolling," he recalled.

Covering the Vietnam War was the turning point in Hart's life, when he started questioning whether the US was justified in spending $6 million per minute in a conflict that it could not win.

Hart plans to soon pen his memoirs, which will be published by Delhi-based Contemporary India Publishers. But for the moment, finding the right wealth managers for India is on top of his agenda.


US arms sales fuel conflict around the world: Study

Washington The US arms trade is booming, sales reached USD 32 billion in 2007, and more than half of the purchasers in the developing world are either undemocratic governments or regimes that engaged in human rights abuses, a private think tank reported.
Timed to the 60th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the report by the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute, named 13 of the top 25 arms purchasers in the developing world as either undemocratic or engaged in major human rights abuses.

The 13 listed in the report were Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Colombia, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Yemen and Tunisia.

Sales to these countries totaled more than USD 16.2 billion over 2006 and 2007.

The total ‘contrasts sharply with the Bush administration's pro-democracy rhetoric,’ the report said.

Also, the report said that 20 of the 27 nations engaged in major armed conflicts were receiving weapons and training from the United States.

"US arms transfers are undermining human rights, weakening democracy and fueling conflict around the world," the report said.

William D Hartung, the lead author of the report, said, "The United States cannot demand respect for human rights and arm human rights abusers at the same time."

US arms sales grew to USD 32 billion in 2007, more than three times the level when President George W Bush took office in 2001, the report said.


New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday apologised to the country for the government's inability to prevent the Mumbai attacks and
vowed to gear up the security apparatus to prevent recurrence of such incidents besides building pressure on Pakistan to end the scourge.

Making an intervention during the debate on the Mumbai attacks in Lok Sabha, Singh noted the action by Pakistan against Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed but asserted that Islamabad needed to do "much more" to take things to logical conclusion and convince the world about its actions.

Outlining steps to gear up the country's security system to meet the "unprecedented threat", he said the government has decided to set up a National Investigation Agency, decentralise NSG, form more commando units, strengthen coastal security by making the Coast Guard the sole force responsible for it and step up air surveillance.

"I apologise to the people of the country that this dastardly act could not be prevented," he said referring to the Mumbai strikes and acknowledged that acts of terrorism have witnessed an increase resulting in death of hundreds of citizens.

Observing that the "epicentre of terrorism" is located in Pakistan, he underlined that the terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country must be dismantled and India cannot be "satisfied with mere assurances."

Singh said India has so far exercised "utmost restraint" but it should "not be misconstrued as a sign of our weakness".



Meanwhile, Equities continued to remain choppy with a negative bias on Thursday even after inflation dipped to 8 per cent from its 8.4 per cent previous session. Buying was seen in metals, realty and banking stocks while IT stocks continued to decline.

In WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives approved bailout legislation on Wednesday that would force U.S. automakers to restructure or fail, sending the measure to the Senate where prospects for passage appeared grim.

JERUSALEM: US President-elect Barack Obama plans to offer Israel a strategic pact designed to fend off any nuclear attack on the Jewish state by
Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

Haaretz, quoting an unnamed US source close to Obama for its information, said Obama's administration would pledge under the proposed "nuclear umbrella" to respond to any Iranian nuclear strike against Israel with a US retaliation in kind.

No immediate comment on the Haaretz report was available from Israeli officials or the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

Iran denies its nuclear programme has military designs. But virulent anti-Israel rhetoric from Tehran has spread fears that the Israelis, who are believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, could attack their arch-foe pre-emptively.

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank's chief economist downplayed the likelihood of an interest rate cut in January, saying that after three straight reductions, the ECB's room for manoeuvre is now very limited.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Asia's emerging economies will slow next year as the global financial crisis saps export demand and capital flows, the Asian Development Bank said on Thursday.

Swift, decisive action by policy makers will help stem the impact of the crisis, the Manila-based bank said.

TOKYO: The global financial crisis may have ravaged banks in the West, but look East for a different story.


In Asia, banks are bruised but not collapsing. Governments haven't had to resort to massive bailouts. And some are even expanding while their Western counterparts fold, another sign that the world's economic center of gravity may be shifting east.

Their resiliency, however, and the region's ambitions to become the world's next financial leader face major tests ahead. Volatile equity markets are eroding bank assets, the global slump is battering Asia's export-driven economy, and a jump in bad loans from failing firms looks inevitable.

For now, Asia is keeping banks in business by embracing less risk and drawing on experience fighting its own financial problems of the past, including the region's 1997-98 crisis. Public finances, external balances and corporate balance sheets are on sounder footing due to smarter macroeconomic policies, tighter bank supervision and better risk management systems.

None of the major banks in the region is expected to need big bailouts such as the ones Citigroup Inc. and insurance giant American International Group have received from the U.S. government, analysts say.

At HOME:Confirming the fears, Reserve Bank of India Governor Subbarao Thursday said, the near-term outlook for the Indian economy remains uncertain. There are indications that FY09 growth projections will be cut and FY10 will be a “more difficult year”. There will be “painful adjustments” despite it taking steps, RBI said.

Some economists have since lowered their forecast to below 7 per cent the IMF forecasts a 6.3 per cent GDP growth in 2009 for India. And the effects of this are starting to show, with job cuts being announced by the aviation and IT industry. This has led to fears about job safety among other industries.

Meanwhile,sending a strong message across the border, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said if Pakistan did not "act" in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes, then there could be a situation that India "doesn't want."

"I expect them to act. Otherwise it will not be business as usual. There would be situation that we do not want," Mukherjee said intervening in the debate on Mumbai terror attacks in Rajya Sabha. At the same breath, Mukherjee also made it clear that the government was not suggesting an "eye for an eye" approach in the wake of the terror attacks.

India wants Pakistan to hand over 40 people it believes are behind militant attacks and other crimes, India's foreign minister said on Thursday, but ruled out military action against its neighbour as a solution.

"We have given them lists of 40 persons not one, not 20 - lists of 40 persons and we have also pointed out that their denial is not going to resolve the issue," Pranab Mukherjee told Indian parliament during a debate on the Mumbai attacks.

Indian officials had previously demanded that Pakistan hand over 20 suspected militants, some of them linked to last month's Mumbai attack in which 179 people were killed by gunmen that New Delhi believes were from Pakistan.


"I have been listening to views to be too strong in our formulation and in our approaches. Eye for eye is something which I do not subscribe to. That way, everyone could have become blind," Mukherjeesaid invoking the saying of Mahatma Gandhi.

"I have never accused the Pakistan government of being responsible. Very carefully I used the word 'elements' in Pakistan," he added.

"I have told the Pakistani government to act, it would help them and would also help us," he said.

Mukherjee said that mustering international support in the wake of the Mumbai attacks do not amount to inviting intervention in the Kashmir issue.

"There is no scope for a third party intervention in Kashmir," he said.

Asked by an angry lawmaker why India was not attacking Pakistan after so much proof of its complicity in fomenting trouble in India, Mukherjee replied: "That is no solution."

Islamabad either denies the presence of the suspects demanded by New Delhi or says India has not presented enough evidence to warrant their extradition. The list includes the founders of at least two Kashmiri militant groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region who New Delhi says have broadened their activity to attack other Indian cities as well.

"You may deny but how are you going to convince your own people when these faces appear in the TV screen," Mukherjee said, urging Pakistan to do more to stop attacks from its soil. Global pressure has seen Pakistan raid several Islamist militant training camps and detain or arrest some of the militant leaders India wants extradited.

But India is not satisfied. "Please follow it up seriously," Mukherjee said, recalling similar measures by its neighbours when militants attacked the Indian parliament in 2001.

"Therefore if it is not followed to the logical conclusion - complete dismantling of the infrastructure facilities available from that side to facilitate terrorist attack, of banning the organisations - how does that help us?"

Why Green Revolution

The world's worst recorded food disaster happened in 1943 in British-ruled India. Known as the Bengal Famine, an estimated four million people died of hunger that year alone in eastern India (that included today's Bangladesh). The initial theory put forward to 'explain' that catastrophe was that there as an acute shortfall in food production in the area. However, Indian economist Amartya Sen (recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1998) has established that while food shortage was a contributor to the problem, a more potent factor was the result of hysteria related to World War II which made food supply a low priority for the British rulers. The hysteria was further exploited by Indian traders who hoarded food in order to sell at higher prices.

Nevertheless, when the British left India four years later in 1947, India continued to be haunted by memories of the Bengal Famine. It was therefore natural that food security was a paramount item on free India's agenda. This awareness led, on one hand, to the Green Revolution in India and, on the other, legislative measures to ensure that businessmen would never again be able to hoard food for reasons of profit.


However, the term "Green Revolution" is applied to the period from 1967 to 1978. Between 1947 and 1967, efforts at achieving food self-sufficiency were not entirely successful. Efforts until 1967 largely concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But starvation deaths were still being reported in the newspapers. In a perfect case of Malthusian economics, population was growing at a much faster rate than food production. This called for drastic action to increase yield. The action came in the form of the Green Revolution.


The term "Green Revolution" is a general one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many Third World countries. It is NOT specific to India. But it was most successful in India.

What was the Green Revolution in India?

There were three basic elements in the method of the Green Revolution:

(1) Continued expansion of farming areas;

(2) Double-cropping existing farmland;

(3) Using seeds with improved genetics.

Continued expansion of farming areas

As mentioned above, the area of land under cultivation was being increased right from 1947. But this was not enough in meeting with rising demand. Other methods were required. Yet, the expansion of cultivable land also had to continue. So, the Green Revolution continued with this quantitative expansion of farmlands. However, this is NOT the most striking feature of the Revolution.

Double-cropping existing farmland

Double-cropping was a primary feature of the Green Revolution. Instead of one crop season per year, the decision was made to have two crop seasons per year. The one-season-per-year practice was based on the fact that there is only natural monsoon per year. This was correct. So, there had to be two "monsoons" per year. One would be the natural monsoon and the other an artificial 'monsoon.'

The artificial monsoon came in the form of huge irrigation facilities. Dams were built to arrest large volumes of natural monsoon water which were earlier being wasted. Simple irrigation techniques were also adopted.

Using seeds with superior genetics

This was the scientific aspect of the Green Revolution. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (which was established by the British in 1929 but was not known to have done any significant research) was re-organized in 1965 and then again in 1973. It developed new strains of high yield value (HYV) seeds, mainly wheat and rice but also millet and corn. The most noteworthy HYV seed was the K68 variety for wheat. The credit for developing this strain goes to Dr. M.P. Singh who is also regarded as the hero of India's Green revolution.

Statistical Results of the Green Revolution

(1) The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tons in 1978-79. This established India as one of the world's biggest agricultural producers. No other country in the world which attempted the Green Revolution recorded such level of success. India also became an exporter of food grains around that time.

(2) Yield per unit of farmland improved by more than 30 per cent between 1947 (when India gained political independence) and 1979 when the Green Revolution was considered to have delivered its goods.

(3) The crop area under HYV varieties grew from seven per cent to 22 per cent of the total cultivated area during the 10 years of the Green Revolution. More than 70 per cent of the wheat crop area, 35 per cent of the rice crop area and 20 per cent of the millet and corn crop area, used the HYV seeds.

Economic results of the Green Revolution

(1) Crop areas under high-yield varieties needed more water, more fertilizer, more pesticides, fungicides and certain other chemicals. This spurred the growth of the local manufacturing sector. Such industrial growth created new jobs and contributed to the country's GDP.

(2) The increase in irrigation created need for new dams to harness monsoon water. The water stored was used to create hydro-electric power. This in turn boosted industrial growth, created jobs and improved the quality of life of the people in villages.

(3) India paid back all loans it had taken from the World Bank and its affiliates for the purpose of the Green Revolution. This improved India's creditworthiness in the eyes of the lending agencies.

(4) Some developed countries, especially Canada, which were facing a shortage in agricultural labour, were so impressed by the results of India's Green Revolution that they asked the Indian government to supply them with farmers experienced in the methods of the Green Revolution. Many farmers from Punjab and Haryana states in northern India were thus sent to Canada where they settled (That's why Canada today has many Punjabi-speaking citizens of Indian origin). These people remitted part of their incomes to their relatives in India. This not only helped the relatives but also added, albeit modestly, to India's foreign exchange earnings.


Sociological results of the Green Revolution

The Green Revolution created plenty of jobs not only for agricultural workers but also industrial workers by the creation of lateral facilities such as factories and hydro-electric power stations as explained above.

Political results of the Green Revolution

(1) India transformed itself from a starving nation to an exporter of food. This earned admiration for India in the comity of nations, especially in the Third World.

(2) The Green Revolution was one factor that made Mrs. Indira Gandhi (1917-84) and her party, the Indian National Congress, a very powerful political force in India (it would however be wrong to say that it was the only reason).



Limitations of the Green Revolution

(1) Even today, India's agricultural output sometimes falls short of demand. The Green Revolution, howsoever impressive, has thus NOT succeeded in making India totally and permanently self-sufficient in food. In 1979 and 1987, India faced severe drought conditions due to poor monsoon; this raised questions about the whether the Green Revolution was really a long-term achievement. In 1998, India had to import onions. Last year, India imported sugar.
However, in today's globalised economic scenario, 100 per cent self-sufficiency is not considered as vital a target as it was when the world political climate was more dangerous due to the Cold War.

(2) India has failed to extend the concept of high-yield value seeds to all crops or all regions. In terms of crops, it remain largely confined to foodgrains only, not to all kinds of agricultural produce. In regional terms, only Punjab and Haryana states showed the best results of the Green Revolution. The eastern plains of the River Ganges in West Bengal state also showed reasonably good results. But results were less impressive in other parts of India.

(3) Nothing like the Bengal Famine can happen in India again. But it is disturbing to note that even today, there are places like Kalahandi (in India's eastern state of Orissa) where famine-like conditions have been existing for many years and where some starvation deaths have also been reported. Of course, this is due to reasons other than availability of food in India, but the very fact that some people are still starving in India (whatever the reason may be), brings into question whether the Green Revolution has failed in its overall social objectives though it has been a resounding success in terms of agricultural production.

(4) The Green Revolution cannot therefore be considered to be a 100 percent success.

Bush Says Starving India Eats
Too Much

By Kavita Krishnan

09 May, 2008
Countercurrents.org

Karl Marx, born on 5 May, 1818, nearly two centuries ago, had in 1867 laid bare the "intimate connection between the pangs of hunger of the most industrious layers of the working-class, and the extravagant consumption, coarse or refined, of the rich, for which capitalist accumulation is the basis" (Capital Vol I, Ch 25). In May 2008, nearly a century and a half later, as we hear Emperor Bush hold forth on global hunger, we are reminded that capitalism and global wealth remains just as intimately wedded to hunger.

The global policeman Bush, in the time-honoured traditions of backyard bully, has long harboured the habit of dictating to nations who their friends and enemies should be. Now, he has taken to telling nations how much they should eat, and of wagging a disapproving finger at poor nations whose middle class has made some improvements in its diet.

Bush's sentiments (and those of his lieutenant Condoleezza Rice) reek of callous contempt for the world's poor. They lay bare the fact that the only perspective Bush and US imperialism is capable of is that of the US corporations. In Bush's words, the growing purchasing power of the middle class in the developing world is "good" because "y'know, it's hard to sell products into countries that aren't prosperous." But, lamented Bush, "you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food". In other words, India's growing appetite was pushing food prices up and causing the rest of the world go hungry. Unfortunately the world's people haven't mastered the art of being markets, not mouths: of tightening the belt over their bellies while loosening their purse strings...

Bush is the head of the nation whose successive governments used its military to ruthlessly batter a long list of Latin American and African countries into being pliant suppliers of cash crops for the US corporations; and in the process devastating the food security of these nations. Major General Smedley Butler has described how, as a US Marine, he had been "a high class muscle-man for Big Business...a gangster for capitalism" who had helped to make Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, various Central American republics, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic "safe" for plunder by American fruit, oil, and sugar corporations and banks in the early twentieth century. His latest exploit has been to "make Iraq safe" for US oil corporations, in the process devastating its economy, its infrastructure, and its thriving health and education structures. Now, Bush has the gall to offer in charity what his nation has plundered by military muscle and economic arm-twisting. Like a rapacious wolf dressed up as a kindly and nurturing mother, he describes the US as an "unbelievably compassionate and generous nation" and offers to help the poor countries out by "buying food directly from farmers as opposed to giving people food." So, the deepest desire of the US corporations – to have the farmers of developing countries as captive and direct producers for them alone – is projected by Bush as generosity!

The US today along with a small and exclusive club of 'developed' countries guzzles a disproportionate share of the world's scarce resources including fuel, paper, and food. It is also responsible for a disproportionately high share of global pollution. Although constituting only five percent of the global population, the U.S. emits more carbon dioxide, consumes more paper and other forest products, and produces more municipal waste than any other country. Yet Bush refused to curb carbon emissions in the US, saying "the American way of life is not negotiable," and peddling the absurd theory that cows were more responsible for such emissions than cars, and so countries like China and India ought therefore to bear a greater burden of curbing emissions!

Annual per capita foodgrains consumption in the US is over five times that of India, and three times that of China, according to figures released by the US Department of Agriculture for 2007. On an average a US citizen consumes 1046 kg of grain, and around twenty times more meat and fish and sixty times more paper, gasoline, and diesel than the average Indian. But in India, since the entry of globalisation, the average per capita consumption of food grain has actually gone down from 177 kg per person to 155 kg per person: which is the same as the hunger levels seen during famine in times of the British Raj. And in India, foodgrains absorption is rising fast for the (mainly urban) middle class, which boosts the national average. A large section of rural poor are actually reduced to as low as 136 kg per capita per year – which is the same as that of starvation-hit sub-Saharan Africa. Bush grudges the 350 million-strong Indian middle class its improved diet: he is blithely silent about over 350 million rural Indians who are below the average food energy intake of sub-Saharan African countries! Studies have shown a long-term tendency towards declining per capita calorie consumption, especially in rural India – that is, Indians are growing hungrier year after year. Deaths by hunger are an all-too common phenomenon which Indian rulers are united in denying.

And these millions owe their hunger directly to the rural job losses, income decline, land grab, slashed government expenditure on rural development, slashed PDS and increased grain exports – all of which are policies aggressively promoted by the US-backed IMF-World Bank, and faithfully forced on Indian people by Manmohan Singh and his predecessors.

Of course, the actual food consumption of the poor Americans is less than the national average. Hunger and homelessness are a growing phenomenon in the US, the world's richest country. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2006 over 35 million people lived in food-insecure households, including 13 million children. Adults living in over 12 million households could not eat balanced meals and in over 7 million families someone had smaller portions or skipped meals. In close to 5 million families, children did not get enough to eat at some point during the year. This hunger at home is all the more horrific when one knows that more than sufficient food grains are grown in the US – but is fed to cars as 'bio-fuel' rather than to hungry people!

Bush's bratty and bullying arrogance is really nothing new: we expect nothing better. The real question is why Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister, describes a man with such contempt for India and for the poor of the world, as 'India's best friend'? Why insist on continuing with US-dictated policies which favour imperialism and force millions of Indians to live in misery and hunger?


Kavita Krishnan,


Editorial Board, Liberation, Central Organ of CPI(ML)
http://www.countercurrents.org/kavita090508.htm



"In the next few weeks and months, it will be my endeavour to take certain hard decisions and prepare the country and the people to face the challenge of terrorism," Chettiar Chidambaram said.

Among those steps, he said, were decisions to create a Coastal Command to secure India's 7,500 km (4,650 miles) shoreline, fill vacancies in intelligence agencies, upgrade technology, raise new commando units and build counter-insurgency and terrorism schools. O.K.

Chidambaram also proposed strengthening laws relating to prevention, investigation and punishment of terrorist acts.

"One of the bills is for setting up a National Investigation Agency," he said.

Here YOU ARE! AFPSA continued Since 1950s and POTA had not been enough for our Plight. Why don`t they invoke MISA once again!

Second stimulus package likely next week, Kamal Nath, ANOTHER Washington SLAVE declares tp APPEASE the KILLER MONEY MACINE while the PARLIAMENT remains in SESSIOn and no one from OUR POLITICAL Represtantive is a little concerned about the STARVING MASSES! No body asked how DARED the Chettyiar GANG, Supreme SLAVE PRIME MINISTER, MONTEK AMERICAWALA, FINMIN and RBI diverted NATIONAL Revenue BYPASSING Indian Parliament!

Mind you, the Reserve Bank has already pumped in additional Rs 3 lakh crore into the system to ease credit crunch being faced by the companies!

And LOOK for the GOONDAGARDI!The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday strongly defended that the monetary policy measures taken by the apex bank had yielded positive returns! And the AMERICANISED ZIONIST government is likely to come out with a second stimulus package to propel economic growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today! State Bank of India, India's biggest bank, said on Thursday there was some concern that the economy would require further stimulus beyond the interest rate cuts and extra spending announced last weekend!


"We have to ensure that our domestic demand continues and government will be taking all steps... We are again looking at something (package) for next week," Kamal Nath, the SLAVE, told reporters after a function organised by Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade and industry chamber Ficci here.

Asked whether the monetary measures adopted by the central bank had failed to revive the economy, RBI governor D Subbarao told reporters here, "Steps taken by the apex bank have resulted in positive returns".

He stated that the recent measures reduction in repo and reverse repo rates to infuse liquidity are appropriate.

Asked if there was further scope for reducing the CRR from the present levels of 5.5 per cent, the RBI governor said that the apex bank was constantly reviewing the situation.

"Going forward, RBI will do whatever is appropriate", Subbarao said.

"In the next review of the economy, the apex bank would set targets for growth and inflation", he said.

The second stimulus package, kamal Nath said, would be aimed at generating employment and ensuring that the credit needs of the companies are met.

In the next package, the Minister said, "We will look at engineering sector, greater re-finance facility for exporters and textile and agriculture sectors."

As part of an estimated about Rs 35,000-crore stimulus package last Sunday, the government reduced four per cent excise duty across the board and announced plans to raise public expenditure by additional Rs 20,000 crore during 2008-09.

Besides, the government announced incentives for exports sector, and also mentioned sops for and small and medium enterprises which will shortly be announced by banks.

Meanwhile,the rate cuts and stimulus packages implemented by world governments to bail out recession-hit industries and revitalise the economy are Tips to get your dream job When dream job is not perfect doing little to encourage consumer spending as the same companies are cutting jobs to reduce costs to tackle the situation. Experts feel, this trend in rising unemployment will push the global economy deeper into trouble.

More spies and police, modern gadgets and a national investigation agency are among a slew of measures India is taking to prevent militant attacks like the one on Mumbai last month, the home minister said on Thursday. The move comes after criticism that the government was not doing enough to prevent attacks, such as the one on India's financial capital that killed nearly 200 people, because there were vast gaps in its intelligence and security apparatus.

"I have found that there is a tendency to treat some intelligence inputs that are not specific or precise as not actionable intelligence," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told India's parliament in a statement about the Mumbai attack.

"Further, the responsibility for acting upon intelligence input is quite diffused."

Chidambaram, who took over when the incumbent minister resigned after the Mumbai raids, admitted the coast guard and navy had intelligence that a vessel carrying militants could enter Indian waters.

In November, employers in US slashed 533,000 jobs, the most in 34 years, according to the latest US Bureau of Labour Statistics report. It's the fourth time in the last 58 years that payrolls have fallen by more than 500,000 in a month, making the unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent the worst since 1993.

Not only in US, but lay-offs and fears of job losses have hampered consumer spending across the world. In Europe, the unemployment rate rose by 0.4 per cent to 7.7 per cent in October compared to last year. In France, it was 8.2 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from a year earlier. In Canada, the jobless rate was 6.3 per cent in November, rising by 0.4 per cent from a year ago. In UK, the unemployment rate in August was 5.7 per cent, higher by 0.4 per cent than in August 2007.

Emerging economies like India have also not been spared. The global recession has considerably slowed India's growth. The Indian economy recorded a growth rate of 7.8 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal, down from 9.3 per cent in the year-ago period.

CHIDAMBARAM was quoting again and again RISILIENCE of Indian ECONOMY! What happened?

Now just see , what happens to be the internal SECURITY Scenerio despite Strategic Realliance in US lead, despite CIA, MOSAD and RAW feedbacks they could not resist ISI and Foreign Nationals and Five Star India had to be ENCOUNTERED by MUMBAI CARNAGE! They happen to be RESPONSIBLE for our Saftey and security!But the boat couldn't be intercepted and 10 heavily armed gunmen attacked several Mumbai landmarks during a three-day siege, a strike India has blamed on nuclear rival Pakistan.

Intelligence reports of a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) vessel attempting to infiltrate into Mumbai was shared with the Coast Guard as well as the naval intelligence, Home Minister P. Chidambaram claimed Thursday, while asserting that India cannot go back to "business as usual" with Pakistan.

But the Failure FINANCE Minister dislodged, now HOME P. Chidamabaram Thursday acknowledged the National Security Guard (NSG) was the country's "best trained and best equipped force" to combat terrorists but also admitted that it suffered poor logistics!

India's security agencies have long been criticised for lacking a cohesive counter-terrorism plan and poor intelligence gathering and analysis. Police are badly armed and often have nothing more than a stick with which to fight militants.

Highlighting poor security coordination, Indian newspapers have reported that one suspected supporter of the Mumbai attackers who was arrested in Kolkata was in fact an undercover officer trying to infiltrate Kashmiri militant groups.

Bombs and other attacks have hit India with such regularity that the country has been called one of the most dangerous places in the world. Some 400 people have been killed in about a dozen militant strikes this year.

Bombing investigations too have followed a predictable drill: bombs go off, police round up suspects, usually Muslims, and then the trail goes cold.

A flurry of anti-terrorism measures, critics and opposition parties say, has come to be the government's standard knee-jerk response to any terror attack.

In September, India said it was building a new counter-terrorism centre and revamping policing and intelligence gathering after a series of bombs killed at least 20 people in New Delhi earlier that month.

Slamming Pakistan for linking Mumbai attacks to non-resolution of Kashmir issue, India on Thursday asked it to take "serious" action to completely dismantle terror infrastructure and end infiltration but maintained that war against the neighbour was not a solution. On the other hand,terming Pakistan the "epicentre" of terrorism, opposition leader L.K. Advani Thursday cautioned the government against relying completely on the UN Security Council to bring the perpetrators of the "terror war" in Mumbai to justice.

"We are trying to pressurise Pakistan by moving the UNSC. But we should not forget our experience in terms of Kashmir. We should take whatever action we can take on our own strength, as this is our problem. We should not expect too much from the UNSC," Advani said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.

"The world says that South Asia is in the eye of the storm on terrorism. Let us realise and say it candidly that the epicentre of the terror is Pakistan. We moved UNSC but we haven't named Pakistan. I don't know why."

Addressing the house after Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate said the Nov 26 attack on India's financial capital was a "terror war" that was the fallout of "cross border terrorism".

"It is not just terror, it is cross border terrorism, a word which Pakistan's former president General Parvez Musharraf refused to accept during (the 2001) Agra summit. He instead termed the terrorism in Kashmir as the fight for liberation," said Advani, who was deputy home minister in the BJP-led government then.

He said Pakistan's crackdown of terrorist groups was hogwash.

"We should not be fooled by the crackdown operation of Pakistan against terrorist groups," Advani said.

Assuring the government of the opposition's support in all "stern decisions" aimed at rooting out terrorism, Advani also pointed fingers towards Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI for perpetrating terror in the country.

"Pakistan President (Asif Ali) Zardari has accepted that non-state actors on Pakistan soil are fomenting terrorism. ISI itself is a non-state actor because it is not under the elected Pakistan government and is answerable only to the army," he added. He said the Nov 26-29 Mumbai terror siege which killed 172 people was an attack on the "economic progress" and the "peaceful coexistence of multi-religions" in India.


Talking tough in the Lok Sabha, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee raised questions over Pakistan's sincerity in curbing activities of terror groups operating from its soil as he suggested that "house arrest" of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed was not enough.

Intervening in the debate in Lok Sabha on Mumbai attacks, he said India has repeatedly given Pakistan a list of 40 terrorists, including Dawood Ibrahim, with a demand that they be handed over and expressed hope that Islamabad would respond positively.

He asked Pakistan to come out of the "denial mode" on existence of terrorists, including "non-state actors", who operate from the confines of that country as he wondered: "did the non-state actors come from heaven, did the non-state actors come from another planet?"

Mukherjee also slammed Pakistan for creating a war "hysteria" by indulging in "propaganda" on the basis of a hoax call that "big power" India was going to attack.

"That is not the solution," he said when Shiv Sena member Mohan Rawale said India should attack Pakistan in the wake of the terror strikes.

Rubbishing efforts by Pakistan to link the terror strikes to non-resolution of Kashmir issue, Mukherjee asserted that such a "straight jacket simple formula" will not help solve the problem as the series of attacks in India are part of global terrorism.

"It (attacks) is not related to Jammu and Kashmir issue. It is part of global terrorism," Mukherjee said in the House amid repeated thumping of desks, significantly on both ruling and opposition sides.

"I don't believe in straight jacket formula. It is not as simple. It is complex...It is not that if Kashmir issue is solved, everything will be in place," the external affairs minister said.

Referring to the "solemn assurances" given by the then President Pervez Musharraf and his successor President Asif Ali Zardari to end terrorism emanating from Pakistan, he said "expression of intent is not sufficient" and that Islamabad needs to "act" to convincing levels.

He pointed to the "house arrest" of LeT chief and said it was "not convincing" as even after the reported action by Pakistani authorities, Saeed was appearing on TV channels.

"What does house arrest mean? Laws, Indian Penal Code, in Pakistan are the same as in India, the names may be different. He should be either in judicial or police custody," Mukherjee said.

Suggesting that Pakistan could be indulging in non-serious actions against terrorism, he said the "same scenes were played out after the attack on Parliament in December 2001... The Lashkar-e-Taiba was banned but it changed name, the signboards were changed but the faces, ideology and activities remained the same."

Demanding complete dismantling of terror infrastructure existing in territories under Pakistan's control and end to infiltration, he told Islamabad "Please follow up seriously... it (action) should be taken to its logical conclusion."

It is not India-Pakistan issue, not a Jammu and Kashmir issue... Terrorism is not confined to borders of any country. It is international
phenomenon," Mukherjee said, describing terrorism as the biggest threat to the world post-Cold War.

Noting that terrorists have struck in important tourist place Jaipur, science and technology hub Bangalore, industrial hub Ahmedabad and financial capital Mumbai during the year, the external affairs minister said there is a "design" and "method" behind these attacks.

"We tell Pakistan, please do not deny facts. Accept it," he said, as he observed that there was a "sense of anger and outrage" in India over the Mumbai attacks and people want the government to "rise to the occasion" and send a "resolute message" to Pakistan.


During the debate which saw unusual unity between ruling and opposition benches, Mukherjee asserted that India will not allow its "territorial sovereignty and integrity to be played with" and "nobody should dare to attack us. This message must be conveyed."

Apparently hinting at the disconnect between the political leadership and military establishment in Pakistan that allows terrorists to operate from that country, he said Islamabad needs to address its internal problems and that New Delhi was ready to help in this regard.

Seeking to highlight this aspect, he said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was promised that Director General of ISI would visit India to help in probe into Mumbai attacks. "But within hours, it was denied. It may be Pakistan's internal problem. They have to solve it. International community should help."

Underlining that India was in the process of building an international campaign to highlight the fact that terrorism against this country is emanating from Pakistan, Mukherjee said majority of the world leaders he spoke to agreed that Mumbai terror attackers came from Pakistan.

He, however, said India has to deal with Pakistan patiently as it is a neighbour which cannot be changed.

"I am not indulging in jingoism. I am simply expressing my anger. We have to deal with the situation. We cannot change our neighbours. The issues cannot be ducked. The issues cannot be sidelined," Mukherjee said.

"Whatever be the depth of our anger, it is a phenomenon which cannot be switched on or off. We have to patiently deal with it.

"Those who talk of thousand years of war after failing to win in an open battle field did it with an objective to cause great harm to this country. We are not provoked. We have no intention to be provoked," he said.

The minister said India has already expressed anger and outrage to Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks in which foreigners were targeted for the first time.

He said that 26 foreigners from 13 countries were killed in the attacks and said he had conveyed to their countries regret for not being able to protect the "guests".

The attack was planned and the terrorists came from Pakistan, he said adding, even during the operation their controllers in Pakistan were guiding them as action was shown live on television.

Mukherjee criticised news channels for live coverage of the three-day long operation to "enhance" viewership at the cost of national interest and said there was need to "draw a line".

Experts welcome UN ban on Jamaat-ul-Dawa; put doubts on Pak

The United Nations' decision to ban Jamaat-ul-Dawa, (JuD) the front organisation of Lashker-e-Taiba, has been welcomed by security
experts but they feel that its translation in letter and spirit by Pakistan is still under a cloud.

"It is a welcome move to the extent that the committee of nations understand the gravity of the threat and feel the need for a collective response," says former Intelligence Bureau Director Ajit Doval.

The experts feel that the move will have little impact on JuD's importance as a terror group within Pakistan unless authorities, in the calculus of grit, find the consequences of siding with terrorists are far more dangerous than the advantage of eliciting their support.

"It's a positive move," says former Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Gopal Sharma.

"One needs to understand that Jamaat-ul-Dawa is mother organisation of Lashker-e-Taiba. It's literature spewing venom against India and promoting communal hatred was recovered in Kashmir way back in 1990," Sharma, who retired recently as Director General of Seema Sashtra Bal, said.

"They (Jamaat-ul-Dawa) had circulated pamphlets in Kashmir that they would target people here and convert it (Kashmir) into another Chechnya," Sharma said.

Sleuths, telecos must cooperate to fight terror: PM

In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said an effective cooperation was needed between
security agencies and the telecom industry to combat such incidents.

"It is very important that there should be effective cooperation and coordination between the agencies whose responsibility is to safeguard the security of the country and producers, all actors in the industry (of technology)", he said while inaugurating the India Telecom 2008 conference.

Singh said this while endorsing FICCI president Rajeev Chandrasekhar's suggestion that there was a need for very serious upgrade in the government's thinking on the level of cooperation that is currently engaging with the telecom industry to counter terrorism.

Mumbai attacks: Pakistan vows to comply with UN curbs
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Thursday Pakistan would comply with the UN Security Council decision of listing four leaders of an outlawed militant group blamed by India and the US for the Mumbai attacks.

"Pakistan has taken note of the designation of certain individuals and entities by the U.N. ... and would fulfill its international obligations," a statement from his office quoted him as telling visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

The United Nations Security Council placed sanctions against Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front organization for Lashkar-e-Taiba, declaring it a terrorist organization.

The Council panel has designated four men linked to the Mumbai attacks as terrorists subject to sanctions.

The four men are believed to hold leadership positions in the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba that is accused of orchestrating last month's attacks that left over 180 dead in Mumbai.

Designated as terrorists subject to UN sanctions were Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar's operations chief; Muhammad Saeed, the group's leader; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance; and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group.
The Security Council's al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions committee added them to its list of terrorists subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo under a council resolution adopted this year.

The US Treasury Department last week designated the men as terrorists and ordered any US assets frozen.

Earlier on Wednesday, in what is being read as the first sign of Pakistan wilting in the face of growing international pressure, Islamabad had said that it will ban Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) “the political arm of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been recruiting fidayeen killers like the captured terrorist Ajmal” if the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) declared JUD a terrorist outfit.

It's learnt the UNSC has already initiated the necessary steps to ban JUD and tighten the screws on its chief Hafiz Saeed, regarded as a key man behind the Mumbai carnage, who is wanted by India as a criminal terrorist. A Saeed-specific ban is also a certainty, said government sources.

Pakistan, which had denied the complicity of Lashkar in Mumbai attacks, had to make the statement about banning JUD at the UNSC because of the near-unanimity in the Security Council about JUD's involvement in terrorism. The UNSC move marked a global concert against Pakistan because of its failure to carry out its repeated pledges to India and others to crack down on terrorist camps.

``After the designation of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) under resolution 1267, the government on receiving communication from the Security Council shall proscribe the JUD and take other consequential actions, as required, including the freezing of assets,'' said Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan's permanent representative in the UN. Sources said that he gave an undertaking to the same effect to the world body on Tuesday.

Indian officials seemed satisfied with the impending ban on JUD by Pakistan.

Haroon also said that no LeT camp would be allowed to operate from Pakistan. Pakistan's NSA Mahmud Ali Durrani had reiterated on Wednesday that his country would follow all UN resolutions. ``We will follow any UN resolution. There should be no doubt. If our investigations prove the involvement of any organisation in Pakistan, we will definitely ban it,'' Durrani told a news channel.

Meanwhile, Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani confirmed on Wednesday that police had detained Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, the two members of LeT whom India has blamed for the attacks in Mumbai. He said that the allegations against them are being looked into.

Stop running to US for tackling terror: BJP to govt

Pledging support for a full-scale war against terror, Opposition BJP on Thursday said the government must stop "running" to Washington Latest on Mumbai attacks hoping that the US would come to its rescue in tackling Pakistan-backed terrorism.

"Please stop running to mummy (US)" hoping that somebody else will help the country to tackle terrorism, senior BJP leader Arun Shourie said initiating a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the recent terror attacks in Mumbai.

He said the government keeps pinning its hopes on US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice coming here to resolve the country's problems with regard to terrorism.

Asking the government to stop the peace process with Pakistan, he said "your intelligence record shows that ISI is now knitting together Indian insurgent groups".

Observing that China was propping up Pakistan, Shourie said Islamabad was supporting terrorism and at the same time putting the onus of the peace process on New Delhi.




Criticism, Terrorism and Crisis:Why Religon



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The United States of America which shows its most concern towards keeping peace and prosperity of the world, what they actually doing to keep this world save from all kind of terrorism. As they are super power, so more responsibilities are on them. The policies and action taken by the US government is just for their own interest so far and trying to keep targeting Muslims all over the world. Its not just happening now, it's from the decades because not only the Muslims but every one else, who against the un-justice and raise their voice for truth, equality and justice. From where it actually starts and turns into violent?

The propaganda against muslims and Pakistan not just started in years or months nor after the saddest incident happened on 9/11. It's all started after their religious growth and becomes a part of developing and futurist nations, people around the world start and showed their hate towards Muslims and Islam and start criticizing them, called them conservative, extremist, terrorist, 3^rd^ class citizen and looked them with suspicious eyes, who lives in some other western countries, the false propaganda and perception made by foreign policy makers in west and western media. Islam teaches the lesson of love, peace, justice, equality and to live simple life. Muslims never criticize any one nor interfere in any other religion. Every day, every time around the world raising fingers on muslims for any sort of terror or incident. Trying to led them down made strict polices just for them, eye on their moments, degrade them, treat them in suspicious manner, make them irritate, humiliate them, give them feelings that they are just bad and made fun out of their religion and their most respective Prophet (S.A.W). American and other people around the world have that feeling that Muslims hate them. No they don't, muslims all over the world never hate any one nor criticize any individual belongs to any religion, they just against the policies and an aggressive attitude of governments, their polices and one sided media. Those who are terrorist and extremist belongs to any religion have no soil, no religion and no faith. Why specifically mentioned terrorist with the name of Islamic terrorist and point out muslims. They are just terrorists. Muslims are human being too just like others, they have equal rights and respect as they give and have for others.

If muslims are terrorist and involve in all terrorism, then why all over the world have their interest and have businesses with Arabs and other muslim states, why they want them to help the world in their economy and crisis. Muslims from Arab and Asia invest billions of dollars not just in American economy, all over the world as they called their self super powers. How you shake hands with them and how you expect to make good relations with them and called them your ally.

9/11 made the cause of war in Afghanistan against Taliban. Taliban was early supported and used by internationally against Russians for their own interest. Pakistan is the major ally to US in war against terror and most effected by this, we gave our ground and air spaces, deployed our forces on Afghan borders, help Nato forces in every way for the sake of peace, because we are not terrorist but the most victimized people by all such terrorism, our economy suffers, our innocent people died in several spy missile attacks, our solders martyred, internal threats and external foreign pressures. In spite of all, we are on our stance to defeat this terrorism and terrorist. What the cause of war in Iraq, just for few wanted leaders, which wasn't to hard to searched and arrests them. What war causes, the death of innocent people and families at large and made them homeless, starving and made them hate and regret against those who apart of that war, as no such weapons and mass destruction found from Iraq. Why Palestinians still targeting by Israelis, killing innocent people and made them shelter less. All over the world, people are in danger and lives in fear. What would you expect from a child who learn and see all this from the childhood and from those who left to be alone after when their loves once their father, mother, brother, sister or child killed or lost their lives in such wars and suspicious attacks. By doing wars and make people against you, wanted to keep peace. Why this world and media not stands with us and show their gratitude towards us.
Western media and few of their analyst made news spicy according to their taste, shouts and criticize more and tried to give perception that such terrorism done by muslims and trying to involve Pakistan in that. In London on 7/7 several underground blast exploded, and every one around the world pointing fingers on muslims, specially on Pakistan, but after investigation, we saw that they were British born, but their parents belongs to Pakistan but anyhow they made their connection with Pakistan. Yes their religion was Islam, neither they were muslims nor Pakistani, cause they grew up and born in UK, in British culture. In the same way when Mumbai attacked by some terrorist and left innocent people dead, it was very sad moment for all of us too and we are with them in that. But what Indian government did, used to point out and raised their fingers on Pakistan thou it was very early and have no such investigation or any evidence. Most of all Indian and the western media CNN made most of it and trying to relate connections with Pakistan in different ways. Many innocent people died in that. They have to be fair for every one. They cannot see what happened in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and the unresolved issue of Kashmir. Since many years on the name of war and suspicious attacks made by collision forces and killed several innocent people and made many of them homeless, why they don't raise their voice against all such killing of innocent people, because they are muslims and lives in Islamic states. Pakistan is the most effected country cause of this war in every way but we are doing all this to help people and to keep peace in the world. Because our war is not against any individual or any religion, it's against all sorts of terrorism and terrorists, what ever religion they have and from where ever they belong. What we got in the end, all sort of allegations and criticism around the world. The all Councils, Human right organizations and international media all over the world just played their role like a spectators, Kashmir issue is the biggest proof that the Indian forces openly killed innocent people in including children, rape their women and made the whole Kashmir's hostage. They are scarifying their lives just for the cause of freedom and independence.
Now, what is the impact of all such wars and policies, the whole world suffers and in global crisis. Use of such power and wars gives nothing except more crisis and more global recession, the whole world effect by this and which includes most of US. Despite of peace in America the people feel insecure and in fear because of their policies and action taken by their government against the world. It a universal law every action having same reaction. The newly elected government in US is the proof of that, what their people wants and why they need the change. Aggressive policies must need some changes and better solutions not only for an individual's interest but for the interest of this world. The whole world looking for the peace and prosperity and have few hopes with the newly elected American democratic government to do something better for the people of this world in real.



Advising the government to come out of the "self-denial" mode, he said four days before the Mumbai terror strikes, former home minister Shivraj Patil was taking consolation in the figures showing comparison of terrorist attacks during the NDA and the UPA governments.

Referring to coastal security, he said barring one, none of the remaining 35 islands in Lakshadsweep was properly staffed by intelligence agencies.

Noting that the country remained vulnerable because terrorist groups backed by the neighbouring country use high technology like voice over internet protocol, he warned that in the next five years the terrorists would use non-conventional weapons like chemical and nuclear arms in miniature forms.

Shourie said the 'proxy war' started by former Pakistan President Zia ul Haq has kept India "bleeding" for 35 years with no damage to them.

Advising the government to judge Pakistan by the ground realities, he said "please do not go by joint statements that you sign with their leaders".

Rejecting the theory of using minimal force, Shourie said the government should go with full force to win over the proxy war unleashed by Pakistan.

"Not an eye for an eye. But for an eye, both eyes. For a tooth, whole jaw," he said.

He observed that violence in Jammu and Kashmir had come down in the last one year because Pakistan was preoccupied with its own problems in troubled areas like Balochistan, the tribal belt and other places.

Terrorists have technology and money, we have sticks’

Reuters
Posted: Dec 11, 2008 at 1417 hrs IST

Mumbai Indian police are grappling with global positioning systems (GPS), satellite phones and Google Earth images on the trail of the Mumbai attackers and finding themselves hobbled by technological inadequacy.
So far, police have found four GPS handsets, one satellite phone, nine mobile phones and computer discs with high-resolution images and maps of the 10 sites that were attacked. The use of the Internet to make calls has also hampered the investigation.

"The use of technology has made it very difficult for us," Param Bir Singh, a top officer in Mumbai's anti-terrorism team, said.

"For the people we are dealing with, money is not a problem, and even the ones that are not very educated are trained in all manner of devices and know how to make interception difficult."

The lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attack reportedly told interrogators in Mumbai the 10 terrorists, who led the three-day siege, were shown videos and Google Earth images of the targets during their training in camps in Pakistan.

"They probably used the GPS for navigation and the satellite phone when they were on the sea, and then used the mobile phones to stay in touch with their handlers during the operations," Rakesh Maria, lead investigator of the police, has said.

Ratan Shrivastava, a defence expert at consultancy Frost & Sullivan and a former army officer, said ‘hostile groups’ that have attacked India have always used very sophisticated technology and were typically very well-trained in the use of technology.

"While the Indian armed forces are well-equipped and our intelligence services have the capability to take on these technologies, there is very little coordination between them and the police, which is ill-equipped," he said.

He said a large part of the intelligence gathered these days is from monitoring the airwaves and intercepting conversations and e-mails but India lacked the resources and coordination to analyse and respond to the intelligence.

Mumbai police acknowledge the difficulties and the militants' apparent ease with sophisticated technology.

Singh said militants used VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and satellite phones, making it harder to intercept conversations. They also used multiple phone cards for mobile phones and routed e-mails through servers in different locations, which make it harder to trace.

There were also some reports they used BlackBerry devices to scan the news after the siege began, but the police have denied finding BlackBerry devices on the terrorist.

Security analyst Ajai Sahni was dismissive of Indian police forces' standard-issue weapons.

"Our police are still running around with lathis (sticks) and World War-II era rifles. We are simply not equipped to respond to a sophisticated system of this kind."

SECURITY HAZARD

In Mumbai, a public interest litigation filed by a city lawyer has sought a ban on Google Earth for providing easy access to ‘sensitive’ defence and civilian establishments, which poses a security hazard to the country, according to local newspapers.

Earlier in 2008, Indian security agencies expressed fears the BlackBerry e-mail device could be used by militants to send e-mails that could not be traced or intercepted.

The Telecom Ministry in July cleared the service.

Google Earth is putting checks in place to alert governments when sensitive images are downloaded, but militants around the world have used off-the-shelf technologies to stay ahead of bigger, better-funded agencies, security analyst Sahni said. So banning these services is no solution to tackling terror.

"If you ban something, people will still find ways to get around it," he said, pointing to India's earlier attempts to curb mobile phone use in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast.

"And where will you draw the line? Will we ban mobile phones all together, and ban automobiles and airplanes because they are also being used by attackers?"



Mumbai attacks show up India's technology shortcomings


11 Dec 2008, 1804 hrs IST, REUTERS

MUMBAI: Police are grappling with global positioning systems (GPS), satellite phones and Google Earth images on the trail of the Mumbai attackers Mumbai: CCTV footages
Taj: Then & now
Oberoi: Then & now
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and finding themselves hobbled by technological inadequacy.

So far, police have found four GPS handsets, one satellite phone, nine mobile phones and computer discs with high-resolution images and maps of the 10 sites that were attacked. The use of the Internet to make calls has also hampered the investigation.

"The use of technology has made it very difficult for us," Param Bir Singh, a top officer in Mumbai's anti-terrorism team, told reporters.

"For the people we are dealing with, money is not a problem, and even the ones that are not very educated are trained in all manner of devices and know how to make interception difficult."

The lone surviving gunman of the Mumbai attack reportedly told interrogators in Mumbai the 10 gunmen, who led the three-day siege that killed 179 people, were shown videos and Google Earth images of the targets during their training in camps in Pakistan.

"They probably used the GPS for navigation and the satellite phone when they were on the sea, and then used the mobile phones to stay in touch with their handlers during the operations," Rakesh Maria, lead investigator of the police, has said.

Ratan Shrivastava, a defence expert at consultancy Frost & Sullivan and a former army officer, said "hostile groups" that have attacked India have always used very sophisticated technology and were typically very well-trained in the use of technology.

"While the Indian armed forces are well-equipped and our intelligence services have the capability to take on these technologies, there is very little coordination between them and the police, which is ill-equipped," he said.

He said a large part of the intelligence gathered these days is from monitoring the airwaves and intercepting conversations and e-mails but India lacked the resources and coordination to analyse and respond to the intelligence.

Mumbai police acknowledge the difficulties and the militants' apparent ease with sophisticated technology.

Singh said militants used VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and satellite phones, making it harder to intercept conversations. They also used multiple phone cards for mobile phones and routed e-mails through servers in different locations, which make it harder to trace.

There were also some reports they used BlackBerry devices to scan the news after the siege began, but the police have denied finding BlackBerry devices on the gunmen.



Oversight panel questions US Treasury on bailout plan
WASHINGTON: With a skeptical tone, a congressional panel reviewing the government's $700 billion rescue package for the financial sector is Countries in recession|questioning the Bush administration's spending of bailout funds and challenging its reluctance to use the money to reduce foreclosures.

In a report to be made public later Wednesday, the oversight committee spelled out 10 pointed queries to the Treasury Department and questioned whether its shifting remedies constitute a strategic response to the financial crisis. The review represents the latest critical assessments of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the massive federal intervention into the nation's financial system.

The 37-page draft offers no specific conclusions, but the questions suggest sharp disagreements with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's stewardship of the program and echo some of the criticism raised in a Government Accountability Office audit of the program last week.

"The American people need to understand Treasury's conception of the problems in the economy and its comprehensive strategy to address those problems," the draft report said.

The panel's chairwoman, Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and a Democratic appointee to the oversight group, is scheduled to testify about the panel's report Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the panel's only Republican, also will testify, though he declined to sign the report. He said he had raised several concerns with the panel over access to resources and other issues that "have not yet been addressed."

Also on the witness list for the hearing are Gene Dodaro, the GAO's acting comptroller general, and Neel Kashkari, director of the Treasury office that oversees the bailout program.
The tough reviews come as the Bush administration is considering seeking access to the second half of the $700 billion fund. All but $15 billion of the first $350 billion has been allocated in the two months the program has been in place.

Many Republicans, such as Hensarling, were suspicious of the bailout from the outset. And Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, have argued that instead of simply injecting money into banks, the government needed to use the funds to halt rising foreclosures. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has predicted foreclosures in 2008 will reach about 2.25 million.

The oversight report noted that Treasury was considering having mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee and purchase 30-year fixed mortgages with rates as low as 4.5 percent. But the report said the program was designed only to encourage new home buyers.

"The program does not appear to offer any help to already distressed homeowners," the draft said.

Much of the criticism aimed at Paulson centers on his decision to shift the program's mission from purchasing troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions to infusing capital into banks by buying stakes in their equity.

"What is Treasury's strategy?" the draft report asks. "Is the strategy working to stabilize the markets?" and "Is the strategy helping to reduce foreclosures?" The draft presses the Treasury to answer those questions and more.

At one point the report notes that Congress is demanding that the auto industry restructure itself in exchange for $15 billion in bridge loans and challenges the Treasury to do the same with banks.

"Has Treasury required banks receiving aid to: Present a viable business plan; replace failed executives and/or directors; undertake internal reforms to prevent future crises, to increase oversight, and to ensure better accounting and transparency; undertake any other operational reforms?" it asks.

Last week, the GAO concluded that the government must toughen its monitoring of the bailout fund to ensure that banking institutions limit their top executives' pay and comply with other restrictions. The auditors said the Treasury Department has no mechanism in place to track how institutions are using $150 billion in taxpayer money that the government injected into the banking system as of last month.

Kashkari, in a speech Monday, defended the Treasury's management of the program, arguing that the financial system is more stable now than it was two months ago. He also predicted that bank lending has been affected by low confidence in financial systems, the credit crunch and the economic downturn.

"As confidence returns, we expect to see more credit extended," he said.


White House, Congress agree on outlines of auto bailout plan

WASHINGTON: The White House indicated late on Tuesday an agreement in principle was in place with Congressional leaders on a 15-billion-dollar
automotive industry rescue package, but said negotiations were not yet over.

"We will continue to work with Congress to finalize legislation the president can support," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

However, "a great deal of progress has been made," she said of the legislation to shore up the ailing Detroit Big Three -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Senator Carl Levin from Michigan, the base for the auto industry, said he understands that an "agreement has been reached," and that it was only a matter of time before a bill is ready to go.

"This gets us to the 20 yard line, but getting over the goal line will take a major effort," he said.

A senior administration official said the main point for the White House is certifying the companies can prove they are "viable" and that taxpayers wouldn't foot the bill for a fresh round of loans in coming months.

The White House also emphasized the need for a designee or "car czar" to oversee the billions in funds and to ensure the companies fulfill their restructuring plans.

If the designee establishes a company has been unable to do so, the government can withdraw federal funds, the senior administration officials said.

Congressional Republicans, however, have expressed angst about an open-ended commitment to rescue the firms from their own managerial mistakes.

"Taxpayers should not be asked to finance any firm unwilling to make the difficult decisions across the scope of their businesses," Perino said, warning that dramatic restructuring includes "deep and meaningful concessions from all stakeholders" in the companies.

Earlier Tuesday, Perino stressed: "Our insistence that long-term viability be reflected in the legislation is something that we have held very strong feelings about, and that has not changed.

"There will not be long-term financing if they cannot prove long-term viability."

Short-term loans of 15 billion dollars are meant to sustain the car giants through March, allowing president-elect Barack Obama time to address their crisis after he takes office on January 20.

Obama has called a collapse of the auto industry "unacceptable," but said Sunday he wanted a supervisory process that would hold the companies' "feet to the fire."

GM and Chrysler are first in line after warning they are fast running out of cash. Ford, though equally hampered by slumping sales, says it faces no immediate liquidity crisis but wants a nine-billion-dollar line of credit.

While the Democratic-led Congress was ready to extend a larger amount of aid, the Bush administration has balked at giving any more than 15 billion dollars and insists -- like Obama -- that the automakers must retool for the long haul.

White House and congressional negotiators held talks late into Monday and the emerging total proposed is less than half of the 34 billion dollars the auto giants say they would need to stave off a "catastrophic collapse."

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the automakers must be "preserved" as it was "essential to our national security that we have a strong industrial and manufacturing base."

But government help must not amount to "corporate welfare," she told reporters, mentioning former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker as a possible presidential czar to supervise the companies' restructuring.

Influential Republican Senator Richard Shelby, whose state of Alabama hosts assembly plants of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz, said many in his party were grumbling at the helping hand being offered to the Detroit giants.

Republicans in Congress could not sign off any deal "because I believe the American people need to know the details of this, to realize this is only the downpayment on a lot of money to come in the future," he told MSNBC.

The proposed legislation calls for the "car czar," a presidential appointee to oversee the overhaul of the Big Three US automakers, which have been losing ground for years to their Japanese rivals.

In return for the loans, the government would get an equity stake and the automakers would have to improve their fleets' fuel-efficiency and also examine using their excess capacity to build bus and rail cars for public transit.

The bill also requires the automakers to sell their private jets and places strict limits on executive compensation, similar to a recent bailout for financial firms buffeted by the global credit crunch and toxic mortgage loans.

Already deep in debt, does the US government have enough funds to keep baiing out its industries too often?

Blow or bailout? US auto rescue uncertain
11 Dec 2008, 2021 hrs IST, REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives approved bailout legislation on Wednesday that would force US automakers to restructure or fail, sending Wall Street Pink Slip party
More Pictures
the measure to the Senate where prospects for passage appeared grim.

"Gonna be tough, but haven't lost all hope," one Democratic aide said of chances in the Senate, which could vote as early as Thursday on the plan to provide up to $14 billion in bridge loans to help avert collapse of one or more carmakers.

Democrats sought to reclaim momentum in the bailout effort, with the bill they negotiated with the Bush administration clearing the chamber by 237-170.

"This legislation is about offering Detroit and America a chance to get back on track," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a floor speech before the vote. "It gets down to a question of tough love."

The White House weighed in just before the vote with a public endorsement aimed at Republicans skeptical of the rescue and demanding a tougher approach for helping General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler LLC.

"We believe the legislation developed in recent days is an effective and responsible approach to deal with troubled automakers and ensure the necessary restructuring occurs," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

Democrats advocated passage based on the belief that government inaction could lead to an industry collapse that would cost taxpayers far more than the loans intended to see them through March and help them restructure.

While the House stuck to its plan for quick action, much uncertainty surrounds the bill's fate in the Senate where a razor-thin Democratic majority cannot ensure passage.

Senate Democrats will have difficulty reaching the 60 votes necessary to overcome procedural hurdles, which some Republicans have vowed to erect to slow or even block the legislation.

Democrats need up to a dozen or more Republicans to win passage, a Democratic aide said.

"The critics have been very vocal. The question is where are the (Senate Republican) supporters of the Big Three," another Democratic aide said.

US recession to worsen, deflation a risk: Report
11 Dec 2008, 1447 hrs IST, REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: The "nasty" US recession will tighten its grip next year as unemployment rises and weak home and stock prices imperil consumers, Ghosts of 1929
2008: Year of global financial crisis
Countries in recession
finance firms and debt-laden businesses, a UCLA Anderson Forecast report released on Thursday said.

Additionally, a sustained retreat in prices for goods and services is a very real possibility that would further drag on the economy, according to the forecasting unit's report.

"Where only last quarter we were worried about inflation, we are now worried about its very rare opposite: deflation," the report said. Falling prices would cut demand and discourage employers from hiring.

"The record collapse in oil prices has brought with it welcome relief to motorists throughout the country and an effective tax cut of $440 billion in the form of a lower oil import bill," the closely-watched report said. "Nevertheless the swift fall in oil prices is now lowering the absolute level of consumer prices and bringing with it likely declines in nominal GDP over the next three quarters."


THREE FOR THOUGHT: WHAT YOU NEED TO READ ABOUT ... INDIA

Passages to India
With world attention on the subcontinent following last week's terrorist attack on Mumbai, Anosh Irani offers reading that conjures the heart and soul of this complex land
ANOSH IRANI

December 6, 2008

Persian poet Hafez once wrote, "Like a great starving beast my body is quivering, fixed on the scent of light." No one expresses spiritual hunger more fervently and eloquently than this 14th-century mystic. However, most of us, unlike Hafez, go on a spiritual quest only when there is pain, when we are plunged into darkness. And at no point in Mumbai's history is this hunger more apparent than after the terrorist attacks that began on Nov. 26.

In the same way that 9/11 was not just New York's problem, these attacks should not be the sole concern of Indians. The world is now a glass bottle and countries are the marbles in that bottle - shoulder to shoulder, jostling for space, some vying for attention, some simply trying to fit. If one marble moves, the vibrations are felt by all. And right now, India is shaken.

So what can citizens of other countries do? A good start would be a greater understanding of a land and its people. For everyone, from the Mumbaiite to the Martian, the following three books shed light on the Indian heart and mind.

In a recent article in The New York Times, Suketu Mehta wrote, "My bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness."

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His magnificent book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (Knopf, 2004) provides a look into that netherworld where dreams are born, a netherworld that is very much on the surface. He shows that just as the city of Bombay/Mumbai is a collection of seven islands, it is also a fusion of the nation's dreams. Everyone comes to the city ready to sweat, to go hungry, to get shot, to get trapped in labyrinthine bureaucratic webs, to pay bribes. It is all tolerable only because at the end of it a shining dream awaits.

Mehta's book illustrates how this shining dream can quickly turn into a nightmare. Part travelogue, part social inquiry, Maximum City is a deconstruction of that mass dream. What is also moving is the passion he feels for the city. This book is his love letter to Bombay: soulful, humorous and leprous all at once.

If Mehta chronicles what it means to be a Bombaywallah in the present day, Pavan K. Varma, in Being Indian: Inside the Real India (Penguin Books India, 2004), spans the length and breadth of the entire country. The narrator is like a crazy lizard walking along the wall that is India, feeling the cracks of the past, pondering, then zipping across to a remote corner, pondering again, darting his tongue out in absolute relish at the future, viewing this nation of a billion people in a billion ways.

The opening of this book sets the tone. In a gentle manner, Varma takes us to Hardwar, a holy city for the Hindus, a place of countless pilgrims. He writes of how, even in winter, one can spot people in the Ganges, braving its ice-cold waters: "They have a transparent glass pane in their hands and spend the day looking through it at the fast-flowing waters. Their unblinking eyes speak of a concentration perhaps greater than that of the throng of devotees nearby. But their purpose is different: not prayer, not salvation for a departed soul. Their attention is focused on the coins on the river bed, which they trace and scoop out expertly with their feet."

It is this dual nature that he captures beautifully: the traditional or the projected image versus the truth, a truth that unmasks the tradition and leaves one gaping at the sheer hypocrisy of it all. He writes of the Indian's obsession with power and his ability to let morality take a back seat in the pursuit of it. Then, when the end is achieved, morals re-emerge, like a rabbit out of a hat. But at all times, it is clear that the Indian magician is in control, and he is not ashamed of this duality. To him, it is not a clash at all. He celebrates it as though it were a marriage of convenience. Born out of this marriage are some beautiful googlies - to use a cricketing term - anomalies that shatter every common perception about what it is to be Indian.

A bookseller in Victoria once told me, with respect to a 600-page novel she was holding in her hand, "With every page I read, this book kept getting heavier and heavier." It was perhaps the most succinct review I had ever heard of Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance (McClelland & Stewart, 1995). What the bookseller was referring to was the gravitas, the weight of tragedy she felt as a reader that made the load almost unbearable. That is what only a great novelist can do. Before you know it, the characters are closer to you than your own kith and kin, and their journey becomes yours, their travails make your intestines churn.

If Mehta and Varma give us myriad voices and journeys, Mistry captures the injustice of a nation with only four characters: a young Parsi man, an older Parsi woman and two tailors. This book helps one understand conflict in India through the eyes of those who cope with it. Reading A Fine Balance is like being out at sea. The storms of injustice keep coming in, the crew keeps surviving, until a final tragedy obliterates the reader's every hope.

And yet this novel captures the endurance that lies in all human beings. It is almost spiritual in nature, and I daresay that if Hafez were alive, he would appreciate the light in it. No matter how dim, no matter how frugal, a simple strand of hope is taken by the characters in this book and converted into dreams, a quality that is human but also very Indian. I truly hope that this is one characteristic that India's schizophrenic nature cannot destroy, that this one rule, this one giant cliché, has no opposite, no exception.

Anosh Irani was born and raised in Mumbai. He is author of The Song of Kahunsha, a 2007 selection for Canada Reads.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081206.BKREAD06/TPStory/Entertainment

Where the forecasting unit in summer had projected a "subprime" outlook for the U.S. economy through the end of next year with growth at just above 1 percent, it now sees the economy facing a winter of discontent.

"The news from the economy is bad," the report said. "The recession that we had previously hoped to avoid is now with us in full gale force."

The UCLA Anderson Forecast unit expects real GDP to shrink by 4.1 percent this quarter and by another 3.4 percent and 0.8 percent in the first and second quarters of next year, respectively, as consumer and business spending weaken and as the foreign trade that had propped up growth much of this year sags.

"Because Europe and Japan are already in recession and China and India are suffering from a significant slowdown in growth, the export boom of the past few years will wane," the report said. "Make no mistake the global economy is in its first synchronized recession since the early 1990s."

By late 2009 the U.S. unemployment rate will hit 8.5 percent, compared with 6.7 percent in November, as employers shed an additional two million jobs over the next year.

The historical long-term trend of 3 percent growth will not resume until 2010, the report said.

The administration of President-elect Barack Obama and Congress should act quickly next year to pass an economic stimulus package, said David Shulman, the report's author.

"They're talking a lot of infrastructure, which makes a lot of sense. They're talking a middle-class tax cut. I think when Congress gets through with this they'll be raining money on the economy," Shulman said.

Israeli PM: 'Ashamed' of Hebron Settler Violence Against Palestinians

By VOA News
07 December 2008




Israeli PM Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, 07 Dec 2008
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has criticized recent attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Mr. Olmert told his Cabinet Sunday that he was "ashamed" after seeing video of Jewish settlers shooting at Palestinians late last week.

He said the violence amounted to a "pogrom," a word most often used to describe organized attacks or persecution against Jews.

On Thursday, Jewish settlers shot three Palestinians and burned Palestinian homes and olive groves. The settlers were angered that Israeli police had forcibly evicted a group of them from a disputed house, in accordance with an order from Israel's Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, an Israeli human rights group said discrimination against Palestinians in the West Bank is reminiscent of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel says the discrimination in services, budgets, and access to natural resources between the two groups constitutes a gross violation of the principle of equality.

The group also notes the lack of proper infrastructure and access to health services in Arab neighborhoods.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

Asia Hit with More Bad Economic News
By Kate Pound Dawson
Bangkok
11 December 2008




People look at stock market display in Seoul, 11 Dec 2008
The global economic slowdown continues to take a toll on Asia. New data from China show growth is slowing, while the South Korean central bank has made an unprecedented interest rate cut. And things are not likely to improve next year.

China's government revenue slumped more than 3 percent in November - another sign of the weakening economy.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance said Thursday that tax cuts, intended to stimulate spending and slumping demand, caused the fall in tax revenue. It was the third straight monthly contraction.

The government also says last month's inflation rate sank to 2.4 percent, the lowest in nearly two years. Although consumers might welcome slower price increases, analysts say the decline indicates weakening demand for consumer goods and commodities.

In Seoul, the Bank of Korea slashed its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate by a record 1 percentage point, to 3 percent. The cut was the fourth in two months and puts the rate at a historic low.

Lee Seong-tae, the central bank's governor says the economy will slow down for some time, because exports are likely to lose steam as the global slump continues.

He says more cuts are possible, if this jolt to the financial system does not revive lending and demand.

Thursday, the Asian Development Bank cut its forecast for regional growth. It says Asia's developing economies are likely to average 6.9 percent growth, this year, and 5.8 percent, next year. The non-profit development lender earlier had expected growth of 7.5 percent this year and slightly more than 7 percent in 2009.

The ADB says the problem is the rapid contraction in the American and European markets - cutting demand for Asian exports.

Lee Jong-Wha is the head of the ADB's office of regional economic integration. He unveiled the new forecasts in Hong Kong and said, although most Asian economies will not fall as far as the developed markets, the region will not escape unscathed.

"Our projection is up to now based on the information, we made a judgment that Asian countries may not get pneumonia, but still will get a cold," Lee said. "This much is pretty sure. Winter is coming and we'll get a cold."

He says China and India, which have seen dramatic growth in the past decade, will see their economies slow. The ADB says China will expand by about 8.2 percent in 2009. That is down from 9.5 percent this year, and nearly 11 percent in 2007.

India's growth is forecast to slow to about 6.5 percent next year, well below the 9 percent expansion, last year.

Although those growth rates might draw envy from many countries in recession, Indian and Chinese leaders worry about being able to generate jobs for millions of unemployed workers.

Many governments, around the region, are looking for with new ways to kick start (invigorate) their economies. In Thailand, the government has declared January 2 will be a holiday, in addition to the traditional holidays of December 31 and January 1. Officials hope many Thais will use the long break to travel and shop, giving a boost to the tourism industry, which has been hit hard by both the global economic crisis and domestic political tensions.

Thursday's flurry of bad news pushed some Asian stock markets lower. Shanghai's main index was off more than 2 percent. But the benchmark indexes in Tokyo and Seoul managed to close up by about three-quarters of a point.

Snap ties with Pakistan: Indians
11 Dec 2008, 1300 hrs IST
With less than a fortnight gone after the terror attacks in Mumbai, young Mumbaikars are seething and in a mood for unilateral, aggressive action, More Pictures
whatever the consequences. Young urbanites in some of India's other biggest cities are only a little less in 'do it now' mood.

The responses to a whole slew of questions on who must take the blame for the attack and what should be done to tackle the menace drew unequivocal answers from Mumbai respondents in particular. Clearly the city is at the end of its tether and fed up of being repeatedly targeted.

To a question on whether the Pakistani government supported the attacks, for example, the answer was a loud Yes from 100% of those polled in Mumbai. But it wasn't as if in other cities there were too many people willing to buy Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari's 'non-state actors' line. Between 77% and 94% in the other cities too rejected that theory.

So should India take out the terror training camps in Pakistan irrespective of the c o n s e q u e n c e s ? Again 100% of Mumbai respondents said yes, but in cities like Chennai and Bangalore this was a minority view. Somewhat surprisingly, the strongest support for such strikes apart from Mumbai, of course came from Kolkata, Lucknow and Pune, cities that have not really felt the heat of terror too much.

On the question of whether India should immediately snap all commercial and social links with Pakistan, there was a more even response across cities other than Mumbai, which again gave a 100% thumbs up to the suggestion. However, Delhi was noticeably less enthusiastic about it than most other cities, perhaps because of its greater social and cultural links with Pakistani cities.

Mumbai — more than any other city — is for the idea of India presenting all the hard evidence about Pakistan's involvement in the terror strikes to the United Nations Security Council. That, however, is clearly not a sign that young Mumbaikars are willing to wait for the international community to act to solve India's problem. Whereas only 59% overall expressed the view that terror is a problem that India must solve on its own, in Mumbai 98% were for such a course.

Who in the political leadership must pay the price for a failure of such a magnitude with such drastic consequences? Interestingly, while 43% overall felt the PM too must carry the can, only 11% in Mumbai shared this view. In Chennai, in contrast, 87% said the PM too must be held accountable. Respondents were allowed to make more than one choice in their response to the question.

Will P Chidambaram do a much better job than Shivraj Patil in the area of internal security? About 60% overall thought he would and only 26% disagreed, but worryingly for the current home minister, one of the cities less optimistic on this count was Chennai, the capital of his home state.

The responses to a question on whether any other party could have handled terror better were also very interesting. Not only did over three-fourths of those in Mumbai say no party would have done a better job, 78% in Narendra Modi's Ahmedabad too expressed this view. Clearly young urban Indians are not willing to accept any political party's claims to being tough on terror. Should India be willing to let go of Kashmir if that means buying peace for the rest of the country? The overall response is along expected lines with 76% rejecting the idea. But what's interesting is that in Delhi a majority are willing to make that tradeoff and perhaps more surprisingly in Ahmedabad too 38% weren't averse to it.

Is India paying for wrong policies adopted by the developed world towards Islamic nations? Over 60% thought it was, with Mumbai once again agreeing wholeheartedly. In contrast, in the three southern cities, opinion on the issue was almost evenly divided. Mumbai apart, Ahmedabad was the city in which the largest proportion of respondents see the West as having to share the blame for the predicament we face.

One of the tougher options posed in the questionnaire was whether defence budgets should be cut so that more money can be allocated for internal security. It was truly revealing about the extent of the insecurity felt by urban Indians that a majority (56%) said yes and only 2% found it a difficult choice to make.

Support for the idea of cutting defence budgets to accommodate more spending on homeland security was strongest in Bangalore (93%). In the northern cities of Lucknow and Jaipur, however, a majority felt this was not a very good idea.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Snap_ties_with_Pakistan_Indians/articleshow/3823174.cms

Is the jobs panic justified?

11 Dec 2008, 1723 hrs IST, BusinessWeek

By: Peter Coy

It was bad enough when Iceland got into financial trouble and practically sank into the frigid North Atlantic. It was worse when your next-door neighbor lost his home to foreclosure. But now things are really getting scary: Your own job may be at risk.

Unease turned to incipient panic on Dec. 5 after the government reported that the U.S. economy lost 533,000 jobs in November, making it the worst month for employment since the grim days of December 1974. The holiday party chatter is all about layoffs. Everyone wants to know how long the jobs hemorrhage will last and how bad it will get.

Forecasting job losses is incredibly difficult because a lot depends on when banks finally get back to the business of providing credit. The recent news on that score is not good. On Dec. 9 the Treasury Dept. auctioned one-month bills at 0.00%—evidence that risk aversion among potential financiers is more extreme than ever. "We've got so far to climb out of this [financial] hole that if we start today, then on any reasonable time path we might still be climbing out a year from now," says Robert V. DiClemente, chief U.S. economist of Citigroup (C) in New York. Predicts the AFL-CIO's chief economist, Ron Blackwell: "Things will get worse, perhaps much worse, before they get better."


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That said, this job bust won't last forever. There are forces at play that will eventually pull the economy out of its free fall. The key is smart government policy that sets politics aside. It must provide a combination of short-term consumer stimulus and long-term investments without stepping over the line into wasteful and innovation-stifling industrial policy.

BusinessWeek asked top economists from Wall Street, academia, labor, and business, and got a wide range of predictions for what lies ahead. The optimists see job growth as soon as spring, with the economy losing only about 750,000 more jobs between now and then. The pessimists predict the economy will keep losing jobs until late next year or 2010, with additional losses of well over 2 million jobs, bringing the peak-to-trough decline to more than 4 million. All of the forecasts take into account President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to "save or create" 2.5 million jobs—implying that these predictions would be even more dire if no additional stimulus were planned.

The quick-snapback scenario assumes a reasonably healthy financial sector. If the financial system keeps struggling, though, the spiral will continue: Cash-strapped companies will be forced to step up layoffs, causing cutbacks in consumer spending that will push employers to cut even more jobs. "I've been cautioning everybody that as long as financial conditions are as impaired as they are, questions about when the job market will hit bottom are premature," says Citigroup's DiClemente.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Is_the_jobs_panic_justified/articleshow/3823952.cms

Cos look at ways to cut tax on global deals


10 Dec 2008, 0119 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Indian corporate houses are now paying more attention to minimise their tax outgo while doing business internationally, says a global tax
survey released on Monday by audit and advisory firm Ernst & Young.

Indian tax executives are spending more time on a key barometer of efficiency in a business spanning different countries — the effective tax rate (ETR) or the net global tax outgo, says the survey. A lower ETR indicates sophistication in organising an international supply chain, said a senior official with the audit firm.

Greater attention on the net global tax outgo will increasingly become crucial as countries, which are now slashing taxes to stimulate their economies, would attempt to shore up their revenues once their economies sail through the current crisis, E&Y national director, tax and regulatory services, Srinivasa Rao told ET.

“Almost 70% of respondents (tax executives) report that ETR planning is either very important or critically important to the tax function. 42% of the Indian respondents to the survey report that ETR planning is critically important to their tax function,” said the survey titled — Steady course: unchartered waters. Attention on the tax burden on account of cross-border commerce indicates the global integration of India’s economy.

However, the awareness about ETR among Indian tax professionals is still way below the global average, although Indian companies are growing big in international markets, says the survey.

“The survey of 541 tax executives from 18 countries (including India) shows that the majority of respondents now spend up to 20% of their time on tax risk issues. In India, the figure is slightly lower with many of the respondents (31%) spending around 10% of their time on tax risk issues. Improving the tax function to address risks is vital, and more than 90% of respondents say that tax risk management will be an important area for them over the next two years,” the survey says.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3815716.cms

Layoffs are not the only answer to beat slump
10 Dec 2008, 2002 hrs IST, BusinessWeek

By Rick Wartzman

The layoff announcements are mounting by the day: 50,000 at Citigroup, 12,000 at AT&T, 6,000 at Sun Microsystems, 2,500 at DuPont, 1,200 at United Airlines, 850 at Viacom.

In all, major U.S. companies said in November that they were going to whack 181,671 jobs, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported this week. That was the most since January 2002 and brought the total number of reductions planned this year to more than 1 million. On Dec. 5 the Labor Dept. said nonfarm payrolls fell by a larger-than-expected 533,000, while the unemployment rate climbed to 6.7%, its highest point since October 1993.

Given the fragile state of the economy, it's not surprising that employers are more likely to hand their workers a pink slip than a turkey this Christmas. But perhaps bloodletting isn't the only answer. Certainly, it isn't the only one that Peter Drucker would prescribe.

Not that Drucker was blind to the need for keeping a lid on costs. Indeed, he taught that enterprises big and small should always be asking themselves not how to make a particular aspect of the business more efficient but whether it should exist at all. "The question should be: 'Would the roof cave in if we stopped doing this work altogether?'" Drucker explained. "And if the answer is 'probably not,' one eliminates the operation. It is always amazing how many of the things we do will never be missed."


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What's important, Drucker said, is to make this a routine exercise—not something that happens only during downturns. "Businesses that actually succeed in cutting costs," he said, "don't wait until they have to cut costs."

Investing in Knowledge Workers

In the same way, Drucker believed in investing in productive assets as a regular, everyday function—and there was no doubt as to where he thought investment should be channeled in this day and age. "The most valuable assets of the 20th century company were its production equipment," he wrote. "The most valuable asset of a 21st century institution...will be its knowledge workers."

One person who has acted on these words—with extraordinary results to show for it—is K.H. Moon, the former chief executive of Korean consumer-products maker Yuhan-Kimberly. (Full disclosure: Moon, who is now a member of national Parliament in Seoul, until recently served on the board of the Drucker Institute, which I run.)

It was during the late 1990s, amid the Asian financial contagion, that Moon looked around and was disgusted by what he saw. "At almost all companies," he recalls, "the management just followed the old wisdom—massive layoffs."

Yet Moon felt that simply to slash employment was irresponsible, and he began to persuade his colleagues that there was a better way to go—not just to survive but to grow and prosper. This "was not the time to lose jobs," he says, "but to build our capability, personally and companywide."

To get there, Moon took several bold steps. One was to accelerate a push to a new staffing system, moving from a three-crew, three-shift arrangement to a four-crew, two-shift model. By spreading out the work this way—Moon has likened it to "job sharing in Western countries"—the company figures it has been able to employ 25% more mill workers than it otherwise would have.


The Economic Crisis - A Conspiracy by US Government, American Jews
October 22, 2008 No. 2091
Memri Dispatch 2091

Arab Columnists: The Economic Crisis - A Conspiracy by U.S. Government, American Jews
In recent articles, several Arab columnists wrote that the global economic crisis is the result of a conspiracy by the U.S. government, by American Jews, and/or by the Zionists. They claimed that the conspirators were aiming to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, to seize Arab wealth, and to take over the global economy - all as a means of increasing their influence in the world.

Following are excerpts from the articles:

Egyptian Parliamentary Foreign Liaison Committee Head: Economic Crisis "Part of Global Political Conspiracy"

Egyptian Parliamentary Foreign Liaison Committee head Dr. Mustafa Al-Fiqqi wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat: "During the summer holidays, I was preoccupied with the global issue of the conspiracy theory. I examined everything that was happening around me in light of this theory, applying historical analysis to gain insight into events and opinions. [I was led to this] after scrutinizing, on a daily basis, the financial crisis that has shaken the American economy, impacting banks and markets, individuals and institutions, salaries and allowances...

"In my opinion, the current economic crisis, which is expected to get worse, is a new kind of conspiracy. It started in September, only seven years after the first [conspiracy, i.e. the September 11 attacks]. This time, the aim is to take over the property and capital of the Arabs, and to create a new climate of economic plundering in the wake of the political plundering. Such is the Western mentality - it excels at reaping what others have sown and at seizing anything that they have no right [to take]...

"The Bush administration was trained and impelled, by the American conservative right and by Jewish circles, to carry out this mission [in two stages] - at the beginning of [Bush's] first term in office, and at the end of his second term in office. The aim is to achieve two major goals - a global political [goal] in 2001, and a global economic [goal] in 2008. There is no doubt that small nations, poor countries, and areas rich in natural resources - especially oil - are bearing the brunt [of the economic crisis]. I assert that the developments sanctioned by this American administration - which, in my opinion, is the worst in history - is the result of a hidden conspiracy, whose results are now evident and clear to every sensible person...

"There is a close connection between [the events of] September 2001 and [those of] September 2008, which are mutually complementary, in that political influence cannot be achieved without economic control. Accordingly, the current U.S. administration has placed both together in one bag, producing [a single] new phenomenon that has encompassed the entire world and has demonstrated that the end of the political cold war does not [necessarily] mean an end to the economic cold war...

"Let me only say that, in my opinion, it would be wrong to assume that the Jewish mind is not involved and implicated in these developments. I reiterate that the global economic crisis is part of the global political conspiracy..." [1]


Lebanese Columnist: The Crisis is a Move Devised by the Jewish Mind and the Zionist Lobby

Lebanese columnist Fuad Matar wrote in the Lebanese daily Al-Liwa and Saudi daily Al-Yawm that the Jews and the global Zionist movement had deliberately instigated the financial crisis in order to prevent Bush from fulfilling his promise to establish a Palestinian state before the end of his presidency.

Matar wrote: "While financial crises are natural, especially in capitalist regimes such as the U.S., the gravity of the [current] crisis, its co-occurrence with the impending end of [Bush's] term in office, and the statements made by [Bush] himself and by his senior aides... who promised that Bush would fulfill his promise before the end of his term as president, and that two coexisting states would emerge [in Palestine] - [all] this compels us to raise the possibility that global Zionism is behind the financial crisis. [Its object is] to prevent President Bush from continuing his efforts to fulfill his promise, especially after he stated - nay, almost swore - before Arab and international leaders that he would not step down before a Palestinian state was established.

"Some might [disagree with me,] saying that Jewish money and the Jewish mind constitute the main nerve of the financial world and of the real estate investment [sector] in the U.S., and that it is therefore hardly likely that Zionism would destroy financial, real estate and investment institutions in which [Zionists] play an active role, whether as shareholders or executives, [merely in order] to embarrass the U.S. president and prevent him from fulfilling his promise to establish a Palestinian state, which... would jeopardize the continued existence of Israel.

"[However,] if the [Palestinian] state is established, it will be entitled to some of the money that has [heretofore] gone directly into Israel's pocket. [Indeed,] a large part of this money would go to Palestine, [both] for the purpose of rebuilding it, and in order to stamp out revolutionary ideas, and any notions the Palestinians might harbor regarding their religious and historical right to Palestine and regarding the right of return.

"[So] why is it illogical to assume that this is indeed what happened - especially considering [the fact that] the mind that used other people's money to plan and build the institutions that are [now] collapsing is capable of building others to replace them? [Moreover,] it owns media outlets of every description - [e.g.] newspapers and television stations, both land and satellite - which will cause people to [work with] these institutions and invest in them again, as if nothing ever happened.

"It must be mentioned that those who lost [money as a result of the economic crisis in the U.S.] are not those masterminds and capital owners [i.e. the Zionists], but rather the Arabs - [specifically] the moderately wealthy and the ordinary people - and also those who, [tempted by] the American dream, came to the U.S. from China, Europe, the Arab world, Russia, and from some of the Asian countries, and saved money in order to invest it and make a profit.

"[Moreover], one can suppose that the Zionists made a significant change in their plans, [and decided that] the time has come to transfer the Zionist strategic base from the U.S. to Europe, when the possibility arose that a black man, Barak Obama, would head the U.S. They have focused [their efforts] on East European countries, such as the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary.

"Among the signs [that support] this supposition is [the fact that] they brought to power French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is of Jewish origin and is sympathetic to the Jews. [They may also produce] another Sarkozy to replace the current prime minister of Britain, Gordon Brown, who is in the midst of a serious leadership crisis that may end his [political career], as happened to Margaret Thatcher. After Britain, they will attempt to press other governments into their service..." [2]

University Lecturer and Columnist Dr. Umayma Al-Jalahma: The Rothschilds Are Behind the Crisis

Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma, lecturer at King Faysal University in Saudi Arabia, claimed that the global economic crisis was instigated by the Rothschild family as part of an ongoing campaign to take over the world financial markets. In an Al-Watan article titled "Who Is behind the American Crisis?" she wrote:

"Like many others, I too am following the severe financial crisis in the U.S., [and contemplating] the possibility that it may spread to [other countries] in the West and East. [Examining this crisis,] I see only the recurrence of previous global crises, whose instigators always remained hidden behind the scenes. Since I believe that the real value of learning history does not lie in merely knowing the facts, but in absorbing them and taking a lesson from them... I will [now] present historical events [related to] wealthy families that are still with us today and are still managing money, which has become the source of their global influence and hegemony.

"Some say that the facts of the current American crisis are clear, and that there is nothing hiding behind the scenes, but I disagree. [I believe that] those hiding behind the scenes are numerous. [These are forces] that are accustomed to staying hidden and working in the dark, especially [when the moment is right] and hegemonies are ripe for toppling.

"One of these [forces] is the Rothschild family, owner of a global financial empire... I will describe here [several] fiscal plans that this financial octopus [has put into effect and] has exploited their outcomes - [plans] which were based on the destruction of countries and peoples.


"In 1815 the Battle of Waterloo between Britain and France took place, and in it Napoleon was defeated by the commander of the British army, [the Duke of] Wellington. It must be mentioned that the Rothschild family financed both sides, since it gave Napoleon 5,000,000 liras, while other sons of that family smuggled huge amounts of gold through France for Wellington's [use]. And why not? [In their eyes,] the end justifies the means, and their goal was to control the capital and thereby to control the world.

"Many historians have pointed out that immediately after the British victory, agents secretly sent word of this victory to the Rothschilds in Britain. The head of the family, Nathan Rothschild, concealed the news, spreading rumors of a French victory. [Then] he sold all his shares in the London stock exchange, and urged other shareholders associated with him to do the same. Within a few hours stock prices plummeted, and when the price reached five cents [a share], Nathan hurried to buy all the shares in the market at this low price. On the morrow, London awoke to the news of a British victory and of a financial crisis that brought all the shareholders to ruin. The price of the shares bought by Rothschild and his associates rose twentyfold within a few hours. A few years later, Nathan said of this deal: 'It was the best move I ever made.'

"The [Rothschilds] did not stop there, for they also wanted to take over the French financial markets. France, for its part, meant to borrow funds from French banks to cover the astronomical cost of its defeat... but the Rothschilds manipulated the prices of the French government bonds, which had been high the year before. [At that point, their price] began to fall for no apparent reason, and the Rothschilds came and bought them up by means of their agents in France.

"This family is still alive and making money; in fact, its influence is still growing, and now spans Europe, America, Japan and other [countries]. Whether it sits [openly] at the discussion table or hides behind the scenes, it has influence. Moreover, the active part it played in the advent of Zionism and in the occupation of Arab Palestine is clear to all..." [3]
----------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Al-Hayat (London), October 7, 2008.

[2] Al-Liwa (Lebanon), October 3, 2008; Al-Yawm (Saudi Arabia), October 5, 2008.

[3] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 5, 2008. Umayma Al-Jalahma has published other antisemitic articles, including one in which she accused the Jews of killing teenagers for ritual purposes for the festival of Purim. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 354,"Saudi Government Daily: Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for 'Purim' Pastries," January 12, 2002, http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=antisemitism&ID=SP35402#_edn1. For more by Al-Jalahma, see Special Dispatch No. 494, "Author of Saudi Blood Libel and Professor at King Faysal University Lectures at Arab League Think Tank: 'U.S. War on Iraq Timed To Coincide With Jewish Holiday Purim,'" April 11, 2003, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP49403 and

Special Dispatch No. 547, "King Faysal University Professor: Jews Consider Iraq Part of Greater Israel," August 5, 2003, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP54703.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian,Turkish, Urdu-Pashtu media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.

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http://www.rightsidenews.com/200810232313/global-terrorism/the-economic-crisis-a-conspiracy-by-us-government-american-jews.html

Zionism’s dead end: Separation or ethnic cleansing? Israel’s encaging of Gaza aims to achieve both


by Jonathan Cook


Global Research, June 27, 2008



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The following is taken from a talk delivered at the Conference for the Right of Return and the Secular Democratic State, held in Haifa on June 21.

In 1895 Theodor Herzl, Zionism’s chief prophet, confided in his diary that he did not favour sharing Palestine with the natives. Better, he wrote, to “try to spirit the penniless [Palestinian] population across the border by denying it any employment in our own country … Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.”

He was proposing a programme of Palestinian emigration enforced through a policy of strict separation between Jewish immigrants and the indigenous population. In simple terms, he hoped that, once Zionist organisations had bought up large areas of Palestine and owned the main sectors of the economy, Palestinians could be made to leave by denying them rights to work the land or labour in the Jewish-run economy. His vision was one of transfer, or ethnic cleansing, through ethnic separation.

Herzl was suggesting that two possible Zionist solutions to the problem of a Palestinian majority living in Palestine -- separation and transfer -- were not necessarily alternatives but rather could be mutually reinforcing. Not only that: he believed, if they were used together, the process of ethnic cleansing could be made to appear voluntary, the choice of the victims. It may be that this was both his most enduring legacy and his major innovation to settler colonialism.

In recent years, with the Palestinian population under Israeli rule about to reach parity with the Jewish population, the threat of a Palestinian majority has loomed large again for the Zionists. Not surprisingly, debates about which of these two Zionist solutions to pursue, separation or transfer, have resurfaced.

Today these solutions are ostensibly promoted by two ideological camps loosely associated with Israel’s centre-left (Labor and Kadima) and right (Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu). The modern political arguments between them turn on differing visions of the nature of a Jewish state orginally put forward by Labor and Revisionist Zionists.

To make sense of the current political debates, and the events taking place inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza, let us first examine the history of these two principles in Zionist thinking.

During the early waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine, the dominant Labor Zionist movement and its leader David Ben Gurion advanced policies much in line with Herzl’s goal. In particular, they promoted the twin principles of “Redemption of the Land” and “Hebrew Labor”, which took as their premise the idea that Jews needed to separate themselves from the native population in working the land and employing only other Jews. By being entirely self-reliant in Palestine, Jews could both “cure” themselves of their tainted Diaspora natures and deprive the Palestinians of the opportunity to subsist in their own homeland.

At the forefront of this drive was the Zionist trade union federation, the Histadrut, which denied membership to Palestinians -- and, for many years after the establishment of the Jewish state, even to the remants of the Palestinian population who became Israeli citizens.

But if separation was the official policy of Labor Zionism, behind the scenes Ben Gurion and his officials increasingly appreciated that it would not be enough in itself to achieve their goal of a pure ethnic state. Land sales remained low, at about 6 per cent of the territory, and the Jewish-owned parts of the economy relied on cheap Palestinian labour.

Instead, the Labor Zionists secretly began working on a programme of ethnic cleansing. After 1937 and Britain’s Peel Report proposing partition of Palestine, Ben Gurion was more open about transfer, recognising that a Jewish state would be impossible unless most of the indigenous population was cleared from within its borders.

Israel’s new historians have acknowledged Ben Gurion’s commitment to transfer. As Benny Morris notes, for example, Ben Gurion “understood that there could be no Jewish state with a large and hostile Arab minority in its midst.” The Israeli leadership therefore developed a plan for ethnic cleansing under cover of war, compiling detailed dossiers on the communities that needed to be driven out and then passing on the order, in Plan Dalet, to commanders in the field. During the 1948 war the new state of Israel was emptied of at least 80 per cent of its indigenous population.

In physically expelling the Palestinian population, Ben Gurion responded to the political opportunities of the day and recalibrated the Labor Zionism of Herzl. In particular he achieved the goal of displacement desired by Herzl while also largely persuading the world through a campaign of propaganda that the exodus of the refugees was mostly voluntary. In one of the most enduring Zionist myths, convincingly rebutted by modern historians, we are still told that the refugees left because they were told to do so by the Arab leadership.

The other camp, the Revisionists, had a far more ambivalent attitude to the native Palestinian population. Paradoxically, given their uncompromising claim to a Greater Israel embracing both banks of the Jordan River (thereby including not only Palestine but also the modern state of Jordan), they were more prepared than the Labor Zionists to allow the natives to remain where they were.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, the leader of Revisionism, observed in 1938 -- possibly in a rebuff to Ben Gurion’s espousal of transfer -- that “it must be hateful for any Jew to think that the rebirth of a Jewish state should ever be linked with such an odious suggestion as the removal of non-Jewish citizens”. The Revisionists, it seems, were resigned to the fact that the enlarged territory they desired would inevitably include a majority of Arabs. They were therefore less concerned with removing the natives than finding a way to make them accept Jewish rule.

In 1923, Jabotinsky formulated his answer, one that implicitly included the notion of separation but not necessarily transfer: an “iron wall” of unremitting force to cow the natives into submission. In his words, the agreement of the Palestinians to their subjugation could be reached only “through the iron wall, that is to say, the establishment in Palestine of a force that will in no way be influenced by Arab pressure”.

An enthusiast of British imperial rule, Jabotinsky envisioned the future Jewish state in simple colonial terms, as a European elite ruling over the native population.

Inside Revisionism, however, there was a shift from the idea of separation to transfer that mirrored developments inside Labor Zionism. This change was perhaps more opportunistic than ideological, and was particularly apparent as the Revisionists sensed Ben Gurion’s success in forging a Jewish state through transfer.

One of Jabotinsky disciples, Menachem Begin, who would later become a Likud prime minister, was leader in 1948 of the Irgun militia that committed one of the worst atrocities of the war. He led his fighters into the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin where they massacred over 100 inhabitants, including women and children.

Savage enough though these events were, Begin and his followers consciously inflated the death toll to more than 250 through the pages of the New York Times. Their goal was to spread terror among the wider Palestinian population and encourage them to flee. He later happily noted: “Arabs throughout the country, induced to believe wild tales of ‘Irgun butchery’, were seized with limitless panic and started to flee for their lives. This mass flight soon developed into a maddened, uncontrollable stampede.”

Subsequently, other prominent figures on the right openly espoused ethnic cleansing, including the late General Rehavam Ze’evi, whose Moledet party campaigned in elections under the symbol of the Hebrew character “tet”, for transfer. His successor, Benny Elon, a settler leader and rabbi, adopted a similar platform: “Only population transfer can bring peace”.

The intensity of the separation vs transfer debate subsided after 1948 and the ethnic cleansing campaign that removed most of the native Palestinian population from the Jewish state. The Palestinian minority left behind -- a fifth of the population but a group, it was widely assumed, that would soon be swamped by Jewish immigration -- was seen as an irritation but not yet as a threat. It was placed under a military government for nearly two decades, a system designed to enforce separation between Palestinians and Jews inside Israel. Such separation -- in education, employment and residence -- exists to this day, even if in a less extreme form.

The separation-transfer debate was chiefly revived by Israel’s conquest of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. With Israel’s erasure of the Green Line, and the effective erosion of the distinction between Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories, the problem of a Palestinian majority again loomed large for the Zionists.

Cabinet debates from 1967 show the quandary faced by the government. Almost alone, Moshe Dayan favoured annexation of both the newly captured territories and the Palestinian population there. Others believed that such a move would be seen as transparently colonialist and rapidly degenerate into an apartheid system of Jewish citizens and Palestinian non-citizens. In their minds, Jabotinsky’s solution of an iron wall was no longer viable.

But equally, in a more media-saturated era, which at least paid lip-service to human rights, the government could see no way to expel the Palestinian population on a large scale and annex the land, as Ben Gurion had done earlier. Also possibly, they could see no way of persuading the world that such expulsions should be characterised as voluntary.

Israel therefore declined to move decisively in either direction, neither fully carrying out a transfer programme nor enforcing strict separation. Instead it opted for an apartheid model that accommodated Dayan’s suggestion of a “creeping annexation” of the occupied territories that he rightly believed would go largely unnoticed by the West.

The separation embodied in South African apartheid differed from Herzl’s notion of separation in one important respect: in apartheid, the “other” population was a necessary, even if much abused, component of the political arrangement. As the exiled Palestinian thinker Azmi Bishara has noted, in South Africa “racial segregation was not absolute. It took place within a framework of political unity. The racist regime saw blacks as part of the system, an ingredient of the whole. The whites created a racist hierarchy within the unity.”

In other words, the self-reliance, or unilateralism, implicit in Herzl’s concept of separation was ignored for many years of Israel’s occupation. The Palestinian labour force was exploited by Israel just as black workers were by South Africa. This view of the Palestinians was formalised in the Oslo accords, which were predicated on the kind of separation needed to create a captive labour force.

However, Yitzhak Rabin’s version of apartheid embodied by the Oslo process, and Binyamin Netanyahu’s opposition in upholding Jabotinsky’s vision of Greater Israel, both deviated from Herzl’s model of transfer through separation. This is largely why each political current has been subsumed within the recent but more powerful trend towards “unilateral separation”.

Not surprisingly, the policy of “unilateral separation” emerged from among the Labor Zionists, advocated primarily by Ehud Barak. However, it was soon adopted by many members of Likud too. Ultimately its success derived from the conversion to its cause of Greater Israel’s arch-exponent, Ariel Sharon. He realised the chief manifestations of unilateral separation, the West Bank wall and the Gaza disengagement, as well breaking up Israel’s rightwing to create a new consensus party, Kadima.

In the new consensus, the transfer of Palestinians could be achieved through imposed and absolute separation -- just as Herzl had once hoped. After the Gaza disengagement, the next stage was promoted by Sharon’s successor, Ehud Olmert. His plan for convergence, limited withdrawals from the West Bank in which most settlers would remain in place, has been dropped, but its infrastructure -- the separation wall -- continues to be built.


How will modern Zionists convert unilateral separation into transfer? How will Herzl’s original vision of ethnic cleansing enforced through strict ethnic separation be realised in today’s world?

The current siege of Gaza offers the template. After disengagement, Israel has been able to cut off at will Gazans’ access to aid, food, fuel and humanitarian services. Normality has been further eroded by sonic booms, random Israeli air attacks, and repeated small-scale invasions that have inflicted a large toll of casualties, particularly among civilians.

Gaza’s imprisonment has stopped being a metaphor and become a daily reality. In fact, Gaza’s condition is far worse than imprisonment: prisoners, even of war, expect to have their humanity respected, and be properly sheltered, cared for, fed and clothed. Gazans can no longer rely on these staples of life.

The ultimate goal of this extreme form of separation is patently clear: transfer. By depriving Palestinians of the basic conditions of a normal life, it is assumed that they will eventually choose to leave -- in what can once again be sold to the world as a voluntary exodus. And if Palestinians choose to abandon their homeland, then in Zionist thinking they have forfeited their right to it -- just as earlier generations of Zionists believed the Palestinian refugees had done by supposedly fleeing during the 1948 and 1967 wars.

Is this process of transfer inevitable? I think not. The success of a modern policy of “transfer through separation” faces severe limitations.

First, it depends on continuing US global hegemony and blind support for Israel. Such support is likely to be undermined by the current American misadventures in the Middle East, and a gradual shift in the balance of power to China, Russia and India.

Second, it requires a Zionist worldview that departs starkly not only from international law but also from the values upheld by most societies and ideologies. The nature of Zionist ambitions is likely to be ever harder to conceal, as is evident from the tide of opinion polls showing that Western publics, if not their governments, believe Israel to be one of the biggest threats to world order.

And third, it assumes that the Palestinians will remain passive during their slow eradication. The historical evidence most certainly shows that they will not.

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto, 2008), and “Disappearing Palestine” (Zed, forthcoming).

Jonathan Cook is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Jonathan Cook

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9461

anti-caste
on caste, communalism, and class struggle in South Asia
http://diary.typepad.com/anticaste/notes-towards-a-materialist-analysis-of-caste.html
notes towards a materialist analysis of caste in India


Marx touched on the caste system in a number of places. See particularly his classic description of the Indian village community in Capital (Vol. I, Part IV, Chap. XIV, Section 4) which, along with related passages from Marx’s writings, is discussed and evaluated by Indian Marxist economic historian Irfan Habib in his essay on “Caste in Indian History” (1987) and also in his “Marx’s Perception of India” (1983).

Marx saw the Indian caste system as a special solution to the problem of the division of labor before the rise of capitalism. Outside of the village community--in towns or in the trade of surplus goods between villages--castes traditionally functioned as hereditary guilds. Inside the village community, where Marx understood there to be no commodity trade at all, castes functioned as an “unalterable division of labor” providing for those necessary crafts and services too specialized to be done in individual peasant households (and which therefore could not be supplied by the domestic “blending of agriculture and handicraft”). These service castes--the barber, the washerman, the potter, and so on--were “maintained at the expense of the whole community.” So the caste system allowed each village to be self-sufficient, while at the same time maximizing the surplus that could be extracted in the form of rent by the state.

The need for some such system to guarantee the minimally necessary division of labor in agriculturally based class societies without a developed monetary economy is explained in Norwegian anthropologist Fredrik Barth’s illuminating study of “The System of Social Stratification in Swat,” an outlying region in northwest Pakistan (published in Leach, 1960). Barth points out that agricultural activity peaks twice a year: at planting and harvest times. To get the most out of the land, all the technical resources of the community need to be mobilized to act in coordination with each other and the work going on in the fields. If a hoe breaks, a smith needs to be ready to mend it promptly, and that would never happen if the village smith needed to devote his time and energy to his own plot at these peak seasons. Barth explains that while in a monetary economy the necessary specialization and coordination between specialists (between the smith and the carpenter to repair the hoe, for example) could be achieved through wages or cash payments between individuals, in an essentially non-monetary economy production teams need to be assembled on some other basis. In Swat, “[i]n the definition of its boundaries, and in its system of sharing profits, each team is hierarchically and centrally organized. The landowner [that is, an upper-caste landlord] is the pivot on which the organization is based.” Members of dependent service castes are obliged to work for the landlord in return for a traditionally apportioned share of the harvest. Thus caste duties serve to organize production.

What is particularly interesting from a materialist perspective about this example is that the peoples of Swat are all Sunni Muslims who not only find no warrant for hierarchical caste distinctions in their official religious ideology but a good deal against them. What this says about the purely supplementary place of ideology in the caste system, limited to reflecting and reinforcing the basic material relations, need not be underlined.

The production relations described by Barth, as he points out, closely resemble the system of patronage which continues to exist throughout the subcontinent in a more or less advanced state of decay. First described in the 1930s, it’s been called the jajmani system by anthropologists. The system defines hereditary duties of service and patronage between lower-caste jajmans and upper-caste, landholding kamins. Under this system, unlike classic patron-client relations, kamins actually own the services of their jajmans and their respective descendants and can buy and sell them (the services, not the people). A comparative theoretical analysis of the studies of the jajmani system published up to 1963 was usefully carried out by the American anthropologist Pauline Kolenda in “Toward a Model of the Hindu Jajmani System,” which includes an extensive bibliography.

Since then in an important 1966 paper, the Japanese historian Hiroshi Fukazawa established that for the area whose records he studied in the medieval Deccan the jajmani system only applied to the priestly caste (brahmins); other service castes were not family servants tied to individual landowners but servants of the village as a whole, as described by Marx and his sources. Fukazawa speculated that descriptions of modern jajman-kamin relations represented not the survival of an age-old traditional system, as had been presumed, but the decay of the traditional system under colonialism. This finding has been confirmed and extended by the American historian Peter Mayer in his “Inventing Village Tradition: The Late 19th Century Origins of the North Indian ‘Jajmani System’” (1993).

For an exposition of the contemporary decay of the jajmani system, see Patronage and Exploitation (1974) by Dutch labor sociologist Jan Breman.

Possibly relevant to the analysis of the Indian caste system is the concept of a “people-class” developed by the Belgian-Jewish Trotskyist Abram Leon in his materialist study of the Jews, whom he argues “constitute historically a social group with a specific economic function.” Leon describes how this special function necessarily operated in the context of a larger, alien political economy (“in the pores” of European feudalism, as Marx put it), and notes that Jewish communities were set apart from the surrounding society by language, religious custom, and internal social organization. The Jews were defined as a caste by Max Weber and, in the Marxist tradition, by Kautsky; then-Trotskyist Max Shachtman in the 1933 document published as Race and Revolution notes that it was Lenin’s preferred term for them. Dozens more such economically specialized, socially isolated “self-reproducing but not self-sufficient communities” around the world and throughout history are listed by historian Yuri Slezkine in the suggestive first chapter of The Jewish Century (2004). Not all of these groups are commonly called castes, but they could be; all the groups I know of that are commonly called castes have a traditional occupation or economic role, be it current or historical.

On how and why the peoples of South Asia organized themselves into the caste society par excellence, see Caste: The Emergence of the South Asian Social System by the American anthropologist Morton Klass. Klass proposes that the caste system was originally formed through the combination of individual primitive egalitarian clans into a class-stratified settled society with the rise of agriculture. In this view, each former clan was forced to find its own economic niche inside the new society as either a group controlling access to the land or one providing services to (primarily) the landed groups; these groups meanwhile retained the kinship boundaries that kept them socially separate. Although Klass describes his theoretical approach as “eclectic,” his basic argument is actually historical materialist. His identification of the local marriage-circle as the basic functional social unit of the caste system is particularly clarifying.

(September 2008)





rfan Habib, Essays in Indian History, Tulika Books, New Dehli, 1995.



Fredrik Barth, in E.R. Leach (ed.), Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan, Cambridge UP 1960.



Pauline Kolenda, Caste, Cult and Hierarchy, Folklore Institute, 1983.

Hiroshi Fukazawa, The Medieval Deccan, Oxford UP 1991.


Peter Mayer, “Inventing Village Tradition: The Late 19th Century Origins of the North Indian ‘Jajmani System,’” Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May 1993).

Jan Breman, Patronage and Exploitation: Changing Agrarian Relations in South Gujarat, India, University of Califronia Press, 1974.

Abram Leon, The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation, Pathfinder, 1970.

Yuri Slezkine, The Jewish Century, Princeton UP, 2004.


Morton Klass, Caste: The Emergence of the South Asian Social System, Institute for the Study of Human Issues (ISHI), 1980.

on some recent atrocities against untouchables



Here are three cases of atrocities (the term used for hate crimes against untouchables) recently reported in the Indian press.

On May 21 in a village called Thinniam in the state of Tamil Nadu a housing dispute between a caste-Hindu man and two untouchables ended with the untouchables being forced to eat human excrement. On September 7 another untouchable in an unrelated land dispute was forced by six caste Hindus to drink urine. (Outlook magazine, November 6, 2002)

The third atrocity took place in Duleena, Jhajjar district in the north Indian state of Haryana. On October 15 a mob returning from celebrations for the Hindu festival of Dussera lynched five untouchables for skinning a dead cow. They were murdered in a police station in the presence of three subdivisional magistrates, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, and about 60 to 70 police (Report of the Left Parties Delegation to Duleena, Jhajjar District Haryana, October 18, 2002). This lynching was part of the cow protection campaign taken up by the ruling BJP and lumpen Hindu-fascist gangs like Bhajaranga Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which is mainly directed against Muslims.

As heinous as these incidents are, they are not typical. More typical atrocities involve burning down hundreds of huts in untouchable colonies and massacring the people who live there, often scores of them at a time. Two such incidents occured in Andhra Pradesh, where I was born, in 1985 and 1991. In 1985 nine untouchables were murdered in Karamchedu when an untouchable woman objected to the caste Hindus using the untouchable drinking pond for washing their buffalos. In 1991 15 untouchables were killed in Chundur after an untouchable man put his feet up in a movie theater.

Between 1995 and 1997, 300 untouchables were killed in the state of Bihar alone and in three large massacres over the following two years more than 100 more were killed. Between 1994 and 1996, 98,349 cases of atrocities were registered with the police nationwide (Broken People, Human Rights Watch, 1999).

India is a caste-ridden society and untouchables are at the very bottom of the hierarchy. They are forced to live in impoverished, segregated colonies on the outskirts of towns and villages and to take up the most menial or degrading jobs, such as those dealing with dead animals and human feces. (The Jhajjar untouchables who were lynched for skinning a dead cow were actually performing the occupation forced upon them by caste law.) Until the 1920s untouchables did not even have their own segregated water sources. They had no free access to any water at all. They had to beg the caste Hindus to pour water for them. As a result of struggles led by missionary-educated Christian untouchable teachers they now have separate water sources in most villages--they have taken a step up to Jim Crow. Even this pathetically limited demand provoked bloody opposition from the caste Hindus. In the villages you can still see old Christian teachers with their hands chopped off.

Over 14% of India's population--160 million people--are considered untouchable. 520 million more belong to oppressed backward castes with traditional occupations like weaving, washing, pottery, and cutting hair, and over 60 million are members of scheduled tribes. Upper-caste Hindus make up only 15% of the population.

After decades of covertly casteist and communalist Congress rule, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now makes Hindu chauvinism based on the caste system its open political program. And this encourages attacks on untouchables as well as on Muslims and other minorities. The rise of the BJP and Hindu fascism began in 1992 with the demolition of the Babri Mosque and the massacre of over 2000 Muslims in its wake.

The so-called communists in India today argue that raising the caste question blurs the primacy of class. Class is primary, but the working class has to take up the cause of all oppressed people--in India, untouchables and backward castes, tribals, Muslims, Sikhs, national minorities, and women.

Since the 1970s the increasing proletarianization of the rural labor force due to advances in agriculture has resulted in a new wave of consciousness among untouchables. But this militancy is being taken advantage of by petty-bourgeois activists who have organized all-untouchable political parties with bourgeois programs. They also tried to divert consciousness by asking the UN race conference in Durban last year to include the caste question in their final document. At the insistence of the BJP government, the conference refused to add any reference to caste or discrimination by occupation.

Even if caste had been included in this document it would not have done the untouchable masses any good. Only a socialist revolution can wipe out this 2000-year-old system of oppression. Untouchable and backward-caste workers will play a vital role in this struggle.

(November 18, 2002)




Subject: “The second stage of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation which includes privatisation of higher and professional education, Conversion of retail marketing into global marketing, Centralisation of retail market into private hands is a conspiracy to nullify and thereby sabotage the constitutional rights of the indigenous people ( Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj) of India so as to force slavery on them.”
From last year on 16th April at ShivajiPark, Mumbai, we started organising the joint celebrations of our great leaders. We are organizing these joint celebrations of the birthdays of our great leaders at Ahmedabad on a national level this year.

On this day we are discussing this issue, “The second stage of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation which includes privatisation of higher and professional education, Conversion of retail marketing into global marketing, Centralisation of retail market into private hands is a conspiracy to nullify and thereby sabotage the constitutional rights of the indigenous people ( Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj) of India so as to force slavery on them.”
Rashtriya Mulnivasi Sangh will organize 15000 meetings till the end of this December to highlight this issue. There will be a nation wide awakening through such programmes.
We must seriously understand and comprehend this issue. LPG stands for Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. This programme of LPG was started by the Congress Party in 1990 and the Congress Party takes the credit of this programe. We too give credit of the implementation of the programme of LPG to the Congress . The Bharatiya Janata Party is an accomplice of the Congress Party and they together started implementing this programme of LPG. At that time i.e. in 1990 Narsimha Rao was the Prime Minisiter and Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister. Today Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister. The Central Government has implemented aggressively this programme of LPG for the last 17 years.

Even all the state governments have become excited and enthusisastic and are looking forward to implement this programme of LPG. Thus both the BJP and the Congress are aggressively implementing this programme of LPG. Even the Communists are taking the initiative in the implementation of LPG.

What have been the consequences of LPG on Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj? The policy of LPG has been implemented for the last 17 years but the
Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj is ignorant of the adverse effects of LPG.
The Government does not want to provide information about the adverse effects of the policy of LPG. In fact they want to hide this information from the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj. There is a conspiracy behind all this. We want to awaken the people regarding all this and make them aware of this conspiracy and then organize them.
The Central Government started implementing the policy of LPG in Government Sectors and Public Undertaking Sectors. The BJP, the Communists and the Congress together have started privatization in the Government and the Public Undertaking Sectors. The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes and the indigenous Converted Minorities have reserved seats in the Government sectors and the Public Undertaking Sectors. There are about 2 Crore government posts and atleast 1 crore of these posts would have been occupied by the persons amongst the SCs, the STs, the OBCs and the indigenous converted Minorities. If we were to consider that an average family consists of 5 members then atleast 5 crore people were directly dependent and could have made their living on these government posts.

But as the programme of LPG is being aggressively implemented Reservation for the SCs, the STs, the OBCs and the indigenous converted Minorities in the Government Bureaucracy and Public Undertaking Sectors has become practically null and void. There may be the provision for reservation in our Indian Constitution but it exists now only on paper. Practically the reservation policy has become completely null.

There has been a complete ban on Recruitment for the last 12-13 years. If there is recruitment there will be reservation. If there is no recruitment there will be no Reservation.

Educated people amongst the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj who read news and watch television do not have any information. Those who need to know and be informed are completely ignorant. If the educated people from amongst the indigenous people are ignorant who will educate the illiterate people.

Kumbhkaran was maligned in Ramayana because he used to sleep for 6 months at a stretch. Our people are Grand grandfathers of Kumbhkaran as they have been sleeping for 17 long years.

Thus the first adverse effect of LPG was that Reservation was nullified.
The policy of Reservation guaranteed reserved posts and the availability of these jobs provided inspiration and motivation to the people in the villages who starved themselves but educated their children so that their children could aspire to occupy those Government posts. But now as the policy of Reservation has become null, this inspiration and motivation no longer exists. Even the motivation for learning and getting educated has died down.
Lack of education will lead to lack of development of the brains of our people. Our people wouldn’t be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. They will not be able to reason, analyze and make decisions.

You know that an animal does not have the ability to reason, analyze and make decisions. The ruling castes want to push our people down to the level of animals. LPG is the program to make animals of our people. Even our educated people do not have this information. Who will educate the illiterate?

The implementation of the policy of LPG has forced 60 crore people in India below the Poverty Line. One new class has emerged amongst these 60 crore people. This is the class of 25 crore people who have been forced below the Starvation Line.
The Ruling Castes use the Hindi word ‘Kuposhan’ for the English word ‘Starvation’. Our people do not understand the Hindi word Kuposhan.
They think that Kuposhan is some sort of a disease. But in ordinary Hindi
kuposhan means Bhookmari. The Godowns of the Food Corporation of India are full of every kind of grain. But this food is not sent to the starving population of India. They Government say they do not have money to send food to the starving people of India. But the Government allocated 400 crores to the Indian Space Research Organisation to plan a mission to the Moon. The Government says it has no money for the poor.
This is mass slaughter by forcing starvation on the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj. There is not a single line about this catastrophe in the National Newspaper. Thus our people do not have any information regarding all this.

The wedding ceremony of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachhan was highlighted daily in these news channel and newspapers. But the same media does not print a single line about the starvation deaths in our country. We see that the head of a family commits suicide by consuming poison. He even poisons his own family members. They report that investigation is in progress. But I say is there any need for investigation. Just go and look into the utensils kept in the kitchen. Our people blame it on their fate. Our people say it is the writ of the Brahma. But it is the writ of the Brahmins.

Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. The first Five Year Plan planned a budget of 3700 crores. In Sonia Gandhi’s time i.e today the total expenditure of just one year is about 5 lac 1000 crores rupees. If Sonia Gandhi wishes she could remove the starvation and poverty of our people in just 5 years. If A.B.Vajpayee wishes he could do the same. If the Brahmins who plan the budget of India wish then they could end this starvation and poverty of our people. But they simply do not want to allocate any budget for eradication of poverty and starvation of our people. It simply means that our poverty and starvation is the writ of the Brahmins.

We need to seriously think of this and act accordingly. Sooner or later those who are not below the poverty line will be forced below the poverty line or even the starvation line. This is a Mass-Slaughter programme being implemented by the Government. These were the catastrophic consequences of the first stage of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation.

The adverse consequences of the policy of LPG should have made the government to terminate this policy immediately. But they knowingly started implementing the 2nd stage this programme of LPG.
The 2nd stage of LPG includes:
1) Creation of SEZ i.e. Special Economic Zones.
2) Absolute Privatization of Higher and Professional Education
3) Conversion of Retail market into Global market to centralize and monopolize retail market into private hands.

These are dangerous programmes which spell impending doom for the future of the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj. These three programmes are being implemented on a large scale.

Do you know how a bill is passed? First it is put up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha, then in the Lok Sabha and then the President gives his approval. After all this procedure it is finally published in the gazette.
But without any discussion this bill (SEZ) was passed in the RajyaSabha
and the LokSabha. If the bill would have been discussed, the people of India would have known about the adverse consequences of SEZ. This bill was passed without discussion. Any bill which is passed without discussion is absolutely Unconstitutional. The President shouldn’t have given his approval to this undiscussed bill and unconstitutional bill. But the President gave his approval. Even the Supreme Court has not opposed this unconstitutional bill. All of them are in this Conspiracy. We need to understand this.
They call Mr.Kalam, the President, a true Rashtrawadi (Nationalist). Is he a fool or a donkey that he does not understand simple things? He has signed on a bill which was not discussed in the Parliament. He could have asked them to discuss the Bill. The Constitution of India has bestowed such powers on the President. But the President didn’t exercise any of his power. He should have but he didn’t. Thus they are all in this conspiracy.

It is written in the bill that for a Special Economic Zone minimum 2000 hectares i.e. 4500 acres of land and maximum 35000 hectares i.e. 80000 acres to 1,00,000 acres of land must be allocated.

There was widespread unrest in West Bengal over this land acquisition. Due to this growing unrest the Government says that the land allotment to SEZ will be 1000 acre minimum to 10,000 acres maximum. But this latest statement has been issued to befool the people. It has been done to deflate the growing opposition of the people. Factually such an order has not been passed. It is a huge conspiracy.
They are betraying this country. Therefore they cannot be trusted at all.

It is mentioned in the bill that only 10% of land allotted to SEZ will be used for development of industries. The rest i.e. 90% of the land will be used for developing Real Estate. Real Estate means Handling of the land to Big Builders so that they could build multi-storey buildings.

If only 10% of land will be used for industry then only 10% of the total land allocated for SEZ must be actually allotted. But in reality 1 lac acres land is being allotted.

Thus through a simple bill the government along with the state governments wants to buy agricultural land from farmers at a cheap rate and sell it even more cheaply to capitalists.

Before develop of Real Estate on the SEZ land, one acre of agricultural land will normally cost 1, 00,000 rupees.
After development into Real Estate the same land will cost 10 crore rupees.
1 lakh acres of Real Estate land will cost 1, 00,000 * 1, 00,000,000 rupees. Thus the land of the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj is being forcibly bought by the government to sell it cheaply to the Capitalists. This is nothing but a huge Land Scam.

The Government says that the Capitalist will use his own money to develop the land. But in reality the capitalist will earn 1, 00,000*1, 00,000,000 rupees and will only invest 1%-2% of what he earns. Thus this is land scam.
Just imagine of what huge proportion this land scam really is?

The Government has proposed a tax exemption of 2, 00,000*1, 000* 10,000,000 (2 lakh1000 crores) rupees annually for SEZs.
There will not be Custom Tax, production tax, sales tax, etc
There will not be any duty on raw material imported. There will be no duty on finished goods exported. There will be complete tax exemption for 15 years. Thus the total tax exemption will be 15*2, 00,000*1, 000*10, 000,000=30 lacs 1000 crore rupees. This is nothing but Tax evasion with the help of a simple bill and by making a law. By simply passing such a bill they want to put all this money into the pockets of the industrialists. Industrialists like Tata, Birla have become great by looting India’s wealth. They say that we do not have merit. But are they becoming millionaires, billionaires by their merit or by looting the country’s wealth? Plundering the country’s wealth is not a sign of being meritorious. Those who loot and plunder the country’s wealth are called Dacoits. Everywhere in the world such people are called as Dacoits. This is carried in a joint way (check)

If this amount (30 lac 1000 crore rupees) goes into the government treasury instead of going into the Industrialists’ pockets then it could be spent on our peoples’ health, education etc. But this money will now go into the Industrialists’ pockets. The government wants to put all this money into the Industrialists’ pockets. This is nothing but TAX SCAM.
Harshad Mehta who laundered 1000 crores died of blood pressure and heart attack. But these people have sound hearts and even their blood pressure is normal.
This is a planned conspiracy.

The bill of SEZ says that the SEZ’s will be foreign territories. It says that the SEZ will be deemed to be a foreign territory. Why do they say that the SEZ’s will be foreign territories? Does our constitution apply to Nepal, Bangladesh or Pakistan? The answer is no simply because Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are foreign territories. The bill simply says that the constitution will not be applicable in SEZ’s. No Indian law can be enforced in SEZ’s. No person will be allowed to even enter these SEZ’s without permission and a pass. I had to apply for a visa before going to England. I enquired what exactly does visa mean. They said it is an entry pass. If you want to enter into Ambani’s SEZ you will have to procure an entry pass. Thus an Indian citizen will have to procure an entry pass to enter a SEZ as it will be a foreign territory.



If the constitution is not applicable to SEZ, then it is nothing but betrayal of the constitution. Thus land is being brought at throwaway prices and is being converted into foreign territories. This is betrayal of the nation. If the constitution is not applicable then all the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution become null. Those who do not have fundamental rights are called as slaves. Slaves do not have fundamental rights. Those people who will live in SEZ’s will be nothing but slaves. They will be made slaves. They won’t have any rights. They can’t go to the High Court and the Supreme Court because SEZ’s will not be in the jurisdiction of these courts. These SEZ’s will be called as Ambani Region, Tata Region, Mahindra Region etc and the Industrialists who own these regions will say that SEZ’s is a foreign territory and the constitution of India is not applicable to any foreign territory. The Supreme Court and the High Court will not have any power to adjudicate on a case from a SEZ because SEZ will not be under their jurisdiction. Lawyers know that a case of Vadodara can be adjudicated upon in Vadodara but not in Ahmedabad. The Brahmin who wrote the draft of SEZ explicitly mentioned that SEZ will be a foreign territory so that it cannot be challenged in any Indian Court. Just imagine if all the territory of India is converted into SEZ, will the Indian Nation exist? Every region will be a foreign territory where the Indian constitution will not be applicable. Does the Parliament have a right to make such a law? The answer is definitely no.

The Constitution of India says that India is a sovereign country. There cannot be a nation without a nation. Thus SEZ is nothing but a dangerous conspiracy of unimaginable proportion.

The Bill of SEZ says that if any industrialist who invests in SEZ by taking loans from any foreign institutions goes bankrupt then all his loans will be cleared by the Indian government. The responsibility of clearing the loan will be the responsibility of the Indian Government. Now any scheming foreign or Indian Industrialist will invest in SEZ and then declare to have become a bankrupt. He will run away with all his money. But the Indian Government will have to clear his loans from the money that it collects as tax from us. The Indian Government is an accomplice in this conspiracy. Our MLA’s and MP’s are part of this conspiracy. They have sold themselves. These MLA’s, MP’s, Chief Ministers are all slaves who have sold themselves. Everything is being done against the law of the land and against the constitution of India. If this programme of Creation of SEZ’s was in the interest of the nation why was not it discussed in the Parliament? If SEZ’s were for the welfare of the nation why was not it discussed in the Parliament? They say that this programme is being implemented to transform India into a great nation. If this is true why was not it discussed in Parliament? If it would have been discussed in the parliament people would have come to know about it. But they wanted to hide the real motive. This clearly suggests that it is a huge conspiracy. There will be no Labour law in SEZ’s. A worker will have to work for 16 hours and will receive the salary of 8 hours. Our people do not know the difference between service and slavery. If you work for 8 hours and receive a salary for 8 hours’ work then it is service. But if you work for 16 hours and receive a salary for 8 hours’ work then it is slavery. Our Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj is basically a labour class.

Thus SEZ is a programme to enslave the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj. It is a programme to make slaves of us and that too of the worst kind.

The next programme of the ruling castes is to absolutely privatize higher education and professional education. Sukhdeo Thorat, a scheduled caste person, from Amravati near Nagpur was made the chairman of the University Grants Commission. He was formerly a lecturer in the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The main work of UGC is to give grants to 250 Universities across India. The grants facilitate admissions of the students belonging to SC’s, ST’s and the OBC’s.

Now Arjun Singh has introduced a bill which seeks to amend some functions of the UGC and to make all universities completely autonomous. This bill is under discussion in the parliament, in the parliamentary committee. Autonomous universities will be completely free from Government regulations. No grants will be issued to universities from now on. Whatever kind of education these universities aim to provide, be it professional or higher education, they will be permitted to provide, by giving them the right to exact exorbitant fees. Thus the poor will be systematically debarred from getting professional education and higher education.
The poor will be unable to seek admission to professional courses like Engineering, Medical, MBA etc as he will not have the capacity to pay 10-15 lakh rupees annually for such courses.

They have started a campaign named, “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan”
This campaign says that all children shall be educated till the 8th standard. Students shall be promoted from one standard to the following higher standard without conducting any sort of examination. In such way a student will be gradually promoted to standard eight. These students will not be able to write even their own names. Such will be the kind of education without examinations. Even a 8th standard pass student shall not be able to write his father’s name.

Exams are conducted for the development of Merit. A student has to necessarily study for the examinations which leads to development of merit in him. With this merit our people can compete with them. But this is not being allowed to happen.

In Maharashtra, in Marathi, we call this method of promoting students without subjecting them to examinations as, “Dhakkal Pass”.
This will retard the development of the minds of our people. Our people will not be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. They will not be able to think logically. They will not be able to compare and study. They will lack ability to analyse and assess things. They will not be able to form their own opinions. They will be incompetent to draw inferences and conclusions. Thus they will be totally incapacitated to make any decision. A leader is essentially a person who can make decisions.
A leader is able to make his progress and his community’s as well.

They want to convert us into a herd of animals. Not many people are required to drive a herd of animals.
I want to mention an incident regarding the ‘Rabbari-Bharwar’ community in Gujarat. Once a jeep driver who was carrying extra passengers was caught by a constable and brought before the Inspector. The driver explained that he was only carrying 9 passengers. The Inspector asked the constable how many passengers did the driver actually carried in his jeep. The constable replied that the jeep carried 15 passengers. The driver then explained that he was carrying only 9 passengers because the rest of the persons belonged to the ‘Rabbari-Bharwar’ community.

They do not even consider these people as passengers. Such is their plight!
Can we expect the ruling castes even to consider these people as human beings? A ‘Rabbari-Bharwar’ drives a herd/flock of sheep and cattle. But now our people will be dumb driven cattle for the ruling castes.

By debarring us from getting Higher and Professional education they are planning absolute devastation of our people.

Most of the people employed in the retail sector in India belong the the OBC’s and the Muslims. 4 Crore people have got self-employment in the Retail Sector. The Government does not want to provide employment in the Government Sector and the Public Undertaking Sector. Even Self-Employment in the Retail Sector is being systematically ended. Big Malls and Outlets will slowly destroy whatever self employment our people had in the Retail sector. Now Ambani will sell ‘spinach’ in his Malls. He will send his trucks directly to the farms and purchase vegetables from the farmers. The trucks will carry those vegetables to the respective malls. Ordinary vegetable-sellers will not get any vegetables to sell in the market. They will lose their employment. Thus the Industrialists will takeover completely the Retail market of India. 4 crore people, mostly belonging to the Other Backward Classes and the Minorities will be directly affected and they will lose their work.
Our future and our physical world will be controlled by the Industrialists. This is nothing but slavery.

Our Mulnivasi India will be plunged into the mire of slavery. It means that the first stage as well as the second stage of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalization is a conspiracy to enslave the Mulnivasi Indians and Our Mulnivasi Bharat. These programmes are not being implemented to make India great but to enslave India. Our highly educated people such as IASs, IPSs, IRSs, Doctors, Engineers, and Lawyers etc say that it is not possible to oppose LPG.

In the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 ordinary people brought down the Government of Bharatiya Janata Party and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was brought down on the road. Just by the ordinary people of India!

Congress was brought to power but the ordinary people wanted a complete halt to Privatisation. But the Congress Party continued with Privatisation. In the recent elections to the 5 states Congress was completely defeated. After that elections took place in another three states in which Congress lost again. Now there are impending elections in Uttar Pradesh. Newspapers are already saying that Congress will be number 4 party in UP. Such is the miserable state of Congress before the UP elections! And such will be its plight even after the UP elections.

Ordinary people have brought them down on the roads. Ordinary people have shown that they have the capacity to oppose. But our educated people who have the required intellectual capacity say that it is not possible to oppose LPG! They are nothing but offspring of Eunuchs! Normally Eunuchs are not capable to produce children. Eunuchs are not capable of producing children but still these educated people (who say that it is not possible to oppose Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation) are the offspring of Eunuchs. It means that they are bastards. A bastard is a person who has two fathers.

Ordinary people opposed these programmes in Nandigram in West Bengal. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, CM of W. Bengal was forced to take back his decision to create SEZ in Nandigram. The Central Government was forced to change its programme of SEZ.
If people are awakened and prepared it is possible. This is a dangerous situation for the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj.
It is possible to oppose all this. It is possible to fightback and repel this attack on the Mulnivasi Bahujan Samaj.
Our forefathers and our leaders had created a Nation-wide Movement for our independence. But this movement was destroyed by Congress, Gandhi and the stooges of the Congress.

On this occasion we pledge to resurrect the movement of our leaders. To resurrect the movement of our leaders we need five types of means and resources- time, talent, money, labour and brains. All these have to be given to resurrect the movement. If you contribute these above mentioned resources you can resurrect the Nation-wide movement of our great leaders. That movement had given us constitutional rights and had removed us from the mire of slavery. That movement needs to be resurrected. We will organize such programmes in various regions and capitals of various states of this country. This will be nation-wide programme. We pledge to spread this movement in all the regions of India. A similar programme of state level will be held in Rajkot in Gujarat. We will utilize our full strength in Gujarat to organize this programme.
http://www.mulnivasibamcef.com/Pages/page3o.html


December 09, 2008
ON THE SEPTEMBER 26-29 MUMBAI ATTACKS


We're told that this atrocious assault on several sites in the city was the work of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba. Vijay Prashad ("The Fires in South Asia," Counterpunch) points out:

"The Lashkar is one of those organizations that emerged in 1991 out of the detritus of the Afghan jihad (it was formed in Kunar province). Carter’s Brzezinski vowed to 'sow shit in the Soviet backyard.' His Afghan toilet overflowed into South Asia."
But was it them? Ayesha Ijaz Khan ("Mumbai Terror Attacks," Counterpunch) writes:

"The fact that the Indian government is accusing Pakistan is taken with a grain of salt as this is not the first time the Indian government has blamed Pakistan, only to find later that Pakistan had nothing to do with the violence it was being accused of. Interestingly, four times previously the Indian government falsely accused Lashkare Taiba directly as the organization sponsoring violent incidents in India, and Pakistan indirectly for harbouring the militant group, although Pakistan officially banned the outfit in 2002.
"In each of the incidents, namely, the Chattisinghpura massacre, the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, the Malagaon blasts and the Samjhota Express incident, investigations were either refused or revealed that neither Lashkare Taiba nor Pakistan but groups from within India were responsible."
Alexander Cockburn, writing in The Nation, raises the question of perspective:

"No Western journalist chose to bewail a huge human catastrophe when that same chief minister of Maharashtra, Deshmukh [who resigned last week, accepting 'moral responsibility' for the attacks], supervised the destruction of 84,000 homes in Mumbai back in 2004-2005, nearly three times the number rendered homeless in Nagapattinam by the tsunami. 'Many people will be inconvenienced and will have to make sacrifices if the city has to develop,' Deshmukh said then. Once again, the lowly were making sacrifices in the interests of the mighty, many of them real estate gangsters in league with Deshmukh and the ruling Congress party.
"There was no talk of 'moral responsibility' and no hand-wringing in the Western press about the barbarism of making 84,000 families homeless. Nor did Deshmukh feel compelled to acknowledge moral responsibility when the 2006 figures issued by his own bureaucrats recorded 1,400 suicides (undoubtedly a huge underestimate) by Indian farmers in just six districts in the Vidarbha region of his state, driven to death by carefully planned 'liberalization' of the farm economy, overseen by federal Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This state terrorism was of Western origin, promoted by economists, World Bank officials and journalists like the Times's Thomas Friedman and Keith Bradsher, stepping onto Indian soil armed with Friedmanite recipes and with cell-phone contact to terror centers in Washington, Harvard and Chicago. Almost exactly a year ago, the Indian journalist P. Sainath reported that close to 150,000 Indian farmers committed suicide in the nine years from 1997 to 2005."
Finally, in "Hotel Taj: Icon of Whose India?" the Tamil writer Gnani Sankaran questions where the cameras were pointed, and why. Which is the true icon of Bombay, the Hotel Taj, "where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate," "the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India," or the first site attacked, the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station? It's through the latter that

"Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars and building the Mumbai of today along with the Marathis and Kolis.
"But the [TV] channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkha Dutt [NDTV English news editor] went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV cameras did not go to the government-run JJ Hospital to find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.
"In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60 hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail what transpired there."
http://diary.typepad.com/anticaste/

July 28, 2008
DESCENDANT OF MEDIEVAL PARIAHS IN FRANCE
The last untouchable in Europe (The Independent (UK))

"For the 40-something mother-of-three, the story of her bloodline is marked with a unique sadness: because she belongs to an extraordinary tribe of hidden pariahs, repressed in France for a thousand years.

"Marie-Pierre is a Cagot."
See:

‘Cagots’ of Béarn: The Pariahs of France by Gérard da Silva (International Humanist and Ethical Union)

An Accursed Race by Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell

Posted at 03:26 AM in caste | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 01, 2007
AGAINST THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT'S DEFENSE OF CASTE BEFORE THE UN
Misrepresenting caste and race (Seminar [New Dehli])
by Balmurli Natrajan

Before issuing its report (see March 2, 2007 below) on caste oppression in India, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism met with a delegation from the Indian government that included the anthropologist Dipankar Gupta, who defended the government's position that since caste is not race, the committee had no jurisdiction. In this commentary, Balmurli Natrajan takes on Gupta's arguments, which are reprinted below his remarks in summary form.

Posted at 11:58 PM in caste, race, reports | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 02, 2007
FOREIGNERS AND NON-HINDUS TREATED AS OUTCASTES
American pays fine for entering temple (IBNLive)

"Roediger still seems to be in the dark as to why he was treated this way. 'It was like an entrance fee or something I guess. I was not aware of the rules for entering into the temple,' said Roediger."
See also:
Activists criticise destruction of food in the name of religion (IANS)

Posted at 02:19 AM in caste | Permalink | Comments (0)
REPORT BY UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACISM
UN report slams India for caste discrimination (CBC News [Canada])

"The report found more than 165 million Dalits continue to face segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services. It also said many are forced to work in degrading conditions and are routinely abused by police and upper-caste community members who enjoy the state's protection."
Posted at 12:01 AM in caste, reports | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 13, 2007
NEW HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT
India: ‘Hidden Apartheid’ of Discrimination Against Dalits


"Exploitation of labor is at the very heart of the caste system. Dalits are forced to perform tasks deemed too 'polluting' or degrading for non-Dalits to carry out. According to unofficial estimates, more than 1.3 million Dalits – mostly women – are employed as manual scavengers to clear human waste from dry pit latrines. In several cities, Dalits are lowered into manholes without protection to clear sewage blockages, resulting in more than 100 deaths each year from inhalation of toxic gases or from drowning in excrement. Dalits comprise the majority of agricultural, bonded, and child laborers in the country. Many survive on less than US$1 per day."
Posted at 12:04 AM in caste, reports | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 04, 2007
ESTIMATED 1.3 MILLION MANUAL SCAVENGERS IN INDIA
Manual waste disposal occupies millions in India, despite ban (Agence France Presse)

"Chandravati, who is over 70 and like many Indians uses a single name, takes home about 300 rupees (6.60 dollars) a month. When she is lucky, she also gets a slice of chapati bread from her employers. 'They throw the chapati at us from a distance. If this is not untouchability, then what is? We are not allowed into the house,' she says, flashing a toothless smile."
Posted at 12:18 AM in caste, labor and caste, manual scavenging | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2007
MUKHTAR MAI: EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A LOW-CASTE PEASANT WOMAN WHO STOOD UP
After being gang raped by her village elders, Mukhtar fought back...

"Mukhtar and her family are from the lowly Gujar caste and are expected to be subservient to the Mastoi. She thought that she was being asked, as a respectable woman, to speak to the village elders on behalf of her brother. As Mukhtar, accompanied by her father, Ghulam Farid Jat, an uncle and a family friend, approached the mosque, she could see a large gathering of men outside. This was the panchayat, the village council. What she didn't know was that it had been taken over by the Mastoi men, who had resolved that to appease the honour of their caste, she must be raped in revenge for what they claimed was the rape of one of their women by Shakur."
See also:
Breaking the silence: review of Mukhtar Mai's new memoir, In The Name of Honor (The Asian News.co.uk, February 9)

Mukhtar Mai: history of a rape case (BBC News, June 28, 2005)

see anti-caste article: Muslims and Caste

Posted at 12:44 AM in caste, Muslims, women | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2007
COURAGEOUS EXILED WRITER SPEAKS OUT
TASLIMA NASRIN: Let's Burn the Burqa (Outlook India)

"My question to Shabana and her supporters, who argue that the Quran says nothing about purdah is: If the Quran advises women to use purdah, should they do so? My answer is, No."
See below:
anti-caste: September-October 2006: CLERICS VS. SHABANA AZMI AND SANIA MIRZI ON MUSLIM WOMEN'S DRESS

And see also:
Britain: Racism and the Islamic Veil (Workers Hammer, newspaper of the Spartacist League/Britain, No. 197, Winter 2006-2007)

Posted at 01:31 AM in Muslims, women | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 08, 2007
50,000 HOMELESS CHILDREN ON THE STREETS OF DELHI
Braving every day (The Hindustan Times (Harsh Mander))

"Some of Ratul's friends also take up other seasonal occupations like working with caterers in the wedding season, reserving places in the trains during vacations, selling cinema tickets at higher rates, cleaning cars or taxis, buses or lorries, even trains, as vendors for tea and food stalls, apprentices in roadside automobile repair garages, carrying loads and shoe polishing. Contrary to common prejudice, only one in ten street children begs for a living, and most of these are very young."
Posted at 01:52 AM in children, poverty | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 31, 2006
REVERSAL OF NEGATIVE TREND FOR INDIAN LABOR?
Big rise in trade union membership (The Hindu)

"While the biggest gainer is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which that has added almost 33 lakh members to its 1996 strength of 27 lakh, the CPI-affiliated All-India Trade Union Congress has moved to the third position with 33 lakh members from the fifth slot in 1996 when its membership was nine lakh."
Posted at 01:56 AM in working class | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 25, 2006
ATROCITY IN BIHAR
Dalit woman paraded half-naked for stealing fruit (India eNews)

"A middle-aged Dalit woman in Bihar was tonsured and paraded half-naked on the orders of the husband of a woman village head for allegedly stealing a few bananas."
Posted at 02:00 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 16, 2006
STATE-BY-STATE REPORT ON CONDITION OF UNTOUCHABLES
Victims, still (Frontline)

See also:

further special coverage in Frontline in the wake of the militant mass protests over Khairlanji:

on dalit activism: At a crossroads

on atrocities: Khairlanjis of the past

see anti-caste: KHAIRLANJI MASSCRE: Maharashtra Burning

Posted at 08:35 PM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables), reports | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 25, 2006
CASTE OPPRESSION AND WOMEN'S OPPRESSION REINFORCE EACH OTHER
Untouchable burnt to death after accusing high-caste man of rape (The Independent (UK))

"Asha accused a local upper-caste man of raping her last year. It was no small matter for her to go to the police in Indian rural society, where being a victim of rape is still considered deeply shameful.... In the villages, a man accused of rape may be found guilty and punished by the courts. But a woman who comes forward as a rape victim is certain of her punishment by society. She faces little prospect of marriage, and life for an unmarried woman in the villages is bleak."
Posted at 12:51 AM in caste, women | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006
HINDU RIGHT TARGETS UNTOUCHABLES
Arrest dalit 'rapist', says saffron brigade (DNAINDIA.COM)

"Countering dalit outbursts in the aftermath of the Kherlanji massacre, the saffron brigade, which had kept silence over this incident, joined hands on Monday. It brought Bhandara city to naught by raking up a case of alleged rape and murder of a 10-year-old minor OBC girl by a history-sheeter, belonging to the scheduled caste. The bandh [protest shutdown of city shops], which didn't have the collector's permission, was a success."
Posted at 12:23 AM in dalits (untouchables), hindu right | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 29, 2006
CLERICS VS. SHABANA AZMI AND SANIA MIRZI ON MUSLIM WOMEN'S DRESS
On leading Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi, after she said Muslim women need not wear a veil:

"She is a woman who sings and dances and should confine herself to her profession and not speak on things she has no knowlege of."--Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari
see 'Naachne Gaane Waali Aurat' (Outlook India, October 29, 2006)

On tennis star Sania Mirzi:

"The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn't cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination."--Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, leading cleric of the Sunni Ulema Board. See pics here!
see Tennis star deflects clothing row (BBC News, September 9, 2006)

Posted at 11:54 PM in Muslims, women | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2006
KHAIRLANJI MASSACRE
September-December 2006
MAHARASHTRA BURNING

An atrocity left unpunished and a hero’s statue desecrated drive untouchable masses into the streets across India’s second-most populous state.


September 29: Four members of an untouchable family are horrifically lynched by men and women of the dominant caste in the tiny village of Khairlanji.
November 6: After over a month of negligence by the police and inaction from the state government, mass protests by untouchables break out in Nagpur and spread throughout the district.
November 28: A statue of the Independence-era untouchable leader B. R. Ambedkar is beheaded in the city of Kanpur.
November 29-30: Untouchable youth take to the streets in spontaneous protests across the state. In Bombay large groups target public transportation, emptying buses and a train and setting them on fire.
The rape/murder of the Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village occurred on September 29, but it was only at the end of October that the story first broke in the national press, under the ironic headline “Just another rape story.” There are hundreds of atrocities against untouchables and over a thousand rapes of untouchable women officially reported every year in Maharashtra state alone. And how many go unreported? As the Khairlanji lynching itself might have. If it hadn’t been for two surviving blood relatives who secretly witnessed this public massacre, the case would never have been registered with the police: even now, no one else will talk.

So why did the news of this particular horror spread mainly by word of mouth throughout the region and across the state? Why this time did rage over the incident simmer for two full months before finally boiling over in an unprecedented statewide uprising of the untouchable masses that took India by surprise?....

...see anti-caste article: MAHARASHTRA BURNING

see also:

Khairlanji and Its Aftermath: Exploding Some Myths by Anand Teltumbde (Economic and Political Weekly, March 24, 2007)

Dalits, Like Flies to Feudal Lords by Shivam Vij (Tehelka, November 4, 2006)

Village quiet after it ganged up to hack Dalit mother, 3 children by Vivek Deshpande (The Indian Express, November 8)

Khairlanji: How the Other Half Dies? (Central Chronicle [Bhopal], November 14)

He lives to see justice done by Meena Menon (The Hindu, November 17)

Dalit blood on the village square by Lyla Bavadam (Frontline, November 18-December 1)

A Flag Over the Dead by Dilip D'Souza (Tehelka, November 25)
Kherlanji's Strange and Bitter Crop by Satya Sagar (November 29)

Maharashtra: Dalit anger leaves 4 dead, 60 injured (rediff.com, November 30)

Dalit Rage by Smruti Koppikar (Outlook India, December 5)

The fear of democracy of the privileged by P. Sainath (The Hindu, December 8)

Khairlanjis of the past (Frontline, December 16-29, 2006)

A real agenda for Dalit liberation by Praful Bidwai (Frontline, December 16-29, 2006)

And see from Sujatha's family history:
Adavi Kolanu: "Humilated for wearing nice clothes, for being clean, for being literate, for being a teacher, for desiring to be treated with dignity."

Posted at 02:03 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 09, 2006
MANUAL SCAVENGING PERSISTS DESPITE GOVERNMENT DENIAL
India's Shame (Frontline)


A Frontline investigation found that the state of denial extends to the national capital. The affidavit filed by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court has accused the petitioners of levelling "bad allegations against answering respondent without verifying facts". On a visit to Nand Nagri near Shahdara in the National Capital Region in order to verify, Frontline met Meena, who is a volunteer with the SKA and has been working as a manual scavenger since she was nine. Says Meena, who is in her mid-twenties: "I remember the first time I had to carry a basketful on my head. I slipped and fell into the gutter. No one would come to pick me up because the basket was so dirty and I was covered with filth. I sat there, howling, until another woman scavenger arrived. She hosed me down and took me home. But that day I felt like the most unfortunate child in the whole world."
See also:

Out in the open (on scavenging in Tamil Nadu) and Part of the system (Andhra Pradesh) in the same issue

But see:

this critique of the Frontline coverage by activist Vidya Bhushan Rawat: India’s Shame: Some Unanswered Questions from the Frontline Reports

Posted at 02:57 AM in dalits (untouchables), labor and caste, manual scavenging | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 01, 2006
NEW REPORT SURVEYS 565 VILLAGES ACROSS INDIA
Untouchability in Rural India by Ghanshyam Shah, Harsh Mander, Sukhdeo Thorat, Satish Deshpande, Amita Baviskar, 2006. New Delhi: Sage Publications. 216 pp.

from a review by Radhika Govinda:

"Untouchability in Rural India is based on an exhaustive survey of 565 villages in 11 major Indian states. [...]
"It highlights how untouchability exists in some form or the other in more than 80 per cent of the villages under study, most extensively in personal and religious-cultural spheres and less visibly in public and political spheres. Food and water touched by Dalits is considered polluting by upper castes: Dalits are denied access to water sources in 48.2 per cent of the villages surveyed; in over 70 per cent of the villages surveyed Dalits are prohibited from inter-dining and entry into non-Dalit houses. In 64 per cent of the villages, Dalits are denied entry into common temples. Despite repeated promises from several governments since Independence, Dalits continue to carry night-soil on their head in over 25,000 Indian towns and villages. As many as 40 per cent of schools practise untouchability while serving mid-day meals, making Dalit children sit in a separate row. Even NGOs are not immune to such practices. In a country that prides in its democratic traditions, Dalits are either denied access to polling booths, or are forced to form separate lines to enter them in 12 per cent of the villages. They are prevented from entering the police stations and ration shops in more than 25 per cent of the villages surveyed.
"Another core chapter, that deserves mention, focuses on Dalit women and the practice of untouchability. In this short but remarkably succinct chapter, the authors illustrate how, weighed down by the oppressive structures of caste, class and gender, rural Dalit women experience untouchability in multiple spheres and how this affects their everyday life. Women are regarded as male property and as bearers of the honour of their community. Attack on Dalits, therefore, often takes the form of physical and verbal abuse of Dalit women. Dalit women's bodies become the site on which caste violence is played out."
Posted at 02:18 AM in dalits (untouchables), reports | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 11, 2006
CHILD LABOR IN INDIA
Two stories: children working as household servants and stitching soccer balls. In both cases, as the articles note, the children are low-caste or Muslim.

Indian Child Labourers Show Ugly Side of the 'Beautiful Game' (July 10, 2006)

Domestic child labour rampant in Delhi (NDTV.com, August 2, 2006)

Posted at 01:16 AM in caste, children, labor and caste, Muslims, poverty | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 24, 2006
CASTE OPPRESSION AND WATER RIGHTS
Every summer the convergence of climate, archaic infrastructure, and caste-based segregation brings us dozens of horror stories in the press about the denial of drinking water to untouchables and the atrocities that often result, no doubt representing a tiny fraction of the total such cases. Here are two recent ones:

Dalits of Gaya untouched by water (CNN-IBN, May 25): "The upper castes throw away our buckets whenever we go to fill water."

Dalit villager pays heavy price for water in Madhya Pradesh (NDTV.com, June 24): "Pradip, a young Dalit man from a remote village in Madhya Pradesh, decided to fight back when upper caste people in his village refused him water. Instead, the 20-year-old was beaten up and as a result, 250 Dalit families from his Chotiche village have been denied access to water."

Posted at 01:40 AM in dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 26, 2006
RESERVATIONS CONTROVERSY
Letter from India: Addressing inequality in a land ruled by caste (International Herald Tribune)

"For a snapshot of the social importance of caste in modern India, you just need to turn to the matrimonials section of any daily paper. A small minority of the advertisements declare CASTE NO BAR, but most are arranged according to caste groupings, and go along the lines of: 'Engineer with multinational corp. seeks beautiful girl from decent Brahmin family.' Sociologists estimate that more than 90 percent of people marry within their caste."
Posted at 01:38 AM in caste, dalits (untouchables), reservations (affirmative action) | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 21, 2006
UNTOUCHABLES BOUND BY HEREDITARY OCCUPATION
Dalit workers continue to face prejudice (NDTV.com)

"But even today, in India's biggest cities, the men and women who enter the sewers to clean the city's filth are dalits."
Posted at 01:46 AM in dalits (untouchables), labor and caste | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006
UPPER-CASTE BABY-KILLERS DEFEND "MERIT"
Violence feared in Indian caste row (The Guardian (UK))

"The protests have disrupted hospital services across northern India, with the student shutdown supported by doctors. In Delhi television crews filmed babies being refused medical treatment because of a lack of staff."
See below: April 20, 2006: anti-caste: RESERVATIONS (AFFIRMATIVE ACTION) BILL PROPOSED

Posted at 01:50 AM in dalits (untouchables), reservations (affirmative action) | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006
MASS ATROCITY BACKED UP BY POLICE
Justice for Dalits still a dream (The Hindu)

"When the Dalits attempted to take out their procession, the police stopped them. The next day, in blatant violation of the law, the sarpanch allegedly instigated upper caste youth to attack the Dalits with hatchets and sickles by making announcements on a loudspeaker from the local temple. The attackers did not spare even women and children.... Instead of arresting those who attacked the Dalits, the police arrested 15 Dalits on false charges ranging from 'dacoity' to 'attempt to murder.'"
Posted at 01:54 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables), police | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2006
MOVIE SHOWS HIDEOUS OPPRESSION OF WIDOWS
MARRIED TO BARBARIC CUSTOM (The New York Post)

The Hindi-language film Water by director Deepa Mehta, released this week in New York, exposes the custom of child marriage and the traditional treatment of widows as outcastes. Though it's set during the rise of the Independence struggle in the 1930s, these practices are still prevalent, particularly (but not only) in rural areas--see links below. We don't usually offer links to the right-wing New York Post, but their critical review (see link above) happens to get the politics just about right.

See also:

The film's initial production in India was called off in 2000 in the face of government harrassment and attacks by Hindu-right thugs. It was finally made in Sri Lanka after a long delay. Read this excellent first-person account of the thwarted shoot: The Politics of Deepa Mehta's Water (Bright Lights Film Journal, April 2000).

And see:

Indian widows focus on devotion, fatalism (The Mercury News [San Jose], April 2, 2006)

A Young Woman Says 'No' to Rural India's Child-Marriage Tradition (The Washington Post, September 5, 2005)

India Child-Marriage Laws Ignored (CBS News, May 13, 2005)

Poignant writings on widowhood in Hindu society (The Tribune [Chandigarh, India]), September 29, 2002)

India's neglected widows (BBC, February 2, 2002)

Though Illegal, Child Marriage Is Popular in Part of India (The New York Times, May 11, 1998)

India's widows live out sentence of shame, poverty (CNN, November 6, 1997)

Posted at 01:56 AM in women | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006
RESERVATIONS (AFFIRMATIVE ACTION) BILL PROPOSED
A minister in the Indian government has proposed a bill that would more than double the reservation quota (number of seats reserved for students oppressed by caste) in elite higher educational institutions run by the central government. He wants to add a reservation for the Other Backward Castes (castes considered low but not untouchable) to the existing one for untouchables and tribals. What is the 49.5% quota all about? (rediff.com, April 12, 2006) explains the plan in some detail.


The anti-reservations slogan "Save Merit" really means "Save Caste Privilege." Praful Bidwai in In Defence of OBC Reservations (The Nahvind Times, April 20, 2006) punctures the hypocrisy of those who take it up:

"Those who oppose affirmative action radically, in principle, on the ground that it’s anti-merit, are comprehensively wrong in assuming that our society and government run on the basis of merit, as distinct from social status, clan loyalties, wealth, sifarish, political influence, overt bribery, etc. Even the best of our competition examinations don’t accurately assess merit. Take the case of the IITs, where admissions are dominated by candidates from privileged families who can afford to send them to the coaching centres of Kota in Rajasthan for long months at the expense of lakhs of rupees."
In What Mandal Really Wanted (Outlook India, April 14, 2006) S.S. Gill, the secretary of the Mandal Commission, defends that commission's 1980 report. When its recommendation that reservations be extended to Other Backward Castes was finally put into practice in 1989, it provoked a vicious casteist reaction nationwide. In response to what is now being proposed, Gill asks, "Why do we still require the crutch of reservations to enable students from the deprived sections to stand on their feet even 60 years after Independence? What has happened to the tall claims of affirmative action aimed at raising the educational and economic standards of the SCs, STs and OBCs, so that their children are able to compete on their own merit?"

But even the minimal reforms he says are necessary are utopian in a capitalist India dominated by imperialism. And, while it's important to defend any gains for the oppressed including reservations, why shouldn't everyone be able to get a decent education and a good job?

See also:

How Sharad Got A Life: "As did Amit, Risha, Parag and many like them. Quotas empowered them to take on challenges. Here's their side of the story." (Outlook India, April 24, 2006)

Say Yes to Affirmative Action by Praful Bidwai (August 9, 2004)

on the history of reservations policy in India: Logical step by P.S. Krishnan (Frontline, April 22-May 5, 2006)

Posted at 03:12 AM in dalits (untouchables), reservations (affirmative action) | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 18, 2006
HINDU MONARCHY CRUMBLING
King No Longer Sacred in Nepal (Reuters)

"'Gyanendra, thief, leave the country' is the warcry of the tens of thousands campaigning against his rule, a slogan that would have been heretical just a few years ago when the Shahs were worshipped by the Himalayan nation as reincarnations of the Hindu Lord Vishnu."
See also:

This Turbulent Monarchy: Nepal and the Shah dynasty (AsiaMedia, February 17, 2005) traces the rule of the bloody Shah dynasty from its founding by the eighteenth-century military king Prithvi Narayan Shah, who upon conquering Kathmandu Valley "cut off the lips and noses of every male citizen of the city-state of Kirtipur (save those who were musicians) after they successfully resisted his invasion force." (Obviously a music-lover.)

See also:

Turmoil (The Hindu, February 20, 2005) discusses the recent social context:

"The democracy movement had politically mobilised the voiceless, but post-multidemocracy, the representational pyramid remained even more restricted than under the Panchayat regime. Bahuns (Brahmins) and Chettris (including Ranas, Shah-Thakuris) made up 29 per cent of the population and monopolised 70 per cent to 90 per cent of the jobs and political representation. Many of the 69 indigenous nationalities which fought for multi-party democracy would turn to the Maoist revolution for their liberation. Indeed the insurgency is a testament to the failure of Nepal's experiments with (autocratic and) democratic governance to make a real difference to the desperate poverty and plight of the vast majority of Nepal's 24 million people. Forty-two per cent of them remain under the poverty line ... ."
But the Maoists, who should be defended against the police and the military, offer no political alternative. They actually made a bloc with the old king, Birendra. One of their leaders declared in 2001:

''Many Marxists called the Maoists royalists. There were similar thoughts between King Birendra and us, with reference to many national interests. There was unannounced unity in the approach between us in many contexts. So, it was natural for the colonialists and their brokers to be frightened.''
See Maoist ideologue blames India, US for massacre [of royal family] (rediff.com, June 6, 2001).

Update: (November 21, 2006) The Maoists have joined the bourgeois government and will liquidate their militia into the national army. See Nepal celebrates peace deal with rebels (The Guardian (UK), November 22).

Posted at 02:24 AM in caste, Nepal | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 12, 2006
BUSINESS NEWS
Air India Now Offers Business Caste Seating

"'More legroom, wider seats—and no need to associate with the manual laborers,' a spokesman for the airline said Tuesday. 'Our business travelers must have lived good past lives to deserve this.'"

The Onion is a satirical weekly newspaper parody published in the U.S.

Posted at 03:35 AM in caste | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 01, 2006
WORKING IN PAKISTAN'S COAL MINES
Exposé: Death in the Mines (Newsline (Karachi))

"Bonded for their working life through contractors, young boys of 13 work till they are 30 years old for a paltry sum until their damaged lungs can no longer withstand the chronic exposure to coal dust."
Posted at 02:37 AM in Pakistan, working class | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 31, 2006
CASTE IN NEPAL
Caste-based Discrimination Endures in Nepal (OhMyNews.com)

"Dalits in Nepal are prohibited from walking in front of upper caste people and need to make an alternate path behind them."
See also:

more on caste from same journalist: When Caste Overshadows Humanity

Posted at 02:40 AM in caste, dalits (untouchables), Nepal | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 13, 2006
CASTE-BASED BONDED LABOR IN PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Free at Last, From Generations of Bonded Labour (Inter Press Service News Agency)

'''All my family members worked, including my mother and younger sister. My mother would say we have to work to pay off the loans taken by my grandfather from the landlords. However hard and long we all worked, the exorbitant interest on the loan my grandfather had taken was never paid.'''
See also:

In Pakistan, 'slavery' persists (The Christian Science Monitor, December 15, 2003)

Posted at 02:44 AM in caste, labor and caste, Pakistan | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006
ANTI-HINDU COMMUNALISM
Terror in Varanasi, nation on alert (The Indian Express)

"The blast at the railway station was so powerful that it left a deep crater on the platform. The area was splattered with blood and human remains. The blast at the temple set off panic and led to a near stampede as people scrambled for cover. Two weddings were on in the complex when the explosion took place. People were seen ferrying the injured, including several elderly women, to the hospital. Rescue workers struggled in narrow lanes and bylanes to bring out the injured from the blast site."
Posted at 03:48 AM in communalism | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 24, 2006
GUJARAT MASSACRE AFTERMATH
Life sentences in India riot case (BBC News/South Asia)

"A court in India has sentenced nine people to life imprisonment in a high-profile case related to the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat. Twelve Muslims and two others were burned to death when the Best Bakery was attacked by a Hindu mob."
See also:

this summary of the Best Bakery case from rediff.com: Best Bakery: Why it is so important

The Hindu's editorial: A tortuous quest for justice

And see:

anti-caste article: on the 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat massacre

Posted at 03:56 AM in communalism, Muslims | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006
POLICE ATROCITY IN HARYANA
Dalit youth dies in police custody (The Tribune (Chandighar))

"Harjeet Singh, a Dalit youth of Niko Sarai village in Dera Baba Nanak area, was killed in Batala police’s custody allegedly due to torture. The police cremated his body at night without informing his family."
Posted at 04:00 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables), police | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 19, 2006
MASS ATROCITY IN HARYANA
10 injured in attack on Dalit colony (The Tribune (Chandighar))

"In what could be termed as the recurrence of the Gohana incident, an armed mob of upper castes, mostly Rodhs, allegedly attacked Ravidas Colony at Mehmadpur village of the district today morning. The only difference between the two incidents was that instead of torching houses of Dalits as had been done in Gohana, Ravidasis were allegedly attacked with sharp-edged weapons, including axes and swords."
Posted at 04:05 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)
UNTOUCHABLES IN RURAL UTTAR PRADESH
Virtual prosperity (The Indian Express)

"ELECTRICITY may still be a distant dream for Dalits in this Uttar Pradesh village where 70 per cent of the families live below the poverty line and many are bonded labourers, but that has not stopped their children from learning to use the internet or handle digital cameras. Indeed, some Dalits from this village of 360 families where half the land is owned by gun-toting Brahmin landlords who still regard banks with unease, have gone on to become teachers, army officers and Railway officials...."
Posted at 04:03 AM in dalits (untouchables), poverty | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 07, 2006
HINDU-RIGHT CAMPAIGN IN U.S.
Now, Multicultural Hindutva (Outlook India)

On the Hindu right's current campaign to revise the grade-school textbooks in California (and therefore, because of that state's weight in the textbook market, all across the U.S.).

See also:

this letter by Professor Vinay Lal to the president of the California Board of Education

Creationism By Any Other Name… by historian Romila Thapar and Sanskrit scholar Michael Witzel (Outlook India, February 28, 2006)

this entertaining commentary by Vijay Prashad (CounterPunch, December 31 / January 31)

Update: February 28, 2006

In a press release two organizations protesting the Hindu right's proposed revisions, the Friends of South Asia and the Coalition Against Communalism, claim victory:

"The intense struggle over the content of Indian history in California textbooks ended yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the special committee of the California SBE voting unanimously to overturn a majority of contentious changes proposed by Hindu right-wing groups."
Posted at 04:08 AM in hindu right | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 06, 2006
MILITANT STRIKE BETRAYED BY LEFT FRONT
After a four-day strike by over 20,000 workers against selling off the Mumbai and New Dehli airports to private companies, part of the Congress-led government's privitization drive, is called off by union leaders from the reformist left parties, the capitalist press celebrates:

PM shows 'spine', wins battle with Left (Reuters):

"India's government has won a crucial victory against its Communist 'allies' over airport modernisation, and will now move forward more confidently on its own reform agenda, analysts said on Monday."
The Left's 'own goals' (rediff.com):

"Even tactically, the Left bungled because air traffic controllers and public sector airline employees continued to work, so all that the strikers could achieve was nuisance value, not disruption of air services.... It might be argued that some of this is just shadow play, and the Left didn't really want to stop the privatisation of airports, since one of its leading lights, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the chief minister of Left Front-ruled West Bengal, had said last year that he would like to privatise Kolkata airport. Equally, the Left Democratic Front in Kerala has never criticised or come in the way of the privately-run Kochi airport. The Left's aim, ahead of the elections in West Bengal and Kerala, was probably to demonstrate to the big public sector unions and their members that it still supported them, a sort of Communist equivalent of going to a temple or church."
Posted at 04:16 AM in working class | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2006
BOOK ON MANUAL SCAVENGING
Exposing an abhorrent practice (Frontline)

review by S. Vishwanathan of India Stinking by Gita Ramaswamy:

"'In an age when mechanisation with harvesters and tractors has rendered thousands of manual labourers jobless," Gita notes, "it is a standing testimony to the lasting virulence of the caste system that public facility cleaning and sewage disposal are still handled by human beings.'"
See also:

Soiled tracks by Kancha Ilaiah (Outlook India, January 16, 2005)

Posted at 04:23 AM in dalits (untouchables), labor and caste, manual scavenging | Permalink | Comments (0)
ATROCITY IN PUNJAB: BANT SINGH
Casteist assault (Frontline)

"On January 7, Bant Singh, a resident of Jhabbar in the southern Punjab district of Mansa, was surrounded by a group of Jat youths from the same village. The upper-caste men brutally beat him with iron rods. Three days later, after gangrene set in, doctors amputated his limbs."
Posted at 04:20 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 02, 2006
ATROCITY IN BIHAR: SIX BURNED ALIVE
Caste waters run deep in Bihar village (newkerala.com)


"The village in Vaishali district bristled with tension, anger and pain Monday, a day after the 45-year-old woman and her five minor children were torched to death in their hut because her husband refused to withdraw a police complaint against a Yadav for the theft of a buffalo. While the killings came as a shock to members of the backward agrarian Koeri caste to which the victims belonged, they were quick to point out that they were not allowed to keep cattle and those who dared flout the unwritten rule paid for it."
Posted at 04:26 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 27, 2005
ATROCITY IN BELKHED VILLAGE (AKOLA), MAHARASHTRA
The riots and wrongs of caste (The Hindu (Opinion)) by P. Sainath

"The Dalits here are impoverished agricultural labourers. Some of these tiny, ruined dwellings housed 12 or more people. The over 150 families in the basti have homes bunched together, often joined by common walls. The flames must have spread quickly."
Posted at 04:30 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 24, 2005
RESISTANCE PROVOKES REACTION
Barber women ‘sexually abused, paraded naked’ by upper community (United News of India)

"Four women of the Bhubanpati village told reporters here on Thursday that they were 'punished' on September 19 because their husbands had refused to wash the feet of 'baratis' during a marriage ceremony sometime back."
Posted at 04:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 21, 2005
ATROCITIES IN HARYANA
Caste war shows India's lowest class still faces struggle (The Chicago Tribune)

"Higher-caste members say the Dalits just want attention and set their own homes on fire, shaved their own mustaches and made everything else up.[...]They say the Dalits are treated equally in Badhram and live pretty well. "'They even have tractors and motorcycles,' said Jagan Singh, a farmer and former village leader who belongs to the Zamindar land-owning caste. 'They even have trucks.' "'Mobile phones,' one man shouted. 'Color TVs,' another pointed out. "'They eat butter chicken every day,' Singh added."
Posted at 04:38 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 06, 2005
MASS ATROCITY IN GOHANA, HARYANA
There's a much larger house on fire (The Hindu (Opinion)) by P. Sainath

"About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub in the irony, 25 more Dalit homes have been torched in the same week. This time in Akola, Maharashtra."
See also:

'Gohana is Haryana's shame today' (rediff.com, September 1, 2005)

Prosperity Sharpens Caste Animosities (Inter Press Service News Agency, September 19, 2005)

Posted at 04:41 AM in atrocities, dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 05, 2005
CASTE AND WOMEN'S OPPRESSION
A Young Woman Says 'No' to Rural India's Child-Marriage Tradition (The Washington Post)

"Not only does Chaudhry accuse her would-be in-laws of demanding money in exchange for her freedom, but the leaders of her caste -- a powerful informal council known as a caste panchayat -- have also threatened Chaudhry and her family with the ultimate sanction of excommunication, or ejection from the caste. Such an outcome would rob the family of its social standing and damage the marriage prospects of Chaudhry's 18-year-old brother, among other things."
Posted at 04:45 AM in caste, children, women | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 25, 2005
UNTOUCHABILITY IN ORISSA
Dalit girl reprimanded for riding cycle through village (rediff.com)

"Her only fault was that she rode her bicycle to college through a village to attend college. Mamata Nayak, who wants to be a teacher, was reprimanded by upper caste villagers for daring to ride on the village road."
Posted at 04:48 AM in dalits (untouchables) | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 13, 2005
REPRESSION OF HONDA WORKERS IN GURGAON, HARYANA
On July 25 Indian television showed footage of hundreds of striking workers surrounded by cops and made to crawl on the ground as the cops worked their way through the crowd beating heads, backs, and limbs with thick, metal-tipped clubs and continuing to beat as their victims lay bloody and senseless for a full 45 minutes. It was like the Rodney King video on a tape loop....
...see anti-caste article: on the repression of striking Honda workers in Gurgaon, Haryana

See also:

Target, trade unionism (Frontline)

For a 'New deal' for labour by Praful Bidwai (Frontline, August 13-26, 2005)

Malls of the few, chawls of the many by P. Sainath (The Hindu, Opinion)

Posted at 04:51 AM in police, working class | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 12, 2005
ATROCITIES IN HARYANA
Landlords set 3 houses on fire (asianage.com)

"Landlords have ostracised dalits and confined to their homes 45 persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes since July 20, when they offered prayers at a local temple. Dalits have been beaten, and the moustache of one dalit man is lopped off every day."
http://diary.typepad.com/anticaste/

India: Murshidabad’s Starving Masses

Jalangi lies 50 Km east of Bahrampore, the district headquarters of Murshidabad. Predominantly inhabited by Muslims and dalits, the area was earmarked for East Pakistan, before the British colonial rulers changed the partition plan at the last minute, in 1947. Today, Jalangi is a resettlement town on the banks of River Padma. Changing of the river course and massive erosion of its embankments has resulted in the original Jalangi town now being completely submerged in water. The bulk of the surrounding cultivated lands had turned into sand beds; homes have been devastated; and livelihoods and livestock, destroyed.

Having travelled 250 odd Km to Jalangi, which took us almost eight hours, we visited several villages: Dayarampur, Dairepara, Ghoshpara, Farazipara, Hoggledaire, Muradpur, Noadpara, Gauipur, Bhangapara and Schoolpara. The desperation of these villages was unfathomable. While the River Padma had devoured virtually everything, the rapid erosion has displaced its inhabitants leaving them with little option but to beg or toil as agricultural labourers to feed their families. If they were fortunate enough they managed one meal a day; if not, they simply starved. Majority of village children suffered from night blindness due to a lack of vitamin A and Reports indicated several people had died of starvation.


Desperation of an aging villager Ayub Ali of Paraspur and Mohammad Zazir of Dakshin Ghoshpara told us that they were compelled to move three times in the last decade while Ummat Ali Shah and Sanajeev Karmakar’s father had died of broken hearts—being unable to cope with the shock of losing everything. Shamsher Shiekh of Dayarampur who had been a prosperous farmer had become a pauper.

The CPI(M) controlled Gram Panchayat (village council) seems to have a monopoly over this desperate situation. Incidents of death due to hunger go largely unreported because villagers are threatened and coerced into silence. Villagers also told us how CPI(M) functionaries in the Gram Panchayat were busying themselves shamelessly appropriating most of the relief materials meant for river-erosion victims. In a desperate bid to survive, villagers were forced into toiling in other peoples’ lands for a pittance, begging or joining in the rampant cross-border smuggling. In 2005, under the National food for Work Programme [NFFWP], the CPI(M) functionaries devised ingenious methods of extortion from poor villagers. For instance, they demanded as levy for party funds, two rupees for every Rs. 32 earned as a day’s wage and 300 grams of rice for every 7 kilograms received.

Actually, it seemed the CPI (M) MLA, the police, the Border Security Forces [BSF], Customs and other officials colluded with each other in the extortion and smuggling rackets as well as other crimes.

Reports also illustrate the severe shortage of food and the desperate measures taken by the people to survive. More than 600 families have been forced into abject poverty and are facing starvation. The situation is so bad that teenage girl of poverty stricken families have been forced to marry men from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The ‘dalaals’ (women agent/pimps) are engaged in a brisk trade of finding brides for the ‘Ghataks’ (matchmakers) to enter into fake marriages paying between Rs.20, 000 to Rs. 30,000. It is said that the male ‘dalaals’ have performed scores of fakes marriages and sell them to those who operate in the red-light districts of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and even Arab countries, where they work either as maids or sex-slaves.

Despite this untold suffering and devastation, one Gopen Sharma—also known as Gopen da—has become a cry in the wilderness. He has stood firmly against BSF and police atrocities in Jalangi, opposed smuggling and rampant corruption, mobilized victims of starvation and demonstrated before the Block Development Official (BDO), the Murshidabad District Magistrate (DM), the Governor and UNICEF offices. But this naturally earned him the wrath of the authorities who instigated the police to fabricate a case against him and his absence arrested his mother and younger brother.

The following stories depict the untold pain and suffering of the people of Jalangi who are confronted with the atrocities of the BSF and the police, the violence and exploitation of the smugglers and the functionaries of the CPI(M) who are allegedly in league with criminal gangs. These are the voices of the voiceless, the starving poor of India—the land of plenty and largest democracy in the world.

TARUN KANTI BOSE
E-mail: tarunkantibose@gmail.com
The spectre of starving India
Combat Law, Issue #3 : The Right to Food

Combat Law, Issue 3 - I was in Jaipur for a meeting organised by Kavita Shrivastav of the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), unconnected with starvation deaths, where I met Jean Dreze, a professor of economics at Delhi. He suggested that I visit a village nearby to see the extent of hunger in the countryside. An hour's drive from Jaipur and we were in another world -that of the dispossesed. People had no food at all and fluoride in the well-water had prematurely aged the youth.

Miles away were the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) - full of grain, some of it rotting and a feast for rats. This is the spectre of starving India.

In December 2000, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution wrote to all chief ministers admitting that five crore people are victims of starvation. A few days later, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan complained to him that he had heard that lakhs of tonnes of food grains were lying in the godowns of the FCI and that there was a proposal to dump it in the sea, to make storage space for the next crop. When Manoj Parida, Senior Regional Manager of the FCI, was interviewed on the Star TV news channel, he said that he could only give the grain to the states if the central government allocated it, and that his dilemma was that he couldn't just throw it away!

In 1988, in the case of Kishen Patnaik, when starvation deaths were brought to the notice of the Apex Court, the court accepted the assurances of the Government of Orissa that the situation would be looked into, and hoped that starvation deaths would cease. Ten years later, another petition was filed, detailing hundreds of starvation deaths. In 2001, when Kavita Srivastava of the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan, filed a petition, the condition of the people had not changed.

No will to Act

Why is it that with 60 million tonnes of grain in surplus of the buffer stock, India still has hunger on this scale? Why are half of India's children malnourished? No answer. Shanta Kumar, the minister responsible, remains unruffled despite widespread condemnation. And the Prime Minister appeared on television recently to say that the reports of starvation deaths are false and politically motivated. All this in a situation where it has been calculated that it is cheaper to give grain away free to the poor than to transport and store it! A compassionate court would have none of that. It found it incomprehensible that a litigant would have to move the highest court merely for a direction to government to implement its own schemes.

"Cut the flab somewhere else", said the Court when confronted with the argument that the states had no funds to feed hungry children.

"Cut the flab somewhere else", said the Court when confronted with the argument that the states had no funds to feed hungry children. From The Ratlam Municipality v. Virdichand (AIR 1980 SC 1622) onwards, the Apex Court has held that when it comes to the enforcement of a fundamental right, courts will not entertain the argument of financial incapacity. Hunger spreads not because the State lacks the funds to act but it chooses to use its money elsewhere in what V. R. Krishna Iyer once called "a perverse expenditure logic". A second aircraft carrier for the Navy, to be purchased soon, will cost a thousand crore, an amount that could feed all of this nation's children. But macho muscle flexing is more important than that! And we have examples of ostentation such as the foreign trip of the Vice President of India, Krishna Kant, and his family, at the State's expense.

Schemes in disarray




The British evolved a Famine Code which ensured that anyone needing food in a famine area had only to turn up at a work site - a road, a school building, a watershed management programme - to get work. At the end of the day, she would get half of her wages in grain. Famine records show that the prompt implementation of food for work programmes reduced hunger and prevented starvation deaths. For those unable to work - the old, infirm and disabled - there was a dole of fifty paise per day.

Fifty years after Independence, this Famine Code is in disuse and the elaborate procedure laid down for tackling famines disregarded. The watered-down remedy - the Employment Assurance Scheme - provided for employment for two family members on food for work projects for 100 days in a year. This was never implemented. And recently, the Prime Minister announced from the Red Fort that the scheme was being upgraded and renamed the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. This 'upgraded' scheme provided work for only ten days in a year!

The ration card system, the only mechanism in place to feed the poor, is in disarray. In India's capital, the identification of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families started after the court case and there were many complaints of corruption in the issuing of forms.

The Midday Meal Scheme, introduced as far back as 1995 and requiring a cooked meal to be given to all children in government and government-assisted schools, was implemented fully only in Tamilnadu. The Delhi government only gave a few biscuits to its schoolchildren. The Annapoorna Scheme, which provides grain to the poorest of the poor at Rs. 2 per kg was also not implemented. The beneficiaries of the National Old Age Pension Scheme usually received their pensions six months late if at all.

No wonder that the Comptroller & Auditor General, in his Year 2000 Report, found significant systematic weaknesses in the fair price shop system. He found the reports of employment generated not genuine. The Employment Assurance Scheme, which promised a hundred days of food for work, in practice provided only nine days of work. Scarce resources were lost in the labyrinth of a slothful administrative system. The report found one-fifth of rural households facing the prospect of hunger. Forty percent of all households did not get two square meals a day. Concluding, the Computer & Auditor General found serious flaws in design, execution and monitoring of the schemes.

A study conducted by the Tata Economic Consultancy Services found a large number of bogus ration shops, and 30 per cent of the grain being diverted.

Supreme Court Orders

The court directed that the targeted public distribution system be fully implemented by January 2002 and that all governments complete their identification of BPL families, issue ration cards and distribute 25 kg of grain per family per month by that date.

A similar order was passed for the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme, under which the poorest of the poor get grain at Rs. 2 per kg. The Supreme Court directed that the governments should consider giving the grain free to people who are too poor to buy it. It directed governments to provide a cooked midday meal in all government and government-assisted schools. It directed governments to implement the National Old Age Pension Scheme fully by January 2002 and to make payments of pension by the seventh of each month.

Similarly directions were made in respect of the Annapoorna Scheme, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, the National Maternity Benefit Scheme and the National Family Benefit Scheme.

The last order is dated 8.5.02. In this order the gram panchayats have been empowered to frame the Food-for-Work schemes, wherein special emphasis is to be given for the poor, women and dalits. Contractors are prohibited. The gram sabhas are also empowered to conduct a social audit of all the food and employment schemes and to report instances of misuse of funds. On such reports being made, the authorities are required to punish the guilty.

The gram sabhas are also empowered to monitor the implementation of the various schemes and to have access to relevant information as to how beneficiaries are selected and how benefits are disbursed. A grievance redressal procedure is set out in this order. Complaints of non implementation of the Supreme Court's order is to be made to the CEO / Collector and these complaints are to be acknowledged with a receipt. Ultimately, it is the Chief Secretary who is made responsible. Dr. N.C. Saxena, former Planning Secretary and Mr. S.R. Shankaran, former Secretary, Rural Development have been appointed as commissioners of the Supreme Court for the purpose of looking into people's grievances. The Supreme Court has also directed government to frame clear guidelines for the proper identification of BPL families as there were complaints that this criteria is neither clear nor uniform. Ration shops have been directed to remain open throughout the month during fixed hours, the details of which should be displayed on notice board.

Transparency

Most officials do not know of the schemes in their own jurisdiction. There is no way for people in a village to know what schemes they are entitled to. The order of the Court in the Rajasthan PUCL case will hopefully change the situation for the better. A translated copy of the Supreme Court order and the list of the beneficiaries of each scheme are to be displayed on every gram panchayat notice board and in schools. Doordarshan and AIR are to publicise the schemes.

All said and done, even with the Apex Court order, the level of compliance will go up to, say, 35 per cent. Hunger will remain institutionalised. As along as priorities do not change, half of India's population will be kept deliberately hungry by State policy. Only a revolution can change that. Madhura Swaminathan in her recent publication Weakening Welfare has studied the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India. Noticing that food deprivation and insecurity persists on a mass scale, she concludes that this situation of mass deprivation is likely to worsen in the current context of "liberalisation, structural adjustment and the weakening of welfare systems". She argues that there is need to expand and strengthen - not undermine or disband the PDS system. She has identified 'targeting' as a dangerous policy introduced as a mechanism to ultimately close down the PDS. This part of the article is largely taken from her book.

History of Public Distribution System


1964: FCI set up a sole central agency for procurement, storage, transportation and distribution of food commodities viz. rice, wheat, sugar, edible oils, kerosene and coal.
1964-1978:Drought of 1965/67 and 1972 / 73 provided strong impetus for the expansion of PDS.
1978-1991: Food grain distribution through PDS peaked in 1991 at 20.8 MT.
1991 onwards: Food grain distributed through PDS falls substantially to 14 MT in 1994. Stocks accumulate. Between 1991 and 1994 PDS process double. The poor are priced out. Sales drop. Stocks build up. At this point because global prices are temporarily high export taken place at the cost of nutrition in India.
1997: Targetting introduced. Between 1998 and 2001: APL prices were increased 85% (wheat) and 61% (rice) and BPL prices by 66% and 62% respectively.
The Spectre of Mass Hunger

A shift is noticed from cereals to other food items of lesser nutrition among the poor. The National Sample Survey data, shows that per capita consumption of cereals declined in every state except Kerala.

The National Sample Survey data, shows that per capita consumption of cereals declined in every state except Kerala in both urban and rural areas. A shift is noticed from cereals to other food items of lesser nutrition among the poor. This exacerbates undernourishment. Nutritional surveys done by the National Nutrition Monitoring Board confirms this inadequacy of food (and cereal) intake by large parts of the population is below the recommended intake of 460 grams. Referring to "hidden hunger" it found an inadequate intake of micronutrients, which play a critical role in body functioning. The National Sample Survey Organisation found in 17 of India's most populous states that the average caloric intake declined between 1972 and 1994. The decline was particularly sharp in rural areas. At the all-India level total calories per head in rural areas has fallen on 2149 by 1999-2000 compared to 2211 in 1983, a decline by 72 calories per head. This level of 2149 calories per head in 1999 - 2000 is substantially lower than China or Brazil's level of 2757 calories and 2797 calories in 1993. It is also lower than Tanzania or Kenya's level of 1980.

A commonly used indicator of undernourishment is Body Mass Index (BMI). This is the ratio of weight (kg) to the square of height (m). 18.5 is normal. Using this indicator, Shetty and James found 46% of persons chronically deficient in 1991-1992. Severe undernourishment was observed among 9%. In other words one half of the population in the country is malnourished. Of these 53% of children were found to be undernourished and 21% severally undernourished.

Poverty Line Excludes Many Hungry Persons

The original standard for the definition of the poor was thrice the food expenditure as it was shown that poor families spend 1/3 of their expenditure on food. Any household that spends more than 1/3 of its income on food is considered poor in the United States and eligible for food stamps. If this standard is used in India 95% of all households would be considered poor. If one uses the China standard of food share of 60%, then 80% of the rural population and 60% of the urban population would be poor. Thus in India, the top 20% of the population can be excluded from systems of food security.

When there is mass hunger the weight attached to every undernourished person who is wrongly excluded should be much higher than the weight attached to a rich person who benefits from the scheme. The conclusion drawn by Swaminathan is that the proportion of persons suffering deprivations in food and nutrition is higher than those below the poverty line. For example 37% of urban household were BPL in 1993-94 while 80% of households were calorie deficit.

If the objective of PDS is food security then it should also look at those facing the risk of undernourishment. While anthropometric measures suggest 50% adults are undernourished, 70% of households are deficient in food consumption.

Decline in Per Capita Offtake

There are sharp regional variations in total and per capita offtake. Some of the southern states, Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, accounted for almost one half of the PDS offtake of grain in the country. By contrast the four northern states Bihar, Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh accounted for only 10% in 1995. Kerala was undoubtably the leader with a fair system of public delivery. The average per capita offtake was 53.3 kg. per year as compared to 2.3 kg. in Bihar and 4.6 in Madhya Pradesh.

The most striking feature of immediate post structural adjustment (1991-1995) was the widerspread decline in per capita offtake. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 1987, 98% of the rural population did not purchase any grain from PDS. In Kerala by contrast, 87% of the population purchased grain from PDS. The data indicated that PDS was not serving the vast majority of the country's population and that there was a near total collapse of the PDS system in Bihar and some northern states.

Corruption and Maladministration


In Thane district in Maharashtra, Swaminathan found that ration cards of scheduled tribes showed full offtake though the tribes had not purchased food from the ration shops. Other researches have found bogus ration cards, poor quality grains and short weighing of foods. Researchers have estimated that only 17% of the wheat lifted from the FCI by the state governments reaches the final consumer in Bihar! Insufficient supply of grains was the most important reason given for not using PDS. 40% did not buy grain because there was none to be bought.

Targets, Food stamps and other rackets: Sabotaging the PDS In recent times advisors to the G.O.I. and the World Bank have suggested a shift from PDS to a system of food stamps or coupons. Such advice generally ignores not only the experience of other countries but also the inherent difficulties in implementing such a system. Swaminathan points out that a food stamp system entails extensive book keeping, revalidating of coupons and the possibility of fraud by the counterfeiting of coupons.

Two major moves were made by government of India to sabotage the PDS system; in all probability with the nudging of the WB and the IMF. The first came in 1992 with the Revamped PDS (RPDS) and the second in 1997 with Targetted PDS (TPDS). This comes together with another major policy shift in the 1990's away from the agricultural strategy of self sufficiency in food grains production.

In many tribal areas poor families were excluded from the Public Distribution System if they stated that they ate meat!

One way of weakening the PDS in the early 1990's was by repeatedly raising the price in the PDS shops. These prices were increased to such an extent that the cumulative price increase of food grains in the PDS shops was higher than the rise in the general price index. Coupled with this, government sharply reduced the supply of food grains to the PDS since 1991. Thus from 1991-1998 there was a fall in per capita offtake. Revamped PDS involved tagretting specific areas such as drought prone, desert, tribal, hilly and urban slum areas. Targetted PDS used the poverty line to demarcate poor and non poor. This system was so arbitrary and irrational that it resulted in large numbers of poor persons being excluded. There was no method at all to determine whether the family fell below the poverty line. The income criteria was not followed in most states and particularly in the rural areas as, following the started income criterion would result in 90% of households falling below the poverty line. Reports from many rural areas indicated households were classified as falling below the poverty line on the basis of visual inspection as to whether the household had a tiled roof or a mud floor. In many tribal areas poor families were excluded if they stated that they ate meat!

Swaminathan's study of the revamped and targetted PDS found that entitlements were lower in the revamped PDS areas than under general PDS. She found that retail prices in PDS shops in Maharashtra were the highest in the country and rising faster than at the national level. As a result quantities of grain sold were falling since 1991. Targetting had replaced the per capita norm by the family norm. Using the poverty line resulted in misidentification of households and mistargetting. Moghe in his study of Maharashtra found that when targetted PDS was announced there were 60 lakhs households, according to the central government, eligible for BPL category. The state restricted this number to 43 lakhs.

In slums, households were classified as BPL or APL on the basis of a few queries resulting in absurdly low numbers. In Dharavi, Asia's largest slum with a population of 0.5 million, the Rationing Control Officer identified only 365 BPL families in 1997 and after 're-checks' the number fell to 151 in 1999!

Where do you stand, Dr. Sen?
Amartaya Sen's support for the movement to save the PDS is crucial. His support would mean much. His position however is not clear. There are broadly two camps. The pro-PDS and anti-PDS. Both speak of concern for the poor, so the debate can be confusing.

The pro-PDS camp (anti globalisation)
Seek the expansion and strengthing of PDS
Universal coverage
Increased subsidies or at least the present level
Continued procurement from farmers (reforms are fine if poor farmers and not the rich benefit from procurement)

The anti-PDS camp (Pro-globalisation)
Seek an end to PDS
An end to procurement
Free market as the solution
Food stamps as a replacement for PDS


The World Bank has recommended that PDS be targetted to the "very poor" and that a distinction be drawn between the "very poor" and the "moderately poor" to improve transfer of food to the "ultra poor". The very poor are defined as households that have expenditure less than 3/4 the BPL expenditures. The remaining 1/4 are defined as moderately poor. In short, an extremely narrow form of targetting is being propagated to groups within the poor. This, Swaminathan concludes, is most undesirable. What we need is a system of near universal provision. At most the top 20% of the population can be excluded.

When there is targetting especially with a low income cut-off, errors in measurements can mean disqualification for a genuinely poor person. Secondly, there is an incentive to cheat. Thirdly, time specific cut-offs make little sense when there is downward income mobility. Gaiha in his 1987 study found that 13% of the non poor in 1968 had become poor in 1970.

Planned Destruction of India's Agricultural Production

Usa Patnaik has written on this issue. In this part of the article we rely on her inputs. Food grain output dropped sharply to 1.66% (1999-2000) compared to 3.54% for the previous decade. There was a decline of 8 million ha in the area sown to food grains. The sharp cut back in government rural development expenditures reduced growth in rural employment to only 0.6% (1993-1999) as compared to 2% (1987-1993).

Surplus production of a few 'advanced countries' accounts for 4/5 of the global trade in cereals. These countries have focussed their attention on the markets of the 'developing world'. To penetrate these economies and attack their agricultural production systems, the advanced countries ensured that their export of grain would be at very low prices so as to make local prices appear exorbitant. One of the ways in which the prices were kept artificially low was by the grant of large subsidies to the farming sector including grants to agro - business corporations.

During 1980 to 1986, for example, cereal prices fell by one-fourth; the US increased the Producer Subsidy Equivalent (PSE) as a % of total value of agricultural output from 9% to an astronomical 45%. European countries followed suit. Ten European countries raised the PSE to agricultural output percentage from 25 to 66 while Japan raised it from 71 to 93. These highly inflated susbsidy levels of the mid-Eighties were then deliberately made the base from which a mere one fifth cut was undertaken by advanced countries in the Agreement on Agricultural of GATT in 1994.

There is another indicator of farm subsidies. It is called the "Total Support Estimate (TSE)". This is the figure of total support to farmers. The USA which had reduced its TSE to 34% of it value of agricultural production by 1997, raised it by 51% in 1991 and then hugely in 2002 thus transferring between 71 to 96 billion dollars between 1997 and 1999 to the farm sector. There is a Farm Bill before the US Congress proposing to pay additional subsidies of 73.5 billion over the next 10 years. Similarly, the 24 OECD countries including Japan increased their TSE from 46.5% in 1997 to 59.4% by 1999.

As a result, the global prices of major staples like rice, wheat and maize have been halved and developing countries where protection has been removed have become vulnerable.

The proponents of globalisation thus have double standards. While massively subsidising their farm sector including massive agro- corporations, the argument is simultaneously made in the developing world for subsidies to be removed! Advanced countries have through incessant pressure applied succeeded in getting quantitative restrictions removed fully, years before the mandatory date. They are now pushing for the winding up of the PDS. Thus opening up to free trade in agriculture is taking place at the worst possible time when global food prices have been crashing. After grain inputs for Eastern Europe and CIS countries declined sharply in the early 1990's, the USA turned its attention to penetrating South East Asian countries using the familiar rhetoric that all subsidies were bad. The Philippines, for example, gave up its functioning grain procurement and distribution system and became a net importer of US grain.

Suicides

In India, liberalised trade policies have resulted in massive losses for farmers. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states have been devastated. Many have committed suicide. Cotton farmers have been killing themselves since 1998. In the first month of 2002 over 25 new cases of suicide were reported from Andhra Pradesh. Many have resorted to selling body parts such as kidneys. Recovery proceedings have resulted in the taking away of land, houses, farming tools and equipment and even household articles including utensils!

Swaminathan has demolished the myth that the 'burden' of food subsidies is too high, pointing out that food subsidy as a percentage of GDP has remained unchanged over the last 31 years at 0.31% of GDP. This compares favourably with Sri Lanka (1.3% in 1984), Mexico (0.63% in 1984) and Tunisia (2% in 1993).

Kerala leads the way

According to Swaminathan, the Kerala experience shows that with political commitment food security can be obtained. The establishment of an effective PDS system in Kerala was the outcome of a strong people's movement for food. As a result the coverage is almost universal. In 1996, 95% of households were covered. The poor depend on and use PDS more than the rich. The functioning and delivery system is better than in other states.

Colin Gonsalves
August - September 2002

Colin Gonsalves is an advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India and one of the Joint Editors of Combat Law.
http://www.indiatogether.org/combatlaw/issue3/starve.htm







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