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Rate cuts fail to revive Indian economy - 15 hours ago
By James Lamont in New Delhi A series of interest rate cuts in India has failed to lead to cheaper commercial lending, leaving Asia's third largest economy ...Financial Times - 622 related articles »
Economy to grow 6% in 2009-10: RBI - Times of India - 30 related articles » -
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Economy of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This morning, I visited the place of film director Tushar bhattachary with my Brother in law, beena`s husband , Niranjan. Where we saw some audio visual works by Amal Bawali, Pallab Kirtonia, Gautam Mitra, CANVAS and our dear friend MANIK Mandal.We also knew the work of delhi based social activist MANASI on Bengal Tea Gardens with her VCD, Rally of Death!
Details of the works as follows:
CD Audio by our friend , the FOLK Musician AML BAWALI: JHANDA NIYA DHANDABAJI
VCD by pallab Kirtonia: ALO O MANUSH
AUDIO CD by Kabir SUMAN: Nandigram
VCD by MANIK MANDAL: EBAR ULTE DIN
VCDs by CANVAS:1.GORKHALAND 2. LALGARH3.MATSAYAN (On RETAIL Chain)
VCD by MANASI(DELHI): Rally of DEATH ( Death processions in BENGAL TEA GARDENs)
Audio CD by GAUTAM MITRA : Nandigramer NATI
Pallab Kirtonia and Manik Mandal are the only TWO faces from the Scheduled CASTE Schedule tribe communities involved in the RESISTANCE and Insurrections against GENOCIDE CULTURE and GESTAPO HEGEMONY in Bengal!
Of the TWO, PALLAB is recognised as FOLK MUSIC ICON in Bengal.
But MANIK MANDAL has emerged as a DHUMKETU in the RESISTANCE SKY!
His MULTI DIMENTIONAL Social activism makes him the FACE of RESISTANCE!
Provided other MANIK mandals also come forward like this, the CHANGE would be INEVITABLE whatsoever may come!
Earlire I have already written some comments on the Man.
But I do realise, Manik Mandal and CHHATRADHAR MAHTO must lead from the FRONT and it would work like a MAGIC.
Just wait for some good reason, I would Elaborate!
Campaign against Monopolistic agression, EK CHETIA AGRASAN VIRODI Manch and NagariK Manch are DOING EXCELLENT as far as DOCUMENTATION and mass Mobilisation are concerned.
Specially, ABHI DUTT MAJUMDAR and NAVA DUTT are my favourites!
Keeping in mind, the leadership of Mahashweta Devi and SHUBHO PRASANNO, SANHATI.COM, CIVIL Society and Intelligentsia, I highlight manik Mandal so much so because any CHANGE would be quite irrlevant until Indigenous, Aboriginal and minrity communities, SC, ST and OBC are not INVOLVED with EMPOWERMENT.
The Civil society and Intelligentsia should have some VISION of the Change which would ENABLE them to create some SPACE, hitherto quite ABSENT for the SC, ST and OBC.
Only this equation may KILL the Hegemony of genocide culture. otherwise not!
Manik Mandal was amongst the PEOPLE of NANDIGRAM who faced BULLETS and did never SURRENDER!
Manik Mandal has proved his worth with two novels on the INSURRECTION.
First: BHALO NEI!
SECOND: HARMAD.
His VCD ULTE DIN is an Excellent work which includes everything since MARICHJHANPI Genocide.
He has used the Clippings of other works including the MARICHJHANPI film by TUSHAR Bhattacharya, NANDIGRAM SINGUR LALGARH News LIVE with beautiful COMPARING and his SCREEN Presence is very COMMUNICATIVE!
While the Marxists have come up with a feature film to counter Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's allegations on government's highhandedness in Singur and Nandigram. Earlier the CPM had produced several audio-video CDs, with speeches of veteran Jyoti Basu and circulated those throughout the state. But this time the party has roped in tinsel word heroes like Saumitra Chatterjee and Sabyasachi Cakrabarty to act in the film. Shyamal Chakraborty, state president of CITU, was in-charge of producing the film, which will be released after April 16, the day Higher Secondary examinations get over. Party committees have been asked to collect CDs of the film and show them in rural video centers.
I have already written on the works of MANDAKRANTA and CHANDAN and ANINDITA!
The SLOGAN is PARIBARTAN CHAAI!
Change wanted in Bengal!
The Cream of West Bengal Intelligentsia, the CULTURAL ICONS, which turned away from CPM, post Singur and Nandigram, released a manifesto on Thursday demanding steps to ensure the election results reflect the aspirations of the people. They also want to stay away from the poll process, but want people to cast their votes without fear.
The manifesto was signed by the likes of Mahasweta Devi, Bibhas Chakraborty, Suvaprasanna, Saonli Mitra, Sujato Bhadra, Kaushik Sen and Bratya Basu, among several others.
They have ot affliated to any Political Ideology or party, but they want to Change the GENOCIDE Culture! I, personally, am not against such a change.
I am also UP AGAIST the Genocide culture. But I never believe in just the CHANGE of faces in RULING Manusmriti hegemony while the Intelligentsia is quite disinterested to overthrow the ROTTEN Brahaminical system as they are the best defenders of the Bangla Brahaminical Nationality.
Neverthe less, the CRY for change is justified!
As Mahashweta Di demands that this GOVERNMENT must GO, I also support the IDEA of Change in this change.
But I do not believe that it would really change the Socio ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL Demogrphic chemistry of Manusmriti culture so dominant.
The next Government so expected is also bound to be ABSOLUTE and as Capitalist, as Fascist, as Americanised, as americanised as our Marxists friends have turned!
Thus, I am afraid that the CIVIL Society is trying best to change the GENOCIDE Culture with yet another Genocide Culture.
Mind you, Ms mamata Bannerjee has aligned with CONGRESS led by Washington Slaves Anti national Imposters.
We may not support this equation as PRANAB MUKHERJEE remains the Face of the Alliance and it would do no good to indigenous, Aboriginal Minorities communities.
We all know that Marxists are responsible for Genocide Culture in West Bengal, but then who should be held responsible for the MASS Destruction Agenda elsewhere?
Who introduced LPG Raj?
Who operationalised INDO US Nuclear deal?
Who plans for Disinvestment in PSUS?
Who helped USA to shift the War zone right into our heart in peace zone India Ocean?
Who realligned in US ISRAEL lead? Who leads the War against teroor in India?
Who is responsible for the Repression of nationalities?
May we VOTE for Italian Sonia Gandhi or Supreme Slave Dr Manmohansingh and let RBI, FINMIN, ILLUMINATI, LPG Mafia and MNC RAJ allow to do everything in nationwide Killingfields?
As a NATION, how we may support the Ruling Hegemony consisting of UPA, NDA and the Left, the integral part of TRIIBLIS Satanic WORLD Order against Black Untouchables worldwide?
Should our Intelligentsia not look beyond Bengal and have a world vision!
The Brahaminical Absolute Antipeople Character of the RULING hegemony consisting of all political party notwithstanding with any damned fucking Ideology has DISILLUSIONED Indigenous and abriginal people countrywide and thus the satnd with the Extremist Maoists!
Neither I am a Maoist as they also remain Brahmins even after DECLASS Announcements! Little they care to OVERTHROW the Manusmriti apartheid Rule in India! Moreover, they never consider Empowerment or social movement as the tools of any Change!
But Bengal situation is so much so helplessthat the demand for Change seems very JUSTIFIED!
Let the Marxists be DEPRIVED of Power so the REGIMENTED GESTAPO may be DEMOBILISED without which any SOCIAL Movement or any Mobilisation whatsoever is VERY IMPOSSIBLE in Bengal!
Thus, I support the demand for change despite RESERVAYTIONS!
As we should not forget NANDIGRAM, SINGUR, GORKHALAND, LALGARH or MARICHJHANPI, we must not forget the politics of ECONOMY, the Monopolistic Aggression, twin terror acts, Disinvestment,Anti Labour legislations, HIRE and Fire, Retail Chain, Citizenship Amendment act, DEPORTATION Drive against bengali partition victims countrywide, Worldbank and SWISS BANK Monsters with IMF, WTO, GATT, CIA and MOSSAD and also AFPSA!
Stung by the growing strength of Trinamool Congress in rural West Bengal as exhibited in the last year's panchayat polls, the ruling CPM is now banking on digital mediums to reach to its grassroots supporters.
The CPM does not want to make the two episodes - the Nandigram and Singur debacles — its Achilles' heel and hence it has created CDs to put across the party's view on industrialisation to the voters.
All the 26,000-odd party units throughout the state have been asked to show the audio-video CDs in their respective areas.
"The idea is still in a preliminary stage," says CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty, in-charge of producing these CDs, adding that the party will produce a full length film on the issue.
Another reason for adopting the modern mass communication tool is that the CPM lacks crowd-pullers and stalwarts like Jyoti Basu, sources say.
Back 'real Left' Trinamool and its candidate Kabir SumanIs the Left being ditched by its most faithful supporters in West Bengal? This appears to be coming true for the CPI(M) which has for months been pilloried by the intellectual brigade for Nandigram and Singur.
Educationist Tarun Sanyal explained the reasons behind releasing the manifesto by the intellectuals. "We are not campaigning for any party. We feel the situation in Bengal is such that we cannot remain quiet," Sanyal said.
"Change is required for the sake of democracy. This has to be achieved through the election process. If one party remains in power in the Centre or state for decades, it is not healthy for democracy ...If people want change, they will have to find out ways to bring it about," the manifesto reads.
The manifesto maintained that bringing about the change is a long-drawn process.
A section of the city's intelligentsia, who had protested against the CPM's land acquisition policy during the peak of Nandigram and Singur agitation, is now openly showing its solidarity with Kabir Suman, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Jadavpur constituency. Suman is pitted against CPM's Sujan Chakraboty. At a public function organised by Sahanagarik Muktamancha on Thursday, the intellectuals urged voters to get rid of an "oppressive CPM".
The list of celebrated people who came together in support of the singer included Mahasweta Devi, Bibhas Chakraborty, Debabrata Bandopadhyay, Sujato Bhadra of APDR, Amiyo Choudhury and Kaushik Bandopadhyay.
"Kabir Suman has been one of the most vocal protesters against any injustice committed on Bengal's soil. Today, as he stands against the oppressive CPM-backed government, we wish him all the best and urge voters to elect Suman who can be the true and honest representative of the people of the state," said theatre personality Bibhas Chakraborty.
Maheswata Devi, who could not attend today's function, sent her message saying it was time that people should come together and launch a movement against the CPM.
The group has made Tomake Chai ( Need You) as the theme of its campaign for Suman and will even hold rallies to woo the voters. However, in spite of expressing their resentment against the CPM, the intellectuals are saying that they are not supporting any particular political outfit.
Now, the intelligentsia is taking action --- throwing its weight behind Trinamool candidate from Jadavpur constituency, Kabir Suman. The slugfest here seems to be between the real "Left" and "pseudo-Left".
Kabir Suman is a singer, a name Bengalis utter in the same breath as US folk musician Pete Seeger and music director Salil Chowdhury.
For the first time, the Left Front is facing the wrath of its intellectuals in an organised manner.
An indicator is the setting up of Sahanagorikder Mukta Mancha (fellow citizen's forum) that has several luminaries on board -- writer Mahashweta Devi, artist Shuvaprasanna, theatre personalities Bibhash Chakroborty, Bratya Basu, Koushik Sen, poet Joy Goswami ... the list is long and the shade of red here, perhaps, can't really get any deeper.
But why are they supporting Kabir Suman, a Trinamool candidate? "Suman is a Leftist.
I am a Leftist. We are fighting against the pseudo-Lefts," theatre personality Bibhash Chakroborty says vehemently.
Why back a candidate that is contesting for the Trinamool?
"What's in a name? The party is incidental here," Chakroborty concludes.
Debrabrata Bandhopadhyaya, economist and ex-revenue secretary, and psephologistAmiya Choudhury emphasise that the "distinction between Left and Right in Bengal has become blurred".
Prasun Bhowmik, convener of Sahanagorikder Mukta Mancha, observes, "The Trinamool movement is a Left movement... We are fighting the 'so-called Left'."Writer Mahashweta Devi, delivers the clincher: "We will have to defeat the CPI(M)."
The mancha was set up on March 14, 2007 to protest against the "CPI(M)'s atrocities against farmers and women in Nandigram".
Kabir Suman himself has a history of fighting for the downtrodden. He threw in his lot with workers of the closed Kanoria jute mills in West Bengal in the early 1990s. He also opposes the special economic zones and the chemical hub slated to come up at Nayachar, Haldia. But his supporters cock-a-snook when the CPI(M) calls them anti-development.
As educationist and Left sympathiser Subodh Sarkar says: "Those opposing industries on the plea that it's against Left ideology have no right to call themselves intellectuals. Those who support industrial development are not pseudo-Leftists, it's those who do not."
Filmmaker Sharan Dutta adds: "We need to understand that Leftist ideology is based on reality and the reality is that industries are the need of the hour. And if you ask me to describe the intellectuals opposing this development, I will say they are no better than intellectual terrorists."
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Mainstream, Vol XLVII, No 17, April 11, 2009
Oust the Tyrants!
by Mahasweta Devi, 12 April 2009
The following is a message from Mahasweta Devi, veteran novelist and one of the foremost intellectuals of West Bengal today, to a Press Meet organised by the friends of Kabir Suman, a noted progressive singer, contesting from the Jadavpur constituency of Kolkata for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Press Meet took place at the Kolkata Press Club on April 2, 2009. The message speaks volumes of Mahasweta Devi's passionate advocacy of the cause of democracy in the present scenario of West Bengal ruled for more than 30 long years by an insensate dispensation that has done precious little to mitigate the miseries of the common people. It has been rendered into English by D. Bandyopadhyay, former Secretary, Revenue, Government of India, and the real architect of 'Operation Barga' that ushered in the first stage of land reforms in rural Bengal in the early eighties.
I would have sincerely liked to participate in the Press Meet on April 2, 2009, organised by the friends of Kabir Suman to support his candidature for the Lok Sabha elections from the Jadavpur constituency. But as my blood sugar is danger-ously fluctuating, I don't find the courage to make it.
I have only one message to one and all: give up all your reservations, in case you have any, and get committed to the one and only one mission of defeating the CPM in the ensuing election. It would not be an easy task. For the last 30/32 years, the CPM had been denying food, employment, health care, drinking water and electricity to the people of this State. They are only interested in converting free and autonomous individuals into slavish supporters of the Party, and for this purpose they have developed a full-fledged industry. It is against this vile industry that people should rise up and register their protest. In the last panchayat elections the people had voted against the CPM.
Those who achieved this feat, we have to go to them, talk to them, learn from them and get committed to that one objective of ousting the CPM in the election. The industry that has been developed of not doing any work and embezzling crores of public fund, we are definitely against that industry. There is a Left Front Government in West Bengal and this State ranks first in India in crimes against women—from molestation, rape, kidnapping to selling and exporting these female bodies to other States and abroad. They have developed this abhorrent calling into an organised industry. There is a massive army behind it—such practice is carried out with direct help from the government. We are surely against this loathsome industry.
That is why we should all stand united. Whatever strength we have we must employ that strength to oppose that industry while standing by the people. This is the industry which has brought the State to such a pass—touching the rock bottom in all spheres of activity in the country.
Wherever you are, oppose the CPM. Let all opponents of the CPM, including Kabir Suman in Jadavpur constituency, emerge victorious. The Opposition forces too must unite. The times are changing. These times and the people at large are calling upon the Opposition to defeat the CPM. The Opposition too must have only one platform—this is the demand of the times and the people.
I am with you as always and shall continue to be so.
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Mamata rallies intellectuals against Left
Express News Service
Kolkata If Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee launches a cultural offensive to garner votes, can Mamata Banerjee be far behind?
Just two days ago, the CPM had mobilised the entire Left-leaning intelligentsia at Sisir Mancha where the chief minister explained his party's stand vis-à-vis Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh and others. He also lamented the absence of many "known faces" from the world of art and culture. "It would have been better had they been here so that I could remove so many of the misgivings and confusion from their minds," Bhattacharjee rued.
On Tuesday, the same "known faces" whom the chief minister missed were seen at Netaji Indoor Stadium. The occasion: a function on the eve of Bengali New Year organised by Paschim Banga Sanskritik Mancha, a cultural organisation, which can be easily dubbed as Trinamool Congress' counterpart of CPM's Ganatrantik Lekhok and Kalakushali Samiti.
And quite invariably, the top brass of Trinamool, including party chief Mamata Banerjee, leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Partha Chatterjee, legislators Sobhondeb Chattopadhyay and Madan Mitra, to name a few, were there.
The intellectuals' side included author Mahasweta Devi, theatre personalities Bibhas Chakraborty, Bratya Basu, painters Suvaprasanna, Jogen Choudhury, poet Joy Goswamy and others.
But no speeches were made. The stadium instead reverberated with songs and recitations. Selected portions of plays critical of the policies of the Marxist government were also enacted.
Amid this Banerjee seemed to be enjoying every bit of it, giving autographs, tapping her knee as a cultural band sang a Bihu song. She requested singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay to sing a song which was her favourite. As poet Joy Goswamy finished reciting his poems, some of which were overtly critical of the policies of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Trinamool leader burst into applause.
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As her hoodless jeep made its way through hordes of Trinamool and SUCI supporters and eager passers-by on the Gariahat-Garia stretch who had gathered to catch a glimpse of Didi and the jibanmukhi singer, Banerjee's message was simple: only the Trinamool-led alliance could usher in changes that could benefit the state.
Stopping intermittently to acknowledge the presence of the assembled crowd many of whom were forced by circumstances to endure a long wait till the procession passed them and wish them on the occasion of the Bengali new year, the Trinamool supremo alleged that the Singur and Nandigram incidents had proved beyond doubt that the Left had lost its ability to provide good governance.
As curious Jadavpur University students milled around in front of the campus to watch the proceedings many of them busy clicking away pictures of Banerjee on their camera phones the Trinamool boss tore into the government's claims of doing its bit for the young by alleging that its wrong policies had led to a severe brain drain. One crore youth had left the state because of want of opportunities, she claimed.
Even the Left Front's assertions on promoting industrialization had actually not yielded the desired results, since there were a large number of closed units in Jadavpur Assembly constituency, which is represented by the CM himself. Trinamool was not anti-industry, as it was not against the Tatas setting up a small car plant on 600 acres in Singur and had only wanted that the land of unwilling farmers be returned. If voted to power, it would oppose disinvestment in banks, insurance companies and public sector undertakings, she asserted.
"CPM has become a bankrupt political party which is why they are trying to provoke us," the former railway minister said, while addressing a gathering at the Mitali Sangha club ground at Garia, alleging that stones had been pelted at a Trinamool supporter near the Sukanta Setu crossing. "If Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee becomes PM, there will be Nandigrams everywhere," she asserted.
Although the rally was largely peaceful, there were brief flare-ups between Trinamool and Left supporters. The former claimed that a shoe has been hurled on a party supporter from a bus plying on the route taken by the rallyists. Later, near Ganguly Bagan, DYFI supporters allegedly resorted to a slogan war with Trinamool.
The Trinamool boss said the Left's desperation was evident from its attempts to resort to slander campaigns against Trinamool candidates like Kabir Suman, and trying to fabricate stories around the real cause of death of Tapasi Malik. "Kabir Suman used to be a Leftist and would be taken around by the Left to address their meetings. But the moment he joined us, he became an untouchable," she said.
"Dada, you must wave to the crowd," a Trinamool Congress leader advises Suman as the open-top campaign jeep bounces into Hatishala, slowing down to allow him to interact with enthusiastic locals gathered near a ground in front of a madarsa. The look of joy and disbelief on their faces slowly turns into one of hope and expectation as the singer-journalist (that's how Suman describes himself) steps down and shakes hands. "Kabir Suman, baba bhalo theko (wish you well)," says an elderly lady. Another, who cannot stop smiling, raises her hand in silent blessing. Then, as the collective vroom of nearly 2,000 bikes, ridden by Trinamool supporters on campaign, signals it's time to go, Suman instinctively climbs on the jeep, grabs the microphone from an aide, and sings "haal chhero na bondhu, barang kantha chharo jore.. dekha hobe tomai amai Jadavpurer more-e..." The mission statement, perhaps, of a man performing in real time after close to two decades of thought-provoking melody delivered from studio and stage.
"The love of the people is humbling. They are the ones you must write about, not me," Suman says as the jeep rolls into a narrow bylane that'll take the campaign team to Bamunghata. For a man who'd announced his arrival on the political stage with "ora amake chene na (they don't know me)" during an interview in his Baishnabghata bylane home a few days ago, throwing a challenge at opponents, critics and cynics, this was his very own discovery trip. "Aro onek ladai baaki (we still have a huge battle to fight)," he tells an untiring aide who has been speaking into the microphone for the last couple of hours, urging people to vote for Suman in the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency on May 13.
The jeep is now trailing a bike brigade shouting anti-Left slogans on a narrow road, navigating a maze of twists and turns on both sides of which lies Bamunghata. "You know, this is a blind area," a Trinamool leader travelling on the jeep says as it heads into the intestines of the village. "No Opposition candidate gets any votes from here." There is the occasional raised hand, or a brief greeting from the porch, or a quick smile from inside a partly open window, but the reaction to Mamata Banerjee's most trusted lieutenant is muted. "They are scared," remarks Suman as he waves to group of children standing under a tree.
Land, as is evident from the vast tracts of green fields, is an issue here. And the Trinamool slogan of ma, mati, manush' has more resonance. No surprises then that the creator of the eponymous Sumaner Gaan is introduced here as the seasoned journalist who embarked on the land crusade with Mamata in Singur and Nandigram, sang for Tapasi Malik to whip up cries for justice, and campaigned for a resurgent Bengal that thrives on self-sufficience. "The public mood is with us, dada," another aide tells Suman and Bhangar MLA Arabul Lashkar, who is travelling in the jeep. "The tide has turned this time, you can see it in their faces,' he adds.
It's late afternoon in Kolkata but the long shadows of Rajarhat's skyscrapers have already brought the first signs of evening here. And as the jeep rolls along a wooden bridge in its journey back to the city, Suman's onyo gaaner bhore' seems to be cast in a new light that of bringing the sun back to these dark fringes.
(With inputs from Devjyot Ghoshal and Arpit Basu)
Biman prevails upon Bloc chief to shift stance on NandigramEconomic Times - 1 hour ago CPIM politburo member and the party's state secretary Biman Bose met Ghosh before the Left Front's meeting at Alimuddin Street and reportedly tried to check ... CPI state secy tries to bail Buddhadeb out The Statesman Buddha ordered firing in Nandigram: Forward Bloc Expressindia.com Slain CPI(M) legislator's widow seeks protectionHindu - Apr 20, 2009 Patna (IANS): Slain Communist Party of India(Marxist) (CPI(M)) legislator Ajit Sarkar's widow Madhavi Sarkar, who is contesting the Lok Sabh polls from ... BJP report on illegal money electoral gimmick: CPI(M)Hindu - Apr 18, 2009 The Indian government, however, has so far remained impervious to this growing global concern," the CPI(M) MP pointed out. "In February this year, ... BJP's Swiss Accounts Task Force Report a farce: CPIM Webnewswire.com 'How real are the figures on black money abroad?' Business Standard BJP created routes for black wealth, says CPM Hindustan Times Ready to consider Pawar, Left leader for PM: Naveen PatnaikHindu - Apr 19, 2009 "That too could be considered because at present we have seat adjustments with the CPI, CPI(M) and Sharad Pawar's party, the Nationalist Congress Party (in ... CPI-M alleges poll violations by DMKIndopia - Apr 21, 2009 Madurai , Apr 21 The CPI-M today alleged that the DMK is indulged in poll violations such as attempts to"distribute gift tokens"and"enrol false voters". ... Battle of Madurai Frontline For the Leftists know win will come easyThe Statesman - 21 hours ago The Opposition combine may have fielded a "heavyweight" candidate in the form of Mr Subrata Mukherjee of the Congress against a veteran CPI-M ... Madurai: CPI-M alleges poll violations by DMKChennai Online - 18 hours ago Madurai, Apr21: CPI-M today alleged that the Madurai district authorities were ignoring the ruling DMK's poll ''violations'' such as ''attempts to ... Mamata Banerjee files poll papers in West BengalHindustan Times - 5 hours ago West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) supported Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Robin Deb also filed his nomination from Kolkata-South ... Third Front has no prospect: Mamata Times of India Mamata ally Somen bought land in Singur, then agitated Indian Express CPI (M) Demands Review of Indus Water TreatyKashmir Observer - Apr 21, 2009 Srinagar: After the main opposition Party PDP demanded the review of the Indus water treaty, IWT the CPI (M) has also insisted on its review alleging that ... CPI(M) complains of model code violation against MayorHindu - Apr 20, 2009 Coimbatore (PTI): The CPI(M) has alleged that Corporation Mayor R Venkatachalam had violated the model code by 'holding out promises' on behalf of the ... |
CPM holds poll meet in LalgarhTimes of India - 21 hours ago The Lalgarh library ground was cordoned off with tight security though Pulin Behari Baskey, CPM candidate for Jhargram, was not present at the meeting. ... Meeting to discuss poll in Lalgarh tomorrow The Statesman CPM 2 pulled out and killed Calcutta Telegraph Lalgarh tribals blink, ready for talksExpressindia.com - Apr 20, 2009 The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities of Lalgarh seems to have softened its stance. Though the home secretary reiterated the Chief Minister's ... Lalgarh relents, with a rider Calcutta Telegraph Welfare schemes a big hit in tribal belt Times of India Deploy Central force The Statesman Tribals not to allow police in Lalgarh; booths to be shiftedSamayLive - 4 hours ago Midnapore, (WB): With tribals being adamant that only central forces could enter Lalgarh area for the April 30 polls to Jhargram Lok Sabha seat, ... Tribals tighten grip on Lalgarh, keep security forces at bayLivemint - Apr 13, 2009 Lalgarh, West Bengal: Accompanied by wife Lakshimoni, 70-year-old Chunaram Murmu has walked at least 20km braving a blazing sun to reach a health centre in ... Signs of thaw in Lalgarh stir Times of India Decision on Lalgarh police put off Calcutta Telegraph EC to hold talks with tribalsHindu - Apr 20, 2009 Kolkata: The Election Commission will sit for talks with representatives of the Lalgarh-based resistance group – the Police Santrosh Birodhi Janashadharaner ... Force first batch to 'spare' LalgarhCalcutta Telegraph - Apr 17, 2009 Calcutta, April 17: Central paramilitary forces will move into the "Maoist-affected" areas of West Midnapore and Purulia on April 22 but not Lalgarh. ... Central Police Forces to be deployed Expressindia.com Security to reach Maoist areas a week in advance The Statesman Lalgarh tribal group warns of mass resistanceHindu - Apr 5, 2009 KOLKATA: A local predominantly tribal resistance group of Lalgarh in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district — the "Police Santrosh Birodhi Janasadharan ... Polls without police ruled out in Lalgarh Calcutta Telegraph Police deployment in Lalgarh irks tribals Kolkata Newsline Lalgarh face-off: Naxals take 9 CPM members hostage for hoursExpressindia.com - Apr 7, 2009 Kolkata The stand-off between the state government and the Police Santrash Birodhi Committee (PSBC) at Lalgarh took a new turn after suspected Maoists ... Lalgarh kidnap and release Calcutta Telegraph Govt warns tribals after abduction drama Indian Express PSBPC to Marxists' rescue The Statesman Armed Lalgarh adivasis descend on KolkataKolkata Newsline - Apr 6, 2009 They were protesting against the entry of police into the tribal areas of Lalgarh. While the tribals have vowed not to let the police in during the Lok ... In a fix over standoff, govt passes buck to EC Expressindia.com Ball in poll panel court Calcutta Telegraph Police team, BDO kept hostage by tribals in West MidnaporeHindu - Apr 12, 2009 Thousands of tribals were demonstrating outside a police camp at Kalaimuri, five km from the restive Lalgarh, police said, adding they have also blocked ... Lalgarh entry bid, Nandigram-style Calcutta Telegraph |
The election manifesto of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TC), released last month, did not get the attention it "deserved".
The manifesto speaks of change. In concrete terms, Banerjee speaks of transforming Digha, a small sea resort at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, into Goa, North Bengal's hills and forests into Switzerland, and Kolkata into London.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/mamata%5Cs-messagechange-finds-audience-in-rural-bengal/355277/
Kolkata
Never before perhaps has a single issue come to dominate an election in the way as industrialisation has this time in West Bengal. The State's 5.24 crore electorate is split over it, and it is likely to be uppermost on the minds of people when they vote in the State's three-phase election.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/19/stories/2009041955961300.htm
Nepaldeb Bhattacharya, expelled for mysterious "links with the enemy", remained a factor in the polls in North 24 Parganas.
In the mid '60s, an ageing Mao Zedong asked supporters to "bombard the headquarters" of the Communist Party of China. This was Mao's war against what he considered a degenerate leadership; this was the Cultural Revolution. In contrast, Basu's is still a cultural mutiny -- but if it succeeds, it may change West Bengal forever.
http://www.india-today.com/itoday/27101997/basu.html
THE state of West Bengal is a puzzle for most analysts and critics. They are hard put to explain the absence of political change or, more precisely, any change in government. After all, if all states face an ubiquitous anti-incumbency factor, what makes West Bengal an exception?
http://www.india-seminar.com/2008/591/591_sanjeeb_mukherjee.htm
West Bengal Chief Minister : Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's change of heart
By Editorial Team • on September 1, 2006
- Trinamul leader 'proves' Bengalis aren't against change at Desh debate
A STAFF REPORTER
Yes, there is a new air of great expectancy in Bengal. A new optimism and a new sense of purpose in all walks of life. But this expectancy, this confidence is still in the hearts and minds of some people at the top. May be in the minds of Chief Minister Mr.Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and some of his colleagues!
There was so much in my own expectation too. But alas! Not much yet has happened. The very first sound I was greeted as I came out of Dum Dum was a beggar's soul! Fine, I told myself, what if, we could still change things, we now have a vision in the CM's change of heart, I told myself as I walked out. I was full of optimism and I was so impatient to see and find for myself how things are going on in the State. I was not disappointed! Of course, Calcutta itself gave lots of new impressions. The city's infrastructure is very much seem neglected. Compared to what we see in other cities.
http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/?p=1992
Yoginder K. Alagh
Posted: Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 at 0003 hrs IST
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/changes-under-the-radar/449701/
Bengalis want change, even Mamata Banerjee thinks so. What about Singur? Well, Singur was all about change, too, according to her.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081222/jsp/calcutta/story_10283472.jsp
CJ: prabir ghose, 11 May 2008
It is unfortunate that the same Bengalis continue to create embarrassments for not only the citizens of West Bengal and Kolkata but also of Bengalis wherever they stay. The latest in the series is the road blocks that prevented the Indian premier League (IPL) players from reaching the venue in time.
The sudden paralysing of life in the city of Kolkata puts everyone to inconvenience but the leaders of political parties just do not bother about these irritants. Stoppage of life has become a way of life of Bengalis. The political parties are hell bent on having things their way – they care two hoots about the administration and when situations do not favour them, they resort to methods of browbeating the authority like beginning an indefinite hunger strike or undertaking a 'fast until death'.
Another very common sight is the way murders are glorified. It has become common to hear of murders being branded as fallout of political rivalry – the victim suddenly finds takers from all parties. Whichever is the weaker party in the neighborhood claims the victim to be theirs! The body is paraded through the streets, a total stoppage of life is declared in the area and a memorial is erected in his memory, a photograph is procured, garlanded and praises showered on him for his braveness to stand up and fight against the oppressors. With ready availability of willing TV crews at hand, the incident gets prominence that should not have come its way.
Other Articles by prabir ghose
Even the governor of West Bengal has discovered unique methods of expressing his unhappiness to the way the state is being run. While the chief minister tries to woo investors into his Information Technology (IT) setup, his own people put obstacles in his path. Can the state really clear these hurdles and come at par with other IT destinations like Hyderabad or Bangalore? What is necessary is for the citizens of West Bengal and Kolkata to change their mindset – let us hope it comes before the would-be investors flee to alternate destinations
Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay
Kolkata, March 16 It is significant that the Trinamool Congress supremo, Ms Mamata Banerjee, launched her campaign for the Lok Sabha polls not from her Kolkata South constituency, but from Nandigram in West Bengal's East (Purba) Medinipur district.
Addressing a large gathering on March 14 at the place where 14 villagers were killed in police firing the same day two years ago, Ms Banerjee made it clear that the Nandigram issue would be central to her party's election campaign. "It is Nandigram that has opened the door for change in West Bengal and it shall continue to do so," said Ms Banerjee, collecting what she called the 'holy earth' of Nandigram in an urn, promising to carry it with her wherever she campaigns. Sharing the podium with her were representatives of the Congress, her new ally.
Her anti-industry drive seems to have paid dividends, as is evident from last year's panchayat elections where, in an informal alliance at the grassroots with the Congress, Trinamool managed to severely dent the rural vote-bank of the Left. It won convincingly at both Nandigram and Singur, and this January also the Nandigram Assembly by-election.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031751050400.htm
Climate change is fast threatening the fate, future and lives of people who live in the 12 sea-facing islands in West Bengal's 24 Parganas district
By Joydeep Gupta
Baliwara (West Bengal): The rising sea has drowned two of Jalaluddin Saha's small homes and threatens a third. Last monsoon surging water ruined his crops and he and his family ran for their lives. His livestock drank the brine and died.
Personal Authors: Dasgupta, A.
Author Affiliation: University of Delhi, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi 110007, India.
Editors: No editors
Document Title: Growth with equity: the new technology and agrarian change in Bengal
During the last 2 decades, some parts of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh have had an unprecedented growth in agriculture due to the expansion of irrigation facilities and an extensive use of high-yielding variety seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. These areas are known as the Green Revolution belts of Bengal. The introduction of new technology and improvement in the skills of farmers have contributed to agricultural growth in Bengal but the fruits of this development have not reached the poor in Bangladesh as they have in West Bengal. This then raises an important question: how did West Bengal achieve growth with equity? The role of different factors in achieving growth with equity is highlighted, including state intervention, changes in power structure, and unionization of the peasantry. The problems of agrarian change are illustrated with the help of data collected at district and village level through fieldwork in the Nadia district of West Bengal and Kushtia district of Bangladesh. KEYWORDS: TROPAG | Oryza sativa | Triticum aestivum | agricultural development | constraints | agricultural structure | farm size | technological changes | high yielding varieties | policies | land reform | Bangladesh | INDIA.
Publisher: Manohar
About CAB Abstracts
CAB Abstracts is a unique and informative resource covering everything from Agriculture to Entomology to Public Health. In April 2006 we published our 5 millionth abstract, making it the largest and most comprehensive abstracts database in its field.
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=20026789325
JAYANTA BASU
Calcutta is to have a "detailed, scientific plan" to combat the effects of climate changes, courtesy a World Bank initiative.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080221/jsp/calcutta/story_8929914.jsp
"The Tata project could have brought about a major change in the industrial scenario in Bengal", said Dr. Amit Mitra, secretary general, Ficci. He added that this was not a one off auto project but would have given a boost to a whole host of ancillaries as well.
Ficci noted that Bengal's tradition of engineering and heavy industry had suffered over time because of lack of fresh investments in these industries in the state and the gradual closure of many of the old engineering industries.
http://www.livemint.com/2008/10/03193459/Tata-project-would-have-brough.html
It is all very loud and very predictable, and most interestingly likely to be utterly irrelevant. For we live in an era where campaigns, particularly those that are national in their character, may not matter quite as much as they did once.
On the face of it, that seems like an absurd proposition. How can election campaigns not matter? We choose our leaders through elections, and we make up our minds through campaigns run by various political parties. It is only through campaigning that parties generate energy and momentum, and especially in a scenario where vote shares get fragmented, a swing of a couple of percentage points can mark the difference between a landslide and a rout.
The truth is that elections nowadays are decided primarily on the basis of alliances and political formation rather than on the basis of issues. Individuals become key rather than performance or promises. Elections today are an elaborate exercise in trying to stitch together a patchwork quilt of power comprising individual islands of local influence.
Regional satraps carry their constituencies with them, and manoeuvre themselves in positions where they can bargain for power. What we are seeing in this campaign is an incredible amount of doublespeak, with parties going out of their way to mark distance from their once and would-be allies by bad-mouthing them, while being careful not to go so far as to burn their bridges.
It is clear that alliances are key to eventual victory and while systemic logic would decree that these be entered into before the elections, for each individual party it makes sense to go it alone and jockey for power depending on how the results pan out.
So we have a situation where everyone is utterly uncompromising before the elections, only to turn utterly pliant afterwards. Parties are united by their quest for power and their fear of elections and this greases the post-electoral process of arriving at some equilibrium.
National parties, which are increasingly resembling a sum of their local parts, thus find it increasingly difficult to create a national imperative in terms of how people vote. So the campaigns we see on television, however pervasive they might appear to be, may actually play a very small role in determining what happens in the elections.
Also, there are fewer unifying issues that cut across all constituencies this time. Terror is not high on the rural agenda, the economy affects Market India more than Electorate India while the concerns of rural India do not crease the brow of those watching television, for most part.
So it matters little that the BJP is struggling to find a sharp instrument to cut the Congress with. In a locally dominated election like this one, attacking an allegedly weak prime minister might not make much sense because the electorate has not expected too much from him, and for matter anyone in his position. Also, today to see L K Advani as a strong decisive leader is not as plausible as it might have been a decade ago. The Congress, too, is doing little noteworthy.
As an incumbent that has not polarized the electorate on anything too significant, its role is to lie low and not give the opposition anything too tangible to shoot at. It has to avoid the mistake made by the BJP in the last elections, which was to stand for something too specific. The problem with India Shining was that it begged a rebuttal.
At the heart of what is happening in these elections is a fundamental change that is occurring in our polity. The experience of democracy has increasingly become localized. Whether it is Modi in Gujarat, a Nitish Kumar in Bihar, a Buddhadev in West Bengal, a Sheila Dikshit in Delhi or a Mayawati in UP, we increasingly associate administration with state governments rather than that with the Centre. Unlike the previous High Command view of the world, where local chief ministers were air-dropped into power without having any significant base, today the regional leaders carry genuine electoral clout.
Issues like the economy and national security continue to be experienced through the lens of the Central government, but otherwise the idea of politics resides at the state rather than the central level. In a larger sense, most of the electorate has few ways of experiencing in a tangible way, the difference that a particular government makes at the Centre.
So at one level, one can ask if election campaigns matter anymore. At an even more fundamental level, a more radical question begins to rear its head. Does the Central government really matter that much? Of course, it does to Market India and the India that faces the rest of the world, but does it at a visceral level, make a difference to the India that is going in for elections these days?
santoshdesai1963@indiatimes.com
| Calcutta's digital vision | ||||||
On the dual carriageway in front of him, rickshaws and taxis held together with rust compete for space with gleaming saloons. The area is known as Salt Lake City, a drained area of marshland squeezed between the crumbling Victorian edifices of Calcutta and the teeming Netaji Subhash International airport. The satellite town, conceived in 1962, was designed to take the pressure off a heaving and decaying Calcutta. But it is more than just overspill. Salt Lake City now represents West Bengal's ambition to grab a slice of India's pullulating computer industry and play catch up with boomtown cities like Bangalore. "We are looking at Calcutta to be the IT hub for eastern India," said Swarup Roy, from the department of information technology at the Government of West Bengal. "We aim to be number three in India by 2010." Disruptive baggage Although the IT industry only gained a foothold in Calcutta in the early 1990s it has developed at a phenomenal rate. "Every year the export growth is between 70 and 100%," said Mr Roy. The national average is 38%. But West Bengal's economic bloom is at odds with the state's political history. For more than three decades the area has been ruled by a communist-led coalition.
The Communist Party India (Marxist) Left Front is the longest running democratically elected communist government. It was this and other related factors that kept companies away in the early days of the IT boom "Calcutta has a great deal of historical baggage," said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service companies (Nasscom). "For a long time it was seen as a centre of disruptive unions and disruptive strikes." But the state and government has now changed its outlook and, for IT at least, abandoned its Marxist principles. "We cannot ignore knowledge-based industries like IT," said Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Chief Minister of the district at a recent conference. "I have to admit that West Bengal was a late starter but now our position is improving, our growth rate is improving and I and my colleagues are trying to attract more IT companies." Huge development One reason for this advance is the status IT now enjoys in the state. The industry is now classed as a "public utility service" alongside other essentials like the police and hospitals.
This means that the government has a legal framework with which it can reassure business that there will always be continuity of service, even if a general strike is called. "IT is immune," said Mr Roy. Alongside financial incentives, it has encouraged a huge growth in areas of Salt Lake which has attracted international businesses. "We got a lot of support from the state," said Satadru Sinha, assistant manager of infrastructure at software firm Cognizant, the first major company to set up in Salt Lake. The company now occupies a gleaming building that borders what remains of the marshes. It has been joined by strips of gleaming buildings for the IT industry with futuristic names like Technopolis. And these emblems of growth are just the start. Three new satellite townships are planned around Calcutta at Howrah, Dankuni and Baruipur. Work on the 390-acre (1.5 square kilometres) township in Howrah has already begun while nearly 4,000 acres of land have been earmarked for Dankuni, while the Baruipur township will cover more than 2,000 acres (8 square kilometres). In addition there is a huge amount of infrastructure being put in place, such as a new 72 km (45 mile) ring road that will run around Calcutta. Digital disparity Acquiring the land for this kind of development has become a bone of contention in West Bengal. A recent land-grab of 1,000 acres for a car factory sparked fierce protests. Other problems exist.
Visitors can be whisked straight from the airport into an air-conditioned office, without having set foot in the former British capital of India. Critics argue that because of this, the development is not benefiting the old town where desperate poverty is still a fact of life. But the government denies this is the case. "With economic growth you eliminate poverty," said Mr Roy. This maxim, at odds with the government's Marxist past, shows the shift in thinking the IT boom has brought about in Calcutta and the hopes for the future it can bring. But for now, the aspirational promises on the billboards and hoardings lining the roads of Salt Lake still sit incongruously with the poverty beneath. It will take time for the benefits of IT to touch everyone but the government is optimistic that it will become a force for change. "Given the pace of development over the last five years we think it will not take too long," said Mr Roy.
A week of special programming about India can be heard on the BBC World Service from 3 to 11 February http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6322345.stm | ||||||
We cannot ignore knowledge-based industries like IT 
| SUCI talk on Singur, Nandigram | ||||
| Bangalore, DH News Service: | ||||
|
'Nandigram can be repeated at Nandagudi'- with this in view and to inspire peoples' movements against land acquisition for SEZs, Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), Bangalore organised a discussion and VCD show on Nandigram and Singur here on Thursday. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul132007/city2007071312588.asp |
Retired Somnath Chatterjee omnipresent in old constituency
April 3rd, 2009 - 1:38 pm ICT by IANS
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Bolpur (West Bengal), April 3 (IANS) In 1985 Somnath Chatterjee arrived here to revive his parliamentary career in a bypoll, months after his shock defeat to then relatively unknown Mamata Banerjee in Jadavpore. Almost a quarter century later, as another election approaches, Bolpur is missing its seven-time MP who rose to become the country's first communist Lok Sabha speaker.
An eighth term from Bolpur was beyond Chatterjee's reach after the constituency was reserved for the Scheduled Castes by the Delimitation Commission. Last year, Chatterjee was also expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for defying its directive to quit the speaker's post after the leftists withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the India-US civilian nuclear deal.
Last August, Chatterjee announced his retirement from public life once the present Lok Sabha's tenure ended.
But despite his absence from the electoral scene in this mainly rural constituency, which also includes the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Santiniketan and Visva Bharati University, Somnathbabu - as Chatterjee is respectfully called - continues to be a major talking point for his colossal stature, humility and sincere development efforts.
"He is a great personality, with very few parallels now in politics and parliament. He earned the respect of one and all in the constituency for his foresight, dedication and non-partisan approach to development," former Visva Bharati University professor Somendranath Bandopadhyay told IANS.
He referred to Chatterjee's contribution to improving the lot of women in villages, construction of new roads including the Bolpur-Burdwan bypass, as also to permanently solving the water crisis in large parts of the constituency which is spread over Burdwan and Birbhum districts.
Bandyopadhyay, a Tagore expert, recalled how Chatterjee worked for years to improve the medical facilities in the villages around Santiniketan that led to a significant decrease in the number of tuberculosis cases.
Ramchandra Dom, who has replaced Chatterjee as the CPI-M candidate, said he was proud to contest for a seat that was represented by such a stalwart.
"I want to carry forward his vision of development," Dom told IANS, fully aware of the love and respect that Chatterjee commands in the area.
Chatterjee's work in the constituency is acknowledged by his friends and foes alike.
Dom's rival and Congress nominee Asit Mal referred to the construction of the Geetanjali cultural complex in Bolpur town and the development projects implemented in the urban areas that ensured huge and increasing victory margins for the veteran at the hustings over the years.
The Congress has made Chatterjee's expulsion from the CPI-M an electoral issue.
"People have been voting for him over the years as they held him in high esteem. They are hurt at the way he was driven out of the CPI-M. This will be reflected in the results," said Mal.
However, Dom countered: "None of the local leaders has misbehaved with Somnathbabu. And have you read his recent statements? He is a leftist from the core of his heart. He is our well-wisher, and people know it."
Bolpur legislator Tapan Hore conceded that a section of people, especially the middle class intelligentsia, did not like the way Chatterjee was expelled.
"But people knew for long that Chatterjee will not contest from here this time as the constituency is now a reserved one. So, in that way there will not be much of an effect," said Hore, leader of a ruling Left Front partner, the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Bhabatosh Dutta, former professor of Kolkata's presidency college and Visva Bharati University, said Chatterjee has lot of empathy for the poor. "He is a great planner, with a fine eye for details which raised the quality of his projects. Every time he came here, he would set out on tours to the remotest corners. Despite his stature, he is equally at ease with the rich and the poor."
Local businessman Sushil Chowdhury said Chatterjee played a key role in every development project in Bolpur ever since he became the MP by winning the 1985 by-poll.
"Somnath Chatterjee is Somnath Chatterjee. No one can even come close to him in stature," said Chowdhury, secretary of the All India Rice Mill Association.
But the famed barrister-cum-orator does have his share of critics.
Writers like Mahasweta Devi had vehemently opposed Chatterjee's housing plans in Bolpur, arguing that Santiniketan's landmark khowai - the undulating zones of red earth, dips and pits - was being vastly eroded.
But Bandopadhyay supported Chatterjee. "At one time the whole of Santiniketan was khowai. Even during Tagore's time construction took place on the khowai. So, it won't be right to blame Chatterjee for this."
And is the love-affair between Bolpur and Somnath mutual? Yes. "He has said so many times that he is proud to represent the constituency which includes Tagore's Santiniketan. He also loved to travel to the far-flung villages of the constituency that is spread over two districts," said Rasik Roy, a hotelier.
But the greatest acknowledgement comes from the man himself, who has declared his wish to spend the remaining days of his life in Bolpur near Santiniketan.
"Everything now is targeted towards spending the last few days of my life there," Chatterjee, who will be 80 on July 25, said in a recent interview.
(Sirshendu Panth can be contacted at s.panth@ians.in)
For the Leftists know win will come easy
Anjan Chakraborty
BANKURA, April 21: Cracks may have developed in certain quarters of the Left bastion in the state, but for this stretch of rural Bengal, which has returned a CPI-M Member of Parliament for eight consecutive terms, change of guard is neither evident nor seems a remote possibility.
The Opposition combine may have fielded a "heavyweight" candidate in the form of Mr Subrata Mukherjee of the Congress against a veteran CPI-M parliamentarian, Mr Basudeb Acharya, but the reluctant challenger doesn't seem to be imposing enough for the CPI-M to be pushed to the walls in protecting what they call a "safe" seat.
The Congress candidate has been virtually forced to defend his initial reluctance in contesting from Bankura in almost every speech during his campaigns here. Mr Mukherjee is doing a lot of explaining that he didn't want to give Mr Acharya a walkover again and that is why he has accepted the challenge of contesting the veteran MP at his own background. But invariably, Mr Mukherjee adds that he is here at the instruction of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
The CPI-M has been quick to pounce of their opponents' weak link. "He has no credibility, he is not a son of the soil. I am sure he will never come back to Bankura after 16 May. People also know that. Basuda (Basudeb Acharya) on the other hand has nurtured this constituency for decades and we are not only confident of his win here, but we believe that he will maintain his victory margin of 2004," said Mr Amiya Patra, CPI-M district committee secretary.
Mr Acharya himself has an arrogance mixed confidence about his victory here. "He (Subrata Mukherjee) is not going to be a factor. This seat has remained a CPI-M stronghold since 1980 and it will continue to remain so. During my tenures as MP, I have done a lot of development in the area," claimed Mr Acharya.
His area, however, has undergone significant changes, following delimitation, but not for the advantage of the Opposition. The Assembly segments of Para, Kashipur, Hura and Onda which gave Mr Acharya a victory margin of over one lakh votes during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, have been replaced by Ranibadh, Taldangra and Raipur segments, where the CPI-M had a margin of over one lakh votes in 2004 as well.
On top of that in Ranibadh and Raipur, the Jharkhand parties, namely, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Jharkhand Party (Naren), Rashtriya Dehat Morcha Party, Jharkhand Party (Aditya) contesting as Independents, are bound to make a dent in the Opposition vote bank, further diminishing chances for a surprise setback here. The Jharkhand parties however, could have acted in favour of Mr Mukherjee had the Opposition combine reasoned it out with their leadership about their fight against the CPI-M. They could still just be a phone call away from this proposition, but want Miss Mamata Banerjee to give them their due.
Miffed at the arrogance of the Trinamul Congress, these parties have fielded candidates in both Bankura and Bishnupur constituencies and are expected to secure about two to three per cent votes.
Another player here is the BJP, which is expected to make a further dent into Mr Mukherjee's aspiration of upstaging the CPI-M MP. They have fielded their state secretary, Mr Rahul Sinha and by CPI-M's own admissions, BJP will manage to get about four to five percent of the vote share in Bankura.
Aware of all these factors, Mr Mukherjee is focusing his fight on two factors. One is to convince the electorate about the futility of voting for the Left Front when they are not expected to form the next government at the Centre and the other is to give the Congress a chance to serve the constituency.
He says that whatever little development has taken place in the constituency, is because of the Congress and UPA government at the Centre and not because of Mr Acharya's efforts, as has been portrayed by the CPI-M and that even after receiving funds from the Centre, the MP had failed to bring a change in the life of the people of Bankura. To add glamour to his campaign, he has also roped in filmstars, like Mahima Chowdhury, but how much will that translate into votes is anybody's guess.
The CPI-M is banking on its development plank for the constituency and the ill-motive of the Trinamul Congress-Congress to stall development of the state by campaigning against industrialisation.
But there is another shadowy figure that is likely to haunt this constituency when it goes to polls on 30 April. The presence of Maoists and their poll boycott call may not be something new, but this time both police and the political parties are apprehending action on the lines of the attacks which were carried out on 16 April in five states by the Maoists killing more that 17 people.
| Ode to mortality - Soumitra Chatterjee, now undergoing treatment in London, talks about his health, his fear of pain and a few of his favourite things | |||||||
Soumitra Chatterjee agrees that "life is for the living" but 50 years after he made his film debut at the age of 23 in the role that was to define him for the rest of his career — that of Apurba Kumar Roy in Apur Sansar, the final part of Satyajit Ray's trilogy — Bengal's premier actor is prepared to face the final curtain. "I am not afraid of dying," he says. Despite reports to the contrary, Soumitra, who has been staying with friends in north London, looks well. But he has to keep taking his tablets, do exercises and go for walks. In London the daffodils, cherry blossom and magnolia are in bloom, so the spring weather makes a pleasant change from being at home in Golf Green in Calcutta. Since he will turn 75 on January 19 next year, he feels he has to pack in a great deal — plays and poems, for instance, plus TV serials and films, some of them shot in London — in a short space of time. His diet is a bit restricted these days but he would quite like to fit in a nice, juicy steak with some excellent red wine — "prochur wine khabo, prochur" (I shall drink lots of wine, lots). Speaking in Bengali and English, he has opened up his heart probably as never before. "Time is very precious, it has become shorter now, I can almost see the end," he observes. Not that he is afraid of the "The End". "The end is inevitable, you know," he says. "It is useless to be afraid of it. I am only afraid of physical pain and nothing else. I wonder if at the end I will be able to preserve my dignity. I don't want to lose my dignity even when I am going away." He acknowledges the human spirit is resilient. "No one wants to die. I don't either but I have learnt to accept that it will come. At some point, life transforms itself into death." However, like Mark Twain who corrected reports of his premature passing with the quip — "this report of my death was an exaggeration" — Soumitra, too, for it is best to call him that rather than Chatterjee or Mr Chatterjee, would like to reassure his many friends in Calcutta, who have been very worried about his health, that "by and large, I am ok". So what about the unconfirmed reports swirling in two continents that he has come to London for "tests"? "Yes, I came here for some consultation," he confirms matter of fact. "I have some prostate trouble — and I have come here to find out in detail what stage that is at and what I need to do. There is nothing that needs to be done immediately except tests from time to time." So, he is not undergoing chemotherapy or radiation?
"No, not at all," stresses Soumitra. In over a month in London he has managed to fit in some sightseeing (a trip to Yorkshire), catch up at home with DVDs (Il Postino, an Italian movie; Behind the Sun, from Brazil; the Czech film Kolya; and The Lives of Others) and take in a play at the National Theatre, Death and the King's Horsemen, by the Nigerian Wole Soyinka. He hopes to return to London at the end of the year to make a multicultural film, Ithaca, scripted by friends Amit and Paramita Biswas. "No chemotherapy or radiation," he makes it clear. "I came for a consultation with a very good specialist, Dr Anup Patel. He is a urologist and teaches at St Mary's Hospital in London." He realises that he has a special place in the hearts of Bengalis and that any report he is unwell causes concern. "When I had my heart problems, I was flooded with inquiries and messages from wellwishers." He has cut down his working day from 10-12 hours to eight but "I am a workaholic". Do his fans know the real Soumitra Chatterjee? After 50 years, "they have their image of me but that may not essentially be me. But I have a question, too, 'Do I know myself so well?'" It is an intriguing philosophical question but how would he like to be remembered? Not apparently as just an actor who gave a lot of pleasure to a lot of people, he says. "Maybe I have been of use to some people on their journey through life. They may have seen one of my movies and (felt), 'I can fight again.' I get a lot of letters." The man who played Apu concedes that, "it is difficult to go on after you have started your life with a double century. But when you have geniuses like Bradman you have enough inspiration to continue with your creative efforts". When Apur Sansar was released in 1959, his friends would gather for adda in a Calcutta coffee house. Convinced there was sweetness in taking a wife, they vowed solemnly: "Now, we must get married." He chose not to defect to the Hindi film industry. "There are executives in Calcutta who earn more than me. But to go to Bombay would have meant reorienting my mind which was not possible for me." He has seen Pather Panchali 30-40 times. In common with another of his favourites, Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, made in 1948, "they are classics. They transcend time. People will see them as long as there is cinema." "As a student of cinema, Pather Panchali is the weakest of Satyajit Ray's films. It is the second, Aparajito, which is technically perfect. But Pather Panchali has such vitality and life force that I have not seen a human unaffected by it." If he could take only a handful of DVDs (or videos) to a mythical desert island from which there was no escape, he could plump for Pather Panchali and Charulata. His life would also not be worth living unless he could take Charlie Chaplin's 1925 movie, The Gold Rush, as well. His pick of western classical music would be Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Beethoven's Choral Symphony. He estimates he has read 8,000 books in his time. His choice for a desert island would be the Mahabharat. He enjoys the current generation of Indian writers in English, but his favourite is Amitav Ghosh, especially The Glass Palace and The Hungry Tide. "It is written in very competent English but I feel it is part of Bengali literature." Soumitra, who has been coming to London roughly once a year since his first visit in 1965, says he receives plenty of love and affection from his numerous Bengali friends in the UK. "But in a big city like London, I get a kind of anonymity," he says. "No one disturbs me, I am not mobbed, I go untroubled to the theatre. That is difficult for me to do in Calcutta." He is also partial to "fish and chips". He recalls that on one visit he looked up the house with a blue plaque in Hampstead, north London, where Rabindranath Tagore had stayed. The English woman owner, informed that an actor from India wanted to pay a pilgrimage to the site, scrutinised his face and asked: "Weren't you in Charulata and in Teen Kanya (Three Daughters)?" Asked by Soumitra about the framed portrait of Tagore on her wall, she happily revealed she had cut out the picture from a book she had received on moving into the house — the first translation in English of Gitanjali published by Macmillan. Though he himself did not go to an English medium school and hence was not taught Shakespeare, he had wanted "to do something with" Hamlet in his youth. Now, the prospect of doing something with King Lear "hovers in front of me like a dream". He does not think much of Mulayam Singh Yadav's manifesto commitment to ban English — "is he mad or what?" He says the West Bengal government is reasonably friendly towards the arts but he wants it to do much more along the lines of the publicly-supported Arts Council of England. He wants Bengali society to retain the best of the old culture but press ahead with technical and industrial progress. "There should be a synthesis, a via media. We should not ape states like Gujarat. The yardstick should be humanistic. I have great faith in the future." This Soumitra in 2009 is "basically" not that different from that Soumitra of half a century ago. But the youth of 23, he points out, "was very immature and very romantic. He did not know the practical aspect of earning money. He was a bloody fool." "Inside, though," the veteran actor reflects, "that young boy has remained the same. He did not want to live a life without art, not then, not now."
MOVIES ON AN ISLAND
MUSIC ON AN ISLAND
BOOK ON AN ISLAND
Soumitra on Sharmila: Though Soumitra meets Sharmila Tagore only intermittently, he has retained a "solid friendship" with his schoolgirl co-star from Apur Sansar. "Maybe she will come to Calcutta once in six months, 'What are you doing?'. I would ring her if I am in Delhi, 'You eat here tonight'. She is interesting and intelligent and has maintained herself well." He jokes she is not that interested in cricket but has picked up enough jargon through osmosis. "For the wife of the Nawab of Pataudi, it is part of the package." Films HE FINISHED: Suman Ghosh's Dwando (set to release in July). Somnath Sen's Swartho (with Madhabi Mukherjee) is in post-production. Films he couldn't do: Sangeeta Datta's Life Goes On in London was scripted with Soumitra in mind (now replaced by Girish Karnad). Raja Sen's Teen Murti (replaced by Dipankar De). Films on hold: First-time director Sushanto Pal Chowdhury's Tumi Mor Priya Re and Hridoyer E Kul O Kul. "Soumitrada has agreed to do both films when he comes back from London," says Pal Chowdhury. |
"The efforts to cobble up a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and non-Congress alternative will gain a more distinct shape in the post poll situation. Partners will come out of both the UPA and the NDA," Bhattacharjee, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader, said in an interview to his party's mouthpiece Ganashakti.
"The new force that will see consolidation in that scenario must have a common minimum programme," he added.Bhattacharjee said the leftists will have to play a role in such a situation. "We will perform our duty."
The CPI-M politburo member felt the Third Front had become relevant now both in terms of its strength and number of constituents."But this is not enough. We have to consolidate the front by holding discussions. The process has already started, and such dialogue will continue even after the polls."
In an obvious reference to the Congress and the BJP ridiculing the Third Front for its large number of prime ministerial hopefuls, Bhattacharjee said adopting the right programme was the main pre-requisite for forming an alternative government."The leftists are laying stress on drawing up such a programme, and not on any party or leader," he said.
Bhattacharjee said the leftists will take a call on joining a Third Front government after reviewing the post-poll situation.He said the leftists' main aim in the Lok Sabha elections is to form an alternative non-Congress and non-BJP government. He claimed that there was a distinct possibility of the leftists, and secular and democratic regional parties getting a majority.
THIRD FRONT SHALL DOMINATE THE LOK SABHA RESULTS: BIMAN BASU
KOLKATA, 28th MARCH: A reality now, more than ever, rather than a theoretical compose the Third Front with the Left in the van shall direct the shape of the Lok Sabha that shall be formed after the Lok sabha election. This was Biman Basu, state secretary, Bengal CPI (M) at the massive convention of Left student-youth in Kolkata at a packed indoor Stadium in the afternoon hours of 28 March, the anti-unemployment day.
Biman Basu said in clear tones that both the bourgeois alliances, one led by the Congress the other by the religious fundamentalist BJP, were breaking apart in front of their own eyes, and they stand helpless. The Third Front gains strength continuously and is spreading its political wings across a larger and ever larger footprint across India.
Explaining that it had been the Left students-youth organisations that had commenced observing the anti-unemployment day from back in 1973, the speaker said that the young generation of the Left had also played an exemplary role in the struggle against quasi-fascism and lumpen terror that Bengal bled under during the 1970s. The relevance of 28 March shall continue to be relevant until an end was wrought of exploitation, deprivation, and the ruling class control over the means of production.
Extending his arguments into analysing the massive economic recession that has slowed down production and has resulted in billions of people losing job especially in the capitalist world, the Bengal LF chairman said that more than a hundred million young men and women stand to lose employment in India itself over the next year or so. By 2020, the rate of unemployment itself shall reach 30% in the sub-continent. In just over a decade's worth of time-scale India shall be burdened with the presence of eleven crore jobless youth.
As we speak today, said the senior CPI (M) leader, India has lost 1.5 million men and women in the organised sector alone. Five lakh people connected with the once-lucrative ornaments trade and calling has become without a viable means of livelihood. The sunrise Info-Tech industry is expected to shed 50 thousand jobs, come the next half-a-year. BPO will see 2.5 lakh jobs go down the drain, adding to the burden of joblessness.
The country groans under misery of the financial kind because of the fatuous way the ruling classes have clung to the capitalist path and has seen the light at the end of the tunnel in 'globalisation.' The Left has cautioned the people during the earlier Lok Sabha polls against the expected facet of the Congress policy of towing the economic policy of the NDA régime, and that proved disastrous for the nation, especially for the toiling masses.
The Left has lent its outside support to the UPA governance strictly based on the few pro-people aspects of the CMP, aspects that the Congress did not follow while selling the nation downstream to imperialism and its lackeys. This resulted in the correct decision of the CPI (M) and the Left in withdrawing support.
Biman also mentioned the u holy alliances that had come together in Bengal against the CPI (M) and the Left Front. As he put, the masses shall bid good night to the forces of darkness whose surreptitious alliance was forged not in the broad day light but in the darkness of the night. Biman was also thoroughly critical of the way the opposition had suddenly started to shed what were clearly tears of sham and falsity for the adivasis.
The opposition was also playing the Communal card as dangerously as the young stalwart of the BJP was doing with imp unity at the national level—and getting away with it. Biman called upon the youth to be politically active in dealing a blow to the hopes and evil ambitions of the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls all over Bengal. A win in Bengal for the CPI (M) and the Left would improve the prospects that much more for the Left-led Third Front. Student and youth leaders, too, addressed the vast gathering, a gathering that was big enough to take a long time to disperse.
Third Front's prospect brightening, says Buddhadeb
Mr. Bhattacharjee criticised the Congress for negotiating with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on seeking the hill organisation's support for its candidate Dawa Narbula in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. "It is pathetic to see that the Congress has kept aside its political stand to bag one seat," he said.
The CPI(M) leader ruled out any division of West Bengal to create Gorkhaland as demanded by GJM. "The state government is ready for further development of Darjeeling Hills, but there must not be any separation," he said.
He criticised Opposition parties for creating controversy over acquisition of farm land to set up industry in West Bengal and said they had been constantly opposing development in the state.
Blaming the Congress for rise in prices of essentials, he alleged 180,000 farmers had committed suicide during the UPA rule on account of its anti-poor policies.
Singur people want Nano back: Buddhadeb
KOLKATA, Saturday, 28 March , 2009: Global auto major Tata Motors may have moved out its Nano plant from the state but the people of Singur still want the project, says West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. "People of Singur want the factory over there, they are very hopeful and I have conveyed this to the higher authorities of the Tata Group," Bhattacharjee said in an interview to a private regional news channel here.
Singur, 40 km from here in the state's Hooghly district, had turned into a battleground for about two-and-a-half years since May 2006 after the state government allotted land for the Nano project. On Oct 3 last year the company announced it had scrapped its plans to bring out the small car, priced at Rs.100,000, from the Singur facility. The plant was shifted to Sanand in Gujarat.
Tata Motors wound up its Singur plant following sustained protests by a Trinamool Congress-led farmers agitation demanding return of 400 of the 997.11 acres acquired for the project. The agitators alleged that the 400 acres were forcibly taken by the government from farmers unwilling to part with their land.
"I am trying to set up a factory in that plot in Singur. We have already spoken to a few Indian as well as foreign companies. In fact, now our industry secretary is in China talking to a company over there," the chief minister said. He, however, said whichever company sets up a plant in Singur, the government would ensure that it generates as much employment as the Nano project was supposed to do and "if possible even more than that". "It is very important that the youth of the state get employment," he said.
Talking about land acquisition and the compensation that was provided by the government to the farmers of Singur who gave their land for the Nano project, he said: "Around 85-86 per cent of the farmers have taken compensation and of the remaining 10-15 per cent many do not stay in India and few others don't have proper papers of the land. That means the number of unwilling farmers were really small."
"I failed to make the opposition understand the meaning of ancillary industries. They didn't understand that this was an integrated project and 400 acres cannot be given away like that. Giving away 400 acres would have meant stalling the project," he added.
Referring to the meeting between the Left Front government and the Trinamool at the behest of Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi Sep 7 on the issue, Bhattacharjee said: "We didn't sign any deal that night regarding the land in Singur. It was a joint statement in which we stated that we will give back as much land as possible keeping the project intact.
"Later our officials did a detailed study and found out 70 acres from the project, which we were ready to return keeping the nature of the project intact," he said. He said the Left Front government did not believe in using brute force. "In Singur, 80 per cent work was done and we thought we could start the factory. But after the attack on engineers we had to resort to applying force. Otherwise we didn't have any problems with the agitation that the opposition was doing, had they been doing it in democratic way," Bhattacharjee said. He said his government was against using fertile land for industrialisation. "But there is only one per cent fallow land available in the state and it is not possible to set up all the industries on it," Bhattacharjee said.
Regarding the police firing in Nandigram March 14, 2007, he said: "I will always feel sorry for what happened in Nandigram March 14. Police did not go there to torture the locals, they went there along with people of the municipal department to repair road. We even had sought opposition's help that day. But suddenly everything changed and so many people died in the clash."
The state government's efforts to set up a chemical hub project in Nandigram also came unstuck in 2007 following stiff resistance from the Trinamool-led farmers. The project has now been relocated to Nayachar island near Haldia in East Midnapore district. Singur and Nandigram are exceptional cases and do not reflect the trend in the state, the chief minister said. "In Nayachar, we are trying to start work as fast as possible," he added.
Left goes digital, scripts Nandigram, Singur stories to win back rural Bengal
Kolkata : Stung by the growing strength of Trinamool Congress in rural West Bengal as exhibited in the last year's panchayat polls, the ruling CPI(M) is now banking on digital mediums to reach to its grassroots supporters.
The CPI(M) does not want to make the two episodes - the Nandigram and Singur debacles — its Achilles' heel and hence it has created CDs to put across the party's view on industrialisation to the voters. All the 26,000-odd party units throughout the state have been asked to show the audio-video CDs in their respective areas.
"The idea is still in a preliminary stage," says CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty, in-charge of producing these CDs, adding that the party will produce a full length film on the issue.
Another reason for adopting the modern mass communication tool is that the CPI(M) lacks crowd-pullers and stalwarts like Jyoti Basu, sources say.
So, the party's election strategists have decided to take the help of modern equipment to attract voters, especially the young voters in rural Bengal. The party has already produced a CD comprising Basu's speech which will be distributed after April 16. "More are coming. The party has planned to make CDs of the conflict areas in Bengal politics," said a senior leader of the CPI(M).
On Friday, one of the CPI(M)-backed directors of a city theatre gave a sneak preview of the proposed film on Singur to a select group of CITU leaders. "First, we will see this and then it will be distributed among the supporters," said CITU state secretary Kali Ghosh.
Sources in the CITU said the rushes contain details on the case of Suhrid Dutta, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of masterminding the gruesome murder of teenager Tapasi Malik. "The film will show how he was implicated in the case," said a leader. "Suhrid Dutta's case has tarnished the image of the party, so we have to react. We think this issue is still alive in the minds of the people," he added.
TRINAMOOLIS PREPARE GROUNDS FOR OPPOSING PETRO-CHEM PROJECT AT NAYACHAR
The first time we had visited the place back in February of this year, the place looked desolate. 54 square km of the 'char' had been acquired by the state LF government without any resistance or opposition from the fishing folk or even the self-proclaimed 'environmentalist lobby,' for the union government-approved petro-chemical products investment region (PCPIR). The rest of the area was filled with shrubs and wild grass.
The change was startling when we recently paid another visit to Nayachar. All on a sudden, we noted the quick increase in the number of hutments. We also found deep dug out. A full-fledged Krishi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee' (KUPC) has been formed mostly with Maoist participation. The number hutments had gone up at an incredible rate, from a dozen-odd to several dozens.
The east Midnapore unit of the CPI (M) informed us that they had authentic news that 50 hardened Trinamuli-Maoist killers of Nandigram had been despatched and 'settled in' at the 'char' land. These goons carried a large cache of arms. They come mostly from the localities of Kendemari, Shrigauri, and Bachhurmari of Nandigram 1 and 2. Others have come from Sagardwip and the abutting coastal zones of south 24 Parganas and east Midnapore. The Maoist chief 'Kishan' has already circulated a VCD where the Nayachar issue has been noted and later transcribed into a CP (Maoist) party letter that has been propagated in Midnapore east and at Nayachar.
According to Party sources, the work of making mines and other explosives has already started at the locale of the 'char' land, which is thickly shrubbed and has no habitation. This is yet to be confirmed but we have no reason to disbelieve the local fishingfolk, once friendly to us, trembling in fear this time around when asked about the plethora of 'new people,' coming into Nayachar and going away from the island.
The desolate areas are Baolatala, Bishalaxmi, and Khejurtala. We learn that the Maoists would start the 'action programme' right after the Lok Sabha elections are over under 'earnest request' from the Trinamuli chieftains. Maoist leader Sheikh Gaushal of south 24 Parganas is apparently the 'coordinator' with the Trinamuli hoods of the 'char' land.
| January-March 2007 the almost-a-rape of democracy in india | ||
| http://www.natant.org/seeingandhearing/january-march2007.htm | ||
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the almost-a-rape of democracy in india March 20 2007 (Tuesday) What happened last week in Nandigram village in West Bengal state of India is one of the many culminating results of a hideous obsession with a single top-down model of development as initiated and thrust upon the country in the last decade by the likes of prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, finance minister P. Chidambaram and deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. In my understanding, many many development projects and special economic zones (SEZs) are simply excuses to loot the land and resources of India and its non-urban (and urban-poor) people through a widespread abuse of democracy. Ecology considerations are also given a reckless and dangerous go-by by the central government of India and the country's various state governments. The three newsreports whose cut-and-paste I give below brings out some facets of the Gestapo-like operation carried out in Nandigram village by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s state government in West Bengal implicity supported by the Congress-Allies-led central government in Delhi (this is not to say that the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP as it is commonly referred to as, or other political parties in India, would have done anything different). 1] http://www.calcuttaweb.com/nandigram.shtml That night in Nandigram Soumitra Basu, Editor, Anyaswar It is a story of that horrific night. The night of 14th of March, 2007. After the completion of "Operation Nandigram" in broad day light, CPM called a local 12 hour strike (bandh) in Nandigram. A bandh was called in the evening hours in such a remote place where people mostly keep themselves indoor after sunset. Why was that called then? After the first bout of police action in the daylight when the news came that around 60 were killed, the second phase and the most horrendous phase was waiting to happen. Meanwhile, the number of casualties as stated by media gave rise to enough confusion. Dainik Statesman (the Bengali Statesman) put the number to 31. The TV channels [private] displayed 18. TARATV correspondent Gourango, who was apprehended by the police and was handed over to CPM goons and then (on live TV) was thrashed and foul-mouthed by CPM, puts it off the record as 100+ and on the record as "could not count". TARATV correspondent Subrata put the number as "uncounted" as he explained no one could say and knew the exact figure. The state government spokesperson (Mr Vora) went back to the number 6 and then said that is what he was informed and he would inform the press some time later! Subrata and Gourango of TARATV were in the field. This is the horrendous facts that they had to say. They put self-imposed censorship on themselves as - "I have stopped telling the media what I saw and ought to have told them; there is no chance people and our viewers would believe. Their is a limit to human belief. They will take me as a mad babbler! I myself am not convinced of what I saw, heard and went through. It was like a nightmare and I wish all that I saw and heard was simply a delirium." As a matter of fact, they vomited several times in the hotel they stayed, not because of the threats by the CPM goons but because what they saw and heard and the language of threats by the CPM goons who besieged them in CPM party office in Nandigram. "Bands of CPM goons aided by platoons of Eastern Frontier Rifles and Commando forces were entering every village and paras [mahallas]. They brought the men out of home, they took no prisoners, no witnesses, they shot them, bayoneted them, ripped apart their stomachs and then laid them down the canal to the sea and confluence. They then brought out the young girls, gathered them in open space, raped them multiple times till the girls collapsed, they then tore their limbs, in some cases cut them to pieces and let them down the Haldi river and/or Talpati canal. They made sure that there were no witnesses. And even if there were some, they know that the young girls in traditional Medinipur would never come out to say what really happened and who will believe. Nobody will corroborate and those who will speak out will be killed and tortured again. CPM and police then wrapped the entire village with their red banners showing that the area was secured and their writ will run. Those who fled the villages were mostly apprehended on the outskirts or on the boundaries and no one knows what happened to those poor souls. We could hear these facts only from those who could crawl the whole way out through fields and forests. Even that is difficult now as the fields are all dried up and the crops have already been reaped. Anyone running is easily visible. Even though innumerable, official count of rape could be obtained as six, because these are the ones who survived to tell their tales and they are around middle aged women who somehow were spared from being butchered and minced to pieces. The process followed in villages after villages and to our utter astonishment the process continued till next morning. All the correspondents were removed. Sukumar Mitra, a journalist from Dainik Statesman ran his way out amidst flurries of bullets. He was specifically hunted and somehow could manage to sneak out. The ferocity of this attack was so grizzly that the residents of that area was simply not believing anyone to open their gab. Fear is made a weapon for a social-censorship. Haripur is a nearby subdivision. This area is earmarked for nuclear power plant. People of that region has also come up in protest. Most of them are fishermen. They have stopped going to the confluence and the sea. They feel that human bodies are everywhere in the confluence and the worst is that the crocodiles,gharials and sharks are now rushing towards that spot from far away Sunderbans. These animals rush for fresh blood. The fishes will be eaten away by these reptiles and there is a high possibility of these getting netted instead of fishes. The Haripur will be out of livelihood for at least a week or so, and this was premeditated by the CPM administration to teach Haripur a lesson. Haripur is the place which shooed out even Central teams and even bigger police forces. This was a lesson to teach both Nandigram and Haripur together. No sign of any dead bodies would ever be found, no proof of rape will be there. The real number of casualties can only be revealed at least three months after, and that too if peace comes into stay, and if the residents could come back and then count the missing. But after CPM has "secured" and "liberated" those areas, the evicted will not be allowed to come back and these properties will be given to the CPM goons from Keshpur and Garbeta and neighbouring places. The permanency of mopping up strategy is how CPM will ensure that Nandigram and Haripur will be secured for electoral battles in the future." This is more horrendous than partition story. The journalists all are aware of this but they cannot come out with these stories. CPM will ensure that these journalists are hunted down and wiped out of existence. They have already started to threaten all journalists and intellectuals who have gone against them. Let us not draw parallels from the history! I do not know who will believe how much, but I have mentioned the sources and you all are welcome to verify them through the references I have provided. 2] http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=227407 Villagers say more people died, many bodies removed after police firing in Nandigram: Medha by Subhendu Ray Kolkata, March 18 2007: The death toll in Wednesday's police firing at Nandigram would go up if a proper investigation is conducted into the cases of missing locals, social activist Medha Patkar today told Newsline on her return from a fact-finding mission to affected villages. Officials put the death toll at 14, but Patkar, who met Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi today, dismissed the figures. She demanded a judicial inquiry led by a sitting Supreme Court judge, and also sought an official notification on withdrawal of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project in Nandigram. Patkar gave reports on the findings of National Alliance of Peoples' Movements (NAPM) to Governor Gandhi. NAPM comprises social activists from across the country. On her way back from Raj Bhawan, she told Newsline that the organisation is opposed to industrialisation at the cost of livelihood, food security and marginalisation of villagers. "We were told by the villagers (in Nandigram) that many locals cannot be traced since Wednesday's tragedy," Patkar said. "The villagers fear these missing persons were killed and their bodies were later removed. We want a detailed investigation into all missing cases, with a house-to-house survey by an independent agency. "The locals told us they suspect that the bodies have been buried in trenches near Bhangabera canal — these should be immediately dug up. "People in Sonachura village said as many as 35 children are missing as are many bodies of people killed in police firing that day. There are cases of missing children from other villages, too." According to Patkar, many women in the area reported rape by police personnel. She said women of Gokulnagar and Sonachura villages told her that they are still receiving threats from local CPI(M) activists. According to Patkar, locals claim the police entered Sonachura and Gokulnagar villages from Khejuri and Tekhali respectively. Both Khejuri and Tekhali are known as CPI(M) bases in the area. The Patkar-led team has also demanded the formation of a concerned citizens' committee with prominent citizens to begin the process of restoring normalcy in the affected areas. Meanwhile, expressing satisfaction over the Governor's stand on the issue — Gandhi had criticised the government machinery after Wednesday's incident — Patkar said, "The Governor should intervene when any case of human rights violation takes place." The Indonesian Salim Group has been allotted space to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram. The local Save Land Committee, led by Trinamool Congress, is resisting the move, which has triggered several skirmishes this year, finally snowballing into Wednesday's incident. 3] http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=4993 Alarm Bells Sound in Nandigram for Indian Democracy By Bobby Ramakant The state of west Bengal has waged a war against farmers with an intention of occupying their farm land, fish ponds, homes and hearths. In spite of the rhetorical statements by the Chief Minister of WB that he would consult and convince the people, the State government claiming to be leftist by ideology, has resorted to brutal and barbaric way of using police force and party cadres to attack the unarmed, non-violent farmers, fish workers, labourers and artisans in the district of East Midnapore for grabbing their land. 14 people, all villagers, were reported to be killed. Civil society organizations claim there are more than 50 dead so far in the mindless frenzy unleashed by police and administration on people of Nandigram.
The people from generations old communities who have a golden history of freedom movement and martyrdom are being not only forced but killed by the "free Indian state" which is shameful for the Indian democracy and its people. Imposition of industrialization, with or without SEZ, as also real estate-development, is to kill farm land and farming as a way of life. This brutal attack is being condemned by civil society organizations across India, and also expatriates with forums as those of DailySouthAsian and AID India flooded with outcry to lobby pressure for action and justice. "CPM must be compelled to stop murdering farmers immediately and held accountable. Such state fascism and corporate war against people can't and must not be tolerated" said noted social activist Medha Patkar. Medha continues to add that there is going to be a demonstration in Delhi beginning on March 19 in support of all people's movements against displacement in India. The charter of demands include: - That the Union of India and UPA through the PM, Sonia Gandhi and others must immediately intervene and use various restraining measures in their hands to compel the CPM government to stop the murderous attack. - Legal action must be taken against all responsible for the killings including the CM, West Bengal - That the National Human Rights Commission will send a team for urgent enquiry and take action. We assert that SEZ Act should be repealed and projects with conflict between the state and the people should be put on immediate hold across the country. An enactment on Development Planning, based on the draft submitted to the National Advisory Council under the Chairmanship of Smt. Sonia Gandhi should be taken for consultation with people's movements and approval. The West Bengal state stands charged with culpable homicide in Nandigram. The people's demands included: - Immediate police withdrawal from Nandigram It is a shame that police administration and our elected representatives continue to thwart people's struggles and instead of protecting democratic rights of our people, they are overtly active in protecting vested interests of corporations. Another noted social activist and Magsaysay Awardee 2002 Dr Sandeep Pandey reasserts that "industrialization is not an alternative to agriculture." Even pro-industrialists need food to eat, not machines. Let's hope that people who feel they are not "affected" by the Nandigram Satyagrah, will `hear' the alarm bells communities on the frontlines have already sounded. The time to wake up is running out.Febrary 9 2007 (Friday) I saw Parzania movie today. Its on a middle class family getting shattered in the horrendous genocidal violence inflicted by Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi, on the minority citizens of Gujarat in February-March 2002. Parzania is a movie which I will not hesitate watching multiple times for the close-to-reality portrayal of the horrors of that time. In fact I would like to watch the uncensored version of the movie (what I saw in the movie theatre today had many cuts forced upon the filmmakers by the official Censor Board and more so by the hooligan unofficial censors emanating from Modi's team, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party and the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing Congress-cum-allies. The only other film made on Gujarat Genocide 2002 is Dev which was released around two years ago. But what struck me particularly about Parzania is that it minces no words in illuminating some of the harsh truths (which I am sure would be more pronounced in the uncensored version). And in this respect it surpasses Dev. Also, the direction, music, acting in Parzania is competent and moving. Sarika is deeply moving in her portrayal of the missing boy's mother. Parzania is a must watch. If it goes out of the theatres buy the DVD/VCD as and when available. There is an excellent documentary film too -- Final Solution by Rakesh Sharma -- on Gujarat Genocide 2002 that is worth watching and whose DVD/VCD is worth purchasing. Two comprehensive non-film reports on Gujarat Genocide 2002 are here and here. Such events are a part of a vicious cycle of violence that our Earth's human inhabitants have been carrying out against each other for thousands of years. Yet when I see it happening it at close quarters in my country I can not but feel anguished. When the brutal bomb blasts took place in Bombay's suburban train in July 2006 I wrote something about the factors, causes and the vicious cycle. "in SEZ scheme the tax exemption amounts to a loot..." January 7 2007 (Sunday) I attended a public discussion day before yesterday (January 5 2007, Friday) in Bombay's Xaviers College on 'State, Development and People's Movements' in which Medha Patkar was one of the speakers. I present below some excerpts from her talk which I could jot down in my notepad. at the discussion a note on the Singur issue was handed out which can be read here (in English) or here (in Hindi). Medha Patkar: "after the secular-communal divide in the country is the divide on the issue of development...its not about Singur (in West Bengal where Tata Motors has been illegally given a 1000 acres fertile land belonging to farmers) only...in Weste Bengal itself, 38,000 acres of land is being given to New KolkataInternational Development Pvt Ltd (name cleverly changed from Salim Group of Indonesia against whom the government was made to back out earlier)...another 40,000 acres is being given for a nuclear plant...things are changing fast in the name of development...in fact, it is looting...things have reached at such a serious state that in in Narmada, Singur (West Bengal), Pune and Raigad (Maharashtra), Punjab and Haryana, landowners or land cultivators, whose lands are sought to be grabbed under the Special Economic Zones Act or for dams and other development projects, are forced to say that they will resort to anything but not give up their lands...meanwhile arrogant state talk on SEZs continue... what we are seing today is that the state powers-that-be are playing out a dangerous game against the people themselves from whom they got the power in the first place...the legalised noose of land-grabbing is hanging on all our heads...do not the people have a right on the natural resources around them?...land-grabbing is done strategically and cunningly by politicians, industry and their agents...in Lonavla (Maharashtra), for example, the agents of politicans and industry heads are buying lands on the periphery of the disputed SEZ-declared area...every acre of land is a land of 'sabyatha' for farmers...when i and few others went to Nandigram (where a chemicals SEZ is being set up) in West Bengal we were continuously, without-a-break, accosted and watched by state police forces as if we were terrrorists...but i say that even the policemen and policewomen who are set after us day in and day out are victims of the state policies... in SEZ the tax being exempted for the industry is a loot in disguise...the fights you read about in the media between Chidambaram and Kamal Nath or between Kadam and Deshmukh on the tax issue are not genuine fights...they do not emanate from conceptual oppositioin to SEZ... talk of accountability is selective...if the ransacked office of CPM (Communist Party Marxist which is in power in West Bengal) office in Nandigram open to everyone (police, media and pubic) for investigation then why is Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure imposed on Singur making it illegal for anyone to even visit the area...if this goes on then there will be no choice but for protests like that seen in nandigram to take the shape of a confrontation... equitable and sustainable land use policy is needed without delay..." newsreport on gorai special economic zone January 5 2007 (Friday) One more SEZ (special economic zone scheme of the central government of India) approval that is manipulative and illegal. This one is at Gorai area (at Borivli-Bhayander West) in Bombay. Medha to lead protestors at Gorai BY A STAFF REPORTER | Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:30:50 IST As the residents of eight villages join to protest against the allotment of 5000 acres of land to the Essel world under SEZ Like the Shingur incident, a similar controversy may grip Maharashtra as the residents of Gorai would be holding a protest rally against the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) scheme of the government. The Narmada Bachao Activist (NBA) Medha Patkar would be heading the protest rally. The rally would be organised protesting the allotment of 5,000 acres of land of eight villages to the Pan India Tourism ltd (Essel World) by the government, under its controversial scheme. This would be affecting over 75,000 residents living in the area since decades. The residents are furious as they would be displaced as soon as the land is allotted. Manori, Gorai, Uttan, Dongari, Pali, Tarodi, Chowk and Morva, are the eight villages that would be affected. The Koli community, tribals and slat producers mainly inhabit these villages. Lourdes Dsouza, Head, Dharavi Beth Bachao Samiti, said, "Today in the evening members of Jagatik Virodhi Kriti Samiti Maharashtra (JVKSM) will visit these areas and will join our protest. We have been doing our business here since many decades and we will not leave our land at any cost." JVKSM had recently visited the Pen area in Raigarh which is being planned to be allotted to the Reliance group under the SEZ scheme.
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| By: Anita Iyer 30 Mar 09 13:09 IST |
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| CPM gets music therapy into poll campaign album | Pic by Courtesy / Mint |
MUMBAI: Music has always been an effective bait for political parties trying to woo the masses on the eve of elections.
Now, the prim Communist Party of India has followed in the tracks of the Congress' Jai Ho campaign with a music led campaign of its own. The West Bengal ruling party launched an album on 28 March at the hands of CPM Chairman Biman Basu and CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty in the presence of 35,000 people.
Composed by secretary of Kolkata-based NGO Sonata Foundation and a composer himself, Pranay Dutta, the Bangla album, 'Kairin Akhon' comprises 12 tracks based on music therapy. "I have composed the tracks based on classical ragas with specifications on every rhythm and notations. There are traditional folk tunes picked up from the Lal Garh area in West Bengal and we have inculcated it in the album after a lot of research." Dutta, who is also a music therapist, mentions that the music in the album will have a therapeutic effect on voters.
The lyrics have been penned by Dutta himself and revolve around the issues of women's self-employment, Hindi-Muslim riots, industrialisation, land acquisition, as well as contemporary issues like riots in Nandigram and Singur etc. Says Dutta, "Although these are tracks for political campaigning, the tunes don't stress on the political aspects. Also, I have tried to keep the music as raw as possible, using percussion instruments such as dhamsa and madol. These are the instruments conceived and used locally in the interiors of West Bengal and the audiences would instantly relate to it." Renowned Bengali singers Raghav Chottopadhay, Lopamudra Mitra, Prany Dutta and others have rendered their vocals for the album.
The track will be used across media like television, radio, as well as the CPM's rallies in the state.
Pranay Dutta has been composing songs on subjects related to social awareness for the past 14 years. "I have launched eights albums in the last few years on issues related to blood donation, HIV, preservation of culture etc with singers like Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sadhna Sargam and others," he says.
MUMBAI: Music has always been an effective bait for political parties trying to woo the masses on the eve of elections.
Now, the prim Communist Party of India has followed in the tracks of the Congress' Jai Ho campaign with a music led campaign of its own. The West Bengal ruling party launched an album on 28 March at the hands of CPM Chairman Biman Basu and CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty in the presence of 35,000 people.
Composed by secretary of Kolkata-based NGO Sonata Foundation and a composer himself, Pranay Dutta, the Bangla album, 'Kairin Akhon' comprises 12 tracks based on music therapy. "I have composed the tracks based on classical ragas with specifications on every rhythm and notations. There are traditional folk tunes picked up from the Lal Garh area in West Bengal and we have inculcated it in the album after a lot of research." Dutta, who is also a music therapist, mentions that the music in the album will have a therapeutic effect on voters.
The lyrics have been penned by Dutta himself and revolve around the issues of women's self-employment, Hindi-Muslim riots, industrialisation, land acquisition, as well as contemporary issues like riots in Nandigram and Singur etc. Says Dutta, "Although these are tracks for political campaigning, the tunes don't stress on the political aspects. Also, I have tried to keep the music as raw as possible, using percussion instruments such as dhamsa and madol. These are the instruments conceived and used locally in the interiors of West Bengal and the audiences would instantly relate to it." Renowned Bengali singers Raghav Chottopadhay, Lopamudra Mitra, Prany Dutta and others have rendered their vocals for the album.
The track will be used across media like television, radio, as well as the CPM's rallies in the state.
Pranay Dutta has been composing songs on subjects related to social awareness for the past 14 years. "I have launched eights albums in the last few years on issues related to blood donation, HIV, preservation of culture etc with singers like Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sadhna Sargam and others," he says.
http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/cpm-gets-music-therapy-poll-campaign-album
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