Red Barricade

Sashadhar Mahato: Is It A Case of Encounter Death?

2011-03-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

utpal basu

Finally we came to know that Maoist leader Sashadhar Mahato was killed in an encounter. Since 10 March, photograph of a body with AK47 has been claimed by the police to be a high rank Maoist leader. Media suspected that he was Sashadhar Mahato, though police said they were trying to identify. Yesterday, 13 March Chhatradhar Mahato, the elder brother of Sashadhar identified the body.

Joint forces claimed that Sashadhar Mahato was killed in an encounter in Jamboni on 10 March 2011. He was firing from his AK-47 rifle and did not leave any option other than getting shot. Mr. Mukesh Kumar, additional SP, Jhargram said: “If anyone shoots with AK-47, then will it be wise to throw flower?....what the forces did was proper” (source: The Statesman 14 March 2011). Although we expected much responsibility from this IPS officer, he did not bother to provide any evidence; evidences of shooting from Ak-47 and of fierce encounter. May be this is how they have been trained….making comments without showing any evidence. If Sashadhar was shooting from AK-47 then wasn’t it some casualty from the side of joint forces expected? Rather it appeared from the footage shown in different TV channels and photographs published in different dailies that the head of Sashadhar was partially blown up suggestive of killing from a very close distance. Can a person shooting from AK-47 be killed from such a close distance? Sorry, Mr. additional SP, the story of encounter death is not well cooked.

Death of Sashadhar Mahato is a case of cold blooded murder.

Recently in a ruling Supreme Court said a person could not be killed just because he was found to be the member of an illegal organization. Police or CRPF or any military or paramilitary force does not enjoy any constitutional power to kill people. Whereas joint forces want us to believe that they can kill anybody if they like--whatever they are doing is to protect us. Obviously police and other forces do not care supreme court's ruling and like to enjoy extra-constitutional power of killing.

Then how can people protect themselves?

Joint Forces Killed 8-10 Men in Salboni

2010-09-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday joint forces along with CPM harmads attacked Bandarboni village in Binpur and gunned down at least eight people.

Delhi meet backs repeal of a ‘holy book’

2010-09-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Yambem Laba

ORGANISED under the banner of the North East India Women’s Initiative for Peace, it was slated as a “high profile meet on the AF(SP)A” and it took place on 8 September 2010 at the India International Centre, New Delhi. According to Binalakshmi Nepram, conference organiser, “the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has entered its 52nd year of implementation. Government panels, the United Nations and hundreds of civil society organisations across India have called for its repeal, but the issue continues to remain deadlocked”. Activists, scholars, soldiers and policemen attended and drew parallels between the North-east experience and that of Kashmir.
It all began on a very solemn note, with Sinam Chandrajini Devi lighting the inaugural lamp. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she recollected how two of her sons were shot dead by the Assam Rifles on the afternoon of 1 November 2000 at Malom along with eight others. The screen behind her, showing her younger son receiving the National Child’s Bravery Award from Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and being feted by President R Venkataraman, added to the poignancy. In fact, it was the Malom massacre that prompted human rights crusader Irom Chanu Sharmila to embark on her fast to death, calling for the Act’s repealment. Her protest has entered the 10th year.
Thokchom Meinya Singh, Congress Lok Sabha member from Manipur, minced no words when he said the Act must go in its totality. He said that in spite of it being enforced in Manipur for nearly 50 years now, the number of insurgent groups had increased from one in 1958 to more than 40 now, rendering the Act redundant. He also cited how the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by current Union law minister Veerapa Moily, the Hamid Ansari-led Working Group on Kashmir and the Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission initiated by the Prime Minister had all recommended the Act’s repeal. He also reiterated that “this is a colonial act and we do not require it” and lamented the fact that although Parliament repealed Pota, it retained the AF(SP)A.
This writer, in his address, spoke of the history of the Act beginning from 1942 when then India Viceroy Lord Linlithgow signed the Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance whereby officers of the rank of captain and above, of the then British Indian Army, were given powers to shoot to kill with no questions asked. It had taken the British some 84 years of misrule to employ such draconian measures whereas the Indian Republic had taken only eight years to do the same, with Parliament enacting the AF(SP)A 1958 and the powers hitherto given to captains and above were now given to havildars and above. Such powers were not given to personnel of the white regime in apartheid South Africa or even in neigbouring Pakistan during its days of military rule, he added. He also recalled how he was arrested by the Assam Rifles despite being a member of the Manipur Human Rights Commission, with an Army officer telling him that “he does not recognise the Governor of Manipur” when shown the Warrant of Appointment confirming the membership. He also related how he and a group of other activists had, for the first time in 1980, challenged the AF(SP)A in the Supreme Court and had to wait 17 years for the apex court to pass its verdict.
Sanjoy Hazarika, who was also a member of the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee, said that “there is nothing afresh that we can say about the AF(SP)A, the story is unending and the tragedy is still going on”. He added that the daily killings in Srinagar was a dilemma between civil liberties and the right of the state. He told the gathering of a Union home ministry “cabinet note” that had not been put up to the cabinet because of pressure from the Army. “Who runs the place in these parts of the country – is it the Army or the civil authorities?” he asked.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, countered the theory that repealment of this Act would enhance anti-national elements and the Army would then have to be deployed to meet a political situation. The Act, she said, could not be amended but had to be repealed. “There is a woman who has been on a hunger-strike for 10 years and there are kids screaming in Kashmir because their parents have been killed.”
Yaruigam, a Naga academician from Manipur who teaches at Delhi University, spoke of the collusion of three entities behind the continued existence of the Disturbed Area status — politicians, bureaucrats and the underground. It was the interplay of these three elements that was behind the mess, and not the Army, per se, he said.
Ram Mohon, former BSF Director-General and advisor to the Manipur governor in 2001, said the Act in itself was not draconian but it was the leadership at the ground level that mattered most. He cited the case of Lt-General VK Nayar (retd) who later became one of Manipur’s most popular governors, who, during his earlier stint as GOC of the 8-Mountain Division, while combating the PLA and Prepak in the Manipur Valley, did not experience single complaint of human rights abuse being levelled against his troops. He then mentioned the Tonsem Lamkhai massacre in 2002 when a CRPF patrol was ambushed and seven personnel and a militant were killed. Half an hour later, the CRPF fired at a bus carrying polling personnel who had arrived on the scene and seven civilians were killed. It was the lack of leadership amongst the CRPF troops that made them resort to killing, and not the Act, Ram Mohon said.
General BS Malik, president of the Control Arms Foundation of India, said that “if you have been just at war or insurgency — then no harm can come to you”, and added that the “Tughlaqs of Kashmir and the North-east sitting in the airconditioned comforts of Delhi would lead to the collapse of the Indian Republic in those regions”.
General-secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties Pushkar Raj said that history proved that draconian laws could not quell public-based insurgency and cited how the success in Punjab, which was a pseudo insurgency, gave a kind of confidence to the Indian state. The same could be applied to the rest of the country.
On the question of Kashmir, Raj said New Delhi could have solved the problem in 1953, ’54 and ’55 but did not and now, in 2010, the situation was different. The AF(SP)A was a trigger-happy law, he added. How else could one explain children between 14-18 years taking to the streets to defy the Indian state, he asked. The question, he added, was now of national security versus human security; the latter was real while the former was illusionary.
Iftikar Gilani, editor of the Kashmir Times, presented the Kashmiri perspective of the AF(SP)A. He said that under the Act anyone with a uniform was an angel who could do no wrong. He recollected how the BSF had, in 1993, “roasted” 62 people alive in Sopore, and though a judicial commission inquiry followed, nothing came of it. He also cited the case of a Major Avtar Singh of 35 Rashtriya Rifles who, after killing a fellow officer, had fled to Canada and although the CBI had been requested to put out a “red corner” notice for him, this had not been done as yet. Gilani also said that “national security” was a much-abused term and likened it to a holy cow, citing how, in 2002, he had been arrested in the “national interest” and later released in the “public interest”. This gap between national and public interest was widening by the day, he said.
Siddharath Varadaranjan, chief of the national bureau of The Hindu, recalled how he had to leak the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee report after it lay rotting in the Union home ministry after it had been submitted because the defence ministry and the military top brass had objected to it. He also spoke of how, in the post-Jammu and Kashmir scenario, both the Prime Minister and the home minister needed to take another look into the Act. He also noted how the Army chief had said the entire move against the AF(SP)A was political and how Lt-General Jaiswal had spoked of the Act as the Army’s “holy book”. Other speakers included Anjuman Ara Begum, who spoke on the Assamese experience; Zothanpari, who recalled the Mizoram experience; Ravinder Pal Singh, defence analyst; Lourenbam Ngangbi; and KS Subramanian, a retired IPS officer.
The meeting adopted the resolution that the Act should be repealed in its entirety.

The writer is a former Imphal-based Special Correspondent of The Statesman

Source: The Statesman 20 September 2010

List of CPM Harmad Camps in Junglemahal

2010-09-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

The word "harmad" has been incorporated recently in Bengali vocabulary, thanks to CPM. It means armed forces of CPM constituted by hired goons. Icore Ekdin (2 Sept 10), a Bengali daily reported that in Junglemahal CPM runs 52 harmed camps with 1620 goons hired from Bihar, Jharkhand, Arambag, Keshpur etc. After establishing its domination over a locality CPM shifts their harmad camps to another area. The schools, CPM party offices and houses of CPM leaders are used as camps. According to the daily, central intelligence branch has also mentioned these harmad camps in their report.

Source: Icore Ekdin 2 Sept, 2010.

What does government want in Junglemahal?

2010-08-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Photograph: Deadbody of Umakanta Mahato. Anandabazar Patrika, 28 August, 2010.

Yesterday, Umakanta Mahato, leader of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) was found dead in Lalgarh. According to the police sources he was killed in an encounter although no casualty of police has been reported. Not only in this particular case, but also in last two encounters in Ranja and Metla forests where joint forces gunned downed total fourteen PCPA leaders-supporters including Sido Soren, no casualty of joint forces was reported. It is therefore very possible that police and joint forces have been killing the leaders of PCPA in clod blood and want us believe that they were killed in encounter.

Fake encounter is not something which we have never heard of. In seventies, so many students and youths were killed in the name of encounter in West Bengal. Although in their words government is keen to restore peace In Jangalmahal, actually prefers to eliminate the leadership of PCPA, the organization leading the democratic movement against police atrocities. They are not going to stop the brutal state repression, rather aggravates it.

The day before Umakanta's cold-blooded murder, Director General (DG) of West Bengal police said there was not a single camp of CPM goons (or Harmad) in Jangalmahal. And when the body of Umakanta Mahato was laying on the soil of Lalgarh, Susanta Ghosh, the minister of West Bengal state government addressing a CPM rally in Goaltore claimed that with arms CPM was going to capture the whole Jangalmahal soon. Obviously, CPM harmads have been working in unison with joint forces to unleash the terror over the people of Junglemahal.

Umakanta Mahato was the prime accused in Gyaneshwari derailment case. PCPA however several times denied the allegation. Surprisingly, police who brought the allegation did not show the enough courage and confidence to produce Umakanta before a court of law; rather preferred to kill him. It once again strengthens PCPA's allegation that Ganeswary derailment was the handiwork of CPM.

Not only the leadership of PCPA, every organization or individual, who stands for the struggles of people, is the target of the government now. Last week police arrested Naba Dutta, well known activists and general secretary of Nagarik Mancha, a mass organization working for labour issues and environment. Couple of months back police arrested Hemanta Mahato, environment activists of Jhargram. These incidents show the fascist face of the government. They even do not spare the democratic-progressive voices. A space for democratic forces is therefore a daydream now.

Red Barricade condemns killing of leaders of PCPA in fake encounters and all forms of repression unleashed by state machinery and CPM goons (Harmads).

Red Barricade

Chhattisgarh police hunt for CRPF jawan who staged his own killing

2010-08-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, 26 Aug: Chhattisgarh police have launched a drive on Thursday to track down a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable posted in restive Bastar district whom police claim, staged his own murder to swindle about Rs. four million insurance money meant as ex-gratia for a cop get killed in Maoist violence.
Police officials claim that the constable Kanhaiyalal Yadav of CRPF’s 204 battalion allegedly murdered a person 15 Aug and beheaded the body and then poured acid to burn him to make difficult for police to identify and then the constable put his I-card in his cloth to convince police that the murdered person is CRPF constable.
The murder incident had initially appeared that the constable was killed by Maoists and even family members of the constable who belongs to Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh reached Raipur to receive body and claimed for the insurance amount that a police personnel is entitled if martyred in Maoist violence. But the murder story got a twist based on a forensic report that gave enough confusion that the body did not belong to the CRPF jawan. Later police said that the dead body is actually belonged a person who goes by name as Umesh Yadav.
“We have launched a drive to arrest Kanhaiyalal Yadav who staged his own killing. The CRPF constable’s maternal cousin Kapil has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh,’’ Bastar district Superintendent of Police Mr. P. Sunder Raj told The Statesman, adding, ``Kanhaiyalal along with Kapil had actually murdered Umesh Yadav and beheaded his body and disfigured his body portions to convince police that body belonged to CRPF constable,’’.
“Evidences, collected from the spot, convinced us that someone had deliberately tried to show it was a case of Maoist attack. The finger print of the body and finger prints of CRPF constable Kanhaiyalal Yadav did not match. While 10 inch shoes were found near the headless body and investigations revealed that CRPF constable shoe size was of eight inch’’, remarked Mr. Sunder Raj.
He informed that police were handling the case very seriously and a police team was sent to Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh ~ home town of CRPF constable Kanhaiyalal Yadav-- which detained the constable’s cousin Kapil, who revealed about the true story behind the murder case and informed police that CRPF constable had faked his own murder for swindling the compensation of nearly four million.’’ He said police investigations also found that Kanhaiyalal Yadav had also got a life insurance policy of Rs. three million from a private insurance company recently.

Source: The Statesman, 27 August 2010

http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=339331&catid=36

Battle to save a mountain

2010-08-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

Andrew Buncombe and Alistair Dawber

They said they considered the mountain their god, a living deity that provided them with everything they required to sustain their lives. They said they would fight to the death before seeing the pristine mountain destroyed. Remarkably, they won their battle.
The tribal people of the Niyamgiri Hills in eastern India are celebrating after the authorities in Delhi have ruled that a British-based company will not be permitted to mine there for bauxite. Drawing a line under a “David-versus-Goliath” saga, India's environment minister acknowledged the potential human and social costs of the aluminium project that could have earned billions of pounds for Vedanta Resources. “There has been a very serious violation of laws,” Jairam Ramesh said. “Therefore, the project cannot go ahead.”
In Orissa, where the Niyamgiri Hills are located, Sitaram Kulesika, a senior member of the Dongria Kondh tribe, told activists: “This is a great day for Kondhs. Mining would be the end of their existence and their god. We thank the Indian government.”
Yet the impact of the ruling reverberated far beyond the quiet hills of eastern India, where the 10,000 members of the Dongria Kondh survive as subsistence hunters and farmers. While Vedanta saw five per cent tumble from its share price, activists celebrated what they said was a rare triumph for environmental and social justice against the interests of big business.
“This is a victory nobody would have believed possible,” said Survival International's Jo Woodman. “The Dongria's campaign became a litmus test of whether a small, marginalised tribe could stand up to a massive multinational with an army of lobbyists and PR firms and the ear of government.”
The mining industry in India is powerful and campaigners have long argued that it needs tighter regulation. While the government of Orissa, which supported the project, claimed activists were holding back much-needed development in the state, campaigners said they had faced widespread intimidation. “We strongly welcome this announcement as a vindication of the struggle that has been led by the indigenous people. The laws to protect their rights have been vindicated,” said Bratindi Jena, who leads Action Aid India's work for indigenous people.
The controversy over the proposed mine dates back to 2004 and has involved India's highest court as well as a series of special committees. Many believed that fierce lobbying by Vedanta, owned by London-based industrialist Anil Agarwal, and the state government, would ensure permission would be granted to the company to proceed with its plans to mine bauxite for a refinery which it already operates close to the Niyamgiri hills using ore trucked in from a neighbouring state.
But last week a government-appointed panel recommended that permission be denied on the grounds that mining in the area would breach environmental laws. The panel also expressed concern that granting permission could boost the cause of Maoist rebels, active across India's heartland, who have seized on the resentment of tribal people against large industrial projects. “The committee is of the firm view that allowing mining... by depriving two primitive tribal groups of their rights... in order to benefit a private company would shake the faith of the tribals in the law of the land,” the panel said.
Another factor may have been the involvement of Rahul Gandhi. He visited Niyamgiri in March 2008 and said: “I feel mining the hill will destroy the environment, destroy the water supply source and destroy the culture as well as the livelihood of tribals.”
As the issue became a cause célèbre, campaigners attacked Vedanta from every angle. While activists attended shareholder meetings in London and flew in members of the Dongria Kondh to ensure maximum publicity, they also persuaded shareholders from the Church of England to the Norwegian government to get rid of their stakes.
The decision not to allow mining in Niyamgiri is not the only bad news for Vedanta. Mr Ramesh said their refinery, already operational using bauxite from other states, may be breaching environmental laws. It has also emerged that the Indian government may oppose Vedanta's purchase of a majority stake in Cairn India, a major oil producer.
Vedanta, which says the claims by the pressure groups are “lies and hoax”, rejected any accusation that it has broken the law. It also gave an assurance that it would not mine in the area “until all approvals are in place”.
Pressure groups suggested that the statement hinted that the battle on the Niyamgiri mine might not be over. Meredith Alexander of Action Aid, said that while the ruling was a “massive victory”, the row may not yet be over. “Vedanta could appeal this decision,” she warned. “But the Kondh are asking the company to respect the government's decision and their clearly expressed opposition to the mine.”
Mr Agarwal has said the economic benefits of the project far outweigh any displacement of the Dongria Kondh, or damage to the environment. He also says that less than three per cent of the tribe would be forced to move because of the mine.

The Independent

Source:

The Statesman 26 August 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=339261&catid=39

Activists Ask Vedanta To Shut Refinery

2010-08-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

By PRASENJIT BHATTACHARYA

NEW DELHI—Local activists campaigning against Vedanta Resources PLC's mining project in eastern India said they want the company to shut its existing alumina refinery in the area to ensure that a range of hills considered sacred by tribal people is never mined.

Their demand comes after India's federal government Tuesday rejected Vedanta's proposal to mine the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa state for bauxite, saying the project had violated forest laws and its proponents displayed "blatant disregard" to the rights of tribal people in the area.

The project had garnered global criticism, especially in the U.K. where Vedanta is headquartered. Activist groups such as the Survival International and Amnesty International had said mining in the area could endanger the survival of the 8,000-odd Dongria Kondh tribal people who worship the Niyamgiri Hills and live in and around the area.

People belonging to the Dongria Kondh tribe have also said mining could affect their hunting and farming lifestyle as it would pollute and dry up streams and rivers and destroy fruit trees and medicinal plants on which they depend for their sustenance and health.

"The tribals are feeling good about the decision to not allow mining in Niyamgiri," said Kumti Majhi, a member of Dongria Kondh tribe. "But our hills and people on it can't survive if the refinery remains functional on the foothills of the sacred mountains."

Dust and other pollution from the refinery are affecting the lives of local people, Mr. Majhi said. "Our cows are dying. Trees bearing mango and berries are drying up. That's our livelihood."

Besides rejecting its mining proposal, the ministry also said it has issued a show cause notice to Vedanta, asking why environmental clearances for the 1.0 million-ton-a-year refinery shouldn't be withdrawn. The ministry has also suspended the appraisal process for the London-listed company's plans to increase the capacity of this refinery by six times.

The refinery, Vedanta's only one in India, is key to the company's plans for rapidly expanding its aluminum output to meet rising domestic demand.

"Tuesday's verdict is a partial victory for us, not total victory," said Lingaraj Nayak, an activist of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (Niyamgiri Protection Committee).

"As long as Vedanta's factory is present, there's always a chance that some other minister may come along and allow mining in Niyamgiri Hills," Nayak said. "The refinery needs to go to ensure the hills remain untouched."

Bhakta Charan Das, a lawmaker representing Kalahandi where the planned mining site and the refinery are located, said Vedanta could choose to extract bauxite from other places which don't have tribal people and where the ecosystem is not as diverse as that in the Niyamgiri Hills.

There are at least three mining sites in Kalahandi district which the company can use without causing much damage to tribes or ecology, Mr. Das added.

The Dongria Kondh tribals could never survive outside the hills, he said. "They will die in the cities."

Bratindi Jena, who works in the area as an activist of Action Aid, said Vedanta now has no justification for operating its refinery on the foothills of Niyamgiri since it can't mine the hills.

"Ash floating out from the refinery is covering the trees and plants in Niyamgiri Hills and discharge from the factory is forming toxic red mud ponds in the area," she said. "How can people survive in this environment."

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451172826044484.html

In Punjab POLICE ONSLAUGHT RESISTED THROUGH DEMOCRATIC MOBILIZATION

2010-08-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Now-a-days, the Punjab Police is too much pre-occupied with Naxalite-phobia. Some months ago the DGP himself came out with an extremely irresponsible statement, branding the 17 mass organizations of farmers and agri-labour as front organizations of the Naxalites/Maoists, because they have been consistently fighting against the anti-people and anti-national policies of the rulers. The police arrested Surjit Singh Phul, President of Bharti Kisan Union Krantikari, subjected him to severe torture at the Joint Interrogation Center Amritsar and slapped on him a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. During the agitation against PSEB unbundling, Dr. Darshan Pal of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, was illegally detained and interrogated by the police. In May 2010, a poster jointly brought out by various communist revolutionary parties appeared in the state. Thereafter many activists of Krantikari Pendu Mazdoor Union were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. One of them, Dilbag Singh from Zira has been even charged under S.121-A IPC (attempting to wage war against the State), which attracts a punishment of life imprisonment, despite there being absolutely no such evidence against him. It goes to the credit of democratic revolutionary movement in Punjab that it has massively resisted all these attempts by mobilizing various sections of the people. A large number of prominent intellectuals of Punjab under the leadership of noted peoples’ dramatist Gursharan Singh formed a ‘Democratic Front Against Operation Green Hunt’ and held state-wide conventions in 15 main cities and 20 villages/towns, which were addressed by Sh. Himanshu Kumar, Gandhian Social Worker from Dantewara. The state police kept close surveillance on these conventions, and attempted to video record the proceedings by smuggling their agents under the garb of fictitious press/TV reporters. They even attempted to video photograph all the audiences. When the organizers objected to it a case under Section 384 (dacoity), 506 (intimidation), 148, 149 IPC (rioting armed with deadly weapons) was got registered at Giddarbaha Distt Mukatsar against members of the Democratic Front and Sh. Himanshu Kumar.

In continuation with this, on 28.7.2010, at about 07.00 PM Daljit Singh, aged about 60 years resident of Hazura Kapura Basti Bathinda was abducted from his house by 15/20 armed policemen in plain clothes, posing as members of a power theft checking team. His wife Sunder Pal Kaur, who is employed as Senior Telephone Supervisor in BSNL at Bathinda raised hue and cry and a large number of neighbourers assembled. On being asked the plain-clothes men refused to divulge their identity but some people in the crowd recognized them to be from CIA Police Station Bathinda. They refused to tell under which FIR or offence Daljit Singh was being arrested or where he is to be kept and when he shall be produced in court. When contacted, the SSP Bathinda expressed total ignorance about the incident. The people apprehended that the armed abductors, who were in fact policemen in mufti, might cause physical harm to Daljit Singh or implicate him in some false criminal case. Advocate N.K.Jeet, President Lok Morcha Punjab, Advocate Balwant Singh Dhillon, President Lawyers For Justice & Democratic Rights, and Gurdeep Singh, Editor AJ DI AWAZ, a Punjabi Daily, immediately brought this incident in the notice of press, Human Rights Commission, Punjab & Haryana High Court, DGP Punjab, Chief Secretary Govt of Punjab & other authorities. They contacted the SHO Police Station CIA Staff Bathinda, who admitted, having taken Daljit Singh in custody and demanded his identity proof. A large number of people along with the Corporator of the area went to the police station. The police, in order to scare away the people alleged that the said Daljit Singh is in fact Jagdish Kumar, a Naxalite leader, who has been underground since 1992, and is inciting the people in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh etc to join the Naxalite movement. They further alleged that he has assumed a false name to conceal his real identity. The people asked the police officials, to disclose the offence and FIR under which he has been arrested. The police did not have any reply. When the people expressed their apprehension that Daljit Singh might be implicated in some false criminal case or physically liquidated, the police agreed to record his formal arrest, but said that the offences under which he was to charged were yet to be determined and shall be added afterwards in consultation with the I.G.of Police.

The police afterwards registered a case FIR No. 35 dated 28.7.2010 at Police Station Thermal Bathinda against him under section 420 (Cheating), 467, 468, 471 of the IPC, on the allegation that he changed his name from Jagdish Kumar to Daljit Singh and got prepared Ration Card & other documents in the said name. However the police failed to provide any information as to whom he has cheated and in which manner. On 29.7.2010, the police presented him in the court of Sh. K.K.Singla JMIC Bathinda and sought his police remand for 10 days for affecting recoveries of the documents such as Ration Card etc. The Ration Card was immediately placed on record of the court. Thereafter no ground was left for seeking police remand. Then the police came out with another story. They claimed that Daljit Singh is a Naxalite leader and a special team of the Intelligence Bureau has arrived from Chandigarh to interrogate him and as such he should be sent to police custody. The court after hearing the arguments granted police remand for one day, with the rider that the while interrogating, the police should bear in mind that the accused is an arthritis & heart patient and he should be provided with medical care and necessary medicines. In police remand, Daljit Singh was subjected to lengthy and strenuous interrogation by the officials of the I.B., Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police and various other agencies.
In order to cause a scare amongst the people, the police resorted to spreading lies and disinformation. In a press note issued by the District police, Daljit Singh was described as a top Naxalite leader of CPRCPI (ML) who has taken command of the organization after the death of Com. Harbhajan Singh Sohi. He was further accused of having remained underground for the last 40 years under an assumed name and inciting various organizations of farmers, agri-labour, and employees etc to resort to agitations against the Govt policies and indulge in violence. Despite this, hundreds of people including a large number of women came to the court to express moral support and solidarity with Daljit Singh when on 30.7.2010; he was again produced in the court. Earlier residents of Hazura Kapura Basti held rallies to condemn his illegal arrest and false implication and had decided to stand with and support his family. The ‘Maoist’ and the ‘Naxalite’ tag put on him by the police, did not scare them. Daljit Singh was also in high spirits. He raised slogans such as ‘Inquilab-Zindabad’, ‘Long live the Communist Revolutionary movement’ etc.

On 30.7.2010, the Police sought his police remand for 10 days on the plea that he was to be interrogated by the Intelligence sleuths at Joint Interrogation Center at Amritsar, as he was a Maoist. The police even claimed to have recovered some Maoist literature from him. This plea was vigorously opposed by the defense lawyers stating that the police cannot indulge in a fishing inquiry and shall have to limit its investigation to the accusations made in the FIR. They further pleaded that changing name is not an offence. Moreover he has been using the changed name for the last three decades and it has been duly recorded in the service record of his wife as well as birth and school record of his children. The court refused to remand him in police custody and instead sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Although under mass pressure, the police attack has been temporarily repulsed, but there is every possibility that Daljit Singh may be falsely implicated in a fresh criminal case or named as an accused in any pending criminal case at Bathinda or at any other place in Punjab or in any other state, to subject him to physical torture. The police is also looking for Jaspal Jassi, Editor of a revolutionary democratic monthly magazine ‘SURAKH REKHA’, currently being published from Bathinda. Their intention is to silence all the pro-people voices of dissent. Therefore democratic minded people shall have to remain vigilant.

Protest Continues in Jhargram

2010-07-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Source: Sambad Pratidin, 22 July 2010

Jhargram has been virtually cut-off from other parts of the district as the PCPA have blocked roads for an indefinite period at different points by digging up ditches and dumping tree trunks. The joint forces have been trying to remove the blockades.

Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 students from a dozen secondary schools at Dohijuri, Radhanagar, Shebayatan and Binpur today took out a rally in Bachhurdoba area of Jhargram town under the banner of Chhatra Samaj.

The Chhatra Samaj demanded that the joint forces be recalled from Junglemahal, that torture of innocent villagers by the joint forces be stopped and that medical tests of six housewives of Sonamukhi, a village in Jhargram, whom the police had allegedly raped on 30 June, be done and the guilty be punished.

The agitating students, however, could not venture further inside the town as the police chased them away. The district leaders of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights, in a deputation submitted to the district magistrate on 8 July, also demanded that the alleged incident of rape of Sonamukhi women be probed impartially and that medical tests be done.

Source: The Statesman, 22 July 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=335405&catid=42

Women march to Jhargram to protest against ‘police torture’

2010-07-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Source: Bartaman 21 July 2010

Source: Anandabazar Patrika 21 July 2010

Source: Sanbad Pratidin 21 July 2010

Statesman News Service
MIDNAPORE, 20 JULY: While the West Midnapore district police have been trying to build up police-public relations anew and wean people away from the clutches of the PCPA and Maoists in general in Junglemahal by organising a football tournament, about 6,000 women including school girls from different places under the banner of the Nari Izzat Banchao Committee (NIBC), a newly-formed women’s wing of the PCPA, marched to Jhargram town today to protest against alleged police atrocities on the women of Sonamukhi in Jhargram and Gosainbundh, Dohijuri and Baghasole in Binpur.
While three such rallies were stopped by joint forces outside the town, one rally managed to reach the office of the Jhagram SDO from where they were turned away by the police. They wanted to meet the SDO, Mr C Murugan, alleging inaction on his part, in failing to inquire into the alleged rape of six housewives at Sonamukhi by the joint forces on 30 June. However, the police made a lathi charge to disperse the protesters and detained four of them.
After receiving written complaints from the tortured women early this month, the SDO assured them that he will see that their allegations will be inquired into. However, the matter was not inquired into, nor were the guilty policemen punished, the NIBC leaders alleged. The SDO said that his inquiry report was given to the district magistrate and that the police will investigate the matter. “I have no knowledge whether they lodged complaint with the police,” the SDO said.
In Gosainbundh, Dohijuri and Baghasole in Binpur, in the name of flushing out Maoists from their homes, the joint forces beat up several residents on Friday. However, 16 injured people of Gosainbundh were denied treatment in Jhargram Sub-divisional Hospital and in retaliation, a plan to ransack the hospital and the SDO’s office and bungalow on Sunday was made. The police prevented this by arresting 30 villagers.

Source: The Statesman, 21 July 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=335297&catid=42

PCPA land redistribution on in Lalgarh

2010-07-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

Rajib Chatterjee

KOLKATA, 18 JULY: In a desperate bid to keep its support base intact, the Maoists-backed Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) has started taking possession of land owned by CPI-M leaders in Lalgarh and distributing them among the landless tribals.

The PCPA activists are also “leasing out” ponds in villages to the people to help them earn their livelihood through pisciculture. A large number of ‘co-operatives’ have been set up in areas.

A PCPA leader, Mr Manoj Mahato, said about 150 bighas of land, owned by CPI-M leaders, have so far been distributed among the local people in the last two months.

When asked for comment on the matter, state home secretary, Mr Samar Ghosh said: “These activities may have been taking place in an isolated manner”.

"Besides leasing out ponds to poor tribals, we are also digging up more water bodies at several villages in Junglemahal to encourage pisciculture," Mr Mahato added.

According to the PCPA leader, a water body covering over 12 bighas of land at Kalsidanga village near Jhargram has recently been “leased out” to a cooperative formed by the villagers. “Pisciculture is now taking place in the pond that was under the possession of a CPI-M leader. The CPI-M man, who had captured the pond illegally, deserted the village because of mass anger against him. We have done nothing wrong,” Mr Mahato told The Statesman.

Similarly, several ponds were “freed from the clutches of CPI-M leaders” at Rameswarpur, Bandarboni, Modhupur, Baisadi villages in Jhargram before being leased out to cooperatives.

“All the ponds were dug up on vested land and later captured by local CPI-M leaders. There was no initiative from the government to free the vested land from the possession of the CPI-M leaders. But during the Lalgarh movement, the people mustered courage and took control of the water bodies. We have extended our support to the people,” the PCPA leader said.

Source: The Statesman 19 July 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=335134&catid=35

C.P.I. (Maoist)-an assement

2010-07-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Harsh Thakor

[The view presented in this article does not reflect the view of this blog. There are so many debates on the theoretical line of Indian revolution. This article revisits some and opens few.]

Today, the C.P.I. (Maoist) is carrying out a major movement in the areas of Jharkhand, Bihar and Dandkaraya. Without doubt they have committed serious errors and have serious theoretical flaws, but any Maoist critique must applaud their effort. To have created such bastions of revolutionary struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Dandkaranya is an achievement of historical proportions. In Lalgarh they made great efforts to enhance the movement. Base areas have yet to be created but with great tenacity they have defended their guerilla zones. The fact that they have heroically resisted the enemy forces f or a period of 30 years and form a Central Peoples Guerilla army to become the strongest Maoist party in the World when no Socialist Country in the World exists and when the forces of globalization are acting as tentacles is one of the greatest achievements in the annals of the world Communist Movement.

The merger of the Maoist Communist Centre of India with the Peoples War group was s a remarkable event as Earlier the erstwhile C.P.I.M.L (Peoples War) and Erstwhile C.P.I. (M.L) Party Unity (Before and after they united in 1998) insisted that the 1969 Charu Mazumdar C P.I.M.L. was the re-organised party and not just a revolutionary organization. Now both the Charu Mazumdar C.P.I. (M.L) and the Maoist Communist Centre are recognized as the 2 original revolutionary parties... The most outstanding work of the Maoists has been in Chhattisgarh where they have been able to create alternative democratic Organs..In Lalgarh they merged with the masses like fish in water literally swimming with the tide. Above all they are now working with an All-India perspective spreading all over like wildfire.

History

Earlier Some historic meetings and rallies took place of mass fronts led by such forces like the rally of the 1992 and 1994 rallies of the All-India Peoples Resistance Forum ,the 2000 conference of the A.I.P.R.F., The All-India Revolutionary Student Federation conferences In 1985,1989,1993 ad 1997,as well as the 1985 and 1990 conferences of the Andhra Pradesh Rytu Coolie Sanghams.(Peasants organization)Almost 4 lakh peasants assembled for the Rytu Coolie Sangham conferences and on the day it looked like a red flame burning all over the place. The ‘Go to-Village campaigns of the Andhra Pradesh Radical Students Union will also have a permanent place in history where students integrated with the revolutionary peasant struggles for the first time..The author will never forget the 1994 A.I.P.R.F.rally in Calcutta where the gathering of the road masses looked like a tornado appearing and the 1997 All-India Seminar in Mumbai on the sham of 50 years of independence. I t dealt with all aspects from Democratic Rights to anti Imperialist, to revolutionary Peasant Struggles, Working Class Struggles and Nationality Struggles. What was also unforgettable was their All-India campaign against state repression in Andhra,Bihar and Dandkaranya in 1999,mainly in Bihar and Punjab. They covered area after area like a river flowing and literally lighting a torch against state repression. In earlier phase in Andhra Pradesh(erstwhile Peoples War group) it brilliantly braved the State forces inspite of intensive repression in Andhra Pradesh in 1985 and 1991.A powerful Students and peasants Movement was built and the mass organizations heroically survived working underground in conditions of repression. A series of conferences were staged by fronts combating severe repression. The erstwhile Party Unity group built revolutionary mass movements in a huge range of spheres from Democratic Rights,to land distribution, minimum wages, struggle for fishing rights , International issues, protests against Communalism. Etc.which spread from in Jehanabad and Palamau to other areas like Bhagalpur Gaya,etc.Inspite ofa ban on the their peasant organization, Mazdur Kisan Sangram Samiti, the organization resurrected itself to work under the banner of the Mazdur Kisan Sangrami Parishad.

The Maoist Communist centre survived for 35 years against the onslaught of the Indian State with phenomenal tenacity in Bihar and Jharkhand conducting a series of military actions comparable to the intensity of that of the Chinese Communist Party and forming revolutionary peasant committees..It did remarkable work in building the Nari Mukti Sangh-a classical Revolutionary women’s Front It’s final merger into the C.P.I(Maoist) is a historical achievement.

Defective mass revolutionary approach and military line.

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Several Inter-Group Clashes occurred in the early and mid-1990’sbetween the People`s War Group and other groups like the Chandra Pulla Reddy Group, where the masses were reduced to helpless spectators. Armed Squads combated members from other groups struggling to maintain their bases! This was an incorrect approach to the question of mass line and political struggle. One Group always feared the entry of another group in their area of work..Later the same trend was reflected in clashes between the M.C.C and the erstwhile Party Unity Groups in Bihar. The The major hurdle of historical importance in the revolutionary movement was the period of armed Group clashes between the squads of the Maoist Communist Centre with the Party Unity Group from the mid 1990-s. Group members attacked and killed each other. It showed the wrong understanding towards mass revolutionary line in certain aspects. This had a damaging effect on the revolutionary movement.It reduced the masses to helpless spectators. Peoples War Group maintained that cadres from other groups were killed on entirely tactical grounds and they were not clashes in their statements and documents’

At the conclusion of the decade of the 1990’s 3 important leaders of the People’s war Group were slain in a police encounter. A massive anti-repression programme took place in Andhra Pradesh in December 1999.Such Comrades were truly the best sons of the land heroically laying down their lives for liberation. Various communist Revolutionary Groups belonging to various groups participated...The People`s War Group launched retaliatory Actions to give a severe blow to the Indian State. After the armed Actions the People`s War Group made a self-critical assesment stating"Even when there were ample opportunities to educate and involve the People,our cadres only resorted to protest actions.These are incorrect actions. Because of non-participation of people in such actions,the outcome of such actions, is contrary to the impact we wanted"Thus this group was not aware that such armed actions of Party Guerilla Squads, by themselves cannot succeed in their basis and ultimate objective of defeating the reactionary State.Infact the people have to own such actions and voluntarily participate in them with revolutionary political Consciousness and confidence in their own organized strength.Even in the post encounter Joint Protests the leading rank of the People`s War Group remained pre-occupied with either the representative team protests or armed retaliatory actions.-thus their organized attempts for militant mass attempts for militant mass political mobilisations remained Sparse. True the C.P.I.Maoist has mass support in major areas in Bihar, Jharkhand and Dandakaranya , has guerilla zone s in some respects similar to those of the Chinese Revolutionary period during their armed struggle and have carried out magnificient retaliatory actions in self defence against enemies-t(particularly in Chattisgarh by the P.G.A.) and been the only revolutionary Organization to have ever seriously attempted protracted Peoples Warfare in recent times. However their pockets of revolutionary resistance are dictated by their Armed squads. Even if they partially integrate with mass movements armed squads often are used to give shelter to mass organizations and replace peoples independent actions. They are losing more and more cadre day by day and are unable to consistently replace the fighting forces lost..In West Bengal,Jharkhand and Chattisharh retaliatory actions took place in retaliation of torture and killing of mass sympathizers and cadres, like the blowing up of a police jeep or landmining and killing innocent people .In revolutionary struggle ethics is an important question and revolutionary violence does not justify the killing of innocent people. The C.P.I.(Maoist)have eliminated may people suspected of being police informers who could have been innocent on grounds of their safety.In the authors view this is violation of revolutionary ethics.

Base areas and Guerilla Zones

It must be noted that nowhere in Andhra Pradesh,Dandkaranya,Jharhand or Bihar has any struggle been developed even half as strong as the Telengana armed struggle.. Quoting the eminent intellectual and critique of Naxalite Movement Sumanta Banerjee ‘It should be pointed out however that despite their survival for almost four decades, the Naxalites do not yet control any large area comparable to the `liberated zone' that the Chinese Communists could establish in Yenan within a decade or so in the 1930-40 period. They have not been able to reach out to the masses of the peasantry in the vast countryside of other parts of India, and have expanded only to a few isolated pockets and stretches of areas inhabited mainly by tribal and landless poor. Closeted in their rural underground shelters, the Naxalite leaders have ignored the task of setting up bases among the large number of workers both in the organized industrial and the unorganized sectors. They have also failed to build up a regular army like the Chinese People's Liberation Army, or the Vietnamese military organization – that helped both the Chinese and the Vietnamese to effectively fight their enemies.. The failure to establish a `liberated zone' has frustrated their original strategy of setting up an alternative order to bring about agrarian and social reforms. Instead, all their energies are now devoted to defensive actions to preserve their pockets of influence, and offensive assaults which are degenerating into acts of terrorism against soft targets like village headmen or junior government employees.’ In the author’s view the military line has shades of Che Guevera’s focoist tendency.. Historically there is a difference between revolutionary base areas and guerilla zones. Quoting Mao’s writings on military line, “When guerilla Warfare began, the guerillas could not completely occupy the places, but could only make frequent raids, they are areas which are held by the guerilla forces when they are present and the by the puppet regime when they are gone. Thus they are not guerilla bases but zones. These zones can be converted into bases by consolidating guerilla warfare and after large portions of enemy troops have been annihilated, and the puppet regime destroyed.The mass organizations also formed as well as people’s local armed forces. The extent to which the enemy is destroyed is the vital factor.” The C.P.I. (Maoist). in implementation of line often confused the difference between forming a guerilla zone and a base area. Today the trend is similar. In their zones they retaliate and defend their areas through their guerilla squad actions and are not able to replenish their losses. They do not have sufficient support of the broad masses. There is insufficient development of mass agrarian revolutionary struggle and revolutionary democratic movement. A maoist mass military line has not been built.For many a action there is lack of adequate preparation of agrarian revolutionary Movement. What was defective was the nature of squad actions not properly evaluating the co-relation of the enemy with the masses..Over-emphasis has been placed on armed struggle without combining effective mass struggles. To a considerable extent the military actions reflect anarchist tendencies and have not adhered to a the maoist mass military line Today it’s all India Front the Revolutionary Democratic Front can hardly function openly like the A.I.P.R.F could earlier. t has been dealt a severe blow In states like Orissa and West Bengal, and is for all moral purposes banned in states of armed Movements. Unable to withstand the counter-onslaught of the state the mass organizations of such groups were virtually crushed and forced to function underground. Now mass struggle is completely substituted by armed Struggle. They have not created the level of preparation for armed struggle which was done In the Telengana Armed Struggle of 1946-1951 where work was initiated in the AndhraMahasabha ,or in the 1924-1927 period in China where Peasant associations were formed and a base was built for mass agrarian revolutionary Movement., or even the preparation period for he launching of armed struggles in Phillipines or Peru I the periods of 1959-1968 a 1968-1980 respectively. A lthough M.C.C built a classically Red Defence corpses, there was hardly adequate development of agrarian revolutionary Movement in many areas to launch all-out struggle against the State.Infact it almost totally neglected open mass work and did not even form a mass based peasant organization. Similarly although Andhra Pradesh had a strong peasant Movement in the late 1970’s often even in the stage before armed Struggle was officially launched in 1980,acts of “Individual annihilation of the class enemy's were initiated. Slogans were raised by the student Organization not compatible with the mass consciousness.”The Party Unity group ‘”in Bihar although forming huge open fronts like the M.K.S.P or Bharat Naujavan Sabha were unable to devise a correct policy in attaching armed wings to peasant fronts. Today the Peoples Guerilla Army has been formed, without the development of base areas or developed Agrarian Revolution. Even in the period of launching armed struggle the C.P.C. gave attention to the building of mass Movements.

Theoretical Weaknesses

On the trade Union Front the C.P.I.(Maoist) has not been able to form democratically functioning trade Unions and often has ended up giving political slogans of revolutionary Armed Struggle not compatible with the political capacity of broad sections of the Working Class.The Working class was not fully explained the link between their interests and the agrarian revolutionary movement but slogans glorifying heroes of Armed squads are raised by the Peoples War Group. The relationship of the movements in the towns with the major cities is like a bark of a tree with its branches. There are strong tendencies of forming mass organizations as front organizations. Only when the major section of a mass organization accepts the politics of the revolutionary party can mass organizations function as front organisations.Although such sections have formed mass organizations there are still tendencies of confusing the mass organizations with the Party. Historically, the ideology of MaoTse Tung thought was introduced in manifestos of mass organisations, which was an erroneous tendency.This was true of organizations like Radical Students Union and All-India League for Revolutionary Culture.Although on the practical plane they lead a powerful mass democratic movement there is still not enough democratization as needed in a mass movement within a mass organization. Mass organisations were used as party platforms. Mao always stressed on separating the role of the mass organisations with the Party .He always stressed that The Chinese Communist Party had to be differentiated from the Youth league and the Peasants Associations. True major rallies have been led containing sympathizers but this is not necessarily mean that the mass line is being carried out..

They have also wrongly replaced the term ‘Maoism’ with ‘Mao Tse Tung Thought.’This is wrong understanding of the present era which is actually the era of ‘Leninism.’Even after the Chinese revolution it was called the “thought of Mao Tse Tung” and not ‘Maoism. Replacing Mao Tes Tung Thought with Maoism means replacing the era of Imperialism or Leninism .To the author this does not make a difference to the practical work but has an implication to the theoretical era.It is significant that C.P.I(Maoist) adopts the thesis that it is the era of the “total collapse of Imperialism”which was adopted by the Charu Mazumdar CPI(M.L) 40 years ago.The C.C.P,always mantained that it was the era of Leninism and Imperialism . A very important question is that of the International Line. and approach towards the formation of a Communist International.....Today the organization still maintains relations with the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, which is defective. The R.I.M.is virtually defunct because it made hasty arrangements for he formation of a new Communist International where the proletarian revolutionary development was most inadequate worldwide .

There is also an erroneous understanding with regards to the Dalit or scheduled caste movements. The Organization has not applied a correct class analytical study and often replaced class struggle with Caste Struggle.Dalit Parties which collaborate with Ruling Class politics have been supported like he Dalit Panther and Republican Party of India. The Dalit Mahasabha has been supported in Andhra Pradesh. Even In Bihar in the agrarian revolutionary movement there has been a strong tendency to support Ruling class Dalit Organisations.Killings have taken place often on caste line instead of implementing class struggle.)It is significant that even in earlier periods the organization (that time Peoples War Group) supported the 1989 Chinese Student Movement as well as the movements in East European Countries toppling the Revisionist Regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989 ,not taking into account the petit bourgeois nature of the agitations ,virtually devoid of proletarian content. Similarly they have supported nationality struggles devoid of proletarian content like the J.K.L.F.in Kashmir,L.T.T.E.in Sri Lanka, the U.L.F.A in Assam Etc.True they have correctly defended the right of nationalities to secede but have not analyzed that the nationality struggles are led by petit-bourgeois ideology . The C.P.I.Maoist regards itself as the re-organised Communist Party and that after the merger of C.P.I.M.L (Peoples War Group. with the Maoist Communist Centre the Proletarian party was formed.This is also wrong as there are other genuine groups in in the revolutionary camp.They ignore the groups from the Chandra Pulla Reddy or Nagi Reddy Line. Another erroneous tendency is accepting Election ‘boycott’ as a strategic slogan and rejecting participation in election throughout the revolutionary Course.Even Comrades Lenin and Mao asserted that in certain situations participation in parliamentary elections could be tactically deployed.There has also been a trend in areas to impose the slogan of ‘Boycott the Election’, instead of stressing on ‘building the revolutionary organs of Peoples Power.”

Final Complement

One of the greatest tributes to the C.P.I. (Maoist)is the courage which they are displaying in openly projecting their struggles, line and policies in journals like Peoples March and on blogs on the internet. They have made an International stamp. ‘Peoples March’ has heroically combated the repression of the State and even come back after facing a ban. Such an open journal of serious revolutionary organization was unheard in the previous decades. It is not for nothing that they have won the hearts of people worldwide including intellectuals like Arundhati Roy or Amit Bhattacharya.A veteran comrade of the Naxalite Movement in India,Com Sunder Navalkar staunchly defends the organization, feeling it is the only serious revolutionary force in India implementing a mass line and defends their practice as being almost perfect. However she disagrees with the organization on the question of upholding ‘nationality struggles’,upholding “Maoism’ and lacking ‘urban’ work.(I have marked all these points earlier )Even Com.Suniti Kumar Gosh acknowledges that they have mass support.

Great efforts have made to rectify the past errors and a serious plan to start urban work with mass-line approach has been launched. In areas where they have faced severe repression they have even floated effective platforms for survival. If they could extricate themselves from their wrong trends it may not be a long time before the India New Democratic Revolution would emerge.The manner in which they have combated the state repression in different junctures through organizing people’s court or famine raids was remarkable as well as their protests in term of armed actions or mass protests. .The C.P.I. (Maoist) is burning a red flame in the annals of International Communist History.

‘Anderson was assured safe passage’

2010-06-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

17 June 2010
NEW DELHI, 17 JUNE: Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was assured “safe passage” before he came to India in 1984 in the wake of the Bhopal gas disaster, the then foreign secretary Mr MK Rasgotra said today, adding a new twist to the renewed row over the tragedy.
The decision, Mr Rasgotra said, was taken by the Union home ministry, then under PV Narasimha Rao, and the Cabinet secretary. Rajiv Gandhi was subsequently told about the decision, to which he did not object. “I got in touch with the home ministry and I got in touch with the Cabinet secretary. I told them what Gordon Streeb (the then deputy chief of the US mission here) had asked for,” Mr Rasgotra said. This was after a request from the US Embassy asking for a safe passage for Anderson, he said.

His comments came on the eve of the meeting of the Group of Ministers to discuss various aspects of the fallout of the court verdict in the gas tragedy case.

Mr Rasgotra said in an interview to CNN-IBN that the decision to give Anderson safe passage was taken “the same day”. “He (Streeb) said Anderson wanted to come here. There was a tragic situation and he wanted to see things himself, wanted to offer his condolences but he would come only if granted safe passage,” Mr Rasgotra said.

He said he could not say if the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mr Arjun Singh was unaware of the safe passage, which resulted in Anderson's brief arrest in Bhopal.

PTI & SNS

Source: The Statesman 18 June 2010

http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=331529&catid=35

Cops parade deranged man as Maoist

2010-06-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

SALBONI (WEST MIDNAPORE): The "dreaded" Maoist captured by joint forces on Wednesday the only one apparently caught alive at the encounter site where eight rebels lay dead is a 20-year-old mute and mentally challenged youth from Duli village. No wonder, police haven't been able to make him speak.

In what may cast a shadow on the way the police are rounding up suspects, Rameshwar Murmu has been branded a hardcore Maoist and slapped with the most stringent of charges, including sedition under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The Midnapore court on Thursday remanded him in 15 days judicial custody. While on Wednesday, the cops claimed the "captured Maoist" was too stunned at the loss of so many comrades to speak and admitted that he hadn't said a word, Rameshwar's father, Bankim Murmu, cried, "My son can't speak. He may scream if you hit him, but he can't speak a word." The Murmus live right behind Wednesday's encounter site.

Bankim says Rameshwar suffers from congenital epilepsy and developed ENT problems at a very young age leading to loss of speech and hearing. He produced medical records to support his claim. "He can only make barely legible sounds. It affected his behaviour and he lost his mental balance. That is why he could not pursue education beyond class IV," a tearful Bankim told TOI on Thursday.

Bankim owns a mud house and a small plot of land on the edge of Ranjya forest where the bloody encounter took place on Wednesday. His elder son, Ram, works in a factory in Orissa.

Recounting Wednesday's developments that led to his son being captured, Bankim said they woke up to the sound of gunfire behind his house. The family rushed out in the direction of the village to avoid being hit.

"My wife Madina was holding Rameshwar's hand as we ran. The gunfire had woken up other villagers as well and they were running helter-skelter. In the melee, Rameshwar broke free and ran back towards the house. I don't know what was on his mind. My wife ran after him. But before she could reach Rameshwar, police caught him. They put a gun to his head and said they would shoot if anyone took a step forward," he said.

The parents could only watch helplessly as the forces led their son away. "We pleaded with them to let him go. We told them that he is mentally challenged and not involved with Maoists. But they refused to listen," said Madina. They don't know where their son has been taken. Nor do they have the courage to go to the police for fear of being thrashed.

According to medical documents, Rameshwar was treated at several places between 2004 and 2006, including ENT specialists at Tarakeshwar in Hooghly and Midnapore. On June 5, 2006, when Rameshwar was 16, he was taken to Anirban Diagnostic Centre Pvt Ltd in Midnapore town (ID B-6884, checked by Dr N Adhikari).

Other villagers, like Sudha Soren and Lakshmi Murmu, confirmed that Rameshwar was mentally challenged. "He never behaved like a normal kid. Now we hear that he has been paraded before TV channels with his hands tied and branded a Maoist," Sudha said.

Rameshwar was bare-bodied and wearing blue shorts when he was caught, an unlikely dress for a guerrilla. Police insist Rameshwar was present alongside senior Maoist leaders Bikash and Akash. "After the gunfight, we caught him hiding behind a hedge. He had a single-barrel gun," a cop said.

Source: Times of India, 18 June 2010

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cops-parade-deranged-man-as-Maoist/articleshow/6060704.cms

Three Intellectuals And Their Arrest In Lalgarh

2010-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Day before yesterday, 15 June 2010 West Midnapur police detained Nisha Biswas, Kaniska Chowdhury, Manik Mondal and three journalists along with other local people at Salboni with alleged Maoist-link. Although the journalists were released later, Nisha Biswas, Kaniska Chowdhury and Manik Mondal were arrested. They were sent to jail custody by Jhargram court.

Nisha Biswas, scientist of a CSIR institute in Kolkata, Kaniska Chowdhury, a professor of a college and Manik Mondal, a well known writer are human right activists and have been associated with peoples' movement for years. Nisha regularly participates in various programmes and street corners organized by Lalgarh Mancha and Sanhati Udyog.

Lalgarh remains besieged by the state armed forces for the last one year. No human right activists are allowed to visit. Statements issued by the police and government officials prevail in mainstream media and remain the major, if not the only source of information regarding Lalgarh. Nobody can think this as a healthy situation, especially when incidents of severe human rights violation by joint forces surface out. Recently three open letters were issued by People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) regarding different issues of People's resistance of Lalgarh and human right violation by joint forces.

It was therefore timely decision of these intellectuals of Kolkata to visit Lalgarh for having first hand experience of the situation of Lalgarh. When state does not allow any human right activist to visit a place, a true activist must earnestly try to reach there to remain honest to his conscience. Given the prevailing state repression, their visits have to be in clandestine. And, a clandestine visit has long been cherished by current West Bengal Chief Minister; remember he spent some time for translating "Clandestine in Chille" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Then what went wrong with Nisha Biswas, Kaniska Chowdhury and Manik Mondal?

It was shown in a TV channel that they were booked as they participated along with others in a meeting of PCAPA. We do not know whether they really participated in such meeting. Even if they participated, how can it be an offense? This organization is not a banned organization, it works for democratic rights; government officials including state election commissioner met the representatives of PCAPA couple of times till June 2009. And a meeting between them was scheduled to be held on 14 July 2009, which did not happen as operation of joint forces started on 18 June 2009. Then what goes wrong if people participate in the meeting of PCAPA? Is it just because it has raised some important issues which state does not like? Is it because of the mobilization of masses behind their demands? If so, then any democratic individual has to take the side of PCAPA. And that was exactly what these intellectuals did.

Government and police officials sometimes say that the movement of PCAPA has its own trajectory and with time it became closer to the Maoists. It is ridiculous. PCAPA and its movement should be judged on the basis of its content—on the basis of their demands, not on the basis of how close Maoists are to them. People can build movement on several issues. Any organization can find those issues relevant and extend their support. Only with the malicious intention a movement can be assessed on the basis of these supporter organizations.

With such steps against activists working for democratic rights the government gradually establishes the fact that whatever exists is nothing but fascist rule. Such notion when roots in people's mind nowhere help the ruler, rather expedite their fall. India will not be an exception.

17 June 2010

Did UPA back Dow in 2006?

2010-06-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

Press Trust of India
WASHINGTON/BHOPAL, 15 JUNE: An RTI response issued by the Indian Embassy here suggests that the UPA government had assured Dow Chemicals, the parent company of Union Carbide, in 2006 that it would not be held liable for the Bhopal gas tragedy ~ even when the matter was sub-judice.
In a letter to the then Indian Ambassador to the USA, Mr Ronen Sen, Dow Chemicals CEO Mr Andrew Liveris claimed that the Indian government had said that his company was not liable for the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. A copy of Mr Liveris' letter dated 8 November, 2006, was obtained by US-based Mr Somu Kumar of the International Campaign for Justice for Bhopal from the Indian Embassy by invoking the Right to Information Act. A copy of the letter and other documents obtained by Mr Kumar were circulated in the Indian media here.
“Given the statements made by Government of India representatives... that Dow is not responsible for Bhopal and will not be pursued by the GoI, it will be important to follow through to ensure concrete, sustained actions are taken that are consistent with these statements,” Mr Liveris said in his letter to Mr Sen. .
“It is shocking that GoI representatives had announced that Dow was not liable even when an Indian court was still deliberating on this issue,” Mr Kumar said. Members of the International Campaign for Justice for Bhopal, including Mr Kumar demonstrated outside the Indian Embassy here.
In 2004, Jabalpur High Court began hearing the case on who should pay for the sanitisation of the defunct Carbide plant in Bhopal and in 2005, minister for chemicals and fertilisers Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, sought Rs 100 crore from Dow for the clean-up. In his letter, Mr Liveris sought withdrawal of the application seeking financial deposits for the clean-up.
According to the information provided by the Indian Embassy, Mr Liveris met Ambassador Sen on 21 September, 2005 and followed up the visit with two letters. Mr Liveris also met the then finance minister in New York on the sidelines of an Indo-US CEO Forum meeting on 25 October, 2006. He met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 14 September, 2005 in New York during a CEOs’ luncheon co-hosted by the Indian envoy.

Meanwhile in an embarrassment to the BJP, its senior leader and Madhya Pradesh minister Mr Babulal Gaur, today said the Union government headed by his party too had been “totally apathetic” to the problems of the Bhopal gas victims and that Mr Arjun Singh should not be blamed alone for the events after the disaster.

Source: The Statesman 16 June 2010

http://thestatesman.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=331329&catid=35

Complaint filed in court against Arjun Singh in connection with Bhopal gas tragedy

2010-06-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

In Madhya Pradesh, a Bhopal lawyer has filed a private complaint in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) seeking legal action against senior Congress leader and the then chief minister Arjun Singh, his son and congress MLA Ajay Singh, the then chief secretary of the state Brahamswaroop and Hanumganj police station in charge Surinder Singh, who had lodged a FIR in connection with Bhopal gas tragedy.

The Complainant in his plaint has alleged that the respondents had hatched a conspiracy under which the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation Warren Anderson was allowed to escape from Bhopal after his arrest.

On the other hand Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh has admitted having received a donation of one lac fifty thousand rupees from the Union Carbide for his Churhat Children’s Welfare Fund in 1983. However, saying that he is not a spokesperson of his father, he declined to comment on his father’s role in the release of Warren Anderson.

Meanwhile a group of gas activists has written to US president Barrack Obama asking him to order judicial processes that will fix the accountability of US corporations and individuals responsible for Bhopal gas tragedy.

Source: http://www.samachartoday.com/complaint-filed-in-court-against-arjun-singh-in-connection-with-bhopal-gas-tragedy/5348

Bhopal news leakage disaster

2010-06-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Rajinder Puri
In Bhopal leaking gas killed people. From Bhopal leaking news is killing reputations. Arjun Singh ordered the release of Warren Anderson after earlier arresting him. Why did he do that? He is under a cloud. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked his ministers to consider the Dow Chemical proposal to waive its financial liability in lieu of helping obtain foreign investment in India. He is under a cloud. Chief Justice Ahmedi who reduced the criminal liability in the Bhopal case later headed the hospital trust set up by the accused. This was gross violation of judicial propriety. He is under a cloud. Chidambaram and Kamal Nath lobbied for Dow Chemical with the government to write off the compensation for Bhopal victims due from it in return for promised foreign investment. Both are under a cloud – but enough! There is little point in mentioning names. Why pick on a few individuals? The entire political class is under a cloud.
However Rajiv Gandhi is not under a cloud. No Congress leader dares to name him. Rajiv was Prime Minister when Anderson was released in Bhopal. He was Prime Minister when Anderson was allowed to fly from Delhi to the USA. He was in Bhopal with Arjun Singh on the very day and at the very time when the latter reversed his earlier decision of arresting Anderson to order his release and fly him to Delhi in a State aircraft.
Rajiv Gandhi alone could have been responsible for the release of Anderson. The PM’s principal secretary PC Alexander has confirmed that the Cabinet meeting convened soon after the Bhopal gas tragedy did not refer to Anderson’s release. Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: “I categorically deny involvement of the then central government.” She is right. Anderson’s release was not ordered by the Central government. It was ordered personally by Rajiv Gandhi who sat next to chief minister Arjun Singh in Bhopal when the latter addressed the press confirming Anderson’s arrest.
Rajiv Gandhi must bear ultimate responsibility for allowing the government’s claim for settlement of US$ 3.3 billion from Union Carbide to be whittled down to a paltry US$ 470 million that was eventually paid. The Supreme Court directed the final settlement of all litigation in the amount of US$ 470 million to be paid by 31 March, 1989. Both the Indian government and Union Carbide accepted the court's direction for payment of US$ 470 million. In May, 1989 the SC offered its rationale for the settlement. It stated that the compensation was higher than ordinarily payable under Indian law.
Did the honourable Judges pay any attention to international law? In the same year 1989 Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in the waters near Alaska. Exxon had to shell out US$ 5 billion for a disaster in which no human lives were lost! Given our recent history it is legitimate to ask: was any amount in the huge gap between 3.3 billion US$ claimed by the government, and 470 million US$ received by it, pocketed by any politician? And let us not be surprised by the SC settlement. After all, the Supreme Court just months earlier overcame its doubts to sentence innocent Kehar Singh to death in the Indira Gandhi assassination case.
Let us not miss the wood for the trees. This issue is not about Rajiv Gandhi or the Congress. All our past political icons deserve scrutiny by scanner. The issue is no longer about the Bhopal gas disaster. The victims are no longer the 500,000 disabled or the 20,000 dead of Bhopal. The issue is the independence of India. The victims are the one billion plus citizens of India. They do not need compensation. They need revolution. They need liberation from the corrupt, venal ruling class that enriched itself by bartering the nation’s independence and self respect during the past six decades.
Yes, six decades! The time has come to recall all the disgraceful betrayals of the national interest since 1947 by those who have ruled us. The time has come to revisit history. The exposures of the Bhopal gas disaster present a defining moment. If India seeks remedy for its decadence and decline the diagnosis must be based upon truth. There is a generation of Indians ignorant of our history. It will need to acquaint itself with the truth. It is available for all those who seek it. If India’s new generation wants a future it will have to fight for it. It will have to fight for the future of the nation. Who knows, it may surprise history by doing just that.

Source: The Statesman, 14 June 2004

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=331061:bhopal-news-leakage-disaster&catid=35:page-one&from_page=search

Chief minister's office told us to fly Anderson to Delhi: Pilot

2010-06-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

10 June 2010

Indo-Asian News Service
BHOPAL, 10 JUNE: A former director of aviation at Bhopal and a pilot have both claimed that the Madhya Pradesh chief minister's office had instructed them to fly former Union Carbide chairman Mr Warren Anderson to Delhi after the Bhopal gas tragedy.
"We got a call from the chief minister's office and were asked to arrange a flight," former director of aviation, Bhopal, Mr RS Sodhi told television channel NDTV. Senior congress leader Mr Arjun Singh was then Madhya Pradesh chief minister.
Mr Sodhi remembered that two cars stopped in front of the aircraft parked at Bhopal airport. "The first car was carrying the superintendent of police and the second one had Mr Warren Anderson and Mr Moti Singh (then district collector)," he said.
"Mr Anderson boarded the plane and we took off," Sodhi said.
A video broadcast by CNN-IBN today and filmed by a French television team Dec 7, 1984 shows a blue Ambassador car with a red beacon going through the airport gates and running on the tarmac. The car, said the channel, belonged to the then district collector and also had Mr Anderson inside.
The pilot who flew the plane has also come forward to talk about the events of that December afternoon. "We waited for Mr Anderson and he came with the superintendent of police and the collector. He got down from the car and we asked him to get in the aircraft… he boarded the plane and I closed the door," reminisced Captain SH Ali.
One hour before reaching Delhi airport, he asked the airport manager to send a car for a VIP, which should be ready once the plane landed. "I took him in the car and dropped him outside the airport manager's room and there was one car waiting for him… that person came and asked him to board the car and he left," said the former pilot.
He remembered that Mr Anderson was "looking tired and upset", but at the time, he was not aware of the identity of his passenger.
But, he was clear that the instructions came from the chief minister's office. "This (order) came from Captain Sodhi. He was our director ~ he gets the information from the chief minister or chief minister's staff or secretary to the chief minister," said Captain Ali.

Source: The Statesman

How Anderson got bail...

2010-06-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

9 June 2010

BHOPAL/HYDERABAD, 9 JUNE: More embarrassing details tumbled out today in the Bhopal gas tragedy case of how former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson got bail immediately after his arrest but the then CBI chief rejected claims that the agency was asked not to pursue his extradition.
Meanwhile, with the verdict in the case coming under an all-round attack, the Central government today reconstituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into a range of issues including the relief and rehabilitation of victims and their families.
The MP government sought to step into the picture, saying it would appeal against the Bhopal court verdict seeking enhancement of the punishment to the convicts. On top of a former CBI official's charge on Anderson's extradition, the then DM of Bhopal came out with his version of how he was asked to ensure bail for the Carbide official hours after his arrest.
“They (Anderson and others) came to Bhopal from Bombay by service flight. They were taken into police custody at the airport and taken to the Union Carbide guest house where they were told that they were under arrest and they were lodged in three separate rooms and the formality of arrest was completed,” former DM Mr Moti Singh told reporters in Bhopal. Then, he said, around 2 p.m. (7 December, 1984), the Chief Secretary called the SP and the DM to his office and told them to release Anderson and put him in the same plane waiting in the airport to go to Delhi. “Accordingly, we went to the place where he was lodged. We observed the formalities of granting him bail. A Carbide employee stood surety and thereafter he was released on bail, taken to the airport and put on a plane to New Delhi,” Mr Singh said.
In Hyderabad, former CBI Director Mr K Vijayarama Rao today rejected claims of a former joint director Mr BR Lall that the agency was asked not to pursue Anderson's extradition from the USA. “The Government of India as well as the CBI did everything they could to extradite Anderson from the US. But, the US refused to allow it,” Mr Rao told reporters. “Their (USA) claim was that the Union Carbide factory was only a holding and that this man (Anderson) cannot be held responsible as he is not directly involved in the running of the factory. We can, however, hold him morally responsible (for the Bhopal gas tragedy),” the former CBI Director said.
Mr Lall yesterday said that he was asked by the Ministry of External Affairs officials not to follow extradition of Anderson when the gas leak took place 26 years ago. Mr Rao recalled that there was a lot of correspondence between the CBI and the MEA and also between the MEA and the US government. “In the course of such correspondence, there may have been a letter from the MEA saying that the US is not allowing the extradition of Anderson. But I can say that at no point was there any pressure on the CBI..” PTI

MEA clarification
NEW DELHI, 9 JUNE: With questions being raised over its role in Warren Anderson’s non-extradition in Bhopal case, the MEA today said it has time and again requested for his extradition, which has been turned down by the USA for want of more “evidential links”. Maintaining that the ministry has “renewed the request for an extradition on a number of occasions, a senior official said the MEA will “proceed on the basis of the collective decision of the government” on the issue. PTI

Source: The Statesman

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=330665&catid=35

Talking points: why justice cannot prevail

2010-06-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

According to Eveready Industries, the successor to Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), there was never any danger of a judgment against the company, consequently no need to provide financially for that eventuality. Whence comes this overweening confidence?

“Trial proceedings before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhopal, on the modified charges framed under the directions of the Supreme Court that commenced in September 1997, are yet to be concluded. As per advice of legal counsel, allegations against the Company are without any firm basis and possibilities of proceedings against the Company, succeeding are extremely remote. Since the charges are very likely to fail, no provision is necessary at this stage.”

Unaudited Standalone Financial Results (Provisional) for the Quarter and year ended March 31, 2010

Will justice be done in Bhopal on June 7, 2010? Read on.

Qu. 1. Will justice be done in Bhopal on June 7?

Justice in Bhopal will be done only if the individuals and corporations responsible for the death of over 25 thousand and toxic exposure and damage to over half a million people are punished in an exemplary manner. The punishment accorded to the individual corporate officials and the corporations must be of such that it deters other corporations and corporate officials from being recklessly indifferent to human life and health.

We think that even if the verdict on June 7 is fully against the nine accused, justice will not be any where near done on the world’s worst corporate massacre.

Firstly, the prime accused in this case are Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), and Warren Anderson and both are absconding from Indian courts since 1992. In the last 18 years, the CBI has not taken the tiniest step to get the authorized representatives of UCC, USA extradited and has made only one unsuccessful attempt in 2003 to get Anderson extradited. The third foreign accused, Union Carbide Eastern Limited, Hong Kong, deregistered itself in 1992 without ever appearing in court and the CBI has not taken any action against this absconding accused. Only a concurrent trial of the foreign accused can adequately address the nature and extent of the crimes committed in the disaster in Bhopal.

Secondly, the charges against the accused are much weaker than they should be. There is ample evidence that individual officials and the corporate boards demonstrated reckless indifference towards the lives and health of the workers in the factory and people in the city. They were manifestly aware that the technology employed in Bhopal was exceptionally hazardous, that cost cutting measures had made it more hazardous still, that 30 major hazards had been identified through a safety audit and that safety and maintenance had been run down to a threadbare basis in advance of an intended sell-off. Yet the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) decided to charge Union Carbide and its officials only with criminal negligence.

For their criminal indifference to human life and health, Union Carbide and its officials should have been charged with culpable homicide (Sec. 300 Part IV of Indian Penal Code punishable by life imprisonment) for running the factory knowing that it was so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.

Thirdly, because of an unjust order of the Supreme Court and the CBI’s inaction, the criminal charges against the Indian corporation and its officials have been further diluted. The order of Justice A M Ahmadi delivered on September 13, 1996 brought down the charge from Sec. 304 Part II of Indian Penal Code (IPC) to Sec. 304 A of the IPC without considering the evidence of the culpability of Union Carbide India Limited and its officials. By reducing the Bhopal disaster to the equivalent of a traffic accident the prison term for the crimes of Bhopal was brought down from 10 years to 2 years. Further, a conviction under Sec. 304 A, does not necessarily lead to imprisonment. It could well be reduced to criminal fines.

Finally, because the CBI has done a shoddy job of prosecuting the Indian corporation and its officials, it is very doubtful that the verdict on June 7 will be fully against the accused.

2. How has the CBI fulfilled its role as a prosecutor?

The CBI has done a shoddy job of prosecuting the Indian and the foreign accused.

a) Despite the fact that the documentary evidence is all available, the CBI has failed to present evidence :

- that demonstrate that UCC, USA and Warren Anderson were well aware in 1973 that the technology for the MIC plant in Bhopal was “untested”

- that show that the design of the Bhopal plant was substantially different and inferior in terms of safety when compared to the MIC plant owned by Union Carbide in Institute, West Virginia, USA.

- that establishes that Keshub Mahindra and other officials knew or should have known about the hazardous design of the plant and the additional hazards due to design modifications.

- that links each of the accused to deliberate acts undermining operational safety such as rewriting of operation manuals, decommissioning the crucial refrigeration unit and eliminating the maintenance supervisor from most work shifts.

- that demonstrate that UCC, UCIL and its senior officials were indifferent to the injuries caused to people in the neighbourhood communities due to routine leaks in the factory prior to the disaster in 1984

b) The CBI has also failed to

- produce the three absconding foreign accused in India court.

- stop accused Union Carbide Eastern Inc., Hong Kong from “disappearing”.

- visit the Institute, West Virginia plant to document the design differences between the two plants that would show that the Bhopal plant was deliberately under designed.

- deliver summons and execute arrest warrants despite being India’s Interpol agency.

- prevent the sale of shares of UCC, USA in UCIL in 1994 thus loosening the grip of the Indian court over the absconding corporation.

- appeal against the order of the Supreme court that diluted criminal charges against Indian accused.

- take action against the sale of Union Carbide’s intellectual property in India while the corporation is absconding from justice.

- make Dow Chemical, USA, current owner of Union Carbide, appear in the Bhopal court despite clear orders.

3. Why did the case against the Indian officials take so long?

The verdict against the Indian accused is now expected 25 years after the disaster in 1984. The CBI filed charges only in 1987. From 1989 to 1991 it was quashed by the Supreme Court’s order on settlement. From 1993 to 1996 the matter was under revision by the State High Court and the Supreme Court which diluted the charges from culpable homicide to death by negligence.

The case involved examination and cross examination of 178 prosecution witnesses and 8 defence witnesses and presenting over 3000 documents before the court. Hearings in the case were usually scheduled once every month but very often there was a gap of two to three months between hearings.

Repeated demands of survivors’ organization to set up a Special Prosecution Cell for effective and quick prosecution was turned down by the government.

4. What needs to be done to bring the absconding accused to trial?

As the Minister in charge, the Prime Minister must:

- create a Special Prosecution Cell in the CBI for effective and timely action on extradition of foreign accused and collection and presentation of evidence against the foreign accused.

- direct CBI to move on extradition of authorized representative of UCC and resend extradition request for Warren Anderson.

- direct CBI to follow the assets of Union Carbide Eastern Inc. to ensure that the representatives of the accused corporation face criminal trial.

- direct CBI to take action on illegal trading of UCC technology in India.

- direct CBI to take legal action so that summons issued against Dow Chemical, USA can be delivered.

Above all, there is need for sea-change in the political will of both the US and Indian administrations for broad assistance and mutual cooperation on the criminal prosecution of the foreign accused.

Source: bhopal.net

City intellectuals voice concern

2010-05-11T10:17:00.001-07:00

KOLKATA, 10 May: Several city based intellectuals today urged the Centre to stop the use of violence in dealing with Maoists in affected areas in the country.
The intellectuals, including Magsaysay award winner, Mahasweta Devi, poet Sankha Ghosh and painter Bivash Chakraborty, urged the Centre to initiate talks with Maoists. The intellectuals while voicing their concerns against Operation Greenhunt apprehended that pursuing the operation can “degenerate into an uncontrollable civil war.”

“Dialogue and not arms is the only way forward : not an option but a compulsion of the situation,” a statement released by these intellectuals said. The statement also expresses regret of the loss of lives of 74 jawans in Dantewada. It also mentions that this loss of lives is a “direct fall out of the government's wrong headed policy of declaring war on the poorest sections of it own people.” The intellectuals urged the Centre to look into issues arising out of the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) signed by the state governments with mining and other industrial houses. These MoUs have led to land grabing and loss of common resources. of these people.

Source: The Statesman 11 May 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=327609&catid=42

Doctors protest harassment by cops

2010-05-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, 4 MAY: Doctors and human rights activists belonging to various organisations will launch a statewide campaign against the alleged harassment of medical practitioners by police in the Maoists dominated districts.
The move comes after the police raided the residence of a doctor at Asansol in Burdwan for allegedly treating some Maoists who got injured in gun battle with the cops in Junglemahal during the past few months.
A section of doctors alleged that several of their colleagues in trouble-torn Junglemahal had to stop practicing fearing arrest for sheltering the Maoists. Some clinics in these three districts were closed down after doctors attached to these faced “harassment” in the hands of police, it was alleged.
"It is a matter of great concern that some medical practitioners in different areas of Midnapore West, Bankura and Bardhamman have been harassed by the police and administration while some others have faced imprisonment,” said Dr Bijon Bera, secretary of the Medical Service Centre, an organisation of medical practitioners.
“In these districts many doctors and health workers have been manhandled by the police on the plea that they had treated some patients who had links with members of the CPI (Maoist). As per medical ethics of our country as also international norms, a doctor has to treat all patients without any prejudice regarding their caste, creed or political association,” Dr Debashis Dutta, a member of another organisation, Peoples Health, said.
In protest against the harassment by the police and administration, the organisations demand that the state government take immediate action to stop such crackdown and punish the cops who have committed atrocities on doctors. According to International Covenant, a lifer and even a war prisoner have the right to have medical treatment. Doctors’ associations have also alleged that family members of some doctors have faced harassment by the police in Junglemahal.

Source: The Statesman 5 May 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=327028&catid=72

Mahasweta’s allegation

2010-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

KOLKATA, 4 MAY: Magsaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi today alleged that hired goons were being used by owners for polluting illegal stone quarry units in Birbhum against the innocent tribals who are protesting against pollution. Speaking to the reporters at Press Club, she demanded arrest of the goons operating in the area.

Source: The Statesman 5 May 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=327011&catid=42

Money in black & white

2010-05-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Rajinder Puri
THE most damaging weakness of India’s political class is its lack of credibility. Regardless of the truth, people at large are convinced that the entire political class is corrupt. The government covers up corruption cases. The Opposition dares not pursue them even when those in the government are involved. The Scorpene deal, the Koda mining scam, the Raja Spectrum scam, the IPL scam ~ the list of unresolved cases that do, or will, gather dust seems endless. The highest leadership in both the government and the Opposition lacks public credibility. This is because of the curious inertia displayed by these leaders even after circumstances cloud their reputations. The biggest scam currently on the radar is of course the Hassan Ali Khan hawala scam.
Readers will recall this scribe had earlier drawn attention to the Hassan Ali scam and the government’s brazen cover-up to bury the truth. Hassan Ali is the owner of a Pune stud farm. He has 10 known illegal Swiss bank accounts, probably more in other tax havens. His money stashed abroad is astronomical. According to the government’s statement he owed Rs 50,345 crore to the tax department as on 31 March 2009. According to accountants that sum would have escalated to approximately Rs 100,000 crore by the time 2010 was presented. On 20 October 2009 this scribe pointed out how according to Swiss authorities while the Indian government publicly sought help in probing Hassan Ali’s Swiss account, privately it sabotaged the probe by submitting “forged” documents asked for by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice. Swiss authorities wanted to help, but Indian authorities withheld proper documentation. Since April 2007 the Indian government has kept mum on the Swiss request for proper documents.
Tax disputes
ON 18 March 2010 this scribe drew attention to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement to the media that the government had recovered the tax dues from Hassan Ali. But the revised estimates for 2009-10 did not accommodate the Rs 100,000 crore due from Hassan Ali in the budget figures. Further, the existing Income Tax Act was amended to waive impediments for tax defaulters like Hassan Ali to approach the Settlement Commission for resolving tax disputes. If Hassan Ali Khan approaches the commission it would enable the government to evade sharing information about Hassan Ali’s undisclosed foreign assets with foreign governments as required by the international tax treaties entered into by the government.
Clearly, Finance Minister Mukherjee is covering up the Hassan Ali probe. Why? The answer may have been given in the Maharashtra Assembly. On 13 April a CD showing Hassan Ali was laid on the table of the House by BJP MLA Devendra Phadnavis. The CD contained Ali’s statement to the police in which he mentioned the names of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister, RR Patil, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel. In the CD, Ali claimed a meeting involving RR Patil and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur Hotel on 11 August 2008 to approve Hasan Gafoor’s name as Mumbai’s police commissioner. Home Minister Patil vehemently denied any association with Ali. “I have never met Ahmed Patel and never spoken to him face to face. The CID will probe if the motive of the CD was to harm Gafoor, me, Ahmed Patel or anybody else”, Patil told the assembly.
The government ordered an inquiry conducted by the Additional Director-General, CID, and the SP, S Yadav. The CD was prepared by the use of spy cam by the Deputy Police Commissioner Ashok Deshbhratar. Predictably, the politicians named have not been questioned. Their denials have been accepted at face value. Instead the CID charged IPS officer Ashok Deshbhratar, who produced the CD, with trying to extort money from Hassan Ali! In its 15-page report the CID stated that Hassan Ali’s confession has been selectively edited. The CID had sent the CD to the forensic lab at Chandigarh. Its report said the audio-visual pieces of interrogation were not inter-linked, but joined together in sequence to appear as if they are part of continuous interrogation. Inter-linked or not, the forensic report does not deny that it was Hassan Ali himself speaking the “disjointed” narrative. CID investigations confirmed that one meeting did take place involving Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur on 15 March 2008. But CID comforted itself with the fact it could not have discussed Gafoor’s appointment because by then he had already been appointed as Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police. Never mind the Police Commissioner’s appointment, how is Hassan Ali’s proximity to Congress politicians including Ahmed Patel, the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi to be explained?
Links with Congress
CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence reveals, therefore, that Hassan Ali, the nation’s biggest money launderer, is protected by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And Hassan Ali has links with senior Congress politicians including the party president’s trusted political secretary. During his interaction with Ali was Ahmed Patel representing himself or his boss, Sonia Gandhi? If he was representing himself why has Sonia Gandhi not sacked him? If he was representing the Congress president how does Sonia Gandhi explain her party’s links with the nation’s biggest money launderer who is being protected by the Finance Minister? Connect the dots and the picture that emerges is not pretty. Either the Congress is so stupid that it deserves to be removed from power, or it is so corrupt that it deserves to be removed from power.
Wittingly or otherwise the BJP until now has served only Hassan Ali’s interests. Publicizing the CD will act as a powerful disincentive for the government to act against Hassan Ali. By not pursuing the matter at the national level the BJP has failed to serve its own interests. Therefore, the BJP is either so corrupt that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power. Or it is so stupid that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power.
Corruption has become so widespread and brazen that it is destroying the foundations of the Indian Republic. India can stand on the roof and watch its neighbour’s house in flames. Why doesn’t it look below its feet to realize that its own house is burning?

Source: The Statesman 5 May 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326987&catid=38

Police hunt for doctor who ‘helped’ Maoists

2010-04-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

[Police is looking for Dr. Samir Biswas, as they believe "Maoists' received treatment from him. We don't know to the doctor whether it is important to know who the patient is. We also don't know whether it is ethical to deny treatment to "Maoists" or anybody whom doctor doesn't like personally.

Or, only the "Maoists" don't have the right to receive treatment? Then what should a doctor do? Before start treatment of a patient must the doctor make sure that the patient is not "Maoist"? Then what should a patient do? Before visiting a doctor must the patients visit local police station to receive a non-Maoist certificate?

By the way, can a doctor deny treatment of anybody say, Sashi Tharoor the former external affair minister just because the doctor doubts his honesty?]

Asansol, April 19: Police swooped down on an Eastern Coalfields colony on the outskirts of Asansol town at two this morning in search of a doctor who had allegedly been treating Maoists, sometimes at home and sometimes deep in the forests of Bengal’s guerrilla turf.

Samir Biswas, 63, who had retired as superintendent of Eastern Coalfields’ main hospital in Asansol, was missing when 16 police jeeps surrounded the bungalow.

Neighbours, some of whom described the bachelor Biswas as the good doctor, said he used to frequently go missing from the quarters in which he lived even three years after retirement.

“We have launched a hunt for him,” said Burdwan superintendent of police R. Rajsekharan.

When the police knocked on the doctor’s door, Susanta, Pal, a help who has been with him for 13 years, opened it. A room-by-room search followed in which cupboards were flung open and mattresses overturned.

Pal was detained and arrested later for allegedly “waging war against state”.

The police claimed to have found Maoist literature, magazines and photographs. “We went to arrest the doctor following specific information about his Maoist links. Biswas used to treat the guerrillas and frequently visit Jungle Mahal,” Rajsekharan said.

Another officer said the police had also found bus and train tickets that suggested Biswas had travelled to Lalgarh, 175km away, and even Chhattisgarh. “In a steel trunk belonging to Susanta, we have found Maoist leaflets that asked people to war against the enemy of the people,” the officer said.

From the quarters, the team led by additional superintendent of police Prasun Banerjee went to Biswas’s ancestral house in Asansol town. His elder brother Subhas, 70, a retired railway employee, and nephew Kinsuk, a mobile phone mechanic, were detained and released later.

This is the first time the police have zeroed in on a qualified doctor for alleged Maoist links after picking up several quacks over the past few months. Officers said the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities ran at least 20 medical camps in the Lalgarh region, ostensibly for tribal welfare but actually to help wounded guerrillas.

“Biswas was actively involved in the Naxalite movement of the 1970s and had been arrested in 1971,” an Asansol officer said.

In Calcutta, officers of the CID’s Naxalite wing said he was a known Maoist sympathiser. “The CPI (Maoist) is trying to spread its network in the Durgapur-Asansol area by taking the labourers in the region dotted with small industries into confidence. The doctor enjoys the support of local people because he treats people free.”

The police apparently have transcripts of Biswas’s phone conversations that indicate his contacts with Maoists.

The ECL colony at Panchgachhia houses managers, executives, doctors and supervisors. One of Biswas’s neigh-bours, Manas Das, who was woken up by the raid, said: “We had a doctor-patient relationship… never thought he could be linked with Maoists.”

In Chhattisgarh, Dr Binayak Sen spent almost two years in jail for alleged Maoist links. The man credited by many for reaching medicine to some of the country’s poorest was finally granted bail by the Supreme Court last May.

The Trinamul Congress blocked a road for over three hours from 8am today protesting the “police harassment of a good doctor”. “He is a very helpful man. He can’t be a Maoist,” said a youth wing leader.

Source: The Telegraph 20 April 2010

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100420/jsp/bengal/story_12359175.jsp

Abduction of a social activist in Kolkata

2010-03-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

[On 5th March, we received this letter written to the NHRC by Abhijnan Sarkar, a student activist from Kolkata. In the letter, he narrates his harrowing experience after being abducted by persons who seem to be personnel of some Indian secret service. We are publishing this in order to bring to light the terror unleashed by state law enforcement agencies on anyone who opposes the policies of the state. Abductions of radical political activists by such agencies have become a routine affair and illegal torture is carried out during such detentions, which are in complete violation of any kind of legal procedures to be followed. The legal system has completely broken down with such acts being carried out with impunity, thereby failing to protect the voices of dissent in a so-called democratic country. We urge all democratic voices to join together to protest such acts of terror. - Ed, www.sanhati.com]

To
Justice G, M, Mathur,
Acting Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
New Delhi

Date: 18/02/2010

SUBJECT: ABDUCTION BY POLICE IN AN UNLAWFUL WAY

Respected Sir,

I am writing this letter with grave concern about the incident of abduction and sheer coercion that had befallen on me. To let you know about the dread terror situation in West Bengal unleashed by police, I am describing that incident chronologically.

On February 2, 2010, I was heading for New Delhi to attend an interview in Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pusa, for my research purpose. The interview was to be held on February 4, 2010. I was accompanied by one person who was also journeying to attend the interview (I am not revealing his name for his safety). We were in coach no. S2, in 2323 UP Howrah New Delhi Express.

As the train arrived at Asansol station approximately at 9.30 p.m., seven men wearing civil dress came into the coach S2, pounced on us with fake allegation of robbery, forced us to alight from train. We were baffled to deal the situation. As we were shoved to move in the platform, suddenly one of them snatched my mobile, put my hands behind compellingly and blindfolded me. I smell a rat. I tried to shout for help, but on that moment no one came forward. I was shoved vehemently throughout the platform and hurled into a vehicle just outside the station. At that time, I realized that I was abducted and my companion also faced the same fate. I was sitting in the middle row of a SUV and my companion was in the last row.

Two persons were sitting alongside me, grabbing my hands, and bullying not to make any mess. The vehicle moved for minutes. And then it stopped, one person (I suspect he was the senior officer) replaced the man at my right. Then he started the interrogation (or intimidation!!) and again the vehicle started to move. They told me that they were heading for Ghatsila, Jharkhand.

As the vehicle moved, I was ordered to bend forward; at the gunpoint (They poked a metallic object at my rib). I was covered with a cloth. I was told that Bihar police had done this ‘operation’ to gather some information. They were speaking in Hindi.

Then they started to pelt innumerable no of questions. Most of those were irrelevant to my daily life. First they asked why I was going to Delhi, what is my past etc. As I cleared my position they had started to terrorize. They repeatedly recited that their course of action is different from West Bengal police and something brutal, they are used to abduct and encounter many persons. They would pierce my head with a bullet and leave my body in the jungle, no one would be able to find my corpse. One claimed that he had been an encounter specialist like Nana Patekar in the film ‘Ab Tak Chappan’. As the time gone, they methodically created an immense pressure on me, on my life.

Basically, my life was at their mercy. Blindfolded, without any premonition, I was in the abyss of consternation. With some prior knowledge from books and literature, I was aware of these types of incidents commenced by secret police as well as anxious about our future, about our life. In police custody, murders of innocents are common in our country. We were abducted in a surreptitious manner. The fright of death pervaded my conscience at that time. They had not done anything physically. But psychologically they infused terror into my mind.

Besides that coercion, they repeatedly asked me about Maoist activism in Kolkata and West Bengal. I tried to convey that I am not involved with any banned outfit. Hard of hearing my say they continued to pressurize me. I divulged tits and bits of my movement but was unable to satiate them.

I am involved with some kind of social movement that had broken out in West Bengal 2006 onwards. Like other democratic persons I spoke out against the forceful land acquisition and state terror unleashed by CPI (Marxist) led left front government. I suspect that’s why I was a target of police. In recent times many incidents of coercion by secret police had taken place in West Bengal.

After five or six hours of drive, the vehicle stopped. Again I want to repeat that throughout the journey I was interrogated, coerced, blindfolded. My companion also experienced same kind of ordeal. As the vehicle stopped they told me to come out of the car. Then they ushered us to the 2nd floor of a building. I was groping to find the correct steps. During that time they helped me to go upstairs.

They ordered me to sit on bed. After another period of interrogation I was allowed to lay down on the bed. After this they reminded me to think and reveal everything to them that I know, and assured me if I response positively, they would pay a reward in return. They acted in graceful and compassionate manner to mould me, to be subservient to them. Veiled, blindfolded, I was in a predicament condition, about to spend a night of nightmare. I was also unaware of my companion’s condition.

On the next morning, laying approximately five hours on bed, they had started their interrogation again. In the mean time they also provided the breakfast and tea. They fed me as my eyes were blindfolded.

Throughout the inquisition they repeatedly asked me the same questions seven or eight times. Every time they tried to hit upon the trivial discrepancies and browbeaten me that I was not cooperating. I visited Lalgarh four times, overtly, before the deployment of joint force in month of June 2009. I had to repeat this information seven to eight times (and other in formations also).

On that morning, after three hours approximately, another person came to interrogate me. From their conversations, I perceived that the new comer possessed higher rank, as the others called him ‘sir’. He asked some questions aggressively, in a humiliating tone. He showed me a picture of some students through a laptop (a HP model), among them I could identify a student of JNU, New Delhi. Only that moment they uncovered my eyes. I saw a glimpse of a room containing a table, a sofa set and chairs. Within a few seconds they put the shroud on my eyes.

The person, who supposed to be higher in rank, left the room within two hours. Then again the tedious interrogation had started. Intermittently, the officer advised me to shun the ‘despicable anti-state’ politics and advised to join their hand to return back to ‘mainstream’ life. Throughout this ordeal, I could not endure this kind of long chatter and became a yes-man. I had to pass some personal information like email address and passwords, my friend’s names etc to them as I was dejected, traumatized and perturbed.

They provided the lunch. And the repetition of above-mentioned interrogation had continued. In the mean time, the interrogating officer assured me that I might attend the interview I was heading for. And suddenly he asked me to stand up, to put on shoes. Without any argument I followed them. I did not rely on them and the whole episode was a riddle to me.

They again pushed me in a car. That time I realized that my companion was also pushed into that car. They ordered me not to unfold the covering. As the vehicle moved the interrogating officer gave me two A4 size pages and informed me that those were the air tickets to Delhi. He also told me that the car would leave us to the nearest airport. He threatened not to speak about this whole incident otherwise they would grill me and my friend and our family also. After one hour of drive the vehicle stooped. He ordered us to come out of the vehicle and unfold the covering after five minutes. I came out of the vehicle, unfolded the cover of my eyes within five seconds, and saw a TATA sumo hastily melted away, leaving us behind. I could not note the number of the car. It was dusk, we stood in a desolate by road, beside the International Terminus of Netaji Subhas Airport, Kolkata. They were definitely coming from Kolkata Police Department. The time was 7.25 pm, 3rd February 2010.

My friend and me were spellbound, astounded, after the extrication. Later I came to know that he was hosted in the same house, but in 1st floor. He was also interrogated for some times. He was total innocent (if I was found guilty of doing protest against state terrorism), and both of us faced an experience that is beyond the imagination of us, in this ‘democratic, civilized’ West Bengal.

I want to tell that this incident is mere indication of decrepitude condition in our state. How far the secret police could go, how easily they could flout law that I have experienced blatantly. As a civilian, I may have some view, some critics of policy of state. But this kind of infringement and coercion is unimaginable. I am not a ‘Maoist’, but I am a social activist and continue to be so.

For the sake of freedom of expression and transparency in intelligence network, I am writing this letter. Unfortunately, I am already late to inform about that severe incident. I was traumatized, so far my companion also. That case of abduction had repleted confusion, terror, and nothingness in my mind. To get rid of the plight I am appealing you for justice and demanding assurance to stop this kind of despicable acts of police.

Please accept this letter as complaint and I urge upon you to investigate the mater concerning harassment and mental torture, detention incommunicado and illegal action by the cops.

Source: http://sanhati.com/articles/2188/

Murderous attack on Kissan activists

2010-03-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Attempts to terrorize budding farmers' movement

Defeat Evil designs of anti people fascist forces.

The murderers let lose by the Akali-rulers have struck again. They have enacted another bloody episode. Today, in the late afternoon, a team of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) workers, was brutally attacked in village Lodhi Gujjar by Sarabjit Singh & his goons. The team was pasting posters of the 3 day long Dharna at Amritsar by 22 organizations of farmers and agri-labours to be held from 25th to 27th March. Sarabjit Lodhi Gujjar is one of the main accused in the murder of Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, Organizing Secretary of the BKU. Four BKU members namely- Gurcharan Singh Lakhuwal, Sardool Singh Ramdas, Dalip Singh Thoba, & Balwinder Singh Kuralian, were severely injured in this attack and have ben admitted in Guru Nanak Hospital, Amritsar.

Now with the connivance and patronage of his political masters, Sarabjit Lodhi Gujjar is making efforts to falsely implicate BKU leadership in a false criminal case. After the above incident, when the BKU activists had taken the injured persons to the Hospital, he took their vehicles to his house to claim that he was attacked in his house by BKU leaders.

Lok Morcha Punjab has earlier noted that the murder of Sadhu Singh Takhtupura was part of a well-planned attack by a combination of anti-people forces on the blossoming farmers movement in Majha region. These black forces have been uprooting the poor farmers from their lands; repressing them on the strength of goonda-gangs; maintaining a strangle-hold on their lives through butcher police officers, corrupt revenue officials, Panchayti Raj institutions etc. As the people have no effective mass-organization of theirs, to assert their will, they were rendered helpless. BKU filled this void. It provided the people, especially the farmers, a platform to raise their voice against injustice and repression. When SI Rashpal Singh, the most notorious police officer, murdered a poor farmer in police custody and threw his body in front of his house the villagers accepted his challenge. They came out in the streets, caused traffic jam and forced the authorities to register a murder case against him. At village Saurian the people openly fought against the land grabbers and made them eat a humble pie on the strength of their organization. The black forces then retaliated by murdering Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura. Their aim was to put fear amongst the rising farmers movement. But they failed. The present attack at village Lodhi Gujjar is a continuation of their evil designs against the militant farmers movement.

In a report prepared jointly by the Lok Morcha and Inqlabi Kender Punjab, in the aftermath of the murder of Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, it was specifically pointed out that the murderers were being openly protected by the Akali rulers of Punjab. None was left in any doubt in this regard, when Veer Singh Lopoke EX-Akali MLA was seated alongside the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a public function attended by Union Home Minister P. Chidambram, despite an FIR having been registered against him on murder charges. The police officials investigating the case refused to record any evidence incriminating Veer Singh Lopoke, Sarabjit, SI Rashpal Singh & Kulwinder Singh Sarpanch Saurian. The game plan was to arrest small fries and save their political masters. The 3-day long Dharna was to force the Govt to act against the real culprits. The attack at Lodhi Gujjar village is a crude attempt to terrorise the BKU activists, which is doomed to fail.

Lodhi Gujjar incident deserves strongest condemnation. Evil designs of anti-people black forces should be defeated through more sweeping and broad based mobilization.

Source: lokmorcha.blogspot.com

Comrade Sadhu Singh Takhtupura

2010-03-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

Chandigarh, February 22
Peeved at the alleged protection given to the assassins of kisan leader Sadhu Singh Takhtupura and to carry forward their struggle for the withdrawal of the Badal-Kalia committee recommendations, 22 organisations of farmers and farm workers have decided to launch a statewide phased agitation starting February 24.
These organisations, mostly with Leftist leanings, have given a call for holding on February 24 day long demonstrations outside the offices of deputy commissioners in the state.
Leaders of various organisations, including the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta), the Bharti Kisan Union (Revolutionary), the Bharti Kisan Union, the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, the Kirti Kisan Sabha, the Democratic Kisan Sabha, the Punjab Kisan Sabha, the Khetibari Kisan Vikas Front, the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union and the All-India Khet Mazdoor Union, held a meeting in Ludhiana yesterday to finalise details of the agitation.
Talking to The Tribune, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Sukhdev Singh Kokri of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) said all participant organisations paid tributes to Sadhu Singh Takhtupura and declared him a martyr of the kisan movement. Tributes were also paid to Zora Singh Chakar who died during the Gurdaspur agitation.
Holding an Akali MLA, considered close to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, besides a few others responsible for the murder of Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, the leaders of these organisations held that the actual culprits were being shielded and efforts were being made to get them a clean chit.
Eyewitnesses had named 12 persons in their statements to the police. Instead of taking action against these 12 persons, the state government had transferred the SSP (Rural) of Amritsar while the sarpanch of Sorrian village, though in safe custody of the police, was yet to be arrested in the case.
By setting up a special investigating team, they alleged, efforts were on to keep the Akali MLA out of the case. All these actions, they held, were indicative of the government’s support to the culprits.
Both Ugrahan and Kokri held that Sadhu Singh Takhtupura was murdered when he was going from village to village to mobilise support for the farmers’ agitation against the recommendations of the Badal-Kalia committee.
The agitation would continue with vigour and a statewide rally against the Badal-Kalia committee report would be held at Jagraon on March 15.

Moga, February 18
Hundreds of people including farmers, trade union leaders and the local villagers attended the cremation of kisan leader Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, organizing secretary of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) at his native village at Takhtupura in Moga district on Thursday.
He was brutally murdered in broad daylight with iron rods and swords in the border village of Bhindian Saida in Amritsar district on Tuesday.
The 68-year-old Sadhu Singh retired as a teacher in 2000 and has four sons. His elder son passed away recently leaving behind four children.
A senior leader of the BKU Sukhdev Singh Kokri told The Tribune that they had planned to donate Sadhu Singh’s body to a medical college but the doctors refused on the grounds that the police had kept the body for more than 30 hours in their custody without proper care. As such, the body was of no use to them. They had to cremate the body then as per the rituals, he added.
Meanwhile, the kisan union had lodged an FIR at Lopoke police station in Amritsar district in which they had named four suspects including former SAD MLA Veer Singh Lopoke, his son-in-law and SHO Rachpal Singh, sarpanch of Sorian village Kulwinder Singh and chairman of the Block Samiti Sarbhjit Singh Lodhinanagal.
Kokri had alleged that their union was struggling for farmers’ rights in this belt of the state in the Majha region for a long time and these people had clashed with them many a times in the past few years.
Expressing his faint hope of getting justice from the state government, Kokri, while addressing the gathering announced that had decided to launch a state-wide agitation from February 24 onwards. “We will hold massive rallies at all district headquarters across the state demanding the arrest of the culprits,” he said.
It may be mentioned that Takhtupura, on the behalf of BKU, had recently organised a big rally at Ajnala against the police for allegedly killing a youth in custody.

Intellectuals seek CM’s help to hand over body of PCPA leader to family

2010-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, 1 MarCH: Intellect-uals, writers and theatre personalities have written a letter to the chief minister seeking his intervention to hand over the body of Lalmohan Tudu, president of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) who was killed by the police on 22 February.
The intellectuals who have signed the letter included Mahashweta Devi, Tarun Sanyal, Bibhas Chakraborty, Bratya Basu and Kaushik Sen.
Tudu's body is lying at the Jhargram morgue after the postmortem was conducted. The signatories alleged that the police had refused to hand over the body to the relatives of Tudu. They demanded that the body should be handed over to the family members and a team should be allowed to be present at the last rites of Tudu. They alleged that by not handing over the body to the family members the district administration has flouted the basic human rights.
Meanwhile, a team of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) today met the state home secretary Mr Ardhendu Sen and urged him to take initiative to hand over the body of Tudu to his relatives. A spokesman for the APDR said that Tudu was killed by the police without any provocation in a fake encounter. “This is the technique which the police follows to eliminate those who oppose them by showing a fake encounter. He said bodies of two other PCPA members were also killed by the police along with Tudu in the fake encounter could not be traced as yet.
Earlier, a team of the APDR had met the district magistrate of west Midnapur and demanded handing over of the body to the family members. Intellectuals said as their is not air conditioning system at the Jhargram morgue the body must have started to deacy.
Intellectuals said they would write to like minded people across the country to mobilise public opinion to put pressure on the state government so that the body is handed over to the family members as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, a prayer is to be made to the Calcutta High Court tomorrow to hand over the body of Tudu to his relatives. The plea for an unlisted hearing of the matter would be made on behalf of Mr Dhaniram Kisku, a relative of Tudu and Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights, a human rights organisation.
Tudu's bullet riddled body was found at his ancestral village at Narcha village in Midnapur (west) last month. He had come to meet his daughter on the eve of the madhyamik examition.
Home secretary Mr Ardhendu Sen today said that nobody has yet claimed the body and if the next to kin of Tudu applies for the body he/she will be allowed to have it.

Source: The Statesman, 3 February 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=321158:intellectuals-seek-cms-help-to-hand-over-body-of-pcpa-leader-to-family&catid=42:bengal&from_page=search

Hint of scarred cops getting tough - Sections of police voice support for shoot-on-sight strategy

2010-02-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Day before yesterday Lalmohan Tudu, president of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), Sumitra Murmu and Yubaraj Murmu was brutally were murdered by joint forces. He returned his home after couple of months and the joint forces drove him out of the house and shot dead. Joint forces on the other hand said that he was killed in an encounter. In India death in fake encounter is quite common and is widely used to wipe out voices of protest.

This blog condemns all forms of state repression and the cold blooded murder of Lalmohan Tudu, Sumitra Murmu and Yubaraj Murmu.

Bellow is the report of The Telegraph on this killing and how state machinery prepares itself for more.

Pronab Mondal

Kantapahari (West Midnapore), Feb. 23: Police say People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities president Lalmohan Tudu died when they retaliated against a Maoist attack on their camp here.

The committee, and Tudu’s neighbours, insist he was killed in a “fake encounter” at Narcha village, 3km from the Kantapahari camp.

If what the villagers say is true and the indications from a section of the police are co-rrect, the crackdown against Maoists is set to see a new strategy emerge from the debris of the Shilda EFR camp, where 24 policemen were massacred by the guerrillas last Monday.

“The brutal attack at Shilda has firmed up our resolve to strike in equal measure against the Maoists,” a police officer said. “The instruction we have been given is to go for the kill instead of trying to make an arrest if we sense any danger whatsoever.”

With charges and counter-charges flying thick and fast, it is not known if Tudu last night had posed any danger to the police. But if what the residents of Narcha say is true, Tudu’s is the first major case of the new strategy being put into operation.

“This is a strategy that had worked very well during the Naxalite movement of the late ’60s,” said an officer. “Then the strategy was kill on sight; do not wait to make arrests, produce the culprits in court and offer them chance to get bail. After Shilda, there is a strong opinion among top officers in favour of the same strategy.”

This officer could not say for sure what happened in Tudu’s case, but he said he would not be surprised if it was an instance of a new “shoot-on-sight” strategy being put into operation.

Several officers pointed out that such a strategy could never be official and no such order could be issued from the top. “Only the force should informally be informed that no cop would get into trouble for shooting dead a person associated with the Maoists even if that person is posing no immediate danger,” the officer said. “This should work well.”

Explaining that Tudu was heading a “Maoist frontal organisation” meant to “aid and abet” their cause, an officer said such a strategy could “justifiably” be used against a person “waging war against the nation”.

“What is the (People’s) committee if not an outfit run by the Maoists to help their cause?” asked an officer. “Can there be any justification for using the soft hand with persons associated with such a committee? They are all Maoists in the garb of running a movement for tribals.”

A policeman admitted that post-Shilda, they had unofficial instructions that if they caught a hardcore Maoist deep in a forest or a secluded spot, they should not take the trouble of bringing him back to the camp. “No one wants to talk about it, but the thinking now is not to have any mercy on those who commit such heinous crimes as killing innocent cops,” an officer said.

Hectic lobbying by arms producers

2010-02-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

Sri Krishna
NEW DELHI, 16 FEB: With the defence budget for 2010-11 likely to be enhanced as indicated yesterday by the defence minister, Mr AK Antony, hectic lobbying has begun at the ongoing sixth DefExpo here by top arms producers of the world for a slice of the cake.
Russia (and the erstwhile Soviet Union) has been the biggest seller of arms to this country but it is now facing stiff competition from other nations.
A former defence ministry official observed that ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union and with Russia regularly hiking up price of defence equipment as in the case of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, arms manufacturers have been looking at making profits and this is one of the major reasons that other competitors are stepping in.
The four-day biennial event to showcase some of the latest defence equipment by leading manufacturers does not appear to have been impacted by the economic slowdown and recession that had affected many countries as the $11 billion that India spends every year on foreign military supplies is up for grabs.
The arms makers seem to have taken the hint from the minister of state for defence, Dr Pallam Raju, who said that India was “looking for partnerships and co-development arrangements and formation of joint venture in critical technical areas and the defence expo, which is a one-stop shop, is an ideal platform for doing business in defence”.
With the weaponry in the Indian armed forces being mostly of Russian make, the Russians are indeed lobbying hard for their aircraft for the 126 multi-role medium range combat aircraft (MMRCA) that India is planning to purchase as part of its modernisation drive.
All the major bidders for the 126 MMRCA to be bought by the IAF have their stalls at the Defexpo almost cheek by jowl and have been lobbying hard for their product. “India is the number one partner for the Russian defence industry, since it is not only the volume that is exported, but also the quality of the equipment and scientific technical potential that we put in India’s industrial military complex within this cooperation,” said Mr Victor Komardin, deputy director general of Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms corporation.
One of the biggest success stories of Indo-Russian collaboration in the weapons system is the Brahmos, the only supersonic cruise missile in the world. Both countries are equal partners in this project, contributing their own areas of expertise.
“We are very strong in guidance technology and software,” said Dr Sivathanu Pillai, CEO of Brahmos Aerospace, “whereas Russia is very strong in propulsion and cruise missile technology. So having technology available in both, and respecting each other in trust, we formed a joint venture”.

Source: The Statesman, 17 February 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=320170&catid=36

Swapan Dasgupta expires while in UAPA custody - A Sanhati Statement

2010-02-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

Swapan Dasgupta, editor and publisher of the Bengali edition of the political magazine People’s March passed away on 2nd February, while he was in the custody of West Bengal police. He had been arrested in October 2009 under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), for allegedly publishing Maoist literature, along with other political activists. Till date, he had not been chargesheeted. As per the official records, People’s March is a legal publication and therefore not a banned literature as claimed by sections of mainstream press.

Swapan Dasgupta was suffering from blood cancer and according to activists in West Bengal, he was not provided with the necessary medical attention, including crucial blood transfusions, while he was in custody. He was hospitalized in the month of January 2010, only when his condition became critical because of the lack of proper treatment. Therefore, his death is a case of utter negligence, if not an instance of premeditated systemic violence, by the state apparatus which seems determined to eliminate voices of dissent in one way or the other. Such circumstances also make this incident the first case of custodial death under the UAPA. We strongly condemn the role of the state in the death of Swapan Dasgupta and demand that the UAPA be repealed without further delay, and people arrested under UAPA be released.

Swapan Dasgupta’s body will be taken out from Peace Haven in Kolkata at 10 am on 3rd Febuary 2010. There will be a protest march at the Kolkata book fair, starting at 4.00 pm from the APDR stall, followed by a condolence/protest meet at the Mont Marte open stage from 5.45-6.45 pm.

Sanhati

http://sanhati.com/articles/2096/

Suman slams rebel-fight law

2010-02-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

Calcutta, Feb. 2: Kabir Suman today publicly expressed his anger at the Centre for en- forcing the “undemocratic” Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to combat Maoists, keeping up his penchant for embarrassing Mamata Banerjee.

After paying tributes to the publisher of the People’s March who died at SSKM Hospital today, the Jadavpur MP said: “The death of Swapan (Dasgupta) has again brought to light that the UAPA, under which he was arrested, grossly violates human rights. I believe he was wrongfully arrested.”

The singer-MP made it clear he did not support the central law. “Just because the government has power and the law-enforcing agencies are at its disposal, it cannot brand anyone a traitor or anti-national and put him behind bars under the UAPA.”

Dasgupta had been arrested from Calcutta on the night of October 6. He was hospitalised in December with cancer.

Suman’s observations about the UAPA left Mamata red-faced as her party is part of the government that took the decision to enforce the law to fight Maoists.

Source: The Telegraph February 3, 2010

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100203/images/03suman1.jpg

Under trial UAPA prisoner Swapan Dasgupta Passed Away

2010-02-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

Photo: Indian Express

Today at 5 am Swapan Dasgupta, Bangla People's March (a registered magazine) editor and an under trial UAPA prisoner passed away at S.S.K.M. Hospital, Kolkata.

It is the sheer negligence from part of the jail administration and government that killed Dasgupta.

Swapan Dasgupta, first UAPA martyr will be forever in the hearts of progressive and democratic people.

Worse Victim of UAPA

2010-01-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

Swapan Dasgupta Fighting An Uneven Battle

Last 6 October 2009 Kolkata police arrested Swapan Dasgupta, editor of Bangla People's March, a registered magazine. Cases were booked against him under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He was under police custody for 28 days and became victim of physical and mental torture. He has been suffering from asthmac v for several years. Although the administration and government were fully aware of that, compelled him to sleep on cold floor in winter and worsen his condition. Doctor advised him to drink luke-warm water. Jail administration was unable to provide such facility. Human right organizations like APDR, Bandi-Mukti-Committee (Committee for Release of Political Prisoners) agreed to provide thermo-flask, but jail-authority did not permit. Lack of treatment in jail hospital worsened his condition and finally he was shifted to S.S.K.M. Hospital, Kolkata on 17 December. However, negligence from part of the administration and government continued. Police were posted at the side of his bade. Administration prevented his family members and friends to visit him. The inhumanitarian incident was surfaced when 11 organization including APDR, Bandi-Mukti-Committee started agitation. APDR lodged a complaint with National Human Right Commission.

However, negligence and lack of treatment meanwhile brought Swapan Dasgupta to the deathbed. He is now in ventilation.

Swapan Dasgupta is fighting an uneven battle.

Human Right Activists Arrested On their Way to Lalgarh

2010-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today police have arrested 68 human right activists at Kharagpur rail station on their way to Lalgarh. Lalgarh has been kept isolated from rest of the country by government and joint forces have been continuing their repression on common people in the name of anti-Maoist operation.

Under the circumstances, the human right activists waned to see the condition of the people in Lalgarh. Obvious question is why government does not permit to visit common people and human right activists to Lalgarh? What do they want to hide?

‘Arrested’ Naxal women released as ‘witnesses’

2010-01-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

The police released Shefali Bera (13) and Kanika Adak (35) in West Midnapore on Friday after they were produced before the court as witnesses in the raids that were carried out by the joint forces in Lalgarh on January 20 when the police seized a laptop allegedly belonging to top Maoist leader Kishenji. The two women have given their statements under Section 164 of the IPC to a magistrate, said Manoj Verma, SP of West Midanpore, adding that the two women were not arrested.

Source: Indian Express, Jan 23, 2010

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/arrested-naxal-women-released-as-witnesses/570807/

Definition of Poverty: Absence Of A Uniform Statistical Measure

2010-01-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

By Ashwani Mahajan

THE government has frequently been providing differing figures about the extent of poverty in India. And this makes it difficult to gauge the extent or even the approximate figure. Periodic changes in the definition of the poverty line make the issue even more complicated. It is obvious that in the absence of a uniform statistical measure of poverty, alleviation programmes cannot be meaningful.
The government adopts various measures to reduce poverty. Kerosene, cheaper grain and other food items are made available through the Public Distribution System. The rural and urban employment programmes and free medical facilities are among the other programmes that have been taken up. The government’s proposed food security legislation is also on the same lines. People below the poverty line would have the right to draw food at subsidised prices.
Ironically enough, the government is yet to identify those living below the poverty line. The report of the Saxena Committee, constituted by the union ministry of rural development, is particularly shocking. In fact, 49.1 per cent of the population, according to this report, exists below the poverty line. An estimated 23 per cent of the poor do not have a ration card, let alone the BPL card. The report has revealed that 17.4 per cent of the cards are held by the rich. The committee has recommended that the government should undertake a national survey to identify the poor.
Poverty Line Baskets
Last December, Prof SD Tendulkar, the former chief economic adviser to the Prime Minister, submitted the report of the expert group to review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty. The report noted that the existing all-India rural and urban official poverty lines were originally defined in terms of the per capita total consumer expenditure at 1973-74 market prices. It was adjusted over time in keeping with the price fluctuations. But the 1973-74 baseline continued to be the reference points for poverty line baskets (PLB) of goods and services. These all-India rural and urban PLBs were anchored in the per capita calorie norms of 2400 (rural) and 2100 (urban) per day. However, they covered the consumption of all goods and services incorporated in the rural and urban poverty line baskets.
According to Prof Tendulkar’s findings, in 2004-05, 37 per cent of the country’s population was living below the poverty line. This figure is significantly higher than the figure released by the Planning Commission, according to which 27.5 per cent are below the poverty line. Prof Tendulkar’s figure of headcount is higher because of the larger basket of consumption, which includes expenditure on education and health by the poor.
Earlier studies on redefining poverty have also taken note of these variables and have suggested suitable modifications in the definition of the poverty line. Prof Tendulkar’s report is significant as it gives official sanction to the same. He has recommended that the Planning Commission and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) make suitable changes in their approach in defining the poverty line.
The NSSO, which conducts a sample survey of consumer spending, estimated that the people living the below poverty line constituted only 28.3 per cent of the population in 2004-05. In contrast to this figure, the Arjun Sen Gupta Committee, formed by the government for the unorganised sector, stated that more than 77 per cent of the people are forced to live on Rs 20 or less per day. This is insufficient even for the minimum requirement of a person’s food, health, shelter and clothing. Clearly, more than 77 per cent of the people cannot meet their basic needs. But the government always tries to underestimate the BPL figure. This is only to convey the impression that the number of the poor is constantly declining.
According to official statistics in 1973-74, 320 million or 55 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. Going by the 2004 projection, it declined to 28 per cent. The task of defining poverty and the poverty line rests with the government economists. Logically, such a definition must identify the rural poor. And the official definition has been widely criticised in the past.
The problem arose in 1993-94 and 1990-2000. The consumer expenditure data, used by the government to estimate poverty, indicated a fewer number of people below the poverty line. And without any significant improvement in the condition of the poor. Critics say that the figures used by the government showed that poverty declined overnight. If the calorie-based definition is truly implemented, then 80 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population would be found consuming less than 2400 and 2100 calories respectively. This implies that the government always tries to underestimate the number of the country’s poor. And this is done by juggling the data.
Pangs of hunger
According to the UN, 220 million people in India suffer the pangs of hunger. The problem is prevalent in all age groups... from infants to the old. Food production has been declining, food imports are rising and food insecurity deepening. Whereas the per capita availability of foodgrain was 190 kg per person per annum in 1979-80, it declined to only 186 kg in 2004-05. Since 2004-05, the rising prices of food have made matters worse.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, about 100 million people have already moved to the category of “hungry” all over the world from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Prof Tendulkar’s expert group has rightly recommended that definition of the poverty line be changed and a new methodology be adopted incorporating changes in the price index. The consumption base also needs to be expanded by including the expenditure on health and education.
The definition of poverty will then not be perfect, but it would be a forward progression from a mere starvation line to a better defined poverty line. Thus far, the government’s policies have been based on ill-defined parameters. Second, it will be forced to spend more money on welfare. In the long run, Prof Tendulkar’s report will set a benchmark in determining the methodology for the assessment of poverty.

The writer is Associate Professor, PGDAV College, New Delhi

Source: The Statesman, 22 January 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=317842&catid=38

Day on, hardened ‘Maoists’ turn out to be victim kin

2010-01-23T03:46:00.000-08:00

The two women, including a 13-year-old girl, whom the police had claimed to arrest on Wednesday in Lalgarh for being armed Maoist cadres, have turned out to be the family members of two persons who were allegedly picked up by the police on December 6.

While 13-year-old Shefali is the daughter of Joydeb Bera, 35-year-old Kanika is wife of Raju Adak. Both Joydeb and Raju went missing in December and their families had lodged a case at the Jhargram court against the district administration as they alleged that the police had picked up the duo.

According to the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), the police were pressurising the family members of Raju and Joydeb to withdraw the case. “So when the two families refused, the women were arrested and branded as Maoists. The police will also slap false cases against the women. This is a part of the continuous torture that the joint forces are perpetrating in the Lalgarh area,” said Asit Mahato, spokesperson of PCAPA.

Source: Indian Express, Jan 22, 2010

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/day-on-hardened-maoists-turn-out-to-be-victim-kin/570414/

House panel slams A-I, IA merger

2010-01-23T03:36:00.000-08:00

[This news describes how government has intentionally made Air India, a nationalized company sick.]

NEW DELHI, 21 JAN: While recommending that the government write off losses suffered by Air India, a Parliamentary committee has asked for an inquiry into “faulty decisions” taken by the national carrier’s management, which have resulted in tremendous losses to it.
Pointing to numerous "irrational and misplaced" policy decisions, including surrender of lucrative routes to favour private players, the chairman of the 31-member committee, Mr Sitaram Yechury, said those who took these faulty decisions should be made accountable.
The panel was of the firm view that NACIL’s turnaround was “not possible by shifting the burden of the crisis on to the shoulder of the employees and blaming them for the ills of the company”.
It, therefore, has recommended that as a first step the government should write off the entire loss suffered by NACIL as the loss was due to the policy directions of the civil aviation ministry.
The only way of overcoming the problem is to change the often irrational and misplaced policy decisions of the government, the committee declared, in its report on the merger of Indian Airlines and Air India (in March 2007).
It noted that Air India dry leased four Boeing 777s for five years in 2006 whereas it was to get the delivery of its own aircraft from July 2007 onwards. “As a result, five Boeing 777s and 737s (each) were kept idle on the ground at an estimated loss of Rs 840 crore between 2007 and 2009,” it said. It recommended review of all lease agreements.
The panel found that services were being withdrawn from lucrative sectors by Air India’s holding company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), paving the way for introduction of services by private operators in the same sector. Expressing apprehension about a “possible nexus” operating to favour the private players, the committee has recommended a probe to analyse the withdrawal of lucrative routes both domestic and international to favour private players. It also recommended the creation of “an independent regulatory authority” to regulate the allotment of routes, bilaterals, social commitment of private players and operations on non-viable routes.
The committee said the merger between the two national carriers was taken in haste, without required homework and consultations due to which the entire process has been unduly delayed.
“In the process, it has given rise to so many problems concerning financial, administrative and operational, which could not be foreseen by the people who took this decision,” the committee said.
It also recommended that NACIL, which now runs the merged entity, should be converted into a holding company with NACIL-A and NACIL-I as “separate functional units”. ;SNS

Source: The Statesman 2 January 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?id=317917&option=com_content&catid=35

‘No green study conducted before clearing Haripur nuclear plant project’

2010-01-17T00:20:00.000-08:00

Express News Service
Kolkata:

The National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) on Thursday alleged that the Union Environment Ministry has given clearance for the proposed nuclear power project at Haripur in East Midnapore without conducting any Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study. The EIA study is mandatory before giving green signal to any project. The NFF has been carrying out campaigns in the area since December to mobilise local people against the proposed nuclear plant.

General Secretary of NFF Rambhau Patil said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed the power project in December 2008 against the will of the people of the proposed area. The land for the project has been given by the Left Front government in the state.

Meeting Protests Murder of Com. Sunil Pal

2010-01-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

A meeting held at Student's Hall, Kolkata yesterday condemned the killing of Com. Sunil Pal, the revolutionary workers' leader and organizer of I.F.T.U. and C.P.I.(ML)(Red Flag). Srijan, a unit of Revolutionary Writers, Artists Intellectuals Association sang a song in tribute to the martyrs. Com. Amitabha Bhattacharyya (Mazdoor Kranti Parisad), Com Kanai Karnwas (I.F.T.U.), Sujato Bhadra (Anti-UAPA Forum), Com. Sasibala Sarma (Nari Adhikar Raksha Samiti), Com. Sadhan Roy (Joint Forum of Workers and Staffs), Bhanu Sarkar (Committee for Release of Prisoners), Com. Apu Samaddar (Gana Pratirodh mancha-unit of RDF), Com. Sibabrata Sana (Struggling Workers' Organization), Com. Srijan Sen and others talked on Com Sunil Pal and condemned the brutal killing. Some speakers highlighted the importance of the work of Com. Pal in mobilizing the workers in peasants' struggle of Singur-Nandigram and Lalgarh. Renowned writer Jaya Mitra also spoke and condemned the killing. Com. Pradip Roy also sang a revolutionary mass-song.

It was evident from the speeches that the murder was pre-planned and it was done with the full support of administration and police. People saw the murders walking towards C.P.M. party office committing the heinous crime. It is now clear to everybody that the nexus between CPM-coal mafia-police and administration actually killed the beloved leader Com. Sunil Pal.

Speakers iterated that killing of a leader of a movement nowhere had been found successful to make an end of the movement. Workers of Asansol and I.F.T.U. will fight for the unaccomplished dreams of their leader.

Relay hunger strike

2010-01-09T23:38:00.000-08:00

Midnapore (WB): Around 138 prisoners including PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato on Friday launched a relay hunger strike in Midnapore Central jail demanding withdrawal of combined forces from the Junglemahal area (West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts) of West Bengal.

Chattradhar and other suspected Maoists, who were arrested by police and lodged in the Midnapore Central Jail, began the fast demanding the withdrawal of the combined forces and release of all suspected Maoists arrested by police, jail sources said.

They are also demanding that the government withdraws all the cases lodged against the suspected Maoists, they said.

A large number of suspected Maoists arrested by police and the combined forces are lodged in the Midnapore Central Jail.

People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) Spokesman Ashit Mahato said the PCAPA would take out procession in the Junglemahal area tomorrow in memory of those killed in police firing. (PTI)

source: http://www.kolkatamirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=13&contentid=2010010920100109163919328390d4b50&sectxslt=

Com. Sunil Pal and Com. Khagen Das

2010-01-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

Veteran communist revolutionary and leader of C.P.I.(ML)(Red Flag) Com. Sunil Pal was brutally murdered on 29 December 2009.

Com. Paul was the one of the leading organizers of Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and organized coal miners in Asansol, West Bengal for couple of decades. He was also associated with Lalgarh Mancha (Lalgarh Forum), Anti UAPA Forum etc. Revolutionary people of India have lost one of their bravest soldiers.

Red Baricade does believe that the comrades of Sunil Pal will carry forward his unaccomplished dream. Death of Com Pal can not make an end of the revolutionary struggle in Asansol and C.P.I. (ML)(Red Flag).

A Protest meeting will be held at Students' Hall, Kolkata on 9 January 2010 at 3 pm.

Com. Khagen Das, veteran revolutionary intellectual passed away on 30 December 2009. In his long revolutionary life, he was associated with Revolutionary Writers, Artists, Intellectual Association (RWAIA-West Bengal), All India League for Revolutionary Culture (AILRC), All India People's Resistance Forum (AIPRF) and later Struggling Forum for People's Resistance (SFPR).

Red Barricade deeply condoles the death of Com. Das.

3 killed as cops open fire on PCPA rally at Lalgarh

2010-01-03T04:52:00.000-08:00

Three People Committee Against Police Atrocities militia men were killed on Saturday at Joynagar near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district of West Bengal after security forces opened fire on a PCPA rally.

Bijoy Mahato (38), Bhola Mahato (43) and another PCPA leader died on the spot.

Source: Times of India 3 January 2010.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/3-killed-as-cops-open-fire-on-PCPA-rally-at-Lalgarh/articleshow/5406124.cms

The Katyn Massacre

2010-01-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

by Ella Rule
July 2002

At the end of the First World War, the boundary between Russia and Poland was settled as being along a line which became known as the Curzon line - Lord Curzon being the British statesman who had proposed it.

This demarcation line was not to the liking of the Poles, who soon went to war against the Soviet Union in order to push their borders further eastward. The Soviet Union counter-attacked and were prepared not only to defend themselves but, against Stalin’s advice, to liberate the whole of Poland. Stalin considered such an aim to be doomed to failure because, he said, Polish nationalism had not yet run its course. The Poles were determined NOT to be liberated so there was no point in trying. Hence the Poles put up fierce resistance to Soviet advances. Ultimately the Soviet Union was forced to retreat and even cede territory to the east of the Curzon line to Poland. The areas in question were Western Byelorussia and the western Ukraine - areas populated overwhelmingly by Byelorussians and Ukrainians respectively rather than by Poles. The whole incident could not but exacerbate the mutual dislike of the Poles and the Russians.

On 1 September 1939, Nazi German invaded Poland. On 17 September, the Soviet Union moved to reoccupy those parts of Poland that lay east of the Curzon line. Having taken over those areas, the Soviet Union set about distributing land to the peasants and bringing about the kind of democratic reforms so popular with the people and so unpopular with the exploiters. During the battle to retake the areas east of the Curzon line, the Soviet Union captured some 10,000 Polish officers, who became prisoners of war. These prisoners were then held in camps in the disputed area and put to work road building, etc.

Two years later, on 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union by surprise. The Red Army was forced hurriedly to retreat and the Ukraine was taken over by the Germans. During this hurried retreat it was not possible to evacuate to the Soviet interior the Polish prisoners of war. The chief of camp no. 1, Major Vetoshnikov gave evidence that he had applied to the chief of traffic of the Smolensk section of the Western Railway to be provided with railway cars for the evacuation of the Polish prisoners but was told it was unlikely to be possible. Engineer Ivanov, who had been the Chief of Traffic in the region at the time, confirmed there had been no railway cars to spare. "Besides, " he said, "we could not send cars to the Gussino line, where the majority of the Polish prisoners were, since that line was already under fire". The result was that, following the Soviet retreat from the area, the Polish prisoners became prisoners of the Germans.

In April 1943, the Hitlerites announced that the Germans had found several mass graves in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, containing the bodies of thousands of Polish officers allegedly murdered by the Russians.

This announcement was designed to further undermine the co-operation efforts of Poles and Soviets to defeat the Germans. The Russo-Polish alliance was always difficult because the Polish government in exile, based in London, was obviously a government of the exploiting classes. They had to oppose the Germans because of the latter's cynical takeover of their country for lebensraum. The Soviet Union's position was that so long as the Soviet Union could retain the land east of the Curzon line, they had no problem with the re-establishment of a bourgeois government in Poland. But the alliance was already in difficulties because the Polish government in exile, headed by General Sikorski, based in London, would not agree to the return of that land. This is in spite of the fact that in 1941 after Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and the Polish government in exile had not only established diplomatic relations but had also agreed that the Soviet Union would finance "under the orders of a chief appointed by the Polish government-in-exile but approved by the Soviet government " the formation of a Polish army - this chief being, in the event, the thoroughly anti-Soviet General Anders (a prisoner of the Soviets from 1939). By 25 October 1941 this Army had 41,000 men including 2,630 officers. General Anders, however, eventually refused to fight on the Soviet-German front because of the border dispute between the Soviet Union and Poland, and the Polish army had to be sent elsewhere to fight - i.e., Iran.

Nevertheless, despite the hostility of the Polish government in exile, there was a significant section of Poles resident in the Soviet Union who were not anti-Soviet and did accept the Soviet claim to the territories east of the Curzon line. Many of them were Jewish. These people formed the Union of Polish Patriots which put together the backbone of an alternative Polish government in exile.

The Nazi propaganda relating to the Katyn massacres was designed to make it impossible for the Soviets to have any dealings with the Poles at all. General Sikorski took up the Nazi propaganda with a vengeance, claiming to Churchill that he had a "wealth of evidence". How he had obtained this "evidence" simultaneously with the German announcement of this supposed Soviet atrocity is not clear, although it speaks loudly of secret collaboration between Sikorski and the Nazis. The Germans had made public their allegations on 13 April. On 16 April the Soviet government issued an official communiqué denying "the slanderous fabrications about the alleged mass shootings by Soviet organs in the Smolensk area in the spring of 1940". It added:

"The German statement leaves no doubt about the tragic fate of the former Polish prisoners of war who, in 1941, were engaged in building jobs in areas west of Smolensk and who, together with many Soviet people, fell into the hands of the German hangmen after the withdrawal of Soviet troops".

The Germans had in fabricating their story decided to embellish it with an anti-Semitic twist by claiming to be able to name Soviet officials in charge of the massacre, all of whom had Jewish names. On 19 April Pravda responded:

"Feeling the indignation of the whole of progressive humanity over their massacre of peaceful citizens and particularly of Jews, the Germans are now trying to arouse the anger of gullible people against the Jews. For this reason they have invented a whole collection of 'Jewish commissars' who, they say, took part in the murder of the 10,000 Polish officers. For such experienced fakers it was not difficult to invent a few names of people who never existed - Lev Rybak, Avraam Brodninsky, Chaim Fineberg. No such persons ever existed either in the 'Smolensk section of the OGPU' or in any other department of the NLVD…"

The insistence of Sikorski in endorsing the German propaganda led to the complete breakdown in relations between the London Polish government in exile and the Soviet government - as to which Goebbels commented in his diary:

"This break represents a one-hundred-per-cent victory for German propaganda and especially for me personally … we have been able to convert the Katyn incident into a highly political question. "

At the time the British press condemned Sikorski for his intransigence:

The Times of 28 April 1943 wrote: "Surprise as well as regret will be felt by those who have had so much cause to understand the perfidy and ingenuity of the Goebbels propaganda machine should themselves have fallen into the trap laid by it. Poles will hardly have forgotten a volume widely circulated in the first winter of the war which described with every detail of circumstantial evidence, including that of photography, alleged Polish atrocities against the peaceful German inhabitants of Poland. "

What lay at the basis of Sikorski's insistence that the massacre had been carried out by the Soviets rather than the Germans was the dispute over the territory east of the Curzon line. Sikorski was trying to use the German propaganda to mobilise western imperialism behind Poland's claim to that territory, to try to force them out of the position, as he saw it, of taking the Soviet Union's side on the issue of this border dispute.

If one reads bourgeois sources today, they all assert that the Soviet Union was responsible for the Katyn massacre, and they do so with such assurance and consistency that in trying to argue the contrary one feels like a Nazi revisionist trying to deny Hitler's slaughter of Jews. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachov was even enrolled on this disinformation campaign and produced material allegedly from the Soviet archives which 'proved' that the Soviets committed the atrocity and, of course, that they did so on Stalin's orders. Well, we know the interest that the Gorbachovs of this world have in demonising Stalin. Their target is not so much Stalin as socialism. Their purpose in denigrating socialism is to restore capitalism and bring lives of luxurious parasitism to themselves and their hangers-on at the cost of mass suffering among the Soviet peoples. Their cynicism matches that of the German Nazis and it is hardly surprising to find them singing from the same hymn sheet.

Bourgeois sources blithely claim that Soviet evidence in support of blaming the Germans for the atrocity was either totally absent or based purely on hearsay evidence of terrorised inhabitants of the region. They don't mention one piece of evidence which even Goebbels had to admit was a bit of a bummer from his point of view. He wrote in his diary on 8 May 1943, "Unfortunately, German ammunition has been found in the graves at Katyn … It is essential that this incident remains a top secret. If it were to come to the knowledge of the enemy the whole Katyn affair would have to be dropped. "

In 1971 there was correspondence in The Times suggesting the Katyn massacres could not have been done by the Germans since they went in for machine gunning and gas chambers rather than despatching prisoners in the way the Katyn victims had been killed, i.e., by a shot in the back of the head. A former German solider then living in Godalming, Surrey, intervened in this correspondence:

"As a German soldier, at that time convinced of the righteousness of our cause, I have taken part in many battles and actions during the Russian campaign. I have not been to Katyn nor to the forest nearby. But I well remember the hullabaloo when the news broke in 1943 about the discovery of the ghastly mass grave near Katyn, which area was then threatened by the Red Army.

"Josef Goebbels, as the historic records show, has fooled many people. After all, that was his job and few would dispute his almost complete mastery of it. What is surprising indeed, however, is that it still shows evidence in the pages of The Times thirty odd years later. Writing from experience I do not think that at that late time of the war Goebbels managed to fool many German soldiers in Russia on the Katyn issue … German soldiers knew about the shot in the back of the head all right … we German soldiers knew that the Polish officers were despatched by none other than our own. "

Moreover, very many witnesses came forward to attest to the presence of Polish prisoners in the region after the Germans had taken it over.

Maria Alexandrovna Sashneva, a local primary school teacher, gave evidence to a Special commission set up by the Soviet Union in September 1943, immediately after the area was liberated from the Germans, to the effect that in August 1941, two months after Soviet withdrawal, she had hidden a Polish war prisoner in her house. His name had been Juzeph Lock, and he had spoken to her of ill-treatment suffered by Polish prisoners under the Germans:

"When the Germans arrived they seized the Polish camp and instituted a strict regime in it. The Germans did not regard the Poles as human beings. They oppressed and outraged them in every way. On some occasions Poles were shot without any reason at all. He decided to escape…"

Several other witnesses gave evidence that they had seen the Poles during August and September 1941 working on the roads.

Moreover, witnesses also testified to round-ups by the Germans of escaped Polish prisoners in the autumn of 1941. Danilenko, a local peasant, was among several witnesses who testified to this.

"Special round ups were held in our place to catch Polish war prisoners who had escaped. Some searches took place in my house 2 or 3 times. After one such search I asked the headman .. whom they were looking for in our village. [He] said that an order had been received from the German Kommandatur according to which searches were to be made in all houses without exception, since Polish war prisoners who had escaped from the camp were hiding in our village. "

Obviously the Germans did not shoot the Poles in full sight of local witnesses, but there is nonetheless significant evidence from local people as to what was happening. One witness was Alexeyeva who had been detailed by the headman of her village to serve the German personnel at a country house in the section of the Katyn Forest known as Kozy Gory, which had been the rest home of the Smolensk administration of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. This house was situated some 700 metres from where the mass graves were found. Alexeyeva said:

"At the close of August and during most of September 1941 several trucks used to come practically every day to the Kozy Gory country house. At first I paid no attention to that, but later I noticed that each time these trucks arrived at the grounds of the country house they stopped for half an hour, and sometimes for a whole hour, somewhere on the country road connecting the country house with the highway. I drew this conclusion because some time after these trucks reached the grounds of the country house the noise they made would cease.

"Simultaneously with the noise stopping single shots would be heard. The shots followed each other at short but approximately even intervals. Then the shooting would die down and the trucks would drive right up to the country house. German soldiers and NCOs came out of the trucks. Talking noisily they went to wash in the bathhouse, after which they engaged in drunken orgies.

"On days when the trucks arrived more soldiers from some German military units used to arrive at the country house. Special beds were put up for them… Shortly before the trucks reached the country house armed soldiers went to the forest evidently to the spot where the trucks stopped because in half an hour they returned in these trucks, together with the soldiers who lived permanently in the country house.

"…On several occasions I noticed stains of fresh blood on the clothes of two Lance Corporals. From all this I inferred that the Germans brought people in the truck to the country house and shot them."

Alexeyeva also discovered that the people being shot were Polish prisoners.

"Once I stayed at the country house somewhat later than usual… Before I finished the work which had kept me there, a soldier suddenly entered and told me I could go … He … accompanied me to the highway.

"Standing on the highway 150 or 200 metres from where the road branches off to the country house I saw a group of about 30 Polish war prisoners marching along the highway under heavy German escort… I halted near the roadside to see where they were being led, and I saw that they turned towards our country house at Kozy Gory.

"Since by that time I had begun to watch closely everything going on at the country house, I became interested. I went back some distance along the highway, hid in bushes near the roadside, and waited. In some 20 or 30 minutes I heard the familiar single shots. "

The other two requisitioned maids at the country house, Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya, gave supporting evidence. Other residents of the area gave similar evidence.

Basilevsky, director of the Smolensk observatory, was appointed deputy burgomeister to Menshagin, a Nazi collaborator. Basilevsky was trying to secure the release from German custody of a teacher, Zhiglinsky, and persuaded Menshagin to speak to the German commander of the region, Von Schwetz, about this matter. Menshagin did so but reported back it was impossible to secure this release because "instructions had been received from Berlin prescribing the strictest regime be maintained. "

Basilevsky then recounted his conversation with Menshagin:

"I involuntarily retorted 'Can anything else be stricter than the regime existing at the camp?' Menshagin looked at me in a strange way and bending to my ear, answered in a low voice: yes, there can be! The Russians can at least be left to die off, but as to the Polish war prisoners, the orders say they are to be simply exterminated. "

After liberation Menshagin's notebook was found written in his own handwriting, as confirmed by expert graphologists. Page 10, dated 15 August 1941, notes:

"All fugitive war prisoners are to be detained and delivered to the commandant's office. "

This in itself proves the Polish prisoners were still alive at that time. On page 15, which is undated, the entry appears: "Are there any rumours among the population concerning the shooting of Polish war prisoners in Kozy Gory (for Umnov) " (Umnov was the Chief of the Russian police).

A number of witnesses gave evidence that they had been pressured in 1942-43 by the Germans to give false testimony as to the shooting of the Poles by the Russians.

Parfem Gavrilovich Kisselev, a resident of the village closest to Kozy Gory, testified that he had been summonsed in autumn of 1942 to the Gestapo where he was interviewed by a German officer:

"The officer stated that, according to information at the disposal of the Gestapo, in 1940, in the area of Kozy Gory in the Katyn Forest, staff members of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs shot Polish officers, and he asked me what testimony I could give on this score. I answered that I had never heard of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs shooting people at Kozy Gory, and that anyhow it was impossible, I explained to the officer, since Kozy Gory is an absolutely open and much frequented place, and if shootings had gone on there the entire population of the neighbouring villages would have known …

"…The interpreter, however, would not listen to me, but took a handwritten document from the desk and read it to me. It said that I, Kisselev, resident of a hamlet in the Kozy Gory area, personally witnessed the shooting of Polish officers by staff members of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs in 1940.

"Having read the document, the interpreter told me to sign it. I refused to do so… Finally he shouted 'Either you sign it at once or we shall destroy you. Make your choice.'

"Frightened by these threats, I signed the document and thought that would be the end of the matter. "

But it wasn't the end of the matter, because the Germans expected Kisselev to give parol evidence of what he had 'witnessed' to groups of 'delegates' invited by the Germans to come to the area to witness the evidence of supposed Soviet atrocities.

Soon after the German authorities had announced the existence of the mass graves to the world in April 1943, "the Gestapo interpreter came to my house and took me to the forest in the Kozy Gory area.

"When we had left the house and were alone together, the interpreter warned me that I must tell the people present in the forest everything exactly as I had written it down in the document I had signed at the Gestapo.

"When I came to the forest I saw the open graves and a group of strangers. The interpreter told me that these were Polish delegates who had arrived to inspect the graves. When we approached the graves the delegates started asking me various questions in Russian in connection with the shooting of the Poles, but as more than a month had passed since I had been summoned to the Gestapo I forgot everything that was in the document I had signed, got mixed up, and finally said I didn't know anything about the shooting of Polish officers.

"The German officer got very angry. The interpreter roughly dragged me away from the 'delegation' and chased me off. Next morning a car with a Gestapo officer drove up to my house. He found me in the yard, told me that I was under arrest, put me into the car and took me to Smolensk Prison …

"After my arrest I was interrogated many times, but they beat me more than they questioned me. The first time they summoned me they beat me up heavily and abused me, complaining that I had let them down, and then sent me back to the cell. During the next summons they told me I must state publicly that I had witnessed the shooting of Polish officers by the Bolsheviks, and that until the Gestapo was satisfied I would do this in good faith, I would not be released from prison. I told the officer that I would rather sit in prison than tell people lies to their faces. After that I was badly beaten up.

"There were several such interrogations accompanied by beatings, and as a result I lost all my strength, my hearing became poor and I could not move my right arm. About one month after my arrest a German officer summoned me and said: 'You see the consequences of your obstinacy, Kisselev. We have decided to execute you. In the morning we shall take you to Katyn Forest and hang you.' I asked the officer not to do this, and started pleading with them that I was not fit for the part of 'eye-witness' of the shooting as I did not know how to tell lies and therefore I would mix everything up again.

"The officer continued to insist. Several minutes later soldiers came into the room and started beating me with rubber clubs. Being unable to stand the beatings and torture, I agreed to appear publicly with a fallacious tale about shooting of Poles by Bolsheviks. After that I was released from prison, on conditions that on the first demand of the Germans I would speak before 'delegations' in Katyn Forest…

"On every occasion, before leading me to the graves in the forest, the interpreter used to come to my house, call me out into the yard, take me aside to make sure that no one would hear, and for half an hour make me memorise by heart everything I would have to say about the alleged shooting of Polish officers by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs in 1940.

"I recall that the interpreter told me something like this: 'I live in a cottage in 'Kozy Gory' area not far from the country house of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. In spring 1940 I saw Poles taken on various nights to the forest and shot there'. And then it was imperative that I must state literally that 'this was the doing of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs.' After I had memorised what the interpreter told me he would take me to the open graves in the forest and compel me to repeat all this in the presence of 'delegations' which came there.

"My statements were strictly supervised and directed by the Gestapo interpreter. Once when I spoke before some 'delegation', I was asked the question: 'Did you see these Poles personally before they were shot by the Bolsheviks?' I was not prepared for such a question and answered the way it was in fact, i.e., that I saw Polish war prisoners before the war, as they walked on the roads. Then the interpreter roughly dragged me aside and drove me home.

"Please believe me when I say that all the time I felt pangs of conscience, as I knew that in reality the Polish officers had been shot by the Germans in 1941. I had no other choice, as I was constantly threatened with the repetition of my arrest and torture. "

Numerous people corroborated Kisselev's testimony, and a medical examination corroborated his story of having been tortured by the Germans.

Pressure was also brought on Ivanov, employed at the local railway station (Gnezdovo) to bear false witness:

"The officer inquired whether I knew that in spring 1940 large parties of captured Polish officers had arrived at Gnezdovo station in several trains. I said that I knew about this. The officer then asked me whether I knew that in the same spring 1940, soon after the arrival of the Polish officers, the Bolsheviks had shot them all in the Katyn Forest. I answered that I did not know anything about that, and that it could not be so, as in the course of 1940-41 up to the occupation of Smolensk by the Germans, I had met captured Polish officers who had arrived in spring 1940 at Gnezdovo station, and who were engaged in road construction work.

"The officer told me that if a German officer said the Poles had been shot by the Bolsheviks it meant that this was a fact. 'Therefore', the officer continued, 'you need not fear anything, and you can sign with a clear conscience a protocol saying that the captured Polish officers were shot by the Bolsheviks and that you witnessed it'.

"I replied that I was already an old man, that I was 61 years old, and did not want to commit a sin in my old age. I could only testify that the captured Poles really arrived at Gnezdovo station in spring 1940. The German officer began to persuade me to give the required testimony promising that if I agreed he would promote me from the position of watchman on a railway crossing to that of stationmaster of Gnezdovo station, which I had held under the Soviet Government, and also to provide for my material needs.

"The interpreter emphasised that my testimony as a former railway official at Gnezdovo station, the nearest station to Katyn Forest, was extremely important for the German Command, and that I would not regret it if I gave such testimony. I understood that I had landed in an extremely difficult situation, and that a sad fate awaited me. However, I again refused to give false testimony to the German officer. He started shouting at me, threatened me with a beating and shooting, and said I did not understand what was good for me. However, I stood my ground. The interpreter then drew up a short protocol in German on one page, and gave me a free translation of its contents. This protocol recorded, as the interpreter told me, only the fact of the arrival of the Polish war prisoners at Gnezdovo station. When I asked that my testimony be recorded not only in German but also in Russian, the officer finally went beside himself with fury, beat me up with a rubber club and drove me off the premises…".

Savvateyev was another person pressurised by the Germans to give false testimony. He told the Soviet Commission of Inquiry:

"In the Gestapo I testified that in spring 1940 Polish war prisoners arrived at the station of Gnezdovo in several trains and proceeded further in trucks, and I did not know where they went. I also added that I repeatedly met those Poles later on the Moscow-Minsk highway, where they were working on repairs in small groups. The officer told me I was mixing things up, that I could not have met the Poles on the highway, as they had been shot by the Bolsheviks, and demanded that I testify to this.

"I refused. After threatening and cajoling me for a long time, the officer consulted with the interpreter about something in German, and then the interpreter wrote a short protocol and gave it to me to sign. He explained that it was a record of my testimony. I asked the interpreter to let me read the protocol myself, but he interrupted me with abuse, ordering me to sign it immediately and get out. I hesitated a minute. The interpreter seized a rubber club hanging on the wall and made to strike me. After that I signed the protocol shoved at me. The interpreter told me to get out and go home, and not to talk to anyone or I would be shot…"

Others gave similar testimony.

Evidence was also given as to how the Germans 'doctored' the graves of the victims to try to eliminate evidence that the massacre took place not in the autumn of 1941 but in the spring of 1940 shortly after the Poles first arrived in the area. Alexandra Mikhailovna had worked during the German occupation in the kitchen of a German military unit. In March 1943 she found a Russian war prisoner hiding in her shed:

"From conversation with him I learned that his name was Nikolai Yegorov, a native of Leningrad. Since the end of 1941 he had been in the German camp No. 126 for war prisoners in the town of Smolensk. At the beginning of March 1943, he was sent with a column of several hundred war prisoners from the camp to Katyn Forest. There they, including Yegorov, were compelled to dig up graves containing bodies in the uniforms of Polish officers, drag these bodies out of the graves and take out of their pockets documents, letters, photographs and all other articles.

"The Germans gave the strictest orders that nothing be left in the pockets on the bodies. Two war prisoners were shot because after they had searched some of the bodies, a German officer discovered some papers on these bodies. Articles, documents and letters extracted from the clothing on the bodies were examined by the German officers, who then compelled the prisoners to put part of the papers back into the pockets on the bodies, while the rest was flung on a heap of articles and documents they had extracted, and later burned.

"Besides this, the Germans made the prisoners put in the pockets of the Polish officers some papers which they took from the cases or suitcases (I don't remember exactly) which they had brought along. All the war prisoners lived in Katyn Forest in dreadful conditions under the open sky, and were extremely strongly guarded… At the beginning of April 1943, all the work planned by the Germans was apparently completed, as for three days not one of the war prisoners had to do any work…

"Suddenly at night all of them without exception were awakened and led somewhere. The guard was strengthened. Yegorov sensed something was wrong and began to watch very closely everything that was happening. They marched for three or four hours in an unknown direction. They stopped in the forest at a pit in a clearing. He saw how a group of war prisoners were separated from the rest and driven towards the pit and then shot. The war prisoners grew agitated, restless and noisy. Not far from Yegorov several war prisoners attacked the guards. Other guards ran towards the place. Yegorov took advantage of the confusion and ran away into the dark forest, hearing shouts and firing.

"After hearing this terrible story, which is engraved on my memory for the rest of my life, I became very sorry for Yegorov, and told him to come to my room, get warm and hide at my place until he had regained his strength. But Yegorov refused… He said no matter what happened he was going away that very night, and intended to try to get through the front line to the Red Army. In the morning, when I went to make sure whether Yegorov had gone, he was still in the shed. It appeared that in the night he had attempted to set out, but had only taken about 50 steps when he felt so weak that he was forced to return. This exhaustion was caused by the long imprisonment at the camp and the starvation of the last days. We decided he should remain at my place several days longer to regain his strength. After feeding Yegorov I went to work. When I returned home in the evening my neighbours Branova, Mariya Ivanovna, Kabanovskaya, Yekaterina Viktorovna told me that in the afternoon, during a search by the German police, the Red Army war prisoner had been found, and taken away. "

Further corroboration was given by an engineer mechanic called Sukhachev who had worked under the Germans as a mechanic in the Smolensk city mill:

"I was working at the mill in the second half of March, 1943. There I spoke to a German chauffeur who spoke a little Russian, and since he was carrying flour to Savenki village for the troops, and was returning on the next day to Smolensk, I asked him to take me along so that I could buy some fats in the village. My idea was that making the trip in a German truck would get over the risk of being held up at the control stations. The German agreed to take me, at a price.

"On the same day at 10 p.m. we drove on to the Somolensk-Vitebsk highway, just myself and the German driver in the machine. The night was light, and only a low mist over the road reduced the visibility. Approximately 22 or 23 kilometres from Smolensk at a demolished bridge on the highway there is a rather deep descent at the by-pass. We began to go down from the highway, when suddenly a truck appeared out of the fog coming towards us. Either because our brakes were out of order, or because the driver was inexperienced, we were unable to bring our truck to a halt, and since the passage was quite narrow we collided with the truck coming towards us. The impact was not very violent, as the driver of the other truck swerved to the side, as a result of which the trucks bumped and slid alongside each other.

"The right wheel of the other truck, however, landed in the ditch, and the truck fell over on the slope. Our truck remained upright. The driver and I immediately jumped out of the cabin and ran up to the truck which had fallen down. We were met by a heavy stench of putrefying flesh coming evidently from the truck.

"On coming nearer, I saw that the truck was carrying a load covered with a tarpaulin and tied up with ropes. The ropes had snapped with the impact, and part of the load had fallen out on the slope. This was a horrible load - human bodies dressed in military uniforms. As far as I can remember there were some six or seven men near the truck: one German driver, two Germans armed with tommy-guns - the rest were Russian war prisoners, as they spoke Russian and were dressed accordingly.

"The Germans began to abuse my driver and then made some attempts to right the truck. In about two minutes time two more trucks drove up to the place of the accident and pulled up. A group of Germans and Russian war prisoners, about ten men in all, came up to us from these trucks. … By joint efforts we began to raise the truck. Taking advantage of an opportune moment I asked one of the Russian war prisoners in a low voice: 'What is it?' He answered very quietly: 'For many nights already we have been carrying bodies to Katyn Forest'.

"Before the overturned truck had been raised a German NCO came up to me and my driver and ordered us to proceed immediately. As no serious damage had been done to our truck the driver steered it a little to one side and got on to the highway, and we went on. When we were passing the two covered trucks which had come up later I again smelled the horrible stench of dead bodies".

Various other people also gave testimony of having seen the trucks loaded with dead bodies.

One Zhukhov, a pathologist who actually visited graves in April 1943 at the invitation of the Germans, also gave evidence:

"The clothing of the bodies, particularly the greatcoats, boots and belts, were in a good state of preservation. The metal parts of the clothing - belt buckles, button hooks and spikes on shoe soles, etc. - were not heavily rusted, and in some cases the metal still retained its polish. Sections of the skin of the bodies which could be seen - faces, necks, arms - were chiefly a dirty green colour, and in some cases dirty brown, but there was no complete disintegration of the tissues, no putrefaction. In some cases bared tendons of whitish colour and parts of muscles could be seen.

"While I was at the excavations people were at work sorting and extracting bodies at the bottom of a big pit. For this purpose they used spades and other tools, and also took hold of bodies with their hands and dragged them from place to place by the arms, the legs or the clothing. I did not see a single case of bodies falling apart or any member being torn off.

"Considering all the above, I arrived at the conclusion that the bodies had remained in the earth not three years, as the Germans affirmed, but much less. Knowing that in mass graves, and especially without coffins, putrefaction of bodies progresses more quickly than in single graves, I concluded that the mass shooting of the Poles had taken place about a year and a half ago, and could have occurred in autumn 1941 or in spring 1942. As a result of my visit to the excavation site I became firmly convinced that a monstrous crime had been committed by the Germans. "

Several other people who visited the graves at the time gave like testimony.

Moreover, pathologists who examined the bodies in 1943 concluded that they could not have been dead longer than two years. Furthermore, documents were found on some of the bodies which had obviously been missed by the Germans when they doctored the evidence. These included a letter dated September 1940, a postcard dated 12 November 1940, a pawn ticket receipted 14 March 1941 and another receipted 25 March 1941. Receipts dated 6 April 1941, 5 May 1941, 15 May 1941 and an unmailed postcard in Polish dated 20 June 1941. Although all these dates pre-date Soviet withdrawal, they all postdate the time of the alleged murder of the prisoners by the Soviet authorities in the spring of 1940, the time given as the date of the supposed massacre by all those whom the Germans were able to bully into giving false testimony. If, as is claimed by bourgeois propagandists, these documents are forgeries, it would have been the easiest thing to forge documents which postdated the Soviet departure, but his was not done - and it was not done because the documents found were undoubtedly genuine.

Source: The Stalin Society

http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk/katyn.html

PCPA men warn of more trouble

2009-12-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

Photo: Morter of joint force. Inset: Dead body of Kalol Mahato (Source: Icore Ekdin, (Bengali Daily), 22 December 2009)

Photo: The Statesman, 22 December 2009

Statesman News Service

MIDNAPORE, 21 DEC: The People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) convener, Mr Asit Mahato, today threatened further bloodshed in the Junglemahal area to avenge the death of two of their members at the hands of the joint forces in Jhargram yesterday.
Two PCPA activists ~ Kajal Mahato and Santu Mahato ~ both in their late twenties, were killed and seven others of the organisation were injured when security forces opened fire on suspected Maoists at Kalaboni village in West Midnapore district last night. Altogether four people have been killed in the Junglemahal area over the past 24 hours, two others being CPI-M leaders of Lodhasuli area in Jhargram ~ Jatin Mahato and Manik Midya. Three of the injured PCPA activists ~ Mr Durgesh Mahato, Mr Pradip Mahato and Mr Gostha Behari Mahato ~ were transferred to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata today after their condition deteriorated. Threatening more violence, Mr Mahato said they will hold a rally at Chhatinasole in Gopiballavpur tomorrow demanding release of the tribal school student, Loso Tudu, who is currently in custody of the Orissa police. PCPA members have also put up posters in different places of Gopiballavpur and Nayagram areas alleging police excess.
Although there were no reports of fresh violence or arson in the Junglemahal area today, the PCPA-sponsored road blockade programme entered its fourth day disrupting traffic movement in the entire Jhargram sub-division.
Meanwhile, members of the Jhargram Bar Association today submitted a memorandum to the Jhargram SDO, Mr Ulganathan P and threatened to observe a ceasework in the court for an indefinite period unless the ongoing jungle raj is removed from the sub-division within 24 hours. The Byabasayee Samiti of Pirakata Market in Salboni too have decided to boycott police and are not selling any goods to the jawans of joint forces based in Pirakata from yesterday. As for the zoo that was torched in Jhargram by Maoists yesterday, Animal Resources Development department officials said that about Rs 6 to 7 lakh would be required to re-open the zoo.

Source: The Statesman, 22 December 2009

http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:6t4bhwsyZwcJ:www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php%3Fclid%3D6%26theme%3D%26usrsess%3D1%26id%3D278665+statesman+PCPA&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

Rebel kill-&-burn spree

2009-12-19T21:07:00.000-08:00

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jhargram, Dec. 18:

Raju Adak and Joyram Bera had allegedly been picked up from Lalgarh on December 6, but no one by those names has been produced in court — in Jhargram or Midnapore — in the past few days.

“No such arrest has been made,” West Midnapore police chief Manoj Verma said.

The People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities identified the duo as its leaders and vowed to continue the agitation for their release.

Police sources said the duo were “hardcore” Maoists who used the committee as a front. Residents of Lalgarh, they have over 30 murder cases against them.

“The Maoists committed today’s murders and engineered the arson,” said Verma.

The scale of violence and the audacity of the strikes left many stunned. “We haven’t seen such widespread violence since the joint forces moved into Lalgarh six months ago. If we can’t tackle the situation now, it will spin out of control,” a district official said.

Anil Chalak, 56, and Dayal Chalak, 45, were shot at Chandra village in Jhargram while Amal Patra, 60, was killed in Lalgarh.

Following a committee warning yesterday threatening roadblocks, police had been patrolling the 15km stretch of national highway 6 between Lodhashuli, near Jhargram town, and Chichira, on the Jharkhand border.

However, minutes after the patrol had left for another part of the road, 200 people stopped the tankers, ordered the drivers out and set them on fire.

The security forces returned in 15 minutes but such was the intensity of the blaze they could not go anywhere near. Vehicles were stopped and redirected but still some 2,000 trucks were stuck on the highway for several hours from 1pm.

As the flames engulfed the tankers, their tyres burst, and the forces mistook the sound for gunshots and started firing at a roadside jungle.

The tankers burnt for four hours. The highway was opened to traffic past 5pm.

As the trucks burnt, about 150 people descended on the Reshmi Sponge Iron plant, only 2km away, and set it on fire. Over 12 trucks, two jeeps, a car, 20 motorcycles and several bicycles were torched.

One of the jeeps belonged to an official, who was too shaken to speak. “The guards’ quarters and the office were also looted,” he mumbled.

The police said committee activists had accompanied the guerrillas on the raids which claimed the CPM supporters’ lives.

In Calcutta, home secre- tary Ardhendu Sen promised more forces for Jhargram.

Committee leader Asit Mahato said: “Our people set fire to the tankers but we were not involved in the arson at the factory. It was a spontaneous outburst from villagers angry with its pollution. Our movement for Adak and Bera’s release will continue.”

The committee ransacked a forest office in Goaltore tonight and set its furniture on fire. Two mini-trucks were torched.

Home secretary Sen said the Centre had sought a report on the committee’s allegations that CPM cadres and the forces had torched 40 huts on the outskirts of Lalgarh last month.

Source: The Telegraph, 19 December 2009

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091219/jsp/bengal/story_11885102.jsp

History of Indian Communist Movement

2009-12-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

Harsh Thakor

[The view reflected in the following article is of Com. Harsh Thakor. It does not represent the view of the blog.]

1.History of Maoist Communist Centre

In October,1908 Co.Amulya Sen was born.This year thus commemorates his 100th birth anniversary year.He made a historic contribution to The Indian Communist Movement and with Com.Kanhai Chaterjee ,he was the founder of he Maoist Communist Centre which was formed I October 20th 1969.Soon In October it will b the 40th aniversary year of the formation of the Maoist Communist Centre.This organization is one of the constituents of the historically formed C.P.I(Maoist) in 2004.It is alos the 40th death anniversary of ComChandrashekar Das who died on Nov.25th 1969.Kanhai Chaterjee literally lived and breathe revolution.Few Orgaisnationjs I hehistory of he Comunst Movement have launches such daring actions on the enemies.It si a tribute to he outstanding tenacity o their comrades that they survived for 35 years,traversing every thorn in the bush.
It was his innovative thinking that made him critical of Charu Mazumdar’s C.P.I(M.L.)and it’s tactical line of individual annihilation. Comrade K.C.chalked out a path for the M.C.C whereby they formulated a strategy of heir own. The methods of work they adopted resembled Comrade Mao Tse Tung’s Red Army in the revolutionary war. Few revolutionary books or observers cannot remember their striking similarity with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Corpses, particularly he way they fled to the mountains. It was Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee who believe staunchly that the time was not appropriate for the forming of the party.He felt their had to be greater development in the revolutionary movement to form a party. In his view first an agrarian revolutionary movement had to be launched. Today it is significant that both the Charu Mazumar C.P.I(M.L) and the Maoist Communist Centre are recognized as the founding parties and not just Charu Mazumdar’s party.(The Peoples War and Party Unity Groups staunchly defended the Charu Mazumdar Party as the re-organised party.)
History of the Formation of the Party.(Compiled from PeoplesMarch-Nov 2004 issue) The Maoist Communist Centre was originally called the ‘Dakshin Desh ‘group It was originally apart of he A.I.C.CR but eventually pulled out.
Comrades Kanai Chatterjee and Amulya Sen, while working amongst the masses in Kolkata, Howrah and Hoogli and comrade Chandrashekar Das raised the banner of revolt against the line of the CPM 7th Congress. The “Chinta” group was formed in 1965 as a secret revolutionary centre within the CPM carrying out revolutionary propaganda amongst its rank-an-file. In 1965/66 six issues of the magazine were brought out whichdealt with the following topics: (a) the class character of the Indian state, (b) China’s path is our path, © neo-colonialism and the weapon of PL 480’s role, (d) the Programme of the 7th Congress, the nature of the revisionist leadership and the peasant question in India, etc. The CPM’s English and Bengali organs launched a massive attacks on the articles that appeared in the “Chinta”. This resulted in big discussions throughout the rank-and-file. In late 1966 the secret magazine, “Chinta”, was closed down and a magazine named “Dakshin Desh” was brought out openly. The group came to be known as the “Dakshin Desh” group. In early 1967, before the Naxalbari uprising com. Kanai Chatterjee had a long discussion with Com. CM. At this meeting they had a common understanding on advancing the peasant movement and decided to maintain close relations.
But the relations did not grow. From 1967 to 1969 the then “Dakshin Desh” group built up the movement in Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogli, Midnapur, Bardhwan,Birbum and 24 Parganas, together with some work in Assam and Tripura. They built the peasant movement firstly in Sonarpur during the later part of the 60s and then in Kanksa in Bardhwan district. Thereafter they established some contacts with Bihar, it began work there. In October 1969 the MCC was formed. It was Com. Kanai Chatterjee who laid the basic line for their Centre in the very first issue of “Lal Pataka” brought out in 1969. The important topics dealt with were: (a) the importance of Maoism (then called ‘thought’) in the present era, (b) in the present situation the tactical line and tactical slogans, © the correct policy towards the participation in elections and a correct analysis of the boycott of elections, saying that though it was a question of tactics, it acquires the significance of strategy in the concrete conditions of India, (d) the Correct line regarding the armed agrarian revolutionary war, that is, protracted people’s war including army building and base areas (e) correct orientation towards forms of struggle (open and secret, legal and illegal, peaceful and armed), (f) the programme, tactics and methods of the peasant struggle, (g) approach and method towards the UF, (h) political propaganda (i) on the women’s question, the student movement and the nationality question in India, and (j) methods of leadership..(excerpted from Peoples March Nov-Dec 2004 issue) The founding documents of the M.C.C. stressed te importance of base areas in he revolutionary process.”If we are to build armed agarian revolution,a peoples army and red base areas ,we will always have to remain firm on some basic principles regarding their inter-relation.The building up and consolidation of the armed agrarian revolution,peoples army and base areas -thes tasks are related to each other. “If we are to build up an agrarian revolution no peoples army can be built up.Similarly an agrarian revolution cannot be built up without a Peoples Army..Again without a peoples army no base area can be built up. Similarly without base areas the very existence of peoples army cannot be maintained. It is only through agrarian revolutionary guerilla struggle and the establishment of the peoples army that a red base area can be built up Again throug this work alone can the revolutionary high tide can be accelerated throughout the country,and depending on the base areand with the help of he Peoples Army,the agrarian revolution alo can be consolidated,deepened an expanded.”This statement was he chief demarcating factor of the M.C.C withthe C.P.I.(M.L).
Some references from July-Oct 1997 issue of Vanguard regarding polemical differences of M.C C with Peoples War Group.
Quoting Kanhai Chaterjee “It is wrong to say that Dakshin Desh Group left the A.I C.C.R because of it’s difference es on the issue of immediate formatin of he [party.A.I.C.C.R.did not recognize any group with aseparate identity like he 'Dakshin Desh Groups as it's constituents.No representative of this group was amember o he Est Bengal Co-ordination Committee. Or of he A.I.C.C.R."
The M.C.C made the following criticism of the C.P.I(M.L) 'Naturally as the party was formed without following the revolutionary process, method and style, some known degenerated elements could capture some posts in the leadership from he beginnings. This facilitates undeclared groups and a tendency of group mentality and bureacratism replacing democratic Centralism.'
Kanhai Chaterjee stated "We have to give utmost importance on organ sing extensive political campaign and political exposure campaign on a large scale. Only this will take us towards he path of Peoples War and inspire the masses to politics of Socialism, peoples Democracy and armed peoples dictatorship under the leadership of the working class.In view of he present semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of India the exposure of the economy an politics at present and the propogation of the politics of agrarian evolution or peoples democratic revolution will take the centre sage in the whole programme.
Phases of struggle of M.C.C
The first phase can be stretched from 1964 to 1968 and began when the revisionist line was established at the first Congress of the CPI (M). i) drawing a clear line of demarcation with the revisionists in the political and organizational fields, (ii) linking the daily revolutionary practice of Indian revolution to the theory (iii) developing a political and tactical line not merely as a formality, but giving it a concrete structure in various spheres of activity and (iv) based on these revolutionary policies, style and method, and in the course of revolutionary struggles and guided by a revolutionary theory, to build a revolutionary party. The second phase, which stretched from 1969 to 1978, was a period of implementation of the party's line, policies and plans. It was a period of gaining practical experience towards the path of establishing the 'Red Agrarian Revolutionary Resistance War.' Work was begun on this basis in the Sundarbans, 24 Parganas, Hoogli, Midnapur, Kanksa, Gaya and Hazaribagh. Of these experiences the most encouraging was that of Kanksa and Hazaribagh. Here, a wide movement was built on issues like wage hike, seizure of crops, fertiliser problem, confiscation of grains from landlords and against various forms of political and social oppression. Also, a wide mass movement was built, some notorious landlords punished and steps were taken towards disarming of the enemy and arming the people.
However although claiming to defer from Charu Mazumdar's line in their actual working process ,their practice was virtually The same. The Maoist Communist Centre also deployed the tactic of "Individual annihilation of the Class Enemy.'It was Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee who made a rectification of the line where the formation of mass organizations and bulding of mass movements was indispensable.The M.C.C did not build separate peasant organization but had a strategy to build he KrantiKari Kisan Comitees.These Committees tried the landlords and re-distributed land to the landless peasants. Punishments weRe awarded to guilty Landlords.Mass Fronts were also bilt in he student,youth women and Cultural Front.The Nari Mukti Sanggh,a mass organization of women led a significant movement. It was in 1978 when the MC.C made a self-correction and decided to form mass organizations like the Revolutionary Peasants Committee. The mistakes of the past were analysed. The third phase, which stretched from 1979 to 1988, was a period of taking the lessons, both positive and negative, of the second phase and enriching both the theory and practice. In this phase the MCC focused on Bihar; and with the perspective of building a people's army and base area, the Bihar-Bengal Special Area Committee was established, the 'Preparatory Committee for Revolutionary Peasant Struggles' was formed and soon Revolutionary Peasant Councils emerged. In this phase militant struggles developed and the landlords' authority smashed, thousands of acres of land seized and distributed to the landless, and property of the landlords seized and distributed..
Relation with C.P.I(M.L)Peoples War .(Compiled from Peoples March) It has been a long and tortuous path of over two decades of discussions between the two parties. The process witnessed many ups and downs. It saw even some dark periods. But finally it emerged triumphant. The first ever meeting between the latter two parties began in 1981, when the then leaders, comrade Kanai Chatterjee of the then MCC and com KS of the then CPI(ML)(PW) met for over 12 days. After this very first meet both leaders, though belonging to different streams, stated that the grounds to merge are strong as both were basically traversing a similar path. Both parties set out the procedure for preparation of the documents and then merger. Meanwhile, the erstwhile CPI(ML)[Party Unity] also had good relations with the then MCC, both having regular touch. This too continued until the early 1990s, after which relations soured and clashes began. Though the desire for unity of the PW and the MCC was strong it did not progress much, because of various reasons. In 1982 com. KC died out of illness caused from the rigours of underground life and com. KS was arrested. After that the PW was rocked by two major internal crises in the CC, on both occasions involving the general secretaries of the party. Though attempts to further the unity process continued, particularly in the brief period between the two crises (1988-90), it was only after its resolution that talks were again taken up in seriousness from 1992. This continued for three years, after which it finally broke down due to some differences on international issues. Both parties issued a joint statement for the failure of the talks, outlining the differences and its suspension for the time being but vowing to take it up again later. Then relations to some extent also soured between the MCC and the PW, particularly after the merger of PW and PU.
Then in 1998 the two major parties within the M-L trend, the PW and the PU, merged to form a single party of this trend. But already the situation at the ground level in Bihar had deteriorated and after 1998 the clashes between PW and the MCC continued and intensified. Then the two parties entered the period now referred to as the “Black Chapter” of the Indian revolution. Large numbers were killed from both sides. This situation caused much damage to the revolutionary movement. This process continued even when various genuine supporters of the movement opposed the retaliatory methods adopted by both parties. Many intellectuals and progressive elements who support revolution appealed to both the parties to stop these clashes. Different communist revolutionary groups and parties in the country appealed to resolve the clashes. Many South Asian Maoist parties, and other international Maoist forces also appealed to stop the clashes. In due course the process of rethinking was already going on inside the MCC. At the time of the PW/PU unity itself the PW took a decision to unilaterally stop clashes, but neither did it make it public nor convey it to the MCC, so it had little impact. In this overall backdrop the MCC took the initiative in openly declaring a unilateral ceasefire in January, 2000. Thereafter, PW also responded to stop the clashes. Hence the negative relation between the two parties started turning into a positive one. In the meantime the PW held its 9th Congress in August, 2001. Also the MCCI had to face a major two line struggle with a small faction from within on certain ideological-political and other issues.
Finally, the process of talks between the two parties was once again started in August 2001. The other important reason for the growing closeness of the two were the decisions of the PW Congress which rectified some of its earlier understandings and also adopted Maoism in place of Mao Thought. In the very first meeting the delegations of the two parties offered a serious self-criticism, and decisions were taken to initiate joint activities at the Bihar/Jharkhand level. The written self-criticisms were taken publicly throughout the rank-and-file of the Bihar/Jharkhand party and the situation further developed in the positive direction. Throughout the period of the latter part of 2001 and entire 2002 major joint activities were taken in Bihar-Jharkhand including the successful three-day economic blockade of the two states in protest against POTA. Talks also continued between these two parties through this period. Finally, it was in the important Feb. 2003 bilateral meeting that a decision was taken to take concrete steps for starting discussion on ideological- political issues of line with the clear direction and purpose of merger of the two parties. In this meeting a serious and extensive self-criticism was put forward by both parties for the “Black Chapter” and this too was carried publicly. Both parties vowed never to repeat clashes with class friends no matter how severe the difference. At this meeting the grounds were also laid to advance and finalise the process of merger They were, firstly, on the ideology of the Party — Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. The other documents decided to be drafted were on the Programme, Strategy & Tactics, Political Resolution on the International and Domestic Situation, and the Party Constitution. The task of drafting the five documents was divided amongst the two parties. Then, in four rounds of negotiations, between the high-level delegations of the two Parties and the respective CCs, final agreement was reached after detailed discussions on these documents on all major issues at a joint meeting of the two CCs on Sept.2004. The documents were adopted and decided to be translated into about 10 regional languages to be discussed throughout the party. Some minor differences that remained were referred for further discussion and study to be clinched at a later date. Finally the joint CC meeting of both parties took the decision of merger and a Central Committee (Provisional) was established.
Work on Mass Fronts
In the open mass work the Maoist Communist Centre formed the first revolutionary Student Organisation in Bihar ,the Revolutionary Students League and a strong Cultural organizations,the Krantikari Budhijibi Sangh and the Krantikari Sanskritik Sangh. .It also set up various units of the Krantikari Kisan Commitees,which carried out Peoples Courts against class enemies and distributed land to the tiller. They also consolidated it’s peasant movement . Another Significant contribution og the M.C C was the work of their women’s front organization,the ‘Nari Mukti Sangh”They played a major role leading tribal revolts of women.in Bihar However by the late 1990’s its student and youth front was totally destroyed by enemy forces.The party recruited 500 wholetimers and more than 10000 members.The Emergence of revolutionary student organisations was of great significance in Bihar. The Revolutionary Students League led by the Maoist Communist Centre was the first ever Revolutionary Student organisation which carried out the first ever Go to Villages campaign in Bihar by a student front in 1989.In that campaign they upheld the Chinese Revolution in commemorating the 40th anniversary year. A Village campaign was also held in1993 protesting against the Death Sentence on M.C.comrades in the Dalechauk Baghera Uprising in Aurangabad and against the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992,where a cycle rally was also held.Memorable Comrades of the Maoist Communist Centre.
.In 1978 Comrdae Jeeblal and several cadres were responsible or he rectification line in the M.C.C.Comrade Jeblal Mahto was martyred .Comrade Mahato was a peasnt activist who was killed I apolice encounter. Comrade Kamdeo,was the son of a middle peasant. Who left college to work as arailway labourr.On August 7th 1984 he was engulfed by the police while satging ameeeting of the Krantikari Kisan Commitewe.He was shot in cold blood with his hands tied behind his back.His last wordswere ‘Long ive the Revolution.’ Comrade Rameshwar Yadav was the son of a middle peasant. In 1976 he joined the M.C.C an became an important peasant leader .He led armed actions with immaculate skill. Ironically he was killed on Republic day while conducting a meeting in Lenjoa village in Hazirabagh district.
KrantiKari Kisan Committee.Notse compiled From Aloke Banerjee’s article fromWorld to win and A.I R.S F.publication(Naxalabari.-Not just the name of a village” -commemorating 30 years) Struggles were adopted through a huge network of villages. In the initial stages a Krantikari Kisan Sanharsh Committee was formd.(Preparatoty Committee for Revolutinary Peasnt Styruggles)When the peasants were organized in large numbers under this banner,these committees wee developed into full fledged Krantikari Kisan Commitees’.(Revolutionay Peasnt Councils) The 2 slogans raised were “All land to the Real Tillers’ and ALL Power to the Peasant Commitees”. The rape and molestation of wome was taken up in al earnest .Notorious dacoits were punished. The forcible harvesting of crops planted by landlords on gair-Mazruia land was also challenged and they were seized by he Revolutionary Comitees. All types of disputes wre challenged at the village level Armed Red Defence Corpses were active in supporting the strugglesSelf 0defece squads were formed of the village youth. The main areas struggle were Hazaribagh, Gaya and Aurangabad.
One famous action was carried out on landlord Rameshwar Singh.For years the peasants were trampled by the landlords iron feet. On January 6th 1983 the Kisan Committee gathered at is ‘Kacheri’. He was arrested and tried. They not only killed him but burnt his house. This was the firs time that he people seriously saw the need of combining mass struggles with armed movements.
From Gaya to Dhanbad,the struggle spread to Bokaro,Aurangabad,Hazaribagh and Giridih.Later in land seizure movements starting in fulls wing from 1986 to 1990,7000 acres of land were re-distributed.They also raised spectacular squad actios.In August 2001 an armeds quad under the leadership of the Maoist Communist Centre stopped a truckload og grain and distributed half thes acks of pulses to the masses,before they wee forced to retreat by the arrival of police enforcements.The next ,night they repeated the experience halting,8000 strong,5 trucks on the Grand Trunk Road. Slogans were shouted calling for confiscating the moneylenders good sto distributr amogst the poor,to establish the authority of the revolutionary peasnt committees and protect the people from starvation. Before the goods were distributed,thirty jeeploads of police arrived at the scene.For hours there was afierce combat as the revolutionaries had laid mines.M.CC combatants herouically resisted the might of the police forces.(From Aloke Banerjee’s Article-’Inside M.C.C Country’)
A special court in Gaya had meted out a life imprisonment to a number of members of the Krantikari Kisan Committee which had led an uprising in the 1990’s that had seen the militant involvement of thousands of poor anmd middle peasants.The M.C.Ccalled for a 72 hour bandh in Bihar and Jharkahnd in protest.Rialwyy tracks were blocked, Schools and colleges boycotted,courts boycotted,shops and markets closed Etc. Revolutionary raids in retaliation were organized by the M.C.C during the 3 day bandh. IN Lohardaga,Gumla etc.(Aloke Banerjee-’Inside M.C.C country.
This trend spread all over and hundreds of landlords were brought to he book. Guilty landlords we shaved and paraded in public. The most notorious we sentenced to death. Some even repented and were forgiven. hey would now operate under he watchful administration of he Committee. All the ‘Kacheri’s’ were razed to the ground. Famous examples were Moha Khan of Kadirganj I Gaya,Madhumati ingh of Balia,Surakasha Singh ofPachmi,,Main Singh the owner of 2900 acres in Pipra and the Mahant of Bodhgaya.The famous words ‘Utha Hai ToofanZamana Badal Raha’ were now echoing all over.(A storm has risen ,the times are changing).The M.C.C also called ahistoric 72 hour bandh I Bihar and Jharkhand against he death sentence ofn membersof the Krantikari Kisan Committee who had led ahistoric uprising. Schools, colleges,courts, offices, shops and markets remained closed.All movement of vehicles virtually ceased. Railway services came to a standstill.Thousands of people lay on the railway tracks. Business came to a standstill. Revolutionary raids were organized in Lohardaga ,Gumla and elsewhere.
Memorable Actions(Compiled fro ‘A World to Win Article by Aloke Banerjee and from A.I.R.S.F.booklet-’Naxalbari is not just the name of a Village’ The M.C C.launched a series of military type attacks on the police and military forces..On December 2002 , The M.C C was able to disarm 66 jawans in a raid when they captured 50 weapons after attacking a police contingent in Jharkhand. In his appraisal of the Movement of M.C.C Prakash Singh(Former Inspector General of Police in his book The Naxalite Movement in India) States:The M.C.C has been running a parallel judicial system in certain pockets.These are described as Jan Adalat or Peoples Courts.Farzand Ahmed of India Today writes this example,”Silence descends as Laxman, the area commander of M.C.C , a sinister figure with his face covered appears.The 2 acused, with their hands tied behind their backs are brought in.Laxman launches into his ideological monologue ‘In today’s system, the toiling masses working hard but get nothing to eat. On the other hand, these bastard thieves lift goats and diesel. He then asks the villagers to select 5 judges. The 5 judge bench hears he charges and announces its verdict -5 lathi blows and 5 slaps by each children publicly.The verdict ,confirmed by the people by avoice vote is quickly executed, accompanied by the requisite
slogan’Naxalbari Ek Hi Rasta.’
One of he most famous actions carried out by the M.C.C was in Dalechauk Baghera in Aurangabad on May 29th 1987.The Yadav activists of the Maoist Communist Centre slaughtered 42 Rajputs in retaliation for murders. Aurangabad is a feudal centre.I Seshani Village the landlords launched an atack on Seshani vilage on April 19th 1987. This was in retaliation to the policies of the Krantikari Kisan Commitees who banned the selling of 150 acres of land owned by the Mahanta of Jnibigha village. This land was brought by Lootan Sinh. The Kisan Commitee destroyed the office of Babu Lotan and his tractors wee burnt. A red flag was hoisted over his land. The landlords were also enraged by an earlier clash with the M.C.C and the fact that hundreds of Mahua trees were owned by the Kisan SAmiti.In a attack he landlords launched an attack on M.C.C activists in Seshani, killing 8activists and 2 children.
Following this the Red Defence Corpes launched an attack on Dalechauk Baghera. That area historically had the most notorious landlords like Satyendra Narayan Singh,Ram Narseh Singh and Lootan Babu.Triveni Singh,SAmresh Singh and Abhan Singh wee other tyrants. It was the Krantikari Kisan Commitees that challenged their might. Another similar incident took place i Bara village in Gaya district o February 12th 1992,when 37 upper caste members of the Bhumihar caste wee hacked to death.
According to Prakash Singh(Former Inspector General of Police0 in his book’The Naxalite Movement in India’:The party has built an armed wing known as the Lal Raksha Dal and manged to stockpile about 7 to eight hundred firearms of different descriptions,including a couple of A-K 47 Rifles. ..
Jharkhand.
Here the M.C.C led a famous movement. They negotiated with leaders of the Jharkahand Mukti Morcha LIKE Sibu Soren and Vinod Mahato that a separate state was no solution for the tribals and what was fundamentally required was uprooting the social system.nI Jharkhand the .M.C.C waged many a famous struggle ,seizing and re-distributing landlord’s land. They defended the formation of separate state of Jharkand but only when it was connected to the overall class struggle.Sibu Soren was unsympathetic but Vinod Mahato was impressed with the M.C.C. Between 1987 an 1990,over 7000 acres of land in Chatanpur were re-distributed among the villagers. Forset offices were attacked .In 1991 the landlords formed the Sunlight Sena in retaliation . The M.C C retaliated. Their armed squads liquidated the entire Sena in the region.
Assesment of the Maoist Communist Centre.
Strengths
The fact that for 35 years it survived he onslaught of the Indian State with phenomenal tenacity inWest Bengal,Bihar Etc leading an arm3ed struggle in Bihar is one of the greatest achievements in he annals of the orld Communist Movement.The military action sit conducted are comparable to the intensity in Peoples Wars in Nepal ,Peru and Phillipines and the style of functioning to some extent resmbled the Chinse Comunist Party in heir revolutionary Armed Struggle.It’s mass fronts joined the All India League for Revolutionary Culture and the All India Revolutionary Students Federation.It’s final merger into the C.P.I(Maoist) is a historical achievement.
It must be noted that the heroic actions carried out in Bihar and Jharkhand today is virtually the line of the Maoist Communist Centre until the 2004 merger into the C.P.I.(Maoist). The erstwhile Party Unity or Peoples War Group never carried out as intense military actions.Eg Historic Jehanabad Jail break.and the Giridh Armoury raid (commemorating the 75th annioversary of the Chittagong Armouy raid It is the M.C.C which has made he biggest contribution to the bulding of the Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army in Bihar and Jharkkhand.
To me one of the most significant historical contribution sof M.C C was their challenging the authenciy of the C.P.I(M.L) formed by Charu Mazumdar.THe fact that the recently constituted C.P.I(Maoist) considers both the Charu Mazumdar Party and the M.C C as the percusors of the re-organised party proves the historical contribution of the M.C.C.I the authors view the revolutionary party has not been re-organised,nor has it developed a mass military line. It is fascinating that even 10 years ago the C.P.I(M.L) Peoles War wrote a polemical critique on MC’C’ refusal to recognize the Charu Mazumdar C.P.I(M.L) as the re-organised party.The peoples War Group thought that it was a left sectarian stand of the M.C.C , unable to understand how sectarian the Charu Mazumdar C.P.I(M.L) was with regard to comrades and organizations outside the A.I C.C R. Weaknesess
The most important question of historic assessment was their original difference with the original C.P.I(M.L) and later why it developed serious differences with the Peoples War Group or Party Unity Group to the extent that even inter-group clashes occurred on a wide scale.This reflected he defective military line of both the erstwhile Peoples War Group and the M.C.C. True they resolved it ultimately but did they analyse the root cause of the clashes and rectify those aspects of the line that caused them?
Although M.C.C led a historic armed struggle it’s movement was vitiated with serious defects. The organization was unable to develop a correct mass military line .Several actions were performed which did not take into account the state and development of the agrarian revolutionary movement in their respective areas. Such actions instead of basing themselves on people’s mass movements, substituted them. A correct strategy has not been adopted to develop base areas f rom guerilla Zones. It has not successful defended or consolidated base areas as he Chinse Communist Party did. In this light it is very important to study the method the Chinese Communist Party adopted while carrying out their armed revolutionary struggle. This year is 80 years since the famous Chinkanshang uprising in China. (In 1927 Mao’s Red Army retreated to the mountains. That was the year the seeds of armed struggle was launched with he Autumn Harvest or Nanchang Uprising on August 1st 1927..It is also the 80 th anniversary year of the formation of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army) It would also be significant to compare how the Maoist Communist Center consolidated their base areas in comparison with he Chinese Communist Party in their base areas i the 1930’s.The Chinese Red Army. always stressed on the relation of the armed movement with the Agrarian revolution. Even during armed struggle or conducting armed actions they consolidated agrarian revolution and re-distributed land. In this light it is also important to compare the period in China of consolidation and preparation of the peasant mass movement before armed struggle was launched .I uphold their merger with Peoples War Group and heir self -condemnation as remarkable but I don’t hink they have made aself-critical analysis of the agrarian revolutionary or military line.The M.C.C often adopted the line of the ‘Individual annihilation of he class enemy’, in contrast to the mass line. Significantly it was known as he ‘Jungle’ party as it hardly resorted to open activity.
Athough mass organizations were formed they were utilized as mere front organizations of the M.C.C and not given a distinct open identity .Legal and open mass struggles were neglected to a considerable extent. The relation between armed struggle and open mass activity was hardly developed . Open mass struggles were reqired during repression of democratic rights,communal riots ETC.During the 1993 Babri Masjid riots,there were hardly any open mass movements organized in opposition (although mass fronts launched some protests)A separate revolutionary peasant organization was not formed. There was also confusion between caste and clas Struggle.Acts were launched against oppression of down trodden cates without taking into account class analysis.(1987 Dalechauk-Baghera massacre of RAjputs being he best example)Work on the trade Union sphere was neglected and hardly any emphasis was placed on building revolutionary struggle with the urban areas.(WEst Begal is he best example)
One theoretical weakness of the Maoist Communist Centre was it’s replacing the term ‘Mao Zedong Thought’,with ‘Maoism.’Even the C.C.P did not replace Mao Tse Tung Thought with Maoism in the Socialist and Cultural Revolution Period.This denies the fact that it is the ‘era of imperialism’ as profounded by Comrade Lenin. It also joined the Revolutionary Internationalist movement ,a Communist International Organization, which was prematurely formed, without adequate development of the World Communist Movement.
Let us end the article dipping our blood to all the martyrs of the Maoist Communist Cente and bow down to he immortal contributions of Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee. Red Salutes to Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee on his 25th death anniversary ay.(Founder of Maoist Communist Centre)and all the Martyrs of the Maoist Communist Centre.
Pay Homage first to Founding members Kanhai Chaterje,Amulya Sen,Chandrashekar Das. Pay Homage to mass activists ,leaders like Revolutionary Student League leader Com Arjun,(Martyred in 1995.He joined R.S L in 1987 playing a major role in the student movement by initialisng ‘Go To Village Campaigns’.Murdered on 10th July 1995 by Sukar Paswan and his criminal goons in Bageshwari,Gaya after being kidnapped)Comrade Manoj ( C.Y.L.activist and later armed squad member.Killed in encounter on July 1998). C.YL.activist Baijnath Singh,Krantikari KIsan Committee activists Jeeblal Mahato, (1978) Rameshwar Yadav,KamdeoEtc. ,(August 7th,1984) By Harsh Thakor With reference to ‘Naxalbari is not just the name of a village’-commemorating 30 years of Naxalbari ‘Peoples March’ ‘A World to Win -Article by Aloke Banerjee. ‘Naxalite Movement in India’by Prakash Singh. This year is the 20th anniversary year of the Famous Dalechauk Baghera Uprising on May 29th 1987. It is also the 10th death anniversary year of Comrade Baijnath,who fought valiantly in the Revolutionary Student League and the C.Y.L but sadly commited suicide due to socio-economic misfortune.He was born in 1967,so it is also his 40th birth anniversary year.

2.Polemics

a..There is a debate in the Revolutionary Camp on the question of whether Maoism can replace the term Mao Tse Tung Thought.One section states that only the term Maoism can correctly credit his contribution,the other condemns this replacement as it feels the that that it replaces the era of ‘Leninism.”

One aspect nobody can deny that Comrade Mao took Leninsim to a higher phase through his development of protracted PeoplesWar in semi-colonial countries and with his thesis on continuous Revolution under the dictatorship of the Proletariat.It was Mao who discovered that even a Socialist Society or State can degenerate into a bourgeoisie order in the economic and political Sheres.He imbibed Crucial lesson from Kruschev’s transformation of China into a Revisionist State.He introduced the concept of a Revolution within a Socialist Society itself ,without which he felt that it would revert to a bourgeoisie society. Infact historically Mao’s teachings are most relevant when analysing the triumph of Krusuchev’s bourgeois state In 1956.Infact Revisonism had it’s roots in the Stalinist era as though he led his country to a great victory in the world War agaisnt Nazi Germay saving the Socialist State he hardly called for Democratic Struggles from below in a Socialist party and unleashed repression on party Members. Mao had earlier applied Lenin’s colonial thesis in applying a military line for the colonial or Semi-colonial Countries thus developing the theory of New emocratic Revolution.Wihout this first stage a Socialist Society could not develop in third World Countries,where a united Front was made with the national bourgeoisie.,in aliance with the petite bougeoisie,proletariat and peasntry under the leadership of the proletariat/Even after the triumph of the Revolution in 1949 the CC.P called the ideology “Marxism-Leninsm and the Thought of Mao Tse Tung.In the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution launched in 1966 period the C.C.P,termed it Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought. Imperialism’If hypothetically tomorrow Socialist Revolutions exist in Europe they would have applied Mao’s revolutionary theories before and after Revolution without which they would not be true Marxists. To conduct 2-line struggle in a Socialist Society within a Leninist party as Mao did i the Cultural Revolution was an innovation in itself. To me Mao’s military line can be relevant everywhere whether in a third world Country or a European Country.Look at the peoples War in Chechyna.True it would not have the same charasterictis in China or Asia but the concept copuld be adapted in the relevant manner towards accomplishing the goal of a Socialist Revolution.Remember it was Comrade Mao who discovered the first military line and it would be wrong to say that his theory was inapplicable to a first World Country.Mao was the first to provide the International Proletraiat with a correct Military line. Mao also made philisophical contributions like his discovery of he Law of Contradiction as the fundamental law o dialectics in nature.

To me the fundamental point is whether the term Maoism replaces the era of Leninsm with Maoism. Lenin took Marxism to a higher stage by discovering Imperialism as a development of Capitalism in his colonial thesis.He also developed the concept of the Party of the Proletariat,unlike Marx who felt a revolutionary Society would continue with the Parliamentary democratic System even after the proletarian dictatorship was established.Mao applied Leninism in Party building stressing the concept of democratic centralism,right upto the Cultural Revolution. Mao has not discovered a new era like Comrade Lenin but he has made major theoretical innovations. Lenin took Marxism to a higher stage to a higher stage as a development of Imperialism from Capitalism and thus created a new era.Similarly Mao Tse Tung Thought does not reject Leninism but just means that Leninism has been taken to a higher stage. To me the Importance is that the contribution of Marx and Lenin are not placed on a lower pedestal.Terming the era as Maoism means rejecting the Leninist era of Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution?.Maoism can only be applied as a component of Marxism and Leninism.Mao took Marxism –Leninism to a higher stage,but did not discover a new era. We must assert that Maoism is thesis and not a law in itself and it would be an un-marxist trend to call the present era the era of Maoism.

To divide the revolutionary Camp on the question of Maoism against Mao thought would be harmful.True Comrades in Nepal had led a major armed struggle and a series of Peoples Wars were fought in the World propogating the terminolgy of of Maoism.It is also true that organisations still upholding Mao Te Tung Thought like Liberation Group and the Kanu Sanyal C.P.I(M.L) represent ther rightist or revisionst trend.The esrtwhile Red Flag Group also has wrong reasoning by clubbing Maosim with the term Lin Biaoism which rejects the leadership of the Party of the Proletariat and terming it as a mere military line.

The Shining Path Movement in Peru was on the verge of victory about 15 years ago ,while in Phillipines it is at a progressive stage. In India the C.P.I(Maoist) leads a powerful armed struggle.However let us examiine that 3 of the 4 organisations mentioned have either capitulated, had amajor setbak or vitiated by left sectarian trends.The Revolutinary Internationalist Movement is also in astage of collapsing.Some ideologues feel that the term Maosim dose true justice to Mao’s Contribution.Describing Maoism as an ism in itself would virtually mean that we are existing in the era of Maoism. However to me as long as we accept the modern era as that of Leninism and Imperialism ,it is incorrect to replace the term Mao Tes Tung Thought with Maoism .It defines Comrade Mao’s contributions in a more clear manner.Maoism canot exist withouth Marxism and Leninism and is a component. The reason why forces like the P.C.P,N.C.P(M), and C.P.I(Maoist )justify this as they decsribe the era as that of total collapse of Imperialism and attribute his to the 9th Congess of the C.P.C.in 1969. as different to “Imperialism and Proletraian Revolution’.

It is relevant that even the Chinese Communist Party used the terminology of Mao Tse Tung thought ,even in the Cultural Revolution period.A very Important point is whether an ism can be seperated from an era.Despite several proletarian Armed Struggles atking plae worldwide including the Indian Naxalbari version the Chinese Comrades never replaced the term Mao Tse Tung Thought.

b.Question of Era

In the 1969 Party Congress the C.C.P had reported that it was the era where “Imperialism was heading for a Collapse and Proletarian revolution were triumphing.”This has been interpreted in different ways by the revolutionary Groups.One section states it maent 'the era of total Collapse of Imperialism' and promoted Left Adventurism in defining it as a new era.- and was wrong.Another interprets it as correctly replacing the era of Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution with era of Total colapse of Imperialism. stating that infact it was a different era-that of Mao Tse ung Thought or Maoism where Imperialism was on the verge of a collapse.The latter trend is the view of the C.P.I Maoist like forces.Such Intellectuals assert that it is not the Imperialism of the Lenin’s period and the World economy has undergone qualitaive changes.In their view it has considerably weakened. And that one can only aknowledge Maoism by calling it the eraof Total Collapse of Imperialism and Victory of Proletraian Revolution.Howevever within this section the Jan Muktikami Group (Interestingly this section terms Maoism a Revisionist and MaoTse Tung Thought Correct).asserts that it is still a part of the era of Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution.(Infact this group referring to Mao Tese ung thought propagate that rejecting total collapse of Imperialism amounts to abandoning Mao Tse Tung Thought..This is a trend to be combated.It denies the modern era as that of ‘Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution a and replaces it .Whatever may have been the changes in he post World War 2 phase in terms of change of dominace of Colonies to that of the Superpowers or 4 decades later the collapse of erstwhile U.S S R and the change in the World Situation.Even groups who fight tooth and nail against replacing Mao Tse Tung Thought with Maoism feel that not accepting the "total collapseof Imperialism' theory amount s to rejecting Mao. The Cultural revolution left some invaluable lessons for all cadres and students of the Communist Movement. What is most important is to combat the trend of the era of collapse of Imperialism and Vicory of Proletaraian Revolution.The most important theoretical point is whether the . 9th C.P.C Congress held in 1969,actually propogated this.Infact the 10th Congress of 1973 reverted to the defintion of 'Era of Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution.In the era of globalization there have been Important changes but has Imperialism weakened?Are proletarian Revolutions on the verge of triumphing.?True U.SA,like today has gone through severe economic crisis’s in their history and even European Countries have a fluctuating economies but does that does not prove thhat Imperialism is collapsing.Just because the Imperialuist Countries had resorte to neo-colonialism particularly dose not indicate that Imperialism was collapsing,even i the ra of the cold War betwen the ual Superpowers,U.S.A and the erstwhile U.S S R.Comrade Stalin even after the end of World War 2 asserted the era as that of Imperialism and ProletArian revolution as advocated by Leninism.Another dangerous trend was that which advocated that war was the main trend and not Revolution.Today there are serious revolutinary Movements but no one which is on the verge of triumphing and no Imperialist economy which is on the verge of collapsing.To me it is this wrong analysis that rejects Leninism.It promotes Left Adventurism.

There is alos an erroneous trend that propogates that Lin Biaoism existed in the C.P.C.(view of C.P.I.M.L-Kanu Sanyal group)True Lin Biao used Mao’s cult to promote the fallacious theory of genius and immortalised the Red Book as works of magic.After becoming succesor he oposed the Cultural Revolution.However if Lin Biaoism prevailed then the line of the C.C.P would have ben vitiated.Another trend advocates that Mao did not learn from the lessons of the Paris Comune and Lenin and legalised the revolutionary Commitees which driscouraged the revolutionary Movement.Such writings undermine the ardous efforts the C.C.P made to carry out 2 –line Struggle and establish proletarian power.

c.Question of Dictatorship of the Proletariat and International Line

Anothr Important point is the one on the dicatatorship of the Proletariat..Some forces have gone to he extent of advocating a multi-party system like Nepal or perhaps the R.C.P. U.S A.One thing has to be acceptd.There were important weaknesses in Socialist Society in the Stalinist and Maoist Periods.Dissent was totally supressed in the Stalin era while in Mao’s time intellectuals were wrongly persecuted by Red Guards.Powerful left sectarian trends emerged .One of the most intriguing aspects was the period of Lin Biao and his rises to power.Lin immortalised Mao’s Contribution as though his works were books of magic and greatly promotd a personality Cult of Comrade Mao,of gigantic proportions.Comrade Mao had virtually become aGod.

.Leaders like Bob Avakian propogate the encouragement of dissidence within a Socialist Society inviting criticism and inviting dissent within the Socialist State.They have gone to the extent of even finding fault with Lenin's policies in the 1920’s.The Important theoretical debate is that can such dissent save or promote a Socialist State.Particularly in the Soviet Union intellectuals became victims of repression.Several Innocent party members were also killed .In China criticism of Comrade Mao would not have been allowed even in a dicatatorship of the Working class.However if not structured inviting dissent may defeat the dictatorship of the Proletariat or a Working class State.Would a multi-party System have saved erstwhile Socilaist States of Russia and China?Infact they may well have destroyed them.Would U.S SR have won the Graet Patrotic War agaisnt The Nazis with a MultiParty State or China achieve such great Socialist heights (from 1949-1978)in amulti-pary tructure.Let us remember the C.C.P’ phenomenal achievements from 1949-1976Without the serious 2 line Struggle the graet achievements of the Graet Proletarian Cultural Revolution would not have taken placeNever has the proletariat or peasantry been emancipated to such an extent .True there was a great personality Cult in the Maoist era but it was the first Experiment of it’s kind.Stalin had to combat phenomenal pressure in the 2ND World War. from the Imperialist Enemy forces.According to Leninism the party was the vanguard organisation of the Working class and thus the existence of various parties would contradict the dictatorship of the Proletariat.Socialist Theoreticians need to make a serious study of his aspect,particularly in light of overcoming a personality Cult and preventing supression of democratic dissent.One of the most important aspects of study is the contradiction between mass organisations and mass movements with the proletraian party. In the Cultural Revolution there were powerful, left sectarian tendencies and what has to be studied is what would have prevented the personality cult of Comrade Mao,thevictory of he rightist forces and the Socialist base for the Communist Movement.Althouh there was serious struggle there could have been tendencies of factional struggle taking place between the factions of Liu Shao Chi and MaoTse Tung instead of pure 2 –line strugggle of the Working class agaisnt he bourgeoisie.A question that needs to be researched is whether further revolutionary democratic structures could be formed or developed within the party and the revolutionary commitees.Perhaps scope for factions could be created which ideologically struggled but promoted proletarian Unityand dictatorship.The Cultural Revolution was defeated after 10 years of its launching and we have to ask ouselves why the Gang of 4 (Followers of Comrade Mao)was defeated in 1976 and the capitalist regime in China first accepted. Today leaders like Avakian hardly have structured theoretical solutions on Revolution and even propagate wrong trends that have affected the World Revolution.The organisation R.I.M was prematurely formed. in 1984.Today the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement is affected with fallacious tendencies and may well collapse. Remember even the C.P C opposed the forming of such an International learning lessons from the collapse of he 1943 Comintern.The R.I..M has promoted the capitualtion of the C.P.N.(Maoist)in Nepal and the wekening of the armed Struggle of the Shining Path in Peru.It was formed when the development of Communist Parties and the International Proletarian Revolutionary Line was hardly sufficient .

Some forces criticize the Chinese Communist Party,stating that it was Com Mao who advocated the three World Theory’This is also false as the 3 Worlds theory was advocated by Deng Xiapoing..Some forces go to the extent of stating that Mao and the C.C.P delayed the Graet Debate and that Mao alied with he Natioanl bourgeoisie in the Socialist Revolution.They go on to say that Mao as wrong in elevating Liu Shao-Chi an Lin Bao.They forget that this was a case of 2 line Struggle within a Socialist Society.Infact Mao demonstrated great humility in resigning as head of State in 1959.Some Intellectuals condemn Mao’s foreign policies as pro-U.S as he visted America and advocated relations with them which is wrong.Mao only recognized the bourgeoisie states and did not politicaly support those regimes.It was a political tactic of peacaful-coexistence.I agree that facing it’s border problems with U.S S R it was not able to place as much emphasis on combating U.S Imperialism but Com Mao never differentiated Soviet Social Imperialism as being the greater danger.China gave great support to Vietnam agaisnt America even though Vietnam had taken a centrist postion in the Great Debate.It also never dictated policies to the Communist parties of other Countries. It is interesting that the majority of groups in the Communist Revolutionary Camp upheld the 3 World s theory which advocated that the 2nd World Countries were allies of the Revolutionary Movements against the 2 Superpowers and led them to term Soviet Social Imperialism as the principal Danger of the World people.(Before 1991)The Collapse of the U.S S.R in 1991 was a slap in the face of the 3 world theorists and an abject blow to followers of that line.

d.United Movement

In India today a United Movement to defend the line of the International Communist Movement is the need of the hour.There have been a series of seminars and conferences but almost all have reflected ideological deviations.Some valiant efforts were made in the period when the pseudo-Socialist East European regimes had collapsed in 1989 or erstwhile Revisionsit U.S.S R.had collapsed in 1991.The majority of Communist Revolutionary Groups defended the Socialist line ,bar the section like the then C.R.C group led by K.Venu which rejected the theory of proletarian dictatorship.Certain revolutionary groups went to the extent of supporting the Student Movement of China in 1989 and the Movements in East European Countrise overthrowing East European revisionist regimes.They failed to understand that such movements were not supported by the Proletariat and were backed by the Western Imperialist Countries.True the proletraiat rebelled but their voice or demands were not redressed by the leaderships of such Movements. -.In this respect the author feels the best effort was the one launched by the C.P.I.(M.L)T.N.O.C which held an All India Seminar in Erode in 1990 to defnd MaoTes Tung Thought .Over 13 revolutionary Groups participated representing all the trends within the Revolutionary Camp.The efforts stages by C.P.I(M.L)Red Flag were also commendable through a range of seminars carried out all over the Country,particularly in Kerala.They however erred in openly holding their programmes under the banner of the party and not a mass platform.Sadly organisations in the early 1990’s like the having the correct Understanding of the International Communist Line could hardly launch adequate mass -political platforms to defend Leninism,in the last 2 decades were unable to deply mass platforms to defend Mao Tes Tung Thought.The Janashakti Group held a huge rally of Intellectuals commemorating Mao’s 100th Birthday in Calcutta but were hardly able to relate Mao’s achievements in the language of the Masses and virtually organised Intellectuals.Although C.P.I.(M.L)Red Flag organised a Conference in 1994 C.P.I(M.L) Janashakti an International Conference in 1995 in Hyderabad and R.I.M forces organized a seminar in Calcutta in 1999(commemorating the 50th Aniversary of the Chinese Revolution ) they were hardly succesful in defending the Socialist ideology.This was principally beacuse such groups had their own theoretical weaknesses.One Important point is that such seminars should not have imposed ideolgy on the people but carried out healthy debate. It is also neccesary to explain to the Revolutionary masses in their own simple language and methods with which they could relate to that Socialism is not defeated,expose the Current Revisionsit C.P.C, and defend the achievments of the erstwhile Socialist Countries. In their propoganda the Communist Revolutionary Groups displayed dogmatism The errors of the Stalinist era or the Cultural Revolution were not adequately highlighted and very little space given for criticis.The Achievements of the Socialist Period was not explained in away the broad masses could understand.It was important to connect the achievements of he Socialist Countries wit the day to day lives of the broad masses.Although the theory of Proletarian dictatorship was correctly defended the weaknesses of personality Cult were not elaborated or the question of handling dissent in Socialist Society.The Author in Mumbai witnessed several joint Front programmes but observed lack of mass revolutionary aproach which connected ideolgy to thebroad masses.I admired the concerted efforts made by the omrades but felt here was lack of preparation.One of he best programmes taking place was the one carried out by he United Labour Union in 1991 when the erstwhile U.S S.R crashed.A revolutionary paper Jasood made commendable efffors to expose that it was revisionism that was toppled and not Socialism.Even Though today the C.P.I.(Maoist) has a huge mass base ,it’s mass political Platforms are unable to launch a sustained campaign.Even organisations represnting the Correct International Line fail to form effective mas platforms to defend Socialsit Ideology.A big united Front Platform nust be launched at the National level representing groups of all trends in defence of Marxism-Leninism,which should not become a forum for revolutionary groups to project the image of their groups or to debate mutual polemics.Seperate types of programmes should be launched for advanced Intellectuals and politically conscious workers to that of the broad masses.Some of the most Important points discussed should be on the qustion of Formation of a New Communist International.

In this era of Leninism Socialism may have a serious setback but in no way can we state it is defeated.Wrong trends have to be combated and no doubt worldwide Revolutions will succeed even if it takes 100 years.Peoples Wars ae taking place in Turkey,Phillipines,India and Peru.True the Movements in Nepal have capitalated , the Peruvian Comrades have had amajor setback and the Indian Movement is disorganised or vitiated wit wrong trends but we have to combat intellectuals who propogate that Socialism has met it’s doom.

Cop boycott call in Salboni

2009-12-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Salboni, Dec. 14: Traders of a Salboni bazaar have decided to start a “social boycott” of the joint forces after some of the personnel allegedly ransacked shops following a blast in which a jawan was injured.

The boycott means shops in Pirakata, about 20km from Lalgarh, will not sell provisions to the personnel.

Such a move had forced police to the brink of starvation and pull out a camp from Kalaimuri in April, when the Lalgarh agitation was at its peak. Aided by Maoists, the villagers demolished the camp after the police left. They also blocked the supply of essentials to the camp in Ramgarh in May.

Food may not be a problem now because the roads, dug up during the Maoist-backed agitation, have been repaired. But, at a time the police are desperate to win back villagers’ confidence, the alleged ransacking of shops spells a public relations disaster.

West Midnapore police chief Manoj Verma denied any ransacking.

But stationery shop owner Debashis Ghosh had a differ- ent story to tell. “The police were brought here to maintain law and order but they are doing just the opposite. We won’t sell any item to them,” he said.

The security forces were engaged in a gun battle with Maoists in Pirakata this evening. It continued intermittently from 5pm to 9pm.

Around 8.30pm, supporters of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities ransacked the local CPM office.

Tea stall owner Pintu Manna said the jawans accused the villagers of being in cahoots with the rebels while ransacking the shops yesterday.

Ghosh alleged that 20 shops were targeted because they had refused to shut down after the jawan was injured.

Verma said the police had asked them to down shutters fearing an encounter with the Maoists. “That led to a verbal spat. But it’s not true that shops were ransacked.”

Source: The Telegraph

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091215/jsp/bengal/story_11865007.jsp

Press Release from UAPA Birodhi Mancha ( Prastatuti) (Anti-UAPA Forum-Preparatory)

2009-12-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Anti-UAPA Forum (preparatory) has organized a mass rally in Kolkata on 3 December 2009 to protest against Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The memorandum prepared by the forum was supposed to be delivered to the Chief Minister, West Bengal, however neither the CM nor any higher official was in Writers' Building to receive it. Thousands of people participated in the rally. Bellow is the copy of the memorandum.

UAPA Birodhi Mancha( Prastatuti)

18 Madan Baral Lane, Kolkata-12

MEMORANDUM

Date :04.12.2009

The Chief Minister

The Home Minister Government of West Bengal, Writers' Building Kolkata

Sub : On UAPA

Dear Sir

As you know that the UPA government had amended the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act 1967(UAPA) in 2004 and then again in 2008 in December 17, 2008. Not only that, the UPA government had also legislated a new law, National Investigations Agency (NIA) . These two legislations have freely borrowed from erstwhile TAD A and POTA, which were the successor of the infamous Rowlatt Bill prepared by the British in India to curb the nationalist movement.

We do hold along with other democratic minded people of India that these anti terror are reflection of the violence and brutality of the law and which will be used as instruments of the State to suppress all kinds of democratic and patriotic struggle against loot and plunder by corporate capital in connivance the central and various state governments, of natural resources of our motherland, India.

These amended laws are inherently draconian; all the rights of the accused , available in Indian Criminal Justice system are taken away- right to get bail, to cross-examine witnesses in open trial court, to be presumed innocence till found guilty(which completely reverses the civilisationally accepted norm of jurisprudence) and host of others. The pre-charge detention period without bail is extended to 180 days .It is pertinent to mention that in all anti -terror laws of other countries permit only 48 hours to 7 days as Also Most importantly, the provision 43(F) stipulates that the failure to furnish or deliberately furnishing false information to an investigation officer is liable for punishment with a 3 year imprisonment. There is no scope for judicial review or periodical review of these laws by parliament. In all aspects these laws are anti people. Hence, we demand immediate repeal of these laws.

We also like to point out that the State Government has applied these laws without compliance of the requite provisions regarding notification in the newspaper; we hold that this a blatant violation of the stated provision of even the draconian law, UAPA. Hence all the arrests made under this laws are illegal. In fact, all those who were booked under UAPA , are either leaders or activists of democratic movements.

We demand immediate stop of use of IUAPA in West Bengal and other states and release of persons like Chhatrdhar Mahato Prasun Chatterjee, Raja Sarkhel, Swapan Dasgupta, Sukhsanti Buskey and others.

We hope, your government will consider these points and take appropriate steps to restore democracy in West Bengal.

For

UAPA Birodhi Mancha

Joint forces leave behind condoms, booze bottles in School

2009-12-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

Sukumar Mahato | tnn

Gohmidanga (West Midnapore):

After months of local opposition, several failed promises and finally a court order, the joint forces finally moved out of Gohmidanga High School in Lalgarh on Thursday, but left behind a heap of empty liquor bottles, used condoms and broken furniture.

As a result, the school will reopen only on December 7, after the compound is thoroughly cleaned. Classes have remained suspended since July 1, when the forces moved in by breaking the locks.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a week ago that schools occupied by joint forces had to be vacated by December 30. The order came after several promises — one by the home secretary in August and another by the chief minister—to hand back occupied schools to the authorities failed to materialise.

But when the Gohmidanga school was finally vacated on Thursday, teachers and administrative staff were in for a shock. The classroom floors were littered with empty bottles of liquor and used condoms. Blackboards were defaced, benches and chairs were broken and electricity boards damaged.

"Police came to my residence at Dahijuri and informed that the joint forces would leave the school. But we were shocked to see the school premises so dirty. How would the jawans damage school property like this? It will take us two to three days to clean up the mess. So we've decided to start classes from Monday," said Nimai ChandraPatra, teacher-in-charge of the school.

"What's worrying us is the electricity bill. Over the past five months that the joint forces were here, the bill amount touched Rs 12,896 in two phases. Though the police have promised to pay the bill, we fear WBSEB would cut power supply due to the high dues," said assistant teacher Utpal Pal.

PCPA spokesperson Asit Mahato said. "The joint forces moved out after the students, guardians and teachers started a movement against the school's occupation.Despite the court order, forces are still occupying 10 schools in the district."

Local resentment against the occupation of the school had touched such heights that students and guardians had got together to demonstrate in front of the school gates on July 20 and 25. Police lathicharged the mob, allegedly leaving several injured. Villagers later arranged for temporary classes under makeshift tents.

There were about 250 jawans of CRPF, BSF, SAP as well as women police at the school. On Thursday, they walked to the Chandra police camp 14 km away after loading their goods on lorries.

Source: Times of India, Kolkata Edition, 4 December, 2009

40th anniversary of the martyrdom of Com. Chandrasekhar Das

2009-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

Forty years back, in 25 November 1969, Com. Chandrasekhar Das was brutally killed by reactionary elements. He was one of the organizers and leaders of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).

Today is the 40^th anniversary of the martyrdom of this great communist revolutionary.

Com. Chandrasekhar Das will remain forever as one of the major communist leader-teacher-organizers in the heart of all revolutionaries of India.

Politics of the Belly

2009-11-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

Shamita Basu

Tribal communities in India have historically existed as parceled out sovereignties. This has strengthened ethnicity and made the tribals more self-conscious and politically competitive. State boundaries have had to be redrawn, leading to the creation of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
However, what makes Lalgarh exceptional is that the local tribals have not demanded the right to self-determination. Nor for that matter have they sought a redrawn map of Bengal, like the Gorkhas in the Hills. The movement in Lalgarh began as a discourse on moral ethnicity when the tribals were attacked by the police last November. The movement has now been linked to that of the Maoists. The line that differentiates the tribal from the Maoist is getting increasingly blurred.
The present scenario in the tribal belt is somewhat reminiscent of British India. The colonial ruler in league with the upper caste landlords and zamindars would forcefully usurp the tribal land and resources and evacuate them from their hearth and home ~ the Rajmahal hills. The process, criminalised by the money-lenders and the sexual exploitation of women, eventually culminated in the Santhal rebellion.
India of the 21st century has not substantially altered the colonial policy. Indeed, the lack of development reflects the colonial mindset. Besides, tribal land and resources have been plundered. The Special Economic Zones have been planned on inalienable tribal land without the distribution of economic benefits.
Economic plight
CIVIL society has been largely indifferent to the economic plight of the tribals. It has even been argued that the governmental model of development might simply misfire, even threaten the subaltern perception of “development”. This view has provided a comfortable escape route for the government.
The question of tribal welfare now occupies the centrestage in Bengal. The gradual loosening of state power has opened up the space for democratisation in the form of discord, protest and rebellion. What used to be a shadow line of the Maoist movement has become more prominent. It is becoming progressively difficult to separate the militia from the tribal population. No wonder the state treads nervously.
The political class generally has tried to link tribal disaffection with that of the Maoist militia. The idea is to run down both in the public perception. The other method, resorted to by the administration, is to invoke such stringent legislation as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to curb what it calls the state of internal terrorism. This is a puerile perception
Maoism historically has its roots in the agrarian and tribal societies in India. Its revival need not be sought in its ideology ~ of the reluctance of the Left radical to join the political mainstream. A close look is necessary to determine what exactly sustains these movements at the popular and grassroot level and why it is able to extract support from the human rights activists and the radical section of civil society.
The obsessive concern with investments in industry is dangerous. Even the West has begun to question what the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, has called “The Risk Society” ~ a product of the industrial society. “Just as modernisation dissolved the structure of feudal society in the 19th century, modernisation today is dissolving industrial society and a new modernity is coming into being.” By linking up the critique of industrialisation with the cause of the poor and the marginalised, the ideology of the Maoists has been significantly recast.
The contradiction of Indian politics lies in its espousal of a development model that is anachronistic in nature. The paradox of a developing society is that it borrows from a model that has outgrown itself in the West, but is parceled out to the East. Just as under-development in the Third World was once perceived to have been created. The emergence of what can be called the civil society movement in India is largely linked to this new brand of modernity that is beyond the pale of its classical industrial design.
Complex process
THE paradox of this model of development makes both the economic and political solution an extremely complex and elusive process. There may be hope yet if the State jettisons its absolutist stance. It must realise that thoughtless industrialisation can be hazardous for the climate. It can even destroy the natural habitat that had traditionally sheltered man, both physically and psychologically. In this quest for a safe society based on distributive justice and the protection of man’s basic needs, the government must function as a partner of the people. Instead of focusing on markets and breeding consumerism, the government must interact with its impoverished citizens and meet their fundamental needs ~ food, water, medicine and sanitation. Development doesn’t mean only the construction of sprawling industrial townships, multistoried apartments and luxury resorts.
Thus far, the government has not been able to delink development from industrialisation, urbanisation and market-driven resource generation, one that is based on outdated Western models. And if the question of welfare is swept under the carpet by according increased priority to security and terror, the appropriate development model will be relegated. The State can do so at its own peril.
The Maoist ideology is of lesser moment than the material structure that sustains such ideology. What Jean Francois Bayart famously described as “the politics of the belly” sustains Maoism. This happens when the state is impervious to the needs of the subaltern, most importantly his subsistence level. The government has attempted an economic overdrive long after the 19th century industrial development model outlived its utility.
Instead of silencing a people’s movement, the Government of India must be sensitive to the development paradigm. The establishment must reflect on its policies if it wants to silence the subaltern gun.

Source: The Statesman, 16 November 2009

http://thestatesman.in/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=274554

Severe State Repression In Lalgarh

2009-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

Villagers fled their homes in panic as many houses belonging to the Peoples’ Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) activists were allegedly torched, ransacked and looted by the armed CPI-M goons who followed the joint forces, alleged Mr Asit Mahato PCPA spokesman. The CPI-M mobilised a few hundred hired trained gunmen who had been lodged in their party office at Enayetpur in the vicinity from they were taking part in the operation to recover their lost bases, Mr Mahato alleged. In another development, a truck was set ablaze at Patasole forest in Goaltore area by the PCPA men last night. The driver and the cleaner of the Bankura-bound vehicle were severely beaten up.

Road blockades organised by the PCPA by dumping trees on several places in Binpur, Belpahari, Jamboni, Jhargram, Lalgarh and other parts of Jhargram subdivision continued for the second successive day today thus paralysing life and cutting off Jhargram from the rest of the state as the PCPA-called three-day bandh from Thursday was observed.

Source: The Statesman, 14 November 2009

http://thestatesman.in/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=274365

Normal life paralysed during PCPA's bandh in Jhargram

2009-11-13T08:13:00.002-08:00

[People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) supporters were beaten up on 11 November in Jhargram by police and some persons without uniform, allegedly CPM goons while protesting against arrest of innocent villagers. In protest PCPA have called a 72 hours shut down in Jhargram subdivision.]

Jhargram, Nov 13 : Normal life continued to be paralysed on the second-day of the 72-hour bandh called by the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) in Jhargram sub-division with all the markets, shops, schools and banks remaining closed today.Jhargram SDO P Ulaganathan here said attendance in government offices was very low.

Bus services were completely stopped in the area due to the shut down (bandh), he added.

Meanwhile, a truck was put on fire in Sankargeria village under Goaltore police station area, allegedly by PCPA activists, police said.

Three of its occupants were stated to be missing.

Combined forces continued combing in Chuasole, Sarbarisole and Sirishdanga villages and the adjacent forest areas on the second-day today.

PCPA convenor Asit Mahato alleged that CPI(M) activists, moving with the combined forces, put fire on the houses of 25 PCPA supporters in these villages yesterday.

Meanwhile, three CPI(M) supporters were reportedly missing from Burhanpur village under Goaltore police station area.

Party sources alleged that PCPA activists were behind the abduction.

No police confirmation is available as yet.
--UNI

Source: newkerala.com

Union Bank’s silence over Koda deposits raises eyebrows

2009-11-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

[Madhu Koda, former chief minister of Jharkhand, India has been accused of a scam involving Rs. 2,500 crores. This reports shows how corporate sector uses mainstream political leaders and state machinery for their interest.]

MUMBAI, 12 NOV: Banking industry is intrigued by Union Bank of India’s silence over Rs 640 crore deposited by former Jharkhand chief minister Mr Madhu Koda’s frontman Mr Manoj Punamia in the bank’s Zaveri Bazaar branch between November 2006 and December 2008 when Mr Koda was CM.
The transactions, according to papers seized by It and Enforcement Directorate revealed the transactions were carried out by Balaji Universal Trade a subsidiary of Balaji Group which the ED is investigating for hawala transfer ~ allegedly in Mr Koda’s name ~ of $110 million abroad probably into a Swiss bank.
Why the bank did not alert Financial Intelligence Unit in Union finance ministry or RBI or any Central agency about such massive turnover in a single account is a mystery.
Under RBI guidelines, banks have a principal officer at their head office who is expected to monitor such transactions and convey them to proper authorities. SNS

Source: The Statesman 13 November, 2009

http://thestatesman.in/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=274240

Police Lathicharged Peaceful Demonstration In Jhargram

2009-11-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

Six thousand armed members of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) have reached Jhargram for a demonstration.

Police have also reached the spot in order to stop the demonstration. They have reportedly conducted a lathi charge, following which they used tear gas and finally shot fires in the air.

The incident has created an atmosphere of confusion and unrest in the area. Several people are reported to be wounded. Further details are awaited.

Source: Tara TV

http://www.taratv.com/west_bengal.php?task=full&newsid=2924

Statement against Government of India’s planned military offensive in adivasi-populated regions: National and international signatories

2009-11-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

October 12, 2009

Sanhati (www.sanhati.com), a collective of activists/academics who have been working in solidarity with peoples’ movements in India by providing information and analysis, took the initiative to bring together voices from around the world against the Government of India’s planned military offensive in Central India. A statement (Hindi version here, Bengali version here, Telugu version here, Italian version of Letter here, Italian version of Background Note here) and a background note were drafted in consultation with Indian activists, and duly circulated for endorsement. Readers are encouraged to endorse by mailing sanhatiindia [at] sanhati [dot] com with full name and affiliation.

To

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister,
Government of India,
South Block, Raisina Hill,
New Delhi,
India-110 011.

We are deeply concerned by the Indian government’s plans for launching an unprecedented military offensive by army and paramilitary forces in the adivasi (indigeneous people)-populated regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal states. The stated objective of the offensive is to “liberate” these areas from the influence of Maoist rebels. Such a military campaign will endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of the poorest people living in those areas, resulting in massive displacement, destitution and human rights violation of ordinary citizens. To hunt down the poorest of Indian citizens in the name of trying to curb the shadow of an insurgency is both counter-productive and vicious. The ongoing campaigns by paramilitary forces, buttressed by anti-rebel militias, organised and funded by government agencies, have already created a civil war like situation in some parts of Chattisgarh and West Bengal, with hundreds killed and thousands displaced. The proposed armed offensive will not only aggravate the poverty, hunger, humiliation and insecurity of the adivasi people, but also spread it over a larger region.

Grinding poverty and abysmal living conditions that has been the lot of India’s adivasi population has been complemented by increasing state violence since the neoliberal turn in the policy framework of the Indian state in the early 1990s. Whatever little access the poor had to forests, land, rivers, common pastures, village tanks and other common property resources has come under increasing attack by the Indian state in the guise of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and other “development” projects related to mining, industrial development, Information Technology parks, etc. The geographical terrain, where the government’s military offensive is planned to be carried out, is very rich in natural resources like minerals, forest wealth and water, and has been the target of large scale appropriation by several corporations. The desperate resistance of the local indigenous people against their displacement and dispossession has in many cases prevented the government-backed corporations from making inroads into these areas. We fear that the government’s offensive is also an attempt to crush such popular resistances in order to facilitate the entry and operation of these corporations and to pave the way for unbridled exploitation of the natural resources and the people of these regions. It is the widening levels of disparity and the continuing problems of social deprivation and structural violence, and the state repression on the non-violent resistance of the poor and marginalized against their dispossession, which gives rise to social anger and unrest and takes the form of political violence by the poor. Instead of addressing the source of the problem, the Indian state has decided to launch a military offensive to deal with this problem: kill the poor and not the poverty, seems to be the implicit slogan of the Indian government.

We feel that it would deliver a crippling blow to Indian democracy if the government tries to subjugate its own people militarily without addressing their grievances. Even as the short-term military success of such a venture is very doubtful, enormous misery for the common people is not in doubt, as has been witnessed in the case of numerous insurgent movements in the world. We urge the Indian government to immediately withdraw the armed forces and stop all plans for carrying out such military operations that has the potential for triggering a civil war which will inflict widespread misery on the poorest and most vulnerable section of the Indian population and clear the way for the plundering of their resources by corporations. We call upon all democratic-minded people to join us in this appeal.

National Signatories
Arundhati Roy, Author and Activist, India

Amit Bhaduri, Professor Emeritus, Center for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, India

Sandeep Pandey, Social Activist, N.A.P.M., IndiaMahashweta Devi, Social Activist and Writer, India

Manoranjan Mohanty, Durgabai Deshmukh Professor of Social Development, Council for Social Development, India

Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court Advocate, India

Nandini Sundar, Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India

Colin Gonzalves, Supreme Court Advocate, India

Arvind Kejriwal, Social Activist, India

Arundhati Dhuru, Activist, N.A.P.M., India

Swapna Banerjee-Guha, Department of Geography, University of Mumbai, India

Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker, India

Dipankar Bhattachararya, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, India

Bernard D’Mello, Associate Editor, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), India

Sumit Sarkar, Retired Professor of History, Delhi University, India

Tanika Sarkar, Professor of History, J.N.U., India

Gautam Navlakha, Consulting Editor, Economic and Political Weekly, India

Madhu Bhaduri, Ex-ambassadorSumanta Banerjee, Writer, India

Dr. Vandana Shiva, Philosopher, Writer, Environmental Activist, India

M.V. Ramana, Visiting Research Scholar, Program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy; Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, USA

Dipanjan Rai Chaudhari, Retired Professor, Presidency College, India

G. N. Saibaba, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi

Amit Bhattacharyya, Professor, Department of History. Jadavpur University, Kolkata

D.N. Jha, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Delhi, India

Paromita Vohra, Devi Pictures

Sunil Shanbag, Theater Director

Saroj Giri, Lecturer in Political Science, Delhi University, India

Sudeshna Banerjee, Department of History, Jadavpur University, India

Achin Chakraborty, Professor of Economics, Institute of Development Studies, Calcutta University Alipore, India

Anand Chakravarty, Retired Professor, Delhi University, India

Anjan Chakrabarti, Professor of Economics, Calcutta University, India

Subha Chakraborty Dasgupta, Professor, Jadavpur University, India

Uma Chakravarty, Retired Professor, Delhi University, India

Kunal Chattopadhyay, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, India

Amiya Dev, Emiritus Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, India

Subhash Gatade, Writer and Social Activisit, India

Abhijit Guha, Vidyasagar University, India

Kaneez Fathima, Librarian and Activist, Hyderabad

Kavita Krishnan, AIPWA, India

Gauri Lankesh, Editor, Lankesh Patrike, India

Pulin B. Nayak, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, India

Imrana Qadeer, Retired Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, J.N.U., India

Neshant Quaiser, Associate Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Central University, Department of Sociology, India

Ramdas Rao, President, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Bangalore Unit, India

S. Jeevan Kumar, President, Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh, India

V.S.Krishna, State General Secretary, Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh, India

Shereen Ratnagar, Retired Professor, Center for Historical Studies, JNU, India

Rahul Varman, Professor, Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India

Padma Velaskar, Professor, Center for Studies in the Sociology of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India

Hilal Ahmed, Associate Fellow, Center for the Studies of Development of Societies, India

Reetha Balsavar

Sriparna Bandopadhyay, India

Chinmoy Banerjee

Kaushik Banyopadhyay, Student, IIT KGP, India

Pranab Kanti Basu, Department of Economics and Politics, Vishwa Bharati University, India

Durga Bhat, PUCL, Mangalore, India

Suresh Bhat, PUCL, Mangalore, India

Arunkanti Biswas, Former Deputy Director, NEERI, India

Nisha Biswas, CGCRI, Kolkata, India

Harsh Bora, Student, Delhi Law Faculty, India

Kaushik Bose, Reader, Vidyasagar University, India

Shitansu Shekhar Chakraborty, Student, IIT Kharagpur, India

Rabin Chakraborty

Indira Chakravarthi, Public Health Researcher, India

Dipankar Chakrabarti, Aneek, India

Tapan Chakraborty, Indian Statistical Institute, India

Nandini Chandra, Member of Faculty, Delhi University, India

Navin Chandra, Visiting Senior Fellow, Institude of Human Development, India

Jagadish Chandra, New Socialist Alternative, CWI, India

Pratyush Chandra, Activist, Freelance Journalist, and Researcher, India

Pritha Chandra, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Delhi, India

Dhiman Chatterjee, IIT Chennai, India

Aziz Choudry, Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Canada

Jaison C Cooper, Janakeeya Manushyavakasa Prasthanam, Kerala, India

Debarshi Das, IIT Guwahati, India

Probal Dasgupta, Linguistic Research Unit, I.S.I., India

Sangeeta Dasgupta, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, India

Surya Shankar Dash, Independent Filmmaker, India

Ashokankur Datta, Graduate Student, I.S.I. (Planning Unit), India

Aniruddha Dutta, Gender Women’s and Sexuality Studies, University of Minnesota, USA

Soumik DuttaS. Dutta, Delhi Platform, India

Madhumita Dutta, Green Youth Movement, India, Chennai

Abhee Dutt-Mazumder, TASAM, India

Durga Prasad Duvvuri, Independent Management Consultant, India

Ajit Eapen, Mumbai, IndiaSampath G, Mumbai, India

Lena Ganesh

M.S. Ganesh

Anjan Ghosh, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India

Aurnab Ghose, IISER Pune, India

Anandaroop Ghosh, India

Pothik Ghosh, Editor, Radical Notes, India

Rajeev Godara, General Secretary, Sampooran Kranti Manch, Haryana (associated with Lok Rajniti Manch), India

Siddhartha Gupta, Senior Medical Officer, Kolkata Port Trust, India

Jacob, South Asia Study Center

Manish Jain, Assistant Professor, Center for Studies of Sociology of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India

Shishir K. Jha, IIT Mumbai, India

Avinash K. Jha, Assistant Professor of Economics, Shri Ram College of Commerce, India

Partha Joarder, Scientist, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India

Bodhisattva Kar, Fellow in History, Center for Studies in Social Science, India

Harish Karnick, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India

Lateef Mohd Khan, General Secretary, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, India

Sumbul Jawed Khan, Biological Sciences and Bio. Eng. Department, IIT Kanpur, India

Reetika Khera, DSE, Delhi, India

Rajeesh Kollakkandi, indianvanguard.wordpress.com

Lenin Kumar, editor, Nisan, India

Ravi Kumar, Editor of Radical Notes and Assistant Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Central University, India

Abhijit Kundu, Faculty, Sociology, University of Delhi

P. Govindan kutty, Editor, People’s March, Ernakulam, Kerala

Shakuntala Mahanta, IIT Guwahati

Bodhisattwa Maity, India

Parthasarathi Majumdar, Senior Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India

Soumik Majumder

Dishery Malakar

Julie Koppel Maldonado

Udai Malhotra, Activist, India

Mallanagoudar.P.K., Journalist, Gauri Lankesh Kannada Weekly, Bangalore, India

Prabhat Mandal, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, India

Dr Nandini Manjrekar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Soma Marik

Satyabrata Mitra

Siddhartha Mitra

Tista Mitra, Journalist, India

Najeeb Mubarki, Assistant Editor, Editorial page, Economic Times, India

Dipankar Mukherjee, PDF, Delhi, India

Subhasis Mukhopadhyay, Frontier

Soumya Mukhopadhyay, Market Researcher - Independent filmmaker, Kolkata

Sakuntala Narsimhan, Writer, India

Nalini Nayak, Reader in Economics, PGDAV College, Delhi University, India

Soheb ur Rahman Niazi, Student, Jamia Milia Islamia, India

Rahul Pandey, India

Dr. Swadhin Pattanayak, India

Jai Pushp, Activist, Naujawan Bharat Sabha, India

Divya Rajagopal

Ramendra, Delhi Shramik Sangathan, India

V. Nagendra Rao, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad, India

Sankar Ray, Columnist

Partho Sarathi Ray, IISER, Kolkata

Kirity Roy, MASUM and PACTI, India

Atanu Roy

Anindyo Roy

Dunu Roy, Social Activist, India

Anil Sadgopal, Education Activist and Former Professor of Education, Delhi University, India

Sanjoy Kumar Saha, Reader, CSE department, Jadavpur University, India

Sandeep, Freelance Journalist

Dr. K. Saradamoni, Retired Academic

Madhu Sarin, Social Activist

Saurobijay Sarkar, Indian Institute of Marxist Studies

Satyam, Rahul Foundation and Dayitvbodh, India

Samriddhi Shankar Ray, Concern, IISc Bangalore, India

Sujay Sarkar

Meera Sehgal, Department of Sociology, Carleton College, USA

Jhuma Sen, Delhi

Samita Sen, Professor, Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, India

Santanu Sengupta, UDML College of Engineering, India

Ajay Kishor Shaw, Mumbai, India

Dr. Mira Shiva

Sheo Mangal Siddhantankar, General Secretary, CPIML-New Proleterian, India

Jagmohan Singh, Voices for Freedom Punjab, India

Sandeep Singh, Mumbai, India

Harindar Pal Singh Ishar, Advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, India

Preeti Sinha, Editor of Philhal, Patna, India

Sirajuddeen K M, P A College of Engineering, Mangalore

Oishik Sircar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School, India

Satya Sivaraman, Journalist, New Delhi, India

Yogesh Snehi, DAV College, Amritsar, India

Srinvasashala, Human Rights Organisation, Hyderabad, India

K. Sriram

Viviek Sundara, Mumbai, India

Saswati Swetlena, Programme Officer, Governance and Advocacy Unit, National Center for Advocacy Studies, India

Damayanti Talukdar, Kolkata

Divya Trivedi, The Hindu Business Line, India

Satyam Varma, Rahul Foundation

N Venugopal, Journalist, Hyderabad, India

G. Vijay, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad, India

R.M. Vikas, IIT Kanpur, India

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International Signatories

Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, M.I.T., USA

David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center, USA

Michael Lebowitz, Director, Program in Transformative Practice and Human Development, Centro Internacional Mirana, Venezuela

John Bellamy Foster, Editor of Monthly Review and Professor of Sociology,University of Oregon Eugene,USA

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor and Director of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University, USA

James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA

Michael Watts, Professor of Geography and Development Studies, University of California Berkeley, USA

Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Departments of Anthropology and Political Science, Columbia University, USA

Mira Nair, Filmmaker, Mirabai Films, USA

Howard Zinn, Historian, Playwright, and Social Activisit, USA

Abha Sur, Women’s Studies, M.I.T., USA

Richard Peet, Professor of Geography, Clark University, USA

Richard Levins, John Rock Professor of Population Sciences, Harvard University, USA

Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations, School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London, U.K

Massimo De Angelis, Professor of Political Economy, University of East London, UK

Gyanendra Pandey, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History, Emory University, USA

Brian Stross, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin, USA

J. Mohan Rao, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA

Vinay Lal, Professor of History & Asian American Studies, University of California Los Angeles, USA

James Crotty, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Haluk Gerger, Political Scientist, Activist, Political Prisoner, Turkey

Justin Podur, Journalist, Canada

Hari Kunzru, Novelist, U.K.

Louis Proyect, Columbia University

Biju Mathew, Associate Professor, Rider University, USA

Balmurli Natrajan, Campaign to Stop Funding Hate and South Asia Solidarity Initiative, USA

Hari Sharma, President, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Canada

Harsh Kapoor, South Asia Citizens Web

Kim Berry, Professor of Women’s Studies, Humboldt State University, USA

Shefali Chandra, Professor of South Asian History, Washington University at St Louis, USA

Angana Chatterji, Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA

Paresh Chattopadhyay, Département de Sociologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada

Stan Cox, Senior Scientist, The Land Institute, USA

Martin Doornbos, Professor Emeritus, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Netherlands

Robert A Hueckstedt, Professor, University of Virginia, USA

Louis Kampf, Professor of Literature Emeritus, MIT, USA

Emily Kawano, Director, Center for Popular Economics, USA

Arthur MacEwan, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

Bill Martin, Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University, USA

Ali Mir, Professor, William Paterson University, USA

Anuradha Dingwaney Needham, Longman Professor of English, Oberlin College, USA

Kavita Philip, Associate Professor, University of California, Irvine, USA

Nicholas De Genova, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Latino Studies, Columbia University, USA

Peter Custers, Academic researcher on militarisation, Netherlands

Radha D’Souza, School of Law, University of Westminster , UK

Gary Aboud, Secretary, Fisherman and Friends of the Sea, Trinidad and Tobago

Mysara Abu-Hashem, Ph.D. Student, American University, USA

Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Professor of English, Montclair University, USA

Husna Haider Ali, People’s Resistance and Labour Party, Pakistan

Nadim Asrar, Ph.D. student, University of Minnesota, USA

Margaret E Sheehan, Attorney at Law, USA

Jude Baggo, Secretary General, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, Philippines

Arpita Banerjee, Lecturer, Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, USA

David Barsamian, Director, Alternative Radio, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Oyman Basaran, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Deepankar Basu, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Kasturi Basu, Rutgers University, USA

Sharmadip Basu, Syracuse University, USA

Joseph A Belisle

Daniela Bezzi, Journalist, Italy

Varuni Bhatia, Assistant Professor, Religous Studies Program, N.Y.U., USA

Anindya Bhattacharya, Faculty, University of York, UK

Sourav Bhattacharya, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Swati Birla, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Norma G. Biňas, Secretary-General, International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Philippine Chapter

Peter J. Bloom, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Windel Bolinget, Secretary General, Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Phillipines

Rosalind Boyd, Centre for Developing-Area Studies, McGill University, Canada

Sister Maureen Catabian, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Philippines

Dominique Caouette, Département de Science Politique, Université de Montréal, France

Joan Carling, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Thailand

Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Ipsita Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Piya Chatterjee, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, University of California Riverside, USA

Ruchi Chaturvedi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA

Chitrabhanu Chaudhuri, Ph.D. Student, Department of Mathematics, Northwestern University, USA

Dan Clawson, Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USALen Cooper,Victorian Branch,Communication Workers Union Australia

Priti Gulati Cox, Artist, USA

Linda Cullen, Canada

Huma Dar, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada

Koel Das, UCSB, USA

Atreyi Dasgupta, MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

Grace de Haro, APDH Human Rights Organization, Argentina

Nandini Dhar, Ph.D. student, University of Texas Austin, U.S.A.

Emily Durham-Shapiro, Student, University of Minnesotta, USA

Arindam Dutta, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, MIT, USA

Anne Dwyer, University of Washington, US

AIlgin Erdem, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. USA

T. Robert Fetter, USA

James D. Findlay, California State University, Northridge, USA

Kade Finnoff, Doctoral Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center, New York, USA

Nora O. Gamolo, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, Philippines

Kaushik Ghosh, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Bishnupriya Ghosh, Professor of English, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Vinay Gidwani, Professor of Geography, Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

Wendy Glauser, MA candidate, Political Science. York University. Toronto, Canada

Ted Glick, Climate Crisis Coalition, Climate Crisis Coalition and Chesapeake Climate Action Network, USA

Ozlem Goner, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Inderpal Grewal, Yale University, USA

Shubhra Gururani, Associate Professor of Anthropology, York University, Canada

Anna L. Gust, University College London, UK

Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South

Arne Harns, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Free University of Berlin, Germany

Amrit Singh Heer, Graduate student, Social and Political Thought, York University, Canada

Azad Hoshiarpuri, Indian Worker’s Association, Great Britian

Helen Hintjens, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands

Adrienne Carey Hurley, McGill University, Canada

Zeba Imam, Ph.D. student, Texas A&M University, USA

Kajri Jain, University of Toronto, Canada

Dhruv Jain, Graduate student, York University, Canada

Mohamad Junaid, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, City University of New York, USA

Jyotsna Kapur, Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA

Nada Khader , Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation

Jesse Knutson, University of Chicago, USA

David Kotz, Professor of Economics, UMass, Amherst, USA

Krishna MV, NIH, USAPeter Lackowski, Writer/Activist, USA

Thomas Lamarre, William Dawson Professor, East Asian Studies, McGill University, Canada

Maire Leadbeater (human rights activist Auckland New Zealand)

Joseph Levine, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

George Levinger, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

David W. Lewit, Alliance for Democracy, USA

Jinee Lokaneeta, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Drew University, USA

Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Sanjeev Mahajan

Sunaina Maira, Associate Professor, University of California Davis, USA

Panayiotis “Taki” Manolakos, Writer/Activist, USA

Red Maples for Teachers of English abroad in Korea (TEA-KOR)

Carlos Marentes, Farmworkers.org, USA

Erika Marquez, New York, USA

Thomas Masterson, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, USA

David Matsinhe, University of Alberta, Canada

Jim McCorry, Belfast, N. Ireland

Victor Menotti, Executive Director, International Forum on Globalization, USA

James Miehls, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Stephen Miesher, Associate Professor, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Raza Mir, Professor of Management, William Paterson University, USA

Katherine Miranda, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras.

Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, Oakland Institute, USA

Roger Moody, Association for Progressive Communication, UK

Agrotosh Mookerji, Statistician and student, UK

Joshua Moufawad-Paul, Ph.D. student, York University, Canada

Sudipto Muhuri, Researcher, Germany

Yasser Munif, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. USA

Alan Muller, Executive Director, Green Delaware, USA

Jed Murr, University of Washington, USA

Sirisha Naidu, Assistant Professor of Economics, Wright State University, USA

Sriram Natrajan, Independent Researcher, Thailand

Nandini Nayak, SOAS, University of London, UK

Ipsita Pal Bhaumik, NIH, USA

Harsh Kumar Punja, Teacher, Rome, Italy

Moreno Pasquinelli, Spokesman of Antimperialist Camp

Shailja Patel, USA

Saswat Pattanayak, Editor, Radical Notes, USA

Ranjit Paul, Retired Professor of Physics, North Bengal University, India

Sukla Paul, Retired Reader in Physics, North Bengal University, India

Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project

Frank Peters, Associate Chair, Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Alberta, Canada

Bhanu Poudyal, Contemporary Marxism Study Group, USA

Ahmed Pouri, Coordinator of refugees organisation PRIME, (Participating Refugees In Multicultural Europe )

Mike Alexander Pozo, Political Affairs Magazine

Ashok Prasad, Dept of Chemical Engg, Colorado State University, USA

Kaushik Sunder Rajan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California Irvine, USA

Kaveri Rajaraman, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, USA

K. Ravi Raman, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK

Smita Ramnarain, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Leena Ranade, AID India, USA

Nagesh Rao, Assistant Professor, The College of New Jersey, USA

Ravi Ravishankar, Campaign to Stop Funding Hate, USA

Chandan Reddy, Assistant Professor, University of Washington, USA

Bruce Rich, Attorney, USA

Dr. Andrew Robinson, UK

Mandy Rohr, Social Activist, Germany

Rose, on behalf of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA

Rachel Rosen, International Workers of the World and OSSTF, USA

Eric B. Ross, Professor of International Development Studies, The George Washington University, USA

Seth Sandronsky, Journalist, USA

Amit Sarkar, Visiting Fellow, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID/NIH, USA

Bhaskar Sarkar, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Erik Schnabel, San Franciscio, USA

Helen Scharber, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Anna Schultz, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, School of Music, University of Minnesota, USA

Svati Shah, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Abi Sharma, President - Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA), USA

Shaheen Shasa, USA

Sam Shell, Kasama Project, USA

Snehal Shinghavi, Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Tyler Shipley, Department of Political Science, York University, Canada

Samira Shirdel, Community Advocate, Chaya: a Resource for South Asian Women, USA

Jon Short, Department of Communications Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Karin Astrid Siegmann, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands

Kuver Sinha, Texas A&M University, USA

Subir Sinha, SOAS, University of London, U.K

Julietta Singh, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

Preethy Sivakumar, York University, Canada

Yannis Skalidakis, Ph.D., School of Political Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Ajay Skaria, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, USA

Stephen C Snyder

Nidhi Srinivas, Associate Professor of Nonprofit Management, The New School, USA

Chukka Srinivas

Poonam Srivastav, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Minnesota, USA

Priyanka Srivastava, Ph.D. candidate, University of Cincinnati, USA

Rachel Steiger-Meister, Graduate Student, Wright State University, USA

Makere Stewart-Harawira, Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Alberta, Canada

Raja Swamy, Campaign to Stop Funding Hate, USA

Usha Titikshu, Photojournalist, Nepal

Wendel Trio, Former Chair, European Alliance with Indigenous Peoples

Shivali Tukdeo, University of Illinois, USA

Sandeep Vaidya, India Support Group, Ireland

Chris Vance, York University, Canada

Rashmi Varma, University of Warwick, U.K

Ramaa Vasudevan, Dept of Economics, Colorado State University, USA

Nalini Visvanathan, Lecturer in Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

Robert Weil, University of California, Santa Cruz Assistant Professor/Lecturer (retired) and social activist

David Welsh, San Francisco (California) Labor Council, USA

Daphna Whitmore, Secretary, Workers’ Party, New Zealand

T. Wignesan, Editor, Asianists’ Asia, Centre de Recherches, CERPICO and CREA, France

Michael Williss, Research Officer, Australian Education Union, Australia

Ferd Wulkan, Massachusetts Society of Professors, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

Daphne Wysham, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies, USA

Listed CPSEs to offload 10 pct: Chidambaram

2009-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

[As part of imperialist plunder, government has decided to sale 10% shares of all public sector enterprises. However, ridiculously, finance minister said that it actually increased people's participation. We would remind finance minister that more than 70% of Indian population live a life that cannot sustain minimum calorie intake. They are not going to buy the share, even they cannot think of it. These people, most likely are not considered as citizen by finance minister. Red Barricade]

The government on Thursday decided that all listed central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) would increase the public holding to 10 per cent and all unlisted profitable state-owned entities should go public.

"All profitable listed CPSEs should need the mandatory listing of 10 per cent public ownership," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting of Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs here.

The government has also decided that all unlisted CPSEs which have made profit in the past 3 years and have a positive net worth should get listed on stock exchanges, he said, adding that CPSEs would enter the market at "appropriate" time.

The decision will have a bearing on mineral major NMDC and MMTC as the public shareholding in these companies is 1.62 per cent and 0.67 per cent respectively.

As per SEBI regulation, listed companies are required to divest a minimum of 10 per cent of the equity to the public.

The Minister further said the proceeds of the disinvestment would straight away go to meeting the capital expenditure of the government's social sector programmes, without being routed through National Investment Fund (NIF).

In pursuance of its disinvestment programme, the government had offloaded its stake in Oil India Ltd and NHPC in the current fiscal. It has also unveiled plans to reduce its shareholding in NTPC, Sutluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and Rural Electrification Corporation.

During the current fiscal, the government raised Rs 2,013 crore by offloading stake in the hydro-power major NHPC and Rs 2,247 crore from stake sale in OIL.

As per the disinvestment policy of the UPA, the government is committed to offloading equity in public sector undertakings while retaining 51 per cent stake.

"The public sector undertakings are the wealth of the nation, and part of this wealth should rest in the hands of people. While retaining at least 51 per cent government equity in our enterprises, I propose to encourage people's participation in our disinvestment programme," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in his Budget speech in July.

Telecom Scandal

2009-10-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

[Following is the one of two editorials of the Statesman, 29 October 2009 which describes a scandal involving central minister that resulted revenue loss of something between Rs 60,000 and 100,000 crore. And that minister is still in his chair.

To add stress few sentences were made bold by this blog.]

After the CBI raids on the headquarters of the department of telecommunications in New Delhi, headed by A Raja of the DMK, his continuance in the Cabinet of Dr. Manmohan Singh has become untenable. Probity in public life demands that he resign pending completion of the inquiry. As long as he is at the helm of affairs in the telecommunications department, the CBI will be inhibited from a free and open inquiry. If he is found innocent, he can always be re-inducted into the Cabinet with the same portfolio and free of any taint.
Raja was the kingpin in the award of 2G spectrum licences in January last year at a price of Rs. 1,651 crores, fixed in July 2001, for a pan-India licence. The price then was arrived at through an open, multi-stage, transparent auction/bidding process. The telecom regulator, TRAI, recommended a similar exercise before the allocation of 2G spectrum. Raja ignored it. The scandalous events that took place when licences were being issued and spectrum allocated for 2G services, the way cut-off dates were changed and that too with retrospective effect, the scuffles that took place at Sanchar Bhavan, made headlines in the media at the time.
The real value of the spectrum can be gauged from the profit made by two of the lucky ones, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless, favoured by Raja on first-come-first-served basis. Swan let UAE-based Etisalat acquire 45 per cent share in the company for $900 million, valuing the company at $2 billion, not because of its intrinsic worth but because of the spectrum it acquired, a scarce national resource. Similarly, Unitech let Telenor of Norway acquire 67.25 per cent share in the company, valuing it at Rs.9,100 crores.
There are three elements that are important in the spectrum issue. The first: what basis should award of licences and spectrum be decided on, auction or some other criteria? Second, if a non-auction route is chosen, what should the value of licence and spectrum be? Third, if the licence and the spectrum are given below market rates, how can the country guard against their re-sale by profiteers? Prima facie, Raja wantonly misused his position. He disregarded TRAI guidelines and a letter from the then finance secretary, D Subbarao, now Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, asking him not to implement his plan. As long as DS Mathur was DoT secretary, he refused to sign licences in a way that would cause the exchequer revenue loss. Mathur retired on 31 December 2007, other inconvenient officials were transferred out of the ministry, and the scheme was implemented without let or hindrance after Siddharth Behura took over as secretary in January 2008. Raja’s action has led to the loss of between Rs. 60,000 crore and Rs.100,000 crore to the government. Raja’s defence that he was only following Trai’s recommendation of not auctioning 2G spectrum does not hold water. The government’s telecom policy and TRAI wanted market forces to determine the fee for spectrum. If only he had followed that, the government would have realised its true value. The DMK, no doubt, will resist any move to drop Raja from the Cabinet, even temporarily, to allow the CBI to proceed with the investigation unhampered. It would be wrong for the government to shield Raja especially when auction of 3G spectrum is in the offing. The Central Vigilance Commission has decided to initiate action against top DoT officials, including Behura. Sparing Raja and punishing his underlings would be a travesty of justice.

Source: The Statesman, 29 October 2009

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=273256

The Wrong Track

2009-10-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

[On 27 October, day before yesterday Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) of Lalgarh blocked Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express near Jhargram in demand of the release of Chhatradhar Mahato. The agitators of PCAPA did not hurt any passenger or railway stuff. However, a section of media and the state propaganda machinery are crying and trying their level best to give an impression that something very unusual has happened—as if it is a threat to the security of the railway passengers. Railway track blockade and delayed arrival at their destination are not something unheard of about Indian Rail. In contrast, most of the trains run late. Therefore, this tune of propaganda actually reflects a particular politics of state machinery — demonization of an organization and movement. All human right activists and democratic people do condemn this approach. The state machinery does not like to understand that demonization of a movement based on democratic demands does not solve the problem; rather aggravates it.

Following is one of the two editorials of the Statesman 29 October 2009, which analyzes that issue. Although this editorial assumes to some extent that PCAPA is the same as that of Maoist organization, in contrast many human right activists and academicians believe that PCAPA is an independent organization fighting against police atrocities. It is the government which likes to make it irrelevant and label as Maoist. However, this editorial is worth reading.]

Let’s assume for a moment that every compartment of Tuesday’s Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had had an armed jawan on board. On this basis, there may have been about 20 armed railway policemen on hand to protect passengers. It is doubtful in the extreme if they would have been able to prevent tracks being blocked, or indeed overpowered several hundred tribals who surrounded the train. All they might have achieved is some loss of lives ~ their own, and those of the attackers and passengers. Assuming the policemen had sanction, and governments the gumption to open fire in these circumstances, the train would still have been besieged. Ultimate responsibility for thwarting such attacks rests with the police on ground, and the intelligence apparatus of the State government. Both failed on Tuesday, as they have consistently over the past few months. The reason is that the government is unable to penetrate people’s movements; it has lost credibility with the tribal, and its public relations initiatives have been identified as insincere charades. This was the first battle that tribals won.
They, and the Maoists who supported them, won a second battle decisively on Tuesday. Fulminations of television anchors notwithstanding, they managed to garner considerable sympathy ~ first from passengers on the train they captured, then from others by releasing them without causing any hurt. It took a young boy on board the Rajdhani to convey this message to the governments of India and West Bengal. Poignantly, he told an interviewer that his captors had been good to him and to others on the train, and all that they wanted was for their demands to be considered. That these demands exist is testament to the failure of governance, to the massive diversion of development funds over years, nay decades, by the political class, including Communists. If popular support turns in favour of the protestors, and against the government, we will have to brace for greater upheavals.
The Maoists are winning a third battle, and this victory it seems will come by default. By failing to draw a distinction between the tribals and Adivasis, the destitute and the dispossessed on the one hand, and the Maoists on the other, the state and the media are falling into a trap. In effect, we are adding to the Maoist ranks every tribal with a grievance. It won’t be long before we push them all into the Maoist corner, even if their demand is only for a fair share of the development pie, and without any ideological underpinnings. The objective of government initiatives must be to isolate the Maoist, not populate his army.
The Maoist has won a fourth and possibly decisive battle in creating a Compact Revolutionary Zone that the government does not really recognize. Whether we like it or not, it is a geographical reality. Piecemeal approaches, or state-specific counter-moves are unlikely to work. As much as the Home Minister seeks a unified strategic command to combat Maoists, the Prime Minister must consider a similar structure to battle the causes of this unrest, in other words a single, bipartisan command structure to take up development. This suggestion might get the noses of some Chief Ministers out of joint. It is, though, the price they may have to pay for never having looked beyond their noses. Truly, India faces a mammoth challenge. So far, it hasn’t handled it very well.

What Muslims were to BJP, Maoists are to Cong: Arundhati Roy

2009-10-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, 25 OCT: Supporting unconditional talks with the Maoists, Booker prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy has alleged that “economic interests” in mineral-rich states have driven the government and establishment to launch action against them.
“My fear is that because of this economic interest the government and establishment actually needs a war. It needs to militarise. For that it needs an enemy. And so in a way what the Muslims were to BJP, the Maoists are to Congress...,” Roy said in an interview with Karan Thapar in his programme Devil's Advocate for CNN-IBN channel.
When asked about the talks between the Government and Left Wing extremists, she said: “There should be unconditional talks with the Maoists.
“If I was a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed of their land and who is being faced with this ‘police force’, I would say that I am justified in taking up arms. If that is the only way I have to defend myself,” she said when asked whether armed struggle was justified.
“We should stop thinking about who is justified...You have an army of very poor people being faced down by an army of rich that are corporate-backed. I am sorry but it is like that. So you can't extract morality from the heinous act of violence that each commits against the other,” she said. ;PTI

Source: The Statesman 26 October 2009

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=272919

Mayhem reigns supreme in Midnapore

2009-10-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

Statesman News Service
MIDNAPORE, 25 OCT: The four-days detention of Mr Bimal Mahato of Pathra village in Sankrail, in Midnapore Kotwali police lock-up and his subsequent release yesterday revealed brought to the fore, yet again, what has long been alleged of the Midnapore police force.
He was picked up by the joint forces from his own motor garage hours after the Maoist attack on Sankrail police station on 20 October and detained because his father is a namesake of the Peoples’ Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), convener ~ Chhatradhar Mahato ~ who is now in jail custody. The youth's father Mr Chhatradhar Mahato today alleged that his son was severely beaten up and he will write to the West Bengal Human Rights Commission demanding investigation and action against the district police officers.
But Bimal is not the only one plagued by such atrocities. Such treatment is allegedly being meted out to Mr Ranjit Mahato of Laljal in Belpahari over the past fortnight. Mr Mahato, who was working as a labourer under a local WBSEB contractor, was arrested on 10 October after being framed in a false murder case and under Section 25 and 27 Arms Act. His wife Mrs Tapati Mahato said that her husband’s offence was that he had a well-toned physical structure, which he had developed through rigorous physical work as a labourer by pulling electric wires and planting heavy poles for years. “But the police", she said, “attributed his physique to the arms-training he obtained in Maoist camps as their man”.

Source: The Statesman 26 October 2009

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=272935

'We were jailed by cops on false charges'

2009-10-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

JHARGRAM (WEST MIDNAPORE): They came out of the prison and looked around in awe at the army of journalists, totally unaware of the high-tension drama that took place over the last three days that led to their release. One of them, a 70-year-old widow, stepped back in fear and clutched the woman who was helping her walk. She is accused of trying to murder police personnel.

After being locked up in jail for nearly one-a-half months on serious charges — ranging from attempt to murder to sedition and waging war against the state — the tribal women didn't quite know how to react to their freedom. Like their arrest, their release was also a mystery to them. They were not aware that the Maoists had negotiated their release.

The Lalgarh women's first worry was how to get back home. No one had any money for the bus fare. And no family member had come to meet them — they are all hiding for fear of being branded Maoists as well. Most of the 23 women bailed out in exchange for the release of abducted sub-inspector Atindranath Dutta had never left Lalgarh before this and were on the verge of tears.

Their lawyer Mrinal Chowdhury stepped in, in the nick of time, gave them some money and helped them catch the right bus home. This group of 14 tribal women, released at noon on Friday, were arrested from Bansber village near Kantapahari on September 3, 2009. Their ages range from 22 to 70 years and all of them resembled the simple village folk from this impoverished part of the country. They were hesitant to speak at first. When one opened up, they all did, in a flood of emotion.

"Security personnel regularly ransacked our homes in the name of 'search operations'. Do we look like Maoists? But we never objected. They would verbally abuse us and damage whatever little we owned. By the time they left, we would not even have our earthen pots and pans to cook a meal. Police would keep asking about the 'people from the jungle'. How were we to know their exact location? When we told them this, they dragged us away. They claimed that we had tried to beat them up," said 22-year-old Phoolmani Soren.

It is difficult to visualize this frail, undernourished woman attacking heavily-armed securitymen. When arrested, she left behind a two-year-old son with her husband — a daily wage-earner. "I don't know how my husband managed. He may have left the child with neighbours when he went out in search of work," she said, wiping away tears.

Beside her stood 70-year-old Sudharani Baske, who cannot walk properly due to her age and lack of medical attention. She has been charged with attempt to murder for 'trying to assault' security personnel. She was in no position to even understand the questions thrown at her. The plight of others — like Pratima Patra, Nilima Hansda and Padmarani Baske — was similar. While in prison, nobody from their families could come to serve them food or ask about their well-being. One of them pointed to a piece of clothing that a fellow inmate had given her out of pity.

"You cannot imagine what we are going through. Our men cannot stay in the villages for fear of being picked up by the securitymen. If they enter the forests, they will be branded Maoists and arrested," one of them said.

Source: The Times of India 24 October 2009

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/We-were-jailed-by-cops-on-false-charges/articleshow/5155461.cms

Black Money, Blue Funk?

2009-10-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Pranab Mukherjee’s Dilemma

By Rajinder Puri

THE worst aspect of the Bofors case was not its corruption. Corruption in varying degrees is worldwide. The worst aspect was the cover-up of the corruption. Cover-ups too are worldwide. But nowhere are they as brazen and shameless as they are in India. Bofors set a new standard of shamelessness. After the Bofors case there followed a whole stream of scandalous crimes that were consistently covered up with equal shamelessness. HDW Submarine case, Jain Hawala case, Oil for Food scam – there is a long list of scandals covered up with contempt for public opinion. The politicians, the investigators, the judiciary and the media all got badly tainted in this process.
The government’s embedded media wimps destroyed the credibility of their profession. But whatever gloss India’s ruling class may put on the ugly truth, people are not deceived. People know the truth whatever the courts may decide. Why, even former Chief Justice JS Verma, the current darling of establishment moralists, demanded a retrial of the Jain Hawala case after himself presiding over the Supreme Court bench which heard this brazenly mishandled case.
Tax havens
NOW there is a very, very slim chance that things may change. Globalization and the information era are upon us. And US President Barack Obama has a bee in his bonnet. He wants to punish all the tax evaders in the US who stashed away their illegal funds in tax havens. For a start Obama has zeroed in on the queen of all tax havens, Switzerland.
In August the US arm-twisted Switzerland to dent its famed tradition of banking secrecy. It compelled Swiss banking giant UBS AG to disclose the names of 4,450 American clients suspected of hiding assets in secret Swiss accounts, out of a total US 52000 account holders. This development is expected to prod thousands more UBS clients in America to voluntarily disclose their financial details to the Internal Revenue Service. Thereby they may avoid jail, not tax penalties. President Obama reportedly is determined to get lists of all past account holders regardless if they have shifted their deposits to other tax havens. Swiss sources have acknowledged that UBS has no real choice in turning over the names. This is bad news for Indian VIP account-holders who directly or indirectly also figure in the lists.
Contrary to his public posture, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in a dilemma. The finance ministry had claimed that it was trying to recover black money stashed abroad. But its actions belied its words. The German government had given a list of names of Indians whose money is lying in the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein. The Indian government refused to disclose the names provided by Germany. It claimed that it was prevented by certain legal hurdles put up by Germany. Did the finance ministry deliberately create those legal hurdles? Germany itself has released its own list. How can it prevent India from releasing the list which it provided to India?
The finance ministry also got information pertaining to the Pune stud farm owner, Hasan Ali Khan’s huge amounts deposited in the UBS Bank of Switzerland. However, according to Swiss authorities while the Indian government publicly sought information in Swiss account holder Hassan Ali Khan’s case, it submitted “forged” documents that were required by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice. Swiss authorities say that they want to help in the case if Indian authorities could satisfy the Swiss government’s demand for proper documentation. Since April 2007 the Indian government failed to respond to the Swiss request!
Pranab Mukherjee’s dilemma is understandable. The lists of illegal account-holders could include the names of leading politicians across political parties. Therefore, the paradoxical situation arises. For public consumption the UPA government moves heaven and earth to reclaim Indian black money stashed abroad. Privately it is haunted by the fear that by doing so it could ring its own death knell. The dilemma does not end there. It becomes far more sinister.
Switzerland’s economy is in recession. Swiss banks want to start operating in India and even participate in the Mumbai Stock Exchange. The Indian government put up a show of demanding transparency from the Swiss banks regarding the identities of the illegal Indian account-holders in their lists. The Swiss have not provided the lists as yet. The government went ahead and allowed the Swiss banks to open branches in India. UBS obtained permission to open a retail branch in February 2008. Switzerland’s biggest bank, Credit Suisse, got permission to start operating this month. Permission for the Swiss banks to play the Mumbai Stock Market has been cleared and awaits ratification.
Ominous situation
TWO questions arise. First, does the Indian government truly want the lists of illegal account-holders to be made public? Secondly, would the government dare deny the Swiss when their banks have full knowledge of all the corrupt Indian VIPs who have held secret accounts in their vaults?
The situation becomes more ominous. America has the lists of illegal account-holders that include many non-resident Indians who could be operating on behalf of Indian politicians. Given the close interaction between governments and intra-penetration by their respective intelligence agencies, US information about corrupt Indian VIPs could easily spread to other governments. Can the Indian government be trusted to avoid becoming a victim of blackmail by foreign governments privy to such information and willing to use it?
In November 1991, six months after his death, the highly reputed Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate, alleged in a report that there were numbered Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Gandhi equivalent roughly to two billion US dollars. That report was never publicly denied. The failure to do that leaves one with a most uncomfortable feeling. If India’s top politicians are vulnerable to blackmail, how independent can the government’s policies be?

The writer is a veteran journalist and cartoonist

Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee in Judicial Custody

2009-10-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Two social activists, Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee, who were arrested by the CID on the basis of information extracted from Mr. Mahato and charged with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) for their alleged involvement in funding the Maoists, were produced in court and were remanded to 14 days of judicial custody.

Meanwhile, two teams of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have started grilling Mr. Mahato after a court in Jhargram sent him to four-day-police custody on October 18 in connection with a murder case.

‘Court not satisfied’

The police remand for Mr. Chhatradhar Mahato was granted, however, not before the additional chief judicial magistrate observed that the court was “not satisfied with the police procedure of investigation”. The court granted the four-day-remand against the 14-days-remand petitioned by the public prosecutor.

Source: The Hindu, 19 October, 2009

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article36012.ece