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BIPLAB DAS: SUJATO IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.HE KNOWS THE REAL PROBLEM.
Sudip Chakraborty: Now a days, the imagination on Lalgarh, came to clear with lights of the Prabir Ghosh’s articles. We expect the type of articles on social issue from you for better understanding.
Tanmay Dhar: We just expect such articles from Mr. Probir Ghosh.
BIPLAB DAS: WHAT AN ARTICLE. REALLY BOMB BLASTING.
BIPLAB DAS: bankura branch of juktibadi samiti always with the tribal people of junglemahal.
esta clave: esta clave
criminals: aburren criminals 48312374801684www.complet.com.mx/guerrero.html www.texa.com.mx/
PRADIP CHAKRABORTY: [LEASE SENDME A LATESTCOPY OF JUKTIBADI.
BIPLAB DAS: AT THE TIME OF ENCROACHMENT WHO WAS THE PRIME MINISTER OF NEPAL? PRACHANDA ? I THINK IT HAPPENED AFTER RESIGNATION OF PRACHANDA. BECZ HE NEVER TOLERATE THIS ACUISATION. IF HE WAS IN SEAT OF P.M. HE MUST INFORMED THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION LIKE- U.N.O., RED CROSS ETC IN THIS REGARD.
BIPLAB DAS: really shame.but we are not stant.becaz we know our army men they can everything.looth, murder,rape,smuggling..... everything.and our govt always support them.
Malcolm Dodd: Greetings to all Rationalists in India from the UK. We all admire the work that you do and the magnitude of the task.Best wishesMalcolm
Bikram: Wish the grand success of INTERNATIONAL RATIONALISTS' DAY and at the same time very happy birth day to Prabir da. (1st March 2009)
Vinod: Why does Prakash Karat try to vindicate the corrupt CPI(M)leader of Kerala,Pinarayi Vijayan? Doesn't Karat know about the rubber estates that were bought by a proxy company on behalf of Pinarayi? Doesn't Karat know that Pinarayi is a close associate of Matha Amrithanantha Mayi, who is puppet of international money laundering Mafia? They are even running biz with Dawood and Cosa Nostra in Dubai and Europe.What kind of biz is run in Massimo Quattrocchi's Club Invest firm in B'lore?
dagon: nice job with photoshop
AMARENDRA PAUL: PLEAST SEND ME A LATEST COPY OF JUKTIBADI
PRADIP CHAKRABORTY: PLEASE SEND ME A LATEST COPY OF JUKTIBADI
biplab das: the articles r fab. long live freetinker .
MEL: Hi! i'm just out blog hopping and i just happened to hop into yours,! Hope you have a great day! and don't be afraid to visit my site if you have time!!! ~~Mel~~

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Monday, June 29th 2009

4:12 PM

‘Not late to counter Maoists politically’

Saibal Mitra


Banning an organization doesn’t help to either root it out or prevent it from carrying on its activities. So, I don’t think the decision to ban the Maoists will serve any purpose. On the contrary, it might help them form a more determined and stronger organization. History shows that whenever the Communist Party was banned, it emerged stronger and bigger.


From a political point of view, it is not sensible either. If the Centre proposes a ban on Leninism or Gandhism, shall we support that? Having said that, I must add that I don’t subscribe to this politics of terror and murder. But has the government ever tried to probe why these people re
sorted to this extreme path? Or, how could the Maoists spread so easily among the tribal people. The answer is no.


For the last 60 years, no government has ever addressed the needs of these poor people. They have only made empty promises. The poor have always been used and taken for granted in our country. The Lalgarh movement and all the previous armed Naxalite movements are a consequence of that.

Unfortunately, governments in India take a very simplistic view of things and follow the easy route. Once an armed movement spins out of control, they declare it banned and try to crush it with the help of army and police. In the long run, this has no effect.

Also, there seems to be an effort to equate this movement with secessionist movements like the one we saw in Punjab and in Kashmir. The Maoists are not a separatist force. They are apparently fighting for the poor and the neglected sections of the society. So, their demands and grievances must be looked at seriously. Whether they are indeed fighting for the betterment of the downtrodden remains to be seen. But we can’t compare the Maoists with Al-Qaida either.

Is it too late to counter the Maoists politically? I don’t think so. Any time is good for a dialogue to commence. They can still be called for a discussion and asked to lay down arms. There are other channels through which this movement can be defeated. The civil society, for instance, can play a big role in brokering peace by acting as a mediator between the government and the Maoists. But they are constantly being abused and heckled by the administration. It is sad that the government doesn’t trust them. They only have faith in their dictatorial ways.

A simple move on the part of the leaders could have helped defuse tension. They could have visited the area and spoken to PCPA members. Excesses were committed so PCPA was quite justified in asking for an apology. It could have acted as a balm and soothed the frayed nerves. Instead, the government waited for the movement to escalate and take the form of an armed revolt.

Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA


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Saturday, June 27th 2009

3:19 PM

Security-centric approach can't resolve Lalgarh conflict

Sujato Bhadra


Unlike Singur-Nandigram, the initial social resistance movement in Lalgarh revolved around police atrocities; with tribal people raising their voice against law enforcing agencies breaking the law of the land. So, this movement is political in nature; a story of demand for the restoration of civil liberties since November 2008. The people of Lalgarh are not concerned about problems of land acquisition, issue of development and displacement; the sole issue is fundamental: the right to life . If we focus on the historical, and oppose the fictional sense of the reality in which the people of Lalgarh live, we will be able to get a proper understanding of the problem .

As usual, the government refused to concede the biggest demand of the people of Lalgarh: that the then SP of West Midnapore tender an apology to the people for the torture and terror inflicted on the people by his forces, which saw the women suffer physically and mentally. A reign of terror was let loose by the police. What made the people furious was the culture of impunity and a police boycott was started.

The problem was further aggravated in February when armed troopers of CPM attacked the protesting villagers in order to break the movement started under leadership of PCPA, resulting in the death of four PCPA members. Even after that, as part of agreement reached at the tripartite meeting held on April 22, election was held smoothly and without any kind of violence. The first post-poll political violence occurred when the gangs of the main ruling party attacked the villagers of Dharampur; admittedly, the Maoist cadres joined openly in retaliatory action.

The question is whether the presence of a few gun-toting Maoist cadres are sufficient, reasonable and proportionate factors for joint military operation in Lalgarh. Are more reinforcements of force and deployment of deadly COBRA jawans going to serve any purpose except more suffering and torture of tribal people? It is a clear case of "pre-emptive" military action. As reports reveal that such "war on terror" has created "tyrannicide" in the affected region. Even the NHRC has expressed deep concern over the violations of international human rights standards by forces of the joint operation. The institutionalised left parties now fiercely argue that the "world is a better place" without Maoists and hence eliminate them.

Another question: why did armed oppositional politics gain a social base among the "wretched of the earth"? The answer lies in the actual condition of the area where people live in abject poverty. They are deprived of all sorts of civic amenities and simply denied all their entitlements as citizens of this country. If we read parliamentary debates on internal security, if we read left party perspectives on insurgents within the nation, we would find the same discourse.

Crores and crores of allotted money have either not been spent on uplift of the poor adivasis or siphoned off. It is a matter of shame that after 32 years of rule, the self-proclaimed pro-labour government is still announcing fresh schemes for social and economic development of regions like Lalgarh! In addition, all democratic forums for justice are either ineffective or insensitive to demands of the poorest of poor or have simply failed to deliver the public good, for which the government is solely responsible.

Now, the security-centric approach will not resolve the conflict. An Indian research scholar based in Australia in a recent paper argued that community-based interaction is essential to identify the

root cause of "terrorism"; anti-terror laws are no longer required to tackle such human violence as has already been shown in countries like Spain and Australia.

Unfortunately, the Left Front government has been pursuing the same traditional repressive policy to contain Maoist activities in three districts of Bengal since 2001. And the chief minister has made a tall claim in 2005 that this policy is paying dividends". How could we then explain such a presence of an organization even in 2009?

We claim to value life itself. But this military operation values some lives over others. This operation wants to eliminate "bare life" and protect "quality of life" of some people. The government has the power to not only use deadly force but also to justify it with the rhetoric of saving society from "evil forces", humane versus monstrous, and legitimate versus illegitimate.

If one wants to go beyond philosopher Alian Badiou's quest for neutral readability of terror', one has to understand sources and causes, means and methods, ideologies and structures of Maoist nomadic violence, because such collective violence garners massive representation of the local people. If one looks at R J Rummell's data and does some arithmetical calculations it is shown that in the last hundred years fully secular states have killed at least forty-five times as many people as non-state actors' violence have killed. Thus we should sadly acknowledge the costs of democracy : primarily one of the unmitigated , unapologetic violence by the State and also by the misadventure of non-state actors.

What we need today is to build up a new ethic to enhance all potential for non-violent pursuit for the creation of dialogue and articulation of alternate versions of comity as public good.

(The author is a human rights activist)


Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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Thursday, June 25th 2009

2:50 PM

UAPA : Violates the Indian Constitution and Human Rights

ইউ এ পি এ : সংবিধান ও মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘনকারী এক আইন
অনিন্দ্যসুন্দর

আজ থেকে ঠিক ৩৪ বছর আগে এই দিনে জরুরি অবস্থা জারি হয়েছিল। সেদিনের কালা আইন ছিল এম আই এস এ (MISA), ই এস এম এ (ESMA) ইত্যাদি। আজ যেমন ইউ এ পি এ (UAPA)। কী লজ্জা!

অভিযোগকারীকে অভিযোগের সত্যতা প্রমাণ করতে হবে। এমনটাই ভারতের সংবিধানের ঘোষিত নির্দেশ। যে কোন উন্নত ও সভ্য রাষ্ট্র এই নীতিই অনুসরন করে। কিন্তু, সন্ত্রাসবাদী রাষ্ট্রগুলি অনেক্ষেত্রেই এই নীতি মানে না। বিনা প্রমাণেই যাতে বিচার সম্পন্ন করে ফেলা যায়, সে উদ্দেশ্যেই এই ব্যবস্থা। বলা বাহুল্য, এই ব্যবস্থায় রাষ্ট্রের নীতি-বহির্ভূত ও মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘনকারী যে কোন কাজকে আইনি ছাপ দেওয়া যায় খুব সহজেই। এই সন্ত্রাসবাদী রাষ্ট্রগুলির অন্যতম আমাদের দেশ ভারত। ভারতে এমন কিছু আইন রয়েছে (কালা আইন), যেসব আইনে মামলা দায়ের হলে অভিযুক্তকেই প্রমাণ করতে হয় যে, সে অপরাধী নয়। The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) এমনই একটি কালা আইন। মুম্বই বিস্ফোরণের পর তড়িঘড়ি করে সংশোধনী বিল পাশ করিয়ে যে আইনকে আরও কঠোর করা হল।

উল্লেখ্য যে, অভিযুক্তের পক্ষে প্রমাণ করা (সে অপরাধী নয়) তত্ত্বগতভাবেই অসম্ভব। তাই অভিযোগের সত্যতা প্রমাণ করার দায়িত্ব অভিযোগকারীর ওপরই বর্তায়।

কিন্তু প্রশ্ন হল, সংবিধানের নির্দেশকে অমান্য করে আইন তৈরী হয় কি করে? উত্তরটা খুবই সহজ। দুর্নীতিতে বিশ্বের প্রথমসারীতে অবস্থান করা যে দেশে শাহবুদ্দিনের মতো জঘন্য অপরাধী অনায়াসেই আইনপ্রণেতা বনে যেতে পারে, সে দেশে সংবিধান লঙ্ঘনকারী আইন তৈরী হওয়া অসম্ভব কি!

নির্বিচারে দমন-পীড়ন-সন্ত্রাস সংঘটিত করার উদ্দেশ্যে ভারতের বর্তমান শাসকগোষ্ঠী যেভাবে সংবিধান লঙ্ঘনের খেলায় মেতেছেন, তা দেখলে ব্রীটিশ শাসকরাও লজ্জা পেতেন। কেননা, স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামীদের বিরুদ্ধে মামলা দায়ের করলে অভিযোগের সত্যতা প্রমাণ করার দায়িত্ব পালন করতেন ব্রীটিশ শাসকরাই।

প্রমাণের অভাবে অভিযুক্ত বেকসুর খালাস পেয়েছেন – এমন সংবাদ হামেশাই প্রকাশিত হয় । এমনকি, দীর্ঘ বছর বিনা বিচারে কারাবাসের পরও এমনটা ঘটা নতুন কিছু নয়।  ইউ এ পি এ সংশোধন করে (অভিযোগের সত্যতা প্রমাণ করার দায়িত্ব কাঁধ থেকে ঝেড়ে ফেলে দিয়ে) সরকার নিশ্চিন্ত হল, এমন ঘটনা আর ঘটবে না।

কিন্তু, সাধারণ মানুষ এই স্বেচ্ছাচার মেনে নেবেন তো?
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Tuesday, June 23rd 2009

12:42 PM

We want end of Terrorism: everywhere in India – including Lalgarh

Prabir Ghosh 
 


Why is there so much bloodshed? Why such terrorism everywhere?  

Any honest and impartial person is against terrorism. We too, the rationalists and   humanists are against any kind of murder, torture and terrorism. We sincerely wish that all this mindless killings should come to an end. Why is there so much of terror in this country? 

Let us first take the case of this state – West Bengal.

During the last 32 years of Left-front rule, 45000 people were killed. 

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In the terrorist nation India, all the terrorist political parties thrive.  
 

The surprising fact is that most of the political parties of India are up against terrorism and are ever ready to implement ‘stringent anti-terrorism measures’ to combat terrorism. At the same time, these very political parties themselves are nothing but terrorist groups.  

In 1996, Amnesty International had presented a report. On investigating upon 150 countries, they identified 82 nations where the state machinery resorted to ‘terrorism’ as a routine practice. The governments of all these countries use the following methods as part of their administration—kidnapping, killing in cold blood in the name of ‘encounter’ with police or military, illegally detaining indefinitely without filing case, not allowing to take legal help, entering the house at night without search-warrant, arresting without the presence of witness and then claiming to have found weapons or objectionable papers with the arrested person, -- these are examples of dirty criminal acts perpetrated by the states.  

India is one among these 82 nations identified by Amnesty Intl.  

‘State terrorism’ is severe in the North-eastern states – Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, in Kashmir in Northern India, in Chhattisgarh in central India and in Andhra Pradesh in South. The atrocities carried out by the state machinery are unimaginable. The gravity of it is beyond the comprehension of people outside these regions. It is more so because the media are never truly impartial. They have to toe the line of the ruling party or the rich and powerful opposition. The media in West Bengal do the same by suppressing or distorting news, or even by total blackout in some cases. Sometimes they are shadows of CPM party, and as soon as the tables turn, they hang around the opposition leader, travel with her, fly with her, lifting her sky-high only to pull her down and ridicule her later as time comes. It is they who create Maoist leaders like ‘Kishenji’ or ‘Bikash’ and make exclusive stories.  

It is these media who truncate the name “Public Committee against Police Atrocities” (PCAPA) to make it only “Public Committee”. The words ‘police atrocities’ probably sound too harsh to them! 

 

‘Public Committee against Police Atrocities’  
 

It was an afternoon on November 2008; Chief Minister Buddahdeb Bhattacharya and Central minister Rambilas Paswan were returning through Shalboni in their convoy after inaugurating a proposed Steel plant by the Jindal group. The Maoists triggered an explosion aiming at the convoy. After this incident which missed the CM’s vehicle and slightly injured a few others, the police started massive operation and arbitrary arrests.

Under the leadership of Police Superintendent of West Midnapur district, they entered tribal houses some 70 kilometers away from the spot and arrested some schoolboys of 7th and 8th class, an old retired schoolteacher and some others as ‘suspected Maoists’. During this action they reportedly roughed up tribal women – the male police force manhandled and molested them, abused with vulgar threats. 

The suppressed grievance of the long deprived local people exploded after this criminal offence. The poor tribal populace of the region united and formed the ‘Public Committee against Police Atrocities’. Their main demand was that – the Police Super and the misbehaving police personnel have to come to the Tribal village and publicly apologize for their mistake and misdemeanor.  

Now, the West Bengal government always appears as the savior of the police whenever they are in trouble. We have seen it before – in Singur, Nandigram, Khejuri, Memari in Burdwan and in case of the hapless Rizwanur. The Police actively participated in genocide, loot, rape and setting fire. The police force usually comes as the pilot convoy before the armed hooligan party-cadres and together they jointly carry out the massacre. In return, the Buddhadeb government takes good care of the police force, turning a blind eye to all their crimes. So, when the PCAPA made their demand, the Chief Secretary of Buddha government called a press conference and announced – that there could be no question of apologizing. 

The self-respecting poor tribal people could not digest this kind of arrogance. They started a movement – PCAPA—and are continuing it for the following eight months. The leader of the committee, Sri Chhatradhar Mahato pointed out that some of the media are diverting  attention from the police by shortening the name to just ‘People’s Committee’, ignoring the point of Police atrocities. 

We saw on television that Chhatradhar and the common people of Lalgarh considered the Maoists as their friends, who came as their savior.  

 

In eight months Lalgarh saw progress that did not happen in the past 32 years. 
 

Some able and sympathetic people came forward to help the PCAPA. They showed them the way to become self-reliant, to unite and work together to make self-ruled villages. The villagers joined hands to work together and made unimaginable progress in a few months. What the left-front government failed to do in 32 years, they did in 8 months –claims Chhatradhar. A 60 feet deep reservoir to store water for irrigation, miles of canals cleaned and channeled to the fields, tube-wells in villages for drinking water, 50 kilometers of solid gravel road that saved them a long detour to go to the nearest Midnapore town; these are some of their achievements. A health centre with a doctor is also set up by them. All this has been done by the villagers themselves without any help from the state.

Some able and sympathetic people who came forward to help and guide these villagers have been branded as ‘Maoists’ by the CPI (M). Once you call them ‘Maoists’, they can be arrested, detained without trial or better still, killed in the name of encounter. So simple!

It is only natural that the cruel and fascist CPI (M) government will call these people ‘Maoists’ or ‘Terrorists’.

But the tribal Adivasis (literal meaning = original inhabitants) call them friends. It is the ‘Police people’ that are the ‘real enemies’; no, not even hunger and poverty. They have learnt to live with them. It is further torture and humiliation that infuriate them.

 

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In India infested with terrorists, the CPI (M) is the largest terrorist group 
 

In the past 32 years, there have been 45000 political killings. Of that 40000 have been perpetrated by the ruling party CPI (M). In cruelty, comparable only to the Nazis, this outfit has carried out genocide in Marichjhapi, Naxalbari, Sainbari, Kashipur, Baranagar, Beliaghata, Dhantala, Bantala, Ghoksadanga, Keshpur, Garbeta, Arambag, Nandigram etc during their long tenure. The cruelty of these massacres was unimaginable.

Even after all this, why the Central government is not taking steps to ban this party is a mystery. Is it because in future they may again have to tie the knot with this party at the centre? The party that believes in genocide as a political weapon should be banned in the state at least! 

The reader must be wondering why all these facts were not made public so long. It is mainly because of the left inclined media owners and intellectuals who were in some way indebted to the leftist government. They, out of their own sense of gratitude kept mum all these years. All the wrong ideas got publicity. We were told that even if you take up arms against police, military or ruling party workers in self defense, it is tantamount to going against the Nation/State. It is ‘Terrorism’. These fighters are ‘terrorists’ – even if they are poor, hungry and naked. Even if they live without electricity, water supply or health care and get humiliated and tortured by police at regular intervals.

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We are clearly against terrorism and cold blooded man-slaughter  
 

Each and every progressive, rational and humane person must be against mindless cruelty. At the same time one has to agree that continuous deprivation, ill-treatment, neglect and above all, state-terrorism can steamroll the people to make them revolt at a point of time– to make them rise up to counter-terrorism. Such possibility cannot be ruled out.

Finally genocide and counter-killings go on to cripple the society. We cannot think of a beautiful society to live in, to progress towards a better future. So we express our strong hatred and disapproval of all the terrorist political parties and terrorism of the state.

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An example of an ideal ‘terrorist’ state 
 

18 June, 2009: To suppress the terrorist upheaval the state police and the central armed forces have jointly entered the jungle-covered Lalgarh, the poorest region of West Bengal.

Quoting from the first page of daily paper Bartaman – a tribal woman Usharani from Kuldiha says – “On Friday afternoon, I sat with two morsels of rice to feed my child. Police came, kicked and broke open the door. They entered in a group, kicked and overturned the plate of rice. They ransacked and broke everything in the house. We are Maoists, they said. They threw everything we had – plates, vessels, sacks of rice and daal – everything into the well. Before leaving they threatened to sexually abuse me”. 

The experience is more or less the same in households in the villages of Kuldiha, Goaldanga, Kankshol, Malida, Sarberia, Peyarakuli, Pechapora and 40 others like them. The people all belong to Tribal community or aborigines of the place. Police and central forces manhandled the women, lifting their saris in the name of frisking, beating with lathis, and ridiculed them offering their services at night in the absence of their husbands. In some places, they urinated in the wells or put their excreta rendering them unfit for drinking. 

Next day we saw the shocking picture (Times of India) of local boys being made to look for landmines, while the police personnel were behind them with their weapons. This is a definite case of gross violation of human rights. 


 


We hereby draw the attention of National Human Rights Commission, with a request for immediate enquiry and steps against the police involved. 

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What is going on? Is it warfare?

Are Indian soldiers fighting with their own countrymen?  
 

Now if any foreigner questions the very character of our Nation, and calls it a terrorist state, do we have a reply? 


[Author is Gen. Secretary of the Science & Rationalists Association of India and President of Humanists’ Association] 

 

Picture courtesy: THE TELEGRAPH and THE TIMES OF INDIA

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Monday, June 22nd 2009

12:47 PM

Utter Confusion

This letter has been sent to the Editor, The Telegraph.

 

All the news items point to one thing-- lack of understanding, resulting in utter confusion.

"We have come here for peace. Innocent villagers are getting trapped between the Maoists and the security forces. We would like both sides to drop their arms and come for talks," said film director Aparna Sen.

We are surprised that the intellectuals who visited Lalgarh are dividing the poor villagers from the so-called 'Maoists'. The active group comprised of some of the villagers only are trying to protect their folks from police atrocities. Their only demand is to remove the police. And Police has justified the demand of the so -called Maoists by cruel and indecent behaviour during the last 4 days.

In Pirakata a section of the state armed police (SAP) — terrified of IED explosions - caught  hold of local youths and forced them to poke around for hidden mines and explosives?

Acts like this will trigger more calls for vengeance and lead people to doubt the sincerity of the government's attempts to pacify the tribal villagers.

In Kuldiha, poice forces are torturing women. As per the report, a woman, Bijola Mahato says that the police women lifted her sari, while showering lathis on her  the menfolk ( Police) made indecent remarks -- " Since your husband is not at home, let me come tonight..." The husbands have fled, some are in relief camps, the cows are left without food, the wares they make for a living -- plates and bowls made of dried Saal-leaves are bundled and left unsold.

Who gave the Army and Police the right to disrupt the normal life in villages and insult poor, hungry people in this manner? Isn't forcing local youths to look for mines -- the height of human rights abuse? Where is army discipline? Are they at war with their own people?

We request the intellectuals to highlight these Army and Police atrocities, for which these people are fighting for the last eight months. 

It is equally sad that Mamata Banerjee, instead of voicing sympathy for the poor & deprived people of our land, has asked for announcing  the zone as "Disturbed Area". Does she know that 'Disturbed  Area' will justify permanent Police posting and continuing atrocities? Have we all foergotten Manipur and what rights the Armed Forces Special Powers Act are endowed with?

 

Please stop this confusion and face the facts --

The people are hungry and without a livelihood,

The Army and police are not their well-wishers.

 

Let us all unitedly demand social justice.

 

SUMITRA PADMANABHAN

G.S., HUMANISTS' ASSOCIATION

P 2, BLOCK B, LAKE TOWN

KOLKATA - 700089

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Monday, June 22nd 2009

12:40 PM

Beneath sari, brutal scars

SUJAN DUTTA

Kuldiha, June 21: Shame is abandoned with great effort. But the women of this village are willing to draw up their saris, just to show how brutalised they are.

At a relief camp in Pirakata, the crossroad that practically marks the end of the authority of the West Bengal government on the route to Lalgarh, they pulled up saris to reveal weals and scars to show how mercilessly they were beaten by the police.

The police did not have orders to open fire. They were free to beat and brutalise.

Kuldiha is 4km up ahead from Pirakata. It is desolate, save for the cows tethered to bamboo masts. The village has about 40 households. The refugees from the village say there was only one person in the village with a regular job — a government employee in the land reforms department. Most were farmers and cowherds. But this afternoon there is no one in any of the houses. The village is desolate. The men fled to the forests when the security forces began assembling.

The battered women of Kuldiha roamed the fields and forests around here for two nights. This morning and afternoon, they began trickling into the camp at the Pirakata Primary High School set up by the local Trinamul Congress.

Every armed conflict must have its share of refugees. The relief camp in Pirakata is the first to shelter the first in Lalgarh’s latest round of violence.

The village is spread on either side of a narrow metalled road. Inside, a motorcycle upturned into a pond is evidence of the violence that it has been through.

There isn’t a soul in sight. Cows tethered to bamboo masts moo because they are hungry. Their owners have left home. They are in the relief camp this afternoon.

“The policewomen lifted my sari,” sobs Bijola Mahato, “and kicked me while lathis rained down and a man shouted ‘since your husband is not at home, let me come tonight and be your husband’”.

The Bengal government’s order to the security forces it has amassed over here to go easy on the trigger has meant they can go hard with the lathi...

Courtesy: THE TELEGRAPH

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Saturday, June 20th 2009

12:24 PM

Lalgarh's poverty behind red rage

19 Jun 2009, Subhbrata Guha, TNN

At first sight, Lalgarh doesn't look intimidating — its nonchalant villagers and the languid pace of life is like any other village. Little gets in and even less gets out. But beneath the pastoral calm of rural Bengal, Lalgarh has been simmering as the red lava of Maoist rage flowing out of this West Midnapore town, 180 km from Kolkata, now proves.

The state didn't wither away in Lalgarh, it just wasn't ever there. For decades, tribals in Lalgarh, comprising several villages under Binpur-II block in West Midnapore district, sat on the powder keg as Naxals amassed guns and bombs, indoctrinated illiterate village boys and fed on the disillusionment with the laid-back and corrupt CPM administration.

In the last 30 years, the Left Front has not built roads to connect far-flung villages, with virtually one bus plying between district headquarters of Jhargram and Belpaharai daily.

Also, adjoining villages are Amlasole and Amjhora from where first hunger deaths were reported in the state, pointing to the ruling Left Front government's oppression and dispossession. The NREGA has failed to provide succour to Ukil Murmu, Gayanswar Murmu, Gour Murmu and Dhiren Manki living on Ayodhya hills and in villages dotting the forests around Belpahari. Hardly any of them have got work for the mandatory 100 days.

"I got my job card three years ago. For all these years my application for work was pending with the gram panchayat. Last month we got work for laying village roads. That was for 15 days but I haven't received any money yet," says Balaram Hansda of Barnajara village. "As far as I know the money has gone back. No one knows when work will start again. Worse whether it will start at all."

After working for four days, Ukil Murmu, his wife Binti and father Gayeshwar from were paid Rs 1,070. That is all that they have to live off for the remaining 361 days of the year till they get some more work. "There is no more work now. We don't have any land of our now. In this part farming is possible only after rains. We have to beg for jobs from the landowners. There are hundreds of tillers like us who are looking for work. The 100 days work could have helped us live better," says Ukil.

(With inputs from Arnab Ganguly in Kolkata)

Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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Thursday, June 18th 2009

8:49 PM

Tribals on warpath in Lalgarh; say can work better than govt

18 Jun 2009, PTI

LALGARH (WB): Hinting at a state within a state, tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato said his organisation could build infrastructure in just eight months in restive Lalgarh, which the state government could not do in 32 years.

"If the state government had done 10 per cent of the work we did, the situation would have been different," Mahato, Convenor of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) said.

"We have laid at least 50 km of gravel path, dug tanks and tube wells and revived irrigation canals with the help of villagers," he said.

Mahato claimed the PCAPA built a 60-feet-deep reservoir at Barapelia, where its headquarters is situated, and planned to revive a canal for irrigation.

A health centre with a doctor was also functioning at Kantapahari, he said.

Though the government built the road to Midnapore town, all link roads were constructed by the PCAPA, he said, claiming that this saved villagers from walking for miles through forests.

Maoists are on the rampage in Lalgarh, in Midnapore district of West Bengal bordering Orissa, targetting CPM cadres and party offices protesting against police "atrocities".

Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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Tuesday, June 16th 2009

4:42 PM

Child labour? Is'nt it illegal?

AS A GESTURE




Little girls and boys-- like the one with a blue net-- wade along the mud and water whole day in sundarbans catching meen, newly hatched baby prawns. They are tiny and almost transparent. The kids have to squat in the water to sort them out.They get 20 rupees by selling 100 to businessmen and their middlemen.
 
After 'AILA' schools are closed,broken down or washed away. The farmlands are spoilt by saline water, the cattle and goats mostly washed away.
 
Can the government just reverse the rate as a rule-- and make it Rs.100 for 20?
Our suggestion is -- make announcements on loudspeakers -- just as you did while warning for the coming cyclone, which really saved thousands of lives.

Let this new rate be known to all -- buyers and sellers. A special gesture -- so that the flood-devastated people of southern Bengal can live with self-respect and do not turn to begging.
 
After all, these prawn hatchlings, after only 4 months will turn out to be the most expensive food, "Bagda Chingri" -- tiger prawns, that our state produces and exports ( the rate at the local market can be anything between Rs.300--Rs.500 per Kilogram).
 
HUMANISTS' ASSOCIATION
KOLKATA
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Thursday, June 4th 2009

11:03 PM

Maoists demonstrate against border encroachment




The Unified CPN (Maoist) staged rallies in the capital Thursday afternoon protesting the encroachment of Nepali territory by India and harassment of Nepalis living in bordering villages.


After rallies at different parts of Kathmandu, hundreds of Maoist cadres and some central leaders staged sit-in in front of the Indian embassy at Lainchaur, chanting slogans against the encroachment of Nepali land and harassment of Nepalis by Indian border security personnel. They also submitted a memorandum at the embassy calling for immediate end of the border encroachment.

Earlier today, the Unified CPN (Maoist) called an all-party meeting to discuss the border encroachment and evacuation of Nepali settlers from several border villages in Dang. At the meeting the parties agreed to send a joint delegation to Dang district to assess the situation there.

Madhesi parties including Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party and Sadbhawana Party didn't attend the meeting.

As many as 6000 Nepalis have been displaced after the Indian Seema Surakchya Bal (SSB) personnel forced them out of their homes in 22 bordering villages in Dang district. There have been reports of widespread harassment of Nepalis by the SSB men while the Nepal government has not yet reacted officially to the incident.



Courtesy:
nepalnews.com Jun 04, 2009
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