Gesture, Ritual and NANOOR GENOCIDE FIELD

Gesture, Ritual and NANOOR GENOCIDE FIELD


Indian Holocaust My father`s life and Time - Forty One

Palash Biswas

DEMOLITION OF BABRI MASJID
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AhbyGeTIbQ


Vajpayee provoking hindus prior Babri demolition - 1
Vajpayee addressing BJP and Shiv Sena activists along with Advani on the day before Babri masjid demolition. And one of the worst riots taken place in India that was followed by Hindu mobs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COvkg6S9j90


Vajpayee 2 - provoking Hindu fundamentalists on Babri
Vajpayee addressing BJP activists a day prior to Babri masjid demolition and worst communal riots India has seen post Independence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B6sX--4_Hg


Bal Thakray - An Interview @ Aajtak - Part-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZIitKZBAeY


Raj Thakare Giving Warning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6a6ZN6hps


Raj Thackeray Insulting Chath Puja
Raj Thackeray Insults Chath Puja-The Greatest & the most Revered Holy Festival Of The Biharis... This is how you create & spread hatred amongst the common people. This is how you divide the people...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aV7YcDubjk


Nanoor massacre
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Nanoor massacre refers to the massacre of 11 landless labourers allegedly by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) activists in Suchpur, near Nanoor and under Nanoor police station, in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal, on 27 July 2000.[1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoor_massacre

Gesture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication made with a part of the body, used instead of or in combination with verbal communication. The language of gesture allows individuals to express a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection. Most people use gestures and body language in addition to words when they speak. The use of gesture as language by some ethnic groups is more common than in others, and the amount of such gesturing that is considered culturally acceptable varies from one location to the next.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesture

Ritual
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A ritual is a set of actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions.[1][2]

A ritual may be performed at regular intervals, or on specific occasions, or at the discretion of individuals or communities. It may be performed by a single individual, by a group, or by the entire community; in arbitrary places, or in places especially reserved for it; either in public, in private, or before specific people. A ritual may be restricted to a certain subset of the community, and may enable or underscore the passage between religious or social states.

The purposes of rituals are varied; they include compliance with religious obligations or ideals, satisfaction of spiritual or emotional needs of the practitioners, strengthening of social bonds, demonstration of respect or submission, stating one's affiliation, obtaining social acceptance or approval for some event — or, sometimes, just for the pleasure of the ritual itself.

Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies, past or present. They include not only the various worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also the rites of passage of certain societies, oaths of allegiance, coronations, and presidential inaugurations, marriages and funerals, school "rush" traditions and graduations, club meetings, sports events, Halloween parties, veteran parades, Christmas shopping and more. Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello are rituals.

In any case, an essential feature of a ritual is that the actions and their symbolism are not arbitrarily chosen by the performers, nor dictated by logic or necessity, but either are prescribed and imposed upon the performers by some external source or are inherited unconsciously from social traditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual

Ram Janmabhoomi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ram Janmabhoomi (??? ????????) refers to a tract of land in the North Indian city of Ayodhya which is claimed by Hindus as the birthplace of Rama. It is believed that, prior to 1528, a temple stood at this site and that in 1528 the temple was demolished on the orders of Mughal invader Babur and a mosque was built on its ruins. This mosque came to be known as the Babri Masjid. A movement was launched in 1984 by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) eventually leading to the destruction of the building on the morning of December 6 1992 by radical Hindu activists. The VHP wants to erect a temple dedicated to Ram Lala (infant Rama) at this spot. Many Muslim organizations, on the other hand strongly oppose the building of the temple.

References such as the 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica reported that "Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babar in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple".[1] According to the Hindu view, the ancient temple could have been destroyed on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur. This view has been challenged by Indian historians[2].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Janmabhoomi


CPI-M calls for leftist, third front government at New Delhi! Much hyped COMMON MINIMUM Progrrame of UNITED FRONT Government before RSS NDA Raj finalised the LPG Raj on which the PALACE of MARXIST CAPITALISM of DOWS SELIM TATA ZINDAL RELIANCE BUDDHA brand CONSTUCTED! What next? We have to understand the AETHETICS and RHETORICS, GESTURES and RITUALS of Indian Political ECONOMY to solve the PUZZLE! On the other hand , the GOT UP GAME is hightened to the delight of INDIAN AUDIENCE as The BJP on Saturday slammed the UPA Government for frittering away the advantages of the robust economy inherited from the Vajpayee Government. The UPA Government was solely guided by political and often unethical considerations, rather than economic principles.With an eye on sticking to power at any cost, the UPA Government has jettisoned economic reforms to placate the Left Front, the party alleged.The pension reforms, which would have ensured higher returns for the organised sector and brought the benefit of pension to the door-step of the unorganised sector, were cited as an instance.After coming to power, the UPA Government was so concerned about these reforms that it actually brought an ordinance to give effect to them. But under pressure from Left parties, it sat over the recommendations of the standing committee of Parliament for the next four years. It is now trying to do stealthily, what it could not do through legislation. Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the party should be careful about party hoppers and that "patronage and quota system" should not have a role in distribution of tickets.Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal today rubbished speculation of closeness with Shiv Sena, saying "there is no possibility of a thaw in relations between him and the party".


Gujarat CM Narendra Modi welcomes LK Advani at BJP's National Council in Nagpur. ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos be a Citizen Journalist! FDI TOILET MEDIA represnts and INVOKES EMPOEWERMENT of the ENSLAVED Indians to be KILLED in SHINING FREEsenSEX India!

PNB workforce to get slimmer
To reach 28,000 by 2015

NEW DELHI: Gearing to compete with foreign and private sector rivals, country's second largest state-owned lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) is expected to get slimmer by up to 30,000 staff in the next six years from the current 58,000 strong employee ba se.

“My long term goal is that the bank must be run by 30,000 people by 2015,” Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Mr K C Chakrabarty said.

“We don't have any exit policy. We don't want anybody to leave with an exit package. These people (about 28,000) would retire in natural course,” he said.

Recently, the bank implemented 100 per cent core banking solution (CBS) across its 4,604 branches and 249 extension counters which enables the bank to launch new and innovative financial products ensuring sufficient lead time to market it.

The implementation of CBS would help the bank in increasing operational efficiency as well as productivity per employee, he said. The workforce reduction, however, will go side-by-side with the induction of personnel with specialised skill to improve op erational efficiency.

“We are recruiting about 2,000 people in the current fiscal... I need specific type of skills. I require people for the credit, treasury, corporate communication and marketing,” he said. - PTI


Meanwhile,CPI(M), which led the Left Front's withdrawal of support to the UPA Government on Indo-US nuclear deal, has not ruled out supporting a secular government in which Congress may be a part but not leading it.

"I can't rule it out, but it seems unlikely," party General Secretary Prakash Karat told Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme when he was repeatedly asked about the possibility of Left support to a government in which Congress has a participatory role but was not leading it.

"I can't say that now what's going to happen. It depends on the situation. I am not very clear about what is going to happen (after Lok Sabha polls)," he said, but was clear that BJP would not make it to the Centre.

The Left parties were working towards a non-Congress, non-BJP formation. "That is our first priority. At no cost will we support a Congress-led government. We will work for a secular government, but what shape it takes I can't say till after the elections," he said.

Asked again if the Congress leads a government in case of a hung Parliament, he said "then we will sit in the opposition".

Asked whether the Left would support a Congress government which is not led by Manmohan Singh, he said "we have never had problems working with any leader, a Minister or the Prime Minister". It was purely a question of policies they pursued.

Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, accused of masterminding the Mumbai massacre, is as dangerous a threat to Britain and the United States as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida, according to a former top-ranking CIA officer.! see the RITUAL to JUSTIFY WAR against Terror!The International Monetary Fund is considering how it could provide support to emerging market countries which could be hit by contagion due to rocky global markets despite the fact they have sound policies. Now see the GETURE ILLUMINITI to CONTROL the GLOBAL ECONOMY!Scientists are reluctant to link individual weather events to global warming, because natural variability will always throw up extreme events. ECOLOGY and ECONOMY intermingled to CURB THIRD WORLD! While the DEVELOPED WORLD bears no LIABILITY at all! The Developed world captures the NATURAL RESOURCES and RAPES the NATURE! The Governments led by Worldbank Gangsters worldwide do INDULGE themeselves in GANGRAPE! The PEOPLE associated with Nature has to be KILLED, it is SCIENTIPICALLY and STRATEGICALLY planned!Congress is weighing two versions of an economic stimulus package of tax cuts and spending programs that are aimed at pulling the US economy out of its downward spiral.Two rockets fired by Palestinian militants struck southern Israel on Sunday, Israel's military said, violating an informal truce even as Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers appeared to hurry closer to a long-term cease-fire deal two days ...



QUOTES: What they said at the Munich Security Conference
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - International defense experts, ministers and more than a dozen heads of state or government met for a three-day security conference in Munich, discussing foreign policy issues including Iran's nuclear program, the future of NATO and Russian-U.S. relations.

Following are some key quotes from the conference.

IRAN

ALI LARIJANI, SPEAKER OF IRAN'S PARLIAMENT:

"The old carrot and stick cliche must be discarded.

"The United States should accept that countries of the region are calling for a chess game not a boxing game."

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

"We will be willing to talk to Iran, and to offer a very clear choice: continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation; abandon the illicit nuclear program and your support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives."

RUSSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SERGEI IVANOV

"We welcome any steps aimed at political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program."

EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA.

Called Washington's offer a "very, very important change."

"The Iranians have to think very, very carefully about the meaning of that and contribute also with a positive response."

GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL

Referring to the U.S. offer: "We are ready to walk this path together. But we are also ready for tougher sanctions if there is no progress."
http://www.reuters.com/article/joeBiden/idUSTRE51713720090208
It is new kind of WAR against TERRORISM denying Popular Resistance and branding it TERRORISM. DISMISSING NATIONALTIES and IDENTITIES and DUBBING the INSURRECTIONS as TERROR NETWORK related. Biman Bose, the Left Front chairman does not hesitate the OPPOSITION to brand as TERRORIST defying the Rhetorics of Parliamentary Politics. On the other hand, Describing terrorism as the biggest challenge, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said it had entered the state in the guise of Gorkhaland, Greater Cooch Behar and Lalgarh tribal agitations.

"I told the (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) leaders in Darjeeling, 'if you want more powers we are ready to give it. If you want more money for development, we will give it and Delhi will give it.' But no, they want Gorkhaland. Not only Darjeeling, they also want to include Siliguri and Dooars," Bhattacharjee said.

The demand for inclusion of Dooars in the plains in neighbouring Jalpaiguri district in proposed Gorkhaland has created unrest among the tribals there, the Chief Minister told a Left Front rally here, adding that he had asked them to maintain peace.

Stating that there was also a demand for a separate state in Cooch Bihar district, Bhattacharjee said, "Will we accept it? The majority of people do not want the state to be divided further." Speaking about the tribal movement at Lalgarh in East Midnapore district, he claimed that Maoists were involved there.
Those opposing industrialisation in West Bengal were doing so to keep the state underdeveloped and they themselves had no policies or programme, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said today.

"The opposition in the state are putting obstructions in the path of industrialisation to keep the state backward. They are not allowing West Bengal to progress. They are doing so as they do not have any policy or programme," the nonagenarian former chief minister said in a message sent to a Left Front rally here to kick off its Lok Sabha election campaign.

Stating that he had learnt of the Centre's clearance of the proposed PCPIR at Nayachar, Basu said, "The opposition is now threatening to obstruct it. I now think they want to oppose implementation of anything that is good and beneficial for West Bengal."

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday called for establishing a leftist, third front government to rule the country opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Recalling that his party, along with three other leftist outfits, had provided outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after the 2004 elections, senior CPI-M leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: “Our only aim then was to prevent the communal BJP from returning to power. We knew if the BJP returned to power, religious fascism will rule the roost”.

“But the UPA government did not pay heed to our pleas not to sign the India-US civil nuclear deal. We told them we will be at the mercy of the US. But they did not listen to us,” said Bhattacharjee, CPI-M politburo member and West Bengal chief minister.

The four Left parties - CPI-M, Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) - withdrew their support to the UPA government mid-last year on the nuclear deal issue.

“We need a third alternative of leftist parties in (New) Delhi. We want neither the BJP nor the Congress. We need a government which will listen to us, follow an independent foreign policy and fight communal forces,” he said.

Bhattacharjee said forming such an alternative was not an easy task and it will take time. “You can’t have such an alternative in a short time. People will form such a government through struggle. We have to motivate the people towards that goal”.

India is slated to hold Lok Sabha polls in April-May this year.

Jyoti Basu is fine, says Left Front! jyoti basu who was DENIED by the same Left front to become the first Marxist Prime Minister of india. jyoti Basu who masterminded to stop Refugees SETTLING in ANDMAN and NICOBAR and MARICHJHANPI GENOCIDE! The KESHPUR and NANOR Genocides were also EXECUTED by Basu, the KAYASTHA MARXIST ICON. In Bengal, the KAYASTHAs are treated as BRAHMIN not as SHUDRA as the rest of the country considers. The CHIPAWAN Brahmins based in PUNE calim thta the SEN Dynasty, first and last RAJPOOT insertion of KSHATRIYA BLOOD in Untouchable bengal just converted the KAYASTHS as BRAHMINs as BENGAL was never inhibited by Brahmins or Rajpoot. Hence, the Ruling BRAHMINS of India never considers PRANAB as their leader and he may never become the PRIME MINISTER of India as the SOUTH INDIAN Lobby of BRAHMIN MARXISTS preempted the BASU campaign to hold the STATE POWER for the KAYSTHAS which was not tolerated by the BRAHAMINICAL MARXIST HEGEMONY and it was described as HISTORICAL BLUNDER! The SAME BASU Magic of LAND REFORMS, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, ANTI CAPITALISIM MARXISm, TEBHAGA and FOOD MOVEMENT and Panchayati raj and decentralisation of power, is used by the MARXIST BRAHAMINICAL HEGEMONY to mobilise its SPLINTERED VOTE BANK on the face of Popular resistance and INSURRECTIONs Non Marxist!

President Barack Obama pounded Republicans Saturday for policies that fueled the U.S. economic crisis, while welcoming a Senate deal on his stimulus bill that ideologically split lawmakers hope to finish by mid-month.

Obama said quick action on the package was imperative to avoid catastrophe and praised the group of moderate senators from both political parties for coming up with a compromise.

Senate Democrats agreed late Friday to trim spending proposals and support tax cuts in a roughly $800 billion bill. They rolled back an earlier $937 billion proposal by culling what critics, mostly Republicans, called billions of dollars in unwarranted spending.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, predicted there would be a finished product by February 16. A Senate vote is scheduled for Tuesday, one day after Obama gives his first full news conference as president.

"Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

"In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November's election was all about."

LITTLE PATIENCE

Senators continued to spar over the price tag as they debated the package in a rare Saturday session.

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said it would cost some $40 billion a year just to service the additional debt that resulted from the spending portions of the bill.

"How big is $40 billion? That's the annual road budget, the annual highway budget for the United States of America. That's a lot of money," Sessions said.

Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, retorted that Republicans did not complain about debt from the Iraq war started by Obama's Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter predicted the bill would pass the Senate vote with his support and that of at least two other Republicans -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine.

"If the federal government does not act, there will be very, very severe effects not only on Wall Street but on Main Street," he told a news conference in Philadelphia. "I believe that it (the bill) provides the essentials to do the job."

The new chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, promoted tax cuts and accused Democrats of seeking to spend too much with the stimulus package.

"Democrats have controlled both branches of government for less than a month, and you have to wonder if all that power has gone to their heads," Steele said in the Republican radio address, adding that families would be helped the most by keeping more money in their pockets.


Basu hits out at ‘gun wielding’ Opposition

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Feb. 7: A day before kickstarting its election campaign from a rally at Brigade Parade ground tomorrow, the top CPI-M leadership, apprehending an electoral battle at the forthcoming parliamentary elections, fired broadsides at the Opposition today.

Not fit enough to attend tomorrow's rally, it was Mr Jyoti Basu who first took a potshot at the Opposition. Speaking from his residence at Indira Bhawan, Mr Basu said that having failed to do anything, the Opposition seems to have taken up the gun. "They think they will agitate with a gun in hand," he added without naming any political parties comprising the Opposition.

"They (the Opposition) do not want development of the state, thereby underscoring the plank of development which the Left Front government considers to be its mainstay. Unable to dent our support base, the Opposition has taken up the gun," he observed zeroing in on the the charge of unleashing violence against the Opposition. "The Opposition is forming alliances, but I have no idea with whom they are allying," the former chief minister said. In an interview to a private telivision channel, Mr Basu said that he really wished he could attend the rally, but his ill health would keep him away.

But inspite of such adversities, the veteran leader, whom the present leadership consults in the event of any crisis, seems to have chalked out a campaign plan. In his message to party activists, he said: "Go to the people irrespective of their political beliefs". "Those who want, will vote for us, but everyone must be aware of our efforts to develop the state," he added.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=243291

West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Sunday blamed “vested interests” for rumours that Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu was seriously ill and said he was “fine”.
“Basu is fine. He has some problems in his legs and back which is why he could not attend the gathering today (at the Brigade Parade ground),” Left Front chairman Biman Bose told the rally.

“Yesterday (Saturday) I met Basu at his residence… His doctor advised Basu not to visit any place where there may be dust. He is not with us for health reason,” he said.

Bose read out a statement from Jyoti Basu urging the people to vote for the ruling front in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Media offices Sunday received many telephone calls from people anxious to know if Basu was seriously ill.

Basu was West Bengal’s chief minister from June 21, 1977 to Nov 6, 2000. He stepped down due to poor health and was succeeded by Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee.

KOLKATA stranded with BRIGADE RALLY in the SLOWED SLUMPED IDLE METRO AMERICANISED by MARXIST CAPITALISM today! Since last day, RUMOUR floated all over BENGAL about the DEMISE of a MARXIST ICON. Excellent ploy to mobilise the MASSEs to flex the ELECTRAL GESTAPO Muscles in the background of Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh and GORKHALAND. Rhetorically a CLASSIC case of intermingling GESTURE and RITUAL, perpaps the decisive FINAL TOUCH to the borderline amidst the STAND OFF between RULING BRAHAMINICAL MARXIST HEGEMONY led by BRAND BUDDHA, the DOWs. and the BRAHAMINICAL Intelligentsia RESISTANCE led by the FIRE of SHAKTIBHOOMI SHAKTI PEETH KALIGHAT! Meadia kept on SCREAMING and SCROLLING all the day round: Left Front begins poll campaign with attack on Trinamool!


The three big parties –Kadima, Likud and Labour- competing for the prize of leading a new government in Israel have much in common when it comes to peace with the Palestinians.it is the SAME RITUAL of INDIAN PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS where all Political parties and Ideologies stand with the same GESTURE as far as the LIBERATION of the ENSLAVED masses is concerned!Left Front Sunday launched its Lok Sabha poll campaign with a huge gathering that saw its leaders attack principal opposition Trinamool Congress for stalling development activities and allegedly being hand in glove with the Maoists.Setting the tone of the front’s campaign for the polls, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and front chairman Biman Bose decried the demand for including three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in Jharkhand and charged the Trinamool with joining hands with the separatist forces as part of a “conspiracy” to divide the state.

“The Maoists are masquerading as Trinamool activists in Lalgarh (of West Midnapore district),” said Bhattacharjee at the Brigade Parade Ground rally.

ONLY TODAY daily telegraph REPORTED exclusive STORIES ON Nanoor!



Blood soaks Nanoor again
CPM-Trinamul turf fight kills six ahead of polls
A CPM attempt at a Nandigram-style recapture of a Trinamul Congress-dominated village was beaten back this morning with the violence killing six people in Nanoor, a Birbhum block with a blood-soaked past. ... | Read..

Two die in Dooars clashes
Two men were killed in the Dooars today as Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters clashed with Adivasis and other anti-Gorkhaland protesters across the region and Siliguri ... | Read..

H-1B stays, in ‘good faith’
The only socialist in the US Senate who joined hands on Thursday with a Republican conservative to completely ban the entry of H-1B guest workers had to climb down yester ... | Read..

Quiet behind the posters
The nationalism of nations other than one's own can sometimes come as a shock. On a visit to India l... | Read..

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090208/jsp/frontpage/index.jsp

“Those trying to incite tribals in Lalgarh are expressing solidarity with the Gorkhaland movement in Darjeeling. And the Darjeeling troublemakers are sympathising with the cause of the Lalgarh agitators. And Trinamool is rooting for both these forces,” said Bhattacharjee, dripping sarcasm.

“The Trinamool has joined hands with the Maoists in Lalgarh,” said Bose, also the state secretary of the front’s major constituent, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

“They are trying to divide people on communal and ethnic lines. We have to be alert about the unholy forces. We should launch a movement against these conspiracies,” he said.

Training his guns on Trinamool for opposing developmental and industrialisation efforts in the state, Bhattacharjee asked: “Why are they opposing all development activities?”

He ridiculed the Trinamool for raising the “bogey of environment pollution” to thwart the move to set up the chemical hub at the Nayachar Island near Haldia in East Midnapore district.

“It is a project both of the central and state governments. Are those at the centre who have given the go-ahead for the project totally ignorant? Are we fools? Are all those technical experts who want this project ignorant?” said Bhattacharjee, a member of the CPI-M’s politburo.

“Actually, they want to stop the state’s progress,” he said.

Stressing the need for keeping intact the unity of the front, Bhattacharjee pointed out the alliance had suffered in the rural body polls in June last year due to disunity in its ranks.

“We were not together during the panchayat polls. So we did not do well,” he said.

The chief minister said the front might have made some mistakes during its uninterrupted reign of 32 years, but the state has moved ahead on spheres like agriculture during the alliance’s rule.

The Left Front has been in power since 1977.

What a GESTURE of peace in Indian Ocean Zone by Nuclear super power of Modern manusmriti as against the backdrop of much-debated option of surgical strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan post-Mumbai terror attack, Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor has said that such strikes are ‘very much feasible’ militarily. On the other hand, the External Affairs Minister said terrorism had no religion, no borders and no respect for any nation! Meanwhile, Seeking resumption of dialogue with India, Pakistan on Saturday said the two countries will have to live as ‘good neighbours’ despite the ‘hiccup’ caused in bilateral ties by the Mumbai terrorist strikes. It also asserted that it wants its probe into the attacks to be ‘transparent’ and ‘open to examination’ because the government is ‘serious’ in prosecuting those responsible!According to a report in Geo TV, Pakistan’s reply on the Mumbai terror attacks probe is ready and the government has reportedly agreed to file cases against five accused.BJP on Sunday strongly advocated snapping of all ties with Pakistan and recall of the Indian envoy from there, accusing Islamabad of failure to initiate action against perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage and also to hand over wanted terrorists.The condition of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is undergoing treatment for chest infection at AIIMS, is stable and he is making progress, doctors attending him said on Sunday.Accusing the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party of not supporting the government in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said those who want to divide society cannot fight TERRORISM!



Australia is suffering the deadliest fires in its history, with smoke from the fires being seen as far away as New Zealand. Australians around the world are expressing their concern for their friends and families living in southern Australia.It RESEMBLES Indian GEOPOLITICAL CULTURAL Conversion and DEFORESTATION! ARSON is the POPULAR Ritual of Real Politics and APPLIED ECONOMICS!


Fatwa issued against BSP's 'Jai Bhim' slogan! What a POLITICAL EQUATION with which we have to go to POLLs imminent to continue the PARLIAMENTARY REALTY REALITY SOAP OPERA infinite for the SUSTENANCE of ENSLAVEMENT,Inequality and injustice under MANUSMRITI LAW also followed by the transitional MUSLIMS loyal to the BRAHAMINICAL Hegemony!

What a RITUAL!

A leading Islamic seminary has issued a decree declaring the BSP slogan of 'Jai Bhim' as un-Islamic and violative of Shariat. In the fatwa, the Dar-ul Uloom said that the slogan, invoking Dalit leader Bhimrao Ambedkar, was "against the Islamic law as the religion does not permit such a prayer for anyone except Allah". The fatwa was issued by chief Mufti Habibur Rehman, Mufti Mehmood and Mufti Zeulislam on Saturday on a query raised by a medico M Mehraj Khan, seminary sources said. While the decree has sparked concern in the BSP, especially among its Muslim leaders, a cleric from the seminary Asad Madani who recently joined the party said that the slogan was not a "compulsion" for the party workers. Backing the fatwa, Madani said it was based on Shariat law.

And the PROMISED RAMA MANDIR on the line of the PROMISED land of ISRAEL and the PROMISED Temple of SOLOMON in the Kingdom of HEAVEN! The CAMPAIGN HINDUTVA launched in Nagpur convention of RSS face fascist BJP and CONTRADICTED violently by no one else but the ITALIAN Remote control of the GOI run by World Bank gangsters and anti national IMPOSTERs guided by ILLUMINITI Global and DESI in making professing SHINING India for the FUCKING RULING CLASS with Foreign capital Inflow capped with CONDOM!

A real ASHWAMEDHA YAJNA VEDIC is launched against ABORINAL INDIGENOUS and Minority Communities in ASIA for MASS DESTRUCTION. Let us visit NANOOR, the GENOCIDE Field situated in the SHAKTI PEETH populated BIRBHUM, the home district of the KAYASTHA BRAHMIN of indigenous BENGAL Converted to HINDUTVA! LORD RAMA is ready with his CELESTIAL BOW and ARROWs NUCLEAR for the final KILL! The board of Satyam Computer Services would soon define the process for inviting proposals from prospective buyers, its newly appointed chairman Kiran Karnik has said.

'Derogatory' term 'barber' to be dropped from Shahrukh's flick


New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) After courting controversy days ahead of its release, Shahrukh Khan's latest film 'Billu Barber' will see the term 'barber' dropped from its hoardings and posters across the country following objections from an association of hairdressers, terming it "derogatory".
The actor-producer, who spoke to representatives of the Salon and Beauty Parlors Association over the issue, today said his production house Red Chillies Entertainment will ensure that the term 'barber' is removed from all hoardings.

"We will put a piece of paper on the word barber wherever it can be done in India. We will send teams," Khan said.

"Posters and hoardings belong to the production, which is Red Chillies. It is a little expensive to try to change the posters, so, that we couldn't have done," he told CNN IBN.

The association had earlier objected to the title of the film, terming the use of the word 'barber' "objectionable and derogatory".

The association President Uday Takke had reportedly threatened to take to streets if the film, that is set to hit theatres next Friday, was released with some objectionable content.

Khan, who has a cameo in the Irrfan Khan-starrer, said though his company stood by the fact that there is nothing wrong with the use of the word 'barber', they did not want to offend anybody. PTI

Sonia accuses BJP of divisive politics! With ZERO TOLERANCE LPG AGENDA ZIONIST what damned POLITICS is practiced by CONGRESS, Madam?

Virtually kickstarting the Congress campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, party president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday the BJP accusing it of indulging in polarisation and divisive politics.

"Grave damage has been done to our secular polity, society and economy by the BJP-led NDA. Theirs is a voice of polarisation, of division, of hatred. Ours is a voice of social justice, communal harmony and inclusiveness," she said.

Gandhi, who was addressing a meeting of her party's district and block level office-bearers, said BJP-NDA spoke for the "privileged few" while the Congress was the "voice of the multitude and the aam aadmi".

THE AAM AADMI suffering from Intense FOOD INSECURITY and STARVATION, living under POVERTY LINE and deprived of PURCHASING Power in GLOBAL MARKET, CHOSEN for SACRIFICE are CONVINCED more than ENOUGH just because of Political GESTURE and RITUALs. It is the same TACTICE as SONIA MADAM Visists EX PRIMEMINISTER BJP DON ATAL BIHARI Vajpayee!

Let us BEAR and LIVE with SLUMs and SLUMDOGS and chant JAI HO, composed by Super MUSICIAN AR REHMAN and wait for the alluding OSCAR!Certainly, the OSCAR would LIBERATE us as the POLITICAL Parties with all the KILL liberates us in ANNIHILATION and MASS DESTRUCTION!More than 10000 Sri Lankan civilians have fled in the past few days from rebel-held territory in the north, the government says. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse called on the Tamil Tigers to let thousands more civilians leave and then ...We are not concerned at all!

US President Barack Obama's envoy to Afghanistan has said that winning the conflict there will be "much tougher" than in Iraq.We are the STRATEGIC partner of UNITED STATES of asmerica in the CLASH of CIVILISATION, WAR against Terrorism! So what if AFGHANISTAN touches our BORDER and we find ourselves in WAR and civil War! It happnes to be the best ORGISM! Ultimate knowledge is based in TANTRA SADHANA, KUNDALINI is awakened in SEX CELESTIAL. We are Habitual to SAMBHOG SE SAMADHI TAK! this is the bloody Indian Philosophy of RELIGION in which we happne to be so involved! We always WAR GODs and GODDESSES for our SALVATION! MASSES have been always DEMONISED in India!


Shilpa to shoot new video to promote Rajasthan Royals!Let us enjoy as we enjoyed the TAG of WAR between two BOLLYWOOD EX QUEENs JUHI and PREETI on MORTAZA during IPL drama? No body asks the logic of SLOW DOWN. The National Revenue has to be pumped into the KILLER MONEY Machine by RBI and FINMIN bypassing parliament and KIlling Constitution! But no body draes to ask the simple question agiant the GESTURE and RITUAL of Indian CRICKET REALITY SHOW! We are starving to grip NUMBER ONE slot in ELITE Game of CRICKET ! But we never ask where from the MONEY comes for IPL AUCTION! The RECESSION DRANMA is enacted to divert national Production as well as INCOME directly into the pockets of India Incs and MNCs framing ILLUMINITI DESI! We see HOLY SCRIPTS in SATYAM ASATYAM CORPORATE Brands and fashion show on RAMP with white SKIN and GENITIAL exposure to satisfy SE X STARVATION in the SUB CONTINENT and believe in VEDIC exclaimations of SEBI, ASSOCHAM and FICCI and CII... and so on!

Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor is not vying for the crown of Bollywood queen despite her hit performances and high profile brand endorsements because she feels that kings and queens only exist in a pack of playing cards!Kareena Kapoor, youth icon of the year, woman achiever of the year, youngest achiever of film industry, recipient of awards left, right and centre - not to mention from the Rotary and FICCI, has received an ultimatum from Papa Randhir Kapoor.

Just TUNE on and TRY ONLINE!

The economic resolution at the BJP national council stated that the global credit bubble and the irresponsible fiscal spending by the UPA Government predictably led to high inflation in 2008, which led to the RBI applying the monetary brakes.

Industrial production, credit expansion and infrastructure spending then immediately started to decline, as interest rates spiked. Thus, when the global economy began to collapse in 2008, the Indian economy was slowing down dramatically.

The BJP outlined the economic agenda for governance with thrust on an equitable growth model, with high priority on agriculture, rural infrastructure and rapid employment generation. However, it asserted that bringing the Indian economy back to its sustainable growth rate of 8-9 percent will now be doubly hard because it will require reversing and remedying the UPA’s failed policies, while simultaneously dealing with the global economic meltdown, the economic resolution noted.

In an indictment of the UPA Government, the economic resolution stated, “Once every few generations is born a wayward son, who through his irresponsible and profligate ways, dissipates the hard earned assets of the family and ruins its future. The national council of the BJP feels that the UPA Government has behaved exactly like that wayward son during the last five years and nearly ruined a perfectly healthy economy.’’

On 30th January, I was in Mumbai! This time I could not adjust my prescheduled TIME to visit the popular sites in Mumbai. But I visited RAJGRIHA, the HOME of DR BR AMBEDKAR, rhetorically closed for the audience. All avenues leading to the legacy of BABASAHIB , BENGAL, MAHARASHTRA and PUNJAB Subaltern movement for Indigenous LIBERATION are CLOSED ritually by no one else but the BASTARDISED DALIT REAL POLITICS of POWER without any EMPOWERMENT. The best EMPOWERMENT should be the AMBEDKARITE IDEOLOGY! And the Centre as well as the MAHARASHTRA Government share the COPYRIGHT and avoid to circulate the hard TEXT as the books like `ANNIHILATION of CASTE’, SMALL HOLDING’, PROBLEM of RUPEE’ happen to be out of PRINT! Maharashtra Government does not publish AMBEDKAR VOLUMES in demand these days! What a RITUAL for MIND CONTROL Game!

Films were rolled up for 'Total Ten', a Bollywood movie delving in the psyche of terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.Film produced under the banner of Ram Gopal Production, is homage to National Security Guard personnel and policemen, who laid their lives for country.

What a MIND CONTROL TECHNOLOGY to justify the UN PARLIAMENTARY UNCONSTITUTIONAL INDO US Nuclear deal as well as STRATEGIC realliance in US ZIONIST lead shifting the WAR ZONE right into our HEART in Indian Ocean Peace Zone!


I visited Chaitya Bhomi where AMBEDKAR is made a BODHISATVA like HINDU DUS AVTAR! What a RITUAL followed for HINDUISATION of AMBEDKARITE Ideology!

kanaida`s Young son KAUSHIK escorted me out of BALA HOME. I tried to walk on. I asked to meet Mr Prakash Ambedkar who is based in New Delhi, I was told. DALITIOLOGY is centred in New Delhi and it Never touches either the HEART or MIND of the masses enslaved. Power BROKERS have CAPTURED the DREAMs of our ancestors! It is also a good GESTURE from the SLAVES towards the RULING MASTERS engaged in COUPLATION InFINITE with ANGLO SAXON ZIONISM and US CORPORATE Imperialism!

I had to manage some time for HOME WORK as I had to address so many groups! I got the lunch which was ready by SHIVANI BHAVI and slept for a while. While I sat on the table with Hard TEXT and Note Book after the short nap, I discovered my VOICE broken! I was still on the table with the EVENING TEA, the HOME was full of guests whom I had to address. The interactions continued late in the night and I had no dreams but the vision of Rajgriha and Chaityabhoomi depicting staus quo eternal! What a contrast between ILLUSION and REALITY!POST AMBEDKARITE POLITICS in India is transformed into an ILLUSION Supreme thanks to subaltern leadership , I would not like to name at all!

Only the next day, while I was returning from NALA SAPARA after a day long Interactions in which I had to speak for almost FIVE hours with broken voice fed by HOT Water at Major SIDDHATRH BURVE`s home and as I stepped out of BADALA station on harbour line to settle in bala`s home adjacent to the FIVE GARDENs, I was SURROUNDED by our MARATHAWADA people mobilised to join a SHIV SENA RSS RALLY demanding RESERVATION! See, no one is able to look beyond RESERVATION which has been made IRRELEVANT by LPG Mafia and PRIVATISATION called DISINVESTMENT. I was a little amused to think that all GOVT RECRUITMENTS have stopped and all PSU UNITs including RAILWAY, POST OFFICE, SBI, SAIL, Coal India, ONGC, LIC are prescheduled to be systematically DISINVESTED. The MARXISTS and the TRADE UNIONS finalised the DISINVESTMENT STRATGY as well as POLICY while in public they CRIED against AMERICANISATION, HIRE FIRE, VRS, Disinvestment and PRIVATISATION most violently. What a gesture! What a RITUAL! Trade union movemnts in india focused on the agenda of ECONOMISM only killing WORK CULTURE and EFFICIENCY creating the LOGIC of PRIVATISATION. Kisan sabha and other OPEN MASS ORGS have been used to MOBILISE VOTE bank favouring the specific DEMOGRAPHI readjustment. The Mraxist innovated the CITIZENSHIP ACT with PRANAB and LALKRISHNA but posed in OPPOSITION! What a GESTURE!
Our People are so FOOL and INNOCENT as they may be easily mobilised for any POLITICAL ECONOMIC agenda by Any One.

RSS is concerned with Indigenous aboriginal LIBERATION, what an IDEA, SIR!

Only yesterday, the RULING MARXISTS arranged a REALITY show of FOLK Festival named GANGA BARAK JAMUNA BRAHMAPUTRA MAITRI MATRIBHASHA UTSAV hosted by SUBHASH CHAKRABARTI, the controversial minister in BUDDHA kayastha Brahmin Cabinet! The UTSAV centred around our MARXIST friend ANIL SARKAR, the DALIT MINISTER from TRIPURA and the Indigenous aboriginal Masses swarmed on the VENUE!

On 29th January itself, before I could interact with the MUMBAI PRESS CLUB Audience, the METRO, CAPITAL of ILLUMINITI in making , the INDIA INCs led by TAT, AMBANI, MITTAL, ZINDAL, MALYA and so on, WITNESSED the greatest SANT SAMAAGAM attneded by SHANKARACHARYAs and RAM JANMA BHOOMI leaders claiming to END the JIHAD. The SAMAGAM demanded to KILL the SECULAR CONSTITUTION and to MAKE INDIA NUCLEAR HINDU SUPERPOWER! Our people swarmed to be BLESSED by the HOLY SAINTs!

The SANT SAMAGAM PRECEDED by MULTI LINGUAL BRAHMIN CONVRENTION in the POWER BASE of CHITPAWAN BRAHAMINICAL HEGEMONY in PUNE which was attended by SECULAR CONGRESS CM completing HATRIC, Mrs SHEELA DEXIT and BABA RAMDEV, the YOGA GURU, whom our PEOPLE FOLLOW mostly.

BRAHMIN CONVENTION and SANTY SAMAGAM was followed by MARATHWADA RESERVATION RALLY! What a GESTURE! What a RITUAL! Everything replicates the ANGLO SAXON ZIONIST CULTURE adopted by RSS as well as MARXISTS the most EFFICIENT EXPERTS with GESTAPO POWER in MASS DESTRUCTION, LYNCHING , GENOCIDE and ETHNIC CLEANSING!


In Maharashtra, the Democratic Front (DF) government is ready to positively consider according reservation to the ruling class Marathas in Maharashtra. Buckling under pressure from the ruling Congress and NCP leaders, the government is prepared to display its political will by passing a resolution in support of Maratha reservation. The big question before them is: how to accommodate the Marathas in the present quota regime?



The reservation voice is gaining momentum as Maratha cabinet ministers in NCP and Congress are supporting it with an eye on the coming elections. As a result, other parties are worriedAt present, the total reservation quota in the state is 52 per cent. As per the Supreme Court ruling, the government cannot extend the reservation quota beyond 50 per cent. On the other hand, efforts to accommodate Marathas within the OBC category has invited protest from the community across the state.

The deputy chief minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, "The government
cannot disturb the OBC quota at any cost. If they want to give reservation to economically backward among the Marathas they should havea separate quota. We will fight tooth and nail if the existing quota is disturbed."

The lobbying for Maratha reservation is getting intense with leaders taking the agitation
to the streets. The NCP leader Vinayak Mete has organised a rally at Shivaji Park on Sunday to warn the government of serious consequences if their demand for reservation is not met immediately.

Mete said, "We will not relent from our agitation till our demands are met." The
reservation voice is getting louder as Maratha cabinet ministers in the NCP and Congress are supporting it to consolidate their vote bank. The Maratha community constitutes 30 per cent of the total vote bank in the state.

Alarmed by the pro-Maratha movement gathering momentum, Bhujbal held a meeting of all backward class leaders across the party lines to build a pressure group. The BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde, cabinet minister (Congress) Chandrakant Handore, minister of state Pritam Shegaonkar, Jayant Patil (PWP) along with other leaders debated the issue.

According to political observers, reservation is politically driven and not as much about socio-economics. The president of Dalit Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Milind Kamble said, "There are 3,000 Maratha families ruling the state politically and economically. If there is backwardness in the community, it reflects the failure of the Maratha leadership in state." Statistics show that Marathas always had an upper hand in political decision making. Despite 30 per cent voters, their representation in politics is 55-60 per cent.

Munde said, "If the economically backward among the Matrathas reservation is restricted to education and jobs, we have no problems."

A senior cabinet minister (NCP) said, "Maratha reservation is an emotive issue. If we stoke the passion, it will help us to negate the anti-incumbency factor against government in coming election."


"Surgical strikes are definitely feasible but whether you wish to take that decision or not not is a separate issue," he said when asked by PTI whether such strikes were feasible.

"Definitely yes. Whether you would like to look at doing it (carrying out such strikes) by air or artillery or by another means or physically there," he said in reply to questions.

Global Vipassana Pagoda inaugurated in Mumbai
PTISunday, February 8, 2009 15:55 IST Email

Mumbai: Mumbai's newest landmark, the majestic 325-feet tall Global Vipassana Pagoda, the tallest pillar-less dome in the world, was dedicated as a "world monument of peace and harmony" by President Pratibha Patil on Sunday.

The structure looms majestically over the GVF complex, spread over 13 acres of lush greenery, near picturesque Gorai in northwest Mumbai, barely a kilometre from the Arabian Sea. Pagodas are multi-tiered structures common in China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and other countries where Buddhism is followed.

The structure measures 280 feet in diameter and 90 feet in height, and is flanked by two 60-ft tall pagodas.

Among the personalities present at the event were Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir, Ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, state Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra, several ministers, foreign dignitaries, members of the diplomatics corps in Mumbai, representatives of all religions, Global Vipassana Foundation (GVF) founder S.N. Goenka and GVF chairman Subhash Chandra.

"The people of Myanmar donated the marble used for the flooring and the umbrella placed atop the pagoda. The people of Thailand donated the golden paint typically used in pagodas, which is not available in India. In addition, a student's family donated the land while other past students of Vipassana contributed around Rs.800 million to construct the entire structure," said Chandra.

Vipassana is an ancient Indian meditation technique. According to GVF trustee Vallabh Bhanshali, it is a non-sectarian, rational process of mental purification through self-observation, practised in 140 countries, irrespective of caste, class, religion, race or sex.

Designed by Indian architect Chandubhai Sompura on the lines of the She Dagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, this pagoda is a hollow structure, having a dome of 280 feet diameter. Below it is a massive 6,000-sq pillar-less meditation hall which can accommodate 8,000 people at a time.

The dome is more than three times the size of the large masonry structure - the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka, which is 90 feet in diameter. The original bone relics of Gautam Buddha, donated by the Sri Lankan government and the Mahabodhi Society of India, have been enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome.

The pagoda is the outcome of efforts by nearly 700 labourers toiling daily for the past 11 years to make what is billed as the 8th wonder of the world.

Combining ancient building principles with modern techniques of construction, Sompura finally guided a structure using the 'interlocking principle of construction' for the huge stones - each weighing around 600-700 kg.

The entire structure has consumed over 2.5 million tonnes of Jodhpur stone, which were cut in quarries around Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and transported to Mumbai.

The pagoda, a dream project of 85-year-old Goenka, the moving spirit of VGF, has been constructed mainly with donations received from former students of Vipassana and devotees around the world.

It will be thrown open to the people and tourists Monday onwards, over 100,000 followers of Buddha are expected to visit it each year.
PTI




Meanwhile, Insisting that all options are open on dealing with terrorism emanating from Pakistan, government on Sunday said nobody should think that India is ‘helpless’ and asserted that the menace would be confronted with ‘courage and fortitude’. Speaking at a conclave of Congress district and block level office-bearers in New DELHI, External Affairs Minister, the Bengali KULIN ICON so called DE FACTO PRIME MINISTER and virtually the best agent of ZIONIST Global Oreder of HATRED, WAR and CIVIL WAR, Pranab Mukherjee cautioned against linking the problem of terrorism to any religion.In a veiled attack on the opposition parties which have accused the Congress-led government of soft-pedalling terrorism for minority appeasement, he said, "I must utter a word of caution, if not warning, for those elements which try to misrepresent this issue.... (who say) that this act concerns a particular religion." He asserted that terrorism would be fought with "courage and fortitude". Demanding that Pakistan should fulfill its international commitments to fight terror, Mukherjee said, "We are asking the country from where terrorists had come to fulfill all their commitments which they, as a state, are obliged to do, and not shirk the responsibility."

"Perpetrators of (Mumbai) terror attacks must be punished. Nobody should think that this country is helpless and cannot tackle the situation arising out of terrorism," Mukherjee said.

"I repeat all options are open," he added at the conclave which was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He said Pakistan was committed to the UN resolution of not allowing use of its land for terrorist activity.

"They (Pakistan) have to fulfill their commitment. Perpetrators of terror attacks must be brought to justice," he said. He warned Pakistan not to divert attention from the issue.


Public-sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), engaged in exploration activities along the Cauvery basin, has achieved an all-time high oil and gas production up to December in the current fiscal.

"In the first nine months of 2008-09, we exceeded the annual target in all spheres. Till December 31 2008, 2.028 lakh tonnes of oil was produced against the target of 2.01 lakh tonnes. Gas production stood at 939 million metric standard cubic metres (MMSCM) against the targetted 859 MMSCM.

"This was followed by an increase in sales of gas at 929 MMSCM, against the targetted 845 MMSCM," K K Anjaneyalu, Group General Manager of Cauvery Asset said.

No matter! ONGC has to be DISINVESTED so that AMBANIES may gain!

LIC aims Rs 3,00,000 cr biz by March 2012!

Undeterred by the contraction in the insurance industry in recent months, the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is targeting a business of over Rs 3,00,000 crore by 2011-12.
"Our premium growth over the period has been over 20 per cent each. This year we are targeting Rs 1,75,000 crore (total premium). At 20 per cent, means in three years time, it will increase to Rs 3,00,000 crore," LIC Chairman T S Vijayan told PTI.

"Anything more Rs 3,00,000 crore after three years would be bonus for us," he said.

With the 1,75,000 crore total premium by the end of current fiscal, the life insurance giant is looking at the market share of about 75 per cent.

Talking about new business target for the current fiscal, Vijayan said, the insurer expect to earn first year premium of Rs 57,000 crore even when the private sector insurers are uncertain about meeting the targets due to economic slowdown.

ONGC, LIC and SBI which held the FREEsenSEX Indian ECONOMY against MELTDOWN and Global RECESSION are on TOP PRIORITY list to DISINVESTED and PRIVATISED! SIXTH PAY Commission is simply a RITUAL for SACRIFICE!

How does the GOVERNMENT of India MAKE and Implement the ECONOMIC POLICIES as all the ECONOMISTS are either CHITPAWAN and KAYASHTH BRAHMIN or Chettiyar?

Just see!

A leading industry lobby, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Sunday said it favoured further cuts in interest rates to
stimulate demand and help arrest slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

"With inflation declining, conditions are favourable for further cut in interest rates to stimulate demand and help arrest further slowdown in the manufacturing sector", CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said, referring to the findings of a CII study.

According to the study, more than 78 percent of the industrial sectors are in low and negative growth category, with 32 manufacturing sub-sectors reporting negative growth between April and December last year, as compared to the similar period in 2007.

The sectors that saw growth declining the most included castings, synthetic fibre, textile machinery, commercial and utility vehicles, edible oil and compressors, it said.

However, a few sectors such as cement, tractors, electric fans, and auto manufacturing, including mopeds, scooters, cars, motorcycles and automotive tyres, recorded moderate growth.

Consumer durables registered more than 10 percent growth in production. On the export side, 11 out of 23 sectors reported negative growth, CII said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday will unveil the Obama administration's plans for using the remaining money in the $700 billion financial bailout program approved by Congress in October.

The Treasury said on Friday it has disbursed $295.02 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program but has made further pledges that would leave it with about $320 billion to tap.

Following is an outline of TARP funds spent or pledged so far:

-- $250 billion pledged for purchases of senior preferred shares and warrants in banks and thrifts under the Capital Purchase Program.

In the most recent report on TARP transactions through January 30, the Treasury said it has completed equity purchases totaling $195.33 billion in 359 institutions.

-- $20 billion pledged for Bank of America (BAC.N) as part of a package in which the government agreed to share in losses on $118 billion of assets. The $20 billion is in addition to $25 billion for the bank disbursed under the $250 billion Capital Purchase Program.
-- $20 billion investment in Citigroup (C.N) as part of a package in which the government agreed to share in losses on $301 billion of assets. In addition to the $20 billion investment, the Treasury agreed to cover up to $5 billion in losses on the portfolio with TARP funds.

-- $40 billion investment in troubled insurer American International Group (AIG.N).

-- $20.9 billion to prop up the U.S. auto industry. The amount is made up of $10.4 billion in loans to General Motors Corp (GM.N), including $1 billion for GM to help its financing affiliate GMAC reorganize as a bank holding company; a $4 billion loan for Chrysler LLC CBS.UL; a $5 billion direct investment in GMAC; and a $1.5 billion loan for Chrysler Financial. GM could also qualify for a further loan of $4 billion in March.

-- $20 billion pledged to cover potential losses for a Federal Reserve program aimed at improving consumer access to credit.

For details on money already disbursed and recipients, see www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/transactions.shtml.

WHERE does land INDIAN BAIOUT MONEY, we never try to know. OUR ENERGY eahausts in SMS Polls, Laughter Show and EROTIC EXTRAVAGENZA or Shoopping SPREE!

Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's troubleshooter for Pakistan and Afghanistan, will visit Islamabad on Monday before going to Kabul and New Delhi to devise a grand strategy to rid the region of Islamist militancy.

Inexperienced in South Asia, the veteran diplomat is arriving in an unfamiliar region at a time of flux.

Elections are due in India by early May, and in Afghanistan in August, while relations between Islamabad and New Delhi are fraught following an attack by Pakistani militants on the Indian city of Mumbai two months ago.

U.S. and NATO forces are struggling to quell a resurgent Taliban movement in Afghanistan, and the Afghan-Pakistan border is still regarded as the region where al Qaeda is most likely to hatch another September 11 plot.

Obama has upped the stakes with plans to almost double U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan to 60,000 within 18 months, but Vice President Joe Biden warned at a security summit in Munich on Saturday that "no strategy ... can succeed without Pakistan."

Pakistan knows it, and wants the U.S. military equipment it lacks to fight a spreading guerrilla war in its northwest, and money promised in a $15 billion package Biden had supported, and trade concessions for its ailing textile industry.

"Pakistan is pivotal," said Farahnaz Ispahani, a lawmaker from President Asif Ali Zardari's party and member of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee.

"Our security concerns are not just ours, they impact India and Afghanistan too."

The trouble for Pakistan is that both India and Afghanistan reckon the cause of regional stability would be well served if Pakistan was persuaded to purge its intelligence agencies of all links to Islamist militants.

In a recent interview with the Council on Foreign Relations Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution South Asia expert, the former CIA officer said getting Pakistan's support to shut down militant sanctuaries would possibly be "the single hardest foreign policy challenge President Obama faces."

PAKISTANI FEARS

Holbrooke will be in Islamabad until Thursday meeting President Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, among others.

Pakistan's civilian government is less than a year old and still fragile, its army is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the northwest, and the economy would have collapsed but for an International Monetary Fund bail-out in November.

Despite the internal threats, Pakistan's powerful army remains obsessed with India, and its generals fear New Delhi's friendship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government could lead to encirclement.

They believe Washington has paid scant attention to Pakistan's security concerns since becoming an ally in the war on terrorism more than seven years ago.

Just enjoy the DRAMA!

Barely 48 hours before the ruling Left Front in West Bengal unleashes its campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Manmohan
Singh government in Delhi has decided to send a high-power central team to the state on February 7 to assess the prevailing situation in the tribal districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura.The Front will launch its poll campaign at a huge rally at the Brigade Parade ground on Sunday.

While the central team will reach West Bengal on Saturday and head for Lalgarh and other pockets of West Midnapore district where a section of the tribal population is battling the state administration for over two months against police atrocities and underscoring the state government's failure to implement several schemes meant for their development.

The Centre's decision to send its team is being viewed critically by Left circles in the state who feel the main objective to send the team is to embarrass the state government. Though most Left leaders have refused to make any comments on the central team's visit, they are of the opinion that the UPA government is playing politics to land the Left Front in a tight spot before the coming parliamentary polls.

Bilateral relations of the CPIM and Congress leadership in Delhi had suffered a jolt after the CPIM top-brass had pulled the plug on the Manmohan Singh government. The Congress leadership in Delhi has not taken kindly to the CPIM's decision to withdraw support and inner circles within the Congress leadership strongly believe that the Marxists were determined to derail the UPA government.

The central team which will visit Lalgarh and other tribal areas include two senior officials from the Union government's rural development department, one senior official from the Planning Commission and one from the tribal development department.

However, the Congress leadership in Delhi has not reacted positively to Mamata Banerjee when she sought the PM's intervention into the happenings in Lalgarh a few months ago.

The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in West Bengal Manas Bhunia claimed on Thursday that they had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the Lalgarh development "in which we had clearly mentioned that the CPIM-led government in West Bengal has siphoned off the Central fund meant for the development of the tribal people . We also made it clear to the Prime Minister that the Left Front government did nothing for the tribal population during their 32 year regime."

"We had also requested the Prime Minister to send a high power team in the tribal pockets of West Bengal to assess economic and living conditions of these people and the Prime Minister has accepted our plea and sending the team on Saturday," Mr Bhunia told newspersons at his Assembly chamber on Thursday.

Even though Mr Bhunia is known as among a few Congress leaders who don't want any electoral patch-up with Trinamool Congress at the cost of Congress' liquidation, the CLP leader on Thursday came down heavily on the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as his police department had refused to offer any security to Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Lalgarh on Wednesday.

And how the INTENSE MUSLIM HATRED Campaign flares up in NATIONALITY ANTHEM of HINDUTVA!

Death to Afzal within 100 days if NDA voted to power, Advani claims!

The BJP assured that if the NDA is voted into power, it will recommend within 100 days to the President, the hanging of Parliament attack
convict Afzal Guru.

Party's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani, who gave the assurance, also questioned the government's handling of issue.

"Now the UPA regime is coming to an end, will the Prime Minister tell the nation why his government chose not to hang Afzal Guru despite clear verdict of Supreme Court, upholding death sentence?" Advani said in his concluding remarks at the end of three-day BJP national council meeting.

"Here is our warning to the merchants of death and their sponsors," Advani said, adding "We shall follow a zero tolerance and zero-compromise approach to dealing with terrorism."

Posing questions to Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi on internal security, Advani demanded a high-level judicial probe into the Mumbai attacks to unearth what went wrong and recommend ways of preventing such incidents and asked why it had not been done.

Firing a salvo against former union minister Shivraj Patil, Advani said he was removed for his "incompetence" but asked "At whose behest was he retained in that crucial post for four-and-half years?"

"All options are open", the UPA leaders often made this statement in the aftermath of 26/11 terror attacks, but the government has not used even used the mildest diplomatic options during last two months to send a strong message to Islamabad, Advani alleged.

He also criticised the "multiple voices" aired by UPA leaders on the Mumbai terror attacks.

Advani also came down on the UPA for its earlier opposition to stronger laws against terror.

"Maintaining for four-and-half years no special anti-terror law was needed and that the existing laws were adequate to deal with the menace, now the UPA government has brought in two anti-terror laws in the wake of Mumbai terror attack of 26/11. Even though Congress had stoutly opposed the enactment of POTA in year 2002, the BJP extended its whole hearted support to new law.

Will the Prime Minister show the honesty to admit to the nation that they erred on this issue? Also will Congress President Sonia Gandhi honestly accept that their opposition to POTA was wrong?" Advani asked.

On the issue of immigrants from Bangladesh, Advani questioned as to why the UPA government "deliberately and contemptuously showed disregard" to Supreme Court directive on enacting laws to curb infiltration.

The apex court described it as "external aggression", he said.

The saffron party's prime ministerial candidate said a future NDA government will certainly lose no time to implement the apex court's directive and thereby safeguard the unity and security of the country in the eastern region.

One family has ruined everything in India: Modi

: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a scathing attack on the Gandhi-Nehru family alleging that a "conspiracy" has been
Narendra Modi addressing a gathering on the last day of the 3-day BJP national level convention in Nagpur.

"Ek parivar ke ateet ko age badane ke liye jo shadayantra chal raha hai usse Hindustan ke bhavishya ko khatra hai (Conspiracy to promote one family's past is posing danger for the future of the country)," Modi said without directly naming the Gandhi-Nehru family but the indication was obvious.

Noting that members of the family have ruled the country for as many as 37 years, he said that if the past five years were also taken into account, then it would be a 42-year rule.

With Manmohan Singh being an "invisible" Prime Minister, it was "power without accountability" for the family in the last five years, he alleged.

Addressing the party's national council meeting, the BJP's star campaigner gave a new spin to the victory of Barack Obama in the US Presidential elections claiming that it was the result of the American citizens being fed up with the stranglehold of a few families in politics.

"It was senior Bush for two terms followed by two terms of Bill Clinton and then two terms of junior Bush and then there was the possibility of another Clinton. The people there felt if it will be only two families that will run the country", Modi contended.

Modi, who was participating in the discussion on the political resolution, said, in India "only one family has ruined everything".

Making a strong pitch for L K Advani as the next Prime Minister, he said that what the country was needing was a "strong" leader like the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate and "not like Manmohan Singh whose presence is not felt" despite he occupying the top post.

Parties back quota for Marathas
21 Aug 2008, 0352 hrs IST, Radheshyam Jadhav, TNN

PUNE: Taking a leaf from the Gujjar community, Marathas who constitute about 50 per cent of the state's population, are rallying to push for
reservation under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) tag.

While the movement demanding OBC status for the community gains momentum in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra, Maratha MLAs across party lines have joined hands to put pressure on party leaderships for support. However, Dalit leaders are not very happy with these developments.

With the recent inclusion of 15 castes in the OBC category, the total number of OBC has gone up to 364 in the state. Along with Maratha community another 135 communities are seeking the tag, 73 want the OBC status while others want to be recognised as schedule tribes (ST).

"In parts of Maharashtra, like Vidarbha, if Kunabi Marathas are reaping benefits of their OBC status, then why should the community in Western Maharashtra and Marathwada be?" asked Vikas Pasalkar, Pune district president of Jijau Brigde outfit of Maratha Seva Sangh.

In cities like Solapur and Osmanabad the agitation by Maratha organisations had turned violent as they burned State Transport buses recently. With increasing pressure from Maratha MLAs the Congress and the NCP leadership took a soft stand on the matter and are all set to support the demand and Shiv Sena is no exception.

Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe said that Sena will stand by all those communities which are deprived and need reservation.

The newly-appointed Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee executive president Jayant Awale said, "Every community has a right to demand reservation. There are many in the Maratha community who are economically backward. The party will announce its stand after discussing the matter."

"Maratha MLAs across the party line have decided to lobby for reservation and have discussed the matter with respective party leadership. The party which gives them reservation will reap benefits in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls," said a Congress MLA from Kolhapur requesting anonymity.

NCP state-unit president Arun Gujarathi is more vocal in his support of the OBC status for the community. "There are a large number of Marathas who need reservation," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Pune/Parties_back_quota_for_Marathas/articleshow/3387114.cms

Muslim bodies to launch mass movement for reservation
Press Trust Of India
Kolkata, January 19, 2009
First Published: 20:44 IST(19/1/2009)
Last Updated: 21:27 IST(19/1/2009)




Stepping up pressure on political parties ahead of the parliamentary elections on the issue of reservation for Muslims, a group of organisations from the community on Monday announced it would launch a mass movement from next month on the issue.

"We will hold a national convention on February 1 in Delhi on the issue of reservation for Muslims. It will be presided over by former chief justice of India A M Ahmadi and inaugurated by chancellor of Jamia Hamdard Syed Hamid," leader of the Committee and former MP Syed Sahabuddin said at a press conference in Kolkata.

He said after a resolution was adopted at the convention, the Committee would launch a "mass movement" to press for its demand for reservation in education and jobs for Muslims.According to Sahabuddin, the Congress, the Left parties, the LJP, BSP, Samajwadi Party, NCP, JD(S), DMK, AIDMK and the Trinamool Congress have extended support to the Committee on the reservation issue.

"In India, there are 50 Muslim majority constituencies. We are asking them to vote for those secular parties which will support the reservation issue," Sahabuddin said.

He said while states like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have introduced quotas for Muslims, the Centre had not yet taken any initiative in this respect.

Deshmukh keen to consolidate Maratha votes (demanding OBC status & reservation)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MUMBAI: It is not surprising that Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was all ears to Marathas, who last week demanded OBC status and reservation. For, he is seeking to consolidate the community votes in time for the Asembly elections.

Already, reservation in jobs and education is about 52 per cent in Maharashtra. The Maratha organisations are demanding a 25 per cent reservation. The community is a dominant force in politics, thanks to its cooperative sugar factories, educational institutions and business interests.

Mr. Deshmukh, Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil and several State Cabinet Ministers are all Marathas. Though the Marathas have progressed socially and economically, the entire community has not benefited.
Last month, about a dozen Maratha organisations came together to consolidate themselves and chose Vinayak Mete, two-time NCP member of the Legislative Council, to head their coalition. Both Mr. Mete, who heads the Shiv Sangram Sanghathana, and Purshottam Khedekar of the Maratha Seva Sangh are known for their fierce loyalty to the Maratha cause.
Mr. Khedekar led the opposition to James Laine’s book on Shivaji Maharaj and Sambhaji Brigade, an affiliate of his organisation, ransacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune in 2004 on the flimsy excuse that one of its researchers had helped Mr. Laine.

Mr. Mete too was in the news recently as his organisation attacked Loksatta editor Kumar Ketkar’s house to protest against an article written by him on Shivaji Maharaj.

Pointing out that Marathas account for 43 per cent of the poulation according to the last caste census in 1931, Mr. Mete, says that despite an impressive show of power and prestige, many in the community lag far behind economically.

‘SC/ST Act misused’
As for the Marathas’ demand for relaxation of the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Mr. Mete says that sometimes innocent people were arrested in atrocity cases. Often they were instigated by rivalry among upper castes in villages. The police must first investigate and see if the case is genuine, he says. “There is a gross misuse of the Act.”

Asked whether the demand was made specifically for Marathas, he said it was not to favour any community. However, many of the caste conflicts in the State do involve the Marathas.

Nearly 30-35 per cent of the State’s population is Maratha. In any case, the Kunbi caste is already getting the benefit of reservation as an Other Backward Class; so why not extend it to Marathas in the State, asks Mr. Mete.

Maratha was not really a caste in the beginning and has evolved so over the years. It has its origins in the Kunbi peasant community. The Marathas may have been large landowners once but now their holdings are shrinking. There is widespread unemployment; the bulk of those who work under employment guarantee schemes are Maratha and many migrate for work, Mr. Mete points out.

About 65- 70 per cent of the farmers in Maharashtra are small and marginal farmers or landless. The Kunbi-Maratha community accounts for the majority of farm suicides, he says.

With elections drawing to a close, the Congress and the NCP are trying to woo the Marathas. Earlier the Congress could bank on the community but since 1999 its vote has been divided between the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, and the NCP.

In this context, agreeing to the Maratha demand for reservation could be an easy way out for the Congress. The NCP, identified as a Maratha party, too is fully behind this, at least at the State level and it could benefit the most from the concession. The Congress-NCP has almost lost its base among Muslims and Dalits, thanks to the way this government has handled various issues, right from justice in the 1992-93 communal riots to the Khairlanji killings.

Shiv Sena stand
The Shiv Sena too has backed reservation for poor Marathas but cautioned against this polarising the OBCs. For a large chunk of this community, which is increasingly marginalised by special economic zones and other projects, apart from agrarian distress, reservation is a way of gaining back its prestige.

However, opposition to reservation for Marathas has already come from the Malis, a dominant OBC community.
http://antireservation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18

Manufacturing sector growth slips into negative zone: CII
Under the impact of downturn, a third of India's manufacturing sector slipped into negative zone during April-December 2008 over the same
period last year, according to a survey by industry chamber CII.

Of the 96 manufacturing segments covered under the CII-Ascon survey, 32 showed a negative growth.

The domestic manufacturing sector is the second largest employment generator after agriculture.

The worst hit segments include fertiliser, polymers, steel, pig iron, motor starters, castings, textile machinery, distribution transformer, HCV's, LCVs, rubber footwear and auto cycle tubes, the survey said.

"Manufacturing sector, reeling under the impact of global financial crisis has reported slowdown in production during the first three quarters of the fiscal," it said, adding that compared to last year, over 78 per cent of the sectors are in low and negative growth category.

It further said that sectors like cement, tractors, electric fans, vehicle industry including mopeds, scooters, cars, motorcycles, automotive tyres have recorded a moderate growth rate.

On the export side, the survey said 11 out of 23 sectors reported negative growth. "With exception of few sectors like cars and motor cycles did not clock good growth. Cement, castings, industrial valves, textile machinery and commercial vehicles have reported negative growth."

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said that with inflation declining, conditions are favourable for further cut in interest rates to stimulate demand and help arrest further slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

Indian economy likely to grow 6.5-7 pc this fiscal: Economists

Indian economy is likely to grow by around 6.5-7 per cent in the current fiscal, the advance data for which would be out on Monday,
against 9 per cent in the previous fiscal despite two rounds of stimulus packages announced by the Centre, economists said.

"Something close to seven per cent. It could be little less than seven per cent," former chairman of PM advisory panel C Rangarajan said when asked about his projections for economic growth in the current fiscal.

The Central Statistical Organisation would release advance data of economic growth for 2008-09 tomorrow.

Seven per cent or close to seven per cent in the current year means growth rate of about six per cent in the second half of this fiscal, Rangarajan, who was also the former RBI governor, said adding he expects the economy to grow at close to six per cent in the next fiscal as well.

Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said, "I expect growth rate to be between 6.5 and seven per cent in 2008-09."

The growth rate in the second half of the current fiscal was widely expected to be moderate, even as the government came out with two rounds of stimulus packages.

The economy grew by 7.8 per cent in the first half of this fiscal against 9.3 per cent a year ago. In whole of last fiscal, economy expanded at the rate of 9 per cent.

The government has come out with packages, which includes across-the-board four per cent cut in excise duty, increase in planned outlay by Rs 20,000 crore, facility for infrastructure refinance company IIFCL to raise Rs 10,000 crore of tax free bonds with another Rs 30,000 crore subsequently, relaxation in ECB norms etc.

Impact of economic meltdown less severe in India: ILO
The impact of the global economic meltdown would be less severe in India and other south Asian countries since they are less exposed to Financial crisis | Competitive economies | Ghosts of 1929
the US economy and the financial market, a top ILO official has said.

Director of ILO's Department of Economics and Labour market analysis, Duncan Campbell has also said that India should focus on imparting education to continue its growth in future.

"The effect of the economic downturn in India and south Asian countries would be less severe as they are less exposed to the US economy and the financial market," Campbell said.

The official said, "Progress could be halted if suitable education is not imparted now. In fact in India, only education can ensure equal distribution, access to economic opportunities and brisk growth path for everyone."

The ILO in its recent report on Global Employment Trend had predicted a global job loss to the tune of 1.5 million in 2009 as a direct impact of the global financial meltdown.

Lauding India's rural employment guarantee scheme, he said that the NREGA programme was helping in reducing poverty in the rural areas.

Stating that the level of social security in India is still "weak", the official said that more than 75 per cent of India's working population earns less than two dollars per day.

"The time for India is to look inwards. Though it has achieved considerable reduction in the level of acute poverty, the economic crisis can result in increase in levels of working poverty in India," he said.

Campbell was recently on a visit to India to form an inter-ministerial task force for promoting the concept of "green jobs" in the country.

"Recession is an opportunity for India to rethink the structure for future and the future for India is in green jobs. We are in consultation with ministries of Environment and Forest, Medium and Small Industries, Labour and Employment, Agriculture and others to arrive at certain common policy platforms on this," Campbell said.

The official said that the observations about India are based on the fact that the level of stimulus package in the Indian economy had been much less when compared to other South Asian economies like China.

Govt offers help to India Inc to contain job loss
With the employment situation getting worse in the backdrop of global economic meltdown, the government has said it is ready to take "any
measures" to help Indian industries prevent further loss of jobs.

"Export market is affected to some extent as the purchasing power of industries has dropped. But we are working with them to ensure that production lines are kept running so that more jobs are not lost," Union Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said on the sidelines of a function here.

Fernandes's comment came after he was asked about the steps the government is contemplating to take following one of its own report that around half a million people lost their jobs between October and December 2008.

"We are ready to offer any help, be it in the form of tax relief, providing credit support or anything else to help industries support jobs of people. To tide over the crisis industry should also take fresh initiatives to explore demands in newer markets," Fernandes added.

Asked if more stimulus packages could be expected, the minister expressed optimism over certain measures that the government has already taken to contain the crisis.

"The auto industry that has seen a drop in production will pick up soon. Prevailing prices of fuel and steel have already been lowered to provide them a booster," Fernandes said.

We are hopeful that with fall in steel prices, even construction activities will pick up within a year, he added.

A Labour ministry study had found that capacity utilisation of exporting units had come down by 7.05 per cent and 5.68 per cent in the automobiles and metal sectors respectively during October to December 2008.

Earlier, while addressing a seminar organised by the Quality Council of India (QCI), Fernandes hailed the organisation for taking up the responsibility of training more than 6,000 Industrial Training Institute (ITI) teachers with the knowledge to handle the latest tools.

"Quality of education has to improve and you (QCI) can strengthen the government's approach and take it to the right direction as skill upgradation will help our working force tide over the current crisis," said the labour minister.

Among other things, the minister highlighted that extending the tenure of unemployment allowance from three months salary paid over six months to six months salary paid over a year will also help tide over the slowdown crisis.

"Though this is not the only thing for overcoming the situation, we are hopeful that in a year's time all activities would be back to normal," Fernandes said.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit may create 25,000 jobs: Vora
The Gujarat government expects to create 25,000 new jobs for the youth following the Vibrant Gujarat summit organised by the state
government recently, Education Minister Ramanlal Vora said on Sunday.

The state government has recently signed Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) worth crores with various corporate sectors during the Summit.

With these MoU, the state government is hopeful that around 25,000 jobs would be created, Vora said at Saurashtra University's 43rd Annual Convocation here today.

The state government is ready to extend all possible help to find out skilled man power which will be required at the taluka and district levels after the new projects start functioning, he said.

Gujarat Governor, Naval Kishor Sharma, Vice Chancellor of the University, Kamlesh Joshipura, Pro Vice Chancellor, Kalpak Trivedi and Registrar Gajendra Jani were among those present at the convocation.

Nearly 50,000 students of over 300 colleges across the Saurashtra region were awarded degrees at the convocation.

Interim budget likely to focus on job creating sectors

Faced with an extraordinary circumstances following global financial meltdown, the Government is likely to focus on labour intensive and Job-cuts: A blessing
Coming to terms with lay-off
Keep it light at workplace!
export oriented sectors in its interim Budget on February 16 to protect jobs.

The interim Budget to be presented by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is currently holding the charge of finance portfolio, may not contain any major policy decision, but it could cut certain indirect taxes to address the urgent concerns to arrest economic slowdown.

"Alleviating job losses should be the government's priority. Demand for exports has gone down, so sectors like gems and jewellery, textiles etc need to be revived so that more jobs can be created," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman Suresh Tendulkar said.
Tendulkar further said that fiscal space of the centre is limited due to growing subsidies adding that public expenditure has also increased.

Crisil principal economist D K Joshi said indirect taxes may be slashed in the interim budget, but he does not expect any cut in the direct tax.

Joshi said construction, automobiles and export oriented sectors might get some benefit from the budget.

Yes Bank chief economist Shubhada Rao also said the Government could cut tax rates to provide stimulus to the economy reeling under the impact of global financial meltdown.

She said sectors like housing, exports, SME and auto should be promoted by measures in the interim budget.

Tendulkar said RBI will decide on signalling cut in interest rates after the vote on account is tabled.

"RBI is awaiting the Vote on Account which will indicate borrowing projections by the Centre. These projections would indicate liquidity in the system, accordingly RBI will decide on rates and ratios because RBI has to worry about financial stability also," he said.

However, there is a divided opinion on whether the Government could in fact announce measures in the interim budget.

"Constitutionally, there is no bar," Home Minister P Chidambaram had said earlier this week when asked whether the Government can announce measures to stimulate economy.

On the possibility of the government changing the tax structure in the interim budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Ahluwalia said, "This is something for the Finance Ministry to say. Normally it (tax changes) does not happen."

When asked whether the Government can announce measures to stimulate the economy in the interim Budget, JNU Professor Jayati Ghosh said,"Apparently not."

Mukherjee had earlier said the Government would take more steps to boost the labour-intensive sectors.

"As next year's outlook is more downbeat... the Government will take further steps to ensure that the labour- intensive sectors are less adversely affected," he had said.

Ahluwalia, who returned recently from the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, said the world economy is not in good shape and "fiscal stimulus that we have given during the year should continue for one more year".

The Government has already come out with two stimulus packages and raised the public expenditure by 20 per cent over and above the budget estimate to arrest the impact of global crisis, which manifested in September, on India.

The crisis has already impacted industrial production, which contracted in October after a gap of 15 years. Even the exports moved into the negative territory, declining for three consecutive months since October.

The economic growth, as per the RBI projections, is likely to slip to seven per cent in 2008-09 from 9 per cent in the previous fiscal.

In view of these developments, it would be imperative on the Government to take some immediate steps as the final Budget for 2009-10 could only be presented in July after the formation of new government post-elections.

Can PSUs really lead India Inc's charge in beating slowdown?


8 Feb 2009, 1450 hrs IST, Aman Dhall & Lisa Mary Thomson, ET Bureau

In the good times, they faced the brunt of perception. They were the rusty government cogs which always paled in comparison to the shining wheels of Recession: A business opportunity
Ghosts of 1929
Top banking crises since 1980s
Formula for successful biz
the private sector. But with the global financial markets in choppy waters, public sector undertakings (PSUs) are being called upon to lead the way. And surprisingly, they are more than equipped to take the forefront.

Where lies the secret? The cash-rich status of many of these companies has been touted as their prize point. Add to this the relatively debt-free nature of their balance sheets and their presence in sectors which are the bare necessities and you have a winning formula.

But it’s simply not a question of what they have to offer but also the reasons that have brought them where they are. The navratnas particularly, have used the relative autonomy given to them to reinvent themselves in a big way. The numbers prove it all.

In a study conducted by Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India titled ‘India’s Top PSUs 2009’ which compared top 31 NSE listed state owned enterprises with the top 216 NSE listed private sector companies (with a short listing criteria of Rs 1000 cr or more in total income), it was revealed that total sales of 31 government owned companies was almost the same as the total sales of the 216 private sector companies. What this suggested was that in terms of revenues, the 31 PSUs are more or less equal to the 216 private sector companies put together.

You cannot deny that the PSUs, particularly the well-managed ones, are poised to lead India’s battle with the economic slowdown. But if you’re still not convinced, here are the explanations.

Trustworthy Performers

The PSUs are the fitting contenders to lead the fightback of the slowing Indian economy. Not because they have a guardian angel in the government to support them, but they have time and again, proved their abilities.

Over the past five years, aside from the under-recoveries of the oil marketing companies (OMCs), PSUs engaged in engineering, power, banking, shipping and logistics companies have competed on a near equal footing with top private players in their respective sectors.

According to industry leaders, one of the key factors driving this exemplary performance has been their capability to significantly reduce the high debt levels which plagued their financial statements in the past. This exercise eventually allowed PSUs to clean-up their balance sheets to undertake expansion.

Says Ganesh Raj, tax partner and leader, policy advisory group, Ernst & Young; “Improved operating metrics have resulted in PSUs building strong cash war chests, which enables them today to defend as well as extend their market share, be it through organic or inorganic means.”

Raj has a point, which is mirrored in the PSUs performance. According to a Dun & Bradstreet study, the total aggregate income of the PSUs is almost equivalent to 31% of the country’s GDP at current market prices in financial year 2006-07 as well as in financial year 2007-08.

Moreover, the PSUs have maintained a low debt/equity ratio as compared to their private peers over a long period of time. With a debt/equity ratio of 0.45 in the previous financial year and higher level of cash, the PSUs are less leveraged than their private sector peers(debt/equity ratio of 0.68 in financial year 2007-08) and are better positioned to exploit business opportunities.

Economists feel that a significant advantage that PSUs enjoy is that their income elasticity as well as their price elasticity is low. Moreover, they operate in sectors which are necessities and hence their business cycle has not been affected by the current state of affairs.

Says Subir Gokarn, chief economist-Asia-Pacific at Standard & Poor’s; “They definitely have a more stable profile and less vulnerability. They have also considerably rationalised their cost-structures. With respect to the navratna companies, they have enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy in their operating decisions as well as in their investments. These investments have created capacity that would generate returns over a period of time.”
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Will_PSUs_lead_in_beating_slowdown/articleshow/4093873.cms

'Petrochemical hub would devastate Sundarbans'
Kolkata (IANS): Fisherfolk and green activists have voiced serious concern over the government's go-ahead to a petrochemical hub in Nayachar in West Bengal, saying it would cause immense ecological damage in the nearby world-famous Sundarban mangrove forests.

The Nayachar island being a deltaic estuary zone of the Hooghly river, they say the project would contaminate the water, which is home to a large variety of aquatic life and feeds the mangrove forests that are home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.

"We are astonished that in conceiving and going ahead with this petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment regions (PCPIR) project, the government has paid scant attention to the ecological devastation that such a project is going to inflict on the area," National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) chairperson Harekrishna Debnath said.

The chemical hub project at Nayachar in East Midnapore district got the nod at a meeting between the state government and a high-powered committee in the national capital Feb 3.

"If the project comes up at Nayachar, the entire region would get affected by its toxic chemical discharge," Santanu Chacraverti of the NGO Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA) told IANS.

"Not only would it disturb marine life but these poisonous chemicals would also enter the Sundarban creeks and affect the bio-diversity of the large mangrove swamp."

"The entire mangrove forest is criss-crossed by water channels and there is a huge possibility that this water will get polluted by the Nayachar project.

"The project will endanger a large number of people who earn their livelihood out of this deltaic estuary. It'll cause immense environmental menace," Chacraverti added.

Debnath said the area where the project is expected to come up is of immense ecological importance.

Nayachar is located within 10 km of the Sundarbans biosphere reserve and within the Hooghly-Matla estuarine zone, a region which is undoubtedly one of the world's richest in terms of biodiversity.

The region is the spawning ground of a vast array of marine life forms, including numerous commercial varieties of finfish and shellfish. The Hooghly-Matla estuarine and coastal waters of West Bengal provide livelihood to over 250,000 fishermen.

Nayachar is located about 200 km from Kolkata. As part of the Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB), the government of India had declared the entire 9,630 sq km of the forest as the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in 1989.

"The petrochemical industry is hazardous and accident prone. The plan to locate such an industry in the Haldia region, especially processing industries in Nayachar, constitutes a horrible assault on ecology, livelihoods and resources," Debnath said, terming the state government's effort to bag the final clearance as 'ignoble'.

"It is also of great concern that the government, in planning 'developmental' schemes, avoids consultation with citizens and in planning the PCPIR it did not discuss its plans with the fishermen in the state," Debnath said.

He pointed out that the area provides food and nutritional security to tens of millions in West Bengal and the neighbouring states.

The fishermen's committee also called upon all concerned citizens to voice their protest against the petrochemical industry which would affect the coastal ecology.

Nayachar, a stretch of land measuring 12,500 acres on the river bed of the Hooghly, was handed over to the Prafulla Chandra Roy Chemical Complex (PCRCC). It is a joint venture company in which the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has 49 percent stake and the New Kolkata International Development (NKID) has 51 percent share.

The NKID is a consortium formed by Unitech Ltd and the Salim Group of Indonesia with each partner holding 40 percent stake. Indonesian firm Universal Success holds the remaining 20 percent.

The NKID entered into an agreement with the West Bengal government on July 31, 2006, for developing mega infrastructure projects in the state.

Mumbai attacks without internal help not possible: Modi
Nagpur(PTI): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that Mumbai terror attacks could not have been possible without "local support" and accused the government of shying away from taking action due to votebank politics.

"The smallest of persons knows that such a big attack is not possible without the local support...I want to know who is stopping them from taking action...this is because of vote bank politics," Modi told the BJP's National Council meeting alleging that all policies of UPA are driven by vote-bank politics.

Modi's comments came three weeks after he stoked a controversy when he attacked the UPA government for asking Pakistan to accept the statement of Ajmal Amir Kasab, lone terrorist caught alive for Mumbai attacks, saying the country itself "does not have a similar provision under its laws". Talking of zero tolerance to terrorism, he regretted that the last few years have witnessed a series of such incidents.

"Antakwad ko usi ki bhasha mein jhawab dena padega(terrorism has to be paid back in the same coin)." But he did not elaborate.

MENAP economies to slowdown at 3.6 per cent in 2009: IMF
Dubai (PTI): The economies of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to slow down at 3.6 per cent this year compared to about 5.9 per cent in 2008, a senior official of the IMF said here on Sunday.

"The extent of the slowdown would depend on the fiscal response in the region’s oil-exporting countries, and on how deep the recession would be in the US, Europe and other countries," Masood Ahmed, Director of IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department said.

Speaking at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), at a briefing titled "Implications of Global Developments on the Economic Outlook for MENA, Afghanistan and Pakistan", Ahmed, said growth is expected to pick up in 2010, as global recovery gets underway.

According to him, as long as oil exporters in the region maintain their spending and investment plans, the impact of the global slowdown on their own growth, and on the prospects of the region, will be partly cushioned.

The IMF presentation was mainly focused on the implications of the dramatic changes in oil prices and worsening of the global economic outlook on the region. In his presentation, Masood Ahmed also spoke about the risks facing the economies of MENAP in the current year.

President, PM greet people on Ravidas Jayanti
New Delhi (PTI): President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday extended their greetings to the people on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

"On the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas, I extend my warm greetings to all my fellow countrymen," Patil said in her message. She hoped his teachings would inspire people to build a more tolerant society.

The Prime Minister in his message said, "Guru Ravidas embodied the spirit of humility and dignity of work. Revered by Hindus and Sikhs, the teachings of Guru Ravidas have been a source of knowledge and wisdom and would continue to inspire the egalitarian spirit of our society." 'Guru Ravidas, a great saint and social reformer fought against inequality and injustice and worked for the establishment of a society based on equality, compassion and justice.

Realty sector to be under pressure: Macquarie Research
New Delhi (PTI): The Indian real estate sector is likely to remain under pressure for the next few months due to small capital flow into this segment as lending to developers has not improved considerably among other factors, a report says.

"We maintain a zero weight for India in our regional real estate portfolio. On a 12-month view several real estate names in India look good value, but for the next few months expect the sector to come under continued pressure," Macquarie Research said in its report.

In today's scenario, banks are scrutinising mortgage borrowers more closely but they have resumed lending to some extent. "However, lending to developers has not improved and may have tightened even further and the well is dry for developers," it said.

"Borrowing for developers remains very, very tight. Conditions are perhaps at their worst ever level. Project financing has dried up as banks will not put money up front for developments," the report said and added : "Banks are now waiting for pre commitments for up to 30-40 per cent of developments before approving finance."

Besides, there are concerns regarding the structural challenges within the sector, such as the requirement for promoters to disclose their equity stake pledges and the possible equity holder dilution which may come about due to strict bank lending policies to developers.


TRAI favours spectrum allocation by auction: Misra
Kolkata (PTI): Telecom regulator Trai still advocates auction for spectrum allocation.

"Trai had recommended auction of licence earlier and there is no change in stand," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman Nripendra Misra said.

He was asked about the Delhi High Court notice to the regulator seeking its response on the issue on the next date of hearing on April 2.

"In India, as a practice 2G spectrum and licence (have) been offered as 'bundled' to companies. Thus, anyone getting licence will get spectrum automatically," Misra told PTI during a brief visit to the city.

The country offers 2G spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 Mhz bundles with licence.

There was an uproar over the manner in which the government allocated spectrum to some non-telecom companies recently, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Many of these companies allocated spectrum recently were sold at much higher prices.

The government has mooted a lock-in period of three to five years in the case of dilution of the promoters' stake in the telecom company receiving spectrum to check misuse of the national property.



Killing of Indians in US linked to recession?

HYDERABAD: Is the spate of killings of students and professionals from Andhra Pradesh in the US linked to the economic meltdown and massive job Lay offs in North America


Telugus living in the US see a link between the rising crime rate in the US and the recession. But they don't feel any particular ethnic community is being targeted.

Out of an estimated 2.7 million Americans of Indian origin, about 500,000 hail from Andhra Pradesh.

Nine professionals and students from Andhra Pradesh have been killed in different parts of the US in the last 14 months. In the latest incident, Rudraraju Sudheer Kumar, a mechanical engineer with Toyota Motors, was found murdered in his flat in Atlanta Feb 3.

Kumar, 31, was the third techie from the state to have been found dead in the US in less than a month. Muthyala Purushottam, 27, a software engineer, was found dead in his flat in Indianapolis Jan 20.

Akshay Vishal, 26, a software engineer, was shot dead by unidentified people in Little Rock in Arkansas Jan 13.

The series of incidents has left parents of Telugu students and employees in the US worried. The Andhra Pradesh government has taken up the issue with the US consulate here, demanding steps for the security of the Telugu community.

The Indian Americans who have spent considerable time in the US see a link between the series of killings and the current economic situation in that country.

"There could be a link between the two. The crime rate is going up with the recession. Lots of people are losing their jobs," Ravi Madala, an Indian American and a leader of Telugu community in Florida, said. Madala is currently on a vacation here.

Various Telugu associations in recent months took up the issue of the safety with local authorities in the US. But they have their own problems.

"The government is in dire straits due to local police job cuts. The police surveillance is down, there is less police patrolling and there are not enough officers available. In such a situation, criminal activity is bound to rise," said Madala, who pointed out that these incidents were reported from across the country.

"However, I don't believe that the Telugu community is the target. It is a much bigger problem," said Madala, who has been living in the US for 16 years and heads a firm in supply chain business.

"With recent recession and credit crunch, Americans are feeling insecure, especially in the IT sector. They are worried about their own jobs and think that Indians are taking away their jobs by working for less pay. It makes me wonder if we are the target of hate crime," said Sharat Kesiraju, a software engineer in San Jose, California, who is also here these days.

"What bothers me most is that the US police have not been able to track suspects in any of these cases," he said. But he also does not think that people from Andhra Pradesh are being specifically targeted.

"Among various ethnic communities in the US, the Indians are doing well and among Indians, Telugus have sizeable number. They are pursuing advanced degrees and have become successful software professional, engineers, doctors and business managers," said Kesiraju, who is living in US for six years and did his masters there.

Madala feels that there was a need to create awareness among Indian community, especially among students, to prevent them from becoming targets. "The incidents are also due to people being at wrong places at the wrong time," he said.

He wants Indian authorities to guide the citizens, especially students, on dos and don'ts. "Students are more vulnerable to such attacks because they take up part-time jobs in areas with high crime rates as they are offered more money than in other areas. Those who have no permits to receive money through banks take up jobs for cash at gas stations or fast food centres," he said.

"The students are more vulnerable because they spend most of their time outside and return late in the night," said Kesiraju, calling for more security on university campuses.

Gazal Srinivas, a popular ghazal singer and frequent traveller to the US, said: "The Indians are also not taking enough care. Many of them carry cash or wear gold rings and chains."

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao wants the Indian government to take up the issue of the security of Indian citizens with the US authorities. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, has said it is highly improbable that students from India, especially from the southern state, are being targeted.

Minister for Minorities Welfare and NRI Affairs Mohammed Ali Shabbir has taken up the issue with the US Consul General in Hyderabad, Cornelis M. Keur, who assured him the matter would be brought to the notice of the US administration.



Blood soaks Nanoor again
- CPM-Trinamul turf fight kills six ahead of polls
ABHIJEET CHATTERJEE & SOUMI BHATTACHARYA

A burnt hut in Papuri. Picture by Gour Sharma
Papuri (Nanoor), Feb. 7: A CPM attempt at a Nandigram-style recapture of a Trinamul Congress-dominated village was beaten back this morning with the violence killing six people in Nanoor, a Birbhum block with a blood-soaked past.

Seven others were injured as some 300 hooded and armed CPM men tried to push back party cadres into Papuri, about 260km from Calcutta, where an equal number of Trinamul workers resisted them bomb for bomb, bullet for bullet.

When the police, who arrived after the three-and-a-half-hour clash ended at 9am, recovered the bodies of five men and a 14-year-old boy from the paddy fields, the CPM claimed that five belonged to its supporters. Officers, however, would not comment on the victims’ political loyalties.

Nanoor, the lone marginal block for the CPM in its Birbhum bastion, has witnessed bloody CPM-Trinamul as well as intra-Left clashes. In July 2000, Nanoor’s Suchpur witnessed the murder of 11 Trinamul men, allegedly by CPM workers, over a land dispute.

The Papuri cadres had been driven out during Trinamul’s 10-year rule of the local Charkolgram gram panchayat. The CPM wrested the panchayat back in May 2008 but grew frustrated with its failure to ensure supporters’ return to Papuri, which remained a Trinamul hub.

A CPM leader said the party had been “desperate’’ to get its cadres back in Papuri, especially since parliamentary polls were approaching. “We wanted to regain our foothold…. It was decided the cadres would be brought back in a phased manner,’’ he said.

“Clashes are likely to rise with the polls approaching,” another CPM leader said.

CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar, however, said: “We had no knowledge about their return today, though negotiations were on.”

Residents said the CPM mob, firing and hurling bombs, attacked the Muslim-dominated village from three sides around 5.30am, setting three houses on fire. But a Trinamul “action squad” prevented a rerun of Nandigram, which the CPM’s private army had “recaptured” in one fell swoop in November 2007.

The CPM has identified its slain “supporters” as Lalbabu Sheikh, 26, Rashed Sheikh, 22, Rashed’s nephew Moktar, 14, Rejai Sheikh, 25, and Ambia Kazi, 35. Trinamul man Sheikh Siraj, 25, his hands blown off, died while being brought to a Calcutta hospital.

Lalbabu and Rashed, chased by Trinamul activists, had run into the home of Hafeeza Bibi. “Seeing them, I fled. The pursuers began throwing bombs and soon the house caught fire. The duo ran out, their clothes in flames, shouting for help. They collapsed on the field outside,” Hafeeza said.

District Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal said: “The CPM is trying to create trouble in Papuri. They attacked our supporters today, killing one and injuring seven. The CPM supporters were killed by their other rivals, not us.”

Four of the injured have been admitted to NRS Hospital, Calcutta.

“We have detained 15 people,” Birbhum police chief L.N. Meena said. The Rapid Action Force has been deployed at the village.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090208/jsp/frontpage/story_10503288.jsp

Two die in Dooars clashes
OUR BUREAU
Feb. 7: Two men were killed in the Dooars today as Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters clashed with Adivasis and other anti-Gorkhaland protesters across the region and Siliguri’s outskirts.

Rival groups ransacked homes and torched shops and vehicles as violence flared during a 24-hour shutdown called by the Morcha to press for permission to hold rallies in the Dooars and Terai.

Cassette shop owner Sunil Mandal, 48, was beaten to death during a clash at Banarhat in Jalpaiguri subdivision, about 75km from Siliguri.

In Ethelbari, Alipurduar subdivision, police stumbled on two unconscious men — Akbar Lama, 35, and Solo Kanchha Dorji, 50. Lama died on the way to hospital.

In Calcutta, home secretary Ardhendu Sen said clashes took place in Birpara, Banarhat, Bhaktinagar and Sukna but claimed that things were under control by afternoon.

“Morcha supporters had tried to loot and damage shops and markets; in retaliation, the Adivasis torched some Morcha supporters’ homes. There have been around 100 arrests,” he said.

In Darjeeling, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri blamed the violence on the CPM. “We demand the chief minister’s resignation. The CPM is trying to mislead the Adivasis,” he said. “We will hold black-flag demonstrations tomorrow.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090208/jsp/frontpage/story_10503286.jsp

Nanoor turns into a battleground again

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Feb. 7: The authorities might pull up their socks after six people were killed at Papuri village in Birbhum’s Nanoor police station area today, but the district authorities did not take any initiative although 30-35 people were killed in the area since 2000.
As the Trinamul and the CPI-M continued to fight for retaining foothold in the remote villages in Birbhum’s Nanoor police station area, 11 landless farmers were hacked to death allegedly by CPI-M cadres in 2000, thereby triggering concern for the authorities. According to senior district police officers, a number of clashes had taken place in the area over the past seven years. Nearly 30 people were killed in these clashes. “Villages like Takora, Basapara, Danyapara, Harmur, Bramhankhanda and Papuri are known for violence. CPI-M and Trinamul have repeatedly clashed with each other to retain foothold in these villages. But we could not take proper measures as villagers here stored huge number of improvised firearms. Whenever we tried to raid the villages, we were virtually chased away,” said an officer.
In fact, the remote villages in Nanoor were a strong bastion of the CPI-M till 2000. But after 11 landless farmers were killed on 27 July, 2000 the entire situation had changed. Once known to be CPI-M stronghold, these remote villages were converted into Trinamul bastions. Even in 2003, panchayat election, the CPI-M lost its ground completely in these areas. Later, CPI-M regained some foothold owing to the infighting of the Trinamul. It was reported that when election draws near, the entire area turns into a battlefield as both the parties try to capture different villages.
But surprisingly, the district authorities had never taken the situation seriously. Only a few police camps have been posted in some villages and no regular raids were conducted over the years. Apparently, these police camps were of no use as a number of clashes had taken place despite the posting of policemen in these camps. No initiative has been taken to recover the illegal firearms from the villagers.
The situation has now become so critical that no developmental work could be undertaken in these villages due to the rivalry of these two parties. A senior district official posted in Nanoor block, said, “So far no developmental project could be undertaken in these villages due to the political situation.”
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=243285

Angry Biman voices contempt against Mamata’s stand on Nayachar

KOLKATA, Feb. 7: Left Front chairman, Mr Biman Bose, today hit out at Trinamul Congress chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee, while speaking about the chemical hub project at Nayachar.
“There are quite a few self-proclaimed environmentalists in this state and one of them understands everything”, he said. Mr Bose, however, did not name either Miss Banerjee or Mr Subhas Dutta who had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Calcutta High Court about rallyists cooking in open ovens within three kilometres of Victoria Memorial on 20 January violating a court order. He was inspecting the arrangements of tomorrow's CPI-M rally at Brigade Parade ground. "I will take photographs of the rally site before the meeting and after it. It will show how the ground looked like before the rally and after it," he added. Mr Bose said that a high level technical committee will see to it that there is no pollution at Nayachar. The Opposition's claim of thousands of fishermen being displaced by the proposed Nayachar project is not as there are not so many of them there, he claimed. According to him, the Opposition has only one goal and that is to prevent industries from coming up in the state.
VIP security cover
The state government has decided that in future if any VIP with Z plus security cover visits “disturbed areas” they would be informed beforehand about the government's inability to provide security cover. This has been set as a “general rule” said the state home secretary, Mr Ardhendu Sen. The decision comes in the wake of the Trinamul chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee's visit to Lalgarh even after the superintendent of police informed her local party members about their inability to provide security.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=243288

A calculated gamble by Congress
7 Feb 2009, 0157 hrs IST, C L Manoj,

The recent decision of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to play hard to get in the Lok Sabha seat-sharing talks with some bargaining UPA allies
and new suitors like the Samajwadi Party gives an interesting insight into the grand old party’s mental make-up in the run up to the general elections.

It is clear that the Congress leadership thinks the prevailing political climate in the country is conducive for it to try and take some calculated risks with the allies to firm up its the pre-poll and post-poll positioning. One important factor that is adding to the Congress resolve is what has been the worst-kept BJP secret in the national capital for quite some time — that the NDA has slipped into a limbo.

The fact that a section of observers of the saffron camp have started publicly lamenting about the NDA drift has only come as confirmation of the siege within, owing to its leadership tussle, ideological confusion and lack of a marketable poll plank. But then the beauty of any election is the ability of the unpredictable electorate to keep the fortune seekers guessing and working hard till the last day. So, there are about 70-odd days for the BJP and NDA to work on their lost momentum.

Similarly, the Congress too thinks the remaining pre-poll days are crucial for positioning in such a way as to not only retain its perceived advantage vis-a-vis the NDA but also to check the forces — The Third Front (or the ‘Third Alternative’ as the Left would like to call it these days) — which are trying to fill the vacuum. Any attempt to decipher the CWC move has to be done in the context of the prevailing national political situation.

Broadly speaking, the CWC has firmed up three core strategic positions with regard to the Lok Sabha polls. First, the Congress will not enter into any ‘national alliance’ but instead will focus on inking separate ‘state-wise alliances’ with the existing United Progressive Alliance partners and potential future collaborators. Second, the grand old party, which has been experiencing steady organisational meltdown in critical states, will protect its ‘long-term interests and base’ even if it meant poll skirmishes with some partners. Third, there will be a calculated emphasis on the Rahul Gandhi-driven ‘youth plank’ of Congress against the Advani-led NDA.

For the informed, the CWC decision to have no ‘national alliance’ is nothing new or unexpected, even though it stole the headlines in this ‘silly season’. Even in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, when the Congress accepted the inevitability of alliance politics, the party had limited itself to alliances and understanding with ‘secular parties’ from state to state.

Both the UPA, as the ruling combine, and the NCMP, as its working agenda, were born only after the election results and hours ahead of the Manmohan Singh regime assuming office with the Left supporting from the outside.

“There can be a national alliance only between two national parties. Since the Congress does not fancy a partnership with BJP, the only alliance option before us is with secular and like-minded regional, or to be precise, state-based parties. So what is the big deal in the Congress not pursuing a national alliance this time? We didn’t do that in 2004 either”, quipped a senior Congress functionary. This un-apologetic emphasis on the pre-eminence of the Congress as the oldest and the largest secular national party is strategic to the CWC positioning in the pre- and post-poll scheme of things.

On the presumption that the NDA will fall short of its 2004 poll tally in the coming elections, the CWC then deftly laid out a plan which is meant, more than anything else, to check the calculations of the born-again Third Front dreams, fuelled by “the nuked Left” in the company of the “colourful” and “ideologically liberated” players like Mayawati, Chandrababu Naidu, Jayalalithaa, etc.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Comments__Analysis/A_calculated_gamble_by_Congress/articleshow/4090643.cms

'Slumdog,' 'Benjamin Button' up for UK film awards

LONDON: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and Meryl Streep are among the stars expected in London today for the British Academy Film Awards --
Britain's version of the Oscars.

The ceremony draws a large contingent of Hollywood talent alongside the British stars, and has a reputation for predicting who will win at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles in two weeks time.

This year's front-runners for the British awards, popularly known as the BAFTAs, are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Slumdog Millionaire," with 11 nominations each, including best picture.

Attendees are likely to include Mickey Rourke, Robert Downey Jr, Penelope Cruz, Kristin Scott Thomas and Kate Winslet -- twice nominated in the best-actress category, for "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader."

Winslet has said she would have an acceptance speech ready this time, to avoid a repeat of her now-infamous emotional meltdown at the Golden Globes.

The British awards -- officially the Orange British Academy Film Awards -- have a reputation for forecasting Oscar trends and upsets. Last year, Marion Cotillard unexpectedly won the best actress prize for "La Vie En Rose."

Today's sentimental favourite is "Slumdog Millionaire," the British-written and -directed underdog drama about a Mumbai street boy.

Only slow down & no recession in country: Frmr IIM(A) director

VADODARA: Bakul Dholakia, well-known economist, advisor Adani Group and former director of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, asserted
that there is economic slow down and no recession is in the country.

Addressing the 20th annual management convention of the Baroda Management Association (BMA) here today, Dholakia pointed out that 44 out of 50 Nifty companies have made profit after announcement of their third quarter results which proves that recession has not affected the country.

The theme of the convention was on 'Managing In Times of Uncertainity.'

Speaking about myths & reality about current economic recession, Dholakia said this is right time for restructuring of economy and asked govt of India to take necessary steps which includes amendment in labour laws and restructuring and amalgamation of banks including private and public sector banks.

Carrying out economic reforms in the wake of balance of payment crisis in 1994, helped the country to come out from the crisis and the country continue to make progress and achieving more than nine per cent GDP, Dholakia said.

Dholakiya reminded that it was he who had predicted nine per cent GDP growth correctly when others were doubting about the ability of country in coming out of the economic crisis.

Obama may learn from slips on stimulus
WASHINGTON: On his first big test, Barack Obama made some rookie mistakes and strategic missteps. But he still appears headed for a win on the Ghosts of 1929
Top banking crises since 1980s

centerpiece of his agenda, a huge economic recovery program, with the fresh striking of a bipartisan deal in the Senate.

Legislative leaders, including some fellow Democrats who support him, chalked up his problems to inexperience and some initial miscalculations over the lack of Republican support, and they suggest he will learn from the rocky start.

Americans have learned, too, a little about how their new president works.

He has swung from being conciliatory to badgering Congress to act, from courting the opposition to taking partisan swipes. He has had to fight to keep from losing control of the message. And all this is playing out against a background of Cabinet problems, economic distress and global distractions.

Some veteran Democrats say Obama could have made it easier for himself.

``I think it is important that he reached out. But lesson learned: It would have been better for him to send up his idea of a bill,'' instead of having House Democratic leaders initiate the process, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.

Leaders of both parties agree the slumping U.S. economy requires strong stimulus, an argument reinforced by a government report showing soaring new job losses. Obama will likely get most of what he wants. On the job under three weeks, he still has a large reservoir of good will on Capitol Hill.
But things have not gone quite the way the new Obama team expected. It has been a rough two weeks of on-the-job training on the legislative process from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue for the former one-term Illinois senator.

``You know, it's referred to as sausage-making and probably for good reason,'' said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

While Obama reached out energetically to members of both parties, he did not win a single Republican vote in the House for the stimulus plan. In the Senate, Democrats late Friday reached a deal late Friday with a small band of Republican moderates that set the stage for expected approval within the next few days.

The recovery package was put together by congressional Democrats in partnership with Obama, a process begun during Obama's transition. The administration decided against starting off the process by submitting its own detailed legislative package.

Even though Obama and top aides stayed close to the process, the result was an $819 billion package packed with spending projects, some of which struck even some fiscally conservative Democrats as not particularly stimulative. In the Senate, an even larger package was considered, although the deal struck Friday night pared it back some.

The size and composition of the plan gave Republicans an opening to assert that Obama had given too much leeway to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank. And they also could argue that, while Obama had offered to consider Republican suggestions for the package, none wound up in the legislation.

Obama appoints Indian American to key White House post
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has appointed Indian-American Nicholas Rathod, who was part of his 15-member transition team, to a key White
House post.

Rathod, 33, will serve as Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He worked as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama-Biden Transition Project earlier.

Two other Deputy Associate Directors of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs — Jodi Archambault Gillette and Michael Blake — were also announced on Thursday.

"These individuals bring diverse experiences and a deep passion for public service to my administration," Obama said, adding: "I am confident that Jodi, Michael and Nick will be valuable members of our team."

As one of the co-founders of South Asian for Obama (SAFO), Rathod played a leading role in mobilising Indian American community for the Democrat during the presidential polls.

Rathod also worked as Deputy Director of Federal Affairs Office for Governor David Paterson (NY) and Senior Manager of State and Regional Affairs for the Center for American Progress.

Declining oil prices to reduce income of oil producers: IMF
DUBAI: The International Monetary Fund has said that oil producers of the Middle East will see a considerable slowdown in economic growth this year
with earnings from crude oil sliding by half.

"For the oil exporters, the decline in oil prices and OPEC production cuts are projected to reduce oil export receipts by almost 50 per cent in 2009. This implies a loss of government revenue to the tune of USD 300 billion compared to 2008," Director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, Masood Ahmed said.

"Nevertheless, most governments - especially those in the Gulf Cooperation Council - have so far indicated that they will maintain their spending and investment plans.

As a result, oil exporters' current account surplus of around USD 400 billion in 2008 is expected to turn into a deficit of USD 30 billion in 2009."

"For most countries, this deterioration is from a position of significant strength, and thus can comfortably be sustained by the large stock of reserves that these economies have built up," Ahmed said.

"By continuing to spend, oil-exporting countries are contributing substantially to supporting global demand and are acting as stabilisers during the global downturn" he added.

Global crisis to hit China more than India: ADB
NEW DELHI: Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Saturday said that the impact of global financial meltdown will be much more Global crisis sparks unrest in Europe

Jobless rolls at record high

on China than India as the Chinese economy is heavily dependent on exports.



"The extent of slowdown in China is much bigger than India because Chinese economy is more dependent on exports than Indian economy," ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said in an interview to a news channel, adding that both China and India were not in recession.

Developing countries will have to restructure their economy and generate domestic demand besides sustaining high growth to avoid poverty, he said.

Even if the global economy recovers from the worst recession, global economic structure will be changed considerably and particularly Asian countries cannot rely on exports, he said.

Emerging economies will slowdown with negative impact on poor and Countries will have to sustain high growth to avoid poverty, Kuroda said.

The global downturn may be deeper and the recovery take longer than earlier expected, he said adding, developing Asia would not have miracle growth and further slowdown this year will be inevitable. However, Indian economy was expected to grow at around 7 per cent.

The Bank plans issuing 9-10 billion dollar bonds in the market this year. "In the next 12 months we can easily raise 9 to 10 billion dollar from capital markets Recently we issued one billion dollar bond and market response was very good", Kuroda said.

ADB yesterday announced stepping up its lending operations by several billion dollars to help Asian nations tide over the crisis.

In addition, the bank would increase the size of trade facilitation programme from $150 million to $1 billion in 2009.

The Manila-based bank facing resource constraint, however, has requested shareholders for an immediate and substantial capital increase for steps to mitigate the severity of the economic crisis in the region.

India shows resilience amid economic downturn: ADB

MANILA: India has shown resilience amid the global economic downturn, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Saturday. The economies worldwide have
seen a downturn, which may become even deeper, and the recovery will take longer than earlier expected, but India's economy was expected to grow at around seven percent in 2008, the Manila-based bank said in a press release, quoting ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda.

"Although lower than last year's 9-percent growth, this is nonetheless an impressive growth rate and a remarkable demonstration of India's resilience," said Kuroda, who also called for a "global solution" for the global financial crisis.

Besides immediate short-term actions to stabilise finance, longer-term planning was also needed to reform the regulatory and institutional framework for the world's financial systems, he said.

An "Asian Financial Stability Dialogue", involving finance ministries, central banks and other financial regulators, could discuss and coordinate efforts to address the financial crisis, he added.

ADB is an international development finance institution whose mission is to help its members to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Established in 1966, ADB is owned and financed by its 67 members, of which 48 are from the region and 19 are from other parts of the globe.

Since 1986, ADB has provided more than $19. 2 bn of assistance through loans, grants, and technical assistance packages.

Cong open to pact with Trinamool
8 Feb 2009, 0220 hrs IST, Tamal Sengupta, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: The Congress is open to electoral alliance with Trinamool in West Bengal on one condition. The West Bengal Congress leadership, which is in
Delhi, has communicated its terms on seat-sharing with the Trinamool to the AICC.

“The Congress state unit can’t take any decision on seat-sharing with Trinamool. It is the AICC which has the authority to do so.” West Bengal Pradesh Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharjee said on Saturday.

Cracks show up in Left Front, Bloc raises pitch
Font Size Express News Service
Posted: Feb 06, 2009 at 0156 hrs IST

Left, Bajrang Dal vie for the pie in ‘fair’ playKolkata: The Forward Bloc, a key ally in the ruling dispensation, on Thursday lashed out at the Left Front Government for the incident at Dinhata last year, where police firing had left five of its members dead and 15 others injured while they were demanding their “legitimate rights”, including 100 days of work for villagers.

At a mass meeting organised by the Bloc in memory of the five “martyrs” killed on February 5 last year, state secretary Ashok Ghosh and ministers Rabindra Ghosh and Naren Dey were also present.

“I do not know at whose instructions the police had opened fire at Dinhata. But five innocent villagers losing their lives for voicing their legitimate demands was an unfortunate incident. Records show that in West Bengal, villagers have got only 20 days of work. Netaji, who had formed the party, had taught us not to compromise against injustice and we will not tolerate any negligence and irresponsibility over jobs for villagers. The Dinhata incident was a major departure from what the Left Front allies had decided when they came to power in 1977,” Dey said at the meeting.


Left, Bajrang Dal vie for the pie in ‘fair’ playKolkata: The Forward Bloc, a key ally in the ruling dispensation, on Thursday lashed out at the Left Front Government for the incident at Dinhata last year, where police firing had left five of its members dead and 15 others injured while they were demanding their “legitimate rights”, including 100 days of work for villagers.

At a mass meeting organised by the Bloc in memory of the five “martyrs” killed on February 5 last year, state secretary Ashok Ghosh and ministers Rabindra Ghosh and Naren Dey were also present.

“I do not know at whose instructions the police had opened fire at Dinhata. But five innocent villagers losing their lives for voicing their legitimate demands was an unfortunate incident. Records show that in West Bengal, villagers have got only 20 days of work. Netaji, who had formed the party, had taught us not to compromise against injustice and we will not tolerate any negligence and irresponsibility over jobs for villagers. The Dinhata incident was a major departure from what the Left Front allies had decided when they came to power in 1977,” Dey said at the meeting.
Nanoor
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Nanoor
Nanoor
Time zone: IST (UTC+5:30)
Country India
State West Bengal
District(s) Birbhum
Population 193,788 (2001[update])
Sex ratio 958 ?/?
Codes[show]
• Pincode • 731301
• Telephone • +91 3463

Footnotes[show]
CD Block
Coordinates: 23°39'N 87°48'E? / ?23.65°N 87.80°E? / 23.65; 87.80 Nanoor (also spelt Nanur) (Bengali: ?????), is a town with a police station, community development block and an assembly constituency in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Nanoor is the birthplace of 14th century lyric poet Chandidas of Vaishnava Padavali fame.[1][2]It is developing as a craft centre with NGO support. With the massacres in 2000, Nannor was in intense media focus.

Contents [hide]
1 Geography
2 History
2.1 Archaeological finds
3 Demographics
4 Administration
5 Economics
6 Politics
6.1 Nanoor massacre
7 Culture
7.1 Temples
7.2 Fairs
8 See also
9 References



[edit] Geography
Nanoor is located in the south-eastern corner of the district which is an alluvial plain between Ajay River and Mayurakshi River. It has hot and dry summers, spread over March – May, followed by the monsoon from June to September. 78 per cent of the rainfall occurs during this period.[3]

Historical records talk of at least 13 droughts of severe intensity between the years 1799 and 1855. The drought of 1836-37 was particularly severe.[4]Floods also wreak havoc. More than 15,000 people were affected and 7,000 mud houses were broken or damaged in Nanoor and three other blocks in 2004.[5]

It is 47 km from Suri, 18 km from Bolpur/Santiniketan and 29 km from Ahmedpur.[1][2]


[edit] History

[edit] Archaeological finds
The archaeological department of Calcutta University organised an excavation programme in Nanoor in 1932 and 1957. At that time, some ancient icons were found but the area never got the status of an archaeological site.[6]

A new archaeological site has been discovered at Jalundi village in Nanoor block in 2007 which according to the experts resembles the ruins of the ancient Pala or Sen Dynasties.[7]


[edit] Demographics
In the 2001 census, Nanoor community development block had a population of 193,788 out of which 98,983 were males and 94,805 were females.[8]


[edit] Administration
Nannor is an intermediate panchayat (local self government) under Birbhum Zilla Parishad. Village panchayats under Nanoor intermediate panchayat are Barasaota, Chandidasnanoor, Charkalgram, Daskalgram – Kareya I & II, Jalundi, Kirnahar I & II, Nawagar Kadda, Thupsara, and Uchkaran.[9]


[edit] Economics
Nanoor Block, comprising of 24 villages, is an economically backward area of artisan families living largely below the poverty line, bulk of them being Muslims, Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Lack of opportunities and ignorance had kept the talented population away from a decent source of sustainable livelihood. Many of them were migrating to the cities for unskilled work forsaking their generations-old invaluable craft skills. The Institute of International Social Development – an international NGO, based and headquartered in Kolkata, has started poverty eradication work through the creation of Self-Help Groups with Micro-Credit. The artisans interact with people from all over the world, who are visiting the cluster to experience the lives of the artisans, see the process of handicraft-making and plan international markets for them. Their income has increased three-fold in about one year. Design development workshops have been conducted by internationally renowned designers who made them use their kantha craft as value additions to small items of utility.[10]

Traditionally, there used to be a weekly market, locally called hat. Apart from vegetables, such needs as pottery, wooden materials, iron materials, baskets, seeds etc. were available. With the passage of time the periodicity gradually increased till it became a daily market.[11]


[edit] Politics
In the 2006 state assembly elections, Joydeb Hazara of CPI(M) won the Nanoor (SC) seat defeating Gadadhar Hazara of AITC. Ananda Gopal Das of CPI(M) defeated Krishnagopal Majhi of AITC in 2001, Sibkinkar Saha of INC in 1996 and 1991, and Adhir Kumar Saha of INC in 1986. Banamali Das of CPI(M) defeated Sibkinkar Saha of INC in 1982 and Dulal Saha of INC in 1977.[12]

Nanoor is described as the most politically disturbed area in Birbhum district.[13]With acute poverty it has been a disturbed area for ages. According to historical records, in 1807 with a particularly severe drought, people in Nanoor were engaged in a bloody clash over the right of watering their lands from a particular tank.[4] About 10 people were injured in a clash when one community planned a religious ceremony on a particular plot of land and another community fenced it off claiming it to be their burial ground in 2005.[14] A boy was shot dead the same month following a quarrel over a cultural programme.[15]

Nanoor assembly constituency is part of Bolpur (Lok Sabha constituency).[16]


[edit] Nanoor massacre
Main article – Nanoor massacre
On 27 July 2000, CPI(M) activists allegedly killed 11 landless agricultural labourers in Suchpur, near Nanoor and under Nanoor police station. Just after the massacre CPI-M leaders said those killed were dacoits but a few days later they admitted that the dead were landless farmers and that they were killed over a land dispute.[13][17][18]Two of the CPI(M)'s senior leaders, Anil Biswas and Biman Bose, both politburo members, condemned the Nanoor killings as well as the loss of lives in incidents of violence in the preceding weeks.[19]

"The Hindu" wrote, “On a long term, the killings, symbolising the birth of a new theatre of violence after Keshpur in district Midnapore - where deaths and maiming in political clashes have become a bizarre routine - constitute an extremely disturbing augury for the society in Bengal."[19]

The prime witness to the Nanoor killings was injured in an attack allegedly by CPI-M activists.[20]The Statesman in an editorial wrote, “The sole purpose in attacking the prime witness in the gruesome Nanoor massacre of July 2000 in which 11 Trinamul Congress supporters were slaughtered by armed CPI(M) cadres was to shield those responsible and abort their trial, by hook or by crook. The irony is that although five years have elapsed since the occurrence of the horrendous killings by the Marxists, the trial of their 79 accused comrades has not yet begun. Repeated postponement of hearing (at least seven in the last two years) because of failure of the accused to turn up in court has made the outcome uncertain.”[17]

While the enquiry into the Nanoor massacre has reached a dead end,[21]two main accused in the Nanoor massacre were nominated by CPI(M) for panchayat elections.[18]


[edit] Culture

[edit] Temples
There is a temple dedicated to Devi Basuli at Nanoor.[1] The Navaratna temple at Brahmandihi, Chand Roy temple and four Shiva temples at Uchkaran are amongst the state protected temples in the area.[22]The renowned Navaratna temple was undertaken by the ASI but owing to lack of maintenance, it is now being destroyed The four Shiva temples have rare terra cotta sculptures on them and are unique in character. These also need immediate attention.[23]In 2001, the invaluable and rare black-stone Saraswati idol went missing from the Bishalakshmi temple.[24]


[edit] Fairs
A fair is organized annually on the occasion of dol purnima (full moon) on the bank of the Dontapukur at Nanoor in memory of Dwija Chandidas and Rajakini Tami. It is called Chandidas Mela and was earlier organized near Bisalkshi temple.[11]

Japeswar Shiva-Charturdashi Mela is organized at Japeswar in the Nanoor area. Local heresay traces back the history of the Shiva temple to 1000 BC.[11]

Radhamadhab Mela is organized at Charkalgram on 14 Chaitra and continues for a week.[11]

Pirer mela is organized at Sherpur for 5/6 days in the month of Magha.[11]

In the month of Falgun a fair is organized at Basapara. It was started by Atai Mian, a zamindar of the area.[11]


[edit] See also
Nanoor travel guide from Wikitravel

[edit] References
^ a b c "Nanoor". Birbhum district administration. http://birbhum.gov.in/birtour2.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ a b "Nanoor". india9.com. http://www.india9.com/i9show/Nonoor-29557.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ Choudhuri, Tapan, Unnayaner Alokey Birbhum, Paschim Banga , Birbhum Special Issue, February 2006, (Bengali), pp. 60-61, Information & Cultural Department, Government of West Bengal.
^ a b Gupta, Dr. Ranjan Kumar, The Economic Life of a Bengal District: Birbhum 1770 – 1857, p. 114, The University of Burdwan, 1984.
^ "Floods render 15,000 homeless". The Statesman, 25 September 2004. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=83549&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Birbhum archaeological sites face extinction". The Statesman, 29 June 2002. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=26464&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Archaeological find at Nanoor". The Statesman, 20 February 2007. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=10&id=174039&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Census of India 2001". Provisional population totals, West Bengal, Table 4. Census Commission of India. http://web.cmc.net.in/wbcensus/DataTables/02/Table4_8.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ "Admin Reports of NPP". Details of West Bengal till Village Panchayat Tier. Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India. http://panchayat.gov.in/adminreps/viewpansumr.asp?selstate=3217000000&pno=3&ptype=V. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
^ "Institute of International Social Development (IISD)". Success Story. Election Commission of India. http://amrif.blogspot.com/2007/04/institute-of-international-social.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ a b c d e f Mukhopadhyay Aditya, Birbhumer Mela, Paschim Banga , Birbhum Special Issue, February 2006, (Bengali), pp. 203-214, Information & Cultural Department, Government of West Bengal.
^ "Partywise comparison since 1977". 283 – Nanur (SC) Assembly Constitiuency. Election Commission of India. http://archive.eci.gov.in/ElectionAnalysis/AE/S25/Partycomp283.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ a b "CPM brings terror charge against Trinamul". The Statesman, 23 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=35824&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Fight over land brews communal tension". The Statesman, 3 November 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=123205&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Life sentence for Nanoor accused". The Statesman, 30 November 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=125743&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "General election to the Legislative Assembly, 2001 – List of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies". West Bengal. Election Commission of India. http://archive.eci.gov.in/se2001/background/S25/WB_ACPC.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
^ a b "Editorial: Attack in Nanoor". Editorial. The Statesman, 20 May 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=105625&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ a b "CPM ticket for Nanoor massacre accused". The Statesman, 18 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=34635&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ a b "Landless in W. Bengal tilting towards Trinamool Congress". The Hindu, 30 July 2000. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2000/07/30/stories/0230000l.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "CPM goons attack Nanoor witness". The Statesman, 13 May 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=104909&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Targeting the CBI". Editorial. The Statesman, 18 July 2007. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=190467&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "List of State Protected Monuments & Sites". District Birbhum. Deptt of Information and Culture, Government of West Bengal. http://www.wbgov.com/e-gov/English/Departments/DeptDetails.asp?DPId=120&LinkId=6&Type=1. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ "Birbhum terra cotta temples cry for face-lift". The Statesman, 20 March 2004. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=67071&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Burglary boom in Bolpur". The Telegraph, 28 March 2004. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040328/asp/nation/story_3055645.asp. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.

Nanoor massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Nanoor massacre refers to the massacre of 11 landless labourers allegedly by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) activists in Suchpur, near Nanoor and under Nanoor police station, in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal, on 27 July 2000.[1][2][3]

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 The massacre
3 Aftermath
4 Political equations
5 References



[edit] Background
Nanoor is located in the south-eastern corner of the district which is an alluvial plain between Ajay River and Mayurakshi River. It has hot and dry summers, spread over March – May, followed by the monsoon from June to September. 78 per cent of the rainfall occurs during this period.[4]

Historical records talk of at least 13 droughts of severe intensity between the years 1799 and 1855. The drought of 1836-37 was particularly severe.[5]Floods also wreak havoc. More than 15,000 people were affected and 7,000 mud houses were broken or damaged in Nanoor and three other blocks in 2004.[6]

Nanoor Block, comprising of 24 villages, is an economically backward area of artisan families living largely below the poverty line, bulk of them being Muslims, Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Lack of opportunities and ignorance had kept the talented population away from a decent source of sustainable livelihood. Many of them were migrating to the cities for unskilled work forsaking their generations-old invaluable craft skills.[7]

Nanoor is described as the most politically disturbed area in Birbhum district.[1]With acute poverty it has been a disturbed area for ages.


[edit] The massacre
Just after the massacre CPI(M) leaders said those killed were dacoits. A few days later they admitted that the dead were landless farmers, but that they were killed over a land dispute.[3]Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of the Lok Sabha, in whose parliamentary constituency Nanoor falls, described those killed as hired goons, Dacoits and dreaded anti-socials.[2] Two of the CPI(M)'s senior leaders, Anil Biswas and Biman Bose, both politburo members, condemned the Nanoor killings as well as the loss of lives in incidents of violence in the preceding weeks.[8]

"The Hindu" wrote, “On a long term, the killings, symbolizing the birth of a new theater of violence after Keshpur in district Midnapore - where deaths and maiming in political clashes have become a bizarre routine - constitute an extremely disturbing augury for the society in Bengal.[8]The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Jyoti Basu, said the Leftists should be tolerant towards their political rivals instead of being vindictive. He said at least 800 Left party workers had been killed in clashes with the supporters of the Trinamool-BJP combine. According to him, though the Leftists had the right to self-defense, they would restrain themselves even in the face of atrocities from the Trinamool-BJP supporters. ``But, when attacked, should we not retaliate? [9]

According to CPI(M), what happened in Nanoor was a fight between farmers and landlords desperate to recapture land.[10]


[edit] Aftermath
Abdul Khalek, the prime witness to the Nanoor killings, and his guard, Jahangir Alam, were injured in an attack allegedly by CPI(M) activists, on May 12 2005. [11]Four people were arrested for the attack, the next day. Police said that the political loyalty of the arrested persons was yet to be established though local opinion spoke of their “strong links” with the CPI(M). [12]

The Statesman in an editorial wrote, “The sole purpose in attacking the prime witness in the gruesome Nanoor massacre of July 2000 in which 11 Trinamul Congress supporters were slaughtered by armed CPI(M) cadres was to shield those responsible and abort their trial, by hook or by crook. The irony is that although five years have elapsed since the occurrence of the horrendous killings by the Marxists, the trial of their 79 accused comrades has not yet begun. Repeated postponement of hearing (at least seven in the last two years) because of failure of the accused to turn up in court has made the outcome uncertain.”[2]

There were reports about CPI(M) cadre allegedly creating panic in the area just before the commencement of the Nanoor massacre trial as the witnesses of the Nanoor massacre case were being threatened repeatedly.[13] A Trinamul Congress delegation visiting the villages to “observe the tactics adopted by the CPI(M) to terrorise the villagers just before the trial of the Nanoor massacre case” is reported to have remarked, “We saw that though a few police camps have been set up in the villages, the CPI(M) is still dominating the villages.”[14]

Two main accused in the Nanoor massacre of 11 landless farmers on 27 July 2000, Nitya Chatterjee and Manirujjaman, filed nominations as CPI(M) candidates for the panchayat polls in 2003.[15]

The enquiry into the Nanoor massacre has reached a dead end,[16] In 2004, Kolkata High Court severely reprimanded the West Bengal Government for delay in holding the Nanoor massacre trial.[17]


[edit] Political equations
Nanoor was considered one of the strongest bastions of CPI(M) in Birbhum district, but after the Nanoor massacres, the situation started to change and soon after, the Trinamul Congress developed a strong foothold in the area.[18]

In 2003, the CPI(M) charged Trinamul Congress with terrorising voters in the area, and demanded re-poll in 17 out of 19 booths of Thupsara panchayat in Nanoor block.[19]


[edit] References
^ a b "CPM brings terror charge against Trinamul". The Statesman, 23 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=35824&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ a b c "Editorial: Attack in Nanoor". Editorial. The Statesman, 20 May 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=105625&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ a b "CPM ticket for Nanoor massacre accused". The Statesman, 18 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=34635&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ Choudhuri, Tapan, Unnayaner Alokey Birbhum, Paschim Banga , Birbhum Special Issue, February 2006, (Bengali), pp. 60-61, Information & Cultural Department, Government of West Bengal.
^ Gupta, Dr. Ranjan Kumar, The Economic Life of a Bengal District: Birbhum 1770 – 1857, p. 114, The University of Burdwan, 1984.
^ "Floods render 15,000 homeless". The Statesman, 25 September 2004. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=83549&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Institute of International Social Development (IISD)". Success Story. Election Commission of India. http://amrif.blogspot.com/2007/04/institute-of-international-social.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
^ a b "Landless in W. Bengal tilting towards Trinamool Congress". The Hindu, 30 July 2000. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2000/07/30/stories/0230000l.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Basu asks Left parties to be tolerant". The Hindu, 1 September 2000. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2000/09/01/stories/0201000d.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ Jawaid, Rifait. "Did CPI-M's land reforms movement backfire?". rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/sep/22midna.htm. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
^ "CPM goons attack Nanoor witness". The Statesman, 13 May 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=104909&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "4 held for Nanoor witness attack". The Statesman, 14 May 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=105142&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Pre-trial terror reigns in Nanoor". The Statesman, 5 March 2005. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=98709&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Clashes persist in Nanoor". The Statesman, 6 November 2004. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=87567&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "CPM ticket for Nanoor massacre accused". The Statesman, 18 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=34635&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Targeting the CBI". Editorial. The Statesman, 18 July 2007. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=190467&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Court rap for Nanoor delay". The Telegraph, 17 January 2004. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040117/asp/bengal/story_2796767.asp. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "CPM brings terror charge against Trinamul". The Statesman, 23 April 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=23&id=35824&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
^ "Somnath visits Nanoor, party wants repoll". The Statesman, 12 May 2003. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=2&id=38653&usrsess=1. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoor_massacre"

Ritual
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Jump to: navigation, search
For other senses of this word, see ritual (disambiguation).
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)


A ritual is a set of actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions.[1][2]



A ritual may be performed at regular intervals, or on specific occasions, or at the discretion of individuals or communities. It may be performed by a single individual, by a group, or by the entire community; in arbitrary places, or in places especially reserved for it; either in public, in private, or before specific people. A ritual may be restricted to a certain subset of the community, and may enable or underscore the passage between religious or social states.

The purposes of rituals are varied; they include compliance with religious obligations or ideals, satisfaction of spiritual or emotional needs of the practitioners, strengthening of social bonds, demonstration of respect or submission, stating one's affiliation, obtaining social acceptance or approval for some event — or, sometimes, just for the pleasure of the ritual itself.

Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies, past or present. They include not only the various worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also the rites of passage of certain societies, oaths of allegiance, coronations, and presidential inaugurations, marriages and funerals, school "rush" traditions and graduations, club meetings, sports events, Halloween parties, veteran parades, Christmas shopping and more. Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello are rituals.

In any case, an essential feature of a ritual is that the actions and their symbolism are not arbitrarily chosen by the performers, nor dictated by logic or necessity, but either are prescribed and imposed upon the performers by some external source or are inherited unconsciously from social traditions.

Contents [hide]
1 Ritual actions
2 Purposes
3 Religious
4 Sociology
5 Anthropology
6 Fraternal
7 Psychology
8 Further reading
9 References
10 Footnotes



[edit] Ritual actions
Due to their symbolic nature, there are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated in a ritual. The rites of past and present societies have typically involved special gestures and words, recitation of fixed texts, performance of special music, songs or dances, processions, manipulation of certain objects, use of special dresses, consumption of special food, drink, or drugs, and much more. Religious rituals have also included animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, ritual suicide, and ritual murder. Ritual lamentation -- song performed with weeping -- in many societies was regarded as required to ritually carry the departed soul to a safe afterlife (Tolbert 1990a, 1990b; Wilce 2006).


[edit] Purposes
Ritual serves diverse purposes including, but not limited to:

Worship
Ritual purification with the aim of removing uncleanliness, which may be real or symbolic.
Atonement
Dedication
Education

Urarina shaman, 1988
[edit] Religious
In religion, a ritual can comprise the prescribed outward forms of performing, the cultus or cult of a particular observation within a religion or religious denomination. Although ritual is often used in context with worship performed in a church, the actual relationship between any religion's doctrine and its ritual(s) can vary considerably from organized religion to non-institutionalized spirituality, such as ayahuasca shamanism as practiced by the Urarina of the upper Amazon. Rituals often have a close connection with reverence, thus a ritual in many cases expresses reverence for a deity or idealized state of humanity.


[edit] Sociology
Rituals have formed a part of human culture for tens of thousands of years. The earliest known undisputed evidence of burial rituals dates from the Upper Paleolithic. (Older skeletons show no signs of deliberate 'burial', and as such lack clear evidence of having been ritually treated.)

Alongside the personal dimensions of worship and reverence, rituals can have a more basic social function in expressing, fixing and reinforcing the shared values and beliefs of a society. This function can be exploited for political ends, though it lies at the heart of most sociological understandings of religious ritual.

Rituals can aid in creating a firm sense of group identity. Humans have used rituals to create social bonds and even to nourish interpersonal relationships.


[edit] Anthropology
Anthropologists have found rituals performed across the globe, in every conceivable culture. In its most basic elements ritual is one of many cultural universals, yet cross-cultural variation in form, content and social function is often great. Of particular interest to anthropologists has been the role of ritual in structuring life crises, human development, religious enactment and entertainment. Among anthropologists, and other ethnographers, who have contributed to ritual theory are Victor Turner, Ronald Grimes, Mary Douglas, and the Biogenetic Structuralists. Anthropologists from Emile Durkheim through Turner and contemporary theorists like Michael Silverstein (2004) treat ritual as social action aimed at particular transformations often conceived in cosmic terms. Though the transformations can also be thought of as personal (e.g. the fertility and healing rituals Turner describes), even an apparently secular goal like uniting the warring states during the American Civil War (Lincoln's Gettysburg Address [for an semiotic-anthropological analysis, see Silverstein 2002] becomes a sort of cosmic event, one stretching into "eternity".


[edit] Fraternal
Nearly all fraternities and sororities have rituals incorporated into their structure, from elaborate and sometimes "secret" initiation rites, to the formalized structure of convening a meeting. Thus, numerous aspects of ritual and ritualistic proceedings are engrained into the workings of the societies.


[edit] Psychology
In psychology, the term ritual refers to a repetitive, systematic behavioral process enacted in order to neutralize or prevent anxiety and is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).


[edit] Further reading
Bell, Catherine. (1997) Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bloch, Maurice. (1992) Prey into Hunter: The Politics of Religious Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

D'Aquili, Eugene G., Charles D. Laughlin and John McManus. (1979) The Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.

Douglas, Mary. (1966) Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo". London: Routledge.

Durkheim, Emile. (1912) The Elementary Forms Of The Religious Life.

Erikson, Erik. (1977) Toys and Reasons: Stages in the Ritualization of Experience. New York: Norton.

Gennep, Arnold van. (1960) The Rites of Passage. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Grimes, Ronald L. (1994) The Beginnings of Ritual Studies. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Malinowski, Bronislaw. (1948) Magic, Science and Religion. Boston: Beacon Press.

Rappaport, Roy A. (1999) Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, Jonathan Z. (1987) To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Staal, Frits (1990) "Ritual and Mantras: Rules Without Meaning". New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Turner, Victor W. (1969) The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.









== See Also ==

Ceremony
Civil religion
Habituation
Liturgy
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Processional walkway
Rite
Ritualization
Ritualism
Religion
Superstition
Myth and ritual
Religious symbolism



[edit] References
Durkheim, E. 1965 [1915]. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: The Free Press.

Fogelin, L. 2007. The Archaeology of Religious Ritual. Annual Review of Anthropology 36:55–71.

Seijo, F. 2005. The Politics of Fire: Spanish Forest Policy and Ritual Resistance in Galicia, Spain. Environmental Politics 14 (3): 380-402

Silverstein, M. 2003. Talking Politics :The Substance of Style from Abe to "W". Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press (distributed by University of Chicago). —. 2004. "Cultural" Concepts and the Language-Culture Nexus. Current Anthropology 45:621-652.

Tolbert, E. 1990a. Women Cry with Words: Symbolization of Affect in the Karelian Lament. Yearbook for Traditional Music 22:80-105. —. 1990b. "Magico-Religious Power and Gender in the Karelian Lament," in Music, Gender, and Culture, vol. 1, Intercultural Music Studies. Edited by M. Herndon and S. Zigler, pp. 41-56. Wilhelmshaven, DE.: International Council for Traditional Music, Florian Noetzel Verlag.

Turner, V. W. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Harmondsworth: Penguin. —. 1967. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Wilce, J. M. 2006. Magical Laments and Anthropological Reflections: The Production and Circulation of Anthropological Text as Ritual Activity. Current Anthropology 47:891-914.


[edit] Footnotes
^ "AskOxford.com". http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/ritual?view=uk. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
^ "Dictionary.com". http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ritual. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj - Source of Inspiration



The Marathas were at the forefront in the 1857 mutiny against the British and gave wholehearted support for the same. Though they could muster support from a few Hindu Kingdoms in the North, most of them refused to oblige them. The lack of planning, proper co-ordination within Hindu rulers, lack of diplomatic efforts, firearms & communication facilities led to the failure of this mutiny. The Marathas have also whole-heartedly supported the Independence movement especially the ‘Quit India’ movement of 1942 in large Numbers. Thus Marathas have carved out a place of pride for themselves in the History of India. It is a community of Natural Nationalists.

The Marathas hold 'Chhatrapati Shri Shivaji Maharaj' ,who brought pride to this community at a very high esteem. This community became dominant in the politics of Maharshtra State after the formation of a Marathi speaking Maharashtra state in 1960.The community has prospered through the effective use of co-operative movement and brought employment in rural areas by establishing Sugar Factories,Spinning Mills,Banks,Milk Dairies and other institutions in co-operative sector. The co-operative sector holds complete control over this community in the countryside.

Socially, the present day Marathas find themselves sandwiched between the Brahmins and Backward classes (including the Scheduled castes and tribes). The Brahmins acquired a higher social status thru the advancement made by them in Education, thereby acquiring good jobs in the private sector as well as the Government jobs and generally residing in towns & cities. The Backward classes got the Government jobs by virtue of their castes whereas the Brahmins overpowered them there in open competition. The only saving grace for this community is the small pieces of Ancestral lands they own and a few jobs created by them in the co-operative sector. The lands have also got reduced to a few thousand sq.ft (gunthas) over a period of time, due to family partitions. Though the present generation Maratha youth is taking education they find it difficult to get jobs competing with the Brahmins and other urban classes.

The leading lights of this community are Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, Late Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda ,Late Yashwantrao Chavan (Ex-Deputy PM),Late Vasantraodada Patil(Ex CM Maharshtra),Late Balasaheb Desai (Ex Home Min. Maharashtra ,Shri. Yeshwantrao Mohite (Ex-Fin Min of Maharashtra),Prof. Shivajirao Bhosale,Late Vithalrao Vikhe Patil,Late Shivajirao Patil (Mathadi workers Leader).In the present generation Sharad Pawar (Leader of NCP) occupies the prime position.

Attempts made by Late Shivajirao patil and now Mr Shasikant pawar to unite this commninity under the banner of ‘Akhil Bhartiya Maratha Mahasangh’ have met with little success. The idea of Maratha Mahasangh was to put forth the views of this community to the Government on a common platform.

Another organization ‘Maratha Sewa Sangh’ headed by Mr Purushottam Khedekar have formed a new Religion called ‘Shiv Dharma’on January 12, 2005. This was basically to oppose to the Brahmin oriented Hindu religion which is full of blind beliefs and superstitions, inculcated in the minds over generations. This religion has found very little or negligible support from the maratha community since it stands on Brahmin hatred rather than sound fundamental ideology. This religion seeems to be a confused lot with social demands than religious or spiritual requirement.

On 14th Feb 2003 Smt. Shalinitai Patil a senior MLA of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)addressesed the convention of Maratha Mahasangh at Kolhapur. Amongst other things She demanded "Reservation of seats in Government jobs & Educational institutions based on Economic considerations rather than Caste basis". A point the 'meritorious'amongst the forward castes have been making for so long.

Maratha Mahasangh general secretary Rajendra Khondre had resented two decisions taken on May 25, 2004, by the Sushilkumar Shinde government and said that they had triggered a wave of resentment in the Maratha community. The first pertained to reservations for backward castes in the cooperative sector. Until recently, Maratha youths could get jobs in sugar factories, spinning mills, dairies and banks in the cooperative sector. "But now, the job opportunities for them in this sector, which controls the rural economy of Maharashtra, have shrunk considerably," Khondre said. The second decision relates to the reservation of jobs in the Class I and super Class I categories in the government for backward castes. The Maratha Mahasangh, an influential body representing the community, has opposed this.

The Marathas have by and large peacefully accepted the social changes due to the Shahu-Ambedkar -Phule legacy and their own 'Bahujan Samaj' concept(i.e taking all sections of the society together). A word very often referred by politicians and used by Sh.Kanshiram for his political party. This gentleman incidently was influenced with 'Bahujan samaj' concept in Maharshtra while working at Ordnance Factory Khadki, Pune.

Present day Marathas find it difficult to accept the reservations extended to the creamy layers amongst the backward classes and the second generation of those who have availed the benefit once, whereas a maratha student coming from a lower middle class/poor family is denied the seat due to his caste. Some sections of Marathas had in the past demanded reservation for them in the backward classes. The going goes tough for Marathas as jobs in pulic as well as private sector are shrinking and they are getting hit where it matters the most; in employment. Still the community continues to live with pride inheriting the rich legacy and history.

This was a small effort to tell you about the Maratha community in an impartial way.

There is a need to unite this community for its social & economic advancement .We invite your comments & suggestions on the same . Write to marathanet@gmail.com

http://www.maratha.net/_wsn/page2.html

Ram Janmabhoomi
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This box: view • talk • edit
Ram Janmabhoomi (??? ????????) refers to a tract of land in the North Indian city of Ayodhya which is claimed by Hindus as the birthplace of Rama. It is believed that, prior to 1528, a temple stood at this site and that in 1528 the temple was demolished on the orders of Mughal invader Babur and a mosque was built on its ruins. This mosque came to be known as the Babri Masjid. A movement was launched in 1984 by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) eventually leading to the destruction of the building on the morning of December 6 1992 by radical Hindu activists. The VHP wants to erect a temple dedicated to Ram Lala (infant Rama) at this spot. Many Muslim organizations, on the other hand strongly oppose the building of the temple.

References such as the 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica reported that "Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babar in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple".[1] According to the Hindu view, the ancient temple could have been destroyed on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur. This view has been challenged by Indian historians[2].

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Chronology of events
3 History
3.1 19th century
4 Archaeology of the site
5 Literary sources
5.1 Joseph Tieffenthaler
5.2 Mirza Jan
5.3 Shykh Muhammad Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami
5.4 Guru Nanak
5.5 Abul Fazl
5.6 Other sources
5.7 Alleged censorship
6 Ram Janmabhoomi temple construction
7 The Ayodhya debate
8 Notes
9 References
9.1 In fiction
10 See also
11 External links



[edit] Background
Ayodhya debate
Babri Mosque
Ram Janmabhoomi
Archaeology
2005 Ram Janmabhoomi attack
People and organizations
L.K. Advani
Kalyan Singh
All India Babri Masjid Action Committee
Babur
Bharatiya Janata Party
Koenraad Elst
Indian National Congress
Colonial British records maintain that efforts to replace the mosque with a temple had been on since before independence in 1947, but had been continually stymied by both the central government and various Indian courts.

According to the Ramayana the site of Ram's birth is situated in the city of Ayodhya in Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. Ayodhya is a city sacred to devotees of Vishnu, who Hindus believe took birth as King Ram, and has several temples devoted to the deity. [3] [4]

In his slim yet insightful booklet, Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma writes, "Ayodhya seems to have emerged as a place of religious pilgrimage in medieval times. Although chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists as many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage, including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., it does not include Ayodhya in this list."[3] Sharma also notes that Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of pilgrimage.[3] After the demolition of Babri masjid, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma along with Historians Suraj Bhan, M.Athar Ali and Dwijendra Narayan Jha came up with the Historian's report to the nation on how the communalists were mistaken in their assumption that there was a temple at the disputed site and how it was sheer vandalism in bringing down the mosque and the book has been translated into all the Indian languages.[4]


[edit] Chronology of events
Main article: Timeline of the Ayodhya debate
In 12th century, a temple complex is built in honour of Lord Ram

In 1528, the Babri Masjid is constructed on the orders of the Mughal leader Babur post destruction of existing ram mandir.

In 1949, idols of Lord Ram appeared in the Babri Masjid. The semi-governmental Wakf Board, an Indian Muslim trust owned the land on which the mosque stood. Both Hindu and Muslim parties launch civil suits and the Indian government, declaring the site "disputed", locks the gates to the mosque.[5]

In 1984, a movement is started for the creation of Ram Janmabhoomi temple by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party, under the leadership of L K Advani.[5]

In 1986, a district judge of Uttar Pradesh, orders the opening of the disputed structure to Hindus. This, allegedly, came from the Congress government which tried to balance the favour shown to the Muslims in Shah Bano controversy.[5]

In 1989- 1990, the VHP intensifies its activities by laying foundations of the Ram temple on the adjacent property. Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar proposes negotiations which only intensify the crisis.

In 1992, on December 6, the Structure is forcibly demolished by Kar Sevaks.[5][6] The then Narasimha Rao led Congress government let a makeshift temple appear in its place before moving the courts for status quo.[7] The demolition of the mosque triggered large-scale rioting.

In 2005 Kashmiri terrorists attacked the Ram Mandir and were gunned down by security forces (for more information see Ram Mandir Attack).


[edit] History

[edit] 19th century
Claims have been made that worship took place on a platform called "Ram Chabutara" prior to Independence. According to British sources, Hindus and Muslims used to worship together in the Disputed Structure in the 19th century until about 1855. P. Carnegy wrote in 1870:

"It is said that up to that time, the Hindus and Mohamedans alike used to worship in the mosquetemple. Since the British rule a railing has been put up to prevent dispute, within which, in the mosque the Mohamedans pray, while outside the fence the Hindus have raised a platform on which they make their offerings."[8]
This platform was outside the disputed structure but within its precincts. Hindu protagonists say that they have been demanding the return of the site for centuries, and cite accounts from several western travellers to India during the Mughal rule in India.


[edit] Archaeology of the site
Little archaeological work was done either on the historic building or its site prior to the illegal demolition. After the mosque built by Babar was illegally demolished, the site was bulldozed, disrupting the earth, and so archaeological results from after the demolition are very indefinite. Despite this, an archaeological survey was attempted.

Main article: Archaeology of Ayodhya

[edit] Literary sources
See also Ayodhya, Harsh Narain
Harsh Narain (1993) cited more than 130 references to the temple in English, French, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian and Arabic.


[edit] Joseph Tieffenthaler
The Austrian Jesuit Joseph Tieffenthaler wrote in 1768: “Emperor Aurangzeb got demolished the fortress called Ramcot, and erected on the same place a Mahometan temple with three cupolas. Others believe that it was constructed by Babor.”[9] Tieffenthaler also writes that Hindus celebrated Ram Navami (Rama's birth festival) in front of the mosque, and that the mosque was built on a temple.[10] He wrote: "The reason is that here existed formerly a house in which Beschan (Vishnu) took birth in the form of Rama and where it is said his three brothers were also born. Subsequently Aurangzeb and some say Babar destroyed the place in order to prevent the heathens from practising their ceremonies. However, they have continued to practice their religious ceremonies in both the places knowing this to have been the birth place of Rama by going around it three times and prostrating on the ground."[11]

The tradition of treating the site as the birthplace of Rama appears to have begun in early l8th century. The earliest suggestion that the Babri Masjid is in proximity to the birthplace of Ram was made by the Jesuit priest Joseph Tieffenthaler, whose work in French was published in Berlin in 1788. It says:

"Emperor Aurangzeb got demolished the fortress called Ramkot, and erected on the same place a Mahometan temple with three cuppolas. Others believe that it was constructed by Babar. We see 14 columns of black stone 5 spans high that occupy places within the fortress. Twelve of these columns now bear the interior arcades of the Masjid; two (of the 12) make up the entrance of the cloister. Two others form part of the tomb of a certain Moor. It is related that these columns, or rather the debris of these columns, were brought from Lanka (called Ceylon by the Europeans) by Hanuman, chief of the monkeys." which in French reads as

l'empereur Aurungzeb détruisit la forteresse appelée Ramkot et construisit sur le même emplacement un temple musulman avec 3 dômes. D'autres pensent qu'il a été construit par Babar. On peut voir 14 colonnes faites en pierre noire qui soutiennent des découpages ...

... Plus tard Aurungzeb, ou, selon certains, Babar, détruisit l'endroit afin d'empêcher des païens de pratiquer leurs cérémonies. Toutefois ils continuèrent à pratiquer leurs cérémonies religieuses dans ce lieu, le connaisant comme celui de la naissance de Rama, en en faisant 3 fois le tour et en se prosternant à terre..

We see on the left a square platform 5 inches above ground, 5 inches long and 4 inches wide, constructed of mud and covered with lime. The Hindus call it bedi, that is to say, the birth-place. The reason is that here there was a house in which Beschan, (Bishan-Vishnu) took the form of Rama, and his three brothers are also said to have been born. Subsequently, Aurangzeb, or according to others, Babar razed this place down, in order not to give the Gentiles (Hindus) occasion to practice their superstition. However, they continued to follow their superstitious practices in both places, believing it to be the birthplace of Rama." Questions of history

This record reveals that Aurengzeb demolished the Ramkot fortress; that either he, or Babar constructed a Masjid there; the 12 columns of black stone pillars were brought from Lanka; and when veneration of Rama became prevalent after the 17th century, a small rectangular mud platform was built to mark the birthplace of Rama.

However, this account does not explicitly mention the existence of a temple but a mud platform.


[edit] Mirza Jan
Mirza Jan was a Muslim who participated in an attempt reconquest the Hanuman Ghari temple (which is a few hundred yards from the Babri Mosque) during Wajid Ali Shah's rule.

Mirza Jan wrote in 1856 that “a lofty mosque has been built by badshah Babar” on “the original birthplace of Rama”, so that “where there was a big temple, a big mosque was constructed, and where there was a small temple, a small mosque was constructed”.[12]
Mizra Jan also wrote: ‘wherever they found magnificent temples of the Hindus ever since the establishment of Sayyid Salar Mas’ud Ghazi’s rule, the Muslim rulers in India built mosques, monasteries, and inns, appointed mu’azzins, teachers, and store-stewards, spread Islam vigorously, and vanquished the Kafirs. Likewise, they cleared up Faizabad and Avadh, too, from the filth of reprobation (infidelity), because it was a great centre of worship and capital of Rama’s father. Where there stood the great temple (of Ramjanmasthan), there they built a big mosque, and, where there was a small mandap (pavilion), there they erected a camp mosque (masjid-i mukhtasar-i qanati). The Janmasthan temple is the principal place of Rama’s incarnation, adjacent to which is the Sita ki Rasoi. Hence, what a lofty mosque was built there by king Babar in 923 A. H. (1528 A.D.), under the patronage of Musa Ashiqan! The mosque is still known far and wide as the Sita ki Rasoi mosque. And that temple is extant by its side (aur pahlu mein wah dair baqi hai) ’ (Mirza Jan: Hadiqa-i Shahada (“The garden of martyrdom”), Lucknow 1856p. 247). Mirza Jan also wrote (quoting a relative of Aurangzeb), that the temples of Rama, Shiva, Krishna as well as Sita's Kitchen (i.e. part of the Ramkot complex) "were all demolished for the strength of Islam, and at all these places mosques have been constructed".[13]
But there are others who contest the writing as an exaggerated version of history in a book that is on Martyrdom and published at least three hundred years later to the construction of the Babri Mosque.


[edit] Shykh Muhammad Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami
Shykh Muhammad Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami (1811-1893) wrote: ‘According to old records, it has been a rule with the Muslim rulers from the first to build mosques, monasteries, and inns, spread Islam, and put (a stop to) non-Islamic practices, wherever they found prominence (of kufr). Accordingly, even as they cleared up Mathura, Bindraban, etc., from the rubbish of non-Islamic practices, the Babari mosque was built up in 923(?) A.H. under the patronage of Sayyid Musa Ashiqan in the Janmasthan temple (butkhane Janmasthan mein) in Faizabad-Avadh, which was a great place of (worship) and capital of Rama’s father’ (p. 9). ‘Among the Hindus it was known as Sita ki Rasoi’ (p. 10).[14] Zak Kakorawi, in his publication of the work of Shykh Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami, also includes an excerpt written by Mirza Rajab Ali Beg Surur. Mirza Rajab Ali Beg Surur (1787-1867) wrote in Fasanah-i Ibrat that ‘a great mosque was built on the spot where Sita ki Rasoi is situated. During the regime of Babar, the Hindus had no guts to be a match for the Muslims. The mosque was built in 923(?) A.H. under the patronage of Sayyid Mir Ashiqan… Aurangzeb built a mosque on the Hanuman Garhi… The Bairagis effaced the mosque and erected a temple in its place. Then idols began to be worshipped openly in the Babari mosque where the Sita ki Rasoi is situated,’ (pp. 71-72).

However, some observers have likened this account very similar to this Colonial exchange between the British Viceroy and the Prime Minister "Every civil building connected with Mahommedan tradition should be levelled to the ground without regard to antiquarian veneration or artistic predilection." British Prime Minister Palmerston's Letter No. 9 dated 9 October 1857, to Lord Canning, Viceroy of India, Canning Papers.


[edit] Guru Nanak
According to Bhai Man Singh's Pothi Janam Sakhi (late 18th century), Guru Nanak visited Ayodhya and said to his Muslim disciple Mardana: 'Mardania! eh Ajudhia nagari Sri Ramachandraji Ji ki hai. So, chal, iska darsan kari'e. Translation: 'Mardana! this Ayodhya city belongs to Sri Ramachandra Ji. So let us go for his darshan [visit with God].'[15]Nevertheless, Guru Nanak does not specifically state which temple should be visited.


[edit] Abul Fazl
In Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari (1598), Ayodhya is called “one of the holiest places of antiquity” and “the residence of Ramchander”. It mentions the celebration of Rama's birth festival (Ram Navmi) in Ayodhya.[16] However, again no specific spot was identified, in this account. He even mentions small details such as two Jewish priests lay buried in Ayodhya. Yet there is not the remotest reference to Ram's birthsite, let alone to any mosque built on it. Clearly the tradition did not continue Ram's birthplace to the existing town of Ayodhya, or the site occupied by the Babri Masjid.


[edit] Other sources
A. Führer wrote that: 'Mir Khan built a masjid in A.H. 930 during the reign of Babar, which still bears his name. This old temple must have been a fine one, for many of its columns have been utilized by the Musalmans in the construction of Babar's Masjid.'[17]

H.R. Neville wrote that the Janmasthan temple "was destroyed by Babar and replaced by a mosque."[18] He also wrote "The Janmasthan was in Ramkot and marked the birthplace of Rama. In 1528 A.D. Babar came to Ayodhya and halted here for a week. He destroyed the ancient temple and on its site built a mosque, still known as Babar's mosque. The materials of the old structure [i.e., the temple] were largely employed, and many of the columns were in good preservation."[19]

William Flinch, AD 1608,the British historian William Flinch who stayed in India during AD 1608-11 gives a detailed description of Ayodhya and the castle of Ramchand (Ramkot), "extensive enough to undertake a search for gold." Though he does not mention the birthplace of Rama, he gives a detailed account of the place where the ashes of Ram are kept. "Some two miles on the further side of the river in a cave of his with a narrow entrance, but so spacious and full of turnings within that a man may well loose himself there if he taketh not better heed; where it is thought his ashes were buried. Hither resort many from all parts of India, which carry from thence in remembrance certain grains of rice as black as gunpowder which they say have been preserved ever since." Had the place been considered sacred for being the birthplace of the Lord Rama, it should have become one of the places of pilgrimage. Instead the place where his ashes are kept was considered a place of veneration.

According to Romila Thapar "If we do not take Hindu mythology in account the first historical description of the city dates back recently to the 7th century, when the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang observed there were 20 Buddhist temples with 3000 monks at Ayodhya, amongst a large Hindu population. In 1528, nobles under Mughal emperor Babur constructed a mosque over the disputed site. The mosque, called the Babri Masjid, has become a source of contention for some Hindus. At the end of the 19th century, Ayodhya contained 96 Hindu temples and 36 Muslim mosques. Little local trade was carried on, but the great Hindu fair of Ram Navami held every year was attended by about 500,000 people.".


[edit] Alleged censorship
Hindu parties cite that several attempts to censor information regarding the destruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi (and other temples) have been discovered. The book "Hindustan Islami Ahad Mein" by Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai, which included a chapter that described the demolition of the Ram Janmabhoomi and other temples, was suddenly missing in most libraries. The English version (1977) has the passages that described the destruction of temples censored out.

The book Muruqqa-i Khusrawi by Sheikh Mohammed Azamat Ali Nami, published by Zaki Kakorawi with the financial aid of the F.A. Ahmad Memorial Committee, has a chapter describing the destruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi censored out. Zaki Kakorawi later published the relevant chapter independently. He wrote about this incident that the ‘suppression of any part of any old composition or compilation like this can create difficulties and misunderstandings for future historians and researchers’.[20]


[edit] Ram Janmabhoomi temple construction
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. (December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

The matter is under court investigation but this does not seem to deter the VHP in preparing for its grand construction and some models and basic stone work has already been completed channelled by different organisations including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which gains substantial amount of cashflows from expatriate Hindu populations in the US and Europe. Various workshops in different parts of India are working continuously since Sept. 1990. Till 2001, about 45% of the work on Ground Floor was completed.


[edit] The Ayodhya debate
Main article: Ayodhya Debate

[edit] Notes
^ 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1986, entry "Ayodhya", Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.
^ e.g. Romila Thapar. Tom Bottomore: Dictionary of Marxist Thought, Blackwell, Oxford 1988, entry “Hinduism”.
^ a b Sikand, Yoginder (2006-08-05). "Ayodhya's Forgotten Muslim Past". Counter Currents. http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-sikand050806.htm. Retrieved on 12 January 2008.
^ Ali (preface by Irfan Habib), M.Athar (2008). Mughal India. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195696615.
^ a b c d BBC.com Timeline: Ayodhya Crisis, 5 July, 2005
^ [1] BBC Mark Tully, Eyewitness: Ayodhya destruction London, UK, July 5, 2005
^ [2] Kuldeep Nair, Editors and Prime Ministers Rediff
^ P. Carnegy: A Historical Sketch of Tehsil Fyzabad, Lucknow 1870, cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 81-85504-16-4 p.8-9, and by Peter Van der Veer Religious Nationalism, p.153
^ (Quoted by R.S. Sharma et al.: Historians Report, p.19)
^ (A.K. Chatterjee: “Ram Janmabhoomi: some more evidence”, Indian Express, 27-3-1990 and History and Geography of India, by Joseph Tieffenthaler, (published in French by Bernoulli in 1785))
^ Joseph Tieffenthaler, History and Geography of India, 1785, publisher: Bernoulli, France, cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164 p.8-9, and by Peter Van der Veer Religious Nationalism, p.153
^ Mirza Jan, Hadiqa-i Shahada (“The garden of martyrdom”),1856, Lucknow, cited by VHP evidence bundle History vs. Casuistry, Voice of India, Delhi, 1991, p.14; also cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164 p.8-9, and by Peter Van der Veer Religious Nationalism, p.153
^ Sahifa-i Chahal Nasaih Bahadur Shahi, Letter of the Forty Advices of Bahadur Shah, also cited in VHP evidence bundle. History vs. Casuistry, p. 13-14.), cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164 p.8-9, and by Peter Van der Veer Religious Nationalism, p.153
^ Shykh Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami, Muraqqah-i Khusrawi or Tarikh-i Avadh cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164
^ Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, pp 14-15, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164
^ (R.S. Sharma et al.: Historians’ Report, p.16.)
^ ( A. Führer: The Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Archaeological Survey of India Report, 1891, pp 296-297) cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164
^ (H.R. Neville in the Barabanki District Gazetteer, Lucknow, 1905, pp 168-169)
^ H.R. Neville, Fyzabad District Gazetteer, Lucknow, 1905, pp 172-177) cited by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 8185504164
^ (Amir Ali Shahid aur Ma’rkah-i Hanuman Garhi, p. 3)





[edit] References
Ram Sharan Sharma. Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, People's Publishing House (PPH), 2nd Revised Edition, September, 1999, Delhi. Translated into Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Two versions in Bengali.
Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. 1996. Edited, translated and annotated by Wheeler M. Thacktson. New York and London: Oxford University Press.
Swapan Dasgupta et al.: The Ayodhya Reference: Supreme Court Judgement and Commentaries. 1995. New Delhi: Voice of India. ISBN 81-85990-30-1
Ayodhya and the Future of India. 1993. Edited by Jitendra Bajaj. Madras: Centre for Policy Studies. ISBN 81-86041-02-8 hb ISBN 81-86041-03-6 pb
Elst, Koenraad. 1991. Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society. 1991. New Delhi: Voice of India. [5]
Elst, Koenraad, Ayodhya, The Finale - Science versus Secularism the Excavations Debate (2003) ISBN 81-85990-77-8
Elst, Koenraad, Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple (2002) ISBN 81-85990-75-1
Emmanuel, Dominic. 'The Mumbai bomb blasts and the Ayodhya tangle', National Catholic Reporter (Kansas City, August 27, 2003).
Sita Ram Goel: Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them, Voice of India, Delhi 1991. [6] [7]
Harsh Narain. 1993. The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources. Delhi: Penman Publishers.
R. Nath. Babari Masjid of Ayodhya, Jaipur 1991.
A. Nandy, S. Trivedy, S. Mayaram, Achyut Yagnik, Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi Movement and Fear of the Self, Oxford University Press, USA (1998), ISBN 0195642716.
Rajaram, N.S. (2000). Profiles in Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea Scrolls. New Delhi: Voice of India
Thakur Prasad Varma and Swarajya Prakash Gupta: Ayodhya ka Itihas evam Puratattva— Rigveda kal se ab tak (‘History and Archaeology of Ayodhya— From the Time of the Rigveda to the Present’). Bharatiya Itihasa evam Samskrit Parishad and DK Printworld. New Delhi.
Thapar, Romila. 'A Historical Perspective on the Story of Rama' in Thapar (2000).
Thapar, Romila. Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History (New Delhi: Oxford University, 2000) ISBN 0-19-564050-0.
Ayodhya ka Itihas evam Puratattva— Rigveda kal se ab tak (‘History and Archaeology of Ayodhya— From the Time of the Rigveda to the Present’) by Thakur Prasad Varma and Swarajya Prakash Gupta. Bharatiya Itihasa evam Samskrit Parishad and DK Printworld. New Delhi. (An important work on the archaeology of the temple.)
History versus Casuistry: Evidence of the Ramajanmabhoomi Mandir presented by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to the Government of India in December-January 1990-91. New Delhi: Voice of India.

[edit] In fiction
The Babri riots are depicted in the 1995 film Bombay.
Nasrin, Taslima: Lajja

[edit] See also
All India Babri Masjid Action Committee
Babur
Ram Karmabhoomi
Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques

[edit] External links
A closer look at the Ayhodya issue
Koenraad Elst, Articles on the Ayodhya Debate

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Janmabhoomi"
Categories: Ayodhya | Hindu temples in Uttar Pradesh | Politics of India | Ramayana | Vishnu temples | 108 holy temples of Vishnu | Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques | Tourism in Uttar Pradesh | Destroyed landmarks | Tourism in India | Islamic rule in India
Hidden categories: NPOV disputes from December 2007 | All NPOV disputes | India articles missing geocoordinate data

Advani did little to help Ram Mandir movement: Govindacharya

New Delhi, Dec 06: Former BJP ideologue K N Govindacharya on Saturday accused his one-time party colleague L K Advani of doing little when he was Home Minister to benefit the 'Ram Mandir movement'.

"While the Babri masjid premises were under the supervision of the Home Ministry, he (Advani) did not accede to even minor requests from devotees to put the barricade of the sanctum sanctorum at its place in keeping with Supreme Court orders," Govindacharya said on the 16th anniversary of the Babri mosque demolition today.

Alleging that Advani did little to benefit the movement that catapulted the party to power, Govindacharya charged him with preventing the transition from 'Ram Mandir' to 'Ram Rajya'.

"Ashok Singhal's arrest was also condemnable," he said, adding that, "I do not feel joy nor gloom over the day. It is a joyful day for those who made the most of it and a gloomy day for others who felt deprived of a pro-poor Ram Rajya there after as the BJP moved away from the cause."

However, this anniversary of Babri masjid demolition was different with the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which celebrate the day as "Shaurya Divas" (gallantry day) every year, using the occasion to take a pledge to root out terrorism.

"We are replacing our celebrations with pledges against terrorism and organising training camps to brief cadres about how to prevent and deal with terror attacks," said Bajrang Dal's National Convenor Prakash Sharma.

The RSS also kept a low profile on the occasion and held no local or national functions.

Bureau Report


http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-06/488994news.html

For ‘secular’ SP, Kalyan spins Babri demolition
Font Size Sanjay Singh
Posted: Feb 05, 2009 at 0158 hrs IST

Lucknow: To help SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav contain the fallout of their new “friendship”, former BJP leader Kalyan Singh today said he had taken the “moral responsibility for the incident of December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya” — the demolition of the Babri Masjid — and “resigned as chief minister” the same day.

Sending out a clear signal to Muslims, Kalyan Singh, in a statement, said those who want the BJP eliminated should welcome his “friendship” with Mulayam Singh. Those opposing this “friendship”, he said, would only be helping the BJP. He said the main objective of his “friendship” with the SP leader was to “destroy the BJP and prevent it from coming to power at the Centre”.

Under fire from Muslims for courting Kalyan Singh, Mulayam Singh has launched a damage-control exercise, meeting and assuring Muslim leaders that there is no alliance and that their “friendship” will bring about “the downfall of the BJP”. SP general secretary Amar Singh even visited Deoband.

Last night, Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh met Kalyan Singh at his Lucknow residence. Kalyan Singh declined to reveal details, saying they discussed electoral strategy. He denied reports that Amar Singh had asked him to apologise for the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/for-secular-sp-kalyan-spins-babri-demolition/419481/

Babri demolition report likely before Lok Sabha polls
6 Feb 2009, 1656 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: Seventeen years since it was formed to probe the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, the Liberhan Commission — one of the longest
running inquiry panels costing the government over Rs 7 million — is hopeful of submitting its report before March 31, just before the general elections.

"I am in the right direction. Things are on track and since you have been patient all this while, why don't you cooperate a little longer. I have time till March 31. So pray to god it is over soon," Justice (Retd) M.S. Liberhan told IANS from Chandigarh.

The 70-year-old judge, who is currently writing up his report on the sequence of events leading to the razing of the Babri mosque by Hindu zealots Dec 6, 1992, was, however, non-committal on whether his report would come down heavily on leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and hardline Hindu organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Besides identifying those who played a role in the destruction of the 16th century mosque, the commission is also expected to state why and how the demolition happened.

"I will not be able to tell you that. Wait for it to come out as I have to apply my mind. But what I would like to say is since there is considerable interest in this commission, especially because it has taken so long, I will be judged closely by the media," said Liberhan. The commission is currently on its 47th extension.

His remark assumes significance especially after the commission's lawyer, Anupam Gupta, dissociated himself from the one-man panel after eight years because of differences with Liberhan.

Gupta's relations with the judge had reportedly come under strain midway during the examination of L.K. Advani when the BJP leader was home minister. Advani lost his cool and lodged a protest with Liberhan who in turn asked Gupta to tone down his cross-examination.

Though Gupta persisted, being the commission's lawyer, he gradually began to lean away from the panel in 2007 and has not spoken to the judge in the last six months.

"I am absolutely clueless about the possible content of the report or even its timing. However, one thing I am certain of is history will not forgive Justice Liberhan if after the mountain of labour put over all these years the commission finally produces a mouse!" Gupta said.

"Despite the lapse of time, the enormity of the event must not be forgotten."

The commission was appointed by former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao of the Congress two weeks after the demolition to ward off criticism against his government for having failed to protect the mosque.

In August 2005, the commission finished hearing its last witness, Kalyan Singh, who was Uttar Pradesh chief minister at the time of the mosque's demolition and was dismissed soon after. Incidentally, this week Kalyan Singh said he had owned up "moral responsibility" for the destruction at that time.

The commission has recorded the statements of several politicians, bureaucrats and police officials, including the late Narasimha Rao, Advani and his BJP colleagues Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati as well as Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.
However, the panel had a tough time during the deposition of Bajrang Dal leader Vinay Katiyar, who used some foul language and went to the extent of saying that the report of the commission would be "useless" and would gather dust on official shelves.

On Dec 6, 1992, rightwing Hindu activists attacked the Babri mosque, saying it was built on the birthplace of Lord Ram. The incident sparked off nationwide communal strife, claiming around 2,000 lives and polarising Indian society.