A question marked in red

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/20488.html

Sumit Sarkar
Posted online: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Indian Express
This is a critique from the Left of the CPM's industrialisation policy in Bengal. Is the violence,
cadre brutality and lack of consent that runs through this strategy the only way to develop? How
do Singur and Nandigram serve the people?
As a lifelong Leftist, I am deeply shocked by recent events in the countryside of West
Bengal. On December 31, a group of us went to Singur, spent the whole day there, visited
4 out of the 5 most affected villages which border the land that has been taken over. We
had conversations with at least 50-60 villagers. Almost all rushed to us and told us their
complaints.
From this brief but not necessarily unrepresentative sample, three things became very
clear, because of which the West Bengal government's version cannot be accepted. One,
the land, far from being infertile or mono-cropped, as has been stated repeatedly, is
extremely fertile and multi-cropped. We saw potatoes and vegetables already growing
after the aman rice has been harvested, some of them actually planted behind the now
fenced-in area which the peasants had lost. Two, there is no doubt that the vast bulk of the
villagers we met are opposed to the take-over of land and most are refusing
compensation. It should also be kept in mind that at best the consent of the registered
landholders as well as sharecroppers is being taken. But agricultural production also
involves sharecroppers who are not covered by Operation Barga since they have come in
later, as well as agricultural labour. Under the government-announced scheme for
compensation, such people are not being remembered.
Three, we found much evidence of force being employed, particularly on the nights of
September 25 and December 2. We met many people — men and also a large number of
women — who had been beaten up, their injuries still visible, including an 80 year old
woman.
What the villagers repeatedly alleged was that along with the police, and it seems more
than the police, party activists, whom the villagers call 'cadres' — which has sadly
become a term of abuse — did the major part of the beating up. Clearly, the whole thing
had been done without consultation, with very little transparency, and in a very
undemocratic manner.
As for the official claims of land being mono-cropped, the Economic and Political
Weekly in an editorial of December 23 has pointed out that the last land survey of the
area was done in the 1970s which means that the records with the government are
backdated. Surely there must be much more investigation on the ground and consultation
with panchayats and other local bodies. No one, not even the government, has actually
claimed that such consultation has taken place. It was done entirely from the top.
These mistakes, to put it mildly, are being repeated on a much bigger scale in the
Nandigram region. This has become far more serious because a much greater area of land
is being taken — with the same lack of transparency, absence of consent and massive
brutality. Once again, one is hearing reports of CPM cadres engaged in an offensive
against peasants. What is happening at Nandigram is a near civil war situation.
The West Bengal government seems determined to follow a particular path of
development involving major concessions both to big capitalists like the Tatas and
multinationals operating in SEZs. Yet the strange thing is that these, particularly the latter,
are things which Left parties and groups as well as many others have been repeatedly and
vehemently opposing. No less a person than the CPM General Secretary in the course of
last week made 2-3 statements attacking SEZs. The CPM has been at the forefront of the
struggles against such developments in other parts of the country.
Surely there must be a search, at least, for paths of development that could balance
necessary industrial development with social concerns and transparency and democratic
values. Is this SEZ model that implies massive displacement and distress really the only
way? If the West Bengal government thinks so, then it also has to accept that the
inevitable consequences are going to be a repetition of Nandigram across the state.
This is the price that will be paid by government, ordinary people as well as investors for
this model of development.
[The writer is an eminent historian]
editor@expressindia.com

WB Govt seeks Central forces for Nandigram

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/233788.html

Express News Service

KOLKATA OCTOBER 29: The West Bengal government on Monday requested the Union Government to send more companies of Central Reserve Police Force to the violence-hit Nandigram, even as irate Trinamool Congress supporters took to the streets, setting up road blocks and damaging buses in the state.

“I do not want a repeat of March 14 by once again sending state police forces,” Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said after speaking to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

“I have not yet thought of calling the Army though I have asked for CRPF personnel. However, I want to say that police or Army action will not be able to solve the problem. There has to be a political solution. I have patience and I exhort the Opposition to respond to my call for a political solution,” Bhattacharjee said at Writers’ Building.

The Chief Minister admitted there was no rule of law in Nandigram. “Nandigram has become a liberated zone. Police cannot move there. No development work is taking place. But who is suffering for all these? How long will the government tolerate this?” he asked. The Chief Minister said that a number of groups, including Naxalites and criminals, were inciting violence in Nandigram.

“Naxalites are roaming there freely. I have definite information that a group of about 100 Naxalites were moving around Nandigram. Ranjit Paul, one of the principal accused in the murder of Sunil Mahato (Jamshedpur MP) is moving around. The Bandi Mukti Morcha of APDR (a human rights organisation) is also there,” the Chief Minister said.

Bhattacharjee said the government has already conceded the demands raised by the BUPC. “They had four demands — compensation to police firing victims, withdrawal of all police cases against BUPC members, taking out Nandigram from the purview of Haldia Development Authority, and overall development of the area. I have rejected none of them. We can always talk about those demands. But for that they have to come forward. I don’t understand what Mamata Banerjee wants. What is her agenda? That is the main impediment (in solving the problem),” he said.

The Chief Minister also said that Mamata Banerjee’s claim that her convoy was attacked on Sunday in Nandigram was baseless. “I have got the reports. The allegation has no basis. However the police have started the inquiry,” Bhattacharjee said.

Meanwhile, a government bus was damaged in stone-pelting by Trinamool supporters at Kalighat, according to Deputy Commissioner (headquarters) of city police Vineet Goel. The activists deflated the tyres of several buses and blocked various important intersections including Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, S N Banerjee Road, Hazra, Gopalnagar and Kalighat.

On the other hand, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee demanded Central intervention to stop the continuing violence at Nandigram, dismissal of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and a CBI inquiry into the alleged firing on her convoy.

Nandigram to PDS, CPM red-faced over trouble at grassroots

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/225178.html

Bidyut Roy

Posted online: Saturday, October 06, 2007 at 0000 hrs

Even as the CPI(M) is preaching foreign policy to the UPA Government in Delhi, the comrades running the powerbase of West Bengal are busy tackling crises at the grassroots, one after the other.

For Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the first shock was the trouble that erupted following land acquisition at Singur for the Tata Motors’ small-car project. Barely had that died down, a much bigger crisis broke out in not-so-far-away Nandigram in December last year as farmers opposed the Government’s plans to acquire a much larger swathe of land for a couple of special economic zones (SEZs). The Nandigram trouble peaked in March 14 this year, when 14 people were killed in police firing.

As Bhattacharjee continued to woo industry, making announcements in fits and starts after the Nandigram dampener, the ground shifted again. This time, villagers in various parts rebelled against the pathetic state of the public distribution system (PDS). The first flare-up took place in Bankura, in the last week of August. Since then, the violence — in which shops have been burnt down and party leaders attacked — has claimed four lives.

The PDS crisis has two interesting points. First, while it is being led by the Trinamool Congress, at the grassroots it is backed by CPI(M) activists. Second, Muslims here have coalesced with the Scheduled Castes and Tribes to rail against institutionalised corruption. This, at a time when CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat has been going hammer and tongs at the Congress-led UPA Government alleging that it is neglecting the PDS system.

As if land acquisition and rationing system were not enough, the latest crisis has sprung from a poor but educated Muslim boy’s love for a rich businessman’s daughter. It seems that when Rizwanur Rehman fell in love with Priyanka Todi and married her, her father was livid and used his connections to bully the boy. The bullying failed. But the boy was found dead on a railway line. While the police is under siege for meddling in a domestic arrangement, senior leaders and CPI(M) ministers — Muslims and otherwise — have begun criticising the police.

Meanwhile, even as the CPI(M) in Delhi was challenging the UPA Government to do more for the Muslims, the Justice Rajindar Sachar Report showed that the CPI(M)-led Left Front Government in West Bengal had a dismal record in improving the lot of Muslims. Muslims, traditionally pampered by the CPI(M), suddenly woke up to ground realities. For long, Muslims have been important for the “secular” CPI(M). They account for 27 per cent of the votes.

With Karat and his colleagues in Delhi threatening the existence of the UPA Government, the CPI(M) in the state has already begun telling its district committees to gear up for the panchayat polls, which are due in June 2008. But the district committee leaders have lobbed the ball back to the CPI(M) state headquarters. They want the state leaders to clear three points first. One, why has the Government failed to take action against officials and policemen responsible for the Nandigram firing. Two, what should they tell their Muslim voters about the Sachar Commission findings. And finally, why is the Government not taking action against the police officers in the Rizwanur case?

************************************************************************************************

BURDWAN/MALDA, Oct. 7 - Statesman Report

An angry mob, protesting against corrupt rationing practices, ransacked the house of a ration dealer, looted food materials and launched an attack on a procession and office of the CPI-M in Nababhat in the outskirts of Burdwan town today. The ration dealer is reportedly a Trinamul Congress supporter and the attackers were allegedly backed by the RSP.

As protests and public outrage against corrupt rationing practices spread to the neighbouring districts, angry villagers in the Kandi sub-division area of Murshidabad ransacked houses and shops of five ration dealers, went on a looting spree and also set on fire their go-downs in a series of incidents since yesterday.In Burdwan, a mob broke into the house of ration dealer, Mr Sheikh Fakir Mohammed around 8.30 a.m., dragged him out of his house along with his sons and beat them up. Even the womenfolk of the house were not spared. The mob also torched a tractor, six motorbikes and a Tata Sumo while furniture worth Rs 12 lakh were set on fire as well. Ten television sets, ten VCDs, a sound system, two refrigerators were damaged when the house was ransacked.

Gold jewellery worth Rs 8 lakh and Rs 14 lakh in cash were also looted. Soon after this, a group of CPI-M activists and leaders were also attacked when they tried to defend the dealer and a local party office was ransacked. Twelve CPI-M supporters, including two of their leaders, Mr Ganesh Chowdhury and Mr Arabindo Panja were rushed to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob and eight villagers were arrested. Later, around 2000 CPI-M supporters, took out a rally in the village brandishing sword, lathis and chains.
The ration dealer later alleged: “The intruders were headed by RSP activists. Yesterday they had demanded Rs 15 lakh to spare house of vandalism.” Reports say that the dealer, is also a rich farmer and according to the district administration, “there has been no complaint against him.”

Mr Amol Halder, district CPI-M secretary said: “The miscreants are taking advantage of the current turmoil surrounding the rationing system. This dealer is a supporter of TMC, but our men went to his rescue as we are not tackling the issue politically.”
Meanwhile, the Murshidabad SP, Mr. Rahul Srivastava said that 37 persons were arrested in connection with looting spree at shops of ration dealers’ and go-downs of distributors. “A large police contingent has been deployed in trouble prone areas to combat the situation,” Mr. Srivastava said.

Police said that violence spread to Murshidabad following rumours that dealers in the district would compensate Rs 1000 each to ration cardholders. When dealers refused to do so, angry villagers looted the houses of ration dealers located at Sherpur, Simulia in Khargram today.

At Sherpur, two vehicles and two go-downs of Mr. Nazir Khan, a ration dealer, were set on fire. 24 persons were arrested in this connection. At Simulia, villagers looted the house of Aleyara Bibi, a modified ration dealer, when her husband was away from home. It was alleged that villagers looted even ornaments from her house.

“We do not have such information, but will enquire into the ornament looting case, if any. In fact, we do not have complaints and we are initiating suo moto cases here,” the Murshidabad SP said.

Police said that distributors serving the Kandi sub-division area could not supply materials for this week and some dealers left their home after hanging a closure notice in front of their shops. This created further trouble.

Brinda’s latest: Maoists used sea to reach Nandigram

Brinda’s latest: Maoists used sea to reach Nandigram

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/28031.html

Press Trust Of India

Posted online: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Ranchi, April 10: Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat today claimed that Maoists may have used a sea route to reach Nandigram and create trouble there. “The ultras might have used the sea route from somewhere in Bengal to reach Nandigram to create disturbances,” Politburo member Karat told a press conference here without giving any details.

She alleged the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee, which was leading the protest against land acquisition there, was sheltering the Maoists who had supported it in an open letter. “The open letter is a serious issue. But we did not hear a single statement from the Trinamool Congress about it,” she said.

She alleged that Maoists hiding in Jharkhand often crossed the state border to commit crimes in neighbouring West Bengal.

Concrete steps through coordinated efforts are required to end the “serious” problem in Jharkhand, she said. “The state should have a policy on how to get over the problem and place its action plan before the Centre,” she said.

On “threat” letters issued by the Maoists to politicians, Karat said it was serious and called for immediate steps to address it.

The Maoists had reportedly issued separate letters to the Jharkhand Deputy Chief Minister, Sudhir Mahto, and state Congress president Pradeep Kumar Balmachu.

For first time, Opp has chosen right issue but roll back will be disaster for CPM: CM’s No. 2

For first time, Opp has chosen right issue but roll back will be disaster for CPM: CM’s No. 2

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/26928.html

Subrata Nagchoudhury / Bidyut Roy

Posted online: Thursday, March 29, 2007

KOLKATA, March 28: If West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today underlined the economic necessity of his industrialisation policy, his Industries Minister Nirupam Sen has said there is a political necessity, too.

“We are committed to the road to industrialization even at a political risk. It’s a political compulsion for us to pursue the growth of industry. Abandoning it will be a disaster for the state of West Bengal and for the CPM as well,” Sen, considered the No 2 in Bhattacharjee’s Cabinet, told The Indian Express in a recent, exclusive interview.

Asked to explain how, Sen said: “We will have to win public trust and and make people realize why land-reforms that we introduced is not an end in itself. There is growing landlessness, it’s non-farm jobs that are showing an upward swing. And we are seeing the arrival of the first-generation educated among the farmers and almost all of them are keen on non-agricultural activity. The viability of agriculture is becoming lower and lower. Small farmers do not have the capital or the land to introduce technology to upgrade yields. So if we cannot reduce the pressure on agriculture, there will be a disaster.”

According to the latest NSSO report, in West Bengal, 78.8% of households have cultivable landholdings less than an acre — almost 16 points higher than the national average of 62. Other figures illustrate Sen’s point. Of the 2125 from the families of Singur landlosers who have enrolled themselves for various training workshops, 295 are college graduates, 48 are technical diploma-holders, 324 have cleared Class XII, 420 have cleared Class X. Even among the 540 landless who have enrolled, 18 are college graduates, 5 are technical diploma-holders, 36 have cleared Class XII and 70 have cleared the Class X Board exams.

Sen has also admitted that the party erred in handling the Nandigram issue. “The unfortunate, tragic firing has been a setback and made our job more difficult,” he said. “In Nandigram, the party was just preparing for meetings and negotiations. But trouble began before that and we were not able to do anything in terms of reaching out to the people. One thing, however, is true. The Opposition, for the first time, has probably chosen the right issue to fire the imagination of the masses against the ruling party. Land is an emotive, sensitive issue. It has given the Opposition a handle to claim they are pro-peasant and pro-farmer and the Left is against farmers.”

At the same time, Sen emphasized that the opposition to land acquisition should not be seen in mere political terms. “There are apprehensions, there are fears and these need to be addressed. Nandigram has certainly been a good lesson for us. The lesson is that the apprehension of the farmer should not be missed. It is this apprehension where we have been caught on the wrong foot. As an Opposition, there will be parties that will continue to disrupt the process. But if we take into account the apprehensions of the people, of the farmer, we will be able to do it. That’s the biggest challenge for us now, to have confidence-building measures for farmers, local residents and investors. The perception of West Bengal as an investment and development destination has changed. We have to ensure that people are not left out of this development process.”

Explaining the Government’s stand on Nandigram, Sen said that a consultant had been engaged to explore the area’s potential to be developed as a Petro-chemical Chemicals Petroleum Investment Region (PCPIR). “The Centre formulated a policy of setting up 8 such PCPIRs in the country where large investments would be made. Interested states were asked to give presentations before the government of India about suitable locations. We selected Haldia and made a presentation. Haldia already has Haldia Petrochemicals, Mitsubishi chemicals. Indian Oil Corporation agreed to be the anchor investor. The Centre agreed to our proposal. But as per its specification, the minimum area of a PCPIR is 250 sq km. Also Haldia being a river port, there was no scope for large vessels to come in. Therefore, we were preparing a feasibility report with the help of companies for a deep sea port so that Haldia and its adjoining areas become a regional industrial hub for South Asia. It was a long term vision plan for the state.”

It was the consultant’s advice, Sen said, to look for “land in and around Haldia and that is how Nandigram came into the picture.”

“The area has remained in the backyard of the coastal belt, devoid of development,” said Sen. “That’s why, at this stage, we cannot give the idea of abandoning the project. It is very very important for the state, for the region. May be the government will now have to think of the chemical hub minus Nandigram.”

To send a signal that the government’s policy is on track, Sen said, “we have to pursue the non-controversial projects with greater care.” For example, the proposed steel factory in Salboni in West Midnapore and industrial projects in Purulia and Bankura.

[again, the link to the one comment posted does not seem to function]

Not in Nandigram but will set up chemical hub, says Buddhadeb

Not in Nandigram but will set up chemical hub, says Buddhadeb

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/26927.html

Bidyut Roy

Posted online: Thursday, March 29, 2007

WB: I accept responsibility for what happened (firing), says CM, have asked Delhi for Plan B

Kolkata, March 28: Making his first public appearance after the police firing at Nandigram on March 14, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was back in form, stressing that there was no question of going back on plans for a chemical hub, the issue that aroused violent opposition in Nandigram.

On the police firing that led to 14 deaths, he said: “I, on behalf of the government, accept responsibility for what happened...To me, what matters is that human beings died. Their party affiliation is not important.”

Underlining his earlier statement, Bhattacharjee announced that the hub would not come up at Nandigram, but at an alternative location, as he sought to explain that his vision of industrialisation would not lead to jobless growth as the critics were claiming.

“Today, I spoke to New Delhi. I have told them to let us know the latest position since we have a pact with Indian Oil Corp (for the chemical hub),” Bhattacharjee told the students and youth wing of the CPI(M).

“We want the chemical hub,” he stressed. Once Delhi gives the final picture, “we will locate an alternative within seven days,” he told the crowd of around 10,000.

The state had planned to acquire 10,000 acres in the area for a special economic zone (SEZ) that would be part of a chemical hub cleared by the Union government (see adjoining story).

Bhattacharjee said the state government had wanted the chemical hub to come up at Nandigram, and to build a bridge over the River Haldi to connect the area with Haldia.

“We have one Haldia. We wanted to build another Haldia,” he said, referring to the port town that is home to major petrochemical-based plants of Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd and Indian Oil Corp, apart from other industries. “But the people of Nandigram did not accept our plans,” Bhattacharjee said. “At first, we had decided that the SEZ would not come up if the people there do not want it. Now, the government has decided not to build the SEZ at Nandigram.”

He urged the Opposition parties to remember that Leftists are also “human beings.” “Do not kill them,” he said, in a reference to the eviction of several CPM workers from their homes in Nandigram. Without naming any opposition leader or party, Bhattacharjee said: “Please do not ruin the state...Your actions are sending the wrong signals to the rest of the country and the world.”

Bhattacharjee said he and his team had gone across the country and to other countries as well to tell people that West Bengal needs investment. “Today, the state has turned around and has created an investment climate. In this year alone, we have investment proposals for Rs 78,000 crore,” he said. Because of the government’s drive, he said, the youth are again optimistic about getting jobs. “Should we not go forward? The opposition wants us to halt, but I say West Bengal will overcome all hurdles to become No. 1 in industry,” he said.

[again, the one comment posted does not show on the express website]

Nandigram-singed, Bengal govt changes tracks: let industry directly buy their land

Nandigram-singed, Bengal govt changes tracks: let industry directly buy their land

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/27547.html

Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay

Posted online: Thursday, April 05, 2007

KOLKATA, APRIL 4 : Wiser from its experience in Nandigram, the West Bengal government says it has started encouraging direct acquisition of land by industrialists for their proposed projects.

Jindal Steel is already buying land at Shalboni for its steel plant and others considering direct purchase include Balaji Steel, Bhushan Steel and Abhijit Group of Industries. In fact, the Balaji Group, which has plans for a plant at Raghunathgunj in Purulia, has begun talks with the local administration to purchase land directly from the people there.

“We already had a policy by which industrialists could buy their own land. Now the situation is such that we will have to encourage direct purchase of land by industrialists,” said Nirupam Sen, West Bengal Minister for Commerce and Industries.

His department’s principal secretary, Sabyasachi Sen, went a step further when he told The Indian Express: “Direct purchase is the best alternative for land acquisition. It is also quicker. For future industrialisation processes, the government will build consensus among local people and get investors to buy land there.”

Abdur Razzaq Mollah, state Minister for Land and Reforms, said he saw no problem in direct purchase but made clear that those who sold land directly to industrialists could not expect any state help.

Next to Nandigram firing site, CPM men were holed up with arms, ammo: CBI

Next to Nandigram firing site, CPM men were holed up with arms, ammo: CBI

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/27208.html

Subrata Nagchoudhury

Posted online: Sunday, April 01, 2007

CBI rebuts govt claim that party had no role in firing; Our men have to protect themselves: CPM


KOLKATA, MARCH 31: The CPM-led Left Front government in West Bengal has maintained that the March 14 police firing in Nandigram in which 14 people were killed was “unfortunate” and “tragic” and that the police had little choice when they were faced by a violent mob. The government denied that CPM party cadres were involved in any way.

However, in what could deeply embarrass the government, the Central Bureau of Investigation — ordered by the Calcutta High Court to probe the incident — has found evidence that contradicts this claim and establishes a link between the violence that day and CPM cadres who were supplied illegal arms and ammunition.

Highly placed sources have told The Sunday Express that the CBI’s report, presented to the court, contains evidence to show how, well before the incident in Nandigram on March 14, party cadres were brought in by local CPM leaders and accommodated in “three office rooms” of the Janani Brick Field at Sherkhanchawk, barely 300 m from the Bhangabera bridge, the site of the police firing.

Three days after the incident, the CBI arrested 10 of those CPM cadres during a surprise raid on the kiln. Based on their interrogation and recovery of material, the CBI has claimed that those arrested were supplied illegal weapons and a huge cache of ammunition (see box) by an “organized political party” (a reference to the CPM) with a view to create terror and attack “political activists of the opposite political party at the point of gun and muscle power.”

The stockpile included .315 rifles, countrymade firearms, shotguns, automatic pistols and revolvers and hundreds of cartridges.

Raj Kanojia, a spokesman of the state police, confirmed to The Sunday Express that the police force deployed in Nandigram on that day did not use .315 cartridges. But, significantly, the CBI team found as many as “238 pieces of empty cartridge case of 8 mm/.315 from the men arrested at the brick kiln.”

The CBI team also reported that those arrested had, with them, as many as 367 pieces of live cartridges of this 8 mm/.315 variety. Some of the cartridges recovered by the CBI were also said to be blood-stained.

Five mobile phone handsets were recovered as well from the arrested men in the brick kiln and the CBI is said to be investigating the calls made to and from these. Sources said the agency has established that the cadres were in touch with local leaders, including gun-runners and local criminals.

CBI investigators also recovered from those arrested several books of CPM party receipts, leaflets of the party’s youth wing, Democratic Youth Federation, and the All India Krishak Sabha, the party’s peasant wing. Figuring in the list of items recovered: “CPM flags, telephone diaries, personal diaries, green helmets, correspondence, a map and some yellow coloured plastic gunny bags having blackish stains.”

Benoy Konar, CPM state secretariat and central committee member and the president of the West Bengal unit of the All India Krishak Sabha, when asked about this evidence told The Sunday Express: “Our party men in Nandigram needed to protect themselves from the onslaught of the rival camps. We will have our defence should the issue come up before the court.”

The CBI’s finding reinforces public apprehension in Nandigram that the area is set for a protracted, even violent, political turf battle. Seizing on land as an issue, rival political parties have all got together and forced the CPM on the defensive.

Many CPM voters in the block of villagers, who refused to join the protests against the government’s decision to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram, have been evicted from their homes. State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen admitted to this newspaper that the party had been “caught on the wrong foot” as it could not reach out to the villagers on time.

Although Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has announced that there will be no hub — and, therefore, no land acquisition — in Nandigram, the region is still tense and those evicted from their homes are increasingly getting impatient.

What CBI says it found from the ten arrested

Arms

• .315 rifle having SL NO. AB 846231

• .315 rifle having SL No. AB 002231

• .315 rifle having SL No. AB002312

• .315 rifle having SL NO. AB 000041

• Country-made firearm (rifle) without any number.

• Shotgun, made in England, No 26847, single-barreled

• Shot gun with serial No 527932, single-barreled

• Firearm with the impression “DBS Enterprise, Calcutta (India), model 55

• Shotgun with impression “Selected Forged Steel Proof”, 2 ¾ inch chamber, model 94C

• Country-made pistol

• Automatic pistol, made in China

• Country-made six-cylinder revolver

• One revolver made in Japan

• Country-made pistol

Ammunition

• 238 empty cartridge cases of 8 mm /.315 bore

• 47 live .12 bore cartridges

• 27 live .12 bore cartridges and one empty case

• 44 live cartridges of various types

• 33 live cartridges of various type

• 367 live cartridges of 8 mm/.315

• 261 live cartridges of .380 inch bore, and one empty case

India Nirman

India Nirman

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/25736.html

Posted online: Friday, March 16, 2007

Who’s the most elitist: Those who stay in India and want stagnant Bharat to be preserved

That Mamata Banerjee’s figures for those killed/injured in Nandigram violence are almost certainly a theatrical overestimate does absolutely nothing to reduce the dimensions of the tragedy. Eleven — Wednesday’s official figure — people dying in one afternoon’s political violence over an economic project raises questions. But what kind of questions? Not the kinds being asked by those hyperventilating about the first battle of a ‘revolution’ in Nandigram or those busy searching the thesaurus for the next grand epithet to be hurled at Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Look, first, at the local facts. Nandigram protesters had sought to cut off the area from the rest of Bengal. Their modus operandi didn’t change even after the state’s announcement that land wouldn’t be acquired. Metropolitan anarchists apart, everyone should find this utterly unacceptable. Indeed, the Bengal administration can be faulted for waiting since early January, when this de facto secession was first attempted, to act. Early intervention would have certainly resulted in quicker and far less tragic resolution.

Now consider the fact about incentives. Just like in Singur, there is a difference in response between those who have clear land titles and those who are legally unrecognised long-standing land users. The first set looks at attractive monetary compensation. The second set risks getting nothing. Political actors have fed on the second group’s understandable agitation. There is a case here, and elsewhere in India, for devising compensation for genuine users without clear titles. History has produced uneven rural property rights. In Bengal, for example, most such tillers were settled by the CPM, with the promise that the party will make up for the absence of de jure rights. Good politics demands that land acquisition recognises these informal cases; while good administration, that this doesn’t open the doors to fraud and favouritism. This isn’t easy (something the Centre’s unwisely ambitious one-size-fits-all national rehab policy should recognise). But it has to be done. Another local fact is the CPM itself. The party is being paid back in the coin it has used to summarily settle many political transactions. There’s nothing commendable about Nandigram’s political agitationists. But there has been scarcely anything attractive about the CPM’s political machine either. This machine has taken over institutions and won elections. But it cannot and must not be the sword arm of an industrialisation policy that involves settling complicated property rights issues. Bhattacharjee’s really tough job is that — to shut down the machine while taking executive decisions.

The rest of India has the advantage of not hosting such political machines. And therefore it is crucial to recognise that in some respects Nandigram-like violence is unique to Bengal. But, of course, many outside Bengal are even more keen, post-Nandigram, to give industrialisation, whether via SEZs or otherwise, a bad name. One question for them. Do they want India to grow fast? If India chooses to go back to low growth, the industry-farm land issue will be worked out over many decades. If India chooses to grow fast, we will have to confront the issue and solve the problems. One of them is creating land markets. Government control has destroyed land markets, both in urban and rural India. The colonial Land Acquisition Act is no answer. But no land acquisition is an unforgivably wrong answer. SEZs, whether they export or not, are essential for accelerating India’s development. As greenfield projects they can quickly create urban infrastructure, bypassing byzantine rules. India’s rate of urbanisation actually slowed down in the 1990s, as compared to the 1950s and 1960s, and the rate is lower than many developing countries’. Those living in India but passionately asking for Bharat to be preserved are the most elitist of all. They don’t know or don’t care that 60 per cent of agricultural land is dry and therefore not prosperity-inducing — Nandigram’s land, incidentally, has a salinity problem, a fact that made acquisition attractive for many legal title holders — that a majority of holdings are small and unviable, that unskilled or semi-skilled industrial employment is the only secure prospect for millions in rural India, that if the political cost of investment rises, investors will go away. Bhattacharjee has said how he had to fight other states to get the project for Nandigram. If policymakers panic after Nandigram, India will have to fight other countries. Even Indian capital, in today’s world, needn’t be stuck with investing in India. Does anyone benefit from that, that’s the real question after Nandigram.

editor@expressindia.com

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Indian Express

Profile of protest

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/22806.html

Bengal’s anti-industry agitation is getting dangerous. But the state is also hosting the solution

As feared, the incohesive anti-industrialisation rhetoric in West Bengal has finally found utterance in terror tactics of the mob. Across the Haldi river from Nandigram, protesters killed a policeman of the state intelligence bureau. The manner of the lynching is already bringing recollection of the mindless, anti-government violence that began in Naxalbari in the 1960s. But with the ‘anti-land acquisition’ agitation turning so graphically violent, one needs to look afresh at its composition. Shrill threats from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress have been echoed on many occasions by the Congress, the BJP and even Left constituents like the CPI and the RSP. Flanking them are, predictably, assorted Naxalites and, surprisingly and in progressively greater numbers, members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. This emerging demographic profile of the agitation could, if unchecked, have disastrous consequences for the political economy of the state.

The Jamiat, in particular, has been providing much manpower at anti-SEZ rallies. In fact, its state leadership is already weighing, in public, its options for leveraging this strength to forge a political alliance to oppose the CPM. And by all accounts, state units of the Congress and the Trinamool are loath to say or do anything to alienate any participant in this challenge to the ruling Left Front government. It betrays a dreadful myopia and disregard about the communalisation of politics. It, also, exposes the desperateness of the agitation. Agitators are becoming ever more inclined to brandish mob strength and disruption to avoid being engaged in debate by the government.

This makes the task for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee all the more difficult, and also more urgent. In the absence of a responsible response to his offer of talks with the Trinamool Congress, he must take the facts directly to the people. At Singur, the point has been made with 3000 persons from farming families who sold their land for the Tata Motors project already being enrolled for training schemes. Quick integration of affected persons in land redevelopment projects elsewhere must be institutionalised. The mob coalescing around Mamata is feeding on local apprehensions to stall development that would benefit the people of the state. This agenda must be challenged with concrete facts and visible benefits

editor@expressindia.com

Indian Express

Singur drama: Comrade vs Comrade, film vs film

Subrata Nagchoudhury / Bidyut Roy

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/23301.html


Kolkata, February 13: The camera zooms in on Meera Panja, an elderly woman from a farmer’s family in Singur. A voice off-camera asks: “Are you willing to give your land for the car factory?”

She replies: “My land? This is all Buddhadeb’s land. We all survive on Buddhadeb’s earnings. We are like dogs. Like the dogs one keeps at home.”

This is a clip from a 33-minute film called Alhadi Buladi, (The Pampered Bula-di), a roundabout allusion to what could be the Singur woman’s fate if “Buddhadeb goes unchecked” — Buladi is an iconic figure used in state AIDS campaigns as a woman who offers help to victims.

The film could have been dismissed as another Opposition rant against the CPM government except that it’s produced by a former CPM member and is being patronised by a section within the party, reflecting the growing ideological battle within.

Says Immanul Haque, a college teacher in Burdwan and a former party member, who is the man behind the production: “Over 200 copies have been exhausted and we have ordered a second lot.”

Who all have bought or seen this? Immanul replies: “Please do not ask me to name those who have seen this. This is a closely guarded secret.”

No marks for guessing, though.

The CD’s release was timed with that of a a book “Neo-Capitalism — Agriculture versus Industry.” Those present at the function included Debabrata Bandopadhyay, RSP state secretary; Manju Majumdar, CPI state secretary; Kamal Bose of the CPM and a well-known Jyoti Basu loyalist.

Even Biman Bose, the powerful state secretary of the CPM, has had to react. He says the CPM state committee, too, has produced a CD to drive home the message that one has to graduate from agriculture to industry if the state has to prosper. What he does not say is that this “official CD” was made to counter the one produced by Immanul and others.

Titled, Aal Theke Alo, (From Farmland to Industry), this is a 19-minute production, encapsulating the transition. The focus here, too, is Singur and how it brings hope to the state. Though officially produced, it, too, has invited criticism from the anti-Buddhadeb lobby within the party, especially for its “discreet references” that they say downplays the role played by former chief minister Jyoti Basu in the state’s move towards industrialization. A party member, who did not want to be named, says the title implies that agriculture is synonymous with darkness and industry with light.

When told that some in the party are openly praising Alhadi Buladi, Biman Bose said: “Don’t ask me rubbish questions. Once I say the party has no connection with it, that’s the end of the matter. We are launching a massive campaign with the Aal Theke Alo production. We will bring out 350,000 copies of a book about the industrialization process and about 1.2 million leaflets.”

Subhash Chakraborty, a senior member of the party and the perpetual dissenter in Bhattacharjee’s Cabinet, claims he hasn’t seen either film but says he knows what these are about. “I can only tell you, I am not in favour of any rapid industrialization. I am not impressed by the World Bank, IMF-driven paradigms of logistical hub, industrial hub and so forth. This big talk will not fill empty stomachs...I am for a slow, cautious approach.” Chakraborty’s alleged links with realtors in Salt Lake have often been the subject of political controversy.

The CD war is just one dimension of the battle within the CPM. Consider these:

• In the 27 mouzas in Nandigram, which were to be notified for a chemical hub, the CPM had about 265 loyal party members who formed the core. Almost half of them have switched over to Committee to Save Land, the opposition group that’s behind the anti-Buddhadeb campaign.

• Already five have been expelled while desperate attempts are underway to persuade others to revert back to the fold, says Badal Mondal, a zonal committee member of Nandigram.

• In Bhawanipore, too, where the police inspector was killed, of a total of 26 arrests, there are CPI(M) supporters. A bigger number of such party loyalists who had not been arrested are out of their homes. Bhawanipore in Haldia happens to be a stronghold of the CPM under the direct control of Lakshman Seth, the CPM MP and a party strongman.

• West Bengal Land Reforms Amendment Bill, 1955, aimed at accelerating growth of industry with necessary changes in land-holding laws, was blocked by the Assembly Select Committee. The amendment sought to lift the ceiling on landholding for “industry, commerce and infrastructure” projects. The LF constituent members present at the Select Committee meeting were vociferously against it. Said a CPM insider: “The Left Front partners at the meeting sounded more virulent and aggressive than the Trinamool or the Congress.”

• The State Secretariat meeting on Feb 9 decided to hold the Bill. What it did not officially concede is the resistance within — which forced all India general secretary Prakash Karat to attend the meeting and announce that the Bill would await consensus.

subrata.nagchoudhury@expressindia.com

Indian Express

Some Singur slips

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/18166.html

Saubhik Chakrabarti

They came marching, banners and kurtas flapping. The legends on the banners were disappointing, though. “Farm land for farmers, not Tatas” — come on guys, you can do better, Bengal has a wonderful tradition of intelligent political invective. The police met the marchers. A cop addressed them via a PA system that demonstrated some equipment upgrades have happened in the West Bengal police. Shortly, there were songs, synchronized clapping, and a properly scuffed and sturdy Spanish guitar providing musical value addition. Enter Arundhati Roy, as always self-assured, clear, and when she felt necessary, caustic — made-for-television radical commentary, although of course her stage is bigger. Cut to a CPM meeting, Jyoti Basu looking phlegmatic — has he ever looked anything else? — the Karats at ease and Buddhadev Bhattacharjee animated. Cut to Bhattacharjee and Ratan Tata, smiling and nodding.

I liked CNN-IBN’s montage. Singur’s national profile is set to get bigger; Ms Roy’s visit is an indication. Which is why it would be entirely to television news channels’ advantage if they allow the cool breeze of reason to fan brows rendered warm by the demands of dramatic reportage.

CNN-IBN said the gherao of the CPM’s national HQ over Singur would bring the party a bad name — protestors called the CPM “bourgeois”. Believe me, CPM leaders who matter are not shaken at the prospect of being called bourgeois. They are cleverer than that — you have to understand that to understand how they will react as the Singur story develops.

NDTV, reporting on a Naxalite-sponsored ransacking of a Tata auto showroom in Kolkata - remember, private property is the root of all evil - said the violent protest was symbolic of the furious opposition in the state to the Tata plant. “Furious opposition” is a big claim. Some wayward children of Marxism plus Mamata Banerjee plus professional protestors do not a furious opposition make. Is general public opinion in Bengal demonstrably divided and are Singur skeptics in a majority? Till you know that, adjectival moderation is desirable.

NDTV again, analysing the protest, saying if one strips away all the layers, Singur is a battle between industry and agriculture and that the war is being fought all over the country. It is? Battle or war between industry and agriculture is not a small thing. Singur and some other parts of the country are witnessing disputes over compensation and rehabilitation. These are important disputes. But if agriculture were truly battling industry, a huge majority of Singur farmers wouldn’t have accepted the compensation package. And were a countrywide hammer versus sickle war being fought, we would have heard about it - on TV.

CNN-IBN, making a relevant point about the CPM and its political relationship with the peasantry, found irony in the confrontation between the party and the farmer because sharecroppers were given ownership rights under Operation Barga. Sharecroppers were in fact given tenancy rights. This is not a quibble. In the context of agrarian reform, the difference between ownership and tenancy rights is big enough to host several car manufacturing plants.

All of the above, I realise, can be called quibbles. But Singur may become a political-economic test case for all sorts of reasons for all sorts of people. TV news will be right there. Getting it right can’t do it any harm.

saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com