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| Feb 11, 2007 |
Explosives seized from Gaya forest
GAYA: In a major achievement for the otherwise beleaguered Gaya police, about 1,500 kg of explosives were recovered from the forest area near Kushatand under the Mohanpur police station of the district on Saturday.
According to Gaya SP Amit Jain, the explosives were dumped about five feet under the earth in two big fibre-body water containers. One police uniform was also recovered from the place.
Maoists have been using can bombs and land mines in their operations in Bihar and Jharkhand. Police sources said about 20 kg of explosives are used for making one land mine and about 10 kg of the explosives for making one can bomb.
Thus, the seized explosives could be used for making about 80 land mines or 150 can bombs. However, no arrests could be made as the explosives were found in an abandoned state. Asked how the police came to
know about the explosives, the SP said raids were conducted on the basis of information provided by some of the arrested Maoists of the area
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/Cities/Patna/Explosives_seized_from_Gaya_
forest/articleshow/1590405.cms
Indian American looted by criminals in Bihar
Patna, Feb 10 (IANS) A US-based non-resident Indian (NRI) doctor tasted the bitter reality of lawlessness in this Bihar capital Saturday afternoon when armed criminals looted cash worth Rs.200,000 from him, police sources said.
Baleshwar Prasad, in his early 50s, was robbed near the gate of Maurya Lok complex, a posh market in heart of the city.
Interestingly, the police station is hardly a dozen yards from the market.
According to police, motorcycle-borne criminals stopped Prasad while he was coming from a bank and looted the cash at gunpoint.
Though Prasad has lodged a police complaint no arrest was made till late Saturday.
The NRI doctor arrived here last month to attend the Jan 19-21 global meet for a resurgent Bihar, police said.
At least 500 experts, including over 70 NRIs, economists, technocrats and investors from around the world attended the meet that was inaugurated by President A.P.J Abdul Kalam.
Prasad's incident shows that crime continues in Bihar despite the government claims that law and order have been improved in the state.
http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=31557
TAINTED MLA SWORN AS JHARKHAND MINISTER
It happens in Jharkhand only.A tainted MLA, Bhanu Pratap Sahi, was
administered oath of office of the Minister of Jharkhand government on
8th February 2007.Two criminal cases under section 3 of the Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 and
various various penal section of India Penal Code are pending against
him before the court of law. The oath of secrecy was administered by
Governor Syed Sibte Razi, who had earlier objected to it three months
ago, as he was facing three arrest warrants.His father Hemendra Pratap
has kept the post reserved for him for the last three months.
Hemendra Pratap was not even a legislature at the time, but he got the
opportunity on account of the constitutional provision that the Chief
Minister may induct anyone of his choice for six months.
Three months ago Bhanu surrendered before the district court in Garwah
and last month he got bail from Jharkhand High Court.After getting
bail, he replaced his father in the Koda ministry.Bhanu,s role was
crucial in the formation of the Madhu Koda government in September
last .The Koda government had come under severe criticism of the
Jharkhand High Court on its move to withdraw the arrest warrants
against Bhanu Pratap.The High Court had stayed the withdrawal of the
arrest warrants.
Source: Unpublished, by Mukti Tirkey, Jharkhand News Network
Minor jailed for three months for stealing toffees
Ranchi, Feb 11 (IANS) A nine-year-old boy spent three months in a Ranchi jail for having stolen toffees from a shop
Pinku, who was released by the special Lok Adalat Saturday, said: 'I had stolen 10 toffees along with four of my friends. I got two toffees as my share. We were arrested on the complaint of the shopkeeper and kept in a juvenile home.'
He says he is now eager to study.
The boy was among 59 children released by the special Lok Adalat.
Lakshu Oraon, 12, was also in jail for six months for stealing five kg of electric wire. Chotu Oraon, another minor, was released after four months. His crime was stealing 10 kg of wheat.
After his release Chotu said: 'There was no food in my home and this made me steal the wheat from a shop. I want to work, but no one gives me a job.'
Poverty and lack of job opportunities often forces minors into petty crimes. In Jharkhand, 52 percent of the population live below the poverty line. The state produces only half of the food grains it needs.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/113254.php/Minor-jailed-for-three-months-for-stealing-toffees
How to keep rampaging elephants at bay
Ranchi, Feb 11 (IANS) Farmers in Jharkhand are now keeping in mind the tastes of elephants while sowing crops to prevent the tuskers from rampaging their fields and killing people.
In the last few years, the farmers have come to know the likes and dislikes of elephants that regularly enter the villages, damage standing crops and kill people too. They now prefer not to sow rabi (summer) crops.
'This year we have sown crops taking into account the taste of elephants. And we hope that our experiment will save us from the tuskers,' said Phool Kumar, a farmer of Ranchi's Torpa block.
He said: 'The elephants dislike mustard oil seeds. They like paddy and venture into our fields and damage the standing crops.'
The farmers also plan to grow vegetables that are not liked by the pachyderms.
'This year I will grow vegetables like pumpkin, radish, bitter gourd that the animals don't like,' said Sohan Mahto of Khuti block.
The rampaging elephants are known to like the taste of paddy and mahua (local intoxicant used for liquor). The farmers were often forced to use cow dung on granaries to hide the smell of food grains to keep away the elephants.
The experiment began last year and according to forest department officials, it has definitely helped the villagers. The mustard oil seeds distracted the elephants and they changed their route in search of paddy and other food grains they like.
In the last five years, over 330 people have been trampled to death by the large animals. The worst affected districts are Ranchi, Dumka, Pakur, Godda and Jamshedpur. The shrinking forest cover and encroachment of the elephant corridor are seen as the main cause of the confrontation between human beings and elephants.
To keep the tuskers away, the villagers have to arm themselves with sticks, sharp-edged weapons, light fires and beat drums during at night.
Several measures adopted by the forest department have not yielded results. Earlier, trained tuskers were called from Assam to tame the rampaging elephants but the results were not encouraging. The department is now mulling solar fencing to keep the elephants away from areas habited by humans.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/113228.php/How-to-keep-rampaging-elephants-at-bay
SEZ: Full-blown political battle in WB
Haldia: It has stopped being just about land acquisition in West Bengal and seems to be turning into a full-blown political battle. And there are certainly casualties. At least eight people, including a policeman have died in Bengal's East Midnapore district in the last few weeks.
Most houses in Iswardaha Jalpai, a village near Haldia in Bengal's East Midnapore district, now deserted. CPI-M stronghold have been razed on Wednesday allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters.
The village witnessed unprecedented violence in which a 59-year-old policeman was killed, and at least a dozen others were injured. Unrest, which started across the river in Nandigram has spread through the district.
What started off as a battle for farmland has now turned into a full-blown war for political control.
Lives were lost on both sides of the fence - who knows how many. Some say 12; others put the death toll at eight.
And after arsonists lay waste the Iswardaha Jalpai village, the administration has stepped in. The CPI-M, too, is planning to hit back, and its first target is likely to be neighbouring Nandigram where it all started.
CPI-M West Bengal Secretary Biman Bose said, "We don't want to do it on humanitarian grounds. But if things don't calm down someday the ferry service could stop. And if that happens, Nandigram would be cut off from the rest of the world."
Bengal has witnessed many a battle before but this one has divided the ruling Left Front. The CPI-M and its partners are not looking eye-to-eye. And at least for the time being the CPI-M is on the book foot.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sez-fullblown-political-battle-in-wb/33292-3.html
Only Centre will legislate on mines: HC
KOLKATA, Feb. 10. — The subject regarding mines and minerals is under legislative competence of the Parliament and after enactment of Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957, and the state legislature is no longer capable of enacting law related to minor minerals as has been done under West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955, Mr Justice Soumitra Pal of Calcutta High Court held.
This Act being made under List II of the seventh schedule of the Constitution, neither the state has any legislative competence to enact a law under the said list, nor the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal can adjudicate any matter relating to rent and/or tax and/or land revenue upon such minerals, it was further held.
The notification, charts claiming revenue and/or rent upon brick earth, a minor mineral was quashed. The court allowed the writ application of the Bengal Brick Field Owners' Association and others challenging the amendment of Section 23 of West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 claiming rent and/r revenue upon mineral rights.
The court further granted the prayer that neither the state legislature nor the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal has any legislative competence to decide and/or claim any matter related to rent and/or tax or revenue upon minerals which falls under List I entry 54 of the seventh schedule of the Constitution.
Brick earth being a minor mineral, falls under the legislative competence of the Parliament, Mr Asok Chakraborti appearing for the petitioners submitted.
All entries under List II of the seventh schedule of the Constitution are inoperative in respect of brick field or brick earth, it was further submitted.
In this backdrop, the amendment of Section 23 of West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 2003 claming rent, cess and surcharge and/or revenue have no manner of application upon brick earth. The claim was nothing but an attempt to usurp the jurisdiction and judicial competence of the Parliament, it was submitted.
The brickfield owners are already paying royalty and/or price and cess for running brickfields. The state legislature cannot simultaneously claim land revenue, it was submitted.
The state legislature cannot exercise even residuary power under Article 277 of the Constitution. The matter cannot be adjudicated by the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal for not having legislative competence either, it was submitted.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=146636
Tata and the Communists must return farmland before any talk
just flying Boeing's F16 or F18 will not work : Mamata
It was ironic. Boeing fell on the feet of Tata who is in the middle of a massive controversy over snatching farmland from poor farmers in West Bengal. Tata wants to make a $2,000 car for Indians and reap massive effort. The next project after Corus acquisition and bringing Brits on the ground is to make $10,000 F16s for rest of India! India has better plans that forty-year-old F16 or F18 technologies.
It is a shame for America and shame for Boeing to create a showpiece with someone in the middle of such controversies. The communists who back Tata are in trouble in West Bengal after ruling for forty-five years unquestioned.
One thins is great about Tata. This is the first time Americans and Communists are on the same side of the game. Both are willing aide Tata.
Tata should come out from this controversy by acquiring land in a proper way – not with the help the communists! There is no need to show off 40 year old American technologies. That stuff was hot in 1990. Today it is old and primitive.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she was ready to take up Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's offer of talks on the acquisition of land for industries if land ''forcibly'' acquired at Singur for the Tata Motors'' plant was returned.
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/15536.asp
India's rising Maoist rebellion
Experts, officials say Naxalite insurrection may be more dangerous than Kashmir separatists.
The eastern Indian state of Orissa has outlawed membership in the militant Communist Party of India (Maoist) known as the Naxalites, escalating a 40-year-old conflict between the Indian government and Maoist rebels.
The Associated Press reports that Orissa authorities announced the ban on Naxalite membership Friday. Prior to the ban, Orissa authorities could only arrest those Naxalites suspected of taking part in attacks.
The government decided to enact the ban because of fears the rebels are planning to kill more police and government officials, whom they accuse of colluding with landlords and rich farmers. The insurgents demand land and jobs for poor farm workers.
"We have intelligence reports that the rebels are planning more violence. Therefore, the state Cabinet decided to ban the organization," said Subhash Pani, the state chief secretary.
The Naxalites condemned the ban as antidemocratic, reports The Hindu.
"The ban is a brutal assault on the democratic rights of the people," the secretary of the party's State Committee, Sunil, said in a two-page statement. Stating that the Naveen Patnaik Government had been treating CPI (Maoist) and organisations such as the Chasi Mulia Samiti as 'virtually unlawful' outfits since long, the party said the ban had exposed the 'real character' of the 'so-called democratic system of the country.'
The Naxalites also announced that, starting Wednesday, they would barricade roads across Orissa in protest of the ban. The Press Trust of India reports that public transportation in part of the region has been completely halted, though "markets and other institutions were functioning normally."
The ban protest comes on the heels of fighting between police and rebels. BBC reports that 13 suspected rebels were killed Thursday in two incidents in another eastern Indian state, Chhattisgarh.
The incidents are only the latest violent clashes between the Maoists and others, both villagers and the government, reports The Globe and Mail.
The Maoists -- sometimes called Naxalites, in reference to an armed uprising in the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal, from which the movement began in 1967 -- have maintained a low-level insurrection in India for nearly 40 years, organizing uprisings among landless workers, hijacking trains, mounting frequent attacks on police posts and industrial facilities, and murdering their political opponents. Their rebellion is gaining ground, expanding across 14 eastern and central Indian states, running all the way from the Nepal border in the north to the southern coast, and becoming a major Communist force intent on winning control of the Indian state through military means.
And the war is growing ever more deadly. More than 700 people, 500 of them civilians, were killed in raids, land-mine blasts and other incidents in 2005. Provisional data from the past four months suggest the death toll will be higher in 2006.
Ajai Sahni of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management told The Globe and Mail that the rising violence may indicate the Maoist threat to the Indian government has surpassed that of the Kashmir separatists. He notes, however, that "unlike the Kashmir issue, which we could blame on somebody else, this was entirely indigenous. It point[s] to state failures."
Voice of America reported that, in an April meeting with officials from states affected by the Naxalites, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Maoist insurrection is the " single-biggest security threat" that India faces.
However, UPI reports that India has ruled out talks with the Naxalites until the rebels disarm. Instead, Interior Minister Shivraj Patil called on the affected states to boost the number of officers available to deal with the rebels.
One of the primary means by which the Indian government has dealt with the Naxalites is the "Salwa Judum" program. The Salwa Judum movement, started in June 2005, created and armed village militias to fight the Maoists in affected states, and was meant to be an innovative way to oust the Maoists from their rural territory.
However, a team of independent Indian citizens, including Ramachandra Guha of the Hindustan Times, investigated the effects of Salwa Judum in May and found that it had made the situation worse.
We found that far from controlling the conflict in Dantewara and Bastar, the creation of Salwa Judum had, in fact, intensified it. The killings had increased, on both sides. The Maoists were laying land mines and blasting bombs at citizens alleged to be supporters of Salwa Judum. On the other hand, tribals alleged to be sympathetic to the Maoists were having their homes burnt and their throats cut. There was a cycle of violence and counter-violence, of revenge and retribution, early anticipations of what might � if not tamed and checked � become a full-fledged civil war.
Since the Salwa Judum movement began, the law and order machinery has broken down and the violence has escalated. Our third and, in some ways, most depressing finding was that the burden of the conflict has been borne by the villagers, and by the tribals among them in particular. An atmosphere of fear and insecurity pervades the district. Families and villages are divided, one half living with or in fear of the Maoists, the other half in fear of or in roadside camps controlled by the Salwa Judum. Although exact figures are impossible to obtain, probably close to a thousand innocent civilians have been killed in the year since Salwa Judum began. Several thousand homes have been burnt and looted. And an estimated 40,000 people have been displaced.
Voice of America reports that critics of the program say that the government's mistake is to treat the Maoists as a law-and-order problem. Rather, they say the government needs to focus on the underlying causes of the unrest: the poverty and underdevelopment of the affected regions.
Citizen peace committee member Kannabiran says the rebellion thrives on the support of those impacted by continuing underdevelopment.
"That is the understanding of the police - if you kill people, the movement will die," he explained. "The chemistry of this movement has not been understood by the police and they are not the persons who are to solve it. It is unfortunate it has been handed over to the police."
The federal government is also urging the states to deliver social justice and development to their poorest regions. But analysts say the growing strength of the Maoists indicates the message has not penetrated.
But while the Maoists stood up for the rural, tribal poor in the past, The Globe and Mail writes, they now are too focused on nationwide upheaval to help those for whom they claim to be fighting.
The tribal people of rural India need roads, schools and jobs. But the Maoists are committed to a full-scale Communist upheaval and radical redistribution of wealth, and believe that these incremental gains will never erase the gross inequalities of what they term India's "bourgeois comprador democracy."
"There is no dilution in the ideology," the Institute for Conflict Management's Mr. Sahni told The Globe and Mail. "There is absolutely no set of economic initiatives on the horizon that can give prosperity, dignity et cetera to 810 million people in rural India."
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=15538
Fluorosis grips Orissa village, residents blame official apathy
Ghikundi (Orissa), Feb 11 (ANI): Villagers in Orissa's Sonapur District suffering from prolonged health problems related to fluorosis complain of official apathy for their present hardships
The excessive concentration of fluorides in the drinking water that changes colour of rice-water to black, while being cooked, is not new for the residents of Ghikundi village.
Villagers get water for cooking from the only tube-well in the area, which happens to have high fluoride content in its water. For fetching clean water they have to trek two-three kilometers and that too at the risk of being shunned by the high-caste people.
The villagers' say their repeated complains to the officials have fallen on deaf ears.
"From block development officer to village head, we took the matter to all of them. Even the doctor advised us to stop drinking water of this tube-well as it can trigger diseases.
We were assured of a new tube-well, but nothing has happened. We get water after travelling two to three kilometers. Rest of the tube-wells have all dried up.
When we cook rice using this water it turns black and our teeth are also becoming black," said Hrishikesh Suna, a villager.
The medical officer of the area substantiates the claims of the villagers and believes that they are in for more trouble if they continue to drink the same water.
"The fluoride content in the water of the tube-well is more. That fluoride water is causing discolouration of the teeth.
People using this water are suffering from other diseases. In future, if they continue to drink that water their bones and joints will be affected," said Prasanna Mishra, the medical officer.
Fluorosis is a condition caused due to excessive intake of fluoride. Skeletal Fluorosis and Dental Fluorosis are it two types.
Fluoride affects the body by getting accumulated in the bones and its overexposure to teeth causes their discolouration. Doctors say surgery is the only solution for fluorosis and that too after the fluoride content has been brought down. (ANI)
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/113346.php/Fluorosis-grips-Orissa-village-residents-
blame-official-apathy
Super Cop Gill wants more policemen in Chhattisgarh to fight Naxals
Raipur, Feb 11 (ANI): The man credited with eliminating terrorism from Punjab, KPS Gill, feels that the number of policemen in Chhattisgarh is not adequate enough to crush Naxalism in the State.
The former Director General of the Punjab Police, who has now been appointed as the Security Advisor to the Government of Chhattisgarh, has said that the policemen in this Naxal-infested State are facing difficulties in tackling the menace.
"Chhattisgarh was a very under-policed State. Bastar was mainly a forest area and Maoists made it their sanctuary and established bases there. And now, to flush them out of that area is becoming a little difficult", Gill told ANI in an exclusive interview.
However, he added that the State Government, with the help of the Centre, is raising new battalions and strengthening the police stations to effectively fight what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had termed as the country's "single biggest internal security challenge".
Pointing out that the situation arising out of spread of Naxalism is different in all 14 affected states, Gill said that Andhra Pradesh seems to be doing very well in dealing with the rebels at the moment, but other states, barring Chhattisgarh, are "still to respond" to Naxalism.
He said the killings of common people by Naxalites in 2006 were reportedly highest in Chhattisgarh. People, who felt insecure, responded overwhelmingly to the Salwa Juddum programme, which sought to counter Naxals.
"The spread of the Salwa Juddum movement was quick. Police thought it would not catch up so quickly, but the response was much larger than anticipated. Certain areas were not protected properly.
This is why there were more casualties during the initial phase of Salwa Juddum", he said, adding, "I would not continue in the same fashion in the future as more forces were being raised to protect people wherever this movement starts".
He said that alienation of tribesmen was not the reason behind rise in Naxalism; rather it was "administrative vacuum", which the insurgents occupied.
"The was no such alienation of tribals. The policy of the government was to leave them alone and let them develop according to their own culture. So, there was an administrative vacuum, which Maoists occupied. They brought in guns and their own philosophy. They forced tribals to join them", he said.
On being asked whether a separate Ministry for the Naxal-affected states was required, as recommended by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), Gill said there was no need for such a Ministry as the menace has different faces in different sates.
"Naxals are different in every state. They have different tribal cultures. It's a very disperse crowd. (So) to have a (separate) Ministry to tackle all of them is not a good idea," Gill said. (ANI)
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/113331.php/Super-Cop-Gill-wants-more-policemen
-in-Chhattisgarh-to-fight-Naxals
Chhattisgarh Governor urges media to stop glamourising Maoists
Raipur, Feb 9 (ANI): Calling the fight against the Maoist insurgency a societal responsibility, Chhattisgarh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Friday urged the media to not glamourise the menace.
Addressing bureaucrats, serving and retired IPS officers, and journalists on the last day of a two-day conference on the Maoist insurgency here, Narasimhan appealed to the press to cooperate with the government to root out Naxalism from the country.
"Whether it is movie or the media, why do we have to glamourise Naxalism or terrorism? By going to the forests and talking to them (Maoists), what exactly do we want to show?," he asked, adding that the media has a great role to play in this regard, as it affects the common people more than what the government says.
He went on to say that the media often shows the Maoists as doing some good work for the people, but what is also required is to highlight the work of the administration, as they were also doing some great work in the Naxal-infested areas.
"This will motivate those who are working for the welfare of the people in the affected areas," he added.
Narasimhan also requested the common people to join in the fight against Maoism and all other forms of terrorism, describing it is a curse "affecting all the segments of the society".
Underlining the network of Maoists in all the 14-affected states of the country, the Governor emphasized the need for inter-state security coordination to deal with the problem effectively.
He said that inter-intelligence and inter-department co-ordination and a multi-agency approach was required to tackle the menace as it has become a widespread phenomena. Narasimhan added that the myth created by the Maoists that they are working in the favour of poor and tribes should be eliminated.
Responding to a query on whether a separate Ministry for the Naxal-affected states was required, as recommended by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), he said there was no need for any such Ministry.
"There are already many departments and committees looking after this problem. There is absolutely no need for a separate Ministry," he said.
The conference, titled 'Maoist Insurgency: Assessment of the Threat and Doctrine and Strategies of Response'-- is being organized by Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), in consultation with and on behalf of the Government of Chhattisgarh.
Its primary objective is to rationalize the assessment of and approach to the Maoist threat in the country, to probe the ideological and military strategy of the left-wing extremists, and examine the doctrines, strategies and patterns of appropriate state response. (ANI)
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/112731.php/Chhattisgarh-Governor-urges-media-to-
stop-glamourising-Maoists
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