Bharat Rakshak

Jan Myrdal, son of the celebrated Nobel laureate couple--Gunnar and Alva Myrdal--is banned from visiting India because the government believes he is a Maoist supporter.

The government of India is contemplating a ban on the future visits of 85-year-old Jan Myrdal, whose parents were close friends of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, for his alleged backing of pro-Maoist ideology.

The home ministry has found that the Sweden-based author had attended pro-Naxal conventions in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ludhiana and Delhi early this year and allegedly expressed support to the CPI(Maoist) ideology of armed struggle against the state.

"Mr Jan Myrdal during his stay in India advised CPI (Maoist) to garner support from the middle-class in India by focusing on propaganda against security forces and highlighting human rights issues," Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Top home ministry officials told PTI that they cannot remain a silent spectator to anyone roaming freely and supporting the Maoists, who want to overthrow Indian democratic system and the government through armed rebellion.

"We are planning to put a complete ban on his future visits to India," a top official said.

Asked to specify the proposed action against the writer, home ministry spokesperson Ira Joshi refused to say anything. "We do not comment on such security issues," she said.

Myrdal has authored several books that include 'Report from a Chinese village', 'China: The Revolution Continued', 'Confessions of a Disloyal European' and 'India Waits', a book in which he mentioned that India awaits a Marxian-inspired peoples' movement, emanating from rural India, parallel to the Chinese Communist revolution.

Two years ago, Myrdal travelled in the Naxal hot-bed Bastar and personally interacted with the tribal people and the leadership of CPI (Maoist), including Mupalla Laxman Rao alias Ganapathy.

Myrdal' parents -- father Gunnar and mother Alva were nobel laureates. His father was Minister for Trade and mother was Minister for Disarmament and of Church in Sweden. Alva was Swedish Ambassador to India between 1955-61. In 1981, the Indian government had awarded the couple jointly the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.

As Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi very often used to quote the books written by Gunnar Myrdal, specially his famous observations on corruption in India.

Asked about the relations between the Myrdal family and the Nehru-Gandhi family, Jan Myrdal said the "relations are well known" and both his father and mother were close to Jawaharlal Nehru. "I, of course, met and talked to him," Jan said.

"As to Indira who was a friend of my mother, we had some contact. After I published "India Waits" she asked the Indian Ambassador to Sweden to invite me back to India to discuss with her. Unfortunately she was killed before I could accept her invitation," he said.

When contacted by email, Skinnskatteberg (Sweden) based Myrdal said he was not as stupid to give political "advice" to Indian friends and asked authorities to "back-track" this "very stupid and anti-Indian" move.

Myrdal said he had travelled to India in January/February, 2012 on a one month conference visa to launch his book "Red Star Over India. Impressions, Reflexions and Discussions when the Wretched of the Earth are Rising".

"According to the agreement with the authorities, when I arrived they were continuously informed about where I stayed and where I made public speeches," he told PTI.

Myrdal said the book itself - which he had sent to the Home Minister personally - has now reached its second English language edition in India and is being published in Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. In Europe it has been translated to German, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish. Internationally it is available as an e-book and on the net.

"I discussed in India with many different organisations. Everything I said in India is either printed or available on the net. I have of course not done anything as stupid as giving political "advice" to Indian friends...

"I expect that more intelligent officials - more interested in India and the world - will act and speedily back-track on this very stupid and anti-Indian decision," he said.

TACKLING LOW GROWTH

CPM weekly People’s Democracy discusses the PMO’s reported proposal to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to accelerate investment in the infrastructure, mineral resources and oil and natural gas exploration sectors.

The editorial says that the UPA government, carrying forward its neoliberal economic reform trajectory, is creating newer avenues for profit maximisation, hoping that it will attract greater foreign investment which, in turn, will propel the growth rate. It argues the SPV — which will also be responsible for securing all clearances before a project is put up for bidding — is a higher stage in the process of private profit maximisation than the PPP.

“Promoting PPP is the classic argument of those... seeking vacation of space by the government for private profit-making. The government, we are told, needs to move out of areas like hotels etc (even while making profits) and concentrate on education and health. Then we are told since adequate resources are not available, both education and health need to be privatised... And so goes on the story where the government of the day has no space left to pursue socially required projects or even express the popular will of the people,” it argues.

It concludes that there is a fundamental flaw in the government’s diagnosis that it is the slow pace of investment that is the cause for lower growth rate. “The basic problem... is to reverse the current slackening of domestic demand. Unless this is done, no amount of increase in investment will lead to a higher growth rate because what is produced... needs to be sold in the market. This requires adequate purchasing power in the hands of the people. It is precisely this purchasing power that is constantly being eroded by the relentless rise in the prices of all essential commodities,” it says.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Two reports — one from West Bengal and another from Kerala — in People’s Democracy are noteworthy. The report from Bengal claims that ever since the Trinamool Congress came to power, “as many as 65 Left Front leaders, activists and supporters have been brutally killed by the TMC goons.” It adds that there is a “massive attack” on the political opponents of the TMC and over 600 offices of the CPM have been ransacked and captured.

The report from Kerala reproduces a statement issued by the Kerala state unit on the killing of a prominent CPM rebel, for which the party is under suspicion. Some of its cadres and local-level functionaries have been arrested in connection with the case. The statement says that “venomous, erroneous campaigns” unleashed against the party are part of a conspiracy against the CPM, which asserts that it had no connection with the murder as “propagated by the enemies of the party”.

NO TO AUSTERITY

An editorial in the CPI magazine New Age claims that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leading India to adopt the same economic prescription proposed by the IMF and European Central Bank (ECB) that plunged most eurozone countries into a deep crisis and has pushed the European Union itself to the verge of collapse. It calls Mukherjee “confused” and says that the FM “thinks that the crisis in Greece has deepened because electors have rejected a particular party. The popular verdict in Greece is not just against a political party, but it is the rejection of the austerity-based economic bailout proposed by IMF and ECB”.

The article claims that India is facing a crisis due to the “policies of economic neoliberalism” to which most “bourgeois political parties” are committed. It argues that any cut in public spending may further aggravate the crisis. “Mukherjee in the last budget had targeted Rs 40,000 crore through (the) sale of PSUs. This year too he has fixed the target at Rs 30,000 crore. It is like selling the house silver (to keep) the kitchen alive. All these are bad omens for the country,” it says.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES
......... The report from Kerala reproduces a statement issued by the Kerala state unit on the killing of a prominent CPM rebel, for which the party is under suspicion. Some of its cadres and local-level functionaries have been arrested in connection with the case. The statement says that “venomous, erroneous campaigns” unleashed against the party are part of a conspiracy against the CPM, which asserts that it had no connection with the murder as “propagated by the enemies of the party”.

NEW DELHI: The Maoists are believed to be churning out low cost rocket launchers from makeshift workshops, with parts sourced from industrial tool manufacturing units in Kolkata and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reckons the ultras may have stockpiled 6,000 of these in the jungles of Chhattisgarh. The NIA believes the operation was being overseen by Sadanala Ramakrishna, who was recently arrested from Kolkata and was said to be slain Maoist leader Kishenji's successor.

Andhra Pradesh is now witnessing a peculiar situation. While its intelligence operatives continue to focus on tracking the top Maoist leadership and succeed many a time by arresting or killing them, their uniformed counterparts on the field appear to have lulled themselves into complacency.

So much so that groups of armed rebels have been quickly darting across the border from Orissa, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to conduct meetings or resort to some violent actions.

The attitude of the field level officials, who perfunctorily dismissed these incursions earlier as Maoist attempts to make their presence felt, is slowly changing into anxiety, as the rebels began attacking police.

Armed naxalites shot dead a constable of Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) in Vizag agency area on April 26 and made an abortive attempt on a SI in Khammam district last night.

If the police officials are anxious about the movement of naxals in good numbers, panic has already set in among people living in villages on State borders, more so among the grass root level politicians after the rebels held a kangaroo court in Mukunoor village of Karimnagar district last week. They thrashed two local leaders of ruling party and opened fire on one of them, when they attempted to flee.

These incidents might appear to be sporadic and isolated, but there is a method in this madness. It's a time-tested strategy the rebels are employing now.

Their primary aim is to choke the information flow to the police. This could be achieved by killing those who are suspected to be spies or branding those killed as ‘police informants'.

Simultaneously, the targeted killings or thrashing of grass root level politicians is to create a political vacuum at village level.

The demonstrative violence, as seen in the severe torture of two politicians in Mukunoor praja court is significant as it is meant to terrorise and force the low-level politicians to withdraw from political arena. The warnings issued at praja court that ruling party leaders must resign from the party is to be understood in this angle. Once the politicians at village level are neutralised, the Maoist nominated committees would take over the village level administration.

That would be the first part of setting base for the rebels.

The disturbing similarity in recent incidents reported from Mukunoor or from Khammam border areas, is the presence of a large number of armed Maoist cadres. Though the authorities sought to dismiss the reports as exaggerated, official sources concede in private that, at least 20 Maoists were present in Mukunoor, while nearly 200 were present in Khammam incidents where they blasted a guest house and later attacked a police team led by a sub-inspector. During the peak of naxalite movement in Telangana also Maoist squads never used to camp in a village for a night. “But in Mukunoor, they spent almost the entire night. That shows their confidence levels to take on any police teams”, a senior officer who dealt with Maoist movement in Telangana recalls.

In a way, the success of controlling the Maoist movement and continued accolades being heaped on the police force seemed to have had an adverse impact on the battle-preparedness of the police force.

The unbridled political intervention in posting of police officers, the unchecked corrupt practises in the police department have gradually led to a situation where officers and men who fought the battle with the Maoists with devotion being sidelined.

In addition, most of the officers who were in the forefront of the do-or-die battle waged with the Maoists, are now promoted to higher ranks and moved out of the districts. Courtesy their efforts, these districts have now become ‘comfort zones' for a different set of officers who got recruited into the police force after the Maoists have been driven out.

“Most of the officers would not even know the definition of protracted people's war, leave alone studying the Maoist tactics and strategies”, officials admit candidly.

Though the situation is not as bad as a decade ago, Karimnagar, Warangal, and agency areas of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari are the vulnerable areas as the rebels continue to enjoy the relative safety across the borders in Chhattisgarh or Odisha.

UNFULFILLED PROMISES

As UPA 2 celebrated completion of its third year in office, the Left argued that there is little for the Indian people to celebrate, given that the government imposed more burdens on the people while major promises made by it remained unfulfilled. An editorial in the CPM weekly People’s Democracy points out that the women’s reservation, food security, land acquisition and Lokpal bills remain unimplemented. But the government’s claims regarding the economy remain far away from the declared target, it says.

“The government started this year by claiming that our economy would register a GDP growth rate of 9 per cent. We ended with a growth rate of 6.9 per cent. Industrial growth rate this year ended at a meagre 2.8 per cent as compared to 8.2 per cent last year. In the ‘report card’ issued at this third anniversary celebrations, it is claimed that there is record coal production. What is not said is that the gap between the demand and supply of coal widened to a record level as well; that too despite our immense coal reserves,” it says.

A YEAR OF MAMATA

The CPI weekly New Age wrote about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s first year in office. It contends that her poor record as CM is “evident” from her walking out of an interview with a TV channel. “Mamata Banerjee, in place of facing the questions, blamed the audience of being agents of (the) opposition... and walked out from the stage. This has been her attitude all through the year. Anything that goes wrong, she blames the Left for it. Net result is that now her supporters too have started believing that Didi may be a good street agitator but has no quality of administration,” it says.

It concludes that her year in office has forced people to reconsider supporting her and cites Mahasweta Devi’s resignation from the chairmanship of the Bangla Academy as proof. “More intellectuals are expressing their anger (at) her authoritarian ways of functioning,” it says.

MINING BILL

In an article, senior CPM leader Brinda Karat criticises the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2011, saying that it was designed to promote the interests of private mining companies, not deprived communities. She argues that the Centre and most state governments have, over the years, promoted privatisation by leasing mines to private companies, apart from handing over captive mines of iron ore and bauxite to steel and aluminium corporations.

The MMRD Bill, she says, is to push the deregulation and liberalisation of the mining sector and encourage privatisation. Many of the provisions are designed to attract private investment. “It introduces the concept of high technology reconnaissance, prospecting and exploration licenses, and easy terms of conversion to mining leases to encourage the entry of FDI and foreign companies. It also gives weightage, in the allocation of leases, to criteria that favour such companies and also allows them activity on much larger tracts of land than previously.”

She refers to a provision that makes it mandatory for coal mining companies to give an amount equal to 26 per cent of their profits to the District Mineral Foundation for the welfare of the project-affected people. “Interestingly, the US, which had set up somewhat similar trusts to manage funds paid by companies using the land on reserves owned by Native Indians has recently had to pay compensation of $1.2 billion to 41 Native American communities for ‘mismanagement of the assets’ of the trust... When the affected people do not have a decisive say in the management of such funds... this ‘mismanagement’ is inevitable,” she says.

Our comrade Mani that admitted to serial murders by his party on a routine basis (and also promised more to come) appears to have also made some juicy remarks against our intellectual Maoist Maha (moo) devi...that too a sexist one...any Keralite has the translation of that?

It would be good to keep that in the archive and throw back whenever Stalinist rapist goon savages and their fake intellectual as well as yellow media agents pretend to be 'progressive, pro-women and modern'. It is only the 'others' that are fascist, talibanists. Of course, taliban itself is merely 'conservative' provided they dance to Beijings' and its butt-hole licking all weather friend's tunes.

PRICE HIKE

CPM weekly People’s Democracy focuses on the recent petrol price hike. In an article titled Myth and Reality of Oil Price Hike, Nilotpal Basu quotes 2010-11 figures to argue that the three oil PSUs are making profits. Basu writes: “IOC, BPCL and HPCL have had a net profit after tax during 2010-11 of Rs 7445.48 crore, Rs 1742.06 crore and Rs 1539.01 crore (respectively). And all these figures show an increase over earlier years. That the trend continues in the same vein is revealed by the audited figures of the fourth quarter of 2011-12”.

Basu also says that the “under recovery” is notional and is the difference between the retail price of a petroleum product and its trade-parity price. “The trade-parity price (is based) on many unincurred costs because oil companies do not import petrol or diesel and what they sell in (the) domestic market are fuels produced in their own refineries... But to pursue the pernicious agenda of global finance, the top brass of the Indian economic policy establishment is trying to dress up ‘under recoveries’ as virtual losses, and claiming to be subsidising them from the consolidated fund of India,” he says.

He contends that the subsidy “is arrived at by loading the cost price with several tax(es) and duties and then reducing by the subsidy amount and eventually selling at a profit. He concludes that the exchequer’s contribution to the petroleum sector is constantly growing and favours restructuring of taxes to provide relief to the people.

WATER POLICY

Another article discusses the Draft National Water Policy released by the government earlier this year. According to the article, the draft does not recognise the depth of the water crisis facing the country, which it claims will only be exacerbated by climate change.

The article says that the document evades the “significant and frightening reality” that per capita availability of water in India has reduced to about 33 per cent of the level available at Independence. It argues that the draft policy is torn between “viewing water as a public good, with water-related services therefore being a public service, and regarding water as an economic good whose supply and regulation are to be governed largely through fiscal measures.”

“(The) draft policy leans toward the latter approach while paying lip service to the former as a desirable principle but unable to work out how and where to draw the line,” it concludes.

FOOD ENTITLEMENT BILL

IN AN article in the CPI weekly New Age, Annie Raja criticises the Food Security Bill. She says that the legislation does not deal with production, procurement, storage and distribution, and hence cannot be called the food security bill. “The bill only deals with a certain quantity of rice, wheat and other grains for a certain amount of money. It is silent on nutritional security too. For these reasons the present bill can only be called a food entitlement bill,” she argues.

Raja claims that the bill offers food security to those targeted for welfare schemes, which makes it discriminatory. “Past experience shows that targeting caused exclusion... The lack of reliability of targeting based on (the) BPL list is evident from at least three national household surveys... all showing that about half of the all poor households in rural areas do not have a BPL ration card,” she says. She argues against the incorporation of the term “ready to eat meal” in the bill and objects to provisions for cash transfers and food coupons, claiming that such moves would be detrimental to agriculture.

x-posted from Police Investigation thread..

In the T.P Chandrasekharan murder case at Kerala, the police have picked up the main brain behind the murder plan. T.K Rajeesh was arrested from a village near Goa-Maharashtra state border. .
Prime accused in Chandrasekharan murder case held
From the report...

That is a real sad commentary on the law and justice system

The latest in his foreign honours is the Gandhi Foundation Peace Award he receives today at the House of Lords in London along with Bulu Imam.

...

Obviously, Dr. Sen got his passport since he’s receiving his award in London. The government might claim that the flurry of international awards (Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, the Heinz R. Pagels Award, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights), the campaign for Dr Sen which included 44 Nobel laureates, has had no impact on it. If the man is guilty, it maintains, a western award does not make him less guilty.

In 2008, when Dr. Sen got the Jonathan Mann award, the first time a South Asian received that award, there was a huge clamour of voices demanding he be allowed to go to Washington D.C. to accept it. The government refused to back down. Dr Ilina Sen, his wife, accepted it on his behalf saying simply that “in other circumstances” he would have been there. Instead of using the occasion to really give a black eye to the government she spoke of the larger issue at hand, none of which was particularly new or incendiary

LOOK WITHIN

In the CPI’s New Age, senior leader Atul Kumar Anjaan’s article questions the Maoists. He says, till recently, Naxalism was considered part of an ideological debate despite its violent ways but is now shrouded in controversy.

Arguing against their violence, he asks: “when our Constitution provides peaceful methods of struggle to improve the government policies, why it becomes imperative to destroy village schools and hospitals”, and wonders whether “such steps help weaken the so-called ‘atrocious’ rule of the administration”. “Is it possible to finish the government army or reduce considerably the number of rifles if some CRPF jawans are killed or (some) AK-47 are snatched and handed over to their own so-called efficient army? Are we meeting our revolutionary responsibilities by staying away from the common masses and living in the jungles of the bihad among a few thousands of people,” asks the article.

Pointing out that the attacked jawans are often the sons of poor toilers, he urges the Maoists to introspect. “Even if it is accepted that there are lots of expectations from the Maoists, yet the question remains that if the government officials are trying in their own limited, lacklustre way to improve the plight of the deprived, why that process has to be interrupted by kidnapping them? Does it not destroy the very purpose for which the Maoists themselves have opted to face the hardships of a jungle life,” the article questions.

Arguing that the goal of a revolution can be achieved only if a majority of the population supports it, he argues that “the Maoists... would have to realise that to fight the state’s oppressive measures in a democracy, dialogue has always been a logical weapon through which the masses are organised.”

SICK ECONOMY

THE editorial in the CPM’s People’s Democracy criticises the “pundits of neo-liberalism” who push the government towards greater liberalisation of India’s financial sector to reverse the current slowdown in the economy.

It says the government has already showed signs of accepting such suggestions. It cites the revival of a cabinet note to privatise pension funds and the announcement of a supplementary foreign trade policy which has sops estimated at over Rs 1,200 crore to promote India’s tumbling exports. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury recalls the Left had opposed the privatisation of pensions funds during UPA 1. “...Such an opposition turned out prophetic in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Crores of Indian employees would have been ruined if this bill was passed in Parliament...” The economy, he says can be revived only by enlarging our domestic demand.

“This is currently being severely squeezed due to the relentless price rise and sharply widening economic inequalities. This can be reversed only by banning all speculative trading in essential commodities and, importantly, generating largescale employment through significant public investments in building our infrastructure. There is no dearth of resources for this, if only the massive tax concessions... are stopped,” the editorial argues.

BIHAR’S SENA

IN THE aftermath of the killing of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh, the lead editorial in the CPM (ML)’s ML Update says the question is whether his murder will revive the Sena — a private upper-caste army which ran a ruthless campaign of terror against alleged Maoist supporters for nearly two decades in Bihar.

The article is heavily critical of the Sena and Singh. It says his supporters and even sections of the media tried to “project him as a hero or saviour of the peasantry”, but the informed democratic opinion in Bihar treated him as one of the most hated symbols of decaying feudal domination. “The exit of Brahmeshwar Singh... by no means should be construed as an automatic weakening of (the) feudal forces in Bihar... Feudal forces still weigh quite heavily on the legislative, judicial and bureaucratic balance in Bihar as can be inferred from signs like the disbanding of the Amir Das Commission, the abandoning of the Report of the Land Reforms Commission and the most recent acquittal of the perpetrators of the Bathani Tola massacre...” it argues.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.

LEADERSHIP TUSSLE

The latest issue of CPM weekly People’s Democracy criticises the BJP for the tussle in that party over its prime ministerial candidate for 2014. “The general elections are two years away. The BJP has neither won the election nor is it likely to muster a majority in the Lok Sabha, yet the dreams of becoming the PM seem to be growing in numbers,” the editorial says.

“The veteran old warhorse, (L.K.) Advani, continues to obdurately adhere to his attitude of never ‘giving up’. The BJP president has shed substantial physical weight hoping to gain some political weight and be eligible. The leaders of the opposition in both the Houses have also joined the race. The former presidents of the BJP, currently in the parliament, have also not given up their hopes,” it elaborates.

The editorial contends that Narendra Modi’s jabs at Nitish Kumar shows that Modi sees him as a potential threat to his prime ministerial chances in the event of the NDA coming to power. It argues that while the BJP’s allies may be keen to share power and the spoils of office, they cannot, for their own political reasons, go along with the Sangh Parivar’s programme of intensifying communal polarisation.

“It is this contradiction that the RSS/BJP continues to remain incapable of resolving satisfactorily... The Indian people’s commitment and steadfastness in defending our secular-democratic republic may, once again, be put to test,” it concludes.

Indo-US DIALOGUE

An editorial in CPI weekly New Age talks about the just-concluded Indo-US strategic dialogue in Washington. It says the outcome of the dialogue was clear from the outset, after the opening remarks made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton was out to “(pressure) the Indian side to concede all the economic and political demands for which (the) agenda was set when she was in New Delhi a few weeks back,” it says. The article claims the US is looking forward to expediting negotiations on the bilateral investment treaty and wants India further reduce barriers to trade and investment in areas like multi-brand retail.

“This is the economic agenda on which the American administration, irrespective of the party affiliations of the White House incumbents, had been (pressuring) India. Even after getting the Indo-US nuclear deal through dubious means, Americans had been demanding that the country waives all liabilities of supplier in case of nuclear disaster through amendments in its laws... Of late, the government... has conceded this demand to a great extent. Similarly, Americans want total liberalisation of Indian economy,” it argues.

“Despite the bravado of the UPA 2 government in taking an independent position vis-a-vis the US and Iran... It is gradually conceding all American demands regarding Iran,” it concludes.

CUSTODIAL MURDER

The CPI(ML)’s weekly ML Update discusses the murder of terror suspect Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui in a high-security Pune prison. It says the custodial murder raises serious questions about the role of jail authorities and alleges that it could not have taken place without their knowledge.

“The investigative agencies too are under a cloud. Their failure to file a chargesheet indicates that sooner or later, their lack of evidence to back up their allegations would have been exposed in court. And there are strong reasons to suspect that they too might have had a role in the suspicious murder of Qateel inside jail,” the editorial claims.

It argues that the Maharashtra ATS had failed to file a chargesheet against Qateel in seven months and points out that his fate underlines the vulnerability of Muslim youth arrested on terror charges. “There are many cases of fake encounters and custodial deaths and it is common for them to be kept in illegal custody for long periods,” it says.

“Jails are notorious for attacks on accused prisoners, and there have been many cases in which key witnesses, who stand to embarrass governments or investigative agencies, have been eliminated within jails,” it says, and demands an impartial inquiry and provide compensation to Qateel’s family.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.

When it was proposed, the Integrated Action Plan (or the IAP) was a scheme designed to undertake fast-track development work in those districts which were severely affected by the Maoist violence. The plan was to originally cover 33 districts which were most affected by Maoist violence, got expanded to 34 and subsequently to 35 districts. Before the scheme could however be announced, the emphasis shiftedaway from the Maoists and the IAP was expanded to cover other tribal and backward districts, bringing the number of such districts to 60. The plan was rechristened as The Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts under the BRGF programme. The district level officials of these 60 districts were given a block grant of Rs 25 crore and Rs 30 crore per district from the Union government during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively, and their progress was being monitored directly by Delhi.

The list was subsequently expanded to 78 districts . And the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday added another 4 districts to the list, taking the total number to 82. So far, so good. Not really, because four new districts carved out of Maoist-affected Dantewada, Bastar and Sarguja districts in Chhattisgarh this January — Sukma, Kondagaon, Balrampur and Surajpur — have not been included under the IAP. But Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, not affected by the Maoist menace, has made it to the list. Of course, that Chhindwara happens to be the parliamentary constituency of Union Minister Kamalnath must be a mere coincidence.

The idea of development preceding security in Maoist areas is a flawed one. IAP, as designed originally was, itself flawed with the back-loaded component of funds, and has been a muddle from its inception. The problem has now been compounded with the mindless dilution of the list — the IAP is just like another patronage scheme for selected districts, in the guise of bringing fast-paced development to Maoist-affected areas.

But there is a bigger danger of this expansion of IAP to 82 districts. The IAP is commonly understood and referred to as a development scheme for districts severely affected by Maoist violence. If IAP covers 82 districts, it will be assumed that at least 82 districts in India are severely affected by violence. But that is not true.

In the list of SRE (Security Related Expenditure) districts, there are 83 districts in nine states where all the expenses incurred on security are reimbursed by the Union Home Ministry. SRE districts are those districts where more than 20% of the police stations have experienced some incidents of Maoist violence. Within these 83 SRE districts, 35 have been classified as ‘focus’ districts. There are the most hardship prone districts, wherein the paramilitary personnel posted to these districts avail an enhanced hardship allowance. Only these 35 districts are severely affected by the Maoist insurgency and the IAP, when proposed initially was to be restricted — logically — to these 35 districts.

As an aside, the proliferation of the list of IAP districts is not happening in isolation. The list of districts covered under Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), which was initiated in August 2006 and aims to catalyze development in backward areas, is proliferating equally fast. It now covers 272 districts in India (out of a total of 640 districts).

Now look at the unintended message government of India is sending by covering half its districts under special development schemes: the routine systems and processes of governance in this country have failed miserably. If these special interventions are the only way out, why not put the whole country under these special interventions? Perhaps that would have been done by now but for the real purpose of these schemes — to dispense patronage, by sending a message of doing something for the poor and the backward. The perils of India being a Socialist Republic!

^ That is one aspect.

The second aspect is how the out-of-India NGOs and govts are using Indians to do their bidding, is a lesson on how India got colonized before.

This is what Bji called Mercantilist mentality.

EURO PLEDGE

The latest issue of CPM weekly People’s Democracy criticises Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for pledging $10 billion to the IMF to help the eurozone at the recently held G-20 Summit. It says that this generosity has come at a time when the Indian people are being subjected to “growing economic burdens” due to the rise in prices of essential commodities. “Instead of seeking to assist the economically advanced European Union, India could have done well to use this money to spare the already groaning people from further burdens,” it notes.

Taking a dig at the PM, the editorial says that he often uses the term “enlightened national interest” as the guiding principle for his government’s policies and asks whether pledging such “enlightened assistance” to developed countries meet India’s “enlightened national interests”.“Clearly, the PM is hoping that if India contributes to international finance capital... the eurozone’s recovery would create a new financial bubble whose expansion would benefit India... Little seems to have been learnt from the current crisis and recession... Bubbles always burst eventually... a fresh crisis will engulf the global economy,” it argues.

It states that rather than waiting for the eurozone to recover, the PM could have used the same resources for an expansion in public investment to build much-needed infrastructure.“This would have generated substantial additional employment in the country and would consequently have vastly expanded the aggregate domestic demand,” it concludes.

CPM OPPORTUNISM

The editorial in the CPM(ML) journal ML Update focuses on the “curious pattern” of political alignment that has emerged in the run up to the presidential election. It attacks the CPM for deciding to back the UPA candidate, Pranab Mukherjee. It claims that the CPM’s support for Mukherjee has come with the “most bankrupt of arguments” — that the presidential poll should be delinked from the political battle against neoliberal policies.

“For all those who had taken the CPM’s Kozhikode Congress call for ‘Left and democratic alternative’ as a sign of ‘leftward restoration and rectification’ within the party, the recent Kerala developments and the decision to support the Congress nominee in (the) presidential election should serve as an important ‘reality check’”, it says.

The editorial called this the “height of opportunist bankruptcy” and argued that the CPM argument of supporting the Congress to keep the BJP out of power was irrelevant. “The only principled course for the Left in this presidential election could have been to abstain,” it concludes.

WORRY OVER PAK

The CPI fears that the crisis in Pakistan, triggered by its Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, will destabilise a country already facing the threat of a takeover by religious fundamentalists and terrorist outfits. “An unstable Pakistan will have (an) adverse impact on the entire Southeast Asia,” says an editorial in party weekly New Age.

It notes that despite the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, the Pakistan Peoples Party regime had shown flexibility in improving relations with India. “Turmoil and consequent takeover by either the army or religious fundamentalist forces upset the entire revival... This will also jeopardise the process of regional cooperation for political stabilisation and development of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO”.

Compiled by Manoj C.G

Ok time for Human Rights Violation babble by Media, A.Roy's Harsh Mander's, Binayek Sen's.

16 Naxalites killed in Dantewada encounter