Bharat Rakshak

Sources pointed out that in Uttar Pradesh numerous projects have been identified in different sectors like Metro-rail, over-bridges, road, aviation, power, transport, health, education, tourism and urban rejuvenation and are at different stages of implementation.

Main projects under public private partnership, where developer has already been selected and work is in progress, are 165 km long Yamuna Expressway between Greater Noida and Agra; Ganga Expressway, the 8-lane mega project linking Ballia in far east to Greater Noida near Delhi traversing 1047 kms; big power projects like Bara (1980 Mw capacity) & Karchana (1320 Mw capacity) near Allahabad and input based franchisee power distribution system in Kanpur and Agra. While many infrastructural facilities are in the pipeline to be developed either by government development authorities and corporations or on public private partnership. A few are into the bidding process, while consultants have been selected for others.

Under the strengthened implementation mechanism, Udyog Bandhu, the state-level infrastructure and industrial facilitation agency, would define the milestones and the corresponding timeframes in respect of all infrastructure projects. The progress and status of these projects will be reviewed on the basis of these milestones to ensure time-bound and vigorous implementation.

A Rs 627-crore project in Vidarbha's six suicide-prone, cotton-producing districts will help farmers in capacity building, increasing the farm produce and marketing.

Patna is ahead of Mumbai but second only to New Delhi in terms of ease of starting a business.

ashish raval wrote:There is a strong current that Narendra Modi is going to replace Rajnath Singh as BJP president after Diwali.

Friends,

As you know Maharashtra is facing State Assembly Elections on October 13.It is my deepest request that you cast your valuable vote for the Congress-NCP alliance.

Please cast your vote in favor of ‘hand’ symbol or ‘clock’ symbol this election and bring us back to power.While our distinguished political opponents are promising to do something and many things to improve Maharashtra, please vote for us because we promise to do NOTHING.

You might be surprised, let me explain.

Bihar is India's new miracle economy. In the five-year period between 2004-05 and 2008-09, Bihar's GDP has grown by a stunning 11.03%, way beyond the definition of 7% growth for a ``miracle economy''.
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There is no official data on poverty beyond 2004-05. So, the CSO data on the economic growth of the states, highlighting the fact that five of India's most backward states have grown at a rate beyond 7%, provides pointers to some kind of poverty mitigation. Apart from Bihar, the growth rate of the other four are: Uttarakhand 9.31%, Orissa 8.74% and Jharkhand 8.45%. The all-India growth during this period was 8.49%.

Bihar grew by 11.03%, next only to Gujarat

manish wrote:A damning re-look at Comrade Basu's WB on Business Standard.
Kanchan Gupta: Relooking West Bengal

Jyoti Basu led the state from darkness to despair, literally and metaphorically


Kanchan Gupta: Relooking West Bengal


Had it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending to the former chief minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a state whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. Kalachand Roy laid what we know today as Odisha to waste in the 16th century; Jyoti Basu was the 20th century’s Kala Pahad who led West Bengal from despair to darkness, literally and metaphorically.

Uncharitable as it may sound, but there really is no reason to nurse fond memories of Jyoti Basu. In fact, there are no fond memories to recall of those days when hopelessness permeated the present, and the future appeared bleak. Entire generations of educated middle-class Bengalis were forced to seek refuge in other states or migrate to America as Jyoti Basu worked overtime to first destroy West Bengal’s economy, chase out Bengali talent and then hand over a disinherited state to Burrabazar traders and wholesale merchants who overnight became “industrialists” — with a passion for asset-stripping and investing their “profits” elsewhere. A State that was earlier referred to as “Sheffield of the East” was rendered by Jyoti Basu into a vast stretch of wasteland. The Oxford English Dictionary would have been poorer by a word had he not made “gherao” into an officially-sanctioned instrument of coercion; “load-shedding” would have never entered into our popular lexicon had he not made it a part of daily life in West Bengal though he ensured Hindustan Park, where he stayed, was spared power cuts. It would have been churlish to grudge him the good life had he not exerted to deny it to others, except, of course, his son Chandan Basu who was last in the news for allegations of cheating on taxes that should have been paid on his imported fancy car.

Let it be said, and said bluntly, that Jyoti Basu’s record in office, first as deputy chief minister in two successive United Front Governments beginning 1967 (for all practical purposes he was the de facto chief minister with a hapless Ajoy Mukherjee reduced to indulging in Gandhigiri to make his presence felt) and later as chief minister for nearly 25 years at the head of the Left Front government which has been in power for 32 years now — the “longest elected communist government” as party commissars untiringly point out to the naïve and the novitiate — is a terrible tale of calculated destruction of West Bengal in the name of ideology. It’s easy to criticise the CPI(M) for politicising the police force and converting it into a goons brigade, but it was Jyoti Basu who initiated the process. It was he who instructed them, as deputy chief minister during the disastrous UF regime, to play the role of foot soldiers of the CPI(M), first by not acting against party cadre on the rampage, and then by playing an unabashedly partisan role in industrial and agrarian disputes.

The fulsome praise that is heaped on Jyoti Basu today — he is variously described by party loyalists and those enamoured of bhadralok Marxists as a “humane administrator” and “far-sighted leader” — is entirely misleading if not undeserving. Within the first seven months of the United Front coming to power, 43,947 workers were laid off and thousands more rendered jobless as factories were shut down following gheraos and strikes instigated and endorsed by him. The flight of capital in those initial days of emergent Marxist power amounted to Rs 2,500 million. In 1967, there were 438 industrial disputes involving 165,000 workers and resulting in the loss of five million man hours. By 1969, there were 710 industrial disputes involving 645,000 workers and a loss of 8.5 million man hours. That was a taste of things to come in the following decades. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, West Bengal had nothing to boast of except closed mills and shuttered factories; every institution and agency of the state had been subverted under his tutelage; and, the civil administration had been converted into an extension counter of the CPI(M) with babus happy to be used as doormats.

After every outrage, every criminal misdeed committed by Marxist goons or the police while he was chief minister, Jyoti Basu would crudely respond with a brusque “Emon to hoyei thaakey” (or, as Donald Rumsfeld would famously say, “Stuff happens!”). He did not brook any criticism of the Marich Jhapi massacre by his police in 1979 when refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were shot dead in cold blood. Till date, nobody knows for sure how many died in that slaughter for Jyoti Basu never allowed an independent inquiry. Neither did the man whose heart bled so profusely for the lost souls of Nandigram hesitate to justify the butchery of April 30, 1982 when 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda Marg order were set ablaze in south Kolkata by a mob of Marxist thugs. The man who led that murderous lot was known for his proximity to Jyoti Basu, a fact that the CPI(M) would now hasten to deny. Nor did Jyoti Basu wince when the police shot dead 13 Congress activists a short distance from Writers’ Building on July 21, 1993; he later justified the police action, saying it was necessary to enforce the writ of the state. Yet, he wouldn’t allow the police to act every time Muslims ran riot, most infamously after Mohammedan Sporting Club lost a football match.

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata? Or when office-bearers of the Kolkata Police Association, set up under his patronage, raped Nehar Banu, a poor pavement dweller, at Phulbagan police station in 1992? “Emon to hoyei thaakey,” the revered Marxist would say, and then go on to slyly insinuate that the victims deserved what they got.

As a Bengali, I grieve for the wasted decades but for which West Bengal, with its huge pool of talent, could have led India from the front. I feel nothing for Jyoti Basu.


Kanchan Gupta: Relooking West Bengal
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Burdwan (WB), Jan 22 (PTI) A CBI's anti-corruption team was beaten up and another locked up in a room while they were on a raid in Burdwan district, police said.

Around 6-7 members of the CBI team were beaten up and some of their important documents torn away allegedly by CPI(M) supporters when they went to raid the house of party leader Rajen Samanto, who was not present during the incident, they said.

Another team of the investigative agency, which went to the office of Bankura Colliery Office was locked up in a room by unidentified men, police said.

Later in the day, a police team went and rescued the two teams.

No arrests were, however, made so far in the incident.

ashish raval wrote:Election commission of India have rejected the "compulsory voting" proposal of Government of Gujarat, one of the other proposal "SMS voting" is likely to be considered. Anything which makes voting easy should be examined.

ashish raval wrote:Election commission of India have rejected the "compulsory voting" proposal of Government of Gujarat, one of the other proposal "SMS voting" is likely to be considered. Anything which makes voting easy should be examined.

ravi_ku wrote:How can an executive body(ECI) reject an legislative act.

Sachin wrote:
If my understanding is correct EC is not a simple executive body. It is a commission which is explicitly mentioned in the Indian Constitution. Like the judiciary, the Election Commission would also have some powers to over-ride the legislature/executive.

Gandhinagar: Chief minister Narendra Modi, who had announced the establishment of a defence (Raksha Shakti) university a few months back, is likely to sanction its start from the academic session of June 2010 with various diploma, under-graduate and post-graduate courses on offer.

“The state government has planned to allocate Rs60 crore for the establishment of the Gujarat defence university and the academic year will start from June.Land of 300 acres has been allocated at Lavad village on Himmatnagar-Chiloda highway near Gandhinagar. The admissions notice will be published very soon.

Initially, the university will offer diploma and degree courses in police science, weapon science, crime investigation, education of law, criminal behavioural studies, etc."
...

Sources further said that for the first time the state government is likely to start the state home department’s Police Wide Area Network (PWAN) which will connect all state government’s police agencies and police stations. A trial run is already underway.

PWAN will help the state government in monitoring all crime records online. Details of FIRs, criminal cases, police officials will be available on real time base to the state government.

Gandhinagar: Chief minister Narendra Modi, who had announced the establishment of a defence (Raksha Shakti) university a few months back, is likely to sanction its start from the academic session of June 2010 with various diploma, under-graduate and post-graduate courses on offer.

“The state government has planned to allocate Rs60 crore for the establishment of the Gujarat defence university and the academic year will start from June.Land of 300 acres has been allocated at Lavad village on Himmatnagar-Chiloda highway near Gandhinagar. The admissions notice will be published very soon.

No workforce, Ludhiana in lurch
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 28
What years of militancy and global meltdown failed to do, the regional divide has done it. The production in the industrial capital of Punjab — Ludhiana — has come to a grinding halt. Thanks to the recent caste and regional tension, the migrant workforce is leaving the city in droves, plunging it into worst-ever industrial crisis, with the production dipping in most of the units by almost 30 per cent.

The labour, on whose shoulders stand the success of industrialisation, is in extreme short supply. Post-December violence and labour unrest, each industrial unit is facing 30- 35 per cent shortage of workers. Not just the export orders, but also the orders to the OEMs are getting delayed because of the crunch.

In the Focal Point here — which was the epicentre of tension — there’s only one morning shift now — earlier there used to two or at times even three shifts--- as the workers are not willing to stay out after dark. Elsewhere in the industrial area, posters announcing vacancies for labour jobs have been pasted outside almost every unit.

In fact, the situation is so grave that many units have been forced to close down certain specialised sections. Sanjeev Ralhan, production director, Sri Tools Industries, said a lot of units have been forced to shut down their zinc-bleeding sections in absence of workers. “My unit is short of 90 persons,” he admitted. According to estimates, Ludhiana is short of around four lakh labourers.

Industrialists say the skilled labour is available, but the unskilled labour, which is required for the odd jobs is not there. Since the skilled labour is highly paid here (sometimes as high as Rs 10,000 - Rs 12,000 per month), they are not moving out of the city. “The inflow of unskilled labour has been hit by the employment guarantee schemes like the NREGA. However, the recent labour unrest has spelled doom for us. We are now turning to agents who can supply us the unskilled workforce. As against the minimum wages of Rs 3,400 per month, we are ready to pay anything between Rs 4,000 and 4,500 in order to get workers,” said TN Sood, managing director, Kumar Industries.

Interestingly, the labour shortage has led to a competition within the industry here. The units are trying to outdo each other in wooing the labourers, who are being promised higher wages, free accommodation and transportation facilities. If one unit takes out a notice for a labour job at a salary of Rs 4,000 a month, the other is offering Rs 4,500 per month for a similar job. Some of the big units are even building pucca tenements for their migrant employees, with all the basic facilities. Special vehicles will also be commissioned just to ferry these men to work and back. There’s need to woo them back as one cannot survive the competition without them, feel a majority of the industrialists here.

Tamil Nadu Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it will not oppose construction of new dam at Mullapriyar if the control of the dam is given to the state .

Warning that Jammu and Kashmir could be headed for a drought, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today asked the Centre for higher food grains allocations to meet the increased demand. "We in our State are heading for severe drought next summer in view of low levels of precipitation during this winter. Fortunately, now rain and snow have arrived and we expect some respite. But, we are still not very sure how things will shape up. So the best way forward is to prepare for the worst," Omar said at the Chief Minister’s conference on prices of essential commodities.

Omar said with land under paddy cultivation shrinking and increased incidence of drought like conditions, the State’s monthly requirement has increased over the years.

kmkraoind wrote:A hard slap on appeasing vote bank politics.

Andhra HC strikes down Muslim quota in education, jobs

Hyderabad: Describing it as “unsustainable”, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday rejected the Muslim Quota Bill which proposed 4% reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs.

Andhra Pradesh Literacy Rate

All Religions - 60.5

Christians- 75.3
Hindus - 59.4
Buddhists - 54.8
SC - 53.52
ST - 37.04

Muslims - 68.0

Slowly and cynically our politicians have started laying the groundwork for the next communal buildup. First, we had the Sachar report, which has now become the basis for the Muslim community’s claim to victimhood. Next, we have had state governments using quotas to woo the Muslim voter. On the same day on which the Andhra Pradesh high court struck down the state government’s orders on Muslim quotas, the West Bengal government rushed in to announce 10 per cent job reservations.

Meanwhile, Muslim leaders have begun the spadework to tell us that we need an Islamic bank to serve their needs. No poor Muslim in Bangladesh has accused Grameen Bank founder Mohammed Yunus of being a kafir for lending with interest. But in secular India we need Islamic banking or else Muslims will rot in poverty. Secular humbugs will support this view on the plea that banking must be “inclusive” when the reluctance of some Muslims to use banks is a case of self-exclusion, not discrimination.

Those who talk of Islamic banking are essentially seeking to give Muslims another way to separate themselves from the mainstream. They are not well-wishers of Muslims.

The same applies to quotas. Nobody is saying that Muslims don’t need jobs, education and other support systems to develop. But what is the need to help them as Muslims? When below-poverty-line (BPL) families can be helped without communal identification and NREGA benefits can be given on socio-economic grounds, Muslims can be helped the same way.

It’s obvious why our politicians love quotas. When you give benefits on the basis of caste or religion, it is useful for political mobilisation. If you do it through socio-economic filters, there are no quick political payoffs. Quotas, Islamic banking, and Sachar-induced victimhood are all one of a piece: they promote communal identity at the cost of true development.