UP: Driver gives statement to cops on ‘killed’ Maoist

SASARAM: The charge of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and other rights activists that Maoist Kamlesh Chaudhary had been killed in a fake encounter gained credence when the driver of the vehicle in which he was travelling appeared before the station house officer of Chenari police station in Rohtas district on Friday.

Kamlesh, a CPI(Maoist) leader and carrying a cash reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head, was killed on November 9.

The driver, Munir Siddiqui, of nearby Sabar village, claimed that UP Police had picked up five persons, including Kamlesh, as soon as the vehicle entered Uttar Pradesh on November 9.

Confirming the driver’s presence, Rohtas superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhaw said the former’s statement had been recorded. He also assured PUCL of an impartial inquiry and extending full cooperation in the matter.

Sources said after Kamlesh was killed at a forest in Obara of UP’s Sonbhadra district by police in an alleged encounter, PUCL swung into action, describing the encounter as "cold-blooded murder". The PUCL, in a memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleged that UP Police had picked up five persons, including Kamlesh from a village under Chenari PS and killed him in a fake encounter.

PUCL also requested NHRC to intervene and ensure the safe release of four others, who had also been picked up with Kamlesh. The PUCL feared that they might also have been killed in a fake encounter.

In the meantime, the SHO of Chenari PS on the instructions of the SP also mentioned in the station diary the disappearance of some persons of the area on November 10.

The hue and cry, raised by PUCL and other rights activists, forced police to release the others four days ago warning them of dire consequences if they dared to open their mouths.

In his statement, Siddiqui claimed that police personnel in mufti spotted the vehicle at Naubatpur in UP’s Chandauli district on November 9 and herded them on to another vehicle that was stopped by a policeman. The driver had to be freed near Obra when the tyre of his vehicle burst. Then, Rohtas police heaved a sigh of relief because PUCL had charged the SP with handing over Kamlesh to UP Police.

PUCL requested the SP to conduct an impartial probe into Kamlesh’s killing by UP Police because the vehicle and four others travelling with the Maoist belonged to Rohtas district and they went to Varanasi away from the SP’s jurisdiction.

The SP said police were also persuading Bharat Kharwar, who was also alleged to have been picked up by UP Police along with Kamlesh, to record his statement. TOI

Naxals ’sorry’ for Jharkhand train attack

RANCHI: On the back foot after Thursday’s attack on a passenger train in Ghagra, 50km from Rourkela in Orissa, the rebels apologised, saying it was carried out by ‘‘overzealous new recruits’’. Observers said the attack would deal a body blow to the Maoist movement.

Two passengers died in the powerful blast that ripped through the tracks on Thursday night, overturning two compartments of the Tata-Bilaspur passenger train.

Samarji, secretary, Bihar-Jharkhand-Orissa regional committee of CPI (Maoists), said on Friday: ‘‘Why should we kill the common man for no reason? They are our assets as we bank on them for our movement and the movement is also meant for them only.’’ The party will ensure that common man is not targeted in future, he added.

Talking to TOI, Samarji said there was no plan to blow up the railway tracks initially and it was carried out by ‘‘overzealous’’ new recruits against whom the party would take appropriate action. TOI

Orissa: 2 tribals killed in police firing in Narayanpatna

BHUBNESWAR: Violence once again vitiated the atmosphere in the already heated Naxal-dominated Narayanpatna tribal pacnhayat with at least two tribals were on Friday killed in police firing. Several others are reported injured when police opened fire at the agitating tribals at Naryanpatna nearly 500 km from here.Picture Courtesy:                    Rurral Reporter

Officials said the police had to open fire “in self-defence,” when the protesting activists of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) turned violent and attacked the police station in a bid to loot the weapons.
The  Maoist-backed organistion was demanding withdrawal of CRPF and frequent patrolling by the police in the area, where the Naxals have been calling the shots for more than a year.

More than 300 CMAS activists, including women and children armed with the traditional tribal weapons, gheraoed the police station in protest against the massive deployment of security forces in the area. They later turned violent breaking the grills of the police station apparently to run away with the arms and ammunitions.

“Two persons died in police firing. Situation is tense but under control. One company of CRPF and another company of Indian Reserve Battalion have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order,” deputy inspector general of police (southern division) Sanjeev Panda told media persons.

The security forces were guarding the police station to prevent any fresh attack by the CMAS members when the incident took place. More forces are being mobilised from the district headquarters town of Koraput for their deployment in the area.

The bodies, which were still lying inside the police station, were yet to be identified, police said.

The number of protestors might injured in the police firing is not yet confirmed by he officials.

Nayaranpatna has been hitting the headlines in the newspaper as the Maoists were trying to turn it into a new red corridor for their smooth passage between Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, though Orissa.

The Left-wing ultras laid frequent siege on the tribal-dominated block with the help of locals. The tribals also managed to take away land belonging to the non-tribal lands while the administration remained helpless.

In the meanwhile, the union home secretary, G K Pillai on Friday ruled out military action against Maoists.

“No military action is being planned against the Maoists. Coordinated operations by different states with help from the Centre could be beneficial for fighting the Left-wing ultras,” Mr Pillai said.

The Home Secretary was here on a day’s visit to Orissa to review state police preparedness to tackle the Maoist menace

Asked if the operation against the Maoists would be supported by aerial strikes, he said, “We do not need to go for aerial attack on the extremists to destroy their bases in the forests and hilly terrains”.

Mr Pillai, who held a discussion with senior officials of the Orissa government including chief secretary T.K.Mishra, state home secretary A.P.Padhi and director general of police Manmohan Praharaj on the issue, termed the Maoists as “terrorists, who do not deserve sympathy.” ET

Orissa journalist languishes in jail for alleged Maoist link

Eight weeks ago, Laxman Choudhury, a stringer with a vernacular newspaper in Mohana block of Gajapati district, was called to the local police station by a police inspector. Choudhury, 40, reporter of Oriya daily Sambad, did not suspect anything foul when he was called to the police station on September 20 morning. The moment he arrived there he was curtly told he was under arrest for his links with CPI(Maoist). Before he could react, the police allegedly made him confess his “crime” and sign on blank papers.

“He was totally disoriented by the turn of events at the police station. He just did not know how to react,” recounted Minati, his wife who is now struggling to make ends meet.

Among the charges, Section 120 (B) deals with criminal conspiracy and Section 124(A) deals with sedition and it has denied freedom to Choudhury till now. Section 124 of the IPC, framed by the British, describes “sedition” as attempts to bring hatred or contempt towards the government by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation. Sedition is punishable with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may be extended to three years to which fine may be added.

Lalgarh: Students block highway in protest against torture

Kolkata, Nov 20 (PTI) Students of a high school today blocked the state highway near Lalgarh for nearly four hours in protest against the alleged torture of a schoolmate by joint forces.

Agitated students of Bikash Bharati High School blocked State Highway-9 at 11 am demanding immediate release of Lalit Mahato, a student of class-X who was detained by the joint forces, and apology from the district administration, police said.

The incident took place early in the morning when the groups of joint forces, who were returning after a gunfight with maoists at Joyalbahanga forest near Jhargram, held Mahato and two other students, who were going to take board examination, for questioning, they said, adding the security personnel left the two but took Mahato to the camp for further interrogation.

Manipur: Four lakh students, protesting against extra judicial killing may lose academic year

Around four lakh students may lose out on an academic year in Manipur, following a boycott of classes since September 9 in protest of the alleged extra judicial killing of a youth.

The All Manipur Students’ Union, Manipur Students’ Federation and Kangleipak Students’ Association had declared a boycott of all Educational Institutions in Manipur in response to the killing that occured in July this year.

The mass protest has continued for over two months and the student bodies are refusing to budge until their demands for Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s resignation is met.

Parents and educationists in the state blame the AMSU and government for the plight of these students.

"If classes are boycotted further, we do not know what will happen to the fate of lakhs of students in the state and thousands of them may also lose the opportunity to apply for professional courses next year," said a principal of a reputed government institution.

CPI Maoist CC Member Tusharkant Bhattacharya released from Warangal jail

walking free: Maoist leader Tusharkant Bhattacharya after being released from Central Jail in Warangal on Thursday.

CPI (Maoists) central committee member , Tusharkant Bhattacharyya, a leading intellectual and ideologue in India was freed from Warangal Jail late Thursday (November 19) night. Tusharkant Bhatttacharya was lodged in Warangal prison for the past two years.

According to Andhra Police, Bhattacharya was acquitted in three cases registered against him in the state, while he already has got bail in the case registered against him in Bihar.

Speaking to media soon after his release from the prison, Tusharkant Bhattacharya reiterated that as long as there was State violence and oppression against the people, the Maoists movement will continue to fight for the depressed classes and those being exploited.

He charged the governments both at the Centre and State levels with terrorising the tribals and forcing them to flee from the forest areas so that the natural resources and mine deposits in the region could easily be handed over to the multi-national companies. “What they are planning now in Chattisgarh in the name of Green Hunt is nothing but a ploy to displace the adivasis. However, the Maoist party with the support of the people will not allow the evil designs of the Centre,’’ he said.

Punjab: Surjit Singh Phul, State President of Bharti Kissan Union (Krantikari) arrested

On 17.11.09, Sh. Surjit Singh Phul, State President of Bharti Kissan Union (Krantikari) was abducted by a contingent of Punjab Police, when he came to attend hearing in a court case in the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate Phul, District Bathinda Punjab.

The intention of the police was to keep him in illegal custody & torture for some days and then produce before the court. But the leaders of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) who were present on the spot, along with a large number of democratic minded advocates, drew the attention of the court towards this illegal act of the police.

Consequently the SDJM summoned the SHO Police Station Phul, who admitted arresting Sh. Surjit Singh in case FIR No. 94 dated 17.11.09 under Section 10 & 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.

As per FIR, Sh. Surjit Singh is alleged to be closely linked with CPI Maoist and is supporting its activities of armed struggle against the Indian State in various States such as West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Andhra, Orissa etc.

He is further alleged to have mobilised youth for the Maoist activities and was trying to establish Maoist Party in Punjab, by arranging meetings of leaders from other states etc. After arresting him the police has taken him to Interrogation Center at Amritsar for "intensive interrogation".

Various peasant organisations of Punjab have held protest demonstrations demanding the release of Sh. Surjit Singh Phul. This step is viewed as an attempt to crush the peasant movement in Punjab, which has been fighting resolutely against new economic policies of the Govt.

India doubles billionaires; Mukesh Ambani tops list

MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – A buoyant stock market and a still-robust economy have nearly doubled the number of billionaires in India, according to the Forbes’ Rich List.

With the stock market having gained more than 75 percent this year and the economy growing at nearly 7 percent, the number of billionaires jumped to 52 in 2009 from 27 in the previous year, just two short of the record in 2007, according to the ranking.

Mukesh Ambani, chief of Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable private firm, tops the list again with a net worth of about $32 billion, followed by steel baron Lakshmi Mittal with $30 billion. Their net worth rose by nearly half.

Rounding off the top three is Mukesh’s estranged brother Anil Ambani, with an estimated net worth of $17.5 billion.

"Happy days are definitely back again for India’s richest," said Nazneen Karmali, India editor of Forbes Asia.

"This year’s list shows that when conditions in the financial markets and the economy are right, India has the scale and resources to produce billionaires faster than most countries."

The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest people is $276 billion, according to the list, about a quarter of the country’s GDP and greater than China’s $170 billion.

Savitri Jindal, non-executive chairwoman of O.P. Jindal Group, is at number seven and one of only six women on the list.

Others in the top 10 include Azim Premji, founder of No. 3 software exporter Wipro, steelmakers the Ruia brothers, real estate baron K.P. Singh and telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal.

India’s list, unlike the global ranking, includes some family fortunes, Forbes said. (see list on www.forbes.com/india) Reuters

Of Mining Mafia and rich land of the poor

India’s [ Images ] mineral-rich areas have the largest number of poor and are Naxal-affected — there’s an obvious story here, says Sunita Narain.

Take a map of India. Now mark the districts of the country in terms of forest wealth. Then overlay on them the water wealth of the country — the sources of streams and rivers that feed us.

On this, plot the mineral wealth of the country — iron ore, coal, bauxite and all things nice that make economies rich. But don’t stop here. Mark on these wealth of India, another indicator — districts where the poorest people of our country live. These are also the tribal districts of India.

A picture will emerge: The richest lands of India are where the poorest people live. Now complete this cartography of the country with the colour red.

These are the same districts where Naxalites [ Images] roam; where government admittedly is fighting a battle with its own people, who use the gun to terrorise and kill. Clearly, there is a lesson of bad development that we need to learn from.

Let’s join these dots with events of these last few weeks. Madhu Koda [ Images ] was the chief minister of Jharkhand — a mineral- and forest-rich but people-poor state — for just about a year.

Today, enforcement agencies are unearthing the mother of all scams involving Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion), or even more, the illegal assets that he and his associates looted from the state.

Just consider, this is roughly a fifth of the annual budget of the state. But more importantly, this enormous wealth came from the same minerals that have never made his people rich.

It does not end there. In the past one month, when the BJP government in Karnataka [ Images] was brought to its knees by defiant legislators, who wanted the head of the chief minister to roll, we did not connect this episode with the cartography of India.

The Reddy brothers — Gali Janardhan Reddy, the tourism minister and his brother Gali Karunakara Reddy, the revenue minister in the BS Yeddyurappa [ Images ] government — are mining barons.

Their wealth and power come from the rapacious mining in the same ‘rich but poor’ districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The Reddy brothers’ fiefdom, Bellary district, contributes some 20 per cent of the country’s iron ore production. This ore is mined with little or no consideration for environmental safeguards — water in the region runs red because of mine discharge, land is destroyed, forest is illegally mined and people’s livelihood devastated.

This is the district with the largest number of registered private aircraft, but is ranked third from the bottom in the human development index of Karnataka and has 50 per cent literacy level — a shame for the otherwise progressive state.

The Reddy brothers (like Madhu Koda) are products of the extraordinary wealth of the regions which we still call poor. Why, then, are we surprised when Naxalites profit from the anger of the local people caused by this loot of their region?

Take the forests. Some 60 per cent of the country’s dense, most biodiverse and economically-rich forests are found in these tribal districts. This is where the magnificent tigers are found. Ask again: If there is extraordinary wealth, then why are the people living there so poor?

The fact is that we have never built a development model for natural resources, which is both sustainable and can benefit local economies as well as people.

The first phase of development took place when the state extracted and exploited the forests.

Large areas (much like what is happening with minerals today) were handed over to paper and pulp industry; swathes of dense forests were cut, land was denuded to build the economic wealth of the country.

But nothing was shared with the local people. This was the forest wealth that built fortunes of governments and private companies. But not of its people.

Then came the period of conservation. The nation decided that forests had to be protected; tigers and other wild animals had to be safeguarded.

But instead of building an economic model, which would have shared the benefits of conservation with the people, we once again marginalised the locals.

We believed that forests had to be protected from the people who lived on these lands.

Today, the callous implementation of the Forest Conservation Act, which does not allow (rightly in many cases) the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes, has become the single biggest reason for anger and violence in the region.

The problem is that while clearance is given for mining, power or industrial projects in vast swathes of forest land, what is delayed and discounted is the little forest land needed by the local people to build a school, a water tank or an access road. Worse, the wealth of forests is never used to build their economies.

Conservation of the tiger happens on their lands, with little benefit to them. Are we, then, still surprised by their anger?

This is what needs to change. And there are opportunities. Some years ago, the Supreme Court passed an important order regarding the sharing of the mineral wealth with its people.

Today, there is the issue of protecting these forests for national and global imperatives — from water to climate security. Can we use these to build new futures? Can we change the rich land-poor people cartography of India? Let’s discuss this next fortnight.

Sunita Narain Rediff

THE SPLIT REALITY – Adivasis, Salva Judm and the State: who is provoking whom?

Cutting Corners – Ashok Mitra- Former West Bengal Finance Minister

Bastar tribal people at the Araku Valley market

Some news is considered more worth publicizing than some other news. This is part of an essential discipline, for otherwise we will remain perennially buried under an avalanche of data, information and gossip. The wheat, never mind the change of metaphor, has to be separated from the chaff. The media perform this task. Occasionally the government of the land helps the media to do the choosing: the authorities have their own views on what is printable and what is not.

The prime minister had recently convened a conference of chief ministers to discuss the ways and means for implementing the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, passed by Parliament in 2006. The Union ministers of state for environment and forests as well as for tribal affairs were in attendance. Most of the chief ministers, however, stayed away; they obviously had more important matters to deal with on the day. The only exception was the chief minister of Orissa.

The absence of chief ministers did not deter the prime minister from unburdening himself. There has been, he said, a systemic failure in giving the nation’s adivasis a stake in the breathtaking economic progress the country is experiencing. On the other hand, the development process has actually led to an encroachment on both the living space and the means of livelihood of the tribal population. Such alienation of the adivasis from the national mainstream has persisted over decades. But enough ought to be enough, the social and economic exploitation of the tribal communities could not be tolerated any longer. The 2006 act, the prime minister told his listeners, embodies the government’s resolve to reverse the trend. The nation’s energy and resources must be fully mobilized to make effective the provisions of the act. The Union and state governments have to move together in the matter, and it would be necessary to ‘factor in’ the different nuances of tribals living in different parts of the country.

I Don’t Know What Phone Kishenji Uses: West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh

TUSHA MITTAL questions West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh on why the police has failed to nab one of India’s most wanted Maoists

Photo: PINTU PRADHAN

CPI(Maoist) Politburo member Kishenji is hiding in Lalgarh. What is the West Bengal police doing to catch him?
We aren’t going to tell the media what we are trying. But be assured he is our target. We are certainly looking for him.

Why have you not been able to catch him yet? He’s talking live to TV channels every other day. TEHELKA had a two-hour phone conversation with him.
We know that. It is not simple. You have to find the person physically. Just because he is able to talk on the phone doesn’t mean he can be found easily. That he is able to talk to the media doesn’t mean anything. It only means he’s in a certain location in a vast jungle. It is difficult to locate him unless there are other inputs. It’s much easier to locate people in built-up urban areas; you can pinpoint the exact place. I don’t know what phone he uses. We are not tapping his phone. It is illegal.

Do you have enough ground intelligence? Do you know what he looks like?
We have a reasonable idea of how he looks, but that is not so relevant. He is always protected by his security people. The level of intelligence is relative. There is an issue regarding intelligence. It will take time, but we’ll find him.

When TEHELKA spoke to him, he wasn’t inside the jungles. He said he’s two kilometres from a police camp.
If you believe what he says, that’s up to you.

Three Maoists held on Bangalore outskirts

The already beleaguered Maoist movement in Karnataka has received another serious jolt when three important Naxalite leaders including Devendrappa Aalias Vishnu, a State committee member this week.

A special team of Andhra Pradesh police, which kept watch on the Maoists, nabbed them in Peenya police station limits on Bangalore outskirts.

Sources said the other two arrested were Laxmi alias Geeta, a district committee member and Asha, a district committee secretary. Asha was stated to be the wife of Nanda Kumar, a member of the Karnataka State committee.

The Maoist movement in Karnataka split vertically after there was debate within the party leaders on the relevance of following area wise seizure of power concept, which the Maoist party firmly believes in. A section of leaders who believed that the revolutionary activity should also be taken up in urban areas by mobilising people broke away and started their own party. The Hindu

Maoist suspect remanded in custody

Karnataka Bureau

SHIMOGA/MYSORE: Kiran Kumar, alias Mallesh (27), one of the four suspected Maoists arrested on Tuesday, was produced before the JMFC court here on Thursday and remanded in police custody till December 3.

The Shimoga police, who arrested him, said that Kiran was a mediator between Maoists and their supporters.

A police team caught the youth at the KSRTC bus stand in Shimoga city around 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday and questioned him. He was identified as a resident of Goragunte Palya in Bangalore. He hails from Bommanal village in Deodurga taluk of Raichur district.

The police said he used to supply material and information to naxalites hiding in jungles of the Malnad region.

The police refused to disclose information about the other three taken into custody.

Another of those arrested, Vishnu alias Devendrappa, according to sources, is from Tallur village in Shimoga district.

He escaped during the encounter that took place in 2005 when naxalite ideologue Saket Rajan and his accomplice, Shivalingu, were shot dead near Menasinahadya in Chikmagalur district.

Sources said Vishnu is an important person in the naxal cadre and the State leader of the naxal wing that operates in the Western Ghats. Vishnu has been in the movement for 20 years, and he was second in command when Saket Rajan was alive.

Kobad Ghandy produced in court amid tight security

The Hindu

Special arrangement Maoists top cadre leader Kobad Ghandy being produced before the district court amid tight security cover in Karimnagar town on Friday evening.

Top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy was produced by police before the Karimnagar additional judicial first class magistrate Srivani on Friday evening in connection with a conspiracy case amid unprecedented security arrangements.

On his production before the court, the police filed a petition seeking custody of the Naxalite leader for investigations into a conspiracy case in Karimnagar district. Counsel for Kobad Ghandy requested the court for some time to file his counter against the petition submitted by the police. Accordingly, the judge posted the case to November 23 for further hearing of the case.

Upon a representation by Kobad Ghandy that he was suffering from ill-health, the court directed the police to shift the Maoist leader to Cherlapalli Central Jail in Hyderabad. Accordingly, the police took the Naxalite leader to Hyderabad amid tight security.

Orissa journalists protest against colleague’s arrest

Bhubaneswar, Oct 12 (IANS) Over 100 journalists of Orissa Monday protested outside Raj Bhavan against the arrest of a scribe last month on charges of sedition and assisting Maoists.

Wearing black badges and holding placards, the journalists launched the silent protest for more than an hour against police action against Laxman Choudhury who continues to be in jail despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s intervention.

‘Stop terrorising media’, ‘Freedom of speech is our birth right’ and ‘Respect the fourth estate, don’t mess around’ read the placards.

‘It was a silent protest and continued for more than a hour,’ Prasant Patnaik, one of the protesting journalists, told IANS.

Choudhury, a reporter with Oriya daily Sambad, was arrested Sep 21 from Mohana area in Gajapati district after a packet containing Maoist leaflets addressed to him was recovered from a bus conductor.

Police accused Choudhuri and the conductor of waging war against the government and sedition, criminal conspiracy and assisting Maoist activities.

Orissa: 9 weeks after, 30 tribals chargesheeted

ROURKELA: As many as 30 tribals who were arrested about nine weeks back, were today charge-sheeted and produced in a court in Bonai sub-division.Based on the charge-sheet, the court would either allow or reject their release petitions in the next production.

They have been languishing in jail since August 29 for alleged Maoist links.

Bonai SDPO Sudarshan Sethi confirmed filing the charge-sheet and said they were sent back to the Bonai sub-jail. Charges of riot, murder, kidnap and use of deadly firearms were slapped on them and were framed in the kidnapping and killing incident of Sub-Inspector Ajit Bardhan.

Earlier, the en masse arrest of the tribals from Silpunji, Champajharan and Chandiposh areas under Banki police limits of the sub-division evoked strong reaction from human rights groups and Maoists as well. In a knee-jerk reaction, the Maoists carried out a series of explosions in the sub-division in September.

Separately, hundreds of tribals twice paralysed the NH-23 and the Rourkela-Bimlagarh rail route seeking justice to the tribals.

Lalgarh: Japan boost to Jindal steel project

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, Nov. 19: The world’s sixth largest steel maker may come to Bengal as a partner in Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Steel for its proposed project in Salboni, West Midnapore.

JFE Steel Corporation of Japan and JSW today announced strategic collaboration on various fronts, with the Bengal project being the cornerstone of the deal.

Jindal, vice-chairman and MD of JSW Group, said JFE was keen to participate in the 10-million-tonne Bengal project.

Industry sources said JFE could even pick a stake in the special purpose vehicle, JSW Bengal Steel Ltd, which would execute the Rs 35,000-crore project over the next 10 years.

Jindal had announced the commencement of construction on November 2, 2008.

While chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was returning from the programme that day, Maoists tried to blow him up. The police action that followed sowed the seeds of the Lalgarh agitation and a guerrilla uprising.

JSW stopped construction, but blamed the economic meltdown for the delay instead of the Maoist trouble. Jindal said he would be able to arrange funds for the 3-million-tonne first phase only by 2011, when the company’s ongoing expansion at Vijaynagar, Karnataka, was completed.

The year 2011 is also one when Bengal will go to polls with the possibility of a change of guard at Writers’ Buildings.

Not many are hopeful of a start earlier than 2011 and Jindal has remained non-committal.

War against the Maoists: But who are they and what do they want?

Posted by Radical Notes November 19, 2009 at 1:48 am in India, South Asia, State Terrorism

Rita Khanna

The Indian government is launching a full-scale war against the Maoist rebels and the people led by them in different parts of the country. The initial battles, without any formal announcement, have already started. For this purpose, they intend to deploy about 75,000 security personnel in parts of Central and Eastern India, including Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. The government will organize its regular air-force in addition to paramilitary and specially trained COBRA forces. The air-force has begun to extend its logistic support. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram have declared the Maoist rebels to be ‘the biggest internal security threat’ to India and a hindrance to ‘development’. The mainstream media seem to have taken them at their face value. Their publications and television programmes seem to be building a war-hysteria against the Maoist rebels regardless of the fact that this attack by the government will be directed against some of the most deprived of the Indian people. Indeed this is turning into a war of the state against its own people!

While paying lip service at times to the notion that the current people’s insurgency led by the Maoist rebels has its root in decades of vicious exploitation of the poor, especially the dalits and tribals, the blare of government propaganda tries to convince us that the Maoist rebels are dangerous, blood-thirsty terrorists determined to establish their areas of influence. The Government is preaching that the Maoists can go to any extent to maintain their influence in these areas – by either preventing the government from undertaking development activities or using the power of their guns, killing disobedient individuals. Their ideology is to terrorise the common people, wrest power from the democratically elected governments and destroy the entire fabric of the society. The government and the media want us to believe that the only people, apart from a few romantic misguided intellectuals, who willingly support Maoists are the poor, ignorant, uneducated, uninformed tribal people. They seem to claim that no sensible, intelligent person living in a society like ours would support them voluntarily. But is this a true picture?

30 Schools in Binpur, Lalgarh and Salboni remain closed since June.

Binpur students locked up police personnel in school- File

More than a week has passed since Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had promised to withdraw security forces from the schools in Maoist-hit West Midnapore district. But till date, security personnel continue to camp in the schools.

During a recent trip to the district, the chief minister had set November 15 as the deadline for withdrawal of security forces from the schools. Admitting the administration’s failure, the district magistrate of West Midnapore, N S Nigam, said so far a few classrooms in the 13 schools of Lalgarh, Binpur and Salboni — where police camps were set up in June — have been vacated.

The teachers can now hold their classes in the vacant rooms but the security force would remain posted there, Nigam added. Though classes have not yet resumed, the district administration is hopeful that students will soon start attending their schools.

Superintendent of Police, West Midnapore, Manoj Verma said a section of security forces has been shifted from various schools in Binpur and Salboni to a separate location. But he did not specify how many schools are currently being occupied by the security forces. The People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which has been protesting against the “occupation of government schools by security forces”, alleged that at least 30 secondary and primary schools in Binpur, Lalgarh, Salboni have remained closed since June.

Inside Maoist land, Lalgarh: CNN IBN Special Report

Being inside Lalgarh, West Bengal, is like entering another country, a different timezone. It is the liberated area where the state government is desperately trying to regain some foothold. Lalgarh is an area of ruthless confrontation, where a group of armed combatants who don’t believe in the Constitution dictate the pace of life. They have made the jungles their home, the adivasis their friends and the state and police their enemy number one.

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Naxal body holds meet, over 7,000 turn up

Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) New Democracy activists shout anti-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh government slogans during a demonstration against an Indo-US nuclear deal in New Delhi, 23 August 2007. The CPI-ML are staging nationwide protests against the agreement between the US and India which is termed '123', which covers civil nuclear technology, and seeks to bring India into the loop of global atomic commerce after a gap of three decades, was rejected almost immediately by the Indian opposition and Singh's communist allies. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha, a frontal organisation of Naxal-outfit CPI(ML) New Democracy, held a public meeting in memory of Uda Devi Pasi, a martyr of the revolt in 1857, at Nanda Ka Pura in Kaushambi district on Monday.

Pasi fell to British bullets after killing 32 soldiers at Sikandarbagh in Lucknow on November 16, 1857.

The district and police administration went into a tizzy on Monday after approximately 7,000 people turned up. Many in the crowd were carrying arms like swords and spears. Apprehending law and order issues, the administration had clamped Section 144 of the CrPC.

This was the largest event organised by AIKMS in the area in the last five years.

To help villagers from nearby areas reach the venue, AIKMS built a temporary ‘boat’ bridge over the Yamuna.

AIKMS is the social wing of CPI (ML) New Democracy, which has its origins in the Naxalbari movement of 1967. It is active in Kaushambi, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra and Chandauli.

Dr Ashish Mittal, national secretary of AIKMS, a resident of Allahabad, said AIKMS was formed in 2000 to protect the interests of the landless and poor workers and farmers.

“We are against any move that jeopardises the survival of peasantry and workers who mainly depend on natural ways of livelihood like farming and fishing,” said Mittal, who is an alumni of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He left his course in public health midway and joined the organisation to serve the people.

Regarding its links with the Naxals, Kaushambi SP R K Bhardwaj said: “The district administration is conducting an inquiry to ascertain whether the AIKMS has any link with the Naxalites.”

“I cannot say with certainty whether they are Naxals. But their growing strength indicates there could be a major fallout in the near future,” added Bhardwaj.

District Magistrate Lokesh M, however, termed them anti-social.