A Global Network of Jharkhand | Jharkhand Org

Posting policy of the Jharkhand Forum

jharkhandorguk — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Dear All,

Johar, these are the Jharkhand Forum's norms and other information. It is assumed that all registered members or active users are familiar with the rules and guidelines presented here.

=== KNOW EACH OTHER ===

Jharkhand Volunteer (a group of virtual volunteers; that maintains websites, video and forum for Jharkhand Org.) is actively working to promote each and every member or active user of Jharkhand Forum including all non-profit NGOs working in India.

At Jharkhand Forum, we would like to suggest you to create a profile page on JHARKHAND NETWORK – http://network.jharkhandi.com that’s a free to use networking website.

=== Rules and guidelines ===

Following norms and guidelines which are designed to ensure the forum is fair and respects the interests of its users and members.

1/ Time is money for everyone.

While posting your message to 'Jharkhand Forum' please always Remember, you are taking up someone's time, so please avoid one line messages in forum like –

Thank you for your reply or I am good or Greetings or I agree etc. For one line greetings or appreciation message – you may use the ‘Jharkhand Instant Messenger’ @ jharkhand.org.in/forum or forum.jharkhand.org.in

2/ Respect always do matter.

As you know most of Jharkhand Forum members / users have never met, in order to avoid any misunderstanding and to demonstrate respect for the other members / users, please keep the following norms in mind when you are communicating through Jharkhand Forum:

· Follow the same standards of politeness that you would in any other situation.

· Feel free to express your ideas, thoughts, and feelings, but do so in a way that will respect others.

· Prepare your correspondence in a professional manner & please use respectful salutations.

· Everyone makes mistakes. Don't criticize others’ simple errors. Check your spelling and grammar.

3/ Always Remember.

Please, don't pass on chain-letter-type messages, advertisements, materials from another website without mentioning it's original source, virus alerts, signing request for petitions, job adverts, give-away, email asking for financial supports and dire warnings etc. Also, please avoid followings in your personal e-mail signature – Resume or Personal Profile links of any kind i.e. supported by commercial advert links.

NOTE: Forum websites has linked with these specific websites for following things –

Jobs: http://jobs.jharkhand.org.in | Email for posting adverts – jobs@jharkhand.org.in

Resume: http://resume.jharkhandi.com | Email: resume@jharkhandi.com

Petition: http://petition.jharkhand.org.in | Email: petition@jharkhand.org.in

Funding Appeal: http://funding-appeal.economics.org.in | Email: forum@jharkhand.org.in

4/ 100 percent Freedom.

Jharkhand Forum gives you 100 percent freedom to express your voices / thoughts / ideas / opinions / experiences and suggestions etc.

All members / contributors are responsible for their own comments and neither ‘A Global Network of Jharkhand’ nor the Jharkhand Forum's Management Team can be held responsible for any views expressed on Jharkhand Forum.

5/ Insults and threats will not be accepted.

Please be respectful of others even when you do not agree with them, if that is asking too much then please ignore them. Insults and personal attacks are not welcome on this forum and any member who resorts to such behaviour will be warned first and then moderated if they persist. Members should feel free to be able to express themselves in a non judgmental environment. This does not mean other members can not question any view that has been express, nor should you expect your own view not to become the subject of debate, but that members should not be attacked personally for the view they hold, and only their reasoning should be open to criticism.

Anyone who threatens another member, or acts in such a way which causes another member to feel threatened, will be banned from the Jharkhand Forum.

6/ Think before replying Jharkhand Forum’s email.

· Don't assume everyone is passionate about your cause. In other words, before hitting the Reply button, be sure you are replying to the correct party. If you are replying to a Jharkhand Forum e-mail, does your reply need to go to everyone, or is it intended for the sender / contributor only?

· Ensure you have read an understood a message before replying to it, don't just skim read or assume someone's position. If you feel someone is misinterpreting you then don't get caught up on it.

· Both sides of the argument are available for other members to be able to make up their own mind.

· If you constantly try to push the same point people may get fed up or consider you unable to back up your position. And please try to reply to the spirit of the original message rather than a literal interpretation.

Also,

· Make sure your name and perhaps your city/town/place/country is on every message you send so that others can identify you.

· Make sure everyone is familiar with any jargon being used; be aware of acronyms and abbreviations.

· Don't type in all capital letters. It looks like shouting.

· Don't type in all lower-case letters. This is known as mumbling.

7/ Change the subject line.

It is inevitable that many discussions will go off on tangents or change direction, if this happens please, change the subject line to reflect the new topic of conversation.

8/ Misuse and Copyrights Issues.

At Jharkhand Forum, harassing any member or staff or approaching any member for network marketing purpose or misuse of any services and violation of norms will be dealt strictly.

In Forum, please don’t post or pass other’s work with your name. Don’t forget to mention its original source in original form. You are allowed to re-publish or forward any email (of Jharkhand Forum) to third party without altering its emblem and links.

Please, do not copy, paste or reproduce the contents and materials of any websites of ‘Jharkhand Org’ for your personal or commercial blog or website. In such activity, you will be accused in violating of Cyber law and liable to face legal consequences. If you want to use any material for a non-profit purpose then approach to permission@jharkhand.org.in with details of your request.

=== Complaints ===

If you have any complaints regarding Jharkhand Forum, any of its members or particular messages then please, mail complain@jharkhand.org.in. It would be appreciated if you do not post your complaint to the forum (or to a contributor) as this has a tendency to cause disruption and can take longer to resolve than by being dealt with in private.

As a general policy it will be brought to someone's attention if there has been a complaint about them, although the anonymity of the complainant will be respected. Unless someone is clearly acting in an unacceptable way they will be left to decide whether or not they wish to change their behaviour, only when there have been several justified complaints, or if a member consistently ignores warnings, would someone be censured.

Termination or banning of membership from Jharkhand Forum will always be a last resort after all other attempts have failed. If some does offend you then the best advice is always to try and ignore them, just as you would in real life.

=== Function ===

Jharkhand Forum is the open access public website and can be access in all parts of world.

Anything once posted at Jharkhand Forum make shortly available at its 30+ websites such as such as http://reporter.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://blog.jharkhandi.org | http://group.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://express.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://forum.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://adivasi.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://blog.jharkhand.org.in

All websites of Jharkhand.ORG are advert-free (no advertisements at all) and fast loading website (which work at minimum internet speed) and quick posting so, its just take few minutes to appear your contents here.

All websites are maintained by Jharkhand Volunteer. Contact Email: cohort@jharkhand.us or volunteer@jharkhand.org.in or volunteer@jharkhand.org.uk

At Jharkhand Forum no sign-up is required. To post your contents (press release, messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions and documentary video here, simply send it to Jharkhand@yahoogroups.com.

If you wish receive contents in email then sign-up at http://egroups.com/list/jharkhand or write to forum@jharkhand.org.in or jharkhand.forum@gmail.com or jharkhand.forum@yahoo.com

For further information or support, please email us at above emails id.

== About ==

Jharkhand Forum is an easiest accessible public forum, where everyone’s voices / thoughts / ideas / opinions / experiences / suggestions are heard without any intermediate moderation. It invites you to share anything on developments issues and welcome your active participation in discussions.

Jharkhand Forum is the part of Jharkhand.ORG (an independent non-profit organization). For more info about it please visit at www.jharkhand.org.in

Foundation Year –

Jharkhand Forum was founded in 2005

Popularity –

Jharkhand Forum is the first forum of its kind in India. Everyday, it is visited by large no of people (800-1200 people per-day approx.) worldwide and it has 12,000 registered users / contributor.

Focus Issues –

It’s focussed on hot issues of India that includes – Developments, Industrial Displacements, Adivasi, Dalit, Mines, Minerals, Environment, Health, Education, Naxal, Poverty, Corruption, Governance, Crime, Forest and Socio-Economic problems etc.

Geographical Coverage:

India only

Members / Users / Contributors Backgrounds -

Jharkhand Forum’s members are from all kind of Professions including Development Professionals, Researchers, Writers, News Reporters, University Teachers & Students, Govt. of India's officers, Policy makers, NGOs and NRIs etc.

Members' Profile –

It can be openly access at http://network.jharkhandi.com

Geographical Region of Membership -

Worldwide

Language of communication -

English

Activities –

Sharing information in public through the websites, blog, email lists and an e-newsletter, facilitate debate and discussion and raise awareness and understanding.

Facilitating networking among professionals, academics, researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners involved in development, within and beyond India;

Facilitating mutually beneficial relationships and meaningful co-operation between the academics, media community and development professionals, including policy-makers, civil society groups, and development NGOs;

Best Regards,

–
Moderators,
Jharkhand Forum

http://forum.jharkhand.org.in
E-mail: forum@jharkhand.org.in
www.jharkhand.org.in/forum

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Note: To post your contents (press release, messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions and documentary video) at this website, simply send it to Jharkhand@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required.

This is an advert-free and quick posting website so, its just take few minutes to appear your contents here as well as on 30 other websites of Jharkhand.ORG such as http://reporter.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://blog.jharkhandi.org | http://group.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://express.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://forum.jharkhand.org.in/ | http://adivasi.jharkhand.org.in/ Some Useful Links -: 01. ==> Jobs Post -> http://jobs.jharkhand.org.in 02. ==> Resume / CV -> http://resume.jharkhandi.com 03. ==> Marriage -> http://shaadi.jharkhandi.com 04. ==> Email A/c-> http://jharkhandi.com/email.aspx 05. ==> Network -> http://network.jharkhandi.com 06. ==> Documentary -> http://documentary.jharkhand.us 07. ==> Petition -> http://petition.jharkhand.org.in 08. ==> Districts -> http://jharkhandi.com/district.aspx 09. ==> Funding Appeal -> http://Funding-Appeal.economics.org.in 10. ==> Naxal Terror -> http://naxal.jharkhand.org.uk Language Blogs - 01. ==> Sadri -> http://nagpuri.jharkhandi.com 02. ==> Mundari -> http://mundari.jharkhandi.com 03. ==> Khortha -> http://khortha.jharkhandi.com 04. ==> Oraon -> http://kurukh.jharkhandi.com 05. ==> Kharia -> http://kharia.jharkhandi.com 06. ==> Kurmali -> http://Kurmali.jharkhandi.com 07. ==> Santhali -> http://santali.jharkhandi.com 08. ==> Panchpargania -> http://panchpargania.jharkhandi.com

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Proposed India’s biggest Special Economic Zone in danger of being scrapped

jharkhandorguk — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:05:00 +0000

The threat to the SEZ follows the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay the land acquisition process that otherwise has to conclude by Monday, June 8. A Bench headed by Justice B Sudarshan Reddy dismissed Mumbai SEZ’s plea challenging a Bombay High Court interim order that refused to stay the land acquisition process. A stay by the Supreme Court would have made the deadline redundant.

The company has spent Rs 600 crore on land acquisition but the process had stalled following protests in 22 villages. The state government then held a referendum on the project among villagers last year but has not yet released the results.

Mumbai SEZ had filed a writ petition last month before the high court, seeking a direction to the Raigad district administration to speed up the land acquisition initiated under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984.

Land acquisition for SEZs has to be completed within two years from the date of approval.

The Mumbai SEZ project, which was to come up over 10,000 hectares at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore, was approved in June 2005 and the deadline has been extended twice.

A Mumbai SEZ spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the company’s course of action.

Senior Maharashtra government officials, however, said the project’s future appeared bleak, given that the state was headed for Assembly elections in October. Land acquisition for industrial projects is a highly emotive issue and no government wanted to do anything that was perceived as being harmful to the villagers’ interests.

Sources familiar with the developments, however, said there was hope for Mumbai SEZ. One, the Supreme Court simultaneously issued a notice to the Maharashtra government on another plea by the Mumbai SEZ, seeking to transfer its petition pending before the Bombay High Court.

Last year, the apex court had transferred a number of SEZ cases to itself from various high courts. All the writ petitions, some by land owners and some in public interest, challenge the validity and procedure of land acquisition in various states for building SEZs. The Supreme Court is yet to hear those cases.

J P Dange, the state’s additional chief secretary (revenue & forests), said the government would take a decision on granting an extension to the land acquisition process only after receiving a specific request from the company to that effect.

Convener of the People Against Globalisation, Ulka Mahajan, who headed the anti-SEZ agitation, welcomed the apex court’s decision and said, “The decision has strengthened our belief that even mighty corporations can be forced to eat humble pie using peaceful and democratic means of agitation.”

The state government will need to carry out detailed consultations and study the legal provisions before deciding what to do with the land the company has already acquired from farmers, Dange said. If the project is scrapped, one option available to the state government is to return the land after taking it over from the company. However, the state government can also use it for other public purposes. A Supreme Court judgement in the case involving the Kerala government allowed such a change of purpose, an official said.

BS Reporter / June 6, 2009,

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Uranium Mining in Nalgonda and Tummalapalle (Andhra Pradesh)

jharkhandorguk — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:15:00 +0000

Mr. Jairam Ramesh,

Minister for Environment and Forests,

Government of India

Dear Sir,

Sub: Uranium Mining and Nuclear Power

It was a great pleasure to meet an approachable Minister like you. We are very happy that you have taken time to listen to what people had to say.

At the outset, we would like to say, “No to Uranium Mining in Nalgonda and Tummalapalle and anywhere else. No to Nuclear Power.”

In our discussion regarding the above, on 6^th June, 2009, we had four major contentious issues which were raised by you:

First – You said that we had a rich deposit of Uranium in AP. I wish to differ with that claim, since the quality of ore in Andhra Pradesh is very poor, i.e., is only 0.045% which means hardly one ton of usable uranium from 3000 tons ore processed every day. The only thing that will be left after 300 days of operation per year and 30 years of mining and processing, is a mind boggling, 2 Crores and Seventy lakh (27 million) tons of Radioactive Wastes in just one mine which will contaminate the only water source for six districts including twin cities, in terms of irrigation and drinking. While in Tummalapalle the quality of ore is even lower.

Second – You said that with renewable energy like Solar and Wind power we cannot generate large amounts of power like 10, 000 MW, which will only be possible by using Nuclear Power Generation. However, as I had already mentioned, Nuclear Power generated in India with total installed capacity of about 4,000 MW, has only been about 2.8% of the total energy used in India. This is less than the present electricity being generated by Wind Mills alone. Together Solar and Wind power today generate about 14% of the total energy used in India.

Even with the projection of 50,000 MW (as envisaged by Dr. Abdul Kalam) for the year 2030, it will only be 12.5% of the total projected energy use of India for year 2030 which is 4, 00, 000 MW. As per one estimate, the entire accessible uranium in India is just enough to produce 10.000 MW!

So, in what way is Nuclear Energy the answer to India’s Energy security?

You might say “that is why we have signed the Indo-US Nuclear Deal“. If we have to depend up on outside resources for our energy requirements, in what way can we say we are “energy secure”? Considering that all will be well and we will have unconditional access to Uranium from all over the world, here is a fact to be considered:

“If the current level of nuclear energy production is maintained, it is estimated that all (currently and future) accessible uranium would be dug up in next 50 years. The present share of nuclear energy in the total global energy consumption is just 2.7%, with 442 nuclear power plants worldwide. China has been forecasting the construction of numerous nuclear power plants over the last 25 years but so far, it has only built eleven out of which three are very small.”

And if production does increase then these deposits of Uranium may not even last up to 50 years.

Therefore, even globally, Nuclear Energy is not a viable option.

Why must we spend such huge amounts of tax payers’ money to generate such a small amount of energy?

Third – With reference to Radioactive Wastes, you had said that in India all precautions are being taken to safely dispose of the wastes and you had very kindly invited us to view the facilities in Jharkhand. We would very much like to see the facilities and like to educate ourselves on this matter.

However, as per our knowledge and repeated press reports in national and international press like BBC, and noted universities like Kyoto University (Japan) it is well known that UCIL and other Nuclear establishments working under the DAE are not following any environmental and people safety precautions. They have no disaster preparedness plan, which should be in public domain. So far they have not seemed to share information with regard to radiological hazards with the public living in the surrounding areas (Which is mandatory). The incidents and accidents taking place in all these installations are always brushed aside as “DAE’s policy is to deny such incidents”, which as informed public we are not ready to accept. Before launching any new activities, DAE should learn to be more transparent and gain public good will.

These are but a few points in support of our argument to Say No to Nuclear Power.

There are many more, but would not like to take any more of your precious time. If given time as you had mentioned, we will be able to present all our arguments to you. Once again, we wish to thank you for initiating this democratic process of dialogue.

With a hope that you will consider the safety of current and future generations,

Sincerely,

Saraswati Kavula

Movement Against Uranium Projects, Andhra Pradesh.

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PLIGHT OF DALIT CHRISTIANS

jharkhandorguk — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:11:00 +0000

Without going into details of how enlightened Hindus have dealt with the unconscionable practice of untouchability, let us audit the record of the Church in India with regard to the dalits.

The dalits constitute 15% of the total Indian population and 20% of the Hindu population. As per the 2001 census, there are 24.20 million Christians in India of which the Christians of South India constitute 12.5 million, more than half the total Christian population of India, and those of the North-east, 5.4 million. The total population of Tamil Nadu Christians is 3.8 million, Karnataka one million, Kerala 6 million, Andhra Pradesh 1.2 million and Goa 0.4 million. Dalits constitute 65% of the total South Indian Christian population. Some Christian groups even claim that dalits constitute 70% of the Christians of Tamil Nadu. But the secular intellectuals of this country and the US State Department, who screech that religious freedom includes the right of Christian missionaries to convert Hindus, have not cared to answer the pertinent question, “what is the attitude of the Church and its Hierarchy to social empowerment of dalit Christians within the community given the high percentage of the dalits and tribals in the total Christian population and the power-sharing equation in the Christian hierarchy between the priests belonging to the upper castes and the dalits?”

As per the data currently available on the Catholic Bishops Conference of India website,

The CBCI has over 200 members-bishops from the Latin, Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malankara ecclesial traditions in the country among whom are 155 heads of the dioceses, of whom there are 3 cardinals, 29 Archbishops and 123 bishops. There are 2 co-adjutor bishops (one of whom is a co-adjutor Archbishop), 12 auxiliary bishops and 36 retired bishops.

A squeamish media and dishonest activists taking up the cause of dalits in Durban, in the US State Department and in the European Parliament have never summoned the courage to ask the Catholic Church to make public the number of dalit and tribal bishops, archbishops and cardinals in their fold. Except for Goa and Kerala, in the rest of India, dalits and tribal people constitute the major percentage of Christians and yet the Christians who claim that the dalits are voluntarily converting to the Christian faith to end discrimination and to empower themselves, have not told us how many dalits and tribal people have been elevated to the highest positions of bishops, vicars-general, priests, directors, professors in seminaries, and surgeons and heads of departments in their hospitals and medical colleges. The Christian community has not told us if their premier educational institutions reserve 30% of their seats for dalit Christian students, if at least 30% reservation is maintained in the recruitment of dalit teachers and professors in St Stephen’s, in New Delhi, in Loyola College in Chennai and in Christian Medical College, Vellore. What is the power-sharing equation of the positions held by upper-caste and dalit Christians in the schools, colleges and hospitals run by the Christian missionaries in this country? How many dalit or tribal Christians have risen to the highest positions in these Christian social, educational and religious organizations? Unasked and unanswered questions, these.

Anti-Hindu activists working for the ‘dalit cause’ have not dared to address themselves to this question just as the US has not dared to address itself to the issue of its flawed democracy. In the US, which prides itself on being the world’s oldest democracy, even after centuries of democracy, no woman and no African-American, Jew, Hindu or Muslim has ever been considered to even participate in the race for the White House. And the US State Department and the USCIRF lecture to the Indian government on human rights of dalits and women! Notwithstanding American double-standards on equal rights and religious freedom, Nirmala Deshpande, Teesta Setalvad, John Dayal, John Prabhudoss, Cedric Prakash, Kamal Mitra Chenoy and others routinely depose against the Hindu community before the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor!!

Let us see what one of the highest-ranking members of the Vatican Hierarchy has to say in this regard. Archbishop George Zus, apostolic pro-nuncio to India addressed the Catholic Bishops’ Council in December 1991, in Pune. In his inaugural address to the Catholic Bishops, he stated, “The dalit Christians make 65% of the ten million Christians in the South, but less than 4% of the parishes are entrusted to dalit priests. There are no dalits among the 13 Catholic Bishops’ Council of Tamil Nadu or among the Vicars-general and the Rectors of seminaries and Directors of social assistance centres”. (“Dalits in India” by John Massey, Manohar Publications, New-Delhi, 1995, page 82.) John Massey is a Punjabi dalit Christian. The secular intellectual establishment and the Christian community it seems is ignorant about this simmering discontent among the dalits who converted to the Christian faith hoping to be empowered. And yet, the dalits still within the Hindu fold have risen to the highest positions in all walks of life including to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Sadly, little has changed in 2006 for the dalits within the Christian fold.

Much noise is also made about the despicable practice of untouchability which is placed at the door of Hindu dharma even though there is no religious sanction for it in the religious content of our traditions. Be that as it may but untouchability is not the only form of discrimination faced by the dalits. There are other forms of discrimination too and, as shown above, these concern their positions in the Christian institutions and also their marriage practices. What is the percentage of inter-caste marriages among the Christians belonging to the upper-castes and how many of the upper-caste converts to Christianity have married into families of the dalit Christians? How many upper-caste Christians will accept the holy water from a dalit Christian priest, if any, and in how many churches and cemeteries have walls been erected to separate the upper-caste laity from the dalits, in death as in life? If dalits are indeed converting to Christianity, not because of force, allurement or coercion, but voluntarily to empower themselves, to end discrimination and to improve the quality of their lives, then it is relevant to ask our editorialists and human rights activists, how many have indeed been so ‘empowered’ in Christian institutions and organizations and if social discrimination of the dalits within Christianity has indeed ended.

P.N.Benjamin

jharkhandi.com

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ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL TO PARLIAMENT

jharkhandorguk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:59:00 +0000

New Delhi, 4th June, 2009 Honourable Members,

1. I am extremely happy to address the first session of both Houses of Parliament after the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. My greetings to all members, especially the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha. They are here having spent the last few months in the scorching heat trying to persuade their voters on how they could best represent the aspirations of their electorate. They now have the mandate and the opportunity to translate the hopes and aspirations of the people of India into change in the everyday lives of the people. It is indeed a unique privilege given to a chosen few to represent the hopes of over a billion people, a sixth of humanity.

2. I am sure that their anxieties, hopes and dreams will weigh on you as you commence your work. I urge you to use each day of the next five years in giving substance to those aspirations and in doing so, find greater meaning in your own lives. My good wishes are with you.

3. I congratulate the members of the Lok Sabha for unanimously electing the Speaker and that too a woman who is a Dalit with honourable credentials. This has enhanced the prestige of India’s democratic traditions, that of the House and its members.

4. Last week the State of West Bengal was affected by a cyclone inflicting damage to lives and property. Let us convey our heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families. My Government will extend all possible succour to the cyclone affected people of West Bengal.

5. I would like to congratulate the Election Commission and the lakhs of officials, who conducted the smooth and largely peaceful elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Election to the Indian Parliament is truly the greatest festival of democracy in the world and this mammoth task has been executed exceedingly well. Democracy is one of the finest ideas that humankind has produced and every Indian election celebrates the freedom of choice that powers this idea. India has a unique place in the consciousness of the world as the largest functioning democracy. When an elderly woman in a remote village proudly holds up the indelible ink mark on her index finger, she is telling the world that she has the power to make change in her country.

6. In 2004 my Government had set before the country a vision of an inclusive society and an inclusive economy. It worked diligently towards translating this vision into policies and programmes. My Government sees the overwhelming mandate it has received as a vindication of the policy architecture of inclusion that it put in place. It is a mandate for inclusive growth, equitable development and a secular and plural India. My Government is determined to work harder and better to realize these goals.

7. A continuing priority of my Government would be to consolidate the ongoing flagship programmes for inclusion. This will require re-energising government and improving governance. It will require meeting the challenge of restoring economic growth, which is now hurt by the global economic slowdown, back to a higher growth path. High growth is necessary to provide the government the capacity to expand opportunities for employment. It is necessary to provide resources to increase outlays in education, health care and infrastructure to meet the needs of all regions and all people. My Government will ensure that the growth process is not only accelerated but also made socially and regionally more inclusive and equitable. The yearning of our people for inclusiveness – economic social and cultural — and the rejection of the forces of divisiveness and intolerance that my Government spoke of in 2004 continues as both its inspiring vision and its unfinished business.

8. My Government is acutely conscious of the challenge of rising expectations. There would be ten broad areas of priority for my Government for the next five years.

– Internal security and preservation of communal harmony;

– Stepping up of economic growth in agriculture, manufacturing and services;

– Consolidation of the existing flagship programmes for employment, education, health, rural infrastructure, urban renewal and introduction of new flagship programmes for food security and skill development;

– Concerted action for the welfare of women, youth, children, other backward classes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities, the differently-abled and the elderly along with strengthened social protection;

– Governance reform;

– Creation and modernization of infrastructure and capacity addition in key sectors;

– Prudent fiscal management;

– Energy security and environment protection;

– Constructive and creative engagement with the world and – Promotion of a culture of enterprise and innovation.

9. My Government will maintain utmost vigil in the area of internal security. A policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism, from whatever source it originates, will be pursued. Stern measures to handle insurgency and left wing extremism will be taken. Government has already prepared a detailed plan to address internal security challenges to be implemented in a time-bound manner. The Multi-Agency Centre will be strengthened to ensure effective intelligence sharing and processing and Subsidiary Multi-Agency Centres will be activated in all States. The National Investigation Agency has become operational and will be empowered to handle terror-related offences. Central and State police forces and intelligence agencies will be expanded and fully equipped with the best technology. A national counter-terrorism centre will be established to take pro-active anti-terrorism measures. Special Forces and Quick Response Teams will be raised and deployed in vulnerable areas. Enhanced information and intelligence sharing on a real time basis, would be made possible by the creation of a net-centric information command structure.

10. My Government will actively pursue police reform and in order to ensure the active participation of the citizenry in internal security, community policing will be promoted. At the same time government will continue to constructively engage with all groups that abjure violence in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country.

11. Communal harmony shall be preserved at all costs. The mandate my Government received was unmistakable in that the people wanted the country’s secular fabric to be protected. With this objective my Government will seek early approval of the Bill introduced in Parliament for the prevention of communal violence.

12. Our armed forces are the nation’s pride, a symbol of our values of sacrifice, valour and the spirit of national integration. India’s defence forces stand committed to the task of defending the territorial integrity of the country. They will be fully enabled with modern technology to repel any threat from land, sea or air. To enhance combat efficiency as also to address the requirements of modern day warfare, a number of steps are under way. The welfare of ex-servicemen will continue to be accorded high priority. The Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary, to look into the issue of One Rank One Pension has already commenced its work and expects to complete it by the end of June 2009.

13. The Unique Identity Card scheme for each citizen will be implemented in three years overseen by an Empowered Group. This would serve the purpose of identification for development programmes and security.

14. My Government was able to accelerate growth substantially in the last five years to a record five-year average of 8.5%. This produced an impressive expansion in high quality jobs and also gave us the capacity to guarantee rural employment and expand social and economic infrastructure in an unprecedented manner. My Government gave a new deal to agriculture. Public investment in agriculture was increased, farm loans of over Rupees sixty five thousand crore waived and there were handsome increases in procurement prices. These measures contributed to a revival of agricultural growth. My Government was able to expand access to education through a large number of new schools and other educational institutions, support a mid-day meal programme covering over fifteen crore children, provide nearly a crore of deserving students with scholarships each year, loans to over 16 lakh students and create a new wave of investment in institutions of higher education. It was able to revamp rural public health infrastructure and massively expand social protection through insurance schemes and pensions. Government was also able to effect pay revision for its employees including defence personnel, public sector employees and teachers in colleges. My Government could also increase assistance to States substantially in the last five years. All these initiatives were possible because high growth generated more resources. It is therefore imperative that our growth momentum is resumed.

15. The current financial year is expected to see a slowing down of growth on account of the global recession. My Government has responded to this unforeseen situation with a range of measures, including three stimulus packages, which have begun to show results. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Indian economy has not suffered the kind of slowdown that has been witnessed in almost every other country of the world. Government has also actively engaged with the international community, especially through the forum of the G-20, in order to ensure that coordinated action is taken at the global level and the necessary reforms brought in at the earliest. Our immediate priority must be to focus on management of the economy that will counter the effect of the global slowdown by a combination of sectoral and macro-level policies. My Government will focus attention on sectors that are adversely affected, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, exports, textiles, commercial vehicles, infrastructure and housing. This must be accompanied by measures to achieve a countercyclical expansion in public investment in infrastructure sectors including public-private partnerships in these sectors. Financing the investment will be a critical constraint and my Government is determined to ensure that innovative steps are taken in this area, consistent with a medium-term strategy of prudent fiscal management.

16. Our country has benefited from large foreign investment flows in recent years. These flows, especially foreign direct investment, need to be encouraged through an appropriate policy regime. There is also a need to augment resources in the banking and insurance sectors in order to permit them to serve the needs of society better. Towards this end my Government will recapitalize the public sector banks to strengthen their financial position and also bring legislation to establish a regulator for the pension sector.

17. The momentum of public investment in agriculture and irrigation built up in the last five years will be further expanded and the three major instruments — the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Security Mission and the National Horticulture Mission — introduced by my Government strengthened.

18. The flagship programmes which my Government introduced have moved the country towards inclusive development. It would be our endeavour to consolidate these programmes in the next five years. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has proved to be what it promised-an effective social protection measure and the largest programme in the world for rural reconstruction. Its transformational potential is unfolding before our eyes. My Government would enlarge the scope of works permitted under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act presently limited to unskilled manual work. The opportunity for improving land productivity through the NREGA will be maximized through better convergence of NREGA with other programmes. To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level.

19. The National Rural Health Mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The Mission would be consolidated to make perceptible reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality in the next five years. Vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunization programme. My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. Malnutrition has emerged as a major health challenge needing urgent response. Hence the nutrition delivery programme will be comprehensively revamped to bring it under the watch of panchayat institutions and move to provision of hot cooked meals in anganwadis.

20. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been able to provide access to children to elementary schools and retention has increased on account of the universal mid-day meal programme. The focus will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of Parliament. The Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will universalize access to secondary education. The massive expansion in higher education through new institutions under implementation in the Eleventh Plan will enable the country to meet the challenge of education in full measure. In the last five years, a wide range of scholarships and educational loans was introduced for the needy and deserving students. This effort will be reviewed and further strengthened. Government’s strategy for higher education will be formulated around a three-fold objective of expansion, inclusion and excellence. The suggestions given by the National Knowledge Commission will guide the formulation and implementation of the strategy.

21. While male literacy went up to over 75 percent in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54 percent in 2001. My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years. Increased female literacy is expected to become a force multiplier for all our social development programmes.

22. My Government launched Bharat Nirman five years ago as a time-bound business plan for rural infrastructure. It has succeeded in reaching basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and telephone to a large number of villages. It has also achieved most of the targets of rural water supply, rural housing and has increased irrigation potential. The remaining tasks will be completed in the second phase of Bharat Nirman. It is also proposed to set enhanced targets for Bharat Nirman in the second phase.

– The Indira Awas Yojana, which exceeded the original target of sixty lakh houses for the period 2004-2009, will now take up double the target of rural housing to one crore twenty lakh houses to be completed in the next five years.

– Rural Water supply programme will be completed by 2011 and handed over to be managed by panchayats in the next Plan.

– The rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural teledensity in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years. The scheme for Common Service Centres or e-kiosks will be suitably repositioned to be a network of panchayat-level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas.

– New targets would be set for rural electrification, irrigation and road connectivity.

23. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with approval of projects of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore in the last four years is reshaping our cities and has been widely welcomed. It will continue to focus on infrastructure, basic services and governance reform and increase support to cities to upgrade public transport. Over 15 lakh houses are under construction for the urban poor. There is a need to focus urban housing programmes on the poor living in slums. My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. My Government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.

24. My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kilograms of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kilogram. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.

25. Government is acutely conscious of its responsibilities to provide greater opportunities for women, youth, other backward classes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities and the elderly as well as strengthen measures for social protection for categories with special vulnerabilities. Some concrete steps that are proposed to create equal opportunities for women are reservation to elected bodies at all levels, reservation in jobs and a National Mission on Female Literacy.

26. Over 50 percent of our population is below 25 years of age and their creative energy is our greatest strategic resource. The challenge is to invest in their education, employability and employment. India has the capacity to contribute to a fourth of the global work force if it invests in skill development of its youth. Education which provides employable skills holds the key for equal opportunities for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities. My Government has in the last five years brought in legal changes and investment in this direction. These would be consolidated. Besides making massive investment in education, government will focus on the national skill development initiative that has commenced operation with the very ambitious goal of creation of 500 million skilled people by 2022 so that we realize the demographic dividend.

27. The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009.

28. My Government will continue to accord the highest priority to the welfare of minorities. The Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities and the action taken on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee have, to some extent, succeeded in ensuring an equitable share for the minorities in government resources, jobs and plans. Steps under way would be consolidated further. Government would strive to strengthen and modernize the administration of wakfs, reform the management of Haj operations and set up an Equal Opportunity Commission.

29. The Amendment Bill to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill prepared to protect farmers and others dependent on farming from unfair displacement and which was placed before Parliament could not be carried through. It will be our endeavour to have these bills reintroduced and enacted in the budget session of Parliament.

30. My Government considerably enhanced provisions for social security through old age pension for all people below the poverty line and above 65 years of age, all handicapped people and all widows above the age of forty. It will examine extending social protection to other persons at special risk. Social security schemes for other occupations like landless labour, weavers, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, construction labour, mine workers and beedi workers will be appropriately expanded.

31. An area of major focus for my Government would be reform of governance for effective delivery of public services. Reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission would guide the effort. Reform of structures in the higher echelons of government, increased decentralization, inclusion of women and youth in governance, process reform and public accountability would be key areas for focused action. As part of process reform, all proposals to the Cabinet will have to report on how the proposal under consideration will enhance the goals of equity or inclusion, innovation and public accountability.

32. My Government will initiate steps within the next hundred days on the following measures:

– Early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament providing for one-third reservation to women in State legislatures and in Parliament;

– Constitutional amendment to provide 50 percent reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies. Women suffer multiple deprivations of class, caste and gender and enhancing reservation in panchayats and urban local bodies will lead to more women entering the public sphere;

– Concerted effort to increase representation of women in central government jobs;

– A National Mission on Empowerment of Women for implementation of women-centric programmes in a mission mode to achieve better coordination;

– A voluntary national youth corps which could take up creative social action around the river cleaning and beautification programme beginning with the river Ganga;

– Restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which overlaps with other development investment, to focus on decentralized planning and capacity building of elected panchayat representatives. The next three years would be devoted to training panchayat raj functionaries in administering flagship programmes;

– A public data policy to place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain. It would help citizens to challenge the data and engage directly in governance reform;

– Increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman;

– Strengthening Right to Information by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas;

– Strengthening public accountability of flagship programmes by the creation of an Independent Evaluation Office at an arm’s distance from the government catalysed by the Planning Commission. It would work on a network model by collaborating with leading social science research organizations and concurrently evaluate the impact of flagship programmes and place it in the public domain;

– Establishing mechanisms for performance monitoring and performance evaluation in government on a regular basis;

– Five Annual Reports to be presented by government as Reports to the People on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate;

– Facilitating a Voluntary Technical Corps of professionals in all urban areas through JNNURM to support city development activities;

– Enabling non government organisations in the area of development action seeking government support through a web-based transaction on a government portal in which the status of the application will be transparently monitorable;

– Provision of scholarships and social security schemes through accounts in post offices and banks and phased transition to smart cards;

– Revamping of banks and post offices to become outreach units for financial inclusion complemented by business correspondents aided by technology;

– Electronic governance through Bharat Nirman common service centres in all panchayats in the next three years;

– A model Public Services Law, that covers functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development etc. and commits them to their duties, will be drawn up in consultation with states;

– A National Council for Human Resources in Health as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance supply of skilled personnel;

– A National Council for Higher Education as recommended by the Yashpal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission to bring in reform of regulatory institutions;

– Develop a “brain gain” policy to attract talent from all over the world into the 14 universities proposed in the 11th plan to position them as “Innovation Universities”;

– A roadmap for judicial reform to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time-bound manner;

– Targeted identification cards would subsume and replace omnibus Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. NREGA has a job card and the proposed Food Security Act would also create a new card. Identification of beneficiaries for other programmes which currently use the omnibus BPL list would improve identification based on programme objectives with the common underlying principle that all identification of beneficiaries will be done through gram sabhas and urban local bodies and the list placed in the public domain to be open to challenge;

– A Delivery Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor flagship programmes and iconic projects and report on their status publicly;

– Suitably institutionalized quarterly reporting on Flagship programmes as “Bharat Nirman Quarterly Reports” where Ministers would publicly report on progress through the media.

33. Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years. Public investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are a key element of the strategy. A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously. The regulatory and legal framework for PPPs would be made more investment friendly. My Government will continue its special emphasis on infrastructure development in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and enhance connectivity to these regions.

34. Our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies while the government retains majority shareholding and control. My Government will develop a roadmap for listing and people-ownership of public sector undertakings while ensuring that government equity does not fall below 51 %.

35. My Government is firmly committed to maintaining high growth with low inflation, particularly in relation to prices of essential agricultural and industrial commodities. It will steadfastly observe fiscal responsibility so that the ability of the Centre to invest in essential social and economic infrastructure is continuously enhanced. This will require that all subsidies reach only the truly needy and poor sections of our society. A national consensus will be created on this issue and necessary policy changes implemented.

36. My Government has been able to significantly increase realization of direct taxes as a result of improved and simplified tax administration and this process will continue. The roadmap for moving towards a Goods and Services Tax will be vigorously pursued. My Government is fully seized of the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens outside the country in secret bank accounts. It will vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned.

37. Coordinated action for energy would be guided by the integrated energy policy. The effort would be to see that at least 13,000 MW of generating capacity is added each year through a mix of sources -coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables. Village and rural household electrification and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses will continue to be given the highest priority. Competitiveness and efficiency in the power sector will be enhanced through time-bound measures, including operationalising the provision of open access.

38. The pace of oil and gas exploration will be intensified and India’s oil diplomacy aggressively pursued. Reforms in the coal sector, for which a detailed blueprint has been prepared, will be pursued with urgency. The international civil nuclear agreements will be operationalised with various countries even as domestic sources of uranium are exploited and work continues on the indigenously designed fast breeder and thorium reactors.

39. My Government will ensure that our space programme which has achieved wide recognition continues to bring rich dividends to society in agriculture, tele-medicine, tele-education and by providing information to rural knowledge centres, besides contributing to telecommunication, television broadcasting and weather forecasting. Several innovative initiatives commenced by government in the science and technology sector in the last five years and now under implementation will be further strengthened.

40. My Government is proactively addressing issues of climate change through eight national missions. Of these the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Mission on Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched by the end of this year. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up recently will evolve a new action plan for cleaning and beautifying the river in partnership with the basin states.

41. My Government’s foreign policy will continue to pursue India’s enlightened national interest, maintaining the strategic autonomy and independent decision-making that has been its hallmark. India has a vital interest in the stability and prosperity of our neighbours. The highest priority will be accorded to working with our friends in SAARC to promote stability, development and prosperity in the region. Government will sincerely work with our neighbours to ensure that outstanding issues are addressed and the full potential of our region is realized.

42. My Government will seek to reshape our relationship with Pakistan depending on the sincerity of Pakistan’s actions to confront groups who launch terrorist attacks against India from its territory. We will support initiatives in Sri Lanka, which can lead to a permanent political solution of the conflict there and ensure that all Sri Lankan communities, especially the Tamils, feel secure and enjoy equal rights so that they can lead a life of dignity and self-respect. India will make appropriate contribution to rehabilitate those affected by the conflict. In Nepal and Bangladesh, where multi-party democracy has returned, India will work closely with both countries to continue expanding bilateral ties for mutual benefit. Government will strengthen our close and vibrant partnerships with Bhutan and Maldives and continue to assist in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

43. The momentum of improvement of our relations with the major powers will be maintained. The transformation of our partnership with the United States of America will be taken forward. Our strategic partnership with Russia has grown over the years, and we will seek to further consolidate it. With countries of Europe and Japan my Government will continue the sustained diplomatic efforts, which have produced qualitative changes in our relations since 2004. The multi-faceted partnership with China will be expanded.

44. My Government will continue to work with other developing nations. It will contribute to all efforts at peace in West Asia through the establishment of a viable Palestinian State at the earliest. The traditionally close ties with countries in the Gulf will be strengthened. The process of engagement with Africa reenergized with the first Indo-Africa Summit organized by my Government will be further expanded. The multi-dimensional partnerships with countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific as well as Central Asia and the Latin American region will be consolidated.

45. The Indian diasporas estimated at over twenty-five million across the world is an important economic, social and cultural force and my Government will deepen its engagement with it. Our ties and kinship with the diaspora make us acutely conscious of their well-being and to be sensitive to their concerns. As a responsible member of the international community, India will work with other countries in tackling issues of common concern such as international terrorism, the global economic crisis, climate change, energy security and reform of multilateral institutions to reflect contemporary realities.

46. Honourable Members, my Government believes that in the knowledge society in which we live today, creativity, innovation and enterprise hold the key to people and nations realizing their potential. The “dreary desert sand of dead habit” must be left behind. Our young people are tearing down the narrow domestic walls of religion, region, language, caste, and gender that confine them. The nation must invest in their hope. My Government will ensure that its policies for education and science and technology are imbued with a spirit of innovation so that the creativity of a billion people is unleashed. The next ten years would be dedicated as a Decade of Innovation. It may be a symbolic gesture but an important gesture to drive home the need to be innovative in finding solutions to our many challenges. India’s young population is naturally restless and wants to see change quickly. My Government carries the weight of their dreams. Together let us dedicate ourselves to making each day of the next five years, a day closer to the realization of their dreams.

Jai Hind

PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL

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Evangelists and Religious dogmas: Lets shut down our labs, universities and research centres and just peek into religious books and take from them readymade scientific and technical knowledge ! Will this work ?

jharkhandorguk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:37:00 +0000

http://forum.jharkhand.org.in/2009/06/re-conversion-is-no-version-unity-in.html

http://adivasi.jharkhand.org.in/2009/06/re-conversion-is-no-version-unity-in.html

Christian missionaries are setting up schools, colleges and hospitals because of their religious beliefs? Yes, this is exactly what they’re doing. Every act of social service is undertaken in the name of their scriptural personal god (Jesus) or in order to propagate their naive religious beliefs and not for the sake of genuinely helping the poor to get rid of their misery in the spirit of humanism or secularism.

In what way is social service connected with religious dogmas?

The task of providing safe drinking water, electricity, roads, public transportation, recreational facilities, educational institutes and health care centres are civic duties that the government and concerned citizens take up for the welfare of all especially the poorer sections without bringing into the picture religious superstitions.

If service to the poor is what counts irrespective of social, economic, caste, religious, linguistic and race distinctions then in what way are religious myths relevant to doing good to people? Can all this not be done in a disinterested, humane and secular spirit?

Or do you mean to say that the scientific discoveries, technological inventions and medical advances are not the work of scientists (most of whom are by the way atheistic or agnostic) and that they’re found in the religious scriptures? If so then let’s shut down our labs, universities and research centres and just peek into religious books and take from them readymade scientific and technical knowledge ! Will this work ? Obviously, the answer is a big NO ! Even the code of morals and ethics found in these books are not unique but are common to all cultures and peoples sine the time man could reason irrespective of their religious leanings or atheism.

If say the Bible was a mine of scientific and technical knowledge then it would make sense for evangelists to go about establishing schools, hospitals, creches and vocational training centres in the name of their personal god Jesus.

However, religious books, instead of revealing scientific facts and encouraging the scientific spirit, have only exacerbated ignorance, superstitions, violence and divisions in society. It goes without saying that nothing scientific, rational or technical is found in religious literature but on the contrary these so-called “revealed” books contain numerous cock and bull stories of extra-cosmic god, creation out of nothing, immaculate conception, resurrection and burning logs of wood in hell over which “sinners” and “infidels” will be roasted in the “afterlife”. Besides, when there exists no proof to corroborate the historicity of the scriptural prophets , I wonder at the warped imagination of these religious bigots and missionaries who with impunity go around peddling their inane beliefs in the name of their personal god under the guise of social work and in the process influence the gullible to abandon one set of ignorant religious practices and adopt another set of equally or more ignorant beliefs.

If upliftment of society through social service and the wonders of science and technology is the aim stick to just that. There’s no need to pollute the already vitiated mental atmosphere of people with more potent does of toxic and mumbo jumbo religious dogmas.

But do the missionaries really desire the abolition of poverty in the world? I doubt it for then where will they find needy people to “serve” and “convert” to their pet beliefs?

Best Regards,

Dr A K Isaacs

jharkhandi.com

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The Electoral Message of Development, that combines the social with the economic and the industrial with the agricultural and creates low cost jobs can be a step towards peace with justice

jharkhandorguk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:29:00 +0000

I would be labouring the obvious if I were to repeat that the recent elections were fought purely on personalities, not on issues. Only two states brought some issues to the fore. In Tamil Nadu the voters seem to have held the Centre responsible for the perceived neglect of the Sri Lanka Tamils and punished the two Congress ministers for it. Mr Mani Shankar Iyer lost and Mr P. Chidambaram scraped through with a wafer thin margin while the DMK improved its tally. In West Bengal the elections were fought around the issue of development. Though development was mentioned at the national level only in passing, the voters seem to have given the UPA a second chance because of many schemes it had initiated. That has implications also for Assam and the rest of the Northeast.

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress fought the elections on the promise of combining industrialisation with agriculture. But the party does not have any clear thinking on it. So if it comes to power it can be expected to continue displacing people in the CPM controlled areas just as CPM did it in the TMC constituencies. However, the issue itself is important because West Bengal has the potential to combine the two. After the Left Front came to power, West Bengal ceased to be the most industrialised state in India but it achieved the highest annual agricultural growth at 5.6 percent. This was possible because of the reform of the bargadari (sharecropper) system, focus on irrigation and successful land reforms.

Till then the bargadar had to give 50 to 60 percent of the produce to the landowner, so he lacked motivation to go beyond a single crop. The Left Front pegged the zamindar’s share at 25 percent of the first crop and that was to be decided by the tenant. The state built 23 medium and a few hundred minor irrigation dams in the 1980s and 1990s and implemented the land reforms. Out of 2,085,000 hectares distributed to the landless till 1995 all over India, 383,000 hectares (18.4%) were in West Bengal. The first two measures motivated the tenant to grow a second and a third crop. Allotment under the land reforms was mostly to Dalits and tribals. That gave them a stake in agriculture. There certainly was a political motive. Most land was distributed through the CPM-controlled panchayats but the measures were successful.

In 2001 the Left Front promised to industrialise the state in order to create jobs for the youth. However, the state made no effort to combine industries with agriculture. Rich agricultural land was acquired or committed to industry with no consideration for its losers, when rocky land was available in its neighbourhood. By December 2006 the state had committed 296,000 acres to various industries. That included some land allocated to Dalits and tribals under its land reforms. It was taking away with one hand what it had given with the other.

Though the TMC promise to combine agriculture with industry remains vague the issue itself is important in West Bengal as well as in other states. Ways have to be found of combining them as well as social with economic interests. That seems to be the message also at the national level. In 2004 the Shining India campaign of the NDA failed so no party used this slogan in 2009. However, every now and then Dr Manmohan Singh spoke of development as the contribution of the UPA. He could do it because the UPA had initiated many people-oriented schemes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee and Tribal Rights over Forest Land. Their implementation has been weak in many states but if implemented properly they can solve many livelihood-related problems. The message of the voter seems to be that these and other measures should be implemented with vigour and that ways have to be found of combining the economic with the social interests.

Also Assam and the Northeast need to learn that lesson. The annual economic reports show that for the last decade the registered job seekers in Assam have remained constant at 15 to 17 lakhs. The rural youth do not have access to the employment exchanges. So one can assume that the real number of the unemployed is not less than 30 lakhs. In the region as a whole their number exceeds 40 lakhs. That problem has to be solved if the youth are to find hope in the future of the region. The type of industrialisation that is being envisaged cannot achieve that goal. Major industries today take up an enormous amount of land and thus deprive their owners of work on it. But because of mechanisation the cost of producing an industrial job has gone up to Rs 15 lakhs. So the backlog alone will require Rs 600,000 crores and that money is not available.

Equally important is the threat from the 48 major dams proposed to be built in the region within a decade and more later. They will destroy much of the biodiversity for which the region is known and will deprive thousands of persons, mostly tribals, of their land and work in order to turn the Northeast into what Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee called the powerhouse of India and Southeast Asia. But little is being said about people’s right to livelihood. Experience in the rest of India shows that dams displace and impoverish thousands of persons, deprive them of access to work and marginalise them. There is no reason to believe that it will be different in the Northeast but that is being ignored.

One does not plead for an end to development. Some big industries and medium dams are needed. But these industries cannot solve the unemployment and livelihood problem. While building a few of them, the main thrust has to be on another type of agriculture, agro-based industries and low cost employment generation by combining agriculture with industry. People-oriented development would require that much production, processing and marketing be done by the local communities. That can also provide an alternative to militant outfits. A study by the Peace Studies Division of Guwahati University shows that unemployment is a major (though not the only) cause for the youth to join the militant outfits. Development that combines the social with the economic and the industrial with the agricultural and creates low cost jobs can be a step towards peace with justice.

Dr Walter Fernandes
Director
North Eastern Social Research Centre
110 Kharghuli Road (1st floor)
Guwahati 781004
Assam

naxal.jharkhand.org.uk

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Injustice done to the Adivasi in terms of land alienation inspite of the Bhudan / Gram Dan movement: A consultation report

jharkhandorguk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Odisha Shanti O Sadbhabana Abhiyan (OSSA) organized a consultation at CYSD Bhubaneswar on 2nd June 2009 to discuss in detail the growing unrest at Narayanpatana (Koraput). Prominent social activist from the affected area and the OSSA fraternity gathered to take stock of the situation and plan for the future action strategy. The issue was discussed at length and the following major opinions were generated in the process.

That the present situation has mainly emerged out of the years of injustice done to the tribals in terms of land alienation in spite of the Bhudan/Gram Dan movement which was an intense one in the district of Koraput. All kind of land settlement act has failed to ensure the entitlements of the tribal people in the area and therefore land is the main issue and central to the solution of the present crisis.

Tribals have been victim of the misinformation campaign by local politicians, Mahajans,money lender etc not to legally posses land to have respite from land rent payment. Community and mass ownership of land by tribals have converted to mass transfer of land to non tribals opportunist.

Tribals do not have any other means of sustainability except land vis a vis the non tribals and also some better off tribals. Therefore there is no other means but the restoration of tribal land rights that will decide the prospect of long term peace and harmony in the affected areas.

Apart from the problem of Land, the problem of liquor and daily wage disparity and discrimination, indebtness etc had added to the intensity of the present unrest. However violence of any kind can’t be justified for all kinds of past exploitation and atrocities on tribals and all efforts should be made to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue and negotiation among the rival groups.

There is commonly shared mutual apprehension and threat perception among the rival groups like SANGAM and ANSAGAM does not have any rational base but being propagated by vested interest in the media and else where. The perception that the CHASI MULIA ADIVASI SANGHA Is all for violence killings and destruction is also not totally true. However there is confusion among leadership and there is also apprehension that it could result in castist polarization and large scale violence if not contained at present.

Government can’t remain just a mute spectator to this present violence and shed its responsibility by merely providing relief and security to the affected people which is also not being properly done. It must ensure that the land right of the tribal people is reinforced at the earliest and people must be reassured regarding this through all possible means.

In order to restore confidence among the tribals govt. must work in tandem with civil society groups already active in the area and working on this issue and must broaden the sphere peace committee by including all the stake holder of the present crisis.

The relief and rehabilitation measures must be augmented in the view of arrival of the monsoon and proper security measure must be taken to check further violence in the area.

CIVIL SOCIETY RESPONSE

Civil society groups are already active in the area on this issue and have started the dialogue process among different groups. The steps already taken or planned are as follows.

1. Making independent assessment of the damage of house and property.

2. Analyzing historically the root cause of the problem including preparing a data base of total land ownership, share of tribal and non tribal and the free land available.

3. Facilitating community dialogue among the affected population and the CMAS.

4. Encouraging the involvement of local lawyers and journalists to in the dialogue process and also to bring out the truth of the matter and discouraging exaggeration.

OSSA in this concern decide to send a five member team consisting some senior members like Sri Aditya Pattanaik, Md. Ziauddin Ahmed, Sri Hansharaj Mishra, Manoj Jena and Askhya Kumar to visit Narayanpatana and make an independent assessment of the whole issue before deciding any future couse of action on the issue.The team shall come back around 10th of june and a further consultation shall be organized to develop clarity and take a position on the issue. The consultation ended with Dr. Bhagbanprakash thanking the all the following members present in the consultation who made the meeting a success.

Members in the Consultation

1.Sri Ratan Das 2. Hansraj Mishra 3.Basanti Jena 4.Rajeswari Dalai 5.Manoj Jena 6. Md. Ziaudin Ahmed 7.Madhumita Ray 8.Askhya Kumar 9.Bijay Kumar Baboo 10.Badal Kumar Tha 11.Lalit Mohan Mishra 12.Bidu lata Hunak 13.Ramakanta Jena 14. Sri Prafulla Sahoo 15.Dr. Bhagbanprakash 16. Prof. Radhamohan 17.Aditya Pattanaik 18. Sri Kailash Acharya 19.Sri Subhranshu Panda 20.Pradeepta Sundaray

adivasi.jharkhand.org.uk

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Racism in India: Towards darker skin

jharkhandorguk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:55:00 +0000

Racism in India: Towards darker skin

It is very interesting to note how Indians are ill treated ( thorugh media coverage ) these days in Australia.

We are all not blind to the fact how the aborigines were and are treated in Australia and how the country is strict with immigrant laws.

While we discuss so much about the way our Indian students were ill treated, we also can not forget the fact about which economic background these students hail from. They probably may not have undergone such marginalisation in our country, probably because they hail from socio culturally and economically sound families. It is unwise to discuss these concerns when we speak of ill treatement done to us because we are Indians.

It is also time for us to reflect whether within India we are happy with the way we treat each other.

On the oneside, we are happy and proud of our rich heritage of socio cultural mixing. This is wonderful and this has been prooved again and again, even in our recent general election.

HOwever, we can nor forget the fact that many choices are done in our country based on colour.

Our flims hail fair colour

Our spot interviews prefer beauties (as additional qualification)

Our TV reporters should have fair skinned, even if their English or vernacular may not be accurate.

Even our Cricketers must be fair skinned.

What happend to the dark skinned experts

in the field of Media?

In our films?

Among our Nurses,

among our doctors?

If one has to take a census of the people employed in Higher strata, we are shocked to see that India is by and large racist towards her own people.

We have built up a culture of preference to fair skinned.

Most of our advertisements focus only fair skinned ones and neglect the darker skinned, even if he or she is an expert.

This calls for the need of India to rededicate what Gandhi spoke on Antyodaya, the welfare of the last becoming our priority.

This way, we would find special preference to the marginalised, the oppressed, and the poor.

These are not only the Tribals and Dalits but darker skinned Indians at last.

Until we, Indians give priority to the welfare of the lease, we would not come to work for the welfare of all people. This is the way to give dignity to Humans as humans, by going beyond the colour of the skin.

Till then, it is not only Australia, but any country would look down upon our country….

But it is left to the Indians to prove our credibility and honesty with ourselves in accepting each one with great respect.

-Nithiya Sagayam

documentary.jharkhand.us

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Multi-billion project to revive Mughal monuments in Sahibganj District

jharkhandorguk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:44:00 +0000

A dilapidated building in Rajmahal that housed the zonal railway headquarters during British rule

Historical monuments languishing in neglect for the past six decades in Rajmahal, Sahebganj, will soon get a facelift. The state has drawn up a Rs 3-crore renovation and beautification plan to turn the erstwhile capital of united Bengal into a tourist destination.

State tourism secretary Arun Kumar Singh, who recently visited Sahebganj, said the immense tourism potential of the town had prompted the drive. He said the renovation plan would cover the Singhi Dalan, Baradwari, Maina Biwi tank, tanksal (treasury) and Kanhaiyasthan — all dating back to the Mughal period.

On May 13, a team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), accompanied by state tourism department co-ordinator Sridev Singh toured Rajmahal. Singh told The Telegraph Rs 3 crore would be spent to repair the tottering edifices.

Though the project includes all the above mentioned monuments, two most prominent Mughal creations — the tomb of Miran and Udhwa Nala — find no mention.

According to professor Yogendra Prasad Roy, the head of history department at Sahebganj College, Miran was the son of Mir Zafar, who engineered Sirajudullah’s defeat and Bengal’s takeover by the British after the battle in Plassey in 1757.

Miran’s tomb at Mahajantoli is on the verge of extinction with encroachment being a major problem. The Udhwa Nala, where Siraj was caught while trying to flee, too needs attention. Roy said it was unfortunate that the tourism department had overlooked the two very important witnesses of history.

When asked why the tomb and the nala were missing from the renovation list, the tourism secretary said they “will most certainly be included” as will the building that currently houses the Rajmahal police station, but was the zonal railway headquarters during the Raj rule. The police station will be shifted to a new building at Naya Bazar.

Archaeological Survey of India has already started renovation work at Baradwari and also at Jama Masjid, which was built by Maan Singh, the then governor of emperor Akbar.

May 23, 2009 / Telegraph

Sahibganj.jharkhand.org.in

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