PAYING TRIBUTES TO COMRADE BASU DISALLOWED

KOLKATA: In a show of political vendetta of the worst kind, the TMC government of West Bengal created obstacles in commemoration of the 98th birth anniversary of communist leader and former chief minister Jyoti Basu, as former Left Front MLAs and ministers were barred from entering the West Bengal assembly on Sunday, July 8, to observe the occasion. This was despite the leader of opposition, Suryakanta Mishra’s request to the speaker, Biman Bandyopadhyay, in this regard. Basu’s birthday falls on July 8.

Surprisingly, the Trinamul-led government had ‘observed’ Basu’s birth anniversary on Friday, July 6 --- two days before the date, even after strong reactions from different quarters. The Left Front MLAs had therefore chosen to stay away from the July 6 event, arguing that the ruling party was dishonouring the departed leader by observing the occasion two days in advance.

What happened on Sunday afternoon was that when Left leaders reached the north gate of the assembly building, the Marshalls said former MLAs could not enter the house without permission. Leader of opposition Suryakanta Mishta then called up the speaker, Biman Bandyopadhyay, and asked him to allow the former MLAs to go inside the assembly building.

“Are the former MLAs criminals?” Mishra asked the speaker over phone while informing him that some of those who had assembled were elected way back in 1971. But when the speaker denied to entertain Mishra’s request, the Left leaders decided to garland a portrait of Basu outside the assembly building’s north gate.

This was because Left Front MLAs and former MLAs chose to pay their tributes to Jyoti Basu on the pavement outside the gates of the assembly building where a photo of him was placed. Misra stood on a chair and spoke in the occasion. He said, “Jyoti Basu was the voice of democracy. The ruling party in West Bengal is afraid of this very democracy. But we will take the ideas of Jyoti Basu to the people.” 

Describing the developments as “unparliamentary,” former speaker Hasim Abdul Halim, who also stood outside the assembly buiding, said that it was “disrespectful to the democratic norms of the house.” Halim recalled that it was here that millions had paid their last tributes to Comrade Jyoti Basu after his demise.

Subhash Naskar, RSP MLA, expressed his strong displeasure against the attitude of the ruling party.

Denied entry, Left pays tribute to Basu at House gates

TNN, Jul 9, 2012, 04.29AM IST

KOLKATA: Two days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee prematurely celebrated former chief minister and CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu's birthday in the assembly, his comrades had to garland him outside its gates on the actual day of celebration.

The Left parties had planned to offer flowers to the painting of Basu in the assembly. Accordingly, around 15 leaders gathered at the assembly gates at 10.30 am on Sunday. After leader of the opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra arrived, they tried to enter the house. But the securitymen stopped them, saying only sitting MLAs would be allowed entry.

A heated exchange followed, with the securitymen pleading that they were "following instructions" of the Marshall. Among those who were not allowed in were former ministers Debes Das and Manab Mukherjee and former MLAs Rabin Deb, Rajdeo Goala and Sudhangshu Sil. Former speaker Hashim Abdul Halim was allowed in with the sitting MLAs.

When Mishra failed to convince the Marshall, he called Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay and pleaded with him. "I am requesting you to instruct the Marshall to let us in. As former MLAs, they have been given identity cards and enjoy the privilege of entering the house just like sitting members. I had taken verbal permission from you for this morning's programme that we had planned in memory of Jyoti Basu. Why should we submit a list of people entering the Assembly? They are all former MLAs," Mishra said on the phone.

But permission was not granted. The "insult" was obviously not taken kindly by the former MLAs and ministers who decided to register their protest against such "unconstitutional" behaviour by the ruling party. A framed photograph of Basu was brought from the 'Ganashakti' office, placed on a chair and the Left leaders offered their respects at the gate of the assembly house.

"This is absolutely shameful. We have been forced to offer flowers to Jyoti Basu on his birthday at the gates of the assembly. The speaker simply refused to listen to reason. The government celebrated Basu's birthday two days in advance and has now prevented us from offering our respects on the day itself. No one could imagine that things would come to such a humiliating pass," fumed Mishra.

Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay justified himself, saying Mishra had not submitted a formal application seeking permission for the programme. "We had asked for a list of names. Why could he not provide us with that?"

Former Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, however, was not impressed. "How can a speaker prevent former ministers and MLAs from entering the assembly? They bear identity cards that allow them this privilege," he said.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya, too, called the act "shameful". "They should have been allowed to go in and offer their respects. The ruling party has not behaved properly," he said.

Congress leader and Behrampore MP Adhir Chowdhury called it a "farce". "I won't be surprised if tomorrow they say that since Jyoti Basu is a former chief minister, we should take his painting out of the House!" was his snide remark.

On the other hand, state panchayat and PHE minister Subrata Mukherjee criticized Mishra for not taking prior permission. He explained that since the assembly is closed on Sundays, the state government had organized the programme to pay tribute to Basu on Friday at the behest of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. "CPM MLAs refused to participate in it. They just sat there and sipped tea," he complained.

According to him, "Mishra is seeking cheap publicity through media attention."

"By paying their tribute outside the assembly, the Left leaders have dishonoured Basu," he said. "When Basu was alive, no CPM leader would go to Indira Bhavan with flowers to wish him on his birthday. It was only Subhas Chakraborty and his wife Ramala who celebrated it. The other CPM leaders would say that communists do not celebrate birth or death anniversaries," Mukherjee reminded.He claimed the Left leaders organized this event only to counter Friday's state-backed programme at the assembly.

"Former Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim is also well aware that prior permission of the speaker is needed to keep the assembly open on a holiday. Moreover, certain security measures have been installed decision for which was taken in an all-party meeting. So entry has been restricted now," Mukherjee said.

"It's just drama. If Mishra had any respect for Basu, he would have visited Indira Bhavan where the CPM patriarch stayed till his last days. But how could Mishra have got publicity had he not enacted the drama in front of the assembly gates," Mukherjee lashed out.

Meanwhile, CPM state secretary Biman Bose said that chief minister Mamata Banerjee, immediately after the government was formed, had said that the Assembly would be for the Opposition - a spirit that reflects democracy. "However, there is no reflection of that," Bose said, reacting to Sunday's incident. "Whatever happened today was shameful, and it is not clear which way the government is going."

He said birth anniversary celebrations could "begin" a few days ahead, but to observe the actual date of birth has always been the custom. "What are the students learning from all this? This is disrespectful", Bose said.

Massive Response to Court Arrest Call

Trinamool Govt. has failed to check rising prices, says Biman Basu

KOLKATA, July 18: On July 16 and 17, thousands of people participated in civil disobedience in West Bengal against the unprecedented price rises. While the programme was observed in districts on July 16, the Left Front observed it in Kolkata centrally on July 17. 

The Left Front initiated a campaign against price rise and continuing attack on democracy from the 4th of this month. A village and area level intensive campaign was organised, followed by block and subdivision level deputations and demonstrations. The civil disobedience marked the peak of this campaign. The discontent among people against the spiralling price rise was evident in their truly mass participation in the programme. Huge rallies and public meetings took place in Burdwan, Berhampore, Balurghat, Chuchura, Siuri and other district headquarters on July 16. 

In Kolkata, State Left Front chairman & CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu and veteran Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh, Manjukumar Majumdar (CPI), Khiti Goswami (RSP) and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Surjyakanta Misra were among those who courted arrest, followed by streams of Left Front activists from Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas. In the public meeting just before the court arrest, Left leaders called for a wider movement. Biman Basu sharply criticised the inaction of the state government in controlling the price rise. Ashoke Ghosh said the state was now heading for a disaster; this should be prevented through struggle. 

The Left Front has announced that there will be a continuous movement against price rise. There will be dharnas from July 30. Throughout the month of August a massive campaign will be unleashed on the question of food security.

In the meantime, Left peasant organisations have started a signature campaign on their 14-point charter of demands which include fair prices for farmers and reduction of the prices of fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.

Left Front chairman Biman Basu said at the Kolkata programme, the Trinamool Congress-led government has failed to initiate any measures to check rising prices of essential commodities and had only set up a task force which had failed to deliver results.

“A year ago the State Government had set up a task force to check escalating prices. After this task force did nothing for an entire year, another task force has been set up,” Biman Basu said at the rally where leaders of the Left Front courted arrest in protest against the government’s inaction on rising prices.

He said the prices of essential commodities were spiralling out of control, but the State Government had failed to initiate any measures.

During the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed satisfaction with the work done by the task force although hoarding in certain commodities continues to be a problem. Referring to her remarks, Basu said: “There is a vast difference in the government making announcements and actually taking measures to reduce prices.”

As large crowds of supporters thronged the venue of the rally, Biman Basu urged them to maintain discipline and only those who had been designated to court arrest should do so.

“This government has violated many rights of the people. You will get several opportunities to participate in protests where we shall court arrest,” Biman Basu told the supporters gathered there.

He said the State Government had failed to protect the rights of the people, to ensure the safety of women, curbed the freedom of Panchayats and caused their bureaucratization.

Biman Basu also said the Food Security Bill proposed by the Centre has several shortcomings and the four Left parties have sought amendments to the Bill.

Trinamool to vote for Pranab, says ‘no option’

MARCUS DAM

THE HINDU, July 18, 2012

It is not right to waste our vote by not casting it, hence the painful decision: Mamata

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said here on Tuesday that her party would vote for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the July 19 Presidential election.

 She , however, made it clear that the decision to vote for Mr. Mukherjee was a painful one. “Taking it was difficult…It is not right to waste our vote by not casting it; so we have decided to vote for Pranab Mukherjee. Not that we have accepted the choice wholeheartedly; but we had no option,” she told journalists at the Secretariat after a meeting with some leaders of the Trinamool.

 Shortly therafter, Mr. Mukherjee called on Ms. Banerjee to thank her.

 A decision on the Vice-Presidential election would be taken later, Ms. Banerjee added.

‘Not to please anyone’

 The decision to vote for Mr. Mukherjee was taken because of the “compulsions of coalition politics and our commitment to democracy, not to please anyone,” she said, adding that it did not bring any cheer to her. “It is not about supporting any individual, but concerns the greater good.”

She had “not bowed to any pressure” while taking the decision.

With the former President, Abdul Kalam, whose name the Trinamool had proposed, “unfortunately”’ declining to contest, the party could have decided to abstain from voting “but that would have been wasting our vote and I think it would not have been right” she said.

Ms. Banerjee said that she had informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of her party’s decision. “I told him that he will be happy to know of our support [to Mr. Mukherjee] though we do not want anything.”

“Old chapter”

 As for her earlier reservations about Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature, Ms. Banerjee said it was “an old chapter” that one should “forget.”  

•  ‘We were not under pressure while taking decision’

•  ‘It is not about supporting any individual but done for the greater good’

A twist in the tale by Kaushik Sen

Zinia Sen, TNN, Jun 17, 2012, 12.00AM IST

Kaushik Sen's tryst with “Macbeth" left him with a dilemma of Shakespearean proportions. The play that debuted to a full house on May 29, had its second show on June 14. But theatre lovers, who attended both, were in for a surprise. After becoming the king, Malcolm who addresses his coterie of men with "Dosh bochhorer kaj dosh diney kore felte hobe" — a line that's similar to the latest political punchline — was left out of the second stage act. Is political pressure to be blamed for this?

Filmmaker Sharon Dutta, who attended both shows, says, "When Malcolm uttered the dialogue, I remember the audience breaking into a huge round of applause. I was thoroughly disappointed to watch the second show. More so, because the play comes from the stable of Swapnasandhani. From "Winkle Twinkle" to "Ruddhasangeet", political criticism has found its way on stage. I sincerely want this tradition to continue."

Ask Kaushik if political pressure made him change the climax of "Macbeth" and he explains that it was more of a well-thought out decision. "We got a huge response for "Macbeth". And the line was much talked about. But after the first show, playwright Ujjal Chattopadhyay expressed serious concern," says Kaushik.

A government employee, Ujjal reportedly feared his job might be at stake and that made Kaushik rethink his decision on carrying the line. "It has not been penned by Ujjal. It was something I incorporated. But it's not possible for me to clarify that at every show. At the same time, I do not want to make Ujjal the scapegoat. That he fears losing his job is itself nothing short of alarming."

Fair is foul, didn't the Bard mention already?

Massive Protest In Kolkata Against Rape of Disabled Girl

KOLKATA, July 7: Around 2500 people assembled at the Rani Rashmoni Road, in the heart of Kolkata to protest against the rape of a young athlete with speech and hearing impairments at Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal. The protest was called by the Paschim Banga Rajya Pratibandi Sammelani, an affiliate of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD). 

The widespread indignation that this crime and subsequent reaction of the state administration has evoked is reflected in the wide spectrum of people who had gathered to condemn the crime in unequivocal terms.

Joining the large number of persons with disabilities who had come from different parts of West Bengal were film personalities and sportspersons. Brushing shoulders with them were representatives from a host of NGOs, rights activists, academicians and civil society organisations. 

At the outset, a disabled folk-singer from Bankura rendered songs specially composed for the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Kanti Ganguly, Convenor of the NPRD and General Secretary of the Sammelani recounted his visit to the victim’s residence and assured that the organisation will take the responsibility of rehabilitating the girl. However, he underlined that it is the responsibility of the state government to rehabilitate the victim. He was unsparing in his criticism of the role of the government agencies.

Speaker after speaker condemned the increase in the number of cases of sexual violence reported in West Bengal and sought action against insensitive officials like the police and the disability commissioner who instead of initiating action were seen as siding with the perpetrators. While educationist Subhankar Chakrobarty pledged all help for the girl, writer Azijul Haque called for broader unity to foil such crimes in the future.  

Ramola Chakroborty, womens rights activist was scathing in her remarks on the role of state Government. Prof Ishita Mukhopadhyay, Director, Womens Studies, Calcutta University felt that the women’s movement itself feels threatened as no laws or court directives are being implemented in the state anymore. 

Distinguished sports personalities Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and Bula Chowdhury cautioned against the casual manner in which crimes against disabled athlete were treated.  Commonwealth Games medal winner, Prasant Karmakar, a disabled swimmer, pointed out that overcoming disability and becoming an achiever in sports is no mean feat. Eminent lawyer Bharati Mukherjee expressed shock at the total silence of the State Women’s Commission. 

Film maker Anindita Sarbadhikari vehemently criticised the state administration for being unable to protect women. Film actor Badshah Moitra underscored the importance of people from diverse fields coming together to condemn and protest such crimes.  Lina Bardhan, Director, Special Olympics and Pankaj Das, ex-Principal, Loius Braille Memorial School expressed their solidarity. Also present on the occasion to express her solidarity was Malini Bhattacharjee, former Chairperson of the state Women’s Commission. Several speakers drew attention to the fact that in the recent period Bengal has earned the dubious distinction of topping the list in crimes against women and lamented that even the suggestions made by National commission for Women have been totally ignored by the state.

The inaction and insensitivity on the part of the state administration came in for sharp criticism from all quarters. 

The meeting was presided over by Sailen Chowdhury, President of the Sammelini. 

The meeting unanimously resolved to meet the Governor in a delegation on August 9, with the following demands:

·         Security measures for all women with disabilities

·         Exemplary punishment to be given to the accused.

·         Rehabilitation of the victim girl by the state.

Veg price sky-rockets, no control over pricing

Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN | Jun 21, 2012, 08.07 PM IST

KOLKATA: The delayed monsoon has got vegetable price spiralling. Moreover, middlemen in the agro-marketing network of the state adding woes to plight of common men by maximising profit with a yawning gap between wholesale market price and that of the retail markets.

The agricultural marketing minister Arup Roy admitted that middle-men have once again been playing havoc with the price of perishable commodities in urban an semi-urban markets. ""There is a task force to monitor the price. I have to check out what their findings are. I am indeed anxious with the price getting out of control. I will hold an emergency meeting on Monday," he added.

Besides, the task force a ministerial committee was formed to keep a tab on the commodity price at different markets. The committee has animal resource minister Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury, agricultural marketing minister Arup Roy and food processing minister Ujjwal Biswas.

The delayed monsoon has already taking toll of agriculture productions. Excessive heat and lack of rain has led to drying up of lot of agricultural products. Vegetables like parwal is the biggest victim of this extreme weather, said Shankar Kamila, secretary of agriculture marketers association. A lot of vegetables could not be sent to market from the fields.

But much of this price-rise was engineered artificially by middle-men. The yawning gap between the wholesale and retail price is one of indicators how the chain of middle-men are causing price-rise at their will. Two chains of middlemen work one between the farmers and whole-sellers and other from whole-sellers and retailers.

"Even though the chain between the whole-seller and retailer is a shorter one, the price difference can show the lack of monitoring on the markets by the government," said Amit Sinha, a consumers' rights activist.

According to whole-sale and retail marketing sources, the gap between the wholesale and retail price of perishable commodities are gradually increasing with the time. If the whole-sale price of parwal is Rs 8 per kg, it is selling at anything between Rs 20 and 30 at retail markets. It is worse for okra. The wholesale price is Rs 8-9, but the retail price is Rs 30-40.

In case of potato and onion, which are more-or-less regulated and can be stocked in cold-storage, the retail and wholesale price difference is not that huge. However, Patit Paban De, a potato expert said, ""The potato price is expected to rise further with a huge loss of productivity is south India.

""Some vegetables prices have gone up so high that it has been becoming increasingly difficult to strike a balance in the food budget for most of the buyers,"" said Rabindranath Koley of Kankurgachhi VIP market. The green chili has crossed Rs 100 per kg. I can't remember this happening in my life-time, he added.

Why is this gap ever widening? According to a senior officer, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier took the price-rise seriously. She visited some markets and asked the chief secretary Samar Ghosh to inquire into the abnormal price rise. The government then periodically checked the market price and carried out raids. It yielded results. But with the time, that monitoring mechanism got rusty.

Highway toll hike to push up prices

TNN | Jun 21, 2012, 01.09AM IST

KOLKATA: Fuel prices haven't alone pushed up transportation costs. A steep rise in toll by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is also responsible. However, transporters complained that the hike is not uniform across toll plazas and thus creates confusion. Such a steep rise, transporters said, would result in a further price rise of all commodities.

According to NHAI memo 13013/630/CO/1112 /GC, dated March 31, 2012, toll taxes have been modified upwards. However, for transporters, the toll fees have not been uniformly modified. For instance, on National Highway II, a truck had to cough up Rs 165 to cross each toll plaza. Now, it needs to pay Rs 265 at Dhulagarh toll plaza and Rs 245 while crossing Debra toll plaza.

In case of mini buses, too, the toll has risen from Rs 85 to Rs 120. For small cars, it has gone up from Rs 30 to Rs 75. "Naturally, the end-users like you and me are the ultimate victims of such upward revision of toll tax. Earlier, from Kolkata to Mumbai, we had to pay Rs 2,500 as toll tax per trip per carriage. Now, we are paying a little more than Rs 4,000," said Satyajit Majumdar, general secretary of Federation of West Bengal Truck Owners' Association.

"The problem is, NHAI does not maintain any transparency as far as its toll revisions are concerned. We have been demanding for uniform toll across the country. This would leave little room for confusion. But that has not been done," said Shyamal Dasgupta, general secretary of Truck Owners' Association.

The problem is even worse for short-trip makers like buses. "By paying Rs 85, we used to have multiple passages through a toll plaza in a span of 12 hours. But now, we have to cough up Rs Rs 120 for one up and one down trip. Even if we have time to cross the toll plaza once more, we have to pay Rs 120 again. This has made our situation very difficult with bus fares remaining constant over the years," said Mini Bus operator Shiladitya Sarkar.

According to NHAI sources, the upward revision of the toll is due to escalation of cost for maintenance and road construction. NHAI has outsourced the collection of toll across the country.

The highways ministry expects approximately Rs 840 crore rise in toll revenue from roads and bridges on national highways (NH), as more stretches come under the toll network. Toll revenue may touch Rs 3,627 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 3,554 crore during the last financial year, because of this upward revision.

Almost 95% of this revenue will come from roads owned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Sources in the authority said the increase in toll revenue also includes the premium that NHAI has got from awarding projects in 2011 and 2012. The authority has earned at least Rs 2,300 crore as premium from awarding projects during the current financial year.

The premium is the amount that private developers pay annually to the NHAI. Moreover, the annual premium amount increases by 5% for the entire concession period. "We also expect more stretches, which we will be awarding to private players for maintenance and collecting toll to private developers will fetch premium. We will have enough funds to take care of our financial needs for the next fiscal year. We have also raised Rs 10,000 crore from the markets with us for investment," said a senior NHAI official. He added that the impact of premium would be visible in the next 2-3 years. NHAI also expects revenues from fuel cess for highways sector to be around Rs 8,400 crore in 2012-13.

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Why this Shadow of Vidharbha over West Bengal?

How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?

THE lyrics of Bob Dylan reverberate in rural West Bengal these days, may be in a different refrain. In the last seven months of ‘changed’ regime, 51 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Dhana Tudu, an agricultural worker in Bhatar, Burdwan was the first. Khandu Ghosh, a poor peasant of Sadar1 block of the same district was the 50th. Ghosh hanged himself on April 27. He cultivated Aman rice in 10 bighas of land few months earlier. The produce did not fetch remunerative price as was the case with overwhelming majority of farmers in the state. Then he tried Boro cultivation but the paddy was destroyed by insects. In fact, there is a large scale insect attack in Burdwan and some other districts. Khandu Ghosh, after realising that his cultivation has been destroyed, committed suicide. Even before the news of this 50th death was commented upon, Mana Malik, a female sharecropper followed suit, again in Burdwan, this time in Jamalpur block. The story of young Mana, wife of a worker, is almost same as her paddy was also destroyed. Almost all of them were reeling under debt.

The brunt of spate of suicides has been felt by Burdwan, the leading paddy producer in the state. Till now, 35 farmers have taken their lives in this district alone. Three in Maldaha, two each in Bankura, Murshidabad, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, one each in Jalpaiguri, West Midnapur, Howrah, Birbhum and south 24 Parganas.

The shadow of Vidharbha over West Bengal has raised serious questions. More than one lakh farmers’ suicides have taken place in the country in the last one decade. But West Bengal, except for sparse incidents, remained free from this trend. There was virtually no peasant suicides in the state related with crisis in agriculture during the tenure of the Left Front government. Even the virulent anti-Left media did not report any such incidents. Why this stream of suicides now? Madan Ghosh, state president of AIKS, identified neo-liberal policies as the central reason. ‘More than four  farmers’ suicides per month have taken place under the new government in the state. The central policies and the failure of the state government to protect the peasants are two principal factors behind such a tragedy’, said Ghosh. Both the governments are pursuing neo-liberal policies, he added.

The cost of production has sky rocketed in the recent period. The price of fertilizer has increased manifold. So are prices of other inputs like insecticides, seeds etc. The crisis in agriculture is an all India phenomenon. But during the Left Front period, the state government extended all possible protective measures to defend the peasants. That infrastructure has virtually collapsed under the new regime.

The minimum support price is usually much lower than the production cost. For example, while the per quintal production cost of jute was in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 in last season, MSP was declared at Rs 1175 only. Likewise, while MSP for the next season has been fixed at Rs 2200, the cost of production has meanwhile increased to Rs 3500 per quintal. Madan Ghosh alleged that the farmers have not received even the MSP. It was in the case of paddy too. No serious effort was made to procure paddy from the peasants. Farmers were forced to sell at distress prices. Same thing happened in the case of potatoes and onions.

This wide gap between production cost and sale price accentuated the problem of debt in rural Bengal. Farmers are taking recourse to private lending and micro finance loans with high interest rates.

Even this will not explain in full the disastrous situation prevailing in West Bengal today. Panchayats have been rendered inoperative systematically. The decentralisation of power has been reversed. This resulted in collapse of rural development programme and employment generation schemes, including MNREGA. Agricultural workers and poor peasants, partially dependent on such jobs, have lost their source of income. In a reign of terror, the peasants in most parts of the state are still unable to pressurise the government machinery to redress.

Bob Dylan’s lyrics have become relevant in the backdrop of continuous denial of the tragedy by the chief minister herself and her administration. In fact, the chief minister has admitted of only ‘one’ such incident without identifying which one. There is growing discontent in rural Bengal over neglect of peasantry while the state administration is busy in superficial beautification of Kolkata.

Left peasant organisations, along with other mass organisations have already initiated struggles against anti-peasant, anti-people policies of the government. Village level and block level rallies and jathas have taken place. Madan Ghosh said, ‘We are strongly against suicides. Our call is ‘Unite to struggle, not suicides.’

People’s Democracy, May 06, 2012

West Bengal gets a controversy a day

An issue a day keeps boredom at bay ” this could well be the guiding principle of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee these days.

MID-DAY, April 16 07:35:58, 2012

KOLKATA, Agencies

How else does one explain her government regularly dishing out controversies on a platter to her political opponents? The baton charging of women protesting eviction from a slum by male police, the arrest of those agitating against the assault, muscle flexing by ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) men vis-a-vis a small but feisty human rights group close to Banerjee’s Kalighat residence — the unending chain of events in a short span of time has triggered much condemnation from across society.

You’re joking! Ambikesh Mahapatra, who allegedly forwarded the Mamata cartoons,  was booked for outraging the modesty of a woman, defamation, and hacking

However, the midnight arrest of a Jadavpur University professor and a septuagenarian retired engineer in connection with the online circulation of a cartoon strip which the authorities saw as defaming Banerjee, or ‘Didi’ as she is popularly known, was the icing on the cake. The collage of cartoons allegedly forwarded by physical chemistry professor Ambikesh Mahapatra included the photographs of Banerjee and Railway Minister Mukul Roy and used some dialogues of filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s Bengali detective masterpiece Sonar Kella.

It showed the two TMC leaders discussing how to get rid of party leader Dinesh Trivedi. Subrata Sengupta, a former Public Works Department engineer, was taken into custody, as Mahapatra had sent the cartoons from the registered e-mail id of the housing cooperative of which Sengupta was secretary. The mail account had been opened in Sengupta’s name.

But what was more laughable were the charges. The duo was booked for outraging the modesty of a woman, defamation and hacking. Though the professor and the retired engineer got bail from the court, there was a distinct similarity in the modus operandi in their case as also that involving the attack on the human rights group.

The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) activists, intending to take out a pre-announced procession, were first roughed up by youths allegedly close to TMC. Within minutes, police, instead of taking action against the culprits, arrested the APDR people. Mahapatra was also first allegedly beaten up by TMC men and forced to write out a signed statement that he had circulated the cartoon “motivatedly” as he was a CPI-Marxist activist. And then police swung into action based on a complaint by someone who does not even have an e-mail account to take the professor and the retired, ailing engineer into custody.

After their release, Mahapatra filed a counter complaint, and buckling under the storm of protests, four of the youths were arrested. But they were bailed out within hours. Now there is a fresh angle to the story. It has been reported that those who attacked Mahapatra were members of a building material suppliers’ syndicate with links to the TMC. It is being said that bills worth Rs 17 lakh submitted by suppliers were being withheld by the housing society which doubted how genuine these were. Mahapatra is assistant secretary of the cooperative. Meanwhile Banerjee appears unfazed. While she defended the arrests, a source close to her said, “This will not have any impact on her support base, as very few people are bothered with Facebook and Twitter.”

CPI(M) State Secretariat Elected

A 19 member state secretariat was elected in the two- day state committee meeting held on April 28-29. The members are: Biman Basu, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, Nirupam Sen, Suryakanta Misra, Madan Ghosh, Shyamal Chakraborty, Mridul Dey, Md Salim, Gautam Deb, Shyamali Gupta, Dipak Dasgupta, Nripen Choudhury, Raghunath Kushari, Amitava Basu, Sridip Bhattacharya, Rabin Deb, Dipak Sarkar, Amiya Patra and Sujan Chakraborty.  The last two members have been newly inducted. Amiya Patra is district secretary of Bankura while Sujan Chakraborty is district secretary of South 24 Parganas.

Veteran leader Benoy Konar was a member of the last state secretariat. However, he got relieved due to age and ill health. Konar is a special invitee to the state committee as well as is the chairman of the Central Control Commission.

People’s Democracy, May 06, 2012

Bengal borrows Rs 2.5Kcr from market to pay salary and pension

Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN | May 3, 2012, 04.19AM IST

KOLKATA: Ahead of CM Mamata Banerjee's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the three-year moratorium and a debt-restructuring, the state has just borrowed Rs 2,500 crore to pay salaries and pensions.

Just when the chief minister hopes to find a political answer to Bengal's fiscal miseries, armed with the state's debt records, her borrowing has gone up yet again just to pay salaries and the likes. Sources in the state finance department indicated that Bengal's total borrowings have reached Rs 2,08,382 crore in the last fiscal - up from Rs 1,87,387 crore as on March 2011, barely two months after Mamata took over Writers' Buildings.

The state's borrowing has been upped ahead of another crucial meeting in North Block to negotiate on Mamata's demands along with the chief ministers of Punjab and Kerala in the next fortnight. The finance ministry has set up a committee headed by expenditure secretary Sumit Bose which is likely to meet senior officials from the three most debt-ridden states this month. The committee will seek commitments from the states on raising resources and reducing borrowing and non-developmental expenditure.

A finance department official explained: "We had to borrow this amount in April for basic expenses. The borrowing will continue in this manner unless the Centre does something about the state of affairs in Bengal." Officials felt that the latest borrowing would help Mamata build her case of inheriting a bankrupt government. But the saddest part is that debt-stressed Punjab and Kerala, which are also seeking a moratorium and debt recast, borrowed only Rs 400 crore and Rs 1,000 crore respectively. Andhra Pradesh borrowed Rs 750 crore and Mizoram Rs 65 crore.

Soon after Mamata gave the Centre 15 days to grant a three-year moratorium to Bengal, one of the country's most debt-stressed states along with Punjab and Kerala, Punjab and Kerala followed suit in issuing similar demands.

While Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal sought appointments with Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy had met the central leadership with his plea that his state should be treated alike and not be discriminated against. He has sought a debt recast of Rs 11,000 crore.

Punjab is seeking a waiver on outstanding dues of Rs 22,202 crore from the centrally administered small-savings scheme and moratorium on repayment of the principal and interest on other loans spaced over five years. Punjab's outstanding debt on March 2012 stood at Rs 77,585 crore and its annual interest liability was Rs 6,500 crore.

North Block officials have already communicated to Writers' Buildings that Punjab has a stronger case because the state has been striving to raise revenues and cut expenditure. Neither Bengal nor Kerala cared to do so.

Mamata, on the other had, has been bent on "not increasing the burden on common people" and had gone soft on taxes. She has already written to the prime minister for a debt recast, inclusive of waiver of part of the components, repayable in 20 years. But the sorry state of fiscal affairs has hardly dissuaded her government from spending and creating jobs.

On the contrary, responding to a populist call, Mamata had sacrificed revenues on essential items like electricity, LPG and others. Unlike most states, Bengal did not enhance the base VAT from four to five per cent.

As a corrective measure, the state recently imposed "entry tax". It is yet to be seen if the measure could help boost the tax revenues by the targeted 25% in 2012-13. If the current indicators are of any significance, it will not be an easy task at all.

Mamata is confident that the UPA will adhere to her demands even as there is no ready reference of such a debt recast in Indian federal history. Her finance minister seems to have taken a leaf out of the Greek government which has recently averted default, thanks to bailout packages and debt haircuts.

Crime against women: Highest in Bengal

TNN | May 3, 2012, 03.57AM IST

KOLKATA: The rising crime against women in the state hasn't escaped the notice of West Bengal Human Rights Commission. The commission - headed by retired Supreme Court judge Asoke Ganguly - has proposed changes in the law to make it an effective deterrent. It has recommended to the state government to increase punishment for such crimes from the present two-year jail term to seven-year term and make the offence non-bailable.

Justice Ganguly said, "The commission in its recommendation has cited the changes made by Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in the first schedule of CrPC, 1993 and Section 354 IPC to give the law more teeth."

This, incidentally, is the first time when WBHRC is using its powers under Section 12(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, which empowers it to periodically review constitutional and legal safeguards and recommend measures to make them more effective.

The commission's attention to the issue was drawn by the media reports. It also consulted the National Crime Records Bureau data, which indicates that in the last decade, the number of molestation cases (punishable under Section 354) has increases 10-fold. According to NCRB data, in 1992 the number of such cases was 384. In 1993 it reached 1,074. It increased in the successive years (showing a partial decline in 2001-2002). The highest number of such cases occurred in 2011. The figure was 3,340. The year before, it was 2465.

At present, Section 354 is bailable and punishment is a two-year jail term. This, the commission feels, isn't effective enough. In 1995, Odisha had amended the CrPC (to make the offence non-bailable) and four years before that Andhra had increased the punishment under to a maximum of seven years. Also, the Law Commission in its 84th report (in 1980) and 156th report (1997) had recommended sexual assault be punishable under this section and the punishment increased to a five-year jail term. Most importantly, the commission observed that in many cases, where rape is not proved and the court has to let off the accused with minor punishment even if he is found guilty of outraging a women's modesty. This, it feels, causes a social imbalance and injustice to the victim.

What the commission proposes for Bengal has been done in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It proposes to make the law non-bailable like Odisha and wants the punishment increased as in Andhra Pradesh.

It proposes a maximum seven year jail term in Bengal and a minimum of five years. And if somebody is given a jail term less than five years, the reasons for that must be mentioned clearly in the judgment.

The commission's recommendation mentions that social movement in Bengal to protect women's honour was a harbinger for the entire country.

Law

Section 354 IPC - Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Classification of offence - Cognizable, Bailable and Non-compoundable.

What other states have done?

Andhra Pradesh - Increased the punishment to seven years and not less than five years. If for special reasons, the court gives a lesser sentence it can't be less than two years.

Madhya Pradesh - Extended the punishment term to a maximum of 10 years.

Odisha - Made the offence bailable.

WBHRC's recommendation for Bengal - Increase the punishment to a maximum of seven years and minimum of five years. If less than five years, the reasons have to be mentioned. Make the offence non-bailable.