VOTE LEFT

At 95, Basu is still in demand in West Bengal

By Soudhriti Bhabani

Kolkata,(IANS): Failing health and advancing age have forced former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, now 95, to keep away from the Lok Sabha election campaign. But he is still eagerly sought after by Marxists ahead of their toughest electoral battle.

For the first time the ruling Left Front has plunged into the campaign minus the veteran Basu, who for nearly a quarter century presided over the state government led by his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). Even after his voluntary retirement from day-to-day party activities, the CPI-M still exploits Basu's acceptance at the national level to woo voters for the April-May elections. Basu's picture towers over all other leaders on the campaign website launched by the party, of which he is the only living member of its first politburo. "He is definitely feeling sad because he could not attend campaign meetings for the first time. It's an exceptional year as we couldn't see him deliver speeches," Basu's personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh told IANS.

The CPI-M and its three smaller Left allies brace for the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal against the joint forces of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in what is expected to be a tough fight. It is precisely now that the CPI-M badly needs Basu, who presided over West Bengal from 1977 until stepping down in 2000, the longest innings for any chief minister in India. "He is an intelligent human being. He understands his health condition very well," Ghosh said, adding he regularly seeks reports on state as well as national developments from party cadres. Born on July 8, 1914, in Kolkata to a wealthy family, Basu took to communism in London. On his return to India, he joined the Communist Party of India (CPI) and got engrossed in trade unions. Basu made his debut in electoral politics in 1946. He was elected to the state assembly 11 times, losing only once in 1972.

After the CPI split in 1964, he joined the CPI(M) and was elected to its Central Committee and Politburo. Since then he has adorned those two posts. According to CPI-M sources, Left Front chairman Biman Bose briefs Basu about party decisions every Friday. "Basu is also kept updated about every small development in the party through notes. We send political messages to him through our messengers," a CPI-M source told IANS. Basu slipped and fell in his house last year and suffered an internal haemorrhage in the head.

Since then, he rarely steps out of his Salt Lake home. At a Left Front meet last month, a recorded speech of Basu beamed on giant screens was received with loud applause. "Though he is not with us physically in the campaign, his recorded speeches goaded the people to elect Left Front candidates last time," said Basudeb Acharya, leader of the CPI-M in the outgoing Lok Sabha. "His presence would have been important to all of us but this time it was not possible because of his health," Acharya, the CPI-M candidate from Bankura, told IANS. In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2004, Basu visited only Kolkata and its adjoining constituencies. Even that is not possible this time. (Soudhriti Bhabani can be contacted at soudhriti.b@ians.in)

Morcha-BJP poll nexus: Jaswant for Darjeeling seat

KOLKATA,03 April 2009: PLAYING THE Congress against the BJP, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has come up winners, roping in BJP heavyweight Jaswant Singh for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, having extracted a promise that the saffron brigade would consider the issue of a separate state of Gorkhaland sympathetically.

The Morcha brass had been after both national parties hammer and tongs for weeks, lobbying in New Delhi for all it was worth. It had held out the bait that it would support the candidate of either the Congress or the BJP depending on which party supported its statehood demand in the party manifesto. Given, that now the Morcha’s writ runs in the hills of Darjeeling, it is in a position to call the electoral shots. It has promised support to the BJP’s candidates in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in North Bengal as well, which is home to a large number of Nepali speaking people. Again Jaswant Singh being a former Indian Army officer is likely to garner support from Gorkha soldiers and former servicemen. The BJP, which is not much of a political force in West Bengal, is likely to increase its presence in the state, especially in North Bengal with the help of the Morcha.

The Morcha has also promised support to saffron candidates in Northeast India, particularly Assam which has large sections of Nepali speaking voters. In fact Gurung was in Assam mobilizing support before he flew to New Delhi and met BJP Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani at his residence to seal the ‘Jaswant deal’. Gurung was said to have insisted that the BJP field a real heavyweight. This was obviously to ensure that the BJP does not go back on its assurance of considering the statehood demand sympathetically in the event of its coming to power at the Centre. The Morcha on its part has spared no effort to woo the BJP, aware that the party is in favour of smaller states as it has reaped dividends from the formation of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

The Morcha president Gurung was said to be “satisfied” with the assurance from the BJP brass that it would “pursue” the Gorkhaland cause, media reports said. The Morcha also tried to impress upon the BJP leadership that it could influence the poll outcome in at least 10 seats in the country.

For the last one and-a- half months, the Morcha has been pitting the Congress against the BJP. It met leaders including Advani at a dinner party and broached the subject of support, should the BJP support its cause. Not getting adequate response at that juncture, it then approached the AICC member in-charge of West Bengal Keshav Rao, offering to support the Congress candidate in return for some sort of assurance to the statehood demand.

But the hill leaders increasingly began to realize that the Congress would not play ball. In fact the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made it clear some time ago in the foothill town of Siliguri in North Bengal that there was no question of dividing Bengal. The BJP then sat up and began to wonder how to mention the Gorkhaland issue in its manifesto without making a commitment and get the Morcha’s support. It has now decided to consider the demand “with sympathy”. For both the Morcha and the BJP it has worked out to be a rather cosy arrangement as of now.

The BJP had announced its candidate for the Darjeeling seat, in former IPS officer Dawa Sherpa but he has not filed his nomination yet.

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha to be part of NDA

New Delhi : The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) will be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and support Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Jaswant Singh for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. Announcing this while releasing the BJP poll manifesto here on Friday, the party's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani said the decision was reached after discussions with top GJM leaders.

GJM president Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri have been camping in Delhi for the last two days, to hold discussions with the BJP. The GJM is spearheading an agitation for a separate state to be formed out of Darjeeling and the foothills of the Himalayas that are now a part of West Bengal.

BJP president Rajnath Singh announced earlier at the same venue that Jaswant Singh - now the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha - will be the party's candidate from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. With the support of the GJM, he is expected to be a shoo-in.

Left Front in WB sees conspiracy to defeat it in LS polls

Kolkata (PTI): The ruling Left Front in West Bengal on Thursday alleged that a "conspiracy" was afoot by various forces including the US to defeat the coalition in the Lok Sabha elections. Left Front chairman Biman Basu referred to the book by former US ambassador to the country, Patrick Moinyhan, on how his country had played a role in toppling the E M S Namboodripad government in Kerala in 1957 and the United Front government in West Bengal in 1970.

"I warn leftist supporters and partymen that these forces are again working for the defeat of left candidates," Mr. Basu told a press conference here. "Imperialism, Congress, BJP and Trinamool Congress have jointly made the Left Front government the target of their attack," Mr. Basu said, while releasing a booklet containing a joint appeal by Left Front constituents to the voters in the state.

It said Left Front's return to power for 7th consecutive time with a massive mandate and its strident opposition to the "anti-people" polices of the Congress-led UPA government had made "reactionary" forces within and outside the country "desperate". He charged that with their support, the Trinamool Congress which had allied with the Congress for the Lok Sabha poll was working against the Left Front government.

West Bengal banks providing loans to SHGs

KOLKATA: Banks operating in West Bengal have provided a fresh loan of Rs 175.5 crore to local self help groups (SHG), taking the total outstanding SHG loan to Rs 726 crore till February 2009. Yet, on an average basis, banks offered merely Rs 26,286 per group as loan, which is significantly lower than the national average of Rs 65,000 a group. Banks’ average lending to SHGs in the state have grown by a modest Rs 2,000 from last year.

National Bank of Agriculture & Rural Development chief general manager P. Mohanaiah attributed this smaller size of loans largely to banks’ indifference to SHG development in the state. "In states like Andhra Pradesh, banks’ average lending to SHG is around Rs 1 lakh." Under Nabard’s SHG-bank linkage programme, nearly 60,000 groups have been formed in West Bengal during 2008-09. This is, however, a provisional data. Banks are yet to furnish the latest annual data to Nabard. Of these new groups, nearly 47,600 received financing support from banks. Cumulatively, a whopping 4.13 lakh groups exist in the state and 2.76 lakh groups received bank credit. "In 2009-10, we intend to focus more on micro-financing activities. This area needs renewed focus as the momentum seems to be losing steam,"

Mr Mohanaiah said here on Thursday as he announced Nabard’s future annual plan for the state. According to the executive, focus would also be given in creating 1,000 new farmers’ clubs which act as catalysts between banks and villagers. In 2008-09, 351 such clubs has been formed taking the total tally to 2,081. During the period under review, Nabard’s refinanced investment credit for agri development, worth Rs 522 crore, surpassed its annual target of Rs 485 crore. It disbursed production credit of around Rs 350 crore.

Mr Mohanaiah informed that West Bengal is expected to get Rs 1,500 crore of financial assistance under the Centre’s Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in 2009-01, if the Centre okays the state’s proposal to include rural electrification projects under the ambit of RIDF. The state has sought loans worth Rs 300 crore for rural electrification. In 2008-09, Nabard sanctioned projects worth Rs 801 crore under RIDF, surpassing the normative allocation of Rs 761 crore. ends

Alternative policies to tackle economic slowdown: Left

Kolkata: The Third Front should try formulating alternative economic policies to deal with the economic slowdown if it came to power at the centre, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Basu said here on Thursday.

"The economic condition of the country is affected due to the slowdown. We have to try to establish a third front at the centre, which should try to formulate alternative economic policies to overcome this slowdown," Mr. Basu told a press conference. "We have to find a solution to the economic crisis," he said underlining the Third Front's thrust area.

Facing a tough challenge in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance, Bose asked the left cadres to apologise to the people if they (cadres) commit any mistake. "If there are any mistakes, then apologise for these," he said. Mr. Basu alleged a conspiracy was on to divide the state and said that the Left Front will not allow it to be successful.

Prisoners should be allowed to vote: WB Govt

Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal government has forwarded a proposal to the Election Commission that prisoners be allowed to vote during polls. A draft rule to the West Bengal Correctional Services Act empowering prisoners to cast votes has been forwarded to Election Commission.

"The proposal has been sent by IG (Prisons). We are looking at how it can be worked out in the state. A lot of work needs to be done," Jail minister Biswanath Chowdhury said. Convicts and undertrials are debarred by the Representation of People's Act 1951 from exercising their franchise. "According to the Act undertrials or convicts are disallowed to vote, but if they are out on bail or those in preventive detention are allowed to do so," Inspector General of Prisons, B D Sharma told PTI.

Sharma, giving an example, said that a murder accused on bail would be able to vote, while those who could not arrange for bail would be deprived of the right as they were behind bars. "This is unfortunate and the Act demands amendment. I have been fighting for it from a long time," Sharma said, adding that even prisoners in Bangladesh were allowed to vote, besides in all developed nations.

April 9 date for FAW team visit

KOLKATA: The Nano dream is buried. But hope still flickers in Singur. With Tata Motors pulling out of Bengal, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is gearing up for a meeting with a delegation from the Chinese automobile major, First Automobile Works (FAW). The team will arrive in the city on April 9.

The five-member FAW delegation's visit to the city is actually a follow-up exercise. In November last year, a team of company officials met the chief minister. FAW has already signed an agreement with Ural India, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, in which the WBIDC has 11% stake. Last week, state commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen had been to the FAW car factory in China and inspected the truck assembly line. Sen also held talks with FAW officials over their investment opportunities in Bengal, particularly in the small car, bus and truck segment.

The proposed small car (with engine capacity of 700 cc to 800 cc) would cost between Rs 1.6 lakh and 2 lakh. On Thursday, Ural India's chairman J K Saraf will meet the chief minister to do the groundwork for the proposed meet with FAW top brass. FAW officials are likely to visit the abandoned Nano compound in Singur next week. The CM does not want to miss the opportunity this time. In fact, the commerce and industries secretary is likely to submit a detailed report on the FAW assembly line so that the government can explore the possibility of setting up such a facility in Singur.

For, the FAW team is not interested in alternative sites at Kharagpur and Kalyani. The official said that FAW was also keen on setting up a plant in Haldia, close to the Ural factory, which is now manufacturing trucks and other heavy vehicles for the army and police, along with dumpers. Ural director Aniruddh Kanoi, who had been to China to meet FAW officials, said they are willing to go for truck, bus and small car factories in Bengal. "If the plot is big enough, bus, truck and small car can be produced from the same place."

The company has already had similar offers from other states, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana. "The proposed support from the end of the Bengal government can only help us to decide the destination," Kanoi said. FAW is ready to invest Rs 1,500 crore for their auto factory.

Mamata among the ten worst performing MPs

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's zealous anti-acquisition drive might have given her some browniepoints, but her poor record as an MP is nullifying those gains.

From a recent survey conducted by PRS Legislative Research on the legislative performance of the Lok Sabha members within and outside Parliament, findings reveal that Mamata Banerjee belongs right at the bottom of the heap -- among the ten worst performing MPs.

Not only has Mamata performed dismally as MP, she has not used the money allotted as part of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD)to improve public services in her constituency, the survey shows.

Of the 332 working days in parliament, she was present on 56 days. Moreover, she wasn't present a single day the sixth, ninth and 15th sessions of Parliament. As regards the use of MPLAD funds, Mamata ranks last among all the 42 Lok Sabha members from West Bengal, a report by the Centre. In terms of the percentage use, she fares badly both at the state and central levels.

Scope for Tata Motors to return to Singur

KOLKATA: There may be a possibility of the Tatas using the Singur facility later, if local objections can be resolved through dialogue, West Bengal Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen has said.

“We have lost the chance of being the first production unit of Nano. However, there may be a possibility of Singur also later, if local objections can be resolved through dialogue because ultimately Tata Motors may go for more than one production unit in India. But the decision rests with Tata Motors,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Sen made these comments in Malaysia where he is on a trip to promote the State as an investment destination. He said several automobile companies there were keen to enter India.
“We told them that the government will provide support to any investment decision and West Bengal has good potential for the small car segment.”

However, even as Mr. Sen was renewing the State government’s efforts to attract industrial investment, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee thundered at a meeting which was being held jointly with her new-found ally, the Congress.

She said an investigation should be launched to find out how the State government was proposing to bring in another company on a plot of land which had already been leased out (the lease with the Tatas still exist).

Praharaj appointed as Chairman of LA standing committee on Commerce & Industries

KOLKATA: West Bengal Legislative Assembly speaker Hasim Abdul Halim on Wednesday appointed CPI(M) MLA Srutinath Praharaj as chairman of the Assembly standing committee on commerce and industry. " Mr Praharaj will function as chairman of the said standing committee till July," Mr Halim told reporters.

The standing committee on commerce and industry is being touted as among the most important legislative panels in West Bengal. Previously, Sudip Banerjee, Congress MLA, was chairman of the standing committee. But recently, Mr Halim expelled him under anti-defection laws after the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) Manas Bhunia lodged an official complaint with Halim against Banerjee. Sudip was expelled after he rejoined Trinamool Congress despite being elected to the state Assembly from the Bowbazar assembly seat during 2006 polls on a Congress ticket.

Naturally, Halim on Wednesday, filled up the vacant post of the standing committee chairman by nominating Praharaj. Congress, however, demanded that the post be given to it as the standing committee was headed by a Congress MLA. "I urged the Speaker to appoint our MLA from Katwa, Rabindranath Chatterjee as the chairman of the standing committee. But the speaker told me that he could not do so as Chatterjee is not a member of the said standing committee," CLP leader Manas Bhunia said on Wednesday. "But we strongly oppose the Speaker’s decision and want him to appoint some of our MLAs as the chairman of the committee," Bhunia mentioned.

Trinamool Congress, however, described the Speaker’s actions as "politically motivated and unethical." The opposition leader and Trinamool Congress MLA, Partha Chatterjee said on Wednesday that "the way the speaker has appointed a CPI(M) MLA who has not completed a full five year term in the state Assembly clearly shows his political bias." "We strongly opposed the Speaker’s decision of appointing the CPI(M) MLA as the standing committee chairman. The monsoon session of the House will begin on June 15 and the speaker could wait till that time before appointing the chairman of the standing committee. His act has hurt the democratic values and we are sorry to say that by appointing the ruling party MLA, the speaker has shown his loyalty to the CPI(M)," said Mr Chatterjee.

Praharaj won the Uttarpara assembly seat during 2006 Assembly election on a CPI(M) ticket. Chatterjee also said that "Praharaj was elected chairman only because he belongs to Hooghly district where Singur is located."

Minority Development: West Bengal showing the way

Kolkata: West Bengal is showing the way amongst all the states in the country in taking development initiative for the minority community of the state. In fact this role of the state government has also been praised by the National Minorities Commission. Mohd. Safi Kureshi, Chairman of the National Minorities Commission has also praised the pioneering efforts of the West Bengal Government and the West Bengal Minority development Corporation in this regard.

In the sphere of Minority education out of the 37 new colleges that has started in the state 27 is situated in Minority dominated areas. Apart from the educational aspects, various initiatives have also been taken by the state government to enhance the job prospects of the minorities also. Notably more than 22% of all the self help groups that has come up in the state constitutes of minorities. The chairman of the National Minorities Commission was satisfied after scrutinizing the ongoing projects aimed towards the minorities and infact told that west government is putting extra efforts in developing education amongst the minorities as well to augument the job prospects of citizens hailing from the minorities.

According to various national survey reports, the recipients of more than 25% of the lands distributed under the Operation Barga in West Bengal are from the marginal Muslim households. Muslims have also benefited significantly from the land reforms programme. The share of land cultivated by Muslims in West Bengal in total cultivated land is 25.6%, which is the second highest in the country (second only to Jammu and Kashmir where the share is 30.3%).

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has also demanded to the Central government to formulate a subplan for the benefit the minority community in the country. Though on a Central government level no extra efforts are being put to improve the condition of the minorities West Bengal clearly is taking the lead in the country for the all round economic and social development of the citizens hailing from the minority community. Till last year when the Budget of the entire Central government for the development of minorities was at 1000 crores, West State Budget provided about 400 crores towards this department. All the 7 -8 department concerned with the development of the minorities have a special cell aimed towards efforts for the upliftment of the minorities.

If we seggregate the planned and unplanned expenditure that has been incurred by the west Bengal government in the current financial year then we can see that out of the 100 crores rupees allocated by the state government in this regard has already been spent by the government in fact it spent 111 crore 34 lakh 86 thousand i.e. 1 crore 34 lakh 86 thousand more that what was originally envisaged by the government. On the other hand the out of the Central grant to West Bengal government of Rs 68 crores 3 crores 27 lakh 41 thousand rupees is yet to be disbursed by the Central Government. Mentionable that the unplanned expenditure of the state government in this regard has been a whooping 476 crores. No other state government has allocated so much on the minorities’ development.

Recently Abdus Sattar, west Bengal’s minister for minorities’ development, has informed that in all the 11 district of the West Bengal special offices has been opened to facilitatate the development of the minorities in these regions. West Bengal is also the first state in the country to plan in such a manner. West Bengal has also started a new university aimed at providing quality education to the minorities. Named as Alia University this university has also started operating and already 28 faculties of the university is fully operational. In Bhangor of South 24 Parganas more than 65 acres of Land has also been acquired for setting up a full fledged modern campus for this university. Notably this also the opposition Trinamool had created road block for this land acquisition process. To increase the vocational skills of the minority students the state government has also given more than 4 crore 58 lakhs. This money will be spent to give technical and vocation training to students hailing from the minorities’ community. Over 1 lakh students hailing from the minorities’ community has also got scholarship from the state government as incentive to continue their education.

West Bengal has also proved to be the torch bearer in starting schemes for minority women and to empower them economically. A scheme has been taken by the state government where 20- 40 thousands rupees will be given to woman hailing from the minorities’ community to start commercial ventures. No guarantors will be required to avail these loans. About 20cropres has been provided by the state as capital to continue with this scheme. Another 10 crores will be extended in the next financial year. The work of building girl’s hostel for students hailing from Muslim community, and working girls hostel for working girls from minority community are also on full swing.

In the sphere of madrasah education 110 junior madrasahs has been uplifted to the status of senior madrasahs in the state in the last financial year. In the current financial year with this as the objective, steps have been taken in the current year to set up66 new madrasahs, upgrade 110 junior high madrasahs to high madrasahs and 89 high madrasahs to higher madrasahs. More than 3200 posts have already been created to facilitate this development effort. Mentionable that West Bengal government bears the salaries of the Madrasah teachers of the state, a step which is unheard in many states of the country.

West Bengal as also constituted Madrasah Service Commission to impart quality and trained teachers at the Madrasahs of the state. More than 35 crore 74 lakh has been advanced by the west Bengal minority development corporation as loans to the people belong from minority community. The state is also a first to create a fund termed as Minority development and welfare fund to cater to the minority community. West Bengal is also the first among the country in terms of success of giving loans to persons of Minority comminty through the West Bengal Minority development Corporation. The entire Rs 22 crores allocated i9n this fund has been spent for developmental purposes of the minority community. More than 52% of the persons who has found employment the school service commission in Murshidabad district are from the minorities community.

Keeping these priorities in view, the in the state budget plan outlay for the Department of Minorities Affairs and Madrasah Education is proposed to be increased from Rs. 110.0 crore in the current year to Rs. 121.0 crore in the next year. In addition, since the entire responsibility of teachers connected with madrasah education has been taken by the State Government, the total budget of this department will be raised to the level of Rs. 524.11 crore in the next year. No other government again has allocated so much money for the minority development in its state budget. An additional sum of Rs. 20 crore has been decided by the State Government for allocation to this Corporation by way of assistance for training leading to further employment generation (already included in the programme for combating recession).

A second Haj house is also being set up in the state in order to provide to the Haj house Muslims. In 1977 only about 600 people from the state used to go for Hajj pilgrim but now the number has swollen many a times. This year more than 7996 people have enlisted themselves for the Hajj, and bulk of them is from the rural background. This increase has been effected due to the empowerment of the rural masses of the state due to the pro poor policies of the state government. West Bengal is also the first state in the country to publish a guide book in the regional language for the benefit of the Hajj pilgrims hailing from the state. The state also started a website for the Hajj pilgrims. And free SMs service to facilitate the Muslims going on Haj pilgrim.

In the field of housing also special emphasis has been given to allocate houses to the persons from the minorities’ community. In all these combined effort of the various departments has resulted in paving the way for all round development of persons from the minority community in the state. In the minority dominated areas of the state there are about 48 police stations in the state which has resulted in a feeling of safety amongst people hailing from the minority community.

JYOTI BASU NAILS ADVANI’S ‘COVERT’OUS REMARKS

KOLKATA: Senior CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu rebutted on 30 March BJP supremo Lalkrishna Advani’s remark to a news agency that he had met Jyoti Basu ‘covertly’ prior to the so-called ‘rathayatra’ that claimed the lives of hundreds across its bloody path. Jyoti Basu admitted to the meting quite freely and said that the meeting was overt rather than covert.

Jyoti Basu previously had a word with the CPI (M) Polit Bureau and with the then general secretary comrade EMS before proceeding to meet Advani. The then Prime Minister V P Singh, too, had earlier prevailed upon Basu to speak to Advani towards dissuading the BJP leader from the ‘rathayatra’.

In the exchanges that followed between Basu and Advani, Basu told the latter that the purported ‘rathayatra’ would create disharmony and even rioting. Advani would not listen to Basu’s advice that he aborts the ‘programme.’

Later, Basu also met A B Vajpayee and asked him to prevent the ‘rathayatra’ but nothing came out of this meeting, too. Basu added to say when the late PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister Basu along with comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet had telephoned him to initiate measures so that the Babari Masjid was not pulled down. The late Rao promised to do ‘something’ about the issue but in practice did nothing.

Incidentally Jyoti Basu recalled that when as Prime Minister A B Vajpayee came to Kolkata and met Basu he asked the Bengal chief minister as to the reasons why he, Basu, called the BJP a party that was ‘uncivilized and barbaric.’ Basu had replied that he said this because BJP was engaged in orchestrating riots in Gujarat, killing members of the minority communities with impunity, and that it had pulled down the Babari Masjid, causing riots to break out. After this strong repartee, Vajpayee had held his silence.

ATTACKS ON CPI (M) WORKERS GO ON; ONE KILLED IN BANKURA

KOLKATA: Murderous assaults on CPI (M) workers go on in Bengal, especially in the laterite zone in the western part of the state abutting Bihar and Jharkhand. On 29 March, late in the evening, comrade Kanai Kumar, a humble woodworker of Arsha in Purulia was making his way back to his hutment along the looping road that went up and down the hillocks.

On one bend on the path, stood in ambush the killers, a mix of Pradesh Congress and Trinamul Congress goons-- all heavily armed with guns, pistols, knives, and adzes. They pounced on comrade Kanai, shot him, and then proceeded to kill him of numerous cuts and slashes from sharp weapons all over his body till he died screaming in pain.

A winding cortège accompanied his last remains to the local burning ghat for consignment to flames. Comrade Kanai had long been a target of the Pradesh Congress in particular for he had resisted all attempts by the thugs of that outfit to prevent the formation of the newly-elected Gram Sansad.

Elsewhere and not far away in Bankura, at a place called Jaipur, a large horde of Trinamul Congress hooligans attacked an election rally of the CPI (M), fired shots indiscriminately, and kidnapped the shot and wounded Sheikh Shahjahan, a dedicated CPI (M) worker. The CPI (M) activists gave chase, and they finally, literally, stumbled upon the prone Shahjahan who had in the meanwhile both his shins repeatedly pounded, broken, and then, in a gesture of in human cruelty, twisted out of shape.

Indeed, it was Shahjahan’s screams that enabled the CPI (M) workers to spot generally the place where he had been thrown from a vehicle as the cowards made good their escape in the descending darkness of the night of 30 March. Removed to a hospital, Shahjahan fights for his very survival.

In the meanwhile, the Trinamul Congress candidate from the area has been known to call publicly for terror to be brought down on CPI (M) workers. Not too far away in Midnapore west at Lalgarh, ‘Gour’ of the CP (Maoist) has announced that police would not be allowed in the area during the poll days. ‘Gour’ has received vociferous support from the entire range of the right-wing opposition from the Pradesh Congress to the BJP to the Trinamul Congress. (INN)

West Bengal leading In Agriculture

KOLKATA: In the manifesto released by the main opposition party of the West Bengal, the opposition has criticized the Left Front government on various achievements and laurels that it earned during its rule in the Last 32 Years. But nevertheless even the Trinamool has not been able to criticize the Left Front on one aspect.The long term effect of the success that West Bengal earned has forced critics to admit the rejuvenation of the agriculture in the state.

In 1977 at the time when the Left Front assumed the charge, the agricultural production was fast dwindling .West Bengal at that time was heavily dependent on the other states for food grains. But after 32years West Bengal is now the numero uno in terms of rice production, and in many other food grains. This achievement has been possible as West Bengal’s Left Front government embarked on land reform programme in the state resulting in agrarian benefits reaching to the poorest of the poor.The total agricultural land distributed in this State (upto 15th January, 2009) is 11.26 lakh acres and the number of poor farmers benefited from this distribution has now reached 30lakh. Of these benefited farmers, nearly 55 per cent belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes—an achievement which has not been possible in any other State in the country.

With the objective of empowering women in terms of distribution of land, the number of joint-pattas has now reached 6.04 lakh, and that of female pattas 1.61 lakh. In no other State, there been such progress in the distribution of pattas in favour of women. As a result of according priority to extension of irrigation facilities, the total net irrigated area as a proportion of the total net agricultural area in the State has increased steadily from 32 per cent in 1977-78 to nearly 72 per cent in 2008-09. In regard to the use of improved seeds, particularly in the case of production of paddy, while in the year 1977-78, only 28 per cent of the cultivated area of the State was covered under improved seeds, in 2008-09, the coverage has reached 97 per cent. The rate of growth of Net State Domestic Product of West Bengal from agriculture and allied activities in the current year (2008-09) will increase by 4.4 per cent, which is much higher than the corresponding rate of growth of 2.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product of India from agriculture and allied activities. The estimated total production of rice in the State will increase from 147.19 lakh metric tonne in the last year to 155.33 lakh metric tonne in the current year which would be much higher than the State’s requirement of rice of 137.62 lakh metric tonne.

Due to adverse effect of “blight” disease, the production of potato in the State will fall from the last year’s level of 99.0 lakh metric tonne to 58.62 lakh metric tone in the current year it is anticipated .However, production of potato in the State in the current year will still be higher than the State’s internal requirement of 54 lakh metric tonne, and the position of West Bengal in potato production will again remain in the second place among all the States in the country. In the sphere of vegetables, the total production in the State will reach 128.04 lakh metric tonne in the current year ,and the State’s rank will once again be first among the States. In the current year, the levels of production of wheat, pulses and oilseeds are estimated to increase to the levels of 9.75 lakh metric tonne, 1.89 lakh metric tonne and 7.48 lakh metric tonne respectively, and as a result, the total production of food grains in the State (including rice, wheat, pulses and other crops) will increase to the level of 170.19 lakh metric tonne in the current year which would be very close to the State’s self-sufficiency requirement of 170.80 lakh metric tonne.

The state government is emphasizing on modernization of agriculture. Agriculture Commission has recently submitted its report with this goal in mind.. This enhancement of self-reliant and improved process of agricultural production will also help to increase generation of employment and income as well as internal market, and add a new dimension to our efforts at overcoming the recession.64 bio-villages have already been set up in the State. Decision has been taken, as a part of State-level package against recession to extend this effort further by setting up in each block one bio-village, one seed village and one soil testing laboratory, and taking special steps to improve productivity in North Bengal, Paschimanchal and the Sunderbans.

Even the planned outlay of the concerned department has increased from Rs. 89.99 crore in the current year (2008-09) to Rs. 178.14 crore in the next year. Source West Bengal Budget (2009-2010)Though the whole country has been plagued by cases of farmer suicides this is a rare phenomenon in West Bengal. This had been possible as West Bengal Left Front government has also taken proactive steps in making crop insurance for the marginal farmers of the state. In the 2008-09 ,Economic survey it has been reported that in West Bengal only, in the Rabi season of 2007-08 over 5lakh 96 thousands farmers of the state has been covered under crop insurance out of which about 5 lakh 93 thousand are farmers hailing from marginal sections of the society.

The scheme of crop insurance was started by the West Bengal government in the year 2002-2003 The state government infact had took the responsibility of protecting the farmers in terms of Two of the major crops i.e. the Aman and Boro seasonal crops. In the year 2007-2008 more 2 lakh 73 hectors of the state had been brought under the crop insurance. The total amount of insurance in that same period was more than 764 crore 39lakhs. Over 50% of the subsidy under this scheme has been provided by the state government. In the Khariff season more than 3 lakh 13 thousand farmers had been covered under the crop insurance scheme in the state out of which a staggering amount of 3 lakh 12 thousand hails from marginal background.

More importantly this success has been attained in west Bengal due to the Left Front government policy initiative of taking along the gram Panchayets while implementing the decisions. By empowering the gram Panchayets the state has attained this success as the whole programme has been carried out through the Panchayets. Both the cash crops and the food crops had been covered under this insurance scheme.

This has also prevented the farmers of the state from going pauper overnight by depending on the climatic conditions excessively. The affected farmers were also identified with the help of the Panchayets and the state government took the responsibility of admitting the insurance claim in case of disasters.

By SANDIP

Self contradictory manifesto’s of electoral alliance partners in West Bengal

Trinamool and the Congress manifesto reveal the duality of characters and the opportunist nature of the alliance of West Bengal opposition

KOLKATA: No sane person will believe this. Some excerpts from the manifesto of the Trinamool Congress. “Why shouldn’t the Digha - transformed into Goa? Why shouldn’t the north Bengal be Switzerland. Why should’nt Kolkata be London? If brought to power Trinamool will work on programme to make it possible. The stark absurdness of her manifesto is now a laughing stock for even for the Congress leaders- her alliance partners.

Though it is not envisable how presently a single representative party in the parliament Trinamool congress will come to power in the near future. But if again counting on vague probability she thinks that this is possible pillion riding on Congress’s back then also questions are bound to arise as to why the election promise of TMC is diagonally opposite of what the congress is saying. While the disinvestment process at the Centre and the state had gathered momentum under the NDA government and the Congress government of which she was part many times at election time this year facing the onslaught of the people against her Zero policies on anything of national importance she suddenly has encountered upon the benefit of having PSU units .

Though her alliance partner Congress has kept Mum about the privatization and her one time ally BJP is openly for privatisation of national resources. More importantly she has not uttered a single word against the BJP or Congress. Perhaps she wants to keep open all the sides open after the election depending on the national results. Recently chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said that even the ordinary congress workers of the state does not any confidence as to whether Trinamool Congress will stick with Congress after the post poll scenario. The fickle minded nature of Trinamool supremo where she has switched sides time and again has underlined this basic nature of unprincipled politics that TMC at west Bengal had been playing. Time and again her brand of politics has been negated by the people of the state but she has not changed a little bit even after the election verdicts.

More than 75% of the promises made by the TMC supremo have been centred on the state and any question of the national politics was not even mentioned there. But one thing for sure even the Trinamool which has given zero explanation for his antidevelopment roles and the promises that she has made , even has not been able to undermine the success of the West Bengal’s success under Left Front government in the field of agriculture ,though she has attributed this success to the climate of the state? On one side she has demanded why new industries are not coming up on another side she is hell bent on creating roadblocks in the path to the state’s development. In the question of infrastructural development also she had to play to the gallery by refusing to pronounce her stance of not letting the national Highways to come up.

Instead she has demanded that the state should advance in industrialization when she has started campaigning against the PCPIR project in Nayachar which has the potential to provide employment to over 1 lakh people in the state. While on the disinvestments and the privatization issue TMC, in face has said that they too want the disinvestment process to be stopped but in the past as the part of NDA she never raised a single objection to the rampart privatization effort of the then disinvestment minister Arun Shourie.

On the communal amity she said she wants that communal harmony to be maintained but as cabinat Minister in Bajpayee government she did not raised any objection to the Godhra carnage and still she thinks that Narendra Modi is the best Chief minster and Gujarat the ideal example of a state where development and peace exists. She never has demanded that the woman’s reservation Bill be passed in parliament but the politics of compulsion as she fears of getting caught in the eyes of the voters of the state has co0mpeelwed her to put the woman’s reservation issue within her demands.

While her electoral alliance partner the Congress government is reducing the interest of pensioners across the state she fearing people’s onslaught had to mention this demand in the election manifesto. Again an example of duality. She, on one hand has condemned the farmer’s suicides in Maharashtra? Will the government there accede to the demand of their partner? In case of Value added tax while she wants it to be abolished the congress on the other hand wants to strengthen the system of VAT.

In all, unable to face the people of the state the Trinamool too has to enact to play acting echoing the demands of the Leftists. But her hide and her act in the past won’t allow the people of the state to believe in her. Riding on anti leftist platform her poll promise had been a clear cut effort in hoodwinking the people of the state. As time and again the politics of the ruling class of the country has been negated by the people of West Bengal, her ploy of winning over the common people of the state by adhering to the demands of Leftists like 50% allocation of Central resources to the states have failed as the initial reaction of the common people has ridiculed this attempt of Mamata.

However, on the issue of giving support to the divisive forces the manifesto comes out of the way to show its clear support to the Maoists the separatists and the other cessionist elements of the state.On the last part of her mainifesto, her clear intention of hood winking the people has been pronounced, as she had said that the aim of her is to reduce the strength of the Leftists in the parliament as it is they who are creating road blocks to implement the various anti people measures of the successive Central government . So in the end she has admitted that her aim is to pave the way for elimination of the leftists as a deciding factor in the Central politics.

By SANDIP

OPPOSITION SUBVERTS INTEGRITY, ENCOURAGES DIVISISM:BUDDHADEB

SILIGURI: Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on election tour across a vast stretch of north Bengal was clear in pointing out that the opposition in Bengal worked to organise, hearten, and applaud divisism of every kind including territorial separatism. It is the CPI (M) and the Left, Buddhadeb told the various gatherings he addressed between 28 and 31 March, which is ready to go in for sacrifices of every kind to ensure that Bengal remains integrated and a united entity.

The Trinamulis and the scions of Pradesh Congress, said Buddhadeb, were eager and willing to witness the prosperity and political flowering of such dangerous political devices as the call for ‘greater’ Coochbehar, for a separate ‘Gorkhaland,’ and for a ‘free’ state of Kamptapur, for a separate western Bengal centering around Lalgarh.

The separatist ‘Gorkha Janamukti Morcha’ (GJM) was ready to encroach upon the dooars and the terai with impunity for the sake of building up a separate Gorkhali entity that was conceptually and behaviourally a wrong notion from the first to the last of the premises they fatuously advanced. ‘We,’ said Buddhadeb ‘have told the Dooars adivasi organisations that had become very angry at the GJM’s move, that you should maintain calm and be of orderly conduct, for otherwise, the purpose of the GJM would have been served.’ We are aware of the problems that the adivasis face and whether it was the dearth of Hindi-medium school or the issue of closed and sick cha bagicha, the LF government would look into them for a fruitful but amicable solution.’

The CPI (M) and the LF stood for unity – of the plains and the hills, and of the plains people and the hills people in all their colourful existence. Buddhadeb appealed once again to the GJM leaders not to go in for separatism for that would not solve whatever anguish they nourished in the hearts-and-minds, and whatever was the sort of deprivation they might nurture.

‘We are ready to provide the hill area with more administrative and financial powers for developmental purposes, but who would stand to gain if you go in for separatism? Has the carving away of Jharkhand from Bihar been of any help to the people of either of the two neighbouring states?’ asked Buddhadeb.

Buddhadeb asked the Pradesh Congress leaders to come clean of they could on the issue of a separate hill district. The Congress speaks in one tone in the terai and dooars and in quire another in the hills. This was duplicity and the victims are the common people, especially the poor who become more and more confused and angry at being played as ducks-and-drakes.

Recalling the 1970s when the violent Naxalite (later the ‘Congxalite’) movement swept Bengal and the 1980s when the Gorkhaland movement under the counter-progressive stewardship of the GNLF, shed the blood of the poor, the bourgeois parties had silently provided succour and encouragement to the politics of destruction. Those days would be allowed to come back and haunt the poor of the province again, asserted Buddhadeb firmly. In the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the electorate must vote for peace, for amity, for progress, for development.

Later fielding a plethora of questions, some mundane, others facetious, only a few that could be deemed having political content, Buddhadeb said that the prospects of a strong Third Front grew fast every day, every week. The BJP a vicious outfit that believed in religious fundamentalism of the physical kind (e.g., a young BJP leader’s horrendous threats to non-Hindu communities, uttered brazenly in front of rolling TV cameras) was losing ground fast. Allies were dropping off the ship-ran-aground called the Congress. The resultant political vector clearly worked for the repository of popular trust in the secular-democratic Third Front with the Left and the CPI (M) playing the role of a catalyst.

Elsewhere in Darjeeling the LF’s CPI (M) candidate for the seat Jibesh sarkar was heckled by the GJM but nonetheless, he also received a cheerful welcome from the masses of the hill station, and his campaign up in the hills was such a success that the Bengal CPI (M) would extend electioneering in such important hill towns as Kurseong, and Kalimpong shortly, urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharyya, a long-time Party activist of Siliguri and Darjeeling assured us.

UPA and NDA will lose partners after the polls: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, March 29: Both the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will lose partners after the Lok Sabha polls leading to the consolidation of the Third Front, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said Sunday.

“The efforts to cobble up a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and non-Congress alternative will gain a more distinct shape in the post poll situation. Partners will come out of both the UPA and the NDA,” Bhattacharjee, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader, said in an interview to his party’s mouthpiece Ganashakti.

“The new force that will see consolidation in that scenario must have a common minimum programme,” he added.Bhattacharjee said the leftists will have to play a role in such a situation. “We will perform our duty.”

The CPI-M politburo member felt the Third Front had become relevant now both in terms of its strength and number of constituents.“But this is not enough. We have to consolidate the front by holding discussions. The process has already started, and such dialogue will continue even after the polls.”

In an obvious reference to the Congress and the BJP ridiculing the Third Front for its large number of prime ministerial hopefuls, Bhattacharjee said adopting the right programme was the main pre-requisite for forming an alternative government.“The leftists are laying stress on drawing up such a programme, and not on any party or leader,” he said.

Bhattacharjee said the leftists will take a call on joining a Third Front government after reviewing the post-poll situation.He said the leftists’ main aim in the Lok Sabha elections is to form an alternative non-Congress and non-BJP government. He claimed that there was a distinct possibility of the leftists, and secular and democratic regional parties getting a majority.

THIRD FRONT SHALL DOMINATE THE LOK SABHA RESULTS: BIMAN BASU

KOLKATA, 28th MARCH: A reality now, more than ever, rather than a theoretical compose the Third Front with the Left in the van shall direct the shape of the Lok Sabha that shall be formed after the Lok sabha election. This was Biman Basu, state secretary, Bengal CPI (M) at the massive convention of Left student-youth in Kolkata at a packed indoor Stadium in the afternoon hours of 28 March, the anti-unemployment day.

Biman Basu said in clear tones that both the bourgeois alliances, one led by the Congress the other by the religious fundamentalist BJP, were breaking apart in front of their own eyes, and they stand helpless. The Third Front gains strength continuously and is spreading its political wings across a larger and ever larger footprint across India.

Explaining that it had been the Left students-youth organisations that had commenced observing the anti-unemployment day from back in 1973, the speaker said that the young generation of the Left had also played an exemplary role in the struggle against quasi-fascism and lumpen terror that Bengal bled under during the 1970s. The relevance of 28 March shall continue to be relevant until an end was wrought of exploitation, deprivation, and the ruling class control over the means of production.

Extending his arguments into analysing the massive economic recession that has slowed down production and has resulted in billions of people losing job especially in the capitalist world, the Bengal LF chairman said that more than a hundred million young men and women stand to lose employment in India itself over the next year or so. By 2020, the rate of unemployment itself shall reach 30% in the sub-continent. In just over a decade’s worth of time-scale India shall be burdened with the presence of eleven crore jobless youth.

As we speak today, said the senior CPI (M) leader, India has lost 1.5 million men and women in the organised sector alone. Five lakh people connected with the once-lucrative ornaments trade and calling has become without a viable means of livelihood. The sunrise Info-Tech industry is expected to shed 50 thousand jobs, come the next half-a-year. BPO will see 2.5 lakh jobs go down the drain, adding to the burden of joblessness.

The country groans under misery of the financial kind because of the fatuous way the ruling classes have clung to the capitalist path and has seen the light at the end of the tunnel in ‘globalisation.’ The Left has cautioned the people during the earlier Lok Sabha polls against the expected facet of the Congress policy of towing the economic policy of the NDA régime, and that proved disastrous for the nation, especially for the toiling masses.

The Left has lent its outside support to the UPA governance strictly based on the few pro-people aspects of the CMP, aspects that the Congress did not follow while selling the nation downstream to imperialism and its lackeys. This resulted in the correct decision of the CPI (M) and the Left in withdrawing support.
Biman also mentioned the u holy alliances that had come together in Bengal against the CPI (M) and the Left Front. As he put, the masses shall bid good night to the forces of darkness whose surreptitious alliance was forged not in the broad day light but in the darkness of the night. Biman was also thoroughly critical of the way the opposition had suddenly started to shed what were clearly tears of sham and falsity for the adivasis.

The opposition was also playing the Communal card as dangerously as the young stalwart of the BJP was doing with imp unity at the national level—and getting away with it. Biman called upon the youth to be politically active in dealing a blow to the hopes and evil ambitions of the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls all over Bengal. A win in Bengal for the CPI (M) and the Left would improve the prospects that much more for the Left-led Third Front. Student and youth leaders, too, addressed the vast gathering, a gathering that was big enough to take a long time to disperse.