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#744

From: nitish sinha <nitish_kr_sinha@...>
Date: Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:57 am
Subject: Re: Jharkhand Forum - Sonia Gandhi should bring a new Union Home Minister with a Human Face

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Dear all,

"We do not know that we do not know"

This is exactly what present Home ministry of UPA government is doing.

The so called hard core strategy to suppress Naxal agitation against state has to be reviewed. There should be a hardcore strategy to eradicate poverty, corruption and police oppression in economically backward states of India.

There is a great need to initiate a open hearted discussion from both side.

Let us invite Naxal leaders in the winter session of Parliament or in the Legislative assemblies of the so called affected states and have discussion on some of the following basic issues:-

1. Are they supported by China, Pakistan or ISI or other anti Indian international organisations?

2. Will they stop violence?

3. Are they interested to be registered as political parties?

4. What is there main agenda?

5. Are they voicing oppressed class or they are paving the powerful class i.e. Oppressor of

the oppressed?

6. Are they interested in participating in present Governance or imbibing new governance?

7. What is the priority of Naxal movement Poverty, Oppression, Social esteem or Corruption?

8. Which area requires immediate correction i.e. Legislative, Judiciary or Bureaucracy?

Naxal leaders have to show their indigneousity of the ongoing movement. The security agencies are marking the present movement as parasitic movement and henceforth the verdict of present home minister carries some rationality.

The mutating Naxal movement in India has eliminated the mitochondria of the movement and it seems this is on ventilation.

This is the responsibility of the Government to decode the actual status of the Naxal movement through a high power commission or some other way.

There is a great need to form a high power commission of Omni dimension to amplify the cause and impact of the Naxal movements in India. This should be highly participatory and esteem and correlated with contemporary socio - economic and political polity of different geomorphology of India.

We need to understand the polity of Naxal syndrome in India first than decision and strategy can be framed. We need to establish the fraternity of Naxal movement, whether this is indigenous, self dependent or Parasitic.

The indigeneousity of the movement will demand ominous correction and equity in the Governance, Administration and Democracy in India.

The parasitic tendency will demand Radical combat of State and Anti State.

We need to demystify the virtual perplexity of the Naxal movement at present. There is a great role of Media, Elites, Politicians and Bureaucrats.

The state of illusion has to be eliminated other wise only the oppressed class of India will be victimised.

The time has come when the Naxal has to prove their indigeneousity its aboriginal routes in diversified eco system and ethnic system of India.

The vaporisation of parasitism has to be taken place very soon and Government has to take lead in this and initiate the needful as soon as possible.

It is very easy to point the gun on some body but almost impossible to save the innocent.

The time has come when the democratic equity has started to revolve in form of Right to information, Right to forest, NREGA, Right to food, Right to education, Right to health, Right to vote, PIL.

The abject need is for the UPA government is to take hardcore approach catalyse the metamorphism of Democratic equity. There is great role and scope of Naxal polities in harnessing the democratic equity for the oppressed and voiceless.

We were unfortunate to incarnate an indigenous Naxal movement in India but we all are well poised for prolific amalgamation of this movement with sustainable prosperity and dignity of the oppressed and voiceless class of India.

Let us mobilise the Government to initiate on this and we all should shoulder honest support.

Regards.

--- On Fri, 23/10/09, Dr Walter Fernandes <nesrcghy@...> wrote:

From: Dr Walter Fernandes <nesrcghy@...>
Subject: Jharkhand Forum - Sonia Gandhi should bring a new Union Home Minister with a Human Face
To:
Date: Friday, 23 October, 2009, 3:44 PM

I agree with Sai Prasan that the strategy of suppression that is being worked out has to be opposed. It may succeed in the short run but its long-term effects are going to be disastrous for the poor of the so called Naxalite affected areas. The militants know how to melt into the forests or the cities but the poor people will suffer further. Naxalism is a very violent way of making their situation of exploitation known and that has to be understood and remedied. The nature of development has to be questioned instead of treating it as a law and order problem alone. Without it its long-term impact will be bad.

Walter

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

The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage.

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#743

From: Prasant Paikray <commonconcern@...>
Date: Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:07 pm
Subject: AN APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY - PARADEEP TO PURI: THE PADAYATRA AGAINST PREDATORY CORPORATIONS

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==AN APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY ==

PARADEEP TO PURI:

THE PADAYATRA AGAINST PREDATORY CORPORATIONS

Orissa, the ancient�land�of�Kalinga, has been under attack in recent years in a way not seen since over two thousand years ago when King Ashoka�s army laid waste to the region. This time the marauders are large corporations, both domestic and foreign, preying upon the province�s vast natural resources, among them� - iron ore, bauxite, plentiful water, fertile agricultural lands and marine wealth.

The net impact of this capitalist assault, promoted in the name of �development� by both the Central and Orissa Governments, is obvious.�

Investments in the mining industry, steel plants, captive power stations and ports are meant to give huge profits to corporations and some corrupt politicians/parties while displacing thousands and thousands of people from their land, houses, livelihoods and destroying their culture and environment.�

The resistance to all this planned plunder has also been very strong - be it the anti-POSCO movement in Erasama, anti-Vedanta movement in Puri and Lanjigarh, the anti-Tata movement in Kalinganagar and Naraj, the farmers� movement in Hirakud, anti-UAIL movement in Kashipur, anti-Mittal movement in Keonjhar, anti-Bhusan movement, anti-Sterlite, anti-Reliance or anti-dam movement in lower Suktel area everywhere people are in struggles.�

In response to all these protests the UPA government at the Centre and Orissa Government have renewed their campaign to use brutal force to compel people to vacate their ancestral lands in proposed POSCO and Vedanta project areas. They have already started preparing the guns and accelerating media campaign. The Indian government has invited the South Korean President as the Chief Guest for Republic Day celebration and planned to arrange his visit to the proposed Plant site.

This is like an open challenge to the people in POSCO site area struggling to save their ancestral lands. The PPSS decides to democratically resist all such moves designed to suppress the people�s voice. With a purpose to create awareness among the people, to involve them and to unite all the movements continuing throughout coastline from Paradip to Puri, a Mass Rally or Padayatra �has been planned by the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) along with various movements and people.

The Mass Rally, of over 2000 people will walk through 120 villages of seven blocks namely Erasama, Balikuda in Jagatsinghpur District and Astaranga, Kaktpur, Gop, Puri Sadar, Puri covering 150 kilometres. The Rally will start from Dhinkia village on 29^th November and culminate at Puri on 5^th December with a massive protest meeting.��

Along the Padayatra�s route, public meetings will be organized as follows:-

�

29^th November at 4 PM at Erasama
30^th November at 4 PM at naharana
1^st December at 4 PM at Kakatpur
2^nd December at 4 PM at Astaranga
3^rd December at 4 PM at Gop
4^th December at 4 PM at Puri Sadar
5^th December at 2 PM at Puri

�==Demands: ==

1.�� Scrap all plans and projects meant for capitalistic investments and exploitations in coastal zones

2.�� Stop anti-people and involuntary displacements

3.�� Stop industrialization at the cost of agriculture and food security of millions of people

4.�� Promote people centered and agro-based industries in place of corporate friendly minings and industries

5.�� Make necessary regulations to protect and preserve the water, forests, lands, ecology and livelihoods of local people and empower the local people to own, regulate and manage the local resources� and their livelihoods

6.�� Scrap the special economic zones and withdraw the corresponding acts and orders

7.�� Stop all kinds of violence committed directly or indirectly by corporates against people

8.�� Refrain from all kinds of repressions and oppressions against democratic people�s movements and human rights activists

9.�� Protect sea-coast upto 1 kilometre from sea from any ecologically� harmful activities�

10.�� Desist from handing over� natural resources in to the hands of private companies

11.�� Promote� people centered, non-exploitative and non-extractive developmental models

==Participants: ==

The participants will include the People from the coastal villages from Paradip to Puri, representatives of various people�s movements going on at different parts of Orissa, Representatives of Left and Democratic Parties, Supporters and Supporters from various parts of the Country, Cultural Troupes from different movements, intellectuals, writers, artists and activists.

==How to Get There: ==

Interested Participants should arrive at Dhinkia village by 28^th evening. One can travel by Train from Cuttack or Bhubaneswar via Trains running to Paradip and get down at Badabandha Station. From here Dhinkia is 6 kilometres. Auto rickshaws are available here. By Bus one can come from Bhubaneswar/Cuttack running towards Paradip and get down at Balitutha.

APEEAL: We appeal you to participate in the Rally and contribute whatever you can against the requirements mentioned below:-

�� 10000 Posters

�� 20000 Leaflets

�� 500 Banners/Festoons

�� 500 Placards

�� 8 Vehicles (for 8-days)

�� 5 Mikes with generators (for 8-days)

�� Medical Team with Fast Aid requisites

�� Water Tank (for 8-days)

�� Tents (for 8-days)

�� Lunch, Dinner and Breakfasts for 2000 people for 8 days

�� 250 Uniform� Dress /Tea Shirts/ Caps/badges� for front-line youth volunteers

�� Video shootings

�� Film shows � equipments and films

�� Accompanying Cultural Troupes� - supports�

Abhay Sahu

Chairperson, Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samiti,

Cell No. � 09861501265

Contact Person:-�

Prasant Paikray

Spokesperson, Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samiti)

Cell - 09437571547

Email:�prashantpaikray@...

�

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#742

From: "Jharkhand.org.in" <jharkhand@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:26 pm
Subject: Operation Green Hunt Vs Adivasi hunt

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Even though Maoists in Bengal have indicated that they are ready for talks, preparations are on a war footing for Operation Green Hunt in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. CoBRA commandos are to be sent to Gadchiroli, a few companies of the CRPF are already in place. Add to this the other paramilitary forces stationed in the district. And, finally, the local police.

The numbers stacked up against the rebels are huge. Now, the question that's being asked is where are the Naxals? The government's efforts to flush out Naxals from the thick jungles of Gadchiroli are going to be anything but a cakewalk especially as Naxals don't go around with identity cards around their necks.

�

In a tactical move, often the Naxals have also discarded their traditional olive green dungarees and are mingling with the locals in traditional outfits making their identification all the more difficult. It seems the only way the cops will come face to face with the Naxals is in an encounter. Here too the rebels are known to make surprise attacks - either guerrilla tactics or the newly adopted mobile warfare. Records show that the police have always been lured into a trap and massacred.

�

The police have very few records of Naxals. So far, intelligence have data of only about 300-odd names. The number of photographs, largely of those arrested and some from other sources, available is barely 30% of the data. In such a scenario, the security forces have little means to identify a Naxal.

�

"The Naxals have several aliases. They identify themselves differently in different locations," said a Gadchiroli cop.

�

Another experienced cop, who has been working in Gadchiroli for two weeks now, has this to say: "Police have some time-tested ways to differentiate an innocent villager from a Naxal who would try to slip away or try to hide. A big group would however have no choice but to get into a gun-fight."

�

As the hype around the operation builds up, the cops also expect the front organizations and supporters to get active. "Naxals have strong and active political, media and legal cells at urban centres to highlight their cause," said a social observer. "They will be quick to capitalize on any loss of innocent blood."

�

Some cops feel that the central government should take a leaf out of the Sri Lankan government's book. In its fight against the LTTE, the media was kept at a safe distance to avoid any sympathy wave that might be generated.

�

Gadchiroli has witnessed more than 50 brutal deaths of cops this year. The confidence and morale is at an all-time low. To make matters worse, their relationship with villagers, who are being continuously threatened by Naxals, is not good too. A senior official from the district administration claimed that police need to improve their relationship with the media.

�

"Until villagers help the cops with information, success against Naxals is difficult in Gadchiroli," said a local resident pointing at how Operation Parakram-I and II (between February and October) failed in the district despite it being planned at a high level.

�

Former state Anti-Naxal Operation chief Pankaj Gupta said the government should now 'counter-attack' by highlighting its schemes that have been specially designed for the tribal district. "Wresting the initiative through the media is one of the better strategies to push the Maoist back," said Gupta.

�

Stationing at least one helicopter in Gadchiroli will also go a long way in boosting the morale of the cops. There's discontent among the police force as in absence of a chopper reinforcements can't be rushed in during an ambush. On October 8 at Laheri, the cornered cops waited for more than three hours for help that never came.

�

A senior district official pointed out that central government had recently sanctioned six helicopters for Naxal-affected areas. But not a single one has landed. "A rescue helicopter is urgently needed," said the official.

�

The Naxals, meanwhile, have upped their campaign in the villages trying to garner support. "Despite efforts, government initiatives are being hijacked by Naxals. For the Operation Green Hunt to succeed, it's important that propaganda too goes hand-in-hand with it," said the official.

�

WHEN NAXALS GOT THE BETTER OF COPS

�

01/02 Markegaon: 15 cops die after being ambushed in a forest close to Chhattisgarh border. The Naxals were apparently more than 300 and the cops were completely taken by surprise

�

6/04 Mungner: 3 cops killed as they manage to put up a fight

�

21/05 Hattigota: 16 cops, including 5 women, killed. On being informed that a number of Naxals including women have assembled here, cops rush to Hattigota but are again outnumbered

�

8/10 Laheri: Five days before the elections, cops lose 17 men, the highest so far. Naxals also take away ammunition and wireless sets

�

WHEN COPS GOT THE BETTER OF NAXALS

�

Apart from Mungner, where the Chattisgarh cops claimed that 7 Naxals were shot, there are no records with Maharashtra police to show that the rebels have lost personnel.

�

TNN 7 November 2009

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#741

From: Pravin Patel <tribalwelfare@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:57 am
Subject: PUPPET SHOW IN THE NAME OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES

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Dear all

At Chattisgarh in the tribal district Batar, Bastar District administration has played in the hands of house of Tatas by way of stage managed public hearing bluntly violating the norms and set procedures as laid down in the Notification to grant Environmental Clearances.

By making mockey of the conditions of the Notification where Public Hearing is a mandatory requirement where consultation with the likely affected villagers are held.� But to fulfill this mandatory requirements, public hearing was held at the campus of the district collector, which is at a distance of about 30 Kms from the project area. This was done with mischivious motives as it is known to all that the villagers are strongly opposing the setting up of any steel plant in their area.�

The entire drama was enacted to show off that the mandatory public hearing is held. This has proved to be nothing less than a puppet show of the district administration where except the most of the tribals who are residents of the villages to be affected, all others were present whom the project proponent hired or managed with the help of District Administration to dance to the tunes of the project proponent house of Tatas.

Now, when the naked violation of the constitutional provisions are critisised, there are few faces who try to justify that the action of the Bastar District Administration was legal and as per the rules and requirements. They should better read the notification with annexures before spitting lie in public.

Important ingriedent of the same is to hold the public hearing as close as possible to the villages that too with in the Block area where project is proposed. Fact is that out of 9 villages to be affected are all in Lohandiguda Block and one is another block but none of these villages fall in the area where the so called puppet show in the name of public hearing was stage managed so as to complete the mandatory requirement of holding public hearing.

Well, There are enough proofs that are left behind to prove that the puppet show was held in the name of Public Hearing in violation to set rules and norms. It is mandatory to videograph entire proceedings without without any editing and to be submitted with the recommendations. How this video will show the faces of those thousands of tribals who are residents of the villagers who were deprived to take part in the stage managed show? There are other lacunas also that can be the part of the objections that can be filed.

The recent drama of the Public Hearing for EIA is the part II of the earlier drama played with the tribals where mockery of the PESA Act has been made in full public view under fortified conditions so as to crush the democratic voice of the tribals. There is much water to flow down the Indravati River for Tatas who are in day dreams that they play with the sentiments of tribals, crush their voice, play with the constitutional provisions that safegurards the interests of tribals. Unholy nexus of the Tatas with that of the district administration needs to be exposed before the world.

I appeal to all demorcratic forces and civil society organisations to come forward to help the victims who have fallen pray to the illegalites at the hands of the district administration.� �

Pravin Patel
Human Rights Activist and
Director, Tribal Welfare Society.

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#740

From: "delhi.ozg.in" <delhi@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:13 am
Subject: Come join me on Delhi.ozg.in

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#739

From: Yogi Sikand <ysikand@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:39 am
Subject: Book Review: On 'Islamic Feminism'

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Book Review

Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences

By Margot Badran

Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2009, pp.349

Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

�

Countless volumes have been written on the issue of Islam and women, by Muslims as well as others. Indeed, the �Muslim woman� question has, for long, occupied a central place in discourses about Islam. Interestingly, the vast majority of works on this furiously-debated question have been penned by men. For many male Muslim writers, the notion of normative Muslim womanhood is key to their understanding of Islamic authenticity. For non-Muslim scholars of Islam, it is a central trope in their critique of the religion. Caught between the two, the diverse voices of Muslim women themselves have received but scant attention in the scholarly literature.

�

Margot Badran is one of the foremost chroniclers of Muslim women�s struggles for gender justice. This latest book of hers explores broadly two types of women�s struggles for equality waged in different parts of the �Muslim world�. The first, which she traces to the colonial period, is what she labels as �Muslim secular feminism�, through which Muslim women (and some men) in different countries sought to assert their rights to education, employment and political participation. The arguments they put forward were, typically, secular, presented as a means for the empowerment and advancement of the �nation� and the �community�. At the same time, these women were cautious to present their demands as being in accordance with their understanding of Islam. The second form of feminism is what Badran terms as �Islamic feminism�, which really emerged in a major way just a few decades ago. Much of the book is devoted to a detailed discussion of the forms, arguments and practical achievements of �Islamic feminism�.

�

�Far from being the oxymoron that many might think it is, �Islamic feminism�, Badran writes, is an even more radical and forceful form of feminism than was Muslim secular feminism at one time. �Islamic feminism�, she states, is based on the firm conviction about the fundamental equality of men and women as creatures of God, as stated in the Quran. On the basis of this belief and their re-reading of the Islamic tradition, �Islamic feminists� argue that Islam itself demands the fundamental equality of women and men in all spheres of life, both in the personal as well as pubic domains. This demand for equality, Badran says, extends even to the religious sphere, for instance as regards religious professions and mosque rituals. Badran backs her case by citing certain Muslim women scholars�Aminah Wadud, Asma Barlas, Riffat Hasan being only the better-known among them�who seem to argue on somewhat these lines.

�

Unlike secular feminists, these �Islamic feminists� seek to argue for women�s equality and gender justice wholly through the framework of Islam, broadly defined. Badran briefly describes (although one wishes that this could have been at greater length) the different methodologies that these women adopt in approaching the Islamic scriptural tradition, particularly those parts of the Quran, Hadith and fiqh or Muslim jurisprudence that might seem to militate against the notion of gender equality and gender justice. Badran terms the basic tool that these women apply in this regard as ijtihad, but, curiously, leaves out of the discussion the various rules and conditions governing ijtihad that have enjoyed wide acceptance among Muslims for centuries, according to which some of the formulations of these women writers might not be qualified to be regarded as genuine ijtihad at all. Just because these women might see some of their formulations as ijtihad does not mean that, from the perspective of �mainstream� Muslims to whom these women appeal, these can be regarded as �authentic� or �proper� uses of ijtihad. Badran is, of course, aware of this problem but, yet, gives it scant attention.

�

Can these admittedly scattered voices�mostly of elite women, many based in universities in the West�be really taken to represent a social movement, in the true sense of the term? This is something that Badran does not deal with. The actual impact of the writings of these women, in terms of policy or legal changes or women�s mobilization at the �grassroots�, is missing in Badran�s otherwise engaging narrative. Absent, also, is any substantial discussion about the internal Muslim critique of their writings, mainly, though not only, by conservative ulema and Islamist ideologues on precisely Islamic grounds. This is, needless to say, an issue of immense practical import in that on it hinges the possibility or otherwise of popular acceptance of their interpretations of the faith.

�

Besides these elite Muslim women, some of who may well insist on being called �Islamic feminists�, are a much larger number of others who, working within a broadly-defined Islamic framework, shun the label, seeing the term �feminist� as being tainted by its association with the West. They see their struggle as one that aims to recover what they variously understand as �authentic Islam�, and not, as the title of the book suggests, �feminism in Islam�. They may not go so far as the elite women-scholars Badran describes as being at the cutting-edge of the development of �Islamic feminism� in their demands, such as, for instance, advocating women-led prayers for joint congregations or women muftis. Yet, Badran seems to lump them together with the elite women-scholars, inadvertently homogenizing what is admittedly a very diverse set of voices. Badran chooses to discuss these women as also representing forms of �Islamic feminism�, but, this, to my mind, does injustice to how these women see themselves and their struggles. Why impose categories on people against their will, one might ask? Why bracket them in boxes that they refuse to recognize? Why describe their struggles as �feminism in Islam�, when this is not how these women see themselves as promoting? If they see themselves as engaged in an �Islamic�, as opposed to an �Islamic feminist� struggle, then why not let them define themselves on their own terms?

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#738

From: Ravinder Singh <progressindia008@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:06 am
Subject: India Rank 2nd Among Most Undernourished Children In The World

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India Rank 2nd Among Most Undernourished Children In The World

Approximately 200 million children, under the age of five, suffer from stunted growth in the developing world over 40% belongs to India.

A number of African and Asian countries have wasting rates that exceed 15 per cent, including India (20 per cent) Bangladesh (17 per cent), and the Sudan (16 per cent). The country with the highest prevalence of wasting in the world is Timor-Leste, where 25 per cent of children under 5 years old are wasted. Timor Leste is followed by India.

BJP/ RSS/ NDA did everything to SABOTAGE Indian agriculture. Ref: Approach paper to 10th Plan that reduced Credit to Farmers, Gave Bank Credit to Moneylenders and traders far in excess of their requirements.

But worst was SABOTAGE of Irrigation projects in favor of River Linking.

Ravinder Singh

November13, 2009

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article47097.ece?css=print

India’s children stunted, undernourished UN

India has the largest number of stunted children below the age of five in the world, according to the latest UNICEF report released here.

Approximately 200 million children, under the age of five, suffer from stunted growth in the developing world.

The report “Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition” found that stunting is primarily caused due to childhood under-nutrition, which contributes to more than a third of all deaths in children under five.

India also has one of the highest numbers of underweight children, below the age of five, and one third of “wasted children” -- those facing a greater chance of death -- in the world.

Out of total of 19 million newborns per year in the developing world that are born with low birthweight, India has 7.4 million low birth weight babies per year-the highest in the world.

The report finds that 80 per cent of the developing world’s stunted children live in 24 countries.

“Under-nutrition steals a child’s strength and makes illnesses that the body might otherwise fight off far more dangerous,” UNICEF chief, Ann M Veneman, said.

“More than one-third of children who die of pneumonia, diarrhoea and other illnesses could have survived had they not been undernourished,” she added.

Prevalence of stunted children

India, however, does not have the highest prevalence of stunted children as the high numbers was due to its large population. In terms of prevalence - Afghanistan was first while India was 12th.

In 17 countries, underweight prevalence among children under 5 years old is greater than 30 per cent. The rates were highest in Bangladesh, India, Timor-Leste and Yemen with more than 40 per cent of children being underweight.

The study also found that 13 per cent of children, under 5 years old, in the developing world were wasted, and 5 per cent were severely wasted (an estimated 26 million children).

Ten countries account for 60 per cent of children in the developing world who suffer from wasting.

“At such elevated levels, wasting is considered a public health emergency requiring immediate intervention, in the form of emergency feeding programmes,” the UN report said.

The 1,000 days from conception until a child’s second birthday are the most critical for a child’s development, the study suggests.

Under-nutrition

“Those who survive under-nutrition often suffer poorer physical health throughout their lives, and damaged cognitive abilities that limit their capacity to learn and to earn a decent income,” the UNICEF chief said.

“They become trapped in an intergenerational cycle of ill-health and poverty,” she added.

On the positive side, the report finds that while 90 per cent of children who are stunted live in Asia and Africa, progress has been made on both continents.

In Asia the prevalence of stunting dropped from about 44 per cent in 1990 to an estimated 30 per cent in 2008, while in Africa it fell from around 38 per cent in 1990 to an estimated 34 per cent in 2008.

“Unless attention is paid to addressing the causes of child and maternal undernutrition today, the costs will be considerably higher tomorrow,” Veneman said.

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#737

From: Cynthia Stephen <cynstepin@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:02 pm
Subject: How did 100,000,000 women disappear?

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Nicole Baute Staff reporter Published On Sat Jun 6 2009 http://www.thestar.com/Insight/article/645832

In India, China and sub-Saharan Africa, millions upon millions of women are missing. They are not lost, but dead: victims of violence, discrimination and neglect. A University of British Columbia economist is amongst those trying to find them – not the women themselves, who are long gone, but their numbers and ages, which paint a sad and startling picture of gender discrimination in the developing world. The term "missing women" was coined in 1990, when Indian economist Amartya Sen calculated a shocking figure. In parts of Asia and Africa, he wrote in The New York Review of Books, 100 million women who should be alive are not, because of unequal access to medical care, food and social services. These are excess deaths: women "missing" above and beyond natural mortality rates, compared to their male counterparts. Women who are dead because their lives were undervalued. Around the world boys outnumber girls at birth, but in countries where women and men receive equal care, women have proved hardier and more resistant to disease, and thus live longer. In most of Asia and North Africa, however, Sen found that women die with startlingly higher frequency. His research began a flutter of activity in academic circles and by 2005, the United Nations produced a much higher estimate for how many women could be "missing": 200 million. From her office at the University of British Columbia, economics professor Siwan Anderson has been crunching numbers to try and understand why so many women are dying. "If you're interested in gender discrimination, it's really one of the starkest measures of discrimination, because it's women who should be alive, but aren't," she says. The 40-year-old researcher recently co-authored a paper with New York University's Debraj Ray, focusing on figures from China, India and sub-Saharan Africa for the year 2000. What they discovered flew in the face of existing literature and commonly held beliefs about the missing women phenomenon. "Previously, people had thought that they (the missing women) were all at the very early stages of life, prenatal or just after, so before four years old," Anderson says. "But what we found is that the majority are actually later." Female infanticide has been endemic in India and China for some time, which she says led researchers to assume that it was the source of all the missing women. But the truth is much more complicated. Once she and Ray broke down the numbers by age group, they found that the majority of excess female deaths came later in life: 66 per cent in India, 55 per cent in China and 83 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. One of their colleagues in the economics department at the University of British Columbia says this finding is striking, and points the way for future research and advocacy. "Why would there be excess mortality of, let's say, 45-year-old women versus 45-year-old men?" asks economics professor Kevin Milligan. "And what they find is ... they have the same set of diseases, they just seem to die more frequently. The explanation that seems most consistent with that is differential access to health care. And so that's a really striking finding." Anderson says that lack of health care is likely a big part of the problem, but that there are numerous cultural and social factors at play that can be difficult to pinpoint. In their "elementary accounting exercise" published this February, Anderson and Ray began to plot the causes of excess death in 2000 by age group, and produced some interesting figures. In sub-Saharan Africa, the dominant source of missing women was HIV and AIDS, the cause of more than 600,000 excess female deaths each year. In China, Anderson says, most of the 141,000 excess female deaths by injury were suicides, making China the only place in the world where women are more likely than men to kill themselves, often by eating pesticides used for crops. And in India, a category called "injuries" yielded ominously high figures: 86,000 excess deaths in the age group 15-29 in 2000 alone. Anderson has done extensive research in India, and says the numbers beg the question of exactly how many deaths were so-called "kitchen fires" – often used to mask dowry-related killings, the result of a new bride being tortured by her new family until her parents pay their debts. Contrary to what you might expect, Anderson says, dowry prices have not dropped off with improvements in education in India. Instead, they have gotten worse, with educated brides and their families willing to pay even more for high-quality grooms. Anderson says dowry payments can be six times a family's annual wealth – an excruciating price, especially for poor villagers. The implications of this hefty sum trickle down to the first moments of a child's life. While conducting recent field work in India, Anderson asked villagers about selective abortions and found them open about the fact that they use ultrasound to determine the baby's gender and help them decide whether or not to keep it. "They see no other options," she says. "They really cannot afford to have a daughter." Future research will delve deeper, seeking answers to questions such as: How often are men given mosquito nets to protect themselves from malaria, but not women? How many women die because they are not taken to the hospital when they are sick? Anderson is using data gathered primarily from the World Bank, the United Nations and the World Health Organization, but admits that getting the figures can be a huge challenge. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, many deaths go undocumented, and in India, it is virtually impossible to know how many "unintentional" deaths are actually dowry killings, because they are not accurately reported to the authorities. It is also difficult to separate direct gender discrimination from biological, social, environmental, behavioural and economic factors. That will be part of the task as Anderson works on calculating missing women by region in India, and isolating gender discrimination from other factors that might contribute to uneven male-to-female ratios. When asked what can be done to combat such deep-seated inequality, Anderson pauses. Even when governments outlaw root causes, such as the Indian dowry system, violence persists, she says. "It's too embedded in the system in their world."

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#736

From: "maya_lohia" <maya_lohia@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:44 pm
Subject: Bastar Range I.P.S officers take this range towards road to peace From the perspective of the poor people

maya_lohia@...

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Bastar Range: youngest I.P.S officers take this range towards road to peace (From the perspective of the poor [Nange Paon] people)

Esteemed Friends;
Peace leads to Human Rights; Vishwaranjan recovers the lost Human Rights of the poor.
The peaceful jungles of Bastar were turned disturbed and made full of horror by almost all the departments of the government, since 1980. The nefarious acts of different government departments resulted in to Naxalism. It was not only the police department, which should be exclusively held responsible. But now it is only the police department which had to handle the situation, rest of the departments still keep them aloof from the process of peace building in the region.
Poor: worst victim in adversities
In any calamity or adversity, the poor are the worst victims of such situations. This happened to poor of Bastar also. They were vulnerable to both the forces; the police and the rebels (naxals) and were victimized by both. In the long run, they lost their faith on both. Loosing faith in police meant no faith in government at all. Naxalites did not offer long term solutions to their problems. Presumption of the poor was that the naxalites are their protectors but brutal beating and murder of tribal en-masse by these people compelled them to rethink and change their assumptions.
Team of Young I.P.S. Officers now improves it
In Bastar range, we have youngest I.G., D.I.G Superintendents of Police. But these young people have formed a reliable network and ensured their reach to every nook and corner of the range. They are improving the situation day by day; gradually these young people seem to bring peace against all the odds faced by them. Of five districts in the range, S.P.s has to face variety of problems.
Sri K.P.S. Gill said in one of his interviews that Operation Green Hunt is going to be a failure, but looking to zeal commitment of young police officers in Bastar range, it appears that they can handle even biggest of biggest ever operation.
If we gloss at recent encounters and police action, we will find that:
" Only armed and uniformed naxals fell prey to police bullets in different encounters.
" No civilian has been harassed detained by the police administration.
" Widely condemned draconian law C.S.P.S.Act 2005 has not at all been misused by the police in the range.
" There is no local dissent against the police.
" All the young S.P.s have opened their chambers for the common people, earlier S.P.s chamber was a distant dream for the poor of the area. The poor of the area were afraid in entering even the police stations. Patient listening and immediate grievance redressal practice of these young S.Ps has helped them in winning confidence of the poor in the area. By initiating this practice, Young S.Ps have ensured connectivity of the poor of the area with the government.
" Now, the public starts coming to police stations to report if there is presence of naxalites in their respective villages. The Mukuttong experience is the recent example. The villagers themselves went to report against their displacement by the naxalites in police station Konta. Mukuttong falls in Dantewada district.
" In villages, the situation is calm and quiet, but many persons keep spreading misconceptions about the Operation Green Hunt.

D.G.P. Vishwaranjan succeeds in; convincing the people about the violence perpetuated by the naxals demystifying the preconceived notions about Mao Tse Tung:
Sri Vishwaranjan who heads the police in the state is combination of contradictions. He is known for his inspirational writings also. His interest in culture and literature distinct him from his fellow compeers in Indian Police Service. His historical Burkley presentation (27/09/2008) easily convinces the audience about naxal violence in Bastar Range. His deep knowledge about different facets of Communism and the way of his presentation indoctrinates the audience with anti Maoist thoughts. He is known to every nook and corner of the Bastar range, as he was S.P. of Bastar during his youth hood.
As the police head of the state, he keeps boosting up courage of sub ordinates, but on the contrary he warns also for not touching the civilians and innocent villagers. He seeks to bring peace in the region through peaceful means only because he is known to the is familiar with the region since 30 years. The 30 year old emotional tie of Sri Vishwaranjan with the range is an important peace building factor in the region.
Last but not the least, in depth knowledge of Sri Vishwaranjan about Mao Tse Tung inspires not only the S.P.Os but also the intelligentsia to keep aloof from Maoist theories of war and only war.

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#735

From: "Jharkhand.org.in" <jharkhand@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Fri Nov 6, 2009 9:00 pm
Subject: The Great Jharkhand Robbery of Koda, Sinha, Chaudhary and associates

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The ingenuity of Madhu Koda and his associates continue to surprise investigators probing what is being referred to as the Great Jharkhand Robbery. For all his claim to be a humble tribal, Koda and his men not only had the smarts to acquire mines in Liberia and Thailand, they also knew how to spirit away the money they allegedly made by handing over mining leases to different corporates to banks in Switzerland.

�

Officials from Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T), who are on the probe, have found details of accounts where they are suspected to have hoarded money. More importantly, they have also located the bullion trader from Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar who was their conduit to Swiss banks, trusted by corrupt rulers across the world for their secrecy.

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The discovery of the Swiss dimension of the Jharkhand Loot coincided with the arrest of Vikas Sinha, one of Koda's accomplices. Sinha, younger brother of key Koda aide Binod, was arrested in Ranchi on Friday. Sources said Vikas admitted to carrying Rs 40 crore to Binod's chartered accountant S K Naredi -- a claim that was vehemently denied by the accused. Vikas, who has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, alleged that he was coerced into signing documents about which he knew nothing.

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Importantly, Naredi is also Koda's chartered accountant, and is suspected to have cooked books to help the former chief minister acquire sponge iron and rolling mills in Jharkhand.

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Vikas is considered to be the first of the catches that the ED and Income Tax want to net before moving on to Koda himself. Others who may be picked up soon are Binod and Sanjay Chaudhary.

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While lookout notices have been put out for them, the focus of the probe from now shifts to the Swiss connection of the Koda group. The investigation has also exposed that even PSU banks were not carrying out due diligence for checking the source of extraordinarily huge cash deposits.

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Sleuths have found that Zaveri Bazar branch of Union Bank of India failed to find anything amiss about Rs 61 crore that the Koda cartel deposited with it. The whole transaction took place in the space of less than 30 days -- between March 2 and March 31, 2007 -- and should have set off alarm bells claimed to have been installed in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attack.

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The timing of the transactions is also significant and shows that Koda did not waste much time after he, helped by political uncertainty and a group of Independents, manoeuvered his way into the chief minister's office in September 2006.

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Officials found out about the huge account during a search of the premises of Manoj Punamia, an associate of Koda, whose Balaji Bullion and other companies were central to money laundering by Koda and his group.

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Sources claimed that investigators had found that one of Punamia's companies -- Balaji Universal Trade -- had a turnover disproportionately huge to its size -- $350 million. One deal alone was worth $55 million in cash.

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The Balaji group of companies floated by Koda's associates had transferred $100 million using hawala route. Significantly, it also transferred at least $10 million to a Dubai frontman through legal channels in what could be a step to gradually legitimise the illicit overseas operations.

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Another group firm -- Balaji Bullion -- had alleged transactions worth Rs 990 crore, it was found during initial probe. Three of the directors in Balaji Bullion were Binod Sinha, Sanjay Chaudhary and Arvind Vyas, all associates of the former Jharkhand CM.

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Post-9/11, stringent measures had been deployed globally, including stiff due diligence procedure applied on banking channels in India to ensure that any dirty money infiltrating the system did not went undetected. All suspicious high-value transactions are supposed to be reported within a week to the Financial Intelligence Unit which after filtering them sends for further investigation to relevant intelligence agencies.

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In this case, it seems the accused indulged in money laundering in a big way using both the banking channels and illicit hawala means hoodwinking the due diligence mechanism and intelligence agencies.

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TNN 7 November 2009

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Jharkhand.ozg.in

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