#12045

From: Ashok Agarwal <ashokagarwal1952@...>
Date: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:38 am
Subject: GIVE DETAILS OF HOW RTE ACT, 2009 LAW ON EWS ADMISSIONS WAS IMPLEMENTED - DELHI H C ASKS DELHI GOVT

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Delhi High Court (A.K.Sikri ACJ & Rajeev Sahai Endlaw J) today issued notice to the Government of Delhi on a PIL filed by Social Jurist through Advocates Ashok Agarwal and Khagesh Jha highlighting serious violations of RTE Act, 2009 regarding admission of children belonging to disadvantage group and economically weaker sections under 25% reserved category in the academic year 2011-2012 by large number of unaided recognized private schools of Delhi and the Government has failed to take any action against the erring schools. It was also highlighted that the Government has not established a District Admission Monitoring Committee in each district as required under Clause 7 of the EWS Admission Order of 07.01.2011.

The High Court while adjourning the hearing to 21.12.2011 directed the Government to file a report within 2 weeks detailing the steps having been taken by it to implement and to monitor the provisions relating to admission of children belonging to DG & EWS under 25% reserved category.

Ashok Agarwal, Advocate

30.11.2011

M-09811101923

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

W.P. (C) NO. 8434 �� OF 2011

(PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION)

IN THE MATTER OF:

Public interest litigation

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

Writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

Failure on the part of Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Respondent herein, to implement the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 in regard to admission and free ship of children belonging to weaker sections in unaided recognized private schools of Delhi to the extent of 25% in entry level class;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

Failure on the part of the Government of NCT of Delhi to establish a District Admission Monitoring Committee (DAMC) in each district in terms of Clause 7 of Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

Many unaided private schools have not admitted any child under EWS category, many unaided private schools have admitted only partially the children under EWS Category and many unaided private schools have denied admission to large number of children under EWS Category in the academic year 2011-12 by adopting a device by reducing the number of seats/admissions at entry level class in breach of Clause 4(b) Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011 thereby defeating the beneficial provisions of Right of Children to Fee and Compulsory Education Act, 2009;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

Violation of fundamental rights to education of the children belonging to disadvantaged group and to weaker sections as guaranteed to them under Articles 14, 15, 21, 21-A and 38 of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

(1) Constitution of India;

(2) Right of Children to Free and Compulsory

Education Act, 2009;

(3) Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to

Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group)

Order, 2011

AND

IN THE MATTER OF:

Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group,

Through Co-ordinator

Advocate M.N. Singh,

478-479, Lawyers� Chambers,

Western Wing, Tis Hazari Courts,

Delhi-110054

and having its Registered Office at

Registered Office at C-29, Janyug Apartments,

Sector-14 Extension,

Rohini, Delhi-110085 ..... Petitioner

Versus

Govt. of N.C.T. of Delhi,

Through Chief Secretary,

Delhi Secretariat,

I.P. Estate,

New Delhi-110 002 �. Respondent

THE HON�BLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF HIGH COURT

OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI AND HIS COMPANION

JUSTICES OF THE SAID HIGH COURT

The humble petition of the petitioner above named

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:

1. The petitioner submits that it has no personal interest in the litigation and that the petition is not guided by self gain or for gain of any other person/institution/body and that there is no motive other than of public interest in filing the present writ petition.

2. The petitioner submits that it is very much involved in the matter of implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and has been frequently interacting with the education authorities of Govt. of NCT of Delhi and the source of averments made in the present writ petition is his personal knowledge as well as based on information having been received under RTI Act, 2005.

3. The petitioner submits that the present PIL is for the benefit of the children belonging to economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups and they are incapable of assessing the courts themselves.

4. The petitioner submits that the Govt. of NCT of Delhi is likely to be affected by the orders sought in the writ petition and which has been impleaded as Respondent. The petitioner says that to its knowledge, no other persons/ bodies/institutions are likely to be affected by the Order sought in the writ petition.

5. Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group, the petitioner herein, is an organization of lawyers and social activists dedicated to the cause of common man and particularly to the rights of the children relating to education and health. Advocate M.N. Singh is the Coordinator of the petitioner/organization and is authorized and competent to file and prosecute the present writ petition on behalf of the petitioner. The petitioner is an organization having Registered Office at C-29, Janyug Apartments, Sector-14 Extension, Rohini, Delhi-110085. It is submitted that Advocates Kusum Sharma, Advocate Anuj Aggarwal and Advocate Rohini Aggarwal are the President, Secretary and Treasurer respectively of the petitioner/organization. The petitioner submits that it has the means to pay costs, if any, imposed by this Hon�ble Court and submits it�s undertaking to this Hon�ble Court in that regard.

6. The petitioner by the present PIL has highlighted the fact the Government of NCT of Delhi has failed to establish a District Admission Monitoring Committee (DAMC) in each district as required under Clause 7 of Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011. The petitioner has also highlighted that a large number of unaided recognized private schools of Delhi have failed to provide admission to the children belonging to disadvantaged group and children belonging to economically weaker sections to the extent of 25% as required under the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 at the entry level in the academic year 2011-12 and the Govt. of NCT of Delhi has failed to take any action against such erring schools. It is submitted that many unaided private schools have not admitted any child under EWS category at the entry level class, many unaided private schools have admitted only partially under EWS category and many unaided schools denied admission to large number of children under EWS Category in the academic year 2011-12 by adopting a device by reducing the number of seats/admissions at entry level class to defeat the beneficial provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. It is submitted that the impugned failures on the part of the Govt. of NCT of Delhi is illegal, arbitrary, unjust, unfair, unconstitutional, violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 21-A and 38 of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and further read with Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011

7. The facts of the case so far as relevant for purposes of the present writ petition are given in brief as under.

8. The petitioner submits that Article 21-A has been inserted in the Constitution of India by the 86^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 in December, 2002 which came into force from 01.04.2010. As a follow up legislation, the Parliament of India enacted Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which also came into force w.e.f. 01.04.2010.

9. The petitioner invites attention of this Hon�ble Court to the relevant provisions of Section 2 (d), Section 2(e) and Section 12 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which are reproduced as under:-

2 (a) �child belonging to disadvantaged group� means a child belonging to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe, the socially and educationally backward class or such other group having disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor, as may be specified by the appropriate Government, by notification;

2(b) �child belonging to weaker section� means a child belonging to such parent or guardian whose annual income is lower than the minimum limit specified by the appropriate Government, by notification;

Section 12. Extent of school�s responsibility for free and compulsory education.--

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a school,--

(a) specified in sub-clause (i) of clause (n) of section 2 shall provide free and compulsory elementary education to all children admitted therein;

(b) specified in sub-clause (ii) of clause (n) of section 2 shall provide free and compulsory elementary education to such proportion of children admitted therein as its annual recurring aid or grants so received bears to its annual recurring expenses, subject to a minimum of twenty-five per cent.;

(c) specified in sub-clause (iii) and (iv) of clause (n) of section 2 shall admit in class I, to the extent of at least twenty-five per cent. of the strength of that class, children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighborhood and provide free and compulsory elementary education till its completion:

(2) The school specified in sub-clause (n) of section 2 providing free and compulsory elementary education as specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be reimbursed expenditure so incurred by it to the extent of per-child-expenditure incurred by the State, or the actual amount charged form the child, whichever is less, in such manner as may be prescribed.

Provided that such reimbursement shall not exceed per-child-expenditure incurred by a school specified in sub-clause (i) of clause (n) of section 2:

Provided further that where such school is already under obligation to provide free education to a specified number of children on account of it having received any land, building, equipment or other facilities, either free of cost or at a concessional rate, such school shall not be entitled for reimbursement to the extent of such obligation.

(3) Every school shall provide such information as may be required by the appropriate Government or the local authority, as the case may be.�

The petitioner also invites attention of this Hon�ble Court to para 4 of the Statement of Objects and Reasons bringing the afore-mentioned legislation which is also reproduced as under:-

�4. The proposed legislation is anchored in the belief that the values of equality, social justice and democracy and the creation of a just and humane society can be achieved only through provision of inclusive elementary education to all. Provision of free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to children from disadgangtaged and weaker sections is, therefore not merely the responsibility of schools run or supported by the appropriate Governments, but also of schools which are not dependent on Government funds.�

10. The petitioner submits that in terms of the afore-mentioned provisions of Section 12 read with Sections 2(d) and Section 2(d) of the RTE Act, 2009, all the unaided recognized private schools are under an obligation to provide admission in Class I, to the extent at least 25% of the strength of that class, children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood and provide free and compulsory elementary education till its completion and whereas a school imparts pre school education, the school is under an obligation to admit such children to such pre- school. In other words, all the unaided recognized private schools are under an obligation to grant admission to the extent of 25% to the children belonging to disadvantaged group and children belonging to economically weaker sections at the entry level class.

11. The petitioner submits that in order to give effect to the afore-mentioned provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, the Government of NCT of Delhi notified Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011(In short, EWS Order of 2011).

A true copy of the said Order dated 07.01.2011 is enclosed hereto as Annexure A.

12 The petitioner submits that after issuance of the aforesaid EWS Order of 2011, the process of admissions in this category started in the academic year 2011-12. It is respectfully submitted that Government of NCT of Delhi which is responsible for effective implementation of aforementioned provisions of RTE Act, 2009 has miserably failed in performance of its duties, functions and responsibilities.

13. The petitioner submits that in terms of Clause 7 of said EWS Order of 2011, the Government of NCT of Delhi was obliged to establish a District Admission Monitoring Committee (DAMC) in each district to monitor the entire process of the admission of children in EWS category. However, the said DAMC has not been established till date.

Clause 7 of the EWS Order of 2011 is reproduced as under:

�7. District Admission Monitoring Committee: (a) There shall be a District Admission Monitoring Committee (DAMC) in each district and the concerned Dy. Director (Education), Directorate of Education, GNCTD, shall be the Chairperson of the DAMC, concerned Education Officers/Dy. Education Officers of Directorate of Education and concerned Education officer of MCD / NDMC/ Delhi Cantt. Board as the case may be shall be the member of DAMC.

(b) Any parent, aggrieved by the action of the school may file a complaint in writing to the DAMC, Addressed to the concerned Dy. Director of Education (Chairperson).

(C) The DAMC shall maintain the Register / database of grievances and will take immediate appropriate action for their redressal. The information shall also be made available on the website of the Directorate of education by DAMC.

(d) The DAMC shall prepare cluster / Zone-wise vacancy data for free-seats and shall forward the names of children to schools where vacant seats are available, for admission against free-seats, following the principle of neighborhood school.

(e) The DAMC may call for the details form any school under its jurisdiction for compliance of this order/notification.

(f) The DAMC shall establish a Help-Desk in the district office to help parents / guardians regarding admissions under free ship quota and other procedures, during office hours manned by two well-conversant officials of the District/Zone. The help desk shall be functional till the admission process is closed.

(g) The School shall file annual return in the prescribed proforma (Annexure-IV enclosed) to the DAMC of the concerned district regarding details of admissions made within 10 days of the closure of admission.�

14. The petitioner submits that many schools have not at all given any admission to any child at entry level class under EWS Category in the academic year 2011-12. As a matter of illustrations, the schools namely, Birla Vidya Niketan, Bal Niketan Public School, K.R Manglam World School, St. Xaviers School, Delhi International Happy School, Gyan Jyoti Vidya Niketan, Deepalaya Public School, Rajdhani Public School and Orion Convent School have not admitted even a single child in EWS category in the academic year 2011-12. A true copy of the chart along with supporting documents is enclosed hereto as Annexure B Colly.

15. The petitioner submits that many unaided private schools have admitted children partially at the entry level class under EWS category. As illustrations, the schools namely, General Raj School, Bhawan Sawan Public School, Cambrige International School, Hamdard Public School, Tinu Public School, Sona Modern Public School, RCCE Public School, Air Force Bal Bharti Public School, Banyan Tree School, Oxford Public School, South Delhi Public School, Frank Angel School, Summer Field School, St. Gorge M School, Sanwal Das M school and DLDAV Shalimar Bagh, Modern Public School and Shalimar Bagh have only partially admitted children in EWS category in the acadmic year 2011-12. A true copy of the lists of such schools is enclosed hereto as Annexure C.

16. The petitioner submits that a very large number of schools have denied admission to very large number of children adopting a device by reducing the number of seats/admissions at entry level class in order to ensure that as less as possible students under EWS category may be taken into the school. As illustrations, Ryan International, Rohini instead of having 548 admissions at entry point, took admission of 160 students thereby reducing the seats/admissions by 388. Ryan International, Vasant Kunj instead of having 249 seats at the entry level (Nursery) allotted only 167 seats thereby reducing the seats by 82. Sachdeva Public School, Rohini instead of having 335 seats at entry level (Pre-School), allotted only 40 seats thereby reducing the seats by 295. DAV Public School, Rohini instead of having 369 seats at entry level (Pre-School) allotted only 131 seats thereby reducing the same by 238. Modern School, Vasant Kunj instead of having 180 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 113 seats thereby reducing the seats by 67. Guru Harkishan Public School, Vasant Kunj instead of having 431 seats at antry level (pre-school) allotted only 170 seats thereby reducing the seats by 206 seats. Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj instead of having 441 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 170 seats thereby reducing it by 271 seats. G.D. Goenka, Vasant Kunj instead of having 261 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 114 seats thereby reducing the same by 147 seats. Heritage, Vasant Kunj instead of having 86 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 64 seats thereby reducing the same by 22 seats. Crescent, Sarita Vihar instead of having 129 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 20 seats thereby reducing the same by 109 seats. DL DAV, Pitampura instead of having 682 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 240 seats, thereby reducing it by 442 seats. Kulachi Hans Raj Model School instead of having 601 seats at entry level (Class-1) allotted only 411 seats, thereby reducing the same by 200 seats. Presidium Public School, Ashok Vihar instead of having 360 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 20 seats thereby reducing it by 216 seats. S.D. Public School, Pitampura instead of having 175 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 57 seats thereby reducing the same by 118 seats. St. Stephen�s School, Pitampura instead of having 316 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 73 seats thereby reducing the same by 213 seats. Suraj Bhan DAV, Vasant Vihar instead of having 532 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 200 seats thereby reducing the same by 332 seats. St. Mark�s Public School, Janakpuri instead of having 255 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 5 seats thereby reducing the same by 250 seats. MSD Sajeevan, Uttam Nagar instead of having 460 seats at entry level (Class-1) allotted only 43 seats thereby reducing the same by 417 seats. Mount Abu Public instead of having 115 seats at entry level (KG) allotted only 44 seats thereby reducing the same by 77 seats. Prabhu Dayal Public School, instead of having 200 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 100 seats thereby reducing the same by 100 seats. Guru Harkishan Public School, Nanak Piao, instead of having 264 seats at entry level (pre-nursery) allotted only 142 seats thereby reducing the same by122 seats. Tagore Senior Secondary School, instead of having 262 seats at entry level (pre-school) allotted only 32 seats thereby reducing the same by 230 seats. New Era Public School, Mayapuri, instead of having 315 seats at entry level (Class-1) allotted only 124 seats thereby reducing the same by 191 seats and Happy Senior School, instead of having 142 seats at entry level (Class-I) allotted only 39 seats thereby reducing the same by 103 seats.

A true copy of the chart containing names of such schools is enclosed hereto as Annexure-D.

18. The petitioner invites attention of this Hon�ble court to

Clause 4 (b) of the EWS Order of 2011 which is reproduced

as under

� 4 (b) Total number of seats at the entry level i.e. nursery

or Ist class as the case may be shall not be less than the

total number of seats in any other class of the school�

17. The petitioner respectfully submits that in term of the above said clause 4(b) of the Delhi School Education( Free seats for Students belonging to Economically weaker section and Disadvantage Group) Order 2011 the schools are obliged to allot seats at entry level not less then the highest number of seats in any other class of the school.

19. The petitioner submits that Mr. Khagesh B. Jha, Advocate associated with the petitioner has made several representations including representations dated 11.09.2011 and 12.09.2011 to the Principal Secretary(Education) and Director of Education respectively highlighting the above facts and demanding action against the erring schools. However, no action has so far been taken by the respondent government.

True copies of the said representations dated 11.09.2011 and 12.09.2011 are enclosed hereto as Annexures E and F respectively.

18. The petitioner submits that barring very few schools, others have either not at all implemented the same or have implemented in part and the Govt. of NCT of Delhi which is responsible for the effective implementation of the provisions of RTE Act, 2009 has remained a mere spectator.

19. The petitioner submits that the Govt. of NCT of Delhi is the authority under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which is responsible for implementation of the provisions of the said Act. In the present case, the Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Directorate of Education has utterly failed to ensure that all unaided recognized private schools of Delhi adhere to the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 in relation to admission to children under EWS category and disadvantage category to the extent of 25% at the entry level class. It is submitted that the Govt. of NCT of Delhi has not taken any action against any of the erring schools.

20. The petitioner has not filed any similar petition either in the Hon�ble Supreme Court of India or in any Hon�ble High Courts in India.

21. The Petitioner submits that it has no other efficacious alternate remedy except to approach this Hon�ble Court by way of present Public Interest Litigation.

22. That the annexures annexed to the writ petition are true and correct copy of its originals.

PRAYER

In the premise aforesaid, the petitioner most respectfully prays that this Hon�ble Court may be pleased to:-

(a) issue any appropriate writ, order or direction to the Govt. of NCT of Delhi to implement the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 in regard to admission and free ship of children belong to weaker sections in unaided recognized private schools of Delhi to the extent of 25% in entry level class;

(b) issue any appropriate writ, order or direction thereby directing the Respondent directing the Govt. Of NCT of Delhi for forthwith establish a District Admission Monitoring Committee (D.A.M.C.) in each district in terms of clause 7 of Delhi School Education Act ( Free Seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantage Group) Order, 2011.

(c) issue any appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the Government of NCT of Delhi to initiate action against the erring unaided recognized private school which have failed to admit adequate number of children in entry level class.

(d) issue any appropriate writ, order or direction directing the Govt. Of NCT of Delhi to ensure that all the unaided recognized private school follws the provision of clause 4(b) of the Delhi School Education ( Free seats for students belonging to Economically Weaker Section and Disadvantage group) Order, 2011 in the academic year 2012-13 and those schools which have allocated less seats in violation of clause 4(b) of Delhi School Education Order 2011 should compensate in class next to the entry level class in the academic year 2012-13.

(e) issue any appropriate pass any such other or further order or direction as this Hon�ble Court may in the facts and circumstances of the present case deem fit and appropriate, in favour of the petitioner and against the respondent; and

(f ) allow the present PIL with costs.

Ashok Agarwal, Khagesh B. Jha

Advocates for the Petitioner

483, Block-II, Lawyers Chambers,

Delhi High Court, New Delhi � 110003

Ph: 23384000, Mob-9811101923

Place: New Delhi

Dated: 29/11/2011

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#12046

From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@...>
Date: Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:06 pm
Subject: 2 0 1 1 W O R L D A I D S D A Y M E S S A G E - Michel Sidib� , Executive Director of UNAIDS

empowersankar

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2 0 1 1�� W O R L D�� A I D S�� D A Y�� M E S S A G E��

Game changing year� 1 December 2011

Michel Sidib� ,Executive Director of UNAIDS�

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations�

Never before in the history of AIDS have we reached a moment where we are able to stand

up and say with conviction the end of AIDS is in sight.

It has been a year of achievements, of collective action, of resilience and of courage. In spite

of the economic downturn that has stretched the AIDS response to its limits, millions of lives

have been saved, as HIV treatment and prevention efforts continue to show results.�

World leaders have made new promises—bold, tangible and realistic. These promises now

must be delivered in every country, every community and to every person in need.��

Fortunately, leaders are standing up to say that an AIDS-free generation is possible and that

no child should be born with HIV and no mother should die of AIDS.�

The gulf between treatment and prevention has ended. Treatment is prevention.�

The divide between health and AIDS has narrowed, as AIDS comes out of isolation and into

integrated and holistic health services. The AIDS response has paved the path for a people centered

�health delivery system, one that values and restores the respect and dignity of every

individual.�

The road before us is clear and we can accelerate ahead with smart investments,

capitalizing on scientific advancements and evidence and respecting human rights. It is why

world leaders must fully fund the AIDS response. The global investment target of US$ 22-24

billion is a shared responsibility—of all countries, donors and others. Only together can we

secure the future and provide greater and long-term dividends.

Today, on this World AIDS Day, I call upon leaders, communities, parents, people living with

HIV and young people to look forward and work towards a world with Zero new HIV

infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths.

http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/speech/2011/20111125_SP_EXD_WAD2011message_en.pdf

Forwarded by:

---------------------------

Yours in Global Concern,

A.SANKAR

Executive Director- EMPOWER INDIA - Professional Civil Society Organisation

Founder and General Secretary - Confederation of Indian Civil Society Organisation’s (CICSO)

National Convener- National Alliance for Health, Environment and Rights ( NAFHER)

107J / 133E, Millerpuram

TUTICORIN-628 008, TN, INDIA

Telefax: 91 461 2310151; Mobile: 91 94431 48599: www.empowerindia.org

� You are invited to join an E FORUM AIDS-TN. To join this free E Forum kindly send an e mail to AIDS-TN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

� This e Forum moderated by EMPOWER, a Non-profit, Non-Political, Voluntary and Professional Civil Society Organisation.

Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

S.v.p. ne pas imprimer ce courriel � moins d’en avoir vraiment besoin.

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#12047

From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:25 am
Subject: Half of HIV patients in Asia live in India 1 December 2011 - WORLD AIDS DAY

empowersankar

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Half of HIV patients in Asia live in India

Aarti Dhar

The prevalence is 18 per cent in South India, says UNAIDS report

Lighting up a message: NSS volunteers of Sector 42 Government College of Girls lighting earthen lamps to create awareness about AIDS and remembering its victims on the eve of World AIDS Day, in Chandigarh on Wednesday. — Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

India houses half of Asia's HIV patients and is way ahead of China in disease burden. It also finds a place in the list of 22 countries prioritised for preventing mother to child transmission infection, according to the latest UNAIDS report, drafted jointly with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

About 48 lakh people were living with HIV in Asia in 2010 and nearly half of them – 49 per cent to be precise – are in India, says the report released on the eve of World AIDS Day. The percentage of pregnant women who tested positive for HIV infection in India also rose from 2 per cent in 2005 t0 23 per cent in 2010.

Seven Asian countries report an estimated 100,000 or more people living with HIV in 2009, collectively accounting for more than 90 per cent of people with HIV in the region. India tops the list followed by China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, though the highest prevalence rate, one per cent, was observed only in Thailand. In Asia, the rate of HIV transmission appears to be slowing down. The estimated 3,60,000 people who were newly infected with HIV in Asia in 2010 were considerably fewer than the 4,50,000 estimated for 2001.

Traditional risk groups

Notwithstanding regional variations, the HIV epidemic is being stabilised among female sex workers and traditional risk groups in the six high-prevalence States including Karnataka. But epidemics among men who have sex with men are growing across the region including India.

High prevalence

High prevalence — between 8 and 32 per cent — has been found among surveyed men who have sex with men in many Asian cities. The UNAIDS report quotes one study, which shows that the prevalence is 18 per cent in South India. The report also says that 35 per cent of children with HIV infection were receiving anti-retroviral therapy treatment.

Variation exists among commercial sex workers, with a 2009 survey showing a HIV prevalence of 4.6 per cent among female sex workers in Mumbai and Thane and 24 per cent among street-based sex workers. The prevalence could be as high as 29 per cent among their brothel-based counterparts in some districts of Maharashtra.

Yielding results

There is also evidence that prevention programmes are working in India. One such programme in Karnataka was associated with a drop in HIV prevalence from 25 per cent to 13 per cent among female sex workers in three selected districts between 2004 and 2009.

A similar programme brought down the prevalence from 1.4 per cent to 0.8 per cent among young antenatal clinic attendees between 2004 and2008 in 18 districts.

And yet another intervention programme in Mumbai and Thane led to a decline from 45 per cent HIV prevalence in 2004 to 13 per cent in 2010 among brothel-based sex workers.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2676106.ece

Forwarded by:

---------------------------

Yours in Global Concern,

A.SANKAR

Executive Director- EMPOWER INDIA - Professional Civil Society Organisation

Founder and General Secretary - Confederation of Indian Civil Society Organisation’s (CICSO)

National Convener- National Alliance for Health, Environment and Rights ( NAFHER)

107J / 133E, Millerpuram

TUTICORIN-628 008, TN, INDIA

Telefax: 91 461 2310151; Mobile: 91 94431 48599: www.empowerindia.org

� You are invited to join an E FORUM AIDS-TN. To join this free E Forum kindly send an e mail to AIDS-TN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

� This e Forum moderated by EMPOWER, a Non-profit, Non-Political, Voluntary and Professional Civil Society Organisation.

Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

S.v.p. ne pas imprimer ce courriel � moins d’en avoir vraiment besoin.

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#12048

From: Jagannath Chatterjee <jagchat01@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 4:26 am
Subject: URGENT: Alert for Residents of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

jagchat01@...

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Dear Friends,

Starting today the children of Kerala and Tamil Nadu will be receiving the experimental pentavalent vaccine. This vaccine has caused deaths and disability in which ever country they have been introduced. Senior doctors of ndia have warned parents and also the media to remain on high alert. I am enclosing the Tehelka report on the Pentavalent. Kindly spread this in your regional groups. Children are supposed to receive love and care and not proven toxic vaccines.

Regards,

Jagannath.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=Ne190610coverstory.asp

More Than A Pinprick

THE RISK TO INDIA’S NEWBORNS

A SLY FUDGING OF FACTS IS PUSHING INDIA INTO BUYING VACCINES BACKED BY THE WHO THAT MAY HAVE KILLED CHILDREN IN OTHER COUNTRIES

BY VIJAY SIMHA

BABIES, THEY say, are a nice way to start people. They are also, it would appear, a nice way to start profit. If the babies are Indian, there’s added allure to the profit because there are so many of them every year. In the days to come, as the denouement of a series of extraordinary events, the Indian government is expected to make a fresh decision on the number of vaccines Indian infants are to be given soon after birth. Much rests on the decision for Indian families and, oddly, the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has made a bizarre push for new vaccines it wants Indian newborns to be given in the country’s public health programme.

The government procures the trivalent vaccine at Rs 15 from Indian firms. The WHObacked vaccine costs Rs 525

A decision one way could risk the lives of the country’s babies, because there are doubts on the quality of vaccines the WHO is pitching for; it could push the government into financial commitments it is in no position to meet; it could empty the pockets of people who seek private medical help, and put the nation’s health sector more firmly under the control of agencies outside India. A decision the other way could force units formerly run by the Indian government to resume full work and make homegrown vaccines; and thrust more expenses on a feeble state wallet, which will need to fund more R&D.

Unsafe shield? Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad being injected with the H1N1 flu vaccine; a child waiting for a shot
Photo : NAVEESH TEJPAL

This vaccine soup has been stirred by the WHO, which is in the midst of several controversies of late for creating medical scares and then backing drugs to fight them. In the first week of June, the WHO admitted it had failed to disclose conflict of interest for scientists who advised it on the H1N1 influenza pandemic. The response came after a British media report said the WHO had announced a fake pandemic to boost sales for pharmaceutical companies that manufacture antiviral drugs and the H1N1 vaccine. Now, there appear to be the makings of a similar controversy over what may be taking the shape of an Indian vaccine scam.

The Vaccines
India does not have a well-defined vaccine policy. It has a National Immunisation Programme, under which it conducts an Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI). Twenty-five million children are born every year in India. That is a vast vaccine market, far bigger than many countries put together. Only about 53 percent of the children born in India are vaccinated. This means about 11 million children in India, almost wholly from poor families in the hinterlands, still need to be vaccinated every year.

WHAT THEY SAY - The deaths in Bhutan, and Sri Lanka were not related to the pentavalent vaccine

Also, only about 40 percent of the children are born in medical institutions. Here, there is a process laid down for vaccination. A whopping 60 percent of annual Indian births, or 15 million, are in homes or anywhere else. Most of them, in the villages and backwaters of India, are not likely to get vaccinated. Eighty-five percent of all vaccination in India is done by the government. The private sector accounts for the other 15 percent.

India’s EPI covers six primary vaccines: BCG, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, a vaccine for tuberculosis; DPT, also called the trivalent vaccine, for diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus; DT, a diphtheria and tetanus vaccine given to children with adverse reactions to pertussis or where there is a family history of seizures or brain disease; TT, tetanus vaccine normally given as DPT or also separately; measles; and polio.

WHAT IT MAY IMPLY - The new probe parameters are designed to hide the probable adverse effects of vaccines

For millions of parents, this is a moment of absolute helplessness. They have created a life and will take no chances with its protection. They will do anything for the newborn. They are like fodder. Those who can afford the private clinics end up paying far more than they should. The private clinics run their own vaccination programme that may differ from the national immunisation policy. For instance, many clinics offer hepatitis B and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae Type B) shots though they are not part of the national programme. This package can cost between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4,000. Doctors in the know say the profit margin is huge. The pharma companies send the pentavalent vaccine to the doctors at, say, Rs 1,000. The MRP might show, say, Rs 525, or even Rs 2,200 depending on the manufacturer. The doctor adds consultation fee, nurse costs, syringe costs and so on.

Photo: REUTERS

Those who go to government centres get the shots free. But, for both the rich and the poor, life revolves for a while around the vaccine shots. A child gets BCG and polio shots at birth. This is followed by DPT shots in the sixth, tenth and fourteenth weeks. Measles vaccination is done between nine months and 15 months. Then, there are DPT and polio doses at 18 months and four-and-a-half years. This is the routine a parent and child go through.

The WHO is entering this landscape and is pushing for an expansion of the trivalent DPT vaccine into a pentavalent vaccine by including two other diseases, hepatitis B and Hib, based on motives and theories that are being questioned. Switching to pentavalent would force India to shut its public sector units and depend entirely on the pricing whims of the private sector.

The Cost
The WHO push for a pentavalent vaccine in India’s public health policy is based on two arguments: that Hib and hepatitis B exist in India to an extent enough for public vaccination, and that the pentavalent vaccine works in other countries, notably Asian nations like Sri Lanka and Bhutan, in the same geographic zone as India.

This is being seen by Indian experts as an attempt to market vaccines manufactured by big pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited, by creating a fake scare of hepatitis B and Hib in India. There is a huge cost factor to this. The WHO is seeking an amendment in our public health policy on immunisation. This means the government will have to pay for the pentavalent vaccine when it has no money.

WHAT THEY SAY - The Hib vaccine is part of national immunisation programmes in over 140 countries

This is a perpetual expense as children are born all the time. Currently, the Indian government procures the trivalent vaccine at around Rs 15 from Indian firms. The WHO-backed pentavalent vaccine will cost Rs 525 at UNICEF-negotiated prices. Then, there will be additional costs for handling and delivering , which makes the pentavalent vaccine 35 times costlier than the trivalent vaccine. That is Rs 735 crore in cost of vaccine alone in perpetuity every year, and increasing due to inflation.

Appallingly, there is no concern for the 11 million or so Indian children who are not vaccinated because they are too poor to afford private care, and because the government has not yet established systems to reach them. So, while a massive number of children are already suffering, the push for a pentavalent vaccine only increases costs of existing vaccines.

WHAT IT MAY IMPLY - India is being peer-pressured into spending on unnecessary and possibly fatal vaccines

“Why should we go for something that is 35 times costlier when we are unable to even administer the existing vaccines? There is much greater burden in India of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) compared to hepatitis B and Hib. Cases of diphtheria are rising in India and we haven’t yet got a grip on child mortality. Why then are we even considering the pentavalent vaccine?” says Dr Sanjeev Singh, an advisor to several hospitals in Delhi and who has worked in preventive and social medicine.

Singh says India’s trivalent vaccine is failing because of several reasons that need urgent attention. “Vaccines need to be maintained at a specific temperature. They go from a pharma company to the government of India, which then sends them to state governments. From here, the vaccines are sent to district centres and from there to primary health centres and anganwadi workers who carry them to homes. We do not have a cold chain system that can keep the vaccines at the temperature they need. So the vaccines fail. This is a top priority area. Then, we don’t have enough doctors, nurses and other workers. Those we have are not trained well. This is a disaster that needs immediate investment of money and skills,” says Singh.

Somebody needs to make the pentavalent vaccine on a scale that India needs, should the WHO convince the Union government to go for it. The Indian firms that make the trivalent vaccines have only recently reopened under pressure from a group of concerned experts after they were shut by the first government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Now, the WHO wants hepatitis B and Hib vaccines added, which these Indian firms have no expertise at making. This is where the friends of the WHO, organisations and companies based largely in the US, come in. It is most likely that the pentavalent vaccine will then come from agencies and companies outside India. This is worrisome.

The Deaths
The economic burden of a pentavalent vaccine is a bother, but less so when seen in the light of what happened in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, where the WHO got the governments to use a pentavalent vaccine. In Bhutan, the government stopped the use of the pentavalent vaccine just two months after it was introduced. In late October 2009, the Bhutan health ministry sent an urgent circular to various centres and clinics saying: “The use of pentavalent vaccine should be stopped immediately due to some side effects. All adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) must be reported and investigated.”

POLIO PARALYSIS

The Trouble With The Polio Vaccine

More cases are being reported from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh despite increased doses

Photo: AP

IT’S NOT JUST the proposed-pentavalent vaccine that is causing problems. India’s Pulse Polio Immunisation programme is apparently not showing the results it was expected to. The worst states for polio in India, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are now reporting more cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), even from last year, even though the doses have been increased.

The AFP rate is the number of persons paralysed per 100,000 population. Ordinarily, it is expected to be one or two per 100,000. But, the official figures of the National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), a joint effort of the union government and the WHO, show that the number of AFP cases by the first week of June 2009 were 4,280 in Bihar. This year, the figure has gone up to 5,190, which is a 21.26 percent increase. In Uttar Pradesh, the AFP cases have gone up from 5,286 in June 2009 to 6,824 in June this year. This represents a 22.54 percent increase.

Almost all cases of AFP are seen as polio. “When we refer to AFP, we take it polio although not all AFP cases are caused by the polio virus. But a majority would be,” says Dr Sanjeev Singh, an advisor to many hospitals in Delhi. Singh says he can barely recall two cases of non-polio AFP over several years of work.

There is a 20 percent increase in the cases of AFP from last year, but the government says very few are confirmed as polio

However, the NPSP says only six of the 5,190 AFP cases from Bihar are confirmed polio cases so far this year. It also says it has discarded 4,266 cases as not polio and that 918 cases are pending. Likewise, in Uttar Pradesh the NPSP is confirming only 10 cases of AFP as polio so far adding it has discarded 5,362 cases as not polio and 1,450 cases are pending.

Another reason given for the increase in polio cases even after a massive Pulse Polio Immunisation programme is that there is better surveillance now, people are more aware, and they are therefore reporting more cases now. If that were so, there is all the possibility of far more polio cases being discovered. This, in turn, raises doubts over the efficacy of the polio vaccine.

In 2007, TEHELKA reported that a new polio vaccine was introduced without informing the public and the the AFP rate in Uttar Pradesh rose from 3,789 in 2004 to 10,055 in 2005, when six doses of oral polio vaccine were given, and to 11,538 in 2006 when a further nine doses were administered.

In 2006, the AFP rate in Uttar Pradesh was 16.87 per 100,000. Today, it is 22. In Bihar it is 32. So, is the repeated vaccination in these states, which are receiving more doses, responsible? AFP is no mild disease. About half the cases are permanently paralysed, says an analysis in the journal Indian Pediatrics. It appears that the polio vaccine is another example of the government ceding to international agencies, who are pushing for more doses.

The ban is still effective on pentavalent vaccine in Bhutan and the system has gone back to the trivalent vaccine that they used before the WHO plugged for the pentavalent vaccine. It was the first time a vaccine was halted in Bhutan after the country launched its EPI in 1979. Bhutan got over 30,000 pentavalent vaccines from GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative. GAVI was formed in 2000 and includes governments, corporate giants, donor institutions, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, vaccine manufacturers, research and technical institutes, civil society organisations, the WHO, the UNICEF, and the World Bank.

WHAT THEY SAY - We, the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative, will pay Rs 145 of the Rs 525 cost of the vaccine

Beginnings A health worker gives polio drops to a child in Allahabad (above); A baby gets his shots in an Indore hospital
Photo: KAILASH MITTAL

A Delhi-based drugmaker, Panacea Biotec, was one of the pentavalent vaccine suppliers to Bhutan. Its stock, sold as EasyFive, was taken off the shelves after four children who were given it died. Panacea had won a $222 million contract to supply the pentavalent vaccine to UNICEF up to 2012. The deaths in Bhutan forced the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the country’s drug chief, to ask paediatricians to prescribe EasyFive with caution and report adverse effects, if any. After their Bhutan probe, the WHO said it found no link between EasyFive and the deaths in Bhutan. Till very recently, WHO officials have been telling Bhutan that the deaths were due to encephalitis. The issue hasn’t been sorted out yet.

WHAT IT MAY IMPLY - India will have to pay Rs 380 anyway. And when the subsidy ends in 5 years, it’ll pay Rs 525

Something similar happened in Sri Lanka in 2008 when the WHO convinced the government to introduce pentavalent vaccine. Introduced in Sri Lanka in January 2008, it was stopped by April. Five children had died after they were given the vaccine and at least 20 others developed serious complications.

When a vaccine goes wrong, the WHO has an Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) Causality Assessment. This is the crucial document that explains the link between a vaccine and adverse events after it is administered. The WHO AEFI assessment has six categories: very likely or certain (that the deaths happened because of the vaccine), probable, possible, unlikely, unrelated, and unclassifiable.

In simple terms, ‘very likely or certain’ means an adverse event must follow the vaccine within reasonable time, there must be no other explanation like a concurrent drug or chemical or disease, and, the adverse event must be proved definitely using a re-challenge, meaning the process of vaccination is repeated again. In cases of deaths like in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, a re-challenge is impossible. So, it becomes easier to blame the death on other factors.

‘Probable or likely’ means an adverse event must follow the vaccine within reasonable time, there must be no other explanation for the event like a concurrent drug, chemical or disease, and re-challenge information is not required. A ‘possible’ situation is where an event must follow the vaccine within reasonable time, and may also be explained by a concurrent drug, chemical or disease. ‘Unlikely’ is where there is the time after a vaccine is given may make an event improbable, and another drug, chemical, or disease provides plausible explanation. ‘Unrelated’ is where the time between an event and a vaccine administration makes the link incompatible, and where another drug, chemical or disease explains the event. ‘Unclassifiable’ is where too little is known.

Five children died in Sri Lanka in 2008, and eight in Bhutan in 2009 after the pentavalent vaccine was administered

In Sri Lanka, the WHO sent an expert panel to investigate the deaths. This panel classified the link between the deaths and the pentavalent vaccine under four heads: very likely or certain, unlikely, unrelated and unclassifiable. They removed the two important categories, probable and possible. This changes everything. In the case of deaths you can never re-challenge the situation because the child is dead. So, you cannot establish the vaccine-death link again. This means they are classified as ‘probable’ or ‘possible’, which is good enough to stop a vaccine and take another look.

Now, with the removal of these two categories, all deaths become unlikely (due to a vaccine) because that is the next classification available. The WHO panel thus reported that three deaths in Sri Lanka were unlikely to have been caused by the pentavalent vaccine, one was unrelated and one was unclassifiable.

Mothers’ day out Women wait with infants at a Kanpur government health clinic for early vaccinations
photo:GP AWASTHI

Of relevance to India is what the government did in the Delhi High Court on a Public Interest Litigation on how irrational vaccines are being introduced in India. On April 3, the government told the court that there was nothing wrong with the WHO-backed pentavalent vaccine and attached the WHO panel’s Sri Lanka report as evidence. So the altered probe parameters are what the Indian government will judge future vaccine issues by. In case of deaths then, a link between a vaccine and the adverse event may never be established in India because there is no such clause anymore. On this rests the direction in which India’s vaccination policy may be headed.

When asked why the parameters were altered, WHO Group Leader for Global Vaccine Safety, Patrick Zuber, told TEHELKA: “WHO provides a guideline for a six-point classification of the potential causal association between an AEFI and vaccination but it is important to note that this classification is not intended to be used on its own. Case classification is the result of a full evaluation of all clinical and epidemiological data available. WHO’s proposed system is not the only one available as a number of regulatory and safety expert groups use other scales for the assessment and classification of cases with regard to the potential causal link between AEFI and vaccines.

Benefiting from the experience of its members in the field of causality assessment, the panel proposed to simplify the categories of causality in the current assessment based on all these factors and provided its definitions in the report. In this particular instance, of the 13 cases reviewed (deaths and non-death complications), four were classified as unlikely related to the vaccine and five were considered unrelated. Four could not be classified because of insufficient information. Clearly, none would have been considered as probable or possible associations. More importantly, this investigation did not yield any new evidence suggesting that an unusual safety problem could have occurred in relationship with the use of pentavalent vaccine. Since then, Sri Lanka has resumed use of the product with no new safety signal to our knowledge.”

Now, no other cause of death has been established in the Sri Lanka cases. So, listing them as unrelated is not justified. In the earlier WHO classification, they would have been listed as likely to have been related to the vaccine and that would have led to a fresh review. Now, none of that is possible and this in turn makes it easier for the WHO to push vaccines into India.

The Fudge
To make a pitch for the pentavalent vaccine in India, the WHO needed to establish the prevalence of hepatitis B and Hib to the extent needed for public immunisation. It was bafflingly done. In 2000, an article appeared in a journal called Health Economics, written by Mark Miller from Atlanta, USA. The article said 250,000 people die in India every year of liver cancer caused by hepatitis B. This figure was astonishingly arrived at by using data from Taiwan on India.

The article said one in four carriers of hepatitis B dies of liver cancer in Taiwan. However, the strain of the hepatitis B virus in Taiwan is different from that in India. Also, data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) suggests the strain of hepatitis B in India causes liver cancer in only one out of 100 carriers of hepatitis B. This means the death rate in India of liver cancer due to hepatitis B is 10,000 a year. This is a minor percentage of the nearly 25 million deaths in India every year, of many reasons. It is too low to warrant public hepatitis B immunisation and may have led the WHO into exaggerating the figure 25 times.

A paediatrician from Delhi’s St. Stephens Hospital, Jacob Puliyel, challenged Miller’s theory. Miller couldn’t prove what he wrote and finally said the model on which he based his findings was lost. Strangely, the WHO reasoning for a hepatitis B vaccine in India is similar to that in Miller’s article. “He was using a fake model,” Puliyel said.

The WHO argument for a Hib vaccine is based on a 2006 UNICEF report, Pneumonia: The forgotten killer of children, which said 14 out of every 1,000 children in India under the age of five die of pneumonia. However, an ICMR study in 2005 showed the death rate was just 0.26 per thousand in India. The ICMR study was done in three centres, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Chandigarh. It found that all cases of pneumonia were just 30 per thousand and that of meningitis were 20 per thousand. Hib is the principal cause of pneumonia and meningitis, therefore the focus on these two diseases.

Even if there were a 10 percent mortality rate in pneumonia cases, it would still be only three deaths per thousand from pneumonia. This is 50 times lower than the UNICEF figure and, again, far too low for public immunisation. Thus, there is something seriously amiss about the argument for a pentavalent vaccine, especially when it might lead to death. In any case, the vaccine’s efficacy is not established beyond doubt.

Where it Stands
The ICMR is expected to take a decision on the pentavalent vaccine soon. It has held three meetings on this. There is a National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), which is responsible for advising the government. The ICMR formulates research based on this advice.

Fighting against the move to introduce controversial vaccines is a group of experts. They include: KB Saxena, former Union health secretary; SK Mittal, former head of paediatrics, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi; Debabar Banerji, Professor Emeritus, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Imrana Qadeer, member, Population Council; NJ Kurian, former advisor, Union Ministry of Finance; Ritu Priya, advisor, National Rural Health Mission; Mira Shiva, member, Central Social Welfare Board; Jacob Puliyel, head, Paediatrics Department, St Stephens Hospital, Delhi; and Gopal Dabade, president, Drug Action Forum, Karnataka.

In July, the ICMR will formally advise the health ministry on the pentavalent vaccine. Trust they will choose life over profit.

WRITER’S EMAIL:
vijay.simha@...

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 24, Dated June 19, 2010

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Phone: 0674-2545250

http://www.facebook.com/jagannath.chatterjee

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Information-on-Vaccine-Risks/211069518950053

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Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#12049

From: Arun Shrivastava <arunshrivastava.1951@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 5:14 am
Subject: EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

arunshrivastava.1951@...

Send Email

Friends,

These so-called developed nations and their bureaucracy are a bunch of crackpots who need to be hanged from the nearest lamp post. Now, have you ever heard an absurder law that prevents you from claiming that water can prevent dehydration?

You can access the article below. I have also posted this series from Sepp Hasselberger, who is an important leader of the natural health movement in EU. It is vital that you copy two imprtant articles below on Vitamin C and Vitamin D. Regular use of low dose of both can prevent many complicated diseases. And they are cheap.

Kind regards

Arun Shrivastava

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

From: Sepp Hasslberger <sepp@...>
Date: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 4:52 AM

Underground Health? - Health Supreme NewsGrabs 26 November 2011
Search Health Supreme

Health Supreme - Underground Health? - Health Supreme NewsGrabs 26 November 2011

UNDERGROUND HEALTH
by Jon Rappoport

The (health) movement has gone mainstream because people have a choice. They can think for themselves. They can act on their thoughts. There is that freedom.

Of course, we have health dictators in government who know what they want. And choice isn’t it. They want you to bow down and grovel and obey. It’s that simple. They’re criminals.

The FDA, for example, is a criminal agency. It has institutionalized its crimes. Made those crimes part of government.

The FDA can look the other way while the medical system kills 225,000 people a year, 106,000 from the effects of approved and certified drugs. (Starfield, July 26, 2000, JAMA, “Is US health really the best in the world?”)

The FDA can also, at the same time, try to decimate the nutritional-supplement industry, whose products kill virtually no one every year.

Is the USA setting itself up to squeeze out dietary supplements like in Europe?

Natural healthcare, most especially herbal medicine, is under the cosh in Europe at the moment. Anyone keeping an eye on our website for any length of time knows how a slew of inappropriate legislation, masterminded by large companies in cahoots with the European Commission and powerful member state governments, is slowly engulfing many forms of natural medicine. The losers in this process are the smaller players who have long been at the forefront of providing the most therapeutically relevant natural products. They simply get squeezed out, less so by direct bans, but more as a result of regulatory burdens they simply can’t negotiate through lack of cash.

But the FDA has been getting ever closer to the European authorities. They have worked together as the two most powerful entities in the Codex Alimentarius for many years...

Time to ‘Occupy the FDA’?

Regulators worldwide are working increasingly closely together, so it’s no surprise that we can expect increasing convergence in the different regulatory systems. This is what globalisation is about, and it’s all about making the environment as cosy as possible for the biggest corporate players out there. Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Bitech are among the masterminds of this system, and they don’t like to see a bunch of us out there looking after our own health using natural substances, failing to get ill, not seeing doctors, not taking drugs and being vaccinated, growing our own organic food — basically operating outside the system they created.

USA: House Bill Would Spare Thousands of Dietary Supplements From Being Removed

Last July, the FDA stunned supplement manufacturers with its proposed Guidance that would require all dietary ingredients introduced into the marketplace since 1994 to undergo drug-like safety testing prior to marketing. The tests could cost millions of dollars per each new ingredient, and that includes each variation on that ingredient too. These requirements would not make supplements any safer than they are today and would require supplement makers to lay aside 20 years of profits to conduct the tests. To make matters worse, tens of thousands of workers could lose their jobs as the supplement industry would be forced to remove products from store shelves.

10,000 Signatures in 10 Days; You Can Do It!

With Citizens for Health supporters already having generated over 11,000 letters to Congress demanding that the FDA’s NDI Draft Guidance be withdrawn, the organization is now on a mission to collect 10,000 petitions in 10 days calling for Congress to withhold FDA appropriations until this unaccountable agency is held to account...

Attacked UK herbal academic on leaked document: “I haven’t slept in four days”

A lifelong UK-based herbal sector academic who was attacked by the Alliance for National Heath (ANH) on Friday over her views about herbal medicine regulations, says she is “crushed and devastated” by assertions made in the ANH letter.

The invisible campaign to restrict UK herbal medicines

An under-the-radar campaign has been launched in the UK, calling itself ‘The Safer Herbal Medicine Campaign’ (SHMC). It aims to pressure the UK medicines regulator to remove botanical food supplements from the market

Its concerns mirror those of Professor Elizabeth Williamson, whose letter we leaked previously, and Dr Dick Middleton of Schwabe Pharma (a major pharmaceutical producer of standardized herbal extracts). Dr Middleton is instrumental to the SHMC, and circumstantial evidence indicates that Prof Williamson may have been co-opted into the campaign.

The key goal of the SHMC would appear to be to force the competitors of Schwabe and, perhaps those of other herbal license holders, from the market, while professing concern for public safety...

EU draft health claims list would infringe commercial free speech, says health alliance

ANH-International argues that it is an overly stringent and inappropriate evaluation methodology used by EFSA that is responsible for this 92% rejection rate. It also argues that to pass the list into law would be legally disproportionate, especially since evaluations of other claims, notably for botanical substances and probiotics, have yet to be completed.

Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Marian Harkin stated: “We all have a problem with cowboys in the food industry who make outlandish claims that are not supported by science – and this is why I, and the majority of other MEPs, supported the Regulation when we voted for it in 2006.”

“But I’m now very concerned about just how few claims have gone through. For many consumers trying to ensure their families eat as healthily as possible, it would be very confusing if these were the only ones allowed. They’ll see the same few claims repeated over and over again on some foods, but so many others will be claim free.”

Ms Harkin added: “It’s difficult to accept that among the thousands of known beneficial food ingredients, nutritional science supports the use of only 70!”

Two Vitamin C Tablets Every Day Could Save 200,000 Lives Every Year

New research has reported that risk of heart failure decreases with increasing blood levels of vitamin C [1]. Persons with the lowest plasma levels of ascorbate had the highest risk of heart failure, and persons with the highest levels of vitamin C had the lowest risk of heart failure.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) there are about 600,000 deaths from heart disease each year. [2] This is an enormous number. The definition of heart failure used by the study authors was on the basis of drugs prescribed, which would include all forms of heart disease that cause death. This agrees well with the CDC definition.

Specifically, the study found that each 20 micromole/liter (μmol/L) increase in plasma vitamin C was associated with a 9% reduction in death from heart failure. That works out to 54,000 fewer deaths from heart failure for each increase in 20 μmol/L plasma vitamin C. If everyone took high enough doses of vitamin C to reach the highest quartile (80 μmol/L), that would work out to approximately 216,000 fewer deaths per year. Just from taking vitamin C.

Vitamin D Cuts Flu By Half: Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial

Vitamin D is a highly effective way to avoid influenza. A study documents that children taking low doses of Vitamin D3 are 42% less likely to contract influenza.

Performed by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and colleagues from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, the study was randomized, double blinded, and placebo-controlled. 430 children aged 6-15 were enrolled and followed between December 2008 and March 2009. Half were given Vitamin D3 and the other half received a placebo. The dose was 1,200 IUs a day. 334 of the children completed the study.

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

Call to French minister to caution women about aspartame intake during pregnancy

Scientists attached to the Réseau Environnement Santé (RES) in France are urging the French Minister of Health to inform women about the dangers of aspartame during pregnancy.

Aspartame addiction: 'Coke is dominating my life (Diet Coke that is)'

A man has told how a lifelong addiction to Diet Coke has come to dominate his life.

Darren Jones, 38, can't go a day without downing 18 cans of the soft drink - the equivalent of 42 litres a week, costing him around £3,000 a year.

Over the past decade his habit has gradually worsened and now he can't leave the house without a bottle of Coca Cola.

Book: Honest Medicine: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases

HONEST MEDICINE introduces four lifesaving treatments that have been effectively treating--and in some cases curing--people for 25-90 years. However, for reasons of profitability (or lack thereof), these treatments have not been universally accepted. The treatments are: Low Dose Naltrexone for autoimmune diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, etc.) HIV/AIDS and some cancers; the Ketogenic Diet, for pediatric epilepsy; intravenous alpha lipoic acid, for terminal liver disease and some cancers; and Silverlon, for non-healing wounds.

Common infections will be 'untreatable' if antibiotic misuse continues

The world is being pushed towards the unthinkable scenario of untreatable infections, warns a new paper published in the medical journal Lancet, blaming a decline in new drug discoveries and the rising numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In the EU alone, 25,000 patients die every year from infections caused by drug resistant bacteria.

As well as investment into new antibiotics, there are growing calls for a crackdown on the misuse of existing antibiotics.

The biggest problem is seen as unnecessary use in human medicine but, the excessive use of antibiotics in intensive farming units, particularly pig and poultry farms, is seen as a growing threat.

Scientists say antimicrobial resistance may also be passing between animals and humans, making the need to cut unnecessary use in farming even more urgent. The World Health Organisation says drug use in farm animals plays a 'significant role' in spreading antibiotic-resistant salmonella and campylobacter infections in humans.

Plasmas sterilize water cheaply

Researchers have known plasmas will kill bacteria in water. Now, a new experiment shows that water treated with plasma killed all the E. coli bacteria that were added to it within a few hours of treatment and still killed 99.9 percent of the bacteria added after it sat for a week.

Deadly polio vaccines

Pakistan - a leaked report prepared by the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission shockingly reveals that polio vaccines funded by a Swiss NGO are allegedly causing deaths and disabilities in children.

According to the investigative report, the NGO, Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisation (GAVI), has been found responsible for funding fatal polio vaccines in not only Pakistan but also India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Japan.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Association of Parents of Disabled Children has filed criminal charges after they found out that GAVI-funded vaccines cause death or disabilities in children.

UN, Bill Gates Foundation Push Deadly HPV Shots on Poor Nations Under ‘GAVI Alliance’

A new campaign has been launched by an organization known as the GAVI Alliance to vaccinate up to 2 million women and girls with either GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix or Merck’s Gardasil by the year 2015. These two HPV shots have been shown to be very dangerous, with Gardasil linked to death, countless adverse reactions, and Cervarix recently outed as similarly threatening.

The GAVI Alliance, a name relatively unknown to many, is a Geneva-based public-private partnership set up in the year 2000 with financial backing from organizations such as the World Bank, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the vaccine industry, UNICEF, and many other unidentified philanthropists. It is important to note that a public-private partnership is a government and private industry merger or partnership, meaning that these corporate interests can intertwine with big government.

Want to Keep Your Baby Healthy? Stay Away From Pediatricians...

I'll be blunt. Pediatricians, these days, are con-men - only here to push more-and-more dangerous, useless(?), vaccines on an unsuspecting public. They have absolutely no other function. They are, in fact, a whole section of US medicine that we could well do without. It didn't used to be that way - but it is now.

Wonder drug that stole my memory

What, if anything, did seem to fit the pattern, besides incipient dementia? I was pretty healthy, except for moderately high cholesterol, for which I took the statin drug Simvastatin. Other than that I went through periods of taking vitamin supplements – that was all.

"Did you say Simvastatin?" asked a friend. "Did you know that statins have been linked to memory loss?"

This was news to me. Statins are, I think, among the greatest successes of modern pharmacology...

If you are taking a statin drug and have symptoms like memory loss, bad circulation, muscle pains ... this article is a thing you should read. AND you should start searching the net about those unwanted effects.
And while you're at it, find out about the basic question: is cholesterol really the enemy as our doctors tell us. As good a place as any to start is Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's site "The Cholesterol Myths"

Merck Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charge and Pays $950 Million Fine for Vioxx

According to OSHA head David Michael’s excellent book Doubt is Their Product, Merck knew from their pre-release clinical studies that Vioxx had four times the risk of heart attack as the placebo they used (naproxen). They preposterously inverted that finding and spun it around to state that the placebo naproxen reduced heart attack risk by 80%. According to Michaels’ book, ‘scientists at the FDA estimate that Vioxx caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks, probably 30%-40% of them fatal.’

The midpoint of that range is 40,000. So Merck (with foreknowledge) deliberately killed about 40,000 people that were simply taking a pain reliever drug (most weren’t heart patients). That is almost as many deaths as US combat casualties in the Vietnam war. That must make Merck the biggest corporate mass-murderer in history.

Like Candy? Foster Kids Get More Antipsychotics

In the latest reason for concern about prescribing antipsychotics for children, a study finds that foster kids are being prescribed combinations of antipsychotics just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters on Medicaid. And the findings underscore a growing trend to prescribe these meds, which are approved only for schizophrenia and bipolard disorder, for any psychiatric issue.

Antipsychotics Linked to Childhood Diabetes

Diabetes may be substantially more likely for children taking second-generation atypical antipsychotics, according to findings from a recent study, which included a number of caveats.

Incidence of diabetes appeared to be more than four times higher among children on a second-generation antipsychotic than in those not using psychotropic medications, Susan E. Andrade, ScD, of the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, and colleagues found.

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More information out there...

There is a lot more information out there about natural health and pharmaceutical medicine that I cannot cover ... but fortunately other sources for this kind of information exist.

Dr Mercola has a good health blog
Mike Adams publishes Natural News.
In the UK we have the One Click Group.
The Dr Rath Foundation campaigns for a New Healthcare System.
Natural health and nutrition on La Leva di Archimede
Food, Agriculture and more on the Organic Consumers Association site.

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#12050

From: Arun Shrivastava <arunshrivastava.1951@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 5:32 am
Subject: Deadly polio vaccines

arunshrivastava.1951@...

Send Email

�

Deadly polio vaccines

�

http://www.brecorder.com/editorials/single/600/0/1252972:deadly-polio-vaccines/?date=2011-11-20

�

The government of Pakistan had declared, under its national emergency plan, earlier this year to eradicate polio before 2012.

Unfortunately, however, the country seems set to miss this deadline as the number of polio cases in Pakistan soars to 132 so far with two months still to go before the year ends.

Adding to the nation's faltering struggle against this menace, a leaked report prepared by the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission (PMIC) shockingly reveals that polio vaccines funded by a Swiss NGO are allegedly causing deaths and disabilities in children.

According to the investigative report, the NGO, Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisation (GAVI), has been found responsible for funding fatal polio vaccines in not only Pakistan but also India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Japan.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Association of Parents of Disabled Children has filed criminal charges after they found out that GAVI-funded vaccines cause death or disabilities in children.

This government report reveals information, which should be a source of tremendous concern for the government and parents alike.

Far removed from the hope to eradicate polio within this year, the country now hosts more cases of polio than all other three countries, which are still afflicted by this menace - India, Afghanistan and Nigeria - combined.

Following China's confirmation that the disease had crossed Pakistani border into China, resulting in crippling four children, India jumped to pre-emptive safety precautions and announced setting up of screening booths at all entry points along the India-Pakistan border to administer polio drops to children five years or younger.

Running a successful polio campaign in the country is an uphill task.

The factors contributing for the failure to control it are numerous.

Porous borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan mean each country repeatedly infects the other.

Major pockets or polio cases are clustered in Quetta, Fata region and Karachi.

The security situation and repeated floods have made access to remote areas of the country quite difficult.

The draft National Emergency Action Plan, 2011 for polio eradication admitted that 10 to 20 percent of children are not given their third dose of polio vaccination.

Added to this, the apocalyptic warnings by some in the clergy and the militants in the north related to "western conspiracies" to sterilise Muslim children through polio drops has also created a sense of paranoia among the traditionally conservative families.

The fact that the American intelligence agencies employed a local doctor to spy on Osama bin Laden's house under the garb of administering polio drops has also not helped the matter one bit.

In light of these staggering odds, the fact that a supposedly reputed NGO, which funds 7.8 percent of the five-year budget of Pakistan's Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), has been the source of potentially fatal and crippling vaccine should ring alarm bells in every corridor of power.

GAVI is supposedly an organisation of repute which boasts partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Programme, Rockefeller Foundation, Unicef, WHO and the World Bank.

This fact alone is enough to cause doubts over the integrity of other international organisations which associate with GAVI.

The Prime Minister needs to take up this report with utmost urgency.

He must direct the government to raise its voice at the UN level, and demand explanation why the UN agencies are partnering with an organisation which allegedly endangers the lives of millions of poor children.

More importantly, the government needs to hold a proper investigation to find out how the agreement with GAVI was reached before verifying the quality of the vaccines, which according to the report, are also very expensive.

The claims made in the report that these vaccines are not even tested in laboratory after procurement to ensure their quality, also need to be re-evaluated.

It is a sad state of affairs that this report was submitted to the Prime Minister's office in June and yet no investigation has been ordered, nor any drive been suspended amidst rising fear of its safety.

The recommendations given by PMIC need to be implemented in their letter and in spirit.

The situation should serve as a wake-up call to our health authorities.

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#12051

From: Gladson Dungdung <gladsonhractivist@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 7:45 am
Subject: The killing of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto by the CRPF and Police Jawans in Jhumra Pahar of Bokaro.

gladsonhract...

Send Email

JHRM

Jharkhand Human Rights Movement

C/o-Mr. Suleman Odeya, Near Don Bosci ITC Gate, Khorha Toli, Kokar, Ranchi -834001. 0651-3242752 Email: jhrmindia@...

�

Ref: JHRM/NHRC/2011/09� �� Date: 11/10/2011

�

To,

Mr. Satyabrata Pal,

The Hon�ble Member,

National Human Rights Commission,

Faridcourt House, Copernicus Marge,

New Delhi-1

�

Sub: for investigation and necessary action on the case of killing of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto by the CRPF and Police Jawans in Jhumra Pahar of Bokaro.

�

Dear Sir,

With due respect, I would like to bring your attention on a case of killing of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto resident of Aman village comes under Mahuatar police staition in Bokaro district of Jharkhand by the CRPF and Police Jawans during anti-Naxal Operation on September 29, 2011 in Jhumra Pahari situated in Bokaro district of Jharkhand.

�

Case details:

The CRPF and Jharkhand police had carried out operations named �Operation Shikhar� against the Maoists on 27, 28, and 29 of September, 2011 in Jhumra Pahari of Bokaro. On the first day of the operation, the Maoists killed two CRPF Jawans and 3 were injured. However, the security forces failed to catch any Maoist.

�

Hence, in retaliation, they started victimizing the villagers. On September 29, the Jawans moved towards Aman village and caught Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto, who was rearing goats in the field. The Jawans started asking him about the Maoists and when he failed to answered them, they assumed him as a Maoist and started beating him with the butt of gun. They also bet him with lathis, consequently, he died on the spot.

�

However, after death of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto, the Jawans were afraid and went to Mr. Akhileshwar�s house and took a traditional bed to carry the dead body. Finally, the Jawans brought the dead body of Mr. Akhileshwar to his house. When the villagers came to know about the fact of killing, they started protesting against the CRPF Jawans but the Jawans forced them to bury the dead body without postmortem and they did it. The Jawans also filed a false FIR in Mahuatar police station, stating that the Jawans recovered a dead body during the operation and the man was killed by unidentified criminals.

�

Since, the villagers and the family members of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto knew the fact therefore; they again started protesting against the police. The issue was also raised by the Mukhiya Md. Riyaz Ansari and MLA Madholal Singh. Consequently, the dead body was excavated and postmortem was conducted on 2 of October, 2011.

�

The circumstantial evidences suggest that it�s a clear case of killing therefore, I request you

A high level inquiry should be done on the case of Killing of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto.
A case of murder under the section 302 of IPC should be filed against the CRPF and Police Jawans and officers who are indulged in brutal killing of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto.
The family member of Mr. Akhileshwar Mahto should be compensated of Rs. 10,000, one job and protection to the family members.

�

Thanking you

Your�s Sincerely,

Gladson Dungdung

General Secretary,

JHRM, Ranchi ��

--
Gladson Dungdung
H R Activist and Writer
Ranchi, Jharkhand
Ph. No. 0651-3242752
Mobile No. 09334449335
Email: gladsonhractivist@...
Website: www.jharkhandmirror.org

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#12052

From: Arun Shrivastava <arunshrivastava.1951@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:48 pm
Subject: Re: [IHRO] War on drugs revealed as total hoax

arunshrivastava.1951@...

Send Email

Why now, in 2011?

Afghanistan was occupied for two reasons: (i) to create a pocket burrough for growing opium that supports the entire western banking industry, and with all their toxic assets the only thing that gets them hard cash is drug dealing...ALL OF THEM.

�

And that industry is worth 500-700 billion dollars per annum, under direct control of US and NATO forces. They distribute drugs through Mafia bosses. Why is Hillary Clinton going to Burma now? Don't we all know that Burma and the great triangle was the main supplier of global drugs? Why has "democracy" not come to Burma? Su Kyi remains paralysed, despite a Nobel?

�

Note that the official US military budget is about 500-600 billion dollars; the global drug trade is controlled by CIA. They ship processed heroine in offiicial US Government owned aircrafts.

�

Do they need any bloody Congressional support to run their military campaigns worldwide?

They can finance their global loot of poor people's resources because they control the drug trade in Europe and the North America, two most lucrative markets. Don't our intelligence agencies know this? They do. Ask uncomfortable questions, and they are terrified.

They are terrified because they know and also know who is complicit within the Indian political class.

�

UN-Office on Drug & Crimes [UNODC] Control itself acknowledged in the General Assembly that the Taliban had wiped out opium industry from Afghanistan in 2001, 10 years ago. The Taliban leaders were congratulated. Then Bush ordered military takeover of Afghanistan. Baby bush. The Brainless Bush. The traumatised Bush, whose brain was incapacitated by his father George Herbert Walker Bush.

�

Check out what French narcotics experts say about British and American role in Global Drug Trade. They are one of the best. So are the Indian anti narcotics agents. Except that perhaps Indian narcotics bureau does not know that the political class is aligned with the western political class.

�

THE FALLOUT: India is the natural region for opium and hemp. There are 22 different non-intoxicating uses of these plants. And hemp fibres were the biggest industry worldwide until artifical fibres like nylon and dacron were developed by the Rockefellers.

They forced the US Commissioner to issue an order to ban growing of hemp plant. Hemp was illegalised world over. The British were complicit. I�konw of�half a dozen websites who still sell perfect hemp fibre T-shirts, oil, and many other items, Find out for yourself.�

�

If the bloody SHIV SENA of Thackeray has any sense, one wee bit of grey cells in their ass-brains, they should have changed Sassoon Dock's name to Shivaji Dock because Sassoon was that bastard who took control of drug trade, starting with India and China.

�

When Governments ally with private corporations in criminalizing simple and useful products that the people have used for centuries, then that should be called FASCISM. The CPI, CPM, and BJP are all complicit in perpetuating global fascism of a handful of multinational corporations. And they are paid to remain silent.

�

Kind regards

Arun Shrivastava

�

On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM, chaudry <k_w572001@...> wrote:

�

War on drugs revealed as total hoax - US military admits to guarding, assisting lucrative opium trade in Afghanistan

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff

Afghanistan is, by far, the largest grower and exporter of opium in the world today, cultivating a 92 percent market share of the global opium trade. But what may shock many is the fact that the US military has been specifically tasked with guarding Afghan poppy fields, from which opium is derived, in order to protect this multibillion dollar industry that enriches Wall Street, the CIA, MI6, and various other groups that profit big time from this illicit drug trade scheme.

Prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan was hardly even a world player in growing poppy, which is used to produce both illegal heroin and pharmaceutical-grade morphine. In fact, the Taliban had been actively destroying poppy fields as part of an effort to rid the country of this harmful plant, as was reported by thePittsburgh Post-Gazetteon February 16, 2001, in a piece entitledNation's opium production virtually wiped out(http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...).

But after 9/11, the US military-industrial complex quickly invaded Afghanistan and began facilitating the reinstatement of the country's poppy industry. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), opium cultivation increased by 657 percent in 2002 after the US military invaded the country under the direction of then-President George W. Bush (http://www.infowars.com/fox-news-ma...).

CIA responsible for reinstating opium industry in Afghanistan after 9/11
More recently,The New York Times(NYT) reported that the brother of current Afghan President Hamid Karzai had actually been on the payroll of the CIA for at least eight years prior to this information going public in 2009. Ahmed Wali Karzai was a crucial player in reinstating the country's opium drug trade, known as Golden Crescent, and the CIA had been financing the endeavor behind the scenes (http://www.infowars.com/ny-times-af...).

"The Golden Crescent drug trade, launched by the CIA in the early 1980s, continues to be protected by US intelligence, in liaison with NATO occupation forces and the British military," wrote Prof. Michel Chossudovsky in a 2007 report, before it was revealed that Ahmed Wali Karzai was on the CIA payroll. "The proceeds of this lucrative multibillion dollar contraband are deposited in Western banks. Almost the totality of revenues accrue to corporate interests and criminal syndicates outside Afghanistan" (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/A...).

But the mainstream media has been peddling a different story to the American public. FOX News, for instance, aired a propaganda piece back in 2010 claiming that military personnel are having to protect the Afghan poppy fields, rather than destroy them, in order to keep the locals happy and to avoid a potential "security risk" -- and FOX News reporter Geraldo Rivera can be heard blatantly lying about poppy farmers being financially supported by the Taliban, rather than the CIA and other foreign interests.

You can watch that clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj-b...

So while tens of thousands of Americans continue to be harmed or killed every year by overdoses from drugs originating from this illicit opium trade, and while cultivation of innocuous crops like marijuana and hemp remains illegal in the US, the American military is actively guarding the very poppy fields in Afghanistan that fuel the global drug trade. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj-b...
http://www.InfoWars.com

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#12053

From: Amitabh Thakur <amitabhth@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 3:04 pm
Subject: Rape allegations against a religious Godman and its implications

amitabhth

Send Email

Friends,

A very serious case has come in public notice where a disciple Sadhvi Chidarpita has lodged an FIR against BJP leader and former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, accusing him of rape, illegal confinement, forcing her to undergo abortion twice and attempt to murder. Swami Chinmayanand is also a religious Guru and head of Mumukshu (meaning relieving the soul) Ashram in Hardwar. The victim told the police that she lived in the Mumukh Ashram for several years and after relentless abuse, decided to flee the premises. During her stay, she was allegedly raped by Chinmayannad. When she threatened to lodge a complaint against him for the crime, Chinmayanand tried to get her killed, the victim has told police. She said that she was too scared to open her mouth for the fear of consequences till she fled Chimayanand's ashram.

Chidarpita recently got married to B P Gautam, a journalist from Budaun in UP and only after his support, she could gather enough strength to register an FIR against a person who is certainly a powerful figure with whom she lived for years where he is supposed to have sexually exploited her due to her helplessness. My wife Dr Nutan Thakur talked to both Chidarpita and Gautam assuring them of all possible support to them in their fight for justice. Chidarpita told her in details about the various ways in which Chinmayanand exploited her sexually, got her aborted twice against her own wishes, gave her false promises of marriage and also beat her very severely and brutally whenever she resisted against his illegal and immoral acts. Our personal view is that this FIR needs to be investigated very seriously and honestly because it concerns an ex Home Minister of Union of India and because Swami Chinmayanand is also a religious Godman with a very large number of disciples, hence the matter acquires grave propositions. We also believe that if the accusation is proved true, the culprit must be punished very seriously for this alleged dirty act of sexually exploiting a young girl who had become her disciple with blind faith. We take this as a possible example of a much larger phenomenon existing in India where many false Godmen are involving in such dirty and criminal acts but many people are not able to resist because of their helplessness.

There are many questions being raised about the motive of Chidarpita and her husband Gautam in accusing Swami Chinmayanand including the long delay in filing the FIR and their alleged political ambitions. There is always a possibility of people making false allegations and accusations and we are not completely sure of all the facts. But what is more relevant is that someone came with these serious allegations regarding an influential religious Godman and this must be seriously enquired into to bring the real facts, because such incidents have much wider social and cultural ramifications. If at all these allegations are true, Chidarpita and her husband Gautam will emerge as true heroes of the society who risked everything for the sake of fighting against injustice and to bring an influential but false Godman before. If the allegations are wrong, that should mean severe action against these people.

My wife took a very long interview of both Chidarpita and her husband and from its narration, our personal opinion goes more in the favour of believing that they are correct in their allegations. But then this is only a personal opinion and truth can be found only after proper investigation. As Human Rights and Women Rights activists , we take it as a milestone case and await for the final results of allegations to come.

I present the interview that Nutan Thakur had with the husband-wife duo for my friends to form their own opinion to comment on this serious issue

http://www.bhadas4media.com/edhar-udhar/804-2011-12-01-11-18-02.html

Amitabh
President, IRDS,
Lucknow
# 94155-34526

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#12054

From: "Khalid Anis Ansari" <khalidanisansari@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 4:40 pm
Subject: PASMANDA ADHIKAR MAHADHARNA

khalidanisansari@...

Send Email

Dear Friends,

Greetings.

I am attaching the Press Release, Resolution and Pictures of the Pasmanda Adhikar Mahadharna organised by Shoshit Samaj Dal on 26^th November in Lucknow. Your views are very welcome.

Many thanks.

Best regards,

Khalid Anis Ansari

New Delhi

3 of 3 File(s)

PRESS RELEASE SSD MAHADHARNA.docx

Pics Shoshit Samaj Dal Pasmanda Adhikar Mahadharna.pdf

RESOLUTION SSD PASMANDA MAHADHARNA.docx

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#12055

From: "Khalid Anis Ansari" <khalidanisansari@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 4:55 pm
Subject: Pasmanda Adhikar Mahadharna--Links to Speeches

khalidanisansari@...

Send Email

Links to key speeches delivered at Pasmanda Adhikar Mahadharna:

Haji Nisar Ahmad Ansari, President All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (Uttar Pradesh):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g32ni-PcpHE&feature=related

Hashim Pasmanda, Vice President Shoshit Samaj Dal (Uttar Pradesh):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgCqlmJCp5Y

Akhilesh Katiyar, National President (working) Shoshit Samaj Dal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhW2LsHe2UY&feature=related

Anoop Patel, All India Backward Students’ Forum (AIBSF), JNU, New Delhi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7tP_6WQsQ&feature=related

Khalid Anis Ansari

New Delhi

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#12056

From: Chitta Behera <chittabehera1@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 8:53 pm
Subject: From Paris Commune to Occupy Wall Street- camaraderie lives on, with a difference though

chittabehera1@...

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From Paris Commune to Occupy Wall Street camaraderie lives on with a difference though

The Occupy Wall Street campaign has already survived, nay, forged through two and half months of tumult and turmoil since it announced its humble but ambitious beginning in Zuccotti Park (renamed since as Liberty Park) of New York City on 17th September 2011; Humble, because only about 1000 persons, an unrecognizable miniscule by any reckoning, had gathered there to trumpet its epoch-making arrival; ambitious because, going by their incredible credo ‘We are 99%’ they claimed to speak on behalf of a massive multitude of 308, 672000 out of 311,800000 the total US population. However, the stark irony of a microscopic minority speaking in the name of an overwhelming majority started thinning away from the next day on, as the numbers of protestors kept on multiplying not only in New York but in every city small or big all over USA. Not only that; like a prairie fire, the Occupy message spread all over in real time, meeting reception, reciprocation and reinforcement from the enthused people in scores of countries across the globe. The profound dynamicity with which the movement surges forward and the sheer impossibility of tracking the new connections it forges each passing day stamp it with the rare distinction of being both unprecedented and most indomitable one in the entire recorded history of mankind. It seems the common run of people everywhere irrespective of the nature of their respective polities, have veered round to seeing themselves as belonging to 99% and their respective regimes as indigenous miniatures of prototypal Wall Street, which need to be occupied away from a cunning band of rapacious usurpers constituting only 1% of the total populace. Another uniquely welcome, but unintended fall-out that ensued from the campaign trail is the shaping of a new bond of fraternity among diverse segments of world public cutting across every parochial construct, be it around caste or color, race or religion, ethnicity or nationality. The only great divide that emerges more and more cutely and ever into the wide open, after being thrown off from its age-old, secure but shadowy ideological cocoon, and that too under the irresistible force of circumstances beyond anybody’s control, is the one that distinguishes 99% as the pro-changers from the 1% as no-changers vis-à-vis the still ‘respectable’ status quo that obstinately refuses to get blown off by the gushy winds of all-out change.

Like every genuine people’s revolution that messages both denial of the old order and its reconstruction along new lines, Occupy presents a uniquely intertwined blend of the two, worth replicating by the crusaders for justice elsewhere across the globe. And that is also Occupy’s magical quintessence, on account of which it grows up from strength to strength, not in terms of head-count only, but in a far more important sense of moral grit of its countless participants and supporters. At the moment they certainly seek to ‘re-occupy’ the vast space illegitimately ‘occupied’ by the 1% at the expense of the 99%, but as revealed from their free-for-all discourses and cooperative actions, they do also seek to do away with the very category of ‘occupation’ altogether. To be precise, they do as they ought to, declare unto themselves and to the world public at large that they would rebuild their would-be society of 100% with such novel, advanced genius of social engineering that never, ever a shrewd 1% would be escalated atop to ‘occupy’ all the prime treasures of republic riding on the back of 99% and that too with facilitation, both open and disguised, by the sacrosanct State armed with its operational maxim, the Rule of Law so called.

As a matter of fact, the Occupy has also shown its potential to lay down the foundational principles of the new society that ought to replace the existing one. The first such principle is embodied in the very praxis of ‘General Assembly’, which is inscribed thus in the front page of the OWS site itself (http://occupywallst.org), “This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don't need Wall Street and we don't need politicians to build a better society”. If allowed a full scale consummation through prolonged practice by the people themselves, this principle of General Assembly would render the people surely but by degrees, the masters of their own destiny in real, proximate sense of the term. That being so, even if a State exists atop, its principal business would be administration of things, not rule over people, and that too in the service of a plutocratic gang such as the one epitomized by Wall Street.

The next, path-breaking principle of social reorganization germane to OWS campaign which has come to the fore and is gaining ground day by day is the never failing wisdom inherent in a cooperative mode of living and working that stands in glaring contrast to the hackneyed laissez faire mantra of everyone for himself. As regards the composition of OWS crowd, Fred Schwacke from Vermont, USA informs, “They come from many different backgrounds. About one-third of them are skilled craftsmen, and a much smaller number are professionals, doctors, educators, lawyers, merchants, and the like. Although we do not know the occupations of all the participants, the majority are students and from the working class. About two-thirds are under 20; few are over 40. Most are locals, but some came from great distances. They have one thing in common, their committed opposition to a government which ignored the needs of the people in favor of the rich and powerful. Regardless of their financial or social origins, they work as a team of self-sacrificing patriots against an oppressive and seemingly all powerful enemy”. Strange but true, these Americans who were till the other day so much fastidious about the privacy of day-to-day chores, are found today sharing happily, and in common, not only the scanty provisions of food and shelter, but also the challenging burdens of maintaining hygiene and health care, peace and freedom in Occupy sites and above all advocacy before police, administration and courts in defense of the victimized compatriots. Further, it feels reassuring that as the local administration grows more and more violent and oppressive against the protestors the resolve of the latter to cultivate a collective live-in fraternity grows equally stronger. This is how a new social formation, based upon the ‘free association of free individuals’ or briefly ‘associated humanity’ is already germinated within the regimented bounds of a dying society and seeks to wriggle out from its inhospitable confines at the earliest opportunity.

Believe it or not, 140 years back, the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871 was a sparkling harbinger of the new human order that the Occupy Wall Street of 2011 seeks to exemplify and realize today. Hardly a month into its job, the Paris Commune in its Manifesto of 19 April 1871 had unequivocally declared, “Political unity, as Paris wants it, is the voluntary association of all local initiatives, the spontaneous and free concourse of all individual energies in view of a common goal: the well-being, the freedom and the security of all”. In parenthesis it be noted that the 1.2 million of Parisians cutting across the barriers of status and vocation did rise in revolt, not to usher in a new social order as such; rather this societal agenda was ancillary to the twin mortal challenges they were confronted with, namely to save the Republic of France from the marauding Prussian armies in the wake of the defeat and capture of the weakling Emperor Napoleon-III and to defend the self-Government of Paris from the clutches of pseudo-republican M.Thiers then head of National Government, who true to his capitulationism, conspired to surrender Paris to the foreign armies and pro-monarchist lobbies. Encircled by mortal foes domestic and foreign, the bold and self-respecting Parisians had stumbled upon the novel idea of reconstituting their polity into a Commune, a free association of free individuals managing their common affairs on equalitarian principles, which alone could draw out the spontaneous best from its every member. In fact, for two months (from 28 March to 28 June 1871) the Commune did work, and worked wonders, before it finally fell to the overpowering, combined military hordes of Thiers and Prussia.

Among the various factors that caused the fall of Commune, the crucial one, often cited by the later historians, but then unknown to the unsuspecting Communards, was that the Commune instead of taking over the National Bank of France located in Paris itself kept on guarding it zealously and allowed thus their sworn enemies to withdraw as much money from it as they could and employ the same to crush the Commune. It seems, the Occupy Wall Street, going by its monumental nomenclature, is immune to the fetishism inherent to money, the ‘universal whore of mankind’ in the words of Shakespeare, which had entrapped the Communards into their demise 140 years back. It is evident from the following narrative of an average OWS supporter, “Money is only important in a society when certain resources for survival must be rationed and the people accept money as an exchange medium for the scarce resources. Money is a social convention, an agreement if you will. It is neither a natural resource nor does it represent one. It is not necessary for survival unless we have been conditioned to accept it as such”. This is the crux of the enlightenment that informs OWS movement through and through, which the Paris Commune though being the pioneer of ‘associated humanity’ had given it a miss out of sheer naivety.

(Chitta Behera, 4A Jubilee Tower, Choudhury Bazar, Cuttack-9, Orissa, India, Mobile- 9437577546, Email: chittabehera1@..., 2^nd December 2011)

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#12057

From: Gladson Dungdung <gladsonhractivist@...>
Date: Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:14 am
Subject: The illegal arrest, beating and torture of Mr. Bifa Parhiya by the CRPF and Police Jawans in Latehar district of Jharkhand.

gladsonhract...

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JHRM

Jharkhand Human Rights Movement

C/o-Mr. Suleman Odeya, Near Don Bosci ITC Gate, Khorha Toli, Kokar, Ranchi -834001. 0651-3242752 Email: jhrmindia@...

�

Ref: JHRM/NHRC/2011/15�� Date: 1/12/2011

�

To,

Mr. Satyabrata Pal,

Hon�ble Member,

The National Human Rights Commission,

Faridcourt House, Copernicus Marge,

New Delhi-1

�

Sub: For investigation and necessary action on a case of illegal arrest, beating and torture of Mr. Bifa Parhiya by the CRPF and Police Jawans in Latehar district of Jharkhand.

�

Dear Sir,

�

With due respect, I would like to bring your kind attention on a case of illegal arrest, beating and torture of Mr. Bifa Parhiya resident of Baheratand village comes under Latehar Sadar Police Station of Latehar district in Jharkhand by the CRPF and Police Jawans during anti-Naxal Operation on November 11, 2011 in Latehar district of Jharkhand. He comes from one of the primitive tribe groups of the state and the state government has been running several schemes to protect the primitive tribes in Jharkhand.

�

Case details:

An Adivasi Mr. Bifa Parhiya the village head of Baheratand village comes under Latehar Sadar Police Station of Latehar district in Jharkhand was severely beaten by the security forces on November 11, 2011 during the anti-naxal operation codified as �Operation Prahar�.

�

According to Mr. Bifa Parhiya, the CRPF and the police Jawans had arrived at his house on November 11, 2011 and started asking him regarding a case of explosion at Latehar. Since, he was not aware about the case therefore; he could not to respond them. He said that he does not know anything about the case.

�

After hearing his negative response, the Jawans got angry and started beating him with Lathis (stick). They abused him saying that he helps the Maoists while targeting the police and becomes an innocent. The Jawans bet him severely with sticks and one Jawan attacked his eye with a stick. Consequently, he got severe injuries and lost his eye sight.��

�

Thereafter, the Jawans arrested and took him to the police camp and kept him in the camp without food and treatment. The Jawans again tortured him in the camp during the interrogation. On the next day, the villagers protested against illegal arrest, beating and torture of Bifa Parhiya. Consequently, the Jawans released him after taking his thumb impression on a black paper.

�

It is a clear case of illegal arrest, beating and torture, therefore, I request for the following actions for the NHRC.

�

A high level inquiry should be done on the case of illegal arrest, beating and torture of Mr. Bifa Parhiya.
A case of attempt to murder under the section 307 of IPC should be filed against the CRPF and the Police Jawans and officers who were indulged in the case and legal action should be taken against them. �
The victim of illegal arrest, beating and torture Mr. Bifa Parhiya should be given proper treatment in free of cost and compensated.��

Thanking you�

�

Yours sincerely,

Gladson Dungdung

General Secretary,

JHRM, Ranchi ��

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#12058

From: Kavita Krishnan <kavitakrish73@...>
Date: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:23 am
Subject: CPI(ML) Protests FDI in Retail Burns Effigy of Manmohan Singh

kavitakrish73@...

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CPI(ML) Protests FDI in Retail
Burns Effigy of Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, 30 November 2011

Unorganised sector workers, street vendors, and people from all walks of life under the banner of CPI(ML) burnt the effigy of Manmohan Singh at Jantar Mantar in protest against the Government�s decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. The protestors held placards asking, �When New York can show red light to Walmart, why red carpet for Walmart in India?�; �No to Assault of MNCs on India�s Retail Sector!� and �Shame on Manmohan Singh � Agent of MNCs.� A protest meeting was held, which was addressed by activists.��

Addressing the protest, Kavita Krishnan, Central Committee member, CPI(ML), said, �The US envoy has said that the fears that FDI in retail will destroy kirana shops, are misplaced. Can he tell us, then, why the people of New York City have been refusing entry to the US MNC Walmart? If Americans themselves say Walmart will destroy family-run stores and kill jobs, why should we welcome the same destructive Walmart into India? Why is the Government bypassing Parliament and claiming that the decision on FDI in retail needs no Parliamentary debate or approval?�

She said, �How can family-run shops and street vendors in India survive, in competition with the giant MNCs, which can afford to sell at a cheap rate? The Govt. must withdraw this move that will destroy the livelihood of the crores of poor people who eke out survival in the retail sector.�

Santosh Rai, AICCTU�s Delhi General Secretary said, �The Govt. claims FDI in retail will create one crore jobs. How many jobs will it destroy?� In India, there are around 1.2 crore shops, employing 4 crore people. 97% of these are small, self-employed establishments. Moreover, what kind of jobs will it bring? Corporate and MNC retail chains are notorious the world over for the worst paid and most exploitative jobs, disallowing unionisation.�

Sanjay Sharma, Delhi State Secretary, CPI(ML), expressed the party�s support for the countrywide traders� bandh called on 1 December against FDI in retail, saying that such an anti-people move that is being supported only by corporate and MNC lobbies and imperialist powers, and is opposed by the vast majority of Indian people must never be allowed. Delhi CPIML leader Surendra Panchal also spoke in the meeting.

(Govind Uniyal)
Member, State Committee

--
CPI(ML) Liberation
Delhi State Committee
C-90 Z, Jahangirpuri, Delhi-33
Ph: 011-27631584

--
Kavita Krishnan
9560756628

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11_11_30 (54).JPG

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FDI Retail HINDI PressRelease.pdf

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#12059

From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@...>
Date: Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:34 am
Subject: India & America: leading with science, uniting for action on HIV/AIDS - 1 December 2011 - WORLD AIDS DAY

empowersankar

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India & America: leading with science, uniting for action on HIV/AIDS

A. Peter Burleigh

PHOTOS

Every year on December 1, we commemorate World AIDS Day. It is a day to reflect on lives lost, and lives forever changed, as a result of AIDS. It is also an opportunity to pay tribute to more than 34 million people living with AIDS worldwide. Today, we celebrate those lives saved and improved in India and recommit to the fight against AIDS.

Science is the key

On this World AIDS Day, we emphasise science as the way forward. Recent scientific breakthroughs have altered our outlook on the future of AIDS. Of particular importance is a study showing that antiretroviral treatment reduces the likelihood of transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner by a remarkable 96 per cent. For the first time, with this and other tools, we have a potential path to eliminate this disease from the global landscape. By using our new knowledge, we can implement more effective programmes to provide HIV prevention, treatment, and care to millions of people worldwide, and in communities throughout India.

Significant strides have been made in India and throughout the world. Despite early projections of a rapidly expanding epidemic, India has documented remarkable success in limiting HIV transmission. HIV incidence declined by 50 per cent between 2000 and 2009 as a result of successful evidence-based prevention programmes in high-prevalence districts, supported by important policy shifts, and scale-up of care and treatment services for people already infected.

PEPFAR and India

As part of its dynamic partnership with India, the United States, through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), supports evidence-driven and innovative approaches to support India's National AIDS Control Programme. PEPFAR provides expert technical cooperation to address priority areas linked to HIV prevention and treatment, and health system strengthening. For example, the U.S. has funded numerous demonstration projects that subsequently have been adopted and scaled up by the government of India or the private sector, including evidence-based prevention among most-at-risk-populations, private sector HIV service delivery models, helplines, drop-in centres, group insurance for people living with HIV, and workplace HIV programmes. In recent years, we have collaborated with the government of India to develop and implement national policies on gender, migrants, and children affected by AIDS.

Working with India, we are embracing smart investments to save more lives. Throughout the world, treatment — both to save the lives of those infected, and to prevent infection of others — is a key evidence-based intervention, along with prevention of mother-to-child transmission, HIV counselling and testing and other strategies. In all we do, we are focusing on using our resources as effectively and efficiently as possible to maximise the human impact of our investments and save more lives. President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative is using health systems built through PEPFAR to address public health challenges in a more integrated and comprehensive way.

Despite challenging economic times, the U.S. remains committed to its leadership role in the global AIDS response. Meeting the challenge of this disease will require commitment from all parties — including the governments of affected countries, donor governments, civil society, faith-based organisations, and the private sector.

Today, we recognise how far we have come in turning the tide against HIV, while acknowledging the lengths we still must travel. On this World AIDS Day, we stand together with India. With science as the road map, let us renew our efforts to reach the goal of an AIDS-free generation.

( The writer is the Ambassador and Charg� d'Affaires ad interim, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi .)

Today is World AIDS Day, an occasion to reflect on how recent scientific breakthroughs have altered the outlook on the future of the pandemic.

‘Working with India, we are embracing smart investments to save more lives.'

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article2676187.ece

Forwarded by:

---------------------------

Yours in Global Concern,

A.SANKAR

Executive Director- EMPOWER INDIA - Professional Civil Society Organisation

Founder and General Secretary - Confederation of Indian Civil Society Organisation’s (CICSO)

National Convener- National Alliance for Health, Environment and Rights ( NAFHER)

107J / 133E, Millerpuram

TUTICORIN-628 008, TN, INDIA

Telefax: 91 461 2310151; Mobile: 91 94431 48599: www.empowerindia.org

� You are invited to join an E FORUM AIDS-TN. To join this free E Forum kindly send an e mail to AIDS-TN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

� This e Forum moderated by EMPOWER, a Non-profit, Non-Political, Voluntary and Professional Civil Society Organisation.

Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

S.v.p. ne pas imprimer ce courriel � moins d’en avoir vraiment besoin.

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#12060

From: soheb lokhandwala <mpjmedia@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 5:09 am
Subject: CID to probe tribal�s death-Thane(Shahpur case)

mpjmedia@...

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Dear All,

The local Tehsildar has paid Rs.10,000/- and one month Ration has a compensation,which is a meager amount.Jayabai said 'Will this bring back my husband alive?.Jayabai needs Justice the perpetrator of such heinous crime must be punished severely and set an example to the case and give the Katkari community a respect who has being sidelined since long.

It was a Welcome move by Bombay HC to take suo-moto of the report and also the media reporter who made it.

This proactive role of media will make our society and democracy truly vibrant.

Regards

Soheb Lokhandwala

�

A day after the Bombay High Court took suo moto notice of the report published in DNA on Tuesday (Chained, tortured, beaten to death for just Rs6,000), the state government agreed to a criminal investigation department (CID) inquiry into the torture and killing of a Katkari tribal in rural Thane.

Home minister RR Patil announced a CID inquiry into the incident �to establish those who are responsible in burying the case and delaying justice�. When activist Vivek Pandit met Patil on Wednesday, he said: �We will not spare anyone who is found guilty.�

Jhipru Mukane, 35, of Shere village in Thane district�s Shahpur taluka, 100 km from Mumbai, died last Tuesday after being kept chained and tortured into working as a bonded labourer. His wife, Jayabai, had alleged police apathy as they refused to take her complaint.

After the police found themselves under the high court scanner, they swung into action. It also helped that activists Indavi Tupule and Pandit upped pressure on the police by gathering evidence in the presence of tahsildar Sunil Bhutale and senior police inspector Ganpat Pingle.

Between 10pm on Tuesday and 6am the next day, the police not only recorded Jayabai�s statement but also registered offences and arrested the accused, kiln owner Balu Choudhari and his two sons, Ganesh and Bunty. With the arrest, more horror stories of exploitation are emerging

Deepak Bhosale, 35, Kaluram Mukane, 33, Raju Mukane 29, and Ekka Mukane, 31, were also kept fettered and forced into bonded labour by Choudhari and his sons.

�Seeing the barbaric torture of Jhipru, a frail Bhosale escaped,� Tulpule said. �The others have been freed now and they want their statements to be recorded.�

The police, in their hurry to bury the case, had tried to make Mukane�s death look like an accident. DNA is in possession of copies of �eye-witness statements� taken by the police on the night Mukane died. The three bonded labourers have been made eye-witnesses by the police. Each statement is a narration about how Mukane fell, injured himself due to excessive drinking and died.

The activists said Mukane�s case is not rare.

�The Katkaris who live in Pune, Thane and Raigad districts are among five primitive tribes of India and among the poorest. They are being forced into labour-intensive work for inhumanly long hours. I hope this case is an eye-opener for the government,� said Tulpule.

Who are the Katkaris?
Katkaris are among the five primitive tribes of India There are 2,35,022 Katkaris in Pune, Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra.

Largely dependent on forest and fishing, a few these farm labourers also grow paddy.

It is common to see them forced to work as bonded labourers in brick kilns, stone quarries and sand dredging.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_cid-to-probe-tribals-death_1619682

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#12061

From: Kavita Krishnan <kavitakrish73@...>
Date: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:24 am
Subject: Farmers Hold �Kisan Sansad� at Parliament Street: Demand Withdrawal of LARR Bill and FDI in Retail

kavitakrish73@...

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PRESS RELEASE

Farmers Hold �Kisan Sansad� at Parliament Street:

Demand Withdrawal of LARR Bill and FDI in Retail �

�

�In the interests of food security and environment, enact laws to protect agricultural, forest and coastal land from land grab� � Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML)��

�

New Delhi, November 30

�

Hundreds of famers from all over the country gathered at Parliament Street today to hold a �Farmers� Parliament� (Kisan Sansad) on policy issues affecting farmers, including the Land Acquisition Bill and FDI in retail. The Kisan Sansad, organized by the All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM), was attended by farmers from UP, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha and several other states.

Introducing the Kisan Sansad, Rajaram Singh, General Secretary of AIKM, said, �Parliament and Government are pushing through Bills and policies affecting farmers � without even consulting the farmers themselves. This is why we farmers are holding a Farmers� Parliament � to assert farmers� own views on laws and policies affecting them.�

The Kisan Sansad was presided by Ruldu Singh, President, AIKM, AIKM Vice Presidents Kartick Pal, Prem Singh Gehlawat, Devendra Singh Chauhan, Rajaram, as well as CPI(ML) CC Member and former Jharkhand MLA Bahadur Oraon.

The assembled farmers debated resolutions on the LARR Bill and the FDI in retail policy. The Kisan Sansad adopted a resolution demanding withdrawal of the UPA Government�s LARR Bill, declaring it to be a blueprint for land grab. Instead they demanded measures to protect agricultural, forest and costal land from land grab.

Addressing the Kisan Sansad, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, �Land grab threatens not only the survival of farmers but also the country�s food security and environment. The LARR Bill�s provision allowing acquisition of up to 5 percent of multi-crop irrigated area in a district will jeopardize food security. The Government must withdraw the anti-farmer LARR Bill, and instead enact protection for agricultural, forest and costal land in the interests of food security and environment.� He continued, �Land reform laws mandate that government lands be redistributed among the landless. Violating this principle, the LARR Bill paves the way to hand these over to corporates!� He concluded, �The UPA Govt is trying to hand over India�s agriculture and retailing to MNCs and corporates � but the farmers are holding their own Parliament, and tell the Government and Parliament that they will not allow anti-farmer policies to be pushed through.��

The Kisan Sansad also adopted a resolution condemning the Government�s unilateral decision allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. Rajaram Singh, AIKM General Secretary, said, �The PM is claiming that this measure will benefit farmers. In reality, the experience all over the world has shown that giant MNC retail chains tend to source produce mainly from very large farmers and contract farms. Small farmers inevitably lose out, because they cannot match the arbitrary quality standards of these chains. The MNC retailers also arm-twist farmers into selling cheap. Procurement by MNCs will reduce Government procurement, and will mainly divert the produce towards food processing � jeopardizing food security.� FDI in retail will threaten not only small retailers in India, but also small farmers, agriculture and food security, famers felt.

�

The Kisan Sansad also passed resolutions demanding withdrawal of the anti-farmer Seed Bill. They also demanded the release of activists Afroz Alam of CPI(ML) in Uttar Pradesh and Abhay Sahoo, the anti-POSCO leader from Odisha, who have been jailed while leading struggles of rural poor and peasantry.

�

The Kisan Sansad was also addressed by senior journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, Swapan Mukherjee, General Secretary of AICCTU and several others.��

�

The resolutions passed were submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker as well as MPs of all parties, demanding that Parliament heed the opinions of the Kisan Sansad.

�

Rajaram Singh,

General Secretary, AIKM��

--
Kavita Krishnan
9560756628

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11_11_30 Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(ML) Gen Sec addressing Kisan Sansad.JPG

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#12062

From: Ullash Kumar R K <ullaashkumar@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 5:50 am
Subject: a plea from Dr.V.Pugazhenthi

ullaashkumar

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When the Government runs out of science to support its nuclear program, who does it send to do the negotiations? The Police.

Dr. Pugazhendi is, like Dr. Binayak Sen, a gentle but irrepressible spirit. Unlike many other Gold Medallists, he did not go on to make millions by practising unethical medicine in the big commercial hospitals, but went to Kalpakkam to serve as a bare-foot doctor among the poor there. Nothing threatens the Government more than a person with integrity, conscience and courage. We need to rally around Dr. Pugazhendi.

From :

Dr. V.Pugazhenthi MBBS,

1/187, Mudhaliyar Street,

Sadras, Kanchipuram District,

Tamil Nadu, India

603 102

Ph: 8870578769

To: All the Democratically Concerned People of Tamil Nadu, India and the World

Respected Friend, Madem/Sir:

Sub: False Charges filed on me to curtail my professional and democratic duty to warn the people I am serving about the ill effects of the nuclear radiation around the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant

I am a medical doctor practicing in Sadras village near the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, India, since 1989. I was a gold medalist during my undergraduate years at Madurai Medical College, but chose not to pursue higher education because I felt I should work among the poor masses in the villages. I chose Sadras as the place for my practice since I had many friends at Kalpakkam, who happened to work in the Kalpaakam Nuclear Power Plant.

From 1989 to 2000, my professional work was focused principally on serving the Dalit and the Fisher folks. My interests were in Primary Heath Care and I had devised many innovative cost efficient methods to treat the most prevalent diseases among the masses. I had written profusely about these methods in many journals and have published books highlighting these. My work was recognised by the local and national media and they had interviewed me many a times with regard to this. The noted magazine “Outlook” had published an exclusive article about me on 21 June 2004. I was even fondly nicknamed as “One Rupee Doctor” by many magazines that had interview me. I had started a small health awareness movement calledMakkal Nala Vazhvu Pani Iyakkam (Forum for People's Good Life) and had opened a clinic at Vayalur exclusively for this purpose among its Dalit populace. Impressed by my work, former Justice of the Supreme Court Shri.D.K.Basu came unannounced to grace this occasion. (1)

It was during these first 10 years of my professional work I have understood that the chances of the people living around this Nuclear Power Plant to succumb to genetic diseases and various types of cancers was far higher than other places where nuclear power plants are not present. I decided to study this systematically. I got the first opportunity when my colleague Dr.R.Ramesh of Coimbatore asked me whether I could help in conducting a survey on the incidence of Polydactyly ( people with more than 5 fingers/toes in each hand or foot) in this region. This was early 2001 and was related to the public hearing process for the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor scheduled to be held on 27 July 2001. (2) The survey showed a very high incidence and this made me plunge into studying the effects of radiation among the local populace. I have not looked back ever since and have conducted many a health surveys since. I have remained a whistle blower who have ardently asked the Nuclear Power Plant authorities to follow nationally and internationally accepted safety codes. (3) Appreciating my work, I have been asked to become the technical and medical consultant to a group of concerned local citizens on the ill effects of radiation. This group called “ Anuk Kathirveechu Paathukaappukkaana Makkal Iyakkam” (Peoples Movement for Protection Against Nuclear Radiation)” is to conduct a protest on 12 November 2011 against the breech of nationally and internationally laid safety codes by the authorities of the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant. Their contention has valid scientific proofs. People belonging to this movement are working for the past one month to make this protest a successful one.

It is in this background, I received a telephone call at 6 PM on 1 December 2011 from the Puthupattinam police station. The police inspector Mr.Siva Kumar, told me that the Puthupattinam Panchayat Chief had filed a petition against me and whether I could go to the Police Station for an enquiry in this regard. I was busy in my clinic and told him once my works were over I would meet him at the station. I went to the police station at 7.30 PM. I was asked to wait. The police inspector then telephoned the panchayat chief. He arrived at the station by 8..10 PM. The enquiry lasted for about 30 minutes. I left the place by 8.50 PM.

The police inspector narrated the charges filed against me by Mr.Kaliaperumal :

Mr.Kaliyaperumal, the Panchayat Chief of Puthupattinam village has filed a petition against me and one Mr.Nehru. He is charging us both that we had threatened to murder him if he does not cooperate with out anti nuclear work.
The alleged threat was sent to him in the form of an anonymous letter, which he said was penned by Mr.Nehru under my direction.
An SMS to his mobile phone from an unknown mobile phone number had also threatened to murder him. This is also alleged to have been sent by someone close to me under my directions.
Many SMS notes keep coming to his mobile phone from unknown numbers abusing him. He believes that all these SMS notes are sent to him under my directions.
I gave the following replies to the police inspector with respect to the above charges:

1) I do not involve myself in any anti nuclear work. I am only discharging my professional service by telling everyone about the findings culled from my two decade long work and critical studies related to health and nuclear radiation in general and Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant in particular. I am not an organiser of any anti nuclear movement but am and will remain a technical and medical consultant of such movements. Recently I have been asked by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy that spearheads people's agitation against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, to share my professional experiences as one of its panel of experts. Like this, I have shared my experiences and studies with people all around the country.

I have met the Panchayat Chief Mr.Kaliaperumal on various occasions. I have even congratulated him on the day he had won the local election. I have talked to him cordially always. I have explained to him as I explain to everyone I meet, about the issue of nuclear radiation around. As I work as a medical professional and not as a political organiser, where does the question of me threatening him to join my work? My work is to treat, study and share. Where does his charge fit in?

However, as you are asking me a particular question, I state here that I have not at any moment threatened Mr.Kaliaperumal to join an anti nuclear agitation.

I have nothing to do with the anonymous letter that threatens Mr.Kaliaperumal with death. I know Mr.Nehru, but under no circumstance he is working with me. The charge that Mr.Nehru wrote this letter under my influence is a concocted lie.

I have nothing to do with any of the SMS notes that are alleged to be received by Mr.Kaliaperumal.

As I finished with my reply, the police inspector said he has not filed the First Information Report. However, he asked me to give in writing that “I would be present at the police station whenever I am summoned by him for further enquiries. If I am not present for such enquiries, then I agree that the charges kept on me is true.” I told him what that would mean to my daily professional schedule. I explained to him how the poor patients who come to see me from miles afar would deeply suffer. However, he insisted that I should give this in writing. At last, as a good samaritan,I gave him in writing that whenever he summons me I would be present at the police station.

Once I gave him this written note, he told me in a very harsh warning voice: “ Doctor! Do you know that I can book you under national Security Act for whatever the works that you are doing? By the way.... Have you ever heard anything about “police encounter”? So, be careful.”

I remain baffled. However, there's no way my professional and democratic work can be suspended by any force whatever.

I strongly suspect the hand of the authorities of the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant behinnd all this. They are particularly disturbed by the facts I have recently published with respect to the safety codes being practiced by them. They are, I suspect, disturbed by a news that I am about to publish a book that is to question the various safety issues related with the power plant. I think, by intimidating me with such police threats, they believe that they will be able to make the Kalpakkam environment radiologically safe.

I have been open always for discussion with the authorities of the power plant. I have met them many a times and have always shared all the data available with me. However, they have, over the past 10 years have not tried to answer any of my questions in the earnest. Now, I suspect, that they have decided to opt other means to silence my work.

It is in this regard, I request all of you - my democratically minded brethren - to pray and voice for me and my family members.

Sincerely Yours

Dr.V.Pugazhenthi MBBS

Puthupattinam,

Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

2 December 2011

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#12063

From: Sukla Sen <sukla.sen@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 7:36 am
Subject: Gujarat Updates: SC andHC Directives in Sohrabuddin and Ishrat Jahan Cases

suklasen

Send Email

I/II.
http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2011120220111202023802174dac6a2a/Sohrab\
-killing-SC-seeks-Guj-cops%E2%80%99-call-detail-CDs-.html

Sohrab killing: SC seeks Guj cops� call detail CDs

PTI

Posted On Friday, December 02, 2011 at 02:36:17 AM

Pulling up Gujarat government for its failure in handing over
telephone call details of senior police officials pertaining to the
Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter, the Supreme Court on Thursday
directed the state to place before it all CDs in that regard on
Wednesday.

It was hearing a CBI plea challenging Gujarat High Court�s order
granting bail to former state home minister Amit Shah, facing trial
for his alleged involvement in the 2005 fake killing.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai took strong
exception to the state government withholding the CDs containing call
details from the CBI which is probing the case. �On Wednesday, you
(Gujarat government) must have the CDs with you,� the bench said.

It is a very �disappointing� and a �serious matter� that in 9-10 days
of the hearing in the apex court, this information has been withheld,
it said. Gujarat�s Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta assured
the bench that if there is any such CD in the custody of the state, it
would be placed before it on the next date of hearing.

During the proceedings, the bench also asked senior advocate Gopal
Subramanium, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, to point out
the CBI lapses in its probe.

AP govt suppressing info: SCAfter Gujarat, the Andhra Pradesh
government on Thursday came under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court
for protecting its police officials who were allegedly present at the
site where Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed in a fake encounter.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai said that
there is a �deliberate attempt� on the part of Andhra Pradesh not to
provide information to the CBI which is investigating the case. It
pointed out that the register which records the movement of police
officials was not supplied to the probe agency.

II.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/HC-asks-CBI-to-probe-Ishrat-en\
counter/articleshow/10951713.cms

HC asks CBI to probe Ishrat encounter
Saeed Khan, TNN | Dec 2, 2011, 05.09AM IST

AHMEDABAD: A division bench of the Gujarat high court has handed over
investigation in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case to the CBI. This
is the fourth such encounter orchestrated by the Gujarat police to go
to the central agency. The bench of justices Jayant Patel and
Abhilasha Kumari said it was handing over the probe to the CBI because
it could not trust either the special investigation team (SIT) or the
state police to do a credible job.

The judges said in the 148-page order that the court will not monitor
the investigation any further and asked SIT chairman RR Verma to file
a fresh FIR within two weeks and submit a report.

Mumbai girl Ishrat, 19, was killed along with three others - Javed
Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - on
June 15, 2004 by city crime branch sleuths. They were later dubbed as
Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives out to kill chief minister Narendra Modi to
avenge the 2002 riots.

Interestingly, the judges asked IPS officer Satish Verma to help CBI
in the investigation. During a hearing last month, the state had
agreed to a CBI probe, but had objected to any Verma role in the
investigation, saying he was involved in another suspicious encounter.
The brother of a man, who died in police custody in Porbandar in 1996
when Verma was SP there, approached the high court alleging police
inaction against the cop despite orders by HC in 1998. On Thursday too
the state government objected to Verma's name, but the court
disregarded the objections.

The bench observed that the case has now acquired "national, if not
international ramifications". It added that circumstances have now
emerged that put the case in the exceptional category and that CBI
should probe it to instil confidence in the probe. The judges came
down on the state government for opposing an independent inquiry when
its officers had botched up the probe. It also criticized the Centre
for not being able to command its officers. Six top cops have shown
reluctance to investigate the case.

As many as 21 policemen, including IPS officers, are involved in the
encounter. Among the IPS officers are the then Ahmedabad joint police
commissioner (crime branch) P P Pande, then assistant commissioners of
police G L Singhal and N K Amin besides DG Vanzara, who is already in
jail in the Sohrabuddin case.

Advocate I H Syed, who represented Ishrat's mother Shamima Kauser,
said, "This is the perfect order and does complete justice to us. This
is was what we had sought in the original petition. The court giving
liberty to CBI to take help from Satish Verma is amazing."

--
Peace Is Doable

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#12064

From: Ashok Agarwal <ashokagarwal1952@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 8:09 am
Subject: Govt. Schools deny admission to children in violation of RTE Act, 2009

ashokagarwal1952@...

Send Email

Social Jurist

A Civil Rights Group

02.12.2011

The Director of Education,

Govt. of NCT of Delhi,

Old Secretariat Building,

Civil Lines,

Delhi -110054.

Sub: Govt. Schools deny admission to children in violation of RTE Act, 2009

Dear Sir,

In continuation of my phonogram dated 28.11.2011, it is brought to your notice that the Principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, D-Block, Jahangirpuri, Delhi has denied admission to 13 years old Km. Asmina Khatun, D/o Mohd. Ali Hasan, R/o C-546, Jahangirpuri, Delhi-110033 (Mob: 9990469465) in class VI in the academic year 2011-12.

It is also brought to your notice that the Principal of Kamla Nehru SKV, Jungpura, New Delhi has denied admission to Km. Shashi Pandey, Km. Meenakshi Pandey and Master Rajan Pandey, wards of Mrs.Shalini, R/o 49, Jungpura, Masjid Road, Bhogal, New Delhi in Classes KG, II and IV respectively in the academic year 2011-12. These children have lost their father. Compelled by the circumstance, their poor mother who is suffering with 40% disability on account of paralysis in her left leg has moved to Delhi in search of livelihood about six months ago. Luckily, she got the job of maid servant in a lawyer�s house at 49, Jungpura, Masjid Road, Bhogal, New Delhi where she is also staying with these children. She has even submitted written applications dated 18.11.2011 to the Principal of the school but instead of admissions to her children, she has received humiliation.

All the afore-mentioned children are below 14 years of age and wish to study in your schools in age appropriate classes in terms of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 but it is unfortunate that despite several attempts having been made by these children/parents, the afore-mentioned schools have refused admissions, without any justification.

It is also unfortunate that the concerned Deputy Directors of Education are also reluctant to help these hapless students to get them admitted in the schools. It would not be exaggeration to say that the Education Officials are responsible under the law to ensure that children are admitted in the schools.

It is, therefore, requested that you may personally look into this matter ensuring that all the afore-mentioned children are admitted in the aforesaid schools without any further delay.

With regards

ASHOK AGARWAL

Advocate

Advisor � Social Jurist

(M) 9811101923

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#12065

From: Arun Shrivastava <arunshrivastava.1951@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 12:51 pm
Subject: US/Pakistan's Toxic Alliance

arunshrivastava.1951@...

Send Email

Friends,

This is a good article from Steve but he seems to have forgotten to include the Pak-China axis.

That is vital to understand the importance of Pakistan. I don't know the current status of Gwadhar China link.

Gwadhar is a Pakistani port close to the Iranian border. The Chinese have built a modern port there. The idea is to connect Gwadhar through Northern Territories to Western China through a road-rail link. That would save millions to the Chinese to get oil from the west asian producers.

�

Thus far both Russia and China have not intervened which is intriguing. And China's silence can't solely be explained because of their large dollar holding.

�

Very interesting times, these.

�

Kind regards

Arun Shrivastava

�

US/Pakistan�s Toxic Alliance - by Stephen Lendman

Partnering with America has a price. Pakistan's paid dearly. Post-9/11, it's been harmed economically, politically, and strategically. Has its military now had enough and want out? More on that below.

At issue is the latest November 26 incident involving NATO forces killing 24 Pakistani soldiers and injuring 13 others in two remote posts along Afghanistan's border.

Army spokesman General Athar Abbas called the attack "unprovoked and indiscriminate. There was no reason for it. Map references of all our border posts have been passed to NATO a number of time."

General Ishfaq Nadeem called them unprovoked blatant aggression, adding that attacking border checkposts deliberately violates coordination procedures.

Internal calls for investigating these type incidents usually follow. Not this time, except, of course, by NATO to whitewash its responsibility.

Abbas said NATO strikes killed 72 Pakistani troops since 2009. Another 250 were injured. Calling them accidental doesn't wash. Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) denied NATO's claim about responding to live fire on Pakistan's side of the border.

NATO's attack lasted two hours. Senior officers in Peshawar regional headquarters and GHQ Rawalpindi were informed when it started. They immediately asked NATO to stop, saying army troops were targeted. The request was denied.

Following the attack, rage gripped Pakistan. Thousands protested outside Washington's Karachi consulate. People shouted "Down with America." Effigies of Obama were burned. So were US flags.

Protests continue. The Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the attack.

In Peshawar, so did tribal elders, government workers, lawyers, students, journalists, and others. Pakistan's been on the boil for years over drone civilian killings. Hundreds have died. In 2010 alone, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated 957. Many more were injured. Thousands overall may have perished and countless others hurt and maimed.�

Through July 2011, another 443 died. NATO claims only militants are targeted. Reports show about 50 civilian deaths for each combatant. Western media scoundrels say nothing. Cheerleading, not condemning, imperial wars is their stock and trade.

Russia's anger over America's planned offensive missile defense systems near its borders suggests retaliatory measures. President Dmitry Medvedev calls them "advanced offensive weapon systems" targeting Russia, not Iran or other Middle East states.�

Moreover, Russia is deeply concerned about Western intervention in Syria. Its valued Tartus naval base is affected. Protecting it may be prioritized.

Besides strengthening its own military capability, it may cut NATO ties and block Russian supply routes to Afghanistan. Following Washington/Moscow's reset, NATO began transshipping through Russia in 2009. Since then, it's become an important route, now more than ever with strained US/Pakistan relations.

According to Moscow's Institute of Contemporary International Studies deputy director Ivan Safranchuk, Russia plans no immediate response. However, if its concerns aren't addressed, blocking supply routes may happen, he believes.

Pakistan's Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DDC) acted immediately, closing NATO's transit routes to Afghanistan and telling Washington to vacate use of its Balochistan Shamsi base in 15 days. It's used for drone strikes.

DDC also will "revisit and undertake a complete review (of all) programs, activities and cooperative arrangements" with Washington, NATO, and its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Military, "diplomatic, political and intelligence" areas will be addressed. In addition, other cooperative US/NATO/ISAF arrangements will be reassessed.�

Pakistan's Costly US Alliance

NATO's Afghan war gravely impacted Pakistan. Then President Pervez Musharraf was pressured to join cooperate, or else. During a post-9/11 "60 Minutes" interview, he said Washington threatened to bomb Pakistan without it.

Bush administration Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage delivered the message through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) head, saying cooperate or be "bombed back to the stone age." Ambiguity was avoided for bluntness.�

At the time, follow-through was doubtful. Pakistan is nuclear armed, dangerous, and able to strike back hard.

Nonetheless, Musharaff agreed. Secretary of State Colin Powell took full advantage. He demanded use of Pakistan's airspace, closure of its borders with Afghanistan, and use of its territory to launch attacks. In return, Pakistan got billions in mostly military aid.

However, it miscalculated. Early on it estimated spending around $2.7 billion supporting America's Afghan war. Begun on October 7, 2001, ending it by yearend was assumed. Normalcy would follow. Taliban strength would be eliminated. At most, low-intensity conflict would continue with little cross-border effect.

Over 10 years later, war rages. Taliban forces control most of Afghanistan. Pakistan's involvement cost nearly $68 billion. Through 2010, Washington supplied about $18 billion in military and economic aid. Much of it's been conditional on fulfilling US interests. Moreover, it's distributed through NGOs, not directly.

A $50 billion net loss shows much sacrifice with little gain, including internal destabilization perhaps enough to topple Pakistan's government. The economic damage alone shows the results of a bad bargain, especially to a vital "war on terror" partner.

Moreover, bunker mentality grips the country. Barricades and security checks are everywhere. All sorts of problems accompany them. Public anger grows over allying with America.

Insecurity is palpable. It affects everything and touches everyone, including in schools, factories, hospitals, offices, hotels, mosques, and all public spaces. Thousands of civilian lives have been lost. Many thousands more were wounded. Property losses have been huge.�

Pakistan's government has also been impacted. Besides billions of dollars diverted from vital internal needs, about 4,000 soldiers died. Many others were injured.�

In addition, thousands of troops have been deployed along western border areas with Afghanistan. Doing so left its eastern border vulnerable to Indian aggression, its traditional enemy.

Pre-9/11, conditions were entirely different. Today, hotels are virtual bunkers. So are other facilities. Beefed up security is intense. Security forces with guns are everywhere. So are checkpoints and metal detectors. Paying for it is costly, and for what?

Insecurity, not security and stability, was achieved. Public anger is palpable. Military commanders know they've been used and abused. Pakistan's been military-run since artificially created in 1947. Elections when held are rigged.�

Generals run things for Washington as a vassal state. Pakistan is called a military with a country, not the opposite. Its force level, including reservists, tops one million. CIA and FBI agents infest the country. So do Pentagon troops operating out of Pakistan's bases.

Perhaps its officials and commanders now consider changing a relationship gone sour. The latest incident may be used advantageously. The longer it's tied to America's wars, the more its own interests are harmed.

Washington's Afghan adventure was lost years ago. Taliban forces won't quit. Historically, Afghanistan's been disastrous for foreign invaders. Britain and Russia know it well.�

Nonetheless, war continues. America arrived to stay. It wants Afghanistan as a land-based aircraft carrier against Russia and China. Pakistan is better served by allying with both countries. Rebuilding relations with neighbors takes time. India is also on its mind.

On November 2, Pakistan joined Russia, China and Iran in Istanbul opposing continued US presence in Afghanistan post-2014. American deployments everywhere are destabilizing and harmful to regional countries. After paying a big price for years, Pakistan may start disengaging from a destructive arrangement.

A Final Comment

Stratfor's George Friedman believes Pakistan "has no qualms about the Taliban running Afghanistan," and won't challenge them if US forces leave. It also wants Washington's involvement ended. Reasons discussed above explained why.

Doing so will also strengthen relations with Taliban forces. Given America's destabilizing influence, it's also advantageous internally to appear less pro-American.

Following US attacks killing Pakistani soldiers in October 2010, Torkham's border crossing was closed for 10 days. This time, things look more serious, Friedman believes. Uncertainty over continuing this supply route got Washington to negotiate with Russia to transship through its territory.

Keeping it is another matter, given growing Washington/Moscow tensions. Currently, both routes account for about equal amounts of supply movements. However, about 60% of fuel comes through Russia, and by yearend, it may reach 75%, as well as similar percentages of other non-lethal supplies.

America's warmaking ability depends on Pakistan and Russian cooperation. Losing it would be strategically disastrous. Friedman says Washington "hopes the Pakistanis will reconsider and that the Russians are simply blowing off steam. Hope is not a strategy," especially after 10 years of war going nowhere.

Pakistan and Russia, of course, want it ended. They also want US forces out and sent home. Given Washington's strategic aims, accomplishing it is doubtful at best.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@....�

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��

1 of 1 File(s)

PAKISTAN'S TOXIC ALLIANCE.rtf

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#12066

From: Gopal Krishna <krishnagreen@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 1:06 pm
Subject: Press Release : UCC�s Double Standard on Liability for Bhopal Disaster in Supreme Court

mediavigil

Send Email

�

Press Release

�

UCC�s Double Standards in its Affidavit to Supreme Court Condemned

�

High Powered Parliamentary Committee required to internalize corporate liability in Companies Bill, 2011

�

New Delhi, 2 December 2011: ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) strongly disapproves the affidavit filed by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), owned by Dow Chemicals Company in response to the curative petition filed by Union of India in the Supreme Court on November 18, 2011 disowning liability for Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.

�

Unlike in India, in the US Dow settled a case brought against its subsidiary UCC by workers exposed to asbestos in the workplace in January 2002,. The case was filed before acquisition of Union Carbide by Dow. Carbide�s new owner, Dow reached a settlement in the case. The company has set aside $2.2 billion to address future liabilities. Globally companies facing asbestos liabilities seem to be in the process of setting up compensation fund-as an out of court settlement exercise- to escape further civil and criminal liability for knowingly exposing workers, their families and consumers domestically and the world over.

�

TWA demands to know as to how is it that UCC is liable for deaths and diseases due to asbestos exposure in the US but it is not so for deaths and diseases caused by UCC�s Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.

�

The Union of India is right in revisiting the final settlement of all claims arising out of the Bhopal disaster. �The settlement of $470 million was inadequate and unfair. The evidence which formed part of curative petition establishes UCC�s liability.

As long as justice is not given to the victims of Bhopal disaster, the Indian and US legal system must attempt to try UCC for knowingly causing the disaster. Till the time legal remedy is provided to the victims of Bhopal disaster institutions such as Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, 2011, assurances such as those emerging from Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damage Act 2010 will not inspire confidence and the role of Indo-US CEO Forum will remain suspect. �

�

It is high time a High Powered Parliamentary Committee is set up to examine how to ensure transnational corporations like UCC can be made liable irrespective their country of origin and their financial muscle in the aftermath of Bhopal and Fukushima like inevitable and unpredictable disasters. Union Government should desist from introducing The Companies Bill, 2011 without introducing a liability regime for national and transnational corporations. TWA demands that the Companies Bill, 2011 be put out for public comments. �

�

A draft affidavit of the UCC is available with the TWA and it is attached. �

�

For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 9818089660, E-mail: krishna1715@..., Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com ��

�

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UCC Response November 18, 2011.pdf

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#12067

From: Hazards Centre <hazardscentre@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 5:04 pm
Subject: Fwd: IUC2011

hazardscentre@...

Send Email

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hazards Centre <hazardscentre@...>
Date: Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: IUC2011
To: delhi@..., Info-Mysore IUC2011 <info-mysore@...>
Cc: arevi@..., ramesh@..., swati@..., jseddon@..., unna@..., south.asia@..., Arghyam Team <info@...>, dronah@..., renanaj@..., minister-mud@..., contact@..., info@..., jairam54@...

Mr Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha

Ms Swati Ramanathan, Janaagraha

Mr Aromar Revi, Indian Institute of Human Settlements

Prof Shivaramakrishnan, South Asia Studies, Yale University

Arghyam

Dronah

Pratham

Renana Jhabwala, SEWA

Public Health Foundation of India

IFMR Finance Foundation

�

copied to: Mr Kamal Nath (MInister for Urban Development), Ms Kumari Selja (Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation), Mr Jairam Ramesh (MInister for Rural Development)�

Honorable Organisers of the Indian Urban Conferences at Mysore and Delhi,

�

I had written to you all collectively ten days ago, just after the Mysore Conference,�as follows:

�

Thank you for your kind invitation to the Policy conference in Delhi today.
Unfortunately, I received the invitation by post only yesterday and since the security considerations at the venue required pre-registration and issue of a government ID and invitation card, I could not attend.�
However, I was fortunate enough to attend the conference of 'Evidence and Experience' at Mysore just prior to this invitation, and perhaps it would be useful to keep in mind some of the events there.
The Mysore event was prefaced by a call, at the inaugural session, for "evidence-based argument". However, during the course of the proceedings (which I could attend) I noted down at least a dozen 'self-evident' axioms which the speakers (cutting across industry, government, academia, agencies, and financial institutions) evidently held dear and clung on to with great belief. I note down these axioms because they seem to be fundamental to the direction in which the IUC is taking this country's cities and towns:
1. The private sector provides efficient public services through investment (Narayanmurthy)
2. Poverty eradication follows economic growth as in the developed nations (Selja)
3. Inclusive development requires data (Gulyani)
4. More infrastructure will absorb more labour (Kundu)
5. Professionals in urban governance have to be trained in special institutions (Phatak)
6. Markets are fair and equal to everybody (Mitra)
7. Cities are engines of economic growth and the solution to social problems (Sridhar)
8. Access to finance leads to improvement in living standards (Koh)
9. Unique identity removes corruption (Bansal)
10. State can act for social welfare in spite of elite capture (Kundu)
11. Stock of low cost rental housing is required to replace slums (Anand)
12. Modern global cities can preserve cultural diversity and optimise resource use (Singh)
What is interesting about the above statements is that they were all offered without any proof whatsoever and, in many cases, when they were challenged - with supporting data - from the floor, the speakers had no convincing arguments to offer. What most of them had to say was, "We hope it will happen in future". This is evidently not "evidence-based argument".
It is on the basis of such flimsy theoretical positions that the organisers are approaching this policy conference. They are also completely ignoring the rich experience of participatory and inclusive urban development that exists with practitioners within the country - but which does not gell with their own beliefs. This was evident from many of the sessions where the representatives from financial institutions made clear that there was a $10 billion market in the informal sector but they would extend credit to it only when sufficient 'data' was available of the credit-worthiness of the individuals within the sector - which is what the entire exercise of "participatory data collection" is all about.
If this is the political thrust of the IUC to push policy makers in India to follow a failed GDP growth and speculative market based model (with so much evidence of that coming in currently from all over Europe, the United States, and earlier from Latin America and South East Asia) then it is also a question about who will have to be accountable for the disaster that looms in the coming years? I hope the conference reflects on this question too.
Regards
Dunu Roy

�

Since in these ten days, there has neither been any�message that has bounced back nor has there been any reply from any of you, may I assume that your collective silence implies�that you agree with the proposition that you are ideologically following a failed GDP and speculative market based model? And that you have no respect for your own call for "evidence-based debate"? And that this was the thrust at the Delhi conference too - as is evidenced by a series of assertive and politically loaded articles subsequently by Mr Ramanathan on "markets for the poor"?

�

So I hope I have your indulgence to make this correspondence public on the many e-networks available so that more people may know how you all are dogmatically following your own biased opinions and trying to influence policy makers in India to follow a path that may be disastrous for the public welfare - without, I should add, even any semblance of response to the balanced public criticism�of such a path.

�

Regards

Dunu Roy

�

�On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 6:04 PM, Hazards Centre <hazardscentre@...> wrote:

Thank you for your kind invitation to the Policy conference in Delhi today.

�

Unfortunately, I received the invitation by post only yesterday and since the security considerations at the venue required pre-registration and issue of a government ID and invitation card, I could not attend.

�

However, I was fortunate enough to attend the conference of 'Evidence and Experience' at Mysore just prior to this invitation, and perhaps it would be useful to keep in mind some of the events there.

�

The Mysore event was prefaced by a call, at the inaugural session, for "evidence-based argument". However, during the course of the proceedings (which I could attend)�I noted down at least a dozen 'self-evident' axioms which the speakers (cutting across industry, government, academia, agencies, and financial institutions)�evidently held dear and clung on to�with great belief. I note down these axioms because they seem to be fundamental to the direction in which the IUC is taking this country's cities and towns:

�

1. The private sector provides efficient public services through investment (Narayanmurthy)

2. Poverty eradication follows economic growth as in the developed nations (Selja)

3. Inclusive development requires data (Gulyani)

4. More infrastructure will absorb more labour (Kundu)�
5. Professionals in urban governance have to be trained in special institutions (Phatak)

6. Markets are fair and equal to everybody (Mitra)

7. Cities are engines of economic growth and the solution to social problems (Sridhar)

8. Access to finance leads to improvement in living standards (Koh)

9. Unique identity removes corruption (Bansal)

10. State can act for social welfare in spite of elite capture (Kundu)

11. Stock of low cost rental housing is required to replace slums (Anand)

12. Modern global cities can preserve cultural diversity and optimise resource use (Singh)

�

What is interesting about the above statements is that they were all offered without any�proof whatsoever and, in many cases, when they were challenged - with supporting data - from the floor, the speakers had no convincing arguments to offer. What most of them had to say was, "We hope it will happen in future". This is evidently not "evidence-based argument".

�

It is on the basis of such flimsy theoretical positions that the organisers are approaching this policy conference. They are also completely ignoring the rich experience of participatory and inclusive urban development that exists with practitioners within the country - but which does not gell with their own beliefs. This was evident from many of the sessions where the representatives from financial institutions made clear that there was a $10 billion market in the informal sector but they would extend credit to it only when sufficient 'data' was available of the credit-worthiness of the individuals within the sector - which is what the entire exercise of�"participatory data collection" is all about.�

�

If this is the�political thrust of the IUC to push policy makers in India to follow a failed GDP growth and speculative market based model (with so much evidence of that coming in currently from all over Europe, the United States, and earlier from�Latin America and South East Asia) then it is also�a question about�who will have to be accountable for the disaster that looms in the coming years? I hope the conference reflects on this question too.

�

Regards

Dunu Roy

--
Hazards Centre
92-H, Third floor, Pratap Market,
Munirka, New Delhi -110067
Postman Beat Code - 06
Ph: 011-26714244, 26187806
Email: hazardscentre@...
Website:http://hazardscentre.in/

�� http://hazardscentre.com/

--
Hazards Centre
92-H, Third floor, Pratap Market,
Munirka, New Delhi -110067
Postman Beat Code - 06
Ph: 011-26714244, 26187806
Email: hazardscentre@...
Website:http://hazardscentre.in/

�� http://hazardscentre.com/

--
Hazards Centre
92-H, Third floor, Pratap Market,
Munirka, New Delhi -110067
Postman Beat Code - 06
Ph: 011-26714244, 26187806
Email: hazardscentre@...
Website:http://hazardscentre.in/

�� http://hazardscentre.com/

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#12068

From: ramesh patnaik <drameshptk@...>
Date: Fri Dec 2, 2011 5:53 pm
Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] From Paris Commune to Occupy Wall Street- camaraderie lives on, with a difference though

drameshptk@...

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It is wondering C. BEHERA!
YOU COULD COMPLETE PARIS COMMUNE WITH OUT NAMES OF MARX AND ENGELS.

REGARDS
RAMESH PATNAIK
09440980396

.........................................................................................................................

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 2:23 AM, Chitta Behera <chittabehera1@...> wrote:

�

From Paris Commune to Occupy Wall Street camaraderie lives on with a difference though�
�
The Occupy Wall Street campaign has already survived, nay, forged through two and half months of tumult and turmoil since it announced its humble but ambitious beginning in Zuccotti Park (renamed since as Liberty Park) of New York City on 17th September 2011; Humble, because only about 1000 persons, an unrecognizable miniscule by any reckoning, had gathered there to trumpet its epoch-making arrival; ambitious because, going by their incredible credo �We are 99%� they claimed to speak on behalf of a massive multitude of 308, 672000 out of 311,800000 the total US population.� However, the stark irony of a microscopic minority speaking in the name of an overwhelming majority started thinning away from the next day on, as the numbers of protestors kept on multiplying not only in New York but in every city small or big all over USA. Not only that; like a prairie fire, the Occupy message spread all over in real time, meeting reception, reciprocation and reinforcement from the enthused people in scores of countries across the globe. The profound dynamicity with which the movement surges forward and the sheer impossibility of tracking the new connections it forges each passing day stamp it with the rare distinction of being both unprecedented and most indomitable one in the entire recorded history of mankind. It seems the common run of people everywhere irrespective of the nature of their respective polities, have veered round to seeing themselves as belonging to 99% and their respective regimes as indigenous miniatures of prototypal Wall Street, which need to be occupied away from a cunning band of rapacious usurpers constituting only 1% of the total populace. Another uniquely welcome, but unintended fall-out that ensued from the campaign trail is the shaping of a new bond of fraternity among diverse segments of world public cutting across every parochial construct, be it around caste or color, race or religion, ethnicity or nationality. The only great divide that emerges more and more cutely and ever into the wide open, after being thrown off from its age-old, secure but shadowy ideological cocoon, and that too under the irresistible force of circumstances beyond anybody�s control, is the one that distinguishes 99% as the pro-changers from the 1% as no-changers vis-�-vis the still �respectable� status quo that obstinately refuses to get blown off by the gushy winds of all-out change.��

Like every genuine people�s revolution that messages both denial of the old order and its reconstruction along new lines, Occupy presents a uniquely intertwined blend of the two, worth replicating by the crusaders for justice elsewhere across the globe. And that is also Occupy�s magical quintessence, on account of which it grows up from strength to strength, not in terms of head-count only, but in a far more important sense of moral grit of its countless participants and supporters. At the moment they certainly seek to �re-occupy� the vast space illegitimately �occupied� by the 1% at the expense of the 99%, but as revealed from their free-for-all discourses and cooperative actions, they do also seek to do away with the very category of �occupation� altogether. To be precise, they do as they ought to, declare unto themselves and to the world public at large that they would rebuild their would-be society of 100% with such novel, advanced genius of social engineering that never, ever a shrewd 1% would be escalated atop to �occupy� all the prime treasures of republic riding on the back of 99% and that too with facilitation, both open and disguised, by the sacrosanct State armed with its operational maxim, the Rule of Law so called.

As a matter of fact, the Occupy has also shown its potential to lay down the foundational principles of the new society that ought to replace the existing one. The first such principle is embodied in the very praxis of �General Assembly�, which is inscribed thus in the front page of the OWS site itself (http://occupywallst.org), �This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don't need Wall Street and we don't need politicians to build a better society�. If allowed a full scale consummation through prolonged practice by the people themselves, this principle of General Assembly would render the people surely but by degrees, the masters of their own destiny in real, proximate sense of the term. That being so, even if a State exists atop, its principal business would be administration of things, not rule over people, and that too in the service of a plutocratic gang such as the one epitomized by Wall Street.

The next, path-breaking principle of social reorganization germane to OWS campaign which has come to the fore and is gaining ground day by day is the never failing wisdom inherent in a cooperative mode of living and working that stands in glaring contrast to the hackneyed laissez faire mantra of everyone for himself. As regards the composition of OWS crowd, Fred Schwacke from Vermont, USA informs, �They come from many different backgrounds. About one-third of them are skilled craftsmen, and a much smaller number are professionals, doctors, educators, lawyers, merchants, and the like. Although we do not know the occupations of all the participants, the majority are students and from the working class. About two-thirds are under 20; few are over 40. Most are locals, but some came from great distances. They have one thing in common, their committed opposition to a government which ignored the needs of the people in favor of the rich and powerful. Regardless of their financial or social origins, they work as a team of self-sacrificing patriots against an oppressive and seemingly all powerful enemy�. Strange but true, these Americans who were till the other day so much fastidious about the privacy of day-to-day chores, are found today sharing happily, and in common, not only the scanty provisions of food and shelter, but also the challenging burdens of maintaining hygiene and health care, peace and freedom in Occupy sites and above all advocacy before police, administration and courts in defense of the victimized compatriots. Further, it feels reassuring that as the local administration grows more and more violent and oppressive against the protestors the resolve of the latter to cultivate a collective live-in fraternity grows equally stronger. This is how a new social formation, based upon the �free association of free individuals� or briefly �associated humanity� is already germinated within the regimented bounds of a dying society and seeks to wriggle out from its inhospitable confines at the earliest opportunity.

Believe it or not, 140 years back, the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871 was a sparkling harbinger of the new human order that the Occupy Wall Street of 2011 seeks to exemplify and realize today. Hardly a month into its job, the Paris Commune in its Manifesto of 19 April 1871 had unequivocally declared, �Political unity, as Paris wants it, is the voluntary association of all local initiatives, the spontaneous and free concourse of all individual energies in view of a common goal: the well-being, the freedom and the security of all�. In parenthesis it be noted that the 1.2 million of Parisians cutting across the barriers of status and vocation did rise in revolt, not to usher in a new social order as such; rather this societal agenda was ancillary to the twin mortal challenges they were confronted with, namely to save the Republic of France from the marauding Prussian armies in the wake of the defeat and capture of the weakling Emperor Napoleon-III and to defend the self-Government of Paris from the clutches of pseudo-republican M.Thiers then head of National Government, who true to his capitulationism, conspired to surrender Paris to the foreign armies and pro-monarchist lobbies. Encircled by mortal foes domestic and foreign, the bold and self-respecting Parisians had stumbled upon the novel idea of reconstituting their polity into a Commune, a free association of free individuals managing their common affairs on equalitarian principles, which alone could draw out the spontaneous best from its every member. In fact, for two months (from 28 March to 28 June 1871) the Commune did work, and worked wonders, before it finally fell to the overpowering, combined military hordes of Thiers and Prussia.��

Among the various factors that caused the fall of Commune, the crucial one, often cited by the later historians, but then unknown to the unsuspecting Communards, was that the Commune instead of taking over the National Bank of France located in Paris itself kept on guarding it zealously and allowed thus their sworn enemies to withdraw as much money from it as they could and employ the same to crush the Commune. It seems, the Occupy Wall Street, going by its monumental nomenclature, is immune to the fetishism inherent to money, the �universal whore of mankind� in the words of Shakespeare, which had entrapped the Communards into their demise 140 years back. It is evident from the following narrative of an average OWS supporter, �Money is only important in a society when certain resources for survival must be rationed and the people accept money as an exchange medium for the scarce resources. Money is a social convention, an agreement if you will. It is neither a natural resource nor does it represent one. It is not necessary for survival unless we have been conditioned to accept it as such�. This is the crux of the enlightenment that informs OWS movement through and through, which the Paris Commune though being the pioneer of �associated humanity� had given it a miss out of sheer naivety.

(Chitta Behera, 4A Jubilee Tower, Choudhury Bazar, Cuttack-9, Orissa, India, Mobile- 9437577546, Email: chittabehera1@..., 2^nd December 2011) ��

--
Ramesh Patnaik
Member, Secretariat,
All India Forum for Right to Education

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#12069

From: Shaheen Ansari <ansarishaheen@...>
Date: Sun Dec 4, 2011 3:54 pm
Subject: Fwd: Promises to Keep

ansarishaheen@...

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FYI

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harsh <manderharsh@...>
Date: 4 December 2011 11:20
Subject: Promises to Keep
To: Harsh <manderharsh@...>

Dear Friends,

Some of you may recall that we had released� a Report titled �Promises to Keep� in Feb 2011, to review the government follow up to the findings on grave development deficits by the Sachar Committee. The Report was emphatically rejected by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, including in Parliament. We stand by the broad conclusions of the Report, but needed to make a few factual corrections, and to footnote with justifications some other contested findings. We attach herewith our amended Report. Please feel free to share, circulate and debate.

Warm regards,

Harsh

�

Harsh Mander

Centre for Equity Studies,

105/6-A, Adhchini

Aurobindo Marg,

Opposite Cafe Coffee Day,

New Delhi - 110017

�

The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference.

Elie Weisel Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate

�

Dr. Shaheen Ansari
Arkitect India
1067-F, Near Dargah Sharif, �Ward No. 7

Mehrauli, New Delhi- 110030

http://educationatdoorsteps.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arkitectindia/

1 of 1 File(s)

Sachar study Revised Nov 9, 2011.doc

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#12070

From: urvashi sharma <rtimahilamanchup@...>
Date: Sun Dec 4, 2011 1:41 pm
Subject: RTI tool in the hands of future-india

rtimahilaman...

Send Email

Hello,

Please invite all students (class 9-12) in your domain to the "Hello
RTI" - Student Right to Information Awareness Campaign.
Date: December 10, 2011
Venue: Ravindralaya, Charbagh, Lucknow

Here is how to register:
1: By calling "Hello RTI" Helpline at : 09235463936
2: By registering online at www.yoo.in/rti
3: By emailing you name and contact details to i@...

Please Print, Tag, Share and forward the message to as many as possible.

regards
urvashi sharma

-> event poster attached

1 of 1 Photo(s)

poster.jpg

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#12071

From: Ullash Kumar R K <ullaashkumar@...>
Date: Sun Dec 4, 2011 11:58 am
Subject: pls sign the petition

ullaashkumar

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http://www.change.org/petitions/doctor-victimized-for-speaking-radiation-truth-in-tamil-nadu

ullash kumar r k

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#12072

From: Karthik Navayan <navayan@...>
Date: Sat Dec 3, 2011 8:42 am
Subject: Ambedkar Memorial Lecture - 26. Land Problem in Ambedkar Perspective Speaker P.Shivakami, IAS (VRS), On 6th December 2011 at 5:30PM

navayan@...

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Ambedkar Memorial Lecture - 26. Land Problem in Ambedkar Perspective Speaker P.Shivakami, IAS (VRS), On 6th December 2011 at 5:30PM
Press Club Basheerbagh, Hyderabad. Organised by : Ambedkar Memorial Trust Registered No 75/1984 Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

--

B.Karthik Navayan,

http://karthiknavayan.wordpress.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/karthiknavayan/

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#12073

From: Arun Shrivastava <arunshrivastava.1951@...>
Date: Sat Dec 3, 2011 11:07 am
Subject: Obama Issues Ron Paul �Kill Order� As Russia Prepares For War

arunshrivastava.1951@...

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Friends,

Please read this warning belwo, print it, and keep it.

We have seen it all, our time could be next. Every citizen of every country must accept the fact that American Banksters now are in full control of the US and European Governments and they control the military.

Our own politicians are nothing but their puppets. That is how these politicians have amassed�so much wealth and that is why no western government wants to close secret bank accounts.

I have also warned that POSCO project is a banksters' surrogate war on India...in that sense it is a test case. If Government of India capitulates, rest assured that every asset of this proud nation will come under their control. The US and European Governments are all slaves of these banksters. Read the lines below:

�

"So concerned has the Kremlin become about the growing American fascist police state it caused General Nikolai Makarov, Russia�s top military commander, to issue a warning to the West last week that the Motherland was fully prepared for a nuclear World War III and which prompted the Obama regime to state that it would immediately cease observing their arms treaty with Russia."

�

Do you know the implication of a NUCLEAR WAR? This US President has gone berserk; the US administration and that of NATO countries are mad dogs. They have no respect for their own citizens as this Senate Bill clearly demonstrates.

�

Take this very seriously and warn all your friends and relations in the US.

�

Kind regards

Arun Shrivastava

�

Obama Issues Ron Paul �Kill Order� As Russia Prepares For War

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27980

Global Research, December 1, 2011
The European Union Times - 2011-11-30

The Federal Security Service (FSB) is reporting today that the �secret letter� sent to Prime Minister Putin by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda contains a warning that United States President Barack Obama has issued an executive-level �kill order� against US Congressman Ron Paul over fears this charismatic politician, who many believe could capture the Republican Presidential 2012 nomination, is about to expose to all Americans what can only be described as the largest mass theft in human history. The �kill order� is a metaphor for silencing down congressman Ron Paul in the mass media as if he doesn�t exist.

According to this report, Prime Minister Noda first became aware of this �kill order� after a private meeting with Obama at last weeks ASEAN Summit meeting in Indonesia when the American President expressed his �unconstrained joy� over the toppling of the Greek and Italian governments in bloodless coups by EU banksters who installed to run these countries unelected former Goldman Sachs executives.

Not known to many Americans is that the giant global investment firm Goldman Sachs put Obama into office by being its top donor and after winning the Presidency put so many of its former executives into the US government it is known as the �Wall Street Cabinet.�

The reason for Goldman Sachs, and other top American and European banksters, putting Obama into office, this report continues, was to loot the Americans taxpayers of an estimated $100 Trillion�nearly $30 Trillion of which went directly into the pockets of international banksters around the world and another $70 Trillion in lost home values, stock portfolios and pensions funds.

The main conduit of this massive theft was the US Federal Reserve System which during the 2008 Financial Crisis secretly doled out, without the American peoples knowledge, over $16 Trillion to European banks and companies and another nearly $8 Trillion in �secret loans� to the largest banks in the United States.

Causing Obama and his bankster allies to fear Ron Paul, this report continues, is the Congressman�s ability to hold US Congressional hearings on the $8 Trillion in secret loans to the largest banks in American without the public�s knowledge exposing this largest theft in human history and laying bare for all to see the total criminality of their entire elite political, financial and corporate class.

Though the US mainstream media has virtually ignored Ron Paul�s candidacy the American people themselves appear to have broken through this deliberate government ordered blackout of his Presidential run as evidenced by his rise in the polls in the first campaign States of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which should he win them all would assure him the Republican nomination.

The fears Ron Paul is causing among Americas elite classes appear to be justified as he recently likened the US Federal Reserve System to �drug addiction� warning that the deception it has foisted upon the public will lead to the destruction of the United States.

Ron Paul further warned the American people this year that their nation was becoming a �police state,� called for the impeachment of Obama for ordering the assassination of an American citizen without charges or trial, and stated that Obama had violated the War Powers Act over his actions against Libya.

Ron Paul�s fears of a police state America being ruled by a dictatorial tyrant were confirmed yesterday when the US Senate, in a 61-37 vote gave, for the first time in history, the power to the US Military to hold citizens without charges or trial indefinitely by passing a bill that was written in secret and never openly debated.

So frightening is this new law that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the days prior to its passing warned, �The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president�and every future president � the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself.�

Most ominous in this FSB report is its stating that the �assassination regime� ordered against Ron Paul by Obama may already be underway as one of the US foreclosure fraud whistleblowers subpoenaed by Ron Paul to testify before the US Congress named Tracey Lawrence was found �suicided� yesterday in Las Vegas.

The destruction of anyone found opposing the Obama regime and its bankster backers was, also, brought into sharp relief this week by the smearing by mental illness allegations of one of America�s top heroes US Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, who in September received the Congressional Medal of Honor from Obama (who called him one of the most �down-to-earth guys that you will ever meet�) for saving the lives of 36 of his comrades, but after he alerted the press that his employer defense contractor BAE Systems was selling high-tech sniper rifles to Pakistan that are being used to kill America Soldiers was labeled as a �drunk and mentally ill.�

So concerned has the Kremlin become about the growing American fascist police state it caused General Nikolai Makarov, Russia�s top military commander, to issue a warning to the West last week that the Motherland was fully prepared for a nuclear World War III and which prompted the Obama regime to state that it would immediately cease observing their arms treaty with Russia.

To if the American people will be able to rally around Ron Paul before he is assassinated by the Obama regime it is not in our knowing, other than to note that in a country where every public demonstration � however peaceful and orderly it might be � is ordered by their authorities to be treated as the equivalent of a prison riot, where the former police chief of Seattle blamed the militarization of local US police forces on Obama�s Homeland Security Department, and where the media is described as being nothing more than a �lapdog� for Obama and his bankster allies, the likelihood of these people escaping the worst horrors to come do, indeed, seem inescapable.

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#12074

From: Sukla Sen <sukla.sen@...>
Date: Sat Dec 3, 2011 11:34 am
Subject: After Fukushima: Enough Is Enough

suklasen

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/opinion/magazine-global-agenda-enough-is-enoug\
h.html?_r=1

December 2, 2011
After Fukushima: Enough Is Enough
By HELEN CALDICOTT

The nuclear power industry has been resurrected over the past decade
by a lobbying campaign that has left many people believing it to be a
clean, green, emission-free alternative to fossil fuels. These beliefs
pose an extraordinary threat to global public health and encourage a
major financial drain on national economies and taxpayers. The
commitment to nuclear power as an environmentally safe energy source
has also stifled the mass development of alternative technologies that
are far cheaper, safer and almost emission free � the future for
global energy.

When the Fukushima Daiichi reactors suffered meltdowns in March,
literally in the backyard of an unsuspecting public, the stark reality
that the risks of nuclear power far outweigh any benefits should have
become clear to the world. As the old quip states, �Nuclear power is
one hell of a way to boil water.�

Instead, the nuclear industry has used the disaster to increase its
already extensive lobbying efforts. A few nations vowed to phase out
nuclear energy after the disaster. But many others have remained
steadfast in their commitment. That has left millions of innocent
people unaware that they � all of us � may face a medical catastrophe
beyond all proportions in the wake of Fukushima and through the
continued widespread use of nuclear energy.

The world was warned of the dangers of nuclear accidents 25 years ago,
when Chernobyl exploded and lofted radioactive poisons into the
atmosphere. Those poisons �rained out,� creating hot spots over the
Northern Hemisphere. Research by scientists in Eastern Europe,
collected and published by the New York Academy of Sciences, estimates
that 40 percent of the European land mass is now contaminated with
cesium 137 and other radioactive poisons that will concentrate in food
for hundreds to thousands of years. Wide areas of Asia � from Turkey
to China � the United Arab Emirates, North Africa and North America
are also contaminated. Nearly 200 million people remain exposed.

That research estimated that by now close to 1 million people have
died of causes linked to the Chernobyl disaster. They perished from
cancers, congenital deformities, immune deficiencies, infections,
cardiovascular diseases, endocrine abnormalities and radiation-induced
factors that increased infant mortality. Studies in Belarus found that
in 2000, 14 years after the Chernobyl disaster, fewer than 20 percent
of children were considered �practically healthy,� compared to 90
percent before Chernobyl. Now, Fukushima has been called the
second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl. Much is still uncertain
about the long-term consequences. Fukushima may well be on par with or
even far exceed Chernobyl in terms of the effects on public health, as
new information becomes available. The crisis is ongoing; the plant
remains unstable and radiation emissions continue into the air and
water.

Recent monitoring by citizens groups, international organizations and
the U.S. government have found dangerous hot spots in Tokyo and other
areas. The Japanese government, meanwhile, in late September lifted
evacuation advisories for some areas near the damaged plant � even
though high levels of radiation remained. The government estimated
that it will spend at least $13 billion to clean up contamination.

Many thousands of people continue to inhabit areas that are highly
contaminated, particularly northwest of Fukushima. Radioactive
elements have been deposited throughout northern Japan, found in tap
water in Tokyo and concentrated in tea, beef, rice and other food. In
one of the few studies on human contamination in the months following
the accident, over half of the more than 1,000 children whose thyroids
were monitored in Fukushima City were found to be contaminated with
iodine 131 � condemning many to thyroid cancer years from now.

Children are innately sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of
radiation, fetuses even more so. Like Chernobyl, the accident at
Fukushima is of global proportions. Unusual levels of radiation have
been discovered in British Columbia, along the West Coast and East
Coast of the United States and in Europe, and heavy contamination has
been found in oceanic waters.

Fukushima is classified as a grade 7 accident on the International
Atomic Energy Agency scale � denoting �widespread health and
environmental effects.� That is the same severity as Chernobyl, the
only other grade 7 accident in history, but there is no higher number
on the agency�s scale.

After the accident, lobbying groups touted improved safety at nuclear
installations globally. In Japan, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. � which
operates the Fukushima Daiichi reactors � and the government have
sought to control the reporting of negative stories via telecom
companies and Internet service providers.

In Britain, The Guardian reported that days after the tsunami,
companies with interests in nuclear power � Areva, EDF Energy and
Westinghouse � worked with the government to downplay the accident,
fearing setbacks on plans for new nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power has always been the nefarious Trojan horse for the
weapons industry, and effective publicity campaigns are a hallmark of
both industries. The concept of nuclear electricity was conceived in
the early 1950s as a way to make the public more comfortable with the
U.S. development of nuclear weapons. �The atomic bomb will be accepted
far more readily if at the same time atomic energy is being used for
constructive ends,� a consultant to the Defense Department
Psychological Strategy Board, Stefan Possony, suggested. The phrase
�Atoms for Peace� was popularized by President Dwight Eisenhower in
the early 1950s.

Nuclear power and nuclear weapons are one and the same technology. A
1,000 megawatt nuclear reactor generates 600 pounds or so of plutonium
per year: An atomic bomb requires a fraction of that amount for fuel,
and plutonium remains radioactive for 250,000 years. Therefore every
country with a nuclear power plant also has a bomb factory with
unlimited potential.The nuclear power industry sets an unforgivable
precedent by exporting nuclear technology � bomb factories � to dozens
of non-nuclear nations.

Why is nuclear power still viable, after we�ve witnessed catastrophic
accidents, enormous financial outlays, weapons proliferation and
nuclear-waste induced epidemics of cancers and genetic disease for
generations to come? Simply put, many government and other officials
believe the nuclear industry mantra: safe, clean and green. And the
public is not educated on the issue.

There are some signs of change. Germany will phase out nuclear power
by 2022. Italy and Switzerland have decided against it, and
anti-nuclear advocates in Japan have gained traction. China remains
cautious on nuclear power. Yet the nuclear enthusiasm of the U.S.,
Britain, Russia and Canada continues unabated. The industry,
meanwhile, has promoted new modular and �advanced� reactors as better
alternatives to traditional reactors. They are, however, subject to
the very same risks � accidents, terrorist attacks, human error � as
the traditional reactors. Many also create fissile material for bombs
as well as the legacy of radioactive waste.

True green, clean, nearly emission-free solutions exist for providing
energy. They lie in a combination of conservation and renewable energy
sources, mainly wind, solar and geothermal, hydropower plants, and
biomass from algae. A smart-grid could integrate consuming and
producing devices, allowing flexible operation of household
appliances. The problem of intermittent power can be solved by storing
energy using available technologies.

Millions of jobs can be created by replacing nuclear power with
nationally integrated, renewable energy systems. In the U.S. alone,
the project could be paid for by the $180 billion currently allocated
for nuclear weapons programs over the next decade. There would be no
need for new weapons if the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals � 95
percent of the estimated 20,500 nuclear weapons globally � were
abolished.

Nuclear advocates often paint those who oppose them as Luddites who
are afraid of, or don�t understand, technology, or as hysterics who
exaggerate the dangers of nuclear power.

One might recall the sustained attack over many decades by the tobacco
industry upon the medical profession, a profession that revealed the
grave health dangers induced by smoking.

Smoking, broadly speaking, only kills the smoker. Nuclear power
bequeaths morbidity and mortality � epidemics of disease � to all
future generations.

The millions of lives lost to smoking in the era before the health
risks of cigarettes were widely exposed will be minuscule compared to
the medical catastrophe we face through the continued use of nuclear
power.

Let�s use this extraordinary moment to convince governments and others
to move toward a nuclear-free world. Let�s prove that informed
democracies will behave in a responsible fashion.

Helen Caldicott, a pediatrician, is founding president of Physicians
for Social Responsibility. A native of Australia, she left her Harvard
Medical School post in 1980 to work full-time on anti-nuclear
education.


--
Peace Is Doable

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