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61 people killed as 2 trains crash in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:49:00 +0000

SAINTHIA, India – Mithun Mahato was fast asleep on an overnight train before an enormous jolt awakened him and he panicked because his coach was flipping over. He lay with his leg broken for five hours, crushed under dead bodies of other passengers as he waited for help.

The powerful crash between two express trains at a station in eastern India early Monday morning killed 61 people and injured scores more. The force of the crash was so intense the roof of one car was thrust onto an overpass above the tracks.

Accidents are common on India's sprawling rail network, one of the world's largest, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error. An investigation into the cause was started.

It was the second major train crash in the state of West Bengal in the past two months. On May 28, a passenger train derailed and was hit by an oncoming cargo train in a crash that killed 145 people. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for that crash.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the site, raised the possibility that Monday's crash could have been another case of sabotage. But there no immediate indication that rebels were to blame, and railway officials said the cause of the crash was unclear.

The crash happened about 2 a.m. when the fast-moving Uttarbanga Express slammed into the Vananchal Express as it was leaving the platform at Sainthia station, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Calcutta.

Two passenger cars and a luggage car of the Vananchal Express were destroyed, leaving a tangle of twisted metal. The passenger cars were reserved for those on the cheapest tickets and such carriages are usually packed to capacity.

Local residents climbing through the debris searching for survivors were later joined by rescue workers using heavy equipment to cut through the metal.

"I had fallen asleep and woke up when I felt an enormous jolt and then suddenly I felt my coach turning over," said the 22-year-old Mahato, who was heading to the eastern city of Ranchi where he works at a call center.

"Three or four passengers fell on top of me and my right leg broke. I lay there crushed under dead bodies for a long time. At least three people sitting next to me in the coach died."

"I was trapped there in horrible pain until rescue workers with gas cutters cut into the coach and pulled me out." He was pulled out around 7 a.m., nearly five hours after the crash.

A passenger on the Vananchal Express, Mohammed Iris, 52, managed to crawl out of his coach an hour after it overturned.

"I was awake when the accident happened. Our train had been given the signal to move but it had barely started moving when I felt an enormous jolt and then I felt the coach turning over."

"Some 8-10 people fell on top of me and my left thumb was almost severed from my hand."

When he finally managed to crawl out, local residents pulled him to safety.

"When I crawled out it was only local people who helped me. They risked their lives to pull me out of the train."

Both men, along with most other crash survivors, were being treated at a government hospital.

Rescuers recovered 61 bodies from the crash site and at least 125 other people were injured, said Surajit Kar Purkayastha, a top police official. The two drivers of the Uttarbanga Express were among the dead.

Rescue teams arrived about three hours after the accident, a local resident said. Before that locals scrambled to help survivors out of the trains and to pull out bodies.

"For many hours it was just the local residents helping and it was very difficult to help without any equipment," the unidentified man told NDTV television channel.

Police official Humayun Kabir told NDTV, however, rescue workers reached the site within an hour of the crash.

By late Monday afternoon, rescue operations were nearly complete, said Samir Goswami, a railway spokesman. Cranes and laborers were working to remove the mangled coaches so the tracks could be cleared and train services resumed.

Animal-like treatment of Naxals in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:50:00 +0000

http://naxal.jharkhand.org.uk

Train derails in Jhargram (Bengal) after tracks blown up, 80 Killed

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:31:00 +0000

A passenger train derailed in West Bengal on early Friday after the tracks were blown up, local media reported. A freight train then struck the derailed train.

At least 80 passengers were killed and 200 injured when 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound Kurga Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe derailed on Friday morning after the tracks were blown up, officials said. A freight train then struck the derailed train.

One local government official said the toll could go up to "anywhere around 50-60" because many passengers were trapped inside mangled coaches.

The incident happened at 1:30 a.m. local time near Jhargram, a municipality in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal.

Naxal rebels are suspected to be behind the bombing. The insurgency started as rebellion in the village of Naxalbari in 1967 and has now spread to central and eastern parts of the country.

Man sacrificed at Kali temple in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:50:00 +0000

A beheaded like sacrificed, blood splattered torso of a 25 years old man was found outside of a temple of the Kali* goddess at Paruldanga Village in Birbhum district of West Bengal.

According to the local news report, the body of the man was first spotted by the temple priest around 5 AM, when he went for morning prayers on 15 April 2010. The torso was found near the altar placed in front of the temple, where marigold flowers and incense sticks, bloodstains were also found on the altar for animal sacrifices.

Jai Maa Kali

An Adivasi youth and his wife were detained for questioning after sniffer dogs led the police to their house.

Unfortunately, the sacrifice of goats is part of the worship of Kali goddess and sometimes it has been traced the secret practices of Human sacrifice, though it is illegal in India.

Sacrifice of goats in temple is very common in eastern part of India. Whenever I envisage the childhood memory of seeing such sacrifices from own eyes, it compels me think that, why even highly educated people (including celebrities) prioritise their superstitions and queue up in temple to sacrifice a goat, whenever they get a new achievement in their life such as new job, child or marriage etc.

* Kali is a goddess of power in Hindu religion; Kali is widely worshipped in eastern parts of India and has several forms but popular in a benevolent mother figure and a dark and violent annihilator of evil wearing a garland of skulls.

+ Kali is also worshipped by some Adivasi or tribal people in India.

Sudesh Kumar

J H A R K H A N D

www.jharkhand.org.uk

Email: sudesh.kumar@jharkhand.org.uk or, sudesh.kumar@jharkhand.org.in

Storm killed 120 people in Bengal, Bihar and Assam

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:30:00 +0000

A ferocious storm ravaged parts of West Bengal and Bihar, leaving 120 people dead, destroying thousands of houses and snapping power and communication lines overnight, officials said Wednesday.

At least 39 people were killed in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district while in neighbouring Bihar's border districts of Araria, Purnia, Kishanganj and Supaul the toll was 77 and also in Assam where four persons perished in one district in the storm that struck at midnight last night.

The high velocity storm, which lasted almost an hour, uprooted hundreds of trees, caused widespread damage to crops and killed a large number of cattle head in both states.

West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee described the situation as "very grave". More than 50,000 houses were destroyed in the state.

The storm, with wind speeds of up to 120 km an hour, broke out around 10.30 p.m. Tuesday and swept through four blocks of North Dinajpur district. Eighteen people died in the worst affected Karandighi block. Jalpaiguri was also hit hard.

"The ferocity was such that it twisted trees. That is why I feel it was more than a mere norwester (a storm common in this part of the country)," said Mukherjee, who hails from Dinajpur.

"Not only mud houses, even pucca houses did not escape its wrath. There is no power supply. Land telephone and mobiles are not working. We are trying to maintain a semblance of contact with district officials through police wireless," the minister said over the phone.

In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar confirmed the deaths of 49 people in the violent storm that lashed the state.

"We have got information till now that 29 people were killed in Purnia, 18 in Araria and one each in Kishanganj and Supaul," Nitish Kumar told mediapersons after an aerial survey of affected areas Wednesday evening.

Principal Secretary (Disaster Management Department) Vayasji told IANS: "A storm with high wind velocity hit the entire Seemanchal region, including Araria, Purnia and Kishanganj, and badly disturbed normal life."

"Thousands of people have been rendered homeless and many thatched houses severely destroyed," he said.

Araria District Superintendent of Police S.S. Thakur said an old wall of Araria jail collapsed following which "police decided to shift 650 inmates to Purnia jail".

Bihar has announced Rs.1.5 lakh compensation for the next of kin of those killed. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: "I have asked district officials to provide relief to affected people soon."

With inputs from 14 April 2010 / IANS / PTI

116 killed in Bengal and Bihar by storm

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:51:00 +0000

A ferocious storm ravaged parts of West Bengal and Bihar, leaving 116 people dead, destroying thousands of houses and snapping power and communication lines overnight, officials said Wednesday.

At least 39 people were killed in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district while in neighbouring Bihar's border districts of Araria, Purnia, Kishanganj and Supaul the toll was 77.

The high velocity storm, which lasted almost an hour, uprooted hundreds of trees, caused widespread damage to crops and killed a large number of cattle head in both states.

West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee described the situation as "very grave". More than 50,000 houses were destroyed in the state.

"The ferocity was such that it twisted trees. That is why I feel it was more than a mere norwester (a storm common in this part of the country)," said Mukherjee, who hails from Dinajpur.

In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar confirmed the deaths of 49 people in the violent storm that lashed the state.

"Thousands of people have been rendered homeless and many thatched houses severely destroyed," he said.

Araria District Superintendent of Police S.S. Thakur said an old wall of Araria jail collapsed following which "police decided to shift 650 inmates to Purnia jail".

Bihar has announced Rs.1.5 lakh compensation for the next of kin of those killed. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: "I have asked district officials to provide relief to affected people soon."

With inputs from 14 April 2010 / IANS / PTI

Deadly Naxal Attack killed 24 soldiers in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:07:00 +0000

India's home minister Tuesday condemned an attack by Maoist rebels on a military outpost in eastern India that killed 24 soldiers and injured three.

The attack by the Naxalites on a paramilitary outpost near a rural market in the eastern state of West Bengal inflicted one of the highest number of casualties in a single-day on the Indian security forces battling the rebels, officials said. The severity of the attack underscored the challenges facing the ruling Congress party-led government in taming the rising insurgency.

The attack Monday was "another outrageous attempt by the banned organization to overawe the established authority," Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in a statement. He called on Indian citizens to condemn the violence and to help end "the menace of Naxalism, and bring development and progress to the people in the conflict zones."

In the past, Mr. Chidambaram has said the government is ready for talks with the rebels should they give up the use of violence.

A top Maoist leader who called local media late Monday to claim responsibility for the attack, said his group was ready to start talks with the government if it ended its offensive against the rebels.

The latest attack showed the audacity and change in tactics by the Naxalites, even as the government has ratcheted up its offensive against the insurgents over the past year.

"It was the first kind of attack with so much planning and firepower that we witnessed from them," said Pandey Santosh, additional superintendent of police for West Medinipur.

A group of 100 armed Maoists in plainclothes mingled with the local market crowd Monday, then laid siege to the makeshift paramilitary camp there, where about 60 paramilitary personnel were resting after the day's patrol.

"They threw grenades from all sides before the forces could think of retaliating," Mr. Santosh said. He said the insurgents sped off in motorcycles and vans before disappearing into a nearby forest.

In recent years, the Naxalites, who advocate the overthrow of the Indian government, have made significant inroads in the center and south of the country. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called Naxalism the biggest internal-security challenge India faces.

The government has deployed an increasing number of security forces to fight the Naxalites and regain territory lost to them.

The death toll in the insurgency rose 36% to 1,125 in 2009, compared with the year earlier, according to India's Ministry of Home Affairs. Last week, Mr. Chidambaram said it was possible the trend of rising casualties would continue this year, too.

Medinipur is one of the three districts of West Bengal with a heavy Naxalite presence. West Bengal is the home to the Naxalites. The movement derives its name from the Naxalbari village in West Bengal, where it began as a peasants' uprising in the late 1960s.

WSJ / 16 Feb

Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it.

More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India's "greatest internal security challenge".

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India's 600-odd districts.

Landmines

The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC.

"The Maoists then burnt down the camp and planted landmines on the entire length of the road leading to the camp. Reinforcements with night vision and anti-landmine vehicles reached the camp late at night," Mr Nigam said.

At least 24 bodies have been recovered from in and around the camp and some of them are badly charred, he said.

The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The seriously injured troops were being taken to the state capital, Calcutta, for treatment. Officials said at least 12 soldiers were still missing.

It took four hours for reinforcements to reached Silda as there were landmines planted on the entire stretch of the road.

Police officials leading the reinforcements that reached Silda late at night said many of the paramilitary troops were shot dead by the rebels as they tried to escape the fire.

West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh said there were nearly 50 ERF troops in the camp when the attack took place.

The Maoists pulled out of Silda after looting a huge amount of weapons from the camp's armoury.

Chief of the rebels' military wing, Koteswara Rao - alias Kishenji - claimed responsibility for the attack.

He said this attack was the beginning of "Operation Peace Hunt", the Maoist answer to the government "Operation Green Hunt" launched against the Maoists recently.

"We are looking for peace but we are forced to fight and kill the poor troops of the government forces. We will mourn the death of those killed but the government is responsible for their death," Kishenji told the BBC by phone from an undisclosed location.

The Maoist leader warned of more such attacks unless Operation Green Hunt was stopped.

Earlier this month Home Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting of four Maoist-affected states - West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa - in Calcutta.

He threatened to intensify Operation Green Hunt if the rebels did not start talks by abjuring violence.

The Maoists said they would agree to talks if four of their senior leaders now in jail were released and Operation Green Hunt was halted.

The government has not responded to that conditional overture.

BBC / 16 Feb 2010

Cop beheaded by Naxal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:07:00 +0000

Kalyan Bera, the brother-in-law of Sanjoy Ghosh, has a question for Kishenji. "I want to ask him, if you are fighting for the poor, then why did you kill Ghosh?"

The son of a daily wage earner from Satragachi near Kolkata, Ghosh had joined the State Armed Police just 16 months ago, nine months of which were spent in the jungles training and guarding a police camp in Bankura. Yesterday, the jawan returned home, his head beheaded, his hands chopped off and with multiple wounds on his torso. He was 23, and the only earning member of his family.

Ghosh was abducted by Maoists from the Satnala camp in Bankura and is believed to have been killed on January 25-26. His mother Pratima can't get over the shock of the sight of his body. "You need not strike so many times and so brutally to kill a man. I don't know who the Maoists are and what they are fighting for. How could they kill a poor family's son, our only support?" she sobs. "It did not resemble a human body," mumbles Bera.

Father Tapan Ghosh, who used to work as a contract labourer at construction sites, had only recently taken a break after Sanjoy got the job. At 63, he may have to return to the job again. While two of his daughters are married, he has to still marry the youngest, 27-year-old Rupa. It was Rupa who last spoke to Sanjoy on January 25 evening. "I spoke to him at 7.30 pm. He could talk only briefly, saying he was going out on duty and would call later," says Rupa. Next day afternoon, the family came to know he had died from television. Family members say they hadn't been told he had been abducted, nor if the Maoists had put forth any demands.

Rupa still remembers the toil Sanjoy put in to get into the State Armed Police. "For three years, he got up early in the morning and went to the nearby ground to practise. We did not have any money to support his studies after Class X, so he got enrolled at a technical training institute in Belur for an electrician's course. He used to cycle all the way to Belur."

Sanjoy last came home on January 12, in fact, to appear for a diploma examination for his electrician's course and had promised to return in February. There were other promises he made, remembers his father, small promises that looked possible in the certainty of a government job. "Every monsoon, the small room in our house would go under water. Water would also seep in from the holes in the ceiling. Sanjoy used to say he would repair those soon," he says.

With no politician paying even lip-service at their 16/2 Kankarapara lane house, barely 30 km from Kolkata, the family isn't sure what compensation they will get. An official at Writers' Buildings says that the family of any policeman killed in a Maoist attack gets Rs 15 lakh, and continues to get the salary he was getting. Sanjoy's grandmother Chaina Ghosh hopes the government gives Rupa a job. "The family can then survive at least," she says.

Friday , Jan 29, 2010 / IndianExpress

Public Hearing on Public Distribution System, Bender, Bolangir

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:01:00 +0000

Public Distribution System (PDS) means distribution of essential commodities to a large number of people through Fair Price Shops on a recurring basis in the country. PDS evolved as a major instrument of the Government's economic policy for ensuring availability of food grains to the public at affordable prices as well as for enhancing the food security for the poor. It is an important constituent of the strategy for poverty eradication and is intended to serve as a safety net for the poor. PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments. The Central Government has taken the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of food grains, etc. The responsibility for distributing the same to the consumers through the network of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) rests with the State Governments. The operational responsibilities including allocation within the State, identification of families below poverty line, issue of ration cards, supervision and monitoring the functioning of FPSs rest with the State Governments. PDS, till 1992, was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target. Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was launched in June 1992 in 1775 blocks throughout the country. In 1997, it was made targeted with the introduction of below poverty line. Now PDS is available for two categories of beneficiaries like Below Poverty line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) . The state wise BPL quota is fixed by the Planning Commission of India on the basis of official poverty line which is adjusted to growth of population in interim. The poverty line is based on Per Capita Daily Income standard Rs 17 for the urban and Rs 12 for the rural (As fixed in the year of 1993-1994).

2. PDS in Orissa

PDS in Orissa work through a well organized network of different agencies, like Dept. of Food Supply and Consumer welfare, State Civil Supply Corporation, Food Corporation of India, District Administration, Store Agent, Dealers and Gram Panchayat starting from procurement of food to distribution to the beneficiaries. While the department of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare is the apex body at the state level to decide the policy maters, the State Civil Supply Corporation as well as the Food Corporation of India procures the food grain from the farmers. At the district the district administration deals with distribution through store agent and Panchayat. Responsibility for distribution of food-grain to the consumers vary from district and to district. While Gram Panchayat has been given responsibility to distribute rice in some districts like Bolangir and Nuapara , dealers have been given responsibility in other districts like Puri, Cuttack etc. In some in accessable pockets like in tribal areas, it is distributed in mobile van.

As per the 1997 survey, the total no of house hold under BPL category in Orissa is 45, 02,809, out of 67, 84,127 no of house hold. It amounts 66.377% of total household.

3. Entitlements of beneficiaries under TPDS

Since august 2008, Govt. of Orissa is distributing 25 kg of rice @ Rs. 2.00 per kg to all BPL families through out the state. But in KBK region, APL families are entitled to get 25 kg rice @ Rs. 2.00 per kg. per beneficiary. Besides that each APL family is entitled to get 15 kg of wheat per month @ Rs. 7.00 per kg and four litres of kerosene @ Rs. 9.50 per litres. Besides rice, BPL families are entitled to get 2 kg of sugar @ Rs. 13.50 per kg and four litres of kerosene.

4. Supreme Court on PDS

Hearing the writ petition case ( case no. 196/2001) of PUCL vs Govt. of India , the Supreme Court has passed several interim orders directing both Central and State Govt. for transparent, efficient and effective implementation of food security programme including PDS within last eight years. . Some salient features of the order with regard to PDS is as follows.

a. 35kg. of food grain should be given to BPL card holders at subsidized price.

b. A fixed address is not necessary to get a ration card. Even homeless people are entitled to ration cards.

c. People have full rights to copies of the records of any rations shop, within 15 days period after giving a written request and payment of the prescribed fee, to ensure that there is no black marketing.

d. In the event of corruption in TPDS, strong criminal action should be taken under the Essential Commodities Act.

e. Eligible People who are denied the BPL-TPDS card can apply to a designated authority in the state. In case of denial of the card by the designated authority people can apply to an appellate authority in the district, within 30 days of the denial order from designated authority, who shall give the decision as far as practicable within 60 days. Till the appeal is pending, the Appellate Authority may direct that the order under appeal shall not take effect. This means that an aggrieved person may be issued a temporary BPL-TPDS card.

f. In case the aggrieved person feels, he can lodge an FIR against the officials denying him a card.

g. The monthly ration should be provided to the beneficiary in installments.

h. It is the legal duty of all Fair Price Shop owners, to:

· keep their shops open during the stipulated period

· charge only the prescribed price

· give the BPL cards to the card holders, and not keep these in FPS itself

· not make false entries in the BPL cards

· not store or sell the grain in open market

· not hand over such ration shops to other person/organizations. The license of all shop-owners who do not comply with these provisions should be cancelled.

On dated 8^th May'2002, Supreme Court held that

a. Gram Sabhas are entitled to conduct a social audit into all food/employment schemes and to report all instances of misuse of funds to the respective implementing authorities who shall on receipt of such complaints, investigate and take appropriate action in accordance with law.

b. Gram Sabhas are empowered to monitor the implementation of the various scheme and have access to relevant information relating to , inter alia, section of beneficiaries and the disbursement of benefits. The Gram Sabhas can raise their grievances in the matter set out above and the redressal of the grievances shall be done accordingly.

c. On a complaint being made to the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat/ Collector regarding non-compliance of the order of this court, the concerned CEO/ Collector shall record the salient features of the complaint in a register maintained for this purpose , acknowledge receipt of the complaint and forthwith secure compliance with this Court's order.

d. The responsibility for implementation of the order of this court shall be that of the CEO/Collector. The Chief Secretary will ensure compliance with the order of this court.

5. Why Public Hearing

Proper implementation of any programme and scheme depends the involvement and participation of the people at grass-root level. It also requires constant monitoring of the community. Public Hearing is a tool and being used as open platform to air the grievances of the poor and marginalized, debate and discuss the problem of the people. It is also a platform where the victims, the suffered, the suppressed and exploited and the person responsible for suffering of the people, the officials, media, and intelligentsia come together and share their views about the problem and possible solution.

Keeping it in view, since 2002, "The Humanity" has been engaged in organising mass mobilization and series of public hearings for effective implementation of food security programme in the state in general and Bolangir district in particular. . The organization has also conducted series of training to sensitise the Panchayat representatives, volunteers about food security schemes and Supreme Court judgment in this regard. The organization has also published booklets, pamphlets, posters on this issue as part of mass awareness programme. A band of volunteers has been developed in the district to independently monitor the implementation of food security programme. During the campaign, the organization has taken a lot of issues relating to irregularities, corruption and mismanagement of PDS in Bolangir district starting from making complaint to filling case in High Court.

6. Public Hearing on PDS

A public Hearing on PDS was organized at Bender Gram Panchayat under Khaprakhol Block of Bolangir district on 17.12.09. 250 people including Ward members, BPL and APL beneficiaries, NGOs, Journalists, women SHG members had participated in the programme. This hearing was organized by a Janasunwai Manch ( Committee of the people for Public Hearing), Bender and technical guidance was given by local NGO called "The Humanity". Mr. , local volunteer had coordinated the programme. Though all Block level officials like Block Development Officer, Khaprakhol, Supply Inspector, were invited to the meeting, nobody turned up. However, Mr. Hiradhar Majhi, Naib Sarapanch, Mrs. Sushila Majhi, Samiti Member, Ward members, Mr. Prahallad Padhi, Press Reporter Naxatra TV, Mr. Dusmant Pattnaik, Social Activist, Mr. Pradeep Pradhan, The Humanity, Mr. Siris Khamari, Press Reporter, Doordarshan were present in the meeting.

The objective of the public hearing was as follows:

a. To provide a platform to the people to speak the problems confronted by them in course of accessing the benefits from Public Distribution System implemented by the Govt. and to know how PDS has ensured food security of the poor and deprived section of society.

b. To sensitise the people about their entitlements in PDS

c. To find out collective solution to address the issues relating to implementation of PDS.

d. To sensitise both officials in Government, media and Panchayat Raj representatives about the issues.

Status of PDS and allotment of different items to the beneficiaries in Bender GP as per information received from Gram Panchayat.

Total No. of villages	6
Total Population	2761
Total Family	781
Total beneficiaries covered under PDS	728
Total BPL Families	576
Total APL Families	152
Allotment of Rice given to per BPL families per month	25 kg @ Rs.2/- per kg
Allotment of kerosene given to per BPL families per month	4 litrers @ Rs 9.30 per litre
Allotment of Sugar given to per BPL families per month	2 kg @ Rs. 13.50 per kg
Allotment of Rice given to per APL families per month	25 kg @ Rs.2/- per kg
Allotment of wheat given to per APL families per month	15 kg @ Rs. 7.00 per kg
Allotment of kerosene given to per APL families per month	4 litrers @ Rs 9.30 per litre

Prior to Public Hearing, a survey was conducted to understand the accessibility of the beneficiaries to PDS items within the six months (from June to November'09). Total no. of 176 families were interviewed and their response was documented. At the outset, Mr. Karunakar Bhoi, local volunteer presented the report of the findings of the survey in the meeting. Then the people testified malpractice in PDS and shared their experience in the meeting.

a. As per Govt. Guideline, each BPL family is entitled to get 2 kg of sugar per month. But all the people present in the meeting complained that they have not received sugar since several months. Some beneficiaries said that they have received 1 kg or 1.5 kg of sugar in the month of Nuakhai festival (September). However survey was made among 152 families out of total 576 BPL families in the Panchayat. Within last six months taken for survey, it was found that 152 surveyed families have received just 284 kg of sugar against 1824 kg (12kg per beneficiary within six months). It means each household has received just 1800 gram of sugar during last 6 months. Total 576 no. of BPL families are entitled to get 6912 kg (69.12 quintals). If it is calculated in context of availability of sugar per surveyed household, then it is found that total BPL families have received 1036.8 kg. It means around around 5875.2 kg sugar has been black-marketed within six months. Its market price will be Rs. 2, 11, 507. 20 ( at the rate of Rs. 36/- per kg).

( Please see details in Annexture-1)

b. In respect of distribution of kerosene, survey was made covering 175 families (152 BPL and 23 APL). It was found that total surveyed families have received 2002 liters in six months against 4200 litres ( 24 litres per family). It means each family has received just 11.44 litres of kerosene. It is calculated in context of this figure, then total no. of 728 families of this Panchayat (both BPL and APL) have received 8328.32 litres against 17,472 litres. It means around 9143.68 litres of kerosene has been black-marketed by the dealers. It's market price will be Rs. 1, 82,873.60 ( at the rate of Rs. 20/- per litre). (Please see details in Annexture-1)

C. As per Govt. circular, each APL beneficiary is entitled to get 15 kg of wheat per month at the rate of Rs. 7.00 per kg. When we started survey, it was found that the APL list is neither available in the office of Gram Panchayat nor Block office. During door to door survey, the people complained that dealers have distributed wheat on their own wish without following the list. However, it was found from the Panchayat Office that total no. of APL families are 152. We surveyed only 23 APL cards making personal interview of the beneficiaries. As we found repetition of the cases, the survey was restricted to only 23 families. It was found that most of the families have received only 7 kg of wheat. However, it was found that within six months, total no. of surveyed 23 families has received 374 kg against 2070 kg of wheat they are entitled to get it. Each family has received just 16.20 kg of wheat against 90 kg within six months. If we take this figure in context of accessibility of wheat by 152 APL beneficiaries, they have just received 2462.4 gram against 13,680 kg. It means around 11,202.4 kg has been misappropriated by the dealers. It's market price will be Rs. 1, 68, 036.00( at the rate of Rs. 15 per kg).

D. As per Government Instruction, each BPL beneficiary is entitled to get 25 kg of rice per month. But the beneficiaries complained that they do receive 20 to 23 kg of rice from office of Gram Panchayat. In every packet containing 50 kg worth of rice, there is always shortage of 4 to 5 kg of rice in each packet.

Testimony presented

Shiba Sardhar, BPL beneficiary	Village-Bhaluchuan
I have not got kerosene 2 litres thrice during last six months. The dealer never supplied 4 litres of kerosene in our Panchayat. Though I complained, dealer never responded it.

Parameshwar Bariha, BPL beneficiary	Village-Badimal
I have received 2 litres of kerosene thrice in the last six months. BPL and APL beneficiaries are distributed just 2 litres of kerosene in each month. Dealers distribute kerosene in two days in a month. If one remains absence in these days, he or she losses kerosene in this month.

Narayan Pradhan, APL beneficiary	Village-Bender
Sugar is not distributed regularly. During last six months, I have received 1.5 kg of sugar in one month and 2 kg of sugar in another month.

Megharaj Kumvar, APL beneficiary	Village-Bender
While taking rice from Panchayat, I requested to Panchayat executive Officer to give rice in proper measurement. Because they always give 4 to 5 kg shortage of rice in every month. Panchayat Executive Officer threatened me to put behind the bar, if I talked much. I could not speak anything and left the place. Any complaint invites harsh talk from PEO.

Jayasuddhin Bariha, APL beneficiary	Village-Badimal
I have received APL Card. I have received rice twice in 2008. One day, Panchayat Executive Officer came to my house and said that you are no more APL Card holder. Your card got cancelled. I was not provided rice. I complained to BDO, Khaprakhol about it. He said that he would see it. I am not receiving rice now.

Surya Bag, APL beneficiary	Village-Badimal
Sugar is not distributed in our Panchayat. However in the month of September'08, dealer distributed sugar to the beneficiaries. The day sugar was distributed, my husband was absent. On return I told him about distribution of sugar. On next day, he went to dealer and Panchayat thrice to get sugar. But dealers said that sugar is finished.

Debaki Bhoi, APL beneficiary	Village-Kandeichhapar
She received rice twice in 2008. Panchayat Executive Officer withdrew the card suddenly. Since last one year, she is not receiving rice.

d. It was common complaint that each BPL family gets 20 to 23 kg per month against 25 kg fixed by Govt. On this point clarification from Gram Panchayat is that because of shortage of rice in bags, we could not provide 25 kg rice to each beneficiary per month.

Participating in the meeting, corruption in PDS was discussed in Panchayat Samiti meeting. I have raised this issue that rice , wheat and kerosene is not distributed properly. But nothing happened. I demanded that responsibility for distribution of PDS should be given to the women SHGs. So that they can manage it properly.

After testimony presentation made by the beneficiaries, the details of issues was discussed in the meeting. The following recommendation was unanimously passed for effective implementation of PDS in the Panchayat.

A team will meet BDO, Khaprakhol within five days and discussed about complaints presented in the meeting.
District collector will be presented a memorandum about large scale irregularities, black-marketing of PDS item in the Panchayat and demanded enquiry into the matter and take appropriate legal action against those directly or indirectly responsible for it.
Demand will be made for formation of a monitoring committee at GP level to monitor the implementation of PDS and the administration should recognize it.
Massive awareness needs to be taken up to sensitise the people about their entitlements in Food security programme in general and PDS in particular.

Report prepared by

Karunakar Bhoi

At- Mahurundi, Post- Khaprakhol

Dist- Bolangir

Annexture-1

Details of analysis of Survey made on PDS in the period of six months ( from June to November'09) in Bhanpur Gram Panchayat of Bolangir district. Total No. of 122 beneficiaries surveyed

Kerosene

A BPL family is entitled to get kerosene within six months	24 litres
Surveyed 175 BPL/APL families are entitled to get kerosene within six months	4200 litres
Actual quantity of kerosene received by these 175 surveyed families within six months	2002 litres
Availability of kerosene per household during six months	11.44 litres ( approximately)
Total no. of 728 ( both BPL and APL) beneficiaries deserve to get quantity of kerosene within six months	17,472 lires
Total quantity of actual kerosene received by these 728 families within six months	8328.68 litres
Black-marketing of kerosene within six months in the Panchayat	9143.32 litres
Market price of this black-marketed kerosene ( at the rate of Rs. 20/- per litre)	Rs. 1,82,873. 60/-

Wheat

An APL family is entitled to get wheat within six months	90 kg
Surveyed 43 APL families are entitled to get wheat within six months	2070 kg
Actual quantity of wheat received by these 43 APL surveyed families within six months	374 kg
Availability of wheat per household during six months	16.200 kg
Total no. of 152 beneficiaries deserve to get quantity of wheat within six months ( 152 X 90 kg)	13,680 kg
Total quantity of actual wheat received by these 152 families within six months	2462.4 kg
Corruption in distribution of wheat within six months in the Panchayat	11,202.4 kg
Market price of this black-marketed wheat ( at the rate of Rs. 15/- per lkg)	Rs. 1,68, 036/-

Sugar

A BPL family is entitled to get sugar within six months	12 kg
Surveyed 152 BPL families are entitled to get sugar within six months	1824 kg (18.24 quintals)
Actual quantity of sugar received by these 152 surveyed families within six months	284 kg
Availability of sugar per household during six months	1800 gram
Total no. of 576 beneficiaries deserve to get quantity of sugar within six months	6912 kg ( 69.12 quintals)
Total quantity of actual sugar received by these 576 families within six months	1036.8 kg
Black-marketing of sugar within six months in the Panchayat	5875.2 kg ( 58.75 quintals)
Market price of this black-marketed Sugar ( at the rate of Rs. 36/- per litre)	Rs. 2,11,507.20 /-

Baharampur City, Murshidabad, Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Baharampur (also spelled Berhampore or Berhampur) is a city in the West Bengal state of India. In earlier days it was known as Brahmapur because many of the brahmin families settled there in earlier days were the cause from which the city got its name. Baharampur is the administrative headquarters of the Murshidabad district. It is located about 200 km (124 mi) from Kolkata (earlier known as Calcutta), the state capital.

History

Fort at Baharampur, c. 1850 Berhampore was fortified in 1757 by the East India Company, after the Battle of Plassey in June 1757, and it continued as a cantonment until 1870. But the foundation of the city of Berhampore remains questionable. As Karnasubarna which is very near from Berhampore has a history dated back to 600 AD. and also all of the major European colonial forces did come to Berhampore and early settlements of Dutch, Armenians, French, British could still be seen scattered in the city. Many architectures of late 1600 could still be seen. The cantonment was constituted as a municipality in 1876 and was the headquarters of Murshidabad district. The Berhampur College was founded in 1853 and in 1888 made over to a local committee, mainly supported by Rani Swarnamayi.

On 25 February 1857, the first major armed battle of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 took place in Baharampur [1], while Berhampur was ruled by Raja Krishnath and his ancestors. In 1901, Baharampur had a population of 24,397, and included the ancient town of Kasim Bazar[2].

Geography

Baharampur is located at 24°06′N 88°15′E / 24.1°N 88.25°E / 24.1; 88.25.[3] It has an average elevation of 18 metres (59 feet).

The city is located approximately 200km north of Kolkata at 24°4′N 88°9′E / 24.067°N 88.15°E / 24.067; 88.15 and is situated on the eastern side of the Hooghly River, a major distributary of the Ganga. The city's industries include silk weaving, ivory carving, rice and oil-seed milling and precious metal working. A famous type of metal used to make bells called "Khagrai Kansha" is made in the city. This is a type of brass that is used to make utensils like dishes & bowls.

Baharampur is also popular for a special type of fried sweets called "Chanabora". It is also a rail and road hub of the West Bengal state and is an important agricultural center.Recently a new bus terminus has been set up here, which is said to be one of a kind in the state.

Demographics

As of 2001[update] India census,[4] Baharampur had a population of 160,168. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Baharampur has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 53% of the males and 47% of females literate. 9% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Economics

Khagra, a neighbourhood in Bahrampur is renowned for its manufacture of bell-metal and brass utensils, as well as ivory and wood carving.[5][6]

Baharampur is famous for the sweet 'Chhana-bora', the savoury 'Khaja', sweet 'Manohara' and also very famous for Murshidabad Silk.

Schools

Berhampore J N Academy, Krishnath College School, Mary Immaculate School (ICSE and ISC), Gurudas Tarasundari Institution, Maharani Kaseswari Girls High School, Manindra Chandra Vidyapith, Shilpa Mandir, Iswar Chandra Institution, Prabha Rani Public School, Holy Garden Model School, Gitaram Academy, Berhampore Central School (CBSE), Lipika Memorial School, Mahakali Pathshala,Manindra School (Cossimbazar), Gurah-Pashla Sripati Konar Sikshaniketan, Amritakunda Krishna Kamini Vidyamandir are the most prominent schools.

Colleges

Government College of Engineering & Textile Technology, Berhampore (old name: College of Textile Technology Behrampore, also known as GCETTB)

q Krishnath College

q Girls' College

q Berhampore College

q Murshidabad College of Engineering & Technology

q B.T College

q Murshidabad Institution Technology or MIT (Polytechnics College, Dipl

Transport

Rail - Berhampore court station, cossimbazar station and Murshidabad station stands on the Sealdah-Lalgola line of the eastern railway. Bhagirathi express, Lalgola passenger train and Hazarduari express are trains that takes the sealdah-lalgola route. Khagraghat is another station that is connected by Howrah. Intercity express and passenger trains, Jansatabdi express takes this route. If one wish to come to Berhampore from north of West Bengal it is best to take the Khagraghat station as destination.

Road - as Berhampore locates just in the center position of West Bengal. This city is well connected by national highway 34.there are bus services on regular basis from south Bengal to north Bengal and Vicecersa. Any buses that starts from Kolkata to north Bengal halts at Berhampore. Buses from New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, Suri, Durgapur, Asansol, Dhubri, Bhutan, Malda for Berhampore is easily available.

Water - as Berhampore is city just beside the river Bhagirathi, one can also avail water transport. Launchboat from Kolkata to Murshidabad is available. Berhampore north to Berhampore south is connected via launchboats. Regular boat transport is also available from Berhampore to other towns of Murshidabad such as Azimganj and Jiaganj.

Tourist spots

Berhampore is a famous place for tourists in West Bengal. It gets tourists' flow from locals and as well as from foreigners, being the first Head Quarter of the East India Company and having a long history enriched by the Nawabs, Kings, zamindars and other European colonial forces such as Dutch, Armenians, English and French.

q Hazarduari Palace - it was built in 1837 by General Duncan Mcleod.

q Imambara - built in 1847 AD. by Nawab Nazim Mansoor Ali Khan Feradun Jahat at a cost of more than 6 lacs. The Imambara, which is the largest in Bengal, is perhaps the largest in India.

q Katra Masjid - built by Nawab Murshid Quli Khan in 1723-24 and it remains one of the most important tourist attractions. The gorgeous building with its huge domes and high minarets has a simple cemetery of the Nawab below the front staircase.

q Moti Jhil - This beautiful horseshoe shaped lake was excavated by Nawazesh Mohammad, the husband of the famous Ghasseti Begum. In the palace adjoining it (now in ruins) Lord Clive celebrated the acquisition of the Dewani of Sube Bangla (Bengal, Bihar & Orissa) in 1765. Moti Jheel was the home of Warren Hastings when he became the Political President at the Durbar of the Nawab Nazim (1771 – 73 AD).

q Barrack square - It was used for British army. The very first rumble of The Sepoy Mutiny actually started here.

q Old British barracks - Built in late 1750s these barracks are on the north and south of Barrack Square.

Krishnath college - which is the exact replica of Oxford university, established in 1853, even earlier than the University of Kolkata (Calcuta), worth seeing for its European architectural style.

Armenian Church - Oldest Armenian Church of the Eastern India at Saidabad, built in 1757 AD.

British town hall - Earlier used for recreation purpose for the British.

Saidabad Palace - This Palace is right now on the verge of extinction.

Old Cossimbazar Palace - This Palace of Nandy dynasty is now on the verge of extinction.

New Cossimbazar Palace - This Palace of Chatterjee kings is well maintained.

Nasipur Palace - The Nasipur Palace was built by Kirti Chand, a descendent of Debi Singh. Debi Singh, who settled here from Punjab, was a tax collector in the early days of the East India Company

Home of Jagatseth

Jafarganj cemetery - The Cemetery contains the tombs of the Nawab's Nazim, from Mir Jafar to Humayun Jah.

Nimak Haram Deori - known as the Traiter's gate, Siraj ud Daulah was killed in this spot.

Khoshbagh - The grave of Nawab Alivardi Khan, Alivardi's Mother, Siraj-ud-Doula and his wife Lutfannesha and other members of the Nawab family lie here.

Pataleshwar temple of Cossimbazar - Residing in Kasimbazar is one of the most famous temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, the history of Pataleshwar Temple could be dated back to some thousand years.

Residency cemetery of Babulbona - Numerous graves with memorials and pillar epitaphs. This huge European cemetery is one of the historical relics of Berhampore.

Old English graveyard of Cossimbazar - The British Cemetery in Cossimbazar is where Mary, the first wife of Warren Hastings and their baby daughter Elizabeth lie here.

Char bangla temples of Queen of Natore - Built by the Queen Bhavani of Natore in 1755 AD.

Bhavaniswar temple - Built by Queen of Natore in 1750 AD, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Kingdom of Sasanka at Karnasubarna - Ancient remains of famous Rakta Mrittika vihara described by Hiuen Tsang. The remains could be dated back to 600 AD.

Kiriteshwari - which is also known as guptapith is one of the 51 Saktipiths of India.

Parks

Laldighi Park & Motijhil Park is a nice one, near the historical tourist and present day picnic spot called "Motijhil".

Accommodation

Bahrampur hosts a wide range of hotels from luxury ones to budget ones. Few of these are Berhampore Tourist Lodge (under WBTDC), Samrat Hotel, Berhampore Lodge, Bhaghirathi Hotel, Mayur Hotel and White House. These hotels are situated near the Berhampore Bus Stand and 'Berhampore Court' railway station.

Literature

Md. Sajjad Hossain[7] of this city has written "All my song is for my dear heart"[8], a dissertation on Nazrul in 20000 words refuting all the charges against the poet that he is simply a rebel poet proving him as one of the greatest love poets in the world. Had Nazrul, as has been researched by Mr. Hossain, had the opportunity of being read and assessed by Europeans in translation, he could have been easily judged as one of the greatest love poets in the world. Mr. Hossain has tried to fill up this vacuum by translating the poet into English language keeping his original flavour almost intact. He has translated 108 love poems of this poet into English language. The name of this book is "Heart Offerings" which is yet to be published.

He has again translated 40 short stories of Balaichand Mukhopadhaya (Banaphool) into English language.The name of the book is "Banaphool retold". He has also translated 50 Bengali poems into English language - the poets are: Shakti Chattopadhaya, Josimuddin, Kabirul Islam and the translator himself. The name of the book is "Four Poets". Both these books have been published from Pandulipi, 1A College Row, Kolkata - 700009.

Legacy

The city of Berhampore also shares it's name with Berhampore at Wellington, New Zealand. The daughter of Major Paul married local land owner George Hunter. Major Paul was an Indian army officer. George Hunter to show respect to his father in law gave Berhampore the name of the suburb and many streets of this suburb were also given Indian names such as Khandallah village, Ganges road, Simla, Agra etc.

Eminent personalities of Berhampore

1) Biswanath Chakravarty (1643 – 1720), an inhabitant of Saidabad, was a great Vaishnava scholar of all–India fame. He was an eminent philosopher, a famous author of many Sanskrit books and a poet. His greatest achievement was his commentary of the Shrimadbhagabatam, entitled Sararthadarshini. His collection of Vaishnava Padabalis (devotional songs) entitled Kshanada-Gita–Chintamani was the first of its kind in Bengali literature.

2) Radhamohan Thakur (1696 – 1776) of Malihati in Bharatpur Police Station was a descendent of the illustrious Shrinivas Acharya. A renowned Sanskrit and Vaishnava scholar and poet, he defeated many great scholars of North India in a debate and established the superiority of Gouriya Vaishnavism. His greatest contribution of Bengali Literature was his collection of songs and poems by eminent Vaishnava poets called the Padamrita-samudra.

3) Kaviraj Gangadhar Sen Roy (1798 – 1885) came to Saidabad, Berhampore from kolkata in 1836 and settled there. He became a legend as a physician. He was a scholar in Sanskrit and in various scriptures. Besides a commentary on the Charaka – Samhita, he wrote many others books.

4) Shasahadhar Tarka Churamani (1851 – 1928) of Berhampore was a great Sanskrit Scholar of the nineteenth century Bengal. He was an exponent of Hindu revivalism. He was a regular contributor to many periodicals and the author of several books in Sanskrit.

Literature

1) Govindadas Kaviraj (1539 – 1613), an inhabitant of village Budhuri near Bhagwangola, was one of the greatest vaisanava poet of post Chaitanya – era. He was called Vidyapati-II, for his versatile talent and for his style being reminiscent of the great Maithili poet. Nearly 800 songs are known to have been composed by him. He was the author of several dramas, books on Vaishnava – philosophy and books of poem like Sangita-Madhava, Karnamrita, and Gitamrita.

2) Ghanashyam Das Kaviraj (early 17th century), a grand son of Govinda Das, was also Vaishnava poet. He wrote a book on Vaisanava Poetics in Sanskrit.

3) Jadunandan Das Thakur (1537 - ) of Malihati in Bharatpur P.S., was a Vaishnava lyricist and translator of note.Among his works are Karnananda(history), Govindalilamrita and Bidagdhamadhaba(verse translations).

4) Sayed Martuza (middle of the 16th century) of Balighata, Jangipur, a Muslim 'Fakir' who loved and revered all religions. He composed many fine Vaishnava lyrics.

5) Nirupama Devi (1833 – 1951), born at Gorabazar, Berhampore, was a novelist. She went to Bhagalpur with her father and came in contact with Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and his group of litterateurs, all of whom, became famous later on. Some of her famous books are Shyamali, Didi, and Annapurnar Mandir.

6) Saroj Kumar Roy Choudhury (1900 – 1972), a Kallol-era author of fame, was born at Malihati in Bharatpur. Some of his famous books are 'Kalo–Ghora', 'Griha–Kapoti, Hansa–Balaka, Akash-o-Mritika, Mayurakshi.

7) Rezaul Karim (1902 – 1993) was a freedom fighter, a scholar, a journalist, an exponent of communal harmony, an author of a several books and many essays, a philanthropist, a very able and popular professor and a highly respected politician.

8) Manish Ghatak (1902 - 1979) of Berhampore was a leading poet- litterateur of the Kallol era. He often wrote under the pen name Jubanashwa. Among his famous work are Pataldangar Panchali (a book of short stories), Kankhal (novel) and books of poems like Shilalipi, Sandhya.

9) Mahasweta Devi (1926), daughter of poet Manish Ghatak, writes short stories and novels. She writes mainly about the downtrodden and the tribal people of Bengal, Bihar and Orrisa. She won the coveted Jnanpith Award for her literary accomplishments and also the Magasassay Award for her social activities.

10) Sayed Mustafa Siraj (1930), a short story writer and a novelist, has risen to fame from a very humble beginning in his ancestral village of Khosbaspur in Kandi P.S. Before being established as a writer he spent his time in various fields of activities like politics and culture including folk culture. He played an important role in propagation of Alkap, a native song-dance-drama form of Murshidabad. Some of his famous books are Hijol-kanya, Maya-mridanga, and Trinabhoomi.

History, Science and Culture

1) Dr. Ramdas Sen (1845 – 1887), of Berhampore, was a scholar and a member of the great novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's circle an. He was an author with interest in archaeology, history and literature etc. He was the central figure of the cultural life of Berhampore of his time. His contribution to the spread of education in Berhampore is noteworthy. He was a member of many international and national institutions.

2) Ram Brahma Sanyal (1850 – 1908) of village Mahula, Murshidabad, was one of the Pioneers in India in the study of botany and zoology. He was connected with the Alipore Zoo from days of its formation; he was its first Indian Director. Among his books the Management of Wild Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal and Hours With Nature are noteworthy.

3) Ramendra Sundar Trivedi (1864 – 1919), of Kandi, was one of those persons of Murshidabad whom the people of Bengal can be proud of. A great thinker, renowned writer, social worker and a professor of repute, he rose to great heights in many spheres of life. Though a Professor of chemistry, he also excelled in subjects like Philosophy and literature. He was one of the founders of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, the pioneer cultural institution of Bengal. Some of his famous books are Jijnasa, Bangalkshmir Bratakatha, Charita Katha and Bichitra Prasanga.

4) Nikhilnath Roy (1865 - 1932), born in 24 Parganas, came to Berhampore in his boyhood. He was a historian of repute and one of the pioneers in compilation of the history of Murshidabad and Bengal.

5. Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay was the famous discoverer of indus valley civilization5) Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (1885 – 1930) of Berhampore was a famous historian, archaeologist, and epigraphist and also a novelist, writing mostly historical novels. His greatest achievement was the discovery of Indus Civilization site Mohenjo-daro. He also conducted excavation of Paharpur Monastery in North Bengal. Banglar Itihas, Origin of the Bengali Scripts, Eastern Indian School of Medieval Sculpture, Palas of Bengal, The Age of Imperial Guptas and historical novels in Bengali like Pashaner Katha, Sasanka and Dharmapala.

6) Radhakumud Mukhopadhyay (1885 – 1930), of Gorabazar, Berhampore, was a brilliant student who later became a noted historian. He had been a professor in Beneras, Lucknow and Mysore Universities. He took part in the freedom movement in the early 20th century. Some of his famous books are Akhanda Bharat, Hindu Civilisation, A History of Shipping and Local Government in Ancient India.

7) Radhakamal Mukhopadhyay (1890 – 1968, the brother of Radhakumud, was also a brilliant student who later became a noted economist and social scientist. He had been a professor of Berhampore College and the Calcutta University and then the Vice–Chancellor of Lucknow University. Some of his famous books are Taruner Bharat and Saswata bhikhari.

Politics

1) Baikuntha Nath Sen (1843 – 1922), born of an old and aristocratic family of Alampur village in Bardhaman district, came to Berhampore in his early years and settled there. He achieved great fame as a lawyer and orator. He was a great patron of education and was associated with various social and political organisations. He was the supreme leader of the National Congress in the district in his times. He became the first Indian chairman of Berhampore Municipality.

2) Braja Bhusan Gupta (1869 – 1934), born at Panchananpur village in Domkal P.S., was a Gandhiaite and one of the pioneers of National Freedom Movement in Murshidabad. He was a famous lawyer of his time, with a flair for Philosophy and English Literature. He was a noted leader not only of Murshidabad but also of the provincial Congress. Great leaders of that time such as Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sarojini Naidu and even Mahatama Gandhi visited his house at Berhampore. He was the first president of the district committee of the Indian National Congress.

3) Tridib Chowdhury (1911 – 1997), born in Dacca district, he came to Murshidabad with his father a police officer. He took part in revolutionary movements and was put into jail for a long time. He was one of the founders of Revolutionary Socialist Party of India. After Independence he took part in Goa Liberation Struggle, to free Goa from the Portuguese, was arrested and jailed by the Portuguese. He became a Member of Parliament in 1952 and continued as such till his death.

Music, Painting and Performing Arts

1) Ata Hussein Khan (1818 – 1909), one of the greatest exponents of Tabla (a percussion instrument), was the court musician of Feradun Jah, the Nawab–Nazim of Murshidabad. He won many awards in his country for his performance. In 1869 his performance was highly admired by the audience at a function in Queen Victoria's palace in England.

2) Ustad Kader Box (1877 – 1968), of Murshidabad town, was a great exponent of the Hindustani Classical Music. He collected a large number of compositions in different Ragas and he himself composed many. He was acknowledged as a great musician by the contemporary greats.

3) Girija Sankar Chakravorty (1885 – 1948) of Berhampore, perhaps the greatest musician of this district, was famous for his Thumri songs. He was also interested in painting and drama. But he was a genius as a vocalist and known throughout the country. He learned classical music from different schools (Gharana) of musicians all over India. He himself was an institution. Many famous musicians like A. T. Kanan were his students.

4) Kshitindra Nath Majumdar (1891 – 1975), born in village Jagtai near Nimtita in Jangipur sub-division was a painter of a very high calibre. He was a student of Abanindranath Tagore. His paintings were mainly based on the theme of Radha-Krishna, Shri Chaitnya and stories from the Puranas. His fame as an artist spread not only in India but also in other countries of the world.

5) Sheikh Gumani Dewan (1896 – 1976) of Jindihghi in Sagardighi P.S. was by far the greatest Kavial (instant composer and singer of a song-form in which a public debate is conducted by songs) of Murshidabad. His fame as a Kavial spread far and wide. He was widely respected for his talent as a musician as well as for his gentle behaviour, broadness of mind and respect for all religions.

6) Jhanksu alias Dhananjay Mondal (1898 - 1980), born at Dhanpatnagar near Jangipur Town, coming of a family of the Chai Community, was a great exponent of the Alkap and Pancharas (famous song-dance-drama forms of the area).

7) Indra Dugar (1918 - …….), born in a rich and influential zaminder-merchant family of Jiaganj, is an artist of international fame. His father was also an artist. His paintings are based on beauty of nature, people of Rajasthan and flowers.

Other fields

1) Lalababu alias Krishna Chandra Sinha (1776 – 14.5.1822) was born in the Kandi Raj family. He was famous for his charity. At a young age he left his properties and settled in Brindaban to spend the rest of life in seeking God.

2) Maharaja Manindra Chandra Nandi (1860 – 1929), the Maharaja of Cossimbazar, was known for his proverbial acts of charity for individuals as well as for noble causes. He donated enormous amounts of money to various Institutions, particularly in the field of education and culture. He was the founder of many educational institutions, was a patron of literature, music and other cultural activities. It was because of his initiatives that the first conference of Bengali literature outside Kolkata was held at Cossimbazar in 1907. In Mahatma Gandhi's words, no other individuals in the country were equal to him in charity.

3) Swami Akhandananda (1864 – 1937), a direct disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa and a close friend of Swami Vivekananda, was a wonderer monk who settled at Sargachhi village near Berhampore in 1895 to serve the famine-stricken villagers of Sargachhi and Mahula. The Ramakrishna Mission at Sargachhi founded by him has a school with a hostel and is now a big institution, catering service to the people.

4) Rao Jogendra Narayan Roy (1845/50 – 1946), born in Benaras and brought up in the rich and influential zaminder family of Lalgola, is remembered for his philanthropic work and charity.

5) Sarat Chandra Pandit (1880 – 1968,better known as 'Dada Thakur', had his ancestral house at Dafarpur in Jangipur Sub-division but resided permanently at Jangipur town. A man of simple and dutiful nature with a ready wit and an acerbic tongue, he was a fearless critic of all injustice and of all wrongdoing persons, irrespective of their position in the society. His newspapers, Jangipur – Sambad and Bidushak were among his weapons for this purpose. He could compose at will rhymes and songs full of puns and wit. He became an institution in his lifetime.

6) Karuna Sankar Bhattacharya (1909 – 1979) of Berhampore was by far the best football player of Murshidabad and one of the best in India. He played in the Aryans club first and then became a player of Mohan Bagan club. He represented India in matches in various countries of the world. He was the captain of India Football team to Australia in 1938.

Operation Green Hunt Vs Adivasi hunt

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:03:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHEN NAXALS GOT THE BETTER OF COPS

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

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

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

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

WHEN COPS GOT THE BETTER OF NAXALS

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

TNN 7 November 2009

The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) - A Naxal Outfit hold Rajdhani Express hostage for more than 4 hours at the Banstala Halt station, near Jhargram station close to the Antapani jungle in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:50:00 +0000

A New Delhi-bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express was released from Maoist clutches by security forces Tuesday evening, after rebels held it and its 667 passengers hostage for over four hours in West Midnapore district. All passengers are safe, the union government said.

Demanding withdrawal of the joint security forces and release of some of their arrested leaders, around 500 members of the Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) held up the 2443A UP Express train by squatting on the tracks and forced out the drivers around 2.45 p.m. at the Banstala Halt station, near Jhargram station close to the Antapani jungle.

Jhargram is 155 km from Kolkata by train. After several tension-filled hours, that saw a police team rushing to the spot ambushed by the Left wing rebels, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers and state policemen finally took over the train around 7 p.m.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced the end of the security operation in New Delhi. "The CRPF and the state police have reached the spot and the train has been secured," Chidambaram told reporters. "The relief train will move in the next few minutes. The train is safe and all the passengers are safe," he said. Chidambaram denied reports that there was any exchange of fire with the guerrillas. "I would like the media to show some restraint. Don't report rumours. A civilian driver has been injured. There was no exchange of fire. No CRPF person has been injured," he said.

State Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told in Kolkata: "My men have reached there. They have entered the train. There is no sign of the Maoists now".

The drama started soon after the train left the Jhargram station. "A group of men stood on the railway tracks and stopped the train. They asked all of us in the driver's cabin to get down and wait near the engine. They did not beat us up, but asked us not to run the train till they gave the green signal," said K. Govind Rao, the assistant driver of the New Delhi-bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express.

The PCAPA has called an indefinite shutdown in West Midnapore district form Tuesday in support of its 33-point charter of demands. "There were 667 passengers in the train," a railway spokesman said.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said some of the passengers were injured by brickbats hurled by the agitators who held up the train.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was in constant touch with Chidambaram and his counterpart in Orissa, said a police force, which started off for the spot, was ambushed and one police driver injured by the Maoists.

"But we told the police party they have to reach the spot anyhow," Bhattacharjee said.

To another query, the chief minister said: "The PCAPA may have stopped the train, but later on it was the Maoists who controlled the situation".

Earlier, PCAPA spokesman Santosh Patra, speaking from an undisclosed location, told a private television channel that the driver has been kept confined "among our people" at the incident spot itself.

"More than 5,000 PCAPA supporters are there. We have called a shutdown from Tuesday. How can we allow the trains to ply? The railway minister (Mamata Banerjee) should intervene to ensure that security personnel do not fire on our supporters. Also, our supporters should not be tortured by the security forces on the ruse of flushing out Maoists," Patra said.

Communist Party of India - Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenjee also demanded the release of PCAPA leader Chhattradhar Mahato and alleged that the situation took a serious turn as the police fired on the PCAPA activists.

Tuesday's incidence is the latest instance of stepped-up Maoist activity in the tribal areas of central and eastern India. In recent days, the Left-wing extremists have attacked police stations and killed cops, even as the central government was considering a major offensive to crush them.

Oct 27th, 2009 at 21:26 pm IST - IANS

Naxals attack Midnapore police station; kill one, abduct 2 cops in Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:34:00 +0000

In the most audacious attack in West Bengal in decades, a group of over 50 Naxal rebels killed two police officers and abducted another one in the Naxalite-hit West Midnapore district on Tuesday. The rebels also looted money from a nearby bank and left posters demanding the release of a jailed Maoist leader.

Suspected Maoists have killed the second-in-command of Sankrail Police Station of West Midnapore district in Bengal and abducted its officer in charge.

According to reports the policeman killed is second officer Dibakar Bhattacharya. The ones abducted are Officer-in-charge Atindranath Datta and Assistant Sub Inspector Swapan Roy. The attack that took place at around 2pm on Tuesday.

Owning up responsibility for the raid, Koteswar Rao alias Kishanjee, top leader of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) threatened to kill any senior police officer of the rank of Director General or Inspector General if they ventured to the area.

"Yes, we conducted the raid. We killed the police officer and abducted the OC. And if the director general or any inspector general rank police officer goes there to free the OC, we will shoot them dead also," Kishanjee warned.

Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Kuldeep Singh confirmed the raid by the rebels. According to police sources, the police were heavily outnumbered in the assault.

Maoists had initially targeted a bank next to the police station and pasted posters demanding the release of arrested tribal leader and People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) leader Chhattradhar Mahato. They had reportedly come with sophisticated firearms. There were not many policemen when the attack took place.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee convened an emergency high-level meeting at the state secretariat Writers' Building which was attended by the chief secretary and senior police officials.

A large police force has left for the remote spot, but has not been able to reach as Maoists have reportedly planted landmines along the way.

Dibakar Bhattacharya is the first police officer to be killed by the ultras after the West Bengal government launched a massive security operation to flush out Maoist rebels from Lalgarh, 200 km west of Kolkata, in June. The Sankrail police station is located to the south of Lalgarh and close to the state's border with Jharkhand and Orissa. Sankrail is a block comprising 10 gram panchayats and a population of more than a lakh (0.1 million) and is located about 200 kms to the west of Kolkata.

(With inputs from IANS)

HT / Kolkata, October 20, 2009

The greatest militant threat facing India comes not from the Islamists but Naxal Maoists

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:11:00 +0000

Last November's fedayeen-style attacks on Mumbai may have reminded the world that India was not immune to terrorism. But few outside the subcontinent are aware that the greatest source of militancy in this diverse country comes not from Islamists but Maoists.

Insurgencies by Naxalites (named after Naxalbari, a town in West Bengal where rural peasants took up arms against oppressive local landowners in 1967) have proliferated over a vast beltway stretching from the forests of Bengal in the north to Kerala in the south.

Astonishingly, there is believed to be a Naxalite presence in one-third of the Indian landmass, or 16 of India's 28 states. Authorities estimate that one-fifth of the nation's forests are under Naxalite control.

In comparison, at the beginning of this year the Taliban in neighbouring Pakistan was believed to control a maximum of 11% of the country, all in the North-West Frontier province and Federally Administered Tribal Area along the border with Afghanistan. Little wonder, then, that the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, recently dubbed the Maoist rebels the "single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country".

In contrast, the Economist derided them as "an outmoded ideology" that is "out of keeping with the modern India of soaring growth, Bollywood dreams and call-centres".

Such typecasting – of India's apparent economic dream and the seemingly luddite rebellion opposed to it – is as much a part of the problem as the violence that has embroiled rural India. Vast economic and social disparities between rich and poor persist here despite, and indeed because of, the economic boom of recent times. Although the Indian constitution outlaws the caste system, it still causes much discrimination with, in the words of University of Westminster's Radha D'Souza, the poorest facing "routine everyday violence" by the police.

India's controversial special economic zones, like those in China and other developing nations, have also played a role, causing massive dislocations of communities in the name of giant hydro, mineral or logging projects that benefit powerful local and multinational businesses.

The Naxalites are a product of these traumas. Like the Taliban in neighbouring Pakistan, they capitalise on the latest experiences of generations-old corruption, harassment and nepotism and promise stability, an equitable share of wealth and quick, if brutal, justice.

They are particularly popular among the poorest communities, especially in rural areas such as the remote forests of resource-rich Chhattisgarh where Aboriginal tribespeople have been forcibly "relocated" to make way for mining companies hungry for the iron ore buried under their feet.

Authorities have facilitated relocations like this – even the communist-led government of West Bengal that championed land reforms for the poorest in the late 1970s stands accused of removing peasants to make way for a Tata car factory.

The Naxalites are often the only ones standing up for the dispossessed. Leaders like Koteswar Rao (known as Kishanji) claim their overall aim is to "liberate" the poorest and transform India into a socialist state along the lines of Maoist communism.

Such rhetoric marks the Naxalites out as true insurgents. Like a fledgling state, the rebels administer justice in "people's courts", and raise "taxes" from families and businesses in areas under their influence. Indian authorities say the largest Naxal network, the Communist party of India (Maoist), raised 10bn rupees (£125m) in "taxation" in 2007.

But the Naxalites are far from a united force. Regional rivalries – most broadly split among different political and militant factions – have occasionally led to bloody internecine conflict. As a result, Naxal allegiances typically vary from village to village in every region they are present.

Some Naxal rebels have been guilty of committing wanton atrocities that their critics say prove they are not about liberation but to intimidate ordinary villagers into joining their ranks. During election periods, for instance, Naxalites have threatened to cut off voters' hands. Naxalites are openly hostile to parliamentary politics – they view mainstream communist parties such as those of West Bengal and Kerala states as enemies of India's underclasses.

Others, such as the anthropologist George Kunnath, speak of the movement's positive contributions – the emancipation of indentured "schedule caste" labourers who are otherwise condemned to generations of de facto slavery, greater social equality between men and women, and their promotion of education for all.

Whether or not the positives outweigh the negatives, the government has itself been guilty of excesses.

In Chhattisgarh, government security forces and a vigilante militia known as the Salwa Judum – ostensibly created to protect people against Naxal rebels – have been implicated in atrocities like extra-judicial killings and forcible evictions that have exacerbated the conflict. According to Amnesty International, villagers who complain of police or paramilitary abuse are branded Naxalites to silence them.

Compounding matters, the Indian government looks to be escalating its military presence in affected regions and especially in Chhattisgarh. Since July, it has deployed hundreds of soldiers along with air and paramilitary forces to combat the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh who, in turn, have murdered scores of police personnel.

To his credit, Singh acknowledges that the Naxalite rebellions are at least in part a consequence of decades-old alienation of the poorest owing to discrimination, poverty and harassment. Yet there are no clear signals that the rhetoric is being matched with economic and social policies capable of bridging the social and economic divides between rich and poor. Without that divide there would be no Naxalites.

Gurdian UK / 16 Sept 2009

Human rights defender at risk - Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:22:00 +0000

To,

The Principal Secretary (Home)

Government of West Bengal

Writers' Buildings

Kolkata – 1

Dear Sir,

We came to know that one of our colleague and activist, Mr. Gopen Chandra Sharma, son of Late Gopal Sharma of village Dayarampur under Jalangi police station and activist of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha wants to draw your attention on the fact regarding threats on his life and consequent threatening calls with dire consequences even with threat calls to kill him from a mobile having number 9734601813 not only that from that said mobile we have received few MSS (picture messages) having obscene photographs and remarks having reference to his wife and minor daughter.

In this regard we want to draw your attention that Mr. Gopen Chandra Sharma already inflicted in few frivolous charges against him and got threatening calls prior to this incident. His only fault was that he is voicing against the plight of the people of the adjacent area. It was evidently clear that due to his involvement with human rights activities and continuing effort to minimize atrocities by the Border Security Force on the populace and protesting against rampant extra judicial killings of locales; he has to face wrath of the state actors in regular intervals.

All these threatening actually providing courage to human rights groups and activists, we strongly condemn the incidents of threatening and abuses; as these acts are not only offences against an individual and attract punitive actions for related persons but again these acts are against the declaration on United Nations Human rights Defenders.

As the head of the district police it is your prime responsibility to uphold and ensure personal integrity and liberty of a person and protect him from any bodily harm and ensure all lawful activities without any hindrance and taking stern actions against the persons involved with threatening and personal intimidation.

I am providing you the chronological detail of the said event. On 22^nd August at 7.04 a.m., he received first phone call from the said number while he was busy with his official works at his uncle's place, located at village – Kantabari under Jalangi Police Station. His uncle Mr. Sunil Sharma happened to be retired army personnel.

Just before that call, He sent one of his friends to recharge his mobile at the adjacent area. The person on the other side of the said number, threatened him to kill with filthiest and abusive languages. They even called him as 'khankir chhele' (son of a prostitute) and 'suorer bachha' (son of swine)'. At that time his uncle called back to the number but a person with gentle voice contradicted the event and even made complain that Gopen called up on that number and made verbal abuses. During the first call, the caller referred about an incident which took place in the year 1995, while a bride named Manoara Bibi, Daughter of Mokhtar Mondal was killed at Paraspur village under Jalangi Police Station and after exhumation, Post Mortem Examination was redone on the request of the deceased's father with a judicial order. The person called him and made objectionable remarks about the court and procedural order and blamed him for his involvement with that. At 7.18 a.m. same date the same caller made a call and asked Gopen about his whereabouts, although he informed the caller about his residential address but while he asked him about his particular positioning of that very time, to make him disguise, Gopen told him, at the moment he is in Baharampur, which made him furious and he replied that 'you are sitting on a red chair at the courtyard of your uncle's residence at the Kantabari village and writing something'.

This further proves that the person was in constantly following him and having a vigil over him and at that time he (the caller) was at the vicinity, where Gopen was. While Gopen asked him about his name, he replied that his name is Milan and he is from Raipara- Ghoshpara, under Jalangi Police Station.

Gopen left the place at about 5.30 p.m. and while on the way to Bahrampur by a bus he received third call at 6.00 p.m. from the same mobile, and the caller again threatened Gopen by saying 'this time you are able to escape but nobody can save you'. During the conversation he made several verbal abuses with sexual connotation and Gopen made it heard to one of the co passenger; Mr. Bajpayee of Baharampur, whom he don't introduced with before.

On the same night at about, 7.00 p.m., while Gopen was in Sirajbagh with one photographer from the Doordarshan, Mr. Soubrata Ghosh, Gopen received obscene photo MMS (photo message) with written remarks about his minor daughter as well as his wife. The sending of these messages continued till night while he stayed at Nibedita Lodge. Mr. Subrato Ghosh and Gopen's uncle are two witnesses of these gory incidents.

Gopen further received serious threatening with abusive calls from the aforesaid mobile number even yesterday. On 23.8.2009 at 2.31 pm, 2.44 pm, 5.14 pm. 5.15 pm, he received threatening calls from that number. Already the Superintendent of Police, Murshidabad, the Sub Divisional Police Officer, Domkal and other senior officers were informed about those phone calls.

At the moment he was feeling insecure and threatened, he has all presumption of bodily hurt causing by the said caller and in an unstable and disoriented mindset due to the obscene messages sent to him with reference of his minor daughter and wife.

In this regard he already informed Officer in Charge of Jalangi Police Station, Sub Divisional Police Officer of Domkal and Mr. Somnath Singh, Assistant Sub Inspector of Jalangi Police Station by sms and calling.

Here I want to refer that, our organization is fighting against BSF atrocities in the region and their involvement in all illegal acts such as smuggling and trafficking and his involvement with these activities are instrumental on damaging him and a big nexus is trying to extinct his existence.

I certainly feel that these threats have relation with his activities. I am also sure that those calls were made in connivance with some concerned people who were affected by our work.

I demand for his immediate protection and taking appropriate steps to provide him requisite solace.

Yours faithfully

KIRITY ROY

Secretary, MASUM

Convenor, SANTI (South Asia Network Against Torture & Impunity)

24 August 2009

Unending cycles of brutal blood bath policy

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:02:00 +0000

Large swathes of central India are today convulsed in unending cycles of brutal blood-letting, alternately by state authorities and radical left militant formations. A movement that started in Naxalbari in West Bengal four decades back has today penetrated vast impoverished forested regions - but also some more prosperous agricultural tracts - in 125 districts spread across 12 states.

The movement and its repression by the State have engulfed the lives of millions of people in the daily routinisation of brutal violence: of horrific killings, either at the hands of the police or armed cadres of Naxalites, who are usually organised into squads or dalams. People die every other day in police `encounters', assaults on police stations, reprisals, explosions, and murders of alleged informers. In 2006 alone, for instance, the government reported 1509 incidents of violence, in which 272 alleged Naxalites were killed, as were 157 policemen. In addition 521 civilians were eradicated, ordinary people entrapped helplessly in this incessant crossfire.

Climate of fear

The large majority of people whose lives are taken belong to indigent Dalit and tribal communities, and include many idealistic youth and some women. Many policemen killed are also young men, often from dispossessed communities, who have joined the security forces in search of livelihood and protection. The climate of fear is stoked further by State detention for long years of hundreds under terror laws. In addition in the Salwa Judum in Chhatisgarh, government arms tribal people to combat the armed might of the militants, in a kind of out-sourcing of dangerous policing to ordinary tribes-people, recklessly creating a civil war situation.

This ever-spiralling decline into ceaseless bloodshed is even more precipitous today with highly disturbing news reports that some governments are planning a military offensive `to the finish' this winter to crush the Naxalite insurgency, inspired by the military destruction of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The governments wantonly ignore the lessons of history, of the futility of attempting to crush through the force of the State, struggles that arise from massive historical injustice; and the cataclysmic toll such an enterprise would take of human life and suffering. Meanwhile Naxalites continue powerful daring assaults on the police, targeting even senior officials.

Both sides would do well to heed instead a citizens' enterprise of great ethical significance which was undertaken to attempt to end these cycles of violence and suffering, and to restore the right of peaceful and normal living of common people. A group of citizens of undisputed high moral standing came together in early 1997, convened by S.R. Sankaran, a retired IAS officer who is universally respected for his contributions towards social justice for marginalised people, his personal integrity, humanity and the austerity of his lifestyle. The committee included Kannabiran, President of the People's Union of Civil Liberties, human rights' scholar Hargopal, and others. The committee they constituted expressed its opposition both to state impunity, and to what it described as the impunity of a revolutionary political movement which claims that its struggle is to provide an alternative and just system.

Unnoticed by much of the country, it doggedly persisted for more than nine years to try to restore peace and justice to the troubled districts of Telangana. Their efforts failed ultimately to bring lasting peace. But the process of dialogue with both the state and militants carries important ethical lessons, because the committee unusually applied the same democratic and moral principles in evaluating acts of violence by the State and by revolutionary parties.

The committee was unequivocal, firstly, in its condemnation of the killing of alleged Naxalites by the police in encounters, which it described as `targeted extralegal executions'. It documented unambiguously how the police have developed the `habit' of picking up people from their homes and public places and shooting them dead, sometimes in the vicinity of their own villages. It maintained that the State has shifted its political burden to the police, encouraging them to indulge in what are euphemistically described as `encounters'. These are custodial and targeted killings, extinguishing human life and the right to life itself. These encounter killings are not isolated aberrations or unintended transgressions of law by individual police personnel, but a deliberate systemic response of the State. The governments, particularly the police, believe that in case of encounters - irrespective of the law of the land - there need not be any independent investigation. These encounters `introduce terror as a component of governance and erode its very democratic essence'.

The committee is equally scathing in its condemnation of Naxalite violence, which unleashes indiscriminate violence and terror upon people `rather than on the mobilisation of people for social transformation'. Its strategies include physical liquidation of people, attacks on police stations and targeted killing of police personnel, killing of socalled informers and `coverts', exploding of landmines resulting in large scale deaths, destruction of public property and other forms of arbitrary actions including death threats, or even a `ban' on political parties.

These arbitrary and violent actions of Naxalite parties are seen to contribute to `further brutalise the society and lead to the shrinkage of democratic space'. Often, in public perception, the Naxalite movement has come to essentially connote a confrontation between the police and the Naxalites, each having its agenda of violence. `There is a general public feeling that people are sandwiched between Naxalites and police apparatus.'

Responses

The Naxalite groups have responded in writing to appeals issued from time to time by the committee, in fact with far more seriousness than the government. The CPI (ML) People's War declared, for instance, in a letter in Telugu to the committee, that `extremism (democratic struggles of the people) is inevitable in a situation of inadequately addressed social and economic problems'. They felt the committee wrongly equated police violence with Naxalite violence, and `isolated cruelty and violence from people's struggle'. They added: `It is the birth right of people to resist by legal or illegal means, peacefully or by arms, violence and atrocities on people, cruel exploitation of workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, women, minorities, dalit and adivasis by oppressive landlords, big capitalists, high officials, imperialists'. They admitted to what they described as `mistakes' causing suffering to ordinary people, but apologised to the people, and claimed to `correct immediately' these `unintentional mistakes' whenever they occurred.

To the government, the sane advice of the committee is that social peace can be restored and sustained only if justice and dignity is ensured for every person. The State must address the structural violence built into the societal system in regions torn by militancy such as inequality, exploitation and lack of freedom or democratic space. They must strive to strike at the root causes of violent unrest, including deprivation and assaults on land, human dignity, wages, employment, repression and harassment, particularly `encounters' and detention under terror laws.

The committee's humane and impartial pleas to both governments and militants to abjure violence are tragically lost in a wilderness of decades of mutually reinforcing violence. The government continues to act as `the prosecutor, the judge and the executioner' all rolled into one, continuing `extra-judicial killings with impunity'. In so doing, the State itself extinguishes the right to life, and from this there is no recompense. The Naxalites on their part continue to resort to military violence rather than mobilising oppressed masses to resist injustice, and they `attach no sanctity to human life'.

Today there seem none who is willing to heed the gentle and courageous counsel of this citizens' group. Their steady voice has been a lonely one in the brutalised cacophony and tumult of violence in these regions, and their respective supporters nation-wide. The impoverished people in large forested parts of central India seem condemned to continue to negotiate life amidst blood that is spilt everyday.

Aug 16, 2009 / The Hindu

Assault by BSF personnel in District of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Mr. Abhijit Adhikari is the only earning member of his family consisting of five members. They are enlisted in Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. He worked as mason. Their house was located near Border Security Force Out-Post no. 8 under Angrail BSF Camp. On 14/05/2009 at about 10 pm three BSF personnel of the said BSF out post came to the house of the victim. They asked the whereabouts of the victim to his mother, Ms. Sima Adhikary. His mother out of fear told them that he was not at home. But Ms. Namita a local resident who accompanied with the BSF personnel to the house of the victim told them that he was present inside the house. Then Mr. Rajendra, one of the BSF personnel forcibly pushed her on the ground and all the BSF personnel trespassed into the house and found the victim inside the house. Then they forcibly dragged him out of the house and started beating him black and blue. Then they took him to the BSF camp.

The perpetrator-B.S.F personnel took the victim to Angrail BSF Camp at about 00.00 hours at night. When they reached at the BSF camp with the victim, one B.S.F jawan standing at front of the sentry gate slapped tight on the face of the victim. In the camp the victim was tied up with a tree by an iron chain. He was not served with any food to eat during the whole night and the next day. The father of the victim went to the camp next day with some food which was given to the victim. On 15/05/2009 in the morning the victim was again beaten up brutally by four BSF personnel of the said BSF Camp. He was forced to lie upside down and they kicked him 5-6 times on his back and waist. They also kicked on his buttock, chest and beat him up by sticks aiming on his both hands and below the knees.

The victim on the same day was sent to the Custom Office, Petrapole Circle, Petrapole, North 24 Parganas and he was forced to sign on some blank papers. The family members of the victim also reached at the customs office and could be able to release him after giving Rs. 1000/- by cash as bribe. Then the family members of the victim took him to G.R. Dhar Sub-Divisional Hospital, Bongaon on the same day as his condition deteriorated. The victim remained under treatment in the said hospital from 15.5.2009 to 17.5.2009.

Ms. Sima Adhikari, the mother of the victim stated before our fact finding team that her son i.e. the victim was subjected to such heinous assault as he refused to work for Ms. Namita and carry out her instructions. She further stated that Ms. Namita maintained good terms with the BSF personnel posted in the area and Mr. Rajendra, one BSF jawan used to live at her house.

Ms. Sima Adhikari, the mother of the victim tried to lodge complaint at Gaighata Police Station against the perpetrator-BSF jawans. But the on duty police officer refused to take any complaint and asked her to meet with 2nd Officer (meojobabu). He also refused to take the complaint and told her that he can not do anything in this case. Then on 15.5.2009 she submitted a written complaint before the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Bongaon but still there is no action from his side either against the police personnel of Gaighata Police Station or the involved BSF personnel.

Ms. Sima Adhikari informed our fact finding team that on 5.7.2009 the victim went to visit one of his relatives house and on 6.7.2009 some BSF personnel posted in the area sent message to her through one local boy namely Mr. Sankar Bala asking her son to meet with the Commanding Officer of the BSF Camp. On the next day i.e. on 7.7.2009 three BSF personnel came to her house and told her that the Commanding Officer of the BSF camp wanted to meet with the victim at the Camp. Out of fear of being tortured again in the hands of the BSF personnel, Ms. Sima Adhikary had asked her son not to return to house.

Thereafter Ms. Sima Adhikari, mother of the victim was served with a notice (C No. VIII (II) 41-EXP/PTPC/09-10) dated 17.6.2009 from the office of the Superintendent of Customs, Petrapole Circle, Petrapole, North 24 Parganas. In the said notice it was claimed that on 15.5.2009 at about 5.30 hours he brought some cattle at border area and the BSF personnel intercepted him and at that time he could not produce any valid document in favour of the cattle. By virtue of the said notice the victim was asked to file show cause as to why the said seized goods should not be confiscated.

Ms. Sima Adhikari, mother of the victim claimed that the allegations made in the said notice are absolutely false as her son was forcibly picked up by the BSF personnel from her house on the date of the incident and in order to conceal their crime the victim was tagged with such false allegations by the Customs officials and the perpetrator-BSF personnel in connivance with each other.

It is revealed during the fact finding that the victim was not served with any copy of seizure list though he was entitled to the same under section 110 of Customs Act, 1962 if anything was seized from the victim as alleged by the customs officials in the notice. Further no information was lodged at Gaighata Police Station either by the Customs Office or by BSF regarding such seizure of cattle from the victim.

Name of victim: Mr. Abhijit Adhikari, son of Mr. Bimol Adhikari, aged about-22 years, by faith-Hindu, residing at village- Angrail, Post Office: Angrail, Police Station: Gaighata, District North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India.

Name of perpetrators: (1) Mr. Rajendra and other Border Security Force personnel of Angrail Border Security Force Camp, Company-E, Battalion- 126, Police Station-Gaighata, District-North 24 Parganas; (2) The Officer-in-Charge and the 2nd Officer (Mejobabu) of Gaighata Police Station; (3) the Superintendent of Customs and other officials of customs, Petrapole Circle, Petrapole, District-North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India.

Place of incident: At the house of the victim at village- Angrail, Post Office: Angrail, Police Station: Gaighata, District North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Date and time of incident: On 14.5.2009, 6.7.2009, 7.7.2009.

Kirity Roy

Secretary

Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)

National Convenor (PACTI) Programme against Custodial Torture Impunity

26 Guitendal Lane

Howrah 711101

West Bengal INDIA

Border of Bengal and Bangladesh is a Killing Zone

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Fortress India is building a new fence along the Bangladeshi border and over a thousand miles have been completed so far.

The project, which began in 2000, is inspired by Israel's wall in the West Bank, and since the killing of over 170 people by Islamist militants in Mumbai last November, construction is accelerating.

80,000 Indian soldiers of the Border Security Force, or BSF, are standing guard along the border with Muslim Bangladesh; and when it is finished, the fence will be as long as America's 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

Yet although the fencing isn't due to be finished till next year, it can already claim to have created one of the most dangerous frontiers in the world, because you can be shot for crossing it or even going near it.

Many of those confronting death are like the Bangladeshi family Channel 4 News found walking towards the fence along with their seven-year-old daughter. They were searching for a route out of poverty to the booming powerhouse of India beyond.

They stopped at a railway line with the fence clearly visible, only 150 yards ahead of them. But the smuggler accompanying them warned that they were on the edge of a "no mans land" - Indian territory where anyone could be shot. So they waited for nightfall before risking the desperate scramble across.

Travel by motorbike into the remote Bangladeshi border villages and you find that it's not just economic migrants risking death.

In the three villages our team visited, locals queued up with photographs of their relatives to show our camera just how many farmers and herdsmen had been shot. More than 60 dead so far this year and others scarred by bullets. Scores of villagers desperate to tell us they'd either been injured themselves or lost relatives to Indian border patrols.

Some of those shot are undoubtedly Bangladeshi cattle rustlers. Bangladeshis need to import Indian cows because they doesn't have enough cattle or grazing land of their own. Much of Bangladesh is below sea level, after all, while the Hindus of neighbouring India, who don't eat meat, have lots of spare cattle to sell.

Yet the fence and the guards along it are making it deadly for cattle rustlers to bring their livestock across.

It makes you wonder what will happen if climate change plunges more of Bangladesh below water; for if the country is encircled by Indian watchtowers and searchlights - and that is the plan - then mass economic migration by Bangladeshis may prove well nigh impossible. And that, of course, may be the point.

"If any goats or cattle go to the fence, if anyone goes near the fence, we can be shot," one villager told us. "Without doing anything wrong we can still be shot."

At a Bangladeshi morgue, Channel 4 News filmed stacks of death certificates of those killed by Indian soldiers. The doctors told us the bodies are always handed back to their families. But nobody has even heard of Indian soldiers being prosecuted for any crime.

Our request for an official interview with the Indian Border Security Force was turned down. And that may be because when you travel down the Indian side of the fence, you find that the Indians have killed even more of their own villagers than they have Bangladeshis.

In the village of Baliasisha, local Hindus crowded round us in scenes the mirror image of Muslim villages in Bangladesh; mothers grieving over sons, men mourning their brothers, all shot by Indian patrols.

"My son went to see his land one foggy morning around 4.30am, and that's when they killed him from behind," said one man. "Two bullets, one in the back and one in the head. I went to the police but they said they could not register any case against the border security force. My son was 19 years old. I am crazy for my boy."

Some 65,000 Indians live in villages in the "no man's land" beyond the fence. To get to these villages, they have to be fingerprinted by Indian soldiers in case any Bangladeshi tries sneaking back across. These Indians are nicknamed the "nowhere people"; if they try crossing the fence without permission, or break the nighttime curfew, they could be shot by their own troops.

Faced with this barrage of bullets, it is hardly surprising that the numbers arrested entering India illegally from Bangladesh have halved in the past year. The Indians say the Mumbai terror attacks have changed the equation, and that anyway soldiers give ample warning before criminals and terrorists are shot.

One night in the Indian border town of Murshidabad our team was told of another shooting. They drove to the hospital with a worried father who'd heard that his son had been shot by the fence.

At the hospital the father couldn't find his son on the ordinary wards because he was being treated in a locked cell.

"They shot me in the arm and I shouted 'Don't kill me!" the boy said. "Now they try and say I am a cattle smuggler. But I don't even own a cow. I don't own anything!"

The fence is over half-finished now, though 386 "border outposts" aren't due to be completed till 2014. Last week the Indian officer in charge of guarding the border told the Bangladeshis he had "zero tolerance" for human rights abuses. Though his troops have reportedly killed another seven people - on both sides - in the last few days.

Blogs/channel4.com

National Rape cases stat 2007 - Madhya Pradesh topping the list followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:00:00 +0000

The country witnessed a surge in rape cases in 2007 with Madhya Pradesh topping the list followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi reported 598 rape cases thus topping the chart of Union territories which registered a total of 641 cases.

According to official data, a total of 3,010 rape cases were registered in Madhya Pradesh in 2007.

There were 2,106 cases reported in West Bengal, 1,648 in Uttar Pradesh and 1,555 in Bihar during the period.

However, the situation in northeastern states was comparatively better except for Assam where 1,555 cases were reported.

A minimum of 13 cases came into light in Nagaland, 20 in Manipur, 24 in Sikkim, 48 in Arunachal Pradesh, 82 in Meghalaya and 83 in Mizoram, the data said.

Among the southern states, Andhra Pradesh registered a maximum of 1,070 cases, followed by 523 in Tamil Nadu, 512 in Kerala and 436 in Karnataka.

Maharashtra reported 1,451 cases of rape while there were 939 in Orissa and 519 in Punjab, the data said.

Out of the total of 20,737 registered cases, police arrested 25,363 people and 5,022 were convicted in 2007.

In 2006, a total of 19,348 cases were registered in 2006, in which 23,792 people were arrested and 5,310 convicted.

Jul 29, 2009 / Press Trust of India

Sex demand has kept the Prostitution alive

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Noted feminist and legal scholar Catherine MacKinnon presented a talk on "Trafficking, Prostitution, and Inequality: Confronting the Demand" on Thursday in a seminar hosted by Apne Aap Women Worldwide and The American Center.

Professor MacKinnon, who has authored several books like Are Women Human?, Sex Equality and Women's Lives, Men's Laws, has also represented the Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocide in a trial that won them millions, thus marking the first legal recognition of rape as an act of genocide.

Speaking on the forces that have kept prostitution alive in today's world, she said that it is the male demand that has kept the institution alive. "Men are willing to pay for sex. So prostitution exists. They know that sex and women are for sale and they can have them for a fair price. But more than anything else it is also a physical and an economic force of a man over a woman," she said.

In her trip to India, she has also visited various villages and red light areas in New Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal in order to study the lives of women and interacted with them. Another aspect of prostitution that MacKinnon highlighted in her talk was the debate on legalising prostitution. While countries like Victoria, Peru and Germany may have legalised prostitution, yet these countries have also recorded the highest rate of trafficking.

"While trafficking itself may be illegal yet the people who deal in them know that there is a lot of money to be made in prostitution in these countries since it is legal. Moreover, these are also the places where the illegal sex industry has exploded." The other point that she stressed on was legalisation of prostitution meant putting their names down in government papers for various benefits that branded them as prostitutes for life.

"For many women this is a temporary thing. Something to do to tide over the hard times and many women do want to get out of it, but if the names are put down on government register then they will forever be branded as prostitutes," said MacKinnon.

According to MacKinnon, what needs to be done is to criminalise the demand for sex from prostitutes, something that Sweden has implemented. "The demand is driving this industry and if the purchase is criminalised then there will be a hope for equality. Apart from that what needs to be done is give women an option, so that they have a choice, The women in Bihar and West Bengal whom I met said the same thing — that they needed a place to stay and they wanted access to education for themselves and their family," she said.

Express News Service Jan 09, 2009 Kolkata

Enticing prositute at Kolkata Street and the immoral traffic (prevention) act

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Colloquially called "the world's oldest profession," prostitution is the act of providing sexual services for money. The practice hits all points of the legal spectrum. In places where prostitution is illegal, a prostitute may face fines or time in prison if convicted. Prostitutes in Sudan may face the death penalty. Prostitution is illegal in all states of the US except Nevada, where prostitutes may work in licensed brothels. In Hungary and the Netherlands, prostitution is heavily regulated, and prostitutes are unionized and pay taxes for their services. While either men or women may be prostitutes, only women are typically referred to as "prostitutes." Men who prostitute themselves are usually called "male prostitutes."

According to a survey conducted in 1988 by Sanlaap, an Indian NGO for women founded in 1987, it was found that a number of women went into prostitution or became commercial workers because of circumstances and lack of resources rather than preference. A number of women interviewed claimed that they became prostitutes after breakup of marriages or being thrown out by their families or being disowned by their families. Furthermore, this survey went on to establish that it were agents who were introducing women into prostitution. 76% agents were women themselves while 24% were males.

Prostitution is India is thriving business though it is not acknowledged by a layperson or made public. The 1956 law dealing with prostitution in India is known as The Moral Traffic (Suppression) Act. It has been amended and now known as The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Under this act, prostitution in India is neither legal nor illegal. However, the law forbids soliciting customers and a prostitute cannot practice her trade within 200 yards of a public place. The law, however, allows prostitutes to be rescued from prostitution and rehabilitated should the prostitutes wish to be.

Jharkhandi Bangali Music

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:55:00 +0000

Bengali Bangla Music

noreply@blogger.com (geeks) — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 22:51:00 +0000