AGNIVESH, the Revolutionary and Mediator in talks with Marxists, EXPOSED his Long Tenure of Social ACTIVISM as the News Channels flashed him live suggesting RAMDEV NOT to OPPOSE the Government and SUSTAN the System. The CIVIL SOCIETY Brigade represents WORLD BANK to Import US branded FREE MARKET Democracy. None of them speak against FREE Market Economy, Corporate Imperialism, Zionist Order, EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing, Economic Reforms. Rather they do Hijack Popular Resistance as well as Mass Movement to help the RULING Hegemony sustaining Manusmriti Apartheid Rule. Coincidentally, Taming of Anna Hazaare and BABA Ramdev tell the same story with details. Let us understand these People who want to Change the Constitution DRAFTED by DR BR Ambedkar!Nine days after his hunger strike against corruption triggered a political war, yoga guru Baba Ramdev broke his fast in Dehradun on Sunday following appeals from spiritual and religious leaders.On the other hand,Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare Sunday wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressing his displeasure with her party calling him the face of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh ( RSS )). Pranab to address international meeting on black money, tax reforms!CIVIL SOCIETY leading the SINGUR Nandigram Revolution has NO OBJECTION to Opening up all floodgates of Foeign Capital Inflow, Private Investment and FREE Market in Marxists Free Bengal!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Pranab to address international meeting on black money, tax reforms! While,Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who met the 46-year-old yoga exponent for the third day at a Dehradun hospital, said, "Baba Ramdev has broken his fast by taking juice."In Kolkata,Senior Congress leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hit out at Anna Hazare and Ramdev over the civil society's anti-corruption movement, accusing them of undermining democratic institutions and did not spare the BJP either. Expelling TATA from SINGUR, TMC Copngress combine is all set to welcome ANIL AMBANI as Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Group (ADAG), is likely to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee soon. He could be renewing proposals he had given to the erstwhile Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government or come up with fresh projects. CIVIL SOCIETY leading the SINGUR Nandigram Revolution has NO OBJECTION to Opening up all floodgates of Foeign Capital Inflow, Private Investment and FREE Market in Marxists Free Bengal!
The activists of Patanjali Yog Samitiand many non governmental organisations welcomed the decision of yoga guru Baba Ramdevto end his nine-day long fast on Sunday. As the news was flashed on the news channels, the supporters of Baba greeted one another.
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Pranab to address international meeting on black money, tax reforms! While,Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who met the 46-year-old yoga exponent for the third day at a Dehradun hospital, said, "Baba Ramdev has broken his fast by taking juice."In Kolkata,Senior Congress leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hit out at Anna Hazare and Ramdev over the civil society's anti-corruption movement, accusing them of undermining democratic institutions and did not spare the BJP either. Expelling TATA from SINGUR, TMC Copngress combine is all set to welcome ANIL AMBANI as Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Group (ADAG), is likely to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee soon. He could be renewing proposals he had given to the erstwhile Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government or come up with fresh projects. CIVIL SOCIETY leading the SINGUR Nandigram Revolution has NO OBJECTION to Opening up all floodgates of Foeign Capital Inflow, Private Investment and FREE Market in Marxists Free Bengal!
The activists of Patanjali Yog Samitiand many non governmental organisations welcomed the decision of yoga guru Baba Ramdevto end his nine-day long fast on Sunday. As the news was flashed on the news channels, the supporters of Baba greeted one another.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and joint general secretary Bhaiya Joshi today expressed happiness over Ramdev breaking his fast and wished the yoga guru a speedy recovery.
In a statement, they said the Sangh hopes him to continue his fight against corruption and black money.
The yoga guru ended his nine-day-old fast today in Dehra Dun in the presence of some spiritual leaders.
Ramdev was on a fast to protest issues like corruption and black money issues.
He was admitted to the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday after his condition deteriorated at his ashram in Haridwar.
Meanwhile, AGNIVESH, the Revolutionary and Mediator in talks with Marxists, EXPOSED his Long Tenure of Social ACTIVISM as the News Channels flashed him live suggesting RAMDEV NOT to OPPOSE the Government and SUSTAN the System. The CIVIL SOCIETY Brigade represents WORLD BANK to Import US branded FREE MARKET Democracy. None of them speak against FREE Market Economy, Corporate Imperialism, Zionist Order, EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing, Economic Reforms. Rather they do Hijack Popular Resistance as well as Mass Movement to help the RULING Hegemony sustaining Manusmriti Apartheid Rule. Coincidentally, Taming of Anna Hazaare and BABA Ramdev tell the same story with details. Let us understand these People who want to Change the Constitution DRAFTED by DR BR Ambedkar!Nine days after his hunger strike against corruption triggered a political war, yoga guru Baba Ramdev broke his fast in Dehradun on Sunday following appeals from spiritual and religious leaders.On the other hand,Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare Sunday wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressing his displeasure with her party calling him the face of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh ( RSS )).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Agnivesh-on-Ramdev/speednewsbytopic/keyid-676166.cms
"I am very upset with such allegations made against me. This is a matter of deep concern for me," wrote Hazare in a three-page letter.
Slamming the Congress party, Hazare said that these were efforts to malign his image and senior party leaders should refrain from such antics as such a campaign would harm the formulation of the proposed Lokpal bill .
"It is propaganda by some Congress leaders who do not want me to get the support that I managed to get on April 5 at Jantar Mantar," he wrote of his fast that compelled the government to form a joint panel to draft the proposed bill.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will Monday open here a two-day international seminar on black money and tax reforms.
The event is being organised by the finance ministry in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a ministry statement said Sunday.
In Kolkata,Senior Congress leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hit out at Anna Hazare and Ramdev over the civil society's anti-corruption movement, accusing them of undermining democratic institutions and did not spare the BJP either. Expelling TATA from SINGUR, TMC Copngress combine is all set to welcome ANIL AMBANI as Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Group (ADAG), is likely to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee soon. He could be renewing proposals he had given to the erstwhile Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government or come up with fresh projects. CIVIL SOCIETY leading the SINGUR Nandigram Revolution has NO OBJECTION to Opening up all floodgates of Foeign Capital Inflow, Private Investment and FREE Market in Marxists Free Bengal!
State commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday, "Several industrialists, including Anil Ambani, have sought an appointment with the chief minister." The date hasn't been finalized. Industrialists from across India have been seeking appointments with the new chief minister.
They are all exploring investment possibilities in the changed atmosphere under the stewardship of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Chatterjee said as much: "Industrialists at national and international levels are showing interest in our state. Some of them want to renew old projects ... I can't disclose their names until the meetings are finalized."
Only on Monday, L&T chairman A M Naik had met the new chief minister to explore possibilities of investing in the state. The very next day, GAIL chairman B C Tripathy had come to Writers' Buildings with his team of officials from the ministry of petroleum and held extensive talks on initiating projects that had remained nonstarters in Bengal since 2007.
Post Singur and Nandigram, and especially after the Tatas abandoned the Nano project for Sanand in Gujarat, investors had shunned Brand Bengal. They preferred to wait till a new government took over. Now that it has, industrialists have once again started making a beeline for the state.
Ambani's meeting with erstwhile chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had hit the headlines in 2006 when the ADAG chairman had discussed detailed investment possibilities.
At that time, Ambani had evinced interest in the stalled LRT project which would have solved much of Kolkata's transportation problems. But the only ADAG project that looked like taking shape was the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication on a 60-acre plot near Haringhata.
Even the required bill for setting up this institute was passed in the state Assembly in 2008.
The institute, modelled on the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, would have cost the Ambanis Rs 150 crore at that time. The project is yet to take off.
The institute would have offered education, training and research facilities in information and communication technology. The Ambanis had sought permission to set up the institute in 2005.
Mukherjee while announcing Congress' plans to launch a nationwide anti-corruption campaign took on BJP saying it was backing Hazare and Ramdev to gain support of people after its debacle in the recent assembly polls and accused the party of providing "logistical support" to their agitations and resorting to "unconstitutional practice".
"The Constitution has given the power to legislate only to Parliament and the state Assemblies. If 5,000 or 6,000 people dictate from outside what the Parliament ought to do, this will weaken democracy," he told a press conference. The campaign is seen as a bid by Congress to counter the movement by Hazare and Ramdev.
In hard hitting remarks targeting BJP, Mukherjee said, "when the parties are rejected by the people and if they want to resort to unconstitutional practice it is totally unacceptable. They are providing logistic support to all those agitations." He however did not name the party.
"In a democratic system, in a democratic society, everybody has a right to agitate on certain issues which he feels right or wrong....Those who want to dismantle the process of Constitution, Congress party will fight against them," he said.
Mukherjee also ruled out acceding to Hazare's demand for videography of the drafting process of the Lokpal Bill, saying this was not possible in view of the fact that the drafting committee members will express their views "freely".
Their views, however, would be available on audio recording, he said.
Referring to Hazare's August 15 deadline for the passage of the Lokpal Bill, Mukherjee said, "We have suggested that the Bill be tabled in Parliament during the Monsoon Session. But who can say when the House will pass it? The Parliament is supreme."
This is for the first time such a high-level international seminar is being held in India in association with the OECD, the statement added.
Over 150 experts from 30 member countries of the OECD, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are likely to participate in the event.
Discussions would be held in separate sessions on the issues related to transfer pricing, global trends in tax reforms , implications for international tax arrangements, international dispute resolution and elimination of double taxation, among others, at the event.
On the initiatives taken by the government to curb tax frauds, the finance ministry said: "India has taken various steps to strengthen the transfer pricing provision to check misuse of the provisions and efforts to shift profits to another country."
"The variety of inter-company transactions, increased global business restructuring and location of companies in various tax jurisdictions have brought various challenges to the tax administration on transfer pricing rules," the ministry added.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday finally ended his nine-day fast against corruption and vowed to pursue his campaign. But the Congress still denounced him as a "fake baba".
Within hours of Ramdev sipping fruit juice at a hospital here on the frantic appeals of spiritual leaders like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad dubbed him a fraud.
"He is a 'dhongi (fake) baba'. He should tell people from where he got his Rs.1,100 crore," Hariprasad said in Bangalore, referring to the financial empires Ramdev reportedly presides over.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living founder who had been talking to Ramdev for some days, was among those who played a key role in persuading the Haridwar-based yoga guru to give up his fast.
"Baba Ramdev has ended his fast. He has taken (fruit) juice," he said after meeting him for a third time. He said the hunger strike ended in the presence of religious and spiritual leaders.
The 46-year-old Ramdev's trusted aide, Acharaya Balakrishna, said that though he was ending his fast the yoga guru would continue with his drive against mounting corruption and black money.
"I take this resolution to lead this 'satyagraha' till the last breath of my life," Balakrishna quoted Ramdev as saying.
Digvijay Singh, the most vocal critic of Ramdev in the Congress, went on the offensive yet again, demanding a probe into alleged money laundering by his trust.
In signs that the government was beginning to get tired of the anti-corruption crusaders, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee alleged in Kolkata that civil society activists were undermining democratic institutions.
Even as Ramdev's supporters outside the Dehradun hospital celebrated his calling off the fast by raising slogans hailing him, others used the opportunity to lash out at the government.
"We will continue our sit-ins to support him," Ajay Bhadauria, a senior member of the yoga guru's Bharat Swabhiman Trust (BST), told reporters in Lucknow.
While some saffron-clad Hindu religious leaders vowed to join hands in the anti-corruption campaign, Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy took pot shots at Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Describing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government as "monstrous", Swamy said that Ramdev's fast was "successful". "The fight against corruption will continue."
Sunday's development began June 1 when Ramdev flew into Delhi in a private jet and got a red carpet welcome at the airport, with four ministers led by Mukherjee urging him not to go on fast.
But Ramdev refused to accept their promises and launched a hunger strike June 4 at the Ramlila ground in Delhi. The government ordered a midnight crackdown, scattering his supporters and sending him packing from Delhi.
With Ramdev back at his ashram in Haridwar, government and Congress leaders denounced him without relent. He was linked with the RSS and BJP.
As Ramdev's condition began to show concern, he was moved into the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences here Friday.
Although doctors said Sunday that his condition was stable, he would not be discharged immediately.
Since morning, a host of political leaders, including Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and religious leaders like Murari Bapu, called on Ramdev.
With the Congress taking a vocally anti-Ramdev stand from the time he was forced out of Delhi by police after midnight June 4, Balakrishna sought to underline that the anti-corruption campaign was not "against any party or person in particular".
After Ramdev ended his fast, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He said the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) "must be sad and wondering why Baba did not perish as they would have gained huge political mileage out of the issue".
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Somu Kumar <somukumar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Subject: ACTION Alert: Call or Fax Odisha officials to stop violence against the people and destroying their farms
To: reachindia <ReachIndia@lists.aidindia.org>
Please forward widely!
Dear Friends,
Recent development in Dhinkia and Gobindpur areas in Odisha is extremely disturbing. The armed intimidation and threat of violence displayed by the Odisha police in an effort to acquire land for South Korean Steel company POSCO in Jagatsinghpur is a shame on our democracy. Thousands of residents of Dhinkia and Gobindpur, including several hundred children, have been peacefully lying on the ground in the searing heat to protect their homes, lands and livelihoods as the police continues to destroy the betel vines. We have seen similar incidents in Singur and Nandigram before which ended up taking lives of several innocent farmers, small land-owners and landless laborers dependent on the local farms for their livelihood. This is an instance of institutional corruption against the people.
We have to act immediately to stop the imminent violence and lend our support to peaceful protest by residents Dhinkia and Gobindpur. Please do all [or at least one of the below action].
1. Call the following people and ask them to withdraw the police force immediately:
1. Sonia Gandhi: (91)11-23014161, (91)11-23012656
2. Naveen Patnaik: (91)674-2531100, (91)674-2531500
3. Superintendent of Police, Debadutta Singh. (91)94370-94678
4. Jagdish Tytler, Odisha congress party in-charge, (91)9811044164 [come out against the land acquisition forcefully].
Also, email: soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in, cmo@ori.nic.in, manmohan@sansad.in, dmjsp@ori.nic.in, tytler@sansad.nic.in
2. Send SMS to SP & Collector to stop using force against people. (91)94370-94678 & (91)94370-38401. Sample: "Don't use force or violence against residents Dhinkia and Gobindpur. There are women and children in the area and we are extremely concerned for everyone's safety".
3. Sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/posco/petition.html
4. Send a fax: Sonia Gandhi: (91)1123018651, Odisha CM: (91)6742535100, Governor: (91)6742536582, Collector: (91)6724220299 or reply to me with your signature [name and city/country] and I will send a fax in your name.
Please act immediately and show your solidarity with the people's movement.
In Solidairty,
AID Volunteers
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Committee Reports
Iron and Steal: The Posco-India Story
Meena Gupta Committee Report
Ashish Kothari Committee Report
News Reports
IBN Live, 10 June 2011. "POSCO: Orissa government sends forces to acquire land"
Business Standard, 3 June 2011. Anti-Posco Brigade forms Human Barricade to Stall Posco Land Acquisition
The Hindu, 21 October 2010. "POSCO paid for study on POSCO"
Video Reports
Newsxlive Video 11 June 2011. "POSCO Agitation intensifies, 2000 villagers blockade police"
NDTV Video 11 June 2011. "Posco Agitation Intensifies, Women and Kids at Forefront."
------------------------------------------------------------
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
12/06/2011
Economists, bankers predict 25 bps hike in policy rates by RBI
The Reserve Bank is set to continue its fight against inflation despite a slowdown in economic growth, as price rise is still a threat to the economy, say leading economists and bankers, who expect a 25 bps hike in key policy rates at Thursday's mid-quarter policy review.
Economists are unanimous that the RBI has to continue its battle against inflation and expect another 25 bps hike in the repo rate on June 16.
If that happens, it will be the 10th consecutive hike since March, 2010. On May 3, RBI had gone in for a tough 50 bps hike in both the repo and reverse repo rates (to 7.25 and 6.25, respectively), but left the mandatory cash reserve requirement at 6 per cent.
"I expect a 25 basis points hike in the repo rate, because policy tightening has to continue till inflation is brought under control. But I don't expect the RBI to go in for a 50 bps hike as it had done on May 3," Ernst & Young India partner and national leader for global financial services, Ashvin Parekh , told PTI.
Pointing out that the last policy action did pay off in controlling demand, Parekh said, "Since inflation is still high, monetary tightening has to continue to prevent the economy from heating up again. Another 25 bps hike is more likely as liquidity position is comfortable and so is the call money market, which is also more or less stable now."
On the very low factory output data for April, Parekh said, "The IIP numbers were disappointing, but there is no room for worry, it only indicates a slowdown in growth. It is not really a bad thing, as the economy was heating up. More fiscal measures can help stabilise prices as well support growth."
Industrial output in April more than halved to a paltry 6.3 per cent, as against 13.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, due to a poor showing by the manufacturing and mining sectors.
Child labour generates Rs 1.2 lakh crore black money per year
Amid a heated debate over bringing back unaccounted money stashed abroad, a child rights outfit has claimed that child labour generates Rs 1.2 lakh crore of black money every year in India .
According to a report 'Capital Corruption: Child Labour in India' prepared by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), the figure was arrived at by calculating the number of child labourers, the income earned by them and the illicit profits being generated by employers by not appointing adult workers.
"The greed for maximisation of profit fuels the demand for child labour, with children as cheapest form of labour. Child labour, corruption and flow of black money, fuel and sustain each other in an illicit nexus that only profits the employers and the middlemen," the study said.
On arriving at the figure, the study said there were around six crore child labourers in the country who assumingly work for approximately 200 days in a year on an average cost of Rs 15 per child per day.
"The amount so calculated is Rs 18,000 crore in a year. Now, if these six crore child labourers can be substituted with the six crore adults with an average floor wage of Rs 115 per day, one labourer would generate Rs 1, 38,000 crore.
"The difference between these two amount amounts to Rs 1.20 lakh crore," the study claimed.
It said this amount should have been paid by the employers to the workers but they instead employed underpaid and overworked child labourers. "The employer also did not report any income to the government, evaded taxes, making Rs 1.2 lakh crore worth illegal money in the country," it said.
Baba Ramdev is turning black money into white: Digvijay Singh
GUNA: Continuing his tirade against Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today asked Baba to name the person who had secretly donated him a helicopter.
Singh also accused Baba Ramdev of turning the black money received as donations, into white.
"Baba, who is demanding that the names of the people with black money should be made public, should name the person who had secretly donated a helicopter to him," Singh told reporters at his hometown in Raghogarh last evening.
"Baba is bringing the secret donations (black money) under the tax free category, making it white, and accumulating huge capital," Singh alleged.
"Baba was in the business of turning black money into white. It was against the Centre's Prevention of Money Laundering Act," he said demanding an inquiry into it.
Taking a potshot at Baba, he wondered from where the figure of Rs 400 lakh crore black money stashed abroad has cropped up.
"Slowly and gradually, things are becoming clear, which is why, the RSS and BJP have started distancing themselves from Baba," he said.
"Baba himself stated that the government had agreed to 99 per cent of his demands, which is why he is continuing his fast," he said.
Singh said that Ramdev's fast wasn't a satyagraha, but a 'Nautanki' in Ramlila ground in Delhi.
Forest clearance doesn't grant land acquisition: Ramesh
Amid protests by locals against land acquisition for Posco's steel plant in Orissa's Govindpur village, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today asked the state government not to use environmental clearance for the project as a "license for forcible acquisition of land".
"The Posco steel-cum-power-cum-port project in Odisha was given environment and forest clearance by the Ministry of Environment and Forests after a great deal of thought and a careful balancing of various factors.
"However, I hope that the state government will not use this clearance as a license for forcible acquisition of land," Ramesh said in a statement.
He said the "intent" and "purpose" of the environmental clearance was not to allow forcible acquisition of land.
"I have often said that environment and forest clearance process should not be used to fight other battles that have to do with important issues like land acquisition, compensation and livelihoods...I appeal to the Odisha government to ensure that land is acquired only through peaceful and law-governed means," the Union Minister said.
Govindpur villagers, who have refused to give away their land for the steel plant have formed a three-tier human barricade at the entry point
Orissa government has declared the protests as "unlawful" and re-deployed about 800 personnel in the area.
Ramesh said while all parties should adhere to democratic norms and procedures, "I earnestly hope that the state government will not take any precipitate action."
Dialogue and discussion, not coercion is as essential to ecological security as it is to democracy, he said
Food ministry to step up procurement for proposed Food Law
The food ministry plans to augment wheat and rice procurement by 10 million tonnes to meet the expected demand for 70 million tonnes of foodgrain under the proposed National Food Security Act .
"We have to increase the foodgrain procurement to 70 million tonnes in order to meet the requirement under the proposed bill," according to a senior official.
The government buys around 60 million tonnes of wheat and rice, about 30 per cent of the country's total output of these two crops, the official said.
"Higher support price will boost procurement level," the official said, adding that the government has announced an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy by Rs 80/quintal for the 2011-12 Kharif season.
An increase in the foodgrain procurement will result in the rise of the government's Food subsidy bill to Rs 1,00,000 crore from Rs 80,000 crore, the official said.
From the last year's crop, the government had till last week purchased 57 million tonnes of rice and wheat. The procurement season is still underway.
The Food Ministry has finalised the draft National Food Security Bill , which aims at providing a legal right over subsidised foodgrain to 68 per cent of the people in the country. India's population is around 1.2 billion.
The draft bill guarantees 7 kg of wheat or rice to every person belonging to the 'priority households' and 3 kg to individuals from the 'general households' every month at subsidised prices.
The ministry has proposed subsidised rate of Rs 2/kg for wheat and Rs 3/kg for rice for priority households and Rs 5.50/kg wheat and Rs 7.50/kg of rice for general households.
At present, the government supplies 35/kg of subsidised foodgrain to 6.52 crore BPL ( Below Poverty Line )) families and over 15 kg to 11.5 crore Above Poverty Line families.
The draft bill makes it compulsory for state governments to give the "Food Security Allowance" in cash to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain.
To address the grievances of the targeted sections, the draft bill calls for setting up of an advisory body called the Food Security Commission at national, state and district levels.
'Manufacturing Policy aims at more GDP contribution'
HYDERABAD: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Saturday said the proposed 'National Manufacturing Policy' aims at increasing contribution of manufacturing to the national GDP from current 16 per cent to 25-26 per cent by 2025 and of creating 100 million jobs in the next decade.
Sharma said that a high-level meeting comprising of prime minister, finance minister and other cabinet ministers, was held two days ago in Delhi on the new policy.
"The day before the prime minister chaired a high-level meeting in which finance minister, I, minister for corporate affairs and other ministers and all the key secretaries of government of India were present.
The aim is to take our manufacturing from the present 16 per cent share in the GDP to 25-26 per cent in a decade's time and to generate 100 million jobs (in next decade) and 200 million jobs by 2025," Sharma told media persons here.
He said the government was mulling to create industrial corridors in southern parts of the country on the similar lines of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.
Replying to question on allowing rice exports, the minster said the government was aware of the position of food grains stock in the country which is at comfortable levels.
He, however, said the Group of Ministers (GoM) will meet soon to take the stock of the situation.
"We are close to double what we are required to keep (food grains). But we are working on Food Security Act. Therefore, adequate amounts have to be kept once that food commitment to the nation happens.
Some extent of exports have been allowed. And the situation is carefully monitored," he said.
Govt to award Rs 70,000 cr road contracts this fiscal
Contracts for building 11,050 kms of roads will be awarded in the current fiscal year involving an estimated investment of Rs 70,000 crore, as per the target set by the Ministry of Road , Transport and Highways .
The ambitious road building plans were reviewed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today with Road Transport Minister C P Joshi and senior officials of the ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Of the total work proposed to be awarded this fiscal, 7,300 km would be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), an increase of 44 per cent over 5,095 km in 2010-11. Under this component, investment is earmarked at Rs 57,000 crore.
As part of a development strategy, the government wants to complete 1,759 km of roads in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas this year involving an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore.
The road ministry plans to award 1,991 km road projects too under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North-East where Rs 10,000 crore investment could be made.
India has 70,934 km national highways network. Work is in progress on 10,142 km as of March end, an official said after the review meeting.
The road ministry highlighted the problems for the speedy implementation of the road projects. It wanted expeditious approval from the Planning Commission for upgradation of 10,000 km of state roads to new national highways already cleared by a Group of Ministers.
Over and above this, 10,000 km roads also need to be upgraded to the national highways.
The ministry intends to make 12,000 km of stretches of national highways to be proper two-lane national highway standard.
"Additional allocation of funds are also required for maintenance and repair of national highways," a ministry official said, adding that the amount required is nothing less than Rs 1,000 crore.
Formulation of a road development plan for districts with large tribal population was also discussed.
12 JUN, 2011, 05.57AM IST, AVINASH CELESTINE & SOMA BANERJEE,ET BUREAU
Why Baba Ramdev lost the plot
Like a profligate, Baba Ramdev blew it away. Last Sunday, he was handed a winning situation on a platter: the government ordered a police raid on the Ramlila grounds to evict him and hundreds of followers.
The result was unthinkable: Baba won the support of not just his believers but also his detractors. The public outcry had UPA running for cover.
Eight days later, it is Ramdev who wishes he could hide. Right now, he is recovering in Dehradun's Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences. Doctors say he is stable, though speaking with difficulty. No longer in the intensive care unit, he has been shifted to a VIP room to recuperate. But Ramdev's campaign continues to be in deep trouble.
Sages say what comes easy goes faster. The wave of support came too easy for Ramdev. He did little to earn it. The public sentiment was more anti-government than pro-Ramdev.
Perhaps this is why he couldn't handle it. The campaign suddenly became bigger than Ramdev or his aides had conceived. Earlier last week, many expected him to put final touches to a victory. Instead they found him floundering: unable to handle the media or garner support on his home turf.
A combination of both factors derailed Ramdev's plans. The jury is out on his financial probity, his trusts and his companies. But the very fact that such questions were raised seemed to disqualify him as a leader of a campaign against corruption. ET on Sunday analyses how Ramdev unravelled his own game with blow by blow accounts from his ashram Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar.
Naive Comments to the Media
It began to go downhill on Wednesday. During one of his customary public appearances at the yogyashala, an open-air auditorium, Ramdev claimed he would launch an 11,000-strong force for self-defence. It was unclear if he meant an 'armed' force.
But Ramdev did claim constitutional backing for the right to self-defence: "We all have this right. Don't people across the country learn judo and karate? This is perfectly legal. We will raise a force of young people like that." He added: "We will not assault any one. But neither will we be assaulted."
And then came a statement which exemplified his naivete: "I know my media friends won't twist my words. I have full confidence in them." Whether twisted or not, the channels reported those words widely.
Pushed to be Defensive
By Thursday, events turned farcical. Everyone had been told that Baba and Acharya Balkrishna would address the media, till then both had been relatively inaccessible. At about 6.15 pm, they appeared together.
In contrast to Ramdev, who is more comfortable talking to large supporters, Balkrishna seemed more media savvy. Dressed in white (the garb of a brahmachari), he constantly viewed news channels to be updated on developments at the Centre. Balkrishna wanted to be ready with the next move even while talking on the mobile phone.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/why-baba-ramdev-lost-the-plot/articleshow/8817394.cms
In a statement, they said the Sangh hopes him to continue his fight against corruption and black money.
The yoga guru ended his nine-day-old fast today in Dehra Dun in the presence of some spiritual leaders.
Ramdev was on a fast to protest issues like corruption and black money issues.
He was admitted to the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday after his condition deteriorated at his ashram in Haridwar.
Baba Ramdev ends fast, supporters elatedTimes of India - 46 minutes agoALLAHABAD: The activists of Patanjali Yog Samiti and many non governmental organisations welcomed the decision of yoga guru Baba Ramdev to end his nine-day long fast on Sunday. As the news was flashed on the news channels, the supporters of Baba ...Baba Ramdev ends fast, Congress taunts himIBNLive.com - 1 hour agoDehradun: After eight days of confrontation, defiance and then some coaxing by the saints and spiritual gurus, Baba Ramdev finally got the face-saver to break his fast with a sip of orange juice. His disciples were ecstatic and the government heaved a...Pol parties relieved at Ramdev ending fastDaily Pioneer - 1 hour agoPTI | New Delhi Political parties were relieved that Ramdev ended his nine-day fast against corruption today even as Congress said it played no role in the yoga guru's decision. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, a vocal critic of Ramdev, ...
RSS welcomes Ramdev breaking fastDaily Pioneer - 20 minutes agoPTI | New Delhi RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and joint general secretary Bhaiya Joshi today expressed happiness over Ramdev breaking his fast and wished the yoga guru a speedy recovery. In a statement, they said the Sangh hopes him to continue his fight ...Ramdev's fast a 'nautanki', says DigvijayTimes of India - 1 hour agoBHOPAL: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Sunday termed yoga guru Baba Ramdev's nine-day fast against corruption a 'nautanki' (drama). Singh was returning to Delhi on a special plane when he spoke to reporters at Raja Bhoj airport on Ramdev's ...Ramdev ends fast, vows to fight corruptionTimes of India - 3 hours agoDEHRADUN: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday finally ended his nine-day fast against corruption and vowed to pursue his campaign. But the Congress still denounced him as a "fake baba". Within hours of Ramdev sipping fruit juice at a hospital here on the ...Mixed feelings among followers as Ramdev ends fastDaily News & Analysis - 3 hours agoPlace: Dehra Dun | Agency: PTI The end of Ramdev's nine-day-old fast against corruption and black money today evoked mixed feelings among hundreds of his supporters with a section of them unhappy with the yoga guru's decision. ...Yoga guru Ramdev ends his nine-day-old fastAll India Radio - 2 hours agoYog Guru Baba Ram Dev ended his indefinite fast today respecting the wishes of Sant Samaj. Baba was on indefinite fast for the last nine days on the issue of black money and corruption. Spiritual Leader Shree Shree Ravi Shankar accompanied with other ...Govt makes Ramdev a martyrDeccan Herald - 22 hours ago''If Baba Ramdev has any hidden agenda, it must be condemned... But if the government believes only in suppressing dissent by force, it would have to take action against all those Indians who stand up in support of any effort to root out corruption. ...All 111 related articles » | RelatedBaba RamdevYogaBharatiya Janata PartyDehradunGuruHunger strikeTimeline of articlesNumber of sources covering this story
ImagesABC OnlineMoneycontrol.co...AFPThe HinduIndian ExpressAll India RadioRediffDaily BhaskarRediffAll related images »VideosBaba Ramdev ends his nine-day-old fastNewsX - 9 hours agoWatch videoBaba Ramdev ends his fast after 9 daysNDTV.com - 10 hours agoWatch videoSpiritual Guru appeals to Yoga Guru to end fastNewsX - Jun 11, 2011Watch videoAll related videos » |
Agnivesh-Ramdev split in open
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoY8KZSAasgMeanwhile, AGNIVESH, the Revolutionary and Mediator in talks with Marxists, EXPOSED his Long Tenure of Social ACTIVISM as the News Channels flashed him live suggesting RAMDEV NOT to OPPOSE the Government and SUSTAN the System. The CIVIL SOCIETY Brigade represents WORLD BANK to Import US branded FREE MARKET Democracy. None of them speak against FREE Market Economy, Corporate Imperialism, Zionist Order, EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing, Economic Reforms. Rather they do Hijack Popular Resistance as well as Mass Movement to help the RULING Hegemony sustaining Manusmriti Apartheid Rule. Coincidentally, Taming of Anna Hazaare and BABA Ramdev tell the same story with details. Let us understand these People who want to Change the Constitution DRAFTED by DR BR Ambedkar!Nine days after his hunger strike against corruption triggered a political war, yoga guru Baba Ramdev broke his fast in Dehradun on Sunday following appeals from spiritual and religious leaders.On the other hand,Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare Sunday wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressing his displeasure with her party calling him the face of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh ( RSS )).
| Agnivesh on Ramdev Last Updated 10 hours ago |
| * Agnivesh on Ramdev Swami Agnivesh's move is considered to be a move apprently targeted to damage control after Baba's protest against Congress. By Manveer Saini, Chandigarh10 hours ago |
| * Agnivesh on Ramdev Swami Agnivesh has raised the questions on motive behind Baba Ramdev's fast upto death. By Manveer Saini, Chandigarh10 hours ago |
| * Agnivesh on Ramdev Agnivesh is among those who teamed up with Anna and Ramdev over the issue of Lokpal bill. By Manveer Saini, Chandigarh10 hours ago |
| * Agnivesh on Ramdev Arya Samaj leader and social reformer says that there is no need for Baba Ramdev to continue fast as government has accepted his demands. By Manveer Saini, Chandigarh10 hours ago |
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Agnivesh-on-Ramdev/speednewsbytopic/keyid-676166.cms
Ramdev moved to D'dun hospital
Deccan Chronicle - Jun 10, 2011
Swami Agnivesh, who met Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the yoga guru's health, told this newspaper that "there is no point in Ramdev continuing his fasting since he himself told his followers to end their fast". ...
'It's an auspicious time for fighting corruption'
Rediff - Jun 10, 2011
When asked to comment on social activist Swami Agnivesh expressing apprehension over her presence on the dais with Baba Ramdev [ Images ] at Ramlila grounds, Ritambhara said she participated in the protest as a citizen of the country, and one who is ...
Focus should on tackling corruption and black money: Sadhvi Ritambhara Daily News & Analysis
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Agnivesh's yatra remark sparks a furore
Times of India - Jun 5, 2011
PTI | Jun 6, 2011, 05.18am IST SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri pandit body on Sunday demanded that social activist Swami Agnivesh be punished for his "blasphemous" remarks against pilgrimage to Amarnath cave. The All Parties Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) ...
Kashmiri Pandits burn Swami Agnivesh's effigy indiablooms
''Agnivesh should be punished for Amarnath yatra remarks'' IBNLive.com
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SamayLive
Swami Agnivesh's attacker gets bail
Times of India - May 27, 2011
AHMEDABAD: Mahant Nityanand Das, who attacked Swami Agnivesh in the city on Thursday night after a public assembly , was released on bail on Friday. Mahant was booked by the Karanj police under IPC section 151. The Karanj police said that while Swami ...
Mahant held for slapping Agnivesh The Hindu
Swami Agnivesh's pocket picked, then gets manhandled in Gujarat Daily News & Analysis
Anna skips press meet, Agnivesh, Arvind hold fort Indian Express
Ahmedabad Mirror - NDTV.com
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Hindu Business Line
'Centre should initiate talks with Maoists'
Times of India - May 20, 2011
HYDERABAD: Central government should initiate talks with Maoists, said Swami Agnivesh, founder, World Council of Arya Samaj and member Jan Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee, on Tuesday. Swami Agnivesh said that he was confident that the Maoists would ...
Agnivesh gets under Gogoi's skin Hindustan Times
Agnivesh wants EVM probe Deccan Chronicle
Anna Hazare moved by Guwahati rally Daily News & Analysis
IBNLive.com - Citizen Matters
all 107 news articles »Email this story
The Hindu
Govt rules out talks with Baba, Cong readies combat strategy
Hindustan Times - Jun 10, 2011
The government has ruled out any mediation or talks with Baba Ramdev after activist SwamiAgnivesh approached senior leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in this regard. Instead, the Congress will aggressively counter the BJP's "orchestrated ...
Video: Agnivesh-Ramdev split in open NewsX
Govt rules out further talks with Ramdev IBNLive.com
Pranab meets PM over Ramdev India.com
NDTV.com - Mid-Day
all 1,072 news articles »
हिंदी मेंEmail this story
Hazare asked to leave Swami Agnivesh
Times of India - May 31, 2011
PTI | May 31, 2011, 08.03pm IST HARIDWAR: An apex body of sadhus and seers on Tuesday appealed to social activist Anna Hazare to leave the company of Swami Agnivesh as he had made "objectionable remarks" against a holy Hindu shrine. ...
Federation of Baba Amarnath Samiti objects to Agnivesh remarks Organiser
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VHP demands registration of case against Swami Agnivesh
Daily News & Analysis - May 21, 2011
Place: Jammu | Agency: PTI The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today demanded registration of a case against social activist Swami Agnivesh for his remarks on Amarnath pilgrimage which, it said, had hurt sentiments of Hindus. The VHP also demanded recall of ...
Hindu Group Puts Bounty On Agnivesh's Head Kashmir Observer
Hindu group announces '10 lakh bounty on Agnivesh's head' Kashmir Dispatch
'`10 lakhs on Agnivesh head' Deccan Chronicle
The Nation, Pakistan - Sify
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NDTV.com
Govt gets tough on fasts
MSN India - 11 hours ago
Activist Agnivesh met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the Ramdev issue here on Friday, suggesting the government may want to start a new round of discussions with the yoga teacher. The suggestion was, however, turned down until Ramdev ...
Video: Anna writes to Sonia: I am not a BJP or RSS front NewsX
Digvijaya needs mental asylum: Anna Hindustan Times
Civil society versus government: Between rock and hard place ummid.com
all 152 news articles »
हिंदी मेंEmail this story
Crusader Anna Hazare coming to Ahmedabad next week
Daily News & Analysis - May 19, 2011
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and his team including Swami Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal will visit the city on May 26. Hazare along with his team is visiting various cities in the ...
Hazare, co-activists to meet state farmers, discuss Jan Lokpal Bill Indian Express
Anna Hazare to visit city on May 26 Times of India
Now, resentment brewing in Bhavnagar The Hindu
Business Standard - IBNLive.com
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"I am very upset with such allegations made against me. This is a matter of deep concern for me," wrote Hazare in a three-page letter.
Slamming the Congress party, Hazare said that these were efforts to malign his image and senior party leaders should refrain from such antics as such a campaign would harm the formulation of the proposed Lokpal bill .
"It is propaganda by some Congress leaders who do not want me to get the support that I managed to get on April 5 at Jantar Mantar," he wrote of his fast that compelled the government to form a joint panel to draft the proposed bill.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will Monday open here a two-day international seminar on black money and tax reforms.
The event is being organised by the finance ministry in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a ministry statement said Sunday.
In Kolkata,Senior Congress leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hit out at Anna Hazare and Ramdev over the civil society's anti-corruption movement, accusing them of undermining democratic institutions and did not spare the BJP either. Expelling TATA from SINGUR, TMC Copngress combine is all set to welcome ANIL AMBANI as Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Group (ADAG), is likely to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee soon. He could be renewing proposals he had given to the erstwhile Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government or come up with fresh projects. CIVIL SOCIETY leading the SINGUR Nandigram Revolution has NO OBJECTION to Opening up all floodgates of Foeign Capital Inflow, Private Investment and FREE Market in Marxists Free Bengal!
State commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday, "Several industrialists, including Anil Ambani, have sought an appointment with the chief minister." The date hasn't been finalized. Industrialists from across India have been seeking appointments with the new chief minister.
They are all exploring investment possibilities in the changed atmosphere under the stewardship of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Chatterjee said as much: "Industrialists at national and international levels are showing interest in our state. Some of them want to renew old projects ... I can't disclose their names until the meetings are finalized."
Only on Monday, L&T chairman A M Naik had met the new chief minister to explore possibilities of investing in the state. The very next day, GAIL chairman B C Tripathy had come to Writers' Buildings with his team of officials from the ministry of petroleum and held extensive talks on initiating projects that had remained nonstarters in Bengal since 2007.
Post Singur and Nandigram, and especially after the Tatas abandoned the Nano project for Sanand in Gujarat, investors had shunned Brand Bengal. They preferred to wait till a new government took over. Now that it has, industrialists have once again started making a beeline for the state.
Ambani's meeting with erstwhile chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had hit the headlines in 2006 when the ADAG chairman had discussed detailed investment possibilities.
At that time, Ambani had evinced interest in the stalled LRT project which would have solved much of Kolkata's transportation problems. But the only ADAG project that looked like taking shape was the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication on a 60-acre plot near Haringhata.
Even the required bill for setting up this institute was passed in the state Assembly in 2008.
The institute, modelled on the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, would have cost the Ambanis Rs 150 crore at that time. The project is yet to take off.
The institute would have offered education, training and research facilities in information and communication technology. The Ambanis had sought permission to set up the institute in 2005.
Mukherjee while announcing Congress' plans to launch a nationwide anti-corruption campaign took on BJP saying it was backing Hazare and Ramdev to gain support of people after its debacle in the recent assembly polls and accused the party of providing "logistical support" to their agitations and resorting to "unconstitutional practice".
"The Constitution has given the power to legislate only to Parliament and the state Assemblies. If 5,000 or 6,000 people dictate from outside what the Parliament ought to do, this will weaken democracy," he told a press conference. The campaign is seen as a bid by Congress to counter the movement by Hazare and Ramdev.
In hard hitting remarks targeting BJP, Mukherjee said, "when the parties are rejected by the people and if they want to resort to unconstitutional practice it is totally unacceptable. They are providing logistic support to all those agitations." He however did not name the party.
"In a democratic system, in a democratic society, everybody has a right to agitate on certain issues which he feels right or wrong....Those who want to dismantle the process of Constitution, Congress party will fight against them," he said.
Mukherjee also ruled out acceding to Hazare's demand for videography of the drafting process of the Lokpal Bill, saying this was not possible in view of the fact that the drafting committee members will express their views "freely".
Their views, however, would be available on audio recording, he said.
Referring to Hazare's August 15 deadline for the passage of the Lokpal Bill, Mukherjee said, "We have suggested that the Bill be tabled in Parliament during the Monsoon Session. But who can say when the House will pass it? The Parliament is supreme."
This is for the first time such a high-level international seminar is being held in India in association with the OECD, the statement added.
Over 150 experts from 30 member countries of the OECD, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are likely to participate in the event.
Discussions would be held in separate sessions on the issues related to transfer pricing, global trends in tax reforms , implications for international tax arrangements, international dispute resolution and elimination of double taxation, among others, at the event.
On the initiatives taken by the government to curb tax frauds, the finance ministry said: "India has taken various steps to strengthen the transfer pricing provision to check misuse of the provisions and efforts to shift profits to another country."
"The variety of inter-company transactions, increased global business restructuring and location of companies in various tax jurisdictions have brought various challenges to the tax administration on transfer pricing rules," the ministry added.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday finally ended his nine-day fast against corruption and vowed to pursue his campaign. But the Congress still denounced him as a "fake baba".
Within hours of Ramdev sipping fruit juice at a hospital here on the frantic appeals of spiritual leaders like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad dubbed him a fraud.
"He is a 'dhongi (fake) baba'. He should tell people from where he got his Rs.1,100 crore," Hariprasad said in Bangalore, referring to the financial empires Ramdev reportedly presides over.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living founder who had been talking to Ramdev for some days, was among those who played a key role in persuading the Haridwar-based yoga guru to give up his fast.
"Baba Ramdev has ended his fast. He has taken (fruit) juice," he said after meeting him for a third time. He said the hunger strike ended in the presence of religious and spiritual leaders.
The 46-year-old Ramdev's trusted aide, Acharaya Balakrishna, said that though he was ending his fast the yoga guru would continue with his drive against mounting corruption and black money.
"I take this resolution to lead this 'satyagraha' till the last breath of my life," Balakrishna quoted Ramdev as saying.
Digvijay Singh, the most vocal critic of Ramdev in the Congress, went on the offensive yet again, demanding a probe into alleged money laundering by his trust.
In signs that the government was beginning to get tired of the anti-corruption crusaders, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee alleged in Kolkata that civil society activists were undermining democratic institutions.
Even as Ramdev's supporters outside the Dehradun hospital celebrated his calling off the fast by raising slogans hailing him, others used the opportunity to lash out at the government.
"We will continue our sit-ins to support him," Ajay Bhadauria, a senior member of the yoga guru's Bharat Swabhiman Trust (BST), told reporters in Lucknow.
While some saffron-clad Hindu religious leaders vowed to join hands in the anti-corruption campaign, Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy took pot shots at Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Describing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government as "monstrous", Swamy said that Ramdev's fast was "successful". "The fight against corruption will continue."
Sunday's development began June 1 when Ramdev flew into Delhi in a private jet and got a red carpet welcome at the airport, with four ministers led by Mukherjee urging him not to go on fast.
But Ramdev refused to accept their promises and launched a hunger strike June 4 at the Ramlila ground in Delhi. The government ordered a midnight crackdown, scattering his supporters and sending him packing from Delhi.
With Ramdev back at his ashram in Haridwar, government and Congress leaders denounced him without relent. He was linked with the RSS and BJP.
As Ramdev's condition began to show concern, he was moved into the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences here Friday.
Although doctors said Sunday that his condition was stable, he would not be discharged immediately.
Since morning, a host of political leaders, including Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and religious leaders like Murari Bapu, called on Ramdev.
With the Congress taking a vocally anti-Ramdev stand from the time he was forced out of Delhi by police after midnight June 4, Balakrishna sought to underline that the anti-corruption campaign was not "against any party or person in particular".
After Ramdev ended his fast, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He said the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) "must be sad and wondering why Baba did not perish as they would have gained huge political mileage out of the issue".
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Somu Kumar <somukumar@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Subject: ACTION Alert: Call or Fax Odisha officials to stop violence against the people and destroying their farms
To: reachindia <ReachIndia@lists.aidindia.org>
Please forward widely!
Dear Friends,
Recent development in Dhinkia and Gobindpur areas in Odisha is extremely disturbing. The armed intimidation and threat of violence displayed by the Odisha police in an effort to acquire land for South Korean Steel company POSCO in Jagatsinghpur is a shame on our democracy. Thousands of residents of Dhinkia and Gobindpur, including several hundred children, have been peacefully lying on the ground in the searing heat to protect their homes, lands and livelihoods as the police continues to destroy the betel vines. We have seen similar incidents in Singur and Nandigram before which ended up taking lives of several innocent farmers, small land-owners and landless laborers dependent on the local farms for their livelihood. This is an instance of institutional corruption against the people.
We have to act immediately to stop the imminent violence and lend our support to peaceful protest by residents Dhinkia and Gobindpur. Please do all [or at least one of the below action].
1. Call the following people and ask them to withdraw the police force immediately:
1. Sonia Gandhi: (91)11-23014161, (91)11-23012656
2. Naveen Patnaik: (91)674-2531100, (91)674-2531500
3. Superintendent of Police, Debadutta Singh. (91)94370-94678
4. Jagdish Tytler, Odisha congress party in-charge, (91)9811044164 [come out against the land acquisition forcefully].
Also, email: soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in, cmo@ori.nic.in, manmohan@sansad.in, dmjsp@ori.nic.in, tytler@sansad.nic.in
2. Send SMS to SP & Collector to stop using force against people. (91)94370-94678 & (91)94370-38401. Sample: "Don't use force or violence against residents Dhinkia and Gobindpur. There are women and children in the area and we are extremely concerned for everyone's safety".
3. Sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/posco/petition.html
4. Send a fax: Sonia Gandhi: (91)1123018651, Odisha CM: (91)6742535100, Governor: (91)6742536582, Collector: (91)6724220299 or reply to me with your signature [name and city/country] and I will send a fax in your name.
Please act immediately and show your solidarity with the people's movement.
In Solidairty,
AID Volunteers
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Committee Reports
Iron and Steal: The Posco-India Story
Meena Gupta Committee Report
Ashish Kothari Committee Report
News Reports
IBN Live, 10 June 2011. "POSCO: Orissa government sends forces to acquire land"
Business Standard, 3 June 2011. Anti-Posco Brigade forms Human Barricade to Stall Posco Land Acquisition
The Hindu, 21 October 2010. "POSCO paid for study on POSCO"
Video Reports
Newsxlive Video 11 June 2011. "POSCO Agitation intensifies, 2000 villagers blockade police"
NDTV Video 11 June 2011. "Posco Agitation Intensifies, Women and Kids at Forefront."
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Please visit http://www.aidindia.org
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Pl Read:
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12/06/2011
Govt gets tough on fasts
New Delhi: Indicating it was running out of patience with the politics of fasts, the government has ruled out any talks with yoga guru Ramdev, presently undergoing treatment at Dehra Dun's Jolly Grant Hospital. It would also not respond to activist Anna Hazare's deadline of August 15 to enact the Lok Pal bill, failing which he has threatened to resume his fast.
Activist Agnivesh met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the Ramdev issue here on Friday, suggesting the government may want to start a new round of discussions with the yoga teacher. The suggestion was, however, turned down until Ramdev ended his fast.
Simultaneously, in Bangalore, Ashwani Kumar, the union minister of state for parliamentary affairs, hit out at Hazare for resorting to "fast-to-death at the drop of a hat". The agitation by Hazare was unjustified as the government was sensitive to the issue and fighting corruption was its "core agenda", he said.
"You (Hazare) say if you (the government) don't bring a legislation (Lokpal bill) by August 15, we will go on a fast. But, lawmaking is not at will. It is the functioning of a process", Kumar said.
Indicating that law enactment was alengthy process, he said one had to discuss the bill with stakeholders, assimilate everybody's view and also see "what the constitution and the laws permit".
"You cannot, in the garb of being a crusader against corruption, undermine the established institutions of parliamentary democracy". He said one had to understand there were "competing priorities in governance".
Meanwhile, doctors said Ramdev's condition was improving.
In a related devalopment, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Saturday met Ramdev and appealed to him to end his eight-day fast even as the latter's health condition showed signs of improvement. The Art of Living founder, however, made it clear the Centre had not asked him to negotiate with the 46-year-old yoga guru for ending his fast against black money and corruption. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and former president A P J Abdula Kalam also appealed to Ramdev to end his fast.
"No. Nobody in the central government has said anything to me and I have come here on my own. I will keep meeting him till he breaks his fast," Ravi Shankar said when asked if someone from the government got in touch with him on the issue."If government wants, I am ready to do anything...whatever the nation needs," he said after meeting Ramdev at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences for about an hour in Dehra Dun.
Source: Business Standard
Economists, bankers predict 25 bps hike in policy rates by RBI
The Reserve Bank is set to continue its fight against inflation despite a slowdown in economic growth, as price rise is still a threat to the economy, say leading economists and bankers, who expect a 25 bps hike in key policy rates at Thursday's mid-quarter policy review.
Economists are unanimous that the RBI has to continue its battle against inflation and expect another 25 bps hike in the repo rate on June 16.
If that happens, it will be the 10th consecutive hike since March, 2010. On May 3, RBI had gone in for a tough 50 bps hike in both the repo and reverse repo rates (to 7.25 and 6.25, respectively), but left the mandatory cash reserve requirement at 6 per cent.
"I expect a 25 basis points hike in the repo rate, because policy tightening has to continue till inflation is brought under control. But I don't expect the RBI to go in for a 50 bps hike as it had done on May 3," Ernst & Young India partner and national leader for global financial services, Ashvin Parekh , told PTI.
Pointing out that the last policy action did pay off in controlling demand, Parekh said, "Since inflation is still high, monetary tightening has to continue to prevent the economy from heating up again. Another 25 bps hike is more likely as liquidity position is comfortable and so is the call money market, which is also more or less stable now."
On the very low factory output data for April, Parekh said, "The IIP numbers were disappointing, but there is no room for worry, it only indicates a slowdown in growth. It is not really a bad thing, as the economy was heating up. More fiscal measures can help stabilise prices as well support growth."
Industrial output in April more than halved to a paltry 6.3 per cent, as against 13.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, due to a poor showing by the manufacturing and mining sectors.
Child labour generates Rs 1.2 lakh crore black money per year
Amid a heated debate over bringing back unaccounted money stashed abroad, a child rights outfit has claimed that child labour generates Rs 1.2 lakh crore of black money every year in India .
According to a report 'Capital Corruption: Child Labour in India' prepared by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), the figure was arrived at by calculating the number of child labourers, the income earned by them and the illicit profits being generated by employers by not appointing adult workers.
"The greed for maximisation of profit fuels the demand for child labour, with children as cheapest form of labour. Child labour, corruption and flow of black money, fuel and sustain each other in an illicit nexus that only profits the employers and the middlemen," the study said.
On arriving at the figure, the study said there were around six crore child labourers in the country who assumingly work for approximately 200 days in a year on an average cost of Rs 15 per child per day.
"The amount so calculated is Rs 18,000 crore in a year. Now, if these six crore child labourers can be substituted with the six crore adults with an average floor wage of Rs 115 per day, one labourer would generate Rs 1, 38,000 crore.
"The difference between these two amount amounts to Rs 1.20 lakh crore," the study claimed.
It said this amount should have been paid by the employers to the workers but they instead employed underpaid and overworked child labourers. "The employer also did not report any income to the government, evaded taxes, making Rs 1.2 lakh crore worth illegal money in the country," it said.
Baba Ramdev is turning black money into white: Digvijay Singh
GUNA: Continuing his tirade against Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today asked Baba to name the person who had secretly donated him a helicopter.
Singh also accused Baba Ramdev of turning the black money received as donations, into white.
"Baba, who is demanding that the names of the people with black money should be made public, should name the person who had secretly donated a helicopter to him," Singh told reporters at his hometown in Raghogarh last evening.
"Baba is bringing the secret donations (black money) under the tax free category, making it white, and accumulating huge capital," Singh alleged.
"Baba was in the business of turning black money into white. It was against the Centre's Prevention of Money Laundering Act," he said demanding an inquiry into it.
Taking a potshot at Baba, he wondered from where the figure of Rs 400 lakh crore black money stashed abroad has cropped up.
"Slowly and gradually, things are becoming clear, which is why, the RSS and BJP have started distancing themselves from Baba," he said.
"Baba himself stated that the government had agreed to 99 per cent of his demands, which is why he is continuing his fast," he said.
Singh said that Ramdev's fast wasn't a satyagraha, but a 'Nautanki' in Ramlila ground in Delhi.
Forest clearance doesn't grant land acquisition: Ramesh
Amid protests by locals against land acquisition for Posco's steel plant in Orissa's Govindpur village, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today asked the state government not to use environmental clearance for the project as a "license for forcible acquisition of land".
"The Posco steel-cum-power-cum-port project in Odisha was given environment and forest clearance by the Ministry of Environment and Forests after a great deal of thought and a careful balancing of various factors.
"However, I hope that the state government will not use this clearance as a license for forcible acquisition of land," Ramesh said in a statement.
He said the "intent" and "purpose" of the environmental clearance was not to allow forcible acquisition of land.
"I have often said that environment and forest clearance process should not be used to fight other battles that have to do with important issues like land acquisition, compensation and livelihoods...I appeal to the Odisha government to ensure that land is acquired only through peaceful and law-governed means," the Union Minister said.
Govindpur villagers, who have refused to give away their land for the steel plant have formed a three-tier human barricade at the entry point
Orissa government has declared the protests as "unlawful" and re-deployed about 800 personnel in the area.
Ramesh said while all parties should adhere to democratic norms and procedures, "I earnestly hope that the state government will not take any precipitate action."
Dialogue and discussion, not coercion is as essential to ecological security as it is to democracy, he said
Food ministry to step up procurement for proposed Food Law
The food ministry plans to augment wheat and rice procurement by 10 million tonnes to meet the expected demand for 70 million tonnes of foodgrain under the proposed National Food Security Act .
"We have to increase the foodgrain procurement to 70 million tonnes in order to meet the requirement under the proposed bill," according to a senior official.
The government buys around 60 million tonnes of wheat and rice, about 30 per cent of the country's total output of these two crops, the official said.
"Higher support price will boost procurement level," the official said, adding that the government has announced an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy by Rs 80/quintal for the 2011-12 Kharif season.
An increase in the foodgrain procurement will result in the rise of the government's Food subsidy bill to Rs 1,00,000 crore from Rs 80,000 crore, the official said.
From the last year's crop, the government had till last week purchased 57 million tonnes of rice and wheat. The procurement season is still underway.
The Food Ministry has finalised the draft National Food Security Bill , which aims at providing a legal right over subsidised foodgrain to 68 per cent of the people in the country. India's population is around 1.2 billion.
The draft bill guarantees 7 kg of wheat or rice to every person belonging to the 'priority households' and 3 kg to individuals from the 'general households' every month at subsidised prices.
The ministry has proposed subsidised rate of Rs 2/kg for wheat and Rs 3/kg for rice for priority households and Rs 5.50/kg wheat and Rs 7.50/kg of rice for general households.
At present, the government supplies 35/kg of subsidised foodgrain to 6.52 crore BPL ( Below Poverty Line )) families and over 15 kg to 11.5 crore Above Poverty Line families.
The draft bill makes it compulsory for state governments to give the "Food Security Allowance" in cash to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain.
To address the grievances of the targeted sections, the draft bill calls for setting up of an advisory body called the Food Security Commission at national, state and district levels.
'Manufacturing Policy aims at more GDP contribution'
HYDERABAD: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Saturday said the proposed 'National Manufacturing Policy' aims at increasing contribution of manufacturing to the national GDP from current 16 per cent to 25-26 per cent by 2025 and of creating 100 million jobs in the next decade.
Sharma said that a high-level meeting comprising of prime minister, finance minister and other cabinet ministers, was held two days ago in Delhi on the new policy.
"The day before the prime minister chaired a high-level meeting in which finance minister, I, minister for corporate affairs and other ministers and all the key secretaries of government of India were present.
The aim is to take our manufacturing from the present 16 per cent share in the GDP to 25-26 per cent in a decade's time and to generate 100 million jobs (in next decade) and 200 million jobs by 2025," Sharma told media persons here.
He said the government was mulling to create industrial corridors in southern parts of the country on the similar lines of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.
Replying to question on allowing rice exports, the minster said the government was aware of the position of food grains stock in the country which is at comfortable levels.
He, however, said the Group of Ministers (GoM) will meet soon to take the stock of the situation.
"We are close to double what we are required to keep (food grains). But we are working on Food Security Act. Therefore, adequate amounts have to be kept once that food commitment to the nation happens.
Some extent of exports have been allowed. And the situation is carefully monitored," he said.
Govt to award Rs 70,000 cr road contracts this fiscal
Contracts for building 11,050 kms of roads will be awarded in the current fiscal year involving an estimated investment of Rs 70,000 crore, as per the target set by the Ministry of Road , Transport and Highways .
The ambitious road building plans were reviewed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today with Road Transport Minister C P Joshi and senior officials of the ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Of the total work proposed to be awarded this fiscal, 7,300 km would be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), an increase of 44 per cent over 5,095 km in 2010-11. Under this component, investment is earmarked at Rs 57,000 crore.
As part of a development strategy, the government wants to complete 1,759 km of roads in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas this year involving an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore.
The road ministry plans to award 1,991 km road projects too under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North-East where Rs 10,000 crore investment could be made.
India has 70,934 km national highways network. Work is in progress on 10,142 km as of March end, an official said after the review meeting.
The road ministry highlighted the problems for the speedy implementation of the road projects. It wanted expeditious approval from the Planning Commission for upgradation of 10,000 km of state roads to new national highways already cleared by a Group of Ministers.
Over and above this, 10,000 km roads also need to be upgraded to the national highways.
The ministry intends to make 12,000 km of stretches of national highways to be proper two-lane national highway standard.
"Additional allocation of funds are also required for maintenance and repair of national highways," a ministry official said, adding that the amount required is nothing less than Rs 1,000 crore.
Formulation of a road development plan for districts with large tribal population was also discussed.
12 JUN, 2011, 05.57AM IST, AVINASH CELESTINE & SOMA BANERJEE,ET BUREAU
Why Baba Ramdev lost the plot
Like a profligate, Baba Ramdev blew it away. Last Sunday, he was handed a winning situation on a platter: the government ordered a police raid on the Ramlila grounds to evict him and hundreds of followers.
The result was unthinkable: Baba won the support of not just his believers but also his detractors. The public outcry had UPA running for cover.
Eight days later, it is Ramdev who wishes he could hide. Right now, he is recovering in Dehradun's Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences. Doctors say he is stable, though speaking with difficulty. No longer in the intensive care unit, he has been shifted to a VIP room to recuperate. But Ramdev's campaign continues to be in deep trouble.
Sages say what comes easy goes faster. The wave of support came too easy for Ramdev. He did little to earn it. The public sentiment was more anti-government than pro-Ramdev.
Perhaps this is why he couldn't handle it. The campaign suddenly became bigger than Ramdev or his aides had conceived. Earlier last week, many expected him to put final touches to a victory. Instead they found him floundering: unable to handle the media or garner support on his home turf.
A combination of both factors derailed Ramdev's plans. The jury is out on his financial probity, his trusts and his companies. But the very fact that such questions were raised seemed to disqualify him as a leader of a campaign against corruption. ET on Sunday analyses how Ramdev unravelled his own game with blow by blow accounts from his ashram Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar.
Naive Comments to the Media
It began to go downhill on Wednesday. During one of his customary public appearances at the yogyashala, an open-air auditorium, Ramdev claimed he would launch an 11,000-strong force for self-defence. It was unclear if he meant an 'armed' force.
But Ramdev did claim constitutional backing for the right to self-defence: "We all have this right. Don't people across the country learn judo and karate? This is perfectly legal. We will raise a force of young people like that." He added: "We will not assault any one. But neither will we be assaulted."
And then came a statement which exemplified his naivete: "I know my media friends won't twist my words. I have full confidence in them." Whether twisted or not, the channels reported those words widely.
Pushed to be Defensive
By Thursday, events turned farcical. Everyone had been told that Baba and Acharya Balkrishna would address the media, till then both had been relatively inaccessible. At about 6.15 pm, they appeared together.
In contrast to Ramdev, who is more comfortable talking to large supporters, Balkrishna seemed more media savvy. Dressed in white (the garb of a brahmachari), he constantly viewed news channels to be updated on developments at the Centre. Balkrishna wanted to be ready with the next move even while talking on the mobile phone.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/why-baba-ramdev-lost-the-plot/articleshow/8817394.cms
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