All OF Us Naked

All OF Us Naked

Indian HOLOCAUST My Father`s Life and Time - NINTY NINE

Palash Biswas


This country has become an infinite valley of Death as starvation and suicides have been destined for working masses and peasants.

Death Procession continues and no one seems to be in mourning as India is showcased to achieve a superpower status as many as 74 farmers have committed suicide in Vidharbha region of Maharashtra and 46 in Andhra Pradesh during the last few months, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.

Hindu Nation octogenerian leader celebrates the festival of colours with a jew delegation from Israel. Zionist Brahminical Super Power India is not far away and let the peasants die natural death.

Anti fascist and anti imperialist forces led by Left has no objection at all. Rather it ensures the Brhminical Raj sustain in its support bases under ideological farce coverage.

In Bengal, hundreds die in Tea gardens and the governor visits have confirmed this. But the state ruled by Leftist Brahmins and Shudra middleclasses does not bother. So, the death works silently in coalfields with illegal mining and in fields and locked out mills. Left is determined to follow the capitalist way as it is described the only way of progress.

The Left and Right have united to destroy the Nation called India.
And we are the inactive and apolitical audiances clapping with deep entertainment.

All of us happen to be nacked, deprived of purchasing power and pushed into the Global market.

Eleven Sez had been sanctioned in Kerala. Thus, the left front government in Kerala is not lagging behind its counterpart in West Bengal. Keral Marxists have shown extraordinary solidarity on ADB loan also while the Left in Begal stands divided. On the other hand,Mamata adjusts stir focus on Singur once again.Capitalist Marxist chief minister of west Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee once again declared that Land acquisition at Nandigram or Haripur in East Midnapore can wait, but industrialisation won't. Sez in nandigram has been capped considering sensitive Muslim dominated demography of Bengal as well as Nandigram. The left has perhaps decided to spare Nandigram and is thinking to shift the chemical SEZ elsewhere but it is not able to make up the loss of the mst precious Muslim Votebank so important to hold on statepower in West Bengal.The Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JH) has condemned the Jamiat Ulama Bangla’s (JB) ‘inclination’ towards the Left-Front and has alleged that the JB is acting as a mouthpiece for the Left-Front government. A day after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left-Front chairman Biman Bose attended a convention called by the JB, the Jamiat said that such attempts by the Left-Front at wooing Muslims will not deter it from continuing its agitation against the state administration’s proposed land acquisition at Nandigram for setting up SEZs. Jamiat state secretary Siddiqullah Chowdhury announced a series of protests in various districts of the state on Friday.

How the administration has become irrelevent in India, let us understand.The Calcutta High Court on Friday sentenced West Bengal's Director-General of Police A.B. Vohra, the Jalpaiguri district magistrate and Superintendent of Police and 15 others to six-month simple imprisonment for criminal contempt. The court, however, stayed the sentence for three weeks to allow them to appeal before the Supreme Court. A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice K.K. Prasad said the contemnors, despite specific directions by the court, failed to ensure the functioning of the Jalpaiguri district court in the course of an agitation demanding the immediate setting up of a circuit Bench of the High Court in the town. The agitation led to an "unprecedented" breakdown of the constitutional machinery in December 2006-January 2007, during which no court in the district could function.

Besides imprisonment, a fine of Rs. 2,000 was imposed on each of the contemnors. They would undergo imprisonment for another month if the fine was not paid.

Shortly after the sentence was passed, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee convened a meeting at the Secretariat. Law Minister Rabilal Moitra, Advocate-General Balai Roy, senior State officials and Mr. Vohra attended.

Mr. Moitra later said the Government would move the Supreme Court against the sentence served on its senior officials.

The order came following a suo motu contempt notice by the High Court on January 15 to the DGP and others. Their replies were unsatisfactory, the Bench said.

Taking a strong stand on the JB’s invitation to senior Left-Front leaders, Chowdhury said that the JB’s repeated assurances of being a non-political outfit will not be believed after Bhattacharjee’s and Bose’s presence at the JB’s convention. Reacting to the chief minister’s promises made at the convention, Chowdhury said that the presence of Muslims in recruitment boards (as the chief minister assured) alone won’t help. “It’s not about having Muslims. It is about having unbiased people in recruitment boards,” Chowdhury claimed.

Pressure for SEZ

Pressure is building on the central government from both foreign investors and state governments for an early decision on the future of the SEZ policy. While Taiwanese footwear company Lotus Footwear Enterprises is the latest to join the bandwagon of foreign investors expressing concern over the current freeze on approvals and notifications, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat have written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the commerce department, pointing out that a further delay in a decision on SEZs would result in flight of proposed investments from India to other countries.

Taiwan-based Feng Tay Enterprises, whose group company Lotus Footwear Enterprises received a formal clearance for setting up a 275-acre footwear SEZ in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvannamalai District, has written to the commerce department pointing out that there was an urgent need for the SEZ to be notified so that production could start as they were under contractual obligation with worldwide buyers.

The company has plans of investing over Rs 300 crore and generating employment for 2,000 people. Since it is already in possession of land, it has ordered machinery. Officials in the commerce department said that the machinery would be diverted to Philippines and Vietnam, if the freeze on notifications is not removed soon.


Jamiat Factor

Apparently worried at the support extended to Bhattacharjee by some Muslim organisations - the Jamiat Bangla being the latest - the Jamiat-e-Hind has chalked out a long series of programmes. On 7th, the Jamiat has called a gathering in Kalchini, Jalpaiguri. This is to be followed by a gathering at Ankurhati, Howrah, on 9th, Pandua on 10th, Burdwan on 11th, South Dinajpur on 12th and North Dinajpur on 13th.

The Jamiat has also said that it will request governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to intervene in the Nandigram fiasco. “We are also requesting the Union government for its intervention,” Jamiat said on Friday. The outfit has claimed that the state government has not done enough for the management of Wakf properties.

A total of 11 special economic zones had been sanctioned in Kerala, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan informed the state assembly on Friday.Most of these, sanctioned under the SEZs Act 2005, are promoted by public sector facilitators like Kinfra, Technopark and Cochin Port Trust, he said in a reply furnished in the house. They would enjoy concessions like exemption in civic taxes and electricity tax prescribed by the SEZs Act. Besides, the state would provide them with basic requirements like electricity and water.

All the labour laws under Industrial Disputes Act were also applicable in the SEZs, but their enforcement would be entrusted to a development commissioner in each SEZ.

The SEZs for which sanction had been given ainclude: Cochin Port Trust, Vallarpadom (multiproducts), Kinfra, Kakkancherry (food processing), Kinfra, Kazhakkoottam (IT), Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram (IT), Smartcity, Kochi (IT), Sutherland Global Services, Kalamassery (IT), Kinfra, Kochi (electronics) and Unitech Realestate, Kunnathunadu (IT).

To make their presence felt in Singur, Miss Mamata Banerjee has instructed her party activists to hold meetings, processions only at mouzas at Singur which are acquired by the state government for the Tata’s small car factory. The Trinamul Congress and Krishi Jomi Raksha committee will hold meetings and protest rallies in Singur from 7 March to 14 March ~ 48 hours before the Higher Secondary examination begins.
Mr Madan Mitra, president Trinamul Youth Congress, said: “We have noticed that whenever we try to hold rallies and meetings in Kolkata or Siliguri, the state government frightens the villagers by deploying large number of policemen and party cadres threaten the villagers. So, to counter this, we will concentrate only on Singur.” The Trinamul Youth Congress will hold a rally at Gopalnagar on 7 March. The Trinamul Mahila Congress will hold a rally the following day. Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee will hold a rally at Chandannagore next on 11 March while Trinamul district committees of Hooghly , Burdwan and howrah will hold rallies at Singur on the following dates.

The divide in the government of India is also flared up once again as FinMin limits SEZ tax sops to developers. Reports from New delhi say that the Finance Ministry has tightened the noose around developers of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by disallowing tax concessions to their contractors involved in the construction work. According to Budget proposals, the 10-year tax benefits under Section 81A of Income Tax Act will be limited to those developers who themselves execute the development work and not to those who only take up civil construction for the SEZs. Most of these promoters had worked out their project costs taking into account tax concessions both for themselves and the contractors. As the Finance Bill rules out tax breaks for contractors, the overall costs of the SEZs are likely to go up.

What could come as a bolt from the blue for developers is the fact these changes would be applicable retrospectively from April 2000 and valid for assessment year 2000-01 onward. For checking migration of existing industries to the SEZs for availing of tax sops, the Budget also makes it clear that the tax breaks would be given to the units, which began production from April 2006.

The proposals provided in the Finance Bill 2007 would impact a large number of promoters who were planning to bring in construction and real estate companies as partners. Of the 63 SEZs notified, only six have been promoted by real estate players like DLF, Rahejas and Ansal.

This would also push up the construction cost for the non-real estate promoters of SEZs like Satyam Computers, Wipro, FAB City, Reliance and Biocon.

The Chinese Line

Despite embracing the open market economy and large scale eviction of farmers from their lands and villages , the industrilisation drive in China has led to more poverty. India and particularly the Left all over the country follow the chinese line.

New figures place 60 million people in abject poverty in China while it hikes the defence budget upto eighteen percent creating a crisis in power of balance in South Asia. India seems not to be disturbed as it also has hiked the defence budget.China reveals new poverty figures that are double those in previous government reports.According to Liu Jian, director general of the Chinese cabinet’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Reduction, nearly 60 million people in the country live in abject poverty. This is twice the figure of 29 million cited in a government statements. In 2003, 56.17 million Chinese were living on 869 yuan (105 dollars) or less a year, says Liu. The government figure is based on an even lower standard of annual expenditure -- 637 yuan per person.

“We call those people low-income earners with unstable access to food and clothing,” Liu told reporters at a briefing in Beijing organised by the World Bank.

The higher official figure makes China seem significantly better off than suggested in most international surveys. The World Bank, whose poverty standard is ‘a dollar a day for each person’, believes China has about 200 million poor people.

According to the World Bank, if each of China’s 31 provinces and provincial-level entities were treated as independent countries they would count as the world’s fastest growing economies in the past two decades.

Liu added that the situation for the poor in China was not directly comparable to that in other countries. “Poor farmers in China all have a piece of contracted land and they don’t have to pay any lease on their land,” he said. “Secondly, they all have housing of their own and therefore don’t have to pay rent.”

Most international observers believe that China has made great strides in the past quarter century, lifting about 400 million people out of poverty in the greatest creation of wealth in world history.

120 farmer suicides in past few months


March 02, 2007 16:42 IST

As many as 74 farmers have committed suicide in Vidharbha region of Maharashtra and 46 in Andhra Pradesh during the last few months, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.

According to information furnished by the Maharashtra government, up to January 30, 2007, 74 suicides by farmers have been reported from Vidharbha region this year.

The government has sanctioned a rehabilitation package of Rs 3,873.26 crore for six most affected districts of Vidharbha region, Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria said in a written reply.

In Andhra Pradesh, 46 farmers have committed suicide during October 2006-January 2007 mainly on account of crop failure, indebtedness due to high interest rates, drought and social and economic insecurity.

A rehabilitation package of Rs 9,650.55 crore has been sanctioned for 16 affected districts of Andhra Pradesh and a sum of Rs 3,255 crore have been released for implementation of the package, the Rajya Sabha was told.

Every five hours, a farmer commits suicide



September 06, 2006 15:41 IST

A suicide every five hours. This is the reality in Vidharbha, Maharashtra, where 72 farmers have committed suicide in the past 15 days.

The figures were released on Wednesday by Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a non-governmental organisation working for the cause of farmers.

The Samiti stated that 828 farmers had committed suicide between June 1, 2005 and September 5, 2006.

The special package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the region on June 30 and July 1, has yet to provide the much-needed relief to farmers, they claimed.

The Samiti plans to launch an agitation from September 15 to press for release of new crop loan and implementation of various schemes meant for farmers in the district.

Mr Prime Minister, the farmer is heartbroken

July 6, 2006

Last week, near the local Urdu school in Waifed, a village in the interiors of Maharashtra, a helipad was constructed at breakneck speed.
And when at 4:30 pm on Friday, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh alighted from a military aircraft, the excitement in the village of 5,000 people was palpable.

More than 80 per cent of the farmers in Waifed -- in the heart of the cotton-growing belt of Maharashtra -- don't have irrigation facilities. And their village, like many others in the region, has seen farmer after farmer committing suicide.

Various studies have found that the reason is debt, which many sons of the soil are unable to pay off.

In last six months, about 600 debt-trapped farmers have ended their lives, prompting the Central government to sit up, and the prime minister to pay a visit himself.

Among those present at the meeting called by Prime Minister Singh at the Urdu school was Vijay Jawandhia, who has been fighting for farmers' rights for more than three decades.

"I am a farmer who has had the opportunity to understand both urban and rural life closely. Very early in life, I understood that reasons behind the poverty in the villages doesn't lie in the villages," says Jawandhia.

Jawandhia, who has an MSc degree from Nagpur, is not just a leader of the farmers' organisation Shetkari Sangathana. He has spent his life, in his own small but determined way, trying to bring sanity in the government's agriculture policy.

And he wants the cell phone and Sensex-obsessed country to start thinking about the real reasons why the Indian farmer doesn't find life worth living anymore.

Image: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh listening to a farmer in a meeting with suicide affected families and debt-stressed farmers at Dhamangoan, Amaravati in Maharashtra on June 30, 2006. .


Urbanisation

If Kolkata and its vicinities are an area of surging humanity, they are also a happy hunting ground for langurs (long-tailed monkeys) these days -- courtesy the rapid urbanisation and rampant deforestation of rural areas.With the increasing number of shopping malls, restaurants and housing projects coming up, Kolkata and its outskirts are becoming a hunting ground for langurs as they come out in search of food, posing a serious threat to humans.

'Human settlements are slowly devouring far flung areas and more and more trees are being cut. The langurs which inhabit rural areas are forced to venture into human settlements due to the loss of habitation and destruction of food sources,' said Col. Shakti Ranjan Banerjee, director, World Wildlife Federation (WWF), West Bengal.

'Langurs are creating problems in Kolkata, Howrah, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Birbhum, Burdwan and Nadia districts,' said Banerjee.

Experts say the situation is getting out of control, especially as there's no comprehensive study available on the population of langurs in south Bengal.

'Neither the state forest department nor any other organisation has the exact figures of the langur population in south Bengal, so nobody can take any action to control the menace,' Banerjee claimed.

Banarjee earlier said the langurs were used to getting their food from agricultural land but the excessive use of pesticides and fertiliser prevented them from surviving on agricultural crops.

To control the menace, WWF had sent a proposal for an extensive study on the langur population to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests through the state forest department.

'We had asked for a fund of Rs. 650,000 from the union ministry for conducting a study but nothing has happened in the past one year,' Banerjee said.

'To find out the reasons behind this human-langur conflict we need to conduct the survey in three stages -- assessment, analysis and management. There's no base-line data available with us.

'There could be other reasons behind this langur invasion too. For instance, if a langur gets separated from its mother or from the group, it can turn violent and cause immense trouble to the people,' he said.

Sangita Mitra, senior project officer, WWF, added: 'Artificial feeding (people feeding animals) is another bad practice that lures langurs into human settlements. Sometimes they go on a rampage if they don't get food in the locality.'

According to her, the population of langurs in south Bengal increased after 1976 when langurs were banned for laboratory tests and research purposes. Mitra is doing research on south Bengal's langur population.

'But before knowing the exact number of langurs we cannot sterilise the male members of the group,' explained Mitra.

V.K. Yadav, chief conservator of wildlife in West Bengal, however, felt that the incidents of langur invasion are sporadic. 'But whenever we are informed about any such incident we immediately rush to the spot and try to capture the animal,' he said.

A langur injured 12 people at Sankrail, about 20 km from Kolkata, in early February.

Police had to be deployed and the entire locality wore a deserted look till the forest department captured the simian.


Land acquisition can wait, not industrialisation: Buddha
[ 4 Mar, 2007 2203hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


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KOLKATA: Land acquisition at Nandigram or Haripur in East Midnapore can wait, but industrialisation won't, said chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The government aims to acquire a total of 100,000 acres to make way for the investment proposals in the pipeline. When and how? The decision will be taken at the political level.

Out of this, 23,000 acres of vested land will make way for IT parks, food parks and biotech parks - the smaller ones, with land requirement of not more than 50 hectares. But for the big SEZs waiting to happen in a contiguous area, will require farmlands, the chief minister said in an interview to a private television channel on Sunday.

"I am not insisting on Nandigram because we were at fault. The land identification was done with proper survey. But that doesn't mean that I have shelved the chemical hub proposal. It will happen, if not in Nandigram, elsewhere. We have already identified the alternative site near the proposed deep sea port at Haldia," the chief minister said in an interview to a private television channel.

Bhattacharjee isn't willing to miss the bus, or wait indefinitely till there is a consensus over land acquisition. "We have to keep pace with the rest of the country. Even a state like Gujarat is ahead of us in industry. A simple fact will explain our position. A total 26 per cent of our State Domestic Product (SDP) comes from agriculture, with industry contributing to 24 per cent, while the remaining 50 per cent of the SDP comes from the service sector. How long will we continue with this? We need to take a leap forward, without affecting the food security," the chief minister said.

And his government will acquire farmland - be it in Bhangar in South 24-Parganas, or in North 24-Parganas. "We have investment proposals of around rupees one lakh crore lined up for the state till 2008. I am not going to lose them. I had a meeting with the members of the state agriculture commission. I want the commission to advise the government on land acquisition and find out ways to increase agricultural productivity so that we can make for the loss in agricultural land," Bhattacharjee said.

But he made it clear that non-agricultural vacant lands only can't accommodate the big SEZs. "I have nothing to hide. Left Front partners wanted me to set up a land bank. I did it and have got a report of the total amount of non-agricultural vested land in the districts. It's 23,000 acres. This land isn't enough to accommodate all the industries and proposed SEZs. We can use this land to set up IT parks, food parks, biotech parks - the smaller ones, not more than 20 to 50 hectares. I will place the report in the Assembly," Bhattacharjee said.

The chief minister also claimed to have sorted out major differences with the Left Front partners on the land question. "The situation has changed. Our party and myself have been in constant dialogue with our partners. The bipartite meetings worked well. Front partners also understood some of my points."

Work begins on Mahindra World City, Jaipur
The Mahindra World City, Jaipur is being developed as a multi-product SEZ on the format of an "Integrated Business City" and is a joint venture between Mahindra Gesco Developers Ltd (a Mahindra Group Company) and Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (RIICO).

Mahindra World City, Jaipur, has commenced site development work in line with its promise of cutting-edge business facilities and comprehensive social infrastructure.

The Mahindra World City, Jaipur is being developed as a multi-product SEZ on the format of an “Integrated Business City” and is a joint venture between Mahindra Gesco Developers Ltd (a Mahindra Group Company) and Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (RIICO), an agency of the Government of Rajasthan.

Phase-I of the project will see an IT/ITES SEZ over 188 acres of land. The Company is also developing a Technology Park within the IT SEZ, which will offer built-up space to IT/ITES companies on lease. On offer are both developed plots for IT companies to develop their own campuses and “plug-and-play” space for companies looking for an immediate start of operations.

IT majors Infosys and Wipro have already agreed to develop their IT campuses in Mahindra World City, Jaipur SEZ. Besides, several leading IT/ITES companies have shown keen interest in setting up operations in the proposed SEZ and formal agreements are expected soon.

The Mahindra World City project is proposed to be developed over 3000 acres as a “Multi-Product SEZ”. The master plan is developed by M/s Jurong, Singapore and will be benchmarked with international SEZs.

Mahindra World City, Jaipur, is seen as a watershed change the way investors view the state. With the proposed entry of leading IT companies in Mahindra World City, Rajasthan is poised to become a major IT destination in the country. As per surveys, several IT/ITES companies are looking at Tier-II cities such as Jaipur to reduce their cost of operation and to tap local manpower.

The SEZ would also create new job opportunities. On being fully developed, the SEZ is expected to generate direct employment for over 1 lakh people and investment of over Rs. 10,000 crores.

Apart from the IT/ITES sector, in subsequent phases of development the SEZ will offer facilities for industries from various sectors, including manufacturing, handicrafts, apparel & textiles and gems & jewellery. The Mahindras also proposes to develop world class warehousing and logistics zone as part of the SEZ to make Jaipur a logistics hub of north India.

IT SEZs results 35% rise in land prices
RAJA AWASTHI & ANURADHA HIMATSINGKA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, MARCH 04, 2007 12:00:00 AM]


It’s a real(ty) tale with a virtual plot. Even as real estate prices across the country have seen a southward dip in the last four to six months, land prices in and around IT and ITeS special economic zones (SEZ) are bucking the trend. In fact, this segment is now calling the shots and the big rush for IT SEZ projects across the country has resulted in a 25-35% rise in land prices in the past one year.

For those still waiting to tune into the SEZ story, formal approvals were given for 148 IT SEZs and in-principle approvals to about 75 such zones. And among the 63 SEZs notified so far, as many as 36 are in IT and ITeS sector. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, out of 14 SEZs notified so far, nine are for IT and ITeS projects.

In Karnataka, eight out of 11 are in this sector whereas in Tamil Nadu, it’s seven out of nine. Among the notified SEZs, only two happen to be in Madhya Pradesh, but both are in the IT sector. It is estimated that more than 300 such SEZs are in the pipeline in different cities around the country.

Explaining the reasons behind Realtors looking at development of IT-SEZ projects, P S Group director Pradip Kumar Chopra says, “Since real estate developers have the expertise and competence to undertake such large format developments, it makes business sense for them to undertake these developments as well."

Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Group, feels that the IT/ITeS companies do not have the knowledge base or the expertise to undertake such developments. “These include amenities such as clubs, multiplexes, schools, food court, shopping malls, restaurants, residential-cum-commercial complex as well as an intelligent building, which only big and organised players can provide,” he says.

One reason for the sudden rush of activity in IT SEZs is that regulations like Urban Land Ceiling Act as well as land conversion rules are not applicable to any IT SEZ development. Again, the large and growing pool of skilled professionals has been a key driver of the rapid growth in the IT-ITeS sector. According to Nasscom, India has the largest pool of suitable offshore talent, accounting for 28% of the total suitable pool across all offshore destinations. It is unlikely that India will face a shortage of suitable talent pool for IT-ITeS in the future.

Even if one takes the opportunity cost, national statistics available with developers indicate that agriculture on one acre of land supports four people for nine months. Instant back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate 2.5 FSI means construction of over one lakh sq ft of IT space spread over one acre of land and can house more than 1,000 IT workers. It is also said every IT worker creates four additional jobs down the line, including some for caterers, drivers and support service.

CPI-M supporter's wife alleges gang-rape in Nandigram
Posted on : Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:51:00 GMT | Author : Indo Asian News Service

Kolkata/Nandigram, March 5 The wife of a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporter in trouble-torn Nandigram has alleged that she was gang-raped by men opposed to land acquisition for a proposed Special Economic Zone there, triggering an angry denial from a group against whom the allegation was hurled.

News reports Monday said the 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped on Saturday afternoon and her husband and two teenage sons were confined to their house by the rapists and a group belonging to the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Oppose Farmland Eviction), which has been formed to resist the acquisition of land for industry.


'A case has started based on the woman's allegation,' Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS Monday.

'We have started a case already and are awaiting the report of the doctor. The case is under investigation,' Anil Srinivasan, the East Midnapore superintendent of police, said.

'According to our preliminary findings, the rape has taken place. There are several injury marks on her body. We have launched a hunt for the accused persons,' Srinivasan was earlier quoted by a daily as saying.

However, committee spokesperson Abdus Samad told IANS from Nandigram: 'The allegation is not only false, it is preposterous. This woman was living in the CPI-M camp at Tekhali following the Nandigram flare-up in January. How can she be raped by our people in Nandigram when she was not even here?'

'The entire case is being fabricated to malign us. If at all anybody has raped her, it must be the CPI-M men in the camps,' said Samad.

The woman was quoted as saying that her family had late Saturday night fled Kalicharanpur village of Nandigram, 170 km from Kolkata, to a CPI-M camp where they had taken refuge since the January flare-up in Nandigram.

The CPI-M had set up camps at Tekhali for those fleeing Nandigram.

The woman reportedly lodged a complaint at Tamluk police station in the same district and was later sent for medical tests.

Nandigram has witnessed continuing violence since January against the acquisition of land for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) proposed by the West Bengal government with Indonesia's Salim group.

The villagers in Nandigram dug up roads, threw logs and moved with arms to prevent entry of police or people from the administration in a violent resistance movement against acquisition.


'Balanced growth of agri and industry must to defuse tension'
Kolkata, March 5. (PTI): A balanced growth of both industry and agriculture could create a conducive atmosphere for development of both the sectors and defuse tension among farmers, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said. In an apparent reference to the acquisition of farmland in Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, Mukherjee hoped that such a balance between the two sectors was an imperative for conducive atmosphere for development. "Agriculture lags behind in proper growth following inadequate investment and development in the sector during the last three Plans. "It needs another Green Revolution to bring in a balance of growth between agriculture and industry," Mukherjee said during the foundation stone laying ceremony of ECOSPACE, an innovative joint venture IT park, at Rajarhat.

Stressing the need for initiating proper steps in the 11th Plan to boost growth in agriculture and ensure a congenial atmosphere for both the sectors, Mukherjee said that the country's present growth rate in agriculture was at 2.2 per cent, which should be raised at least to four per cent to bring a parity between the two sectors and defuse tension.