West on lips, Mamata stalls pension bill | ||||
| JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY | ||||
New Delhi, Dec. 3: Mamata Banerjee tonight stalled a pension fund regulatory bill that would have let in foreign capital and let out a part of domestic savings for investments abroad. Seeking to snatch from the Left the mantle of chief economic vigilante, the railway minister contended at a cabinet meeting that allowing foreign investment into the financial sector at this stage would send wrong signals. She cited the example of the meltdown in the West to argue that many foreign funds, by investing in toxic assets, had failed in their fiduciary role of managing other people's assets. The economic argument, which the UPA government that swears by the aam aadmi will find difficult to contest in public, came in the middle of political tension between the Trinamul Congress and the home ministry over the refusal of a central team to visit violence-hit areas in Bengal. Mamata, whose MPs created a furore in the Lok Sabha today, is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister tomorrow to lodge a complaint about Bengal's "lawlessness". The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill provides for a 26 per cent cap on foreign direct investment, similar to that in insurance firms. The draft bill also has a provision that allows the pension fund to invest abroad a part of the money it collects from subscribers. The two provisions had been opposed by the Left and some hardliners within the RSS, though they have found support in sections of the BJP which brought in insurance reforms. The Left based its opposition on suggestions that pension funds would siphon off savings from local arms to offshore firms. Trade unions also have been feeding the fear, though the pension schemes have to offer subscribers an option under which their money will be invested exclusively in government bonds. However, labour unions backed by Trinamul have been appealing to Mamata to oppose the bill to outgun the Left and spread their reach. A keen contest is on in Bengal over control of unions between Trinamul and the Left, and both wish to be seen as pro-labour. Besides, the Trinamul leadership feared that unopposed passage of the bill would have armed the CPM and the CPI with a weapon to attack Mamata. Mamata is believed to have already made it clear to the Congress leadership that while she would not oppose sale of small stakes in public sector units, attempts to transfer ownership of the PSUs to the private sector would not be acceptable. She has already stalled the land relief and rehabilitation bill over a provision that allows partial government role in acquisition. The pension fund bill has been in limbo since it debuted in 2005. The bill, held hostage by the Left in the previous government, had lapsed with the end of the 14th Lok Sabha on February 26, 2009. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee wanted to table the bill in this session to signal to western investors that India was ready to do business at a faster pace. Pension regulators say the promotion of such funds is also necessary in a country like India where average life expectancy is going up. Anti-riot bill nod The cabinet tonight cleared a bill to check communal violence. The bill will enable the Centre to declare an area communally disturbed on its own and send security forces without the state's request. | ||||
 |
US feelers on Afghan army - Admiral sounds India on training | ||
| SUJAN DUTTA | ||
New Delhi, Dec. 3: A top US commander is in New Delhi to seek Indian military help to train Afghanistan's army even as the import of Barack Obama's 18-month surge-and-exit strategy for the embattled country is being assessed. The commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Robert F. Willard, met senior officers in the capital today and enquired if Indian special forces' instructors could be deployed in select Afghan National Army (ANA) academies to train troops in commando operations. "We have not said yes or no. We are assessing and we will take everything into consideration," a defence ministry official told The Telegraph. "This is not quite the same as deploying troops. So we shall see. We do have good relations with the Afghan military." Admiral Willard met the chairman, chiefs of staff committee, and army chief, General Deepak Kapoor; the chief of naval staff, Admiral Nirmal Verma; the vice-chief of air staff, Air Marshal P.K. Barbora; and the defence secretary, Praveen Kumar. He was hosted by the chief of the integrated defence staff, Air Marshal Suresh Chand Mukul. In international coalition efforts to "stabilise" Afghanistan, the US is the "lead nation" — denoting that it has primary responsibility — for the Afghan National Army. The surge-and-exit strategy, which involves deployment of 30,000 additional US troops plus anticipated (but much less) troop contributions from Nato countries, has a roadmap for the expansion of the ANA built into it. In July, the chief of the ANA, General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, was hosted in New Delhi. India says its involvement in Afghanistan is restricted to humanitarian projects. Deploying Indian military instructors in Afghanistan under US aegis will give Delhi a larger strategic footprint in Kabul at the cost of upsetting Pakistan. Between 50 and 100 Afghan officers and soldiers are trained in Indian military institutions, such as the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, every year. India runs a medical mission in Kabul that is manned by army doctors. It also trains Afghan soldiers in India to play martial music and has sent a team to teach Afghan army officers to read, write and speak in English so that they may communicate better with the Americans. Indian military efforts in Afghanistan since 2001 have included the supply of 300 troop carriers (trucks) and consignments of bullet-proof jackets and helmets. But deploying Indian soldiers in Afghanistan, even if for the specific purpose of training, is more serious than lessons in music and tuitions in English. First, it puts Indian soldiers at risk in a foreign country. Indian telecom engineers have been kidnapped and killed and the Indian Embassy in Kabul has been bombed twice. It also means that Pakistan, suspicious about Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Herat and Kandahar, may object. The Karzai government has welcomed international efforts to train its army. After Obama's strategy was announced yesterday, Afghan defence minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak said: "We just ask the international community to equip us quickly, to train us quickly, so that we can fulfil our historic responsibility." | ||
| http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091204/jsp/frontpage/story_11820686.jsp |
CWG builder in Koda web |
| OUR CORRESPONDENT |
| New Delhi, Dec. 3: Investigations into the multi-crore hawala transaction and illegal investment case involving former chief minister Madhu Koda today led the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the offices of Emaar MGF, the construction giant involved with Commonwealth Games projects in the national capital. ED sources confirmed that at least 10 offices of the company, a joint venture between Emaar Properties of Dubai and MGF Development, were raided in connection with the Koda scam. The raids were mostly in the National Capital Region. The raids come just five months after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) bailed out Emaar MGF, the developers of the Commonwealth Games Village, with a Rs 760-crore package. Sources said the raiding team recovered documents that showed Koda's associates on the board of some Emaar group companies. Bikash Sinha, one of Koda's associates now in judicial custody, had told investigators that he and some others had invested in the company on behalf of Koda. ED officials also raided the homes and offices of some board members of the company in the capital who, they alleged, were directly linked to the scam and helped Koda pilfer money out of the country. "The raids were in connection with violation of FEMA regulations and diverting money abroad. We are also investigating if the company brought money into the country in violation of foreign exchange rules, and used the funds to buy agricultural land," a source at the directorate told The Telegraph. Incidentally, Emaar MGF had brought the largest foreign investment in real estate in India in 2005. Another man who is believed to have led ED to crackdown on Emaar is Koda's close aide Devendra Mukhia who surrendered on November 9. Mukhia, a familiar face in the real estate hub of Noida, is known among builders in the area as a troubleshooter and fixer. Investigations are on to see if Mukhia's name appears in any document found in the Emaar offices relating to real estate bought in the area for Koda. Sources also said another accused in the case, Sanjay Chowdhary, the suspected frontman for all alleged dubious deals of the former chief minister and who left for Dubai as soon the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the multi-crore scam, was also involved with the company. Investigators believe that he facilitated the inclusion of Koda's men in the board of the company that has its tentacles in Dubai. ED sources said Chowdhary could also be on the board of Emaar. ED will soon move court for revoking Chowdhary's passport. Commonwealth Games Organising Committee officials said the raids would not threaten construction work at the Games Village. "I don't see a problem with the continuation of work at the Games Village site. The company has many other projects and they may have problems with those, CWG has nothing to do with it," said COO, CWG, Vijay Kumar Gautam. |
| http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091204/jsp/frontpage/story_11818576.jsp |
Mumbai battles and bleeds for water - Building boom sucks a price | |||
| SAMYABRATA RAY GOSWAMI | |||
Mumbai, Dec. 3: India's commercial capital is bracing for severe water shortage and sporadic water wars. The city's 18 million have been restive since July, when the water reservoirs began getting depleted because of a sub-normal monsoon. "The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had proposed a 30 per cent cut on July 7 but later, because of public protests, we brought it down to 15 per cent," said BMC spokesperson Saudagar Jadhav. "The decision overtaxed the lakes. Now the situation is such that if we do not continue to ration water, the lakes will dry out before the next monsoon." The civic body had announced on October 28 that it would retain the 15 per cent water cut for residential consumers and 30 per cent cut for businesses till July 15 next year. "The crisis is expected to continue till next year's monsoon. If the monsoon is good, things may improve; if not, the future is dark," said additional municipal commissioner Ashish Kumar Singh. He conceded that the scarcity could not be blamed on the monsoon alone. "The monsoon certainly played a part. But over the years, the spurt in real estate construction in this city has put an immense load on water supply," he added.
"Many builders eschew a commercial connection to avoid higher charges. Water theft is rampant and an old pipe system, much of it built in the British era, is giving way. The loss through leaks is massive." (See chart) The worst hit are the suburban and slum areas, which receive less water than the posh south Mumbai colonies where the rich and influential live. "The water problem is acute — nowadays water comes for only two hours. We queue for hours and store as much as we can," said Shamim Sayed, a resident of Bandra East, home to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The Thackeray residence has 24-hour water supply, though. That is a sore point with many protesters, helping rival political parties turn the crisis into a political slugfest. In the upscale lanes of Pali Hill, the wealthy are buying water from tankers while squabbling about the steep prices. "A tanker costs Rs 2,500 for approximately 800 litres of water. That is not enough for an eight-floor apartment block with 16 families. So, we sometimes need two tankers," said Usha Madhok, Pali Hill resident and actor Dev Anand's sister. "Then, some people use up more water than others; so, many do not want to contribute equal amounts to buy water. Things are getting very bad." In the nearby fishing village of Danda, residents make do with four buckets of water for a family of five every day. "It's a shame. Mumbai gets so much rainfall and still there is no water in the city," complained Kandivili resident Anuradha Dutta, who left Calcutta to live in Mumbai in July. In October 2002, the BMC had made it mandatory for all buildings with a plot area of 1,000 square metres or more to practise rainwater harvesting. In 2007, it was made compulsory for buildings with plot areas of 300 square metres. But thanks to the lack of a monitoring mechanism, only 900 buildings had actually implemented the plan till June 2009. The sales of loft tanks for household use have gone up in the city. Girish Malviya, chief executive officer of Sharp Water Tanks, said there was a 20 per cent increase in sales compared with the figures six months ago. "Many Mumbaikars are enquiring about water tanks. We expect that the sales of these tanks in Mumbai will go up by 50 per cent to 70 per cent," he said. Last month, the BMC had announced a plan to set up a toll-free helpline through which citizens could inform the corporation about water theft and pipeline leak. It remains another number on the list of hundreds of similar helplines that have been announced, forgotten and abandoned. | |||
| http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091204/jsp/nation/story_11820160.jsp |
)
Hasina keeps terror flushout promise | ||
| SUJAN DUTTA | ||
New Delhi, Dec. 3: Two days after her landslide victory in the election this month last year, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed declared: "I want to make this point very clear, no one will be allowed to use this land to carry out terrorism in India." Before the year is out, Sheikh Hasina has begun to deliver on her promise. Whatever the official claims on the "pushback" or the "surrender", the handing over of Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, easily one of Delhi's most wanted fugitives for close to three decades, would not have been possible without Hasina at the helm of the Awami League government. "The handing over of Rajkhowa is a major event," says Deb Mukharji, former high commissioner to Bangladesh. "It is a very positive move that demonstrates Dhaka's intent." When she comes to New Delhi next fortnight (for a three-day visit beginning December 19), Hasina will be wanting to take back more than the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The jury headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to give her the prize for 2009. "Bangladesh's biggest expectation underlying all the outstanding issues is that India will give without asking for takeaways for everything," said a senior diplomat. "That may not be possible on every issue but the visit by their foreign minister, Dipu Moni, in September and by our foreign secretary subsequently has shown that it is possible to move ahead on trade and transit," he adds. The three biggest issues dogging the bilateral relationship for Dhaka — that may yet be softened after the "gifting" of Rajkhowa continue to be: the sharing of river waters, the trade imbalance and the demarcation of the maritime boundary. India's expectation will be that Bangladesh will continue to deny sanctuary and hand over more militants, and that it will finally grant permission for the transit of Indian traffic through its territory to and from India's Northeast. In September, India agreed to give Bangladesh transit through its territory to Bhutan and Nepal. In principle, the two sides have also agreed that India should be able to access its Northeast, to a limited extent (for heavy machinery), through Bangladesh. But the facilities for through-travel are yet to be created. Former high commissioner Mukharji said that along with Rajkhowa, the handing-over of two Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives was also significant. While Ulfa and other insurgent outfits in the Northeast are India's problem, the threat from Islamic fundamentalists is common to both Bangladesh and India, he said. A thanksgiving for Hasina could mean concessions from India on the issues pending for years. None of these has easy solutions but Bangladesh would want to be kept wholly in the picture, Mukharji said. In October, India and Bangladesh agreed to a joint hydrological survey of the Teesta river. Dhaka wants a commitment from India of a minimum 40 per cent of the river's water. "Bangladesh will also ask for a bilateral agreement on delimiting maritime boundaries. India has, rightfully, made its claims on the Exclusive Economic Zone to the United Nations Convention on Law of Seas. But Bangladesh is saying India can make a small concession," said Sreeradha Datta, fellow specialising in India-Bangladesh relations at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis. | ||
|
Test for Bhopal memorial - Splurge over compensation? Gas leak dilemma | |||
| CHARU SUDAN KASTURI | |||
New Delhi, Dec. 3: Architect Suditya Sinha's wait to move beyond the drawing board on the project that matters most to him is tied to how India wants to remember the world's worst industrial disaster 25 years ago. Four years after winning a project to design a memorial at the site of the Bhopal gas tragedy, moments of frustration punctuate the excitement Sinha, 30, and partners Moulshri Joshi and Amrita Ballal initially experienced. Amid challenges from rights groups and victims, the project is yet to take off at the Union Carbide complex where methyl isocyanate leaked on the night of December 2-3, 1984, killing thousands. The wait for the architects may continue till India confronts a larger question: should memorials be built to remember our failures so that future generations learn not to repeat past mistakes? "Whether we like it or not, the factory and the tragedy are a part of our history. The factory was once hailed as a symbol of modern India. But it also brought misery. Shouldn't our children learn about Bhopal?" argued Sinha. The project has repeatedly been mired in controversy as the memorial, estimated to cost over Rs 100 crore, appeared to hurt sentiments and raise political questions. Although several victims and their families have requested the government for a memorial, questions have been raised whether the memorial should take precedence over compensation, which many victims are yet to receive. The architects argue that while compensation for victims is critical, the proposed memorial need not be viewed as an attempt by the government to siphon funds away from the compensation process. Indicating how touchy the issue remains, a state government plan to open parts of the factory complex to the public on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy had to be dropped after widespread protests. The architects are keen that the fast-crumbling Union Carbide factory be preserved as an integral part of the memorial, despite critics calling for the "symbol of the tragedy" to be torn down. Also, the architects have repeatedly had to clarify that cleaning up the complex, where toxic waste is still said to be accumulated, is a critical pre-condition to their vision of the proposed memorial. "It is frustrating when one has to repeatedly explain the aim of the project, and when the aim is misunderstood. But this is our baby and we aren't giving it up, however long we need to wait," Sinha said. The three architects had won a Madhya Pradesh government-sponsored national competition in 2005 to design the memorial. That was two years after they had graduated from the Delhi-based School of Planning and Architecture. The proposed memorial includes a walkway, partly underground, that will serve as a gallery of paintings, write-ups, photographs and other items that will help educate visitors about what happened the night of the tragedy. The memorial, according to the team's plans, may include public services like a school and a research centre within the Union Carbide complex. "Our idea is very clear. We want to design a memorial remembering the victims and also providing a place that will help future generations learn about the mistakes of the past," said Joshi, 29. The group visited Hiroshima and studied the memorial there to understand its significance for the various stakeholders: victims' families, today's children and the world at large. Chernobyl, the site of a nuclear disaster, too has a memorial to the victims. The team has worked with Unesco to try and obtain world industrial heritage status for the site. Unesco has written to the Indian government to ensure the site is protected. The architects have met NGOs working with the Bhopal victims as well as government officials to try and incorporate their vision into the memorial plans. "In Bhopal, we have had to get involved beyond what is usually perceived as the architect's role of design and execution. We want the project to be transparent and participatory in the truest sense," said Ballal, 29. Sinha says he now applies the lessons he has learnt working on the Bhopal project, in terms of how design and architecture can impact society, to every other project he considers taking up. "The project isn't only about Bhopal. If successful, the project could help break traditional boundaries that have defined the role of an architect," Joshi said. |
Rahul swoop on Maya fort |
| OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
| Lucknow, Dec. 3: After his night halts at Dalit homes, Rahul Gandhi will now mount a more direct challenge to Mayavati's key vote bank by wooing Dalit youths at a rally on her citadel of Ambedkarnagar. Rahul will meet 25 Dalit youth leaders and address a public meeting on December 8 in the district, 230km from here, which epitomises Mayavati's Dalit vote bank and from where she has personally contested several Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The Congress general secretary will visit Uttar Pradesh on December 7-8 to woo youths and minorities and strengthen the party organisation, state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said. Congress sources said 25 young Dalit leaders from Ambedkarnagar had already agreed to work with Rahul. They will meet the Amethi MP and pledge to help the Congress in its development efforts. "This is a new breed of Dalit youngster who refuses to be swayed by (Mayavati's) politics of memorials and parks," a state Congress leader said. Ambedkarnagar used to be known as Akbarpur till 1995 before Mayavati became chief minister, separated it from Faizabad district and renamed it after Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar. Some 45 per cent of voters in the district — one of the most backward in eastern Uttar Pradesh — are Dalits or backward castes. It's also the birthplace of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and, since the 1980s, been a hotbed of Dalit and backward-caste politics. "It remains to be seen how the constituency, polarised always on caste lines, reacts to Rahul's model of development politics," a Congress leader from Ambedkarnagar said. In the early 1990s, all five Assembly seats in the district were in the Bahujan Samaj Party kitty. The BSP conceded some ground to the Samajwadi Party in the 1996 and 2002 Assembly polls, but in 2007 it swept all the five seats again. Mayavati had last contested from the district in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls --- she is now a member of the state legislative council. |
Orissa petition to ban 'incorrect' almanac | |
| OUR CORRESPONDENT | |
Cuttack, Dec. 3: My Lord, please stop this ungodly practice. A petitioner has sought the intervention of Orissa High Court to stop the circulation of an incorrect version of an annual ephemeris which, he said, was leading to disputes over observation of religious rituals. Dushasan Pahil, an official appointed by the Indian Meteorological Department's Positional Astronomy Centre, said the incorrect ephemeris was being sold under the name Biraja Panjika, an almanac followed in districts like Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. The Biraja temple in Jajpur follows the Biraja Panjika — based on Bhasvati, an 11th-century work of Puri-based astronomer Satananda — for performing rites and rituals. Pahil said the incorrect version was creating chaos in the worship of goddess Biraja, the reigning deity of Jajpur. "The Biraja deity has so dominated the heart and minds of the people that any deviation in the prescribed rites and rituals is likely to hurt the sentiments of thousands of people reposing faith in the time-ordered traditions of the Sri Biraja Temple," the petition said. His petition has sought the court's intervention for publication of these almanacs in accordance with the astronomical calculations of the Indian Astronomical Ephemeris, published every year by the Positional Astronomy Centre in Calcutta. Sources in the advocate-general's office today said the petition would be taken up for hearing after the commissioner of Hindu religious endowments, Orissa, and the Jajpur sub-collector, who is also the managing trustee of the Biraja temple, submitted their clarifications. In Calcutta, Manoj Lahiri of Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika said planetary positions of the sun and the moon were "paramount" in the calculation of tithi (lunar day), nakshatra (stars) and the number of days in a month. "Any almanac that does not take into account reformed positional astronomical data in its calculations which almanacs like ours do will be unscientific. This may lead to differences of as much as five-six hours in calculations." To avoid such confusions, the Indian government had set up a calendar reforms committee under Meghnad Saha in 1952. The committee recommended the preparation of the Indian ephemeris and nautical almanac calculated with modern astronomical formulae. Efforts of scholars like Saha and mathematician Nirmal Chandra Lahiri also led to the establishment of the Nautical Almanac Unit in Alipore in 1955 which, in 1980, became the Positional Astronomy Centre, an independent centre directly under the director-general of meteorology, New Delhi. The Orissa petition is not the first regarding alleged circulation of two almanacs under the name Biraja Panjika. On July 29, the court had said it couldn't interfere in the matter. "The allegations are all disputed questions of fact, which cannot be decided under extraordinary jurisdiction of this court in a writ petition," the court had said. But Justice M.M. Das had allowed the petitioner — Pandit Gadadhar Mohapatra — to file a representation before the commissioner of Hindu religious endowments and Jajpur sub-collector. Pillar PIL Orissa High Court today admitted a PIL seeking relocation of the Aruna Stamba at the Jagannath temple in Puri back to the Sun Temple at Konark. The 33-foot, 8-inch pillar had been brought from the 13th-century Konark temple and installed in front of the Simghadwar or Lion's Gate of the Jagannath temple sometime in the 18th century. | |
| WITH INPUTS FROM SUDESHNA BANERJEE | |
|
Nato allies to send extra 7,000 troops to Afghanistan
Rasmussen: 'We can succeed'
Nato's top official says countries will send at least 7,000 extra troops to support the US surge in Afghanistan.
Speaking at a Nato summit in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there would be "more [troops] to come".
"At least 25 countries will send more forces to the mission in 2010," the Nato secretary general told reporters.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the response from Nato allies as "positive", but some major countries are holding back.
France and Germany, for instance, have not yet committed to sending extra troops.
Sceptical publics
Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama announced he was sending an additional 30,000 troops to help battle the Taliban insurgency.
 | AFGHANISTAN SURGE US calling for about 10,000 extra foreign troops Nato expects 7,000 troops from 25 of 43 nations in Afghanistan Not all have gone public with their intentions Britain has pledged extra 500; Italy "about 1,000"; Poland 600; Portugal 150; Spain 200; Solvakia 250; Macedonia 80 Non-Nato member Georgia sending 900, South Korea 500 France still considering response; Germany may delay decision until January 2010  |
The US is calling on allies among the 43 nations with troops in Afghanistan to send about 10,000 extra soldiers.
"With the right resources, we can succeed," Mr Rasmussen told a news conference after allied foreign ministers met with representatives of non-Nato countries that have forces in Afghanistan.
Earlier, the Nato chief told delegates at Nato HQ that the coming year would "see a new momentum in this mission".
The BBC's Nick Childs, in Brussels, says the main thrust of Mr Rasmussen's speech was to insist on a message of solidarity, despite the challenges, and of unity behind mission.
"In addition to the clear pledges already tabled, we have heard indications ... that other allies and partners will probably be in a position to announce contributions in the coming weeks and months," Mr Rasmussen said.
"Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) will have at least 37,000 more soldiers in 2010 than it did this year," he said.
"That is solidarity in action."
But many Nato governments face publics even more sceptical about the mission than those of the US and Britain.
Even if more public announcements are forthcoming, turning these into firm pledges of the right troops at the right time and for the right missions, may take longer, our correspondent adds.
News feeds - Nato allies to add 7,000 to surge
- Bin Laden 'in Afghanistan in 2009'
- Dam Busters star Todd dies at 90
- Jury out in Kercher murder trial
- Weekly world news quiz
- Pakistan mosque attack 'kills 26'
- 1,700 jobs to go at Corus plant
- Man shot dead 'robbed of £10,000'
- Sex abuser 'too fat for prison'
- UN body enters climate e-mail row
| South Asia |
| | | |
| | | | | |
 | | At least 26 people have been killed in an attack at a mosque in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi. |
| Nato's top official says 25 countries will send at least 7,000 extra troops to support the US surge in Afghanistan. | | At least 46 people die in Bangladesh when a ferry capsizes on the Daira river, just days after a similar accident, police say. |
| Obama strategy makes big demands of Pakistan military | | How Bhopal gas leak still haunts residents' lives | | Drug addicts offered therapy - and military training | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| MORE FROM SOUTH ASIA BUSINESS | | FEATURES PICTURE STORIES |
| Are President Obama's goals achievable? | | Bhopal survivors still fighting for justice 25 years on | | The microfinance minnow helping to fight poverty |
The unending tragedy of Bhopal
Why has the compensation to the victims been so paltry? Why is there a thick fog over the extent of contamination of groundwater in the Union Carbide factory neighbourhood? Caught between NGOs and a secretive Big Government, nobody is quite sure what is happening.
And above all, many ask why those responsible have been allowed to go free? After all, they say, money - whatever the amount - cannot compensate for a crime of such magnitude, whether committed because of negligence or sabotage. If this happened in the West, campaigners say, the company would have been held to account, perhaps driven to bankruptcy by compensation claims. But since this is India and the poor are dispensable, justice in Bhopal has been a travesty.
Also what about the blot to Bhopal's image and its inglorious reputation as a 'gassed' dystopia? Locals say the city lost its innocence after the tragedy. "Life in Bhopal had been laid back and gentle. But the gas tragedy changed all that. Nowadays everybody whinges, that's all that they do," says Raj Kumar Keswani, the city's best-known journalist. "Also, the tragedy divided the people. In a strange way, people who got compensation are often reviled by people who didn't."
Mr Keswani should know. He has lived all of his 59 years in Bhopal and was the only journalist who cried himself hoarse for two years before the tragedy, saying the Union Carbide plant had lax safety procedures and that the city was "sitting on a volcano". He had written a series of articles on the doomed plant, petitioned the courts and worked the politicians. Nobody listened to him.
After the tragedy he challenged the government, accusing it of a sell-out to Union Carbide - the Indian government sued the company for $3bn but settled for 15% of the amount - and Mr Keswani became a mythic hero of sorts: Dominique Lapierre, for example, mentioned him in great detail without once talking to him while writing another best-seller. "He wrote that I used to go around in a car with a bagful of CDs because I was a music lover. Those days, as a struggling journalist, I had an old scooter and CDs hadn't even come to India," Mr Keswani laughs. This is one of my favourite Bhopal stories - it tells you how fact and fiction blur in the chaos of India.
The gas tragedy, in a perverse way, actually ended up oiling parts of the grassroots economy of Bhopal. As thousands of dollars of still inadequate compensation money poured in, this sleepy city was transformed, say its residents. Bhopal never had an economy of its own to speak of apart from one state-owned behemoth; the city of Indore to its east was always the commercial hub. Also, Bhopal belongs to one of India's most backward states - Madhya Pradesh - with human development indicators comparable to sub-Saharan Africa.
Twenty-five years later, Bhopal is a mini boom town, largely a result of India opening up its economy and partly because of the money that flowed in after the tragedy. It got some decent new hospitals, property grew and the city became the headquarters of a powerful vernacular media group which also publishes Harry Potter in Hindi. New malls are coming up and dozens of new private colleges - most of which are now suffering from lack of students - have opened up. Finally, Bhopal appears to giving its bustling cousin Indore a run for its money
Today, a street-smart, English-speaking social activist and darling of the international media and a street-fighting, hardboiled activist help the victims, in their own way, to live and fight for compensation. Maimed by gas, Bhopal's lost generation struggles to survive and to make sense of what is happening around them - pictures of children whose futures have been snuffed out by the gas make one's blood boil and leave a feeling of numbness and helplessness.
An anniversary like Bhopal's should be a solemn time to remember the dead and pledge to help the living dead, not become circuses of the kind they have become today. 1984 was India's annus horribilis - the army stormed the Golden Temple, Mrs Gandhi was assassinated, Sikhs were massacred in revenge - but, in hindsight, Bhopal must count as the greatest tragedy of them all.
The story of Bhopal, as Mr Keswani says, is a story of a proud city and its people cheated and betrayed by a country and the world. For India, it is a collective shame and a disturbing reminder that its poor don't matter. Most of the time anyway.
'The gods look after us'
All roads lead to Leopold Cafe in Mumbai these days, so I join the procession obediently one rainy afternoon.
Offices and schools in the city have shut mid-afternoon after a cyclone warning. Dark grey clouds hang menacingly on the horizon. Defying a light drizzle and gusty winds, office-goers and school children saunter on the seafront promenade. It makes more sense than rushing back to the hovel-like housing in which most of Mumbai's residents live.
In the bustling streets of Colaba, Leopold - "Since 1871 Getting Better with Age" - is buzzing with activity. The 138-year-old eatery, which was the first target of gunmen during last year's terror attacks, is full to the brim. Over 100 guests, mainly foreigners, occupy its 34 cheek-by-jowl tables.
The trauma of that terrible night - eight people died here, including three foreigners and two employees - is largely forgotten, and business is brisk. Horror sells along with its hugely popular chicken tikka masala and chilly beef: guests gape at the bullet marks on a shuttered shop front glass, the fraying walls and ceiling, and the cramped mezzanine bar. There are even 26/11 coffee cups to buy as memorabilia. "Bullet-proof Mumbai," says the writing on the cup. "No bullet can beat us."
Farzed and Farhang Jehani, the two enterprising brothers who own the place, are busy giving interviews to networks. "It always used to be a cult cafe," says Farzed, taking a break from the cameras. "After the attack, it has gone down in history as an iconic place. I heard that there was a debate on French TV about our restaurant." Outside, a paunchy private guard hired by the brothers to beef up security carries a metal detector in one hand and a stick in another. Presently, he is shooing away urchins haranguing backpacker clients for alms. "These children," he hollers, "are worse than the terrorists!"
"What security?" snaps one of the managers of the vast Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, when I ask him gently whether things have changed since the attack. (More than 50 people were killed by two gunmen here.) "Nothing has happened and..." he starts again, and stops when he realises I am a journalist. CST, as it is popularly called, is a railroad universe. Some 3.5 million passengers use it every day. More than 2,200 trains arrive and depart each day.
So I arrive there on a weekday morning in a car with dark windows, walk in with my backpack, openly avoiding the metal detector doors. Nobody asks me any questions. A sea of passengers surges through the shrieking doors, and nobody is stopped or checked.
When I seek information on security measures taken after 26/11, I am informed about increased baggage screening (I didn't spot any, but I am sure it happens sometimes), an increase in the number of closed-circuit cameras from 38 to 104 (to capture the aftermath), the deployment of 22 women constables (do they have information about female terrorists?), and some newly trained commandos. Standing near a shop called Curio Stall which sells bottled water, pillows, crisps and cola on the station concourse, I ask a station manager whether he feels safe working here.
"Oh, we are surrounded by Gods and temples," he says cheerily. "The Gods look after us."
"Tell me, is it possible to guard over three million people in one railway station?"
In a warren of grubby lanes not far away, the Chabad House Jewish Cultural Centre stands forlorn and shut. Six people, including the rabbi and his wife were murdered here before Indian commandos slid down from helicopters into the buildings and smoked out the killers.
When I looked around to meet members of Mumbai's minuscule Jewish community after the attacks, most refused. A pall of fear hung over an unnerved people. It is still not easy to meet community members. Inside Chabad House, the walls and floors are pock-marked by bullet holes and stained with dry blood, gory reminders of the bloody mayhem.
"We will move forward with greater strength to keep the legacy of the people who died at the Chabad House alive," he says. "We will not run away". The Chabad House is a symbolic place, and in another year Rabbi Berkowitz says a decision will be taken whether they will return to the house, or move somewhere else. "But any which way, the house will remain a symbolic place."
Next door, in a century-old derelict building, residents are more worried about the roof falling on their heads rather than the next attack in the neighbourhood. During the commando operation, they say, their building rocked and shook. "It could fall on our heads any day. Can you please inform the authorities that they have to save us from getting buried under the debris of our house first?" implores Harishchandra Kashinath Awad, an employee of India's central bank, who lives with his wife and two sons in a tiny 120 sq ft room in the rocking house. It is a miracle in living, but then so is Mumbai.
Living with insecurity
I am sitting in a taxi in Mumbai with the gangly college drop-out and gang member-turned-tourist guide as he takes me on a quick "terror tour" of the places that were attacked. Nearly 170 people were killed by gunmen at a busy railway station, two posh hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a hippy eatery.
As our car trundles through the rising downtown traffic, Saurabh continues to enlighten me in breakneck guide-speak.
"The terrorists got lost. They looked at their maps. But maps don't help in this crazy city. So Qasab ran and ran and gave up to the police, exhausted."
Our taxi comes to a halt on the road where a police patrol stopped Qasab's car and dragged him out after shooting his accomplice dead. "Qasab just got fed up and gave up." What about reports that the cops got him?
"Nah, that's all wrong. You think the police can do that? They are so fat!"
A year after the audacious attacks, the dividing line between fact and fiction has blurred in Mumbai. The official narrative of that terrible night is being challenged in many ways. The only thing we are sure of is that 10 gunmen walked into a city of 19 million people and wreaked havoc for 62 hours. Also, the gunmen were indoctrinated and trained across the border, in Pakistan.
Widows of senior policemen who were killed have challenged the authorities to come clean with the facts. Why is the bulletproof jacket of my husband missing? asks the wife of an officer who was gunned down that night, raising suspicions that the force had been buying sub-standard protective gear.
Another wife has written a book saying that the police owe an explanation about why reinforcements were not sent to her husband and his colleagues during the attack on the hospital; and why they were left to die on the streets for 40 minutes after being shot by the gunmen.
A day after the attacks, I visited the Mumbai police control room tucked away in a corner of the force's handsome colonial headquarters. I sought a timeline of telephone calls made to it relating to the attacks and of the police deployments on the night of the attacks.
The timeline I got did not match a number of other timelines that the papers reported, crediting them to the Mumbai police. Control room chatter from that night point to a confused and fumbling force. Now the former police commissioner has set the cat among the pigeons after saying that some of his colleagues did slip up badly. And a perfunctory investigation of the lapses hasn't helped matters.
The tourist guide's amnesia - or ignorance? - helps in the dissemination of a parallel narrative about the attacks. As our taxi turns into a narrow lane in the backstreets of Colaba where the Jewish centre came under attack, Saurabh - "I have 16 years experience as a guide," he says - tells me cheerily that "40 to 45 terrorists" entered Mumbai that day. "Most of them escaped. The police have no idea where they went. They may be still around, plotting their next attack."
Not that Mumbai's residents have any time or inclination to ponder whether they could be attacked again. They are used to living with insecurity, says Kumar Ketkar, newspaper editor and one of the city's leading thinkers. Some of the insecurities are life-long - like affording decent housing in a city where property is sometimes costlier than Tokyo or London.
Then there is the insecurity of survival: some 4,000 people alone die every year while commuting to work on Mumbai's busy suburban networks and choked roads. On the other hand, the wheels of commerce turn fastest here and opportunities abound. Life is cheap, and time is money. So there's no time to grieve in this Maximum City, as its best chronicler Suketu Mehta called it.
"There is a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity. 26/11 has left behind an imprint of horror," says Mr Ketkar, sitting in his office in a building overlooking the sea. "But since Mumbai's people live with insecurity, they live for the day. They don't withdraw." Mr Ketkar remembers the streets of Delhi emptying out and the capital shutting down after seven in the evening during the peak of Sikh militancy in the 1980s. Nothing of that sort will ever happen in Mumbai, he assures me. "There will be no let-up in going out, having a good time."
There will also be no let-up in memorials with people holding candles and waxing eloquent on more accountability from politicians under the gaze of TV cameras. But only a fraction of them will turn out to cast their ballot on voting day. A politician will parade relatives of victims of the carnage to score brownie points. The police will crow about a $26m plan to equip the forces with modern guns and gizmos, never mind the fact that a few of their crack new commandos fainted during a mock exercise.
Like everything else, remembering the dead is good business. Some victims are cleverer than the rest - a hospital clerk who survived to tell his story after his throat was slashed by one of the attackers is charging journalists $125 for an interview. The manic media scrum helps.
Meanwhile, in the taxi on our terror whirligig, Saurabh says that life remains wretched for people like him, terror attacks or not. He sleeps on the streets near the Gateway of India because he cannot afford a home. His wife stays with an ex-gangster friend of his who has a roof over his head.
I ask him whether he believes that the city could be attacked again.
"Oh yes, it will happen again," Saurabh says dismissively. "Does anybody care?"
Jump to more content from this blog
About this blog
Subscribe to Soutik Biswas's India
You can stay up to date with Soutik Biswas's India via these feeds.
Soutik Biswas's India Feed(RSS)
Soutik Biswas's India Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful.
Latest: Reporters' blogs
Latest: Reporters' blogs
 |
| Stephanie Flanders: |  |
 |
 |
BBC News blogs
- News Editors
- Sport Editors
- Journalism Labs
- BBC Internet Blog
- Radio 4 Blog
- Viewfinder
- dot.life
- Earth Watch: Richard Black
- Ethical Man
- Fergus on Flu
- Gavin Hewitt's Europe
- Magazine Monitor
- Mark Easton's UK
- Mark Mardell's America
- Mihir Bose on Sport
- Nick Bryant's Australia
- Nick Robinson's Newslog
- NI: The Devenport Diaries
- Open Secrets
- Peston's Picks
- Razia's Arthouse
- Scotland: Blether with Brian
- Scotland: Douglas Fraser's Ledger
- Soutik Biswas' India
- Spaceman
- Stephanomics
- Wales: Betsan's Blog
- 5 Live Breakfast
- Daily Politics: Andrew Neil
- Newsnight
- Newsnight: Michael Crick
- Newsnight: Peter Marshall
- Newsnight: Paul Mason
- Newsnight: Mark Urban
- Newsnight: Susan Watts
- PM programme (iPM)
- Today: Evan Davis
- Today: Tom Feilden
- Working Lunch: Declan Curry
- World Tonight: Robin Lustig
More from this blog...
Topical posts on this blog
Being Discussed Now
Archives
Latest contributors
Latest World Service bulletin MOST POPULAR STORIES
From South Asia in the past week
- TUESDAY : India blocks millions of mobiles
- MONDAY : Mumbai suspect's lawyer is sacked
- SUNDAY : Indian nuclear plant leak probed
- SATURDAY : Zardari hands over nuclear powers
- FRIDAY : Delhi pays 22,000 'ghost workers'
| Business |
| | | |
| | | | | |
FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
MORE FROM BUSINESS
BUSINESS AROUND THE WORLD
UK YOUR MONEY
FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
|
|
ECB ends unlimited loans
Marketwatch ticker
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/
Entertainment
- On-Spot Exclusive: Bollywood's Who's Who @ 'Paa' Premiere | Review: 'Paa' | Celeb tweets on 'Paa'
- Priyan plans film on AIDS with Aamir Khan
- Exclusive First Look: 'Iron Man 2'
- In Pics: Flops of the Decade
- Pics: Mumaith plays the "sexy snake"!
- Wedding Albums: Eesha | Shilpa Shetty
- Glamzone: Neetu Chandra in 'Theeratha..'
News
- Osama is not in Pakistan, Gilani tells Brown | Lords of Terror: World's most wanted | Al Qaeda helping Lashkar
- In Pics: X'mas lights up mega cities
- World's most unusual homes: Images
- 12 explosions rock Rawalpindi
- Migrant workers run riot in Ludhiana
- Crime: Photos target air-hostess
- News@glance: Sehwag misses 300…
Cricket and Sports
- Mumbai: Virender Sehwag misses triple ton, out for 293 | Sehwag's triple tons so far | Image Gallery: Day 3 Action
- Former World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo retires
- Tiger Woods offered $1m to mistress
- Pakistan govt clears players for IPL-3
- Image of the day: Davis Cup showdown!
- Shevchenko escapes unhurt after car crash
- Sreesanth's gain is Ishant Sharma's pain
Citizen Speak
- Don't dump talent, says Sehwag's bat by Dr B Sundara
- The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Can the victims expect any justice?, asks Lakshmi Bhargava
- The government is the greatest litigant!, says Ramanathan A V
- How one should learn to let go, says K Parthasarathi
- Are present politics deterrant to development?, questions Pratap
- Surabhi Tewari shares some safety tips for women
- 10 killed in terror attack at Rawalpindi mosque
- Muslims seek action against those who demolished Babri
- Rajkhowa handed over to Indian authorities in Meghalaya
- India launches 'Operation Green Hunt' against Maoists
- PM's US visit renewed commitment to strategic partnership
- Nepal's cabinet meets on Everest over climate change
- Ronaldo still tops Fergie's Man U favourite list
- Priyadarshan plans film on AIDS with Aamir Khan
- Lata Mangeshkar conferred with highest French honour
updated 4:54 PM IST
National News
India to decide on its role in Afghanistan: US
New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) The US has not sought Indian troop deployment in Afghanistan and it was for New Delhi to decide on a possible military role in that country, Admiral Robert F.
- Dogra Ratan awards announced PTI - 04:32 PM
- Missing French cyclist''s parents hope he is still alive PTI - 04:32 PM
- CAT schedule extended by one day IANS - 04:32 PM
- India wants political process revived in Sri Lanka IANS - 04:24 PM
- NCW gets around 200 complaints a day PTI - 04:20 PM
NATIONAL
Rahul Gandhi describes himself as old and only pla...
NATIONAL
When CAT got the technical hitch
NATIONAL
Here's a recap of India's deadliest terror attack
NATIONAL
Take a look at the top 10 small cars in India
NATIONAL
Tharoor favours Indo-Pak cricket matches in US
NATIONAL
Don't provoke us, Chidambaram warns Pakistan
NATIONAL
Rahul Gandhi describes himself as old and only pla...
NATIONAL
When CAT got the technical hitch
General
- Global trade marks regime soonPTI - 04:13 PM
New Delhi, Dec 4 (PTI) A person seeking global trade mark need not apply for it in several countries incurring big cost, once India's trade mark law is amended.
- French cultural team to add glitter to film festPTI - 04:10 PM
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 4 (PTI) Culture buffs in Kerala will have a real taste of the rich performing traditions of France as artistes of the French cultural team "Bonjour India", currently touring the country, is coming to the city on December 8.
- Cong alleges conspiracy to cover up illegal miningPTI - 04:07 PM
Bangalore, Dec 4 (PTI) The Congress in Karnataka today alleged that there was a conspiracy to cover up illegal mining in the state and demanded a CBI probe into it.
- Rohtang Pass open for trafficPTI - 04:02 PM
Keylong (HP), Dec 4 (PTI) The Rohtang Pass, closed for the last 25 days due to heavy snowfall, has been reopened for traffic thus facilitating movement between Kullu valley and Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh.
- Nagpur sex workers catwalk in a fashion showANI - 04:00 PM
Nagpur, Dec 4 (ANI): To project their identity to the world and seeking social acceptance, the sex workers here on Thursday (December 03), walked the ramp at a fashion show hosted in the city.
Politics
- Mizoram government employees to get pay hikeIANS - 04:17 PM
Aizawl, Dec 4 (IANS) Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla announced that the government will implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission (SPC) for its 50,000 employees with retrospective effect from January 2006.
- Mosque fired on near Pakistan military headquartersReuters - 03:15 PM
Suspected militants fired on a mosque near Pakistan's military headquarters after Friday prayers and blasts were heard, a military spokesman said.
- Shooting heard near Pakistan military headquartersReuters - 03:05 PM
Shooting was heard on Friday near Pakistan's military headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, police said.
- Rahul, Rajnath and Nitish hit Jharkhand campaign trailIANS - 01:37 PM
Ranchi, Dec 4 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hit the campaign trail in Jharkhand Friday.
- TRS chief continues fast in hospitalIANS - 01:30 PM
Hyderabad, Dec 4 (IANS) Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who is pressing for a separate state of Telangana, continued his fast unto death at a hospital here Friday. The authorities have shut down all the colleges in the region as a precautionary measure.
Features
- Tiger Woods admits 'transgressions,' apologizesReuters - Thu, Dec 3
Golfer Tiger Woods, engulfed in speculation over his private life after a car accident in the middle of the night, apologized on Wednesday for "transgressions" in a statement that apparently addressed allegations he had extra-marital relationships.
- I've let my family down, says Tiger WoodsReuters - Wed, Dec 2
Tiger Woods admitted he had let his family down on Wednesday when he spoke candidly for the first time about last week's car crash and the subsequent speculation about his private life.
- France miss out on World Cup finals seedingReuters - Wed, Dec 2
France, World Cup winners in 1998 and finalists in 2006, missed out on a place in the eight top seeds for Friday's draw, announced by FIFA on Wednesday.
- India could be a new pole of global growth: World Bank presidentHT - Wed, Dec 2
Change is the great constant of the world economy. India was still a colony when the allied powers shaped the international architecture at the end of World War Two. Today, India is a rising economic power that is contributing to world growth in new and powerful ways.
- IFFI revives century-old movie "magic lantern"Reuters - Wed, Dec 2
Long before the lights, cameras and the action came to Bollywood, a family armed with a "magic lantern" breathed life into stories from Hindu mythology to audiences across the country.
Crime
- Woman kidnapped, rapedHT - 02:40 PM
A 27-year-old woman had alleged that her neighbour kidnapped her from her mother?s house and raped her over a period of one month.
- DU murder: police try polygraphHT - Thu, Dec 3
Not able to scrounge any leads even after four-months of investigation, the Delhi Police are now retracing their steps in the murder case of Parvinder Singh (31), a close aide of Himanshu Sabharwal. Singh was found stabbed to death near Khalsa College in Delhi University?s North Campus July 23 this year.
- Watchman arrested for Matunga heist diesHT - Thu, Dec 3
A watchman, who was arrested for robbery early on Wednesday morning, died under mysterious circumstances soon after his arrest.
- Jewellers allege cop-thief nexus troubling themHT - Thu, Dec 3
Anil Jain?s family has been in the jewellery business for generations. But today, Jain is ashamed to step into his shop in the Jogeshwari market because he had been labelled chor or thief.
- Former Pak Army major made Headley pose as JewPTI - Wed, Dec 2
A former Pakistan Army Major, who has joined the ranks of Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), is emerging as one of the masterminds of the Mumbai carnage and was in direct touch with arrested US terror suspect David Headley.
National News Slideshows
<b>Would Rahul be the PM in 2014?</b> <p></p> Rahul, you've been instrumental in Congress's sweeping...
-
National News: General
-
Politics News
-
Features News
-
Crime News
-
National News
Add to My Yahoo!/RSS
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment