arekta inish dekehe obak lagche je meyegulo dirghodin nandigrame giye pore thake tara ki kore final exam e boste pare??? karon jotodur jani classe upsthithir har dekhei kintu exam e boste dewa hoi. na ei khetreo tader dorodi prof. kull tader dike hat bariye dey.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Matongini Mohila Somiti na onyo kichu????
arekta inish dekehe obak lagche je meyegulo dirghodin nandigrame giye pore thake tara ki kore final exam e boste pare??? karon jotodur jani classe upsthithir har dekhei kintu exam e boste dewa hoi. na ei khetreo tader dorodi prof. kull tader dike hat bariye dey.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Mudslinging, deals overshadow confidence vote
With the fate of the government dependent on a confidence vote on Tuesday, mudslinging and deal-making are in full swing and even sullying the relatively clean image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Singh, a soft-spoken former finance minister, was forced to call a confidence vote after his communist allies withdrew their support for the government to protest a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.
Singh believes he will survive the vote after securing support of the regional Samajwadi Party. The vote is essentially between a ruling Congress party coalition and the Hindu nationalist-led opposition and the communists.
If the government loses the vote, early elections will be called, probably this year. It will lead to political uncertainty just as the government battles rising inflation and interest rates, as well signs of fiscal strains and economic slowdown.
"The prime minister expressed confidence that the people of India understood the significance of the initiatives being taken by the UPA government and endorse them," according to a statement by the prime minister's office late on Tuesday.
The vote will likely hang on a score of votes, mainly from smaller parties and independents, in the 543-member parliament.
So close is the vote, parties from all sides have stepped up their battles and rhetoric to secure votes.
"The government will not survive the trust vote even when it's indulging in large-scale horse trading," Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a senior leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told the Indian Express.
He estimated the government only had 250 votes of the 272 needed for a majority.
The communists, angry at what they see as the government's betrayal over a nuclear deal they say makes India a pawn of Washington, announced an alliance with Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, over the confidence vote.
It was an unheard of alliance and a sign of high stakes of the vote. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Mayawati, one of India's best known politicians, have been enemies for years.
The government's own alliance with Samajwadi has sparked criticism the prime minister was allowing his government to bend to its conditions, from judicial probes into political enemies of the party to helping corporate allies of the regional party.
The timing of news that the CBI could probe Mayawati, raised criticism of an under-the-table deal. Mayawati is the main political enemy of the Samajwadi.
The communists also sparked a storm with accusations that MPs were being bribed for their support.
A.B. Bardhan, head of the Communist Party of India, said the going rate was around $6 million to guarantee a vote. He produced no evidence, although India has seen a string of scandals in recent years when MPs have accepted bribes to change sides.
The prime minister sparked more criticism for meeting with one of the feuding billionaire Ambani brothers, whose businesses make up about 5 percent of the Asian giant's economic output.
Samajwadi's leader Amar Singh has close links to Anil Ambani, the head of Reliance Communications, who has been in a long dispute with his even richer and elder brother Mukesh, chairman of Reliance Industries.
So when Mukesh Ambani met the prime minister on Monday, it sparked headlines that he was trying to defend his business interests amid fears his brother now enjoyed greater access to the government thanks to his SP links.
The meeting followed Amar Singh saying his party would push for a windfall tax on private oil refiners, a move that would directly hurt Mukesh's business.
"The new found friendship with the likes of Amar Singh ... the sudden entry of corporate bosses in the picture have clouded the image of probity which the prime minister has assiduously built up over the years," the Asian Age said in an editorial.
Sources:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20080716/736/tnl-mudslinging-deals-overshadow-confide.html
NATIONAL INTERESTS ABANDONED,CENTRE LOYAL TO U.S : BIMAN BOSE IN LONDON
Withdrawal of the left parties has come as a result of the indifference of the U.P.A government towards the interests of the country.
These words came from the veteran Mr.biman bose,secretary, C.P.I.M state committee at a convention arranged at the asian centre in London,this sunday.Bose will be attending a number of conventions regarding education and some other subjects as well.Here,at the convention arranged by the communist association of Great Britain and the Indian workers association of Great Britain, he discussed about the contemporary political scenario in india.After his discusion he answered a number of questions on the political situation in India and West Bengal,experiences of the state government,its take and steps on industrialization and education and finally its role in the economic development of the state.A large number of N.R.I s were present at the gathering.
According to the communist leader " we forbade them from the beginning to proceed towards the nuclear deal overlooking the national interests and harming the independent foreign policy.but they did'nt listen.we have emphasized to avoid neglecting common interests,and to check the rise in prices of essential commodities.But perhaps the UPA is more keen in getting enlisted to the US goodbook.For these reasons the communists have withdrawn their support from this hopeless government."
Mr. Aftab Saddique,president,communist association of Great Britain and Mr. Hershed Bent,general secretary,Indian workers' association of Great Britain also shared their views.Dr Sunil Bhaduri presided over the convention.
Mr.Biman Bose recalled the picture during the establishment of this government,the deficit of adequete number of seats,and the role of the left parties in bringing the UPA to power."The primary goal was to maintain religious harmony within the country,thwarting racial BJP.That never meant though ,that we wholeheartdly supported each and every steps of the UPA government.The Left Front has voiced its protests whenever the common interests were overlooked and has expressed its concern.On quite a number of such cases the UPA has been forced to retreat.",basu said.
He added, "We not only emphasized on removing racial discrimintion but also on taking care of the interests of the common people.
That is why a common minimum protocol was formed.But the UPA government was devaiting from this protocol and was taking multiple steps risking the the public interest.We responded with concern.But now admist this shameless US flattery of the UPA and its proceedings over the deal,we will be the last one to support them."
Many asked him the reason for staying 30 years of long period in government.He explained that the left front government is focussed at meeting the needs of the poor people ,more specifically common people."There are still a lot of things to be done.Percentage of people living below the poverty level has decreased.Caring about the interests of the poor,developing the infrastructure of education,and creating more and more employment opportunities-these are the main objectives of this government,just like it has always been.Maintaining the success in agriculture , we have stressed on its betterment.Over it rests the agenda of industrialisation.
The left front is dedicated to work for the poor and needy.It will maintain its tradition",bose confirmed.
(Translated from ganashakti,13th july,an article by indrajit chakravorty
translated by Koustav Ghosal,2nd yr,SFI unit member,
Netaji Subhash Engineering College)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Maobadira alochonai bosuk!!!!
mao e chobi, ba mao bad prochare leaflet rakha kono opradh hisebe gonyo hobe na e rajye. jesob mao badira khun, hatya, bisforon ,dakatir moton oporadhe jukto tader birudhhe sorkari ain anujayi babosthya nebe sorkar.
jodio sorkarer mao badider dike bhalobasar hat bariye dile ki hobe 2005 theke 2008 porjontyo maobadira ei rajye khun koreche 42 jon niriho manush ke.tader modhye besir vag CPIM somorthok r ekjon CPI somorthok. era eder otorkito akromone ahoto koreche pray 47 jon manush ke. er sathe ora 12 jon police kormi ke khun koreche.
sunirdisto oporadher vitiite amader rajye 314 mao badi jail e bandi achen.
amar mao badi bandhuder kache anurodh jokhon prosashon ekhat bariye dichhe tokon tomader ki ek hat barano jai na??? na sarajibon sei lal mere lal er khela cholbe???
nirlojjo birodhi!!!!
nirlojjo birodhita!!!
02.Singure tata ra gorib manusher chikitshar jonyo je camp ti khulechilo trinomulira sekhane khomotai asar pore sei camp ti tara bandho kore diyeche.
03.Bonyai ebare sobcheye khotigrosto hoyeche purbo midnapurer bistirno anchal, proshashon jokhon bonya durgoto manushder pase ese daranor chesta korche tokon dekha gelo tmc r netri ei bonya ke man made bonya akhya diye proshasoner sathe jotorokom vave oshojogita kora jai tar udahoron rekhe gelen.tar daler kormra eker por ek sorkari tran bontone badha diye gechen , sorkari tran loot korechen. bonya r jonyo jara gram chere tran shibire jete badhyo hoyechilen tara jodi cpim somorthok hon to tader grame firte badha diyechen.
voddrotya ba souyjanyo bodh bole jodi kichu thake ta ei sob birodhider songbidhane nei, obosoi eta ei dal gulir jonmobidhi sohojato bishoi. noile uttor 24 pgs, purbo midnapur ba hoogly te jela porishoder sovapoti ba soho sovapoti nirbachoner somoi je achar acroron korechen ta kono vodro loker hote paren na.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
NREGA shines for Tripura women
The brick soling of the road is likely start in this year for which they are now eagerly waiting. The construction work involving a total cost of Rs.73,800 started on 15 July last year, generated 1230 person days in the village, and was completed within one and half months. For the women engaged in the work, mostly belonging to the Bengali community, this provided extra earnings for their families. In fact, ever since the NREGA schemes have been implemented in their locality, they have been able to augment their family income. The male folk of the village move to nearby towns in search of jobs, where they can earn between Rs.120 to Rs.150 per day on an average. Lack of job opportunities for women in the area has made them remain at home. In such a situation, the NREGA projects have provided relief.
If NREGA schemes are meant for enhancement of family income for women in Purba Barjala village, for the tribal women belonging to Tripuri tribe in Chargharia, a village under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), earning under NREGA project is crucial for their living. These landless tribals have no means of livelihood except depending on daily wage earnings in nearby town or in brick-making industries, which is not ensured everyday.
“There is no work available for women. The two kilometre road construction work under NREGA gave us the opportunity to work and earn something. But it was completed before the state assembly election. After the election, we are looking forward to more jobs under the scheme,” said Piranjay Debbarma, a senior woman of the village.
Be it for an increase in the family income or a crucial tool for living, Tripura engages a substantial number of women in NREGA projects as compared to other northeastern states. In some pockets like Jirania and Dukli blocks, participation of women in NREGA works is amazing. In Dukli Gram Sabha of Dukli Block, 10 km away from the capital city Agartala, percentage of women engaged in NREGA schemes has goes up to 70 to 80 per cent, says S R Choudhury, the Block Development Officer.
“This is because NREGA works fetch a relatively low wage – about Rs. 85 per day. Because of this, menfolk show little interest in these works. The daily wage, even for unskilled work, is much higher. For skilled jobs, the men get as much as Rs. 200 per day,” the BDO says.
The Minister for Rural Development, Jitendra Choudhury, while acknowledging that the high women participation in NREGA schemes is a very positive aspect, adds that as the left-front government of the state has been able to ensure substantial job opportunities for the male folk in rural pockets, women have come forward to take part in NREGA works. Also, the state has moved for multi-cropping agriculture practices instead of traditional single cropping, which also keeps the men busy in fields, giving women more opportunities to avail of NREGA facilities. In Tripura, in the non-tribal segment, the agriculture practice is an all-male activity.
Statistics say
In Khedarnal village of Amarpur block in North Tripura district, 100 person days have been generated for all the 321 families during 2007-08, under the NREGA implementation schemes. This is for the first time in the country that 100 person days were generated for all the families in a village selected for NREGA schemes. Altogether 32,100 person days were generated under the scheme during the year.
A state progress report of NREGA activities has recorded percentage of person days for women as 44.51, which is higher than the national average of 42.52. The state has the highest record so far in terms of employing women in NREGA projects amongst the northeastern states. In some of the major tribal states, percentage of employment for women are: Arunachal Pradesh - 29.58, Nagaland -29.36 and Mijoram – 36.62. In matrilineal Meghalaya, it is only 30.87 while Assam records 30.85 women employment and Manipur records 32.80.
The department of rural development records generation of person-days as 181.04 lakh, with creation of an average 38.86 person-days per family in 2007-08. The state recorded issuing of 4,65,779 job cards for the year 2007-08 in three districts including West Tripura, South Tripura and Dhalai. While Dhalai was the first to be selected for the NREGA projects in 2006-07, West and South Tripura were selected in 2007-08. The North district has been selected only in 2008-09, and works are yet to be implemented.
Percentage of person-days for scheduled tribes that constitute 31 per cent of the total population was 41.95 during the year. In Dhalai district, 76.03 person-days per family have been generated in 2007-08.
“Taking the Dhalai district experience, the first NREGA district in our state into account, we are expecting generation of more person-days in 2008-09 in West and South districts also. Normally it takes some time in planning during the first year. Implementation process shows good results only from the second year after selection of the district for NREGA scheme,” says Brijesh Pandey, secretary, rural development. Even in South district, the department could generate 100 person-days for 216 families in very first year of NREGA implementation, he says. The NREGA manual ensures 100 days job-guarantee to all families identified for NREGA schemes.
Aim to create permanent assets
One of the objectives of NREGA implementation projects in Tripura is creation of permanent assets by construction of road infrastructures. In Jirania Block for instance, out of the 33 NREGA projects for 2007-08, 14 were brick soling road construction projects.
The state records construction of 6,716 kilometres of road under NREGA projects in 2007-08. In Dhalai, another 962.66 kilometres have been constructed during that year. Justifying the major thrust on road construction, the minister says that while road construction is a permanent asset building process aimed at accelerating developmental activities at grassroots, the state government has set a target that every hamlet having a population of 250 will be covered with a blacktopping road within next two years.
“Ensuring person days is not the sole objective of Tripura model of NREGA implementation. Our thrust also rests on creation of permanent assets in the state”, Pandey says.
Apart from the road construction schemes, other projects that have a priority in NREGA schemes include water conservation and water harvesting, micro-irrigation works, renovation of traditional water-bodies, fisheries, land development, flood control and protection, culverts and RCC bridges.
Performance
In terms of performance of NREGA implementation, Tripura ranks second in the country. The record of other northeastern states as regards their performance: Mizoram – fifth in the country, Manipur – seventh, Assam – thirteenth, Meghalaya – eighteenth, Arunachal – nineteenth and Nagaland – twentieth. The ranking parameters include transparency, accountability, vigilance, monitoring, evaluation, physical performance indicator, financial performance indicator, staffing, training and others, according to NREGA guidelines.
Does the IAEA agreement hide us from the Hyde Act?
Various commentators have argued that the draft IAEA Safeguards Agreement gives India considerable leeway, denied it under the Hyde Act, in taking corrective action in case fuel supplies are interrupted. To be fair, unlike government spokespersons, some of these analysts concede that all imported reactors will remain permanently under safeguards. But one of the claims adduced by these non-official defenders in support of the Agreement is that India can unilaterally withdra w from IAEA safeguards its indigenous reactors that are made subject to the Agreement, provided all the imported fuel is taken out.
This curious conclusion flows from a wholly untenable reading of Article 29 of the Agreement, which states: “The termination of safeguards on items subject to this Agreement shall be implemented taking into account the provisions of GOV/1621 (20 August 1973).” Since the latter is a restricted document of the IAEA’s Board of Governors, these non-official analysts have speculated that with respect to termination of safeguards, the import of GOV/1621 into Article 29 has let non-supplied facilities off the hook, by requiring them to be under safeguards only as long as they use imported fuel! From this, they have jumped to the conclusion that therefore for such indigenous facilities, India does not even need to invoke its preambular ‘right’ to take “corrective measures.”
Nowhere does GOV/1621 provide the remotest sanction for any such interpretation. I happen to have the text of this restricted 1973 document. It originated from the urging of “a substantial number of Governors … that there should be a greater degree of standardisation than in the past with respect to the duration and termination of such agreements as may henceforth be concluded under the Agency’s Safeguards System … for the application of safeguards in connection with nuclear material, equipment, facilities or non-nuclear material supplied to States by third parties.”
Two concepts are clearly laid out in the IAEA document for these future agreements: (a) “the duration of the agreement should be related to the period of actual use of the items in the recipient State”; and (b) “the provisions for terminating the agreement should be formulated in such a way that the rights and obligations of the parties continue to apply in connection with supplied nuclear material and with special fissionable material produced, processed or used in or in connection with supplied nuclear material, equipment, facilities or non-nuclear material, until such time as the Agency has terminated the application of safeguards thereto...”
Further, by way of exposition of these concepts, the Annex to the document makes it clear that after termination, “the rights and obligations of the parties, as provided for in the agreement, would continue to apply in connection with any supplied material or items and with any special fissionable material produced, processed or used in or in connection with any supplied material or items which have been included in the inventory, until such material or items had been removed from the inventory” (emphasis added). The only way such “items or non-nuclear material could be removed from the purview of the agreement” is “if they had been consumed, were no longer usable for any nuclear activity relevant from the point of view of safeguards, or had become practically irrecoverable.”
GOV/1621 ensures that all such materials “would be subject to safeguards until the Agency had terminated safeguards on that special fissionable and nuclear material in accordance with the provisions of the Agency’s Safeguards System. Thus, the actual termination of the operation of the provisions of the Agreement would take place only when everything had been removed from the inventory” (emphasis added).
The effect of GOV/1621, therefore, is to tighten and make more restrictive the application of IAEA safeguards to all supplied nuclear material, facilities, and items. But it is wholly fanciful to say that it empowers or even allows India to take non-supplied facilities made subject to the Agreement out of safeguards, if they no longer use supplied fuel.
For indigenous nuclear facilities that have been built without supplies from any third party, we have to consider two additional Articles of the Agreement. One is that “items” for safeguards are governed by Article 11(a), which defines items to include: “any facility listed in the Annex to this Agreement, as notified by India.” The second is Article 32, which explicitly states: “Safeguards shall be terminated on a facility listed in the Annex after India and the Agency have jointly determined that the facility is no longer usable for any nuclear activity relevant from the point of view of safeguards” (emphasis added).
If we accept that Article 32 will come into play for taking facilities out of safeguards, there are three conditions that need to be fulfilled. First, both parties — India and the IAEA — need to agree to this; it is not a unilateral decision for India to make. Secondly, the facility must no longer be usable for any nuclear activity. Any facility that produces nuclear energy is obviously usable for nuclear activity. Lastly, the facility must be “relevant from the point of view of safeguards.” Any facility offered by India under Article 14 for safeguards continues to be relevant for safeguards. The issue of imported fuel is extraneous to any of these considerations.
Under the separation plan, India is offering several facilities for safeguards — not just reactors, but also heavy water plants, research and storage facilities. All these will be under safeguards if they are included in the Annex by India and will be governed by the Articles of the Agreement. Linking import of fuel with the duration of the safeguards on facilities is not relevant here. Research facilities, for example, do not even import fuel. Is it then possible that once we have offered them for safeguards, we can take them out any time we want?
Let us take the next contention that once corrective measures figure in the Agreement, it does not matter whether they are in the preamble or in the operative part of the Agreement. The issue is not whether the preamble is a part of an agreement or a treaty. The issue here is whether the scope of termination of safeguards, as defined in Articles 29-32, can be overridden by India having recourse to unspecified “corrective measures” mentioned in the preamble. Clearly, such a reading will be fanciful; else the operative part of the agreement will be rendered a nullity.
It is well established in international law that a preamble can be used to give a treaty context and help interpret its clauses. However, in no case can a preamble override explicit provisions in Articles of a treaty or be used to create new rights or obligations. If this were so, the Non-Proliferation Treaty would have led decades ago to nuclear disarmament, as this objective is set out in the preamble! It has not happened because Article 6 of the NPT merely asks the nuclear weapons states to negotiate disarmament in good faith. The operative part lacks the teeth to implement the lofty objective the preamble sets out.
The issue of fuel supply assurances and strategic fuel reserves is of little consequence in this Safeguards Agreement. The IAEA is not a body that deals with either. The preamble merely notes that the “essential basis” of India’s concurrence to the acceptance of IAEA safeguards is the conclusion of international arrangements for reliable and uninterrupted fuel supplies and support for building strategic fuel reserves. Whatever may be the basis of a country entering into an international agreement, the articles of the treaty do not get voided simply because this basis is no longer valid. The withdrawal and termination clauses govern the actual withdrawal or termination. It is pretty much like marriage: love may be the basis of a marriage but the demise of love for one party is not a sufficient legal ground for divorce.
Asked whether India could ever withdraw its reactors from safeguards, Dr R.B. Grover of the Department of Atomic Energy claimed (in a press conference on July 12) that India could first claim a material breach under Article 52(c) of the Agreement and then take whatever action it wanted under “the combination of [Articles] 29, 30(f), 10, 4, and the preamble.” Again, while Article 29 covers both facilities and material for the duration of safeguards for facilities, we have to read this provision along with Article 32. As explained earlier, Article 32 is quite explicit that once any facility is offered for safeguards, they will continue to apply in perpetuity. Article 30(f) is very much part of Article 30, which specifically pertains only to material. To claim specific rights over facilities using an Article that pertains to material will not help India in any way.
It is not in India’s interest to keep the provisions of the Agreement vague. The dispute settlement body in the IAEA is not a neutral umpire — it is the agency’s Board of Governors. Here, politics is the dominant issue in interpretation — not legalese. As the Iran case shows, despite that country having a legal right to the full nuclear fuel cycle, the IAEA Board of Governors referred it to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions at the insistence of the United States. The majority, including the Government of India, fell in line with the U.S., not because they were convinced of its legal case but because of its sheer muscle power.
Therefore to believe that the vague term “corrective measures” included in the preamble of the Safeguards Agreement will help India later to put on the term whatever interpretation it wishes to will simply not wash. If it comes to the crunch, the Hyde Act provisions will prevail. This is what is inbuilt in the India-IAEA Agreement, the government’s spin notwithstanding.
(Prabir Purkayastha is a founding member of the Delhi Science Forum and an analyst on nuclear disarmament and energy issues.)
Courtesy, The Hindu newspaper.