Saturday, June 30, 2012

2 जून के आतंक से बिहार की छवि बिगड़ी

संवाद

2 जून के आतंक से बिहार की छवि बिगड़ी

बिहार के अवकाश प्राप्त मुख्य सचिव वी एस दुबे से पुष्पराज की बातचीत
वर्ष 2012 का 2 जून बिहार के इतिहास में एक ‘‘दहशत भरे काले दिन’’ की तरह याद किया जायेगा. बिहार की राजधानी पटना को कुछ घंटों के लिए बलवाइयों के हवाले कर दिया गया था. रणवीर सेना के संस्थापक-प्रमुख, 277 मनुष्यों की हत्या के अभियुक्त बह्मेश्वर सिंह की लाश को रणवीर समर्थक कंधे पर लेकर पटना की गंगा में अंत्येष्टि के लिए आये थे. गौरतलब है कि मृतक के निवास से निकट में सोन और गंगा नदी मौजूद है.

वी एस दुबे
प्रतिबंधित आतंकी संगठन रणवीर सेना के हथियारबंद लोगों की शव यात्रासे पटना सिहर उठा. पुलिस की सख्ती से राजधानी की दुकानें बंद करायी गयीं और शवयात्रा की दहशत से नगर कांपता रहा. पुलिस चौकी, पुलिस की गाड़ियाँ, देवता के मंदिर धू-धूकर जलते रहे. दर्जन भर छायाकार-पत्रकारों को बलवा कवरेज करते हुए बेरहमी से पीटा गया. जानकार बताते हैं कि सेवा यात्रा में शामिल मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार खुद विधि-व्यवस्था पर नजर रख रहे थे. मुख्यमंत्री ने सेवा यात्रा से लौटकर 2 जून के उस ‘दहशत भरे काले दिन’ के बारे में कोई टिप्पणी नहीं की है.

बिहार के पुलिस महानिदेशक का बयान आया है कि किसी संभावित बड़ी हिंसा के मद्देनजर बलवाइयों को छेड़ना पुलिस ने उचित नहीं समझा. चैनलों से बलवाइयों के हवाले पटना का दृश्य पूरे देश में प्रसारित होता रहा. मीडिया ने राजधानी पटना को बलवाइयों के हवाले छोड़ने वाले राज्य सरकार से ना ही सवाल-जवाब किया है ना ही बिहार के विपक्ष ने इस मुद्दे पर राज्य सरकार को घेड़ने की कोशिश की है. देश के जिन प्रतिष्ठित पत्राकारों ने कल तक नीतीश कुमार के सुशासन सरकार की छवि को विश्वख्याति दिलाने की भूमिका निभायी, उन्होंने भी 2 जून 2012 को पटना क्यों जलता रहा, इस सवाल पर चुप्पी साध ली है.

कहा जा रहा है कि 2 जून को पटना में जो दहशत और आतंक कायम हुआ, वह आतंक आजादी के बाद पहली बार पटना नगर में देखा गया. क्या एक लोकतांत्रिक प्रदेश की राजधानी को एक लोकतांत्रिक सरकार बलवाइयों के हाथ में सुपुर्द करने का हक रखती है? क्या 4-5 हजार बलवाइयों को राजधानी में प्रवेश से रोकने या उन पर नियंत्रण पाने में पटना की पुलिस अक्षम थी? पुराने लोग जानते हैं कि 5 जून, 1974 को जब लोकनायक जयप्रकाश नारायण की रैली पर इंदिरा ब्रिगेड के गुंडों ने गोली चलायी थी, उस समय पटना नगर में बड़ा बलवा हो सकता था.

पटना को उस समय तत्कालीन जिलाधिकारी वी.एस. दूबे ने अपने प्रशासनिक कौशल से जलने से बचा लिया था. देश की प्रधनमंत्री इंदिरा गांधी के नामधारी संगठन के बलवाइयों को जेल भेज कर पटना को बचाने वाले चर्चित जिलाधिकारी वी.एस. दूबे कालांतर में बिहार के मुख्य सचिव हुए. जिलाधिकारी और मुख्य सचिव के रूप में चर्चित प्रशासक वी.एस. दूबे से 2 जून, 2012 के हालात और विधि-सम्मत विकल्पों पर खुल कर बातचीत की गई है-

रणवीर सेना
• अगर एक नगर को मुख्यमंत्री और डी.जी.पी. के निर्देश पर बलवाइयों के हाथ जलने के लिए छोड़ दिया गया हो तो एक जिलाधिकारी या मुख्य सचिव क्या अपनी ताकत से नगर को बचा सकता है ?

एक कलक्टर शहर को बलवाइयों से बचाने में सक्षम है. कर्तव्यपालन ना करने का लिखित आदेश मुख्यमंत्री या पुलिस महानिदेशक नहीं दे सकते हैं. कर्तव्यपालन ना करने का मौखिक आदेश निंदनीय है. कलक्टर को हर हाल में कानूनी शक्ति का इस्तेमाल करते हुए नगर को बचाने की जिम्मेवारी स्वीकारनी होगी. अगर जिलाधिकारी किसी भय या दवाब से अपने कर्तव्य का पालन नहीं कर पा रहा हो तो यह दुखद है. कलक्टर को विषय परिस्थिति में कानूनी शक्ति का विवेकपूर्वक निर्वाह करना होगा. अगर कलक्टर डीजीपी के निर्देश से पीछे हटते हैं तो यह कलक्टर का बचकाना फैसला है.

• 5 जून, 1974 को पटना में कांग्रेसी सरकार के विधायक निवास से इंदिरा ब्रिगेड के गुंडों ने जयप्रकाश नारायण के नेतृत्व वाली विशाल रैली पर गोली चला दी थी. तब आपने पटना के जिलाधिकारी की हैसियत से किस तरह संभावित हिंसा पर नियंत्रण कायम किया था? क्या इंदिरा गांधी के नाम से जुड़े ब्रिगेड के गुंडों को गिरफ्तार करने पर आपको सरकार की नाराजगी भी झेलनी पड़ी ?

जे.पी. के नेतृत्व वाली रैली गांधी मैदान की तरफ बढ़ रही थी, तो हड़ताली मोड़ के पास एक विधायक निवास की खिड़की से इंदिरा ब्रिगेड के गुंडों ने रैली पर पीछे से गोली चला दी. एक आंदोलनकारी घायल भी हो गया. मैंने सोचा कि अगर जन सैलाब बदले की भावना से प्रतिक्रिया करेगा तो नगर में विधि-व्यवस्था संभालना मुश्किल हो जायेगा. हमने 5 मिनट के अंदर इंदिरा ब्रिगेड के गुंडों को गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेज दिया और गांधी मैदान में हो रही सभा में जे.पी. को सूचना दी कि आंदोलनकारियों पर गोली चलाने वालों को गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेज दिया गया है. जयप्रकाश नारायण ने हमारी सूचना को मंच से जन समूह को बताया और जिला प्रशासन को इस कार्रवाई के लिए धन्यवाद दिया.

मैंने एक जिलाधिकारी की हैसियत से अपने दायित्व का निर्वाह किया और अपनी निष्पक्षता, तटस्थता से संभावित हिंसा को रोक दिया. तब मुख्य सचिव, डीजीपी मुख्यमंत्री किसी ने भी जिलाधिकारी की आलोचना नहीं की. मैं इस घटना के बाद साढ़े तीन वर्ष लगातार पटना का जिलाधिकारी रहा. मुझे इंदिरा ब्रिगेड के गुंडों को जेल भेजने के बाद ना ही किसी तरह से परेशान किया गया ना ही किसी ने कोई धमकी दी. लेकिन यह सच्चाई है कि इंदिरा ब्रिगेड का गुंडा जेल से लौटकर कांग्रेस का एम.एल.सी. बनाया गया.

• 1974 की घटना के 38 वर्षों बाद 5 जून, 2012 को पटना बलवाइयों के हाथ में सुपुर्द कर दिया गया था. आपने इस दहशत भरे काले दिन को किस तरह देखा?

इस 2 जून को मैं एक नागरिक की हैसियत से अपने आवास में टी.वी. चैनलों से, पटना को देखकर विचलित हो रहा था. मुझे लगा, राज्य सरकार अपने कर्तव्य की तिलांजलि दे चुकी है. राज्य शासन की पहली जिम्मेवारी विधि व्यवस्था को कायम रखना और नागरिक समाज की हिफाजत करना है. मैं उपद्रवियों को धन्यवाद देता हूँ कि उन्हें जितनी छूट दी गयी थी, उसमें उन्होंने बहुत कम किया. स्त्रियों की इज्जत लूटे बिना, घरों में आग लगाये बिना वे वापस लौट गये तो जरूर धन्यवाद के पात्र हैं. अगर बलवाई अचानक बहुत बड़ी तादात में आ गये और आपके पास उपयुक्त पुलिस बल नहीं है तो विधि व्यवस्था संभालने में प्रशासन की लाचारगी समझ में आ सकती है. लेकिन प्रशासन को पूर्व से जानकारी हो, चौक-चौराहे पर पुलिस खड़ी रहे और सड़क पर तांडव नृत्य होता रहे तो यह अक्षम्य है. बलवाई मेरे इलाके में नहीं आये, अगर इधर आते तो हम भी दहशत में होते. लेकिन शव यात्रा जिन इलाकों से गुजरी, उस इलाके का दहशत टी.वी. चैनलों से सार्वजनिक हो रहा था.

• आरा में पहली जून से उपद्रव शुरू हो गया. उपद्रवी आरा से बलवा करते हुए पटना आये. दो दिनों तक उन्हें जिस तरह छुट्टा छोड़ दिया गया, क्या इस पर नियंत्रण संभव नहीं था?

आरा में पहली जून से जिस तरह का उपद्रव शुरू हुआ, उसे बरदाश्त नहीं किया जा सकता है. जब सरकार के सर्किट हाउस, हरिजन छात्रावास में आग लगा दी गयी हो, राज्य के डीजीपी के साथ धक्का-मुक्की की जा रही हो तो यह दृश्य शांति प्रिय तो नहीं दिख रहा था. इस तरह की उपद्रवी शव यात्रा को पटना प्रवेश का कोई वैधनिक कारण नहीं दिखता. अगर मैं जिलाधिकारी होता तो शव यात्रा को दानापुर से पीछे मनेर से रोक कर वापस लौटाया जा सकता था.

• आरा में पहली जून को हरिजन छात्रावास में लूट-आगजनी होती रही और आरा के एस.पी. 500 मीटर निकट स्थित अपने आवास में सब कुछ देखते रहे.

छात्रावास में लूट-आगजनी दुखद है. पुलिस ने छात्रावास की हिफाजत की जिम्मेवारी नहीं निभायी, यह दुखद है. पहले हिफाजत नहीं करना और घटना उपरांत उपद्रवियों के विरुद्ध कार्रवाई नहीं करना, निंदनीय है. प्रशासन की शिथिलता शासन के बारे में गलत संकेत देता है. छात्रावास और छात्रों के नुकसान की भरपाई की जिम्मेवारी प्रशासन की है. पहली-दूसरी जून के उपद्रव में जिस किसी की क्षति हुई है, उसके क्षतिपूर्ति की जिम्मेवारी प्रशासन को स्वीकारनी होगी.

• आरा से पटना तक उपद्रवियों को उपद्रव की छूट देने वाले अक्षम प्रशासनिक अधिकारियों के विरुद्ध क्या कोई कार्रवाई होनी चाहिए ?

आरा से पटना तक प्रशासनिक लापरवाही बरतने वाले कलक्टर, एस.पी. के विरुद्ध जांचोपरांत सख्त कार्रवाई होनी चाहिए. अगर राज्य सरकार दो दिनों की इस अराजकता की उच्चस्तरीय जांच नहीं कराती है तो सजग नागरिकों को प्रशासनिक विफलता के विरुद्ध अदालत में अपील करनी चाहिए. राष्ट्रीय मानवाधिकार आयोग से भी मानवाधिकार की हिफाजत की अपील करनी चाहिए. मीडिया को भी अपनी भूमिका निभानी चाहिए.

• क्या नीतीश कुमार के सुशासन सरकार की छवि इस घटना से प्रभावित हुई है ? क्या मुख्यमंत्री के निर्देश से बलवाइयों के सहयोग के लिए पुलिस पीछे हट गयी ?

मुझे इस घटना के पीछे मुख्यमंत्री के किसी निर्देश या उनकी भूमिका के बारे में ज्यादा जानकारी नहीं है. लेकिन किसी के निर्देशन में अगर सब कुछ हुआ तो निंदनीय है. कुछ वर्षों से बिहार में शासन की छवि सुधरी थी. आम नागरिक राहत महसूस रहे थे. इस सरकार का सकारात्मक पक्ष यही था कि सरकार ने समाज में विधि व्यवस्था कायम की थी. 2 जून की घटना से सरकार से ज्यादा बिहार की छवि को धक्का लगा है. लोग हँसेंगे और कहेंगे- बिहार में ऐसा हो सकता है? लोगों की आस्था कमजोर हुई है कि यह सरकार हर हाल में हमारी हिफाजत कर सकती है?

• क्या सुशासन सरकार की छवि के साथ-साथ बिहार पुलिस की गरिमा इस घटना से प्रभावित हुई है?

पुलिस को निरंकुश छोड़ देना खतरनाक है लेकिन ज्यादा खतरनाक यह भी है कि पुलिस को निष्क्रियता की स्थिति में पहुँचा दिया जाये. सड़क पर तांडव हो रहा हो और पुलिस मूकदर्शक खड़ी हो तो पुलिस समूह की गरिमा कैसे बची रह गयी? पुलिस का काम कानून का पालन करना और शांति बहाल करना है. पुलिस ड्यूटी में खड़ी है और उपद्रव भी हो रहा है तो पुलिस समूह की प्रतिष्ठा जितनी प्रभावित हुई है, उससे ज्यादा पुलिस का आत्मबल कमजोर हुआ है.

• आप रणवीर सेना के संस्थापक ब्रह्मेश्वर को किस तरह जानते थे? बिहार सरकार के एक मंत्री ब्रह्मेश्वर को बार-बार बिहार का गाँधी पुकार रहे हैं?

मैं उन्हें मीडिया से ही जानता था. मीडिया से रणवीर सेना के संस्थापक और कई जनसंहारों के मुख्य सूत्रधार के रूप में मैं उन्हें जानता रहा. कोई मंत्री उन्हें गाँधी कह रहे हैं तो यह उनका निजी अधिकार है.

• ब्रह्मेश्वर की हत्या के बाद उपद्रव की सही वजह क्या दिखती है?

किसी की भी हत्या के बाद आक्रोश स्वाभाविक है. रणवीर सेना के संस्थापक की हत्या की बाद उनके समर्थकों में गुस्सा सहज स्वाभाविक है. कानून में शांतिपूर्ण प्रदर्शन की इजाजत दी गयी है. रणवीर सेना समर्थकों का उपद्रव करना और उपद्रव को प्रशासनिक छूट देना निंदनीय और आश्चर्यजनक है.

http://raviwar.com/news/723_bihar-patna-terror-by-ranveer-sena-pushpraj.shtml

Friday, June 29, 2012

Plans afoot to revive grandeur of Ganga

On its 2,525km journey from Gomukh to Bay of Bengal, the Ganga, which is supposed to be the lifeline of the millions of people, seems to have lost its way near Patna. People residing on the bank of the Ganga around Digha and Bansghat areas in the city see the river on the horizon. It has shifted its course away from the city by more than three kms in the last three decades.

The river stretch once used for passenger ships cruising from Mahendru Ghat to Pahlezaghat, Hajipur, has turned into farm lands. The dry bed of the Ganga is also being used as a playground by the cricket lovers. Almost all the ghats are stinking, littered with heaps of garbage and sewage all around.

But, thanks to the recent initiative taken by the Nitish Kumar government, the neglected and unused portion of the Ganga is likely to be developed into a world city soon. The change in the course of the river at various points has ended up facilitating the long-awaited and much needed Ganga beautification drive as the government is keen on using the reclaimed land for the purpose. Some concrete plans are afoot to beautify the entire stretch of the Ganga, in and around Patna, and also to minimize the pollution of the river water by checking indiscriminate discharge of sewage water into the river.

Quite recently, Hafeez Contractor, one of India's best known architects, submitted to the state government his plan to develop a world city alongside the river Ganga here, on the lines of Dubai, that will boast of eco-friendly buildings and water sports facilities. The plan, highly appreciated by chief minister Nitish Kumar, envisages a new city spread over an area of 1,700 acres. This would include residential, commercial and entertainment centres on 300 acres, while 350 acres would be developed as green fields. A park on the lines of New York Park would be developed on 600 acres. Other facilities like seven-star hotels, malls and shopping centres, schools, hospitals, health clubs, meditation centres, art galleries, convention centres and sports centres would also be created in the planned city.

Urban development minister Prem Kumar told TOI that Contractor's proposal is under active consideration of the state government, but a final decision in the matter is yet to be taken.
For making Ganga pollution free, the state government would set up sewage treatment plants along its banks from Buxar to Bhagalpur.

The state government has sanctioned plans for sewage treatment plants (STPs) at Patna, Buxar, Hajipur, Munger and Begusarai, the minister said and added that officials concerned had been directed to prepare detailed project reports for the rest 21 towns located on the banks of Ganga. The sewerage network and sewerage treatment plants (STPs) at Patna are to be constructed under the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) at an estimated cost of Rs 330 crore. The sewerage network and the STPs would clean the sewerage water of these towns and the treated water of designated standards would be discharged into Ganga, said an official of the state urban and housing department.

The current sewage network and the STPs at Patna are insufficient to cater to the requirements of the city. Patna, presently, generates around 350 million litres per day (MLD) of sewerage, which gets treated at four STPs, which have a combined capacity of only 109 MLD. The STP at Saidpur has a capacity to treat 45 MLD, another at Beur can treat 35 MLD, the STP at Pahadi has a capacity of 25 MLD while the Karmalichak plant has a capacity of 4 MLD only. The rest goes into the river untreated.

As about 29 drains in the state capital discharge 350 million litres of sewage into the Ganges every day, the river's water has become highly contaminated. It has been declared unfit for drinking and even for a holy dip. Samples of water tested in different laboratories have revealed a high presence of Cauliform bacteria. "The water is untreated and garbage is dumped into the river contributing to the growth of this bacteria," said environmentalist Mehta Nagendra Singh.

The Union government has sanctioned Rs 440 crore for development of the drainage system in four cities of Bihar —Begusarai, Buxar, Hajipur and Munger. Besides, 19 cities and towns on the banks of Ganga in Bihar will be developed. For this, the Union government has sanctioned Rs 3,100 crore. The project would be funded by World Bank.

Meanwhile, the union finance ministry and Planning Commission have cleared Patna's 40km Ganga driveway project, which will cost Rs 2,400 crore. As part of its first phase, the Ganga driveway will cover a distance of 21.5km, from Digha to Deedarganj, and the second phase will take the driveway as far as Fatuha, a distance of 18km from Deedarganj. A significant part of the driveway, about 7km long, will run on an elevated platform. The plan is to beautify the entire stretch with greenery and other civic amenities. The project forms an integral part of the vision 2021 document for the state. The 21.5km Ganga Path, to come up at Patna by June 2015, will be one of the country's biggest public-private-partnership projects.

The proposed Ganga Path will have a pan-Bihar significance. It will be an arterial route for those using five national highways connected to Patna. It is estimated that the driveway, once ready, will be used by about 14,000 vehicles using the national highways every day, and take at least 30% off the city's traffic load. It will become a key link in the journey to Nepal in the north and to Haldia/Paradip ports in the east.

Along the driveway from Digha to Deedarganj will be two major bridges connecting Patna to the educational and industrial hubs of Hajipur and Muzaffarpur. One of them, towards the western end at Digha, will be completed by this year end. The other one, Mahatma Gandhi Setu near the eastern end, is already in place.

Six construction companies, including Gammon, Nagarjun and Reliance, have shown interest in constructing the proposed 40-km driveway along the banks of the Ganga river at Patna, modelled on Mumbai's Marine Drive, said an official of the Bihar State Road Development Corporation. The Corporation, in November, will select one of the six leading construction companies that it has shortlisted. The government has reportedly a deal with Transparency International to ensure transparency in the bidding process, the official added.

Appreciating the recent efforts of the Central as well as state government for beautifying the Ganga river front in and around the city, National Ganga River Basin Authority member and Central University of Bihar (CUB)'s environmental science department head, Ravindra Kumar Sinha, expressed his concern over the increasing pollution level in the river. Reducing the flow of water in the river, ever-increasing siltation, dumping of solid wastes and encroachment on river bed by private parties for construction purposes have all been proving disastrous for the health of the river. If the present trend continues, the Ganga may become dry one day. He pleaded for the protection of all the wetlands in the Ganga basin for saving the river.

A joint study conducted by Environmental Biology Laboratory of Patna University, Environment Conservation Department of Ehime University, Japan, and Institute for Environmental Technology of Michigan University, USA, has revealed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticide (like DDT) residues in very high concentration in sediment and fishes in the Ganga at various locations. The survival of flora and fauna, including dolphins, is at stake owing to the increasing concentration of these toxic substances.

Sinha pleaded for protecting the dolphins, which are supposed to be an indicator of the purity of river water. The chief minister recently agreed to a proposal for setting up a dolphin research centre in Patna University, he said.

PU geology department has recently joined an ambitious Ganga River Basin Management Plan launched by the Union ministry of environment and forest. Being a part of fluvial geomorphology group of the plan, the department is preparing a geomorphic map of the river based on remote sensing and GIS tools with a view to analysing the channel morphology and flood plain modifications, said principal investigator Ramesh Shukla.

B K Mishra,
June 25, 2012

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-25/patna/32407908_1_ganga-pollution-sewage-treatment-plants-stps/2

Sunday, June 24, 2012

CPI-ML(L) describes Nitish's barb at Modi as 'eyewash'

CPI-ML(Liberation) described as "eyewash" Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's barb at his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and questioned his propriety to attack Modi as he himself was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

"Nitish does not have the moral right to question the secular credentials of Modi as long as he remains a part of NDA," party general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told reporters on 24 June.

Kumar cannot wish away the fact that he was a minister in the NDA government at the Centre for six years and has been sharing power with the BJP in Bihar for the past seven years, he said, expressing amusement at the former's attack on Modi that the NDA's prime ministerial candidate should be a secular person.

Samata Party, of which Kumar was a member, was the first major national party to join forces with the NDA soon after the demolition of Babri mosque. "Kumar's secular soul did not revolt when the Gujarat riots took place in 2002 when he was the Railway minister at the Centre," Bhattacharya said.

"Kumar will never pass the litmus test for secular image by merely questioning the secular credentials of Modi. People of Bihar are unlikely to pat his back for taking on Modi when their own aspirations remain unfulfilled."

Bhattacharya also accused Kumar of compromising his social justice agenda by making truce with the feudal forces, as seen from the hurried manner in which he recommended a CBI probe in murder case of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh.

He urged Kumar to seek a high-level probe in the murder of alleged terror suspect Md Qateel Siddique, a native of Barh Samaila village in Bihar's Darbhanga district, who was killed by a fellow inmate in Yervada jail in Maharashtra recently.

Press Trust of India / Patna June 24, 2012

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Battle for access to electricity continues in Bihar

Mahangi Bijli Virodhi Sangharsha Manch, a common platform comprising of 22 different progressive, democratic, leftist organisations and parties held a convention on June 24, 2012 at IMA Hall, Patna against exorbitant rise in power tariff and for providing electricity to all.

During the election campaign, Nitish Kumar led alliance had promised to deliver electricity access to the 82% of the over 100 million inhabitants of Bihar who lack it. Bihar faces a 30% peak power deficit (highest in the country) due to its paltry 546 MW of installed capacity. This is equivalent to the size of one average coal plant, which takes at least 5-7 years to be established. Bihar loses roughly 38% of its meager amount of energy it produces through transmission and distribution.

There is a huge electricity deficit in Bihar. There is an average per capita consumption of 75 units, compared to the national average of 613 units. There are 18,395 unelectrified villages according to government's reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on of April 21, 2008 and Planning Commission.

Bihar’s power system has a peak of about 1,500 MW under the constrained demand scenario
whereas the availability is about 950 MW. The situation leads to wide-scale rationing of power to all categories of consumers. The current power availability barely covers 50
per cent of the villages and 6 per cent of the households in the state. Presently, the annual per capita consumption of power is 95 units in Bihar (national average is 717 units), according to the CEA General Review 2009 (17th Power Survey of India data 2007-08).

The positive side is Bihar has the highest density of solar panel installations in the country.

Gopal Krishna

Bihar power board to privatize power supply and distribution in Patna and Muzaffarpur

PATNA: The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) has decided to privatize power supply and distribution in Patna and Muzaffarpur. A Mumbai based Essar Power Limited has been entrusted this job. This was decided in a board meeting of the BSEB held here on Wednesday.

The move to privatise power distribution and supply has been necessitated in view of the huge loss in its revenue collection . According to official sources, monthly revenue collection of Patna urban centre is around 60-70 crore as against the actual power consumption to the tune of Rs 90 crore. "The gap of more than Rs 20 crore is huge", admits an official.

In fact, BSEB had initiated this process way back 2009 in which Kolkata electric supply company had been selected for Patna and Muzaffarpur. But due to some technical difficulties, the tender was challenged in the high court in 2011, sources said.

The high court had put a ban on giving franchise to any private agencies. A fresh tender was invited in which Essar was shortlisted. The court has directed the BSEB to study the details of the project.

"We are still in the process of studying the final project details", said BSEB spokesman H R Pandey. The fate of the existing power employees in Patna and Muzaffarpur would also be decided, said an official.

It has been done in order to streamline the power supply in these two cities as well as the revenue collection. In the second phase, franchise would be given in other Bihar towns, said an official.

BSEB has already invited tenders in 14 districts of the state for the appointment of franchisees. The categories of people who qualify for submitting tenders are - NGOs, electricity consumers' associations, women self-help groups, entrepreneurs, panchayati raj institutions and registered companies.

The tasks of the franchisees would include delivery of bills, meter reading, collection of revenue, maintenance of low-tension wires and attending fuse-off calls. The payments collected will be submitted at the board office or its account in a bank on a regular basis.

High-tension wires (industrial consumers) have been left out of the purview of the franchisees. As for the franchisee's fee - the franchisees would be paid on the basis of their efficiency. Their earnings will increase as the franchisees' collections increases.

In an urban area - when a franchisee collects less than 75 per cent of revenue in an urban area, it would be paid nothing. The franchisees would be paid four per cent commission if they collect more than 75 per cent revenue.

In a rural area - franchisees would be paid nothing if their collection is less than 70 per cent. They would get eight per cent commission for collecting 70 to 80 per cent revenue.

The board, however, faces legal hurdles initiated by the worker's union. Once these get sorted out, at least the distribution aspect of power supply in Bihar is likely to become a lot more efficient. Curtailing theft by both the rich and the poor has been the major hurdle in Bihar thus far. The best way to curb the deep-rooted practice of electricity theft is to indeed give the collection job to the local people who know whom to target and when and how, said an official.

Pranava Kumar Chaudhary
Jun 21, 2012
The Times of India

Bihar State Electricity Board purchases power at high rate

Jun 07, 2012

Bihar State Electricity Board team to study Maharashtra power system
May 24, 2012

Bihar proposes to set up 25 hydel power projects
PTI | Apr 26, 2012

PATNA: Heavily dependent on the Centre for supply of electricity and facing acute power shortage, Bihar has taken steps for setting up 25 hydel power projects for generating about 800 MW with the proposals at various stages of approval, official sources said.

Bihar State Hydel Power Coporation Limited managing director AK Pandey told PTI that the state had at present 54 MW capacity hydel power plant and work was on at various stages for construction of different hydel power projects with generation capacity of 33 MW.

"Apart from these projects, the proposals for setting up 25 other hydel power projects with generation capacity of around 800 mw are at various stages and levels for according sanction", Pandey said.

Pandey informed that the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre with Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the long-cherished 130 mw Dagmara Hydel Power Project over River Kosi in Bihar's flood-prone Supaul district.

"We will be starting work on the project soon after receiving the go-ahead from the Centre", he said.

The Dagmara Hydel Power Project's fate hung in balance previously as the Central Electricity Authority had not given its nod to it keeping in view submergence of vast areas in bordering Nepal, he said.

"Now the project is proposed to be set up in the downstream of river Kosi and in keeping with the suggestions to the Centre about it, MS Wapkose prepared a revised Detailed Project Report and sent it the Central Electricity Authority for endorsement", Pandey said.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank and Japanese financial institution JAICA too have evinced interest in the project, he said.

Essar Energy in pact with Bihar Electricity Board
Oct 18, 2011

Essar Energy has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) for 300 megawatts of contracted capacity from its 1,200MW coal-fired Tori I power station which is under construction in Jharkhand state.

The binding PPA has been signed by BSEB with Essar Energy's subsidiary Essar Power Jharkhand Limited (EPJL) and has a 25 year duration. This follows the issue of a Letter of Intent to EPJL, as detailed by Essar Energy in an announcement on August 18.

The PPA was secured following a competitive bidding process, with supply of power under the terms of the PPA being due to commence from May 2015.

Naresh Nayyar, chief executive of Essar Energy, said: "We are pleased to have concluded this PPA with Bihar. This contract is at a significantly higher tariff than the previous PPA with Bihar and shows we are continuing to make progress in securing revenues from our investments in power generation in India."

Essar Energy currently has 1,600MW of generation capacity operational with a further three power projects totalling 2,910MW due to be fully commissioned by March 2012, taking the total to 4,510MW. Beyond this a further seven power projects are under construction, which will take Essar Energy's total to 9,670MW by March 2014.


Bihar State Electricity Board to Get Rs 90 crore per month for electricity purchase


The Bihar government approved a proposal of giving a grant of Rs 1,080 crore to Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) for the current fiscal (2011-12) on April 17, 2011.

The proposal got approval in the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday and according to it the grant would be divided into 12 instalments of Rs 90 crore each.

This fund would be used for payment, which BSEB has to make to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) towards purchase of power from it.

Prior to December 2009, the state government used to provide a monthly grant of Rs 60 crore to Bihar State Electricity Board towards the payment for power purchase and from the aforesaid month this was revised upwardly to Rs 90 crore.

Free medicines for all from October 2012

NEW DELHI: India's ambitious policy to provide free medicines to all patients attending a government health facility across the country will be rolled out from October.

Strongly backed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, the free-medicines-for-all scheme — being referred to as the "real game changer" — has received its first financial allocation from the Planning Commission for 2012-13.

At present, the public sector provides healthcare to 22% of the country's population.

The ministry estimates that this will increase to 52% by 2017 once medicines are provided for free .

The ministry has sent the National List of Essential Medicines, 2011, (348 drugs which includes anti-AIDS, analgesics, anti-ulcers, anti psychotic, sedatives, anesthetic agents, lipid lowering agents, steroids and anti platelet drugs) to all the states to use as reference.

The states, however, have been asked to create their own Essential Drugs List (EDL), keeping in mind the diseases that worst affect them. Around 75% of the funds under the scheme will be borne by the Centre, while the rest will be the state's responsibility.

Around 5% of the district funds will be allowed to be used to purchase drugs outside the EDL. The Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Central Procurement Agency (CPA) for bulk procurement of drugs.

The PMO has asked the ministry to set up the CPA as early as possible. At present, 78% of the entire health expenditure in India is from out of pocket (OOP). Purchasing drugs alone accounts for 72% of this OOP expenditure.

They have also been asked to devise standard treatment protocols in order to avoid unnecessary and irrational treatments.

The states will procure drugs directly from manufacturer or importer through an open tender. Companies applying for the tenders will have to have GMP compliance certificate, a no conviction certificate and should have a specified annual turnover. The drugs must carry a not-for-sale label printed on the packaging.

A district-level state-of-the-art warehouse will have to be set up by states to store the drugs and a passport driven system will move the medicines to district hospitals, CHCs and PHCs will then send the drugs to the sub centres.

It is being made mandatory for all doctors in the public sector to prescribe generic drugs and salt names and not brands. Action will be taken against doctors found prescribing brands.

A Planning Commission panel had said drug prices have shot up by 40% between 1996 and 2006. It said that during the same period the price of controlled drugs rose by 0.02%, while those in the EDL increased by 15%. The price of drugs that were neither under price control, nor under the EDL grew by 137%.

The Commission says 39 million Indians are pushed to poverty because of ill health every year. Around 30% in rural India didn't go for any treatment for financial constraints in 2004. In urban areas, 20% of ailments were untreated for financial problems the same year. About 47% and 31% of hospital admissions in rural and urban India, respectively, were financed by loans and sale of assets.

Outpatient expenditure increased from 30.63% to 46.16%. Catastrophic spending, or percentage of households spending more than 10% of their overall income on healthcare, is nearly 15% in states that have insurance in place as against 11% in states that lack such policies.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Free-medicines-for-all-from-October/articleshow/14347633.cms

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Our PM nominee must feel for poor states: Nitish Kumar

19 Jun, 2012, 02.17AM IST, PR Ramesh & Ashok K Mishra,ET Bureau

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance should lose little time in announcing its prime ministerial candidate, says Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. In an exclusive interview with ET, Kumar explains that time is ripe for NDA to gain from the lapses of the Congress-led coalition at the Centre. However, he makes it amply clear, without taking names, that his party will not accept Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's leadership. He adds, though, that he is not eyeing the post himself. Kumar speaks about the challenge of turning Bihar around, the Centre's unhelpful approach and a lot more in a wide-ranging conversation. Excerpts:

You have recently said that the next prime minister should have secular credentials. Was your comment aimed at nudging your coalition partner, BJP, to name NDA's next prime ministerial candidate?

I have explained my preference for the leader. We have projected our prime ministerial candidate in every election since 1996. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the NDA's prime ministerial nominee in 1996 and 1998. The alliance projected Atalji again in 1999 and 2004. And it was Advaniji in 2009. The NDA will have to declare its nominee. The electorate should know who they are voting for and who will lead the country. The NDA should have a leader who can feel for the underdeveloped states like Bihar. It should not be someone who can develop developed states, but who has a feel for underdeveloped states.

Do you think it is already time for NDA to name its candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls?

NDA should declare its candidate in advance. This leader should be acceptable to every constituent of the alliance. To me, the leader of the coalition should have secular credentials. It should be someone who has absolute faith in democratic values. In a multi-religious and multi-lingual country like ours, the leader should not have rough edges in his personality. An alliance can win the confidence of the people only if the leader is seen as accommodating.

Will you force a decision on this issue before the election?

I have said that the NDA should announce its candidate well before the election and I will put forward this view when the issue comes up in NDA.

Are you in the running for the prime minister's post?

I am not in the race for prime ministership. I cannot even dream of that high office. The prime minister should be from the bigger party. We can only play a supporting role. But that depends on who leads the alliance. I have already outlined the qualities required of the leader.

You have declared Bihar out of bounds for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi...

BJP has capable leaders in Bihar to lead the alliance's campaign. We have been doing it since 1996. We don't need external assistance. We have bettered our performance in every election since 1996. I have cordial relations with Bihar BJP. But if someone is bent on spoiling this relationship, I cannot help.

Is someone trying to spoil this relationship?

Some things are quite visible. If you want things to stay smooth, external forces should not be allowed to intervene.


Do you see the possibility of a political realignment before the next general election?

I cannot predict the nature of political realignment. NDA has the potential to attract new parties to its fold, particularly since Congress is experiencing a meltdown. The states that backed Congress in 2009 have already slipped out of its control. Look at Andhra Pradesh, Congress' biggest catchment area. Besides, it is a failure in dealing with the crises facing the country, particularly the economy.

You have been hailed for bringing Bihar back on the growth path, but why isn't the poverty level falling in the state despite high growth?

Firstly, I have never claimed that poverty levels have fallen in the state. We have been contesting the Centre's poverty estimates. The Tendulkar Committee's findings were closer to our assessment. The ongoing socio-economic caste census is expected to provide an accurate estimate. According to us, the state has a BPL (below poverty line) population of 1.4 crore. And this is our rationale for demanding special category status for the state. I am appalled by some experts claiming that the Bihar miracle story is over. Even my political adversaries admit that Bihar is not what it used to be seven years ago.

Yet many people doubt your model of development...

I must say that these people are oblivious to ground reality. We have adopted an agriculture-based model, because 70 per cent people are dependent on agriculture, and it is showing impressive results. The current growth of over 13 per cent is on account of this. A middle-class with spending power is also emerging in the state. We have prepared an agri roadmap for the next five years based on discussions with all stakeholders - farmers, agri scientists and people's representatives. The roadmap is expected to give a further boost to the economy. But all this will not suffice. We need support from the Centre to drive forward the growth story, which will not only bring down the level of poverty but also create new opportunities for the people. If Bihar has to speedily catch up with developed states, the Centre will have to concede our long-pending demand for special category status, which is absolutely necessary for scripting a big picture growth story.

But big industry is yet to establish base in Bihar...

The solution is not big industry. The small-scale sector is booming in the state. There is a huge potential for agro-based industries and even sugar sector, which can play a big role in boosting the rural economy. For long, Bihar used to be counted for its booming sugar sector, but over the years it fell on bad times. One by one, all the state-owned sugar mills shut down. But thanks to our initiative, we have been able to revive two closed sugar mills at Lauriya and Sugauli. We could have done a lot, but the Centre has not withdrawn its contentious sugar control order, which places restriction on the production of ethanol from cane juice. The biggest hurdle for large investments is the approach of the Centre, which is not allowing coal linkage even for the capacity expansion of state-owned Barauni thermal power station. We have numerous power project proposals from private players, but coal linkage remains the problem. The Centre is just not being helpful. The large investments that the state has made in infrastructure will, however, change the scenario.
Given challenges that you have faced, are you satisfied with the progress?

When I took over in November 2005, the only 'modern' equipment in the chief minister's office was a Remington typewriter. The state had not a single MW power generation. Roads just didn't exist. The energy department officials did not know what PPA (power purchase agreement) or the DPR (detailed project report) meant, or that the lack of milling facility was forcing people to send rice to Uttar Pradesh. We did not have flour mills - aatta was coming from outside. Per capita energy consumption was 72 units (against the national average of 700 units). The scenario was depressing to say the least.

The change is there for all to see. The state which functioned on a Remington typewriter won the e-governance award. You can reach Patna from any district, barring Kishenganj, in neat six hours. Was that the case seven years ago? Those who ruled before me have begun travelling by roads - they were using helicopters to visit their ancestral homes.


The human development index is showing a remarkable improvement. A decade ago, just 12 per cent could get immunisation - now, the figure stands at 70 per cent. No polio case has been reported in the state. The primary heath centres are another success story. On an average, just 39 people visited primary health centres, which means, one a day. Today, around 10,000 people go to these health centres. The functioning of other health institutions has also improved considerably.

How have you empowered the average citizen?

The right to service has empowered the common people who were harassed by the bureaucracy. I used to get complains about bribery from citizens every day. The number of complaints has dipped in the recent months. This shows the Act is being implemented. There is fear of the law. We have a law that empowers the government to confiscate properties of corrupt officials. We have converted these properties into schools. My task is not just running the government. My first task was to change the mindset. It is the same police force and the same bureaucracy. But I have set standards for governance. The FIRs (first information reports) are no longer prepared in Patna, so the investigations have improved.

Through my seva yatras, I am taking the government to the grassroots. I travel to every district headquarters and stay there for four to five days. Along with the chief secretary, the director general of police and other officials, I see the progress of our initiatives on the ground and redress the grievances of the people. I always lead from the front. I believe hands-on approach alone will work.

Do you feel weighed down by the expectations from your government?

I know the expectations are very high from my government, but I have tried to turn every adversity into an opportunity. When my party lost by-elections or faced similar setbacks, I did not withdraw into my office in Patna. It (the setbacks), in fact, energised me into putting in more work, and the result is there for everyone to see.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/14251702.cms?prtpage=1

JD(U)-BJP tussle: Who will dump whom first in Bihar

Patna: It’s battle ground Bihar now. After Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched an all out, no-holds-barred offensive against Narendra Modi, the 14-year-old JD(U)-BJP alliance in the state is under stress. The bitter ego tussle between Nitish and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi—both harbouring the prime ministerial ambition—is taking its toll on the alliance. The question now is who will dump whom first.

Talks of a possible break-up have gained ground after the Bihar chief minister set four “conditions” before the BJP to continue with the NDA. These are: the BJP must declare its prime ministerial candidate soon; the said candidate should have secular credentials and be acceptable to all; he should have absolute faith in democratic values; and he should be sympathetic to underdeveloped states like Bihar. The state BJP is not relishing the fact that Nitish has virtually put the central leadership on notice. The irony is, both parties share a cordial relationship in the state.

Observers read Nitish’s “bizarre” conditions as a deliberate move to get rid of the “communal” BJP. If he wants to be the prime ministerial choice or at least the king maker in 2014, he has to get more than 20 of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats he has now. If he touches 30, it will allow him more elbow room to dictate terms to the NDA. His calculation, the observers feel, revolves around the thought that if he dumps the BJP, he will automatically get the support of the Muslim vote bank. This will drive up the party’s seats tally.

Exchanging words. Image courtesy PIB

The desperation in the JD(U) camp is underlined from the fact that moments after the chief minister set his conditions before its alliance partner via media, a group of senior party leaders—Vashishtha Narayan Singh, state JD(U) chief, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Water Resources Minister, Bhim Singh, Rural Works Minister and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shyam Rajak—held a formal press conference in Patna to strongly endorse Nitish’s view. Another party lawmaker and former minister Devesh Chandra Thakur even threatened to severe ties with the BJP in case the latter does not heed to their demand. The move is being seen as an open rebuff to the BJP for “stealthily” lending its weight behind Modi.

For quite some time, the JD(U) has been constantly opposing the “candidature” of Modi and expectedly, the very move has evoked immediate reactions from the BJP this time again but what’s new is that the reactions are bitter, stinging and caustic, indicating the saffron party too is no mood to relent.

Not only the local BJP leaders have reacted sharply to Nitish’s move but even the RSS too has jumped into the ring, strongly backing Modi as NDA’s prime ministerial candidate while at the same time slamming the Bihar chief minister. The seriousness of the situation is underscored from the fact a senior BJP leader and Animal Husbandry Minister in the Nitish Kumar government, Giriraj Singh, who dubbed Bihar chief minister as “pseudo-secular” earlier in the day, even skipped the meeting of the state cabinet held on Tuesday evening.

Apparently, both the partners, the BJP and the JD(U), feel the time is ripe to bid adieu to each other. While the latter is hopeful of gaining the full support of minority community, the BJP looks to retrieve the ground it lost in the aftermath of it joining hands with the JD(U) to see Lalu Prasad-led RJD out of power.

The BJP has apparently paid a heavy price for joining hands with the JD(U). The party which was once the main Opposition party in Bihar has fast lost ground under the NDA regime as it has virtually no “say” in the government. The party ministers, office-bearers, common workers and cadres have been routinely complaining how the bureaucrats have been taking no notice of any their requests. This has only distanced the BJP from the masses, much to party’s anxiousness.

Why the Bihar chief minister suddenly put forth “conditions” about NDA prime ministerial candidate before the BJP when the Lok Sabha elections are still about two years away? Was the lure for huge Muslim vote-bank the only reason behind it or was there something else?

According a story doing the round in the corridors of power, the Bihar chief minister has taken this step after a reported deal with the Congress. Under the deal, sources say, the Congress-led UPA government has “agreed” to grant some special financial package for Bihar while the JD(U) has assured to lend its support in forming the government at the Centre in case the UPA is short of majority.

What lends credence to belief is the “timing” of Kumar going to the media to put forward conditions before the BJP about NDA’s prime ministerial nominee. Check the sequence of events — on 14 June, the JD(U) led by the chief minister holds a meeting of party leaders at which it decides to speed up agitation for granting special category status to Bihar. On 15 June, the Congress party declares Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as UPA’s presidential candidate shortly after which both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee himself call up Nitish for support.

What transpires between PM & FM and Kumar is not known but moments after their telephonic conversations, the Bihar chief minister shots off a missive to the prime minister, asking him to form an “expert committee” to look into his long-pending demand of granting Bihar the special status category. It was after that Nitish raised his demand for making immediate declaration of the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate with the condition that he must be “secular” and also must be someone who has a feeling for backward states like Bihar.

By Manoj Kumar


http://www.firstpost.com/politics/jdu-bjp-tussle-who-will-dump-whom-first-in-bihar-351271.html

Monday, June 18, 2012

UNESCO water report promotes privatisation narrative

The dangers of India's water policy

A global water report promotes privatisation narrative which could be disastrous for India and the world, says Gopal Krishna.

Ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development being held in June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation published a 909-page report titled 'United Nations World Water Development Report 4: Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk. It is envisaged as a conference at the highest possible level, including heads of state and government or other representatives. It will result in a focused global political document

Citing a World Bank document of 2009, this three volume report says: "The National Ganga River Basin Authority in India, with the financial support of the World Bank, launched a programme in 2009 to clean the Ganges, to ensure that 'no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluents would be discharged into the river by 2020'. Previous action plans did not improve the health of the river, in which almost 95 percent of the pollution is caused by sewers and open drains (World Bank, 2011b). This time the governmental approach has moved from a town centric approach to a broader river basin approach..."

The report's treatment of Ganga Basin, the largest river basin of the country which has catchment in 11 States leaves a lot to be desired. The report fails to enlist any achievement of the authority that was set up in February 2009. It does not scrutinise whether or not the promised 'broader river basin approach' has indeed been adopted. It does not dwell on the split personality of the bank either.

The bank has been undertaking contradictory projects in the Ganga basin without any sense of accountability. It depletes water quality of Ganga by supporting dams upstream and it provides loans for improvement of water quality in its downstream. The second volume of Environmental and Social Management Framework for Bank assisted National Ganga River Basin Project document says, "The Ganga basin (which also extends into parts of Nepal, China and Bangladesh) accounts for about 26 percent of India's landmass, 30 percent of its water resources, and more than 40 percent of its population."

If the bank knew that Ganga basin is an international river basin, how did it choose to refer to it as 'national'? The UNESCO's report like the bank fails to comprehend that both Ganga and Mekong are trans-boundary rivers of the Himalayan watershed.

The UNESCO report states that approximately 1.2 billion people, over half of whom live in India, defecate in the open. This has been snobbishly articulated a billion times. The report's colossal failure lies in not documenting and comparing the water footprint of those who defecate in open and those who defecate within their own houses. It shows that the authors are offering platitudes and prejudiced observations and hiding the sins of those who defecate in closed spaces. This dereliction happened perhaps due to class affinity.

The release of the UNESCO report a few months prior to the Rio+20 Earth Summit could indeed have provided a sound basis for discussions on the future of our planet and water's centrality in it, had it not caved in under the influence of international, financial institutions, entities like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute, their The Access Initiative and Coca Cola. It has provided quite an unsound basis to comprehend and initiate steps to protect the ecological space of water. Most importantly, it has failed in ambition.

If one compares the 522 page report of the Western Ghats ecology expert panel of the Union environment & forests ministry for south and western India, one will find the poverty of ecological imagination of authors of the UNESCO's report. The Indian panel advocates a graded or layered approach, with regulatory as well as promotional measures appropriately fine-tuned to local ecological and social contexts within the broad framework by fine-tuning through a participatory process going down to gram sabhas. Now that Ganga River Basin Authority and Mekong River Commission has proven itself to be too weak to act to safeguard the ecological integrity of river basins, the report of the Western Ghats panel creates a compelling logic for a high-powered panel both at national and international level to adopt a similar approach in dealing with ecological and natural resources in order to set matters right in the global eco system outside the 'piped and bottled water framework'.

UNESCO's report refers to India's National Water Mission as a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008) which is identifying several strategies to tackle climate change and achieve water-related goals. "The main goals are to create a comprehensive water database and proper public awareness and education campaigns, shift focus on overexploited areas, increase water use efficiency by 20 percent and promote IWRM (Integrated Water Resource Management) on a basin level…," observes the report. Such uncritical reproduction of official documents like the mission document ignores the parochial approach of the authors of the report. They have failed to comprehend the stark democracy deficit in the process of creating it.

Citing a Planning Commission document of 2002, it says, "Water supply is a state responsibility, but various ministries share responsibility at central and state levels… Local governments are increasingly turning operating and maintenance responsibilities to private companies." The report is attempting to build a case for privatisation of water by selectively citing bank-influenced documents of the Planning Commission. It fails to record the failure of private water companies who are engaged in direct water trade through pipes and bottles, in tankers and vessels, and indirectly or 'virtually' through products.

Not surprisingly, the authors of UNESCO report are quite impressed with a study titled The Coca-Cola Company and The Nature Conservancy that was done by researchers at the Twente University in the Netherlands in collaboration with Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc and Coca-Cola Europe on the water footprint of a PET bottle of Coca-Cola. It found that the operational water footprint, equates to only about 1 percent of the total water footprint. The supply chain overhead water footprint was calculated and found to be negligible. There could not have been any negative inference of this research. Will companies collaborate in studies which bring negative results and publicity for them? But authors of UNESCO report chose to overlook this manifest conflict of interest ridden study.

If UNESCO's report is looked at in the context of India's Draft National Water Policy of 2012 and the Planning Commission's Draft National Water Framework Act, it becomes clear that both fail to undo the onslaught on the public water across the country by the foreign, national water companies and advocate corporatization and private sector participation.

The UNESCO'report is indulgent towards maintaining status quo. It meekly states, "In regions where there are large discrepancies between where the water is and where it is needed, the construction of large inter-basin transfer projects is likely to continue – despite the recognized advantages of moving the products of water rather than the water itself." It does not question the desirability of "water re-allocation" through "agriculture-to-urban water transfers." The draft policy quite like the 2002 version recommends diversion of rivers for interlinking by referring to inter-basin transfer of water although Government of India's National Commission for Integrated Water Resources Development Plan had recommended against it in 1999.

The UNESCO report provides case studies to argue for water banking for surface water and groundwater and water markets and continuous public sector involvement so that "The public intermediary buys water from the willing sellers and then sells it to buyers. With this system, water managers are confident they can find the water they need at a predictable price."

The reflection of this state of mind is visible even in Draft National Water Policy of 2012. The draft policy recommends "The "Service Provider" role of the state should be gradually shifted to that of a regulator of services and facilitator for strengthening the institutions responsible for planning, implementation and management of water resources. The water related services should be transferred to community and / or private sector with appropriate "Public Private Partnership" model."

The meeting dissected the reply of the Union Water Resources Minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal given to the Parliament on May 7, 2012. Bansal said, "In the new proposed water policy, we have taken care to emphasize that the State should be encouraged to go in for public private partnership… public private partnership does not mean that you are privatizing the water sector. We are not privatising the water sector." He added that there are many good projects where "the public private partnership model has been found attractive enough by different cities in the country to adopt that."

Bansal mentioned the names of cities like Tirpur, Salt Lake Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Hubli, Dharwar, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Lattur, Mysore, Haldia, Dewas, Khandwa, Shivpuri, Raipur, Kolhapur, etc. He argued that at "So many places for one purpose or the other public private partnership model has been utilised, and it would be the policy of the Government to encourage that." On May 10-11, at the national meeting of citizens' groups Bansal's reply in the Parliament was analyzed and there was unanimity among the participants that he was misrepresenting facts and misleading the house with impunity. The cities which mentioned by the minister are cases of failed PPP projects. Votaries of privatisation argue that they are not privatizing water, but only involving private parties in managing it. The fact is no private operator undertakes a project unless it is assured of its raw material i.e. water.

The fact is that the basic premise of PPP stands exposed despite this the JNUNURM model for signing PPP is being adopted in several cities. It has been extended from 63 cities to 5, 000 cities. The water related services are being transferred to a PPP mode, any venture in which the private sector is involved in a manner that it exercises control on some or all parts of the water supply system, from production, transmission, treatment to delivery. There are several PPP projects where more than 90 per cent of the capital expenditure of $28.8 million comes from public resources. City's water supplies are being handed over to private companies for 25 years. These agreement include a restriction that no parallel competing facility will be allowed.

Arati Tiwari, corporator, Gulbarga shared the elaborate case study at the national meeting about how Karnataka Government's plan to extend the 24x7 water supply scheme from a few select wards to entire city corporations of Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Gulbarga has caused massive monetary increase in the rate of water supply. None of the 55 corporators of Gulbarga City Council have given their consent still the plan is unfolding. She narrated how her family has to foot a bill of Rs 3500/month as water charge. She argued that democracy has become a government off the people, to buy the people and forget the people. The fact is that PPP arrangement is privatisation. In some states it was noted how the promise of 24 X 7 water supply turned out to be a 6-hour water supply even this is not mandatory.

A dissenting report annexed to the report of the Planning Commission's Working Group on Urban and Industrial Water Supply and Sanitation expressed disappointment with the fact that Water as Fundamental Human Right has not been articulated strongly enough. Quite like the UNESCO report, Working Group's report too has missed out on highlighting many serious problems of privatisation and PPPs and their serious implications. In such a situation, the recommendations in these reports appear quite weak.

A situation is emerging where instead of providing assured safe drinking water as matter of right, right to purchase bottled water is being pushed. Despite this both national efforts and UN reports do not suggest anything to reverse the trend to save the ecosystem and its fluid for the present and future generations. Wedded to market socialism, China may have forgotten the lessons of free trade in opium, India and Indians cannot afford to allow free trade in water although their government is unconstitutionally declaring the country to be a market democracy.

Gopal Krishna

http://www.rediff.com/news/column/the-dangers-of-indias-water-policy/20120618.htm

Encephalitis? Who cares?

It took more than two weeks for a rising toll of encephalitis deaths in Bihar to reach the headlines of the self-styled national press. ANAND VARDHAN tracks the coverage and non-coverage in a new column on the Hindi press.

Jun 18, 2012

THE HINDI PRISM
Anand Vardhan

It is unsurprising that ground level stories from the Hindi heartland will first surface in the Hindi press. But even so, when people are dying of encephalitis in Bihar, how long should the news take to appear in the English language print media?

On Monday morning (June 18) the English press finally woke and gave the encephalitis epidemic in Bihar the space it deserved. Or at least the Indian Express did on its National Network page. The disease had been first reported in Patna editions of Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar Jansatta and Hindustan on 31.05.2012 . The following day (01.06.2012) Dainik Jagran had three reports on it Gaya me encephalitis se ek Bache ki Maut (one child dies of encephalitis in Gaya) , Naye chhetro me faili agyat bimari (the unknown disease spreads to new regions) and it took a dig at administrative confusion with the headline Apni apni dapli apna raag( Drums playing to different tunes).

It was only in second week of June that the Delhi editions of a section of Hindi press took note of this mysterious menace. Last week Bihar witnessed an alarming rise in the number of children succumbing to encephalitis. Hindi newspapers in their national editions (that’s what the papers claim their Delhi edition to be) have been reporting the scourge and the administrative and political response to it in varying proportions. One major Hindi daily hasn’t covered it at all.

Looking at, and sometimes looking for, this developing story in the cross section of Hindi press represented by four dailies Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan, Dainik Jagran and Jansatta was always going to be significant for its points of convergence, divergence and possible contrast with the national edition (again an euphemism for Delhi edition) of four major English dailies: The Times of India, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. The second exercise was a non-starter. The story was not there.

Reporting on the response of the Union Health Ministry to the staring crisis, Dainik Jagran had a news item with the headline ‘ Rahashmayee bimaari ke kaaran talashegi Kendriya Team’ ( Central team will inquire into the causes of the mysterious disease). The report was about the visit of a six member expert team of National Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC) to Muzaffarpur district in North Bihar. The district has been the worst affected with most number of deaths caused by the disease which has insidiously spread to Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Vaishali, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gaya, Nawada, Bhojpur, Nalanda and even Patna district.

It is still called ‘mysterious’ because though the disease has been classified as ‘Acute Encephalitis Syndrome’( AES), its infectious agent remains to be identified and its treatment has been entirely symptom-based. For convenience in public communication, the government has decided to call the disease ‘dimaagi bukhar’ or the more sanskritised ‘mastisk jwar’ ( brain fever) . The same day ( 14.06.2012) Dainik Bhaskar reported Bihar me encephalitis se 18 aur bacche mare ( 18 more children die of encephalitis in Bihar) while Jansatta took note of an anti- government political agitation in the wake of the crisis. Its report Bihar ke swasthya mantri Ko barkhast karne ki maang ki vaam dalo ne (Left parties demand the dismissal of Bihar Health Minister) said that left parties in the state ( CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and Forward Block) were demanding dismissal of Health Minister Ashwani Kumar Chaubey and were also planning stir against governmental apathy and administrative failures in addressing the menace of the killer disease.

On 14 th June, Dainik Bhaskar and Jansatta had put the death toll at 129, while Dainik Jagran hadn’t put out any figure for that. And Hindustan had not reported it at all.

In days to follow, the reports or sometimes snippets that appeared in these papers were daily accounts of the rising number of deaths and one regarding a policy response from the visiting Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. On 15 th June, Dainik Bhaskar’s report was headlined Bihar me mastisk jwar kahar zari, phir 27 ki maut ( The menace of brain fever continues in Bihar, 27 more die) and put the death toll at 143 while Jansatta reported Dimaagi bukhar se ab tak 143 bacchon ki maut ( 143 children die of brain fever).

The daily death toll snippets had different numerical stories to tell on the following day (16.06.2012). Have a look.

For Dainik Jagran’s report Bihar me encephalitis se 16 aur bacchon ki maut ( 16 more children die of encephalitis in Bihar) the death toll had reached 139, while Dainik Bhaskar’s report Muzaffarpur Me Phir 19 bacho ki Maut’ ( 19 more children die in Muzaffarpur) contradicts its own death toll figure published the previous day by putting the number of deaths at 137. Jansatta had another figure . Quoting R P Ojha, Under Secretary in the Health Ministry, the paper put the death toll at 156 in its report Dimagi bukhar se Bihar me 156 bacchon ki maut , 82 ka Ilaaz zari ( 156 children die of brain fever in Bihar, 82 under treatment).

Interestingly, in their reports on 17 th June, Dainik Bhaskar ( Muzaffarpur me mastisk jwar se 17 bacho ki maut, 17 children die of brain fever in Muzaffarpur)and Dainik Jagran (Bihar me dimaagi bukhaar ne li 11 aur bachhon ki jaan, Brain fever claims lives of 11 more children in Bihar) somehow managed to have the same number for total number of deaths at 154. The numerical discrepancy, lies in their headlines. For Bhaskar 17 children had died in Muzaffarpur district alone the previous day (16 th June) while for Jagran 11 children died of the disease in the entire state the same day.)

Meanwhile, Dainik Jagran carried a related story on 15th June which took note of a policy response from Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh (Dimaagi bukhar wale ilako me pay jal ke liye 525 crores , 525 crores allocated for drinking water in brain fever affected areas) . On a visit to Bihar, he announced that the central government had decided to allocate 525 crore rupees for improving the quality of drinking water in encephalitis affected areas. This was seen in context of a general understanding that unhygienic drinking water could be one of the causes of the disease.

No editorial comment or feature story or opinion piece on this grave health challenge confronting rural Bihar was to be found in any major national Hindi daily. But even with limited expectations of a report or snippet , you could be disappointed as Hindustan has no space for the story yet.

Looking for the coverage and analysis of the story in national English print space was a non starter for the simple reason that for the four major dailies in question ( The Times of India, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express) the epidemic dimensions of encephalitis in rural Bihar was not a story at all. Not worth even an inch of column space. Ironically, the English dailies all had space for other reports filed by their Patna correspondents, and one of them found Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s thinly veiled attack on the communal image of Narendra Modi juicy enough to be put on the front page ( ‘Nitish hits back at Modi : NDA’s PM candidate must have secular image’ Indian Express, June 15, 2012). None of the Hindi dailies had such prime display for the Nitish- Modi diatribe saga.

For the national Hindi press, the menace of encephalitis in rural Bihar affecting the state’s most underprivileged sections ( a sizeable number of victims were malnourished children) was at least a story. But it hasn’t led to a critical reappraisal of the developmental paradigm that has engaged the media narrative on Bihar of late. The elements of human development need to figure more in the public policy discourse of Hindi print space.

THE HOOT

Saturday, June 16, 2012

169 children die due to encephalitis strain in Bihar

Patna, Jun 16 (PTI) Twelve more children died in the outbreak of the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 169 since May, 2012.

Additional Secretary (Health) R P Ojha said 12 children died in the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and the charitable Kejriwal hospital at Muzaffarpur.

Altogether 92 children were admitted in various hospitals to symptoms of the AES, the health official said.

बिहार और झारखण्ड के जेलों में एक-दिवसीय अनशन

जून १६, प्रातः ४:००, उत्तराखंड.

कल बिहार और झारखण्ड की तमाम जेलों में हज़ारों बंदियों ने दिन भर खाना नहीं खाया. एक साथ दो प्रदेशों के कारागारों में हुआ यह एक-दिवसीय अनशन पुलिस और न्यायालयों के हद से ज्यादा अन्यायपूर्ण बर्ताव के विरुद्ध था.

गत मई में बिहार के औरंगाबाद जिले में थाना बारूल के अंतर्गत मदन यादव नामक एक युवक की हिरासत में ह्त्या हुई थी. मदन को माओवादी आन्दोलन में सक्रीय भूमिका निभाने के आरोप में हिरासत में लिया गया था. मामले का स्थानीय पैमाने पर विरोध होने के पश्चात बिहार सरकार ने जांच का आश्वासन देकर मामले को रफा-दफा करना चाहा था. मदन की मौत से खफा उनके सगे साथियों के साथ जेल के असंख्य कैदियों ने अपनी एकजुटता प्रदर्शित करते हुए शासन से मांग की कि दोषी पुलिस अधिकारियों को बर्खास्त कर उब पर मुकदमा चलाया जाए और मदन के परिजनों की हर तरीके से क्षतिपूर्ति की जाये.

जेल बंदियों के इस अनशन का दूसरा अहम् मुद्दा पत्रकार कामरेड सीमा आज़ाद और उनके सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता पति विश्वविजय को इलाहाबाद सत्र न्यायालय द्वारा सज़ा सुनाया जाना था. अदालत के इस फैसले के विरुद्ध दिन भर भूखे रह कर अपना रोष ज़ाहिर करने वालों में भारत की कम्यूनिस्ट पार्टी (माओवादी) के कम से कम 8 केंद्रीय कमेटी सदसयों (जिनमें से 4 पोलितब्यूरो सदस्य भी रहे) समेत उस पार्टी के विभिन्न स्तर के कम से कम ४,००० नेता, कार्यकर्ता और समर्थक अगुआ भूमिका में थे. जेल मे बंद हज़ारो-हज़ार "अराजनीतिक बंदियों" के भारी समर्थन से जेलों को इस दौरान क्रांतिकारी जनवादी राजनीति के पाठशाला बनाये जाने के संकेत हैं.

प्रत्येक जेल से अनशन की रिपोर्ट विस्तारपूर्वक तो नहीं मिल पायी, मगर सूत्रों ने बताया कि इस एक-दिवसीय अनशन को कई जगह प्रशासन की ओर से प्रबल विरोध का सामना करना पड़ा. लोभ-लालच और डराने-धमकाने से लेकर तरह-तरह से सज़ा देना तक इसमें शामिल है. फिर भी प्रशासन इस बात से हैरान है कि सीमा-विश्वविजय और मदन यादव के मामले में अभी बाहरी दुनिया में इतना सशक्त विरोध नहीं हो पाया है, बंदियों के बीच इतनी घनी एकजुटता कैसे कायम हुई?

इसके पीछे क़ानून के शिकंजे में फंसने वालों में स्वतः ही बढ़ने वाली व्यवस्था-विरोधी कडवाहट है या अनशन के संगठनकर्ताओं की कारगरता? यह हमारे लिए भी सोचने की बात है. सीमा आजाद-विश्वविजय की सज़ा और मदन यादव की हिरासत में हत्या जैसी घटनाओं के खिलाफ आवाज़ उठाने वालों में जब इस अपराध-संबंधी न्याय प्रणाली (क्रिमिनल जस्टिस सिस्टम) के असली भुक्तभोगी ही अगुआ हो जाते हैं, तो समझ लीजिए कि बाहर के असंख्य राजनीतिक-सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं, मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं और जन समुदाय के जनवादी हिस्सों के उठ खडा होने का वक़्त आ गया है.

प्रशान्त राही

Friday, June 15, 2012

Left Parties Demand Closure of White asbestos plant in public interest





Press Release

Left Parties Demand Closure of White asbestos plant in public interest

Registration of Case Against the Management of Utkal Asbestos Company Sought

Seek Dismissal of Fake Case by Utkal Management


Patna/New Delhi: All the left parties have jointly demanded that closure of the proposed white asbestos plant of Utkal Asbestos Limited (UAL) company in Chaksultan Rampur Rajdhari near Panapur in Kanhauli Dhanraj Panchayat of in Goraul block in Vaishali. ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) welcomes the united stand of all the progressive parties against the killer asbestos factories.

The joint statement of Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) and Forward Bloc took cognisance of the protest against the lung cancer causing hazardous plant of Utkal Asbestos Limited (UAL) on June 14 in front of the factory gate under the banner of Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee (KBJBJC). The protest has been going on for the last 2 years.

The statement observed that the villagers had opposed the hazardous plant even at the time of Public Hearing. It took note of the usual collusion between the factory owners and the ruling political parties.

The statement underlined that local officials like DM, BDO and SDO besides the head of the government were informed prior to the June 14 Mahadharana in front of the factory gate. When thousands of men, women and children were siting in scorching sunlight from 8 AM onwards and speeches against the killer factory was being delivered. TWA was present at the site of the Mahadharana. The pictures are attached.

In the presence of the police, the villagers all of a sudden noticed that fire and smoke was getting airborne from the premises of the factory whose gates were locked. It is quite clear that the management of the company lit the fire in collusion with the local police and administration officials in order to frame the protesting villagers in fake cases to ensure that movement against the hazardous plant does not happen.

The statement condemned this act of company management and demanded:

1. White asbestos plant should be closed in public interest keeping public health in mind

2. Register case against the management of Utkal Asbestos company sought for hatching a conspiracy by burning its own factory premises

3. Dismiss fake case registered by Utkal Management

Expressing support to the villagers protest against the asbestos factory, Jan Abhiyan, Bihar, a shared platform of democratic and revolutionary organisations too has issued a statement and endorsed the above demands. Jan Abhiyan comprises of Janmukti Sangharsh Vahini, Janwadi Mazdoor Kisan Sabha, Communist Party of India (ML)-SR Bhaiji, Jan Pratirodh Manch, Janwadi Lok Manch, Communist Party of India (ML)-New Democracy, Sarwahara Jan Morcha, MCPI (U), Communist Party of India (ML).

TWA's letter to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar in this regard is attached.

TWA appreciates the support of the left parties for asbestos free India movement which is gathering momentum.

TWA urges media persons of the State to ensure that balanced and objective reporting of the movement sets a healthy precedent and saves the profession from ignominy.

TWA appeals to all the political parties and the environmental, social and human rights organisations to support the struggle of the villagers against the hazardous white asbestos plant to save the present and future generations from incurable lung diseases at time.

When more than 55 countries have banned asbestos and all the relevant UN's scientific and health organisations have called for the elimination of killer fibers of white asbestos, In this conflict between scientific truth and money power of the company in questions, the truth is with the villagers. State Government is defending the indefensible.

For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 08002263335, 09818089660, E-mail:krishna1715@gmail.com Phone: +91-11-26517814, Fax: +91-11-26517814
Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com, banasbestosindia.blogspot.com

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Bihar: A Tale of 3 Mukhiyas and Campaign for 2014 Elections

Notes from Bhojpur & Patna

Bihar: A Tale of 3 Mukhiyas and Campaign for 2014 Elections

First, it was Tarkeshwar Giri, former Mukhiya of Jhakhra Sheikh panchayat of Marwan block in Muzaffarpur who was made to spend 2 months 4 days in jail on false charges. He was Mukhiya during 2001-5. After that his seat was brought under reserved category. The concocted case against him continues in Additional Sessions Judge Court in Muzaffarpur. The next date of hearing is on June 27, 2012. His crime was that he was leading villagers protest under the banner of Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jansangarsh Samiti against the construction of a hazardous white asbestos factory on the village’s agricultural field. White asbestos is banned in 55 countries and although its mining is technically banned in India, ban on its trade, manufacturing and use is under central government’s consideration. Health is a State subject.

If the State government considered the health of its citizens meriting protection, it could have chosen to take a lead in banning asbestos related activities in Bihar as Kerala did in the case of hazardous pesticide Endosulfan. But that was not the case. Following bitter resistance and amidst police firing, the State withdrew its support for this plant, fearing Singur or Nandigram like situation. All the opposition parties especially from the left joined hands at the initiative of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) under the guidance of Sachidanand Sinha, a legendry Socialist Saint and with the proactive support of Citizens Forum of Muzaffarpur and Patna, this ensured that JDU-BJP government backtracked for the first and only time in its 7 years tenure in deference of villagers demand. The panchayat falls under the assembly constituency of JDU legislator.

Residents of Bhojpur where three such asbestos based plants that causes incurable lung cancer have been set up in Bihiya and Gidha were not as fortunate although Communist Party of India (Marxitst-Leninist) Liberation protested against it but it did not succeed in stopping it. The Bihiya falls under BJP MLA’s constituency. Gidha falls under the constituency of Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) MLA. RJD MLAs raised the matter in the State Assembly but it did not yield any result. The take home message is Tarkeshwar Giri the former Mukhiya succeeded where everyone else failed. He got national support from Indian doctors, Ban Asbestos Movement, National Alliance of Peoples Movement and Peoples Union of Civil Liberties among others and international support from scientists, doctors and asbestos victim groups through letters. Giri won a battle while such several such battles against proposed asbestos plants in Vaishali, Madhubani, Champaran is still being fought in the face of a government which is anti-people, anti-environment and anti-public health.

Second, Mukhiya of Aurangabad’s Sanhathua Panchayat of Haspura Block, Devendra Singh Kushwaha(alias Chhotu Mukhiya) was murdered on March 29, 2012 with the alleged complicity of an official. In October 2011, Arif Khan, Mukhiya of Obra panchayat was killed but police could not find the culprits. When Police did not catch the culprits a joint protest against administration began on May 2, 2012 under the banner of Hatya Virodhi Sangharsh Morcha. A Fact Finding team of PUCL visited the region on May 13, 2012 and ascertained the situation. Their report shows the role of Bihar Police in a very poor light. It refers to merciless public beating of former MLA of Communist Party of India (Marxitst-Leninist), Liberation [CPIML], Raja Ram Singh and a college mate of the Chief Minister from Bihar College of Engineering (renamed as National Institute of Technology). In protest, CPIML was on an indefinite hunger strike in Patna and elsewhere which was withdrawn after the murder of Ranvir Sena supremo. The PUCL report referred to the patronage of ruling party that is enjoyed by the culprits in several cases of murder in Aurangabad. It underlines that Bihar Police uses dehumanizing, abusive and foul language against women protesters while beating them.

Third, Brahmeshwar Singh, former unopposed Mukhiya of Khopira Panchayat in Sandesh block of Bhojpur for 23 years since 1971 became founder of Rashtravadi Kisan Sangharsh Samiti alias Ranvir Sena in September 1994 and Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Kisan Sangathan (ABRKS) in May 2012. This Sena was/is a class warrior that emerged to protect the interests of big farmers in reaction of CPIML’s Indian People’s Front supported consolidation small farmers-workers’ struggle for land and fair wages. Sena was responsible for several retaliatory massacres.

Brahmeshwar Singh was underground for 7 years and was in jail for 9 years. He was arrested in 2002 and released in 2011. He fought 2004 Lok Sabha election from jail and garnered 1.60 lakh votes less than the CPIML candidate late Ram Naresh Ram who was a MLA. But both were defeated by Kanti Singh of RJD. Following Patna High Court order in the Bathani Tola massacre when the JDU minister announced that the State Government would appeal against the acquittal of 23 people in the Supreme Court, Brahmeshwar Singh had opposed such move. A ruling BJP minister argued that old wounds should not be provoked.

On May 7, 2012, Brahmeshwar Singh had announced the formation of ABRKS to struggle for farmers’ interest. He was killed in the early morning of June 1, 2012 in his own locality in Ara town, Bhojpur. ABRKS supporters unleashed a reign of terror in SC & ST hostel, destroyed public property, manhandled BJP MLA, JDU MLA and DGP of Bihar. His dead body was brought 55 kms away from Ara for cremation in Patna on June 2, 2012. The funeral procession unleashed a reign of terror in Patna. Organisers of the cremation appealed to mourners to refrain from teasing girls either at road, or in Diara or at cremation ghat. Media reports reveal that mourners had turned up from Odisha and Gujarat too. The procession was hostile towards media.

ABRKS release refers to 3rd June violence in Patna apologized for misbehavior with Police and media persons and for anarchy created by mischief makers. It termed such misbehavior as political conspiracy to malign its supporters. The preparation for the cremation was done by members of BJP and BJP’s youth wing. Notably, BJP State President Dr C P Thakur praised DGP for displaying exemplary restraint in dealing with the mob fury of the mourners in the funeral procession. Bihar Chief Minister cancelled his 3 day Sewa Yatra to Bhojpur. The circuit house where he was supposed to stay was burnt by the sympathizers of Brahmeshwar Singh. He has handed over the matter of investigation of Brahmeshwar Singh’s murder to CBI as was demanded by most parties including BJP.

The proactive action of Bihar Police has been evident in Forbesganj, Nala Road, Patna, and Aurangabad. Their passivity in the case of violence by the funeral procession and in the case of amputation of hands of a Dalit by the class which supports Sena is underlining an explicit narrative which needs to be read by progressive political forces before it is too late.

Having compelled the State Government to wound up Justice Amir Das Commission that probed Ranvir Sena, BJP has demonstrated its support for the Sena. Amir Das Commission set up in 1997, after the Laxmanpur Bathe massacre had the mandate of the commission to inquire if there were any links between political parties and the Ranvir Sena but State government disbanded the commission in 2006, just before it was to submit its report.

Gujarat like complicity of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and RJD became evident in the manner in which they paid homage to Brahmeshwar Singh. The vehicle that carried the dead body of Brahmeshwar declared him as a martyr.

Within days of this incident, a member of Babbar Khalsa, Balwant Singh Rajoana, the killer of Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh was honored with the title of a ‘living martyr’ by Sikh clerics under the patronage of Akali Dal-BJP government on the 28th anniversary of Operation Blue Star on June 6. Is it just a coincidence?

It appears that BJP has launched its 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign echoing Gujarat model of governance in complicity with senior State Police officials. During the recent Rajya Sabha elections, cadre less JDU may have underlined the junior partner status of Sushil Kumar Modi led BJP in the State’s ruling alliance. The emergent and indulgent anarchy in districts like Bhojpur, Gaya, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Arwal and Patna demonstrates that in violent street politics, cadre based BJP is a senior partner. The incidents of June 1 and June 2 reveal that cadres of ABRKS, BJP and its other affiliates withdrew support from Nitish Kumar led government to drive home a message.

The last thing Brahmeshwar Singh did before his death was to re-organise his outfit as a new farmers’ organization. Although the same river cannot be crossed twice, the fertile Gangetic plains remains fit ever fit for both bitter and sweet harvest. A seasoned left leader who had visited both sides of the massacres during massacres and counter massacres of 1990s informs that there may have been a statistical error in defining small and big farmers. If that is indeed the case, the definition needs to be re-visited by political parties to arrive at a consensus to set matters right. To begin with implementation of the immediately implementable recommendations of D Bandhopadya led Bihar Land Reform Commission that submitted its report in April 2008 should have been set in motion.

Instead the progressive agenda of the government like implementing the Common School System recommended by State Government’s own Common School System Commission comprising of Dr Madan Mohan Jha, Prof. Anil Sadgopal and Prof. Muchkund Dubey has been consigned to dustbin and a failed development and education model has been adopted.

As of now regressive policies have started unfolding in a regressive political climate where big landholders and contractors are acting as a law unto themselves. Replumbing of river basins is being pursued which is an invitation for disaster of Soviet ilk. Instead of resisting the ecologically destructive central interlinking of rivers project, Bihar itself has proposed similar projects. In times of right wing emergence of various shades, ecological sanity is the first casualty.

It does not require infinite wisdom to comprehend that Gujarat’s politics and development is unfit for Bihar. Japanese, Chinese and European ilk of development is also not fit for Bihar, say saintly voices like Sachidanand Sinha, a legendry Socialist thinker.

Genocidal politics is anathema in Bihar but efforts are on by a section of State BJP to imitate Gujarat in every aspect. The incidents of June 1 and June 2 in Bhojpur and Patna are a grim reminder of the dangers of conniving at the acts of omission and commission of few hundreds of people.

Ahead of 2014 elections, if the officials and ministers who are complicit in spreading anarchy in the State capital are not made accountable, Bihar is all set to go the Gujarat way. Miscreants are testing waters. For now they know they can swim in it with impunity and ensure the electoral and non-electoral victory for violent political entrepreneurs and investors. The core question that merits answer is: Will the seemingly sterile political imagination of Bihar’s progressive parties and its enlightened citizenry read the writing on the wall and join hands for action, to arrest the precipitous decline towards Nazification of State and national politics before the spark spreads too far?

Gopal Krishna

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

CPI(ML) Statement on Ranvir Sena Vandalism in Patna and the Role of the Bihar Government

New Delhi, 3 June 2012: Seldom in our recent memory have we seen a funeral procession indulge in such indiscriminate acts of vandalism and arson as Ranvir Sena men participating in the funeral procession of Barmeswar Singh did in Ara, Patna and elsewhere in Bihar on June 1-2. This has once again exposed the true character of the Sena which had shamed Bihar and the entire humanity earlier by perpetrating dozens of brutal and barbaric massacres in various districts of Shahabad and Magadh zone.

The vandalism witnessed right in the state capital of Patna has given a complete lie to Nitish Kumar’s tall claims of good governance. If anything, it has exposed the utter inability or even refusal of his government to tackle such acts of feudal-criminal violence. Contrast the state’s laid-back attitude on June 1-2 to the brutal ways the police have been tackling mass protests, and the inherent bias of the state government and its police administration becomes crystal-clear.

Exactly a year ago, Bihar police had killed four innocent Muslims in Bhajanpur village near Farbesganj of Araria district who were protesting against state-led encroachment on the traditional road connecting their village to the nearest highway. Just a month ago, the police in Aurangabad staged a brutal crackdown on people demanding a CBI probe into the killing of mukhiya Devendra Kushwaha in Haspura block of the district. Comrade Rajaram Singh, CPI(ML) Central Committee member and two-term MLA from Obra (1995-2005) was abused and beaten up by the SP himself and is till date in jail along with 28 other protestors including two mukhiyas and one member of district council.

The growing imprint of the BJP variety of politics and governance in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar cannot be ignored any more. However much Nitish Kumar may like to distance the Bihar NDA from Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, the attitude of the top brass in Bihar on June 1-2 was remarkably similar to that in Modi’s Gujarat in the wake of the Godhra incident. The Bihar government too perhaps believes that some chosen people should have the special privilege to give vent to their ire in whichever way they want while every legitimate protest and movement of the people should be crushed by all means.

The CPI(ML) appeals to the people of Bihar to stay united and vigilant and rebuff any attempt by miscreants and feudal-criminal forces to vitiate the atmosphere and gag the democratic voice. In view of the tense situation and the state’s refusal to provide security to the people, the CPI(ML) withdrew the indefinite fasts launched by Party leaders simultaneously in three centres on and from 26 May – Comrades Arun Singh in Patna, Sudama Prasad at Ara and Anwar Hussein at Daudnagar, Aurangabad – on 2 June, but the movement for justice will continue unabated.

On the first anniversary of Farbesganj firing, the CPI(ML) reiterates the demand for a CBI probe into the incident and stern action against the guilty members of the police. The CPI(ML) also insists on unconditional release of Comrade Rajaram Singh and other protestors now jailed in Aurangabad and action against the SP and DM of Aurangabad district. Nitish Kumar and his administration owe an apology to the people of Bihar for the vandalism that was allowed to be staged in Patna on June 2.


(Dipankar Bhattacharya)
General Secretary, CPI(ML)

Friday, June 1, 2012

Wikipedia on Brahmeshwar Singh of Ranvir Sena

Brahmeshwar Singh was killed by unidentified gunmen on 01 June 2012 at Bhojpur, Bihar while he was on his morning walk.

A day-long curfew was clamped on the district headquarter town in Bhojpur district as tension escalated following the gunning down of Brahmeshwar Singh. Prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC were also enforced in the district.

Ranvir Sena is a right-wing upper-caste landlord militia[1] mainly based in Bihar, India. This group is thought to be formed by Bhumihar Brahmin landlords. It carries out actions against Dalits and other members of the scheduled caste community as well as the Naxalites. The Ranvir Sena have been connected to many murders, rapes and thefts.[2] It has, on several occasions, been accused of human rights abuses.[3] It is regarded as a terrorist group and classified accordingly by the Government of India.[4] Normally, the Ranvir Sena say themselves that they committed their crimes. [2] The Ranvir Sena has committed violent acts against Naxalite sympathisers and other members of the militant communist party. The Bihar State government banned the Ranvir Sena in July 1995 and since then the Ranvir Sena remains proscribed.

Contents
1 History
2 Mass Killings
3 Membership
4 Police and politician involvement
5 Area of Operation
6 Organisation
7 References

History
The name Ranvir comes from Ranvir Baba, a supposed mythical figure, and Sena is a Hindi word (origin: Sanskrit sena, meaning 'army'). As the legend goes, during the late 19th century, Ranvir Baba, a retired military man and a resident of Belaur village in Bhojpur district, protected the rights of the Bhumihars Brahmins against the Rajputs. It is believed that Bhumihars asserted their power in Bhojpur because of his efforts. This gave the Ranvir Sena its name when it was founded decades later under the leadership of Brahmeshwar Singh 'Mukhiya'.

It is claimed by the Ranvir Sena, that it came into existence primarily to counter the influence of various Naxalite groups and the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Liberation in central Bihar. However the Indian government considers the group a right-wing extremist group, who serve the needs of wealthy landowners. It was founded in September 1994 in Belaur village of Udwantnagar block, Bhojpur district following the merger of private caste armies like Savarna Liberation Army and the Sunlight Sena. The forerunners to the Ranvir Sena in Bhojpur district were the Brahmarshi Sena and Kuer Sena, Kisan Morcha and Ganga Sena. These groups were smaller in size and operated with a limited area.

Brahmeshwar Singh of Khopira founded Ranvir Sena.[5]

Mass Killings
During the 1995 Bihar state elections, they killed 50 people.[1]

They killed 10 workers in Haibaspur on the 23 March 1997. They wrote the name of the organisation in blood on the village well before they left. Most of the people Ranvir Sena killed that night belonged to families allegedly supporting Party Unity, a communist group.[2]

On 11 July 1996, 21 Dalits were slaughtered by the Ranvir Sena in Bathani Tola,Bhojpur in Bihar in 11 July 1996.[8] Among the dead were 11 women, six children and three infants. Ranvir Sena mob killed Women and Children in particular as per the design so as to demolish any future resistance which they foresaw. [9]

On 1 December 1997, they killed 61 Dalits, which includes - 16 children, 27 women and 18 men with guns.[1][2] The same night,disfigured and shot to death 5 teenage girls.[2] Ranvir Sena said about the killings:

"We kill children because they will grow up to become Naxalites. We kill women because they will give birth to Naxalites."

After, they killed 8 low caste people who had ferried them across the river after the attack.[2]

On 25 January 1999, there was a massacre of 22 dalit men, women and children by Ranvir Sena in the village of Shankarbigha, Jehanabad due to their alleged Naxalite allegiance. There was another massacre two weeks later in the neighbouring village of Narayanpur, where Ranvir Sena killed twelve lower-caste people.[2]

In April of 2012, members of the Ranvir Sena were acquited of Bathani Tola massacre in Bihar. [9].

Membership
The core group of membership of the Ranvir Sena is formed of Brahman Bhumihars.

Police and politician involvementSome politicians are members of Ranvir Sena and some policemen have helped them on their raids.[citation needed] For example, in a Ranvir Sena raid in Ekwari, a village in Bihar, in April 1997, policemen opened the doors of Dalit villagers so the Ranvir Sena could go inside instead of protecting the villagers as they were supposed to. Once inside, the Sena members killed 8 Dalits.[1] Chandradev Verma, former member of Janata Dal Member of Parliament for Arrah put legalising the Ranvir Sena as one of his campaign points in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.[5]

Area of Operation
From Bhojpur district where it was formed, over a period of time, the Ranvir Sena spread to Jahanabad, Patna, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Bhabhua and Buxar districts. It mobilises the landed gentry in these districts against the People's War Group (PWG), the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the CPI-ML (Liberation).

Organisation
The Ranvir Sena is highly organized, has extensive influence among landowners in its areas of operation, and is supposedly well-endowed with financial resources.[citation needed]

Ranvir Sena cadres are militarily better-organised and are better-paid than any of the private armies of the past. The cadres operate mostly underground while their leaders are believed to be living in towns.

Brahmeshwar Singh 'Mukhiya', the founder chief of the Ranvir Sena, on whose head the authorities had placed a reward of half a million Indian rupees, was the Supreme Commander of the Ranvir Sena until he was arrested in Patna on August 29, 2002 to face a large number of criminal cases, which included those related to massacres.[11]

Initial reports said that Shamsher Bahadur Singh was, on September 7, 2002, appointed new chief of the Ranvir Sena. However, according to a report of December 25, 2002, the chief of the Ranvir Sena was Bhuar Thakur until he was arrested with his two associates on December 24, 2002 near Karnol bridge on the Patna-Sasaram road in Charpokhri, Bhojpur.[12]

On 8th July 2011, Brahmeshwar Singh was released on bail after serving 9 years in jail for 17 cases, including those related to Dalit carnages in Bihar, after he was arrested from Patna in 2002. He was earlier granted bail in 16 other cases. [13]

Ranvir Kisan Maha Sangh is the political wing that tried to take part in the 2004 elections.[5] The Ranvir Mahila Sangh, a women's wing, has also been created. Its members too have been trained in arms use.[5] The centre is in Jehanabad.[citation needed]

On 5 May 2012, the founder of Ranvir Sena Brahmeshwar Mukhiya, floated a non-political outfit Akhil Bharatiya Rashtravadi Kisan Sangathan.[14]

On 1 June 2012, Ranvir Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bihar’s Bhojpur district. [15]

References1.^ a b c d e "Caste discrimination:a global concern". Human Rights Watch. 2001. http://www.ambedkar.org/research/CasteDiscrimination.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
2.^ a b c d e f g "NAXALISM, CASTE-BASED MILITIAS AND HUMAN SECURITY:LESSONS FROM BIHAR". Tata Institute of Social Sciences. 2008. http://www.arts.monash.edu/mai/asaa/gaurangsahay.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
3.^ "Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: India: Human Rights Developments". Human Rights Watch. 2001. http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/asia/india.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
4.^ [1][dead link]
5.^ a b c d "Women as arm-bearers: Gendered caste-violence and the Indian state". Women's Studies International Forum. 2006. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBD-4KXVD4B-1&_user=152381&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1063002969&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000012638&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=152381&md5=e7c0706c9e56179be997a62b27bcfd0a. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
6.^ "Ranvir Sena chief shot dead in Bhojpur - India - DNA". Dnaindia.com. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ranvir-sena-chief-shot-dead-in-bhojpur_1696617. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
7.^ "Curfew imposed in Ara Town after killing of Brahmeshwar Singh Mukhiya-Biharprabha News". news.biharprabha.com. http://news.biharprabha.com/2012/06/curfew-imposed-in-ara-town-after-killing-of-brahmeshwar-singh-mukhiya. Retrieved 2012-06-0.
8.^ Shoumojit Banerjee (2012-04-17). "News / National : All accused in 1996 Bihar Dalit carnage acquitted". The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3321368.ece. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
9.^ a b Shoumojit Banerjee (2012-04-19). "States / Other States : For residents of Bathani, it is a horror they cannot forget". The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3329111.ece?homepage=true. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
10.^ Human Rights Watch, Broken People, p. 5
11.^ "Shift Ranvir Sena chief to Tihar jail: cops". The Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1297443.cms. [dead link]
12.^ "Ranvir Sena chief held". The Hindu. 2002-12-25. http://hindujobs.com/thehindu/2002/12/25/stories/2002122508121100.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
13.^ "NATIONAL / NEW DELHI : Ranvir Sena chief released". The Hindu. 2011-07-10. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article2215328.ece. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
14.^ "Tillers’ outfit". The Telegraph (Calcutta). 5 May 2012. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120505/jsp/bihar/story_15453926.jsp#.T6YkBOgzD3Q. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
15.^ "Ranvir Sena founder Brahmeshwar Singh shot dead in Bihar". http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/. 1 June 2012. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Ranvir-Sena-founder-Brahmeshwar-Singh-shot-dead-in-Bihar/articleshow/13697572.cms. Retrieved 1 June 2012.