SEZ and COFFEE

“Revolutions are not made; they come”
------Wendell Philips

Hmmmm..…Bangladesh defeats India in 1st World Cup Match, David conquers Golliath. Big…really big. I have been watching a so called Post Match analysis show on a premier News Channel. Even at 3 AM in the morning, people are awake and attending road interviews, calling up News Channels….well, Cricket has been and will be a RELIGION in the country, no doubt about it !! As one of the Blue Billion, I still expect some real good and spirited performance in the coming month..ha ha !

But where is Nandigram??? Not so much spirited efforts from our BILLION, eh !! Well , I updated myself little bit about it……Mr. L K Advani compared Jalianwalabagh with Nandigram.....or the other way round ?? Little bit confused about that……tell me somebody clearly. Why cannot we stop comparing with past? Is not the incident shameful enough to be cited in HISTORY alone on it’s own merit or demerit? I don’t know. Madam Mamata is fearing for her life again……well how many deaths she expects to die??? Don’t worry Madam, police bullets at least don’t touch famous politicians…..poor peasants are easy targets. And stop burning state run buses and damaging Government properties in the name of public apathy. They are made of our money, the Tax payers’ money….and you Politicians better keep off from them. The people who call themselves Naxals, are giving updates ……No. of dead people….20(14th March),50(15th March); No. of Raped Women….N.A.(14th March),500(15th March)……two days have passed……with this kind of pace of activity, you people expect to build “The New Democratic State” !! Well, well, you must be arranging the ammunitions …after all Mao Tse-Tung said “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”,right??

Anyway, what am I doing??? Sitting in home and watching World Cup of a Sport, which is unknown to 70-80% of the human inhabitants on Earth and blaming everybody but myself!! But what to do? Am I clear about what is the root of the problem? Frankly, the answer is NO.

I heard that it is all about something called SEZ….now what the hell is that? Need to update myself, otherwise as the wise men say,I will never be able to BELL the CAT!!

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. Usually the goal is an increase in foreign investment. One of the earliest and the most famous Special Economic Zones were founded by the government of the People's Republic of China in the early 1980s. According to World Bank estimates, as of 2007 there are more than 3,000 projects taking place in SEZs in 120 countries worldwide, including China, Russia,Poland,Ukraine,India,Iran and others.

Govt. of India started it to promote FDI as well as Entrepreneurship in the country in 2000. The policy was introduced with a view to provide an internationally competitive and hassle free environment for exports. The policy provides for setting up of SEZ's in the public, private, joint sector or by State Governments. It was also envisaged that some of the existing Export Processing Zones would be converted into Special Economic Zones. Accordingly, the Government has converted Export Processing Zones located at Kandla and Surat (Gujarat), Cochin (Kerala), Santa Cruz (Mumbai-Maharashtra), Falta (West Bengal), Madras (Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh) into Special Economic Zones. In addition, 3 new Special Economic Zones approved for establishment at Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Manikanchan – Salt Lake (Kolkata) and Jaipur have since commended operations. The booty offered as per SEZ Act 2005 includes exemptions Under Customs Act, Central Excise Act, Finance Act and Central Sales Act and many others.

Under the same SEZ Act, it is mentioned as below:
“The Central Government, while notifying any area as a Special Economic Zone or an additional area to be included in the Special Economic Zone and discharging its functions under this Act, shall be guided by the following, namely:-
a) generation of additional economic activity
b) promotion of exports of goods and services;
c) promotion of investment from domestic and foreign
sources;
d) creation of employment opportunities;
e) development of infrastructure facilities; and
f) maintenance of sovereignty and integrity of India, the
security of the State and friendly relations with foreign States.”

The fundamental question what rose in my mind was Whether These Six Parameters apply to the Nandigram SEZ proposal or not. Nandigram is a rural area in East Midnapur district of West Bengal ,consisting of mainly poor and middle class farmers. Poor Transport conditions and Communication systems make the situation worse. The area is farmed as multi corps and partially used as fishing pond in off seasons. The proposed SEZ by Salim Group, Indonesia would require over 14000 acres of Land. Putting up this effort at Nandigram would have clearly meant of adversely affecting livelihood of 40000 people. Not only that, the deal offered was at much under valued rates compared to Urban Real Estate Business. It partially makes sense, when the Land is Barren or Wasteland. But one cannot play with the only economic resource of poor people. So there was resistance, anger. When CPI(M) pushed people at their back with the aid of State Machinery, they had no other choice left but to reply back. The return reaction by CPI(M) viz. State Govt. is now in front of our eyes.


With the nature of Records and Profile, Salim Group possess, there is serious doubt in my mind whether aforementioned Point No. d was taken care off. And with the fascist nature of State Govt. and present shocking developments, it is very CLEAR that the security of the STATE has been jeopardized. No STATE is SECURE unless and until the citizens are secured. Land does not define a STATE, people define.

Though I also believe that FDI monitored by State and Entrepreneurship are the ways to provide a boost in country’s Economic growth, we must not forget that Agriculture is our Backbone. There is no point in Working Out Relentlessly and Building Up Your Biceps, if it harms your Spinal Chord. When you do it ignorantly, it is a Mistake; when you do it knowingly, it is a CRIME.

MISTAKES are forgiven, CRIMES are not.


FOOTNOTE: Forgot to mention about the Post Title. Initially gave----“Revolution Awaits”….But started with a Cup of Coffee and Ended Up after Four. Still feeling to get one more and some Bread. So changed the TITLE!! As Maxim Gorky rightly said------

“In our present state of culture, hunger of the mind is more quickly satisfied than hunger of the body.”…Ha ha ha

I request everybody, who read my Non-Sense and is little bit of shocked with Nandigram episode, PLEASE put your signature in the following Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/nandigra/petition.html

Nandigram DEMOCIDE

I am neither a scribe nor a political/social activist...just an ordinary Indian citizen, who uses only few of 3000 average words in the Dictionary to express senses and feelings and definitely is ignorant and oblivious about rest of the 189000 words. My senses are in a jumbled state at the moment as I am searching for proper words and framework to express my present feelings.

Today morning , I woke up somewhere in a plush Hotel room at Mumbai. I had to catch a flight and was rushing through my Breakfast and the morning edition of TOI. As usual, neglecting the front page news , was going through the Headlines of Sports and Business Pages. This has been my routine interaction with Printed Media for last few years with some irregular glances at Comics section. It was when I completed gobbling up my Breakfast and was about to leave , I noticed it.....yaah, for a change I honored the front page of TOI and looked at and kept looking at......."Nandigram Erupts Again".

In the flight, I kept reading all the News available regarding Nandigram incident and the News kept sinking slowly . By 10 PM, I was frustrated and was unable to figure out the exact reason.Now, it is time to stop my daily activity Journal and start the business I want to make.......in the following I will try to sum up the Tits and Bits of Bytes available on this World Web........
As TOI and other Media reports have been coming up, 12-14 casualties have been recorded officially/unofficially as of now. But what concerned me the most is the Operation Methodology followed by CPI(M) in Past. Therefore though unsure about the presence of resources, I tried to scavenge.I know, the following facts will never see the daylight and might not reflect the true story 100%. But to tell the facts....it was a cold blooded "RED Shed".About 125-130 men, women and children are said to be killed by the police and the cadres of the ruling Communist Party of India (CPM). Many dead bodies were seen to be thrown by police into the nearby river. The dead bodies of children were thrown onto the trenches dug by the villagers to stop any encroachment, and they were filled with soil to make roads. According to the people the cadres and police have devastated the Sonachura village; they killed the people, drove them out, looted the houses and raped scores of women.In fact all the villages were ransacked, devastated by the cadres and police. They have blocked entry to journalists and other organizations and one journalist was kidnapped and intimidated to keep quiet. Armed CPI(M) cadres , mixed with the police, fired upon villagers and then attempted to enter the villages. Another group of party activists cordoned off the entire area and checked all vehicles to prevent journalists from entering the scene of violence. Several scribes were beaten up.
On March 14, over a 2000-strong police force armed with AK 47 rifles attempted to enter Nandigram, which has been cut off from the rest of the state for over two months now by villagers resisting land acquisition for setting up an SEZ. The first barricade was put up by women and children who resisted the police from entering the villages. The police fired tear gasshells and then rubber bullets and finally live cartridges.
The sudden raid came as a surprise for the villagers as they started running here and there to maintain a safe distance. It was a horrific sight as armed policemen were seen dragging villagers out of their houses and beating them.According to the reported strategy, the police was asked to remove resistance, enter the villages and ‘restore law of the land’. They were to be followed by CPI(M) activists, who would “reinstall civil society” in Nandigram.



This may not be the right time to discuss History and Politics. But today I recollected something and definitely reflects my current state of mind. Being in very much politically active environment for Four Years of my Life, I had the opportunity to come across some brilliant minds. I wished to meet some other brilliant minds, who were Termed as 'NAXALITES/REBELS' and they got inhumane treatment from the Government of Poor People in West Bengal.But my wish never materialized.I used to have lot of queries in those days and during one such non-sense debate with some guys, we zeroed in on DEMOCIDE.It means for governments murdering an individual under municipal law. It is the premeditated killing of a person in cold blood, or causing the death of a person through reckless and wanton disregard for their life. During our discussion, the main debate was about why COMMUNIST Governments around the world commit the Mass-Killlings and they are supposed to be the Symbol of Enlightment for the MASS !!!!! I did not have the figures to support me on that day, but I have now and are given at the top of this post.

In sum the communist probably have murdered something like 110,000,000, or near two-thirds of all those killed by all governments, quasi-governments, and guerrillas from 1900 to 1987. Of course, the world total itself it shocking. It is several times the 38,000,000 battle-dead that have been killed in all this century's international and domestic wars. Yet the probable number of murders by the Soviet Union alone--one communist country-- well surpasses this cost of war. And those murders of communist China almost equal it.

Now, the basic question is how these Mass-Killings by Communists can be understood?I will Quote R.J. Rummel here---'It is the marriage of an absolutist ideology with the absolute power. Communists believed that they knew the truth, absolutely. They believed that they knew through Marxism what would bring about the greatest human welfare and happiness. And they believed that power, the dictatorship of the proletariat, must be used to tear down the old feudal or capitalist order and rebuild society and culture to realize this utopia. Nothing must stand in the way of its achievement. Government--the Communist Party--is thus above any law. All institutions, cultural norms, traditions, and sentiments were expendable. And the people were as though lumber and bricks, to be used in building the new world.
Constructing this utopia was seen as though a war on poverty, exploitation, imperialism, and inequality. And for the greater good, as in a real war, people are killed. And thus this war for the communist utopia had its necessary enemy casualties, the clergy, bourgeoisie, capitalists, wreckers, counterrevolutionaries, rightists, tyrants, rich, landlords, and noncombatants that unfortunately got caught in the battle. In a war millions may die, but the cause may be well justified, as in the defeat of Hitler and an utterly racist Nazism. And to many communists, the cause of a communist utopia was such as to justify all the deaths. '

I do not fully agree with the above, but cannot contradict also. After all ,CPI(M) 'Restored the Law of the Land' and 'Reinstalled the Civil Society' at Nandigram !!!

So, more graphic news,snaps,criticism and analysis by intellectuals(I am Not and want to die being not like them) will come up in near future. some committe will be formed, CPI(M) will lose ground a little bit in the country and the Right will try to invoke this issue in West Bengal and Kerala to gain political mileage. But , who will set the things straight and right?? Definitely not me, who reads the 'SHOCKING' News at Breakfast Table and writes a Byte in the wee hours of the Night to display MORAL Duties.Definitely not you, who might be wasting your time and thinking ...."What a hypocrite, this person is?"But the QUESTION remains unanswered...."WHO ARE GOING TO SET THESE THINGS RIGHT AND HOW"? We will never know , how many people died, how many women were raped and how many children will never grow up. I think it must be all of 'US'. But I don't know 'HOW'.SO, I HAVE DECIDED TO PUT MY NONSENSE WORDS HERE AND WILL TRY TO KEEP SOME BASIC THINGS STRAIGHT AND SIMPLE.

I request to all of you to tell me 'HOW' it will be .

For more information on Nandigram incident , you can go through the updates in www.kafila.org