THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA INDIA AGAINST ITS OWN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

PalahBiswas On Unique Identity No1.mpg

Monday, May 31, 2010

Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai! How Much KOLKATA would Take to Become Beijing?


Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai! How Much KOLKATA would Take to Become Beijing?

Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visit!

PM Manmohan Singh to present UPA-II report card tomorrow!

PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census!



Indian Holocaust My father`s Life and Time- Three Hundred EIGHTY ONE

Palash Biswas


http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visit!

President Patil sees great potential for growth in India-China relations!

PM Manmohan Singh to present UPA-II report card tomorrow!

PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census!


Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai! How Much KOLKATA would Take to Become Beijing? Just get your Memory REFRESH and set yourself in those days of Thundering Spring!CHINER Chairman Amaader Chairman, the slogan repeatedly echoed countrywide! Just remember 1964, while Communist party of India was DIVIDED and CPIM was constituted on CHINESE line as Marxist branded CPI as Revisionist!



Well, I believe, Mumbai is all set to become Shanghai some day or the other day,provided New Delhi goes Washington Way!But discarding and Excluding the Aboriginal Indigenous MULNIVASI Minority Communities, Bengali Foreigner Zionist Brahamin Comrades practicing UNTOUCHABILITY and sustaining Zionist Manusmriti Rule countrywide, would Never allow Chinese line of development be adopted at any point of time!

Economy of China

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Charu Majumdar

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Charu Majumdar

Charu Majumdar (Bangla: চারু মজুমদার) (1918–1972) was a communist revolutionary from India. He was born in 1918 at Siliguri, West Bengal. His father was a freedom fighter. Majumdar dropped out of college in 1938. In 1946, he joined the Tebhaga movement. He was briefly imprisoned in 1962.

During the mid 1960s Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal organized a leftist faction in Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in northern Bengal. In 1967, a militant peasant uprising took place in Naxalbari, led by the Majumdar-Sanyal group. This group would later become known as the Naxalites, and eight articles written by him at this time - known as the Historic Eight Documents - has been seen as providing their ideological foundation: arguing that revolution must take the path of armed struggle on the pattern of the Chinese revolution. The same year, Majumdar and Sanyal broke away and formed the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries which in 1969 founded the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)—with Majumdar as its General Secretary.

He was captured from his hide-out on July 16, 1972, and died in police custody at the Alipore Central Jail on July 28, 1972.

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  1. Red surge: Charu Mazumdar's script still holds


    Times of India - Bhaskar Roy - 18 hours ago
    Written in the backdrop of the 1964 split in the communist movement, worsening food crisis, Charu Mazumdar's documents laid the foundation of what would ...
  2. India's Maoist Mafia: as corrupt as the government and ...


    Examiner.com - 5 hours ago
    The ideological underpinnings of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency in India were cast in stone over 40 years ago by Charu Majumdar. Ideologies do not change, ...

    Examiner.com
  3. Examining The Myth Of Maoists Concern For Tribal Welfare


    CounterCurrents.org - 6 days ago
    Take just one of those remarks: "Charu Mazumdar was a visionary in much of ..... Whose vision is the Indian state supposed to satisfy, Charu Majumdar's or ...
  4. There is no LeT-Naxal link


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  5. My Book Is Red


    Outlook - 8 May 2010
    There is also the predictable familiarisation with icons like Mao and Marx and Indian leaders like Charu Mazumdar and Kanai Chatterjee," he says, ...

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  6. Maoisten sprengen Zug aus den Gleisen


    Kurier - 3 days ago
    Ihr Vorsitzender Charu Mazumdar wurde 1972 verhaftet und starb in Gefangenschaft. Die radikale Parteijugend organisierte Streiks, die unterdrückt wurden. ...
  7. Tagore tales on talkies


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  8. Fun, frolic and gossip


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    ... Paresh Maity, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Asim Pal, Niranjan Pradhan, Mona Rai, ... Charu Goel, Nilay Biswas, Pravat Majhi, Sasanka Ghosh and Supriyo Bagh. ...

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  9. Celebrating women's empowerment


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  10. Entrevista a líder maoísta del movimiento naxalita en la India


    kaosenlared.net - 5 May 2010
    Nuestros amados líderes fundadores y maestros, camaradas Charu Mazumdar y Kanhai Chatterji, encabezaron una incesante lucha ideológica y política durante ...

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President Pratibha Patil Monday said Mumbai will take 'some more time' to become Shanghai, the metropolis in eastern China which is a flourishing commercial hub and is known for its skyscrapers. Prime minister Manmohan Singh will present to the people tomorrow a 'report card' on the performance of his government in the first year of its second tenure.


'We are moving on but then it will take some more time,' Patil, who returned from her six-day state visit to China, told reporters on board Air India One.


She made the statement in reaction to reporters asking about authorities saying many times that India's commercial hub Mumbai would be given a modern touch just like Shanghai, which is described as the 'showpiece' of the world's fastest-growing economy.


Shanghai, which has a population of about 20 million, is a tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks as well as its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline.


The 'Report to the People' was originally scheduled to be unveiled at a function on May 22, exactly a year after the United Progressive Alliance-II returned to power.


However, the function was cancelled in view of the Air India Express plane crash in Mangalore in which 158 people were killed.

The report card will list achievements of various ministries and departments.


The document is likely to chronicle among other things the Women's Reservation Bill which has been passed in the Rajya Sabha.


Congress president Sonia Gandhi is keen on securing its passage in the Lok Sabha but the measure has been put on hold in view of the stiff opposition by the Yadav trio - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav - demanding quota within quota.


The Right to Education (RTE) Act that would directly benefit at least one crore children is also expected to be highlighted in the report.


On the foreign front, the government is expected to refer to the dialogue process with Pakistan and India's efforts to cement ties with almost all its neighbours.


On the economic front, the report is expected to highlight how the government weathered the global financial crisis and the depression and managed to keep an impressive growth rate.


Since 2004, when Congress-led UPA assumed power after ousting the BJP-led NDA, the government has been bringing out annual reports on its performance.


Indian authorities have been claiming that Mumbai, the second largest city on the basis of population at around 14 million, will be another Shanghai, the largest centre of commerce and finance in China.

Patil, who was born in Maharashtra, was earlier a member of the Maharashtra assembly.


Four commercial deals, including by IT majors Wipro and Infosys, were signed at India-China business forum here Friday on the last day of President Pratibha Patil's six-day official visit to China.

Patil addressed the gathering of Indian and Chinese businessmen here and witnessed the signing of one academic and three commercial deals.

The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) was to set up an annual visiting chair in humanities and social sciences at Fudan University in Shanghai. It was signed by India's Ambassador S. Jaishankar on behalf of Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Fudan University president Yuliang Yang.

The agreement was for Fudan university to host a visiting professor during a four-month semester of each academic year. The MoU will be effective from March 2011.

The world's largest independent manufacturer of hydraulic cylinders, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, signed a deal to set up its first factory in the southern Chinese city of Changzhou. Later, a research and development centre will also be established.

The Indian IT major Infosys plans to construct a Infosys China Education Centre in Jiaxing city, which will train 1,000 fresh engineering graduates and conduct soft skills and leadership training programs.

"The Jiaxing municipal government is of the view that the establishment the educational centre by Infosys would be a major step forward for achieving that Goa"," said a press note on the deal.

A subsidiary of the GMR group, GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, inked a contract with Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp to become the turnkey contractor for its 1,050 megawatt coal-based thermal power project in Orissa.


President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday said she was convinced that there was great potential for growth in India-China relations, following her meetings with the Chinese leadership during her five-day visit to the People's Republic of China.


During her on board interaction with the media persons during her return journey to New Delhi, President Patil informed that she stressed upon India's aspirations for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) while an agreement and two memorandum of understandings (MoUs) were signed during her tour.


"I focused attention on India's aspirations for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council. President Hu and Premier Wen were understanding and supportive of India's desire," said President Patil and added that "President Hu expressed China's support to India's candidature for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for 2011-12."


"One agreement and two MoUs between India and China were signed in Beijing in the presence of President Hu and myself," said President Patil while adding: "Each of them will aid the process of further enhancing bilateral ties."


She also informed that, in addition, an MoU was concluded between Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Fudan University.


"It should serve as an encouragement for greater contacts that we seek to build through student exhanges and inter-University contacts," President Patil stated.


President Patil also said that the objective of her visit was to increase trust, friendship, and understanding between the two countries.

Describing her interactions with the Chinese leaders as "warm, friendly, and cordial", President Patil said, "The discussions were wide-ranging and fruitful."


"We agreed to expand, deepen and diversify the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership between our countries. We acknowledged that the India-China relationship has gone beyond its purely bilateral aspect and has a global dimension," she said.


President Patil informed that during her discussions with the Chinese leadership she stressed there was enough space in the world for India and China to grow together.


"Naturally, we discussed how our two countries can cooperate with each other as we meet the developmental aspirations of our peoples. I highlighted our desire to work with China in meeting the bilateral trade target of 60 billion US dollars in 2010," she said.


"After my discussions in Beijing, I am confident that we can further increase and diversify our economic interaction with China in a balanced manner. The three business to business MoUs signed during the visit are examples in that regard," said President Patil and added: "We also agreed to increase our cooperation and coordination in multilateral economic forums including in the G-20 and the Doha Round of global trade negotiations."


President Patil said while highlighting the cultural contacts that existed over the millennia between the two ancient civilisations, she suggested: The Governments of our two countries must expand people-to-people contacts in the present day. We can do so through greater cultural exchanges, tourism, educational linkages, and scientific projects."


She said that in this regard the Indian-style Buddhist temple inaugurated at Luoyang had special significance.


"I hope the temple will encourage young people from our countries to step up contacts between us in the present age. The Tagore bust, I unveiled in Shanghai, should be an inspiration for joint activities, as we commence marking his 150th birth anniversary," President Patil said.


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Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visit

Economic Times - ‎1 hour ago‎
SHANGHAI: Four commercial deals, including by IT majors Wipro and Infosys, were signed at India-China business forum here Friday on the last day of President Pratibha Patil's six-day official visit to China. Patil addressed the gathering of Indian and ...

President Patil sees great potential for growth in India-China relations

Sify - ‎1 hour ago‎
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday said she was convinced that there was great potential for growth in India-China relations, following her meetings with the Chinese leadership during her five-day visit to the People's Republic of China. ...

Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai: Patil

Sify - ‎2 hours ago‎
President Pratibha Patil Monday said Mumbai will take 'some more time' to become Shanghai, the metropolis in eastern China which is a flourishing commercial hub and is known for its skyscrapers. 'We are moving on but then it will take some more time,' ...

China supportive of India's UN aspirations: Pratibha Patil

Economic Times - ‎5 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: China 'understands' and 'supports' India's desire for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council, President Pratibha Patil said Monday as she returned from her state visit to that country. "I focused attention on India's ...

Patil flies back after high-profile visit to China

The Hindu - ‎9 hours ago‎
PTI PTI President Pratibha Patil waves to her Chinese fans at the Shanghai Expo 2010 during her visit to China. Photo: PTI President Pratibha Patil today concluded her six-day state visit to China, viewed here as one of the most high-profile trips by ...

President says China visit helped increase trust, understanding

NetIndian - ‎1 hour ago‎
President Pratibha Patil today described her six-day visit to China, which ended today, as successful and said it had accomplished the goals of increasing trust, friendship and understanding between the two countries. In a statement on her departure ...

Mission accomplished, says president, after 'fruitful' talks with China

Daily News & Analysis - ‎5 hours ago‎
PTI Citing the support of the Chinese leaders on several crucial issues, including India's bid for membership of the UN Security Council and correcting the trade imbalance now heavily in favour of China, Patil said that Sino-Indian relationship has ...

Ready for a 'new starting point,' Chinese leaders tell Pratibha

The Hindu - Ananth Krishnan - ‎May 28, 2010‎
PTI President Pratibha Patil with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing on Friday. Top Chinese leaders told visiting President Pratibha Patil on Friday they were ready for "a new starting point" to improve relations between the ...

'Enough space in world for India, China to fulfil their goals and prosper'

The Hindu - Vidya Subrahmaniam - ‎May 26, 2010‎
WARM WELCOME:President Pratibha Patil being traditionally welcomed by a Chinese student on her arrival at the Beijing International Airport on Wednesday. On board Air India-1: President Pratibha Patil touched down in Beijing on Wednesday to a simple ...

Pratibha seeks China backing for permanent UNSC seat

The Hindu - Vidya Subrahmaniam - ‎May 27, 2010‎
BEIJING: In a first for a visiting head of state, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday sought China's backing for a permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat for India. Ms. Patil raised India's Security Council ambitions in her talks with ...

Timeline of articles

Timeline of articles
Number of sources covering this story

President urges China to improve market access
‎22 hours ago‎ - The Hindu

Ready for a 'new starting point,' Chinese leaders tell Pratibha
‎May 28, 2010‎ - The Hindu

China for greater Indian role in United Nations' Security Council
‎May 27, 2010‎ - Hindustan Times

India wants China help to secure UNSC seat
‎May 27, 2010‎ - Indian Express

'Enough space in world for India, China to fulfil their goals and prosper'
‎May 26, 2010‎ - The Hindu

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RJD MP keeps President waiting in China
NDTV.com  -  May 30, 2010 Watch video




Maoists to use 19 tonnes explosives before 2010 expiry, warns expert


RAIPUR: The country should be prepared for more deadly blasts by Maoists as the guerrillas are planning to use some 19 tonnes of explosives before they expire by the end of this year, a senior de-mining expert of the Chhattisgarh Police claimed Monday.

In February 2006, Maoists had stormed into an explosives depot of public enterprise NMDC Ltd. at Bailadila hills in Dantewada district and walked away with 20 tonnes of high-powered explosives after killing eight Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, guarding the stock meant to blast rocks for mining iron ore.

"We have definite information that guerrillas have used nearly one tonne of the NMDC explosives loot so far and they are in a hurry to use the remaining 19 tonnes before they expire by the fag end of 2010," the expert told IANS requesting anonymity.

The officer advised that policemen and paramilitary troopers deployed in the Maoist strongholds in states hit-by leftist insurgency must carry sufficient number of de-mining experts as well as sniffer dogs while going on combing operations, particularly in jungles and hilly stretches.

A de-mining expert clears the stretches of landmines.

The officer, who is based in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region -- the nerve-centre of Maoist militancy, claimed that NMDC explosives were used by Maoists for all major attacks in recent months, including the attack by rebels April 6 in Dantewada district in which 76 security personnel were killed.


PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census

With the issue of inclusion of caste in the census dividing the party and the government, the Congress leadership, including prime minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi, discussed the tricky matter on Friday.

The party's core group met for nearly 100 minutes on the issue on a day when a train accident allegedly caused by Maoists in West Bengal raised fresh alarm over the growing threat posed by the extremists.

Apart from Singh and Gandhi, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram and defence minister AK Antony attended the meeting.

The meeting was held a day after minister of state for home Ajay Maken created a flutter in the party by writing a letter to young MPs to oppose the inclusion of caste in the census.

There has been no indication so far of any meeting of the Congress Working Committee being planned to discuss the
inclusion of caste in census enumeration or to discuss the Maoist threat.

Meanwhile, a Congress source said there was a need to define the party's stand on the issue of caste in the census in the wake of divergent views being expressed by leaders.

While Union law minister M Veerappa Moily, a backward class
politician from Karnataka, has openly supported the inclusion of
caste in the census, his ministerial colleague Maken, who has an upper-caste background, has strongly opposed the idea.

A section of the party has been charging that certain senior leaders have been instrumental in ensuring that the issue gets centre stage to help them further their own political agendas.


Congress leader bats for inclusion of caste in census exercise

Allahabad: Pitching for inclusion of caste in the ongoing census, a senior Congress leader today said such a move would help understand the status of various social groups in society.

Such an exercise could even pinpoint disparities in upper castes, Congress leader and CWC member Anil Shastri told PTI.

"It will help us understand the status of various social groups in society," he said adding the issue is of national importance and essential for heralding social change.

Shastri said a number of people were opposing the move on the assumption that it would divide society.

"They failed to recognise that our society is already divided on religion and caste lines," the Congress leader said.

The Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the JD-U have been strongly demanding inclusion of caste in the census exercise.


Sukhbir Singh Badal writes to PM, seeks protection of '84 riots witnesses

Punjab's deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today urged prime minister Manmohan Singh to provide security to all witnesses in Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler cases in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

In a letter to the PM which was released to the media here, he also demanded immediate constitution of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the pattern of Gujarat riot cases, to re-probe Tytler cases besides day-to-day trial in all the anti Sikh riots cases.

He expressed satisfaction over framing of charges by a Delhi court yesterday against Sajjan Kumar and claimed that witnesses who stood their ground and dared to depose against powerful and mighty for 25 long years, were "expressing fear that they may be physically harmed or even eliminated, to scuttle conviction of Sajjan Kumar".

Badal junior pointed out that security of witnesses was more important citing if witnesses in Best Bakery case and 26/11 case could be provided security fearing harm to their life, "why government is mum on in providing security to witnesses in 25-year-old anti-Sikh riots case".



China inflation to peak in summer: Report

30 May 2010, 2202 hrs IST,REUTERS
China-yuan
BEIJING: Chinese inflation will peak this summer, a respected economist said, as a top planning official pinpointed decreased land supply and the rising cost of agricultural labour as driving strong prices of Chinese agricultural commodities.

Ha Jiming, chief economist at China International Capital Corp, forecast China's consumer price index would increase 3.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

CPI annual growth rate could peak at 4 percent in June and July, Ha told an investor conference in Beijing.

The CICC has cut its estimate for China's economic growth this year to 9.5 percent from 10.5 percent, Ha said.

But interest rate hikes would be unlikely this year as growth in consumer prices was expected to fall in the second half, he said, according to Xinhua.


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Chinese vegetable and grains prices have been strong in recent months, propped by a cold spring and drought in the southwest. High corn prices could attract the largest volume of imports since 2001, traders have said.

Speculative funds looking for new investment channels as the stock market falls and tightening measures hit the property markets are partly responsible for the inflation expectations, Peng Sen, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua in a separate interview on Sunday.

The government last week announced measures, including monitoring prices, punishing "irregular" trading activities, and increasing supply to agricultural markets, to cool prices.

Peng reiterated the government inflation target of 3 percent for this year, saying that even a surge in prices of certain products like garlic or mung beans would have a limited impact on overall inflation.

Food prices, including meat, account for one third of China's CPI basket.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/China-inflation-to-peak-in-summer-Report/articleshow/5992088.cms

Ford to recall 236,643 sedans in China

31 May 2010, 1828 hrs IST,REUTERS
BEIJING: Ford Motor Co's three-way tie-up with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Japan's Mazda Motor has applied to recall 236,643 sedans, China's quality control office said on Monday.

The joint venture is recalling Focus cars made between Aug. 18 2008 and May 28 2010 due to engine failure under certain circumstances, according to the notice on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (http://www.aqsiq.gov.cn).

The Chongqing-based joint venture makes Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo and other sedan models in China.


Capital formation vs input subsidies

The Hindu - ‎May 21, 2010‎
... rues Ramesh Chand in one of the essays included in 'Agrarian Crisis in India,' edited by D. Narasimha Reddy and Srijit Mishra (www.oup.com). ...

"Seeing us, others will follow"

The Hindu - ‎May 27, 2010‎
More so in six of its districts where lakhs have been ruined by the agrarian crisis. Where even the State government says three lakh families were unable to ...

UPA-2: Time to change course

Rediff - ‎May 21, 2010‎
This comes on top of a prolonged agrarian crisis, a 10-kg decrease in monthly per-capita foodgrain consumption over three decades, and the suicides of ...
A mixed anniversary in India The News International

Sorry state of rainfed agriculture

The Hindu - ‎May 10, 2010‎
The agrarian crisis (a major challenge for the country since the early 1990s) and rainfed agriculture are closely linked. The high cost of cultivation, ...

The Coupling of Climate Change and Urbanization in India with a Focus on the ...

OnEarth Magazine - Kamini Doobay - ‎May 11, 2010‎
Glacial retreat, greater monsoon variability, endemic drought, flooding and resource conflict will magnify the ongoing agrarian crisis in rural India and ...

'India Growth Story Is Broad-Based And Localised'

VC Circle - Reghu Balakrishnan - ‎May 24, 2010‎
India is one of the major agrarian economies of the world with a growing population and rising per capita income that have put significant pressure on its ...

Indian Shares End Higher; Autos Rise On Hopes Of Strong Demand

Wall Street Journal - ‎May 13, 2010‎
Dedhia said the next big domestic trigger for Indian equities would be the monsoon. "India being an agrarian economy, monsoon does play a very big role. ...

'Gold, silver will gain; base metals to weaken'

Commodity Online - ‎May 20, 2010‎
-A good monsoon augurs well for the growth of the physical commodities sector in India since the country is still predominantly an agrarian economy. ...

UPA-2's litmus test at year one

The Daily Star - Praful Bidwai - ‎May 22, 2010‎
This follows a prolonged agrarian crisis, a 10kg decrease in monthly per-capita food grains consumption over three decades, and the suicides of 200000 ...

Fresh money inflow is a possibility

Hindu Business Line - Jayanta Mallick - ‎May 16, 2010‎
On top of robust March Index of Industrial Production growth numbers, prospect of a better than last year's drought-affected agrarian economic performance ...


1 2 3 Next

General Motors may drive in Nano rival with Chinese help

31 May 2010, 0326 hrs IST,Nandini Sen Gupta,ET Bureau
SHANGHAI: General Motors may use its Chinese associations to launch a rival for Tata Nano in India, a top company executive told ET.

"We will look at every market segment and I wouldn't rule out anything," said Timothy E Lee, president, GM International Operations, when asked about competing in India's new entry-level segment.

The US carmaker believes its joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), one of the top three automakers in China, will help it introduce a car to compete with the world's cheapest car at Rs 1 lakh.

GM's small cars already in India such as Chevrolet Beat, Spark and Aveo are designed in South Korea, at erstwhile Daewoo Motors.

"When you harvest from your partnerships the collective wisdom of other cultures, it's incredible what you can do," Mr Lee said.

This marks a u-turn in the US carmaker's earlier stand when its global officials indicated that they did not think the Nano segment was viable for the company.

But now GM bets on its China connection to break new grounds. SAIC has already acquired 50% stake in GM India.

The first products from General Motors' three-way joint venture in China with Wuling and SAIC will be introduced in India end 2011 when it will roll out two minivans — Wuling Rongguang and Sunshine. These will be built at GM India's Talegaon and Halol plants.

"The portfolio of GM, SAIC and SGMW will be looked at for India," said Mr Lee.

GM India now has access to the complete portfolio of GM, SAIC as well as the SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Company combine to be introduced in the country, said Mr Lee.


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This will include several cost-effective products in both passenger and commercial vehicle space from the SAIC-Wuling alliance.

Meanwhile, the Chinese carmakers are happy coming to India with a GM tag.

"We are going to position ourselves as a GM partner in India to create opportunities for everyone," said Zhu Xiang Jun, executive director at SAIC Motor Corporation.

"These models are not Chinese models but GM's global models which will be taken to India to create jobs and opportunities," added Mr Jun.

While GM gives them access to a name that ruled the global automobile market till recently and an established network in India, an equally compelling reason might be India's sensitivity to Chinese companies.

New Delhi recently told Indian telcos not to place orders with Chinese equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp due to security concerns.

GM officials, however, say that there has been no indication that Indian authorities have a problem with SAIC buying 50% stake in GM India.

"This sector has automatic approval and its not sensitive like telecom," said P Balendran, spokesman of GM India. "We have had a detailed discussion with Indian officials and they don't have a problem," he added.

He said that the architecture for the Wuling products will come from China but they will be made in Halol and Talegaon.

Apart from the Wuling minivans, GM's Chinese alliance could spawn other products for India including the recently launched Chevy Sail, touted as its first car totally developed at Shanghai GM.

GM officials say the Chinese alliance will help GM India emerge as a volume player in this market quickly.
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India to be among top ten markets for GM by 2011

30 May 2010, 0019 hrs IST,PTI
SHANGHAI: Buoyed by the increase in sales after the launch of the small car Beat, along with the robust growth in the Indian automobile sector, car maker General Motors expects India to figure amongst its top ten markets globally by next year.

"I think by 2011, India should be among the top ten markets for General Motors globally... and I would be really surprised, if it doesn't happen...," General Motors(GM) China Group President and Managing Director Kevin E Wale said here.

As per the information available, in 2009, the total sales of the company in India stood at 69,579 units. However, with the launch of its global small car Beat it expects to achieve a sale of 100,000 units in the current year.

GM had launched Beat in the Indian market earlier this year during the Auto Expo and it is now the highest selling vehicle from its portfolio in the country.

Currently with the sale of over 2 million units, US is the largest market for the Detriot-based company followed by China at 1.8 million units.


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The company expects that as the Indian automobile market is growing at a double digit rate, the country may soon enter into top ten markets globally by replacing Australia, which is at the 10th place with a sale of 1.2 lakh units.

Indian automobile industry has reported a growth of 26.41 per cent growth in sales in 2009-10 riding on the government's stimulus packages that perked demand, making it the second fastest growing market in the world after China.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had forecast 10-14 per cent growth for the industry during 2010-11.

According to the information provided by SIAM, the total Indian market for passenger cars in 2009-10 rose by over 25 per cent to 1.5 million units from 1.2 million units.

General Motors is operating in India for the last 13 years and it sell cars in the country under the Chevrolet brand, which was introduced in 2003.

Granting new bank licences: RBI needs fine balancing act


31 May 2010, 0616 hrs IST,
The finance minister's Budget announcement on issuing new bank licences has set the financial sector ablaze with interest. Many organisations are deeply interested in a bank licence. Industrial houses in financial services with non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) see this as an opportunity to fully penetrate the segment, focused NBFCs see this as a way to obtain a stable liability source, and others — professionals with backing of financial institutions — see this as a way to enter an exciting growth area and capture value . How should the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) consider whom to grant licences?

The context today is very different from when UTI Bank — now Axis Bank — obtained a bank licence in 1994. At that time, there was a need to increase the efficiency of the domestic banking sector by creating more competition. Since then, the level of efficiency of the sector has improved dramatically. Whether you look at the extent of technology adoption, new segments served — retail advances have grown from 10% to 20% of total advances — growth of return on assets from 0.4% to over 1%, reduction in non-performing assets from 6% to less than 1%, or fall in cost-income ratio from 67% to 44%.

Today, the need for new banks cannot be justified on the grounds of more competition. However, the country continues to lag in respect of financial-deepening ratios, M2 as per cent of GDP at 28%, or branches per-million inhabitants at 56,000, and even bank assets as a per cent of GDP at 95, compared to some mid-income countries. There is much literature supporting the positive link between financial deepening and growth and, in this round, the RBI might use new banks as an instrument to facilitate financial deepening.

Specifically, the RBI will need to address the following questions: how many licences should it issue, what should be the minimum capital requirement, whether NBFCs should be allowed to convert into banks and whether industrial houses should be considered for grant of bank licences. Thereafter, it must consider the criterion by which it selects between applicants. Here's my take.






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The Naxalite Insurgency In India

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

By Kristian A. Kennedy for Geopoliticalmonitor.com

While many western observers would point to violent secessionism in Kashmir as the direst threat to Indian national security, the government of India has identified the Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgency as its most significant security challenge. A vast swath of India, from West Bengal in the northeast to Andhra Pradesh in the south, has come under the influence of the Naxalites -- the "Red Taliban" as they have been called. In recent years the Indian government has stepped-up its counter-insurgency initiatives in an attempt to contain and rollback the movement's influence. In fact, New Delhi has even redeployed security forces from Kashmir to central and eastern India in response to this development.

Who are the Naxalites?


Taking its name from the 1967 peasant revolt in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari, the Naxalite movement is a left-wing guerrilla force that is seeking to overthrow the Indian government. Since the time of the Naxalbari revolt the movement has taken on various forms and its support has fluctuated from one decade to the next. Its most recent manifestation is the result of a 2004 decision by two Maoist groupings, the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre, to join forces to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This post-2004 incarnation of the Naxalite insurgency has been one of the most sustained -- and perhaps the most lethal.

While India's other communist parties participate in electoral politics, the CPI(M) follows Mao's dictum that power flows from the barrel of a gun. The CPI(M) has declared, and government officials have acknowledged, that the Naxalites are conducting an insurgency in accordance with Mao's "protracted people's war" strategy [1]. The Naxalites view Indian society through the lens of Mao's theory of the developing world's rural poor as a pivotal revolutionary force in the class struggle. They have sought to build support among the region's lower castes, adivasis (tribal groups), and other sectors of the peasantry by establishing insurgent strongholds ("liberated zones") in districts where government authority is weak. The Party's cadres expand their influence outwards from these bases, and in doing so, they broaden their popular base through political mobilization. The targets of the Naxal class struggle are the region's upper castes, "feudal" landlords, commercial interests, and the security forces.

India's Maoist Redux


Naxalism presents a seeming paradox: the country with the second highest growth rates of the major economies finds itself in the throes of a largely agrarian rebellion inspired by an ideology that has lost its lustre in much of the world. In 2006 India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, pronounced Naxalism to be "the single biggest internal security challenge" India has ever faced [2].

Why have the Naxalites come to loom so large as a security challenge? First, a large area of the country has fallen under varying degrees of CPI(M) influence. According to one estimate, approximately 40% of India's territory is under some form of Maoist influence [3]. Just as the Maoist Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") of Peru emerged in the poor, mostly indigenous city of Ayacucho and spread outward to other areas of the Andean sierra, so the Naxalite centre-of-gravity is an area of the country that comprises several of India's most underdeveloped states -- a "Red Corridor" that includes Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa. Although establishing concrete numbers of supporters is a challenge, the Research and Analysis Wing, India's intelligence service, estimates that CPI(M) armed cadres number about 20,000 [4]. Tenuous government control, the destruction of public infrastructure, the sabotage of industrial interests, and ambushes of state security forces all pose a significant challenge to internal stability in areas of eastern and central India. A study published this month counted the Maoist insurgency as an obstacle in the way of India's emergence as a world power [3].

Government Responses


In November 2009 the Indian government announced a plan to bolster the anti-Naxalite efforts of affected states with a national counter-insurgency strategy. The strategy, which the Indian prime minister characterized as an approach that will "walk on two legs," combines a campaign to hold and clear Naxal strongholds with development projects to address what Singh acknowledged as "the sense of deprivation and alienation" in the region [2]. Known unofficially as Operation "Green Hunt," New Delhi forecasts that the campaign to re-assert government authority and win back the support of affected sectors of the population in the Red Corridor will take two years.

The spread of violence has spurred the growth of non-state anti-Naxal groupings. The most notable among them is the Salwa Judum in the state of Chhattisgarh. Like the Naxalites, these groups seek to recruit from the state's tribal groups, leaving civilians caught between competing groups on the left and the right. State officials in Chhattisgarh have actively supported the use of the Salwa Judum to counter the Naxalites, an approach that is not without controversy and as a result has generated criticism from India's Supreme Court and the central government in Delhi [5].

Foreign Support


It is difficult to establish the degree and scope of external involvement in the Naxalite insurgency. Nepalese and Filipino Maoist outfits have long been suspected of providing rhetorical and material support to the CPI(M). Following central government claims of possible arms transfers from Nepal, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) publicly admitted to having ties with the CPI(M) but did not detail its involvement [6]. Similarly, Indian and Filipino intelligence services allege that the Communist Party of the Philippines, a faction that is waging its own guerrilla war in that country, has established links with the Naxalites [7]. New Delhi also contends that it has evidence that remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are providing training to CPI(M) cadres in India [8].

Looking forward


New Delhi confronts a major challenge in the Red Corridor. Working in conjunction with the governments of affected states, the central government faces the task of winning hearts and minds in geographically isolated and economically dislocated regions of the country. It must do so even as the Naxalites work to mobilize the masses, escalate their class war, and broaden the Maoist footprint on the subcontinent. While the chances of a Naxalite seizure of power appear remote, the insurgency will continue to hold back much-needed development. It remains to be seen how effective the current counter-insurgency strategy is at strengthening the writ of the state and extending development in the region.


This article was published by Geopoliticalmonitor.com and reprinted with permission.


End Notes


[1] South Asia Terrorism Portal. "Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)." http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/CPI_M.htm; Pillai, Gopal K. "Left-Wing Extremism in India." Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses. http://www.idsa.in/event/EPLS/Left-WingExtremisminIndia.

[2] Prime Minister's Office. "PM's speech at the Chief Minister's [sic] meet on Naxalism." April 13, 2006. http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=311.

[3] Mahadevan, Prem. Rising India: Challenges and Constraints. Zurich, Switzerland: Center for Security Studies, 2010. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Policy-Briefs/Detail/?id=116169.

[4] Malhotra (Ret'd), Col. Chander. "Red Terror." South Asia Defence & Strategic Review. February 10, 2010. http://www.defstrat.com/exec/frmArticleDetails.aspx?DID=226.

[5] Press Trust of India. Hindustan Times. "Govt disapproves of 'non-state' law enforcers like Salwa Judum." December 17, 2008. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/Govt-disapproves-of-non-state-law-enforcers/Article1-358723.aspx; Sinha, Bhadra. Hindustan Times. "SC against tribal force fighting Naxalites." February 6, 2009. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/SC-against-tribal-force-fighting-Naxalites/Article1-375344.aspx.

[6] The Hindu. "Naxals get arms from abroad: Chidambaram." October 24, 2009. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article38017.ece; Deccan Herald. "Nepali Maoists confirm support to Indian Naxals." November 3, 2009. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/34111/nepali-maoists-confirm-support-indian.html.

[7] Mandal, Caesar. Times of India. "Filipino insurgents in league with Maoists." April 12, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Filipino-insurgents-in-league-with-Maoists/articleshow/5785852.cms.

[8] Srivastava, Siddarth. Asia Times Online. "India probes Maoists' foreign links." November 11, 2009. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK11Df03.html.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/2010/05/naxalite-insurgency-in-india.html
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Communist Party of India (Marxist)

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Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Secretary-GeneralPrakash Karat
Leader in Lok SabhaBasudev Acharia[1]
Leader in Rajya SabhaSitaram Yechuri[1]
Founded1964
HeadquartersNew Delhi, India
NewspaperPeople's Democracy (English),
Lok Lehar (Hindi)
Student wingStudents Federation of India
Youth wingDemocratic Youth Federation of India
Women's wingAll India Democratic Womens Association
Labour wingCentre of Indian Trade Unions
Peasant's wingAll India Kisan Sabha
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism-Leninism
ECI Status Recognised Party
AllianceLeft Front
Seats in Lok Sabha16
Seats in Rajya Sabha14
Election symbol
ECI-hammer-sickle-star.png
Website
Official Website
Politics of India
Political parties
Elections

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated CPI(M) or CPM) is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2010, CPI(M) is leading the state governments in these three states. The party emerged out of a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964. CPI(M) claimed to have 982,155 members in 2007.[2]

Contents

[hide]

History

Split in the Communist Party of India and formation of CPI(M)

CPI(M) emerged out of a division within the Communist Party of India (CPI). The undivided CPI had experienced a period of upsurge during the years following the Second World War. The CPI led armed rebellions in Telangana, Tripura and Kerala. However, it soon abandoned the strategy of armed revolution in favour of working within the parliamentary framework. In 1950 B.T. Ranadive, the CPI general secretary and a prominent representative of the radical sector inside the party, was demoted on grounds of left-adventurism.

Campaign vehicle in Ernakulam
Bengali mural for the CPI(M) candidate in the Kolkata North West constituency in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Sudhangshu Seal
18th CPI(M) West Bengal state conference mural

Under the government of the Indian National Congress party of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India developed close relations and a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet government consequently wished that the Indian communists moderate their criticism towards the Indian state and assume a supportive role towards the Congress governments. However, large sections of the CPI claimed that India remained a semi-feudal country, and that class struggle could not be put on the back-burner for the sake of guarding the interests of Soviet trade and foreign policy. Moreover, the Indian National Congress appeared to be generally hostile towards political competition. In 1959 the central government intervened to impose President's Rule in Kerala, toppling the E.M.S. Namboodiripad cabinet (the sole non-Congress state government in the country).

Simultaneously, the relations between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China soured. In the early 1960s the Communist Party of China began criticising the CPSU of turning revisionist and of deviating from the path of Marxism-Leninism. Sino-Indian relations also deteriorated, as border disputes between the two countries erupted into the Indo-China war of 1962.

During the war, a faction of the Indian Communists backed the position of the Indian government, while other sections of the party claimed that it was a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist state. Hundreds of CPI leaders, accused of being pro-Chinese were imprisoned. Some of the nationalists were also imprisoned, as they used to express their opinion only in party forums, and CPI's official stand was pro-China. Thousands of Communists were detained without trial.[3] Those targeted by the state accused the pro-Soviet leadership of the CPI of conspiring with the Congress government to ensure their own hegemony over the control of the party.

In 1962 Ajoy Ghosh, the general secretary of the CPI, died. After his death, S.A. Dange was installed as the party chairman (a new position) and E.M.S. Namboodiripad as general secretary. This was an attempt to achieve a compromise. Dange represented the rightist faction of the party and E.M.S. the leftist faction.

At a CPI National Council meeting held on April 11, 1964, 32 Council members walked out in protest, accusing Dange and his followers of "anti-unity and anti-Communist policies".[4]

The leftist section, to which the 32 National Council members belonged, organised a convention in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh July 7 to 11. In this convention the issues of the internal disputes in the party were discussed. 146 delegates, claiming to represent 100,000 CPI members, took part in the proceedings. The convention decided to convene the 7th Party Congress of CPI in Calcutta later the same year.[5]

Marking a difference from the Dangeite sector of CPI, the Tenali convention was marked by the display of a large portrait of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.[5]

Communism in India
Indicom.PNG

Communist Party of India
AITUC - AIKS - AIYF
AISF - NFIW - BKMU

Communist Party of India (Marxist)
CITU - AIKS - DYFI
SFI - AIDWA - GMP

Naxalbari uprising
Communist Party of India (M-L)
Liberation - New Democracy
Janashakti - PCC - 2nd CC
Red Flag - Class Struggle
Communist Party of India (Maoist)

Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
AIUTUC - AIMSS
AIDYO - AIDSO

A. K. Gopalan
E. M. S. Namboodiripad
B. T. Ranadive
Charu Majumdar
Jyoti Basu
S. A. Dange
Shibdas Ghosh
T. Nagi Reddy

Tebhaga movement
CCOMPOSA

Communism
World Communist Movement

Communism Portal

At the Tenali convention a Bengal-based pro-Chinese group, representing one of the most radical streams of the CPI left wing, presented a draft programme proposal of their own. These radicals criticised the draft programme proposal prepared by M. Basavapunniah for undermining class struggle and failing to take a clear pro-Chinese position in the ideological conflict between the CPSU and CPC.[6]

After the Tenali convention the CPI left wing organised party district and state conferences. In West Bengal, a few of these meetings became battlegrounds between the most radical elements and the more moderate leadership. At the Calcutta Party District Conference an alternative draft programme was presented to the leadership by Parimal Das Gupta (a leading figure amongst far-left intellectuals in the party). Another alternative proposal was brought forward to the Calcutta Party District Conference by Azizul Haque, but Haque was initially banned from presenting it by the conference organisers. At the Calcutta Party District Conference 42 delegates opposed M. Basavapunniah's official draft programme proposal.

At the Siliguri Party District Conference, the main draft proposal for a party programme was accepted, but with some additional points suggested by the far-left North Bengal cadre Charu Majumdar. However, Harekrishna Konar (representing the leadership of the CPI left wing) forbade the raising of the slogan Mao Tse-Tung Zindabad (Long live Mao Tse-Tung) at the conference.

Parimal Das Gupta's document was also presented to the leadership at the West Bengal State Conference of the CPI leftwing. Das Gupta and a few other spoke at the conference, demanding the party ought to adopt the class analysis of the Indian state of the 1951 CPI conference. His proposal was, however, voted down.[7]

The Calcutta Congress was held between October 31 and November 7, at Tyagraja Hall in southern Calcutta. Simultaneously, the Dange group convened a Party Congress of CPI in Bombay. Thus, the CPI divided into two separate parties. The group which assembled in Calcutta would later adopt the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)', in order to differentiate themselves from the Dange group. The CPI(M) also adopted its own political programme. P. Sundarayya was elected general secretary of the party.

In total 422 delegates took part in the Calcutta Congress. CPI(M) claimed that they represented 104,421 CPI members, 60% of the total party membership.

At the Calcutta conference the party adopted a class analysis of the character of the Indian state, that claimed the Indian big bourgeoisie was increasingly collaborating with imperialism.[8]

Parimal Das Gupta's alternative draft programme was not circulated at the Calcutta conference. However, Souren Basu, a delegate from the far-left stronghold Darjeeling, spoke at the conference asking why no portrait had been raised of Mao Tse-Tung along the portraits of other communist stalwarts. His intervention met with huge applauses from the delegates of the conference.[8]

Early years of CPI (M)

The CPI (M) was born into a hostile political climate. At the time of the holding of its Calcutta Congress, large sections of its leaders and cadres were jailed without trial. Again on December 29-30, over a thousand CPI (M) cadres were arrested, and held in jail without trial. In 1965 new waves of arrests of CPI(M) cadres took place in West Bengal, as the party launched agitations against the rise in fares in the Calcutta Tramways and against the then prevailing food crisis. State-wide general strikes and hartals were observed on August 5, 1965, March 10-11, 1966 and April 6, 1966. The March 1966 general strike results in several deaths in confrontations with police forces.

Also in Kerala, mass arrests of CPI(M) cadres were carried out during 1965. In Bihar, the party called for a Bandh (general strike) in Patna on August 9, 1965 in protest against the Congress state government. During the strike, police resorted to violent actions against the organisers of the strike. The strike was followed by agitations in other parts of the state.

P. Sundaraiah, after being released from jail, spent the period of September 1965-February 1966 in Moscow for medical treatment. In Moscow he also held talks with the CPSU.[9]

The Central Committee of CPI(M) held its first meeting on June 12-19 1966. The reason for delaying the holding of a regular CC meeting was the fact that several of the persons elected as CC members at the Calcutta Congress were jailed at the time.[10] A CC meeting had been scheduled to have been held in Trichur during the last days of 1964, but had been cancelled due to the wave of arrests against the party. The meeting discussed tactics for electoral alliances, and concluded that the party should seek to form a broad electoral alliances with all non-reactionary opposition parties in West Bengal (i.e. all parties except Jan Sangh and Swatantra Party). This decision was strongly criticised by the Communist Party of China, the Party of Labour of Albania, the Communist Party of New Zealand and the radicals within the party itself. The line was changed at a National Council meeting in Jullunder in October 1966, were it was decided that the party should only form alliances with selected left parties.[11]

1967 General Election

1967 CPI(M) election results
(seats won / seats contested / seats total / votes / % of total vote)
Lok Sabha: 19 / 59 / 520 / 6246522 / 4.28%
Elections to State Legislative Assemblies:
Andhra Pradesh 9 / 83 / 287 / 1053855 / 7.61%
Assam0 / 14 / 126 / 61165 / 1.97%
Bihar4 / 32 / 318 / 173656 / 1.28%
Haryana 0 / 8 / 81 / 16379 / 0.54%
Himachal Pradesh0 / 6 / 60 / 3019 / 0.39%
Kerala52 / 59 / 133 / 1476456 / 23.51%
Madhya Pradesh 0 / 9 / 296 / 20728 / 0.23%
Maharashtra1 / 11 / 270 / 145083 / 1.08%
Manipur0 / 5 / 30 / 2093 / 0.67%
Mysore 1 / 10 / 216 / 82531 / 1.10%
Orissa1 / 10 / 140 / 46597 / 1.16%
Punjab3 / 13 / 104 / 138857 / 3.26%
Rajasthan0 / 22 / 184 / 79826 / 1.18%
Tamil Nadu 11 / 22 / 234 / 623114 / 4.07%
Tripura2 / 16 / 30 / 93739 / 21.61%
Uttar Pradesh1 / 57 / 425 / 272565 / 1.27%
West Bengal 43 / 135 / 280 / 2293026 / 18.11%

In the 1967 Lok Sabha elections CPI(M) nominated 59 candidates. In total 19 of them were elected. The party received 6.2 million votes (4.28% of the nationwide vote). By comparison, CPI won 23 seats and got 5.11% of the nation-wide vote. In the state legistative elections held simultaneously, the CPI(M) emerged as a major party in Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala a United Front government led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad was formed.[12] In West Bengal, CPI(M) was the main force behind the United Front government formed. The Chief Ministership was given to Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress (a regional splinter-group of the Indian National Congress).

Naxalbari uprising

At this point the party stood at crossroads. There were radical sections of the party who were wary of the increasing parliamentary focus of the party leadership, especially after the electoral victories in West Bengal and Kerala. Developments in China also affected the situation inside the party. In West Bengal two separate internal dissident tendencies emerged, which both could be identified as supporting the Chinese line.[13] In 1967 a peasant uprising broke out in Naxalbari, in northern West Bengal. The insurgency was led by hardline district-level CPI(M) leaders Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal. The hardliners within CPI(M) saw the Naxalbari uprising as the spark that would ignite the Indian revolution. The Communist Party of China hailed the Naxalbari movement, causing an abrupt break in CPI(M)-CPC relations.[14] The Naxalbari movement was violently repressed by the West Bengal government, of which CPI(M) was a major partner. Within the party, the hardliners rallied around an All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries. Following the 1968 Burdwan plenum of CPI(M) (held on April 5-12, 1968), the AICCCR separated themselves from CPI(M). This split divided the party throughout the country. But notably in West Bengal, which was the centre of the violent radicalist stream, no prominent leading figure left the party. The party and the Naxalites (as the rebels were called) were soon to get into a bloody feud.

In Andhra Pradesh another revolt was taking place. There the pro-Naxalbari dissidents had not established any presence. But in the party organisation there were many veterans from the Telangana armed struggle, who rallied against the central party leadership. In Andhra Pradesh the radicals had a strong base even amongst the state-level leadership. The main leader of the radical tendency was T. Nagi Reddy, a member of the state legislative assembly. On June 15, 1968 the leaders of the radical tendency published a press statement outlining the critique of the development of CPI(M). It was signed by T. Nagi Reddy, D.V. Rao, Kolla Venkaiah and Chandra Pulla Reddy.[15] In total around 50% of the party cadres in Andhra Pradesh left the party to form the Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries, under the leadership of T. Nagi Reddy.[16]

Dismissal of United Front governments in West Bengal and Kerala

In November 1967, the West Bengal United Front government was dismissed by the central government. Initially the Indian National Congress formed a minority government led by Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, but that cabinet did not last long. Following the proclamation that the United Front government had been dislodged, a 48-hour hartal was effective throughout the state. After the fall of the Ghosh cabinet, the state was but under President's Rule. CPI(M) launched agitations against the interventions of the central government in West Bengal.

The 8th Party Congress of CPI(M) was held in Cochin, Kerala, on December 23-29, 1968. On December 25, 1968, whilst the congress was held, 42 Dalits were burned alive in the Tamil village of Kilavenmani. The massacre was a retaliation from landlords after Dalit labourers had taken part in a CPI(M)-led agitation for higher wages.[17][18]

The United Front government in Kerala was forced out of office in October 1969, as the CPI, RSP, KTP and Muslim League ministers resigned. E.M.S. Namboodiripad handed in his resignation on October 24.[19] A coalition government led by CPI leader C. Achutha Menon was formed, with the outside support of the Indian National Congress.

Elections in West Bengal and Kerala

Fresh elections were held in West Bengal in 1969. CPI(M) contested 97 seats, and won 80. The party was now the largest in the West Bengal legislative.[20] But with the active support of CPI and the Bangla Congress, Ajoy Mukherjee was returned as Chief Minister of the state. Mukherjee resigned on March 16, 1970, after a pact had been reached between CPI, Bangla Congress and the Indian National Congress against CPI(M). CPI(M) strove to form a new government, instead but the central government put the state under President's Rule.

In Kerala fresh elections were held in 1970. CPI(M) contested 73 seats and won 29. After the election Achutha Menon formed a new ministry, including ministers from the Indian National Congress.

Formation of CITU

2004 election mural for CPI(M) candidate Sujan Chakraborty in Jadavpur

Following the 1964 split, CPI(M) cadres had remained active with the All India Trade Union Congress. But as relations between CPI and CPI(M) soured, with the backdrop of confrontations in West Bengal and Kerala, a split also surfaced in the AITUC. In December 1969, eight CPI(M) members walked out of an AITUC Working Committee meeting. The eight called for an All India Trade Union Convention, which was held in Goa April 9-10, 1970. The convention decided that an All India Trade Union Conference be held on May 28-31 in Calcutta. The Calcutta conference would be the founding conference of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, a new pro-CPI(M) trade union movement.[21]

Outbreak of war in East Pakistan

In 1971 Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) declared its independence from Pakistan. The Pakistani military tried to quell the uprising. India intervened militarily and gave active backing to the Bangladeshi resistance. Millions of Bangladeshi refugees sought shelter in India, especially in West Bengal.

At the time the radical sections of the Bangladeshi communist movement was divided into many factions. Whilst the pro-Soviet Communist Party of Bangladesh actively participated in the resistance struggle, the pro-China communist tendency found itself in a peculiar situation as China had sided with Pakistan in the war. In Calcutta, where many Bangladeshi leftists had sought refuge, CPI(M) worked to coordinate the efforts to create a new political organization. In the fall of 1971 three small groups, which were all hosted by the CPI(M), came together to form the Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist). The new party became the sister party of CPI(M) in Bangladesh.[22]

1971 General Election

Martyrs Column in Haripad, Kerala

With the backdrop of the Bangladesh War and the emerging role of Indira Gandhi as a populist national leader, the 1971 election to the Lok Sabha was held. CPI(M) contested 85 seats, and won in 25. In total the party mustered 7510089 votes (5.12% of the national vote). 20 of the seats came from West Bengal (including Somnath Chatterjee, elected from Burdwan), 2 from Kerala (including A.K. Gopalan, elected from Trichur), 2 from Tripura (Biren Dutta and Dasarath Deb) and 1 from Andhra Pradesh.[23]

In the same year, state legislative elections were held in three states; West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. In West Bengal CPI(M) had 241 candidates, winning 113 seats. In total the party mustered 4241557 votes (32.86% of the state-wide vote). In Tamil Nadu CPI(M) contested 37 seats, but drew blank. The party got 259298 votes (1.65% of the state-wide vote). In Orissa the party contested 11 seats, and won in two. The CPI(M) vote in the state was 52785 (1.2% of the state-wide vote).[24]

1970s, 1980s, 1990s

In the 1977 election, the CPI(M) gained the majority in the Legislative Assembly of the State of West Bengal, defeating the Congress (I). Jyoti Basu became the chief minister of West Bengal, an office he held until his retirement in 2000. The CPI(M) has held the majority in the West Bengal government continuously since 1977.

Controversies

2007 Nandigram conflict

Nandigram is a rural area in the Eastern Mednipur district of West Bengal. Most of the people are dependent on agriculture, and other related activities as occupation. Agriculture not at all times of the year compesates them a healthy living. To improve this condition, The Left Front Government had chose Nandigram as a site for a 'Chemical Hub' project. Haldia Development Authority had put a notice of land acquisition.[25] This was the same time when Trinamul Congress headed by Mamta Banerjee had mobilized the villagers against the Left Front government, and set up an umbrella organization known as Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee. It was openly supported by the Socialist Unity Centre of India, Jamat E Ulema e Hind, PCC, CPIML, Indian National Congress and others. [26]Evidences are there to prove the activeness of Maoists in the BUPC.[27] On 3rd of January 2007, a meeting was going on in the Local Panchayat office of Nandigram, over the chemical hub issue, suddenly a group of Trinamul Congress supporters came to Panchayat office, and demanded a complete roll back of this SEZ project. When Samerun Bibi, the Panchayat Pradhan had asked them to leave the office, they ransaked the whole office. Panchayat Pradhan had lodged a police complaint against this. When Police arrived on the spot the Police Vehicle was attacked by an armed mob, resulting injuries to 11 policemen, which includes 2 officers also. Open hand of Trinamul Congress was in this attack it was later proved when a looted police rifle was found at the home of a local Trinamul MLA Subhendu Adhikari. Violent attacks on Police have continued thereafter, and police had refused to enter the area again. Bridges and link roads that connected Nandigram to the rest of the country were cut off, and trenches were dig to cut off the area compleately, which was followed by the buring of the local CPIM party office by the armed mob. CPIM Leaders and sympathisers were attacked too, and were forced to leave the area. On 7th January the armed gang of possibly TMC activists have attacked 'Shankar Samanta', the CPIM Panchayat member, the hooligoons have beaten him up, burnt his house, and then burnt him alive till death on haystack. A women was raped by these hooligoons, just because she belonged to a family of CPIM sympathisers. [28] On January 19th 2007, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced that no land acqusition will be done in Nandigram without peoples' conscent, even then the BUPC didn't give back the area to the state government.[29] In the meantime about 2500 of CPM sympathisers who were thrown out of the village were living in the refugee camps under poor health care, no schooling for the kids, fear of violent attacks, shortage of food etc. Till March 2007 Nandigram was declared as a Liberated Zone from the Union of India. On 10th of March 2007 an All Party Public Meeting was called upon by the District Administration of East Medinapore. BUPC and TMC boycotted the meeting, Left Front Members and Members of Bharatiya Janta Party were present in the meeting. A consensus was made that the District Administration must ensure the peace and the normalancy in the area. Following this The Bengal Police has launched an joint operation to regain the area of Nandigram. The Police was violently resisted by the human chain of tribals, Maoists, TMC members and others. There are evidences that the Maoists have opened fire on the Police teams.[30] In self defence the police had retaliated back, leaving 13 people dead, an another person was killed when a country made bomb was exploded in his hand. 24 other people and atleast 18 policemen were critically injured in the incident[31] Chief Minister had called this incident, as 'a great mistake'.[32] Till november same year, after find no alternative to regain Nandigram, The People who were living a life of pity in the refugee camps had launched a movement and attacked the occupiers of nandigram, and finally regained the area. Peace was established in the area, after this and refugee camps were closed. After Eleven Months of Terror Nandigram had took a breath in free.[33]

Corruption charge

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a report said that Pinaryi Vijayan (member of Politburo and Kerala state secretary of CPI(M)) had struck a deal as electricity minister of Kerala in 1998 with SNC Lavalin, a Canadian firm, for the repair of three generators, which was a huge fraud and had cost the state exchequer a staggering Rs 3.76 billion. On 16 January 2007, Kerala High Court ordered a CBI enquiry into the SNC Lavalin case.[34]. On 21 January 2009, CBI filed a progress report on the investigation in the Kerala high court. Pinarayi Vijayan has been named as the 9th accused in the case.[35][36]. CPM has backed Vijayan saying the case is politically motivated[37][38][39]. The CPM led Kerala Governemnt decided not to let Vijayan to be prosecuted in the case[40]. Overruling the cabinet recommendation, the Governeor allowed CBI to prosecute Vijayan based on prima facie evidence[41]. This is first time in the history of the party a politburo member is being prosecuted in a corruption case [42]. Later on Central Bureau of Investigation gave clean chit to Vijayan in this case.[43]. The accusition of corruption on vijayan was accused to be moved by political reasons, and his party CPIM has always backed vijayan on this issue.[44]

Disciplinary action against V.S. Achuthanandan

On 12 July 2009, CPIM central committee has decided to remove Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan from its politburo. This decision invoked widespread criticism from general public and party workers, as the decision looked favoring Pinarayi Vijayan who is accused in a multi-crore corruption case and against the anti-corruption stand taken by V.S.[45][46][47][48].

Criticism of Economic Policies

The CPI(M) faces criticism from leftwing sectors regarding its governance policies.[49] Some CPI(M) insiders have also raised questions about CPI(M) compromising with corporate interests. Budhadeb Bhattacharya's own cabinet minister (Land Reform Minister) and CPI(M) leader Abdul Razzak Mollah opposed Buddhadeb's supposedly "neo-liberal" line.[citation needed] He opposed the provisions of the land acquisition bill in the West Bengal state assembly. Former West Bengal finance minister and former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Dr. Ashok Mitra also expressed his disagreements with what he sees as CPI(M)'s ideological shift towards economic liberalisation.

In Kerala, Prof. M.N. Vijayan, former editor of the CPI(M) owned "Deshabhimani weekly", argued that CPI(M) policies are now influenced by neoliberalism and rebelled against the influence of foreign fund on party functioning, influence of capital in the cultural field, and attempt to replace class politics with that of identity politics.[50] Under M.N. Vijayan's leadership, in Kerala Adhinivesa Prathirodha Samithi (Council for Resisting Imperialist Globalisation), was formed.[51]

Prabhat Patnaik, a CPI(M) economist, has also questioned the influence of the logic of industrialisation using the Grande Industry route as being the sine qua non of industrial policy in West Bengal.[52].[49]

Criticism for use of violence

The CPM resorts to violent techniques to gain political advantages. The acts go to the extent of murdering members of other political parties.[53][54][55] In Kerala, Yuva Morcha State vice-president KT Jayakrishnan was hacked to death by the CPI(M) men in an upper primary school in East Mokeri while he was teaching his students. The BJP cadre are subject to torture by the police and CPI(M) goons in Kannur and Thalassery areas.[56][53]

Harmath acts as another tool of the party to suppress other political movement in the CPM ruled/dominated areas. Harmath is term given by the villagers to the armed militia of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. They resort to extra-constitutional methods like loot, plunder, rape and assaulting of villagers and villages suspected of having other political affiliations. The were involed in Nandigram violence. Also, in Bankura district, Baksi village was forcibly emptied of its 70% residents by a joint force of police and harmath during 2008 Gram Panchayat elections. The villagers accuse that harmath members misbehave with women and burn their food stocks. The Harmath are hired by the party by paying a lump sum of two to four lakh rupees and then they are promised an amount at regular intervals.[57]

Party organization

CPI(M) got 5.66% of votes polled in last parliamentary election (May 2004) and it has 43 MPs. It won 42.31% on an average in the 69 seats it contested. It supported the new Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, but without becoming a part of it. On 9 July 2008 it formally withdrew support from the UPA government explaining this by differences about the Indo-US nuclear deal and the IAEA Safeguards Agreement in particular.[58]

In West Bengal and Tripura it participates in the Left Front. In Kerala the party is part of the Left Democratic Front. In Tamil Nadu it was part of the ruling Democratic Progressive Alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). However, it has since withdrawn support.

Its members in Great Britain are in the electoral front Unity for Peace and Socialism with the Communist Party of Britain and the British domiciled sections of the Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). It is standing 13 candidates in the London-wide list section of the London Assembly elections in May 2008.[59]


Membership

CPI(M) 18th Congress rally in Delhi
CPI(M) rally in Agartala
A tableaux in a CPI(M) rally in Kerala, India showing two farmers forming the hammer and sickle, the most famous communist symbol.

As of 2004, the party claimed a membership of 867 763.[60]

State↓ 2001↓2002↓ 2003↓2004↓ % of party
members in
electorate↓
Andhra Pradesh407854187945516467420.0914
Assam 104801120711122109010.0726
Andaman & Nicobar 172140124900.0372
Bihar176721746916924 173530.0343
Chhattisgarh12111364107910540.0077
Delhi 11621360141714080.0161
Goa1723540670.0071
Gujarat 27993214338333980.0101
Haryana13571478147716080.0131
Himachal Pradesh10051006101410240.0245
Jammu & Kashmir 6257208308500.0133
Jharkhand25522819309732920.0200
Karnataka65747216689364920.0168
Kerala 3015623136523189693163051.4973
Madhya Pradesh224328622488 23200.0060
Maharashtra854590809796102560.0163
Manipur 3403302703000.0195
Orissa30913425350236580.0143
Punjab143281100011000100500.0586
Rajasthan 26023200350731200.0090
Sikkim20018065750.0266
Tamil Nadu868689077791709943430.1970
Tripura 387374158846277513432.5954
Uttaranchal700720740829 0.0149
Uttar Pradesh51695541547758770.0053
West Bengal 2450262628822586822749210.579
CC staff969595 87
Total7960738352398438968677630.1292

Leadership

CPI(M) leaders at the 18th party congress

The current general secretary of CPI(M) is Prakash Karat. The 19th party congress of CPI(M), held in Coimbatore March 29-April 3, 2008 elected a Central Committee with 87 members. The Central Committee later elected a 15-member Politburo:

The senior most member, V.S. Achuthanandan was removed from the Polit Bureau on July 12, 2009.

The 19th congress saw the departure of the last two members of the Polit Bureau who had been on the original Polit Bureau in 1964, Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu.[61]

State Committee secretaries

The principal mass organizations of CPI(M)

In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a major mass organization amongst the tribal peoples of the state. In Kerala the Adivasi Kshema Samithi, a tribal organisation is controlled by CPI(M).

This apart, on the cultural front as many as 12 major organisations are led by CPI(M).

Party publications

From the Centre, two weekly newspapers are published, People's Democracy (English) and Lok Lehar (Hindi). The central theoretical organ of the party is The Marxist, published quarterly in English.

Daily newspapers

Weeklies

Fortnightlies

Monthlies

Theoretical publications

Publishing houses

State governments

As of 2008, CPI(M) leads state governments in three states, West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Chief ministers belonging to the party are Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, V.S. Achuthanandan and Manik Sarkar. In West Bengal and Tripura, the party had a majority of its own in the state assemblies, but governs together with Left Front partners. In Kerala, the party is the largest component of the Left Democratic Front.

Name

Urdu mural for the CPI(M) candidate in the Kolkata North East constituency in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Mohammed Salim

In Hindi CPI(M) is often called मार्क्सवादी कमयुनिस्ट पार्टी (Marksvadi Kamyunist Party, abbreviated MaKaPa). The official party name in Hindi is however Bharatiya Kamyunist Party (Marksvadi).

During the initial period after the split 1964, the party was often referred to as 'Left Communist Party' or 'Communist Party of India (Left)'. The CPI was then, in the same parlance, dubbed as the 'Rightist Communist Party'. The party decided to adopt the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)' ahead of the March 1965 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, in order to obtain an election symbol.[64]

Splits and offshoots

A large number of parties have been formed as a result of splits from the CPI(M), such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Marxist Communist Party of India, Marxist Coordination Committee in Jharkhand, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy, Communist Marxist Party and BTR-EMS-AKG Janakeeya Vedi in Kerala, Party of Democratic Socialism in West Bengal, Janganotantrik Morcha in Tripura, the Ram Pasla group in Punjab, Orissa Communist Party in Orissa, etc.

Election results

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election the party lost several seats in two of its strongholds, West Bengal and Kerala, whilst retaining dominance in the third stronghold, Tripura.

External links

Party related websites

Party publications

Articles

See also

References

  1. ^ a b http://cpim.org/content/pr-dasmunshis-statement
  2. ^ "Political-Organizational Report adopted at the XIXth Congress of the CPI(M) held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, March 29-April 23, 2008". http://cpim.org/documents/2008-19%20cong-pol-org%20report.pdf. 
  3. ^ The bulk of the detainees came from the leftwing of CPI. However, cadres of the Socialist Unity Centre of India and the Workers Party of India were also targeted.[1]
  4. ^ The 32 were P. Sundarayya, M. Basavapunniah, T. Nagi Reddy, M. Hanumantha Rao, D.V. Rao, N. Prasad Rao, G. Bapanayya, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, A.K. Gopalan, A.V. Kunhambu, C.H. Kanaran, E.K. Nayanar, V.S. Achuthanandan Removed, E.K. Imbichibava, Promode Das Gupta, Muzaffar Ahmad, Jyoti Basu, Abdul Halim, Hare Krishna Konar, Saroj Mukherjee, P. Ramamurthi, M.R. Venkataraman, N. Sankariah, K. Ramani, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, D.S. Tapiala, Dr. Bhag Singh, Sheo Kumar Mishra, R.N. Upadhyaya, Mohan Punamiya and R.P. Saraf. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 37.
  5. ^ a b Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 51.
  6. ^ Suniti Kumar Ghosh was a member of the group that presented this alternative draft proposal. His grouping was one of several left tendencies in the Bengali party branch. Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 32.
  7. ^ Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 52-54.
  8. ^ a b Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 54.
  9. ^ M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 17-18
  10. ^ The jailed members of the new CC, at the time of the Calcutta Congress, were B.T. Ranadive, Muzaffar Ahmed, Hare Krishna Konar and Promode Das Gupta. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 44-5.
  11. ^ M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 234-235.
  12. ^ In Kerala the United Front consisted, at the time of the election, of Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Muslim League, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Karshaka Thozhilali Party and the Kerala Socialist Party.[2]
  13. ^ According to Basu (in Basu, Pradip; Towards Naxalbari (1953–67) : An Account Of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000.) there were two nuclei of radicals in the party organisation in West Bengal. One "theorist" section around Parimal Das Gupta in Calcutta, which wanted to persuade the party leadership to correct revisionist mistakes through inner-party debate, and one "actionist" section led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal in North Bengal. The 'actionists' were impatient, and strived to organize armed uprisings. According to Basu, due to the prevailing political climate of youth and student rebellion it was the 'actionists' which came to dominate the new Maoist movement in India, instead of the more theoretically advanced sections. This dichotomy is however rebuffed by followers of the radical stream, for example the CPI(ML) Liberation.
  14. ^ On July 1 People's Daily carried an article titled Spring Thunder Over India, expressing the support of CPC to the Naxalbari rebels. At its meeting in Madurai on August 18-27, 1967, the Central Committee of CPI(M) adopted a resolution titled 'Resolution on Divergent Views Between Our Party and the Communist Party of China on Certain Fundamental Issues of Programme and Policy'. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 46.
  15. ^ This press statement was reproduced in full in the central CPI(M) publication, People's Democracy, on June 30. P. Sundarayya and M. Basavapunniah, acting on behalf of the Polit Bureau of CPI(M), formulated a response to the statement on June 16, titled 'Rebuff the Rebels, Uphold Party Unity'. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 48.
  16. ^ Some perceive that the Chinese leadership severely misjudged the actual conditions of different Indian factions at the time, giving their full support to the Majumdar-Sanyal group whilst keeping the Andhra Pradesh radicals (that had a considerable mass following) at distance.
  17. ^ Dalits and land issues
  18. ^ Untitled-1
  19. ^ officialwebsite of kerala.gov.in
  20. ^ Indian National Congress had won 55 seats, Bangla Congress 33 and CPI 30. CPI(M) allies also won several seats.ECI: Statistical Report on the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Election
  21. ^ Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 56-59
  22. ^ The same is also true for the Workers Party of Bangladesh, which was formed in 1980 when BCP(L) merged with other groups. Although politically close, WPB can be said to have a more Maoist-oriented profile than CPI(M).
  23. ^ ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Lok Sabha Election
  24. ^ ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Orissa Legislative Election, ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Election, ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 West Bengal Legislative Election
  25. ^ Facts about Nandigram [[3]]
  26. ^ BUPC Facts [[4]]
  27. ^ TOI report on Naxal hand in Nandigram[[5]]
  28. ^ A report on the account of TMC violence in Nandigram [[6]]
  29. ^ Article in Tehlka over CM's comments [[7]]
  30. ^ Varvara Rao, on maoist hands in Nandigram [[8]]
  31. ^ Seetaram Yechury on 14th march issue [[9]]
  32. ^ India Today's article [[10]]
  33. ^ PD Editorial 18 November 2007[[11]]
  34. ^ "Kearala to go by HC order in Lavalin case". The Hindu Business Line. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/27161507.htm. 
  35. ^ "CBI finds Pinarayi guilty in Lavalin scam, moralistic CPM yet to act". http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CBI_finds_Pinarayi_guilty_in_Lavalin_scam_moralistic_CPM_yet_to_act/articleshow/4014521.cms. 
  36. ^ "CBI seeks nod to prosecute CPM's Kerala unit chief". http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cbi-seeks-nod-to-prosecute-cpms-kerala-unit-chief/413768/. 
  37. ^ "CPM backs Pinarayi Vijayan, says CBI move is politically motivated". The Times of India. 23 January 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/CPM_backs_Pinarayi_Vijayan_says_CBI_move_is_politically_motivated/articleshow/4018616.cms. 
  38. ^ "Does C in CPM mean corruption?". The Economic Times. 27 January 2009. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Does_C_in_CPM_mean_corruption/articleshow/4034604.cms. 
  39. ^ "CPM conspiracy theory falls flat in face of facts". The Economic Times. 27 January 2009. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CPM_conspiracy_theory_falls_flat_in_face_of_facts/articleshow/4031752.cms. 
  40. ^ "Kerala govt not to prosecute Vijayan in Lavlain case". The Times of India.. 6 May 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kerala-govt-not-to-prosecute-Vijayan-in-Lavlain-case-/articleshow/4490668.cms. 
  41. ^ "Governor allows CBI to prosecute Vijayan". The Times of India.. 8 June 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Governor-allows-CBI-to-prosecute-Vijayan/articleshow/4629178.cms. 
  42. ^ "CBI gets Governor nod to book Pinarayi". The Indian Express.. 8 June 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/CBI-gets-Governor-nod-to-book-Pinarayi/472895. 
  43. ^ Article in Hindustan Times [[12]]
  44. ^ PB Comminque(CPIM) on SNC Lavalin case [[13]]
  45. ^ "VS ' sacking rocks 'red forts'". The Indian Express.. 14 July 2009. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=VS+'+sacking+rocks+'red+forts'&artid=CCdPSZedzH8=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i. 
  46. ^ "CPI-M the loser in Achuthanandan-Pinnarayi war". CNN IBN.. 14 July 2009. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cpim-the-loser-in-achuthanandanpinnarayi-war/97057-37.html. 
  47. ^ "Founding member 'outdated' for CPM". The Indian Express.. 14 July 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Founding-member--outdated--for-CPM/488534/. 
  48. ^ "CPM action against Achuthanandan may widen Kerala unit split". Hindustan Times.. 12 July 2009. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=a1207c67-2436-437d-be0c-c1d6e2ea0cd2&ParentID=52189a16-362a-441c-afa2-6db62613316f&Headline=CPM+action+against+Achuthanandan+may+widen+Kerala+unit+split. 
  49. ^ a b "Reflections in the Aftermath of Nandigram. Article written by a "CPI(M) supporter"- Economic and Political Weekly[14]
  50. ^ "Kerala Intra-party differences". Article in Economic and Political Weekly. [15]
  51. ^ Mainstream article about M.N.Vijayan and Council for resisting Imperialist Globalization.[16]
  52. ^ "In the aftermath of Nandigram" article by Prabhat Patnaik, CPI(M) Economist and Party Member. Mr. Patnaik is the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman of CPI(M)led Kerala Govt. [17]
  53. ^ a b Four CPM men get life term - 25 March 2010
  54. ^ Eight CPIM workers sentenced to life in murder case - 28 July 2009
  55. ^ Sainbari Killings Return to Haunt CPI(M) - 17 March 2010
  56. ^ BJP to campaign against CPM violence - The Pioneer 20 November 2007
  57. ^ The Salwa Judum of Bengal - The New Indian Express 07-March-2010
  58. ^ article in The Hindu, 9 July 2008: Left meets President, hands over letter of withdrawal
  59. ^ Unity For Peace and Socialism homepage
  60. ^ Membership figures from http://www.cpim.org/pd/2005/0403/04032005_membership.htm. Electorate numbers taken from http://www.eci.gov.in/SR_KeyHighLights/LS_2004/Vol_I_LS_2004.pdf. Puducherry is counted as part of Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh counted as part of Punjab.
  61. ^ "Nine to none, founders' era ends in CPM", The Telegraph (Calcutta), April 3, 2008.
  62. ^ List of State Secretaries
  63. ^ Janashakti has replaced the previous CPI(M) organ in Karnataka, Ikyaranga
  64. ^ Basu, Jyoti. Memoirs - A Political Autobiography. Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1999. p. 189.

The China factor in Nepal

By RSN Singh
Issue: Vol 25.2 Apr-Jun 2010

Once it was annexed by China (1951), Tibet ceased to be a buffer zone for India. Both India and Nepal were taken by surprise and were at a loss as to what they could do when Mao's PLA invaded eastern Tibet with 40,000 troops in October 1950 and began to threaten Lhasa, which succumbed a year later. It may be recalled that Mao, when enunciating his stand on the liberation of Tibet, had included in his ambit the 'five fingers' – Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It was also in 1951 that with Indian assistance, the Rana rule in Nepal was overthrown and the powers of the monarchy were restored. Old timers in Nepal believe that the Indian move, amongst many other factors, was aimed at checking any further expansionism by China under Mao's leadership. In this regard, a letter dated 07 November 1950, from Sardar Patel to Nehru is instructive for its strategic prescience: "The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence. This feeling, if genuinely entertained by the Chinese in spite of your direct approaches to them, indicates that, even though we rsn-singhregard ourselves as the friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends. With the Communist mentality of 'whoever is not with them being against them', this is a significant pointer, of which we have to take due note. …we have to consider what new situation now faces us as a result of the disappearance of Tibet, as we know it, and the expansion of China almost up to our gates. Throughout history, we have seldom been worried about our north-east frontier. The Himalaya has been regarded as an impenetrable barrier against any threat from the north. We had a friendly Tibet which gave us no trouble."

The Chinese intentions and designs on Nepal have not changed. With the disappearance of Tibet, the Chinese were free to carry out their machinations in Nepal. The ideological and strategic thrust that China made into Nepal since then has metamorphosed into Maoism, which threatens the very moorings of the country and, if allowed to succeed, will have pernicious ramifications not only for India but for the entire region.

Left-wing extremism practiced by the Maoists, i.e. the CPN (M) is a progression of the communist politics and movement in Nepal. After the end of Rana rule, the rise of communists was no less encouraged by the monarchy as a counterpoise to the Nepali Congress. The external hand in the Cold War period, of course, had a major role to play. The late H Lal (ICS) who was Head of Indian Aid Mission in Nepal from 1957-60 wrote in his diary: "Who are these communists? At one time, they belonged to the Nepal Congress, but out of frustration they joined the Communist Party. If this stalemate continues more and more people are going to leave Nepal Congress and join the communists, while as a gladiator, you (the King), may cut off the heads of Nepal Congress leaders, you cannot cut the heads of the communists. They do not expose their heads. That lies in some other country. There are only limbs here. They will grow more limbs …"

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Historical Backdrop

Nepal and Tibet

Historical links with Tibet was primarily predicated on trade, salt being one of the most precious commodities. Though Nepal waged wars against Tibet, its aim was mainly to dominate the vital trade routes, rather than the acquisition of Tibetan territory. Its relations with Tibet never impacted on the sensitivities of the majority of the people in the country and this situation continues even after China's conquest of Tibet (which is not the case where India is concerned). Historically, as long as Nepal's trade interests with Tibet were preserved, it had no problems in accepting Chinese supremacy. When the British made inroads into Tibet and became a more powerful player in the region in the beginning of the 20th century, Nepal did not waste time disabusing itself of the supremacy it had accorded to China.

For most part of the 17th, 18th and 19th century, Nepal enjoyed dominance over Tibet. It was the Chinese Empire which came to the rescue of Tibet in the Nepal-Tibet wars in 1792 and 1854. In the war of 1792, the Chinese intervention resulted in a Sino-Nepalese treaty, wherein Nepal accepted China's supremacy in the region and agreed to send mission bearing tributes to the Emperor in Beijing every five years. These missions were discontinued when China's power weakened considerably in the wake of the British military expedition in Tibet in 1904, and the revolution in 1911.

Nepal again invaded Tibet in 1855. This time too the Chinese brokered peace, but in the treaty of Thapathali in 1856, though China retained its special status, this time it was Tibet which agreed to send tribute missions to Nepal. Strangely enough, this act of obeisance continued till 1953, even after Chinese occupation. Between the period of 1953 and 1955, there was a hiatus between Nepal and China, as the latter, contrary to the treaty provisions began to impose trade restrictions and pilgrimages by Nepalese to Tibet.

Nepal and China

In 1956, the old treaty was replaced with a "Treaty of Amity and Commerce" with China's new communist regime. Later, repeated offers by China for signing a defence pact were spurned by Nepal, as it would have upset its ties with India. Consequent to the 1956 Treaty all the privileges and rights that Tibet had conferred on Nepal were discontinued. In 1960, another 'Peace and Friendship Treaty' was signed. The treaty was deliberated during the visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister Mr BP Koirala in March 1960 to China and a reciprocal visit by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to Kathmandu in the following month. Zhou Enlai addressed the joint session of Nepal's Parliament. China appeared determined to resolve the issue of border delineation with Nepal. It is evidenced by the fact that China dropped its claims on Mount Everest, which they had been insisting was a Chinese feature called 'Chomolungma' in Tibetan language. In a press conference at the Singha Darbar Gallery Hall, he categorically stated that 'Sagarmatha' (the Nepalese name for Mount Everest) belonged to Nepal.

In 1961, there followed a boundary treaty through which a joint commission was set up to decide on matters relating to border alignment, as also the location and maintenance of 79 border pillars. It is significant that during the boundary demarcation process, the borderlines on the maps of the two countries did not coincide at 35 points, but the differences were quickly settled. In 1962, Nepal withdrew its ambassador from Tibet and instead a Counsel General was appointed.

India and Nepal

While Nepal maintained its neutrality in the Indo-China War of 1962, it nevertheless supported China's entry into the United Nations. Moreover in 1961, even as the Indo-China standoff had become pronounced, it signed the agreement for the construction of the Kodari-Kathmandu highway by China. During this period, particularly after King Mahendra reneged on parliamentary democracy, New Delhi-Kathmandu relations hit the nadir. The highway, which was opened in 1967 proved to be of little economic significance to Nepal, but then China indeed had made the strategic thrust into the country. The highway connected two Chinese army bases with that of forward bases in Tibet. The two Chinese army bases are within 100 kilometers of Kathmandu.

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The burgeoning Nepal-China relationship during the '60s, somewhat slowed down in the 70s because of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, after which India came to be perceived as a regional power to contend with. Also, Mao's Cultural Revolution disturbed Kathmandu as it did most of the world. Nevertheless, King Birendra continued with his 'equal friendship with India and China' balancing act. It was under these circumstances that King Birendra mooted the proposal of making Nepal into a 'zone of peace'.

By the late 80s, as the political situation in Nepal worsened, King Birendra suspected India of fomenting the trouble. As a strong signal to India, he negotiated a deal for the purchase of weapons from China. This was in total disregard of the 1950 'Indo-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty', by which Nepal was obliged to secure all defence supplies through India. This increasing belligerence of Nepal and its intransigence on many issues forced India to impose a long economic blockade of the country in 1989. This blockade, as people in Nepal feel, did generate very strong anti-Indian sentiments in certain segments of the Nepalese society, but it also contributed towards ushering in parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy.

Nepal's Geostrategic Factor

The geostrategic location of Nepal makes it a strategic interlocutor of two big regional powers, China and India. In terms of advantages of geography, historical, cultural and religious links, Nepal has leaned sharply towards India. For the economic survival of the resource starved Nepal, India is far more important than China can ever hope to be. This is the mandate of geography, given some of the world's highest snow bound mountains as its boundary with Tibet and, in high contrast, the level and invisible border with India that almost invites you to cross over either way you want. China's technological prowess is however challenging the constraints imposed by geography. The proposed Lhasa-Kathmandu railway has already caught the imagination of the people. Its extension into the rest of Nepal is being seen not only as feasible but a natural follow up move. If extended, it will generate not only greater amount of people to people contact between China and Nepal, but will generate enormous economic activity along the route in Nepal. The orientation of the Hill people will to an extent be biased towards China, while the Terai people will continue to lean on India, thus further widening the fault line.

After the 1989 economic blockade, there have been no serious aberrations in Nepal-India relations. Successive Nepalese dispensations, barring the Maoist government, were careful enough not to offend Indian security sensitivities in its exercise of relations with China. The fear of China smuggling the communist revolution into Nepal has always been lurking in the psyche of the center and right wing elements in Kathmandu. During the Cold War, the mainstream communist groups, having ideological affinities with USSR and China sided with the monarchy and its panchayati system only to increase their influence.

In the 60s and 70s, apart from the cultural revolution in China, the Naxalite movement in West Bengal in India also impacted Nepal. These two developments gave a fillip to the extremist sections of the communist parties, whose products are the present day Maoists in Nepal. The killings of feudals in the Jhapa area of eastern Nepal – 'Jhapali Uprising' – highlighted the threat posed by the Maoists.

Following the agreement for the Kodari-Kathmandu highway, there was a spurt of moves by China to negate Indian influence in Nepal. Along with the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1960, it also signed an agreement on economic aid. China agreed to grant aid of Rs100 million (Indian Rupees) within a period of three years, which was over and above the Rs 40 million provided under the 1956 Agreement. This aid had no political conditions attached to it.

Post 1962, in a further bid to isolate India, China increased economic aid to Nepal substantially. In 1969, China gave a grant amounting to Rs 159 million (Indian currency) to Nepal and further Rs 535 million in 1971. Some important Chinese aided projects in Nepal since the 1960s are the Kathmandu-Kodari Road (104 km), Kathmandu-Bhakatpur Road (13 km), Pirthviraj Marg (176 km), Kathmandu Ring Road (13 km), Pokhara-Surkhet Road (407 km), Gurkha-Narayanghat Road (60 km), Sunkosi Hydel Project (10 MW), Seti Power (1.5 MW), and Irrigation Power Project (Pokhara) and Mini Hydel Projects in Eastern and Western Nepal. While India was none too happy with these Chinese inroads through roads, as it were, into Nepal, it chose to ignore it in its bilateral dealings. But China's supply of lethal military supplies (air defence guns) to Nepal in 1988 disconcerted India, as it could have serious portends for India's security and it was at a loss to understand Kathmandu's motives. India was thus forced to exercise the most critical economic leverage – it suspended the trade and transit treaty with Nepal.

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China has been dogged in its efforts to eclipse India's influence in Nepal. The Beijing-Kathmandu defence interaction had steadily increased in the 90s. Chinese firms adopted an aggressive marketing strategy for supply of defence related items to the Nepal Army, the then Royal Nepal Army. China's involvement in infrastructure development is also on the increase. One of the reasons for the success of Chinese firms in winning contracts is their pit bottom bids even if it means a loss because they are recompensed by the Chinese Government – all a part of its influence mongering in Nepal. China has not only undertaken several development projects in Nepal but also finalized many joint ventures and have stepped up its interaction with Nepal through exchange of visits. The two countries have signed a bilateral 'Air Service Accord'. The construction of Road Kathmandu-Hetauda on the basis of 'build, operate, transfer' (50 years), is to be undertaken by China. In addition, it is likely to undertake the construction of five road links connecting Nepal and Tibet, apart from the existing Kodari Friendship Highway. These links would cover mid-western, western, central and eastern Nepal. There are about 18 passes between Tibet and Nepal, the most important being Kerong and Kuti (13000-14000 ft). The altitudes of other passes are more than 17000 feet and therefore snowbound for several months. Nepal's unique geostrategic location as a buffer state gives it diplomatic leverage in exercise of its foreign policy with India and China. Geographical accessibility, ethnicity, religious and cultural affinities has since ancient times been the umbilical chord of India-Nepal relations. Given such intertwined ties, the idea of China outstripping India's reach and influence in Nepal is farfetched. But there is no denying that China is working doggedly at it and flexing its muscles to keep India unsettled.

The contiguity of Northern Nepal with Tibet, the imperatives of trade and commerce and the need to assert its role as a regional power is what impels China to try weaning Nepal away from India. Tibet, though for all practical purposes a settled issue, remains high on Chinese security agenda. Nepal's proximity to Tibet was exploited by the USA in the late sixties, when Mustang (North Central Nepal) served as a US sponsored base for arming and launching Khampa guerillas into Tibet. However, one of the first steps that the Maoist government initiated was to circumscribe the activities of the Tibetan refugees in Nepal.

One of the main vehicles of China for influence peddling, intelligence gathering and covert operations is the International Liaison Department (ILD) of the Chinese Communist Party. Before the break up of the Soviet Union, the ILD was responsible for maintaining relations with communist/socialist parties abroad. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the international communist movement began to lose its steam and a rash of over-ground and underground ultra-leftist organizations sprouted, a phenomenon more pronounced in Asia. The ILD has been using these organizations on selective basis for furtherance of China's agenda. Even when China had close alliance with the Palace (thanks to the late Queen Mother's personal apathy to India), the ILD was strengthening its ties with the CPN (UML). Therefore, China made haste to recover its influence after the fall of the monarchy. An ILD delegation led by its director, Wang Jiarui, visited Nepal in December 2007. A meeting between Jiarui and Maoists (Prachanda) was facilitated by the present Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal – an odd move, considering that Maoists have all along condemned the CPN (UML) as revisionists.

Maoists and China

In August 2009, Prachanda, while addressing a Maoist training camp, made an outrageous claim that the fall of his government was orchestrated by the US and India as both these countries wanted to use Nepal's territory for anti-China activities, to the extent of even launching an attack on China. He also claimed that the conspiracy began to be effected after he chose to visit China before visiting New Delhi on taking over as the Prime Minister.

Some of very important non-Maoist ministers in the Maoist led government conveyed their alarm to this author about the abnormal increase in the number of visits by Chinese delegations to Nepal. When the Maoists were in power, there were 28 official delegations, while the numbers of delegations from India were about one-fourth of the number. As per sources in Nepal's Army, the numbers of unofficial Chinese delegations were even more. The aforementioned ministers had then revealed that the Maoist government and China were moving very fast on the project to extend the Tibet Railway to Kathmandu. In fact, recently, the Nepal government has officially sounded China in this regard. Some leaders believe that, once the work gets on way, India's hands would be tied because any attempt to put a spanner in the works would cause public furor. They therefore advise India to immediately make a concrete offer for the extension of the railway from India to Kathmandu and beyond up to the Chinese border.

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The stranglehold of China on the Maoist leaders was quite evident when it prevailed over Prachanda to decline the invitation to the India Today Conclave in New Delhi. Besides Maoists, some Madhesi leaders like Upendra Yadav and Maitrika Yadav are also considered extremely close to China, and are surreptitiously supporting China in the furtherance of its agendas in Nepal. Maitrika Yadav visited China in early 2009. The recent statement by the Chinese Ambassador in Nepal, to the effect that China would not allow any interference in Nepal's internal affairs further demonstrates China's resolve to wean away Nepal from its special relationship with India. A huge hoarding just outside the Kathmandu airport emblazons the words: 'Welcome to Nepal, the Gateway to China'. A wise old gentleman in Kathmandu told me with a dry smile: "They should have written 'Welcome to Nepal, China's Gateway into India'." Be that as it may, the hoarding is clear sign of Maoist instigated intimacy developing between Nepal and its northern neighbor.

gateway-to-china

Even as China is reaching out to the new CPN (UML) led government, it has not jettisoned the Maoists. The frequency of Prachanda's visit to China in recent times has created unease and suspicion amongst the non-maoist political parties and people. Prachanda went to China in the 2nd week of October 2009, accompanied by Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the chief of the UPCN-M foreign department and Mohan Baidya Kiran, the senior most member of the party, known for his aversion to India. During this visit, Prachanda had meetings with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese senior officials. This visit did not receive wide publicity in the officially controlled Chinese media and the agenda of the visit remains a secret. This visit was intriguing, as it followed Prachanda's trip to Hong Kong in September 2009 during which he reportedly had secret meetings with the Chinese officials.

Renewed thrust by China

China has been trying to exploit the political flux in Nepal. It has been insisting on setting up of a Joint Working Group on border management, just like the one between India and Nepal. Earlier, when the Maoists were in power, China had passed on a draft friendship treaty on lines similar to the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950, which the Maoists had avowed to revise. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi, who led a delegation to Nepal in February 2009, handed over the draft treaty to Nepal's Foreign Secretary Suresh Prasad Pradhan. Though the Chinese authorities maintain that the changed political context, post monarchy, makes it necessary to replace the Nepal-China Friendship Treaty of 1960, many independent observers in Nepal are convinced that the Chinese design was to weaken Nepal's ties with its southern neighbor, which had gained strength following the 1950 Friendship Treaty. The new China-Nepal treaty would by now have seen the light of the day, had Prachanda's scheduled visit to Nepal in April 2009 not been aborted due to the compulsions of domestic politics, wherein his premiership was at stake. The loss of the Maoist led government has not dampened China's renewed thrust to increase its influence and stakes in Nepal. China has been known to deal with the government of the day, irrespective of its character, composition and democratic credentials.

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To counter India's offer of Rs 2000 crore aid and development package during the visit of Madhav Kumar Nepal to India in August 2009, China is planning to provide a far larger assistance package. It is typical of Beijing to deal with the government of the day in pursuit of their strategic objectives. The exit of the Maoists from power was a great setback, but China has been quick to establish links with the Madhav Kumar Government. His party, the Communist Party of Nepal, had contacts with China at the party level even earlier. A 20-member high level political delegation led by Zhang Gaoli, a powerful member of the politburo of the Communist Party of China visited Nepal in August/September 2009 and met both the Maoist leaders as well as leaders in the present government. The delegation offered scholarships and made other goodwill gestures. The Nepali side reaffirmed its commitment to the building of the Lhasa-Kathmandu railway link.

A large number of Nepalese students, mainly those who have failed to get into engineering and medical colleges in Nepal or India, throng to China to study at facilities especially created for them. Nepal, with a population of nearly 2.8 crores has 14 medical colleges. The Chinese have a very nonchalant attitude where teaching these students is concerned, for their primary aim is to brainwash the young minds of the Nepalese to the Chinese Communist way of thinking, primed to turn Maoists on return to their homeland. Extensive visits to the prosperous areas of China forms part of the curriculum. These institutions are very poorly equipped. For most practical lessons, video tapes are shown. The standard of students graduating from the medical institutes is so poor that the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has begun to conduct tests for certification and practice in Nepal. Members of the NMA who have visited China revealed that institutions in China catering exclusively to Chinese students are far superior, state-of-art entities. Since it would be insulting to hold these examinations only for graduates from China, Indian and Nepal graduates have also been brought into the ambit. Very recently, some 600 graduates appeared for the licensing exam. Only 40 percent qualified and most of the failures were the 'Made in China' variety.

The Chinese thrust to create a pro-China constituency is not only confined to students and government officials. It is also trying to extend its soft-power into Nepal by way of a number of Chinese restaurants in some of the most conspicuous areas in Kathmandu and elsewhere. The consumer market in Nepal has been flooded with Chinese goods, but they do not enjoy the same confidence and respect as goods and consumables produced by the western countries, or even India for that matter.

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The establishment of China Study Centers (CSCs) best illustrates the renewed Chinese thrust in Nepal. At present there are ten such centers and the establishment of more is under consideration.

china-study-centertif1These centers are reportedly funded by China, though this fact is denied by Dr Upendra Gautam, General Secretary, and CSC Nepal. He maintains that the funding of these centers is through annual subscriptions of members, sale of its publications and friendly donations. Given the pro-India sentiments in the Terai, where many of these centers are located, it is difficult to believe that they would have any kind of abiding patronage of the people. Similarly in the Hills, it is again a difficult proposition to economically sustain such study centers by indigenous funding. The locations of the CSCs give reasons for suspicion that they are centers for espionage, subversion, intelligence gathering and furthering influence.

Border issues between India and Nepal have never become bitter or intractable enough to vitiate their relationship. But lately, the anti-India constituency in Nepal, particularly the Maoists, aided and abetted by China through the NGOs and CSCs, have been trying to engineer animosity between India and Nepal by magnifying the disputes which have always proved amenable to peaceful resolutions. Most of the border disputes between India and Nepal arise in the areas where the border is riverine, covering nearly one-third of the total 1,751 km long border. These disputes crop up every time the rivers change their course, creating new lands and submerging some old ones. There was an effective bilateral mechanism that existed between the two countries before Indian Independence, which for some reason was dispensed with after Independence.

A joint team inspects the border areas every year and rectifies the natural aberrations or encroachments. Belatedly, a Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee (JTC) was established in 1981. By December 2007, the JTC was successful in delineating 98 percent of the border on strip maps, signed by experts of the two countries, but the Nepalese government is still to formalize the delineation agreement. Consequent to its formalization, the process of checking and reinstating border pillars would begin. Incumbent on it are the resolution to all contentious issues regarding border alignment, except the disputed areas of 'Kalapani' and 'Sushta', which require a political resolution. The anti-India constituency has rejected the strip maps on the specious plea that the JTC went by Persian maps prepared in 1874, which the Nepalese side did not have the competence to interpret, as a result of which India usurped more than 1500 hectares of Nepalese land. Beset by unrelenting and motivated opposition from the Maoists-cum-anti-India constituency, it is increasingly becoming difficult to demarcate the boundary. This delay was exactly what the anti-India forces wanted.

Since the beginning of 2001, there have been insinuations in the Nepalese media that India's 'Seema Suraksha Bal' (SSB) had driven out more than 5,000 Nepalese villagers from Kapilvastu in the Dang area. Clarifications by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and, more importantly, by the Nepalese Foreign Minister after ascertaining facts proved to be of no avail. Meanwhile, the Maoists as well as Chinese sponsored NGO's continue to play up fabricated stories about India's encroachment into Nepal.

Also Read Incursions, Now and Then

Conclusion

The nexus between the Maoists in Nepal and China is well established. Most Indian projects, industries and businessmen have been targeted by the Maoists. Some of the industrialist and businessmen have managed to survive but only by conceding to the demands of the 'extortion industry' being run by the Maoists. In contrast there has not been a single case of Chinese projects and industries being subjected to hostile activities by the Maoists. In a significant statement – denied later, ostensibly under pressure – Ms Sujata Koirala, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal, revealed in Nepalgunj that she has evidence pertaining to arms supply by China to the Maoists in India through the Nepal Maoists. Some analysts infer that the upsurge in Maoist violence in India is at the behest of their Nepalese comrades. The Maoist leaders' aim is to distract the Indian establishment so that they could reactivate their arms struggle for a decisive bid to capture power in the near future.

RSN Singh, Associate Editor IDR and author of the book Asian Strategic and Military Perspective. His latest book is The Military Factor in Pakistan.

May 1st, 2010.
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2010/05/the-china-factor-in-nepal.html

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