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| << December20, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net]Musharaff show ,North East support ,invincible India etc |
December21, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Religious Indians ,Hyderabad blues ,fact finding .. >> |
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[1] From: President@BCSabha To: contact@bcsabha.org Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 8:12 AM Subject: Fw: URGENT PRESS NOTE THE BOMBAY CATHOLIC SABHA St Michael's Annexe, Mahim, Mumbai 400 016 Tel: 24463853 18/12/07 PRESS STATEMENT THE BOMBAY CATHOLIC SABHA WELCOMES THE SETTING OF A SEPARATE MINORITY WELFARE DEPARTMENT. HOWEVER THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS IMMEDIATELY TO LET US KNOW WHAT ARE ITS AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITIES ,WHAT ISSUES IT WILL COVER AND HOW A CITIZEN CAN APPROACH TO REDRESS ITS GRIEVANCES. HOWEVER THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IS NOT COMFORTABLE AS THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO TIME TO LISTEN TO ITS GRIEVANCES. THE BOMBAY CATHOLIC SABHA welcomes the formation of the Separate Minority Welfare Department which will will be under the Chief Minister. However we urge the Government to immediately spell out its areas of responsibilities, what issues it will cover and how can one approach the Department to redress its grievances. Although there is an air of cynicism in this announcement which is closer to the elections which are round the corner in 2009 or maybe earlier ,Minorities live in hope that the Government of the day will look after its welfare as enshrined in the Constitution of our beloved Country. It is pertinent to observe that on December 14, at the felicitation programme of Cardinal Oswald Gracias on the Don Bosco Grounds, the Hon. Chief Minister Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh had emphatically stated that the Government was committed to the welfare of the Minorities. He also stated that his Government was committed to implemention of the Sachar Committee report and the setting up of the Minority Welfare Department to take care of solving the all the problems concerning the minorities. The Chief Minister also mentioned that there would be atleast one member of the minority community in each of the Boards. We hope that the Christians are given adequate representation in such Boards. He finally concluded that Minorities should feel comfortable and he will be there to help in whatever way possible. But Chief Minister, the Christians are not feeling comfortable by the way attention is paid to the problems faced by the Christian Minority. First of all is the issue of the SEZ [Special Entertainment Zone] in the Gorai- Uttan belt which will displace 10 villages including 9 churches [some are heritage] , two temples and a displacement of the livelihoods of over 125000 people involved in fishing, farming etc. The Dharavi Bet Bachav Samiti, The Bombay Catholic Sabha and several other Groups and NGO's have been protesting against such development but there is silence on the part of your Government. The recent development of the unjust demolition of fourteen houses and hacking of hundreds of trees to build a judicial academy at Uttan in Thane Dist. SHOULD LAW UPHOLDERS BECOME LAW BREAKERS? Recent developments on land bearing Survey no. 341on Bhayander - Gorai Rd, opp. Maxwel Resort have shattered our faith in the Government. These developments have far reaching consequences on the 1.25 lakh population of the ten villages of Dharavi Island, amely -Manori, Gorai in Mumbai District and Uttan, Pali, Dongri, Tarodi, Chowk, Morva, Murdhe & Rai in Thane Dist., that is already under the pressure due to plans of developing the region into a Special Economic Zone. 1. On 23rd Nov. 2007 at 6.00 pm notices for demolition (within 24 hours) were pasted on 14 houses on land with survey no. 341. 2. On 24th Nov. 2007 at 10.00 am demolitions were carried out in less than 24 hours giving the occupants no opportunity to take recourse to law. 3. Information received through RTI has revealed that on Nov. 27, 2007 the Government allotted 5 hectares (approx. 12.5 acres) of land on plot no 341 to the Bombay High Court. 4. On Nov. 29, 2007 the officials of the High Court at a meeting decided to set up a Judicial Academy on the said plot. 5. It should be noted that there is no such reservation in the Development Plan prepared by the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation in 1997. Total disregard has been shown to the people who are in possession of the land for over one hundred and fifty years. 6. The locals are in possession of the land here for over 150 years. By adverse possession law, persons who are in possession of Government land cannot be disposed of the land in such a manner. 7. Over the years the St. Joseph School , Uttan students have planted over a thousand mango, jackfruit and eucalyptus trees on the plot in their possession. Unfortunately hundreds of them have been hacked and the land evened out by bulldozers for the foundation stone laying ceremony by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra that is scheduled for Dec. 20, 2007. 8. The Church of Our Lady of the Sea, Uttan has legal possession of the Margali Talao. The Church was in further possession of 35 acres of land on the periphery of the talao for over 150 years. 9. There is no college on the island for the ten villages and the Church has plans of setting up a educational complex for the same. The Church has applied for regularization of the said land to the Tehsildar, Thane Dist, through letters written on Nov. 18, 1981 and June 15, 2004 and to the Circle Inspector Bhayander, Thane on June 28, 1982, and to the Collector, Thane Dist on June 15, 2004 and Oct. 20, 2005 and to the Revenue Minister GOM on Nov. 4, 1981 but their application has not been considered till date. 10. Instead the application for the Judicial Academy which was made only in 2005 has got the approval. This is sheer injustice. It may be noted that majority of the community that inhabits this island belongs to the East Indian Catholic Community who are the natives of Mumbai and who have lost all their properties and farmlands due to development of the metropolis. The community, the sons of the soil has become the target once again, now on the Dharavi Island. One fails to understand how an institute that would train the budding guardians of law can come up on land obtained unjustly from locals who have been living there for over 150 years. This would be the most scandalous event in the history of the judiciary. This unjust land grabbing has to be stopped and the demands of the locals should be complied with. We understand that the Chief Minister is going to perform the foundation stone laying ceremony for the project on Dec. 20, 2007. The Dharavi Bet Samiti has made a request to the the Hon'ble Chief Minister and the Hon'ble Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to cancel the event and the plans of building a Judicial Academy at the site or the situation would go out of hand and they alone would be responsible for the consequences. Secondly, the acquisition of the Sahar Church which has a 400 year old history, with the ancient burial grounds, schools and the displacement of over 300000 lakh people with no rehabilitation policy put in place as of now. All this for the suggested Airport expansion plans which is being handled by Mumbai International Airports Ltd, [MIAL]. As we understand the additional land is going to be used for non aeronautical purposes like building Luxury Hotels, Malls, Convention Halls etc. Is this what we call development with a humane face???? We urge the Chief Minister to step in and withdraw the notices issued to the Church, School, and Private Land owners. We also want the rehabilitation for those squatting on Airport Authorites land to be done under the provisions of the new Rehabilitation policy passed by the Central Goverment. The Mulund Cemetry was made functional after a 28 year old agitation. We had another cemetry for both the Hindu and the Christians at Juhu which was made functional for a short while and then shut under the name of renovation for almost 3 years. After persistant follow up and threats of agitation by the locals and The Bombay Catholic Sabha, the BMC have given the go ahead for the burials. However there is a rider that the security and management of the site expenses should be borne by the local community. This is ridiculous. We pay taxes to the BMC and they should run these services which is their responsibilities. There is a composite cemetry approved in Malad East and the Muslim Kabrastan and the Hindu Cemetry are functioning for more than 6 years. Although the budget has been sanctioned , the BMC has not made the Cemetry for the Christians functional till now. Repeated followups have been done but to no avail. The local community has requested the The Bombay Catholic Sabha to pursue this. We are looking forward to a response from the Chief Minister to make us feel comfortable in redressing the grievances. Best Regards, Dolphy D'souza President THE BOMBAY CATHOLIC SABHA 9820226227 email: president@bcsabha.o0rg www. bcsabha. org ------- [2] From: WebXpurt <webxpurt@yahoo.com ]Date: Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:08 am Subject: This could wreck US financial markets : Rediff. com Beware! This could wreck US financial markets http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/ December 18, 2007 It’s the new animal, and it’s the prowl in the global finance and capital markets. To all those who had repeatedly asserted that capital, especially global capital, does not have colour and hence one needs to encourage free flow of the same, the reversal in their stated position has been remarkably swift. What is indeed startling is that the flow of capital across borders — held as the endgame in globalisation — runs the risk of being reversed. Contrary to popular belief, these wealth funds are not even remotely connected to the tainted or the illegal narco-terror money that has in the past threatened the world of finance. Rather, it is sovereign nations’ clean money that now threatens the global financial architecture. How and why did this turnabout happen? Read on. . . The recent spurt in the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves (running into several hundred billion dollars) in the past few years by countries in Asia, notably China, and other oil exporting countries, has resulted in the creation of this new instrument — Sovereign Wealth Fund. The ostensible purpose behind such a fund is to ensure increased return on such sovereign wealth primarily invested in United States treasury bonds thus far. With global interest rates heading southwards, sovereign funds are now being constituted by countries having significant forex reserves, to invest in capital markets across the globe. What is indeed a pointer of things to follow is that the US, which prides in being ‘independent’ from other countries especially in security affairs, is now caught in a quagmire. It has to be constantly in the good books of the Chinese and other Asian governments if it wants to avoid a sudden shock. Countries that hold large US dollar-denominated forex reserves have a powerful tool in their arsenal — they could wreck American financial markets at a mere click of a mouse. And that could instantaneously dynamite the global financial system. Surely, they may have no obvious intent to do so as it would be suicidal and would result in that could mean that forex assets that they are holding could diminish in its value. But if they want, they could well ‘engage’ the US to discuss political and other issues with them on their terms. The fear for the US obviously would be that should these countries dump their holdings of American treasuries on financial markets, they could probably cause a crash in the financial markets. According to Lawrence Summers: “It is a new form of mutually assured destruction that has quietly emerged over the last few years.” Setting the cat among the pigeons What has indeed set the cat among the pigeons is the fact that Chinese government has recently proposed in June 2007 to inject $200 billion into a new government company that will buy assets abroad. Beijing calls this as an effort to make more profitable use of its $1.2 trillion forex reserves. What will distinguish this Chinese fund is not just its size, but that it will be a government entity owned and run by the government of China. Perhaps learning from the likes of Dubai Ports World and CNOOC’s bid for Unocal, some state-backed investors (China, for instance) have strategically proposed to take non-voting shares and voluntary restrict stakes to avoid blocked deals. Apparently, all this positioning is part of a well-orchestrated plan of the Chinese government to use its reserves profitably as well as strategically. Further, State-backed institutions take on more risks as they benefit from government support. Further, when SWFs are used to promote outward investment of national companies enabling them to bear the highest risk, the risks associated with markets tend to get subsidized by the state. In the process the very functioning of the markets gets dynamited. What is worrying analysts is that foreign governments might increase leverage over domestic policy decisions of other countries through such large multinationals, State-run or State-financed. Evolving policy response: Is it adequate? To evolve a global policy response it has been suggested that International Monetary Fund and World Bank collect best practices and, perhaps, provide oversight of funds. September’s financial stability report reveals a first cut of IMF thinking. Yet the literature available on this subject crucially misses the woods for the trees. While China continues to hog the limelight for a variety of reasons including the reasons as stated above, what is adding fuel to the fire is that two-thirds of the world’s oil comes from troubled emerging economies. What is causing alarm in the US is the growing financial clout of Russia, Venezuela and Middle Eastern countries as a result of sustained high oil prices and their build-up of foreign assets. What is missed in the debate is that Chinese and the Japanese surplus is dwarfed by those of oil exporting emerging economies. It is estimated that the forex reserves of such countries are expected to increase by $500 billion in 2007; over half of it will accrue in the Middle East (West Asia). Relative to their economies, the oil producers’ external surpluses look even bigger: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have an average surplus of around 30% of GDP, making China’s 8% seem almost modest. These surpluses are having a huge impact on international capital flows. What is worrying strategic analysts is that as many of these countries are not favourably disposed towards the US — Venezuela or Iran, for instance — they could easily be the potential candidates to destabilise the US financial markets, its economy and by extension the global economy. Commenting on the net impact of the high oil prices and its impact on the global financial markets the Economist predicts that the net result of this increased liquidity is stirring up ‘frothy financial markets.’ Further, it states that such capital emerging from these countries is much harder to track than Chinese capital, because a large chunk of foreign assets are held not as official reserves but in secretive government investment funds. Moreover, whereas China buys American treasury securities direct from American brokers or dealers, Middle Eastern purchases of bonds are typically channelled through intermediaries in London, hiding their true ownership. No wonder experts have repeatedly pointed out that oil surpluses are also flooding into equities, hedge funds, private equity and property. Does capital have colour? But the Chinese dimension to this problem is of a smaller order. What must indeed be tormenting strategic analysts within the US is that many of these countries are not favourably disposed towards the US. In fact, many of them consider themselves to be victims of American hegemony. And in order to extract their revenge, these countries too could be using these financial assets, in tandem with a few others to wreck the value of the US dollar. To some it obvious that future wars by these countries with the US may well be fought in the global financial markets. And the US perhaps would not even know who the enemy is. Obviously, all this is not about economics, as it seems on a superficial level. As SWFs deploy their assets, political friction with target countries is likely to accelerate. No wonder many countries have now put in place well-defined foreign investment review processes. It is indeed time that the Indian regulators too discuss this issue and ensure appropriate policy response to this vexatious issue. Nevertheless, what is ironical to note here is that globalisation had contained the seeds of this protectionist state of play — a point that was missed by many. Obviously, the challenge to the policymakers is to find a balance for government-backed funds that contain geo-political issues without discouraging orderly global movement of capital — a Herculean task considering the inherent paradox contained in the idea. Naturally issues get blurred when questions are raised concerning direct or strategic investment by SWFs — i. e. when management stakes, sensitivity and security risks, size and, of course, strategic interests are involved. The response would naturally be equally blurred, diffused and to that extent arbitrary. Who said capital did not have colour? The author is a Chennai-based chartered accountant. He can be contacted at mrv1000@rediffmail.com URL: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/dec/18guest.htm ------------ [3] Empowering The Small Farmer: Key To Finding A Way Out Of The Current Agrarian Distress By Meeta & Rajivlochan http://www.countercurrents.org/meeta191207.htm The small farmer might be the solution to the ongoing crisis in the farming sector in India. Policies need to be geared towards helping small farmers perform agricultural operations and marketing their products with greater efficiency. Instead current policies are hoping to dispossess farmers of their livelihood and push them into some hitherto non-existent industrial gulag A Test Of Nerves By Neha Dixit http://www.countercurrents.org/dixit191207.htm Getting a basic HIV test done can be a nightmare even in Delhi’s best hospitals Jeopardizing Environment, People’s Culture, Religion And Food Security In Sikkim By Tara Dhakal http://www.countercurrents.org/dhakal191207.htm Can one’s religion and culture be bidded? Can Dzongu (a pilgrimage for Lepcha indigenous tribes) be bidded to private businessmen for hydropower? It is like bidding Mecca (Muslim pilgrimage), Badrinath/Jagannath (Hindu pilgrimage), and Vatican (Christian) for private businessmen/industries No To Hijab: Honour Killing Is Terrorism By Taj Hashmi http://www.countercurrents.org/hashmi181207.htm The latest ghastly murder of sixteen-year-old Aqsa in Toronto is another spine chiller; not only because the way her Muslim father killed her but also because she fell victim to a grossly misconstrued belief nourished, promoted and encouraged by millions of obscurantist custodians of Islam Manual Scavenging: Nations Shame By Sunil Kuksal http://www.countercurrents.org/kuksal181207.htm Despite laws abolishing the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, over a million dalits in ‘superpower India’ are caught in a vortex of severe social and economic exploitation. Cleaning and carrying headloads of human excreta, these ‘night soil’ |
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| << December20, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net]Musharaff show ,North East support ,invincible India etc |
December21, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Religious Indians ,Hyderabad blues ,fact finding .. >> |
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