That the Assam govt was caught unawares by the Bodo extremists exposes a lack of political will

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

Bodo Impasse: Ball is in Dispur's court

November 8, 2010. It was the day US President Barack Obama addressed Indian parliamentarians in New Delhi. That very night, the NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) a banned rebel outfit, carried out a vendetta carnage in Assam killing many innocent people in cold blood. The casualties were mostly Hindi-speaking people residing in Bodo-dominated areas of the state.

The government should have seen it coming. That it did not reflects rather poorly on its ability to take prompt action when it is needed. On November 1, the NDFB had issued a press statement warning both the Central and state governments to stop the killing of the outfit’s cadre and innocent Bodo people. The militants warned that they would kill at least 20 Indians, be they from the Indian Army or the civilian population, for every innocent Bodo gunned down by the security forces.

Chillingly, they did just that. On November 7, a Bodo, supposedly an NDFB militant, was killed allegedly in an encounter with security forces. Exactly 24 hours later, the militant outfit struck in six districts, killing 24 people in the span of a day. Among the dead were innocent bus passengers, petty businessmen and even aged women. Despite a unified command system, the governments in Delhi and Dispur could do nothing to stop the designs of the extremists.

It is true that Dispur had some limitations. Army presence in Assam was reduced – securitymen were diverted to Jharkhand to comabt Maoists and to Bihar for the Assembly elections. Assam had 149 companies of the Army last year. At present, less than 100 companies are deployed in the northeastern state. To make matters worse, the state faces a paucity of policemen as there are more than 8,000 vacancies that are yet to filled. Dispur had initiated some steps in this regard including setting up of the elite Cobra battalion of CRPF. But the process of selecting state policemen as well as their training are going far too slow for comfort. That has allowed an extremist outfit like NDFB to run what could be described as almost a parallel government, as alleged by the opposition, in border areas, particularly on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan.

The state government has pitifully taken shelter behind these limitations to cover up for its failure to tackle the terrorists. However, it is still unable to explain its total inaction in the face of a prior warning of violence that ahd been issued by the NDFB. The bellicosity and brutal nature of the NDFB cadre became evident when it unleashed serial bombings, killing almost hundred innocent people two years back. Yet the Tarun Gogoi-led government in the state did not take any precautionary measures to thwart the NDFB rebels who had threatened to wreak vengeance on Indian people.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram, who had hurriedly arrived in Assam on November 12, while addressing a top-level security meeting in a CRPF guesthouse, ordered an all-out operation by the security forces against the NDFB faction that is on a killing spree in the state. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, along with top police officials from the state, was present in the meeting. Chidambaram did not buy Gogoi’s suggestion that that Assam needed more security personnel. The Union home minister’s argument was that there were only about 150 NDFB militants in hiding in the state and it would not be difficult for the forces available in Assam to apprehend them.

NDFB is an offshoot of the long-drawn agitation by the Bodos for a separate Bodoland state. The Union government tried to assuage the feelings of the Bodo people by first granting them an autonomous area and thereafter putting the area under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The NDFB was totally sidelined in the entire process. A section of the NDFB is in government-designated camps after surrendering.

A few NDFB leaders, including its chairman Ranjan Daimary, are in jail. The group lost nearly 75 of its hardcore cadre in operations conducted by the security forces from January to November. Only those few who have remained outside are still clamouring for a separate and sovereign Bodoland and creating problems by resorting to terrorism.

What Assam needs today, besides additional Central forces, is the political will and acumen to take on the militant faction of the NDFB. The Bodo impasse will continue to be a thorn in the flesh unless the government in Dispur can muster up a coherent strategy to neutralise the extremists. In its latest fatwa, the belligerent faction of the NDFB has warned both Bodos and non-Bodos living in the Bodoland area not to conspire or hobnob with the security forces otherwise all would meet the same fate as on November 8. The government must take that warning seriously and act before it is too late.

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Several finance institutions exploit poor farmers

Orissa Agricultural loans: Micro Finance, mega bucks

A debt-ridden tenant farmer Ratnakar Jena of Andara village in Kendrapara district of Orissa committed suicide by consuming insecticide last month. The victim was landless and had taken loan from a local Micro Finance Institution (MFI) to cultivate the land he had taken on agreement. But a poor crop rendered him unable to pay back the loan in the stipulated time. A high rate of interest made the situation worse. And then there was pressure on the poor fellow from the MFI to repay the amount. In these circumstances, Jena had little choice and he chose the easiest way out— he quit! This is just one of the many cases of farmer suicide in the state. Although micro credit system is considered to be a tool for poverty alleviation, but the increasing number of farmer suicides under debt burden tells a different story. It shows that instead of providing relief to farmers, the MFIs are extorting money from them! It has often been complained that many fraud co-operative banks and micro finance institutions are operating in the rural areas of the state, and as expected, they do not go by the RBI guidelines and instead charge huge interest on the money they lend.

Although MFI operations in Orissa are widespread, there are no guidelines regarding the interest rate. In this context, noted economist Santosh Mahapatra opines, “While the banks provide loans to MFIs at 13 per cent (base rate 8 per cent and charge rate 5 per cent) but these MFIs charge 28 per cent to 36 per cent from their clients, which is obviously very high.” Kailash Mishra, chief of Awareness (India) Finance Limited, a micro credit organisation, says, “When MFIs take loans from the nationalised banks at 13 to 16 per cent, they will naturally claim more than 20 per cent from their clients.”

State Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei says that the government is taking steps to minimise the exploitation of farmers at the hands of unscrupulous financial institutions by entrusting NABARD with a larger role in agriculture sector. NABARD will be the monitoring authority for the MFIs.

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Police nab a Maoist living in the guise of a teacher

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Andhra Pradesh Maoists: Story of a 'red' herring

It came as a shock to many. Some refused to believe it when they saw her picture in newspapers. For those who knew her as Sirisha, a playschool teacher in Hyderabad, it was hard to swallow that the woman was actually a Maoist and her real name was Padmakka.

Padmakka, also called Nirmala and Sharada, is the wife of top Maoist leader Ramakrishna alias Akkiraju Haragopal, better known as RK. She was arrested by Orissa Police at Koraput where she was to meet her husband. She had a reward of Rs. two lakh on her head.

For the last few years she had been working as manager cum teacher at Rainbow Home-Aman Vedika, a playschool for orphans run by the NGO Aman Biradari at Seethaphalmandi in Chilkalaguda. “It is really hard to believe that one of my colleagues was an activist of an outlawed outfit,” a worker at the orphan home told The Sunday Indian.

Another important aspect in the episode is her strategic silence. The present times, particularly the last three years, are considered to be the period of “recession” (some analysts say it's extinction) in the 40- year history of Naxalism in Andhra Pradesh. Besides the leaders of Janasakthi, like Riyaz, almost all the top guns of CPI Maoists, including Azad, Sudharsan, Ravi Kumar, Madhav, Rajamouli, Patel Sudhakar, Sakhamuri Apparao were gunned down during this period. With the counter-revolutionary action of the state government, the organisational structure of the Maoists in North Telangana, Dandakaranya and Andhra-Orissa border suffered a body blow. During this period Padmakka probably thought it prudent to remain away from direct action and in disguise to dodge the police.

Padmakka had approached Aman Vedika through a lawyer in 2008. She introduced herself as Kandula Sirisha, a destitute woman with modest education up to plus two level.

“Though she was appointed a play teacher to the kids, she was later elevated to the managerial post considering her dedication towards the kids,” an executive at the Rainbow Home told TSI on condition of anonymity. Sirisha treated the kids with the same affection as a mother would her own children. While working almost round the clock she seldom availed leave. It seemed like she had no other interests in life.

However, Sirisha took leave for 10 days against some ‘exigencies’ at her native place, on November 9— a day before the north zone Deputy Commissioner of police, Nagi Reddy, and the local Inspector of police were to visit the place for distributing clothes and fruits to the children.

Later, the staff and the children of Rainbow Home were shell shocked to see her photo in the newspapers and on the television screens, with reports stating that Sirisha was a Maoist and was caught at the Andhra-Orissa border.

But the small kids, to whom she was a beloved amma (mother), can't understand all this. Blissfully away from the politics-ridden, complex world of the adults, the children of the orphanage only know that the woman— whatever be her name— loved them and cared for them. And so they loved her and cared for her. The rest they don't want to know. So the children, about a hundred of them, are yearning to see her back amidst them. As they also came to know that she was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, the unyielding kids are reluctant to have food till their amma comes back. But as her return does not look possible, the people at the Rainbow Home are in a fix.

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WBPCB's arbitrary decisions hurt fireworks traders

Deafened by noise?

The West Bengal State Pollution Control Board’s dictum on noise pollution is not in accordance with the standard set by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The national standard at 125 decibels was fixed by the National Committee on Noise Pollution Control (NCNPC) after considering a detailed study done by National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Services (DIPAS). It also considered the permissible decibel standards in several other countries.

The WBPCB first set the permissible noise level at 65 decibel (dB) in 1996. But its decision was challenged in the Court where the counsel for the Board could not explain the logic behind fixing the noise level at 65 dB. Justice Bhagabati Prasad Banerjee of Calcutta high Court said in his order, “The Pollution Control Board in our view has acted in a manner which is illegal.” The court directed the Board to take a decision by October 3, 1997. The meeting with the fireworks dealers was held once, as had been directed by the High Court, but ended without any conclusion. Then, the PCB came out with new standard of 90 dB, again without any scientific data or study to support its decision. But it took shelter under Rule 3(2) of WBPCB Act, which empowers it to adopt more stringent standards. But can that right be exercised without any scientific logic?

Those who are directly affected by this decision include the manufacturers, workers and the traders who deal in fireworks. The fireworks industry is incurring losses in crores due to the PCB's arbitrary decisions.

West Bengal is the gateway to the markets for firecrackers— majority of which come from Tamilnadu’s Sivakasi-based industries— in eastern and northeast India. The Court has allowed importing fireworks of more than 90 dB (but less than 125 dB) for re-export out of the state. But the traders find it difficult as the police seize goods on way to export. A petition signed by 8000 traders and dealers, on behalf of the Pradesh Atasbaji Byabsaee Samity to WBPCB to adhere to the nationally accepted standard has been rejected. The Samity also approached the Standing Committee of the concerned department but it too went in vain.

The police, who seldom carry proper equipment to measure the decibels, harass the common people using firecrackers, and arrest indiscriminately even on festival days each year. They even do not care for the Supreme Court’s order dated March 26, 2007 that says, “…for the festivals and ceremonies, the restrictions can be relaxed… subject to directions given by the appropriate authorities of Department of Explosive”.

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