Banner Advertiser

Monday, April 14, 2008

[ALOCHONA] Re: Clashes in Dhaka -- Unfair criticism of Jamaati Islami

I am deeply disturbed by Mr. S A Hannan's calculative deliberate attempts to make this event as an everyday nonsense, which is not the case.

 

Mr. S.A. Hannan's simple narration of a complicated even reminded us the famous saying "Thakur Ghora Kera Ami Kola Khaina". Being a senior member of Jamaat-e-Islami think tank he knows very well who was behind it, none but Jamaat-e-Islami.

 

Mr. Hannan claimed, "The present problem has been created by several quarters, not one section, first making a women policy which can affect some Quranic provisions"

 

Mr. Hannan, can you please give us precise narration of which part of women policy you are opposing? For God sake, do not attempt to lighten it, please give description of specific clauses. I doubt you can or you will!

 

Mr. S.A. Hannan, your next allegation was "continuous provocative statement by Madam Rasheda Chowdury".

 

Regrettably Mr. Hannan to me it is your comment that more provocative, by making untruth false allegation you shifting the blame from Jamaat shoulder to CTG Adviser Ms. Rasheda Chowdhury. Your blame game is a provocation similar to the disgustingly illustrious one you made about our glorious liberation war, which you called a civil war. Your knowledge about "civil war" war is bursting of miasma which you created to hide your and Jamaat guilt as devotee of war crime.

 

As a final point Mr. Hannan, you did the as usual, blame the media, the secularist and the left. As a senior think tank member of Jamaat-e-Islami, your attempt to save Jamaat is understandable but undoubtedly dismissible pretense.

 

Sincerely

Shamim Chowdhury

==============================================
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "S A Hannan" <sahannan@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Alochoks,
>
> Assalamu Alaikum.The letter writers below are are over-stating things.There had been much more police-people clashes in all parts of Bangladesh , specially in Dhaka, even around Baitul Mukarram , during the last time of President Ershad , last days of Khalida Zia's government in 96 and 2006 , at the beginning of present caretaker government in october 2006, then these liberal and secular people did not say about civil war and did not make any comparison with LalMasjid.
>
> The present problem has been created by several quarters, not one section, first making a women policy which can affect some Quranic provisions, then govt's failure to amend the policy quickly, continuation of movement by some Madrasah and political elements even after govt's declaration that they will do nothing against Quranic commands and laws, then police excess in not allowing a delegation to submit a memo to the Chief Advisor , attack on police by some elements in Baitul Mukarram area, continuous provocative statement by Madam Rasheda Chowdury. All these have escalted the problem.
>
> But some media people are trying to discredit Islamic elements only, they are trying to blame Jamate islami who are not involved in these clashes at all ( as stated by them in press statements).They are asking the government to take action against so-called master-minds.This part of the secular and secular press has never been fair in news generally , particularly about Jamate islami .
>
> Shah Abdul Hannan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Syed Mirza
> To: khabor@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 4:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [khabor.com] Bangladesh, get ready for Afghanistan-Pakistan Style Civil War
>
>
>
> Muslims are slaves of Allah and His religion islam. So, Bangladesh is a perfect Islamic nation and will follow the foot steps of Paki-land. In future, insaallah, BD will turn into a hub of islamic suicide bombings and many many Lal-Masjid dramas will be staged soon.All razakars of '71 are mightier than ever and they will soon train thousands of suicide squads and will blast bombs to eliminate all remaining no so good muslims from BD holy land of the East. Allah-hu Akbar!
>
> SKM
>
>
>
> On 4/12/08, akhter akhter@... wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> During our independence, last 37 years, we got governments of ineffective, most of the times anti-democratic, anti-socialism, anti-nationalism, and anti-secularism rule (our main pillars of foundation of Bangladesh, are shattered now). Continuous major corruptions in very high level of government eroded our moral values and trust in democratic government. Fundamentalist, Fanatics, and religious terrorists filled the vacuum of distrusted and corrupted government. Bangladesh is now unrulable, unlawful, chaotic country, Afghanistan-Pakistan style mild or massive civil war may be the news of every other day. Attached news items are sample of our future daily life...
> Regards.
> Yours sincerely,
> Golam F. Akhter
> Bangladesh-USA Human Rights Coalition
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
>
>
> 4/12/08
>
>
> Front Page
> Second Day of Protest in Baitul Mukarram Area
> Violent clashes with cops leave 200 hurt
> Shotgun looted by activists found in mosque compound
> Staff Correspondent
>
>
>
> Three members of Islamist outfits beat up a policeman, two with the snatched shotgun and helmet while the other with a bamboo stick, after the cop fell behind his retreating colleagues who chased the agitators near Baitul Mukarram National Mosque yesterday. Photo: STAR
> Hundreds of Islamist activists clashed with police for hours on the second day of violent protests in the city's Baitul Mukarram National Mosque area yesterday, leaving over 200 people injured.
>
> Police used batons and fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to break up demonstrations against the recently announced national women development policy in defiance of the state of emergency.
>
> At least 52 policemen and five journalists were among the injured.
>
> Some 17 people were arrested in connection with the clashes. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mazharul Islam of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Motijheel zone last night said they filed a case accusing over 100 people of assault on police and looting firearms.
>
> An intelligence official requesting not to be named told The Daily Star that they have already identified those inciting violence. "We have suggested that the government take a tough line against them," he added. Eyewitnesses said violence broke out at around 1:35pm, minutes after Jum'a prayers when police barred a procession coming from the north gate of the mosque. Incensed, the other members of the radical Islamist outfits who were preparing to join the march began throwing projectiles at the law enforcers. As chase and counter-chase continued for hours, hundreds of those who went to the mosque for Friday prayers became trapped inside. At around 3:00pm, some demonstrators caught a policeman cut off from his colleagues and beat him up. They snatched his shotgun and broke it up into pieces, said the media cell of DMP. Earlier, some 50 people were wounded in Thursday's fight between the Islamist groups and law enforcers. Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed announced the National Women Development Polcy-2008 on March 8, causing a firestorm of protests among Islamist organisations Since then, some radical groups have been claiming that the policy gives equal inheritance rights to men and women, while the government maintained there is no such provision.In efforts to scotch the discontent, four advisers of the caretaker government on March 27 met Islamic leaders and formed a review committee headed by the acting Khatib of Baitul Mukarram Mosque. A report by the committee is due by April 16. But some Islamic groups including Ahkam-e-Shariah Hifajat led by Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Anti-Quran Law Resistance Committee of Allama Azizul Huq Shaikhul Hadith, Islamic Law Implementation Committee led by Islami Oikya Jote's Fazlul Huq Amini and Chhatra Jamiat Andolon of Maulana Muhiuddin Ahmed opted not to wait and launched violent street agitation Thursday. A huge number of students from madrasas across the city took part in the pitched battles with police yesterday. They acted on instruction from their teachers who were staying inside the mosque, said the eyewitnesses.
>
> After around four hours of fighting, areas like Purana Paltan, Dainik Bangla intersection, Bangabandhu Avenue, Gulistan and national stadium were littered with brickbats as smog from tear gas hung heavily over them. The agitators launched attacks on the police from every corner of Baitul Mukarram and took shelter inside whenever police went on a counter-offensive. They took bricks off under-construction structures on the mosque premises and split those into pieces to hurl at police. Around 1,500 law enforcers in riot gear struggled all along to control the crowds. At one stage, rumours spread that three of the protesters were killed, adding fuel to the agitation To escape tear gas, both the law enforces and agitators burned carpets of the mosque, woods, furniture of several street side stalls and papers making the air heavier and adding to the sufferings. The marchers chanted slogans demanding resignation of Women and Children Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury and the interim government. The injred policemen were admitted to Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital while journalists, pedestrians and protesters received treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and various private medical facilities. DMCH sources said 22 madrasa students were admitted there.
>
> Monirul Islam and Hasan Raja of Prothom Alo, Abu Taher Khokon of New Age, and Belal Hossain of Ekushey TV--all photographers--were badly injured. Of the policemen wounded, condition of inspector Selimuzzaman, Sergeant Israfil, Sub-Inspector Kamrul, and constables Belayet, Enamul, Emdad, Kamrul, Monir, Kabir, Shafique, and Sarwar was stated critical, according to the DMP media cell. An official of the cell told The Daily Star last night that during the clashes, police shot 312 tear gas shells and 243 rounds of rubber bullets. DMP (Motijheel) DC Mazharul Islam said, "They attacked first, forcing us to retaliate with baton-charge and tear gas. He said at least 35 platoons were engaged to disperse the agitators till 3:30pm. Meanwhile, Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Fazlul Haque Amini at a press conference at Purana Paltan in the afternoon alleged that police attacked them without provocation. He claimed that more than 100 of their workers were injured in the clashes. "We called a rally to drum up supprt for the anti-Quran rules," he added. Amini also said, "If our demands are not met, the fire ignited today [yesterday] will spread like wildfire across the country." Asked about mosaic stones taken off the mosque's wall, he said he was not aware of it.
>
> Related Stories
> Call for calm, solving crisis thru'talks
> Madrasa students go on rampage, storm Hathazari police station
> Second day bigots battle with cop
>
>
>
>
>
> Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
> 4/12/08
>
>
>
>
>
> Front Page
> Demand for women's equal rights logical, says CJ
> It's a must to become well educated democratic nation
> Unb, Dhaka
>
>
> Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin yesterday said the demand for equal rights for women in every aspect of life is logical. "Women are about a half of the total population. Hence, their demand for equal rights is logical. Then why various incidents are taking place now centring the issue?" he wondered. The chief justice was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day workshop titled 'Justice System Education Initiative on Gender Equality Issues', arranged by Khan Foundation in its Democracy Auditorium in the morning.
> Chaired by former minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, the event was addressed, among others, by Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, and Executive Director of Khan Foundation Advocate Rokhsana Khondker.
>
> Ombudsman of the state of West Bengal of India Samaresh Banerjee, addressed the event as the guest of honour. Referring to a part of the country's constitution that guarantees equal rights for women, the chief justice said without establishing women's rights Bangladesh will never become a well educated democratic state. He urged the country's judges to play their roles in courts on various gender issues with compassion towards the women. Justice Fazlul Karim also laid emphasis on the sympathy of judges when dealing with cases filed by women seeking justice. He said, "We, the judges, always try to pronounce objective verdicts. But sometimes because of our unconscious minds, a woman might become a victim of injustice. So, be very careful, put yourself in that woman's shoes." Samares Banerjee said judicial systems in South Asian countries are not well equipped to deal with crimes on gender issues. Gender justice is a new jurisprudence all over the world, he said, and underscored the need for initiating judicial education on gender issues in Saarc countries.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1375 - Release Date: 4/12/2008 11:32 AM
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1375 - Release Date: 4/12/2008 11:32 AM
>

__._,_.___

[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Feedback in Statesman

 
Reacting to a news item (pasted at the end),  a netizen's feedback is hereunder without any comment from my side.
Sankar Ray

STOP SHIFTING BLAME FOR EVERYTING TO CPM AND LEFT PARTIES. PARENTS SHOULD BE EDUCATED AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.

Parents must not produce children INDISCRIMINATELY like cattle. They should be educated to produce as per their income. Most of these children are from poorer sections who are largely muslims and to very little extent some Hindus. Muslims should be educated to produce children based on their income and they should not shift the blame on Left parties in WB. Sachar committee also indicates about Muslim plight. The fact that in other states Muslims are richer and they prouduce the kids as per their MEANS. In WB there is no limit of producing children even if some one is poor WITH no proper income.
>>
More than half of Bengal kids out of school

Arunima Ghosh
KOLKATA, April 14: A recent report published by the Union ministry of human resource development has pointed out that more than half the children in West Bengal are yet to enter school.
What is more disturbing is the fact that the state has only two years left to achieve its target of covering all children under the Sarba Shiksha Abhijan. The Centre's report said the state ranks only above Daman and Diu, Bihar, Manipur, Jharkhand and Assam in the number of out-of-school children.
While the national average of out-of-school children is 6.94, the rate for West Bengal is 8.67, higher than at least 21 states including Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. Around 50.54 per cent children under the 6-14 age group have never attended school in the state, the report states. The state school education minister, Mr Partha De, however, considered the figures furnished by the MHRD incorrect. "The actual progress of SSA in the state is not as bad as what is being portrayed by the Centre," said Mr De. The minister said the pattern and criterion of assessment followed by the Centre are completely different from what is being followed in the state. "It is due to this difference in the process of assessment that the state is being depicted as a poor performer. Our assessment pattern, however, is being changed," said Mr De.
In order to counter the 'misleading' figures of the Centre, the state school education department is conducting a series of surveys. "Preliminary studies show that our figures contradict those furnished by the Centre", said Mr De. The SSA is under a scanner following allegations of funds misappropriation and non-utilisation of allotted funds ever since the programme was undertaken.
The MHRD has identified the reasons behind the state's failure to implement the SSA properly. They are parents' indifference to sending wards to schools, illness of the child or some of his relatives, shortage of teachers and poor facilities in schools.

__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Bengal CPM & intellectuals

 
CPM pays grudging tribute to intellectuals

Tirthankar Mitra  (http://thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=199397)
KOLKATA, April 14: Stalin was not enamoured of intellectuals. So, grudging respect towards the state's intellectuals by the Stalinist CPI-M not only comes as a surprise, but coupled with a clear criticism of the higher echelons of leadership "to organise them in our favour" is nothing short of amazing.
The publication of a backhanded tribute to intellectuals in the state as well as an admission of shortsightedness on the part the party's policy makers has been published in the CPI-M state committee's political-organisational report of the 22nd party congress. The endeavour to build a confederation of authors, artists and intellectuals after Singur was put on hold according to instructions from the powers that be.
There is nothing unique in the division in the ranks of the intellectuals which widened after Singur and Nandigram, the document observed. There was no end to the resistance of some intellectuals in the past over Left Front's language policy, Maricgjhapi and Bantala. 
The rift in the ranks of the intellectuals and theatre workers could have been prevented, had the confederation of intellectuals been established at the state level after Singur, it was observed. The meeting of the theatre workers, authors and artists on 27 March 2007 is a prime example underscoring this point.
Lack of willingness to shoulder responsibility has been ascribed to the slow progress discernible in the organisation of folk artists. These artists, who were active in almost all the districts, barring one or two, in the previous Assembly election, do not even get meagre government assistance, it was noted.
Intellectuals not supporting the party's programmes seems to be worrying the party leadership to no end. There was a marked reluctance among some established intellectuals to wholeheartedly participate in organisational work, but the same set of people are keen to use the platform of the School of Social Science set up in 1973 as a front of the party in the "science movement".


__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Malthusiastic

 
Prof Jiten Roy's repetition of Malthus's Theory of Population suggests that he is one of those who are blissfully unaware of theoretical developments in demography the world over, nailing the anti-human clergy's myopic population theory. I do not want to focus on the remarkable advance in demography as this is not the forum but feel that a veteran scientist, that too a physicist like Dr Roy, had rather avoid making a cavalier-fashion observation.

" Families are big because they are poor and not that families are poor because they are rich". Evergreen revolution,one of the proponents of the concept being Prof M S Swaminathan (certainly responsible for the damage to Indian soil chemistry and structure due to overdrive in pushing through green revolution, mainly in wheat), is set to negate the stupid hypothesis of Malthus: Population growth increase in GP and food production growth.

Sankar Ray __._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Food crisis, not inflation mainly

CPI group leader in the lower house of Indian parliament is right in blaming the UPA government but missses one thing: world fod crisis which is the direct proof of collapse of war-mongering neo-liberal finance capital or anti-human globalisation.
Sankar Ray
 
Price rise: shameful inaction by Gurudas dasgupta 15 Apr08 (http://thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=199385)

Inflation is unabated, unbearable; it has spiralled to a 40-month high. Monetary measures have failed and the monitoring committee appointed by the government did not work. The theory of imported inflation is now being harped on. The RBI, as claimed by the Governor, is seized of the problem but it has acted only in vain.
People are in peril. Nearly 77 per cent of the people, living on a meagre Rs 22 per day, is gravely hurt. The government in power has cynically sought to explain the phenomenon of price rise as an inevitability in a growing economy. That is how it underplayed the galloping price rise. The truth is that the government did not do its job of curbing inflation.
The liberalised economy under the impact of high speculative pressure allowed the manipulators of prices and hoarders to play havoc. The administration did not make any direct intervention lest the market forces get upset; price control was never its objective. Clearly the political leadership of the country is incapable of facing the grave situation as it obtains today.
Inflation has alarmingly moved northward without any respite. The rate crossed the critical six per cent mark to reach a high of 6.68 per cent for the week ended 15 March 2008. The weekly spike is almost a full percentage point given that the annual rate of inflation based on wholesale price index stood 5.92 per cent for the previous week ended 8 March. The price flare-up is steep and the weekly inflation level is the highest since 27 January last year when it stood at 6.69 per cent. It is also the fourth consecutive week that the inflation rate has been above five per cent, breaching the Reserve Bank of India's target level for the current fiscal.
This inflation is also unrelenting; it has accentuated further and the situation is graver today. It is at an all-time high in three years and peaked to 7 per cent last week. According to the latest figures the inflation is an all-time high ~ peaking to 7.41 per cent ~ in the last 40 months. The retail price that rules in the market is at least three per cent to four per cent higher than the wholesale price index. In reality, the country is facing a dangerous double-digit inflation.
The market is on fire. Shamefully, the inflation is led by the increase in the prices of almost all essential goods and commodities, particularly food articles. Despite a better crop the country faces sky-high prices; the increased supply did not lower the rate of inflation. This year, the rainfall has been moderately good and the country has achieved record foodgrain production of 219.32 million metric tons in 2007-08, including 94.08 million tons of rice 74.81 million tons of wheat, 36.09 million tons of coarse cereals and 14.34 million tons of pulses. The oilseed output is estimated to be 27.16 million tons and cotton production is set to be all time high.
The question that arises is, why ~ when agricultural production has improved considerably in comparison with previous years ~ are prices going through the roof? The answer is obvious too: the market price today is not determined by the interaction of the forces of demand and supply. The market price is actually dictated, rather manipulated. The mismatch between the demand and supply is not so wide as to push the price spiral so severely.
The government has failed to look into the core issue, rather, it has faltered in curbing the stockpiling and hoarding. It did not even reverse the amendment of the Essential Commodities Act done by the NDA government, to dilute the earlier rigorous provisions and allowed an artificially overheated market to run amok. Most ominously, the price rise is aggravated by the increasing price of almost all essential items.
The wheat price has jumped by almost 200 per cent, between 2002 and 2008; the retail price of essential agricultural commodities in Delhi, as on 13 March, indicates a galloping increase: mustard oil by 58.2 per cent, vanaspati by 41.1 per cent, rice by 20 per cent, tur dal by 20 per cent, potatoes by 12.5 per cent, wheat by 8.3 per cent and atta by 7 per cent. Such spiralling prices burn huge holes in pockets of middle class, not to speak of the poor and the vulnerable.
A chapati costs Rs 4 in Mumbai; Rs 3 in Lakshmi Sarai, a Bihar downtown, and in Delhi, it cost Rs 2.5. A frugal lunch in Noida comprising a few of rotis, watery dal, low quality brinjal sabji, is priced at Rs 20 at a wayside shop. Imagine the hardship of the masses.
Now-a-days dal is no longer included in the daily menu of the poor and marginalised. It is a coveted food item of a festival dinner. The price rise has drastically changed the food pattern of the community. The poor, not the affluent and the rich, suffer because their incomes are not inflation indexed. Inflation is a regressive tax. The answer would be to target and subsidise the poor along with an effective action plan to rein in prices. High prices of food articles is highly tormenting for the poor since a large part of their income is spent on food consumption. For the rural poor it is 55 per cent; for the urban poor it is 45 per cent. As such, the situation is desperately dangerous for the vast multitudes.
It we look at the consumer price index for agricultural labour and rural labour, the condition too is very gloomy. The indices of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh farm labourers and rural labourers registered the highest increase of 9 and 8 points, respectively, mainly due to the rising prices of rice, atta, wheat, milk, mustard oil, vanaspati, vegetables and fruits. In case of farm labourers, seven states reflected an increase ranging between 1 and 3 points; six states, 4 and 5 points, three states between 7 and 9 points. Haryana, with 448 points, topped the table, while Manipur stood at the bottom with 366 points.
The other bitter truth is that consumer price indexing is faulty; there is a complaint about the calculation being fraudulent. Despite the basket of items constituted being arbitrary, the movement of consumer price index cannot cover the price explosion. Agricultural and rural labour constitute a significant section of the vulnerable rural population, the price rise hits them the hardest.
In a situation like this, the ideal response would be to raise the food subsidy and strengthen the public distribution system. When the inflation rate was surging ahead as never before with food prices running rampant, the public distribution system collapsed. Surprisingly, the off-take of what under the targeted mechanism was 102.5 lakh tons against the allocation of 144.9 lakh tons. Only 70 per cent was lifted by the states. Clearly, the scheme is mismanaged, the quality of supply totally substandard, diversion widespread and pilferage rampant. The public distribution system, the largest centrally-sponsored scheme in coverage as well as public expenditure is meant to sustain the quality of life of the masses. Subsidised at one-half of the economic cost of foodgrain, in effect, it serves to transfer income to the poor and to insulate them from rising inflation.
The very fact that the food supplies are needed to sustain food security indicates the vulnerability of casual workers, small and marginal farmers and agricultural workers. While leakages and diversion of supplies to black-market are true, what is most shocking is the fact that a large volume of marginalised masses lack access to the subsidised food distribution system. According to one survey, half of the marginal farmers are denied entitlement.
Another report identifies nearly 1.25 crore people who are left out of food security umbrella. Erratic supply of foodgrain, reduction of quota to the states, poor quality of the materials, sometimes almost uneatable, along with open trade of foodgrain meant to provide food security to the people, have resulted almost in the total collapse of the system. This, in turn, has left the food market at the mercy of the speculators and hoarders.
Direct transfer to help the poor and middle class even if it be fiscally unwelcome to the leader of the government, is the surest way to cool the market. Monetary measures cannot prove to be effective even for a short run relief as already found out to be.
The crucial question is whether the government could have initiated pre-emptive measures to avert the price crisis. The sharp rise in inflation was anticipated, the danger was inherent in the speculative economy that the government had set up. Experts had warned the government; commentaries appeared in the media. A leading journal had warned the government that "The country is likely to face serious food inflation in the first six months of 2008... A combination of rising food and fuel prices is sure to put the government on the defensive."
A calling attention motion was moved in the Lok Sabha drawing the attention of the finance minister to the alarming price situation earlier. Food production was stagnant for years, the availability of foodgrain had dipped to the level of 1971, even the increase in the production in 2007-08 had registered less than one per cent growth. All this while the international market was overheated. The trend being clear, the government should have acted firmly well in advance to prevent the price explosion.
While presenting the budget, Mr Chidambaram had noted that "supply-side management of food articles would be the most crucial task this year and the government is determined to be self-sufficient in foodgrain". 
The budgetary allocation did not reflect the concern of the finance minister, neither were there increased budgetary funds for promoting food production nor did the budget allot additional money for strengthening the public distribution system to protect the livelihood of the common people in a situation of abnormal rise of market prices of food articles.
The finance minister, confronted with stark reality, only expressed concern, shed synthetic tears for the human distress but refrained from taking effective measures to halt the price rise. The philosophy of unfettered, free economy stood in the way.
The purpose of pointing this out is to put on record the government's incapacity and failure to read the market signal and its refusal to heed the timely warnings from different quarters and take active measures in advance to fight the impending calamity. The government lacks adequate commercial intelligence and research capability to be able to have an objective outlook over prices of major commodities.
If the price rise is a disaster, the government's inaction ~ instead of action well in advance ~ is an outrage. Even now there is no sign of decisiveness. The government is reluctant to take emergent measures to ameliorate the distress of the common people. The question is what could the government do but has not done. A great many steps could have been taken including a major policy initiative to augment farm output but the government faltered. It only declared that price rise was inevitable in a growing economy, a lame argument to fall back upon. The government, in office nearly for four years, did not take necessary steps to raise agricultural production, particularly food output. It is not too short a period to do the job. Even public investment in agriculture declined, bank credit to agriculture fell, rural infrastructure did not develop, irrigation did not improve. The stage was set for the crisis to burst out.
Instead of increasing the agricultural subsidy, it was pruned. It was clear that the government had no intention to tackle the agricultural crisis and food shortage, there was no fire-fighting strategy. In foreign countries even when price rise is acute, administrative price increase is postponed so that market is not overheated. In India, the government did just the opposite. The successive dose of price increase of petroleum products further escalated the cost of production, hiked the transport cost and inflamed the market. The loss of revenue caused by the reduction of tax on petroleum products ~ had the government so decided ~ could have been compensated by imposing tax on other sectors having greater capacity to pay.
The corporate sectors, the service sectors, people having more than Rs 10 lakh annual income, transaction in the secondary market and the grey areas should have been some sectors that the government could have looked for mobilising additional resources. Another hard option would have been to target the business enterprises suspected of manipulating prices. The government lacks political firmness to move in this direction.
If de-hoarding is to be done by the states, firm direction in this regard is to be issued by the Centre. On top of everything, direct intervention can be made to ensure price stability by restoring and revamping the universal public distribution system. The situation is too grim and the government is too insensitive. A timely intervention would have saved the situation.
Most regrettable is the statement of the Prime Minister on price rise. He clearly stated, inflation is difficult to control. He further said: "We in India too are deeply concerned about rising global commodity and food prices. Sharply rising food prices can slow down poverty alleviation, impede economic growth and retard employment generation."
The Prime Minister admits that the price rise cannot be controlled even as he warns the nation of its dire consequences. Dr Manmohan Singh offers no relief to the common people; he only makes them panic-stricken. If the Prime Minister of the country is so powerless as to plead helplessness of his government to curb price rise, obviously the signal is dangerously grim.
It will only entail a free-for-all, induce hoarders and blackmarketers to play foul with greater vengeance and make people lose confidence in the government. This represents a shameful surrender to delinquent market forces. The Prime Minister's statement is an unabashed refusal to admit his own mistake apart from being an unintelligent attempt to hide under the cover of global inflation.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of the Union cabinet, the science and technology minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, has done worse. In fact, he ridiculed the demand for controlling rising prices and said "the government has no magic wand to bring down prices". Such senile sarcasm is, in reality, a move to underplay the role of the government in stemming the exorbitant price rise; a futile attempt to exonerate the government from the charge of despicable inaction.
It is a pity that the government failed to augment food production even in four years. It only made India dependent on foreign imports and vulnerable to global price instability. The country lost its food sovereignty under this regime and agriculture stepped into catastrophic stagnation. These neo-liberal roots of the agricultural crisis can be traced to policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, obediently carried out by the successive governments.
The UPA government never re-examined the major agrarian policy decisions of the earlier governments. It only carried forward unaltered the policy of unguarded liberalisation and continued to curtail agricultural subsidy and further opened the doors to foul play by the food trades, domestic and foreign. Running down the PDS and cutting down the allocation of grains from the Central pool to the states deepened the crisis.
The question is not whether the government can do anything today. The crucial point is what the government did yesterday, before the crisis had become so critical. That the government is criminally guilty is undoubtedly true. The wrong economic policy has not only resulted in unprecedented price rise, it has landed the country in the despair of stagnation. The combination of stagnant or falling output and rising prices is what is known as the dreaded stagflation.
The latest economic survey points out the slow down in the crucial sectors of the economy: manufacturing, construction, cement, steel and consumer durables. It also notes with concern the tardy growth of revenue earning freight traffic. The decline in agricultural production was also noted in the survey. While the rise in prices will reduce the purchasing power of the masses, real wages will decline, the stagnation of the economy will cut jobs, impact upon the wage levels, make joblessness more dreadful and impinge upon the quality of human life. India is in a crisis as never before. The UPA government is only to be blamed.

(The author is a CPI member of Parliament)
__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Fwd: Some great videos and artcles on "Bittergate"



Jonta Williams wrote:

Subject: [AstoriaisforOBAMA] Some great videos and artcles on "Bittergate"

Barack's AWESOME response to the whole "Bitter" non issue
Good - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxmi3e2Vmo
Great - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow
 
Obama on Charlie Rose in 2004 on why some Americans vote on Social Issuesþ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a88wMPAWc90

Another view on the "Bitter" comment from somebody who was there
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/hopeandchange/gGBWzl
 
McCain said the Samething before he Attacked it
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/mccain-said-it-before-he_b_96314.html
 
and so did Bill ...

Historical Quote of the Day
 "If [Republicans] could cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, middle-class Americans would see fewer benefits from their tax dollars, feel more resentful paying taxes, and become even more receptive to their appeals for tax cuts and their strategy of waging campaigns on divisive social and cultural issues like abortion, gay rights, and guns."
 
-- Bill Clinton, in his 2004 memoirs, My Life, making the same argument as Sen. Barack Obama.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/04/13/historical_quote_of_the_day.html
 
 
Article by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration. He's also a native of Scranton, PA:  Today's post is entitled "Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and Old Politics"
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/04/obama-bitterness-meet-press-and-old.html
 
Best of all ... reaction from real people on the "Bitter" issue
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/14/need-headline_n_96578.html



BarackObama.com
 
WE CAN DO THIS!!
Donate



  __._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Obama & Marx

 
I think Mr Mehul Kamdar doesn't take sides in the ensuing US presidential poll but cautions against overestimation of Obama. Nor do I see him even inmplicitly supporting McCann. Rather the opposite.

I think I should share with those who haven't read an oped in NYT on Marx's statement on religion which is misinterpreted. He never discarded the gravitation of the 'Wretched of the Earth' to religion while finding in religiosity a semblance of opiate.
Going a little adrift, I think Misha Glenny's McMafia which is yet to his bookstands in India (after reading excerpts) one should not have any illusion about the US democrats who did sow seeds of criminalisation of capitalism - precisely during the Clinton era. But no doubt this assumed a menacing form under George WBush
Here goes the article.

The Mask Slips By William Kristol 14 Apri 08 (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14kristol.html?ref=opinion)
I haven't read much Karl Marx since the early 1980s, when I taught political philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, it didn't take me long this weekend to find my copy of "The Marx-Engels Reader," edited by Robert C. Tucker — a book that was assigned in thousands of college courses in the 1970s and 80s, and that now must lie, unopened and un-remarked upon, on an awful lot of rec-room bookshelves.
My occasion for spending a little time once again with the old Communist was Barack Obama's now-famous comment at an April 6 San Francisco fund-raiser. Obama was explaining his trouble winning over small-town, working-class voters: "It's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
This sent me to Marx's famous statement about religion in the introduction to his "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right":
"Religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless condition. It is the opium of the people."
Or, more succinctly, and in the original German in which Marx somehow always sounds better: "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes."
Now, this is a point of view with a long intellectual pedigree prior to Marx, and many vocal adherents continuing into the 21st century. I don't believe the claim is true, but it's certainly worth considering, in college classrooms and beyond.
But it's one thing for a German thinker to assert that "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature." It's another thing for an American presidential candidate to claim that we "cling to ... religion" out of economic frustration.
And it's a particularly odd claim for Barack Obama to make. After all, in his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, he emphasized with pride that blue-state Americans, too, "worship an awesome God."
What's more, he's written eloquently in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father," of his own religious awakening upon hearing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "Audacity of Hope" sermon, and of the complexity of his religious commitment. You'd think he'd do other believers the courtesy of assuming they've also thought about their religious beliefs.
But Obama in San Francisco does no courtesy to his fellow Americans. Look at the other claims he makes about those small-town voters.
Obama ascribes their anti-trade sentiment to economic frustration — as if there are no respectable arguments against more free-trade agreements. This is particularly cynical, since he himself has been making those arguments, exploiting and fanning this sentiment that he decries. Aren't we then entitled to assume Obama's opposition to Nafta and the Colombian trade pact is merely cynical pandering to frustrated Americans?
Then there's what Obama calls "anti-immigrant sentiment." Has Obama done anything to address it? It was John McCain, not Obama, who took political risks to try to resolve the issue of illegal immigration by putting his weight behind an attempt at immigration reform.
Furthermore, some concerns about unchecked and unmonitored illegal immigration are surely legitimate. Obama voted in 2006 (to take just one example) for the Secure Fence Act, which was intended to control the Mexican border through various means, including hundreds of miles of border fence. Was Obama then just accommodating bigotry?
As for small-town Americans' alleged "antipathy to people who aren't like them": During what Obama considers the terrible Clinton-Bush years of economic frustration, by any measurement of public opinion polling or observed behavior, Americans have become far more tolerant and respectful of minorities who are not "like them." Surely Obama knows this. Was he simply flattering his wealthy San Francisco donors by casting aspersions on the idiocy of small-town life?
That leaves us with guns. Gun ownership has been around for an awfully long time. And people may have good reasons to, and in any case have a constitutional right to, own guns — as Obama himself has been acknowledging on the campaign trail, when he presents himself as more sympathetic to gun owners than a typical Democrat.
What does this mean for Obama's presidential prospects? He's disdainful of small-town America — one might say, of bourgeois America. He's usually good at disguising this. But in San Francisco the mask slipped. And it's not so easy to get elected by a citizenry you patronize.
And what are the grounds for his supercilious disdain? If he were a war hero, if he had a career of remarkable civic achievement or public service — then he could perhaps be excused an unattractive but in a sense understandable hauteur. But what has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?



__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Demarcate place of worship as protected area, barring any kind of political activities

We must do everything possible to stop spread of provocative violent religious thoughts. As a step to curve the use of religious institution by religious bigots, government must take some short and long term planning. This becomes evidently a must to do after the riot situation which prevailed on April 10th and April 11th centering our national mosque Baitul Mukarrom by extremist religious hooligans.
Immediate Step:
  • Government must declare demarcate place of worship as a protected area, barring any kind of political activities
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then their registration will be canceled
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then their tax exemption status will canceled
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then they will be black listed and there will be no governmental financial support with tax payer's money.
  • Government form an Enforcement Surveillance Committee under ministry of religious affairs comprising members from different governmental organization who will investigate, report and enforce the law
  • Government opens a "Public Complain Box" under Ministry of Religious Affairs where ordinary citizens and devotees can submit their grievances.
 
Long term steps:
  • Ministry of Religious Affairs formulate especial workshop program around the country where prayer leaders, administrative official of religious institution will be given detail about the responsibility of  tax exempted religious institution. This will be similar to Anti Corruption Commission media campaign.
  • Awareness program will be launched about the does and don'ts for a public tax exempted religious organization.
  • Prayer leaders will be asked to launch awareness initiative during especial congregation.
  • Ministry of Information will launch public awareness program to encourage citizens to file written complaint with "Public Complain Box" under Ministry of Religious Affairs similar to Anti Corruption Commission media campaign.
I hope decision makers will take these signs of religious intolerance as unhealthy phenomenon for a nation building process and take initiative to stamp out religious bigotry. Religious convictions are out of sheer belief for eternal peace but the religious bigotry is out of sheer hatred.
 
Sincerely
Shamim Chowdhury
Maryland

  __._,_.___

[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Demarcate place of worship as protected area, barring any kind of political activities

We must do everything possible to stop spread of provocative violent religious thoughts. As a step to curve the use of religious institution by religious bigots, government must take some short and long term planning. This becomes evidently a must to do after the riot situation which prevailed on April 10th and April 11th centering our national mosque Baitul Mukarrom by extremist religious hooligans.
Immediate Step:
  • Government must declare demarcate place of worship as a protected area, barring any kind of political activities
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then their registration will be canceled
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then their tax exemption status will canceled
  • If any religious place of worship found to be in violation of this rule then they will be black listed and there will be no governmental financial support with tax payer's money.
  • Government form an Enforcement Surveillance Committee under ministry of religious affairs comprising members from different governmental organization who will investigate, report and enforce the law
  • Government opens a "Public Complain Box" under Ministry of Religious Affairs where ordinary citizens and devotees can submit their grievances.
 
Long term steps:
  • Ministry of Religious Affairs formulate especial workshop program around the country where prayer leaders, administrative official of religious institution will be given detail about the responsibility of  tax exempted religious institution. This will be similar to Anti Corruption Commission media campaign.
  • Awareness program will be launched about the does and don'ts for a public tax exempted religious organization.
  • Prayer leaders will be asked to launch awareness initiative during especial congregation.
  • Ministry of Information will launch public awareness program to encourage citizens to file written complaint with "Public Complain Box" under Ministry of Religious Affairs similar to Anti Corruption Commission media campaign.
I hope decision makers will take these signs of religious intolerance as unhealthy phenomenon for a nation building process and take initiative to stamp out religious bigotry. Religious convictions are out of sheer belief for eternal peace but the religious bigotry is out of sheer hatred.
 
Sincerely
Shamim Chowdhury
Maryland

  __._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Re: Mukto-Mona's dumping practices: My response to Mr. Gani

Dear Members,

 

I have read Mr. Gani's lengthy piece and I would like to appreciate his patience even though he feels that he has been discriminated. I would like to disagree here on what he wrote.

 

After his first appearance in Mukto-Mona on April 19, 2006, Mr Gani penned numerous articles on various topic and all of his articles have been duly published in MM. I have searched by giving Mr. Gani's name and it came out with about 130 articles and responses. If this is the matter of discrimination, I have nothing much too say. Let the data decide. Mr. Gani could not provide any factual proof of discrimination, other than telling us that he had been received cold feet after sending the article(s).  

 

Mr. Gani accused MM for spreading especially racially motivated (on Muslims) and aggressive comment. In his words- "MM moderators have freely been disseminating those views of expressive harms without any remorse."

 

Such Accusation of Mr. Gani is not new.  He wrote similar lengthy piece in NFB on NFB; 01 Sept. 2006 accusing MM for hurting billion Muslims in Bangladesh and beyond. Our moderator Jahed Ahmed refuted such allegation  by saying –

 

 

"Mr. Gani thinks, mukto-mona is hurting the sentiments of millions of people in Bangladesh, destroying family values, and we are forcing people into recanting ancestor's beliefs/religions. So flattering for us to learn, we exert so much influence on peoples' mind! Yet I need to make a point here. At mukto-mona, we mainly deal with issues that we believe are dogmatic, irrational and unscientific. If any such issues coincides with some one's own definition of a "family value", "religion", "religious ritual" etc, we simply won't stop from doing it. We know, even icons like Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Ram Mohan Roy, Kazi Nazrul Islam were once accused of having "destroyed religions/cultures", etc. What if they stopped? Would the necessary reformation/change have taken place? Or take the example of Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." Didn't many say she was putting whole order of the society up side down by espousing equal rights for women? Same holds true for late Quazi Abdul Wadud, Quazi Motahar Hossain, Prof. Ahmed Shariff, Aroj Ali Matubbor et al of Bangladesh." (MM Message #36096)

 

I found Mr. Ganis new article was nothing but the old, unpalatable, empiricist wine in a new bottle, which we had refuted many times.  I would like to respond to this accusation one more time perhaps.

 

We have seen time to time that Muslim fundamentalists certainly think of mukto-mona just as a creation of some "anti-Muslim" gang with vested interest.  Mr. Gani's view is in-line of that view. However, If Mr. Gani was smart enough; he would have noticed that Hindu and other fanatics also curse Mukto-Mona for favoring the Islamists. Just few days ago, one devout hindu was accusing MM writers for becoming "Al-Mahmud" and "Anwar Zahid", the reason was, MM core members and moderators were very vocal against unjustified Iraq war and racial approach against Muslims. If we were so racist against Muslims then why did we protest? You cannot have both ways, Mr. Gani.

 

The answer is quite clear. We were against all kinds of social injustices, religious and oppressive dogmas, doctrines, and discriminations.  We critiqued everything that hindered people's access to civil liberty, freedom, democracy and secularism.  We took a strong stand against all kinds of human rights violations such as oppression of ethnic/religious minority community and gender-based discriminations against women, homosexuals and others, and we have proven it time to time.  Our project, our past petitions and the articles are the proof. We had written petition when hindu fanatics destroyed the Babri mosque,  appealed for Gujarat Genocide Trials, against Hindutva Vandalism on Renowned Artist M F Hussain's Paintings etc.  What type of racism is Mr. Gani talking about?

 

Mr. Gani is 'so anxious' for hurting religious sentiment of the Muslims.  Let me site quote from History. The great Humanist Thomas Paine once uttered about Bible -

 

"...The Bible is a book lies, wickedness and Blasphemy. As for the book called Bible, it is actually blasphemy to call it the word of god. ...This book is too ridiculous even for criticism" ( Ref. The age of reason; Thomas Paine, p 88).

 

James Harvey Johnson also once wrote:

 

"We see nothing worthwhile in this book. It is most evil, injurious, fallacious, divisive book ever written. It has caused more deaths, tortures and suffering than any other book ever written. It has been the most oft-used instrument for holding back human progress for thousand years. It has been the cause of more wars than any other book or tyrant or human characteristic" (Ref. 'Of the bible', James Harvey Johnson, The New Zealand Rationalist Humanist, vol XXXV)

 

Ancient Charbakas criticized Vedas in a very venomous language. Even today, If you go to any Dalit site for eg. http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/, http://www.dalitstan.org/books/index.html  etc, you would see how harshly they use to criticize Hinduism, and especially Bhrahminism.

 

The following lines indicate how an western critique criticized Abraham's character just few decades ago -

 

"Who was Abraham? An insane Barbarian patriarch who married his sister, denied his wife, and seduced her handmaid, who drove one child into desert to starve and made preparation to butcher the other" (Ref. Illustrias Biblical Personalities; Jhon E Remsburg.

Freethought, July 1997)

 

Bertrand Russell also attacked Bible in more or less similar tone in many of his articles including his famous book – 'Why I am not a Christian' . No body had saught head for Russell, Harvey, or Pane. None were accused for being "hate-monger" or "hurting sentiment" of billions of Christians. It looks Mr. Gani has a unique sense of "being hurt" always!

 

 

Religion is so entrenched in the mind of the people like Muhammad Gani  that they  have been able to foist off onto popular culture the notion that religion always deserves kid glove treatment!!! What an irony.  Republicans can criticize the political philosophy of Democrats and vice versa. BNP can criticize the polical ideology of AL, Jamat can criticize 'equal right for women' as they think it anti-islamic. Socialists and capitalists can criticize each other's basic worldview. However, to the people like Mr. Gani, religious beliefs must be above from any kind piercing criticism. If you criticize, you will be a hatemonger like"KKK". Eh…give me a break!

 

If his religious sentiment is being hurt by the criticism of MM writers, then be with it! There is definitely a time and place to make religion look as ridiculous as it actually is. Look at the news papers of Bangladesh- how mullahs are opposing the equal rights for women. Will be a hate, if we point out this? There is definitely a time and place to emphasize the opportunities awaiting a person who lives a life free of superstition. Mukto-Mona has been awarded prestigious Jahanara Imam Memorial Medal recently for making significant contribution in the movement for establishing humanism, rationalism and scientific mindset among the people. Many popular media including Daily star or German Bangla Radio have taken interviews and published those with due importance. MM books have already made a quick land marks Mr. Gani should ask himself  who is preaching real hate – is this Mukto-Mona or he himself - taking this onerous duty on himself to propagate name calling among Bangalee readers?

 

 

 

Lastly, I would also like to point out that while criticizing a particular dogma, it is also important to make the proper distinction between Muslims and Islam. Muslims are people, human beings like you and I and that's why many of our members voice for the rights of Palestine or Kashmiris or stood against Iraq war, even though they criticize Islam as a dogma. I wonder whether Mr. Gani will ever realize that!

 

Apparently, I have not seen Mr. Gani raising his voice when an atheist like  Prof. Humayun Azad's  neck had been chopped off, neither had he noticed anything when  religious fundamentalists issuing fatwas against the freethinkers of Bangladesh or calling  them Murtad and seeking death penalty. He does not think that anybody like us has right to get hurt when  Shamsher Ali  spreads lies to make his religion 'super-scientific' by capturing all the news and government media, and while state promotes it. Mr. Gani probably  will not find anything wrong when he sees that  the non-believers like us have to start our day listening so-called Quran-Telwat or other religious recitation, which we do not want to, but forced to by state-patronization!  He does not find anything wrong when state also patronizes Baitul Mukram's Khatib to spread Jihad against the infidels on each Khutba on Jumma. For him, so called 'sentiment' and 'ability of getting hurt' should only belong to a believer like him, and not to any infidel community. Indeed their 'religious sentiment' is so precious!

 

Avijit



__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___