Banner Advertiser

Thursday, May 10, 2012

RE: [KHABOR] RE: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article--my comment-- a religion as state ideology does not harm development.



Munawar sahib and others,

Please read again. I said “A proper Islamic state is expected to do  well in development because it produces moral persons, not secular materialists.”

Islam also highlights development in the verse Rabbana Atina Fiddunia Hasanatan ------------“Islam has encouraged work and decried giving up the world or begging.

 

Shah Abdul Hannan

 

From: khabor@yahoogroups.com [mailto:khabor@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ali Manwar
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 6:22 PM
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [KHABOR] RE: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article--my comment-- a religion as state ideology does not harm development.

 

 

Dear Mr. Hannan: You did not prove that it was the religion that was the cause of development. So, what is the point?

 

Ali Manwar, PhD

Maryland

 

From: S A Hannan <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:31 AM
Subject: [KHABOR] RE: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article--my comment-- a religion as state ideology does not harm development.

 

Dear Sirs,

Please see my short response to the letter below. If the state takes a religion as its ideology, it does not harm development. Abbasid Khilafat had Islam as the basis of the state. So is the case of Mughals in India . Ashoke’s rule in India had Buddhism, Israel has Judaism. All these states reached high stage of development and religious ideology did not harm development.

Development is the function of good leaders, good laws and good governance, state ideology help this only. A proper Islamic state is expected to do  well in development because it produces moral persons, not secular materialists.

Shah Abdul Hannan

 

 

From: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com [mailto: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of Jiten Roy
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:20 AM
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article

 

 

Encouraging news indeed!

Advanced and prosperous countries do not mix religion and politics. This is not just a statement; the truth is right in front of our eyes. That’s the key to the success of the advanced countries. Government has no business to deal with any religion. Let religion take its course.

Whatever progress Bangladesh has made under the present government is due to whatever secular policies they have implemented, and we see the results right away. This should be the encouragement for the government to adopt more secular policies. Country’s progress comes from the progress of the individual citizen, irrespective of religious affiliation. When government starts to promote a particular religion over the others, it breaks the cycle of progress in other religious groups, which is bound to degrade the overall progress of the country. Let’s learn from history, and work together towards the progress and prosperity of all citizens by transforming Bangladesh into a true secular country, as opposed to making it a model Islamic country. There is no future for any Islamic or Hindu or Christian country in the world. These are vacuous aspirations only - nothing to do with reality.

Jiten Roy

 



--- On Wed, 5/9/12, Muhammad Ali <man1k195709@yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Muhammad Ali <man1k195709@yahoo.com>
Subject: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article
To:
Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 5:36 PM

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: modasser khosseine <bolonhome@hotmail.com>
To:
Sent: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 9:32 PM
Subject: [Alapon] Wall Street Journal article

 

 


 

 
 

Wall Street Journal article

Bangladesh Is South Asia 's Standard-Bearer

The former 'basket case' is more moderate on religion and more pragmatic on development than its peers.

 

Despite its 160-million strong population, Bangladesh can find it hard to elbow its way onto the global stage. It's in an area where India is cast in the lead as the dominant economy, Pakistan plays the intermittent villain, and Sri Lanka and Nepal feature in cameos as countries with uncertain futures. Yet when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touches down in Dhaka Saturday—the highest ranking American official to visit in nearly a decade—she'll encounter a country that can teach a lesson or two to all other regional actors.

The world's third-most populous Muslim-majority country stands out as a model of moderation. Unlike in virtually every other country in the Muslim world, Islamists in Bangladesh are on the defensive. Seven people, including high profile leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, South Asia's most powerful Islamist group, face war crimes charges for their role in slaughtering Bangladeshi patriots, Muslim and Hindu alike, during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan .

Current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-75) led that struggle, which claimed 3 million lives according to the Bangladesh government. The trial reveals the government's willingness to deal with one of the most painful episodes in the young nation's history. It also shows its refusal to allow Islamists to label the regime as "anti-Islam" for pursuing them, a form of blackmail that often obstructs justice in other places.

In a similar vein, Bangladesh can boast one of Asia 's best records of fighting Islamist terrorism. The South Asia Terrorism Portal estimates that only nine people have lost their lives since Ms. Hasina swept to power at the end of 2008. In the four years before that, terrorists claimed 56 lives at home, while the Bangladeshi terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (or HuJi-B) carried out high-profile terrorist strikes in India .

Much of Bangladesh 's success in confronting the most intolerant elements within its own society comes from crafting an inclusive national narrative. Unlike Pakistan , Bangladesh does not define itself by faith alone. Most Bangladeshis see no contradiction between being proud Muslims and proud Bengalis. This self-confidence gives the country the ability, which some other Muslim societies lack, to push back against extremism.

Enlarge Image

 

 

EPA

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

Then there's the down-to-earth pragmatism present in Dhaka 's approach to development. Over the past five years, the economy has expanded on an average of 6% per year. Unlike India , which is hobbled by socialist-era labor laws that interfere with hiring and firing, Bangladesh has built a world-class apparel industry that employs more than 3.5 million people and supplies global brands like H&M, Walmart and Tommy Hilfiger. Thanks to this, the country is already the world's second largest exporter of readymade garments after China . If it plays its cards right, Bangladesh , more than any other South Asian nation, could attract a fresh wave of labor-intensive manufacturing looking for cheaper alternatives to China . Goldman Sachs lists Bangladesh among its "Next 11," countries that have the potential to become major economies.

And after years of tensions with its bigger neighbor, Bangladesh is now being practical and seeking to normalize ties with India . The two countries have already settled long festering territorial disputes and opened up trade. A landmark transit agreement would place Bangladesh at the heart of a potentially dynamic growth corridor encompassing northeastern India and a newly democratizing Burma . This is currently being stymied by Indian politician Mamata Banerjee, who as chief minister of the West Bengal state that borders Bangladesh opposes an allied water-sharing agreement with Dhaka .

Still, Dhaka and New Delhi are pushing for this agreement and it could succeed, possibly ushering in a new peace dividend in the region. At any rate, Dhaka's pragmatism in its foreign relations stands in contrast to India, which can't always suppress its preachy rhetoric of nonalignment (toward the West), as well as Pakistan, which often sputters in a sea of Islamic fundamentalism and knee-jerk opposition to India.

That said, Bangladesh is hardly free of problems. Ms. Hasina and her chief opponent, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Khaleda Zia, have created a poisonous zero-sum politics, which has come to the fore again in recent days. The BNP is up in arms at the disappearance of one of its leaders last month and they blame Ms. Hasina's ruling party. They have shut down the country with crippling national strikes four times in the past month.

No one knows how the BNP official in question disappeared, though, and a string of similar disappearances reflect a deteriorating law and order situation. Either law enforcement is engaged in extra-judicial actions, or vigilantes can roam free with impunity. Neither is encouraging.

Meanwhile, the Islamist threat has been reduced but not eliminated. The BNP remains at best ambivalent and at worst actively sympathetic toward Islamist forces similar to those that have helped drag Pakistan in a downward spiral. And though Bangladesh 's army deserves some credit for keeping its distance from politics since late 2008, it's by no means certain that the country's latest experiment with democracy, barely three and a half years old, will last. The military first seized power in 1975, and has done so repeatedly since.

But for now, these worries can take a back seat. This weekend, a country once dismissed by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as a basket case, gets to show one of his successors how wrong it has proven him.

Mr. Dhume is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, and a columnist for WSJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @dhume01

 

 



__._,_.___


****************************************************
Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

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

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

__,_._,___

Re: [ALOCHONA] FW: Will Cuppy on Bounty on Hafiz Saeed's head



Only the despised Mossad can do the job right!
-SD
 
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." GBS
From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
To:
Sent: Monday, April 9, 2012 4:13 PM
Subject: [ALOCHONA] FW: Will Cuppy on Bounty on Hafiz Saeed's head

 
              This is really an incredibly inept and comical attempt to cover-up the CIA's role behind the rogues involved in the criminal attack in Mumbai. I remember posting some insightful and investigative articles spelling out the CIA hand at the time.

             Note also that the US refuses to bring itself under the jurisdiction of any International Criminal Court.

           Farida 

Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 06:51:59 +0100
Subject: Will Cuppy on Bounty on Hafiz Saeed's head

http://www.rifah.org/site/907/
 
By Will Cuppy
 
(It is an American satirist who gets the joke; the bounty of $ 10 million on the head of Hafiz Saeed is no joke. It is violation of all norms of law. As pointed out by the writer: "A bounty presupposes someone who is a fugitive from law, or having been sentenced is absconding or having served a term and on bail has jumped the bail. The Hafiz does not fall into any of these categories". But one thing is clear: Just as the US Middle East policy is made by Israel, the US South Asia policy is made by India.  .... Usman Khalid) 
 

Hafiz Saeed, Head of Jamaat ud Daawa (Party of invitation to Islam), who campaigns for the true spirit of Islam which stresses unity (tauheed) and opposition to sectarian and ethnic polarisation that afflicts Pakistan today. 

American humorist Will Cuppy penned satirical sketches of historical figures and called the work The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. Of Nero, the infamous emperor, he wrote: "In some respects Nero was ahead of his time. He boiled his drinking water to remove the impurities and cooled it with unsanitary ice to put them back again."

Cuppy could have been talking about US foreign policy.

We are all agreed that relations between the US and Pakistan have nosedived. We are also told that the US is very keen to put matters right. Some evidence — counting out the CIA, Raymond Davis' running around, unilateral raids, US forces that can't differentiate between Taliban hideouts and army posts but deliver deadly accurate fire, and Dana Rohrabacher — suggests that such may be the case.

So, why does the US, Nero-like, use unsanitary ice to put the impurities back?
Washington has put a bounty of $10 million on the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, announced by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman in India, on April 2. Meanwhile, a US State Department spokeswoman is supposed to have told the media that the announcement has not been made at India's behest. The process is internal. This, of course, explains adequately the timing and place of the announcement and those trying to find an India angle could go take a hike, thank you.
 
But leaving all else aside, including the broader strategic issue of US-Pakistan relations, and agreeing also that Hafiz Saeed may not be Mother Teresa's brother, we still run into problems. Consider.
 
A bounty presupposes someone who is a fugitive from law, or having been sentenced is absconding or having served a term and on bail has jumped the bail. The Hafiz does not fall into any of these categories. Everyone knows where he lives, he makes regular public appearances, and there is no criminal case against him either in Pakistan or the United States.
 
There is no indication, apart from an internal, inter-agency process in the US, that the US government has indicted the Hafiz and taken the case to the court of law where due process has determined the man's guilt. There is also no indication that the Hafiz has been notified of any such legal case against him.
 
For all practical purposes this is an ex parte announcement which, legally speaking, given the process and sans standard legalities, is bogus.
 
The announcement then is a violation of international law, diplomatic norms and the fundamental rights of a Pakistani citizen. In fact, the entire process is against the judicial norms of the US itself and could not be applied to a US citizen.
 
But let's park this thought and rewind.
 
Hafiz Saeed was listed by the United Nations as a terrorist. What did he do? He filed a delisting request through the focal point arguing that his enlistment is a violation of the right to due process and is an arbitrary action influenced by the Indian lobby.
 
He categorically denied any alleged association with al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and denounced the Mumbai attacks; challenged the veracity of the narrative summaries of reasons given by the Sanctions Committee; requested the Committee to delink the JuD from the LeT and issue a separate narrative of reasons, if any, with regards to JuD; argued that reliance on the allegations related to LeT and treating JuD as an alias is unfair and lacks reason and justification; declared that he is ready to confront the evidence related to the vague and conjectural allegations; stated that Courts in Pakistan have declared that there is no evidence of his involvement in Mumbai attacks or his connection with al Qaeda; apprised the focal group that JuD is not a proscribed organisation under Pakistani law.
 
Incidentally, the Hafiz's representation was the first of its kind before the UN Focal Group. Since then the UN has changed the procedure and put an ombudsperson to deal with such matters.
 
The Hafiz has instructed his counsels to approach the office of the ombudsperson for a de novo consideration of the delisting request which, I am told, is being finalised.
 
Meanwhile, two attempts by the government in Pakistan to put the Hafiz under confinement were quashed by the Lahore High Court for lack of evidence.
 
It is a legal truism that no person can be deemed guilty until due process has determined his culpability. The US action, which is executive in nature, flouts that benchmark and by targeting unilaterally a citizen of another state also signals that the United States' internal, executive process is enough to override both the international law as well as the legal system of another state.
 
I am not sure if this approach is in any way conducive to stated efforts by the United States to improve relations with Pakistan.
 
It may be noted that this discussion has nothing to do with the guilt or otherwise of the Hafiz. He may be found guilty whereupon he must be punished as deemed by law. If the US has evidence that links the Hafiz to any terrorist acts, it must share that with Pakistan so the government can present a case against the Hafiz in a Pakistani court of law. The US has refused to bring itself under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court because the idea of a non-US court, even one mandated through a multilateral process remains anathema to the US. And yet, it finds its own internal, executive process to be enough to indict a citizen of another state.
 
Or perhaps the US is the ultimate reformer that likes all other states to be bound by multilateral treaty processes and international law but chooses to act unilaterally when desired so it can retain its freedom of action to shape the world according to its own interests.
 
Nero, Cuppy informs us, was also a reformer. He "renamed the month of April after himself, calling it Neroneus". But, as Cuppy reminds us, "the idea never caught on because April is not Neroneus and there is no use pretending that it is."++

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.
 


--





__._,_.___


[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

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] FW: The Hindu Vs TOI: Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint By P. SAINATH



        Since Bangladesh imports Indian cotton there should be something of interest in this story. Also, I am an Anti-Monsanto activist
both inside and outside USA.

Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 14:45:47 +0800
Subject: The Hindu Vs TOI: Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint By P. SAINATH

 



Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint

P. SAINATH
A facsimile of The Times of India's August 28, 2011 page with the 'marketing feature' on Bt Cotton.
A facsimile of The Times of India's August 28, 2011 page with the 'marketing feature' on Bt Cotton.
The same full page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement
"Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide."
Three and a half years ago, at a time when the controversy over the use of genetically modified seeds was raging across India, a newspaper story painted a heartening picture of the technology's success. "There are no suicides here and people are prospering on agriculture. The switchover from the conventional cotton to Bollgard or Bt Cotton here has led to a social and economic transformation in the villages [of Bhambraja and Antargaon] in the past three-four years." (Times of India, October 31, 2008).

So heartening was this account that nine months ago, the same story was run again in the same newspaper, word for word. (Times of India, August 28, 2011). Never mind that the villagers themselves had a different story to tell.

"There have been 14 suicides in our village," a crowd of agitated farmers in Bhambraja told shocked members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture in March this year. "Most of them after Bt came here." The Hinduwas able to verify nine that had occurred between 2003 and 2009. Activist groups count five more since then. All after 2002, the year the TOI story says farmers here switched to Bt. Prospering on agriculture? The villagers told the visibly shaken MPs: "Sir, lots of land is lying fallow. Many have lost faith in farming." Some have shifted to soybean where "at least the losses are less."

Over a hundred people, including landed farmers, have migrated from this 'model farming village' showcasing Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech's Bt Cotton. "Many more will leave because agriculture is dying," Suresh Ramdas Bhondre had predicted during our first visit to Bhambraja last September.

The 2008 full-page panegyric in the TOI on Monsanto's Bt Cotton rose from the dead soon after the government failed to introduce the Biotech Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill in Parliament in August 2011. The failure to table the Bill — crucial to the future profits of the agri-biotech industry — sparked frenzied lobbying to have it brought in soon. The full-page, titled Reaping Gold through Bt Cotton on August 28 was followed by a flurry of advertisements from Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd., in the TOI (and some other papers), starting the very next day. These appeared on August 29, 30, 31, September 1 and 3. The Bill finally wasn't introduced either in the monsoon or winter session — though listed for business in both — with Parliament bogged down in other issues. Somebody did reap gold, though, with newsprint if not with Bt Cotton.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture appeared unimpressed by the ad barrage, which also seemed timed for the committee's deliberations on allowing genetically modified food crops. Disturbed by reports of mounting farm suicides and acute distress in Vidarbha, committee members, who belong to different parties, decided to visit the region.
Bhambraja, touted as a model for Mahyco-Monsanto's miracle Bt, was an obvious destination for the committee headed by veteran parliamentarian Basudeb Acharia. Another was Maregaon-Soneburdi. But the MPs struck no gold in either village. Only distress arising from the miracle's collapse and a raft of other, government failures.

The issues (and the claims made by the TOI in its stories) have come alive yet again with the debate sparked off by the completion of 10 years of Bt cotton in India in 2012. The "Reaping Gold through Bt Cotton" that appeared on August 28 last year, presented itself as "A consumer connect initiative." In other words, a paid-for advertisement. The bylines, however, were those of professional reporters and photographers of the Times of India.

 More oddly, the story-turned-ad had already appeared, word-for-word, in the Times of India, Nagpur on October 31, 2008. The repetition was noticed and ridiculed by critics. The August 28, 2011 version itself acknowledged this unedited 'reprint' lightly. What appeared in 2008, though, was not marked as an advertisement. What both versions do acknowledge is: "The trip to Yavatmal was arranged by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech."

The company refers to the 2008 feature as "a full-page news report" filed by the TOI. "The 2008 coverage was a result of the media visit and was based on the editorial discretion of the journalists involved. We only arranged transport to-and-from the fields," a Mahyco Monsanto Biotech India spokesperson told The Hindu last week. "The 2011 report was an unedited reprint of the 2008 coverage as a marketing feature." The 2008 "full-page news report" appeared in the Nagpur edition. The 2011 "marketing feature" appeared in multiple editions (which you can click to online under 'special reports') but not in Nagpur, where it would surely have caused astonishment.

So the same full-page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement. The first time done by the staff reporter and photographer of a newspaper. The second time exhumed by the advertising department. The first time as a story trip 'arranged by Mahyco-Monsanto.' The second time as an advertisement arranged by Mahyco-Monsanto. The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

The company spokesperson claimed high standards of transparency in that "…we insisted that the publication add the source and dateline as follows: 'This is a reprint of a story from the Times of India, Nagpur edition, October 31, 2008.' But the spokesperson's e-mail reply to The Hindu's questions is silent on the timing of the advertisements. "In 2011, we conducted a communications initiative for a limited duration aimed at raising awareness on the role of cotton seeds and plant biotechnologies in agriculture." Though The Hindu raised the query, there is no mention of why the ads were run during the Parliament session when the BRAI Bill was to have come up, but didn't.

But there's more. Some of the glowing photographs accompanying the TOI coverage of the Bt miracle were not taken in Bhambraja or Antargaon, villagers allege. "This picture is not from Bhambraja, though the people in it are" says farmer Babanrao Gawande from that village.

Phantom miracle

The Times of India story had a champion educated farmer in Nandu Raut who is also an LIC agent. His earnings shot up with the Bt miracle. "I made about Rs.2 lakhs the previous year," Nandu Raut told me last September. "About Rs.1.6 lakh came from the LIC policies I sold." In short, he earned from selling LIC policies four times what he earned from farming. He has seven and a half acres and a four-member family.

But the TOI story has him earning "Rs.20,000 more per acre (emphasis added) due to savings in pesticide." Since he grew cotton on four acres, that was a "saving" of Rs. 80,000 "on pesticide." Quite a feat. As many in Bhambraja say angrily: "Show us one farmer here earning Rs.20,000 per acre at all, let alone that much more per acre." A data sheet from a village-wide survey signed by Mr. Raut (in The Hindu's possession) also tells a very different story on his earnings.

The ridicule that Bhambraja and Maregaon farmers pour on the Bt 'miracle' gains credence from the Union Agriculture Minister's figures. "Vidarbha produces about 1.2 quintals [cotton lint] per hectare on average," Sharad Pawar told Parliament on December 19, 2011. That is a shockingly low figure. Twice that figure would still be low. The farmer sells his crop as raw cotton. One-hundred kg of raw cotton gives 35 kg of lint and 65 kg of cotton seed (of which up to two kg is lost in ginning). And Mr. Pawar's figure translates to just 3.5 quintals of raw cotton per hectare. Or merely 1.4 quintals per acre. Mr. Pawar also assumed farmers were getting a high price of Rs.4,200 per quintal. He conceded that this was close to "the cost of cultivation… and that is why I think such a serious situation is developing there." If Mr. Pawar's figure was right, it means Nandu Raut's gross income could not have exceeded Rs.5,900 per acre. Deduct his input costs — of which 1.5 packets of seed alone accounts for around Rs.1,400 — and he's left with almost nothing. Yet, the TOI has him earning "Rs.20,000 more per acre."

Asked if they stood by these extraordinary claims, the Mahyco-Monsanto spokesperson said, "We stand by the quotes of our MMB India colleague, as published in the news report." Ironically, that single-paragraph quote, in the full-page-news story-turned-ad, makes no mention of the Rs.20,000-plus per acre earnings or any other figure. It merely speaks of Bt creating "increased income of cotton growers…" and of growth in Bt acreage. It does not mention per acre yields. And says nothing about zero suicides in the two villages. So the company carefully avoids direct endorsement of the TOI's claims, but uses them in a marketing feature where they are the main points.

The MMB spokesperson's position on these claims is that "the journalists spoke directly with farmers on their personal experiences during the visits, resulting in various news reports, including the farmer quotes."

The born-again story-turned-ad also has Nandu Raut reaping yields of "about 20 quintals per acre with Bollgard II," nearly 14 times the Agriculture Minister's average of 1.4 quintals per acre. Mr. Pawar felt that Vidarbha's rainfed irrigation led to low yields, as cotton needs "two to three waterings." He was silent on why Maharashtra, ruled by an NCP-Congress alliance, promotes Bt Cotton in almost entirely rainfed regions. The Maharashtra State Seed Corporation (Mahabeej) distributes the very seeds the State's Agriculture Commissioner found to be unsuited for rainfed regions seven years ago. Going by the TOI, Nandu is rolling in cash. Going by the Minister, he barely stays afloat.

Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech's ad barrage the same week in 2011 drew other fire. Following a complaint, one of the ads (also appearing in another Delhi newspaper) claiming huge monetary benefits to Indian farmers landed before the Advertising Standards Council of India. ASCI "concluded that the claims made in the advertisement and cited in the complaint, were not substantiated." The MMB spokesperson said the company "took cognizance of the points made by ASCI and revised the advertisement promptly…. ASCI has, on record, acknowledged MMB India's modification of the advertisement…"

We met Nandu again as the Standing Committee MPs left his village in March. "If you ask me today," he said, "I would say don't use Bt here, in unirrigated places like this. Things are now bad." He had not raised a word during the meeting with the MPs, saying he had arrived too late to do so.

"We have thrown away the moneylender. No one needs him anymore," The Times of India news report-turned-ad quotes farmer Mangoo Chavan as saying. That's in Antargaon, the other village the newspaper found to be basking in Bt-induced prosperity. A study of the 365 farm households in Bhambraja and the nearly 150 in Antargaon by the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) shows otherwise. "Almost all farmers with bank accounts are in critical default and 60 per cent of farmers are also in debt to private moneylenders," says VJAS chief Kishor Tiwari.

The Maharashtra government tried hard to divert the MPs away from the 'model village' of Bhambraja (and Maregaon) to places where the government felt in control. However, Committee Chairperson Basudeb Acharia and his colleagues stood firm. Encouraged by the MPs visit, people in both places spoke their minds and hearts. Maharashtra's record of over 50,000 farm suicides between 1995 and 2010 is the worst in the country as the data of the National Crime Records Bureau show. And Vidarbha has long led the State in such deaths. Yet, the farmers also spoke of vast, policy-linked issues driving agrarian distress here.
None of the farmers reduced the issue of the suicides or the crisis to being only the outcome of Bt Cotton. But they punctured many myths about its miracles, costs and 'savings.' Some of their comments came as news to the MPs. And not as paid news or a marketing feature, either.

(Disclosure: The Hindu and The Times of India are competitors in several regions of India.)
-- 

<



__._,_.___


[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

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Re: 26 Jamaat leaders held in Satkhira: Police Excess Has No limit Now--editorial

Only if they prosecute these SOBs and show that crimes similar to 1971 would not be tolerated. That would be called real progress. There is nothing to fear these cowards. These animals will always invent an issue and torment progressives and minorities because they do not bite back. Only exemplary punishments can stop these Jamati thugs from committing more menace!
-SD.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Farida Majid <farida_majid@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Great news! The whole nation has been victimized most cruelly by
> Moududibadi Jamaat members. How much longer do we need to tolerate their
> oppression in the name of a religion whose basic moral precepts are not
> followed by the Jamaatis themselves?
>
>
>
> Attention!
> Notice how they refer to themselves! Delawar Hossain Sayidee used to
> refer to Jamaat like that all the time, at every 'waz mahfil', always stressing that Jamaat is a constitutionally legal political party. How ultra-conscious! The TRUTH is it is NOT -- not according to 1972 Constitution.
>
>
>
> << What is illegal if members of a legal political party
> hold a meeting in a house. >>
>
>
>
> Complaining about Police excess? What about all the Jamaati
> excesses of murder and mayhem the desh-basi tolerated ever since the
> Independence? Any complain about those inhuman cruelties committed by
> Jamaat will be labeled as "anti-Islamic" and this has been going on with
> impunity.
>
>
>
> Does any body see any faint connection between this bullying tactics of Jamaat and democracy?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To: hkbadal@...; digantaeditorial@...; agm370@...
> From: sahannan@...
> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 06:39:46 +0600
> Subject: [mukto-mona] 26 Jamaat leaders held in Satkhira: Police Excess Has No limit Now--editorial
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 26
> Jamaat leaders held in Satkhira: Police Excess Has No limit Now
>
> UNB has reported from , Satkhira that Police
> arrested 26 leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami in a house at Sora village in Shyamnagar
> upazila of Satkhira on Saturday.Alamgri Hossain, officer-in-charge of
> Shyamnagar Police Station, said the Jamaat leaders, all rokons of the
> organisation, were arrested while holding a "clandestine" meeting
> to carry out subversive activities against the state.
>
> The
> arrested include Shyamnagar upazila unit nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat Maulana
> Oheduzzaman, Alamgir Kabir, Israfil, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Mannan, Mofazzal
> Hossain, Lutfar Rahman, Rafiqul Islam, Aminur Rahman, Arafat Hossain, Motaleb
> Hossain, Abdur Rahman, Siddique Gazi, Abu Bakkar Gazi, Hafizur Rahman, Imam
> Hossain and Abdul Kalam.The OC said acting on a tip-off they conducted a drive
> at the house of Jamaat leader Abdul Jalil in the evening and arrested them.The
> arrested will be charged with sedition, he added.
>
>
> We
> deplore such police action. They are doing it all the time, particularly
> against Jamaate Islami.What is illegal if members of a legal political party
> hold a meeting in a house. This is the right of all organization under the law
> and the constitution. We ask the government and the police authorities to
> restrain the field level officers. The press should also write against such
> anti-democratic action. Unfortunately leftist and secular press have also
> become too partisan. As a result the police audacity has increased. A common
> front of press could stop lot of injustice.
>




------------------------------------

[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.comYahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
alochona-digest@yahoogroups.com
alochona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
alochona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[ALOCHONA] RE: [KHABOR] More about Elias Ali !!!!



Well said Sumon.
Shahadat
 
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; Diagnose@yahoogroups.com
From: shumonoh@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 08:08:06 -0700
Subject: Fw: [KHABOR] More about Elias Ali !!!!

 
Goom all the corrupts who belong to opposition party, that is the single most divine duty of current administration. Groom our own corrupts which is another divine job of the current government.

From: Muhammad Ali <manik195709@yahoo.com>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 4:59 PM
Subject: [KHABOR] More about Elias Ali !!!!

 
Kindly read the attached article to know more about Mr. Elias Ali :

http://www.bhorerkagoj.net/new/2012/05/10/53870.php








__._,_.___


[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

__,_._,___

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)