Haitians riot, loot over soaring food prices

Will this happen in INDIA, with rising inflation and depending on other food sources the situation that has occured in Haiti can occur in India if the RULERS mind remains as now. Our Sharad Pawar doesn’t know the correct wheat storagein India ,he is busy sitting with criceters and IPL.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008 (Haiti)
Hungry Haitians stormed the presidential palace on Tuesday to demand the resignation of President Rene Preval over soaring food prices and UN peacekeepers battled rioters with rubber bullets and tear gas. Rioters were chased away from the presidential palace but by late afternoon had left trails of destruction across Port-au-Prince. Concrete barricades and burned-out cars blocked streets, while windows were smashed and buildings set on fire from the capital’s center up through its densely populated hills.Outnumbered UN peacekeepers watched as people looted businesses near the presidential palace, not budging from the building’s perimeter. Nearby, but out of sight of authorities, another group swarmed a slow-moving car and tried to drag its female driver out the window.”We are hungry! He must go!” protesters shouted as they tried to break into the presidential palace by charging its chained gates with a rolling dumpster. Moments later, Brazilian soldiers in blue UN helmets arrived on jeeps and assault vehicles, firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters and forcing protesters away from the gates.Food prices, which have risen 40 per cent on average since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But nowhere do they pose a greater threat to democracy than in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries where in the best of times most people struggle to fill their bellies.For months, Haitians have compared their hunger pains to ”eating Clorox” because of the burning feeling in their stomachs. The most desperate have come to depend on a traditional hunger palliative of cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt.Riots broke out in the normally placid southern port of Les Cayes last week, quickly escalating as protesters tried to burn down a UN compound and leaving five people dead. The protests spread to other cities, and on Monday tens of thousands took to the streets of Port-au-Prince.

Naxal Income worth Rs 1000 crore

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NEW DELHI: The Naxalites-sponsored Terror Inc’s rogue chest is loaded with a whopping Rs 1,000 crore. The discovery of the Naxalites’ Rs 60-crore budget for weapons procurement during 2005-07, made during the interrogation of arrested Maoist leader Misir Besra in Jharkhand, was only the tip of the iceberg. Intelligence agencies’ estimates put the overall annual budget of CPI(Maoist) well over Rs 1,000 crore, with Bihar contributing Rs 200 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 150 crore and mineral-rich Jharkhand an even bigger sum. The agencies’ estimates are based on inputs regarding actual spending of Maoists. For example, while the expenditure of the polit bureau may not be too high, the central military commission, R&D wing, arms procurement wing, information and publicity wing, state committees and dalams spend big money to arm the CPI(Maoist) with intelligence and sophisticated arms and ammunition for killing security personnel and civilians. A good chunk is spent on publicity, both through the net as well as in-house publications. For example, one of their main publications, Awam-e-Jung, has a good circulation — comprising the 10,000 cadres and many more sympathisers — despite no advertising revenue to fall back upon. Significantly, the Naxalites depend in a big way on their urban network to source and transport weapons, fight court cases for arrested leaders, arrange medical care for the ill and wounded cadres, source uniforms and material for IEDs and run cyber and psychological campaigns. The Chhattisgarh Police, as part of its recent crackdown on the urban support network of Maoists, seized the account books of urban wing of the state which puts the total outlay at Rs 5.43 crore. Not only this, the Chhattisgarh Police, as part of their urban crackdown over the last couple of months, seized 82-84 small arms, 60 motorola sets, uniforms enough to clothe six battalions and 81 GB worth of Naxal material that they are yet to scan. The urban network of the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh consisted not only of lawyers, tailors but an entire travel agency under whose cover 10-12 Naxal supporters were ferrying Maoist leaders from Raipur to camps in the interiors and transporting arms consignments and other material. The travel agency has since been busted and a good part of its staff arrested for abetting Naxal activities. The main source of Naxals’ funds are extortion from road contractors, tendu patta contractors, mining companies, illegal mining activities and other industrialists having operations in the Naxal-infested areas. In Jharkhand, in particular, the Naxalites extort significant amounts of money from illegal coal miners. The estimated Rs 1,000-crore annual budget of the Naxalites is an obvious source of worry for the Centre as it matches the police modernisation funds that it has been disbursing to the states. It also goes against the Union home minister Shivraj Patil’s recent assertion in Parliament that the threat of Naxalism was being exaggerated by the Opposition. After all, with a generous budget of Rs 1,000 crore, the Naxalites are now no longer relying on weapons and ammunition looted from the police for their firepower. As evident from some of the independently-procured AK-47s seized recently, the Naxalites are now actually buying these sophisticated arms from around the world and having the consignments shipped clandestinely to India or picked up from the north-eastern borders. According to sources in Chhattisgarh Police, interrogation of arrested urban supporters of Maoists have thrown light on an aborted bid to buy AK-47s from Australian dealers and have them illegally shipped to India via Malaysia. Similarly, West Bengal police have confirmed the despatch of an arms consignment from the north-east, via West Bengal.

Arrogant MP.

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Dubai/Thiruvananthapuram, April 8
The de-boarding of a Kerala MP from an Air India aircraft today erupted into a major row with the Parliamentarian being accused of calling the pilot a “glorified driver” while the politician threatened to move Parliament’s Privileges Committee on the issue.Charges flew thick and fast and denials followed with Rajya Sabha MP P.V. Abdul Wahab alleging “rude” behaviour by the pilot and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) claiming that the IUMl leader “opened the cockpit door, entered inside and abused the pilot”.

But the MP, who was a resident of the UAE for the past 32 years, and shifted residence to Kerala after becoming a Rajya Sabha MP, told PTI after reaching Dubai he never entered the cockpit. An Air India official also denied that the pilot had spoken rudely.

Wahab and his wife were to fly from Kozhikode to Kochi from where they were to catch a connecting flight to Dubai but were ordered to disembark. The pilot also reportedly questioned an airline official why the plane was being delayed after they allegedly reached late. The couple reached Dubai by another flight.

Supporting the pilot, Capt Rajat Rana the ICPA said it would protest if any action was taken against him.

ICPA general secretary Capt Vikram Yadav told PTI that the MP was asked to disembark from the aircraft only after he “entered a totally restricted zone which is illegal.”

The passenger was abusing the pilot by calling him “a glorified driver” even on ground and had threatened to get him “grounded”, he claimed and asserted that “if any action is taken against the pilot, the ICPA will fully back him”.

When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said: “We are ascertaining the facts in view of different versions coming out on the incident”.

Captain Rana told reporters “I did whatever keeping flight security in mind. It had nothing to do with any personal remarks or anything”.

Earlier, an official of the airline in Kozhikode said: “The MP had disembarked from the aircraft on his own after an argument with the pilot”.

Denying that the pilot had behaved rudely towards Wahab, he said the MP had verbally complained about the matter and did not give anything in writing.

Wahad told PTI in Dubai that he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the civil aviation minister Praful Patel and apprise them of the incident.

“I will also meet my leader (E Ahamad of the IUML) and then decide on the future course of action. After the meeting, we may decide to take the complaint or drop the matter,” he replied, when asked about his reaction on his course of action if the airline tenders an apology.

“If this is the kind of treatment that a Parliament member has to face then what would be the experience of the common man,” he added.

According to him, the issue is of arrogance of the pilot. “My only crime has been to defend the airport manager who was been humiliated by the pilot,” added Wahab. — PTI

 

 

Lord Paul faces protests at Singur

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Subhrangshu Gupta
Tribune News Service

Kolkata, April 8
The Lord Swaraj Paul, London-based industrialist, was today heckled and mobbed by groups of angry demonstrators during his visit to Singur. The Lord Paul had gone to Singur to perform the bhumi puja of the proposed Rs 2,000 crore plant of his Caparo Industries.

The undaunted Lord Paul, however, boldly faced the protests and performed the bhumi puja with usual religiosity.

The state Speaker, Hashim Abdul Halim, and a team of all-party MLAs were present at the puja. Trinamool Congress MLAs were, however, not in the team.

Later talking to media persons, the Lord Paul said he was determined to invest funds at Singur for setting up two units of the Caparo steel plant since he was sincerely wanting a rapid industrial growth in the still backward West Bengal for solving the state’s present acute unemployment problem. He said he would invest funds in other states, including his home-state of Punjab and Haryana.

The Lord Paul said the present industrial climate in West Bengal was favourable for new investments and he hoped that several other NRls settled in the UK and the US would now be keen to invest in Singur and other places where an infrastructural development was taking place following the setting of the Tata Motors factory. He felt Singur people themselves, irrespective of their political affiliations, should come forward and help grow new industries at Singur.

The Trinamool Congress and the local Bhoomi Rakhsa Committee (BRC), however, reiterated that they would not allow any more acquisitions of farm lands in Singur for industries. Incidentally, the Lord Paul today performed the bhumi puja on a small plot of the government-acquired khan land. But the process of acquiring about 2,000 acres for the entire project was being conducted by the state government after a consensus opinion at an all-party meeting excepting the Trinamool Congress.

In the morning today, around 10, the Lord Paul, accompanied by a group of NRI industrialists operating in the UK and other European countries and the state Industrial Development Corporation officials, drove down to Singur from Kolkata to be present at the bhumi puja ceremony of the proposed Caparo industries plant. A large contingent of CRPF personnel and the state police was escorting the business team.

On reaching the project site, they faced black flag protests organised by local people, comprising mostly women and children. They were protesting against the use of the farm lands at Singur for industries. The police, however, swung into action and forced the demonstrating people to leave the place. Afterwards, under police protection, the Lord Paul could perform the puja.