TO CELEBRATE THE OCCASION OF THE BIRTH CENTENARY OF COM BHUPESH GUPTA UNDER THE FLAG OF West Bengal State Council, Communist Party Of India, A SEMINAR ON 'WHITHER DEMOCRACY IN INDIA' WILL TAKE PLACE AT MOULALI YUBA KENDRA, KOLKATA ON 18TH NOVEMBER, 2014 AT 3.30 P.M. Genral Secretary of all All India Left Parties i.e CPI(M), CPI(M-L), RSPI, FBI and SUCI (C) are expected to speak on the subject. CHANGE, IF ANY, WILL BE INFORMED IN DUE COURSE. ALL MY FRIENDS AND THEIR FRIENDS ARE WELCOME.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Birth centenary of Com Bhupesh Gupta
Just yesterday birth centenary of Com Bhupesh Gupta has been celebrated at Kolkata (Bhupesh Bhaban , Lahiri-Mukherjee Hall). A resolution passed at the state council meeting (19-20 October, presided over by Com Debasish Dutta)) was read over by Com Bhanudeb Dutta who presided over the Centenary meeting. Speakers were Dr. Anandadev Mukherlee, ex-Vice Chancellor, Vidyasagar University, Dr Shovanlal Dutta Gupta, renowned Political Scientist, Janab Bodiur Rahaman, renowned Research Scholar attached with Dhaka Bangla Academy (Bangladesh) cited walks of Bhupesh Gupta in different fields both in parliament and outside parliament and WB State Secretary Com Manju Kr. Majumder also addressed the maeeting.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
All religious fundamentalists must be removed from the Democratic fabric of our country
All religious fundamentalists must be removed from the Democratic fabric of our country
The incident of Bardhaman blast shook the whole country and made our stand stronger to fight against all religious fundamentalists which are targeted to destroy the Democratic fabric of our country.
We appeal and believe the people, the press and security persons will act together and unitedly to expose every grains of the soil where these religious fundamentalists spreaded their roots.
Unfortunately there are several ambiguity and contradictions are coming in front of the people
about the negligence of security responsibility, political nexus with the banned terrorists, delay and hesitations on taking appropriate legal procedures. These are all same dangerous to curb the democratic fabric of the country along with the activities of religious fundamentalists terror tactics. Certain facts are here..
Delay of six days
Six days after the “accidental blast” in the West Bengal’s Bardhaman district the four arrested in the case have been charged under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 2008, officials of the State’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said on Wednesday.
The accused have also been charged under section 121 of the Indian Penal Code which relates to waging or attempting to wage war against the Government of India. While Abdul Hakim, an accused
who was present at the site when the accidental blast occurred was arrested on Tuesday, Hashem Molla, another accused in the case was arrested on Monday.
Two women Gulsana Bibi and Alima Bibi who were present in the building after the blast occurred on October 2 were arrested on Sunday.
Earlier the women were charged with several sections of the Indian Penal Code including section 286 for negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance and 120 B criminal conspiracy, 307(attempt to murder), 326(voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), and 201(causing disappearance or evidence of offence).
No decision on NIA role
A senior official attached to the NIA in Delhi too said the Home Ministry had “not approached” them to probe the blast, in which two persons were killed. A senior official of the Home Ministry in Delhi said separately that the government is “yet to decide” on an NIA probe.
Bangladesh’s reaction
Expressing concern over the incident, Bangladesh’s junior Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told The Hindu over phone: “We have good relations with India. We share all information on sensitive issues. We would like the Indian Government to do the same in this case.” The Minister said the Government of Bangladesh has “not allowed” its territory to be used for anti-Indian activities. “We have dismantled several camps along the border which were involved in such activities,” Mr. Khan said.
[Note: Bangladesh and India share a 4,096 kilometer (2,545 miles) long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 18 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal. The Bangladeshi Divisions of Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet and Chittagong are situated along the border. A number of pillars mark the border between the two states. Small demarcated portions of the border are fenced on both sides.]
Monday, October 06, 2014
The Hok Kolorob Movement
The 2014 Jadavpur University student protest, branded itself as "Hok Kolorob", i.e., "let there be noise". It was originally the title of a song by Bangladeshi singer Arnob and began to be used as a hashtag on Facebook.
The protests have been marked with a strong cultural flavour: students have been singing, dancing and arranging diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days while the protests ensue. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays and performances dotting the University campus and the streets of Kolkata. This has led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s. It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination.
On August 28, a girl student of second year at Jadavpur University was dragged into the Old Boys' Hostel on campus and molested, and her male friend beaten up, by 10 residents of the hostel. According to the girl's father, when he approached the interim Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti, on September 1, he was told to wait for a couple of days as Chakrabarti was going to New Delhi. The father lodged a police complaint on September 2 and sent a letter to the University authorities on September 3, upon which an internal inquiry was ordered in the Vice-Chancellor's absence, believed to be at the behest of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was formed in accordance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 to investigate the matter. However, the committee was compromised when two of its members visited the girl's home in Bidhannagar on September 5, refusing to identify themselves and asking questions about her dress on the night of the incident. This led to the girl filing a General Diary with the Bidhannagar police station on September 6 for "mental harassment" in which she identified them as professors of the Sanskrit and Women's Studies Departments of Jadavpur University.
A number of students then staged demonstrations demanding that the accused ICC committee members be replaced, as well as forming an "external committee", effectively the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) recommended by the Sexual Harassment Act, and demanding increased security for students within the campus. This was not acceptable to the Vice-Chancellor, but, at the same time, he asked the students to wait until after the meeting of the Executive Councils on the evening of September 16. At the meeting of the Executive Councils it was decided that it is not possible for a panelist to be replaced at some intermediate point of an investigation. This inability to replace panelists, according to University officials, is mandated in the Vishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court. The officials instead presented a letter which talked about students' code of conduct, totally deviating from the demands of the students.
On the evening of September 16, after the meeting of Executive Council was finished, students gheraoed some university officials, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, in their offices. Following several attempts to communicate and reach an understanding between the officials and the students, the situation reached an impasse, and the students continued their demonstration into the night. The Vice-Chancellor summoned police for protection.
On September 17, 2014, The Kolkata Police arrived at the scene around 8 pm. Some senior officials from the police department tried to negotiate with the students but could not come to a settlement. At around 2 am on September 17, the lights at the entrance to the Administrative Building were suddenly turned off. This was followed by police assault on students, lifting the gherao and thereby completing the rescue operation. The police beat up several students, and arrested 36. Some students were injured, and needed to be hospitalized.
Students say that the police force was aided by several civil-dressed outsiders (cadres of Trinamool Congress, according to students). The gherao was dismantled, and the Vice Chancellor was escorted off the campus by the police. This was immediately followed by a road block by the students in front of the Jadavpur police station. Students allege that female students were manhandled by the police force.
The incident of the beating of students by the police sparked nationwide reaction, with a high amount of protest on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos of the attack on the students surfaced on the internet and TV channels.
Students of the University have boycotted classes since the incident of police brutality. On 20 September, a rally was organized by students in the heart of the city, and was attended by students from the University, other educational institutions, and the general populace in a spontaneous outburst of outrage at the brutality with which the opposition to authority was stamped out. The rally ended peacefully, with student representatives holding a meeting with the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Estimates of the number of participants in the rally vary between 30,000 and over 100,000 people. On the same day, protest demonstrations were held in several other Indian cities, showing solidarity with the students of Jadavpur University.
On September 22, a rally was arranged by the ruling Trinamool Congress party against the students. According to newspaper reports, school and college students from suburban and rural areas were dragged to the rally in order to showcase the power of the ruling party. The agitating students of Jadavpur University were mocked through slogans and posters.
On September 25, The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University resigned from his post.
Students, alumni and teachers from major educational institutions in the city and from colleges from across the country have supported the protests. Alumni of the University have arranged for demonstrations in New York, London and Sydney. Participants of the 2013 Shahbag protests in Bangladesh expressed solidarity with the protests. A citizen's convention condemning the police brutality was arranged in the university campus on September 24, which was attended by eminent educationists and intellectuals.
The Commissioner of Police said in a press conference that police came on to the campus only at the request of the Vice-Chancellor. He accused students of offending police officers by using foul language to them. He also said that police were not carrying any lathis, so there was no question of any baton charge (lathi charge). This provoked criticism, as several video clips showed officers carrying lathis.
The main contention by the authorities (both the University and the state government), is that the students were not peaceful, and that the lives and safety of University officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, were under real and tangible threat from the students. Another point raised by the administration was the large presence of "outsiders" among the protesters - students and others who were not currently affiliated with Jadavpur University. According to Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti in an interview with a news channel, these outsiders - alleged to be from rival political parties or to be drug-dealers who supply the student population - were the main element of the rowdiness that justified the use of punitive force.
The protests have been marked with a strong cultural flavour: students have been singing, dancing and arranging diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days while the protests ensue. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays and performances dotting the University campus and the streets of Kolkata. This has led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s. It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination.
On August 28, a girl student of second year at Jadavpur University was dragged into the Old Boys' Hostel on campus and molested, and her male friend beaten up, by 10 residents of the hostel. According to the girl's father, when he approached the interim Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti, on September 1, he was told to wait for a couple of days as Chakrabarti was going to New Delhi. The father lodged a police complaint on September 2 and sent a letter to the University authorities on September 3, upon which an internal inquiry was ordered in the Vice-Chancellor's absence, believed to be at the behest of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was formed in accordance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 to investigate the matter. However, the committee was compromised when two of its members visited the girl's home in Bidhannagar on September 5, refusing to identify themselves and asking questions about her dress on the night of the incident. This led to the girl filing a General Diary with the Bidhannagar police station on September 6 for "mental harassment" in which she identified them as professors of the Sanskrit and Women's Studies Departments of Jadavpur University.
A number of students then staged demonstrations demanding that the accused ICC committee members be replaced, as well as forming an "external committee", effectively the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) recommended by the Sexual Harassment Act, and demanding increased security for students within the campus. This was not acceptable to the Vice-Chancellor, but, at the same time, he asked the students to wait until after the meeting of the Executive Councils on the evening of September 16. At the meeting of the Executive Councils it was decided that it is not possible for a panelist to be replaced at some intermediate point of an investigation. This inability to replace panelists, according to University officials, is mandated in the Vishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court. The officials instead presented a letter which talked about students' code of conduct, totally deviating from the demands of the students.
On the evening of September 16, after the meeting of Executive Council was finished, students gheraoed some university officials, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, in their offices. Following several attempts to communicate and reach an understanding between the officials and the students, the situation reached an impasse, and the students continued their demonstration into the night. The Vice-Chancellor summoned police for protection.
On September 17, 2014, The Kolkata Police arrived at the scene around 8 pm. Some senior officials from the police department tried to negotiate with the students but could not come to a settlement. At around 2 am on September 17, the lights at the entrance to the Administrative Building were suddenly turned off. This was followed by police assault on students, lifting the gherao and thereby completing the rescue operation. The police beat up several students, and arrested 36. Some students were injured, and needed to be hospitalized.
Students say that the police force was aided by several civil-dressed outsiders (cadres of Trinamool Congress, according to students). The gherao was dismantled, and the Vice Chancellor was escorted off the campus by the police. This was immediately followed by a road block by the students in front of the Jadavpur police station. Students allege that female students were manhandled by the police force.
The incident of the beating of students by the police sparked nationwide reaction, with a high amount of protest on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos of the attack on the students surfaced on the internet and TV channels.
Students of the University have boycotted classes since the incident of police brutality. On 20 September, a rally was organized by students in the heart of the city, and was attended by students from the University, other educational institutions, and the general populace in a spontaneous outburst of outrage at the brutality with which the opposition to authority was stamped out. The rally ended peacefully, with student representatives holding a meeting with the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Estimates of the number of participants in the rally vary between 30,000 and over 100,000 people. On the same day, protest demonstrations were held in several other Indian cities, showing solidarity with the students of Jadavpur University.
On September 22, a rally was arranged by the ruling Trinamool Congress party against the students. According to newspaper reports, school and college students from suburban and rural areas were dragged to the rally in order to showcase the power of the ruling party. The agitating students of Jadavpur University were mocked through slogans and posters.
On September 25, The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University resigned from his post.
Students, alumni and teachers from major educational institutions in the city and from colleges from across the country have supported the protests. Alumni of the University have arranged for demonstrations in New York, London and Sydney. Participants of the 2013 Shahbag protests in Bangladesh expressed solidarity with the protests. A citizen's convention condemning the police brutality was arranged in the university campus on September 24, which was attended by eminent educationists and intellectuals.
The Commissioner of Police said in a press conference that police came on to the campus only at the request of the Vice-Chancellor. He accused students of offending police officers by using foul language to them. He also said that police were not carrying any lathis, so there was no question of any baton charge (lathi charge). This provoked criticism, as several video clips showed officers carrying lathis.
The main contention by the authorities (both the University and the state government), is that the students were not peaceful, and that the lives and safety of University officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, were under real and tangible threat from the students. Another point raised by the administration was the large presence of "outsiders" among the protesters - students and others who were not currently affiliated with Jadavpur University. According to Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti in an interview with a news channel, these outsiders - alleged to be from rival political parties or to be drug-dealers who supply the student population - were the main element of the rowdiness that justified the use of punitive force.
Saradha Scam – The losers and the gainers
The recent Saradha scam or Saradha Group financial scandal, which has been surfaced in West Bengal disrupted the political equation of the state when CBI enquiries and newspaper reports published the names of a good number of MPs, MLAs, Ministers and prominent personalities attached with the ruling TMC government. Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running a wide variety of collective investment schemes or popularly referred to as chit fund in Eastern India leveraged its apparent proximity to political and bureaucratic power centres to rapidly build up an image of a successful and trustworthy financial organisation among its investors. Saradha Group revolves around a total sum of Rs 2,460 crore with 80 per cent of the depositors' monies still remaining unpaid, a latest investigation report has revealed. The report also states that the arrested Saradha chairman Sudipta Sen was in "total control" of all deposits made by his group companies, which are under the scanner for having perpetrated the alleged fraud. Four companies of the Saradha Group, the report said, used to mobilise money through three schemes - 'fixed deposit', 'recurring deposit' and 'monthly income deposit' - which lured innocent depositors with promises of either "landed property or a foreign tour" as incentive returns.
A joint investigation report of West Bengal police and Enforcement Directorate (ED), in possession of PTI, stated that, "the summary report (of the group) for the years 2008-12 revealed that the four companies of Saradha Group had mobilised an amount of Rs 2,459.59 crore through issuance of their policies. "The investors were paid an amount of Rs 476.57 crore. "As of April 16, 2013, the principal amount to be paid to the investors stood at Rs 1,983.02 crore," the report added.
Sleuths found that the four Saradha Group companies, namely, Saradha Realty India Ltd, Saradha Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd, Saradha Housing Pvt Ltd and Saradha Garden Resort and Hotels Pvt Ltd were in the business of mobilising money from gullible investors. A total of 560 complaints have so far been filed with West Bengal police by duped investors, the report stated.
Describing the working of the scam, which broke early this year, the classified report stated that the "investigation so far carried out revealed that Sen had floated various companies, through numerous branch offices in West Bengal as also in Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand and other states to mobilise deposits from the public".
The group collected the money from over 1.7 million depositors before collapsing in April 2013.
In the aftermath of the scandal, the State Government of West Bengal, where the Saradha Group and the majority of duped investors were based, instituted an inquiry commission to investigate the collapse and also set up a fund to ensure that low-income investors are not bankrupted. The Union Government through the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate also launched a multi-agency probe to investigate the Saradha scam, as well as other similar Ponzi schemes. In May 2014, the Supreme Court of India citing inter-state ramifications, possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus transferred all investigations in the Saradha Scam and other Ponzi schemes to Central Bureau of Investigation, the federal investigative agency.
A joint investigation report of West Bengal police and Enforcement Directorate (ED), in possession of PTI, stated that, "the summary report (of the group) for the years 2008-12 revealed that the four companies of Saradha Group had mobilised an amount of Rs 2,459.59 crore through issuance of their policies. "The investors were paid an amount of Rs 476.57 crore. "As of April 16, 2013, the principal amount to be paid to the investors stood at Rs 1,983.02 crore," the report added.
Sleuths found that the four Saradha Group companies, namely, Saradha Realty India Ltd, Saradha Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd, Saradha Housing Pvt Ltd and Saradha Garden Resort and Hotels Pvt Ltd were in the business of mobilising money from gullible investors. A total of 560 complaints have so far been filed with West Bengal police by duped investors, the report stated.
Describing the working of the scam, which broke early this year, the classified report stated that the "investigation so far carried out revealed that Sen had floated various companies, through numerous branch offices in West Bengal as also in Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand and other states to mobilise deposits from the public".
The group collected the money from over 1.7 million depositors before collapsing in April 2013.
In the aftermath of the scandal, the State Government of West Bengal, where the Saradha Group and the majority of duped investors were based, instituted an inquiry commission to investigate the collapse and also set up a fund to ensure that low-income investors are not bankrupted. The Union Government through the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate also launched a multi-agency probe to investigate the Saradha scam, as well as other similar Ponzi schemes. In May 2014, the Supreme Court of India citing inter-state ramifications, possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus transferred all investigations in the Saradha Scam and other Ponzi schemes to Central Bureau of Investigation, the federal investigative agency.
Law and Legalities
A chit fund is a kind of savings scheme practiced in India. A chit fund company is a company that manages, conducts, or supervises a chit scheme—as defined in Section of the Chit Funds Act, 1982. According to Section 2(b) of the Chit Fund Act, 1982: "Chit means a transaction whether called chit, chit fund, chitty, kuree or by any other name by or under which a person enters into an agreement with a specified number of persons that every one of them shall subscribe a certain sum of money (or a certain quantity of grain instead) by way of periodical installments over a definite period and that each such subscriber shall, in his turn, as determined by lot or by auction or by tender or in such other manner as may be specified in the chit agreement, be entitled to the prize amount".
The companies that made up Saradha Group were incorporated in 2006. 95% of the fund was collected in the last three years of the scam. Initially, the front-line companies collected money from the public by issuing secured debentures and redeemable preferential bonds. Under Indian Securities regulations and section 67 of the Indian Companies Act (1956), a company cannot raise capital from more than 50 people without issuing a proper prospectus and balance sheet. Its accounts must be audited and it must also have explicit permission to operate from the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
SEBI first confronted Saradha Group in 2009. Saradha Group adapted by opening as many as 200 new companies to create more cross-holdings. This created an extremely complex tiered corporate structure in order to confound SEBI by hampering their ability to consolidate blame. SEBI persisted in its investigation through 2010. Saradha Group reacted by changing its methods of raising capital. In West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Chhattisgarh, it began operating variations of collective investment schemes (CIS) involving tourism packages, forward travel and hotel booking timeshare credit transfer, real estate, infrastructure finance, and motorcycle manufacturing. Investors were rarely informed about the true nature of their investments. Instead, many were told only that they would get high returns after a fixed period. With other investors, the investment was fraudulently sold in the form of a chit fund. Under the Chit Fund Act (1982), chit funds are regulated by state governments rather than SEBI.
SEBI warned the state government of West Bengal about Saradha Group's chit fund activities in 2011, once again prompting Saradha Group to change its methods. This time it acquired and sold large numbers of shares of various listed companies, and then embezzled the proceeds of the sale through accounts which as of September 2014 have not yet been identified. Now, it is to be verified that whether the Saradha Group started laundering a large portion of its funds to Dubai, South Africa and Singapore.
By 2012, SEBI was able to classify the group's activities as collective investment schemes, and not chit funds— and demanded that it immediately stop operating its investment schemes until it received permission to operate from SEBI. Saradha Group did not comply and continued to operate until its collapse in April 2013.
Whose money and who are involved
Like all Ponzi schemes, Saradha Group promised astronomical returns in fanciful but credible investments. Its funds were sold on commission by agents who were recruited from local rural communities. As much as 25–40% of the deposit was returned to these agents as commissions and lucrative gifts to quickly build up a wide agent pyramid. To evade regulators, the group used a nexus of companies to launder money. The group collected the money from over 1.7 million depositors before collapsing in April 2013.
For building its brand it invested heavily on non-financial businesses. Saradha invested in high visibility sectors, such as the Bengali film industry. The group went on a spree of acquiring and establishing local television channels and newspapers. By 2013 it employed over 1500 journalists and owned eight newspapers printed in five languages and one FM radio station.
To further etch itself in the socio-cultural milieu of Bengal, Saradha Group invested in football rivals and the best known football clubs in Bengal, viz., Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. The group also generously sponsored various Durga Puja celebrations organised by local political leaders.
Target – Rural and sub-urban working people
India has a large low-income rural and sub-urban population with low access to formal banking facilities. A web of parallel informal banking arose to fill the vacuum. At its centre were moneylenders, who used to charge exorbitant rates of interest. To curb this practice several Moneylenders Acts were enacted by the state governments by the 1950s. However failure to replace the role of moneylenders gave rise to fly-by-night financial operators who ran these chit funds in various disguises.
The relatively prosperous rural economy of West Bengal had previously relied on small savings schemes run by Indian Postal Service. However, low rates of interest in the 1980s and '90s encouraged the rise of several Ponzi schemes in speculative ventures such as Sanchayita Investments, Overland Investment Company, Verona Credit and Commercial Investment Company. Together, these scams eliminated close to 100 crore rupees. The continuing decline in interest rates, rapid financialisation of household savings, lack of financial literacy and investor awareness, political patronage, absence of adequate legal deterrence, and regulatory arbitrage encouraged the growth of similar companies. These companies either raised their funds through legitimate channels such as collective investment schemes, non-convertible debentures and preference shares, or illegitimately through hoax financial instruments such as teak bonds, potato bonds or fictitious ventures in agro-export, construction, manufacturing, etc. As of 2013, 8 out of every 10 multi-level marketing and finance schemes against which complaints have been received are based in West Bengal, giving the state the sordid title of 'Ponzi capital of India'. It is estimated that these Ponzi funds have altogether amassed around 1000 crores of rupees from unsuspecting depositors in Eastern India.
Losers and Gainers
Rural and sub-urban working masses are the main losers of their deposited money. These huge funds invested to take a control over the people on behalf of the bourgeois political parties and also gave a clear concentration of capital in the form of land, agro market and industry and the media houses. These capitals will now wait for further concentration to the hands of more large and multinational companies.
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