Sanhati Sankalan 2010
South City Projects, Kolkata: A montage of anti-people activities
Click here to read booklet on South City Projects Kolkata Ltd. [PDF, Bengali] »
This booklet, published in Bengali by the Forum Against Anti-People South City Projects, traces the activities of South City Projects, a real estate giant in Kolkata [company logo: Live the way the world does]. This literature is a part of the South City page at Sanhati.
Included is a collage of leaflets and news pieces dating back from 2002 to the present.
Crossed and Crucified: Parivar’s war against minorities - A PUCL and Kashipur Solidarity Group report
After the killing of Laxmanananda Saraswati on 23 August 2008, a Hindutva-led pogrom against Dalit Christians started in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. Till now, according to official reports, 39 people have been killed. Nearly, 50,000 people have been hounded out of their villages, their houses have been gutted and their belongings have been looted.
This report, prepared by PUCL-Bhubaneshwar and Kashipur Solidarity Group, has tried to document the systematic targeting and hounding of the Adivasi and Dalit Christians in the Kandmahal region. In the process, the report also provides a glimpse of a long running conflict in that area, which has been used by the dominant forces such as the state, its policies and institutions, institutionalized religion and the Oriyas (who are the caste Oriyas), along with other players.
Click here to read Crossed and Crucified [PDF, English] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter: January 2009
(i) After the Mumbai attacks - again the war mongering
(ii) Israel attack on Gaza - condemnation across the world
(iii) Lalgarh : New Phase of Struggle
(iv) Results from the 18 day strike in jute mills
(v) Attack on worker by South City Mall owners - the fight for dignity of Shambhu Singh
(vi) Editorial on anti-terrorism bill
(vii) Lalgarh : attempt to entrap struggle by bureaucratic manouvers
(viii) Obama’s victory is US presidential elections
(ix) Corporate scam - Satyam exposed
(x) Land acquisition for airport at Andal
(xi) The struggle of workers of Lumtex Jute Mill
(xii) The crisis in world capitalism
(xiii) Greece erupts in struggles
(xiv) Workers occupy factories at Chicago
Click here to read ShramikShakti, January 2009 [PDF, Bengali] »
Sponge Iron Industries in Bengal and Community Devastation - A Nagarik Mancha Study
This report from Nagarik Mancha studies sponge iron industries in regions like Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, and West Midnapur in Bengal - the areas traditionally regarded as “less fertile”. Cutting across districts, it finds liquid waste, uncontrolled effluents, and groundwater depletion wreaking havoc on the lives of local communities, with WBPCB merely a silent spectator. Amongst many examples are the Lodha Sabars displaced in Gajashimul, Jhargram, after promises of jobs have gone unkept; and migrant workers in cement factories and sponge iron units across the state working in hazardous conditions. Most importantly, the study discerns an emerging contour of local resistance.
Click here to read Nagarik Mancha report on Sponge Iron industries [PDF, English] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter: May 2009
(i) No UPA, NDA, Third Front - Need for a principled political alliance
(ii) Our country : unemployment, agrarian distress, wage decline
(iii) Building industries in closed factories : CPI(M)’s false propaganda
(iv) Struggles continue : Lalgarh, Pashupathy Factory, Lumtex Jute Mill, Infogen, Kalyani Paper Mill.
(v) Regional parties’ greed for power
(vi) Jobs at the chemical hub ?
(vii) Collage of posters
Click here to read ShramikShakti, May 2009 [PDF, Bengali] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter: March 2009
(i) Infogen - Owner flees with salaries pending
(ii) MKP organises rally against imperialist globalisation
(iii) Truth about Satyam
(iv) Gorkhaland movement - recent developments
(v) Editorial - Lok Sabha Elections
(vi) Hooch tragedy - who is the real culprit ?
(vii) Road blockade by workers of National Jute Mill
(viii) Public meeting at Lalgarh - People’s Committee proposes agenda for development
(ix) Buying rice at fair price
(x) Analysis of interim budget
(xi) What do the tax collectors eat ?
(xii) Struggle in Nepal reaches crossroads
Click here to read ShramikShakti March 2009 [PDF, Bengali] »
Chinton - A magazine of Marxian enquiry
The April 2009 issue of Chinton contains two political commentaries and analysis of Nepal (by Prashanta Ray and Biswajit Hazra) and a theoretical piece on Marxian thought (by Deepak Bakshi).
Click here to read Chinton [PDF, Bengali] »
Report on India’s first airport city (Andal Airetropolis) from Adhikar
This study on the Airetropolis project in Burdawn district, Durgapur sub-division of West Bengal has been published by a local group called Adhikar, based in Asansol.
Andal, in West Bengal, is going to be the site of India’s first Airetropolis - a private airport city at a cost of 5 billion dollars and based on 3500 acres of land. The city will be owned by the Singapore’s Changi International Airport, and constructed by Bengal Airetropolis Project Limited. Notice for the project was served according to Section 4(1) from the Burdwan Collector’s Office. Various newspapers printed the notice between December 11-21, 2008.
In the first phase, initiative was taken for the acquisition of 2362.84 acres of land, and the notice called on any person associated with the land to come forward and raise objections. But the notice wasn’t circulated or publicised through the Panchayats in the villages. As a result, many people do not know about the notice. Even as authorities from Singapore claim that they have spoken to the land owners multiple times.
Land to be acquired in the first phase includes the following villages under (1) Andal Block: Andal, Tamla, DakshinKhanda, Ukhra, Khandra, Moyra, Bhadur, Dhupchuriya and (2) Faridpur Block: Amloka, Bhangori, Arati, Patshaora. These belong to Burdawn district, Durgapur sub-division.
Click here to read booklet on Andal Airetropolis from Adhikar [PDF, Bengali] »
Tribal Peoples Committee of Purulia district hold meeting for basic rights in solidarity with Lalgarh
On 22nd February, 2009, the Adivasi Moolbasi Janashadharan Committee (Tribal Peoples Committee) of Purulia district in West Bengal held a meeting for basic rights and in solidarity with the movement in Lalgarh. Pictures and a charter of demands are given.
Booklet on the Bengal and Indian government’s new agricultural policies
February 6, 2009
This booklet on the government’s new agricultural policies has been written by Subhendu Dasgupta and published by Nagarik Mancha.
Farmers do not want to remain farmers, they want to leave agriculture and become workers. Agriculture is a “backward” issue, industry is the vehicle to the future; emphasis has to be reduced from agriculture and placed on industry. In West Bengal, we do not need to worry about food and crops. In these currents of thought within the government of West Bengal, we find the broader policies of the central government - the national agricultural policies. There is great parity of thought on agriculture, between economic powers within and without; between political powers at the center and in the state. We will start with the central government’s agricultural policies, and end with the Bengal government - in the middle we will explore the ideas pushed by multinational consultancy groups.
Click here to read Sarkarer Notun Krisi Niti [PDF, Bengali] »
Naihati industrial region, Bengal - closed factories, vulnerable workers, affected society
From Save Naihati Industrial Region Manch (Naihati Shilpanchal Bachao Manch), Nov 2008
Click here to read report [PDF, Bengali, 7MB] »
Fact-finding report on Jindal SEZ in Salboni, West Bengal
From SEZ-Birodhi Prachar Manch. Dec, 2008
Click here to view video [Bengali, Google Video]
In Salboni, West Midnapur district of Bengal, the Jindal Group is building a SEZ on 4877.44 acres of land. According to the State Government and JSW Bengal Steel Limited, the SEZ is being built on totally arid land. And that the land has been given joyfully, spontaneously, in return for which the Jindal Group has provided adequate compensation and promises. The job of this team was to probe the veracity of these claims, the socio-economic effect of the purported SEZ on the local population, and its environmental implications.
Click here to read fact-finding report on Salboni SEZ of Jindal [PDF, Bengali, 7MB] »
ShramikShakti November 2008
Contents: (1) Court declares CPIM members as Tapasi Malik’s murderers (2) Kanoria Jute Mill workers on the path of struggle after a long time (3) Rice Mill workers getting organized in Bolpur (4) Agricultural workers in Bengal - an exploited class (5) Government TB hospital sold for Re. 1 (6) Kandhamal, Orissa - the Sangh Parivar stokes communal flames (7) Salboni - the Jindals convert plant to SEZ, adivasis protest (8) The Tata-Singur deal (9) Poultry farmers in Arambag in the face of monopolistic capital (10)
Click here to read ShramikShakti, November 2008 [PDF, Bengali] »
SEZ News magazine
Contents: (1) A brief report from Himachal Pradesh (2) POSCO in Orissa: an economic scam brewing? (3) Letter from KSEZ occupied area (4) Goa: how the battle was won (5) Aqaba, Jordan: Special place or Special Zone?
Click here to read SEZ News magazine, April 2008 [PDF, English, 0.6 MB] »
Matongini Mohila Samiti: Newsletter, September 2008
Matangini Mahila Samiti is a group of female students of Jadavpur University, formed in the wake of the Nandigram massacre. Its members were harassed in June 2008 on charges of having Maoist links.
Contents: (1) The nuclear deal: America, India, the CPIM, and where we stand (2) Three daughters of Nandigram (3) CMZ: the destruction of coastal livelihood and environment (4) The Gorkhaland Movement (5) Mahamaya Jagchhe: a mother looks back at the June arrest of Matongini members on Maoist charges
Click here to read Matangini Newsletter, September 2008 [PDF, Bengali, 2.9MB] »
Booklet on anti-people history of Tatas: SEZ-birodhi Prachar Manch
The SEZ-birodhi Prachar Manch is an anti-SEZ watchdog in Bengal. This booklet in Bengali, produced in 2008, dispels certain myths about the Tata corporation.
Contents: (1) Tata’s role in Indian economic and foreign policies (2) Aiding killer Union Carbide in Bhopal (3) Tribal land grab and oppression (4) Environmental pollution (5) Tata’s old history: (a) supporting British imperialism (b) export of opium to China - the origin of Jamshedji’s wealth (6) Exploitation of workers at TISCO (7) Peoples movements against the Tatas
Booklet on the anti-people history of the Tatas [Bengali, PDF, 1.7 MB] »
Booklet from FAMA on entry of big capital in retail in Bengal and India
FAMA or the Forum Against Monopolistic Aggression is fighting against the entry of big capital in retail in Bengal and India, and the consequent dispossession of millions of small traders, their employees, people employed in transportation, storage, etc. This booklet, produced in 2008, provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject.
Contents: (1) Introduction: Entry of monopolistic capital in unorganised retail in Bengal and India (2) Why unorganised retail is a profitable vista for big business (3) The international experience (4) A summary of the present situation of unorganised retail in India (5) How the present situation is changing with the entry of big capital (6) The myth of job creation and the contraction of employment (7) Predatory pricing: customers take a hit (8) How agriculture will be affected: an increase in farmer suicide? (9) The new culture of consumption (10) Adverse effects on the environment (11) The hypocrisy of Parliamentary parties (12) Conclusion: comments on the struggle ahead
Click here to read booklet on monopolistic aggression of big capital in retail [PDF, Bengali, 3MB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter: September 2008
Contents: (1) 22 workers laid off in Hindmotors as the management strike back (2) Walmart and retail in Bengal (3) Small shopowners protest in Bolpur (4) The historic food movement: 1959 and 1966 (5) The story of the Tatas (6) Workers spend 77 days in jail in a Left-governed state: a personal account (7) Resistance against Dow Chemicals advances in Mumbai (8) The Indo-US Nuclear deal - by Samik Chakraborty (9) A look at Nepal’s political trajectory
Click here to read ShramikShakti September 2008 [PDF, Bengali, 1.6 MB]
ShramikShakti Newsletter: August 2008
Contents: (1) Loomtex mill in Titagarh: imprisoned workers released after sustained resistance (2) Agricultural labourers win struggle for wage raise in Dignagar, Burdwan district (3) Hindmotors: the conversion of factory land for real estate (4) The government’s policies are responsible for price-rise (5) 1945 document of undivided CPI: a demand for independent Gorkhaland (6) Gorkhaland movement and national self-determination - by Samik Chakraborty (7) Flooding in lower Damodar Valley - who is responsible? - part 2 (8) Resistance in Barackpore Nonachandanpukur Bazaar against eviction (9) Floods in Potashpur (10) Solidarity gathering in Kolkata for Nepal’s revolutionary struggle (11) Mineline Engineering in Behala: casual workers fight against illegal activities of owner (12) Egypt in the grip of workers protests (13) International politics on the Tiber issue
Click here to read ShramikShakti [PDF, Bengali, 1.6 MB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter: June 2008
Contents: (1) Loomtex Engineering Jute Mill in Titagarh: workers imprisoned on false charges (2) My experience of the Nepal Elections - by Kushal Debnath (3) Searching for the reasons behind price-hike (4) National Jute Mill Extra Casual Workers Forum calls convention in Sakrail (5) Economic progress and job creation - a discussion, Part 4 - by Chandan Debnath (6) Lower Damodar Valley flooding - who is responsible? (7) The Panchayat system caught in the tightening noose of capital - an analysis by Shankar Das (8) “Mexico’s other border: illegal migrants to U.M by Cynthia Gorney (9) Baburam Dewan - a fading story (10) The people of Tibet resist China
Click here to read ShramikShakti, June 2008 [Bengali, PDF, 1.6 MB] »
Anthropology of a Genocide - Vedanta and tribal movements in Central India
A study by Felix Padel and Samarendra Das, 2006
Contents: (1) Introduction (2) Vedanta Resources and the fight for Orissa’s Bauxite Malis (3) Social structure of a company - DFID, DTI, VAL, Vedanta Resurces (4) The question of development - social structure of a tribal community (5) Commemorating Kalinga through Steel (6) The civil war in Bastar
Click here to read Anthropology of a Genocide - Tribal Movements in Central India [PDF, English] »
Coastal Zone Regulation to Coastal Zone Management: A Booklet
Rajarhat township - cries of despair behind a facade of development
This booklet details land acquisition in Rajarhat, West Bengal - a place which faced the onslaught of development much before Singur and Nandigram moved such debates into wider circles. As a place which has witnessed the terror of development, Rajarhat township is perhaps unique.
Click here to read booklet on Rajarhat land acquisition [PDF, Bengali] »
Shramik Istahar: April-May, 2008 issue
Contents: 1. The murder of worker leader Ram Parvesh Singh at CESC and the state of the unions 2. False police cases, political arrests, and the bail of Mithu Ghosh 3. Nandigram: Police - CPIM nexus cannot be the last word 4. Food price increase - a summary and future directions 5. Chidambaram;s farmer debt-waiver: implications 6. Aspects of global warming 7. Condition of workers in SIPCOT, Gummidipoondi
Click here to read Shramik Istahar April-May 2008 [Bengali, PDF, 250 KB] »
POSCO booklet, leaflet, map from Kolkata rally - February 2008
An analytical booklet on POSCO [PDF, Bengali, 262 KB]
Leaflet of anti-POSCO rally in Kolkata, February 2008
Study on Closed and Re-opened Tea Gardens in North Bengal
By Anuradha Talwar, Debashish Chakraborty, Sarmishtha Biswas
This study, dated September 2005, was conducted in the wake of the crisis in the tea industry in the Doars between 2002-2004.
Contents: (1) Conditions in re-opened gardens - wages, ration, hours of work, occupational health and safety, drinking water, electricity, housing, transport for school-children, medical facilities, creches, maternity benefits, fringe benefits, latrines and urinals (2) Conditions in closed and abandoned gardens (3) Workers’ dues - tabled by tea estates, categorized under provident fund, gratuity, salary, and total dues (4) Opening agreements (5) Likely non-viability of plantations (6) Role of unions - CITU, UTUC, INTUC, WBTGEA (7) Role of government (8) Plantations Labour Act, 1951
Click here to read study on closed and re-opened ta gardens in North Bengal [PDF, English, 400 KB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter - January-February 2008
Contents: (1) SEZs stopped in Goa (2) CPI(M) exults over the Nano (3) BJP in power in Gujrat and Himachal - effects on state and national politics (4) Dankuni - huge land acquisition plans (5) Civil society, Karl Marx, and the CPI(M) (6) Economic development and employment generation - a debate (part 2) (7) Vote-based front or unity of struggle? (8) Pollution of drinking water - in search of the source (9) Singur and the High Court verdict (10) Ganashakti’s hypocrisy (11) GM crops - agricultural science meet in Bolagarh (12) Bolagarh - lessons from the polls (13) Movement in Kandi - protests against corruption in public distribution system and cal for permanent flood resistance measures (14) Benazir’s death and contemporary Pakistan (15) HindMotors and the recent elections
Click here to read ShramikShakti January-February 2008 [PDF, Bengali, 612 KB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter, December 2007
Contents: (1) Brutal assault on Adivasi tea-garden workers in Assam (2) The 29th November attack on Anti-Posco Movement (3) Buddha at it again - says he’s wrong (4) An interview with Avash Munshi of SSKU on the upcoming elections at Hindmotors (5) On Taslima Nasreen (6) Economic development and employment generation - a debate (7) Nandigram and the Nuclear Deal - an understanding between Congress and CPI(M) (8) Nandigram’s effect clear in Rail Union Elections (9) Cancel SEZ, Posco go back! - ShramikShakti’s interview of Abhay Sahu (10) Nandigram will hold its head high - an eye-wtiness report from the relief camps (11) CPI(M) attacks peaceful anti-acquisition rally in Birshibpur (12) Under U.S. supervision - whither Pakistan? (13) France - workers go on unprecedented strikes
Click here to read ShramikShakti, December 2007 [PDF, Bengali, 720 KB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter - November, 2007
Contents: (1) Nandigram is bloody once again (2) The Supreme Court on land acquisition in Punjab (3) Ration riots in West Bengal (4) Historic rally in Kolkata (5) Food Shortage in India and Genetically Modified Crops (6) Anti-SEZ convention in Kolkata arranged by the MKP - a report (7) Is Sensex growth an indicator of the country’s progress? (8) Maoists leave government in Nepal - which way now?
Click here to read ShramikShakti - November, 2007 [PDF, Bengali, 629 KB]»
MKP Booklet on SEZ - A critical look at the SEZ Act
This booklet from Mazdoor Kranti Parishad covers the following :
(1) How the SEZ Act was created - the international and national backdrop
(2) SEZ Act 2005 - the most important of its 58 sections and SEZ Rule 2006 - the most important of its 77 rules
(3) Critically examining the sections and rules - (i) Section 5 ( examining generation of additional economic activity, promotion of exports of goods and services, promotion of investment from domestic and foreign sources, creation of employment opportunities, development of infrastructure), (ii) Sections 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23, 46, 51, 53 - the powers of the Development Comissioner in an SEZ, and colonial parallels (iii) Sections 26, 27, 32, 50 - exemptions, drawbacks, and concessions to developers and entrepreneurs, and what it means for social and rural programs (iv) Rule 11(10) - allotment of SEZ land for non-business purposes - real estate profits and promoters (v) Rule 44 - Contract farming for agricultural SEZs - what it means for the farmer and the seed company
(4) SEZ, and the stance of the BJP, Congress, and CPI(M).
(5) West Bengal SEZ Bill 2003
(6) Alternatives
Click here to read MKP’s booklet on SEZ [PDF, Bengali, 290KB] »
ShramikShakti Newsletter - September, 2007 issue
ShramikShakti September 2007 issue covers pieces on : (1) NREGA struggles led by MKP in Aushgram, (2) Beating back Reliance Fresh, (3) the Chemical Hub at Nayachar and the Dow Chemicals nexus, (4) The Kalyani Industrial Area - revisting a disastrous industrial foray, (5) Bauria, Mathkal, Hindwar Industries Workers Movement, (6) The Indo-US Nuclear deal (7) MarichJhapi - the history that cannot be forgotten.
Click here to read ShramikShakti [PDF, Bengali, 2.5 MB] »
Shilpayon - Rupkatha aar Bastob (Industrialisation - Fairytales and Reality)
By Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri
This extensive analytical booklet covers the following - (1) A study of China and its economic liberalization post 1980, evaluated not by dollars invested but by the detailed statistics of jobs created (2) Popular resistance to growing inequality in China, and its effects (3) Tracing the history of SEZs in West Bengal, and its present state (4) An evaluation of the popular equation big capital investment = job creation in the light of Falta, Haldia Petrochemicals, and other examples (5) A summary of foreign capital in Latin America (6) Exploring job-creating industrialization and “alternatives” (a) The need for small industries (b) Who will take care of heavy industry? (c) The farmer forms the market (d) Not Fascist force, but working with the consent of the people.
Click here to read Shilpayon - Rupkatha aar Bastob [Bengali, PDF, 265 KB] »
Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower: Tremors in India’s Mining Fields
As multinational conglomerates walk away from Orissa and Chhattisgarh with state blessings to prospect for resources under the earth, the original custodians of the land, the Adivasis, find that their homes and livelihoods are being bulldozed to make way for industries. While the lavish lifestyles and expensive tastes of mining moguls is chronicled in minute detail, the struggle of the Adivasis seldom gets the attention it deserves. This book endeavors to illumine the dark corners of India’s mining corridor.
Contents : (1) Iron in the Soul - Roger Moody (2) “Agya, What do you mean by development?” - Felix Padel and Samarendra Bose (3) No Man’s Land - Alok Prakash Putul (4) Road to Perdition - Aman Sethi (5) The Base Alchemist - Roger Moddy (6) How Green was my Mountain - Neeraj Agarwal (7) Under a Black Sky - Ranjan K Panda (8) Forgeries in Steel : We also make Poverty - Ashly Hinmon (9) Never say DAE - Xavier Dias (10) Nero’s Children - Amit Raja, translated by Rahul Rajesh (11) Full Monty, Please! - Umesh Nazir, translated by Rahul Rajesh (12) Defying the Juggernaut - Bhigneswar Sahu (13) Fifth Columnists? - Kedar Mishra
Click here to read Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower [PDF, 849 KB] »
Shramikshakti Newsletter - Workers struggle in Sakrail, Gaurishankar Jute, Chadmoni - SEZ in Ranihati
This August, 2007 issue contains (1) an analysis of the Haldia elections (2) the proposed SEZ in Ranihati (3) struggle in National Jute Mill, Sakrail (4) struggle in Gaurishankar Jute Mill (5) Chadmoni Tea Gardens - an update (6) A stocktaking of the Hindmotors movement (7) the CPIM and Bidhan Chandra Ray (8) from Nandigram to Khammam (9) Taposi Malik and the CBI
Click here to read Shramikshakti [Bengali, PDF, 2.8 MB] »
Chronicles of a Struggle - Booklet on Kashipur, Kalinganagar - The tribal struggle for survival
By Achyut and Vidya Das. Courtesy : Agragamee
(1) The Kashipur anti-mining movement (2) Globalization and Genocide (3) Kalinganagar : a first impression report.
“This small booklet is an effort to highlight the courage and endurance of tribal people as they make desperate bids to survive against an inhuman paradigm of “globalisation”. We hope that a time wil come, in the near future, when ancient wisdom will once again be valued and we will learn to live together, and not on the destroyed and forgotten histories and identities of our brethren, the tribal people of this country.”
Click here to read Chronicles of a Struggle [English, PDF, 1.6 MB] »
Chemical Hub - Ek Nihshobdo Ghatok (A Silent Killer)
From Platform publications, 45 Beniatola Lane, Kolkata 700009
The government of West Bengal has decided to build a chemical hub in the aftermath of Nandigram - the only question right now is where. This article analyses the effects of such a plan. Topics covered include the experience of other countries with chemical industries ( Brazil’s Valley of Death, Japan - the Minamata Disease), the bloody histories of chemical corporations such as Dow, and the effect on the environment and public health.
Click here to read article [Bengali, PDF, 23 pages] »
Introductory Booklet on SEZs prepared by Citizens’ Research Collective, New Delhi
This booklet answers basic questions such as What is a SEZ, Why SEZs, How many SEZs, What has been the experience with SEZs so far, Will SEZs create jobs. It looks at the attendant displacement and loss of livelihood, the features of the emerging new corporate-city-state, and the immense usage (upto 75%) of SEZ land for real estate. It ends with a look at the many faces of resistance to neoliberalism, like the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti, Muthanga Forest Land Struggle, protests against land acquisitions for the Bangalore-Mysore highway and mining in the Krishna river by the Reliance Group, the Dalit struggle for Gairan under the Jameen Adhikar Andolan, struggle against Reliance Gas lines in Maharashtra, the 26 Gaon Bachao Sangharsh Samiti fighting SEZ in Raigad, etc.
Click to read booklet on SEZ [PDF, 2.88MB]
Fact-Finding Report on POSCO Project in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa
A strong people’s resistance has been going on in the parts of Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa against a steel plant and captive port proposed in the area, since July 2005, a month after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the project was signed between the Government of Orissa and Pohang Steel Company Limited (POSCO). This fact-finding team (19-22 April) had the following objectives : to get an insight into the concerns being raised in relation to the project by the affected communities, to understand the steps being taken by the authorities concerned to address these issues, and to assess the processes that have taken place in the last two years in relation to the project.
Click to read Report [PDF, 13 pages] »
Read previous updates on state terror in Jagatsinghpur, and sign petition.
An APDR publication in Bengali - Land Acquisition in Singur, A Rights Perspective
This publication from APDR collects many documents related to Singur and Nandigram, as well as a detailed timeline. Included are fact-finding reports on the death of Rajkumar Bhul (7 pages), the original protest letter from his father Dwarikanath Bhul, a fact-finding report on Singur dated December 8th (17 pages), original Government and Tata notifications and press releases on land acquisition, APDR responses and letters, and the text of the Land Acquisition Act. Also included is an analytical piece by Amitdyuti Kumar (33 pages).
Click to read publication [PDF, 56 pages] »
Special Bulletin from Mazdoor Kranti Parishad (MKP), December 2006
Articles include : a discussion of Singur and the Posco project, and why the MKP is fighting - by Biswajit Hazra, an introduction to SEZs, a call for solidarity against the brutal murder of Tapasi Malik, an article explaining that farmers of Singur hadn’t given their land (opposing State propaganda that farmers had spontaneously sold their land) - by Amrita Poira, and the two sides of “development” - “Oder Unnoyon, Amader Unnyon” - by Kushal Debnath.
Click here to download the booklet [PDF] »
Bikalpa : A publication from PDSF
A publication called Bikalpa from Progressive Democratic Students Federation (PDSF), edited by Amit, published by Sourav.
Articles include: The role of students in the movement against land acquisition (by Arijit), A summary of the movement in Nandigram (by Parag), Data analysis of land acquisition in Singur ( by MunMun), A discussion of nuclear power plants and their implications ( by Somnath), and an open letter to Tapasi Malik.
This publication came out soon after 11 students including Jishnu Dasgupta and Parag were arrested during a peaceful rally near Alimuddin Street. Many other students were beaten. Arrested students were kept in jail for a number of days.
Click here to download the booklet [PDF] »
Analytical booklet on government policy : In the Clutches of Development - Singur, Nandigram
“Unnayoner J(N)atakole Singur, Nandigram…” ( In the Clutches of Development - Singur, Nandigram…) - a booklet by academics and intellectuals.
Includes articles by Pinaki Mitra “Singur, mithye bolchhe Sarkar” (Singur - The Government is Lying), Shakti Das “CPM-er unnoyon dorshone Marx(bad)” (Marxism and the CPM’s Philosophy of Development), Anindita Sanyal “Shilpayan : Bhobishyoter bhittihin swapno” (Industrialisation : The Utopia of the Future).
The first article contains detailed data analysis of the nature of land acquisition and peasant “consent” in Singur, “compensation” by the government, and an analysis of the prospect of creation of new jobs by the Tata plant there.
The second article critically examines various slogans of the State such as “Agriculture is our foundation, Industry is our Future”, “Industry is needed for the uplift of peasants”, “This model of Industrialisation will create jobs, reduce unemployment”, “If we don’t give Corporations what they want, they will go to other States”, and “This is not the time for revolution, but for bargaining with world capital”.
The third article contains detailed discussions of the nature of industrialisation and its relation to jobless growth.
Click here to download the booklet [PDF] »
Booklet by female activists : Singur Movement : Our Thoughts, Our Resistance
SINGUR ANDOLAN : AAMADER BHABNA AAMADER PRATIBAD
Edited by : Emancipation Publication
A compilation of articles by women intellectuals and artists. Articles range from detailed analysis of land acquisition in Singur, the nature and personalities of the struggle, to an interview of 80-year old activist Saraswati Das.
Includes pieces by Poushali Thakur, Saraswati Das, Tanika Sarkar, Minakshi Sen, Sarmistha Chaudhuri, Prathama Bandyopadhyay, Aparajita Mukherjee, Sudeshna Chakraborty, Shaoli Mitra, Miratun Nahar, Bolan Gangopadhyay, Taslima Nasreen, Saswati Ghosh, Chandreyee Niyogi, Sumita Das, Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Ishita Pain, Barnali Pain, Rajasri Mukhopadhyay, Jolly Bagchi, Chandana Mitra, Anindita Sanyal, Anuradha Deb, Chaitali Sen, Soma Mukherjee, Jashodhara Bagchi, Nandini Dhar, Susmita De, Neha Hui, Munmun.
Poems by Maitreyi Chattopadhyay, Swapna Ghosh, Susmita Bhattacharya, Swapna.
Interviews with Mahasweta Devi, Jaya Mitra.
