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.