PM INAUGURATE FUNCTION PBD 2015 

Quake strike east of Taiwan and south of Panama

5.4-magnitude quake strikes east of Taiwan

A 5.4-magnitude has hit the east of Taiwan, shaking buildings in the capital Taipei. No casualties or damage have been reported. The quake was 22 kilometers deep, and was felt across the island. A week ago, a 5.5-magnitude tremor shook the north of Taiwan, and in June, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit, killing four and triggering landslides.

6.6-magnitude earthquake hits south of Panama

A quake measuring 6.8 in magnitude has hit the Pacific south of the city of David in Panama, according to the US Geological Survey. No immediate reports of damage or casualties have followed, and no tsunami warning has been issued. It follows a tremor of 5.5 in magnitude that struck off Panama’s Pacific coast on December 26.

• Maharashtra Government Statement is Misleading While Advocating Exemption from LARR Act, 2013
• CAG Performance Audits of SEZs Imply Large Scale Land Grab for Profit by Corporations, Land Ordinance will Continue this Legacy
• Eminent Citizens Write to President Requesting Him to Rescind Anti People Land Ordinance
• Resistance to Continue, Protests During the Budget Session

New Delhi, January 7 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis has demanded that Maharashtra Industrial Development Act (MIDC) be exempted from the applications of the provisions of the the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LAAR) Act, 2013 as reported in the newspapers today. The reasons cited are not only misleading but also far from the truth on many count. One of the key factors have been mentioned as the land required for the implementation of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor and that MIDC Act provides better compensation and R&R to farmers and PAPs and mostly through consent.

We would like to point out that Maharashtra Government is misleading the public on the following points :

1. Compulsory Acquisition under MIDC Act : Section 32 of the MIDC Act mandates that whenever government needs land for furtherance of the objectives of this Act or for the purpose of development then a notification shall be issued and before that a show cause notice will be issued to the farmers, why their land should not be acquired. Does this sound like seeking consent ? It needs to be noticed that 9715 families of 69 villages in Maangaon, Roha and Tala Talukas have received notifications for acquisition of a total of 24,207 acres of land for Dighi Industrial Area as part of DMIC corridorunder MIDC Act. Armers have been protesting there and State government from time to time have been saying that they will exempt these villages from Dighi industrial area but no de-notification notice has been issued yet.

2. Compensation, R&R to Farmers and PAPs : MIDC Act has no provision for the R&R to PAPs and compensates only the land owners. MIDC refers to the definition of the land and affected persons in 1894 Act, which was very limited and didn';t include livelihood losers when land was acquired for the development projects.

3. Lack of Land for Projects : There is no shortage of available land in the State. Maharashtra government has no record of percentage land utilised and unutilised with MIDC, even though in the past fifty years it has acquired more than 13 lakh acres of land. The provision of MIDC Act is more draconian than Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which leaves little scope for the consent of the affected population. Maharashtra government by its own admission has a land bank of 80,000 Hectares with it.

In Aurangabad and nearby areas there too a large chunk of land under the threat of acquisition for DMIC. However, in 2000 the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had acquired 902 hectares of land, but to what purpose. Those affected by the ‘Jaikwadi'; dam as well as Paithan MIDC have neither been allotted land in the Command area nor have they received employment inspite of repeated assurances. Only 50% of the factories in the MIDC phase-I are operational and apparently they await for the right time to sell those lands for real estate. The government is keen on acquiring 10,000 hectares of land belonging to 24 villages to develop the Shendre - Bidkin Industrial Zone under MIDC. City and Industrial Development Corporation or CIDCO has already made plans to acquire 15,000 hectares of land belonging to 28 villages.

4. Farmers Suicide in Maharashtra : It would do good, if Mr. Fadnavis showed some concerns for the farmers in his home state. With a land bank of 80,000 Hectares, he is only feeding to the profit hungry Corporations but doing nothing for the farmers, and already Project Affected Persons due to various irrigation projects like Waang Marathwadi, Jaikwadi, or Lavasa Hill City project or other development projects and SEZs. It nees to be mentioned that at least 3,146 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2013 as per the National Crime Record Bureau. Since, 1995, nearly 60,750have committed suicide and on an average, 3,685 farmers in the state took their lives every year between 2004 to 2013.What has Mr. Fadnavis done for them ?

CAG Audit Report on SEZs Exposes the Corporate Land Grab and False Claims of the Government on Employment Generation and Development

False Claims of Employment Generation and Development : The claims of the development and employment generation are exposed not only for the Maharashtra government but for also the Union government, as pointed out in theCAG report on the performance of the SEZs. CAG has said that land grab was the only motive behind the SEZs development and Corporates were given favour in the name of development. Out of 45635.63 ha of land notified in the country for SEZ purposes, operations commenced in only 28488.49 ha (62.42 %) of land. In addition, we noted a trend wherein developers approached the government for allotment/purchase of vast areas of land in the name of SEZ. In terms of area of land, out of 39245.56 ha of land notified in the six States 3,5402.22ha (14%) of land was denotified and diverted for commercial purposes in several cases. Many tracts of these lands were acquired invoking the ‘public purpose’ clause. Thus land acquired was not serving the objectives of the SEZ Act.

In four States (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal), 11 developers/units had raised 6309.53 crore of loan through mortgaging SEZ lands. Out of which, three developers/units had utilized the loan amount (2211.48 crore i.e. 35 per cent of 6309.53 crore) for the purposes other than the development of SEZ, as there was no economic activity in the SEZs concerned.

CAG further notes that on various other counts SEZs failed to achieve their stated objectives. Of 152 SEZs analysed, there was a deficit of 65.95% to 96.58% in employment generation, for investment 23.98% to 74.92 %, for export 46.16 to 93.81%.

The CAG report only confirms what we have been saying about the Union government continued push in facilitating land grab by the corporations for large scale profit and nothing else. As per the available data from the Union Budget, 5.32 Lakh Crore (roughly three times the supposed loss in 2G scam), of corporate tax was forgone. What is the Union government doing for the farmers ?

Eminent Citizens write to President, Prime Minister, Vice President and Speaker, Lok Sabha

17 eminent citizens led by Justice (Retd) Rajinder Sachar, Harsh Mander, Aruna Roy, V Mohini Giri, Shanti Bhushan Vandana Shiva and others wrote to the President with Copy to PM, Vice President, Speaker Lok Sabh and urged that “.. as the custodians of our Constitution of India, we urgently appeal to you to rethink and reject these Ordinances, and advise the government to table the contemplated amendments to LAA 2013 in the forthcoming session of Parliament, so that people';s representatives will be able to democratically discuss the issues involved.”

They further added that the LARR 2013 was a progressive legislation which, without being against industries and projects, from public to private, gave farmers and land-losers a measure of control over their lives. It took cognizance of the fact that time has come to protect prime agricultural land and minimise displacement. The British legacy had to be left behind. The current Ordinance negates or dilutes what has been achieved by years of sustained efforts by people and initiative by pro-people politicians to get LARR 2013 enacted.

Resistance to Continue, Protests During the Budget Session

We reiterate that the people';s movements would not allow this corporate design of the government to succeed and any bid to forcibly acquire land will face stiff resistance across the country. We will challenge every move of the government to hand over precious resources to the Corporate Houses in the name of “Make in India” initiative. This initiative is solely aimed at naked loot and promoting Crony Capitalism in the country. Our affiliate members in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and other states have already lodged their protest rejecting the ordinance. We will continue to expose the government and Corporate loot and mobilise all progressive forces along with the people';s movements during the Budget Session.

Medha Patkar - Narmada Bachao Andolan and the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM); Prafulla Samantara - Lok Shakti Abhiyan & Lingraj Azad – Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, NAPM, Odisha; Dr. Sunilam, Aradhna Bhargava - Kisan Sangharsh Samiti & Meera – Narmada Bachao Andolan, NAPM, MP; Suniti SR, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe - NAPM, Maharashtra; Gabriel Dietrich, Geetha Ramakrishnan – Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, NAPM, TN; C R Neelkandan – NAPM Kerala; P Chennaiah & Ramakrishnan Raju – NAPM Andhra Pradesh, Arundhati Dhuru, Richa Singh - NAPM, UP; Sister Celia - Domestic Workers Union & Rukmini V P, Garment Labour Union, NAPM, Karnataka; Vimal Bhai - Matu Jan sangathan & Jabar Singh, NAPM, Uttarakhand; Anand Mazgaonkar, Krishnakant - Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, NAPM Gujarat; Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan – Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan & Mahendra Yadav – Kosi Navnirman Manch, NAPM Bihar; Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar, NAPM Haryana; Kailash Meena, NAPM Rajasthan; Amitava Mitra & Sujato Bhadra, NAPM West Bengal; B S Rawat – Jan Sangharsh Vahini & Rajendra Ravi, Madhuresh Kumar and Kanika Sharma– NAPM, Delhi

 For details contact : Madhuresh Kumar 9818905316 | email : napmindia@gmail.com

Attached : Letter by Eminent Citizens to President 

​  AIRASIA INDONESIA FLIGHT QZ 8501 UPDATE AS PER 7 JANUARY 2015 20:00 HRS LT (GMT+7) SURABAYA, 7 JANUARY 2015 – The National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) Republic of Indonesia today confirmed that the SAR team retrieved a visual confirmation of the tail part of QZ 8501’s aircraft. The visual confirmation was made following underwater documentation of the aircraft’s tail and small wreckage, which showed the plane’s registration number (PK-AXC), captured by the SAR team’s sea divers. The tail part was found in the additional focus search area (approx. 30 kms from the primary focus area). The SAR operation is still underway as the weather is reported to be clear with good underwater visibility for the divers to continue observation.  Sunu Widyatmoko, Chief Executive Officer AirAsia Indonesia commented, “We would like to extend our appreciation to all authorities and personnel that has been involved in the SAR operation. Today is the eleventh day and the latest finding is indeed an breakthrough for all of us who have been anxiously waiting for further development on the SAR operation.” Following the latest finding, BASARNAS confirmed that the later SAR operation will be focused in this area to see if there are any trapped remains that must be recovered as well as the continued search for the black box. Earlier today, Indonesian Navy Commander of the KRI Bung Tomo-357, Lieutenant Colonel Ashari Alamsyah officially handed over the debris and passengers belongings of QZ 8501’s flight that were found in the search area to the Deputy Commander of Indonesian Naval Aviation Unit, Colonel Yuwono at SAR Operation center in Juanda International Airport. As for the next phase, debris will be transferred to Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for further investigation. This morning, BASARNAS also confirmed to have recovered one more remain from the search area. The remain is still in Pangkalan Bun, waiting to be transported to Surabaya for further identification process. Meanwhile, the Disaster Victim Identification Police Department Republic of Indonesia (DVI POLRI) today announced that they have identified 8 more remains of QZ 8501 passengers as: Ratri Sri Andriani (female),Rudy Soetjipto (male), Jou Christine Yuanita (female), Soetikno Sia (male), Ruth Natalia Made Puspita Sari (female), Nico Giovani (male), Indahju Liangsih (female), Stephanie Yulianto (female). AirAsia Indonesia officially handed over the remains to the respective families at Bhayangkara Hospital, Surabaya this afternoon. To date, BASARNAS confirmed to have recovered a total of 40 remains of which 24 remains have been identified by DVI POLRI and 16 remains are still being identified. AirAsia would like to take this opportunity to urge the public seeking progress on the search and evacuation and identification process of QZ 8501 passengers to refer solely to official information from BASARNAS and DVI POLRI. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ 8501.

बैटरी रिक्षा संघ ने राष्ट्रपति जी से

बैटरी रिक्षा संघ ने राष्ट्रपति जी से बैटरी रिक्षा को चलाने का अध्यादेश तुरंत पास किए जाने की अपील की 

 नई दिल्ली। बैटरी रिक्शा संघ के चेयरमैन श्री जयभगवान गोयल जी ने आज एक पत्र लिखकर भारत के राष्ट्रपति मा. श्री प्रणव मुखर्जी से लाखों बैटरी रिक्शा चालकों व मालिकों की तरफ से यह अपील की गयी है कि वह लगभग 6 महीने से बंद पड़े बैटरी रिक्शाओं को सड़क पर चलाने के केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा लाए अध्यादेश को तुरंत पास कर भारी सर्दी में ठिठुर रहे व बेरोजगार रिक्शा चालकों व मालिकों को निजात दिलाएं। दिल्ली के लाखों बैटरी रिक्शा चालकों को पिछले 6 महीने से न्यायालय की मार से बचाने के लिए केन्द्र सरकार ने लोकसभा में बिल पास करवाकर रिक्शा को सड़क पर चलाने का मार्ग खोला था मगर गरीब व मजदूर विरोधी दलों द्वारा राज्यसभा में इस बिल को पास नहीं होने दिया। जिस कारण से केन्द्र सरकार को अध्यादेश राष्ट्रपति जी की मंजूरी के लिए भेजना पड़ा। अब लाखों बैटरी रिक्शा चालक व मालिक बड़ी उम्मीद के साथ राष्ट्रपति जी को निहार रहे हैं। 

श्री गोयल ने राष्ट्रपति जी से तत्काल अध्यादेश को पास करने की अपील की है ताकि बेरोजगार पड़े लाखों बैटरी रिक्शा चालक भी नये वर्ष 2015 में अपना व अपने परिवारजनों का पालन-पोषण कर सकें और सम्मानित जीवन जी सकें। 

 "Development of Railway St..." in [Make Railways Better]

From: Ministry Of Railways  Thu, 8 Jan '15 11:02a

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Ministry Of Railways Ministry Of Railways posted a message in "Make Railways Better". Subject: Development of Railway Stations - Inputs on Issues. Dear Railways Circle Members: Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Limited (A GOI undertaking under Ministry of Railways) is responsible for development of railway stations. With this post, we would like you to list key infrastructure/amenities issues in regards to stations. Once we understand the issues, we will run a more... Reply Reply to this email to post a comment.

NRI invested $4.6b Since 2000 in $2000b+ Corporate India
January08, 2015 (C) Ravinder Singh ravinderinvent@gmail.com

PM speech at Bharti Pravasi Divas is on is largely focused on Visa On
Arrival but not on Restrictions on NRIs limiting NRI investment to 1%
and all NRIs to 5% of Market Cap of the Indian Companies and Companies
Didn’t Register their shares automatically was introduced when BJP
government was in power in three installments – it was called
‘Takeover Code.’ I unsuccessfully Campaigned Repeatedly Against it to
PN Bhagwati Committee & also after Report was out and implemented.

Foreign remittances alone are $70b last year but NRIs are not
Permitted to invest in Indian Companies – but in the meanwhile
Corporate Promoters Through Manipulation took over the Equity of most
Indian Individuals also.

Indians – Residents and Non Residents have Practically No Equity in
SEBI Listed Companies. Dedicated PROGRAM to PROMOTE NRI INVESTMENT IS
NEEDED.

India Wealth $3605b – Corporate Market Cap $2000b – NRI $4.6b

NRI Remittances and Bank Deposits of Indians were Channeled in to
FUNDING growth of Companies – By Inflating Capital Cost – Promoters
Contribute Nothing. Global Wealth Report Indian Median Per Adult
Wealth at $1006 only even Pakistan Median Wealth is $2384. NRIs
invested $4.6b in all since 2000 but get just $100m as DIVIDEND for
their Investments in Corporate India.

China promoted China Non Residents to Invest in New Technology &
Companies – India Didn’t – Very Few ACE NRIs returned and Invested in
India.
Naresh Trehan who may have Performed 50,000 Open Heart Operations
Could Establish His Own ‘Medanta Hospital’ after 20 years of work in
India.

Most of NRIs – over 80% Belongs To Rural India Which is in TOTAL
NEGLECT Because Brightest Indians from Rural India Could Not Find
Rewarding Opportunities India and Migrated to Developed Countries,
Labor to Gulf & Commonwealth.

Dedicated NRI Projects & Programs

1.    Let NRIs invest in India Up To 100% in Projects, Buy Land in Rural
Areas for Setting Up Industries, Factories, Food Processing, Housing,
Hospitals, Schools & Colleges and R&D Centers.

2.    Let NRIs FREELY INVEST IN PROPERTY & BUSINESSES IN URBAN INDIA.

3.    Let Foreign Remittances of NRIs be POOLED and Invested in NRI Projects.

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS
Y-77, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India. Ph; 091- 9718280435, 9650421857