| Calcutta, May 22: The new state government is silently working on a plan to expand the city that envisages merging the Salt Lake and South Dum Dum municipalities with the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). Although the plan has Mamata Banerjee's endorsement, the mergers will not be done in haste, a Trinamul source told The Telegraph. The principal objective behind the merger proposal is to streamline the administration of what is practically a contiguous and single city that on paper exists as two entities because of municipal rules. In order to avoid any impression that Calcutta was appropriating its neighbourhood, the Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) and South Dum Dum civic bodies, both ruled by Trinamul, will be asked to propose the mergers from their side. "The chairpersons of these municipalities will move the merger resolutions at meetings of elected members. If the majority approve, the chairpersons will pursue the mergers," said the source who did not wish to be named. The government had announced yesterday that Sector V, the Salt Lake info-tech hub, and parts of Joka, home to the Indian Institute of Management, would be brought under the CMC's jurisdiction. But urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim had added that he did not know of any merger plan relating to the whole of Salt Lake. The Trinamul source said the minister was playing it safe to avoid a controversy in the early days of the government. "A merger through a unilateral decision by the government may send a wrong signal that the CMC was usurping elected municipalities. That's why the resolution route has been worked out," the source said. Hakim today said: "A bill for the addition of some municipal and panchayat areas to the CMC will be placed in the Assembly only after the approvals come from them (the local bodies). If they don't want a merger, we will not impose it on them." Sector V does not pose any problem because it was under a notified statutory body, the Naba Diganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA). "A notification from the government will make the NDITA defunct," a bureaucrat said. But merging Salt Lake, South Dum Dum and parts of Joka with Calcutta can be politically sensitive. "So, the chairpersons and the councillors have been told to sound out residents in their areas before passing the resolution," the source said. The administrative justification for the mergers is that the two smaller municipalities lack enough funds for development. But not all residents are convinced, because merger with Calcutta will attract higher taxes. In Salt Lake, the property tax effectively varies between 80 paise and Re 1 per square foot while in Calcutta, it ranges from Rs 2.75 to Rs 3.50 depending on the location. "The issue of taxation in Salt Lake is pending in the Supreme Court. If we are brought under the CMC, things will get more complicated," said Kumar Shankar Sadhu, secretary of Bidhannagar Welfare Association, a citizens' body. Some Salt Lake residents also want to know whether the higher tax will bring any benefits, such as the right to sell their property, which they cannot do now. Some are asking whether the WBSEB will continue to supply power and West Bengal police stay in charge of law and order in the township. As of now, the government has no plans to change the existing rules, sources said. B.N. Chatterjee, general secretary of the Salt Lake Citizens' Welfare Society, had a different worry. "The people of Salt Lake are literate and are from the upper and upper-middle classes. Their needs are different from those of the Calcutta populace, which is heterogeneous," he said. "Our civic problems now get solved quickly as we have our own municipality. Under the CMC, our problems will get lost among the pile of complaints from across the city." Graft concern valid: Singh - Mamata victory takes centre stage | | RADHIKA RAMASESHAN |  | | Sonia and DMK's sole representative TR Baalu at the dinner on Sunday. (Ramakant Kushwaha) |
New Delhi, May 22: Mamata Banerjee's "truly historic victory" on its lips, the UPA leadership acknowledged tonight that the concerns of people over corruption in public life were "legitimate" and that the Assembly election outcome had sent out the message that voters wanted good governance. The mood at the celebrations of the second anniversary of UPA-II — though the event was pitched as "seven years of the UPA", which included the first five years that are being seen as far better than the ongoing season — belied the despondency on display till last month. The limited success in the Assembly elections and an assessment that the unparalleled flow of VIPs to jails may eventually help improve the government's image appear to have had some salutary effect. The BJP's perceived failure to cash in on the season of scandals — a STAR News-Nielsen survey has shown the Opposition party trailing the Congress in popularity ratings —also seemed to have lifted the morale of the UPA. Every time "the historic verdict" in Bengal was mentioned by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the audience of cabinet ministers, Congress office-bearers and MPs of the UPA that had gathered on the lawns of the Prime Minister's residence this evening applauded. Had Mamata, who was in Calcutta working out of home, been there, she would have occupied the third most important seat on the dais from where the UPA released its annual "Report to the People". The place went to T.R. Baalu, the DMK's lone representative who looked skywards whenever Manmohan and Sonia mentioned or alluded to corruption, which was many times. Mamata was represented by MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, who got to share the high table with the Prime Minister. Sonia congratulated Mamata "again" for her "truly historic victory" in Bengal and suffixed the Congress's victors, Oommen Chandy and Tarun Gogoi, only after her name. Every alliance leader showed up, including the NCP's Sharad Pawar who was supposedly smarting at the Maharashtra government's alleged move to get at his nephew Ajit Pawar in a co-operative bank muck-up. If Manmohan and Sonia alluded to corruption in their addresses, they also reaffirmed their belief in the ability of democracy to lift people out of cynicism. "The message from the (Assembly election) results was specific to each state. But a common thread ran through them. It was that people wanted and respected good governance," Sonia said. Stressing that "we will take the issue of corruption head-on and demonstrate through action and not words that we mean what we say", Sonia took a potshot at the BJP without naming it for not showing the "same high standards of probity when it comes to their own". "Transparency, accountability and probity are at the heart of governance," the UPA chairperson said. The Prime Minister accepted as "legitimate" the concerns of people over corruption in public life. "We will punish those that are guilty through the due process of law. We will also take steps to prevent such developments in future," he said. MLAs cosy up to Trinamul | | KHELEN THOKCHOM | | Imphal, May 22: The Trinamul Congress's victory in Bengal has spurred the Manipur unit of the party to try and become a major player in power politics after the next state Assembly election in the state. The Trinamul opened its account in the recent byelection in the Konthoujam Assembly constituency. Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who is looking to a third consecutive term, had used every available resource to retain the seat. Konthoujam Sarat Singh, a former school headmaster, defeated Congress candidate Sapam Ranjan Singh by 655 votes. The death of then Speaker Sapam Budhichandra Singh, father of Ranjan, necessitated the byelection. After Konthoujam's success, the party grew in strength. The party's success in Bengal has led to sitting MLAs making a beeline for the state unit. "Yes, at least three sitting MLAs, one Independent and two others belonging to other parties, have approached us to join the party. In addition to this, some others, who had lost in keenly fought contests in the 2007 Assembly elections, are also willing to join us," Manipur Trinamul president Kim Gangte said. She, however, declined to name the aspiring leaders, maintaining that the time was not ripe for it. She added that they were political heavyweights. "We will welcome all those coming into our party fold. But there is no guarantee that all will get party tickets. Proper screening will be carried out and party tickets will be given only to those who have the integrity and can repose faith in the policies and ideologies of party leader Mamata Banerjee," she said. On the possibility of an electoral alliance, Gangte said her party was not a powermonger and said that they did not consider any party untouchable. Gangte said the party would play a major role in the formation of the government. "We will definitely be in the government after the next Assembly election. But we will not have any pre-poll alliance. It will be a post-poll alliance," Gangte said. The party is adopting the strategy applied by Mamata Banerjee in the campaign for the Imphal Municipal Council election scheduled for May 25, considered a warm-up exercise. The state is scheduled to go to the polls early next year. The party is fielding candidates in six out of 27 wards and promising change. It also promised a corruption-free administration, value-based politics, better road and communication facilities and to check price rise in the state. Bandit Queen author dies | | AMIT ROY |  | | Mala Sen |
London, May 22: Mala Sen, author of the book India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi, has died in Mumbai, aged 64. Her friends in London, including her former husband, writer Farrukh Dhondy, were given the news today. Mala, who had been diagnosed with cancer some months ago, did not recover from an operation. Bandit Queen was made into a powerful film directed by Shekhar Kapur. Indeed, many believe this remains Kapur's best work. But without Mala, Phoolan's tale might never have been told. In Cannes today, where news of Mala's death spread among Indians, Kapur said he had not been in touch with the author for many years but was saddened by her passing. Born into an army family, Mala came to live in London in 1965. She was a feminist and social activist, taking up numerous causes, among them the grievances of striking workers at Air India when she worked for India's national airline. As a result, she lost her job. She came into her own when Bandit Queen was published in 1991. Between 1983 and 1994, when Phoolan was lodged in prison, having surrendered to the authorities, Mala decided to tell the female bandit's story. By and by, Phoolan came to trust Mala and called her "Didi". But as Mala would learn to her cost, Phoolan was a difficult and unreliable witness. At first, the exchanges took place via notes sent to Phoolan in Tihar jail. Phoolan, an illiterate woman, sent her answers back via a third party. This went on for years while Mala painstakingly pieced together the story that is now familiar to Indians — Phoolan's early childhood and marriage, the caste wars and gang warfare, the cycle of murder and revenge, the rule of the Thakurs, the gang rape, the 1981 massacre at Behmai, Phoolan's surrender and the long years in prison. Behind Phoolan's personal story, which took Mala years to coax out of her subject, the author felt there was a wider tale to tell: of the victimisation of women especially in rural India. Mala's film script for Channel 4 television in the UK was, she admitted, far too long. It had to be cut and sharpened. Then Arundhati Roy, who had not yet published her Booker Prize winning novel, The God of Small Things, weighed on and took up the cudgels on behalf of Phoolan, who, she argued, was being exploited by the film. The case went to court but Phoolan changed her tune and gave the 1994 film her blessings once Channel 4 had pacified her with £40,000. To Mala, Phoolan was almost like a younger sister but a very difficult younger sister. Phoolan became an MP. Then came the shock of her assassination in 2001. Mala always felt the mystery of Phoolan's murder was never solved but she did not believe that the killing was some kind of delayed retaliation for the Behmai massacre. In 2001, Mala published Death by Fire, focusing partly on the case of 18-year-old Roop Kanwar who was burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre at Deorala in Rajasthan in 1987. It seemed sati was not quite extinct in India. It was Mala's intention to write a book on AIDS victims she had befriended. She lived alone and frugally in south London. She was a very kind woman who usually became involved in the lives of those she either helped or about whom she wrote. She probably realised that she was something of a collector of lost causes. Others have tried to write about Phoolan Devi but Mala's is the definitive work. During one difficult phase, Mala would spent money she did not have on making expensive phone calls from London to Delhi to reassure a mentally disturbed Phoolan. Mood at PM's dinner: Worst is over | | SANJAY K. JHA |  | | Kapil Sibal |
New Delhi, May 22: The election results have brought some respite to the UPA, allowing it to approach the completion of a torrid second year in office with a sense of celebration. At tonight's dinner hosted by the Prime Minister, ministers and senior politicians greeted each other joyously, cracked jokes with journalists and claimed the worst was over. "The battering we have received from every side could have left us in a worse shape," said minister Salman Khurshid. "We look to the future with hope and confidence," Manmohan Singh said. Kapil Sibal, asked if the second year of UPA-II would be remembered for the unexpected knocks Manmohan Singh had received from the judiciary and political rivals, said: "Did he deserve it? What wrong has Manmohan Singh done?" "Judge us by our work," the telecom minister told The Telegraph. "This has been the year of maximum energy production in the history of independent India. The economic growth was an example for the entire world.... Law and order was extremely good; agriculture is looking up…." He added: "We are framing a robust anti-corruption legal framework, including the Lok Pal. We have no reason to feel it was a wasted year or that we lost ground. We have learnt from our mistakes and emerged stronger. We have every reason to celebrate." Sonia Gandhi, who usually avoids speaking on such occasions and leaves the stage to the Prime Minister, kept the media at arm's length. She escaped when reporters mobbed her while she was eating. Rahul Gandhi too avoided the media, selecting a corner to stay huddled with Pranab Mukherjee. Minister Ambika Soni took care of reporters' questions, telling them the Group of Ministers on the media met every day and that it was wrong to dub the GoM a disaster. One of the cynosures was Lalu Prasad, who is no longer in the UPA. His party now supports the government from outside, as does the Samajwadi Party, which sent Mohan Singh. Nobody from Mayavati's party came, probably because of the bitterness over the land acquisition row. The DMK's T.R. Baalu sat quietly on the dais listening to Sonia and Manmohan promise strong action against wrongdoers. Sudip Bandopadhyay was the lone Trinamul guest while Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Tariq Anwar and Agatha Sangma turned up from the Nationalist Congress Party. Karnataka relief The Centre tonight rejected Karnataka governor H.R. Bharadwaj's recommendation for President's rule but decided to send an advisory to the B.S. Yeddyurappa government that may be seen as an indictment. The decision came at a cabinet committee on political affairs (CCPA) meeting presided over by the Prime Minister shortly after the conclusion of UPA-II's second anniversary celebrations, PTI reported. "The CCPA today met to discuss the Karnataka governor's report and after careful consideration, decided not to accept his recommendations," home minister P. Chidambaram said. He said the CCPA had asked the home ministry to write to the Karnataka government drawing its attention to the issues mentioned by Bharadwaj. Earlier today, the BJP had asked the Centre to reject Bharadwaj's recommendation by tomorrow evening or face a nationwide agitation. Mahatma campaign gets India UN rights council seat - 63 years on, Gandhi card still good |  | | vote-catcher |
Mahatma Gandhi can be a great vote-getter 63 years after his death. Although the Father of the Nation would never have contested an election in the country he led to freedom, Gandhi has just won for India one of the biggest endorsements at the UN on the principles to which he dedicated his life. In an election here for 15 seats in the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, India won with 181 out of 189 votes cast in the General Assembly, one of the biggest endorsements for any country in the five years since the Council was created. A few countries abstained. India campaigned at the UN for one of the four Asian seats by vigorously upholding the values cherished by Gandhi. In the mandatory "pledges and commitments" which candidates submit to UN members before the election, India resurrected a chapter in its contribution to human rights that had long been forgotten. "India actively participated in the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, during which Hansa Mehta, a Gandhian social worker who had led the Indian delegation, made important contributions," its document of candidature recalled. Gandhi's ideals have become a great passion at the UN since the General Assembly declared in 2007 that the birth anniversary of gandhi would be observed every year as the International Day of Non-Violence. Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who was recently president of the General Assembly, kept a bust of Gandhi in his office. Mehta, who is said to be only the third Gujarati woman to obtain a college degree, went to England to pursue higher studies in journalism but came under the influence of Gandhi's values through Sarojini Naidu whom she met in London. Mehta later became a member of the Constituent Assembly and presented the Tricolour on behalf of the women of India during the historic transfer of power from the British. As a living symbol of human rights, especially women's rights, Jawaharlal Nehru insisted that Mehta should represent India at the deliberations, which led to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. Nehru sent her to join Eleanor Roosevelt, the first chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Canadian John Peters Humphrey and others in drafting the world's most translated document in history. As US First Lady, Hillary Clinton had paid tribute to Mehta on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights: "It is telling that even in the drafting of the Universal Declaration there was a debate about women's voices. The initial version of the first article stated, 'All men are created equal.' It took women members of the commission, led by Mrs Hansa Mehta of India, to point out that 'all men' might be interpreted to exclude women. Only after long debate was the language changed to say, 'All human beings are born free and equal'." India's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Manjeev Singh Puri, recalled that New Delhi was represented throughout at the UN Human Rights Commission, the predecessor to the Human Rights Council, created in 2006 as part of UN reforms. He said India has a symbiotic relationship with the UN because the world body was born around the time India gained freedom. "The ideals of the United Nations such as human rights are in the structure of India's Constitution." India's impressive victory in Friday's election represents a continuation of similar recent successful runs, including a historic election to the UN Security Council in 2010 after a gap of almost two decades. India's 181 votes on Friday was 14 more than what the US secured in 2009 after President Barack Obama brought his country back into the council, which his predecessor George W. Bush had boycotted. Under Bush, the US was one of the only three states that voted in the General Assembly against the rules, principles and methods of work of the Council. China also secured 167 votes when it was elected for a three-year term ending in 2012. Pakistan and Japan, whose three-year terms will end next month, secured 114 and 155 votes respectively, significantly lower than India's tally. For the Asian seat this year, Indonesia received 184 votes and the Philippines got 183 votes. Syria, which may not have passed the mandatory half way mark in the General Assembly voting because of its crackdown on domestic protests, withdrew a few weeks ago and was replaced within the Asian group by Kuwait, which secured 166 votes. All four Asian countries will serve three-year terms. India was on the council on a one-year term through lots in 2006 and was re-elected for a three-year term in 2007. Because a gap is required after two terms, New Delhi could not be a candidate last year. | | K.P. NAYAR IN NEW YORK | | | | | |
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