Fwd: Finian Cunningham: Bahrain: Crushing Pro-Democracy Protests.

Bahrain: Crushing Pro-Democracy Protests. American and British Police Chiefs Step Up State Repression Top Western appointments allegedly aimed at improving human rights... By Finian Cunningham

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28452

Global Research, January 2, 2012

Finian Cunningham Two former police chiefs from the US and Britain have brought discernible Western "expertise" to the Bahraini force only weeks following their appointments – a surge in repression and state terrorism. Former Miami police chief John Timoney and his British counterpart, John Yates, formerly commander at London's Scotland Yard, were assigned last month by Bahrain's royal rulers to "oversee reform" of the Persian Gulf kingdom's security forces. Officially, the appointment of the American and Briton was to bring Western professional policing to the Bahraini force and specifically to upgrade the human rights record of Bahrain's ministry of interior and National Security Agency. The assignments were announced by King Hamad Al Khalifa following a report by an international commission of inquiry into widespread human rights violations in the US-backed oil kingdom since pro-democracy protests erupted there last February. As reported earlier by Global Research, the inquiry report and the subsequent appointment of the US and British police chiefs appeared to be a public relations exercise to burnish the tarnished image of this key Persian Gulf ally of Washington and London [1]. However, only weeks into their jobs, the Western commanders appear to have been given a remit that goes well beyond public relations, namely, to sharpen the repression against the pro-democracy movement. Human rights activists and several political sources say that state forces have dramatically stepped up violence towards protesters and targeting of the Shia community generally. The diminutive island state of less than 600,000 nationals is comprised mainly of Shia muslims (70 per cent) who are ruled over by a Sunni elite installed by Britain when the kingdom gained nominal independence in 1971. American and British government support for the unelected Al Khalifa monarchy is viewed by the majority of Bahrainis as being at odds with their claims for democratic rights. Over the past year, Bahraini state forces have killed some 50 people; thousands have been maimed, wounded and detained, many of the latter tortured. Proportionate to its population, such state violence is comparable to what Washington and London have loudly denounced the Libyan and Syrian regimes for – indeed mounting a military invasion of the former and threatening to do so in the latter – under the guise of "protecting human rights". By contrast, there is hardly a word of denunciation from Washington or London towards the Bahraini regime, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. "The violence is worse than ever," said one Bahraini pro-democracy activist. "The state security forces are operating with new tactics and this change coincides with the arrival of the American and British police chiefs. But this is no coincidence. We believe that the Bahraini police are using more repression and terror under the orders of these police chiefs." Since the appointment of the American and British commanders, at least five more civilians have been killed at the hands of police, including a 15-year-old boy Sayed Hashim who was shot in the face with a teargas canister on New Year's Eve, and a 27-year-old woman who was bludgeoned with an iron bar. Not only has state violence on the streets been escalated, but so too has harassment and house raids in Shia villages and neighbourhoods. People detained at police checkpoints are reporting systematic abuses. The police ranks are predominantly made up of Sunni muslim expatriates from Yemen, Jordan, Syria and Pakistan. Bahraini police are also backed up by Saudi and Emirati forces – again Sunni – ever since those neighbouring Gulf monarchs sent in troops last March to suppress the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain. People detained at checkpoints are being humiliated with profanities against their Shia faith, as well as being robbed of money, mobile phones and other possessions by police officers. There has also been a leap in the number of house raids by police in Shia villages, especially in the early hours. The house raids have targeted towns and villages, such as Sitra and Nuwaidrat, which are deemed to be strongly supportive of the pro-democracy movement. "We feel that the American and British cops have been brought into crush the pro-democracy movement with systematic tactics of repression and state terror," said one activist. "The first anniversary of our uprising is coming up in February. The regime has so far failed to crush the uprising but with the anniversary approaching we think that the American and British police chiefs are pushing to do that." The past careers of Timoney and Yates indicate that they were a rather bizarre choice by the Bahraini regime – if the latter was genuinely aiming to reform the human rights record and ethical standards of its forces. Timoney was previously accused of deploying brutality against American street protests while commander of the Miami police; while Yates was forced to resign in ignominy over corruption involving phone tapping scams carried out by London's Metropolitan Police in league with Murdoch's gutter tabloid press. It is also pretty certain that these appointments would not have been made without the sanction and, most probably, the suggestion of the US and British governments. That Washington and London would be overseeing a deliberate intensification of state terror in Bahrain should not be any surprise. The Bahraini regime has for decades earned an international reputation for police brutality and torture. The US State Department is well aware of this, according to its own reports, yet Washington continues to reward the Bahraini regime with the presence of its Fifth Fleet and, more recently, with a proposed arms deal worth $53 million, including weapons of repression, such as armoured cars and teargas. Britain is also a major seller of weapons of repression to Bahrain. Historically, it also has played a crucial role in shaping the repressive apparatus of the Bahraini ministry of interior. The head of the notorious National Security Agency between 1968-1998 was British Colonel Ian Henderson who continues to act as an advisor to King Hamad. Several former British police officers work in Bahrain's ministry of interior, including the newly appointed John Yates. However, the signs are that the efforts to crush the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain are rebounding badly for Washington and London. For a start the increased repression is serving to embolden the pro-democracy even more, with more and bigger street protests taking place. On 14 February, a demonstration is planned to make a major stand in the capital, Manama, to mark the first anniversary of the uprising. Also, more worryingly for Washington and London, there is a growing contempt among protesters towards the American and British governments. Up until recently, protests have mainly focused on the Al Khalifa monarchy and the closely aligned House of Saud. But now Bahraini pro-democracy activists appear to be quickly learning that the higher sources of their grievances are in Washington and London. A new sight at protests across Bahrain recently is the burning of American flags. If Bahrain's uprising succeeds in replacing the unelected and venal Sunni elite with a democratic government that is mainly Shia, the US and British governments will no longer be welcome owing to their increasingly apparent nefarious misdeeds. The recent appointment of police chiefs Timoney and Yates with their malicious expertise is but one of many misdeeds that will be recalled by the people of Bahrain. Finian Cunningham is Global Research's Middle East and East Africa correspondent cunninghamfin@yahoo.com   NOTES [1] Bahrain: Car Bomb in Capital Following Appointment of American and British Police Chiefs to Lead 'Reforms' http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28050

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So be it 2012 From a Calcutta that resembles the pre-Naxal days to an India where beer costs less than petrol, here’s Suhel Seth’s wish list for the New Year

So be it 2012 http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120101/jsp/7days/story_14948781.jsp

From a Calcutta that resembles the pre-Naxal days to an India where beer costs less than petrol, here's Suhel Seth's wish list for the New Year

This is the time of the year to ask and hopefully receive in the next 12 months. But then one should ask for city and country and not for oneself. 2011 has been a terrible year for Baba Ramdev. It has been equally harsh on Anna Hazare what with having to incur so many fasts only so that you and I don't have to bribe some bloke. It has also been terrible for every Calcuttan who enters a hospital to get healed and then ends up dying because of some negligent fire. Which is why my wish list is going to be on a macro-level: much as the pronouncements of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. I am going to ensure that both Indians and my fellow Calcuttans are represented in this wish petition in equal measure so that 2012 is not as miserable as 2011 was. Calcutta I hope in 2012, our formidable chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, slows down a bit and gives us advance warning as to where she is coming and at what time. Her alacrity and the ability to surprise are rather daunting. I hope in 2012, she will actually enter police stations to talk to the policemen rather than free some thugs who belong to the Communist Party (as I am confident the Trinamul is as pure as the driven snow). I also hope she will arrest fewer people for negligence and more people for crimes against humanity such as stopping traffic every time there is a bandh to celebrate Rabindranath Tagore's anniversary. I also hope Calcutta will see more industrialists setting up industry rather than being in jail. I hope this city of Calcutta that I belong to will draw national-level attention for more than just The Telegraph Annual Debate and that we will actually do things that we think today rather than postpone doing anything at all since we are thinking about yesterday only to prove Tagore's point. I want to see 2012 emerge as the Year of the Bengali Heroine and I hope Rituparno Ghosh goes on to win a national award for his amazing effort at playing a man opposite Ranjit Mullick. It will be a first of sorts. I hope in the same vein, Derek 'Brien will conduct the Calcutta Quiz with even greater aplomb when he asks the Dear Leader as to when we will be out of a semi-permanent recession. I will want to see a Calcutta that is busy changing itself before fighting for no FDI (foreign direct investment) in retail. I want to see the Maidan back to its glorious days and one where we can also see some cricketers emerge from the state of Bengal. I want to see men of Bengal play football rather than wait for Messi to come here and mess up our heads and tell us all that we were doing wrong. I want to see Calcutta re-emerge as the Mecca of advertising where we can once again celebrate the use of the English language in English advertising and where language does not have to be like our Chinese food: a mix of Punjabi and English. I want to come back to a Calcutta which will celebrate the Pujas much as it used to without all the pomp of ostentation like what we see today. I want to come back to a Puja that will be simple and yet stunning. Where the food will be as important as the donations one may have made under coercion. I want camaraderie to be restored between our political leaders. I want to see a 2012 in which Mamata Banerjee and Buddhadev Bhattacharya will share some popcorn whilst watching Charulata, with Biman Bose helping them with their soft drinks. That is the kind of political unity Calcutta needs. And will, I hope, receive. Finally I want to come back to a Calcutta which in 2012 will resemble 1967 without the Naxalites. Where clubs will be meant for people who can read and write. Where hotel bars will not play some Munni Badnam Hui but instead Nat King Cole and where schools will have children whose parents don't necessarily own illegal land in Rajarhat. India I want to see a 2012 where, thanks to the Food Security Bill, we will pay less for beer and more for petrol. I want to see an India where the next Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet will not necessarily have to be held at Tihar Jail given how many venerable people have made it their abode in these times. I want to see an India where L.K. Advani will not be shy of travelling the length and breadth of India in an SUV rather than a sillyrath on four wheels and powered by a six-cylinder engine. It makes me weep. I want to see a country that will finally go back to staging the Ramlila at the Ramlila Grounds rather than some hysterical people waving the Indian flag and that too on an empty stomach. I still, however, even in 2012, want to see Baba Ramdev is some fine women's clothing, possibly designed by the exceptionally talented Anamika Khanna, so that when he runs from the police he seems like the Runaway Bride. I want to see an India in 2012 where Manmohan Singh will actually speak to me, the citizen, rather than to some strange group of people who call themselves editors or for that matter jet-lagged reporters on his flight to and from India. I want the Prime Minister to finally exert himself. In fact, ideally I would like 2012 to be the Year of the Slap where the Prime Minister finally pulls in the courage and actually slaps someone. That will be the ultimate assertion of ManHood. I want the Lokpal to be elected or nominated or whatever the hell they plan to do. But I want this Lokpal business finished so that we can then search for the next constitutional office that will prevent a corrupt Lokpal. I also want to see us resolve issues that pertain to dams in the south and statues in Uttar Pradesh. Ever since Mayawati erected so many statues of herself, there has been a sharp decline in the pigeon population in UP. I also want the year 2012 to be a year of celebration for India. There are 12 months during which Sachin can try for his 100th ton. There are also a billion people who will hope we get at least one bronze at the London Olympics. I want our films to celebrate the India we have and not look for some superman who will then come and save India! I want our music to go beyond the rubbish we hear and instead I want our heroines back rather than have them as item girls. I want Dev Anand to launch the first celestial film from heaven and for the redoubtable Pandit Bhimsen Joshi to score its music. But that is too far-fetched, I guess, because which Indian censor will want to die first before they give the film any certification? I want so many things for this great country but the rest is a five-year plan. For instance, weeding our corruption from our lives, weeding out illiteracy from our Parliament, weeding out A. Raja and his ilk from public life and have a smiling Anna. But then for the above, the wait will be worth it. As for the rest, have a splendid 2012. The rupee shall rise (or fall, depending on how you look at it); the temperatures too, but remember things can get much worse… and let's hope they won't. So it is with that thought in mind that I bear tidings of joy and peace to you and your families… for 2012 and beyond.

Labour protest hits work at Lepetkata A STAFF REPORTER The BCPL construction site at Lepetkata. File picture Jorhat, Jan. 3: Construction at the Gas Cracker project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh district under the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd (BCPL) came to a standstill today after labourers protested against stringent measures imposed by the authorities to instil work culture in an attempt to halt the slowdown in progress of the work. The labourers protested against the new timings, shouted slogans and refused to work. The impasse was resolved after the management held discussions with the contractors, who have engaged the labourers. Work is scheduled to begin from tomorrow. The progress of work had fallen from an average of 4 per cent per month to 2.4 per cent in December as a result of which the BCPL authorities had made a rule for labourers — come to work at 9.30am in winter and leave at 5.30pm with a one-hour lunch break from 1pm to 2pm. This was, however, opposed by the workers on various pleas. They cited various reasons, including cold weather and came to work between 10am and 11am when they were barred from entering by CISF personnel deputed at the gate. Addressing reporters in Dibrugarh today, chief operating officer, BCPL, P.N. Prasad, said the confusion had been cleared after talks with the contractors under whom the labourers were working. He said the rule could be relaxed only during an emergency. Prasad expressed concern over the delay in progress of work and said the workers had gone slow in December by coming to work late and leaving early on the excuse that buses did not ply after 4pm. They also give Ill health as an excuse and often disappeared. He said whereas in other places 3,500-4,000 workers completed 3.5 per cent of work in a month, here, 7,500 labourers had been engaged. "The labourers here did not work for more than three to four hours and the regulations had to be imposed so that work did not suffer. This was a matter of concern but we are ready to tackle such issues," Prasad said. The progressin the Rs 9,285-crore gas cracker project is satisfactory as it is slightly ahead of schedule with 59.1 per cent being completed in December 2011 against the predicted 58.2 per cent. This was because of less rainfall last year. Work had begun on the project from April 2007 and was scheduled to begin production by December 2013. The technical progress is expected to be completed on July 13, 2013.

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• Indian Oil triumph    • Commission nod to truck and bus terminals    • NPF yet to finalise candidates   • Move to check tax leakage   • Minister cautious    • Rising cases of male infanticide worries Meghalaya   • Paresh was in Myanmar: Cadre   • Arlen keen to help state spinners   • Meghalaya parties gear up for polls   • Vote for change, say elders   • Association drive to promote judo   • Fire engulfs boys' hostel    • Shella Cong to elect poll nominee   • Moral Education win   • ACMS plea to lift Borhat lockout   • Karbi poll today amid tight vigil   • Union claim    • Labour protest hits work at Lepetkata   • NDFB rebel held for extortion   • Arlen keen to help state spinners   • Liquor haul in 'dry' Manipur

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120104/jsp/business/story_14960153.jsp

Market cop sets stage for PSU buyback

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai, Jan. 3: The capital market regulator has permitted public sector companies to buy back the promoter's shares — a move that will enable the government to unlock the value of its holdings at a time its Rs 40,000-crore divestment programme for this financial year has run into the ground. In a related development, the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) allowed promoters of companies to auction a part of their holdings to comply with regulations that mandate a public holding of at least 25 per cent for all listed entities. Under the current regulations, companies can buy back shares only from their shareholders. Once bought, these shares have to be extinguished. Sebi's decision today circumvents a major hurdle to the government's plan to raise money through the sale of its stake to the companies themselves. Now that Sebi has cleared the plan, a note prepared by the department of divestment will be placed before the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA) for approval, possibly this week. The government has been able to mop up only Rs 1,145 crore through the follow-up offer of Power Finance Corporation. The returns on the capital markets have been negative this year as a result of which the Centre could not come out with any public flotation through which it could sell its stake in PSUs. "This will certainly help the government in meeting its divestment targets. Some changes will, however, have to be made in the listing agreement and other regulations," said Arun Kejriwal, director, KRIS. Sebi had introduced a new system called the Institutional Placement Programme (IPP), under which promoters (holding a stake of over 75 per cent) could dilute their stake either through an issue of fresh capital or an offer for sale through the auction method on the stock exchanges. The market regulator said that by using this method, the public shareholding in the companies could be raised by 10 per cent or less to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirements. At present, the minimum public shareholding requirement is being met through follow-on offerings, which are relatively cumbersome. While companies will have to file red herring prospectus with the market regulator, the registrar of companies and stock exchanges, the offer should be made only to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs). A minimum of 25 per cent of the issue have to be earmarked for mutual funds and insurance companies.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120104/jsp/business/story_14960152.jsp

Reliance gas plan gets a boost OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, Jan. 3: The petroleum ministry today agreed to Reliance Industries' $1.529 billion investment proposal to develop four satellite fields in its KG-D6 block off the Andhra Pradesh coast. The government approval to the satellite fields could boost the output from Reliance's KG basin blocks, which has steadily fallen in the past 15 month, as these can produce 10 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas by 2016. Production from two crucial gasfields in the D6 block slipped to a low of 38.66 mmscmd, as the company had shut down five wells because of water ingress, after reaching a peak of about 60 mmscmd in March 2010. Reliance, in a letter to the oil ministry last year, had sought conditional approval "contingent on submission of revised cost estimate and the contractor returning to the management committee for authority to proceed further." The permission was in part delayed because of a Comptroller and Auditor General's report, which had alleged that the oil ministry and its technical arm, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, had allowed Reliance to escalate capital expenditure for the KG-D6 blocks resulting in "undue benefit" to the private firm at the government's expense. The KG-D6 block oversight committee, which includes officials from the oil ministry and the DGH, met for the third time in three months today to finally approve the proposal, sources said. However, the government has put a cap on the cost of developing the four fields that surround the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D-1 & D-3) fields. The cost cannot vary by more than 15 per cent from the stated costs. The oversight committee had at its two previous meetings in November and December refused to approve the field development plan for the satellite fields — Dhirubhai-2, 6, 19 and 22 — after the government representative raised objections on the costing and other technical issues. As a compromise, Reliance agreed to cap spending in the fields at $1.529 billion, plus or minus 15 per cent. Reliance Industries had sought the approval to carry out geo-technical investigation, geo-hazard study, geo-mechanical study, concept study and front-end engineering and design, till it submits the revised capital expenditure plan. "We request you to please give conditional approval to the optimum field development plan allowing the contractor (RIL) to undertake the activities," Reliance had said in a letter to the oil ministry. Reliance stated that the current weather conditions in the KG-D6 basin were favourable for carrying out these technical studies. If these studies were not conducted in the next couple of months, the project would be delayed by another year. RIL has so far made 18 gas discoveries in the KG-D6 block. Of these, D-1 and D-3 — the largest among the lot — were brought into production in April 2009, but the output has fallen sharply from 54 mmscmd, in March 2010, to 32.94 mmscmd this month. Together with 6.86 mmscmd of associated gas produced from the MA oilfield in the same area, total production from the block amounts to 39.80 mmscmd.

More stories in Business

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120104/jsp/bengal/story_14960253.jsp

Cong-CPM Indira glue arms CM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Calcutta, Jan. 3: The Congress and the CPM today stepped up protests against the Mamata Banerjee government on renaming Indira Bhavan, prompting the chief minister to accuse her friend and foe of "joining hands". More than 50 Congress activists, led by the party's youth wing president Mausam Noor, squatted for over four hours under Indira Gandhi's statue opposite Birla Planetarium to protest the proposed name change. Quoting Mamata, Congress leader and minister Manas Bhunia had said last week Indira Bhavan's name would be retained even after a research centre on Nazrul Islam was opened there. But the Congress wants an official circular issued to preserve the name. "We cannot accept the renaming of Indira Bhavan after Nazrul Islam. Let the government set up a Nazrul academy anywhere in the city but Indira Bhavan, which is associated with the memories of our late Prime Minister," said Mausam. Reacting to the chief minister's assertion that the Congress did not protest when Jyoti Basu stayed at Indira Bhavan and turned it into a party office, Mausam said: "She (Mamata) was the then Youth Congress chief and she could have easily protested." State Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya was present in the gathering. Mamata's bete noire Deepa Das Munshi was, however, absent. In the past five days, Congress workers have demonstrated outside Writers' Buildings, organised a sit-in at the same venue where Mausam protested today and blocked local trains at Basirhat over the renaming controversy. Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra echoed the Congress while maintaining that setting up a museum and research centre on Nazrul at the Indira Bhavan would dishonour "both the poet and the late Prime Minister". "Indira Gandhi was not only a Congress leader but also the Prime Minister of the country who was assassinated. So, Indira Bhavan should house memorabilia related to Mrs Gandhi," he added. The two parties will again hit the streets tomorrow to protest the government's failure to protect paddy growers. The Left has called a rural Bengal bandh tomorrow while the Congress has lined up a sit-in at Metro Channel.

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Hawker raj is here to stay

OUR BUREAU

Mamata Banerjee the administrator prods police to evict hawkers from Calcutta's pavements and Mamata Banerjee the politician protects them from eviction. The dichotomy between what the Trinamul-led government wants to do and what it would like to be seen doing was much in evidence on Tuesday morning when Mamata sprang to the rescue of hawkers being evicted from Harish Mukherjee Road, in front of SSKM Hospital. Barely had a team from Bhowanipore police station asked the hawkers to pack up and leave when they squatted in the middle of the road, throwing traffic haywire from around 11.20 till 11.45am. The protesters lifted the blockade when word arrived that they wouldn't be evicted. Mamata herself arrived around noon on her way to Writers' and spoke to the hawkers for a few minutes. She made the announcement all of them wanted to hear an hour later: "We will not evict anyone, on humanitarian grounds." So where does that leave the rest of the city whose right to road and pavement has been usurped? Oh well, what can the government do if "the CPM brings in new people" to set up shop on the pavements, pleaded Mamata. "Their people have encroached more of the space outside SSKM Hospital. Earlier, there were only 12-13 people there," the chief minister said. Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said eviction without rehabilitation was unacceptable. "We are opposed to the continuing encroachment by new hawkers. But those who have been there for years must be rehabilitated before an eviction drive is launched." The police's abortive eviction drive, the first since the change of guard at Writers', had apparently been planned after Mamata rebuked the police brass on Monday for not doing enough to rid the city of hawkers. "She had told us that hawkers on the pavements were disrupting the government's beautification projects. Now what are we supposed to make of this?" wondered a senior officer. Mamata gave an insight into this paradox in a different context later in the day. "There is a boundary between politician and administration. I should not cross my limit," she said in response to Ficci's defence of some of the AMRI directors. That she stood up for hawker raj in the face of an eviction drive that police say was prodded by her did not surprise a senior bureaucrat who saw from close how the Left Front had dealt — or not dealt — with the problem. According to him, this was not the first time Mamata had intervened in a hawker eviction plan. "In 2000, the then mayor Subrata Mukherjee had planned an eviction drive that Mamata didn't approve of. So it never took off," he recounted. "Hawker eviction is a politically sensitive subject. The Left had given them a free run on the city's pavements and Mamata is doing the same," the bureaucrat added. The problem of hawkers overrunning pavements was taken up by Calcutta High Court in response to a public interest litigation by activist Subhas Datta to protect the commuter's right to free movement. The court has asked the Trinamul-led government to elaborate its stand on hawkers by the second week of this month. "The government has changed. The new government must have a hawker policy. It should inform the court whether it is planning to remove hawkers from the pavements. It should also declare a rehabilitation package for them," the division bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice Ashok Das Adhikari had said in mid-December. Going by Mamata's statement, the government's official stand wouldn't be much different from what the Left Front had stated in court. The previous government had planned to issue identity cards to hawkers and create vending zones during its last year in office, but failed to work out the logistics. In an interview uploaded on the Trinamul's website, urban development minister Firhad Hakim too has spoken about creating "red, blue and yellow zones" to regulate hawkers. YOUR PAVEMENT, THEIR BUSINESS Hawkers in 1996: 1.2 lakh  In 2005: 2.2 lakh In 2006: 2.75 lakh  In 2010: 3.25 lakh  Hawker unions: 51 Transactions: Rs 8,772 crore annually Price of 10sq ft of prime pavement space: Rs 1 lakh Bribes a hawker pays: Rs 30-120 daily Money police, politicians and officials earn from hawkers: Rs 265 crore annually How can our pavements bereclaimed from hawkers? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com