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Open Letter An advertisement issued by Tata Motors appeared in West Bengal’s four leading newspapers on Friday as an open letter by Ratan Tata to the people of the state. In it he has mentioned the reasons that forced Tata Motors to relocate the Nano project and has asked the people, especially youths of West Bengal that what they want,’jobs or lawlessness’. In the advertisement he has appreciated the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya led government’s efforts to ‘build a prosperous state’ with ‘modern infrastructure and industrial growth’. He has also appealed the people to differentiate between the ‘ rule of law’ and ‘destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness’ and have appealed the people to choose one of it.

 Reaction His letter is being seen as an answer to Mamta Banerjee’s allegations that His decision of relocating the Nano plant out of Singur was ‘hasty’ and ‘politically motivated’.A few days ago Mamta and Amar Singh had met President of India Mrs. Pratibha Patil. After it they had criticized Ratan Tata for his words’ a bad M and a good M’. Mamta had even alleged that Ratan Tata is speaking the language of a ‘politician’. It must be borne in mind that after Tata’s pull out decision, Mamta has been pushed to back foot. Her agitation against the Tata project has resulted in Nano’s departure from the state. Urban people, who are Mamta’s strong ‘vote bank’ have disliked her step. Not only the people of her home state but form all over India have criticized her for her anti-Nano move. 

Looser In the letter he has named Mamta Banerjee and has held her party’s confrontative actions’ supported by ‘vested interests and certain political parties’ for Nano’s exit from Bengal. All these words have exposed the powers that were working behind Mamta’s agitation. It is the first time that Tata have directly came in open and have criticized a political figure. Mamta has taken Ratan Tata as a ’sitting duck’ but he has emerged as her biggest rival. Now she is under attack from all the sections of the state’s society. At one hand she has lost her major urban vote bank and on the other hand she could not solve the problems of the ‘unwilling’ farmers. It has given chance to the Left to attack her. She misguided the farmers and used their anger to convert it into votes. Neither the farmer’s could get anything nor she could convert their anger into votes and result is that WB has lost a big project that could change the economic fate of the state in a very brief time.

Financial Crisis Indian aviation sector has been severely affected by the global financial crisis and the record high fuel prices. It is being said that Indian aviation industry, that has a $6 billion turnover, is expected loose more than $2 billion in the next year. Some private airlines had expected that the industry will grow many folds and had invested huge amounts. But nothing happened as was being expected. In recent months domestic market has declined a lot and on the other hand international developments have multiplied the losses. Financial losses have forced the Indian aviation industry rivals Kingfisher and Jet Airways to form alliance with each other.  This has been done to ‘rationalize’ routs, disconnect some operations to cut the costs. Both the Indian aviation companies were loosing crores of rupees per month.     

Sack Orders But the worst was yet to come. Jet Airways have decided to retrench its 1900 employees that includes people across all the functions- even pilots. It was announced by Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Dutta in Mumbai on Wednesday, October 16. He said that officials have taken these measures to keep the airline ‘economically viable’ in the future. Shedding of 1900 employees had become necessary to ensure the jobs of the remaining 11,100 employees. They had even asked the state-owned Air India to come forward and form an alliance to cut the losses.

AI Proposal According to some news reports Air India has also planned to give 3-5 years of leave without pay to 15.000 of its employees. But it has been said that employees will not be forced but voluntarily can ask for leave. But it has been also included in the proposal that those employees who voluntarily go on leave will be taken back at the ’same seniority’ and ‘last drawn pay’ whenever they desire so.  But official have clarified that it won’t be retrenchment as has been done by the private carriers. But Government of India has declined to take such steps. Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel have said that there is no need to take such steps immediately as Air India is ‘in a much better financial health’. On the other hand some ministers have criticized Jet’s sack order. Some political leaders have decided to oppose the decision.

Announcement Election Commission of India announced the dates for the Assembly elections in five states on Tuesday , October 14. These five states are Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram. Elections in these states will be held between 14 November to December 4. Commission has decided to hold polling in two phases in naxalite hit state Chhattisgarh on November 14 and 20 while in other states it will be one day affair. In Madhya Pradesh polling will be held on November 25 while Mizoram and Delhi it will be on November 29. In Rajasthan polling will be held on December 4. Votes will be counted on December 6 in all the five states. With the announcement code of conduct has come into effect immediately and has become applicable in all the five five states, to all candidates, political parties state governments and the Union Government. Election Commission has not announced the election in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Indication These elections are the last elections that are being held before the Lok Sabha elections. The result of these elections will also indicate that which party will win in the coming Lok Sabha elections. It must be learnt that Lok Sabha elections can be held anytime in the last months of the current year or the early months of the next year. Lok Sabha session is scheduled to be held in the last week of the October month and it is being speculated that Manmohan Singh led UPA alliance government will not survive as some of its allies are not happy with it and can pull the turf from under its feet. But center government wants to delay the elections so that inflation will come down to some extent by that time and it will not have to face the anti-incumbency votes. Three out of these five states are being ruled by the NDA alliance and the remaining two by Congress and a regional party. Anti-incumbency factor will play a crucial role in these elections.

J&K But suspense has not ended as EC has not announced the date of assembly elections in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Recent month’s incidents are not favorable as for as the elections for the state are concerned. Even all the dominant political parties of the state except BJP have not said anything against of in favor or elections. It elections are not held in the state in the next month then they can be held only after six month because of the winter season.

Birth Bindusara was the son of Chandragupta Maurya, who became the second Maurya emperor after the death of Chandragupta. He had inherited a vast empire and expanded it southwards during his reign. He was born in 320 BC and ruled the country for 26 years from 298 BC to 272 BC. He was called Amitrochates or Allitrochades by the Greeks while in Sanskrit scripts his name has been mentioned as  Amitraghata means the ’slayer of enemies’. A very  little is known about his life and the years of his rule. His contemporary Greek historian has written the Mithridates-III (Bindusara), son of Mithridates-II became the king of the state in 302 BC.  He was also known as Mithradates.

Kingdom Bindusara was the son of Chandragupta Maurya and a women named Durdhara. After the death of his father he became the king of a vast empire that included modern Afghanistan, Pakistan north and east India and also some southern parts of India. He expanded his kingdom towards southwards and included sixteen states into his Kingdom. With it almost all the Indian peninsula became the part of his vast empire.

Life Very little has been written about Bindusara. It is said that philosopher Chanakaya was his prime minister. He has two sons named Sumana and Ashoka. Askoka became the king of the Maurya empire after his death who is popularity known as ‘Ashoka the Great’. According to some historical documents he had to face two revolts during his reign. Taxila citizens had revolted twice during his reign. First they had revolted because of maladministration by his elder son Suseema. And the reason of the second revolt is not known but it is said that Ashoka had suppressed it as Bindusara had died during the revolt.

Relations Bindusara had not conquered some southern kingdoms of Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras kings because they had friendly relations with the Mauryas. Only people of Kalinga were against the Mauryas and they were defeated by the son of Bindusara. In Greeks history it has been mentioned that he had established and maintained good relations with far west rulers. He had good relations with Greeks, Syrians and regularly exchanged ambassadors and presents.

Bindusara died in 272 BC but some historians argue that he had died in 268 BC.

Award Debutant Indian Novelist Aravinda Adiga won the prestigious 50,000 pounds ($87,000) Booker Prize for his novel ‘The White Tiger’. And with it he has become the fifth Indian who has won the prize. Earlier Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and V S Naipaul had won the prestigious prize. He has become one of those three novelists who have won this award for their debutant novels. Earlier Arundhati Roy had won it in 1997 for her novel ‘The God Of Small Things’ and D B C Pierra in 2003 for his novel ‘Vernon God Little’. It was Adiga’s childhood dream to become a novelist.

Career He was born in Chennai in October 1974 and is living presently in Mumbai. He spent some of his time in Australia. He had studied at Columbia and Oxford Universities and also have worked for Time magazine in India. He also have written articles that have appeared in ‘Financial Times’, ‘Independent’ and ‘Sunday Times’. His novel was published by Atlantic Books and was widely praised. He has dealt with prevailing social issues and global economic development. The novel tells the story of the son of a rickshaw puller who represents the “faceless” poor who have remained untouched and have not gained from the recent economic boom.

Views Six novelists had been shortlisted for the prize. They were Amitav Ghosh, Steve Toltz, Linda Grant and Philip Hensher, Sebastian Barry and Aravinda Adiga. Sebastian Barry was the favorite to win the prize but in the end Adiga beat him. According to TOI Michael Portillo, Chair of the judges, said “The judges found the decision difficult because the shortlist contained such strong candidates. In the end, The White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal manner.” All the six shortlisted novelists are given 2500 pounds and a designer-bound edition of their book.

Judging Panel former MP and Cabinet minister Michael Portillo, editor of Granta Alex Clark; novelists Louise Doughty, founder of Ottakar’s bookshops James Heneage and Hardeep Singh Kohli a TV and radio broadcaster were the members of the judging panel for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Politics As the Lok Sabha elections are nearing, all the political parties have started to defame their opponents with the motif of obtaining political mileage over them. They have started to use religion and many such other sensitive issues to convert the public sentiments in votes in their favor. Thanks to the recent religious riots that have given them some issues that they can use in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Instead of defusing the situation some political parties are using the issues as a poll plank. Some political leaders have gone to such an extent that to get the votes of a particular community they have demanded an inquiry into an encounter in which a police officer had lost his life while two terrorists had been killed and three had been arrested.

Ideologies Indian political parties, though represent some ‘ideologies’ but their ideologies remain always on papers. When the time comes to form a government foes become friend and friends become foes as we have seen during the trust vote motion when Samajwadi Party joined hand with Congress in spite of Left’s opposition. It is just a single example there are many when opposition parties use some sensitive issues to increase their vote bank though their acts results in big losses. In Singur West Bengal Mamta Benerjee used the land issue to grab the attention of some farmers. But her agitation resulted in huge losses for thousands of farmers and also with no future. Her agitation also turned the doors for the future investment in the state. Because of her shortsightedness WB have lost the Nano plant which would have created thousands of direct and indirect jobs to the local people.

Mayawati If there ‘is a good M and a bad M’ there is another M that has done a bad to the people of UP. It is none other  than UP Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati. According to the news reports state government has canceled the allotment of 190 hectares of land for a rail coach factory. Railway ministry had planned to set up a rail coach factory to manufacture 10,000 passenger coaches annually and 542 acres of land was required for it. State government had more than 260 acres of land in its possession and remaining land was to be acquired from the private landowners. But State government canceled the land allotment barely two days before the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi could perform Bhumi Pujan for the RCF. It is the clear indication of rivalry between BSP and Congress. Thus Mayawati has done what Mamta has done to West Bengal.

Deal US President George W. Bush signed the legislation in law on Wednesday which allows the ‘natural partners’ United States and India to resume civilian nuclear trade after the gap of thirty years. It must be learnt that US had imposed ban on civilian nuclear trade with India after the first Pokharan explosion. The deal will become operational by Friday when Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will formally sign it. Earlier Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not sign the deal during his US visit as it had not been passed by the Senate. It had happened again during Condoleezza Rice’s India visit as Indian leadership wanted the documents to be signed by the US President first. If had happened because India had apprehensions about the latest statements made by the US administration and it had fears that congress approved legislation may have a couple of riders regarding the fuel supplies.

Hurdles PM Manmohan Singh and President Bush had approved the deal in July 2005. But very few had expected that it will become a reality as the leadership of  both of the nations had to face a stiff resistance nationally and internationally. PM Singh could not go ahead with the deal as his UPA alliance was being supported by the Left parties who are known for their anti-US politics. Some parties had objected the Singh government’s move by saying that it will compromise the national interests and India will become a satellite of US. On the other hand this deal was being opposed by US lawmakers and non-proliferation hardliners also.

Indian Concerns With this agreement India has got the recognition as a nuclear state. India has become the single country that has not signed CTBT and is not a member of NSG but has indulged in civilian nuclear trade with other nations. It is because of India’s non-proliferation track record. There are no changes in certain provisions regarding fuel supply commitments as provided in the 123 Agreement. Recently US administration had asserted that uninterrupted fuel supply assurances were only the political commitments and not legally binding. According to PTI Indian Ambassador to US, Ronen Sen, said New Delhi’s concerns on certain provisions of the bill have been addressed.

Controversy Shoib Akhtar for Pakistan, Andrew Symonds for Australia and Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) for India are the match winning cricket players. But it is not their performance in the International cricket that keeps them in headlines. They always remain in headlines not only for their onfield performance but also for their off field controversies. Shoib Akhtar is out of Pakistan team on disciplinary grounds and same is with Andrew Symonds. But Bhajji too has earned Akal Takhat’s wrath by performing and dancing on a TV show as a demon king Ravana.  He had dressed as Ravana and was wearing a tilak when he danced with Mona Singh (actress) in the television show, “Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena”.

Sikh Tradition Sikhs have a unique a identity and a lot of importance is given to preserve it. It is the Sikh history that thousands of Sikhs had sacrificed to preserve their identity under the Mugul and British rule. Bhajji’s act of dressing like the demon king and wearing a tilak is highly objectionable to the community. He has hurt the Sikh sentiments Akal Takhat has ordered him to apologizer to Guru Granth Sahib and the Sikh Sangat for the objectionable act. It must be learnt that Akal Takhat is the oldest and supreme Sikh Body that is elected by the Sikhs, democratically. Akal Takhat’s Hukamnamas (orders) are respected by the Sikhs as the orders of their Guru.

Sikh Sentiments Though no one have complained against him but Akal Takhat has taken the notice of the act and have taken the action. Internationally, he is recognized as a Sikh player and his act have sent wrong messages about the Sikhism. He had taken part in the TV show during the  navratras.  Navratras are the nine day festival season after which the tenth day is celebrated as Vijay Dashmi. It means goods victory over evil. According to the Hindu mythology Lord Rama had killed the Demon king Ravana on this day. Despite physical identity there is not enough difference between the Sikh and Hindu religious teachings. Sikhs too, give a lot of importance to Lord Rama. Thus Akal Takhat’s stand against Bhajji is natural. Some months ago cricket commentator Mandira Badi had used the Sikh religious symbol “Ek Omkar” on here body as a tattoo and had to apologize for the act.

Festival Season With the navratras (nine days festival season) of September, India’s winter festival season starts. During these nine days Indians worship their gods and goddesses according to their regional rituals. Though there is a great difference the way in which these nine days are celebrated in different stated but this festival is celebrated all over India. West Bengal’s Durga (goddess of war) Pooja is world famous. The tenth day is celebrated as Vijay Dashmi or Dussehra (Victory Day). According to the Hindu beliefs, on this day Lord Rama had killed the demon king Ravana and had scored victory over the demons. It is believed that Ravana had abducted Rama’s wife, Sita.

Beliefs According to the Hindu mythology Ravana was a 10-headed demon king. Lord Rama along with his brother Lakshmana, follower Hanuman and army of monkeys had fought a war for ten days against Ravana and had won it on the tenth day with the death of Ravana. It is believed that Lord Rama shot an arrow in Ravana’s navel which pierced through the pot containing nectar of immortality that had been stored in his navel. After it Ravana had died and Rama was united with his wife. After the 20 days of Dussehra, Diwali is celebrated which marks the day, Lord Rama had reached his kingdom, Ayodhaya.

Dussehra During these ten days Ramleelas (stage plays) are organized in all over India almost in every village and towns. Plays are enacted to mark the 10 day battle between Lord Rama and Ravana. Ramleelas end on the tenth day. On this day, huge effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnath are burnt in large open grounds in the evening. People throng to see the Ravan Dahan (burning of effigy of Ravana) in large numbers. Dussehra also marks the beginning of winter season in the country.

Durga Pooja Lord Rama was a worshiper of Goddess Durga. Durga represents the divine power called Durga or Shakti. Duga also represents feminist power. She is also known with many other names as Ambika, Shiv-Shakti, Parvati etc. During the navratras people visit religious places and Durga is especially worshiped during these days. Especially Durga Pooja is the popular festival of north-eastern states.

This year’s Dussehra will be celebrated on September 9.

Ideology Every political party is distinguished from other by its ideology. In India every political party has a ideology that they project to be following. BJP is known for its Hindutva policy. Left is known for Communism. Bahujan Samaj Party has its own ideology that it strictly follows. Congress too has its own ideology. Every political party uses religion, castes and other deferences to increase there vote bank. Some times they even compromise with the national interests. Among all these parties, we have Samajwadi party that neither has any ideology nor any clear policy.

Samajwadi Party It remained ‘ at war ‘ with Congress almost for four years and at last it became a coalition partner in the Congress led UPA government. It had even deserted its most trusted ‘third front’. Samajwadi party leaders did not participate in the government but they have given outside support to it. During the thrust motion in September allegations of bribery had been made against its leader Amar Singh. He has survived these allegation as a Parliamentary committee has given a clean chit to him. Samajwadi party leaders had tried their there best to save the UPA government from premature downfall though they didn’t have any ideological similarities that had brought them close to each other.

Amar Singh All it indicates that Samajwadi leaders act as the time requires irrespective of their past. They never hesitate to play the religion card to exploit the emotions of a particular community. When India was stuck with serial bomb blasts, SIMI’s hand was found in the blasts. But around the same time Samajwadi party leaders were demanding that the ban should be lifted from SIMI. More than there Indian cities were targeted by the SIMI militants and many innocent people had lost their lives. But Samajwadi leaders kept on iterating  their ‘appeasement’ raga. Its leader Amar Singh has gone even some steps ahead by questioning the Delhi encounter in which a police officer had laid his life. In that encounter two militants had been killed and three had been arrested. With it, Delhi police had failed IM’s next planning of serial blasts in Delhi. Amar Singh is doing all it to woo the Muslim votes as all the IM militants belong to this community. All it indicates that it is only his lust for votes that he is dividing the people on the basis of religion. Militants do no belong to any particular community, They are the enemies of humanity but Amar Singh has done very wrong with the community by uniting IM militants with it.

Headlines Since September, Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district is in all the national newspaper headlines. And the reason is that more than 10 weavers have committed suicides. According to the state government claims, most of the weavers have died because of ill-health and starvation. But according to the local people the root cause of the crisis is the frustration caused by inadequate work and wages. The weavers of the district work for power loom owners who are engaged by master weavers in the contract work. Weavers get work only according to the market demands. For last some months demand in the market had decreased a lot which resulted in closure of power looms.

Difference If we compare these incidents with the agriculture sector then we will find a lot of similarities between the plight of farmers and weavers. With the economic development India is changing and with these changes a lot of change has been noted in market trends, demand and supply, and the competitiveness. People’s expenditure power have increased. But in some sectors their income sources have not increased according to their expenditure power. This difference is killing the people.

Future In recent years, hundreds of farmers have suicided because of financial problems. And the major reason is indebtedness. With the economic development, people’s standard of living has changed. But no change has happened in the economic standard of the people of some sections of the society. They have been left way behind from the other sections of the society. Their children can not get good education. They don’t have full access to the health and other facilities- in overall a bleak future. There expenditures on investment have increased but no change has happened in their income. Though their income looks same as the previous was. But it, too, has decrease in economical terms. Because of inflation their purchasing power has decreased.    

Government After the farmers it are the weavers who have been adversely affected by the economic change. There are many reasons behind the crisis. First of all it is their dependency on the contractors. If they would have been in direct contact with the market then they could have managed their economy effectively. Secondly Government has not taken precautionary measures  to defend them from market ups and downs. Thirdly taxes has affected their occupation adversely. Fourthly they have a very little access to various government schemes because of corruption. To counter this problem government will have to start some schemes that will provide work to the weavers constantly.

Curfew Indefinite curfew has been imposed in the Valley to stop the pre-planned separatists’ march to Lal Chowk. All the political leaders of the All Party Hurriyat Conference have been arrested by the state police and roads and residential areas have been sealed off by the the security agencies with metal barricades and barbed wire. Paramilitary troops are staging flag marches to thwart any kind of violence. Local press could not carry out its operations because of lack of curfew passes. Security forces have sealed all the entry the exit points of the city.

Public Anger All these steps have been taken by the state government to thwart the Lal Chowk march. Hurriyat had given a call to stage the march to press the government for its demands. Hurriyat is demanding opening up of Line of Control, release of all the Kashmiris who have been lodged in various jails, and the revocation of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act. After the passing of Amaranth land transfer rule violence had irrupted in the valley which was followed by violence in Jammu. Because of it Valley had remained totally cut off for almost a month from the rest of the country.  It had resulted in scarcity of all the essential goods  in the Valley. All these developments led to huge public anger against the government. Hurriyat is trying to project this public anger as a struggle for freedom.

Elections About 40 protesters had been shot dead by security forces during anti-India agitations led by hurriyat leaders. These deaths had added more to the public anger against India and has created the wide rift between Kasmiris and New Delhi. Hurriyat is using this anti-India anger to fulfill its own goals. For last many years Hurriyat has lost its commands over the people of valley. It used the land transfer issue to project itself the sole leader of the people of valley. Hurriyat wants to keep the fire burning to thwart the state assembly elections. It is the truth that whenever it is the election time, anti-India forces try their best to thwart their best to disrupt the elections. Earlier militants used to do it but now Hurriyat has taken the responsibility to do their job because of the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan. Infiltration has decreased a lot and most of the militants operating in the valley have been eliminated by the security forces. In such circumstances only Hurriyat has remained in valley which is a pro-Pakistani  force that can disrupt the elections to strengthen Pakistan’s claim over Kashmir.

Report The Parliamentary Committee that was investigating the cash for votes scam has given a clean chit to the Samajwadi leader Amar Singh because of lack of clinching evidence. The  committee has recommended the CBI inquiry for further investigations. The final meeting of the committee will be held on October 17. The Committee had been formed after three BJP Members of Parliament had made allegations that they had been offered money to vote in favor of the Manmohan Singh government in the July 22 crucial trust vote. During the trust vote in the Parliament BJP MPs had shown wads of currency, they had been given as bribe to vote in favor of the UPA government. Every Indian was shocked to see the development. People’s belief in the Indian democracy had been severely damaged. A  committee was formed to probe the allegations which included three opposition leaders-V K Malhotra (BJP), Mohammad Salim (CPM) and Rajesh Verma (BSP).

Amar Singh A TV channel had video taped the whole bribery incident and after much reluctance had aired the tapes. A new interesting development had occurred on September 25 when Amar Singh had claimed that he is being blackmailed by a BSP worker who is demanding Rs 5 crore to change his statement in front of the Parliamentary committee. During this time main opposition party BJP and SP had remained busy in the war of allegations and counter allegations. Though the parliamentary committee has given a clean chit to the SP leader but it cannot be denied that MPs were not bribed to favor the UPA government in the trust motion.

Relations Meanwhile reports have emerges in a section of media that relations between the Congress and SP are not in cordial terms these days. It is being said that difference had risen between both the parties on the issue of seat sharing in the coming Lok Sabha elections. After which Amar Singh had expressed his anger towards the Congress party. Some people have started to say that Samajwadi Party’s decision to the support the UPA alliance in the July 22 trust motion was only a deal and they never were friends. If it is true then it can be said that SP is at a wrong path that will lead it nowhere as for as the coming elections are concerned.

Question After Tata’s pull out announcement from Singur, everyone is being haunted by the only one question that where the Nano plant be established now. During his announcement Tata Motors’ chairman Ratan Tata had hinted that we are in talks with three of four state to relocate the plant but had not decided about where to establish it. Uttarakhand, Jharkhan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Orissa , Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnatka were in the race to house the mother plant.  But from the latest reports it looks that Gujarat and Karnatka are front runners in the race. It is being selected that Bhuj in Gujarat and Dharwad in Karnatka are the most possible destinations of Nano plant.  

Dharwad Tata Motors’ MD G Ravikanth was in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on Sunday to meet the state ministers and to inspect the lands offered by both the government to relocate the Nano plant from Singur. Tata has already a 900 hundred acres of land in Dharwad where it manufactures earth-moving equipment. And it needs 1000 acres of land to reestablish the Nano plant.  State government already has 500 acres in its possession and is expected the acquire another 500 acres.

Sanand Earlier, Gujarat official had claimed that a site named Sanand was probably the destination of the plant. But these reports could not be confirmed as Tata Motors has not made any formal statement and it is being expected that the doubts will be cleared in the second week of the month when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi completes seven years in the office.

Future Of Bengal On the other hand situation in Singur is very tense. Both the farmers who have given their land willingly and those who were agitating against the land acquisition were left shell shocked with the announcement. No body had expected that Tata will leave the site after the huge investment has been done. But now it has become the reality. Thousands of Bengali’s future has been spoiled because of Mamta’s lust for votes. She tried to use the unwilling farmers as an opportunity for votes. But her short timed politics have put a question mark on the future investments also. Instead of understanding the reality Tranamool Congress is trying to befool the people that Tata’s pull out announcement is only a statement and nothing will happen. And there are media reports that Mamta has planned to target now other sites where state government is acquiring land. If she goes ahead with her plans then it won’t be wrong to say that ’she is a monkey who has got a gun by chance’. Agriculture is not a profitable occupation now in India. Thousands of farmers commit suicides because of indebtedness. Will Mamta address these points? Bengal has lost thousands of direct and indirect jobs because of Mamta’s shortsightedness.

Peace Process As the peace process between India and Pakistan is progressive a lot of change in the attitude of the Pakistani leadership has been noted towards India in recent times. Before the 1999 Pakistani leadership used to use the hatred against India as the major issue in the elections. But After Vajpayee’s peace initiative both the countries had understood it that they cannot ignore each other for more time. Though  Former Military general turned President of Pakistan General Parvez Musharraf was responsible for the Kargil war, it was the same leader who initiated the peace process with India again. Leaders of both the countries took some bold decisions that normalized the relations and ended the feeling of mistrust. Though Musharraf has not remained in power now, the government of Pakistan has taken the peace process ahead.

Circumstances There are many reasons for the changed approach of both of the nations towards each other. First of all it is the militancy both the countries are suffering from. US led war on terror has become Pakistan’s ‘own war’. Pakistan has suffered a lot because of years of military rule. Its economy is in shambles. It is fighting against Taliban militants in NWFP which is nothing than a full grown war. It is recovering from the economic and social devastation is has suffered during the military rule. On the other hand India is the second fastest emerging economy of the world. It needs at least 15 years of peace to become a developed country. Circumstances has brought both the nations more close to each other.

Economy General Parvez Musharraf will be remembered for his bold decisions that he took to strengthen the peace process. President Asif Ali Zardari has followed the same path. In a recent interview to an international news paper he has said that “India has never been a threat to Pakistan. I’. He also said that  without better ties with New Delhi “there is no other economic survival for nations like us. We have to trade with our neighbours first.”  He also accepted that militants operating in J&K are the terrorists. It is perhaps for the first time that any Pakistani top leader has made such a statement. India and China are the leading emerging economies of the world and Pakistan can not remain untouched from the economic impacts of its neighboring economies. It is in the interest of Pakistan to have better relations with its neighbors for its own ‘better future’.